strobogo

Punk ending his career with an injury on a Saudi show while not working TV or house shows is going to be the ultimate end to his arc lmao

I'm not being naive I just don't think it was particularly petty because it is a very true comment.

I don't really even think the comment about Jade was that petty. She literally was put on TV with like 2 months of training and then did 2 years of squash matches. AEW doesn't have a training system, doesn't do a real house show schedule, so she was on the job training her entire AEW run. It is no fault of her own that she's still quite rough around the edges. She's got the look an ability to be a huge star for WWE and it only makes sense that they'd want to make sure she can actually go out and do stuff expected out of main event level women in WWE.

Lmao that Nick Hausman was the first dude to get a question after HHH started talking about Punk

Punk is such a sell out lmao. I would be amazed if he makes to to Summerslam either via injury or fired/quitting.

This match has not been good at all, but Io's jump was hilarious.

Doing a G1 Shibata has said he would commit full time to AEW if Tony asks Brings in Shibata on the show where the G1 starts It's to work Trent and Wheeler Yuta :killme

He says all that stuff yet still does flips and dives and crazy apron/floor/stairs/tables bumps, has the signature moves that can only be done with video game logic and positioning, back and forth big move offense near falls stuff that all the pure sport type ace guys do. When I said it was very sports entertainmenty, I meant less the moves and spots in the match and more the angle surrounding it, the HBK style ringside drama, Stone Cold MJF stealing and driving an ambulance back to the arena, etc.

Opener six man was fine, never going to be interested in Christian vs Edge in 202x, but Christian's stuff with his new son was great. Surprised Ric didn't take an actual bump. OC/Mox was also fine, I know real injuries changed things, and the easiest and most predictable thing would have been to have Moxley win and do whatever was planned for him before he got KO'd at Grand Slam. I feel like putting the belt back on OC kind of diminished the story of the first reign and the Mox match, which despite the loss felt like it elevated OC to the next level way more than this win over Mox. Putting the International Championship back on OC actually felt like a downgrade, as that whole run and it taking the guy basically portrayed as the ultimate killer in AEW history to be the one to beat him, completely felt like him moving up to the main event. Storm/Shida was pretty solid, the finish was actually quite lol and somehow completely worked for what Storm has been doing with the Timeless character. Already made my thoughts on the ladder match, I just think it is time to retire the gimmick match for the sake of talent having to perform in them, especially as ladder matches are pretty much always used as a crutch to get a bunch of people on the card and do a stunt show. TBS match was pretty good. For sure the best I've seen Skye Blue look in the ring. Really neat finish. Swerve/Hangman was fucking nuts. The blood drinking spot was so wild, Jerry Lynn must have been in the back like what the fuck man. That's going to go down as an all timer AEW match for sure. From the Nana dance troupe to Page not even doing an entrance to just immediately hit the ring and start the fight, to the violence and hatred. Pure spectacle from start to finish. Really don't get the point of the Cage run in, though. The whole thing was to get Nana in position for the table spot, but there was zero need for Cage's involvement to get there considering how much Nana had been involved in the match up to that point anyway. I also don't think you need to "protect" Hangman when the finish already involves the distraction from the Nana table bump, then a fucking cinder block, followed by choking a dude to death with a chain. Nothing could have followed the deathmatch, and I guess it was admirable that it was Kenny/Jericho and the Bucks to be put into that position instead of the women or mid card talent that need the boost. It was pretty bleh considering Jericho was doing the majority of the work for his side, but it did pick up quite a bit in the finishing stretch. The Bucks taking some time off is probably a good thing as I can't recall them really taking any time off since AEW started. I'm a big supporter of particularly top tier talent taking time off from time to time. MJF vs White-o was very sports entertainment, and while I can't fully buy into MJF as face because I'm constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and either he or Cole turn on each other, it's hard to argue that the crowds are 100% in on it and hot crowds buying in make everything better in any era.

I think it's time to ban ladder matches. There's just no safe way to bump on ladders, to stand on ladders on a surface that bounces when anyone even walks, let alone multiple people running around and bumping. The bar has been raised so high for holy shit quotient that dudes have to come up with more and more high risk or just straight brutal spots, but even the basic ladder match spots are needlessly dangerous and damaging.

