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Tim and Doug dive deep into the world of All Elite Wrestling. Recaps, character analysis, storyline breakdowns, and more. Two guys who have been All Elite since day 1 talk AEW.
Doug, I have two words for you.
Okay.
Maximum carnage.
Thank you. Those were those are two solid words, my friend. Yes. Maximum cartridge tonight on Dynamite. that one They loaded that card. They did their best.
They did, but did we get maximum carnage?
Yeah.
No, we did not. No, we did not. Is this one of the first Dynamites that no one has bled?
I didn't even think about that, but yeah, you might be right.
I don't think anyone
Wait, didn't Darby get busted open a little bit there? Didn't his arms start to bleed? I thought I saw.
Oh, you know, ah to be honest, I was in the middle or I was wrapping up giving my dog a bath at the time. So I was listening and watching. So I may have missed any blood, but.
So you actually got to experience maximum carnage, just not in wrestling.
I actually did. Yeah, because Wallace.
Okay.
It was he was actively shooting hair off his body while we were giving him a bath. Like it was. Yeah.
I understand.
Yeah.
I understand. One of my dogs is half husky. and
Oh, yeah. Wallace is part Husky, too.
God, I understand.
Wallace quarter Husky.
Yeah, well, that'll do it.
Yeah.
Uh, so speaking of missing things, I know that this opened with some sort of recorded promo from Joe and Brian Keith.
yeah I missed that, too.
I totally missed it. I turned it on at like seven Oh two.
I think that's okay.
So I literally, all I caught was, this is only going to work if you're, if you're watching, but literally all I caught was Brian Keith looking at the camera like this.
Like that was all I got.
You know, you could have done that and not told me who it was, and I would have guessed Brian Keith. You could have just done that, and I would went, oh, Brian Keith.
Thank you.
Mm-hmm. Well done.
I've been practicing.
Well done. I like it.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah, yeah.
So I don't know what that promo was.
That was awesome.
it would factor in later. I'm going to say it was maybe good because Joe was involved. i
All I know, it was a little bit too on the nose because they kept saying the bounty hunter is picking up Joe's bounty.
Well, yeah.
It's like, all right, I get it.
They've done a couple of those with him, I think on Collision, where they're really going back to the bounty hunter thing, which is fine.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it makes me sad because I like him and Bill as a team, and I'd like them to do something with them again.
That was what I wrote down basically for that first, for that match was it makes me sad that I'm glad we got to see the bounty hunter in big bill, but it made me sad because they're not winning big, you know, bounty hunter is not winning this brand. Keith is not going to win. and Bill's going to end up not looking, you know, he's going to hang man's going to clobber him. So makes me sad because I would like to see them do something with them. I like them.
I like them too, but we'll, we'll talk more about that in a minute. Uh, but we mentioned it, Darby.
No, that's all I'm going say. I'm done.
Oh, we're done. Okay, great.
With that match?
Fantastic.
With that match, yeah.
All right.
yeah
Uh, I have a couple of thoughts, but we'll get to that.
Okay, that's fine.
Um, we'll get to that after Darby and Pac, which, uh, was the first match of the show, I guess did not open the show.
Yep.
Uh, I referenced it. I do think Darby's arm was bleeding because did you see the suplex onto the steps?
Okay.
Yep.
Dude.
Man. Man.
Dude, I am changing my projection. I've been saying for a while he won't be able to walk when he's 45. He's not going to be able walk in like five to 10 years if he keeps doing that.
Correct. Yep. If he makes it to 38 and is still walking, it'll be a bit of a surprise. Bit of a surprise.
To say the least. So, I mean, i thought overall it was a pretty good match.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Um, it's sort of like what you were saying with Brian Keith, who came after this of at no point did I actually think PAC was going to win though.
See, I could see them having Pac win and having that be the bane of Darby's existence.
I get that. And I think that would have potentially made it a better story because I think we're going to get another one of these at Revolution.
Probably, yeah.
because I don't think they have anything else for these guys to do, but I was just like, look, Darby's going to pick up the win here, and they're going to drag this out, and I don't know how i feel about it, quite honestly.
No.
I don't, here's my, here's my only thought is I'm not sure they're going to drag it out because they, they may be repositioning this to now pack because Wheeler Yuta interfered and he told them not to.
True. But he waved them in.
Oh, see, I missed that. That was the dog was still running around. I missed him waving them in.
Okay.
Okay.
He, he started waving for them to come in.
So that's on everybody.
I did laugh at you to holding the chair right in front of his face.
All right.
Like, gee, what's going to happen when you do that?
Okay.
Well, I don't know if you know this, Tim. When you hold a chair in front of your face, they can't see you anymore.
Oh, I, I did not know that.
You're invisible. Yeah, you're invisible. They can't see. They shouldn't be able to see you.
Oh, oh, well that changes everything.
But Darby's... Darby's magic, so he can see right through that.
Okay. I guess basically everybody in ECW was magic as well then.
don't
But yeah.
know. Oh, 100%. Oh, they were on magic something?
