AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[The King Of Swing]

If someone had told me a few years ago that both Toni Storm and Ricochet would both be entertaining, I'd have told them to lay off the crack. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

20 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I hope it's not something they try to incorporate going forwards. It was special that one time.

Pro wrestling has historically been great at showing restraint and not latching onto something which happened organically once and then milking the fuck out of it to the point of overdoing it, I'm sure it was a one off. ?

[JLM]

THE GREAT BACKLOGGENING: Volume 2. All of the December TV including the end of Rampage (and one of the best Rampages ever earlier in the month).

Just World's end to go and I'm finally in 2025! 

Dynamite 04/12

Spoiler

Dynamite 04/12

The little CC round up/recap thing was very cool and had a notably different visual style to it. Big fan of that, would definitely open every episode with some variant of it until the groups are over. 

Continental CLassic: Kyle Fletcher vs Shelton Benjamin

Belting opener. Fletcher has been a revelation of late. He's always been adept at the batshit videogame matches, but they achieved so much at the start here doing very little and I'm amazed by how good he is at that. I don't know if it's the opponents he's had, advice he's been given or if it's clicked in his head, but he seems to have matured ten years in the space of a few months. The Ospreay win is automatic excellent heat for him, but man is he ever milking it like a seasoned pro. Perfect match for Benjamin here, who also favours the slow burn start on this run. The heat built beautifully, they leaned into Benjamin being the default babyface, they both looked excellent. All of the commentators bounced off each other brilliantly here too despite the crowded four man desk. Finish was a great choice too, even more heat for Fletcher and a solid out for Shelton. 

No more Juice in the C2 is tragic! I actually like Komander getting the nod though, after his 2024 it's well deserved. 

Hook/Christian segment was simple and effective stuff, firmly on board for this feud. 

Mercedes promo was a special moment for me. It has annoyed me since the first time she said it that she says "There's a price to pay when you mess with MERCEDES Mone" instead of "There's a price to pay when you mess with Mone" which scans so much better. It may seem minor but it irks me every time. I even noticed in the hype video for Mercedes/Statlander at Full Gear that the editor spliced her promo together so she said it without the Mercedes. Here in this promo she said it correctly for what I believe is the first time. Huge. Absolutely huge. This was also a good promo! Cutting Renee off before her questions was great and her complete dismissal of the Kamille question was funny. Following up the excellent Full Gear performance with an improved promo, really 
feels like she's finding her groove.

MVP requesting interview time specifically to chew out Shelton for his failure was brilliant. When any other manager would be bringing up Fletcher's cheating, it set them apart that this is not their way. Shelton's response was excellent too. 

Battle Royal was largely dull and lacking in star power. Andretti and Rush eliminating Top Flight was mildly interesting, as was the sequence leading into their elimination. The problem wasn't the winners being obvious, but more how uninterested I am in O'Reilly vs Cole for the right to face MJF. Winter is Coming indeed. 

Cool little Julia vignette. Hayter being targeted for having her big Wembley comeback when Julia was on the shelf is decent reasoning.

Max Caster properly slayed me with his little pre-promo warm up. "Just let me do the taaalkin', best wrestler alive, best wrestler aliiiiive". Superb. Bowens' "This fuckin guy" look was also spot on. It's gone from arrogance to outright delusion from Caster now and it's thoroughly entertaining, what a wonderful transformation. Digging himself further into the hole completely rejuvenates the raps as well. Every line you just know he's making it ten times worse for himself. The match was AWESOME, exactly what it needed to be. Massive heat for Swerve, putting this mouthy little prick down with extreme prejudice like the irrelevant distraction he is, and partially exorcizing the big PPV loss demons. Revitalising performance, great business for both guys involved. I don't see it being the direction for quite a while, but whenever they put Swerve back in the world title mix I'm there for it. 

MJF promo had some substance to it and the token quip "jaundice infested" was 1000% warranted, so it didn't clang as much as previous weeks. Again though, Kyle vs Cole for the right to face MJF for the ring is a nope from me. I have seen MJF be infinitely better than this on multiple occasions, so I'm just impatiently waiting for him to move on to ANYTING ELSE. 

Cracking match frm Pac and Jay White. Jay a step ahead of Pac at every turn, loved the opening few minutes where Pac got dumped on his arse or out of the ring any time he tried to start offense. Yuta's nonsense made sure it was still a fight against the odds, and White got some great heroic moments towards the end, particularly the struggle to the ropes out of the brutaliser. This crowd was great for the whole show and they were nice and loud by the end of this one. 

Hangman is once again magic whenever he's on screen. Having him declare for the world title so he always has that default reason to be involved with Mox is great, as they can keep muddying the waters around his motivation. He's coming out with heroic timing and he's doing what could certainly be mistaken for Cowboy Shit, but was he just taking an opportunity to get his shot in on the current champion and he's not arsed about what Jay White and OC are up to. Really cool triumphant moment here with the big AEW chant. Looking back through the thread, I definitely agree with the criticism that this should 100% have ended the show. The big return, tweener Hangman, a potential uneasy 3-way alliance facing up to the Death Riders. I don't know how you could put that in the episode and NOT have it be the ending. 

Jamie Hayter at least mentioning in passing that she was right up at the top before her injury is something. I do wonder why she's been so low down the pecking order since her return. Again I don't mind the Julia feud in theory but I hate the idea of either of them losing it, ESPECIALLY Hayter, and as it stands she looks the most likely to. 

Skipped the Jericho bit. I already know all too well how that Cardona match went.  

Bandido vignette was cool. Still cannot BELIEVE they did his comeback on the ROH show. The injury was some horrendous luck but it doesn't excuse that decision. I've already seen ROH Final Battle, but seeing that they did vignettes for him on the actual AEW shows makes it more maddening. 

The Anna Jay/Penelope Ford package was good, but bizarre to air it for the first time with Anna Jay already in the ring for the match. Daddy Magic keeps calling both Anna Jay and Harley Cameron the most improved wrestler on the roster. I hope they don't find out, it'll be so awkward for him. The match had a very rough start, got a bit better in the second half. Giving this match even the tiniest bit of build during the show would have been nice, given the history between them shown in the hastily aired video package. Post match Mercedes was good again! She's doing it, she's doing the thing! 

The shot of Mina approaching in the background during Mariah's promo was excellent. It was like in Resident Evil 2 where the first licker scurries past the window. Excited for their match. 

Continental Classic: Brody King vs Claudio Castagnoli

Entertaining big man battle here. Claudio trying to neutralise the arm against a fellow strong man was an interesting wrinkle, as was Brody working from underneath as a sympathetic babyface for most of it. As much as I don't like book ending the show with screwy finishes in BOTH C2 matches, this one made as much sense as Fletcher's in the opener, so I will allow it. 

Better than last week's episode. More Hangman developments, some quality C2 matches, Pac vs Jay White was great. Swerve and Max Caster was my highlight of the show though, huge win for everyone involved there. 
 

Rampage 06/12 - Best Rampage of the year? 

Spoiler

Rampage 06/12/24

Praise be to the C2 for providing this STACKED episode of Rampage

Continental Classic: Mark Briscoe vs Kazuchika Okada 

Loved this match! Briscoe starting out at Mark Briscoe pace, and any time he was able to up the tempo it looked like Okada might be in trouble. Okada of course playing the spoiler, cutting him off, stalling, taking any available opportunity to slow the match down to a crawl. Eventually after realising Briscoe is going to keep firing up and will not let him win via time limit draw this time, Okada steps up his own intensity in the closing minutes and puts our hero away. Really fun clash of styles, nice to see Okada showing he COULD do sub-15 minute snappy TV matches, he just chooses not to because he's a dick. Also liked all four announcers emphasising Okada being the greatest tournament wrestler because the pace he's able to set is ideal for both his physical and mental stamina.

