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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.
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So we're gonna try something new right out of the gate here. This may work, this may fail miserably. I don't know, but we are going to call it the heat check. This is where we're gonna run very quickly through here's what we like, here's what we thought was kind of mid, kind of meh, and here's the stuff we didn't like, and then we'll get more in depth with it. So let's see how this goes. Doug, you do the honors of the first ever heat check for you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. So do you want to start with what I liked or what I disliked?
Yes. Yeah. Let's start with what you liked.
What I liked as far as wrestling wise, why wise you can't even get it out. Yeah. I did like the opening match. I thought the opening match was was really good with Rush and MJF. I liked that. I liked Lio Rush tonight. I loved the Speedball/Jet match. And I really, really, really liked the Ospreay Davis match. That may have been my match of the night. Promo wise, I liked the Death Rider promo in the back. I liked the Dogs Bucks promo.
Or wide.
I liked the Briscoe promo with a slight caveat that it was a bit too long, but otherwise I really liked the passion there. So those are the things that I really liked. What about you?
mine's pretty similar to yours from the matches. Really liked MJF and Rush. I thought they were really good. I'd like to get more of them. We can get more into that. Speedball and Kevin Knight were good. I think they could have been great. And we can talk more about why I think that. good could have been great. I liked Alex Windsor and the wild card. and I liked Ospreay and Davis. I I would agree with you that I think that that's pretty.
Mm-hmm.
Probably match of the night. It's to me, it's between Ospreay and Davis and MJF and Rush. And I'm leaning towards Ospreay and Davis. promo-wise, I liked the MJF and Rush stuff with a caveat. I think I thought it was good. It's sort of like what I said before of good could have been great. I agree with you on the Briscoe promo. Really liked it. Really liked what we saw from him. Thought it was a little long. We'll break that down some more here in a minute.
Yeah.
Fair.
Mm-hmm.
like the Death Riders with Ospreay, like the dogs and the Bucks. I liked MJF in the tub if for no other reason than him doing an interview from the tub was funny.
I honestly forgot about that one and that would go in my like category.
Yeah, I thought that was pretty good. so those are my likes. In the mid. Yeah. so for me, the mid slash meh, Thekla's promo, Ciampa's promo, Renee with Don in Okada, the Kevin Knight post match promo. And then I I I did put Lio Rush and Mark Briscoe here. We can talk about that a little more in depth. How about you?
What is in what's in your mid, yeah.
I put the Thekla promo as well. Renee with the dogs, only because the Bucks were the star of that one. That's why I thought it was a little mid. and the Teemu hangman line was the best. I thought the Don Callis Okada thing was okay, nothing special. Honestly, the Andrade match I put in as mid just because it was yet another squash. And then honestly, thought
Fair. Mm-hmm.
that the the women's Owen match with the wild card was mid mostly because of the of where it leaves Alex Windsor.
Okay. Okay. Well let's talk about more let's talk more about that here in a minute. Was that all your your mids? All right. So then what's the was there anything that you did not care for?
For my mid.
I believe so, yeah.
I didn't care for the way they treated Andrade tonight. I did not like a couple things that I thought could have been really good and they weren't there and it just felt like once again they just blew off and I didn't appreciate that. Didn't like it.
Okay. Yep. I I agree with you with Andrade. I I I am calling this Andrade versus Already in the Ring. because I'm not even sure they said the young man's name. They probably did, but I don't care. yeah, I I put that in my didn't care for it. I also don't like Kevin Knight joining the Don Callis family. I don't like it.
Do you guys?
Barely.
So let's talk about it. Let's dive in. Let's talk about why we feel the way that we feel about this stuff. so let's run through it the way that the show laid out. so right off the top, we got the Rush MJF promo, which again, I liked it because I I liked a lot of things here. I liked I liked what they did with Rush. I thought that sort of like
What?
Yeah yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
With Mark Briscoe, there was real, there was fire here. There was emotion here. There is passion here. And it was a really good spot for him. I even liked the pull apart. What I didn't love about this, and what I think kept it from being great, why did we do this in two segments? Like, why was it a pre-tape with the pull apart? And then we come back to live with Rush and Andrade. You could have done.
Yes.
All this in one segment, and it felt like a flimsy way to set up a no count outs, which is not no DQ and is an important thing when we talk about the match itself. But overall, I enjoyed it enough that I put it in my I liked it category. But I really think that that was a sequence that could have been really good, like really could have lit the match.
Right. Mm-hmm.
to start the show and because of the way that they produced it it held it back from being as good as I think it could have been.
I thought starting the show with that promo was weird and it felt awkward because there was no lead in. It was just here we are backstage and just a a graphic that said earlier today. And I thought that was kind of weird, kinda weak. I liked the Andrade Rush interaction, but it ultimately led to me be d me being disappointed later. So th th I kind of felt like then what what are we doing?
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
So that that was disappointing. But Rush in it was great. The MJF interaction was great. The breaking it up was odd. Overall, pretty good, but it didn't make my really, really good. So it's probably in my mid for that reason, because it could have been really, really good.
Sure. Yeah. I mean, I I like I said, for me, I liked it. I think I i if anything, believe it it's weird to say this when MJF is in the segment, but I think Rush is what really made that promo. I thought he really did such a good job there. and I think that that's why it pushed it into the I liked it category for me. so then we got the actual match between MJF and Rush.
yeah.
That's fair. Yeah.
What?
I will say at least I'm gonna say at least forty percent of why I liked the match was MJF coming out dressed as a matador.
That was pretty funny. That was pretty good.
I really, really enjoyed that.
