SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
It was certainly a polarizing All Out PPV last Saturday night and my hope going into this episode was for AEW to try to bring their fanbase together with some great stories and wrestling in order to avoid a divide in fans that could affect viewership and engagement. Having “something for everyone”, while nice in theory, has not worked well enough to keep their numbers up.
HITS
AVOIDING THE CARNAGE
I think it was very smart of AEW to acknowledge the more brutal events of All Out but not show them to the television audience. It would have been easy to be defiant and double down on the violence to show how “edgy” they are. Instead, they alluded to it, but the point was made that Jon Moxley and “Hangman” Page went too far and they were both able to build on their characters and storylines without showing exactly what happened.
THE MOXLEY STORYLINE
I was impressed right off the top of the show with the video package of Moxley’s explanation or his actions and how the story weaved its way throughout the show with Pac’s short monologue and the eventual Darby Allin in-ring promo.
Moxley was fantastic as usual. He is the only guy in wrestling right now that I hang on every word he says because it’s so compelling and you just don’t know what he’s going to say. He continues to give us one puzzle piece per appearance so we understand a little more what he’s doing, but in his words we still have “no idea what is going on.” That kind of storytelling keeps viewers engaged and wanting more.
One of the better aspects to his storyline is that while we don’t know the motivations quite yet, one of the main focuses is the World Title. As it should be. That can be combined with Christian’s opening promo as well. The more that the show revolves around the World Title, the better.
Darby Allin was great as well and continues to show how his mic skills have improved in the past five years. He plays his character to perfection and I believe it is because he is not far off from being that guy in real life. He is the definition of “being yourself turned up to 100.” It’s plausible that he would put his title shot on the line in a big venue in order to prove to himself he deserves to be on top, but also to stick up for Bryan Danielson and for the company.
QUICK HITS
– Unhinged Hangman should likely have been selling some of his injuries a bit more, but his character continues to shine. It’s often said that those seeking revenge do not feel the way they think they will after getting that revenge. That played out in Hangman’s backstage interview as he just pivoted to looking for those who helped Swerve and planned to take out his vengeance on them in order to make himself feel better. I’m guessing that won’t help either.
– Jack Perry vs. Lio Rush was a fun match to watch and got Perry a win and some momentum back after losing at All Out. It should have been an eliminator match though as Lio has done nothing to earn a title match.
– Ricochet and Sammy Guevara’s match was very fun. I like the edge that Ricochet is showing and hope that continues to be developed. His upcoming match with The Beast Mortos should also be entertaining.
– Nigel McGuinness coming out to challenge Bryan Danielson should have been a major “Hit” and while he did a good job with his promo and I’m sure the next couple of weeks should be fun to watch, it contradicted the show’s main storyline. Moxley told Darby that Danielson wouldn’t be at Grand Slam and that’s why they are going to face each other there, but then later in the show, they set this challenge up. There had to have been a better way to explain this because both stories/matches are one’s that fans can get behind in a big way.
– I like the reasoning and pairing of Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher and their match with the Bucks should be amazing. That said, see below.
Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: CLICK HERE (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
MISSES
THE TAG TEAM GAUNTLET
First of all, they are doing the Gauntlet match too much. Like NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman who had a great idea with the outdoor Winter Classic on New Year’s Day, eventually they did outdoor games way too much and now it’s not special and nobody cares.
If the Gauntlet match is going to be a special AEW thing akin to the Royal Rumble, then they can’t just throw one on TV less than three weeks after doing one on a PPV and do it with lower card tag teams. Was there any suspense once FTR and the GYV went off to the back? The excitement and anticipation from the fans is killed when you are bringing out teams that have not been built up and mostly lose.
That said, the crowd pop for the Outrunners was shocking! Good for them.
PENNIES SPOT
So, $7,000 is 700,000 pennies. That was not 700,000 pennies. The idea of dropping the change into Chris Jericho’s car may have looked good on paper from the1998 WWF archives, but this was not cement or something to be feared. It looked bad and should have been scrapped once they saw that it was not going to pay off visually.
There was some great wrestling on the show but the main talking point coming out is the Jon Moxley storyline and that was amazing. Will it pay off in the end? Will it grab viewers and end the ratings slide? That all remains to be seen, but they were working hard to come up with an angle to do just that. That’s the best sign of all because they seem to be listening to some of the criticism and working to improve the product.
Don’t forget to check out the weekly free podcast I’m part of, “The All Elite Conversation Club” that typically drops on Fridays the PWTorch Dailycast lineup. Joel Dehnel and I have a great time breaking down all things AEW! Search “pwtorch” on your podcast app to subscribe. Send questions and comments to allelitecc@gmail.com.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3Ikl_mv_mw&t=1s
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