Greylocke

There's still no justification of why a 'tune up match' should require the champion to put his title on the line. Realistically we understand that there's virtually no risk of Jericho losing the title before Full Gear, but in kayfabe there's still no good reason why Darby or Havoc deserves an opportunity to win the title before Cody. There's no good reason to book that title match before Full Gear other than the very non-kayfabe reason of looking to boost ratings.

Glad to see this is still alive! Took me awhile to catch up and I was all about to call this the greatest diary of the year when you finally gave the Wrestling God Anders Thunder the title reign he deserves... ....and then I found out that you're putting him on the chopping block by making him one of the 4 guys that can possibly be fired, so I'm officially withdrawing my proclamation till further developments.

Great start to the tag tournament, the first match didn't disappoint. Pleasantly surprised that the Bucks actually put over Private Party. And hey, the winners didn't get jumped post-match! That alone is a great change from last week. Let the babyface winners actually bask in their victory for once. And for the second week in the row the opening match is the best match. Jericho officially declaring the formation of another heel stable sets off alarm bells in my head. At this point heel stables at the top of a wrestling show is something I can do without for the next decade or so. Still, if anyone can get me entertained by something I normally dislike, it's Jericho (although he didn't quite succeed with Adam Page). I'm SO glad that they haven't inserted Santana and Ortiz into the tag titles tournament. Please, no "stable holds all the titles" crap in AEW. Leave that tired old trope to WWE. Not a fan of Jake Hager personally, but Jericho referring to him as the "giant" reminds me of much AEW is lacking in big guys. Even Cody himself said they're looking for hosses. Hager was one with some name value that they could get, so it was a sensible hire. The "Inner Circle" is a weird choice for a name, considering the guys they are feuding with are the ones who are probably in the REAL inner circle of AEW's booking committee. Or maybe the irony is deliberate. Darby/Havoc was a pretty good match, but I really think PAC has a point. With them making so much of a big deal over how "WINS AND LOSSES MATTER!" and going to the trouble of displaying everyone's win/loss records, why the these 2 guys getting a title shot opportunity out of nowhere? Cody getting a title shot kind of works since he won both his big singles matches on the major PPVs, but Darby despite his impressive debut doesn't have any broadcasted singles win yet before this match. And Havoc had only one win out of the last 4 events. I can understand them not wanting to put PAC in the title picture yet, but when you remind the audience about how important wins and losses are every episode you should at least have a good kayfabe reason on why the undefeated guy doesn't automatically get a title opportunity. Especially when the company is supposedly run by the "good guys" who aren't playing favourites and holding people down. Women's match is again a very good match, but I laughed when the commentators went on about how the referee is doing such a great job when she literally failed to notice Emi Sakura (the illegal participant at the time) choking out Riho in the ring while she gets distracted why what's happening outside. I like Aubrey Edwards, but the commentators could really have picked a better time for that line. Spears/Moxley is an okay TV match. It's harder for me to get into considering who's in the match. I know there's no strict face/heel divide in this company, and Moxley was clearly the crowd favourite (and him not taking advantage of PAC's attack on Omega shows that he's at worst a tweener), but from how the characters have been presented thus far neither of them are likeable to me. Main event is about the same quality as last week, but the fact that there's no brain-dead referee who allows illegal interference to turn the tag match into a handicap match made it better by default. At least this time they made a show of having Hager only interfere mostly only when the referee is distracted. MJF's character story is still developing nicely. I still find it odd that the heel champion is trying to use numbers advantage by forming a 5-person group when he's very much aware that Cody has WAY more family and friends in this company than that because they founded this whole company together. You're just giving the good guy an excuse to bring the cavalry to his match when he might not have done so if you kept it as 1-on-1.

NXT may or may not be a success as its own separate brand, that remains to be seen and it's too soon to judge....but I would say it hasn't been a success as a <em>developmental</em> brand in recent years. It used to be actually good at that (back when it was actually doing <em>work</em> in getting people like Tye Dilinger and Bo Dallas over and not just dropping established stars from ROH/Evolve/Japan who already have an established fanbase from the start), but now it focuses too much on showcasing stars who have already proven their skills elsewhere and not really doing much with actual fresh talents who had their start from their much-touted Performance Centre. There's literally 1 home-grown star in NXT: Velveteen Dream. The Performance Centre only provides bunches of faceless jobbers that cycle in and out.