That was pretty nice. I liked it. And I like well, and I liked the fact that it was the callback to the earlier the f opening segment where you said if you're the bull then I'm the matador and that's when he got taken down. So I really I thought that was fun. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. in terms of the match itself, I I thought it was a really good match. I think the no count out was weird. I don't think they needed to do it. And if you're gonna do it, just go ahead and call it no DQ because it they treated it like a no DQ match. There were so many things that they did where both guys should have gotten disqualified and they didn't. So
Mm-hmm.
Yep. Right. Yeah, if you're gonna do it, do it. Or don't. 'Cause in the way it ended, it was irrelevant. You didn't even need the no count out. It was irrelevant. So again, you you're right that Matt that while the promo was okay, it it didn't need to happen the way it did, so
Yeah.
Well, and I don't think the promo did anything to feed into the stipulation. So this is one where I'm gonna admittedly nitpick it a little bit, but I'm gonna nitpick this one on you had a really, really good match, and I think putting the stipulation into it was pointless and was an example of when Tony Khan overbooked stuff. And, you know, look, I get it that they probably said, Hey, we want to do all these spots outside the ring, like the
Mm mm.
when Rush crashed through the the barrier, which was great, you know. When like when have you been watching a wrestling match and gotten legitimately upset because they didn't do the 10 count?
Mm-hmm.
Right. And even in a even in a in a match that you do do the ten count, they don't use it every time they're outside the ring. If they're outside and swinging on each other, they rarely are counting. When people are putting people through tables, they aren't counting. So it it was Yeah.
It happens all the time.
Yeah, the referee often f yeah. Yeah, the referee often follows them out and fine, just do that. It was fine. You don't need the the stipulation. It was pointless.
Yeah, it was unnecessary and like you said, a little overbooked. So but I I really liked the match. I thought Rush looked really good.
But we had and then of course MJF went to attack him. And this is where this is where I got disappointed. Briscoe came out and not Andrade. And I thought it made so much more sense if Andrade would have come out because he just gave him that big pep talk and was like, show him we can win. Show him we're championship material. To me, it made more sense if he would have come out. I understand why Briscoe came out.
Okay.
But I don't know why. Okay, Briscoe comes out, he gets laid out. Okay. Have Andrade come out then and stand him down and have him back away. But it I'm more disappointed in the fact that I felt Andrade was not given that opportunity that I think they had kind of set up earlier and then didn't. So that was my biggest disappointment with that. But I did like the conglomer I did enjoy the conglomeration coming out. I just
That's fair.
expected Andrade and thought it made more sense in the moment.
I get that. I I I see where you're coming from on that. I don't necessarily disagree with you on it. I I just will say while watching it that didn't jump out at me. it could be because I was very amused by three members of the conglomeration having their own faces on their t shirts. I don't know. I may have been more distracted by that, than than thinking about it. I I think you make a good point though. Didn't bother me as much, but valid. And w later
We're gonna talk more about Andrade and I'm gonna be more on your side on this one. So I think. So
Yeah. And I think that what we just talked about adds an extra layer to that.
Yeah. You know, in and yes, I do. Yeah. And, you know, really with this match, I think for me, like I said, I'm I was kinda between this one and Ospreay and Davis for match of the night. I think what holds this back for me from really being match of the night is this is a me thing. I fully admit this is a me thing. I don't like the pass out finish.
You know what I mean?
I just don't like it. Especially when you have the whole show of Rush making the face at him and giving him the finger and then he just immediately blacks out. Like I don't didn't love it. But I would not be at all upset if they ran this back and we got more of MJF and Rush.
Yep. I get it.
Mm-hmm.
No. Mm-hmm. I think what disappointed me a little bit about it was it felt like we're gonna stay with this and with limited interruption. They went to break, they came back, and three minutes later the match is over. And I was like, I it just felt like it ended too soon for me if you're gonna have the pass out be the ending. Felt like he should have, you know, it should have been it would have been a little better and more believable in my head if they would have went another ten minutes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then it's a l it's like, fuck, these guys have been going for a while. Now that makes sense. This felt a little bit rushed in that way, but again, I understand the reasoning. I just thought it different and better.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it would have been a better finish if when he made when Rush made the face and gave him the finger, if he fights out of the hold, and then, you know, three minutes later MJF gets him in it again and that shoulder, he just can't take it anymore. That would have been a better way to work it, I think. and let's be honest, I have yet to be wrong.
Mm-hmm.
Yep. I agree.
Do not go check me on that.
Fair enough. Not even sure I could.
My I I need to do this. My well, my wife had this idea, and I think she's right. I need to put this together. I need to edit together the montage of you and I going from my god, I can't believe they put the belt on Darby to us going, we were wrong. we were very, very wrong about that. Yeah. Yeah, I own that. I was very wrong. Mm-hmm.
Yep. Look, I I'll admit that. That's fine. I was wrong about that. I didn't I was confused, but the by week two I was in. Made sense. I'm on it.
Yep. Yep. then we got like you said, Briscoe came out and stayed in the ring. so he could have his match with Lio Rush. I put this in my meh category. I don't have a strong reason for it. I like the Lio Rush character. I thought the match between them was actually pretty fun. But I think my issue with this.
Mm-hmm.
is I don't know what we're doing with Lio Rush. Like he's gonna pop up and he's gonna have these matches and he's gonna get T V time and that's fine.
Mm-hmm.
But then he loses. So I don't know where we're going with him. I don't know I just don't get it, I guess. I don't get what the plan is. and I don't know that Mark Briscoe beating Lio Rush makes a strong case for Mark Briscoe to then challenge for the world title.
I agree. I agree. If if you notice, if you notice what I said I liked was Lio Rush. Because I liked Lio Rush in this. I liked how when he's coming to the ring, the conglomeration stopped and didn't move and didn't look at him. I thought that was really funny. And I thought him whispering to Briscoe at the beginning was an interesting new nugget.
So that's why I kinda dropped it down.
That's true. Yeah.
