Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted January 12 Awards Moderator Posted January 12 5 hours ago, LaGoosh said: Has the "For the sickos" actually been said on TV? I've seen Tony say it on Twitter a few times but I assumed it was tongue in cheek. I don't think it's an official slogan by any means The closest I can think of is Toni Storm referencing it occasionally in promos, but that doesn’t go against an assumption of it being tongue in cheek. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 12 Author Paid Members Posted January 12 1 hour ago, HarmonicGenerator said: The closest I can think of is Toni Storm referencing it occasionally in promos, but that doesn’t go against an assumption of it being tongue in cheek. I’m 99% sure Excalibur has used it in the past. But like I say, if you’re already watching AEW, someone using that phrase is a non-factor. It’s online, and the general framing of AEW as being wrestling for the ultra, ultra-fan that I think is counterproductive. It coexists with the bad-faith narrative that AEW doesn’t tell stories, and I can’t imagine that’s helpful for them when it comes to attracting new viewers. Given WWE’s association with the Trump administration - which they’ve quite proudly showcased on television - it’s probably as good a time as any for AEW to build their audience. If they did a better job of showcasing what they actually are, I imagine they’d do that. In my experience, the best way of helping a non-wrestling fan understand why you love wrestling is to show them an AEW match. Like I say, I think their style is far more punter-friendly than what WWE do. Quote
DavidB6937 Posted January 12 Posted January 12 Not sure the Trump stuff would really make any difference but it'll be interesting to see how their ridiculous ticket prices impact anything in the long run. Could get away with it when it was hot but now they're middling I wonder if more people will think twice and potentially go elsewhere instead. Quote
Paid Members Kamran Posted January 13 Paid Members Posted January 13 It's Maximum Carnage this week... I love the special match posters they do and I think this one has to be one of my favs: Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 13 Author Paid Members Posted January 13 I really, really, really hope Darby’s match against PAC ends not only his storyline with the Death Riders, but his interactions with anybody who is currently in that group for the rest of their time in AEW. Darby had a level of momentum heading out of the Moxley match, but continuing this story has utterly killed that, in my opinion. Quote
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted January 13 Paid Members Posted January 13 57 minutes ago, RedTwoster said: I really, really, really hope Darby’s match against PAC ends not only his storyline with the Death Riders, but his interactions with anybody who is currently in that group for the rest of their time in AEW. Darby had a level of momentum heading out of the Moxley match, but continuing this story has utterly killed that, in my opinion. Agreed. It's completely arse-backwards that Darby knocks off the head of the group, then spends months arsing about with the lackeys. Mind-boggling. Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 14 Paid Members Posted January 14 What a card that is. The posters are incredible. I really, really wish I had more enthusiasm for it. On 1/12/2026 at 6:24 PM, RedTwoster said: I’m 99% sure Excalibur has used it in the past. But like I say, if you’re already watching AEW, someone using that phrase is a non-factor. It’s online, and the general framing of AEW as being wrestling for the ultra, ultra-fan that I think is counterproductive. It coexists with the bad-faith narrative that AEW doesn’t tell stories, and I can’t imagine that’s helpful for them when it comes to attracting new viewers. Given WWE’s association with the Trump administration - which they’ve quite proudly showcased on television - it’s probably as good a time as any for AEW to build their audience. If they did a better job of showcasing what they actually are, I imagine they’d do that. In my experience, the best way of helping a non-wrestling fan understand why you love wrestling is to show them an AEW match. Like I say, I think their style is far more punter-friendly than what WWE do. Brilliant post. Completely agree. They absolutely should be the good guys. From employment policies to social stance to ticket pricing. To their credit, they do allow people to go out and make positive political statements, like Punk and Brody King over the years, show great loyalty to people they employ, pay very well and are a great live entertainment environment but they've had their fair share of dodgy moments and have never done enough to actually be the good guys - despite it being the biggest open goal in history. On 1/12/2026 at 6:51 PM, DavidB6937 said: Not sure the Trump stuff would really make any difference but it'll be interesting to see how their ridiculous ticket prices impact anything in the long run. Could get away with it when it was hot but now they're middling I wonder if more people will think twice and potentially go elsewhere instead. Sorry to talk about stuff that's outside of here, I know some people hate that but, I genuinely see on socials people celebrating when they have a good crowd in spite of the pricing and actively abusing people who think the ticket prices are scandalous. TBF to them, it's not a wrestling thing, it's very American to celebrate a corporation absolutely fucking rinsing people. They are a weird breed. Quote
Paid Members Lorne Malvo Posted January 14 Paid Members Posted January 14 It used to do my head in when WWE would hype 'Roman Reigns returns!' every 3 weeks during his never-ending title run. 'Kenny Omega returns' is getting dangerously close to that. He was only on 2 weeks ago! Quote
Paid Members Supremo Posted January 14 Paid Members Posted January 14 (edited) In the Smackdown thread I said it’d never happen, but switching the Title and crowning Drew the Champion would do wonders for freshening up the product. Just manifesting again. It'll never happen, but switching the Title and crowning Bandido the Champion would do wonders for freshening up the product. Edited January 14 by Supremo Quote
