My review on AEW'S Debut on TNT.
Cody vs Sammy Guevara
A very solid opener going back and forth and not as many flip flop maneuvers as I thought I'd see. Some very solid wrestling and Sammy's 'selling' in the match improved, especially after getting smacked by Brandi and taking that kick by Cody afterwards. Seeing 'selling' like that makes alot of difference and you don't see alot of this current era's wrestlers actually 'sell'.. Because either they weren't trained properly on how to sell, or they feel they don't need to. So this was indeed refreshing. The only flaw I saw in this was way too many near falls. If you do that on this level in the opening match it's not gonna seem 'important' on matches later in the show cause 'everyone's' gonna be doing it. But the finish was really solid and THAT, helped tell the complete story of the match. A story was told within the match and it came over well in my opinion.
I see the complaint of many of the commercials as a nuisance but my only thing is there were way too many of them or.. They could've went to commercial AFTER, Jericho attacked Cody (which would've made more sense) But as I'll address later, was this a TNT call to do it this way? THAT'S the big question though the whiners are slamming AEW for it when it may not, be their call on how that was done.
Brandon Cutler vs MJF
Tony deliver one of the best lines ever saying "I wanna see Cutler, shut this little prick's mouth", LMAO! Lord was that something you'd never hear on WWE'S shows. McMahon would be having a heart attack screaming into the headsets if that happened, LOL!
This was shorter than I thought but effective with the submission victory.
The fact they say "Professional Wrestling" and not "Sports Entertainment" also is a plus for me as well. Sometimes little things like that, can mean alot.
Hangman Page vs Pac
Where oh where did the 'selling' go, where oh where can it be? Lots of moves, lots of slamming into barriers but also, lots of no selling.. I'll always be a stickler for that and if there's lots of no selling it has me tempted to hit fast forward. Though it does get better later in the match, the fact that they felt they had to get alot of moves in a few seconds at the beginning with 'selling' kinda thrown out the window does gnaw on me.
Actually if they just went to the full commercial break instead of this picture in picture thing. That, would make more sense. Seven commercials also is a bit much as well. REALLY? SEVEN COMMERCIALS? Obviously this is, a TNT call.
It came across overall solid but nothing I'll remember a week from now because sadly, no matter where I've seen these two wrestle (PAC in the UK, Page in ROH), these two just don't do anything for me. So while I watched a match i would usually fast forward thru, the fact these two don't, do anything for me was reminded to me here.
Nyla Rose vs Riho
What I felt lacked in the last match, was totally different with this match. I'm used to a high bar set so to speak when it comes to women's matches because of women like Little Miss Roxxy, Millie McKenzie Jordyanne Grace and Tessa Blanchard. So I wasn't sure coming into this one whether it'd be good or not. Surprised the hell out of me and has me invested in seeing more of what they can do. Very solid match and no, I won't be giving the Dave Meltzer star rating system for any of these.
Of course the SIX COMMERCIALS THEY AIRED PICTURE IN PICTURE I'm sure infuriated alot of people. Again I'll bet money that's a TNT call to force so many commercials in one sport that way instead of pacing for commercials differently. The only fault on this is what I mentioned about the first match. too many near falls. But fans like me that actually DO have a long attention span unlike many current era fans/marks don't, notice things like this. Other than that this was, awesome to watch.
Young Bucks & Omega vs Jericho and LAX (Santana & Ortiz)
And here comes the high spot festival I was fearing would be coming all show long.. The first few minutes reminded me of what I dislike about alot of today's wrestling.. High spot city with no substance. Also,when Moxley shows up and hhmm, Is security all of a sudden on a coffee break?
They were out earlier in the show but when Omega and Moxley are brawling in the 'VIP area" (which is as far away from the ring with no view of it as possible, LOL ) Security seems nowhere to be found.
Then it's back to doing a million fast moves in a minute again. At least The Younbg Bucks took a loss so not every one of the AEW higher ups didn't get a win.
All my knocks on the things i saw, this was a solid outing for a group many said couldn't even fill a ten thousand seat arena long long ago. Over 14,000 in the building tonight so Meltzer can again, eat his words. This show was enough and showed enough to where I'll have a look at it next week, to see where, they go from here.. because THAT, is the main question. You made your debut.. But where, do you go, from here? THAT is what I'll be observing.
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