The All Elite Wrestling Discussion Thread

[Derek B]

<p>I was excited going in to the show because I had no doubts that CM Punk was coming back and it was always going to be a great feegood moment. I never expected to shed tears of joy for it though. They gave Punk time to work the crowd and tell us a story and I loved it.</p><p> </p><p>

The rest of the show also happened. Tag match was good. The other two singles matches were what they were. But man.... CM Punk is back to wrestling after all these years in a moment that will resonate for a while. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p>

I still hope for heel CM Punk though.... maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow.... but heel CM Punk is my favourite CM Punk. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/wink.png.686f06e511ee1fbf6bdc7d82f6831e53.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Woodsmeister]

<p>That reaction was awesome… brought back memories of money in the bank vs Cena… they could not have booked it better… be interesting to see a non Chicago crowd reaction.</p><p> </p><p>

Love it had goosebumps and made me forget some of the crap going on in the world for a few moments</p>

[Blodyxe]

That was a great return, and I'm really excited to hear and see more from unscripted CM Punk. His jump over the rails, Britt Baker mention in the first sentence, little things like that would never happen in WWE. I wish him the best in AEW, may he give us more cool moments like this one

[Jaysin]

<p>Bray Wyatt was apparently in attendance for Rampage, but sitting in the audience. There's pictures of him going around.</p><p> </p><p>

As bloated and stacked as AEW is getting, the thought of Bray with control over his character is just mind blowing to me. </p><p> </p><p>

At the same time, I feel like him, Braun, and Rowan would make a killing somewhere like New Japan where big athletic guys are super over.</p>

[milamber]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Bray Wyatt was apparently in attendance for Rampage, but sitting in the audience. There's pictures of him going around.<p> </p><p> As bloated and stacked as AEW is getting, the thought of Bray with control over his character is just mind blowing to me. </p><p> </p><p> At the same time, I feel like him, Braun, and Rowan would make a killing somewhere like New Japan where big athletic guys are super over.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Not enough tattoos to be Waytt but the hair was close lol. I do think he'll sign, though.</p><p> </p><p> Imagine having Jericho, Kingston, Mox, Hardy, Punk, Bryan and Wyatt backstage helping the younger talent with promos and creative ideas...</p>

[aXminster]

<p>1.129 million viewers and a 0.53 demo on the friday night death slot for CM Punk.</p><p> </p><p>

TNT is incredibly happy. What a bargain AEW was for them.</p>

[milamber]

<p>The opening quarter-hour with the return of CM Punk was watched by 1.341m (0.65 demo). It also did a record-setting 1.70 demo in the Chicago market!</p><p> </p><p>

Keeping in mind Rampage is not AEW's "A" show... the last 2 weeks of Raw leading up to one of their biggest PPVs did 1.790m (0.49 demo) and 1.857m (0.55 demo).</p><p> </p><p>

Also, Punk's new shirt is now the top selling merch at ProWrestlingTees, overtaking the Bone Soldier Bullet Club shirt that was #1 for 7 years.</p>

[aXminster]

Also, Punk's new shirt is now the top selling merch at ProWrestlingTees, overtaking the Bone Soldier Bullet Club shirt that was #1 for 7 years.

 

It's actualy insane that a 7-year record was broken in 72hrs. There's actually a shortage of plain white tees in the market right now because of that.

[Makhai]

It's actualy insane that a 7-year record was broken in 72hrs. There's actually a shortage of plain white tees in the market right now because of that.

 

Pro-Wrestling Tees website hasn't been functional since Friday.

[aXminster]

Below average show tonight. Which sucks because there were many new eyes for Punk.

 

-OC vs Hardy was okay. I really don't like to see OC wrestling so much. He should be wrestling as much as MJF imo. And he has another match set for next week.

-Lucha Bros vs Varsity Blondes was great. I hope Lucha Bros win the tournament. They always put out bangers with the Bucks.

-Red Velvet vs Jamie Hayter was okay. Velvet has a lot of scary botches. I feel like she is always at risk of hurting herself.

-Kingson/Mox/Allin vs The Wingmen. Fun match.

-The Factory vs Gunn Club. That's a dark match. Nobody really cares about any of these guys.

-Black vs Anderson was kinda weird. Brock shouldn't be on TV and why would you finish the show with a Lee Johnson save. Oh, god. I really don't like Cody's friends.

 

Nice "wink" from Punk about Bryan. What are they gonna do? Fire him?

