AEW TV 2026 discussion

[DavidB6937]

11 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

That hype package of Maya World and Mercedes was fucking dreadful. The pair of them would struggle to get cast ahead of kids in a school play

It reminded me of how little I actually think of Mercedes as a performer/character. I just don't think she's improved at all in that way. It's why I really struggle to get behind her as a top tier talent with bazillions of belts and all that. I find myself very rarely invested in what she's doing because her character work and promos etc are really weak to me. It's a shame as she's obviously got a lot going for her but it definitely drags her down for me.

[RedTwoster]

12 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

I only see maybe 1 or 2 ZSJ matches a year, but unless it involves Bryan Danielson he just seems to have the exact same one every time, and it’s fucking boring.

Ah, see, I really like him. I’d love to see him join AEW full time. 

28 minutes ago, WyattSheepMask said:

That hype package of Maya World and Mercedes was fucking dreadful. The pair of them would struggle to get cast ahead of kids in a school play

Agreed, it was clearly designed to mask their weaknesses but it only ended up emphasising them. 

Maya World just isn’t ready for this position. I’m all for an underdog story, but when you have the likes of the fantastically talented Queen Aminata ready for the kind of push World is getting, it seems wasteful. I think Thekla vs the right underdog would be a very compelling match at All In, but Maya World shouldn’t - and likely won’t - be that person. Maybe one day she’ll merit a top spot on the card, but right now she’s a work in progress at best.

[Chili]

For all that Hangman for example, is a genuinely brilliant wrestling actor, Mercedes Mone is daytime yank soap bad, and that's being kind. She has never sounded convincing ever on the mic and probably never will. It's not a Bret thing, where the right angle or purpose brings a good performance out of them vocally. She just can't talk convincingly. But, she has that star essence about her that draws, great worker in the ring and enough of a fucking weirrrrrrrrd fan base that it doesn't really negatively effect her trajectory. Even Anna Jay and her one note Georgia drawl voice is probably a better promo than her.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I’m more positive on this one than everyone else, I thought it was generally fine! I’m interested in MJF vs Andrade (much more so than Briscoe), Darby’s brief run in had a lot of fire that made me pine for his World Title run, enjoyed ZSJ stretching Perry about, and there was a solid C&C/Dogs segment that made me much more interested in seeing their match at the weekend. And Aminata won. All those things are quite brief moments in a long show but I’ll take them!

edit: And Orange Cassidy doing a neat bit of foreshadowing by telling Renee “it’s fine… it’s fine!” Knowing that the creepy goblin Lio Rush could be lurking anywhere just waiting to get him.

Oh, and Renee’s Rebel t-shirt as well.

Edited June 25 by HarmonicGenerator
It’s fine

[BomberPat]

when they first brought Mercedes in as a babyface, I found her the worst thing on the show because her delivery is pure Performance Center in its cadence and rhythms, and she was delivering clearly pre-scripted lines and then hitting a pose, and it was all so mechanical, and then somebody like Willow Nightingale would come out and hit a promo that felt natural and genuinely connected to the crowd. That all works for Mercedes as a heel, because her being a big flashy production and really disingenuous leans into the character, but it doesn't play well on video packages because there's no gravitas or believability to it, and it doesn't play well here specifically because Maya World doesn't have the level of audience sympathy they're hoping for, and because since returning Mercedes hasn't actually really done anything particularly heelish; she wrestled Alex Windsor where she was the big surprise opponent so was getting babyface reactions, then beat Hazuki who isn't an AEW regular, and she hasn't done any real character work to show whether losing all her titles has changed anything. At the moment, she's just a wrestler on the show.

