AEW Double or Nothing 2022: Hangman v Punk/Owen Hart Tournament Finals and more! Live analysis and discussion!

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Overall I enjoyed the parts I watched of the ppv. But it went far too long, and I skipped half of it.

It should be like 8-9 matches maximum, and most of those should be singles matches, with a lot less no marks on the ppv. Leave them eating up pins on dynamite and rampage.

You could cut about 20 guys off that pov and have a much stronger PPV lineup.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Show hasn’t captured any of my interest outside of MJF’s antics. I’ll watch him when he goes elsewhere.

* I get it with Wardlow, but maaaan are the Goldberg comparisons on the nose. It’s not necessarily bad, but come on. MJF is a master and put him over, but where does he go now? He’s already in the position of being a main event babyface but you’ve got Old Man Punk with the belt.

* WWE’s tag division is way better than AEW’s. Outside of FTR, who do you have? So many no-marks it’s impossible to give a shit about. AEW would be better if you fired Luchasaurus and Keith Lee. Then you save about $1.75 million too.

* Why is Christian Cage in this company? We got fucking Christian back from 7 years of retirement and they’ve made me care 0% about him. It’s insane.

* They got Bryan Danielson and he doesn’t fucking matter either. Crazy. They’ve done the same thing with Samoa Joe.

* Adam Cole and the goober patrol are a unique case because they’ve actually become horrible in AEW. And they’re proud of it. Sign on for a long time and TK will push you. Fan interest be damned.

* CM Punk’s jumped the shark for me. He can obviously talk and he’s got his matches that he likes to perform. But at some point he’s just crossed over into embarrassing uncle trying to be cool. It’s sad. Seeing how fucking bad he is at actually fighting does not help. It’s too much to suspend disbelief in him. It doesn’t work.

* Of the people that were featured at Double or Nothing, you could very easily fire a whole bunch of them and save MILLIONS. They’re losing money like crazy and there are signs that Daddy might want tighter purse strings. I question why half the people they feature exist.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Like, wtf is The House of Black? That is terrible WWE shit using guys who were actually terrible in WWE. Malakai’s got something there. Matthews is a try-hard and Brody King fucking sucks. Why? Now that Malakai has been exposed as a goofy gimmick, you could scrap all three of them. I bet you that’s another $2 million right there. Let Malakai Black go and be a comedy guy in Impact Wrestling and Matthews go and play Kenny Omega in Japan. It’ll be fine.

Who sees all the talent in the world and goes “You know who I need? Tony Nese. Get me Tony Nese.”

I will skip over guys like Christian Cage and The Hardys, because I get having them. Although the fucking Hardys…yikes. But these Undisputed Jackoff Union or whatever can fuck right off. Do you really want to pay Samoa Joe $1 million to be a mid-carder in your company? I’d take him as a top guy, but fuck me. That’s another $6 million.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

I agree with those sentiments, although not necessarily the personnel. I really like House of Black and with their presentation, Black should be a key figure for them in main event feuds, not cutting promos on Fuego Del Sol lol

[Mr. Nerfect]

I agree with those sentiments, although not necessarily the personnel. I really like House of Black and with their presentation, Black should be a key figure for them in main event feuds, not cutting promos on Fuego Del Sol lol

I can see what you like with Black. I’ve never really gotten into his work. I wish he worked more like a kickboxer and less like an indy guy trying to get noticed. I could get behind the idea of him being more important once you cut a lot of the other guys.

But that can be a problem too. I absolutely love Christian, but he’s a giant waste of money being Jungle Boy’s bag-carrier. The context of the entire promotion needs to change to properly evaluate some people’s contributions.

[Fignuts]

Malakai should have stayed a loner. He was more intimidating that way.

Brody has a great look, but hes never really hooked me with his in ring work has never hooked me. I could take him or leave him.

Matthews is a fantastic junior heavyweight wrestler and I really enjoyed his 205 live stuff. He should have gone to NJPW though. Hes a weird fit in this stable, and he would be better served to go to an enviornment where he could better showcase his talents.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Malakai should have stayed a loner. He was more intimidating that way.

