Sorry it's late.  I was babysitting.

Taz calling for a replay, and no-selling the production team refusing to indulge him.

"Let's take another look at Cole dropping Cassidy's neck over his knee."

"...or maybe we'll do it later, that's fine too"

KOR!!!

This is so stupid, KOR and Cole had a blood feud like 2 months ago.

What are the fans chanting? 

Dec 23, 2021 1:22:28 GMT Blindy said:

This is so stupid, KOR and Cole had a blood feud like 2 months ago.

What are the fans chanting? 

"Undisputed," probably.

(They were chanting that a few minutes ago)

Dec 23, 2021 1:25:00 GMT Michinokudriver said:

Dec 23, 2021 1:22:28 GMT Blindy said:

This is so stupid, KOR and Cole had a blood feud like 2 months ago.

What are the fans chanting? 

"Undisputed," probably.

(They were chanting that a few minutes ago)

That isn't AEW though, that's "Developmental". How do these fans even know what that is :lol: 

Dec 23, 2021 1:25:42 GMT Blindy said:

Dec 23, 2021 1:25:00 GMT Michinokudriver said:

"Undisputed," probably.

(They were chanting that a few minutes ago)

That isn't AEW though, that's "Developmental". How do these fans even know what that is  

dammit you're right

also aew with the cheap pop for FROM (not even from) THIS STATE  (but nearby) HANGMAN ADAM PAGE

i <3 that danielson is close to a millenial himself (so am I; we're almost the same age and could be called x-ennials or the oregon trail generation but dude we're both millenials) and is calling him an entitled millenial

Judges, eh? Are we gonna go 45 this time?

also i just realized tony schiovane is wearing a jacksonvlle jaguars ugly christmas sweater. WAY TO NOT SUCK UP TO THE BOSS THERE

Ooh, going with the B+ angle again.

@ dan lambert:

of course considering when to shut off the lights is important. unneeded light runs up the electric bill, which means unnneeded resources are utilized to illuminate a room for no reason.

did you think about that, dan?

of course you didn't.

you only think about yourself.

tony schiovane tried to put his own mistletoe over britt baker, then jamie knocked it away

i take back every unkind thing i said about ms. hayter

she is a total broette, looking out for her girl being perved on by sixty-something year olds

This is def. one of those old man out of touch type posts, but I never understood that 'face has heel in submission hold, manager hops on ring post to distract the ref' type spots.

Like sure, if it's a faction then the heel faction will interfere. But if not, then the face could be justified in 'yeah, I'mma hold this hold and wreck your wrestler as long as it takes, if her neck gets broken from time-in-hold it's YOUR fault'

Garrison didn't actually tap out, did he?

S C R E W J O B

Dec 23, 2021 2:22:35 GMT Michinokudriver said:

Garrison didn't actually tap out, did he?

S C R E W J O B

Maybe he was tapping into the air.

Did Tony see the future because he called CM Punk face paint before he saw him?

This has been such a fun episode.

Dec 23, 2021 2:22:35 GMT Michinokudriver said:

Garrison didn't actually tap out, did he?

S C R E W J O B

GRIFF SCREWED GRIFF

Nice little adjustment by Punk to avoid the botch.

EDIT:

Adam Cole def. Orange Cassidy. Cole held the advantage but couldn't put Cassidy away and they showcased a lot of OC's 'possum' offence. During the match, the SuperKliq tried to interfere but they were headed off by The Best Friends before OC hit a tope to send them to the back. Cole appeared to have the match won when he hit the Panama Sunrise but the lackadaisical cover where he mocked the pockets taunt backfired. OC had Cole set up for the Orange Punch, but Cole rolled out, Bobby Fish distracted the referee allowing a debuting Kyle O'Reilly to hit a flurry of strikes. Cole rolled back into the ring hit the boom (running knee strike to a seated opponent) for the win. After the match, Cole celebrated with Fish & O'Reilly instead of the Bucks. Cole appeared to be conflicted while the Bucks appeared to be disappointed.

