quote:

Taz, Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross were the commentary team.

All three play the role of color commentator and none of the three know the names of moves so it's a real challenge for them to get these matches over.

**********

Mr. Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Five & Nine defeated The Young Bucks, FTR, Hangman Page & Kenny Omega

This was chaotic, but in a good way. Lots of action. .

Lee and Nick started out. Lee didn't fare well and he tagged Nine to be a sacrificial lamb. The Elite and FTR worked Nine over. Lee cut off Omega with a kick on the floor and the tide turned.

The momentum shifted again as Omega made his own comeback on Grayson and Uno. Nick hit a flip dive off the post to the floor.

The match turned again as Dax sold a knee injury after hitting a double stomp off the second rope. Cash and Page helped Dax as he limped to the back. This left Matt, Nick and Omega 3-on-6 against Dark Order.

Page finally made his way back to the ring and got a hot tag from Matt. Page ran absolutely nuts, beating Dark Order 1-on-5 as Lee looked on. Page hit a moonsault off the post. Page then dared Lee to tag in.

Lee and Page traded strikes. Uno cut Page off with a kick from the apron. Cabana tagged in and hit a Chicago Skyline. Omega saved. Grayson hit a 450 on Page for a near fall. The Bucks jumped in for a superkick party.

The Bucks hit tandem superkicks on Lee into a snap dragon suplex from Omega.

For the finish, Page went for the Last Call on Lee. Lee ducked and hit Page with a discus lariat for the pin.

**********

Best Friends were shown arriving at the building in Trent's mom's van.

**********

Jon Moxley cut a promo. He said he had a lot of demons early in his career. He said people tried to talk him out of fights and he didn't listen, so he understands why Darby Allin is fighting him tonight.

Moxley said roles have reversed and now he's the veteran talking sense to the young guy. He said Allin is his favorite guy in AEW and he doesn't want to be responsible for ending his career.

Moxley asked Allin to stay down when he tells him it's time to stay down.

I liked this promo. Good content and good delivery to set up a babyface match for the title.

**********

Best Friends defeated Santana & Ortiz

This was a long match and much slower-paced than the opener. Some of it was good but a lot of it felt like filler. Trent sold for the bulk of the match.

Taylor was in control at the outset. Trent tagged in and got cut off after being tripped on the apron. Santana used a cutter for a near fall.

Trent made a hot tag to Taylor. Taylor hit sole food and used a falcon arrow for a near fall. Trent tagged back in and got cut off again.

Santana and Ortiz set up for the Street Sweeper. Taylor shoved Santana off the top and Trent trapped Ortiz's leg for the fluke pin.

This felt like the first match of a longer program based on the finish.

**********

JR threw to a MJF pre-taped skit from his campaign headquarters. MJF ripped on Lee Johnson for hanging a campaign poster crooked. He told Nina to smile or not talk at all.

MJF said that just because he has his title match at All Out, he's not letting up in his campaign.

The camera operator asked if he was concerned that Darby Allin might win tonight. MJF said it would be a real shame if the 125-pound emo kid won the title, he'd hate to face him and totally blew him off.

**********

Matt Hardy was in the ring for a promo. He said he came to AEW because he wanted to come to a place where he was respected, where he could be an attraction and where he could give back to younger talent.

Hardy said he also wants to give back and help young talent as Matthew Hardy. Hardy said he's taken Private Party under his wing. He said he made the same offer to Sammy Guevara but Guevara gave him a proverbial middle finger.

Hardy said he no longer wants to help Sammy, he wants to hurt him.

Guevara ran in and they had an intense brawl. Hardy got the upper hand. He set up a table. Guevara came back and posted Hardy and placed Hardy on the table. Hardy bled a gusher.

Guevara came off the stage with a senton on Hardy through the table.

**********

They cut away from the brawl to the parking lot. Santana and Ortiz used a madball and a sledgehammer on Trent's mom Sue's van.

Santana spray painted "Sue" on the hood of the van and sprayed an X through it.

**********

Matt Cardona & Cody (w/Arn Anderson) defeated Alex Reynolds & John Silver

This was a very basic tag. Cardona looked fine but didn't do a ton as Cody sold for most of the match.

Reynolds and Silver almost immediately cut Cody off, ramming his ribs into the ring frame. Tonight is a big apron bump night as we got our third in three matches. Cody sold his ribs big.

Reynolds and Silver continued working on the ribs through a commercial break. Cody tried a backslide but Silver blocked. Cody hit a powerslam and made the hot tag.

Cardona hit a dropkick through the ropes to the floor on both Silver and Reynolds. Cardona hit a double underhook powerbomb on Reynolds for a near fall.

The match broke down. Cody hit Silver with a cutter. Reynolds sent Cody outside. Silver and Reynolds doubled up on Cardona. Cody and Silver did a simultaneous suplex spot over the top to the floor.

