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fez_machine
Nov 27, 2004

bunnyofdoom posted:

Since not in OP but are ROH wrestling in front of me, who are Queen Amanita and Red Velvet and who should I cheer?

Low/mid card on the women's division.

Both are good wrestlers. Red Velvet has made huge steps in improvement from when she was Barndi Rhode's protege.

fez_machine fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Mar 17, 2024

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Lurks With Wolves
Jan 14, 2013

At least I don't dance with them, right?

bunnyofdoom posted:

Since not in OP but are ROH wrestling in front of me, who are Queen Amanita and Red Velvet and who should I cheer?

In short, they're both in roughly the same position: a lower-card wrestler in the women's division who's mostly getting experience until they're ready to move to a more notable position, which they're both now on the cusp of. Queen Amanita is from Guinea and is a relatively new hire, Red Velvet's father and uncle were both notable Columbian boxers and has been in AEW for a while now, they're both solid wrestlers. They're both also faces, unless a lot happened on ROH that I haven't heard about, so just cheer whichever one did something cool last.

bunnyofdoom
Mar 29, 2008

I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad! :emo:
I dunno which tag team wears yellow pants and their manager a blue suit but he went for cheap heat here that requires local knowledge so good for them for doing the research

Barry Bluejeans
Feb 2, 2017

ATTENTHUN THITIZENTH

bunnyofdoom posted:

I dunno which tag team wears yellow pants and their manager a blue suit but he went for cheap heat here that requires local knowledge so good for them for doing the research

that certainly sounds like Mark Sterling managing Josh Woods and Tony Nese

bunnyofdoom
Mar 29, 2008

I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad! :emo:

Barry Bluejeans posted:

that certainly sounds like Mark Sterling managing Josh Woods and Tony Nese

That's who they were! Thanks!

(For the context, Sterling made a comment about how when he heard they were going to the capital of Canada he thought he was going to Toronto. We gave a bit of a thing about that)

bunnyofdoom
Mar 29, 2008

I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad! :emo:

Ziggy Tzardust posted:

Congrats on this being your first wrestling show. Danielson/Shibata might have you asking the question “do these guys know it’s fake?”

:stare:


Goddamned you were not kidding

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

bunnyofdoom posted:

:stare:


Goddamned you were not kidding

You are so, so lucky to have seen that match live!

Kvantum
Feb 5, 2006
Skee-entist

Lurks With Wolves posted:

In short, they're both in roughly the same position: a lower-card wrestler in the women's division who's mostly getting experience until they're ready to move to a more notable position, which they're both now on the cusp of. Queen Amanita is from Guinea and is a relatively new hire, Red Velvet's father and uncle were both notable Columbian boxers and has been in AEW for a while now, they're both solid wrestlers. They're both also faces, unless a lot happened on ROH that I haven't heard about, so just cheer whichever one did something cool last.

Aminata also has the bittersweet story about her never getting to tell her dad she was signed to AEW as a full-time wrestler, but after he passed, she got his cell phone from her brother (as she was the oldest)... and discovered it had multiple pictures of her as a wrestler from her time in Japan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlv81ZdZJAo

bunnyofdoom
Mar 29, 2008

I've been here the whole time, and you're not my real Dad! :emo:

Jerusalem posted:

You are so, so lucky to have seen that match live!

Hands down my favourite match of the night. Favourite moment was them teaming up to defend including Shibata with the chair

Erin M. Fiasco
Mar 21, 2013

Nothing's better than postin' in the morning!



I'm glad you had such a good time and it's cool that this thread helped! :)

Prokhor Zakharov
Dec 31, 2008

This is me as I make another great post


Good luck with your depression!
Red Velvet rules because she beats the loving poo poo outta people while being too small to actually run the ropes

Shard
Jul 30, 2005

Prokhor Zakharov posted:

Red Velvet rules because she beats the loving poo poo outta people while being too small to actually run the ropes

also see Riho

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.

Shard posted:

also see Riho

aew's gotta give riho the unstoppable monster push already.

Lethrom
Jul 12, 2010



Nea posted:

aew's gotta give riho the unstoppable monster push already.

