Wow! What a great surprise for Toronto. So glad he didn’t go AEW and get lost in the shuffle. Clearly getting a push here.
Actually amazing atmosphere in the Scotiabank Arena it’s such a shame AEW is coming to a dinky place. It is gonna look very minor league in comparison to this where as they could’ve sold a much bigger arena here if they tried too
AEW chose a smaller venue to run two back-to-back nights. They haven’t run Toronto yet, so it makes sense to see what our appetite is before booking the bigger stages.
I have the feeling they’re demoing us as a market in order to host some bigger shows or possibly a PPV here. Like "Full Gear or “Revolution.” The latter seems the most likely since it’s further down the road.
They should run Full Gear in Detroit, the Motor City.
We’re a pretty wrestling rabid town, like Chicago.
Yes I know. I think they could have sold out a bigger arena first time out.
Coca Cola arena sucks. It’s where WWE runs house shows. It won’t look as good as this
They’re not trying to look as polished as WWE, they’re presenting a well-produced (no pun intended) Punk show.
And to run back-to-back nights, for the first time in their history, it’s fine.
I get the joke, but my man forced it. Save it for a guy that wasn’t in the company as recently as December 2021.
The company as in NXT, which has always had a smaller/different audience, yeah. Isn’t this his main roster debut? People throw that criticism at AEW regardless of whether the wrestler has appeared on Dark, or even Rampage. I listen to Lance Storm on WO and it feels like every week he’s ranting “But I don’t watch Rampage! Only half their audience watches Rampage, they need to tell us who they are!”
He was a call-up in 2019, but he got hurt (I think?) which resulted in him and Ciampa going back to NXT. Only had one televised match apiece on Raw and Smackdown, and he was in the 2019 Rumble, for whatever that’s worth.
That debut was awesome! He was treated like a star by that Toronto audience, and hopefully it has a trickle down effect in the coming weeks in future cities. I also like the pairing with Theory, makes perfect sense.
He cut a promo… Let everyone know who he was.
Definitely the right spot for him, AEW has dozens of similar guys already who are struggling to get TV time. Great promo too, I just laugh and think what Kevin Dunn thinks about him
Though it would pain me to give him money, I would be first in line for a Kevin Dunn book. Possibly the most… unique?… opinion of wrestling of anybody who has been in the business for 30 years.
I’d be more interested in a book by him after Vince passed away. I feel right now he’d still be too guarded.
Ciampa got hurt, putting the early plans for them as a main roster tag team on ice. Shortly after that Gargano won the NXT Title.
I thought that was a strong debut that positioned Gargano as a potential top babyface alongside Cody Rhodes.
For the record; credit to Lance Storm, he’s being consistent here. He made similar comments about Gargano’s appearance on this week’s podcast, but admitted it worked regardless.
Gargano also had time to explain who he is, what he’s done, and what he’s been doing recently.
Mentally, i’m still there.
Man, I didn’t hear a thing the whole day and when I heard Rebel Heart start blaring, I was over the moon! Toronto reacted like he was a big deal.
Johnny left to be a dad, analyzed the lay of the land, bided my time and the old man getting ousted led to this return. King-level shit. He can be Johnny Wrestling without being penalized.
…it’s only a matter of time until his other half follows suit!
Ciampa had to get neck surgery and Johnny was put back on NXT (it was the right move because he was due to win the NXT title on WM weekend)