Cardona hit Reynolds with Radio Silence (the former Rough Ryder) for the pin.

**********

As Cody made his way to the back, Scorpio Sky approached him in the tunnel. Sky tapped on the TNT Championship, indicating a future challenge.

**********

Best Friends cut a promo in front of Sue's van. They promised to get Santana and Ortiz back and make them apologize to Sue on speaker phone.

**********

Guevara came to the stage and did his gimmick with the cards. One of the cards said that Chris Jericho was a master debater.

**********

AEW Super Wednesday 2020 Debate

Justin Roberts introduced the moderator, Eric Bischoff. Bischoff didn't do any shtick, he just introduced Cassidy and Jericho.

Cassidy entered first. Jericho entered with Jake Hager. Hager was carrying the jacket that Cassidy ruined with orange juice.

Bischoff posed the first question, "Why do Jericho and Cassidy hate each other so much?"

Jericho answered first. He ripped on Cassidy for not dressing up for the occasion. Jericho was wearing a suit. Cassidy was in his usual gear. Jericho said Cassidy is a joke, a flash in the pan and plays pocket pool. Cassidy said nothing.

The second question was who is the bigger star and who is the better wrestler.

Jericho said he's won 50 titles around the world while the only title Cassidy won was biggest slacker in his high school. Jericho said if they had gone to the same high school he would have stuffed Cassidy in a locker, stolen his money and his girlfriend. Cassidy said nothing.

The third question was about rising sea levels. Jericho blew the question off. Cassidy gave a detailed response about the danger of rising sea levels.

The fourth question was about why Cassidy is so popular. Jericho called Cassidy a pimple on the rear end of life and everything wrong with wrestling. Cassidy ignored the question.

The final question was why the rematch meant so much to both men. Jericho started to answer. Cassidy interrupted and said that he knew what Jericho was doing, challenging a guy who doesn't talk to a debate.

Cassidy said Jericho was trying to humiliate him but he isn't humiliated. Cassidy said next week is thebiggest match of his life. He said it's the biggest match of Jericho's life too.

Cassidy said imagine Jericho losing to the guy who puts his hands in his pockets.

Bischoff declared Cassidy the winner. Jericho said he hasn't liked Bischoff for 22 years. Bischoff said it was actually 24 years.

Jericho said he was going to kick the poo poo out of Cassidy next week, but Hager is going to kick the poo poo out of Cassidy now.

Hager attacked Cassidy and laid him out. Best Friends ran in for the save.

This was a fun segment. Cassidy was excellent, Jericho was excellent and Bischoff was good in his limited role.

**********

Tony Schiavone interviewed Britt Baker. He asked who Baker had chosen as Big Swole's opponent tonight.

Baker said she had chosen... Reba.

**********

Big Swole defeated Reba

Swole used a side headlock. Reba came back with a suplex. Reba missed a second rope moonsault and Swole hit Dirty Dancing for the pin.

Why did this happen?

**********

Jericho vs. Cassidy in a $7,000 obligation match, Cody vs. Scorpio Sky for the TNT title, plus FTR Tag Team Appreciation Night with Omega and Page vs. Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy in a non-title match, Stu Grayson and Evil Uno vs. The Young Bucks, and a special appearance by Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and The Rock 'n' Roll Express were announced for next week.

**********

AEW World Championship match: Jon Moxley defeated Darby Allin to retain the title

This was a good brawl.

Moxley came to the ring wearing a paper Moxley mask. Allin slapped Moxley before the bell. Moxley fired back with a forearm shot.

Moxley hit some powerful strikes. Allin hit a shotgun dropkick and a tope suicida to the stage. Moxley threw Allin off the stage into the ring post before a commercial break. Moxley used a single-leg crab and an STF during the break.

Moxley hit an x-plex. Allin came back with a tackle through the ropes and they crashed to the floor. Allin hit a tope through the bottom and second ropes. Moxley probably saved Allin's life by catching him.

Allin stomped on Moxley's hands and hit a flip dive off the post to the floor. Back inside, Allin went for a second rope Coffin Drop. Moxley blocked. Allin hit a code red for a near fall. Moxley came back with a belly-to-back suplex off the second rope.

Wardlow and MJF came to the ring. Wardlow took the ref. MJF grabbed the title belt and laid out Moxley with a belt shot. Allin hit a Coffin Drop and Moxley kicked out. Moxley bladed after the belt shot. Allin hit a backpack stunner and a running back elbow.

Allin came off the top with another Coffin Drop but Moxley caught him on the landing and put on a sleeper. Moxley then hit a Gotch-style piledriver. Allin kicked out at two.

Moxley hit the Paradigm Shift and pinned Allin.

Moxley cradled Allin's head to indicate that he was proud of him after the match.

