AEW 2022: The year of the bloody bunny

you would just be catching the beginning of the texas death match, good timing

i don’t even know what to do with myself after all that

Best start to a Dynamite ever.

“Influencer” Jericho is a really wack idea

I’ve never really seen spoilers before but this match against Isaiah Kassidy is one of the funnest matches I’ve ever seen.

What a joy.

How does anyone not love this tv show?

Dynamite is so great.

The finish to the TDM actually made me cheer out loud in my own home.

Yeah top to bottom that was excellent. The deathmatch, the tag, the jade match, the debut match, all of it. When kassidy got tossed across the ring I hollered but there were sick spots spread throughout the show in every match and the talking segments all ruled. The crowd is still so ready for Wardlow, that’ll happen on the ppv.

On the forbidden door stuff - I am a prophet. Cannot wait for whatever comes next.

Most stacked roster in wrestling history at this stage

to see keith lee debut and immediately fight a match that played to every single one of his strengths made me overwhelmingly happy

also... gotta love how they set up a match in the opening and then had it happen later in the night. this is the most wrestling has ever felt like a normal episode of television to me, we kept returning to the same characters, picking up threads that had been dropped earlier in the hour

yeah that whole thing was so good, it felt in the 1st promo like they were setting up Wardlow to be the mystery partner on a later show (this would also have ruled, because in A-E-Dub there's always multiple cool ways that to book this shit) but Mox was such an amazing choice for a second in the context of doing the whole shebang in one night.

it worked on every level - Punk and Mox have history going back to the early months of the Shield, it was a delightful twist on Danielson offering an alliance to a hesitant Mox last week (particularly given all that talk about Punk and Danielson teaming together) and most of all because it makes so much sense that Punk goes into the back after that first face-off and asks "hey does anyone wanna come out for a punch-up with these two goons?" and Mox is just like "oh, a fight?! yes please!"

Moxley looks fucking incredible now too, so so happy for him

loooool so apparently TK had to pull out a few stops at the last minute to get Switchblade in because apparently he panicked when he used the phrase "Forbidden Door" in hyping the show and then realised that all of the hardcores were expecting a New Japan crossover as a result and he didn't want to let anyone down. doesn't suggest a long term booking plan but you can count on the Elite guys to have a good idea of where they want this to go. seriously, wrestling has never seen a promoter like this. he is simply the best

the idea that not only would you not dismiss your fanbase as a bunch of rubes to be cheated and condescended to at every opportunity but rather paying customers whose tastes should be catered to if at all possible, it's revolutionary stuff

It’s fantastic. Love Tony.

Mox was the perfect partner but I was secretly hoping for Cabana.

When I have some free time, I need to find some knife pervert highlights. NJ people fucking adore him.

AQA is All Elite! So psyched.

BESTIES REUNITED pic.twitter.com/KqGJdMoazJ

— chris kreider respecter (@jonmoxIeys) February 10, 2022

we're the ass boys
billy ass and the ass boys

cody and brandi officially left aew

Lmao at wrestling news today. Also includes bringing Austin back to squash owens at wrestlemania that isn’t selling well.

Also supposedly you can get 2 for 1 msg and WM tickets. Austin is 57! I know Sting is older but he also didn’t require 20 years ago.

Cody: WWE star is gonna be pretty dumb. Such a shame Hunter can’t have another WM match for the first throne on a pole match. And the likes of Charlotte having to take Brandi seriously? On the other hand, they desperately need something to shake it up.

The only perk I can imagine WWE could offer Cody that would bring him back is if they sign over the rights to the Rhodes name and maybe gave him a WM match. Also curious if they would bring back Brandi as Brandi or if they would go back to her being Eden Stiles.

Honestly, I'm hoping that they're taking this time off to focus on their little one. Maybe Cody can build up The Nightmare Factory more? I don't really want to see how self-congratulatory WWE will be if they actually take one of the founders of AEW. Especially the only one who had a run in WWE before.

Honestly the increasingly deranged tone of the little pocket universe Cody and Brandi were inexplicably permitted to book themselves in was getting so jarring I'm kind of relieved if he is gone

My instinct is all the people talking through all the permutations of how this is a work must get their wallets inspected a lot, but then what could be more Cody than doing a big unnecessarily elaborate worked-shoot "I'm leaving town forever" storyline then using it to come back and try and get cheered for the exact same "Cena but not even pretending to not be insane" character he's been doing for the past year without it even being a heel turn

Honestly the increasingly deranged tone of the little pocket universe Cody and Brandi were inexplicably permitted to book themselves in was getting so jarring I'm kind of relieved if he is gone

i would be a little less mean about it (cody's last promo was the good kind of unhinged pocket universe-making) but yeah

feeling genuinely sad for the wrestlers he's leaving behind tho

Yeah I have posted extensively about the bits of Cody’s acts I enjoy and why I think he really was very important in the early days but frankly if anyone is gonna jump I’m glad it’s him. They’re so stacked now that the show won’t suffer at all

Hope he soaks WWE for every penny and gets himself a title run out of it tho lol

this is very off-topic but i bought the warrior wrestling 19 ppv the other day because i really needed to see thunder rosa vs. athena, but the whole show is very good, particularly santana vs. speedball!!!! can't tell if i should start a thread for it

Start the indies thread, Brad. I tried last year and was the only person who ever posted in it.

Cody booked himself into a weird corner when he declared so early on that if he lost the title match, he would never challenge for the title again. The TNT title became so synonymous with Cody to the point where it really felt like it was made for him. I've always been a little on the fence with Cody, because you can tell that he really knows the business and how to do the character work to get the face pop or the heel heat, but sometimes I don't understand the choices he makes.

