AEW TV 12/4-12-10 Prince Nana in a NASCAR firesuit

[sek69]

That makes the show for me.

[MoS]

A much better episode and also a much hotter crowd. Seems like a chicken-and-egg thing. Which one is the cause and which one is the effect?

[El-P]

7 hours ago, MoS said:

A much better episode and also a much hotter crowd. Seems like a chicken-and-egg thing. Which one is the cause and which one is the effect?

Exactly my thoughts.

I do enjoy the stuff they do with vignettes and backstage stuff with Renee's interview set (and even, *gasp* the Jericho self-cringe stuff announcing matches).

Apart from the useless Battle Royal, whose result was a given, this episode was tons of fun top to bottom.

[Blehschmidt]

That was one of the worst battle royals I have ever seen, and I am a sucker for a battle royal. Other than the Top Flight elimination, that whole thing was just lifeless. 

Adam Cole is terrible.

 

Seriously, can we trade Cole, O'Reilly, Strong, Bennett, Taven, and MJF to WWE for I dunno..... Pete Dunne, they aren't doing shit with him.

[DMJ]

Surprised to see the love for this week's episode, though I only watched the first hour.

Starting the show off with a heel/heel match was...a choice. The crowd was hot, but that match probably would've died if it had happened in one of the larger, mostly empty venues they were booking up until a few weeks ago. The smaller venue plan is a good one, but I just don't know why TK would think that kicking off the show with Shelton Benjamin and Kyle Fletcher was a good idea. Especially when you have White/PAC and Swerve/Caster on the same show. If your wrestling show starts with 30 minutes and the crowd has nobody to cheer for, there's something wrong with your card. It also doesn't help either guy to become "the de facto babyface" even for one night if the long-term plan is to have them as viable heels. 

The battle royale was bad in every way and almost felt like TK trolling the audience. Cole is the only guy to get an entrance? I mean, we all knew he'd be one of the winners but why not at least pretend? Speaking of pretend, the finish was just insulting and I felt bad for Archer and The Butcher (I think?) for having to pretend like two dudes the size of Cole and O'Reilly could eliminate them. Again, feels almost like trolling with how they're pushing Cole.

HOOK's promo would've sounded amateurish at your local armory promotion being put on by trainees. Woeful stuff there. 

Swerve/Caster should've been even more one-sided. I also didn't actually like the post-match attack - not because Caster didn't deserve it or it made Swerve look too heelish, but because the double-stomp takes participation from the guy on the receiving end so you had Caster, who was lifeless as Swerve was climbing on the rope, have to sit up to "take" the move. Would've preferred him ending the match with the Stomp and then just House Call'ing him during the post-match or, hell, just House Call'ing him repeatedly until a bunch of officials have to stop him.

Silly little things, but right now, I feel like AEW's "coldness" is real "death by a million cuts."




 

[El-P]

1 hour ago, DMJ said:

HOOK's promo would've sounded amateurish at your local armory promotion being put on by trainees. Woeful stuff there. 

For all the shit I give to WWE for their outlandish nepotism policy, Hook being still pushed and protected like he's something special is ridiculous now. The guy being over as hell was a cult thing that is long forgotten. If he wasn't Taz's boy, he would be at best getting some wins on ROH and doing jobs on Rampage. The only notable match he ever had was Samoa Joe beating the living fuck out of him. He's still a rookie. A rookie should not be protected. See also, Cargill, Jade (who at least had the great presentation and for a while was fun in squash matches).

1 hour ago, DMJ said:

but because the double-stomp takes participation from the guy on the receiving end so you had Caster, who was lifeless as Swerve was climbing on the rope, have to sit up to "take" the move.

That's always been a pet peeve of mine with Swerve. I love his work, but the double stomp is annoying because it requires the person taking it do do something that is*never* done otherwise, including the placement on the mat (unless you're facing Doink). It's a "You can't powerbomb Kidman" type of thing, in a way.

