Embrodak

Jericho has been on national television for 30 years, but also, he's a cringy joke at this point, for a variety of reasons.

If we ever get a "Rise and Fall of AEW" doc, the bad to "eh" ratings the last few weeks, the disastrous booking for this show (and the bland booking since Tony bought ROH in general), and the huge slate of injuries they're dealing with all at once seems like it'll be a narrative turn. This NJPW show, and the way they're booking it, just assuming that every fan already knows who all these wrestlers are and will be intrinsically hyped to see them tussle with their AEW faves - no packages, minimal setup by the announce team, minimal to no compelling storylines... idk, man, seems like Tony Khan is finally hitting his Icarus moment. If he were smart, he'd do a lot of delegating and move to a "booking committee" type of format like JCP in the 80s. Dustin, Billy Gunn, Mark Henry, tons of people that can take some of the load. And he def needs to just let someone else do the ROH booking, have that be the developmental and house show brand or something.

Something can be “over” and bad for the overall creative fabric of the show, especially when presented as a credible threat to actual top guys. How is one to take Ospreay as a credible threat for future collabs if he somehow struggles to put away Orange fucking Cassidy? I’m not a fan of the Ezekiel or 24/7 stuff on WWE either, am I getting that from Cornette? I don’t expect Bill Watts levels of fastidiousness in 2022, but “cordon off the postmodern kitsch if you must have it” seems like a pretty basic rule of thumb to presenting a coherent product.

Because he makes the whole thing look indie and low-rent, and even if that weren't true, he's a one-note joke that's been doing the same schtick for literal years now.

Can't believe they are still having Orange Cassidy Orange Cassidy all over that goddamn ring.

It was less than three months from Rock’s shoot “wtf, why are they booing him” look. They were booing Roman when he came out iirc, they got on his side because it was a great match where he played the babyface in peril perfectly.

That you can’t see how inapt that comparison is bespeaks that your “moral conviction” on this matter is just aesthetic.

Yeah but the crowds were booing Roman out of every building he was in, and they weren’t remotely ready to turn him heel at that point. I not only think the Rollins cash-in was a good ending to the match, I think it’s literally the only thing they could have done that wouldn’t have pissed everybody off.

Lmao at Brock’s outfit. Brock vs Roman was a top-tier WM main event at 31, when Roman could play a great underdog, but after this year, who wants more?

Goddamn Roman is huge, his greatest victory was over Samoan genetics that we’re holding him back for years.

The thing is we’ve seen Vince this year, and he looks and sounds terrible on camera these days. He simply can’t do some fiery Mr. McMahon worked shoot thing at anything like the level that that image evokes in one’s head anymore. Anything more than a somber pre-tape where he says he’s cooperating fully with the investigation and wishes Steph well in doing his job is a disaster waiting to happen - legal, fiduciary, and creative.

Lmao this carny motherfucker.

Jungle Boy vs Christian will prob be a killer match, but Jungle Boy seems like he’s doomed to be perma-midcarder unless he levels up his promo game about 50 notches. Lol at Tony wanting to give the Hardyz the titles.

Reports so far are that Vince was footing the bill himself.

Bray was an incredibly wasted opportunity, but he could go in the ring way better than Bo, limitations and all.

Wait have we hit the point of Bo Dallas nostalgia now? He was roundly criticized as one of the sloppiest, least coordinated, least-compelling performers on the roster during his NXT run as a face, slightly enjoyed as a heel but still frequently criticized as being bad in the ring, then his main roster run was him doing a motivational lap around the ring and getting squashed. The only truly memorable Bo stuff I can remember was him continually trying to sneak back into Full Sail, which was indeed hilarious. Bray was absolutely better than him, let’s not gaslight ourselves now.

Amazing how? I’ve never seen anything in her NXT work to suggest she’s anything special, and her promos and character work are beyond cringy, they’re like “I’d be embarrassed to have another adult know I watch this” level cringe. Was she amazing pre-WWE or something?

Everything about this PPV seems slapdash so far.

AEW should have done a big build for a one-off Hardyz vs Bucks match for the last PPV (wasn’t a good match, but could at least have had some juiciness to the build), then never had either Hardy wrestle for them again. The Hardyz are idiots for wrestling the way they do at their age, don’t enable them.

Wendy Choo is a mind-bogglingly bad gimmick. Is she Vince’s attempt to have an Orange Cassidy?

Not that they’re the ultimate arbiters, but I think it’s telling that criticism of HBK as a worker comes from ultrafans and not those in the business.

I mean a little forethought that maybe you shouldn’t give one of your only Asian performers a Chinese farming hat and martial arts moves seems pertinent. I honestly have similar reservations about Asuka’s weird geisha/dragon lady combo entrance, but there’s at least a sense where that’s about intimidating the opponent with spectacle. This was my first time seeing it and it just seemed gratuitous, what can I say.

Didn’t watch, but looking at the results, that was the wrong main event to book, conceptually. Will Ospreay shouldn’t be losing his first match in the company (he didn’t get pinned or tap, but still), but FTR also shouldn’t be losing right now, given the streak they’re on and how often they lost when they were heels. I get that AEW is kinda in canon with everything else in wrestling, so Tony doesn’t exactly see Ospreay as someone he needs to get over with his crowd, but if you’re going to set Ospreay up as a threat for the PPV, he should at least win his first showing.

I really don’t like Riddle’s gimmick, but I actually think him versus Reigns would kinda rock.

Super happy to see Gunther with the belt, him versus Cody after Cody dethrones Roman will whip.