Paid Members tiger_rick Posted February 14, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 14, 2025 3 minutes ago, The King of Old School said: That Harley/Mercedes segment was one of the worst I have ever seen. I'm glad your manager went to Derby. #JusticeForHarley Quote
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted February 14, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 14, 2025 2 hours ago, The King of Old School said: That Harley/Mercedes guitar segment on Collision was one of the worst I have ever seen. It’s equally the best Harley/Mercades guitar segment on Collision and the worst. Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted February 14, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 14, 2025 Can’t trust anyone who doesn’t love Harley Cameron. The type of people who did the, “Yes!” chant with the Big Show. Quote
The King of Old School Posted February 14, 2025 Posted February 14, 2025 4 hours ago, tiger_rick said: I'm glad your manager went to Derby. #JusticeForHarley He's had a belting start Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted February 14, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 14, 2025 (edited) I know this is the 2025 thread but seems very self-indulgent to bump all of the relevant ones from last year. I have done the October and November backlog. Going to get these poste as I'll have to avoid this thread until I've caught up on the rest, can't risk spoilers after hearing the buzz and renewed excitement about the Australia show. Gotta watch that one unspoiled. So, the great backloggening, volume 1! Rampage 25/10 Spoiler Rampage 25/10 Rampage from three months ago anyone? Anybody? Just me I think. The great backlog odyssey begins with this leg of the Rampage farewell tour. The Kingdom vs Gates of Agony vs Shane Taylor Promotions Shane Taylor and Toa were the highlights of this as you'd expect. Fine enough three way match. For such a bland tag team The Kingdom sure do win a lot. Tony must be a big big fan of theirs but I still don't get it. Renee interviews BEEF. Again, Tony must bloody love BEEF and his hilaaarious odd couple pairing with The Workhorsemen. He's not for me. I *do* enjoy Roddy and The Kingdom's repeated attempts to get Frank Mortos on the team full time though. That's some silliness I can get behind. Anna Jay vs Leila Grey Solid extended squash ahead of Anna's title challenge against Mariah. Deonna Purazzo and Taya Valkyrie are watching backstage. Gotta get these two doing something one of these days. The Beast Mortos vs BEEF By Mortos standards this was well below average, but even a low end Mortos match is going to entertain me. Frankly absurd amount of interference from LFI, with the ref looking extra stupid throughout. The best bit was Mortos hitting his pop up Samoan drop on the much bigger man. Very satisfying. Harley Cameron promo! Easy highlight of the episode and the main reason I'm still doing Rampages in this backlog. "Thunder Rosa, La Mera Mera, more like NOT La Mera Mera". Absolutely cooked her with that one. Ricochet vs Nick Wayne Skimmed through this as it was about 14 mins long. I'm sure they did some good flips but couldn't muster any interest in it. Ricohet's Hidden Blade-esque finisher looked devastating. A Rampage, there. Collision 26/10 Spoiler Collision 26/10 Loved the opening recap with OC yelling at Garcia and vowing to take care of Moxley. Brilliant stuff. Jay White vs Shane Taylor Liked the look of this on paper and it was a quality TV match. Loved Jay White landing the dragon screw early and that playing into everything else that happened, including the finish. Best bit for me though was White going for the rear waist lock for a clearly impossible German Suplex attempt, only to get caught with a back elbow. He then went to it again a moment later, this time ducking the back elbow and hitting a low angle side suplex with Taylor off balance from the whiffed elbow. Eating the minor damage of the elbow the first time to set up a bigger reward later is classic Jay White and I love it every time. Fine post-match promo from White. Hangman/Swerve again at Full Gear. Loved their last PPV match so much. Sign me up. Appreciated Ricochet and Lio Rush having a face to face before their match, even if they both sounded like confused robots. Kyle Fletcher promo. He sounded better than he did on Dynamite, looked sharp with the buzz cut too, though would have been a little bit brilliant if he'd kept it half shaved for that deranged look. Penelope Ford vs Robyn Renegade Penelope Ford looked good considering she was out for two years. Talking shit, some good violent offense, played the mean bully well, but very odd that her opponent was a much larger heel in Robyn Renegade. A smiley faced babyface jobber would have been better surely. Turbo Floyd missing his cue to close out and Dax nearly corpsing multiple times made the FTRunners promo better. I have to say, as much as I enjoy FTR, the "FTRunners" t-shirts and them quite blatantly piggybacking off The Outrunners' surge of popularity is starting to lean heelish. Ultimately they both want the tag titles I suppose, so their friendship has a limited shelf life. MXM vs The Oútrunners This was wonderful stuff. As I've mentioned before, both of these teams get to have their cake and eat it. The Outrunners are doing a parody of/homage to old school tag team pro wrestling, but they're also actually doing it. It's a classic formula and it never ever stopped working. They also commit to the bit so wholeheartedly that they don't feel like they're winking at the camera and ruining it. Similarly with MXM, they can be the silliest goofs imaginable but also perfect heel foils to a babyface tag team because, again, the classic heel tag team schtick they do has always worked. Love all of these guys and they couldn't be a better match up for each other. Yuta/Nigel sitdown was tremendous. Loved Yuta's line about not being able to wait for a corpse to rise up and help him. Most of what he said was on message, like he's bought into the Moxley Mission and/or been brainwashed by Uncle Claudio. Greater good, I don't like this, it's what I have to do etc. But that line showed that ultimately he doesn't believe any of that. He was motivated by fear and his need for a mentor/father figure/family to belong to. He couldn't face the thought of being little orphan Yuta when Mox killed Bryan, so he went back into the arms of his abusers. I am going to be absolutely delighted when he eventually frees himself and finds redemption. Ricochet vs Lio Rush Loved these two going for a more aggressive and hard hitting match than anyone would have expected. Rush going into it with a chip on his shoulder and fighting a bit dirtier was a great choice. Really enjoyed this, and Ricochet catching Rush mid-air into a big spinning blue thunder bomb a la Takeshita was a very nice touch. Obligatory "I love Harley Cameron" comment. How does she even do that squeaky voice bit she's added. "The Kingdom you have asked for this time with The Beast Mortos...again". Lexy Nair is so good being the straight man in comedy segments, she perfected it during the Dalton/Johnny TV feud and she is killing it in the Kingdom/Mortos saga. I don't think she gets enough love. Mortos seemed thrilled to see another Beast speaking his language. I didn't realise he had such a knack for comedy. There is nothing the man cannot do. Anna Jay vs Viva Van Immediate cut after the Rush/Ricochet match to a sign saying "Anna Jay has NOT Improved" for several seconds was very awkward. Even more awkward was the same sign being featured prominently during Anna Jay's entrance and during her match. I hope her blowing the guy a kiss was a bit of a "fuck you" but I'm not sure if it was because she hadn't read the whole thing yet and reacted to seeing her name on there. The same middle aged man also had a sign which read "I'd rather be in Chyna but a Mercedes will do". Bet that guy smells fucking awful. I think Anna HAS improved a bit. It's being overstated by the commentators but that's the story they're telling with her. It's wrasslin'. The match wasn't as good as Anna vs Mariah from BOTB but it was fine and had a strong performance from Viva Van. Solid promo from May. Wasn't great on the mic at the start of her reign but sounds consistently good these days. Dralistico/RUSH vs FTR Dralistico always looks the business. Love the mask/paint combo, love the suits and I particularly love his entrance gear. Solid performance from him in the main event too, highlighted by that tremendous looking springboard crucifix bomb. Quality main event, though the LFI A-Team of Mortos/RUSH vs FTR is the real money match still to come. Enjoyable episode top to bottom there. Fun and varied set of matches and a great continuation of the Deathriders angle with the Yuta interview. Dynamite 30/10 Spoiler Dynamite 30/10/24 OC interrupting the now customary Mox opening video was a bloody brilliant move. OC finally stepping up is just magical and makes me very happy. Perfect promo too, delivered in his authentic OC voice but still markedly different, and out of character simply by virtue of it being a 7 minute opening segment with OC on the microphone. The most intensity you're ever going to hear from him on the mic. Pissed off, more motivated and assured than usual but not resorting to your Ziggler-esque "NOW I'M SERIOUS!!!" shouting. Loved this. Mercedes' delivery somehow still manages to surprise me with how non-human it sounds. Reneee, You-a a-should-a know-uh bettuurrr. She also said "First thing is first". Not "first things first". FIRST THING IS FIRST. I have never heard a person say that before. Amazing. As I've said before though, her vapid Mean Girl weirdo delivery actually works for me as a heel. She's not meant to be relatable and she most certainly isn't. Kyle O'Reilly's new gimmick of "guy who watches Dynamite" is extremely relatable to me. I feel represented. Buddy Matthews vs Adam Cole Buddy Matthews looked good in spite of Adam Cole doing one of his signature wankathons. Not only did he do lots of ankle-endangering spots as Lister outlined, but very specifically jumped from the apron to the floor onto the bad ankle, which earlier in the match he'd done as a potential re-injury tease. He just wants to do everything all of the time. I'm the physically outmatched plucky underdog with a bad leg and the heart of a champion and I have self doubt but I ain't no bitch and I'm a smart guy who throws the towel at the bad guy and then I hulk up and then I do the super duper flying destroyer to the floor and it's so fuckin awesome dude. I bet he wanted 60 minutes for this match. Matthews doing a full 360 pirouette to sell the towel throw was absurd as well. Maaan I do not care about Cole and MJF and want it to be over already. Fletcher sounded