Wrestling shows (AEW/IMPACT/NWA/ROH and others)

[urbwar]

I'm watching AEW Dynamite's first episode. Loving it so far. I haven't watched much WWE in the past year and a half (since I cancelled my Network subscription); I mostly keep up with it via online wrestling news sites. I'll probably go back to watching NXT though, as they have some good talent there.

Anyway, I think Dynamite has started off really well. I like that the wrestlers who are also behind the scenes (Cody, Omega & Young Bucks) are not dominating. Cody has more wins, but even his match here with Sammy Guevara, he made Sammy look great (like he did in his tie with Darby Allin). Jericho as their first champion was a good move; he has the recognition to draw people in, and he can have a good match with pretty much everyone on their roster. They booked Jake Hager (the former Jack Swagger) strong when he showed up (which is good as he's really talented), and aligning him with Jericho is going to help make him the star he could have been in WWE (imho)

I love what they did with the woman's title. They have made a big deal out of Nyla Rose, Britt Baker & Hikaru Shida, but kept Riho in the background. They slowly built her up (she pinned Rose in a 3 way, then beat Shida at All Out to get the title match), so her win came across as a big deal. Their tag team scene is full of some great teams. The tournament they will be starting on the next episode (which I will watch a little later; I need to watch something else for a bit so I don't get worn out, as I watched All Out earlier today) looks like it will be interesting.

I also like that they're showing the dark matches on Youtube with AEW Dark. Now everyone can enjoy them, not just the fans in the arena.


The NWA is going old school, with a studio show like the old days before WCW became a thing. I love the nostalgia to it. The show so far was uneven, as they have some talent that I don't know, but then you have guys like Nick Aldis, Eli Drake, James Storm, Eddie Kingston & Homicide. The matches were ok, but Eli Drake vs Caleb Konley was the standout for me. Konley has a lot of talent, and Drake made him look really good. Hopefully this gets better. Being free on Youtube is an interesting way to put it out there, but I think it's a good way to showcase this old school show to an audience looking for alternatives to WWE.


I think AEW is going to be my main wrestling viewing for now. I'll give NWA a few weeks to see if it develops more. Anyone else check these two promotions out? If so, what are your thoughts?

 

[Tulpa Girl]

I've now seen the first two episodes of AEW Dynamite and the first episode of AEW Dark. A nice mix of young faces I don't recognize, some Lucha Underground talent, and a couple of WWE veterans, shown in a style reminiscent of the early days of WCW Nitro, before that show crawled up its own ass.

So far pretty much all of the matches have at least been decent, and some of have been legitimately great. I appreciate that the emphasis has been on the wrestling, and that we haven't had to deal with a Vince McMahon type of character giving extended promos that suck all the oxygen out of the room. I also appreciate that they're treating the women's division as a serious thing, not just an excuse for t&a.

I think it's interesting that they're trying to play up the win/loss record for each wrestler as actually being important, although I wish the graphic they show during the entrances was larger, so I could actually make out what the two different scores are supposed to represent.

 

[Ladybird]

I haven't seen Dark yet, but yeah, the first two episodes of Dynamite have been great; they've been simple, but good at getting across who everyone on the roster is and why we should be excited about them. Jericho in particular is a great choice for their first champion, because he's a solid veteran that everyone else can work against to build themselves as solid challengers. He's playing a fantastic heel and it looks like he'll be fine at putting people over when it comes to it.

A lot of the wrestlers I don't know, but I'm looking forward to seeing the Lucha Bros and Santana / Ortiz in action again because they were always so good on Impact (And LU).

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Yeah, Jericho is doing a great job. He understands that unlike some other veteran/megaheel/champions in the past *cough*Triple H*cough* part of his job is to help get the younger faces over, both the heel allies in his stable, and the faces they're feuding against. All of them are getting some shine by being in Jericho's orbit.

 

[urbwar]

I hope we get a Wargames style match between The Elite vs The Inner Circle down the road. I know they can't call it that, but it would be nice to see.

