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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 Doug — 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.
It is time for us to once again talk about Dynamite. And I don't know if you know this because I legitimately did not. I'm pretty sure the pay-per-view is next weekend. Huh.
I did not realize it was a week from Sunday. You would think they would mention that. Well, no, they they have. It's really more of a my brain has not got it processed that it's March, let alone that March 15th is that close.
Yeah. Yeah. It's bonkers. really me thing.
It's bonkers. I just thought you were referencing the fact that they i think every other time they open their face, they talked about it being next Sunday. So, yeah. Yeah.
I mean, a little bit that, but mostly I was like, oh, damn, that is. soon. yep But that's good because it meant that they were building the card and for once I think we're gonna have, look I know they're gonna cram a bunch of pre-show matches in. yep i Quite honestly, probably the day of yeah the day of Revolution.
um but you know whatever so um i guess they'll do collision since it's on a sunday um so they'll probably pack a bunch of them in on collision but anyway at least we started to get uh some more clarity on revolution tonight which i feel like is good uh so we began as they so often do now with that whip around although little little production hiccup there i feel like I missed the very, very beginning, and so I missed the whip around. i got there when they were just running the card down, so I missed that very beginning part. Okay. Basically, they did a little recap of collision and how we got to MJF and Kevin Knight, which was good.
Good to recap that. But they i think somebody in the truck hit it too early. They started it a little bit early and they had to restart it. Yep.
I did see that part. I thought maybe there was a little little one before that. No. So, yeah.
No, that was pretty much it. um So, from that, we went into the Kevin Knight-MJF match. i thought it was a good match. thought they did a great job.
I agree. I thought this was a really, really solid match, and it it just shows how much character development MJF puts into every match, and it's the little things. Like when... i can't remember exactly what he did.
I think he was... going for a knee lift or something but he just yells out gotcha and it's just what those little things that you don't need to put in that he does put in that they make a lot of the texture of things and it just holds it together well and it just shows that he knows what he's doing and it just i really like this match from start to finish i thought it was very cool I agree. i think that he is he he for as good as he is and for as much as people talk about how good MJF is, I still feel like he's kind of underrated. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
It's kind of mind blowing to me. um But I agree. I thought it was a great match start to finish. I thought Kevin Knight looked really good in it.
Yes. which is Which is important because they're clearly building him. Yep. And I think Kevin Knight may have the prettiest tope in wrestling right now.
Oh, I agree. the He is so smooth and fluid. So good. He makes it look easy when, man, you know it's not.
But thought this was a tremendous match. I also enjoyed MJF hitting an F5. That made me laugh. I wrote down MJF five.
Oh, that's that's it right there. That's the name. Yep. ah And and again, MJF pulls off my favorite move, the slow roll out of the ring, which, again, i think it seems ridiculous, but it's smart.
It's just like if you were in a match and you saw a guy on the top rope, would you know you'd roll out if you could? I love it. It's the same thing as the as Joe's justification of when he walks away when someone comes off the top rope. yep Yep.
When somebody asked him about it, he was like, well, if somebody threw themselves at you, what would you do? You would walk away, right? So, I mean, it makes it makes logical sense of, yes, I'm going to not let you land on me. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, no, I thought it was a really, really good match start to finish. I thought they did a great job. MJF is tremendous.
um i He's been talking a lot lately about he doesn't see himself leaving AEW. God, I hope that's true. Same. I hope that comes true.
I really do. And think about this. Think about how many times the AEW world champion has defended his belt on TV and between tapings at indie events. And they lead the show.
you When have you seen the the heavyweight champ lead the show? That just doesn't happen very often. But this guy pulls it off. And again, it's he's so good.
And those little things. The other little thing I wrote down was him actually trying to escape the tree of woe when he was in the corner. How many times you see guys strung up there and they just hang? Yeah.
Of course he's going to try to get out. So good. he his His psychology is absolutely incredible. yeah Absolutely incredible.
he He is so smart of how he thinks about it and how he puts a match together. I mean, it's it's tremendous. yeah It's absolutely tremendous. Great match.
And again, i don't want to make it all about MJF when Kevin Knight certainly did his part as well. Yeah, and Kevin Knight looks great, but it just... yeah Going up against someone that athletic, you see that... Yeah, MJF is a good wrestler, and his psychology is way on par with the top of the game.
So he's so good right now. Absolutely. He is tremendous. You know, which...
To go back to the main event of Revolution, which you and I spent a lot of time talking about last week, ah it makes me a little sad that I... think I still think that they've put themselves in a corner to the point where Hangman has to win, where MJF is going to drop the belt. It makes me a little bit sad that he does. However, I want to shout out, I believe his name was Mike.
on blue sky which you can follow us on social media hey mike at elite heat pod on all of the social media platforms yeah i'm just pulling it back up so mike uh had commented basically saying like well of course you know he's got a he's got a win meaning hangman and i was like all right fantasy book it what do they do if he doesn't and mike had a good point of he goes against his word and he eventually turns heel Which makes sense because to my knowledge, now granted I missed a couple shows in there because I was on vacation and then, you know, sick. We'll just leave it at that. um To my knowledge, Hangman has not signed anything saying that locking him into this to the dumb ass stipulation of if he loses, he'll never challenge again. Right.
So Mike makes a good point of if he turns heel, he can just go, yeah no, I'm going to do it. I don't care. Yeah. And you can kind of go back to the Rock Austin thing when Austin turned at Mania 17 of I need it Right.
