First thing I saw: missed opportunities
So, first, Action Andretti: remember when he got that big, out-of-nowhere win over Chris Jericho on the Dec. 14, 2022, “Dynamite”?
Betcha you didn’t remember it was way back in 2022 when that happened.
A win over the company’s first world champ is supposed to mean something, and elevate the guy getting the pin.
Four years later …
Next, Hook.
Hook debuted on the Dec. 10, 2021, edition of “Rampage,” which is almost five years ago.
Fast forward to today, and Hook is 27 now; MJF was already a former world champ at 27.
Hook is still young guy who is paper thin, can’t talk, and now, he’s in the minor leagues, working six-man squashes in ROH.
Last guy: Anthony Bowens.
AEW had a good thing going with Bowens and Max Caster as The Acclaimed, then broke them up to try them as singles.
Caster was given one of the dumbest gimmicks of all time that had him lose months of squashes for the sake of, I guess, comedic effect (?), and Bowens has just floated around, aimlessly, when he even is used.
The Acclaimed moved tons of merch; Bowens and Caster as singles would have a hard time making money running the merch table out on the concourse.
Second thing I saw: Harley Cameron has come a long way
Harley Cameron made her debut on the YouTube show “AEW: Dark” on Aug. 2, 2022, losing in a squash to Willow Nightingale.
I was a regular viewer of “Dark” back in the day, and it was clear to me from the get-go that Cameron was, eventually, going to be a featured player – if only because of her look.
It took a while, but Harley Cameron has progressed well beyond being a good look.
She’s solid on the mic, and her ring work has caught up with the rest of the product.
I could see WWE putting a priority on signing her if her contract ever comes up.
Third thing: The Death Riders are still over
I’ve been groaning whenever I hear the first notes of The Death Riders theme song for going on two years now.
Last night’s live crowd in Roanoke popped hard for TDR as the group made its way to the ring for an eight-man spotfest with the makeshift team of AR Fox, Komander and Top Flight.
To which I say, dammit.
Fourth thing that I saw: Darby Allin, also very much over
Commentary on that: dammit.
It was a nice surprise for the live crowd, which didn’t have a hint from the interwebs that Allin was going to be on the show.
Odd that a guy who was the world champ two months ago is having to respond to a challenge for an impromptu match from Trent Beretta.
Fifth thing: Brian Cage works almost too well for an overly muscled freak
The comparison that came to mind for me last night when Brian Cage came out to the ring: Hercules Hernandez.
Cage could probably learn from watching matches from the ‘80s involving big muscle guys like Herc.
Cage can match little guys like last night’s opponent, Zachary Wentz, move for move, which isn’t actually to his advantage.
A big muscle guy should present himself more as the physically dominant force in a big man vs. little man match than as a fellow catch wrestler.
It’s awesome that Brian Cage can do what the little guys do; how about adding some press slams, a bearhug, maybe a human torture rack backbreaker, a camel clutch or full nelson, and dropping the little guy stuff, just to see how that works?
My favorite match of the night was also the stupidest
The final match of the night was an ROH eight-man pitting The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari and Tony Neese) and The Swirl (Blake Christian and Lee Johnson) vs. The Outrunners (Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd), Dalton Castle and Orange Cassidy.
This one, obviously, was pure sports entertainment – and I was hanging on my seat for the whole stupid thing.
This one had a little bit of everything – hot tags, a long spotfest duel, and the babyfaces going on to send the crowd home happy at the end of the night.
Not every match needs to be a five-star to work.
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Chris Graham