Brody has a great look, but hes never really hooked me with his in ring work has never hooked me. I could take him or leave him.

Matthews is a fantastic junior heavyweight wrestler and I really enjoyed his 205 live stuff. He should have gone to NJPW though. Hes a weird fit in this stable, and he would be better served to go to an enviornment where he could better showcase his talents.

Don’t really disagree with any of these sentiments. Well, I kind of think Brody looks like shit. The work I’ve seen from him from New Japan has absolutely sucked.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I kind of get annoyed with the “AEW is good for wrestling” arguments, because TK plundered the indies and everyone feels the crunch. But he’s also got some pretty key talent under lock which prevents them from actually contributing to wrestling too.

Keep your Moxley and Jericho. I get that you want them for AEW’s identity. And you can’t let everyone go. But what I wouldn’t give for Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe and FTR to be in an actual wrestling promotion right now. Imagine if ROH still existed and they made a play to put Danielson, Joe and Claudio against AEW? Maybe a guy like WALTER would have chosen wrestling outside WWE if it wasn’t basically them and AEW.

That would also provide talent with another place to go and freshen themselves up. It could also put more actual pressure on these shitty shows to get better.

[rez]

damn...Tony needs to stay behind the scenes and off social media. that's for sure

[Corporate CockSnogger]

Forgot to mention the Hardy Boys. Was really looking forward to them teaming up when Jeff debuted. The old music and attire and everything had me “excited”, but now… Oof, Jeff is just not very good anymore is he. He needs to retire, because it’s not like he can change up his style to a more grounded, safe working style. People want to see Jeff Hardy fall off stuff and onto other stuff. But he looks very very close to hurting himself or someone else.

[Splaya]

I think Jeff is more likely to hurt someone else before himself because at this point, the guy just looks like he wrestles in pain every night he's in the squared circle. When you have someone who can't perform to the best of his ability in wrestling, major injuries could be avoided. But if Jeff can't hit his moves the "proper" way, I feel it puts his opponents at a bigger risk than himself.

[Jordan]

Okay hear me out on this one... Jeff is clearly in a very bad state physically as we've all seen and read from reports. You have to understand why Tony would've wanted Jeff on AEW but it's too little too late, Jeff is busted.

How can you use him? He's not really a promo guy, he doesn't have a history of doing anything good except for play the victim of some sort of abuse... If you think through the AEW roster there is really only one option for a meaningful story right now. I think if we are able to find a reason to star a program with MJF and Jeff Hardy, you'd have some really special. It would be similar to his program with Punk years ago likely which will make it even better because CM Punk can come in and try to play hero and end up getting involved in a new main event storyline.

This way you could have Jeff on TV without wrestling every week, because MJF rarely wrestles and mostly does angles. Matt can play a part of course too and can be the mic man for some angles. Why not stretch it out even longer and have Darby and Sting also come to stand by Jeff and Matt. That way MJF can have a slew of friends to go at before taking on Jeff one on one.

Perhaps they could even settle the score between MJF and Jeff Hardy in a ladder match with The Dynamite Ring above or maybe a briefcase with a contract for a match with Punk for the title.

I'd like to see Jeff turned around all together and treated as a legend and a draw when he wrestles. Take advantage of what you paid for, build it up, don't run it into the ground. We don't need Jeff taking ladder bumps on TV.

[Splaya]

Okay hear me out on this one... Jeff is clearly in a very bad state physically as we've all seen and read from reports. You have to understand why Tony would've wanted Jeff on AEW but it's too little too late, Jeff is busted.

How can you use him? He's not really a promo guy, he doesn't have a history of doing anything good except for play the victim of some sort of abuse... If you think through the AEW roster there is really only one option for a meaningful story right now. I think if we are able to find a reason to star a program with MJF and Jeff Hardy, you'd have some really special. It would be similar to his program with Punk years ago likely which will make it even better because CM Punk can come in and try to play hero and end up getting involved in a new main event storyline.

This way you could have Jeff on TV without wrestling every week, because MJF rarely wrestles and mostly does angles. Matt can play a part of course too and can be the mic man for some angles. Why not stretch it out even longer and have Darby and Sting also come to stand by Jeff and Matt. That way MJF can have a slew of friends to go at before taking on Jeff one on one.

Perhaps they could even settle the score between MJF and Jeff Hardy in a ladder match with The Dynamite Ring above or maybe a briefcase with a contract for a match with Punk for the title.

I'd like to see Jeff turned around all together and treated as a legend and a draw when he wrestles. Take advantage of what you paid for, build it up, don't run it into the ground. We don't need Jeff taking ladder bumps on TV.

I don't want Jeff anywhere near a ladder, especially in a match against MJF. I know in his heart he isn't a dangerous worker like Nia Jax. But at this point in his career, he has to be considered a liability. I wouldn't want him going against the top stars of the company. You want him to work against your mid card. I'm fine with that. Credit the Bucks for wanting to do the match. But I don't want another match with them and the Hardys.

[XL]

Not a fan of those Owen belts at all.

[Jordan]

Really? I thought they were great.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’m worried about the whole Jeff situation.

[Crippla]

I feel like he's been close to a career ending injury for a long time

[XL]

Really? I thought they were great.

Everybody in the thread seems to agree with you. Just not for me. They shouldn’t even be belts :lol:

[Mr. Nerfect]

How you have a tournament in the name of Owen Hart and don’t use the opportunity to have twin trophies is beyond me. I’d go as far as to say it is promotional malpractice.

[XL]

They do have cups too, which are nice. Guess the belts are easier to carry around but I stick by the idea that the trophies should have been like Slammy award trophies.

[Mr. Nerfect]

They do have cups too, which are nice. Guess the belts are easier to carry around but I stick by the idea that the trophies should have been like Slammy award trophies.

Yes.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Boy I agree with a lot of what’s being said in here.

Malakai needs a major push. Get him rolling to be Punk’s first ppv opponent. It’sa really fresh matchup and Malakai is a fresh world title program. Punk can have some matches with Brody and Matthews.

[Corporate CockSnogger]

100p agree. Is Sting legit hurt so they wrote him off for a little while? If so why was that, and the win over Darby, wasted on Kyle O’Riley.

Have House of Black target the word title and Punk. He gets beat down a few times by surprise, and then Darby and Sting back up Punk since they’ve had loose alliances in the past. Have a 6 man tag, house of black take out Sting leading to a lot of heat for them.

Then you’ve got a good number of options between Punk vs Matthews, Punk vs Brody, Punk/Darby vs Matthews/Brody, Darby bumping like crazy against each member of House of Black.

You can have Punk talking about “do you think you’re the first guy to start a cult? Go ask Sereena Deeb who her new hair stylist is”

You can have House of Black trying to corrupt Darby since he’s a lil emo and would fit their gothic look. Have them mention how since his loss to Punk he’s been on a downward spiral, losing to hacks like Jeff Hardy and Kyle O’Riley.

There’s a lot to do there

[Damian Rey 2.0]

That’sa brilliant idea. Could even have Malakai spew his poisonous mist into Darby’s eyes, and start trying to lure Darby to the dark side while Sting keeps pulling him back to the light. All Out could see Buddy and Brody v Darby and Sting with Punk and Black main eventing.

Darby v Matthews would be a banger for sure.

[Splaya]

That’sa brilliant idea. Could even have Malakai spew his poisonous mist into Darby’s eyes, and start trying to lure Darby to the dark side while Sting keeps pulling him back to the light. All Out could see Buddy and Brody v Darby and Sting with Punk and Black main eventing.

Darby v Matthews would be a banger for sure.

Too good of an idea for Khan.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I wonder if he even views Malakai on that level. He certainly did upon debut but then he dumped down the card to work with the YouTube squad.