AEW TV 2026 discussion

[Supremo]

Jon Moxley introducing Orange Cassidy to the only true method of proving the authenticity of a photograph on the UKFF.

[HarmonicGenerator]

5 hours ago, Supremo said:

Jon Moxley introducing Orange Cassidy to the only true method of proving the authenticity of a photograph on the UKFF.

Can’t lie, this exact thought also crossed my mind when watching. Moxley sells Yorkshire Terrier meat to Ji-Sung Park.

[RedTwoster]

I'm rammed with the flu or covid or something, so I struggled to muster the motivation to watch Dynamite until this morning. 

I said repeatedly how much I dislike Blood and Guts and Wargames-style matches. Again and again. 

...but I actually really liked this show. 

The Women's Blood and Guts match was the better of the two by far, and it's a shame that Skye Blue has no charisma whatsoever because in wild brawls, she feels like a star in the making. 

Harley Cameron looks better and better every time she's in the ring, I'd have no issues whatsoever with them revisiting her previous feud with Mercedes - the original was a real high point of Mone's earlier days in AEW, back when she was having great matches but terrible out-of-ring segments. But fuck, she should be inspiration for Skye Blue; she's shown that you don't always have to be a personality vacuum even if you were once exactly that. 

Megan Bayne was also really good, and although he can be a bit weird around her, Foley was bang on when he said that was quite possibly a career making performance for her. I really want to see her wrestle Mercedes. 

Thekla was as good as ever, but I do think they need to turn her babyface. Not that she's stale as a heel, it just feels like the right move. When your World Champion is a heel, a main event babyface trio of Toni Storm, Willow and Thekla is a spectacularly good place to be. I'm still crossing my fingers that they'll be adding Bayley to the mix, but my guess is she's probably resigned with WWE at this point. 

As for the men's match, I didn't mind the ending in the sense that it's clearly leading towards something between Copeland and Ospreay. I love the idea of one final heel run from Copeland, before an even bigger piece of shit - Christian Cage - returns to stop him in his tracks. 

I'd also have no objection whatsoever to them putting the title on Kyle Fletcher at Full Gear. It would be one hell of a shocking move, but not one that I would see as a negative. There was something about him in the final moments of that match (and the post match) - it just felt like everything had finally come together with him, and he had the presence of someone who could actually be your World Champion. It's definitely going to happen one day and I don't mind at all if that day is November 14th. 

In other news, I still hate Roderick Strong and Kyle O'Reilly. Ditch 'em, Orange. 

 

 

[Supremo]

Add, “War Games/Blood and Guts matches,” to, “pay per view lengths,” as another example of how WWE and AEW offer extreme ends of a specific spectrum, when the true, dream scenario is somewhere in the middle.

With War Games matches in WWE, they’re usually long, plodding, dull affairs, with zero creativity and about as much violence as Mick Foley and Owen Hart hitting each other with bags of popcorn, but at least they can be won by pinfall, so there’s usually a big, climactic finish. With Blood and Guts in AEW, they’re always a much better paced, bonkers, hyper-creative, wildly-violent affair, only for the silly submit or surrender thing to invariably kill the momentum, ending it on a daft, awkward bit of drama-school acting.

It always feels so stupid when people can be bleeding to death (what the FUCK, Megan Bayne!), have explosions going off in their face, but then they have to try to think of something that would suddenly make people surrender. I don’t think it’s ever worked.

Ultimately I think the whole concept is past its sell by date and has been completely overshadowed by far more exciting gimmick matches like Anarchy in the Arena and Casino Gauntlets, but if both companies still insist on doing these matches there’s definitely a happy medium somewhere amongst what they currently exclusively deliver.

I was definitely encouraged by AEW not announcing the times between entrants this year, leaning into the idea that it’s random, similar to Casino Gauntlets, allowing them to pace it better. Hopefully they keep tweaking it.

I feel like I say this every year but beyond allowing pinfalls I think the biggest improvement would be announcing that the match can end at any time, and doesn’t require every competitor to enter before the match, “truly begins.” I’m not suggesting they’re as bad as Michael Cole screaming at you every two seconds that nothing counts and you should go make a brew, but I’m still not convinced anything is gained by withholding such a vital, dramatic part of pro-wrestling matches as the false finish. Even at its most wild and bloodiest (fucking HELL, Megan Bayne!) there’s still a weird, dragging sense of just waiting and waiting for it to finally, “matter.”

That’s enough moaning though. For what it was, this was definitely two of the more enjoyable Blood and Guts, with loads of notable highlights.

-Okada’s leaf blower is the best spot in the history of War Games. Don’t DM me. Between delivering in the ring and then being the funniest character in the business, he’s quietly made a solid case for wrestler of the year. Wild how he surprisingly became such a perfect fit for North American pro-wrestling.

