Greylocke

<p>You know a roster is way undersized overall when Billy Gunn of all people is playing the immovable giant role in the battle royal. I hope they let Wardlow and/or Hager wrestle soon because they really need to add some hoss action for variety. Right now all they have is Luchasaurus, who is awesome but not quite doing enough. If WWE really wants to take the war seriously they should feature good hosses like Keith Lee and Killian Dain more on their shows to capitalize on what the rival is currently still lacking.</p><p> </p><p> It'd be interesting to see if AEW can somehow disprove the "overness cap" theory by turning Billy Gunn into a mega-star, though. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> The diamond ring reward, if it really is just an ultra-valuable collectible item without any booking prop attached to it (like a title shot) sounds like the perfect reward for someone like MJF. Can't wait to see him parading around with it after he hopefully wins next week.</p><p> </p><p> The Dark Order recruit video is a promising start to what may potentially be really good. The undercard really needs something more than just plain workrate matches.</p><p> </p><p> And I know the Inner Circle and the Elite are the biggest stars, but they're really all over the show this week. Inner Circle seems to be feuding with almost everyone: Bucks, SCU, Jurassic Express, Private Party, Dustin. I'm still getting this weird vibe that despite having heel personalities they seem like stout underdog babyfaces who are bravely taking on the rest of the world despite not having the numbers to match up to the number of enemies they're facing.</p><p> </p><p> Main event feels disappointingly one-sided. Darby's character is really the perfect one to have a long feud with Moxley, so I hope this isn't a one-off, and they continue this with Darby progressively coming closer to beating Moxley until he succeeds.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46898" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I’m 90% sure it’s Jocephus</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I guess this is why they don't hesitate to job the character out since he will be pushed as a new character at the same time.</p><p> </p><p> The Question Mark/Aaron Stevens tag team is the best thing yet. I hope they get put in the tag title scene and make the division exciting.</p>

Aw, damn, why do I have vague memories of piling abuse on the same worker on the same night? OWC Heavyweight Championship – Cage match Seth Whitehead (w/Clare South) vs Robin DaLay Casket match Martyr vs Oniji Hanari Last Man Standing match Silas Odswald vs Lucas Danger Phobia vs Hurakan vs Swipe Romero Texas Hangman vs Danjuro Kikuchi Mad Dog Mortimer vs ???? Asami Okubo vs Emiko Miyoshi

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Blackman" data-cite="Blackman" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Too bad the WWE games don't follow suit. I'm not really watching anymore, but based on the youtube tidbits they are doing the same "Invasion" angles every year. That does sound boring, even if NXT is involved now. Sometimes there doesn't even seem to be a pop when people 'invade' from ringside. Maybe they should go for a "Best vs Best" angle next year where there's qualification matches, and fill it up with crossbrand grudge matches. You can have the title defenses headline the weekly shows.<p> </p><p> But as talent seems to be poppin' up at the other show often, what does it really mean anyway?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Well, the one I was complaining about wasn't an invasion story. I heard that NXT UK guys did get involved in the cross-brand wars on the other shows, but thankfully I'm not watching those. They are, however, doing another stable vs stable feud within NXT UK itself, and I'm not looking forward to it. The fact that both stables are heels doesn't help.</p><p> </p><p> ****</p><p> </p><p> Anyway, this week's UK was a great show, although I probably won't like the next one too much since i imagine they'll continue the stable war story then (there was only a recap video for it this past episode). That's what's good about 1-hour shows. Even if the World Champion is involved in a story that you don't enjoy at least you only have to see it on alternate weeks. 3 great matches this past week, all of whom I enjoyed highly. I don't like Conners interfering in the Ligero/Banks match, though. I'm fine with his promo about being bitter over not being featured on Takeovers, but Ligero and Banks haven't actually had the best of luck in that area either. It would have made more sense for Conners to target guys who were actually featured all the Takeovers, but I guess they were either too busy with stable wars or getting involved in NXT North America.</p>

Is the "Question Mark" Jocephus under a mask? Is he doing the Alyssa Flash/Raisha Saed routine of playing 2 different characters at the same time. I think the 2 look pretty similar.