<p>Like, who's blaming anything? I find a show's wirting to be boring/lazy, and I said so. I even flat out said that I probably wasn't their target audience anymore. How's it different from everyone complaining about RAW, Smackdown and HiaC? Or am I under obligation to specifically name Vince McMahon for every bad thing I see on he shows?</p><p> </p><p> Besides, I doubt Vince books NXT. That's Triple H's baby.</p>

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="TLCJR4LIFE" data-cite="TLCJR4LIFE" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Balor going back to NXT along with NXT overwhelmingly getting absolutely trounced in the ratings signifies what a colossal failure NXT has been as a whole.<p> </p><p> Smarks will prop it up as the greatest thing ever because it’s essentially the WWE Abrams ties to a glorified Indy, but in terms of actual business it’s borderline castatrophic and an unprecedented failure. But yes, and I can’t stress enough this is the result of constantly trying to appease the IWC, and internet sub-cults of fans rather than mainstream audiences who actually keep you in the black.</p><p> </p><p> NXT was supposed to be about developing future stars for the WWE, only no one in the 5 or so years of the brand being a thing has actually drawn any money except Braun Wyatt, and he was classically trained and developed in FCW, not brought through the NXT system. </p><p> </p><p> The WWE essentially failed massively at their goals because instead of looking for John Cenas, Batistas, Randy Ortons and such to put through developmental, they signed a bunch of Indy darlings on the wrong side of 30s who did nothing but work in bingo halls their entire lives. As a result everyone they called up was already a near post prime finished product with a really linear skillset, basically smark spot wrestling. We see it with Owens, Zayn, Balor and countless others.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> Now the WWE is shipping these old midcarder peak type dudes back to NXT and reintroducing it as a “brand” rather than developmental to make it seem less of a bust, only the brand will probably get outdrawn by its competitor by over 100 percent.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> The UE is 3 vanilla midgets and a Shawn Michaels clone with a good catch phrase. Of course a heel stable is the best way to book them. They can also draw too probably if WWE pulled the trigger on them. The tag team are excellent in the ring and Cole has the camera skills to carry the rest.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> My issue wasn't so much that they're stable, I;m more against the fact that they gave every title to said stable. And then, at the same time, also have 2 other heels stables on the show each controlling a title. Even if you love dominating heel stables (and I don't), surely this is a case of having "too much of a good thing"?</p>

<p>Was intrigued by Tegan Nox's first big match since her return on NXT UK last week. Didn't know much about her, but I kept hearing that she was supposed to be the one to win the Mae Young Classic before she got injured, so I was curious about the hype.</p><p> </p><p> I think I can see what made them so high on her (although they might have chosen her for an entirely different reason, or of course the rumours might be completely false). She might not be the best in the ring, but she can really sell her emotional investment in her matches like few others can, and I think better than anyone else on the UK roster. That's someone i can totally get behind. Really enjoyed the match with KLR. I'm even glad that she lost, since I don't think she should be thrust into the title picture this quickly with her story. A feud with Rhea Ripley is ready-made, I think, since she was the one who advanced due to her injury (even if the injury wasn't her fault), and her big bully character would be the perfect foil for Nox's character.</p>

