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

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I watched the latest Power this morning. The whole set up for the main event is more of what I want to see from NWA. I love Drake stirring the pot, and Aldis & Storm both played into whatever it is he's scheming. The match itself was ok (the part where everyone took each other out was the highlight), but it did what it was supposed to do (set up Cabana vs Storm for the National title). I liked the woman's match; Again, not great, but both women put in effort. Their facial expressions worked to showcase this match mattered.

Dawsons vs Homicide & Kingston was kind of meh to me. I'm actually glad the Dawsons won. They're not a great team, but it's obvious they are a work in progress, and I'm down with that. Building future stars is what the NWA is going to need, and they have potential.

I was happy with Trevor Murdoch. He's a good brawler, and he is someone who can help younger stars develop.

My favorite part other than the intro was Starks vs Stevens. Starks did a good promo a few weeks ago, though he came across as kind of The Rock-lite to me. I also wasn't impressed with his in ring work. He was better in this match. Stevens has been awesome; his interaction with the crowd has been fantastic, and I think Starks will shine if they keep a feud going between them. I think Stevens is up there with Aldis & Drake for mic work, so I hope he gets a run for the belt eventually (it's obvious to me Drake vs Aldis is what the slow build going on here)

So somewhat better. Now to see if they can keep it up
 
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urbwar said:
I think Stevens is up there with Aldis & Drake for mic work, so I hope he gets a run for the belt eventually (it's obvious to me Drake vs Aldis is what the slow build going on here)
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If Stevens did capture the World's title, both members of Rhodes Scholars will have been NWA champions. I'd like that very much.
 
Dahak said:
If Stevens did capture the World's title, both members of Rhodes Scholars will have been NWA champions. I'd like that very much.
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I had forgotten about that! It would be pretty cool.

I didn't comment on last week's AEW shows as I was kind of busy. I felt Dark as so-so. I liked the Women's match and the triple threat main event, but the other two not so much. Dynamite wasn't bad. I enjoyed the tag team finals, and I thought the match between Shida and Shanna was good. Never seen Shanna before (or Shida until she joined AEW), so it's nice to experience talent I was unaware of until now. Loved the bit with Hager giving Dustin a shot to the nads like his last MMA fight.

On an aside, I did watch Smackdown last night. While it's been done many times before, the NXT "invasion" was well done. I'm actually looking forward to seeing Survivor Series now. Given I haven't been following WWE other than on news sites, they did good for a change imo
 
Last week's AEW Dynamite was the first time I've watched the weekly show and felt like my intelligence was being insulted. Not the whole show, but enough.

Still digging Powerrr, though.
 
Powerrr this week was much, much better. My favorite part was Aldis & Tim Storm. Aldis has been leaning more towards being a good guy the last 2 weeks, where as he was being a douche over the Kamille incident when he retained vs Storm. Speaking of Kamille; I dig she had a hand in the main event without Aldis being there. I'm glad they're finally addressing that Drake is stirring the pot. The women's segment was interesting too. I'm a Marti Belle fan going back to when she was in NYWC and Pro Wrestling Syndicate (two promotions I'd see when I still lived in NYC). I didn't watch TNA when she was there, so it's nice to see her in action again.
 
HBJ as a heel commentator on this week's Dark is sooooo much fun.
 
I've been DVR-ing Dynamite but haven't watched any of it yet. Maybe I'll have some time this weekend.

Only became aware of NWA Power a few days ago. Maybe I'll check that out this weekend, too. Honestly, I was not aware that NWA was still an active promotion.
 
One thing I like about Dark is the short interview segments Cody is doing with members of the roster. It helps the audience get to know the competitors better (for those who don't know them well). I also like that they are using Dark to set up storylines more (like Janela/Spears).

I think the end of Dynamite this week was a bit of overkill. Cody's promo was pretty damn good though
 
Speaking of Dark, they dropped a new episode on Friday! Watching it now. Shida has a singles match and interview (not so good, as her English still needs work), and a tag match with Nyla Rose & Leva Bates on the same team against two women we haven't seen since the battle royal. Glad to see the women's division is getting more time, but wish they did that on Dynamite a bit more. Nyla got a post match interview, and it wasn't bad. Glad to see they're starting to do something with her. I think post match interviews is a good thing, as it gives them more exposure, but also helps them develop their mic skills.

