The Forbidden Door Is A Cursed Show

Ever since the AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door show was announced, fans were speculating on all sorts of dream matches that could’ve been booked on this show. And then along came the glutton on injuries and political games that will keep key players from participating. Matches that were written in suddenly found themselves changed around due to the lack of said players.

Instead of CM Punk defending his newly won AEW World Champion against Tanahashi, we’ve got the Ace and Jon Moxley fighting for the interim AEW Title… which basically means whoever wins is just keeping the belt warm until Punk comes back and they can have a match for the “undisputed” title or whatever. Instead of Hangman Page and Okada going at it for the IWGP title, we’re getting a four-way match. Speaking of four ways, we’ve got another one to crown another AEW singles title nobody wanted. A bunch of multi-person tag matches. And a women’s title match between Thunder Rosa defending against Toni Storm, which seems to be tacked on just for the sake of having a women’s match on this show.
Look, I was on the fence about this one before, but the ever-changing card, along with the lackluster build to make this show worthwhile to anyone who doesn’t already have that New Japan hard-on, is making this the first AEW show that I have no qualms about skipping. I’m sure it’ll be a great show with lots of great wrestling, but like I said on the other post, I can get great wrestling just about anywhere these days. If you’re going to convince me to spend $50 on this show, I need more than just the promise of great wrestling. I need a reason to care. And I didn’t get that up to this point.
To all the people watching this show tonight, I hope you all enjoy it and who knows? Maybe somewhere down the road, I’ll give it a shot if I’ve got some cash to spare down the road. Right now, however, I ain’t feeling it and I am more than content to skip out on this one and wait for the All Out PPV come September.

A Quick Note Regarding This Weekend’s Forbidden Door PPV

Well, last night was another edition of AEW Dynamite and by proxy, the go-home show for this weekend’s upcoming Forbidden Door PPV where AEW wrestlers will face off against New Japan wrestlers and a couple titles will be on the line on top of that.

I will not be watching that show.
Here’s the thing. I like the AEW schedule of having four PPVs a year; it makes them feel special. And after years of monthly WWE PPVs with most of them not being worth it, I don’t have the stomach to put up with another minor PPV a month after the last one. But perhaps the one thing that drove me to my decision is the lack of sufficient built towards this show. I watch AEW on a regular basis, but my exposure to New Japan has been extremely limited. I know names, I know faces, but that’s about the extent of it. So I thought that AEW would take the time to introduce some of these names and help the AEW audience unfamiliar with New Japan and give that audience some emotional investment and reason to care about this upcoming Forbidden Door.
I did not get that.
As someone who doesn’t watch New Japan, I didn’t have the handicap of coming up with dream matches and scenarios that more than likely were not going to happen on this first (or possibly only) collaborative PPV. The appeal of such a crossover piqued my curiosity, but that’s about all it did. Naturally, the thought of another PPV so soon after Double Or Nothing gave me pause and while I wasn’t holding lofty expectations for the final card, the one thing I needed – a reason to care enough to buy this show – was the one thing I didn’t get.
No doubt some folks will argue that whatever the card ends up being, it’ll be a great wrestling show and I have no doubt that will be the case. AEW is capable of putting out great wrestling product and New Japan has certainly proven itself more than capable of putting out a wrestling product leagues above its contemporaries. The thing is that we live in an age where we can get good wrestling anywhere and everywhere. There’s plenty of streaming services, plenty of tapes and DVDs floating around out there, and hell, there’s some free good matches you can look up on Youtube that are legally broadcast for the masses to see. I don’t need this show for my fix of good wrestling.
But what I do need is a reason to care, a reason to get invested, a reason to spark that interest that will prompt me to buy this show. A bunch of multi-man matches and two guys competing for the right to keep the AEW World title warm while current champ CM Punk is out of action is not exactly setting my world on fire. And don’t get me started on that whole All Atlantic International World Global Legends Western States Heritage Big Gold Super Heavy Metal Weight World Championship thing.
This is the first AEW PPV that I’ll be skipping and as such, there will be no PPV musings on the show as a result. I’ll find something else to ramble about in its place and if not, we’ll skip a week in this case and we’ll dive into the WCW stuff in July. I doubt I’m going to ruin everyone’s day with this overblown “I’m not watching” announcement, but if someone is wondering where that Forbidden Door musings is at, stop wondering because there isn’t one.
Maybe down the road, I’ll change my tune. But not anytime soon. And if you’re watching the show, I hope you enjoy it. I’ll be doing something else this long weekend.

WWE Vengeance 2007: Night Of Champions

So Vengeance 2007 is notable for a couple reasons. It is, technically speaking, the first Night Of Champions event that WWE has held, where all WWE championships would be on the line. And Night Of Champions would be an annual B-show PPV for almost a decade until it was supplanted by the similarly titled Clash Of Champions.
It is also the WWE PPV that took place on the weekend where Chris Benoit killed his wife and son before committing suicide.
Benoit was supposed to be in a match against CM Punk for the vacant ECW Championship, but he no-showed due to personal reasons. He was ultimately replaced by Johnny Nitro (the future John Morrison) and his sudden appointment into the finals of the ECW Championship tournament was so well-received that people were chanting WE WANT BENOIT. Those chants are still on the Network edition of the show, despite the line of commentary reference Nitro as a replacement for Benoit was removed.
In a couple days, that show turns fifteen years old and I have not seen this in either a long time or at all. Either way, I felt it appropriate to revisit.

Continue reading “WWE Vengeance 2007: Night Of Champions”

The Morning Of Summer's First Day

It’s the first day of summer. Sure feels like it.

Just woke up a short while ago… made my cup of joe.
Took my shower. Off to work in a few minutes.
Saw the pile of DVDs that came in the mail.
Make a point to watch them later. The blog needs content.
And then wonder if my other order is coming in.
Probably said more than I needed to.
Gotta run. Later.