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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've learned tonight that there are are two bitches within all of us. That was
Yeah.
life changing,
Well, I'm I'm just tired after three hours of of a go home show. I'm just I'm just tired.
That was three big hours of stuff. Yep.
It was it was a lot. There's
a lot of things that happened. But as Excalibur mentioned multiple times, we are seventy two hours away from All Out. So let's talk about this Dynamite Collision hybrid that I have just decided to call Delision.
Yep. Yep. 'Cause that was
I gotta be honest, I wasn't entirely
I was just gonna call it colonite,
but I don't think that's right.
Ooh,
I like that. I wasn't entirely sure what was gonna come out of my out of my mouth there, but could have been worse. But
I mean,
are we ever sure of what's coming out of our mouths? Okay. All right.
No, not at all. But all
right. So let's try and get through this as quickly as we can, because again, it was a lot and I'm tired.
so let's start with the heat check. I will run mine down as we
Yeah.
have been doing. You can agree or disagree, and we already know before we hit record that there's something you and I already disagree on. So all
Yes we do.
right, we got a lot to get to. So here is my hot list. And it is a lot,
Yeah.
which is probably not surprising given how much.
was going on tonight. But so here we go. Trios promo to open the show. I thought was quite good. Ricochet in particular, I thought was good again.
Agreed.
Trios match spoiler alert, match of the night. First match of the show was match of the night.
Agreed. One hundred percent. One hundred percent.
They were great. I liked the post match promo between Bro Hangdo and New House. backstage with Ospreay and Speedball I thought was pretty good.
Yep. I agree.
The Thekla promo,
of course, I thought was hot because it's her and she's great. I liked the tag title match promo mostly, so I put that in the hot.
Okay. Yep.
I liked Ciampa and Jake Doyle.
Okay. Yeah, I did too. I think that was really good.
Ciampa and Okada afterwards I thought were good.
Mm-hmm.
Britt on commentary was great.
I have the same thing.
United Empire versus Death Riders, I thought was quite good.
yes.
The Ospreay promo that followed I thought was very good as well.
Very good.
So that that's the main event of Dynamite Now we're into Collision. The women's tag title promo I actually enjoyed a lot more than I thought I was gonna. So good for them. Good job. Yep.
Yep. I liked it. I thought it
was because it was short, I thought it went well.
Yep. I also I'm a fan of people getting hit with tea kettles. So I didn't know that until tonight, but I'm a fan.
Who knew? Exactly.
The conglomeration pre tape I thought was good. The Fletcher Kyle Knight versus the Outrunners match was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that.
Yes. Yes.
Then the Fletcher Knight Darby promo that followed was mostly good. Again, mostly good. So I put that in my hot
That's fair.
Now here's where we split. I liked the Jericho Nick Wayne promo.
That's fair.
Apparently you did not.
no.
That might be a bit strong, but found it more mild, I guess.
actually it's the only thing in my mayo.
Wow.
I really wasn't a fan.
Wow. Okay. Well, I can't wait to talk about that then. All right. I thought the Thunder Rosa Hyan promo was pretty good, mostly Thunder Rosa. that to be fair, she did most of the talking there, but I thought it was pretty
Mm-hmm. Yep. That was good.
good. Queen Aminata and Skye Blue, I thought were were better than I thought it was going to be a good match. I thought they were better than I thought they would be. So I was impressed by them. Like I said, I already had
I agree. Really good match.
a pretty high bar and I thought they cleared it.
Mm-hmm.
I liked the post match stuff with that, just cause at least it furthers story.
The Britt and Persephone promo was good.
Agree.
Ace Austin versus PAC was good.
Also agree?
That is the end of my hot list.
Okay. I only have a few minor additions to my hot, which is I thought Toa Liona looked amazing in the trios match. He alone I put on the hot list 'cause I thought he was great.
You know what? I
did put that in my notes. I should have broken that out. I s I wrote it down specifically to break it out and then I forgot to, but yeah, I agree.
as far as the promo goes, Brody, it's been three weeks line. So good.
Yep. Loved that line. Yep.
Speedball being brought into the United Empire, I thought was really good.
Yep, I agree.
did you say Renee and Darby and Steve Stingson, did you talk about that promo or did I miss it?
I did not.
I thought that was good.
Okay.
It made my hot, but it's probably on that borderline hot mild, but it made it into the hot.
I have Ciampa Jake Doyle for the match. I had the Ciampa promo calling out Okada. That's a borderline hot mild, but it was the best promo of the thing so far of them. I thought Hyan and Persephone was hot. You probably said that. And I thought Ospreay countering the giant swing was amazing. Loved it.
Yeah,
I thought that was really good. Did I say if I didn't say Hyan and Persephone I guess I didn't. I accidentally skipped that. But yeah, that should have been on my hot list as well. I just accidentally left
Proto Jet
it off of everything, but
I have Proto Jet and Outrunners for the match. That's hot.
Mm-hmm.
Coach Juice was hot. That was great.
Yes, agreed.
And yeah, that's the only things I have to add to the hot pile. Pile of hot.
Yeah.
Yep. Mild I had Mox versus Dezmond Xavier. What? Yeah, Dezmond Rascal. Yeah.
Dezmond Rascal Dezmond Rascal as I'm calling him now. Yep, I have the same thing.
Yep. I have the Darby Sting Junior Edge promo in my mild.
Yeah. The Willow promo
Yeah, that that's fine. Like I said.
went in my mild as well.
Yeah, that that Darby Sting edge thing, like I said, that was borderline, so I have no no problem with that.
Yeah. I I
I would agree with you that it's borderline. I knocked it down, but I get why you didn't. I don't yeah.
Not right now and then because
and that's my mild list.
I only added Ciampa and Jake Doyle for the story. I thought the match was good. I thought the story is there wasn't much to that for the match, so meh, it's fine.
I
I mean, I I just was like that to me was just one of those of well, actually it it it made sense to me from the standpoint of at least you're throwing somebody from the Don Callis family at him before he
Yeah.
takes on Okada. So it I was fine with it.
Yeah, but yeah. It was okay. I
Okay. Okay.
thought the Jack Perry to open Collision was fine.
So that doesn't fall anywhere on my heat check because of the one thing in my Mayo section, which is that I had to switch the stream for the Collision part of the show, which is stupid because this is
I
all one show.
I don't think I Yeah, I did. I did have to, yep. I did. Yep.
Yeah. But because
I had to switch it, I missed a good chunk of that promo and I was like, I don't feel like I can talk about this because I don't know what he said. So Okay.
You didn't You didn't really miss much. He it
it was it was fine. He just said, look, I said I want to take take on killers and Shibata's a killer.
I was just gonna say also in my mild, I had Proto Jet, Outrunners, again, just basically for what little story is there.
That's fair. Not not all of them are gonna
But the magic
have story, and there were some matches tonight that are just
matches, and that's one of them. So
Yep. Yep. And for some reason
I have Darby and Proto Jet. The promo with Darby and Proto Jet after the match I said was fine because it moved the story forward, so it was good, but I didn't think it was in the hot category. I don't know why.
Right.
Fair enough. like I said, the only thing in my mayo is having to switch the stream for the Collision part of the show. This was one show. Let's treat it that way. Come on. That's how they treated it. Come on, HBO Max. I'm I hate
Yep. You're you're not wrong. You're not wrong.
that. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.
Yep. My cat's tail doesn't like it either. I don't know if you can see.
Yeah. Yeah.
my Mayo. The whole Jericho Nick Wayne thing.
Okay. I'm really looking forward to when we talk about that and me telling you why you're wrong, but
Good luck.
delightful. All right. So then let's break this show down. Again, a lot going on here in three well, really three and a half hours
Yeah.
of what did I say delision?
Delision.
Yeah.
So the opening trios promo, like I said, was on my hot list because I I really thought Ricochet was good here. I thought he was making a lot of sense. They are a real team. All the others that they were facing both tonight and would have had the opportunity to face on Saturday are thrown together. I thought Prince Nana really spit some fire in the new house section of the promo when which he started. He reminded everybody he's pretty good at what he does.
