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Elite Heat is the All Elite Wrestling podcast for fans who want more than just a recap.
Every week, Tim and Dug — two AEW fans who've been All Elite since day one — react to AEW Dynamite and Collision, break down the latest storylines, analyze the characters driving the product, and give you their unfiltered take on everything happening in All Elite Wrestling.
From weekly show reactions to PPV breakdowns, roster moves to long-term booking analysis, Elite Heat covers the full spectrum of AEW. No fluff, no filler...just two passionate pro wrestling fans who care deeply about the product and aren't afraid to say exactly what they think.
New episodes drop every week. Subscribe and join the conversation.
And then Tony going, his face is burnt. No, it wasn't. You know,
Right.
Excalibur going like, that must have been the luckiest malfunction ever in Taz and be like, I don't think it was. I think it obviously wasn't. What are we, like, why are you having them sell it that way?
Right. Yeah. And
First up, let me lead this episode off by saying a fine and happy birthday to you, sir. Did
I thank you, sir. Yeah, thank you.
Did you think that I forgot?
I kinda did. So, you know. Thanks, man. No. You
Yeah, I was just waiting. I knew I was gonna talk to you. I was just waiting. So
You complete me. I knew you'd remember.
So what are you, eighty-nine now? Cool. Cool. Good for you. Good for you.
Pretty damn close. Pretty damn close. Yep, one year closer to the box.
I was gonna say you're almost old enough to be president now, but
Huh. Nope. No thanks.
Yeah. All right. So with that, let's dive in.
A one.
I mean, I don't know how else to transition. So let's dive into tonight's episode. That was
No, let's just do it. Let's do it. Do you wanna lead the way with the heat check?
Sure. I would say this one was good but weird.
Okay.
There's quite a bit of stuff here I liked, but there's also a lot of things I was like, that was just kind of weird.
Like I think you're gonna hear me say that a lot tonight. But anyway, so
That's fine.
Let's get into it. However, you, sir, should celebrate your birthday with a fine, fine container of birthday cake Doich cookie dough, if I may make a suggestion.
I would love to if I haven't already eaten all of mine and
Yeah. Yeah.
Forgot to get my order in, so I need to do that when we're done.
Yeah, same.
Birthday Cake Doich. You know, I normally haven't been a birthday cake flavor fan. It's not been in my top, but man, you're not
Really good.
You're not wrong. They have done a great job. And weirdly, call me a Basic B#tch. I'm a Basic B#tch, 'cause that's some good stuff. I
Yeah, they're
Yeah, I like it all.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's all good. So go to DoichFoods.com, D-O-I-C-H, DoichFoods.com. Put in promo code Elite Heat when you check out, you get twenty percent off your order and you can celebrate Dug's birthday with birthday cake, cookie dough, or whichever flavor you choose. But I highly recommend the birthday cake. So
Yeah, yeah. Cake
It up, put it in your face hole.
Yes. I believe that's the official slogan.
Cake it up, put it in your face hole. Or face
Yep.
It up and put it in your cake hole. I don't care how you do it. Yeah.
Both of those work.
All right. So let's do the heat check with the only rating system in professional wrestling that matters hot, mild, mayonnaise.
Yes.
Now remember when it comes to hot, not unlike at your favorite wing establishment, there's varying degrees of the heat here. So
Yes.
This stuff all made the hot category for me. It all made the stuff that I liked, but again, there are degrees within this. So
That's fair.
This is really just in the order that the show happened, not necessarily in the order of what I liked it the most, but
Got it.
I thought United Empire versus the Don Callis Family to start us off was pretty good. I like United Empire. I like seeing them. Renee and Okada were pretty good, I thought.
Yeah.
The Fletcher promo afterwards was more on the less hot side of things for me, but still made it into my hot column.
The Omega Ospreay sit down, pretty good, a little long, but pretty good. The TBS four-way was real good. I was very impressed by them.
Yes, yes.
Switchblade and Mox were great.
Mm-hmm.
Renee with Willow and Mercedes again, probably a little bit closer to that mild side of the heat scale, but
I feel that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I liked it enough to put it here. Swerve's short but sweet little promo was very good.
Mm-hmm.
I enjoyed
Hechicero and Nigel McGuinness.
Yeah, okay.
And I thought the main event was good. So that's my
Yeah.
That's my hot stuff.
Love it.
My mild Maya World, wanilla, winilla.
Vanilla?
Wanilla?
I may have just had a stroke. I don't know. I might have, yeah. You know what? She should talk to them and
Or invented the next flavor for Doich Foods. Yes.
Get a deal. But anyway, Maya World with Willow and Renee got on my mild. It isn't bad, but it isn't good.
That's fair.
Same thing with MJF's translator segment. That whole thing was part of the weird for me. And there's
Mm-hmm.
Some good in it, but it's just it's just weird.
And the Darby Kevin thing I thought was weird as well. We'll talk more about that. So that made my mild. And then I do have one thing in the mayonnaise.
It's the Brawling Birds. And
Okay.
I'll give you that.
You know, when we talk about it, here's the thing. I'm not even necessarily sure I can say that they were bad there. I just don't care. So that's
I feel that, yeah.
Why I have to put it in the mayonnaise column because not unlike with actual mayonnaise, I just I don't care. I'm not mad if it's there, but I'm not mad if it isn't. So
Yep. Nope. I agree with that.
That's my heat check. Yours?
All right. I'm I'm in a l a lot of the same boat, but I think I put more in the heat than the mild. I like seeing Archer in the ring. That's that's in my likes a lot in that opening match. I thought the Okada Renee interview was solid. I thought the Fletcher Takeshita thing was pretty good. I probably liked the throwdown afterwards better than the thing before.
Yep. Yep.
I agree with you on the Kenny and Will thing. I thought it was really, really good.
I thought it was a little long, but I thought Will came off as super emotional and Kenny came off as very in control and calculating and I really liked that. I loved the TBS title match. I thought it was great. I loved the John Moxley Jay White match, thought that was great. I loved the scrum afterwards. I thought that was fantastic with all that. We could get more into it when that went down. I was fine with the Maya Willow backstage.
Probably should dip down into the mild, but I like them both enough that I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I and now I'm starting to second guess I have Andrade and the MJF back and forth in the l hot column. It should probably be in the mild column, but that's okay.
Well, I it's one I'll I'll tell you right now, it's one that I could be talked into bumping it up. I don't again, I don't think that it was bad. It's one of the things that I point to and go that was kind of weird. And like I said, we'll
Yeah. I mean I'm not gonna deny that.
Yeah, like I said, we'll get more into it, but it's definitely something that got into my weird area
Mm-hmm.
And the stuff that falls into the weird for me.
Kinda shuffles around between like the bottom of my hot and the top of my mild, you know.
Yeah,
I understand. And like I said, I looking back at it, it's probably should be in my mild, but that's fine. I do have the Renee, Mercedes, and Willow bit as in my hot and I dug all of it. Like I thought the video portion was mild and I thought that's where we're gonna be, but after that I was I was in. I was like, Yep, bring me that. I thought that was super good. I agree with you on the Spanish translator. I thought that was meh.
Call that mild, maybe mayo even.
Mm-hmm.
I really liked the swerve bit. It was short and weird, but I liked it. I kind of missed Yeah.
But it's weird in a good way, I think.
I kind of missed the McGuinness Heichy Sarah match just because I was having issues with my feed.
You didn't miss
A ton on it. It's it's of the matches, it's arguably the weakest, but I like those two guys, so they got bonus points just 'cause I like
Okay. Yeah.
And I liked the I thought the Kevin Knight Darby bit was good and weird and I loved the main event. Here's what I have in my mild. I had Jay White and Mox in my love. In my mild I have the outcome of that match.
Yeah. Yep. I would agree with that.
And I McGuinness in Hero because I even wrote down mostly because I didn't see it.
There's an argument that it could be there. It's it's not bad, but it's it wasn't it didn't blow you away. You know what I mean?
And I realize I don't have anything in my mayo, but you brought it up and
That's good.
I realized I didn't write it down, so it probably goes in my mayo, which is the birds. And it's too bad because I really like them. The
Hm. Yeah. Yeah.
