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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.
I once again challenge us to get through a pay-per-view in an hour or less. I think we can do it. We did it last time. We did pretty good last time. So here we go. I think the best way to achieve that is we're skipping zero hour. The big thing from zero hour was Camille came back, which I did not expect. I thought she was done with the company, but so she came back and that's really, that's really it. That's really all there is to talk about.
I think we can. I think we can. Yep.
Same.
It's been so long that when she attacked Willow, I was like, is that Camille?
It surprised me. That's for sure. It surprised me. But you know, whatever.
The only thing can say about Zero Hour is three of the four matches were women. And I thought they, every single match on that card was really good.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, they it was a very good hour. Definitely a very good hour. OK, so then speaking of very good, we opened the show with the Bucks versus Okada and Takeshita and wow.
Mm-hmm.
Holy cats. Before we even start, I think Matt and Nick Jackson are possibly in the best shapes of their lives right now because they look amazing.
I agree. I was singing the same thing. was like, man, I knew they had slimmed down, but Nick, thought especially, was like, man, he really has been dialing it in.
Okay.
I thought Matt looked bigger and yet trimmer than ever. I'm just impressed as hell with those two. They look great.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yep, I agree. I think they look great physically. I think that this is some of the best work they've done in a long time, which is not to discount or discredit any of the work they've been doing. I just think they're that good right now. I think they found another gear, which is pretty impressive. Yeah, for sure. Yep. So that was incredible.
Mm-hmm.
yeah.
I don't know what they found, but it's working. It's so working.
I wrote down high bar in all caps and for as good as the match was, thought Don Callis on commentary might've been better. That's how good he was.
So good. That guy's so good. That guy's... But I think the highlight outside of the just the technical wrestling was Okada mocking the Bucks by putting on their gear on the outside and then going for the tag and then giving the finger. That was so brilliant. I was so happy.
Yes, I saw. Yeah, I already saw a meme online that was Okada Jackson, the third young buck or something like that. And I was like, that's good. It was good. So hot start to the show. And then from there we roll into Jericho and Ricochet, which was, if I'm being honest, better than I thought it was going to be. Not that I thought it would be bad, but I'm going to say the same thing that I said about Osprey when he came back.
Yes! That was very good.
When you've been gone for as long as Jericho had been gone, I don't know what you're going to look like. You know, ring rust is real. I don't know what you're going to look like in that situation. And he looked really good.
Yes it is.
He did. I mean, he pulled off the lion salt and he was moving well. I thought that was a really, really good match. I was a little surprised that he didn't come away with the win.
Mm-hmm.
I was too.
But I just wrote down another solid match in that Ricochet winning with the lion's salt was kind of the nice little insults very on top.
Yeah.
Yeah. What I find interesting about it is he's kind of playing the greatest hits Jericho is right. Like we got the list and then I don't remember if he had been doing it in AEW but hadn't it been a while since he had done the arms out back to the camera intro because he did that tonight. You know.
Mm-hmm.
Yes, it's been a long time.
So he's kind of playing the greatest hits, which I find interesting since all the reports where he didn't go back to WWE because they said, well, you can come do a retirement tour, but that's it. And he's not ready to hang it up. So interesting that you're playing the greatest hits, which is typically what you do at the end of your career, but whatever.
Yep. Also interesting that he's just going by Jericho now.
I talked about that last week or on Wednesday, I should say. I also find that interesting. And my only thought is you combine that with the the purple motif he has going on. I'm like, are we doing kind of a prince thing here? I'm not. I'm not sure, but whatever.
I also thought it was interesting we got a lot of Y2J chants tonight.
I thought that was interesting too. Yeah, haven't heard those in a long time. And then there it was. Yeah. Either Vancouver is stuck in the early two thousands or I don't, I don't know. I don't know.
No. No.
That wouldn't shock me, actually. That would not shock me at all.
Yep. Then we got the third banger in a row with Darby and Andrade, which was a match going in that, Wednesday, I thought they did a lot of good to raise the temperature on the storyline, but going, going into it, I was just like, I mean, it'll be good, but I'm not looking at it as a match of the night candidate. And no, it is, it is definitely a candidate. Holy crap. They were good.
yeah.
It was so much, I agree with you. It's not that I didn't think it was going to be bad, but it was so much better somehow than I anticipated. And it did, it finally reminded me like, okay, Darby knows how to put on a show and it's not just, I mean, yes, he threw his body around because holy balls, the dropkick on the stairs. were you thinking, son? What were you thinking?
Mm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
the usual with him that the boy just has no interest in in being able to walk. Well, it's like it's like you said, DDP is going to have to fix him like DDP needs to just pencil him in now. But yeah, exactly. Yeah, but I've got great match.
my god, yeah.
Apparently not.
Just move him in tomorrow because he's gonna be living there for a while. And that's the suplex to the outside, my god.
Yeah, I thought it was a really, really good match. One my one note on it is if we're going to keep doing the spot where Andrade takes his pants off, which I'm on board with, let's do the tearaways.
