By Colin McGuire, ProWrestling.net Staffer
They both disappointed me. That’s it. That’s the answer to the headline.
And I can’t shake the feeling that I’m not alone. There’s a uniqueness to the poor booking on both ends – a combination of expectation not being met and what feels like a mindless pledge to laziness. Intriguing ideas that stop being intriguing as soon as they are expected to transition into the next gear. Some may say a lack of depth; I’d argue that nobody really felt like opting for a zag when the zig was easier.
We’ll start with the former. As I’ve said here in past weeks, my curiosity was spiked with Moxley and his merry band of badasses when they first arrived on top of Mount AEW. It was good stuff. Suggestive. Freaky. Ominous. Fun. Whether or not he meant to, Moxley suggested he was working for a literal higher power all these weeks, introducing an idea that meant perhaps something darker than what we’ve been given was in play. The act felt fresh – a kick in the pants of a stale Blackpool Combat Club that was probably on its way to not existing anyway once Bryan Danielson stepped through the out door, which we all knew was imminent.
The problem? Well, after seeing what happened on Collision this weekend … um … was this all just to set up a program between Moxley and Orange Cassidy?
It’s probably not that simple (OK, it can’t be that simple … right? Right?!). But it sure does feel like Those Who Ride Death have cooled off after such a promising debut/formation. The holes in the story were glaring from the beginning despite us holding out as much hope as we could: So, Moxley declared war on AEW because everyone’s gone soft … but “everyone” actually only means mid-card guys … because the top guys … well … um … yeah, anyway. Sure the Young Bucks dipped their toes in the story, and yeah, this probably does mean they’ll come back at some point to save the AEW day, but does any of this feel different anymore?
Not for this viewer.
It’s nice to see Orange Cassidy be put in a prominent spot, but everything behind him is as flimsy as a public pool’s diving board. Because let me get this straight: We are supposed to believe this is a For Real Guys program when Cassidy’s running mates are … Dark Order? Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, Hangman Page, Kazuchika Okada – none of those fellas seem to be too concerned with Moxley and his fellas, so why should we be? Everything feels ordinary again and that’s not what we signed up for. Seeing Moxley growl and slow-stomp his way as a means to chase Cassidy through the crowd on Saturday night was the last straw for me. He looked cartoonish. The story jumped the shark. Yet another strong beginning to a strong idea in AEW that turned out to be all for not. Frustrating isn’t the half of it.
And yet, one disappointing angle pales in comparison to an entirely disappointing show. WWE’s Crown Jewel had so much potential when it went down over the weekend. The show already having baked-in strikes against it (cough, Saudi Arabia, cough), the program felt interesting because, at the very least, it wasn’t as predictable as a lot of PLEs have recently been. Plus – and perhaps most importantly – it felt likely that WWE was going to finally elevate some newer faces to the top level of the card. But, of course …
… Nah.
Bronson Reed and Gunther were two names that the company has given a lot of booking attention to in recent months, and putting Reed over Seth Rollins would have been a game changer for the former while Gunther being the first person to beat Cody since he finished his story felt like it could catapult the World Heavyweight Champion into a very special stratosphere. The problem was, well, neither of those things happened. Reed lost, but the creative minds felt they would do him a favor if they just told him to stand right up after getting pinned in the middle of the ring. “Don’t worry about the loss, big guy! Just look angry after the final bell rings!” Gunther, meanwhile, didn’t really lose anything by laying down for Cody, but … is it too early to ask when we might have passed the point of too much Cody?
It is? OK, I’ll move on.
In the case of Gunther, he’ll go back to being World Heavyweight Champion and once he chops the hell out of his next opponent, most people will forget the phony baloney Crown Jewel Championship nonsense anyway. But with Reed, that was asshat stuff, man. For so long, it has felt like Paul Levesque has liked the guy … but just not enough to actually get the train rolling for good. This was the moment that could have changed all that. And yeah. Try to convince me that we need to see it all play out before we pass judgment – I don’t buy it. Not everybody needs to win, lose, lose, win and then maybe win one more time in order to tell a full story in professional wrestling. The commitment WWE has to thinking they’re writing The Next Great Novel needs to be loosened up a bit. Sometimes, it’s OK to run a shorter program aimed at moving someone up the card.
That, of course, leads me to my biggest disappointment of the night: Tiffany Stratton. I’ve been loud about having little patience for the will she/won’t she that we knew would inevitably unfold between her and Nia Jax via that Money In The Bank briefcase, but despite my best efforts, they had me reeled into the drama going into Saturday. Would Stratton cash in on Liv Morgan? Turn on Jax? Make the match a triple threat? Turned out, the answer was D: None of the above. After teasing it … and teasing it … and teasing it, she ultimately did not cash in, Liv Morgan stole a victory from Nia Jax, and much like The Riders Of Death …
… I am now officially done with that story, too.
Except in the case of Jax and Tiffy, it wasn’t a matter of one intriguing idea fizzling into dust; it’s just a needless delay of the inevitable. WWE has built the story well enough for long enough to make things compelling; refusing to give the next step the green light on the basis of … what? A slow burn? … is enough to make me give up on any investment I may have had in the program. Money In The Bank was in July. It’s now November. If we get to WrestleMania season and we still see that briefcase on TV …
… It might be enough to give Moxley’s story another chance.
And nobody wins if that happens.
With Mox I feel like they’re waiting for Shane McMahon to come in which doesn’t seem likely so maybe they’re dragging it out until something else comes to mind or they’re just waiting for Omega to get cleared so he and the Bucks can reunite and go after Mox and friends.With Crown Jewel I think it was a good show,but they always feel like a televised house show with nothing notable happening besides Reigns actually taking the pinfall and of course Cody and Liv winning there trophys…I mean belts.
As a fan of both Cody and Gunther, their match really could have used some, ironically, Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan theatricality.
I know they’re both “realistic” wrestlers, and it was a fine match, but that crowd wanted Hogan/Rock, and would have given it to them. Either guy just needed to lean into that, then direct the crowd.
Instead, the crowd, feeling ignored, went into business for themselves with the wave.
I wish they would’ve taken a moment to just breathe it in, and, in their serious way, ham it up, and have engaged the crowd, instead of just performing in front of them.
My favorite moments were Gunther mocking Cody, looking to the crowd to fire them up – but the camera kept cutting away from him! It was great to see that side of Gunther, especially in the context of a high stakes match, where the normally stoic wrestler becomes unhinged at the pressure and excitement.
Hogan/Rock has maybe 5 moves. Hogan/Andre, not much more. Dusty/Flair were in a figure four for about 20 minutes. And the crowd ate it all up, because the performances were that good, and the crowd felt like they were part of it.