What may bump it up to mild is at least we got a little bit of recap of the back and forth with them and the Divine Dominion. So at least we have a little bit of something there, a little bit of meat on those bones. But otherwise, this feels like can we get to All In, please, and have this match?
Yeah. Yep. I would agree with that. All right.
But
But otherwise I liked it and I agree. It was a weird show, but I ended up ended up really, really liking the whole thing.
Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think overall it's a good show. I wouldn't say it was a bad show by any stretch of the imagination. There's just some stuff in here that I went, well, that's kind of weird. And I'll explain more of my thinking on that as we dive into this. So we were live from Baltimore with eleven days to go until All In. And we opened with Ospreay and the United Empire versus Don Callis Family. I thought this match was just super fun.
Yeah.
I really like United Empire. I apologize, I don't know the guy's name who has the face tattoo.
I forgot to write it down.
Yeah, but I really enjoy him. He's
Yeah, he was great.
Weird in the best way. And I really,
Yes.
Really enjoyed him. I enjoy United Empire. I would love it if they could port that to AEW, but I don't know how that would all go. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it a lot.
Yeah, I thought it was a great match. I and like I said before, I've really enjoyed seeing Lance Archer in the ring doing well. I love the bit with him and the small Italian dude. I think he was from Italy, from United Empire, and where he was just smack, smack, smack, smack, smack
Yeah.
From the chest and nothing happened. I just like see I'm I'm really encouraged to see Lance Archer in the ring, and I can't wait to see more of him in the ring, 'cause I really like Lance Archer, and I think he could be a really, really good monster heel given
Mm-hmm.
Or monster face, whatever, but he could be really
Yeah.
Good in the ring. Just needs a little bit of breathing room and some opportunity. But yeah, this was a fun match. I don't think story wise it did much other
No.
Than show us Will Ospreay and how good he is.
I guess if I wanted to nitpick it, I would say there's no point in it being on the card.
Yep. Yep.
I wonder if United Empire is gonna show up on like the buy-in for All In.
Would not shock me.
And that was just kind of laying the groundwork of like it's gonna be them and
Pick three from the Don Callis Family on the buy-in. Like, I think there's a pretty decent chance that's gonna happen. Maybe one or two of them even pops up in the casino gauntlet match, depending on how deep they go on that. And
Right. Yeah, exactly.
And that's what it felt like to me is just a like, we're gonna reintroduce you in a way to United Empire because we're gonna use them it all in, but otherwise, I mean, yeah, on paper it doesn't make any sense, but I don't care because it was a fun match and
It involved a lot of people that I enjoy, so I'm I don't care. I'm not gonna complain about it, you know.
I just wrote down this was a six-man to highlight Ospreay. So and it's fine. But again,
Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Everybody did great. I love you know, I like everybody involved. So nothing but
Yeah.
Positive about it.
And I think that what they did tonight overall in this show is I think they did a really good job of getting the main characters, if you will, involved, but doing it safely with there only being eleven days to go. And I know that anything can happen.
It with one exception,
With one exception, near the end.
Yeah, that's the biggest risk that they took. Yeah.
Yeah.
But I think that they did a really good job of keeping them on screen, letting some of them, you know, do some work in the ring, but doing it mostly with here's the people that we know will take care of them and, you know, making
Yep. Yep.
Sure you're still gonna be good in eleven days.
Yeah. And really and really doing a good job of drawing the lines in the sand of who's on
Yeah.
What whose team and all that fun stuff. So I really like I said, I love the match. I like this whole show. So yeah, this was a really
Yeah.
Fun way to start the show.
So then Renee with Okada. I really enjoyed this. I thought Okada was really good here. I just like this whole thing. I don't know what else to say. I like this whole thing with all three of these guys. I think it's gonna be tremendous fun a week from Sunday. So yeah, I just I enjoyed it.
Yeah, I think Okada is really showing just how fun he can be and yet how serious he takes this and the way he digs at both of both Kyle and Takeshita is super fun.
Mm-hmm.
One of my favorite Okada interviews in a while, and I think maybe because it was just him and no Don Callis. And I think I enjoyed that. Weirdly, I loved me some Don Callis, but he wasn't at the show tonight.
So it was kind of nice to see Okada just do his thing. And maybe that's why it came off as a little bit better or a little different. But yeah, really good, really good bit.
Yeah, I agree. And then that would roll into Kyle Fletcher doing a promo in the ring. Now, what I will say about this is I don't think this was the best Kyle Fletcher promo, which to be fair is a high bar. I think he's quite good on the mic. It
Mm-hmm.
It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, just didn't hook me in the way that he usually does. He didn't really pull me in the way he usually does. Again,
Mm-hmm.
I don't think it was bad, just not his strongest, but it didn't matter. What mattered was Takeshita coming out and them throwing hands.
Which I was completely good with. That's really what mattered here and it did what it needed to do. It continued to hype up this match between these three guys for the international title. Like I said, gonna be super fun. I'm good with all of it.
Yeah, I thought this one showed how volatile or just how passionate Kyle is
Yes.
And how angry he is at this whole situation and kind of how cool and collected the other two are. Takeshita came out, did some whooping, Okada did not come out. That made its own statement. So I really
Yep.
Like this bit. And you're right. Was it the best Kyle Fletcher promo? No. Did it do the job and was it good? Absolutely.
Yeah, and that's all it had to do. It didn't have to be like, my God, that's one of the greatest promos I've ever heard. It did the job. So, you know, I have no issue with it. Then we got that sit down with Renee with Omega and Ospreay. Now, some of this I missed because I don't know if this happened with you, but the sound went wonky on the broadcast.
Yes, near the end, I think, or at
At the end of
The very beginning. At the very beginning I couldn't hear them. At all. Right.
There was no there was no audio. Like it's it started going really
Wonky before they went to break. And then when they came back from break, there was literally no audio. And then they got it figured out. So as long okay, so it wasn't just me. But look, what what I heard, which was most of it, was good. It recaps their history. It like you said, it shows a very, I think, emotional conversation.
Will Ospreay, a very calculating Kenny Omega. Again, I love this version of Omega.
I just think it I think it was a little long, but
Yep.
I thought it was a bit long for the end game of it. They could have compressed it a little bit, but
Yeah.
Still, I do I did like the escalation of Will Ospreay through this and how Kenny predictably and accurately pushed every button he could on Will Ospreay, getting exactly the response he wanted out of him. And I even said to myself while I'm watching this, this is one of my favorite renditions of Kenny Omega that I've seen a long time. It's very much cleaner-esque.
Mm-hmm.
But it
Is slightly different and a little weird. And I loved that about this bit. So while I do feel like it went too long, I'm okay with the outcome. So as long as that story
I agree.
Keeps flowing forward, Kenny continues to be who he is, which is on the controlled chaos side, and Ospreay is just an emotional whirling dervish of Tasmanian devil-like activity emotionally, then I'm gonna be fine with this.
Yeah, I agree with everything you said there. Great, great work by both of these guys, especially Kenny. It went too long. That's not necessarily their fault. They could have fixed it with editing. They didn't, whatever.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yeah, I loved it. I thought this was really, really good stuff and really cements who these two guys are headed into All In. They would
Yeah.
Really drive it home at the end of the show, but at that point, like we're pretty locked in on.
Yep.
I know
What version of these guys we're getting.
Absolutely.
So then we got that four way for the TBS championship, which I actually was surprised that they didn't put it later in the show. I thought that it might have been the main event.
I'm glad they didn't because I think their position on the show did them nothing but good favors. Because my if you remember, one of my beefs of last week was the positioning of the women's matches. I don't think they were put
Mm-hmm.
In very optimal positions, but I thought the positioning of this match was really well done. I agree it very well could have been the main event, but I'm kind of glad it wasn't because this crowd was hot. This
Yes.
Match was
Really really good. I thought this was a great match. I thought it had great pacing. I thought just layout and, like, I said, the positioning on the card. I thought we saw some new wrinkles in a lot of the competitors' games that we haven't seen in a minute. And this was immediately my first possible match of the night for me. I loved this match. I thought it was really good. And was
Same. Same. Yeah, i it was a strong,
Yeah.
Very surprised by the ending.
I was well, I wouldn't say I was very surprised, but I was surprised.
