Cornette’s gonna have a field day with this , even the reviewer called out a lot of silliness
They not only ended the event with another incomprehensible and boring gang rumble they had another one mid-show with the Casino Battle Royale with rules nobody understands. They desperately need someone to take control and end these constant misfires. And after that the wrestling needs to get better. So many of them look like they are dancing instead of wrestling, and that’s the better action. If WWE wasn’t sucking so bad they’d be getting nowhere.
Double or Nothing didn’t have any horrid goof-ups this time. The opening match between Page and Cage was pretty slick. Cage could easily be an Ultimate Warrior clone, but he actually prefers to work. Page has always impressed me since his RoH days, and he fits the lone cowboy crusader role well. I could see either of them going against Miro for his title.
Speaking of Miro, I didn’t get what Jake the Snake was supposed to do in Miro’s match with Lance Archer. He came in with his snake bag, but it looked like it contained pipe wrap instead of a real snake. Miro no-sold it and kicked the bag and Jake out of the ring. He and Lance had some big guy clash moments, but then Lance faded to black when Miro made him pass out. Weird to see Archer job like that after he had been squashing his opponents for so long. It’s like they all the sudden decided he wasn’t worth the push.
I’m glad Britt Baker became the women’s champ. She’s got the wrestling and mic skills and a bitch goddess personality to boot. I’m guessing she’ll get some matches with Big Swole, Red Velvet, and Jade Cargill, not necessarily in that order.
Omega/PAC/OC was astounding as well. Each participant got to do their trademark moves and gestures to thrilling effect. Orange can summon super strength to break out of a hold as long as his hands go into his pockets. PAC got off several Black Arrows and Omega smacked him with all of his title belts while the referee was out. That was supremely arrogant. Omega got the win, but it didn’t come easily.
The Bucks That Are Young vs Moxley & Kingston had a picture perfect moment of Moxley looking bug-eyed at the camera as blood covered his face. The Bucks have all the double-team moves in the book and then some. I’m still not into Eddie Kingston yet. He’s good with promos and knows the moves, but he looks like a slob.
The Joker for the Casino Battle Royal turned out to be Lio Rush. At least he didn’t slip off a wet turnbuckle. Also, Mark Henry has joined AEW as an analyst for their new Friday night show. He was in WWE for all his wrestling career, so this is kind of surprising. Konnan made an appearance during Stadium Stampede, acting as the DJ when LAX and FTR fought in the nightclub and being the old vet counter to Tully Blanchard. No other debuts/returns that I can recall, but Trent?'s former Roppongi Vice teammate Rocky Romero appeared in Dark earlier this week, and was inducted into the Best Friends faction. I’m wondering if they’ll work a storyline where he and Chuck Taylor compete to be Trent?'s “best friend.”
Rhodes vs Agogo was meh. Agogo’s too green, and his only buildup was that he punched one of the Gunns in the stomach too hard. The Casino Battle Royal was kind of a mess. I think they were trying to keep it short by having new entrants come in four at a time, but it just made things more confusing. Jungle Boy got the win, and I think he and Omega should work well together. I am amazed at Darby Allin’s speed and agility, but I’m not too crazy about Sting’s return. He’s gotten older, lost his definition, and I’m afraid one day he’ll take a bump and not get up again.
Stadium Stampede had its moments, and I liked that Sammy Guevara got to show of his skills without killing himself or his opponent. He’s going to run his own fed someday.
Thanks for the recap, I actually came in here to ask if anyone saw it or how it was. I haven’t heard people freaking out about it so I figured nothing too terribly awesome happened. I guess no news is good news.
I pretty much tune out whenever Corny starts talking about AEW these days. As mentioned upthread, he has a stick up his ass about Kenny Omega working a comedy match 15 years ago, and is bound and determined to find a reason to hate anything he’s involved in or associated with.
I really liked Double or Nothing, probably the best AEW PPV from top to bottom? Though I think the high of Hangman retaining the tag titles at Revolution 2020 was probably higher?
