Can’t believe it took me that long to use that one. 

Starting to wonder what will get resolved first, who's the Devil or who attacked Trick and Melo. Neither seems to be ending anytime fucking soon.

That Omega/Jericho vs. Bill/Starks segment was painful to watch. Maybe AEW needs writers after all. Yikes.

The matches so far have all been good at least. Andrade and Brody having a GUNTA level chop battle was good shit

So Vikingo and Black Taurus for the AAA title was added to Final Battle, while Andrade is about to make a mini-excursion to CMLL.  Didn't think I'd ever see any of that happening.

9 hours ago, The Thread Killer said:

That Omega/Jericho vs. Bill/Starks segment was painful to watch. Maybe AEW needs writers after all. Yikes.

I found it an entertaining trainwreck, except for Omega was who just terrible. I actually prefer unscripted trainwrecks like this to scripted promos and segments, which most of the time range from banal and boring to awful and irredeemable in my opinion. What happened yesterday I can live with, cuz like I said, I find it entertaining to watch, even if the entertainment is not intentional. 

Mox should absolutely not have beaten Swerve, regardless of the trunk-grabbing (and Swerve's shoulders not even being on the mat) 

I literally physically cringed when Jericho said "I think they need a name, right?" because I knew where it was going. By the way, I have to give Starks credit for doing his best to salvage that trainwreck. It reminded me of how Sid was able to keep it together and tried to get things back on track during the Shockmaster debut segment.

Yea, was coming on here just to see if anyone else thought the Jericho/Starks segment was as much a disaster as I thought.

To me, the first reference to Enzo (the line using the word "soft") was okay. I mean, it wasn't good, but it wasn't egregious. It got a pop and that was Big Bill's claim to fame in the WWE and always got a big response.

But then, later on, Jericho just  calling Starks a "poor version of Enzo Amore" was absolute dogshit. Every single time someone does "you're just a rip-off of ____," it does nothing for Starks at all (whether its a main eventer like The Rock or an undercard guy like Amore) and TK needs to call that shit out. This is a guy you had main-eventing a PPV not too long ago. There should be a concerted effort to make him "the first Ricky Starks" and not "the next Rock," a unique character. Yes, the onus is on Starks to deliver that character, but it doesn't help when experienced vets who need to give him "the rub" are simultaneously cutting him off at the knees for a cheap pop.
 

And for TK, its just minor league to have promos where the most memorable lines are about the WWE. If you're going to reference characters or angles, make the references to your own brand! Remember, Starks and Jericho had a months-long feud last winter. Jericho could've said, "9 months ago, I made you a star" or "You're just a poor imitation of me! I got the Jericho Appreciation Society and you found the only idiot who could appreciate you!" but instead, he name-dropped Enzo Amore, a guy who only anybody knows because of the WWE.  

I'm not sure what's worse - if that line was something Jericho thought of beforehand or if Jericho felt the segment was dying and grabbed the lowest hanging fruit he could reach. Either way, in a segment that felt like it hit a couple of dead-ends and was constantly needing to be rerouted, that line really stuck out to me as being especially bad.

 

6 hours ago, MoS said:

Mox should absolutely not have beaten Swerve, regardless of the trunk-grabbing (and Swerve's shoulders not even being on the mat) 

Yeah, even if they have a rematch in the semifinals it feels like an unnecesary way to protect Mox. A draw would've been fine.

I read that TK confirmed that the TC champion will defend the belts throughout the year (basically replacing the ROH champ) and now I don't want Swerve to win, but that L to Mox doesn't serve much of a purpose anyways.

Been dreading someone calling Ricky, "Enzo", not surprised it was Jericho especially after the return of clout vampire and the crack about Billy Starks falling flat. 

Jericho trying to come up with names for Bill and Starks was almost as bad as when he kept calling 2.0 Slim and Coke a peghead and a squarehead. 

Counterpoint: they just added Tom Lawlor vs Wheeler Yuta to Final Battle.

Final card for Final Battle, looks pretty strong overall

Women's Title: Athena(c) vs. Billie Starkz
Pure Title: Wheeler Yuta(c) vs. Tom Lawlor
Trios Titles: Mogul Embassy(c) vs. TMDK
AAA Title: El Hijo del Vikingo(c) vs. Black Taurus
Survival of the Fittest ROH TV Title Match: Dalton Castle vs. Komander vs. Lee Moriarty vs. Lee Johnson vs. Kyle Fletcher vs. ???
Fight Without Honor: Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio/Bryan/Moxley) vs. Mark Briscoe & FTR
I Quit Match: Ethan Page vs. Tony Nese
Shane Taylor vs. Keith Lee

Preshow: The Outrunners vs. The Von Erichs

 

13 hours ago, strobogo said:

Been dreading someone calling Ricky, "Enzo", not surprised it was Jericho especially after the return of clout vampire and the crack about Billy Starks falling flat. 

