PG Era Rants — page 6

The PG Era Rant for AEW Episode 62, November 17, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur and Taz with a new opening theme and graphics! (This was recorded during the recent storms going through Florida.)

Lots of feature bouts tonight! Joey Janela steps into the ring with Marko Stunt as the DDT fallout continues! KiLynn King and Big Swole both look to build winning streaks! And the war between TH2 and SCU continues as Christopher Daniels faces Jack Evans!

PLUS! Frankie Kazarian looks to make one last run start against up-and-comer Griff Garrison! Tesha Price and Leyla Hirsch meet, and someone will (probably) get their first win! Thunder Rosa preps for her NWA Women’s Title match by facing the debuting Lindsay Snow!

In addition, we have showcase matches for Jurassic Express, The Acclaimed, Ricky Starks, Ivelisse, Brandon Cutler, Penelope Ford, and Gunn Club – now with Colten included in six-man tag action!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark Episode 61: Game On, November 10, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz, and Ricky Starks. Who is not wearing a shirt.

Tonight’s feature bout is Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss teaming up to take on Jurassic Express! Plus, Chaos Project, Ivelisse and Diamante, The Acclaimed, Lucha Bros, Alan Angels, Leva Bates, Hybrid 2, and Top Flight in action! Who will Lance Archer make an example of this week? STAY TUNED.

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 60: The Last Stop on the Road to Full Gear!

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz, and Anthony Ogogo.

TONIGHT! We go back to half-size editions of Dark, as most of the roster is saved for Full Gear! Even with that, there’s three feature bouts to talk about! Brandon Cutler looks to make it two in a row against Michael Nakazawa! Big Shotty Lee Johnson goes for his first win taking on the Kentucky Fried Gentlemen, Chuck Taylor! And Christopher Daniels goes one-on-one with Matt Sydal!

Plus, Dark Order, Big Swole, Griff Garrison, and Ricky Starks in showcase action!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark Episode 59: Like There’s Anything Important Going On Today, November 3, 2020.

Taped (THANKFULLY) from the AEW Arena. Your adjective: “Tremendous”.

Your anchor hosts are Excalibur and Taz.

TONIGHT! Chaos Project is in our feature bout against Private Party! Big Shotty Lee celebrates joining Team Nightmare, but can he beat Sammy Guevara? KiLynn King steps up to face the debuting Lei’D Tapa!

PLUS: Butcher and Blade, Pillman and Garrison, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, Brandi and Red Velvet, Darby Allin, Frankie Kazarian, Will Hobbs, and more Dark Order than you can handle! Let’s see what’s good this week!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 58: Get Me Some Caffeine, October 27, 2020

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur and Taz, with special guest boxing Olympian Anthony Ogogo!

TONIGHT! Fifteen matches, a few of which may actually be competitive, as we determine if anyone is bothering to watch this during election season! The Hybrid 2 will face SCU’s Daniels and Kazarian, Hikaru Shida faces Leyla Hirsch in non-title action, and Brandon Cutler and Peter Avalon finally see who can avoid being winless longer! Really! Would we lie to you?

PLUS – Ivelisse and Diamante, Jurassic Express, Matt Sydal, Best Friends, Sonny Kiss, Ricky Starks, Darby Allin, Brian Cage, Preston Vance, Anna Jay, Uno and Grayson, and Will Hobbs!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 57, October 20, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Taz and Excalibur, whose adjective of the day is “mammoth”.

TONIGHT! Five feature bouts and 11 others! With Pillman and Garrison graduating to Featured Player status, can they make it two in a row against the Butcher and Blade? Which tag team expert will come out on top when Frankie Kazarian battles Jack Evans? What will momentum look like after Penta El 0M faces QT Marshall and Rey Fenix faces Sonny Kiss ahead of their showdown tomorrow? And will Shawn Spears get his point across to Scorpio Sky by beating another SCU competitor in Christopher Daniels?