I also find it interesting that sometimes certain wrestlers play different roles. MJF is typically a heel, but he's Cody's friend, and backed him vs Shawn Spears/Tully Blanchard, and I read he helped out against the Inner Circle on ep 2. I expect he'll turn on Cody down the road (Cody has been sticking to more of a good guy role since he fought Dustin), but it's weird seeing the crowd boo him on his own, but cheer him when he's in Cody's corner. The Bucks are the same when they fought the Brotherhood. They went for the heel role (granted, they admitted it was just to drive the Rhodes brothers to fight harder in their match), and sort of heels vs Lucha Bros at All Out. Brandi is another one. She's a heel when competing in the woman's division with Kong at her side, but when she's with her husband? Totally cheered. It's an interesting dynamic you don't see often. It's not like say, Bray Wyatt, who is supposed to be a heel as the Fiend, but gets cheered anyway because fans are getting tired of Seth Rollins.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Agreed. I like it when the face/heel divide isn't always so clear cut, you sometimes get some strange bedfellows alliances (I also like when heel factions fued against each other).

 

[urbwar]

I'm also enjoying Moxley. He's living up to his old lunatic fringe moniker more here than he was in WWE. He's also all over; feuding with Omega, but taking on a heel in Shawn Spears.

I'm watching episode 2 now (I had to seek it out, since TNT requires you have a cable subscription, which I don't have). I think Private Party is slowly becoming my favorite tag team in AEW. I'm a big fan of Best Friends and SCU, but PP have this fire to them. They're the least experienced team in the division, but they have been able to hold their own with everyone they've faced. That match with the Young Bucks was insane!

 

[Ladybird]

Yep, I really like the way they're mixing it up, it makes everyone feel more complex as characters and everything more connected as a universe. Little quirks like how MJF batting someone away when they tried to help him up after the brawl really help sell people and their relationships. He's not a good guy, he's not on their side, he's Cody's friend and that's it.

That Private Party match was great. I thought he was going to be up there all night with that shooting star press, he got so much hang time.

 

[urbwar]

I'm up to the Moxley/Spears match. I gotta say how interesting this is. Moxley was a top guy in WWE, while Spears was lower midcard. In AEW, they're almost on the same level, and put on a great match they'd never could have had in WWE. Plus PAC on commentary running Moxley down. Their little confrontation after PAC's sneak attack on Omega was a nice touch

 

[Dahak]

I liked the first episode of Dynamite, but I'm not big on non-event wrestling TV for longer than an hour. Then, I watched a promo Jericho did from this week's episode where he ranted about another company's "bad creative" and just thought "no, no, fuck no." Stop reminding me that the sport is really sports entertainment. It's still real to me, dammit.

NWA Powerrr though... that's my jam. Loved almost everything about that. I wish the referees had the old Official Referee patches for authenticity, and I'd prefer perhaps a re-recording of "Dynamics" as the theme rather than the Dokken song. But those are minor points. I generally only watch older territory wrestling now anyway, so this fits into my life well.

 

[Oculus Orbus]

All I have available to me is AWE Dark and NWA Power and I enjoyed both. When I had Hulu, all I could stomach was NXT. I haven't been able to sit through a whole episode of Raw or SD since before the Attitude Era died out. As an old school UWF fan, it's nice to finally see rasslin' again that's actually fun to watch.

Also, Lucha Underground was the best (at least the first two seasons, anyway)

 

[Tulpa Girl]

Jesus, that Lights Out match during the second episode of Dark.

Daaaaaammmn...

 

[Oculus Orbus]

NWA Power e2 –

AEW Dark e2 –

Maybe nostalgia got the better of me, but I actually had a smile on my face almost all the way through Power. I'm sure waffles and tire irons had nothing to do with it.

New blood Ricky Starks and Ashley Vox were the standouts for me. I thought they both put on great performances.

 

[Ronin]

You people have corrupted me. I haven't watched really any wrestling since I was 10 years old. I found myself watching NWA Power the other day. Its all of you peoples fault

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Huge fan of all three shows. I couldn't get into the AEW stuff before Dynamite...now I'm trying to talk myself out of ordering Full Gear.

NWA Powerrr followed by AEW Dark is a great one-two punch on Tuesdays for me. I'm not currently invested in anyone featured on NWA yet (though I did work with James Storm once), but damn the promos from Tim Storm, Nick Aldis & Eddie Kingston have been great.

For AEW Dark, the whole gimmick that wins and losses ACTUALLY MATTER makes watching all the matches worth it...because all the matches matter.

 

[Tulpa Girl]

The women's match on last night's Dynamite wasn't as good as previous ones. Riho really needs opponents that can truly sell her being able to power out of pinfall attempts despite being outmassed, and Britt Baker wasn't quite pulling that off. In particular, the time Riho just scooted out from being pinned, the camera angle made it painfully clear that Baker wasn't even putting any weight on her at all.

