Migs

No, I don't think so, other than the Fyter Fest behind the scenes stuff. I think the Librarians are amusing but not laugh out loud funny, and I was having stream issues during the hardcore match but I find Nakazawa also in the merely amusing camp. But even if someone really didn't like the comedy, the idea that their taste should dictate the business of the company is a little bit odd. These guys have gotten very far with a balance of seriousness and comedy, and I'm not sure why they should go away from it. I think their main struggle is going to be that some of their best comedy comes from the core guys writing for themselves, and their success has been more mixed writing for others. But the top guys obviously need to be doing some serious stuff (Cody hasn't done any comedy on the first couple of shows, and he's got the best comic timing of the group; the Fyre Fest parody was funny but tonally pretty odd), so they won't be able to rely on that.

Meltzer talked in the Observer about how the comedy hardcore match drew in casual fans from the reports he heard.

Except Being the Elite is consistently decent -> good comedically and it's part of their package. Just because you don't laugh at the comedy doesn't mean they should get away from what's worked for a large chunk of the crowd.

The Impact Players were ditched when Credible won the title - it became him and Francine. Honestly, it's very close. I think Taven at least has a small but vocal fanbase that has been advocating for him, and I don't feel like that existed for Justin. But maybe they're just more visible because of Twitter.

I've seen the reports too and curious what "no ROH involvement" means. They announced their own shows in the US in the winter, and without VISA problems for a lot of the Japanese guys, those also wouldn't have involved ROH other than probably the use of some ROH talent that regularly works NJ.

Aries looked really bad aesthetically - just really skinny and bland. In the ring he seemed a bit lacking in explosiveness as well. Not a great showing. Hopefully they're only looking to get 4 weeks out of these next couple of tapings, they've really stretched the last couple thin at the end. Curious to see what they build to for this first PPV in November - Lawlor vs. LA Park might be the best bullet they have in the chamber and I'm not sure that's enough to draw buys.

Yeah, not a classic but a very enjoyable big/little match. Feel like both guys will be motivated and this should be decent at worst.

They have talked a little bit about their relationship, and Cody has called him a "good hand." I presume they're going to start building up the match with promos in short order that will go more into the back story.

There does seem to be an aspect where they've flipped roles from New Japan - Omega was the perfect guy for that place, and Cody always felt just a little off. The way AEW wants to tell stories seems so perfectly geared towards Cody.

It's certainly better than Pursuit. What makes AXS interesting is that it also runs New Japan and WOW, so I'm assuming it'd get well promoted, at least to the wrestling fans already watching the channel.

Someone else made the joke on Twitter that they were interested in half the card this week - not half the matches, but literally one side of each match. I generally skim ROH shows for the guys I like, but they were really spread out on this card, and I ended up watching almost all of it (other than the women's match).

So I guess Cody's All Out opponent is Spears? They really went in on making Allin tonight.

The trust fall dive on the apron was insane.

I love the way, much like a New Japan show, they slowly turn up the intensity level from the beginning to the end of the show.

I've been having some trouble during this match. Also, the Librarians are funny.

I believe the guys other than Excalibur have some link to the gaming thing - they were the announcers last year for the New Japan show at this convention. I don't recall liking them last year bu they seem fine as color guys.

Yeah, this has been a really nice showcase for what they can do. Good way to start the show.

Had not thought about this, but ease of getting drinks will be a big win at the Hammerstein.

I'm actually at least slightly more interested in the NY show now because they set up some things. Love Flip joining Villain Enterprises. They're trying to turn Lethal and Gresham heel? Some weird Impact castoff clusterfuck in the NWA angle? It's all at least something, sorta, enough for a maybe more interesting TV taping than the last couple. This show was the definition of fine, though, with nothing exceeding expectations and a few things underdelivering. The best match might have been the opener - really enjoying Castle's new direction.

Also, just generally - was there really no one new who could be brought into a role like this? If you're reaching outside the org currently... Dave Lagana, Don Callis, Jimmy Jacobs? Even within, wasn't Road Dogg's whole problem when he stepped down as head writer of Smackdown the lack of control? (There's also probably a ton of names we don't know with the talent to take these roles. I'm just throwing out some off the top of my head.) Vince wants to make it the 90s again, but, no matter how hard he tries... it isn't.

Heyman is going to be the "Executive Director" of Raw. Bischoff for Smackdown. https://www.si.com/wrestling/2019/06/27/wwe-paul-heyman-monday-night-raw-eric-bischoff-smackdown-live-vince-mcmahon?utm_medium=social&xid=socialflow_twitter_si&utm_campaign=sinow&utm_source=twitter.com&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true

I watched the episode after reading these comments, so I guess my expectations were properly set, because I liked the six man for the most part, even if it wasn't as good as the initial hype. The Von Erichs had good fire. The stuff with Lawlor getting taped was goofy (and didn't really have an impact on the match) and the post-match did have a really weird energy. Why is Lawlor watching when the ref goes through a table? Maybe try and stop them? The rest of the episode was total filler, the result of trying to get 5 weeks of shows out of one taping. I do think Jordan Oliver works as an undercard guy - he's got a personality that's easy heat, even if he's a really indie-riffic worker. Looks like Aries debuts next week, which I think is the last big match in the can. Honestly, MLW's only ahead of Impact for me right now because Youtube plays better on the iPhone than the Impact app, so it gets to be the show I watch on the treadmill.

There's too much other stuff to watch that might actually be interesting to waste time on this.

I believe it was with AAA.

I felt this the moment AEW announced - 2018 is going to retrospectively feel like 1985 or 1986. The consolidation is happening and in the way that AWA, World Class, UWF etc. limped along for a couple of years, ROH, MLW and Impact will. 2018 will feel like a golden year of openness in the way talent could float - you can already see that being choked out as the promotions who have contracts try to keep guys exclusive. There's just no reason for guys to sign in those places unless they don't really have an upward trajectory to WWE or AEW, and a lot of people there who do have that desperately want out. And yes, the streaming era and the strong indies will make this a more fun time to be a fan than in late 80s and early 90s, because guys will still have places to go outside the Big 2 and will be able to be seen.