GDT: AEW Double or Nothing | May 25th 2019 - 8pm - Las Vegas

[Cor]

For me I just loved every aspect of Cody vs Dustin.

The pre-match stuff, with the crowd chants and the Dusty chants that got Dustin and even Cody emotional.

The match itself to me, was awesome. I felt like we saw glimpses of today’s modern wrestling and glimpses of the more traditional style. The blood added to the match greatly. The storytelling of how far Cody would go, turning into how far does he need to go, and by the end of it, when he finally beat Dustin, Cody had went so far, he wasn’t even proud of it. And the match itself set them teaming one last time up perfectly.

And then the post-match stuff was great. Emotional.

From start to end, it was just awesome and perfect. That’s why I agree with the 5 stars.

There’s some other matches I find inflated. The Aja Kong match I would make a 2.5-3 which is fine. SCU match i would have at a 3.5-3.75. Best Friends match I would have at 3.5 The Women’s Fatal Four Way I would actually have higher than a 3. Closer to 3.5

So it goes both ways

 

[GKJ]

I'm glad if people (Meltzer, Meltzer parrots) like the Rhodes match, but year there definitely seems to be a healthy dose of exaggeration in those rankings. I can't speak for the Young Bucks match but every other one looks at least .5 higher than I would think, some more than that. It's certainly possible (and a generous way to look at it) that he inflated it because of some desire to see the company succeed. Meltzer is entitled to his opinion like everyone else and some of the fanatics I've seen online needlessly ripping everything about the show definitely exaggerate more. As noted it's all just opinions from random people.

I think where you get a lot of movement in star ratings is because of crowd reactions. That's why it seems easy for non-WWE PPV matches to get high star ratings. Crowds are always reacting better and the matches (and talent) feed off that energy and it just makes the presentation of the match that much better. The star ratings itself won't have anything to do with whether or not the company succeeds, so there's no reason to artificially inflate that.

 

[SeidoN]

Rhodes match was for sure 5* for me

 

[JackSlater]

I think where you get a lot of movement in star ratings is because of crowd reactions. That's why it seems easy for non-WWE PPV matches to get high star ratings. Crowds are always reacting better and the matches (and talent) feed off that energy and it just makes the presentation of the match that much better. The star ratings itself won't have anything to do with whether or not the company succeeds, so there's no reason to artificially inflate that.

I agree that crowd reaction plays a part. A hot crowd can elevate a match and a poor crowd can deflate one. I didn't think that the Double or Nothing crowd was particularly hot though. Meltzer's ratings do carry weight with a segment of the hardcore wrestling fandom and could be viewed as a minor asset. I think that the point being made was that he wants it to succeed and so views it in a more positive light than would regularly be the case. Fans do it all the time in wrestling, from me to others on this website to fans all over. Happens in other realms of entertainment too of course. A more cynical take would be that he's pretty close with the people involved with Double or Nothing, though I'm not ready to commit to that myself other than noting that he is excessively protective of the Young Bucks sometimes.

 

[GKJ]

I agree that crowd reaction plays a part. A hot crowd can elevate a match and a poor crowd can deflate one. I didn't think that the Double or Nothing crowd was particularly hot though. Meltzer's ratings do carry weight with a segment of the hardcore wrestling fandom and could be viewed as a minor asset. I think that the point being made was that he wants it to succeed and so views it in a more positive light than would regularly be the case. Fans do it all the time in wrestling, from me to others on this website to fans all over. Happens in other realms of entertainment too of course. A more cynical take would be that he's pretty close with the people involved with Double or Nothing, though I'm not ready to commit to that myself other than noting that he is excessively protective of the Young Bucks sometimes.

It works both ways in this case. He does want it to succeed. Everyone does. It's good for business. WCW going down was bad for business. And they give the Observer & Friends access WWE will never ever give them. There's two sides to that coin though, the Young Bucks probably wouldn't be as over or popular as they are without the support they get from the likes that read the Observer and open to non-WWE content - which is the nature of working independents they have played the game and played it well, and AEW may not even exist at all if it wasn't for an innocuous bet he made on Twitter with Cody Rhodes. AEW can do things that may not ordinarily work because those people aren't going to let matches and angles be bad or without heat, and the fans trust and believe in the things they're doing so they will still react better than they may have otherwise. Not unlike how the Evolution PPV was so well-received because the crowd there wasn't going to allow it to die.

 

[JackSlater]

It works both ways in this case. He does want it to succeed. Everyone does. It's good for business. WCW going down was bad for business. And they give the Observer & Friends access WWE will never ever give them. There's two sides to that coin though, the Young Bucks probably wouldn't be as over or popular as they are without the support they get from the likes that read the Observer and open to non-WWE content - which is the nature of working independents they have played the game and played it well, and AEW may not even exist at all if it wasn't for an innocuous bet he made on Twitter with Cody Rhodes. AEW can do things that may not ordinarily work because those people aren't going to let matches and angles be bad or without heat, and the fans trust and believe in the things they're doing so they will still react better than they may have otherwise. Not unlike how the Evolution PPV was so well-received because the crowd there wasn't going to allow it to die.

I'm aware that it's mutually beneficial. I think that the Evolution PPV is a very good analogy here, as I see it as another example of people talking about something being X (good, great, incredible, whichever you like), even though it wasn't, because they want it to succeed. I want AEW to succeed too, for the reasons given. It's only a good thing for any fan if it succeeds. I'm not inclined to pretend that things were better than they were, though you can certainly make the case that AEW cares about what Meltzer says more than it does about what JackSlater says.

I think another situation similar to the Rhodes match being labelled by Meltzer as a five star match is the Punk/Cena match from Money in the Bank 2011. Sometimes you get caught up in something and go a bit overboard. Both matches are strong (I prefer the Rhodes match honestly, but the MITB crowd was great) but even just looking at his ratings there are plenty of superior matches with lower ratings. He's human like everyone else.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

I remember arguing with someone here because someone said crowd reaction should have no weight when rating a match and I said that was ridiculous lol.

I’m one that a 5* match is hard to come by imo and I wouldn’t quite call Cody/Dustin that but it was close.

 

[DerekDevils30]

Cody/Dustin told an incredible story. Cody seemingly killed Dustin in a pool of his own blood only to see the error of his ways. That little promo at the end just about brought me to tears. The match greatly exceeded my expectations and the promo and embrace afterwards was the perfect way to move the story forward.

There were some good moments early in the PPV but the Cody/Dustin match is where things really took off. There is a lot to work on in terms of the production/commentating but, overall, it was an excellent show. I can't wait until August 31st and hoping to find a way to watch Fight for the Fallen/Fyter Fest

 

[GKJ]

The thing that separates it for me is that we're still talking about it a week later like it just happened.

 

[Fro]

Wasnt perfect even rewatching highlights...but had a big time feel...that was always the issue for me with Impact, great matches, but missed that big time feel

 

[KaseMeOutside]

I remember arguing with someone here because someone said crowd reaction should have no weight when rating a match and I said that was ridiculous lol.

I’m one that a 5* match is hard to come by imo and I wouldn’t quite call Cody/Dustin that but it was close.

You can have an amazing match technically but if the fans don't care it doesn't mean shit

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Wasnt perfect even rewatching highlights...but had a big time feel...that was always the issue for me with Impact, great matches, but missed that big time feel

Cena and Punk in 2011 at MITB wasn't perfect but the fan investment made the match because it actually mattered who won!