As much as I like Billie Starkz, I don't know what they expected when her big push is on the AEW NXT show that like 3 people watch. Surely TK and Jericho can't both be so deep in the bubble they thought that would get any kind of reaction.

Anyone following any G1 ever knows that Swerve losing to Mox is just part of a bigger story. This match was about Swerve being a full fledge babyface. He doesn't need to win every match, ya know. Plus, I'm not sure I want him to won that Triple Crown thingy anyway, I want him to win the world title next year. Shoulder not being on the mat, though, fucking please, stop it.

The Continental Classic is just a blast, period.

Now now... I really hope they wrap up this whole Devil thing soon, because for the life of me I have no idea how the end result is gonna be compelling, and it has been going on forever now without being ever compelling. And I fear fucking Wardlow is gonna be part of it too.

Lol, the Von Erichs.

That Jericho/Omega promo was WRETCHED. The best part was Starks basically saying it was shit as it happened, but still. And... were they making fun of Billie Starkz ? Who happens to be fucking main eventing the ROH special show in two days to wrap up the most enjoying long term angle of the year in the company ? Da fuck was that ? This was a WCW 99 moment right there. Remember when Omega vs the Don Callis family was hot as fuck and promising awesome matches left and right ? What happened to that ?

5 hours ago, Alucard said:

Final card for Final Battle, looks pretty strong overall

Yep. Still. 9 matches. Only one women match (the main-event, but less than this would be insulting to Athena & Billie). For ROH, which has a much stronger women match presence than the regular AEW shows. Where are Leila Hirsch, Rachael Ellering and the Renegade Sisters, who actually have a story going on ? Also, why aren't Mommies Boys on the show ? Yeah, they got some guys from NJPW and a AAA match, cool. But that stuff isn't that fresh anymore either, I can watch the same people on TNA.

They are doing such a great job with Mariah May thus far, uh ? I don't think she even got *one* camera shot during this whole segment. They did zero to even further any kind of story between her and Toni just a little bit, or even make people care about the fact she's there. Ruby Soho being dressed as Virgil was nice though, as she works about as good as he did. On the other hand, Riho shows up, looks great and gets over. No shit, she's been doing that from day one. I know she's living in Japan and all, but still, couldn't we get more of her on a regular basis anyway ? 

But hey, Continental Classic is a blast, period. Pretty awesome swan song thus far, I gotta say.

Calling someone a cheap imitation of a guy in another company can work if you're the cool company with momentum and the competition seems out of touch, like when Punk called MJF a less famous Miz. But that's obviously far from the case for AEW at the moment.

AEW should be making Swerve their top guy. He has more charisma & ability than someone like Hangman Page ever did. 

42 minutes ago, Coffey said:

AEW should be making Swerve their top guy. He has more charisma & ability than someone like Hangman Page ever did. 

Agreed. He needs to be elevated into the main event scene and stay there, in the first three months of the new year at the latest. Otherwise, they are idiots.

Basically everyone that follows AEW agrees that 1) Swerve should be their world champ ASAP and 2) the Devil storyline has no possible good payoff, which is gonna hurt even more than usual considering it's a mystery angle that has ran for 3-4 months at this point. And still, I have very little faith Tony's booking will let 1) happen at an appropriate time and continue to push 2) as a huge angle even though there's no way to make it compelling or even have a good reveal.

I saw some people speculating that it might be Richard Holliday or Alexander Hammerstone, which would be interesting considering their history as The Dynasty in MLW. And the AEW fans are actually online enough to get that reference. Both guys are free agents too.

It's 100% not Hammerstone because that dude is MASSIVE and whoever is playing The Devil doesn't stick out in that way.

 

Also, big and bad news

 

Jericho gonna get Enzo booked for the PPV as his partner now

Omega out indefinitely is definitely a major downer. What a way to end the year. 

If the Devil ends up being a "It was me all along" moment, I fucking swear...

6 minutes ago, El-P said:

If the Devil ends up being a "It was me all along" moment, I fucking swear...

When was the last time TK was on screen?