AEW 2023: Scissor Me Daddy!

i feel like he’s about to have a feud with jay white and juice and there’s nothing to complain about there

Yeah I’m not worried about Starks, he’s clearly a long-term project for the company. It’s just that I buy him as championship, face-of-the-company material in a way that I simply don’t see with Jungle Boy and Darby (yet). And I’m not personally sold on Jungle Boy as a good promo, either; his delivery needs work, and he can’t keep leaning on yelling “shit” to pop the crowd.

I’m All In… the nosebleeds :)

Dropped an unreasonable amount of money on what I think are decent tickets (I actually have no idea, never done a stadium show before)

Gonna be waiting for this card to drop with my tongue hanging out

I was trying to get seats at the front of the stands and ended up in a tiny little pocket of floor seats near the entrance ramp that were in the same price band. That map was fuckin unreadable wtf

Yeah the map was horrible.

Aw, I hope you guys have fun! I'm doing Double or Nothing and Forbidden Door 2 this year, but one of my friends was trying to get his ticket to All In. I'm sure it's going to be a killer show!

there was hate earlier in this thread but the four pillars storyline is fucking amazing rn

I wouldn’t characterise not being enthused about it as ‘hate’. I do think the Sammy/MJF bits are funny, though.

Oh and I’m delighted they’ve returned to the black ring ropes! It’s the little things.

lol sorry, i mean i was even a little uncertain whether they'd pull it off! did not see the insane chemistry between mjf and sammy coming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbaanUjfgv4

dj mix of the year

i hope cm punk slips on a banana peel and lands in a big mud puddle

opening 10 minutes of BCC/Elite was the equivalent of oneida's "sheets of easter"

"What business do you think we're in, Schiavone?!?!" Callis had me cracking up.

i was at the show live last night. total banger

jericho/cole was a little rough, like… idk it should’ve been great and at points it was but it also felt like a v tame unsanctioned match that never quite took off and the impact of the finish felt muted as a result

but i can’t say enough positive things about how they handled jade losing the belt and the final two matches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXl-HzbuAWs

we love kris statlander

chorus of boos for don callis and takeshita last night was incredible

I’ve not watched much AEW recently, thought I’d catch up on DoN and Dynamite. DoN has been ok, the 4 pillars match was fun, nothing else was that memorable. Wtf is the black face singer? How does that get approved in 2023? If it was just a black mask that might have been ok but it’s got the mistral big red lips too.

it's a black mask

Yeah and when Gucci did a black balaclava with big red lips, it was just a balaclava. Idk it’s not that big of a deal but it still looks stupid and is a bad decision.

you were saying it's not a mask and i'm just telling you it's a mask! not sure why it was necessary either

Oh yeah sorry I worded it badly

i also can't read lol

Brad, you were at DoN? Me too! It was a great show.

Getting hyped for Forbidden Door, which I am also going to, and I've told no one but work to request those days off. Hoping they outdo themselves from last year.

Forbidden Door looks insane. D-Bry v Okada! Ospreay v Omega 2! Possibly Punk’s first match in a year. Sanada v MJF?

Honestly it could be the best wrestling PPV ever.

Get fucking Dr Nash as Adam Cole’s manager, stat. MJF’s on the juice!

This is a great Dynamite.

i just adore orange cassidy's title run. a huge weekly "fuck you" to the idiots who dismiss him

Collision day! With new signing Elton motherfucking John!

that Takeshita/Callis centaur painting is a goddamn masterpiece.

1. collision was excellent
2. tonight’s dynamite is nonstop insanity

“You’ve gotta wear a cond… iment”

Man I love Taz

“Tall dark and sexy” Konosuke Takeshita

Ok this could be the best dynamite ever

Takeshita as a methodical, ornery heel absolutely rules

I really liked Collision, it felt a bit like an NXT PPV with five good, differently worked matches with a lot of in-ring storytelling. It just had a fun house show six man as the main instead of an overwrought title match. I was way higher on the TNT hoss fight than most other people it seemed, concerns about Wardlow being turned into Hoss Sasha Banks by the booking aside

Texting this on my phone from YYZ, but Holy shit what a show!

i was euphoric almost all night

Watching it now, after also watching Collision. Punk-Kojima was great and the 4 way was really fun. The Ace looks like he needs a year to rest but the match was ok. The Collision one with Swerve was a mess.

