AEW TV March 2/4 2022

[sek69]

Assuming Sinclair is keeping ROH on their same time slots, just that alone is a nice get for AEW. 

[Johnny Sorrow]

1 hour ago, SteveJRogers said:

Except Steen & Generico.

Wasn’t AJ there as part of Bullet Club, or was that after he was turfed?

AJ was there in the early days. I saw AJ vs Punk at the show where Jay Briscoe almost bled to death against Joe in a cage in 2005, I believe. 

[Johnny Sorrow]

So, there is some fun speculation going on that the Cody shit WAS a work, and I guess Tony bought a dead ROH to give Cody a playground to book and be Dusty. And of course there'll be an invasion angle....Done right!  Which it would not. 
It's ridiculous, but I kinda want it to be true.

[SteveJRogers]

15 minutes ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

So, there is some fun speculation going on that the Cody shit WAS a work, and I guess Tony bought a dead ROH to give Cody a playground to book and be Dusty. And of course there'll be an invasion angle....Done right!  Which it would not. 
It's ridiculous, but I kinda want it to be true.

Which is kind of funny with speculation that Cody is going to run NXT 2.0 which I really doubt considering why turf Trips, his protégés and lieutenants, just to replace him with another “one of the boys who thinks he can run an empire.”

[SirEdger]

2 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

So, there is some fun speculation going on that the Cody shit WAS a work, and I guess Tony bought a dead ROH to give Cody a playground to book and be Dusty. And of course there'll be an invasion angle....Done right!  Which it would not. 
It's ridiculous, but I kinda want it to be true.

I see that the denial is very real in some people.

[sek69]

It should be noted that the wording of the press release seemed to go out of its way to specify that Tony Khan personally bought ROH, not AEW Wrestling LLC.  It may sound like rich guy semantics, but it probably means whatever the cost of this was, it won't be on AEW's books directly.

[NintendoLogic]

I am concerned that the ROH purchase is going to accelerate the timetable for burnout on Tony's part. It doesn't seem likely that he'll be doing much delegating if he personally owns the company, and when you add that to his responsibilities with the Jaguars/Fulham/AEW, that probably isn't sustainable for very long.

[SteveJRogers]

4 hours ago, sek69 said:

It should be noted that the wording of the press release seemed to go out of its way to specify that Tony Khan personally bought ROH, not AEW Wrestling LLC.  It may sound like rich guy semantics, but it probably means whatever the cost of this was, it won't be on AEW's books directly.

FWIW Neither Vince, nor Shane ever stated that WWF bought WCW.  Granted Vince was a mega heel and was to fight Shane at WrestleMania, but still, it was never said in kayfabe that WCW was owned by the WWF.

[El-P]

9 hours ago, sek69 said:

I get the feeling that Cole is such a polarizing figure that if you weren't down with him in the main event before, there probably wasn't going to be anything they could do to change your mind.

The thing is, I don't think Adam Cole is really *that* polarizing of a figure. The niche of the niche of the niche has its own bizarre idiosyncrasies (which sometimes had led to honestly comical stands like "Mark Henry is a better pro-wrestler than Shawn Micheals" for instance), but Cole was over as fuck in ROH, then over as fuck in NXT (despite overlong main event style which was a staple of the promotion, not Cole in particular), and is over as fuck in AEW to the point it seemed obvious when he jumped that WWE had fucked up not recognizing a potential main event star. It's like Omega, to a lesser degree, some people for some reason just won't give him his due. Being burned out on his NXT stint probably has played a part, but not acknowledging him as both a great worker and a legit main event player seems kinda odd to me at this point. I don't think he'll win the title now, seems too soon for Page to pass it around, but he absolutely could and it would not shock me at all either. He just has it, whether it's your favorite style or not. Adam vs Adam looks awesome on paper, really, as they display natural chemistry together in the ring already.

Shawn Spears is the best part of Wardlow's act. There, I just said it. I am so not interested in the whole "Big guy sticking his tongue out doing three powerbombs in a row" character. And as much as CM Punk vs MJF has been awesome, I think the Wardlow/MJF stuff has been awkward and the opposite of subtle, as there is really no reason given why MJF acts so poorly toward him (and not toward Spears or FTR). With the never-ending afflux of great talent to the company, I don't see Wardlow as a sustainable long-time push, unless he grows way past his current style and presentation, not to mention in-ring work (which is ok but nothing special, when guys like Archer, Rusev, who has to come back, or Keith Lee are around, hell even green-ass Will Hobbs is much more interesting to me).