<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Full Gear Thoughts:</span></p><p> </p><p> First half of the card was average, but nothing terrible, second half was good.</p><p> </p><p> For some reason they find it mandatory to give Adam Page 20-minute matches on PPV when most of the time he only has material for like 10, and the match really felt like it dragged on forever. It's almost like the booker played TEW and wanted to protect Page from some arbitrary 80% match rating ceiling.The shorter rematch on last week's Dynamite was so much better than the PPV match when it was compressed to a more appropriate length. Could also be that they were holding back because of the rematch, but I don't think that's what they should do for a PPV match.</p><p> </p><p> The next match was actually a fitting contrast. Shawn Spears' offense isn't very interesting most of the time, but they booked the match well enough to make sure that there was enough variety to keep things interesting, and the match ended at the appropriate time before it gets boring. Actually surprisingly enjoyable for a match which I missed most of the build-up on Dark.</p><p> </p><p> I'm glad there was <em>finally</em> a hype promo package for the women's title match at the Buy-in introducing some of the background. Would have been better if they actually aired on their TV show <em>before</em> the PPV, but it's better than nothing. I recall there was much talk on how the women's division would be treated with the same importance as the men, but so far the time devoted to hype the women's title match isn't even half of what has been devoted to the men's title match. Something I hope would improve after this.</p><p> </p><p> World Title match was very entertaining, but Cody seems to be relying on the overbooked mayhem structure for all his big singles matches so far - audience interference, blood, referee ejection, screwjob finish....just about all the classic tropes are employed here. I think Cody is capable of pulling off memorable matches without using all these, and I hope I get to see it on the next PPV. The result was the right one, although I think they could have gotten a bit more mileage out of the story by having MJF continue to convince Cody that he was acting in Cody's interest and save the big turn for a later date.</p><p> </p><p> About the "unsanctioned" match.....I appreciated that they went out of the way to do different things in the match, especially after seeing how much alike all of WWE's plunder matches have been last year. I just don't think there story behind the feud really warranted the amount of effort the guys were going through to torture and kill each other. I recall Moxley vs Jonela being criticized as being violent for the sake of violent. I didn't feel that way....or rather, I though the story made sense for them to simply try to out-violent each other because of their personal career background/history. That match served the purpose of establishing Moxley's personality as a new character in AEW. <em>This</em> match, though, I feel, really feels like they were being violent for the sake of it. I still think something like this should have been saved for a legit personal bloodfeud, which I think Omega/Moxley never reached that level.</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Dynamite thoughts:</span></p><p> </p><p> First hour was pretty much the momentum building show for a bunch of people they're probably going to feature heavily in the upcoming month getting easy wins. Nothing wrong with that, but it also means nothing too exciting. Luchasaurus return was the major highlight of the hour.</p><p> </p><p> I expected Darby to accept Moxley's challenge at some point the moment Moxley cut his promo, but I was expecting (and hoping) they'd feed a few lower card guys to Moxley first before that happens, and that Darby would get a major feud. Still think they could have waited a bit on that match-up.</p><p> </p><p> Page vs PAC is, as mentioned, much better than the PPV match. This is the match I wished had been on the PPV. Match of the night.</p><p> </p><p> As I mentioned above, I think they could have gotten some more mileage out of MJF pretending to be Cody's friend. Cody looked ready to forgive him before was low-blowed. MJF could have then tried to manipulate himself into a title feud by pretending that he wants to "carry on the fight for Cody" and convince Cody to give him a title match....and then fail and only THEN turn on Cody.</p><p> </p><p> They're deliberately keeping things vague on whether MJF will join Inner Circle, which I do think is the right move. Personally, I don't think he should join. Someone who calims to be the "new face of AEW" shouldn't be joining anything where he isn't the undisputed leader, and joining the champion's faction automatically makes you second fiddle at best.</p><p> </p><p> Main event was very enjoyable ovarall, but I'm not a fan of Jericho being the one getting pinned unless they're actually going to build Scorpio Sky as a World Title contender in the near future. The champion should have been protected better, especially when you already have Sammy Guevara in the match to play the role of the fall guy.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Bigelow Cartwheel" data-cite="Bigelow Cartwheel" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46583" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>We smiled and awkwardly embraced in full view of the remaining roster who felt moved to spontaneous applause. Not really. I shouted his name and told him if he ever came back his own mother wouldn’t recognise him. Go die in a fire, assshole.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I'm hoping that you actually chose the options to hug him AND also verbally abuse him at the same time in the game. If I recall correctly the game allows you to perform multiple post-show interactions with the same worker, and I always wondered what happen if you do something positive AND negative simultaneously to the same guy. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

