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

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Curious to see how the two differing styles work together in the ring when they do face off, then.
 
Tulpa Girl said:
Curious to see how the two differing styles work together in the ring when they do face off, then.
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There's a lot of clips of them on Youtube in matches against the Usos, Gable & Roode, DiY, New Days. I saw a full match from one of the Axxcess shows between them and American Alpha which might worth looking at. They had a trilogy of matches at 3 Takeovers iirc, and pretty much stole the show each time.
 
So, yeah, last week's confrontation between Jericho and Tyson got a zillion views on YouTube and headlines in various media outlets. So clearly they know what they're doing.

But to me, it's super annoying to have a feud based on something that happened ten years ago on a different company's TV show. WTF does that have to do with AEW??
 
Given Jericho is one of AEW's top stars, it has everything to do with AEW. When he feuded with Moxley, they made references to their past in WWE. Same with Jericho and Hardy. AEW doesn't exist in a bubble, so tapping into the past outside of AEW helps them tell a better story. Given all the publicity AEW is now getting from this, it means more people are likely to tune in to possibly see Jericho get knocked out by Tyson again. They scored their highest rating vs NXT recently. More ratings means the network can possibly solicit better advertising during the show (and make both TNT and AEW some more money). Just getting more people to watch AEW (and seeing people they may not have seen before) is the long term goal here, and it's working.

The fact that Tyson punched out Jericho in WWE, and Jericho hasn't gotten over it is a great story. It makes Jericho out to be the bitter bad guy holding a grudge for something that happened long ago, and puts Tyson in the good guy role, because who doesn't want to see Jericho get knocked out for being the douchebag he's portraying right now? It also allows Moxley to feud with Brian Cage without the Inner Circle being a possible issue. Jericho is distracted, so Moxley can focus soley on Cage

Funny enough, I realized I haven't watched Dynamite or Dark since early April. I have a lot of catching up to do!
 
E-Rocker said:
I get it from a business perspective. I disagree with it being a better story.
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Without that past, the story wouldn't really work well at all. Besides, it's not like WWE doesn't do it. They've used past history outside of WWE before to help build up feuds/matches between wrestlers. Stuff that also happened at least 10 years before the guys faced off in WWE (like Styles/Daniels, or the history between Owens & Zayn). It helps build interest. If Tyson hadn't knocked out Jericho a decade ago in WWE, the set up for this storyline would probably be weaker (as they'd have to come up with a good reason for Jericho and Tyson to have this beef); at least this way, they have a good reason for this animosity between the two. Given Jericho's talent, he can easily sell this.

Of course, if/when they have a match (or a boxing match, which Jericho has hinted at in an interview), it's probably going to suck (cause Tyson can't likely wrestle, and Jericho has only been boxing for six years, and he's even said Tyson would beat him easily in such a match). But most fans will only care about seeing Tyson knock Jericho out. But before they see that, they'll be seeing some great competitors face off in the matches before that one, and hopefully some will come back and keep watching them after Tyson moves on.
 
So Fyter Fest was originally going to be AEW's first UK show, as well as being Cage's title shot. Being a Cage fan living in the UK, I would have loved to have been there. I'm happy to get it for free on TV, that's cool, but what could have been...

urbwar said:
Without that past, the story wouldn't really work well at all. Besides, it's not like WWE doesn't do it. They've used past history outside of WWE before to help build up feuds/matches between wrestlers. Stuff that also happened at least 10 years before the guys faced off in WWE (like Styles/Daniels, or the history between Owens & Zayn). It helps build interest. If Tyson hadn't knocked out Jericho a decade ago in WWE, the set up for this storyline would probably be weaker (as they'd have to come up with a good reason for Jericho and Tyson to have this beef); at least this way, they have a good reason for this animosity between the two. Given Jericho's talent, he can easily sell this.

Of course, if/when they have a match (or a boxing match, which Jericho has hinted at in an interview), it's probably going to suck (cause Tyson can't likely wrestle, and Jericho has only been boxing for six years, and he's even said Tyson would beat him easily in such a match). But most fans will only care about seeing Tyson knock Jericho out. But before they see that, they'll be seeing some great competitors face off in the matches before that one, and hopefully some will come back and keep watching them after Tyson moves on.
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I totally get that, I just don't see the need to mix the streams; I don't have any interest in seeing Jericho wrestle a non-wrestler, and I don't want to see Tyson actually KO Jericho (I like wrestling because it's only pretending to be a combat sport; I have no interest in watching people actually try and hurt each other, especially now we know more about CTE's and knowing Jericho took a lot of unprotected chair shots when he was younger...