<p>Going by match quality alone, AEW Dark was even better than Dynamite. I wish they had swapped the MJF/Cutler match for one of those dark matches. I guess it's to be expected that they'd be focused on the Elite+friends besides the championship match on the first episode. </p><p> </p><p> First episode wasn't a bad start, but also not the blow-away show I was hoping for. Not surprised that it did better than NXT, though. The opening match was surprisingly the match of the night for me. Cody's best match since DoN, and certainly way better than his All Out match. Wasn't a fan of Guevara before, but he had his character down pat for this match. Best performance (from the albeit limited times) I've seen from him.</p><p> </p><p> PAC vs Hangman was the letdown of the night. Who's idea was it to send PAC out and put on a boring snail-paced match? I hope they're not falling into old "heels cannot wrestle an exciting style" trope that used to plague WWE.</p><p> </p><p> I have to say, though, AEW seems to have an issue with having any of their segments end on happy notes. 2 babyfaces won that night (Riho and Cody), and BOTH of them got jumped post-match. And Omega got jumped at All Out and again on Dynamite. Watsupwidat?</p><p> </p><p> Do they want to wait for Nyla Rose to REALLY drop someone on their head (Nakazawa should thank his lucky stars) or legit break someone's face before they realize that she's a real menace in the ring?</p><p> </p><p> Main event was pretty good, but the referee not doing anything to stop Moxley's interference was ridiculous. Especially when you consider that the person getting attacked is one of the founders of the company, why wouldn't there be security and officials rushing in to drag Moxley away from Omega?</p><p> </p><p> I'm more hyped for the second episode, since as mentioned previously the tag division is currently the most interesting to me so looking forward to the tag tournament. Kind of wish that Private Party had been paired against another team instead of the Bucks in the very first round though, since I can't see the Bucks getting eliminated in round 1. Would have liked to see PP last longer.</p>

<p>Took a look at the new 2-hour NXT from last week....well, I guess I'm really not the target audience for this show. I actually tend to find 1-hour weekly shows more watchable in general since they tend to rotate the guys on the roster every week and feature different people, which helps prevent characters from getting stale or overexposed too quickly. Now, they're getting to be more like RAW and Smackdown, showing the same "main event stars" every week. If you watch RAW/Smackdown and are sick of Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch or Charlotte, you have to be resigned to the fact that they WILL take up at least 15 minutes of screen time every week. But if you watched the old NXT and are sick of Gargano and Cole at least you <em>didn't</em> have to see those guys every week. That's not the case anymore. Even if you do like the guys they're pushing, them not showing up every week makes one look forward more to the episodes where they DO show up.</p><p> </p><p> And to make things worse (for me), they also doubled up on my most hated trope - dominating heel stable. As much as i like Walter, I don't need to see TWO heel stables, one dominating each hour of the show. And if a stable wants to establish themselves on a show and "take over", make a statement, etc, why are they targeting a random babyface who hasn't accomplished anything yet (yes, I know Kushida's "undefeated"....but like 80% of the shiny new indy/foreign stars get one of those during the first few months of their debut, so it's not even special anymore). Why not go after a title holder? Oh wait, they can't, because ALL the titles are held by the other heel stable and they don't want the heel stables to fight each other. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/rolleyes.png.4b097f4fbbe99ce5bcd5efbc1b773ed6.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Even the Women's title is controlled by <em>another</em> heel stable. So basically every title feud on this show will have the same story of the outnumbered babyface(s) fighting against superior numbers. That feels like even lazier writing than the main roster shows that I remember.</p><p> </p><p> I always watch these shows late, so the "Wednesday Night Wars" don't make a difference to me, but I know which show <em>I'd</em> watch if i had to choose.....</p>

Man, Takeover Cardiff was the perfect example of how important a great main event is....especially when All Out happened on the same day and stands as a stark contrast. Both events have an even share of great matches IMO, but I'm always going to have much fonder memory of Takeover Cardiff simple because the main even was THAT much better. I'll echo what has already been said: even though I came into this show with 0% expectation for Bates to win, I totally bought into so many of the false finishes. They somehow find a way to make Bates look like he could believably win without taking anything away from Walter's monster aura. And for someone who seldom enjoy long matches (I hate how TEW implies that the best in-ring action needs at least 20 minutes to pull off), I never got tired of the 40+ minute match. Loved Cesaro showing up on this brand. It looks like it probably just a one-night thing, but I really think they should just switch him to this brand (same for Jack Gallagher). Not sure what they're doing with these guys on the other brands, but I'm willing to bet not much knowing their usual style, and probably less than what their talent deserve. Just look at Noam Dar: he's had a new lease of life ever since he switched to this brand. His match was my second favourite match on this show behind the main event, and certainly the best match I've seen from Travis Banks thus far. Coffey vs Mastiff really should have been an example of how Roman Reigns vs Drew McKintyre should have been booked instead of that snoozefest they had at WM: a Car Crash with 2 big heavy-hitters just throwing everything they have at each other.

