Dec 10, 2020 0:15:44 GMT @admin said:

I've semi lost the motivation to keep up with Dark since they added so many extra matches but I watched everything this week.

I must be bad luck for Alex because the week I didn't watch dex02 said she got some offence, but she was back to being shut out here again against Nyla. :lol:

They honestly do get repetitive a lot of the time, outside of basically Ivelisse's matches. Even Red Velvet's ( a talent I really find promising) dark matches are basically all very similar. 


I would rather have 3 longer matches than 5 extended squashes , longer matches would benefit a lot of the talent who need the in-ring time , and really can't get it anywhere else because of covid. 

I don't really understand what they're doing with Alex she's a lot better than some of the talent they have winning matche son the main show ( I'm looking at you Swole). 

 

Womens title feud getting some action on dark as abadon takes out shida after her match.

Am I the only one who every time Abadon slithers into the ring the way she does? She looks like one of the creepypasta memes and her in-ring is so finesse and seems completely against what her gimmick should be. She's next to Orange Cassidy, Sonny Kiss, Brandi Rhodes/Jade Cargill, Michael Naka-naka-naka-naka-naka Zawa and Marko Stunt as far as "Trainwreck TV" goes.

I have no idea how Shida keeps a straightface seeing this more funnier version of The Boogeyman every time she sees her.

It did make a nice change to have a bit of storyline with Abadon's attack after Shida won, compared to usual where the Dark matches exist in a vacuum and feel relatively inconsequential. The match itself was pretty decent, but Kilynn tends to have this inconsistency where she'll have one spot that looks fantastic but then follow it up with another where the execution is far less impressive.

I still feel like there are some pretty big incongruences with Anna Jay's persona that need to be ironed out. She's obviously stunning and quite athletic, but she really needs to improve her fluidity in the ring, particularly with her kicks. She executes them quite well but there's often just the slightest moment of hesitation that always annoys me. I hate the sleeper hold as a finisher for her as well. I think I've said this before, and maybe it's clearer if you watch the whole product, but I still have no idea what her character and the Dark Order thing is supposed to be.

Anna's areas for improvement were highlighted by Tay Conti's performance which blew her out of the water. They do some similar things but Conti's extra experience and training is so obvious. Her strikes are much more fluid and believable, her match felt like a genuine fight rather than a choreographed routine, and you just feel like she knows who she's trying to be rather than Anna who is just a bunch of pieces rather than a complete article. It's ironic that in the storyline Tay is the one supposed to be learning/getting guidance from Anna when in reality it should be the other way around - although who knows if their team/storyline is still a thing?

Kaci Lennox looks like she's got a decent combination of power and athleticism. I'd like to see how she fares against someone other than Ivelisse as she likely benefitted from some familiarity working someone she's trained with.

Bittersweet that the Jade/Brandi rivalry is gonna be postponed but congrats to Brandi's new baby announcement. Wanted to see that match so damn bad. Would have rivaled Sharmell vs Morasco, Rebel vs Shelly Martinez and Gayda vs Trish in the all time GOAT women's matches of all time.

Positive stuff tonight I thought. There's not a lot of connection/storyline behind this Velvet/Serena/Swole vs Nyla/Ivelisse/Diamante feud but they have to start somewhere and at least they're getting more of the division involved and on TV. Personally I would have booked the match slightly differently, I know it's one of X-zero's pet peeves when an established tag team loses to two singles wrestlers, they could have had Nyla cause a distraction as a cover for Serena and Swole losing.

The Rosa/Britt segment was good. Rosa cut a passionate promo and Britt always brings the goods in this department. "Does this thing still work, or did that ugly face break the camera?" was perfectly delivered and had me sipping some piping hot Angelina Love tea. I was asking for a new storyline for Britt and this is exactly what I was after.

Dec 16, 2020 2:55:14 GMT @admin said:

It did make a nice change to have a bit of storyline with Abadon's attack after Shida won, compared to usual where the Dark matches exist in a vacuum and feel relatively inconsequential. The match itself was pretty decent, but Kilynn tends to have this inconsistency where she'll have one spot that looks fantastic but then follow it up with another where the execution is far less impressive.

