Stiva

Eddie Kingston vs JD Drake was absolutely great this week. They hit hard early and don’t let up. Kingston is the Dark MVP

That’s fucking great, Show should be a great commentator considering how naturally engaging he is. Also, give me Big Show vs Rey Fenix, Tony.

I popped for Tony Khan talking about LANCE!~ of the Day on WOL

When was the last time someone won the title the first time and then didn’t win it again for 10 years, all while remaining in the same promotion? Hogan obviously had to wait a while but he was in WCW for most of that time.

Eh, another hour would be ideal, I'd say. Something similar to that 1 hour Saturday show they did a while back; have three or so matches, get some extra promo time and give people like Varsity Blondes, Leyla Hirsch etc. some extra time to get over outside of the crowded Dynamite spots. Maybe have the odd TNT Title Main Event

I think this has been a solid as fuck run of shows but fixing things with New Japan gives them the real heat for when the pandemic eases enough for us to get fans. AEW has been at its best (IMO) when its revolved around a heel faction and Moxley leading a ragtag bunch of baby faces against the Bullet Club with Ibushi and Okada hovering in the background sounds like money to me. They badly need a second TV show though; Dark works as a showcase for them to slowly introduce workers but there’s so many of them now, especially if the NJ and Impact relationships grow, that the potential for having more hot midcard feuds and a focus on more of the women is right up there. A lot of work for Khan to book though, I would guess.

This constant parroting of stats made the commentary borderline unlistenable but what a sub-par men’s Rumble. These Rumbles where new entrants come in and hit their hot tag offense are so shitty, there were no long-running threads of story, no memorable spots, very few future teases and stare down moments to build in the next few months, just a real flat nothingness. I suppose nobody knew who was winning which was in its favour but giving the Ironman winner spot to a 50 year old Edge is hilarious. Also, they need to stop mentioning guys being in their 10th, 11th or FOURTEENTH Rumble match since it exposes just how long they’ve had this interchangeable midcard and how stale everyone is

Only just watching but Tarzan Boy in front of crowds is going to be a big step in pushing Jungle Boy to the next level. He’ll feel like a star with everyone singing along

Only watched the main since I fell off Impact months ago but I thought Moose looked fantastic. It really felt like the kind of complete performance he's been teasing since that Aries match a few years back. They're probably going to do the belt collector gimmick but it still feels like Moxley should be the guy to beat him in AEW considering he was screwed out of it in the first place. Unless they find a hot feud to funnel him into but I don't know who that is at this point, unless Cody turns heel.

Brodie Jr. cutting straight fire promos on this week’s show. Make him the new Exalted One, to hell with it.

Cardi B explicitly stating she likes Sasha Banks and WWE ignoring that to try to get the white, blonde girl over at their own detriment just about sums them up these days.

Jon Silver is going to be wearing the mini-Brodie gear that Huber bought him and it's actually a great look for him.

This is awful news. Obviously it pales in comparison to the loss to his family, especially at this time of year, but it really felt that he was getting to have a resurgence in AEW that has been sadly cut short. Devastating news and just a total shock.

Jericho doesn’t seem demonstrably older than he did last year. Putting him in matches with the likes of Top Flight exposes him somewhat but that’s on the Booker. The main matches for him going forward seem to be MJF and Wardlow which are probably in his wheelhouse

This was a better show than previous weeks, partly because we got the likes of MJF, Dustin, Evil Uno and Pac working in-ring. I get that the Bucks want to work with the younger teams and put them over in defeat but Bucks/Natural Nightmares feels like it would be a far stronger TV main event than the Bucks working another green team. Bowens and Castor have a great look but yeah, the rap gimmick is death and the video/song they showed early on was terrible. Kind of amazed that the Good Brothers didn’t show but I’m assuming that’s being kept for a live show. I loved MJF using Santana’s grief to win them over to his side, what a fantastic heel move to advance that program. I assume that Shida slaying Abbadon will invalidate her looking weak with her every week but I’d heat up the Thunder Rosa/Britt Baker program fairly quickly and shift the belt into that feud in the new year. Still, a really easy watch, even if they are beginning to lose me with the direction they're going with certain programs and acts but that’s really just my own personal preferences, rather than any errors on their part

I had a feeling that Tony Khan wouldn't be able to resist the allure of TV but playing out a McMemphis act on Impact is probably the best way to ease yourself into doing it.

New Donk City is one of the top 5 video game levels of all time. Exploring that will be a much better use of your time than watching Raw.

Bret repeatedly asking people if they “had the jam” to step against the Hart Foundation is one of my favourite wrestling related phrases. I’ve never heard it from anyone else.

Tonight’s Dynamite is a live one, right? Would be a good time to get The Good Brothers to show up on that show as a surprise, especially once Moxley gets involved in the Omega/Janela match

I saw that Charlotte's return is "planned" and if it isn't just "Charlotte is number 30 in the Royal Rumble" I'll be amazed.

That's exactly what I thought of when I saw Khan's promo. It feels like a trial run and he really isn't a bad promo, all things considered. Omega's title collector gimmick is a great idea but trying to book when and how he loses/wins the titles seems like a headache I could never want,.

Seems like he's had a nightmare year from a personal POV (on top of everything else). Right before Christmas as well, awful. I'm glad they've done another great rating but it feels like a lot of this show was built on promos that would deliver clarifications or further directions on storylines and not a single one did that.

Thanks, I hadn’t seen any news on it. I was worried that he had quietly left for a second which would break up my favourite AEW team

That’ll be why he hasn’t wrestled since then and Silver got a mini singles push, obviously. I thought this show started well enough with that ridiculous opener and then got steadily worse. The Shaq/Brandi stuff was muddled, as was the Cody/Sting angle. Sting can’t possibly be a heel, I can see Shaq being the babyface but Cargill definitely isn’t but Brandi is acting heelish despite having a broken arm. Let’s streamline this thing a bit. At least it’s giving a lot of the women something to do. What’s the deal with Santana? Is he carrying an injury? Or something more personal since he’s been in the pre-tapes (I believe) but hasn’t actually appeared in-ring since the Best Friends match, I believe. There’s only so much goodwill they get from delaying the Omega announcement across two separate shows. Moxley coming back next week, driving through that gap in the stadium, of course, seems like an obvious angle. For some reason, the live Dynamite shows always feel better paced than their taped shows.

Glad Marko is adding something to the mix where he can be smashed in the head by a guitar to set up a feud somewhere down the line. Dustin dropped a good promo and Rebel’s fake laugh is fantastic. Solid segment. Apparently Nyla and Vickie are going to be aligned with Shaq and Jade Cargill for the feud so I’m assuming Cargill is too green to carry too much of the in-ring portion of it?