Well, in their own way. Yeah.
Hmm. Hmm.
So, you know, I thought the match was fine. um I thought it was interesting. I should have seen the ankle thing coming because commentary was talking about it so much.
Yeah.
I should have seen that coming. I did think it was really funny that Pac had to tell Darby wrong ankle with the chair.
Yep.
Yeah.
I missed that.
So I caught it too where he goes to put the chair on the wrong ankle and I'm like, that's not the right one. But in my head, I went, okay, but maybe that's going to part of the story. It's like now both ankles are wrecked and he's going to be out for a while.
Great.
And Pac literally, you can hear him go wrong ankle.
Oh, my God.
You can hear him tell him to move it because the camera was just a little too close.
Okay. Come on.
So that made me laugh.
Just let him do it.
But...
Whatever.
Yeah, just sell it and move on.
know Let him do it. Let him wreck your other
But yeah, but whatever. I mean, kudos to pack for remembering which ankle to sell because the number of times that I see somebody switch which one is hurt in a match because they couldn't remember is high.
It's a high number. But anyway, I thought the match was fine.
Yep.
I'm going to just repeat what I said last week. This doesn't have a lot of heat with me. I'm just I'm not feeling it.
Same.
I feel like Darby is stalled. I feel like the Death Riders are stalled.
Yep.
I don't know what else to say.
I mean, entertaining match, but with that roster, you should be able to have an entertaining match with any two guys you throw out there.
Yeah.
So, okay.
Yeah.
You know.
Let's move on is what I'm getting at.
Yep.
I don't know what you move these guys on to, but let's move on.
Yes, please.
So there was Brian Keith and Hangman like we talked about.
Mm-hmm.
I am well aware Hangman hits hard. I thought this was a stiff match. That headbutt from Brian Keith was stiff.
Yeah. Yep.
That hurt.
That hurt. Yeah, that hurt me.
It did. um Other than that, I don't have a lot to say.
Yeah.
i liked it. I liked the pacing of it. I thought they came out hard and fast and kind of kept that going.
Mm-hmm.
I was with you of at no point did I think Hangman was going to lose.
Mm-mm.
I knew Bill was going to get involved. I figured Hangman would take him out. I liked Swerve appearing out of nowhere with the chain to take him out because um I think that makes Bill look a little bit better, right?
Yep. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did, i did i did like there were twice and this was the first time I, the, of the night that the, the run in,
Otherwise,
was well done, well filmed and well presented. and it was so, I really liked Swerve coming in the way he came in. He came in quick. He came in sudden, he did his thing and it was done.
He didn't mess around. he made the impact he needed. and yeah, I really liked that. That was one of my favorite parts of that whole match. I mean, other than, you know, them just beating the tar out of each other, and having Swerve come in at the end, the way he did really liked it.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I agree. But like I said, beyond that, I got nothing else on this one.
Okay, that's fair. How about the aftermath, though? Because what happened afterwards... Kenny's back, baby.
So, yeah, which we knew. i mean, they'd been promoting that he would be back.
Yep.
um I liked the dynamic there of Hangman, you know, smiling at him and their buds and swerve, mean mugging. I liked all that.
Yep.
I like that we're finally doing Omega and Alexander.
Yep.
I like that.
can i Can I... About that, can I just say... I am getting a little bit tired of the wait, wait, wait. We'll do it next week. I'm getting a little tired of that because they're using that quite a bit.
in ah And I would have rather, i don't know.
Yeah.
I don't know what I would rather seen. Maybe Cal is doing a, you know what? You're going to do what daddy says. And daddy says, you know, turn around. And because he's got like a million guys, have some of them jump him. You know, i don't know.
Yeah.
I would have liked to see something other than let's wait.
Yeah, it's cheap heat.
Because they that an awful lot.
I mean, it is.
Yeah.
It's cheap heat, and it's something that heals have done since, I think, the dawn of time.
Oh, yes. But I just, I feel like that card's been played often in recent memory, and it just is feeling a little tiresome at this point for me, personally.
no I'm with you on that. I think that the question that I always have... really with anything related to Don is, are they doing it on purpose?
Cause I think that he does that. I think that he thinks that way and he's doing it on purpose cause he knows it's annoying and he knows that it's played out. I think i think he's doing it on purpose.
I could be wrong.
No, you're probably correct.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because Dallas is that good.
He is, and he thinks that way. And I also understand, look, you got to do something to pull people to next week's show too. So I get that. I just, I didn't think for a second when he said, when Kenny said, I got time tonight, I didn't think it was going to happen.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, right, yeah.
You know, ah now what I will say is, could you have given me that instead of Brody and the translator? I think you could have.
i Here's why I like that. I like that because at least it gives us Brody on TV, which I think they need. And I think I like seeing him on TV. And if you if you're just still trying to figure stuff out, at least so I got to see Brody.
