AEW TV Megathread

[Alucard]

20 hours ago, sek69 said:

Also one thing AEW should take from WWE is the whole "ref calls it like a shoot" because stuff like Speedball apparently forgetting to kick out only to go right to the finish after looked pretty bad. 

According to Bryan Alvarez, Shelton called an audible in the moment for that Superkick to be the finish because it looked so good, but the ref didn't hear him and was expecting the kickout that didn't come. 

[El-P]

How long are the Hurt Syndicate still under contract ? Don't tell me TK gave them 3 years ? The first year has been unbearable enough, and keeps on being unbearable. RIcochet looked so awesome before hooking up with them. Now he's stuck in that shitty vortex and looks like a geek. And Shelton Benjamin calling an audible ? Blame the ref all you want (and you kinda should), but why the fuck is Shelton Benjamin calling audibles ? When you manage to make Mike Bailey look stupid, you're one special kind of bad. And yeah, BOTH HS guys won their match, of course, because they absolutely have no problem doing jobs.

What can you say, after that awesome special episode last week, this week was a disapointment and the worst episode in a long ass time. Well, PPV should be awesome anyway. Mox vs O'Reilly in a no holds barred match sounds like fire. This has been the great feud no one ever thought would happen. Pac vs Darby ? Same.

And then it's CC season. What a year this has been, in term of quality.

[sek69]

I get why Shelton did it, the way Bailey sold it made that kick look better than the finish would. As the veteran he'd have realized that and apparently Bailey agreed since he didn't kick out. The ref fucked up here, by holding your count you just make everyone look stupid.  Refs should be trained to never hold up your counts because that's the worst thing that can happen in a match. Kills any momentum the match had, shatters the illusion that it's a legit contest, and flattens whatever the planned finish was supposed to be. 

[El-P]

13 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Refs should be trained to never hold up your counts because that's the worst thing that can happen in a match.

I mean, I agree with this of course. There's plenty wrong about refs holding their count or counting when shoulders aren't at all on the mat, which also happens all the time.

But the mere fact Shelton Benjamin beat Speedball is awful. Especially after Lashley basically squashed Ricochet like he did Swerve. I feel like I'm watching AEW in November of 2024 again, and that's not something I wanna feel for the last month of the year.

[Blehschmidt]

I saw where MVP apparently got a contract extension, which I assume means the other two are staying. Which is really unfortunate. By far the worst part of AEW programming by a mile.

[strobogo]

I don't have a problem with THS. Shelton has been great, AEW probably needs a guy like Lashley, live crowds have been into them. I also wouldn't care too much of Lashley just kind of vanished and it just stayed with MVP/Shelton. It's not like they've spent 2 years in the main event scene. The tag division has been just fine with them as well. It's really not a big deal.

[El-P]

They completely ruined the tag team scene for months. They always have the worst match on every big show. Jetspeed were on fire when they debuted and then they got made into complete geeks. They only recovered once working with FTR. Ricochet, who was working alongside Swerve as a main event level player, has been reduced to some trios geek (and BTW, how can anyone forgive Swerve being squashed by Lashley with NO FOLLOW-UP whatsoever ?). MVP is burying everyone he's working with in promos (hating on Triple H is great, trying to emulate him, not so much). The MJF feud has been going nowhere for obvious reasons. They did not put over anyone as they refused to drop the tag titles by themselves. Apart from me kinda warming up to Shelton as he's been quite good in ring, they're easily one of the worst signing in AEW ever. They did nothing to beat the allegations of not wanting to put anyone over either (don't give me that crap about putting Ricochet and GOA over, as MVP did the job). And they are 150 years old combined. Hopefully none of them is in the CC this year. They are taking up TV time younger and better talents should get. 

(EDIT : if either of them wins that useless new title, then we know what's what)

[strobogo]

Okay. It's still fine, though.

[MikeCampbell]

On 11/21/2025 at 6:12 AM, El-P said:

if either of them wins that useless new title, then we know what's what

I'd say that it's almost certain that the National Title winds up with Ricochet.

[El-P]

48 minutes ago, MikeCampbell said:

I'd say that it's almost certain that the National Title winds up with Ricochet.

I mean, good for him in this case, and if the title is indeed made to be defended in funky outside places, that can make for some fun stuff. Although that was supposed to be the International title too or whatever its name was. There was really no need at all for yet another title.

There's talk about Anna Jay's contract coming to end soon. I dunno. She's an original, and I'll always have a soft spot for that pandemic era and the amazing Dark Order vignettes from BTE back then, when she would do her best not to burst out laughing at the silly stuff around her. She hasn't improved that much overall inside the ring, apart from when she came back from that Stardom tour, but they really did not build on it. Lack of reps hurt people like her. I'd like her to stay, honestly, alongside Tay. 

[Stiva]

1 hour ago, MikeCampbell said:

I'd say that it's almost certain that the National Title winds up with Ricochet.

That was my first thought when I watched the Lashley match. He’s definitely entering late and winning. As for THS as a whole, I’m fairly ambivalent. Shelton has been oddly really good as a power athlete throwing guys around but Lashley hasn’t really lived up to any early potential and I imagine the reason he isn’t a single guy is because he’s “selective” about jobbing. The MJF stuff was terrible but MJF swings from excellent to unbearably bad from program to program so I’m willing to give THS half a pass there. I do wonder where they go after this feud with The Demand though. The OPPs?

[MikeCampbell]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

I mean, good for him in this case, and if the title is indeed made to be defended in funky outside places, that can make for some fun stuff. Although that was supposed to be the International title too or whatever its name was.

That'd be the All Atlantic Title, which strangely included the flag of Japan on it's design.

 

My original prediction for the first champ was Mascara Dorada, since he's someone AEW clearly likes and he's the sort of dude that could do a defense on a Wednesday night AEW show, and then do another one two days later at Arena Mexico, and then another one on 1/4 in the Tokyo Dome. But, Sky Team defending the trios straps against the Callis Family on the Full Gear pre show seems to have put the kibosh on that.

[El-P]

4 minutes ago, MikeCampbell said:

That'd be the All Atlantic Title, which strangely included the flag of Japan on it's design.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. That was, weird. 😄

[sek69]

Full Gear has been pretty great so far. Sky Team brought some Friday Night Arena Mexico action to Newark, and PAC doing bastard things to Darby was excellent. The women's 4 way tag was fun and I can't wait to see what wacky bullshit Toni and Mina come up with for the stipulation. 

[Boss Rock]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

Full Gear has been pretty great so far. Sky Team brought some Friday Night Arena Mexico action to Newark, and PAC doing bastard things to Darby was excellent. The women's 4 way tag was fun and I can't wait to see what wacky bullshit Toni and Mina come up with for the stipulation. 

I hope they follow through on Taipei death match.

[sek69]

Every match so far has delivered, Mark Briscoe finally getting the big win was a tremendous moment and they made Kyle look like a superstar beating Mox. 

[sek69]

Well that was another marathon AEW PPV, but it delivered top to bottom IMO. Joe as champ is fine by me, and the pop for Prince Nana made me smile. 

[Stiva]

Joe has been so great since he came back in the summer so I’m all in on him getting another run. Hangman is still the guy, title or not. Plus, HOOK turning means we’re getting Joe vs Kingston at some point and that’s just swell. Right as Eddie doing the “injured guy takes time to build back up on return” story reaches the end and he looks close to 100%. A few surprising results tonight but no bad ones and gives things a bit of a shake-up as we go into the end of the year. 
 

I’m looking forward to The angle where the Death Riders put Moxley out to pasture and we get the Moxley/Darby team that they hinted at right back at the start of AEW