Stiva

Having said all this, Cody is the only one who comes out of the middle of the entrance way so I’ve always assumed the idea is that he’s supposed to lean either way depending on the situation but he’ll always be Cody. Depending on who he’s against, his character will reflect off of them in whatever light that may be. A good idea in theory but the execution has been lacking, to say the least. Ditch the ridiculous entrance and go full heel.

I’ve noticed that with JR. I think he’s finally invested and buying in to what they’re doing and that’s coming across. Rather than sounding like he’s going through the motions as he was in the first year or so, somethings changed and you can tell when he’s way into what he’s watching.

I assumed Punk hugging Amell was a precursor to him getting involved with Cody but nope, just Brandi getting everything wrong again. The whole thing felt like a very gradual heel turn throughout the match so they need to just go with it. Have him blame Arn for this and go full faux-celebrity heel couple. Thought the show was great but nothing really could follow the opener, Punk was right. Them building the tag around Sting was crazy but it was even crazier that he was moving as well as he was. I guess Sting and Darby are an established team in the division and not an occasional pairing now? Book them against Suzuki and Archer. Main event had its moments but felt disjointed at spots and having interference fuckery leading to the finish grew old quickly with the Bucks so I hope it’s not creeping in with Britt. Miro’s promos are off the chain, I hope he keeps the TNT title forever off the back of them.

These new studio Darks are great, easy watching. We’re not quite at the glory days of WCW C-Shows where the matches were picked out of a hat but maybe one day, it’ll get there

Beyond hyped for the Santana/Ortiz vs Lucha Brothers hype they started with mentioning their history. Big win next Friday and then let’s start the build, boys. Miro/Sammy will rule. If Kingston isn’t going to beat Miro, it should probably be Sammy

I think the Hager/Wardlow cage fight did a great rating so that’s why I can imagine TK going to the well again. If it didn’t then I don’t know what I'm confusing it with

Also, in good news for people here, on Elevation, Dustin Rhodes beat QT Marshall so maybe the QT run is over

I thought this show was great but maybe it was just the ideal tonic after a shitty day at work. I actually thought the opener was really good since old man Kazarian is a far more interesting worker now than he’s ever been. It’s probably time for him to shuffle into something else but he should definitely be around having matches on Dark and the odd Dynamite showcase. FTR are still quietly the tag MVPs and I’m guessing they’re going against the Lucha Bros down the line so they’ll end up pinning Darby next week. The Top Team/Jericho segment was something that got progressively worse as it went on and I had the same thought re: Santana and Ortiz getting the match in New York next week but I’m guessing Cage and Scorpio are winning and Jericho is willing to eat the fall? Though his feuds usually start with him winning the first match. Either way, I’m assuming we’re getting a Hager/one of the MMA dudes stare down to hint at something in the future. Next weeks shows look insane and I wonder if they start with Danielson/Omega, especially if they’re doing a draw. Sort of feels like Danielson needs to win his first match though.

I’ve seen a few people assume the worst because there’s been no updates or photos but I’d err on the side of him and his wanting to recover in private

Hope Chavo sticks around for a bit and tries to guide Fuego to getting revenge on Andrade

I liked him as Moxley’s Monster of the Month when he debuted but everything since then has been diminishing returns. Especially when Starks and Hobbs are clearly the Team Taz guys you should be getting behind. And Hook, if he’s any good in ring, has great presence already. Taz was right to bin him in kayfabe

Pritchard finally remembered Brian Kendrick and Ezekiel Jackson so had to bring it back.

