Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 Just now, HarmonicGenerator said: Totally different thought - is Danielson done with commentary now Taz is back? He’s vanished without (on-screen) explanation. Apparently travelling to TV each week has been really bad for his outstanding neck issues so it's probably unlikely he's going to be a regular going forwards. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 30 Author Paid Members Posted January 30 25 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Stupid gimmick aside El Clone is great and way better than Hologram The sooner they unmask him, the better. Giving someone as talented as he clearly is - who has as great a look as he does without a mask on - a gimmick this weak is one of Tony Khan’s worst ever booking decisions in my opinion. He’s either missed the potential of this guy, or is ignoring it in favour of an idea he seemingly had back when he was fantasy booking. 27 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Swerve/Andrade was excellent and if this is the quality Andrade will be bringing then he's a damn good signing. Could do without the obvious plant girls in the front row stuff though. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but Don Callis aside, there’s something about this version of Andrade that makes him feel like a much bigger star than the version of him that left for WWE. It’s a shame that they’re so light on heels right now, given what happened to him with WWE, I suspect they’re missing a real opportunity to turn him into a top babyface. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 Just now, RedTwoster said: there’s something about this version of Andrade that makes him feel like a much bigger star than the version of him that left for WWE I think it's his lovely hair. Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 (edited) I’ve mostly enjoyed this MJF/Brodie King thing. Max has kept the 4Chan shit to a minimum, the match will likely be great and I’m expecting Brodie to win the Eliminator, which should raise his stock massively. However, they committed the pro-wrestling cardinal sin during Wednesday’s promo, referencing a hypothetical that’s infinitely better than what they’re actually doing. MJF alluding to Brodie becoming the new Wardlow, wearing a fitted suit and Burberry scarf, that’s now all I want to see! Even if it’s just for a single skit, where Max tries to butter him up by spending a few thousand dollars on an outfit for him, or Brodie plays along only to swerve and attack him afterwards. I need to see Brodie suited and booted! My eyes are gagging for it! Like when you see a goth mate at a wedding. Imagine Brodie in his Sunday best, only to let out a massive growl, where he bursts out of it like The Hulk and violently murders Max. Belter. Edited January 30 by Supremo Quote
Paid Members Jesse Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 46 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Though bouncing on his head out of the Jay Driller was fucking shite. Exactly the type of thing AEW should not be doing. This is a broadcast failure, rather than a performer one. Watching it back, he slips his arms free to land on those and kip out of it - it's an athletic counter rather than a no-sell. But it happens quickly in real time, the commentators don't call it out, and there's no replay highlighting it so it's really easy to read it as him just taking the move and acting like it didn't hurt. Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 16 hours ago, Supremo said: It is ironic that for as much as Triple H so obviously hates Tony Khan, I don’t think there’s a bigger fan of NXT Black and Gold than Tony himself. I think what's more likely is that Tony Khan is a big fan of late '10s ROH and PWG, and that's where NXT nicked most of their talent and ideas from. 9 hours ago, Supremo said: Can Don take a bump? Surely it ends with a One Winged Angel, before Don returns to his home planet? I'm not really sure what Don's capable of these days, but you'd think if he was comfortable taking a bump from anyone it would be Kenny. He actually worked an indie match, on the opposite side to Kenny, in 2019, though whether he actually did anything in that match I don't know. