Matt D

One match. One payday. Put Nyla over. Promoted well it could get buzz. AEW needs just a constant flow/stream of buzz and this could fill a slot and get some media if they do it right.

JR: "MJF really got into his head! This is all because MJF is in his head." Excalibur: "..................... also, QT hit him below the belt during the commercial break."

Dark 11/23/21

Congrats on updating your list. Talk to me about how 1-7 is AJW and then the promotion doesn’t show up again until almost 40. That’s immediately something that stands out to me. Is the peak of what the promotion could be just higher than anything else but there are only seven matches in that peak or is it match by match and just worked out that way?

I feel like the difference is WCW would have paid someone else six figures for the rights to tie into this instead of WWE getting paid seven figures to do it.

Dark Elevation 11/22/21

QT had a Dark match with Darby before the PPV where he cut a pre-match promo lauding MJF and saying he offered to soften Darby up for him so this sort of tracks story-wise. Not sure why he wouldn’t throw Comoroto at him instead. It was interesting Punk mentioned Ogogo who hadn’t been mentioned for months and is almost healthy enough to come back.

Danielson vs QT was a match I was honestly wanting out of this run but after being sort of disappointed by Danielson vs Solo, I imagine Punk vs QT might end up more interesting than what Danielson would have done.

Company gave us everything we wanted here in Danielson vs Dark Order AND Cabana in Chicago specifically.

It's a dozen things right now: The Planeride from Hell doc The firings The Keith Lee thing The total mismanagement (EDIT: I'm not even sure what this line was supposed to be. Just go with it) The Mox book Seeing AEW do so many things that are crowd-pleasing and caring The crazy corporate speak The Saudi relationship Some of the worst NXT 2.0 stuff The lack of stakes/build/payoff Some specific things like what happened with Bianca or the way they handled the Queen's Crown tournament The obvious revenue stream making things like immediate ratings or merch or ticket sales not matter at all. And probably more, but I just can't get invested at all with anything they're doing right now. Just the idea of even watching WALTER vs Cesaro from last week doesn't feel worth looking at. I think a lot of it is AEW, to be honest, just the idea that if it was in AEW, they'd give it to us and highlight it and not just bury it on foreign shows and fancams. It would be presented as something of value and worth and not looked at as "Why would you want to see that when you can watch what we want you to watch instead?"

Not an unreasonable request @NintendoLogic.

Dark Elevation 11/15/21: T-Money/Nasty Russ/Sean Cooke vs Gunn Club: Ah, our pals from Jollyville getting a shot on the big stage. Russ was good in taking stuff, firing back, with his timing. I thought he made a good foil for super annoying (in a good way) Austin for a minute there. T-Money had a moment with Colton before taking Billy's finish. Quality enhancement stuff but I would have liked to see them do a little more obviously. Emi/Bunny/Nyla vs Riho/Ryo/Skye: It was nice to see Bunny in the Nyla/Emi trios we've been seeing recently. She seemed happy to pose with all of them, and frankly, I thought she was good wilting this way and that as she ate Ryo's offense. Some of the babyface tagging seemed a little weird, but this was overall fun. Nyla really disappeared for most of the match after the dive before appearing for the finish. I liked her exchange with Skye who came off as gutsy. The fans are, of course, pretty into Ryo. Hardy/Kassidy/Blade vs Uno/Stu/Angels: I needed a good look at 2021 Grasyon as he's the Dark Order member I have the least handle on, so this was welcome in that regard. The announcers do a good job putting Hardy over and he gives them little pieces of the puzzle to put together so good on everyone there. I think he could have themed Dynamite title challenge to Page in the next few weeks given how they've built him up over the last couple of months but people would probably hate the idea of that. Anyway, Grayson took most of this and had good strikes, good selling, a nice explosiveness out of the corner when needed. I could do without the back flip but some of that's on the guys who took it. Kassidy reacted to everything, so that's always good. The stretch was fun and didn't wear out its welcome with the triple dive working almost perfectly, without an overwrought set up too. Twenty years ago, a moment like that would make the opening of a show, but it did get the crowd going. I would have liked Kassidy to maybe cheat a little on that last roll up, just because it felt a little anti-climactic given the rest of the match. Probably would have been better to just end things on the dive/cannonball/frog splash instead. Andrade vs Lord Crewe: Crewe has a good, if a little weird look (big, neat hair/scraggly beard). He had a few ok punches but despite acting like a babyface, the crowd wanted nothing to do with him. Andrade was interesting here, really controlling the center of the ring and refusing to go to Crewe. Headlocks, a boot to cut Crew off, and then the suplex/neckbreaker combo and his DDT finish. Didn't really bump or hit any big offense. Still worked for me though. Soho vs Kruel: Probably the right match for the hometown hero. You need enough meat to it so Kruel got a few things in. She tried to stand out at least, so A for effort even if the execution wasn't always there. Ruby needs to do the tongue thing maybe 30% less? The back drop driver was nasty. The No Future is a good finisher on paper since she can hit it from any angle in any moment to anyone, but relative to the finishers in the promotion, it just doesn't feel impactful enough. It feels like a transition move or a cut off. Repetition will help I guess. Roc worked the crowd well as a babyface manager and I'm sure it was a nice moment for both of them, but and if they need a Teddy Long Managing Jim Powers sort of guy, he seems an ok choice, but not with Ruby longterm. I assume this was just a one time thing. They sorted out the music issues too. QT vs Silver: Pretty good, but in that sort of .5 Worldwide point sort of way. My favorite stuff from QT here was the stalling and taking the house mic, the dodging and getting a roll up. My least favorite things were catching Silver for the swing out backbreaker and then jumping up to get Power Bombed (What was he going to do there? a 'rana? Come on). When they were clapping up for Silver, he should have locked in a chinlock. I won't go broken record on my Marshall thoughts. I would have liked to see a comedy spot or two in here too maybe? More stalling. More letting Silver work from underneath. More comedy in the payoff. Less video game offense by QT. Good effort though.

