AEW All Elite Wrestling #5: Road to Double or Nothing

[ColePens]

It's definitely true that they've botched Omega. I can't imagine someone first seeing him in AEW and suddenly becoming a fan. He needs to drop a fair bit of his goofiness, get closer to his New Japan in ring performances, and start winning many matches.

There were so many WWE fans who wanted to see him fail. And for AEW to basically waste the first opening of his American career is such a head shaker. It's such a head shaker. And if anyone wanted to say he's overrated, now they can pop their chest out and talk negatively about him. It sucks because his work is excellent.

 

[ColePens]

I hope in 2021 we talk about AEW's women's division. It's brutal. Riho is a terrible champ. She's amazing on the chase being the young/small/babyfacee she is. Having her as the champ is freaking silly. They should have let Kong or some big villain take it early for the face chase.

 

[hockey20000]

trent can actually wrestle in the ring pretty good its a shame everywhere he's been he has always been low card or mid at best.

 

[JackSlater]

I think that with Omega, they overrated how well known and popular he was with Joe Blow wrestling fan. Assumed that he could come in with no build, lose matches, and still be big. He's also somewhat to blame for the crappy women's division, but it isn't Omega's fault that WWE already has the vast majority of the top women. It is his fault for going in big with Riho. I don't think it's a surprise that the guys who know North America and television like Jericho and Rhodes have been the standouts.

Guevara however is a success and the best thing that AEW has exposed me to. Most of what he does is gold. I'm very much enjoying his use of this picture in picture commercial break.

 

[Kaner9]

I think Sammy G and Golddust would have been friends in some other circumstances. Love to both.

 

[hockey20000]

getting abit out of hand with all these moves a cutter after dragon suplex'd on your head? lol ok.,..

 

[GKJ]

I hope in 2021 we talk about AEW's women's division. It's brutal. Riho is a terrible champ. She's amazing on the chase being the young/small/babyfacee she is. Having her as the champ is freaking silly. They should have let Kong or some big villain take it early for the face chase.

That kind of mentality is what keeps Brock Lesnar as the champion.

 

[ColePens]

That kind of mentality is what keeps Brock Lesnar as the champion.

Well I retract my statement. They may just need storylines. The ranking system is one thing... but a solid storyline is what I want.

 

[JackSlater]

That kind of mentality is what keeps Brock Lesnar as the champion.

It was absolutely a mistake to make Riho the champion if the goal was some kind of quality or to not look like a joke of a division. The AEW women's roster is shallow and Riho isn't the worst there, as Emi Sakura has that firmly locked down, but there were far better options. The female version of a Lesnar, Kong for instance, would be far superior.

 

[GKJ]

It was absolutely a mistake to make Riho the champion if the goal was some kind of quality or to not look like a joke of a division. The AEW women's roster is shallow and Riho isn't the worst there, as Emi Sakura has that firmly locked down, but there were far better options. The female version of a Lesnar, Kong for instance, would be far superior.

There's a reason why you don't see Kong wrestle much - she can't do it anymore. That's why they're giving her so many bells and whistles, along with having had taken like 3 years off. I don't know if she would've even come back if it wasn't for AEW launching. And at that time, they also didn't have many women under contract. Other than Kong, Riho was still the most experienced despite her age, easily so - everyone else was/is really green. The person they probably should've went with was Britt Baker, she was the one they were promoting before they went weekly, but even she's picked apart for how green she is. The bottom line is that they didn't really have a good woman to go with as their inaugural champion, and were probably hoping someone would shake free from WWE.

 

[JackSlater]

There's a reason why you don't see Kong wrestle much - she can't do it anymore. That's why they're giving her so many bells and whistles, along with having had taken like 3 years off. I don't know if she would've even come back if it wasn't for AEW launching. And at that time, they also didn't have many women under contract. Other than Kong, Riho was still the most experienced despite her age, easily so - everyone else was/is really green. The person they probably should've went with was Britt Baker, she was the one they were promoting before they went weekly, but even she's picked apart for how green she is. The bottom line is that they didn't really have a good woman to go with as their inaugural champion, and were probably hoping someone would shake free from WWE.

I know of Kong's situation and I agree that in an ideal world it is Baker, but she really is still a work in progress. AEW would lose nothing though by having Kong, someone with experience, some recognition among the audience, and a presence, over the likes of Riho. With decent booking someone in Kong's position could still be a very good champion. Letting Riho chase would make a lot more sense and would turn her look from a negative to a potential positive as the underdog face.

If Omega was hellbent on pushing one of the Japanese women, which isn't a bad idea in general as they are usually better trained than the non-Japanese women, they should have gone with Shida. It's unfortunate that WWE has the best Japanese women and can't push them well while AEW pushes the wrong ones. Asuka and Shirai in AEW for instance would be very promising.

 

[GKJ]

I know of Kong's situation and I agree that in an ideal world it is Baker, but she really is still a work in progress. AEW would lose nothing though by having Kong, someone with experience, some recognition among the audience, and a presence, over the likes of Riho. With decent booking someone in Kong's position could still be a very good champion. Letting Riho chase would make a lot more sense and would turn her look from a negative to a potential positive as the underdog face.