Please yes, please yes. By the way, when he did that, I called it the package Moonsault Double because...
Hmm.
I like that.
It always seems that he does that double moon salt thing after he takes his pants off and it's always, he's always showing, always showing.
Yep.
Yep, I, yeah, I kind of like them leaning into the like, you know, sex symbol sort of thing with him though. I think that's kind of fun. It's a interesting wrinkle for him. So that's three bangers in a row.
Oh yeah, 100%. They should.
Yes, and then you get Cajun, Cope and FTR.
Yeah, which was also really, really good. I wrote, I like FTR's jackets. I I liked those that they were that they wore to the ring. If they made them available for sale, I would probably not buy them because it would be too expensive. But I would think about it. I really thought they were going to switch the belts here. So that surprised me.
Yes.
I did too. I thought that they were going to that. Cage and cope were going to walk away with it and I was really shocked that they didn't. But again, hell of a match. They just tore the house down. I mean. Christian throwing Stoke in to break up the count may have been my highlight of that match, cause it was so fun. It's just it was really good.
That was fun. Yeah.
It was it was really good. Christian continues to be incredible. He's doing such great work this whole time in AEW. Really good match. I am curious where we go next because I feel like FTR pulling some of the young bucks moves would suggest they're going back to FTR in the bucks, but I don't I don't know.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, if you do, don't think you should do it so soon, but I don't know what you're going to do next.
I agree.
Yeah, you really don't have anybody else lined up unless you want to throw the hurt syndicate at them since they're back. But. Yeah, I think you should. It feels a little bit early for that, and I also feel like if you throw the herd syndicated FTR, either FTR has to really, really like MJF levels of cheat to win or.
Which you should.
You gotta switch the belts and I'm not sure I I have a suspicion FTR is going to carry to all in at this point.
Probably that makes the most sense,
Yeah. So, and they may take this time to build up them and the bucks for all in, which I think makes a lot of sense. It just makes me wonder what we're gonna do for double or nothing.
Mm-hmm.
That is a very, very solid question unless you run this one back.
I, know, yeah. Or maybe you do like a multi-man sort of thing. Like maybe it'll be the bucks in cage and cope versus FTR and I don't know two others. I don't know who it be, but.
Mmm.
I could see them running the rascals up for a little bit.
Sure. Yeah, I think that would be good. Yeah. So, you know, my question is where they go next, but that's what Dynamite is for. speaking, speaking of Dynamite, we got a Willow promo setting up the match between her and Camille for Dynamite. This was a really good spot for, I believe the only, it was one of two promos on the show. I thought this was a really good spot for it because man, I needed to catch my breath after those four matches.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Yes.
It was like you said, the Bucks set the bar so high, but they had their foot on the gas. I think this entire show.
Yeah, this is a great show. Make no mistake that like we're going to go through this and I have very little negative to say very little.
I know we're only part way through, I'll say this is, think, one of their best laid out pay-per-views they've done in a long, long time from top to bottom. I think it was amazing.
Totally agree, totally agree. And if you're gonna stack that much, you know, if you're gonna put together a show that is gonna once again end past midnight Eastern time, you need to do something like this where it feels like I cannot look away. Like I didn't know where to pick my bathroom spot, you know. It was that good.
yeah, same.
So from the Willow promo, go into the casino gauntlet match, which was, you know, look, it's fine. These gauntlet matches I think are fun. I do think, I'm going to say it again. I do think that they need to have one of these end when somebody is making their way to the ring. It's either got to end with somebody on the ramp or there has to be somebody that we know is in the match that does not get in.
Mm-hmm.
Yep, I would agree with you.
because the match ended early. I think you really got to do that to really make those stakes real.
Especially because leading up to this, actually talked about how you could not even get in and still lose the match. since you've already said it, we've talked about it last time. I think they do need to do this. But I will say that this match just shows how deep their roster is because any one of the 10 people in there, I would have believed, could definitely have won and carried that belt.
Yep. Yep.
at least for a decent amount of time.
Yeah, I agree. I'm with you on that. My only other thoughts on this one were trunks. Not a good look for you to didn't didn't like that. I thought he looked like a generic creator wrestler from a video game in the trunks. Not a great look for him. I continue to pick on him.
Yup. I actually wrote down anyone could have won that. Well, except Yuta.
But you know, I will say this, I had the thought when he when he first came in, went, well, he's not winning. And then I had the thought of if you wanted to really epically troll the crowd, that's what you do. You put it on him and you have him just be so arrogant talking about he's the greatest wrestler like he should immediately on Wednesday be going if he had won, be going I'm the greatest TMT champion ever.
You know, like you, you could have done some like nuclear heat there, but, but I, like I, as you and I texted, I do think putting it on Kevin Knight was probably the correct call. here's my thought process on that while I think you needed needed is not the right word. While I think there was a really strong case for both Ciampa since they even called out how short his reign was.
without a doubt.
Yep.
