Matt_Black

Good show. Not the "OMG WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT" you might hope for in a landmark 200th episode, but two very shocking (to me, anyway) wins. The bit with MJF and Cole was great stuff, as always. "You're OUR scumbag!" I swear, 2023 has had the BEST chants in wrestling history. The only match that didn't work for me was the ROH tag title match. Some great spots, but ultimately, these were champions I don't care about one way or the other defending against a team that you know wasn't going to win.

2023- The year when men hugging got the biggest pop from a wrestling audience.

At the very least, I'd hope they'd patch things up enough for one AEW tag title run. It is a CRIME that Austin and Colten Gunn have been champs, but Santana and Ortiz have not.

It doesn't help that she's gone from face to heel to face to heel in the span of 3 months. Even Paul Wight didn't have that many turns!

The WWE kind of did that a year or two ago, when Xavier Woods and Zelina Vega won their respective tournaments, then went on to do nothing notable. The women's division has been more of a mess this week than usual. Out of 3 hours of television, they got 10 minutes approximately, with no storyline advances. The actual match on Rampage was good despite only being 5 minutes.

From what I've heard, Ibushi has only wrestled a very, very few number of matches this year, and you can tell. The ring rust is very obvious. That said, the standing moonsault on the bed of nails looked nice, and the exchange with him and Takeshita continuously reversing each other was good (though I winced a bit when he took that piledriver). Absolutely agree about the representation of the women's division. A squash match and a throwaway appearance by Statlander while the real focus is on Orange and Darby? Also, her appearance was to announce a match with Shafir; why is she continuously on TV over other people? I mean, yeah, I'd rather her eat pins than Abadon or Riho or any of the other wrestlers in the division that actually have talent and charisma, but STILL. I get last night had a LOT going on, but you could have absolutely cut those two Marvez segments and lost nothing, giving more time to the Britt match.

Well, that was a glorious spectacle.

Mutants and Masterminds CAN be very "crunchy" as far as initial character creation goes, BUT they also have tons of premade characters and options so a lot of the work is done for you. The Deluxe Hero's Handbook contains a quickstart generator, one of the options of which is the "Totem", an animal hero, which then branches into several different animal types. Other pre-made animal characters designed to be starting players include Mongrel (Emerald City), Kitty (Hero High 2e), and the Shadow Knights (martial arts rabbit girls, an obvious TMNT pastiche, Superteam Handbook). I've made a bunch of characters over here, if you want to see some examples, including one who is an alien alligator man with the power of the Egyptian God Horus (and if that doesn't scream TMNT action figure, I don't know what does).

That's not me, then. I'm certainly not paying $9.99/ month for the spiritual successor to AEW Dark. Battle Of The Belts was the 2nd biggest waste of time AEW has ever produced. (The biggest, of course, is AEW All Access). On the plus side, the feed cutting out was the most interesting finish for an Outcasts match we've ever seen. Collision was... a bit of a mess. The tag title match went WAY too long. I don't think anyone needs to see a straight hour of Juice Robinson. The House Of Black squash match should have followed that, instead of the women's final. Speaking of, why did the women's final match have an announced time limit (not that it came into play) but CM Punk vs. Ricky Starks gets "as long as it takes"? THIS is why people think AEW doesn't take it's women's division seriously, because they treat it's not as big a deal.

Further example- next week, we are getting the Royal Rampage, which is the the FIFTH telelvised battle royal for the men in 2023. Meanwhile, the women's division has not had a battle royal since All Out 2021. Also, Toni Storm trying to cut an in-ring heel promo is PAINFUL to watch.

No one would know that, because outside of one or two champions, they rarely mention ROH happenings on TV. At least with Dark and Elevation, they'd put the results on Dynamite.

AEW really, REALLY needs to build credible faces for the women's division as right now it's just Statlander and Britt, and Britt's only a face because the crowd turned hard on Saraya and Toni Storm when it became apparent that Mercedes Monet wasn't showing up anytime soon. (Shida is never around long enough to build up any momentum.) Willow is likeable, good in the ring, and getting good reactions. It would be a waste not to capitalize on that, sending her to the "I Can't Believe It's Not AEW Dark!" that is ROH.

