AEW Revolution (Feb. 2020 PPV)

How odd was it that I was more looking forward to a PPV event from All Elite Wrestling than I am the next Wrestlemania, which is supposed to be the biggest deal of them all?

In a way, not so odd… because in the preceding three months, I got a weekly wrestling show in Dynamite that was not only entertaining and fun, but also got me invested in wrestlers and personalities that I had either never known about before or at one point, disregarded as former WWE guys. Hell, this last week’s episode was probably the perfect go-home show for a PPV I’ve watched; because it had a main event angle that pushed forward not one, not two, but three matches primed for the card, it had a couple really good segments to build other matches, and there was also a really sick Ironman match that set the tone for the rest of the night.

And so, I watched the Revolution show… they missed a trick by not calling this show Lethal Leap Year or something like that. And the last time I saw a wrestling PPV with the word “Revolution” in it, it was a largely bad show whose only high point was Edge cashing in a briefcase to win the World title. I guess calling it Lethal Leap Year is out of the question because that’s a Southpaw thing… but in any event, silly name aside, how does the show fair?

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AEW Full Gear 2019

So “Full Gear” was a running gag on the Being The Elite show where Hangman Page always shows up in these videos in his gear and people comment on his physique. This led to the “Full Gear Challenge” that prompted Page to trim up or something… and then somebody remembered Full Gear and decided it’d be a perfect name for a PPV.

Sure, why not? WWE has had stupid PPV names like Stomping Grounds and Great Balls Of Fire. Impact Wrestling has an upcoming PPV named after a Steven Seagal film.

But yes, this is All Elite Wrestling’s third PPV event following Double Or Nothing and All Out. I missed out on the live airing, but did catch the replay. So let’s get into it.

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AEW All Out 2019

AEW’s fourth show and second PPV event took place a few weeks ago and due to scheduling conflicts, I was unable to catch the show. From all accounts, I’ve heard mixed reactions. Some really enjoyed the show, while others were lukewarm on it and then you had the few who feel the shine has worn off on all things All Elite. I had bought the Double Or Nothing PPV and enjoyed it, but after two less-than-stellar outings in Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen, I was hesitant in forking down another sixty dollars.

As it turned out, a buddy of mine had somehow managed to record the show to DVD-R, thus proving that I’m not the only one with a DVD recording device and offered to lend me his copy for viewing. I thanked him and promised that I’d watching the show over the weekend and return his copy promptly.

Turned out this took me a week and a half to sit through… not a good sign for what is essentially sixty dollars spent on a wrestling show.

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AEW Fight For The Fallen 2019

Two weeks after the gamer-centric Fyter Fest, All Elite Wrestling presents their third event called Fight For The Fallen, a charity wrestling show where all a large portion of profits go to victims of gun violence, which is a worthy cause. Meanwhile, the show is offered for free on the BR Live service… provided you sign up for said service, adding that barrier of entry.

Meanwhile, over at the WWE Network around that same time, WWE opted to live stream the EVOLVE promotion’s 10th anniversary show, featuring a couple NXT guys wrestling in matches. My lack of familiarity with the EVOLVE promotion ultimately contributed to my decision in going for the AEW show, though I did manage to sample some of the EVOLVE show and it might be worth giving a closer look. Even the Extreme Rules PPV that took place the day after (which I’m not watching, by the way; I’m holding out until Summerslam) apparently got some good reviews, so it was definitely a good weekend of wrestling in this continent if you’re into that sort of thing.

But let’s fight for the fallen… and then see it all fall off a cliff.

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AEW Fyter Fest 2019

So this is All Elite Wrestling’s second ever event, named to mock the failed Fyre Festival and a show that ran co-currently with the CEO Fighting Game Championships event that is a thing for some reason… well, whatever, that’s not my sort of thing, but there’s a community for that sort of thing, so good on you… until you end up being a douche.

Anyway, I watched this on the Bleacher Report Live, where the show was airing for free and coincidentally, it did work, which was a worry because I didn’t think it would, but there you go. And it had a start time of 7:30, which I thought was early, but then realized that it was the pre-show start time and the actual event started an hour later… okay, so I guess I’m watching the pre-show.

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AEW Double Or Nothing (May 2019 PPV)

So this is it… the inaugural pay-per-view wrestling extravaganza from All Elite Wrestling, Double Or Nothing. I bought the show, but unfortunately, was unable to catch it live due to other commitments. However, I was able to watch it Sunday morning and… well, it was… a thing that happened.

But what kind of thing happened? Let’s get into it.

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ALL IN

So this past Saturday, Cody (Rhodes) and the Young Bucks (or Young Fucks) held their much-hyped self-financed independent wrestling show ALL IN, featuring a showcase of the very best that the independents had to offer as well as two World championship matches being contested. What seemed like a big gamble paid off considerably as the show sold out in 22-ish minutes and genuinely felt like a big deal going in.

This is the first wrestling PPV that I’ve bought in years and I was slightly pissed off because shortly after I paid the forty bucks for the show, NJPW World announced that they would have the show on their 999 yen per month streaming service. Not to mention there were some other minor issues with the live stream that I’ll get into after the break, but when all was said and done, I think I got my money’s worth and thensome.

So, I bought the PPV on Fite and had the page loaded Saturday so I’d remember that the show was on. 7:00 rolls around and I get a video error. Tried refreshing the video several times and gave up. Tuned back in about a few minutes later and the PPV was up and running, so sadly I didn’t catch the National Anthem being played or the card being run down by the announcers (including Don Callis – fuck me, this guy is suddenly everywhere all of a sudden.)

Unfortunately, trying to watch the video full-screen caused the streamer to stutter horribly, so I’m left watching the show on my television from a tiny window while the Young Bucks stare into my soul the entire time. Clearly, not a promising start to this first time running Fite.TV.

In any event, let us begin…

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