Worth remembering this was a PPV as well, which let's you take things farther than normal TV usually. I saw an interview with Tony Kahn saying normal TV won't have as much violence. I was kind of rolling my eyes seeing the tacs, barbed wire, etc, when Mick Foley is a living example of the severe damage these kinds of matches can do to someone long term (he's looking awesome lately though thanks to DDP Yoga!) But I guess they've found ways to make these things hurt and cut less according to one of my friends, not that it makes it better haha... but yeah. I'm not shy of blood or gore at all but was skeptical of the main event and I'm not really into the hardcore gimmick match anymore, but it turned out to be more fun than I expected. Moxley seems like a good worker and Joey was cool, made me think of classic younger Jericho in ways. His sagging pants was bugging me though...
I think Markies is on the money when it comes to Jon Moxley / Dean Ambrose. I only caught one match of his in the WWE, it was one of the recent WM's and a "suplex city" match with Brock... ie, it was terribly boring, lol. He had a very cool interview with Jericho recently though, kind of going into detail with just how annoying Vince has become in his old age and all that. So I guess Jon had a lot of carry over WWE fans. Was surprised to see him get the biggest pop of the night.
That makes me want to mention, I'm glad the fans are behind Kenny Omega, but so far his two showings in AEW has been so-so. I think it's only a matter of time before people see this guy is Bret Hart / Shaw Michaels caliber for sure though. His four matches with Okada in NJPW are some of the best I've ever seen.
It's also worth nothing that he's a huge nerd and would interview old Japanese developers. I believe that Cody and the Bucks are kind of nerdy too. So I bet we'll continue to see some fun crossovers, jokes, and memes like we have so far. Kenny even appeared on one of Giant Bomb's talk night shows during E3 a few weeks back haha.
Overall the show was a blast. Not as big or epic as Double or Nothing, but I was surprised by how good this was too for something that sounded smaller. It kind of felt like a WCW Bash at the Beach throwback. I think Riho vs Yuku vs Nyla was hands down one of my favorites and man, it can be hard to make a three way match even good. They put on an amazing show. I'm warming up to the Young Bucks and really enjoyed The Elite vs Lucha Bros too, though it felt like the ref never even cared to try and control those tags haha.
Christopher Daniels and Cima was nice. Cima being an apprentice of Ultimo Dragon. I love when JR drops some history and the connections.
Cody vs Darby was cool but I'm still not totally sold on Darby. JR did a good job building him up though, like this relentless snake that just wouldn't go down. It started off slow but got better as it went. But yeah that botched chair shot... kind of feels like karma knocking on the door to me, head shots should just not be a thing again at all.
I'm absolutely loving MJF. This dude already has so much heat from two AEW shows and a few interviews. He reminds me of heel Corporation Rock in the best ways. He believes in himself and is so awesome cocky. That juke on the crowd for acting like he was going to do a flip out of the ring and then stopped was hilarious. He stole the show on the four way match to me.
https://twitter.com/The_MJF/status/1145772659189436421Commentary wise, I'm glad they got rid of one of the other guys that was on DoN, didn't seem like he jived well with JR. Excalibur is the guy with the mask and he seems okay but gets a little long winded. I think he's got potential though and maybe JR can polish him up.
Anyways yeah, that's my too technical breakdown of some random thoughts haha... loved it and can't wait for more. AEW AEW AEW!!!