PLUS: Matt Sydal, Colt Cabana, Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, Brandi Rhodes, Ricky Starks, Ivelisse and Diamante, Scorpio Sky, Wardlow, Alan Angels, and a Dark Order 6-man tag!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 56, October 13, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are who you thought they were. Tonight’s Excalibur adjective: “Gargantuan.”

Tonight! It’s Cutler/Avalon II, and maybe we’ll have a winner! Matt Sydal faces Sonny Kiss! Red Velvet is promoted to the Winnes’ Circle! Griff Garrison looks to keep the momentum going against Colt Cabana! Plus, a four-way main event as The Blade, Kaz, Evil Uno, and Jungle Boy face off!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 55, October 6, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz, and a shirtless Ricky Starks.

Tonight’s three featured bouts are: QT Marshall following on from last week as he faces John Silver; Matt Sydal looking to set right his disastrous debut by defeating the man “responsible” in Michael Nakazawa; and the Jersey duo of Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss facing Eddie Kingston’s Lucha Bros. Plus, Kingston himself will be in action, as will Brandi Rhodes, Big Swole, Will Hobbs, Jurassic Express, Angelico, Chaos Project, and in their first match as the featured performers, the New Hollywood Blonds of Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison.

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 54, September 29, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Taz and Excalibur, with Ricky Starks and Shawn Spears wandering around.

Three big tag matches tonight to catch your attention: the New Hollywood Blonds will face off against Chaos Projekt. Vance and Angels of the Dark Order meet the Jurassic Express. And in our feature bout, the Natural Nightmares face John Silver and Colt Cabana (subbing for Alex Reynolds). Also in action, the teams of SCU (Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian), Gunn Club, and Best Friends, plus three women’s matches featuring Tay Conti, Nyla Rose, and Penelope Ford. (You hear that? THREE WOMEN’S MATCHES!)

So a little backstory: two weeks ago I was in a bit of a funk at work and a couple of the Late Night Puro Crew was talking about their favorite matches. I said “I know y’all like to put playlists together, can you let me know the next time so we can watch together?” Turned out that was all the motivation Lawrence Talbot (esteemed board member) needed, and he said he’d love to do it that night after SmackDown. He asked what sort of stuff I wanted to see, and I just said let’s have variety… then I came back an hour later and made a request of one particular match that I’d always wanted to see. He found it and included it, alongside a wonderful collection of past and present puro and joshi.

While watching with him, I told him this was the kind of thing I could get a fun review column out of. And it wouldn’t be fair for me to tease him this long without delivering, would it? So after some delay, here is my recap of the six matches on the list.

A word of warning: I have never studied Japanese and have no idea what the announcers are talking about, so a lot of context of the match may be lost on me. And a word of warning to you: not every move has the same hierarchical position in Japan that it does here in the States. For example, a superkick is a big deal when it connects in an American match and can usually steal a two-count; Japan doesn’t think much of it. Nor are they that impressed by piledrivers compared to the US. However, do a hard enough clothesline and Japan will be convinced the match is over. (So if you’ve ever wondered why Okada does a Tombstone before the Rainmaker, there you go.) I’m pretty sure this speaks to the legendary status of Shawn Michaels, Jerry Lawler, and Stan Hansen respectively; it’s like how the DDT was a high-level move for years after Jake Roberts retired.

AFTERNOON UPDATE: By request, videos have been added!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 53, September 22, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

It’s Excalibur, Taz, and Veda on the call.

Tonight! Three feature-style bouts coming your way! Eddie Kingston looks to lead by example against the New Hollywood Blondes’ Brian Pillman Jr.! Two men who began as enhancements and are now feature players face off when Will Hobbs battles Serpentico! And in our presumed main event, it’s Ricky Starks going against Christopher Daniels! Plus – Serena Deeb’s official AEW debut as a full-timer, someone gets their first ever win, and more tag team action than you can shake a stick at!

The PG Era Recap of AEW Dark, Episode 52, September 15, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz, and Veda Scott! SHE’S BACK!

