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Elite Heat is the All Elite Wrestling podcast for fans who want more than just a recap.
Every week, Tim and Dug — two AEW fans who've been All Elite since day one — react to AEW Dynamite and Collision, break down the latest storylines, analyze the characters driving the product, and give you their unfiltered take on everything happening in All Elite Wrestling.
From weekly show reactions to PPV breakdowns, roster moves to long-term booking analysis, Elite Heat covers the full spectrum of AEW. No fluff, no filler...just two passionate pro wrestling fans who care deeply about the product and aren't afraid to say exactly what they think.
New episodes drop every week. Subscribe and join the conversation.
I think they did an amazing job tonight.
I was like
Yeah.
Okay son,
Yeah.
Now we're on. Now we're on.
That's awkward.
I'm so jealous you got yours already.
I sure did.
Man.
I don't want to chew right into the microphone, but
Which flavor of the Doich Foods is that?
So this right here is the birthday cake one. Now, let me tell you, I am one of those
Okay. Do that.
Guys that I will go for birthday cake flavored, you know, about anything protein bars, ice cream, cookies, whatever, right? And
Mm-hmm.
I know that it can be super hit or miss. This is really good, dude. This is really good. They nailed it. They
Yes. All right. I can't wait.
Nailed the birthday cake flavor. So find out for yourself when you go to Doich Foods. That is D-O-I-C-H, doichfoods.com and put in ELITEHEAT when you check out and get 20 percent off. Also, Doug, ready? I have a surprise. Ready?
Yes. You got lights.
Which flavor of the Doich Foods is that?
Yay. Yay.
A month I'm no longer in the dark. But all right. Yeah. I got cookie dough. I got light. I'm a happy boy.
Good for you. I've got my monitor to see you over
So I'm a happy boy because I have cookie dough from Doich Foods. Again, doichfoods.com. Promo code ELITEHEAT when you check out. I'm also going to tell you the fudge brownie is really good too. Those are my top two right now. You'll get it soon. You'll get it soon.
Yep, go do that, man. Okay, you know what? Don't spoil it for me. Mine should be coming. I forgot to check the update, but maybe tomorrow?
Yeah. I was going to say, I got it really quickly, so I know.
[Unclear]
I have to remind myself, don't touch the mic once I get them balanced up here.
But anyway, rambling aside, let's dive into tonight's Dynamite from Detroit. And let's begin, as we always
Yeah.
Do, with the Heat Check.
Yeah, I think it's your turn to start.
Alrighty. So my apologies for those watching. I took my notes on my phone, so I'm going to be looking down a lot here. But here's the stuff I liked. And the good news for this Redemption fallout episode is I liked a lot of stuff here.
Yeah.
I really did. I thought the first thing the first thing we really saw with The Death Riders watching Omega turn on Ospreay I thought that was super clever. I really liked that. And then I told you.
You did
Told you, I told you, I told you.
Finally
Finally, it only took like two months of me saying probably longer than that of me saying it. It finally happened, but we'll dig into that. That triple threat for the National Title was fantastic. The Andrade promo
Yes.
Afterwards I thought was really good. Yeah.
Before that, do you want to tell people do you want to say what you mean by finally it happened? because you didn't mean Okay. I just Okay. All right. Well I just want to remember
We'll get to it. We'll get we'll get to it. We'll get to it.
So that I don't spoil it when I go through my life.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not a spoiler if you watched the episode or even if you read
That's fine.
Anything online and or if you've been listening to this show, there's kind of only one thing that could be with me spiking the football like eight months later. But anyway.
Yeah. But it happened.
Andrade's promo I thought was really good. Don Callis Family with Renee was fine. I liked that fine. Did some some story beats there. The trios match between the Don Callis Family and Brodido and Speedball was good. Renee with the Bucks and Cage and Cope came very close to being mid for me, but I'm going to keep it on the like line for one reason that we'll talk about. It came real close to being on the mid though. I'm going to put that on the mid. I'm going to put that on the mid as well.
Wow.
Well, but again, nothing has been bad so far.
Mm-hmm. No,
That's going to go on the mid as well. So there's three in a row that's on the mid, but then Mox and Komander for the Continental Championship. I will admit I was behind because it's my father-in-law's birthday and we were at dinner with him. I did some skipping on this match. What I saw was very good though.
All right. Yeah.
I liked Mick Foley with the Bang Bang Gang.
Mm-hmm.
I liked the Trios Title match. And I Really, Really liked the Omega Ospreay stuff at the end.
Yeah, that was solid.
Your thoughts.
I will agree with you. I like the entire intro package, the with The Death Riders watching the match and watching the Will and Kenny drama at Redemption and how Mox is going, hit him before he gets you. Get him before he gets you. I told you, I told you that like you said, that was really clever. That was really well done. I really like that. I like the whole thing. And yes, you were right. Hangman Adam Page comes back.
Yeah.
Loved it. Loved it.
Eventually I was going to be right. Ignore me. I'm just going to
I think Nick Wayne looks really, really great in the ring for as young as he is and what he's doing.
Yeah, I think he's got a bright future. Yeah.
Absolutely. I liked the Andrade bit afterwards. That was good. I put Doyle, Cage and Fletcher versus Brodido and Speedball in the like category. It continues the Speedball story arc with the Don
Mm-hmm.
Callis family, so that was nice. I actually liked Persephone and Maya World for the TBS Championship. It was borderline for me, but I put it in the like because of. We find you know, Shida is back to interfere. So okay, we're going to continue that. And now Statlander in, you know, saves the interference. So now we're back to Kris Statlander and Shida. Do I think that's a little tired? Yes, but at least it's they haven't given up on, well, Shida lost. Bye. It's they're continuing the story. I think that's fine. I think it gives these four something to do. And if it keeps Persephone on TV and we see a little bit more of her, I think that will be nothing but good for the women's locker room. I also have Cage and Cope and the Young Bucks as I said I like it, but it is borderline mid. The reason
It's real close.
I thought the Renee, Willow, Mercedes and Divine Dominion segment was really good. I liked that. I thought it was a little long. I understand that it was emotional with Willow, but
Mm-hmm.
It came around because it was so fun. And I thought her and Mercedes were amazing together. I thought they were great. I thought that was really great. I like the Mick Foley segment. With Bang Bang Gang, calling out Death Riders. That was short. That was fun. I like the back and forth with the Mick Foley catchphrases and the cheap heat for Detroit and the thumbs up. That was always good.
Yep.
Trios Championship. Hey, look, they're on TV, and I really liked it. And I like the fact that The Demand won. Love that. And I'm going to save that. Save.
Yeah.
And then Kenny and Will Ospreay—my God, that ending.
Mm.
The end. I normally complain about ending with a promo. Not tonight. Mm-mm.
No, not tonight.
Nope. Loved it.
So then that would bring us to the mid.
Uh-huh.
Already now forgotten on some of the borderline ones, so I may end up repeating myself here.
Not a problem.
