AEW 2023: Scissor Me Daddy!

*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

they're gonna have to find two wrestlers for collision that punk doesn't hate

Man I’m PISSED. That was my #1 match for next week. I don’t really care that much about the rest of the card, even though I know it’ll still be a good show.

I guess they could add the Bucks to the Golden Elite v BCG (+ the Gunns?). But then there is already a 12 man match with mystery opponents. But they just beat the Gunns on Dynamite, so it’s not particularly exciting to go that route.

Dax can maybe be Punk’s manager? Idk

I’ve just started Dynamite and heard the man in the mask say All In will be the biggest event in wrestling history… can you imagine how much moustache Vince is stewing? Just this thought alone is gonna make me love Sunday.

On my way to Wembley!

I missed the opportunity to catch Collision this morning and don’t wanna click on any wrestling media/social media for potential spoilers.* Did I miss anything?

*Really I just want to see the set in person. Although I’ve not yet seen any beforehand pics, like you usually get 5 or 6 days before Mania. I hope they’ve put the effort in.

Hook vs Jack Perry got added to the card. Which I mean, you have another PPV real soon and this card is already stuffed, settle down Tony

The set appears to have plenty of screens, which is good for this 5'7 guy who accidentally bought a pitch seat at the back

hope y'all have so much fun

I’ve only seen images of the ring set-up. Hopefully the awning won’t block the view of the ring from the higher stands.

Starting to get excited now, two hours till the pre-show!

i'm only now finishing dynamite (was on vacation all last week) but i'm sooo excited to see ar fox perform in front of a crowd this big

wasn’t he written off the show?

oh yeah i suppose so, i interpreted the events on dynamite incorrectly lol. oh well

Yeah I heard AR Fox and Fenix couldn’t get visas and had to be written off the show. Don’t know how true this is though.

AR Fox it makes sense as he wasn’t signed that long ago and the visa process is a nightmare at the best of times. As for Fenix, who knows what couldn’t be done for him that was for his brother, if that is indeed the case.

that pre show was so dope

That was a good time. Didn't really drag despite being long.

Bucks-FTR was the highlight for me, heeeeell of a finishing run. Wonder what was going through Cash's mind when he had 80,000 people doing firearms jokes at him? Maffew will have allowed himself a chuckle

The main was fun and I can respect not doing a downer/shocking ending but that's a lot of meta comedy for the main event of the biggest wrestling event in history isn't it? Why did they like actually call the double clothesline spot, that turned out to be a bizarre false finish, all funny like?

Well that was fun. Wembley is proving hard to get out of, I don’t think I’m going to get back to Brighton until about 1.30am.

Will have a lot more thoughts in the morning. Merch game was terrible though, all T-shirts about the event and yet I couldn’t even see an Orange Cassidy shirt.

that show was sooooo fun

i think the main balanced funny meta stuff with actually compelling wrestling with an emotional throughline. exactly what i watch the product for

i loved every minute of that. i dragged along a friend who knows nothing at all about wrestling and he also absolutely loved it.

he also completely got the angle of MJF being this asshole with no friends who has accidentally made this one friend, and he was biting on every tease that one of them was about to screw over the other - i think that really worked

what a great time :) can't wait to watch back the tv broadcast

Godspeed AHH

we briskly dashed to the tube from our pitch seats as soon as the main ended and got back home to SE at 11.10, definitely a personal best for Wembley

Thoughts on Ospreay-Jericho? Seemed to fly by and stick to what they could do well for the most part. Jericho's huracanranas were impressive, especially the Stormbreaker counter! The dynamics of who you were meant to cheer were weird with the impromptu Fozzy concert (extreme heel move lol), Sammy running interference with the bat, Callis being out with the hometown hero

Watching the media scrum on the train… WRESTLEDREAM THE PPV

Fucking hell Tony doesn’t know how to answer a question. I feel like I picked a good time to dip in, hear about the new PPV and then to decide fuck this.

Obviously I should have kept watching to hear Jay Hunter get a question.

Callis had that good heat in my section, the second the big screen flashed to him the boos were deafening. only Punk got near it

god tier pay-per-view. when the low points are the golden lovers/page v. bullet club gold, you know you've stacked the deck well.