I still feel like there are some pretty big incongruences with Anna Jay's persona that need to be ironed out. She's obviously stunning and quite athletic, but she really needs to improve her fluidity in the ring, particularly with her kicks. She executes them quite well but there's often just the slightest moment of hesitation that always annoys me. I hate the sleeper hold as a finisher for her as well. I think I've said this before, and maybe it's clearer if you watch the whole product, but I still have no idea what her character and the Dark Order thing is supposed to be.

Anna's areas for improvement were highlighted by Tay Conti's performance which blew her out of the water. They do some similar things but Conti's extra experience and training is so obvious. Her strikes are much more fluid and believable, her match felt like a genuine fight rather than a choreographed routine, and you just feel like she knows who she's trying to be rather than Anna who is just a bunch of pieces rather than a complete article. It's ironic that in the storyline Tay is the one supposed to be learning/getting guidance from Anna when in reality it should be the other way around - although who knows if their team/storyline is still a thing?

Kaci Lennox looks like she's got a decent combination of power and athleticism. I'd like to see how she fares against someone other than Ivelisse as she likely benefitted from some familiarity working someone she's trained with.

Anna is the second highest in power in dark order I believe behind Brodie Lee. Stu use to be Brodie Lee's favorite in the dark order so she treat him like crap. She respects Uno as a high ranking member. Her and everyone treats Angels(5) like garbage. She wants to be closer with Silver(4) but every time she tries he goes to Vance(10)/Anna's husband instead. She doesn't interact with Reynolds(3) much. Dark Order now is just a social club for losers who want friends.

Dec 17, 2020 5:27:32 GMT @admin said:

Positive stuff tonight I thought. There's not a lot of connection/storyline behind this Velvet/Serena/Swole vs Nyla/Ivelisse/Diamante feud but they have to start somewhere and at least they're getting more of the division involved and on TV. Personally I would have booked the match slightly differently, I know it's one of X-zero 's pet peeves when an established tag team loses to two singles wrestlers, they could have had Nyla cause a distraction as a cover for Serena and Swole losing.

The Rosa/Britt segment was good. Rosa cut a passionate promo and Britt always brings the goods in this department. "Does this thing still work, or did that ugly face break the camera?" was perfectly delivered and had me sipping some piping hot Angelina Love tea. I was asking for a new storyline for Britt and this is exactly what I was after.

Haven't seen AEW yet but if it was a six woman tag it wouldn't bother me. If Ivelisse & Diamante lose to any combination of the other three in their first outing then yeah that would bother me.

Dec 17, 2020 5:53:32 GMT X-zero said:

Anna is the second highest in power in dark order I believe behind Brodie Lee. Stu use to be Brodie Lee's favorite in the dark order so she treat him like crap. She respects Uno as a high ranking member. Her and everyone treats Angels(5) like garbage. She wants to be closer with Silver(4) but every time she tries he goes to Vance(10)/Anna's husband instead. She doesn't interact with Reynolds(3) much. Dark Order now is just a social club for losers who want friends.

Haven't seen AEW yet but if it was a six woman tag it wouldn't bother me. If Ivelisse & Diamante lose to any combination of the other three in their first outing then yeah that would bother me.

It would be nice if they could tell some of those stories in Anna's segments/matches then, because absolutely none of those relationships have been remotely communicated to me as a casual viewer. Something as simple as her using her power in the faction to convince some of the underlings to help her win matches to elevate themselves in the hierarchy - and make it feel like there's actually a point to it all?

And yes it was a straight tag match, Ivelisse and Diamante lost to Serena and Swole. Swole tapped Diamante out.

