AEW TV Megathread

[Stiva]

8 hours ago, Boss Rock said:

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

I’m in the complete minority with Harley in that I find her promos and backstage skits unbearably annoying but I think she’s actually improving pretty quickly in ring. I could live without ever seeing her do poorly performed comedy for the rest of my days, even if I do acknowledge that’s why she’s over in the first place. I did like how she did in the angle with the Death Riders and Statlander though so maybe she’s way better at the serious stuff than they’re letting her be 

[Stiva]

Anyway, not to intentionally double post but Final Battle was another fantastic ROH PPV. Mercedes dropping her first belt to Red Velvet was really good, Moriarty vs Nigel was a phenomenal bit of work and Deonna Purrazzo as Heel Pure Champion should finally give her something to sink her teeth into. I hope that Kingston vs Woods was the beginning of them shuffling Woods into more serious territory for 2026 as I think he’s someone that has way more value than the third guy in The Premier Athletes. For 2026 in general, I hope ROH gets an influx of new indie talent. I know they have a ridiculously big roster as it is but it’s probably time to cycle some older heads out and get some new guys in 

[sek69]

TK keeps saying he got TV offers for ROH but he didn't feel they were sufficient, and unless it was from some absolute Z level channel/streaming outlet that makes no sense. If nothing else it would be on brand for ROH to be on a shitty TV station, and anything would be better than the near zero revenue it must be bringing them currently. It seems like a wasted opportunity since the PPVs are usually solid from top to bottom and what I've seen the TV can be fun at times as well. 

[El-P]

12 hours ago, strobogo said:

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.

Yup. That's also what happens when a rookie is pushed as a bad ass who doesn't have to sell much and beats everyone with a few moves. No one becomes a good worker doing this. See also : Cargill, Jade. The difference being Jade actually had a look and was fun doing squashes for a while (before it got boring and redondant). 

Slowly catching up. That first CC Dynamite demonstrated how in three years, the CC has been established as the most exciting period for AEW TV already. 

Swerve and Hangman finally together will probably clash into at some time, a final match between the two as babyfaces. That's the end game. Maybe All In next year ? Joe is a fantastic antagonists for them.

And whatever people say about Mox. He's having a career year. He worked so well with Mascara Dorada. The clash of the Deathriders next week I can't wait for.

[Blehschmidt]

1 hour ago, El-P said:

Yup. That's also what happens when a rookie is pushed as a bad ass who doesn't have to sell much and beats everyone with a few moves. No one becomes a good worker doing this. See also : Cargill, Jade. The difference being Jade actually had a look and was fun doing squashes for a while (before it got boring and redundant). 

100% This!

Despite being like 5'7", at least Taz looked like a guy who would fuck you up if you looked at him funny. Hook looks like a guy who probably has a really sweet collection in Pokemon Go. His tough guy persona is just not believable no matter how aloof he wants to act, or how many judo throws he knows.

[strobogo]

15 hours ago, El-P said:

Yup. That's also what happens when a rookie is pushed as a bad ass who doesn't have to sell much and beats everyone with a few moves. No one becomes a good worker doing this. See also : Cargill, Jade. The difference being Jade actually had a look and was fun doing squashes for a while (before it got boring and redondant). 

Slowly catching up. That first CC Dynamite demonstrated how in three years, the CC has been established as the most exciting period for AEW TV already. 

Swerve and Hangman finally together will probably clash into at some time, a final match between the two as babyfaces. That's the end game. Maybe All In next year ? Joe is a fantastic antagonists for them.

And whatever people say about Mox. He's having a career year. He worked so well with Mascara Dorada. The clash of the Deathriders next week I can't wait for.

Jade also hasn't really improved. WWE has a specific place to send people for training, and they sent her there for months before she actually debuted on TV. She's also had more matches in WWE in just about 2 years than her whole AEW run. And she still works exactly the same, her presentation is exactly the same as AEW as well. Which tells me that TK has an eye for visual stars even if they have no experience, which is something that has worked out for quite a few promotors over the decades, and quite a few wrestlers as well.

[sek69]

Funny how WWE tried to book Jade like how they would book a babyface and it was terrible, then they started booking her like AEW did and its a million times better. 

Also its wild seeing Claudio as the CMLL world heavyweight champion, he's so perfect as the big strong guy luchadores can flip and fly off of. 

[ElHijodeGorgeousGeorge]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

Funny how WWE tried to book Jade like how they would book a babyface and it was terrible, then they started booking her like AEW did and its a million times better. 

Also its wild seeing Claudio as the CMLL world heavyweight champion, he's so perfect as the big strong guy luchadores can flip and fly off of. 

It's just so funny that a lot of what WWE is doing the usual recycling of gimmicks thing but it's new HERE and hey, it works for Jade. Good for her. 

