Phil Schneider

Here is my Workrate report for this show, I am clearly a low voter on this show. What Worked: -The non-wrestling stuff in this show worked for me. I thought the Tony Schiavone limo ride with Cody was great old school stuff. The Dusty and Willie Nelson story was great and the whole presentation made the contract signing seem like a big deal. Jericho is pretty great as a bloated creep leading a pack of wolves, heel Rock of Love era Brett Michaels is a great fucking gimmick, I can just see him faking an OD mid ring only to roll up his opponent when he tries CPR. Dustin's broken arm is a great way to heat up the PPV main event, although that might mean we don't see in ring Dustin for a while, and this show could desperately use him. -Similarly Santana and Ortiz beating down the Rock and Roll Express was simple pro-wrestling storytelling. Ricky Morton is an all timer at taking a beating and Santana and Ortiz are really great as out of control thugs, you can tell they are from that JAPW family tree (speaking of which, sign Homicide and Eddie Kingston already AEW, what are you waiting for). I liked them jumping the Bucks too, nice use of the Rick and Morty gimmick which actually gave that goofy thing some purpose. - Moxley's promo was fine, and he is undoubtedly over. I miss the old Moxley promos where he was talking about his mom turning tricks where he came off like a real unhinged psycho, but he is clearly in a different place in his career. Don't love Tony Khan showing up as an on air character. AEW should stay far away from Authority Figure angles, it has been a stain on wrestling for two decades now, and no one is ever going to approach Vince as a performer. If you need a Jack Tunney for an angle, give it to Arn or Bob Armstrong or something and just have them make pronouncements and don't have them do anything else. -The six man tag was the best of the car crash matches on this show. It isn't really my thing, but the Bucks have clearly mastered that formula, and Jack Evans is still breathtaking to watch. If they did one of these matches a show it would work great, unfortunately that isn't what is going on. What Didn't Work -God, is the ringwork on this show one note. Every match is worked at the same pace, with the same headdrops, 2.9 counts, dives and near falls. They need some fat guys, some mat workers, a couple of guys with good punches, anything to break this up. -Why is Adam Page doing flips and dives? Isn't he your tough Cowboy character? A lariat does not need a fucking front flip. I liked Sammy faking a dive and instead slapping Page, but outside of that this was just white noise -Why does your undercard women's match go 15 minutes with the same dramatic near falls as every other match. Is Shanna even part of the roster? If you have plans for Shida, why is her debut undercard squash worked like a main event title match. Outside of a couple of nice knees by Shida (and there were a bunch that looked bad too) the work didn't particularly move me, and there needs to be an agent telling people that they can't use up all of the tricks in every match. -Why in god's name does your comedy squash have an insane headdrop finish? If your comedy guys are doing moves that look like they should lead to a stretcher job and six month hiatus what does that mean for your main eventers? Just insane escalation which is going to lead to someone breaking their neck trying to outdo the undercard. On the plus side, I think they may have tweaked the Orange Cassidy character enough to make it work for me, having those kicks be a taunt as opposed to something their opponent has to play along with, makes a big difference. The hands in the pocket tope stands out in a show with dozens of crazy dives. Shoot the Best Friends into the sun though. - Fenix is really special to watch, on a show where everyone is working as some variation of his style, he still outshines them. I almost feel sorry for Kazarian and Scorpio, those guys are old, and they are still trying to work a gogo highspot style. Cut off the ring or something. No wonder Kazarian almost broke his neck on that rana to the floor, Vince Carter isn't still trying to thunder dunk every time he gets the ball. You guys are almost 40, work on a midrange jumper.

