AEW Double or Nothing 2021

[Boss Rock]

He was also responsible for scouting Bianca, Tay, and Jade to WWE.

[Enforcer]

3 minutes ago, Boss Rock said:

He was also responsible for scouting Bianca, Tay, and Jade to WWE.

I have no clue who Bianca is but if he scouted Tay and Jade then yeah, he could be useful to AEW.  

[tallmike]

I genuinely don't know why you wave your ignorance around like a badge of honor.

[DMJ]

I think what's interesting and maybe getting lost a little bit is that this is just the most recent example of AEW doing something very different than the WWE has ever done and actively hyping a signing of someone to a non-kayfabe backstage position to generate buzz and goodwill for the company.

Only Vince Russo (and Ed Ferrara) getting signed to WCW to take over creative comes to mind in the 90s and that was almost immediately criticized by some early online writers/critics/RSPW posters.

And there was obviously some WWE promoting and tweeting about when Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman were hired to steer RAW and SD a couple years ago, though its not like their signings were hyped on screen. With NXT, they've been more open about who the producers/trainers are, but that's also because that brand has always been promoted as "developmental" where having agents and coaches and trainers is built-in to the premise of the show. On SmackDown or RAW, though, it is far, far more likely to see someone like Baron Corbin assume the role of a 100% kayfabe authority than it would be to see Bruce Prichard show up on screen and start booking matches.  

But with Big Show and some other names in the past - Jake Roberts, Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko - it does seem like Tony Khan is trying something a bit outside of the box and not only pulling back the curtain and saying, "Yes, I'm hiring all your former favorites as agents and scouts and coaches because that's how the business works and we're not hiding it." Again, compare that to, say, how Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson were described as Vince's "stooges" (not as producers) whenever they were on-screen. It's a clever marketing move too because wrestling fans have long memories and love nostalgia, two things that a 3-year-old company can't necessarily provide. So, instead, with some key hires, they've now not only built up that connection to NWA/WCW but also the late 90s and early 00s. And they've done it by hiring guys and gals (Serena Deeb comes to mind too) that fans see as true wrestling fans and true wrestling personalities, rather than, y'know, bringing in a Freddie Prinze Jr. or an ESPN reject. 

[Blehschmidt]

1 hour ago, tallmike said:

I genuinely don't know why you wave your ignorance around like a badge of honor.

 

I'm fairly certain both Enforcer and Strobogo are long game troll accounts.

[Enforcer]

I am not. I just do not follow wwe at all. I actually registered here to post in the Dynamite threads but whatever. 

[sek69]

Per Dave, Lio Rush actually signed with New Japan, but they are cool with him working in AEW for now since going to Japan is still a pain in the ass right now. 

[sek69]

Also everyone just kind of assumed Mark Henry was still under some kind of WWE deal (I know I did) and when it turned out he wasn't they just made him an offer. 

He's apparently a good scout of talent as well, so it looks like it's a good signing for them. 

[ragemaster]

I've never been a fan of Mark Henry in ring work and he's only done one great interview in his whole career which in farness was a classic.

But after listening to the interview with Steve Austin, I did become a big fan of the man himself and can now understand why he stayed in the WWE for so long. As guessing the way he talks backstage and carries himself as a person makes him very well liked there.

If they could have tapped into that Mark Henry for his baby face run, he would have been a huge star.

The only worrying thing is the Lacey Von Erich story that's going around, not sure if he's going to gel in the AEW locker room. He may have too many old school sensibilities to work well with the modern mindset.

[Strummer]

Meltz says it looks like the show did a good number (going off streaming numbers)

[Ryan Faulconer]

I was actually NOT looking forward to the PPV at all going into last night.  Almost none of the matches were enticing me one bit.

After biting the bullet I am glad that I did.  I think I liked Shida/Britt more than most.  I almost...fell...for the near falls that Shida was getting.  There was such a buzz in the air for that match.  It had maybe the hottest atmosphere so I guess there is a reason for charging potentially infected Floridians to fill empty seats at Daily’s.

After Britt won it sounded like Tony (of course) was heading down to interview her.  What we got to see was something completely different indeed.  The HUG~! was a powerful image well worth a thousand words. I won’t elaborate any more on what appeared to be such a real moment on a scripted show.  Perhaps I’m just projecting something that isn’t there...The complexity of the relationship between the 63 year old babyface announcer and the 30 year old surging heel face of the women’s division, let’s just say that is a little too nuanced for most wrestling audiences.  It isn’t anything more than what it looks like...and I’m guessing it confuses many wrestling fans weened on ECW and the Attitude Era.

Edited May 31, 2021 by Ryan Faulconer
I just realized this is the wrong thread...for half of what I said

[sek69]

Tony and Britt as the foes who become BFFs was heartwarming, and Tony said if Britt won the title he's give her a hug...which everyone (well at least I did) assumed was just him playfully keeping their faux antagonism going.... then he actually did it!