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
And I just I like the weirdness of it. I like we're getting to see a little more of him. What they're doing with him, I don't have the foggiest idea, but I like them giving us a character that ha yeah, that is just more than I'm gonna beat your ass. And he's he's just weird and you don't know. And he's still working really, really well in the ring, and he looks cool, and it's just I don't know. I really like the fact that they put him on. And I did like the fact that Briscoe won, but like you, I'm not sure I I put
Yeah.
A win from Briscoe equals title shot question mark, but okay.
I mean, I get that the angle here and and this would play into the promo that followed. I get the angle is really more of Max, I beat you once already, and I you can't beat me. And you're not giving me the match because you're afraid. You're ducking me. Like I get that. But again, I don't know. Like we had talked about this.
a couple of weeks ago of I I think it would be I I like the angle of MJF basically saying, look, you're not gonna get a a title shot because you can't be the face of a company. I like that. But I also like the idea of him saying to people, You haven't beaten anyone. You know, you okay, you beat a weird Lio Rush. Great. Now go beat Mark Davis. Go beat Ospreay. Go beat John Moxley. Like
Yep. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
you know, list off MJF's resume of wins and say, go beat those guys, then you can come get in the ring with me. You know, I think that would be a better angle, I guess, for lack of a better term. You know, instead of, we squashed a bunch of dudes and now we get the title shot, you know, so I don't know.
Right.
Yeah. Yeah, I thought that was weird, but I also wrote down Briscoe new t shirt, moist ass bitch.
I did enjoy it. The promo was good. I I I really enjoyed the promo. I think it's very interesting when he gets serious like that, when he gets real. because he does still manage to work in things like moist ass bitch. I liked it. I I I thought his promo was good.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Like I said, my only caveat is that I thought it was a bit long, but otherwise I really enjoyed it.
Yeah. so go ahead. Yeah.
Now we had the the promo net the speaking of promos, we had Thekla coming out with the promo. I liked half of it.
E okay, me too. But I'm curious to hear you say it though.
I liked I liked the first half of when she's coming down and just calling everybody dumb bitches and is shouting everybody out. When they got to start saying when she started talking about how the sisters were gonna win and get, you know, she was gonna blue is Skye Blue is gonna win the Owen, and Hart is gonna get her title back, which I kinda forgot she even had the TNT title. And then she hawked a big Loogie onto STARDOM and it
Mm-hmm.
I kinda did too, yeah.
It didn't get the pop I think they were hoping for when she said I'm declaring death on STARDOM because I don't think STARDOM has been made a big enough deal yet with the AEW fans in general. So I felt like that they're really force feeding that angle on us. Which I get it, if you're if it's gonna be part of for the bidden door, you have to. So I like the first half, which felt very Thekla to me, and then this second half of crap it all over STARDOM.
I agree.
It didn't hit as well with me and I wasn't as thrilled.
Yeah, I I mostly liked that first part of it. like I really didn't have a problem with it. I didn't even have that big of a problem with her getting into the stuff with STARDOM. Now I I'm gonna put an asterisk on that because they're assuming knowledge. They're they've they've made mention of, she got fired from STARDOM, but they're assuming that you know the whole story and they should not assume that. the other thing.
Right.
Yep.
That I where it really fell apart for me was I'm like, okay, Skye Blue and and Julia Hart went and got a ladder. I'm like, man, I bet she's gonna climb up there and like, I don't know, spray paint over the logo or something. And then when all she did was spit on it and flip it off, I went, Well, that did not have the impact you guys were hoping for. yeah, I and that's where it fell apart for me. And that's what moved that promo from
That's kind of Exactly. Exactly.
Mm-hmm.
What probably would have been on a borderline of me putting it in the liked category anyway, but I probably would have kept it in the I liked it category. But then that happened and I was like, that was just that was fucking cheesy, man. And that's what bumped it into the meh. You know, and and I get it. You've got beef with the promotion, declaring death on the promotion. Okay, fine. I think it would make more sense if she called out whoever their champion is.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah. I agree.
Yeah. One hundred percent. Or or
You know, I think that would at least help. You'd give me something to Google then, you know.
Which which one of the cause isn't one of the competitors in the Owen from STARDOM? At least one, maybe two. Call them out by name. Call them out by name. Because I think one of is taking on Skye Blue. So it's like
Yes. I think you're right. Yeah.
Yeah.
It it makes me feel like Yeah, I think you might be right, but it makes me feel like they know they're gonna have her fight somebody from STARDOM at Forbidden Door, but they don't know who yet. That's what it feels like to me. And I don't know how you I don't know how that happens at this point, you know? Like
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Exactly. Exactly. You know, but what and if you but if you don't know that and you know you have one of the STARDOM people in your tournament, have her call them out. Be like if you think you're moving on, you're out of your head.
So the whole thing on
Yeah. I I
Yeah. Yeah, it it it all just it didn't land very well. which is too bad. Cause again, you know, broken record again of like give the women a story. Just a story at this point. so then we got the Death Riders with Ospreay. I liked it. I mean
No.
Yes, please.
I don't really have anything to add to that. I I liked it. I liked this whole thing. I like this story.
Mm-hmm. I thought it was interesting the new tweak at the end where Mox is like, I don't like what's happening. I don't like all these factions. I'm like, okay, so they're starting to plant the seeds of Death Riders are going to start taking on every every other faction around. And of course, Don Callis' family is the biggest, and they're probably going to be the first. And we get a little bit of that really quickly.
Yeah. Yeah, it does feel to me, my thought, and we can well, there's really not much more to add to this, but my thought coming out of the donnybrook in the main event was you like that, donnybrook? Yeah. I broke that out though. The last time I broke it out was when you weren't here that that week that you weren't recently and and so I've been waiting to uncork it again. Anyway.
Loved it.
