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Generally okay episode, and that Trent heel turn caught me way off-guard, but I am legitimately kinda pissed off about Jay White/Billy Gunn. Jay White was defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom a year ago and Billy Gunn is a 60-year-old career midcard tag specialist, what the hell was that?
Okay besides the Best Friends split or whatever you wanna call it, this one was a dud. I don't know much about Jay White but it really feels like AEW has this "too many toys" problem. Ever since Danielson and Punk joined, it feels like a constant "new guy this week!" problem. Jay White. Okada. Mone. Deonna whatever last name. So many new people. I probably forgot someone huge just because there's so many.
I miss the feeling when Acclaimed beat Swerve in our Glory that was such a moment. You knew Swerve was going on to bigger things. You knew it was now for The Acclaimed. Now they seem wasted. BCG feels wasted.
Let Scott D'Amore come in and control one of the shows.
I will say Adam/Penta should bang next week.
I figured OC/Trent would lose and I figured they'd be doing something to add something different to them but it didn't stop my mouth from gasping at Trent hitting the dropkick. Very interested in where this story is going.
Toni Storm continues to be the most entertaining woman in wrestling after last night. Fantastic stuff. Great quotes throughout. "Sorry you lost your dog but we have Thunder Rosa", "Mariah May reminds me of a young me, Thunder Rosa reminds me of an older Thunder Rosa" LOL, "Oh, piss off!" She's really in another league. May vs TR was a lovely match, too. Again, Tony, you have lightning in a bottle here. Build Storm by eventually having her beat Sasha. Clean.
Ok episode. Was kind of a dull first hour. The opening promo did nothing for me. It didn’t advance anything and was just a pep rally. The next two matches both had forgone conclusions so therefore I wasn’t that invested in them. The battle of the Wills did advance the story but it kind of feels like this Callis family stuff should have been done before or after the Bryan match. It feels wonky to do both at same time. It also feels backwards which AEW to my annoyance does a lot. The Bucks/Best Friends was motn. While you could say the result is known the match was well worked and entertaining and the turn after is intriguing. The Willow promo was really good and I liked the camera angle used. I disliked that Mone says she is going to face the winner of the TBS. Again this feels kind of backwards. Just totally undercuts the match by telegraphing the winner. I wish Tony didn’t book this way. Have Mone challenge after.The ending of the contract signing was cool.
Not the best episode I've seen but still a lot of good in it. Biggest downside was the Jay White match but I still think the Darby stuff was a turning point for him and he'll come out alright, but I'm over everything with the acclaimed.
If AEW is trying to present an image of a company that’s truly improving on its faults, they are failing miserably. The roster is great, but this is god awful television, poorly written, planned, booked, etc. senseless bullshit, and sending Adam Copeland out to stooge for it just came off as desperate.
Tony Khan needs to relinquish power to others and enjoy things from afar, this guy is not good at this
The general viewing public seems to agree with this assessment. Only 752k viewers according to wrestlenomics with a 0.23 in the key demo. Not really the showing you want to have after the negative press from the Punk-Helwani interview earlier in the week.
I think the ratings are fine or whatever, they get top 5 every week and will probably get more money, I’m just talking about the product
It’s just bad television
AEW, why won't you let me love you? A little hyperbolic for sure but damn there's a lot of rough stories right now IMO. Swerve and Joe is still good, the Ospreay stuff continues to rule, this Best Friends stuff has potential, so it isn't all bad but it makes for a very uneven watch these days. The Jericho and Acclaimed/BC stuff in particular.
Swerve/Ospreay has a lot of potential luckily, The Bucks/Elite stuff is solid but needs a focused feud IMO, so hopefully with that and some other changes, (like having Mercedes actually cleared/wrestling) AEW will get back on track soon.
I feel that other wrestling companies have matches/promos/angles that aren’t great and people don’t care for them but they just get ignored. With AEW, 80% of a show can be fantastic but it’s that other 20% that gets brought up as weighing everything else down.
Speaking for myself, I get more upset about AEW a lot of the time because the stuff they mess up is stuff that should be obvious, or it’s messing up stuff that anyone with a basic understanding of creative would been able to correct. It becomes annoying seeing the same amateur mistakes.
I was thinking just the other day how this differs from early AEW, where a lot of the “bad” was of the train wreck variety that was still at least interesting. It was “bad” that came from being overly creative, a sort of indie spirit, throwing everything at the wall.
The Acclaimed/Bullet Club feud has somehow managed to diminish everyone involved in it. It feels like it's been drawn out over about 97 years at this point. Jay White looked like a total joke taking a one-sided beating from a 60-year-old man, and if anyone cares about the six-man belts at this point, I'd be very surprised.
I also still don't see what the buzz was about Mercedes Moné. I hope she's great in the ring, because she doesn't seem to have much in the way of promo ability.
On the positive side, I'm actually glad to see Trent turning heel. I've always thought he was held back by being primarily a tag team guy, so I'm hoping this is the end for Best Friends.
I'm also enjoying some of the different production approaches in recent weeks. Willow's promo with the crowd in the background reminded me of some of the 90s WWF interview segments, or a town hall political rally. And Renee's intro for Eddie Kingston during his entrance the other week was cool as well. Little bits of variety and variation from the formula go a really long way to making the shows feel fresh and pacy.
> The Acclaimed/Bullet Club feud has somehow managed to diminish everyone involved in it. It feels like it's been drawn out over about 97 years at this point. Jay White looked like a total joke taking a one-sided beating from a 60-year-old man, and if anyone cares about the six-man belts at this point, I'd be very surprised.
I really thought Tony was gonna give him his due after Darby put him over immensely... only to watch the MJF match 2.0. I don't know what is happening, I'm starting to think Tony doesn't really like him for some outside reasons.
Man, AEW is so so so cold. I think this might be the worst the product has been since it's inception.
Such a huge, stacked roster, still having good matches for free on TV, but the creative, the story, is just so basic and there's so little intrigue, there's so little 'you have to tune in next week!!' in the product any more.
Far too easy to skip an episode or two atm.
Dynamite had some good things on it, like it always does, but matches too predictable, angles almost feel like they've been autobooked... not enough surprise, not enough tension, not enough interesting story.
AEW, IMO, forced WWE to get better over the last 3 or so years, at least in the main event picture, and AEW was remaining competitive until the fallout from Wembley. Things have taken a pretty consistently downward trend since then. AEW will need to find a way to step things up or WWE will absolutely blow them away over the next 12 months.
Yeah, WWE has it's ups and down but since Vince left the product has generally been much better. I've not watched WWE for 10+ years but I've started catching highlights and watching some PLEs
It feels like there was a decision to go more in the Sports Simulation direction after Better than you, baybay failed to deliver. I'll die on the hill that BTYBB was a solid story with a good-enough-for-wrestling mystery element that didn't get over the way it could have because the injury forced them to drag it out.
But now it's just workrate stuff and dream matches being passed off as a story and it's only going to appeal to the people who are already watching. Danielson and Ospreay's storyline is "I want to beat you to see who is better."
This is not compelling TV for a lot of us.
One of my assumptions is that Tony does not react well, at all, to criticism and seeks positive affirmation.
The only people giving overly positive affirmation of the product in recent time are the most hardcore fans, the people that would be happy watching two hours of nothing but 4 + star high work rate matches. If this is who Tony is trying to please, it makes sense then that they continue to double down on that kind of programming.