Yeah. That's overstating, but yes.
Well, Where I think you could get into saying very surprised is I'm surprised that Maya World pinned Statlander.
Yeah.
And that tells me that we're gonna do some sort of story there, particularly given how Statlander reacted to it.
Yeah.
But I agree with you, this was a strong, strong match of the night contender for me. I thought that Kris Statlander and Persephone looked great.
In this. I thought
Yes. Yeah.
They looked amazing. The like kip up kick out that Statlander did,
So good.
That was cool. Like I've
Yeah.
Never seen that before. I was like, my god, that was awesome. So I thought those two looked great in this. I thought Maya
Mm-hmm.
World looked pretty good, better version of Shida, but I don't
You?
Know what's going on. She still looks slow to me.
Okay.
Just ever since she came back, she has just looked slow.
To me, and I don't get it. I don't understand what's going on there. Because like she'll do, and she did it tonight, she'll do these like bursts
Mm.
Where she looks like the Shidah that I think we all came to know, like when she and Britt Baker were duking it out and putting on, you know, really good matches, right?
Right.
But it'll be like bracketed by her really just like.
Moving slow and kind of missing kind of missing a spot, not necessarily being in the right place, just kind of not selling as great as I think she's capable of. And I don't get it. I don't understand what's going on. And there were a couple shots, and some of it's the camera angle, but there were a couple shots in this one where I was like, ooh, that didn't that didn't look great.
Okay.
And I don't know I don't know what's going on there.
I really don't. I don't know if it's jet lag. Like I don't know if she's flying from Japan frequently. I don't don't know. But that aside, this was a really, really good match and I think did a lot for Maya World. So
Absolutely. And even though I said I was really, really surprised by her pinning Statlander, I think it makes all the sense to the world that Statlander was kind of the one she had to pin. Because it you've already had this kind of squabble between Shida and Persephone. You don't need any of that. So pinning Statlander really kind of hammered home the fact that they were building Statlander in that match to look like she was going to win, because she looked like Superwoman in that in that match.
And then to have Maya pin her was an eye-opener. And I think that's exactly, you know, it surprised me. That's what they were going for. And so my hat is off. So I yeah, I enjoyed this match. I didn't notice the sheet of weaknesses as much. And maybe it's just because I was so impressed with everyone else that I wasn't noticing. So I 100% get what you're saying. And believe you, I didn't it didn't come to my attention as as as much to the forefront. Doesn't mean it wasn't there, but I just didn't notice
Yeah.
It as much as much tonight.
What I wasn't necessarily cognizant of until right this moment is because when you know you go back a couple weeks, I think it was w I think it was when Maya World beat her for the TBS title, if I recall correctly, like
If you remember, I was sitting here going, it was not a good match. Like
Mm-hmm.
I was just sitting here going, like, man, that was it was bad, and that makes me really sad. And I've kind of been paying a lot more attention to Shida when I've seen her in the ring since then, to go like, was it just a bad night or is she off her game? And so I might be being slightly hypercritical here, but like I'm just picking up on stuff from her that I'm like.
Are you okay? Like, is there an injury
Yeah.
There? Like, are you like are you good? Because you're better than that.
Yeah. I think she i and I'm swinging way out of my league on this one, but I it could be she's just having a hard time getting back into that ring shape she was, 'cause I don't know what she was doing in her time off. I get the impression she was not wrestling as much. So maybe it's just taking her longer to get
Should be.
To get that groove going again. And I thought she looked better tonight. I understand the criticism.
But I thought for tonight and again I maybe I just wasn't noticing, I thought she looked better. I thought everyone looked good. So doesn't mean they can't always improve, but
Yeah. No, I mean, I think she looked better tonight than she has in several matches recently. But
Okay.
There were just there I wish I could remember the exact spot and I can't, but there was just I do have a memory of something sticking out to me where I was like, Ooh, what happened there? Like it just it just it was off. And I know things happen. It happens to everybody.
When when she had her Uber Eats delivery right at the ring and she took time to go ahead and eat a sandwich on the is that the at the spot? Okay. All right, good.
No, that actually I was good with. Yeah, that
I was good 'cause you know what? I would do that.
Yeah, okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah.
I would be like, time out. Let me house this burger real quick. Gotta carb up. All right, let's go. You
Know. I mean, John Cena famously did that all the time. So, you know, look at him.
Love it.
But yeah, I just, I don't know. It just there were a couple moments that I was like, man, like, what is going on here? But anyway. Anyway, but really good match. And I do.
Now wonder what we are gonna get at All In. I'm guessing Kris Statlander in Maya World for the TBS championship, but I'm curious.
Yeah, same. Same. I don't know
Then we got
The Brawling Birds promo. Fine, whatever and mm.
I
I even wrote down it's funny 'cause I did forget about that bit in the heat check and I just wrote, Fine. Fine.
Yeah, I wrote
I wrote it was fine, I guess, whatever. I just don't care. And it sucks because I like all four of those women and I wanna like the Brawling Birds, but it just they're trying, and I give them
Mm-hmm.
Credit for that. They are trying really hard to make this into something. It's just not hitting with me. And on one hand, I like that they have done a good job.
With this build to All In of keeping a lot of people, they've really kind of kept almost everybody apart, right? Like
Yes, yeah.
You haven't done the, you know, they're gonna wrestle in like a multi-person match or whatever. You know what I mean? Like they've
Right.
Done a really nice job of keeping everybody apart. And I think for the most part it has worked. I think they've it's worked extremely well for
Omega and Ospreay. I think it's working very well for Willow and Mercedes. I think that it's been slightly less effective, but still pretty effective with Edge and Christian and the Young Bucks. You know, so I think they've done a pretty good job with it. With this particular story, though, they've almost kept them too far apart because you know, with Omega and Ospreay.
You've got a lot of history there. And you've also got the benefit of being able to sell the matches. These are two of the best, arguably ever, but certainly two of the best in the world right now. With Cage and Cope and the Young Bucks, like we've been saying for a while, if all they had done was announced that match and then did nothing else to build the match. And to be fair, they haven't done a ton to build the match since announcing it. But it doesn't matter.
Because it's those four guys and that's all you need to sell that match is these are two teams that are on the Mount Rushmore of tag team wrestling and they're gonna go at it in Wembley. Cool. I don't need a lot more for that.
Yeah.
I think what what the birds and Divine Dominion have going against them are is twofold. Number one, I think it was a mistake to split the birds up for so long to give them singles runs, which turned into nothing and really didn't amount to anything. And I that took a lot of their momentum away. So they kind of threw them at Divine Dominion out of nowhere. And then it's not that they really haven't been apart, but they haven't been together on dynamite.
They most of their
That's true.
S clashes were on collision. At least that's the impression I'm getting because I didn't see most of what they showed tonight because I think it was all on collision. So
Yeah, no, I agree. And that's kind of what I was driving at is if you had positioned the Brawling Birds as this dominant tag team that just wreck people, right? Like
Mm-hmm.
Some old APA stuff where like they're gonna hit
Yeah.
You hard, right? And if you had positioned Divine Dominion, which they kind of were doing as, you know, they're so dominant, right? Like who can and this is where I think those five-minute challenges.
May have done more harm than good is because you threw a bunch of jobbers at them.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know, if it had been Divine Dominion wrecks all these women that we know who they are
Mm-hmm.
And wrecks them in five minutes or less. You know, now you've got a narrative. Now it's, you know, immovable object and
Thunder. Irresistible force? Did you feel it? Okay.
Irresistible force. That's it. That's it. Irresistible
Force. Thank you. I couldn't I really could.
Literally there was thunder
Here and I'm like, You can't hear the thunder here, can you? But Got it, got it, yeah.
No, I really couldn't come up with it. So thank you. But anyway,
You know, like then you've got that storyline, right? Of
Thank you.
You've got the two most dominant women's teams going on this collision course and who's gonna blink, right? And
Right.
That's probably the narrative I think that at some point they were trying for, but they just haven't gotten it across. And
Well,
I think the problem with that scenario is what strong women's tag teams do you have in AEW? Because you really don't. You have Sisters
That too. Yep, that too.
