26 minutes ago, MoS said:

The idea that the Good Brothers suck comes from the fact that they suck hard. There has not been a single match in AEW which has not been dragged down by their useless asses. They also get zero reaction when they walk out on their own, so they are also unover as fuck. Thank God they didn't sign up for AEW initially and chose to fuck over their friends. Them being a featured act from the first show like the original plan was would have ensured that the show sank immediately. 

If BTE is “cannon” for AEW and Adam Cole was in a death like state for four years, are we going to go with the idea that Karl Anderson got replaced by a decoy and he didn’t survive that Boneyard Barn top being set ablaze by ‘Taker’s pyrotechnic trick symbol?

Cutler fucking rules and I will not tolerate any slander.

Cutler is perfect as the modern day Vincent, the lackey who gets left in the ring to take babyface offence after the heels bail

Been working through Elevation. The Tony/Kingston/Wight team reminds me in spirit (if not in specifics) of a Tony/Dusty/Zbyszko sort of team. More references to old wrestlers and playing around with actual names instead of Dusty making shit up, but still that same sort of fun dynamic. 

I like @Goodear's All Wrestling (No Elite) strategy in consuming A(E)W and the webshows feels the best way to really lean into that.

Cutler was easily the best worker in that handicap match at one of the latest Rampage episodes. He is goofy in the most adequate doses and bumps his ass off to make the babyface offense look as awesome as possible.

With The Elite getting more and more stacked, he is the perfect guy to take an ass kicking. 

As for the Good Brothers, Gallows was very fucking good as Festus. It was apparent when he came back to the Fed with Anderson that he was too broken to be a difference maker in any way. Karl himself is just obnoxious, and sadly not in the way he's supposed to be.

4 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Been working through Elevation. The Tony/Kingston/Wight team reminds me in spirit (if not in specifics) of a Tony/Dusty/Zbyszko sort of team. More references to old wrestlers and playing around with actual names instead of Dusty making shit up, but still that same sort of fun dynamic. 

I like @Goodear's All Wrestling (No Elite) strategy in consuming A(E)W and the webshows feels the best way to really lean into that.

Kingston should talk about how he headlined in Tijuana every time there's a masked wrestler in the ring

9 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Cutler was easily the best worker in that handicap match at one of the latest Rampage episodes. He is goofy in the most adequate doses and bumps his ass off to make the babyface offense look as awesome as possible.

With The Elite getting more and more stacked, he is the perfect guy to take an ass kicking. 

As for the Good Brothers, Gallows was very fucking good as Festus. It was apparent when he came back to the Fed with Anderson that he was too broken to be a difference maker in any way. Karl himself is just obnoxious, and sadly not in the way he's supposed to be.

I agree on the Good Brothers.  I did like Anderson a lot in early NJPW Bullet Club days, and some of their tag work over there.  However, IMO, Gallows is cooked.  They are the only part of the Elite act that doesn’t work for me.  I guess Nakazawa, too, but he’s so insignificant that I can’t bother to be bothered.

2 hours ago, Matt D said:

I like @Goodear's All Wrestling (No Elite) strategy in consuming A(E)W and the webshows feels the best way to really lean into that.

Started watching those recently myself and the Worldwide/Saturday Night influence definitely shows sometimes.  They have self-contained storylines on there, such as the Big Swole-Diamante feud which they just blew off with a nice 2/3 falls match.  Would also highly recommend looking up Joey Janela vs. Lee Moriarty - Moriarty's performance there was likely the main reason he just got hired.

The plan is to tape Dark (not Elevation) in studios soon to get that old WCW feel too.

I've heard good things about Swole vs Diamante, which is surprising to me because Diamanté is not exactly a world beater and Swole really wasn't any good at all when she was pushed on Dynamite the first year. Maybe she has finally improved.

10 minutes ago, El-P said:

I've heard good things about Swole vs Diamante, which is surprising to me because Diamanté is not exactly a world beater and Swole really wasn't any good at all when she was pushed on Dynamite the first year. Maybe she has finally improved.

Swole has definitely gotten better - you might be pleasantly surprised. =)

Another one who's been putting in the work lately is Abadon, she's getting in way better shape and everything.

5 minutes ago, funkdoc said:

Swole has definitely gotten better - you might be pleasantly surprised. =)

Another one who's been putting in the work lately is Abadon, she's getting in way better shape and everything.

