WOR up. Meltzer liked the show "until the main event" which he thought was an excessive spectacle. "Loved" Riho/Emi, really liked Bucks/PnP, thought Jericho/Cody had gripping drama.
Bryan says he was told there were no "major" injuries at Full Gear.
Dave frickin' Meltzer saying a match was too excessive and could've finished 18 times before the end is kind of hilarious.
Dave says Moxley/Omega set out to have the most hardcore match ever and might have achieved it. DAVE I DID NOT SEE BLOOD SQUIRTING FROM AN ARTERY OR A WEEDWACKER, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
Dave on Britt/Bea: Thought they tried hard and there were good parts but it felt a little off. Average to below average.
Bryan thought the crowd didn't come off as hot, although Sempervive was there and says it really was live. Dave says he thought the crowd came off hot. Dave is insane.
(I should say I also had friends at the show who told me the crowd was hotter live than we were all saying on Twitter, so take that however you want.)
Dave on Bucks/PnP: Thought it was really good, the Bucks were trying to do something different, working more like the Rock and Roll Express.
Dave on Page/Pac: Felt it was kind of weird to have Pac beat Omega and then lose to Page before getting a title match. Says Pac looked tremendous ("He has no weaknesses...he can do pretty much everything") and Page looked very good as well.
On Spears/Janela: Dave felt Spears should've won. Dave thought it was good but not as good as most of the matches on the show "But it wasn't designed to be either". "They did the right finish" Uhhh ok, Dave.
Dave says the Sabian/Janela feud tease is based off real life events, as Penelope Ford really left Janela for Sabian.
Dave says people think AEW is doing all matches and no stories but they are doing stories, you just need to work hard to find them and AEW should make that easier. Uses Sabian/Janela as the example.
Dave thinks guys like Sabian and Janela should cut promos and the announcers should explain the storylines. WHAT A CRAZY IDEA.
Dave on tag title 3-way: Real strong match. Not much said here.
On Riho/Emi: Dave loved this match, very enthusiastic on it. Thought it was the best women's match in the short history of AEW. Points out Excalibur said it was their 269th match together. (Nice.) "They did some crazy ass stuff". Dave with the crazy ass.
"This was a great women's match, the likes of which we've rarely seen." Says other than Candice/Io, he can't think of another American women's match this year at this level.
Dave on Cody's face first bump on the ramp: "I don't think the angle he landed at was the idea". GEE YA THINK, DAVE? THAT CODY DIDN'T WANT TO LAND FACE FIRST ON A STEEL RAMP? YOU NEED A SOURCE FOR THAT ONE?
Dave on Cody/Jericho: Thought it ended up pretty great. "Really damn good match" Was worried about Cody. Thinks the finish was executed great. Cody wanted to do this MJF feud and Dave thinks MJF is the next Roddy Piper.
Bryan thinks there's a million ways to get around the "Cody will never challenge for the AEW title again" stip but any way will make them be like WWE. Dave agrees and doesn't think there's a "good" way to get out of it.
Dave says the VPs of AEW, Cody, the Bucks, Omega, are trying to do the opposite of what wrestlers in power before have done, and are putting over a bunch of people, but Dave thinks they're going too far in that other direction.
Dave on Moxley/Omega: He thought aspects of the match were great, the parts where they wrestled. He and Bryan disliked it, both felt they would've had a better straight up regular wrestling match. Dave clutching his pearls over the mousetraps and broken glass.
Dave thinks it was needless to use real broken grass when you would've got the same reaction with fake broken glass. Dave fails to note another added perk of fake glass: it's usually is made of sugar and is delicious. Eat your match, boys.
Bryan is pissed they used real weapons like the barbed wire weapons and didn't gimmick everything.
Dave says he doesn't want to see a match like Moxley/Ambrose ever again. Even if it's only once a year. He'd be up for a hardcore match occasionally, but not to this extent.
Dave thinks they've now set a standard for this kind of match in terms of violence, and if people there attempt stuff like this again, that's how far they have to go to reach the standard, and he doesn't like that.
Dave thinks these two are so talented they didn't need to use a single weapon. He's down with establishing the idea of lights out matches, but he'd prefer if they were brawls that felt like fights, with punches and boots, not spectacles like this.
"They came up with too many ideas, it went forever...I didn't like it."
This is about as frustrated as I've heard Dave be with a prominent match in awhile. This is Elite Dad Dave, he's not mad, but he's very disappointed in the kids.
Dave says when he saw Foley/Taker HIAC, he got the feeling that it would be remembered as a legendary match and also would be a bad influence on the business. Dave thinks they were going for that vibe here but doesn't think it'll be remembered like that match was.
Dave thinks if they did this match 20 years ago, it would be looked at like that, but wrestling has changed. Points out that while he gave HIAC ****1/2, he hated that match as well. Ah yes, the hated ****1/2 match. (But I get what he's saying in Dave-ese.)
Dave tells a story of seeing a recent match where a guy got busted open and the crowd reacted like "This isn't good, he's hurt", where in past generations crowds would've been pumped to see blood. Says this generation of fans is different: they care about talent.
So there, by request, Dave's largely standard, somewhat boring Full Gear review. Pretty much the general consensus, except I think he liked Riho/Emi even more and hated hated hated Omega/Moxley.
Dave was at the San Jose NJPW show tonight. Ospreay hurt his shoulder legit, he was in incredible pain and left his tag match for a few minutes but did eventually come back. He couldn't lift his right shoulder past a certain height. "It was very scary, honestly."
Dave is hoping it's not serious. He doesn't have a medical update because he ran home immediately after the show to watch Full Gear.
Dave says the Liger retirement match was a nothing match. Dave says 80% of the crowd was real into him, gave him a standing ovation, but 20%, all in one section, didn't. Dave got mad at those fans, "Why aren't you standing, it's Jushin Liger's last match!"
It's a slightly spicy Dave tonight but now we can all get behind anger at fans that don't respect the Liger.
Hoooo boy, somewhere after the hour mark on WOR, Dave and Bryan have a pretty heated conversation about the booking of the WWE women's division. This is as brutal as Moxley/Omega.
Can't really sum this one up in words but I'll say this: I agree with parts of Bryan's argument but he is so annoying in arguing it, I am against him. He is blowing out my headphone speakers as I brushed my teeth.
Oh man Bryan is getting Dave to that rare whiney high pitched voice.
Oh Christ this argument is going in circles. It is never-ending.
If you're an Observer subscriber and either hate yourself or have a need to elevate your blood pressure for fifteen minutes, start listening to the new WOR around the one hour mark.
