Performance Review
Evaluate Performance and achieved goals
Get the fuck in here. What is going on?
Look, I’m the kind of guy that likes to get to the point so here goes: all the wrestling you do is kind of bad because of all the kickouts. It makes it so all these presumably talented guys and gals on your roster are running together because they’re all having the same back-and-forth match with each other, whether there’s two or four or six of them in the ring. And the KICKOUTS. YOU CAN END A MATCH. Ending a match is one of the finest things you can do in pro wrestling!
Sorry, sorry – I’m sorry I shouted. I just really want this to work. Why are you making this annoying? I want wrestling I can tell my friends to watch. Hand it over, man! Hand it over!
Discuss areas of excellence within performance
Chris Jericho is still the best thing you’ve got. I’m not confident that’s good, but it sure is fun to watch. The return of the Jericho list gimmick was a blast, as was The Jungle Express crew coming out and Luchsaurus emerging as a unique presence in professional wrestling, a big dinosaur-masked fan that can articulately talk. Hilarious stuff, and Jungle Boy Jack Perry‘s stilted delivery on the challenge to Jericho kind of worked in how real it felt. I am weirdly into the idea of this match.
“Hateful Tres”
I’m not sure whether a referee being powerbombed through a table and a head-shaving during the picture-in-picture commercial break was excellent or not. I appreciate the attempt at something weird though.
Discuss areas of improvement
You’re regressing. Hitting a wall.
It’s been a bit of an upward trajectory so far, a work in progress so to speak, and I guess the women’s division is improving, but overall last week felt like a bit of a crater with lifeless matches between presumably big acts (PAC/Omega, Page/MJF, Jericho tile defense) and no angles really working besides the Celebrashon for Le Champion. Course corrections for a new territory are interesting to watch, but this show felt like the result of digging themselves out of this crater and not sure they got far at all.
And you know what, Cody looks god damn ridiculous. I appreciated him at least acknowledging Brandi seemingly going nuts and MJF’s botched Crossroads, but the whole brooding serious bleache blonde over-articulate promo guy thing didn’t quite work here. I’m bought in because he’s a Rhodes, but I don’t think this plays anywhere else.
Brandi Rhodes‘ Nightmare Collective with Awesome Kong and apparently whoever the fuck else wants to join is a fine attempt at something weird and different except it’s basically The Dark Order and Straight Edge Society word-for-word and one of those things is on the same show. Seems weird and a little bit off-putting.
Where are the stories? The star machine? The promise of a wrestling product that feels different and better, not similar and worse.
Develop future goals with set expectations
Tell a story. Fix your sound.
Get your stars cooking, no matter the act – enough with the “WE KNOW WHO THIS IS!” booking.
Tight 5-7 minutes. Just saying.
Also, if don’t already have the Fenix split from Pentagon scheduled you’re out of your mind.
I’m not happy with you. Get out of my office.
Additional Feedback
Top Plays of the Week
3. Something Fenix Did: I assume so, right?
2. “You didn’t think I could talk?”: Articulate nerd Luchasaurus is EVERYTHING, keep it up please.
1. “Kids”: Jon Moxley’s comic timing remains A+.
Dum Dum’s Got Something to Say
1. Tony Schiavone holds this entire thing together and should just be given the book. Yeah I said it.
2. Can one match in this company just END? KICKOUT. KICKOUT. KICKOUT.
3. The MJF turn was too early. We thought it then, and now we know. It’s like the joy in AEW disappeared once MJF stopped acting like Cody’s little bro. It’s sad.
Gillette Presents, The Worst Shaves of the Week
3. The Nightmare Collective: Just in general.
2. Dustin Rhodes Kicks out of the 630: Killed the match, really might’ve killed the show.
1. KICKOUT: KICKOUT. KICKOUT. KICKOUT.
Oh Yeah, The Wrestling
The Young Bucks & Dustin Rhodes vs. Santana & Ortiz and Sammy Guevera started fun with Dustin getting in on the high-flying fun but once Sammy hit a nasty 630 splash and Dustin kicked out at 2 the match just started to feel unnecessary. The Bucks feel like they’re still working on their sizzler reel. A real aw shucks I’m sure everybody was real proud of that finish.
Putting Fenix opposite the guy they seem to be showcasing in Trent is a little weird because I think they should maybe be showcasing Fenix. They did some wild stuff, a Tornillo to dropkick for godssakes, but it was another AEW match that went so even that it all felt a little meaningless. JR gets on his JR shit and says Fenix “goes up [top] so much it’s almost predictable” but the sauce man is right, where’s the establishing of who these two are MEN? Trent just does a random piledriver like it’s an Irish whip or somethin’. Just an odd match, and by the time Fenix won there was no reaction because after just 10 minutes nothing felt like the actual possible finish.
Nyla Rose squashed The Librarian, great.
Christopher Daniels vs. Pentagon Jr. somehow ended up below expectations. I don’t what I was expecting, perhaps some styles clash that delivered and was weirdly enjoyable, but we did not get that.
Joey Janela went hard on the bumps vs. Jon Moxley but their match just wasn’t very good. That’s literally all I have to say about it.
Official Star Rating
1.25 out of 5 Stars
