AEW TV Megathread

[El-P]

Forget it. I loved pretty much everything about this week's show. Smaller building (which is the way to go), hot crowd, excellent matches all night, cool vignette and backstage interviews, good lead-in to PPV matches. Nice !

Toni Storm coming back as her old self is an interesting bet. I much prefer this version of her anyway and after the while, the gimmick, as fun as it was, was only gonna go in circles. Not to say they can't bring it back eventually for special occasions, Cactus Jack style.

[El-P]

Gotta say, Willie Mack being pulled off from the GCW shows but being booked out of nowhere to Final Battle is a hoot. Good for him. Use Willie Mack more !

Also, Athena is going to the Tokyo Dome. Well, now, that's a legit "you deserve it" moment.

[Blehschmidt]

When is AEW going.to realize that they have a huge babyface just waiting to be unleashed in Harley Cameron.

She's attractive, she's charismatic, she's hilarious. She sells really well, and her offense is getting better. 

I truly think there is major potential there for her to get over really well as a babyface, and they certainly need it, cause right now they have two heel champions and almost no contenders.

[El-P]

Harley Cameron is awesome.

But it's tricky. She's basically a rookie. She's had 52 matches in two years. She needs reps. But AEW doesn't have a developmental circuit (some might argue ROH kinda is, but not really. Maybe it should too). So they have her work reps on TV and loose a lot. Which hurts her perception. And the whole "It's your turn now" booking is the laziest and less effective and compelling thing ever (see Private Party, which only worked because the Young Bucks are just that great inside the ring). She needs to win. Not being protected in a ridiculous fashion like Hook (or Jade Cargill), but certainly win quite a lot more than she does now. Also, babyface eventually, but the whole wacky character is more conducive to heel work at least at first. To me she kinda is a case of heel-that-people-love who eventually turn babyface organically. The last tricky part is that she may be too funny for her own good. Then again, she's not Chelsea Green of IIconics in that she actually shows a shitload of potential already as far as in-ring work goes. I would send her to Stardom not just for a tour, but for 6 months, sign an extension with her and then bring her back as a star. 

[El-P]

Ok, so Toni Storm is 100% doing Mick Foley. And if done *right*, and Storm has proven before she can get over any kind of crazy shit, it could be pretty entertaining. And of course the payoff would be the actual return of Timeless Toni Storm. Some people are gonna hate it because it's not "realistic" or "serious enough", but nothing about Timeless Toni Storm ever was (which never was an issue when it was time for blood angles either), so that actually fit the long arc of the character. 

Also, Thunder Rosa getting a PPV title shot at Mariah May doesn't make any sense, but Thunder Rosa vs Mariah May in a street-fight, yeah, whatever, I'm sold.

[MoS]

Darby v. Ospreay is a late contender for TV match of the year. 

[Matt D]

Here’s where I landed on Darby vs Ospreay: 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2024/12/aew-five-fingers-of-death-1216-1222.html?m=1

[sek69]

On 12/15/2024 at 6:07 AM, El-P said:

Also, Thunder Rosa getting a PPV title shot at Mariah May doesn't make any sense, but Thunder Rosa vs Mariah May in a street-fight, yeah, whatever, I'm sold.

My thought process when they announced that was "well that makes no sense, but fuck it, that match is gonna bang"

[El-P]

Darby vs Ospreay was awesome, but I was too depressed by the dogshit Hurt Syndicate stuff earlier on (and Toni Storm wasn't enough to bring me back) to pay much attention to it. Gotta watch it again some time I guess. 

Meanwhile, it's Final Battle at Hammerstein, with ROH bringing the most whatever show possible in the cult venue. Athena vs Billie Starks had so much more momentum last year.

[Blehschmidt]

Between Rampage and Collision, it would seem we are in for some more of the never ending Kris Statlander push, because apparently there is absolutely no one else in the womens division....

[El-P]

Final Battle was a clear sign that Coach TK either : is completely toasted as a booker / ROH is now run out of escalation of commitment and nothing else. Either way, despite some really good matches and legit fun moments, the show overall was a complete downer, marred by totally idiotic booking decisions. And NO, at this point I do not care at all about a ROH TV deal. This ship has sailed. Even if there's a ROH TV show, guess what, I have no faith it'll be anything different from what ROH has been this year : a sub-Rampage show that's mainly a chore to watch. AEW was at its best when it was only Dynamite + 4 PPV's a year. That's the reality. Of course, getting TV right asks for something else, but more and more shows have only diluted the interests and hurt the booking in the grand scheme of things. Keeping ROH active was never ever a good idea, and right now this is getting ridiculous.

