AEW 2020: Take Me Home Cody Rhodes

I actually really love all of NJPW's tournaments, but I do agree, it is a hell of a task to keep up. I really tried to commit myself to it this year, and I still found I fell behind on the G1 near the end. This year, with everything going on, has been really weird. I feel for Master Wato, who I adore, but who has really suffered from a lack of audience with his debut. I feel like he's making steps, and he had a decent BOSJ this year (he actually got a win over Desperado!), but he hasn't quite hit the level of RPG3K or Hiromu Takahashi with instant popularity upon return.

World Tag League was pretty fun this year, I thought. As a person who identifies with EVIL, watching his matches against fellow Bullet Club members was really interesting. Some of the storytelling in that specific faction, and how they've rebuilt after The Elite left has been really cool, honestly.

Desperado vs. Hiromu is a serious MOTY contender, I felt. Both of them know each other so well, and MAN, they sure did leave an impact.

He's right about now being the time to catch up, since everything is so fresh, there are plenty of WK matches that they have built pretty well. EVIL vs. SANADA has serious potential to steal the show, as do the Jr. Heavyweight matches, and even Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb for that NEVER Openweight title. Hoping that KENTA has some sort of match or really anything to do on either night; he's been holding that challenge briefcase for the IWGP U.S. title since August.

If you want a quick sort of review, I would watch Nights 2, 3, 5, 9, 17, & 18 of the G1. A little from the beginning, middle, and end. Some really fun matches in there, depending on who you like from NJPW. You could probably pick any of the nights from the split tour of World Tag League and Best of the Super Juniors, since I thoroughly enjoyed the tour throughout, and since it was greatly reduced (1 block instead of 2, 2 top scorers face each other at the end), it felt like a much more manageable task than the G1. Super J-Cup, they did in one night, and does feature some talent from IMPACT and GCW as well (Lio Rush vs. El Phantasmo in a first round match!).

I think it's pretty clear in the AEW/NJPW divide, I'm pretty solidly NJPW. I also love AEW (hell, I'm wearing an AEW hoodie as I type this, and I've been to two of their PPVs live!), but I also find it harder, weirdly, to keep up with AEW, since they don't really have an affordable way to replay anything since I'm usually at work when it plays over here in Hawai'i (plus PPVs are ~50 on BR Live, the Hulu add-on to get AEW Dynamite was ~$30 a month, and I don't have DVR).

Anyway, sorry for the block of text! I just love wrestling.

Don’t say sorry! I love hearing about njpw and wish I had more time in the day to commit to something like g1 but I’ve really wanted to watch this weeks aew and still not found the 2 hours. Thank god wwe is so bad and fascist that I don’t have to pretend to care about that too (think it might be the first year I’ll even skip the rumble/mania)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkyVtd3Rbcw

cowboy day

xp Yeah no apologies necessary for puroresu chat! Master Wato is intriguing, isn't he? Him and the Great-O-Khan lol. what's going on there then? listen up kid, i've had a total brainwave. this gimmick will make you. you're gonna be a marketing machine. merchandise dollars out the ass. IWGP champ within the year. can't miss. i've seen a fair bit of whinging online about NJPW and about Gedo in particular this year but from a distance this all seems totally hilarious?

the best thing of course about this modern era of AEW and globally-revered NJPW is how WWE and its fans have at last been completely siloed from the rest of wrestling. shunned. beyond the pale. Large red cross on the door. it's been a long time coming of course (almost 40 years now lol) but it does seem as though only the cultists are left. no one under the age of 50 watches that garbage.

just realised i am upthread praising WWE for the Boneyard match - possibly I am a hypocrite but look I AJ Styles so much. i just love him so much.

I have a soft spot for Master Wato, because he was my favorite young lion of his class. Honestly, that whole class was great, though I miss Katsuya Kitamura so much. That guy was just hilarious. O-Khan...I'm interested to see where this goes; I can only hope it ends up with him overtaking The Empire for himself (I mean, with his Khan gimmick, he needs a khaganate). I'm a little bummed that Bea Priestly can accompany Ospreay to the ring, but Miho Abe and Pieter are NOWHERE to be seen (but that is another thread post in of itself).

I have to admit, I have been slacking on watching WWE, though I still love my main man, Mustafa Ali. I really hope he's able to spin some sort of gold with Retribution. I know he's trying to with the supplemental material (social media posts and videos), but it's been rough, to say the least. I haven't watched RAW, NXT, or SMACKDOWN consistently in months, because I'm usually at work when it's on (comes on at 6pm over here). I hear Sami Zayn's been doing some fun stuff, so I'm glad for that.

And eh, there's still a lot of good to be found in WWE in individual talents! Asuka is a treasure wherever she is. Bayley has really embraced her heel status and has been much more solid on standing alone after Sasha turned face. Io Shirai solidly at the top of the mountain in NXT, with no forseeable contenders until maybe next year. It's 100% okay to "stan your faves" as the kids say. I think that there are lots of bright spots that haven't had as much of an opportunity to shine this year, what with how they curate audience responses now in the Thunderdome. I have a few friends that have done it, and basically, they prompt the audience between matches on who they need to boo and cheer, with the implication that they can disconnect you if they want, should you not follow those prompts.