There were three in a row here that were borderline for me that I'm going to put in the mid. It's Persephone and Maya World the Mark Davis promo, and Renee with Willow. And again, I think at least two of those three were really close to being likes for me. Maybe even all three of them, but I'm going to put them in the midline. I'll explain more why when we get there. The Death Riders promo that came before the Omega Ospreay thing, didn't love it. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it. So
Yeah, yeah. Yep.
I put that in the mid and I think that's all my mids. Yes.
Okay. I also had Mark Davis calling out Will Ospreay.
Yeah.
Just didn't have to see a lot of meat on that bone, so whatever. I'm putting The Brawling Birds promo, backstage promo as mid just simply because it's kind of the same promo we've heard from them. And it's fine. They're on TV. I didn't hate it, but you know, hmm, I'd like to see something different. I actually put the Moxley Komander match as mid, not because the match was bad. The match itself is in the light category. The fact that it kind of meant next to nothing is why it's in the mid for me. Because there really were no st yes, the titles on the line. He wasn't losing to Komander. So that's Yep. That's why it was on the mid for me.
Yeah. That's why I was fast forwarding through that one. Yeah.
The Death Riders promo was mid, but there were some bits I enjoyed. I did like Garcia
Yeah. I got him.
Calling out Will Ospreay, so you know.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it was it was it was fine.
Mm-hmm.
That would then bring us to the didn't like line where I believe I have two things.
Okay.
Thing the first is The Brawling Birds promo. And when
Yeah.
We when we do the rundown of this show, I'll tell you why I straight up didn't like it. In fact I actually wrote down this promo offends me. That's being a little dramatic, but you know.
I'd love that though.
It's wrestling. We are dramatic over here. And then the other thing I did not like is, I am sorry to report, if you have not watched this episode of Dynamite yet, that we got bad Taz on this one. He was rough tonight.
You know what? I blanked him out so often I wasn't paying attention to him. So you're not wrong.
He had a couple good one-liners in there. He had a couple funny moments, like when when Orange Cassidy was doing I'm going to go from the top rope No, I'm going to step down. No, I'm going to step down, no, I'm going to step down. Taz is actually pretty funny there, but there was a lot of him once again seeming to not know how to be a heel, which is really bizarre to me.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
But once again, he just couldn't find it.
Mm-mm.
I think the best thing for him is for them to say, just call it. Just talk about it. Try to be entertaining. That's all you have to do.
Yeah, don't Don't try to play the character. Don't try to be the heel. Just speak your mind. Just do stuff. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.
That was on my bad. I did not like
I don't really have anything in my did not like. I most things were, you know, didn't offend me too bad. The birds didn't offend me. I can't wait to hear why they offended you. I have a I have a sneaking suspicion, but I can't wait to actually hear it. So yeah, I didn't dislike anything on the show other than
All right.
Other than the runtime.
Yes, that's that's pretty ridiculous. And it didn't feel as long to me because I sat down to start this thing about an hour into the show.
Right.
And I should say 9:40 Central time for those of you who are not in the time zone.
Exactly.
You know, it ends it's supposed to end at nine for us, you know. So
Yeah. I think it was about 9:38 when it finally ended for real.
Something like that. Yeah.
Was yeah, 2:38 something. It was a long one tonight. And that and again,
It was it was.
There wasn't anything I disliked other than the length. So
Yeah. All right. So then let's run this thing down. Or
Mm-hmm.
To quote a pretty popular wrestling entrance song from once upon a time: break it down. Here we go. So, like we said, it opens with The Death Riders—and really, specifically, Moxley—losing his mind while watching Omega turn on Ospreay. I think you hit it on the head in the Heat Check: this is a really clever way to do the storytelling.
Mm-hmm.
That it really showed where we're at of I think the rest of The Death Riders are going to do the whole like, Well, we never really liked you anyway. Moxley,
Right.
I think Moxley, to some degree, is heartbroken over this. And I think that's really interesting.
Without a doubt. Without a doubt that's how he's playing it. Mhm.
Really compelling.
Yeah, I mean, he's stalking off, he's mad, he's throwing things. He's spent all this time working with him and working on him, and he's basically like, "I bought her all the flowers and she still broke up with me on prom night."
Yeah.
So yeah.
Well, it's the whole thing. Anyone that's ever been in this situation, and I think we all have, where you're sitting there going, I'm telling you this is the way. And I know this is the way because I've been there.
Mm-hmm.
I'm telling you, this is the way. I know because I've been there. Then the person doesn't listen to you, and it will eat you up. It is the most infuriating damn thing.
Right, yeah.
Will eat you up. It is the most infuriating damn thing.
Super annoying.
Yeah. And so I get it. And this is the first
Okay.
Time I would say, because of that wrinkle, because I have been in that position of, you know, saying, like, look, I'm telling you, this is really. I really think this is the way. I really think, you know, this is kind
We want
This is the kind of thing you brought me in to do. You should be listening to me here, and you're not. This is the first time in my experience with Jon Moxley, in any form of the characters he's played, where I'm like, "I relate to you now." That's very interesting.
Yeah. In all his ranting and raving, this is the most down-to-earth, logical and rational he's been. This is the most sense he has made, and it's easy to connect to.
Yes.
Sense he has made that's easy to connect to. You don't have to do any wrestling logic to jump around. It's like, no, I get it. You tried to tell him, you tried to tell
Mm-hmm.
Him. He didn't listen. He got clocked.
Yeah. Yep.
So I liked it. I really, really liked it. What I thought was interesting was the at the end, and I can't remember exactly how he put it, but basically it was like, this isn't over. We're not over. Because
Mm-hmm.
Now you're the most dangerous thing going. One of the most
Mm-hmm.
One of the most talented wrestlers with nothing to lose. I thought that was really interesting because it makes me think Moxley still feels like he has hooks in Will.
Yeah.
I thought that was Really interesting because it makes me think that Moxley still feels like he's got hooks in will. And we'll see if he does. Because we got 32 days till
Yeah.
W Wembley. So we'll see.
Yeah. I think yeah, I think it's going to be very interesting to see how that plays itself out, particularly in the context of The Death Riders, where if we're right about this, that the rest of them have now just basically and based on tonight, I feel pretty confident saying the rest of them have basically said, Well, all right, I'm done with that dude. I never liked you anyway.
Mm-hmm.
If Mox is treating him like the one who got away, that's going to create an interesting dynamic within that group.
Yeah.
Makes that group as a whole now more compelling than they've been in a while. Because I kind
Mm-hmm.
Of feel like they've been a little bit in limbo in and we've talked about this a lot in that they're heels but they're not. And they're kind of involved in this, but they're not. You know, and they're kind of involved in this story, but they're not. And
And weirdly, Moxley kind of addresses that later in the show for the first time in a way. So I thought that was good.
Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, all that's very good. And then Ospreay would walk away and run into Hangman Adam Page. Yes.
Yep. Before he ran into Hangman, the thing I liked about Will was his line, "You don't get to pull the trigger for me."
Yes.
Think that really helped solidify what the problem was. You know, it's like, well, of course you had a problem. But I like how they're making it logical and spelling out exactly. In case you don't remember, in case you don't understand what happened and why, Moxley's mad about this and Will's mad about this. Now we can move
Yep. Yeah.
On. And then your guy finally shows up.