I am absolutely floored that Braun Strowman was let go. He was basically Vince’s handpicked guy. There’s got to be more to that story, right? Of the rest, only Aleister Black I really cared about.
Wrestling isn’t big enough for Braun Strowman these days. He didn’t want to spend his days losing to Lashley or Lesnar if he ever wrestles again. Nobody else in any wrestling organization could be credible competition. He can travel the indy circuit crushing competition and working battle royales if anyone can afford to pay him.
Lana’s gone, too. I expect she’ll join AEW with her husband.
Shit. I can’t even speculate on the future of wrestling anymore. By now, WWE has released enough talent to form a new fed.
Strowman’s release means the only remaining non-guest Wyatt Family member in WWE is Bray Wyatt himself. Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan were both in there just long enough to turn on Bray.
In what’s probably a bit of a hot take, I’m not entirely upset with the releases on the whole. The WWE roster is MASSIVE and people aren’t being used at all. Granted, they should be so that we aren’t getting Drew/Bobby Lashley for the billionth time, but the roster is entirely too big to function. Other than Black and, to a point Strowman, I can honestly say I’m not going to miss a single person they’ve released over the past year or so. There are people I’m surprised are still there, like Ricochet, but I’m sure his release is upcoming. That one will make me sad. Ricochet is number 3 on my favorite wrestlers ever to watch, third only to Kofi who is second only to Rey Mysterio as my favorite of all time
Yeah, Ricochet will probably not last much longer, and they’re sorely misusing both Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin. How long did their last match on RAW even last? I didn’t watch RAW, but the written recap made it seem like a matter of seconds.
I could see Braun winding up in New Japan - they don’t really have a big gaijin hoss right now, and he’d work well as a monster heel over there.
Yeaaaah. They put the belt on Scott “Flash” Norton. They’d eat Braun Strowman up with a spoon.
That could work. He could be there a couple of years and they’ll pay to bring big guys in to get those hands.
Aleister Black wrestled for 14 years on the independent circuit, winning multiple championships, under the name Tommy End from 2002-16. No doubt he’ll revert to using that name in his post-WWE career. I think he’d be a good fit for AEW or New Japan.
Braun Strowman never wrestled prior to joining WWE, and went right from the Performance Center to at least one NXT live event, straight to the main roster. His real name is Adam Scherr. I imagine he’ll use that name or a new one if he continues his wrestling career. Honestly, I think he’s probably too big for AEW, and especially Impact or ROH.
Lana is married to AEW TNT Champion Miro, formerly known as Rusev; I’d be very surprised not to see her join him. Her real name is Catherine Joy “CJ” Perry. And no, she’s not Russian. She’s American by birth and spent a few years of her childhood and teenager-hood living in Latvia.
here’s some of corny thoughts on the aew PPV … i don’t know if they have all of it in one vid tho …
AEW Dark Taz/Excalibur moment of the day
Taz: It’s like my friend, the Super Strong Suplex Machine, yet to make his debut here on AEW Dark.
Ex: Yeah? Where’s he been?
Taz: Oh, it’s summertime. He’s on vacation. He’s got this summer house in Lake Hilliard, in Western Australia.
Ex: Oh really?
Taz: Yeah.
Ex: It’s wintertime there, weird place for a summer vacation.
Taz: …
Ex: GOT YOU TAZ!
How quickly things change - Lio Rush debuted in AEW just over a week ago at Double or Nothing, then announced yesterday that he’s retiring due to an injury he suffered in that same match. I got the opportunity to watch him wrestle in person for ROH and for DEFY before he made it to WWE, and it’s a shame that his career has been cut so short, because he was great in the ring and WWE never really used him to his full potential.
In other news, WWE has apparently decided that having twenty active championships just isn’t enough, so Cameron Grimes vs. LA Knight at Takeover on Sunday is now a ladder match for the Million Dollar Championship which Ted Dibiase is bringing out of retirement yet again. His original run with it was a cool gimmick for back when he was feuding with Hogan and couldn’t beat him legitimately, but why they’ve tried to revive it so many times over the years I’ll never understand.