I fucking loved Miro’s promo where he denounced God and his wife. The 8 man tag was great too, Punk close to getting Christian/Callis heat. When he actually turns heel it’s gonna be LOUD.

I hope they have plans for Jungle Man. He’s been my favourite wrestler of the 4 pillars but the worst promo.

Holy fuck the camera catching the crowd coming to their feet in a wave for Eddie-Mox was an all time shot. This 10 team is great. The Takeshita forearm to Ishii was insane.

Eddie needs the title at some point. Sooner rather than later. He needs to stop being treated with that Jake Roberts “he doesn’t need the belt to be over” mentality.

The Crippler Crossface? Ospreay is an evil bastard

Unsurprisingly this is great. Maybe not as good as the first one but I’m splitting hairs. Hopefully the rubber match is at All In.

Oh talking of which, my one wrestling friend can’t go with me anymore, so if any of y’all know someone who wants a ticket, I’ve got one free

Legitimately screamed when Kenny kicked out of the OWA at 1.

That Tiger Driver 91 looks like watching a murder.

rewatching forbidden door, first time i've done this for a ppv in a while but i just needed to remember what happened in more detail than an in-the-moment hella stoned impression of constant awesomeness washing over me

I still have to rewatch, but apparently I'm visible behind Callis at one point! This was a hell of a show. Probably one of the fastest moving PPVs I've watched in a long time.

a hoy hoy: where is your seat? I have a friend that may still want to buy, or if I really go hardcore, I may want to buy your ticket.

I can’t seem to log in to ticketmaster right now. I’m pretty high up in the cheap seats. The spare ticket is free, you/friend doesn’t need to pay for it if you want it.

I’ll try logging in again tomorrow when I can be bothered with that shitty fucking company

Dynamite was great. Kenny v Yuta is a must watch, with a hot ending.

and mjf x cole is soooooo good

Also Punk v Joe 4 at the weekend. I watched the trilogy after the pipe bomb, so over a decade ago and personally thought they were a bit of an overlong mess, albeit still entertaining. So this having a 20 min time limit is right up my alley.

Collision and Rampage also amazing shows. Both had absolutely incredible tag matches. I love that AEW is must watch tv again.

I think AEW has something I’ve not really seen before, which is the possibility of 15-20 guys that could potentially be champion. If they did a Rumble, i genuinely would have no idea who would win. Cole, Punk, Joe, Jay White, Kenny, Hangman, Bryan, Mox, Jerichlol, Starks, Darby, Eddie all could go against MJF and be considered worthy foes, while there is another list that could be built up very easily to join them (Wardlow, Miro, Hobbs, Christian, Jungle Boy, Malaichi, Andrade and Keith Lee all spring to mind).

The depth of male talent is insane, before even mentioning the tag teams, the youngsters, ROH and NJPW.

I just fucking love AEW.

If they could remember where Serena Deeb is, it would be the perfect company.

I think AEW has something I’ve not really seen before, which is the possibility of 15-20 guys that could potentially be champion. If they did a Rumble, i genuinely would have no idea who would win. Cole, Punk, Joe, Jay White, Kenny, Hangman, Bryan, Mox, Jerichlol, Starks, Darby, Eddie all could go against MJF and be considered worthy foes, while there is another list that could be built up very easily to join them (Wardlow, Miro, Hobbs, Christian, Jungle Boy, Malaichi, Andrade and Keith Lee all spring to mind).

Cosigned.

Also fascinated that what you think that the MJF storyline you dont care for needs is a fingerpoke of doom.