And I think there's a really strong case for Roosh because he's very good and you should be using him more. I think Kevin Knight makes sense from the standpoint of you worked hard to really build up him and speed ball, Mike Bailey. And you basically hot shot at the trios championships. Yeah, which we'll get to.
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, again.
but you know that you, you stuck the trio's belts on them twice. MISTICO never even came to defend it with them except for when they lost, you know what I mean? Like you, didn't do anything with that trio until you had them just drop, on collision. And so it's not a great look for two guys who are not in a position to absorb losses and not have it.
Mm-hmm.
negatively impact their perception with the crowd. So I think putting it on Kevin Knight makes sense. I you better book a banger of a match between him and speedball at double or nothing.
yeah. They clearly are, they've clearly set up that split that is going to cause tension. But I, I like you, I, I was making a case in my head for Roosh, but then it reminded me again, how deep this rosterage is when I saw Anthony Bowens out there and how good he is and how good he looked out there. And I thought, I thought he would have been a really interesting choice to put that title on. And I
Yep.
I'm glad you said that.
I agree. And I'm glad you said that because he looked great tonight. He looked great.
Yeah, yeah. I just thought that you could tell some really interesting stories with him as the champ because now he doesn't need the ops and he's got a title and they don't. And I just, I really like Bowens and I've missed him on TV and I've missed that part of him, the just the five tool player out there. And so it was really good to see him out there.
But I do agree, think push comes to shove. know, Michael Knight is the guy to have the kit belt, and I think that's good.
Yeah, yeah, I think it was probably the right call. It surprised me a little bit, but I think it was probably the right call. But you're absolutely right. It showcases how deep they are. And I would like to see them use Anthony Bones more because man, was he good tonight? Then Tecla versus Jamie Hader. I talked about this a little bit on Wednesday of I don't fully understand why we put Jamie Hader in this spot. The whole narrative here seems to be
Yes he was. He looked great.
I don't either.
Tecla attacked her when she first showed up. And so now they're fighting for the title. That's pretty flimsy. I didn't, so I don't, I don't, I just wasn't into this one. I feel like there's really not been a good build here to justify it. I don't understand why it wasn't the brawling birds fighting for the tag titles.
Yep.
Yep. A little bit.
for the women's tag titles. And I thought for all the world that Mina Shirakawa was going to be the one in this spot. And I think that would have made some sense the way they had been positioning her. So I don't know why she not only wasn't in this spot, but wasn't on the card at all. So I, I just, I don't get it. And the pub intro thing I thought fell flat. I personally, I never got into this one. I think it was a pretty good match, but I just didn't get into it.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Good guy.
I will say I really liked it because I think for the first time in a long time, Tecla looked how I think she should look all the time. She looked really, really strong. She didn't have any interference going. She kind of manhandled Hader for the bulk of the match. And I thought this is the first time in a while that they've because they keep talking about Tecla like she's this dangerous assassin type wrestler.
And she's been winning by the skin of her teeth and by cheating so much. in this match, she kind of wrecked house on Hader for a good portion of this match. I really liked seeing Thekla this way. And even though she grabbed the rope at the end to win, she clearly didn't need to. they wanted that, clearly that was a story point and that's fine. I'm okay with it. But I thought Thekla looked great tonight and I did really like this match, but I 100 % agree.
You could have put, it didn't make much sense, but it was still good. They were both great.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think this was a pretty good match. just it was hard for me to really get into it because of like I said, I found myself just scratching my head through the introductions and everything of just going, I just don't know why we're doing this. And I agree with you on tech law. I thought she looked a lot like how she probably should be presented.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, again, I don't think this was a bad match. It just was hard for me personally to really get into it. I think part of it also was, you know, you get to a point with these shows, particularly with how much they pack into it, where at some point my attention just kind of wanes because it's been a lot to take in. I think they just found themselves in that spot, unfortunately.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yep, I would tend to agree.
Then Moxley versus Osprey, which I don't think I need to tell you was great, because of course it was going to be great.
It was fantastic. I really liked it. I really want to hear your take on the end, on the outcome.
Okay, first thing I want to ask though, was Osprey actually wearing a watch under his tape? Because it looked like he was.
Boy, looked like it, it? It did.
I was like, all right, I guess he really wants to make sure that, you know, he gets his credit for his move goal with his Apple watch or whatever, but okay.
Something. Yeah, but it did look like he had taped over a watch. It did look like there was a watch on that tape. So yeah.
Yeah. So to your question, what do I think about the finish? I don't hate it. I was a little bit surprised. I'll be honest, I was a little surprised. I thought Osprey was going to win here. I think Osprey, however, is in a position where he can absorb a loss like this, and it's not going to hurt his standing with the fans, right? We know who he is. We know this guy has world champion.
Okay.
Yes.
Yep, I did too.
tattooed somewhere on him, you know, like this guy is going, going to the top at some point. My thought on this was, I think you can run this back at double or nothing. And what I think you could do is,
Mm-hmm.