This would require her existing for more than 3 weeks out of the year.

Barry Bluejeans
Feb 2, 2017

ATTENTHUN THITIZENTH
truly the Brigadoon of professional wrestlers

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Nea posted:

aew's gotta give riho the unstoppable monster push already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1KtDyMwscw&t=194s

Cassa
Jan 29, 2009
Thank you Gavok, this is incredibly useful as someone jumping back in again.

Remulak
Jun 8, 2001
I can't count to four.
Yams Fan
Just wanna say that goddamn Orange Cassidy is my favorite wrestler of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ6yZYZX1A0

Edit: also has PERFECT comic timing

Remulak fucked around with this message at 23:04 on Mar 24, 2024

Shard
Jul 30, 2005

Remulak posted:

Just wanna say that goddamn Orange Cassidy is my favorite wrestler of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ6yZYZX1A0

Edit: also has PERFECT comic timing

oh my god imagine him doing this to Pac and Pac just blowing a gasket

Defenestrategy
Oct 24, 2010

Good op, but suggest a small write up for Mikey Ruckus, the second coming of Jim Johnston.

ded
Oct 27, 2005

Kooler than Jesus

Remulak posted:

Just wanna say that goddamn Orange Cassidy is my favorite wrestler of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ6yZYZX1A0

Edit: also has PERFECT comic timing

what was this?

Ghislaine of YOSPOS
Apr 19, 2020

ded posted:

what was this?

It was garbage.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

Gatts
Jan 2, 2001

Goodnight Moon

Nap Ghost
Thanks for the history and thread. Great effort post.

Prokhor Zakharov
Dec 31, 2008

This is me as I make another great post


Good luck with your depression!
I feel like this should go itt somewhere

Gavok posted:

Hey, remember in the last thread that I said I was writing a listicle about AEW's best storylines? Here's the listicle about AEW's best storylines.

Remulak
Jun 8, 2001
I can't count to four.
Yams Fan
I still had cable in 2020 and randomly changed the channels into this match:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp8aOgTMX9k

Great intro to AEW. I had remembered it was Legos though.

Prokhor Zakharov
Dec 31, 2008

This is me as I make another great post


Good luck with your depression!

Remulak posted:

I still had cable in 2020 and randomly changed the channels into this match:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp8aOgTMX9k

Great intro to AEW. I had remembered it was Legos though.

AEW is the only promotion where commentary has uttered the words "What a stiff shot with the Silmarillion!!"

harperdc
Jul 24, 2007

Prokhor Zakharov posted:

AEW is the only promotion where commentary has uttered the words "What a stiff shot with the Silmarillion!!"

That has to be Excalibur commentary

Prokhor Zakharov
Dec 31, 2008

This is me as I make another great post


Good luck with your depression!

harperdc posted:

That has to be Excalibur commentary

I mean yes but it also was, quite literally, a stiff shot to the head with a copy of the Silmarillion

Lethrom
Jul 12, 2010



Remulak posted:

I still had cable in 2020 and randomly changed the channels into this match:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp8aOgTMX9k

Great intro to AEW. I had remembered it was Legos though.

There was a match with a lego spot, Arcade Anarchy I think?

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Gavok
Oct 10, 2005

Brock! Oh, man, I'm sorry about your...

...tooth?


As of this writing, Saturday is the 5 year anniversary of AEW’s first show, Double or Nothing 2019. I wanted to write a big thing about it and I figured this thread was the right place. So I thought I would talk about the 50 Best AEW PPV Matches, as well as the 20 Worst AEW PPV Matches. Well, more like 22 (OH MAN! GOLDBERG!) because there’s a three-way tie for #20.

See, I’m using the ratings from Cagematch, the IMDB of wrestling, for this. I didn’t want to just base it on my own opinions or even just the opinions of this forum. The MOTYC post earlier in the thread does that already and is overstuffed as is. I figured Cagematch was the right kind of community poll. Also, I’m including pre-show matches.

