AEW - All Elite Wrestling (*Spoilers for Latest Show*)

Autecher

I only finished watching this today, I've been chipping away at it all week. The 6 man was the usual Young Bucks et al. thing of really really impressive stuff utilised badly imo. Just people literally standing there waiting their turn to do their stunt, selling it for 5 seconds at most then giving their receipt. My main gripe with indie stuff in America is lack of selling/stunt matches, as impressive as they are at the time they are very forgettable too. The main event was awful, just a terrible match. A pointless waste of barbed wire and thumb tacks. No long running storyline as to why they would want to do that to each other and themselves. And even during the match there was nothing, 1 guy gets thrown through an table then 3 minutes later the other guy does too. The best hardcore match I have ever seen is still Cactus Jack v Triple H from The Royal Rumble 2000. It is a brilliant match with a great build up to it and the match itself made sense. I never like Moxley/Ambrose in WWE and seeing this did nothing to change my mind.

Autecher

That being said I liked the women's match and the Cody v Allin fight. That second fight shows exactly how effective selling can be.

Monokne

Autecher wrote: »

I only finished watching this today, I've been chipping away at it all week. The 6 man was the usual Young Bucks et al. thing of really really impressive stuff utilised badly imo. Just people literally standing there waiting their turn to do their stunt, selling it for 5 seconds at most then giving their receipt. My main gripe with indie stuff in America is lack of selling/stunt matches, as impressive as they are at the time they are very forgettable too.

The main event was awful, just a terrible match. A pointless waste of barbed wire and thumb tacks. No long running storyline as to why they would want to do that to each other and themselves. And even during the match there was nothing, 1 guy gets thrown through an table then 3 minutes later the other guy does too.

I felt the same about all of this.

I can't for the life of me understand how anyone enjoyed that main event. It was a spectacle but it was far removed from what pro wrestling should be in my eyes. There was just no story, no reason for all of it, the selling was insufficient and subpar.

The Bucks match I see differently. I appreciate the Bucks are extremely talented and there's a huge market for what they sell, and I can see what one might like about it. But for me, there's a lack of substance, I just can't get invested. It's spot spot spot spot. I need music between the lyrics. That's where I love Cody. He is not nearly as athletically gifted or impressive, but his matches feel much more substantive.

cian68

Pretty fascinated to see what Bucks vs Rhodes brothers looks like. The Bucks are smarter workers than the spotfest accusation thrown at them. They're well able to work an old school southern tag and against the Rhodes brothers they'll have no choice. Their athleticism with Dustin and Cody's psychology could make for a great match.

sky88

cian68 wrote: »

Pretty fascinated to see what Bucks vs Rhodes brothers looks like. The Bucks are smarter workers than the spotfest accusation thrown at them. They're well able to work an old school southern tag and against the Rhodes brothers they'll have no choice. Their athleticism with Dustin and Cody's psychology could make for a great match.

I think that’s what can annoy me about the bucks I think there very good wrestlers but relay on the spot fest type match too much for my liking

Monokne

cian68 wrote: »

Pretty fascinated to see what Bucks vs Rhodes brothers looks like. The Bucks are smarter workers than the spotfest accusation thrown at them. They're well able to work an old school southern tag and against the Rhodes brothers they'll have no choice. Their athleticism with Dustin and Cody's psychology could make for a great match.

Me too.

I would love to see them working with the Revival. I think the Revival could do for them what Bret Hart did for the 1-2-3Kid in that famous Monday Night Raw match from July 1994. Ground them and force them to work slower so when they break out their big spots, it means more.

B.A._Baracus

sky88 wrote: »

ive only seen his aew spots and not seeing it

Look past the comedy spots. For example he was light as a feather taking stuff. Clearly went to the Buh Buh Ray Dudley school of taking shi*e light academy.

briany

Autecher wrote: »

I only finished watching this today, I've been chipping away at it all week. The 6 man was the usual Young Bucks et al. thing of really really impressive stuff utilised badly imo. Just people literally standing there waiting their turn to do their stunt, selling it for 5 seconds at most then giving their receipt. My main gripe with indie stuff in America is lack of selling/stunt matches, as impressive as they are at the time they are very forgettable too.

The problem with the bigger American indies is that since kayfabe has been pretty much lost in wrestling, smarks now watch it through an ironic lense. The whole things flipped around such that they now appreciate moves for the gymnastic ability required to safely perform them rather than any supposed impact they might have, and their chants are directed at the quality of the performance rather than the story being told in the ring.

The result of this is that indie wrestlers are just doing stuff to pop the smarks rather than taking their time with things, leading to a style that is superficial and shallow.

RollieFingers

Enjoyed Fight for the Fallen, Omega/CIMA and Bucks/Rhodes were good matches. Nice venue too, thought the setup looked great. Will be cool to hopefully see another chapter in the battle of the Kongs, they had a brutal match together way back in GAEA Japan.