decent, much better than his previous effort. Mark Davis also not bad, can't recall hearing him speak much before. Absolutely tremendous promo from Hangman! "I'll leave you hurt, with less than you had before" was a fantastic line. That's what he does now. I love him contrasting their strategies too. You'll try and do some tactical big brain Jay White shit, I might murder some people and do more arson, I am that type of mad lad at this point. Superb. Loved the Mox segment. Yet another top notch promo and, as Supremo mentioned, the ambiguous use of Yuta where you genuinely couldn't tell if he's part of the ruse, and indeed whether he started kicking OC out of self preservation above all else. Could equally have been punishment for him trying to partially spare Chuck Taylor during that attack. Private Party vs The Young Bucks The timing on the Bucks' entrance to avoid all of the carnage and go into their match as if none of that had just happened was hilarious. What a pair of scumbags. What a belter of a match! The whole closing stretch in particular was Bucks at their melodramatic best. The near fall where they did their own version of Gin and Juice, Quen making the save from down town after Zay had used up all his magic kick outs. Over the top, overblown, crowd at fever pitch and an enormous pop for the feelgood ending. Great choice to lay out the entire match to make Zay the star of the show too, from hitting him with the ring bell onwards it was all about him, and rightly so as he is by far the star of the team. Excellent stuff and what a relief that the tag titles are back in circulation. As has been documented, Hayter's Daphne cosplay was outstanding. 5 stars. Jericho did a promo there. Big Bill cracking up at Bryan Keith's "Ya dumbasses" was amusing. That was about it. May/Jay vignette was good stuff. Saying this every episode now, but once again I am appreciating the attempts to link the shows together and make everything a bit more cohesive. Promoting Collision on Dynamite and vice versa, reminding us of characters/ongoing stories even if they're not featured on the current episode etc. I don't need it to be constant and I don't need a recap of the thing I've just seen every time we come back from break etc. but I do appreciate a bit of continuity and for the shows to feel like they don't exist in a vacuum. Perry/Garcia confrontation was great, particularly Perry's line as Supremo mentioned. Classic anime villain shit there. The villain is the guy the hero would be if they'd had a few more bad days. Kamille vs Kris Statlander Kamille's performance wasn't the horror show she had against Aminata, but no, she still is not good. Also why does she do the wrong moves. She is a powerhouse and she's doing Zach Ryder's Rough Ryder and the other week she was doing Ruthless Aggression debut neckbreaker. The torture rack powerbomb thing is OK but doesn't look very impactful. I dunno, she is fairly big but she doesn't come across as a convincing powerhouse at all. Statlander is excellent and made the best of it. I love Statlander and am very sad she's being fed to Mercedes. Christian referring to his beatdown of Hook as a bit of a misunderstanding was funny. Mark Briscoe continuing to cut solid gold promos whilst mired in the vortex is a tragic waste. "Batten down the hatches, if they ain't battened down we gonna beat ya in the head with the hatches!". The man is a poet. I feel like AEW asks more of Christopher Daniels as an actor than he has to give. Bless him. The Bucks shredding all records and abandoning ship was very on brand. Very interested to see what happens with Okada in their absence. Shafir stealing Cutler's shades was great. Once again her booking and presentation in this role has been flawless. Shelton Benjamin vs Swerve Strickland Electric debut for Lashley. The simple dimmed lights and him swaggering out of the shadows looking like The Kingpin was a great look. Minimal stuff, no pyro but still made him seem like a huge deal. Little bit like Oba Femi's entrance in NXT in that regard, where you let the sheer physical presence of the man be the main feature of the entrance. Excellent intensity on the beatdown, didn't expect Nana to catch that much of a whuppin', added a lot to the severity of it all. All of the chaos with security was brilliantly done too, made the Hurt Business look so dangerous, and god damn Shelton nearly decapitated one of them with a superkick. Should mention that he turned in another top notch TV match performance too, methodical destruction with Swerve getting the hope spots/being cut off at just the right moments. Still astonished at how good he's been so far. Top episode that. Moved at a nice pace, lots of big time high stakes happenings and developments, a superb tag title match and a solid main event. Could do without Adam Cole and Jericho, Statlander deserves better. Other than that I have few complaints. Rampage 01/11 Spoiler Rampage 01/11/24 LFI vs JD Drake/BEEF/Butcher Sounded more fun on paper than it ended up being. Was hoping it'd be a big beefy sprint match, but instead JD Drake got beaten down for almost the entire thing. The highlight was Mortos hitting his pop up Samoan drop on Drake, very impressive. Taya going for a more violent and unhinged style was cool. Would have liked to see new gear and a different look to go with the new stable. Still, at least they're moving forward with it and the group has a name now. Definitely needs more members next. Stokeley apparently doing a Just Joe shit stirrer gimmick now. I like that role for him. His attempts to recruit and then divide Private Party didn't amount to much eh? Aminata/Grey was a fine competitive squash, mostly notable because Leyla Grey's wig got torn off right at the start and she had to wrestle without it. Her real hair looks much better! Top Flight and Andretti vs Dark Order was a solid match and I liked the story of Andretti ruthlessly going adter Reynolds' injured ribs because he's sick of losing. Made all the more shady when they'd been on the frontlines together against Mox and co. and that's how the injury happened in the first place. First interesting thing Andretti has done since he beat Chris Jericho. Lio Rush vs Komander was a cracker! Absolutely loving this ultra-aggressive version of Lio Rush, carrying over the same style from the Ricochet match with the added frustration of that big loss. Komander shines the most when the opponent is a bully. He sells and draws sympathy well, he conveys the struggle and desperation and he does a great underdog babyface comeback, helped along by his spectacular offense. Really fun match, definitely agree with @Lorne Malvo that Komander is underrated. When he first turned up I thought it'd be a diminishing returns thing once we'd seen his big party tricks, but he has repeatedly shown he has much more to his act than that. Nice easy watch of an episode there, highlighted by a very strong main event. Collision 02/11 Spoiler Collision 02/11 Loved seeing all those tag teams with some new champions who are actually a part of the division. Feels like a reset for the titles and I'm really hoping the division gets some love. Zay's promo was OK, not up to the standard he's capable of and lost a bit of steam by the end. Though The Outrunners were the stars of the segment. But yeah, regardless, lots of tag teams vying for the tag team titles, this is a good thing. Did not cross my mind for a second that The Acclaimed weren't in the ring for the opening segment until they showed up in the next one. Felt like this was the most overt they've been about the division between these two. Bowens' face when Caster did his Best Wrestler Alive schtick was brilliant. Looks like they're finally moving towards the much needed split. Thunder Rosa vs Harley Cameron Feel like I say this almost every time Rosa appears, but god damn her face paint was awesome for this match. Consistently some of the best looks in wrestling for me. Fun plunder match. Harley is a bit like Chelsea Green, both in her willingness to make an arse of herself for comedy and generally being game for anything and everything. The finish looked fantastic, I've seen that spot go wrong before for Rosa so was great to see it landed flawlessly here. Had not occurred to me that Lance Archer's nickname would allow Brian Cage to drop a literal "tell'em 'Hawk". Fantastic. Get those Murder Machine t-shirts sorted lads. Komander vs Kyle Fletcher Was excited to see this on the card. ROH Final Battle 2023 in December had that amazing six-way elimination match and the Komander/Fletcher extended closing stretch was phenomenal, showing what incredible chemistry these two have. Two belters in two days from Komander, once again bumping like a mad man, getting the crowd behind him with his selling and bumping, then hitting all of the jaw dropping hope spots and flippy stuff when he got the chance. I like that he saves the big rope walk dive to the outside for bigger singles matches now. When he first arrived he was doing it every match and you never want a spot like that to be normalised. It got a thunderous reaction here and it always should. Excellent match. Garcia interrupting Perry's monologue was a great idea. I'm liking Perry's promo angles in this feud. "I'm you from the future" is a fun angle for a heel to take. Murder Machine squash was absolutely glorious. The smaller jobber in particular bumped like such a champ. Utter devastation. Loved it. The Kingdom saving the jobbers was unexpected. Guess Taven and Bennett are now babyfaces by proxy because Roddy is after MJF? Had completely forgotten AR Fox was part of the Nick Wayne wrestling school beatdown. Very weird move to remind us that Wayne has very justified babyface motivation to be going after Fox. Statlander promo just made me grumpy that she's gonna lose at Full Gear. I did not know "Wherever" was in Philly until Mox's promo. Promo was awkward because "I'm saying this guy's your hometown hero but you're not supposed to be buying it" is a bit too nuanced. You said he's from Philly they're gonna cheer. Action Andretti promo wasn't bad! Can't believe I'm saying that. Pac yelling "IS THIS PHILADELPHIA? IS THIS PHILADELPHIA TONY?" made me laugh. That was exactly how I felt after everyone's promos. Pac/Andretti was good stuff and had the crowd involved. It will still take a lot for Andretti to win me over, but after the attack on Alex Reynolds' ribs and this follow up, hothead Andretti is certainly his most tolerable incarnation. Main event Orange Cassidy is bringing me so much joy, it feels so right and we've waited so long. Loved all of the Mox/Yuta/OC business. Completely invested in the battle for Wheeler Yuta's soul. OC looked like a bad ass and also a smart guy, as a top babyface should. Dropped Yuta *and* avoided te beatdown by the full Mox squad. Shafir trying