‘Therefore there will be no further mention of Mr. Benoit tonight’.

It would have been kind of silly if they did all that set up and Cole was sitting in the chair with the mask on like "OH MY GOD WHO COULD IT BE?"

I knew it was Cole as soon as he stated being hash with Strong for no reason.

How long before someone wins both belts and declares themselves the Inter-Continental Champion?

And TK is like Vanilla Ice explaining how he didn't rip off David Bowie...

Dec 31, 2023 13:33:04 GMT RT said:

Dec 31, 2023 9:05:22 GMT NATH45 said:

Oh, and someone teach Julie Hart to hit a moonsault.

Tell me about it. Her moonsault was perfect until a few months ago and for some reason she started over-rotating and landing on her feet or knees. No idea why.

First time she did it I thought she just botched it and actually looked hurt when she landed. But she has been doing it ever since. Someone needs to work with her on that before she fucks up a knee or something. Or like just stop doing it. She has other finishers.

TK has already put his legal team to work removing the Julia Hart shitsault and Edge's bad aim from AEW Botches.

Dec 31, 2023 23:09:06 GMT NATH45 said:

How long before someone wins both belts and declares themselves the Inter-Continental Champion?

And TK is like Vanilla Ice explaining how he didn't rip off David Bowie...

What did he rip off (that you’re specifically mentioning)?

Jan 1, 2024 6:05:58 GMT KJ said:

Dec 31, 2023 23:09:06 GMT NATH45 said:

How long before someone wins both belts and declares themselves the Inter-Continental Champion?

And TK is like Vanilla Ice explaining how he didn't rip off David Bowie...

What did he rip off (that you’re specifically mentioning)?

Remember when Kurt Angle was the Euro-Continental Champion? I'm mocking the potential for someone to win both the International and Continental Titles and perhaps calling themselves The Inter-Continental Champion, given it's the name of a WWE Title.

Then, if this was to happen. I'd enjoy TK trying to explain himself and how it's not called the same thing.

Jan 1, 2024 6:11:37 GMT NATH45 said:

Jan 1, 2024 6:05:58 GMT KJ said:

What did he rip off (that you’re specifically mentioning)?

Remember when Kurt Angle was the Euro-Continental Champion? I'm mocking the potential for someone to win both the International and Continental Titles and perhaps calling themselves The Inter-Continental Champion, given it's the name of a WWE Title.

Then, if this was to happen. I'd enjoy TK trying to explain himself and how it's not called the same thing.

Well you know, it's not exclusive to one company.  New Japan has the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.  It's not like WWE can trademark that specific name.

Jan 1, 2024 6:05:58 GMT KJ said:

Dec 31, 2023 23:09:06 GMT NATH45 said:

How long before someone wins both belts and declares themselves the Inter-Continental Champion?

And TK is like Vanilla Ice explaining how he didn't rip off David Bowie...

What did he rip off (that you’re specifically mentioning)?

I thought he may have been making light of Tony making pointless references because he lacks originality.

Like the time TK bought ROH and came out with this gem.

'Shane's not here, there's no Shane, it's me!'

:suspic:

Coincidentally the product has suffered as a result and prays it can achieve half the momentum it had during that period.

I'm giving Jericho all sorts of ideas now, considering he's " the greatest Intercontinental Champion ever " and all, he can win both belts and then posture around as the " Inter.. *coughing* Continental wink-wink " Champion.

I've completed made up something that isn't likely to ever happen. I'm like a woman being made at her husband for something he did in her dream.

Dec 31, 2023 16:55:23 GMT RT said:

It would have been kind of silly if they did all that set up and Cole was sitting in the chair with the mask on like "OH MY GOD WHO COULD IT BE?"

I think a more fun set up would have been while they were both held down. The devil appeared told them to lift up Cole and instead of attacking him kissed him with half the mask up powerboats. revealing Britt. Cole is shocked doesn't act like he knew. Britt curbs stombs Max. They release him he lunges for Britt. Wardlow catches him and starts the powerbombs.

Dec 31, 2023 6:17:04 GMT NATH45 said:

Ok, where from here?

An easy criticism is, this is another stable in a long line of stables.

#weretakingover

Now, the title is on Joe. Who is fresh to the title run and is arguably at his most difficult to defeat. MJF was a near broken man by the end of his reign and complaining about how sore he was.

Could the devil's advocates not beat up MJF after retaining, injurying him more and Cole make the save? Then eventually once he's become the number one contender turn on MJF mid title match as the devil's swarm the ring for the reveal.. I don't know, but wasn't Adam Cole's intentions all along was to become World Champion?

