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Elite Heat is the All Elite Wrestling podcast for fans who want more than just a recap.
Every week, Tim and Dug — two AEW fans who've been All Elite since day one — react to AEW Dynamite and Collision, break down the latest storylines, analyze the characters driving the product, and give you their unfiltered take on everything happening in All Elite Wrestling.
From weekly show reactions to PPV breakdowns, roster moves to long-term booking analysis, Elite Heat covers the full spectrum of AEW. No fluff, no filler...just two passionate pro wrestling fans who care deeply about the product and aren't afraid to say exactly what they think.
New episodes drop every week. Subscribe and join the conversation.
I'm going to be semi graphic here. Everything about this match makes my nipples hard.
So
get a little bit of Basic B#tch on that
Well, boy, I need a cigarette after that one. that was a banger of a of a Dynamite tonight live from Las Vegas. I
Yeah, man.
I have the vapors. Whew. That was
You know what I have?
Doich Foods.
You got more?
I have been saving the the Basic B#tch since last week. Just for this occasion. Just for this
I'm impressed. You
occasion. Because man, I'm telling you, I've loved every flavor, but there's something about their Basic B#tch that I'm super into. I really, really dig it.
Your
your willpower is significantly better than mine and significantly better than anybody in this house because it
no.
it lasted I'm generously saying forty-eight hours. I'm not sure it was even that long.
Dude, it took a lot for me to wait until today. It's been one whole week and I only have a half of this left, so I waited just for tonight, just to make sure I had a little bit left. That's all. my cat is here.
Yeah, we definitely do
I was excited to see this tail come
Maybe?
up slowly. It was like a like a kraken tentacle, but anyway.
Exactly. Hi Anastasia. No,
don't get into this is not cat food. This is daddy food.
It could be.
Okay, but to be fair, it's free of mo of like the major allergens, right? It's
Mm-hmm.
gluten free, it's all that stuff. So I your cat might be able to eat it. Although I don't blame you for not wanting to to share. But
Maybe. Will you?
anyway.
I haven't I
Anyway.
I legitimately haven't seen this cat all night long till we start recording. Mm hmm. There we go. All right. Yeah.
And now. Yeah. Well, that's how it goes. while you deal with the cat. Yeah.
let me reiterate five containers gone in I'm generously
Yeah.
saying 48 hours in this house. That's how good Doich Foods cookie dough is. Go get it. doichfoods.com. Use code Elite Heat when
you check out. You'll
Yep.
save 20% and you will enjoy this cookie dough.
Yeah.
It's real good. I gotta order more. I was actually just thinking that tonight. I was like, you know what would have been really nice? It would have been great.
To be snacking on the fudge, the WTF fudge,
Yeah.
or the birthday cake while I was enjoying this banger of a Dynamite tonight
Yeah, man.
would have married together perfectly, but I have not reordered because well, mostly 'cause I'm lazy.
And the and the good thing is, like I said, do what we did, get the variety pack. You can get all five
Yeah.
flavors so you can find your favorite, because you're gonna have a favorite.
Yes, you are.
And then you can then then you can just go nuts. You can keep getting a variety pack, or you can just get a bunch of the one you like, or the two you like, or the three you like, or whatever you want to do. That's what I love about it. So yeah, go get some.
Yeah, I I agree. And I'm gonna bet
they're gonna have more flavors down the road. So
almost guaranteed, yeah.
Yeah. Get on board now. You can say you were part of Doich Foods before they blew up. So go
Yep.
to Doich Foods, D-O-I-C-H, Doich Foods.com. Use code Elite Heat when you check out Elite Heat. One word and that promo code. Twenty percent off, always a good thing. All right.
Always.
Speaking of good things, like I said, this is a banger of a Dynamite tonight, in my humble opinion.
Pretty solid.
yeah, that's that's two in a row because Grand Slam was really good, you know. We were
Mm.
talking about that being like pay per view caliber ish, except not
12 hours long, although they tried. and then tonight was really, really good. And I think tonight did a lot to help with the build to All In. I think they did a
Yeah.
lot of building the lesser,
Yes.
I hate to say lesser, but you know, lesser storylines that aren't the world title, tag team, et cetera. You know, I thought they did a really nice job with that. Mm-hmm. Yes.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, the be the Yeah, the B storylines, which are important. Like 'cause again,
I've said it before, if you don't have a solid amount and a solid quality b hi.
If you're not watching on YouTube, watch. Just watch this beginning part. We're at Elite Heat Pod on YouTube, just for the cattail.
Yeah, you s see
my cat Anastasia's butthole probably. So that's fun
'cause well I'm I'm glad. I was worried.
I didn't see hole, but I there is just all of a sudden tail. Yeah, all of a sudden tail just
goes whack into your camera. So anyway.
Yeah.
And again, she hasn't paid attention to me all night long till right now. But yeah,
So it goes.
if
you if you have quality and and enough of those B level storylines, it does so much more to elevate the rest of your A storylines and even those C storylines. It's so it's really, really important. I think they did a great job tonight. Great job.
I agree.
I agree. So with that, let's launch into the heat check.
mine is super easy because
Okay.
I'm gonna do the cliche thing and say I'm only going to list what I thought was mid and what I didn't like, because there's one mid and one didn't like everything else I liked.
Okay.
So it's way easier for me to just do those two
things. So
Okay. All right, fair.
my mid
the Death Riders promo fell into that for me. Not because I thought it was bad. I didn't necessarily think it was bad. We'll talk more about it when we run this show down. It just wasn't my favorite one that they've done lately. So I put it in the mid.
Right.
and then I didn't like, and and it's not because it was necessarily bad. I wouldn't say this was bad. I didn't like Kris Statlander versus Already in the ring because you know how I feel about these matches as a concept, how I feel about
Yep. Yep.
them.
In general. So it's nothing against these two specific people. I just don't like it as a concept. So yeah.
Yes, I get it.
I have and I th this is gonna sound like I'm being super critical, but I think it's because
Okay.
the stuff I like I really like and the stuff that's in my mid is I still like it, but it didn't hit that really light category, and I have a couple things in my nope category.
Okay.
So for my basically my meh, which is I kinda like but not enough to super like the Divine Dominion promo.
I I like the fact that it at least progresses the story.
Mm-hmm.
But it didn't Again, we just see them in a promo thing, so you know, it kind of came off as a meh to me. Oddly, the Mick Foley interview with Bang Bang Gang. I just
Interesting.
I'll I'll get more into it later.
Okay.
But yeah. I thought the Jericho Kevin Knight TNT title match was fine. I was okay with the Statlander interview, but with I'll just jump ahead to the nope. The p I thought the placement of the squash match that she had was not good.
And I don't think it helped that match at all. And I don't think we needed the squash squash match
at all.
We did not. Yeah, I agree. We did not.
I thought the women's tag match, what it set up, feels a little rushed, a little forced, a little awkward, so but I'm at least happy that they're doing something there. But it just didn't hit my s really tight.
I have a theory. I have a theory on that that we'll talk about. Yeah.
Okay. weirdly, I just felt the Darby promo was fine.
Yeah, that one actually came really close to my mid. My it was fine. I think the biggest reason I didn't put it there is because it at least advanced the storyline.
Yep, and that's exactly what I wrote. Nothing super dramatic, nothing super
Yeah.
crazy. It at least had story elements. So
Yeah.
but that's why it was in the okay, meh, it's fine.
Yeah.
Let let me be clear. I liked a lot of stuff on this, but it's a it's a scale, right? Like there's the
Yes. And I think
stuff that I really super duper liked and then there's the stuff that I went, Well, that was that was fine. So and I guess I'm feeling generous tonight and I went, All right, that's fine, I'll put it in the like, you know. So
Yeah. And I happen
to be putting those that I like just in the meh category
Mm-hmm.
because I really liked a lot of things. And I just liked
Yeah, I get that.
these. And then the last thing, the Continental Title Situation.