My... thing I there's with that match the thing I wrote down I wrote down a couple things Brody versus translator didn't even take his coat off and I loved it loved it yes
Yeah, no, I liked it from the Brody standpoint. And look, I literally wrote down, yay, the translator. Because I liked him last week and I said I wanted to see him more. Look, the the guy can bump like crazy, so I'll i'll give him that.
yeah
like I was just like, I don't fully understand the point of this, but okay. you know that's pretty much what I wrote was, I don't get it, but okay.
This is also where a feature that didn't make it into the first episode. Things my wife said during wrestling happened during the end of that match.
Oh, yay.
I was like, hey, you know, Brody is the lead singer of a metal band. And she was like, huh, he's not very fit. It's a lot of chub.
And then as he walks out, she goes, takes a lot of balls to walk around the ring in that outfit.
Well.
she And then she followed up with, I don't care how fit I am. takes a lot of balls.
ah So yeah, that that concludes this episode of things my wife said during wrestling.
That was a good one.
Yeah, I liked it. I liked it a lot.
That was a good one.
Made me laugh.
So then after that, the four-way women's tag match, which here was my overall impression of that. and I'm very curious.
Wait, didn't we have women's tag match?
What would I miss?
No, we had the four-way tag match with the guys. Then the women, right?
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. ah You're right. I combined the two in my head.
That's fine.
You're right. Okay. Well, consider that your tease for the women's tag match then.
I was just super, I thought, well. All right, thank you.
You're welcome. And thank you ah for calling me on my nonsense for not being able to read my own notes.
That sounded way creepier than ever.
Oh, well, what are you to By the way...
um Yeah.
um Jake Doyle, i I saw it this week I was like, finally, yeah, I was like, oh, that's Jake something from TNA.
I know who he is now. Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, which I had heard the name. I had literally never seen him before, which is why i didn't recognize him, because I have literally never seen TNA before.
I have not watched.
That's fair.
No, I take it back. I watched one segment of it when Omega had their belt and he and Don Callis showed up there. I watched that and that was that was it.
Right.
That was it because I have never had the channel that they are on at the time they are on it.
yeah
Oh, same. I just see their clips on YouTube and social media and I've seen him that way.
Okay.
But yeah.
I mean, i they just it's very interesting how lots of wrestling stuff will come across my feed. They don't.
Right.
And i don't I don't get that. But whatever. That's for the algorithm, I guess. But anyway, um here's what I wrote down about this one. I had a feeling the big guys would win because they love to take the new person and give them a title shot really quickly.
Yeah.
And here's my problem with it. Those guys aren't over.
Right.
We barely know Mark Davis because of injuries and, you know, he just look, we, we how many times have we seen this tag team separates?
Mm-hmm.
One guy is clearly the star. And then there's the other guy. Here we are again, where Kyle Fletcher is clearly the star, and then there's the other guy.
I'm glad to see them doing something with him. I think the team is very interesting. But for those of us, like me, who had never seen Jake before, ever, I you i don't...
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I may as well not have seen him with as little as I've seen him.
Right, so I don't know him at all. I barely know Mark Davis. You got to give that team time to get over.
Mm-hmm.
And to immediately put them in the title scene, I think is a mistake. And it's not because I don't think that they are capable of a good match or whatever. I just think from a fan service perspective, you're assuming too much knowledge on the fan part.
You know what I mean?
Yes.
You're assuming that we know those guys better than we do.
yeah
Mm-hmm. Yep.
And when you have the young bucks who... I don't know why we keep doing this with them where you've got all the momentum in the world and now we're going to stall them out again.
Yeah.
You know, jet speed coming out of the continental classic where they had made such a big splash and you're stalling them out.
Mm-hmm.
And I know they're going to come up again later in the show, but now you're kind of stalling them out. I just, I don't know that this is the best call.
Right. And to be fair, I thought this match made all of them look really good. I thought they all had their moments to shine. I don't think anyone really looked bad in this match.
The one conspiracy theory that went through my head is something I alluded to last week as a jest, but then it came up in my head again was because at the end, after Meat and Meathead, or whatever they're called, won, and FTR comes out, and then they start fighting,
I was like, oh, maybe they are going to just give Don Callis all the heels and all the faces will be on their own against the Don Callis heel stable and he's got everybody. Because FTR, they weren't faces.
And now, wo
Yeah, that's the other thing I wrote down is that's the other thing I wrote down is I don't like
are we trying to do that?
let me Let me put this in context. I don't mind heel versus heel. I don't mind face versus face. If it makes sense, if you have done the groundwork to make it make sense, right?
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Mm-hmm.
To immediately take these two dudes who are a heel team, you're going to tell me that they're monsters, but you haven't established it. And to immediately put...
You only established it tonight.
Right, but even then, because you did a match where everybody got their offense in, which you should have, I have no issue with that, they didn't come out and dominate that.
Yep.
You know what I mean?
No. Mm-hmm.
And so you're going to tell me they're monsters. like That's going to be the narrative in the match, right? And you're going to tell me that these guys are going to go up against one of the greatest tag teams of all time, which FTR is, and you're going to give me heel versus heel, right?
I got nothing like that's what that's a match.