**********

They cut to MJF watching on a monitor backstage, he was livid that Moxley retained.

NAG posted:

Eat My Fuc posted:

That’s not what WCW did so not at all what I said. Some of these women have to have contracts ending soon and they should be making big main event offers to them

Eat My Fuc posted:

Hall and Nash or ECW people? Then I don’t know and i’m sorry for being wrong.

My original point stands AEW should spend real money to get stars from WWE/NXT and feature women more irregardless of their roster situation. That’s my opinion.

fawning deference posted:

I guess I should have posted here instead, but what are the thoughts people have about the All Out card?

Mox v MJF obviously
Darby v Starks, probably in a gimmick match
Shida v Nyla redux
Matt v Sammy

After those it's more loose...

Best Friends v PnP
Britt v Swole if Britt can go?
FTR/Bucks/Dark Order/Page and Omega will have to figure something out?
What happens with Jericho and Orange? Surely they wouldn't do a third match, so I'm not sure of the aftermath
Archer?
TNT title defense (I doubt Sky wins but I suppose he could if Cody gets into the Arn/Horseman story; either way Cody will have a match)

JOHN CENA posted:

There are still plenty of women wrestlers to be recruited. Allie Kat, although there would be some discomfort personal life wise, would be a unique and good get. Scour the indies, there are PLENTY of Women available, I agree with the criticisms that AEW should be making a better effort, and it does look like they're starting to with this new tournament.

xbilkis posted:

Yeah, and I think shuffling in whichever available joshi talent could have been a solid bridge to building up a core of full-timers if they thought that was the best approach with the free agents they had available from the jump. But Riho's restricted availability was something people critiqued throughout her run, and a lack of continuity among the part-timers wouldn't have been great for long-term storytelling even if things played out according to plan.

Like with a lot of the problems with the women's division, it really isn't a big deal taken on its own. I'm just frustrated because I think taken together, they indicate the company is doing a less-than-ideal job of prioritizing women's wrestling. I assume other people just think that they've caught a series of bad breaks, which is undeniably true, too.

MJeff posted:

btw it is August and I am now going to begin my campaign for Jon Moxley: Wrestler of the Year 2020 and it will ramp up in obnoxiousness as we get closer to award season, so. Just a heads-up on that.

Anyway, Jon Moxley is the best wrestler of the year so far.

MJeff posted:

Mox is bringin' in the ratings and the buyrates, MRT. Kenny can hang out with Hiromu and Shingo in Most Outstanding.

Gumball Gumption posted:

R&R are not good by any real standard these days but they can go for someone their age.

Lid posted:

Shes not the only one. Lance is being raked over the coals by women wrestlers over this that was just the first i grabbed. Hes mansplaining to them that they think they do but they dont.

Prokhor Zakharov posted:

Hasn't Lance wrestled multiple intergender matches?

Lid posted:

And the response is to say it needs to be outlawed, which is what is being said it wasn't any room for women who want to, which the outcome is look at these scumbags we need to protect the women from themselves.

Gaz-L posted:

That's a bad analogy, though. It's way more like the response to rape culture in many cases being to 'protect' the women, instead of addressing the perpetrators and the system. Imagine the response to campus sexual violence being to ban women from attending social events that men would also be at. Yes, that would probably reduce instances, it's also incredibly sexist in and of itself.

Lead Pipe Cinch posted:

Scorpio’s run definitely points to a win. If they want to stretch it, go to a draw next week and have Cody drop it to him at All Out, but I’d prefer the former so they can get Scorpio feuding with someone else in time for a defense at All Out.

Lead Pipe Cinch posted:

People were piling on to her for various reasons related to AEW Heels and how she books the women's division, and every time she'd respond someone else would roll up to dissect the response. The most objectionable thing she actually said was that there were many women who aren't fans of women's wrestling.

STAC Goat posted:

Ah, thanks. I wasn't meaning to accuse Brandi. There just wasn't really much context from what was left of the posts with the deleted tweet.

KungFu Grip posted:

People are mad at Brandi because AEW Heels is a predatory and empty gesture to fans who were told that this promotion was gonna be better than WWE with how it handles its women's division and actually listen to the people upset at Stephanie McMahon hogging the lime light and wanting equal time/multiple segments dedicated to women.

KungFu Grip posted:

$50 to be in a zoom call fan club is ludicrous amounts of money to be asking for sorry if that doesn't come off as predatory during a time of financial crisis for a lot of people.

Gavok posted:

I was looking at last year's All Out card and I realized that we are absolutely due for a new Cracker Barrel Clash. Perfect vehicle for the Darby Allin/Ricky Starks feud.

Also crazy to realize that All Out 2019 is kind of the genesis of the Kenny/Hangman storyline.

Lead Pipe Cinch posted:

Wasn’t Darby in last year’s?

