Stiva

I don’t even watch WWE and I’m annoyed that they split The Hurt Business up. They just can’t let anything run, can they?

I really dug this weeks TV. Nothing overly ambitious, just sensible matches and a real sense that this is an interconnected wrestling promotion after some time where everything felt very segmented. Darby and Silver have good chemistry, I wouldn’t be against them running that back again soon and Tay Conti has felt like the next woman they should push for a while now so it’s all good. Fun episode. Having said that, I have no idea how QT Is the heel in this program. Cody is gallivanting off, trying to be famous, leaving the Nightmare Factory workload solely in QTs hands and QT is the heel?! I’m with him tbh. And another week, another baffling Young Bucks performance. Get the titles on to FTR again or even Moxley and Kingston and send the Bucks to New Japan on a 6 months excursion ASAP

They had better not translate any of his speech.

I’ve barely liked any Trent singles match but I also understand that I’m not the audience for that and the greater AEW audience is so he’ll probably get a decent run, yeah. Plus that street fight with Santana and Ortiz means they’ll always have goodwill with me. Matt Sydal as an undercard TV babyface works for me but his green as gooseshit brother getting airtime is baffling. Janela and Kiss are actually a really fun team if you watch their Dark matches so I wish they’d get featured more. Ryan Nemeth seems to be around so they can get Ziggler if/when his contract is up. Sabian should be written out of the promotion after Miro kills him but maybe they see him as an attraction for teen girls? And I think I’m the only one who pops at some of Castor’s lines so they can stay. AEW feels like it could do with some kind of huge, over-arching tag tournament though. Khan seems to have a booking philosophy that every person on the roster should have a team-mate or an allegiance (other than maybe Archer) and I agree with that a lot but some kind of over-arching big tag tournament would go a long way to helping people get some focus back on them. Basically, Sonny Kiss is someone I always watch the Dark matches of and I want to see more of him.

I’m only here with Dynamite but that was my first thought too. It was really obvious during the Moxley feud too where Mox went off course slightly and he struggled to get back. The eventual Batista-esque Wardlow turn will be great

The card looks like fun on paper and I assume Baker wins this feud to build her up to finally taking the title off Shida. That’s their hottest women’s match by a mile.

I’m at this point too. Taking the company as a whole, AEW has done more things right than wrong so far and they’ve done more things I’ve liked than hated so I’m willing to put up with the 10-15 minutes per show I don’t enjoy. I’m just slightly concerned that the ratio may slide the wrong way in the future

As for Khan needing a sounding board, JR used to sit in on WWF booking meetings when they had logical booking in the 90s, I wonder how much he’s consulted on angles, workers etc. I suppose there’s a wider point in there about how few known options they are for booking wrestling TV that have made themselves known in the last twenty years

What I will say is that, coming out of a PPV that tied up a lot of stories, or, reached pivotal moments in those stories, I thought they did a good job of beginning new threads that could go interesting places. I don’t have too much of an issue with the random Penta/Cody set-up since I feel like it could be a good little TV program and the Scorpio Sky heel turn freshens him up. Despite the issues I’m having with some inconsistent booking and presentation, they’re at least planting seeds for things I personally will be interested in down the line. I thought this was a really good post-PPV show in that sense.

Is there a catch-all thread for PWO members on Twitter? I’m on there as @HansensLariat even though I have very little idea what I’m going to use it for.

I actually thought it would have been a lot cooler if MJF said his line and then his crew happened to be around ringside and hopped the rail. You achieve the same result and MJF planting them at ringside has the end result of making him look smart anyway. I also questioned why MJF was so intent on breaking up the Inner Circle and having them all attack Jericho if he was just going to assemble his own team anyway. It’s not that it’s established that he hates Jericho so much that he wants to see his friends turn against him. I get his professional jealousy of Sammy coupled with Sammy seeing through him as a reason to get rid of him but seems like a weird long con to run if your plan was to have your own Horsemen anyway.

Classic Wrestling Stuff has been uploading 92 WCW in chronological order for the last month or so https://youtube.com/c/ClassicWrestlingstuff Haven’t looked too closely but seems like the only missing things are what’s on the Network? Seems like no episodes of Pro but still, a nice easy way to watch some fine TV wrestling.

