AEW crowned their first world champion as the anniversary of All In was marked in style.
Like with All In, we’re coming from the Sears Centre in sorta-Chicago… and with the VOD being five hours long, this is one I really hope to blitz through. Especially since FITE seems to be in a buffering mood.
The pre-show’s commentated on by Excalibur and Goldenboy.
Casino Battle Royale
The winner of this gets a spot in the AEW Women’s title match next month. Yes, they’re bringing back the godawful format that means that we have people starting “already in the ring” with no intros. Way to make STARS.
Shalandra Royal, Leva Bates, Fabi Apache, Priscilla Kelly and Nyka Rose were our first five entrants. We’ve already got the wacky direction as they linger on a hard cam shot during the intros, while they also avoid a spot where Peter Avaolon lays down books for Leva to walk on so she can avoid getting eliminated.
Nyla Rose clears house early on, tossing out Priscilla Kelly (who was caught by nobody) just in time for the second batch of entrants. They were: Penelope Ford, Shazza McKenzie, Sadie Gibbs, Big Swole and Britt Baker. Ford hits the ring early to try her luck on Rose, ahd had some success until Swole caught her with a ripcord forearm, sparking a Parade of Moves.
Baker uses a mandible claw to drag McKenzie outside for an elimination – the actual move got no-sold by commentary. And JR’s not even on yet! Swole gets dumped with a uranage onto the apron as the next batch were counted down to… but they weren’t ready, as we had to wait for Penelope Ford to get eliminated for the cue. The third batch come out: Tenille Dashwood, Ivelisse, Bea Priestley, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong. Britt Baker left the ring during that, and she makes a beeline for Bea in the aisle, calling back to the injury she got at Fight For The Fallen…
Things settle down as Brandi had Awesome Kong do her bidding, at least until Brandi ran into Nyla Rose. Brandi lands a stunner, as the ring began to clear out a little, just in time for the final batch to enter the match. They were Allie, Nicole Savoy, Teal Piper, ODB and (eventually) Jazz. Apparently this was Teal’s debut, and it was a fairly anonymous one for Roddy’s daughter, poking the eyes of ODB before a sleeperhold was broken up by Kong, who threw Piper head-first out through the middle rope.
Jazz breaks a tie-up between Kong and Rose before the Joker was revealed: Mercedes Martinez. Who came out just as Awesome Kong got eliminated. More eliminations get missed as the production team’s pre-show ‘mare continued. Martinez dishes out a curb stomp to Bea, before a Saito suplex dropped Rose. Sadie Gibbs had her time to shine, until Bea Priestley clocked her with a kick… only to get caught with a press slam that went a little weird. Sadie tries to skin the cat to stay in, but Bea just shoves her away for the next elimination as the focus seemed to go on eliminating Nyla Rose.
Bea takes it as a chance to try and eliminate Martinez cheaply, but she needed help from Britt to do it. Britt pays back Bea with a Destroyer, before she tried to eliminate Rose as Bea was dead weight in the other corner… Bea’s back up, but gets forearmed off the apron by Britt… before she pulled a Hulk Hogan and pulled Britt out of the ring as Nyla Rose took the win. Yay for establishing Nyla as a monster, but this battle royal format needs to go. **½
Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs. Angelico & Jack Evans
Angelico’s luminous gear stings my eyes. Jack Evans and Marq Quen are exceptional at getting a crowd going, particularly when it comes to their flippy dos. Justin Roberts, using his best Gary Michael Capetta impersonation, shows up Excalibur on commentary by announcing 5 of a 15 minute time limit had passed… yet Excalibur’s insistent it’s a 20-minute limit. Which is it?
Quen hits a nice springboard dive across the ring to make a tag out, while Isiah Kassidy’s back body dropped into a ‘rana on the floor as Private Party are showing how they could well have been a massive gem unearthed by AEW. If they’re handled right. Jesus Christ, that leapfrog stomp to Angelico is brutal… and it just continued to show how Private Party operated like the more experienced tag team here, when… they’re not.
A shooting star press from Quen looked to win it, but he wasn’t legal, and the delay gives Angelico and Evans a way back in. There’s a brutal Muta lock/PK combo that led to a near-fall, before Private Party went nuts with reverse ‘ranas as the Gin & Juice – a ‘rana into a cutter – got them the win. A little sloppy at ties, but this was very spotty in the good sense. Give Private Party time to smooth things out and they’ll be huge. ***¼
After the match, Evans and Angelico attack Private Party from behind, earning them chants of “Party Poopers”.