My thought coming out of that was like, man, this feels like they're setting up a anarchy in the arena or blood and guts or something like that. And that's fine. That's fine. I have no issue with that whatsoever. yeah, but like I said, I don't have a lot to add to it other than I like the story, I like the promo. I thought, good job.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I was fine with it. They kept it short. I liked it. And then I think we come back to yet another promo with Renee with the dogs. Which was interesting. It wasn't terrible. And I don't know. Normally I like maybe I just like them in the ring better. I thought it was okay. But and I was glad to see the Bucks come out. And for me the highlight was them calling Connors a Temu Hangman Adam Page.
Yeah, that was good. So you you you did by my notes, you did skip ahead a little bit, but that's fine. I don't care. we skipped a couple things. We skipped a couple things there. Yeah. That's okay. That's okay. To put the bow on that, we'll skip over it when we get to it chronologically. I I I didn't have a problem with the the dogs part of the promo. I l I kind of like them poking fun at the classic Edge and Christian stuff.
What did we skip? the whole match. God, we I skipped a blunch. Yeah, sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
Yes.
I like that a lot.
yeah, I kind of like it. but you are right that the Bucks were the stars here. You they absolutely were the best part of that promo. And you know what? If you're gonna give me the Bucks and the dogs, okay. Yeah, let's do it. Yeah. Was it the greatest promo I've ever seen? No. But I think that because I'm in for what it looks like it's leading to, I think that helped push it up for me. And like I said, I liked them.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. I'm there for it.
No.
Kind of poking fun at the edge and Christian stuff.
Yeah. I don't have a big problem with it. I just I'm I'm super happy if this is gonna lead us to dogs versus bucks a few times. I'm in.
Yeah. so to back up to the things that we jumped over, to be fair, we probably could have just jumped over this one anyway. We got Andrade versus already in the ring.
Didn't even get a full intro. He was already in the ring, and then the what's his nuts announcer just goes, some guy or whatever his name was.
Yeah, well yeah I'd never caught his name. I
Didn't even get a full no, he didn't get a full intro. They never mentioned it. He got his he yeah, whooped.
No. Yeah. And here's my problem with it. I think the first one is I'm over the squashes. We've been doing a lot of these and I'm kind of done with it. The because and it goes back to what I've seen before of if all this is to rack wins for this person, in this case Andrade, to challenge MJF for the title, have them beat somebody. Have him beat somebody that I know who they are, where I'm not making
Mm-hmm.
You know, coming up with different nicknames for this person that we're not gonna see again in my notes, you know. Have them beat somebody, and you already had Andrade on a roll. Like Andrade, of all the people that have called their shot for the world title over the last couple months, Andrade is one of arguably the most, but probably one of the most credible challengers for it.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
I don't need to see him squash somebody. It was a waste of time. And I that's why I didn't like it. I'm like, this was pointless in my mind.
Mm-hmm.
I and here's where it started the where I started to feel like they're they're they're missing out on Andrade, unless this is playing into a longer game of Andrade and the Don Callis family splitting, which I have a hunch it r it is. But again, when you had the the setup with Andrade and Rush, and I thought you had the the perfect opportunity for him to come out then and he didn't, and then he's like, I want the world title, out comes Don Callis with Jake Doyle to introduce.
I do too, yeah.
The Jet Kevin Knight as the newest member.
Kevin Knight.
And you don't mention Andrade. You're just like, Good job, Andrade. And then Don spits his teeth out and picks him up. And then that was creepy. and then Andrade's gone. Just gone. And I was like, What are we doing here? What are we doing?
Yeah. Yeah. I I agree. It doesn't make any sense to me. They did more to make Andrade a credible challenger with the stuff he was saying to Rush at the beginning of the show.
Exactly. Which is why I was so disappointed.
And and Yeah, and you could have just had him cut the promo. You know, you could have just had him cut that promo. You didn't need the squash match. It was pointless. I'm tired of these. Get them off my TV.
Mm-hmm.
Yep. We didn't need that because you had you had the next match between JetSpeed against each other. So just have Don come out, introduce the newest member. Here comes the match. We didn't need Andrade just squashing this dude and then s talking about the title and then getting no real reaction or input from Don about it about it. And then yeah, move on.
So you
Mm-hmm.
Yep, I agree. so let's talk about Kevin Knight joining the family. I'm curious what your feelings on that are.
At first I was like, okay, if you're gonna let Don do all the talking, maybe that works, but they aren't gonna let him do all the talking for Kevin. Kevin did some talking of his own. I don't really understand why you would do it. I know they tried to explain it with, you know, Don's got can make things happen and yada yada, and Kevin's like, I'm just using you to get to the top, so let's make this happen. I don't think it was a necessary.
a necessary association that they needed to make. So
I'm kind of indifferent to it. I don't hate it. I don't love it. I I don't see what it does for either f well, I think it makes the Don Callis faction that much better, but I don't know exactly what it's doing for Kevin Knight.
Mm.
Yeah. That's why I don't like it. So pretty much everything you said there was why I didn't like it. number one, right off the bat, what you said. If Don's gonna do all the talking for him, then my then I'm on board. But he didn't. And that's not apparently how it's gonna go. So when you remove that piece of the equation, my thought here and why I don't like it is I want one heel.
Mm-hmm. Nope.
that isn't named MJF to stand on their own. Is there a male heel that is not in the Don Callis family right now? I guess the dogs, but give them a minute.
Yeah.
depending on how you pigeonhole him swerve.
Okay, fair, fair. I guess yeah, he is working heel, but I think perhaps the better way to put it is I think that we could probably count on one hand, which to be fair, we have some extra fingers, but I think that we could probably count on one hand how many heels are not affiliated with Don Callis.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
And I don't know why we don't have some dudes who are just like let Kevin Knight just be a heel. If Don Callis isn't gonna be his mouthpiece, then just let him be a heel. Just let him be a heel. And if we're gonna break up the Don Callis family, which we're clearly headed towards, it's not gonna make as much impact because if you split Andrade and Takeshita off of it, which Konosuke Takeshita's already off, right?