Mm-hmm.
Mm. Don't know how I feel about the situation of the title, because I think this is was new information tonight. And I could be wrong. But
Okay. Okay.
I just it I I'm I'm a little confused. I don't completely understand it, but whatever. And then the the only nopes I had was
Like I said, the placement of the Statlander squash match and the fact that it was a squash match. Didn't need it. And I thought Mick Foley interviewing Statlander afterwards and transitioning to the tag match. I thought that whole like I thought Statlander's part was fine. I thought Mick was super awkward. it just didn't feel right to me. So that's my
Okay. Well
that's that's my nope. And even that I didn't hate.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I get it. I totally understand what you're saying. Like, didn't hate it, but in the context of a very, very good show, some of those are a little awkward. I totally get that. Absolutely.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
All right. All right. Well, let's talk about it then. So let's start as the show did with the Ospreay opening promo that I loved duh. Loved
Yeah, so good.
it. Yeah, I thought Ospreay was really, really good here. Really good here.
I loved him firing the shot at Kenny for staying home and not going to Mexico.
Yep. So good.
look, Don Cal Don Callis is always good, as always with Don. MJF falls under this as well. Until we say we didn't like it, we liked it, you know.
Absolute absolutely. Absolutely.
but I did particularly I want to highlight, I really liked him reminding everybody here's my history with both of these guys. Because you do, at least I do, I kind of forget.
that Ospreay was technically part of the Don Callis family there for a minute. So I Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And a big part of it for a hot minute, you know.
So I thought that was very good. I loved ki loved Kenny here. I love everything
Yep. Can he
about what they're doing with him right now.
Kenny looks so good right now. It's a neat mix of original AEW Kenny and cleaner Kenny. And I'm really liking that kind of tightrope he's walking of edgy and yet still Kenny. So I'm really digging what he what he's doing here. And their interaction tonight, their interactions have just been getting better and better every week that we see them together in the ring when they're just yapping at each other. I thought that was really solid tonight.
I agree. It was tremendous. I think this storyline is is great. I think the way they're doing it is brilliant. What Kenny's doing is incredible. Like I love it. I love everything about it. 18 days between now and All In, 17 when this episode comes out. And I gotta tell you, I'd like to hit fast forward on those 17 days just to get to this match.
Cause
Absolutely.
my I I'm I'm going to be semi graphic here. Everything about this match makes my nipples hard.
So
Need to get a little bit of Basic B#tch on that one.
I was like, and, you're welcome. You
are welcome for that.
the two things I really really enjoyed were Don Callis, like you said, Don Callis reminding everybody of his involvement. But I liked Kenny going back and telling Will, I warned you. I warned you about Don Callis.
Yes.
I warned you about the Death Riders, and I warned you about MJF. And look at ya.
Yep. Yeah.
I'm done
reminding you. I'm done warning you. This is the last time I'm saving you. You're on
your own. I love that about that. Mm-hmm.
Yes. It was great. Absolutely
great. Okay.
Let me see if I can sum this up in one sentence what your concern with the Continental Cup is.
Is the Continental Cup needlessly complicated?
That's it. That's the one. That's the thing.
Okay. Because
yeah, when they put the graphic up as they explain it, and it's like, okay, so these guys won, so now they go into a blind draw. So it's sixteen guys, eight matches, it's a blind draw. And the winners are gonna the eight winners go to a four. They're gonna compete in four matches that are also a blind draw. And then I guess from there they move on to something. At that point, my eyes went crossed and I didn't understand anymore because i I think the blind draw part of it.
is particularly unnecessary. Like just make a bracket, you know.
Yep.
And the the other part about it that I didn't like, which is what we heard at the end, and it explained why Moxley's in it, but I don't like it, is that the title is basically frozen now. And the winner
Yeah.
of the cup, instead of the instead of keeping Moxley out and having the winner take him on, it's just whoever wins this is the chance.
Yeah. So they have been saying that from the beginning. That's that is the one. Well,
Have they have I just been ignoring it because I don't like it?
that that's the one bit of information that I that has been consistent on this Continental Cup because they have changed a couple I think my let me put it this way. My understanding of what this tournament is has changed a couple times based on things that they have said on Dynamite and Collision, which
Okay.
makes me think they were still.
Finding their way through it a little bit.
building the plane as it's flying. understand. And and maybe I missed it.
Yeah, I think they were definitely building it in the air. Yeah. And look, I've been there. I get it.
I but for some reason I didn't think that was the case. I I was just confused when they said Mox was in it and I didn't understand it at that point. And maybe I stopped listening to their explanation. But tonight felt like the first time I personally heard it or realized it and it just it's so complicated and I don't I don't like that aspect of it and what whatever. It's a thing and the matches have been fun.
Yeah.
So I'll forgive them.
Yeah. I so let me be clear before I go further down this road. I don't mind the Continental Cup. I really don't. As a concept,
No.
I don't mind it. I like tournaments in wrestling. I I'm a fan.
Yeah.
I don't know how I feel about them doing it with the Continental Championship again, 'cause we know we're gonna get the Continental Classic in the winter, which unfortunately
Mm-hmm.
I hate to say this is not that far away.
No, no it's not.
So to do it now feels, I don't know. It it it feels a little forced.
Mm-hmm.
And it feels to me like, you know, you just came off a tournament in the Owen.
Mm-hmm.
So it feels a little forced to me. And it again, it feels like they're building this airplane in the air because they've changed their explanation of it multiple times. But that's why when Mox dropped the Continental Cup and we were going, I'm sorry, what?
He was like, yeah, my reign might come to an end because it was gonna be part of that. I agree with you. I think it would have been better of run the tournament with the winner gets him it all
in. I think that would have been
Yeah.
better.
Yeah. And don't get me wrong, what I do like about it is that we are getting we're getting some story beats with the participants. I like that. I like that we're at least doing something, giving some momentum to All In. I just feel like it it the the title situation itself is a little convoluted and I don't think I needed that extra wrinkle in this story.
But that again, that's me nitpicking, but it I don't like being confused like that when I should be like,
Yeah.
Wait, I sh this should make more sense to me, but
Yeah. I I kinda wonder if Mox wasn't supposed to say that like we said a couple of weeks ago of like I think he said something he wasn't supposed to there and they weren't ready Yeah.
Yeah. I think the gun by a week, it sounds like.
I think so and they had to scramble to put this thing together is it that's how it feels to me. I may very well be wrong on that, and that's fine if I am, but
No, I think you're right. I think that's one hundred percent right.
it's a little overbooked of blind draw, blind draw, and then this. And and I get it again that he's trying to play. Tony Khan's trying to play off of kind of how European soccer does their tournaments.
Mm-hmm.
I I do get that. But I think again, then you just follow that blueprint. Which but I I also understand, but then that basically is the continental classic. So
Right.
And again, I look, I appreciate you telling us it's a blind draw. We know it's not. Otherwise,
Yeah.
we probably wouldn't have been set up with the f the final match we had tonight, which had a
Yeah.
bunch of cool footnotes to it.
It's just, you know, it's but okay. We did the tournament. Give us a blind draw. I'll take it. Because the matches have
Yeah.
been good.
Yeah, th yeah. I mean
that's why I like tournaments is you're gonna get good matches and you are gonna get some story that comes out of it and you're gonna get some guys featured that, you know, we haven't seen in a while or that don't have a clear path right now, which we'll talk about later. But
How how surprised were you that Eddie Kingston won over the weekend?
I wasn't, believe it or not. Once
I was. I really was.
so once they announced him, I was like, you need to let him go deep in this tournament. In fact,
I agree.
I think it should be him and Mox at All In. I think it should be him and Mox. I really do. And him and Claudio would be good too, yeah.
would be great. That'd be great. Or him and Claudio, because that would work too. Either one would work.
