I was waiting for Mercedes and Willow to just end because the outcome was so predictable and I wanted to see if anything noteworthy would happen afterward. Instead, we got a heel turn from someone who hasn't done anything interesting in ages so why should anyone care? Statlander and Stokely have been made to look like buffoons for months now. Statlander has been on the roster long enough now that I feel like if there was truly anything special about her we'd have seen by now. She's a dud. Some of the match was sloppy. Some of the lucha stuff from Mercedes looked terrible. Like she did a hurricanrana on Willow and it was so botched that Willow had to noticeably create her own momentum and practically throw herself into the turnbuckle. Also, Mercedes went up on the turnbuckle for a move at one point and Willow was just standing there for what felt like ages staring at her instead of actually like, I don't know, STOPPING HER FROM DOING THE MOVE. It looked so stupid, she was there in the corner just watching Mercedes SLOWLY make her way up to the top of the turnbuckle right in front of her goddamn face.
Like it's hard sometimes to ignore how overly choreographed some stuff is. It's a complaint many people have about modern wrestling and sometimes even I notice it. The match did get good over time though, and I'll take anything over a stupid title match involving a shitty, comedy character like Toni Storm. I also noticed some sloppiness in the FTW match. Shibata and Hook took waaaaaaay too long setting up that turnbuckle spot when Jericho was on the table. Shibata looked nervous, then when he did the spot the table didn't break and Jericho just rolled off of it. I think Shibata overshot the table so when him and Hook landed on Jericho, the table didn't break. I think I already mentioned the botch during Ospreay's match, when that guy jumped over the rope to hit Ospreay, who was on the other dude's shoulders (I can't remember the names of those two Undisputed losers right now). His foot got caught on the rope and he barely touched Ospreay, but they still had to sell it as a big spot where Ospreay got really hurt and commentary had to act like that spot went off perfectly. They even kept replaying it. WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU KEEP REPLAYING A BOTCH!?!?!
Mox/Takeshita was boring like all Mox matches are these days. I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT JON MOXLEY. Yes, he's an icon in AEW. Yes, he's a guy you can rely on when the company is going through hard times, but WHEN IS THE LAST TIME HE HAS DONE ANYTHING FUCKING INTERESTING?
Also, AEW PAY PER VIEWS ARE TOO FUCKING LONG. This does hurt my interest because I start to feel exhausted watching them. I think somewhere around the Edge/Malakai match (yeah, the way Edge came down off of the cage was a bit weird though I feared for his life that he was even attempting this) or Mox vs Takeshita I was starting to feel sleepy. Also, when you have too many matches on a pay per view, it makes all of them feel less special. It just feels like, here's yet another match. They could have easily dropped some matches off of the card like Trent vs. Cassidy, Takeshita vs Mox, or even the trios match with Death Triangle vs. Bullet Club Gold. Those should have been TV matches. This card should have been Anarchy in the Arena, Mercedes vs. Willow, Ospreay vs. Roderick, Copeland vs Malakai, Swerve vs Christian and THAT'S IT. I guess you could add Deeb vs Storm, but who really gives a fuck about that match? It sure as hell didn't FEEL like a major title defense. I was struggling to even REMEMBER all of the matches as I typed this post. WE DON'T NEED TEN MATCHES ON A PAY PER VIEW. Marigold's debut show had six, and honestly I'm comfortable with a PPV having 5 matches maximum with angles, surprises, promos, etc. filling out the rest of the time. This show felt fat and bloated. I want something lean and mean. The same way I'd rather play an eight hour masterpiece of a game than a forty plus hour snooze fest (which is what most sandbox, open world games are, a snooze fest). Don't get me wrong, some of those matches I'd take off of the show were good, but it's just too much for one show. I loved Trent/Cassidy, BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY HAS AN INTERESTING STORY. That said though, it's not pay per view worthy.
I haven't watched Swerve vs Christian or Anarchy in the Arena cause I suspected nothing interesting would happen. I'll watch them later. The best thing I saw on that entire goddamn show was that fucking MJF promo. God, maybe he can inject some life into this company that feels like it's on life support. His promo was RAW and HONEST and BRUTAL. It had ATTITUDE and I love that he didn't lean too hard into face OR heel territory. This was just MJF, unfiltered, take it or leave it. I also love that he told the world in no uncertain terms that he's the best whether you like it or not no matter who your favorites are
. Everybody SAYS they are the best, but MJF makes you BELIEVE it. I also like how he took shots at internet marks on all sides from NJPW fans to WWE fans to idiots who follow dirtsheet gossip too closely. "if it isn't obvious by now you stupid marks, I'm staying in AEW"MJF has that kind of energy, presence, and promo ability that reminds me of LA Knight, except more raw and unfiltered and edgy. It's what made us love people back in the Attitude Era. That vibe. That attitude. That cocky swagger and machismo. It's what The Rock brought to that lame as fuck Wrestlemania build. The Rock is the one who made it interesting because Seth and Cody are too bland and boring to do it themselves and Roman barely even cares as he enjoys wrestling like twice a year, showing up for two or three shows, and sitting on his ass at home for the rest of the time. At least Roman has some charisma though, unlike dweebs like Cody. MJF looked fucking awesome. I hope he keeps this more raw looking ring attire and drops the fancy scarf and all of that stuff. You know what the absolute best part about MJF being back is? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT AEW IS GOING TO DO WITH HIM. Unlike all of the other predictable shit going on in AEW and WWE right now
I'm probably being overly harsh. In fact, I'm almost positive that I am, but I just wish AEW could feel exciting again and i wish that WWE could be the awesome company it was back in the 80s and 90s. Sigh.
EDIT: On my point about modern wrestling being overly choreographed, this is one of the reasons I fucking hate Dante Martin. He does that stupid spot in all of his matches where he CLEARLY PUTS HIS FOOT ON THE ROPE, then he looks back at his opponent, and then they run towards him like idiots and he predictably flips over them. It looks so fake and stupid and wrestlers should know by now that he's going to do it. HE FUCKING TELEGRAPHS THE GODDAMN MOVE EVERY FUCKING TIME HE DOES IT.