I had this thought and then I can't remember if Excalibur said it or if or if Brian said it, but one of them said it's not about the title. And I had that thought. The title was so. Utterly secondary to this story, which is not a bad thing. I don't think you have to run it back for the Continental Championship. I think that Ospreay can. Keep doing some of the stuff that he's been doing.
Right.
Yep. Right. Right.
you know, maybe you maybe find a different angle on it. Maybe it's more of a battle of words than them throwing hands as much as they were. But I think that I think you could do one of two things. I think you could either run this back at double or nothing without the title on the line. And maybe it's a stipulation of like, maybe you put them in a cage. Or, you know, I don't I don't
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
particularly want to see like another Texas death or something. But you know, some sort of stipulation, right, where it's very obvious that these two are just going to beat the tar out of each other. I yeah, well, I mean, if you remove the belt from the picture that can go away anyway, right. So I just I think I think you can run this back a double or nothing. I think you could add a step to it and it would be pretty interesting. And I think people would would be into that, right?
Now.
Right. Maybe you take the time limit off, maybe?
Mm-hmm.
I think the other thing you could do is again, a multi-person match where you could have the Death Riders and United Empire throw down a double or nothing. which I do think you're going to see more of United Empire, not just because Tony Khan said it in the press conference before dynasty, but also forbidden door is I think going to be in June. So they will start laying some seeds on that. Right. And I think United Empire is going to be part of that.
Mmm.
And I would like to see more of that anyway. I think that those two factions going at it would be great.
I would do. Yeah, so you could do something like that. I don't hate the finish. I think it leaves you open to bringing this back and continuing this feud in some form or another, which I hope they do. I'll be a little bummed if on Wednesday they just immediately pivot them away from each other. But I don't think that's gonna happen. What did you think though?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I will too. I said, thought this, A, I thought this was a great match. And I think my disappointment in the finish is I wrote down, I honestly think I'm over Mox for the time being. And I think I need him to be gone for a while. And I'm kind of tired of him being painted like Superman and nothing really has any lasting effect on him ever.
Yes.
I get that.
And because like, as you know, like if nothing affects you, then you're now you're boring. he's that act for me personally is starting to wear thin. It's like, I do appreciate what he's doing. I think he looks physically, I think he looks great. I think his performance in the ring is fine. I'm just kind of over that. And it would have been refreshing to see Osprey
Yep, I get that.
Take the belt, have mocks go away, keep him gone until, you know, have him miss one pay-per-view and have him come back at all out or all in, whatever they're called now. Yes. And have him make his return there. I'd probably be ready to see him again.
Either way, I mean.
Yeah.
Yep, I agree with you because I did have the thought at one point it was when he was doing the thing that he does and I don't understand it where he walks around and it looks like he's talking to himself and he like starts moving his hand in this weird way and then he'll like kind of like throw shadow punches and he's like he does that and I have no idea what the point of that is at all. It almost feels to me like a
I don't know.
like a cover band version of Randy Orton hearing the voices, right? I mean, legitimately, that's what I that's what it feels like to me. I don't get it. And when he started doing that, I had that thought of like, you know what, might be time for him to go away for a little bit. And I think you're absolutely right. They have made him invincible when it matters anyway. And
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm with you on that.
I mean, he had moments with Kyle O'Reilly. Kyle O'Reilly tapped him out twice and it was great. And then ever since he got that belt, you can't, you cannot touch him anymore.
Yep.
Right back to unbeatable. Yeah. Yep. And but that leads nicely into what I was going to say. Maybe that will change because his kryptonite is back. The third man for the conglomeration was the returning Kyle O'Reilly. He teamed with Orange, Cassidy and Roddy to take on the dogs. Hindsight being what it is, I probably should have guessed it. I thought it was going to be Briscoe to be honest. I was going to be Mark Briscoe in that spot.
Yes he is.
Mm-hmm. Let me...
Same. I actually wrote that down before Kyle came out, I just went delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. But that sitcom intro, priceless, priceless. Very good. Very good.
Yeah.
I liked it. I enjoyed it. Yep. I thought that was good. I probably should have known it was going to be a tough night for the dogs when David Finley went over to beat up the door with his chilele and it didn't work. It didn't go well for him. It did not go great for him trying to bust that door up. However, Connors was the MVP of the intro, I thought. And once again, I am so impressed by him.
Whoops.
He is so good.
Yeah. That guy, like you said, when he's on screen, your eyes are on this guy. You're like, what is he going to do? He has a style about him that no one really else has. He's got this charisma. And he's devastating in the ring. And I just, I'm a big fan of that guy. I think he is really, really good. Clark Connors.
Yep, I had the thought tonight of that guy needs to probably be a future world champion.
Yep, he definitely could be. 100%.
Yep. So I think to me, the big story of this one, other than the dogs being a transitional champion and holding the trio's belts for what 24 hours give or take and dropping to the conglomeration is Gabe kid, I think broke his wrist.
And this is the one I missed that because that this is when my dog decided he needed to go to the bathroom. And I was like, all right, well, he'll be quick. And then I come back and you're like, and I see your text, like, I think he broke his wrist. And I look and I'm like, what is going on? So I thought, and maybe maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you were right that they were just transitional champs. I think that's a if that's the case, that was not the right move. I thought someone made the call on the fly to
Yeah.
