Maybe it was Conti trying to match her opponent Shida rather than do a styles clash. I would like to see Legit Layla Hirsch vs Conti, they'd grapple each other and it'd be more up Conti's comfort zone IMHO. They should have had that as the Round 1 match instead of Hirsch vs Thunder Rosa.

Anyway D.M.D. better win that title.

There was a really good Leyla Hirsch video package/promo on Elevation this week. I think we all agreed that Ryo Mizunami wasn't our favourite but I can see the benefit of their tag team helping Leyla expand her personality.

A couple of new girls debuted again on Dark - Raychell Rose looked perfectly decent in there with Diamante, and Ashley D'Amboise caught the eye for obvious reasons.

Finally Kilynn vs Dani is a Dark match I'd usually skip over but I'm glad I didn't this week as it was surprisingly good. Kilynn has definitely gone up a level.

Apr 22, 2021 18:00:29 GMT Blindy said:

Not a big fan of Conti. She feels like someone who tries to emulate what she watches in NJPW like Shibata and tries to copy that off and present that from A to Z. The leg slap she randomly did in front of the camera when she was taking punches on the 3rd rope by Shida was pitiful. Some of the match was a bit sloppy yesterday IMO. I was afraid of that near throat kick she did on Shida, surprised she is still doing that given (supposedly) that was the move that injured Abbadon

She also looks unsure facial wise on what she is doing, like she gives off the vibe of "Did I just do that? Woah.". She has come a long way from how bad she was in NXT as I mentioned, Dustin Rhodes and the crew have done wonders for her. I just don't see this superstar talent in her though. She's like NJPW done in slo-mo, feels lacking with an identity for me. I wish she'd rely more on her Judo background and really utilize that more than these kicks.

Ronda Rousey is what she should be emulating, not Katsuyori Shibata. What's next, she will do headbutts?

On the contrary of someone who gets "Less is more" and gets facials and playing to the audience, big money Jade Cargill got some suitors. Ya love to see it.

She's going to hurt someone for the long haul, maybe worse than Abaddon. An agent like Dustin Rhodes or someone has to pull her aside and say what his dad did and "Do what you do good & know". Feels like it's an experiment every time Conti is in the ring, she is trying something out, regardless of what happens to the opponent. My back cringed just watching this. 

So most of the presentations changes I disliked about Kris Statlander, they seem to get right on dark. So seeing her on Dark is a lot more enjoyable.

Announced for Double or Nothing's Buy-In, Serena Deeb will defend the NWA Women's Championship against Riho.

Did they make the title bigger for Britt? I still have a feeling Britt isn't winning.

May 29, 2021 3:25:56 GMT X-zero said:

Did they make the title bigger for Britt? I still have a feeling Britt isn't winning.

I think shenanigans happen this Sunday but when they do a street fight, Baker beats Shida. Can't see Shida losing 1vs1 to Baker, needs to be in something hardcore.

May 29, 2021 3:51:13 GMT Blindy said:

May 29, 2021 3:25:56 GMT X-zero said:

Did they make the title bigger for Britt? I still have a feeling Britt isn't winning.

I think shenanigans happen this Sunday but when they do a street fight, Baker beats Shida. Can't see Shida losing 1vs1 to Baker, needs to be in something hardcore.

Shida has already busted Britt nose so unless it is a reverse first blood match I don't know.

Serena vs Riho was a very good match imo. Serena works well as an aggressive heel especially against such a good pure babyface in Riho. The only real negative is that Riho's strikes still look pretty weak but that's always going to be an issue and I've learned to mostly look past it if the rest of the match is good enough.

Really enjoyed that match with Shida & Baker, not sure where Shida goes from here. Maybe she challenges for Deeb's NWA title?

Baker is such a trooper, she may have done some of that match on a zinger or even concussion. Her pain tolerance is second to none.

Quite a disappointing match I thought. If Britt did get knocked a little loopy getting sent into the barricade as it appeared that would explain it, but the results weren't great. Lots of awkward moments and sloppy execution throughout and although they brought it home strongly with some good false finishes (especially the curb stomp onto the title) you can't ignore all the clumsiness that came before it.

Britt winning was obviously the right decision, but I'm really going to need the writers to deliver over the next couple of months. Her title reign can't be allowed to float aimlessly without storylines like Hikaru's did for large portions - and they need to find a way to keep Shida relevant now that she doesn't have the crutch of being the champion.

Just a styles clash IMO from Joshi to American style. They always have this weird feel to them as no one really works the type of match they do elsewhere when you do stuff like this.

Got to assume the main storyline will be Thunder to start Britt's reign. But yeah, to give her reign meaning they cannot halfass things like they been with others. Britt can be their first homegrown megastar if they book her well.

Yeah it does look like Rosa will be the main/first feud for Britt. She kicked off Elevation tonight with a promo on Baker. Good little match between her and Reka Tehaka too.

Poor Shida after waiting all this time to defend her title in front of the AEW fans but due to her boring reign. The crowd strongly backed Britt. As for the match it was sloppy why could they just stay in the ring. The amount of times something just goes wrong is Britt matches is pretty high so just stick to the basics. The crowd definitely helped the match which was fine until the barricade spot. Shida had to position Britt a few times because she couldn't go into position. I know Nyla and Aubrey defended the ref not using a DQ against Rebel. But the ref caught Britt with the title belt even after having his back turned for way too long. I hope the division starts to get better but not the best start.

Britt has come so far in such a short time. In her early days, she was a good white meat type of babyface that had no direction & no storyline. Now she is the face of AEW. Barker's confidence has grown leaps & bounds.

