Paid Members Supremo Posted July 9 Paid Members Posted July 9 (edited) Am I a freak for thinking the hard camera on this show was miles too far back? Felt like being put in the worst seat in the house whenever they cut to it. I swear I found myself squinting! Wildly distracting. Also disappointing that no-body was thrown in the drink, although Darby Allin booby trapping everything to explode is a fun bit that I hope they run with for months. Otherwise a great show. I know the heat wave is here regardless, as we slowly head towards killing the entire planet and dying in an explosion of flames like the dreams Sarah Connor has in Terminator 2, but there’s just something about waking up in a world where Kenny Omega is World Champion and Willow Nightingale is back on my TV screen. The sun is shining brighter. The birds are singing louder. The air is crisper. Life is good. Now if only Moxley would fuck off out of the Will Ospreay angle… Reckon it might be Willow vs. Mercedes at All In, then? Certainly feels like the biggest match now, even if it does rob Thekla of the moment she probably deserves. Thought she was a brilliantly aloof prick on commentary. Where did Andrade’s weird, “how you know,” catchphrase come from? Did I miss an episode of Collision or something? I swear he just randomly started saying it recently, with everyone reacting like it had already been a thing. Turns out Big Show worked a dark match, but I wouldn’t recommend seeking out the video. A very sad watch. Man walks like Robocop. MJF doing the head-first table bump that Mick Foley took at Revenge of the Taker! You cannot convince me he hasn’t been binging the old In Your House events like the rest of us! The way in which Omega and Ospreay both do these kick outs at one, I wonder if the end game is Ospreay kicking out of the One Winged Angel at one. Would be the ultimate pay off to the storyline around whether Will’s neck is knackered or not. Just a shame Moxley would take credit for moulding Will into the hardest man alive. Death Riders are hard as nails, you know. They smoke behind the bike sheds after school. The speed with which they threw the graphic up made me more certain than ever that they rushed the title change for the sole purpose of being able to announce Omega vs. Ospreay in the hope of shifting some tickets. Seems this coincides with a 50% discount Ticketmaster is currently running. Will be interesting to see if things pick up. It certainly feels like the biggest match they have right now. Hang it in The Louvre. You won, Tony. Enjoy my money. I hope it makes you very happy. Dear Lord, what a sad little life, Tony. Edited July 9 by Supremo Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted July 9 Author Paid Members Posted July 9 I was originally going to watch this after work today, but ended up being unable to wait, and my goodness I’m glad I watched it when I did. What a show. Tony Khan is one for hyperbole, but when he says 2026 might be the greatest year ever of AEW television, he’s probably right. Willow vs Mercedes does seem like the direction for All In, and I’m pretty disappointed about that based on how brilliant Thekla has been as champion. If nothing else, I hope Thekla/Willow gets the main event at their next PPV, particularly if there’s not a men’s World title match, which the Wembley graphic suggests might be the case. Or maybe they do a triple threat? Thekla deserves a big match at All In regardless. I ended up enjoying the opener, and that’s mainly because Ciampa has been a Ricochet-style revelation since joining AEW. He’s a very enjoyable character. Takeshita/Fletcher was outstanding and it’s a shame it was outshone by the end of the week, after any other show it would be the one and only talking point. The segment after was a bit odd, but perfectly fine, outside of Kevin Knight absolutely stinking it up on the mic again. They’re overrating that guy, I’m telling you. Nice to see Jack Perry re-sign with AEW. I’d quite like to see C&C vs Jurassic Express at some point. The main event was tremendous, if a bit bittersweet - like Thekla, I feel like MJF had justified his place in the main event of All In. The greatest ever AEW World Champion is either him or Darby, it’s hard to make a case for anyone else over them. I’m pretty sure he’ll have an interesting match at All In, but I was keen to see him headline. Still, it feels like there’s a lot of steam left in MJF as World Champion, meaning that when he does hold the belt again, it’ll be good. Maybe the way to go is have him lose his ability to challenge for the belt, leading to a storyline with Hangman that somehow culminates in them both winning that right back? Also, I can’t believe I didn’t mention the venue - I loved it, and any time AEW runs a show like that, it lifts it significantly. The heat must have been a killer though, and I wonder if that played a part in Excalibur being very slightly off his game all night? Doing commentary in extreme heat while wearing a mask must be brutal. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 9 Paid Members Posted July 9 *sigh* Guess I'm going to have to go to All In now, aren't I? Quote
The King of Old School Posted July 9 Posted July 9 Hope they resist the temptation to do some kind of screwy Omega/MJF rematch at Redemption and make it a 3 way at Wembley. Omega/Ospreay is the biggest match they could possibly do it has to happen there. Quote
