Coffey

Man, I watched AEW Fight for the Fallen and two back-to-back days of G1 Climax matches. Hard to get up for Lacey Evans & Baron Corbin in the main event & continual use of Shane McMahon...

OK, Night 3. I skipped all of the opening multiman tag matches. They're just meaningless filler truthfully. And that saves me an hour. I just want to see the tournament matches. Bad Luck Fale Vs. Lance Archer - Went in thinking it was going to be a complete dud/stinker but there were some things that I genuinely enjoyed. I like the new Lance Archer, with the new look & getting over The Claw. The Superplex spot was awesome. As was The Pounce that Archer hit Fale with. The sound of all that meat colliding! Archer getting chucked into all of the chairs in the crowd looked brutal. The Chokeslam that Archer hit Fale with was SUPER impressive. I def. thought that was the finish & fell for the near fall. Can't believe Fale got up like that! There were a couple of "no way" spots that they built into the match smartly too, like teasing Fale doing the rope walk or Archer hitting the Iconoclasm (or whatever he calls it). They got the crowd into it. Better than I thought it would be & Archer has impressed me in both of his G1 matches so far. Fale losing without it being a DQ feels like a big deal. Not a great match of course but still, better than I thought it would be, they got the crowd going & they did some entertaining stuff. Perfectly serviceable hoss fight. Sanada Vs. Will Ospreay - I have always felt Sanada was underrated. He's ridiculously athletic, anyway. The opening exchanges were good displays of both men having said athleticism. My biggest gripe would be when pregnant pauses are built into sequences. Ospreay is very guilty of this. Pretty much anytime he goes into his Thor/Roman Reigns pose it means it's time for the crowd to clap. Drives me a little bonkers. The stretch/sequences leading into the TKO were a lil' sloppy. The stretch/sequences leading into the sitdown powerbomb were not. Great 30 seconds there. The Stormbreaker counter into the Skull End was cool. The Ospreay Cutter countered into the Skull End was cool. The finish was sweet. Pretty fun spotfest although honestly, it was more subdued than I would have guessed. I thought they were going to go crazy with the high spots but they were reeled in a bit. The story of Ospreay having great success with the hook kick was a nice little addition to the match. Zack Sabre, Jr. Vs. Kazuchika Okada - Show so far, at least from the order of the first three G1 tournament matches, has been laid out really well. You had the slobberknocker hoss match. Then the athletic display match. Now with ZSJ you get the technical wrestling match. The banana split spot was fantastic. ZSJ plays a great cocky dickhead. I've come around on him a lot too. Honestly, there's very few people left in New Japan that I don't at least enjoy a little. I'm not big on EVIL. I downright loathe Chase Owens. But most of the people I didn't like, such as Captain New Japan, Iizuka, Taguchi, Nakanishi & Tenzan I've not seen around in awhile. I love that part of ZSJ's schtick is that he not only does the British style, or the submission based offense but that he's always well prepared for his opponent leading to a lot of counters. It makes sense, from a storytelling perspective, if you're familiar with the moveset of a guy & then have a plan according to it. I wish more people did that. Maybe not necessarily in a first encounter but the psychology of learning from the matches as you go is important. Rainmaker countered with kicks to the arm. Rainmaker countered into a Royal Octopus. Rainmaker countered into a European Clutch pin. Rainmaker countered into a hanging armbar. That's good stuff. Okada still has one of the best dropkicks in all of wrestling & you get to see it three or four times in this match. After all the counters to the Rainmaker, that builds to the finish of Okada finally hitting it & it leading to the victory. Pretty good story told. Okada did a spinning variant on the Rainmaker and ZSJ didn't have a counter for that. EVIL Vs. Kota Ibushi - Guess I'll get to see what sort of shape that Ibushi's ankle is in. The pictures he posted of it on Twitter were brutal. Very slow paced, strike based match to start. After a few minutes EVIL grabs an ankle lock. The English commentators mention Ibushi's ankle a lot. They work the ankle into the match. With Kota not even being able to jump as high as normal, which is pretty cool. First match of the night where a part has been worked too, I believe. Pretty good Superplex, off the top rope, by EVIL. Wasn't as impressive as the one Fale did to Archer earlier though & that was off the second. This match didn't really grab me or do it for me. Felt lackluster. KENTA Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Jury still out on KENTA for me. I didn't like his previous G1 match at all, although I know some other posters on the forum in this thread did. Something that never really gets talked about enough: there's dudes in New Japan, like Tanahashi & Okada, that just have incredible gear. It really goes a long way in helping them stand out & look like bigger stars from some of the other guys. I've seen more freakin' double stomps this weekend than I've ever needed to see. I would be OK with never seeing another one again. Put Cutters, Destroyers & Superkicks on that list too. All these years of watching pro-wrestling & I still mark out for someone just simply putting their knees up to counter a top rope splash. Also, I love Frog Splashes. I'm not really that difficult to please! Anyway, Tanahashi goes to sleep abruptly. Match never really hit the next gear. Kind of just felt there. This whole show did, really. Not a great day. Every match was pretty much in the 2-3 star range. Crazy that after the first three nights, I think Lance Archer has been in the best match so far. Both night 2 & 3 feel entirely skippable. I've noticed, not just in New Japan but in wrestling as a whole lately, there's an over-reliance on repeatedly going back to the same well too many times in the same match. Young Bucks with Superkicks. Tanahashi with Sling Blades. Kenny Omega with V-Triggers. Etc. Just making the moves not mean anything.