We'll talk more about that because it's a theme with the main story—the A story throughout the show. They did a really, really nice job with it tonight. But yes, finally Hangman shows up in the role that I thought he might, if you listened to the Redemption recap episode. I finally got it right.
I mean, eventually you were founded, you know.
Yeah, isn't that the law of probability or something? Eventually, I had to accidentally get it right.
Mm-hmm. Even what what was it? One of our old friends who's RW used to say, even the sun shines on a dog's butt at least once or something. Yeah, yeah. So yeah. Wait to be a dog's butt. You got wait to be a dog's butt. You got the sun spotlight on you tonight. Well done.
Yeah, sun sun shines on a dog's ass every once in a while. Yeah. Or something like that. Sun even shines on a dog's ass once well. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Pretty pretty thrilled. But I did think it was interesting. I do think it's I think that at that adds an interesting dynamic to it, but it also is not directly inserting him into the storyline, right? It's hangman going right.
Right. Which which was my concern, as you know. So
Right.
I'm 100 percent glad that you were right.
Yeah, it's just him saying, "Hey, I'm here if you need me." That's all. I thought that was very interesting, and it makes me a happy boy. That and cookie dough make me happy in my tum-tum.
Mm-hmm.
Cookie dough make me happy in my tumtum. So then we got that triple threat banger for the National Title with Jack Perry, Nick Wayne, and Andrade. And my goodness.
So good. Dude, so good.
I couldn't look away and I was so happy to be behind because I could just bang through the commercials real quick and be like, Gimme more. Gimme more.
Mm-hmm.
Get me back to this as quick as possible. That was really good. That I'll just say it's my match of the night. I mean
I it's the same. I thought exactly the same thing. Everybody looked really great in this. And I thought it was really important for Andrade to have this type of match as his first defense of the National Title because it was against Jack Perry, who you and I thought was going to win the God, what was the six man ladder match? I thought we thought
The latter match, yeah.
We were he was going to win that. So now you have Jack in there, and then you have kind of a bit of a new rivalry forming between him and Nick Wayne. So that is happening. I really thought a little bit more was going to come out between those two by the end. We didn't see it, which is fine because that match was everything it needed to be. It was so, so
Yeah.
Good. So good.
I have a suspicion that they may keep Nick and Jack apart a little bit between now and Wembley, but I have a suspicion both those guys are going to end up in that Casino Gauntlet match that they announced tonight, and we're going to further a storyline there. Now I may be wrong, but or what'll happen is I'll be right, but it'll take eight months for me to be right about it.
Or they'll do it next week.
Or they'll do it next week. Yeah. But I think that might be where we're headed and those guys are going to, I don't know, eliminate each other or something like that. So, you know,
Did you?
I think they're starting to figure out how to utilize these multiperson matches to create and further storylines.
Yes.
They've been trying to do it for a while and hadn't really landed on it consistently.
Mm-hmm. Right. Yes. A few have and a few missed.
Yeah, I think that they have really started to figure that out and that's that's great. That's awesome.
Yeah, I would agree because we see it again later in the evening and I thought that was great.
So then Tony was in the ring—I should say Tony Schiavone was in the ring—with Andrade after that.
Mm-hmm.
in the ring with Andrade after that. Like I said, what struck me was how damn charismatic Andrade is. There he is cutting his promo, and we all know English is not his first language, but you
Mm-hmm.
Can tell the man is putting in the work. And I was like, man, even if he had just spoken in Spanish there, I would have been like. Captivated. Like he's just so damn
Yeah.
Charismatic. He's going to do a lot for that National Title if they keep it on him for a while. He can really elevate that.
Exactly. That's what we were talking about when he won it: he could be the guy to make that title mean something, because it hasn't really yet. It's just another title, but with it around his waist, that dude is so damn good.
Mm-hmm.
He took one of the most ridiculous catchphrases and got it so over. The way he started it was possibly the dumbest way to start it.
Yeah.
But now here it is, and I'm here for it. I love it. I've said it and I will continue to say it: this is my favorite form of Andrade. Just keep giving me more of it, because this guy is firing on all cylinders and I couldn't be happier for him.
Yeah, I agree. So then The Brawling Birds promo.
Okay, I'm curious, what was it that exactly that offended you by this?
I am offended by how dumb it was.
No.
Here's why I think it was dumb. Now again, offended is a little bit dramatic, but
No, let's stay with it.
But I was legitimately yelling at the TV. Okay. I was because this is what they said. This is the crux of the promo. You guys are undefeated. Divine Dominion, you're undefeated. So are we. Well, of course you're undefeated. You've wrestled like twice as a tag team. That would
Yeah. Yep.
Be like Doug, you and I, you and I are undefeated as a tag team in AEW.
Yes we are. Yes we are. Yes we are.
I mean, so what? You're undefeated? Yeah, you're undefeated. You're 2-0, I think, and I'm not even kidding about that.
No, I know.
I might even be overestimating it. It might be 1-0. So that bothered me.
Yeah, it's not many in O, I can tell you that.
Not many. Yeah. So that Bothered me and then and then the rest of the promo basically is well all you guys do is talk. I'm sorry, what? I've seen Divine Dominion in the ring a hell of a lot more than The Brawling Birds. You're the ones who only talk. This would have been a
Mm-hmm.
Great promo if they were heels, because they would have been doing the thing of I'm going to accuse you of doing everything that I actually do, right? This would have been a great heel promo, but they aren't heels. So instead, it is dumb as hell, and it does
Okay.
Nothing in my mind to add any heat. Just go ahead and announce they're going to fight at All In. We all know where it's going. Go
Mm-hmm.
Ahead and announce it. And then you know what? You can just like not talk about it for 30 days. Because that
Yeah.
That would actually be better than what they're currently doing to build it. Now they might find a way to catch some heat on this. Again, they have 32, well now 31 days to do it, but. This is not a great start.
Right. The reason it fell in the mid for me is A, okay, you're reminding us that they're back as a tag team and that's great. However, more to your point, because of what happened later in the evening, you don't need this promo. You don't need it at all. And with how long this show was, you can cut 45 seconds. It's not going to hurt us. Okay?
Yep. Nope.
Not going to hurt us.
At best, it was a weak promo.
Mm-hmm.
Worst, it's just it's just nonsensical. Like
Can't argue about that.
To me, I look at it and I go, you know, the people that you look at, like I'm going to use MJF as an example,
Okay.
Which is probably not fair, but I'm going to do it anyway. When you look at a guy like MJF and you go, man, his promos just are always great. It's because he puts the work in. Like he has said, basically, pick a wrestler. I have a promo for them. Because he sits and he and he pops it into his phone and then he works on it and the notes app and all that. He's got it, right?
Mm-hmm.
This felt to me, and maybe this is what happened, but this felt to me like they went, hey, go out there and cut a promo. And they didn't know that they were going to do it.
Maybe, yeah.
Like it honestly felt to me like they just went, we have to cobble some together. So here it is. Far better promo would have been, you know, you guys walk around talking about you're the biggest and best in this, you know, in the business and nobody can touch you and you're goddesses and all that. Well, you know what? Let's just fight and find out. That would have been a better promo. And I just did that off the top of my head. So,
Yep. Yeah.