Danielson/Page II was announced for the TBS premiere on January 5th. Tony Schiavone invited Hangman Page to ringside to conduct an interview. Schiavone told Page that had the match lasted two more minutes, Schiavone believed Page would have won. Page admitted that despite walking out with the title he never felt so disappointed in his career. Danielson cut Page off and mocked Page for being a millennial. He explained he would have won and he was the better man but the reason he didn't do it sooner is that he carried an injury after belting all the Dark Order guys so he isn't going to wrestle another match before their rematch. Danielson suggested their rematch should have guest judges and Page responded with sure but at the end of the day it isn't going to matter because Page is going to prove to everyone in the world that he's better than Danielson.

Backstage, The Pinnacle cut a promo on CM Punk, Darby Allin and Sting. MJF also shared his growing animosity with Wardlow after Wardlow failed to protect him again.

Wardlow def. Shawn Dean. Wardlow hit four consecutive power-bombs to win the match easily. After the match Shawn Spears attacked Dean with the chair as Wardlow looked on disappointed.

Dan Lambert interrupted the program to cut a promo on Cody Rhodes. During the promo Lambert revealed Tony Khan had sent him out to get sympathy for Cody which is impossible because Cody is a bigger dick than he is. Lambert was upset that Cody receives opportunity after opportunity and after Saturday's Rampage Special, America's Top Team is going to challenge the champion on a later show.

Dr. Britt Baker's Christmas Party was basically just an excuse for Britt to cut a promo on Riho.

They aired a package where members of the AEW locker room and staff put over Owen Hart and the upcoming tournament. It was a really nice package that included footage from NJPW and from the family.

TBS Semi-Final: Ruby Soho def. Nyla Rose. Nyla dominated the majority of the match and appeared to have the match won with the Flying Knee Drop but Ruby survived. Nyla went for a gut-wrench powerbomb but Ruby reversed it into a Dragon Sleeper. Nyla tapped, but Vickie had the referee distracted. Ruby hit a No Future on Vickie but ate a Beast Bomb from Nyla only to survive that. Nyla attempted a Beast Bomb from the top, but Ruby escaped and hit a No Future to win.

In a prepackaged promo, Serena expressed her disgust with Hikaru Shida's roll-up victory from last week and promised their feud will continue.

Malakai Black def. Griff Garrison. Black worked over the leg of Griff who tried on numerous occasions to fire up on Black but was thwarted each time. In the end Black won with the Single Leg Boston Crab and hit a Black Mass on Brian Pillman Jr for good measure.

Matt Hardy and Private Party cut a promo for the upcoming Kassidy/Jungle Boy match. They promised they would injure Jungle Boy and 'delete' their number one contendership status.

Christian, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus responded. They cut a witty promo where Jungle Boy promised to kick Kassidy's ass and Christian promised them it doesn't matter how many watches they wear it will never be their time. Christian then plugged his new shirt.

New Year's Smash: Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia & 2.0, Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor vs. Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish, TBS Semi: Jade Cargill vs. Thunder Rosa & JR returns to commentary.

CM Punk & Sting & Darby Allin def. MJF & FTR. Sting wore a CM Punk style face paint, while Punk also had face paint, did the Sting woo during his entrance and wore gear like Sting. The story early on is that everytime Punk and MJF found each other facing off, MJF would run-away and tag out. The match turned when Wheeler hit a variation of the stun-gun on Darby which saw Allin crash on the apron in a violent bump. Darby eventually got the hot tag away, Sting ran riot as the Pinnacle bumped. The match then settled down as MJF 'disappeared' forcing FTR to work as a unit. FTR hit the Goodnight Express on Punk, but Sting broke up the pin. MJF then resurfaced and hit a DDT on Sting but Sting did the big no-sell spot. MJF then took one of the scariest bumps in AEW where he got tossed over the top onto FTR but he ended up hitting the ground head first. Sting then went up top and hit a flying cross body to the Pinnacle. The finish saw Punk set MJF up for the GTS, but Harwood knocked MJF out of the way. He ended up eating a GTS, Scorpion Death Drop and Coffin Drop allowing the faces to win. Punk, Sting and Darby celebrated to end the show.

Bucks gonna offer Adam Cole an energy drink again.