You know, I'm not saying it would be my favorite storyline. No, especially when we just had Swerve go full on heel. And I thought for a second about two and two weeks ago, maybe three, I think it was three weeks ago, I thought I thought i saw a look in Hangman's eye where i was like, uh-oh, are we seeing Hangman going to get frustrated and go full heel? But then, nope, it was Swerve who did that.
So I don't know. I think they're really, they are in a bit of a pickle. And I hope i i know I'm almost scared to watch this pay-per-view. I'm not kidding.
Because of that one match. No, I agree with you. i I am going to, I think, legitimately be anxious about that main event at Revolution. Yeah.
Because no matter what you do here, if Hangman wins, which is probably what you have to do now because of the stipulation, You've now ended MJF's run when it feels to me like this particular run is now starting to heat up. Yep. Right? Because cause I was thinking about this a couple weeks ago.
was like, man, I love MJF. I think he's a great champ. But it felt like... it didn't feel as good as the first time, you know what i mean?
It felt a little, like it was just kind of falling flat a little bit and I couldn't figure out what it is. and i And I thought maybe it was because they had so many people involved in the storyline, right? Because that was still when we were doing the, will it be Andrade or Omega or Swerve or Hangman thing. and And so now it feels like it's heating up again and you're gonna, you're almost definitely gonna make the switch which makes me sad.
Yeah. But if hangman loses, then now you've got that whole conundrum of what do you do with him? Mm-hmm. So i yeah I don't feel good.
I feel good about the match from the standpoint of I know it will be a good match, but that's the only thing I feel good about. The only thing I can think of to get away with having MJF retain and not hold Hangman to his word other than having him turn heel is to have Swerve come in and somehow just destroy him and then the match is over. And it technically... it's a technicality it's splitting hairs but he didn't lose on his account mgep didn't beat him he long yeah loses by dq that i can maybe see maybe but and swerves on a freaking tear he's you know well so i don't know i just maybe i'm just trying to make anything up to make to save this somehow for hangman i don't know Well, no, I mean, I think it's an interesting thought exercise because I think that they should be having it, right?
like I hope they are. think that's a conversation that they should be having is how are we going to get out of this and protect both guys, right? Like put ourselves in a corner, as you and I talked about a lot last week. So how do we get out of it and protect both of them?
And and that might be the answer. If Swerve... So I'm sad that we're not going to have the video because of a a technical problem, our video recording platform, because my mic just flopped away from me. If there's ever been a call for Bluetooth to sponsor.
That was exactly my thought. That was that was a Bluetooth segment if ever there was. But anyway. As I was saying, um I think you bring up an an interesting point there because if Swerve comes in and he just beats both of those, like if it's towards the end of the match, right, and they're both bleeding and they've been through hell, and he just beats the ever-loving crap out of both of them to where neither of them can get up, that's how you get out of it, right?
Because now it's referee stoppage. Neither guy can continue. Yep. So you could do that that.
That could be your way out. And I think it's an interesting way out, but um I'm not sure where you go from there because then it feels like Swerve is now inserted in the title picture or at the very least he and Hangman are going to have business. Yeah. So I don't know where you go from there with the title, but but it's an interesting way to get out of this corner they've put themselves in.
Yeah, i again, i am a little concerned for that match. Like you said, it's going to be great, but it makes me cringe for the finish. so Agreed. I'm to try something new here, see if it doesn't flop.
Eh? Eh? Eh? It might be okay there.
no okay as he learning I see some drooping. Well, that's part of it is my mic stand is very cheap. Gotcha. Very, very cheap.
Not unlike me. Hey-oh. After that, we got Orange Cassidy and Darby versus Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors, a.k.a. the Dogs.
Apparently, we can't say War Dogs. Tony Storm can. And did. She did, yeah.
But yeah, that was weird. Although he's war ready, but they can't, they can say war ready, yeah but not war dogs. And they put the New Japan logo up on his entrance. Yep.
Like if you look at the video, the New Japan logo's up. Yep. Which gets even more confusing when during one of the commercial breaks, I pop open Instagram and I see the, the dogs are all elite graphic and it's all three of those guys. Before the debut?
No, no, it was it was after the match. It was a commercial break. Okay. right.
I thought, ire man. No, it was a commercial break during the second hour that I saw it. Gotcha. Okay, good.
I was like, you right i was so on someone screwed it up, but no. Yeah, I mean, you you had a typical Darby-Orange-Cassidy match. i thought it was I thought it was solid. Bodies were everywhere.
Orange took a hellacious table bump off the steps. from And it just it looked great. It looked painful. But, you know, it was the match it should have been.
It was it was it was chaos. And i know you're not a big fan of the storyline. And I i think i think the thing for me that is... taking away from it is them continuing to try to make this about the death writers at all it's like we don't need that connective tissue right now if you dropped it i would probably be better with this and just be like whatever make something up about them in japan i don't care but that connective tissue isn't working but yeah david finley debuting tonight i was surprised i was very surprised That surprised me too.
So here's everything that i wrote. Well, let me, let me pick up where you were talking about the storyline. I think you're right. I think if they just went with a, these dudes hate each other, that'd be fine.
That would be completely fine. We don't need to shoehorn the death writers into it. So here's everything I wrote down about the match. Cause you brought up a lot of things that I locked in on as well.