Next Sunday on Title Bout Wrestling CGC Canadian Title: Chris Flynn vs Skip Beau © Sayeed Ali vs Zeus Maxmillion Express Delivery & DaLay & Son vs Woolabonga Bogans & Gear-Heads Which WrestleFestival special guest do you want to see more of? Eric Tyler, Jack Bruce, Julian Watson, Lords of Vegas, Running Wolf or Shingen Miyazaki?

So... since I last posted there've been some developments which provides a better answer than what I gave BHK1978 the last time, so I'm posting that here, both for him and anyone else who might share the same interest. There's been a Japanese streaming site called Nicopro which has been streaming shows from a lot of small-to-medium sized puro companies. It used to be geo-blocked and therefore inaccessible to lot of countries outside Japan, but that's no longer the case not. And literally 2 days ago they announced that they can now accept payment via PayPal. These new developments just open up a number of options for non-Japanese fans who want to check out shows for smaller Japanese indy promotions. https://ch.nicovideo.jp/nicopro Their pro-wrestling channel above streams live events from a lot of promotions, but not every show of course. Most of the promotions I listed in my earlier posts have streamed at least some of their shows there (although for bigger shows they may choose to do it on a bigger channel like Samurai TV). The shows usually are up for 7 days before they are removed. It's a good way to sample shows from a variety of promotion if you are interested in checking out a wide range of different products and workers. Alternatively, instead of the above channel, a few promotions (including Ice Ribbon and Wrestle-1) also host their own promotion-specific channels on NicoPro. Those will have a deeper catalog of shows as they don't remove what they've posted (and depending on the promotions they may have several years' worth of shows available), but those have a longer delay time. If you are a fan of those specific promotions, those will be a good bargain. Each channel is a separate subscription on its own, but they are relatively cheap at 550 yen each.