Eleven matches tonight, with four feature-style bouts! Brian Pillman Jr and Griff Garrison look to get their first win as a team against Santana and Ortiz! Colt Cabana wants to make up for his All Out faux-pas and will face one of his foes from that night, QT Marshall! Someone has to win (right?) when the former members of the Initiative, Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler, square off! And in our main event, Dark Order 1-4 (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Alex Reynolds, and John Silver) face Private Party and the Gunn Club! Plus, Brandi Rhodes, Butcher and Blade, Penelope Ford, Brian Cage, Will Hobbs, Ivelisse and Diamante, and Best Friends in action!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 51, September 8, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur and Taz.

A small slate tonight, with your feature bout being Sonny Kiss squaring off against Serpentico. Also in action are Angelico, Ricky Starks, Anna Jay, Eddie Kingston, Brian Cage, and (for the first time as the featured wrestler) Will Hobbs.

The PG Era Rant for ALL OUT! September 5, 2020.

LIVE LIVE LIVE From the AEW Arena!

(For the record, I was going to review the TNT Countdown show, but it’s a bunch of interview soundbyte things. Oh well.)

Instead, off to the Buy-In, where your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Dasha Gonzalez backstage. And hey, the fans all have masks on! Props to the dude with the Danhausen mask.

The PG Era Rant for AEW DARK, Episode 50 on the Road to All Out, September 4, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Taz and Excalibur.

Tonight is a lighter edition, but still has two featured matchups. The Natural Nightmares face off against Alan Angels and Preston Vance of the Dark Order, while Darby Allin and Luther dance with death or something. Also on the show are Colt Cabana, Alex Reynolds, John Silver, Allie, Ivelisse, and more!

The PG Era Rant for AEW DARK Episode 49, September 1, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Excalibur and Taz! The band is back together!

TONIGHT! We will see Frankie Kazarian face off against Angelico! The Initiative go for their first win as they take on Private Party! Plus: Jurassic Express, Abadon, Shawn Spears, Allie, Proud and Powerful, Anna Jay, Gunn Club, Ricky Starks, and Kip Sabian!

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, August 25, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are The Good (Veda Scott), The Bad (Taz), and The Ugly (Tony Schiavone) – as Schiavone himself put it.

A loaded show tonight, with FOUR feature bouts! Jake Hager gets to toss around Marko Stunt! The Initiative look to get over the hump facing Luther and Serpentico! Frankie Kazarian battles Kip Sabian! And in our main event, Sonny Kiss and Joey Janela face fellow high flyers the Hybrid Two! Plus – Penelope Ford, Nyla Rose, Ricky Starks, Lance Archer, Santana and Ortiz, Shawn Spears, the Best Friends, MEL, and the Gunn Club in action (though not against each other)!

The PG Era Rant for the 1^st Annual AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup.

From the AEW Arena. Original release dates August 3, 10, and 17.

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Veda Scott.

So this is a DEADLY DRAW, meaning that the 16 women entered were randomly paired into teams, though as you’ll see the randomizer still needs a little work. The team that wins this tournament gets a very large trophy as a reward.

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, August 18, 2020, Episode 47.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are TNT (Tony ‘n’ Taz), but guess what – Veda Scott is still here and is joining them!

Three bouts of various featuredness on today’s show! Billy Gunn faces Dark Order #5, Alan Angels! Kip Sabian tries to solve the insanity of Michael Nakazawa! And in our main event, Private Party and SCU battle the Butcher, the Blade, and the Bros! (Meanwhile, I battle my inability to remember which one’s Kassidy and which one’s Quen.)

The PG Era Rant for AEW Dark, Episode 45 – August 11, 2020.

From the AEW Arena.

Your hosts are Taz and Tony.

Tonight, we have two Featured Bouts. First, in a continuation from last week, the Hybrid 2 will square off against the Natural Nightmares. Second, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian of SCU will meet the Butcher and the Blade.