La Zona Muerta

I’ve really whittled down my wrestling consumption and ancillary wrestling content consumption of late… I’m really down to a handful of podcasts largely because either the insights are can’t miss… or the creators are my friends. There’s only so many ways, so many times I can hear about the softness of AEW business, the dissatisfaction with AEW and / or New Japan booking, the seemingly unstoppable falling upward of WWE, etc.

It all gets to be a bit much, a bit repetitive. Most of us see the same writing on the wall, but then we’re arguing the small details. For you, maybe a wrestler sitting in on commentary is too much like the other guys. For me, spooky mindgames and an ersatz “bloodbath” is a bit far afield from what I want.

I think it’s safe to say that, at least for myself, AEW has definitely drifted away from what I thought I wanted in wrestling presentation. On the other hand, sometimes things are SO wacky that I find myself enjoying them, despite myself. I’d very much classify last night’s Dynamite like that… there were really only a couple of good matches on the show, most everything was marred with an awful finish, the program was jammed full of recaps and packages… but then a guy showed up with a possibly malfunctioning flamethrower. I dunno what to make of that.

I don’t really want to whinge on about Edge or “Brood” Edge or whatever the fuck Adam Copeland is supposed to be; I have friends that love the guy, think he’s a good fit for AEW, etc. I think he stinks, and last night’s little nostalgia act SUCKED. I also don’t understand the anti push they are giving the long suffering Kyle O’Reilly; they want to have this guy on TV a ton, he almost never wins and gets crickets during his matches, except when the crowd feel like they have to do a WWE “this is awesome” chant because hey, that’s what TV crowds do.

Stuff I did enjoy; The opening tag was great until the finish. Ospreay and Orange Cassidy are a joy to watch, and I’m happy they’re finally doing stuff with both Roderick Strong AND Trent Baretta. I still continue to hope against hope that the Chuck Taylor retirement stuff is a silly storyline, but… I think that ship has sailed. The Swerve stuff was great, and Prince Nana, KING OF MEN showing up to cut off Christian Cage’s escape was the dumb kind of outside of the ring pro wrestling horseshit I actually enjoy.

“How you like it, huh, fat boy?!” – The great Prince Nana telling an ROH fan what he thinks of him

I think Swerve actively shitting on the Elite while taking on his own battles is a really canny and clever way to continue elevating Swerve even though he’s already the champ. The Elite stuff is still fun for me, although I know it’s grating to some. Nick Jackson is out there saying the word Prick like he’s the third Sizzler sister.

TIE A YELLOW RIBBON ‘ROUND THE OLD OAK TREE

Oh yeah, and, to save the American Dragon after A SHITTTY MATCH WITH NO FINISH, Tony Khan drove Darby Allin to the venue personally and Darby hopped out of the car, brandishing what appeared to be some sort of rifle-like flamethrower THAT COULDN’T BE SHUT OFF. YOU’LL BE DANCING, IN THE FLAME.

The rest of the show? I dunno. Chris Jericho is sucking the life out of me and the “Learning Tree” stuff isn’t particularly clever or fun. I fail to see how ANY of this helps HOOK. Jon Moxley, meanwhile, is a champion I don’t care about in TWO promotions. I’m gonna laugh at some people who assure me that Konosuke Takeshita is going over on Sunday when Moxley somehow manages to beat him despite the odds. AEW managed to get Serena Deeb, the wronged party in her feud with Timeless Toni Storm booed. GREAT. Oh, one other thing I enjoyed… the Lucha Bros. are finally healthy enough to back up PAC, so DEATH TRIANGLE returned to challenge Bullet CLub Gold, but it’s gonna suck if they don’t go over. The Lucha Bros. are definitely the most popular act in AEW who don’t actually WIN once in awhile. Sometimes, THE GOOD GUYS HAVE TO WIN.

Other than that…? AEW is in a weird place right now. If it wasn’t for working on this new blog thingie, I don’t know that I would buy Double or Nothing… at this point, I’m largely like “at least it will give me something to write about Monday morning.” I certainly have enjoyed elements of the shows leading up to DoN but my AEW enjoyment is again sort of circling the drain.

I hope that, next week, Shingo Takagi randomly shows up and wins the gauntlet to face Swerve at Forbidden Door Three. That, at least, would be relevant to my interests.