MoS

MJF definitely didn't try to steamroll him the way a lot of heels in the past 20 years have tended to do, but compared to Starks' organic energy, he came off a bit like a tryhard

I have the opposite opinion, I thought Starks sort of made MJF look..not phony, but hollow and unserious, as the kids say these days. I might agree that MJF's delivery was more polished, something that comes with experience, as you pointed out, but overall Starks felt more organic, more genuine, and just left a much bigger impact on me. Yes, he did ramble a bit, but so did a lot of legendary promos in pro wrestling history, including the guy MJF compared Starks to - seriously, go watch some of Rock's 1997 promos after he had just turned heel and joined the NoD, he would be all over the place - and I didn't feel it detracted from his promo at all. In fact, it made him feel more natural and passionate, made me want to see him win more. This also made me think that MJF would do well not to get into a similar promo battle with Eddie Kingston during his title reign. King has all the qualities I spoke of above, and also has a lot of experience cutting live promos on TV. MJF would get massacred imo if they went head to head like this. MJF has come a long way and is much better than he was when he first engaged in a promo battle with CM Punk - where he rambled quite a bit, and Punk was obviously far more polished - but he still isn't as good a promo as Kingston is.

I personally think it's Kairi. No way does WWE let Sasha go without a lengthy non-compete, they would be foolish to do so

They did, the rules have been tweaked this time apparently. I thought this was a tremendous episode of Dynamite, capped off by an excellent main event. For me, FTR-Briscoes 3 (and a double dog collar match to boot!) is the clear main event for this ROH PPV, and I am very excited to see how they try and top their previous matches.

This was for the diamond ring that MJF wears/carries. Starks if he wins will also get the ring along with the belt.

This show has ruled so far

An absolutely crazy, amazing match. Really wish they had built it a bit more, and not just with a quick 2-min video clip

Darby is a crazy man

Also, I just saw an ad on my TV that said Dark and Elevation will now air in India, so while TK has not been booking well lately, he has clearly been making deals to make more money

So glad they finally gave Starks an open mic. He is a star, and he really showed up MJF tbh. MJF's shtick felt exposed in comparison to Starks, who came across as authentic and a genuine superstar in the making

Having said that, Starks sort of completely owned MJF right here

Fun Battle Royal and Starks is awesome, but this stupid shit of the heel running his mouth and insulting the face while the face patiently listens and waits his turn to speak is some WWE nonsense

I think the tag belts need The Acclaimed more than FTR needs the belts. They have been an unexpected success for AEW and it is imperative that they remain the top team until the well runs dry. If TK cannot heat up FTR without giving them all the belts, then that's on him as a booker and he should maybe finally relent and agree to have a booker for his product.

Also, I know I am far from the first one to say this here, but Renee is so so so good in her role. In a lot of ways, she might just be the best signing AEW has done since they first started. She immediately makes backstage segments feel like they have some weight or importance behind them, and she is also so excellent at playing off of wrestlers' shtick and making the entire presentation feel natural, organic and exciting. She really is the best in this role that the wrestling world has seen since Mean Gene Okerlund.

It's a typical pattern for modern wrestling shows. They all steadily lose viewers. That said, I agree that the best of seven series is a bad idea for TV ratings. There's also no reason for this series to be a best of seven. I think TK should start hotshotting some matches more tbh. Give us Omega-Danielson, Hangman-Mox (that seems to be happening and that brawl was easily the best angle AEW has done in months), Bucks-FTR 3, Miro-Joe, Hobbs-Wardlow, Starks-Danielson, the possibilities are endless. A little less Jericho as well, he has been overexposed in the recent months, and the only people he has put over are Mox and Danielson, two guys who are above him on the totem pole and won't benefit from beating him.

Doing as many buys as the PPV where their biggest star returned to challenge for the world title he never lost is certainly a very encouraging sign, and also points to MJF's potential as the ace of the promotion. I think he really is putting it all together and becoming a big-time main event wrestler in front of our eyes.

GREATEST. OF. ALL. TIME. Make him the ROH champ NOW GR

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! THanksgiving week really makes me miss NYC so much (mitigated by the fact that Daylight Savings starts now and it absolutely sucks). Grateful to all of you for making this board the best place to discuss all things pro wrestling. Hopefully if Musk kills Twitter, we see a resurgence of forums and message boards in 2022. Retro is in.

He felt Hangman went into business for himself. In any case, the Hangman thing was completely out of line, no argument about that. But he has always treated wrestling more seriously than the Elite do. Also, mocking someone after an investigation has cleared you is just being an ungracious winner. You can't ask the people to move on from that, and then refuse to do the same and take passive-aggressive digs as soon as you hear some unfriendly chants. It was weak when Punk did it, and it is weak now when the Elite are doing so. In a lot of ways, it's a pity if nothing comes out of this, because in so many ways, Punk & FTR v. Elite is the perfect money-drawing, territory-popping wrestling feud. Two completely opposite personalities with a natural attraction and affinity towards one another.

Starks v. MJF should be great. It's a pity Starks is almost always injured. I'm ready to see both him and Hobbs elevated to the main event

Yes I do believe Punk would not have taken any public shots at the Elite. He never took one at Colt Cabana after all. He barely took any shots at WWE during his one year at AEW, and that was despite so many opportunities to do so being served on a platter to him. In any case, whataboutery and engaging in hypotheticals is pretty weak. It is indeed funny to see fans act like referring to KENTA and his GTS is some awesome joke and genius level trolling, when a thousand random Twitter users going by the handle of shit like ILUVBOOBIES69696969@420 have been making this exact joke for more than a decade.

Doing low-effort lowest-fruit trolling that around 500 million anonymous nameless Twitter users do every day makes someone the GOAT? By this logic Triple H and Steph are Gods, and Shotzi is the best wrestler in the world.

MJF's elevation is probably to date Punk's biggest contribution to AEW apart from the Kingston match. MJF was relying on such lazy tropes when he started feuding with Punk, and over the time, he started developing a solid gimmick instead of coming across like a tryhard knockoff. His work has become better too, he is so young.

Did Daniel Bryan and Cesaro ever have a singles match?

I think it was a bad idea to take the title off Wardlow, and worse, to put it on Joe the same night another WWE release got a win over your top star, but overall I think this was a very strong showing from AEW. There's the undeniable factor of low expectations, but overall the show was great