I think Mox is going to the final. Like I think Mox is going to All In, 'cause again, this is professional wrestling and it's who draws, right? And he draws. Yeah.
I agree. Yep. Yep. I one hundred percent agree. Yep.
So I I think slash hope that it will be Mox and Eddie. apparently,
Yeah, that'd be great.
I don't know if you read this. Apparently, the reason Eddie hasn't been seen a lot and why he's been on ROH is they wanted to really give him the opportunity to kind of get his legs back under him after he broke his leg and was out for so long. Like, because he couldn't do anything with that broken leg.
They wanted to make sure, like, we're gonna put you on a ROH to let you get your timing back, let you get your wind back, all that stuff, and let
Okay.
him kind of build up there. So, sort of like, you know, when a baseball player rehabs an injury in the minor leagues, it was kind of the same
Right, yeah.
thing.
And when you put if that's true, when you put it in that context, I'm like, okay, well, I'm glad you did that.
So,
Yeah. And again,
I I have to remember there there's Dynamite, there's Collision, and there's ROH.
Yeah. Yep.
You should put whoever you want on any of those shows and I should be okay with it. I just went or some of our personal favorites don't get on the shows that we watch more regularly. It's
Yeah.
just one of those things. So yeah.
Yep. But you know what? That's wrestling though. There are always people that I'm like, man, why don't they do more with that person fr across all the companies, at least the ones I pay attention to? It's just how it goes. You know, like
Yep. Mm-hmm.
I was always a big fan of Matt Cardona and they never did anything with him, and then he got huge on the indies, and now they're kind of still not doing anything with him. So anyway, I digress.
Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Speak
speaking of rumors though, I think, and I could be wrong, we're gonna see the return to AEW of one of the originals, which is Joey Janela.
Really?
Because Joey Janela this past weekend, I think it was this past weekend, did his 20 years of Joey Janela with GCW. They did a whole
Mm-hmm.
show. He's got a match coming up with Marko Stunt. And
the storyline he's had in GCW is he has not won a match this year. And the storyline
is if he doesn't beat Marko Stunt, then he's going to be done. And that seems to be where they're going. But then on this 20th.
Thing, this, this 20 years of Joey Janela, at the end, he's doing this big thing, and he goes, I guarantee you will see me back on TV. And he even goes
to say, then he goes to talk about, you know, my first run. He goes, a lot of my friends are in that locker room. He goes, I think you know the one I'm talking about. And he's talking about how
Interesting.
his
first run there, you know, he wasn't used to getting all this money, and so he used it for.
you know, lobster and booze, but
he's been sober
Yeah.
for two years and when he if when he comes back, he's still gonna spend money on lobster, but
so I think we're gonna see Joey Janela back in AEW probably after All In. Mm-hmm.
Interesting. Okay. Well,
that will be I'll be fascinated to see A if that happens and B what they do with him.
Yeah.
If if that does come to be. So well
I mean it wouldn't shock
me to see him on ROH or Collision a lot if he's on, but like I just
Sure. Yeah.
it if he's not gonna be back in AEW, it is then I completely misread what he was talking about, but I don't think I did.
No, I don't think you did either. That's how I read that as well. Honestly,
Yeah.
a spot that we might see him in, depending on contracts and stuff, the casino gauntlet match. Which plays nicely into what happened next. See what I did there? That's a transition, boys and girls.
Absolutely would be Yes. That's great, my friend.
so next match up was MJF, Nick Wayne, and Speedball Mike Bailey for the number two spot in the casino gauntlet match. And loved it.
Yes. Yes.
Loved it. first thing I
wrote down, my question for you unhinged MJF. Good or great? Yeah, I agree. It's it's
Great. Absolutely great.
it's exactly what you said last week of he is doing his version of some of the best of Ric Flair. And that's saying something.
He
he's such a student of the game and he is pulling bits of some of his favorites. He's pulling some flair, there's some Piper in there. Some of those classic beats that he is pulling in and kind of but he's making them all his own. And it's just he's so good right now. He's so good on the mic. I'm loving the the whole one true champ thing. Love it.
Yep. Again, I think anybody in anybody else's hands, I would be like, no.
But with him, yeah, he's gonna make
Yeah, yeah. Yep.
it work. He's making it work, he will continue to.
How good how good do you think Nick Wayne is looking right now?
He looks great. Again, this is a guy that if he A stays healthy and B continues on the trajectory that he's on, which there's no reason to think he wouldn't, but things happen. You spend your money on lobster and booze, for example. If Nick continues going the way that he is, I'm not saying it's going to be next year. I'm not even necessarily saying in 2028, but this is a guy who in the next
Five-ish years is gonna be way up at the top of the card in AEW. A guy who I could see him in the Kevin Knight spot. I could see
Mm-hmm.
him in the Darby spot. I mean,
Absolutely.
this is a guy who I think is going to be challenging for the world title. I think he's gonna hold multiple singles titles.
I agree.
He is if he gets the promo skills right, no stopping him.
Yep. I think he he went to Japan and he he took part in the super junior tournament. And I think that experience alone, he grew by leaps and bounds since he's been back. I think he's done he's just done nothing but look incredible. And I'm this match right away.
I automatically wrote down possible match of the night because this was a banger,
I did too.
man. It was so good. I mean speedball, Nick Wayne, my God. And that
Yeah.
That Nick Wayne kick to Speedball's head, do you know what I'm talking about? Where it did it
Yes, I do.
just it sounded like a thunk and it looked painful. Ugh.
Yeah. Yeah.
He also, I think, cracked MJF pretty
good, if I recall correctly. Yeah.
I think he did. I think he did.
I loved MJF like teaching him, no, you gotta hit him down here because then they can't breathe. And then Nick turning that around on him later in the match. It was this was great. It was speedball looking intense. And I thought a little bit kind of almost almost frantic of like, I gotta win this, you know.
Yeah, a little bit, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Which is great.
Nick Wayne looked great. MJF did MJF things, which is always good. This was
Yeah.
tremendous. Great opening match. Aga I'm with you. I almost put down match of the night, but I it's not. But man, it was hard for me to pick match of the night tonight.
It was hard.
Yeah.
The postmatch promo from MJF was of course great.
Mm-hmm. Really solid. And again, I'm I'm loving this one true champ thing. Love that.
Mm-hmm. I really have nothing to add other than it was great.
Yeah.
Then the Divine Dominion promo, which okay. So what about this held you from putting it in the like category? I'm curious.
Again, I liked it, but I didn't really like it. And everything in my like category was I really liked it. And so I thought this was fine. I thought they sounded great. my again, my I think the thing that keeps me back from it is that it was just a backstage promo. And I would much rather see them in action on Dynamite than just a backstage promo. But that's fine. It keeps
Yeah, and and and that's fair.
us from watching yet another squash match, which is which is fine. And you know it
There wasn't much being added to the story, but at least they're reminding us that there is some story there and they're just reiterating, Look, birds, you haven't beaten us. You're not undefeated, and it's fine that you think that, but you haven't beaten us. How can you say you're undefeated? So we're gonna drop some beers on the floor and be and kick your ass in in the UK. So
Yeah. I didn't love that at the end. I thought that was a little weird and I thought they held the camera on a little too long. But that aside, the reason I liked it is actually a lot of the stuff that you said there. It wasn't the squash match, which we know how
I won't.
I feel about those. I and and I can't in good conscience sit here week after week and say you could have done it with a promo and then get mad at them for doing it with a promo. You know what I mean? And but
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
But I I thought it was solid. I thought it did a
Mm-hmm.
perfectly fine job of pushing the story forward, which again,
Yeah.
as we've talked about with this particular match, don't go into this going, there's gonna be a ton of red hot story behind it. There's not.
No.
We already know what the story is. There's not gonna be
Yeah.
many more layers to it.