to go after him and having to be held back was a brilliant touch as well. Malakai chats some shit in his promos man. "I will drag you down so deep that the blackest black you've ever seen will not compare". Ooh I'm gonna drag you down to the darkest of dark. The darkest darkness that ever darked. Darker than the Dark Order wrestling on AEW Dark. Think of a time when it was WELL DARK. Like PROPER DARK. It will be even darker than THAT, if you can believe it. Fletcher once again saying there's no one else he'd rather win the tag titles with suddenly became a fantastic little zinger, throwing shade at two former partners at the same time. Really played the long game with that one. Lio Rush/Daivari was disappointing because I wanted more angry Lio Rush. Really enjoyed the edge and aggression he brought to the Ricochet and Komander matches but he wasn't showing it as much here. Maybe Daivari is too dull an opponent to be worthy of it. MXM/John Television skit was phenomenal. Best thing on the show. Dalton Castle should be back in January and was teaming with the Outrunners before his injury. He also still hates that bastard John Television. The trios skits and matches of my dreams are hopefully just a few months away. MJF stealing Kyle O'Reilly's "Guy who watches AEW" gimmick and doing it remotely while poor Kyle travels to the arenas. Good scrap from Roddy and Shane Taylor. Taylor looked particularly great; he's amazing when he has the heat for an extended period and can go to work with the brutal strikes, power moves and trash talk. Solid main event from Jay/Mariah. Nothing amazing, but once again a better featured singles match than what we'd previously see from Anna. They needed to establish the Queenslayer earlier in the match so it felt more significant when she got it on towards the end. A sleeper can be slapped on at any time and I don't think Anna's ever made good use of that fact. Mariah paying her back for BOTB with her own surprise pinning combination was a nice touch. Looked lovely too. Good episode that. Enjoying the angles spilling over from Dynamite combined with the usual mix of Collision sicko matches. I like where the show is at currently. Dynamite 06/11 Spoiler Opening segment was tremendous. Love the Hurt Syndicate theme, they all looked incredible, the crowd was red hot and MVP is just a wonderful promo. "While I appreciate the introduction I don't believe I need one" as the MVP chants rang out. Awesome. Despite all of that, the crowd was still equally hot for Swerve and he looked like a caged lion behind the security. The Hurt Syndicate being cool as fuck heels who will get cheered is not a problem for Swerve because he is cool as fuck himself. Deathriders/OC and Darby tag was also excellent. Two of the best underdog babyfaces in the business trying to take down the big bad guys against the odds, lovely stuff. Claudio with two small babyfaces to bully was in his element too, mauling Cassidy with big backbreakers and annihilating Darby both during and after the match. Also once again appreciated OC being smart at the beginning with their little ambush/ruse. Him and Darby are gonna get their arses kicked a lot in this war against the numbers and more physically dominant opponents, they don't need to also be the type of idiot babyfaces who bring it on themselves by running into a mob beatdown every week. Part of OC stepping up to become leader also requires him to be the team's strategist, so in these first two weeks in the role I love that they've shown him to be thinking about his approach and able to outsmart the heels. This is especially important when the then-leaderless team AEW looked like such mugs the other week waiting for the car all night. Briscoe and the Conglomeration being late for the save because they were "preparing for their match with Chris Jericho" made me groan. I hate that as both the storyline and real life reason why Briscoe isn't involved. What a massive waste. Skimmed through the match. Lots of nutty bumps and high spots. The live crowd enjoyed it but I just hate that this is what Mark Briscoe is doing. Who is Jericho going to claim is elevated by this program? Young up and comer Ishii? Another great little Mox promo with him speaking for Yuta and pushing him around. Redeemed Yuta vs Claudio and vs Moxley are going to be incredible. Malakai/Cole was ploddy and disjointed and the people were not with it at all. I love Malakai in a tag match but as @LaGoosh says he rarely delivers in a singles setting. The finish was lame. The match was far too cold to warrant such an overblown ending. Also I hate the Panama Sunrise SO MUCH. Cannot be arsed with Cole or his quest to fight Max. The crowd booing when he kicked out of The End suggested that they aren't into it either. Tony Khan telling Cole it'll be a 3 way if he and Roddy both win is funny too. So Tony Khan is endorsing MJF making people jump through ridiculous hoops to get a match with him. I found it a bit more plausible when he was world champion because that comes with a bit of clout, but why the fuck would Tony agree to this nonsense now? Why am I even giving it any thought at all. I'm enjoying the Hangman/Jay White feud and this segment was effective. White sounded good, Hangman's a nutter, their match will be another belter. Statlander with the most obvious non-promo to set up the attack was silly, as was her repeatedly yelling "YOU WANNA HIT ME WITH YOUR CAR?". She looked good beating them both down at least. Grumble grumble I love Stat she deserves better grumble grumble. Christian promo was very good as usual, this feud is an excellent direction for Hook and I look forward to seeing what Christian can do with him in a singles match later down the line. Christian playing Sabian and Wayne against each other is a fun side story. Notable that he tried to save Kip from the Redrum, which is very unlike him when his minions are being attacked. Wonder what Penelope Ford thinks about her man being adopted by Christian. Not bad for such a short match and Ford not long back after a very very long absence. Didn't need to be any longer than this, Hayter winning this feud in short order was the only outcome. She looked great, can't wait for her to get into something more substantial. Would also love to see her and Aminata beat the hell out of each other. Awesome main event. Delighted that Hobbs is back, even more delighted that he's out of the Callis family. Way too many members for him to get the shine he deserves. He looked INCREDIBLE in this match, every moment between him and Takeshita was electric. Brilliant return. Post match was fantastic too, aside from tiny little Adam Cole scrambling Takeshita to the back somehow. Other than that the escalation of run-ins and the big hero return from Ospreay were all excellent. Not as good as last week's episode, mostly because of the Learning Tree/Cole stuff taking up more time and detracting from the good stuff. Still enjoyed most of it though. Two very strong tag matches and The Hurt Syndicate were awesome. Rampage 08/11 Spoiler Shida/Viva Van was solid enough. I am grateful for any Shida appearances. Viva Van has looked good in all of her jobber appearances lately. Another golden Harley Cameron promo, recapping her entire year of failure after failure at a hell of a clip, only to be cut off by Renee before she can say what's next. Was quite a fun reminder of how silly wrestling is as a whole, as if you asked a lot of wrestlers to recap a year or two in one go it would sound completely ludicrous. Probably not as ludicrous as Harley's though. Dark Order vs Infantry vs The Kingdom Oh god the ROH undercard is bleeding into AEW. The streams are crossing. In true ROH undercard tradition, this was SKIPPED. I did watch MURDER MACHINE destroying The Kingdom after the match though. Loved that. Jake The Snake tells Roddy to stop trying to steal his cow. Roddy says Mortos is his boy. Roddy vs Mortos on Collision sounds grand to me. Another Purazzo/Valkyrie vignette, this time suggesting they offer an APA-style beatdown-for-hire service. One day these two will do something on one of these shows. Just you wait. Top Flight vs BEEF and JD Drake Sorry JD Drake but you are surrounded by fast forward material. SKIPPED. Lio Rush vs Komander OK this I will watch, their main event on the previous episode was fantastic. This didn't quite hit the heights of that one but was still very good, these two are brilliant together. 1-1 after this, would like to see them settle it. Collision 09/11 Spoiler Collision 09/11 Fine HOB squash to open, such a fun trio to watch, just a shame I had to have Iron Savages and Jacked Jameson on my screen. Solid post-match promo from Dax. Tag teams squabbling over a tag title shot! Yes! Lio Rush promo was great! Easily the best I've heard him sound, shame the purpose of it was to invite Swerve to beat his ass on Dynamite. Outrunners vs Top Flight Fun tag match with the right result. The heat for the Outrunners made this more engaging than the standard Top Flight match, thankfully. Excellent that the Outrunners are in the 4-way at Full Gear. Acclaimed promo. Again I love the little side eye from Bowens every time Caster says he's the best wrestler alive. The slow burn towards the split continues. Benjamin asking "why not?" when MVP said they can't kill literally everybody was brilliant. Roddy vs Mortos Little back and forth slobberknocker here as expected from this pairing. Mortos showing Roddy plenty of new backbreaker variations. Funny that Mortos lost because he's conflicted about his lost friendship with Roddy. Aww. Enjoyed Mariah's promo claiming she's killed women's wrestling by transcending the division. Anna Jay responded with one of her better promos. Going to choke Mariah out until she pisses herself! Did not expect that one. The hastily made shitty remix of Statlander's heel theme to sound a bit less heelish is a perfect summation of how slapdash her booking has been. Boooo. She sure did kill that jobber in double quick time, then turned her back for an extended period so Mercedes could run in and beat her down. Cool. Jack Perry vs Action Andretti Weird choice of match this. Perry trying to get heat against a guy who never had a shred of connection with the crowd as a babyface AND is in the process of turning heel. It was fine I suppose. Cracking post-match promo from Garcia, strong rebuttals to Perry's claim that they're the same. Grabbing Perry's beard to force him to look at the Full Gear sign was tremendous also. I loved the Julia Hart vignette. Just the right amount of hokey for me. Also happy she's on the way back. Wonderful promo from Daddy Magic! "All you gotta do is prove us RIGHT and take the title from that little prick!". Incredible. AR Fox vs Nick Wayne Once again I cannot forget that Nick Wayne, the heel, has EVERY REASON to want to