And you want me to think that that's going to be a competitive match from the word go and that FTR aren't going to come over on top. Yeah, you haven't done the groundwork yet.
Yeah. Yeah, like like I'm going to watch that match, and i'm it's probably going to be good, and I'm probably going to come away from it going, man, that was a good match.
Yeah.
But I'm going to also say the same thing I said about Darby and Pac.
Yep.
Good match, had nothing. i was not invested in it. It's got no heat with me because I don't know who half of the guys in in the match are. I have no reason to care, right?
Yep.
You haven't established FTR enough to the point where I want to see. Like, let me let me let me be clear about this. FTR has not held the belts long enough as this version of them, as this heel version of them for me to want to see them lose.
Yes, yes.
I don't care who they lose to.
Right, because how many defenses have they had so far?
You know what I mean?
One?
Yeah, the one at the pay-per-view that was me.
Yeah, right yeah.
I guess two. They did two against Bang Bang Gang.
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
They did too.
Correct.
So, but you know, like you haven't done enough with them to make me go, God, I don't care who they lose to. I just want them to lose.
Right.
And that's where I think it would have made a tremendous amount of sense for either the bucks or jet speed to go over. And that's nothing against GOA and the demand. I think those guys are really good. I'd like to actually, I think I'd actually really like to see them win it and have that stable, have three belts, right?
Yes, I actually thought that that's how that match was going to go, is I thought GOA was going to go over.
Would have made some sense. Would have made more sense, I think.
um What I find interesting is your criticism of not... put it yeah of doing a the a heel versus heel match in this instance makes all the sense in the world. But what's interesting is I thought they did a really good job in this match in particular of showing how to have two heel teams go at it, two face teams go at it, and have it make sense and be okay.
And having Ricochet and Kallus on commentary during that match it really, it was such a solid thing up until, like you said, up until kind of the finish. And it's like, I mean, if this wasn't for a title shot, that I probably could have.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Let the new team go over. That makes a lot of, yeah, sure. Let them beat somebody. That's great. But for the title shot. Yeah. but I think you're right. I think it's probably rushing it a little too much. They do like to try to put their shiny new toys in a title picture right away.
Which then forces them into the corner of, well, now what do we do with them?
Right. And exactly. And that's not the first time tonight that I thought, well, it might be the first time, but it wasn't the last time that I thought they painted themselves into a corner.
Nope.
um The other thought that I had on that is, you know Again, i think if you go with the Young Bucks there, which is how I thought it was going to go, you have all that built-in history. You don't need to establish it. I'm in.
Right.
right I'm in.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm Bring it.
Here's my money. I'm in.
Mm-hmm.
Now you got to figure out how you're going to build this thing. and in kayfabe here, why did Jet Speed, like shouldn't Jet Speed want their pound of flesh after they got jumped by these guys?
But that was not a narrative at all tonight.
Well,
that's it. Yes.
The only reference to it was the was the tape on Mike Bailey's shoulder.
Got it. Yeah.
You know, because he was selling that injury. But you know what I'm saying? Like, you have an opportunity to build a program there between two teams that needed something to do.
Yep.
And you could have had those guys meat and meat head.
Yep.
That's their name now on this show anyway.
You're welcome.
beat jet speed. And now, okay, now we got some momentum. Now I kind of understand who you are. Now I've got a better sense of you. And now you can start putting them in that title picture, but to rush it like this, I just, because the other thing is you and I both know when they lose to FTR and I think they will, they're going to go right to the back of the line and they're going to be sitting there and we're gonna be going Oh, Hey, remember those guys?
Yep.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
I will say, though, this match was stacked with awesome moves.
Oh, it was good match.
Toa Leona doing the moonsault off the apron to the outside. Amazing. But I think for me, and this might be my move of the night, when Speedball did the ultimate weapon onto both Bucks being held by Toa Leona.
That was so good.
That was really good.
And then... um what The jet, what's his name? Knight? Michael Knight? Is that his name?
Kevin Knight.
Kevin Knight Knight Rider?
No, Kevin Knight. Michael Knight.
um Kit, when Kit did his frog splash off the top following that was so good. That dude, so poetic in the air.
Yeah.
He's so solid. So good.
Yep. Yeah, I mean.
Go ahead. go ahead
No, go ahead.
I was just going to say, I would like to skip ahead to their promo because I think it was the best promo they did. And it's because Swerve and Hangman did all the talking.
Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I totally agree with you on that. um But yeah, I mean, like I thought the match on its face was very good. i just the outcome. I don't you I don't.
I don't probably have as big of a problem with the outcome as I'm making it sound like. I just don't think it makes a lot of sense. And I think that you've painted yourself into a corner a bit here because either FTR drops to these guys and now you have to either flip FTR or figure out what you're going to do with them.
Yeah.
Right.
ah you
Or these guys are going to lose. And like I said, they're going to go to the back of the line.
Yep. Yep. I will say hats off to Don Callis because the this line should not have made me laugh as much as it did. But when FTR and them and meat and meatheads started fighting, Callis just goes, pound those hillbillies. and It's just...