Yep. So from that aspect, I was like, Yeah, this is fine. I thought Lena Kross had a couple good lines in there. I liked when she called them cliche. I thought
Yep. Yeah, that was good.
that was good. So I didn't I didn't mind it. And in the context of this story, if you at this point where they're at, from where they started, if you get me going, Yeah, I didn't mind it,
Mm-hmm.
then
you know, logically when I'm reviewing it, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna put that in the like category then because it didn't make me go, ugh, you know.
Yeah. And and again,
don't don't get me wrong. I these aren't things I didn't like.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I d I did like it, but again, I think it's because I like I I really like so many things on it that I didn't feel like some of those were equal in like. So it just automatically shuffled down to my my met or mid. And really my categories tonight should be really liked, liked, and I can do without.
Sure, gotcha. It's like when you look at the spice menu, right? Like hot,
Yes.
medium, not I don't know. Not spicy. I don't know. Whatever.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Please don't. Yeah. Yeah.
Mayonnaise. I don't know.
I think that's the scale. Hot, medium, mayonnaise. Yeah. Yeah.
Yep, that's that's exactly it. Hot mid mayonnaise. That's it. We're gonna change in the heat check to hot mid mayonnaise. That's what we're doing.
Well, we'll keep the name because I don't want to redo the graphic, but yeah, yeah. Mayonnaise. Okay. Deal. Then bang
No, we're keeping heat check, but it's just now gonna be hot, mid, and mayonnaise. That's that's our levels. Yeah. Love it.
bang gang with Mick, which again I think I'm a little bit higher on. I think I might know why, but what did what were your thoughts on this?
I love Mick Foley. Let
I do too.
me just say that right out. I think right now he is coming across as a little too unprepared or unfocused.
Yeah.
And it it takes something away from it for me.
And I I don't know exactly what it is. Like I don't mind his shenanigans. I think, you know, I again I love what he's I love him. But there's just something about right now his weird portrayal that I find a little too unfocused that is instead of accentuating the humor or accentuating it, to me, it's just detracting. Just just enough for me to go.
Okay. I mean Jay White was fine. I thought the Gunns were fine. They didn't let it go too long. The Gunns up. I did enjoy the thing. And he goes, Can I can I do can I do it too? Can I do it? Like that.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I don't know. There's just something about his presentation right now that is making me not fall in love with it. I don't hate it, but I'm just like, I I'd like
Yeah.
to be a little more focused.
I get that. And I and I don't disagree. He's definitely leaning into the being goofy. I think and I think when he shows up again later, it's more evident of I think this is a little bit of the knock on AEW of the inmates running the asylum. And I think
Yep.
that particularly with the legends.
Mm-hmm.
They're not giving him like any notes. But what you have to understand, if you're
Mm-hmm.
Tony Khan or anybody else backstage in AEW, is you're putting Mick Foley in a role he's never been in before. Right.
Right.
If if his job was simply to go out and cut promos, yeah, let him go nuts. He's done that a million times. If
Yeah. Yep.
his job was to, you know, take a giant bump off of a hell in a cell,
Yeah.
no notes, he knows what to do.
Yep.
But to have him in the interviewer role is something he's never done before. And I do think they need to rein him in a little bit. I'm not
Mm-hmm.
advocating for it a lot, but a little bit of if you're going to be interviewing people, interview them.
Yeah. Yep. So,
And so, you know, they're figuring it out.
I liked this solely because of Jay White. I thought Jay White was I what I wrote down is Jay White is very good at his job. He is. Yeah.
He is. I I love Jay White. I think he's doing great. Was
it was it you was it the two of us talking about how the bang bang gang isn't the same without Jay White?
Yeah. It's just not. It they don't feel anywhere near as important without him.
it it's not that bad.
No.
when Jay White isn't there 'cause Juice can still do a pretty decent promo and the Gunns can still do a pretty decent promo, but it just doesn't f it's you just it just doesn't feel right. You know what I mean?
Right.
Well, and they hadn't been at full strength for a long time because you had half
Yeah.
the gun well, the Gunns back and forth were out with injury. I think juice was out for a minute.
Yep. He missed time, yep.
You know, you so you had they were just keeping them on TV enough s for you to remember them and now they're finally back
Yeah.
all together and doing well. And I think Ace Austin is a great addition and yeah, love me some J White. Like I said, I liked this interview, but that's all
Yeah. Well, I
I the way I would put it is, and tell me if you agree with this, the way I would put it is I liked the Jay White promo. I didn't
Mm-hmm.
love it as an interview. Fair? Yeah. Cool. Glad we agree.
That's it. That's one hundred percent it. That could have been like
you said, that could have been in the promo and we didn't need the rest of it.
Yep. Yeah.
But that's okay.
Yeah. then Jay White took on David Finlay. A again, if it's a match on this show, it was a banger. I mean,
Yeah.
they were really good. They beat the crap out of each other. It was great.
Yep. And it was it was cool to hear their history over 100 times
Mm-hmm.
in the ring together, either as teammates or against each other. I thought that was really great. Again, this was another possible match of the night for me.
yeah.
those two just tore it down. Just tore it down. Loved that match. Loved
Yeah, they were they were great. They were great. Yep.
it a lot.
Then Hangman and Brodido did a promo, but really, huh?
Okay, let me let wait,
before we get there, let me run some things by you.
okay.
Hang D bro.
Yeah.
Okay. Hang Dito bro.
Little bit better.
Broman bromando.
I kinda like bromando. I kinda like that. Do you have more? those are okay.
Romando? Okay. I'm working on it. No, those are the only three I could come
up with, and I had to start paying attention to what they were saying. Romando
Fair. I like bromando. I like that.
is my favorite so far, but yeah, I need to work
Yeah.
on that.
No, I that might be a winner. I don't know. Let's let's like send it to him on Blue Sky and see what they think. But anyway.
yeah.
So Bromando promo. But really, Swerve promo. Swerve came back, which shocked
Yeah. Yeah.
me not only that he came back, but at this spot really surprised me.
Yeah,
yeah. Loved it.
I
thought it was great. Swerve pointing out that really the only thing Brodido and Hangman have in common is beef with him did more to explain that team than anything they did in the previous
Yeah.
two weeks.
And the funny thing is, has nothing to do with why they're together, but it's the only common thread they have. So it's like,
No. Yeah.
look, we were confused as to why they're together. They are. Let's make it make sense with Swerve. I'm back in. I'm back on board. Yes.
Great. It was great. I thought
then so then the demand would come out, which again, this makes sense, right? I figured this was coming. I thought this was Yes.
With the final with the Lethal Twist too. So you had six of them out there.
Yeah. I thought this was one of the better promos Ricochet has done in AEW. I thought he was really good.
Absolutely it was, yes.
I think Swerve. So this this is the first thing I thought was I think Swerve being kind of the common thread here is very interesting because I'm not sure how he fits into it.
Right.
And then I had a thought.
I wonder if it's a similar thought to what I had. So let's let's hear this.
Okay. So if this turns into a triple threat for the trios, where it's the demand versus bromando versus swerve and mystery partners at All In, could I interest you in Swerve and the New Day?
Yes you can. Yes you can. That is not what I thought what I was thinking. But you can totally interest me in that. 100%.
Yeah.
Now here's what I'll say. I don't love that as the spot for the New Day because I think the thing that makes the most sense is the Young Bucks beat Cope and Cage, New Day comes out, and we set up Bucks and New Day because for
Mm-hmm.
a long time the Bucks Twitter bio was someday we will wrestle the New Day and it will be awesome. Like
Absolutely.
so I think that makes a lot more sense.
Yes. But I would watch that man. I think I think you could make a case for that and not be too far off the range with it. I I don't think that's
Right, because
I I think that Ricochet made a great point of find two guys that don't hate you. You can't.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
And I think, man, you put those three guys together. You know, we talk about you gotta elevate the trio's titles if you're gonna if you're gonna do this. I'm not sure you could pick a better three to elevate it.