SKIPPED the Jericho/Cardona stuff. 

Continental Classic: Daniel Garcia vs The Beast Mortos

Solid back and forth match here, nothing spectacular ufortunately. The crowd was either 50/50 or outright pro-Mortos for it, which made Garcia playing the little man and trying to draw a sympathy a bit awkward. Also didn't like that "set guy up on chair, take ages to run at him, guy on chair counters with a drop toe hold" was used as the turning point in back to back matches. Still, these two had decent chemistry and I'd watch them go again. Great to see Garcia with such a strong start to the C2, though I do hope Mortos doesn't end the thing on 0 points, he had a stellar 2024 and deserves better than that. 

Taya Valkyrie and Deonna Purazzo killed some jobbers. All these weeks of vignettes and they don't have branded or matching gear or any double team moves for this thing of theirs. Disappointing. 

Continental Classic: Komander vs Ricohet
 
Well this was a delightful spotfest, elevated to be more than that because Ricochet leaned into playing heel and Komander is an excellent underdog babyface. Brilliant chemistry, great heat for Komander's hope spots and high spots. I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot, but Komander has improved so drastically since signing with AEW and he doesn't miss for me these days. It was also dazzling how fast and fluid he was in this one; he even seems to have ironed out some of the hesitation and sloppiness on his more ambitious stuff. He will still stumble from time to time doing the superhuman acrobatics, but the consistency on that front keeps improving as well. 

Ricochet was great here too, embracing his role as the bully and putting a little bit of "fuck you buddy" behind everything he did. My favourite bit was him denying my least favourite Komander spot. The one where he holds the opponent's hand and does way too many bounces on the ropes into an arm drag or rana or whatever. He doesn't do that many moves while the opponent has to stand there like a lemon any more, but that one persists. Ricochet slapping him mid way through it and then one-upping him with an incredible looking springboard kick to the back of the head was a bloody brilliant spot. Daddy Magic "I've been waiting for someone to do that to Komander for WEEKS" was the perfect call too.

What an episode of Rampage that was. A good C2 match between Garcia and Mortos book ended by two belters. Once again, I bloody love me some Continental Classic. 
 

Collision 07/12

Spoiler

Collision 07/12/24

Continental Classic: Darby Allin vs Komander

What a delightful match up this is, and one you certainly wouldn't see otherwise. An extremely rare instance of Darby not being massively out-sized and overpowered by the opponent. Darby going to his ground game and playing the role of the more experienced head AGAINST the underdog was really cool to see. Eventually Komander's pluckiness and lucha things wind him up enough that he unleashes the down and dirty scrappy Darby instead and it becomes your typically excellent Darby Allin fight to the death. He really is one of the best in the world and he makes it pretty much impossible to have a bad match against him. Komander working the injured hip and getting a little more scrappy himself was great to see. Particularly liked the flying stomp from the apron to the floor, which is a extremely uncharacteristic move. Bowling shoe ugly offense from Komander because Darby forced it out of him, you love to see it. Incredibly fun and unexpected pairing. Liked the finish too, with Darby's wily veteran experience winning out, going back to the ground game out of nowhere and surprising the less experienced opponent with a completely nutty looking pinning combination. Such a fun pairing, enjoyed this a lot. 

Hobbs vs Takeshita sounds wonderful, though I hope there is some follow up for Hobbs this time when he inevitably loses it.

Willow Nightingale vs Serena Deeb

This was a solid match, Willow very over of course, but sadly Deeb is not so this had spells where the crowd was almost silent. Honestly thought Deeb was good here too, putting Willow in all manner of nasty looking holds and helping her draw even more sympathy, but the result was a foregone conclusion and the crowd was just waiting for Willow to win. 

Thunder Rosa promo quite rightly bringing up she beat both Mariah and Mina last time she faced them. Nice bit of continuity at least. Rosa is in a bit of an odd spot living on the fringes of the women's division these days. 

Soo the first half of the Deathriders/OC bit I thought was excellent. Moxley promo was strong, particularly liked laying out the stuff Hangman will have to overcome within himself before he can be the guy again. I have said I don't like babyfaces walking into a multiman beatdown buuuut here it came across as a pretty damn bad ass act of defiance. OC doing his slow roll into the ring right in the middle of them, calling Mox's bluff about "taking him off the board permanently". Also thought "I can live without being AEW World Champion, but I can't live with YOU being AEW world champion" was a good line. Theeen they took him backstage and tried to actually do an on-camera murder as a backstage segment and it was completely stupid. 

The heel having a chink in his armour the babyfaces can exploit is a GOOD thing. OC pointing out that sure, they'll beat people down and scam people out of matches and they hold a lot of power in AEW right now, but at a certain point their talk is just talk. Mox even hints at that at times in his promos, like he's trying to convince himself no one is worthy and that the people stepping up to him ARE getting to him even though he keeps saying otherwise. Why they need to imply that he's not bluffing and WILL actually try to kill people is baffling to me. Instead of OC being a cool, defiant guy he was almost the "quote from man stabbed" meme. 

Continental Classic: Kyle Fletcher vs Kazuchika Okada

This was superb. Lovely to see a rare babyface Okada performance in AEW. I love his facial expressions, he is so good at conveying when he's in trouble, and then his growing determination to get back into the match. Another stellar performance from Fletcher too, he keeps getting better and better in this role. He has the rocket strapped to him right now and he is rising to the challenge astonishingly well. He always had the potential, but to see him putting it all together at this level so quickly is amazing. I loved the pace of this, and how they told the story Okada eeever so slowly working his way back into the match. Every little hope spot bringing him closer and closer to the comeback. Finally things swing in his direction, we get to the big dramatic climax and then of course that bastard steals it with a low blow. They're doing such a great job with Fletcher, where he's getting the wins and putting in the performances to back up that he *is* as good as he and Callis keep saying he is, but he is doing it as dishonourably as possible and drawing so much HATRED at the same time. Only thing missing here was Don Callis on the desk to lose his shit over another landmark victory for his man; Don has been excellent during Fletcher's rise. 

The Beast Mortos vs Aaron Solo

This was so weird. I appreciate a Mortos squash match don't get me wrong, but if this is meant to paper over him being a C2 whipping boy it ain't doing the job. 

Lio Rush finally ditching Top Flight is great. Not sure if taking Andretti with him is the play, but baby steps I suppose. In all seriousness splitting this lot up and turning Rush and Andretti heel is 1000% the right move. 

Mina Shirakawa vs Emi Sakura

The Queen returns! Fun match, big fan of both of these two. One iffy moment with Emi falling out of Mina's finisher. Not sure what the plan was as the match went for a good few minutes after this and had a completely different finish. Other than that though a good tune up match for Mina ahead of the Mariah challenge, and I will take a rare Emi Sakura sighting any time. The Mina/Mariah video package after this was very good. 

Continental Classic: Daniel Garcia vs Mark Briscoe

Wonderuflly wholesome pre-match face to face promo from these two. Great lads the pair of them, you hate to see either of them lose here. Briscoe's "sometimes I get down on myself and think 'I sure do suck at Continental classics'" was hilarious. Consistently one of the best promos in the biz. Daddy Magic on the desk, as is protocol. 