Mm-hmm.
If you split Andrade from it, you've now removed two dudes from a faction of, I think, eight hundred dudes.
Absolutely.
I believe you're right. Eight one now with jet.
Right. So, you know, when you're talking about seven hundred ninety-eight guys or seven hundred and ninety-nine guys versus two.
Mm-hmm.
Not exactly the most impactful thing. And so I don't think, I mean, I'm certain this is some long-term storytelling that they're doing, and that this is one of those things where in a month we're going to look back and go, okay, I see why they did it because this would led to this, led to this. I think that that's what they're doing here. But man, in the moment, I was just like, come on. I don't like it.
What it what it felt what it felt like tonight for me anyway was they thought they needed a way to have Kevin win by cheating without him just being the cheater and having the Don Callis family interfere. So they protect Speedball a little bit, but they still get Kevin the mostly clean win because it wasn't really him doing the cheating. It was the Don Callis family. And I thought, well, that's that's a little weak, especially when
Kevin takes the mic at the end and gives that promo of I'm ready, MJF. I guess I cut dead weight. I'm good to go. I'm just hanging with these guys for the title shot, basically. And I was like, You could have done that whole promo without the Don Callis family. You don't need them for that. That's the angle you're going. So it it just felt weird. And I hope there is some legs to this, but we'll we'll see. We'll see.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Right. And yeah.
And let them let him win by cheating. He's a heel now. Get him heel heat. Like I I don't it it I didn't like any of that. Of him joining the family. I didn't like it. The match was good. Like I said, I like the match. The match was very good.
Yeah. Yeah, man.
Mm-mm.
yeah. I liked it a lot. I liked it a lot. That was almost my match of the night. It was so good. But the the rick of a roll around it were kind of meh.
Yeah. I thought they were very good. I
Yes, agreed. Match was very good. I think you and I are going to say the same thing about what kept it from being truly great. For me, it was what we talked about last week of give it more build. Give it, give it a two-week build. And this thing could have been at an absolute boil two weeks from now. And man, you stick that in the main event, like people would have been into it.
Yeah. Yes.
You know what?
Crowd would have been popping. I would have been pouching on the couch. Like, I'd have been into it. Like you could have let that boil for two more weeks. And man, they put that match on that they did tonight. And it goes from you and I talking about like, good match. It was a good match. To us going, damn, that was good.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
You know, because now you've got that emotional impact behind it and that story behind it, it really would have elevated it. And that's why I say good match that could have been great if it happened two weeks from now.
Yep. Absolutely. Because if you look at how Speedball came down with just this much notice, he looks so much more intense than he ever has. Imagine two weeks worth of layering on top of that of something happening, of Kevin avoiding him or Kevin punking him out, or Kevin being like, We we just needed something. Something in there. Or maybe sure, maybe Kevin joins the Don Callis family and isn't gonna wrestle him. And and you know, he gets heat for that and something, but they crammed it all together.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I hope they run this back. I hope they give that one a little more time to breathe so that there is that continued build up. Cause I don't think this was a satisfying end for Speedball, clearly. And I don't think it was a sad it's clear I hope that's not a blow off because my God, it was one match after we broke up. No. Don't do that to us. No. So we'll see what happens.
Mm-hmm.
Uh-huh. Yeah. I agree. My hope is that they did it this quickly to then pivot for Forbidden Door. My guess is that Kevin Knight's going to defend the TNT title on Forbidden Door against somebody. I don't know who, but somebody. And then my hope is that they're going to come back and ultimately the blow off is going to be at All In. I hope.
Mm-hmm.
That'd be that'd be fine. That'd be fine.
I hope that's what they do with it. And if they do, then this will be one of the things that we can look back on and go, Well, I wouldn't even say I'm wrong because I don't think in the moment I'm wrong. You know, now hopefully at the end of August, we're sitting here going like, okay, they they pulled it out, right? Like they did what they should have done and they made it work. But if this is it for those two, and right now we have no reason to believe that it is not that that wasn't the blow off, you know.
No, I don't either.
Right. Yeah.
I mean, you and I are fantasy booking it and and and thinking in terms of, you know, what professional wrestling has taught us over the decades to expect. But right now the information in front of us is that was the match. That was it. Kevin Knight's trying to move on to the world title, if that's how it goes. Wildly disappointing.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, very much so. Because again, you just Marty Jannetty'd Speedball for no reason.
Right. Right. so then we'll skip ahead 'cause we kind of talked about the other things that happened between that and the MJF interview from a tub, which again I mostly bring up because it was an interview from a tub and I thought that was funny.
Here's the thing that that struck me that I think is going to give Briscoe out, and I think you know what I'm gonna say, is when at the end, MJF says, nobody can trump me.
Well, there's Tony Khan. Ton Tony can. And I get the feeling that Tony is going to intervene and we're gonna see Briscoe versus MJF. I don't know when. maybe I don't think it's gonna be next week, but I don't think it's gonna be at Forbidden Door. But maybe.
That's a good point.
yeah.
My guess we'll go ahead.
No, I don't I don't think so either. My guess is that they'll they'll drag it out a little bit because of Forbidden Door. And
What gives you any indication that they're gonna do any dragging out of anything at this point?
Well, okay, that's a fair point. That's a fair point. That's a fair point. But well, I guess my thought on it is so
I'm just organizing my thoughts. Here's here's how I'm looking at it. My guess, and this is purely a guess, is that he's gonna get Andrade next. And they haven't announced it yet. But we're gonna get MJ F and Andrade quite possibly this coming Wednesday. I don't know. Knowing them.