I wrote, I'm pretty sure that Orange Cassidy, Connors, and Darby all got concussed before the bell because boss Orange Cassidy on the table spot. Yep. I thought Darby and Clark both went headfirst into the barrier at one point. Right.
Like, individually. Yeah. Then i wrote, after the match ended, I wrote another good one, but holy concussions, Batman. Because there was another moment where Darby's head hit the ring apron.
or you know what i mean? It hit yeah the hardest part of the ring, you know. But it was because he was getting flipped backwards. Yeah.
And his neck and shoulders hit that corner. And that was possibly the most frightening thing I've seen Darby go through in a long time. That was yeah really frightening. And that happened during, I think, a commercial break because they showed it picture in picture.
Maybe. But it looked gross. See, I don't get picture in picture anymore because of HBO Max. so Well, that's what I was watching it on.
Oh, I saw it live. I don't get a picture. But I mean, I think it. Oh, OK.
Regardless, doesn't matter when it happened. and Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It looked disgusting.
Yeah, it was brutal. And then I wrote down David Finley. Guess he's not going to WWE. wwe Guess not.
Because I thought he was. Oh, OK. Yeah. Well, like like ah there had been rumors for a while he was headed there because his brother and his dad are both there.
hmm. his brother's in nxt and obviously his dad if you don't know his dad is fit finley who has been a producer for i think i think like 20 years yeah he's been there a a long time view yeah yeah actually i think longer than that i think since the 90s um maybe it was early 2000s doesn't matter uh and the last thing i wrote down was well maybe the bullet club isn't dead Maybe not. Which is very interesting. I don't know if they're going to do a Bullet Club, but they're clearly doing an NJPW faction with those three.
Yeah. I mean, the graphic calling them the dogs makes me think that's going to be their name, at least for now, even though I think that's kind of a terrible name. yeah but And I get that New Japan is not about to surrender the trademark on Bullet Club, but Bullet Club in New Japan is dead. It doesn't exist anymore.
No one's doing it now? you didn't know. I didn't know no one was doing it. Yeah, so basically, so so David Finley was basically, my understanding is he was the last leader of it, and then they all kind of went their separate ways, and it doesn't exist anymore.
It's probably time. It was probably time. it you Oh, definitely. it It had gotten to late stage in W.O.
Yeah. Like, it didn't have the punch that it once did. It was time. I don't fault them on that.
Right. But... Could be interesting if they could find a way to transport that to AEW. You know, they kind of flirted with that with Bullet Club Gold that then just became Bang Bang Gang.
I don't know. It could be interesting. It could be interesting. Yes, it could.
All I'm saying. But I'm curious. is i will say the David Finley edition gave this some juice with me. Now I'm curious.
Right. Now you have my attention where before you didn't. I liked the Connors edition, and i'm and adding Finlay in to me is just, for me, one more bonus. i'm i'm Yeah.
Yeah. I'm into Connors looked great tonight, by the way. Yes, he did. I think that guy is...
I think he's the surprise. Like, I think they thought that kid was going to be the the destroyer in the in the in this the center. and he's a beast, don't get me wrong, but Connors, to me, he's got way more swagger. He's got way more style.
He's got more charisma in the ring. And he's just as brutal. And I really like what he's doing in there. And now Finley's in there.
Good Lord. ah Yeah, yeah, it's that very much got my attention. So we'll we'll see what happens at Revolution with all those guys. And now now you have me like I said, now you have my attention where you didn't before.
So good job on that. Then we got the backstage with Bandito and Andrade. thought it was fine. Yeah.
I just wrote down short, solid. Yeah, it did what it needed to do. i One thing that I was very struck by was ah not that this is something that matters to me, but I knew that Andrade had been working really hard to learn English. He's come a long way.
Yes, he has. yeah Good job. Like, good on you, man, because English is not an easy language to learn. So I'm impressed.
I'm impressed. Yep. ah Then, I can get my phone to unlock, we went to the Brawling Birds versus the Inspiration. Formerly known as the Iconics?
Correct. um I felt that was a very underwhelming reception to the Inspiration. ah unless i did too. Now, it could be...
i I thought the sound for the crowd throughout the show was weird. I don't know if it was just being mic'd weird. and we were it just It felt like either there was a lot of noise or absolutely nothing. And I don't know if that was just the way the crowd was.
But, boy, the inspiration were not inspiring at all. And they yeah they did not have any juice tonight and got their asses whooped. Yeah, I expected a pop for them. Yep, same.
I'm excited that they're in AEW. I was really happy to read that they were signed with AEW. I did not expect them to get squashed. um I kind of did because they've been spending so much time building up the birds, and I was really shocked that that was the match they were going with.
And then the way they positioned the inspiration tonight, they clearly are not going to be... challenging for a title anytime soon they are clearly going to be taking to you know they're going to be getting pinned by the stars they're going be the somewhat comedic heels and that's their role meh meh Yeah, I agree. i It was a fairly, no, I'm going to drop the fairly. It was a disappointing debut.
Yeah, yeah. And that's too bad because I like those two and I always felt like, ah I don't know that I would go so far as to say wwe WWE dropped the ball with them because I'm not sure that they did, but I've always liked those two. I think that there is something there, but i think they got to get off of the goofy yeah comedic heel act. I'd like to see them move away from that, but yep not going to happen anytime soon.