Cracking main event here. Managed to maintain heat for the duration despite being two babyfaces, and the crowd was about evenly split too so nobody lost out or became the heel by default. I liked how they started off all respectful and friendly, then mutually agreed to take the gloves off and go all out for the rest of it. Immediately added a ton of heat which kept up for the duration, and again prevented either of them from looking like the asshole for being too vicious. Great intensity, hard hitting, tough to call the result throughout and a pleasing win for Briscoe to get him off zero points. 

Another strong episode thanks to three C2 belters. The crowd reacted accordingly and did their best, just a shame it was a particularly small one for this episode. 
 

Dynamite 11/12 

Spoiler

Dynamite 11/12/24

OC/Jay White vs Moxley/Pac 

Nice hot match to open the show. OC's hot tag and the entire closing stretch was all electric stuff. Hangman's run in perfectly timed. I like him being positioned as a completely independent actor at the moment. Last time his attack on Mox was coincidentally timed to make him look like a hero, this time it made him the villain. Really making us all wait for that Hangman redemption but giving little tasters of it from time to time.

Bandido vignette! These are such silly fun. Again though, it's infuriating watching them with the knowledge that his return was on the ROH PPV and was a complete disaster. Regardless, Bandido is fucking awesome and I eagerly await his return to AEW proper. 

Hook's attack on Christian was tremendous. 

Continental Classic: Claudio Castagnoli vs Rodney from the Mean Street Posse

Oh dear Will, that 'do. I'm hoping it's all to set up him shaving his head to match Fletcher for the rematch. Really, really hoping. Cool start to this one with Ospreay starting the match at 100mph and Claudio having to work his way back into it. The announcers were great here too, saying Claudio was uncharacteristically winded towards the end of this, and Nigel saying that speaks to the pace Ospreay set at the beginning catching him off guard. Nigel has been outstanding during these CC matches, both in his comments on the matches themselves and how he's helping to weave together the story of the tournament as a whole. He's always had the quips, excellent heel justification and brilliant rapport with Schiavone in particular, but his sports-style analysis is perhaps an underrated strength of his and he's been on fire with that stuff for this tournament. This match was very good, obviously. A very strong TV match rather than an AEW PPV-level banger, but that's only because the bar is so high. 

Ricochet's promo with Renee might be the best I've ever heard from him. Carrying over the same obnoxious arrogance he showed glimpses of in the Komander match, rocking the suit and flashing the MVP card to hint at the turn. Looks like he's heading for the refresh he needs. It's already done wonders for Max Caster so I'm definitely into it. That "Ha HAAA!" thing is brilliant, what a dickhead. Renee's look to the camera at the end might have been the best moment of the whole episode. 

MJF has actually turned up for work. What a treat. 

SKIPPED: Cardona/Jericho stuff. 

Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly

I miss The Conglomeration. What are we doing here Kyle. I skipped to the end of this, I'm sure it was fine. The ending was incredibly dumb though. MJF tries to interfere, Cole kicks him so he can go back to fighting his best friend for the right to fight MJF. Kyle and Adam continue their in-ring fight, jumping through hoops for the right to get their hands on the guy who is currently on the floor five feet away from them. Please lord let this be over after World's End. 

Continental Classic: Brody King vs Ricochet

Ricochet notably doing much more heelish/semi-comedic selling. My favourite was him wailing "leave me alone!" when Brody was mauling him with chops on the outside. This was mostly Ricochet getting his ass kicked and making Brody look like a million bucks with the big bumps. Brody did indeed look awesome too, and is consistently a massive babyface with every audience. I really liked the finish, with Ricochet initially getting a bit lucky, then doubling down by using the buckle again, then doing the emphatic hitting his finisher twice thing as if he was putting the cherry on top of an emphatic victory. Big fan of this direction for Ricochet. Another quality C2 match here. Hasn't been a dud among them so far and I don't expect there will be.

"Private Party coming to you live from the vault, and what happens in the vault, stays in the vault". Probably shouldn't be broadcasting live from the vault then eh? What happens in the vault is on national television, you silly  gooses. Top Flight pointing out that Rush and Andretti have zero tag team victories was fair. Rush's retort of "remind me who got eliminated from the battle Royal" was less good. Errrm all four of you did. Kyle and Cole won. Silly gooses everywhere in this segment. That said, I like Lio Rush as a heel and, again these four split up and fighting each other is less dull than the four of them as a unit, so it's a step in the right direction. Neither team has any business being in a number one contender's match for the tag titles, but the tag titles sadly remain an afterthought, so here we are. 

Once again I enjoyed Mercedes doing a backstage bit. The stuff about Anna being 26 and still a rookie compared to what she'd done at 26, comparing Anna's trip to Japan to her own success in Japan. All solid material. She loses points for putting the "Mercedes" back in the catchphrase. I really thought we had it for a moment there. Other than that though I will say I'm converted. Mone's promos are doing the job perfectly for the character she's playing. 
Anna's retort was decent but, as ever, sounded a little bit forced and not in her own voice. The promos she did after her Stardom losses where she was essentially out of character were the best she's ever sounded, it's a shame she feels the need to do wrestler promo delivery. Has a case of the Zigglers, bless her. 

Mina Shirakawa vs Mariah May

Thoroughly entertaining main event. These two of course have excellent chemistry and the crowd was hot for Mina. They went overboard with the cuts to Thunder Rosa in the crowd, to the point they almost missed Mariah's surprise headbutt to set up the finish. 

Great reaction for Toni's return. Loved how she was doing the almost Copeland-esque welling up as if it was a surprise debut, and of course didn't seem to be upset with or even acknowledge Mariah at all. Mariah's reaction was also brilliant. Initial shock at hearing the theme, then trying to work out what the hell this is. 

Another solid episode. Enjoyed the main event and obviously happy about the huge return/set up for the next chapter of the brilliant Toni/Mariah saga, another couple of quality C2 matches, a hot tag opener with the heavy hitters. Again it's only really the Cole/MJF and Jericho stuff that's completely missing for me. 

Rampage 13/12

Spoiler

Rampage 13/12

SKIPPED: Matt Cardona vs Bryan Keith
         Deonna Purazzo vs Jobber

Harley Cameron vs Toni Storm

Harley to camera going into commercial "We'll be right back if this IDIOT REMEMBERS WHO SHE IS!!!" Outstanding. Toni was so good here, doing vanilla babyface rookie, getting beaten up for most of it before rallying back. Best spot of the match was Toni calling for the hip attack in the corner, coming sooo close to doing the Timeless pose but then switching to devil horns. What a lovely little touch that was. This is brilliant. 

Statlander promo. She's got the winner of Anna Jay vs Mercedes. Not surprised they're going to Mercedes/Statlander II after the banger at Full Gear. 

Takeshita/Lance Archer vs Hobbs/Mark

What a beefy main event! Callis family promo beforehand, Kyle Fletcher wearing the worst sunglasses I have ever seen. Lenses shaped like clouds with little rain drops dangling from them. Sensational heel attire. Always think of that Regal interview where he said he saw some guy wearing a shirt with his initials sewn into it, thought to himself "what a tosser" and then immediately added that to the William Regal character. These sunglasses are that.

