The Wrestling Thread

[Reprise]

A lot of people do seem to be pissed off that Sami is facing Gunther and that Chad Gable isn't the one that won the match last night.

WWE always does this. It's Daniel Bryan all over again. We had 'Samimania', with Sami being probably the most over guy on the roster for a good 6 months or so, we have had Sami be very vocal in wanting to be in the world title picture again and it seems from the attitudes online and stuff I have read, that fans are still massively into Sami.

So this is his classic WWE kneejerk reactionary 'consolation prize'. WWE don't want Sami in the picture for world undisputed whatever the hell WWE's main titles are called, so they think "fans will love it if he gets the Intercontinental belt instead and dethrone Gunther, right?"

The problem is Sami has already held the Intercontinental belt, it won't elevate or help him winning it again and he doesn't seem like the right person to dethrone Gunther.

It's just like when Daniel Bryan got injured whilst holding the world title and then came back and immediately won the Intercontinental title so they could push Roman to the moon instead. They're knocking guys like Sami, who got over organically, down a peg so they can push Cody to the moon.

[Raging Justice]

The match was weird too, because they're both babyfaces. I don't think the crowd knew who to root for. There were a few Sammy chants at one point, and when Chad got serious and pulled down his straps, some people in the crowd popped. Overall though, the crowd was fairly quiet, though that's not unusual with modern WWE crowds who make about as much noise as a room full of 90 year old men when people are actually in the ring wrestling. Also, Cole was putting Chad Gable over so much on commentary and telling us his story, I thought for sure he was setting up Chad for a win.

Jack Perry is in a faction in NJPW now. Is he not coming back to AEW?

and on a completely random note, I watched a trios match featuring Saori Anou, Tam Nakano, and Natsupoi, who won the match. Nice to see Tam and Poi off the injured list and competing again. I suppose they are staying with Stardom, at least until their contracts run out I guess. Natsupoi looked cute as ever, and Saori and Tam are always gorgeous to me. Oh...uh, the match was great too LOL

Saki Kashima is a real looker too, not a Cosmic Angel though, but I can forgive her for that That's what I love about Stardom. They have great wrestlers, and quite a few of them are easy on the eyes too. Some of these girls are the total package. It's also nice to see a roster of women who aren't covered in ink. I have nothing against tattoos but so many American women today just have ink EVERYWHERE and I think it looks terrible. When you have tattoos all up and down your arms, it looks like you have a skin disease. Just my opinion.

[Raging Justice]

Tonight's the big night. Does the women's division finally get the shot in the arm that it needs? I would assume Mercedes does nothing tonight but cut a promo and take in the adulation of the crowd, but I suppose they could try to start a program tonight and get some good heel heat on somebody. Time for a Britt Baker heel turn maybe? Have her get the lockjaw on Mercedes and drown in a sea of boos from the crowd. The next several days they can talk about how Britt ruined Mercedes' debut.

Remember when they had a trophy set up for Shida to get her historic 50th win...and Serena Deeb beat her in the match and then hit her in the face with the trophy? I want that kind of heat on Britt Baker tonight times a hundred. I'm tired of slow burn bullshit. Let's kick off Mercedes AEW run with a fucking bang right out of the gate.

[Reprise]

Britt would be an excellent first feud for Mercedes, I agree. You booked it perfectly too. And it makes sense for her to return and have a heel turn, since Cole is currently heel. What better way to make an impact and get people talking than having her debut ruined by another star? No slow burn like you said, start with an explosive bang.

[Reprise]

Why did Fite/Triller have to up all their prices so much? I don't want to pay to watch Dynamite (wasn't bad before when it was £5.99 per month, but it's now £7.99) and it sucks having to wait 3 days to watch it in the UK on free TV.

I wouldn't mind actually watching this episode tomorrow before getting it all ruined on social media, but screw paying 8 quid for that privilege. Maybe I will just stay off social media and forums for 3 days. If I disappear until Friday evening/Saturday morning, you know why

[Raging Justice]

Why did Fite/Triller have to up all their prices so much? I don't want to pay to watch Dynamite (wasn't bad before when it was £5.99 per month, but it's now £7.99) and it sucks having to wait 3 days to watch it in the UK on free TV.