My biggest take-away is that their not waiting around and we'll get Hangman Page vs. Daniel Bryan in a couple of weeks and that will give us some direction heading into Revolution 2022. I thought the follow up was pretty strong and I'm really curious to see how they manage to top a 60 minute match. That's probably the one down-side of last week's match. To put in all that work all to build to a rematch, if they can't top it, it kind of becomes a fizzer.

I don't have an issue with KOR teaming with Cole. I agree they could have acknowledged their history and teased a spot where KOR had an opportunity to attack Cole but chose to attack OC instead but ultimately an Undisputed Era vs. The Elite feud is more appetising than KOR continuing his feud over from NXT. I've seen enough KOR/Cole matches to last a lifetime, stop it.

I wonder how much time left Orange Cassidy has? He was one of the break-out stars of AEW, but he's kind of just been floating around the mid-card since Double Or Nothing and his shtick is growing stale. It highlights one of the differences on the indies where it has a larger shelf life and you can experiment more with it, on TV gimmicks like this really age poorly. Right now fans still seem to be into it, they bit hard into the Panama Sunrise near-fall but I hope he has a few more tricks up his sleeve.

Wasn't really a fan of them wanting to do a comedy, epic and big reveal match all in one. Kind of felt like Cole's win got buried and they really didn't give OC much room, especially if him and the Best Friends are putting over the Undisputed Era next week.

The main event isn't something you can do every week, but just as far as showcasing Sting and the FTR doing their thing I thought it was an enjoyable way to end the show. There was something timeless about the way they worked that match and as a way to kick off Christmas celebrations I thought it was enjoyable enough. Not something you have to go out of your way to watch, but if you're a Sting fan or you enjoy FTR it earned it's relatively long run-time.

They really don't do anything to protect Nyla do they? Gives Ruby Soho her best moves, but still can't put her away and she ends up choking pretty hard. Even the near-fall meant less because they delivered one in the opening match that fans bit on. The win kind of felt unearned from Ruby, she just went into John Cena mode. Is she the Cody of the women's division?

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Speaking of Cody.

Ahahaha.

It's Rampage baby, have a Merry Christmas.

Haven't done one of these full show rundowns before. But I have a day off work, so why not?

- Loved Adam Cole vs Orange Cassidy. These two have fantastic chemistry. Cole is able to work really well with Orange's gimmick, coming up with creative twists. Some phenomenal spots here. Would have made my MOTY list if not for the finish.

- I've always felt Kyle O'Reilly is wasted with Bobby Fish. He is twice the wrestler Fish is, Redragon aren't that great, O'Reilly is much better in singles. But I'm not surprised they reunited. It's interesting they are keeping some tension between O'Reilly and Cole.

- Nice segment with Hangman Page and Danielson. Glad that Page acknowledged that Danielson's suggestion of judges was pretty poor compared to some of the option he had thought of. Although I'm not sure if he accepted the judges or not? I think he did, and I don't like it. It's an crutch to have bullshit controversy. But maybe AEW will do something clever with it. And if it leads to a third Danielson vs Page match, well, worse things have happened.

- Great promo by MJF and one half of FTR.

- Gotta say I love Wardlow's powerbomb gimmick. But it would have been more interesting if the jobber had at least escaped the first attempt, only to be shut down and then powerbombed. Minor nitpick.

- Dan Lambert's promo was pretty generic. Which is still very good for Lambert's standards, but I must point out that I loved his dig at Cody.

Part 2 later.

- Loved Adam Cole vs Orange Cassidy. These two have fantastic chemistry. Cole is able to work really well with Orange's gimmick, coming up with creative twists. Some phenomenal spots here. Would have made my MOTY list if not for the finish.

- I've always felt Kyle O'Reilly is wasted with Bobby Fish. He is twice the wrestler Fish is, Redragon aren't that great, O'Reilly is much better in singles. But I'm not surprised they reunited. It's interesting they are keeping some tension between O'Reilly and Cole.

I don't remember any twists in the OC match, what stood out to you?

