Migs

In some ways, the show clarifies things pretty well - he's responsible for the situation she's in (he brings her to Florida, sets her up with Rance, takes her passport and vehicle and leaves), but her disappearance happens like six months after and there's basically nothing tying him directly to it (the documentary filmmaker helpfully checks Cagematch to confirm he wasn't in Florida the day she's last seen). There is strong evidence in the documentary that Teddy is a scumbag who's harmed women but very little suggesting he's an actual murderer.

Those two things aren't contradictory at all. A person can both enjoy and get the most out of high pressure situations, but also really have a desire at times to step off the gas and be out of the meat grinder. I dunno, maybe it's an older millennial thing (Bryan's two years older than me), but I 100% get that mentality, of being the right person for certain big scenarios and thriving on that, but also just wanting to be left alone to my own devices at other times. He might argue that his first year in AEW has been a great balance, getting to do the Omega match and the two big Page matches but also getting to spend some time where he wasn't carrying the show. I think everyone's freaking out over nothing, and it's not really the booking of Danielson that people actually have a problem with, it's this never-ending JAS-BCC feud that's a full on quagmire at this point. Take him out of that and then let's have a conversation about whether he's being used well, because right now he's being used well enough in theory (prominent feud, in part with young guys) just not in practice.

Lauderdale tries sometimes, but he's a very poor man's Paul E when it comes to that.

I think they're trying to use Danielson to make younger guys, but the booking of those young guys has been unfocused. Between the last two PPVs, Dragon's program mainly related to Daniel Garcia who... wasn't on the PPV. Now, that's not a total indictment of the time use - we'll see where Garcia ends up down the road - but it certainly makes it hard to judge whether this use of Danielson is fruitful.

I'm very interested to see what they do with 7 matches. I'm a fan of all involved and their work together, and I can't think of a single one of their match ups with one another that I haven't enjoyed on some level; at the same time, the matches between them aren't THAT different that it immediately springs to mind how they'd do 7 of them. Assuming we have at least one that goes on the short side with a flash pin and maybe one particularly long one, but other than that, don't see any obvious changes unless they add gimmicks.

Those seem like the only two acceptable options, really. (I wouldn't argue with Suzuki and Archer but I don't think that's a likely direction.) Anything else feels like a waste of FTR.

Setting the over-under at 33 1/2 and taking action in DMs.

Nah, it's not better than the PWG six-man where he put up the 5.

Getting the Elite back really cemented my excitement for the show. Really jacked to be there for that and the main event. Rest of the show looks good. Plus I get to see Tommy Rich in an Elks Lodge in the afternoon!

New tradition in which Eddie wrestles Japanese legends on PPV pre-shows would work fine for me.

Maybe they just think they can get a TV deal with Fox News.

So you don't think Mad Vachon took the door off a plane while high on every substance known to man and then was released to the custody of wrestlers?

The tag leagues at least have some fresh teams in there. Aussie Open, and Archer back with Suzuki on the heavyweight side. The junior side has Yoh/Lio Rush, Alex Zayne with El Lindaman, Chris Bey/Ace Austin, some other wackiness. Lots of interesting stuff to sample.

Thought what I saw of today's show was good. Naito-Ospreay had a better match than the G1 match, and Shooter returning as Ospreay's next challenger was pretty fun. FTR-United Empire was good, not great, but just seeing a fresh semi-main event on a New Japan was a real reminder of why the company was so hot a few years ago. Aussie Open confronting them and suggesting they're going to do a rematch at the Tokyo Dome is pretty exciting.

To the original idea of the thread - I'm not sure I exactly envisioned the empire being stabilized by Vince being kicked out after sexual misconduct was discovered, but we are.

I wonder if perhaps they tell the story in a way that's not chronological and they do end here? Could show the ends for some in flash forwards or something.

It MAY be that they've been cleared to return and now the question is the timing. The Elite were mentioned so specifically last night that my thought is they'll be doing Elite-Death Triangle at Full Gear.

Hoping they have this in English in the US. My little one who's obsessed with Spiderman really enjoyed the few AAA Marvel matches we've watched on Youtube.

Also possible that Punk realized Ace was screwed and tried to negotiate him the best possible out. I mean, we know how much Punk loves lawsuits! I would still think that whether Punk actually comes back is a very open question at this point.

Something about these signings and the way they're being presented is making me feel the Elite aren't coming back. Hope I'm wrong.

That's great. Saw him at Warrior Wrestling this summer and my friends and I were instantly taken. He had a really fun match with Janela in JCW where he used all those pieces that you discussed (the caveman antics, the brawling, some high spots). Weirdly, doing a YouTube deep dive on him has me watching way more West Virginia indies than I ever have before, to the point I kinda want to go see an Applachian Championship Wrestling show in a barn.

Beastman, from Deepest Darkest West Virginia. (This is real and he's actually pretty fun. Yes, I'm serious. Okay, mostly serious.)

The Mox-Gage rematch ending in part with interference from W. Morrissey... certainly was a moment. I'm assuming TK wanted to protect Moxley (he did let him get pinned by Gage, since they'd booked it as title vs. career before Mox became AEW champ again), but it also feels like either being tone deaf or an FU to a piece of the fanbase. Feels like we're in a weird new era in that regard. (Either that or there's a hilarious amount to those photos of Lauderdale with Steph McMahon.)

Exactly the sort of thing a guy who wants to run in a few years would say!