But whatever, it clearly bought in big numbers for AEW, I guess this particular storyline just isn't for me.
 
My favorite part of this week's episode (haven't watched the last match yet) was Mox telling Cage & Taz something to the effect of "Don't waste your time trying to intimidate me."
 
Ladybird said:
I totally get that, I just don't see the need to mix the streams; I don't have any interest in seeing Jericho wrestle a non-wrestler, and I don't want to see Tyson actually KO Jericho (I like wrestling because it's only pretending to be a combat sport; I have no interest in watching people actually try and hurt each other, especially now we know more about CTE's and knowing Jericho took a lot of unprotected chair shots when he was younger...
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Jericho wasn't saying they'd have a real fight. He was saying that how they set it up, he really can't stand up to Tyson if it were a boxing style match. Tyson would have to downplay his ability to make Jericho come off decent (and not end up like Bart Gunn vs Butterbean). I suspect it would go more towards Piper vs Mr. T, but Tyson wouldn't pull the crap that Mr. T did (and got bodyslammed for being a douchebag).

I'm not a fan the angle myself, but the way I see it, everyone else benefits from more eyes on the product. And Tyson, being the wrestling fan and professional that he is, is going to do his best to make this angle work (and we all know Jericho damn sure is). At least it's not Hulk Hogan :tongue:
 
urbwar said:
Jericho wasn't saying they'd have a real fight. He was saying that how they set it up, he really can't stand up to Tyson if it were a boxing style match. Tyson would have to downplay his ability to make Jericho come off decent (and not end up like Bart Gunn vs Butterbean). I suspect it would go more towards Piper vs Mr. T, but Tyson wouldn't pull the crap that Mr. T did (and got bodyslammed for being a douchebag).

I'm not a fan the angle myself, but the way I see it, everyone else benefits from more eyes on the product. And Tyson, being the wrestling fan and professional that he is, is going to do his best to make this angle work (and we all know Jericho damn sure is). At least it's not Hulk Hogan :tongue:
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Yeah, fair point :smile:
 
Very tag-heavy Dynamite this week. FTR vs The Butcher & The Blade to start, and JR really seemed to appreciate a tag team that actually followed the rules of a tag match. FTR won, Bucks came down to congratulate and thank them, then B&B attacked the Bucks from behind, and Kenny and Adam came down to help fight them off. That's four quality teams who are doubtless going to feud going forward.

Next match was Nyla Rose & Penelope Ford vs Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander. Ford wound up getting the pin, and much of the match seemed to be about showing she's a legit contender. Pretty sure there's going to be a title shot in her near future, and while she's not quite ready yet she will be.

Then it was Best Friends & Orange Cassidy vs Proud & Powerful & Jake Hager. Everyone did their spots, it went pretty much how you'd expect. Cassidy got the pin, and then Jericho joined his boys and beat up Orange Cassidy with a sack full of oranges. It was complete filler, but it was funny filler.

Sammy Guevara vs Colt Cabana next, and it was a fair enough match. Guevara wound up getting the win, and then the Dark Order came out to commiserate Cabana, who wound up following them back to their office. They've been hinting at him joining them for a while now...

Cody vs Marq Quen was the main event, and other than Private Party's new theme (Which is far too low-energy and doesn't fit them at all), the two of them put on a great match. Quen led the match, but just had a few mistakes which Cody could take advantage of, including focusing on Quen's leg, and it was Cody's experience that won him the match. Both guys looked very strong, but Quen more than proved himself to be a legit singles contender. There's a lot of talent that Cody can get over in the weekly challenges, and long may it continue.
 
Quick predictions for Fyter Fest, Part Uno...

Jurassic Express vs MJF & Wardlow - Hmm, I think Jurassic Express benefits more from the win, so maybe they pull it out... but I don't think MJF is going to take a pin anytime soon, so that falls to Wardlow getting pinned for the loss, possibly causing further tension between him and MJF.

Private Party (w/ Matt Hardy... hey, that rhymes!) vs Santana & Ortiz - Even with Hardy assisting Private Party, I think the heels take this one.