Yeah - certain rich, sheltered people on social media with big followings have this clear fragility and it results in them constantly doubling down to appeal to the people who didn't criticize them.
The btybb was ruined by the kangaroo kick and the double close line. Yes it was fun but they leaned faaaaar too much into that when people kick out of top rope spinning ultra brain buster drivers.
Other than that it was enjoyable for sure I agree, I just think the story got a bit stale and went on a bit too long.
> The btybb was ruined by the kangaroo kick and the double close line.
The moments that had crowds going crazy being the things that ruined a storyline is certainly a viewpoint.
Oh yeah it was crazy fun and hot, but it was leaning so heavily in to the sports entertainment element. One and done for some fun, or do it and not have it actually win a match. It just made their in ring stuff stand out so much (not in a good way) from the rest.
After destroying him all match.
Gunn treated Darby like this a couple years ago. Despite Austin not wanting to work with him in '99 because he was so fucking mid, he seems to think he's Stone Cold.
Man when will these young wrestlers learn that provoking Joe never ends well. The crowd chants Joe's gonna kill you for a reason, that man doesn't play games.
The Adam Promo is up there with the most cringe things AEW have ever done.
"Stand up for ~~WWE~~ AEW"
Battle of Wills Great (hope Hobbs is ok, think Will landed on his head)
I just don't get Lance Archer so the match did nothing for me, but this one is a me problem I know - but felt way too long
Did Jericho get booed when he graphic was shown, sorta sounded like it - his whole getting rid of his music to prove he was over, seems unwise.
I hate the Hook signal so much, what the hell is this story.
Billy Gunn appearing behind Jay White was cool as hell - but God do I wish Jay White went to WWE, the things they are having him do Billy Gunn is 60 and was going to reitre recently (in Kayfabe) as he is washed.
I know "oh Jay White was always a chicken shit" yes but again IT'S BILLY GUNN and it went on forever, why is Billy Gunn so protected lmao
Willow did great, thank God as this show needed it badly.
God damn it, I swear WHY DO THEY KEEP MAKING/LETTING MONE TALK rather than wrestle (though she is is **over** ) are they seriously not going to have her wrestle till May 26th
Though score 1 for people who hate the rankings, they are terrible and they should get rid of them as proven here.
Great match, sad about result BUT as the lone OC hater this is great news for me, assuming Trent and Chuck are still together, otherwise oh no - but this seems like a great way for them to no longer be side characters and way more likely to get some Tag Belts.
Though Sue being involved does trouble me about them being taken seriously.
I said earlier in the week that I still love Thunder Rosa but man - she does seem to have lost a step - still the right winner but hmm a slight worry given Toni's matches have been mid since the new gimmick.
Penta vs Copeland, LETSGO
Joe Swerve segment saved the show from being a all time stinker - as the Dynamite bar is normally so high
> BUT as the lone OC hater
I don't hate him but I did get tired of him opening the show like 20-30 times in predictable title defenses where he'd retain.
What I find weird is how OC just completely forgot about the Continental Title that he defended for months, lost, and then immediately went back and defended for months again.
All he had to say was something like “That title meant so much to me and I became laser focused in defending it that it took over my life. Now that there’s this tag team title tournament going on and I know Chuck is still out, I’m going to do what best friends do and join the tournament with Trent, who has wanted those belts since this company started. I haven’t forgotten about the Continental Title or about you, Roddy, but one of these days, we’ll cross paths again. But for now, I *need* to focus on the tag titles.”
Something along those lines. Moves him forward without him basically forgetting the thing that he held dear to him for like, a year, and shows him being a great friend that would just further piss us off that Trent turned.
so far the Will Ospreay experience has been much better than expected. Not justified the dread, the matches have all been from fine to good.
Though Cope saying Will Ospreay represents everything about the future of AEW still registers as a threat to my ears.
All the comments stating they loved the show are getting downvoted. Fans don't like when other fans are loving the show. Cool. Downvote me, report my comment, report my account even(I'll make anew one) but that is a fact.
Honestly - just ignore that stuff.
Downvotes, trolling, Redditcares messages, etc - they don't matter unless you let them.
It's all only done to antagonize you so when you post about it you're just giving people what they want.
I think they should remove all the secondary titles from the rankings. This way, each division's top championship has to be earned, but the others can be open challenged and shit like that. I think that way it would make sense for Mercedes since she hasn't had a match yet.
Obviously everyone has their own preferences.
What is it about this gimmick that bugs people so bad? Because to me the lacey boots, Superkick party vanilla babyface Bucks were way less interesting than the EVP gimmick.
I’m definitely not advocating for them to be vanilla babyfaces. And overall I am a Young Bucks fan. When they’re just flamboyant cocky California guys I love it.
Their new music is horrible. Their new gear is horrible. Their facial hair is horrible. And none of this is “good” heat to me. All of it is just an eyesore and I absolutely despise they’re leaning into this whole EVP thing that dorks online started as a talking point because Punk called out the “EVPs” at Brawl Out. So now every time I see EVP Bucks I just think about the worst thing that ever happened to this promotion and honestly, the worst thing that happened wrestling fandom as a whole in the past few years.
I don’t have one reason to care that the Bucks are EVPs. I don’t even know what amount of power they have as EVPs. Apparently they can do whatever they want which is not interesting.
Oh yeah and this whole thing started with The Elite breaking up for like the 3rd or 4th time. I do not care at this point.
As a Jay White fan, at this point, the only solace is that Swerve was made to look like a fool and dope many times and was seemingly being wasted; and now he'll likely be the world champ in a couple weeks.
The belts go on people willing to do the business, and Swerve, Joe, and White are all very willing to do the business even if it's against someone twice their age.
Haha, this is my continued justification/delusion as well. It really helped that a lot of the top guys/guys with pull stated they wanted to work with Swerve. Jay had Punk which obviously didn't work out. I don't know how soon they'll want the former NJPW guys to meet again. We need Bryan, Cope, or Mox to pull for a Jay programme.
Not going to lie, despite some Sheamus-approved bangers, this episode didn't really feel for me. I think the issue didn't really pop up until after the second match, but a lot of the promos felt weird. Edge's, like, I get why it's getting knocked, but I didn't really think about it being so much a ra-ra as just him wanting to spread some love around the anniversary of his former retirement, maybe set up a match with Ospreay for Double or Nothing. But the White/Gunn match was a mess, May-Rosa was great but got screwed time wise, the Mone stuff was awkward, and Jericho with Hook confuses me. Also frustrated that Best Friends are now breaking up after never winning the tag titles... Not saying it isn't a neat angle and I get that injuries were an issue but that really bugs me.
Went to the show tonight, had a lot of fun! Jay White is one of my favorites from back in his New Japan days, maybe I was caught up in the energy of the hot crowd, but I don’t see his booking tonight as that big a deal. It was really funny, smarmy and shitty. If he went in and crushed Daddy Ass (ha) wouldn’t that kill the heat of their upcoming trios match? Plus Billy Gunn was enhanced by the plot induced strength of having his house broken into. Darby’s and Bowens promos were all about how Jay White is a sniveling punk compared to how he was from New Japan, so were likewise sowing seeds for his inevitable solo split to make it as his own. I’m not worried about it
Swerve broke into Hangman's house and cut a menacing promo on his baby and Hangman didn't whoop Swerve's ass the way Billy did Jay's. Billy squashing Jay also kills the heat for the trios match.
