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Post by Optimus on Feb 15, 2021 21:39:15 GMT -5
Ugh, second time posting this because the board crashed and I lost my post. Sigh...
Anyhoo, watched the Japanese round 1 on YT tonight. I was surprised Maki Itoh lost, so I hope they give her another chance at AEW soon. Semi-finals on the Japanese side look like they'll be pretty good. I think Yuka Sakazaki is good, if a bit sloppy sometimes. I think she beat Britt Baker last year, and that was her last AEW appearance. Glad she's back. Aja Kong wrestled in AEW when they first started, to it's also good to see her back.
I think the US side continues this Wednesday. I'm glad that Riho is back. She's kind of gimmicky (like a lot of the Japanese women's wrestlers), and has the weight of a feather behind her moves, but she's entertaining. She beat Nyla Rose once or twice and is former AEW women's champ (she was the first or second one, I think), so I hope they give her another push. But, she's also wrestling Serena Deeb and I kinda don't think they'll put Riho over Deeb in her first match back.
I really like Tay Conti too. Has good skills and is obviously easy on the eyes. I hope she wins against Nyla Rose, but I kinda doubt that will happen. I think it should, but it likely won't. I really dislike what they've done with Rose's character so far. AEW has really dropped the ball with her over the past year. I don't think pairing her with Vicki Guerro has helped. It's actually hurt because that storyline has gone absolutely nowhere.
"Dr. Britt Baker, DMD" vs Anna Jay should also be good. Jay has a lot of potential and I think she'll go far but I don't see them putting her over Baker this time.
I'm thinking that Round 2 will probably see Serena Deeb vs Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker vs Nyla Rose (unfortunately). I'd rather it be Baker vs Conti, but I guess we'll see. Seems like they might be setting up yet another Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker match, and I really hope they don't. I'm tired of that feud. They never really developed it all that well and I think it's time they just move on to something else.
Having said all of that, I would really enjoy it if they threw us some curveballs and totally upended my expectations.
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Post by robeiae on Feb 16, 2021 9:31:28 GMT -5
Itoh's match was quite good, I thought. Mizunami is a skilled performer and is a known quantity. And Itoh loses a lot. It's weirdly a part of her gimmick (something that will have to be addressed if she comes to AEW). But the live commenting during her match--as opposed to all of the others--was out of control, from what I saw. She gets attention and she puts other wrestlers over. I think we'll be seeing more of her in the near future. In fact, I won't be surprised to see Thunder Rosa lose in the tournie, but then have a match with Itoh on the Revolution card in March. Rosa and Itoh match up really well.
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Post by Optimus on Feb 16, 2021 14:02:20 GMT -5
Yeah, Excalibur was having to commentate (is that a word?) by himself during the whole thing, so he didn't have anyone to play off of. I think he did a decent job given the circumstances, though.
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Post by robeiae on Feb 16, 2021 16:23:00 GMT -5
I didn't mean him--I thought he did a good job, as well--I meant the people commenting live on YouTube. The comments were coming so fast--because there were so many--during Itoh's match that I could barely read any of them. Granted, a good chunk were from sex-starved future incels, but still.
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Post by Optimus on Feb 16, 2021 17:07:26 GMT -5
Ohhh...I didn't see any of that. I watched on the YT app on my PS4 and the app doesn't show comments (thank god).
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Post by robeiae on Feb 17, 2021 21:03:48 GMT -5
Well, Riho is back. And it was a helluva match, imo. Clever storyline, too. Real or not, Deeb's knee injury made it easy to justify a Riho win, but both women came out looking great. And that's some serious credit to both Riho and Deeb, since both sold every move, top to bottom. Very professional.
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Post by Optimus on Feb 18, 2021 0:33:49 GMT -5
Yeah, I bet it was probably tricky to book. If Deeb gets knocked out in the first round as NWA champion, it makes her look week. If Riho makes her big comeback after a year only to get eliminated in her first match back, it takes the wind out of her sails too. I think doing it this way, with the "injury," was a good way to put both of them over. Deeb's image doesn't suffer, because of the knee, because it's a believable excuse. Riho looks strong in her return with a win over a formidable opponent. And they had a helluva match too.
