aew 2021: don callis’s sunglass game is on point

Actually Santana & Ortiz would be perfect for Lucha Bros, after umm, I guess defeating former UFC champions. Gonna skip it.

Had a blast with that whole show more or less top to bottom, some stuff was of a higher standard and some stuff of a lower but it was pretty much all at least enjoyable and I dunno what impossibly high standard they’re supposed to be operating at if you’re going to pick holes in most of the show.

Can’t subscribe to ahoyhoy’s criticisms here. Thought the Minnesota street fight was hilarious throughout, for instance. Lucha bros are a bit sloppy but also very cool so they get a pass.

MJF / Darby and punk / Kingston the highlights for me. The standing ovation for the pinfall trades in the opener was amazing.

GAF about jay lethal though. Thought we were getting switchblade for a second too which only made it the more disappointing

santana and ortiz def deserve a long feud with the lucha bros and a title run

impossible to dismiss any inner circle matches as long as they and/or guevara is involved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_RLB2wynEE

rewatching full gear. mjf vs. darby is one of the best matches i’ve ever seen

in fact, the first three matches were all mindblowing lol

also, i changed my mind, superkliq vs. christian/jurassic express isn’t too long at all

full gear rewatch continues:

say what you will about cody rhodes... that tag match was full of great storytelling. all the blind tags! cody getting knocked out for most of the match when malakai kicked him!

pac somehow being able to twist himself like a pretzel in the air even though he is an enormous man!

there were so many great moments in the tay/britt match too. jeez

Hyped for the era of Cowboy Shit.

Agree with Lucha Bros vs. Santana & Ortiz. They had a pretty epic feud in IMPACT that I loved (and actually, Santana & Ortiz beat Lucha Bros in their last match for IMPACT). I would be very interested, actually, in just a tag team feud between Santana & Ortiz and Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky since Page was half of the tag team that gave Santana & Ortiz their sendoff from IMPACT.

tag team feud between Santana & Ortiz and Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky

feel like this might be coming, one of the best parts of the minnneapolis street fight was santana/ortiz and page/sky going at it in the ring

i forgot that jericho stapled dan lambert in the dick

fun match

(i am still rewatching full gear lol)

kenny kicking out of the one winged angel...... astonishing

totally amazing dynamite on top of that tonight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0YJgm6Auz8

have y'all watched this video series? it's remarkable. hangman's storyline presented documentary style with full clips from every relevant match and bte episode, and, blissfully, with no narration

yeah wow i hadn't seen these but they're really something. i've never been a regular watcher of BTE so this is essential stuff. thanks for flagging!

I watched them all yesterday, so so good. They even got a mention in Page’s cute little declaration, which people should also find and read.

Lmao at meltzer’s young buck love. I guess I need to watch the trios match. I really should have found time for the show when I wasn’t half asleep.

When I rewatched the main event it was fascinating seeing how obviously hurt Omega was from the start. He had one arm up against his chest the whole time like he was struggling, not just selling. Really like rewatching Perfect v Bret or Austin v Shawn. Still went through a table though! Hope he gets a good year off and an insane pop at Full Gear 2022.

kenny kicking out of the one winged angel...... astonishing

I always love how Kenny kicks out of his own finisher(s). When he got hit with the Golden Trigger by The Bucks, he angrily kicked out at less than one.

Watching how Kenny has transformed himself over the years really goes to show just how good the guy is. He's a polarizing figure in wrestling, for sure, but you cannot deny that he knows how to illicit emotion, both in the ring and out of it.

In other news, I really enjoyed the faceoff between Hangman and Danielson. I hope they hold off on having this match for a bit, because I would hate to see Danielson lose just yet, but you know that match is going to make Hangman look like even more of a star than he already does.

I wouldn’t put it past them to have another draw with Page. Could be a cool little narrative to start where he has an apparent ceiling as to who he can beat.

A draw would be very interesting, especially after Danielson goes through the rest of the Dark Order. I thought maybe a double DQ because of some sort of interference, but a draw would leave that door open for a challenge again later, through the obvious claim of "you never beat me."

Honestly, if Kenny comes back heel, I would have to assume that he would use his injuries as an excuse to goad Hangman into another match. I want Hangman's reign to last a year, at least.

It would give Page the added juice of that burn he gave Bryan earlier about only being able to draw against Omega.