And New Level going, did you have any friends before we got here? Was pretty good.
So good.
I enjoyed that.
That was in my hot category. I thought it was a really good way to kick off the show. Like to
Yeah.
And then the match of the night, like we said, this trios championship match is red hot. That spot where Creed went over the top ropes and hit the steps was insane.
Dude, yep.
I mean these these dudes just went ham. And I thought new level bumped their asses off for the demand
Yeah,
tonight. I was really impressed by everybody. Like you said,
Yeah.
Toa Liona was just an absolute beast in the match, which was nice to see.
Mm-hmm.
Wow, was that a good match
I wrote down more of this version of the demand,
please, because
Yes.
I loved it. I thought they looked incredibly credible. It would not have shocked anybody, I think, if they would have taken the titles off before All Out. It would have been a booking mistake, but they looked so damn good. I I loved it. And I thought for a minute we were going to get a three way trios at All Out because of it. I really did. yeah.
Yeah, I I thought they looked great. Yeah.
But I I thought it was great. I again I thought Toa Liona looked amazing. I do not know what is going on with Bishop Kaun and his face hand mask thing, but I dig it. So yeah, I really liked it. I thought this match fire from word go. Loved it.
Agreed.
Totally agree. And then after the match, Bro Hangdo would come out. like you said, Brody with the it's been three weeks line was great. That might have been the line
of the night. Actually I think it is line. Well, yeah, it's probably line of the night. Thekla had some good ones too, but
Right. I thought I th I did like Swerves, you don't get to decide who you are anymore. I thought that was
I agree.
really good.
Yep. So there were multiple times tonight where heels in particular, I was like, You are making a lot of sense.
You're
Yeah.
and and I don't know if you qualify swerve as a heel right now, but there there were a lot of
I don't think you can.
promos where it was just like, You are making a lot of sense. And that's absolutely true. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah,
I with with Swerve House ne New House being so over, I don't think you can qualify Swerve right now as a heel. And
I don't think so either.
I I liked the for the first time I liked the weird stare-off with the hangman and swerve because they're both making sense and they both have valid points. And it's like, yep, and I liked how Brody goes, look, regardless of what these two are doing, we're gonna wrestle on saturday
Yeah. Yeah, I Brody was really good there.
Watch that a lot. Mm-hmm.
I mean, yeah, I loved Swerve pointing out Hangman is a trios whore. Cause he is. I mean, he is.
Yep. He is. Yep.
yeah, I thought it was really good. And and I thought it put a nice little bit of spice on a match that again, it thi this is one of those going into All Out where I'm like, this isn't gonna be storyline wise like the most hot.
thing you're gonna get in like I said in terms of story, but who cares? Cause the match is gonna
Mm-hmm.
be great. And this is one of those where they're selling you just this is going to be a great match. And that's fine. I have no problem with that.
Yeah, I agree. The the storyline going in is really hangman and swerve, and that's okay. You can hang it on that. Everyone else is talented enough to make this work. So yeah, bring it. Love it. I th I think that's good.
Yep. So then we were backstage with Ospreay and Speedball, and this is where Speedball gets inducted into United Empire, which I really like for him.
Yeah, I do too.
I think, you know, that's a guy that I never would have thought of when Ospreay said he's basically making the all elite version
of United Empire.
Mm-hmm.
But man, for a guy who, you know, has had a real I think he's had a very good year.
In AEW in 2026, but he keeps, you know, he kind of peaks and then he fades away again. And then they find another thing
And
for him to do, and then he fades away again because they're not quite ready to pull the trigger and put a title on him, it feels like, or at least not like a singles title. So putting
Right. Mm-hmm.
him in United Empire with Ospreay makes a lot of sense to me. I think it's a good spot for him to be in. Dig it. Dig it a lot.
Yeah, thought it was a really good move. I like I would like to see a tag team with him and Akira go and into with someone. I think that would be really fun to watch. But I like
Mm. I agree.
that that combo and I can't wait to see who he brings in next.
Yep, same. Then we got the Thekla promo. She remains great. I've learned tonight that there are are two bitches within all of us. That was
Yeah.
life changing, if I'm gonna be honest. I I really feel awakened and empowered by learning that. And I thank you, Thekla. I thank you.
Yeah. At the very
least, embrace one of your inner bitches.
Yeah, yeah. And that's again, it was it was revelatory, frankly, for me. So thank you,
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Thekla. Thank you. That was a great promo though. She's she's tremendous.
She's amazing. I like it.
Then Mox versus Dezmond Rascal. I like that name.
You're welcome.
This was an eliminator match, which I went into it going, I know how it's gonna go.
Mm-hmm.
And I think that that more than anything is why it was on the mild for me. I also would have liked to have seen Dezmond. I thought he looked pretty good, but I would like to have it I would have liked it to have been a bit closer
Yes.
than it was. I wanted you to make
I broke down
me believe that he was gonna win, and I never really did.
I wrote down I think I'd rather see Dezmond in tag or trios. I didn't wasn't I I wasn't as thrilled watching him as a solo in this one going one on one. I think right now he's working better, or maybe it was just his presentation tonight, but he was working better in the tag and trios, so I'd rather see him there. I thought the match was fine. I did think it was a little clunky. I thought the best part of the match was the announced team pointing out that Mox is working his way through the high flyers to kind of get prepped for.
The king of the high flyers. So it was fine. I put it mild because that's where it fell with me. But yeah.
Yep.
I I I get that. well, I think it was in my mild as well, actually, was it not? Yeah, it was. It just it
I think so, yeah.
yeah, it you know like I said, I would have liked you to at some point in the match made me just like they did with the demand where I was like, my god, the demand is gonna win, they're gonna switch the belts, even though
Right.
I didn't really believe it, especially because new level is the shiny new toy right now.
Exactly.
I would have liked you to make me believe that he was gonna win this match, and I just never did.
No. No.
It's too bad.
The r The Rascalz remain in purgatory, which sucks 'cause I really like them.
and it's weird because I thought I'd be a little better and a little closer because of what Renee said before, or one of them said that one of The Rascalz, maybe it was Schiavone, one of The Rascalz feels like they're on the precipice of breaking through that next level on a singles track. And so I thought, okay, this is clearly some foreshadowing. Clearly Dezmond's gonna look great, he's gonna come closer than any of the other two have come.
But we didn't get to see that. W like I said, it felt a little clunky. I don't know if their chemistry is off or just their timing was off tonight, but the match did not I never w like you, I never once bought that Dezmond was gonna win this one. Yeah.
Yeah, and
and that's a bummer. And like I said, they're in purgatory and that makes me sad. But I'm glad you brought
But yep.
up the Renee thing because I made this note. If I were wrestling Jon Moxley, if I had a match against Jon Moxley, I don't think I would tell Renee anything about my strategy for the match.
I think I would look at Renee and go, Wait, I'm wrestling Jon Moxley?
I think I would look at her and just go, no hablo inglés and walk away. You know, like I would just
Yeah, I'm I'm gonna win. That's what I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna win. Don't ask me how. It's gonna happen.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. here's here's one
thing that I can tell you, Renee. I will at some point probably punch him in the face.
And get punched in the face. Guaranteed.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. There's that too.
I'm gonna use my face and try not to get it hit very often and then we'll
Yeah.
see what happens.
Yeah. Yeah. Then it was Darbs and Sting Junior with Renee and
Mm-hmm.
then Cope wanders in to remind the faces that he is also a face, kind of. Got a little little healy at the end there.
Yes. Yep, that's what I wrote. I said gets a little weird and heelish.
Uh-huh. And he would do it again later, which I thought,
Mm-hmm.
which I think is interesting. Here's the the here's my nitpick on it. And and this went into my mild, if I recall correctly, even though we just did this.
I think so, yeah.
yeah, this went into my mild because it's fine. But at the time, I was like, boy, aren't we just looking past a pretty big match at All Out? They would rectify that. But
Mm-hmm.