Dec 18, 2020 1:38:07 GMT @admin said:

Dec 17, 2020 5:53:32 GMT X-zero said:

Anna is the second highest in power in dark order I believe behind Brodie Lee. Stu use to be Brodie Lee's favorite in the dark order so she treat him like crap. She respects Uno as a high ranking member. Her and everyone treats Angels(5) like garbage. She wants to be closer with Silver(4) but every time she tries he goes to Vance(10)/Anna's husband instead. She doesn't interact with Reynolds(3) much. Dark Order now is just a social club for losers who want friends.

Haven't seen AEW yet but if it was a six woman tag it wouldn't bother me. If Ivelisse & Diamante lose to any combination of the other three in their first outing then yeah that would bother me.

It would be nice if they could tell some of those stories in Anna's segments/matches then, because absolutely none of those relationships have been remotely communicated to me as a casual viewer. Something as simple as her using her power in the faction to convince some of the underlings to help her win matches to elevate themselves in the hierarchy - and make it feel like there's actually a point to it all?

And yes it was a straight tag match, Ivelisse and Diamante lost to Serena and Swole. Swole tapped Diamante out.

Without BTE, Dark Order makes no sense. I am sure most people who just watch the main show are lost with all the things they say about Silver. So the worst one on a thrown together team beat the best one in the actual team yep definitely would hate that.

Wait Anna Jay is married to the big guy who has 10 sharpied on his pec?

Dec 18, 2020 2:27:59 GMT Blindy said:

Wait Anna Jay is married to the big guy who has 10 sharpied on his pec?

Yeah that is the one but some sites say she isn't married so don't know.

Dec 18, 2020 2:42:40 GMT X-zero said:

Dec 18, 2020 2:27:59 GMT Blindy said:

Wait Anna Jay is married to the big guy who has 10 sharpied on his pec?

Yeah that is the one but some sites say she isn't married so don't know.

Ahh that's what we call the "Pokimane" AKA not let the "simps" know that your married so you have them swooned and attracted over you. :lol:

Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Brandi is pregnant. Congrats to her and her husband and congrats to us for less Brandi wrestling!

What’s the deal with Britt Baker? Is she injured again? Why is her show only on Dark? It would do the division wonders to give her character more exposure on the main show.

I was happy to see the Kilynn King vs Alex Gracia match announced for dark this week. Those two are definitely my top two 'dark level' female wrestlers from AEW. Lots of the dark female talent have some good aspects, but lots of them show their green ness in lacking smoothness and fluidity. Alex Gracia feels smooth in the ring, I think she's great. Match was pretty good, and something I appreciate about the dark vs dark talent matches is they aren't just squash matches, more back and forth. Also, go find the two pre match twitter promos before you watch the match. 

The winner of this match faces Hikaru Shida on dynamite Wednesday, this should be a good match.

Pretty good is being generous really, there were three botches/slips in a four minute match. I like Alex but this wasn't a particularly good showing from her. I also don't really understand them using Alex as a total jobber in multiple matches, not even getting a single move in on a couple of occasions, and then being elevated to face the champion with one victory like this.

I thought the best match by far this week was Leyla vs Madi. I think Madi has a huge amount of potential, she's already good in the ring, she's got a great look and she's charismatic. She's very polished already for just a year of experience.

Pretty good meant, pretty good... for a womens dark match

I’m a fan of Alex but yeah, unsurprisingly for AEW, this booking makes no sense.

I also think Red Velvet has a ton of athletic potential but all the mediocre opponents she’s been facing do her absolutely no favors. That Vertvixen girl was terrible. She needs a well-learned, seasoned worker to really compliment her wrestling.

Loved the aggression in Madi/Leyla. I especially liked the unique take on the X-factor from Madi.

It's amazing how defensive die-hard AEW fans can be about critiques of the women's booking and talents like Leva on certain other pro-board wrestling forums.

Every women's match on Dark was too short to be anything good this week, but Leva's match was especially bad, she is so slow in the ring and everything she does looks fake. I'd easily take watching a 2020 Mickie James match over a Leva bates match.

I also don't see how these short dark matches are helping any of the green talents develop, they're way too short for any coherent story, and don't leave much room for them to try anything other than their normal spots.