Red Velvet has so much promise but she's so sloppy, she nearly broke her neck with that suicide dive in her match vs Allie. The cake needs to be baked a little bit more in the oven.

It was nice to see RSK make their way up to the big show and Velvet to get her first win on Dynamite. I would really like to see them get a storyline - it's pretty ridiculous how stable obsessed AEW is that it's taken this long to get a women's group.

There's a few fun looking matches for tomorrow's Elevation:
Shida (debuting a new look) vs Diamante, Jade vs the returning Rache Chanel & Kris vs Aminata

Jun 7, 2021 6:15:28 GMT @admin said:

It was nice to see RSK make their way up to the big show and Velvet to get her first win on Dynamite. I would really like to see them get a storyline - it's pretty ridiculous how stable obsessed AEW is that it's taken this long to get a women's group.

There's a few fun looking matches for tomorrow's Elevation:
Shida (debuting a new look) vs Diamante, Jade vs the returning Rache Chanel & Kris vs Aminata

There has been a women stable before you just erased from your mind like every one did.

Jade vs Rache was a fun squash Jade's strength is really impressive, she should end up being a really good base for flippy lucha moves with a little more experience.

Kris vs Aminita was a fun extended squash, Kris is also really strong turning that head-scissors into the big bang theory was pretty impressive.

Shida vs Diamante was good, and quite a bit better than their last match together but Shida's spinning knee finisher kind of sucks.

Those matches all delivered!

Jade is just phenomenal, she really has some all time type it factor. The new pop up Samoan drop looks fantastic. I like what they're doing with this Mark Sterling sports agent character, feels fresh and different which is a much better fit than a stuck in the mud stale manager like Vickie or whoever.

Kris vs Aminata was good, unfortunately until the semi-botched ending. Aminata has been impressive in all three of her matches so far, she seems like a total no brainer to sign.

Shida vs Diamante was a good back and forth match which was a lot better than their Dynamite effort last year. Shida's new look reminded me of Yuka Sakazaki - I wonder if that was intentional? They made it clear that she won't be far out of the picture, but as I said before, it's really going to come down to creating an interesting storyline for her now that she's titleless.

I think Jade music is fine as it is but if their are big plans for her I would like them to see if they could get a slightly altered version of Halestorm's "You Call Me A Bitch Like It's A Bad Thing" for her. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the last time Chanel was there but she really didn't do anything besides play with her her so I guess I can't be to upset. But that is a problem about pushing some people on tv way to early.

Don't really like Shida's new hair or newest finisher. Her new hair makes her not stand out as much.

It is nice with Britt as champion they are featuring the champion on the show. If they had either Nyla or Brittas facs it might be even better. They could have made Nyla face but then they had her doing short jokes like legit shorty.

If Leyla Hirsch were only 3-4 inches taller, she'd be a face of this company in the division. She is so skillfully coordinated and throws impressive power slams but the 4'11 stature makes her hard to take seriously, especially in the ring next to Nyla Rose. Nevertheless, Hirsch always gives a good match and that finisher from Rose made my back cringe, that elevation my goodness.

I'm so tired of seeing squash matches most of the time on Dark and Elevation, they all feel the same too not much new or creative to them at all.
Why not do Tay vs Riho, or Red Velvet vs Hikaru, or Kilyn vs Kris?

Jun 16, 2021 2:04:25 GMT dex02 said:

I'm so tired of seeing squash matches most of the time on Dark and Elevation, they all feel the same too not much new or creative to them at all.
Why not do Tay vs Riho, or Red Velvet vs Hikaru, or Kilyn vs Kris?

Every time they seem like they are making a move towards the idea that Elevation is a more serious show with competitive matches and pre-match promos, and Dark is the more relaxed one with squash matches, new jobbers, and silly commentary - the next Elevation is less interesting and back to the same old. I don't get it.

No offence to Nyla who is perfectly fine - but she really doesn't need to have a match on both Elevation and Dark in the same week.

Jun 8, 2021 0:34:51 GMT @admin said:

Shida's new look reminded me of Yuka Sakazaki - I wonder if that was intentional? 

Thought I was on to something here, Yuka will be back in AEW next month.

@admin, They gave Hyan the Alex Gracia treatment on dark tonight  .
Bleh. 

Jun 29, 2021 23:29:52 GMT dex02 said:

@admin , They gave Hyan the Alex Gracia treatment on dark tonight  .
Bleh. 

The Dark matches are getting shorter rather than longer - I didn't actually time it but the four matches tonight combined for about 10 minutes? Lame.

Jun 30, 2021 3:23:27 GMT @admin said:

Jun 29, 2021 23:29:52 GMT dex02 said:

@admin , They gave Hyan the Alex Gracia treatment on dark tonight  .
Bleh. 

The Dark matches are getting shorter rather than longer - I didn't actually time it but the four matches tonight combined for about 10 minutes? Lame.

Every time it seems like they're turning the corner with the women, like with the well received tournament earlier this year, it seems like they always revert back to their usual tendencies.


The way in which they determine which enhancement talent is actually going to be competitive seems like it needs work, and just feels random to me. 

Hyan and Holidead who are two pretty successful indy wrestlers  get basically no offense and are squashed in a very short time, while Rachelle Chanel  and Reika Tanaka get  fairly competitive matches with likes of Shida.


I also agree that it is disappointing the match lengths for dark seem to be going down, it's not like the men's matches are all short either quite a few go around 7-10 minutes pretty regularly. They also can't use the it's the network preventing us from giving the woman time excuse because it's on youtube. 

 

Vickie Guerrero is just abysmal. The division is not in a great place right now.