I mean I’m only half serious about it, but… It’s weird that Adam Cole is the only guy with an injury who’s still on TV every week. Even for a main eventer. Him stepping in for MJF with a gammy ankle (if it’s really that gammy) would have been the perfect set-up: imagine if he had laid down in the ring for Jay White! And I don’t mean it merely from a ‘rile everybody up’ perspective; there’s storyline substance there too. If you’re an MJF guy, don’t you want to see him up against his toughest challenge yet? But nah, they kept the friends-till-the-end thing going and I have no interest in that (nor Bullet Club Gold as they are now, for that matter). Meanwhile, ROH tag teams have no championship to fight for.

ROH should always have been kept separate and run as its own thing. i remember I posted on here around the time that the buyout occurred that it would be a good thing thing that would benefit everyone, cause i really thought it would

a proper developmental brand that only the geeks would actually watch weekly and that would therefore provide the necessary space for people to work on their act in front of ok-sized and reasonably invested crowds, working longer matches higher up the card than they would] be able to on the main AEW shows, good mix of veteran (but not superstar) talent and ppl from the indys looking to get a shot in AEW maybe.

They've gestured towards this iwith guys like Samoa Joe and Eddie Kingston but fundamentally it has all felt a bit pointless. the new AEW Dark. where have the big standalone non-AEW ROH angles been since TK took over?

I did not get to Funk Flair, but i've seen it before.

The ROH botch job is basically key to all of the mess at AEW, isnt it? Too many shows, too many titles, too many wrestlers, creative spread too thin etc.

I'm kinda fascinated by the backlash to the MJF stuff. "People" have called for more sports entertainment type storylines, for "the casuals" etc. and now it is happening, toys are being from out of the pram. I think the reality seems to just be that wrestling fans just don't like wrestling (not MacDara, thinking the more general internet backlash.) I presume it can be broken down by someone much smarter than me as to why.

Like I don't generally watch WWE because I don't care for the style (Seth Rollins brings me out in hives), but I can appreciate what's happening over there. The weird internet ever changing hatred for AEW seems like a whole different kettle of fish though. Like the recent "they only care about Japanese wrestling and obscure indie guys and never sign anyone!" turnaround post signing Edge to "eurgh they are just old wwe guys". I've never listened to Cornette's podcast but he is the ringleader, right? He must be raking it in advertising dick pills. I just had a look on spotify and his weekly podcasts are over 3 hours long! That's longer than Raw! Imagine listening to the 80s nonce with a tennis bat in sparkly trousers for half a work day, that's insane.

where have the big standalone non-AEW ROH angles been since TK took over?

there are a few on the show right now. the big one being athena mentoring billie starkz (prob the best storyline in wrestling rn just imo)

idk i think it’s basically become the developmental brand you described. was dark not developmental? the only missing element is a real tv deal

of course i mention athena and ppl will inevitably complain that she’s not on aew tv or ppvs

the cards for roh have been straight up amazing for months now. it just needs to not be locked behind a paywall that only marks like me subscribe to

i do think mjf and cole not giving up the tag titles when cole got injured was a mistake, and now it’s like the belts are a gimmick just for mjf to wrestle twice per ppv (not something i’m exactly complaining about bc i *liked* the ambulance angle, but it does like completely sideline the title)

I don't watch ROH but FTR-Briscoes seemed like a massive deal that wasn't really shown on AEW tv and is seen as possibly ROHs best tag team feud.

ROH isn’t promoted on the TBS or TNT shows. Maybe they’ve done an onscreen graphic for Final Battle once or twice, but that’s about it. There’s no 60-second recap to boost interest in the show, which I think would help a lot. Maybe that’s a weird contractual thing, like WBD doesn’t want them promoting their own thing, save for PPVs (which are on an WBD-owned app in North America anyway)? So they put the ROH belts on Dynamite and Rampage and Collision but that doesn’t translate to eyes on the show, it only reinforces the idea that the champs are AEW guys you’ll see on the shows you’re already watching so why bother? It sucks because they’re people on the show are trying to give it its own personality beyond a mere Dark replacement (and the women there are killing it, especially).

there are a few on the show right now. the big one being athena mentoring billie starkz (prob the best storyline in wrestling rn just imo)

This much we agree on! I mean, maybe it’s not my absolute favourite thing, but it’s up there.

it’s really amazing character work all around, elevating a young talent, etc. it should always be like this