Matt D

Their own fault for letting Joe be too entertaining.

I'd like to reiterate that Page may be the worst top-of-the-card guy in major TV pro wrestling history at structuring matches (though he has many other positive attributes) and if there's anyone in the world who really needs to listen to advice, it's him. It's a shame that Punk wasn't somehow less abrasive and more able to empathize and compel the guy to listen. I doubt he would have listened to Ricky Steamboat or some other wise and sage (and not an asshole) figure, however, since it was that selfsame dopey structuring that helped to bring him to the dance in the first place as a mid-carder. Part of the perfect storm that led them to this point is just how uniquely bad Page happens to be. (I'm probably the only guy on the board that would say that his least favorite AEW match of the year was Page vs Takeshita though).

Isn’t Chris Jericho the living embodiment of “illusion of change?”

Glorious violence? It’s not tenable but it’s fun in the moment. My gut says that part of the problem is too much sports/MMA and not enough comic books in Khan’s heart.

I feel pretty strongly that if Starks beat Parker > Menard > Garcia > Hager> Sammy week after week building to beating Jericho clean at Revolution and then moving on, it'd really help make him, but there's no way that would happen.

Nick Bockwinkel defends the AWA World Heavyweight Title This is basically in three acts. Bockwinkel controls the arm for one third, Jumbo controls the arm for one third, and then there's a finishing stretch as they work towards the draw. I can't even begin to express how hard they were working the holds. There are shots mid-match and you can just see the sweat pouring off of Jumbo just off of armbars and hammerlocks and in and out exchanges. In the middle of December. He created a ton of motion with Bockwinkel when he was working from underneath. Of course, the greatest strength of Bock is his reactions, the way he's always constantly in the moment and his pure elation of hurting someone. When Jumbo took over, it was all about Bockwinkel trying to escape and getting reversed back into it. With Bock on top, it was about Jumbo's different attempts at escaping. With Jumbo on top, it was about Jumbo using varied techniques to stretch Bockwinklel, switching things up after each escape attempt. There was a clear moment where he shifted to hammering Bockwinkel and going for the win. He knew time was against him and Bockwinkel had the champion's advantage. Some people might find this transition stilted or awkward or ignoring what came before, but it was really all about Jumbo trying to pick the exact moment where he'd worn down Bock just enough that he'd be able to hit his stuff and try to beat him. If he went too soon, Bockwinkel would reverse it. If he went too late, he wouldn't have enough time to put him away. And maybe there wasn't a perfect moment because the champ was just that good. Judging by the fact this went to a draw after they threw everything they had at one another, that was probably the case. The wrestling that took up the first two thirds of it was just so good.

What do they even show on Discovery? I feel like they’d fit into that reality tv environment.

One could argue that they were goaded into it by the Gunns, who have been taunting them with the baldcap and interfering in their matches. But I don't think 95% of the audience base was looking for any kayfabe argument at all. They just wanted the match.

He’s going to make jumping ramps for the scooter.

“I am going to go to the highest bidder, could be anybody, as long as it’s not New Japan. F***ing hate New Japan. It’s literally, I don’t understand how people still pretend it’s a company that’s like, important. " That's a quote. He does stuff like that all the time to rile the fans. If AEW is anti-establishment, he's pro-establishment.

MJF is anti the fans and if the fans are pro-Japan or pro-Indies or pro-something he comes out as anti-it. What's the chicken there and what's the egg is up to you. One more bullet. Re: Moxley. I really hope this is all building to him "snapping" and just becoming an unstoppable tweener monster that kills everyone and can't be held back and can't be stopped. Stop the Moxley is what i want for 2023 and where it seemed like things might have been heading a few months ago. Just a bloody creature of chaos.

Miz/MJF: It's really the whole bit about Japan/indies/smart fans not mattering and that he's bigger than the notion of "pro wrestling." I think that's a pretty clear parallel. There are obviously other issues of class with MJF and the chip on his shoulder on an ethnic level that's different, the Long Island element, and also that MJF sees himself as a wrestler that can go in a way that's not built into the Miz's character. But there are definitely some superficial elements that are similar in the sort of "anti-smark" kind of way. MIz/Piper: This I don't see as much. The idea with Piper in his prime is that he could say/do anything and that there was always the energy of the unpredictable in a pretty static world of mid-80s wrestling. Whereas when MJF says something it's something shootier he's not supposed to say, like calling Starks the Pebble or whatever. Piper was more likely to reference Noriega and slam a bottle into his own head or something. He was more up on the news and worked in real cultural things. In that regard, I'd like him more to Max Caster than Max Friedman. Sasha: I think she wants closure vs Saraya given everything that's happened, and there's a match with Jade that's obvious, but my guess is that she wants to work Riho/Shida/Maki/Emi and Deeb/Athena(heel)/Bunny/Ford/Hayter/Storm/Ruby/Nyla, and even people at the Skye Blue/Anna/Tay/Ford/Abadon/Velvet/Shafir level. She pays attention to what's going on. This isn't like Rayne or Saraya coming in and not knowing the roster at all. She'll see the opportunities for interesting match ups.

The problem isn’t Regal so much as faulty conventional wisdom.

Koon very much took your position on the matter so I give you full credit for insightful listening here.

