Counting Lights

Quick Rampage thoughts - Ruby vs Riho was good fun. Glad Ruby advanced. Spears match was what it was. Jade/Sterling interaction was good. Trios tag was solid enough. I'm kinda over Death Triangle though. I think I'm ready for PAC to feud with the Lucha Bros instead. Acclaimed/Ass Boys segment was funny af Scorpio's reign is not good and whatever they're doing with Sammy still being involved is just... bad. Miro needs to come in and squash Scorpio in like a minute tops and get that belt back on track.

Honestly, I feel like the fans trying to compare the two are being far less self aware and disrespectful. The spot was dumb and dangerous, but to compare it to Owen? Dude...

Iffy episode if I'm honest. Cole vs Dax was really good. Punk v Silver was alright. I'm not too keen on the angle Punk is taking against Hangman though. I really expected Straight Edge Savior Punk to leak out a bit against Hangman, instead it's "Voice of the Online Rumblings" Punk. Hope he cranks it up in coming weeks (though I really thought he'd go somewhere Dark being in Long Island and all). MJF Dark Side trailer was CLASS. Funny as hell. Contract signing itself was fun. The Hookhausen story has been fine. I wish it was anyone but Nese to squash Danhausen though, Nese is all kinds of lame. JB vs Starks was really fun, weak finish with just a random shove into the ropes setting up the Roshambo though. Hayter vs Storm was really solid. Big fan of both these ladies. And I liked that lil moment of discomfort between Jaime & Britt in the promo. Hardy vs Darby was too much. I was kind of uncomfortable watching these guys destroy their bodies like that. I get this is likely the only match they'll ever have and they wanted to make some memorable moments, but God damn guys...

So? That doesn't make them an AEW title. Bronn beat Dolph for the NXT belt on RAW, is it now a RAW Championship?

I mean, the RoH titles are featured now to keep some heat under them until an RoH show starts and likely won't be featured nearly as much once that gets going. I think not featuring them would be much worse of an option. The AAA tag belts are essentially a prop for FTR and also belong to another promotion. Not sure why you'd count em.

A few quick thoughts - Fish vs Hardy honestly I was still working with it in the background, crowd seemed on fire during it though? Not digging the House of Black/Julia thing. If she was gonna join, this was the time. Otherwise they need to move on because that shit's been dragging forever. Hell, I don't think I even want her to join. Ricky vs JB is gonna go hard. Very glad Team Taz is getting more screen time these days. Toni and Jaime... Good God man. Jericho vs Santana was sweet. I love JAS overall. THE WIZARD had me rolling. This should be the last one sided beatdown though. It's time for PnP/Eddie to get backup. BCC are slowly becoming my favorite part of the show. It's amazing how much Regal is crushing his role too, after falling into just a GM character for years now. Hangman promo surprised me. Heel vibes were not what I expected from him. Bummed but not surprised Deonna lost. I really wanna see more of her on AEW. Mercedes is super inconsistent, sometimes she brings it, sometimes she feels like the weak link. Edit: Oh, and Dante vs Fenix was fun as hell. Full on Cirque de Solei f'ery in the ring and it was a blast

It's possible that they're still figuring out the persona he'd appear under. I don't know if Morrissey would be interested, but I'm sure Tony sees dollar signs if he brought him in as CassXL with nZo as a one off/potentially recurring act, but I also see why Morrissey wouldn't want that when he's just established himself as a more serious presence.

Or he is just open to working once it got rejected over and over, the same way Brodie/Harper was.

This episode was a wild ride. I enjoyed damn near all of it except Scorpio's soggy ass winning the title.

I'm guessing this is why Punk gets on commentary, to get more time to plug their program. I hope Hanger is alright and gets through this well.

Ok so I just gave a few things a quick watch - Edge promo was very solid, other than that awkward baseball team line breaking the immersion. Really been a long time since I watched Ali and the man reminded me why I ever became a fan. Dude is just so smooth. Ciampa attack was actually a total let down. With how Reddit reacted to it, I thought he was gonna attempt murder or something. Gonna keep my eyes on the program though, Ciampa is probably the best heel I've seen since I started watching wrestling and Ali is an incredible face so this feud really has all the potential in the world if they don't hold their hands the entire time.

Oh did he switch to that? While I agree, that's 100% a nod to Edge's old Downward Spiral. Anyway, I was told Ciampa vs Ali is a thing now? This is like the exact kind of feud to convince me to watch some of RAW this week.

Duuuude that poor guy Top Flight legit just reunited too and it was pretty evident they were gonna be in a solid spot. Man, what a bummer... I guess that's why Dante is in these 6 mans now.

WHY CAN'T FORBIDDEN DOOR BE SATURDAY FFS. I get into Chicago the Friday prior for a work retreat and we're doing company dinner on Sunday Anyway, fun episode. Punk working heel was enjoyable, I think we see some SES vibes during his Hangman program. The crowd popping like crazy for Hook vs Danhausen, ya love to see it. Bummed Darby beat Andrade. They really gotta do something more with Andrade man, I'm glad he's gotten a number of main events now on the weeklies, but this stable ain't it. I know Zelina ain't available, but surely he can find himself a good mouthpiece and work closer to what he did as NXT Champ?