Is it me or Britt Baker is losing a little bit of steam ? Time for Thunder Rosa to win the belt and have to hotter women's match on the show, honestly. Fuck, just bring Mickie James over as an outsider already.

Fact, I almost posted a joke about TK buying ROH and then Shane showing up saying he actually bought the company, so I did get a kick out of TK getting the ref out. Well, I did call it a few weeks back too that it was gonna be about getting ROH as a farming system and going into streaming.  Kinda not that surprising either, but still quite an interesting move. Because you know it is all about getting content to sell to a streaming service. 

I though about TK getting burned up with so many hats too, but I feel that if they still do some ROH shows, TK is gonna delegate. I wonder if guys like Danielson or Punk would be interested in working around that project eventually. Of course that Regal fellow is out there, as is Samoa Joe. 

Cody leaving just before TK acquires ROH certainly is a nice bit of irony, too.

[El-P]

Makes it even greater. MJF and Punk are having an all-time classic feud.

[Migs]

11 hours ago, sek69 said:

I believe Tony has said or at least made illusions that he felt AEW didn't quite have enough in the vault yet to warrant a streaming service, so this certainly fills that void. 

Also I guess that means they have All In now too? Any collection of AEW history would have been missing a very key piece without that. 

Probably by far the biggest value here is owning All In. It's a fundamental part of the history that they own now. (And if they do put it on HBO Max, we can all debate whether or not it's appropriate to cut the penis druids.)

The library is also a huge help with a streaming service, I'd think, particularly when it includes most of the non-WWE relevant work for a lot of their top guys (Danielson, Punk, Bucks, Cole, etc.).

The actual ongoing operations of ROH are probably at the bottom of the list. I guess it has some potential to be their OVW. Wonder if they retain the TV deal with Sinclair long term. I guess Sinclair wouldn't be against paying them if its cheaper than the losses of the promotion.

[Tetsujin]

The Punk/MJF rivalry is not only the greatest thing AEW has ever done up to this point, it's becoming one of the best wrestling rivalries I've ever seen, period. Right in front of our very eyes. I hope the Dog Collar match delivers because the build up has been exceptional, with all-time great segments (and I'm not just refering to the deep stuff, the Spears squash for example was very well done, six man tags involving Darby, Sting and FTR, the Wardlow-MJF dynamic...). Wonderful feud, really.

[SteveJRogers]

BTW, re-read the post I quoted about “Tony Khan” not “AEW” being the owner, and saw it was about the press release and not Tony’s promo.  

So the analogy of Vince and Shane, not “WWF” kayfabe-ing “buying WCW” as essentially their mid-life crisis major splurge purchase doesn’t quite match, unless you can say AEW often blends kayfabe and shoot in their releases.

But I’m sure that is all semantics for corporation liability/branding/taxation etc issues.  

It may even just be a PR thing where they don’t want to been seen as slimy as promotions purchasing dead or about to be dead assets of other promotions in the past, so they put the owner’s name as the purchaser instead of the corporation name.

[Migs]

13 hours ago, sek69 said:

I don't remember him in ROH as part of the Bullet Club, pretty sure that was only in New Japan

AJ did a fair bit in ROH while he was with NJ. A lot of six mans with the Bucks but pretty sure he had some title matches too.

[Migs]

12 hours ago, SteveJRogers said:

So the Prince Devitt era, and post start of AEW are the only times Bullet Club wasn’t involved in ROH?

Bullet Club was in ROH post-AEW (GOD were the tag champs in 2019). White was supposed to be on an ROH show Wrestlemania weekend 2020. It only stopped during the pandemic, as when ROH came back the NJ relationship seemed essentially dead.

[SteveJRogers]

6 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

I am concerned that the ROH purchase is going to accelerate the timetable for burnout on Tony's part. It doesn't seem likely that he'll be doing much delegating if he personally owns the company, and when you add that to his responsibilities with the Jaguars/Fulham/AEW, that probably isn't sustainable for very long.