Paid Members RedTwoster Posted July 9 Author Paid Members Posted July 9 34 minutes ago, The King of Old School said: Hope they resist the temptation to do some kind of screwy Omega/MJF rematch at Redemption and make it a 3 way at Wembley. Omega/Ospreay is the biggest match they could possibly do it has to happen there. I don’t think that’s likely, it’s not really their style. They’ll probably have something significant planned for MJF too, whether it’s a match with Hangman, a match with Andrade or even something involving Mick Foley. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 9 Paid Members Posted July 9 Yeah I'll be pretty unhappy with a three way with MJF involved. I doubt they'll go that way. MJF has spent the past 6 months building up an entire roster of enemies so there's plenty else they'll be able to do with him. I think the general booking has been pretty wonky across the company this year but I'll give full credit to what a fantastic job they've done with the World Championship. Genuinely captivating and exciting stuff. I would be pretty happy with a Willow/Mercedes/Thekla three way at All In though. With Willow it feels like they've sadly waited too long to give her the big push (textbook AEW booking) and another singles match with Mercedes isn't the most exciting thing in the world. However I feel like Thekla has more than earned a top spot in the past few months and a three way is more intriguing and unpredictable. Thekla is on the verge of being a big babyface star for them. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 9 Paid Members Posted July 9 1 hour ago, Supremo said: Where did Andrade’s weird, “how you know,” catchphrase come from? Did I miss an episode of Collision or something? I swear he just randomly started saying it recently, with everyone reacting like it had already been a thing. It was from a funny promo he did in his first AEW run which caught on as a meme. Now he just says it all the time. Quote
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted July 9 Posted July 9 Wonder if at Redemption there'll be an MJF v Omega rematch for the title and obvious shenanigans which ends with Hangman costing MJF the win. MJF gets all hissy about it and then challenges Hangman at All In with the stipulation that if Hangman wins he can challenge again for the title again and MJF can't ever. Then later down the line the whole stipulation gets dropped somehow. That sets up Omega v Ospreay and MJF v Hangman for All In. Perhaps we even see a Hangman heel turn by attacking Omega after the match or something Wonder if we will see Mercedes v Thekla v Willow at Wembley? All 3 probably deserve to be on the card, but can't see anyone else being able to join them properly really or even to split it to 2 big womens matches. Quote
DavidB6937 Posted July 9 Posted July 9 5 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said: stipulation I would happily not have any stipulation match for the next year. Quote
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted July 9 Paid Members Posted July 9 Ive not watched AEW for a while, the Hangman photo soured me. But I just finished this show and Im back on board. Jericho being announced just as Jericho, no Chris, that a new bit? I was surprised Fletcher went over Takeshita. I know hes been dead since 2009, but Captain Lou wasnt looking too bad. Andrade being called 'cool' while looking like a BBC division 1 pundit was a choice. Bloody ace seeing JD Drake. Just missing BEEF now. Osprey... the Death Riders stuff has put me off him like crazy. Willow looking amazing. Luchasaurus speaking was a surprise. Omega/MJF was a cracker of a bout. Quote
Paid Members LaGoosh Posted July 9 Paid Members Posted July 9 14 minutes ago, ReturnOfTheMack said: I was surprised Fletcher went over Takeshita. Takeshita is busy in Japan with the G1 for most the summer so I guess it made sense to take the strap off him. Quote
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted July 9 Paid Members Posted July 9 9 minutes ago, LaGoosh said: Takeshita is busy in Japan with the G1 for most the summer so I guess it made sense to take the strap off him. It's not like the champion not been on the show is a problem. They can just have a title match with one of the 47 other titles that they have. I have no problem with Fletcher as champ, both him and Takeshita should be featured much more as they are both excellent. They could both do with escaping the Don Callis vortex once and for all though. Quote
SoloJones Posted July 9 Posted July 9 Main event was good stuff, loved the piledriver on to the chair and subsequent selling from both guys. MJF taking that table bump like a champ as well, absolutely fantastic stuff. Kenny flailing his legs around trying to get out of a pin earlier on in the match was a little detail I really enjoyed, and the match didn't descend in to overkill. Thought the gauntlet match kept up a good pace as well, though it did seem to wrap up very quickly once Willow entered. I hope Thekla has something good to do at All In, I don't really watch AEW week on week, but whenever I see her perform she's been a highlight. Quote
Chili Posted July 9 Posted July 9 (edited) Foley is either backing a team for Wembley against a team backed by Don Callis for Stadium Stampede or he's actually going to be in it. I also really liked Don's very cute line about taking the spotlight away from the young talents in the ring. Also a nice moment where as Don was foghorning about how great everything is Fletcher & Foley were just giving each other absolute daggers. Please don't kill yourself Mick, just smack a load of people with a bin, it's fine. Edited July 9 by Chili Quote
Merzbow Posted July 9 Posted July 9 (edited) 7 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: They could both do with escaping the Don Callis vortex once and for all though. Yeah and it feels like they're already planting seeds for Fletcher to leave, too. I do get the feeling there's a winding down of the group slightly, both top stars in Andrade and Takeshita already gone and teasing animosity between Kevin and Kyle.. could be time for Don to take a backseat and I say that as one of the few who still loves him. Main event was as ace as you'd expect, just shame the table crumbled up a little too much and we didin't get MJF stuck in it head first like they obviously planned. Thekla saved that women's match, I would have fell asleep during it if it wasn't for her amazingly good/bad commentary and then Willow's comeback. Edited July 9 by Merzbow Quote
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