Made me think that he watched the French Catch footage of Alfred Hayes though! Unless he just remembers it from the 70s and footage we don't have. I don't remember him ever talking about European Uppercuts and Hayes before though.

There was a moment on Dark or Elevation a couple of weeks ago where the crowd started chanting "One More Time" and he teased it and then didn't do it and went right to the finish.

AEW Dark 11/9/21, all 15 matches. Excuse typos. Gunn Club vs Dark Order: Pretty fun comedy match. The Gunn Club looked good feeding. Billy was super giving. Just one comedy spot after the other and nothing felt too out of position or over-cooperative to me, really. I'm not saying that if they did it around a loop fifty times that it wouldn't be better, because it would, but for a one off, it came together nicely. Colton should lean into his size, as he matched up well against Uno. Austin should lean into his more annoying qualities. There was one leap over neck whip which was dumb physics wise but that was the only thing in the match that felt incredibly off. Colt vs Gunn was just two pros doing their thing. Then it broke open with the laughs with the crowd into everything. Just feel good CHIKARA shit here with Billy and family stooging up and down. Finish could have looked better though. That I'll say. Riho vs Howitzer: Uh, this wasn't pretty. Maybe it wasn't supposed to be pretty. Howtizer has 50 matches on Cagematch and maybe Riho just wasn't the right opponent for her? She needed someone goofier? Ryo? Let's just move on. Solo/Comoroto vs 2 Fast 2 Fuego: The Dark Order match had good comedy spots. This one had me laughing out loud at times. The best part was when he put the strap back on and Excalibur and Taz lost it. I lost it too. Fuego 2 doing the clapping gimmick and the belt gimmick over and over. Oh man. Almost all of this worked for me for what it was. This was way different than the studio match where Fuego 2 just took some offense and got out. He did all kinds of stuff here, the arm drag, the step up rana, the missile dropkick~!, that leap over arm drag. But it was smart at times too, like when he tried it on Comoroto and he just got shrugged off. Comoroto was a beast in there, like always. That spot with the single arm press was amazing. And Solo looked the best I've ever seen him. This is his role, comedy spoiler jerk. He showed way more here than in the Danielson match. They both based really well for the Fuegos. It's probably too soon to get cutesy with the reverse DDT and Fuego 1 doing the Cross Rhodes, but in general, this was compelling stuff. Sammy/Hager vs Koko Lane/Luke Langley: Not a lot to say here. Maybe would have liked to see more shine out of Sammy. He did one nice little kip up thing. The pick by Hager was good. I haven't seen him wrestle much in years. Lane/Langley didn't get to show too much. I don't think anyone really maximized their time out there but Sammy and Hager seemed like a unit at least. Post-match was fine and put some heat on there. Honestly, if given the time, I would have had Sammy and Hager against some more MMA type guys instead maybe? Best Friends vs Vega/Jackson/Bengston: A lot of motion here. The bookends with Cassidy were pretty funny. I thought Yuta looked much better here than on Elevation on Monday, hitting a lot of the stuff smoothly that looked bumpy then. Some good presence and charisma too. Jackson's squatting suplex thing was good but it sort of involved Yuta just hanging out too long. Vega was a good jerk. Taylor's awful waffle piledriver thing is nuts. It's weird they didn't mention Cassidy being in Rocky's corner upcoming. Oh, I liked the Foot thing into the German too. Good enhancement match with a little bit of drama but mostly the faces getting their stuff (both moves and quirks) in and looking good. Dante Martin vs Frankie Kazarian: Fun stuff that got the job done though it could have used maybe just another minute or two. I liked the armdrag war and it made sense but Kazarian had two fake outs, one where he wasn't there for an arm drag and another where he wasn't for a sunset flip and both were a little iffy for me if only because you don't see them often, if ever, and it makes you wonder why no one else avoids the holds like that. Nitpick maybe. Finish worked for the story they were telling. These are the wins Dante needs under his belt. Rosa/Statlander/Ryo vs Hayter/Rebel/Emi: They run these basically every show now and they're always fun. Lulu got to mug on the corner splash (the endless set up corner splash) but without the usual energy since she's been whacked by her boss a couple of shows now. Rebel did a bunch of stuff and about half was viable and half was goofy but good effort. The spot where Statlander stacked all the heels worked. I wouldn't say this had much structure but it was fun and fairly effective and furthered Soho vs Statlander upcoming. Probably not as fun as the Ryo/Soho tag though. Moriarty/Sydal vs 2.0: This was about establishing the team but more so than that, it was about giving Sydal a hometown win. While I think they need to keep doing more to establish Lee, that's not what this was about. Here he was a really good FIP with 2.0 cutting off the ring. I thought Parker was