![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Dynamite/Rampage (09.01.2021/09.03.2021)
Quick wrestly post while I watch some random documentary and vibe.
FTR vs. Santana & Ortiz: SO glad these boys got to run this back so soon after they were robbed of a proper match by a total freak accident. Santana & Ortiz actually getting to win a match that they wore their Dead Presidents face paint to was a nice change of pace, and the whole thing had a nice big grudge match feel even as the actual action was a lot more measured than you'd expect. This was a WRESTLING match, all skill and hard-hitting tag team action instead of just a brawl. Ortiz does some of the most harrowing near-falls in the business, my heart jumps into my throat on every two-count he takes. I AM READY FOR PROUD 'N' POWERFUL TO BE TAG CHAMPS NOW PLEASE AND THANK YOU. Now hopefully AEW can stop showing me Cash's arm get split open all the goddamn time.
I genuinely believe that 2point0 think Daniel Garcia is their son. The little brawl with them and Darby and Sting was a fun way to break up the obligatory 'CM Punk is just happy to be here' segment (which I would definitely be sick of by now if they weren't all so gosh-darned wholesome).
MJF sitdown with Tony, and I'm sure it was great because he's a great talker, but I'm so fucking done with this feud that I just kinda tuned out for most of it?
Orange Cassidy vs. Jack Evans: Speaking of feuds I'm over, oh my god why does everything involving Matt Hardy have to last forever? Anyway, this was a fine match made instantly memorable by the fact that ORANGE WON IT DURING PICTURE-IN-PICTURE!! THE THING ENDED WHILE MOST OF THE AUDIENCE WAS WATCHING COMMERCIALS! I'VE WANTED THAT TO HAPPEN FOR SO DAMN LONG!!! Not as a regular thing, obviously, and it'd suck if it happened in a more important match, but just to establish that it's a viable possibility, instead of the PIP sections just being 'you can zone out now, nothing interesting is going to happen until the welcome backs'. SO GOOD AND COOL AND UNEXPECTED.
They're really pushing this 'Miro's weakness is his neck' angle ahead of his fight with Eddie, and it's giving me so much (likely fruitless) hope that the monster could fall, it's very well done! Meanwhile, Eddie's husband wants to scalp the nice old man who likes bread. THAT FEELS EXCESSIVE, MOX.
And then Jericho sits down with JR and it goes on forever and I want to die! Give me more shit like Darby talking about how CM Punk was his favourite when he was 15.
Brian Cage vs. Powerhouse Hobbs: Wooooooooow, huge rub for Hobbs here, I think they're really setting him up for something special. Where does Cage go from here, though? Surely they had him split from Team Taz for a reason, but maybe they're not finished breaking him down before they build him back up.
All of Malakai's promos are amazing and I love them, even if a forever feud with the Nightmare Family remains an unappealing prospect. Spooky lemonade out of lemons! All of QT's promos, on the other hand, mostly just make me resent the fact that the women get so little screentime in comparison, except this week, Gunn Club turned heel on Paul Wight which is HILARIOUS. Austin how could you! The loud little saviour of the pandemic era shows himself!
Hilarious Britt interview that makes me think Adam Cole to AEW is a done deal, otherwise they wouldn't be teasing it like this; they did the exact same think with Punk ahead of his debut (and Brian Danielson, so let's see if he shows up at All Out as expected first I guess!).
Penelope Ford vs. Tay Conti: Fantaaaaaastic match, and it's so impressive what the women are capable of when they're actually given the time to shine. They got 'this is awesome' chants in the pre-main event cooldown slot! And then Penelope and the Bunny started putting the boots to Tay and then ANNA CAME BACK TO SAVE HER BESTIE I POPPED SO HARD WHEN THAT DARK ORDER THRUM HIT AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. And her Southern roots were SO on display with that pissed off march down to the ring and Tay's adorable perfect little face when she looked up and saw her there and they hugged and stared down the murder girlfriends and it was beautiful and perfect and nothing hurt and I just really really love that they tied Anna's big return after all these months to her relationship with Tay instead of Dark Order?? FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS FUCK YEAH. Though I am gonna need her to step in and mend the rifts between her boys as well as soon as that battle royale is over.