I split the show (All Out) up and watched over the span of 2 weekends. Agree with those who say it went a little too long. Besides the pre-show Women's Battle Royal (which was sloppy and poorly-booked), there wasn't any bad matches, but like the last event I felt that the show was dragged down by a relatively lackluster main event. Not that I would have changed the match order, since the AEW Title match absolutely should go last. But seeing that match after seeing Omega vs PAC being the absolute best match of the night was kind of grating simply because....well, this was the main event we could (and probably should) have gotten for this event, and instead we have it here on the undercard outshining the main event. Being on the match#2 slot also felt weird, but maybe that's because i'm too used to WWE booking unimportant matches in this slot so often. If Omega is going to put over PAC on this show then it might as well have happened as the title match, considering the whole dispute was due to DG not wanting PAC to lose. I know things changed that were beyond control, but it's still disappointing in how this all turned out. Jericho vs Page wasn't bad by any means, but it's still the second-worst match of the night (not counting the pre-show Women's). The only other match I'd rank below it is the Dark Order match. I'm not even a fan of the 3-way hardcore, and I find even that to be more memorable than the main event. The most memorable part that sticks out in my mind about the main event is their portrayal of the badass lady referee. The tag division actually looks the most stacked compared to the rest of the roster. The main event scene is still lacking in legit big stars, which is understandable. The women's division doesn't have a lot of good workers that I can see outside the joshi, although admittedly the battle royal doesn't do a good job of showcasing talents (seriously, Mercedes Martinez was the only one who did well in that match), so maybe I'm missing some good ones, but their insistence on pushing Nyla Rose is discouraging. From what I've seen thus far, they're urgently in need of a developmental brand just for their women. Maybe hire Martinez to be the trainer. The tag division, as mentioned was what entertained me the most thus far, although again I'm not a fan of the team they appear to be pushing over the rest (Dark Order). Private Party joins Jungle Boy on my budding list of "guys that AEW showcased to me and made me a fan of". Watching their match with Evans/Angelico has me think "what is this match doing on the pre-show, this belongs on the main card", and I was even more convinced after that comparatively less interesting match between Dark Order and Best Friends. The wrong team won at Fight for the Fallen, and either of the other 2 teams would have done so much better here (and both deserve the bye more). But maybe that's the point: the Dark Order gets the bye so that means one less match I'd have to watch them wrestle in the tournament, so I guess that could be the silver lining. Cody vs Spears was the definition of the "Overbooked Mayhem match that hides the fact that neither competitors are very interesting in the ring" Match Aim in TEW. It worked well to hide both men's limitations, so well-booked.