Pleasingly thwack heavyweight clash here, mostly built around two Hobbs hot tags and Davis taking a hell of a beating. The little glimpses of Hobbs and Takeshita were tantalising, the finish and post-match were very effective to heat up Hobbs before the World's End match. 

No C2 matches to make this a Super-Rampage, but the Toni Storm stuff and a main event which could have been on Dynamite made it worth the watch. 

Collision 14/12:

Spoiler

Collision 14/12

Darby/Will backstage chat was cool just to see these two interact. Nice to see notable people being directly confronted about why they're ignoring the Deathriders, though it feels a bit late!

The Collision cold open promos are back! Love that, not sure why they ever went away. "Bitch Mortos" How DARE you sir. 

Jamie Hayter vs Willow Nightingale

What an absolute belter this was. I expected it would be, but we haven't seen Hayter in a proper substantial match since the injury. Here she reminded everyone why she's one of the best and should be at top of the card. Same goes for Willow of course and they were perfectly matched here. Similar to Briscoe/Garcia, I like how it started off cordial and then gradually got more and more intense and aggressive. They also told the story of them being incredibly evenly matched so well, to the point that I want the rematch immediately and Jamie wasn't diminished by the clean loss. Also had a couple of brilliant high spots towards the end to make it feel a bit more special than a standard TV match, with Willow busting out the lionsault and Hayter's amazing hanging German suplex. Love both of these two, happy to see Hayter hasn't lost a step, Willow is always excellent, both of these two should be higher up the card and in featured roles. Also came away from this thinking I need to see Hayter vs Statlander very badly. 

Julia return was very cool. Happy to see her back. This women's division is stacked. 

Continental Classic: The Beast Mortos vs Kazuchika Okada

This match up is AEW as hell and I love it. What a pairing. Nigel and Tony big up Mortos' "big win" against Aaron Solo that was "just as important" as a Continental Classic match. There's selling the product as an announcer and there is outright lying. Come on, lads. Fun match this. Mortos again getting good underdog babyface heat. It'll be a bit strange when he goes back to LFI after this as the people clearly want to cheer for him and I don't blame them. Excellent closing stretch to this one, had the crowd eating it up and the Beast but up a very valiant fight before the inevitable result. 

Toni Storm vs Shazza Mckenzie

Toni Storm is just outstanding. She's not doing the old gimmick, she is very much doing someone playing the role of her old gimmick. It's all a tiny bit hammy and forced just to let you know it's not a full on amnesia/split personality thing. At this point it's not clear if it's another breakdown similar to the one that created Timeless Toni or a more calculated ploy, but it is definitely a performance. The overwhelmed "Toni Storm is ALL ELITE" promo was a fantastic touch. 

I think Mariah's promo was her best one to date, and I'm not as down as some on her promos generally. So much fire here. Perfect use of swearing too, adding a ton of weight to her bit statements affirming her status as the queen of the division, but also ultimately revealing that she is VERY concerned about Toni Storm and whatever the hell she's up to. 

Thunder Rosa also cut one of her best promos, which was doubly impressive when it she had to do it in two parts either side of another phenomenal piece of work from Toni interrupting. In this one Toni noticeably did the Timeless Toni voice when she said "nice to meet you" to Schiavone before quickly switching back to rocker Toni. 

Lio Rush/Action Andretti vs Top Flight

It really speaks to Top Flight's stagnation that Action Andretti of all people has been able to leapfrog them and move onto something more interesting. At least Top Flight had nice looking new gear here. Leila Grey also looked amazing. Instantly a fan of the Rush/Andretti team because they were constantly talking to each other throughout the match, calling out where the opposition team members were, moving each other into advantageous positions or out of dangerous ones. I love FTR and GYV for that as well, any tag team doing that has already won me over. They told the story of Rush and Andretti being more focused, motivated and ultimately ruthless very well.  The Leila injury spot of course highlighted that perfectly, with Top Flight choosing concern for their friend over the tag title shot and Rush/Andretti choosing the other path. The only slight issue here is that the Leila Grey/Top Flight pairing has never really been explained or made much sense. Would have had more heat if we cared about the relationship at all. Still, this was a fun match and did a great job of establishing the Rush/Andretti team. 

Statlander vs Jobber

I loved that Stat's response to Tootie Lynn having way too much home town crowd support was not to brutalise like her like Athena would, but instead hold her in a vertical suplex for flipping ages. "Would you still cheer for your hometown hero if she was.. UPSIDE DOWN?" It worked perfectly too, held her up there until all the hometown cheer had poured out and everyone was back to admiring Kris Statlander as all rational human beings should. 

Komander/Orange Cassidy/Danny Garcia/The Outrunners vs The Premier Athletes/MXM Collection 

I reckon I had a pretty good idea of which team was going to win this particular pro wrestling match. This was excellent. Crowd pleasing feel good fun for the duration and the people were rabid for it. So much shine for all of the babyfaces, MXM always entertaining and, honestly, as bottom of the card heel foils I do rate the Premier Athletes. Sterling getting clattered is a guaranteed pop, Nese bumps like a champ, Woods is a big enough obstacle for a babyface to overcome. Can't fault them in this spot. Best bit was Komander doing the big rope walk dive and tagging out to OC along the way! Incredible. 

Continental Classic: Kyle Fletcher vs Mark Briscoe

The enduring visual of this match for me will be Mark Briscoe emerging from the crowd and being helped to his feet by a tiny little boy in the front row. Mark Briscoe in a nutshell right there. This was a sensational main event. You know the crowd loves a guy if they're gutted when he doesn't win by count out. Was thinking during this one how starkly it contrasts with the Death Riders. As much as Moxley would like to be, the real Arch Villain of AEW right now is Kyle Fletcher doing textbook pro wrestling heeling. He is arrogant, he cheats, he talks trash, he whines, he winds up the fans, he disrespects the crowd's favourites, he brags about wins over their beloved heroes. Mark Briscoe is the purest of pure babyfaces. Fighting against the odds, committed to not being a shithead, appealing to the people, casting himself AS one of the people. He doesn't cheat, he doesn't whine, he is confident but humble. 

They're both more than competent technically, everything they do looks great, Fletcher's offense is spectacular, Briscoe is an amazing brawler, that's all great. Ultimately though, this was a stellar main event because everyone wanted to see the underdog babyface to beat the heel and the whole match was built around that very simple fact. 

Don't get me wrong, I love an intricately crafted story with all the layers and beard scratchy cleverness, but yeah, the Deathriders angle is doing waaaay too much, the C2 is telling the simplest story imaginable and the C2 one is hitting so much harder. This prick is looking set to win the tournament and the people are mad about it and want someone to stop him. Beautiful. 

So, so chuffed to see Briscoe win this of course, the time limit draw tease and the callbacks to previous Fletcher scumbag wins were both superb touches to ramp up the drama at the end. Fletcher again a first rate heel, particularly loved him exiting in the ring and having a paddy in response to the "Ospreay's better" chants. He is milking everything for all it's worth, reveling in the hatred, the man is on fire right now, sky's the limit for him. 

 

Dynamite 18/12

Spoiler

Dynamite 18/12

Hangman/White/OC opening promo with Renee was superb. It's such a simple thing to do; open the pro wrestling show with your key players telling the story of the main event. It's simple, it's classic, it works, please do it. Genuinely laughed at Jay White's reaction to Hangman being summoned a la Joe Hendry. 

Same with the Ospreay/Darby Collision-style promos. Build the hype for the huge match right at the start of the show. Darby's "It's showtime" was a lovely promo. Perfect use of it, sums up how big a match Darby/Ospreay is and how it important it is to him without the need for him to say anything else. 

