AEW Show Discussion

[Guest Fight Me.]

STING!!!!

The ending transitioning to American Dad was funny af lmao

[Lunchbox]

Whats the point of qualifying matches if you can just be a joker instead.

[Lunchbox]

So D-Bry fell betwen the ramp and ring yesterday and his leg was caught for 10 minutes before being freed. Hopefully hes ok.

[Guest Fight Me.]

Wtf? I hope he's alright.

[Counting Lights]

Well shit, hope he's alright...

 

Some quick thoughts - 

Johnny Elite was a fun surprise, but glad Joe went over. I think Joe is my new pick to win the tournament. I'm guessing Johnny will be an occasional pop up appearance rather than a full on new signing, which is probably for the best.

O'Reilly vs Fenix and Hangman vs Takeshita went HARD. Both were stellar matches, huge props all around.

Punk on commentary was great as always. Still wish the story was being told differently though. I feel like the dynamic has more potential than just what is essentially "To be the man you gotta beat the man".

Jericho/Regal promo was enjoyable, but I was reeeeally waiting for Regal to grab the mic at the end and scream WARGAMESBLOOD AND GUTS.

Serena's promos frustrate me. She actually had some great content, but weird unnecessary bits about sports teams and junk. It needed to be a bit tighter, as what she said about the shit she went through to try and make it? That was great. AEW would benefit from hiring one or two writers to work as promo consultants, someone that wrestlers could have like an option to sit down and workshop their promos with. 

Maki Itoh was also a fun surprise, though I was admittedly hoping for Athena. Britt winning was fine. I think she and Cole will both make the finals, but I think both will be losing then. Ruby gonna get her win back.

[Guest Fight Me.]

Well there goes all the mystery.

[Lunchbox]

DIdn't realize they haven't be on Dynamite since March 9th.

[Guest Fight Me.]

51 minutes ago, Lunchbox said:

DIdn't realize they haven't be on Dynamite since March 9th.

Yeah, I think their alliance with the Gunn Club has been on Rampage and Dark mostly. But also I think he's referring to him just having surgery so Bowens will be out for a min.

[PaperThinWalls]

I thought Johnny Elite’s work was crap last night. He was off. The spot where he was on the top-rope directing Joe where to position himself, for instance, was really egregious. And dunno what was going on with his hair either… Really bad hair-day or something. Not a good first showing for him.

The Page match to me was very self-indulgent. Why’s the World champ going 12 mins against a guy who’s been almost exclusively featured on their YT shows? Like are we supposed to lose our shit during all those dumb (arbitrary) false-finishes? We knew who the winner was going to be before the bell even rang. Why are you stealing show time? The selling was also abysmal, especially at the end. While Punk did his best on commentary to muster up interest for their PPV match, the match itself did very little to get me pumped. Very little.

[Lunchbox]

I was thinking about that. He should have wrestled someone and it should have been a quick squash. 

[Guest Fight Me.]

Mother*censored*ers get a banger on free TV and then wish Hangman would've squashed QT and waste my *censored*ing time instead. Yeah guys, that makes me want to buy a PPV full price, cause I saw Hangman treat someone like a jabroni nobody lmaooo

Edited May 20, 2022 by Fight Me.

[Lunchbox]

Yeah but when your trying to do this whole anything you can do i can do better it would be better if he just squashed someone. Like Punk even had a competitive match with Silver last week which was pretty weird. I can get bangers of matches literally anywhere and the match wasn't even that amazing. 

[PaperThinWalls]

lol Right? It was a get-my-shit-in match. It’s terrible storytelling and yup, Punk does the same shit, too, unfortunately… They eat up valuable time just so they can selfishly have self-masturbatory matches with their buddies. Their priorities are out-of-whack. There is little logic to having super competitive matches with jobbers or guys people have little investment in, especially at this point in the feud when they’re less than two weeks away from their big PPV World title match. Like does Punk/Page realize their feud is cold and that it’s being overshadowed by MJF/Wardlow by a lot? The feud needs compelling drama, not self-indulgent matches with the undercard.

[Counting Lights]

I know everyone has different tastes... but man, y'all really hate fun lol

The Hangman match was an absolute banger, solidified Takeshita as someone to take seriously should he stick around AND served to showcase a NJPW guy to those AEW fans who don't know much of the company/don't have a whole lot of interest in Forbidden Door.

Wild to me that the wrestling world as a whole seems to be praising the match and showing and you guys are still shitting on it.

I do agree however that the Punk/Hangman feud is cold, but I think that's entirely due to their promo's subject matter. It's not personal in the slightest. It's entirely "veteran vs guy trying to become the new ace" and Punk could be slotted out for basically any main eventer without much change to how this match has been built. And that's a damn shame because if Punk got vicious, anxious Hangman would be the PERFECT target for him to cut deep, same way he did Eddie. The blame with that could be on TK's booking or the competitors themselves choosing to tell the story they are, but it's been a bad choice by whomever chose it.