But I didn't know they were gonna watching it live. And then also I was just like I the bigger picture issue that I have with it is I think it's a little bit early to be putting Darby and Sting Jr. in this spot.
I agree. Yep.
And it's gonna put the TNT Championship completely on the sideline again. And they have too many singles titles that are basically benched, that are very much just window dressing.
Mm-hmm.
And that when you've got a million titles, like there's really no reason to have a champion not defending that championship. You know what I mean? And especially when
yeah.
you're gonna keep doing overruns. We've talked about this. We're gonna keep doing overruns. And when you've got guys that you have so much trouble, you know, men and women that you have so much trouble getting them on TV, there's
Mm-hmm.
no reason to take a guy who's got a championship and Darby Allin.
And then put him in this tag team story. I get it that it's to bring Steven Borden along. I get that. And as I've talked
Mm-hmm.
about, I'm a fan of that idea. I just think this is early to be putting them in the title picture.
I I agree. I think you could probably get them into a into a dust up with anyone from the Don Callis family. I think that would be okay. There's enough of them. There is a plethora of tag teams that you could that are credible enough that you could throw at them without getting them into the title picture. But you know, we'll we'll see how it plays out. I I agree, especially it would be way too early, I think, to have them beat.
Whoever is the tag champs.
So yeah, I don't it goes through my well, no, you know what, I'm gonna bench that thought. I'll leave it for later.
Okay. Okay. Well, we'll leave that. Well, I'm sure we'll end up because what I'm thinking may come up later too. the other thing I'm gonna do here, because it's just not an episode of Elite Heat if I don't nitpick, I'm gonna nitpick Darby and I'm gonna do it twice tonight.
Okay, great. Love it.
I don't understand why he looked at Cope and said challenge accepted. Didn't you put the challenge out?
Yeah, yeah, I did that was weird.
Yeah.
Unless he's talking about you're overreaching t towards legends now and I I guess that might be what it was, but it was like, okay, neat line doesn't fit, but neat line. Yeah.
Yeah, and
that would happen again later of like, okay, that wasn't a bad line, but I don't know that that was the spot for it. So
Right.
I'm gonna nitpick Darby tonight, which is too bad because I'd really come around on him a lot from
Mm-hmm.
where I used to be with him and well. Then, like I said, they would
Who then
kind of clean up the tag title match issue that I had.
When they came back from the break and the Young Bucks come out, then FTR comes out, then Cope and Cage come out. And overall with the promo, I thought I put it in my hot list because I thought it was pretty good. I think the Bucks did the heavy lifting here.
Yes they did.
I thought they were very good. Christian is always good. So, you know, he's he's part of why it got into the hot list for me as well. again, I'm gonna nitpick a little bit. Cope.
All he did was repeat what Christian Cage said without the doing your mom bit.
Yeah.
Which again is where he now is a little bit heelish, right?
What's a lot of you?
When he's supposed to be the face, and now he's a little bit heelish. So that's kind of interesting to me. And let me ask you this, Doug.
Yeah. Okay.
Is calling a tag team the Dudley Boyz an insult?
Yeah, I didn't quite understand
I didn't get that.
that unless the implication is that they're not good at talking. I don't I don't understand it.
I I So I didn't know if it was that or
if it was I didn't go look this up, but the thought I had was like, Did the Dudley Boyz never win a TLC match?
that's entirely possible. That is entirely possible.
And and more you know, to take that a step farther, did they was it not only that they never won one of the TLC matches, but were they the ones that got pinned? Did they eat the pin in it? I don't know. I don't remember.
I mean th
if so, then that line actually makes sense. If not, then I don't quite understand the reference because insulting a tag team that has they've gotta be in the top five tag teams for number of tag title runs they've had. So I don't know why that's a big insult. So it did strike me as weird.
Yeah, I mean, I think if you were gonna
yeah, I think if you were gonna do like well, I I was gonna say just a tag team wrestling Hall of Fame, but I think you look, those guys are Hall of Famers. The Dudley Boyz are absolutely Hall of Famers. I'm not gonna tell you I
Absolutely.
was their biggest fan, but they're Hall of Famers. And so I e either way, my nitpick with that line is you're too inside baseball.
Yeah, that one was a little a little much. Plus I do find
Yeah. But
it interesting that they that Cage is leaning in and it clearly to me it looks like they're at least trying to get it to the point where they're just both going to be heels moving forward. It certainly feels that
That's what I think too. Yeah.
way, especially tonight with the two promos and just the conduct and Cage just kind of being, you know what, eff it, I'm done with all of this malarkey. We're great. You suck. Shut up.
Yeah, no, I I think they're definitely moving Cope into heel territory, which I I actually kinda like that better. I kinda like positioning both of them as heels instead of the face heel dynamic 'cause it's kinda getting I boring's not the word, but it's like I you
Very closer.
know, I it's it's probably not a bad idea to slap a fresh coat of paint on them.
Yeah, it's sorta run its course. There's only so many
Yeah.
ways that you can have him do what he's done and keep it entertaining.
Yeah.
So
Yeah. I think the other thing that that I find very interesting about that, if they are positioning him for you know, kind of a slow heel turn, if you will, that makes me think they are going to retain at All Out. And I was pretty convinced the Young Bucks were going to win this thing.
I was too, but you're not wrong. That if if that's what they're doing, if they're going full fledged heel with both of them, the it does make it feel like they could be the ones retaining it and walking out and facing Darby and Stingson later, so I don't know. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Interesting.
So and that is really what put this particular segment into my hot list is you at least have me going, Hmm, I'm intrigued to see where we're going with it. You have me going, Okay, that's interesting. So, you know, plus Christian is great.
Yeah. There are questions to be
there's questions to be answered and I would
Yeah.
like to hear them.
Yeah, absolutely. then Willow was backstage with Renee. It wasn't bad. I put it in the mild just because it was like it's probably not fair, but I'm comparing it to Thekla's promo since that's the program and and it certainly wasn't Thekla. And also it was like, you I look, Willow is not a bad promo, but
No.
sometimes for me, some of the whole like, well, I'm gonna smile like I know the whole smile anyways or thing.
But sometimes I'm like, Yeah, I got it. I
Mm-hmm.
got it. You don't have to say it. You know, you don't have to remind me, whatever. It wasn't bad. It wasn't bad at all. Yeah, it was fine. It was fine.
I don't know what it says
about me that I didn't have it in any part of my hot list, but it it wasn't terrible. It didn't make
Yeah.
mayo, but it didn't make mild or hot either, so I guess I just forgot about it. Yeah. Again, I didn't hate it though, so it didn't stand out enough to be in the mayo. So I guess we slap it right in the
Yeah. Which kinda tells you something. Yeah. No, I didn't Yeah, I didn't hate it either. It was
middle of the mild, so
Yeah, i it was very much the definition of mild for me of it was fine. That's it. It was fine. Then
Yep. Yep.
Ciampa and Jake Doyle.
I I have to admit, when Ciampa came out, I was like, damn it. If we see another squad,
Yeah.
I I don't care about it. We can move on. But then Doyle came out and I'm like, okay, I'll watch this. And yes, I get the fact that he's Doyle is from the Don Callis family, so is Okada. I thought the match was really good. I like the match. I like these two beefy boys slapping man meets. I thought that was good.
Just the story was a little thin, a little tenuous, because if that is the angle you're going with, you should have been fighting Don Callis family members for three weeks, four weeks, you have enough. You could have done it. So that's my only thing about this.
I mean I I
yeah, I hear ya. I think the issue is that that they didn't book it until last week. You know, yeah, and that yeah.
That's what I mean. So
that's where I'm like, story's thin. It's fine that you're wrestling Doyle. It was a good match. I'm fine that Ciampa won. And when he called out Okada, I was like, man, this isn't gonna be good. But it it was the best promo from Ciampa so far in this series. That doesn't mean it was great, but it was his best one so far. So yeah.
