KONNAN!!!

These are some of the funniest shits ever, can't wait for Cornette seeing MJF & FTR in this.

Turning out far better than I assumed this would.

Nothing like showcasing a 1-15 debacle of a team's history. Shad Khan worship now :laughy:

OUCH!!!

Think we all knew Spears was going to be the fall guy, big dub by Guevara though. Hilarious match for me.

Holy shit!! Yeah Sammy!!

Where do Pinnacle go from here honestly, can't see how you even run this back.

That was so much fun.

Great show overall. Could've done without the Cody ego trip. But other than that, I enjoyed it very much.

May 31, 2021 3:58:06 GMT Blindy said:

Where do Pinnacle go from here honestly, can't see how you even run this back.

They regroup and feud with one of the other dozen stables they have. It'll be fine. NJPW does it all the time. Or used to.

Kick Spears out. Replace him with Andrade.

Definitely more good than bad with #AEWDoN. My issue with their PPVs pretty consistently is they will build to a beautiful finish, make it a falsey, and end the match five minutes later with something less impressive.

The issue with Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker is that the match didn't tell an effective story.

Sometimes in the case of Eddie/Dean it can be two evenly match professionals just playing a game of human chess but the match was far too much of a struggle to get there. My best guess with the spots that they arranged is that they wanted to tell this story that Shida survived everything and the kitchen sink but Britt still found a way to win. However for that type of match to work you really need the finish to end on a high note. Having Britt kick out of a Tamashii and catch Shida out with a Lockjaw was just a real anti-climax especially since Shida had the belt for so long.

I know I've played up being a Shida Simp but honestly she was really off her game. Some of her strikes were awful, it was like that Dark Order nobody and Dustin Rhodes levels of sloppiness. Her stretch muffler was awful as well, no torque or anything. If I didn't know any better I'd say she was sandbagging Britt who just isn't that great an athlete.

With that said, Britt winning the belt is long overdue. She's right up there with Darby as one of the best things on the show and she has charisma which trumps the in-ring acrobatics all day everyday. Case in point, they completely messed up the timing of that ring out, ring in, knee you on the apron and Britt saved it with that taunt.

I've yet to watch the show in full but based on results it's been ages since AEW has had a blow away PPV. Maybe WrestleKingdom and some of the TakeOvers have spoiled me but it feels at least since Revolution 2020 that we've had a complete blow away show.

Out of everything that happened, the most noteworthy match was the Battle Royal. Really happy to see Lio Rush in the fold, he's one of the best in the business and Jungle Boy winning was a great result.

Very good show from AEW. I enjoyed every match on the card.

Serena Deeb vs Riho was great. I love Deeb's heel edge, she's so natural at it that it becomes hard to believe that she was just as good as a respectful babyface. Riho is great against the right opponent and Deeb is the perfect match for her.

Hangman Page vs Brian Cage served its purpose as the opener. Short and sweet, a good hoss fight. Didn't really like the shenanigans at the end but it protects Brian Cage and advances the Team Taz implosion which has been simmering for far too long.

Young Bucks vs Moxley and Kingston - surprise of the night. I poo poo'd Moxley's new entrance music when he debuted it on Dynamite but it works tremendously in front of a live crowd.

I had pretty low expectations of the match but they delivered. Good brawling at the start, a bunch of great heat segments and lots of great near falls in the closing stretch. Didn't feel like Bucks won because they are invincible which is how their matches normally go, they were just that little bit more resourceful and cooperative. The officiating was pretty bad though.

Cody Rhodes vs Anthony Ogogo - another pleasant surprise. Ogogo is extremely impressive for someone so green. They got the gut punch out of the way early, and I thought Cody treated it with the respect it deserved. He sold it throughout the match. The move needed to be nerfed anyway. Also liked the psychology with Cody wrestling against the arms and hands of the boxer.

I know it's cool to hate Cody now, and I get it, but the established top card talent going over the rookie is the obvious and likely correct result. Ogogo came out looking fantastic, he has a very bright future.

Miro vs Lance Archer. A little bit disappointing. Exactly the strong style hossfest I'd expect but Miro in particular didn't respect Archer's offense much. He just kept popping up after taking a ton of moves, acting like nothing happened. Finish was kinda hard to believe considering he couldn't even lock in the Game Over properly because Archer ia too big.

I feel bad for Archer, he's the biggest flounderer in the company. He's an even bigger flounderer than Hangman Page. At least Hangman Page was a tag champion and reached the finals of the tournament. Archer has done fuck all since joining the company.

Britt Baker vs Hikaru Shida - I'm not as down on this match as everyone else is. Yes, it was sloppy, as every Hikaru Shida match is, but I guess I'm used to it now. It didn't offend me as much as it normally does. A lot of the miscommunication made it feel like a real scrappy fight as opposed to them blowing a bunch of choreographed sequences, so I was on board.

They both kicked out of a shit ton of moves but again it made sense: Shida has been booked as practically unbeatable while Baker is the hottest thing going and proved her toughness in that Unsanctioned match with Thunder Rosa. There were some fantastic near falls and loved the finish. Shida goes out on a high.