ThePott

Not a bad show but a definite step down from the last two in my opinion.

-Found the 6-Man to be far more entertaining than I expected mainly for the interactions between all the characters, especially between Spears and MJF. Darby Allin is gonna breakout in a huge way.
-Brandi and Allie was whatever and Aja and Awesome Kong could be a decent match maybe but not sure tbh. I'm really worried we're gonna get Brandi as a Stephanie McMahon authority type with an enforcer which will suck.
-3-Way Tag was grand, Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy being the highlight. Not that into the Dark Order really.
-Adam Page and Kip sabian was a fine match, I'm not really on the Hangman Page hype train just yet though, seems I'm in the minority here. Again way longer than it needed to be. I think getting to the world title has been a bit rushed for AEW.
-Lucha Brothers and SCU was great, looking forward to the ladder match at All Out with the Bucks could be a show stealer.
-I liked the Omega and Cima match but it was a bit long but Omega loves his big bouts. I heard someone say and I agree that Omega has cooled off majorly in the last few months, I understand why to a certain degree but still it's sort of a shame.
-Young Bucks and The Rhodes was also far too long and was fine but nothing outstanding.

Overall there was some issues here, some of the matches and the show in general felt far too long IMO, commentary was spotty at best, that last promo was a bit odd too, I'm also starting to find the amount of self-congratulation a bit nauseating, yeah well done and all but let's get the weekly show running and successful before we slap ourselves on the back too hard, there's still issues to fix and mountains to climb before we get too high on our horses and if you could stop talking about WWE that would be great.

The last two shows have been pretty great, this one was only okay. I know people are going to say it's for charity etc and that's great but it doesn't mean anything to the quality of the show.

Agent Coulson

Another really enjoyable show by AEW.


Loved the amphitheatre setting hopefully they use that for some of the live TV.

ERG89

Haven't watched the last few shows. I'll catch them in the lull after the G1.

Britt Baker (who ran to the opposite corner last night) was concussed in the match early on.
According to Post Wrestling the arena was very warm throughout the show.

Monokne

ThePott wrote: »

-Found the 6-Man to be far more entertaining than I expected mainly for the interactions between all the characters, especially between Spears and MJF. Darby Allin is gonna breakout in a huge way.

-Brandi and Allie was whatever and Aja and Awesome Kong could be a decent match maybe but not sure tbh.

-Adam Page and Kip sabian was a fine match, I'm not really on the Hangman Page hype train just yet though, seems I'm in the minority here. Again way longer than it needed to be. I think getting to the world title has been a bit rushed for AEW.

-I liked the Omega and Cima match but it was a bit long but Omega loves his big bouts. I heard someone say and I agree that Omega has cooled off majorly in the last few months, I understand why to a certain degree but still it's sort of a shame.

-Young Bucks and The Rhodes was also far too long and was fine but nothing outstanding.

Agree with all of this.

Would add to it - I loved the 3 way tag, think the Luchasaurus/Stunt/Jungle Boy act is great and I like the Dark Order.

I hated the Lucha Bros match, as I always do. It's just not my type of wrestling. Spot spot spot spot spot spot spot spot. Needs better pacing & selling. Feel the same about the Bucks a lot.

Would expand on the Adam Page thing. I don't think it's just you & I. He feels like a midcard belt level performer. Not clicking at all, promos or in ring.

Can't overstate how amateur the last 10 minutes was. Cutting off the promos for the main event, the audible "maybe we're running short on time" (on B/R live!?), Ross asking if they're off air, Omega realising he can't do his BANG & gunpoint to finish a show benefitting gun violence, and the extremely masturbatory tone of the whole segment, especially heel Brandi coming out to be part of the big babyface celebration. Took it from being an acceptable show to a mild thumbs down.

Sawduck

I am so happy to have wrestling I can enjoy again, after years of crap wwe nonsense

sky88

Would agree about Adam page just doesn’t seem right that he’s in the title match with Jericho at all. He’s just not at that level yet.

ERG89

sky88 wrote: »

Would agree about Adam page just doesn’t seem right that he’s in the title match with Jericho at all. He’s just not at that level yet.

He needed to be in the G1 far more than Moxley for exposure as much as anything.

Everyone knows who the Bucks, Jericho, Cody or even the Lucha Brothers are. He is basically someone we've been told is the next generation but we dont know why yet. He had a breakout year in 2018 but working less dates in 2019 has hurt him a lot imo. The PAC match falling through was a big blow for him too.

ThePott

I think even putting that aside, they hotshotted Page to the main event scene and ever since he's been fighting mid carders essentially. They kinda got screwed by not having his match with Pac. I think the title picture in general looks rough, I don't think Page is there yet at all and I know someone might say, well on BTE but I'm sorry if I have to watch a long meta-Youtube series to get behind a guy or get into the story of a match it isn't worth it. Which should put me in the position of rooting for Jericho but in a company that is pushing itself as the hot young brand with up and coming stars do we really need a near 50 year old man as their first champion.