I will say I really liked the double-decker chops in the corner from the birds to them where they would flip the one down, smack the one behind. That just yeah that that was very good. I liked that. yeah But it cracked me up that Tony Schiavone says...
about the birds one step closer to the challenge. And I thought to myself, well, not with that match. That was a nothing match. I mean, yes, you show that you, you know, you show your teamwork, but boy, the way they, they position the, i the inspiration almost called him the iconics.
ah It didn't seem like a challenge. No, I agree. And yeah, I get that it gets you a step closer because you got the win, but I'm not sure it was a great showcase for the birds either, quite honestly, because they they had some cool stuff in there, like you mentioned with the chops. But otherwise, I was like, they felt a little off to me too.
Like the timing wasn't necessarily there for them. yep So i I get it that they're going to end up quite possibly at Revolution, they're going to end up challenging for the tag titles because I don't think we have a women's tag match on the card yet. Right. And it could be one of those collision slash pre-show things.
And and in it that might have gotten sped up by the Penelope Ford injury. I don't know. and More than likely, yeah. More than likely.
But... it's It's interesting you mentioned the timing was off because I felt that way on several matches tonight. And that is the first of the matches that I felt like something just wasn't clicking and it could be the timing. I don't know.
Maybe it was the weird crowd, but it something did feel off about that match. Yeah, the whole thing didn't feel very good ah for a lot of different reasons. And this this wasn't good. This was not good.
um Then we got a hangman versus i wrote down a dude that's about to have a bad time. I just wrote down going to be a squash. And it was. and And then I wrote down, after I wrote down dude that's about to have a bad time, I wrote, if Ishii had ever been young, he'd have been this jobber.
but Which I'm convinced Ishii is one of those guys that's just always been an old guy. You know what I mean? yeah He's just always looked the way he looks now. But if Ishii had ever been young, he would have been that guy.
ah It took me longer to write that sentence than the match last. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. the thing I literally missed the entire quote-unquote match because I was writing that sentence.
The thing I did notice that I wrote down before any of that was Hangman wearing the trios title for the first time in ages, which should have been an indication of what was to come, but I wasn't smart enough to figure it out. Yep, I noticed that too and I thought, huh, that's interesting. And I thought maybe it was an indicator for how Revolution was going to go. ah gotcha.
Of they're going to lean more into the trios championship then, but as you alluded to, so I wrote down my joke about Ishii, then I wrote down why do this? And then MJ, no, but literally I was like, why do this? Why have Hangman Page, a two-time AEW champion, current at that point, trios champion, former ah tag champion, founding member of the company, part of the elite, like the guy's resume, his bona fides are there. We don't need it.
So why have him squash a jobber when you could have just had this be a promo segment? Yep. Because out comes MJF. They have a quick exchange.
Don Callis family jumps ah Hangman from behind. Yep. um I will say Fletcher covering Don's ears. Very good.
It was really funny. Very fun. I thought that was really good. ah Don gets on the mic and does Don Callis things.
Yes, he does. which he's so good at heat magnet man that dude so good he's so good he's just so good uh and then ah the last point that i wrote down was i liked that they made the trios championship match which once it was three guys in the ring backing up a little bit you knew what was happening yeah i wrote down i smelled title match and then callous comes out and i'm like well yep there we go But I liked and I thought of you specifically that they said, we're doing it tonight. Yes. Next week, not on collision.
We're doing it tonight. I thought, okay, I got to watch collision again this weekend. But that's what i thought too. Yeah.
Nope. I thought it was a really smart move. um The only thing I want to say about the promo was right near the beginning. Hangman says at revolution, I'm going to do to you what your parents should have done.
And I thought, Hangman, are you saying MJF's parents should have put him into a Texas death match as a baby? What you saying? Hit him with a flaming barbed wire chair? My God, Hangman, you're a dad.
Don't say that. So I love Hangman. I love him. ah some what was Something that I would say he could work on is Once the promo starts, he's good.
But getting the getting that start to it, like getting it rolling, he often struggles with starting them. Yeah. He needs to work on that on how to get into the promo. Yep.
Yep. Says a guy who can never figure out how to start this show. Oh, we took well, we had three shots at it tonight. and And you know what?
Biffed them all. Not on our. That wasn't our fault. That's true.
I'm going to put it on our video platform. That might not be our video platform going forward. You have suggestions, hit us up. Right.
Then we got the video about the tag title match that's coming of the Bucks and FTR in the conference room with Renee. My only thought on it was this. This is what I wrote down. I really want to see FTR get their asses kicked.
So kudos to them. Good job getting the heel heat. Yep. Yeah, they are doing a real good job and in knocking out Brandon.
Yeah, I should have known since he didn't make an appearance until the very end. I'm like, oh, OK, he's going to get punched. And sure enough, blank he was he was in the room at the very beginning, like before f I think i that I think I missed that very first part then. but But yeah, I should known.
I should have known that was coming and I didn't. But I really badly, especially Dax, I really want somebody to punch him in the neck. yeah So yes he's doing a good job. It means he's doing good job.
Yep. Then, speaking of Renee, we go to her husband versus Ichisero. Yeah. Let me say this.
I was really excited for this match because I thought I've seen a lot of good stuff out of Ichisero. We know Mox has been he's been on really doing ah ah a really like he's been on a tear lately. I think he's one of the better versions of Mox we've seen in AEW in a while. And And I thought to myself as this match was getting ready, I'm like, I think if this goes well, I would be fine if they end up being like going like being rivals.
