Overall Evaluation and Achieved Goals
Chris Jericho and Tony Schiavone on commentary helps the vibe, a mix of Jericho BS’ing in between Tony Schiavone still sounding like the most natural wrestling commentator in the world. Nobody is reacting and nothing feels like it matters, but there’s a quality roster here of people that aren’t quarantined.
A big plus was also no 45-minute Jake Hager match.
The big story this week, both because people don’t have much to talk about and because some of wrestling’s most prominent voices are so stubborn and annoying with their arguments, was Kenny Omega having an 5-minute match with young Alan Angels that felt like every other back-and-forth Kenny match. I thought it sucked, but we’ve been here before: Kenny does the knees and kickouts and it’s not fun or surprising, whether it’s SANADA or Jack Evans or Alan Angels. If it’s a big match it can very easily hit – when it does, it’s incredible. But he’s had plenty of big matches that haven’t hit and even more small matches that have been painfully forgettable.
This wasn’t Kenny Omega being giving like some humble skilled veteran, some friendly guy going 50/50 with a young up-and-comer. Back in the day, if that happened the young fella looked good enough to get over and the guy winning did enough things to keep it entertaining. The young guy didn’t need to become a star, nor did the veteran need to do anything new. But it did need to be interesting and fun. This wasn’t either. Angels seems OK in the ring, but he didn’t stand out and didn’t look any better than anybody because Kenny does this with everybody.
It wasn’t a squash match and didn’t even have to be, but it also didn’t feel competitive or fun either – it just felt like some 50/50 RAW TV match. At 5 minutes long it shouldn’t be an issue, but it keeps happening. The match helped nobody, inessential in the long run but destined to be steadfastly remembered by the already initiated. Bad, waste-of-time wrestling.
Areas of Excellence Within Performance
Chris Jericho coining “The AEW Galaxy” on commentary was tremendous, as was his brilliant description of squash matches: “It’s like a stand-up comedian dropping into Yuk Yuk’s for 5 minutes just to keep his chops up.”
If trends keep up, Darby Allin and Sammy Guevera are both obvious future stars. They had a fine match with a ladder spot and backflip caught with a reverse fireman’s carry but also headbutts to Guevera’s exposed ankles.
Taz explained wrestling moves again, like he’s a sports guy. So good.
The Best Friends accompanying Orange Cassidy to the ring in the era of social distancing is frustratingly adorable. Cassidy did some great selling against Jimmy Havoc.
Wardlow‘s squash was a billion times better than Kenny’s. Kind of felt reckless sometimes, but in a good wrestling way that I hope was safe for everyone involved.
Justice Law is a great jobber name.
Ortiz using a laptop with factory stickers for The Bubbly Bunch conference call when everyone else was using FaceTime was very, very on brand.
Suggested Areas of Improvement
Cody without the benefit of a rabid live crowd comes off a little pretentious.
Normal Matt Hardy probably shouldn’t feel cooler than Broken Matt Hardy, right?
Dustin Rhodes not being able to make Kip Sabian interesting seems like a problem.
Why is Jake Hager doing the Flim Flam? Stop it.
Top Plays of the Week
2. Headbutts to the Ankle: Heck of a move, Darby.
1. Wardlow’s Corner GTS: Badass, painful, unique, effective. All the good wrestling stuff.
Official Star Rating
2 out of 5 Stars