Decided to take a look at Takeover Toronto yesterday after missing out a couple favourites the last time I skipped their major show. I was most looking forward to the Breakout Tournament that was apparently supposed to showcase new guys....and then I found out it was on the pre-show. :/ Way to show that you're trying to create new stars. I remember the early days when Takeover first started, almost every event will feature a newly-debuted star having his/her first Takeover match. There's a particularly noticeable lack of that when you move the one match that's supposed to showcase new guys on the pre-show. That said, I've since caught the pre-show, and I do like the winner. It's actually not often these days to see wrestlers being capable of expressing more than 3 kinds of emotions and are natural with the subtle expressions and body language. Jordan Myles can do those, and he's a rarer breed than most I've seen debut on NXT in the past 2 years. I don't know if he's ever been a star in the indies, but if he wasn't it was a big missed opportunity by whomever that was booking him. Hopefully they're actually serious about this tournament and will actually give him a big match on the next Takeover. Love seeing Breezango back again, but I guess they have a limited quota on colorful characters that are allowed to wrestle on the main show these days and Velveteen Dream and Street Profits already filled those spots. Opening tag match on the main show was a pleasant surprise. I've always hated the way they showcased Undisputed Era as people who are tougher and can hit harder than monsters like AOP and War Raiders. These "monsters" take one chop block or knee strike and they sell it for the entire match while the puny guys take 3-4 power moves and pretty much shrug them off one minute later. They don't look like guys who should be able to trade hits with big guys and win but they keep getting booked like that, making the monsters look weak. As I said, this match was a pleasant surprise, since the UE actually sold more than they normally do and made their opponents came out looking like the better team. Nice, enjoyable start. Happy for Street Profits winning, especially with all the online speculations that they may be leaving NXT soon due to appearing on RAW so often. Didn't know that Io Shirai turned heel but I think it was the right move. Was never comfortable with her as the underdog face struggling against bullying stable. Kairi Sane was perfect in that spot, and so was Dakota Kai, but Io just doesn't feel right for the role. That said, I'm not sure about this new crazed gimmick they're giving her. there doesn't seem to be much connection between her in-ring style and her new persona, either. Maybe she's still working on those. Match isn't bad, but kind of underwhelming given the competitors in the match. Matt Riddle cut a promo and he actually doesn't sound stoned for once. Good start. Killian Dain back on NXT is a good thing. Sanity really shouldn't have moved to the main show at all. If they're really set on having a heel stable dominate NXT at least Sanity would be a much more flavourful one. I expected the 3-way to be great, and it was. Still don't get why they keep bringing back Pete Dunn just to put over the secondary champion of the show, though. Way to label UK as the inferior brand. If the biggest babyface of the brand has to job, it should be to the NXT Champion only. Love Velveteen's glitzy entrances. Also love how he chose to jump the referee instead of just breaking up the pinfall the usual way. It's little nuances like that which makes a character more distinguished from others. Wasn't sure what to expect from the women's title match going in. MMA-crossover people tend to be rather hit-or-miss with me. Thing is, most of the time I love their characters, whether it's Brock Lesnar, Shayna Bazler, Shinya Aoki, etc.....but whenever they put on an "MMA-style" type of match (fortunately they don't always do) my mind zones out and stops paying attention. The style just turns me off. I was actually surprised to have enjoyed most of Ronda Rousey's matches. Sometimes, if they're facing characters that I'm invested in (Nikki Cross and Kairi both did), it can help sustain my interest, but Mia Yim isn't one of those, and the hype video hasn't helped in that regard. Shayna: "She's got a nice story....." Me: "What, isn't that the exact same story for 90% of the babyfaces that've ever gotten title shots on NXT in the past 3 years?" Mia: "Has she even won anything on her own?" Me: "Uh....yes. She won her first NXT Women's title before any of her Horsewomen stablemates debuted. She's won more on NXT on her own than you have." Matt Riddle being dressed up as one of the masked guys for Mia's entrance was funny, though (at least I think it's him). There's actually a nice, consistent story for the match itself revolving around Shayna's injured arm, and some nice selling by the champ. I'm afraid I'm not seeing any of the hype about Mia or why she's so beloved. Shayna not only had a stronger character, she plainly outworked Mia in the ring, too, at least for this match. Happy to see her win. Tuned out before the main event, but I did watch the hype video, and it was pretty amusing to see the consistently ass-backward booking for these 2 "top guys". The heel chose a straight wrestling match because he's so confident he can out-wrestle Johnny Wrestling. The premise was that that he bragged about how he won the first fall in the last 2/3 falls and therefore would have won a normal 1-fall match...and then went on to prove his point by actually winning the title in a 1-fall match. So, just to hammer home on the fact that the good guy can't win a normal match with normal rules against the bad guy, the babyface decides to NOT try and prove him wrong by asking for another straight wrestling match. Instead, he stupidly asked for a Street Fight, knowing full well that his heel opponent has no less than 3 lackeys who can legally interfere in any kind of matches with no-DQ stip. I don't know if Undisputed Era ended up interfering in this match, but there's been no mention of any stipulations that ban them from ringside, so if they don't then they are bigger idiots than Gargano. And if Gargano loses then he truly is Johnny Failure. Jericho can fill up his entire List just watching this match. i don't have a List to fill, so I won't.

Haven't been online lately, so didn't see this addressed at me earlier.... This is a personal thing, but I'm a little sick of seeing heel stables dominating a show, which partly explains my boredom with the North American NXT. There's also the fact that even though I love Walter, I don't think a character like that needs a stable. That said, I do like them better than Undisputed Era (and better than Gallus, too) because the members feel more distinguished from each other. As I said, big fan of Walter, and "m also liking Alexander Wolfe's character. Don't care much about the tag team guys yet, they haven't done anything that stood out to me, but it's kind of hard to when you're just playing the generic stable henchmen. And yes, the beatdown of Trent, on its own, was a great segment.