beat up AR Fox, who should probably be in prison for what he and Swerve did to the poor lad. They really had to pull out all the stops and have Nick Wayne dead-dad him back to try to make him the heel, but booking this match is still very stupid to me. Didn't think the post-match picture-stapling was warranted either. Phenomenal MXM promo. The botched Johnny TV exit was hilarious, but I particularly appreciated Mansoor calling Lexy "Lexington". I fondly remember the first time I saw the name "Barrington Levy" in the HMV reggae section as a young lad and I found the idea of "Barry, short for Barrington" hysterical. I have had fun with names ending "ry" ever since. I have a friend named Harry and he has suffered the most as a result of this. Harrence, Harreth, Harrington, Harrington Bear etc. Conglomeration vs Death Riders Classic multiman Collision main event belter. One awkward bit where Ishii and O'Reilly put Yuta down and he realised he was way too far out for the Froggy 'bow. They went to move him into position but he beat them to it, blatantly staring at Briscoe on the top rope while awkwardly shimmying himself across the ring. Other than that though this was excellent. Post match was simple but effective, with a huge pop for OC coming out to fend off Moxley. He looked like a bad ass at the end of this. Pretty fun Collision there. The main event and post-match made it feel less B-show than usual, and the undercard was a nice little variety show as a lot of the best Collision episodes are. Dynamite 13/11 Spoiler Dynamite 13/11 Hangman/Christian vs Jay White/Juice Robinson Enjoyed this one. Particularly got a kick out of the Jay White/Christian exchanges but I'm on board for Hangman/White and generally a fan of these tag matches to keep multiple interlocking stories ticking over. Hangman/Christian was a fun pairing; I love the little things Christian does, the way he was sizing up Hangman as he got into the ring was spot on. Conveyed "we're all villains here but this guy still makes me nervous" very effectively. Juice is brilliant too. Bit of an awkward spot for him as I like him in a faction/as part of a team and think he shines in the role, but then the Gunns are a superb tag team, Jay White is a singles guy and the trios titles are MIA. I want him in this faction but I also want him to do more. I liked Kip Sabian doing absolutely nothing about Nick Wayne's abduction by Hook. Barely even feigning mild concern at it. Mercedes comfortably delivered a better promo than Swerve this episode, purely because she said "Bridgepoooooort" at the beginning. Kamille getting completely mugged off was very noticeable. She has been pretty atrocious when asked to wrestle, wondering if they've given up on her already. Statlander initially taking her out with a shove was crazy. I loved Statlander appearing in the background and then whupping them both and then smashing them through a god damn wall. Obviously I loved that. Statlander is the greatest. However, not only did they cut away IMMEDIATELY giving it no time to land, but Excalibur was LAUGHING as he went into his Full Gear promo. "Haha that was pretty random lol OK these two are fighting at Full Gear but coming up NEXT". Didn't even say anything about it and was onto the next thing before the end of the bloody sentence. "Statlander sending a MESSAGE/making a STATEMENT ahead of Full Gear?" If we're fucking off Kamille, then specifically mention how ineffective she was there? Statlander has shown she can deal with the bodyguard, can Mercedes handle Statlander if she takes Kamille out of the picture? Will Kamille and/or Mone be 100% going into the title match after being smashed through a flipping wall? Anything at all? Why do they hate Statlander? She doesn't do any bad tweets or anything guys. Fletcher and Ospreay promo battle was OK but went on way too long. Fletcher sounds decent but needs to stop the heel 101 drawwwwn ouuuut deliverrryyy. Ospreay always sounds good but he can go on for too long after his promo has already hit its crescendo. Ther wase way too much talking after "challenge accepted". Ospreay's screwdriver throw into the mats was very cool. Lance Archer vs Roderick Strong Loved this. This is the perfect use of Lance Archer for me. He lost but he looked so bloody dangerous here. The high octane start with Archer bringing Roddy out before he could even make his entrance, the chokeslam on Taven off the guard rail, he was presented as such a monster that the loss didn't matter at all and you could easily put him in the same role next week for another babyface. It's a shame it was all in service of this dead Cole/Roddy/MJF feud. Adam Cole vs Takeshita I'd seen all the memes about Cole's tan but it was still an astonishing site to behold. During his entrance he was backed by yellow lighting and his yellow entrance video, which slightly took the edge off it. Then he got down to ringside and was GLOWING. Good grief. Match was silly because Cole doesn't fight like he's a third the size of Takeshita. I can buy Takeshita vs a Komander or Phantasmo etc. because they will use speed/agility/unorthodox high flying stuff to try and bamboozle him before they eventually get swatted. Here we saw Cole landing big brainbusters and the like, kicking out of Takeshita's incredible looking offense, landing the worst move in pro wrestling on him and then only losing because Takeshita used a foreign object. Pffft. Still, big saving grace was that Takeshita did beat him. Genuinely surprised and relieved by that. Still could not possibly care about the post-match O'Reilly will they/won't they nonsense. MVP taking over Renee's interview with Lashley was funny. "Moxley takes over the Superstation" amounted to an attack on JD Drake and a promo. Interesting that the commentators were downplaying the idea that Mox answers to someone this time. Wonder if they scrapped that idea. I love Marina Shafir so much in this role. Slapping people's hands away when they try to high five Mox is great. Also liked in the brawl afterwards that her only objective was to neutralise whoever was attacking Mox directly and then escort him out of there. Proper bodyguarding as opposed to muscle/another member of the stable. Enjoying OC's promos in this feud, though this one wasn't as good as his last effort. Brawl was solid, highlight was the Darby ambush and Claudio completely destroying him with the swing into the metal shutter. Fantastic. Again like the previous segments, I appreciate that the babyfaces and Darby in particular are setting traps for Mox and co. Yuta getting little bro'd by Claudio was hilarious. It does feel more like a traditional build for (sadly) a routine title defense, as opposed to Mox on his mysterious mission to take over AEW for some kind of higher purpose. Jericho promo ewww. Jericho/Ishii was more fun than expected two years ago simply because they went batshit with the chops. I am not optimistic about a rematch. Penelope Ford vs Britt Baker Nothing much to this. OK/slightly sloppy TV match thrown out at random. Harley/Mina promo was fun. Renee is so good as the straight woman in the silliest of segments. Lio Rush vs Swerve I'm sure a lot of people would hate the opening sequence to this but I thought it was spectacular. Match was good too. I get the criticism of Rush being too competitive but I was entertained. Catastrophic flub from Swerve on the promo. It's a shame as he sounded good otherwise and an attack on Nana is always going to generate decent heat. Bridgeport would not forgive though. Jamie Hayter sounded great before she was cut off. I'm assuming it's meant to tease Julia going after her when she returns, but given some of the editing on this show I initially thought it was a fuck up. Once again I enjoyed the hokey Julia vignette. More broadly I like building up returns as a big deal through the classic medium of the teaser vignette. FTR vs HOB Strong main event, Dax and Brody in particular were excellent. To repeat myself yet again, I love that a bunch of tag teams are fighting for a shot at the tag titles again. I have missed it a lot. Rampage 15/11 Spoiler Rampage 15/11 SKIPPED: Mark Briscoe vs Daivari Rocky Romero vs Komander Ricochet vs Dante Martin Hikaru Shida vs Leila Grey I'll take any Shida I can get. I worry I won't see much of her once Rampage dies and that makes me sad. Easy win for her here, bit disappointed she was all smiles though. Was a fan of the more aggressive and angry style she had going for a bit there. Harley Cameron promo! Best bit was her creepily stroking Renee at the beginning of it, much to Renee's visible discomfort. She tried to perform a song about Mina Shirakawa but they ran out of time before she got past the intro. Anna Jay promo. Taya tries to shake her down for protection money on this, the day of her daughter's wedding. Anna says no. Taya says "stay safe out there". Anna says "No, I won't!" Anna looked like she was trying not to laugh for this whole promo, wonder if John Silver was just off screen. RUSH and Mortos vs Jobbers Very rough assignment for these jobbers. Deliciously violent squash. Very cool new camera angle for the Bull's Horns too, almost a jobber POV as the boots fly in. Excellent MVP promo. Breaks down the ways in which Swerve is arrogant, also hypes up Shelton Benjamin vs Komander for Collision. Love that match up on paper, should be brilliant. Watched about 10 mins of that one. I'm sure all of the skipped matches were decent but it was such a dull line up. Collision 16/11 Spoiler Collision 16/11 Mina Shirakwa vs Harley Cameron Thoroughly entertaining opener, easily Harley's best singles match in AEW/ROH. Mina is always excellent, but Harley kept up with her admirably through some pretty ambitious and high speed sequences. This already had the crowd because these two are perfectly matched as characters and, erm, aesthetically, but the match itself also built good heat and had a strong closing stretch. Danny Garcia vs Johnny TV Good stuff this, Danny fighting against the numbers and the heel working his ribs. He looked suitably heroic, the people were behind him AND that little bastard Perry took out Daddy Magic! MXM highlight was Madden addressing the accusatory camera close up after his blatant interference. "What? I didn't do anything, I just look good". Excellent. Post-match was sheer insanity. Danny's beatdown and trash talk against Perry was brilliant. Hood ornament Perry was the silliest nonsense but if anyone deserves it... I was laughing out loud at "How 'BOUT IT JACK?!" so I was certainly entertained. Looking forward to Danny lifting the gold at Full Gear with Daddy Magic on the mic. Been a long time coming. Shelton Benjamin vs Komander Already knew this would be great and it was. Fantastic performance from Komander, bumping like a lunatic here and making Benjamin look utterly monstrous. One