Sports Entertainment

Araxen said:

Cool entrance, but 99% of the entrance music in AEW is so forgettable.

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I feel like the music volume in AEW is turned down, or something. Like you can't really hear the entrance themes like you can in WWE. They have it set up more like UFC where the entrance music sounds like distant backing rather than being right up against the microphones. I don't know. I haven't watched WWE in years so I can't really articulate this very well, I just feel like AEW's music is harder to "comprehend" than WWE's is/was.

Araxen said:

The after match bullshit with Cody was so dumb. Black should have really beat his ass again when he came back to hit him with the crutch.

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The Cody stuff really dragged on. When he teased retirement, a portion of the crowd started doing the "sha na na" song, which you REALLY don't want to hear if you're supposed to be a good guy. He should take some time off and come back as a new character, because he's turning into John Cena 2.0. If he beats Malakai Black at All Out to get his win back (which I think he probably will), the Chicago crowd is going to absolutely shit all over him.

I feel like AEW repeats itself a lot. This Cody/Black storyline is kind of a repeat of the Cody/Brodie storyline where Cody got squashed, then came back and won a few weeks later. It seems like he always has to get wins over the new guys. Maybe Black will stop that trend?

Also, the Jericho/MJF feud is incredibly similar to the Cody/MJF feud, where Cody had to go through a bunch of challenges to get to MJF, culminating with a match against Wardlow. And again, there's no way Jericho should be beating Wardlow at this juncture. The Cody loss was already Wardlow's only real blemish. Wardlow has WAY too much upside to be being used as a speedbump for these WWE guys when they feud with MJF.

On a lighter note...I just found out the Dynamite before All Out isn't sold out, so I grabbed tickets. It's funny how Rampage is completely sold out (at a bigger arena) yet the Dynamite before the PPV has like 2000 seats left.

I've got tickets for the 9/1 Dynamite in Chicago, the 9/22 Grand Slam event in NYC, and the October Dynamite in Boston. Gonna go to all 3. Wish I'd succeeded in getting tickets to the PPV, but I feel like grabbing tickets to the go-home Dynamite is a nice consolation prize.

Got tickets for the 9/3 Rampage in Chicago too, since why not. So that makes four AEW shows in 2 months that I'll be at.

Looks like I'm flying Spirit for the shows in Chicago, NYC, and Boston. Thanks a lot, Priceline.

Pray for me.

Anyone watching AEW Rampage tonight? I really like the match graphics that they're using, clearly Street Fighter inspired.

Araxen said:

If you watch one match this week, watching the opening match to Dynamite. Dante Martin is freaking amazing. He makes everything look effortless. Kid is going to be a star.

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Sidenote, anyone know how to download a video thumbnail? Cause the thumbnail of this video is one of the best AEW shots I've seen lately and I'd send it to a few people.

It was definitely a star-making performance, guy was getting shockingly good reactions by the end. Dante has always been a top-level performer since he got there, but I don't know if the audience has responded to him very much up until now. This was the first northern show they've done since crowds came back, while all previous shows were in Florida and Texas (and one in North Carolina). It figures that Pittsburgh would be the first town to give him a good reaction, because...

Caligula_The_Cat said:

Quit watching the video as soon as I saw the BLM armband.

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I think this is the main reason why it has taken him months to get off the ground (hyuck) and get any kind of crowd reaction. The audience isn't sure how to respond because he's got a ton of athletic ability, but he also wears that stupid fucking armband. The fist on it really makes me uncomfortable, because I've seen a couple of those fist armbands in the past year and they just look totalitarian. For a while he was also doing the BLM kneel / fist in the air when he walked out, as well.

For some context, Dante Martin is from Minneapolis, so he was ground zero for the Floyd thing. Also, his brother is black. I think Dante is also part-black even though he looks very white. So the guy has a black sibling and is from Minneapolis. For even further context, he's like 19 years old. He's pretty much the exact target demographic for a lot of bullshit politics.