If Omega was hellbent on pushing one of the Japanese women, which isn't a bad idea in general as they are usually better trained than the non-Japanese women, they should have gone with Shida. It's unfortunate that WWE has the best Japanese women and can't push them well while AEW pushes the wrong ones. Asuka and Shirai in AEW for instance would be very promising.

I don't think a TV audience would really recognize, or remember, Kong.

Shida wasn't signed yet, I don't think she moved to the US until late November.

 

[JackSlater]

I don't think a TV audience would really recognize, or remember, Kong.

Shida wasn't signed yet, I don't think she moved to the US until late November.

As I said, Kong has some recognition, assuming that wrestling fans don't have collective amnesia. Shida started wrestling with AEW at the same time as Riho and was involved in the build up to crowning the inaugural champion. I'm guessing that she could have been induced to move to the US slightly earlier had she been told that she was going to start as the centrepiece of the division.

 

[flyersfan187]

That was a good episode to start the year I thought. Hopefully they plan on releasing a new belt soon because they need one for smaller wrestlers like Darby out there.

 

[ColePens]

AEWs women's division is just bad. Brandy was BRUTAL on commentary. This match actually made me turn AEW off. That was bad wrestling. Not even indy good.

It really is amazing how good NXT's women's division is.

 

[JackSlater]

This Nightmare Collective stuff, and the women's match in general, sure is something.

 

[BigFatCat999]

Did I just hear a f***ing yoga chant?

 

[ColePens]

This Nightmare Collective stuff, and the women's match in general, sure is something.

It's unwatchable. The midcard of NXT women's could main event their show. I could watch a 2 hour NXT Women's PPV and it would probably be up for PPV of the year.

 

[hockey20000]

cool ending haha I liked it love jon moxleyy.

 

[JackSlater]

It's unwatchable. The midcard of NXT women's could main event their show. I could watch a 2 hour NXT Women's PPV and it would probably be up for PPV of the year.

I won't watch NXT regularly but I did watch the episode where Ripley won the title. I know that not every episode will have something of that calibre but NXT's women's wrestling is so far above AEW's that it's laughable. That's with AEW grandstanding about promoting women's wrestling as well. I even like Brandi, but she is proving pretty much all of the skeptics right so far.

I enjoyed Guevara and Jericho this episode, as always. The MJF and DDP segment was alright but flawed. That is all.

 

[les Habs]

Still like the Dark Order idea. I also liked how the one guy, forget his name, still went into the ring even though he was outnumbered.

I haven't watched in a while, but it seems like the storylines/feuds are still all over the place with very little continuity. Maybe they're trying to prop up the lesser/lesser known talent, but you can still do that having them face each other if the storylines are good.

As over as MJF may be (I'm guessing he is) and how good he can be, he needs to up the look. He does look hood rich and not even that.

 

[flyersfan187]

Jericho-Inner Circle, Dark Order and MJF are probably my favorite things going in AEW right now. Omega needs better booking and Darby needs a singles title out there that he can realistically win for his size. And someone please get Guevara something different to wear because that ring gear is no good for any man it is way too cheeky.

For females on the roster Riho I would enjoy more if she wasn't the champion. Statlander and Shida are the only two that I can enjoy their matches. The WWE really blows them away with talent there.

Wardlow, Hager and Brandi I like to be involved even if they hardly ever wrestle. Brandi needs to limit her mic time though but I think the idea is there for her group and she has the look for it so it has potential.

 

[ColePens]

The Dark Order stuff isn't for me. They don't have the production value or thr name yet to pull it off. And AEW seems to loooooooooove their creepy stables.

 

[JackSlater]

Jericho-Inner Circle, Dark Order and MJF are probably my favorite things going in AEW right now. Omega needs better booking and Darby needs a singles title out there that he can realistically win for his size. And someone please get Guevara something different to wear because that ring gear is no good for any man it is way too cheeky.

For females on the roster Riho I would enjoy more if she wasn't the champion. Statlander and Shida are the only two that I can enjoy their matches. The WWE really blows them away with talent there.

Wardlow, Hager and Brandi I like to be involved even if they hardly ever wrestle. Brandi needs to limit her mic time though but I think the idea is there for her group and she has the look for it so it has potential.

I like the Dark Order vignettes and think that it could be a decent mid-level stable, but they need to be consistent with storytelling and as many people online have noted you shouldn't have Dark Order and Nightmare Collective doing largely the same thing. Brandi has her uses but this hasn't been one of them so far.

I consider Guevara's too small tights to be fantasstic for what he's going for. He's one guy I wouldn't change a thing about so far.

 

[flyersfan187]

I like the Dark Order vignettes and think that it could be a decent mid-level stable, but they need to be consistent with storytelling and as many people online have noted you shouldn't have Dark Order and Nightmare Collective doing largely the same thing. Brandi has her uses but this hasn't been one of them so far.

I consider Guevara's too small tights to be fantasstic for what he's going for. He's one guy I wouldn't change a thing about so far.

I guess you are right with that.