That being said, any fan interaction I've had with Cody has been super pleasant, and he's always seemed genuinely happy to meet with fans and give them a little bit of his time. I'm with you, Windsor. I hope that he gets that huge payday from WWE if he wants, and gets the Rhodes name back.

I pretty much agree with everyone.

I really don’t think it is a work but if it is, I hope it is something mental. Like pure wrestlecrap.

Also I forgot to mention how excited I was during this weeks shows (Dynamite?) that they had a teaser for old school crazy Penta. One of my favourite characters in wrestling history during that Lucha Underground run, and with Fenix out, I hope they let him run wild.

the thunder rosa/athena match was fucking incredible so i guess i'm starting the indies thread

even that last belt run that he had to relinquish, Sammy had to have an “interim” belt. It just felt like every angle he was running felt like one he could’ve gotten over in WWE if they’d believed in him.

feels like a shame if he goes there because he’ll get maybe a year or less before getting the shuffle down the card that caused him to leave.

i couldn't watch live tonight, and it's so late i'm saving the last two matches for tomorrow, but wow what an episode

revolution is gonna slap

show is much better with the neck tattoo removed. now the only person on the roster whose storylines/bookings i dread is jericho, and he's actually embroiled in a really good story rn

lambert before anyone.

Love that supposedly Tony was krusty-what-the-hell-was-that.jpg at Cody and Brandi over the past 6 months too and let them leave.

house of black gradually becoming thee stable

At least until Bryan beats Mox next weekend and they get their thing up and running. They've got to follow through on that idea. At first glance it seems a bit TEW fantasy booking but actually if they put those guys together, bring in Lee Moriarty and few other youngsters it has the potential to be the best act in years and the junior guys chosen for those spots will get over like mad

what a Dynamite that was. again. had thought I was totally uninterested in the Page / Cole title programme, Cole not really being my thing, but that smug little asshole coming out with his hands blacked up was supemo level heel work and Page hasn't missed yet in a big match so I'm shelving my prejudice and buying in for now

Punk's "will you be my Valentine?" line was the kind of fan service i love

Switchblade on Friday

stoked for the PPV, as always

sammy's title defenses are increasingly making me worry for his life

and andrade appearing at the end and taking both belts with him... this is a cool story!!! so many cool stories are happening rn

they're firing on almost all cylinders atm for sure.

if i had one criticism on that front i'd say they need to work out a hot programme for Hangman as champ (this Adam Cole, ReDragon, Dark Order thing is fine but it's not hot). a programme where he gets properly featured rather than doing a standalone segment each week. at the moment he feels like the third or fourth most important thing on the show.

his matches have all been amazing but i think they're struggling to keep him hot as a character, as is traditional with a babyface champion who's won the title after a long heated chase.

it doesn't help that Bryan Danielson is always just there, busy being the greatest wrestler who ever lived. not saying they should rush the title off of Hangman onto Danielson, especially so soon after their recent series, but Danielson is just operating at such a high a level rn that it feels incongruous that he isn't champ. he's overshadowing Hangman.

a few months ago I thought the answer was turning Mox and having him go after the title but i'm not sure you can turn that guy atm. even if he joins up with Danielson people will keep cheering him.

idk what the answer is tbh and presumably nor does Tony Khan, which is why we've got this placeholder Adam Cole thing for Revolution.

otoh they could always run Britt vs Thunder Rosa on top at Revolution in which case it doesn't matter that the world title feud isn't that special (they really ought to do this imo and i hope they do)

a bit like Mox vs Jericho, Mox vs Omega and the eventual Hangman vs Omega match in the men's division, the Britt vs Rosa PPV title match has been the obvious destination for the women's title for so long, they should go all in with it. just cause the result is predictable doesn't mean they shouldn't lean into it

yeah mox can't turn, his presence is too how do you say life-affirming while still being the most brutal motherfucker alive

he looks so good rn too ;_;

I agree! Rehab put ten years back ON to Mox's life. It's crazy to look at side by side pictures and see the difference.

I'm hoping that Thunder Rosa finally gets that title. DMD has been great as the heel top of the division, but I wouldn't mind a shake-up, and especially because I anticipate Cole also coming out of his match with the L, I would love to see the shit heel program they would run with both of them having lost.

i'd long given up on rosa's title shot (started assuming kris would take it from britt) but ever since they picked up the thread with mercedes a few weeks ago... man....

i do however enjoy that they've taken nearly a year to get to britt/rosa 2

would you believe that lights out match happened a few weeks before rosa was actually signed? :)

pic.twitter.com/Gz47zXBOCc

— Richie (@richiemalice) February 17, 2022

Looooool funny cause it’s true

Rosa’s coronation has felt as inevitable as Hangman’s was, pleased we’re finally getting there. This title run has done a great job of establishing Britt as a name but it’s done no favours for anyone else. Also the Deeb time limit challenge is obviously building towards a Rosa vs Deeb title defence (series?! Pray for it!) I would pay for multiple PPVs running that match back to back

I’m pleased they shifted the tag titles from Lucha Bros to A Boy and His Dinosaur quite quickly. Don’t like hotshotting of the world title but for the tag and midcard titles it’s good to keep mixing things up.
Not every title run needs to be 8 months long to mean something

By which I mean give Rosa her win and a short title reign then get the title onto the excellence of execution Serena Deeb quicksmart while you’ve still got her in her prime