El-P

Apart from the Continental Classic related stuff and the main event, this PPV was easily the worst in AEW history. And hell, even with the good stuff, it still is, by a wide margin. The CC eight tag and the final were both excellent, and Eddie winning was a great moment. The main event was much better than it had the right to be considering MJF's shape, I fucking love that Joe is a world champ, and they did not fuck around with the Devil by trying to be cute, it's the expected people and it "makes sense". So everything's fine on that side of things. Like I said before : Joe > Swerve > Ospreay at Wembley. Easy as a Sunday morning. Andrade vs Miro was good and fun and all, and it's obvious Andrade is a goner. He quickly did his CMLL stuff as he still could. Now time to go back to Ashely's house. Swerve vs Dustin made no sense whatsoever. Dustin got booed during his big babyface spots after Swerve tried to maim him. Newsflash : Swerve is a babyface. But he's Austin too, so let's not try and make him cute and nice either. Riho vs Toni was pretty good. Not as good as I thought it would have been though. The gimmick is over, but it's still gimmicky. Julia Hart vs Abadon was rotten and dead, pun intended. Abadon is not very good and not over at all. Meanwhile, Athena and Billie Starkz are on ROH alongside plenty other worker who would give Julia a much better match. Ok. Someone really loves the Walking Dead or something. The 8-men tag was hilarious for all the wrong reasons (crowd chanting Judas then booing Jericho, but then cheering his opponents as if they were not working together ! Pro-wrestling fans be really fucking dumb. Just boo the guy as long as he's *performing*, otherwise you're just being fucking worked you dumb fucks. Plus really, would they have booed Flair the same way ? I would hope so, but I don't buy it since it has not happened until now). Poor Sting. That retirement tour is cursed. Poor Sammy. And most of all, poor, POOR Ricky Starks. That guy can't catch a break. He's probably a goner too, that run is never gonna not get cursed in one way or another. Cage vs Copeland was a very good WWE garbage match until the finish, which was awfully botched. Poor Nick Wayne barely got through the fire and almost broke his neck. Good job Copeland. The post-match angle was AWFUL WWE TROPES AND BULLSHIT. The last thing AEW needed was shit like this. This feud keeps on delivering the awfullness, I don't care how great of a performer Cage is. Everything about it sucks. First PPV without any member of the Elite, and must I say it showed. Worst AEW PPV ever. The last hour did deliver a glimpse of hope in term of what's to come, although with the CC behind them now, Eddie is just "another champ" in a company that had already way too many, it will all depend how he's gonna be booked. Samoa Joe as World Champ is awesome. The Devil angle ended the best way possible all things considered. Swerve is gonna be the next champ and you gotta build a supermatch for him vs Ospreay at Wembley, in what should be a fresh looking AEW with fresh people on top. That's for the good stuff. Oh, yeah, I thought this was gonna be 2024 already. So, happy new year again (although you all know it's just gonna be even worse all around, most probably, that's how things go).

This is the end, beautiful friend, the end of our elaborate plans... Pre-show : 20-men Battle Royal - yeah, whatever Hook vs Wheeler Yuta - WTF is FTW rules ? Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale - probably should be on the main card Main Card : Ricky Starks & Big Bill, Takeshita & Hobbs vs Sting, Darby Allin, Sammy & Jericho - Flair should probably be ringside. I mean... BCC & Mark Briscoe & Daniel Garcia vs Brody King, Jay White, Jay Lethal & Rush - G1 final day undercard match at Ryogoku Miro vs Andrade el Idolo - loser leaves town to go to WWE, winner has to wait for the end of his contract to do so Swerve Strickland vs Keith Lee - long term booking y'all Christian Cage vs Adam Copeland - hey, Adam Copeland is in AEW, crazy, uh ? Julia Hart vs Abadon - would have made sense at Halloween Havoc, but now... Timeless Toni Storm vs Riho - wait, what, two women matches on the main show ? MJF vs Samoa Joe - "It was me all along !" Eddie Kingston vs Mox - 5 star at the Budokan That's all I have. Break on through to the other side, or something. Happy New Year, as they say.

Now now, that guy would get no nostalgia pop at all. We're talking about a guy from 20 years ago that was only notable to the audience then because Trish Stratus was around the ring. Lord Tensai on the other hand...

Ok, this is funny. Brutal, but funny.