Like, I know we're trying to, you know, shuttle through all of the Don Callis family, but I'd be fine if Heichisero and he just went toe to toe. And then the match happened. And I don't feel that way anymore. Yeah.
So I'm with you going into it. I was like, this is going to be an absolute banger. And I'll say this h E Cero every time he's in the ring. Uh, every time I see him, I'm like that dude in tonight was no exception.
His offense is really creative. Yeah. Really, really creative in the ring. And and I applaud that.
Um, This one fell a little flat for me. And maybe I had too high of expectations, like you're saying. I just think maybe that Mox and HG Sadro don't have the chemistry. and And that happens.
And know this is the other match one of the other matches I was saying that I felt like the timing was off because I felt early on there were a few... And again, I'm not i'm not trying to be nitpicky because I understand you know this is not an easy sport, an easy thing to do what they're doing, but it just... I don't know. It felt clunkier than I was expecting it to.
And I enjoyed the match. I think both of them, like I said, I think they both look really good. But for some reason, this didn't work. And maybe you're right.
Maybe their chemistry just maybe their communication was slightly off. But I just wrote down it was fine. i think I wanted more. Yeah, I would agree with that.
I mean, all all I wrote down was love H.E. Sero's offense. Yeah. I do.
El Paso loves him, too. Yeah. I mean, that that there I don't even know how to describe it. That spot where he kind of trapped Mox's leg and then, like, kicked it.
You know what i'm talking about? Yeah. Where it it looked legit. Like, oh, he may have just snapped his ankle or something.
I mean, ah that was and that was great. Like, the dude is super talented, but... Yeah, they just didn't work together. I i don't know why.
Right. Yeah. Well, sometimes that happens. It does.
So then we got the backstage look at the ladies getting ready for the championship match. And here's what I wrote down about that. I'm curious if you picked up on this too. Excalibur.
And I quote, Statlander helping Thunder Rosa warm up as Statlander stands motionless. Yes. I just wrote down stat looking like a robot bodyguard. And I don't know.
Yeah. i was like, what are we doing now? You're an Android now. What are we doing?
I wrote cyborg later on because I don't, I don't know what's happening, but honestly, neith I liked the look. I thought you look great. and I think that's a cool outfit. I say, give me more of that.
And maybe, and this is going to be weird. Part of me really liked the fact that she didn't say anything. No, I agree. So um Chris Van Fleet did an interview with her that dropped on, well, yesterday, dropped Tuesday.
I recommend listening to it because you're going to learn a lot about Chris Statlander and a lot of the stuff that you and I have talked about of ah why the title run and everything going on right now just hasn't really clicked. Shed a lot of light on that. Okay. Okay.
I haven't listened to it yet, but I will. Yeah. And it's not like she specifically gets into it, but one of the things that she said was, you know, when the match was made for the title match, she said to Chris, she was like, i didn't, this isn't a direct quote, but basically she was like, I, you know, the way that the match came together was basically Tony storm going you, you, you let's do this. You know?
So there wasn't a lot of build to it. And she was in the middle of, there was the death writers thing going going on yeah and there was stuff with her and Willow and she was kind of teamed up with Harley, but kind of not at the time. And she's like, I got all this going on and now I'm going to do this. And then, Oh, You're also you win it and now it's like, OK, well, I guess I better figure it out sort of a thing, you know, and I think that that is some of what we've been seeing.
Got it. These last, you know, couple months. Yep. um So maybe leaning into.
I don't know. Killer robot right is the way to go. I don't i don't know. i add did Something weird about it, but i kind of dug it.
i don't know. Yeah, no, I agree. i agree. um i'm i I'm not going to lie to you.
My wrestling conspiracy brain went, she's going to turn tonight. I thought so, too. 100% thought that. one hundred percent So then got the Brody and Swerve promo, ah to which I said, it's fine.
It did what it had to do. I don't have a lot else to say about it. Here's what here's all I will say about that. If Brody King, I love him to pieces.
But if you're gonna stand there and say you're the most dangerous man in AEW. and Prince Nana comes out, plays Swerve's music, Swerve doesn't show up immediately. If you don't turn the F around, you're not the most dangerous man in AEW. You're dumb.
You should know. It would have been fine if he turned around, met him, got a few offensive blows in, and then still got hung. That's okay. And it would have to me, that would have made it more believable, and I could buy in more.
Brody's not going to turn his back on anybody. and I'm sorry. So that for me was a failing in that execution, but otherwise it did what it was supposed to do. Set up the match.
Yeah. Boy, Brody took that hanging like a champ, man. He did. It looked legit.
Yeah. um It was an interesting little segment because I didn't think about that, what you were just saying, but you're right. And such a wrestling stereotype cliche, right? Like I'm going stare at the ramp while the guy's music plays and plays and plays.
come on man like we know what's gonna happen here yeah so um just that little thing to me was enough to go like come on and then you know the bit was fine my come on moment was when swerve hit him from behind with the chain dude that was bad yeah is bad like i get it that you're not gonna lay those shots in when you've got a chain wrapped around your hands ah like i get that but he specifically has done a better job with that yeah particular gimmick yep recently yeah it was bad yeah it yeah it was not yeah it wasn't believable but no it wasn't and the the you're right the hanging part of it was good you made up for it there yeah they made that look real good but ah yeah I don't like I mean legacy said overall it was fine it did what it needed to do it's fine Bandito with the save yay yep it it was fine ah then Thunder Rosa versus Tecla no I'm sorry let me back up I skipped over one I skipped over the Deathriders yelling at the camera yep here's what I wrote down Yuda okay question mark ah I wrote down, it's not Mina. And I even wrote Mina down like an idiot. It's a Marina. Marina, not Mina.