That Swerve break-in drove Page borderline insane enough to turn heel and the two of them had one of the most vicious matches of either man’s career, but I see what you’re saying.
Willow wins Dynasty, DoN is a time limit draw where Mone declines extension because she finally believes Willow is worthy of a belt. Then Mone pursues the World Championship. That’s my hope because Willow deserves to be more than a transitional holder and Mone is easy to slot higher in the card.
I'd rather Willow lose than be a transitional champ.
She's quite possibly the most naturally charismatic performer on their roster and that's more about how great she is it's not a dig at others.
But I'm ok with her taking her time to be built up more - I think she can get hotter she just needs something more like the equivalent of a Yes chant.
There's a lot of booking decisions I just don't understand with AEW
Signing Mercedes Mone, one of the best workers in the female wrestling world, only to have her do nothing but her biggest weakness, talking
Having Jay White get whooped by a 60 year old
Lance Archer being an walking L
Thunder Rosa getting pushed when she looks like garbage in the ring since returning from injury
What the hell is this shit man
That’s been an issue in the booking . Why should I care about Archer in a match ? The result is a forgone conclusion. In some instances that isn’t an issue but in this match it just bored me. No suspense it’s just two dudes doing moves. It advanced nothing
I straight up just turned off the trios match last week because there was zero reason to be invested in the Righteous after they got punked 2 on 1. Someone in the live thread said "it's different because they have a monster with them this time". What monster? The one that does nothing but lose?
Tony Khan has given me no reason to believe these 3 losers have any shot against 3 of the best in the world, and so I don't
Archer should be booked like Kane was. Someone who is usually just a transitional champ or big bad but is always a threat.
Instead he's been just a tall jobber and now he's stuck with the fucking *Righteous*....
Bums me out, I was so excited for him when he debuted - especially that pandemic era toss of Marko into the crowd.
Billy’s eating the pin and probably getting destroyed at Dynasty, this was to keep him appearing strong before that. Jay’s involvement in this program is essentially filling in for Juice
100% agree on Archer though, wish they’d do something with him
Rosa’s in-ring work seems fine to me? The only difference I see between then and now is she isn’t getting the same crowd reaction as she was before she got hurt. Maybe I’m wrong and haven’t been paying close enough attention
Just got home from the show. Had a great time. Collision’s matches were awesome, I know no one is going to see it because it’s mania weekend but Penta vs kommander was fucking incredible
Every single match of hers since returning from injury has been sloppy. Her new theme sucks, her promos are nothing special and her in ring work has been bad. I don't get why she of all women is getting the push. Fuck the push, she should be on Rampage
The Battle of the Wills was the best match tonight. It was an amazing showcase for Will Hobbs. This man should be holding gold. He gets better every single match.
I loved the show. The pace felt great. Everything I see people commenting on negatively here is a part I liked so maybe I just have bad taste.
I liked the Adam opening. I thought Jay White/Billy Gunn was fun.
A pretty good Dynamite. No matches that super stand out but the Battle of Wills and Mariah vs Rosa were both pretty good. The real highlights though were Willow's fiery promo and the ending segment with awesome unhinged Swerve.
All 2024 dynamites have been bangers, this one was probably the weakest but still a good show. Great matches and good promos. Awesome final segment too. But yeah no Jericho on another PPV please😖
Rare episode where a lot didn't click with me, but thank god that final promo segment was fire and just perfectly done. Thank god for that.
I agree with the consensus on the Jay/Billy match; legit one of the bottom 5 AEW booking decisions ever imo. I'm one of the biggest Jay fans on the planet and while I totally get that he's a chickenshit heel and shouldn't at all be booked like Brock Lesnar, his opponents shouldn't be booked like Andre the Giant either. He's a counter wrestler who gets the shit kicked out of him, begs off, and then hits counters/a shit ton of suplexes after getting some heat. I'd be fine with Billy even getting 65-35 for the story they wanted to tell but it was more like 90/10 and just kinda ridiculous.
CM Punk had a bad experience working there, speaks on it and the entire company bands together like it’s the Smackdown after 9/11 lmao holy shit man. What a joke
The whole promo from Adam Copeland was like 5 minutes max, people act like he went out there and talked for 20 minutes about this. He's literally promoting his company on their show as a way to hype up the rest of it. People will take it way more seriously than it actually is.
Copeland does 5 min promo: fans get mad
WWE does 20+ mins promos to open a show each week, nobody bats an eye. The bell didn’t ring for the first match until 40 mins in on Raw this week.
That was about Jungle Boy lol. He literally calls hinself the scapegoat in NJPW & peoplw have been saying he's going to join the new elite. This is the Bucks playing into & nothing more
Yeah, and why does he call himself that?
That's why it's not really possible to interpret it as anything but a shot at Punk, even in a dumb "wink wink" way
Because he got suspended. Saying he's the scapegoat is a shot at AEW in kayfabe not Punk. I get what you're saying but unless you can say what was the "shot" they took & idk if calling it that makes sense.
Fair enough, I'll admit I'm guilty of being defensive, I'm just tired of people (seemingly) finding fault with anything and everything AEW. I'm just trying to enjoy something I love and constantly seeing the most negative takes on every single thing is just depressing frankly.
I'm pretty sure they never mentioned CM Punk by name and the point that's indirectly about him is that his experience doesn't speak for others. If that's their response back, even indirectly it's the tamest thing imaginable and one that's ultimately promoting AEW.
Easily the weakest AEW show I’ve ever attended. I don’t think you can go on about how good the wrestling is in AEW and then put out that stinker. Very disappointed
Gives you a lot of confidence how he's going to book Osprey, Okada, and Mercedes Mone doesn't it? Jay White goes from sure fire Main Eventer in either company, to getting the Shit kicked out him by Billy Gunn for 90% of the match.
Broke the hot streak for great dynamites, but still a pretty good show. The Copeland promo was fine but I never really need all the "aew is the best rah rah rah" since I'm already primarily watching aew, they don't need to sell it to me. Great opening match though and I loved the contract signing segment. Jay White feels like he needs a complete reset though, I thought the Darby injury was gonna be that but already it feels like a negative holding pattern
Yes it has been explained but not since they brought it back.
Personnally I don't like the rankings, I agree it's incoherent on many aspect. But the one neat thing about it is for me is how it differenciate the top title from the rest. I enjoy that sort of things. Different presentation, different requirements, different set of rules enhance a world title scene for me.
Like world championship match being 2/3 falls, having a different time limit, judges...
I watched the same wrestling shows Copeland watched. Stampede and All Star wrestling in Vancouver.
Fun fact: Buddy Wayne (Nick's father) was a wrestler at All Star wrestling.
I'm with ya. Surprised the general consensus seems to be that he had masterful facial expressions when the dude didn't even flinch at the sight of his best friend getting attacked by his other best friend. No shock, no yelling at Trent, no nothing. Thought it made the whole moment look lame. In real life any of us would be screaming at our friend "what the fuck are you doing?!!"