These are apaprently contreversial opinions.

Dec 30, 2020 4:02:57 GMT dex02 said:

It's amazing how defensive die-hard AEW fans can be about critiques of the women's booking and talents like Leva on certain other pro-board wrestling forums.

Every women's match on Dark was too short to be anything good this week, but Leva's match was especially bad, she is so slow in the ring and everything she does looks fake. I'd easily take watching a 2020 Mickie James match over a Leva bates match.

I also don't see how these short dark matches are helping any of the green talents develop, they're way too short for any coherent story, and don't leave much room for them to try anything other than their normal spots.

These are apaprently contreversial opinions.

Any critique of anything AEW will get that same type of response on most boards. I really dislike looking at Impact twitch chat now with the rise of AEW fans.  Oh I want to see Abadon vs. Rosemary. Abadon has about 1 year experience and isn't very good yet. Followed with trashing the knockouts as not very good compared to "insert AEW woman".

The matches on dark are just there to make stats look better. So if a new person comes along and see the top 5 they think wow those most be the ones I should watch out for not realizing there are only like 8 and they are all have positive records. AEW dark is good for exposure if you been in the business for a few years and just haven't got your big break anywhere. If you are really new it probably is doing you more harm then good.

Leva and Madi was a wrestling school training match that shouldn't have been on tv.

Tay Conti match and moves look really good. She should appearing on Dynamite over a lot of their roster.

Dex, x zero, I think your critiques on the dark matches are a little off. Everything should be judged based off ofbits expectationd. Dex, to say that none of the dark matches this were good is silly. If you're judgibg them with your expectations they be a ppv quality match then yeah, the matches were all trash. If you judge them as they they are dark matches, then they are just fun meaningless matches (but yeah some suck).
And to say these matches arent doing anything for the participants is also silly. Anna jay is clearly improving everytime shes on dark, and shes bringing new moves into her matches every week. This week for instance the set up yo her finsh was new. Tay conti is another one who is clearly bringing in new moves every week.
It may not be leaps and bounds, but some of these women are improving, and i imagine having these dark matches as a vehicle to practise is part of that. Compare anna jays first match against shida to her recent match against shida, way better.

I think people are taking things a litte too seriously to complain about dark. Its just dark matches for heavens sake.

Now if you want to mock the dynamite booking of the womens division, oh boy go for it. Weekly semi main event 8 minutes matches where you rarely see someone more than once a month

Dec 30, 2020 19:26:36 GMT nazzer said:

Dex, x zero, I think your critiques on the dark matches are a little off. Everything should be judged based off ofbits expectationd. Dex, to say that none of the dark matches this were good is silly. If you're judgibg them with your expectations they be a ppv quality match then yeah, the matches were all trash. If you judge them as they they are dark matches, then they are just fun meaningless matches (but yeah some suck).
And to say these matches arent doing anything for the participants is also silly. Anna jay is clearly improving everytime shes on dark, and shes bringing new moves into her matches every week. This week for instance the set up yo her finsh was new. Tay conti is another one who is clearly bringing in new moves every week.
It may not be leaps and bounds, but some of these women are improving, and i imagine having these dark matches as a vehicle to practise is part of that. Compare anna jays first match against shida to her recent match against shida, way better.

I think people are taking things a litte too seriously to complain about dark. Its just dark matches for heavens sake.

Now if you want to mock the dynamite booking of the womens division, oh boy go for it. Weekly semi main event 8 minutes matches where you rarely see someone more than once a month

Uh, I also said good things about Tay Conti. And I didn't mention Anna in a good or bad way but I think of her as an exception to the rule. She is improving.

As for dark matches, how do you think they should be judged as training match, practice matches, matches that just can't make it on Dynamite due to time constraint, matches not good enough for dynamite, or something else? When dark first started I saw it as matches that just didn't make it to the main show due to time constraints. Most where usually even of what you except on the main show or just slightly below. Now the show is about 2-4 times longer then it was originally was. Longer then Dynamite filled with 14 matches that usually consist of of AEW sign talent that will win over AEW dark jobber.

