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

So jealous, glad you enjoyed

I’m 99% sure at this stage that oppressively positive Punk is leading up to a heel turn so I’m happy to roll with it for the time being. Let him get over the buzz of being back in his own time and he’ll pay it off. He was always the best at coming up with fun angles and I don’t think that skill will have faded with time

oppressively positive Punk is leading up to a heel turn

absolutely, you could hear it in the promo

it was also really awesome to see sting bring it last night

This little series of Sting/Darby tag matches have been laid out so brilliantly, just pure fun

Bryan and Punk just made their respective jobs look s o e a s y

i'm watching the broadcast now

cody looking confused at the audience booing him............ cinema

Punk still got that stanky elbow drop I guess. He looked like he fell off the ropes.

Bloody hell that rana was even worse. Lol at the look at a woman in the crowd being all “wtf is that” straight after

Ricky saving it with “I’m sweating through my velvet suit”

That trios match was legit.
Luchasaurus looked like a fucking star, usually he can be a bit shaky. That chokeslam spot was ridiculous.

i thought i didn't remember the botched rana from seeing the match live and then it all came back to me when i saw hobbs just sinking into the mat

it could've just been the pacing but rampage felt a little more consistent(??) than dynamite for me, even the jericho match got me going toward the end. will say that i like that they're stoking the women's rivalries but i can't get into penelope ford much except sort of as a character (and even then, thinly-drawn typical heel stuff). still happy to see anna jay back in the ring

the trios match, the double tag team match, and the lights out match were all fucking insane. seeing fenix and penta do their thing live was a highlight of my life

Surely after that, America’s Top Team have to become a proper thing. I was laughing to myself that considering there are some legit previous ufc champions there that have had their Is All Elite Twitter pic, they could go full nwo and no one would see it coming. Can’t imagine that’ll happen though, TK loves them long builds/rankings too much.

Everyone where I was sitting during that Punk/Hobbs spot off the turnbuckle legit thought he gave Hobbs a concussion- haven’t seen the broadcast but yeah, not the best. Audience was legitimately awful to listen to during the Bunny/Ford match. Like, idk what Meltzer star match they were expecting, but the toxic male click was out in full force.

from the broadcast, hobbs' head landed on punk's legs

luckily

punk went headfirst into the mat himself tho, which also looked rough

Not as risky but I still think his macho elbow was just as bad

i have just re watched it and i knew it was great the first time but...

i think that may be my favourite five best match ive ever watched along with mitb11, flair v. funk, rey v. eddie halloween havoc, tlc2 and... i well know its not this good but cos i had the tape as a kid the rock v triple h ladder match summerslam 98

It’s absurd to even think it but that may be the best d bry match ever.

I owned the ROH dvd of general excellence (I remember the Morishima match being a standout on a dvd full of stand outs) and there was his mitb win, the shield 3way with kane and taker, one mid season classic with punk (over the limit? Vince knows how to make his shows names unmemorable), the Cena summerslam 5star, the triple h wm 5 star, the orton/Batista 5star, the kofi/wm 5star… and yet this is instantly my favourite over all of those. Only the Cena and kofi matches come close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvLk8a34YJ4

if you wanna see some great grand slam spots up close check out this week's bte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uLmcXHo9Dw

these are the three elevation matches they were able to fit in before dynamite grand slam started last week. dare i say it, the paul wight match was one of the most entertaining of the night. episode is also padded with a ton of awesome post-match promos from grand slam

special Brodie Lee memorial tag tonight on Dynamite. the only classy wrestling company that's ever existed.

also a wrestling company that's determined to make me cry at every opportunity

i remember thinking i wouldn't be upset by the tribute show (I tend not to be too heavily affected by celebrity deaths as a rule) but Colt Cabana's entrance absolutely broke me straight off the bat and the show didn't let up from there.

an incredibly special thing in an industry that has always been ghoulishly callous. a deep reservoir of empathy and love was created between the wrestlers and the fans that night. they really couldn't have handled it any better at the time and it's great they're continuing to actively memorialise him in this way.

anyway

it's Wednesday night and you know what that means

it means that we get another two hours of that good wrestling!

Guys from the bottom of my heart, I want you to ALL to tune in tonight 10pm EST after @aew dynamite for #RhodesToTheTop pic.twitter.com/KQjTh2bh64

— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) September 29, 2021

another great episode of dynamite

Arn Anderson still the best promo out there, goddamn

the arn anderson memes this morning have been glorious

Arn Anderson is tired of watching his family lose. It's time to even the score!

"Brain Buster," coming soon to a theater near you. @CodyRhodes @TheArnShow @AEW @AEWonTNT #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT #AEW pic.twitter.com/wWXwLwxkEe

— JCP⭐️Designs 👺 (@JCPxDESIGNS) September 30, 2021

I’m going to go ahead and call this a Renaissance painting pic.twitter.com/TdC1xvEDPP

— Spectacle of Excess (@SpectacleofX) October 2, 2021

A week late to watching Dynamite but Wtf is crypto lio rush?