So good.
changed the belts because Kid clearly is hurt and hurt bad enough that he's not going to be able to participate for the foreseeable future.
Yeah, I think that that's going to be the question is, was this always the plan or did they change it on the fly? Because the reason I think he broke his wrist is they did a couple spots to the outside and he went down and he stayed down and then he gets up to do
He did basically like a shoulder tackle, right? Like he did everything with his left arm and he's holding his right wrist and the way he was holding it. So he's kind of going to try and get on camera. He's kind of holding it like like this, right? Where he's he's got he's holding down by the wrist. OK, but you can see his hand and as he moves forward, you can see his hand kind of flopping. And I was like, I think his wrist is broken.
Mm-hmm.
Ugh.
Boooo!
And that was the last time you saw him. You didn't see him again for the rest of the match. And I noticed that they started doing a thing of like, okay, we got to keep a conglomeration guy down. So this is now basically two on two. And that's where I was like, he's hurt. It'll be the question of, this the plan or did they switch it because of the injury? The only reason that I think it may have been the plan is they had that graphic ready to go.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yeah, true.
You know, they had the new champion graphic ready to go. I, so I kind of feel like this may have been the plan. And quite honestly, the way they have booked the trios titles for months now is they have basically been the hot potato. Nobody's had them for a very long time, you know, and.
And I thought of any team, the dogs are the ones that could keep those trios titles and actually, you know, build those them back up again. It got, it got some cred when, when jet speed, donkey Kong had them with hang man. But then it's been just bing, bing, bing. And with the dogs, I thought, okay, they found their team. They found their devastating team. They're going to keep them on these guys. And this is how they're going to work these guys in a lot. And then.
I agree.
Yeah. Yep.
Kid breaks his face or his wrist or whatever and now the belts are gone.
Yeah. And again, that might be what happened. I don't know. I mean, it's possible that their graphics department got that put together because it happened early enough in the match. It is possible they got it put together that quick, but I don't know. And, and, you know, maybe we'll find out tomorrow in the dirt sheets. I don't know, but it's, I,
Right. Right.
Here's what I want them to do. I want them to leave the trios titles on the conglomeration for a decent amount of time and have them be on TV. Make it matter. Like the history here has been that Orange Cassidy is a fighting champion. Let's do that and make these matter. Otherwise get rid of them.
Yes. Yes.
Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep. Kind of, yeah, because they seemed to have only pulled them out when, I don't know, they had nothing else to do and they needed a title on the line.
It's it is the definition of wrestling championship that is a prop, you know? And it's like, OK, we want to put a belt on somebody to have them have the gold around their waist. So these are the ones we're going to do. And it's just it just it doesn't matter. It's not it just doesn't matter at this point. I think you have an opportunity to make a matter again. Gabe Kid getting hurt doesn't help anything, but.
100%.
Right.
No it doesn't.
You can still do this because you can still throw bang bang gang at them. You could throw. mean, there's enough trios that you can put together to make this matter.
Yep.
I mean, you can probably get three teams out of the Don Callis family alone and have no crossover in members.
Easily, easily. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You could. And then it was main event time MJF versus Kenny Omega. Of course it was good. Nobody had any doubt there. Of course it was good.
I wrote down that outfit for MJF is hilarious and bonkers.
It is as I texted you they go and get some emails about his robe, I think, but I think so.
they definitely think they are. 100%. I was actually a little surprised by that, but you know.
I was too that he went that far into the iconography, but. He did, but that's what he does. He. That's what he does.
Yeah, he went hard in the paint on that one and yes he does. I thought this was an amazingly good match once again. It highlights that Kenny is feeling better. He is performing at a level he hasn't performed at in a while.
And again, I think Bryan Danielson talked about it on commentary, how it's easy to overlook how good MJF is as a wrestler. I think this, even though, yes, he has some chicanery involved, but he can hold his own with Kenny Omega, and that's saying something.
Mm-hmm.
Yep, I agree. mean, look, pun very much intended. You got to give the devil his due. He's. He's great. He just is. And I look, I don't know that MJF is ever going to. I guess maybe it depends on your definition of a five star match. I don't know that he's going to give you a five star match. I don't know that he's going to give him to you consistently the way that Kenny Omega has a history of doing.
But don't tell me this guy can't wrestle. Don't tell me this guy isn't good, because he is. My question coming out of this is simply, what's next for Kenny?
Right. Absolutely.
Same. I, again, I-
Cause I don't know what you do with him now, but.
I guess my problem with it is that now on two title matches, you had the incredible babyface with all the momentum in the world and all of the crowd support in the world going up against a monster kind of sort of, even though he's just MJF. But they played into the injury angle on both of the occasions and both occasions the injury angle
led to their demise, even though there was more cheating involved with MJF. And so now you have this broken, you know, fan favorite who did not complete his task. And so you've done that twice on the same card. And that's my, I know it's nitpicking, but that's my biggest critique of this is, okay, we didn't get Osprey getting the title and going over Moxley. I get it.