Also with all the talk about AEW not taking care of the talent doing dangerous things, I have no idea who or why that spot with Big Show was approved by literally anyone. Show can barely move, can't even stand for more than a couple of minutes because of how fucked his hips and knees are. So to do a spot where so many things could go very wrong very easily and the best case scenario was still going to be a very ugly bump for a guy the size of Show, but especially in the physical condition he's in now. Ibushi taking the brainbuster on the bike and especially the tombstone off the apron on to the chair tower and being up doing Ibushi things less than a minute later each time was the most Ibushi Ibushi has looked in any of his AEW appearances.

Bro what the fuck Ospreay in the past 2 years is on an absolute GOAT run. I hated Ospreay as a junior but heavyweight Ospreay is incredible and probably hasn't even hit his peak yet.

Lol, I think the only matches 2.0 have won since June were matches with Garcia in them. Not that I watched Dark, but 2.0 vs the Outrunners seems like the kind of feud that would be perfect for such a show and something in 20 years that people on a message board such as this would talk up as a lost gem feud.

I get the live reaction reason for 2.0 interrupting DG's dancing and handshakes but....they're still going by Daddy "Hard Nipples" Magic and Cool Hand Ang with his switch blade comb and those things seem awfully sports entertainmenty in a way I can't really understand what their motivation is to constantly stop Garcia doing his stuff.

NWA on ID in 2024 is gonna be legendary

NXT 2.0 has been ultra horny from the jump. I think they want people to think it is trashy and attract the creeps who are way too into that.

I think we have our wires crossed at what we see as legitimate heat. In nearly 2024, if someone is genuinely making me mad or upset, it's because they're doing something in incredibly poor taste or I just can't stand watching them. Perhaps I'm projecting, but I don't think people are going to pay money to see a heel that genuinely upsets them get comeuppance at a wrestling show. If someone is getting me to react in a "man fuck that guy", I'm just not going to watch what they're doing. If someone is getting that legitimate heat, I think it is going to be much more of a detriment than anything because people are going to not only not watch, but tell others not to watch as well.

Legitimate heat to me in nearly 2024 is "fuck this person, I don't want to watch this shit", which is not good in my book. Using Bully Ray is a good example, because I legit don't like him and do not want to watch or hear anything he's involved with, so if he were to be involved in an important angle in TNA in 2024, it will turn me off to the product.

Big Show looked borderline late stage Andre immobile. His hips and knees look completely fucked. I remember something about when he's done the pre-show things, he has to sit whenever not on camera because he can't stand for more than a few minutes without being in pain. I'm sure Ibushi will try a phoenix splash standing on his shoulders or something, though.

Probably, since a number of the princes are legit marks

Well that Alex Wright rip off is way more over than anything else he's done. The hips don't lie, pal.

There was a drop down trip spot every show for the first 4-5 weeks of Collision.

Yeah he's pretty good. Never could I have imagined being interested in Big Cass in 2023 5 or 6 years ago, but dude has been a good pick up for AEW for sure. TNA has really been in such a good spot as rehab your reputation type of promotion the past couple of years that I'm almost a bit worried about them trying to move to bigger venues and budgets going forward.

I think the TV has been better post All-In than it was in the run up to it.

As a fan I don't really care if stuff is "given away" on TV. I never did as a kid, still don't know. On a logical smart point of view, yes, a match like MJF vs Kenny should probably have been a PPV match with a month or two of build up. However, I don't give a shit if it was on TV or PPV, how much or how little build it had. I think more than anything it was cementing that MJF can hang at the top level with that style, and does more for MJF vs White-O as a result. One of the best things about AEW is they actually treat a huge tv match like it was a PPV match and work accordingly instead of how WWE always does it with going 3/4 speed and doing nothing for breaks. Yes, AEW sometimes does slow down a bit during commercials, but since they keep the feed going for FITE and international (and man the commentary bits during those are almost always hilarious), there's rarely a "as Raw rolls on" spot perfectly timed 10 times a show. And having been to WWE shows in the modern era (although it has been a decade), they don't do a damn thing during a TV break, and sometimes they'd actually dim the lights to play in arena ads during commercial breaks DURING AN ON GOING MATCH).