JOHN CENA posted:

I mean Darby vs Cage in a singles Cracker Barrel hard-core match with a serious build would work, it doesn't need to be silly.

KungFu Grip posted:

what's a "virtual meet and greet" if its not a zoom call? its not like any of the stuff they're offering is an in person thing. its either a zoom call or emails or a forum for a fan club for famale women's wrestling fans. I guess the women i see on twitter talking about it being predatory are wrong too.

Lead Pipe Cinch posted:

Put Eddie Kingston in the Cracker Barrel Clash.

Rarity posted:

Acting like AEW Heels is above criticism is weird af, guys. It's totally fine to offer a fan club for women but you can't then promote it on the basis of being inclusive while also making it prohibitively expensive because that's just saying "we want all women to feel welcome here unless you're poor then gently caress you". Right now I feel like AEW is trying to exploit my feminism in order to make a buck and that's a really lovely WWE level move. Because I dunno what feminism looks like to you guys but expecting women to pay a whole load more money than men for the things you're saying should be part of their wrestling experience ain't it.

Rarity posted:

Er, calling criticism from women hysterics is a real bad look dude

Rarity posted:

And as he pointed out he's just echoing comments that women have been making elsewhere on the internet

Chris James 2 posted:

https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1291579447917846529

I didn't watch live or I'd list which quarter was which segment/s but it sounds like the Cardona, Elite and debate segments were the highest?

xbilkis posted:

Per a Chuck Taylor tweet, I believe was The Magnificent Seven (2016) so I'm gonna give the credit to the 12-man match

Between this and the Butcher/Blade match topping 1 million, I am forced to conclude that the Young Bucks are a draw. I am anti-Jackson and take no pleasure in reporting this

sportsgenius86 posted:

The Cracker Barrel match should be Cage vs. Wardlow and they should be throwing barrels around like Donkey Kong.

quote:

AEW in February averaged 876,000 viewers and 774,000 in July, a drop of 11.6 percent, which is more of a drop than NXT. But AEW held up with younger viewers better, falling from a 0.30 in 18-49 to 0.28, a drop of 6.7 percent. When the demo drop is less than overall, that means the audience is getting younger.
Among 12-17, AEW actually increased from 0.12 in February to 0.14 in July, an increase of 16.7 percent. In 18-34, the drop was from 0.20 in February to 0.17 in July, or 15.0 percent. In 35-49, the drop was 0.44 in February to 0.42 in July, or a 4.5 percent drop. In 50+, the drop was big, from 0.36 to 0.29, or 19.4 percent.
AEW in 18-49 went from 68,0 percent male in February to 66.8 percent in July. So men were down in 18-49 by 8.3 percent. Women in 18-49 were down 3.2 percent.
AEW in 12-17 went from 69.2 percent male to 59.3 percent male. So teenage boys were up 1.7 percent at the same time they fell hard for WWE shows. Teenage girls were up for AEW 54.2 percent over the last few months.

quote:

There was a major turning point this past week, as for the first time, even with head-to-head competition from both NXT and an NBA game with LeBron James, AEW won the week in both the overall 18-34 demo for the first time and in 18-34 women for the second time.
It was close, but is some lines go down and others go up, the intersection point, and if the last five months hold up, that’s what this is, is going to be close on the way to where things are going. AEW had 201,000 18-34 viewers as compared to 200,000 for Raw and 183,000 for Smackdown. Smackdown has the huge advantage of being on FOX and should blow away the field, but doesn’t.
It was close with men, but both WWE shows were still ahead, with Smackdown at 118,000, Raw had 110,000 and AEW at 108,000. With women, AEW had the edge with 83,000 to 80,000 for Raw and 61,000 for Smackdown.
AEW didn’t beat Raw with teenagers, as Raw did a .30 due to major gains in that demo this week, as did AEW, which did .20. However AEW’s number beat the two prior weeks of Raw.
Wednesday was the biggest night by a wide margin for the key demo, with 716,000 viewers compared with 660,000 for Monday and 644,000 for Friday.

JOHN CENA posted:

do you think we see dynamite beat raw outright within the next 18 months?

Cerebral Bore posted:

Weren't WWE crowds pretty drat anemic even before the roni?

Cerebral Bore posted:

Yeah, so I don't think bringing back relatively small crowds who also poo poo all over the product whenever WWE does something dumb is going to help them very much.

NienNunb posted:

I think it deserves to be pointed out that another feather in AEW's hat is that, with Colt joining the Dark Order, they've successfully pulled off the first "good wrestler is having a losing streak" storyline that wasn't complete dogshit in recent memory.

karmicknight posted:

Rachel Ellering is a post-fed Lance Storm trainee, right?

Lead Pipe Cinch posted:

I am interested in seeing what Ellering can do. Kinda bummed that they apparently flew Fenix out to the last tapings and only used him for a Dark match.