We get an interview bit that turns into Nyla and Jade teaming up to beat the shit out of Thunder Rosa, which feels random but which I'm guessing it just to set up a plot thread for the battle royale, so I'll take it; the more of those in play, the better, even if it sucks that the division is such an afterthought that there aren't already plenty. EVERY SINGLE FORMER CHAMPION IS IN THIS THING. AND YET. NO ONGOING PLOTS BETWEEN THE LOT OF THEM. BE BETTER.
The Elite vs. Lucha Brothers & Jurassic Express: Very fun, all-over-the-map eight-man spectacle, even if the Good Brothers being lumped in as The Elite gives me fucking hives. It almost feels like the Bucks are teaming up with them to quietly get back at Kenny just like he tagged with them to make the Bucks jealous back at the beginning of the year. Anyway, the post-match was the most interesting part of this, even if the heel beatdown went down for FAR longer than I generally have patience for. They did a really good job of establishing the cage as this impenetrable barrier to keep out shenanigans while putting the good guys in the mud for sympathy; if the cage match on Sunday doesn't have a clean ending one way or another after this, I will be annoyed. Also where did Brandon get all of those kendo sticks!!!
Malakai Black vs. Lee Johnson: The angle towards the end of this fight, with Malakai asking if Lee wants revenge for Cody/Brock/Arn or a win more, offering him the chair to wreck him at the cost of the match, was far and away the most interesting thing to come of this feud yet. Of course Lee didn't take the bait, he's too good and pure and then got his head kicked off, but a slow corruption of the Nightmare Factory's biggest homemade star would be so fascinating, especially right after they lost Billy Gunn and his silly sons. At least it'd be much more interesting than Cody just eventually swooping back in to defeat Malakai, making the whole feud just Brodie 2.0, lather rinse and repeat with someone new if Go Big Show gets picked up for a third season. In the meantime, Dustin is next on the hit list.
And then I was gifted with another all-fucking-timer of an Eddie Kingston segment that is gonna be living rent-free in my head for the foreseeable future. Sorry Miro, I love you, but if somebody ever called my God stupid, shouted REDEEM THESE NUTS, and then kicked my ass, I would simply never show my face in public again! Oh jesus, I love everything about this. I think if Eddie were more overtly religious, the whole Great Schism angle to this feud would come off as weird and uncomfortable, but since he strikes me as more of a cultural Catholic and hates God more than he hates anybody else, it's just hilarious?? Can't believe the random TNT title match is my most anticipated fight on the PPV card.
Rebel & Jamie Hayter vs. Kris Statlander in a Handicap Match: Fucking fantastic. This could have been a total squash, just an easy way to tease Jamie vs. Kris at a later date while furthering the plot with Britt and not having Jamie take a pin just yet, and it WAS all that, but it was also legitimately fucking amazing in places and made Kris look like an absolute alien BEAST ahead of her title shot (which, after she was violently ill for her last one, I am really looking forward to). The bit where she has Rebel on her shoulders and hoists Jamie up crossbody? hOLY SHIT. Not entirely sure where Red Velvet coming in with the save is going; just returning the favour from a few weeks back or will they have a tall/smol alliance going forward? Time will tell I guess!
Mox once again reminds us that he's gonna fuck Kojima's shit up bad while Kojima is just the nicest guy who wants to have a good fight, and then there's a Darby/Garcia interview where Sting and 2point0 stand over their shoulders like the dads called into the teacher's office because their sons were caught fighting and it's so damn funny.
Darby Allin vs. Daniel Garcia: Much like their first match, only more so! Darby hitting the Pepsi Twist and Punk getting involved in the aftermath was fun. Not much else to say! A very solid go home show, I really like that that role is gonna fall to Rampage now! Since it's such a tighter, more action-oriented hour than the variety show feel of Dynamite, it really makes it feel like there's a ton of energy and momentum heading into the big weekend show! Also Jericho wasn't NEARLY as obnoxious on commentary as he's been thus far, keep working at toning it down, dude! It's paying off!
PREDICTION TIME
Best Friends/Jurassic Express vs. HFO: The good guys win to start the show off on a happy note and ensure Matt Hardy will keep feuding with them forever.