of the best underdog babyfaces they have at the moment, which unfortunately for him means he will be on the losing end of showcase matches like this more often than not. He is really really good at it though. The bumps, the way he sells the struggle of it all, his arsenal full of spectacular hope spots Continue to be impressed with Benjamin's presence in this role, did not expect to enjoy him anywhere near this much. MVP of course took advantage of this being in the MVP arena, responding to fans chanting "Who's house" with "It's obviously my house, my name's on the building". At least Statlander shoving two people THROUGH A WALL got a recap on Collision. The outfit was spectacular, the promo was solid and tried to tell the story the commentators/editors should have let breathe on Dynamite. Stat vs Shida on Dynamite sounds good to me. Acclaimed promo. These past few promos with Max not even pretending to give a shit about Bowens (and Bowens becoming increasingly annoyed) has made them way more interesting to me. Really good stuff. This time Max with his back to camera showing off the Best Wrestler Alive branding and Bowens physically moving him into shot, only for him to turn his back AGAIN while Bowens was talking. What a dick! The split feels closer than ever. Powerhouse Hobbs vs Bronson Tony please get rid of The Iron Savages. Please. It is the highest compliment I can pay Hobbs that his presence convinced me not to skip this. The titty city/motorboating thing gets ZERO reaction. No boos, no cheers, no laughs, NOTHING. Same for every Jacked Jameson pre-match "promo". Complete dogshit act. Bronson one also commits a grave pro wrestling sin: Posing as a hoss/fat guy wrestler and wearing the fat guy singlet but not actually being fat. The other guy who isn't Otis from Heavy Machinery used to do the same thing and that offended me as well. Not heavy enough pal. Hobbs was magnificent though. Oozing physical charisma, wonderful explosive offense, talking shit, big spinebuster on the actual fat one. Strong showcase for the lad, very happy he's back. Roddy did a promo. Hard to care because he's in the Cole/MJF vortex. RUSH/Mortos vs The Acclaimed Caster notably did NOT scissor during the entrance. Another cracking qualifier for the Full Gear tag title four way. Bowens and RUSH both on fire for this one, would be well up for a singles match between them. To repeat this YET AGAIN, I have loved this build of Private Party watching all of the other teams qualify for a shot at their tag titles. Very simple stuff, but after The Bucks holding the tag titles hostage for such a long time it is hugely refreshing to have significant matches between full time tag teams on the episodes of TV, all with a view to setting up a big tag team title match. Not the tag belts used as props as part of a larger story, or not being defended at all, but rather the pursuit of the tag team titles IS the story. I bloody love tag team wrasslin'. Mina ducking the question about her goals was a nice touch. Mark Briscoe knocking out another fabulous promo, once again wasted on building up a fucking Chris Jericho ROH Title defense. Outrunners vignette recapping their qualifying match was brilliant. All of The Outrunners vignettes are brilliant. Mariah May vs Anna Jay Pretty fun plunder match and one of Anna's better AEW singles performances. Got a bit ploddy in the middle after a hot start, but they nailed the big high spots towards the end and the barbed wire Queenslayer got a great reaction. Deonna and Taya were watching and are furious for some reason. Mariah breaking away from the celebration with Mina to get an extra boot in on Anna was excellent. I usually love a Moxley promo but he was waffling at the end here. "I thought he'd find himself cornered and snap back but that didn't happen." Isn't that EXACTLY what's happened with OC? He's reluctantly stepped up to be the guy to try and stop Moxley. Him and Darby have been ambushing Mox and the boys for the past couple of weeks. I don't really get the "OC is a snake" thing. Like if he means it he's an idiot, and if he's trying to gaslight or provoke OC with it then it's extremely weak as his actions have consistently contradicted it. Iffy closing promo aside that was an enjoyable show. Dynamite 20/11 Spoiler Fletcher/Takeshita/Archer/Cage vs Ospreay/Hobbs/Mark Davis/Ricochet What an excellent line up for a multiman tag. Acher swatting everyone away in the early going was great stuff, then from Hobbs' heroic return on one leg onwards this was fantastic. Loads of fun pairings, Murder Machine catapulting Ricochet into a wonderful Takeshita Blue Thunder Bomb, an electric Ospreay/Fletcher segment and a frantic and heated closing sprint. Moxley promo still going on about this "OC is a snake" business. Don't know where he's got this angle from but it's nonsense. Liked Claudio's short and sweet bit at the end though, and Darby's equally snappy response. The most ridiculous part about MVP's "surprise announcement" was Excalibur having to pretend it was still news. I wondered if he was going to sidestep the issue and focus on Swerve's surprise attack, but no, he acted like he hadn't talked about the Lashley match about 10 minutes ago. Oh nooo story time with Adam Cole baybay. Oh NOOOO Kyle Fletcher is joining in. They've been threatening this segment for quite some time but I was sort of hoping they'd just keep Kyle in the Conglomeration and forget about this. Kyle the major babyface here pleading with Adam Cole to end the ice cold MJF feud. If only eh. Fine enough OC promo I suppose. He has probably said too much now though. It feels like one of those AEW big match builds where they already had me but now I just want them to get to the PPV before the TV actively cools the feud down. Statlander vs Shida Quality back and forth TV match between two of my favourites, was always going to enjoy this one. I'm surprised this is only their second ever singles match. I actually didn't mind this use of Kamille compared to previous weeks. I thought it was a dastardly heel move for Mone to send in her clearly injured bodyguard as a distraction. Statlander countering the back stabber into Staturday night fever was a cool spot. Serviceable go home segment, though sadly cannot buy Stat having a shred of a chance of winning at Full Gear. Bobby Lashley vs jobbers Solid squash match. The Dominator on Cheeseburger looked devastating. Could have done without him selling punches from the other guy but otherwise this was fine. The Swerve/Hurt Syndicate stuff was kinda weak though. Getting some poor schmuck to take a beating for him came across more cowardly than clever, and Lashley getting mugged off twice in the same episode in such a short space of time was also questionable. The much talked about Mina/Mariah champagne celebration is finally on? I like Mina's role in this story, trying to appeal to the old friend she remembers even though she has clearly gone way off the deep end. Darby vs Claudio Incredible stuff. Bully Claudio is the best version of Claudio and Darby is one of the best recipients of an ass kicking you'll ever see. By far the best and most memorable part of this episode. I don't mind the result either, they're setting up OC being all alone when he challenges Mox and Darby can absorb beatdowns and losses without losing crowd support or dropping down the pecking order. I'd say he can do that better than pretty much anyone else on their roster, because even when he wins it's often after an almighty beatdown and through sheer refusal to die. I know "beat a guy down to build them back up" is often a terrible pro wrestling trope, but for Darby it's kinda his whole thing. It's so tragic that MJF is pure fast forward material when he should be and repeatedly has been, a reason to tune in. Maaaan I hope they somehow rehab him when this dogshit feud is over. Roddy having to respond to all the edgy shoot comments while still doing the "MAAAAX!" bit was so bloody weird. Still one of his better promos but what's the point really. I hate the Costco Guys so very, very much. Danny and Daddy Magic giving Perry a ride on the bus last week was way over the top, but it had just enough silliness that it still felt in the spirit of babyfaces hitting a deserving heel with a custard pie. Them kidnapping Perry and doing a gritty vignette in a warehouse just isn't in keeping with Danny or Daddy Magic's characters. The story of Danny Garcia trying to step up with Daddy Magic by his side is one of my favourite pro wrestling stories and it is so, so disappointing that it looks like he's finally going to get the title win off the back of such an unnecessarily convoluted build. Jericho/Ishii segment was bloody brilliant. How does the ROH title defense on Dynamite have a better go home segment than most of the Full Gear card? The slow walk up the stairs, "a little Japanese for ya there", comedy gold from start to finish. Jericho does have a flair for comedic timing and physical comedy that has never gone away. I just wish over the past couple of years he realised that's the biggest thing he still has going for him. Could have been an absolute delight to have him around doing low stakes silly fun like this to brighten up the shows. Such a shame. Once again I'm loving the Julia Hart vignettes. Always found her duo with Brody King to be an oddly sweet pairing, so I liked him doing the narration reminding her who she is. As I mentioned before, above all else I just appreciate a return being hyped up this much. Happy to see Jamie Hayter given a feud, though it's babyface vs babyface as it stands and I don't want either of them to lose. Hayter's new look and the Wembley return were amazing but other than that she's been very cold and I'd love to see her given more shine. Orange Cassidy vs Wheeler Yuta Good match. The Death Riders/OC/Mox build has lost a lot of steam but (and I appreciate I'm in the minority here) I *am* still invested in the battle for Wheeler Yuta's soul and this was an interesting chapter of that story. OC trying to win quickly with wrasslin', Yuta out there trying to seriously injure one of his previous mentors under orders from his worst mentor yet. OC gradually getting more angry and violent as it went on was good stuff too. Post match was weird as they tried to do "babyface left laying" *and* "babyface standing tall" at the same time and it didn't have the impact of either. I liked the beatdown and the defiant lazy kicks, but then him posing at the end didn't feel very triumphant when it was only because his friends had rescued him. I can see why people were very down on this episode of Dynamite. Not much of it was offensively bad, it was all just cold and flat and was overall a detriment to my excitement for Full Gear, which for a go home show is pretty unforgivable. Rampage 22/11 Spoiler SIKIPPED: