AEW Grand Slam Night 1 (9/22/21)

FWIW the sound came through awesome on TV. I thought Punk's debut was crazy loud, but Bryan/Kenny took it to another level. Holy crap did that crowd play out hot on TV.

I mean, everyone is free to not like Baker, not everyone is going to like everyone. Like who you like. It's working though. 20k people yelling D M D at the top of their lungs, she is definitely a star, and over as all hell. I can't fathom calling Sasha Banks overrated though. That feels, impossible? Like basically every women in the WWE locker room lists Sasha as their favourite to work with/dream match. If the entire locker room thinks you're their best match, you can't really be overrated. Again, free to not like her, like who you like, overrated just doesn't seem possible if the locker room vibe towards your talent is that high and that well respected.

I know it's slightly tangenial, but since we were mentioning Alexa "burying" Britt on the mic. (Which seems insane, no knock on Alexa but Britt is pure fire). Knowing her concussion history, and how careful/limited they have to be with her in the ring, I really wish Alexa would just move on to Hollywood. I mean that as a compliment for her, I think she could be pretty successful there too, and there'd be a lot less risk of long term CTE effects, etc. She's had so many concussions already.


But man, how insane Kenny/Bryan was. They may have to push Hangman's title all the way until Revolution or potentially even DoN in order to do this Kenny/Bryan thing justice.

Hobbs is HUGE in person. He's built like a tank. I was also surprised at how tall Black was. He's listed as 5'11" but looks the same height as Cody in person. Wight, obviously is huge. He does a fun Test of Strength with three jobbers on dark.

Can anyone explain the reaction Cody got? Why was he getting the Cena/Roman treatment from New York?

.48, #1 on the night of course. Almost 25% above the next show for the evening.

Strong rating, but honestly I would have hoped for a bit more. Danielson/Omega would hopefully have gotten over .50. That said, it should lead to a very high number next week. There's been a very noticeable trend of ratings being indicative of the show the week before, with the exception of some special matches. (Which Danielson/Omega was). So as much as it's an excellent rating, can't help but see it a little underwhelming for the standard they've been setting. That said, the fact that a .48 now feels moderately underwhelming is a huge huge success. Cheapest 175 million TNT/TBS can ever spend really. Recent estimates have AEW valued at about $400 million currently, and I could see that getting up to $550 within the next year or so. Big tv rights coming in 2023 (or earlier if TBS wants to lock them in longer and restructure the contract with some big bonuses and pay raises).

It also probably doesn’t help warranted or unwarranted that he is positioning his wrestling career to catapult him onto bigger and better things like he isn’t in it for the long haul. Whether right or wrong there is a certain sector of wrestling fans that have a problem with him for that as well.

My 2 cents from last night

Kenny-Bryan was good. I wasn’t blown away like most seem to be but it was a good match. Crowd was hot. Kenny can’t sell at all, especially getting kicked in the face/head - which seems to be pretty common in AEW. Just an observation

The Punk promo was alright. I think he should lose to Hobbs. Punk can afford it and I think it’ll be a nice “humbling” so to speak, and will hopefully lead to a grittier Punk.

Black-Cody was okay. Cody looks slow. I miss 2010-2012 Cody.

MJF - Pillman Jr was decent. I know MJF is a heel and all that but I truly can’t stand the guy. It’s not heel heat with me. It’s simply I don’t like the guy regardless of how good he is at his character.

The tag match was fun. Seeing Sting wrestle is a privilege and even in his 60’s he’s still money IMO

The main event was pretty good. I’ve never been a Ruby fan - all of her stuff looks soft and fake to me. Britt, however, is badass. I’m digging what she’s doing and for whatever reason I really love her theme. Absolute right call with her retaining

Overall, good show. I’m getting more on the AEW bandwagon each weak. While still being a WWE fan. It’s very possible and actually pretty easy to do. Some of you should try it.

☝️ This guy gets it. I use people’s takes on Cody to see if they actually understand wrestling (amongst other things). Calling him H or JJ is regurgitating a misinformed take. The dude isn’t a face or a heel, he literally enters through the middle (same for Malakai). Brandi used the heel tunnel and Arn uses the face one. Cody = Cena is the correct take.

Rhodes is unaware of being a tweener, but Runnels knows exactly what he’s doing. If you want to boo him, do it. Cheer? Makes just as much sense.

It’s not people’s fault they have rotted brains from WWE. It was the only product in town for most Americans for 20 years. It’s basically like eating paint chips and running your head into the wall for 2 decades.

Back into hiding I go.

I can't believe it's Danielson first official one either. I actually thought I was misreading when I found that out.

Omega has definitely had better matches, as great as this one was. I'd still put the tag with hangman against the Bucks well above this, all 3 Okada matches easy, and several other of his NJPW matches. Best singles aew match of his quite comfortably though.

Fantastic shot! Congrats!