So I yeah, I I hear you on all that. I think it you know, you go back to last week and it's I think I said this last week of if you're gonna have him call out Okada, then he should have wrestled somebody else from the Don Callis family instead of doing the squash. So
Yes. Exactly.
yeah, I agree. I was higher on the promo, I think, than you were. Now I don't understand all this these references to twenty eighteen.
Again, I'm wondering if we're too far inside baseball on that one. Yeah.
I think we are. It 'cause I don't
know who was asking for that match in twenty eighteen.
I don't either. And I was trying to remember, and then I'm like, I don't I gotta be honest with you, man. I'm not sure I remember anything from pre-COVID. Like the the world flipped so hard.
That's fair.
I'm not sure I remember anything from back then. I certainly don't remember what wrestling fantasy booking I was doing in 2018, but I don't think that it was for this match. Doesn't and and
Thanks so.
that might be more of a commentary on me and what I was paying attention to at the time. I don't know, but
Either way, again, sort of like with the Dudley Boyz thing, either way, I think we're too far inside baseball. So I hope they drop that. But
Yeah. Yeah.
I other than that, I actually wrote down that I like this version of Ciampa a lot better than what we've seen in the last couple of months. I think he he appears more focused. He appears more to me when I think the psycho killer character should or could be. I like
Yes.
this version of him a lot better. I thought Okada was hilarious.
Loved Okada tonight.
I loved
Okada with it. So I I was a fan of it.
I yeah, like I said, I liked it. Like I said, his best promo so far. When it first started, I was a little, okay. But they it turned it around as soon as Okada came out. I thought that's when the promo picked up on both sides. I really liked Okada saying this is gonna be you have never seen this version of the Psycho Killer before that you're gonna see on s on Saturday. Three more sleeps, as he likes to point out, and I think that's great. So yeah, I I liked the promo. That one, like I said, I think that made my hot list, but yeah, liked
Okay.
it.
Yeah. Then Persephone and Britt Baker. Well, it was Persephone versus Hyan Britt Baker came out on commentary. like I said, Britt on commentary I thought was really good.
So good.
Her line of ask your doctor, Tony Schiavone, if Hyan is right for you was really funny. And then I think it was Taz saying, at his age he has a lot of doctors. It's really funny.
I I should have put actually Taz on my hot list tonight. I've been hard on him in the past. I thought he was really good tonight. He had a couple Yeah,
Taz was in his better form tonight.
he had a couple genuinely funny lines again, which was really nice. But I thought she was great on on commentary. Look, on paper, I was sort of like, Okay. I mean, I get it. I get why you're doing it. My world is hurt, not a huge injury. The reports are it's only gonna be like maybe a couple weeks that she's out. So I get it.
Have her tag team partner come in to help further the story. I get it. On paper, I
Yeah. Yep.
was like, I mean, okay. This match was a lot better than I thought it was gonna be.
Yeah, I thought high-end looked great and I didn't anticipate that. I thought this was going to be closer to a squash, and it wasn't, and it was believable. I enjoyed it.
Yeah, I did I I thought they did a great job. And you know that I'm super high on Persephone as well. So
Yep, same.
really enjoyed that one a lot. Then I guess it would be United Empire versus Death Rider. Speedball and Ospreay took on Claudio and Gabe Kidd. And right out of the gate, I was a fan because I was like, Speedball doesn't really know what to do with himself while Ospreay's doing his whole entrance. And and honestly.
Yeah.
I want them to keep that dynamic going. I want him to be in the corner like Ricky Bobby going, I I don't know what to do with my hands. Like
Exactly.
Huge fan. Huge fan of that concept.
Yeah.
I liked their dynamic tonight. I thought they worked
I do too.
really well together and interesting. It wasn't like it it just wasn't your typical back and forth. And I think the entrance made that apparent and I I thought it was really good. I enjoyed it. Yeah.
Yep. So yeah, I I thought the match was pretty good. Gabe Kidd only mildly annoyed me in this, which is really a big compliment to him.
Yes it is. And I
I do have to tip my hat to Moxley for this line. They knocked over your gin and tonic, Tony.
Yeah,
I thought that was pretty funny. Yeah. Let me ask you this, just
Okay.
cause I made a note of it. What do you think about Claudio still wearing the lucha mask to the ring on his entrance?
I don't get it. I mean, I understand why he started doing it, because
Yeah.
he was the CMLL grand champion or heavyweight champion in some noise.
You yeah, world champ whatever.
I believe it's I believe it's world champion for them, but I don't know.
but unless you're wrestling regularly in CMLL, take it off.
I agree. And and to me, the dynamic of him having that mask on while his super dramatic music is playing and he's trying and he's walking through the crowd and obviously he's huge, but he's doing his, you know, I'm a big badass walk, but he's got this goofy mask on. It really the juxtaposition of it is jarring at this point.
And I'm with you. We've moved away from it was funny while he was the champion. It made sense. He hasn't been for quite a while.
Mm-hmm.
Let's maybe take the mask off, my guy.
Plus I find it interesting that the mask is covering up a guy who shows hardly any emotional expression, so it's kind of pointless. But I I I don't
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, let's let's maybe ditch that gimmick.
I really don't care about it one way or the other. I thought it was kinda neat. I don't find it I don't think it's like funny or di it's just a non point for me. Like I don't care about it. I wish he wouldn't wear it, but I don't care that he's wearing it. But I think it's kinda dumb.
I mean, I don't think
I've even noticed it really for quite a while. And some of that is he hasn't done that much on AEW, but it really stuck out to me tonight because here's this this thing that's supposed to be a big fight, right? You've got the world champion in the ring,
Mm-hmm.
and you've got again his super dramatic music playing and he's wearing the goofy I think it's time to ditch it, man. I
Yeah.
really do.
I will say I liked him and Kidd together better than I thought I would and
Yep.
I really like that team together. I think I think that has some legs to it. Mm-hmm.
I agree. It was good match. It was a very good match.
Yep.
Then the Ospreay postmatch promo where he had some things to say to Mox. And I again I thought he was very good. Again, making a lot of sense.
Mm-hmm.
I loved him ducking Gabe Kidd trying to jump him and then hitting him with the hidden blade because I was like, the the subtext is I know your tricks and I'm ready for them.
Yeah.
Loved it.
I just I I thought this was really good, top to bottom. That this could have been match of the night if that first match wasn't so ridiculously amazing.
Yeah, I agree. I agree. So then we got into the Collision part of Delision. Yeah, I think that's what I said.
Delision. Love it. Yeah.
like I said, I missed at least a chunk of the Jack Perry promo. So Okay. No, I didn't. Okay.
No you didn't. You just didn't see it. You didn't miss it, but you didn't see it.
Yeah, that's fair. All right. So let's pick it up with Divine Dominion and the Brawling Birds promo, which like I said, I really enjoyed it. I right
Out of the gate, I enjoyed the birds taunting Divine Dominion by like rubbing the belts in their faces and like sticking their the belts out at them. I really liked that.
Mm-hmm. I thought that was good.
Yep. I like I said, I'm a big fan, it turns out, of people getting hit with tea kettles. Yeah.
Who knew? Who knew
that was gonna be a a a box on my bingo card for tonight? But it was.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I like that despite all of that divine dominion were the ones standing at the end of it. I
Yep.
thought it was a really good segment.
Two things about this segment. one, I I thought that was a re like that statement of them slamming them, that was a statement slam. That was a boom, done. We're done. And I think tonight, while I enjoyed the birds rubbing the belts and everything else, I think I realized why I'm not why this isn't hitting with me is because they feel like they're a caricature of
A UK tag team. And it's not. It doesn't seem genuine. It seems this may be part of who they are, but I it feels like they're accentuating the wrong parts of it. And it's too stereotypical. It's too. And I think I think they're better than that in the ring. They don't need that version of them on the mic, in my my opinion. So
It
I
just because you're called the brawling birds doesn't mean you have to try and embody the British brawler mentality with what you do and how you conduct yourself. Because watching them kind of do this weird Jon Moxley weird strut that they kind of embody, I don't think they need to do that. And I think that's what was bothering me. And I think that's why I'm I'm a bigger fan of Divine Dominion, because they just walk out, they know who they are, they know what they're doing, and they look down on you.
