Matt D

And hypothetically if the circumstances were that she’s been uncooperative and dangerous with opponents and was trying to find a way out of doing a job and couldn’t cover for that in a genuine and sympathetic way in front of a live crowd? Some of which potentially also being why Tony is publicly using a true ratings argument instead of really throwing her under a bus.

Just throwing this out there but that seems like a potentially bad idea given the circumstances.

I remember having talks with some people here a few years ago about how all wrestling felt homogeneous, that Japan, Mexico, England, the Indies, NXT all seemed like they were converging more and more. What we've seen in the last twelve months is AEW becoming more of a "big tent" promotion stylistically and that can only be a good thing. I know it makes people who were in love with the lead up and onset and first year or two of the promotion frustrated but it's now this melting pot of the 2010s New Japan style and the PWG style and the BCC/Mox+Danielson-as-Hansen style and the Punk/FTR sort of Neo-Bret-ism and a bit of the hosses-bealing-people bits and whatever else. It's a big promotion putting a lot of matches on every week, every month, every year and there's something for everyone even if it's not everything for someone anymore.

I don’t think Claudio should be in the ladder match. That’s dumb to me (though him independently hunting for another title wouldn’t be, just not in a multi man for a shot), but Tony spent all of 2021 hiring guys. Lethal would have been hired. Joe would have been hired. Claudio would have been hired. He’d keep introducing belts. Whatever the issue is, it’s not ROH. That’s just decoration.

And I am sympathetic to you. You had something you were enjoying. You're not enjoying it anymore. Way I see it, if things go a different direction, maybe you'll get to be happy at least, and I'll be happy for you, even if I won't enjoy it as much. I'm pretty good at finding things in AEW (especially the web shows) to enjoy even when things on top aren't for me, so I'll be ok either way. Also, let me cross post something I just wrote at DVDVR: I think people are really overinflating the impact of the ROH stuff. It's given them a couple of prop belts to use on shows to add some extra stakes at times. It helped cement Yuta being over. It gave FTR something on top of the AAA and NJPW belts as they're kept out of the top top of the scene due to whatever else Tony wants to do there. They spent something like 2-3 weeks building up a PPV after Forbidden door, with a lot of that on Dark (Pure title stuff) or Elevation (Martinez/Deeb). Almost no talent has come in from ROH specifically (Gresham had what, two matches on Rampage? Blake Christian gets some Dark matches. Cheeseburger was on Elevation once? Some other enhancement work here and there from others like last night where the Wingmen or Bears might be used otherwise). Martinez had a bunch of defenses on Elevation. The footprint has been absolutely tiny. Minuscule. It's not Jim Crockett overextending himself with dead territories that were geographically far away from his core and adding an extra ten wrestlers and salaries and a bunch of TV he had to cover. It's been one PPV with two weeks build and a way for him to sprinkle some extra stakes on things he'd probably want to do anyway. The biggest issue is that the PPV (which everyone seemed to really like!) came right after Forbidden Door so even though most of the build was limited to Rampage/Dark/Elevation, it was a month, month and a half with less focus. BUT! That was right at the moment where they had the worst injuries so it was a good way to paper over things with some extra/outside talent for a little bit. It actually helped to put a bandaid on things. Sorry, but what is anyone even talking about here?

Lots of big definitive statements. Here's mine. I think Punk, in ring, as a face, is the most outstanding and most important wrestler of the year. I think he's done more to try to retake moves and reestablish the meaning of every action than anyone in wrestling in years. I hope that what he's doing has influence for years to come. I think if he turned heel, the matches wouldn't be as good because a lot of what he's doing involves the pace and tenor of the selling and even though he'd control the match more, he'd be in there with some unreliable opponents. But then I think Adam Page is one of the worst wrestlers on the roster and I have a hard time getting through Omega matches. I do think that Mox has had a great year, but more with implicit storytelling than explicit, so there's a different sort of benefit to it and one that tends to appeal to me less. I think Kingston's had more misses where he gives into his excess and fandom and I think that Danielson's had a good year but in interfacing more with his opponents, he's had less of an overall vision other than "Wrestle as hard as possible." I've written up every match his year if you want to see me show my work: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/search/label/CM Punk So I hope he wins. I hope he stays a babyface. I hope he has a long run. I get that people, especially people who were drawn in by early AEW have good reason to feel otherwise.

Also, Page is one of the worst guys in the company when it comes to match layout and he's been nothing but rewarded it for it throughout his career by fans and companies, but that's a totally different issue I guess. The comment still didn't help anything.

I will admit glancing at Rampage spoilers but I only opened it up and then did a CTRL+F on "Claudio" so I didn't see actual results, but I did see who came out to challenge our Swiss pal and I am very excited for the match that will result from it. That is all.

More cross-posting with quick DVDVR thoughts.

