AEW TV Megathread

[Alucard]

the field for the Continental Classic which begins this week:

Gold League:
Darby Allin
Pac
Kevin Knight
Speedball Mike Bailey
Kyle Fletcher
Kazuchika Okada

 

Blue League:
Konosuke Takeshita
Jon Moxley
Claudio Castagnoli
Orange Cassidy
Roderick Strong
Mascara Dorada

[Tetsujin]

That's a superb tournament right there. I would have put Okada/Takeshita on the same league just to add more uncertainity, and I really wanted heel García to make it, but other than those two nitpicks this is an absolute gem of a C2, holy.

[Stiva]

Yeah, that’s just a wild collection of great matches. Darby/Okada will be fucking great if Okada turns up. Roddy Strong is a great pick for this too. He’s probably just going to eat pins but he’ll have a great match with everyone in the Blue League. I sincerely hope Moxley loses every match; they’ve started on this story, they may as well continue with it and I assume it leads to Claudio assuming control of the Death Riders

[Blehschmidt]

I bet @C.S. will still hate Pac even after he has a fantastic match with every guy in his bracket too!

[Boss Rock]

Terrific blocks. An Okada-Takeshita final still seems pretty likely, but lots of great matches for sure.

[C.S.]

17 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

I bet @C.S. will still hate Pac even after he has a fantastic match with every guy in his bracket too!

I don't hate Pac at all. I just - correctly - don't see him as a top guy. He has never has been and never will be. At most, maybe he'll get a token Kazarian-like reign late in his career, and even that feels like a wildly optimistic prediction.

Meanwhile, Sting - an actual main eventer, which PAC will never be - spent three years helping to establish Darby Allin as a big deal and future World Champion.

Darby shouldn't be losing to PAC, period.

[sek69]

I just think they had PAC go over Darby for two reasons: one it was playing off the build of him saying Darby couldn't hang with him in a straight up m match with no gimmicks, but got outplayed and had to resort to using a bat to get the win. Secondly, I think this is going to play into the Death Riders imploding when PAC starts pointing out he was able to get the job done but Mox wasn't. I don't think for a second TK is suddenly going to try to make PAC a top guy over this, it was just a progression point in the story. It's not even the first time they've booked Darby losing to advance an angle. I don't think @C.S. has any reason to fear any megapush for the guy. 

[Stiva]

Yeah, the whole DR story is that the others can get the job done and Moxley can’t. I have no doubt that this all ends with Darby beating PAC on the way to the semis of the CC

[DMJ]

Full review will be on my blog at some point this week but some thoughts...

- Young Bucks and Omega are almost victims of their own success when the match they had is considered just good. There were some really nifty sequences and I liked Omega's selling of the knee from beginning to end. The Bucks also have great chemistry with Jack Perry and it was on full display here. But, yeah, felt kinda "mid" for them just because they have these sorts of matches so consistently. 

- I'm probably in the minority but I liked PAC beating Darby and I disliked O'Reilly beating Mox. I'm a bigger Darby fan than PAC fan, but PAC needed the win to maintain even a semblance of relevancy and "realism" to the daredevil Darby character. Darby came into this match having, in kayfabe, suffered third degree burns a week earlier. He then wrestled a grueling match in which he took two nasty falls to the floor and PAC still had to use a baseball bat (with interference from Yuta). "Overcoming the odds" doesn't work as a storytelling device if every single time the hero is faced with odds, he overcomes them. I don't want SuperDarby. I want super tough-but-still human Darby. He was protected plenty. 

- I like O'Reilly just fine, but, to me, this "Mox on a cold streak" is going a bit too far. With Page and Darby, you at least had guys who the fans were 1000% behind and craving to see beat the Death Riders. With Kyle...it's a little, "Oh, he gets to beat Mox too?" I think they should've let O'Reilly submit him at Blood and Guts or at Full Gear but not necessarily both. And then Mox just attacked him after the bell anyway. I don't think they need to be as hyper-literal with the Death Riders turning on Mox because he keeps losing - he lost the title, he lost to Darby, he lost at Blood and Guts. Who beats him next? Action Andretti? Losing to KOR twice was "hat on a hat" to me. 