And then they beat the crap out of you. So that's what bothered me about that tonight. Yep.
Yeah. That's what I was saying last week, right? Like
there's you can be the caricature, the stereotype, if you will, of a British brawler. Like I last week I was comparing them to soccer hooligans, right?
Mm-hmm.
And and you can do that. That's fine. And I don't need or even want every single character to be the intense brooding in your face, you know, basically all, you know
Carbon copies of of what Mox is trying to do, right?
Right.
But you've got to know when to pick your spots. You've got to know that there are times
No.
where you can be the kind of goofy, look at us, we're having fun, we like to fight thing. And then there are times where you gotta you gotta lock it in a little bit more. And
Mm-hmm.
the thing, the irony to me is that the guy that I
And me just with it.
think is doing an amazing job of that.
Is Alex Windsor's husband. Will Ospreay is doing an amazing
Yeah.
job of finding that balance between I like to have fun. This
Mm-hmm.
is this is I'm living my dream. I'm just I love this. But then also being able to shift into, but I'm not messing around and I'm gonna beat your ass, you know. And
Right. And I mean
I I think they tried to do that when they attacked them with the the tea kettles and whatnot.
Yeah.
So I'm willing to give them a little bit of slack, but still it's a it's a little too much on the cartoon side right now and I think they need to dial it in.
Yep. I agree.
I agree. But overall I did like this promo and I
Do.
thought, you know, look, it's it's a street fight. There's gonna be weapons. They gave you a little taste of it. Cool. Yeah. Cool.
Yep. I will
I will tell you the one of the reasons I like this is the almost exact opposite of why I wasn't a fan of what happened in the Jericho promo. And I'll get to that when we get there.
Good tease.
So then we got the pre-tape. I they said it was from last week, but whatever, of the
What's this?
conglomeration. And here is why I really liked this. And I bet this is why you liked it too. Roddy Strong explained why he's been acting the way he's been acting. Yep.
Yeah, he finally snapped, which he needed to.
Yep. I loved him going. I can't pretend.
Like everything is okay after we lose. I can't do the like, well you win some, you lose some or whatever the line was. Loved it. Loved it. More of that, please. Yep.
Yeah. Yep. And it made it made all the sense of the world. And yes,
he did a little bit of yelling like he had been, but this all made sense.
But it fit here.
But yeah, that's what I mean. It fit into this context. It made sense. And finally, what like I bitched about last week and you bitched about. Why did you push orange? What are you doing? Why do you what is happening? Why are you acting the way you are? We finally get that and I loved it. He finally snapped and walked out. And he didn't make a giant like he made a deal out of it.
But again, this didn't stretch too long. He did it and he's like, No, no, no, and I'm done. Boom, walked out. Yep. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It was great.
then it was Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher. What did you call them? Proto Jet? I like that.
Proto Jet? Yep, Proto Jet.
Proto Jet versus the Outrunners, which I enjoyed a lot because I enjoy the Outrunners a lot. I
They have one
of the best introductions going and it it's just so fun when they do those those overlays like they did with Toni Storm in the black and white. They give them the eighties VHS treatment. Loved it.
Yep. Yep. I I have missed
them on AEW TV. I know they've been doing ROH stuff.
Mm-hmm.
I I just I get such a kick out of them. So I was very happy
Hmm.
to see them here. I was happy also that they didn't get squashed.
Yes.
And you know, look, Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher, I I don't know how long it was the plan to put them together and I don't know if the plan was to keep them together as long as they've been together, but they they've found something with those two as a tag team. They're really good
Yeah, I like it.
together.
I really like it. And I like that they've settled their dynamic down and they've accepted the fact. And I loved like I know this is post match stuff, but I love the fact that Kyle's like, Yeah, I didn't like this guy, but you know what? We're family. Yeah. Like this. Really good. Really good.
Yep, that was a great line. Him also dismissing
Renee was really funny. I enjoyed that. So I I thought Fletcher was really good there. I thought the having RPG Vice at the stage waiting to jump Darby when the music hit was I was clever. It of course meant they're not coming out, but it was clever. I liked it.
Of course. Yep. Mm-hmm.
And I loved Kevin Knight calling them the Borden Bunch. I thought that was a great line.
That was really good. That
was really good.
And I liked so much about this. I like Darby being smarter than the family and be what do you I'm stupid? I'm not coming out there. Where, you know, I thought it was
Yep, I like that.
really good. And I like Darby being smarter than his opponents because for a lot of his early tenure of AEW, it was just, I'm gonna out crazy you. And now him being like, no, I'm gonna outsmart you. Love it. Big fan of that.
Yeah.
That that was great.
I thought the ending was a little bit flat though, and this is where I'm gonna nitpick him again.
I'm probably going to agree.
Yeah, he he you know, I know they were trying to kind of get the mic drop moment and and have Darby and Sting Junior standing tall. I just I just think it fell flat. They didn't get it. They didn't hit it, you know. So
I agree. Yep. I I
liked the line, you know, how's it gonna feel when this rookie beats you?
Yep. That should have been the out.
Yes, yes, yes.
And him going a step further and saying, Don't call it an upset. I was like, mm, mm-mm. Nope. Nope. You should have just said, Well,
Mm. Yeah. Yeah.
how's it gonna feel when the rookie beats you? And you could have then dropped the mic. That would have been good. But
Should have left it there.
yep, they just took it a step too far. It happens.
Mm. And I do like
I do like putting them in the rafters. The clear sting callback. That was really
Yes. Yep.
good.
Yep. I mean, you might as well, right? Like there's no hiding
Absolutely.
who his dad is, so you might as well lean into the legacy, so yeah.
Right. Mm-hmm. Yep.
And I like that you could hear you could hear Kevin Knight responding kind of on mic, but kind of off mic, with, no, no. Very good. I I really
Yes. hell no. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Yep.
like you said, I'm I'm really enjoying Proto Jet and their their interaction and what they're doing together and that dynamic is is really it's been a surprising success in my eyes. I thought this was gonna be a
I agree.
couple matches and it was gonna be the typical
We can't get along, we're gonna shove and shove and then we're gonna wrestle each other. I'm glad it's not going that way because this is working really well.
Yeah, and and I really hope I'm not sure it's gonna happen, but I hope that they win at All Out and become the number one contenders.
I do too. I think that is a better call. You and you can do it and still make Steve Stinkson. Okay, here's what I was gonna say that I didn't get into earlier, that I said I was gonna put a pin in and wait. Because it just popped into my mind, and you know how my brain works. It barely does. But I'm wondering, and this makes zero sense, so therefore it's in my head. What if we're leading up to Steve Stinkson turning on Darby?
You know what? I understand what you're saying about it. It doesn't make any sense, but I actually think it does make some sense. And I I I think you could easily position it as look, I'm not, I'm trying to get out of my father's shadow, and being your tag team partner only keeps me in it. I'm not gonna be in his shadow. I'm not gonna be in yours. I'm gonna be my own man. And of course it's a super heel thing to do because all he's done then is stepped into the shadow of the Don Callis family.
But I no, I actually I love that idea.
And Don has made no bones about the fact that he would be fine having Steve Stinkson in his in his family.
Yes. I I actually love that idea. So if they do
Because I was kidding.
that on Saturday, big fan.
Because like you, I was sitting there thinking, okay, how what is the logical outcome of this? Like you're setting it up for Steve Stingson to win. Like if we're looking at it on paper, you're clearly building him up to win the match. But that doesn't make sense. Cause you again, you can't I mean you can clearly, but then putting them up for the titles, that is
Well, and I don't
th I don't think you're gonna have them go over Edge and Christian. Yeah.