[El-P]

And so Jericho's opponent for ROH Final Battle at the Hammerstein is... Matt Cardona ? What in the actual fuck ? I wonder if there's some GCW fuckery going on too. 

[MoS]

On 12/6/2024 at 2:50 AM, Blehschmidt said:

That was one of the worst battle royals I have ever seen, and I am a sucker for a battle royal. Other than the Top Flight elimination, that whole thing was just lifeless. 

Adam Cole is terrible.

 

Seriously, can we trade Cole, O'Reilly, Strong, Bennett, Taven, and MJF to WWE for I dunno..... Pete Dunne, they aren't doing shit with him.

Adam Cole has never been good, and he is particularly bad now. It's really weird that TK got so many 2019-21 NXT talents - and feuds! - to AEW and made them central to his booking....after two years of kicking their ass so badly that they did an entire revamp of the show. 

Trying to think of ex-WWE hires (made after AEW was already established, so between 2020-present) who have actually made a difference for the better. I won't include Punk in this because while he is "ex-WWE", it's a unique set of circumstances. Dragon has been a huge, unqualified positive. Swerve is awesome, and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands and showed us all that he isn't just a good wrestler, but also a tremendous promo, and his charisma has really shined through and gone to the next level in the last year, taking him along to the next level as well. And although a section of fans don't like them, I think FTR has also overall been an excellent addition to the company, not just in the tag division, but also as part of alliances feuding with and wrestling other such alliances. I am a massive Mercedes fan, but she has been quite spotty, with some very good stuff mixed with some boring/bad angles. 

Christian has been tremendous in certain angles and stories, but is now losing his effect due to repetitive, predictable, uninspired booking and storylines. 

Which other ex-WWE hire made after AEW was already established as a legit major-league national promotion has made a proper positive impact? 

[El-P]

38 minutes ago, MoS said:

And although a section of fans don't like them, I think FTR has also overall been an excellent addition to the company, not just in the tag division, but also as part of alliances feuding with and wrestling other such alliances. I am a massive Mercedes fan, but she has been quite spotty, with some very good stuff mixed with some boring/bad angles. 

FTR, what ? These guys are beloved. Well, Dax has had a terrible social media game, but apart from that. And quite frankly, why the fuck are they settled into an angle with the flavor of the months Outrunners (who's hype is massively overrated) at a time the tag team division is weak as hell ?

Mercedes has had a rough start, but once she has settled into being her awesome worker self, she's been a delight to watch. Hopefully that Kamille nonsense is over too.

Who else ? Well, Claudio, obviously. And really, when you look back at the entire stint until now, Malakai & Buddy have been really consistent, despite the never ending rumors of them wanting out. 

Oh, that Toni Storm fellow too, whatever happened to her somewhere in Mexico or Tokyo...

[El-P]

40 minutes ago, MoS said:

Christian has been tremendous in certain angles and stories, but is now losing his effect due to repetitive, predictable, uninspired booking and storylines. 

The "cash-in" stuff is one particular WWE trope I really never wanted in AEW. The "delayed cash-in" stuff is even worse (and yes, they are doing the exact same in TNA with Kazarian right now).

[NintendoLogic]

I'd say Adam Copeland has been a net positive for AEW. I suppose it helps that he got injured before he could run the risk of wearing out his welcome.

Minor pedantic note: shouldn't the plural form of battle royal be battles royal? Battle is the noun and royal is the modifier.

[El-P]

The Copeland/Christian feud was cringe as hell and total TNA-lite.

Copeland having fun doing random matches against random people doing stuff he would never have done in WWE was fun.

35 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Minor pedantic note: shouldn't the plural form of battle royal be battles royal? Battle is the noun and royal is the modifier.

Never understood why it was not called Royal Battle anyways. I mean, it is called the Royal Rumble, not the other way around. Since "royal" is a French word, it always triggered me that the name was basically constructed like it would be in French instead of English. 

[Stiva]

9 hours ago, El-P said:

And so Jericho's opponent for ROH Final Battle at the Hammerstein is... Matt Cardona ? What in the actual fuck ? I wonder if there's some GCW fuckery going on too. 