I noticed Abadon too getting in shape and better. I'll check out those two matches, as I really don't watch either Dark unless there's something I really want to watch.

2 hours ago, El-P said:

The plan is to tape Dark (not Elevation) in studios soon to get that old WCW feel too.

I've heard good things about Swole vs Diamante, which is surprising to me because Diamanté is not exactly a world beater and Swole really wasn't any good at all when she was pushed on Dynamite the first year. Maybe she has finally improved.

It was really good. The fact they essentially worked a 2/3 falls match in a way that didn't feel rush was very fresh to me.

Also it was pretty gnarly at some points. Easy watch.

Well, it was quite the ok little match indeed. 3 falls in 12 minutes definitely strikes me as rushed though, but they did a pretty good job with it. Swole seems to have improved a bit (I mean, she could not get much worse) and Diamanté is pretty decent as usual.

But honestly when I see those two, I just think it's too bad Ivelisse and Shanna got attitude issues, because they were so much better pro-wrestlers and it was a blast to watch them. Damn those cursed workers !

I just want to lol that Adam Cole kept putting over himself, Kenny, and the Bucks repeatedly in that promo and didn't once mention Gallows and Anderson even being part of the group

53 minutes ago, strobogo said:

I just want to lol that Adam Cole kept putting over himself, Kenny, and the Bucks repeatedly in that promo and didn't once mention Gallows and Anderson even being part of the group

I caught that as well and could see the seeds being planted for a split down the road. Especially when/if Kevin Steen comes in. They seemed to have a subtle reaction to Cole calling the Bucks the greatest team ever.

Funny thing is Dave was talking about how the original plan was for Gallows and Anderson to be full time in New Japan when they jumped and go to Impact in between tours until the pandemic squashed that. So if you needed another reason to be annoyed by COVID there you go.

About the only bit of good fortune for NJPW in the past year and a half

Brian Cage's wife Melissa Santos took to Twitter, posting a short clip about her belief that Cage is being misused in AEW.

Santos said "Brian Cage is a superstar. Those people who know him from the indies, Impact, Lucha Underground where I met him, know that he is a superstar. All you have to do is google him and watch all of his matches. He's a superstar and he's being misused right now."

…nah. 

He was not even the best body guy in Team Taz

3 hours ago, Alucard said:

Brian Cage's wife Melissa Santos took to Twitter, posting a short clip about her belief that Cage is being misused in AEW.

Santos said "Brian Cage is a superstar. Those people who know him from the indies, Impact, Lucha Underground where I met him, know that he is a superstar. All you have to do is google him and watch all of his matches. He's a superstar and he's being misused right now."

Not sure how she thinks this is supposed to help her husband's career.

If I'm Tony Khan, Cage gets squashed hard to Marko Stunt now. 

Hey, I never said I wasn't petty.

Seriously though, until AEW, Cage had never been anywhere or done anything outside the indies (and yes, I consider Impact and LU indies), so how much of a "superstar" can he really be? That word is so overused and misused these days. 

Out of everyone who is being featured in AEW right now, who exactly should be pushed aside for Brian What's-His-Name? Even someone like PAC (who we all know I love and cherish) has more of a compelling reason to be given those precious seven minutes of airtime. 

57 minutes ago, MoS said:

He was not even the best body guy in Team Taz

Hook is quite the physical specimen!

Dude has been on the Road Warrior diet for years now. I was thinking that it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to be the first high-profile jump from AEW to WWE, given Vince will clearly like his body, but there's no way his body survives the WWE Wellness Policy, no matter how much of a joke their testing might be. 

Cage is actually pretty good in AAA. He's great as the big dude who can catch all the dives and hit some big moves himself. Plus he does the Thanos gimmick in those Marvel themed matches which fits him perfectly. That's probably the best place for him IMO. 

He is a guy with a lot of big moves but with limited structure or sense of transition. The first time you see someone of his size and build do those moves, you're blown away, but it quickly gets old. It explains why he has actually been less over than his push. I mean he was the first Team Taz member and one of the very few in AEW with a pinfall win over Hangman. Yet somehow he is the least over Team Taz guy, behind the son who just wears really tight-fitting clothes and mugs for the camera.