Sting and Darby Allin vs Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page - this was fine. It's clear Sting is pretty limited but they worked around his limitations well and structured a good match. Good cool down match before the two main events. Not sure I agree with Sting pinning Scorpio Sky but this match feels fairly inconsequential so not a big deal.

Kenny Omega vs PAC vs Orange Cassidy was match of the night. Thought the first few minutes were a bit cold but once the wrestlers got a rhythm going the action was nonstop and dramatic. It was paced very well, never got a dull moment, all three wrestlers got a significant amount of time to shine. Some incredible near falls; I genuinely thought Kenny might be losing the belts at some point. Orange Cassidy is super over and he really knew how to milk his moments.

I rolled my eyes at the first interference where Don Callis pulled the ref, but then they went All In with Omega attacking the ref and I found myself enjoying his dickishness. Using all four of his belts to wallop Pac was hilarious. Fantastic heel spot. All leading to a final excellent false finish and Kenny sneaking the win.

Stadium Stampede - like the previous Stampede match a mixture of really fun brawling and some duller moments. Jericho vs MJF was my favourite fight. FTR vs Tito and Ortiz was kinda lame, and they ripped off the Hager vs Hangman angle from the previous Stampede. It was fine. Ends the show on a high note at least.

Double Or Nothing had potential, but a lot of bad booking and terrible finishes really killed this one for me. Page-Cage was the match of the night for me and a great curtain jerker. The tag title match started as your typical Moxley match and turned into your typical Bucks match. If you're a fan of those styles, you were probably happy with this match and the crowd was hot at this point. The Casino Battle Royal was a crowd killer. You wouldn't know half these guys unless you watch Dark, Lio Rush was the big surprise entrant and he got quickly eliminated, the pacing and eliminations were weak, Max Castor botched his rap, and Jungle Boy inexplicably wins, likely leading to another throwaway title match on Dynamite. Cody and Ogogo had a mediocre match with a random finish followed by Cody desperately trying to get a dead crowd to cheer for him. The TNT title match was meh and relied on the overused quick pass out in a submission hold finish. Britt Baker, as a heel, kicked out of everything short of a .45 slug in a sloppy women's title match complete with quick tapout by a dominant face champion. Sting and Allin put on a tag match that was as good as could be expected, but having Sting pin Scorpio Sky really doesn't help anybody. The triple threat started good, then jumped the shark and drug too long with a billion false finishes, Cassidy being made to look way too strong, then losing to a crucifix pin after hitting his finish for 5th or 6th time. Stadium Stampede sucked. The action wasn't good, the few comedy bits weren't funny, and Inner Circle gets their win back in classic 50/50 booking fashion by completely burying the young up and coming faction.

Emperor nailed it for the Baker vs Shida match as to why I liked it, yeah the middle wasn't fully crisp per say but that's not always terrible, it just means all that fancy smancy stuff was thrown away and this became more so a battle of the two more than anything else. Gone were some plans when Shida noticed Baker got dinged up on that hard throw into the barricades outside, and sure there was some improvisation and more Rebel to help Baker catch some breath. They had Shida try so hard time after time to get the hell away from the Lockjaw submission until it was hit. I think Shida maybe tapped a little bit too early given she has outlasted that move in the past but I also know there's time restrains here and there. Plus it'd be nitpicking because I enjoyed the match. For Baker to just shrug off a possible concussion or head zinger at worst shows me she has so much pain tolerance and she's probably like "My moment, I have taken worse this past year. Worry about it in the morning."

May 31, 2021 0:59:25 GMT @admin said:

May 31, 2021 0:39:15 GMT Blindy said:

I am going to laugh so hard if they make Knox a heel ref and he costs Kingston & Moxley the win. Knox becomes the personal ref for all Young Bucks title defenses.

They really must address this in the storyline, or just start calling them Tornado Tag matches, because the rule breaking is just absurd at this point. The Bucks don't even bother to tag at this point, they just wrestle glorified handicap matches.

I think it may have been acknowledged today that Knox is in the back pockets of The Young Bucks as they gave Knox a payoff for his performance. Not sure if this was the plan all along or Knox was just so bad they had to make him a stooge. They should have given Mox & Kingston the out of losing because of a corrupted ref on the show rather than do a side off on Being The Elite.



10:30

So seems like Cody dropped the Snoop remix in his entrance. I am just going to take that as a win.

IIRC losing streak's have continued in the 90's because of this. Goldust/Dustin Rhodes hit the wrestler facing someone who was on a losing streak and it was an auto DQ. Not sure what Aubrey & Nyla are talking about and it looks equally bad for Aubrey given she said a few months ago that back slaps are legal tags. She's the head ref of AEW for goodness sake. 

Jun 1, 2021 0:19:43 GMT Blindy said:

IIRC losing streak's have continued in the 90's because of this. Goldust/Dustin Rhodes hit the wrestler facing someone who was on a losing streak and it was an auto DQ. Not sure what Aubrey & Nyla are talking about and it looks equally bad for Aubrey given she said a few months ago that back slaps are legal tags. She's the head ref of AEW for goodness sake. 