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 

[MoS]

Toni and Claudio are definitely good examples of positive difference-makers. Not sure about Copeland  

[MikeCampbell]

A big shocker on Collision last night with 

Spoiler

Kyler Fletcher beating Okada.

 

The whole tournament has made for some great TV over the last couple of weeks. Also, Lio Rush and Action Andretti seem to be splitting off from Top Flight. And the biggest takeaway from the segment is that Leila Grey is the best promo of the whole lot of them.

[El-P]

Collision was another proof that smaller buildings with dynamic crowds is much better. Can't wait until they book smaller buildings regularly next year.

Really good show too with three killer CC matches.

Gotta love Serena Deeb's T-shirt too. That's some nice trolling.

[Blehschmidt]

5 hours ago, MikeCampbell said:

A big shocker on Collision last night with 

  Hide contents

Kyler Fletcher beating Okada.

 

The whole tournament has made for some great TV over the last couple of weeks. Also, Lio Rush and Action Andretti seem to be splitting off from Top Flight. And the biggest takeaway from the segment is that Leila Grey is the best promo of the whole lot of them.

 

I feel like they need to have Leila Grey turn on the lot of them and put her with a strong heel, like when Francine turned on The Pitbulls and went to Shane Douglas. She looks great, she can bump, and she can talk a little.

[NintendoLogic]

Samoa Joe would surely count as a positive difference-maker from WWE, wouldn't he? Just about everyone (myself included) thought he was cooked after his last NXT run, but he's overdelivered in a major way.

[El-P]

2 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

 

I feel like they need to have Leila Grey turn on the lot of them and put her with a strong heel, like when Francine turned on The Pitbulls and went to Shane Douglas. She looks great, she can bump, and she can talk a little.

Agreed about the comparison, but really I feel she should turn on Top Flight and go with Lio/Andretti. Andretti as a heel will allow him to develop his character, he always came off kinda douchebagy to be. Maybe the hair. But all five of them should be more over and up in status when all it's said and done. If done right of course.

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

Samoa Joe would surely count as a positive difference-maker from WWE, wouldn't he? Just about everyone (myself included) thought he was cooked after his last NXT run, but he's overdelivered in a major way.

Oh, for sure. I really wasn't thinking of Joe as a "coming from WWE guy" for some reason. The fact he really has that indie cred and pedigree (including years of TNA) probably. Can't wait until Joe and Eddie come back eventually.

[Tetsujin]

Gotta admit, I was so saddened by Juice's injury but Komander has proven to be a great replacement. Really cool matches with Ricochet and Darby, and I can't wait to see him being demolished by Claudio and Brody.

Fletcher is becoming surprisingly good in this heel run. The choice of giving him such an advantage on his block makes me believe he might not go into the semifinals, even though I know the Ospreay rematch is right there. I desperately want García to win the whole thing and I believe they might be booking the Blue league with that in mind; Dani/Fletcher should be the ultimate Blue league match (because obviously Okada is gonna go through).

[KingBoggs33]

lol Toni Storm comes back and they instantly book her on Rampage. The show nobody watches or cares about. 

TK is completely clueless. What a dumb booking decision. 

[sek69]

Speaking of Toni Storm, she seemed to be caught off guard at the reaction to her returning and was visibly trying to hold back tears.

Also forget the Rampage thing, why did she come back in her old gimmick? The Timeless bit seemed like it still had some life, and having Mariah just kill it by winning one mach seemed an almost disrespectful way to end something that was over.

[MikeCampbell]

On 12/8/2024 at 12:18 PM, Blehschmidt said:

I feel like they need to have Leila Grey turn on the lot of them and put her with a strong heel, like when Francine turned on The Pitbulls and went to Shane Douglas. She looks great, she can bump, and she can talk a little.

I'm honestly surprised she was even with them all in the first place. When they were first put together, and Top Flight was doing the program with MXM, I was positive that she was turning on them then, and being the new Maxxine Dupree.