I I one hundred percent agree with that. One hundred percent. What I thought they were gonna do is somehow down the road we're gonna see a eight man tag and Swerve's gonna have to team with Bromando.
I think they may do that. They may try to do that and throw that in versus, you know, the demand in somebody from the probably Jay Lethal, but somebody from the Lethal Twist. They may do that to help build towards it. My other thought here is if they keep New Day, because I'm again I'm convinced they're showing up at All In. If they keep New Day with the Bucks, the the other two people that I could see fitting in here are two guys that I keep asking myself.
What happened to them? Where are they? And that would be the Hurt syndicate.
Yes, they just showed up, weren't they on Collision being
I think so.
hired by the
Taylor what's his name? Shane Taylor promotions. Yeah.
okay.
STP hired them. For what? I don't know. But they hired
I
the Hurt syndicate.
Well, I mean, that would be an interesting thing of if it's to get involved in the trios. I don't know. But you that was my thought is you could work the angle of swerve hired them and they're happy to help as long as the check clears, right? So and it would give
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
those guys something 'cause again, I I miss the hurt syndicate. I just
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
do.
Yeah. I don't know if you saw this, but New Day has been added to the Jericho's for the Rockin' Rager or whatever. Yeah, Jericho Cruise. They're gonna be on that. Not
I did not see that. Okay. Yeah.
saying that's an indication they're gonna be in AEW, but it's not not a helpful sign. No, it does not.
It I say it certainly doesn't hurt anything. So I
to put a bow on this fantasy booking speculation aside, I thought this whole segment was really, really good. My only concern with this is well well, let me back up before I hit the concern. I'm very intrigued, very intrigued to see where we're going with this and how Swerve fits into it. You have
Mm-hmm.
my full attention on the trio's titles now, which is
Yes, you do.
I'm not sure something I've ever said before.
My only concern with it is there are only 18 days to build this story between now and All In. And that's a
Mm-hmm.
somewhat compressed time frame. But okay, it's it's still probably enough to make it happen, particularly
Right.
given the people involved and how good they all are. So yeah, okay, let's do this.
Yeah.
I mean we are we're already gonna see Lethal Twist against the trios champs, I think, next week.
Yeah.
We're on Collision, one of the two. So
Yeah, I don't remember which.
have they announced the demand getting their rematch at All In? 'Cause if they
No.
haven't, I and I anticipate hearing that soon.
Yeah, they did not announce it, but and I think that that's well, obviously it's purposeful. And I think it's because again, its swerve is gonna fit into this somehow. It's just a question of is it gonna be him and two people that we know are gonna be in it, or is it him and mystery partners? I think that's
Right. I
where we're headed.
could anyone but Swerve had looked that cool walking away from nine other guys and still you thinking he's gonna whip the shit out of everybody.
I yeah, it was incredible.
I was like I was literally like, Don't try it, because he will win. He will take all of you down.
I'm surprised no one threw hands because I
Yeah.
was kind of like, ooh, what are they gonna do with this? This is really
Yeah.
interesting. Having having the demand come out and call out swerve as well, I really liked that. Like it
Mm-hmm.
again, there's so much spice going on now. And you finally they took putting the titles on those three on Bromando for what we thought was no real reason.
Now we've got a bunch of fun story opportunity. I say run with it. Go, let's do this.
Yeah. Yeah, I agree. They
really made something out of nothing here. And
Yes, they did.
again, kudos
to Ricochet and his portion of the promo of reminding, you got history with us too. You know, you dropped Gates of Agony, and I don't know why you did that, but thanks, basically, you know, and I was like, man, I forgot all about that. So they did a nice job of reminding you on some of the long term stuff that's going on here, but overall
Yes. Mm-hmm.
Very interesting. Really enjoyed it. Really curious to see where it goes. So well done.
And as for me, I can never remember what GOA stands for. So I'm s glad you said Gates of Agony, 'cause
Gates of Agony. Yeah.
I can ne for the life of me, I can never remember what that means.
Yeah. That's what I'm here for.
Thanks, man.
Yeah. Then a short and sweet pre tape with Willow and Mercedes that I thought was fine if for no other reason than
Mm-hmm.
it's showing you Mercedes ain't playing, man.
No.
She is not playing around.
No. The one the one thing I wrote down, and I don't think this has anything to do with anything, but when Mercedes called Willow a dumb bitch, I wrote down, Thekla might file a gimmick gimmick infringement lawsuit. You better watch back.
Yeah,
yeah. then it was Jericho and Kevin Knight for the TNT title.
Mm-hmm.
I thought the match was qu I I I enjoyed the match. I thought it was better than I expected it to be.
That's exactly what I wrote down.
Yeah.
I thought it was a good match. The only thing that jumped out at me, did they blow the screwdriver spot?
Yes. Yes.
'Cause they were too far away and Jericho had to drag him over.
It was super awkward.
Yeah.
I don't know what the miscue was there. I think they
I don't either.
were trying to make it like Jericho's trying to tell him to get out, but it seemed super
Yeah.
awkward, but what i it's fine. Whatever.
Yeah, it
was just weird. I'm like, why would you drag him to the ropes when you had him in the middle of the ring? It just it was weird. It was an odd spot, but whatever.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So
I did write down as little sense as this match may seem to make, it still has more story than Jericho and Ciampa.
Yeah, I agree. I thought what this did tonight is show you exactly what Jericho should be doing now in AEW.
Yes.
Put him in these matches, let him put the kids over
Mm-hmm.
and let them add it to the resume. This is his spot now, whether he wants to admit it or not. This is his spot of put the young guys over, help them, teach them, put them over.
I'm a big fan of putting him in these matches. You wanna put
Absolutely. Yeah.
him and Nick Wayne together? Let's do it, you know.
Yep.
And like I said, this one at least made sense. And they they told you why it made sense. They showed they showed Jericho keeping, you know, keeping Kevin Knight from hitting his coast to coast with his
Mm-hmm.
Judas effect. So yeah, it's like that one that one thing gave us more story than the whole Ciampa feud did. And I and I was like, Okay. Yeah. And this match was way better than I thought it was not way, but it was better than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was pretty entertaining and I have
No notes on it. I thought it was good. I liked it. Other than the weird screwdriver spot. Yeah, I liked it.
Yeah.
But you know, whatever. That didn't it didn't matter anyway, so it didn't factor into the finish anyway, so whatever.
Right.
Yeah, like not at all.
I don't think I've seen
anyone recover from a screwdriver to the head faster than Chris Jericho tonight.
Right. And I thought it I thought it was interesting that he didn't blade there, because usually they do on the screwdriver spot. But you know, whatever. Whatever. Then the Death Riders promo that I said, fine, I guess. This is why it went my mid. I couldn't hear Claudio. I don't know if that was just a me issue, but I couldn't hear what he said.
I think I was so surprised he was talking that I didn't hear a lot of it, but I think basically he was just like, It does it doesn't matter who we're gonna, it's it it's all the Death Riders. It doesn't matter. We're taking on everybody. That's all it really was. My favorite part
All right.
was seeing Mox and Marina grapple in the background for apparently no real reason. And I thought it was hilarious.
Yeah.
I thought it was really funny when he just randomly snatched Wheeler at the end of it. When he was just like randomly snatched Yuta and Yuta went in like it was a hug and then it was like, no, no, no, no, no. He's not hugging me. Okay. Which feels like a
No. I'm
very Wheeler Yuta thing, but anyway.
Yes, it does. It was so weird.
I I was fine with it. I liked it. I liked Moxley's if you win tonight, is it luck or is it preparation and up plus opportunity? And I again, I think he's finally, after so long in this Death Rider mode, getting to the point where his original point is starting to finally make some sense. So yeah, you can give me more of that. I'm okay with it.
My thing with that line in particular though was and I I suppose this is why he did it, but isn't that the saying of luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity or whatever? It's I think that's a thing. I think
maybe. It could be.
that's a saying of like and and so I was like So then either way wouldn't it be luck?