Basically agree wholesale with this. NXT is off Wednesdays in the near future, their TV ratings are going to be rock solid no matter what so I really hope they get back to having strong weekly TV that builds to the big shows. There’s so many potential matches they could build to that don’t need grand stips or gimmickry. Just give me 6 months of simple, effective wrestling TV.

I can’t believe they had the greatest idea for Kingston’s babyface turn and they fucked up the execution so badly. Like it or not, that’s straight from WCWs worst. I actually thought the show delivered for the most part but man, what a damp ending. Omega vs Christian should be a good DON main though.

From week to week, the Bucks have been the most maddening act in the company. BTE is unwatchable dreck so it would be helpful if they could just choose a disposition and stick with it for a couple of months instead of trying to be too clever by half. And they do shit like these table spots all the time and they don’t give them the proper time and build they deserve; like when they randomly added the retirement stip to the FTR match a week before the match. Or when they argued with the Good Brothers because they were gonna pick them to defend the title after they lost the battle Royale and then just chose their opppnents for the next week anyway. Not to mention, the actual promo about their dad wasn’t too bad but now, the only thing people will remember is the dumbass shoot comment since it was designed to fire up comment sections. Seriously, these two. Jericho and MJF are much more interesting opponents for whoever is up next. Them retiring SCU is far more of an appealing program. I agree with Loss about a lot of what he said; you could see the Shaq match was built around a few spots that would get media coverage but I actually dug it; it had a good energy to it but I do question where Cargill goes from here since she’s nowhere near ready enough to be given a real singles push. And I also agree on Starks; the guy presents himself and talks like a complete star. I’m hyped for Revolution and I think this has been a strong few weeks of build but it’s definitely went from a promotion that feels like it’s angles and matches are planned weeks ahead to one that is being booked week-to-week and I think that’s where a lot of the internal consistencies, or lack there of, are coming from.

I actually really dug the tables match on Impact this week. Maybe I was in a giving mood but I thought they had some good teases and a lot of Deaner’s transitions involved Something crashing into the edge of tables in nasty ways.

Matt really should be cutting this sort of thing on Dynamite tonight.

I’m calling that he ends up being the ref for the Cody/Shaq nonsense to lead into Wight/Shaq at Double or Nothing.

Eddie Kingston vs JD Drake was absolutely great this week. They hit hard early and don’t let up. Kingston is the Dark MVP

That’s fucking great, Show should be a great commentator considering how naturally engaging he is. Also, give me Big Show vs Rey Fenix, Tony.

I popped for Tony Khan talking about LANCE!~ of the Day on WOL

When was the last time someone won the title the first time and then didn’t win it again for 10 years, all while remaining in the same promotion? Hogan obviously had to wait a while but he was in WCW for most of that time.

Eh, another hour would be ideal, I'd say. Something similar to that 1 hour Saturday show they did a while back; have three or so matches, get some extra promo time and give people like Varsity Blondes, Leyla Hirsch etc. some extra time to get over outside of the crowded Dynamite spots. Maybe have the odd TNT Title Main Event

I think this has been a solid as fuck run of shows but fixing things with New Japan gives them the real heat for when the pandemic eases enough for us to get fans. AEW has been at its best (IMO) when its revolved around a heel faction and Moxley leading a ragtag bunch of baby faces against the Bullet Club with Ibushi and Okada hovering in the background sounds like money to me. They badly need a second TV show though; Dark works as a showcase for them to slowly introduce workers but there’s so many of them now, especially if the NJ and Impact relationships grow, that the potential for having more hot midcard feuds and a focus on more of the women is right up there. A lot of work for Khan to book though, I would guess.

This constant parroting of stats made the commentary borderline unlistenable but what a sub-par men’s Rumble. These Rumbles where new entrants come in and hit their hot tag offense are so shitty, there were no long-running threads of story, no memorable spots, very few future teases and stare down moments to build in the next few months, just a real flat nothingness. I suppose nobody knew who was winning which was in its favour but giving the Ironman winner spot to a 50 year old Edge is hilarious. Also, they need to stop mentioning guys being in their 10th, 11th or FOURTEENTH Rumble match since it exposes just how long they’ve had this interchangeable midcard and how stale everyone is