IN LAIMAN’S TERMS #477 – Thoughts from AEW: WrestleDream LIVE

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Thoughts on AEW: WrestleDream 2024 LIVE

1. Hello everyone. I’m going to be updating this throughout the day as well as the event. I am going to try to spend a majority of the event watching and getting lost in the show rather than typing, given the potential magnitude of the moments we may see at the end, but I will do my best, and what I don’t get to, I will write about after the show. I have a long, early flight home as well, so this column will be a two-day project, more or less, and also may be out of sequential order at times, given the practicality of what transpires against when I can write.

2. My hotel room has two USB ports and neither of them work. This is going to require some maneuvering before I get in that Lyft this afternoon to head to the Tacoma Dome. I do have one battery pack but who knows what they’ll let you take in a venue anymore. Maybe not even my pocket keyboard.

3. The universe is trying to kill me with its timing. The Cleveland baseball team has a winner-take-all game 5 playoff game, Ohio State football, ranked number 2, faces Oregon, ranked number 3, and WrestleDream with the potentially last match of someone I’ve been following more than half my life. Until yesterday, all of these things were happening at the exact same time, but mercifully one of them got moved up. Pacific time rules, I get to watch the playoffs at 10am. Inject that Tom Hamilton commentary directly into my veins, and if you‘re not from northeast Ohio, you may not understand that. Trust me, look up Tom Hamilton’s Best Calls on YouTube, even if you don’t like baseball. In another life, this guy could’ve been a prime-JR level of wrestling commentator.

4. I will be attending this show with my partner. This is the only day I get to spend with them between August 9th and New Year’s Eve, so add that on top of the emotional Molotov cocktail that is my heart today.

5. AEW, you better add Stat/Kamille at the very least and bump one of the undercard matches to Zero Hour. There is no excuse for only one women’s match on the main show. Do better.

6. If you don’t know, I am an extremely active hiker at this point. Part of the reason I don’t update as much as I’d like is because I spend much more time in the wilderness than I used to. Right now, it’s 6am Pacific time, but that means it’s 8 my time, but it’s still dark. I’ve usually got at least half of my daily minimum in by now. It’s still dark and it’s not the safest metro in the world, so I don’t particularly wish to go galavanting quite yet. But I’m restless as hell because of it. Gotta get all that stuff in before my partner picks me up and the day officially begins. That’s like six hours from now though.

7. I spent the flight listening to Danielson’s autobiography on Libby, While any book that’s not by Mick Foley with a WWE logo on it tends to need a huge grain of salt, this one included, I am enjoying it so far. It seemed appropriate for the event, at the very least. It’s not Mox’s book, but then again, what is?

8. The Ospreay/Ricochet/Takeshita threatens to continue Ospreay‘s ridiculous streak of potential matches of the year tonight. And as much as I adore the Golden Retriever of Wrestling, I really think Takeshita needs this win more than either of the other two combined. Ospreay needs bumped up to the world title picture, especially in the extremely likely event that heel Mox wins the belt tonight.

9. There are a few matches I admit I don’t particularly care about. Zero Hour isn’t inspiring me to get there an hour earlier when this will likely go to 9 Pacific Time as it is. Good for Hologram and Beast Mortos getting on the card though. I really like the way those two have been built up, and they both deserve their flowers. I’d rather Mortos not continue to be on the losing end of almost everything, but I suppose that is tradition for most non-Hologram luchadors in AEW, much to my dismay. I do love and prefer this company over the alternative, but there are considerable things I wish they’d do better.

10. I’m expecting Bobby Lashley to make his debut in some form with whatever the Swerve return is tonight. Does Swerve end up feuding with the Hurt SyndicorpLLC, or does he join them? Maybe on Dynamite if there’s a heel turn and an alliance formed, in which case poor Nana, but I doubt they’d have Swerve turn heel in Tacoma of all places. I’m intrigued.

