goodhelmet

Here's the card for tonight's show. Am I missing any recently announced matches? I think it's pretty smart not to have the main eventers on every show but still have enough intriguing matches to keep people interested. No Moxley match and Jericho is cutting a live promo. We have been heavily criticizing the preshows and this one is hyping up a match that has 4 guys who have been flirting around the main event scene. Smart move. The six man is one of the matches I am looking forward to the most. I have no idea if I should be excited about the women's matches or not. I hear Dark Order can put on show stealing matches so it will be my first time seeing them wrestle. The top four matches feel like they could be matches I love or hate depending on how the matches are booked. Really excited for this show. Joey Janela, Jimmy Havoc & Darby Allin vs. Shawn Spears, MJF & Sammy Guevara ("The Buy In") Sonny Kiss vs. The Librarian Britt Baker & Riho vs. Shoko Nakajima & Bea Priestley Dark Order vs. Angelico & Jack Evans vs. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus Brandi Rhodes vs. Allie Hangman Page vs. Kip Sabian SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) vs. The Lucha Brothers Kenny Omega vs. CIMA The Young Bucks vs. Cody & Dustin Rhodes

https://twitter.com/CMLL_OFICIAL/status/1149772683996831744?s=20

@El-P I am good with your response. We want different things in our wrestling... nothing wrong with that. When it was launched, I saw who was involved and I expected nothing in terms of throwback wrestling and sports presentation. However, they were the ones who pushed that narrative. That was the part I was most excited about. I am also not opposed to them pushing guys i don't like or don't "get". I'm an old man. I can't be their target audience. I accept that. If we don't get some of that old school vibe, I'll be disappointed because that expectation is what brought me to the party. @Blehschmidt In interviews, they specifically said that they were trying to get back those lapsed wrestling fans. Again, they set that expectation. Also, I agree with everything else you said. @sek69 I agree. Also, for the record, even with the stupid shit, there is enough good stuff to keep me around. If you like some classic style wrestling, Cody has been great giving me my wrestling fix going back to last year's All In. I find Moxley more interesting than any guy on the entire WWE roster. I am a huge fan of what they are doing with the women so far. I love the Lucha Bros and I don't care if it's choreographed dancing. I am amped that they want to make tag wrestling a main event draw. I am really interested to see if Omega's success can translate to an American company. I want Adam Page to be the 2nd coming of Magnum TA. I want to see Jericho shine in his new role. I can't wait to see MJF eventually booked in main event programs. So many great things to look forward to. Instead, we are arguing about bad comedy matches and lame gimmicks because the bad stuff on great shows really sticks out. Oh shit, I forgot... Dustin mother fucking Rhodes is wrestling tomorrow night. I can't wait.

There is a disconnect with what you enjoy and what others enjoy. That's ok. When the owner of the company says that Mid South will serve as an inspiration for their product, that is music to my ears. That is the expectation I had going forward. Hell, I wouldn't even mind some evil Russians (Rusev please!!!). However, if you deliberately put stuff on TV that makes audience members embarassed to be wrestling fans, people will tune out. This isn't even a knock on you or AEW because wrestling companies have been insulting fans' intelligence since I have been alive. Some people can live with (and even enjoy) stupidity in their wrestling because they have come to expect it. However, when one of your goals is to win back fans who quit being fans, these aren't the types of angles/matches/gimmicks that will make lapsed fans come back. Disclaimer: I enjoyed the battle royal from the DoN show. However, I completely understand the criticisms that people had, and more importantly, why they had them.

The Librarians is only one example of a misstep. The gimmick battle royale was panned. The Nakazawa garbage match was panned. The Dark Order has people rolling their eyes. Not everything has been a homerun. The test will be if they recognize what does and doesn't work and adjust accordingly. Doubling down on the Librarians isn't a good look. If it bombs on TV, will they double down or cut their losses? It's ok to cheer for the company but be critical of their mistakes. You can do both.

Legend. RIP

I don't have cable... what happened?

That's a problem in itself. If you are going to claim to win back fans and actually call your pre-show "The Buy In", then your pre-show should kick ass. It should make someone want to buy in to the show. These are goals clearly stated by those in charge of the company. For lack of a bettet term, I'm already all in. I like mistakes in production and the fact that not everymatch feels the same amd that the announcers aren't cardboard cutouts. However, if your goal is to get someone to buy in, and not just change the perception of what wrestling is, but also believe that the free matches will entice someone to buy in to your product, then you can't put your worst shit on the pre-show. If the pre-show doesn't matter then don't have one. If it matters then make it important.

I completely missed this but it's sick and crazy as fuck.

Between this match, the Allin match and the Juice Robinson match, Moxley is on a mission to erase whatever preconceived notion of who you thought he was. For a garbage match, it had tons of fun and nasty spots but it was still a garbage match. However, it was better than any street fight or gimmick match he had in WWE.

MOxley took off his shoes

When you have the Lucha Brothers and Young Bucks in the same match, you know what you are going to get.

THe announcers definitely mentioned it.

I like the idea of the bigger, stronger Cody abusing Allin. I wish they would have played more off Cody's injured hands with more hope spots but I liked the hand work a lot. I thought Allin looked great here. Selling most of the match, enough hope spots and crazy bumps to keep things interesting. I even liked the idea of Allin going to the limit with Cody. I think the match was hurt in the crowd reaction dept. because Allin hasn't been featured on any big shows yet. The Shawn Spears stuff at the end needs TV.

MJF is so great.

It has been said already... make it a dark match.

Agreed. Rose looked much better than at DoN.

You're sort of missing the point. The Dark Order went over like a fart in church. The Librarian shit was dumb as hell and most feedback I have seen so far online has disliked the CEO match. That's 40 minutes of back to back garbage that WWE or TNA or WCW or whoever would get killed for and rightfully so.

This is so on point.

@sek69 I agree with TG that it should have been a dark match. The tag match was fun and got you hyped for the show. The next 40 minutes had me second guessing if this is what I want to do with my Saturday night.

This is so true. THe tag match was fun but nothing must see. Ever since the Dark Order appeared, the rest of the pre show has been garbage.

I agree with you. This isn't good at all.

OK ,so he isn't a real wrestler?

Who is Alex Jebailey?

OK, just looked at pictures of both of them online. This is the first time I have ever seen Allie. DoN was the first time I ever saw Smilie Kylie. Directly comparing the two, you're right. They don't look alike. Having only seen each of them once a month apart. I was confused.