Women's Casino Battle Royale: Noooooo fuckin' clue, but my heart says Thunder Rosa because she feels like the most likely candidate to beat Britt and I want it so bad. Also if Ruby Soho debuts and I get to hear fuckin' Rancid on my big wrestly show, I might tear up a li'l bit.
Moxley/Kojima: Mox wins, and since he apparently beat Matt Cardona for the GCW championship last night, they should make this a title defense just because it would be insane and hilarious.
Big Show/QT: Wight wins and nobody cares.
PAC/Andrade: NOT HAPPENING BECAUSE PAC IS COVID-TRAPPED IN THE UK AGAIN, WOMP WOMP. At least they put the women's battle royale on the actual fucking card as a result.
Jericho/MJF: Whoever wins, I lose. But MJF.
Miro/Eddie: I want to believe. I WANT TO BELIEVE. Eddie and Miro have been getting SO much screentime for a random feud that only started a couple of weeks ago over a title that is constantly defended anyway, which has really gotten my hopes up that Eddie could conceivably take it. This is All Out, 'where champions are made', so at least ONE title HAS to change hands tonight. This feels like the most likely candidate. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking. PRAYER CIRCLE TIME. Where's my rosary?
Young Bucks/Lucha Bros: Bucks retain. I just really want Santana & Ortiz to be the ones to unseat them, and I still think the Lucha Bros are destined to be the inaugural trios champs with PAC whenever that belt gets announced (and if they were all supposed to lose tonight, that could have been a big motivator for them). We'll see, though, this is probably the second most possible title change of the night.
Baker/Statlander: Britt retains and Leshia is sad about it. Kris will be our leader one day, though.
Punk/Allin: Man, I don't know. Surely Punk's not gonna lose his first match in seven years, right? So yeah, him. I hope it's a crazy fuckin' fight.
Kenny/Christian: Kenny retains, but hopefully they have an even better match than their last (fantastic) one so Kenny can have one last great title defense before my cowboy rides back in to get Full Gear ready and save the day. Pretty sure this match is only a thing because of Hangman's paternity leave, I don't to feel like we've wasted these months!
JUST A LITTLE OVER TWELVE HOURS TO GO!!! Gotta make sure to order booze. And maybe lots of pasta, really make a night out of it.
FTR vs. Santana & Ortiz: SO glad these boys got to run this back so soon after they were robbed of a proper match by a total freak accident. Santana & Ortiz actually getting to win a match that they wore their Dead Presidents face paint to was a nice change of pace, and the whole thing had a nice big grudge match feel even as the actual action was a lot more measured than you'd expect. This was a WRESTLING match, all skill and hard-hitting tag team action instead of just a brawl. Ortiz does some of the most harrowing near-falls in the business, my heart jumps into my throat on every two-count he takes. I AM READY FOR PROUD 'N' POWERFUL TO BE TAG CHAMPS NOW PLEASE AND THANK YOU. Now hopefully AEW can stop showing me Cash's arm get split open all the goddamn time.
I genuinely believe that 2point0 think Daniel Garcia is their son. The little brawl with them and Darby and Sting was a fun way to break up the obligatory 'CM Punk is just happy to be here' segment (which I would definitely be sick of by now if they weren't all so gosh-darned wholesome).
MJF sitdown with Tony, and I'm sure it was great because he's a great talker, but I'm so fucking done with this feud that I just kinda tuned out for most of it?
Orange Cassidy vs. Jack Evans: Speaking of feuds I'm over, oh my god why does everything involving Matt Hardy have to last forever? Anyway, this was a fine match made instantly memorable by the fact that ORANGE WON IT DURING PICTURE-IN-PICTURE!! THE THING ENDED WHILE MOST OF THE AUDIENCE WAS WATCHING COMMERCIALS! I'VE WANTED THAT TO HAPPEN FOR SO DAMN LONG!!! Not as a regular thing, obviously, and it'd suck if it happened in a more important match, but just to establish that it's a viable possibility, instead of the PIP sections just being 'you can zone out now, nothing interesting is going to happen until the welcome backs'. SO GOOD AND COOL AND UNEXPECTED.
They're really pushing this 'Miro's weakness is his neck' angle ahead of his fight with Eddie, and it's giving me so much (likely fruitless) hope that the monster could fall, it's very well done! Meanwhile, Eddie's husband wants to scalp the nice old man who likes bread. THAT FEELS EXCESSIVE, MOX.
