AEW 2023: Scissor Me Daddy!

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.

collision is ok. tag match was great. the promo package featuring punk / ring adjacent promo by punk / video package featuring punk trifecta to open the show was a bit too much for me, and i’m dreading him winning the owen.

Haha yeah, that was a lot. I do really like the SNME-style hype promo cold open thing they’ve been doing. But the Punk live crowd promo right after was a bit weird, would have worked better maybe if Joe came out to shut him up but it just sort of petered out and he stood there for a beat too long till the music played.

I’m hoping Punk puts over the other guy (not saying who in case spoilers) for the Owen. He could do with the win more than Punk does.

I agree with everything said. The Punk promo was too much. The opening promos are great (when they did the 8 man tag it felt like an old survivor series). The other guy definitely should win, in fact I’d be surprised if Punk does. I’m kinda assuming Joe screws him or something.

So that Power & Glory spot, ey?

damn it feels good to see that the elite will still be elite

https://www.si.com/fannation/wrestling/news/the-elite-renew-contracts-with-aew

That’s great news.

Collision continues to be the best thing on tv too. Absolutely loving AEW leading into my first ever wrestling show.

Daniel Garcia's dance is absolute money.

I never really had an opinion on it until how aggressively he did it at Jericho, now I love it.

It reminds me of Mac in Always Sunny during the dance contest.

his dancing was also a highlight of his match with shibata at death before dishonor (a ppv really worth watching all around)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLeVD0CRg2U

i jump in and out of the hey! ew series but this is gold

This latest Punk melodrama is really getting people riled up, on both sides of the fence.

Personally I have been absolutely loving Collision and I think it’s probably a fair bet at this stage that Punk has a huge hand in the booking and the general vibe of that show, so I’m prepared to cut him an awful lot of slack.

Clearly the atmosphere in the company has changed from “we’re all best friends and we’re so happy to be in this together” to something much more tribal and hostile but I’m finding it quite compelling.

He is obviously heading for the mother of all flameouts and it’s quite gripping to see how long the train can possibly stay on the tracks before he just completely melts down

Punk/FTR vs the Elite would be absolutely white hot if they could possibly get everyone on the same page long enough

*Should note that I don’t buy the idea that the rest of the roster is splitting along tribal and hostile lines, that seems to be p much entirely Punk’s doing, but the fact of him being such a figurehead on Collision and that he does have his own crew of guys (who are undoubtedly all fine with the Elite and associates, as I say) is definitely creating an atmosphere

all the punk stuff is fucking boring and he’s lost a step both in promo and in the ring

love ftr of course

but to me it’s just kind of a shitty clusterfuck started by the biggest baby on earth and i can’t reward this behavior with attention. collision is so goddamn good when punk is not onscreen (although let me be real, there are not enough wrestlers on it)

I'm sure i'll be proved wrong but imo this is the build up to All Out. The show only has one midcard match with a much bigger show in front of it. It'll need a big hook. It'll be a year since Brawl Out. Everyone's most probably sick of being asked why tf they arent doing elite v. cmftr and ready to just go for it. Kayfabe baby!

anyway seemingly he’s injured again! how can you even build a storyline when this shit keeps happening to the biggest drama queen in the company

xp Yeah that’s fair.

I am definitely somewhat blinded by how much I’ve been enjoying Collision and there is of course no way of knowing how much of what I enjoy about it is down to Punk behind the scenes beyond speculation, but it has been a breath of fresh air after I drifted away from Dynamite

All 3 shows have been really good recently.

Just need Jericho to retire and i'll be happy, it's like x-pac heat with me at this point.

if this is building toward all out, which is just a few weeks away, they should maybe attempt to tell this story, idk, in the ring, on a show, instead of in dirt sheets and through dark punk promos that suck ass

hangman was right

There’s no argument from me on him being the messiest, thinnest skinned little baby btw! It’s astonishing how insecure he seems to be, and it is absurd how much sway he apparently has over tony khan.