I feel like this match doesn't have anywhere near the heat that it should. The crowd is gassed.

I don't believe for a second that Jim Ross thinks the Young Bucks are the best tag team in the world. He's spent a part of the evening talking about how guys are using the same moves too much!

Hangman Page feels nowhere ready for a world title shot. Meanwhile Luchasaurus looks like the biggest star in the company.

JESUS CHRIST LUCHASAURUS

Headbanger Mosh and Abyss ready for action!

Unsurprisingly, the crowd is white hot & awesome tonight.

He'd get a huge reaction! I'd pop for his punches too. I actually like his pairing with Salina in MLW. Salina would also be a big get for anyone. I'm not sure how ironclad the MLW contracts are.

Darby Allin is 22-years old. He is billed (according to Wikipedia) as being 5'8", 180lbs. For comparison sake, playing football in third grade at age nine, I was 5'6", 180lbs. And I'm pretty sure his stats are exaggerated.

Honestly, Britt Baker is wrestling like she's concussed.

I feel like this match would have been a lot better if it were just Riho Vs. Priestley.

I mark out for the Rhodes Brothers referring to themselves as "The Brotherhood."

The match was fine. The librarians honestly came out to mega heat.

Why replace him? Just let the other two guys do it & don't try to do a 3-man team. You can even hear some of the old guard stuff of his slip through on commentary sometimes. It's very noticeable.

The more I hear & read from Jim Ross, the more I don't think he really fits in with AEW at all. Not even necessarily because I disagree with some of the things that he says, like on the Steve Austin Podcast, but just because he seems to contradict statements that Cody has made in the past. A lot of the times he comes off being grumpy with "well, I don't get it but it's not my business" type one-liners. I'm all for him giving AEW help but it's a bad look when you air that stuff out publicly when you work there. As an example, Jim Ross was talking about having an established set of rules. Which I agree with. He went on to make the point that you need clearly defined rules so then you know when the bad guys are breaking them. Again, I agree with him. Makes sense. He's 100%. But he makes those statements after Cody talks about how AEW doesn't want to have heel/face dynamics & they're going to let the crowds decide who they get behind & that the old way of thinking regarding alignment is antiquated. So it both makes it look like Jim Ross is antiquated & makes it look like he's contradicting Cody. I don't think it's that far fetched to believe that Jim Ross won't be with AEW in a long-term role because I feel like drama will start to arise. AEW is trying to be the new, young, hip thing & Jim Ross is a guy from the old guard. They're going to clash.

If we get this I'll be ecstatic. That would be great.

Just finished Night 2 of G1 Climax. Now I'm waiting for AEW Fight for the Fallen tonight. Then G1 Climax Night 3 tomorrow & Night 4 Monday. This weekend is great as a wrestling fan. Bucks/Rhodes will be interesting in seeing what story they tell & who they give the win to. I don't know several of the people on the card tonight, so looking forward to getting some first impressions. I already know in the opening six-man I'll be pulling for the MJF team because I don't like Janela or Havoc. The women matches are intriguing to me. Curious if Brandi goes over or if they give the win to Allie. Look forward to seeing more of the Joshi women. The women's tag could be sleeper of the night. I don't know much about Kip Sabian, so that'll be a first impression match for me. SoCal Vs. Luchas should be fine. Might skip Kiss/Librarian entirely. The Dark Order 3-team tag is a real pick-em. I like Luchasaurus and think he could be a good get for AEW. Him and Jungle Boy seem like a fun team (with a cool new shirt). I also like the team of Angelico/Evans. Became a fan of Angelico from Lucha Underground. Should be a fun show. Not expecting any blow away matches but could be pleasantly surprised. There's certainly going to be a lot of spots. I can't wait to see all things Dustin tries to do since he's in a match with The Young Bucks. There will 100% be a Canadian Destroyer or Code Red. I found it odd that during the hype videos he kept talking about Powerslamming their souls from their body. Is he going to start using the Powerslam as a finish now or something? Was just kind of peculiar. Anyway, looking forward to it!