Yeah.
I mean I was never great at math, but if A plus if if
Isn't it there? Yeah, isn't it something like
A equals B and B equals C, then
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I guess I don't remember the thing. So yeah. Could be. And if it you know what?
It's fine. It it's fine.
It would make sense if it is, and that is such a Moxley thing to do that I'm even more on board with it. Like it even better.
Yeah. At the end of the
day with this one, it there's nothing inherently wrong with it. It just didn't land with me the way that
No. It may be
I think they wanted it to. And that's fine. They're not all gonna. That's
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
okay.
I get it of you know, it's just pointing out that, like you said, we don't care about the blind draw. We'll
just wrestle whoever's in front of us and we'll win because that's what we do. That's fine.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
I will I will add this one little.
Note though. John should really think about getting the tooth fixed because it's
Mm-hmm.
giving him a lisp. And it was so noticeable to me tonight that I was like, I'm having a little trouble concentrating on what you're saying. Cause you're sig
Ha ha ha.
you're you're starting to sound like Cody Rhodes, my guy. So nothing but love to my dear departed friend Cody.
damn.
When is he showing up again? Yeah.
Who, Cody?
Didn't we say he's showing up at AEW? Is that the rumor we were starting? Did we forget about that? Yeah,
yeah. We really did.
totally forgot about that. Maybe he's gonna show up with him.
I think we just said he was coming back.
I'm not sure we put a a time on it. Yeah.
Yeah, that's right. Well maybe he he and
the new day are gonna challenge for the trios titles.
That could be. Maybe he'll be one of Swerve's mystery partners.
Maybe.
this will be the team. Swerve, Cody, and Punk.
I couldn't I barely got through it.
then we got the thing that we didn't need in Kris Statlander versus already in the ring. Again, this is nothing against the two women. It's
Mm-mm.
nothing against the match. It's just we didn't need it. We know how I feel about this. I've talked about it a lot. I don't need Kris Statlander, who has held the two major women's championships in the TBS and the women's world title.
I don't need to see her squash somebody that I'm not gonna see on TV again to get the bona fides. I know who she is. If she just cut the promo, if all she did was cut that promo, I'd have been like, great.
Yep. Yeah.
We didn't need it here. And on a show
Mm-hmm.
that again went well past the end time, could we
Yeah.
have removed that, I don't know, 10 minutes or whatever it was? Yes, we could have.
Yep. This this
So again,
was
not egregious. I just I don't like when they do this. We don't need it.
This was the most complic complicated segment that for me from a like, dislike, like, dislike thing. Cause the match itself, it was fine. For a squash match,
Mm-hmm.
it wasn't too short. It wasn't terrible. You know, Viva already in the ring van got a little bit of movement in there. So not terrible, but still a squash match. But I felt the timing of this squash match right after, right after that Jericho Kevin Knight bit.
Kind of the momentum kind of slowed down, but then you then you clutter it up with this awkward interview with Mick Foley. I liked Kris Statlander's part kind of like with the Bang Bang Gang. I like Kris Statlander's part. It could have just been a promo, not an interview, didn't need the squash match. And then you had Shida coming out with Persephone as if they're gonna attack.
Kris Statlander as if they didn't realize that their opponents would be following them immediately afterwards. So it was just a little awkward to get to this point. And the fact that it really the only point for the squash match was to announce there's going to be a four-way match for the TBS title next week. And it's
Yeah. Yeah.
like, you could have again, you could have just did that in the interview or in a promo. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, exactly. You could have just done the promo, which
I agree with you. I think this was the best Kris Statlander promo we've gotten in a long time. She was
Yeah, it was really good.
great tonight. She was really good. Mick was awkward again. I agree. He's a little all over the place there, but Yeah, you could have just done the promo, set up the four way for next week, and it would have been fine, and then roll
Mm-hmm.
right into
You know, you could have had her do sit a commentary if you wanted and just move right into the tag match between Persephone and Shida and Thunder Rosa and Maya and Maya World, which I thought was a very good match. Persephone, I thought, looked really good in this. Persephone is one of those that I'm like, they've got to like they they gotta try and get her full time when her deal with CMLL is up. Because
Yep.
I think she's a huge star in in the making here in the US. She's already a star in Mexico.
So I think she could be a huge star. And I think, I don't know because the only time I really saw her do a promo was when I was watching CMLL and she did it, did it in Spanish. And I'm not fluent. I know enough to know what she was saying, but I'm not fluent.
Right.
But it seemed like what I picked up on, I was like, that was a good promo. So I think she can do a promo.
Right.
She could be that top heel for a long time in the women's division, which they need
Yeah.
bad.
Yep. Yep. I
So
I like this match a lot. I thought, like you said, Persephone looked great. I thought Maya World looked really good, especially at the end.
I did too.
I thought they made her look like a champ. Because at first I thought at the very beginning of the match, I was like, Wow, Maya looks like not the least important person in this match, but kind of. But then once the match started and the momentum got going, it's like, okay, cool. Now we're back in it. Cause you had
Two former world women's world champs, you had a current CMLL champ, you had Thunder Rosa wearing a belt, and then you have Maya World with the TBS title. It felt like, okay, she is odd oddly the weird link, but then at the end of the match, it's like, Nope, she's devastating and looked really great. So I was very happy with how that came out.
Yeah. It was yeah, it was very interesting
to me because at one point I was like, okay, so they're gonna hide her and have Thunder Rosa do like all the lifting here. I
Yeah, that's what I thought. Yeah.
I was wrong because she got the hot tag and she came in and she looked really good. She looked very, very good. So with the four way, this
Yeah.
was my thought. And tell me what you think about this. I think next week that four way match is gonna tell us.
What AEW thinks about Maya World as a draw. Okay. And I want to be very clear on that before the internet yells at me. I'm not saying what they think about her as a performer. I'm not saying what they think about her as the TBS champion. Cause some be they made her a champ. They like her. I'm not saying they don't. What I'm saying is we're going to learn
Right.
if they think she is a draw or not next week. Because if they
Mm-hmm.
think that she can draw, they're going to leave that belt on her and she's going to take it into All In.
Mm-hmm.
But the timing of the match and the addition of Kris Statlander makes me think they don't see her as a at least pay-per-view level draw yet. Not saying
Right.
that she won't get there, not saying that they're giving up on her, but you have
Mm-hmm.
All In their biggest show 18 days away. You gotta sell tickets, you gotta sell pay-per-view buys, you gotta do all that stuff. If they put that belt on Kris Statland on Kris Statlander, which I think they might.
That's gonna tell you where they see her right
You want to make three.
now, Maya World, where they see her as a draw right now. Doesn't mean next year it'll be it won't be different. It probably will, but I'm gonna be
Right.
very curious about that match. I'm very interested in it.
What I find interesting is that they're doing this next week and not because I think there's a I think there's every possibility you can make that match be a draw at All In.
I agree.
Because you again, you have two former world champions, you have a current world champion, and you have the TBS title holder. I think that's enough for an all-in pay-per-view match, personally.
I agree. I agree.
And I hadn't thought of it that way because
You're I think you're one hundred percent right. I think this is a test. And if and if we see Statlander or Shida pull off
Mm-hmm.
the win, and I think if we see Statlander pull off the win, I think she's gonna end up pinning Shida.
I think so too.
and if we see that, I think you're right. I think they feel more confident in Stat Daddy bringing the title to All In. But then the question becomes, who are they gonna have or ch have Challenger? Are we gonna see Persephone or are we gonna see a three way?
between Persephone and Shida if they don't have the confidence in my world to put her in it. Because if you do, why bother doing this t next week and just why not wait till All In
Right. the timing of it is why I say it's gonna tell us a lot about how they see Maya world as a draw. Because you're right just put it on the card for All In. And it would have been it would have made total sense. I'd be like, great, let's do it. And then you have some more time to keep building that heat. The placement of it is what is telling me like that's what makes me think they may switch this belt.