He's so good. He's such a good talker.
I pounced and I laughed for like, I bet a good two minutes. ah Just not solid, but I just would keep going. Pound those old bellies. It just made me laugh.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So good.
That was great. They should make that a t-shirt.
Yep.
Yep.
um So then we got.
Pound that pouch. I'm going pound that pouch. Can we get that one? Can we do pound that pouch? Can we do that?
Sure. Yeah.
Okay, cool.
Yeah.
All
Nothing's stopping you.
oh right. I'll work on that. I will. I'll work on that one.
I know you will.
Pound that path.
I know you will.
Yeah. When I should be doing way more constructive things, I will work on that one thing.
Um,
yeah, no, that's, that's the correct move.
Thank you.
Uh, so then we got the little backstage pre-tape, whatever it was with, what are we calling them? Top flight and their little team. What are we calling them?
What are we calling them?
Sky flight. Was that it?
Skyflight? Sure.
I don't know.
like that.
Here's what I know. Probably shouldn't have ah the Martin boys do the talking when Scorpio Sky and Christopher Daniels are there. i would assume that's why Christopher Daniels is there.
Yes. Yes.
But, but okay.
Let him do the talky talk.
Yeah. Again. Okay. I'm not sure that that's enough to get me to watch collision, but oh okay.
Okay. Yeah. All
Uh, then the women's trios match. So I just had that all the way wrong when I said four way tag match earlier, but, um, I am curious to see what your sense of this match was.
right.
It was interesting because the i find it funny. The first thing I wrote down was love Harley's hair. right
Okay.
It was the first thing I wrote down.
Okay.
And i thought Statlander's outfit looked great when she came out. I was like, ooh, that looks kind of X-Men-y to me. i don't know. I liked it.
All right, fair.
So anyway.
OK.
For as much as they build Thekla up, and I think they do a good job of building her up, I don't feel like she saw enough action.
Mm-hmm.
i don't feel like the action was that impactful. um yeah And yet, she gets the pin on the women's champ.
Mm-hmm.
I was really surprised. that may I think I wrote down that may have been the biggest shock of the night for me, was that Thekla pins Statlander.
Interesting.
And after stat came in and just wrecked house. And, and for two seconds, I was like, okay, if this is how you're going to present Kris Statlander moving forward, I understand she's establishing herself as the bull of the woods. She's going to be the one standing tall. She's going to be the, the, the train that runs through everybody.
Okay. She proved it. She did a great job. She's just like, come on. She saw the attempted, you know, Attack from behind, caught Sky Blue, put her down, took everyone out, and then gets pinned by Thekla with kind of just one move, I want to say.
Mm hmm. She took the spear. Yeah. Mm
it felt a little anticlimactic at that point. I don't mind giving Thekla the win, just in the manner and with not enough offense beforehand to kind of establish that for me.
hmm.
Just... I don't know. But I will say that the Harley-Willow double drop they did, that looked, I wouldn't want to take that.
That's fair.
hmm.
That looked pretty cool having two people fall on you like that.
Yeah.
But yeah.
Yeah.
So overall, I liked the match. I liked Statlander in this match.
The ending confused me. And then, oh, the other thing I wrote down, When they did that Long Island train thing where like all three of them did their moves twice on Sky Blue.
And she kicks out at one.
Yeah.
What are we doing? What are we doing?
So, yeah. So the only part of the match ah that made sense to me was Thekla winning. And the reason I say that is when they started that match, i was like, Thekla is going to pin Statlander because that's how they're going make the title match, which is obviously what they've been building towards.
Okay. Okay. okay
So i that was one that I, ah I mean, before the match started, i was like, Thekla's going to pin Statlander. Now, I think that what you said there of there was not enough offense prior to that.
I think i I have no notes on that. I think I see where you're coming from. i get it. I don't think you're wrong. My sense of this match was, I think it was a good match, but for whatever reason,
there was, it was just kind of flat. Like, if you watch it again, the crowd was hot pretty much all night, and you can hear when they're trying to get into it.
But it's the quietest that arena was tonight, was during that match. And I'm...
And unfortunately, they are coming off of trying to follow that four-way tag match that was really hot.
Mm-hmm.
So they weren't in a great position.
Right, but true. But the way they structured it was there's a commercial break there, which if you've never been to one to a live Dynamite, they don't do stuff during the commercial break.
There's not like a dark match that happens there.
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Justin talks to the crowd and fills the time.
Yeah.
Okay, so that cools things down. You have the Top Sky Converse flight, whatever it was.
Skynet. Can we call them Skynet?
Skynet, yeah, you have that pre-tape that cools it down. So like I think they structured it well to give space between those matches, you know what I mean?
Right. Mm-hmm.
But it just it felt like the crowd wanted to get into it, and they never really got that moment. And I don't i don't know why the only thing that I could, because I felt the same way. I was like, I want to be more into this match than I am.
The only thing I can think of is, I feel like Harley is lost in this. And I think this is my argument.