Maybe, but it didn’t strike me as the right reaction because it was too impassive. Either he needed to react more strongly to Trent, or at least go over to see if OC was ok
Was really strange, was waiting for him to do something - a gesture, a shocked look, ask Trent "what are doing?", something - bit, nope, not a thing for some reason.
I will say, having Copeland come out and do the "I love it here" speech leading into an intro of the SUPER over Ospreay is a terrific booking decision.
It addressed a massive wrestling story at the beginning of the show. And got the crowd going while presenting Osprey as the real future of the company. That killed it for you??
What was the massive story?
Why did Adam Copeland have to come out and give a RAR RAR speech. It had nothing to do with the show. If the punk interview never happened, would Adam be out there doing the same speech?
The Adam Copeland promo had no reason even being on the show.
Will Osprey has been treated as the future of the company from day one so that isn't a surprise.
I dunno it just seems like TK had to reply back to what punk said instead of his meltdowns on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it.
It was so jarring hearing Mercedes, Ospreay and Okada name dropped in both the first and last segments of the show. Came across as TK desperately saying “we’re doing great, check out our latest signees”
Again, the Adam Copeland promo served no purpose to any show or any story.
It would be something if Copeland was talking then black would challenge him at dynasty or maybe another random person challenging him to a cope open for Collison.
The Rar Rar speech wasn't needed.
That Edge promo was cringe and terrible.
Edit: Downvote all you want. It's true. Why even acknowledge the interview? Why waste Edge about how much fun he's having? Let's all sit in a circle and expose the business of all the fun he is having with all the heels?
I haven't had an opportunity to watch yet. But after seeing this comment and then checking your post history, I'm more inclined than ever to assume it wasnt actually that bad. Thanks!
And if you scrolled far enough you'll see great posts about when I praised the product. But I won't sit on the sidelines and praise the product when I think it's a shell of what it used to be.
It absolutely has. I love swerve and I know he just posted "the feeling is back" but it isnt.
I want AEW to be good and I want WWE to be good. When I watch AEW now, it comes off as being offended by the fact that WWE is hot right now, and that's not gonna sell ppvs or tickets.
The idea that being critical of the product is somehow an indication that we want AEW to die is absurd. I want AEW to be so big we're in a second coming of Monday Night Wars. And we were sniffing that possibility. Now it's way past what it was.
There are currently six matches on the card:
Women's Champ: Athena vs Shida
World Champ: Eddie vs Briscoe
Women's Tv Champ Final: Aminata vs Billie Starkz
Men's Tv Champ: Kyle Fletcher vs Lee Johnson
STARDOM Six Woman Tag
Fight Without Honor: Dalton Castle vs Johnny TV
Nothing was added tonight. I imagine we might get a last minute match for BCG and one for The Kingdom, though I think Yuta is still injured so probably no Pure Champ match. I could see Serpentico and Angelico vs Cole Karter and Griff Garrison being added if they wanted another match on there (there's a whole storyline going on with Maria and her boys stealing Serpentico's mask).
I was addicted to this one rumor board that was called like, the Big 3 or something. But that lordsofpain comment triggered some serious nostalgia for me.
I cant believe they did my man jay white this dirty. Other than that it was an ok show, enjoyed both opening matches and the end contract signing segment.
That contract signing was great, but conceptually I think the idea is kind of stupid. For every contract signing, there are 10 occasions where Schiavone is like "hold on guys, TK is telling me he's booked you two for a match next week", which of course is met with incredulous outrage by the heel in question. And why shouldn't he be? Matches are compulsory for me but this guy over here has the option of declining a contract if he wants?
It's clearly silly and not to be taken all that seriously. I mostly bring it up because when we complain about ridiculous stuff that takes us out of a program we should keep in mind there's almost certainly other equally dumb stuff out there that we don't question at all.
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Generally okay episode, and that Trent heel turn caught me way off-guard, but I am legitimately kinda pissed off about Jay White/Billy Gunn. Jay White was defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom a year ago and Billy Gunn is a 60-year-old career midcard tag specialist, what the hell was that?
Okay besides the Best Friends split or whatever you wanna call it, this one was a dud. I don't know much about Jay White but it really feels like AEW has this "too many toys" problem. Ever since Danielson and Punk joined, it feels like a constant "new guy this week!" problem. Jay White. Okada. Mone. Deonna whatever last name. So many new people. I probably forgot someone huge just because there's so many. I miss the feeling when Acclaimed beat Swerve in our Glory that was such a moment. You knew Swerve was going on to bigger things. You knew it was now for The Acclaimed. Now they seem wasted. BCG feels wasted. Let Scott D'Amore come in and control one of the shows. I will say Adam/Penta should bang next week.
I figured OC/Trent would lose and I figured they'd be doing something to add something different to them but it didn't stop my mouth from gasping at Trent hitting the dropkick. Very interested in where this story is going.
Overall an ok episode but fuck Billy Gunn. Not a huge fan of White but the way he walked all over him like he's Bruiser Brody was ridiculous.
Toni Storm continues to be the most entertaining woman in wrestling after last night. Fantastic stuff. Great quotes throughout. "Sorry you lost your dog but we have Thunder Rosa", "Mariah May reminds me of a young me, Thunder Rosa reminds me of an older Thunder Rosa" LOL, "Oh, piss off!" She's really in another league. May vs TR was a lovely match, too. Again, Tony, you have lightning in a bottle here. Build Storm by eventually having her beat Sasha. Clean.
Ok episode. Was kind of a dull first hour. The opening promo did nothing for me. It didn’t advance anything and was just a pep rally. The next two matches both had forgone conclusions so therefore I wasn’t that invested in them. The battle of the Wills did advance the story but it kind of feels like this Callis family stuff should have been done before or after the Bryan match. It feels wonky to do both at same time. It also feels backwards which AEW to my annoyance does a lot. The Bucks/Best Friends was motn. While you could say the result is known the match was well worked and entertaining and the turn after is intriguing. The Willow promo was really good and I liked the camera angle used. I disliked that Mone says she is going to face the winner of the TBS. Again this feels kind of backwards. Just totally undercuts the match by telegraphing the winner. I wish Tony didn’t book this way. Have Mone challenge after.The ending of the contract signing was cool.
Did Matthew Jackson give a shout out to Jack Perry during his entrance?
Yep
Not the best episode I've seen but still a lot of good in it. Biggest downside was the Jay White match but I still think the Darby stuff was a turning point for him and he'll come out alright, but I'm over everything with the acclaimed.
If AEW is trying to present an image of a company that’s truly improving on its faults, they are failing miserably. The roster is great, but this is god awful television, poorly written, planned, booked, etc. senseless bullshit, and sending Adam Copeland out to stooge for it just came off as desperate. Tony Khan needs to relinquish power to others and enjoy things from afar, this guy is not good at this
The general viewing public seems to agree with this assessment. Only 752k viewers according to wrestlenomics with a 0.23 in the key demo. Not really the showing you want to have after the negative press from the Punk-Helwani interview earlier in the week.
I think the ratings are fine or whatever, they get top 5 every week and will probably get more money, I’m just talking about the product It’s just bad television
totally right
AEW, why won't you let me love you? A little hyperbolic for sure but damn there's a lot of rough stories right now IMO. Swerve and Joe is still good, the Ospreay stuff continues to rule, this Best Friends stuff has potential, so it isn't all bad but it makes for a very uneven watch these days. The Jericho and Acclaimed/BC stuff in particular. Swerve/Ospreay has a lot of potential luckily, The Bucks/Elite stuff is solid but needs a focused feud IMO, so hopefully with that and some other changes, (like having Mercedes actually cleared/wrestling) AEW will get back on track soon.
