Stiva

I like these post-PPV Dynamites a lot more now that they’re peppering in big matches and are casually putting pieces into place for the future. I’m ready for the Sammy TNT run since it offers up some different kinds of matches and Sammy going against the likes of Andrade, Lio Rush and Jungle Boy will be great. Actually, Sammy/Christian given 15 minutes would be incredible

For some reason, I kind of feel like Wyatt and Rowan/Redbeard will be in for a double shot of Dynamite and Rampage. Shoot the angle for Dynamite, have a match on Rampage. A tag against The Bucks or something.

Watched the finish of the main and holy shit, how do they come up with this shit? Like, it wouldn’t even enter my mind to have Balor air-hump his way back to life when his music started and then had the ring ropes collapse to lead to a spear. Absolute insanity.

Man, that shows how out of the loop with ROH I am. Time to dig out some 2021 Homicide

Fuck yeah, Homicide! Give me Kingston, Moxley and Homicide cutting unhinged promos and having wild brawls with whoever is up to the challenge. I haven’t seen Homicide in a minute, does he still move pretty well or is he banged up? Thought Punk/Hobbs was great too. Hobbs has sneakily become really good, I thought all of his stuff in his control segment was excellent and he’s got the kind of charisma that isn’t immediately obvious but he’s a pretty engaging worker. He feels like someone who has been picking Mark Henry’s brain

Bring in the Bollywood Boyz and debut him as their 7 foot tall, angry partner in a feud with Jurassic Express. Then you have the visual of him picking up Marko Stunt and dunking him into the Young Bucks’ basketball hoop. You can have that one for free, TK

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