I’m wondering if plans are in place to get him to be a more heelish character, or at least hand the kayfabe/public appearances duties off to someone.

I don’t know why…well I can imagine why… but his promo seemed way too overly excited for what was being announced, but in a “should be a turn seed planting” way.  

I’m not saying he needs to be like Vince’s maniacal scene chewing performance on that Raw following the WCW purchase, but the promo did seem like the type of promo that had “sinister” machinations behind it.

[El-P]

14 minutes ago, SteveJRogers said:

I don’t know why…well I can imagine why… but his promo seemed way too overly excited for what was being announced, but in a “should be a turn seed planting” way.  

I dunno if you've seen a lot of TK, but he's always like that when he's excited to talk about pro-wrestling. He was actually much cooler when he was cutting actual heel promos on IMPACT TV with Schiavone. This simply looked like Coach Tony K. being excited to announce he had purchased ROH. 

[Childs]

5 hours ago, El-P said:

The thing is, I don't think Adam Cole is really *that* polarizing of a figure. The niche of the niche of the niche has its own bizarre idiosyncrasies (which sometimes had led to honestly comical stands like "Mark Henry is a better pro-wrestler than Shawn Micheals" for instance), but Cole was over as fuck in ROH, then over as fuck in NXT (despite overlong main event style which was a staple of the promotion, not Cole in particular), and is over as fuck in AEW to the point it seemed obvious when he jumped that WWE had fucked up not recognizing a potential main event star. It's like Omega, to a lesser degree, some people for some reason just won't give him his due. Being burned out on his NXT stint probably has played a part, but not acknowledging him as both a great worker and a legit main event player seems kinda odd to me at this point. I don't think he'll win the title now, seems too soon for Page to pass it around, but he absolutely could and it would not shock me at all either. He just has it, whether it's your favorite style or not. Adam vs Adam looks awesome on paper, really, as they display natural chemistry together in the ring already.

Did you think that last segment felt like the setup for a hot title match on top of a loaded card? I just didn't get that from it at all.

You're right about the general perception of Cole, and I can't deny that he's gotten over in multiple places. But he is at the top of the "I don't get it" list. With Omega, I get why he irritates people, but he's hit some incredible peaks over the last 5-6 years. Same thing for the Young Bucks, especially as heels. But with Cole, I just don't see it. Unimpressive athlete, unremarkable mechanic, given to the worst excesses of modern wrestling. I'm at a loss for why anyone finds him captivating while acknowledging that is a niche opinion.

[El-P]

7 minutes ago, Childs said:

Did you think that last segment felt like the setup for a hot title match on top of a loaded card? 

Yep.

Plus, to me it speaks volume of the confidence they have in both guys to end the show and apparently the PPV when CM Punk vs MJF and Mox vs Danielson are on the same card.

I'm still getting to know Adam Cole, really, as my viewing of him has been very scattered to say the least before AEW, but although I get why he would irritate some people and how his unimpressive frame and athletic abilities would turn other (or the same) people off, but I've seen enough already to get the feeling he's a master at this game. Quite impressed thus far, especially by the way he carries himself and the little things he does. In a way I kinda see a bit of Raven's work in him.

[Flyin' Brian]

Caught part of Dynamite live, watched the rest afterwards. 

Tony Khan acquires ROH - Probably mostly for footage for a future streaming service, which makes me more excited for it. I'm cautiously optimistic we will get something cool out of this storyline wise. If nothing else, hopefully more good wrestling to watch which is something I'll never complain about.

Bryan Danielson and Mox promo - Really looking forward to this match and Revolution in general.

Casino Tag Team Battle Royal - Still think it's weird to have two tag team battle royals back to back, but at least they were entertaining. The depth of the tag team division is great, and nice to see it on display. Young Bucks winning was a bit predictable after ReDragon did last week, but they are furthering that storyline and that's ok. Was hoping for a surprise tag team, especially with the ROH news, but it was still good. 

Jericho/Kingston - Another match that I am looking forward to as long as Jericho makes Kingston look good and puts him over. 

CM Punk/MJF - saw the kick to the balls coming a mile away, but still a great segment in a great feud. I like MJF and always have in AEW, but sometimes I haven't liked the directions he's gone in. This has been money, and he's still growing by leaps and bounds as a performer which is something considering how good he already is. I'll second liking that wrestlers have some friends or at least that the other babyfaces will act like babyfaces and come out to help when someone is getting killed by a bunch of people. 