TBS Title: Mercedes Mone vs Anna Jay

Mercedes' entrance gear and ring gear were outstanding here, looked like an absolute mega star and quite the villain for plucky underdog Anna to try and overcome. Comfortably one of Anna's best AEW outings; with the right opponent she's improved enough to put on much more substantial and ambitious matches than she could have a year or so ago. Her strikes and particularly the Dangerous J kicks in the corner looked the best I've ever seen them in this match too. Mercedes deserves the lion's share of the credit for this one though. Drawing great heat early on, the pacing and structure of the match, the massive bumps she took for Anna's offense, the way she sold the panic of being caught in the Queenslayer. They legitimately had the people the second time this was locked in; they were all on their feet and you could see the wave of disappointment when Mercedes bit her way out of it. Great heat in the closing stretch, really solid TV match. Mercedes killing it on all fronts right now. 

FTR drawing the line at the poisoning is pretty funny. Break Chuck Taylor's neck? Sure, gotta send a message, more power to ya. Don't use the cleaning fluid though. I'd rather FTR were trying to be the best tag team in the tag team division, perhaps trying to win the tag team championships. 

MJF and Adam Cole did a segment there. Cool. 

Jamie Hayter promo was fine. 

Kenny Omega vignette was lovely stuff. 

Christian/Nick Wayne vs Hook/Shibata 

Cracking TV match this, pure and simple heel vs babyface tag team action. Love seeing the Hook/Shibata team back together, all we're missing now is Joe. Come back soon Joe. Monstrous performance from Shibata in this one, always a treat to see him in action. Christian was hilariously scummy as ever, Nick Wayne has tapped in to how punchable he is, Hook did a good job selling the arm and heroically fighting through the pain. Good stuff all round. 

Bandido vignette was very cool, shame it's building to the ROH return etc. etc. 

Good promo from Mariah May. I like her angle that the women's division is dead because she makes everyone else redundant. 

Ricochet getting punked by the Hurt Syndicate was an interesting twist. Very much enjoying this new direction for Ricochet so far. Obnoxious, weaselly, playing the hard man bully against a much smaller opponent in Komander but cowering in fear for most of the Brody King match. It does make sense that he's not Hurt Syndicate material, and acting like he already had the job only made it worse for him. 

Continental Classic: The Beast Mortos vs Shelton Benjamin

Yet another delightful-on-paper C2 match up. This was a lot of fun, starting at a faster pace than the usual Shelton match and gradually building the intensity. Shelton is that word personified on this run, he's incredible to watch. I keep repeating it but I am astonished at how brilliant he's be. Somehow rejuvenated after such a long career with multiple comebacks already behind him. Early highlight was him hitting the step up knee to Mortos on the ropes, sending the beast tumbling to the floor. Mortos often takes amazing bumps to the floor but it's usually off his ill advised monkey flip attempts. This was a much much better use of this particular talent. The last few minutes were tremendous, with Beast doing the Michael Myers sit up into Beast-up flurry, only for this to awaken Shelton's own beast mode which ultimately decided this. Poor Beast, man. Again, I don't know how he goes back to being a heel in LFI after this highly sympathetic C2 underdog run *AND* this post match beatdown. Maybe they're gonna lean into the people's inclination to cheer Mortos because he's so awesome. Simple and effective post-match to heat up Garcia/Benjamin and once again remind everyone what a stand up guy Mark Briscoe is. 

That POP for Swerve appearing! Loudest reaction of the night and he wasn't even in the ring. Again, this over-confident shit-talking weasel Ricochet is a huge improvement.

Toni Storm: Portrait of a Rockstar was fucking outstanding. Also lovely to see RJ getting to participate more directly in the story, he definitely deserves it. But yeah, phenomenal stuff. The overall deliberate hamminess of the "so-happy-to-be-here" wide-eyed rookie schtick is excellent, but again I particularly enjoy the little moments where the Timeless voice creeps back in mid-sentence. 

Continental Classic: Darby Allin vs Will Ospreay

A preposterously spicy match up for an episode of Dynamite. Holy shit. Speaking of which, Excalibur doing the bloody Draft Kings read during the opening stare down was completely ridiculous. Not so much letting a moment breathe as giving it the Deathriders bag treatment. 

That aside, god damn this match was something special. I knew it would be but it still had me bouncing around on my couch and, as is the barometer for televised pro wrestling I watch, made me startle my dog multiple times with my involuntary exclamations. I was on the edge of my seat rooting for Darby here. I was already losing it for the Scorpion Death Drop, then after that second climb for the double tap Coffin Drop, Darby roaring with determination and defiance, I was counting the 3 along with the people in the arena.

I had Danielson as my pick for 2024 wrestler of the year with Ospreay, Takeshita and Swerve as honourable mentions. Darby has to be up there as well, easily one of the very best in the world. It's almost a shame the insane bumps garner so much attention, because he is so much more than that. He fights to his size better than any wrestler I've seen, Schiavone's call that he wrestles every match like it's his last was so spot on. Not just because of how willing he is to put his body on the line, but the way he makes it feel like every match is the most important and most difficult fight of his life.

Haven't even mentioned the chemistry these two have either, and some of the signature Ospreay match sequences were up there with the most dazzling I've seen. The Code red countered into hidden blade into Storm Breaker going back into code red was utterly mindblowing. 

What a match. 

Hangman/OC/Jay White vs Mox/Yuta/Pac

Once again it's funny how Hangman keeps doing things with heroic timing without being heroic. Here he comes back into the match late when the babyfaces are in big trouble, but they're only in trouble because he stormed out and he only came back to try and get his shot at Moxley. Good showcase for Jay White here, hanging in there admirably against the odds. The 4-way at World's End only really interests me because I'm intrigued to see what Hangman does. Other than that the C2 is waaay more interesting than the world title picture at the moment. 
 

Rampage 20/12

Spoiler

Rampage 20/12

SKIPPED: Rush and Andretti vs Jobbers

Takeshita/Brian Cage vs Hobbs/Mark Davis

Another satisfyingly beefy heavyweight tag battle. Mark Davis is definitely a bit of a spare part in AEW right now but he does a great job in these big hoss fights. Hobbs looked great, Takeshita looked great, more fun teases for the World's End match. Nice to get another one of these as they're much more substantial than typical Rampage undercard fare. 

Statlander almost apologising to Willow was a sweet little moment but mostly just highlighted how shitty the booking has been there. A throw away moment on Rampage after Statlander has already turned back babyface independently of Willow. This should have been one of Stat's steps on the road to redemption, instead we're doing it all backwards. 

Harley promo. Not knowing how to respond to Ford offering an alliance and defaulting to "feel the wrath of Harley Cameron!" was very endearing. 

Harley vs Willow

Another solid performance from Harley. They're definitely leaning into her being a plucky underdog looking for the first win at this point. She's showing a lot of grit in these losses and the commentators are giving her credit for it. Post-match Statlander saving WIllow but not being ready for the hug was, again, a story beat that should have happened months ago. I still do want them to hug it out but maaan what a waste of this story. 

Rosq/May video package was very cool, love that they had Renee do the voice over for it too! 

Double J back next week! Yes! 

