Been busy so hopping on to post a review of current AEW product
-Sasha basically redid her promo from last week. She is still so rehearsed on the mic, no hungry emotion, like she's entering a pageant. I like the storyline fuse of the Skye/Julia - Willow/Stat corruption stuff.
-Gave Okada the foreigner prop already. I want to see Bullet Club / Elite for trios titles with Jay and Okada the focal point. Make Okada a belt collector while he gets his feet wet in AEW. There was something funny about the mid-match cut to the production area with the shytheads pestering the cokehead.
-Hook is still getting primary show nepotism placement. Don't care for this young lion storyline at all. Jericho working a lower card program trying to put a "rookie" over is better than him leading a whole group. Just don't care enough about either of them.
-The Devil storyline is so trash. Can Cole just not fukkin appear on my tv until he's able to do stuff? With every wheelchair rollout, and taped vignette, everything that was special about the Devil is losing luster. One of the main fallouts of World's End was Wardlow finally getting his revenge, and being promoted and set up as the guy chosen to win the world title. Then the whole group just did nothing and nothing and nothing. Now finally 3 of them win titles long after the fact, and the main player cashes his shot in with no program, no build-up, loses, then is immediately clowned by Cole. Literally the same purgatory he was in with MJF. Makes Cole look like either more a clown with no insurance plan to get Wardlow the W. He wasn't even involved ringside? I think Wardlow is Matt Morgan 2.0 but storyline wise just retarded.
-Ospreay is just pure money, natural babyface energy, and when I talk about someone who comes off as having burning desire when they talk, that's him. I love that they keep giving him entrance time, the 3 corner "Ospreay"s he does in the ring is catching on well, and a nice idea. Also love that they keep giving him mic time, it definitely adds to his traction and surprisingly been a strong suit for him.
-I'm over the timeless Toni. She does her gimmick well, but it's still a comedy gimmick. She does nothing to earn real heel heat with the crowd, and everyone involved with her just gets overshadowed by the black and white theatrics. Main woman's belt is an afterthought atm.
-Still not sure they will do the right thing by Swerve. One of Joe's first decrees as champ was that folks were gonna have to earn their way to him through the rankings, which has already been bushed again just a couple months after it was brought back. I think that's good, just a note. The whole Takeshyta thing (who yes was ranked right behind Swerve and Hangman in the February ranking) felt like it was overstepping Joe have a champion advantage in the feud. Callis can just barge in and make it look like they subbing Takeshyta into the feud. How about Joe strikes a deal with Callis and brings him to challenge Swerve on his own accord?
-Edge and Christian blowoff finally. Don't really care for Edge, I think the optimal place for him company wise is holding that mid-card title on the mid-card show Collision, appearing in the middle of the fukkin card. Christian is GOATed but I think we've seen the best of this Father of the year stuff, the Killswitch angle is so wishy washy, I think Nick Wayne has a little something there, and if he pans out he and Darby could have the life-long opp thing going alas Owens/Zayn.
Overall the show is much more cohesive, and everyone that appears on the show has some bit of backstory happening, which is good. The color pack that dropped is nice too, gives a production vibe more of what they branded themselves as on launch. They definitely have their strongest roster ever, this the year you take a look at all the assets you've acquired since day one, and figure out which ones you really want to be the "pillars". it's gonna get hectic with the likes of MJF, Kenny, Cole / Hayter, Baker still pending return. Jury still out, but AEW trending upward from their absolute dogshyt WOAT run last year. Also please give Nigel an official retirement match against Danielson at Wembley this year