Caught the show 2 weeks late due to having too many events to catch up on for the past weeks. Definitely a better show than Fyter Fest overall, and the best match of the night was arguably better all the matches on DoN (although DoN had more good matches), so very well done for a B-level event! If only they hadn't chosen the wrong match to main event, I might even consider it to be as good as DoN. - Librarian vs Kiss was.....weird. They had 2 guys with over-the-top gimmicks and then send them out there for a perfectly mundane 5-minute regular match. I guess this was to introduce Kiss to those who don't know him, but if you have 2 guys like this in the ring you might as well go over the top with the comedy hijinks. - So I heard early on that Britt got concussed early in the women's tag match and turned out a bad match as a result. Having watched it, I don't think it was even that bad. Other than the obvious point where Britt went to the wrong corner for the tag, she actually fared better than I expected for the rest of the match. Her movements become a bit sloppy only towards the final minute of the match. If anything, it was Bea's involvements that were low points of the match. Anytime she gets tagged in the match grinds to a halt. This further convinces me that Stardom chose the wrong gaijin to put their top title on. Winners was a little obvious when you have 2 top champions from another company on the same team and they were obviously not going to job here (just ask PAC). - 6-person tag match was solid and a nice opener, but the guy whom they are pushing for a major match at their next major event (Spears) looked the least impressive. Nice interaction between all the characters though (except Guavara....I can't remember anything significant from him character-wise). This match actually make me want to see MJF vs Spears more than Cody vs Spears. These minor interactions between characters are so much more effective at building heat than cumbersome chairshots to the head. Slightly surprised at Darby taking the pin here after the build-up last month. He got the loudest pop when he first entered the ring. I'm still not completely sure about him yet, but major props to Cody getting a completely new star over, something WWE has struggled to do for the past few years. - Despite the concussions in the pre-show women's match, I have to say they still did better than Brandi vs Allie. I don't get the point of the pre-match video package, which seemed to be portraying Brandi as a babyface fighting to prove that she belongs as a competitor in the business, both to herself and the critics....and then as soon as the match starts she immediately becomes the heel Boss lady using her hench-woman to win matches. It's not even a heel turn since Kong was already established as her lackey back at DoN. I guess being the heel was the right way to go, since Brandi's skills sure as hell wasn't convincing as a wrestler to play that face role, but again, I think it was better for them not to use that video package in the first place. - And they're teasing Kong vs Kong, of all things?? In 2019?? Like, 8 years too late, man. - 3-way tag match was the MotN up till this point. Jungle Boy is now officially the first "AEW original" that made me a fan. There are other guys/girls that I like, but the rest were all people that I watched in other companies and followed them here. I still think he lacks the look to ever be a top singles star, but the Boy and his Dinosaur can be a very marketable tag team to build the division around. Pity the wrong (and blandest) team won here. Jack Evans just taking bumps and selling for 90% of the match without getting a single offense until like the last 3 minutes was pretty funny. - I praised Cody for making Darby a star in his first match, but sadly the same thing can't be said for the guy they're pushing for their World Title match. I know Adam Page was originally a last-minute Plan B guy because of the issues with PAC and Dragon Gate, but they've had 2 months to build him up till the next big event and they're not really doing much with it. All the guys he's beaten so far weren't even big enough names to appear on DoN's main show. What, none of his Elite buddies could spare any time to do a job and put their own buddy over? Not even for the company? - As for the match with Sabian....way too long, and it felt like it was stretched to fill 20 minutes. Reminds me of many of the WWE PPV main events last year where 80% of the matches felt like they were just padding to fill time in order to give the illusion of it being a "20-minute Epic" and all the interesting things only happen in the last 3 minutes. Neither guy ever look like he was close to winning the match. It's kind of like like CIMA vs Daniels last month were the entire match was like a flat line, except this one is twice as long and involving less-skilled wrestlers. The spill out on the entrance ramp in the last minute of the match was the ONLY point when it felt like the match went into next gear....and then it fell flat again. - I think I'm starting to see what the critics mean when the Lucha Bros decide to be lazy and phone it in, and I guess this is where they decided they can do it since it's just a "house show". I do kind of like how the referees in AEW seem to prefer ejecting the interferer instead of going for an automatic DQ. Too bad once Daniels leaves I can care less about the rest of SCU. I do think they're working harder than the Lucha Bros tonight though, so props to them. - Now, this is more like the CIMA I know. Awesome match, exciting action, consistent and logical storytelling, not much more I can ask for. Best match of AEW so far, IMO. I know a lot of fans give that honor to Cody vs Dustin, but I think this is a notch better. - Jericho had the unenviable job of trying to make Page sound like a threat, and it says a lot when he's not really making me feel it. This was the guy who was literally the lifeblood of the Roman Reigns/Kevin Owens title feud and even he can't quite carry Page here. My strongest memory of this segment was thinking about how it was a missed opportunity that the Librarian didn't try to get between the 2 and shush them both (and get punched out by both) when he was sent with the others to break up the lackluster brawl. - Main event was....solid. It was a match where 2 teams used to working at different paces trying to adjust themselves to each other and the result wasn't too bad, although it wasn't brilliant. I think this would have been perfect as the semi-main event. In stark contrast to the 20-minute Page vs Sabian match, this match lasted over half an hour and never outstayed its welcome. The length was perfect, didn't leave me wanting more or waiting for it to end. Kind of hoping that the Rhodes would win, though, as the newly reunited duo should benefit more from this. They probably want to protect the Bucks for their title match next month, but I really don't think it would hurt them for the Rhodes to get the win here. I actually think it sort of hurt Dustin, with them pushing the narrative of "should he have just retired at DoN?".