But, even though she only weighs 98 to 100 pounds, that flying double stomp from the top rope HAS to hurt the recipient. I don't see how it can't. I felt Deeb's pain through my monitor.
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Post by robeiae on Feb 23, 2021 7:57:44 GMT -5
Well. That was interesting. No surprises, really: Baker, Rose, Sakazaki, Mizunami all through, all known quantities.
But that means heel vs. heel and face vs. face for the US semis and face vs. face for the Japan final. People think Baker/Rosa is a given, but I'm not sure. Riho/Rose is still a solid booking. And I've seen some talk that this may end up being an all Japan thing, with Riho facing Sakazaki in the final, and the winner--Riho is the fav--going on to face Shida (who came to Sakazaki's aid in her match in a stunning white suit). Because storylines be damned, Riho/Shida would be awesome.
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Post by Optimus on Feb 23, 2021 11:07:26 GMT -5
I figured that Rose would win but I was disappointed that she did. I just don't like her character (they've really blown it with her creatively over the past year) and I think that Conti is overall better in the ring (that ass also gives her the edge in my eyes, lol). But, again, not surprising that Rose won. Riho has beaten Rose before, so I think that match could go either way.
Like you said, it does seem that they're potentially setting up another Rosa/Baker match, and I really hope they don't. I'm tired of that feud. They never really built it up very well and it's just kind of fizzled for me since even before Beach Break from a few weeks ago.
Sucks that Anna Jay got injured but I'm still really scratching my head at why Penelope Ford and Allie/Bunny aren't wrestling and haven't wrestled in months. They're two of AEW's better women's wrestlers and Ford, in particular, is better than 90% of the women's roster. It's just truly baffling to me why they've been sidelined while AEW is struggling to build that division. Makes no damn sense.
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Post by robeiae on Feb 23, 2021 17:48:24 GMT -5
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Post by Optimus on Feb 23, 2021 17:57:23 GMT -5
What's happening on Sunday? Is it just another tournament show on YT like they've been doing on Monday nights? I kinda thought maybe so, but that fact that it's on Sunday threw me off.
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Post by robeiae on Feb 23, 2021 18:00:26 GMT -5
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Post by Optimus on Feb 23, 2021 22:26:25 GMT -5
Ah, okay. The B/R icon was what was throwing me off, because usually they just do the PPVs but the next PPV isn't until next month.
Got it.
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Post by Optimus on Feb 25, 2021 1:55:44 GMT -5
I guess I misread the bracket because I thought that Rose was wrestling Riho tonight for some reason. But, she beat Britt Baker, which was kind of surprising. Still don't really like her but at least now they're not setting up another Rosa/Baker match. Maybe they'll start doing something more interesting with Rose's character now. I notice she hasn't been going to the ring with Vicky Guerro lately, so maybe they dropped that angle. I hope so, because it really wasn't going anywhere.
Didn't really like that Archer beat Fenix, mainly because why the hell would they put Archer in a ladder match instead of Fenix? I mean, Archer is decent and pretty spry for a big guy. But, who would make a more explosive, exciting ladder match, Archer or Fenix? Who would most people rather see in it?
It's really no contest. Definitely Fenix, so this one has me scratching my head, because they just guaranteed that the ladder match will be a lot less awesome than it could've been (unless something changes between now and March 7th). Penta's been having some visa issues lately, so I suppose if those aren't worked out in the next week then they might sub Fenix in for him? Guess we'll wait and see.
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Post by robeiae on Feb 25, 2021 7:37:33 GMT -5
Last night was okay. I thought the Hangman match was pretty strong, as was Baker/Rose. I was happy there was no stupid attempt to make one a partial face for the match; they both maintained their heel personas. And can I say this: I know that Sting is old as hell--60, I think--but the scorpion death drop never gets old. I love that finishing move, even though it's simple. Makes me giggle every time he does it to someone. Also, the dude from the Dark Order--John Silver--has the most awesome twitter byline: twitter.com/SilverNumber1: "master of karate and friendship for everyone" That's from Always Sunny, it's line in a song from Charlie's play: Also, reports are that The Big Show has signed with AEW. I assume he'll move in to The Dark Order and take Brodie Lee's place. They don't want to give up on that angle, it would seem. I wish they would. It's okay now and again for some comedy stuff, but it's just not working, imo.
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