You're completely correct, so the answer is that Cole has to care more about screwing over Max than he does wanting to be the champ.

Why he cares so much, and why he set up a months-long ruse to break MJF of all people is something he's gonna have to explain, and I'm here for it. I only know Cole from his NXT/AEW days where his character is 'coolest guy in the room' heel; I've never seen human shitstain Adam Cole so I'm looking forward to him showing off a new character.

*This was my first AEW show since Jeff Jarrett matches crossed the admittedly fine line from "fun sports entertainment" to "Wrestlecrap" a few months back. I knew none of the storylines coming in. Didn't know several of the wrestlers either. But I had nothing better to do that night as it was part of a very leisurely week.

Quickie Version

1. Opening 8 Man Tag- Decent. Effective.
2. Miro vs. Andrade- Teeny tiny bit above decent
3. "Timeless" Toni vs. Riho- Fun but flawed. Still my 2nd favorite MOTN. "Timeless" Toni is a keeper. She was show MVP for me in a landslide.
4. Swerve vs. Dustin- Misfire #1 due to the disconnect between match & crowd
5. Jericho & Sting 8 Man Tag- Awful. 1/16* just because one nutty move prevents it from being a DUD.
6. Witch vs. Girl Still In Her Halloween Costume- Outlaw Mudshow DUD 
7. Edge vs. Christian- Fun but flawed throwback to 2000s WWE gimmick matches. MOTN.

Verdict: Subpar show with matches 4-6 being a dead zone

Longie Version

Bryan/Cesaro/Garcia/M. Briscoe vs. Rush/Lethal/B. King/J. White- These guys were all losers in a tournament. Hated the vintage AEW beginning with everybody hitting moves and nobody selling anything. Business picked up with a dickish Garcia blind tag and the subsequent king sized beating he took. Ok, so it was weird to have him play face in peril after a heelish tag in, but I'm sure Coach Tony K/AEW pride themselves on being above things that worked for a 100 years. Garcia finally makes the hot tag. Then everybody hits their big move as is the norm in these things. Garcia comes back to win with an anticlimactic Owen Hart pin on Jay Lethal. Match was fine. It was all about getting Garcia over and it succeeded on that front. Postmatch saw the tattooed big guy Brody King attack commentator *sigh* Daddy Magic who is Garcia's buddy, and I can't believe I just typed "Daddy Magic."

Miro vs. Andrade was a slow burner built around the dual loyalties of Andrade's manager who is also Miro's wife. First few minutes were too slow even for me, but I did get into it by the end. Andrade looks like a mini-Barbarian. Miro has good presence and a great Superkick. Finish saw the woman on the floor CJ Perry screw Andrade by siding with her husband, who would then win with a painful looking Camel Clutch. This was perfectly fine wrestling that I'd rate just a little better than the first match.

"Timeless" Toni Storm vs. Riho- Women's Title Match- "Timeless" Toni was the star of the night and an instant new favorite of mine. She's doing an old timey Hollywood starlet gimmick. Has a black & white entrance, a butler, and the exaggerated facial expressions of a silent movie star. It's great gaga. Real 1995 WWF vibes. And that is a high compliment indeed coming from me. 

They did a big vs. little match. The Timeless One is hardly a Bertha Faye, or even a Reggie Bennett, it's just that Riho is really, really tiny. This was another refreshingly slow paced match. Show thus far has been a far cry from the endless stream of go-go-go matches I've seen in the past when trying to watch this promotion only to get burned out by the 2nd or 3rd bout. Still wasn't that great though. Riho failed to hit a bodyslam early only to botch the big follow up later. But the bigger downside was the crowd being solidly behind the heel (Storm) in what would normally be a perfectly cromulent face vs. heel match. This disconnect between crowd and booking would continue to rear its ugly head as the night progressed. It also had a false finish too many. Toni hit a sick short piledriver that should have ended it. Nope. Riho kicked out only to later succumb to some contrived move that I'm pretty sure was botched. Another highlight was Riho taking a sick bump to the floor off a butler-assisted spot from Storm. Match was flawed, but fun. 2nd best I saw on this night.

And the postmatch made it even better. Storm's lackey came out to spread rose petals in the ring and then Storm swam in them. Amazing. I legit LOLed. Toni Storm deserves a minimum one hour of tv time each and every week. 