But then to kind of turn around and do the almost, you know, in a different flavor, but the exact same story with Omega felt, I don't know, it just felt weird. mean, so I don't know. I don't know.
The thing that felt weird to me about this match is I know they were, like you said, trying to play into the diverticulitis story. And there were some times where I thought Kenny, and I'm sure that they did this on purpose where I'm like, man, Kenny looks gassed, which doesn't happen. And there were a couple of times where Danielson talked about it, where Kenny had some lazy covers and some lazy kick outs, which doesn't happen. So I don't
Yep.
Mm-hmm. No.
Mm-hmm. Great.
I don't fully understand that because now you're conflicting against your own narrative, is you brought out, know, Wednesday, you brought out your doctor to say, no, Kenny's fine. And then tonight you kind of made it look like he's not. So I don't, again, it's nitpicky, which if you're going to be critical of this show at all, it's going to be nitpicky because this was a really good show. But, know, I just, I.
Mm-hmm.
Yep. So good.
It's a weird dichotomy that you have going there where for weeks the narrative was no, no, no. Kenny's actually fine. He's 100 % and then in this match you made him look like he's not. So again, I ask what do you do with him then? What's next for him? And and I don't know.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
I I mean, part of it was, regardless, even if he is fine, that that big of a, I mean, I do understand having that big of a surgery. Having MJF focus on it makes all the sense in the world. And even if he didn't have diverticulitis, someone focusing on your abdomen for that long during that match would have taken its toll.
sure.
So I do get that, but like you said, it does feel like we had some weird backtracking going on in this, in the telling of this story tonight as to what the story had been told so far. So that was my biggest disappointment is to see that kind of happen again where we got, okay. So the prior injury is gonna, okay. All right.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I get that and I felt like it happened a little early in the match. They started doing that stuff a little early for the narrative to be well, MJF is working this vulnerable vulnerable vulnerable part of his body. I'm very drunk right now. You know, yeah, I thought that that started maybe a little bit early, but again, maybe that's just me and maybe that's just my opinion and maybe I'm nitpicking.
Mm.
Yeah, as well you should be.
Look, it was a great match. He knew it was going to be a great match. It was a great main event to a great show. I think they probably got a little bit more time because of the injury in the trios match, which is good. If you're going to tell two guys, Hey, I need you to add time to the match on the fly. Those are the two to have do it. I thought it was good. I thought it was really good.
Probably. Yep.
Yep.
I just, I just don't know where you go now with Kenny. And again, when you look back on what we had been talking about in the lead up to this of where you could have had an Omega versus swerve match on this card for the EVP power versus the number one contendership. And you could have had, you know, maybe an Andrade and MJF, or maybe you do the Darby MJF match here. Although them putting it on dynamite makes me think they don't feel it's a pay-per-view match, which is kind of interesting, but
Yep.
Thank
Yeah.
I, you know, it just makes me wonder if you had gone in that direction. Now you would have a really good angle for your world title headed into double or nothing. And I don't know. I don't know what you're going to do with Kenny Omega. And I don't know what you're going to do with the world title past Wednesday because I don't think they're going to switch it to Darby on Wednesday.
No, and if they, I don't even want to think about that. I really don't.
I don't think it's gonna happen. I don't think you have to.
I know, but now that you brought it up, I'm a little scared.
I think the best thing that they could do here is I think he loses this match on Wednesday. And I think that's when he needs to snap and do the heel turn. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, yeah. I think Darby needs to lose and snap coming off of that promo on Wednesday of the I need this if I can't be world champion, what's it all for? You know, I think
MJF?
Darby? Okay, yeah. yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm in on that.
he's got to lose to Max and I think he's got to snap and create heel Darby. You could even have him snap in the match and do the turn in the match. I think MJF still has to win, but I think the heel turn has to happen. And I think that if you do that either in or immediately after this match on Wednesday, then I have no problem with you putting this match on dynamite.
Yeah.
I have no issue with it whatsoever and you have taken this thing, right? This narrative that you had of winner of Andrade and Darby gets the title shot. You paid that off so you don't have people like us going, what happened to that? And now you've done something very interesting with Darby at a time that I think he badly needs it, right?
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yep. Here's what I would like to see with that scenario, because you've got me thinking now, if they do that and if he snaps, whether it's in the match or right after the match, what I would love to see is have him snap. And any time someone is announced to challenge for the title, Darby tries to put them out of commission. Like, he just attacks them and just starts.
Yeah, I think that'd be great.
wrecking house on people, attack him backstage, hit, you know, he's already shown that he is not opposed to kidnapping someone and trying to kill them by rolling his car over. imagine what he will do when he's upset. So I would, that's an angle I would really appreciate. I would love to see that. I think that'd be amazing. So if that's the, if even some type of flavor of that goes down.
Mm-hmm. Setting someone on fire, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
then yes, you're right, that pays off this whole weird, need the title thing out of nowhere. And now we have something interesting to talk about.