Yeah. You're not wrong. And I think that's exactly why. I think you're we are gonna see how they feel about her as a draw.
I I think if they play it right, they can use this this feel good momentum with Maya World. She looked strong tonight. She had a really good pin tonight. I think they can make this work and have her go to All In still the champ. It does have me concerned now that you bring that up, that they're gonna switch it to Statlander.
Well I guess we'll just wait and see. But
what
I find fascinating about it as a whole is going back to one of the things that that you brought up there of the story seems to be Statlander and Persephone.
Yeah.
That seems to be the story we're building. So if you put the belt on Kris Statlander, then Persephone has to somehow get screwed out of the finish. She can't factor into the finish,
Yes.
right?
And it's got to be Statlander that took her out of the finish.
Mm-hmm.
Or it's, you know, she's going for the pin and Statlander pulls her out and gets the pin, something like that. You know what I'm saying?
One hundred percent. Yep.
And then I think at that point, then the match at All In becomes Statlander and Persephone for the TBS title, which
Yes.
then leaves Shida out there basically in the wind. And I don't know that that's the worst thing because as you and I have talked about since she came back, the character hasn't really hit.
Right.
But it leaves Shida with nothing to do and potentially Maya World with nothing to do, depending on what they do. You know, they'll they'll add to the All In card. We know this. Maybe the women get a casino gauntlet match as well and those two show up there. I mean it wouldn't it wouldn't shock me, right?
Right. I although I will say I think Shida teaming with Persephone has been really good for Shida. I think that's been a really good combination. And I can totally
I agree. Yep, I agree.
see that what I think would add another wrinkle to that next week is if Persephone is trying to pin Maya World, Statlander takes her off, and then she pins Maya World. Now you
Mm-hmm.
have that extra wrinkle of you pinned your friend. Hey, look, it's business, you know, and now you have that
Yep.
extra weird wrinkle.
Yep. So
I think AEW
does that a lot with their, you know, their faces putting them against each other. So maybe don't do that. But there's a
Yeah.
lot of still story left if you do do a a title switch next week.
Like I said, to me, this match from a business perspective is fascinating. Absolutely
absolutely.
fascinating to me. So even if that's not necessarily what they were going for, you have my attention on this
Mm-hmm.
match that again is in an odd spot given that there's 18 days to All In. So it's a fascinating match from a business perspective. We'll see where it goes next week.
Yeah. Yep.
then
the Darby pre-tape that we mentioned earlier, which is not bad. It helped build toward the obvious match that I don't think they've made it official yet, have they, for the TNT title at All In? They did. Okay. Okay. So, you know, fine. okay. I totally missed that. So
They did tonight, yeah. I think so, yeah. Yeah, 'cause it was Falls Count Anywhere. That was the big reveal. That
was a big Darby reveal, I forgot, yeah.
I might have been in the bathroom for that part.
What I found interesting is they the when they threw it to the backstage in the or the backstage promo, they made it sound like you know, Darby's been seen talking with Tony Khan. And so I thought we were gonna see the two of them talking, and then you just have Darby and he didn't mention anything about talking to Tony about making it, but it's apparently it's just yeah, it's gonna
That's what I thought too.
be a Falls Count Anywhere, and that's gonna be the thing. So it was just like again, I I think it's fine. I think it's fine.
Yeah. It was an odd throw. Yeah. Yeah.
But it just landed in my okay, that's fine. So it c kinda came in my meh category. So
Then we got the Don Callis family promo really starts out as a Fletcher promo. The main thing with this is it sets up the triple threat of Fletcher, Okada, and Takeshita at All In, which I am very much here for.
Yeah, I liked this more than I thought I was going to. I really liked this
Mm-hmm.
bit and that was in my really liked category. Thought this was great. Thought it didn't last again, didn't last too long. Loved it. Really good.
And it keeps sowing the seed of Kyle's pissed.
Mm-hmm.
How's that going to play out? He's pissed at Don. How's that going to play out?
Yep. He's pissed at Don. Is he going to be more mad at Don? Is he going to be more mad at Takeshita? Is he going to be more mad at
Uh-huh.
Okada? Don putting over Okada so much really gives you the idea that Fletcher is going to be on the outs at the end of this somehow. So loving.
Yep. I I think more
and more when the family dissolves, which I think we're getting ever closer to, I think Don's gonna go with Okada and be his mouthpiece. Yep. But we'll see.
I believe so. I believe so, yeah. Mm-hmm.
and then we got the main event, Jack Perry and John Moxley in the Continental Cup. And I very thoroughly enjoyed this. It's my match of the night. Again, it was hard to pick a match of the night, but this this got it for me.
Yep, and maybe it's recency bias because it was the last match I saw, but I really love this match too. I thought it was interesting that Jack is the one who w was bleeding and not Moxley, because I think Moxley
Mm-hmm.
bleeds anytime the bell rings. So
Mm-hmm.
I was a little surprised by that, but it played into the match. I thought again, I've been really high on how AEW has been pacing their matches, how the internal logic of the matches and the storytelling within the matches. I th either I'm paying more attention or they're getting a little bit sharper.
And a little bit better at that presentation. But I thought this match was basically I got no notes for this match. It was so good, so well done. Jack Perry looked great in defeat. Moxley looks like he should. I just it was really, really good. I loved the new submission he threw on onto Jack Perry with when he had his
His legs in his arms and his head in
Mm-hmm.
his le it was so weird. I was like, Why have I not seen that before? But that was
Yeah.
really cool. So no, I love this match. That was great.
Yeah, I thought it was very, very good. I I don't
think it is recency bias because through probably the first half of the match I was going, good, but I don't know if it's gonna be match of the night for me. And I was kind of leaning more towards the the MJF speedball Nick Wayne match.
Yep. Mm-hmm.
And then they I think it was really when Jack started to really get his offense in.
Yeah.
Is when I went, okay. It really started to pick up. And again, I think that that's part of what you were talking about with the pacing and the psychology and all that. great match. I thought the heads popping up over the railing on the entrance was really funny. On Moxley's entrance was really good. That had put yeah,
Mm. I love that. I thought that was really good.
it had potential to be cheesy. It was really funny. Like I legitimately
Yep.
laughed out loud at it. do you just this is just an aside.
Do you ever watch John Moxley matches and worry that he's crossing into Goldberg territory of like he gets too into it and forgets that this is it's not real?
Yeah, and forgets he's not Superman every once in a while. Every once in a while.
Yeah. Like there
there are some things that he does and he was doing it tonight and I guess this is a credit to him, really. Like I guess I'm paying him a a big compliment as I'm saying it. Where when he really starts doing his like super intense stuff, it looks to me like he's laying in shots so hard that I I legitimately worry about his opponent.
Yeah.
And, you know, the same way that like
You know, they always said Goldberg kinda didn't understand that no no no, this isn't a real fight, you know, and
Right, yeah.
sometimes I worry about that with John that he gets too into it. But again, I think I'm paying him a compliment that he does that good of a job of selling all of it. 'Cause you never hear that about him, so
Yeah, I think that's right.
No, I think that is the case. I think he is buying not buying in, but he's just he knows the character so well that he knows that when it's time to crank it up, it's time to make it look as re you know, even more real than it already looks. So I no, I
Right.
think that's nothing but a compliment to John.
Yeah. So other than that, that was the only other thing that jumped out at me. I I thought it was an excellent match. Like I said, match of the night. I genuinely thought Mox was going to lose at multiple points, which means you
Mm-hmm.
put this thing together really well. The only thing that concerns me about this match is what are we doing with Jack Perry? We got to figure out something for him to do because the kid is really good. You've invested time in building him up and making him
a star, they
Mm-hmm.
gotta figure out something for him to do.