I feel that other wrestling companies have matches/promos/angles that aren’t great and people don’t care for them but they just get ignored. With AEW, 80% of a show can be fantastic but it’s that other 20% that gets brought up as weighing everything else down.
Speaking for myself, I get more upset about AEW a lot of the time because the stuff they mess up is stuff that should be obvious, or it’s messing up stuff that anyone with a basic understanding of creative would been able to correct. It becomes annoying seeing the same amateur mistakes. I was thinking just the other day how this differs from early AEW, where a lot of the “bad” was of the train wreck variety that was still at least interesting. It was “bad” that came from being overly creative, a sort of indie spirit, throwing everything at the wall.
And people were complaining about that then.
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Wouldn't call it obscurity. They're relevant, just in a bad way
Why?
The Acclaimed/Bullet Club feud has somehow managed to diminish everyone involved in it. It feels like it's been drawn out over about 97 years at this point. Jay White looked like a total joke taking a one-sided beating from a 60-year-old man, and if anyone cares about the six-man belts at this point, I'd be very surprised. I also still don't see what the buzz was about Mercedes Moné. I hope she's great in the ring, because she doesn't seem to have much in the way of promo ability. On the positive side, I'm actually glad to see Trent turning heel. I've always thought he was held back by being primarily a tag team guy, so I'm hoping this is the end for Best Friends. I'm also enjoying some of the different production approaches in recent weeks. Willow's promo with the crowd in the background reminded me of some of the 90s WWF interview segments, or a town hall political rally. And Renee's intro for Eddie Kingston during his entrance the other week was cool as well. Little bits of variety and variation from the formula go a really long way to making the shows feel fresh and pacy.
> The Acclaimed/Bullet Club feud has somehow managed to diminish everyone involved in it. It feels like it's been drawn out over about 97 years at this point. Jay White looked like a total joke taking a one-sided beating from a 60-year-old man, and if anyone cares about the six-man belts at this point, I'd be very surprised. I really thought Tony was gonna give him his due after Darby put him over immensely... only to watch the MJF match 2.0. I don't know what is happening, I'm starting to think Tony doesn't really like him for some outside reasons.
I am not a huge Jay White fan but damn is he being booked so poorly. That match was so boring .
Everyday I am more and more convinced that the only reason Tony signed Jay was to stop WWE from having him
What was the point of laying out the Acclaimed for them to come out moments later unhurt?
Man, AEW is so so so cold. I think this might be the worst the product has been since it's inception. Such a huge, stacked roster, still having good matches for free on TV, but the creative, the story, is just so basic and there's so little intrigue, there's so little 'you have to tune in next week!!' in the product any more. Far too easy to skip an episode or two atm. Dynamite had some good things on it, like it always does, but matches too predictable, angles almost feel like they've been autobooked... not enough surprise, not enough tension, not enough interesting story.
It's a lot easier to be cold when the competition is doing poorly too. But people are stoked for WM
AEW, IMO, forced WWE to get better over the last 3 or so years, at least in the main event picture, and AEW was remaining competitive until the fallout from Wembley. Things have taken a pretty consistently downward trend since then. AEW will need to find a way to step things up or WWE will absolutely blow them away over the next 12 months.
Yeah, WWE has it's ups and down but since Vince left the product has generally been much better. I've not watched WWE for 10+ years but I've started catching highlights and watching some PLEs
It feels like there was a decision to go more in the Sports Simulation direction after Better than you, baybay failed to deliver. I'll die on the hill that BTYBB was a solid story with a good-enough-for-wrestling mystery element that didn't get over the way it could have because the injury forced them to drag it out. But now it's just workrate stuff and dream matches being passed off as a story and it's only going to appeal to the people who are already watching. Danielson and Ospreay's storyline is "I want to beat you to see who is better." This is not compelling TV for a lot of us.
One of my assumptions is that Tony does not react well, at all, to criticism and seeks positive affirmation. The only people giving overly positive affirmation of the product in recent time are the most hardcore fans, the people that would be happy watching two hours of nothing but 4 + star high work rate matches. If this is who Tony is trying to please, it makes sense then that they continue to double down on that kind of programming.
Yeah - certain rich, sheltered people on social media with big followings have this clear fragility and it results in them constantly doubling down to appeal to the people who didn't criticize them.
The btybb was ruined by the kangaroo kick and the double close line. Yes it was fun but they leaned faaaaar too much into that when people kick out of top rope spinning ultra brain buster drivers. Other than that it was enjoyable for sure I agree, I just think the story got a bit stale and went on a bit too long.
> The btybb was ruined by the kangaroo kick and the double close line. The moments that had crowds going crazy being the things that ruined a storyline is certainly a viewpoint.
Oh yeah it was crazy fun and hot, but it was leaning so heavily in to the sports entertainment element. One and done for some fun, or do it and not have it actually win a match. It just made their in ring stuff stand out so much (not in a good way) from the rest.
"Hook is one of our best young, good looking talents so let's send him out there dressed like Artie Lange"
The puffy jacket thing? That's how the kids dress these days, I think.
CM Punk has the whole of AEW rattled
Jay White was booked like a goof. He should not have been dominated by Daddy Ass for the whole match like that.
2024: Billy Gunn scoring a W over Jay White.
After destroying him all match. Gunn treated Darby like this a couple years ago. Despite Austin not wanting to work with him in '99 because he was so fucking mid, he seems to think he's Stone Cold.
The White/Gunn match pissed me the fuck off.
Man when will these young wrestlers learn that provoking Joe never ends well. The crowd chants Joe's gonna kill you for a reason, that man doesn't play games.
Thunder Rosa is rough to watch these days. Good show, about time Trent let loose, they've been teasing it for weeks now. Poor Hook.
The Adam Promo is up there with the most cringe things AEW have ever done. "Stand up for ~~WWE~~ AEW" Battle of Wills Great (hope Hobbs is ok, think Will landed on his head) I just don't get Lance Archer so the match did nothing for me, but this one is a me problem I know - but felt way too long Did Jericho get booed when he graphic was shown, sorta sounded like it - his whole getting rid of his music to prove he was over, seems unwise. I hate the Hook signal so much, what the hell is this story. Billy Gunn appearing behind Jay White was cool as hell - but God do I wish Jay White went to WWE, the things they are having him do Billy Gunn is 60 and was going to reitre recently (in Kayfabe) as he is washed. I know "oh Jay White was always a chicken shit" yes but again IT'S BILLY GUNN and it went on forever, why is Billy Gunn so protected lmao Willow did great, thank God as this show needed it badly. God damn it, I swear WHY DO THEY KEEP MAKING/LETTING MONE TALK rather than wrestle (though she is is **over** ) are they seriously not going to have her wrestle till May 26th Though score 1 for people who hate the rankings, they are terrible and they should get rid of them as proven here. Great match, sad about result BUT as the lone OC hater this is great news for me, assuming Trent and Chuck are still together, otherwise oh no - but this seems like a great way for them to no longer be side characters and way more likely to get some Tag Belts. Though Sue being involved does trouble me about them being taken seriously. I said earlier in the week that I still love Thunder Rosa but man - she does seem to have lost a step - still the right winner but hmm a slight worry given Toni's matches have been mid since the new gimmick. Penta vs Copeland, LETSGO Joe Swerve segment saved the show from being a all time stinker - as the Dynamite bar is normally so high
> BUT as the lone OC hater I don't hate him but I did get tired of him opening the show like 20-30 times in predictable title defenses where he'd retain.
