Hopefully a quick review here as it's been 10 days since the PPV so no need to go too in-depth on a cold topic, but I'm determined to keep an updated MOTYC list this year.
This was a great lesson in tolerance because as many of you know, I do not like The House of Black's gimmick, but this was undeniably awesome. I'm 34 years old now and I have no use for supernatural gimmicks in wrestling, and that's a firm stance I take whether it's Malakai Black's nonsense in AEW or Bray Wyatt's nonsense in WWE. This means I really struggle to get into any program that Black, King or Murphy do in AEW because I either skip their vignettes or just roll my eyes through them, which is frustrating because I rate them all highly as workers and think the look of the act is good. They're a super intimidating trio that all offer something different in the ring rather than being three stylistically similar wrestlers doing a bunch of triple team spots.
I think that's why this match worked for me a lot more than the recent Elite trios matches against Death Triangle and Top Flight/AR Fox. It wasn't just a 20 minute match where the action had the same beats regardless of who was in the ring, the action was specific to who was in the ring. If Buddy was in the ring, he'd showcase his athleticism against the man he's clearly influenced by in Kenny Omega. If Black was in the ring, he'd look to control things with his martial arts clinches and try to land a killer blow with a kick. If Brody was in the ring, then the monster was in play. Brody was the MVP of the match to me. I think they did a grand job of making the guy look like a beast, the Elite sold for him like crazy when he was on offence, but he had that Vader like quality of selling so convincingly that he still looked like he could be beaten if the babyfaces landed the right combination of moves.
A word on Julia Hart too. The brainwashing mist that forced her to wear an eyepatch for months before she finally join The House of Black was really corny shit, but it's done wonders for her career. She's now a solid part of the stable and has more upside in this gimmick than she ever had before in the Varsity Blondes gimmick. A highlight of the match was Julia's bump off the accidental V-Trigger which Kenny brushed off like she was asking for it and he didn't give it a seconds thought or remorse about it - That was awesome, too many babyfaces fake concern for managers and valets who deserve to be caught in the crossfire.
Where this match hit the next level was the nearfalls for either team before the finish. These were better than nearfalls, these were believable finishes that worked me back and forth. Firstly Omega eats the Black Mass and then Brody's Dante's Inferno and has to be saved by a Buck a piece. When Brody does the suicide dive to take out both the Bucks and Omega yet again is staring down the barrel of a 3 on 1 onslaught, I thought the finish was coming as Black lined up the Black Mass, but the bucks made the save again. Then came The Elite's big comeback with the superkicks and BTE-Trigger, and I was worked yet again that that was the finish. Buddy Murphy countered the Meltzer Driver with a hellacious knee to Nick Jackson's face which set up the ultimate finish of the Dante's Inferno on Matt Jackson. I didn't know which way they'd go when the match started, but The House of Black won me over big time as the trio I'm most interested in seeing in AEW and to crown them here felt like the right result.
If they keep delivering in the ring, I'll keep putting up with the Occult vignettes.
No comments:
Post a Comment