#feud: moxley vs brody

[allelitewrestlings]

#jon moxley #brody king #wrestlingedit #aewedit #aew #aew dynamite #all elite wrestling #dynamite: s04e27 #tv: dynamite #ours: gifs #maker: s #* #feud: moxley vs brody

[bang-bang-gang]

worlds end predictions

mjf vs samoa joe - adam cole is revealed as the devil

jon moxley vs eddie kingston - if mox wins i riot. and then dont go online for two days because the posts complaining about mox winning will annoy me into rooting for him instead

toni storm vs riho - mariah will be there and be lovely

christian cage vs adam copeland

julia hart vs abadon - skye interferes on julia's behalf and officially joins her spooky bitch league

bryan/mark/claudio/daniel vs brody/jay2/rush - mark gets the pin on jay lethal

swerve vs keith lee - swerve gets into the world title picture with joe by revolution or DoN but needs to face the demons from his past first. i will not hop off my hangmoxswerve agenda i need these men in a deathmatch threeway and i need it now. anyway while i'd love a drawn out keith lee swerve feud, keith lee has posted again today about his injury and his health issues and it's clear he's not in a place to be doing that right now so i'm just hoping he is careful in this match

andrade vs miro

zero hour:

hook vs yuta - hometown hero advantage, i say with a heavy heart

willow vs kris - i think kris is the more realistic pick for a winner here but i'm going for willow because i reaaally hope she gets more opportunities and an aew title in 2024

20 man battle royale - SURPRISE BUCKS RETURN. yes on zero hour. i am manifesting this. pleaaase.

final thoughts:

i think the devil will be revealed and dealing with that fall-out will be mjf's storyline after losing his belt. joe will be a good transitional champ for swerve to take it off mjf. if joe wins, swerve will be champ by DoN. if mjf retains, swerve will be champ by revolution.

adam cole will be involved with the devil stuff but there will be no other big surprise debuts or returns. EXCEPT FOR THE BUCKS IN THE BATTLE ROYALE.

#veraposting

[danwhobrowses]

My Highlights from ROH Supercard of Honor 2023

Well it's Wrestlemania weekend which means TK is back on his insane booking for ROH. 2 for 2 now he's brought about some absolutely banging cards.

I know there's also Rampage, SD and HOF tonight, but since none are PPVs I'm just gonna do this one today. Mania will be late though since I'll have to watch Night 1 and 2 back to back given how I have family plans on Sunday.

But without further ado, let's see the good stuff from ROH Supercard of Honor

Spoilers for the PPV of course

All the Zero Hour matches slapped

Big pluses for Cobb as well; Omega, Moose and Williams matches on the trot takes monster stamina

NIGEL MCGUINNESS! Back on Commentary is nice but I'm sure everyone hopes he can return to the ring, I know some want him in BCC

Mack vs Takeshita didn't disappoint either, love both of these guys and they were just back and forth

Caprice and Ian vibing with Willow's theme

Sterling giving Slim J a spare shirt after ripping his in the entrance

Stu and Slim J are still very underrated, they're both an explosive feral style of wrestler

Ah so the Righteous aren't going to WWE after all, Righteous vs Dark Order might be an interesting feud

The absolute MADMAN TK is to not only book Vikingo vs Komander but to have it open the main show

An apt comment given how I'm gonna watch HOF after but seeing Vikingo is like watching Rey Mysterio's early days

And I absolutely love that Second Rope In-and-out Phoenix Splash

Komander literally ran the entire ring rope length to swanton onto Vikingo out the ring

Yeah give me Vikingo vs AR Fox, (give me Vikingo/AR Fox against anyone really), Blake and Metalik are great too

Surprised the Embassy retained too, given all we've heard about Cage's contract running out it seemed like he'd drop

Athena may be a nasty violent heel but the amount of fun she's having is great to see, she is thriving in this role

The finish was smart too, Athena using the ref to obstruct the Magical Splash/450 and then hit the mid-rope O-Face

Samoa Joe's STF looks painful as hell

Another surprise retaining as well, shame Briscoe couldn't win though

Garcia's been having a pretty good month ngl, matches vs Brody King, Adam Cole and now Tanahashi, definitely been on the up

'You're a wrestler' chants to put Garcia off too, that story ain't over

Evoking Nakamura as well!