But the rest of the show was still quite good. All of the tag team matches were solid, and the SCU/Best Friends match was excellent. And Jericho continues to show why he was such a good choice to be made champion. After their match last night, Darby Allin's stock should seriously rise.

Also, the win/loss graphics were larger and more legible this time around, which I'm thankful for. I guess I'm not the only one who was complaining about it.

 

[Oculus Orbus]

But what are your thoughts on last nights NXT?

Just kidding

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Only thing that really bugged me about last night’s Dynamite was the rope breaks for the Street Fight. It’s a huge break from conventional street fight rules, and it clearly wasn’t conveyed to the crowd, who started chanting “It’s a Street Fight” at the referee who was threatening to DQ Jericho for not breaking the Walls of Jericho. First time since AEW started that they seriously risked losing the crowd over a booking decision.

 

[urbwar]

But what are your thoughts on last nights NXT?

Just kidding

I'm actually seeing NXT live tonight here in Portland. Despite like AEW better, NXT has some good people on their roster. I'm hoping Finn Balor is there, since he seems to be back in NXT. Last time I saw them in Portland, the main event was Balor vs Joe (who is one of my all time favorites), and they had a post match brawl that set up one of their takeover matches.

I'm caught up with Dark now, and I loved the lights out match. I have to say that I'm surprised no other promotion ever thought of marketing the dark matches from shows before. So many matches never get seen by a wider audience. Makes me think of Flair talking about the classic matches he had against Steamboat before either went to WWE. They'd routinely wrestle each other for about an hour each night (5 or 6 nights a week!), and no one outside the audience ever saw them. He said some were better than their televised matches, which makes me bummed we will never get to see them.

Anyway, off to find Dynamite somewhere to watch, and if I have time, slip in NWA before heading of to NXT

 

[Oculus Orbus]

urbwar I'm actually fond of NXT, but it always had that "farm league" cloud over it. Your favorite NXT star could be whisked off at any time to go rot in obscurity on the "big" roster. Hell, they even killed one of my favorite announcer duos when they moved Corey Graves and Tom Phillips to SD.

I have no idea what's up with NXT now that it's... legit?

 

[Tulpa Girl]

But what are your thoughts on last nights NXT?

(that's completely unfair, since I haven't been watching NXT... but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to work in a MST3K reference)

 

[Tommy Brownell]

I'm not a fan of NXT, but that's because I find the style even more jarring than I do AEW's flippiest and most indietastic. I'm told it's because I'm just old and wrestling has moved on without me...and if so, that's fine, I guess. Though it is pretty interesting actually being completely wide awake and aware as the world passes you by.

 

[Oculus Orbus]

I'm not a fan of NXT, but that's because I find the style even more jarring than I do AEW's flippiest and most indietastic. I'm told it's because I'm just old and wrestling has moved on without me...and if so, that's fine, I guess. Though it is pretty interesting actually being completely wide awake and aware as the world passes you by.

Hell, I'm old and I love flippy shit. I also love southern grunt or whatever the fuck you call it. I'm okay with just about anything except Raw, SD, and TNA/Impact, although I have no idea what that's like anymore. Did they finally get their shit together?

 

[urbwar]

urbwar I'm actually fond of NXT, but it always had that "farm league" cloud over it. Your favorite NXT star could be whisked off at any time to go rot in obscurity on the "big" roster. Hell, they even killed one of my favorite announcer duos when they moved Corey Graves and Tom Phillips to SD.

I have no idea what's up with NXT now that it's... legit?

I never felt NXT had a farm league cloud over it myself. Probably because I didn't really get into it until they had some big name people from outside WWE there (like Joe, Nakamura, Zayn, Roode, etc). I'd also point out that a good portion of the current roster came from NXT. Sure, some go nowhere; that's been true of many signings before NXT was around. The audience for NXT isn't the same as for Raw or Smackdown. I've been to NXT live before, and the audience is much like when I used to regularly see RoH years ago. I suspect many of these fans would also be at AEW, but not necessarily Raw or Smackdown (I went to RAW here in Portland, and the crowds are very different between Raw and NXT). As an example, the crowd booed for the Crown Jewel video that aired during the intermission. Worse than booing any heel character.

Speaking of being legit, they have a sort of titantron for NXT with video/music intros now.

