Migs

Got tickets to the Hammerstein show. Looks like they sold it out in about 15 minutes.

Nah, I'm sure they go New Japan style - you do a short tour with Cody/Bucks but no Omega, then Bucks/Omega no Cody, then Cody/Omega... you don't need all the top guys to sell a house show.

Yeah, it seemed like them teaming up with other promotions while producing their own YouTube stuff and occasional shows was their sweet spot. I guess I could see something in a 20-30 minute show that had fairly little wrestling and built up to, like, one match a month? That seems like it would play to their strengths and wouldn't need a big roster. I don't know what the market would be for that as a TV show, though.

They could do something like what Impact does, where they have the rights to a bunch of indy footage.

Was wondering what happened there - Aldis and Drake had been advertised for NY this weekend and weren't there, and the NWA had been quietly removed from the press for the Toronto show. Given how good 10 Pounds of Gold has been, I'd be intrigued by a weekly NWA show, although presumably that means some increase in talent costs?

Fairly enjoyable episode this week, although with only 2 matches they didn't have to reach too deep into the roster. DBS-Hammerstone was a fun power match despite the weak finish, and Parks-Wagners was entertaining as well (although the announcers freaking about the guardrails felt like overkill).

Didn't Phantasmo beat Ospreay in the BOSJ? That seems like an obvious matchup for Ospreay for the UK show.

I think it looked slightly better on TV than reality, too - lots of empty rows, the balconies were very light, even the floor was empty past where the hard cam shot. There was at no point a line for the bathroom or at the bar. They legit packed up the merch with a couple of matches to go. Show was fun - the tag title switch was a good brawl and the TV match they taped with Villain Enterprises was among the most fun squashes I've ever seen. But Marty or PCO should be the champ right now, no one's close to being as over as them. (Although I was super happy for the Bouncers to get such a giant reaction.)

Getting ready to go to this show tonight has really made me process how much my interest in ROH has fallen. I'm interested in one of the announced matches (Villain Enterprises-Lifeblood) and even that is a rehash of matches that have happened a few times in the last month. Otherwise... I'm sure I will have a fun time watching pro wrestling, but that's not a high bar.

Whatever deal Tony ends up with is well deserved. (Deep cut - he's been on Dan St. Germain's Total F'n Marks podcast a couple of times recently and he's been a joy.)

Yeah, I skipped the opening match. I thought the Ki knockout was fun. The ladder match was very solid as a match but tremendous as another in the series of star-making MJF performances. His fear of heights was silly but he played it all so well and controlled the story and pacing of that match in a really impressive way. I know it's not a hot take to say he's going to be a star, but holy shit, this guy is going to be a star. I'm with you on the end of that angle. Since Mance already had the ticket, it wasn't clear what the point in chasing Salina was, unless it was something pretty unsavory. And this wasn't even like the Contra kidnapping angle or the ICE angle from last year where you could at least say they were pushing the boundaries in a way that was (at least potentially) interesting. I kinda chalk this up to a mistake in the way the angle was shot - once he locks out Park and knocks out Hijo, Mance is in there with Salina, and they have to do something next, so the instinct in wrestling is to chase the manager, but since this isn't a match context it opened up a very different set of reference points. It looked like something out of Law & Order. I did enjoy having Konnan back as her foil, they have a fun dynamic.

I've always assumed there's a deal there - a lot of the RF shoots are also on the Highspots Network.

Liked the main event this morning - the slow start was worrisome but paid off nicely as the time went on (Kelly was right that 20 minutes did fly by), and they were doing a really good job of selling the accumulated damage of the injuries and big moves... right up until they ignored it to do a few finisher kick outs and a finishing sequence. Still very good and worth checking out. (Haven't seen the rest of the show yet, as I woke up late - anything else worth seeking out?)

Glad he's cleared, little unsettled at him brushing off what was apparently a stinger.

Maybe it's that there's a specific person he needs to beat? Going to challenge a legend for Summerslam?

I dunno, I feel like most people felt he was the best of a set of bad choices, particularly once Roman went down. The Mania payoff actually worked fine, I think, but once they saw how cold he was as champ, I'd have gotten the belt off him by late May to heat up a new heel.

Yeah, I thought Naito-Taichi was the best match they've had together, even if the excess of gaga was kind of exhausting. I did like that they finally re-introduced the iron hand, and of course this is the match that Taichi would save it for. Still not a classic or anything. Ishii-White was in there with Okada-ZSJ for me for the best match of the tournament so far. Definitely recommended if you're cherry picking. I also very much enjoyed the Kenta-Tana interaction in the undercard tag match. Seems like there might be a longer story they're building there, which seems like a nice use of both guys for the fall (or Wrestle Kingdom).

He has Ibushi and then Okada next up, so hopefully it's not too serious.

Finally finished the show. The main event was probably the first AEW match where it didn't hit my expectations, which were sky high. The FIP section on Matt was really strange after they did such a good job establishing the Bucks as heels for the match. That really killed the energy of the match and it didn't totally recover for the finishing stretch, which was good.

Yeah, that's the big one to me.

Ultimately, MLW is the poster child for the way the new era kicked off by AEW has dried things up on the indies. Here's who MLW had in just September of last year that's been signed exclusively since then: Brody King PCO Taya Valkyrie Pentagon Jr. ACH Joey Janela Rey Fenix John Hennigan Shane Strickland That talent, per show taping, equals four singles matches on their own, or more than that if you think of them slotting into other spots on the card. But that's at least one match on each episode of TV that goes from "indy geek filler" to having top level talent. Props to them for riding this out and still being fun enough to check out and chat about here.

RF supposedly has an ironclad contract from back in the day.

They do have a bit of an overlapping fan base, and I think that overlap is very well defined by Janela and Enzo.

Also, any lawsuit would require proof of damages, and what on earth could be the damage here? If they're still paying Rhyno through the non-compete, I guess they could get a little of that back, but it's probably such a small amount that it's not worth any bad pub.

Yeah, haven't seen the match yet but she's definitely their most compelling act at the moment, they should strap whatever rockets they have left to her. Not sure what the market would be for Johnny, but if he is out, it's another blow to the depth of the card. Same problem MLW is having - you can replace one guy, then another, but there's a certain point where you end up replacing developed talent with an indy geek and the show suffers for it.