I wouldn't mind actually watching this episode tomorrow before getting it all ruined on social media, but screw paying 8 quid for that privilege. Maybe I will just stay off social media and forums for 3 days. If I disappear until Friday evening/Saturday morning, you know why

I guess I'll spoiler text my post:

CEO! CEO! CEO!

OKADA! OKADA! OKADA!

OSPREAY! OSPREAY! OSPREAY!

Damn, it feels like AEW has some legit star power right now. Plus, PAC is back, and Jay White went back to his heel roots and destroyed Darby Allin and beat the shit out of The Acclaimed. Bullet Club Gold is back, the Bang, Bang, Gang! We also got a cool video from Adam Cole. The stars are lining up right now in AEW. The main event scene may be a lot of fun in the coming months. Can't forget Swerve, who did very little tonight but still was given air time. You've also got Edge and Christian out there. Though it almost feels like Edge is in AEW to do nothing other than feud with Christian at this point. Christian has been a great TNT champ though, maybe if he drops the title to Edge we will see the Rated R Superstar continue to make that title relevant. I also think Edge and Christian aligning at some point could light a fire under the tag division.

Wardlow got beat pretty easily, his future isn't looking too bright, but who knows. He could be a star a few years down the road. You never know in wrestling. Samoa Joe's dominance continues, which I think is perfectly fine for the time being. I could see this possibly being his one and only world title reign, so good on AEW for making the most of it. I like how Joe had to get off of his feet to choke out Wardlow, shows you how big of a guy Wardlow is.

Heel Okada is awesome and fits in better than I would have expected with The Bucks. I'm very happy that they are letting Okada speak a little bit for himself. He does know a little bit of English, though I still expect The Bucks to do most of the talking for him though. Him telling Alex Marvez to sing was funny. I think Okada is having fun in AEW right now. Kingston going to his corner for a tag, only to find Okada there trolling him

Okada pinned Kingston clean. Nice. I hope he really does take that Continental title off of him. Shame on the camera man for not zooming out though when Okada posed in the ring with The Bucks. Nice trios match to open the show (well open the show after the Mercedes debut that is), even with Kingston doing little of note. Everyone else in that match made up for that sack of shit though.

Ospreay cut a killer promo and was over with the crowd. Nice of him to mention Omega, who was also mentioned on commentary during the trios match. Good to keep Omega in people's minds. Ospreay and Danielson will surely have a banger of a match. AEW's roster right now is arguably the one area where they are killing WWE. It's not exactly translating to ratings, but you can't complain if you're a hardcore wrestling fan.

Deonna Purrazzo cut a promo backstage for a tag match between her and an unspecified partner and Toni Storm and Mariah May next week. I like that Deonna got some air time, she's a good talent (despite that awful match at Revolution). Toni Storm was not on this show at all and honestly felt insignificant by the end of the show, more on that later.

Jericho and Hook won their tag match. I don't think people enjoy Jericho coming out without the Judas theme, and nobody gives a fuck about the Gates of Agony, a.k.a. random tag team from ROH. I do like seeing Hook choke out people bigger than him though. They are leaning very heavily into him being Tazz's kid. That said though, it feels like both Hook and Jericho don't have anything really great to do right now so they just got thrown together. They need to find some direction for Hook, I've always thought him and Orange Cassidy being a tag team would be fun, and just let them win the tag titles. Also, AEW needs to ditch the FTW title or make a much bigger deal out of it. It feels like a meaningless prop. I have to say, I'm starting to miss Jericho leading a faction. He has lost some luster since being on his own. Him and Omega was kind of interesting, but then Omega got injured.

I don't know where they are going with Kyle O'Reilly, but it feels like they are telling some kind of story with him. I'll withhold judgement until I see how it all plays out.