[milamber]

<p>- Cassidy vs Hardy was my MOTN. Enjoyed the money spots, OC using Hardy's moves and the finishing pin.</p><p>

- Black is gonna kill you. Expected stipulation for Jericho vs MJF.</p><p>

- Lucha Bros vs Varsity Blonds was good.</p><p>

- Hayter vs Velvet was good... except for the dangerous moonsault botch.</p><p>

- Dark Order: Civil War. Looking forward to Miro/Kingston.</p><p>

- Crowd made Punk corpse lol. What a promo! *wink... Bryan Danielson... wink *</p><p>

- Darby, Mox & Kingston vs The Wingmen was fun. Was expecting this to main event but I guess they wanted to keep the momentum going after Punk. Looks like Garcia is sticking around a bit longer.</p><p>

- Conti on Dynamite! Don namedropping Vince was a mega heel move. "You think you know me" lol. No Tanahashi for Mox yet. Suzuki or White would have been better than Kojima.</p><p>

- Nightmare Factory vs Gunn Club was solid. Colten's mystifying undefeated streak continues.</p><p>

- Dan Lambert is entertaining as hell and fits perfectly with Men of the Year.</p><p>

- Black vs Anderson was a solid squash. Love Black's entrance. Props to Arn.</p>

[crownsy]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="aXminster" data-cite="aXminster" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Below average show tonight. Which sucks because there were many new eyes for Punk.<p> </p><p> -OC vs Hardy was okay. I really don't like to see OC wrestling so much. He should be wrestling as much as MJF imo. And he has another match set for next week.</p><p> -Lucha Bros vs Varsity Blondes was great. I hope Lucha Bros win the tournament. They always put out bangers with the Bucks.</p><p> -Red Velvet vs Jamie Hayter was okay. Velvet has a lot of scary botches. I feel like she is always at risk of hurting herself.</p><p> -Kingson/Mox/Allin vs The Wingmen. Fun match.</p><p> -The Factory vs Gunn Club. That's a dark match. Nobody really cares about any of these guys.</p><p> -Black vs Anderson was kinda weird. Brock shouldn't be on TV and why would you finish the show with a Lee Johnson save. Oh, god. I really don't like Cody's friends.</p><p> </p><p> Nice "wink" from Punk about Bryan. What are they gonna do? Fire him? <img alt=":D" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/biggrin.png.929299b4c121f473b0026f3d6e74d189.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I mean I'm sure the wink was signed off on. I expect we'll get the same build for Bryan on the 22nd that we got from Punk</p><p> </p><p> Really, the easter eggs are the way to go. Announcing him takes away the pop, but the easter egg stuff (like watch Kenny's shirts these next few weeks. BEt we get some deep DB cuts lol) helps basically say "listen, just have faith, it's coming"</p><p> </p><p> Of course the flip side is if they DON'T deliver, then they lose that trust. But the seem to be aware of that</p>

[Jaysin]

<p>Hayter and Velvet was very disappointing. I'm a fan of both ladies, but they had no chemistry whatsoever and Velvet botched more than usual.</p><p> </p><p>

Another excellent Punk promo though. </p><p> </p><p>

People can crap all over Matt Hardy as much as they want, but he almost always delivers solid matches and this week he has the match of the night.</p>

[crownsy]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="46243" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Hayter and Velvet was very disappointing. I'm a fan of both ladies, but they had no chemistry whatsoever and Velvet botched more than usual.<p> </p><p> Another excellent Punk promo though. </p><p> </p><p> People can crap all over Matt Hardy as much as they want, but he almost always delivers solid matches and this week he has the match of the night.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I was kinda surprised by the card honestly. Like it was fine, and I guess on some level I'm happy they just were like "we aren't hot shotting this show, aside from the Punk Promo" </p><p> </p><p> But you would think, with all the eyes coming in for this week, they would have structured who was on this show a bit differently</p><p> </p><p> Like, just as an example, I would have had the Bucks vs. a decent young team to start, and put that OC/Hardy match after the promo</p><p> </p><p> Also not sure I would have ended the show with The Nightmare Family vs the Factory into a squash for Black where Lee Johnson somehow didn't get killed as well. </p><p> </p><p> I wouldn't have put Hayter vs. Velvet on this show, and that has nothing to do with the workers, I like them both. I just think you have stronger female match ups here, and hands you can trust not to botch. Like I would have gone with Ford vs. Rosa or something like that here. </p><p> </p><p> Just kinda odd pacing for a show that you must expect a larger than normal audience for, I dunno.</p>

[crownsy]

speaking of easter eggs, some internet slueth took a look at Punks shoes.