But there’s a definite risk vs reward aspect to having him around and I think atm all things considered the scales come down on the reward side

I suspect that if Collision wasn’t “his” show it would very quickly feel homogeneous with the other shows. But again, not basing that on much more than instinct

on a positive note, i think jay white and juice robinson are absolutely killing it on collision... bringing the gunns in? inspired

yes, absolutely. the match they had with FTR was stellar. Jay White is incredibly entertaining but they've all four been great.

i'm not so sure about the need for bringing in too many more wrestlers to the Collision set up, part of what I've been enjoying is how incredibly focused it is compared to Dynamite. I have griped in this thread before about how draining i ended up finding the lack of focus on Dynamite, it had started to feel like every time i started really rooting for a wrestler they would swiftly get relegated to catering in favour of whoever was the latest flavour of the month.

definitely they will need to cycle guys in and out of the rotation on Collision but it's been cool to tune in each week knowing for sure that i'm going to get to see wrestlers that i enjoy

idk, i’m not sure i agree. i mean you got this way more laconic two hour show and i’m still not guaranteed to see miro every week

i definitely get to see punk every week, in the main event, sucking shit

in all fairness i think ricky’s finally getting the space he deserves tho

lol well we definitely agree on Miro. i mean that is just bizarre. how on earth do you come out of the Redeemer run when by popular acclaim he was one of, if not the best thing happening in the company and decide that you don't have anything for him to do?! i know there have been rumblings (unsubstantiated - lol dirtsheets) that he has not been particularly easy to work with but i find it hard to blame him if they've been taking him nonsense - they should be building around this guy!

similar vibe with Eddie Kingston, who has maybe got more of that utterly priceless "we live or die with this guy" babyface heat with the audience than anyone i can remember since like, WWE Daniel Bryan, and they refuse to use him as more than a bit-part player

Ricky Starks a great example of why I think the intense focus of the Collision approach works

eddie kingston is currently in japan having the best wrestling storyline of all time, i think he's coming back to a hot crowd and a big push

or at least i really hope so

oh yeah him getting do the G1, meeting Kawada, getting his photo at Ribera's etc. has been a total joy, don't get me wrong, but i think he's one of a few really key assets they have, you can't manufacture that connection he has with the crowds, and i don't think they necessarily see him at the level i wish he was at. fingers crossed i'm wrong and he gets that push though

You’ll get to argument from me that Ricky Starks deserves all the time to shine. I’ve been on the Starks train since NWA Powerrr (Remember when that was appointment viewing? LOL!) and I’ve said it here before, he’s more main-event ready than all but one of the young ‘pillars’.

I could make a very long list of all the stuff in AEW that gets my goat (and that most others would butt in to say “Well actually…”) but I still watch it every week and on balance the pros outweigh the cons and hey, it’s more rewarding than WWE. Also I’ll pay the €20 or whatever to watch All In live, of course I will.

*no argument, ffs

Oh yeah and bring on the Eddie Kingston push!

if this is building toward all out, which is just a few weeks away, they should maybe attempt to tell this story, idk, in the ring, on a show, instead of in dirt sheets and through dark punk promos that suck ass

hangman was right

― ivy., Tuesday, 15 August 2023 15:32 (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I never said it was a good idea, just a theory. And they’ve used dirt sheet reddit drama a bunch of times before. Personally I’d prefer a proper story but hopefully one is building from here.

I like that Collision is different. BCG are my favourite thing in the world right now. The cardboard cutout just put them over the top. Wish there was more Miro and less QT Marshall though. Also hope Kevin Kelly doesn’t come back.

I don’t think they’ve done the “randomly drop a hot wrestler” in a while except out of injury? I guess the Acclaimed have cooled down a bit in the past 6 months but I can’t think of anyone else who has been Wardlowed. I think if there wasn’t major injuries to Hayter, Keith Lee (when he should have fought Swerve), DBry, Pac et al they’d be on even more of a roll right now. They’ve definitely handled this round of injuries better than they did last summer.

I feel like current day Christian may be one of my favourite things in wrestling history, like up there with Steiner promos, Sid in 96 and Owen the Slammy winner. Definitely the best thing he’s done since he was in TNA. He’s just such a bastard.

i never got to experience christian in any other company but since his heel turn he has been my favorite promo of all time basically

i love aew dynamite

i love how moxley/kingston is turning into the first run omgega/page slowburn.

big oof, cash