The Thread Killer

That Dream/Breeze match was about a million times better than I expected it to be. Damn good match.

Oh man is Breeze really bleeding from inside his ear or is that gimmicked? It looks rough.

He really has it all, great look, great gimmick, athletic, great promos and personality and his work is really coming along. I love his selling.

You know, if Vince doesn't fuck it up (which he will) Velveteen Dream has the potential to be HUGE.

I took my girlfriend with me to see Terry Funk fight Sabu in a strip joint, so I suppose I have no room to criticize.

Yeah some of those rolling side suplexes were impressive but they got a little convoluted and awkward looking.

I feel that if you're on your honeymoon, and you find yourself in the crowd at a Pro Wrestling show holding up a sign that says "Just Married" you might need to reconsider your life choices.

The visual of Velveteen Dream preening all over the place while Breeze totally ignores him and stares at his phone is actually pretty funny.

Ford leaping from the top rope onto the ladder was pretty amazing.

Man, that was a damn war. And 2/2 as far as quality matches on this show so far, too.

Man Gunner is a freaking beast. Vince may actually like him.

For sure. "This ladder match has been a car crash! Total carnage! By the way...drive safe."

No doubt. Even by Ladder Match standards this has been insane. It's like these guys know this show is flying under the radar so they've decided to kill themselves to bring it up a notch.

HOLY CRAP that leapfrog onto the ladder was insane.

DAMN Dawkins got some AIR on that dive.

OMG Ranallo just said "on like Donkey Kong."

NXT has a pretty damn solid Tag Team division, really. Pity none of them have any hope when or if they ever get called up to the main roster.

I know it isn't going to happen, but I really wish Burch and Lorcan would win this match. I can't see The Street Profits not winning it.

Good input. Thanks for dropping by the watch along thread to share with us the fact that you won't be watching along.

I'm happy to watch this show, I generally enjoy NXT (despite Mauro Ranallo) and a couple of these matches have a lot of potential. I agree with @sek69 and @Mad Dog, this whole tough guy gimmick for Sam Roberts makes no sense whatsoever. Firstly, he's just burying guys for no reason. Secondly - look at the guy. Him acting tough just doesn't work. You can tell when he was in school he got hung upside down by the ankles and got his head dunked in the toilet FOR SURE. This opener between Riddle and Strong has been solid as hell, both guys are great hard-hitting mat workers. Riddle is really starting to grow on me. The nickname "Messiah of the Backbreaker" makes no sense whatsoever and it isn't helped by Ranallo screaming it at the top of his lungs repeatedly. My roomie just walked by and asked: "Why is that spazzy guy screaming like that?" Damn solid match. Face it, Strong is never going to be a top name but if he keeps working like this he has potential to carve out a great career as a solid midcard guy, or maybe on 205?

You hit the nail right on the head. I love NXT, and I can't honestly say that there has ever been a Takeover that I would classify as being a "bad" show. Some are better than others obviously, but they hit the target a lot more often than not. But as a fan, I'm finding it harder and harder to enjoy NXT when I know that if there is a talent I really like, the odds are about 3-1 that they're going to get either criminally misused or totally buried once they get called up to the main roster. I find it kind of hilarious that one of the talents that I liked the least from NXT in Baron Corbin, is one of the few NXT guys who got a massive push upon being called up. Also, maybe it's just me but I have noticed a significant difference in the quality and style of NXT shows since Shawn Michaels started working there.

He was. Brian Last can also be very smug and dismissive and obnoxious. I can't stand people reviewing something when they either haven't seen it or went into watching it already knowing what their opinion was going to be.

Over the past few days I finally saw the entire AEW PPV, and just listened to Cornette's review. I don't always agree with Cornette regarding a lot of things, but in my opinion about 90% of his criticisms were dead-on. People can blow as many gaskets as they want regarding Cornette and things he has said in the past, but if you only read isolated statements from his review and didn't listen to the actual show then you're not getting the full picture and you need to shut the fuck up and stop looking for things to get offended over. For example, people have been focusing on the fact that he used the word "transvestite" when talking about Sonny Kiss therefore he's homophobic and transphobic and islamophobic and arachnaphobic and quadrophobic and he's not nearly diverse or inclusive or progressive enough and derp derp derp. Listen to his review. He reviews the Women's Fatal Four Way. He talks quite positively about Nyla Rose and never once even references the fact that she is transgender. Hell, his biggest complaint is that Awesome Kong shouldn't have been debuted in this match because it took away from making Rose look like a destroyer. If he was so transphobic, you'd think Nyla Rose would have been the perfect opportunity for him to expose himself for being so ignorant - except he focused all of his criticisms of this match on totally legitimate (and accurate, might I add) wrestling related concerns. In fact, if you went by just this review you wouldn't even know Nyla Rose was transgender because he doesn't mention it and doesn't even allude to it. Look, I believe in God. Jim Cornette is not only an atheist, he is absolutely fanatical about that fact. He regularly insults, berates, mocks and generally questions the intelligence of anybody who believes in God or is a member of any organized religion. I consider myself to be politically Conservative (or at least Libertarian.) He hates Conservative people are will often rant about them endlessly on his podcast. Do I agree with him? Nope, not one little bit. Does what he says insult or offend me at times? Nope. At worst, it annoys me. Just as he thinks people who share my opinions are ignorant, I think his opinion is ignorant. That doesn't automatically invalidate his opinion about other things - especially those things about which he is clearly an expert. When I listen to his show I just put on my big boy pants and prepare to hear the opinions of somebody with whom I might not always agree. What I don't do is use the fact that he holds opinions I disagree with as a reason to invalidate or ignore his other opinions. Cornette knows Pro-Wrestling. He knows Pro-Wrestling history. Most importantly for this particular argument, he knows Pro-Wrestling television production, and a lot of his criticisms and complaints regarding this show were based on the production, how the show was presented to non-fans or those unfamiliar with AEW, and guess what? Most of them were right. If you listen to his review and you can't see the validity of his criticisms just because he once used the improper gender pro-noun or said something that offended you then you're being just as ignorant as he can be at times

I myself have been curious about what AEW was planning on doing for TV in Canada since we don't get TNT here. TSN would be a great option as it's a major national network on basic cable so I hope they can work out a deal. Aside from the fact they are not on basic cable and are basically a specialty channel, The Fight Network is probably not an option - although considering Anthem's open attitude regarding working with other promotions, who knows? Even though AEW are new, I'm betting they don't consider Impact competition. Why would they, really?

I was indeed quite happy to hear that news. The threat of Joey Ryan showing up has been one of the major factors preventing me from having much enthusiasm about this organization. I did laugh when I was checking out the wrestling news headlines and saw the following two practically on top of each other: "Tony Khan says AEW will be a more serious product" followed by... "Joey Ryan reportedly turns down AEW contract offer." I know Ryan did his whole penis druid act at All In, but I had been wondering how much of that crap he would have gotten away with in AEW long term. I can't see TNT letting him do his full act on television, even in 2019. And if AEW really does want to present a more serious "won/loss" based type of product, is Ryan really the kind of guy you want on your roster anyhow?