Of Sin who have made a habit of losing, and that's probably your most credible outside of the Brawling Birds. So in order to give them that dominant position, they had to beat kind of jobbers because there really wasn't much else.
To do other than you take name you know of the few names that you have and throw them into an ad hoc tag team to throw at them, them losing to them doesn't seem that surprising because they've never tagged before. So they're
Yeah.
They have this weird they're victims of their own success because they don't have anyone to really challenge them. And I for in for me what I've seen is when they throw Divine Dominion in
A six-person match, Divine Dominion end up ends up looking like the weak link, which that should never be. And yet the they always, you know, especially, and you know I've harped about this so much that, you know, I don't think The Megasus should be looking as weak as she does in these six-person matches. And she tends to go in, eat a lot of offense, and tag out. It just
I don't know. To me that's not helping this storyline. So but anyway.
I agree. Yeah. I agree.
The problems for this one go really far back. They go
Mm-hmm.
Months and months back. And they made a lot of mistakes trying to get to this point. They're doing the best they can. I appreciate that.
Yeah.
But this just is never I've been saying it for weeks. This is not gonna be a red hot story come All In and it's just gonna be what it is. And that's fine.
This is one of the few matches, like I said earlier. I wish we could just get to All In for this because I don't need you know, it's like I okay, we know what's going to happen. They're gonna fight. Let's just do it. Let's do it. I don't need the rest of the story 'cause
Yeah, I think that they would
There isn't one.
Yes, I think they would be best served at this point by not continuing to have them cut promos. Just give
Yeah.
That time to somebody else and just, you know, when you're running down the All In card, remind us there that it's happening. I mean, look at by the time this episode comes out, it's ten days away. We're not gonna forget. We're not gonna forget. It's fine. And it's
Yeah, exactly. Mm-hmm.
Totally fine. They don't all have to be red hot angles and frankly, can't.
No
Be It's okay. It's
Exactly. Yeah.
Okay. Just it's cool. The match is made. We know it's happening. Got it. We don't really need to see them again until Wembley. That's okay. That'd be fine.
Mm, yep.
I think we're gonna see them again, but we don't need to.
Yep.
Then we got Switchblade and Mox in the Continental Cup. I was surprised this wasn't the main event, and I kind of wish it had been.
Yeah, I understand that. I understand why it wasn't, but th this
Yeah. But
Was such a good match.
It was a great match. I this is my match of the night. I really it at first I was like, huh, I'm a little surprised that I'm not more into this and but I should have just trusted these guys. They were billed into something. I thought the f the I don't even know. I mean, I don't know how long it was, but the final probably
Two, three ish minutes of the of the match, maybe even final five minutes or so of the match were tremendous. The way
Yes.
They were countering each other and working holds
Job.
And stuff, it this was really good. This
Yeah.
Was really, really good.
I think this is one of the first matches since Jay White got back, and maybe even before he left that Jay White looked he showed you exactly why when Switchblade came over to AEW, why there was so much hype 'cause he's he was so good in this match of countering Moxley and kind of making Moxley not look quite as untouchable, even though Mox ended up with the victory.
Bums me out, but
And that was my big thing too, is like after that match, and I kind of knew going in, Mox is gonna win. He's going to win. And that I really wanted Jay White to win. And that I know that's just
I did too.
Bias on my part. I get storyline wise, it's probably makes more sense. But And even from a match perspective, I thought Jay White won that match other than, you know, the final. Absolutely
Yeah. I think he out wrestled him. Yeah. I mean
He did.
So I going into it, I had the same thought of Mox is gonna win because as you know, I was saying Mox is gonna be in the final and he's going to be. And
Yep. Mm-hmm.
He's gonna be in the final because I get it, he's a huge draw, he's a massive star, and this is your biggest show. I get it. I had the thought though at at some point during this match of it might be more compelling.
For him to lose, to
Mm-hmm.
Know that we're gonna get a new continental champion, and then
Yeah.
Have him do something else, because he's now the problem with the Continental Cup, and this isn't a huge problem, but the problem, air quotes, is it's kind of pulled John Moxley out of the Omega Ospreay storyline. And that triangle was really interesting,
Yeah.
And now that's been com really completely removed.
And so you could have had him lose and then now he's you're not inserting him in the match, but now he's sticking his nose in their business again. And it just adds a little look, the main event for Wembley is look, it's been great. And maybe adding one more element would have been too much, and maybe they were they were correct to do it. But it could have been interesting.
Is what I'm kind of getting at here. Is it could have been interesting to see what they do with that. And I do think it would be interesting to know that we're getting a new champ at All In. And it would make the rest of the matches, I think, more interesting because from now until All In, anytime somebody's up against Mox, I have to assume they're going to lose.
I mean, he has one more match to lose before going to All In. And
Yeah. Yeah. And I don't think he's gonna.
Depending on who he's going up against, but because it's
Yeah.
Right now it's him and McGuinness in the final four, and then it's either Claudio or Kingston, and then I can't remember the other two.
I don't know either.
So of those
Mm-hmm.
I it Mox has got I mean, clearly Moxley's gonna be in the finals.
I think so. Yeah. I think so. And I'm changing my pick on who he's gonna face in the final after tonight, but I
Isn't it?
I think clearly Mox is gonna be in. So cause he's already taken out his two, I would argue, his two biggest challengers in Switchblade and Jack Perry. So
I would agree. Yeah.
Yeah. But a great match. Great match.
So you liked everything that happened afterwards, yes?
I did. I really did. There's
Okay.
There's a few reasons why, but I want to hear why you didn't like it.
Okay.
I'm not saying I didn't like it. It was one of the weird things for me.
Okay. Not saying it wasn't weird.
It was it was definitely in my in my mild category because it was weird and it just I thought I it didn't make sense to me. So here's here's why I say it doesn't make sense to me. So switchblade is catching the beatdown from The Dogs.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
And The Conglomeration comes out?
Bang Bang Gang wasn't here. So someone, if someone was gonna save him, yeah.
Did they say they weren't there though?
Earlier they said Bang Bang Gang wasn't there.
Okay. I guess I missed that. Because I'm going, why isn't the Bang Bang Gang coming out?
Yeah, that's why.
So The Conglomeration comes out to make the save,
Mm-hmm.
Which I still find odd, but
They but they did make
A point to show them watching the match. So we at least got some
Yep, they did. But just because you're watching,
Does that mean you're automatically running in to save this guy?
Well, I mean that is kind of The Conglomeration's M.O.. I mean
That's kind of what they've been doing is helping out those who need the help. And so
Yeah, I
Guess. But so that I was like, okay, whatever. And then you get what did you call him last week? Not Hangdito.
But before that, Gabe Kidd comes out.
Yeah, yeah. Well, I was lumping him in with The Dogs, but yeah, Gabe Kidd is back.
The return
Of Gabe Kidd and then what did I call them? Hangdito Brohangdo? Brohang I don't
I said hangdito, but was it Brohang? I think that was it. I think it was Brohangdo.
Brohangdo comes out.
Yeah. Which again I was like, okay. I'm not quite sure why.
Well, actually
Yeah. Well yeah, I don't know why.
Like, here's where I say this is weird, okay, 'cause this is the sequence. So The Dogs come out with Gabe Kidd and
Mm-hmm.
They're destroying Jay White, which that makes sense because there's been beef there.
Conglomeration comes out to make the save. And then Brohangdo comes out. And then The Demand comes out, but The Demand comes out solely for Ricochet to tell everybody to shut up and then go, okay, I'm done. Which was weird.
Yeah. Yep.
To me, you've got the sequencing here wrong. To me, it should have been heel group comes out—the Dogs and is whooping on switchblade. The face Conglomeration group comes out to make the save.
Mm-hmm.
Now the heels, the next heel group and The Demand should come out to start beating down The Conglomeration. And now Brohangdo comes out, right? And that makes more sense as well because they've already got beef with The Demand. So I thought the sequencing of this was weird and they got it ass backwards. Ass backwards is a bit much, but I'm going with it.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then you did the thing that as we discussed a while back, I don't love of now the champions are going to issue the challenge.
Why? If I'm a champion, I'm not ever calling somebody else out, let alone multiple somebodies. And I get it. They like to fight. I get it. They want to be on All In. I get it. But it just the whole thing was one of those things that happened tonight that I went, this is kind of weird.