Was a week late on the TV show, so haven't gotten around to watching the PPV yet. The main event build is finally getting better on the last TV before the show, though. Cody's promo was good, Jericho's parody video package was even better. And at least the Inner Circle is actually making more sensible use of their number by jumping the Elite members when they were isolated instead of standing there openly in the crowd bragging about their numbers. And Cody's added stipulation for himself was an effective way to raise the stakes and elevate the feud. Doesn't feel like the rest of the card is getting sufficient build heading into the PPV, though. There's nothing wrong with having a Riho/Emi Sakura match on PPV, since i don't think these 2 are capable of having a bad match with each other, they can probably wrestle each other with their eyes close. But where's the build? Sure, they have lots of history outside the company, but what has Dynamite done to introduce their fans to that? Hell, even a short subtitled interview in a video package with either of them could have helped! And I've already brought up the win/loss record thing before, but Sakura hasn't exactly been booked like a winner until the week before the PPV (and she already got the title match BEFORE she got that tag win from Riho, so she obviously didn't earn the title shot with that win), so there's little justification within kayfabe as to why she's getting the title shot. Spears vs Janela had one segment on TV. Apparently most of the build had been going on in Dark, which I missed since i skipped a couple of episodes. Ironically, the feud that was actually featured more on TV (Bea vs Baker) got the dark match slot at Full Gear, but the match that was mostly build on Dark gets on the main card?? I'm really confused about their priorities here. Moxley's disposition also isn't consistent. One week he's not caring about wins and losses and blatantly does things to risk getting disqualified just to hurt his opponent (which was what led to that implosion and match between him and PAC), then the next week he's suddenly outraged that his win over Omega won't be counted because it's not sanctioned? So does the character care about win/loss records or not? I guess he's not sure, just like AEW, from the way they've booking their title shot contenders. I'm also concerned at how every PPV match for Moxley has gone the non-sanctioned route. The feud with Kenny has been more about one-upsmanship than actual blood feud. If they're already having a match that's "too violent to be sanctioned" in a feud like this, what are they going to do when Moxley actually gets in a real bloodfeud? I was fine with that kind of match against Janela since that style was something that both guys were well known for so a one-upsmanship contest in violence made sense in that context. But with Kenny? Don't feel like it's called for here.

Man, why is it that most wrestling companies never get sick of doing faction wars? It's already occupying all the major brands with the SvS build, can't they at least keep that stuff out of NXT UK? Really not into this Imperium vs Gallus feud. Ilja Dragunov being the only face in this whole story certainly doesn't help. :/

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="BHK1978" data-cite="BHK1978" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="47073" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>How do you get access to all of these promotions? Are they freely available on the internet or is it something you have to pay for?<p> </p><p> I am just intrigued because I have never heard of the vast majority of these promotions.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Singapore Pro Wrestling is the local fed in my country, so I buy tickets to watch live shows occasionally.</p><p> </p><p> The rest (not counting NXT/NWA/AEW of course) are Japanese feds.</p><p> </p><p> These have paid streaming services and I'm subscribed to them:</p><p> DDT (and TJPW/Ganbare/BASARA which are their sub-brands)</p><p> YMZ</p><p> Stardom</p><p> </p><p> Gatoh Move uploads most of their matches on Youtube for free (although for bigger events they have a longer delay period as they need to sell DVDs).</p><p> </p><p> MAKAI also has a Youtube channel, but as mentioned they don't stream their shows most of the time, their business is mostly via live shows attendance, so I have to keep watch on their YT for the rare times when they stream their shows on it. They keep a few shows with English subtitles their on the channel, but the ones without subtitles are removed after 24 hours.</p><p> </p><p> For the remaining....I have sent my reply in PM.</p>

I was under the impression that was exactly what he was the first time I saw him....then they start booking him against heel Aaron Stevens, and I'm no longer sure. I don't think NWA has a very strict face/heel divide, and he certainly gets babyface reactions, but I kind of perceive him as a heel personally. Finally caught up on the latest episodes. I'm having the opposite kind of feeling I have for AEW. In AEW, the tag team division is the most exciting to me. In NWA, the tag title scene is the only one that I just don't care about. I like what's been happening with the World, National and Women's Champions, and most of the non-title feuds. There's just one that I still don't really get what they're trying to do. The Jocephus character seems like it's supposed to be a prominent one, he gets promo time and has his name in the intro package unlike other jobbers...but he gets booked like all the jobbers and gets squashed all the time. No idea what's up with that.