[PaperThinWalls]

I’m willing to play on their terms. I’m fine with the premise of the storyline. If it has to be babyface/babyface, then this is a valid storyline to be doing. It should be the (practically) undefeated veteran Punk riding this massive wave of momentum getting under-the-skin of this young gun champion who has bouts of low-confidence. That’s what they have going, it’s just been executed VERY ineffectively. Promos are where the bulk of the story can be conveyed. But as any smart wrestler knows, promos aren’t your only tool… Matches are as essential to tell your story. They too can reflect the themes of your story. And this match failed to do that… massively. This match actually had that story playing out. Punk is on commentary yammering himself up and judging his competition. Meanwhile Page is in the ring showing Punk why he’s champion and what he’ll be up against — a showcase match, if you will. But of course, like many dramatic stories, things don’t go according to plan. Conflict sneaks in. Page’s opponent gets more offensive than expected with Page losing focus on his match due to Punk’s presence. However, Page being a champion for a reason, shuts shit down before too much control is lost. The end. He wins the match, but Punk sees his vulnerability nonetheless.

So we kind of got that story. But we got it in a very ineffective way. Instead of a nice 6 min match where the champion loses control temporarily, we got a 12 min back-and-forth match spectacle with moves and false finishes galore just because Page wants to get all his shit in while also probably patting himself on the back, thinking he’s such swell guy for getting this guy over with the crowd and hardcore fans online. That’s nice and all. But now is not the time. You want to get him over? Do it after the PPV or have him face someone else who has some stature. You have a feud to get over and promote. That is your goal. Find the most optimal way to do that.

But no, Page is more concerned about delivering a “banger” (aka do a bunch of moves and false finishes because that’s what it takes to be considered great wrestling for some fans) than actually telling a story the most effective way possible. Sorry, I don’t care for that sort of mentality and it’s probably one of the many reasons why I find Page to be a mediocre wrestler. His thought process and priorities are all wrong to me.

[Guest Fight Me.]

Shawn Spears vs. "A Giant." If Andrew Everett comes out ima freak.

BIG DAMO. Cool.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Fight Me.

[Jeb ★]

 

[Lunchbox]

Kind of a weird thing to post, watch this wrestler legitimately suffer.

[Guest Fight Me.]

I think Bryan got legit stuck but he's just working the pain and started selling it cause he's a damn pro lmao

Edited May 21, 2022 by Fight Me.

[Lunchbox]

And on the topic of the Wangman and Punk thing im not shitting on the match im just confused as to why a feud that is struggling which is what everyone agrees with choose the route to have competitive matches over having both dudes squash whoever they faced. Like Punk is struggling with Silver who is pretty much a nobody before a title match is just weird booking.  Like you guys say we are shitting on it, and but in the same breath are complaining the feud isn't anything special AND Hangman hasn't been built to a believeable champion which good storytelling over "banger" matches can fix both of those. 

Imagine the Page and D-Bry feud if D-bry wasn't merking people and was just having super competitive matches the entire time, wouldn't have the same build. People legit thought Page's title regin was over, in this feud both men are going in the motions and everyone is pretty sure Punk is taking the belt. 

[Guest Fight Me.]

 

 

[Guest Fight Me.]

 

 

[Guest Fight Me.]

Spears has become his logo lol

It feels like this Punk-Hangman feud is just starting to get good but the PPV is just days away.

Eddie Kingston just wearing whatever lmao

Supercard of Honor graphics still being used lmao

JEFF COBB!!! "And this other guy." *censored*ing JR lmao

Did Trent just jump before Great O'Khan did anything lmao

I would've waited until the PPV to start teasing Forbidden Door personally.

Really want Swerve/Lee to win on Sunday...but considering they just won this match and brawl maybe not.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Fight Me.

[Counting Lights]

Wardlow vs Spears was a lot of fun. Cool storytelling. Spears should've taken the mask off before the lights came on though. Looked dope with the dim lights, but corny in regular lighting.

The Punk/Hangman segment was actually fire. But I think this promo should've happened at least a week or two ago. It was great, Punk very subtly heeling it up, but it definitely needed a follow up promo that sadly, it won't be getting.

FTR are so dope man.

Cobb and the other guy showed up and ruined the fun. Very botched debut for them. Crowd was in until that botched finish too, then died.

Triple Threat was so sweat. MotN easy. Hoss Triple Threat on Rampage?? Also pulling like crazy for Starks and Hobbs to win the gold

Rosa promo was actually solid, until she just... kept going lol. I cringed when she randomly started talking again as her music hit. Girl either needs someone to workshop promos with or a mouthpiece. 

Storm vs Britt was what it was, but that one sequence into the Air Raid was sloppy af. These two didn't really have chemistry 

JOE!! I honestly expected KOR to win, but hyped it'll be Joe at the PPV. Hope he wins the thing.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Counting Lights

[Guest Fight Me.]