Jmare007

I think it's a case of expectations. Danielson has been put in two matches were he "had" to deliver a MOTYC caliber match and at least one of the other two was worked aiming to get that too (vs Nick Jackson). In that sense, I think Dragon has been able to meet the very high expectations people had of him, while at the same time reminding people how different his character was before going to WWE. No more "flying goat underdog", he's just a little badass that's gonna beat the shit out of you. He's also given the fans what they want and worked in a way the crowd wants him to. Punk, on the other hand, was kind of a mystery. He's always been someone that works best when he has an angle/feud to sink his teeth in and after 7 years there had to be ring rust. But there are still fans that expected 05-11 Punk for some reason. In that sense, he's both surpassed and came short of meeting said expectations, weirdly enough. To me though, he's been good and has provided matches that the AEW crowd doesn't necessarily want, but has been able to make them invested, and that's impressive for someone that was gone for so long. I'm happy with both of them but Danielson kinda wins of the strength of the matches he's had and me liking how he's worked them.

Shibata being back (in whatever form or fashion) is the best news New Japan has had since the pandemic started. Ibushi's injury is just another chapter on the cursed year the promotion has had. I agree he'll benefit from being away for some months but the promotions needs his star power, today's show wasn't that good drawing wise (wasn't bad either though. It's the best NJPW's done in Budokan during the pandemic. But still not better than NOAH). The road to WK is gonna interesting.

Yup, if there's one thing fans would benefit from re-learning or finding out is that talent having runs in different companies is not a bad thing. I'ma gonna cringe when Seth Rollins is the one leveraging a top spot with AEW though

As expected, B Block Finals did horrible at Budokan with only 2088 in attendance. By far the worst from any promotion that has run the building during the pandemic (including NJ's previous shows). Like I've said, the real test is the final show but regardless of how well they draw with that one, they have a real job ahead of them to get interest in their product back up. Would be baffling if Covid restrictions continue and Gedo's stance is still "well, can't do anything until foreigners can work here!".

I fucking love MJF man. LMAO at having a 50 minute interview in character (and teasing the Wardlor, Danielson and Punk feuds), speaking that fast and being that quick witted.

When Gedo does it he's called a genius so I can picture some fans in Twitter thinking that might be a good idea even though it's horrible.

Yo @gordi Osaka Pro returns!!

I'm thinking the same thing. Though making Hangman beat Omega and Danielson back to back would be one hell of a way to establish his championship run... It's pretty clear that right now his kayfabe reason is the same as the real life reason: to fall in love with wrestling again. He will lose eventually, and as Matt says, he's gonna get beat up badly by someone. Then he's gonna be pissed off, find new motivations and eventually feel he deserves a title shot. It's a character arc that's gonna work way better lasting months than hotshotting it for the sake of it.

Hell yeah Dragon vs Dustin!

Daniel Bryan Danielson

Yeah that promo by Page was very good. I like how he still sells with his expressions that he might not be fully convinced about what he was about to say. And that promo by Miro was incredible. Can he win the tournament? I know the leak for the finals is out but change your plans Tony!

Danielson vs MiSu was even better on a rewatch. I was able to appreciate all the nuances they did to basically everything they attempted much more the second time around. The strike exchanges are obviously the make or break part of the match but man, there was a lot more going on than just that.

This was even better on a rewatch. Once you take out the "holy shit, I'm actually watching these wrestle each other" feel the live watch had, the little things they did were more evident to me. As SLB said, they knew when to go slow, fast, no sell, scream, make a facial expression, etc. Everything to make this feel less generic in terms of both just trading blows, which was truly needed because this was very, very simple match. There's literally one bump and it's a very small one (Suzuki's back bump after Dragon avoided the Gotch piledriver) and I think only two pin attempts in a 20 minute match. Loved how they kept trying to lock on a submission and how they reacted quick as fuck to get the ropes every time they got locked in with a hold. How high you rate this will depend on how much you can enjoy strike exchanges but man, there's a lot of others things to appreciate with this (like Dragon's pin attempt transition after realizing he couldn't lock Cattle Mutilation, that shit was tight as hell and MiSu had to fight to kick out). Loved it. PS: MiSu's elbows being vicious is something I was expecting, but man, I've never seen Danielson land harder elbows than the ones he threw here.

Suzuki finally looked like a beast. Which was something he lacked in the Mox matches. If an AEW fan that didn't know anything about him saw this match, I think he/she would understand what the aura/reputation of MiSu might be all about. Kind of off topic but I I'm kind of tired of hearing the "I wish Danielson didn't do X" because of his health. Don't know what else dude gotta do to keep folk from treating him like he's special in terms of the damage these guys take in the ring (and specially when working a stiffer style). I understand if you just don't like the style overall, but man, there's so many wrestlers that are people in way worse shape than he is that keep doing this style and I never read "man, wish he was working different!".

That match reminded me of the Barnett vs Suzuki match at one of the Bloodsport's shows. Just a different type of match, some will love and some will be meh about it. I fucking loved it.

Heeere we go.

So, Tony Khan confirmed it will be Omega vs Page at Full Gear. Also, it seems the whole card was "leaked" after someone took a picture of Tony Khan at the Jaguars game

My exacts thoughts. I was picturing Dragon getting anxious with all these U.S wrestlers getting singles matches with MiSu except him. I remember him saying one of his favorite matches ever was facing Suzuki on a New Japan show (that sadly wasn't taped) so if they give them 12-15 minutes I expect something pretty special.

Interesting that AEW is already doing a World Title eliminator tournament. I guess the finals will be at Full Gear to set up Page's first defense?

This goes 13 minutes and I need a third match, dammit! This was the Abe/Okabayashi show, which is weird because it's supposed to build up to Nomura and Sekimoto for the title, lol. Really, really liked their early restraint by not throwing a single strike in the first seven minutes and building up to them, with both Young Gawd and Abe trying to keep the two hosses on the mat but getting to cocky and provoking Yuji too much. As explained, the Abe/Okabayashi interactions were the highlights, with Fuminori just being an incredible cocky asshole against the much bigger man. Sekimoto and Nomura had good strike exchanges but they were barely in it against each other until the finish, which was quite sudden. They left A LOT on the table and considering the match from September is even shorter (haven't been able to watch it yet), I wonder why they were so conservative. I did like Nomura being much more confident and realizing he's the fucking champ and fuck these old dudes.

I'm with @El-P here. There's no reason why, if well booked, you can't have a the most over guy in the company be the champ while at the same time have a program with Omega/Danielson fighting for "who's the best". You can also have Hangmayne mock them (specially if Omega wins the rematch) by saying he's the best in the world because he's the champ, which can lead to a title defense down the line too. There's tons of things you can work around having those two programs running along. I understand having some PTSD because of WWE's horrible booking but "paper champion" is not the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to Page beating Kenny before the rematch with Danielson. I don't know. I attribute that heat entirely on Lambert being an incredible heel that's so easy to despise. It's like OG Vickie Guerrero but with more material than just "excuse me!".

Floyd wasn't THAT long ago

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Your future champ getting the most attention and the crowd wanting him to get the title shot over anything else is what you should want. I think you guys are reading too much into it. There's a ton of time until Full Gear so that feud can get momentum again. And at the end of the day, him getting the win will be big anyway, what's important is what they do with him as champ. I do wonder what's next for Danielson. Is him vs Cole next?

There he is.

LMAO at Jericho besting JDS Btw Lambert is great, I don't get why y'all hate him.