He's had a handful of tag matches with House of Black, hasn't he? Not sure if on Dynamite, but certainly on Rampage. I wouldn't look too much into that. That said, it does seem silly that the House is feuding with Fuego of all people right now. I'd love to see them go for a returning Miro.

iirc wasn't his wife early? Also remember, Cage was feuding with Matt Hardy and that storyline was dropped dead in the water when Hangman left. If it were planned, they would have at least given that a blowoff of some kind instead of Christian just taking a sharp turn into the Kenny feud. So I might be inclined to agree that Danielson was semi-planned, but I don't think Hangman was expected to leave at the moment he did. Hell if I may dig even deeper, I could absolutely see the plan being for Kenny vs Hangman at All Out with Kenny retaining and Hangman taking the next month+ off to really sell hitting rock bottom, with the Danielson program taking place then, and then Hangman returning to finally win it at Full Gear as transpired. Or maybe that's my edible making me overthink tf out of this lmao. Dude yes. I desperately need Dalton in AEW. I love the more flamboyant characters and that's something AEW is definitely missing (I guess they have Sunny, but IMO they're not a very good wrestler). If we basically have a revolving door between the AEW and RoH rosters, then I think signing them is a no brainer. The crowd reacted better to Dalton and The Boys than Gresham for crying out loud. (My dream program would be for them to sign Tyler Breeze and have Prince Pretty vs Party Peacock but I'll take what I can get for now).

You don't believe the man wanted to be with his wife as their first child was being born?

I actually don't think Punk wins. With some being critical of Page's reign, definitely more than the champions before him, I think they use a win over Punk to fully legitimize him. Then he drops to MJF at All Out.

Solid lil show that I got to watch during work on a slooow day lol. Yuta just changed his color scheme and his attire already looks way better. Butcher's pin after the powerbomb made him look like such a monster. RUBY FINALLY GOT A NEW FINISH. Not what I would've picked for her (and I literally changed her finisher last night in modded 2k19), but anything is better than the damn No Future kick. I liked that barbed wire crown, very fun. And the moonsault fakeout was pretty creative too. I don't know that this match was necessary, but it was a solid hardcore match.

That's pretty fantastic

Shout out to AEW for throwing us a show like that for free. The Good Punk vs Penta went hard. Cool as hell to see Punk busting out that flipping armdrag. Sucks they botched the rana, but overall match was very good and the finish was sick Jurassic vs reDRagon was fun as hell. Actually very surprised JE won! FTR popped me big at the end, I'm ready for them to add more gold to their collection Jericho Appreciation Society is very fun. I loved that segment at the airport. The match was solid, really love the crowd eating up Eddie, Santana and Ortiz. I figure this has to lead to either Blood & Guts or Stadium Stampede, right? MJF heeling it up is always a treat. They worked me with that damn jacket ngl Swerve/Lee vs Team Taz was my MotN. This was straight fire. Ricky's hometown reception was great, Lee & Swerve were super over and gelled beautifully as a team, just amazing stuff. DALTON CASTLE ANNOUNCED FOR AN AEW SHOW LETS GOOOOOOO Jamie Hayter & Toni Storm. That is all. Skye Blue getting a damn solid pop. Hope we see her used more regularly tbh Huge Announcement.... CESARO PLEASE Joe vs Suzuki was solid. Both of their chests looked ready to burst. I dug the match for what it was. The Bad Marina Shafir did not click with me, nor obviously with the crowd. Should've really booked someone better for Jade's 30th if they wanna make a big deal about it. Booking Britt and Ruby in qualifiers against nobodies is a weird move. Basketball Khali was obviously a whatever debut, and that being the closing segment was pretty questionable

I'm surprised Axel just didn't do anything after WWE. He struck me as a "wrestler for life" type, but maybe that's just because of his family. Not that he was very remarkable in most aspects, but I thought he'd be the kind of guy Impact might try out. Either way, good for him getting the producer gig (or being in contention or whatever).

Willow is really good, but needs to stop that Moonsault. This and Supercard were my first two times seeing her, and I feel like each match I was getting more and more sold on her until that botchy moonsault. Cut that and I think she could be a really fun addition to the roster. Yoooo Mox vs Yuta tho. I'm honestly not a crazy Mox fan, I like him but don't go crazy for him, and haven't been the biggest Yuta fan in the world, but this match really was something else. Fantastic all around and raised my interest in everyone involved. (But ffs Yuta get some new tights man lol)

Ah, ok. I read that as though you were saying House of Black was just Rollins' Messiah group with Black taking over. Hence my confusion.

I think FTR is my favorite tag team of all time. They're just so freaking good. This was a really good match with the Bucks. Definitely not comparable to their war with Briscoes (which IMO is currently running away with MotY), but still a very, very good match.