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 30 Author Paid Members Posted January 30 29 minutes ago, Supremo said: I’ve mostly enjoyed this MJF/Brodie King thing. Max has kept the 4Chan shit to a minimum, the match will likely be great and I’m expecting Brodie to win the Eliminator, which should raise his stock massively. However, they committed the pro-wrestling cardinal sin during Wednesday’s promo, referencing a hypothetical that’s infinitely better than what they’re actually doing. MJF alluding to Brodie becoming the new Wardlow, wearing a fitted suit and Burberry scarf, that’s now all I want to see! Even if it’s just for a single skit, where Max tries to butter him up by spending a few thousand dollars on an outfit for him, or Brodie plays along only to swerve and attack him afterwards. I need to see Brodie suited and booted! My eyes are gagging for it! Like when you see a goth mate at a wedding. The way they’ve been booking Brody around Bandido has had me seriously suspecting that they might be planning to turn him heel. I could see him narrowly losing to MJF with Bandido in his corner, before MJF suggests that it doesn’t have to be either/or and they can both be World Champions together - they can be equals, and he can help King take Bandido’s belt, before Brody relents and beats Bandido down. It’s pretty clear that MJF is missing something at the moment, and even he must be aware of that. I’d be amazed if he doesn’t end up with some kind of back-up/partner. Quote
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 Pretty good show this week, I thought. I like the main event scene at the moment and the story of MJF and all of his challengers circling, and I'm into Death Riders vs Callis Family too, and both of those ticked along nicely. Cracking main event. Andrade being interesting is a turn up for the books. I really enjoyed Ciampa's 'goldie' NXT run until I tapped out of NXT when him vs Gargano enterted it's third millenium, so I'm excited to see what he can do away from that boring bastard. Him vs Briscoe is immediately intriguing. The only thing on the show not grabbing me is Okada vs Takeshita. They've just waited far far too long to pull the trigger on it. That triple threat they had with Dorado was back in September, and even then it was a case of 'surely Takeshita has taken enough of Okada's shit'. Four months later and he's still eating shit. Luckily, these guys are so good that it will only take one good 'Takeshita finally smacks Okada' angle to get me back on board, but christ it's hard work getting to that point. Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 I really hope that Brody doesn't turn. I like the novelty of the big bruiser just being a friendly guy, and I don't really want the guy with the "FUCK ICE" merch turning heel on his Mexican mate. Tease it, maybe even have Brody in MJF's corner a couple of times to lure him into a false sense of security, but I don't want Brody attacking Bandido any time soon. Quote
organizedkaos Posted January 30 Posted January 30 One thing that felt noticeable in the last episode is either a TK booking quirk or possibly him doing (a very low level) ego things whereby wrestlers don't really have agency. I can't help but feel if after his match Kenny Omega did the same promo and then said he wanted to face the winner of Swerve/Andrade next week that would've felt like a big exciting "ooh shit moment". Instead Tony Schiavone has already announced the series of matches (don't call it a tournament) to very little reaction (possibly cos it's confusing). Or to a less extent Brodie King explaining he'd had a great idea for who he should face and he's petitioned TK for the match "against you". Maybe it's an attempt to do the "real sport" thing or maybe it's to ensure the audience know what's coming for the big Australia show but I just can't help but feel more calling out and less 'you will face X and the winner will face Y and also Hangman is involved but I missed that bit because this is a confusing way of announcing matches' Maybe i'm just a bit salty cos I was enjoying the intruige of having a bunch of main eventers back and forth trying to accumulate wins and now it's another don't call it a tournament. Feels like you could've got more intruige out of what Swerve losing means if it wasn't clear it immediately taking him out of contention. Show was entertaining though. As someone who has never watched that new guy wrestle they made him seem a big enough deal I'm tempted to watch Collision (or at least the main event). Quote
organizedkaos Posted January 30 Posted January 30 Also, I think maybe the Mox interference was a good idea? This storyline is just on the edge of going of the rails but if you make the PPV promo a moment of madness and lean in to him having to defend a championship where he explicitly can't have his mates help him you've got a decent way of growing babyface Mox. Or we'll just keep hammering shades of grey until no-one feels anything any more Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 I generally wasn't a fan of the rankings, as I think they stifle booking more than they aid it, and tend to make future direction too obvious sometimes, but there's definitely an argument to be made that they'd make this story better. It doesn't need to be a pseudo-tournament, it just needs to be a bunch of people independently vying for MJF's title and occasionally getting in each other's way. It's especially odd when people are all battling for a title shot, but they're not fighting each other, and then Brody King is just being given an opportunity through an entirely different avenue - I'd prefer if that were the story, that there are different ways to get towards the