NotJayTabb

This weeks show was down 100k viewers, which seems odd given the near universal approval that met last weeks show. Was there some big must-see TV on in America on Wednesday, or are AEW always going to have a fluctuating viewership for the time being?

I assume you're referring to Travis Banks? If so, that's actually a fern, which is the national symbol of New Zealand.

I do wonder how much better NXT UK would be if ICW's hot spell hadn't convinced Triple H that building the title scene extensively around Scottish wrestlers was a good idea, and instead had concentrated on the Welsh scene instead. I've definitely seen Big Grizzly have a better match with Walter than Joe Coffey did at the weekend.

In more great news for AEW, they can pick up the Ascension now too as they've just been released

At the moment... Roman Reigns - The Big Dog! Consistently the best member of the Shield for the past 4 years, he now feels very much back in the groove after his return earlier in the year. He seems relaxed, the crowds are finally on his side, his on-screen friendship with Ali and Shorty G has felt very natural and Keith Lee got more out of a competitive showing with Roman than he did by pinning Rollins moments before. A reliably entertaining presence. Mike Quackenbush - This is mainly because I saw him last week have one of the best matches I've ever seen live against Tyler Bate. This wasn't fun, exhibition submission Quack, it was "I'm totally going to fuck up your leg with a range of nasty holds" Quack, and it was excellent. Whenever Quack shows up nowadays, it feels like an event, and he's still incredibly fun to watch - the Thomas Santell match, based almost exclusively around knucklelocks ruled. Mike Bailey - I've seen Mike Bailey a lot in the UK this year, and he's always tremendous. He was the standout in a really great Moonlight Express vs Lucha Brothers match in Fight Club: Pro last week, just 5 days after an equally entertaining, yet totally different tag with the Anti-Fun Police at GOOD Wrestling. He's the epitome of a guy who's name you see on a card and you know he's not going to phone it in. The Bird & The Bee (Solo Darling & Willow Nightingale) - Maybe the best pure babyface team in the US today. Absolutely loved their title win against FIST last month in CHIKARA, it was a perfect storm of long term personal issues, an heroic comeback (after Willow broke her neck earlier this year), proper dickhead heels and a huge pop after a deserved face team victory. Just incredibly easy to cheer for, both really excellent at building sympathy and making hot comebacks, just a great team.

Very much looking forward to Team Kick vs Kabuki Warriors next week.

Mauro remains atrocious, but him calling Nox's Lady Kane chokeslam was admittedly quite good.

It's the same reason he calls Janela "Jelly Janela", because he's got a soft body and looks terrible in his opinion. I thought Power was a really fun hour of wrestling. Couple of decent squashes, great Kingston promo, really good main event between Aldis and Tim Storm (and I thought Cornette did a good job explaining how 54yr old teacher Storm was a credible wrestler, all power but with less finesse than Aldis). I'd rather Bram wasnt involved, but it made me excited to watch it next week. The roster looks good too - Kingston, Aldis, Thunder Rosa, Ricky Stark, Ashley Vox - so this will probably replace MLW in my "got an hour to kill" wrestling slot.

The idea of Drew Gulak being a "stiff" when he's been one of the most consistently great wrestlers on the planet this year blows my mind

It's kind of impressive how quickly the narrative has gone from "We're going to war with WWE" to "We're going to war with WWE developmental". Just in terms of perception, it makes them look less big time, especially if their ratings are equal to or less than NXT.

It's probably also fair to point out that the one area that NXT indisputably smokes AEW, both in star power and in ring, is their women's division, which is apparently Omega's responsibility

I'm pretty certain I read that WALTER has no desire to spend long periods of time away from home, so his NXT UK contract suits him fine. He gets to spend lots of time at home, he's got a whole WWE brand built around him and he still has freedom to work indies like Progress and Fight Club Pro. Plus I imagine the wear and tear on his body is a lot less while still having a straight up MOTYC with Tyler. The system is very much working in his favour

I think Peyton is generally seen as better in ring, though I don't think there's much in it. However, when you think of the best parts of the Iiconics, the bits people enjoy, it's generally Billie yelling "Hey Kayla" or "You've gotta be joking me", while Peyton is just there

At the moment, Bayley is the Smackdown women's champion. It's not been the most exciting run, but she's been getting clean PPV victories for the past few months, so she's doing ok

It feels like they'll have to evolve the Cassidy character somewhat for it to work on a national scale. It's kind of a one-note joke and, while you can play it up as mindgames for a week or two, you can't just have your heels watching this guy slowly walk the ropes or throwing slo-mo chops without them kicking the shit out of him. It'd make your heels look like idiots. I think the guy can be a decent wrestler at times, and his Paul-Rudd-in-WHAS character has a slacker appeal, but he can't just be the slo-mo guy on TV.

Luckily Scott Keith gave it 6 stars and thinks it's the best match in WWE history, and I don't think he's being sarcastic

Gotch is also very thin skinned, a vanity-searching blocker on Twitter. I'm blocked for mentioning - without tagging him - that I'd watched a show on IWTV where he was on the poster, but not on the actual show. You'd think being one of the few people to own a Vaudevillians t-shirt would earn me a reprieval

I think the time he wore a patch with "Mega Death" written on it kinda killed his metal cred.

Sad thing about Gunner Miller is that he's very good, certainly a better wrestler than Marko Stunt. However, coming across as a bitter prick on social media, about a wrestler significantly more popular than you achieving success, is not a good look

I guess the difference in opinion stems from our views of him as a worker, I think he's generally lousy. To me, he's a guy with weak looking offence who's too busy getting his wacky schtick in to adequately sell. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

I like the other guys mentioned, but Chuck Taylor is the dictionary definition of "unathletic comedy wrestler"

Ah sorry guys, I've been away the past week, didn't spot that we were restarting last week. If I can be included on the next shuffle, I promise I'll be more on the ball

I think comparing KO to Val is downplaying Owens a bit. He's a former world champion and has been an upper card player for his entire run. Yes he lost to Kofi, but Kofi is the world champion and is getting a good run with the belt. Plus KO has just turned face, and the pushed face always outsmarts the heel. Here, Dolph was caught unawares by a Stunner, which is a death move in WWE canon - and the pushed face won.

Enjoyed this at Christmas, I'll hop back in

Tom Phillips and Vic Joseph are comfortably the best play by play guys in the company because they just quietly and competently get on with it. They also give the colour commentary room to breathe- it's notable how much better Nigel is when paired with Vic than with the aural anthrax that is Mauro Ranallo.