Jmare007

Yuto Ice & Oskar vs Oiwa & ZSJ was the best tag title match I've seen in New Japan in forever. Just a great showcase for all three of the young guys, the crowd buying into Oiwa like crazy, Yuto showing he's comfortable as hell in a champion role and Oskar could be something special if he can work with people that can teach him (NJ should keep booking Shuji Ishikawa and should make a call to Sekimoto to take the kid to the next level).

Incredibly happy that Aaron Wolf is for real, they have a guy that's already incredibly over and "gets it". So glad he showed proper fire and knew exactly when to play to the crowd. EVIL did a perfect job in the match as well, when the fans are so into it his shtick works because it feels like it has a bigger purpose than just be annoying. Looking forward to what Tsuji can do with the title. Really good match against Take and the crowd clearly wanted a title change so it was the right call. Feeding him Jake Lee is a tall task when it comes to selling tickets but they at least built him in during the show and he's a serviceable token title defense. I hope Gedo doesn't get other big ideas for Lee though, he's shown in every promotions he's worked in that he's nothing more than a midcard slimeball heel that's at best above average in the ring. Main event was mindblowing. How the fuck did those two pull off that match is beyond me, just so damn good at this prowrestling thing. Okada a perfect heel and Tana somehow finding a way to deliver an epic main event with his broken down body was incredible to watch. The closing ceremony had me in tears a couple of times. When Shibata showed up, when Tana said he finally got to watch a sold out Tokyo Dome and in the end when he thanked that he got to love pro wrestling. Thank YOU, Ace. PS: Fuck WWE for not letting Nakamura show up tonight. It didn't hurt them to let the guy do the tribute at the end like Naito did. Takeshita wearing that tribute in his arm was a cool touch but man, he could've been there.

As a Mox hater, I'm ok with him in this role. I just don't ever want him with the world title and most prominent angle in the promotion so he can do whatever else he wants in my book. Besides, his work from All In to this date has been legit impressive and it's cool how the crowd has completely bought into his character journey the past 6-7 months.

The card is undoubtedly top heavy with a bunch nothing in the undercard but I think you were so upset about it you read it wrong Umino, ZSJ and Uemura were thrown in a Never Openweight 6 man match that pretty much features everyone on the roster. The 4 way is for the Jr. Title Gabe Kidd's try hard ass can stay in nothing matches for all I care tbh. If anything, the women's match will have a big chance of standing out with 70% of the card being bloated filler. Even more pressure for Wolf and huge responsibility on the shoulders of Takeshita and Tsuji. By the time they get to the ring the crowd would've sat through 2 and half hours of bleh with a potentially dope joshi match in between.

Foley made a whole thing about being done with the company for all the blatant Trump supporting they do. Good for him! but did he have a role in the company or something? a legends deal?

Haven't seen much of anything from this retirement tour but it really goes to show you how badly they botched it (and other angles) that the WWE fans went from almost taking pride in reacting the way you are "supposed to" because they loved the product from 2022-2024 to going all meta and reacting against the company and HHH instead of the heel for beating Cena. The fact it was Cena, the poster boy for fans reacting against the company because they didn't like the booking direction is fitting end, I guess?

I've seen a couple of Cena internviews this past week and I'm legit dumbfounded that he went to WWE with a whole ass chart with ideas and pitches for 200+ dates for his last year with the company and they basically told him "keep it, we good". And then they turned him heel out of nowhere as a pivot from Cody saying no to Rock's idea and got into an angle that lead nowhere and was pivoted again to turn him back. WWE is beyond lucky that Cena is such a company guy. Any other top guy would've forced his ideas or just leave (and a couple would've legit worked AEW just out of spite, lmao).

Historians putting Cody ahead of Punk is interesting, even though I can see the argument given the difference he made once went back to WWE and his role in starting AEW. Sabu being ahead of both of them among those voters is also interesting, Punk and Cody still being active has to be a big factor "against" them for historians, I guess.

The very few we got to see Wolf it was not encouraging (I got Gable Stevenson vibes) but it was still just a 30 second spot so who knows. I hope it's a short match and he destroys EVIL and his wack ass stable.

WK 20 officially sold out, they are opening up more seats due to demand still being high. Tana is carrying this company one last time. Let's hope Wolfe, Tsuji and Takeshita come out as big standouts/stars from this show.

Cool to see Hamada finally in.

Women's Blood & Guts had some really high highs, once it was 5v5 it picked up tremendously and it just kept getting better. Absolutely fucking loved the finish, just heels doing heel shit with some awesome pro wres drama *chef kiss* I gotta say though, they have to make the entrances shorter. They could've cut 10 minutes and gone faster to the stuff they all really had in mind once shit got going.

I feel Danielson's case is mainly performance based. And yes, those of us that rate him highly will always sing his praises and argue for him to be placed on a "greatest ever" tier. But to me, historical importance goes beyond that. I don't think the business changed or flipped when he was active and it certainly didn't suffer while he was/is gone. His WWE run is the one thing you could make a case but I feel like without Punk, Bryan might not even get signed in 2009 and by Dragon's own take on the matter, without Punk leaving, he wasn't maineventing WM 30 either. And his injuries didn't let him have a proper run on top to make a case of any lasting influence either. The one big lesson Vince got from Danielson was that he could book babyfaces like complete losers and maybe the people would get so mad at him that they would rally behind and get him more over (which didn't really work with anyone because Dragon's case was unique). Him being part of indy wave of the 2000s is relevant, for sure. But again, I feel other wrestlers were more important than him in making it as special/important as it was.

At least WK is doing great business. I'm glad the promotion behind Tana's retirement has worked so well. Takeshita will face Tsuji in a double title match. It seems we are gonna get Tana vs Okada (Gedo got involved in "helping" Tana find an opponent). Wolf vs Evil Syuri vs Saya Kamitani also booked.

I mean, you are not gonna find bigger babyface potential than this guy...

I sure hope Wolfe doesn't end up being like Gable Stevenson All the technical tools you can dream of but this company doesn't need a stoic character right now. The roster is too thin for a gimmick like that to work.

Thank lawd, step 1 (out of many) was taken.

Takeshita has to win, it's the only possible spark this company has as an immediate option. They can't just put all their hopes on Wolf debuting in January and being a special talent.

A 1 time thing with Andrade is ok, and a match with Kenny looks cool on paper on to me. But I wouldn't spend much energy in him beyond a 3-6 month run.

Loving the presentation of this main event. These two are working their asses off and commentary is not letting it go unnoticed.

I like the Hurt Syndicate so I have no issue with how they are booked.

Lashley vs Liona was a dope little TV match. Danielson on commentary is really a breath of fresh air. Him marking out to Hechicero and having that back and forth with Callis was hilarious

Yeah, as a latino I could give two shits about it being called a trios match instead of a 6-man tag. Like, who fucking cares

Smart call, good on TK and AEW. Only positives from going eariler, now the have a real chance to even avoid the dumb "negative publicity" of having the least bought PPV in their history.

I mean, I think the PPV buys will undoubtedly suffer because of the WWE show but All Out will still make money and have one of the bigger attendances of the year. There will be dumb trolling/stan wars weeks after the show once it's revealed it did the lowest buyrate to date for AEW but bleh, who cares.