So getting back to the ladies, they started the show with Monet in very Punk-like fashion. She even said, "I'm home"

She did a pretty predictable, baby face promo, but nice that she brought up her history with Willow in NJPW. Speaking of which, on the same night that she debuts we get a main event women's match featuring Willow and Riho. Already Mercedes' presence seems to have leveled up the women's division. Seeing her and Riho in the back was surreal...in a good way. I have a lot of respect for Mercedes. I think it's entirely possible she may end up in WWE again one day, but I love that she's gone on this journey to explore the world of wrestling outside of WWE while the other horsewomen have stayed in their little WWE safe space and will probably retire there. Granted, you could say it's just because she wasn't happy there, but plenty of people have not been happy with their booking and creative in WWE and remained there anyway. You could argue that how she left was unprofessional though, but Gail Kim probably sees nothing wrong with what Mercedes did

There was a really nice video package going over Riho's history in AEW as well as Willow beating Mercedes Monet and winning that NJPW title. This was fucking great. As I said earlier, it was nice seeing Monet interact with Riho backstage. It felt like Mercedes was getting the lay of the land, checking out the kind of talent she's going to be fighting with in this company, and also showing respect. The match between Willow and Riho was a good match that got a "This is Awesome!" chant. Nice. I love how Riho carries herself in her matches. She is tiny and looks like the underdog in every fight, but she carries herself with the confidence of a champion. She always looks calm and in control. You can tell that there is never any doubt in her mind that she will win the match. Riho carries herself with the kind of poise and pride that I think is fitting for AEW's first women's champion. Anyway, she lost to Willow, and we got a show closing angle where Mercedes saved Willow from a beat down by Julia Hart and Sky Blue. The ladies closed out the show, and it was nice to see the TBS title spotlighted tonight. The women's title that Storm is carrying felt irrelevant tonight and instead AEW elevated Julia and Willow and reminded us why Riho is awesome.

Also. we had some WWE ladies in the house:



That's Bayley and either Naomi or Tamina in that blurry picture, they also put out a funny video on Twitter of them putting on disguises before the show

My last thought on the show, and it's pretty significant:



That's Tony Kahn meeting with the new president of Stardom, I believe he was also in attendance tonight.

I'm a simple man Tony, just give me this and I'll be happy:



EDIT: Ring of Honor spoilers are out, I guess they filmed that tonight too? Anyway, we literally had Stardom talent tonight:

[Reprise]

Don't worry, I watched it. In similar words to Cody Rhodes... Erm, I watched a stream from somewhere...

(If people don't know what I am alluding to, not long after Cody debuted in WWE, he was asked in an interview if he kept up with what AEW was doing and he said he had just watched their latest PPV, which he admitted to watched on a pirated stream)

It was an odd episode, but in a good way. Finally... Jay turning heel and ending this weird Bang Bang Scissor Gang nonsense is great. It begs the question, was there any point to their group? The group was fun and the crowd loved them, don't get me wrong, but I do want to see Bullet Club as a heel group and I really want Jay to start doing more singles matches and move up the card.

Mercedes Mone, what more is there to say?

I thought it was odd that they went very very CM Punk First Dance esque with her debut.

Is it good they do it this way? Starting and ending the show with her? Cliched baby face promo, save the face at the end of the show, have her open the show etc.

Compare it to WWE, where they made you wait until the end of Survivor Series, to the point that the credits were already practically rolling for him to debut. And then made you sit through 2.9999 hours of Raw before you get to see him speak, only for his promo to be cut short so you have to tune into Smackdown or whatever it was to get a better, longer promo.

Don't know, I am just thinking on the spot and rambling. Either way, it was a very fun episode.

Ospreay's promo was fantastic. The guy already looks like a star destined for greatness. I mean, we already know that, but it's great considering he has only really been signed a few weeks. He is phenomenal on the mic.

Okada and the EVPS are great as heels. I had my doubts the other week, but it seems like it was a great decision. Please get that Continental title off Kingston.