Now if you do consider them practice matches and different from Dynamite matches should those wins official count?

X-zero, I feel like I was sort of group responding to both you and dex, didn't mean to offend or anything

TayJay are for sure reaping the benefits of what I think dark is now focusing on, getting minutes for those that need practise, or try out type matches.

even in the beginning I felt like dark was bonus just for fun content. When dynamite was touring pre pandemic it felt like all but the main event of dark was tryout matches with local talent, so it didn't mean much. And the current massiveness of the show, it just feels like its not truly meaningful. Like the 'Solo' movie in the star wars saga, sure the movie itself was good and relevant to the entire star wars saga, but was not necesary viewing to the whole series, just extra fun. That's what I think of dark.

I don't know what I think of the rankings and wins losses on dark. I wish there was a sort of line where some matches counted and some didn't. Like maybe the match only counted on rankings if it was against another signed roster member. Recently AEW trademared both 'dark' and 'elevation' and heard the idea elevation will take the jobber/tryout matches, maybe that shouldn't count to rankings. But also, I literally don't casre about the details of the rankings and records. They say on gthe show that the top 5 isn't strictly based on wins vs losses, but based on quality of opponent. Butcher and the blade have a terrible record, but I know theyre great. In general, I don't care about the rankings or feel the need to emotionally nitpick them. There's plenty of things I enjot about AEW that I just let that slide

I wish abadon had win the title. Her character is so fucking fun.

I felt Abaddon was really exposed in that much. Very limited offense. The spot where they dragged Shida in the ring was goofy as hell and not at all visceral and nasty which is what they were doing for.

Jan 7, 2021 20:05:42 GMT Emperor said:

I felt Abaddon was really exposed in that much. Very limited offense. The spot where they dragged Shida in the ring was goofy as hell and not at all visceral and nasty which is what they were doing for.

I wish Abadon had a move set designed for her character like her scratching and gnawing off opponents, a very unconventional offense that is "Unorthodox". I think she can work on cardio and it would go a long way for her.

I saw someone on Wreddit describe Abadon as a "worse Su Yung" and thought that couldn't have been a better call. Compare all the character build up and development Impact has given Su, there's so much storyline and creativity there compared to how AEW has presented Abadon - nothing but JR yelling "good god this woman is insane!" over and over.

Su's no Aja Kong or anything but she's at least reliable, as Emperor said Abadon was clearly exposed there as not being ready for the spot. She either shouldn't be in the title picture or AEW needs to book her matches more cleverly to avoid highlighting her weaknesses.

I thought they did the best they could with hiding her weaknesses. Abadon is about one year into all of these and isn't ready for tv. Anna Jay has similar experience and is doing well but everyone doesn't move at that pace. Abadon has a good disturbing look and her character makes it so she won't have to do much selling. Not sure of her mic skills but her character can work without talking. So the one thing she needs it to work on some solid offensive.

I watched Serena and Tay's matches on Dark today ahead of their match on Dynamite tomorrow - I am still confused at AEW's use of the NWA title, and don't really like the idea of title matches with basically no build up - but I am looking forward to seeing that. As I've said before I think Tay has been really good over the past couple of months, she is quick and confident which makes her considerably better than the majority of the roster.

Tesha Price was accompanied to the ring for her match with Serena by some guy that Taz didn't even seem to know. Bizarre.

I dont get the hate for the abadon / hikaru match. Maybe its just my rose coloured glasses i watch aew with, but i thought the match fit rhe gimicks well. I was wrasslin entertained

Deeb/Conti definitely delivered - the best AEW match in quite some time. Serena's been such a great addition to the roster, she's so crisp and polished which makes such a difference for all the other girls who are inexperienced. Tay has improved so much in AEW, training with Dustin has clearly helped her so much find her lane as a wrestler compared to the plateau she had hit in NXT.