To keep on topic; My train got held due to some police activity at another stop, so I watched most of NWA Power ep 2 (and finished it during the intermission). A better show than the first one for sure. I do get tired of the repetition about the NWA being real men, real wrestling blah blah blah. That to me is worse than Jericho's diss about creative last week.

 

[urbwar]

Forgot to mention I'm also in the middle of the recent Dynamite episode. Just about to watch Moxley/Pac vs Omega/Page

 

[Oculus Orbus]

 

[urbwar]

I laughed when I saw that commercial during Power. I remember Tony Falk from WCCW. He was enhancement talent at its finest. Even if he was a friend of Eric Embry

 

[Oculus Orbus]

I laughed when I saw that commercial during Power. I remember Tony Falk from WCCW. He was enhancement talent at its finest. Even if he was a friend of Eric Embry

I'll bet if they keep up with it, that ol' boy could make a lot of money selling "Waffle & Tire Iron" t-shirts.

 

[urbwar]

At least his commercial is better than the one for Austin Idol's wrestling school.

 

[Dyrnwyn]

I'm really enjoying NWA Powerrr so far. It's really unlike anything else on right now. AEW to me just seems like a different version of WWE currently, with less interesting women's wrestling.

 

[Ladybird]

Hell, I'm old and I love flippy shit. I also love southern grunt or whatever the fuck you call it. I'm okay with just about anything except Raw, SD, and TNA/Impact, although I have no idea what that's like anymore. Did they finally get their shit together?

Impact are doing well enough. They're clearly not rolling in money, hence a small fixed roster along with using regional talent from where they're filming, but almost everyone is fun to watch (Some wrestlers clearly need more training, but that's every promotion really), the storylines tend to be good, and the promo segments are great - Cage and Santos' wedding from a month ago featured almost every ongoing storyline crossing over, and it was a glorious trainwreck, as a wrestling wedding should be. They get a lot done in 80 minutes of TV.

They could do with some new blood, they've lost a couple of good stars this year in Kross, Drake, the Luchas, and LAX, but they do a lot with who they have.

 

[Oculus Orbus]

Impact are doing well enough. They're clearly not rolling in money, hence a small fixed roster along with using regional talent from where they're filming, but almost everyone is fun to watch (Some wrestlers clearly need more training, but that's every promotion really), the storylines tend to be good, and the promo segments are great - Cage and Santos' wedding from a month ago featured almost every ongoing storyline crossing over, and it was a glorious trainwreck, as a wrestling wedding should be. They get a lot done in 80 minutes of TV.

They could do with some new blood, they've lost a couple of good stars this year in Kross, Drake, the Luchas, and LAX, but they do a lot with who they have.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to see what's available on youtube. Is anyone else from Lucha Underground there besides Cage?

 

[Ladybird]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to see what's available on youtube. Is anyone else from Lucha Underground there besides Cage?

Willie Mack, Dezmond Xavier, Sami Callihan, Daga, Tommy Dreamer, Taya Valkyrie; Konnan's there but he's currently backstage after this team LAX left for AEW. Every so often Impact films in Mexico, too, so you'll get a variety of luchadores show up for a few weeks.

Johnny Impact and the Lucha Bros both had title runs earlier this year; all of the Luchas vs LAX matches were solid, but their full metal mayhem match from Rebellion is probably the best.

Impact's weekly show is up for free on Impact Plus a few days after it's on TV, and in America it's on Twitch as well, so it's pretty accessible too.

 

[urbwar]

I loved that 8 man tag on Dark this week (Though it was getting a bit spot festy). The Rose/Bates match not so much. As for Power.... It's starting to lose me. I was hyped for a Wild Cards vs Outlaw Inc feud, and instead they put Outlaw Inc against The Dawsons? Also, that bit with Cabana and Jocephus was just dumb. The Women's division hasn't grabbed me yet either.