Anyway, I thought that was her best promo yet. It was short. It was sweet. I didn't completely understand it.
Uh-uh. But it was fine. Mox was good. And that was that's all I wrote.
Yeah, I just wrote down weird, and I don't understand the point. And the reason I say that is, okay, you guys are yelling at the camera. I'm not entirely certain who you're yelling at. I thought we regressed a little bit to the cryptic stuff.
Yep. Which we know I don't love. Did you notice, and I'm not 100% who he's referencing, but when Mox is going off, he's got New Japan, CMLL. He goes, you got advertising agencies running wrestling companies.
I'm like, was that the whole point to get that shot in of this whole promo? think was. I think it was. I mean, okay.
Yeah, i look, i am i am I going to say that I disagree with him or that he's wrong? Absolutely not. That is a big part of, you know, we could spend a lot of time deep diving into last week when I said that that wwe WWE is more vulnerable right now oh yeah than they have been in a long time. Yep.
And that's part of it. But it it felt a little bit to me That whole segment felt a little bit to me of like, okay, we're gonna put Yuta in because we're kind of doing something with him, but no one seems to be sure what. and people like Danny Garcia will have him be part of it. And we're kind of doing something with Marina Shafir, but also kind of not.
and if we're gonna do that, then we might as well have Moxley part of it because it's John freaking Moxley, right? But Mox specifically, like I said, felt a little bit to me like we regressed to the cryptic promo, which I i don't care for. Maybe he improv'd that on the fly, and he probably did. And Tony probably was like, yeah, it's great.
Keep it in. Right. But I just I don't it's a promo segment that I don't understand what the point of it was. To me, what this did was point out how Wheeler Yuta is standing out like a sore thumb in this in this faction.
Danny Garcia. I love his intensity, even though he hasn't been doing a lot. I love his intensity. And you buy that.
It it feels right. Right. And then Yuta comes in and starts whining about people are saying mean things about his hair and that having his head shaved was the most devastating loss in his career. Yeah.
None of that is ble like, what a whiny bitch. And it's like, how does Moxley let you do that? Like why Moxley didn't come up and punch him in the back of the skull is beyond me. But it just and I like Yuta.
I want him to do well. But it just he stands out like a sore thumb in this group. And i just, I don't know. i don't either.
I mean, again, one of my issues with the Death Riders from, i'm not going to say from the jump, but for a long time now, has been you're not doing anything to elevate those undercard people. No. no You know, by now, we should be this far into this story we should be going, is Yuta on the fringe of the world championship? Like we should be talking about him in that conversation.
yeah We should be talking about Marina Shafir in terms of the world the women's world title. yes we should We should be talking about these things. Instead, here we are like a year into this story, almost anyway, a year into this story and we're sitting here going, Now they're starting to get the camera time. Now they're getting to talk, but I don't know what the point of them is.
They don't necessarily mesh with this group. That's really kind of mostly turned face now, minus those two. And then this weird promo didn't do much for that either. Yeah.
And so I just don't get it. I don't understand what the point of this was other than, well, let's put the Death Riders on TV because we're still kind of doing something with them. But I don't i don't get it. I just don't get it.
Why Danny Garcia isn't sniffing around the TNT title or the international title is beyond me. he He should be making solid runs for that and looking credible. But that's not happening. And Garcia, I would make the argument that Garcia a year ago was a bigger star than he is right now.
Oh, yeah, I agree. 100%. And I get that it ebbs and it ebbs and flows in wrestling. I do.
But you put him in this main event faction and it's only cooled him off? I... like I don't get it, man. At least they're having you to eat all the pins because yeah you know at least Danny isn't isn't eating them like that.
But it's not, like you said, it's not doing much for him right now. so No, it's it's not doing much for any of them, I would argue. Yep. After that, the Women's World Championship match was on with Thunder Rosa and Tekla.
I'm going to guess this is one of the ones you thought timing was off on. Yep, that was the third match. I thought the timing was off. I don't know.
Like, I like Tekla, but uhu it seems like when she's one-on-one, things get awkward kind of quick until the end. And then it is okay. But, like, i don't... and i like both these i like rosa i like tecla but it just again felt weird and awkward and i just put this was fine yeah my sense of this match so i i was very tuned into this one because as we talked about last week i was really interested to see how they presented tecla um I'm disappointed.
Yeah. Like I said last week, Tekla needed to come out. You and I were, were in agreement on this. She needed to come out and dominate.
Yeah. right Like she needed to look dominant and you could do the thing like they did at the end where she pulls Rosa up and, and no, no, no, this isn't over till I say it is right. Right. You could do that.
And I think that that was a good idea, but it needed to come, you know, halfway or two thirds of the way through a match that Tekla has dominated. Yeah. Right. Where, where it's the Simpsons meme of us going, stop, stop.
She's already dead. You know, like, Instead, and I get it, you're, you're, you know, it's Thunder Rosa country, right? I get it. You're in El Paso, Texas.
She comes out and gets all the offense in first. My perception of Thunder Rosa, whom I like, but my perception of her specifically tonight was she, it seemed like she was timid. It seemed like she did not trust herself being back in the ring. Gotcha.