That's what I mean. And it's
way too soon to it it doesn't matter which one of those teams wins the match. You're not gonna go over any of those three teams, and you shouldn't. So I was like, so what could we do what could happen? And I'm like, my god, what if what if he actually turns on Darby and is part of the Don Callis family now? And I
That would be great.
don't hate it.
And and then also now you've got a far more credible team challenging whoever wins on Saturday because I absolutely believe Proto Jet can beat any of those three.
I agree. And now you have Steve Stingson with a mouthpiece that can really
Yep.
work for him.
Yep. man. No. I love that idea so much. I'm now going to be deeply sad if they don't do it on Saturday. Thank you. Appreciate
You're welcome. Yep.
it. All right. So let's talk Jericho and Nick Wayne. What did you not like about this? okay.
I thought was boring as hell. I
thought it was extremely boring. I wrote, I'm bored before the thing was half over.
Okay.
I thought I thought I like Nick Wayne. I like Jericho. I think Nick's I think he's he needs to back up a little bit from the weird face things, and I think he's doing that a little too much. He needs to back that off. And just the exchange I thought was kind of boring.
And I just I was like, I don't care. And then at one point, early on, Jericho's like, you know, we're a lot alike, except, you know, like you are now. I used to be an arrogant prick. And, you know, he's like, Yep, yep, yep. But then later he calls him an arrogant prick and Nick is like, Wait, you're calling me an arrogant prick? I'm like, yeah, he did it already and you agreed. So what's your what's your problem?
It was so long and it was so boring and I didn't need it.
Okay, that's fair.
no.
So I agree with you that it was too long. It it was definitely too long. And they gave Nick Wayne too much mic time because and I get it, he's got to get the reps to get better, but it went too long. And I I think probably the the way it felt to me was that it was like a okay, we're gonna go out there and it'll be fine because Jericho is gonna lead him and it'll be fine, right?
And it now I don't know that they didn't talk about it backstage, but it probably could have used some more scripting than it got. However, here's why I liked it. number one, I like Nick Wayne just going full douchebag. Big fan.
don't give I do. I enjoy that.
Yeah. I really loved when Nick was like, it's not about the necklace. It was never about the necklace. Good.
I did
like that part. I did like that part. Yep.
Made me happy. Yeah.
When he said I never should have lost to Jericho—to you, Jericho, I was like, Well, okay, logically, yes, you should have. However, that's a solid line from a young douchebag heel, so I was okay with it. Fits the character.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep.
I found it a little bit odd that they're kicking the rematch to Grand Slam Paris instead of doing it on Saturday, but you know, okay. So I I actually liked it
I actually liked it. I I hear you on your criticisms, and I think they're fair, and I think you're right. It was too long for sure, and they definitely got a little bit lost at points in the promo. But overall, to extend the feud and to banish the necklace talk and to help solidify that Nick Wayne is going is full douchebag. I was like, well, okay, I'm on board with that. And if Nick beats him, which I think he should.
I think he better.
Then, you know, again, I I I didn't hate it. I liked it. But, you know, that's me.
I liked I liked the two things you mentioned about Nick Wayne. I think you could have done this in a sixty second pre recorded promo from both of them and a and gotten so much more mileage out of it in my humble opinion. I and I
Yeah.
really, oddly enough, I thought Jericho was the boring one.
That's fair. Th there were some points in there where I was like, where I I think they've lost my attention a little bit. I th I reflecting back on it, like, yeah, I'm with you on that. I'm sure the reason that they didn't do the pre-tape is they wanted the Judas pop.
yeah, and I get that.
And
yeah, and the other part of it too is how are we going to go thirty minutes long if we don't have at least
That's true.
one promo segment that's too long? So
Yeah. Yeah.
And the th the thing that kind of like got me off on the wrong foot was at the beginning, like, I like Nick Wayne coming. I like him not getting in the ring and then him going, No, I didn't no, I'm doing this 'cause I have a brain in my head. And then he gets in the ring.
Yeah. It it was there were several moments where I thought, okay, they're making Nick look really good, and then they would something would immediately happen after it was like, mm, that didn't make as much sense. So
Yeah.
it like I said, he's not gonna get better without getting reps. I get it.
Mm-hmm.
And sticking it in the third hour of a long show is probably not the worst idea. But
Yeah. Yeah, but
at this point, like if and I think you'll agree, the the the air had kind of come out of the the balloon at this point and the Kevin Knight that the the the Proto Jet Outrunners match was great, but I think people were starting to come down and then you plug this extra long, in my opinion, boring promo in. It did not help any like it didn't help the momentum. Yes, it continued to story to France, so
Yeah. Well that that's
Mm-hmm.
kind of what I was getting at is I would argue to you that really everything that happened after the Proto Jet Darby promo is not stuff. I guess there's two things that happened that they
wanted eyeballs on, but I think there's several segments here where it was like they knew they were gonna be losing the crowd by this point. They knew they were gonna be losing the TV audience by this point. Because go ahead.
Mm. I mean, I I
think you could have got the you could have brought Jericho out, had him make the pop, had him call out Nick Wayne. I think if you keep Nick Wayne in the back, keep him down to sixty seconds and go, look, I'm not coming out there, Jericho. You're probably just gonna
Yeah.
try to hit me in the nuts. So here's the deal. This is why I'm not happy with you. It's not the necklace, you idiot. It's the fact that you beat me and there's no way you should have. So no.
I'm not coming out, but I tell you what, I'll come out in Paris and then you and I can go do this again. But otherwise, I don't even need to look at you. To me that would've made more sense. Keep it
Yeah. Nope, I agree. Yep.
shorter and move us forward. Let I don't know, let Mercedes talk more or some noise. I don't care.
Yeah, no, I I I agree. It definitely was too long. I definitely agree with you on that. But so here's my point of so now we're gonna start getting into stuff that I'm not sure they were programming it to keep the audience. So that you get the backstage with Renee and Hyan, and then Thunder Rosa comes up. And while I enjoyed this segment, it's not like a this didn't make a match for All Out. This didn't further a match for All Out. It wasn't
Like a man, if you miss that segment, you need to go find it, sort of thing, you know? And then Skye Blue and
Correct.
Queen Aminata, which, like I said, was I I thought was going to be entertaining and was even better than I thought it was going to be. Thought it thought it went a little long. Thought it went a little long.
True.
But again, this is a match that you put together and there's, you know, there's really no story involved in it.
It didn't really further anything. Because at at one point I thought after Queen Aminata won, I thought, okay, she's gonna like get in Mercedes' and we're gonna set that up as a, you know, it's gonna be on a random Wednesday in once
Right.
Mercedes can get back in the ring to help, you know, help her with the timing before it's her and I'm assuming Thekla at WrestleDream. That didn't happen.
Right. Right.
You know, you just get this this scrum that was all basically a setup for
Thekla and Willow to
Kind of face off, but not really.
Right.
And while I didn't have a problem with any of this, like I said, the match was quite good.
Mm-hmm.
It's all stuff where it's like, if you said screw it, I'm going to bed, okay. You you're cool. Like you didn't miss it. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
Like I I enjoyed the match. I thought the match was great. Well, I thought it was really good compared to what I thought it could have been.
Yeah, that was very good. Yeah.
I thought Thekla was the highlight coming out. So that was fine. I thought
Yeah. Yeah, I mean I didn't
I thought Mina looked I don't know, uncomfortable, awkward tonight. Like even on the outside, I didn't she didn't look like Mina normally looks. Like I really
Yes. Yes. Yeah.
liked her.
As a performer. I think she's, you know, probably one of their top tier performers. Tonight she look and I don't know. Things looked a little awkward. That took me out of it a little bit, but not enough.
Yeah. Yeah, we're
But I liked Thekla coming out clearly was the whole point for this match. So okay. Plus Queen Aminata gets some reps in on TV. Skye Blue continues to look good. They both looked really good. So I'm okay with all of that.