Like, that is what bugs me about it is I think. Both Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter are better than this and I know it.
And you know it. I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry.
So I it just, it just, it, it, I don't know. Like I said, it, it wasn't, it wasn't good in my mind. Wasn't good.
That's fine. Yeah. It was all right. It wasn't great.
Then my I'm just going to throw this in here. I wrote it down later, but I'm just going to throw this in here. My God, Renee, hardest working woman in showbiz tonight. She was everywhere.
Yeah.
But then it was her with the Don Callis Family.
Yeah. I totally forgot about this promo. I totally forgot about it.
I can understand why, because this isn't exactly a barn-burner of a promo, which is interesting when you look at who was involved. You had Kyle Fletcher and Don Callis. Kevin Knight was in there, and I think he's gotten better. They weren't throwing their fastball, but there were still some story beats here.
Mm-hmm.
They're building some beef between Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher, teasing the ProtOkada breakup again, and showing that Okada wants his belt back.
Mm-hmm.
Okada wants his belt back. It wasn't the greatest promo by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't, I mean, it did what it needed to do. And I'm never going to say that something that Don Callis is involved in was bad unless something went catastrophically wrong, you know.
Exactly. Yeah. And like you said, there were only two little beats that came out of it, which was the Kevin Knight thing and the Okada thing. And the Okada thing, I think, was the highlight of that promo. And it came at the very end, but it was it was exactly what it needed to be. It was well timed. And you kind of had as soon as he said it's staying in the Don Callis Family, you kind of had that spidey sense of, Okay, next week we're going to hear from Okada, and yet now he comes right out. It's like, Okay, good. We heard it this
Yeah.
Week, so that's awesome.
Yeah, the Spidey sense is exactly it. As soon as he said it's staying in the family, I went, "Well, that doesn't mean it's staying with him."
Exactly. And I think we know who wants it.
So that's interesting to me. It leads to a question that could make for fascinating storytelling if we're going to start splitting more guys away from the Don Callis Family. No offense to Brian Cage, but it's not just Brian Cage leaving the family, right?
No.
Takeshita is gone. Andrade is gone. You know, Kevin Knight's probably going to split off sooner rather than later. Either Okada or Fletcher are going to split off sooner rather than later. I mean, these are the
Right.
Top guys in that stable. It
Mm-hmm.
Really becomes fascinating to me of what does Don do there in a kayfabe perspective, right? Like, this is this guy who has built his NWO or whatever you his
Yeah.
Bullet club, whatever you want call it. And what are you going to do when you start losing your r actually top guys? You know, like it's I think it could be really interesting.
I oddly, as as you were verbalizing all that and kind of crystallizing it, it made me realize Don the Don Callis Family has done a great job of building up stars to move on. Now, Takeshita hasn't done a ton since leaving.
Yeah, some of that is because he goes to Japan regularly.
At least not at least he hasn't been on TV as much. And I'm not going to say he hasn't been successful. He just hasn't been on TV as much. And that's and that's fine.
Right. Some of that is because he goes to Japan regularly.
But I'm all I'm almost wondering if you know if because the way they played it so far is when someone's ready to leave, Don brings in a new member.
Mm-hmm.
Then someone leaves and, don't worry, we've got The Jet, Kevin Knight. Instead of Kenny, now we have Takeshita. He's been able to bring these people in, so I want to know whether he'll add anyone else to shore up the ranks, move someone else up and make that person his star for the moment. It might not happen. The group might implode. I don't know.
Well, I mean, the most recent trend is no, because really, you know, you bring Kevin Knight in, but he's lost more than that, right? because he lost Takeshita he lost Andrade. I guess really just those two. But still that's a net of negative one, I think.
But he got Roppongi Vice.
Yeah.
You're welcome.
Yeah. He did that. Yeah, you're not wrong.
Did. That's that's a fact. That is a fact.
That is a fact, Jack. But anyway, then it was the trios match with Brian Cage speaking of Jake Doyle and Kyle Fletcher against Brody and Speedball. And I think you covered this nicely in the Heat Check of I very good match, did a nice job of furthering the Fletcher Speedball storyline, I thought.
It did what it needed to do. I thought Brian Cage finally looked good in defeat. I don't think he looked stupid. It was
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Really good. It was smart to give Speedball the pin over possibly the biggest guy in the match, Doyle. Having that stare-down with Fletcher as the three-count ended was really well done. The storytelling was strong. It gave us enough without giving us too much, and it definitely left us with the sense that this story is far from over. I really enjoyed that.
Yep, I agree. Then it was Renee with the Bucks and Cage and Cope, which I believe both of us said was really close to the midline.
Yeah.
I will just tell you what kept it off the midline for me, and that is Christian Cage.
Yep, absolutely.
If you just watch Christian whenever he's on screen, he is wildly entertaining. The facial expressions he made—he doesn't say a lot here,
Mm-hmm.
But the nonverbals he did, he continues to do the best work of his already Hall of Fame career.
Mm-hmm.
And that is what kept it off of that mid-level for me, because otherwise, this was too long.
Yeah. It was.
And when the show was too long, you could have trimmed this way down. It was way too long.
Mm-hmm.
Was way too long.
For me, A, you're right. Christian Cage saved this interview. But the thing that really sent it for me from keeping it out of the mid was the one line when he just goes, I'm glad you're bringing your moms. Lives that damn it, I blew it. But yes. Damn it. But Yeah. But that was hilarious. Yeah.
Wives, but yeah. It doesn't matter. That was excellent. He was so good in this. The other thing I gave bonus points for was Nick Jackson's shoes. I do love some Jordan 11s. I don't think I've seen that pair before, so kudos to him.
Okay. Fair enough.
Maybe I'll start wearing them when we record and show off my very small collection compared with what the Jacksons have. I'm wearing a pair of Jordan 13s right now.
True enough. I am not wearing shoes. I'm not wearing shoes right now.
I'm wearing a pair of Jordan 13s right now.
Look at that sexiness.
The fact that I got my leg up to the camera and didn't die—I'm pretty proud of that.
Pretty pretty solid. Pretty solid. I'm not wearing shoes or socks right now, so I'm not showing anything.
I'm going to cry later, but for right now, let's move on. Then it was Persephone and Maya World. I think you and I differ on this one a little bit, but only a little. Here's why I put it in the mid category. Ironically, I think it's because this is where you and I split: the stuff you liked is what lowered it for me. When I saw the card and saw this match, I thought, that's perfect. This is exactly who Maya World needs to defend against. We know Persephone a little bit, even if you only follow AEW. She's the CMLL Women's World Champion and one of CMLL's top heels. This is a legitimate contender Maya can beat to build her credibility.
Mm-hmm.
Can beat and it builds her credibility. Like this is a person that I go. Okay, you seem pretty evenly matched and Maya can beat her and build that resume and it's not throwing her at that sort of A tier of, you know, Mercedes, you know, Willow, Thekla would be there, I think, you know, and
And it's and it's not patting her resume with also in the ring or already in the ring. So Exactly. Mm-hmm.