Yeah, and I think it could create a semi interesting build between him and MJF to a rematch a double or nothing with, you know, MJF basically going, all right, Darb, you know, cool. You want you want to do it again? Let's do it again in New York. You have no chance, but let's do it. And with MJF not being a face, but basically being like. I'm proud of you. Look at you. You finally figured it out, you know, like like not making them jump through hoops for once and going, you know what?
Mm-hmm. Yep.
You finally got it good on you. Here's your title shot. That's here's your reward. You know, I think that could be kind of interesting. So we'll see what happens on Wednesday, but if it's just a straight up match and Darby loses it and you know, we just get sad Darby. After that, I'm not going to tell you that that's the worst thing, but it's.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that could be fun, so.
It's not, I'm not looking forward to that.
I again, I think there's a better way, but you know, I don't know. We'll see. But the question then would be, I think either way the question is then, okay, but then what's next for the world championship between Wednesday and double or nothing. I don't know. So again, if you had booked it the way we talked about, you would have that in place because you could have the winner.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. I don't either. I don't know.
Yes you would.
You know of the Omega swerve match that didn't happen tonight going great. Get your title shot kid to Darby, but whoever wins you get me a double or nothing and either way you're going to have a bad time. You know, so. well, alas, so we'll see. We'll see where they go from here. But. Overall, this was a tremendous show tonight. Their pay-per-views are always great.
Mm-hmm.
I thought this was a like top to bottom again. I yes, we nitpick that last match. Yes, I've been nitpicking a little bit for the but I think overall every single match on this card, including the women's championship match, which didn't make sense in the setup, I thought was really, really, really good. I think this is one of the most pay-per-views they put on in a long time. And I love. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's saying something, because I think their pay-per-views are always good. I mean...
Yeah, and like I said, the only two real downsides is the build to the women's match and then Gabe Kidd getting hurt.
Yeah, the other downside I would say is the length. They've got to, they gotta shorten this. Like you can't have this going past midnight Eastern time on a Sunday night.
my god, yes. Yes.
No, no, if you're going to do them long like that, please get me on a Saturday. Come on, kids. We don't.
Yeah, you yeah, you want to do the long pay-per-views and you do it Saturday night because then I got Sunday to sleep in. But when we got to work the day after. You can't keep doing that. You know.
Thank you. Yeah.
Yup. Yes, and as we, as I think Tony should know by now, it's about us.
Well, but here's the thing. Like, yes, it is. But it's not just about us because think about it. I know, but I'm going to hit you with actual logic, because I think I said this after the last pay-per-view. If you consistently have it end after midnight on the East Coast, people are going to stop buying it. It's going to hurt your buy rate because people are going to go, I'm not going to stay up when I have to work on Monday. There are people in New York City.
I was like, don't leave me hanging on that one, come on.
Yeah.
Yup.
that either bailed out of this before the end of the main event and are going to try and finish it tomorrow or whatever, or they didn't buy it because they were like, dude, I got to go to work and I know you're going to go past midnight. Like it's not a good pattern to have. When you've got multiple time zones to consider, you know, and I think.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And I will say, even I, in the middle of the main event, I was getting tired of watching wrestling. Even though this match was fire and I loved it, I was still like, ugh, my God.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's is. It's hard and it's hard on the live crowd because I've been there for these. It's hard man like this is why mania went to two nights because they were stacking all these matches and we kept going. You can't it's too much so you're not going to do two night pay-per-views for all of them. So either do it Saturday night, which I don't know why he quit doing it that way. They were on Saturdays.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know.
Or it was on a Sunday where the Monday was a holiday, right? Like was a Sunday before Memorial Day or whatever. Or. Right, right, so you've either got to cut the yeah, you've either got to cut the number of matches down, give them less time, which would not be great, you know, or I think you just got to cut the number of matches down like I'm going to go back through my notes here.
Yep.
And we're not even talking about the hour beforehand, which was zero hour. That is a lot of wrestling.
Mm-mm.
You know, look, I get putting a returning Jericho on the pay-per-view. Did Jericho versus Ricochet have to be on it tonight, or could that have been on Dynamite?
Could have been on Dynamite. I would almost say same thing with Darby and Andrade.
I think there's an argument there. could have done the casino gauntlet match on Dynamite.
Yep. The only reason I would put that on because a title was on the line. Like even if you just kept the title matches, that's four title matches.
I agree. I agree.
Mm hmm. You know, and I think you could have potentially put I know it's a title match, but like we talked about with the Trios belts, they don't really matter. You could have done that on Dynamite. You'd already switched it on collision, you know. So again, I just think that you could look at this card. And again, this is very nitpicky because it was a really good card. It was a great show. But you could probably find like one or two matches that you go, all right, that's not that doesn't have to be on the pay per view.
Mm-hmm.
And now we end an hour earlier or half an hour earlier or whatever. And it makes this a little bit less of a little bit less of work to get through these shows. And it makes it better on the East Coast and you know, love it or hate it. They watch wrestling too. And you got to think about that because New York City is the single biggest market in this country and it matters. So.