Gotcha. like a lot of the expression on her face, I think if you watch it, she looks like her eyes are very wide. It looks like she's like, I'm not certain. Like she just didn't seem like she had it tonight.
Right. Um, which, you know, look, it happens. She missed a lot of time. I get that.
She missed a lot of time. Yep. Um, I agree with you. It was very weird.
I wanted Tekla to come out and be a dominant champion. She wasn't. Nope. um I thought her pulling Thunder Rosa up when she did was weird too, because normally you do that after you have laid someone out and she had like two moves in and then did it.
I'm like, yeah, no, no. It just, I don't know. the Everything about this match felt weird. I agree.
i it it It wasn't well put together, in my opinion, and I'm not sure what happened there, but it's a bummer. Yeah, I do want to say, and then, of course, you had ah the Sisters of Sim come down, and then, of course, you had Cyborg Statlander come down, and then I wrote, security, a lot of security comes in. Where the hell were they when Brody was getting murdered? Not one security guard.
Yeah. Yet they came out before Statlander even reached the sisters and that ramp was short. Yeah. Well, and they come flying out and break up a fight that nobody even made a move for.
Right. They didn't even make a move towards each other. Nothing had happened yet. Yeah, like nothing had happened.
They come in, they break this thing up and then Statlander slides in and I thought this was weird too. She like cradles Thunder Rosa and then drops her. Which ah' I've seen plenty of the face helping the allegedly destroyed face. Right.
Like Thunder Rosa has allegedly been destroyed here, even though my eyes didn't see that. No. Well, she took that other stomp. I think that's what they were trying to sell.
No, I get it. I get it. What I'm saying is I didn't see it. Right.
Yeah, no, I'm with you. Yep. You know what I mean? Like, I get that it's all pre-scripted.
I know all that. Look, Tekla has heavy feet, man. I guess. Yeah.
Whole thing was weird. Whole thing didn't work the way I hoped it did. um It's another one that disappointed me. I'm bummed by this one.
Yeah, same. Same. Definitely bummed me out. Then we got a Jack and Ricochet promo package with Jungle Jack Perry.
Here's what I wrote down. Did we make a match here or what? what I'm not sure what happened there. um Don't know.
Don't know. Yeah, i'm not I'm not real sure. Not sure what's going on there. Yeah.
It feels like we're going to. Yeah, I think. But I'm not sure it happened i think we'll see them at Revolution 100%. Yeah, I think so too for the national title.
But it doesn't seem to be official yet. Then we got Champa and Renee. I thought that was weird. It felt like we were coming close to the end of the show.
And yet we have this weird mid-ra interview mid-ramp interview with Champa. Now, I'll take Champa. But I don't know. That one felt weird.
And then it took a weird turn with FTR. Yeah, it was a bizarre segment all the way around. So I had a couple different thoughts on it. Number one was it felt to me like a we're going to shove Ciampa in here to remind you, hey, he works here now.
Yep. Right. Which is fine. They have him come out and do the mid-ramp interview.
He comes out in his gear. Yeah. Even though no match, no... The only physicality was, I'll give him this, Ciampa slapped the piss out of Dax there.
Yes, he did. That was Which me was very satisfying. It was awesome. But yeah, it was weird throwing FTR into it.
um i'll I'll give you my conspiracy theory on that in a second, but to put the bow on just the whole segment in general. I'm not sure what it was beyond just a reminder that Tommaso Ciampa works there now and that he and his buddy had a rivalry with FTR 10 years ago in NXT. Right. So here's my conspiracy theory.
Maybe Gargano's coming. I wrote that down, but then I did a quick Google and it doesn't look like he's leaving WWE anytime soon. Yeah, I mean, he's still been showing up on screen and and I don't, I haven't read anything about his contract being up anytime soon. And usually they have that, yeah you know, the dirt sheets have that.
But, you know, once Ciampa showed up and given the way that they are using Gargano and Candice LeRae over there, i was like, I feel like they aren't that far behind. but Wouldn't shock me. i mean. I literally thought the same thing, too.
i was like, hmm, wonder if Gargano's coming. But then I. here's what Even though it was weird, here's what I like about it. I like throwing these people at each other just to keep the mix fresh and and weird and interesting.
It's like... and And clearly, they they they were just setting up the match for Collision, which probably tapes after the show tonight. Unless they said it was going to be... Noah, is Collision live?
I think they're doing it live. they're they're They've got a couple of them where they're splitting it from Dynamite. Because i don't know if you saw Collision's going to be in our neck of the woods in May, I think. Oh, okay.
Okay. But... ah I do like the fact that kind of like when they were throwing everybody at the at the heavyweight title, which I did like. and And for me, I know you said you didn't feel like it started heating up until now.
I liked that part of it. So it was heating up for me with my interest back then. But I think MJF's part, yes, you're right, is is heating up now because we're seeing more of him. And they were just kind of setting that all up.
But I like... Because this felt like like what we were talking about with the dogs and Orange and Darby. You don't have to like each other. And that's what this was basically about.
It's like, oh, wait, no, I hated you then. i hate you now. um I'm just going to hit you. Loved that.
That's all you need. It's all you need. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I don't mind them setting up the collision match and everything.
just felt weird to me. It just felt a little weird. Yep. And the specific reference...
to their past was what made my brain go. oh yeah. Coming maybe. i oh yeah.