We get a rooftop parking lot promo for the soon-to-be debuting Wardlow. I assume whomever was his date for the night undresses him to show he’s a built-hoss who beats up hoodlums who never learn from each other. This felt very much like a fight scene from a comic book movie… it worked.
MJF is backstage, and he’s asked about why doesn’t have a match tonight. He switched out of a sour attitude into the public facade he’s put on as he tries to convince us he’s only here to back up Cody. I guess the live arena couldn’t hear as chants of “turn it up” bled into the promo.
Cue a long spell of crowd shots and video packages as we head into the PPV-proper…
SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) vs. A Boy And His Dinosaur (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) & Marko Stunt
The main PPV opened with trios action between SCU and perhaps the most marketable new act AEW has on its books. Branding them “Jurassic Express” on the lower third may be tempting fate with some lawyers though…
When Excalibur’s having to talk without breathing, you know this stuff is too fast to keep up with… and there was a lot of rapid-talk here. Luchasaurus slows it down with a standing, no-bump suplex to Daniels, while the little lads worked to hurl Kazarian outside ahead of some dives… including a step-up flip senton from the Dinosaur.
JR’s clearly not a fan of Marko Stunt’s (lack of) size, while Daniels simply didn’t like the Floss. I mean, that is so last year. SCU isolate Jungle Boy for a spell, but it’s all undone when Luchasaurus tags in to dismantle SCU all by himself. Luchasaurus is more agile than you’d first think, as he shines like a motherbear here, before some neat triple-teaming led us to a spinning DDT for a near-fall.
With Marko Stunt down and out, SCU were able to use the numerical advantage as we had the referee doing nothing to clear the ring, which segued into a slingshot ‘rana that took Luchasaurus into his own partners on the outside. Stunt and Jungle Boy get stacked up for a Best Meltzer Ever… and that’s your lot. Entertaining as hell, but that finish sure did come out of nowhere. ***½
Kenny Omega vs. PAC
Jon Moxley missed out due to a staph infection that he picked up while in Japan… so PAC makes an unexpected return after whatever it was cleared up. AEW’s flashing up win-loss records for matches here, which’ll be fun to see disappear when they invariably book into a corner.
PAC’s doing his usual thing of refusing to play to the crowd at the off – which led to the crowd launching into mocking chants of “205”. Ah man, him and KENTA on the same day, in different continents. It’s the most coverage that brand’s had!
PAC impresses early, cartwheeling out of a Kotaro Krusher before a monkey flip from Omega took him outside… but there’s no dive from Kenny as he took so long that JR berated him for his gamesmanship. PAC’s offence gave the crowd a few chants to call him a bastard for “killing Kenny”, he also wasn’t immune to grumpy JR, who called him a “daft bastard” for not going for a pin after a big missile dropkick. I giggled.
The guard rails come into play as Kenny Omega’s legs crash into them on a tope con giro on PAC. He’s fine though, as the high-impact offence continues, with PAC coming right back in with a DDT, before an Orihara moonsault again showed us how damn close those barriers were. Did nobody measure out the splash zone properly?
Regardless, PAC’s back with a 450 splash before things descended into back-and-forth strikes, before Omega looked for a One Winged Angel… switching it into Kroyt’s Wrath for a near-fall. PAC has his own deadlift German suplex for a near-fall, but the momentum keep swinging like a football team that couldn’t hold onto a lead, wit Omega landing V-Triggers for fun. PAC manages to counter a One Winged Angel by slipping into a Brutaliser (Rings of Saturn), pulling Omega down to the mat… and that forces the stoppage. A hell of a finish to get the move over as Kenny Omega continues to flirt with a losing record. ****
That PAC theme is scarily close to the godawful Hunter Brothers theme from Rev Pro last year…
Cracker Barrel Clash: Darby Allin vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Joey Janela
With this being a three-way, it’s inherently no-DQ, complete with a sponsorship.
Jimmy Havoc staples himself with a staple gun early on as we go straight to the plunder. There’s an ominous Cracker Barrel barrel in the aisle, while Darby Allin hog ties Jimmy Havoc to a chair, before they put thumb tacks in his mouth and taped it closed. Well… it’s one way to keep someone at bay.