Harley Cameron is the reason babes of wrath got over. That's nothing against Willow, but she is so damn entertaining with the puppets and the songs and all that. She is what got them over. And now she is so in the backseat.
Here's what i I agree with a bit of a caveat.
Okay.
i think I agree. I think Harley Cameron is a reason that Babes Wrath got over But I feel in the ring, Harley is leaps and bounds behind.
And I feel like for or me, because I was going to say the re the thing that took me out of the match was when Harley was in.
Oh, yeah. Mm
Love her to pieces. Think she's super entertaining.
h
Do not think she's ready for this tag tiny team title run to hold the belt with Willow. I think Willow is really, really solid in the ring. Statlander is really, really solid in the ring.
I just... And it's no slight against Harley, but she's where I think Sky Blue was about a year and a half ago.
Yeah.
And it's only now that Sky Blue is kind of coming into her own and really getting into that. i just think she's lost, not just in the shuffle, but in the ring, I feel like she's she's lost is how I feel about it.
No, I, I, I, yeah, I agree with you on that. She's by far the, the least talented in the ring, I guess, of that group that was in that ring tonight, but then play to the crowd.
Yeah, yeah.
And she's not doing that.
Yep.
She's not playing to the crowd at all, and she's taking such a backseat to Willow and Statlander, and I get the why behind that, but I think you have to get her more involved in the play to the crowd standpoint to get the crowd into it, because they showed you tonight they want to be, but they're not.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
on this story for whatever reason.
Yes.
And I think it's probably because it's kind of only loosely a story. But, you know, I thought i just thought it was kind of an odd feeling match, if that makes any sort of sense.
Like it it it should have been hotter than it was.
I get it
And I don't fully know why. So that was my theory is let her play to the crowd a little bit more. Also, I think Julia Hart and Sky Blue are better than what they showed tonight and better than what they've showed recently.
And I'd like to see more of them doing what they used to do.
i agree.
Yeah, I would agree with that as well.
That is my face.
There we go.
There it goes. So I can get to my notes.
There we go.
So then we got the backstage with jet speed that you referenced earlier, which was by far their greatest promo because they didn't talk hang man and swerve did it.
there we go
Yeah.
I did write down. i don't understand the point of swerve, putting them over other than just helping put them over. The hangman part made sense at least of, we're going to take on, you know, the ops, but okay.
Yeah,
yeah I honestly thought we were going to get some kind of weird proposal... from swerve because he showed up nana's there and I'm like oh okay is he going to take him under their way under his wing and like work him into the fold nope he's just said i like you guys and then he walks away and the hangman comes he's like we're tagging next week all right I'll watch that i will i probably will watch that
I did too.
yeah
which you know cool yeah i'll watch it yeah i probably will uh then we got the rascals tease i'm not because when i read that they i read i think literally yesterday
a little surprise but all right
either yesterday or today, that their contracts had expired with TNA and they had not re-signed. And I didn't think they were headed to WWE because they had already kind of flirted with that and WWE kind of went, thanks, but no thanks.
Right.
ah So I wasn't shocked to see that they're coming AEW. It's kind of like with I don't know if he's meat or meathead in the team, but it's kind of like with Jake Doyle, something Doyle.
Meathead. Meathead. Mm-hmm.
um I'm aware of the radicals, but I know nothing about them.
Here's my fear with the Radicals is they had kind of a hot moment in TNA, but not during this current run. Their hottest run was their run prior. And they came back.
And i know one, maybe both of them have been doing some other indie shows.
That's fine. They're a name. Do we need another... team of that ilk to be coming into AEW and what are you going to do with them that you can't do with space speed or whatever? Yeah.
yeah, well, and...
Whatever, you know, you've got a bunch of, you've got a bunch of teams.
Mm-hmm.
I don't know what adding the radicals does. Don't get me wrong. i think the radicals are fun to watch, but I'm also afraid that they're going to come in, they're gonna make a splash and then they're, we're going to see them, you know, once a month on collision would be my guess.
Yeah. that and that combined with the hangman jet speed thing were the other times. So that that whole little sequence there were the other times tonight where I thought you have painted yourself into a corner.
Because if you if you go back to the hangman jet speed thing, If they win, what does that do to derail the swerve and hangman team that we're flirting with?
And I don't know why you don't just go ahead and make them a team.
I agree.
You know, um I was thinking about how every time I see them together, I think about there's a story from um when they were shooting Caddyshack that Harold Ramis had realized he didn't have a scene that with Bill Murray and Chevy Chase in it together. So he wrote one because how can I not have my two biggest stars in the scene together?
it feels like we're going to find ways to put them together, but not officially put them together. Just go ahead and do it.
Yeah.
Just go ahead and do it and let them be a team and let them do tag team stuff and eventually probably take down FTR.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah. I, yeah.
So if they win the trios titles, I don't know what that does to the swear of hangman team.
don't
If they lose, I don't know how you keep the feud going with the ops.
either.
Right.
So I think you've painted yourself into a corner a little bit there.
Right. I mean, I, I understand the logic because you want to try and build on the momentum you built in the continental classic.