Garcia did a stunner to Tana's injured leg, things you don't see too often

New ROH tag belts look neat, same style as the new world title

Doomsday Device from outside the ring was meaty, the proximity to the steps has been making me nervous all show though

Ladder Sandwich as well

Top Flight's...I have no idea what to call it but they propelled each other up the ladder, then they caught a chair thrown at them!

Jose vs Alex finally getting to throw down

I saw that Destroyer coming and it was still INSANE

Glad to see Lucha Bros win, I still backed Aussie Open but not upset with this outcome

FTR are here too!

Moxley here with Yuta is interesting

I also have to give huge props for TK being able to work Shibata into matches which are both hyped and suited for his style. The OC match allowed him to take his time when he needed, and Pure Rules is perfect for his technical style

Shibata using the BCC's Hammer and Anvil

Heel Yoots is great too

Shibata is a wrestling champion again

AEW's Dynamite card is insane, plus Athena vs Miyu on ROH can slap

Claudio went back to the classical version of his theme music, I'll miss the old one but this does match the pompous and cocky energy the BCC are exuding

Eddie going at Claudio immediately, the story we've built wouldn't offer anything less

These two have really been clattering each other too

Having watched the video of their backstory, the Ricola counter/Uraken was still a great nearfall

Meaty gutwrench to the outside of the ring

Kicked out of the Gotch Neutralizer at One!

The finish was greatly heartbreaking, Kingston countering the Ricola with a rana, only to be scooped up and fall a single second short

Shibata making sure Claudio and Yuta didn't jump Eddie

Shibata feuding with the BCC is something I can get behind, Danielson, Claudio, Moxley, there are all dream matches

Eddie saying fuck and shit for a closing promo is very on brand XD

Conclusion

Another great show, it did struggle to match the opener but it got there eventually. No matches were bad and with ROH tapings now TK has been having a lot of fun bringing out the goods without having to worry about ratings. McGuinness back is a big get for ROH as is Shibata as Pure Champion.

Match of the Night: Reach for the Sky Ladder Match Best Attire: Tanahashi, there wasn't any super unique attire but Tana's look is always super stylish Best Performance: This is a tight one, but I'm giving it to Vikingo given how absolutely blockbuster and effortless he is Best Spot: Penta's Mexican Destroyer from Ladder Bridge to outside of the ring's Table Tower

#ring of honor #supercard of honor #claudio castagnoli #eddie kingston #katsuyori shibata #wheeler yuta #the lucha bros #penta el zero miedo #rey fenix #the kingdom #matt taven #mike bennett #aussie open #kyle fletcher #mark davis #top flight #dante martin #darius martin #la faccion ingobernable #rush #dracalistico #daniel garcia #hiroshi tanahashi #samoa joe #mark briscoe #the embassy #brian cage #kaun #toa liona #ar fox

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 4/1/2023

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Kenny Omega (IWGP United States champion)

Adam Page

Adam Cole

Jack Perry

Ricky Starks

Wardlow

HOOK (FTW champion)

Konosuke Takeshita

Matt Hardy

Action Andretti

Men's singles division - heels

MJF (AEW men's world champion)

Chris Jericho

Bryan Danielson

Sammy Guevara

Powerhouse Hobbs (AEW TNT champion)

Samoa Joe (ROH television champion)

Daniel Garcia

Juice Robinson*

Jeff Jarrett

Jake Hager

Unranked: AR Fox, Ari Daivari, Darius Martin, Jack Cartwheel*, Jay Lethal, Mark Briscoe, Parker Boudreaux, Preston Vance, Serpentico, Starboy Charlie*, Swerve Strickland

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

The next world title program looks to be a four-way with MJF, Perry, Guevara, and Darby Allin. Whether that headlines the May 28 pay-per-view remains to be seen. I could picture the four-way being on one of the "special" editions of Dynamite, like Mother's Day Mayhem or Earth Day Slam or whatever they might call it. It feels like Adam Cole is being set up for a big babyface push, so maybe MJF vs. Cole will headline 5/28. But for now it's too soon to be sure.