OK, so G1 Climax Night number 2 thoughts: First three matches were nothing filler featuring Young Lions. Did a little story-telling setting up the three matches tomorrow of Tanahashi/KENTA, Fale/Archer & Ibushi/EVIL. Shingo/Juice was fine. Pretty good finishing stretch. Nothing that would blow you away. ZSJ/Minoru Vs. Okada/Yosh-Hashi was, again, just OK. Felt like a TV match. One of NJPW's biggest problems is when there's action going on two places at once. They always miss at least half of it. That was a recurring problem throughout the show tonight. In example, earlier in the night, they missed EVIL posting Ibushi's ankle. Taichi/Moxley was a glorified squash. Best part was the acting from Miho Abe after the table spot. Yano/Naito was super fun. Surprise ending too. Short but entertaining. One of my favorite things of the evening. I've really come around on Yano. The stalling at the beginning by Naito was masterful. Yano hamming it up & getting more & more impatient was a lot of fun. Ishii/Cobb was probably MOTN. Nowhere close to Tanahashi/Okada or Ospreay/Archer from Night 1, but they were hitting each other with some stiff shots & bombs. The deadlift stalling Superplex by Cobb was great. As was the headbutt & the Gonzo Bomb looking piledriver. Cobb has definitely put on some weight. He's morphing into Rhyno. I'm a big Jeff Cobb fan. Ishii, a lot of the time to me, feels like he phones in some performances but this match was fine. It didn't get to the level that I was hoping it would but it was a perfectly serviceable strong style match. White/Goto was boring & forgettable to me. Glad Goto got the win. I still see absolutely nothing in White. Man bores me to tears. Never felt like it hit the next level. Never felt like they were trying to get to the next level. I did like the part where Red Shoes refused to count after White did a bunch of heel shit outside the ring. I don't think any match on the card even hit 4-stars. A definite step down from the Dallas show. Looking forward to Night 3.

Yeah, it's sad too because Double or Nothing was a fantastic show, with good-to-great matches on it & I'm really amped for the show tomorrow in Jacksonville. Dustin Vs. Cody is my MOTY so far & I'm really excited for their show to debut on TNT. They've done a lot more good than bad & they've genuinely impressed me so far. I'm high on AEW & want to support them. That's part of why it's a bit baffling to me with the pre-show stuff. If you just skip the pre-show altogether, I guess it's a non-issue but isn't the pre-show supposed to get impulse buys? Which, if it's a free show, I guess that doesn't matter either. Heh. I really like Moxley & Dustin & I'm coming around on Cody. I have high expectations for Luchasaurus & MJF. I'm interested in what the women do. I want to see if anymore big names come to AEW. I'm excited as a wrestling fan again, for a U.S. based promotion that's going to be on cable television. That's not happened in a long time.

Exactly this. It especially looks bad after the Cody Rhodes interview where he's talking about listening to the fans, wanting to hear the feedback & being able to accept criticism. The criticism, damn near universally, has been the pre-shows suck & should be used to sell the shows main card instead, not do comedy bullshit. The Librarians suck. The Michael Nakazawa shit sucks. Sonny Kiss sucks. So... they double down on it all & keep doing it. That's the same shit Vince McMahon does that pisses people off. It's like being purposely trolled by a company. Damn near everything Jim Cornette has ranted about so far has been spot on. And putting your fingers in your ears, going la-la-la and pretending like people are "out of touch" won't help the company improve. It just doesn't make sense from a common sense standpoint. If the show is great sans for one area, why not improve that area? It worries me going forward, even if they're very young as a company.

Io Shirai is a beautiful woman. Throwing that out there.

So a white guy from North Carolina is arguing with a black guy about racism in pro-wrestling? ...not touching that one.

LAX would be a huge pick-up for AEW. Would be fine with Johnny staying with Impact. Can't picture either eyeing WWE. Nitro/Mundo/Morrison/Impact has been there before & isn't AEW offering comparable money? Maybe if AEW isn't an option & they're looking for more money that Impact can't offer?