Rosa/Martinez vs Baker/Hayter - Little disappointed to see Rosa win on TV because she's probably losing on PPV then, but AEW might surprise me. Still looking forward to the match. 

Wardlow squash - glad to see something different from Wardlow, for whatever reason he decided tonight that he wasn't going to let Spears use his chair to beat on a fallen opponent. I don't see them pulling the trigger on anything until MJF is done with Punk, and maybe not until MJF wins the World Championship. MJF is probably the one to dethrone Page when the time comes. 

Main event was ok, hoping for a good match Sunday. 

Revolution is stacked. I don't see any filler or a bad match on the card. Part of having so long to build to the PPV's, part of having a stacked roster. Wish I had some people to watch with, but I'll be watching either way. 

 

[C.S.]

I've never been a huge fan of Adam Cole, but he has presence, carries himself well, and sounds believable on the mic. The NXT feud with Kyle O'Reilly really highlighted Cole's strengths in those departments and O'Reilly's weaknesses. Their joint dueling promos were like Robert De Niro sharing a scene with Carrot Top.

[Flyin' Brian]

2 hours ago, C.S. said:

I've never been a huge fan of Adam Cole, but he has presence, carries himself well, and sounds believable on the mic. The NXT feud with Kyle O'Reilly really highlighted Cole's strengths in those departments and O'Reilly's weaknesses. Their joint dueling promos were like Robert De Niro sharing a scene with Carrot Top.

I admit that I haven’t seen a lot of Adam Cole, but every time I see him the first thing that pops into my head is Dollar Store Shawn Michaels. 

[MoS]

9 hours ago, El-P said:

The thing is, I don't think Adam Cole is really *that* polarizing of a figure. The niche of the niche of the niche has its own bizarre idiosyncrasies (which sometimes had led to honestly comical stands like "Mark Henry is a better pro-wrestler than Shawn Micheals" for instance), but Cole was over as fuck in ROH, then over as fuck in NXT

Why do you care so much about what other people think, to the point you feel the need to rant about it every time you share an opinion of your own?

Also do you not see the irony of making use of that old jdw line of niche of a niche of a niche while defending *Adam Cole*, the guy who until 3 months ago, was barely a blip on the mainstream US wrestling scene?

[strobogo]

The work MJF is doing in the Punk feud is definitely a million times better than that stretch of doing nothing but shock jock cheap heat shit.

[El-P]

23 minutes ago, MoS said:

Why do you care so much about what other people think, to the point you feel the need to rant about it every time you share an opinion of your own?

Coming from the guy who had to write *every* *single* *week* how much he hated the Good Brothers (and later Matt Hardy, for a while at least) and how you wish they would go away when they were on TV with no other argument than "they're geeks", it's kinda rich, honestly. I mean, no offense, but it seems you're the one taking it personally now, really, for whatever reason...

I'm not ranting nor do I care one bit about the opinions of others in term of my own enjoyment, I'm just discussing pro-wrestling on PWO. I know, the audacity. As I said, I don't think Adam Cole is that much of a polarizing figure, not as much as Omega was for instance (while at the same time never receiving the same kind of praise Omega got, which I guess is also why he is not as much of a polarizing figure), and I gave my reason why, recontextualizing the whole thing. 

23 minutes ago, MoS said:

Also do you not see the irony of making use of that old jdw line of niche of a niche of a niche while defending *Adam Cole*, the guy who until 3 months ago, was barely a blip on the mainstream US wrestling scene?

Are you serious ? He was the main star on NXT for literally YEARS. Including when it was on *national TV* in the midst of a pro-wrestling war. He got a huge, main event star pop when he showed up on PPV for arguably the second biggest pro-wrestling company in the world. What, you think he would not have gotten that pop in WWE either (for instance, debuting at the Royal Rumble) because NXT doesn't matter on the mainstream US wrestling scene ? Come one now... It's not like we're talking about a guy who was having "hidden gems" on obscure indies and then appeared magically on TV. It's the same mentality that had WWE people think people would not know about AJ Styles because he was a TNA guy, and no one knew about TNA, of course...