And then Jericho sits down with JR and it goes on forever and I want to die! Give me more shit like Darby talking about how CM Punk was his favourite when he was 15.
Brian Cage vs. Powerhouse Hobbs: Wooooooooow, huge rub for Hobbs here, I think they're really setting him up for something special. Where does Cage go from here, though? Surely they had him split from Team Taz for a reason, but maybe they're not finished breaking him down before they build him back up.
All of Malakai's promos are amazing and I love them, even if a forever feud with the Nightmare Family remains an unappealing prospect. Spooky lemonade out of lemons! All of QT's promos, on the other hand, mostly just make me resent the fact that the women get so little screentime in comparison, except this week, Gunn Club turned heel on Paul Wight which is HILARIOUS. Austin how could you! The loud little saviour of the pandemic era shows himself!
Hilarious Britt interview that makes me think Adam Cole to AEW is a done deal, otherwise they wouldn't be teasing it like this; they did the exact same think with Punk ahead of his debut (and Brian Danielson, so let's see if he shows up at All Out as expected first I guess!).
Penelope Ford vs. Tay Conti: Fantaaaaaastic match, and it's so impressive what the women are capable of when they're actually given the time to shine. They got 'this is awesome' chants in the pre-main event cooldown slot! And then Penelope and the Bunny started putting the boots to Tay and then ANNA CAME BACK TO SAVE HER BESTIE I POPPED SO HARD WHEN THAT DARK ORDER THRUM HIT AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. And her Southern roots were SO on display with that pissed off march down to the ring and Tay's adorable perfect little face when she looked up and saw her there and they hugged and stared down the murder girlfriends and it was beautiful and perfect and nothing hurt and I just really really love that they tied Anna's big return after all these months to her relationship with Tay instead of Dark Order?? FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS FUCK YEAH. Though I am gonna need her to step in and mend the rifts between her boys as well as soon as that battle royale is over.
We get an interview bit that turns into Nyla and Jade teaming up to beat the shit out of Thunder Rosa, which feels random but which I'm guessing it just to set up a plot thread for the battle royale, so I'll take it; the more of those in play, the better, even if it sucks that the division is such an afterthought that there aren't already plenty. EVERY SINGLE FORMER CHAMPION IS IN THIS THING. AND YET. NO ONGOING PLOTS BETWEEN THE LOT OF THEM. BE BETTER.
The Elite vs. Lucha Brothers & Jurassic Express: Very fun, all-over-the-map eight-man spectacle, even if the Good Brothers being lumped in as The Elite gives me fucking hives. It almost feels like the Bucks are teaming up with them to quietly get back at Kenny just like he tagged with them to make the Bucks jealous back at the beginning of the year. Anyway, the post-match was the most interesting part of this, even if the heel beatdown went down for FAR longer than I generally have patience for. They did a really good job of establishing the cage as this impenetrable barrier to keep out shenanigans while putting the good guys in the mud for sympathy; if the cage match on Sunday doesn't have a clean ending one way or another after this, I will be annoyed. Also where did Brandon get all of those kendo sticks!!!
Malakai Black vs. Lee Johnson: The angle towards the end of this fight, with Malakai asking if Lee wants revenge for Cody/Brock/Arn or a win more, offering him the chair to wreck him at the cost of the match, was far and away the most interesting thing to come of this feud yet. Of course Lee didn't take the bait, he's too good and pure and then got his head kicked off, but a slow corruption of the Nightmare Factory's biggest homemade star would be so fascinating, especially right after they lost Billy Gunn and his silly sons. At least it'd be much more interesting than Cody just eventually swooping back in to defeat Malakai, making the whole feud just Brodie 2.0, lather rinse and repeat with someone new if Go Big Show gets picked up for a third season. In the meantime, Dustin is next on the hit list.
And then I was gifted with another all-fucking-timer of an Eddie Kingston segment that is gonna be living rent-free in my head for the foreseeable future. Sorry Miro, I love you, but if somebody ever called my God stupid, shouted REDEEM THESE NUTS, and then kicked my ass, I would simply never show my face in public again! Oh jesus, I love everything about this. I think if Eddie were more overtly religious, the whole Great Schism angle to this feud would come off as weird and uncomfortable, but since he strikes me as more of a cultural Catholic and hates God more than he hates anybody else, it's just hilarious?? Can't believe the random TNT title match is my most anticipated fight on the PPV card.
