(I wrote this a few days ago before Battle of the Belts III, which I haven't watched (yet?))
I haven't watched much pro wrestling since April 2018. That was when the WWE went to Saudi Arabia to do the Greatest Royal Rumble. I watched it because I'm a sucker for a Royal Rumble, but I had my misgivings, and they were correct. You could not ignore the opulence and the stench of death. It was a bridge too far, and I cancelled my WWE subscription right afterwards. And then I just... stopped paying attention. A few things would filter through via Twitter, like the rise of AEW and the occasional interesting promo, but I've had no idea what's been going on for the last four years.
Recently I found out that ITV gets AEW Dynamite. So I watched an episode. Then I watched another. And, fuck, wrestling has its claws into me again. I love this stupid shit. It's good as hell.
I'm arriving late to AEW so I still have a lot of catching up to do. But here's what I've been enjoying about the last couple of episodes:
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Jon Moxley, my big favourite (when I knew him in WWE as Dean Ambrose), is the champ? And he's in a Blackpool-themed stable with two of my other big favourites Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnioli, managed by yet another big favourite William Regal? Well that's just fine by me. (The other team-mate is Wheeler Yuta who I don't know anything about but he seems pretty great from his match with Jericho.)
- Also it sounds like Moxley is bouncing back from rehab for alcoholism. I'm so pleased for him that he has it under control. He looks fantastic.
- Wow there's a *lot* of ex-WWE talent here. I guess that's only natural - WWE was the only real high-earning option in American pro wrestling for a long time, and I guess a lot of the wrestlers were desperate to have anywhere else to go. And there's something strangely comforting about living in 2022 and watching Matt Hardy vs Christian, a match which I'm pretty sure I can go set up on WWF No Mercy for the N64.
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The name Orange Cassidy has filtered through to me, so I was expecting him to be good. He is. He's fantastic. I have a new big favourite. "World's laziest, most disaffected wrestler" is a great gimmick. He did a bit during his entrance where he moved to climb the turnbuckle, and then settled for just leaning on it. I bet he does that every time, but it's the first time I've seen it and I thought it was funny.
- There's another bit Orange Cassidy does where he put his hands in his pockets, and then does the whole standard flipping-over-the-other-guy-bouncing-off-the-ropes bit without taking his hands out (here's a timestamped clip of him doing it to PAC (fka Neville, and I've just learned he's now nicknamed The Bastard, which is fantastic)). It's very funny, and then you think about it for a second longer and think "wait, what the fuck??" Surely you need your arms to throw your weight around and steady yourself? Doing it without arms is bonkers athleticism.
- An earlier bit of that clip also has the Kicks of Doom, another great Orange Cassidy bit. Just a great character.
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I still remember the narrative language of pro wrestling. When the Undisputed Elite all came out to talk about loyalty and friendship, I knew what was coming. I didn't know who was going to do it to who, but I knew it was going to be done. Powerhouse Hobbs assaulting Ricky Stark took me by surprise, but it sounds like it took everyone by surprise.
- Speaking of which, Powerhouse Hobbs is a handsome man and that chandelier-prison entrance he has looks badass.
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The actual wrestling is fun across the board. Moxley vs Rush and Jericho vs Yuta were straight-up good matches, but my favourite so far has been The Acclaimed vs Gunn Club Dumpster Match - I love these kinds of gimmicky matches with the environmental hazards.
- I like the gimmick the Gunn Club seem to have, which is that they're the actual real-life sons of Billy Gunn, aka Mr. Ass, and so are fated to be known as the Ass Boys against their will. I'm basing this on the environmental storytelling during the match, where a dumpster had the words "Gunn Club **NOT THE ASS BOYS**" painted on it.)
- I'm still getting a handle on this, but it looks like AEW is much more about stables and large teams than WWE? WWE was mostly about individual wrestlers, but it looks like AEW is going to expect me to keep track of the wrestler relationships and stables more carefully. Off the top of my head, there's the Blackpool Combat Club, the Jericho Appreciation Society, the Best Friends, the Undisputed Elite, Jay Lethal and friends (if they have a collective name I missed it - by the way, love the manager guy, whose name I also missed), whatever that little guy with the business cards is building (missed his name too). It's like learning the Song of Ice and Fire houses again.
- The entrance themes aren't doing much for me yet, but they'll grow on me, and there are a few bangers. Jungle Boy and Danhausen especially.
- Say, that Miro guy - is that WWE's Rusev? I've only seen one promo of his so far - is his new gimmick "stand in a dark room and scream at God"? I'm into it.
God, wrestling is so good. I missed it more than I realised. This is all I'll ever talk about ever again.
As well as AEW, I also gotta catch up with WWE and NJPW. It sounds like Vince McMahon was finally pushed out because he was (allegedly) caught paying huge amounts of hush money to women? Lmao. But mostly I want to catch up with WWE because I've just recently heard Baron Corbin's new entrance theme, and I've gotta figure out how he got from his psycho biker gimmick to that. As for NJPW I never had a strong handle on the Japanese scene to begin with, but I think it's the G1 Climax right now so maybe I can figure it out as I go.