Well, at least until Darby Allin decided to senton into him as Havoc got out of his chair. Meanwhile, Joey Janela dumps Darby on the apron with an Emerald Fusion as they’re finding ways to get the crowd going before they used weapons. Which first came in the form of a tennis racquet that Janela tossed away. Can’t think what that was aimed at…
The stuns continue as Jimmy Havoc uses some laminated paper to tear Janela’s fingers apart, before a monkey flip in a chair is styled out by Janela. Which just earned him more papercuts… and it got worse moments later as Janela splatted on the floor after missing an Orihara moonsault. Havoc hobbles up the ramp to drag a second barrel to the ring as this is starting to resemble a wrestling version of Donkey Kong…
There’s more plunder in the form of a thumbtacked skateboard, before Havoc got tossed into the ring steps. Darby then goes to grab a barrel, using it for a Coffin Drop off the top rope… but Jimmy Havoc moved off the ring steps he’d been placed on, as Darby crashed, crashed and burned hard. I have a feeling he doesn’t like having a spine…
Janela’s back with a top rope elbow drop to Havoc in the ring before he grabbed the second barrel. JR goes all Granny on us, rolling out the barrel, as Havoc avoids a second leap onto him, instead getting up to superplex Janela onto the barrel – he was a little off, so instead we get an Acid Rainmaker into the remnants of the barrel for the win. This was insanity, but I have a feeling the win isn’t setting up for anything soon. ***½
Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent)
Winner gets a bye in the AEW tag title tournament… and based on the crowd reaction, one less Dark Order match may be the big victory here, as even the ultra-charitable AEW crowd couldn’t give a toss about them.
The Dark Order looked to get the upper hand early, as the crowd got “spooky perverts” going for the former Super Smash Brothers. That’s all that got going for them as the crowd were more pro-Best Friends than anti-Dark Order… and that’s a bad sign when you’ve got a match that needs to be fleshed out.
Trent gets cornered and stomped on, but Chicago was barely caring, as there was near silence when the Dark Order Chased the Dragon for a near-fall. Things pick up a little when Chuck came in, chopping and powerbombing Grayson before a tope con giro took out both of the Dark Order on the outside.
A blind tag brings Trent back in after a brief comeback from the Dark Order, with Trent landing a pop-up German suplex… but he’s gotta tag out as the Best Friends tried to keep themselves somewhat fresh. Grayson finds a way through with a corkscrew Asai moonsault to the outside, while Uno came close with a senton to Trent back inside. A cannonball/450 combo nearly does it as the Dark Order keep pushing the issue, finally prompting chants for the Best Friends, who mounted a comeback with a Sole Food/German suplex combo…
But they go for Strong Zero on Uno, which wasn’t a wise call, as Trent buckled. An Awful Waffle from Chuckie T spikes Grayson, but Trent took his time making the cover and was barely pulled out in time by Uno. The Creepers get involved as they swarm Chuckie T, throwing him into the steel steps, leaving Trent alone as the Fatality (Gory stretch/Blockbuster combo) got the win. This was fine, but the Dark Order are really not connecting with the crowd at all… and I have no idea how you turn the act around in this form. The juice is simply not there. ***
After the match, the Dark Order looked to carry Trent away, but the lights go out… and return as Orange Cassidy’s standing in the middle of the ring. Cue a hands-in-the-pockets tope into the Dark Order and friends, before he and the Best Friends embraced.
Hikaru Shida vs. Riho
The winner of this faces Nyla Rose on the debut episode of AEW on TNT for the AEW Women’s title… yeah, I’m not a fan of both your world titles being decided between the winner of a one-off battle royal and an eliminator.
Commentary plays up how Riho’s already beaten Nyla Rose, which feels like a giveaway to the result. Shida’s on top early with a backbreaker, but Riho bridges up out of a pin before she got herself trapped on the apron as a running knee from Shida rocked the young veteran.
A Boston crab from Shida forced Riho to the ropes, but a Canadian backbreaker keeps the pressure up as it was really all one-way traffic. Some headscissors from Riho finally gave her an opening, as she proceeds to low bridge Shida to the outside ahead of a big double stomp onto the apron.
