Just got done watching this...
The show was...fine. Certainly not Clash level; maybe it was a bit above your average Rampage. I know you had a lot of big matches go down this week, but if these are supposed to be "special" specials, so to speak, then TK has to plan for them better. Cody being out hurt, sure, but you should still be able to put on a bigger card than this given the roster AEW has.
-The Sammy/Dustin match was good for about 80% of its runtime, then turned into a bunch of moves and no selling that I didn't really care for. I hate to say this, but Dustin's
old now. He was huffing a puffing in a manner that would have been unthinkable even two years ago. I bet that if he had a month or two to train for this match, he'd probably look great, but you can't expect much more from a 52 year old with his career on a few days' notice.
Sammy might really fukk himself up on one of these dives in the future. He just throws himself around without a care in the world. Also, a table spot for no reason? After how the last one of those shook out? In kayfabe, at least, you'd think that Sammy would think twice about this given that the last babyface who had a friend suggest a table be used apropos of nothing is going to be on the shelf for a few months, but I guess we just had to have some Cody bullshyt in this Rhodes match.
I still don't care too much for Daniel Garcia. Pretty solid wrestler, but dude is not nearly as interesting as AEW thinks he is. Match will hopefully be good, though.
-Starks/Sydal was the coldest match I've seen in a while (cold as in the crowd didn't really give a shyt about it). People might have cared a little bit if it were Starks/Dante, but this is what happens when you don't actually build matches for a card.
Match was fine, if standard midcard fare. Starks has star potential, but also a problem that will absolutely kneecap him if he doesn't address it at some point: He works like a midcard goon. I could go on about his physique (he has got to add some upper body mass. Even a little bit would go a long way toward improving his look), but my biggest issue with him is that dude looks barely competent as a competitor and will take moves endlessly at a moment's notice, WITHOUT actually looking good for pushing through (regardless of whether he cheated or not). His actual wrestling is fine, but I just wish he worked a little more like a star. I love Matt Sydal, but Starks shouldn't really be going even with him given his booking, especially in title matches. Fix that issue and the sky's the limit for the guy.
-Britt/Riho...fukk's sake, man. Remember when Britt was (or was at least close to being) one of the 5 most over people in the company? That's all gone now. She's still over, the crowd still cares about her, but she's lost so much steam since All Out. It doesn't help that she's not nearly the star AEW (or Britt herself) thinks she is, but AEW really fukked this up by trying so desperately to keep her heel when the crowd just wants to cheer her and do the stupid finger chant. Her feuds are boring and predictably uninteresting because she never makes the opponent look like a threat, she never loses despite not actually being any type of good worker (her heat segments are ridiculously boring. She's the exact kind of wrestler picture-in-picture was made for), her opponents never look good in defeat (I think this might have been the closest, though. Maybe the Statlander match at All Out? I'd have to rewatch it), and her matches kind of suck. Thunder Rosa should've won the belt at Full Gear; I can't wait for that to happen and for Britt and Jamie to get on with their breakup already (and I'm honestly less sure the Britt/Rosa match is actually happening by the day).
The match was mediocre.
This really isn't that serious, but I can't wait for Britt to lose the belt and become interesting again.