AEW, to me, is a mixed bag. Yes, I love Kenny Omega and I'm glad that he's champ, but man, oh man, I was kind of bummed with how that title match went, because I LOVE my King of the Deathmatch. It was absolutely the smartest choice, though, out of anyone in AEW. Nobody else would have made sense to me at this point. I'm excited about some people, but then it feels like things are starting to get a little more crowded, and I'm concerned that they'll get lost in the shuffle. Admittedly, I also haven't had as much time to watch this, either, as I'm usually working when it's on as well. AEW Dark, I could get into, but the task just seems so daunting. I'd need a full day off, at least, to go through and catch up (though I do plan on watching the episode that Maxx Stardom was on. I love that dude so much.)

the boneyard match was amazing and i too love aj styles

and i think it's possible to square that with "wwe is one of the worst organizations on the planet"

i no longer have time to watch nxt but before the pandemic i loved it nearly as much as aew, albeit more for the incredible wrestling than any of their attempts at storylines

impact last week kept showing old championship matches on their twitch during commercial breaks and one involved aj styles with short hair and i barely recognized him

I have to admit that I miss short hair Styles, though I can't deny that his current hair makes him a Tanahashi-like idol to moms.

it's too bad WWE frowns on third-party endorsements because he could land a killer conditioner deal

Tony Khan’s paid adverts are my favourite thing in the world right now.

Tony Khan has always come across to me as earnest and nerdy whenever I've seen him address live crowds. He had a speech at ALL OUT, FULL GEAR, and on the Jericho Cruise, and just seemed really likable. I really like how his on-screen persona is shaping up, and I'm interested in where it could go.

I really hope it isn’t as a proper on screen role, especially not a gm / authority type figure. I’m hoping for more meme jack tunney

he has also hilariously experimented with cutting promos on footballers in the English press when his team Fulham F.C. has underperformed. pretty funny but not very clever.

feeling very good about wrestling when the highlight of my week is a six-way hug

i really love thunder rosa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc85_efX59c

If this doesn't get you hyped for WK15, I don't know what will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmbimArBAs

prob the first bte i've watched where it felt like every bit succeeded

also dark last night was very good

Brodie Lee/Luke Harper has died of a lung condition aged 41

what the fuck

:((((((

god i'm fucked up over this

Same

Just completely blindsided by it. His poor family

feels like jose fernandez, like i know he was 41 but it feels like he was just getting started

what the hell happened

This is terrible news. He seemed like he was loving life again for the past year.

The card for this Wednesday's tribute show is quite the testament to his charisma, guidance, and talent. The last show of last year, the Dark Order was in everyone's crosshairs. This year's last show, they're being celebrated across the board. (The New Year's shows have been bumped by a week.) (Also -1 is Jon Huber's son Brodie; he appeared on Dark last week.)

• -1’s Favorites Team For One Night Only: Cody Rhodes, Orange Cassidy & 10 (Preston Vance) vs. Team Taz
• Young Bucks and Colt Cabana vs. Matt Hardy/Private Party
• Hangman/Silver/Reynolds vs. MJF/Santana/Ortiz
• Anna Jay/Tay Conti v. Dr. Britt Baker/Penelope Ford
• Lance Archer/Uno/Stu v. Kingston/Butcher/Blade

It is really sweet they let -1 pick a team. I’ve been thinking a decent amount about his death this week. He was never my favourite wrestler, although I had a soft spot for him. I’ve honestly been thinking more about him dying at a relatively young age, and 9 years younger, already thinking about the need to drink less and exercise more, maybe I need to. If Brodie dying is the inspiration, then great. I’ll think about that Wyatt v. Shield match every attempt at a run I try in the recent future.*

I heard WWE ended their tribute episode with Randy Orton committing arson to another person, which is not great.

*I think it would be in my top 20 wrestling matches ever, to take it away from my own feelings.

Seriously though, how great was that 6 man? In the past ten years there is

Punk cena mitb
Bryan Hunter wm30
That 6man
Omega okada
Zayn nakamura

I guess I don’t watch enough njpw I feel like naito tana or styles should be in that list

tonight's show has been amazing, like the matches have all been excellent and they don't even need to be, all of them packed with loving winks to brodie, and intercut with wrestler tributes that are almost hard to watch they're so emotional and raw, feel like someone is constantly flipping the laughing/crying switch inside me

got a bit worked up when anna jay started choking up mid-match, but oof that ending segment really got me.

yeah i was a mess for those last 10 minutes

Oh god Brodie Jr leaving his dad's boots in the ring

That was brutal. I’m not usually someone who gets sad when celebrities die, but them doing so much for his eight year old son slayed me. -1 having the TNT title was a nice touch; that’s some good long term booking. Loved his cane shot too! Best episode of any tv this year.

it was difficult, i dragged out watching the whole thing until 4:30 AM and then i couldn't fall asleep for 3 hours because the dark order theme was stuck in my head

silver crying after his match broke me more than anything

Silver, Rowan, basically all the bits where the Dark Order were struggling to keep it together were all just ow ow ow

Also the incongruous nostalgia ambush of seeing Bray/Seth/E/Becky popping up in the tribute montage and feeling kind of bad that they were required to be elsewhere

The new Talk is Jericho is a two-plus hour tribute to Brodie featuring interviews with Cody/Brandi/Arn, the Bucks, Excalibur/Bryce, and others. Say what you will about Jericho (and there was a lot to say last year) he knows how to get the boys to open up. Love Uno and Stu's bit in this (I haven't gotten to Reynolds and Silver's piece yet).

https://www.webisjericho.com/talk-is-jericho-brodie-lee-a-celebration-of-life/

The interview with him from when he first signed is a good listen too.

https://www.webisjericho.com/talk-is-jericho-the-exalted-escape-of-brodie-lee/

Also AEW re-released his AEW Unrestricted episode with a new intro.

https://omny.fm/shows/aew-unrestricted/mr-brodie-lee-encore-presentation?in_playlist=aew-unrestricted!podcast

I rewatched the Silver and Reynolds and Hangman match this morning and i shed a lot of tears.

Should we have a new thread?

Rolling non unionised people not allowed on twitch 2021 or rolling don callis’s sunglass game is on point 2021 or something

yes! also feel free to start a new nooj one

aew 2021: don callis’s sunglass game is on point