Steenalized

I don't really need a bright line rule to say "I enjoy pro wrestling, even if it doesn't look like a shoot fight, but whatever the hell that was is beyond dumb"

Wow they're just like me booking in TEW

Not sure if I'd say it gets more real by any stretch. I think that's the wrong term since I understand what you're driving at - in many ways there are more visually dazzling displays of athleticism - but realness as in authenticity or even "this is a top caliber athlete who could beat the piss out of me if I charge the ring", that I do not think is more prevalent now than before.

Meta or (too) self-aware is getting at the issue, yeah. And no amount of "well what about Funk's spaghetti legs selling or this guys spot or that guys whatever" can fully take away that it's there, even if plenty of people aren't bothered by it or even enjoy it. For what it's worth, I love Funk's spaghetti leg bit, I used to have a gif of it in my signature here. Individual spots are what they are.

I know this isn't up to the discourse level of the board (I mean that sincerely) and it would take more time and effort than I'm probably willing to commit to proving or disproving, but I don't think Matt D and Kadaveri are wrong, I'm picking up on that same issue. Phoniness is too strong of a term and I want to make it clear I liked that Omega-Danielson match and Omega didn't bother me in it, but there is still something that just seems off. I'd say the violence doesn't quite seem legit enough with him but that's not fair either, those V-triggers were great, the dragon suplex on the aisle was great, etc. I'll try to pin it down if I can.

oh almost certainly, just saying it's not great when you get invaded by a bunch of washed fighters who you put over

Didn't love the main event. Not bad, mind you, and I'm sure the hometown pop was nice. I like Kingston a lot but him and Mox both throw crappy punches for a brawl like that. Didn't actually feel violent

AEW's got a bit too much of "groups of dudes wandering around" going on for a new viewer.

Rusev Miro still the best, the dude gets it

Paige Van Zant has gone 0-2 in bareknuckle boxing since anyone likely last heard of her, Arlovski is ancient, etc. so this came across as super small time to me.

Jericho doesn't move well enough for the way he's working. Way too much rope running for a guy who runs like a grandpa

I never thought of Christian as that big but he dwarfs Cole. Also Christian is still really good

Not to be a typical griping wrestling fan stereotype, but having not watched any WWE in years it sure stands out how weird their presentation is. Like their particular choice of camera angles and how they transition between segments - AEW came across as much more natural, even if lacking the top level of production values here.

That'd make sense so I can't see it going down that way

What struck me is Dave (who I believe does not go back and re-rate matches, at least officially) gave five stars 23 matches in the 80s, 65 in the 90s, 7(!!!) in the 00s, and 67 in the 10s and 28 so far in the 20s, though obviously all of that is under a new system with going over five stars. Dude got serious about protecting five stars in the 00s. Of course everything from 2017 on is a different scale, but man what happened in the 00s that he was so down on matches? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_wrestling_matches_rated_5_or_more_stars_by_Dave_Meltzer This is not a complaint, only an observation.

Didn't much care for that match, though to be fair I was also thinking "this is so much better than RAW was for years of watching." Glad to see Miro still looks awesome

Totally flew by. What a sick reverse hurricanrana too

I remember thinking he was a huge geek who I couldn't get into back in the early to mid 00s, right as I was checking out he was blowing up. I don't mind it so far

Signed up for a trial of Hulu with live TV just so I can watch this show and Rampage during the week trial. First time I'm watching live wrestling in... five years? Let's gooooo!

PBC seems happy with 200K-buy PPVs but that's a money laundering front if there ever was one, so who's to say?

Askren PPV supposedly did 1.5M buys. Haven't seen anything on Woodley yet which makes me wonder if it disappointed

Looks more like the Big 4 PPVs are really a big 3, maybe big 2.5. But those Wrestlemania numbers were huge

It's also why the "haha Triple H sure dropped the ball" thing is funny but I don't think Vince is wrong per se to go back to seeking specific body types and ages. I get why fans groan about it but wrestling has decades of getting recently graduated football players, basketball players, wrestlers, etc. to transfer over and I'd trust Vince (okay, I don't trust Vince but hear me out) to use that system better than trying to be The Super Indy. Tony Khan's got the latter one figured out better now anyway.

I just saw something on twitter about how the new NCAA NIL rules can be a huge boon to the WWE - maybe AEW too - and ties directly to this. Find a college kid with a good look, interest in wrestling, and isn't going pro in the sport, take a chance on building a bridge while they're in school then come over after graduation.

Maybe they have weird auto renewals or extension terms in them based on certain things but realistically, how do you note have an excel file with a bunch of names and dates in there at a minimum? An intern could handle this