Rebel & Jamie Hayter vs. Kris Statlander in a Handicap Match: Fucking fantastic. This could have been a total squash, just an easy way to tease Jamie vs. Kris at a later date while furthering the plot with Britt and not having Jamie take a pin just yet, and it WAS all that, but it was also legitimately fucking amazing in places and made Kris look like an absolute alien BEAST ahead of her title shot (which, after she was violently ill for her last one, I am really looking forward to). The bit where she has Rebel on her shoulders and hoists Jamie up crossbody? hOLY SHIT. Not entirely sure where Red Velvet coming in with the save is going; just returning the favour from a few weeks back or will they have a tall/smol alliance going forward? Time will tell I guess!
Mox once again reminds us that he's gonna fuck Kojima's shit up bad while Kojima is just the nicest guy who wants to have a good fight, and then there's a Darby/Garcia interview where Sting and 2point0 stand over their shoulders like the dads called into the teacher's office because their sons were caught fighting and it's so damn funny.
Darby Allin vs. Daniel Garcia: Much like their first match, only more so! Darby hitting the Pepsi Twist and Punk getting involved in the aftermath was fun. Not much else to say! A very solid go home show, I really like that that role is gonna fall to Rampage now! Since it's such a tighter, more action-oriented hour than the variety show feel of Dynamite, it really makes it feel like there's a ton of energy and momentum heading into the big weekend show! Also Jericho wasn't NEARLY as obnoxious on commentary as he's been thus far, keep working at toning it down, dude! It's paying off!
PREDICTION TIME
Best Friends/Jurassic Express vs. HFO: The good guys win to start the show off on a happy note and ensure Matt Hardy will keep feuding with them forever.
Women's Casino Battle Royale: Noooooo fuckin' clue, but my heart says Thunder Rosa because she feels like the most likely candidate to beat Britt and I want it so bad. Also if Ruby Soho debuts and I get to hear fuckin' Rancid on my big wrestly show, I might tear up a li'l bit.
Moxley/Kojima: Mox wins, and since he apparently beat Matt Cardona for the GCW championship last night, they should make this a title defense just because it would be insane and hilarious.
Big Show/QT: Wight wins and nobody cares.
PAC/Andrade: NOT HAPPENING BECAUSE PAC IS COVID-TRAPPED IN THE UK AGAIN, WOMP WOMP. At least they put the women's battle royale on the actual fucking card as a result.
Jericho/MJF: Whoever wins, I lose. But MJF.
Miro/Eddie: I want to believe. I WANT TO BELIEVE. Eddie and Miro have been getting SO much screentime for a random feud that only started a couple of weeks ago over a title that is constantly defended anyway, which has really gotten my hopes up that Eddie could conceivably take it. This is All Out, 'where champions are made', so at least ONE title HAS to change hands tonight. This feels like the most likely candidate. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking. PRAYER CIRCLE TIME. Where's my rosary?
Young Bucks/Lucha Bros: Bucks retain. I just really want Santana & Ortiz to be the ones to unseat them, and I still think the Lucha Bros are destined to be the inaugural trios champs with PAC whenever that belt gets announced (and if they were all supposed to lose tonight, that could have been a big motivator for them). We'll see, though, this is probably the second most possible title change of the night.
Baker/Statlander: Britt retains and Leshia is sad about it. Kris will be our leader one day, though.
Punk/Allin: Man, I don't know. Surely Punk's not gonna lose his first match in seven years, right? So yeah, him. I hope it's a crazy fuckin' fight.
Kenny/Christian: Kenny retains, but hopefully they have an even better match than their last (fantastic) one so Kenny can have one last great title defense before my cowboy rides back in to get Full Gear ready and save the day. Pretty sure this match is only a thing because of Hangman's paternity leave, I don't to feel like we've wasted these months!
JUST A LITTLE OVER TWELVE HOURS TO GO!!! Gotta make sure to order booze. And maybe lots of pasta, really make a night out of it.