great in the way he kicked Moriarty into the corner and then did the lunging cut off. They had one really beautiful just missed tag attempt before he finally got it. Then Sydal got to look great in the stretch as 2.0 fed and fed. I saw Danielson do that little kick in mid air to get out of a suplex and it's good stuff here too. Nice, sound tag match. Rose vs Lynn: Another match where Tootie hits a few shots early but then gets eaten up so we can't say too much about her, though she sold well for Nyla here. The corner charge was a very believable way to just shut her down. I like that Nyla, being a monster, has three viable finishers. She seems like she's having more fun lately, maybe? Andrade vs Warhorse: Really gave Warhorse nothing here, but some of that was the cute opening gambit which did as much to get Andrade over in this match as ten of his big moves would have. Maybe a little bit of a shame given that he was obviously over with the crowd, but it was a way of Andrade spoiling things for them, I suppose. Dark Order vs Team Taz: I liked a lot of this, I did. Hobbs controlling the center of the ring, knowing more or less what to give, keeping things at his methodological pace; they're all what I want to see out of him. Angels is a perfectly fine face in peril. 10 is a good hot tag given his size and fire, and Starks is always up to something and worth watching. It did break down in the end. Some of that's on the wrestlers and some is on the style where tags don't matter for the last third and people just do crap and some is on the ref who lost sight of who the legal man was. There was plenty of good in this one though and it was more of the sort of win Hobbs needed. Conti vs Gordy: I've never seen Gordy but this was about heating up Conti so not much to see here. Frustrating that they have two matches in a row with those running kicks into the corner (10 did them too). Also the DDTAY looks too much like Andrade's finish and that was just two matches before. Maybe that's a problem with a 15 match Dark. Maybe it's a problem with the style. Maybe they need the producers talking just a little more. Maybe it only bugs me? Wardlow vs Mantell: Another nothing match, which is a shame as Wardlow getting imaginative about how he kills guys is usually fun. The imagination here was Spears hitting a DVD post-match with an apple in his mouth which wasn't very fun. Darby vs Marshall: I have to pay attention to this because I don't know that Phil and Eric will go back to it for Monday. Marshall is someone that I think would have more value if he worked like 83 JJ Dillon, Bobby Heenan, Paul Jones, a guy who can bump, who can get some mean shots in, who can even lean on people when he has an advantage, but not someone throwing suplexes or jumping off the top rope. There's value in having a heel manager that can work and bump and stooge and that has stuff that looks good, but it's not necessarily in having him go all out and try to have great matches. There are a bunch of managers and seconds on the roster, but they're all older and shouldn't be bumping or more non-wrestling looking guys like Andrade's assistant. I get why QT wants to go out and be more of a player/coach than just a coach of the Factory though. I just don't think he has as much value as he might leaning hard, at 36, into being what Paul Jones and JJ Dillon were five years later in 83. Ok, the match: Early on, I liked how all the motion was about getting over Darby; Marshall would use his strength to redirect Allin or force him up, but it was all about Darby smoothly recovering and keeping the motion going. Darby countering the suplex in midair with a kick is the third time in a week I saw that sort of spot. Have I just not been paying attention or is it a new zeitgeist spot thing? Marshall said he was out there because Sting hurt him and to help MJF who is his friend, but he was only ever going to put a chink or two in Darby's armor. It's not that the belly to belly and top rope headbutt didn't look good, but Marshall probably would have stood out more with a chinlock with his feet on the ropes and a Memphis headlock hiding a punch. I liked the comeback and the suddenness of the coffin drop, where instead of just sitting around, you could buy that Marshall had no idea where he was or what was about to happen. Marshall is an office guy and from what people say, valued and essential. In ring, he'd probably be more of a boon to the promotion and his own stable if he owned how he could best make impact. HFO vs Christian/Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus: There's a mini feud from earlier this year with Christian vs the HFO that I do need to go back for. I haven't seen a ton of Christian as of yet and he's one of my favorites ever. Here he was a solid face-in-peril, getting the crowd behind him and hyping things up for the Luchasaurus tag. The one spin kick by Luchasaurus was protected by the camera switch but seemed fine and everything else he did was working big, so no problem there. After watching 15 matches, my patience for "everything has broken down" complex tag sequences is at a low point. I did like how the HFO were made up of disparate talents and Kassidy showing a decent amount of attitude.