- There was a few minutes there where it suddenly hit me that Nick Jackson forming a Tag Team with Darby Allin would be my pro-wrestling heaven. Stay in the back, Matt. We’ll take it from here.

- There’s something almost sweet watching all the experienced guys doing everything they can to make Steven Borden look good. It still feels novel when wrestlers are willing to help a guy coming up rather than sabotaging and politicking the fuck out of everyone (I’m looking at you, Roman!). Maybe everyone is just as dazzled at his handsomeness, willing him to succeed.

- First time in ages Wardlow looked like he had something again. Maybe a month of chucking Darby around like a wet tracksuit is the way forward.

- Explosions always rule. Still holding out hope for that Hangman vs. Swerve Exploding Barb Wire Death Match. Please, Tony!

- It bears repeating. How many paracetamol did Megan Bayne neck backstage? Jesus Christ! Eddie Guerrero levels! I hope she got the transfusion she needed.

Edited 10 hours ago by Supremo

[RedTwoster]

41 minutes ago, Supremo said:

-Okada’s leaf blower is the best spot in the history of War Games. Don’t DM me. Between delivering in the ring and then being the funniest character in the business, he’s quietly made a solid case for wrestler of the year. Wild how he surprisingly became such a perfect fit for North American pro-wrestling.

He definitely deserves to win 'funniest moment' at least, but like Toni Storm a few years back, he's so consistently hilarious that there's no obvious stand out moment - "Okada in general" is my pick this year. Although he's a heel, he brings me so much joy every time he's on screen. He's great.

[BomberPat]

Okada becoming a full-blown Memphis style stooge heel while still being one of the best big match wrestlers in the world has been brilliant to watch. The one thing I didn't like about his act was the overreliance on him saying "bitch" - aside from the misogyny of it (and that if it was going to be Okada's catchphrase, they should have stopped everyone else on the show from saying it, apart from Thekla), it was one of those typically wrestling things where somebody does something spontaneous, unexpected, and funny, then it gets hammered into the ground as a routine. Him largely swapping that out for "FAMILY" as his catchphrase has been a massive improvement.

[LaGoosh]

27 minutes ago, Supremo said:

There was a few minutes there where it suddenly hit me that Nick Jackson forming a Tag Team with Darby Allin would be my pro-wrestling heaven. Stay in the back, Matt. We’ll take it from here.

I swear, once you notice how good Nick is in comparison to Matt it's impossible to un-see it. A mini Nick singles run is my dream. 

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

I feel like I say this every year but beyond allowing pinfalls I think the biggest improvement would be announcing that the match can end at any time, and doesn’t require every competitor to enter before the match, “truly begins.” I’m not suggesting they’re as bad as Michael Cole screaming at you every two seconds that nothing counts and you should go make a brew, but I’m still not convinced anything is gained by withholding such a vital, dramatic part of pro-wrestling matches as the false finish. Even at its most wild and bloodiest (fucking HELL, Megan Bayne!) there’s still a weird, dragging sense of just waiting and waiting for it to finally, “matter.”

I'm with you on the pinfalls, I think that would be an improvement. This is a nonsense though. It's always been a nonsense because it's a major part of the match and if you don't want it, the easy opition is to just not do "Wargames". Just have a tag match or elimination match in the cage. I think think show more than any proved it as a nonsense though. The women's match was really good throughout and the work, the spots and the drama were high enough to not need the prospect of a finish to enhance it.

The men's match was WAY better before the "match beyond" kicked in. That was the point the silliness ramped up and the convoluted finish came into sighy. The part before that was well paced, featured loads of great stuff from the guys arriving into the match and the swings between heel advantage and babyface fire that make Wargames special. 

I think you've hit the nail on the head. The big problem with the match, other than there being two of them, was the need to not just have a pinfall finish it. 

They really should alternate mens and womens B&G matches. That would really help them. I don't actually mind it being an annual event in AEW but they've got a great advantage with it being a TV special in that it can happen any time. So it can feel more organic than just being part of the calendar. Big sumer feud? Do it in August. Quiet for storylines in the autumn, do it in early December. 

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

Add, “War Games/Blood and Guts matches,” to, “pay per view lengths,” as another example of how WWE and AEW offer extreme ends of a specific spectrum, when the true, dream scenario is somewhere in the middle.

In the middle? One doesn't even have a roof. It's got the name and fuck all else.

[BomberPat]

I was surprised they did both Blood & Guts matches on the same show, I had assumed the women's one would be taped for Collision, but it's the Jericho Cruise live Collision rather than taped this week - I wonder if when they first booked the venue for B&G they hadn't got everything in place to know they could definitely do a live show from the cruise? Just guesswork.