Before I get to the worst matches, I should note the special matches that are disqualified, as Cagematch refuses to allow them ratings to begin with. These are either because someone in the match is so obscure that they don’t have a profile on the site or that the match goes under five minutes, and barely counts to begin with. Some of them would probably be on the worst list otherwise or at least interesting enough to mention.

21 Man Casino Battle Royale (Double or Nothing 2019)

The very first match on AEW was a Casino Battle Royale and it was a mess. When your show is about introducing talent to wrestling fans, having them all come out in droves while giving only one a spotlight is a bad idea. The reliance of novelty wrestlers didn’t help it. It’s also why this isn’t rated, as legless wrestler Dustin Thomas was involved and he doesn’t have a Cagematch profile. He got twelfth place.

Michael Nakazawa vs. Alex Jebailey (Fyter Fest 2019)

Another pre-show match, this one was a sloppy comedy hardcore match between oily jobber Michael Nakazawa and Alex Jebailey. Jebailey is the head honcho of CEO, the fighting game tournament event that hosted Fyter Fest. He’s also playable in the fighting game Divekick! Too bad he doesn’t have a Cagematch profile.

Dustin Rhodes vs. Shawn Spears (Double or Nothing 2020)

Now we’re getting into the short matches. The idea here was that Dustin Rhodes got his rear end horribly kicked in a match against Lance Archer in order to build to Archer’s match with Cody at the PPV. Shawn Spears challenged Dustin to a match, figuring he was too hurt to even show up, or at least retired out of disgrace. Spears wasn’t even dressed to wrestle. Dustin appeared anyway and kicked the poo poo out of him. People thought it was dumb, culminating in a bizarre spot where he stripped Spears down to his underwear, which had a picture of Tully Blanchard (Spears’ manager)’s head over the crotch.

Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall (All Out 2021)

There was a time when AEW was intending to give us plenty of Big Show matches. Paul Wight had a handful of squashes that was supposed to lead to a feud against Billy Gunn and his sons, but never got there due to some injuries he was dealing with. His first match was against AEW’s Level 1 Subboss QT Marshall, who lost in about three minutes.

Hook vs. QT Marshall (Revolution 2022)
Hook vs. Angelo Parker (All Out 2022)

It took a long time for Hook to go from quiet dude in the background of Team Taz matches to actually wrestling. The guy definitely had the It Factor and the potential, but they didn’t want to overexpose or overpush. Instead, they gave him a bit of a Goldberg run that soon had him winning the FTW Championship. QT Marshall and Angelo Parker were two of his early victims, slightly higher profile than his usual fodder. Both of these matches happened on the pre-show.

Jade Cargill vs. Athena (All Out 2022)

This one is a headscratcher. Most of the matches on this list make sense, but this is the only Jade Cargill PPV match that doesn’t make it five minutes, and it was up against one of the opponents she probably should have dropped the title to. At the very least, it should have gone on longer than this! Athena’s been ruling Ring of Honor since this loss, making this such a weird victory for Jade.

Christian Cage vs. Jungle Boy (All Out 2022)

Yes, there were three short matches on this show. At least there was a good reason for this one. After a lengthy setup, Christian turned on Jungle Boy and they had some real heat going for it. As they were going for a singles match, Christian was injured and was going to need a lot of time off. It just felt too early to have Jungle Boy get his revenge, so Luchasaurus hosed him up, allowing Christian to get an easy squash win. That way, he could continue to taunt Jungle Boy while being in no condition for a rematch, stretching things out to a more cathartic final battle.

Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter (Double or Nothing 2023)

Jamie Hayter was AEW Women’s Champion, but she was in really bad shape, physically. So bad that she still has shown no signs of a return. Toni Storm destroyed her in three minutes to write her off TV and move on.

Kris Statlander vs. Jade Cargill (Double or Nothing 2023)

At the same show, Jade Cargill had a match with Taya Valkyrie where she once again retained the TBS Championship. She offered to do another match afterwards, as was her deal at the time, and a returning Kris Statlander thankfully arrived to finally dethrone her. Statlander was meant to do this for a long time, but was sidelined with a knee injury and Tony Khan was dead set on not changing his plans.