The Main Event was SCU & Cima (they keep selling Daniels being out injured) vs Kip Sabian and Hybrid Two. So one match short than normal, but that's ok. Good warm up for Full Gear

I was reading how the ratings between Dynamite & NXT were pretty close this week, and some suggestions on what Dynamite could improve on. One thing mentioned was doing more with the women. They didn't do much to set up the two women's matches imho. I know they want to focus on matches a bit more, but given Sakura trained Riho, a video or something to help viewers understand the history between the two. Hell, if they could show an old match or two from Japan between them, it would probably help.
 
Quick predictions for Full Gear, with who I think will win bolded:



Britt Baker vs Bea Priestley: Priestly needs a win. Feud continues.

Shawn Spears vs Joey Janela: No idea, really. *flips coin* Janela, I guess?

Proud 'n Powerful vs The Young Bucks: The Bucks put the new blood over. As an aside, how long can they call themselves the Young Bucks, when they're one of the older tag teams out there? For as long as the New Mutants can be called New, I suppose.

Hangman Page vs PAC: PAC benefits more from a win, I think.

Jon Moxley vs Kenny Omega: Omega tries to go to that 'dark place', but doesn't quite get there. But they bond as they are beating the shit out of each other (wrestling, everybody!), and then go on to feud with Proud 'n Powerful.

Lucha Brothers vs SCU vs Private Party: It's a little early for SCU to lose the belts, so they retain. Private Party probably gets pinned, since they're young and the Lucha Brothers are so over.

Riho vs Emi Sakura: The women's division needs a bit more credibility, and I think Sakura as champion can help with that.

Cody vs Chris Jericho: There's plenty of juice left to be gotten from Jericho as a heel champion, so he keeps the title, undoubtedly with the aid of interference. Cody's declaration that he won't go for the title again if he loses can easily be ignored later on, especially if he ever turns heel.
 
So I watched the Buy In. A lot on Baker vs Priestly, but nothing, not a damn thing, about Riho vs Sakura. WTF!?! I get Baker is one of their main people, but nothing on the title match? Way to make us not interested in it, especially given Baker vs Priestly is on the Buy in, not the main show. They also focus on 3 of the main Elite feuds going, with great stuff on Moxley, so-so on Omega, Good on Cody vs Jericho. But the best was Proud and Powerful (LAX's new name) vs Young Bucks. P&P totally killed it here. Seriously. The whole "I grew up on the streets of NY" was fantastic, but not overplayed. Bucks were more subdued here. Ortiz sold it with one specific line. The hunger, the intensity when he said it was fantastic. I'm glad they split from Konnan. I've seen Ortiz live back when I lived in NYC at some local promotion, and he was over back then as a face. As a heel, he's amazing. Santana isn't bad either, but Ortiz is a star in the making to me.

They also cover the three way tag, but again, nothing on Janela/Spears or Page/PAC. I think not promoting Paige/PAC, given their feud started before AEW had their first show, is a mistake. This feud should establish PAC as their main heel outside of Jericho (and MJF, who really is amazing on the mic, and pretty good in the ring).

I won't give away the result, but Baker vs Priestly was a good match. Interesting stuff post match too. Can't wait for Dynamite this week!
 
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I've watched all of Full Gear save the Moxley/Omega match. I have to say, it was a pretty good show. The Cody/Jericho match was a bit slow (and a little boring) to start, but really kicked in midway through. Riho & Sakura put on a great women's match; Sakura was fighting back tears during the introductions (probably because she trained Riho). Young Bucks vs Proud & Powerful was everything I'd hoped it would be, and more.

Some legends were in attendance too. The Rock & Roll Express were there, as was Great Muta. Definitely worth checking out if you like AEW. More so than before, I'm looking forward to Dynamite this week.

As an aside, Thunder Rosa from NWA had her first professional MMA fight. She lost by decision, but lasted the entire 3 rounds. It was for Alberto Patron's promotion. She got a nasty cut on her nose during the match. Since she has an indie show on the 16th, I'm sure she'll be at Into the Fire (which I am sort of looking forward to at this point)
 
I love Santana and Ortiz and think they're an awesome team, but don't think AEW has quite nailed them yet; Proud 'n Powerful just doesn't work for me as a tag team name, and their theme is as close as you can get to the LAX music without actually being it. It was nice to hear JR recognise their history though, even if they didn't directly reference Impact. They're going to have a great run.
 
