AEW Double or Nothing 2023

[Perfectly Straightedge]

Yeah, that was a mask. I never heard of the band but the Superkick sell was awesome though! 

[Dav'oh]

Someone gave Mox a dirty look and he started bleeding.

[C.S.]

15 minutes ago, Jmare007 said:

Surprised at how little the crowd reacted to both coffin drops by Darby. Thought they were done perfectly as nearfalls but Jungle Boy teasing using the belt got a bigger reaction.

Proof that fans don't pop for MOVEZ as much as storytelling and character work. There's a lesson to be learned in that, but will most of the wrestlers who need to learn it actually do so? Probably not.

This is nothing against Darby, BTW, who I like. 

[Perfectly Straightedge]

Ahhhh my "legal" stream trolled our chat with CM Punk's theme playing. Boo......Had me confused.

[Jmare007]

Mox's kicks to the head are offensively bad, he gotta stop doing them,

[Dav'oh]

I shouldn't pop for thumbtack spots at my age but that was a good one.

[Jmare007]

Tony better save Ibushi's debut for a crowd that gonna lose it's shit for it.

[sek69]

I thought the show was pretty good all in all, I was surprised at Jamie Hayter losing. I figured it was so she could win it back in Wembley, but apparently she's legit injured. 

[Robert S]

Can someone explain to me what they see in Wardlow? He sucks in the ring, is not that big (at least not very tall) and is average at best on the mic. AA "biting" off Luchasaurus thumb was about as dumb as Rey "losing" his eye a couple of years ago.

I could have also done without the TNA special at the end of the tag title match. Two refs getting bumped with gimmick shots without a DQ, a manager trying to physically prevent a ref from entering the ring, people getting thrown out of the arena without leaving etc.

[Embrodak]

MJF saying he’s fine with not main eventing because he doesn’t want to roll around in Moxley’s blood is pretty funny.

Overall, seems like the company is kinda low on juice right now, despite All In selling great and the new TV deal. WWE has the hot hand, even with Vince being back, however reduced his involvement in the day-to-day.

[Timbo Slice]

A lot of it is that Tony is trying different things all at once and they aren’t really working that well. I know he likes keeping things fresh, but you run into issues pushing folks into roles the crowd isn’t ready to respond to. 

[MLB]

3 hours ago, Embrodak said:

MJF saying he’s fine with not main eventing because he doesn’t want to roll around in Moxley’s blood is pretty funny.

He also says closing a show with the world title match is "dead". I guess that's a bit of a hot take, but maybe he's right.

[sek69]

I mean if you have a match like Anarchy in the Arena it has to close the show, especially if you're going to do an angle like that at the end. Its pretty much been the rule in AEW that the world title match closes the show unless there's a special attraction like that on the card. 

[KawadaSmile]

3 hours ago, MLB said:

He also says closing a show with the world title match is "dead". I guess that's a bit of a hot take, but maybe he's right.

Sounds like he just needs to get good!

[The Man in Blak]

6 hours ago, sek69 said:

I mean if you have a match like Anarchy in the Arena it has to close the show, especially if you're going to do an angle like that at the end. Its pretty much been the rule in AEW that the world title match closes the show unless there's a special attraction like that on the card. 

Anarchy in the Arena didn’t close the show last year. It wasn’t even the second-to-last match!

I mean, I get it - the “four pillars” story is one of the most ineffective title programs that they’ve ever done, so I can certainly understand the urge to punt. But if the idea was to try and legitimize the three challengers as PPV main event players, then I feel like they should have actually put them in the main event.

When they’ve deferred to an attraction like Stadium Stampede, it’s been in situations where they clearly had placeholder challengers like Brodie Lee (RIP) or virtually non-existent builds like the three way with Pac, Omega and OC. Whether the four pillars feud was *good* is sort of immaterial to the fact that they put a lot of energy into it and then treated it in a kinda self-defeating way when the chips were down (pun intended).

[strobogo]

The year is 2023.

 

Sabu is doing table spots in a suit. Jeff Jarrett, Christian, Dustin Rhodes, and Billy Gunn are in title matches. The Jackyl is involved in the main event angle. Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone are on commentary.

[Jmare007]

9 hours ago, The Man in Blak said:

Anarchy in the Arena didn’t close the show last year. It wasn’t even the second-to-last match!