Tom Lawlor vs. Serpentico (Forbidden Door 2023)

A last-minute crossover match was announced as Tom Lawlor vs. Adam Cole. On the day of the show, Adam Cole was unable to compete due to the flu, so the match was scrapped. Instead, Lawlor beat go-to jobber Serpentico on the pre-show. I’m guessing we won’t get that Cole/Lawlor match this year either.

Luchasaurus vs. Nick Wayne (WrestleDream 2023)

This one came close to hitting five minutes, but it’s just as well. As a face, Nick’s deal was that he was good enough for his age to be on the roster, but still had a long way to go. He was up against Luchasaurus, a monster heel who was supposed to only be beatable by someone who was at least upper-midcard level. Nick had no chance but could at least get some licks in.

Christian Cage vs. Adam Copeland (World’s End 2023)

I’m going to hold off on explaining this one, as it relates to a match that’s on the worst list AND a match that’s on the best list. But it did last only 12 seconds, making it one of the quickest matches in AEW history. As far as I can tell, the actual quickest match in AEW history is Ricky Starks beating KC Navarro in five seconds on a random episode of Dark.

Now for the Worst AEW PPV Matches. Again, there’s a three-way tie for #20.

20) AEW TNT Title Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Battle Royal (Worlds End 2023) 4.37

I’m a guy who loves a good battle royal, but this one was rough and badly thrown-together. The winner would get a free “Money in the Bank” title shot for the TNT Championship, and Luchasaurus was the only viable winner of the group. The rest were a bunch of Rampage midcarders at best. Trent and Danhausen were the runners up, to give you an idea of how pointless this one felt.

20) Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks (All Out 2022) 4.37

In a show with THREE matches that went under five minutes, we got a bout between a split-up tag team where each guy has spent an entire AEW career of start-stop pushes. This is no different, as Powerhouse Hobbs ran through his former partner, making the whole breakup feel anticlimactic. Sure, Ricky would get his win back, but this match did him no favors.

20) Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. Thunder Rosa (Revolution 2022) 4.37

As AEW Women’s Champion, Britt Baker’s reign got tired. Really, really, really tired. Her ringwork was not all that good to begin with and the constant interference to retain was grating on everyone’s nerves. Thunder Rosa was the right choice to beat her for the title, but they decided to hold off on it. Britt won at the PPV via bullshit, and Thunder got her big win on a later episode of Dynamite in a steel cage. At least that was a good one!

19) Kris Statlander vs. Penelope Ford (Double or Nothing 2020) 4.35

I have zero memory of this match, but apparently it was a last-minute change. It was supposed to be Statlander vs. Britt Baker, but Britt was injured.

18) Billy Gunn and the Acclaimed vs. Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, and Satnam Singh (All Out 2023) 4.34

There was a lot working against this one. Billy Gunn is limited at best these days. Satnam Singh has the same problem, but worse. Dennis Rodman was in the Acclaimed’s corner and had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. Part of the match involved referee Aubrey Edwards’s rivalry with Karen Jarrett. The whole thing was garbage.

17) Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes (Revolution 2020) 4.34

Jake Hager’s capable of fun stuff and Dustin Rhodes still has a spark, but the two had bad chemistry together. Adding to it was an unfortunate spot where Dustin, the good guy, grabbed Hager’s wife in the crowd and forced a kiss on her face. Just a bad use of PPV real estate.

16) Swerve Strickland vs. Dustin Rhodes (Worlds End 2023) 4.31

This wasn’t really that bad of a match, but it was made from such a string of bad luck and questionable decisions that I get why it’s so low-rated. Swerve had finished with his Hangman feud, at least for the moment, and was reviving his longtime feud with former tag partner Keith Lee. A feud that never led to a singles match and instead just meandered and faded away before there could be a resolution. On the day of the PPV, Keith Lee announced that he was too injured to make the match. Instead, Swerve took on Keith’s occasional tag partner Dustin Rhodes.

This could have been a fine save, and it was promising when Swerve jumped Dustin before the bell and messed him up. After the vicious beatdown, the match happened and Dustin was able to competitively wrestle for over nine minutes. Not the best way to make Swerve look strong, considering he was on the way to a main event run.

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