In a way, I actually respect AEW for letting him rep BLM like that, because WWE doesn't generally let its performers rep ANYTHING. Which is their right, of course. However AEW has made it very clear that the wrestlers there are free to make any statements they want with their attire, within reason/decency. Guys rep indy feds, passed wrestlers, etc. They're generally smart enough to leave politics out of it (half the roster are republicans and vice versa and they probably don't want to be at each other's throats). So this guy...isn't smart enough to leave politics out of it, but it's clear he really believes in the thing he's standing for, and the company isn't going to infringe on that.

Now an argument could be made that if one of the wrestlers tried to walk out in a MAGA hat it wouldn't be allowed, so there's a double-standard. However at this point it's nothing more than a hypothetical, because nobody has done that or tried to do it. I have a feeling that if one of the guys did want to walk out in a MAGA hat and just have that be a silent statement, the company would probably just let it fly like they do with everything else. Especially if there was a clear reason for it (say Trump was sick and in the hospital or something and it was a solidarity thing) and it was clearly not intended to antagonize anybody.

Point of all this is, AEW allows freedom of expression, and sometimes that means we see something we don't agree with.

That said, the BLM-fist is authoritarian horseshit and he should burn his armband when he gets older

Araxen said:

For whatever reason DMD has gotten hotter since her debut in AEW. She is smoking to me now.

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Yeah, Brit is a fucking goddess now. I think a lot of it is her "give no fucks" attitude and smarmy heel-ness, which usually makes women hotter (see Trish Stratus)



Also I'm starting to wonder if TNA has something on Tony Khan because I feel like AEW has done a lot more to help TNA than vice-versa. Which might be the point, they want TNA to become a force again so there are more places for guys to work.

Vanderhoof said:

I dream of a Daniel Bryan/Brock Lesnar Wrestlemania Main Event for the championship. Potentially and all-time great match. Seth is getting better on the mic and, based on skill alone, is the best wrestler from The Shield. I imagine he could drag Bray Wyatts big tummy through a good match.

Did anyone else watch Wrestle Kingdom a couple of weeks ago? it was my first exposure to NJPW and I really enjoyed it.

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Just looking at a few posts from 2015. I feel like the original plan for 2014 in general was to have Batista win the Rumble, win the title from Orton at Wrestlemania, and fight Brock in an epic struggle at Summerslam. Bryan was a total afterthought. Once the audience rejected Batista, they added Bryan to the Wrestlemania match very reluctantly, I think. At that point I think the plans for the year changed. Instead of Batista/Brock at Summerslam, Vince decided Brock would absolutely kill Bryan and get the title off of him that way. Not unlike what happened to Kofi Kingston, except more of a mauling. Yep, I think that's what was supposed to happen.

However, Bryan's injury saved him from that fate, and Cena ended up with the title. For whatever reason they decided to go with the plan anyway and have Brock kill Cena. While the Bryan mauling would have likely been followed by nothing as he was shunted back to the midcard, the Cena mauling at least had a follow-up where Cena continued feuding with Brock and did a lot better on successive matches.

Of course Bryan wasn't in the plans for 2015 either, so thinking he would win that Rumble was doomed from the start. The point of this post is, I agree that Bryan vs. Brock at WM would have been an all-time great main event, especially if Bryan won. But it was never planned. The closest thing that was planned was, I think, Bryan getting destroyed at Summerslam similar to what happened to Cena.

Back to current events...what the hell is going on with Omega's hair?

Chris said:

Charlotte was backstage at this event instead of doing a house show in her home town.

There must be some risk of her jumping ship at this point.

Oh and Kenny Omega is the EVP of the AEW Women's Division... I wonder if they met?

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Not only that, Charlotte was heavily-advertised as the star attraction of the house show in her home town. So she bailed on a show she was the main draw for.

With her husband #AllElite and her father about to be, I'd say there's a big risk of her jumping except for one thing: WWE has plans for her to be the centerpiece of the women's division for an extremely long time, and rack up titles similar to her father. In AEW she wouldn't be the centerpiece, nor will she be winning 15+ titles. She'll probably lose to Britt Baker and take a backseat to her and possibly also Tessa Blanchard if she signs.

And speaking of titles, I figured there was a 99% chance Roman is beating Cena at Summerslam, but now that Ric Flair is headed to AEW, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see them have Cena break his record by winning the title this weekend. Matter of fact I kind of expect it.