Dark Elevation 11/8/21 Hobbs vs Dan Adams: Hobbs needed a big win after his high profile losses and he did get to crush Dan the Dad here, but it was not what he needed. Past the avalanche in the corner where the glasses went flying and the fact he picked him up when he could have pinned him, I just didn't think this was what was the thing. There are a ton of really low heels of the Serpentico/Solo/RSP variety (and I get that's a range in and of itself) in AEW, but less low level babyfaces. Am I right about that? Anyway, a comedy wimpy wasn't the snapback win Hobbs needed. That's the entirety of my point. Plus I kind of think they should bill him at more than 270. 290 sounds better. Ok, enough nitpicks. Best Friends vs Butcher/Blade: I liked this in theory, with Butcher and Blade using underhanded tricks and solid tag team wrestling and capitalizing on Yuta's inexperience with a fairly hot finishing stretch. In practice, I'm not sure. Blade and Yuta had a fairly sloppy exchange with Yuta going through legs and what not and it did feel kind of competitive and uncooperative but it's the one thing in the match you really did want to look smooth and slick instead because that would have gotten Yuta over as a whiz kid instead of someone scrappy enough to hang on and make things work. It's weird but I almost wish there were two different tag divisions, one with Lucha Bros and Young Bucks and Private Party and Santana/Ortiz and one with FTR and Butcher/Blade and the Varsity Blonds and 2.0. It's like they're doing entirely different things and whenever they mix, it's sort of terrible. Riho vs Tootie Lynn: Maybe not the best showcase match for Tootie, who was over with this crowd. If she was going to be over anyway, maybe give her someone other than the most likable person on the roster to face? Her shots were good in theory but the actual contact never seemed to click with Riho. The Northern Lights towards the end was beautiful and probably should have been the finish. I get that she worked towards the double stomp and missed it but then she hit the smaller one to set up the Northern Lights, so it would have been fine. Matt Hardy vs Dean Alexander: Yeah, see, it would have been better to switch Alexander and Dan the Dad in the card. The crowd was into Hardy's name value and star power so it was good he tried to switch things around with the mic thing to start, but then the match didn't work right to capitalize on it. The fans just started their Let's Go Dean chants when he was on offense and then didn't go up for him at all when he was working from underneath. I'd put more of that on Dean than Hardy, though maybe it was a case that Hardy should have let him get one more move in and then bask in the chants? I'd like a world where the superplex could end a match like this instead of just setting up the Leech but in this world that we actually live in, it's fine as the superplex was still pretty respected here. Ryo Mizunami/Ruby Soho vs Emi Sakura/Nyla Rose: Fun match. Nyla looked good in general and she seemed to be having fun in there with Emi. She took that missed swanton pretty hard. No roll through there. Ryo doing the air guitar uncomfortably long was great. I liked the attempts at the double underhook backbreaker and how they didn't work only for it to be used post match (and it was leading to the swanton which didn't work before Statlander came in). Shame that they debut Emi with her just randomly being there. That's kind of sloppy, right? The post corner body press was wonderful as always but I didn't think Ruby had taken enough damage to just stand there forever as Emi did the We Will Rock You stomp/clap to set it up. Statlander needed to at least try a boop after Soho pulled her back. Mind games, folks. Here's what this match showed me 100%. Tony Khan is leaving money on the table if he doesn't do a Rock'n'Wrestling cartoon with the women's roster. There was just so much color and character in the ring. Just in this match alone you had Emi and the Killer Queens, Nyla and Vickie, Soho, Ryo, and Statlander. Add in Rosa, Taya, Anna and her weird cult thing, Britt and company, Leyla as the bully slayer, Penelope Ford, Diamante, and Jade and I swear there's a cartoon series right there. I don't know how you'd work Shida, Red Velvet, Deeb, Swole, and maybe you don't want to use Abadon or the Bunny, but... it's a great roster but a brilliant Saturday Morning TV Show. Someone commission some art for that and pitch Khan or something. Acclaimed/2.0 vs Dark Order: Very disappointed that the rap didn't work in 2.0 somehow. It's fun to watch Uno even when he's not wrestling because he carries himself differently than most people you've ever seen. Different stance, different body language, etc. Also, him messing up the Acclaimed hang signals was pretty funny. It was good for Bowens to get to work him and Danielson in the same week. Very Nitro feel to this as they were talking about Omega vs Page throughout it. Crowd wanted Silver throughout this and they gave Grayson the hot tag. He did a great job (and every one fed for him well; I really liked Caster's sell of the DDT after the big catch), but since Grayson was just about to get dumped anyway, I would have liked it more if he tagged to Silver after quickly losing the advantage again so that there was a bit more of a hot tag feel to it. I don't a ton to say about the finishing stretch other than 2.0 fed really well for Uno. Feels like a band situation right now where they have to figure out how to balance how over Silver's getting in that niche attraction role with everyone else.