He’ll fail to win the title but will get the ring by beating the world champ. Not a bad consolation push.

If you made him choose, that's what he'd choose, sure. And he does have to choose right now. And he did choose. But to say that Regal, in 2022, doesn't still have a passion for being on screen and doing entertaining things is incorrect. That's all. He could have said hi to Excalibur week after week and he would have been tickled by the idea of that.

I wouldn't say that at all. He waxes poetic about being on screen and his body of work all the time. He's as prideful about his segments with Tajiri as he is with his matches, really. I think he was also enjoying the idea of being a "proper villain" and being booed again. He's just passionate about making wrestling better for younger people as well. Also, I think he did plenty of coaching in AEW. Guys like Moriarty and Yuta apparently spent a lot of time before shows working with him. At the end of the day, he seems to want to work with Hunter again and especially help see his kid through the early stages of his career, but I don't think for a second he wasn't absolutely loving the stuff he was doing on screen this year. Very much the opposite.

More general responses later, but it would hurt Acclaimed more to take the belts off of them so soon after their title win than it would help FTR. Twenty or thirty minute broadway. Post match beatdown to set up the ROH PPV with Kingdom (Or Ass Boys I guess). Do promos from both babyface teams vowing to fight again soon. Run Acclaimed vs FTR at Revolution with a longer time limit and do the title change there depending on whether or not FTR are signed deeper into 2023.

You live long enough and you become Johnny? What a world. Though some of my point is that I'm not convinced the stuff that's bad now has ever been particularly good and it's always been a promotion that you should probably take on your own terms. And don't discount the injuries up and down the line. Cole, O'Reilly, Statlander are three people that absolutely factored into his long term plans.

I get that I'm not ticket sales or ratings, but I still am deeply enjoying just about everything AEW does. The booking has issues, but the booking has always had issues as best as I can tell. My favorite parts of the week wrestling wise continue to be right at the end of Dynamite when they announce the matches for Rampage and right at the end of Rampage when they announce the matches for Dynamite, as well as shortly after Dynamite when I can look up what the Elevation matches are going to be. I'm just really enjoying the wrestling, and skipping the stuff I know I'm not going to enjoy like the best of seven series. Given the kids and everything else, I can almost never watch live. I catch Dynamite on my commute in Thursday morning. I catch Rampage Saturday morning like a WCW Power Hour or Superstars/Challenge. I usually watch Dark and Elevation shortly after they happen or the following morning, but on my own terms, at my own speed, and with my own discretion. I don't know what to say to you guys. I don't think ROH is a big issue, for instance. I think the biggest issue, by far, in the last 15 months or so was the injuries. Khan can adapt in a EWR sort of way to one or two injuries and probably even sees it as a challenge, but the whole roster went down in a staggered sort of way and that upset the applecart. If anything, I think having ROH and a few more titles in there just gave him a couple of extra crutches to book with and it all probably would have been even worse without that. I'm definitely looking forward to Wednesday. I don't expect Acclaimed vs FTR to have a clean finish but I wouldn't have expected Backlund vs Race or Flair to have one either. I expect it to be a really fun match. Joe vs Darby is a fresh, pretty perfect match up. It'll be good to see Velvet back in action and Skye Blue is one of my favorite prospects in the company as she hits hard and takes hard shots and she'll probably play FIP. Hager/Garcia vs Claudio/Yuta is just good wrestling. I'm curious to see how Hager and Garcia work together since we haven't quite seen that exact pairing so it's fresh even in a feud that isn't. And I love AEW Battle Royals because of all the weird interactions you get. It's a great roster and it leads to some weird interactions with guys like Cassidy. Here, I'm looking forward to see Starks interact with everyone. I don't fault anyone who has misgivings about the booking, thinks that there are too many turns or too many guys on and off tv without being a chance to grow and build or that some plot lines are just dropped and some feuds go on for too long. There are issues, but it's a really easy promotion with a lot of wrestling to enjoy if you take it on your own terms. 2022 will make for a hell of an AEW comp tape ten years down the line. That's for sure.

This should be something we can figure out from the clues. There's another episode where he brings up a different match and then connects it back to this as it was the same agent on both (which was a new piece of info) but I can't remember what that was. I always kind of listen in a bit closer when he talks about the potential suspects from the time (which would be who? Arn? Greg Gagne? Mike Graham? Terry Taylor? Ted Dibiase?)

The Omni tapes. Liberate them.

I don’t ask for much from this company but if they’re not going to give me old Omni shows, can they at least have Sami accidentally win the Rumble?

But let's have him face Rush in the next month or two. Just saying.

Toni Storm was a babyface ace. She showed up every week, fought hard, took on all challengers, did everything right, had an aura of being cool, etc. Hayter won the title with help after she said she wanted to do it alone. The fans were absolutely elated for it. Not a hint of doubt. Not a hint of hesitation. She basically went from being a tweener who had trouble with Britt to just a 97 style cool heel who gets cheered over the babyface who does everything right and the fans rewarded her for it. They got the candy they wanted and didn't care how they got it. Obviously they may do some things with Britt moving forward and Storm called her out for it on Rampage today but the fans already rewarded her by popping for her win and not caring how Storm lost.