[Matt D]

5 hours ago, Matt D said:

https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/28786-mark-henry/?page=2

Looking back, I had forgotten I had even wrote that write-up but I think at the time I was sad no one engaged me on it. It was probably pretty late in the process, like my Bock case but at least people find that useful now. 

[Boss Rock]

1 hour ago, Ryan Faulconer said:

I think I liked Shida/Britt more than most.  I almost...fell...for the near falls that Shida was getting. 

So did I. Wasn't a fan of the overbooking in Archer-Miro or the three-way, but I think it worked here. For me personally it added a shred of doubt and drama to a match with a forgone conclusion.

[NintendoLogic]

I decided to check out the tag title match after hearing about the controversy over lax enforcement of the rules of tag team wrestling. I'm All Japan ride or die, so well-executed double-team action is right up my alley. Both teams have to be committed to the concept for it to work, though. If the heels are double-teaming, the illegal babyface should be running in to break it up. Kingston looked like a total chump just standing there on the apron while the Bucks were knocking Moxley around.

[strobogo]

4 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

 

I'm fairly certain both Enforcer and Strobogo are long game troll accounts.

? 

 

 

[Phil Schneider]

6 hours ago, Enforcer said:

I have no clue who Bianca is but if he scouted Tay and Jade then yeah, he could be useful to AEW.  

She literally man evented Wrestlemania, I don’t watch Fast and Furious movies but I wouldn’t post on a movie message board saying I have no clue who Vin Diesel is

[strobogo]

What's a wrestlemania? 

[MoS]

59 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

I decided to check out the tag title match after hearing about the controversy over lax enforcement of the rules of tag team wrestling. I'm All Japan ride or die, so well-executed double-team action is right up my alley. Both teams have to be committed to the concept for it to work, though. If the heels are double-teaming, the illegal babyface should be running in to break it up. Kingston looked like a total chump just standing there on the apron while the Bucks were knocking Moxley around.

I 1000% believe this wouldn't be a thing if JR didn't harp on it consistently, cuz of some bullshit attempt to retain credibility with his equally creepy fanbase of losers

[Johnny Sorrow]

It was a thing here in my living room with me and three 11 year olds who couldn't figure out why Kingston was just standing there and why the ref wasn't doing anything. I read somewhere that on a BTE they showed the Bucks paying that ref. If that's the story, then fine. But they needed to incorporate that into both the commentary and Mox and Eddie reacting to the crooked ref.

[MoS]

In this specific example, I haven't rewatched the entire match yet after getting home, but from what I recall, Kingston tried to come to Mox's rescue the first couple of times, but it would typically backfire cuz the ref would focus just on ejecting him and Mox would get thrashed more. What helped for me was that Kingston's apron work was excellent, and the final hot tag to him reflected that. I remember the crowd just going apeshit.

Regardless, I am not disputing that it might have looked bad and silly at times. I honestly wish AEW would declare lucha rules to apply for some tag teams. Would distinguish their tag matches from WWE, and would also lead for some good storytelling between those teams and more traditional teams like FTR.

[strobogo]

Good to have a full house again. If they go back to this full time, not that I ever tuned into NXT since moving to Tuesdays and only a couple of times since moving to USA at all, Dynamite is going to crush NXT in the energy department. 

 

Page/Cage was fine. Lol at how mad Taz gets on commentary. Also lol that he named his son "Hook" and boy do I hope that's the kid's legit name and his brother's name is Shoot. 

 

Best both Bucks and Mox match I've seen in a long time, although I'm still baffled at how Nick and Matt can be doing the same gimmick and same mannerisms but one feels like a wrestling character and one feels like a bad TV show version of a wrestling character. I guess their schtick works better with a full house, but man Matt Jackson is just....can't stand what that guy is doing. Couldn't help but notice Mox seems to have fully embraced dad bod a little early. Also lmao at that scumbag Steve Keirn beard on Nick and how extra shitty his hair looked colored and combined with the beard. 

 

Battle royal was whatever. Most of the eliminations felt pretty rushed and unmemorable. Definitely not the least interested in seeing Matt Hardy in the ring in any fashion in 2021 so to see him go that deep was bleh. Lio Rush is a good pick up. I feel like Jungle Boy has been in this exact position 4 times now and nothing has come of any of them, and I definitely don't see him taking the belt off of Kenny in this run. 

 

Fuck everything related to this Cody bullshit. What fucking year is this? The usage of veteran charity to get some extra USA chants going for him was both pathetic and gross, then this asshole comes out dressed like it's the Revolutionary War. Thankfully the crowd wasn't really buying into any of this shit and hopefully they can just drop it and move on. I do like that QT wears a Charlie Harper bowling shirt every time he's on TV.  So many problems with this match, from Cody taking a dozen punches from this dude who has been doing one punch kill shots, to out punching an olympic boxer, to doing a fucking vertebreaker to a dude who is only in his second match. That shitty promo that he and AEW doubled down on for a month and for that match where their countries had absolutely nothing to do with anything. 

 

Rusev looking like an absolute beast. I bet Cage would look like a real goof next to Rusev. This was the hoss battle I was hoping for. Miro looks absolutely unbeatable in AEW. Give me the 6 star classic with Omega. 