I thought Gage was perfect in his role in that match. He is a Tank Abbott style streetfighter, an archetype which has a long storied history in MMA. He basically got squashed, but both of his hope spots were great, Kross working a traditional MMA striker only to get smashed with a barfight headbutt was awesome, and the outclassed tough guy refusing to tap and throwing up gang signs as he passed out ruled too. He didn't do anything to remove himself from narrative world of Bloodsport (it wasn't like Kross had to lay in the corner while he did his bootscrapes, or like he grabbed a light tube or anything) which is different then say Hammer and Kratos throwing in a terrible New Japan forearm exchange. I was at the Mania weekend Bloodsport and thought it was a slightly better card, but overall this was a heck of a show, and I thought Barnett vs. Dickinson was a top 10 MOTY, and the Makowski vs. Gulak match on the pre-show was also excellent I think Lawlor has been his best in AIW, he had a great series with Dom Garrini and a couple of really cool matches with Eddie Kingston. Whatever you think of GCW, they tend to be pretty professional in delivering what they tease and have built that kind of reputation with their fans. It would be very out of character for them to tease something like Batista coming in with no plan to make it happen. Both Batista and Rocky worked wrestling matches while they were acting in movies, I don't see why a GCW match would be an insurance issue, but working a garbage brawl with Helmsley wouldn't be. We reviewed the whole thing here http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2019/09/tuesday-shoot-indies-gcw-josh-barnetts.html

I wouldn't say Bloodsport had no hype, the hashtag was actually trending on Twitter during the show which is pretty big for an indy show. Also there is no way that Kross cuts that promo unless they already worked out the Batista match.

Yeah it really doesn’t matter who is in it, you could have 1983 Sangra Chicana, 1997 Santo, 1989 Dandy, 2009 Rush, 2013 Black Terry and 1987 Satanico and it would still suck

The obvious one is the Houston footage which was used from NWA On Demand, and is sitting unused with Billy Corgan. I also think they should make a deal with PWG, they have a pretty big back catalog with lots of Young Bucks matches

What is new footage for November to Remember

Apparently Brodus Clay was working as a Fox Nation talk show host and just got axed for sexual harassing his co-anchor https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-nation-star-tyrus-accused-of-sexual-harassment-by-co-host-britt-mchenry

Is this the only Flair vs. Rich match on tape?

It is really awesome, but man the standards of the Mid-South set were really high, I mean look at this top 20 1.) Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, Coal Miner's Glove on a Poll, Tuxedo, Cage match) ( 3/22/1985 ) - 11459 points 2.) Dick Murdoch vs. Barry Windham ( 7/11/1987 ) - 10894 points 3.) Ted DiBiase vs. Ric Flair ( 11/6/1985 ) - 10543 points 4.) Hacksaw Duggan vs. Buzz Sawyer ( 11/11/1985 ) - 10106 points 5.) Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrero ( 6/24/1983 ) - 9953 points 6.) Butch Reed vs. Dick Murdoch ( 9/22/1985 ) - 9935 points 7.) Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan (No DQ) ( 3/8/1985 ) - 9826 points 8.) Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ, Tulsa) ( 5/27/1984 ) - 9763 points 9.) Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) ( 12/25/1983 ) - 9412 points 10.) Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) ( 10/27/1982 ) - 9360 points 11.) Butch Reed vs. Dick Murdoch ( 10/14/1985 ) - 9323 points 12.) Chris Adams vs. Terry Taylor ( 5/3/1987 ) - 9074 points 13.) Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd ( 6/8/1984 ) - 9022 points 14.) Jake Roberts vs. Ric Flair ( 11/24/1985 ) - 9019 points 15.) Ted DiBiase vs. Dick Murdoch (No DQ) ( 12/31/1985 ) - 8916 points 16.) Terry Taylor vs. Ric Flair ( 6/1/1985 ) - 8744 points 17.) Terry Gordy vs. Dr. Death ( 6/22/1986 ) - 8383 points 18.) Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase ( 7/6/1984 ) - 8364 points 19.) Ted DiBiase vs. Dick Murdoch ( 12/27/1985 ) - 8348 points 20.) Ric Flair vs. Wahoo McDaniel ( 7/12/1985 ) - 8346 points Also you figure with all of the Houston stuff which has come out since then, a bunch of those matches would have broken the top 20 too.