Continental Classic: Brody King vs Komander

Boy oh boy did Komander get his arse kicked for the first half of this one. Almost felt bad watching it. Brody not taking him remotely seriously, swatting away any attempt at a hope spot and chopping the ever living piss out of him. Komander's bumping and selling are both tremendous, so by the half way point when he started to show signs of life, it was hard for the crowd NOT to get behind him. There was a brief "this is awesome" chant, but more importantly there were "Komander" chants as he fired up and tried to pull out the upset. Komander hitting the Cielito Lindo onto Brody's back but not getting the cover because he physically couldn't roll the big man over was a brilliant spot, absolutely heartbreaking for the lad. Yet another cracking TV match courtesy of the Classic. 

Very enjoyable Rampage that. 
 

Collision 21/12 

Spoiler

Collision 21/12

Jesus Christ. Opening the show with the Costco guys in the ring with a graphic advertising an MJF/Cole face to face. Ewwwwww. Could feel the brain cells dying one at a time as these turds ran down the card houting BOOM over and over again. I hate them so very much. It's a good thing it's Continental Classic season, so the card itself made me perk up a bit. 

Continental Classic: Will Ospreay vs Ricochet

Wonderful heat from the Hammerstein Ballroom crowd as you'd expect. Ricochet getting TP'd was hilarious. He did a good job leaning further into the heel persona for the duration of this one. Match was good fun of course. Hard to follow the Darby match for Ospreay but this was still a thoroughly entertaining and action packed opener. Good heat for the ending too, with Ricochet once again taking the scumbag route. 

Skimmed through the Cole/MJF face to face. MJF had some zingers. Cole waffled back at him. Best bit was MJF saying it ends at World's End. It better bloody had do. 

Statlander/Mercedes 2, sign me up. 

Short and sweet promo from OC. The four way definitely feels like a filler defense for Moxley, but I am intrigued by the directions coming out of it for the other three. 

Penelope Ford vs Kris Statlander

This was thrown out cold and took a while to grab the fans, but the second half they moved up a gear and ended up being very good. Easily Ford's best outing since her comeback, she has good chemistry with Statlander and took some crazy bumps. Very hot closing stretch with Statlander's flurry of deadlift Germans and the massive poison rana from Ford. My favourite bit of the match was Ford going for the big flying knee drop onto the apron for the second time, Statlander dodging, then hitting a monstrous shotgun dropkick launching Ford from the apron to the floor. Good showcase for Statlander and a very solid showing from Ford too. 

Fucking TWO Costco guys in-ring bits. TWICE they had them on. Gross. 

Another brilliant Toni appearance. "How did you know???" re: the matching tattoo with Deonna was hilarious. 

Continental Classic: Danny Garcia vs Shelton Benjamin

Yet another C2 cracker. Loved Danny jumping Shelton at the bell and trying to drag him into a scrappy brawl to negate his power and amateur wrestling skills. This version of Shelton is a superb obstacle for babyfaces to overcome. He's been booked and protected to perfection and consistently delivered the performances to justify that. Danny slowly clawing his way into the match was classic Garcia, and like Mark Briscoe's earlier match we got the great spot of some kids on the front row helping him to his feet as the catalyst for his comeback. That surprise jacknife pin is perfect for Garcia as it's the ideal move to capitalise on heel hubris, and Garcia's whole underdog schtick is about exploiting that. Whenever they think he's dead he always has that little bit left in him. In this instance it also gave Shelton the out once again. He won't get out of his group but he has been dominant in every match including the losses. 

Bloody brilliant superstar moment for Swerve after the match; the stomp into a crowd of guys looks absolutely bad ass every time. Currently on a bit of a detour from the world title chase but he is still clearly that guy and hasn't lost any star power whatsoever. I was also higher on his first match with Lashley than most, so I'm up fora rematch! 

Continental Classic: The Beast Mortos vs Mark Briscoe

Yet another etc. Loved the completely different pace of this one. Two guys who are up for a bomb throwing contest, started at sprinting pace and didn't really let up. One of the few times I've ever been rooting against Mark Briscoe in a singles match as I didn't want Mortos to end on 0 points. That is his lot in AEW though, the guy who can have an amazing match with any opponent but doesn't win. Briscoe going top of the group on 9 points was unexpected, as was him busting out a sky twister press from the top rope to the floor and landing on his feet! Very tight standings in both blocks at this stage, and it is lovely to see Briscoe doing this well after his "I do suck at Continental Classics" promo. 

Rosa attacking during Mariah's promo genuinely caught me off guard. Very well done. No chance of Mariah losing the title but I do think the build for this match has been solid. Decent promos and a nice chaotic go home segment here. 

Continental Classic: Darby Allin vs Claudio Castagnoli

Castagnoli might be a better opponent for Darby than Brody King, that's how great these two are together. Incredible stuff this. I've mentioned this before with Darby but it was highlighted by this sick-heavy Hammerstein crowd, in a sea of "this is awesome!" and dueling chants, Darby on two occasions here got straight up "Darby" chants. Once right at the beginning when went hell for leather mauling Claudio, then again at the end when he was simply refusing to die. He is so good. Again it's not just the bumps, it's how he makes it clear what an ordeal he's going through. Clawing and grasping at thin air, howling, groaning, wailing, sometimes lying on the mat with a glassy eyed stare as if the last bump actually did kill him but his body somehow kicked out. Magificent performance from Claudio too, throwing Darby all over the show but also conveying the increasing frustration at Darby's resilience. I love that he looked completely furious that he'd had to use the brass knucks, as if it had hurt his pride to do so. For all the crazy high spots in this one, my favourite spot was the pop up European uppercut at the beginning; looked like Darby was about to hit the ceiling on that one. It's a shame Darby is still set on this Everest mission as I would love to see him get a run with the title, the guy is a spectacular talent. 

Hell of an episode that. Costco guys and MJF/Cole bullshit aside it was a ridiculously stacked episode of wrestling TV. One more time for the last Collision episode of C2 matches: I bloody love me some Continental Classic. 
 

Dynamite 25/12 plus C2 league stage thoughts:

Spoiler

Dynamite 25/12

Ooh boy what a card. A veritable feast of high stakes Continental Classic matches with both blocks still wide open. Everyone except Komander and Mortos has at least a slim chance of getting through on the last day. Crazy.

Great choice to run these past two episodes with sicko-centric C2 heavy cards at the Hammerstein; perfect crowds for it. Also this episode marks the return of Taz! I've mostly been enjoying the makeshift announce teams but I have definitely missed him. Poor Excalibur sounded close to death on this show though, very rough night for him. 

Continental Classic: Will Ospreay vs Brody King

Quality high flyer/powerhouse match up this. One small thing I liked was Brody stopping himself when Ospreay went to dodge his cannonball on the outside. He's over-committed to that and wiped himself out more than once in this tournament, so nice to see a bit of growth from the lad. Overall I think Brody's had a better C2 showing than last year. His matches have had better pacing and he seems to have a better understanding of how to be the big bully in a singles setting; mixing it up between overwhelming power and swatting away hope spots but also including spells of slow, methodical dismantling when he's in control. Another typically strong showing from Ospreay too, fighting with a bit more urgency and desperation when he's facing elimination if he loses. Genuinely very impressive to hit the Styles Clash and Storm Breaker on an opponent this large too. 

MVP and Lashley being told by an interviewer they're banned from the building when they're already in the building is silly. I did like MVP spinningit as them "honouring the REQUEST" though. What a cool customer.

