AEW Double or Nothing

[Coffey]

Not black, but AEW should really try to get Jacob Fatu. I think I've said it before, probably more than once, but I think he's going to be a big star. He could be their monster. Umaga style monster, not like giant monster. But still, with their roster, all of those guys playing Pinball? Man.

[Boss Rock]

Count me among those who liked the ME. I thought it was more of a harder-hitting affair than the WK match which, while great, was a bit of a plunderfest. It probably didn't need to go on as long as it needed to but I'm glad Jericho still didn't try to match Kenny move-for-move in a match that had less bells and whistles.

Show as a whole was great. Didn't catch all of the pre-show but the main card more than delivered. Best Friends-Angelico/Evans, Cody-Dustin, Lucha Bros.-Bucks, and Kenny-Jericho were my favorite matches but nothing else disappointed.

I think Jericho going over was a bit strange but I understand wanting to capitalize on his name and recognition, not to mention Kenny-Moxley is the clear feud for both guys. Really interested to see how well Moxley does and if WWE really was just sapping his motivation.

[NintendoLogic]

4 hours ago, Herodes said:

Geeks or not, representation matters whether it’s those in the ring or those in the crowd.

Are you seriously complaining about lack of representation in a promotion with a black female executive and a trans woman star?

[Herodes]

Yes, Cody and Kenny and Chris and Dean and Matt and whoever the other one is and so on doesn’t scream diversity to me. It needs black wrestlers in prominent positions and black fans who are represented. Black executive and a trans woman has nothing to do with black wrestler representation especially at the top of the card, don’t be obtuse.

[SmartMark15]

I noticed someone that mentioned the crowds needed to be mic-ed better on this show and I'm not quite sure where that comment is coming from. I thought the crowd easily enhanced most of this show by being invested and incredibly loud all throughout the night. They made so many workers look like genuine stars, Cody and MJF included. This was better than any WWE crowd of the past year even. 

[cm funk]

Only watched through Cody-Dustin so far, needed a break after that, but everything that I've seen was good.  That's the bloodiest match I think I've seen since Eddie-JBL 15 years ago.  Was legit worried for Dustin's safety and there were fans in the crowd who looked legit distraught by it.

[FMKK]

50 minutes ago, SmartMark15 said:

I noticed someone that mentioned the crowds needed to be mic-ed better on this show and I'm not quite sure where that comment is coming from. I thought the crowd easily enhanced most of this show by being invested and incredibly loud all throughout the night. They made so many workers look like genuine stars, Cody and MJF included. This was better than any WWE crowd of the past year even. 

Though fight forever chants are still intolerable dogshit unfortunately 

[Loss]

I like the use of the blade. I don't think it should be rolled out all the time or people will quickly be desensitized to it. But it's one of the obvious ways a company can distinguish themselves from WWE. I understand why WWE doesn't do it even though I wish they did. Still, blood used the right way can really enhance the presentation.

[Mad Dog]

1 minute ago, Charles (Loss) said:

I like the use of the blade. I don't think it should be rolled out all the time or people will quickly be desensitized to it. But it's one of the obvious ways a company can distinguish themselves from WWE. I understand why WWE doesn't do it even though I wish they did. Still, blood used the right way can really enhance the presentation.

I thought the lack of blood really hurt Gargano/Ciampa last year. Those matches were just screaming for blood.

[Loss]

There have been a few times that I really thought it would have added a lot to matches and it wasn't to be, for sure. It's one of those things that seems awful to the outside world, not realizing that it's pretty low-risk compared to a lot of things wrestlers do that don't look as bad.

[Mad Dog]

It's kind of interesting to see people that have kind of become fans in the last decade and mostly watching WWE getting exposed to their first bloodbath of a match like this.

[NintendoLogic]

I'm pleasantly surprised at how well-received Cody/Dustin has been. Even the folks on r/SquaredCircle and the F4W board are raving about it. I'm hard-pressed to think of a match that received such universal praise from workrate fans and non-workrate fans alike. Maybe the Hart/Austin submission match. Interestingly, both matches featured heavy blood during periods when blading had fallen out of vogue in the major promotions. There's probably some kind of lesson that can be drawn from that.

[Coffey]

I wonder what an AEW cage match would look like?