I this you're correct. The sequence of events was weird and how they got all the players on the stage was a little weird. I was okay with Hangman saying, you know, look, let's meet at All In because he's right. He's like, We're the trios champs. We need to be at All In. And what I really liked is that's, you know, when they came out and then you had The Demand and Lethal Twist, you finally re- you look in the ring and you're like, holy crap, there's like four or five
Trios teams all in a row. So finally, I even wrote down finally some focus on the trios championships. And so that is for me the payoff. Yes. Was it weird? Yes. Did I like it because we're getting focus on the trios champs? Yes. Did I like it because we had The Dogs in there and Gabe Kidd in there? And you had The Conglomeration with Jay White in there and all these trios teams? Yeah.
I liked it. And I like a mess of chaos like that. And that is more on brand for me, is that messy kind of throw everybody in the ring and see what shakes out. And so I, of course, loved it. And again, if you're gonna have a trios championship, yeah, put them on TV, put them on All In. Let's see it. And you've just proved you've got plenty of teams to throw at. So let's make that shit happen.
Yeah. Now what I liked about it is exactly that part of it. They finally took all these groups and said, Yeah, we're gonna all,
Yeah.
You know, come after the trios championship, which I've been calling for along with you for a while. So I liked that part of it, right? I just thought it was a weird, kind of clunky way to get to it.
Hangman made the most sense here, in my opinion. Have
Mm-hmm.
Him say what he said of look, we're gonna be at All In. So whoever wants some, come get some. And you can start having the groups come out at that point. Because where I'm a little bit confused
Yes.
Here is this gonna be a multi-team match? Are all
I
Of them in it now?
I think we get that answer later in the show, and I don't think the answer is really?
I disagree. I
Don't think we did get that answer.
Okay. Okay.
'Cause I
I don't think we did. I'm I don't know the answer to it. Of is it gonna be The Demand, The Dogs, The Conglomeration? That's who's left in the Continental Cup. It's Orange Cassidy and Kyle O'Reilly. They're the other two. Here are the other
Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Forgot about that. Yeah.
Two. Which I guess if Orange Cassidy wins, he would be a threat to Mox, but we'll see. But
Mm-hmm.
So is it gonna be
All those teams plus potentially the Bang Bang Gang plus swerve and mystery opponents.
Partners.
Yeah, sorry, partners, which mm I think we know who it is.
Seneca?
Maybe, but I think we know who it is. You know what I mean? Like I don't know if it's gonna be all of them or if it's just Swerve and his mystery super friends. I don't know.
I was thinking it was just gonna be Swerve, but it could be Swerve and any combination of those other twenty-seven people. So or all of them. And
Yeah. And I don't know
The answer to that. And I look, you've still got ten days. You don't necessarily have to answer that right now. But those are some pretty big names
Mm-hmm.
And there's not a lot of clarity around it. So I'm hoping it gets cleared up, you know, next week or it'll probably get cleared up on collision, but whatever.
You
Know how Tony loves his thirty man matches, so I think we could be seeing a bunch of teams in there.
That's what I'm thinking. I think that's how it's gonna go. And
Okay.
Here's, I'm gonna, Tony Khan, I hope you're listening. Because I have a I have a genius idea for you. This I'm gonna give you this one for free. Okay. You take all those trios teams that we said, you put them all in the in the ring for the titles. But here's how you do it. There has to be three pins. If you get a pin, the person you pinned is out of the match and you're out of the match. But if you get the pin, you get one of the belts. The next person who gets a pin, they get a second belt.
The final person to get a pin gets the third belt. That's your trios champions. Right there. Three pins. Each one gets a belt. Go about your business. If you're not all on the same team, you are at the end of it. Good luck. You're welcome. That's free.
I know why. I love that. I love it. Because you could you could
I don't hate it and I thought of it thinking it was a joke.
Play with that like crazy.
Mm-hmm.
I love that idea. What I'm really
Not terrible.
No, I love that idea. What I'm really looking forward to though is if it is gonna be, you know, eight million teams in there, new world trios champions, Boom and Doom and the Rizzler.
Please, plea please, yes, please let's make that happen. If you never
Yeah. So
Want to see those belts defended on TV again, let them win it. Ugh.
Yeah. So
Anyway, it w it was a weird segment.
Mm.
I don't hate it. In my opinion, it was weird. I don't hate it. It is interesting in terms of what exactly are we doing here? And you're doing something
Mm-hmm.
With the trios belts, which again is good. And you're doing some with these factions, which again is good. I just I'm confused. That's all.
Yeah. That's fine.
Then again, when am I not?
Then Maya World was with Renee, which fine. It sets up collision, which is fine. Her and Willow
Okay.
Are gonna the thing is, if they had never brought up that Willow said Maya World could have the first shot, I never would have remembered it. So
No, no.
And I mean it like you said, it's fine. We know
It's fine.
We know Maya's not gonna win because you're not gonna have Maya World take on Mercedes at All In. That's not gonna happen.
No. No.
So that's fine. But again, we probably could have skipped that one and just had them wrestle neck on Saturday and been, you know,
Yeah. We could have skipped it. Yep. Or yeah.
You don't need to talk about it.
Yep. We could have we could have just skipped it. Would have been fine. And then we got another weird segment with MJF's personal translator in the ring. Now, Jonathan Cruz, I actually kind of like him. I think he's pretty entertaining. By the way, did you know that he is the guy in the meme of Samoa Joe walking away from the dive?
Like you know, where it's Joe walking away and the guy is like looking at him like, what? Come on, man. It's that's Jonathan Cruz.
I did not. No. All right, that's hilarious.
Yeah. So anyway, he gets in the ring to basically say stuff to Andrade in Spanish. And then, and I didn't have a problem with that. Let me be clear. But then it gets weird because Andrade comes out, which makes sense, and now it's a match.
Well, he did say Andrade's not here. If he was here, I'd challenge him to a match and I'd whoop his ass. So he said it
I mean, just have Andrade come out and beat him up. You could have done the whole thing without it being a match. It was
That's it. That's it.
Mildly entertaining that it was a real match and he got stomped hard in like forty seconds. You didn't need the match, but it was mildly entertaining that it was a match.
That's exactly what you said; that was my thought was Andrade just comes out and just you know, does exactly what he did, and then we don't have to waste time on the pinfall and all that, you know what I mean? Which I realized
Mm.
Was not a lot of time, but I was just sitting there going, Why is this a match? Just let Andrade beat him up. That's that's all we needed.
Because next when we see Andrade next, when he comes out, underneath his name are they gonna see Pinned Jonathan Cruz? One of his resume
Might. You very well might.
On his on his resume, let's say.
Very well
Might. And so I just thought it was unnecessary. And then I don't know if you caught this. The audio for MJF's video started too early.
I couldn't tell where that was coming from until they
Yeah.
Played the video and I was like, that's where that's from.
Yeah.
And well in and at first I was like, okay, they're doing the interruption thing. And then I went, No, in the arena they don't hear that. That's just on the broadcast feed. Like they obviously couldn't hear it in the arena. Like Andrade didn't hear it. The fans didn't, like, I don't know what happened there. They had some some tech issues tonight.
Yes they did.
And one of the things I had to laugh at this was MJF
In the pool going, I'm just soaking up that Long Island sunshine. When that aired, it was 9 34 PM in Long Island.
Yeah.
I don't think the sun was out. Which to be fair, they weren't trying to say he was live via satellite or something. It just made me laugh. But
True. True well, he
Did go nice match or something, and it's like Okay.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
It made me laugh. MJF was great here, because it's MJF. He's always great. I liked Andrade being like super pissed.
Yes.
I think it adds a nice level of intrigue to the casino gauntlet match. I think they're doing a really nice job with this. Again, a good example of keeping those guys apart from each other and it's working. I just thought
Yeah. Yeah, that's fine.
There were bits of it that were weird.
You're not wrong. I was okay
Thank you.
With it. Like I said, I thought of I thought it was fine. Yeah, I'm okay with it. It was a fun bit, you know. But yeah.
Yeah,
It was it was fine. It was overall mostly good. It was just kind of weird. But
It was weird.