We'll see what they do.
Putting them in the trio's title hunt, I think is a good idea. i don't know if it's a great idea to put them with hangman because of the reasons that you stated. I don't know who else you do that with.
h Well, I think it would have been far more interesting, especially after the promo, if it was Kenny Omega in that spot, if it was Omega hangman and swerve, because now you have that tension of, well, we all want the AEW championship
Okay. Yeah. Sure.
Sure.
But Hangman's my friend, so I'm going to help him. and also, i don't you know you could just have Kenny do the babyface thing of, I don't like what you guys have been doing. so you know like i mean And i need i need help with the Don Callis family.
Oh,
like You could have done that. And then you could have had Jet Speed win the other match and go on to face FTR to keep that momentum going, right?
okay. Gotcha. Yep.
But now we're here and I think you've painted yourself into a corner a little bit and I'm not sure how they're going to get out of it.
Mm-hmm.
And then what you said with the radicals is the other part where you're going to bring these guys in and I think you're going to paint yourself into a corner with them as well because what are you going to do with them?
Yeah, because they are very much akin to jet speed, but they're a little, you they aren't even as fresh as jet speed.
Right.
You know, yeah, Speedball's been around longer than Kit has been. Jet Kit. Michael, I'm sorry.
Kevin. Yes, I know it's Kevin, but the radicals have, they've, you know, they've, they've put in more reps and so they're, they're not the fret. There'll be a fresh face to AEW, but they're not as fresh a team.
They will.
So yeah, I think. Yeah, it's difficult.
Well, and and a yeah, and again, i think you need to introduce them.
It's tough.
Don't assume we know who they are.
Yep.
You know, it's not.
and it Interesting they got like that that graphic of they're coming. You know, it's like, I don't remember them doing that a lot.
No, they've. Have they ever done it?
Maybe with Okada.
Oh yeah, they might have done it with Okada.
But I don't remember if we did or not. But not really. They don't know.
Yeah.
They usually like to spring those things on us. So,
I mean, I just keep thinking back to, i was there when the Butcher and the Blade debuted and we all started chanting, who are you?
Mm-hmm.
Because nobody knew who they were.
Yep.
So don't assume we know who they are.
Nope. Right. Same thing happened when Dark Order debuted.
Like Tony,
Like, they came up and they formed the ring and everyone's like, who the hell are these guys?
Yeah.
yeah i mean tony because i we know you listen don't assume that we know who they are introduce them then it was main event yes yeah yeah yeah
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. So at least they did that. At least they gave us a graphic and said, hey, articles are coming. Okay. That's something. That's different. I like that. I just am concerned with ah how they handle their their new toys.
So that's all.
okay nope i agree i totally agree uh then it was main event time
Yes.
a thought this was a banger of a match.
I thought it really good.
Mm-hmm. Yes.
I thought it was also very smart because i think sometimes the criticism of MJF is that he he doesn't wrestle often because he's not as skilled in the ring.
Yes.
And I think it was very smart to put him in the ring with one of the best technicians or at least high flyers today with Bandito and have him hold his own. I thought that was very smart.
I thought they actually... did a very good job of going back and forth. I thought it was really, really good. And MJF pulled off one of my favorite moves, the slow roll out of the ring.
Yes, I love a good slow roll as well. I mean, my thing when I see that about, oh, well, it's because he's not very good in the ring.
So good.
He's just a good talker. I'm like, you didn't watch Ric Flair, did you?
Right.
Because watch a Ric Flair match and then watch MJF.
Mm-hmm.
It's kind of the same thing. And the reason I say that is, MJF works the way he works on purpose. He has shown you he is capable of putting on very, very good matches.
sir
He has the skill. He works the way he works on purpose. He wants to be the old school Ric Flair-esque heel.
Yep.
He does it on purpose. he wants The whole point is he's trying to control the pace of the match.
Yeah.
And you can't do that against a dude like Bandito, which is what I wrote down of. I love the contrast and style.
Yeah.
I thought it worked really, really well.
But I also think... But I also thought MJF looked really good against Bandito. And you would think... he wouldn't look as good, especially if he's intentionally right. So he, he turned on the, the, you know, he, he drank some mana potion and he got his magic levels up and he did some, I liked him in the ring tonight. I thought that was a great match tonight. I thought he looked really, really good in there.
And of course I love the, you know, the close, he, you know, the, the he'll take his mask off thing at the end. i thought that was really good.
yes yeah i mean with MJF I've never seen that i can remember a match that he was in where i went oh that wasn't very good or he wasn't very good ah He's got it in him. He's doing a lot of these things on purpose. I just think sometimes people don't always think that, especially with AEW, which, you know, the narrative, one of the narratives around them is, well, it's all just all high spots. It's all flips and he doesn't do that.
That's so funny because tonight during that match specifically, I was like, you can't tell me they aren't telling good stories.
Oh, I agree.
You know, i thought I thought they told a good story in the ring tonight.
i agree.
I and thought it was good.