I mean, I get it - the “four pillars” story is one of the most ineffective title programs that they’ve ever done, so I can certainly understand the urge to punt. But if the idea was to try and legitimize the three challengers as PPV main event players, then I feel like they should have actually put them in the main event.

When they’ve deferred to an attraction like Stadium Stampede, it’s been in situations where they clearly had placeholder challengers like Brodie Lee (RIP) or virtually non-existent builds like the three way with Pac, Omega and OC. Whether the four pillars feud was *good* is sort of immaterial to the fact that they put a lot of energy into it and then treated it in a kinda self-defeating way when the chips were down (pun intended).

Considering how the feud went, I don't buy the idea of giving them the main event making any difference whatsoever to the status of any of the three challengers (and MJF's is kinda set already in that regard after Revolution). They also were the semi main event, which didn't make the title match look 2nd rate or less important, imo, so I don't see anything wrong with the card placement of the last two matches.

[Robert S]

15 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

Sounds like he just needs to get good!

Or they should stop doing 4 hour shows.

[Migs]

2 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

Considering how the feud went, I don't buy the idea of giving them the main event making any difference whatsoever to the status of any of the three challengers (and MJF's is kinda set already in that regard after Revolution). They also were the semi main event, which didn't make the title match look 2nd rate or less important, imo, so I don't see anything wrong with the card placement of the last two matches.

I think they did a good job of moving the other three guys upwards a bit, but it's of course the followup that matters and what Tony has struggled with. What are their next programs that keep them at a higher level and don't just send them back to the midcard?

[strobogo]

Couple of thoughts:

 

Orange Cassidy is more unbeatable than Roman. Guy had 20 straight defenses and then beat 20 guys at once.

Watched the opening moments of Jericho/Cole, saw Sabu doing a table spot in a suit, knew things couldn't top that, so skipped to the end. Kind of weird fans were booing the finish.

Some classic old school fuckery in the tag match.

Wardlow is SO cold. Shit is wild. Not since Samson has a haircut ruined a man. What the fuck was with the Arn biting Lucha's thumb to the bone spot lmao. Christian would have been ideal for the TNT Championship. Give him a Regal/Arn style TV Championship run to work with young guys every week for three months.

Pleasantly surprised with Taya/Jade as I've never been impressed with Taya. It will be interesting to see where Jade goes, as recovery after a long win streak ending is usually hard for any character in any era.

Pillars match had some overly cutesy stuff, but also a lot of really cool stuff. MJF's screaming shit and fuck during matches is corny as hell.

Bummer that the BCC/Elite feud is primarily garbage brawl stuff when there are so many great match ups that could go on for months.

[KawadaSmile]

If MJF truly is responsible for the Four Pillars feud, I am more than ready to start spreading the narrative that he's purposefuly tanking every possible talent in his age group that could share the spotlight with him.

Wardlow was over, had to take a backseat to MJF's bidding war shit. Not that feuding with bodyguards helped anything. Now, two of the pillars actually look less ready for a main event spot than before. Darby still stands, thanks to being Sting's son.

Ricky Starks better stand up.

[Jmare007]

At this point, who "should" take the title from MJF: Ricky or Darby (with a side headlock takeover)?

[Jmare007]

2 hours ago, Migs said:

I think they did a good job of moving the other three guys upwards a bit, but it's of course the followup that matters and what Tony has struggled with. What are their next programs that keep them at a higher level and don't just send them back to the midcard?

I think Darby was able to establish himself as a legit option for main event programs and the other two got kinda exposed as "not there" or "not there yet". But being able to have that kinda of evidence made that program worth it, imo.

At the same time, I totally understand the frustration for it. There's only 4-5 PPV title programs each year and using one of those as a test drive wont please everyone.

[KawadaSmile]

1 hour ago, Jmare007 said:

At this point, who "should" take the title from MJF: Ricky or Darby (with a side headlock takeover)?

CM Punk. Not even joking.

[Jmare007]

31 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

CM Punk. Not even joking.

I get it in theory but maybe dude is made out of glass at this point of his career. You really want another tournament to crown an Interim Champ that will eventually become the regular Champ? I would wait and see how Punk does after All In and All Out before putting him in that mix.