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
Yep. mean, you had to leave your Canadians on there. So Jericho was going to be on there. you Andrade and Darbe and Darbe Andrade and Darbe move them to Dynamite. I think that's fine. You leave the Cajun Cope and FTR on Casino Gauntlet match. You could do that on Dynamite because it was so long or you could have put Tecla and Hader probably move the women's title.
Yeah, that's a point.
I like that.
Mm-hmm.
That's the other one.
to dynamite, give that a little more to breathe and just a little extra time to build. And you keep the, and maybe the trios thing.
Yep.
Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, I think you're absolutely right. think Tecla and Jamie Hader and the TRIO's belts are probably the two really best candidates that could have moved to Dynamite and it would have been fine. You you could have had the TRIO's match open. You could have had the women main event, would have been fine.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
Mm-hmm or Darby and Andrade main event and then... Cause that would trim at least an hour off that card and you would not be hurt. You wouldn't walk away going, I feel ripped off. No, you'd walk away going hot damn that was great card.
Yeah, if you had moved that off the pay-per-view, yeah.
Yeah.
No.
Yep. Yep. And then you would have gotten, you know, some banger matches on dynamite, you know, but anywho, but those nitpicks aside, this was a great, great show. Highly recommended if you haven't watched it yet. And my match of the night was the first match of the night. It's the Bucks and Okada and take and Takeshita. They set that bar real high. lot of matches came close. I counted it before we started recording. You have five potential matches of the night on this card.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yes, you do.
which is really impressive. But to me, it was that one. Your pick?
It's hard not to pick that one, so I'm going to. I think part of it is it was the first one, it opened so hot, but man, the Osprey-Mox match was really close for me, especially the hot open with Osprey. And even honestly, the Darby-Andrade match for me was really close, just because it was just everything it should have been.
Same.
That was a contender for.
Yeah, the five that I was talking about were the the I guess really it's six I think. There the first four matches are all contenders. So that's the Bucks in Okada and Takeshita Jericho and Ricochet, Darby and Andrade and Cage and Cope versus FTR. And then Mox and Osprey. So there's five and then the main event. So there's six.
Mm-hmm.
So I, yeah, I miscounted. So six of them were potential match of the night candidates. I think they're all real close, but to me that, that opener between the young bucks and Okada and Takeshita was, that's one of the best things I've seen this year. That was great.
That was so good, so good. And I would even throw in the gauntlet match because it was so good and everybody looked great. There was, and again, it just highlights the depth of that roster and how good everyone is on that bench there. so, but man, when it opened like that and they gave them 30 minutes and they made, they used every single second of those 30 minutes.
It was good. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
and I didn't feel any of it was wasted. I'm so good.
No, it didn't feel like 30 minutes to me. I looked at my watch and I was like, my God, I didn't think it went that long. So that's impressive.
Right, right.
Yeah, that yeah, it was yeah, you opened up such a high bar and I was like, my gosh. All right. Well, good luck everybody. And then I'm like, okay, well Jericho's out. he got a great although I did say and this was early and I think it was overcome. I thought early on the biggest pop of the night might have been when Okada and Takeshita were punching each other in the middle of the ring because that crowd went bonkers for it. But then
Mm.
Yep.
Cajun Cope came out and all the other Canadians and it was, it didn't happen. But still, that was a huge pop, so.
Yeah. Yeah. It was. It was a huge pop. So really good show. Well worth your time if you haven't watched it yet. yeah. And on that note, we will be right back on Thursday with our recap of this Wednesday's dynamite, which I guess is some sort of spring break thing, even though spring break for pretty much everybody has already happened, but whatever, whatever.
Yes, go watch it.
you know. And we also get the spring break collision on Thursday.
We do, yeah, which I'm sure has to do with the NHL playoffs, I think. But anyway, but anywho, so we'll be right back on Thursday with the recap of that dynamite where Darby and MJF will apparently fight for the title, which could be really interesting or could just end with sad Darby. I don't know.
Probably.
Mm-hmm.
Really hope not.
Well, the only reason I hope for sad Darby is I think that'd be a fun t-shirt. anyway, on that note, like, share, subscribe. If you haven't hit the subscribe button yet, please do that. Leave reviews. really helps. Five star reviews in particular really help. But, you know, leave the reviews if you like it.
Yep. And if you don't hit the follow, you'll make us be sad Darby's. And no one wants to see that.
We will, we will be the saddest of Darby's. We'll be the new TRIO's challengers, the sad Darby's.
And you know what? They'll put the belts on us the way they hot shot that stuff around. So do you want that? You don't want that. No, we'll just sit there and be sad and somehow win. Like what, you remember how Raven would like slump in the corner before the match started? We'll just do that and never actually move and still somehow win.
Yeah, they will. And you and I, you and I won't even have to get in the ring. It'll be great. It'll be great. Yep. Mm-hmm.
That's my finisher. I just slumped at the corner.
You
Alright.