championship and MJF has to be wary of challenges from multiple directions. I think authority figures are over done in wrestling, but like @organizedkaos I'm sick of "I spoke to Tony Khan"/"Tony Khan has made it official" as a means to announce a match too; just have the wrestler issue the challenge themselves and then announce that the match has been signed later in the show (rather than instantly having a graphic for a match set up two seconds ago) - that gets around the problem of whether wrestlers can just go around making their own matches, but cuts out the need for a Commissioner/General Manager/whatever having to show up all the time. It's easy to critique from a distance, but some things I'd have done differently: I'd have had Brody King and Bandido get involved in some of the same segments as the other challengers; having them in this little self-contained programme with MJF just makes them look like they're keeping him busy while he waits for the real stars to come along, rather than putting them (even temporarily) on the level of a Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, Swerve Strickland, or Samoa Joe. I'd establish different routes to the title for each wrestler, so they're not directly competing against each other, it's more of a race against the clock. Can Kenny Omega string enough wins together? Can Brody King win his Eliminator match? Can Swerve and Hangman get out of each other's way and stay focused? As part of that, I would have MJF bring up that Hangman Page now already has a title, and that should put him to the back of the line when it comes to challenging for the World Title - maybe even do business with various heel factions to keep challenging for the Trios belts, so Hangman is booked in title defences and unable to work up enough singles wins to get a shot at MJF. Then it becomes a question of whether Hangman being fixated on getting revenge on Joe, and impulsive on setting up the Trios Title match with JetSpeed, might have cost him in his ultimate goal, and how does he deal with that? Does MJF use it to drive a wedge between him and Swerve? Does Hangman come to resent JetSpeed, and have to deny his worst instincts to stay friendly with them? Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 (edited) For a company that puts on the best tournament of every year with the Continental Classic, it’s crazy that we’re only weeks removed and I now have no fucking clue how this current World Title picture works. Andrade beat Swerve, to then advance and face Kenny Omega, so is the winner of that match Number One Contender? Or does the winner of that match then fight Hangman? Did Hangman get some type of bye since he was a recent Champion? Was Joe likely to get a similar bye? Why were they so weird and shy about mentioning Joe was injured? “Non-contact injury”? What the fuck does that mean?! I’d love some brackets, Tony! I like the idea that they had a clear, razor-sharp plan, but then Andrade took his trousers off on Collision, looked so fucking sexy and now everyone’s lost their train of thought and all plans are out the window. If he strips off again he might end up being made World Champion! Just do the AEW version of the Armageddon Hell in a Cell. An 8-man every man for himself Anarchy in the Arena. Edited January 30 by Supremo Quote
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted January 30 Paid Members Posted January 30 (edited) 59 minutes ago, BomberPat said: I'd have had Brody King and Bandido get involved in some of the same segments as the other challengers; having them in this little self-contained programme with MJF just makes them look like they're keeping him busy while he waits for the real stars to come along, rather than putting them (even temporarily) on the level of a Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, Swerve Strickland, or Samoa Joe. Yeah, they definitely need to have Brody King take umbridge with Omega pretty much telling MJF it's going to be them against each other at Revolution. Omega completely overlooking Brody King should be addressed in some way but I won't hold my breath. Edited January 30 by Lorne Malvo Quote
Mr.Showtime Posted January 30 Posted January 30 6 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said: Totally different thought - is Danielson done with commentary now Taz is back? He’s vanished without (on-screen) explanation. Reading this surprised me - I've watched the shows in full since Taz came back and have been loving it, he's cracked me up several times... but I completely forgot Danielson was part of the team until I saw your post! Danielson was great but I was just like "Oh yay, Taz is back with Tony and Excalibur AND Don Callis, this is fun" and my brain never remembered there was yet another guy on the team for a long period. I think the break has done him good, and as mentioned here before, maybe a couple others on the commentary team need a short break too. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.