Reminds me of that trash cyber hacker Sami Callahan nxt gimmick.

i have a theory about it but i guess we'll see

What's the theory?

lio was eliminated by matt hardy at the battle royale so i'm thinking it's a counter "big money lio rush" angle

admittedly it also stinks a little of "let's make miro really into gaming when he debuts, that'll work"

ok lio rush is gonna be a mentor to dante martin? i'll take it

great episode tonight. matches at the start were a little shaky on occasion, but deeb vs. shida and the ladder match were perfect. arn anderson king of promo

so much awesome stuff on this show.

weird cinematics with crazy old Arn Anderson going over to Cody's house in the dead of night to burn merch in the yard is too good. the most interested I've been in Cody's little fiefdom within the company so far.

beyond pleased with the ladder match, especially how the crowd is still fully with Hangman. they were booing Mox! that's gonna be a fun heel run when it happens.

but tbh the best bit was seeing Serena Deeb back. she fucking *owns*. have been missing her since the Riho match earlier this year - I hope she's around for a proper run now because AEW have got so many exciting wrestlers who maybe struggle to get it all together in the ring without a more experienced opponent and Deeb would have bangers with all of them

I would love to see a Mox v. Hangman Page PPV match

I have to imagine that it's only a matter of time!

rampage was excellent, punk vs. garcia was spellbinding and ... ricky starks is a star

Yeah I really want to see more of Starks. He’s been around for a while now but I don’t feel he’s had too much to sink his teeth into, either in matches or storylines. Hopefully this interminable angle with perpetual also-ran Brian Cage is over and Starks can move onwards and upwards.

He’s of a number of midcard guys who I’d like to see out there against Danielson, Omega, Punk, Cole, the young bucks to see what they can do against the top level wrestlers

Really really enjoying Punk’s matches thus far, which I wasn’t necessarily expecting. The technical stuff always felt like the weakest part of his game but his matches since the comeback have been so well paced and put together - legendary wrestler has maybe lost a step in pace but is tough and knows every trick in the book is a character that almost all older wrestlers try to work towards but he’s doing a fantastic job of conveying that in the ring imo

Increasingly convinced that when Punk finally ditches the saccharine “aren’t you guys bored of this yet? I bet you guys are getting bored of this” babyface act and turns heel it’s gonna be an all-timer of a run

Which is all to the good bcuz when the title changes hands to the new top babyface you’ve already got the Punk programme ready to go, not to mention Moxley who I think is also primed to have an electric run as a heel now that they don’t need him to be the babyface star anchoring the whole thing

What a roster, what a company

wtf is shida's 1 legged sabu chaps with access holes look?

has she always had such bad gear and ive never noticed?

Danielson vs Suzuki was masterful. Such a simple, sparse structure to the match, building around the two deadly forearm smashes from Suzuki, the first almost killing Danielson and the second prompting his final burst of ~FIGHTING SPIRIT!!~ Just two consummate craftsmen being given the time and the space to go out there and do the thing they do.

If this is what happens when WWE provokes Tony Khan with their petty counter-booking bullshit then long may that continue

Punk match was great, again. During his absence I had very much internalised the “Punk was only ever a so-so in-ring guy, always pretty sloppy” stuff (RONG) so it’s just a continual delight to see how well he’s working the aging veteran thing. Getting the bodyslam over in 2021 is so much fun

Also I think am finally all in on American Top Team. Dan Lambert was born for this and all the others look like they’re having a great time whenever they go out there

Dan Lambert vs Don Callis vs MJF for best heel promo on the roster, I honestly think Lambert might be the best

Ah yeah Suzuki/Danielson was such gourmet quality pro wrestling, loved how the finish just had to be a knockout blow out of nowhere, no escalating series of 2.9 counts off head drops or whatever. Bryan is just visibly loving every second of this run

I saw people complaining that AEW didn't do enough to show American fans why they should care about Suzuki when he first came in, but honestly you can get his gimmick after watching him ominously walk down the ramp for like three seconds, he's absolutely masterful at playing to big crowds

I think the last live pro wrestling I was the 2019 New Japan show at the Copper Box headlined by Okada vs Suzuki, the crowd totally babyfaced Suzuki from minute one and he just fully leant into it like 80s Hogan playing to the cheap seats, incredible vibe

suzuki/danielson was astonishing, and then there was a really good episode of rampage after!

punk vs. sydal was punk’s best aew match yet, great ring chemistry those two have

Looool Dan Lambert is sooooo good

What was the last heel act that had this much heat wherever they went?

CM Punk refusing to sell the mystery masked men gimmick is funny and gets a big thumbs up

God there’s just so much they do well

That’s a promo from wrestling’s next top babyface champion Hangman Page. Wasn’t sure he had it in him

that show was fire from top to bottom