100%. And I did read somewhere. I did read somewhere that apparently a UW has signings. They have not announced yet.
Yeah, I had seen that too, that they had a a quote rash of them that have not been announced yet. So, um, and let me be clear. If Johnny Gargano is one of them, I will be thrilled. Yeah.
I'll be thrilled. I would eat that up. I like it. I would be very happy to see that.
hu I don't think it is. I'm very happy. Uh, then weirdness continued. We got the Tony storm, orange Cassidy backstage in the medical room.
Um, I don't know what else say other than weird. Yeah, and I don't know. I get the feeling they're setting something up with Tony and Orange against the dogs somehow. I don't i don't know.
but But correct me if I'm wrong. The Tony that Marina referenced in that bizarre promo was Tony Storm, right? Unless she's talking about Tony Khan, which I do not think she is. Or Shivani.
Maybe Shivani. No, I think it's clearly Tony Storm, but... Again, I haven't seen any setup for that reference. Yeah.
And you get Toni Storm talking about Orange Cassidy getting behind her butt. Yeah. It was weird. It's fine.
it was weird. I'm always going to like Toni Storm. So even though I didn't understand it, I still was like, okay, I don't know. But yeah, yeah let her let her ramble like that.
I'm fine. Yeah, I was entertained by her, but I don't understand. I don't understand what happened there. I don't know how else say it.
Nope. um Then second main event of the night, the trios match that was made earlier with Proto Kata and Mark Davis against Horse Rodeo Donkey Kong. Yes. Yes.
Oh, HRDK, baby. All day. Yes. So I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.
But what I wrote down was what is on Fletcher's head as they were coming to the ring? I think he's worn that before. I think you're right, but i and I probably had the same thought then of what is that? Don't know.
I don't know. I think it's his Princess Leia cosplay. I could be wrong. Yeah, it could be.
Yeah. And then, I mean, look, there was never a question that this was going to be a good match. Right. That was never in doubt.
the only So the only other thing I wrote down was i had a feeling that they were going to switch the titles there. Yep. And they did. Yep.
i wrote I loved this match. I thought this was a really, really good match. And I loved the ending. The finish, I thought, chef's kiss, really liked it.
MJF's interference because it was quick. It was, you think, that Donkey Kong rodeo days are going over. I that one better. And and hangman's getting ready to to to do the flippy dippy clothesline and gets pulled down.
Boom. Hit with the the diamond ring. Jet gets rolled up. One, two, three new champs.
Loved it. Went. Yeah, it was quick. It wasn't exaggerated.
it and then you got MJF just laughing at on the ah on the ramp, just clapping. And I thought that was that's how that's how you make that transition go. That is great. Loved it.
Yep. I agree. I thought that they did a a very, very good job with all of that. When they made the match earlier in the night, I had had the thought of this is how they're going to get the belts off them.
Oh, yeah. And I think it was the right move. It clears Hangman up for Texas death. We'll see how that goes.
We've talked about that a lot. I enjoyed the match. I have no problem with anything that happened there. Arguably, my favorite part of it, though, was at the end, Okada kept hitting his two belts together and just looked so happy.
like He just looked so happy to have to be able to do that. That I enjoyed. yeah um if i If I can flashback to when Callis made this, announced that he wanted the match tonight. I don't know if you noticed, but that's when Kyle Fletcher, you know, they were talking about, you guys are greedy, you want our belts.
And Fletcher goes, in speedball, you're trying to come after my belt? Speedball looked just as surprised as the rest of us. Because again, um don't think anyone had mentioned that. I don't think that and literally Mike's like, sure.
Like he clearly had not made. And then all of a sudden we're getting ah a title match between those two, like either next week or on collision. And I was like, huh? OK, weird.
Yeah. You would think i had the same thought where I was like, wait, he is great. That's because that was speedballs reaction. Wait, I am.
I mean, yeah, I'll do it. so yeah And in my head, I was like, well, it makes sense, but okay. Yeah. know yeah So, yeah.
I mean, now that they don't have belts, let them go after these other ones. That that will be good. That'll be fun. They'll do great matches.
And, yeah, it'll be good. Yeah. Yeah. I have no problem with any of it.
Match of the night for you? i got to say, MJF and Jet. That's mine, too. I thought that opening was so good.
Again, MJF proves why he should be holding the title, and it will make me sad if they take it off. Michael Knight, once again, proves why he drives the car he does yeah in his in his jet set donkey doe or whatever it is. And he's just so smooth and so good. And MJF is such, such a, they're so good.
That match was just fire. I loved everything, but everything about it. So good. Loved it.
Yep. And, and, and night full of lot of awkwardness. Yeah. They were, they were very smooth.
They were very put together. They were very smooth. They were, they were excellent. Yep.
I really like that match. They're match of the night. Yep. Yep.
Okay. And with that, I would say go watch this on YouTube. You can try. Let us know.
Let us know what you get. Yeah. We got about 20 seconds of video before it was like, nope. um So we'll try again next week, ah which will be interesting because that'll be the go home yeah for revolution.
So that'll be interesting. So we'll try again with the video next week. But in the meantime, like things, share things, subscribe to things. It will help us greatly.
Also, a shout out to the UK, Germany, Hong Kong. Oh, they have all uh and australia they have all joined the audience so welcome aboard shout out to all of them yeah that's awesome thanks thanks for being part of this weirdness and if you take nothing else away from tonight let it be donkey kong hong kong rodeo