Hikaru Shida vs Penelope Ford (w/ Kip Sabian) - A little early for Shida to drop the belt, and while Ford will make a fine heel champion someday, I think that needs a little more time to simmer for full effect. Perhaps Sabian's interference backfires, causing Ford to lose the match.

Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs Best Friends - Omega and Page don't really need the belts to be over, where I think Best Friends getting the titles gives them a nice boost. Possible rift between Omega and Page as a result.

Cody vs Jake Hager - Again, too soon for Cody to drop the belt, and while Hager MMA background makes him a legit threat, he just wouldn't be that exciting as a champion. Cody retains.
 
I've seen every episode of Dynamite, as well as about four of the AEW PPVs. I still don't know which one is Nick Jackson and which one is Matt Jackson. :clown:
 
Since I'm not currently going to concerts or movies or restaurants or bars or .... anywhere really, except the Forest Preserve, which is free, I decided to splurge and get Impact's Slammiversary PPV this past Saturday. During the first match, I was thinking "man, why is this show so low-energy?" before realizing "duh, there's no live audience." Anyway, I got more into it as it went on. There were some good matches and some funny comedy spots. I'm not up on Impact's current storytlines, but the hype packages filled in enough of the blanks for me to get invested in who the winners were. I did cheer out loud at the end of the World's Championship match.

There was one thing that bugged me though: more often than not, on commentary Josh Matthews would announce who won the match before the 3-count had finished. I dunno, maybe they were having a production issue and the audio was slightly out of sync with the video, but since it's such a common wrestling trope to kick out at 2 & 7/8ths, having winners announced before the 3-count finished was a bit anticlimactic.

Still, all things considered, I enjoyed the show.
 
Haven't gotten to the second half of last night's Dynamite yet, but as for the first half: I've never heard of Eddie Kingston before, but I enjoyed his match with Cody. Also greatly enjoyed how the Young Bucks/Butcher and Blade match really capitalized on the "Falls Count Anywhere" stipulation.
 
E-Rocker said:
Since I'm not currently going to concerts or movies or restaurants or bars or .... anywhere really, except the Forest Preserve, which is free, I decided to splurge and get Impact's Slammiversary PPV this past Saturday. During the first match, I was thinking "man, why is this show so low-energy?" before realizing "duh, there's no live audience." Anyway, I got more into it as it went on. There were some good matches and some funny comedy spots. I'm not up on Impact's current storytlines, but the hype packages filled in enough of the blanks for me to get invested in who the winners were. I did cheer out loud at the end of the World's Championship match.

There was one thing that bugged me though: more often than not, on commentary Josh Matthews would announce who won the match before the 3-count had finished. I dunno, maybe they were having a production issue and the audio was slightly out of sync with the video, but since it's such a common wrestling trope to kick out at 2 & 7/8ths, having winners announced before the 3-count finished was a bit anticlimactic.
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Josh tends to say things like that a lot during matches, and most of the time he gets it wrong. I think it's just his particular filler phrases.

Impact's been odd during the Current Times because, as their arenas are dark anyway and they never mic'd the crowd very well, removing the crowd entirely feels like less of a loss than, say, Dynamite; they weren't that big a part of the product.

I really enjoyed Slammiversary; you could tell in the weekly shows they'd been struggling for a while, after they dropped a lot of wrestlers who were probably going to be at the show (I'm pretty sure Elgin was originally going to walk out with the title belt, for example) and had to pad out their pre-taped segments and get some new promos done quickly. But the returns and debuts were good, and there were solid matches and storytelling to go with it. With everything changed now, it's a good base for the next few months of stories.
 
AEW really needs a second show. I know there was talk at one point of that happening, but I guess the pandemic has put the brakes on that. They're overbooked with talent, and it's telling that the women's tag team cup is on YouTube, and separate from Dark at that.
 
Tulpa Girl said:
... the women's tag team cup is on YouTube, and separate from Dark at that.
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Whoa, I didn't know that! I had just assumed it was on Dark.

I enjoyed last week's episode quite a bit, especially the Jericho/Cassidy debate & Mox's promo. Hoping tonight is good as well.
 
I may have to get on the YouTubes and watch women's tag team cup, because I really like Allie. I wish she was on Dynamite more.
 
Also, I'm amused that, now that Weirdo Matt Hardy has grown on me a bit, he's going back to being Normal Matt Hardy.
 