I don't think they planned out their title build all that well. Should have been a tournament that showed off their new young talent and given them an opportunity to shine. Instead it was either Jericho/Omega and whoever won the rumble which isn't that interesting and it's also meant most of the mid card are just thrown into random multi-man matches with no story. It's definitely not helped by the lack of TV but maybe they should have held off the title in that case. Just my two cents.

The White Wolf

Don't really get Page either based on what I've seen but that being said, I think he's just filling a gap/transition phase for now. I'd be surprised if they're all that high on him that they believe he could be the face of a fledgling company.

I'd be fairly confident in saying Jericho will be the first champ.

Sirsok

Just thinking all that hullabaloo about the chair shot at Fyter Fest, and all the flak the company got. However nothing said about that coffin drop onto the apron, that was one of the sickest spots ive ever witnessed. Even if theu "gimmicked" the apron, that spot was incredibley risky.

raven136

Sirsok wrote: »

Just thinking all that hullabaloo about the chair shot at Fyter Fest, and all the flak the company got. However nothing said about that coffin drop onto the apron, that was one of the sickest spots ive ever witnessed. Even if theu "gimmicked" the apron, that spot was incredibley risky.

Darby really is a different type of dude.
Glad to see him get the exposure

CastorTroy

I think that can be controlled if land correctly. When I saw it first it looked dangerous, but when I rewatched it, he seemed to land in a way that didn't seem too bad. But after seeing him in The Wrestlers, it is cool to see him get a break instead of killing himself in CZW.
Not AEW, but in Impact recently I saw Jessica Havok do a middle rope tombstone recently and that looked like a dangerous move. Can't remember who she did it on, but it looked like she landed on her head or very close.

Anyway, to get back to the topic, for Page, I think they're in a kinda awkward position with him. He's the one of them who left NJPW/ROH but didn't have the name or anything so he's kinda getting the pity big matches. To use Darby Allin as an example, He fought Cody and people would watch that because Cody's in it. People would watch a Young Bucks match because they're in it. Same with Omega. So while people watch the others for them, people watch Page for the match.

raven136

CastorTroy wrote: »

I think that can be controlled if land correctly. When I saw it first it looked dangerous, but when I rewatched it, he seemed to land in a way that didn't seem too bad. But after seeing him in The Wrestlers, it is cool to see him get a break instead of killing himself in CZW.
Not AEW, but in Impact recently I saw Jessica Havok do a middle rope tombstone recently and that looked like a dangerous move. Can't remember who she did it on, but it looked like she landed on her head or very close.

Anyway, to get back to the topic, for Page, I think they're in a kinda awkward position with him. He's the one of them who left NJPW/ROH but didn't have the name or anything so he's kinda getting the pity big matches. To use Darby Allin as an example, He fought Cody and people would watch that because Cody's in it. People would watch a Young Bucks match because they're in it. Same with Omega. So while people watch the others for them, people watch Page for the match.

In a way this could be a good thing for Aew. Page imo is an excellent wrestler, has good presence and unlike the others he will feel like AEW's own built star unlike the others who have the name from elsewhere

Jericho will have a great match with him and win or lose it puts page as the main face heading to TNT

Maybe I'm just super high on him but I really like him

Also if I was them id put the women's belt on Bea Priestly, she has star quality all over her

sky88

raven136 wrote: »

In a way this could be a good thing for Aew. Page imo is an excellent wrestler, has good presence and unlike the others he will feel like AEW's own built star unlike the others who have the name from elsewhere

Jericho will have a great match with him and win or lose it puts page as the main face heading to TNT

Maybe I'm just super high on him but I really like him

Also if I was them id put the women's belt on Bea Priestly, she has star quality all over her

I do agree about page I think he’s a star just not being booked good or made seem like a star so far. I actually think the title match is not the focus when it should it’s getting overshadowed by all evp’s work

Haven’t seen anything in bea though I’ve seen lots of people say she’s a star

Neil3030

I saw a glimpse of how good the Bucks could be as a heel team during the opening exchanges of the main event.

Jerichoholic

This is the best wrestling show you'll see this week that isn't New Japan.

Two BRILLIANT surprises and two fantastic promos that make you want to see matches.

CastorTroy

Why bleep Sandow?

RollieFingers

Hopefully Tessa joins at some stage too. Looking forward to Cody/Spears now as well, good promo.

Agent Coulson

Meltzer reporting that FOX are looking to air NXT on TV and that it might go head to head with AEW.

sky88

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Meltzer reporting that FOX are looking to air NXT on TV and that it might go head to head with AEW.

On fox sports 1 so tnt would reach a wider audience as I think fs1 is cable

Monokne

sky88 wrote: »

On fox sports 1 so tnt would reach a wider audience as I think fs1 is cable

Both are cable.