Back in the ring, a drop toe hold took Shida into the ropes… but a 619 is caught as Shida countered into a Stretch Muffler, while JR complained about the lack of a ropebreak. Riho slips out and almost stole the win, before she ran into a leaping knee to stop that momentum.
Shida rebuilds with a deadlift suplex, before a second suplex got countered into a small package as Riho looked to snatch victory, only to get taken onto the apron as another deadlift suplex brought Riho in the hard way. Another superplex effort’s blocked as Riho knocked Shida back for a Del Rio stomp, before running double knees continued Riho’s comeback… only for Shida to ragdoll her into a backbreaker for a near-fall.
In the end though, Riho’s able to go back to the roll-ups, before a satellite headscissors led to a schoolboy roll-up for the win. Some good pace to this, even if the crowd didn’t seem too into it. I’m thinking that perhaps throwing out dozens of new faces across new shows without much in the way of spotlight helps establish a division? ***¼
Nyla Rose appeared afterwards to stare at Riho from the stage as the crowd stayed mild. Nothing against Nyla or Riho, but that feels like a bold statement to make, having one of them be the first women’s champion when you look at the names AEW have on their books. Did plans change?
We’ve a nice video package to build up Cody vs. Shawn Spears, basing it off of *that* chair shot from Double or Nothing.
Shawn Spears vs. Cody
Spears initially enters to silence, getting up from a chair on the stage with the Dave Batista spotlight, before he dragged said chair to the ring. Tully Blanchard brought up the rear, entering after Spears had gotten to ringside, so he could help show off Shawn’s spooky eyes.
Meanwhile, Cody had a Star Trek-inspired intro, complete with Brandi, DDP, MJF, and lots of dog-scaring pyro. The gimmick here was that Cody could only have one person in his corner, and I’m hoping the original plan wasn’t for it to be Pharoah… and it ended up being MJF staying behind. Interesting how MJF did the inverted Diamond Cutter sign behind Cody’s back. If you watched Ready 2 Rumble, you know what that’s code for.
Cody jumpstarted the match with a tope to Spears, taking the match into the crowd before the bell as we opened with a walk and brawl. When we get going officially, Spears tosses Cody outside as the brawl continued with Cody scoop slamming him to the floor, before Blanchard got involved to low blow Cody as Earl Hebner was dealing with MJF on the other side of the ring.
Back inside, Spears keeps up with chops before he got caught on the top rope with a ‘rana. Cody goes for another dive as Spears rolled outside, but that’s swatted away before Shawn suplexed Cody into a Tree of Woe on the apron, then used a pump kick to clear it away.
Spears keeps up the offence as the pair continue to fight in and out of the ring, leading to an apron DDT by Spears, which brought us a well timed, frustrated grunt from MJF. From there, Spears undoes Cody’s custom weightbelt, which seemed to prompt Tully Blanchard to undo his as I was scared of some unwanted stripteasing. Of course, it’s a ploy as Spears threw Cody’s belt aside, then used Tully’s to whip Cory with as the referee became suddenly deaf.
That whipping woke up Cody, who caught Shawn with a cutter out of nowhere, before an Alabama Slam provided another homage to partners of the past. A Figure Four’s quickly rolled over by Spears, with Cody eventually getting to the ropes as we’re back outside with Spears taking the initiative with a running death valley driver onto the ramp.
Earl Hebner finally starts a count, but he has to stop to push MJF aside as he got a little too hands-on in helping his “best friend” up. Cody beats the count, but quickly floats into a Cross Rhodes… just as Tully Blanchard gets on the apron to distract the ref. Old school and simple. MJF tries to repeat the trick, as the two seconds looked to lock horns instead, which led to MJF getting bicycle kicked to the outside by Spears. References.
As the referee was otherwise tied up, Arn Anderson comes down to a huge pop to drop Spears with a spinebuster before he wandered away. Tully walks after Arn for some reason as the former Brainbusters exited the scene.
Spears tries to use a chair, but he’s stopped by Cody, who spies the weaponry before he opted to dish out a Dusty special, before using the chair for a Disaster Kick as one more Cross Rhodes put Shawn away. This was fine, but for me the match was a little too “all over the place”, spilling all over the arena for no real reason. ***½
After the match, MJF grabs the chair, teasing the turn… but we’re left to wait. It’ll be glorious when it happens.