Continental Classic: Darby Allin vs Ricochet 

This was by far Ricochet's best AEW performance for me. The new heel persona combined with the incredibly hostile crowd has made him a new man. Jaw jacking with the crowd, mercilessly working the injured ribs, repeatedly insisting to the ref that his non-existent hair was being pulled, getting into a shouting match with a little kid on the front row. The man is a natural heel, I love it. Darby might just be MVP of the group stages though, yet another stellar performance here with a truly heartbreaking ending. Once again this match had multiple spontaneous "Darby" chants, once when he was getting his arse kicked and again when the Roberts announced 2 mins remaining. They don't only sympathise with him when he's getting beaten down, they really really want him to WIN and that is everything a babyface should be. What a brilliant bit of booking this is too, having this smug prick be the guy to deny the people's favourite on a time limit draw when he was clearly about to lose. Celebrated it like he'd just won the the thing too, taking time to rub it in the faces of individual fans as he left, returning fire wih the odd toilet roll as well. Perfect way to cement his villain status. Also the 630 to the outside through the table was glorious.

Darby sold the devastation beautifully. Great camerawork too with all the shots looking over his shoulder at Ricochet celebrating. Notably yet another "Darby" chant here. 

Continental Classic: Claudio Castagnoli vs Komander

Lovely to see Komander with his TV title here. The lowest of the low tier belts for sure, but that match at Final Battle was tremendous and his win was a real feel good moment. Another strong underdog performance from him hear against one of the best big man bullies in the business. Loved the finish too; Darby getting his revenge by proxy despite going out of the tournament, Komander getting a bit of revenge for himself ans also not finishing on 0 points. 

Post match was pretty standard. Moxley will retain because these three can't get along. I do like that Hangman/White/OC are all hovering around the world title picture though, just need to get this title off Mox and see what the next, more exciting direction will be. 

Continental Classic: Kazuchika Okada vs Shelton Benjamin

Enjoyed the complete change of pace for this one. No high flyers or big man/little man here, just two evenly matched heavyweight technicians struggling to gain the advantage, with some beefy strikes thrown in to boot. The only criticism I have is that the finish felt a bit abrupt. It was just starting to heat up but ended on a bit of a lull rather than hitting a crescendo and the Rainmaker hitting at that point. Still really good stuff though and would like to see these two go again. Okada actually giving him the handshake and then doing the INCREDIBLY childish "just wiping my face" sly middle finger was amazing.

Swerve/Ricochet bit was superb, laughed out loud at Swerve doing the "Ha HAAA" thing back at him. Also Ricochet getting his best MJF-style zinger in when Swerve had already left was spot on. 

Toni Storm vs Taya Valkyrie

Taya did some fine heel schtick but man The Vendetta is an ice cold act. I'd have liked to see Deonna with two goons and for Taya to be the loud-mouthed but ultimately incompetent one. She showed a flair for comedy in the Johnny TV/Dalton feud and she feels miscast in this role. Toni is brilliant, loved the "she's a rookie!" chant. 

Hangman/Daniels thing was unexpected. Also Daniels a bit out of touch with the recent product. Jay White has Bullet Club Gold? They haven't been called that for quite some time and all members except white are out injured. OC has The Conglomeration? Somebody please remind the writers of this. Still the sentiment was there and Hangman was a real prick to him. Can't see it ending well. 

Continental Classic: Kyle Fletcher vs Danny Garcia

Unfortunately when it came down to these two AND the permutations meant a draw would still see Danny lose, there was no doubt about the result of this. Still, a great mark of Danny's progress that on C2 block final day year 2 he was in the competition in the final match AND is TNT champion. Next year Danny, next year. It's a shame Fletcher has been able to leapfrog him but my word has Fletcher grown into this role. 1000% the right decision to book this tournament around him, the guy is the future. 

Even being very sure of the outcome this was still amazing. These two have incredible chemistry and I look forward to many more clashes between them as generatonal rivals. Fletcher is a beast. If Darby has been MVP of the gold league than Fletcher has unquestionably been the star of the blue side. This CC has been the making of him and he could not have performed any better. Phenomenal work. On other side we of course had Danny fighting for his life and, I know I keep repeating this, drawing "Danny!" chants instead of the usual "This is awesome". The heat for the Dragontamer was immense, and the pop for the near fall on that signature jacknife cover! 

That has been a hallmark of this Continental Classic and what has made every episode of TV while it's been running a joy to watch. It didn't have a story quite as captivating as Kingston vs Danielson or Danny Garcia going for his first win buuuut it was pure and simple great pro wrestling. Not just exhibitions or "5 star bangers" or "a bunch of matches with no story" etc. The action was of course outstanding across the board as is the norm for everyone involved, but more importantly there were plenty of matches where the crowd wanted to see someone win or lose really badly, and matches telling the most classic of pro wrestling stories in-ring. Heel vs babyface, big man/little man, favourite vs underdog. Fletcher, Claudio and Ricochet as villains, Okada, Benjamin and Brody as immovable objects or natural obstacles, Komander and Mortos as crowd-pleaser underdogs trying to avoid a shut out, Garcia, Briscoe and Darby as your heart and soul/will-die-for-the-cause babyface underdogs all in the ascendancy as singles wrestlers. Then you have the over-arching story of Ospreay and Fletcher in separate groups but clearly on a collision course for their big rematch.

For consistency top to bottom I think the group stages have been stronger this year because every match has had some combination of the above. For example, none of Komander or Mortos' matches have felt anywhere near as disposable or missable as Jay Lethal's. There were also matches last year like Andrade vs Brody or Andrade vs Claudio which were high quality matches but didn't have the heat of the vast majority of this year's league bouts. Same with matches like Moxley vs RUSH. Good brawl, fun match on paper, not so much genuine HEAT. 

It didn't hit the highs of Danielson/Eddie/Garcia's stories, so I'd say more consistent from top to bottom but the highs didn't quite get as a high as last year. Still comfortably one of the wrestling highlights of 2024 though, and I haven't even seen the finals yet. 
 

Rampage 27/12

Spoiler

Rampage 27/12 - It's the FI-NAL RAMPAAAAAGE, do do doo doooo, do do do do doooo etc. 

Oh god damn it Jericho wearing the unbelievably tacky statue of liberty head gear and carrying the torch got a big laugh from me. Oh why Chris can't you just be a silly comedy guy. 

Anthony Bowens vs Chris Jericho

More brilliant Max Caster shithousery here, best bit was Bowens knocking Jericho down and going for the "Everyone loves the Acclaimed!” to the hard cam only for Caster to hop up onto the apron right in front of him to steal the shot. Superb. This was fine as Jericho singles matches go. Bowens is great and has enough fire and energy to elevate this. Caster accidentally costing him the match added more fuel to the split. 

Private Party killed some jobbers. Pretty cool intro video for Private Party showing them on the subway and hyping up that they're from New York. Decent crowd support for them as a result. Post-match Rush and Andretti attacked Private Party. Top Flight run out for the save but also attack Private Party for some reason. This cannot be the tag team title program right now. Sort it out. 

Powerhouse Hobbs pre-tape promo on Takeshita. It was OK. 

Thunder Rosa vs Leila Grey

Surprisingly long and competitive. Good showcase for Rosa, better than expected. 

Hook vs Nick Wayne

This was pretty good! A 12 minute singles match between these two still feels a bit ambitious but they worked very well together. Hook's cast (and Wayne removing it during the match!) gave them plenty to work with. Some shenanigans with The Patriarchy and a Shibata run in too to add more bells and whistles. Still though, when it was just the two of them they had great chemistry and more than held their own. The finish with Hook catching Wayne out of Wayne's World into the Redrum looked great too.