organizedkaos Posted January 14 Posted January 14 14 hours ago, RedTwoster said: I really, really, really hope Darby’s match against PAC ends not only his storyline with the Death Riders, but his interactions with anybody who is currently in that group for the rest of their time in AEW. Darby had a level of momentum heading out of the Moxley match, but continuing this story has utterly killed that, in my opinion. I'm intruiged by all this Death Riders stuff but in a kinda "what on earth are you going for here?" way. I really hope there's a point to this prevarication cos for a while we had this nice exciting story about the assassination of Jon Moxley by the coward Marina Shafir/Wheeler Yuta/Claudio I assume we're still going there and there's something interesting about the face turn happening whilst he's still a Death Rider but it's about 2 weeks away from being very muddled. Keeping Darby involved adds to the muddle. It's kinda of like we're doing some sort of non linear Tarantino storytelling; Darby is still in last year, Death Riders are still dominant heel faction who are about to turn on Moxley (now) and Moxley has won back the suipport of the fans and is now babyface (approximately March 2025) Don't mean to keep complaining, I mostly love AEW and it's the only wrestling I watch. Just right now I've never been less interested in the product, first time I've skipped a PPV since starting that sort of stuff. Just feels frustrating as they seem to gain momentum then kinda stall out on the things that got my interest Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted January 15 Author Paid Members Posted January 15 Agh, Triller cuts off before the end of the show meaning I’ve no idea who has won the MJF/Bandido match!! That’s not the first time this has happened but fuck me, how frustrating. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted January 15 Paid Members Posted January 15 (edited) Imagine a far better world where Hangman never lost the World Championship. At this moment we'd have a title chase where Hangman is being targeted by Swerve Strickland and Kenny Omega - his two longest rivals who he has long, complicated, layered histories with. It'd be fucking brilliant television. But instead we have MJF as Champion and I have no interest in any of it. In fact I had no interest in anything on this show at all. Absolutely nothing of note going on at all. It's actually confusing how little is happening. Darby/Pac was a predictably excellent match. Now it's out of the way hopefully Darby and the Deathriders never interact ever again. As mental bumps go Darby's bump on the steps was horrific. You could build an entire angle out of something like that but of course as it's Darby it's just another mental bump. His skeleton must be made from a material not yet seen before on Earth. He's seemingly unbreakable. A freak of nature. Bryan Keith as the Bounty Hunter who always loses will always get a pop out of me. Hangman should be flattening a tiny little scrub like him in two minutes flat not going back and forth. Big Bill was right there - that'd be a far more interesting match. Putting your debuting heel tag team in a four way match where they get entirely lost in the shuffle, do nothing all match then win at the end to face another heel tag team is such backwards booking I don't even know where to start. The match seemed entirely structured to showcase GOA which made it all even more confusing. Edited January 15 by LaGoosh Quote
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted January 15 Paid Members Posted January 15 1 hour ago, RedTwoster said: Agh, Triller cuts off before the end of the show meaning I’ve no idea who has won the MJF/Bandido match!! That’s not the first time this has happened but fuck me, how frustrating. Yep, happened to me too. Had to Google although I think it probably cut off at what was the finish. I didn't have a great time with this show. I've spent far too much of my life watching wrestling I no longer enjoy to give this much more time in the near future. Hated the venue. It looked fine in the opening shots but the ring being so close to the stage made it look and feel small time. Samoa Joe cutting a promo in a George at Asda shirt in front of a school telly in a cupboard didn't help at all with that impression. The four way tag with Ricochet and Callis joining for incredibly shitty commentary might have been my least favourite part of the show. An assault on the ears and a pretty crap spotfest. It was nice to see them trying to put over Davis & Doyle, who do look good but, they've tried to do it in two weeks and they're attached to fucking Callis. I've had my fill of it. Take your time. Film some vignettes. Give them some squash matches and then have them jump FTR. It's not hard and it'd be so much better than thinking that association with Callis means a fucking jot to anything. The ladies had fun and they are at least attempting to push Thekla into the title challenger role. I can get behind that. She's OK. Her promos are a mixed bag but, she's OK in the spot. Hangman, Kenny & Swerve in a ring together sounds incredible. It wasn't. Fuck all of this. It's messy and it's not working. Especially in such a shit environment. Main event was OK. Got a bit better as it went on until the Triller cut off. Result was inevitable and that hurts. The news about Hobbs made sense of a lot of stuff that seemed rushed together. Opener was pretty good - standalone. I love Pac. Is this them writing him out AGAIN? The whole thing with Allin and the D-Riders has gone way beyond interesting though and has killed any intrigue in the end goal. They rescued the D-Riders angle, built to a crescendo, got greedy or lazy and have fucked it again. Can't think of a good promo on the show. That's devastating. Miserable bastard ramblings over. Quote
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted January 15 Paid Members Posted January 15 I was just going to say I thought it was a decent 6.5-7 out of 10, but seeing the other replies I’m being far to generous in my enjoyment of the product. Quote
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted January 15 Paid Members Posted January 15 Triller worked fine throughout for me. I admit at the end I was convinced Brody was going to turn on Bandido! In the next X Men film they should just cast Darby as Wolverine, they won't need any FX on his healing ability! In a very much non sexual way, I find Triangle of Madness, and Sky Blue especially, oddly fascinating to look at. Was it my imagination or did Harley Cameron have a bit of a misposition botch in this? Still, fair play shes improving. Quote
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