Performance Review
Evaluate Performance and achieved goals
This was a fun couple hours of wrestling that started with an absolute marvel of a match in Fenix vs. Nick Jackson, the perfect type of showcase match that announces OK HI YES THIS IS THE NEW KIND OF WRESTLING NOW, and didn’t really let up. There was a bunch of good wrestling with a lot of forward story movement: Nick Jackson established himself as a singles guy, MJF and Wardlow took their next steps, Cody stayed home but Dustin Rhodes returned, The Dark Order got a creepy cool vignette, Luchasaurus kicked ass, Santana & Ortiz kicked ass, Darby Allin kicked ass, and Scorpio Sky traded lines with Chris Jericho so well they almost talked me into the Sears Centre.
Discuss areas of excellence within performance
The AEW show is really well paced for a two-hour cable wrestling show, especially when you’re so used to… you know. I am still digging how when the AEW camera goes live that means basically no stops – three-fourth’s of each commercial break is picture-in-picture with the show and if there’s not a match there’s still something going on: a guy walking backstage, a guy making his entrance. It sounds silly to anybody but the deepest wrestling nerd but the ability to make a wrestling show feel like a living breathing thing is vital and these guys are pulling it off.
I loved a lot about the Chris Jericho/Scorpio Sky exchange, outside of it just being genuinely good mic work. The lines were entertaining, the angle of Sky goading Jericho into putting the title on the line was fun, Jericho is clearly revitalized doing improv with a bunch of new wrestlers, and I am very into them going back to basics with a midcard journeyman pinning the champ and challenging him, providing a month of TV angles.
Luchasaurus beating ass then having a showdown with big Jake Hager was phenomenal. I loved JR’s line saying he sacrificed a “big pop” for his match entrance so he could help his buddy out in the brawl that preceded it, I also love the idea of JR finally recruiting Hager into a system that might make the most of him and his first feud is with a hoss dinosaur.
I also think it is quite excellent that a lot of stuff you could critique on-screen is little things right now, nothing beyond repair. There’s been stuff I haven’t loved, there’s stuff I’m not into, but the ratio of stuff I’m digging is really high and it’s just fun to watch this all unfold.
Also MJF is spray tanning now.
Discuss areas of improvement
I’ll give you a pass this week, and I want to say I recognize how early it is. There’s things to do, but part of the fun for me is watching the course correction.
Maybe do something about Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley though.
Beyond that, I’m liking what I’m seeing. I’m also not doing everything I can to get to the Sears Centre.
Develop future goals with set expectations
Figure out and more love to the women’s division.
Develop some of your acts that will be relied on to either carry the midcard or put newer acts over.
Otherwise – keep it up, pal.
Additional Feedback
Top Plays of the Week
3. Hikaru Shida’s Jumping Knee: Wow, that was very nice-looking.
2. Like 19 Things in Fenix vs. Nick Jackson: I don’t know what was the coolest.
1. DARBY’S CROWD SURFING BODYBAG ENTRANCE AND CRAZY TOPE SUICIDA: Darby Allin is my favorite wrestler.
Dum Dum’s Got Something to Say
3. AEW is showing impressive restraint for new wrestling company. A new company in this environment could easily go for shock/surprise weekly, but outside of the quick pivot to heel MJF the All Elite gentleman are taking their time. They are sticking with the roster they chose at the start and building it out. I appreciate that.
2. Kenny Omega, I don’t know what you are doing. Kenny Omega is basically like Trump, The Wrestler – playing to the base. If not the base, it’s annoying or exhausting or both.
1. AEW vignettes are A+. The AEW vignette has a unique feel to it, professionally developed with a little bit of mystery to it. And the biggest thing is that they are spacing them apart, so each feels special. I freaked out for Wardlow beating up guys in slow-mo, I marked out for Cody and Tony in the limo, and I was just completely enveloped by a DARK ORDER recruitment ad.
World Wrestling Entertainment Presents, The Troubling Talent Relations of the Week
3. Billy Gunn Plays Andre the Giant: Love Mr. Ass, but even WWE knew five years ago he’s used in-ring as a guy the new guys run over.
2. Dustin Rhodes’ Return: This was fun, but I feel like it should’ve been a bigger deal.
1. “I’m not really known as a promo guy”: If we didn’t know, Kenny, now we know.
Oh Yeah, The Wrestling
I enjoyed watching all this in the moment, and afterwards I appreciated how unique it all was. This wasn’t just Good Wrestling Match after Good Wrestling Match, which AEW has fallen victim to before. All the wrestling here brought something different: flying, mat wrestling, Battle Royal, squash, Good Tag Wrestling Match, crazy brawl. Impressive.
Fenix vs. Nick Jackson was just ridiculous, a freakish wrestling match where I won’t even bother making some list of everything they did. They basically just stuck their dicks out and showed they have the balance and timing of gods with all the crazy stuff they did moving so fast and flowing so well that it didn’t come off ridiculous that Nick Jackson was throwing a kung-fu kicks or somethin. Everyone in wrestling these days is doing dives and springboards and these guys went out there and were just like, “NO – this is how it is done.” The crowd was suitably having the time of their lives too. Nick Jackson is casually great, sometimes frustratingly so, and while I want to see an actual run/story from him Fenix comes off like the best in the world every time I see him. Just. Ridiculous.
Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida was a match in the middle of a struggling division but I appreciate that the ladies always get time in the ring. It might not always hit for a variety of reasons, they might always get two matches max, but it’s establishing a canon early that these matches are going to be serious competition and not quick TV bullshit. Baker and Shida did alright and had themselves a hot finish brudder.
The Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal was filled with ACTS, a fine way of getting all your guys on TV doing little bits. Christopher Daniels revealing himself under a mask again and taking out Pentagon, the ridiculousness of big Billy Gunn, and MJF eliminating everyone’s favs were highlights. The Jungle Boy/Adam Page finish tease leading into MJF revealing he was hiding outside and taking out Jungle Boy was a little confusing but ultimately a smart bit of business. MJF, Page, and Jungle Boy all came out better here.
Luchasaurus followed his showdown with Jake Hager with an absolute SQUASH of Peter Avalon. Loved it.
The Private Party vs. Santana & Ortiz was a lot of fun wrestling from a pair of special teams. Party got another big win too.
Darby Allin entered for his match with Jon Moxley by crowdsurfing in a bodybag labeled MOX and emerging from said bodybag with his skateboard. That combined with the opening beats of his music gave me goosebumps. Then Moxley tried to enter and Darby just SLAPPED him with a tope that was not just quick and impactful but told a story with ol’ Darby just recklessly throwing his body around to get the upperhand. These two had a fun match – it didn’t reach the heights of insanity one might imagine if told in November 2018 that Dean Ambrose would be wrestling Darby Allin but it was a hell of a showcase of two of the more special performers going today. A wild crazy match, just as it needed to be.
Official Star Rating
3 out of 5 Stars