[joeg]

So finished watching it earlier today. Overall I really enjoyed the show. My only gripe is that the first half of the show was full of Chikara/GCW level indie guys who look like somebody playing wrestler rather than an actual pro wrestler. The only way that Battle Royale could be less impressive was if they added the Mulkey Brothers. A major wrestling promotion shouldn't have room for some of those people as anything other than enhancement guys. With that said, I thought Stronghearts vs SCU was a fun opener and a great way to kick off the PPV. The next two matches had some moments but were not good. The joshi 6 man was good. Dustin vs Cody was my MOTY. Bucks vs Lucha Bros was solid and Jericho vs Omega was good. So 4 good matches and 1 great match on a 9 match card isn't bad.

The thing I liked the most about the show is that they managed to build anticipation for future shows and lay out whats next for all of their top guys. Its refreshing knowing the Bucks are going to wrestle the Rhodes on the next show and that somewhere down the line we will get Jericho vs Page and Omega vs Moxley. All of their top guys are placed in a position where I'd be willing to pay to watch their next match. I can't remember the last time WWE did that.

[Alucard]

34 minutes ago, joeg said:

So finished watching it earlier today. Overall I really enjoyed the show. My only gripe is that the first half of the show was full of Chikara/GCW level indie guys who look like somebody playing wrestler rather than an actual pro wrestler. The only way that Battle Royale could be less impressive was if they added the Mulkey Brothers. A major wrestling promotion shouldn't have room for some of those people as anything other than enhancement guys. With that said, I thought Stronghearts vs SCU was a fun opener and a great way to kick off the PPV. The next two matches had some moments but were not good. The joshi 6 man was good. Dustin vs Cody was my MOTY. Bucks vs Lucha Bros was solid and Jericho vs Omega was good. So 4 good matches and 1 great match on a 9 match card isn't bad.

Agreed on all of that, sums up my thoughts exactly. I was worried for any new fans coming in, having to see that battle royal first thing and being turned off right away

[El-P]

Come on, the Battle Royal was a whole lot of fun. I hope Luchasaurus get signed. This guy came back from the dead twice already, he was litteraly murdered both in LU and iMPCAT ! Joey Janela dying for our pleasure was vintage garbage match heaven. Fat Ass Dreamer doing a cameo is always fun. MJF was a heat magnet and looked terrific. Pillman and the dye-job from hell ! Ace Romero pouncing Stunt out of the ring was awesome. The right guy won. It's not like Micheal Nakazawa oiling himself or Orange Cassidy doing his one comedy spot is gonna hurt anything for those who don't like that. Wonder where Joey Ryan was though.

[C.S.]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

Come on, the Battle Royal was a whole lot of fun. 

I agree. The sheer variety of characters, styles, and body types was something you never see in WWE anymore. 

[Loss]

I irrationally hate pretty much all battle royals and think they should have gone the way of the dodo bird many years ago. No types of wrestling matches are more uninteresting.

[C.S.]

6 minutes ago, Charles (Loss) said:

I irrationally hate pretty much all battle royals and think they should have gone the way of the dodo bird many years ago. No types of wrestling matches are more uninteresting.

Even Royal Rumble?

[Loss]

Not a huge fan of the Rumble compared to how others see it, but I understand its value and importance in WWE folklore. But I usually hate the match itself. Watching people lay on the top rope and then crawl back under the bottom rope for 75 minutes is boring.

Elimination teases are boring and there's only so many ways to do them. Also, in a world where the idea is that you prove superiority to others by pinning or submitting them, what does throwing someone over the top rope actually prove?

[NintendoLogic]

Given the track record of Rumble winners, it stands to reason that the skills required to throw people out of the ring while avoiding being thrown out yourself are strongly correlated with the skills required to pin and submit opponents in standard wrestling matches.

[Loss]

Pure coincidence. I also suspect that the drawings aren't on the up and up and are often rigged to favor the top stars, but I have no proof of that. I have, however, long suspected it. I should investigate.

[Mad Dog]

9 minutes ago, Charles (Loss) said:

Pure coincidence. I also suspect that the drawings aren't on the up and up and are often rigged to favor the top stars, but I have no proof of that. I have, however, long suspected it. I should investigate.

I've thought something has been up since Ted Dibiase got #30 in 1989.

[Mad Dog]

My wife watched most of the show with me. She actually loved the battle royal. Her comment was it was really refreshing to see so many different and varied characters. She said the WWE wrestlers feel really samey outside of a few people.

[Boss Rock]

Battle royals to me are a collection of cool moments surrounded by whatever. So they can range from either being fun to terrible. The Over the Budget battle royal from All In remains my favorite because there was actually more to it than just cool moments and tepid elimination attempts.

I do think the Royal Rumble format is much better with the individual entrances but having too many folks in at one time can be a problem.