AEW TV Megathread

[Blehschmidt]

Brody King apparently pulled from TV because Warner Brothers doesn't want Fuck Ice chants upsetting Trump as they try to sell to Netflix.

Uggh

[DMJ]

I'd call BS on this story if we didn't have significant evidence that Trump is the thinnest-skinned President ever and consumes every bit of press he gets. To this man, even the most benign criticism from the lowest D-list celebrity warrants a Twitter rant (or scattershot lawsuit) so I wouldn't be surprised if WBD is genuinely concerned that having a wrestler coming out wearing a tee-shirt opposing one of his policies could be deemed "inflammatory" and cost them the merger. 

I haven't finished Dynamite yet but, if this is true, it certainly helps explain why Kenny Omega would drop the line about Brody King being "the most dangerous man in AEW" in the middle of a heated promo with Swerve. When I heard it, I figured it was just an awkwardly-placed bit of praise to get Brody's name out there as he's got the big title shot coming up and Kenny is sometimes known to drop lines in a awkward/slightly "off" way (like the dialogue in the video games he loves so much). But, hearing this bit of gossip, that line makes more sense even if did still come out of nowhere and caught Swerve off guard.

I don't think Ciampa/Fletcher was an all-timer or anything but I will say this - 

Spoiler

They got me with the finish. I think the first sequence of the match saw Ciampa go after Kyle on the outside as he was jawing with fans and Danielson noted that it was poor strategy for Kyle to be wasting time on the outside when TNT Championship bouts have a 20-minute time limit. Then, we get to the "10" and "15-minute have gone by" announcements. Then we get a whole bunch of finisher kickouts. At this point, I'm thinking, this is a guaranteed time limit. And then...Kyle wins clean by putting together a string of big moves and we have a new TNT Champion. 

 

[Blehschmidt]

Okay, apparently the story is Meltzer nonsense, as WB has issued a statement that it isn't true!

My apologies for posting it before it before it was 100% verified

[The Thread Killer]

2 hours ago, Blehschmidt said:

Okay, apparently the story is Meltzer nonsense, as WB has issued a statement that it isn't true!

My apologies for posting it before it before it was 100% verified

Remember back when if Meltzer reported something, you could actually rely on it to be you know…true? Good times. Apparently now it’s more important to troll people, and get into stupid arguments with marks on Twitter than it is to verify your stories.

[Tetsujin]

Grand Slam Australia was weird, and a good example of what I've been feeling with AEW lately. The matches were all good, but none were truly great, it all felt like a house show with tv build. No ambition behind anything, except maybe some instances at the main event. The storylines all feel stale and the product overall not as interesting as it was during the peak of Mox's reign last year and the first months of Hangman's. They're definitely not on a bad batch, theres some good stuff going on mostly everywhere on the card, but something is missing, idk what. Am I the only one? 

[DMJ]

I thought it was a good show overall, but, like you said, nothing was truly "great." 

I thought the main event was very good and easily the MOTN and Brody King was excellent in it with his selling of the knee damage. It was a fairly straight-forward match that didn't over-rely on "finisher spamming" or a million nearfalls or any run-in nonsense and I thought it was effective.

Mox/Takeshita lacked urgency until the final 5 minutes. I also read that Mox may have called an audible during the post-match by having Takeshita hit him with his finish. While this popped the crowd, I still think it was the wrong call from a storytelling perspective. Both guys have been sorta leaning towards being babyfaces over the past few weeks/months so Takeshita doing something so outright heelish when, if I'm not mistaken, he's in the process of an extended storyline where he's likely to be splitting from Don Callis and feuding with Okada seems like needlessly muddying the waters. 

I really liked the Mixed Tag. 

Fletcher/Briscoe was a little weird to me. There were some crazy spots - as expected - but it ended with a bit of a whimper rather than a bang. When you see a superplex off the top of a ladder and a piledriver through a ladder and both guys bleeding profusely, I don't think you should end the match with one guy just casually shoving the other guy's ladder over. I think a "bigger" finish would've really helped things. I also was expecting some sort of interference from Ciampa to theoretically build towards a 3-way, but I'm also 100% fine with Fletcher moving on from Briscoe entirely and getting a brand new challenger. 

[sek69]

I can see this turning into a story where Mox and Takeshita end up becoming bros since they are both dudes who respect the fight. It could be a babyface moment for both of them since who doesn't like seeing two awesome wrestlers acknowledge each other, and it would really piss off Don Callis (furthering the split there). Since it seems the slow burn is a Death Riders vs Callis Family feud, having Takeshita team up with his new respected colleague would also help even the odds since the Callis Family has a million dudes in it. 

[DMJ]

I'm fine with Takeshita and Mox buddying up.

I'm way less fine with any attempt to turn Shafir, Yuta, PAC, Daniel Garcia, or Gabe Kidd into babyfaces. Wheeler and Shafir have been killing it in their current roles and still have plenty of mileage left there if they start building up Shafir as a TBS Champion contender with Yuta at her side. Garcia has been flip-flopped a couple times now already, Gabe Kidd is in the right role as a heel mercenary, and as for PAC...well...I hate to be unkind but because between the bad new haircut, bad new ring attire, and whatever he did with his body, the whole presentation is just terrible.