I am digging Nick Aldis though. That clickbait comment last week was awesome, and that announcer is annoying as hell. I'm also digging that while he's primarily a heel, he's been showing concern/respect for Tim Storm. I'm not a fan of his in ring work, but Storm comes across well on the mic. Not sure what's going on with this storyline, but I'm hoping maybe a heel turn is coming. Also not sure about Eli Drake as of yet. Last week he's pushing James Storm towards challenging Aldis (and hoping to get a title shot out of it), this week asking Storm to be his partner to go after the tag titles. He's kind of in the middle right now. That look Aldis gave Drake at the end makes me wonder if they're leaning towards those two down the road. GIven Aldis doesn't seem to have a challenger as of yet (how is it none of the champions have one? That uncertainty in all four title pictures feels weak to me), Drake is a good choice if they actually follow through on it

 

[Oculus Orbus]

Willie Mack, Dezmond Xavier, Sami Callihan, Daga, Tommy Dreamer, Taya Valkyrie; Konnan's there but he's currently backstage after this team LAX left for AEW. Every so often Impact films in Mexico, too, so you'll get a variety of luchadores show up for a few weeks.

Johnny Impact and the Lucha Bros both had title runs earlier this year; all of the Luchas vs LAX matches were solid, but their full metal mayhem match from Rebellion is probably the best.

Impact's weekly show is up for free on Impact Plus a few days after it's on TV, and in America it's on Twitch as well, so it's pretty accessible too.

Nice! Willie "The Mack" Mack was one of my favorites from LU, so I have extra incentive to watch now. Muchas gracias, amiga!

 

[Oculus Orbus]

I loved that 8 man tag on Dark this week (Though it was getting a bit spot festy). The Rose/Bates match not so much. As for Power.... It's starting to lose me. I was hyped for a Wild Cards vs Outlaw Inc feud, and instead they put Outlaw Inc against The Dawsons? Also, that bit with Cabana and Jocephus was just dumb. The Women's division hasn't grabbed me yet either.

We're only three episodes in. It's gonna have its rough spots for a bit and I'm happy to overlook them. In fact, the rough edges are kind of endearing; a really nice contrast to the homogenized sludge of WWE.

Actually, my favorite moment of the show was during the Jocephus bit, when some kid in the audience yelled "pick up the bottle and hit him in the head!" Yeah, it was a little obnoxious, but it was refreshingly obnoxious.

 

[urbwar]

We're only three episodes in. It's gonna have its rough spots for a bit and I'm happy to overlook them. In fact, the rough edges are kind of endearing; a really nice contrast to the homogenized sludge of WWE.

I have a lot of stuff on my plate to watch. If I'm going to take the time to watch Power, it needs to grab me now, not later. I've seen small indies do more with a tv show in this amount of time, so I'm not willing to overlook that they should be doing better. I'll give it 2 -3 more weeks, but if things don't pick up, I'm not going to keep watching

 

[Dahak]

I have a lot of stuff on my plate to watch. If I'm going to take the time to watch Power, it needs to grab me now, not later. I've seen small indies do more with a tv show in this amount of time, so I'm not willing to overlook that they should be doing better. I'll give it 2 -3 more weeks, but if things don't pick up, I'm not going to keep watching

No point watching what you don't like. I gave up on AEW two weeks in for just being longer-match WWE. I'm sure they'll tweak things here and there, but (as with NWA) the core concept is already in place. Neither of us will change our minds by giving the promotions we don't like a few extra weeks.

 

[Oculus Orbus]

No point watching what you don't like. I gave up on AEW two weeks in for just being longer-match WWE. I'm sure they'll tweak things here and there, but (as with NWA) the core concept is already in place. Neither of us will change our minds by giving the promotions we don't like a few extra weeks.

I feel like the magic of AEW will become apparent once the disparate elements blend together. So far the matches have been great, but that's pretty much all I'm getting out of it. I don't know who a lot of these guys are or how they interact with each other, but that will all come out in the next couple of months. Not for me, though, because all I'm able to watch is Dark and I'm thinking that's not the place for storylines to play out, just to show off the talent, which is fine.

NWA Power, on the other hand, had me by the second episode. Seems like there's a clearer focus on the good guy/bad guy thing and I'm feeling pretty good that they're not going to be pulling any of that random alignment change bullshit that WWE shovels out. NXT does that better, too, I think. At the end of the day, I was more interested in the wrestlers than I was about the quality of their work. I think that's why wrestling fandom has degenerated into a bunch of pissy, smug "smart" critics that only focus on botches, camera work, crowd chants, how "over" the wrestlers are, etc ad nauseam. Just enjoy the fucking show and stop picking it apart to prove how fucking cool you are, people!

HUMBUG!

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Oddly, there's been more "storyline" on Dark than on Dynamite. Like, the GREAT Darby Allin promo the night before his title match was on Dark...and left off of Dynamite and the build up to his title shot.