 

He had "AC" written on them on Friday night and "BW" on Monday

 

Adam Cole and Bray Wyatt confirmed :p

[RKOwnage]

I might be in the minority here, but I feel like they didn't do enough on Rampage to build a story when they had the audience locked in for Punk. I haven't been watching any wrestling and I tuned in for him, though I didn't watch Dynamite last night because it seems like it's just going to be the same old wrestling formula. I dunno. It's cool to see him back but I haven't really felt the need to tune in on a regular basis yet.

[crownsy]

I might be in the minority here, but I feel like they didn't do enough on Rampage to build a story when they had the audience locked in for Punk. I haven't been watching any wrestling and I tuned in for him, though I didn't watch Dynamite last night because it seems like it's just going to be the same old wrestling formula. I dunno. It's cool to see him back but I haven't really felt the need to tune in on a regular basis yet.

 

I think Rampage was awesome, but see my comments above on Dynamite. Rampage is an hour show, so I'm ok with them basically making it "this is the huge thing we want to highlight this week" which seems to be the plan with it.

 

I would have booked Dyanamite a bit different around that punk promo though

 

Punks promo last night was great, but I would have structured the show around it different. but his promo was very good, layed out why he would pick Darby, and why it's important to him that he proves to himself he can still hang with the roster top to bottom

 

but I'm not sure why for instance we had a clunky women's match with two green workers, a very cold match with Nightmare Family vs the Factory (which the crowd barley cares about) into a kinda weird squash for Black after that highpoint

 

I think they might be trying to keep Punk and some other top acts away from each other until Post Darby, but it does make the show feel kinda unnatural. It's like they are telling the Punk - Darby storyline in a separate universe than the rest of the show. Which is fine for me through the match, but then I need the rest of the roster to be like "ok, great glad your here, I want to beat the crap outta you to prove I'm the best."

[Makhai]

Hayter and Velvet was very disappointing. I'm a fan of both ladies, but they had no chemistry whatsoever and Velvet botched more than usual.

 

Every time they move away from the top-4 girls (Thunder, Riho, Shida, Baker) the match always looks like a bad impression of a WWE house show match done at .25x speed. I like Hayter, I think Velvet is a talentless void. At the very least, Velvet should be jerking Dark until she can do a match, this isn't all friends wrestling anymore, you're making your move. Put the people who belong on the card, on the card. Absolutely no reason either of these girls deserves the spot before Punk. Ridiculous booking.

[CQI13]

I might be in the minority here, but I feel like they didn't do enough on Rampage to build a story when they had the audience locked in for Punk. I haven't been watching any wrestling and I tuned in for him, though I didn't watch Dynamite last night because it seems like it's just going to be the same old wrestling formula. I dunno. It's cool to see him back but I haven't really felt the need to tune in on a regular basis yet.

 

X amount of people will watch regardless for the time being. I would check it out if I could but they are on cable and their streaming app is only available overseas.

[Blodyxe]

That was a really underwhelming episode in my opinion. Punk comes in with lots of momentum, but no other aspect of the show is good enough to keep the new fans interested. The card feels like a regular Dark episode

[milamber]

It wasn't the best show for match quality but they had a good mix of established and young talent to showcase to casual viewers, plus they unveiled most of the All Out card. After all the big shows recently and the PPV soon they couldn't keep blowing through big matches.

 

I'm surprised by all the hate for Red Velvet. She's been solid in the ring and on the mic for the last few months (including the Dark shows) then one botched moonsault and everyone thinks she's crap. I think the general consensus was that her match with Baker was good, yet Baker is no ring general so that means Velvet held up her end.

[soxfan93]

Yeah, this week definitely seemed story-focused rather than match-focused, which makes sense, as I expect that trend to continue so that Rampage stays a tight, action-packed hour. Think of it in TEW terms. We advanced OC/Hardy, Punk/Darby, Kenny/Christian, Miro/Kingston, Bucks and the tag tournament, the Dark Order, I mean everything advanced to some degree. The matches were fine for what they were, as mentioned above, a mix of young and established.

[Jaysin]

I'm surprised by all the hate for Red Velvet. She's been solid in the ring and on the mic for the last few months (including the Dark shows) then one botched moonsault and everyone thinks she's crap. I think the general consensus was that her match with Baker was good, yet Baker is no ring general so that means Velvet held up her end.

 

I love Red Velvet, but she botched a few times in her match with Hayter. It wasn't just the moonsault.

 

That said, her and Hayter had zero chemistry together. Both of them are capable of better than what was shown on Dynamite.

[Jaysin]

Supposedly Dark is going to become a studio show, but Elevation will still be taped with Dynamite or Rampage.

[Jaysin]

Lucha Bros vs Jurassic Express was wonderful.

 

The Eddie Kingston chants are so gratifying for this long time fan. So happy he has a place in a mainstream promotion.