Juice Robinson vs Butcher Dark Order vs Conglomeration QT Marshall/Big Boom AJ Official Full Gear weigh in. Absolutely not. Mina Shirakawa/Mariah May vs Harley Cameron/Nyla Rose AEW don't do nearly enough women's tag matches. Also hadn't occurred to me before seeing them together here, but Nyla Rose/Harley Cameron would be a hilarious double act. Fun match. Some silliness and comedy to start and then a sprinty closing sequence built around Mina's hot tag. Thunder Rosa promo promoting an all-lucha Rampage special for next week, including the return of Hechicero! Sounds good to me. More importantly, she's interrupted by Harleygram! I had seen this multiple times before watching the episode but it still made me laugh again. What a treasure she is. AEW Full Gear 2024 Spoiler AEW Full Gear 2024 Pre-Show Deonna Purazzo vs Anna Jay Holy shit, Deonna Purazzo having a match. Fairly standard TV match, another solid outing from Anna Jay though, who is doing her best with this post-Stardom push. Purazzo doing the technical/arm work stuff and Anna fighting against both that and constant interference from Taya Valkyrie. Really awkward moment where Taya hit Anna with a spear at ring side and the ref was looking directly at it. He decided to eject Taya instead of the DQ. Schiavone said he'd used his discretion to let the match continue and eject Taya instead of calling a DQ. I could juuust about buy that at a push, but then Excalibur goes "Did the referee see the interference? Only he can answer that!" Of course he bloody did and nobody else was pretending otherwise. Surprised to see Deonna lose here. Anna is still being pushed to an extent post Stardom return, but seems odd for Purazzo to start this new thing and do all the vignettes and then lose her first match right away. It was a sneaky roll up when she had been in control though I guess. Buddy Matthews vs Komander vs Beast Mortos vs Dante Martin What a great line up for a pre-show scramble match. Entertaining little spotfest with a mad sprinty closing stretch, naturally. Mortos/Matthews is a tremendous pairing. Komander remains one of the most consistent performers on the roster for me. QT Marshall vs Big Boom AJ Morbid curiosity got the better of me. QT was at his best here. Perfect comedic heel foil. Bumping hard, milking everything, drawing as much heat as possible. AJ landed a number of big power moves and they all looked good. The crowd loved it. I hope I never see the Costco Guys ever again, but the NJ crowd were happy with this. The Rizzler is just grim to me. Americans do love getting unhealthily overweight children to dance for laughs. Main show Tag Titles: Private Party vs The Acclaimed vs The Outrunners vs House of Black OK this was one of Max's best raps ever if not the best. Ending with "everybody loves the best wrestler alive" made me go "oooh" out loud. Followed up by carelessly lobbing the mic in Bowens' general direction. The match was an average Rampage-main-event-level affair and this was mostly about the ongoing implosion of The Acclaimed. This story has been told very effectively so far and this match was the most overt they've been with it. Good tension, Caster being a right prick and even a tease of them having a fight in the middle of this, with the crowd chanting "Fuck you Caster" and begging Bowens to smack him. Private Party the least over of these four teams, which isn't great for the champs. Roderick Strong vs MJF The complete lack of interest in this feud was evident here. The crowd was not invested and there is no reason why they should be. The match was OK but nothing more than that. Finish felt anticlimactic as the match didn't really get out of first gear in terms of heat. These two in the right circumstances could put on a classic, but this was as forgettable as everything leading up to it. There was a post match with Cole and Kyle and zzzz...... Kris Statlander vs Mercedes Mone This one also suffered from a subpar build and initially did not have the people. I will never forgive or stop complaining about the booking of Kris Statlander. However, they refused to be denied and put on a 20 minute belter that had the crowd red hot by the end of it. Brilliant chemistry between these two, Statlander never disappoints but this was also Mercedes' best AEW performance to date, edging out the Willow match from Double or Nothing. There were a few iffy moments and the finish was sadly a bit messy and a tiny bit anticlimactic after an incredible final five minutes, but other than that she was brilliant. Vicious, scrappy, the facial expressions and temper tantrums were perfect. It's funny how promos seem so difficult but her in-ring character work seems effortless at times. Great near falls, some tremendous counters and reversals and steadily building heat with the throughline of Statlander's power advantage tempered by Mercede's persistent work on the knee. Loved this! Hangman Page vs Jay White I just love these two together, but once again this suffered for the mediocre build. A rematch from their excellent Wrestledream match but not much has been done to add any new heat or intrigue to it. It worked for me because of the chemistry they have and their in-ring storytelling, but the crowd was not particularly interested. I loved the finish so much. The perfect encapsulation of how, no matter what Hangman tries, Jay White will find a way to outfox him at the most crucial moment and remain one step ahead. Teased the finish from the last match, teased a different Jay White counter finish with the roll up on the Dead Eye, then White exploited Hangman's gameplan of going back to the leg when all else failed and turned *that* into the Bladerunner instead. Beautiful. Kyle Fletcher vs Will Ospreay Appreciated Ospreay coming out with the surly demeanour and declining to run the ropes for the "Ospreay! Ospreay!" bit of his entrance. Also made him look pretty bad ass when the crowd did their part of it regardless. Win Win. This was excellent and did the what it set out to do perfectly. Loved the more violent Ospreay, loved him fighting without an arm for much of this. A few too many kick outs towards the end as is the Ospreay big match way, but still this was heated, often spectacular and gripping to watch. Liked the Mariah/Mina segment a lot. Mariah smashing a champagne bottle over Mina's head was something I called aaaages ago, so was cool to see it turned on its head. Mina shattering the bottle was cool, as was the excellent visual of her all bloody and manic. In the same position as Mariah after the Toni turn but infinitely less happy about it. Danny Garcia vs Jack Perry It's such a shame this major chapter in one of my favourite long term AEW stories had so much shine taken off it by the silly build and the opponent he was up against. I am not as down on Perry in this role as some, but after the C2 run last year and the mostly great follow up, if the opponent here had been a Claudio-esque physically dominant bully type heel it would have been magic. Also the very silly build for this match meant that Daddy Magic on commentary had to address Nigel's very valid criticisms of their decision to KIDNAP Perry before they got onto the much better topic of last year's C2 and the long term story of Danny's growth as a wrestler. Once they got back on topic Daddy Magic was great here, and I loved the pre-match video with words from Mama Garcia. The match was solid, had a suitably dramatic closing stretch and I was invested enough in that long term story enough that I was still very happy to see Danny win here despite the last month or two being a fumble. Danny and Daddy Magic didn't have a big teary hug in the ring post-match though, which is unforgiveable to me. He didn't celebrate with Daddy Magic at all in fact. Insanity. Happy to see Garcia finally get the singles title win, but man it could have been something truly special and this wasn't it. Ricochet vs Takeshita Strange one this. They put on what could have been a hell of a match earlier in the night, or on a card which hadn't already seen Fletcher vs Ospreay. Instead it was largely met with crickets. It also doesn't help that Ricochet isn't an interesting babyface and, ultimately, Takeshita is miscast as a heel. He's also miscast as a midcard champion when he is a god damn superstar, but this is AEW. On top of THAT, the obvious move here was to do big man vs little man but for some reason they didn't. Instead they had this looong section of Ricochet getting his arse kicked in front of an unsympathetic crowd, then in the second half brought out the big guns and did waaay too many near falls given the lack of crowd investment. This should have been 12 minutes of Ricochet sticking and moving and doing mad aerial shit, with Takeshita periodically swatting him with the massive strikes or catching him with the big power moves. As I say, the same match in a different setting could be very well received, but this was not the time or the place and I have no idea why they went for this at this point in the show. Swerve vs Lashley Enjoyed this more than I expected to. They played to Lashley's strengths and I'm surprised people were down on his performance here. He played the big powerful monster who is smugly aware of what a big powerful monster he is, and he did so effectively. The crowd for this show was cold for so much of it, but this match garnered some heat, and Lashley can take some of the credit for that. Swerve, MVP and Nana were all great here too. I particularly loved Swerve's face when staring down MVP. Next level intensity, you love to see it. The stomp off the steps through the table was a magnificent spot. The dominant display and clean finish was brilliant for Lashley but I don't think it buried Swerve necessarily. Swerve had him rocked on multiple occasions and now has a better sense of what he's up against. This over-delivered for me and I'm up for the rematch. OC vs Moxley Belting main event this, these two are magic together. From the opening bell it was a dirty, intense, hate-filled FIGHT and it was excellent. OC is a world class babyface underdog and Mox at his most sadistic and ultra-violent is the perfect foil. Wonderful timing for OC's attack to happen right in the middoe of he Roberts' "JYAAAAAAAHN". Completely caught me off guard but, again, I like how this feud has not only made OC more angry and violent but also more opportunistic and pro-active. He will strike first, he will get a cheap shot in, he will fight as dirty as Moxley. He's not above it because this motherfucker needs to be taken down and he is the guy shouldering that responsibility. The finish was a bit by-the-numbers heel stable screwjobbery, but the HUGE pop for Willow was one of the highlights of the show. She's the best. Hangman's reasoning for being out there being slightly ambiguous was really intriguing