Mad props to NXT UK somehow making me to enjoy a Kassius Ohno match for the first time in my life, something that even the old NXT under Dusty's regime wasn't able to do. Kudos for that.

Time for the Modern Day Maharaja to reclaim his position at the top and improve the business! https://www.ringsidenews.com/2019/07/20/seth-rollins-wasnt-as-profitable-of-a-champion-as-jinder-mahal/

<p>Looks like they may be building towards Trent Seven vs Walter. I'm down with that, in light of lacking really credible choices at the moment with Mastiff occupied with Gallus. Definitely a step up from Walter vs Banks.</p><p> </p><p> Ilja Dragunov is still funny as hell to watch.</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>DISCLAIMER: OWC does not advocate the use of lovely, lovely drugs.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Did you send Lucas Danger the memo? Or did the delivery process go through some mishap so that he only received the last 3 words in the memo?</p>

Woah, almost forgot there will be an event this Saturday until DDT announced that Shoko Namajima will be there. Quite a busy upcoming week in wrestling. The weekly TV can't come soon enough. Too easy to lose track of a company without it after getting used to that structure.

Not much of the spoiler. I'm sure everyone would have picked the Wrestling God Anders Thunder.

Just like I don't understand why you needed to spill over 10 paragraphs detailing how much a gloried Saudi Arabia house show produced on BLOOD MONEY which you obviously never wanted to watch sucks. At least I actually do want to watch this one, just didn't feel important enough to have to catch it live. --- Running thoughts on the show now that I've watched it: - Pre-show 3-way tag match was good. Enjoyed it despite not being a fan of any of the guys in the match (and not knowing anything about Private Party). Nice start. - Librarian gimmick doesn't seem to be catching on. The crowd admitting that they're a bunch of illiterates end up being more entertaining than this match. The women don't see comfortable working in this environment. - They need to improve the camera work, missed a few important spots there. - The next match involves a non-wrestler, and having seen a fair bit of Nakazawa in DDT I find his comedy to be quite hit-or-miss, so not coming into this with much expectations.....and I have to say they exceeded it (which admittedly doesn't take much). I think Jebailey did about as well as an untrained guy could do for this. And the crowd was actually more invested in this than the previous match so at least it moved the needle up. Decent comedy match that did its job well. - CIMA vs Daniels was the match I was looking most forward to and it felt.....strangely flat. It's like the match never moved into next gear before it ended. Maybe it's the opposite effect from the previous match - I came in with too much expectations, being a fan of both guys. There's nothng specifically wrong with the match that I can point out, just lacks the excitement that I usually get from these 2. - Them changing Yuka's entrance theme puts me in a bad mood. - Women's match is better-booked than the 4-way last month. Despite losing the pin Nyla Rose actually looks better than she did last month. Still not sold on her as a worker. Ignoring the awful gimmick and performance both women wrestling on the pre-show are better than her. I hope AEW gets a developmental brand and put Nyla there for a while if they're that high on her. Riho getting the win was surprising - I guess they're throwing her a bait to get her to sign after her 5-match deal expires. - I doubt anyone didn't predict an Adam Page win in the 4-way, considering he's one of the 2 Title contenders, which theoretically should place him as one of the 2 top guys. Not convinced that he's earned that status, though. I had never heard of Jungle Boy before DoN and only first saw MJF at All In, and