Escalera De La Muerte (Ladder Match) for AAA World Tag Team Championships: The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M & Rey Fenix) (c) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)
Going in, it’d be fair to say there was a little bit of apathy to this match, going by just how often it felt that the Bucks and the Lucha Brothers had met in recent times.
The Bucks were wearing antler masks for their entrance, which was tough to see as the camera crew zoomed back expecting pyro. Which eventually came in the form of fake pesos showering the crowd. I’m sure someone took offence.
This blood feud opened with both sides shouting and mocking each other’s poses, before all the flipping and flying broke out. Pentagon looked to be a little out of place as he had to sprint to break up an early Indytaker, before he went up to deliver a Wazzup diving legdrop to Matt’s Bucks.
He’s quickly recovered as Fenix took a buckle bomb/enziguiri combo as as springboard stomp from Nick kept Fenix in trouble. Fenix is quickly back with a springboard senton over the ladder to the Bucks on the floor as I’ve a feeling this is going to be one big game of “can you top this?”
They head back inside to set up ladders, which led to a nice spot where springboard armdrags were turned into them all leaping onto the ladders instead, before a pair of rolling cutters left all four men laying. I don’t want to sound like Jim Cornette here, but this feels a touch too choreographed…
Oh hey, there’s suddenly two tables on the outside, with Fenix and Nick Jackson on the apron as duelling spears take them through the wood. What was that about choreography? Matt gets his legs kicked out of his legs, before Matt tried to whip Penta into a ladder… he slides outside, only for Nick to jump on him as Fenix leapt into the ring to eat some rolling Northern Lights suplexes that eventually ended on a ladder.
More ladder assisted dives seemed to get polite cheers at first, before Matt combined a press slam and a spear to take out the Lucha Brothers on his own. We’re back on the ladders, but Fenix pushes Matt off, who decides to go for a springboard senton into Penta instead, before Nick tried the same trick, with Fenix hitting a moonsault to the pile.
We keep up with the ladder shenanigans as a tope con giro through the ladder from Nick takes down Penta on the outside, before Fenix slung himself through the ladder off the apron and into a Destroyer. I still don’t think they’re done with “can you top this?”…
Pentagon sets up another ladder/table structure outside while Fenix did the same in the ring, which is quickly put to use when Pentagon hit a Destroyer off the top of the ladder through the table. Hey, the structures on the floor get used as we get more duelling dives with Fenix and Matt leaping off the tops of ladder with big splashes. At least Doink’s mirror match stuff was done for giggles.
There’s people in the crowd laughing, so I guess there’s some noise being made as the stunt show continued to unfold to… apathy? I didn’t ever expect to hear (nor not hear) this for this match. Slow climbing from Fenix greets us as they head back to the ring, but Nick’s built up some tables on the floor as he teased a big powerbomb, before Nick puts Penta in a Sharpshooter. Matt tries to climb the ladder, but he instead stops to put Penta in a crossface, while Fenix came in to climb…
That doesn’t go well as the Bucks pull him down… Nick doesn’t grab the belts as he’s on the top of the ladder, making a half arsed effort as Fenix instead shook the ladder and pushed Nick off, sending him crashing down with an ugly thud… and I mean UGLY after he clipped the top rope. Matt tries to go for the belts, but Penta knocks him down before he got unmasked. Cue loud boos as the crowd finally gives a toss.
Unmasked, Penta shoves the ladder with one hand as it was Matt’s turn to take a horrible landing, guaranteeing chiropractor appointments in his short term future as Pentagon rolled outside to put his mask back on. Does Fenix try to go for the belts? Nah, he takes Matt on the apron so they can use the ladder bridge, with the re-masked Penta setting up for a spike package piledriver onto a ladder that doesn’t give, before the Lucha Bros climbed the ladder and finally retrieved the belts.
Maybe this match caught me on a bad day. Maybe on another day I’d be losing my mind watching this, but this just felt like a massively over-choreographed, all-over-the-place mess when it came to pace. I get playing with the crowd’s emotions, but save for the customary shocked “ohh” reactions to moves, did this really connect with the crowd? This just looked obviously scripted, particularly when it came to the stunts. ***½
Straight after the match, two men in masks hit the ring to applaud… but they instead shove the Lucha Bros off the ladder and stomped them out of the ring. Nick Jackson wanders into the ring to take a powerbomb/Blockbuster combo, before they unmasked as Santana and Ortiz! The former LAX are in AEW – and the crowd were damn sure up for that!