I agree with you guys re: Yatsu in this match, though my big takeaway was maybe that he was trying to wrestle Doc when Doc and Gordy were much more interested in thrashing him, but there's a much stronger performance vs Williams in a singles match towards the end of the month that didn't make the set where he comes out headbutts flying and they really go at it and toss each other around, so I wouldn't write off 90 Yatsu so quickly based on this match and I don't want that to be the historical record of him here.

I watched a Rockers vs Yatsu/Haku match from 91 the other day. This happened: Decades of destruction really.

Hey! we covered that over here: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2021/11/aews-five-fingers-of-death-week-of-1025.html Here's what I wrote:

Did you ask Hart about his tape collection? Everyone on the board has a moral responsibility to do so if given the opportunity.

Crossposting, but I feel pretty strongly about it, re: the WWE cuts/ROH cuts/MLW cuts: In a situation where Khan simply can't hire everyone on the market, his best move is to lean hard into the TNT/TBS titles with interesting workers (Sammy's fine. Rosa's ideal) and have open challenges every week and just use the forbidden door to bring people in. I think the surprise factor will draw. Bring in Dango one week. Bring in Taya one week. Bring in Lince one week. Etc. Maybe some people who really get over get signed. Eventually, one of them gets a surprise win as it's a great way to bring in a new talent you actually did sign if they can carry that ball. People get a payday and some exposure/buzz. It fills up 15 minutes of TV time without much thought taking some pressure off the booking. It gives you that Nitro "Who will show up next?" sort of feel without drowning in talent and contracts which draws attention (it draws mine at least). It's win-win, right?

Wasn’t on last night’s show.

Dax is maybe not the best lucha base in history?

Primarily you have to be Nikki Bella and not Brie Bella.

I don't think you look at art or literary or movie criticism that people only look at art or movies or books from the 1950s with the 1950s audiences in mind. It's something to factor in as context is important, but I wouldn't say even the primary factor.