holy shit
"Real glass... Cry me a river." makes a lot more sense now. Hell of a show - honestly, don't think there was a bad match at all, which is incredibly rare - but also... holy shit

bi, trans, poly π³οΈβπ
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will either use way too many words or say absolutely nothing
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host of quiz nights & games tournaments
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have agoraphobia & anxiety (as well as sleep problems, caffeine addiction, depression, some undiagnosed stuff...)
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UK-based (unfortunately)
holy shit
"Real glass... Cry me a river." makes a lot more sense now. Hell of a show - honestly, don't think there was a bad match at all, which is incredibly rare - but also... holy shit
I was sad about how the TBS title match ended but what a show. What an amazing show!
I... didn't like the match ending, but I did like the post-match. Also a hell of a match, with an actually solid amount of time given to it and some incredible spots, which is more than I can usually say for AEW's womens matches!
It just felt... I dunno. I hate how Willow got the belt, did... one defense match on AEW and one in Japan? Her entire short run was used just to put a spotlight on Mercedes. Who gets to do her in ring debut at a PPV, challenging for a belt, even though I thought AEW was leaning back into the whole rankings thing. When Mercedes entered to a drumline and showgirls and then Willow came out with Stokely and Stat awkwardly holding an oversized friendship bracelet, my suspicions were all but confirmed that the title was absolutely definitely changing hands.
And then after the nearly non-existent run was over, Stat backstabs Willow?
The match was phenomenal for sure. But it just left a bad taste in my mouth. Especially when I remember the main women's belt being handed to Saraya last year at All In for what felt like no real reason except Saraya being a big name get.
Oh yeah, don't get me wrong - I hate everything involving Mercedes so far. I liked a lot of her older stuff, but AEW has women who are miles ahead of her at this point, and pushing her to this point on her debut because she's got that star power is... exactly the shit people hated with Rock in WWE. It's a little different here because she's sticking around, but like... the priority treatment still sucks.
That said, I don't read much into the entrances now - this is the first time in recent memory where a big entrance did mean a win, they've done them for the losing side more often than not, I think.
As for Stat/Stokely... I'll be honest, I'm not that keen on Stat, but I also think the duo they have there was super stale already. I do wish there were more actual teams that just did solo content - BCC and the Callis Family are basically the only ones atm, and I don't see the family lasting - but without Womens Tag Belts (which... I'd have also preferred, but dismissing any women's story that would be better with tag belts writes off a lot of the last few years tbh), it just felt like they weren't really doing anything. The promos were really flat, there's only so many "we're gonna look out for each other, we're best friends!" match promos I can see before I just start to dread them appearing on-screen, so I at least like them doing something here, even if there were better options maybe
The Mercedes thing is almost comical, because people were HYPED UP at the idea of her joining. Everyone seemed READY. But then I guess they've just been pushing her with a lot of nothing promos and overly long entrances to come out and do nothing. Her promos also felt very... stilted? It felt very rehearsed and read, whereas a lot of AEW stuff feels either more natural or more purposely theatrical. The boos upon her coming to the ring at DoN though. Oof.
I probably have some nostalgia for earlier Stat, honestly. Because yeah, she's pretty dull and honestly her mic work leaves a lot to be desired. I miss when she was an alien. It was fun. Just a weird alien hanging out with Best Friends. The nose boops seriously made up for a lot of her promo deficit. So, yeah, I guess the swerve at the end wasn't horrible, in retrospect. But I just feel like Willow was already cheated in that match and it felt like kicking her while she's down.
Right? They keep not learning from that mistake too - they did basically the same thing with Saraya to the point that nobody cared, and... I'm sure there's another too, although I can't think who rn. But yeah, I get it if they're not ring-ready, but in that case, keep them off-screen. Like, we had to wait months for Ospreay to finish an NJPW contract and that was fine, you can announce someone and say they're "close to a ring return" or something, and then have them show up a couple of months later when they're actually ready.
Didn't help that Mercedes fumbled a couple of the early segments, so yeah, it just came across (to me, at least) as a lot of hype for the kind of caliber AEW is already ignoring.
I think most people still really like Stat! And honestly, I want to like her - she seems like an honestly good person and occasionally pulls out some incredible stuff - but I'm just not big on her wrestling style, and her mic work has never been particularly good. I think she got covered a lot before by being with Best Friends and having the alien stuff, because it meant she had to do less, yeah.
But yeah, I do think Willow absolutely got robbed in the match. That said, she's also been on top of the world for a while now, so I don't mind it so much, and I'm mostly hoping the setup being good outweighs the bad feels from this one match.
You know who also got that treatment? Which is very funny in retrospect. Sting. EVERY week, they'd play the music and turn on the snow machine and Schiavone would do his thing. And then Sting would, most of the time, come out, not say anything, look at Darby Allin, then leave. And then his first match is... cinematic. A fine cinematic match, for sure. But eh. And then everyone goes "oh wow all that buildup for an old man who is gonna do a rare mediocre spot or a cinematic... Probably won't ever be allowed to even take a bump..." But we know how that ended up going! But yeah the initial lead up was TEDIUM.
I guess due to her shortcomings it does make sense to let Willow excel on her own while Stat has Stokely to play off of. Slapping his bald head is the new boop. Could also see Trent joining them for a bit. Very parallel plots.
Oh also how about the longterm storytelling? During the Buy-In, the sports mascot interfered with Brian Cage when the ref wasn't looking, and threatened him with a chair. Brian Cage attacked that same mascot back in February while the mascot was dancing with Nana.
Sting's was... weird, thinking back on it. Maybe because I was skeptical on him from the start - and honestly, even if his matches ended up being great, I still don't like how they handled him in terms of results - but also maybe because they hadn't done stuff like this before that point? I'm sure there was some other big name who was around for what felt like months before a PPV debut, but like... I looked up the people I could think of and it's not those. hm.
Ohh, yeah, Trent almost certainly plays into this a bit, huh? I mean, maybe not, there's a lot of obvious opportunities like that that get passed over, but it feels like he should ^^;
...wait, that was the same one?? I'm ngl, I tend to forget what each mascot looks like the second they're gone, I just assumed it was another mascot spot, ahaha~ That's kinda cool, though, and I guess shouldn't surprise me at this point!
Yeah, unfortunately sometimes AEW will surprise you... but in the worst way possible. You'll make up the coolest most obvious scenario that a plot is clearly going in, really excited to see what they do with it... then get hit with the most boring alternative possible. Really hope that doesn't happen with Trent.
I didn't realize it was the same mascot until I saw someone mention it on Reddit and then looked up the highlights of the first incident on YouTube.