Right, right. It's not a jabroni. It's not an already in the ring. And it's not asking me to believe that she's going over like Thekla right? Who's who's kind
Okay.
She is kind of the person without a dance partner right now who is in that A level or S tier.
Right, yeah.
I don't mind Shida coming in and getting involved. I think that makes sense. If you want to build an actual program between them that feeds into All In, that's fine.
Mm-hmm.
Hope the match is better than what we got,
Yeah. Yep.
I hope the match is better than what we got, especially with more time to build it.
Mm-hmm.
I actually didn't love Statlander coming in. If the story becomes Shida and Statlander again, we've been there and done that. It's played out. I also don't love taking Kris Statlander and making her the reason Maya World continues to win. Let Maya win on her own, just like
Yes. Mm-hmm.
She did to get here. She doesn't need the heavy to come in and help her. And I thought that took away from it a little bit for me.
That's fair. I may have misspoken earlier. I said we might see Shida and Statlander again, but if this goes the way I think it will, we're probably going to run back Shida and Maya World. Give us a better match, and I agree. But it might be Statlander and Persephone, because Persephone was furious at the end, yelling, "You cost me the match. You cost me the win." If they focus Persephone on Kris Statlander, it makes more sense. It gives Statlander a new opponent, gives her the CMLL title to chase and gives Persephone more TV time. If that's where this goes, fine. That's what I liked about it. This wasn't terrible storytelling. It keeps Maya World on TV, continues the story with Shida and gives more women something meaningful to do.
Yeah. And let me be clear, this was very close to being in that liked category for me.
Yeah, I get it, yeah.
That ending took enough away from it for me personally that I dropped it down. That doesn't mean they can't hook me right back in next week. Working only from the information we have right now, I was thinking, just let her win.
Yeah, that makes sense. I think that's why they had Statlander come out—to negate Shida. It was more like, well, Maya is winning and doing it without help. Okay, technically there was interference,
Yeah.
But Statlander took away the interference from before.
Yeah, and I get it. Personally, if this story is Shida and Maya World II at All In for the TBS Championship, which is fine,
Mm-hmm.
Like I said, hopefully with more time they put together a better match. But you could have done that with Shida coming in post match. Right, to hit her with the kendo stick and then maybe Persephone and Shida are beating her down and now Statlander comes out to make the save. And if you want to do her and Persephone, and you're right, it would take away then from you know, Persephone going, You cost me, you screwed me, whatever. And
Mm-hmm.
And I think you're right. If it turns into Kris Statlander and Persephone doing a program, cool. I'm on board. And if
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
If that's where it goes, okay. Like I said, this was right on the borderline of the like category. For now, I just don't know how I feel about it.
If they are running back Shida and Maya,
Mm-hmm.
I think they can't help but put more interest on it now because they have 32 days to build it. Before, I think they had two or three days to build their first match.
Yes. I yeah, I totally agree. Like I said
Be there's going to be more stink on the ball because A, Shida lost, and they have some time to let it let it simmer. And I hope they do. If they're if this is what they're doing for All In, please let it simmer. Please let it cook so that we're excited to see it at All In.
Yeah, and I think they will. Like I said, next week we might be sitting here and I'll and I may very well be going, Okay, yeah, I'm on board now. It may very well happen. It also might not. I don't know. We'll see.
Right. Very true. Very true.
Then we got that Mark Davis promo we referenced. I whatever.
Okay, here's why I probably should have put this in my "didn't like" category.
Okay.
Mark Davis is like, I'm feeling ten pounds lighter because I lost my belt. So Will Ospreay, let's fight.
Yeah, that's what I wrote down too. It doesn't make any sense. So he's like,
What?
I have to do something. I'm furious, and it infuriates me. Wouldn't you want to fight the guy who took the belt from you?
No, Will Ospreay is who I want to fight. So it's just okay. Done.
The other thing that I noted here was a lot of the Don Callis Family guys telling the family to stay in the back, which not sure what to make of that.
Yeah.
I don't know where we're going with that one. It didn't make much sense to me. I wouldn't go so far as to say I disliked it, but whereas Maya World, Persephone and the rest of that segment were close to my like category, this was close to my did-not-like category.
Yes, yeah. For that reason. Yeah.
Yeah, it didn't make any sense. And I guess
No.
If I'm going to, if I'm going to crap all over The Brawling Birds promo for well. Yeah, I guess for not making sense, then I should probably do the same thing here.
Yep. But that's all right, whatever. Yeah, I don't think yeah, I think I'm drawn
All right. I didn't like it. I talked myself into it. It was crap. Get it out of here.
To not liking it too.
Then we got Renee with Willow. Like we talked about, I get it: this was a very emotional thing for her. By the way, I failed to mention this in the Heat Check, but I should have put the crowd in the liked category. They were
I had it in my head and I forgot to say that too, but you're not wrong.
I did too. They were red hot tonight. Wow.
That was a great crowd. Great crowd.
They were amazing and very cool moment there. Very cool moment.
Mm-hmm.
I think I would have really, really liked this if it hadn't been too long, but it was too long.
Yeah. I think it rambled because Willow was genuinely struck by the support and response she was getting. It flustered her and knocked her a little off track. If that's why it ran long, I'm okay with it. But it still took a while to get where it was going. I love Willow,
No, I felt the same way.
So it's I'm not mad about it. But it yeah, it just went a little bit long. But when Mercedes
Yeah.
Came out, now we're now we're cooking.
I felt the same way. It was a great moment for her, and that's wonderful. I'm very happy for her. I do think she got knocked off her game a little bit. It happens.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
I wrote down Rambly as well.
Yep.
The Mercedes part was good. What did you think about when Divine Dominion came out then at the end?
I was I was okay with it.
Okay.
And but before we got to that, I what I liked about Mercedes bit is she ran down exactly why she's not happy with Willow and why she's not a fan. And it all made sense. And she ticked off all the things and she's like, I made you, I elevated you. You're not going to be me and you're not going to beat me. And I like the fact when Divine Dominion came out because now it's like, okay, you are working together. Because the first time they showed up, it was like, are you
Right.
Who are you supporting? There are three teams, and you're one of them, while two of you aren't supposed to be aligned. Huh? So having
Yeah.
Them stand with her. I was like, cool. And as soon as that happened, before anything else, I wrote down, I smell a trios match.
Yeah, and that's fine because you have to figure out ways to build heat on the program,
Mm-hmm.
It can't just all be promos.
No.
And so yeah, we're going to do tag matches and trios matches and all that, and that's fine. That's fine.
Does it make the most logical sense? Is it a little confusing to have Divine Dominion teaming with Mercedes? Yeah. However, I have been moaning and complaining that they aren't doing enough with the women's division, and here they are doing something.
Yep.
Is it the most well-thought-out story? No. But I'm happy they're bringing Divine Dominion onto Dynamite. I want to see the women's tag team champions on Dynamite. They don't have to wrestle every week, but have them show up and support Mercedes. In that regard, hats off. I'm happy that we now have two women's stories receiving real effort. It may end up being better than it looks in the moment, so I'm willing to give it room to breathe.
Okay. I don't disagree with any of that. It wasn't my favorite segment of the show, but I agree with something you said there.