11. I doubt very much Jack Perry is dropping the title to Shibata. JP’s angst is better than the Beethoven-scored character he had before the incident at All In. I want to see Shibata rejoin Hook and Samoa Joe for a good trios run. I felt like that went through a conveniently-placed wall right as it was gaining momentum.

12. I miss Toni Storm, who has become my favorite current wrestler/character by far in the last year. I don’t expect to see her return tonight, but one can dream, even WrestleDream if you will. I’ve never seen Okada in person either, so among all the first times I will be seeing someone live tonight, that is one I’m disappointed does not appear to be booked, but again, this show looks long enough as it is. With an 8am flight tomorrow morning and the very likely drawn -out emotional conclusion to this show, time management will be a factor this evening.

13. I have stayed at this particular hotel in the Seattle metro area more times than I can count in the last three years. It’s the same one where I lost my voice entirely and watched AEW: Revolution 2024 with my partner earlier this year. That was their first AEW PPV experience, and their second will be tonight. They only watch when I’m out here, but I keep them up to date. They do like it, they’re not just humoring me, but they’re as busy as I am, so some things just don’t take priority.

14. I’m pretty sure Darby wins in Washington as well. I really liked his promo with Brody, he’s gotten so much better at those as of late.

15. I need MXM to get aid from another former legend of RETRIBUTION to ensure I don’t have to watch the Acclaimed win another match. I don’t care what it takes, make it happen.

16. Willow is so ridiculously over, and I really hope they pull the trigger tonight. Mariah was in the best storyline of the year, but with no follow-up, it’s fallen a bit flat. Unless they’re stalling until Toni returns and/or Grand Slam in Australia, in which case… I hope it gets better from here and doesn’t become like Jade stalling until Stat is ready to return and end the winning streak.

17. Still Dark, and not in the former YouTube show kinda way. I’m so restless.

18. I have lived in Minnesota for more than seven years now, and I still have yet to understand their lack of diners. Maybe it’s the east coast bias, having been raised in an area that had more greasy spoon diners than anyone could ever hope to patronize, but Minnesota just hasn’t jumped on that bandwagon, outside of a couple Mickey’s locations that are novelties as much as anything. Out here, there’s a diner that reminds me of being home back east. Minnesota seems much more about the more expensive breakfast outings, which don’t get me wrong are wonderful, but sometimes you just need a place you can picture yourself rolling up in at 2am, ordering a coffee, smoking a clove, and eating some pancakes to soak up the mistakes you made earlier in the evening. That experience may be very much dated, given how much time has passed between when I did that on the regular and my current reflection, but at least at the diner out here, I can maintain most of the illusion, minus the time of day and the smoke. The pricier breakfast places in Minnesota are lovely, though I don’t partake on the regular because they’re usually insanely busy and crowded, but sometimes you just need to drop seven bucks on a diner breakfast and forget about things for a while. If you’re not from this particular niche desire, I apologize for wasting so much time waxing nostalgic about it. Four years of uni in Philly though, I killed a lot of time in greasy spoon diners.

19. Some people have speculated that Mox’s new attitude and allusions to a Hower Power (deep 1999 reference, not a typo) may be Shane McMahon. While I am not entirely averse to seeing him in AEW, I don’t think it fits the vibe. Then again, who thought Marina Shafir would be immersed so flawlessly? That Mox entrance theme though, something about that slow guitar and the nature of Mox’s character shift is just… chilling. (is it chillin’ like a villain if you actually are a villain? Another phrase to date myself, I’m sure)

20. This will be my third PPV event attended live, and first in seven years. I did a retrospective review of my first, Unforgiven 2003, once upon a time. The other one was TLC 2017, which I had to leave early because a bright light was pointed directly at us, right in our sight line to the ring, so the migraine that ensued kept us from seeing Kurt Angle smile like a dork in his Shield gear.

21. Apologies in advance for any weird typos I don’t catch. Autocorrect has managed to escalate another level of awfulness as of late and seems to change words three or four back at times. It just tried to change Shield gear into Shield fear when I was writing “advance” so who knows what this bullshit is anymore?