But I kinda like Jonathan Cruz. I think he's funny, so whatever.
Mm-hmm.
Then we got Renee with Mercedes and Willow. At first I was like, the split screen thing is kind of weird. But again, keeping them apart and then
Mm-hmm.
They wouldn't be apart at the end. But Mercedes was awesome here.
I wrote down
She was tremendous.
They are both on fire. I
Mm-hmm.
As soon as Mercedes started in, I thought it was gold for the rest of the bit. I loved it.
Mm-hmm. I agree.
Loved it. And I thought
I agree.
I that was one of my that was one of my favorite pull apart in a long time. They're they're come up the they're come together and they're just wailing on each other. That had so much
Raw emotion and it felt more
Mm-hmm.
Real than a lot of the of the other jumping a guy from behind bits have been in a long time on AEW. I thought tonight most of them looked great. Like I thought the ones with The Dogs looked good earlier. I thought this was fantastic. Weirdly, I put their their scrap as potential match of the night for me because I liked it that much. I thought it was so
That's funny.
Good.
That's funny. No, they were they were really, really good. They were excellent. Then we got that quick swerve promo, which was it did everything it needed to do. Of clearly Swerve's gonna get involved with the trios,
Yeah.
Whether it's just him and his whoever friends, which I'm thinking maybe recently released
Hurt syndicate?
Unicorns.
Hurt syndicate.
I told you last week I'd be great with it being Hurt Syndicate. I would love for it to be Hurt Syndicate. I think that actually makes a tremendous amount of sense, but I think
Yeah, it's actually from the system.
It's gonna be Swerve Day. I think I think it's gonna be, but
It could be. It could very well be. I love that name.
Thank you. I feel like we can do better, but thank you.
No, that's great.
But I think it's gonna be him and the New Day, which makes me a little bit sad just because I want New Day and the Young Bucks like immediately. But
Yeah.
I can't be mad at this 'cause it's gonna be wildly entertaining if they put those three together.
New house?
Swerve Day? New
Don't hate it.
House?
Don't hate it. Everything's coming up new house. I don't hate it. So
That's
Good. Yes.
Then
You know, but like I said, it was quick, it did exactly what it needed to do. I'm very interested now in that. I still don't understand if it's gonna be a multi-team thing or not, but whatever. Whatever. Yeah.
I guess we'll find out at some point. We have ten days to find out.
We do. Well maybe we find out, maybe we don't. I don't know. But anyway, it was okay. You know, game on. So I enjoyed it.
Then Hechicero and Nigel McGuinness wrestled, and I know you didn't really see this one.
Mm-mm.
So it's not a bad match by any stretch of the imagination. It's it's very methodical. The pacing of it is pretty slow. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Nigel is working a like ankle/heel injury
Right.
That Hechicero attacked, which of course makes sense.
When Nigel won, I went, I think he's now the story. I think that
Yeah.
It's gonna be how long can this run go? Obviously
Mm-hmm.
It's Wembley, he's from the UK. So now I think it's gonna be him and Mox in the final. I suspect the blind draw is going to put the winner of Claudio and Eddie with Moxley and the winner of
The Conglomeration standoff with Nigel. And I think Nigel's
Makes sense.
Going through.
I was gonna say it's it's gotta be Nigel or Eddie, because those are the only two that make
I agree.
Sense if Moxley goes all the way through, which it looks like he's going to. But you're right, after tonight, because I thought, okay, night I thought for sure Nigel was gonna win until it started. Then I was like, mm-mm, no, maybe he they you know, maybe they are gonna protect his foot and not have him go on, you know, and do that. But
His foot must be good enough for him to go on. So I think you're right. I think it is going to be McGuinness against Mox for the final.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking, unless for whatever reason he can't go, but not a bad match by any stretch of the imagination, but it was it was good, not great.
Yeah. If that is our finals,
Mm-hmm.
I think we see a new continental champion at the end of this. I think they
I would love that.
I think they put the belt on McGuinness. I really do.
I would love that. I would absolutely love it. I think it would be really fun. He doesn't have to have a huge run with it. But I think that'd be fun. I hope they do
Mm-hmm.
It.
It's it's kind of like a mini Maya World where it's like
Mm-hmm.
He knows this could be his last shot.
Yeah.
He ends up with the title. He's got a bum foot. He keeps struggling through. He keeps winning. And then he loses to a credible competitor. And he
Right.
Did great.
Yeah. I mean, they could potentially 'cause again it's not that far away, they could potentially have him get into the Continental Classic as the champion, you know. That'd be fine. That'd be
Yeah. Huh? Mm-hmm.
Fine. So I yeah, I would love that if they do it. I don't know if they're gonna, but I would be a fan of it. I think that
No. Yeah.
They could and then it sets up the inevitable Moxley-Ospreay clash because now Mox isn't, you know,
Yeah. Yep.
Doing that anymore. So
Mm-hmm.
But
We'll see. Then we got the Darby Kevin Knight thing.
I didn't love the pyro thing. I didn't love the pyro thing.
Okay. I didn't
I get it.
I didn't love it. One of the things I didn't love about it is I think the timing was bad.
I agree.
I think they waited way too long to do it. And
I agree.
It felt super awkward. But because there's no reason
I agree.
For Darby not to come down, so he's just staring
Yeah. Yeah. And he's just wandering around up there. Yeah.
Off to the side, like probably looking at the Pyro guy going, You gonna pull the trigger or what?
Yeah.
We doing this? What are we doing? Yeah. Yep.
Is that why you
Didn't like it? 'Cause it's say it came off as so awkward, or was it just them yeah, okay, good. Yeah, that's
Yeah. I didn't
I didn't like it because it came off super awkward. I understand the callback to Darby exploded Kevin Knight in the cage match. Like I get that. I
Yeah. Yeah.
Get why they did it. But it didn't love it because it was really awkward. The timing of it wasn't great. I didn't love it because they're they're now
I'm gonna say they're they're
You doing your Hechicero imitation there?
Little bit. They're they're
They're they're bordering on doing it too much, right? Because like you have it in the cage match and I thought, that was fun. And then you
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Have Andrade do the thing, you know, and I went, Okay, okay, cool. And now you do it again. And now I'm a little worried they're gonna do it again at All In. And
Yeah.
Just cause that tends to be a thing with AEW and they kind of lock Tony Khan kind of locks in on this is fun, so I'm gonna keep doing it.
Mm-hmm.
I didn't think it looked great.
The timing of it was weird and everything. I think part of it too also for me was like so it goes off and it's supposed to be that his face is burnt, but you can clearly see it isn't.
Yeah.
And the pyro going off like that, like I'm not trying to act like pyro isn't a big deal. It obviously is.
But I've also watched, you know, lots of people stand there and get hammered by the pyro and then go wrestle a match, right? Like, I mean, it was famously as part of Goldberg's entrance, right?
Yep, I was just gonna say that, yeah.
I don't know, I thought it was I just thought it was again, I thought it was weird. I think the him wandering around waiting for them to hit the button didn't help anything.
Not at all. Not at all. I liked the concept. And it made
Mm-hmm.
It made sense for Kevin Knight to make a big deal about, hey, hey, hey, let's make sure you don't got anything on you. Let's make sure you don't got anything on you. And I think at that point when Darby did this, I think that's when the pyro should have hit in
I agree.
Immediately. And I don't know what they were waiting for, but that would have made it
It makes me
So much more effective.
I agree. And I think that's when it was supposed to happen. Like it I don't know if somebody made a mistake or if like it just didn't trigger right away or I don't know. It just this broadcast felt to me like it had a bunch of bugs throughout it. And yeah, stuff
There were some technical glitches throughout the show. Yeah.
Happens, I get that, but it just yeah, it was weird, man. It was
Yeah.
It was weird. And then I didn't I also thought it was awkward.
With commentary having to try to sell it, you know, of
Having having Tony
Say, you know, I walked up there and I could see his face was burnt. No it wasn't.
Right. When you when it's obvious that it wasn't.
No it wasn't.
Yeah, it was obvious. Him stumbling into the ring, like you can obviously see that it wasn't burnt, you know. Like I didn't love that of, okay, so now he's gonna stumble into the ring so Kevin Knight can hit the coast-to-coast. How about he
Which will
Gets blown up and Kevin Knight runs up and just cracks him with the belt?