Watching every show available at the earliest opportunity, or trying to (although I'm falling behind by a week or 2 for those ranked lower on the list): DDT/TJPW/Ganbare Ice Ribbon (can't watch every show since they have no streaming service but will watch everything I can find) YMZ NWA Power NXT UK AEW Dynamite (but for Dark I'm more selective. Have skipped a couple of episodes already) Lucha Underground would also be near the top of my list once they start doing shows. I also watch most of the new Gatoh Move matches on their YT, although I skip some of the really old ones. MAKAI is sadly only available occasionally, but I will watch on every occasion when they decide to stream their shows on YT. Watching only selective shows or matches depending on whether they involve wrestlers I like, in order of priority: Stardom Wrestle-1 Pro Wrestling WAVE Advance Action Wrestling Seadlinnng Actwres Girlz Singapore Pro Wrestling Just Tap Out Sendai Girls 666 Wrestling New Nemuro Pro (although the promotion recently died due to the owner's terminal illness) Individual produce shows that can be found on Puroresu Dreams depending who's the producer

Still an episode behind (too much wrestling content these days and it's hard to devote enough time to watch everything) but NWA needs to legit produce that pirate movie. I'd buy a ticket to the theaters AND buy the home video DVD. And push Aaron Stevens to the main event asap. Nick Aldis continues to be awesome even without having a match. It's hard to find a "classy" character in pro-wrestling that isn't portrayed as some high-society snob who talks down to everyone, but Aldis hits the perfect balance of being respectable and classy without coming off as an arrogant snob. This is the perfect image a promotion's champion ought to portray. There's too many babyfaces who are either the goofy smiley nice guys that WWE loves to use or the deliberately and needlessly vulgar "anti-heroes" who try too hard to be "edgy'. This is a refreshing change. I really want to get behind Tim Storm's character, the story is great, but he's really showing his age in the ring. I don't expect everyone to be a Ric Flair, but he's not even a Dustin Rhodes. It's kind of hard for me to get into his matches.

Next "Sunday" on Title Bout Wrestling... CGC Canadian Title Match: Bobby Thomas vs Skip Beau vs Sayeed Ali © Pirates of the K-Rap-ean (K-Squared & DeArrrske) vs Two Mysteries From Las Vegas Robin DaLay vs Chris Flynn Drake Young vs Mystery From New Mexico Never bet against the mysterious ones! Not sure about Robin/Flynn but I just figure you'll be punishing Flynn for causing trouble backstage, so I guess Tyler will be showing up next week just in time to guide Robin to his first real win. Followed immediately by Night One of The DeColt WrestleFestival... CGC World Title Match: Zeus Maxmillion vs Blockbuster © CGC Tag Team Title Match: Woolabonga Bogans vs The Gear-Heads © Going Postal Match: Dice Elderberry, Hugh Ancrie & Phillipe LaGrenier vs Ian Identity, Mario DaSilva & Penfold Perdition Dan DaLay vs Jack Bruce Adrian Garcia vs Jack DeColt Diablo DeVille vs Shane Nelson Mystery Japanese Debt Collector vs Julian Watson Going Postal match is the best pro-wrestling match stipulation ever. But I hope whomever that's losing and getting sent away aren't going to be gone from CGC for good, since I like all 6 of them.