Media Scrum be like "And a happy new year of course !". I'm so taking a break from it all after this last big show. I managed to last until the end of the year thanks to the CC. But my brain needs some pro-rasslin' rest, for sure. (I say this and everytime something crazy drives me back after a month of two)

Actually, not really if I remember right. The thing about Callis, is that there was rumors going around when Scarlett and then Kross (Scarlett's bf) asking to leave the company. But nothing was ever said or even implied by any parts. Plus the timing coincided with Callis being on the leave already, as he clearly was going to AEW eventually. Not saying there was nothing there, but it has not been publicly expressed. Maybe some NDA's were signed, who knows, these are popular in pro-wrestling. Well, if there's some development to this (and if there's any weight to it, then oh well AEW needs a good new year house cleaning), I wonder who is gonna be the narrator on Dark Side of the Ring about Jericho though.

Or... Dwayne coming back to set up the long play with Roman. And make Cody sadge.

It happened in 2017. That's 6 years ago. There was never any mention of dementia back then. Breaks reportedly confessed to assaulting her during an argument after his arrest. So there. "Threw great punches, loved underage girls, got the "puppie" chant over. The Gerard Depardieu of Memphis wrestling."

That's one hell of a write-up. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/maxwell-jacob-friedman-aew-wrestling

So Giulia is apparently WWE bound. Sucks for Stardom, but interesting on many levels. First, will Giulia be allowed to punch people in the face and drop them on their head ? It's not like Gunther has been working extra-light, so under Lesveque, who knows ? Also, apparently there would be some interest of working with Stardom, which would be highly beneficial for WWE and the japanese women signed there, and even the american ones who could be send over there. Since Stardom is owned by Bushiroad, how would that affect AEW's relationship with NJPW (if at all) ? So many things to unpack about what can potentially happen.

I'm guessing Gedo still has quite a bit of power and pull backstage, although he's living off his rep by now considering some of the really bad choices made in the last 3 years. If anything, get rid of Dick Togo immediately, he's been called responsible for everything House of Torture and EVIL since the beginning of his ill-fated main event push.

And so Ohbari being replaced by Tanahashi appears to be at least partly a way to appease Okada and maybe prevent him from leaving. Pot thickens.

Grizzled Young Vets debuting at Hard to Kill. Never seen them, but heard nothing but good things, so it seems like a good catch that fits whatever TNA wants to be. I gotta say it's good to have an off period, because it does build anticipation for the return date. I wish there was more of that in pro-wrestling.

So Maika won the title. Not a bad choice, she's really fucking good. I kinda checked out of Stardom this year though. Probably being burned out by too much wrestling. The promotion is fun and easy to follow and watch, and there are tons of talent there but I dunno. Maybe something about the presentation that just won't appeal to me to some degree. I wish I could say I'm not the target audience but the reality is I probably am, which in some respect kinda bothers me I guess. The fact Tam Nakano got hurt kinda hurt my interest too since she basically was, more than anyone else, my real entry point with the promotion, I really got into her defense of the white belt when she was working just under the Utami main events. With Suzu Suzuki they eventually have yet another awesome main event star looming, and honestly she could have won the red belt already. If they lose Giulia it's gonna be tough though, she's head and shoulder above anyone else in term of star power perception. And again, no Stardom presence at WK this year is too bad and seems like two steps back after one step forward.

Jim Breaks, most famous lately for killing his ex-girlfriend. Good riddance, fuck that shit.

The Royal Rumble has overstay its welcome a long, long while ago. Sure, the formula is an institution now, which makes it the N°2 PPV of the year, but it's been completely useless for years now since Mania is so fucking big that there's no 99% of the people involve can win it. Most men's Rumbles have been predictable bores for an eternity. Plus, the fact you've got two Mania main event now and two World titles totally negates the fact there are basically two people this year anyway. You don't win the Mania main event by winning the Rumble ? Well, you'll still get the Mania main event. And for a World title too.

Yeah, two of them. Cody and Punk, basically.

Tye Dillinger as the N°10 in the Rumble. I call it there first. Then gets an agent/backstage job, as to the surprise of absolutely no one he just exited AEW. His most memorable stuff over there was probably carrying Wardlow during the turn angle, with him being really funny as the MJF stooge. He was really good working color on Dark too for the few times he did it. Got two kids now, friends with Cody. Yeah.

