Stiva

In ring, this done nothing for me outside of the awesome Bunkhouse match. Dustin could work a great one of these in his sleep but the other three were great. Butcher flying into everything was fantastic and Blade’s willingness to bleed buckets was quite something. QT Marshall is so good though; nailed everything you would want out of someone in a match like this. It was almost Dustin-esque. Brian Cage is clearly the least interesting of the duo even if Sydal is still fun. These interminable attempts at getting Spears over need to stop but a Sky/Spears team might actually make them bearable. I’m sure Pentagon/Fenix is for someone but it’s definitely not for me, even if I think Fenix is absolute money as a future top baby face. The Cody segment was bizarre; they let Cargill speak for way too long, Brandi slipped into a completely different promo style and the Team Taz beat down all seemed very rushed. If the plan is Cody and Brandi vs Shaq and Cargill, then we’ll see what Cody is made of, I guess. Glad PAC is back though; I might be in a minority of loving angry little bastard PAC but he feels really fresh after his enforced break.

Very wary of Yukes making any wrestling game after their last few WWE games before they removed themselves from it but who knows if that was THQs restrictions fucking things up? I’m into a mobile TEW style affair though, it’s the one thing that I’m amazed nobody has made a crack at on phones.

Pretty much everything delivered and in some cases, over delivered. The tag match was too long by about 5 minutes, I’d say but the teams matched up so well that I’m definitely down for a rematch. The main was fantastic; Kingston really is special and seeing him have that moment in a major PPV main event was brilliant and they brought it with the violence. I wonder if they’re going to stretch out Omega/Moxley until Revolution, they get some placeholder feuds in the mean time. Some stray thoughts: Bin Serpentico and give me the Luther/Gangrel team we all need. Feels like Team Taz needs a third member for the eventual Cage/Starks/??? Vs Darby/Cody/Hobbs match. Darby getting the big win was probably overdue but Arn was so great at ringside; absolutely criminal that he wasn’t on WWE TV for all those years. Callis showing up for commentary gives me hope that we can get the Impact women on this show, not to mention Callis leading The North into the tag division. Bunkhouse match with Butcher and Blade and NN is going to be so great. Those four guys will pull it out of the bag, I have no doubt.

I’ll echo what others have said about the Bucks and their insistence on thinking they’re more intelligent than they are getting in the way of things again. I will say that it’s more bearable than their attempts to be funny but if a match ever needed a simple build, it’s The Bucks vs FTR. If this thing had a crowd, nobody would know who to get behind. Dug the two tournament matches again, even if Kenny Omega’s facial expressions are somehow even worse as a heel. Wardlow still isn’t the polished article but he and Page put together a nice little match that kept both strong. Nyla/Shida again on PPV is the very definition of panic booking to get the women on the card. They’re really struggling for the lack of a second show, even if they are starting to run angles on Dark and reference them on TV. Moxley/Kingston is doing it for me though. Two good talkers talking at each other, a personal feud referencing personal histories leading to a bloody PPV main event. Full Gear looks like a solid show, top to bottom but I wish Cody vs Darby had more than one week of build behind it, especially since it feels like Darby has to win to transition to the feud with Starks for the title

Enjoyed the show as per, especially the first tournament hour but is that ending angle supposed to put sympathy on a team who have spent a month attacking non-wrestlers and throwing money around like arrogant dickheads? Should FTR, the heels, be the ones giving them their just desserts?

Thought just about every segment worked except that Jericho/MJF bit. MJF doing bad comedy and over rehearsed acting is exactly why everyone soured on the Moxley program. Coupled with Nick Jackson’s awful hidden camera style facial mugging over the last few weeks, there’s been some terrible acting in a promotion that has skilfully avoided it so far. I’m all in for Private Party besting the Bucks again though; that feels like something they could keep going with them being the Bucks’ bogey team. Kingston should give Moxley his most engaging feud yet; the plan should be to give Eddie a mic every week while Moxley dispatches his stablemates and you’ve got a main event, baby. Could do without a repeat of Cassidy/Cody since neither man should be losing. The time limit draw worked to protect both guys so running it again doesn’t seem to help. If we’re building to Darby winning the belt, him finally beating Cody feels like it should have more build behind it.