thus far I like all the other 3 guys in the match more than Page. Havoc and MJF both come off as stronger personalities, and while I don't ever see Jungle Boy as a top face his ring work is way more fun than Page. If this match is to "put over Page", it hasn't worked with me, but as a showcase for the other 3 guys it's not too bad. I hope they're not going to choose Page over Jericho as their inaugural champ. The most entertaining thing I've seen him do is get murdered by Joey Ryan and his Penis Army. - So far, the pre-show tag match is still the best match. NOT a good sign.... - JR's commentary still drags the show down. Leave the commentary booth to Excalibur, please. - Apparently, this was Darby's real-life story....and it feels like an e-fed character. Still hasn't made up my mind whether it's a good or bad thing. - Wow, seems like they're really trying to get Darby over as a big deal. They've got me interested, if nothing else, so the match did its job in putting him over. I want to see more of this guy before I make up my mind about whether I like him. Cody obviously did him a huge favour by giving him a draw, but on the flip side I don't think Cody is the best opponent for an exciting match in terms of style. - I remembering mentioning in post about Cody's DoN match about how they seemed to be doing some unnecessary un-PG stuff and ending with "thank God they didn't stoop to unprotected chair-shots".....and they went and did it here. I feel trolled. Gimmicked or not, still a dumb thing to do. - Spotfest is expected when the Bucks and Lucha Bros are involved, just like last month, but this one feel like it's a step down. Not because of the comedy bits. In fact, video game gags are kind of appropriate for anything the Bucks are involved in considering the style they always prefer. But the spot-fest really just feel like more a plain move-fest and way more choreographed. The title match last month had a more natural flow to it, and the no-sells here are more apparent. - The main event is the only that seem to have an adequate story supporting it. I'm happy for Moxley that he finally gets to do the stuff that he wasn't allowed to do in WWE. I just hope he doesn't like doing this all the time. I can enjoy ultra-violent matches like this in small doses but I don't want to see it as the norm for Moxley matches. This is another match where the ending is obvious, but unlike the 4-way, Moxley actually comes out looking good, unlike Page. Effective main event that probably lifted this show by grade.

OWC Heavyweight Championship - Three Way Dance Ladder Match Seth Whitehead © vs Gidayu Katou vs Martyr Texas Deathmatch Mad Dog Mortimer vs Lucas Danger Anders Thunder vs Katoh Freak Silas Odswald vs Danjuro Kikuchi

And not to be left out, Kenny Omega joined in on juvenile twitter banter! Only to delete it hours later, possibly after Tony Khan told him to (pure conjecture). Anyway, Fyter Fest is clearly a B-level event. It doesn't look like there's going to be much consequences to most of the matches. In the last event, there was a title match, a No. 1 contenders match and a family feud with rich ready-made history. Here almost all the matches feel like exhibition bouts. The only one I really have high expectations for is CIMA vs Daniels. All the other matches contain at least one party that I don't care about (and a few I don't know). Since it'll probably also clash with another wrestling event that I'm more interested in watching live due to timezone issues, I've probably not be watching this one live and try to find a way to catch some of the individual matches on a later date.

And apparently Timmy Dreamer once legit contemplated murder on Heyman: https://www.bodyslam.net/2019/06/25/tommy-dreamer-shares-about-when-he-was-depressed-and-suicidal-and-how-jim-ross-saved-his-life/

Time for WWE to whip out those old twitter nude pics of Seth to hype the feud between Becky and Lacey: