{"id":12628,"date":"2019-05-26T20:01:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T19:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=12628"},"modified":"2019-05-26T20:01:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T19:01:31","slug":"aew-double-or-nothing-where-the-wrestling-speaks-for-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/26\/aew-double-or-nothing-where-the-wrestling-speaks-for-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW &#8211; Double or Nothing &#8211; Where the wrestling speaks for itself"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Double\nor Nothing<\/em> \u2013 Where the wrestling speaks for itself<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How am I so excited about AEW\u2019s <em>Double or Nothing<\/em> when I know next to\nnothing about it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don\u2019t get me wrong, I know some of the names\nof those involved. I\u2019ve followed one or two of them for years on social media\nand in various promotions. But I don\u2019t know anything about the stories that\nhave fed into this event. I can\u2019t tell you which promotions some of these\nperformers come from. I can\u2019t even pronounce some of their names but here I am,\nabsolutely gripped, on the edge of my seat, following the rollercoaster of\nemotions along with the crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is not a match by match, play by play review\nof the event, this is me attempting to formulate my thoughts after watching,\nwhat is arguably, the best four hours of wrestling I\u2019ve watched since this time\nlast year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The opening six-man tag team match between\nSoCal Uncensored and Strong Hearts set the tone for the evening and the\nmomentum builds and builds. From an impressive display from the Joshi Wrestling\nladies, to the emotional ending to Cody v Dustin Rhodes. From the exhilarating\nYoung Bucks versus Lucha Bros match (Rey Fenix has this amazing spot in this\nmatch which has to be seen to be believed) to Jon Moxley making his AEW debut\nat the conclusion of the Chris Jericho versus Kenny Omega main event, <em>Double or Nothing<\/em> took us on a journey.\nA journey of classic wrestling, with a new age twist. A journey of character\ninvestment without any prior need to know their backstory. A journey of\npassion, of commitment, of excitement and opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I can\u2019t recall the last time I watched a\nwrestling pay per view and saw a crowd as fired up and genuine as this Las\nVegas crowd. It\u2019s inspiring and energizing but also reassuring to know there is\nstill passion for pro wrestling, despite a certain company and their bullish\ndesire to saturate and over-expose themselves and their talents, to the point\nwhere some of us have lost nearly all interest in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It makes me wonder if we\u2019ve reached our WWE\nlimit. Have we finally had enough? I know I\u2019m tired of world class talent being\nheld back, under utilized and badly booked. I\u2019m also tired of talent being held\nhostage, given no flexibility and worked to the bone. Not just in the ring but\noutside it too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As fans, perhaps we know WWE\u2019s in ring product\n<em>too <\/em>well. We know these wrestlers and\ncharacters <em>too<\/em> well. We know how it <em>should<\/em> be. We know how it <em>should<\/em> be booked. We know who the stars\nshould be. We know how capable they are and if given the creative control, who\nwill shine. We know too much, and we\u2019ve seen too much of them. Are WWE now\nfacing the consequences of thing they tried desperately to avoid? Talent over\nexposure. Our expectations are high because this company, is considered to be,\nthe best of the best pro wrestling talent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All Elite Wrestling is a journey into the unknown.\nWe don\u2019t know what we should expect, so in fact, at the moment, we expect\nnothing. And that\u2019s why we are so in love with it. We\u2019re watching, what could\npotentially be the rebirth of professional wrestling. We\u2019re watching a fresh\nproduct with fresh eyes. We\u2019re in unchartered territory and we\u2019re intrigued and\ninvigorated. Rather than too much expectation, we are going in with none and it\nmakes this journey all the more exciting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wasn\u2019t going to purposefully compare AEW to\nWWE but it\u2019s clear AEW were firing a shot at WWE when Cody Rhodes smashed up a\nthrone with a sledgehammer. At the WWE Hall of Fame this year, Triple H comment\non Bllly Gunn moving to \u2018that pissy little company\u2019. After last night, it\u2019s clear,\nthe gloves are off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What perfect timing for AEW to make a name for\nthemselves and grab the spotlight. WWE only appear to be concerned with kissing\nthe butt of Saudi Arabian royalty and lining up their chess pieces ahead of\ntheir new TV deal later this year. There appears to be little to no regard for\nthe quality of their in-ring product. The story telling, the booking and the\noverall presentation of their TV product is nothing short of abysmal right now.\nThere are too many adverts, too many promos, backstage segments and talking and\nit\u2019s boring. We spend more time listening to Michael Cole talk then we do actually\nwatching a match. And don\u2019t even get me started on this 24\/7 title crap. When\nwas the last time the wrestling, the actual physical display was left to speak\nfor itself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WWE has opened the door for fans to walk\nout and AEW is stood with open arms to welcome us in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m not saying AEW was perfect. There was a\nbotched count by the female referee in the women\u2019s match. Did it really need\nBret Hart? Debatable! The commentary team at times seemed to be fumbling in the\ndark but it\u2019s all forgivable and understandable for a company potentially sowing\nthe seeds for a new beginning. We can also look past some of the imperfections because\nwe\u2019re not subjected to them week in and week out. Let\u2019s see if we feel any\ndifferently when this has been on the air for twelve months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AEW is brimming with world class talent.\nGuys like Hangman Page, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Cody Rhodes is at the\nhelm and appears to remain focused and humble. The championship belt and the\nmatch to determine who will hold it, is taking form. The tag team division is\ngoing to be like nothing we\u2019ve seen before. With a strong female division at\nthe heart of what they\u2019re doing and a simple focus that it is fan focused and here\nto revitalize our love of professional wrestling, I for one, am all in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Double or Nothing \u2013 Where the wrestling speaks for itself How am I so excited about AEW\u2019s Double or Nothing when I know next to nothing about it? Don\u2019t get [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":12630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1019,28,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-aew","category-editorials","category-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-3hG","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/DON-3.jpg?fit=600%2C338&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12631,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12628\/revisions\/12631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}