The weakest of the 4 episodes thus far IMO. The semi-finals of the tag tournament aren't as enjoyable for me, partly because the Lucha Bros' attack on SCU last week kind of gave away the results. It doesn't take a genius to guess that they'll probably be facing each other in the finals to settle the grudge, and once Lucha Bros won the first match, SCU winning the second one was all but confirmed. The spotfest between the PP and the Lucha Bros also feel more staged, as you can really see the wrestler quite deliberately moving themselves into position to get ready for the next spot after each one. The PP/Bucks match was mostly a spotfest too, but that one had a comparatively more organic flow between the spots. Totally not into the Dark Order. That might change if they actually give the guys some promo time. This is the most gimmicky team on the roster, so they should really present some interesting backstory for them. Explain to the viewers why there're a bunch of random masked dudes following the scrawny beard guy and the flabby masked dude around and what their motivation is. On that note, AEW lacks promo segments and mic time for those outside the main event scene. More of that would be nice. Jaimie Hayter would be a nice pick-up for the woman's division if they actually signed her, since they're kind of lacking in good English-speaking women workers at the moment, but I'm inclined to belief she's just on loan from Stardom and won't be around too long. Although the attack from Brandi can be both a good and a bad sign. Good because if they have a story for her she'll at least be staying a while. Bad because if this leads to her wrestling Brandi Rhodes then I have no interest in seeing it. Hopefully Brandi'll be bringing in henchwomen to do her fighting instead. Orange Cassidy still relying on that one hands-in-pocket high spot for pops is getting a little tiresome...partly because it doesn't look that impressive anymore after having already seen Darby Allin wrestle for several minutes with no hands. Time to have an actual match, methinks. The main event draw can again be seen coming quite early. Moxley isn't losing this close to his big match with Omega, and PAC is still in super-protected status. No other ending would make sense. Again, hard for me to get into because neither of them are that likeable. To the live crowd, PAC is the bigger "villain", but when you look at this match within the context of why it happened, he was actually the wronged party here, getting abandoned by his partner after he (rightfully) tried to stop the latter from being an idiot and getting them both disqualified. I know disregarding rules and favouring use of weapons is part of Moxley's character, but in a company where every win and loss supposedly matters, it makes perfect sense for a competitor to be concerned about having a stupid partner unnecessarily cost you a win. And it's been almost a month since AEW's weekly TV started, so I'm starting to be more concerned at the storylines and characters presented. The tag division is still in a midst of establishing a champion, so I'm not looking for too much there yet, but right now it doesn't feel like there's too much going on besides several hours of high-light reel worth matches. The biggest hook for me thus far is MJF's slow-burn story regarding his attachment to Cody. That's the best actual story going on. Kenny's "big singles match losing streak" really doesn't feel like it's reached a crisis point with any sense of urgency yet, and it seems like they're already starting to have him turn it around, not only with that TV win over Joey, but also having the commentators acknowledge that he recently won the big one in AAA. It looks like his match with Moxley is still going to be the blow-off match, but as mentioned, the lack of a real sense of urgency stops me from getting much emotional investment in this match. It's just not convincing to me that he badly needs to get a big win in AEW to turn his career around. The women's division has been full of random match-ups (including a title match out of nowhere), and the only real storyline going on (Bea vs Britt) happened by pure accident when one of them legit injured the other in a dark match. Doesn't feel like they planned much with it yet. And then there's the World Title feud, which rightfully is the one they're consistently building every week, but also one that I find hard to get into. Even putting aside my personal dislike of dominating heel stables in general, the overall premise of the story really strains one's suspension of disbelief. I think the big angle this week was prime example of why I can't get into this feud. Seeing Jericho c0ckily bragging about his numbers advantage at Cody because he has 3 other guys on his side is really laughable when you consider the fact that Cody is one of the guys running the show and can theoretically summon about 10 guys if not more to show up and kick the Inner Circle's ass if he so chooses. He's not going to do that, obviously, because he's the good guy, but what in the world makes Jericho naive enough to think that he has the advantage just because he has 3 friends? Seriously, why would Jericho NOT expect Dustin and MJF to show up? Even if DDP is supposed to be a surprise, Cody still has plenty of other friends backstage. The Bucks are even feuding with Santana and Ortiz, and they can't even be arsed to show up because they know they're clearly not needed. This is just one angle, but it's pretty much representative of how unbelievable the entire premise of the feud is. Jericho is supposed to be this cunning character who stays on top by outsmarting his opponent, but it takes someone with super-low IQ to believe that he has the advantage over one of the founders of the company he's working for just because he brought in 4 friends as compared to the babyface having no less than 10 guys who have his back in the company. Having a heel stable vs babyface story simply does not work in this context. The only way Jericho can believably have a numbers advantage over Cody would be if he manages to start a general mutiny against the Elite in the locker room, but even that is not a direction they should be going since it'd just portray the babyface Elites as people who're not doing a good job at managing the company and the backstage. it'd be one thing if Cody were just portrayed as just another wrestler, but that's not the case. The commentators have openly talked about how he's one of the main guys with the power and responsibility to run the show.