Fine neither.
I agree with something you said: at some point, I would like an explanation for why Divine Dominion has aligned with Mercedes, because right now it doesn't make any sense.
The only thing I have in the back of my head is they are convinced that Mercedes is going to win the World Title. And so they want the world and the women's tag champions together. They want to be part of that. If they're going to have anyone with them, they want it to be the world champ. That's the only thing. And it's weak, but
Yeah, I get it, yeah. Yeah.
That's the only thing in my head. Hopefully they'll give us a better story between now and you know, All In.
Yeah, I would like some explanation there. I'm going to be honest with you: I don't think we're going to get it.
No, we probably aren't.
I would like an explanation, but I don't think we're going to get it. It was fine.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not going to beat the dead horse. It was fine. So then we went to Jon Moxley and Komander for the Continental Championship.
Versus each other.
Like I said, I did some fast forwarding here for exactly what you said of I knew who was winning. And I like Komander a lot. And the chunks that I watched, I was like, that's pretty good. I like what I'm seeing for the most part. There was one thing I saw I didn't like. Komander should be the new Continental Champion because Jon Moxley did not kick out before three. Happened again. It happened again.
I might have missed that one, because normally that's my hot button.
It happened again where where the ref had to do the like
Mm-hmm.
The referee had to stop the count because Moxley didn't kick out in time.
That's not a very Moxley thing to do either. He's usually really, really good about that.
Yeah, he's usually way better.
Hm. Okay.
That's it just it just goes back to what we talked about in the Redemption show of stop having everything be 2.99. Just stop it.
Yeah. Yep.
Somebody made this comment today on social media: "The other problem is there are too many pinfall attempts." I went, "You know what? That's a good point." There are a ton of pinfall attempts in matches now.
Yep.
I wouldn't mind cutting some of those out for more actual, you know, storytelling and wrestling and you know.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Especially with two dudes like Jon Moxley and Komander. So that aside
Again, the match was great. I have no qualms with the match itself. Moxley looked good and Komander looked good. The only thing I have against it is that there was next to no reason for Komander to wrestle him. We don't always need a reason for good wrestlers to face each other, but we knew Komander wasn't going to win. On a show this long, we didn't need Moxley
To wrestle tonight. We didn't need that.
Yeah. I would have preferred, I know you don't always love these, but I would have preferred that they did the eliminator match where, you know,
No, that's fine.
if Komander beats him, then he gets the title shot in Mexico City for Grand
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Slam the next week, I think that's what they should have done because then you could have him win, have Komander win, which makes a lot of sense, and then you know, you've got him on the card in his home country.
Right.
I think that would have made more sense than jumping right to the title match because you're right. it's why I was fast forwarding. We knew who was winning this.
Exactly. Yeah. And this is a this is a case where the eliminator match makes sense in my head. Because we're a week out from Mexico.
Yeah.
You can like you said, you can have him make the pinfall. You can bring him in as a legit challenger now, and he's already one win up on Mox. We still know Mox is going to win, but it brings some hype in to his home country. It makes a lot of sense. But the match was fine. It was fine.
Yeah, and you know, you put on a good match and I'll sit there and go, I know Jon's winning in Mexico, but I don't care
Mm-hmm.
Because you if you're going to give me another really good match, like, okay, cool. That's what I'm here for. Cool. It was Mick Foley and the Bang Bang Gang, which fun.
Yeah. Liked it. Yeah, I liked it.
I liked it. Yeah. I liked it.
Quick note, did you see what Mick wrote after Redemption about the weird interview?
No, I not.
He said, now this is what he said. He said I misheard them. When they said bow down, I thought they said bow wow. And so he goes, I didn't know what they meant, so I just went with it. So that's all on me. I misheard them.
So here's what I'll say. Two things. Number one, it's conceivable because the man is basically missing an ear.
True.
And number two, that's a pro. That's a pro putting it on himself and saying, "My fault. Give me all the heat." I respect that.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
That.
Uh-huh.
Okay. If that's what happened, okay.
Again, I just found it interesting. At least someone addressed it.
Yeah.
Yeah. Then we got the Trios Titles match, with The Conglomeration versus The Demand.
Mm-hmm.
I thought that was a pretty good match.
Yeah, I liked it.
I like that they switched it to The Demand. I think that was the right move.
I do too. Yep.
I have no problem with The The Lethal Twist being the reason The Demand won.
Mm-hmm.
It that they won. I did
Love that.
However Scratch my head when Brody King and Hangman made the save. And the reason that I did that is well, there's really multiple reasons. Number one is Brody and Hangman have not really been connected to any of these people at all. Not really.
Right.
Especially Hangman.
Right.
Number two, there are a million people in The Conglomeration.
Mm-hmm.
Mean a million's a stretch, but there's a lot of people.
But, I mean, they haven't been around a lot. Briscoe has been out.
Sure.
Briscoe has been out. Hologram hasn't been around lately.
Yeah.
I don't know who else is in it. Ishii, he's around right.
Well, Ishii who just will will pop up periodically. But like Willow's in it.
Yeah. Sometimes. I mean. Yeah. But she's not consistently,
You know she's in the video, the entrance video, you know.
You know, she hasn't been around as much, but she's not been consistently backstage with them. I have a feeling I'm right about this, but I could be wrong. With what happened, I wrote down Brodido Hangman versus The Demand.
That's that's what I think too.
Didn't they make that match? Or am I wrong?
Not that I'm aware of.
Tomorrow? Maybe I hallucinated that one.
I don't know. If they did, I'll look it up quickly. If they did, I missed it. To be fair, I was fast-forwarding because there's
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Something else is coming up in a minute where I thought, "Did I miss this? This doesn't make sense. I must have missed something."
I know what you're talking about and I wrote that down too.
Otherwise it makes no sense.
That or I think he may have misspoke.
Okay, so maybe I didn't miss it then.
If it's if it's the thing you and I are both talking about.
I don't know whether they made the match, but I agree: I think that's exactly where we're headed—Brodido and Hangman versus The Demand for the Trios Titles.
The Demand.
We want to put these three guys on All In. We don't think we have a better way to do it. So here it is. Or maybe they're going to do it in Mexico. I don't know. That would actually kind of make some more sense because I think you can move at least hangman into something bigger. And
Mm-hmm.
Again, you know, this is a guy who came back and ran down all of your 18 singles titles. Have him chase one of them. I think it makes a lot of sense for him to go after Kevin Knight in the TNT Title.
I do too. I do too. But I really here again, I'm
But you know, what what do I know?
I'm liking it because, once again, we're asking them to put the Trios Titles in a better spotlight and they're doing it. I'm not going to complain about that. Even if Brodido and Hangman together doesn't make much sense, I don't think it will last. If it gives us a couple of weeks with The Demand, The The Lethal Twist and The Conglomeration mixing it up, then we have three or four trios teams that can make some noise.
I'm fine with them doing something with the Trios Titles. Don't get me wrong. I think you can come up with better stories for Hangman and Brodido than simply shoving those three guys together. It's nitpicky, but I'm going to nitpick it because I don't get it and I don't think I love it. I think you thought they made the match for Collision because they promoted Collision right after this ended.