I agree on the name. I think the video on the Buy In really gave a good idea on where they are coming from personality wise. I think if I had one negative thing about their match on Full Gear was Ortiz wearing those overalls. It only had one strap, and at one point the strap either came off or broke, and he had to hold onto them when he did a dive outside the ring lol
 
Yeah. I like that they've got co-ordinated gear, as all tag teams should, it's just not quite practical in the ring. Minor quibble, though, and easily fixable.

Otherwise, I really liked the show. They pulled the trigger on one thing much earlier than I thought they would. The three-way tag match was good, Private Party have that star quality. Moxley - Omega was brutal.
 
I watched Moxley - Omega on my breaks at work. Totally agree on it being brutal. Not as brutal as some of the CZW/ECW stuff was. It was brutal when it needed to be to help sell the story.

Now you have to wonder where do they go from here? They both have had issues with PAC, but they also both got jumped by P&P recently. Most of Moxley's matches haven't counted on the win-loss record, and the one that did (his tag match with Pac) was a loss since he turned on PAC. So he's likely not anywhere near the title picture. Maybe something with Jimmy Havoc or Darby Allin? I don't think he's going to be going after other members of the Elite, or the Inner Circle anytime soon.
 
I decided to start watching Dynamite from last week's episode & I'll go back & watch the old ones later, rather than starting from the beginning.

Some thoughts:

PAC is a dumb name for the former Neville. Love his moves though.

The video package of Jericho was hilarious.

In general, I'm not a fan of long promos, but Cody owned it.

Thought all of the matches were pretty good.
 
PAC was the name he's used for years before he was in WWE. It may seem dumb, but people know him by that name, so it makes sense he'd go back to using it (since he can't use Neville as WWE owns that name)
 
urbwar said:
PAC was the name he's used for years before he was in WWE. It may seem dumb, but people know him by that name, so it makes sense he'd go back to using it (since he can't use Neville as WWE owns that name)
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Well, that makes sense, but I still don't like the name.
 
Isn't that the same situation as Moxley?

urbwar said:
Now you have to wonder where do they go from here? They both have had issues with PAC, but they also both got jumped by P&P recently. Most of Moxley's matches haven't counted on the win-loss record, and the one that did (his tag match with Pac) was a loss since he turned on PAC. So he's likely not anywhere near the title picture. Maybe something with Jimmy Havoc or Darby Allin? I don't think he's going to be going after other members of the Elite, or the Inner Circle anytime soon.
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Moxley seems like he'd act well as a force of pure chaos for a while, someone you just have to try and survive if he's coming for you. I'm sure he's going to get a title shot eventually, but I can see him almost accidentally falling into it rather than specifically going to and hunting it.

A feud with Allin, though, I can totally see. Allin's a young guy they can build and hopefully use for a long time, and if he can get a win over Moxley that will certainly help his credibility even further, even if it's another Lights Out match.
 
Ladybird said:
They pulled the trigger on one thing much earlier than I thought they would.
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Assuming you mean MJF betraying Cody, yeah, I wish that had more time to have played out. Having an arrogant heel be best friends with a babyface was an interesting bit of characterization, and I would like to have seen more of it before the inevitable happened.

That said, a Cody-MJF feud should be fuckin' amazing.
 
This week's Powerrr wasn't so great match wise, but all the promos/interactions were great. Everybody was sticking their nose in everyone else's business on this one! Eli Drake was left speechless at one point lol.

Since Dark aired Friday, there isn't one tonight.
 
I really didn't like the schmoz at the end of Powerrr. It was nonsensical and remniscent of WCW when they'd just shove everyone on camera for no logical reason other than to close a show. Although I think I see where they're going with Bram/Kamille/Aldis, the rest was too much tripping over one anothers' feet. I did preorder the PPV, though, so the bad week didn't exactly sour me.
 
I was thinking more of the individual promos, like Wild Cards coming out during Drake's promo, then Anderson did. Or Starks and Cabana. That end segment was bad from the tag title match on. That match just didn't interest me at all. I'd love to see Wild Cards vs Dawsons, but I know they dropped the belts to another team already (I read some spoilers about the tapings before the show started to air)
 
Belated response to this week's Dynamite:



Not crazy about MJF allying himself with Jericho. I would rather he try to get the title without any help from *anybody*, just because his ego demands that he doesn't need any help.

I'm not a big fan of hardcore matches, to be honest, but Moxley-Allin should be gloriously insane.

Orange Cassidy's cameo during the Proud & Powerful/Young Bucks brawl was hilarious.

Glad to see Scorpio Sky getting the pin on Jericho. Sky looks like one of those guys AEW is banking on for the future. As a bonus, we get a classic Jericho temper tantrum after the match.
 