But, you know, that's one of the things that, like, like I have seen WWE wrestlers take that shot at them of, oh, they're just doing all these flips and stuff.
Mm-hmm.
And it's like, well, yeah, some of them do, but some of your guys do, too. I mean, like...
Yeah.
MJF doesn't do it on purpose he doesn't do it so anyway I thought it was a really good match it was match of the night for me I thought they did a yeah I agree with you of I thought they told a great story um i thought I literally wrote down wow I'm surprised he's putting Bandito over and then wrote never mind ah
Really solid. I think so, too. Yep.
Well, he started and I'm like, where's the where's the catch?
I should have known better I should have known better yep
There it is.
But, you know, I enjoyed it. And Brody coming out maybe gives, you know, there might be a match there to help kind of stretch while we settle who the number one contender is.
So, you know.
Sure. Like I said, as long as we keep Brody in the conversation, I think he's one of those guys I don't want to see fade into the background like Lance Archer has and like a bunch of the other guys have.
Mm-hmm.
I don't want to see that with him. I i really got to like Brody King and I want to see more of him, but I get it.
Yeah, I agree. Yeah. So overall, my thought on this one was for as loaded as the card was, thought last week was better.
I'll give you that. Yeah, yeah, I'll give you that. it just There are a few matches that, like you said, opening match, good match, lacked that emotional heat.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
um Same thing with the Hangman match, solid match. Brian Keith looked decent, lacked that emotional heat.
Mm-hmm.
The four-way match, really, really good. Ending sets up a match that lacks heat, weirdly. ah The women's match, I found it entertaining. It could have been way better.
lacked that spark for a couple of reasons.
Well, yeah. Yeah. And that's what I was trying to get at when we were talking about it was I, again, I think if you put it in a vacuum, it's a good match, but it just lacked heat.
Yeah.
And I don't know why, but it did.
Yeah. Yep. Well, and I think i think we pinpointed a few reasons why. Thekla didn't, I think it would have been better if Thekla would have been more dominant.
Mm hmm.
I think it would have been better if you if the heels would have been more dominant throughout. I think it would have been better if Harley was playing to the crowd more, you know, and doing the more cheerleading things. Maybe have a puppet make an appearance. I don't know. I'm always down for a puppet.
Yeah.
Don't clip that. um Or do, I don't care.
ah Look, man, I just do what the AI tells me.
like the That's fair. That's fair.
I'm just leaning into it because that's where we're headed anyway. So.
Plus, it feels good. Blue Chew.
Not unlike the end of the MJF match. I should have seen that coming and I didn't.
Yep, you should have.
Yeah.
Told you wouldn't see it coming.
Yeah.
Told you. Five bucks. Five bucks.
Oh, thank you. Put that right there. You missed. They were just...
missed it. You shouldn't had your head down.
Yes, I should have.
No, you should have. Yeah, you're right.
Yes. Yes. Anyway, so I mean, solid show. I wasn't upset at the show. I just think that for, you know, when they when they give them the spiffy name, like maximum carnage.
Usually there's more heat around it, and I just didn't feel that tonight.
and how And now that I'm thinking about it, now that you bring it up, how can you have an AEW Dynamite labeled maximum carnage?
Mm hmm.
And Jon Moxley's not on the card.
Great question.
What?
Great question. Yeah.
What?
Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, look, this is another one of those where i can make the argument they're a victim of their own success. They set a high bar and I don't think they necessarily cleared it tonight, but I don't think it was bad.
You know, I don't i don't think it was a bad show.
No.
I just, whatever. On to next week is where I'm at.
Yeah.
Yeah, as I'm rewinding in my head what we've discussed tonight, it feels like we're being overtly critical and we weren't fans. I still like the show. I still think it's solid.
Yeah.
But again, they have set the bar high. We have set our own bars high for what to expect from them. So, yeah. But it's still, I'm not I'm not hating that I watched it. So I'm I'm very happy with it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I'm I'm not upset about it either. I didn't fall asleep, which is usually a good indicator.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, i I just think that there's some, a little bit of booking weirdness that has maybe like, there may be creative angles here that we're just not thinking of that when they do it, we'll go, Oh, okay.
Yep.
Yep.
Good job.
Yeah.
I'm just not, I'm, I have a hard time seeing it. I think is the way to put it as of right now.
I think 100% I have to watch Collision to see what happens with that.
Yeah.
The, the trio's belts.
The trios match, yeah.
Yeah.
Yep, I agree. so And you know we've talked about it. They're putting a focus on trying to get us to watch it. um So that was a pretty good way to do it.
I mean, it does feel like that trios match is really important on multiple levels.
Yep.
So yes, we'll, I mean, again, I'm not gonna watch it live.
Yeah.
We've covered that, but I do have treadmill time coming, so.
There you go. You can watch it then, baby.
Yep. Yep. So there you go. Solid. If unspectacular.
B plus.
Does that feel fair?
I'll give it B plus. I'll give it a B plus.
B plus. Yeah. Okay. yeah I would agree with that. B plus. Yeah. Okay.
oh
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