Matt D

Or things will rebound over the next few weeks as they turn the attention inwards again, people start to get cleared from injuries, and they shuffle the roster pairings around a bit. Product-wise, we're not in 99 WCW here or anything.

And people were complaining about the roster being way too big a few months ago.

I've been withholding comments for various reasons, but the one-two punch of the Henker handicap match and the Mychel singles match is just amazing. Two very different matches. Two very different performances. Chronologically close together. If you asked me who he was after the first few matches, he was the guy with the "toupe" headspin. But we have a very clear picture of just how good he was over decades.

I wouldn't say I'm excited about any of the FD matches, but of the lot of them, Cassidy driving Ospreay (who buys into his own shit as a character) nuts seems to be one of the more appealing aspects of the entire show. And it only works if Cassidy can also go when the time is right. My only worry is that they'd decide that the time is right way too soon.

My guess is Claudio but that he's not signed as of yet and Khan is working it out with Gresham as a back-up plan.

The Mercedes Martinez/Serena Deeb oneupsmanship tag team has been my favorite thing in AEW over the last couple of weeks so I'm glad that more people will be able to get a look at the act.

So did you watch Dark this week? The banter was pretty good as usual. Important stuff about using the water cooler they're trying to fit under the announce desk (next to Taz's coffee machine) to provide water to the Wingmen's 3-piece band that they bring in just for the Dark tapings. Also how Excalibur tiger drivers everyone that causes him trouble.

This week must have been a massive relief to Koon.

Dark was a lot of fun with a really hot crowd. Here's my thoughts from last night:

The Freebirds popped his tires.

This is what I led with: And i ended with the notion that he should be trying to get Regal to talk about anyone and anything BUT himself.

I had a back and forth on DVDVR on the pod as I feel for Koon about more than the meandering. This is kind of where I ended up (but i insulted Abrahantes along the way if anyone needs me to go back and pull that too):

I was hoping we got to the Dangerous Alliance year at least. It’s not ground that has been trod often.

Rewarding the fans by timing your hope spots for the clapping up is a huge thing for me.

Taz sings to select theme songs. They talk about him having a helicopter and submarine. Taz jokes how Excalibur’s Tiger Driver 98 is the most dangerous move in wrestling history and how he’s the second best masked wrestler after Super Strong Strong Machine. It’s basically Monsoon and Heenan talking over a bunch of squashes and fun mid-card matches, except for they’re both sort of Heenan. Though Taz is great at explaining stuff like Shafir’s hip attacks before her throw.

You’d dig them breaking each other almost every match on Dark.

Probably should just toss Tay and Sammy at her at this point.

The Tiger Jeet Singh school in Canada is the real deal though.

Plus the webshows have a different tempo and tenor than the main shows as they either have engaged early-in-the-night or studio fans, and don’t have to worry about commercials or fitting into a TV slot. Deeb was cycled back to Elevation last night and I’m really looking forward to four months of her teaming with Nyla/Emi/Bunny/Diamante.

There are more interviews that lean into it a bit more but i can't really find them. You get a taste of it here though: https://wrestling-edge.com/cody-rhodes-angle-dusty-rhodes-despised-leaving-wwe-stardust/

I wrote more at DVDVR but I'll put it simply as a counterpoint: I think this was a purely business decision for Cody, not at all about martyring himself for the boys, in as such it'll help him market himself in the future. Likewise, Vince. Doing this made it more likely the company will get even further behind him later. He saw how Britt and, more relevantly, Becky made themselves off of bloody images and saw an opportunity to make an image of his own. Plus, he wanted that third win over Rollins to close out the program. The idea that he trained too hard and got hurt would tarnish a comeback that has to be as perfect as possible for him to achieve his goals. It wasn't about proving his toughness. It was about lining his wallet for years and decades to come. If the boys in the back go nuts for it at the same time, then he's happy to work them with that goal in mind This will be front and center in his WWE HOF entrance video. I'm not saying Cody doesn't have some legitimate things to work out, like his resentment for fans who dare to have an emotional connection to the memory of Dusty, but a lot of what he does is pretty mercenary. I'm in the same boat with the flaming table spot and the moonsaults. Those were to get him in every AEW promo package/opening to run on TNT/TBS, to create something so spectacular that they would show it over and over again. This fell into his lap and he's going to milk it for everything it's worth. If it screws over younger wrestlers, I'm sure he can rationalize to himself how much he does for them anyway. And a lot of them would the first to agree with that rationalization anyway.

Conrad would. I imagine episode 4 will be "That time Chris Jericho pissed in your tea." I'm sure it's not on Regal. He basically said "The gimmick was just five weeks you know and I barely remember it, but I'm sure you'll jog my memory."

I get that time is tight but they should have a 2 minute highlight package of Elevation/Dark every week with just clips of finishes to get over that people are getting wins. They won't lose ratings on seeing a bunch of finishes in a row. The scroll at the bottom of the screen really doesn't pay off the investment they put into the webshows every week. I'll say this, in general. Past Danielson and Punk matches, the number 2 comp that I'd suggest someone make for the last year of AEW would be the women's tag matches (mostly with Nyla and Emi) from Dark/Elevation. There's not much more fun on a week to week basis in the company, especially when people like Ryo Mizunami or Yuka Sakazaki cycle in.

It was that whatever plan they have for MJF, it’s probably a very long story and they’re not going to jump right to chapter 7.

MJF just feuded for months with Punk. They weren’t ending up together again. The MJF thing is a marathon, not a sprint. Punk was going to have a run. He’s their biggest draw. They’d use him on top as ace for a while.