Ref job is the enforce the rules. AEW rules are what ever the ref feels they should be. So they are right in a way.

May 31, 2021 22:13:35 GMT Blindy said:

Emperor nailed it for the Baker vs Shida match as to why I liked it, yeah the middle wasn't fully crisp per say but that's not always terrible, it just means all that fancy smancy stuff was thrown away and this became more so a battle of the two more than anything else. Gone were some plans when Shida noticed Baker got dinged up on that hard throw into the barricades outside, and sure there was some improvisation and more Rebel to help Baker catch some breath. They had Shida try so hard time after time to get the hell away from the Lockjaw submission until it was hit. I think Shida maybe tapped a little bit too early given she has outlasted that move in the past but I also know there's time restrains here and there. Plus it'd be nitpicking because I enjoyed the match. For Baker to just shrug off a possible concussion or head zinger at worst shows me she has so much pain tolerance and she's probably like "My moment, I have taken worse this past year. Worry about it in the morning."

What's the appeal then? That it was sloppy? It wasn't like they improvised and came up with something more organic, they tried to work their match and were blowing spots left right and centre.

Maybe if I watched it in the context of the show I wouldn't be as critical but just watching it on it's own they missed the mark considerably.

Strange that I had this criticism for most other recent Shida title defenses and nobody seemed to care.

Now it's the other way round. The sloppiness didn't bother me but it bothers everyone else :lol: It just came across to me like a scrappy war, and some of the missed spots helped emphasise the wrestler's fatigue and struggle, even if that was not the intention.

Jun 1, 2021 7:08:06 GMT Emperor said:

Strange that I had this criticism for most other recent Shida title defenses and nobody seemed to care.

Now it's the other way round. The sloppiness didn't bother me but it bothers everyone else It just came across to me like a scrappy war, and some of the missed spots helped emphasise the wrestler's fatigue and struggle, even if that was not the intention.

I always care.

I also remember you were a lot higher on her last PPV match as well. With Shida, I simped for her because she had one of the toughest jobs in Pro Wrestling and was doing it away from all her friends and family. On top of that she was trying to get better at English and just make the most of things. I could forgive a lot because she really was the best AEW had to offer. However months have gone by and she hasn't improved at all and what was the biggest moment on the PPV just didn't connect with me at all.

Granted I'm thinking outloud and just bouncing these thoughts off just trying to see if others can help me out here.

Jun 1, 2021 4:23:10 GMT Big Pete said:

May 31, 2021 22:13:35 GMT Blindy said:

Emperor nailed it for the Baker vs Shida match as to why I liked it, yeah the middle wasn't fully crisp per say but that's not always terrible, it just means all that fancy smancy stuff was thrown away and this became more so a battle of the two more than anything else. Gone were some plans when Shida noticed Baker got dinged up on that hard throw into the barricades outside, and sure there was some improvisation and more Rebel to help Baker catch some breath. They had Shida try so hard time after time to get the hell away from the Lockjaw submission until it was hit. I think Shida maybe tapped a little bit too early given she has outlasted that move in the past but I also know there's time restrains here and there. Plus it'd be nitpicking because I enjoyed the match. For Baker to just shrug off a possible concussion or head zinger at worst shows me she has so much pain tolerance and she's probably like "My moment, I have taken worse this past year. Worry about it in the morning."

What's the appeal then? That it was sloppy? It wasn't like they improvised and came up with something more organic, they tried to work their match and were blowing spots left right and centre.

Maybe if I watched it in the context of the show I wouldn't be as critical but just watching it on it's own they missed the mark considerably.

That this isn't a fully coordinated and choreographed A to Z match that was rehearsed 95% of the way through and that the end of the match played up to the audience and both the beginning & end were good. The prior two matches killed the flow of the audience but the end brought them back. I am taking into consideration one of them being halfway hurt and also the fact that I would rather see a struggle(in some sense) over a choreographed match always where I know the guys or gals are working together spot by spot. This is what the Lucha Bros do. The middle was messy but I think they brought the match back to life with the near falls and the amount of struggle Shida was showing to avoid fate in Baker's finishing submission.  

Jun 1, 2021 7:31:57 GMT Big Pete said:

Jun 1, 2021 7:08:06 GMT Emperor said:

Strange that I had this criticism for most other recent Shida title defenses and nobody seemed to care.

Now it's the other way round. The sloppiness didn't bother me but it bothers everyone else It just came across to me like a scrappy war, and some of the missed spots helped emphasise the wrestler's fatigue and struggle, even if that was not the intention.

I always care.

I also remember you were a lot higher on her last PPV match as well.

Fair point. Same reason as this one - I thought the sloppiness gave Shida vs Mizunami a scrappy, unsophisticated feel which fit the story of their rivalry.

I thought it was because you were a sucker for mimes, so when Mizunami started hot dogging you threw every star you could at it.

I enjoyed the show around the horn. I gotta say, I'm sick of The Young Bucks. Unlike Kenny & to a lesser extent Cody, I have never been emotionally invested in them. I know people say Omega's facial expressions are goofy, that's true. However, I believe he's more convincing. Matt & Nick are great wrestlers but, they come across forced most of the time.