I don't think MJF is going to align with Jericho. He took a couple of potshots at him during their verbal encounter. The only thing they have in common is their dislike of Cody. Their egos are both too big to work together though. Besides, MJF has Wardlow, so that would mean they'd both end up in the Inner Circle. That would start getting into NWO ridiculous levels of membership, which I doubt they want to go with.

Scorpio is definitely getting a push. He's been around a long time on the West Coast scene (and if anyone remembers Wrestling Society X, he was part of that roster), especially in PWG. It's good to see he finally is breaking out.

Yes, Moxley/Allin should be good. It makes sense too, seeing as he's another one they seem to be pushing
 
Alright, let's see how tough some of these guys really are...

 
So I was a bit underwhelmed by the matches on Powerrr again this week. There was also an issue with Cornette making a seemingly racist comment, and the show got pulled until they could edit out his comment. Which seemed to still be there, as I heard him say it when i watched it, and this was hours after articles were posted about what he said.

The crowd was funny supporting the Question Mark, but booing Stevens when they teamed against Cabana & Starks. Aldis got reamed by the crowd during his pre-match promo, which was funny.

Dynamite was ok. I liked the women's match, but the main event tag match was a bit of a Bucks spot fest, which was a bummer, because I love #Stronghearts. Lindaman is really impressive for his size (he is an expert in Judoka, so not a big surprise). I can't wait for Dynamite, because Allin/Moxley is gonna be pretty awesome.

I might start another thread, as I saw OWE (Oriental Wrestling Entertainment) has posted more episodes. I saw a couple more, but wanted to discuss it if people are interested. Might also do OVW, as they're now doing their tv show on Youtube. Looks like Youtube is becoming a good portal for smaller promotions these days. NWA tagged AEW in the description on the page for this weeks episode, which I thought was a nice gesture on their part.
 
I haven't seen the show but I saw his joke in an article, and I liked the structure of it, even if the details of it were poor judged.
 
Ladybird said:
I haven't seen the show but I saw his joke in an article, and I liked the structure of it, even if the details of it were poor judged.
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He's used it as an old standby on commentary for years. It was well-practiced.
 
Impact's main event this week is a six-wrestler elimination match, and holy shit it is brutal. Rich Swann is always good at selling, but even he outdoes himself this time.
 
Ladybird said:
Impact's main event this week is a six-wrestler elimination match, and holy shit it is brutal. Rich Swann is always good at selling, but even he outdoes himself this time.
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Was Rich Swann an NXT or a ROH guy? It's been a while since I've seen that name.
 
Oculus Orbus said:
Was Rich Swann an NXT or a ROH guy? It's been a while since I've seen that name.
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NXT and Raw, according to Wikipedia, in the Cruiserweight-type area. It looks like he's on a push in Impact, although it could go either way for him to end up in the tag division (With Willy Mack) or the heavyweight scene.
 
Ladybird said:
NXT and Raw, according to Wikipedia, in the Cruiserweight-type area. It looks like he's on a push in Impact, although it could go either way for him to end up in the tag division (With Willy Mack) or the heavyweight scene.
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It must have been NXT, then. I avoid Raw and SD whenever possible. Swann was pretty damn impressive, iirc. Willy Mack was a fave of mine from Lucha Underground. Nice to know that they're both still in the game.
 
Ladybird said:
I haven't seen the show but I saw his joke in an article, and I liked the structure of it, even if the details of it were poor judged.
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I'm so used to Cornette saying off the wall things, I didn't even think the comment was offensive until I read about it online. I was watching it at work, so I was more focused on the match itself than the commentary, as I also had other stuff going on. I also read he said the exact same thing once during the 90's, which wouldn't surprise me.
 
urbwar said:
I'm so used to Cornette saying off the wall things, I didn't even think the comment was offensive until I read about it online. I was watching it at work, so I was more focused on the match itself than the commentary, as I also had other stuff going on. I also read he said the exact same thing once during the 90's, which wouldn't surprise me.
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At least once. And his old 80s WCW commentary is peppered with stuff as well. I was watching old WCW PPVs on the WWE Network a few years ago and going "Welp, that wouldn't fly today."
 
I don't think he was being malicious when he said it. I don't think (given something he posted after the announcement of his resignation) he feels what he said was really offensive either. He's out of touch with the way things are today. Which sucks, because the other two commentators aren't all that interesting. He made play by play at least worth listening to
 
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