Good point. Really, I'm totally fine with getting to see multiple matches between the two. Make Hangman even more of a star let's goooooooo

Unrelated, but aw man, Swole. I was really hoping she was going to have more of a run, soon. At least to see her vs. Ruby in a marquee match.

pic.twitter.com/BWf45RXTlI

— Big Swole Baby (@SwoleWorld) November 30, 2021

swole <3

that sure was a wacky episode of dynamite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw22ae9JYB4

just perfect

jbl voice: haha michael, its bizarro land in long island with the aew universe tonight! where the fans for some reason cheer the bad guys and boo the good guys *looks into the distance, forever lost*

Tony Khan resurrecting location-specific face / heel dynamics = just one of the many reasons that he is the best booker. he has correctly identified Bret Hart vs Stone Cold as the pinnacle of all wrestling

Hook has been sent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqsloakKs7A

30 mins in and I’m pretty sure this is gonna be an all-time great episode of wrestling tv

How on earth do you have Bryan Danielson on the roster and not present him as the best wrestler in the world? He is out of this world

The very best of wishes to Jim Ross but Taz is ridiculously good as the third man in the booth

Deeb vs Shida III on the same show as this world title match is showboating. Serena Deeb is also out of this world.

Dante Martin is to 2020s wrestling what Rey Mysterio was to the 90s. The most exciting flier out there. I cannot wait to see him fight MJF.

Can’t wait to find out about the Owen Hart cup

These are my jumbled early thoughts on this obnoxiously stacked episode of AEW dynamite

How on earth do you have Bryan Danielson on the roster and not present him as the best wrestler in the world? He is out of this world

this fucking match!!!

Bryan Danielson is the best wrestler ever

Having to take a cigarette break after that match.

Best AEW match ever? Agree with Schiavone’s call near the end there, this felt like breaking new ground for AEW

the cowboy shit chants in the home stretch were wverything, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen a better executed long term push by a company of their chosen guy

Yeah that was all about as good as tv wrestling gets

For at least the 7th time in this thread - it is a fucking miracle that AEW exists

brody king signs with aew

Kyle O’Reilly pretty obviously coming in as well. I only know ReDragon through their NJPW junior stuff because I’d checked out of WWE completely before they landed in NXT but that still seems like a good move.


The dream now is for the pandemic to ease up enough for AEW and new Japan to start cross promoting, I think njpw desperately need it after a terrible few years and the AEW fans are gonna be rabid for the big NJPW stars if we can get to that point

Feel like they’re fast approaching the point where they could do with Rampage being slightly longer and taped on a different night /separate city with a livelier crowd.

The dipshits that think it’s somehow a problem to have too many popular acts on the roster are beneath contempt but there really are just so many people now that need to be showcased

In total fucking awe of how over they’ve gotten Hangman, I don’t know who you could even point to in the last decade or so as a comparable example of a company deliberately taking a promising but unfavoured guy and just fucking firing them up into the stratosphere. Okada maybe?

I guessed right!

Absolute classic title match

XP and they have Dante Martin sitting in the goddamn wings!

That title match was fantastic. I could feel my heart in my chest in the last couple of minutes, there were so many ways they could have gone with it. Mad how after two years of spammed superkicks and overwrought community theatre drama it took a guy nominally trained by Shawn Michaels to come in and restore Bretism to its rightful, permanent place at the top of the wrestling industry

(I'm being flippant; Serena of course deserves her proper respect for this too)

I love how half of Dante's spectacular shit is just clever acrobatic dodges that aren't even going to kill him young. When he eventually debuts that second facial expression it's going to be like the second coming of Hook

Although none of them are individually 10/10 megastars all round, all of the former Undisputed Era guys have something to recommend them (godspeed Roddy) - KO'R was always my favourite of the group and I'd like to see him show up. He integrates his MMA stuff in a way that doesn't make him seem tediously ashamed of pro-wrestling, stooges like a champ and has a well calibrated sense of humour. Glad that I caught one of his excellent series with KUSHIDA in London a few years back

Hey guys I did some polls on I Love WWE to try and pick the best AEW wrestler of the incredible year we’ve had

I’d be down for a match of the year poll also

Glad that I caught one of his excellent series with KUSHIDA in London a few years back

KOR vs KUSHISA in the 2016 BOSJ is one of my favourite matches of recent years. The dude can go.

I’d love to see KUSHIDA in AEW too, of course, but perhaps he’s fine where he is. He’s got nothing left to prove, hopefully he’s getting paid a lot of money. He doesn’t have to travel much, so more time with his family. Maybe he’s got it made, as much as it pains us to see him slumming it professionally.

Yeah kushida seems to be in the same category as nakamura, he did his thing and now he’s getting paid lots of money to do very little and he won’t end up in a wheelchair or an early grave. As a fan I would selfishly love to see him have another proper run but good for him tbh

2021 Best Wrestler Poll

I made a proper best wrestler poll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT4VlbLEjo0

this week's bte... well, believing is seeing