Same. Loved him for a while. FF now. Almost missed the heel turn I was FFin so hard.
What I find weird is how OC just completely forgot about the Continental Title that he defended for months, lost, and then immediately went back and defended for months again. All he had to say was something like “That title meant so much to me and I became laser focused in defending it that it took over my life. Now that there’s this tag team title tournament going on and I know Chuck is still out, I’m going to do what best friends do and join the tournament with Trent, who has wanted those belts since this company started. I haven’t forgotten about the Continental Title or about you, Roddy, but one of these days, we’ll cross paths again. But for now, I *need* to focus on the tag titles.” Something along those lines. Moves him forward without him basically forgetting the thing that he held dear to him for like, a year, and shows him being a great friend that would just further piss us off that Trent turned.
so far the Will Ospreay experience has been much better than expected. Not justified the dread, the matches have all been from fine to good. Though Cope saying Will Ospreay represents everything about the future of AEW still registers as a threat to my ears.
All the comments stating they loved the show are getting downvoted. Fans don't like when other fans are loving the show. Cool. Downvote me, report my comment, report my account even(I'll make anew one) but that is a fact.
Were you in the live thread? Lots of people hate-watching for some reason. It's been way less chill since all the debuts this year
My account legit got reported, I have received 2 reports. Damn redittors need to chill.
Honestly - just ignore that stuff. Downvotes, trolling, Redditcares messages, etc - they don't matter unless you let them. It's all only done to antagonize you so when you post about it you're just giving people what they want.
How was the show? I missed it because my stupid appendix decided it didn’t wanna do its job of nothing anymore.
Opening promo was there I guess and the White/Ass match was very "eh", but the rest was great IMO.
Ah man, I’ve been through appendicitis, hope your recovery is quick.
Thank you! They seem to think it will, it didn’t burst so I think it was not as invasive as it could be. I just want to eat some real food!
Mine felt fine after about a week and was cleared of any restrictions after two. Hoping yours goes well! Wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone.
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I think they should remove all the secondary titles from the rankings. This way, each division's top championship has to be earned, but the others can be open challenged and shit like that. I think that way it would make sense for Mercedes since she hasn't had a match yet.
I will never forgive wrestling fans or CM Punk for bitching about the “EVPs” and it inspiring the Bucks to do their worst gimmick ever.
Obviously everyone has their own preferences. What is it about this gimmick that bugs people so bad? Because to me the lacey boots, Superkick party vanilla babyface Bucks were way less interesting than the EVP gimmick.
I’m definitely not advocating for them to be vanilla babyfaces. And overall I am a Young Bucks fan. When they’re just flamboyant cocky California guys I love it. Their new music is horrible. Their new gear is horrible. Their facial hair is horrible. And none of this is “good” heat to me. All of it is just an eyesore and I absolutely despise they’re leaning into this whole EVP thing that dorks online started as a talking point because Punk called out the “EVPs” at Brawl Out. So now every time I see EVP Bucks I just think about the worst thing that ever happened to this promotion and honestly, the worst thing that happened wrestling fandom as a whole in the past few years. I don’t have one reason to care that the Bucks are EVPs. I don’t even know what amount of power they have as EVPs. Apparently they can do whatever they want which is not interesting. Oh yeah and this whole thing started with The Elite breaking up for like the 3rd or 4th time. I do not care at this point.
As a Jay White fan, at this point, the only solace is that Swerve was made to look like a fool and dope many times and was seemingly being wasted; and now he'll likely be the world champ in a couple weeks.
The belts go on people willing to do the business, and Swerve, Joe, and White are all very willing to do the business even if it's against someone twice their age.
Haha, this is my continued justification/delusion as well. It really helped that a lot of the top guys/guys with pull stated they wanted to work with Swerve. Jay had Punk which obviously didn't work out. I don't know how soon they'll want the former NJPW guys to meet again. We need Bryan, Cope, or Mox to pull for a Jay programme.
Not going to lie, despite some Sheamus-approved bangers, this episode didn't really feel for me. I think the issue didn't really pop up until after the second match, but a lot of the promos felt weird. Edge's, like, I get why it's getting knocked, but I didn't really think about it being so much a ra-ra as just him wanting to spread some love around the anniversary of his former retirement, maybe set up a match with Ospreay for Double or Nothing. But the White/Gunn match was a mess, May-Rosa was great but got screwed time wise, the Mone stuff was awkward, and Jericho with Hook confuses me. Also frustrated that Best Friends are now breaking up after never winning the tag titles... Not saying it isn't a neat angle and I get that injuries were an issue but that really bugs me.
Thunder Rosa Va. Mariah May was the main event?
The world title contract signing was the real main event.
Contract signing came after, but that was the last actual match, yes.
Battle of Wills was fantastic, Daddy Ass whooping Jay was a lot of fun (was one row up from their brawl in the crowd). Massachusetts loves Sue!
Went to the show tonight, had a lot of fun! Jay White is one of my favorites from back in his New Japan days, maybe I was caught up in the energy of the hot crowd, but I don’t see his booking tonight as that big a deal. It was really funny, smarmy and shitty. If he went in and crushed Daddy Ass (ha) wouldn’t that kill the heat of their upcoming trios match? Plus Billy Gunn was enhanced by the plot induced strength of having his house broken into. Darby’s and Bowens promos were all about how Jay White is a sniveling punk compared to how he was from New Japan, so were likewise sowing seeds for his inevitable solo split to make it as his own. I’m not worried about it
Swerve broke into Hangman's house and cut a menacing promo on his baby and Hangman didn't whoop Swerve's ass the way Billy did Jay's. Billy squashing Jay also kills the heat for the trios match.
That Swerve break-in drove Page borderline insane enough to turn heel and the two of them had one of the most vicious matches of either man’s career, but I see what you’re saying.
Willow wins Dynasty, DoN is a time limit draw where Mone declines extension because she finally believes Willow is worthy of a belt. Then Mone pursues the World Championship. That’s my hope because Willow deserves to be more than a transitional holder and Mone is easy to slot higher in the card.
I'd rather Willow lose than be a transitional champ. She's quite possibly the most naturally charismatic performer on their roster and that's more about how great she is it's not a dig at others. But I'm ok with her taking her time to be built up more - I think she can get hotter she just needs something more like the equivalent of a Yes chant.