stuff. He is sort of working with Christian, but deep in his Cowboy heart does he know he should be leading the charge against the Deathriders? Again, the pop for him sort of saving OC was amazing. We are all so ready for Hanger's redemption. The car stunt was hokey buuuut I like maniac Darby shouting obscenities and screaming at "JOOOOHN!". If I could buy anyone risking maiming themselves by torpedoing into Moxley with a car, it would be Darby, so I'll allow it. A good show overall. Mercedes/Stat was wonderful, Ospreay/Fletcher and the main event both tremendous as well. I could happily watch Hangman and Jay White go half a dozen more times, I absolutely love them together. Very chuffed to see Danny Garcia get the big PPV singles title win even if it wasn't how I envisioned it going down. I also enjoyed Lashley/Swerve far more than I thought I would, that was the surprise hit of the show for me. The other matches weren't too memorable or exciting to me, though nothing particularly bad. However, for a crowd of 10,000, the lack of heat for much of the card was definitely an indicator of how rough the build was and how some of the creative right now is not hitting. Dynamite 27/11 Spoiler Dynamite 27/11/24 Effortless quality promo from MVP to open the show, handling previous current and future business and putting emphasis on Lashley's big win over Swerve. Continental Classic: Mark Briscoe vs Shelton Benjamin While I don't disagree that interference specifically being forbidden in one tournament per year is a very silly thing to say logically, I do love the different flavour it provides these matches. This version of Mark Briscoe vs this version of Shelton Benjamin is an intriguing match to me on paper, and I like the guarantee that we'll see it uninterrupted. A fine match it was too, world class underdog Briscoe against this newly monstrous incarnation of Benjamin was just as much fun as I hoped it would be. I love me some Continental Classic. Was geninely surprised when Kamille quit on Mercedes, thought they might continue the weekly humiliations for a bit longer. Jericho vs Ishii Similar to the Cardona match at Final Battle, if this had been a tight 7-8 minutes it would have been fine. The opening had the people, the closing stretch had the people. Chops and strikes into bombs into finish would have been decent. Don't get me wrong, it's still extremely precious time on the show that could have gone to any of the 50 under-used acts they have on the roster, but Jericho's delusion that he can still do these 15 minute singles epics made it much, much worse. Attempting to recapture the magic of a well received match from two years ago with the handicap of Jericho's stock being in the toilet and Ishii so over-exposed and they went LONGER THAN BOTH OF THE CONTINENTAL CLASSIC MATCHES ON THIS SHOW. What the fuck man. Swerve/Caster segment was fantastic. Babyface taking the loss with dignity and vowing to bounce back pretty much always works for me, and using the newly heel Caster to give him a bit of heat back was inspired. It's interesting that they've turned Caster heel BEFORE the inevitable split with Bowens. I'm enjoying Caster a lot in the role, but curious to see how they do the split without Bowens looking like an idiot for not seeing it coming. The contrast in back to back segments with Swerve and Hangman was so funny. Renee goes to Swerve "at Full Gear you suffered the most brutal loss of your career" and Swerve does a brilliant sort of wince/nod of acknowledgement combo, like he doesn't enjoy hearing it but can see why she would say that. Tony goes to Hangman "at Full Gear you lost to Jay White" and has to stand a few feet away and clarify he's "just stating the facts" in case Hangman murders him for it. Love it. Hangman's stuff about being world champion if the Christian cash-in on Mox had succeeded felt like it was missing a few steps, but other than that this was another stellar Hangman promo. Just a phenomenal character. Also for the sickos, he continued to sell the leg for the entire segment, and sold it a little bit worse after Yuta attacked him. What a guy. White and Hangman getting in the mix with Moxley and co. heats things up a bit. Helps with the issue of, aside from OC/Darby, the Deathriders mostly terrorising lower carders and jobbers and being ignored by the other key players. Hangman declaring that his focus is fully back on the world title was great to hear. Continental Classic: Claudio vs Ricochet Disappointed they were both thin-skinned enough to let the bald chants through them off here. I do get that it must be annoying if a crowd is determined to do their own thing. However, there were moments where they did something so impressive or put together a cool enough sequence to get the crowd into things, only to then stop entirely or directly acknowledge the chants, which obviously encouraged them to start again. It was a shame as I liked this match up on paper and there were flashes of some amazing chemistry between them. Ricochet's speed and high flying against Claudio's raw power and ability to swat/catch high flyers. If they had just powered through this could have been excellent in spite of the crowd. Short and sweet Callis/Fletcher promo. Both sounded good. Similar to MVP, putting some emphasis on the massive victory and setting out what they want to do next. Good stuff. Oh nooooo it's story time with Adam Cole bay bay. Poor Kyle. Conglomeration Kyle was the most I've ever enjoyed him as a character and now he's doing this shit. Not only is the feud ice cold, but they both look like such utter losers continuing to jump through hoops to fight MJF. Why is he allowed to keep refusing to come to work? Why am I thinking about this at all? The crowd barely registered a murmur when these two chumps declared for the battle royal. Nobody cares. Jamie Hayter vs Queen Aminata LOVE this match up on paper, what perfectly matched opponents. Also happy to see Hayter in a match generally, she hasn't wrestled nearly enough since coming back. This was loads of fun. Scrappy, hard hitting, felt like a struggle for the duration and they had some lovely back and forth sequences of counters and reversals towards the end. It's a shame the Hayterade has had to be changed to not be exactly the same as The Rainmaker. The new version still looks impactful, but the beauty of the ripcord clothesline is how seamlessly you can get into it/out of it and weave a closing stretch around it. The new variant doesn't lend itself as well to that, so the finish here felt a little anticlimactic despite the match being an enjoyable slobbernocker. I'm eager for Hayter to get into the hunt for one of the titles but I expect to be waiting a while. At least she has the feud with Julia coming up to give her something to do. Mina/Mariah segment was tremendous! One of the rare instances of the dreaded shaky cam being an asset because it made sense. It was a static camera set up for an interview but it got rocked in the chaos of the surprise attack. Mariah looked so villainous stood in the shadows at the end of this too. Really effective, and again must give props to Mina for doing so much speaking in her second language. Continental Classic: Darby Allin vs Brody King Ahh what a consistently excellent pairing this is. Was thrilled to see them in the same CC block and they of course delivered another belter. Really loved Brody's disbelief that even a pre-injured Darby is as hard to kill as ever. The cannonball taking out the audio was a brilliant happy accident as well, Brody flying at the guard rail and the immediate cut to green was awesome. Also good timing that the audio came back in time for Darby's rally at the end, easily the loudest the crowd had been all night. Brody stopping the attack from Claudio was a lovely moment, wonderful to hear the crowd being so into it as well. Better episode than the ones leading into Full Gear. The CC matches add some guaranteed strong matches with clearly defined stakes, enjoyed Hayter/Aminata, seeing more real characters interacting with the Death Riders (Hangman/Jay White/Brody) feels like a step in the right direction too. Jericho and the Cole/MJF bollocks remain the major blights on the show. Rampage 30/11 Spoiler Rampage 30/11/24 Thunder Rosa vs Harleygram Harleygram not getting a televised entrance is criminal. Other than that this was delightful. Particularly loved the double unmasking and the "holy shit" chant for the first one. Top Flight and Andretti vs Mascara Dorada/Atlantis Jr/Shibata What a whacky team that is to counter act the dullness of Top Flight. Slow start but turned into a fun little sprint by the end. I do enjoy Dorada's flashy high flying even if he is a bit sloppy at times. Nick Wayne promo on Hook. Sounded pretty good. The Beast Mortos vs Serpentico Very violent extended squash. I'm always going to enjoy Mortos destroying someone, but there had to be something better for him to do on the lucha libre special Kamille has been murdered backstage. The follow up to her standing up for herself is an untelevised backstage attack on Rampage of all the shows. Not looking good for her at all. Komander vs Hechicero Now THIS is a Rampage main event. Hell yeah. Delightful match, Hechicero a joy to watch every time and Komander never misses for me these days either. Lovely llave grappling at the start, could watch Hechicero do that stuff all day. A testament to how strong a babyface Komander is that the crowd went from 50/50 to rallying behind him. Typically flashy and spectacular comeback from him and a suitably dramatic closing stretch. Highlight was at the peak of Komander's comeback where he went for a big double springboard moonsault only for Hechicero to seamlessly catch him with a mad looking double arm bar. Wht a fun episode of Rampage, and a shining example of what this show could have been. You're not going to have CMLL visiting every week, but you could easily put on a fun variety hour like this with AEW's roster and it's a shame Rampage did that so inconsistently. Collision 30/11 Spoiler Collision 30/11 Continental Classic: Will Ospreay vs Juice Robinson Really fun scrappy little match this. Ospreay retaining his slightly more violent edge following the Fletcher match, highlighted by hitting Juice with multiple kicks to the face when Juice was caught up in the ropes. Juice makes every match feel like a struggle (in a good way) and remains one of the most over guys on the roster at all times regardless of how often he's used or what he's given to do. Good promo from Mariah, loved that they filmed it directly after the attack from Dynamite with Mariah still looking slightly unhinged. Like the twisted heel logic of this all being a favour to Mina. MXM and John Television vs Private Party and Mistico Schiavone called Private party "Quay and Zen" during this