Swerve Strickland vs. Dustin Rhodes was a solid heel vs. face match in front of a crowd that didn't want to play along. Second one in a row. Concerning. Whether you want to blame the crowd, the booking, or the wrestlers is up to you. Swerve (who is much bigger than I imagined- assumed he'd be a cruiserweight) injured Dustin's leg with a pre-match cinderblock attack. Dustin gamely gutted his way through. He had one of his patented babyface comebacks to....nothing. Swerve is apparently the hot new thing according to the 5 minutes of research I did yesterday. Swerve got the win with *sigh* a top rope Sullivan Stomp. That move has been played out for me since like 2006. Crowd chanted a bunch of stuff I couldn't make out (fwiw I thought they were chanting "Y2J" for Jericho when it turned out to be "NDA" lol). Highlight here was a PRINCE NANA sighting. Always nice to see my old ECWA parking lot pal. He's Swerve's manager.

Sting/Jericho/Darby/Sammy vs. Starks/Big Bill/Hobbs/Takeshita was a total trainwreck. Only thing preventing this from being a total DUD was this nutso top rope tailbone breaking move from the Japanese guy Konosuke Takeshita. Crowd liked Sting, and maybe Darby, but booed the Callis guys and Jericho, who is embroiled in some sort of maybe/maybe not scandal I can't pretend to care about. On top of a crowd ranging from indifferent to hostile, the wrestling also sucked. The 50something Jericho & 60something Sting wrestled their ages. Botches. Awkward standing around. Just an all around stinker. Team Jericho won with a Guevara Shooting Star Press that got no reaction whatsoever. Yikes. Oh, there was a wrestler on the Callis team named Big Bill. And this guy with the jobber ass name is actually tag champs with Ricky Starks. Big Bill. Really? Come on, man. At least try. More thought was put into the names of one off WCW jobbers. I hated this match. 

Julia Hart vs. Abaddon- For the Other Women's Title- We are now deep into the Outlaw Mudshow portion of the program. This was witch vs. girl still wearing her Halloween costume contested under weird rules for AEW Championship #19 while the officially awful crowd chanted "This Is Spooky." So basically wrestling hell. Can't get over Abaddon. Think one of those wacky Memphis Halloween gimmicks, only inexplicably still going a few days before New Year's. Her major contribution here was making goofy noises. Some other girl interfered to help Julia, who then won with a botched moonsault. Awful. Only nice thing I can say is, between this "Halloween Havoc 2 months late" encounter, and "Timeless" Toni, AEW's women's division is basically the original incarnation of WOW. That I can dig.

*So we're at 3 misfires and 2 epic fails in a row. I'm officially hating this show and ready to tap when a timely Edge vs. Christian graphic appeared on screen. I don't even care that they're both 50 years old. 90% of the wrestlers I do still care about are 50+. So I figured I'd stick around for one more match...

Edge vs. Christian- For Some Other Title- This was a 2000s WWE weapons/TLC match done by two masters/innovators of the style. They introduced chairs, ladders, and tables in that order. There was some crowd brawling. One of them got a nasty cut around their eye. Edge was wearing the pants he wore against Foley at WM 22 (commentary was good/fun throughout with Nigel & Taz being the standouts) for foreshadowing. Naturally, given the way this show had gone, they botch the big flaming table spot. Edge was supposed to powerbomb Christian's lackey (who may be his son in kayfabe?) through it. Only the flames went out and the poor kid had to stand on the apron for like a minute while Edge figured out what was going on. D'oh! Then Edge overshot the powerbomb. Kid barely touched the flames, which I guess is good for him, but he did take a rude landing on the floor. Then Edge won with Christian's finisher in a nice bit that is also reminiscent of 2000s WWE.

But we're not done yet! Because Christian's latest Tomko jumps Edge. He has the AEW version of Money In The Bank and is fixing to cash in. Only to have that dastardly Christian whisper something in his ear which convinced the big guy to give the contract to Christian. Christian then pins Edge to regain the title he lost minutes earlier. What a heel! This was MOTN. Flawed, but fun, and I dug all the 2000s WWE references. 

*Then I did other stuff for an hour before bed. Weird to have an AEW pay per view with no Young Bucks, Omega, and Hangman Page.

As a guy who loves dark characters, Abaddon stinks. They sound forced & phony.

Jan 2, 2024 19:46:34 GMT Ed said:

As a guy who loves dark characters, Abaddon stinks. They sound forced & phony.

It's gimmicks like this that I pray aren't on TV when I'm trying to convince someone that wrestling isn't stupid.