Matt D

What are the biggest pops/heat for WWE of the last five-six years? Shane returning on Raw has to be up there, and it was up there as much for him and who he was as for the fact it was just an absolute surprise that no one expected. Not one of those debuts where a bunch of the crowd have signs for the person because they at least expect the possibility of it.

Let me drop a few things I've written here. My post on figuring out Lucha trios matches finally from 2015: And my recent post struggling with 89 AJPW heavyweight tag structure:

They could have done a hell of a lot worse than just letting Otis win.

Got a window to watch something now, but I saw they were starting with Rollins instead of one of the Rumbles. If I cared, it'd make me worried they're doing Rollins beats Reigns > Reigns wins Rumble > Reigns challenges Brock. Regardless, I'm not using my precious time tonight to watch wrestling without having to also parent and what not on Seth Rollins, so I'm going to watch @elliott's education for me of Inoki/Sakaguchi vs Fujinami/Kimura instead.

Can he bring them the A&W sponsorship?

The demo.

Anyway, it's like anything else... John Silver has a ceiling. If he's pushed and protected to a certain degree, he can be used effectively for certain things. Cassidy has a ceiling. Danhausen has one too. I'm interested in seeing him interact with Billy Gunn on webshows and drive Austin and Colton crazy. I'm not particularly interested in seeing him interact with Sammy or Wardlow or Malakai Black.

Technically, both he and Cassidy are trickster archetypes, no?

Time to bring back the Librarian gimmick I guess.

You're right. It's inappropriate to kink shame simps who get off on abuse (or anyone really) in 2022. People are allowed to love however they like, but it's probably not the healthiest relationship imaginable.

Cole vs Kaun from last night: There's probably nothing in wrestling I hate more right now than the opening of Adam Cole's studio matches. The fans sing along to the song. They do the boom. Then he teases throwing the shirt. They go nuts for it. He kicks it away denying them all. Do they boo? No. The match starts. Cole locks up. He disengages. He shouts Adam Cole Bay-Bay. They all chant along. What a bunch of pathetic losers. In the end, though, it's Cole's fault. He's the one conducting the music. If he realizes that the reactions are broken, he needs to change something. This isn't some sort of meta-thing where he's trying specifically to get under my skin. It's just him being a cool heel and the crowd eating it up. But it's gross that they get such a kick out of him abusing them and then go right back for more and I don't even want to watch his matches after that. Anyway Kaun looked ok but not necessarily better than Bison in the next match, so whatever.

Hell the dog show would be an improvement at this point.

Seen and love. 79-81 Portland TV is probably the best territorial TV from an overall (matches + ongoing stories/promos) perspective we have in any sort of week to week basis with some indication that such quality would track back a number of years. And he managed to give away high enough quality product to draw sponsors while still running the same building weekly. Not sure how much credit he gets for that vs bookers or talent mind you.

Especially when the match was built around Trent’s hurt neck?

Similar deal with Brock right?

I know nothing about that Okada guy but Brazos and Owen are sentimental favorites.

Over the last six months or so, I think Cash has monumentally better than Dax. I can't speak to the year or two before that and I'd have to revisit older stuff. Cash has this easy confidence in the ring lately where I never see the strings at all, like the entire world is moving at .8 speed or everyone else is trudging through mud. Just absolute presence at all times to where you can't really look away. Dax on the other hand comes off like a guy actively playing a character, which is fine, because it's a good character, but it's really night and day for me lately. I don't know if something just clicked with Cash last year or what. Or hell, maybe it's just been all the Marcel Manneveau I've been watching that's disrupting Dax for me? Anyway, not useful for GWE purposes, but I had to drop in and note it.

What have been some of your favorite wrestlers, matches, teams, etc?

Voting is a zero-sum proposition.

@cad To me, the big deal with Panther, which has both pros and cons depending on how you look at it, is that he was built up a certain way by people who were there in the 90s and early 00s and he's actually a different wrestler than advertised: much, much broader, but maybe not quite as deep.

He kept saying “the content was good.” It reads like a very weird admission.

We’ll see how it is on 1.5 speed as only maniacs, wastrels, and loafers listen to wrestling podcasts at normal speed.

AEW Dark 12/21/21

Short answer: I liked it. Well-layered feats of strength counters. Koloff playing savvy. Good last third with an exciting nearfall and good finish. If you like Backlund, and you do, you'll like this one.

AEW Dark Elevation 12/20/21