Jericho vs Cardona killed the Hammerstein. Cardona's indy troll character was very fun for a while. Just plain Cardona is just that. Jericho winning way past the point of the crowd somewhat caring about the match sucked whatever energy was left in that building. Not that the crowd was wanting Cardona to win, really. By the end, they just did not care, but Jericho winning was the worst. And then a shitty comeback for the ages. After weeks of fun vignettes on AEW TV, Bandido makes is comeback at the worst time imaginable on a ROH show. And it's not like he got a big pop anyway because guess what : it is not 2019 anymore. No one in the curent audience remembers nor cares that Bandido was the ROH champ during the company's dying days. It's barely a "cool" reference. And of course, Bandido concusses himself, on top of it.

And then Athena winning is ridiculous. It's not to say the program had nearly the same hype and energy it had last year anyway (pro-wrestling needs to be done with these overlong programs, they miss their peak 95% of the times), and Billie may not be ready to carry a world title belt (whatever that one means), as (really) good as she is. But guess what ? IT DID NOT MATTER. Billie NEEDED to win. She lost twice in a row now. That makes her entire storyline a complete downer and a waste, no matter how good the match was (and it was damn good, and Athena is awesome). And why in the EVERLOVING FUCK isn't Athena on AEW TV every fucking week mixing it up for the AEW title ? It's a joke.

The one feel-good moment was Kommander winning the TV title after a terrific Survivor whatever they call it elimination match. Blake Christian should also be on TV every week. Great worker and great hateable heel. But of course, what is the VERY FIRST thing they show after Kommader great celebration in the ring ? Well, the C2 standings of course, with right of the middle of your screen : Kommander = 0. Nice. That also means that all the guy in the matches must be zeros too then. Straight out of WCW/TNA playbook. Incredible. Not to mention, you really have to promote AEW on that Final Battle show that only the hardcore of the hardcore of your dwindling audience is watching anyway ? 

Nigel coming back to the Hammerstein and it was indeed awesome. Loved the match with Moriarty, who is a complete joy to watch. 

The battle of the Macho Men was fun as hell. Extra points for Karen as Sensational Sherri.

Enjoyed Leila Hirsch vs Red Velvet quite a bit despite some rough spots. 

Shibata vs El Hijo del Dynamite Kid and Mansour vs Atlantis was random as hell. Enjoyable to some degrees but random as hell and stuff right off the aimless weekly show. The MxM gimmick is still the drizzling shit.

Oh yeah, and booking a blood feud for a match where you know you can't do blood is genius. So Dustin/Sammy vs Righteous would have been the worst match of the night if not for Jericho/Cardona. And really now. I know people have a Dusty Rhodes fetish, but those cowbells match never were any good, really. Plus, maybe that had its appeal in some redneck county in the 80's, but in NYC, in 2024 ? Really now ? 

Anywoo. By a huge margin the worst TKROH special ever, both as far as in-ring and especially the depressing booking which reeks of the awful years of WWE in the last 2010's. Which sucks for the talent involved, because they are a-plenty, and they deserves of shitload more than this. And yeah, maybe, eventually, possibly, there is a ROH TV show coming up. And guess what ? I don't care, because that show made it plenty clear that I should not care.

[Alucard]

 

[strobogo]

Fell out of the habit of watching AEW for a while, just caught up with Full Gear

 

Stat/Mercedes ruled. Best match Mercedes has had in AEW.

White vs Page ruled.

Fletcher vs Ospreay ruled.

Other stuff was okay or kind of flat. The way Mox is booked as Brock Lesnar doing a Terry Funk/Austin pastiche is hilarious. 

Gotta get caught up on the CC. Seems like it's had a ton of great stuff and was such a delight last year.

[sek69]

Mox has been pushed as an unhinged violence enthusiast since the start as his AEW debut was him murdering Kenny. His current character seems like the next evolution of that so it's fine by me.

[El-P]

Gold League was 100% awesome.

Blue League, not as much. Because of Shelton Benjamin having no business being involved in this (on several levels) and the depressing booking of Beast Mortos, who is awesome and gets over because he's awesome, and gets rewarded with jackshit. 

Still, overall, C2 has been a success in term of delivering mostly great matches leading to what should be incredible final matches. After two years, it's definitely establishing itself as something to look forward to at the end of the year (unless gross miscast booking). Also, since he's heavy on tradition, Coach TK should absolutely keep on with the 3 Days in Hammerstein during X-mas season (since I'm guessing ROH is not going away, Final Battle belongs there). Looking forward to more of this smaller buildings thingy.

Worlds Ends is probably gonna be great, all things considered. The C2 final matches all look awesome. For all its booking laziness, Mariah May and Thunder Rosa beating the hell out of each other and Mercedes Moné vs Kris Statlander 2 are top notch matches on paper that I'm very much looking forward too. Takeshita vs Hobbs look terrific. MFJ vs Adam Cole can be a great match despite the über awkward booking leading to this. And maybe we can move on from the remains of what 2023 could have been after that point. The 4-way should be excellent also and really, these are four old favorite of mine involved in the AEW title match.