Was there an in-story reason why Allie stopped being The Bunny, or did they just drop the gimmick without explanation? I'm fine with it either way, just wondering.
 
E-Rocker said:
Was there an in-story reason why Allie stopped being The Bunny, or did they just drop the gimmick without explanation? I'm fine with it either way, just wondering.
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No specific reason given, as far as I know.

There was once or twice on Dark when she was at the announcers table, and one of the announcers would try to bring up the topic, and she would specifically not answer, talking about something else instead.
 
DragonCon is currently streaming some of the wrestling matches from previous years. The current match being shown, from 2019, has Suge D aka Pineapple Pete in it.
 
So All Out was, er... something. There were some solid matches and storytelling - Shiva vs Thunder Rosa, Omega / Page vs FTR, Nightmare Family vs Dark Order, Moxley vs MJF - but the bits where they fucked up, they really fucked up; a silly botch in the battle royale, thumbtacks in the BR as well, but everything was overshadowed by Matt Hardy's injury early on. There's no way that should have continued, especially after Aubrey X'd the match twice, and they certainly shouldn't have been allowed to finish with a high drop spot.
 
Ladybird said:
... everything was overshadowed by Matt Hardy's injury early on. There's no way that should have continued, especially after Aubrey X'd the match twice, and they certainly shouldn't have been allowed to finish with a high drop spot.
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Yeah, that was bad and weird. Matt was clearly legit f'd up.

Prior to last night's Dynamite, I was feeling a bit burnt out on it, and asking myself "Do I really even want to watch this?" but the episode got me back on board. Can't really think of any specific thing that did it, I just found myself quite entertained overall.
 
When Billy Mitchell showed up, I thought, "Huh, it's some wrestler I've never heard of who looks kinda like that dude from the Donkey Kong documentary."

I didn't realize he really is the guy from the Donkey Kong Documentary (The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters) until I read something about it just now.
 
I had missed last week's episode, but I agree that that last night's episode was fun. I would say the weak spot was the Britt Baker match, which wasn't awful, but just sorta... there.

(Baker's at that spot, IMO, where's she good enough to usually handle herself well enough when working with a better wrestler, but still green enough that she isn't able to carry a less experienced opponent)
 
That said, I haven't watched Dark in about a month now. I'm all for giving the developmental talent some exposure, but there's only so many midcarder vs jobber matches where you know without doubt who the winner will be that I can watch. Were I a booker, I would have some tag team matches where each team would have a midcarder teamed with one of the newer faces, some developmental vs developmental matches, and every once in a blue moon let a jobber get a surprise victory over one of the midcard, just to keep things from getting too predictable.
 
I've still never watched Dark. While my overall enjoyment of AEW is pretty consistently high, I feel like a weekly 2-hour show + the occasional PPV is enough for me.
 
The pre-pandemic Dark episodes were usually pretty solid, with the occasional match being better than something relegated to just being on YouTube had any right to be. In particular, I remember the Omega-Janela lights out match being something that could have easily been on a PPV.
 
So recently I've been watching some of the matches that the EVE promotion from England has put up on YouTube. Generally I've liked what I've seen, with many of the shows and segments having the sort of rough charm that the better indy promotions usually do.

And then I saw this:




What... what the holy hell did I just watch?
 
Last Summer, I got the Rosemary vs. Allie: Demon vs. The Slayer DVD from Smash Wrestling. Finally got around to watching it now that we're getting into Halloween season. I knew that Holly Letkeman is both Courtney Rush and Rosemary, but I didn't realize that Courtney Rush becoming Rosemary is something that happened in-story in Smash Wrestling. So that was fun to see.
 
Not a fan of wrestling or ICP, but those dudes dubbed their own commentary over some Japanese extreme deathmatches and called it Strangle-Mania. I recall it being pretty funny, but then I was probably drunk at the time. I remember them making fun of one wrestler's stonewashed jeans ("Chick jeans can't stop razor wire!"). And even though the ICP guys are wearing the makeup, they use the names "Handsome Harley Guastello" and "Diamond Donovan Douglas". Anyway, if you like wrestling or ICP, check it out.
 
Welp, that segment with Jericho and MJF last night was... well, it was definitely a segment, all right. It happened, and it was real. At least, I think it was real. Could have been a hallucination, I suppose.
 
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