And then they might do it after that. But the the other thing holding me back from it is at some point you've got to build whatever it is you're going to do at Forbidden Door, which again, we really are not doing. So and and and like I said last week, I don't think you need a ton of build to it, but this is now two of your four dynamites in June where you really didn't build it.
Mm-hmm.
Not much.
No.
And the show is at the end of the month. Sue. you gotta start at some point, right? And that's why I kinda wonder if they'll punt the match with Briscoe to after Forbidden Door and then from there move to the rumored program with Kenny Omega since Montreal looms in July. And but that's why I think they might drag the Brisco thing out a little bit, is because at some point.
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
You've got to do something to build whoever he's gonna face at Forbidden Door.
Yes, absolutely. Cause he he should be on the card. I hope he is.
Now, everything you said there, I don't see how he couldn't be. So, I mean, I he could. I mean, it's certainly possible, but I'd be pretty stunned. But, you know, everything you said there is correct. There's really no no reason for me to think they're gonna drag anything out at this point when it comes to the world.
Nope.
so then we got Alex Windsor and Mercedes Moné. Whoop, spoiler, whoop.
How long ago did we call that? The minute they announced it? The minute they announced it.
the minute they announced it, and I think everybody was with us. I mean, I know there were some people that were like, maybe it'll be Britt Baker, or maybe it'll be you know, this Japanese wrestler, or maybe it'll be one of the recently released people from WWE, although that couldn't happen because of the ninety day non compete clause. So, you know, I get it. It's fun to speculate, but come on, man, we all knew it was Mercedes.
Yep. And that and that's fine. I had no problem with it. Because at this point, if it wasn't going to be Mercedes, it was going to be a letdown.
No.
Yes, I agree. why I liked the match, I thought the match was pretty good, but I think one of the things that that I really enjoyed about it is watching Mercedes Moné, I was like, my God, this is exactly what the women's division needs because that woman, in every sense of the word, is an absolute star. And I'm not trying to take anything away.
I don't know.
You locked up on my end. I don't know if you can hear me.
But
From any of the women that are there. I'm not trying to take anything away from Kris Statlander or from Thekla or anybody else, but she is an absolute star and she carries herself that way and she backs it up in the ring, and they need that real bad right now in the women's division. And here's the thing. If that if if if her return tonight doesn't just automatically in some way lead to her winning the Owen.
And getting the title shot at All In, then what the hell are we doing? Because that has to be it. And she and Thekla will put a good match on and buddy, you switch that belt in London.
Yep. I agree. I agree. I thought the match was good. I thought Mercedes looked really good in being for being out of the ring for so long. I thought she looked good in her return. The thing that that sullies it a bit for me, and I knew this is where I was gonna be, was once again, we've put Alex Windsor in a kind of no win situation. And the birds aren't a solid thing.
Because they s they focused on them for like three weeks and then it was, you know, singles match, singles match, single match, tag. And now the one's in the O one, one's not. So that to me is what ruined it because I I think you you did it at the expense of Alex Windsor. Now, granted, it had to be at someone's expense. I just don't like that it was Alex Windsor, that it was at their expense.
I get that. I get that. It could have easily been Mina Shirakawa in that spot, right?
Yeah, or one of the one of the people coming from STARDOM or something. That's fine. But again, like I said, just because of the the weird, inconsistent treatment with Alex Windsor that that was my only caveat to not enjoying that as much as I did. Because I was like, Well, I know who's coming out on top. Because if you're waiting for Mercedes to be your your wild card and she's losing, what are we doing? But she won, which she should.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But poor Alex, that's all. That's all.
No, I I I don't think you're wrong on that. I think I the only thing I can think of as I was sitting here listening to you talk about that and in my mind agreeing with you of yeah, they keep false starting the both of the brawling birds. I think I've just become immune to it. Like I get I think I just expect it of like you're gonna talk them up, you're gonna put them in a position to try and make them look strong, but they're gonna lose. And
Mm.
Sort of like with the Lio Rush stuff, I'm like, I don't know how long you can do that before I go, okay, and somebody else beat Jamie Hayter, somebody else beat Alex Windsor. Yawn, you know, like I and and and I and unfortunately I think we're to that point where I go, yeah, I expect that you're going to lose. Like I see the hierarchy here, and y'all ain't at the top. So, you know, I I guess I'm just kind of immune to it now. And I just I I don't know. Maybe I was just like.
Yeah.
Right.
swept up in the Mercedes of it all. I don't know, but yeah.
No, I get I again, I get it. And it's I don't think it's fair to penalize Mercedes for how they treated Alex Windsor, but for me that darkened the match just a little bit. But I did it, like I said, I enjoyed having Mercedes come back. I thought she looked great. I thought the crowd behind her was cool. I I'm on board with her coming back and doing what she needs to do. Just I wish someone else would have eaten the pen instead of Alex. That's all.
Yeah.
I get it.
Yep, that's fair. Excuse me. That's fair. then we got Renee with Don Callis Okada that I made absolutely no notes about. which is why it resides firmly in my meh category. I think.
Same.
Yep. Yep. Same. 'Cause I was like, okay.
Yeah. All right. Want my title back. Okay.
What did what did you think of the next promo with Ciampa?
So I put it in my meh category, and it's probably closer to me not liking it than me liking it because we're just playing Jericho's greatest hits now.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
okay.
I thought I appreciate Ciampa trying his best to make this promo work. To make this angle work. I just it's feels so flimsy. And like you said, to to I even wrote down pulling out a lot of Jericho quotes. Why? What do we do? I don't again, I'm left spinning my wheels in this could be good.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I I yeah, I don't know.
But your reason for it doesn't make a lot of sense. And so it's hard for me to get behind Jericho and Ciampa. So in my head now, Ciampa and Jericho are kind of mid-card acts and they shouldn't be.
