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EXCESSIVE EXCESS
AEW is a company of massive excess. Everything is too much. There is no greater example of this than the outrageous levels of violence on display at All Out, especially between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page. AEW has excess in many areas. Too much blood. Too many near falls. Too many matches on PPVs. Too many plunder matches. Too many repetitive angles. I could go on. But when is too much, too much? Where does it end? It should have ended at Hangman drinking Swerve’s blood, but unfortunately once this cage match was announced, it was inevitable that they would attempt to go further. Now, I love the story between Page and Strickland. It is one of, if not the most compelling stories AEW has ever produced. The character work from both men, especially Hangman, has been outstanding. So why is there a need for so much gratuitous violence? Swerve and Hangman have all the tools to create a compelling feud based on storytelling and character work without the need for violence that now just feels like it is being done for shock and awe, and because it is expected of them. It is violence that does more to turn people off the product and give AEW a reputation for being low brow smut with no substance behind it, than it does positive. No matter how good the Hangman/Page story and character work has been, people will spend their time talking about staple guns, needles and horrific chair shots that should have been left in the ECW arena 25 years ago. I want to enjoy the rivalry and character work of these incredible talents. Instead I am completely turned off by extreme unnecessary violence that goes beyond the bounds of what pro wrestling should be. Wrestling should make you suspend your disbelief and make you get lost in what you are watching, but it reaches a point where it gets so ridiculous and extreme that it becomes no longer believable. Which leads me to the plastic bag…
THIS IS MURDER
I am all for the end of the Blackpool Combat Club, or the evolution of the group. It has been long overdue. The group has been less than the sum of its parts for almost as long as it has existed and has led a very confusing existence for much of that time. In theory, this angle was a nice idea. But in execution, not so much. Let's ignore how counterproductive it was to do this just minutes before a cage match where we were to expect attempted murder. Did Page & Swerve NOT attempting to suffocate each other just make them seem less extreme than Jon Moxley in comparison? I can not suspend my disbelief when I am watching a man suffocate another man in front of an audience, and not one person from ringside security or commentary attempts to save Bryan Danielson’s life? It also went on so long that it seemed there was no way Bryan would actually survive that length of time, and made the crowd break out in the first ever “this is murder” chant. When we have gotten to the point where an extreme angle like this is being met with funny chants, and the audience isn’t lost in the heaviness and emotion of what is happening in front of them, something is very broken with your storytelling and presentation. Unfortunately this is the result of endless extreme excess in AEW. With every crazy bump, bloody face or near death experience, each one means less and less, and will continue until it means nothing at all.
However, I do like the idea of this turn from Moxley and I am interested in seeing where it goes. Follow up is key, so I am expecting a great explanation and promo from Moxley this week on Dynamite that will make all of this make sense.
JACK PERRY
Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland was one of my favourite matches of recent years, and maybe the best presentation in the history of AEW. From the video package, to the entrances, to the match, to the feel good moment, it was pro wrestling perfection in my opinion. It was also a presentation that made AEW look big time, and felt like the Bryan story had a lot of steam behind it. Which is why I was dumbfounded at the decision to have Jack Perry be his first challenger. Now, I think Perry has improved a lot as a talker and has done a solid job as a mid card heel since his return. But he is not a believable top level title challenger. It felt like it was being done because Perry would get heat in Chicago, again, not allowing CM Punk’s presence in this company to ever die. Unfortunately this match did nothing to change my opinion. Perry did nothing here that made me think he should be in a main event spot, or should be in the near future. If Bryan Danielson’s remaining matches are to be few and far between, this felt like a waste of one of them. For everything that made the All In match feel like a spectacle, this was the opposite. There was no intrigue, no chance that Perry was ever going to win and very little done to make you believe that this may have been Bryan’s final match. The match dragged in parts for me and I audibly groaned at Perry kicking out of a Busaiku knee. I simply do not understand why Perry is presented as a badass that can survive being burnt alive and can’t be kept down. It does not fit who he is at all and is seemingly an example of AEW talent being allowed to do whatever they want, with no adult in the room to say no to bad ideas. I think Perry could excel as a smarmy chicken shit heel, or at least have a lot more success than he is currently.
THE REST
Will Ospreay vs PAC was the highlight of the show for me. It was the finest of the modern style of pro wrestling that some love and some hate. Very few do this style of wrestling as well as PAC and Ospreay. PAC has spent much of his AEW run hampered as part of Death Triangle and I hope that one day he gets a sustained top level push on his own. PAC is both one of the most respected talents in the industry, while still being underrated and under utilised. I was not a fan of the Ricochet and Ospreay confrontation backstage. It was Ricochet’s recent twitter activity come to life. The less time he spends there, the better it will be for everyone involved.
Unfortunately Mercedes Mone had another poor night. It wasn’t all bad. It was going relatively well until it just completely fell apart at the end with Mone inexplicably just shrugging off Hikaru Shida’s finisher. How many more times will the Money Maker fail before Mone removes it from her arsenal? It should have been eliminated on January 5th 2023 when it failed on the first attempt.
Willow Nightingale vs Kris Statlander was another fantastic highlight from this show. Let’s ignore that it may have been counterproductive to have another match of this style on a show to be main evented by a violent death match. However, this was better in some ways than the main event. There was lots of creativity, a great pace throughout the match and they managed to set up and execute big spots without it being contrived or obvious as to what was coming next. Statlander getting a clean win was a surprise. What happened to the CMLL womens title? Not that anyone cared or noticed, as it should never have been involved. But this was advertised as a title match and then just wasn’t. Willow Nightingale in money and should be the centrepiece of the AEW women's division sooner rather than later.
I’m not sure what it says about this show that I almost forgot about MJF vs Daniel Garcia. Another example of too much being too much. This was an excellent opener that I greatly enjoyed. It had a grittiness to it that has been missing from Garcia for far too long. This felt like two guys trying their hardest to beat each other to get revenge, while still having an element of great technical wrestling. Daniel Garcia is a great technical wrestler that unfortunately had that stripped away from him for far too long to play sports entertainment with Chris Jericho. Despite the finish being somewhat of a cop out, Garcia did feel like he came out of this in a better position than when he went in.
There’s not much to say about the Continental four way, other than that I hope AEW take great care in promoting Okada vs Takeshita as a major match, and fix the messy babyface/heel roles.
There’s not much to say about the tag title match either. The Young Bucks feel like they’re already back to being a stale, forgettable act. It’s amazing to say about two trailblazers who were such an important part in the formation of AEW, but I think if they disappeared from TV next week, not a lot of people would really care. At the moment they feel like they are going through the motions. No longer a team forcing innovation and creativity, but an act playing the hits. The AEW tag division needs a major injection of excitement as soon as possible.
I can be reached at matthewmacklin90@gmail.com
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