Pretty mad closing angle. Darby getting kicked down some stairs backstage would be truly shocking if it was anyone other than Darby, the utter loon. Then about a third of the roster had a wild brawl in the arena and it appears that the Deathriders have cancelled Rampage. Honestly this was pretty fun. The scale of it all looked impressive in this venue, genuine sense of chaos and clearly way more than security could handle.

Criminal that the Queen of Rampage was not featured on the last episode though. Also I saw someone post that everyone else is jumping on the Harley bandwagon etc. I will say that I called her and Saraya the Queens of Rampage before it was cool AND pretty much everyone was a fan of Harley following that segment with The Acclaimed with the heartwarming "He's gay" chant for Bowens. Rampage was definitely where her star began to shine over the past year though, and I am grateful for that. Also that episode earlier in the month with multiple C2 matches on it was a belter, so at least its final month on the air had a standout episode. 

 

Edited February 25, 2025 by JLM

[CDM]

I didn't know Mike bailey had signed with aew. Josh alexander is expected to come as well. Personally I'd rather see some ex tna guys come in and see what they can do than ex wwe guys. The reason is that this will be a move to a bigger promotion for them. Its not the case with wwe guys. I don't know what these 2 are like on the mike but personally I just like good wrestling and as far as I'm aware they are highly regarded. I saw baileys match against osprey which I really enjoyed 

 

[Supremo]

Cool poster for next week. Love that they do this stuff, even for throwaway TV matches. Looking forward to seeing if I can identify the cool spot they come up with that Jericho will try and copy the following week.

On the thing about the crowd singing Copeland’s song, I’m hoping they keep doing it until at least the pay per view. Quite like the idea of Copeland winning the Title, they cut his music so the crowd can sing, but they don’t even get through a verse before Christian’s music hits for the Cash In.

Edited February 25, 2025 by Supremo

[Supremo]

That lad who hates HYPERBOLE, EXCITEMENT and JOY must have loved this week’s Collision because it was a mostly average affair. Nothing particularly bad, but definitely a calm utility-show that felt like a step down after the red hot run they’ve been on.

FITE feed weirdly started in the arena, with Daniel Garcia’s music hitting, only for it to immediately cut away. Watching the rest of the show, it was the same entrance that came at the top of the hour. Five years on and this stuff is still happening! Bush league.

Nice opening angle. Considering how much they already stiff fuck out of each other, God only knows what Toni and Mariah will do in the blow off match. If they add some type of no-DQ stipulation (Hollywood Backlot Brawl!), I can see them reaching Willow and Stat levels of crazy brilliance.

Jim Ross at the desk for the whole show wouldn’t have been my call. I wonder if this is an attempt to create exclusive commentary teams for Dynamite and Collision? Talk about a double edged sword. I’d love to have Ian Riccaboni every Wednesday, but I’d dread JR every Saturday. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for Jim, especially right now. Imagine a three or four week series, where Jim interviews Hangman Adam Page, Mankind-style? That’d rule.

Fun squash with the Murder Machines. They’ve done a good job building this match up with the Hurt Syndicate. I just hope Cage and Archer don’t do a classic AEW and vanish for six weeks afterwards. I’m still desperate to see Omega and Ospreay vs. Cage and Archer. Battle of the best Double Team Finishers!

A Trios match! Featuring the Trios Champions! An actual division! Yes!*

*I spoke too soon. Pac was immediately written out again. He must have tickets for the Liverpool game. See you in a month.

Daddy Magic continues to slowly morph into John Zandig. JEEESUS!

Copeland looked cool as fuck killing a man and casually walking off. See, Adam! So much better looking cold and remorseless rather than endlessly pulling ANGRY, GRITTY faces. I’m pulling for Cope at the pay per view. I’ll then be pulling for Christian twenty seconds later.

Revolution is looking incredible.*

*LET IT PLAY OUT, of course.

Something really charming about Hologram always having inconsequential rippers on Collision. A real Paul-London-on-Velocity vibe. Is there a reason we haven’t seen Paul London in AEW yet? Is he an idiot, like Brian Kendrick?

Watching Holodram and The Beast here, I wonder if the culmination of their Best of Seventy Three Series will be Mask vs. Mask? Hear me out. The Beast gimmick itself sort of handcuffs Mortos, and the small glimpses we’ve seen suggest he’s yet another luchador who is preposterously attractive behind the mask. In fact, considering how much Moxley has tried to make The Death Riders into a Bloodline rip-off, bringing in an unmasked Mortos might be exactly what he needs! He could be Roman Reigns’ twin!

The Tribal Beast.

I skipped to the finish of the main event. I’m not watching a Chris Jericho match in 2025. He said on Instagram that it was five stars (before turning the comments off on that post, obviously). I don’t believe him. Jericho winning, too? Gross.

Highlight of the show was the Max Caster Open Challenge. Such a blast. Genuinely funny when he couldn’t escape the head scissors. This has so much potential. You could run with it for months before eventually using it to turn him Babyface when he finally wins one.

Ricochet now a top promo guy. Max Caster the highlight of any show he appears on. Anything can happen in the All Elite Wrestling Federation.

Edited February 25, 2025 by Supremo

[The King Of Swing]

I'm just waiting for Minoru Suzuki to inevitably answer, Max's open challenge.

Ah shit. Those Boom Cunts, are gonna get in on it aren't they? Probably on PPV pre-show. 

[Carbomb]

3 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Boom Cunts

Sounds like slang for an STD

[LaGoosh]

If they can somehow get the two storylines there naturally a big MJF & Ricochet vs Hangman & Swerve match would be very interesting and exciting on all levels.

Edited February 26, 2025 by LaGoosh

[The King of Old School]

13 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

I'm just waiting for Minoru Suzuki to inevitably answer, Max's open challenge.

Might actually be Suzuki's first ever win in AEW if they do, always seems to come in to a load of fan fare with everyone telling us how amazing he is, lose, then bugger off for another 6 months and rinse and repeat.

[Supremo]

The CostCo guys and The Rizzler answering Max Caster’s Open Challenge gets Five Big Booms from me.

[DavidB6937]

10 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Might actually be Suzuki's first ever win in AEW if they do, always seems to come in to a load of fan fare with everyone telling us how amazing he is, lose, then bugger off for another 6 months and rinse and repeat.

Could be a Suzuki/Ishii double team handicap against Max and they'd still lose.

[tiger_rick]

12 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Might actually be Suzuki's first ever win in AEW if they do, always seems to come in to a load of fan fare with everyone telling us how amazing he is, lose, then bugger off for another 6 months and rinse and repeat.

He's beaten The Butcher and QT Marshall. Don't try telling us this promotion doesn't have a hierarchy. 

1 minute ago, DavidB6937 said:

Could be a Suzuki/Ishii double team handicap against Max and they'd still lose.

As they should.

[CDM]

I think matt hardy might have hit his head to many times. I love harley Cameron. But she's been wrestling for a year. She can't end the winning streak of the biggest name in aews women's division. I know mercedes isn't that popular. But the fact is she's still the biggest name in the aew women's division. I think Cameron will do well in aew. But she can't be beating an unbeaten mercedes mone for the title. That's just not how wrestling works 

[DavidB6937]

20 minutes ago, CDM said:

That's just not how wrestling works 

Why not? Wrestling can work however someone wants it to work.