And a great women's match to end the show too. Amazing! Riho always puts on awesome matches.

[Reprise]

So WhatCulture posted a pretty fair review that I agree with. I don't usually care for them or similar outlets, but I do agree with a couple of criticisms they had about last night's Dynamite:

1. AEW didn't do enough to hype up Mone's debut. It was the worst kept secret in history and it was all but confirmed, but they could have released a series of vignettes leading up to Big Business to tease the audience. They could have had wrestlers allude to her impending arrival etc.

2. AEW is turning a corner after a mixed year and has some huge new stars like Ospreay doing incredible stuff and Jericho continues to stink the joint up, hanging around like a bad smell. He should be used sparingly by AEW, maybe even take a leave of absence for several months.

3. Mone's debut, with the classic opening babyface promo and then the 'unlikely pairing', saving an old rival from the heels, trope to end the show was a bit generic and predictable.

[Raging Justice]

I don't understand why it's okay for people to shit on Jericho, but a guy like Eddie Kingston who brings nothing of value to AEW gets a pass. Jericho is better in the ring than Kingston. Yeah, I said it. I'll fight anyone on that. Can Kingston do a lion sault? I'd like to see his unathletic, fat ass, even try.

Double standards in the world of wrestling. People are always more willing to shit on the older guy, some people even bad mouthed LA Knight for no other reason than his age. Yet Cody gets a pass, again with the double standards.

Anyway, Jericho needs a faction or a stable or something. That's always been the best way AEW has used him in the past.

As for Mercedes, well I already said how I would have booked her debut. I also said what AEW was likely to do with her, and I was half right. The way the show started is exactly what I said would happen. What Tony Kahn and Triple H don't understand is the importance of emotional investment. Having Britt Baker attack Mercedes right at the peak of her drinking in the love of the crowd would have PISSED...PEOPLE...OFF. That's exactly what you WANT as a booker. As another example, WWE set up an emotional story with Chad Gable where Gunther made his kid literally cry on camera and also called him a horrible father. That's a story that should have an emotional pay off where Chad beats Gunther at Mania with his kid's face lighting up with joy in the front row as daddy comes to give her a hug....but instead we are getting Sammi Zayne versus Gunther

Tony Kahn is very formulaic, and I don't think he's ever going to change. Pro wrestling bookers are very set in their ways. That's just a fact of life. It's one of the reasons why AEW and WWE struggle to bring in people outside of their hardcore fanbase. I loved Lucha Underground because even though they made some bad choices, it was still a ballsy wrestling show trying to break the rules and go against the usual pro wrestling norms. I wonder if it could have done better were it not stuck on a small channel few people knew about and fewer people had access to.

When the lights went out, I rolled my eyes a bit, because it's such a typical AEW thing to do and I knew it was going to be Julia Hart.

I don't hate how they used Mercedes, but the criticisms are fair. I still think it was a good show. AEW has shaken off some of its staleness by bringing in new faces in Okada, Ospreay, and Monet. Plus, elevating people like Swerve. We can thank Hangman for that, too bad he'll be gone for a few months.

[Reprise]

I don't understand why it's okay for people to shit on Jericho, but a guy like Eddie Kingston who brings nothing of value to AEW gets a pass. Jericho is better in the ring than Kingston. Yeah, I said it. I'll fight anyone on that. Can Kingston do a lion sault? I'd like to see his unathletic, fat ass, even try.

Because he's over. Don't get me wrong, I am not a big fan and I don't get it, but people seem to like him.

Jericho is just slow and boring. I can't think of a single good match, feud or storyline he has had in the last year. Maybe the Callis family stuff.

What Tony Kahn and Triple H don't understand is the importance of emotional investment. Having Britt Baker attack Mercedes right at the peak of her drinking in the love of the crowd would have PISSED...PEOPLE...OFF. That's exactly what you WANT as a booker.

Yeah, I completely agree. You booked it better.

Overall, I did think it was a very good episode and AEW is definitely on the up, but as you said, Tony Khan is quite formulaic and predictable.