Yes, they do. I almost wonder if they're just keeping him on TV long enough for Luchasaurus to finally get healed up and come back so they can put them into
Could be.
the tag team division. I I I'm curious. I don't know if that's true, but it does make me wonder when it's like, okay, he's out he's out of the tournament. Right, he's out of the tournament. Like he's not Yeah, so he's not advancing. So they might think
He's out of the tournament now, yeah. Is my understanding unless they change the rules again between now and Collision.
they might, yeah, they might.
So he's probably not gonna be on All In. Which, you know, you can't get everybody on All In. I understand that. Unless
They're gonna try.
unless they do well, they're doing a gauntlet match, right? He'll be in he'll be in that.
Yep. And that's I was gonna say he's gonna
it my guess is he's in the gauntlet match. Yeah.
Yeah, he'll be in that. So
I don't I don't know what
Yeah, I think that's
they're gonna do with with Jack Perry. I really don't. And it's
Yeah.
he's one that I do have a little bit of concern with. They have such a deep roster and so much talent that he's one of those I don't want to see get lost in the shuffle because he is so good. But and he just re signed, so he's not going anywhere for a minute.
Yeah. No, I I Yes.
No, I I agree. It it concerns me a little bit, only a little, but it concerns me a little bit with him. I do think you make an interesting point of maybe they're just waiting for Luchasaurus to get healthy and they'll fire that back up. I don't know. I don't know.
Maybe.
I I but to your point, the roster is so deep and so stacked and you have so much trouble getting people on as it is. I did appreciate Tony Khan when he was asked about, well, you know, a bunch of those releases, their non competes are up.
Yeah, we gonna see any of them? And he he said basically the same thing you did of like, I I don't know if we have room for them, basically. And and I
Right.
hope he sticks to that. You know, I think you can
Mm-hmm.
fit New Day in. I think that's about it. I I think that's about it.
Who
Why can't I think of her name? I really am upset with myself and my ADHD right now.
I don't even know how to help you right now.
Yeah, I can't. Boy, it's so close. So close to the tip of my brain hole and I can't have it fall out. I don't know. I can't think of it. Can't think of it. I can see her. I see her in my head.
Can you can you give me a description? That might help.
Bayley. That's who I'm thinking of. Bayley.
I wondered if that's where you were going, but you know
there were women that got released, so I was like, Well, maybe he's going that way, but
Bayley was my my joke earlier was gonna be is gonna be swerve, Bayley, and
Cody Rhodes. I forgot what my joke was gonna be. I am so out of my nut right. You know what? Hold on. Hold on.
I would like to add something to my mayo list.
Doichland.
And it was that joke. That goes on the mayonnaise list.
Yeah, it no, you're one hundred percent right. That is mayo all the way,
Actually
maybe.
actually, you know what? Because I kind of enjoyed the journey and I'm told it's all about the journey and not the destination, I'll I'll put it on the medium. What did we say? Hot medium and mayo. Is that what we said? Yeah. I'll put it on the medium. Yeah, you're welcome.
Well thanks. Thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Hot medium mayo. Yep. I appreciate that. I'm sorry,
man. That was a s that was a mental struggle for me for the last twenty
It it was a journey.
five minutes. And it was killing me not to be able to think of Bayley's name. And then I forgot Cody's name for a second. So fun.
Well, here's what we're
gonna do. We're gonna turn this into a screenplay and give it to Christopher Nolan. He's gonna make a billion dollars on it. It's gonna be his
Ooh.
sequel to The Odyssey. The Odyssey 2, Doug Can't Come Up With Bayley.
Yes, and it's gonna be the odd
O D D, yeah.
But the good news is Matt Damon will probably play you, so
nice.
Yeah.
Nice. Well remember, Matt Damon, when you play me, make sure you get some Basic B#tch Doich Foods at doichfoods.com and use the code Elite Heat.
When you check out. Yes. Good job. yeah, no, I mean the Bayley thing is interesting. She's not gonna be it All In because she's still under contract, but boy, she sure seems to be signaling, yeah, I'm coming.
And I think that makes all the sense in the world because they don't really have anything left for her to do over there. So I am too. I'm I'm a fan.
Nope. And I'm okay with that. Bring her in. Bring her on. Be good.
I've been a fan of hers since the NXT days. Bring her in. Let's do this. So All right.
Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Well, I thought tonight was a banger show. Loved it. I know I put a lot of stuff in
I did too. Really good show.
my mid category, in my my mild category, in my medium. Hot, mild, and manning. There
Medium, mild mild, mild. You're right, it was mild. It was hot, mild mayonnaise. Yes.
we go. In the in the mild category. You know what? I really am liking the our new category structure. I like that a lot.
I am too. I really like that.
But I liked most everything. There were very few things I did not like, and I thought this show was so good. And again I
Like we said at the top, I think they did a really good job of working in some of those secondary storylines and really doing the best they can with them to give us, you know, we've got eighteen days and you've given us a lot of opportunity for story to carry us through to that
Yes.
in just eighteen days. So my hat is off to them. I thought they did a great job of that tonight. So yeah, great show tonight.
Totally agree. I think that they did a tremendous job of keeping the A story of the world title. They they kept the heat going on that, but they did it
Absolutely.
in the opening segment. And then that was it, which I thought was really smart. They didn't force
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
it into other segments of the show. And I think that they did a great job of heating up those secondary, tertiary storylines.
That you need to help carry you through a show like All In. I thought they did a great job heating those up. If you wanted to nitpick tonight, and I'm not, I don't, but if you wanted to nitpick it, you could point out they didn't do anything with the tag team titles. We'll probably do something on Collision with that. But again, I'm gonna say this again if you can sell that match solely as it's the Young Bucks and Edge and Christian, fine. Here's my money. I don't need anything else. No.
Right. Yeah, you don't need you don't need to put much more
paint on that one. It's kind of ready to go. So
Nope. Yeah.
I'm okay with them not really dealing with that tonight because we already know what we're gonna get. The story is what it is, and you don't need a lot of story for it. And that's one of the few
Yep. Yep. Don't need it.
ones that I think you and I agree that like, yeah, you don't I don't even need them to even know it. Just put them in the ring. That's all we need.
I
I would have been perfectly happy if the Wednesday after Redemption they had said, okay, the match is official. It's gonna be these four guys at All In. And then those four guys just went home and rested up. And we didn't see
Yeah, exactly.
them again until All In. I don't need a story. I just need those four guys. Boom, done. Here's my money. You know, but you got the trio's titles, very interesting. The TBS title is fascinating again from a business perspective right now.
if there's a time that you want to be hitting on all cylinders, like that you need to be, this is it and they are doing it. So great job.
Yeah.
The intercontinental in not inter the international title, sorry. Not intercontinental.
international. I've dude,
dude, I've called it that. I'm with you. I I understand.
But
that, the intern the international title, the TNT title, those two titles are yeah, they're working on they're they're really doing a good job. Like where we
They are.
normally criticize them in not giving us enough story soon enough to get us to All In. I think they're doing a really good job of laying that groundwork and getting us ready to go. Cause I think it's gonna be a banger night of wrestling. It's gonna be eighteen hours, but it's gonna be a banger night of wrestling at All In.
Agreed.
It's gonna be great. I can't wait for it. Like I said, I'd be perfectly happy to fast forward those 18 days right now. So
Mm-hmm.
great job, everybody involved. We'll see what they put together for next week and hopefully keep this momentum rolling. I'm sure they will. And with that, like, share, and subscribe if you haven't already. follow us at Elite Heat Pod across social media. Like I said, that's our handle on YouTube. If you don't watch us there, check it out. You can see Doug's cat's tail at the start of this, which is pretty fun.
Yes, that was great.
doichfoods.com, enter
the promo code Elite Heat when you check out for your twenty percent off. That's D-O-I-C-H doichfoods.com. And we will see you next week. Hopefully, just like my wife prefers all of her food, mayonnaise free.