Yeah. More than likely, yeah. More than likely, yeah.
Yeah. So then we got The Death Riders promo. Where, first of all, I'm going to assume that he did this on purpose, but Mox saying we play by the rules made me laugh because no, you very much don't.
Right.
I have to believe he did that on purpose, because no, they very much do not play by the rules. Multiple attempted murders.
I don't know if he's talking about the law of the jungle, so I don't know what he's referencing, but yeah.
Yeah. So I have to believe he did that on purpose because no, you very much don't. I thought the promo overall was fine. It was fine.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
I think that this combined with the start of the show and then combined with Omega and Ospreay. Sort of like you were mentioning earlier with like the Willow and Mercedes thing, they did a really nice job tonight of going, hey, if you missed anything or if you're not caught up, now you are. Now you know the story. Now you're caught up.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.
So I thought that was very good. But then Mox mentions the Continental Cup.
Thank you. Thank you.
I thought maybe I accidentally fast-forwarded through something. Did they announce this?
I didn't hear it mentioned. As we're talking about it, I'm thinking maybe he misspoke about the Casino Gauntlet match.
Could be.
Casino Gauntlet match
Casino Gauntlet.
That's happening at All In.
But I don't think so, because he was specifically talking about it as though this might be the end of his reign as Continental Champion, while the Casino Gauntlet match is for a World Title shot.
Yeah, then okay. Yeah, then I have no idea what he's talking.
I mean, look, obviously he knows creative plans before we do. I think he just messed up and cut a promo about something they haven't announced yet.
Mm-hmm.
And I'm shocked that no one in the announce booth said anything about it. Because I think they should have, because I think we
I agree.
We aren't the only ones going, "Huh?"
I think Tony Khan needed to get in Excalibur's ear and say, "You have to run it down. This is what it is. You have to mention it, because Moxley accidentally said it." It's fine. It happens. He's only human, but I think he just spoiled something for All In.
Yep. Yeah, I wrote down, I go, Is This first time we're hearing about this? Is when he
Yeah.
Says I'm hearing rumors about it. Well then you're the only one, buddy.
Okay. Glad I wasn't the only one confused.
No, I think he
Only one confused.
I think he missed the email that he wasn't supposed to say anything yet, so that's all right.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one confused. Overall, I thought it was a fine promo, and it helped advance the story.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Did what it's supposed to do. And then I had
Dude.
The pièce de résistance.
Dude, let's talk about this. I know we've already gone an hour, but
Yes, let's. I don't care that we've already gone an hour.
Dude, Kenny Omega,
What
I thought Kenny Omega was the best on the mic I've seen him in ages.
I agree.
I really liked it. What I loved is that Will didn't even let Kenny finish one sentence before his music hit. Kenny didn't get a full sentence out before Will came down.
No. Loved it. Loved it. Yes.
He's ready to go. And I'm and because again, I like it when things happen that actually make sense in the real world. Like if you are beefing that hard with someone, are you going to let them talk for five minutes before you come out and say, hey, shut up? No. You see him out there, you're like, fuck this, I'm out, let's go. And so I loved it. Loved it.
Same. I loved that Will came out immediately and didn't let Kenny get a word out. I agree with you: this is the best promo Kenny has cut in a long time.
Yep.
And that's not to try and disparage his work to this point, but again,
No.
I think we're getting the cleaner back. And he's finding
Yeah.
That again. He was so good. And the stuff he was saying,
Well, and
I'm going, he's not wrong.
No.
He's making sense, which I always like in a heel promo. I like when they lay it out logically. Kenny was saying, "I told you they were going to turn on you. I warned you about Jon Moxley, and you didn't listen." That's exactly what is happening with Jon Moxley too, but Moxley's reaction is different from Kenny's, which is a nice subtlety.
Yep. Mm-hmm.
And I'm like, this man is making a tremendous case for why he is pissed at this guy. And it they did a great job
Yep.
Of positioning him into more of a heel spot, which is clearly where he's going, because, like we talked about in the Redemption episode, Will Ospreay is not going to be a heel in London.
No he is not.
Honestly, in this spot, he shouldn't be the heel going in anyway.
No, we should not. Mm-hmm.
I think they did an amazing job tonight. And Will Ospreay
Two.
Brought the heat on the mic tonight.
Yes, he did. I those two were so like I said, it ano up until tonight, it has annoyed me when they have closed with an interview or a promo.
Yeah.
Did not care tonight because this one was so good. They were both on it. When Kenny started bitch slapping him and just I wrote I wrote down Kenny bitch slaps Will and calls him a liar. I was like
Yeah.
Okay son,
Yeah.
Now we're on. Now we're on.
Will came back with, "If you lay hands on me, I will kick the shit out of you. I don't care who you are." I was like, "Oh!"
Loved it. Yep.
Ho, ho. It was awesome.
So good, man. It's so good. And what I really, really liked is Kenny makes really good points, maybe a little shaded, but still really good points. Like I saw you holding my belt. I saw the plastic bag, which meant you thought about it. You thought
Yep.
About it.
Well, I thought he made a great point too of you took forever to make up your mind. Because he did.
Yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep. But I really liked when Will came back with, I want, I want this more than anything else, but I'm going to do it my way. I'm not going to do it your way. I'm not going to do it Jon Moxley's way. This is my way, because there's more than one way to do it, and that's by being the best.
And him saying, "You'll see it coming. When I pull the trigger,
Mm-hmm.
"It will be to your face." My God. On one hand, I want to go to sleep for the next 30 days and wake up at All In. But on
Yeah, man.
The other hand, holy crap, if that's what they brought tonight, what are they going to do next week? You know?
Yeah. I think I, you know, you and I are probably going to agree on this. Keep them physically apart, but let
Yes.
Let them have these little interactions. You can have a slap here and there, but don't put them in the ring together or in a tag match. Let them
Yeah. I think the
Fight it out like this, because I am we're 32 days out and I was going to I was excited beforehand about this match.
Yeah. I think the blueprint again, I know to I go to this one a lot, but it's because I think it was so good. I think the blueprint is what they did with The Rock and Austin in the build to WrestleMania 17.
Well, and that's exactly what I was thinking. Keep them apart and let them snipe at each other. If you want to have them smack each other and then have security get between them before anything really happens, that's fine.
You can even do what they did with The Rock and Austin: one of them had a match, the other came out, and they had the stare-down. As the tension grew, they eventually threw hands. But they never did the lazy tag-match setup where they're placed across from each other. It was always, "I'm going to be in your face to remind you that you have to go through me."
Mm-hmm.
So it was Rock saying, You have to beat me for this title. And it was Austin saying, You have to beat me to keep it, right? And it's just showing how laser focused they are and how mad they are at each other. And you can let throw hands. Just,
Mm-hmm.
You know, it needs to be in those, you know, it's after a match sort of thing, and people come out and pull them apart relatively quickly, whether
Yeah.
Whether it's security, the Bucks or somebody else,
Agents?
whatever. Hangman, maybe. I love it.