I just hope Ruby doesn't win the finals at Collision, though I'm not sure how they'll play it. On the one hand, the Outcasts have been on a streak (I hesitate to call it a "hot" streak, because "heat" is not something I associate with Toni Storm or Ruby Soho at this point) and they need to get some degree of comeuppance. On the other hand, if she loses, this will mark the THIRD tournament final she's managed to lose (last year's Owen and the TBS tournament).

I disagree. I think Adam Cole is terribly overrated, but this thing with him and MJF has been pure gold. That match, they had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands. When Max finally hit the slam on Big Bill, the audience went, to quote the late great Pat Patterson, BANANA. When Cole and MJF finally hit that double clothesline, the crowd is going to make like it's Hogan body slamming Andre. And the Harley rap segment was good. In fact, since she's a heel, or at least aligned with the heels, I'd go so far to say it was TOO good. Isn't the gimmick supposed to be she's BAD at this?

I'll say it- FTR vs. Bullet Club was too long. They could have cut some of that and given Julia Hart an actual opponent from the roster, or maybe have set up a feud or storyline in a post-match segmen. One women's match per show, we need more than a squash match over a local jobber, especially when there are so many women on the roster who haven't been on TV in months.

Cole/ MJF match was good, though Menard was criminally underused (he's consistently one of the most entertaining acts on AEW when they give him time), but the post-match segment was GLORIOUS. The look on Adam Cole's face when Max was trying to put the birthday hat on... Then there was the Ruby Soho/ Britt Baker match, which was the same Outcasts match we've been seeing for months. I should have known something was up when they trotted out the tournament belt, because they haven't shown that in over a year. It would be slightly more tolerable if there was an apparent endgame, like a clear person who is going to challenge (and beat) Toni Storm for the title. Are they waiting for Thunder Rosa or Hayter to get medically cleared? Are they still hoping to sign Mercedes? Are they letting enough time pass so that when Jade Cargill comes back she gets a HUGE babyface pop? (Having her be the Joker in the Women's Casino Battle Royal, if they do that this year, would be an ideal spot for this). As it stands, this storyline has gotten incredibly monotonous and repetitive as the nWoutcasts do their tired, boring heel act.

I just hope they don't screw this up, like insisting Ronda is the face and booking things accordingly.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Nigel- "Juice is married to Toni Storm." Me, thinking about how both bore me to tears- "Yeah, that tracks."

Which in an of itself doesn't mean anything, as there are a lot of women on the roster with full time contracts who we haven't seen on TV in FOREVER.

You know, as not good as QTV segments have been (they make me nostalgic for a Dan Lambert Old Man Yelling At Clouds promo), Harley Cameron as managed to get herself on TV pretty much every week, which is hard if you're not Britt or feuding with Britt.

Agree. Toni Storm is dull, and they botched the booking for Jade terribly. Meanwhile, Abadon is pretty over with live crowds, and I can't remember the last time they were on TV.

Would it kill them to do a women's Dynamite Dozen or Face of the Revolution match?

The men have had no less than four televised battle royals this year alone.

Perry's promo was underwhelming, but it was his first go at being a heel. Remember, Britt Baker's first heel promo on the Jericho Cruise episode of Dynamite was also painful and awkward, but she grew into it and got much better (even though, admittedly, she still delivers some awkward and painful promos on occasion). Speaking of awkward and painful, that Ruby Soho match/ promo. UGH, I am so over this Outcasts storyline. When RUBY SOHO is the most charismatic member of your stable, there is a problem. I really hope Thunder Rosa is healed up and ready to return soon, because this storyline desperately needs a shot in the arm, because Britt can't carry it by herself, and while Willow appears to be in it as well (I'd be shocked if the finals of the Owen aren't Ruby/ Willow), AEW seems to be doing their start/ stop with female talent with her, so she's never really building up a good degree of momentum to really make an impact.