Stiva

I take great umbrage with that original Graves tweet because he has never been “fucking awesome” at commentary

Mark Briscoe should absolutely be getting pushed higher than he is. He always, always gets a good response, people are engaged when he speaks and when he works and he has an unbelievable, true life baby face inspiration story that you could do a hell of a lot with. So, obviously they don’t. In lieu of Kingston being the AEW “leader” against Moxley and co, it could have easily been Briscoe

Dead in the water Undisputed Kingdom all in the Casino Gauntlet? Tony, you truly are spoiling me

Copeland/Moxley, while I’m not saying it’s a “big” match is at least one of the more intriguing ones they can do. They’ve never wrestled before and on paper, it’s something I can see people being interested in. I’ve no interest in Copeland’s certain wide-eyed, intense promos that always suck but I am quietly confident about the match itself, if they can stay away from their more plunder-loving instincts. The trigger does need pulled on Darby though. The longer this Death Riders thing goes on, the more damage I’m fearing it’s doing and I’d go with more babyface title holders ASAP

TK should get Kushida into ROH when they get that TV spot, he’d be a fun veteran presence. As for Alexander, I can see him being AEW bound over NXT. He feels like someone that they’d give a strong push to based on him having really good AEW style matches

Must admit, when all of the Starks nonsense came out, it had the stench of some kind of worked nonsense. I see that Super Crazy, Tajiri and Little Guido are working as a trio at their next show so if so, I want to see them working on a random Collision soon

Hasn’t Lio Rush been there twice before and flaked out early? Like, I’d wait a minute before giving him a good push too. There’s plenty to criticise about AEW losing sight of who and how to push but he and Komander aren’t the two sore spots for me. Hologram was doing pretty, pretty well before his injury. Now if we’re talking Mortos not getting his dues, then I can get with you. As for Lashley and Hurt Business, they feel like stars tbh and they need as many as they can get right now. The idea you’d see the reaction Shelton got for his debut and then relegate him to a Chris Daniels ROH spot is wild

Yeah, I’m all in on the Brody singles push. Him as the dude who can team with Darby out of mutual respect to help turn the tide against the Death Riders is good shit. The interminable promo segments less so

Time to get Mark Briscoe on the AEW frontline against Mox. In lieu of Eddie Kingston, he’s the best they’ve got

Needed more mention of Danielson in the early goings but it soon ramped up in an awesome way. John Silver chasing off after the truck wasn’t quite as good as Savage hanging off the back of the nWo limo but it was great nonetheless

If we don’t get the awesome return of Joe to help Hook against the BCC on an episode of Dynamite then this angle is for naught.

I also only just put together the idea of Darby being like his mentor and going after the stable full of rampaging heels

I dug the ending of the show but I can see why people would be tired of another Mox run. It’s always good when they get these crowds to react with some genuine emotion other than popping for victories and they’ve managed it quite a bit recently. I liked the positioning of Hook, Garcia, OC and Darby at the end and if those are the guys running opposite, I think it could be something exciting that lifts them all. Garcia especially could come out of this a huge babyface. What has to happen is that they have to stick the landing with whatever Moxley’s grander crusade is supposed to be about and that’s a bit more difficult. Are they after all the belts? Which means they cross paths with The Elite which…not for me.

Ha, I must admit I didn’t see that coming. I wonder if Rico is in for the weekly schedule

I cracked up at that list of shitty booking that has all been attributed to him. Let’s hope so but that seems fanciful

I wonder who will show up as MxMs third. I’m guessing it’s not a blowaway pick up since it’s on the pre-show but I like the act and I hope it’s somebody that rounds it off nicely

Lower the ticket prices to try and get some more people in the stadiums. That and sign Hechicero full time and push him to the moon

Haven’t watched yet but the spoilers for Collision make it sound like they’re doing exactly what they should with Rush which is exciting. Also, I assume we’re getting the CC this year? If so, how do I make it so Hechicero is in it?

Feels like something that would have been getting over huge in AEW 18-24 months ago but yeah, no matter what they do, it’s not connecting. Though I’d have brought Bryan out or actually confirmed the match on Collision. It just sort of…ended

Are AEW ticket prices still extortionate? Not that’s the only excuse for the low sales but I actually think the damage was done in mid 2022 with regards to booking. When the injuries piled up and Cody left, they didn’t really recover and then everything with Punk soured things even more. I actually think this year has been very solid with great moments and great shows but you can’t ignore that the perception is that they’re losing guys and the guys out there they’re interested in would rather go to WWE since the pendulum has swung back to them being red hot again. I’m hoping that the new TV deal and show on Fox can see them develop three distinct identities for each show and they can actually have a midcard. Not just a bunch of guys who lose to the main guys until it’s their turn to disappear for a while. I’d make Collision the tag show, for instance. Obviously not all tags but I’d endeavour to have two really good tag matches on there every week and develop some of the teams with actual mid card feuds where they can actually win. Build it round FTR since they’re the established “best” team, give the likes of STP and the Outrunners a genuine effort to get over. Bring tags from the indies in for one shots and see who catches on, throw guys together who have been missing for months. The company was built on a strong tag division and that’s eroded. Not sure you can underestimate how much damage adding Collision did to the attendances too. It may be best to just go back to Texas or Daily’s Place every single week for Collision and take Dynamite/Shockwave out on the road and make it so everyone knows that those two shows will have all of the major players on it

Letting Jericho go that long while the Outrunners are so hot is tantamount to grievous wrestling crime. Can that dude not go on a 6 month tour of pretending he’s a rockstar instead? But all will be fine in the world if Private Party bring Daniel Garcia out with them next week

I’m not worried about Moxley/Darby since I think Darby beats him at Grand Slam and then beats Bryan at Wrestledream. All of this is building past the Bryan run IMO. Darby is going to hit Moxley with a flash pin and then the BCC is going to kick the shit out of him until he comes back and wins the title. As soon as Moxley mentioned Darby, I had a feeling that this whole thing was designed to get Darby the title

Nigel picking his moment to challenge Danielson after Moxley tried to kill him is great heel work

Hey, I’m in Mexico so can watch live as I have a lazy night in my hotel room. Darby skateboarding in after the Moxley promo was a nice bit of foreboding. Eagerly anticipating a big angle to close the show

I’m with you on this. Probably since Dynasty onward, give or take a spotty build to DON, it’s been excellent and I wish it was reflected more in the gates and ratings. 2021 AEW is still the gold standard but they just need to stay the course with what they’re doing.