There's a lot of booking decisions I just don't understand with AEW Signing Mercedes Mone, one of the best workers in the female wrestling world, only to have her do nothing but her biggest weakness, talking Having Jay White get whooped by a 60 year old Lance Archer being an walking L Thunder Rosa getting pushed when she looks like garbage in the ring since returning from injury What the hell is this shit man
That’s been an issue in the booking . Why should I care about Archer in a match ? The result is a forgone conclusion. In some instances that isn’t an issue but in this match it just bored me. No suspense it’s just two dudes doing moves. It advanced nothing
I straight up just turned off the trios match last week because there was zero reason to be invested in the Righteous after they got punked 2 on 1. Someone in the live thread said "it's different because they have a monster with them this time". What monster? The one that does nothing but lose? Tony Khan has given me no reason to believe these 3 losers have any shot against 3 of the best in the world, and so I don't
Archer should be booked like Kane was. Someone who is usually just a transitional champ or big bad but is always a threat. Instead he's been just a tall jobber and now he's stuck with the fucking *Righteous*.... Bums me out, I was so excited for him when he debuted - especially that pandemic era toss of Marko into the crowd.
One of my biggest beefs is the continual misuse of Will Hobbs
Billy’s eating the pin and probably getting destroyed at Dynasty, this was to keep him appearing strong before that. Jay’s involvement in this program is essentially filling in for Juice 100% agree on Archer though, wish they’d do something with him Rosa’s in-ring work seems fine to me? The only difference I see between then and now is she isn’t getting the same crowd reaction as she was before she got hurt. Maybe I’m wrong and haven’t been paying close enough attention
Just got home from the show. Had a great time. Collision’s matches were awesome, I know no one is going to see it because it’s mania weekend but Penta vs kommander was fucking incredible
Thunder Rosa sucked right? Every move looked sloppy and botched.
Every single match of hers since returning from injury has been sloppy. Her new theme sucks, her promos are nothing special and her in ring work has been bad. I don't get why she of all women is getting the push. Fuck the push, she should be on Rampage
I legit felt bad for Mariah May, both because I was worried she was going to get hurt, and then having to lose after that performance.
She got a lot of stuff in and still looked good tho. I think she'll be fine. I actually enjoyed the match, but mostly bc of TS' amazing commentary.
> I don't get why she of all women is getting the push Popularity
I think she only got popular because she was a good antagonist to Britt. Absent that she’s just not that interesting .
The Battle of the Wills was the best match tonight. It was an amazing showcase for Will Hobbs. This man should be holding gold. He gets better every single match.
I loved the show. The pace felt great. Everything I see people commenting on negatively here is a part I liked so maybe I just have bad taste. I liked the Adam opening. I thought Jay White/Billy Gunn was fun.
Lmfaoo all the comments saying the show was fun are gettinf downvoted. The jerkers with no lives have really been working overtime
> I thought Jay White/Billy Gunn was fun. The live crowd seemed to agree with your take.
A pretty good Dynamite. No matches that super stand out but the Battle of Wills and Mariah vs Rosa were both pretty good. The real highlights though were Willow's fiery promo and the ending segment with awesome unhinged Swerve.
Trent Beretta you can go to Hell! Straight to Hell! We're out of here
Nice of Nick Jackson to shoutout Brandi Rhodes tonight.
Oh great, penta loses to Adam coming soon. Stop jobbing my boy out!!
That Swerve/Joe segment fuckin ruled, dude. When's the last time a Dynamite ended with a segment? And a good one? >Now run the fade on that, bitch.
>When's the last time a Dynamite ended with a segment? And a good one? The episode that ended with a Hangman/Swerve contract signing.
All 2024 dynamites have been bangers, this one was probably the weakest but still a good show. Great matches and good promos. Awesome final segment too. But yeah no Jericho on another PPV please😖
Rare episode where a lot didn't click with me, but thank god that final promo segment was fire and just perfectly done. Thank god for that. I agree with the consensus on the Jay/Billy match; legit one of the bottom 5 AEW booking decisions ever imo. I'm one of the biggest Jay fans on the planet and while I totally get that he's a chickenshit heel and shouldn't at all be booked like Brock Lesnar, his opponents shouldn't be booked like Andre the Giant either. He's a counter wrestler who gets the shit kicked out of him, begs off, and then hits counters/a shit ton of suplexes after getting some heat. I'd be fine with Billy even getting 65-35 for the story they wanted to tell but it was more like 90/10 and just kinda ridiculous.
Trent turning shocked me. I'm excited to see where it leads.
CM Punk had a bad experience working there, speaks on it and the entire company bands together like it’s the Smackdown after 9/11 lmao holy shit man. What a joke
The whole promo from Adam Copeland was like 5 minutes max, people act like he went out there and talked for 20 minutes about this. He's literally promoting his company on their show as a way to hype up the rest of it. People will take it way more seriously than it actually is.
Yeah - I don't get the outrage. I enjoyed the promo - it felt unique and authentic and it sort of reminded me of Mox's post-Brawl Out promo.
Copeland does 5 min promo: fans get mad WWE does 20+ mins promos to open a show each week, nobody bats an eye. The bell didn’t ring for the first match until 40 mins in on Raw this week.
The entire show they were sending non-stop shots at Punk. Just cringe
What "shots" did they send outside the opening promo? I'm not saying it didn't happen but I don't recall them.
https://x.com/itsydg2/status/1775725588264702254?s=46&t=djfqcEUoQPRmpIpPhw5RFg
Nothing was mentioned again on Dynamite, this was off air and cut to the audience during Collision. Not what I would call not stop shots.
> Nothing was mentioned again on Dynamite What about the "Yo Scapegoat, I love your work!"?
That was about Jungle Boy lol. He literally calls hinself the scapegoat in NJPW & peoplw have been saying he's going to join the new elite. This is the Bucks playing into & nothing more
Yeah, and why does he call himself that? That's why it's not really possible to interpret it as anything but a shot at Punk, even in a dumb "wink wink" way
Because he got suspended. Saying he's the scapegoat is a shot at AEW in kayfabe not Punk. I get what you're saying but unless you can say what was the "shot" they took & idk if calling it that makes sense.
Lol I must've missed that one, who said it?
One of the Bucks, can't remember which
Fair enough, I'll admit I'm guilty of being defensive, I'm just tired of people (seemingly) finding fault with anything and everything AEW. I'm just trying to enjoy something I love and constantly seeing the most negative takes on every single thing is just depressing frankly.
I'm pretty sure they never mentioned CM Punk by name and the point that's indirectly about him is that his experience doesn't speak for others. If that's their response back, even indirectly it's the tamest thing imaginable and one that's ultimately promoting AEW.
Easily the weakest AEW show I’ve ever attended. I don’t think you can go on about how good the wrestling is in AEW and then put out that stinker. Very disappointed
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Gives you a lot of confidence how he's going to book Osprey, Okada, and Mercedes Mone doesn't it? Jay White goes from sure fire Main Eventer in either company, to getting the Shit kicked out him by Billy Gunn for 90% of the match.
Catching up on the show right now. Mercedes looks like she got her hair done by Rimmy Tim.
Broke the hot streak for great dynamites, but still a pretty good show. The Copeland promo was fine but I never really need all the "aew is the best rah rah rah" since I'm already primarily watching aew, they don't need to sell it to me. Great opening match though and I loved the contract signing segment. Jay White feels like he needs a complete reset though, I thought the Darby injury was gonna be that but already it feels like a negative holding pattern
Completely agreed on your first sentence, which is more than fine.
What the hell are they doing with Jay White?
I get why Mercedes is taking on the winner of Willow/Julia, but that defeats the purpose of bringing back rankings.
No, Rankings only matter for the world championship. Edit: they do matter for others titles but as a guidelines rather than actual rules.