I actually missed the spot where Cole got in KOR's face for half a second. With the way they laid that spot out, I'm not surprised, we knew who side KOR was on at that point and it seemed to be resolved extremely quickly with the focus then being placed on the Bucks.

I agree that O'Reilly is better without Fish, but with the lay of the land he's more valuable in the tag team division where he can work the Bucks, Jungle Boy/Luchasarus, Lucha Bros. etc. Then you can move him into the TNT Championship when he's established himself on the roster. Still, he's a great tag team performer, his last match at WarGames is a testament to that.

Black should still be undefeated. Love the way the ref bailed out of the ring as Pillman was going down.

- I don't like neither Nyla Rose nor Ruby Soho, but for me Rose is the lesser of two evils. Soho kicking out of Rose's Beast Bomb (has anyone done that before?) then winning straight afterwards with her terrible finish (it was off the second rope but still terrible) was not great. However, I quite enjoyed the match itself. I struggle to buy into Nyla Rose matches because she doesn't take offense well, but Soho laid together an interesting match and surprisingly I bought a lot of her offense.

- I enjoy watching Malakai Black beating people up. Loved him teasing Black Mask then going into a Half Crab. Didn't love the ref just calling the match right away.

- I hate to be lowbrow, but anyone else pick up on Jungle Boy and dude from Private Party talking about pounding each other's asses and feeling a little uncomfortable? Come on guys, choose a better phrase.

- Speaking of Private Party, are they the biggest misses in AEW? I remember they were pretty hot in the early months of AEW, beating the Young Bucks in a memorable upset. Since then, nothing. What are AEW's other big misses? Butcher and Blade. Brian Cage. Ricky Starks. Will Hobbs. Anyone noticing a pattern here? Associate yourself with has-been ex-WWE guys and your career goes down the dumps.

- Sorry CM Punk, that face paint isn't working for me. I know being a babyface in AEW means you have to worship Sting like a god, but...nah.

- Main event was perfectly fine. Nice to see Sting actually take some offense for once. It's interesting that he can no-sell DDTs and Powerbombs but a simple club to the back kills him. Also Darby Allin barely did anything. Just observations. It was a good match. Send the crowd home happy.

Dec 23, 2021 12:46:01 GMT Big Pete said:

The win kind of felt unearned from Ruby, she just went into John Cena mode. Is she the Cody of the women's division?

Agreed. Shoddy finish to an otherwise good match. If Ruby had a better surprise strike finisher, maybe it wouldn't bother me so much.

Dec 23, 2021 13:13:11 GMT Big Pete said:

I don't remember any twists in the OC match, what stood out to you?

By twists I meant twists on the OC gimmick. For example they did a spot where OC put Cole's hands in OC's pockets, then there was the strike exchange with OC doing his lazy forearms and lazy kicks. There were a couple of others I don't remember exactly but I recall enjoying them at the time. If OC wrestles people who know his shtick and can add some creativity to his spots, then he has a long shelf life.

Dec 23, 2021 16:23:42 GMT Emperor said:

Dec 23, 2021 12:46:01 GMT Big Pete said:

The win kind of felt unearned from Ruby, she just went into John Cena mode. Is she the Cody of the women's division?

Agreed. Shoddy finish to an otherwise good match. If Ruby had a better surprise strike finisher, maybe it wouldn't bother me so much.

Dec 23, 2021 13:13:11 GMT Big Pete said:

I don't remember any twists in the OC match, what stood out to you?

By twists I meant twists on the OC gimmick. For example they did a spot where OC put Cole's hands in OC's pockets, then there was the strike exchange with OC doing his lazy forearms and lazy kicks. There were a couple of others I don't remember exactly but I recall enjoying them at the time. If OC wrestles people who know his shtick and can add some creativity to his spots, then he has a long shelf life.

I remember the lazy forearms exchange and it cut all the tension of the spot for me. He ordinarily does it to start the match and I don't mind it but in the heat of the match I thought he looked like an idiot. There was also the spot where he slowly crawled away from the Panama Sunrise while Cole watched on that again cut the tension of the match. The pockets spot was his response to the Baybay taunt right? Or did something happen in picture in picture?

Different strokes for different folks I guess.