[Chili]

3 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

when they first brought Mercedes in as a babyface, I found her the worst thing on the show because her delivery is pure Performance Center in its cadence and rhythms, and she was delivering clearly pre-scripted lines and then hitting a pose, and it was all so mechanical, and then somebody like Willow Nightingale would come out and hit a promo that felt natural and genuinely connected to the crowd. That all works for Mercedes as a heel, because her being a big flashy production and really disingenuous leans into the character, but it doesn't play well on video packages because there's no gravitas or believability to it, and it doesn't play well here specifically because Maya World doesn't have the level of audience sympathy they're hoping for, and because since returning Mercedes hasn't actually really done anything particularly heelish; she wrestled Alex Windsor where she was the big surprise opponent so was getting babyface reactions, then beat Hazuki who isn't an AEW regular, and she hasn't done any real character work to show whether losing all her titles has changed anything. At the moment, she's just a wrestler on the show.

But that matches were really good and frustratingly that's more important.

Mercedes Mone should be a returning babyface, working hard to burn off all the calories of humble pie she had to eat. But FUCK ALL happened. She had 13 titles or whatever, and absolutely fuck all consequences came of it. Nothing grew from it. It's incredibly frustrating because I think she's ace, but I simply don't watch her stuff and skip it because I'm getting absolutely nothing from it as a viewer, because I'm not massively arsed about JUST good wrestling matches. Because that's not what pro wrestling is for me. It's characters that actually HAVE journeys to be invested in, silly bollocks AND a good match. 

[LaGoosh]

I love the Mercedes character as a heel. I understand some of the criticisms she gets but I think that often misses the point. She is devoid of personality by design - she is an empty, cruel, hateful person. All she has is greed, arrogance and hate. There is nothing else to her.

It's a huge shame Willow is injured because they are the perfect opposites in every way and a program between them for the World title should be one of their big stories.

[DavidB6937]

8 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I love the Mercedes character as a heel. I understand some of the criticisms she gets but I think that often misses the point. She is devoid of personality by design - she is an empty, cruel, hateful person. All she has is greed, arrogance and hate. There is nothing else to her.

It's a huge shame Willow is injured because they are the perfect opposites in every way and a program between them for the World title should be one of their big stories.

But for me personally, you get to the point where that just isn't enough. That the most interesting path to take is that she is human and that she does care about losing all the titles and that it's had a bigger impact on her. It's like when MJF just goes back to his basic mode and it's just not enough anymore when his most interesting work is far more layered than that.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if 'by design' is simply because she's not capable of pulling off anything else with any real believability. I just don't know at this point because it doesn't feel like she's ever been given the chance.

[Chili]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

But for me personally, you get to the point where that just isn't enough. That the most interesting path to take is that she is human and that she does care about losing all the titles and that it's had a bigger impact on her. It's like when MJF just goes back to his basic mode and it's just not enough anymore when his most interesting work is far more layered than that.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if 'by design' is simply because she's not capable of pulling off anything else with any real believability. I just don't know at this point because it doesn't feel like she's ever been given the chance.

It's this. And if he character is all of what @LaGooshsays, then getting smashed into a cake is simply not cathartic enough. You can't just lose all your titles from around the world, come back with no acknowledgement of anything being learned from that and potentially WIN the prior unattainable goal and still be a heel. It's those real life cases of right wing cunt falling upwards and facing fuck all from anything. There is nothing that WANTS me to will her to win as a heel facing another heel. She could even still have the cocky vapid aspect of her as a trait she's trying to battle because it never helped her win the real prize goal she aspired for, but honestly she's not capable of that as a performer personally. You'd think that female writer she personally got a gig for in AEW would be better at that shit.

Edited June 25 by Chili

[Supremo]

On 5/27/2026 at 7:44 PM, Supremo said:

The Young Bucks interrupting the Five Second Pose, with Nick Jackson bringing back the daft clobber gimmick, rocking this look.

David Finlay on this show.

Fair play, Tony. Copy the homework but change it just enough to get away with it. Classic!

[The King Of Swing]

Browsing for something to watch on MyAEW, and realised that The Hollywood Ending, was only last year. 

Fucking hell, feels like a lifetime ago. 

[Supremo]

A lifetime of mediocrity.

[Kamran]

It's the final Collision before Forbidden Door:

[LaGoosh]

Rough looking card.

[DavidB6937]

JD Drake looking exactly how we all feel about that match.