Yeah. But that coast-to-coast looked dope. That was so good. So good.
It looked great. Don't get me wrong. It looked great.
But you but you see what I'm saying? Of like, okay,
Yep.
So your face allegedly just got lit on fire. And now you have
To sell that while stumbling into the ring to get yourself into the right position for him to do that when you could have just had his face got melted and Kevin Knight runs up and hits him with the TNT Championship and stands over him holding the belt up. And then you don't even have to do the close-ups of his face that we got.
And I'm not sure that they were trying to do it, but we got him anyway. You
Mm.
Know, and then Tony going, his face is burnt. No, it wasn't. You know,
Right.
Excalibur going like, that must have been the luckiest malfunction ever in Taz and be like, I don't think it was. I think it obviously it wasn't. Obviously it wasn't. What are we, like, why are you having them sell it that way?
Right. Yeah. And
In the in the weirdness that, you know, we get it. This is how he injured him before. Doesn't have to do it the same way twice. Look, he just blowed him up. He just cracked him in the beanhole. Yeah, have him stand over him. Be done with it. Be done.
Yeah, that was all you needed. But so again, it was weird. It was weird for me.
Did you like Sting's son in the back?
I don't know how I feel about it, to be honest with you. Because I get it, I get
Mm-hmm.
It, but it feels like now you're including Sting's son out of nowhere.
Yep.
He hasn't been part of this. He hasn't been like hanging around, you know. And I know that he's on the path to being a wrestler.
Mm-hmm.
But I just thought it was kind of odd. I don't know. It like I said, this whole thing just was a little weird to me. It was one of many things that happened tonight that I went, that was weird. But okay.
I mean it may have made more sense to have him show up Saturday with Darby and be like, Look, man, I saw what he did.
Mm-hmm.
You know, my dad isn't able to be here. I thought I'd come here to help, you know. I got your back. Whatever you need, I got your back. That would make a little more sense. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Like I appreciate everything you did for my dad. So I got
Your back and you know, he's got the bat, right?
Yeah. But instead he's just there. So while
Yeah.
I appreciate them, you know, trying to introduce this moving forward, it's like, okay, after All In, Stingson is probably gonna be which is now what I'm gonna just gonna call him Steve Sting Stingson, but I can't even say it. He's clearly gonna have some role with
Yeah.
Kevin Knight moving forward. Okay. Okay, yeah.
Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
But did you have to do it now?
No.
Yeah, I agree. I don't think you had to do it now. So
Nope.
Whatever. Again, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I disliked it. It was just weird.
But that's one of the things that they could have not done and
Yeah.
We could have had a show that was almost on time tonight.
Yeah. That was another thing I wrote down on that was so glad we're doing a promo at 9:02 p.m. Central.
Yeah.
Didn't love that. Yeah. Didn't
Nope.
Love that.
But we did finally get to our final match.
Yeah, which was one I didn't even know they were doing tonight. I missed it.
Well, what I found hilarious
Was I it was twice twice Excalibur tried to tell us that was gonna start the show. And it's like,
Yeah.
No buddy, that didn't happen.
No, and like I didn't even really realize yeah, I whatever. So it was Mark Davis, Jake Doyle, and El Clon versus The Elite.
Mm-hmm.
And fun match. Thought it was a really
I thought it was really fun, yeah. I liked it.
Fun match. I enjoyed the match. The only part that matters is what happens after. I mean
Yeah. I mean, yeah,
I really liked the match. It was really I wrote down it was really nice to see The Elite back to being kind of The Elite doing
Yeah. Yeah.
What they do. The Bucks and Kenny work so great together. You got to see, and for people who haven't weren't around at the beginning of AEW, didn't get to see this version of The Elite. Get didn't really get to see The Elite. So I really liked that callback. I thought El Clon and Davis and Doyle did a really good job. I think that's a fun.
Combo of the two meets and the guy who's weird and moves cool. I thought that was a really good combo. Help, throw them into the trios championship. Why not? We probably have
They might
You know, we might have to have a second ring, but let's do it.
Yeah.
But you're right. It was everything that came afterwards at boy a lot came afterwards.
Boy, it did. So you get Don Callis Family beating down The Elite. And Cope and Christian come out for the save.
But Cope comes out by himself and then Christian comes out. He's an asshole. Yep.
And then Christian, which was it was brilliant. Loved it.
But he does come out and help make the save, but then he eats an accidental Superkick Party. And then Cope got wrecked too, but I don't remember what happened there.
I think Doyle and them started beating up on them.
Yeah, you're right. Yep, you're
Right. And then Ospreay gets involved.
Well everybody
Everybody paired up and went outside and it's like it became
Yes, yeah.
That's my one nitpick. Because I thought it was a really good scrum and a really good brawl until that point. It's like, why is everyone just pairing up and leaving? It's like it's obvious you're waiting for Kenny to be alone so that Ospreay could come out. I mean, that could not be more obvious. So
Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And
Yeah, and we knew Ospreay was coming. I thought it would have made a lot more sense for Ospreay's music to hit let him come out, clear the ring, and stare face to face with Kenny. That would have made sense. It
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Rather than you're right, them awkwardly pairing off and brawling to the back. Yeah, I agree.
Yeah, for no real reason.
Yep. Yep. But that's what mattered because then
Mm.
If there was any question.
That Kenny is not a not a heel. That was answered. Kenny is full heel.
Kenny is out of his mind.
Yeah.
He is, I mean, he was saying things that weren't words tonight. And
That is true. I
Yeah, I caught that too. I was like, is he legitimately I went, is that Japanese?
I don't even think it is. I just I don't know
I don't know.
What he's saying. It may be Japanese. I don't know. I didn't even think
I don't know.
About that. But he's just into the mic saying things that don't sound like words. And then after he One-Winged Angels him through the table, which looked amazing.
It did.
What was he doing after that? When he's sitting there, like what was that?
To me, it was all just part of the package of making sure you understand this man has gone full heel, that he's not gonna pull any punches, that he's going to continue to try and be in Ospreay's head because he thinks that's the key, right? That I can
Right.
Manipulate you and that's how I'm gonna beat you.
I don't guess I didn't think about it that way. I just was like, okay, cool. Yeah.
See,
It's weird because my thought is I didn't immediately think he went full heel, which sounds
Hm.
Odd. I just I felt like Kenny snapped. Like he just snapped. Not that he went full heel, but he snapped because even during the interview, he was more heel-ish.
Mm-hmm.
But he everything he said, he had a point. He wasn't making it up. It was, you know.
Everything was grounded in truth and reality. So which of course every villain is the main character of their own story, which that's fine. But he was and maybe it was because he was so like being extra face on the way to the ring that really hammered home the him snapping at the end. With him signing the autograph for the one kid
Yeah.
And do you know being extra
Kind, which he normally does. I mean, it's not that he isn't acknowledging of the audience before, but he it seemed like he did a little bit extra tonight. And I guess it just juxtaposes that with his snapping. So maybe it is him going full heel. I didn't read it necessarily that way, but going in. And here and here's one of the reasons why is because Ospreay is so emotional that you could say he's.
Kind of even though he's gonna be the face in Wembley, one hundred percent, that's kind of that type of emotion and that type of argument reminds me more of a heel argument than Kenny's.
That's fair. I get that. I think if Ospreay wasn't kind of always that guy, I would agree with
True. True.
You. But that's just kind of who he is, you know?
Yeah.
And
With Kenny, I really felt like, okay, you know, like he's talking about Will's kid. You know, and
Yeah. Yeah.
And that's a that's a pretty heel move, right?
Yeah.
And then of course puts him through the table and then, you know, is doing the whole like, you know, you're never this is close you're gonna get whatever it was.
I get it. And I think there's I think there's something to you saying it's like Kenny snapped. But I think that makes some sense within the context of this story of like we've gone from Kenny trying to be like his big brother to now
Mm-hmm.
Going, okay, well, now you're gonna reap what you've sown, right? Like you wanted it, you got it. And
Yeah. Yep.
I'm pissed and I'm fed up and I'm not gonna pull any punches and I'm gonna
Mm-hmm.