Thought for sure we were getting the Jericho and Inner Circle face turn but ending it with the credits and the heels celebrating was hilarious. I’m not sure about building a Jericho tribute and ending it with a tease is the way to go to sustain the angle but whatever. If you watch back, Wardlow and Hager refuse to break eye contact with each other as the ring fills up in a great touch. Dug the show well enough but they need the extra hour show right now; the roster is real deep and the women definitely need more of a focus and more time to get things over

My friend has just bought a Wrexham home shirt and we’re from Newcastle so already the money is flowing into the club

Great return to form. That main event was wild in a way that I was never expecting Best Friends to get; Trent took some absolutely nasty bumps, my god. You can tell there's something in the water when both Hager and Chuck Taylor put in top-drawer performances. I've said it before and I'll say it again; Moxley and Darby's weird little friendship might be my favourite long-running story in AEW. Two loners that always help each other out because they're both headcases is great and Moxley picking Hobbs is exactly something he'd do. Though I am surprised they haven't booked a stronger card for LND since I'm not sure Jericho being on commentary is enough. I'd have maybe had a Young Bucks match in there too.

They've earned some goodwill but these past couple of weeks have been total stinkers. I made the comment in jest but Tony Khan having to concentrate on getting Fulham ready for the Premier League has coincided with it, not to mention Cody being missing. In it's place we've had a ton of gimmicks and way too much shitty comedy that thinks it's funny. I'm hoping that they dial it back a bit when Archer/Moxley and Omega/Page get going. Giving Kingston something to sink his teeth into would help too since Fenix/Pentagon could be a good feud with him in the middle, playing them off each other to get what he wants. And yeah, Miro with Kip Sabian of all people feels like a rib on me. Unless this ends with him stealing Penelope Ford and throwing Sabian into the sea. As mentioned, Jericho/Hager should be Jericho/Sammy since it's the far more entertaining pair. It says a lot when Joey Janela's heat segments are becoming the best parts of the show.

I’d bet they run Cassidy/Brodie for the TNT Title.

Shida/Rosa was great. Rosa doesn’t need to stick around because any time she comes back, she’s an instant threat. i really like AEWs big tag matches; everyone gets some good shine, they always make sure to further a couple of angles and some of the worst tendencies tend to be pushed to one side. Dustin/Brodie has potential to be TV MOTY

Now that Hardy is sticking around, they should use the massive concussion to explain why he’s suddenly another personality on Wednesday

Jesus Christ, if I was wrestling on this card, I wouldn’t leave my feet

Kingston leading his guys after Moxley is far more interesting than Archer but Archer has done nothing since the Cody match so why not give Moxley another monster to slay

I feel terrible laughing because I love Sydal but holy shit, that was hilarious

Hearing an actual crowd pop huge for Darby shows just how well they’ve done with him

As the real opener, that worked. Turning The Bucks and Omega heel after they’ve spent a year building people below them up works but not sure how it leads to the Bucks/FTR match

That was not very good. They were right to have it on the pre-show initially

Opening with the cinematic match is a bold move

Brandi cutting promos with the exact same cadence as rhythm as Cody is pretty wholesome.

I think most of these matches should be good, even if the booking has definitely stuttered in the last couple of weeks. I’m going to blame Fulham’s transfer window

I’m glad they got some seriousness back into MJF but that almost feels like the angle they should have run last week with a recap this. I also agree that the Bucks/Page/Omega stuff is far too cute but the Bucks trying to be too clever by half isn’t anything new. Serena as the women’s midcard veteran feels like a good role for her, especially considering how green a lot of their women are. But we can call this show a success because it had a Luchasaurus hot tag that contained no contrived strike exchanges with guys who never usually do them.

I thought JR did a decent job with the Kingston/Cody match because he could get into the story behind it with Eddie’s sacrificing and his one big shot. That’s the stuff he can still nail.

Reigns is definitely a heel because he made us wait through another full Wyatt/Strowman match before coming in to win. Of course, everyone that doesn’t do that in a triple threat match from here until eternity is an idiot but that’s WWE booking for you