 

Seeing Claudio come out with the title gives some alternative timeline 90s IC Champ vibes 

[Boss Rock]

Darby is out of the CC and is being replaced by Jack Perry. I would have thought reforming Jurassic Express was TK acknowledging that Jack is not a good singles wrestler. Could have easily put Brody, Josh Alexander, Hechicero, Rush, Mortos, Ace Austin, Shelton, Bandido, Ricochet, or Yuta in there instead. Or give an ROH guy like Lee Moriarity or Lee Johnson a chance.

[El-P]

I don't mind Jack Perry, but yeah I would have loved Brody, Bandido or Ace Austin.

[strobogo]

:whoo: that last run of falls at the Lee/Nigel match was as close to wire as you can possibly get with fucking up the timing. Literally down to the ref having a half a second faster than one second count. 

[Boss Rock]

I wasn't thrilled with Jack in the CC, but he acquitted himself very well against Okada.

[ElHijodeGorgeousGeorge]

31 minutes ago, Boss Rock said:

I wasn't thrilled with Jack in the CC, but he acquitted himself very well against Okada.

Yeah he really blew me away and also got me on that selling of the ankle. I was over here about to do a Native American healing dance for this C2 what the hell?! 

Also, this Speedball and Fletcher match is gearing up to be a great one

[Blehschmidt]

Fletcher/Speedball was nuts. Absolutely the match of the tournament so far.

and even if it had been a short Luger like reign, I feel like they should have strapped up Kingston last night. That crowd was molten, it was the anniversary of Funk winning the world title. Just felt like the right time to me.

[ElHijodeGorgeousGeorge]

4 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

Fletcher/Speedball was nuts. Absolutely the match of the tournament so far.

and even if it had been a short Luger like reign, I feel like they should have strapped up Kingston last night. That crowd was molten, it was the anniversary of Funk winning the world title. Just felt like the right time to me.

I totally agree. Maybe I did it to myself, but I kept getting whiffs of things that happened leading into that first Foley win in 98 and when it was just THAT I was sort of deflated. Now that I've seen the post match stuff with Danielson and the crowd's reaction to Eddie, now I just think it was a first look into him as a legit main eventer. I feel like that first C2 was going to lead to that but the injury fucked it all up. 

I also completely co-sign the Speedball vs Fletcher as Match of the C2 so far! Incredible pace and I felt like even though AEW gets flak for the sprinting style and all the spots, they really sold things well either with facial expressions or awesome body language.

[El-P]

Finally caught up with Winter is Coming. Holly hell what a show. 

I feel Babes of Wrath were the right choice. At this point Toni Storm doesn't even need a belt and Willow surely deserved that one, she needs to be either TNT or World champ in 2026 too. 

I enjoyed Raven-esque heel Jack Perry, but he's ten times better as a babyface, let's be real. And thus far he hasn't missed a beat either. The CC is a good opportunity to re-establish him at this level.

Yeah, Speedball vs Kyle was nuts. What these guys are doing takes *so much* in term of ability, timing, creativity, cardio *and* they do a great job character wise in term of involving the crowd too. I'm SO glad Speedball signed with AEW when he left TNA. Between this and the Arena Mexico (where he's actually great as a rudo) stuff, what a year. And Kyle, oh well, Kyle is the present and the future. It's been amazing to see him develop from the lanky super worker in Aussie Open to this guy who's bound to be one of the biggest star of the next ten years.

I also believed Eddie could have won. The good thing about this, is that he looked good, which wasn't a given after his lastest performances (understandably so, he was off for so long after a horrific injury). He's a guy who can always get back at this level of support because of his character and promos, so I hope he's actually gonna get his one day, likewise Mark Briscoe.

And meanwhile on the ROH show, there was some terrific stuff, including Mercedes Moné doing yet again her best Flair impersonation and did what she does best : make other people look great. Best match of Velvet's career. And that main event of Athena vs Persephone was also terrific. That Persephone girl is gonna get that double contract.

[Stiva]

Fletcher is such a strange one because as soon as he went solo, he just took off massively. I enjoyed Aussie Open well enough but never thought that either stood out but Fletcher went solo and overnight, he’s a world class heel, a good promo and suddenly has a great look. Fair play to whoever saw it in him because I certainly didn’t 

[El-P]

29 minutes ago, Stiva said:

 I enjoyed Aussie Open well enough but never thought that either stood out but Fletcher went solo and overnight, he’s a world class heel, a good promo and suddenly has a great look.

I wouldn't say overnight though. It took him a little bit of time. He was basically in ROH for a while developing himself, he won the ROH TV title, has that great match with Lee Johnson, but he did not have that aura and great heel character yet. I'd say he really blossomed with the Ospreay feud and the CC late last year. From there, yeah, it's crazy how great he became on every aspect. I honestly did not think the lanky guy from Aussie Open would become *that* guy either. 

Kinda hard for Mark Davies, who's one hell of a Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy like worker. All of this happened because he got hurt basically and they had to do something with Fletcher.