I would say the problem isn't so much the lack of pinfalls, it's years of western wrestling teaching audiences that to submit is a cowardly act, combined with wrestlers wanting to get creative but being pretty limited in what they can actually achieve - babyfaces (and some heels) don't want to quit because it shows weakness, so you have this overreliance on big gimmicky reasons for somebody to give up. That's at least the third time, probably more that I'm forgetting, that they've had a wrestler quit to "save" someone else rather than because they were actually forced to submit, and that's a narrative beat that always requires slowing things down and making room for some amateur dramatics rather than just letting the wrestlers fight. The finish worked for the women's match because it was just a war of attrition, until eventually somebody couldn't take any more. 

I assume in this case it is leading to a Copeland/Ospreay programme, but I don't think that programme needs it - you can get to what I assume is the same "my career was almost ended because of the risks I took, I'm trying to stop the same thing from happening to you" justification from Copeland any number of ways (I'd have Ospreay acknowledge that it's Cope's retirement run, offer him up a title shot, and Cope take exception to being seen as a charity case and get increasingly hostile towards Will), and they did the same "babyface quits to save someone else" finish with Toni and Mina in the women's match last year, so they should be more sparing with it. 

[WyattSheepMask]

I’d say the women’s match was the better of the two, but credit to the men for at least waiting a few minutes before juicing. Some of the women had only been in for 30 seconds before slicing themselves up.

As for the rest of the show- I loved the Bandido/Swerve brawl, but feel like declaring the Texas Death strip would’ve worked better on the go home before the PPV. Obviously we all knew it was heading that way, but I think there’d be a bit more excitement if it was confirmed closer to the PPV.

Mercedes being told she slaps like a pussy ass bitch and then glancing Marina with a slap was hilarious. Obviously it won’t happen, but I’d love for Marina to annihilate her in 30 seconds as would happen in a shoot, but no doubt Mercedes will have world class MMA defence skills on the night like how Steph was able to defend against Ronda Rousey at Wrestlemania 

[Supremo]

5 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

I'm with you on the pinfalls, I think that would be an improvement. This is a nonsense though. It's always been a nonsense because it's a major part of the match and if you don't want it, the easy opition is to just not do "Wargames". Just have a tag match or elimination match in the cage.

Don’t threaten me with a good time! I couldn’t tell you a single War Games match from the modern era that wouldn’t be dramatically improved if it was formatted like last year’s Forbidden Door main event, with everyone starting in the cage from the start.

I think the fundamental problem is that pro-wrestling isn’t consumed and heat isn’t generated like it was in 1992. I get how it should work. I understand how momentum should swing back and forth. But even when they do everything right and the heels keep gaining the advantage, I never feel engaged enough to be hoping that a babyface will run down to even the odds. I’m never counting down for the save to come. It doesn’t feel like anyone is.

The fans don’t seem particularly hot for it. The commentators barely mention it. You never sense huge heat when the babyfaces are outnumbered. It’s just someone else running down with another random weapon.

AEW’s version is at least better for being more violent and having crazier spots (and again, Megan Bayne turning herself into a smashed up jar of jam should definitely be commended), but deep down it suffers from the same problem as WWE’s War Games. At its core, it’s just a a jazzed up “Price is Right” with people taking it in turns to, “come on down!” with their prop, to do some spots.

Edited 3 hours ago by Supremo

[LaGoosh]

It definitely doesn't help that the past few years the teams have been massive so that opening section feels like it goes on forever. 5 on 5 should be the maximum for teams. 

The perfect team format should really be:

1. Main eventer/team leader

2&3: established tag team

4. Up and coming mid carder

5. The Big Hoss

Edited 6 hours ago by LaGoosh

[The King of Old School]

I hope "The Cut" (stupid name) take out Strong and O'Reilly on Dynamite this week and it leads to Claudio coming back at Full Gear with Sheamus in tow.

On Blood and Guts, the lack of reaction for Darby being thrown off the cage was noticeable, everyone will start to feel numb to all his spots now as its expected.

Edited 3 hours ago by The King of Old School

[The King Of Swing]

8 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

I hope "The Cut" (stupid name) take out Strong and O'Reilly on Dynamite this week and it leads to Claudio coming back at Full Gear with Sheamus in tow.

On Blood and Guts, the lack of reaction for Darby being thrown off the cage was noticeable, everyone will start to feel numb to all his spots now as its expected.

Problem was imo, everyone knew he was getting thrown off regardless. Zero tension. 

They have done the exact same spot in the past. 

[The King Of Swing]

One thing I would like to add, is that I didn't mind the finish to last year's women's match. 

At least it was more grounded, with Toni being held back as Mina was simply beaten with a title belt. 

Nothing absolutely bonkers like threatening to murder Jack Perry. 

Didn't Mox tap clean to Kyle, on the same show, last year? 

The submission finish can absolutely work. Just stop getting stupid about it and keep it simple. 

Edited 1 hour ago by The King Of Swing