Maybe that explains why my neck has been hurting for a while now. I'm certainly not neck strong right now. The CC is showing the way. Keep the lucha-libre, the joshi, the garbage matches, the random people popping up, the absurd gimmicks along the ride and do less and less of the Devil angle and Copelandverse style shit (or twist them in a meta-way to get back some of that early AEW feel if you absolutely have to). Also, AEW really should have some serious security around their lighting system control, because it seems anyone can switch it off...

People not getting that the CC was all about building up Eddie Kingston, the All Japan superfan, to win his own Triple Crown by probably using a Kawada move after finally defeating all three members of BCC building up to his best friend Moxley is just mind-blowing to me. Like, really ? Of all the things to potentially complain about ? Swerve has done nothing but gained from going to the finals after that stint of great matches, has been protected on his way out and is already slotted as a potential future world champ contender (and he obviously should win it sooner than later, now that's where the next trigger has to be pulled). Well, of course if Mox wins and Swerve doesn't get the World Title in the first few months of 2024, then I'll take all that back. But as it is, the CC was masterfully booked and wonderfully executed. Great year end arc for AEW. Yup. I thought for a moment they actually were Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, but that MJF move they did actually also is a Bennett move I think. Joe at the very least working with the Devil makes sense, as I thought it could have been him himself. Wardlow as a heater is his best role anyway. So yeah, Devil better be Cole & Baker, basically, and the reveal should be at World's End and then move the fuck on. If not, then this is officially Aces & Eights. They should absolutely do the world title earlier on, with a downer result of an injured MJF being cheated out of the title, the Devil reveal and all, and end the PPV with Kingston winning the Triple Crown. They did tease MJF vs Swerve, but to me it was more a case of making Swerve part of the world title picture already. MJF probably needs some time to heal, they already got the ROH tag titles off of him and ended that nonsense. Yeah, transitional heel champ Joe to Swerve would be a good way to go, and you can always do Swerve vs MJF (and also Swerve vs Mox, built on the fact Mox beat him during the CC, that's basic G1 booking) later on when he's back, with Swerve as champ. Having a baby now equals face turn/face spot in pro-wrestling (well, unless you're Cody). Sammy has now turned as much as the Big Show. Callis' paintings never cease to amaze me. Hey, here's Stokely. Talk about a guy who has been totally lost in the shuffle since day one. Skye vs Statlander was quite good. I'm all for more angles and shit for the women. Harley Cameron is a treasure, glad she's still gonna be around. This little romance angle is the best thing Saraya & Ruby have done since showing up, really. That's what I thought too. Well, my first reaction was actually "fuck no, they did not book those Von Erich scrubs again ?", then I saw Bryan Keith and was like, oh ok. The entire angle totally feel like the Copelandverse to me. Totally detached from whatever AEW is. The Codyverse was a lot more fun. Unless Copeland sets himself on fire or something of course. I think I'd rather have Christian Cage vs Jeff Jarrett, really, plus that would get the true original TNA feel. All in all, World's End really has a true feel of capping off the year. Which is nice. Finally getting stuff like Miro & Andrade & Keith Lee vs Swerve is absolutely part of it too, as we finally gonna get those out of the way and move on. First AEW PPV ever without any member of the Elite too, although that obviously wasn't on purpose. And yes, Bryan Danielson. With one eye. The run of a lifetime. So lucky to get it.

Four years ago, I could see it, although he really was never anything special in the ring (no idea if he is better now), because they lacked big beefy guys. Now ? They have plenty already, and really good ones too. The last thing AEW needs is another Wardlow (well, at least Hammerstone was a good promo/vignette guy back then, that's how I remember him the most). I could see him ending up in TNA though.

Continental Classic is all that and more. That's the way. The Christian Cage angle is now totally ass-backward, with the audience booing Shayna Wayne despite her being completely in the right. Awesome promo by Christian despite the idiotic feel of the entire thing. Match is gonna be a clusterfuck, at least try make it an entertaining one after that whimper of a match they had. Is it me of Thunder Rosa got kind of a lukewarm reaction ? Abadon getting a push to a PPV spot after having that terrible match with Shida is certainly a thing. I guess the Witch vs Living Dead Girl thingy, but still. Julia & Skye together can be pretty hot, both are over already. Eddie gotta win that Triple Crown.

The more interesting question is about the overall direction of the company booking wise, as Gedo seems like he's burned the hell out by now. Tanahashi basically saved NJPW with his own approach. Maybe he'll have a vision of what NJPW should be in the future that will demand Gedo to tweek his formula a bit, if not a lot. Or not at all.

Looks like the beginning of a bizarre Xmas porn. No judging.