I no, I agree with you on that. I, you know, it g it goes back to what we talked about last week of did Jericho reinvent himself again? And I argue no. He's he's doing his greatest hits. And now you've got his opponent doing his greatest hits. So, first of all, how am I how are you supposed to convince me this isn't a retirement tour? I mean, that's number one in my mind, is why are we pulling out stuff from the WCW days, which
No. Yep.
Right.
You know, Ciampa pulled out on Saturday with the I Have a Thousand and Four Reasons. If you don't remember, or if you weren't alive for it, Dean Malenko was the man of a thousand holds, and Jericho in a feud with him said, Yeah, well, I'm the man of a thousand and four holds, you know. So we're going, we're calling back to that, which, you know, again, for guys like us that were there for it, like, yay, fun. I don't mind the Easter eggs. That's fun. But for but I don't know how that isn't like
Yeah.
Yep.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
We're doing the Jericho retirement tour here. The other part of it is how in the world is that building a program, especially when Ciampa's supposed to be the psycho killer? Like, it would be so much better if Ciampa came out and just said, I don't like you and I want to beat your ass. All right, cool. I'm on board. Let's do it. Let's do it. I don't need him quoting Jericho from nineteen ninety-seven or whatever, you
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yep. Mm-hmm.
Right. In in the reasoning of what better way to establish myself as the psychokiller than by taking out Jericho? It's like well what was he doing before he left? And what he just got back like that didn't make any sense. If you want to be the psycho killer and put your stamp on things, take out the elite, take out Okada, take out anybody but Jericho.
No, it didn't.
Mm-hmm.
Take out MJF. I I mean, you know, if if if if the whole thing is you're planting your flag as this is mine, why wouldn't you? I mean, I know he lost to Darby, but why wouldn't you keep going after whoever the world champion is? Why wouldn't you just keep targeting champions in general? Like it just doesn't Ciampa is lost in this company right now and they gotta figure it out.
Yeah. Yep. Yep.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, didn't feel good and I like I said, it just made me think of these two guys that shouldn't be in my head as mid card guys, as mid card guys.
No.
Yeah, I'm with you on that. It didn't feel good. But boy, Ospreay and Davis sure did.
Mm mm.
Holy balls, that was a great match. I liked it.
That really was. I I initially I was surprised that it was the main event. I assume they put it there because they knew they were gonna tear it down. I'm still a little surprised that it was the main event in a show where you had both the world championship and the TNT championship defended when either of those felt to me like they could be main event matches. That itty bitty nitpick aside that has nothing to do with Will Ospreay and Mark Davis, this is a banger of a match.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Yeah.
Big fan, match of the night. like I said, I liked the donnybrook of the factions getting involved. I am with Mox of I'm not sure that I love everybody being in a faction. And if this somehow leads to breaking some of them up, okay. Let's do it. Let's do it.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah. What what I did like about the scrum because a lot of times I don't I'm not always a fan of how AEW does their pull apart and their big interferences like this. I really liked this one because it was layered and it clearly started to kind of pair them up and and and give everybody some one offs and like, okay, now U two and U two and U two and U two.
Mm-hmm.
Now, okay, now we're setting up ongoing feud between these two factions with individuals that we can look at and go, okay, this makes sense, this moves on. That I really liked. And I really liked having Takeshita come out when Fletcher seemed to be the final nail, and then Takeshita comes out and it's back to being even. I I just I thought it was well done all the way around. And this the the especially after the scrum, I think there were
At least two, if not three, one two ooze that were like, Ooh, nice, you got me. You got me.
Yeah. I I mean I thought he had him on I thought Ospreay had him on the Styles Clash, you know, and then and they didn't do it there. I I totally agree with you on everything you said there. I I don't always love run ins, period, regardless of the company doing it. totally agree with you. They set up really good building blocks here of how we're gonna do the war between Don Callis family and the Death Riders. They did it in a way that made sense.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
If we're gonna get Mark Davis and Claudio, which are or I cause they paired off, if I recall correctly, like, yep, I'm I'm in. I'm in for that. And I'm not, you know, I I don't dislike Claudio, but we've talked about it on the show. I'm not he's got four moves. I'm not his biggest supporter in the world, but let's do it, man. Let's big meaty men slappin' meat. Let's do it, you know. yeah, I I agree. I thought that the whole the whole match worked. I I mean
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Plus we got plus if this is a signal that Lance Archer is gonna get back in the ring some more, then yes, by all means. I I'm a fan of that. So seeing him get in there, get in some decent offense a little bit at least, and just seeing pair up, I I was like, Okay, great. Boatloads of storytelling in the in the last five minutes of this show, but
Every bit of it worked.
Yeah.
You you got you got a you got more exposition in with these with this match than you did, I think, any of the other matches. So congratulations. But yeah, I I liked it start to finish. I thought it was great. And I loved seeing Shafir hop on top of Davis's back. I thought that was really fun.
Yeah. That that was really good. And I had no problem with you know, I know sometimes they shy away from this, and I get the reason why. I had no problem with Jake Doyle tossing her and her taking the bump. Like it fits the character, it fits the story. I don't have a problem with it. yeah, I thought the whole thing was really, really good. The whole thing was really good. Again, I'm gonna say
Mm-hmm.
The Will Ospreay and the Death Rider stuff is I think the most compelling story they have going right now.
Absolutely. I think that is the big storyline that they have. I think it's the most meaty one going. And that says something when it's doesn't involve your world champion.
Yep, it really does. And it I think only helps with Will's ascension to the title because I am just every week more and more convinced that this man is winning the Owen, he's going to All In, and he's winning at Wembley. I don't know who he's beaten there, but I know he's winning at Wembley.