Yeah. And I mean, you know, you go back to the heat check. I I put the postmatch stuff in my hot. Now it's pretty close to the borderline. But, you know, again, if you went to bed, that's okay. You know, I wouldn't tell you go find it on YouTube or whatever. And so that's
Exactly.
where I was like, I think we reached a point where they knew like the audience is gonna be dwindling, so don't put like really important shit in here, you know.
Exactly.
so then it was Britt and Persephone backstage, which you know, I I enjoyed the promo. I guess I guess we're getting Persephone is doing an open challenge for All Out.
Which is pretty interesting. I
It is very interesting.
I'm it with as packed as that ma that card is becoming, the fact that they're putting an open challenge out, I I'm really intrigued by who's going to accept it.
So I was thinking about this. Be All Out has been a show where they like to debut people. Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson debuted there. Like they like to debut people when they bring in. Or, you know, they like to do it there.
So I think it's gonna be Kairi Sane.
I would be one hundred percent fine with that. One hundred percent.
I would too. I think it might be her.
That'd be okay.
Mm-hmm.
That'd be one hundred percent okay.
Yep. And I think some of where they haven't necessarily all the way filled out the card yet, at least in my mind, they haven't. Because again, we got to get to 18 hours of wrestling somehow. Is they're leaving room somewhere in there for Dragunov, for Ilja Dragunov.
I think Ilja is gonna show up in the main event with United Empire to help even the even the sides out. That's where I think.
I think so too. That that's
what I think too. Yeah. So anywho, so you know, overall though, good promo. It's a very
Mm-hmm.
intriguing thing for Saturday and I liked I I like Britt talking. I'm a fan. So
Yeah, I like and Persephone is a good talker. Like
Yes, she is.
there I I love that combination. So I like this this backstage bit. I thought it was interesting that she threw out the open challenge, but I'm now super intrigued by and if it is Kairi Sane that comes in, I will not hate that at all. Yep. At this point.
Samezies Then the main event. Well, yeah, that's the thing.
I don't know who else it could be. I mean, I'm sure there are people that I'm forgetting or did you know, that I've forgotten about that are out there. But I think I think it's gotta be somebody recognizable if you're gonna debut on the pay per view.
Yeah.
So I'm not sure there's a bigger name than her available.
I don't think so.
Unless it's Bayley. But
I really don't think so at this point, but I could I
I don't think so either.
could be wrong. Well, yeah, if especially if she's got any kind of non compete, she's been on T V, so that's not happening.
Yeah. Well, I mean
it it would be the question of 'cause if you're released it's the ninety day, but if it if your contract just expires, you're free to do whatever, like the next day. So
True.
True.
It would that would be the question. I'm actually I was pretty convinced she was coming. I'm now less convinced
Same.
that it's going to happen, which bums me out. But anyway. did she?
Although she did just post another picture with her
her and Statlander.
Well, maybe then.
Together and then she said it was kinda weird. She said something like, I think she misses me or something along those lines.
It
could be that. I mean, it it could be either of those. You mentioning Statlander though made me go, Well, I mean, I go I guess it could just be her that answers the open challenge as well. I mean, it doesn't have to be
Yeah, it could be.
somebody outside of the company.
Could be. And that could be why we haven't seen Statlander in
Could be.
case they can't get someone to come in or they can't whatever make that deal work. Statlander
Yeah.
would be fine. I'd be okay if she came in and and wrestled. That'd be alright. Yep.
Yep. Yep. Yep.
Then it was the main event. mm-hmm. Ace Austin versus Pac. you mentioned it. I love Coach Juice. Big, big fan of that.
Yeah. It's all good.
Big fan of that. Really good match. I enjoyed it, but God, just one time I want Ace Austin to win. Just one time.
Yeah, yeah, man. He's so good.
Yeah.
And those two together, it they're so good together. I mean,
Mm-hmm.
they're so similar yet so different. And I really liked this match a lot. I didn't think Ace was going to win, but I thought
Nope, I didn't either.
if you're if you're gonna give him a match to win, this would be the one going into the the you know, the street fight or whatever it is at All Out. So but that whatever. It was good.
Yeah. Yeah, it was good.
then there was the postmatch scrum, which was probably inevitable because
And they were
yes, these teams are going to wrestle on the tailgate show, I guess is what we're calling it, not the buy-in.
Yep. Mm-hmm.
And then Andrade came out, which is never a bad thing, and that's how we went off the air. And the postmatch scrum was fine, made sense.
Yeah.
That's how we went off the air. So overall, pretty good show.
You know,
Yeah.
i if you're gonna put it in the larger context of did it do a lot to build more heat for All Out, probably yes and
Yeah.
no is the answer to that.
A little.
But you know, they've already sold out the building, so they're probably feeling pretty good about that. And I
Yeah.
do think that Mox Ospreay and the tag team title match, I really think those are enough to drive pay-per-view buys. And then
my god, yeah.
You know, you throw PAC and Andrade on there and it's like, well, that's gonna be a good match. And Yep, that's gonna
Yep. And you you throw the trios match, that's gonna be solid.
be good. Yeah. So, you know, there's enough kind of tent pole matches, if you will, on there to drive pay per view buys. So Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
Even even Thekla and Willow, that is enough to get eyeballs on it. That'll be good.
So, you know, it it's like I don't know how much you had to do to heat it up, you
No, you didn't have to do a ton.
know.
I I think this show did what it needed to do. It it 'cause there wasn't much more to push, but just remind us that okay, we've got the dogs and and the Death Riders and Bang Bang Gang. They're gonna throw down. Let's remind you of that. Let's show
Yep. Yep.
how it could go. Perfect. You know, so it it was a it was a solid show. Solid show. Did what it needed to do.
Yeah. Yeah it was.
Yep. So
I just felt Jericho was really boring tonight.
th and that's completely fair and and I don't fully disagree with you on that. I thought we were gonna well I thought I thought we were gonna have to do some counseling after this, but I see where you're coming from. I enjoyed it, but I see where you're coming from.
And and again, don't get me wrong, I liked the parts you liked, but that wasn't enough for me to s for it to save everything for me because I d I did. I just felt it was oof. I wrote like I said, I actually typed out I am bored well before we got to any meat on that bone and I was like,
Yep, I get it. Yep. Fair enough.
Fair enough. All right. So before we bail out on this one, are you going
That's fine.
to be part of the all-out show or not?
At this point it does not look like it. Unfortunately I'm not gonna be in town and not gonna have any internet access. So that's gonna be really
It does not look like it, okay. That's fine. That's totally fine.
hard for me to E A watch and B communicate via the interwebs.
Yep, that's totally fine. All right. We'll get a guest star for that one then. But
Sweet.
here's what I'd like to do, and I'm totally putting you on the spot with this. Let's run
Okay. I'm okay.
I want to run down the All Out card with you and get your predictions and let's see how you do. All right. So
okay. Yeah.
I'll I'll give you the match. You just tell me who who you who you got, right?
Okay, gotcha.
So let's start with the tailgate brawl. Jack Perry versus Shibata.
Jack Perry takes
I agree. Eight man tang. Mm-hmm. Eight man tag. Here's what happened. I combined tag and bang bang gang there into tang. So bang bang gang versus the dogs and the death riders.
I want the bang bang gang to win.
Yeah.
I have a feeling it's gonna be dogs and death riders, but I'm gonna go ahead and be contrary and pick the bang bang gang because I think they're due. Doesn't mean it's gonna happen,
I
but I think they're due.
I agree I want it to be the bang bang gang. I want them to do something with them, but I think it's gonna go the other way.
Again, my my heart tells me bang, bang, gang, so I'm going with that, but my head tells me more than likely it's not gonna happen.
Yep, that's fair. All right. The TBS Championship open challenge. Hard when we don't know who it's gonna be. So I guess it's do you think they'll put it on whoever takes it up or are they gonna leave it on Persephone?
It depends on who it is.
I agree.
I think if if they're smart, they'll leave it on Persephone regardless. I think
I agree.
I think Persephone goes over. I Persephone wins.
Yeah, I think Persephone should retain it. I think it depends on if they're debuting somebody, because boy, they like to put titles on people that debut in a title match. So
Yeah, look how well that went for Ciampa.