Episode 2 was a better viewing experience for me, since I actually enjoyed 3 out of 4 matches, especially the opener. Also perfect post-show reactions for both wrestlers in that match. It's a relief, since I had been struggling to decide whether I should keep watching a wrestling show where I'm not enjoying the matches. The promos are still of high standards, and it's something I wish there's more of in AEW. I don't think I'm going to be a fan of the Wild Cards though, since that's 2 weeks in a row that I can't stay interested in their matches. I didn't even care that the match ended via no contest due to interference. On the other hand, though, Nick Aldis might be the best-portrayed World Champion in American Wrestling right now.

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="milamber" data-cite="milamber" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Daniels being taken out was to turn The Lucha Bros heel. In the case of Luchasaurus, he got injured right before the show. Hamstring I think so out for awhile and they had no choice but to replace him.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I'm aware of the reasons. Doesn't mean it won't take away from the show for a viewer, though. Especially when there's an obvious easy fix. Considering that the Lucha Bros' actual opponents were the Jurassic Express that night, they easily could have turned heel by showing a clip of them taking out Luchasaurus backstage (and would have made even more sense in this context). That way, they don't have to use a similar setup for 2 matches on the same night.</p><p> </p><p> I recall once when WWE booked 2 matches to end in countouts in a row and the fans (rightfully) crapped over it. One was due to a wrestler being injured. It was a perfectly legit reason, but it sure doesn't mean the fans like seeing it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="milamber" data-cite="milamber" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>If Hager didn't help Jericho then what value does he bring to his role as enforcer of the Inner Circle? </div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Eh, I just watched NWA a couple days back and I don't think anything was taken away from Nick Aldis' ringside "insurance policy" even though she never interfered in the match. Same goes for Ezekial Jackson back when he was Brian Kendrick's enforcer. His mere presence at ringside was valuable, he didn't need to interfere every match. Also, Hager just helped Jericho and Guevara win their match last week, so it's not like he has to "prove his worth" every single week unless he gets paid by per-interference basis. And like I said, they make it look like Jericho <em>needed</em> his help against a man who doesn't have the use of his hands. I'm fine with Hager playing a factor against the match with Cody who probably has a team of friends/family of his own that Hager can help to neutralize, but if Jericho can't even beat a man with his hands tied up by himself then how can I expect him to stand a chance against the Elite?</p>

<p>I kind of like the idea of Alexander Wolfe being Imperium's recruiting man, although I still struggle to take Ilja Dragunov seriously, so it's hard for me to get into whatever story they seem to be planning between them.</p><p> </p><p> In fact, if they really have to surround Walter with lackeys, I would have preferred it if Wolfe was the one who actually put the stable together. He's better as the Cult Leader type of character. Walter can simply be someone they choose to support because he's clearly the top guy, and he tolerates their presence because they show reverence and deference to him. I'm hoping that would be the direction they go with, that Wolfe turn to be the real brain behind the stable and they eventually turn on Walter.</p><p> </p><p> The motivations of the stable have been kept pretty vague. Gallus and Undisputed Era are pretty straightforward heel units who are out for the typical things like titles, spotlight and accomplishments, but they keep making references about "the ring is sacred to them", making them more of a cult with its unique agenda rather than a mere plain alliance between bad guys watching each other's backs. But it's not clear exactly what it was about people like British Strong Style, Kushida or the Hunt that offends them or supposedly "desecrates" what's sacred to them. Some elaboration would be nice.</p>