I swear the AEW “between segments” music is a version of Amale’s music out of wXw…
Cue a video package to hype up the main event. At least it tried to heat up Adam Page, whose ascent to this title match simply hasn’t worked. In terms of name power alone, he’s in a different galaxy to Chris Jericho right now. Something that was exemplified in the crowd reactions.
AEW World Championship: Adam Page vs. Chris Jericho
Page came out on a horse for his entrance, and thankfully didn’t have pyro as AEW were precariously close to a call-out from PETA.
Jericho’s carried his “Painmaker” moniker from New Japan into AEW, but thankfully the wacky clown makeup stayed overseas.
We open with a lock-up, heading into the corner as Page broke cleanly, before a chase on the outside led to Page laying out Jericho for a quick one-count. Jericho turns it back around with a missile dropkick for a two-count, only for the match to spill outside as Page lands a tope suicida. Jericho tries to catch Page unawares with a plancha, but Page ducks and followed in with a shooting star headbutt off the apron that Jericho countered into a Codebreaker on the floor.
Page barely breaks the count-out, but quickly got shoved off the apron and into the guard rails as Jericho was picking his spots effectively. Jericho heads outside to remove some fabric from the guard rail so he could wrench Page’s arms in those railings before he took Page back inside for a Downward Spiral, focusing on the arm.
A back senton flattens Page for another two-count as this remained methodical. Page tries to fight back with chops, but Jericho replies in kind before he kicked away a back body drop. Jericho’s sent to the apron, but he’s quickly back in with a crossbody that Page rolled through, eventually powering up into a fallaway slam.
Page looks for a standing shooting star press, but Jericho kicks out before a springboard was caught and turned into a side Russian legsweep for another two-count. A roll-up’s countered into the Walls of Jericho, but Page rolls free and spun his way out. A discus elbow from Page wallops Jericho, as the camera crew gave us a nice shot of a something being tossed Jericho’s way… and what do you know, he comes up bloodied. Which one fan bellowed “tis but a scratch”. Well…
Page stalks Jericho around ringside, throwing him into the guard rails as the crowd still seemed to be out of it. Perhaps heading up top will solve that? Page rakes the cut some more then took down Jericho with a swinging neckbreaker off the top for a near-fall.
Jericho responds by dumping Page into the ropes with a front suplex, but his springboard dropkick to Page gets countered with a superkick as a Buckshot lariat followed from the Hangman. Rather than go for the pin, Page goes for the Dead Eye, but Jericho rolls through into another Walls, but Page is able to drag his way to the ropes for more respite.
After being made to break, Jericho shoves the ref as Aubrey Edwards threatened to DQ him – finally, some authoritative officials – as Page proceeded to take Jericho outside for an Orihara moonsault that saw him land badly on the ramp. Returning to the ring, Jericho counters a second Buckshot lariat with a Codebreaker for a near-fall.
Page responds with a discus elbow before his shooting star press ends in Jericho’s knees… and I’ve a feeling there’s more to come. Another Codebreaker’s blocked, but we take the long way around to the Dead Eye as Jericho’s spiked for another two-count. A third Buckshot lariat follows as Page looked to chain it with another Dead Eye, but Jericho rolls through and swiftly connects with a Judas Effect elbow… and out of nowhere, that’s it! Hey, that move finally looked effective, and now Chris can go and celebrate with a little bit of carbonated wine before not doing something stupid like going and misplacing the title. Oh. ***½
For me, this wasn’t a bad show, but it was one that suffered with the WWE “disease” of running way too long and being unable to keep the crowd’s interest towards the end. Five hours with the pre-show, coupled with some matches that for my money at least simply didn’t deliver. Am I worried about AEW going into their TV debut? Despite some issues with production and direction… not in the slightest – their fanbase hasn’t been turned off, but I reserve judgment about how the TV show will be used to win over lapsed or even new fans.
…and this is where we jump off the AEW train, at least for now. Since we’re regularly unable to carve out time to cover their PPVs in a timely manner (and I’m not even considering the TV show), this is a product I’ll be watching… but perhaps not in sync with everyone else. We’ll dip in from time to time, but since Fite has a nasty habit of buffering in the first few days after the show, I’m all out. For now.