NotJayTabb

People refer to QT Marshall as Cody's "Brother Bruti", but at least Marshall contributes by training guys. Cutler and Nakazawa aren't pushed acts at least, but the Good Brothers are the most egregiously pushed act on a ratio of wins/screentime vs talent/overness.

No, Goldberg injured himself in the Russo era, and his comeback match was against Tank Abbott on Nitro . Road Wild 99 had 3 big matches (Sting/Sid, Goldberg/Steiner and Hogan/Nash retirement match), plus Dennis Rodman wrestling, so it was a pretty big name card. Hogan had just returned to the yellow and red too.

I know the Elite appropriating some of the NWO schtick is already cannon (all the "Too Sweet" stuff etc), but the adding of new members is giving off very NWO vibes. Cutler is a pretty decent Vincent, but Gallows & Anderson make a very poor Stevie Ray and Brian Adams. Adam Cole as Horace is probably on par.

All that says to me is that in 2016 Omega was too high and Kevin was too low ;-)

I've watched it three times already. Love the way they tag and I love that one brother yelling "I love this" after decimating a guy. So much fun

They just hired the guy who had a good strap match against one of the worst wrestlers on the planet last year, so I can think of at least one

When you think that All In featured a 20 minute Joey Janela match, and now he doesn't even get a sniff on Dynamite, you can see how much the roster has evolved.

Fully believe that Adam Cole was a secret agent sent to undermine NXT by convincing HHH and HBK to let him work 45 minute main events, helping to render NXT unwatchable. The fact AEW had their biggest ever PPV without Cody is obviously hilarious too.

Very much looking forward to the Io watch party, she feels like someone who's more likely to make my list than not. Good NXT run, really like what I've seen of her in Stardom and there's bonus points for having one of the best matches I've ever seen live (against Kay Lee Ray in a small pub in London). As regards watching more, I was thinking of re-subbing to Stardom World and was wondering what it's like in terms of archive stuff? I used it in 2016-17, and it was mainly new shows, but with a few older bits on there. I'm interested in catching up, but I'd initially be using for old favourites like Io, Hojo and Act.

Is Cesaro still dating Sara Del Ray? I can see Cesaro rolling into a trainer role in the next 5 years, considering he's pushing 40 already.

Got to respect Tony Khan's commitment to the bit by having a stable called The Elite getting watered down by adding mediocre wrestlers. Glad Danielson debuted. I signed up for the AEW Plus gimmick last month, at that was like 90% because of the rumours of him signing (the other 10% is basically Kingston and Thunder Rosa)

Boogs had that one week where he was on NXT, and everybody loved him, only for him never to turn up again. Which might honestly have been the best thing for him

I think Moxley seems like he's having fun, and I like the idea of him and Kingston as a team of dad bod warriors. The issue is that he's just not very good

Christian is more consistent, has higher highs and also higher lows. Hardy is probably a better tag worker, but Christian worked well as an undercard guy, in the midcard and as the ace carrying the brand/promotion in WWECW and TNA. Even now, in their advanced years, Christian feels like one of the better workers in AEW whereas Hardy feels like a relic. I definitely can't imagine Hardy dragging a decent match out of Omega like Christian did the other week

HHH and JJ resurrecting Global Force Wrestling is the dream

Absolutely heartbreaking news. I didn't see the Instagram video, and I intend to keep it that way, but it's so sad that she found herself in this position. Thought she was great in WCW, the trio with Crowbar and Flair was really fun, and the unrequited love storyline with Crowbar was one of the last storylines they ran that I was invested in thanks to the work of her and Crowbar. Great TNA run as well. For someone who hadn't wrestled when she joined WCW, she took to it naturally. RIP

Kingston/Park happened a year or two back at Rev Pro, it's still available to watch I believe. The really impressive thing about All Out, which speaks to how good a job AEW have done of making people care about the roster, is how excited everyone is when so few of the match results feel unpredictable. Punk isn't losing his first match back, and I don't see Omega/Miro/Moxley/Baker losing any of their titles. The tag titles are maybe a 50/50 and Jericho losing to MJF for some time off wouldn't shock me, but Big Show isn't losing to QT Marshall. This feels like a show that's all about big moments rather than who wins, which is a rare feeling.

I'm quite curious about this week's watch party, because this is the first time I'm going into one thinking "This wrestler probably isn't as good as Terry Taylor", which is my default cut-off for who makes my shortlist. I'm partly interested to see if the matches change my opinion on Punk, but also partly to see how other wrestlers who might be on my shortlist look against a wrestler I don't think is great. It's a change in the usual dynamic for me.

The first thing he said all show was "Yeah I'm yelling, that's what I do", and I briefly considered turning the show off

Makes me think of the old line about how your rating doesn't represent the show you've put on, but rather the show you put on the week before. People tuning in because of Punk debuting getting rewarded with such a bafflingly mid show might not come back next week. I'm really confused why they ended on a squash of Arn's not-over kid with a perennial jobber making the save, a hot ending would have at least left a good final impression.

I'd have guessed Zack Ryder, if he'd stayed there for more than a month. Part of me wonders if the correct answer is Cody.

They've definitely picked the correct two finalists for the Breakout tournament. Odyssey Jones is green, but has a natural charisma and likeability, whilst Carmelo Hayes already feels like a star. Again, great natural charisma and a very good wrestler. They were my two favourites from the initial line up, and I'm glad they're the last two

That's great news, the arrival of the new football season means that I'll be missing alternate weeks in the future (the time difference means that most Watch Parties will be starting just as games end, and by the time I've driven home from Coventry, they'll just be finishing), so that's an invaluable resource.

Ridge Holland is 6ft 1, jacked, with a legitimate sports background who they signed before he was 30 (as I recall, he had to spend a year on the British indies while they sorted his visa). He's exactly the kind of guy they're looking for. Plus he's a perfectly good looking guy, don't think toothless vagrant is a fair description.

Odyssey Jones is green, but him and Carmelo Hayes are the two clear standouts in the breakout tournament in terms of having something about them. When they introduced the competitors on the ramp, Jones was the one who had the most obvious physical charisma. What they need to be careful of is his presentation. There was a Twitter post by a wrestling site that was rightly called out for being lazy which said "WWE have debuted a new Mark Henry", but WWE didn't help matters by having him win his debut on 205 Live with a World's Strongest Slam in a singlet that looked like it was straight out of Henry's Nation wardrobe. They thankfully changed it for his next match, but they need to be careful they don't make him into Mark Henry's Renegade.