They really need to figure out what to do with that Hurt Syndicate that is not LOLAEW in 2025, because between yawnfest Benjamin in C2, Lashley beating Swerve Strickland clean with basically zero followup (and zero other match) and the humiliation of Ricochet which has to be a top 5 worst AEW TV segment ever, they have been nothing but damaging to me. I don't give a damn that people like to chant "We hurt people". They have brought basically only negatives to the product thus far to me. They need to Copeland their way into doing something positive or get fucked.

2024 certainly was an interesting year for AEW. They won the lottery with the TV deal, despite being less popular than ever. They have delivered some awesome cards and moments, made Swerve Strickland a star and on their way to do the same with Kyle Fletcher. Got Okada, Moné, Ospreay, Ricochet. Yeah. There's also plenty to criticize, plenty to be unhappy about. There's also plenty to be happy about and more potential for a seemingly endless streak of great pro-wrestling. AEW need to remember where they come from, not chase what they could have been at one point. And figure out what to be next and not give a flying fuck about the grifters.

[strobogo]

Caught up on CC stuff.

Mark Briscoe is a delight, guy works so well with everyone of any stature of size or on the card, guy is just always super fun. Really enjoyed his Okada match in particular.

The Beast Mortos ruling so much that TK had to give him non tournament matches to pick up wins during the tournament rules.

Ricochet's heel turn is really needed, because man that guy trying to be cool falls so flat every time. Maybe this can give him a shot in the arm personality wise, but based on his Twitter version of being a heel, I doubt it. I kind of think he should have stayed in WWE, because there are so many more guys in AEW that work his same style and do it as good or better, and he's in pretty much exactly the same position as he was in WWE with the same ceiling. 

Similar thoughts on Claudio. He's in the exact same spot with the exact same ceiling; it was a lateral move for him unless he's getting paid more. He's also better as a tag guy and all of his singles matches never quite hit the peak they should.

Fletcher rules.

Ospreay rules.

Okada rules but I do think he loses a little something not being a shithead with the Bucks.

Move Brodie to top of the cards.

Gotta shit or get off the pot with Darby. It's been 5 years of him losing the big matches and then going missing for months. Surely the end game for the nWo 2024 angle is Darby beating Mox for the title, presumably with the power of the punch playing in at some point since he pocketed the brass knux after the match with Claudio. It feels like he hasn't been consistently booked week to week since the first year of AEW. Granted a lot of that was due to being with Sting, but for such a bedrock guy that is so popular, it feels like he's been pretty sporadically and randomly in programs for years now.

 

[sek69]

The Dynamites/PPVs from 2019 are up on MAX now, with the rest set to be added on a rolling basis. While I know MAX doesn't quite have the reach of something like Netflix worldwide, but I think this is quietly going to be a boon for AEW to be able to get eyeballs from the growing audience that either stopped watching linear TV or never did in the first place.

[C.S.]

Zero way to know any of this is on MAX unless you already know.

MAX isn't pushing it at all on the app.

And then there's this joke of a Facebook sponsored ad:

 

[MoS]

Cope??

[The Thread Killer]

45 minutes ago, MoS said:

Cope??

I’m still trying to wrap my head around them using “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters as the Dynamite theme song. That song was super cringe when it came out…in 1982. That was one of the lamest things I have ever seen. I honestly thought it was a joke or something. Good Lord.

[KingBoggs33]

The show at least looked better presentation wise since it was a smaller building and you could actually see with all the lights. 

Opening I really hope is a one off. Cause whoever came up with the idea for THAT song to be used is a moron. 

[sek69]

4 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

I’m still trying to wrap my head around them using “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters as the Dynamite theme song. That song was super cringe when it came out…in 1982. That was one of the lamest things I have ever seen. I honestly thought it was a joke or something. Good Lord.

Real ones remember the best use of that song anyway:

 

 

[WingedEagle]

14 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

I’m still trying to wrap my head around them using “I’m So Excited” by The Pointer Sisters as the Dynamite theme song. That song was super cringe when it came out…in 1982. That was one of the lamest things I have ever seen. I honestly thought it was a joke or something. Good Lord.

I was watching on MAX and actually flipped over to cable to doublecheck it because I was sure it had to be some kind of a streaming flub. It was certainly a choice.

[TheDuke]

A Canadian version of USA Network is now available in Canada, and it is now going to be showing Collision on Saturday nights.

[The Thread Killer]

12 minutes ago, TheDuke said:

A Canadian version of USA Network is now available in Canada, and it is now going to be showing Collision on Saturday nights.

I saw that. After all this time, AEW fans can finally watch Collision live on TV in Canada, on a basic cable channel, without having to pay extra or deal with the ridiculous TSN+ app.

Shame it’s about a year-and-a-half too late.