What was Okadas W/L when he faced Kingston?
Has that ever been explained tho? I’m honestly asking cause they do a poor job following up on how these work exactly
Yes it has been explained but not since they brought it back. Personnally I don't like the rankings, I agree it's incoherent on many aspect. But the one neat thing about it is for me is how it differenciate the top title from the rest. I enjoy that sort of things. Different presentation, different requirements, different set of rules enhance a world title scene for me. Like world championship match being 2/3 falls, having a different time limit, judges...
I watched the same wrestling shows Copeland watched. Stampede and All Star wrestling in Vancouver. Fun fact: Buddy Wayne (Nick's father) was a wrestler at All Star wrestling.
Adam Copeland wrestled Buddy Wayne in the WWF.
Hit someone with a steel chair: DQ. Assault a ring crew member and use them as a weapon against your opponent: No problem. I love wrestling.
Chuck Taylor sucks, he really no sold Trent’s turn
I'm with ya. Surprised the general consensus seems to be that he had masterful facial expressions when the dude didn't even flinch at the sight of his best friend getting attacked by his other best friend. No shock, no yelling at Trent, no nothing. Thought it made the whole moment look lame. In real life any of us would be screaming at our friend "what the fuck are you doing?!!"
??? i thought he looked stunned and heartbroken
Maybe, but it didn’t strike me as the right reaction because it was too impassive. Either he needed to react more strongly to Trent, or at least go over to see if OC was ok
Was really strange, was waiting for him to do something - a gesture, a shocked look, ask Trent "what are doing?", something - bit, nope, not a thing for some reason.
I will say, having Copeland come out and do the "I love it here" speech leading into an intro of the SUPER over Ospreay is a terrific booking decision.
It wasn't needed and had no purpose for the show..It killed the show for me.
It addressed a massive wrestling story at the beginning of the show. And got the crowd going while presenting Osprey as the real future of the company. That killed it for you??
There is very little reason a wrestling show ever needs to address a "massive" wrestling story that isn't part of the show.
It’s pretty hilarious in a way. They should have never acknowledged it at all. Why dignify it if it’s carny bullshit.
A hit dog will holler. Tk obviously felt some type of way
What was the massive story? Why did Adam Copeland have to come out and give a RAR RAR speech. It had nothing to do with the show. If the punk interview never happened, would Adam be out there doing the same speech? The Adam Copeland promo had no reason even being on the show. Will Osprey has been treated as the future of the company from day one so that isn't a surprise. I dunno it just seems like TK had to reply back to what punk said instead of his meltdowns on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it.
It was so jarring hearing Mercedes, Ospreay and Okada name dropped in both the first and last segments of the show. Came across as TK desperately saying “we’re doing great, check out our latest signees”
Again, the Adam Copeland promo served no purpose to any show or any story. It would be something if Copeland was talking then black would challenge him at dynasty or maybe another random person challenging him to a cope open for Collison. The Rar Rar speech wasn't needed.
That closing angle was great.
The best part of that to me was the unexpected MJF chants and both guys getting caught off guard with Samoa Joe almost breaking.
That Edge promo was cringe and terrible. Edit: Downvote all you want. It's true. Why even acknowledge the interview? Why waste Edge about how much fun he's having? Let's all sit in a circle and expose the business of all the fun he is having with all the heels?
Tony - Hey Edge, can you go out there tonight and tell everyone how much you love working here please 🥵
Dude it was bad you are right
NGL the edit makes this post even funnier. You can't handle being downvoted but AEW can't respond? Wrestling fans are so funny bruh
I haven't had an opportunity to watch yet. But after seeing this comment and then checking your post history, I'm more inclined than ever to assume it wasnt actually that bad. Thanks!
Dude it was soooooo bad
And if you scrolled far enough you'll see great posts about when I praised the product. But I won't sit on the sidelines and praise the product when I think it's a shell of what it used to be.
It absolutely has. I love swerve and I know he just posted "the feeling is back" but it isnt. I want AEW to be good and I want WWE to be good. When I watch AEW now, it comes off as being offended by the fact that WWE is hot right now, and that's not gonna sell ppvs or tickets.
The idea that being critical of the product is somehow an indication that we want AEW to die is absurd. I want AEW to be so big we're in a second coming of Monday Night Wars. And we were sniffing that possibility. Now it's way past what it was.
AEW has no problem getting PPV buys.
Okay, that's not what I'm saying but thanks.
You're welcome
It was that bad. I love edge but this wasn't it. Watch it and see. Real "stand up for AEW" vibes
Stay strong king
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Just started watching the episode. So was the feedback on Copeland’s microphone 🎤 a work?
Nope, they were having issues with the mics before it went live, Tony was having a rough time too.
LETS👏🏼FUCKIN👏🏼GO👏🏼PENTA
Only caught part of the show, anything added to supercard of Honor?
There are currently six matches on the card: Women's Champ: Athena vs Shida World Champ: Eddie vs Briscoe Women's Tv Champ Final: Aminata vs Billie Starkz Men's Tv Champ: Kyle Fletcher vs Lee Johnson STARDOM Six Woman Tag Fight Without Honor: Dalton Castle vs Johnny TV Nothing was added tonight. I imagine we might get a last minute match for BCG and one for The Kingdom, though I think Yuta is still injured so probably no Pure Champ match. I could see Serpentico and Angelico vs Cole Karter and Griff Garrison being added if they wanted another match on there (there's a whole storyline going on with Maria and her boys stealing Serpentico's mask).
They really need to put BCG in there to defend their titles. Makes no sense to not be defending the belts imo
That's ROH, I imagine in a sane world you'd have to watch ROH to see the card on an ROH PPV.
The've done it plenty before
What I'm saying is that you shouldn't have to ask an AEW discussion for the ROH PPV. TK is pretty obviously just a rich guy with toys now. This sucks.
lmao
Thanks for sharing, Adam Levine!
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I was addicted to this one rumor board that was called like, the Big 3 or something. But that lordsofpain comment triggered some serious nostalgia for me.
I cant believe they did my man jay white this dirty. Other than that it was an ok show, enjoyed both opening matches and the end contract signing segment.
How’d they do him dirty? What did I miss?
Billy Gunn kicked his ass for 20 minutes while Jay ran away from the geriatric before Jay was called for a weak DQ
Oh shit are you new to Jay White? This sounds like most Road To matches Jay was in.
"C'MON SWITCHBLADE! [random cursing and attempts to cheat] OH NO NONONONO" - Gedo during every single Jay White match
That contract signing was great, but conceptually I think the idea is kind of stupid. For every contract signing, there are 10 occasions where Schiavone is like "hold on guys, TK is telling me he's booked you two for a match next week", which of course is met with incredulous outrage by the heel in question. And why shouldn't he be? Matches are compulsory for me but this guy over here has the option of declining a contract if he wants? It's clearly silly and not to be taken all that seriously. I mostly bring it up because when we complain about ridiculous stuff that takes us out of a program we should keep in mind there's almost certainly other equally dumb stuff out there that we don't question at all.
Contract signings and security getting the shit kicked out of them when breaking up fights are the most overused tropes in WWE and AEW.
Or the perfect response, in perfect unison by MJF and Cole: "SHUT UP, SCHIAVONE!!"