- Loved the main event. I read some criticisms of the Blood and Guts matches (and most modern cage matches) that pointed out how, back in the day, the cage itself was the weapon and the wrestlers didn't need thumbtacks, chairs, ladders, tables, etc. to make the matches brutal and violent. The main event was a classic cage match where the danger of the environment was highlighted (and the only other "foreign object" used was Page's cowboy boot, which also felt very "classic cage match 'rasslin" to me). I'm not sure if Joe intended on cutting himself so deeply but, man, on a show featuring plenty of gore in the Mox/KOR and Briscoe/Fletcher match, Joe's crimson mask was the most uncomfortable to see. I like that the match didn't go too long and I don't think it needed to. I even liked the finish despite it being very "sports entertainment" (it reminded me a good deal of the kind of finishes we saw in the Attitude Era but it works in AEW because, aside from the opener, it was the only really screwy finish on the whole 4 hour show). And then the post-match with Swerve's return was great and the show ending the way it did reminded me of Nitro circa 97. So, the last 30 minutes of the show featured a classic, simple-but-effective NWA-style cage match, a suspenseful, unexpected finish ala peak-Austin Era WWE, and then a huge babyface return moment that ends with the heroes staring down the heel champion and his cronies like one might've seen with Sting, Savage, and Hollywood Hogan to end a WCW show 28 years ago. For a fan like me, it hit.  

[Luna_Bourke]

It is a good field, but I am just so done with with Death Riders, I am just bored of them now, like even though they are good wrestlers, I am just not that interested in them being in the C2, especially since the Don Callis Family is doing a break-up angle as well, and the face side has smaller star power. I have got the idea of them making the C2 more important by them doing a C2 for men's singles and tags, and women's singles and tags, so each division gets one every four years like the Olympics, since it will always have less prestige than the G1, having each division only have one per year, so winning it would feel bigger, and make the divisions feel equal, and it would have been useful recently, and been the way they established the Women's Tag Titles.

[Boss Rock]

Okada-Fletcher was really good and I honestly thought it was going to a draw, but Fletcher is now the only person to pin Okada twice in AEW (not including Bryan's victory at Forbidden Door when Okada was still technically with NJPW). I still think Okada-Takeshita is the final, but further proof they see Fletcher as the future.

[Stiva]

That Eddie promo really hit home how much he was missed in that 18 months or so. An absolutely king-sized promo

[strobogo]

Over Thanksgiving, I found out my rich struncle is friends with the head coach of the Jags. I was hoping I could parlay that into hanging out with TK to talk about DVDVR/CZW Fans and maybe get to hang out with Tony Schiavone, but sadly he does not know the Khans. 

[El-P]

Finally got to watch Full Gear and holy hell again. The crowd was drained after the peak of Fletcher vs Briscoe and again with Omega and Young Bucks hugging it out, but still, Mercedes I thought was awesome and the main event surely delivered in its own way, the shock win and the post match making up for what could possibly be seen as missing from the match itself (although really, to me it was pretty much exactly what it should have been considering the entire picture). Mox vs O'Reilly was yet another Mox 2025 highlight. Gotta love every bit of little details, like Marina basically looking *sad* as opposed to angry. FTR vs Brodido, I have no word. I can't wait for that FTR heel run with Big Stoke. Casino Gauntlet was quite fine for what it was, Ricochet was hilarious (HS spending most time doing nothing because they were "out" is basically a a joke that tells itself) but I really don't care about yet a new title.

The CC is looking absolutely awesome. Coach TK did not fuck around this year (I would have loved Josh Alexander in it, but he's going after Omega I guess so it's fine). The Okada vs Takeshita storyline is some classic stuff already. Probably the first japanese vs japanese major program in the US too. Takeshita will be the breakout babyface star of next year, without a doubt. Fun times ahead.

(I am the only one who doesn't care one bit if Copeland never shows up again ? It seems like after the *okay* nostalgia Toronto match, he's been all but forgotten and hasn't been missed for a second.)

[Boss Rock]

5 hours ago, El-P said:

(I am the only one who doesn't care one bit if Copeland never shows up again ? It seems like after the *okay* nostalgia Toronto match, he's been all but forgotten and hasn't been missed for a second.)

As someone who actually thinks his AEW run has been relatively inoffensive, no I don't care to see him back. Was never needed and added nothing.

[Tetsujin]

I really enjoyed his AEW run for the most part, he's always been one of my favourite wrestlers since I was a kid, but yeah, he adds nothing to the product now. If he never wrestled in AEW again, I wouldn't mind, in fact he's one of the guys I see hurting the company the most right now (alongside HOOK, Lashley, Harley Cameron, Jack Perry, Julia Hart and the Bucks). The bad thing is that I believe he's coming back with Christian to take the titles from FTR sooner than later, so that'll be annoying.

