AEW AEW CXXII: OH MY MARIAH

[GoldenAzazel]

It's another case of suspension of disbelief. We all could see the gel on his pants and boots in that instance, and we even saw the fire extinguishers on the platform so we knew they'd kept the risk as low as they could. In this match we could see that they had none of those safeguards in place, so we knew immolation wasn't happening.

I was speaking in exaggerations about him being noble, but there are still lengths to which a babyface shouldn't go.

That is not what I seen in PWD and online as it was happening.I didn't see anyone say it was anything to do with him being set on fire. It was a big shock when you seen Darby with the flamethrower

 

[Excelsior]

They did a water spot with Perry right before that to get him looking wet. "We could see the gel" is BS. If they didn't do the fire spot, you didn't see gel, you saw a wet guy. You knew it was gel in hindsight.

Why wouldn't a wrestling company have fire extinguishers near the stage with pyro going off throughout the night?

I don't think I've ever seen one before that night, not where they had them stashed at least.

I'll take your word about the gel. I haven't seen it since it aired and never went back to rewatch (edit - I just found a clip and you were right, it seemed more obvious to me watching it live). But where tonight would they have had the chance to put any kind of protection on him during the match? Especially since it was his bare face and upper body at risk, not an article of clothing?

 

[Based God]

I don't think I've ever seen one before that night, not where they had them stashed at least.

I'll take your word about the gel. I haven't seen it since it aired and never went back to rewatch (edit - I just found a clip and you were right, it seemed more obvious to me watching it live). But where tonight would they have had the chance to put any kind of protection on him during the match? Especially since it was his bare face and upper body at risk, not an article of clothing?

Matthew Jackson saved his friend from being set on fire. He's watched Darby set his friend on fire before so he knew he would do it.

They told a story and used long term storytelling to tell that story. I don't really understand what the complaint is.

You want "suspension of disbelief", but also wanted proof of flame retardant? I really don't get what you're asking for.

 

[Boo-urns]

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So my understanding of this trending is that Jericho tried to join Hamas but instead they deported him to Israel?

 

[Excelsior]

Matthew Jackson saved his friend from being set on fire. He's watched Darby set his friend on fire before so he knew he would do it.

They told a story and used long term storytelling to tell that story. I don't really understand what the complaint is.

You want "suspension of disbelief", but also wanted proof of flame retardant? I really don't get what you're asking for.

The way they did it made suspension of disbelief impossible, and it's necessary for fans to have that. We can watch them throw people off ladders, put people through tables, etc because we know that, barring an accident, they're going to be ok, even in a match as extreme as this one. But there's no way to safely light someone's whole body on fire during a match the way they teased doing, so we knew it wasn't going to happen. They might have been able to pull it off with the help of a Hollywood special effects team and a stunt double, but that wasn't happening here.

And, on a story telling level, now the heels look like heroes and the babyfaces look like monsters.

 

[Based God]

The way they did it made suspension of disbelief impossible, and it's necessary for fans to have that. We can watch them throw people off ladders, put people through tables, etc because we know that, barring an accident, they're going to be ok, even in a match as extreme as this one. But there's no way to safely light someone's whole body on fire during a match the way they teased doing, so we knew it wasn't going to happen. They might have been able to pull it off with the help of a Hollywood special effects team and a stunt double, but that wasn't happening here.

And, on a story telling level, now the heels look like heroes and the babyfaces look like monsters.

You need to know that it's fake to suspend disbelief? Isn't that contradictory?

Darby Allin has also never been a white meat babyface. He's always been a loose cannon. From a story telling level, he's still a loose cannon. Don't think any of the guys in the match have ever been presented as white meat babyfaces either. Swerve definitely isn't. The Acclaimed definitely aren't. Briscoe definitely isn't. Darby is always a loose cannon. I don't think the heels taking a cowards way out over a threat makes them look like heroes either.

The match is Blood & Guts, it's supposed to get dirty. The first WarGames back in the day ended when the Road Warriors destroyed JJ Dillon, the weakest member of the heel team.

 

[Stargazer Rex]

Just watched the Blood & Guts match. That was a good piece of business. It was smart of The Elite to quit. Darbz had that look in his eye, he was shoot gonna light his ass on fire again!

 

[Stargazer Rex]

Not like he didn't already do it and crowds didn't cheer him for it haha this time he just got something he wanted out of it and was smart about it

200 IQ Darbz. It's all about the game and how you play it!

 

[Based God]

Corey Graves dropped a multi paragraph high horse tweet about the chair shot Darby gave Jack Perry at the end of the match and then deleted the tweet after fans pointed out the chair was gimmicked.

Dude wrestled for 15 years and has been a commentator for 10 years and it took fans to point out a gimmicked chair.

The business is alive?

 

[Stargazer Rex]

Corey Graves dropped a multi paragraph high horse tweet about the chair shot Darby gave Jack Perry at the end of the match and then deleted the tweet after fans pointed out the chair was gimmicked.

Dude wrestled for 15 years and has been a commentator for 10 years and it took fans to point out a gimmicked chair.

The business is alive?

I popped for that chair shot. Thought it was a shoot at first, but then yeah, noticed it was gimmicked. Glad it was, too. I do think an unprotected shoot chair shot to the head can still have a place if the wrestler wants to take it, but it should be meaningful, like ending a feud at Wembley type thing.

 

[A Pennysworth]

To have PAC wrestle on the card but not have him come out to confront MJF and Osprey seems like an odd choice.

 

[GoldenAzazel]

Corey Graves dropped a multi paragraph high horse tweet about the chair shot Darby gave Jack Perry at the end of the match and then deleted the tweet after fans pointed out the chair was gimmicked.

Dude wrestled for 15 years and has been a commentator for 10 years and it took fans to point out a gimmicked chair.

The business is alive?

I honestly didn't notice it was gimmicked at all but I'm glad it was

 

[Excelsior]

You need to know that it's fake to suspend disbelief? Isn't that contradictory?

Darby Allin has also never been a white meat babyface. He's always been a loose cannon. From a story telling level, he's still a loose cannon. Don't think any of the guys in the match have ever been presented as white meat babyfaces either. Swerve definitely isn't. The Acclaimed definitely aren't. Briscoe definitely isn't. Darby is always a loose cannon. I don't think the heels taking a cowards way out over a threat makes them look like heroes either.

The match is Blood & Guts, it's supposed to get dirty. The first WarGames back in the day ended when the Road Warriors destroyed JJ Dillon, the weakest member of the heel team.

I don't see it as contradictory. It's like watching a movie. We know that Tom Cruise isn't really using martial art skills to take down endless enemy agents in the MI movies, but we have to relax our minds enough to accept it on the movies terms. Same with wrestling. We know that the wrestlers, even if they aren't friends, are (usually) professional enough to work together to put on the best match they can while only making it look like they want to hurt their opponent as much as they can. Fans do their part by accepting their efforts and turning a blind eye to the fact that, if what they're watching is genuine, most matches would last seconds.

It's a different matter when you have one threaten to murder their opponent, beyond the rhetoric they spout on the mike or what they do over the course of a normal match. If he had gone through with it, he would have maimed Jack Perry for life. That's over the top, even by wrestling standards. It exceeds the level of suspension fans can maintain, therefore nobody thought he would do it, therefore the end felt flat.