Yeah, yeah. But I agree with you. It should stay on Persephone. We'll see what they do. Darby and Sting Jr. versus Proto Jet.
I think I think Proto Jet's gonna win. And if they don't, if S Darby and Stingson win, I think Stingson still turns on Darby. But I think Proto Jet's gonna win because Stingson turns and is gonna end up in the Don Callis family. So I'm calling it Proto Jet.
Okay, so here's what I want to have happen. I want Proto Jet to win with the Sting Junior turn.
Same.
I think Darby and Steve are gonna go over and I think they're gonna be the new number one contenders for whoever wins. I don't think they should be, but I think that's what's gonna happen. We'll see. Thekla versus
Yep. I
Willow.
I think Thekla needs to win and I want Thekla to win, so I'm gonna say Thekla.
I agree. Bro Hangdo versus New House.
New house is gonna win.
I think so too. I think they're gonna keep the belts on them for a while. I think it's new house. Andrade versus Pac.
Andrade has to win. He's got to
Yeah, I think that's the biggest
no brainer on the card Andrade wins. Okada versus Ciampa.
This one's tough.
I agree.
I'm gonna call champ on this one.
So I'm starting to lean Ciampa as well. At first on paper, I was like, Okada retains. I'm still I'm starting to lean towards Ciampa. I think as of this moment, I'm like fifty-one forty nine Okada retains. But
Yep, I get that.
come Saturday, that may very well change. I may very well
If you
have flipped.
if you would have asked me before tonight, I would have said Okada. Because of tonight I'm gonna say Ciampa. I think Ciampa takes it.
Yeah. Yep, I get that.
I get that. Brawling birds in Divine Dominion.
I think Divine Dominion should win, which tells me that Brawling Birds are going to win.
I think Divine Dominion wins.
I hope so. I wanna be wrong on this one, and the only reason I'm calling birds on this is because I've gone with my gut and my heart on these so far, and this is the one I think where my heart's gonna get broken. So I'm calling the birds.
Yeah. The the biggest reason I think that the biggest reason that I think it may go to the Brawling Birds is because they have gotten their asses handed to them in the build, every time in the build. And typically in wrestling, that means they're gonna win at the pay per view. But I think Divine Dominion should win, so I'm gonna stick with them, but we'll see.
I on this one I hope you're right and I'm wrong because I want Divine
Yeah.
Dominion to win because I think I think with them in the b with the belts it's better and I think Divine Brawling Birds can be okay without the belts. They don't need the belts. I think they'll be fine. But I think the birds are taking it.
I agree. I agree. All
right. We'll see. then the three-way ladder match, FTR, Cage and Cope, and Young Bucks.
Up until tonight, I would have said the young Bucks.
Same.
I think Cage and Cope retain. I think I think you're right. I think Cage and Cope are gonna retain.
I think they are too. And I I really think it should be the Young Bucks. But after tonight I'm leaning towards Cage and Cope Retain and they will take on Darby and Sting Jr. at WrestleDream. I think it'll be a massive mistake if they have Darby and Sting Jr. go over. But
I do too.
but at this moment, I actually think they might. I think it'll be a huge mistake, but I think they might.
Anything could happen as you know. So But I think I think Cage and Cope win, but I think it'cause 'cause Cage goes or Cope goes absolute batshit
Yeah.
heel on this.
Yeah, I I agree. I think I think that's gonna happen. And then the main event, Jon Moxley versus Will Ospreay.
Will Ospreay.
Yeah, I think it's another no brainer Will Ospreay retains. There's no way they're taking the belt off him that early.
Yep.
I do think there's gonna be some shenanigans. I think you're gonna see the bulk of United Empire. the only caveat I will put in, if Will Ospreay ends up losing, I think it'll be because of what's his name? The U Callum, yep. I think it'll be
Callum. Yeah.
because of Callum saying, No, you don't get to create your own United Empire.
Yeah, I I I've thought about that. I think I think Ospreay's gonna retain here. I think it's like I said, I think it's a pretty obvious one. And I think at this point Mox wants to put him over. So like in r
I agree.
you know, and I think that that matters. I also think that this is gonna be the trigger for the Death Rider Civil War. I think
that they I
I hope so.
I think this is gonna be the straw that breaks the camel's back for Gabe Kidd and PAC and they're gonna turn on him and we're gonna see that storyline play itself out.
Yeah, I'd be fine with that.
Yeah, which is why I think Ospreay ninety-nine percent that Ospreay is going over. The Callum Newman thing is interesting. I I don't know where we're going with that. And so much of it in my mind hinges on when is his contract up with New Japan and is he coming to AEW. Given that those contracts are usually up in January and we're only in September, I think they're gonna delay that story a little bit. I think it's gonna
Yes. And
be a slow build.
yep. And again, I I put a big caveat on that because they introduced
So Yep. Yep.
it and then they kind of backed away from it. But
Yeah. And I think it's because they have to. I think it's because he's still under contract.
here's what I here's where I'm less convinced, even though I want this to be true, I agree that if Mox loses, it could trigger the the split.
But the last two weeks, Mox has been behaving differently. And it's
He Yeah.
it's not it's no longer clear cut in my head. Like he keeps talking about how much he likes Gabe Kidd and that and he was being
Yeah.
real weird on the sidelines again tonight.
Yeah. I I agree. I think that that's gonna I think it that we're gonna look back on that like next week and go, so that was just a creative mistake because I think he's gonna lose to Ospreay. I think he's gonna shake his hand, I think he's gonna do all the things to put him over, and I think PAC and Gabe Kidd are gonna go ape shit on him.
Yes, if he does all that, yes, if he does the br the right thing and, you know, do the handshake and all that and give him his flowers, then yes, I agree.
Yeah. I also think I I I agree with you that I think Ilja may very well get involved here. I'll give you a dark horse name who may come in to help Will Ospreay. Kenny Omega.
yeah. I'd be fine with that. That would be great. That'd be great. I
I think there's a chance. I think there's a chance. So
would I would also love to see Buddy Matthews come back and help him out.
I
would too. I would too. I think all of those would be excellent. So, you know, we'll see how we'll see how our picks went come Saturday.
Yeah. I I'm really looking like I wish I could watch live and I wish I could do the show because I'm really intrigued by a lot of these matches and I really
Yep. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.
I really wanna see Mox and Ospreay. I'm s probably still gonna buy the pay per view and watch it later, just 'cause I wanna see it. So
Yeah. I totally
get that. Totally get that. So we'll you know, talk All Out this weekend. It'll be me and a guest star. We'll talk about All Out this weekend and break that all down. And then next Wednesday we'll see what the fallout is. But until then, like, share, and subscribe. If you haven't done so already, follow us at Elite Heat Pod on social media. You can also check us out at eliteheatpod. And of course
Also do us a favor,
go to DoichFoods.com. Use Elite
Amen.
Eat as the promo code. Save t is it twenty or twenty five? Twenty percent off your order. Have they I have I forgot to look this week. Have they are the protein cups in yet? Are they there?
You know what? I
haven't looked yet either, but who cares? Go get it. Go get some some co you know. Yep. Go
Yeah. Get the variety pack if you haven't if you haven't done it yet, get the variety pack.
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Have some awesome cookies or cookie dough, however you choose to go about it from you know, for for All Out. Yeah, it says they're still not out yet. You gotta sign up for early access. I need to sign up.
Yeah. I'm a dough guy. I'm a dough guy, so Yeah.
I'm a dough guy because I'm impatient and can't be bothered to bake. So I'll eat it right out of the jar.
I get it.
And I love it.
Yep. Same Z. So DoichFoods.com. That's D O I C H DoichFoods.com. Use promo code Elite Heat when you check out. Get some cookies for All Out. Or depending where you live, it might take longer. But whatever. You'll get some awesome cookie dough and maybe make some cookies and Yeah. All right. Let's go to bed after a long night of wrestling.
All right, sounds good.