Solid episode 3, no standout matches like last 2 weeks but overall consistent quality. I also like the way they're assigning TV time. Only the champions (Jericho and Riho) have the privilege of consistent screen time every week, and it makes them feel important. Otherwise we don't see the same people all the time. The Bucks aren't on TV this week and Cody only appears in a pre-taped promo, and Kenny had no TV match last week. This is something WWE should learn from. But of course, when you have Brock Lesnar as champion that's not possible. I wish they didn't do the "face team has to replace one member at the last minute because the original member can't compete due to medical/injury reason" twice in a row in the tag team tournament. Individually, they were fine on their own, but seeing it twice in the same episode makes it feel contrived. And just too bad that the TV audience still don't get to see what Luchasaurus can do. Women's match is too bad, but it's probably the worst match Riho has been involved in thus far. A positive is that the commentators didn't say anything about the weak win/loss record policy this week. And at least Baker doesn't have a negative win/loss record coming into this, but i still don't like how they give random title matches away on normal TV shows every other week. The main event is a mixed bag that I love and hate at the same time. I like the creativity with the taping of Darby's hand and him continuing to wrestle in it. I don't think the interference at the end was necessary (and why did it have to happen when the ref was distracted? Wasn't the match No-DQ?). Darby was protected enough with the way he came close to winning with both hands tied up. With Hager's interference I think Jericho looks weak fro not being able to beat a man with no hands. I'm also confused about the "Street Fight" rules in the main event. Apparently, it allows them to use weapons without fear of disqualification, but as mentioned earlier Jericho still needed to distract the referee for the interference. And there's also the moment when Aubrey Edwards apparently still threatened to disqualify Jericho for not releasing the submission hold??? This match feels like it was scripted by 2 different people who didn't consult each other.

I tried watching the first episode yesterday, and I think I just had my most bizarre experience watching a wrestling show, ever. Bizarre doesn't actually mean bad.....just really unusual and weird. Basically, I enjoyed almost everything except the actual matches. I loved the overall presentation of the show, I actually think it's better than all the other current-running American weekly wrestling shows in that regard. They do a good job of introducing characters to me even though I don't recognize 90% of the roster. I enjoyed most of the promos and interviews, particularly the main event. Never watched Tim Storm before, but the pre-match promo package and his interview did a great job in getting me invested in the story. Then the bell rings, and I keep finding my attention wandering and struggling to stay engaged. The structuring of the match story is fine, but the action just doesn't excite me. And the post-match stuff with Aldis was perfect too. If only I can care about the matches, it would be my favourite American wrestling show right now. Usually when I find that the match style isn't my cup of tea I simply stop watching a show, but I'm really conflicted about this. This is the only time ever when I want to keep watching a wrestling show purely for the non-wrestling segments..... :S

No! Anders was framed! That was totally Seth Whitehead putting that fake footprint using a fake plastic foot! He managed to trick you into giving the belt back to him! (Out of curiosity what was the exact action you did that caused Lucas to become loyal?)

I'm not asking for a Goldberg-level record. They can at least start with those with positive win/loss ratio at least, and not someone like Havoc who was 1-3. OR, like I already said, don't keep bringing up that win/loss record policy to begin with on your shows!

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="TLCJR4LIFE" data-cite="TLCJR4LIFE" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>The same reason “mandatory challengers” have existed in boxing for generations.<p> </p><p> In boxing, since again we are using the pseudo sport comparison, the champ would always defend his title when having a fight even if it was against some bum no one ever heard of. </p><p> </p><p> In fact WWE’s own Tyson Fury just got done fighting some no bane in the leaduo to his second fight with Deontay Wilder, the only difference is that boxers, although extremely unlikely due to skill difference, can technically actually lose these fights.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> My point was that AEW was undermining their own "Wins and losses matter" policy by handing 2 random guys with not-so-impressive win/loss records title opportunities. Hell, Michael Nakazawa had a better win/loss ratio than Jimmy Havoc. If they don't want their booking to be restricted by that, they shouldn't have set that policy in the first place (not that it was a good idea to begin with). It's as silly as WWE doing a draft and then undermining it with a Wild Card rule.</p><p> </p><p> If they're going to give Darby a title shot to begin with, why not book him to actually win more matches prior to this? This reeks of short-sightedness in their booking.</p>