They need to finally give me the Sonny Kiss/Dustin Rhodes team they hinted at continuing about 2 years ago. Kiss is finished with Janela, Rhodes has been Malakai’d, make it happen, Tony. Give me Kiss/Rhodes vs Bear Country. Dustin could get every single Sonny Kiss spot over like a motherfucker in 6 weeks

Enjoyed the show and thought it was a perfectly good follow on from a hot PPV but why did Pillman cut a promo on MJF? He should have been storming to the ring to kick his head in. A minor point, I suppose but MJF is out there calling his mother a meth-head and he comes out, amps the crowd up and cuts a promo about how awesome Cincinnati is. It felt like he was responding to a completely different MJF promo. Pretty hyped for Varsity Blondes vs MJF/Wardlow though, that could be a sneakily good match. Dug Danielson just taking the mic from Omega and throwing shit in his face. That’s the king right there

Corbin feels like someone along the lines of The Miz. Not sure he’d work anywhere else or really fit in anywhere but he seems tailor made to WWE and will often make the most of the shit he’s given. Not sure you can discount that attribute considering how many people fail at it.

Gable having a killer indie/Japan run and then landing hot in AEW for a hot run of Dynamite matches seems like it would be the ideal scenario for him. Could see Gulak getting in as a midcard guy who wins on Elevation while he does stints at QTs school

My main gripe is that Chavo isn’t channeling his dads 2004 WWE run anywhere nearly enough for my money.

Watched the show with a, I’d hesitate to say casual, but definitely someone with little knowledge of AEW and I thought they knocked it out of the park in that sense. To the point where he completely bit on Adam Cole being the only debut (he had heard that Danielson was coming in). I thought they worked that about as well as they ever could have done and got an amazing moment out of it. He’s fully invested in Dynamite now so well done TK. Thought the Miro/Kingston didn’t come off quite as effective as planned but I really can’t have any complaints about any other match. Darby looked excellent working around Punk and MJF worked a minor miracle with Jericho. Hope they both move into major programs but fuck me, Danielson is here! I would say they should run Danielson/Omega immediately but Hangman Page’s return takes priority for me. The show had a great catharsis with the Bucks finally losing and Danielson usurping Cole. Though, fair play to Adam Cole for basically invalidating his own return within 2 minutes; luckily he didn’t learn too much from Michaels and Hunter

I am beyond ready for The Elite to be shuffled out of the title scenes so I’m desperately pulling for Lucha Bros in the cage. Everything else should be good, at the least. Even QT/Wight will probably work for setting up what’s coming next for Wight

Didn’t the dude in charge of all that get fired for it recently? Sounds like his head rolled for the contract situation but it doesn’t really help much to fire him AFTER the main NXT draw has walked out. Talk about locking the door after the horse has bolted

There’s also Moxley/Kingston/Darby vs The Wingmen which should be fun at the very least. Mostly because it confirms the former as an official trios team and also because the idea of them all being friends is great.

I was thinking that Archer feels like a guy who is coming to the end of his AEW run, especially after he lost the IWGP US Title as quickly as he did. Intrigued to see where this is going with Dan Lambert but at best, Archer feels like he could be a Gatekeeper for guys to beat on the way up. A modern day Meng but with far worse hair.

I was flabbergasted at the Becky return angle and the Bianca squash. Whenever they’re booked into a corner, they seem to think that the right move is to burrow even further and take the most damaging way out possible. It’s like they’re booking a Rube Goldberg machine

Wyatt as AEWs Raven makes some amount of sense when you consider Tony Khan is a huge ECW fan. I guess The Dark Order was originally supposed to be a collection of oddballs and outcasts until they morphed into the “Friendship is Power” collective. Wyatt as Raven also makes sense when you consider they both love cutting rambling, nonsensical promos

The Punk pop and entrance was everything you’d ever hope for, topped with a good return promo and hype for Darby/Punk which should be incredible if the rumours of Punk looking at his best in training are true. Thought that hour flew by; Cargill is green as grass and looks to the hard camera far too much but get her in there with Emi Sakura and she’ll be golden. Really dug the main; told a nice little compact story with a good body part focus and a nice little go-home crowd pleasing end. I like the duelling promos hosted by Mark Henry that they did this week and last. Both Moxley and Matt Lee popped me with the pregnancy line and “This arena has waited 20 years for a main event like this!” Obviously not every Rampage will have something like Punk’s return but give me a good tag match, a semi-squash, a good angle and a competitive main event every week and it’ll be a great formula.