I thought it was refreshingly good that neither The Death Riders or the Bucks came out in this and let them do their thing. Because I think, yes, would have been maybe a good look to have that brawl. I think it would have I think it would have taken
Not tonight. It was too early.
I think it would have taken away from what they did tonight. And what they did tonight was damn near perfect. It was so good. Like I said, I don't know if Will and Kenny have been that good on the mic in the last year, but it was so good. So good.
I agree. Going back to the Rock-Austin build, it didn't start with them throwing hands. It built to it. That's the blueprint when you have 31 days. Next week can be even more tense without them getting physical. The week after that, maybe they do a little. That's the progression they can follow.
Yeah.
This is a hell of an opening shot for this program. And
Yeah it is.
I don't imagine anybody was on the fence about buying All In. But if you were, tonight should have tipped you toward preordering it, because that match is going to be fire.
If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what they can do to get you to buy it.
I don't either. If that doesn't convince you, you weren't actually going to do it. And that's fine.
That's okay. If this doesn't do it, nothing between now and then is going to convince you to buy it. You can still watch Dynamite and Collision. By the way, we have Collision tonight—or
Tomorrow.
tomorrow, depending on when we're referencing this. Will is wrestling Danny Garcia.
Yeah. When this comes out it will be tonight. Yeah.
Wrestling with Danny Garcia.
Yes.
So yeah.
It was really good.
Yeah. Yes.
Good.
Like I said, if they let this cook, and if they let the Willow, Shida, Statlander, Persephone thing, if they put a little more meat on those bones and let that simmer and let that cook until All In, and they do the same thing with the trios match, and they do the same thing with Willow and Mercedes, now you have four potentially really, really good stories, or at least two A tier ones and two. B plus ones going into All In, and you've got 30 days to tell those stories before we get to it. I think they're doing okay if they follow that route, and I hope they do, and it may be some of the most planning before a big match, a big pay-per-view that they've done in a bit. And I am very
Yeah.
Happy with that.
Right now looking at the board, you've got potentially I mean, you've got an amazing story for the men's World Championship. I think you can get a really strong story going with Willow and Mercedes. I think they took a good first step tonight. You can get a really strong one
Mm-hmm. I agree.
Going there. I agree with you. If they can if they can actually tell the story instead of just giving it like a couple days build between Maya World and Shida You got something there. The tag team.
Yeah, that's the one I'm giving the biggest asterisk to, because I don't know what
I agree.
to do with it. But it has that potential.
It's the biggest wild card in my opinion. The tag team
Yes, 100 percent.
Match between now and then is like that's going to be great. Yep.
Forgot about that one. I was just thinking the trios, yeah.
The trios program has the potential to be really good. So now we're up to five.
Yeah.
Women's tag could, if they can find a stride, it could like I said, there's a chance that they can turn this thing around, but they have to get a lot better than what they've been doing. But I'm for right now, because I'm feeling optimistic, I'll give them a they could turn that into something. So there's six.
Mm-hmm.
Don't forget about the International Title and the simmering beef between Fletcher and Okada.
Mm-hmm.
Which if I think is going to happen at All In, and if I'm right, you can really get something going there. And then whatever
Yes, you could.
They do with Andrade.
Yes, National Title.
So right there, you have eight matches with real potential for strong stories. Even if the women's tag titles and the TBS Title don't reach the level we'd hope,
Mm-hmm.
If you still walk in with what would that put us at six really strong stories. Plus you've got the Casino Gauntlet match where I have to believe we're going to see some some names pop up, right? Because a lot of non competes have expired.
Mm-hmm.
So that's going to be very interesting of A, who wins it, B who shows up in it.
Mm-hmm.
And then, will they finally do the thing we've called for, where the match ends before somebody we know is supposed to enter actually gets in? I hope so.
I hope so. And I think oddly, you may be missing what could be the show stealer for All In. And that is Jericho Ciampa seven.
You son of a bitch. How dare you put that out in the world, you son of a bitch.
You know what we could see? This is based on one thing at the end of that pay-per-view match, with Jericho looking like a goofus and staring with his big green mouth at Taz. You put Jericho and Lio Rush together. Why not have the green mist against
Yeah, why not? Why not? I don't know.
Have the green mist against the black mist, and we'll be okay.
You're still going to get something with the TNT Title. You don't put Kevin Knight in the spot you put him in at Redemption and then do nothing with him at All In.
Exactly. Exactly.
This is a
Well, think that's where we're probably going to get the speed ball, Matt. We might do speed ball there, right? Speedball and Kevin Knight?
I think that would make sense. I mean, the way that I see this playing out is Fletcher's going to beat him, going to beat Speedball to retain the International Title in Mexico. And I just had another idea. I'm going to play that
Well.
One out first. I think that's probably where it's going to go, because I do think we're building to Fletcher and Okada at All In. That's like 95 percent sure. You could have it be title versus title of Speedball versus Kevin Knight at All In, which would be kind of interesting,
Mm-hmm.
You know, winner take all. But I do think that I think it's probably pretty likely that Kevin Knight's going to get involved. Even though I
Yeah.
I think they did the whole "I don't need your help" thing again.
Mm-hmm.
But I think it's probably pretty likely he's going to get involved somehow and it'll lead to them reigniting that. I think that makes the most sense.
Yeah, that makes sense. But I forgot about Okada and Fletcher, so that's
Yeah.
Probably a better All In match. But it does intrigue
I yeah.
Me with you know, Speedball and The Jet make a lot of sense to pair up at All In, but they need to get a better reason
Well that's that's what I mean is so
Going now, so
That's what I mean. Mike Bailey called his shot for Mexico instead of All In. At Redemption, we asked why he wouldn't call it for All In. This allows
Right.
Kevin Knight to get involved somehow and cost Speedball to reignite that feud. And so it's those two for the TNT Title at All In.
Mm-hmm.
Which I think makes a lot of sense because again, the story seems to be it's going to be the ProtOkada break up at All In. And I have to believe you're putting Okada on the All In card. I mean, I just
I think so, yeah.
I can't imagine you don't. So anyhow.
If Kevin Knight interferes to cost Speedball the match, now Speedball is
Yeah.
Mad at him and probably Fletcher, because Fletcher is the one who says, "I don't need your help. You do, and I don't."
Right. And
Don't.
Yeah, and there's beef simmering between those two as well.
No?
it's, you know, again, that's going to lay seeds for All In and beyond, potentially. So Yeah. Yep, exactly. I want my TNT
Yep. And if he if he loses it to Okada at All In, then he can just go, Fine, Kevin, I'm taking your belt and then we're on to the races. Yeah.
Title back. Because correct me if I'm wrong, he never lost it. He had to give it up because he got hurt.
Yes. I believe that is accurate, yeah.
So that's something out there too. So anyway, really, really good job tonight of
Yeah.
Really getting us on the road to All In and setting up some really strong storytelling.
Well, I'm just glad you and I were able to finish booking All In for them and they can relax for a minute.
Yeah. They can relax, but we haven't completely finished it because this thing is going to be seven or eight hours long.
Okay, we have round one done. Now we need to start
Yeah.
Looking to buy it. Ooh, we need to get Big Boom A. J. On the line.
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