[strobogo]

How in the world are Harley, Julia, and the Bucks hurting the company

[Stiva]

I have no real opinion on Copeland either way but he’s useful to have around. And, for better or worse, Cope and Christian is something they would be pretty negligent not to do as it’s obviously a big deal for people at large. The eventual FTR rematch will probably be really good and they’ll put over a young team when they do drop the belts so I have no problem with it. Plus, he decided to work a random match with Griff Garrison and if that’s not in the spirit of AEW, then what is?

[Tetsujin]

7 hours ago, strobogo said:

How in the world are Harley, Julia, and the Bucks hurting the company

They're acts that are getting tv time by default while they're actively bad and/or their contributions to the product have come to an end.

[El-P]

The Bucks hurting the company by having all those awesome matches all the time and hilarious skits and entrance and now reuniting with Omega. 🙃 Come on now. Julia Hart and Harley showed they can get over. They just need more rep. Like... a lot of people. House shows being badly missed in the current state of US wrestling in term of training people.

HOOK I don't care one bit about. He's another guy I wouldn't mind if he left, honestly, he hasn't improved a lot, he's not progressing on the mic at all and his character is meh. He's an overpushed nepokid at this point. Maybe the heel turn will do him good. I'l glad Eddie is not stuck with him anymore.

2 hours ago, Stiva said:

And, for better or worse, Cope and Christian is something they would be pretty negligent not to do as it’s obviously a big deal for people at large. The eventual FTR rematch will probably be really good and they’ll put over a young team when they do drop the belts so I have no problem with it.

Please no. They did the match. It was nothing. The entire thing reeked of WWE style angle/booking. A Cope/Christian nostalgia tag team run needs to NOT HAPPEN. This is not TNA. Also, where is the Christian vs Nick Wayne feud ? Nick Wayne was doing so great and now he has vanished because the nostalgia took over. 

[Blehschmidt]

To be fair, I think Nick is still injured.

and I wish they would send Julia and Skye both to work a tour in Stardom or TJPW. Both of them have so much potential, but just need more reps and to just late it in a smidge more.

[El-P]

3 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

To be fair, I think Nick is still injured.

Totally forgot about that. My bad.

3 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

and I wish they would send Julia and Skye both to work a tour in Stardom or TJPW. Both of them have so much potential, but just need more reps and to just late it in a smidge more.

Yeah. They don't take advantage of their relationships with other companies as much as they should in term of using it as excursions. Although really, one tour will not do wonders either. Anna Jay looked a bit better for a second or two after her Stardom tour, but in the grand scheme of things, hasn't changed that much. Reps reps reps it was is needed, and the current form of US wrestling doesn't allows that, sadly. Skye Blu with reps would be really fucking good really quick I think. 

[strobogo]

12 hours ago, El-P said:

The Bucks hurting the company by having all those awesome matches all the time and hilarious skits and entrance and now reuniting with Omega. 🙃 Come on now. Julia Hart and Harley showed they can get over. They just need more rep. Like... a lot of people. House shows being badly missed in the current state of US wrestling in term of training people.

HOOK I don't care one bit about. He's another guy I wouldn't mind if he left, honestly, he hasn't improved a lot, he's not progressing on the mic at all and his character is meh. He's an overpushed nepokid at this point. Maybe the heel turn will do him good. I'l glad Eddie is not stuck with him anymore.

Please no. They did the match. It was nothing. The entire thing reeked of WWE style angle/booking. A Cope/Christian nostalgia tag team run needs to NOT HAPPEN. This is not TNA. Also, where is the Christian vs Nick Wayne feud ? Nick Wayne was doing so great and now he has vanished because the nostalgia took over. 

Yeah Hook is a non-entity. He was kind of interesting as a meme character that got over for it, but that was now...5 years ago? He hasn't improved a single bit, despite working under guys like Joe and Shibata, Jericho, his father. He's still under 100 matches in 5 years of being on TV, so there's reps to get he hasn't been able to get, but he also has improved at anything since his debut. The very basics.

You look at some of the guys he's worked with and like, he hasn't been able to learn better basics? The Hardys, Fletcher, Juice, Sting, CM Punk, Darby, Swerve, Jay White, RVD, The Bucks, Orange, Lucha Bros, Shibata, Joe, Mox, Jericho, Briscoe, Roddy, FTR, Christian, Claudio, Kingston.  Maybe this new Opps heel run will see him getting a lot of in ring and promo time to improve but man you could plug the version of him from any year into any other year and it'd be the exact same worker.

 

At the same time I wouldn't say he's hurting the company because he barely does stuff anyway. He's had the benefit of the doubt due to his dad for long enough, he's gotta step it up.

[Boss Rock]

Harley's not a great wrestler, but I find her to be easily one of the most entertaining acts on the roster.