Say terrible things and I'm gonna do terrible things because I'm pissed at you.
And I've had enough. And also, like I said, to me, it's him going, I'm in your head and I know I'm in your head. And
One hundred percent.
You know, and so I thought it was very interesting. I thought it added I thought it just added to the story. I thought it was very interesting. So yeah. So
Yeah, I'd love
I mean
I hear you. And I don't think you're necessarily wrong on that. I guess I like I said, I just didn't really think about it that way and just went, Okay, so he's gone full heel and he's gonna be a heel for ten more days, and then we'll see what happens after All In when he's beltless. Yeah. Yeah.
Right. And I mean that makes sense going to London. That makes one hundred percent sense. And I'm not
Saying that isn't the story that they're selling is so that he will be that much more hated because he snapped that way. That was just my read on it. Again, I don't know if I'm right, I don't know if I'm wrong. But I
I don't think you're wrong.
But I agree, I really liked it. I really
Yeah.
Liked Kenny losing his mind because
The not words being yelled, the weird thing he was doing at the end after he slammed him through the table and doing the weird thing with his face. And I don't know what the hell that was. And I sat there going, What do you what is what am I watching? But I loved
Yeah.
It. I loved every second of it. I thought that was a great, great ending to the night. I really did. I really
Yeah, I agree.
Like I said, I thought all that was part and parcel of him making it clear of he's gone full heel. That was my interpretation. But you know,
Yeah. I get it.
Everybody is they're you interpret it how you want, right? Like if we post a clip of this on the internet, we're gonna get different opinions and they're probably gonna be ones that I read and go, Yeah, I see what you're saying. That's a fair point. You know. Well, that too.
Mm. And I'll read and go, you're wrong too. Okay.
Yeah. Or I may just, you know, be like all of you are wrong. Sit there and be wrong and get used to it. So anyway. Yeah. It's okay. Yeah. Yeah. And it's you. No, it's you. No. It's it's never gonna be me. It's always going to
Yeah, and that's okay it's okay that you're wrong. It's fine. Someone has to be. Someone has to be. Clearly it's not gonna be Tim. Notice I didn't say me. No.
Be you. And when I say you, I mean the people.
Me
Yeah. And I'm one of them. I'm a people. So
Yes. You are a people, and I am above you.
So what what ended up being your match of the night again?
Switchbladed mocks.
I think I'm sticking with the four-way for the title.
I think
That's a hell of a pick. Like I said, that was right there for me. Right there.
Well.
But I loved the final, you know, five-ish minutes or so of Switchblade and Mox that much. But I think that's a fine pick.
To be fair, I think the only thing keeping me from having that be unanimously my match of the night is the fact that Moxley won. And I think
Yeah, I get that.
I came to a realization tonight during this match. I didn't bring it up before, but I came to a realization as I'm watching Moxley do his swagger in the ring. I
Mm-hmm.
Thought to myself, I'm over you being this way. I'm over
Yep. Yep. I agree.
This version. I like this version of John Moxley.
I think it's a little too late for what we've been trying to do with Moxley, but I'm over that. I'm over that arrogant
I agree.
Swagger. I'm over that I'm Superman. I'm bulletproof. I can't lose.
I agree. I
And
And as good as Jay looked, I was like, damn, if you wanna put a rocket on some guy, this is the guy to do it and this is the match to do it with. Have him
Yep.
Just beat him.
Yep. I agree. And I think you make fantastic points there. Like with Jay White, they gotta decide what they want to do with him.
Yes.
Because he's a guy who feels important but never actually really is. And you're right, that would have been the time to strap the rocket to him and they didn't do it. I'm with you of for quite a while now, for at least several weeks, if not a couple months, when he starts doing his
Weird swagger shoulder roll, weird point thing with his hands. I that takes me out of the match at least momentarily because I hate it. And I don't don't like it. I
Yeah. Yep.
Don't know why he does it. I hate it. I want it to stop. I want him to be the guy that he is the rest of the time in the match. And I hate that.
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
And I'm not it's one of those things that I go, I'm not even sure he knows he's doing it sometimes. Like
I think he is, legitimately, I think he is, but it's like it's just it's weird and I'm over it. And
Mm-hmm.
I do think that it is time. Mox needs to drop that belt and he needs to go away for a little while.
I agree. Mm-hmm.
Doesn't have be long, but he needs to go away for, you know, a couple three weeks. And then come back and that would be fine. But
Mm-hmm.
It's time.
Yep.
And
Yeah, I agree with you. I think they had a great opportunity to do something with Jay White there and they didn't do it. I
Mm-hmm.
Agree. I just really enjoyed the match, so I'm gonna stick with it, but I think the TBS title match is a fine pick. It was a really good match, so I'm right there, you know, I'm not gonna tell you you're wrong on
And don't get me wrong, I am glad they're making some of these guys look really good in losing. But eventually you have to let some of these guys look good while they win. So yes.
Yeah, that's what we were talking about with Brian Cage, right? Like you can make him look
Good in the loss over and over and over again, but man, it'd be cool if he could win once in a while when it mattered.
Yep. Yep.
And I agree, there's a bunch of people that it's like, man, they look good every time in the loss, but you need to win. Eventually
Mm-hmm. Yep.
You gotta win. Otherwise, I'm just gonna go, okay, this can be a good match, and he's gonna lose. You know,
Exactly.
Jay White's gonna lose, Brian Cage is gonna lose, Lance Archer's gonna lose.
And I Jay White proved tonight he's too good to be that guy personally.
I agree.
These days, Jack Perry's gonna lose. Like, and I know,
I know.
Look, I get it. Wins and losses don't matter. I get it. I know Jim Ross's line
I used to.
Of I know, but I know Jim Ross's line of what matters is if you're on TV. It doesn't matter after that. I get that. But I think it does matter. Like I think we've evolved
To a point, yeah.
In professional wrestling. I think we've evolved to a point where the audience is in on it. The audience is smart enough to go, okay, great that you're getting a bunch of TV time.
That tells me that they like something about you. But when they never let you win, at least not when it counts, and when they never really put you in an important storyline, when you never really are in contention for a title that matters, then that tells me they kind of don't like you. That tells me you have a ceiling. And with Jay White,
Yeah. Yep.
You're talking about a dude who's a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion. You
Mm-hmm.
Know, you're talking about a guy who's got bona fides.
Yeah. And who legitimately might you know, yes, the Bullet Club was biggest when Kenny and Cody were there,
Mm-hmm.
But he was the first guy to take over after they left and did a hell of a job of maintaining
Yes he did.
The popularity of the Bullet Club. And for good reason. So Yep. I wanna see more of him, please.
Yeah, I agree. I'd like
Them to do something with the Bang Bang Gang. I'm just not sure they're ever gonna. You know. But
Absolutely. Yep. Samesies.
But anywho, on that note, because it's late, because of course they went until after 9:30 Central time, 'cause whatever. Just make
Huh?
It a three-hour show.
Yes. Just stop pretending.
Yeah, just make it a three-hour show and let's quit pretending. But anyway, where I was going with that
Exactly.
Is I'm tired and want to go to bed and I have to take the trash out before I can go to bed. And it's raining here, so it's gonna be extra fun for me.
All right, well let's get out of here. Don't forget, like, subscribe, leave those five-star
There's my guy.
Reviews. And again, if you want a good solid snack, DoichFoods.com Elite Heat is your promo code 20% off. It's gonna be tasty. Pick a flavor, get the variety pack, do what makes you feel good, and then put it in your face, because it's gonna be delicious. Guaranteed.
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Indeed. DoichFoods.com. D-O-I-C-H, DoichFoods.com. We will see you next week. And then it's off to London for All In.
Wait, are you going?
But my wife did say to me tonight, she's like, We'll we'll go to that someday. I was like, Yes. Yes, we will.
Yes.
Yes we will. I don't think she meant me there
But not this Sunday.
Though, but I think she was just talking about you.
I mean, yeah, probably. I don't know. Can you fit in my carry-on?
Give me time. Mm-hmm.
All right. All
Right. You got at least a year. All right. All right. Go enjoy the rest of
Yep. Get a big carry-on, that's all I'm gonna say. You
Your birthday.
You can wear me as a backpack.
I