Only matches I've liked so far are Drake and Mox. He had the worst Kingston match I've seen all year, though that was definitely Eddie's fault. Here's my write up of that from SC:

Crossposting from DVDVR: I don't have a ton of thoughts about Mance vs Mox. It feels like a good entry into Mox's 2022, just another match on the list. Mance kind of comes off as the Rock'n'Roll RPMs of tough guys, the sort that could have a great run in Puerto Rico or be the center of a tag team division in Central States, good hand, nice variety to see once or twice, but.. What stood out the most was how Mox chained together offense and violence in the last couple of minutes. That was just nuts and really defines who and what he is, right down to having to switch the arm. I do wonder if this match was about protecting him going into a loss on Weds? I pretty low on Takeshita but I appreciate how genuine he comes off as and how he appreciated the fans here. And it's not like his stuff doesn't look good and impactful. It's just the pacing. I'm glad he got to have a moment like that even if he's not my guy. Grey vs Rayne was tough. Let's talk about the chinlock. That's what drew the first puppies chant I've heard in years. The problem was threefold. First, the fans haven't built up emotional attachment to Grey or Rayne yet. If it was Athena or Ruby working from underneath and even Hogan or Velvet on top, it would have been fine. Grey did a good job working the crowd throughout it and it didn't matter. Second, she came into it too soon. They had to wait until the commercial break was over to come out of it and if they had gone into it even a few seconds later, it would have helped. Third, people suck, right? I did love Stoke grooving to Grey's entrance music. The main definitely overdelivered. 2022 Tony Nese is the world's best possible Seth Rollins. He understands where he belongs on a card, how his athletic ability an execution best helps the company, and does what he's supposed to do in order to get things over and be entertaining instead of just trying to spam great workrate matches or whatever. If I'm going to watch guy with abs do an overwrought laugh, I definitely want it to be Nese. The story was smart as it was all about keeping Lee out of the match, right until they weren't able to anymore. Sterling goes through all the motions and does it correctly but doesn't have the spark of brilliance. I bet if Stoke was in there, after the wrench shot (which came right after the "Whose House?" bit, he would have done a "Whose Wrench?" thing and it would have been awesome. Basically, he shows up and does his job and is effective, but isn't transcendent. Woods looked like a beast at the end with that German, and Keith looked like a beast in blocking it for so long. Win win (unless you're the table). This is the best environment for Swerve where all of his goofy stuff can just fit into the chaos. AEW is smart in not doing street fights more than every few months because they don't feel overdone and almost always deliver.

Again, a Regal podcast thing. He said he never went out trying to be one of the "Best bouts" guys but wanted to be the best wrestler when it came to detail work and everything making sense and nothing having any holes in it. It means he'd score rather poorly in a GME poll but under certain criteria might score extremely highly on a GWE one.

They’ve already advertised the show based on a Jericho vs Moxley main event. I don’t think they’d risk pissing off people who bought tickets with the bait and switch even if some people would be more excited for it.

Isn't she the person in all the world least likely to think there are any structural problems in the first place?

Interesting Cena bit from the Regal podcast. He noted that Cena was one of the guys who watched every match. Even if he was signing things, he had a monitor nearby so he could watch while he was doing it and Regal said a lot of that was to know what everyone on the roster was doing so he could work his stuff into their stuff and vice versa.

I hated the Kingston match and loved the Cassidy one. Best way to watch it is the int’l feed on Saturday morning like it’s WCW Power Hour or something.

AEW is best watched the next morning on the international feed (and parts at 1.5 speed).

They just released a new combo Uno/10 shirt. They’ll probably get a win tonight in Rochester even if only on Elevation.

If the AEW crowd feels like they're experiencing something rare and special (and something that other people are not), like they're part of a moment or a movement, then that works in and of itself, regardless of whether he's putting on 4 or 5 star matches or whatever. It's just a matter of protecting him and keeping that special. We're in agreement that "Wardlow's World" is not the way to do it. Licensing War Pigs would have helped too.

I really thought the Jake vs Bart Sawyer match from the Hidden Gems footage was the Jake match we were always promised and never got.

I thought the 20-on-one match was visually great. They can cut it up into a 30 second video package and use it for years. He should definitely go over tonight though. I get why they kept the belt on Sky during the West Coast loop and it was easy to get lost in the shuffle during the NJPW stuff and Blood & Guts, but if he goes over definitively tonight, it'll all be fine. Knowing the way Khan books, it's not impossible they try to hold things off for August 3 in Columbus though. Wardlow's an Ohio guy. It'd be much better to have him win tonight and then set up a big defense against a hoss then though.

It's too early to establish a credible challenger. They need the ratings help right now. They went with an interim champ instead of not having one. Isn't it better to have Mox mowing through midcarders than having talking bits or tag matches or contract signings or whatever setting up a match a month from now? If you're going to have an interim champion, have him be a fighting champ. The drama here isn't whether or not Mox is going to win but HOW he's going to win considering the size differential and the potential outside interference. The journey can be interesting too. We can have a credible challenger who might actually win in a show they build to over the next month. This match can be part of that in one way or another but you don't need to be there already.

It's the first defense of the interim belt coming off Blood & Guts and the PPV. It's on a show where more focus will probably be on Wardlow vs Sky. It's Mox vs a Monster. House of Black might get involved. We're in a period where some stories just ended and we're waiting for the new ones to begin. Ideally, King will get some rub for being in there with the top guy and dominating for a good chunk of the match, Mox will look good in overcoming the threat, and maybe they set something up for the weeks to come out of this. It's fine. It's ok episodic weekly pro wrestling. Mox vs a big guy in a trios stable is way better than giving a way a match that means more int his slot in the TV rotation. Just like doing Page/Dante had a ton of upside when they ran it.

Kind of negative vibes over here lately but I wrote up the two big matches of the last week over at SC: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2022/07/aew-five-fingers-of-death-week-of-627-73.html

Edge coming back with the Fiend gimmick is the future we all deserve.