match, then kept saying "Quay" for a bit, and somehow Nigel let him get away with it. This was fine, MXM and TV are fun together, would have liked a bit more Mistico. Zay's hot tags are good. Anna Jay promo, not so subtly suggesting she's going after the TBS title because she's not allowed to challenge Mariah for the women's belt. She sounded OK, the content of the extended baseball metaphor leading up to "THE BIG SWING/TBS" was fine. Something still a bit off about how she enunciates in her promos though. Like when she said "Step up to the plate" she really hit the T in plate, which I can't imagine she would do if speaking normally. The delivery is improving but it's still obvious she's not speaking in her own voice. Continental Classic: Beast Mortos vs Kyle Fletcher Fletcher is growing into such a great heel. He's also reining in his old habit of trying to turn every match into a crazy 6-star sprint of madness. Taking his time, drawing heat, disrespecting the opponent. The people genuinely hated him here, it was excellent. Also fun to see Mortos working as the underdog babyface and doing that brilliantly too. Definitely a babyface run in Mortos whenever they want it. Another quality TV match from the CC, with Fletcher not taking Mortos seriously enough, then eventually being forced to do so and finding a higher gear to put him away. Fletcher is on fire right now, and so happy Mortos is in the CC so we get a bunch more featured singles matches from him against a variety of opponents. Mortos vs Okada is just a nutty pairing to me and I love it. Kyle/Kingdom backstage nonsense. Blegh. Outrunners vs Iron Savages Fucking Iron Savages, man. The worst. Thankfully a 2 minute squash, and just about worth it to watch Turbo Floyd body slam the giant in front of 200,000 in the Silver Dome. Max Caster promo. I'm fully on board with him as a fully fledged gobby prick heel. He's killing it. Hasn't spoken to Bowens since Full Gear because "Bowens was so mad after HE lost that match". Tremendous. Talking all kinds of smack about Swerve here, verbally signing his own death warrant. This is working for me already and they haven't even done the split yet. Hangman Page vs Wheeler Yuta Yuta coming out alone and the Death Riders not physically helping him at all was a nice touch. The match was solid, Hangman kicking his arse but Yuta a threat because of Hanger's existing leg injury. Hangman's face when goading the Deathriders to stop him breaking Yuta's neck after the match was incredible. The wheels are in motion for the redemption and face turn and it's going to be magical, but he's been so brilliant in this role that for any other character I'd also be preparing to mourn the loss of this heel persona. What's great about Hangman though, is that he'll take a lot of those elements with him even when he's back fighting on the right team, so we don't really have to say goodbye to this version of him, it's just another layer incorporated into one of the most fleshed out wrestling characters ever. Jay White's in an awkward position here. He's also against the Deathriders and is meant to be a babyface, but he has to keep fucking with Hangman a little bit, and that is unfortunately clashing with the Hangma redemptionn arc people want to cheer for. Him also attacking Yuta in a slightly less murderous way was a decent compromise but the crowd was a bit unclear how to react to him coming out. Hangman verbally unleashing the fury on Chris Daniels was also superb. Mina Shirakawa vs Leila Grey Squash match. It was fine. Mina is great, Leila is so very cold. Best bit was Schiavone condemning Mariah's cheap shot on Mina with the champagne bottle and Nigel immediately countering by saying that was an expensive shot. Short but sweet promo from Willow, thought the international superstar thing made a ton of sense and she looked and sounded great as ever. A human ray of sunshine. Hope she gets more to do once Wrestle Dynasty is out of the way. Continental Classic: Daniel Garcia vs Kazuchika Okada Danny Garcia vs The Rainmaker himself with Daddy Magic on the mic, I was always going to enjoy ths one. Another lovely slow burn Okada match with Danny growing in poise and threat as it goes on. Okada not taking him seriously at first, then trying to scam his way out via count outs and shenanigans, then by the end hanging on for dear life and quite literally saved by the bell. Great stuff this, highlight was Danny on the outside being helped to his feet by two young fans in the front row, what a brilliant visual. Loved the progression for Garcia here, last year's C2 losing every match until the last one, this time going to a time limit draw with the favourite to win the block. Much like last year's C2 season TV episodes, I'm quite easily pleased by these. Quality tournament matches broken up with some lighter tags and squashes. Also fascinated to see where Hangman goes next. Edited February 15, 2025 by JLM Quote
Olly1984 Posted February 15, 2025 Posted February 15, 2025 Another cracker of an episode. AND 2 women's matches!! And Willow(albeit very brief) too. Said it before but the women's division has a fuck ton of amazing talent. Megan Bayne looks another one to watch, whoever said she had a cock on her robe though has made it impossible not to see it now????. But I now need a Bayne, Statlander, Nightingale and Hayter match..... In fact would love to see some kind of Continental Classic for the women's division, they have plenty of talent for it. Quote
Paid Members Kamran Posted February 15, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 15, 2025 (edited) AEW Grand Slam Australia - Saturday 15th February *Definitely not a PPV* Poster: Card: AEW Women's World Championship: Mariah May (c) vs. "Timeless" Toni Storm Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega vs. Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita AEW Continental Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Buddy Matthews Brisbane Brawl: Jay White and Cope vs. Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli AEW TBS Championship: Mercedes Moné (c) vs. Harley Cameron AEW Road To: Grand Slam Australia Edited February 15, 2025 by Kamran Quote
Paid Members Kamran Posted February 15, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 15, 2025 Match Posters Quote
Chili Posted February 15, 2025 Posted February 15, 2025 (edited) I'm not even joking, Tony Khan likes his licensed music, so please you mad billionaire, have this beauty as the shows official song. Edited February 15, 2025 by Chili Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted February 15, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 15, 2025 6 hours ago, Kamran said: *Definitely not a PPV* Obviously, it's 12 matches short! Impressive that they've got the roster to have an Aussie or Kiwi in every match. The start time in the US is about 11pm. Should have a good lead in though. Be interesting what they put before the biggest audience, would assume Mariah/Toni or Kenny & Ospreay. Quote
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted February 15, 2025 Posted February 15, 2025 If it ends with May/Storm then you KNOW the title is changing hands. They did it at All In, so they'll do it again here. All In Texas will be the rubber match I think. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted February 16, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 16, 2025 I really enjoyed that, in spite of not giving a crap about Buddy Matthews or Adam Copeland. Starting with Copeland - the match results has me feeling even more sure that he’s going to win the belt. I don’t care about Copeland as champ, but I also don’t care about Moxley at the moment, so it’s six-and-half-a-dozen for me. Harley/Mercedes was fun, but as talented as she is, it’s clear Harley still has a long way to go in ring. Mercedes winning was the right result. She’s a strange one in that in-ring, she’s one of the most consistent performers in the world right now - but outside of it, she’s one of the worst. The CEO gimmick is terrible; yet slowly but surely, she’s won me over based on her matches alone. At this stage I think it’s fair to say she’s been a very worthwhile signing for AEW. When she finally does lose that belt - if the title change is done right - it should be a defining moment for whoever defeats her. I’m really glad that Storm/May main evented - and I’m intrigued as to what they do with Storm next. Mercedes/Toni could main event a PPV, and I hope it does at some point. Toni’s one of my favourite characters in all of wrestling; she’s just so much fun. Who’s have thought when AEW signed Toni Storm that she would become the MVP not only for the women’s division, but arguably for the company as a whole. She’s great. Quote
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted February 16, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 16, 2025 Takeshita and Fletcher raising their hand together at their entrance was oddly endearing, like 2 young kids who had been rehearsing. Has Osprey been getting tanning tips from Adam Cole? He was looking an odd shade. Cracking match though, but a 'this is awesome chant even before the bell rang was a bit much. I dont know if it was a great sell job or if Omega was legit knocked a bit loopy for a bit. Harley should have been disqualified for using a foreign object. ? Decent match, a bit scrappy in places (but not a shock given Camerons experience). Though Mone needs a new finisher, it looks shit more often then not. Is Claudio a 40k fan? He's wearing purity seals and a facemask like a Space Marine. OK, I googled. He is a fan apparently. Jay Whites constant spitting/drooling while selling always makes me more uncomfortable than anything, even blood. Solid No DQ match, but i always find it odd that a wrestler agrees to face people from a faction in this sort of match without having backup. Obviously I get it for the story blah blah blah. Mathew's vs Okada was a pretty good match, despite the obvious winner. In fact I admit a couple of times I found myself think Buddy could actually be going over. Main event was a cracker. Though Toni Storms outfit seemed to be made of Terry Towelling. Luthor is stealing a living, gurning like my grandad with a lemon. Fair play to him. The finish being a roll up felt underwhelming, but it sets the scene for the rubber match I suppose. Quote
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted February 16, 2025 Paid Members Posted February 16, 2025 Terry Towelling is maxing his NXT debut next week I think Mackers. That crowd was hotter than Dave Meltzer's star distribution pen. Imagine a crowd caring enough about Edge to sing his theme like that in 2025. Remarkable. Only seen snippets so can't comment as a whole but what I've seen looked pretty good. Quote
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