 

Felt like Baker/Shida started to fall apart somewhere mid way through, which I find to be the case in nearly every Shida match I've seen of her reign where the match just goes on forever, but the back half is just real aimless. Way too many false finishes right at the end there with what felt like 10-12 minutes of nothing going on. The right finish, but they sure took a long route to get there. Few career turn arounds as big  and strong as start of AEW Britt Baker to today. Schiavone being out there to congratulate her was a real nice touch, of course made weird by JR suggesting he's smitten with her, which is not their relationship at all nor has it ever been even hinted at such a thing.

 

Really pleased to see Sting looking as good as he did. In fact I'd say he looked better in this match than he did the last 2, maybe 3 years in TNA. And comparing Sting's performance at 62 to Hogan and Flair around that age is a pretty dramatic difference. Loved the redux of the Diamond Cutter/Death Drop spot. I don't know that I want to see Sting have more matches, but I'm very happy he's been able to go out on his own terms and look good doing it. Sting is truly one of my all time favorites and it genuinely makes me happy like a kid to see him get to rewrite his ending like that.

 

Triple threat was fine, at this point I probably should have paused and finished the show tomorrow. I'm pretty over OC's whole deal. Did lol at Cyrus screaming SHIT SHIT running from the booth when Kenny got hit with the punch. Lmao that they name checked the AAA title but not EITHER of the TNA belts. Not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing that they can get fans chanting bullshit for a Kenny Omega finish. 

 

God Inner Circle has to be the least cool cool guy face stable and it's entirely because of Jericho and his shitty aesthetic that the rest of the group has to adopt like they're also 50 year old biker rocker fucks. How the fuck did Spears get into his chair den with special lighting in the middle of this fight lmao. Fucking dumb. Why the fuck was he singing and dancing during this? Wardlow is literally trying to stab Hager to death in a freezer and in the next segment Spears has set up a spot light for his chair and then dances when he picks up a chair like he's La Parka. I'm real tired of cinematic matches. It made sense for the start of all this COVID era with no fans and stuff, but man it's dumb as hell with a live crowd. I know the one last year was set up like this with everyone going into separate little mini movies, but I think it's dumb and makes no sense and gets way too cute for its own good. There should not have been ANY comedy in this match or the feud. It's not like the first one where it was a special deal and the more light hearted tone made sense. This is supposed to be a legit bloodfeud with attempted murders and shit. Yet at least 60% was comedy punch lines. I'm just thinking....a month ago these guys had a bloody, violent War Games where they tried to end each other's careers, MFJ threw Jericho off the top of a cage. And now this month they're having a match mostly built around comedy punch line spots to pop the crowd. I'm not trying to be some Cornette WRESTLING IN MY DAY GOD DAMN kind of dude. There's a time and a place for fun and playful wrestling and outright comedy. This certainly was neither the time nor the place for such spots. Also sucks to me that the Inner Circle won because Jericho has been an albatross in everything he's been involved with for AEW and I was hoping these guys could get the fuck away from him. Sammy's redemption arc doesn't mean anything to me because the whole thing was rushed and dumb to begin with. 

 

 

 

 

[strobogo]

On 5/30/2021 at 10:48 PM, Enforcer said:

The North Carolina thing is a dig at Hangman right? 

No. It's a reference to Michael Jordan's entrance at games in the 90s. 

[MoS]

This was actually the first time Jungle Boy got over in this spot, which is why it felt so satisfying to everyone there and why he was so gigantic. Prior to this, he basically would always lose the number one contender match. This is the first time he got over that hump, and I liked that bit of storytelling. Of course he will lose to Omega, and he should. Hopefully if things go well, one day he gets over that hump too

[The Man in Blak]

4 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

It was a thing here in my living room with me and three 11 year olds who couldn't figure out why Kingston was just standing there and why the ref wasn't doing anything. I read somewhere that on a BTE they showed the Bucks paying that ref. If that's the story, then fine. But they needed to incorporate that into both the commentary and Mox and Eddie reacting to the crooked ref.

I felt like at least Kingston had a built-in excuse with his knee taking so much punishment earlier on in the match - it’s hard to dive across the ring to break up pins on a bad wheel.

I do agree 1000% on the double teaming, though. If there was actually a crooked ref story being worked, it needed to actually be sold by, well, anybody. It wasn’t in the hype package for the match that they ran twice during the countdown/buy-in, it wasn’t mentioned by commentary (except by JR calling attention to it because it was ridiculous), and it didn’t really get any play in the post-match.

There are ways to try to sell this as a non-crooked ref story - just say the ref didn’t want this title match to end in a DQ unless it was absolutely necessary - but the structure of the match didn’t really support that either. They started with a walk and brawl through the crowd (complete with a Sandman homage), they had a blink-and-miss-it interference cutoff with Kazarian and the Good Brothers, and the end of the match ended up being a non-stop series of double team spots from both teams without any semblance of pushback from the ref.

Why not just make the match a no DQ tornado tag in the first place?