Yep. He is going to have a hell of a match against Swerve Strickland. It is going to be really, really it's going to be tough. It's going to be we're going to wonder if he's going to be able to make it to All In because of his neck, because Swerve's going to attempt to kill him. And it might take the Death Rider saving him, but he is going to go to he's going to beat Swerve. He's going to go to to All In and he's going to challenge for the title.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Like you said, it just is dependent on who it's gonna be. Is it gonna be Kenny Omega? Is it gonna be MJF? Is it gonna be Andrade? It's not gonna be Rush. Not gonna be Briscoe. yeah. I doubt Darby's coming back yet.
I doubt it's gonna be Darby. I think I think we'll get Darby back between now and All In. I think they'll get him on the All In card, but I don't think it's gonna be his champion. I yeah. Yeah, I I don't have a problem with that. If you if if you know, if you fantasy book it, if MJF drops to Omega in Montreal, which I think I'm gonna go ahead and call my shot on that one now, that that's what's gonna happen. and if Kenny so you get
Mm mm. And that's okay.
All right.
Be because that would also then make this weird stuff between Ospreay and Omega make sense, right? So you get Ospreay and Omega at All In. If Darby comes back, you know, possibly intervenes in that match or he comes back after it and jumps Max after he's lost to Omega at whatever the new pay-per-view's name is. I'll learn it, but Yeah, I'll I'll learn it by the time we get to the show, probably.
Yes.
Mm-hmm. I think it's gonna new pay-per-view, isn't it?
New pay-per-view.
you know, then you could do Darby and MJF again at All In and you don't need a belt on the line for that. And you know, I okay, let's do it. You know, you know, those guys are they've got good chemistry, they're good together. Let's do it. So, you know, it's it's there's some seeds there for where I think we might be headed for All In. It's just gonna be a question of the how of it all, right?
Mm-mm.
Yeah.
If they can pull it all together. And I'm gonna be honest with you, where I am gonna nitpick a little bit here again is I kinda wish that they would go back to fewer pay-per-views. Like I I don't mind forbidden do Forbidden Door being in between double or nothing and All In, but I think coming out of Forbidden Door, it should all it should be all about All In. And it's not gonna be. And I don't know that that's I don't know that I love that. But
yep.
Absolutely. Right.
No.
Again, that's a nitpick. but overall it's you know, we had a lot more stuff in the liked it than didn't, I think. I had one, two, three
I did. 'Cause really the only thing I did not like was the the take on Andrade. That was my biggest thing I didn't like. I thought most of the I thought the action in the ring for the most part was great. I thought the promos for the most part were good. I I the closest I could c come to putting one of the promos in there is is Ciampa's into the dislike. But overall I thought it was a really good show.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I liked it.
Yeah, it's a good show. There's again, there's some seeds planted here. my main two questions with Dynamite, and these are probably going to be my main two questions for the next at least week, possibly longer, are as follows. Number one, when are we gonna start to build the Forbidden Door? And number two, where is hangman Adam Page?
Yep.
It's good question. It's a good question.
Really thought he was gonna show up tonight. Really, really did.
I was a slightly surprised. Slightly surprised he did not. I do like the fact that they did work in a Hangman Adam Page reference with the Bucks, but
Yeah. Yep.
Two of They had two of them 'cause MJF had Justin Roberts bring it up in the intro. Yeah. Yeah.
That's right. Yep. I forgot about that. So yeah, that was interesting that he wasn't there. I'm a little surprised. But you know what? It kind of makes me just look forward to him being back a little more. So, okay.
Yeah. Yeah. It just makes me wonder where he's gonna slot into all this when he comes back, but I guess we'll find out when we get there. all right.
Right.
Because because to be honest, if he came back tonight, then it as if the world title picture wasn't already cloudy enough. I honestly think if he came back tonight, it it would've it it throws such a monkey wrench into any plans that may or may not have been slated. I think it just would have added too much confusion. So I'm o while I anticipated him and and was a disappointed he wasn't there, I'm almost glad he wasn't.
That's true.
Until things s settle out a bit and he can come back and there's a little clearer path as opposed to just fifty trying to head for that title at one time.
Yeah, I think that's fair. All right, I'll call my shot now. He comes back at the new pay-per-view in Montreal.
Okay.
'Cause if it's here's here's what I think. If if the rumors are correct and and if it is gonna be Omega and MJF in the main event in Montreal, which it probably is going to be, right? 'Cause why do you not put Canadian hero Kenny Omega in the main event, right?
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
That's when Hangman comes back, he costs MJF the title. Omega moves on to Ospreay at All In, and maybe it's MJF and Hangman at All In. Although I did just say that Darby would come back and do that.
Doesn't mean he can't.
At some point, I'm gonna have to pick one, but not tonight. Tonight I'm going to just waffle between the two. Yes, there we go. Yeah. All right. So on that note, give us the like and the subscribe and the follow and all that good stuff if you haven't yet already. You can follow us on social media at Elite Heat Pod wherever you do your social media ean.
Yeah, man.
You know what? Tonight both can be true. Tonight both can be true.
You can listen to us wherever you listen to your podcast, check us out on YouTube, all that good stuff. And yeah, we'll be back next week to see if maybe they start the build the Forbidden Door.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Who
I bet they don't.
Yeah, probably not no. No, that's that's something clearly they're gonna do on collision.
I mean they might. Like it's entirely possible they're gonna put this thing together the week of the show.
Yep. Unfortunately, that's probably what's gonna happen.
Not great for selling tickets and for selling pay-per-view buys, but I kind of feel like that's where we're headed because other than the STARDOM mention from Thekla tonight, nothing. Not a word about it.
Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Better keep us in damn entertained between now and then.
Okie dok. Alright.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So all right. on that note, pants off, dance off.
So yeah.
Yes.