To make room for all these new faces in the world title picture, AEW has moved a lot of the established top guys into multi-man feuds. Omega and Page are separately dealing with the entire Blackpool Combat Club (Danielson, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta), while the Jericho Appreciation Society is regrouping against the House of Black. Wardlow is probably going to return to chase Hobbs, but to get there he'll likely have to cut through the new QTV group. Hook seems to be busy beating everybody in the Firm one-by-one. Starks's feud with Robinson may or may not lead to fighting the entire Bullet Club.

AEW has not yet announced a "Blood and Guts" double cage match for 2023, but this is usually around the time of year they'd start setting that up. At this point, they're spoiled for choice as to which multi-man feud to put in the cage, not to mention the whole Outcasts storyline in the women's division. I suppose some of these feuds could be blown off with Stadium Stampede, or Anarchy in the Arena, or Clobbering in Catering, or whatever they call it.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

Lucha Bros. - Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix (ROH tag team champions)

Darby Allin & Sting

Keith Lee & Dustin Rhodes

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson

Men's tag team division - heels

The Gunns - Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn (AEW tag team champions)

Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

The Kingdom - Matt Taven* & Mike Bennett*

Varsity Athletes - Josh Woods & Tony Nese

Unranked: Harv Shira* & Gurv Shira*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Following the Lucha Bros. ROH tag title victory, I'm still uncertain how much separation we're going to see between the AEW and ROH rosters. It feels like several AEW acts (such as the Kingdom) have been earmarked to primarily work ROH-branded shows, but very few of them have actually stopped being featured on AEW. It may take a few more months to get the brands separated...if that's even what Tony Khan wants to accomplish, that is.

The top two-on-two programs right now look to be the Acclaimed vs. Menard/Parker and the Gunns vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler). My hunch is that FTR will win the tag titles and move on to a big match with the Acclaimed. If FTR doesn't win their April 5 title match, they've vowed to leave AEW. Would that send them to ROH full-time, or would they just leave altogether? Either way I have no idea what shape this division will take.

Men's trios division - babyfaces

Orange Cassidy (AEW international champion) & Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Dalton Castle* & Brent Tate* & Brandon Tate*

Men's trios division - heels

John Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli (ROH men's world champion) & Wheeler Yuta

Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews (AEW trios champions)

Kip Sabian & The Butcher & The Blade

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

The trios division is in flux right now. Everyone in the Dark Order has been laid out by Moxley's group, so it's not clear which of them will be available for a trios match (with or without Adam Page). With the Young Bucks on the shelf, Kenny Omega is torn between teaming with other guys or going it solo. The Jericho Appreciation Society had a trio ready to go, but Sammy Guevara's pursuit of singles gold probably changes the formula. I'm guessing Jericho & Hager & Garcia challenge the House of Black, but that's not certain yet.

I'm a bit surprised we never see Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, and Satnam Singh make a run as a trio, considering they're all inseparable anyway. But then, Singh is rarely put in the ring, so my guess is they don't think he's anywhere close to ready.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Jamie Hayter (AEW women's world champion)

Taya Valkyrie

Willow Nightingale

Skye Blue*

Emi Sakura

Women's singles division - heels

Jade Cargill (AEW TBS champion)

Toni Storm

Saraya

Ruby Soho

Marina Shafir*

Leila Grey*

Unranked: Ava Lawless*, Nicole Matthews*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Aside from Valkyrie chasing Cargill, the women's division now revolves around the Outcasts (Storm, Saraya, and Soho) vs. Hayter, Britt Baker, Nightingale, Blue, and Riho. Assuming Baker's back issues don't keep her sidelined, the heels need a couple more women to back them up. I'd go with Marina Shafir and Nyla Rose, since they're already a duo, and Nyla would end the narrative of "ex-WWE heels vs. AEW originals," which isn't helping anything.

No TV/PPV matches in 30 days, but had a Dark/Elevation match: Aaron Solo, Athena (ROH women's world champion) Big Bill, Boulder*, Brady Booker*, Bronson*, Brandon Cutler, Brian Cage (ROH trios champion), Charlette Renegade*, Christopher Daniels, Ethan Page, Isiah Kassidy, Julia Hart, Lance Archer, Lee Johnson, Lee Moriarty, Luther, Nick Comoroto, Nyla Rose, Peter Avalon, QT Marshall, Riho, Robyn Renegade*, Sonny Kiss, Zack Clayton*

No televised AEW matches in 30 days: Anna Jay, Anthony Ogogo, Bandido, Brian Pillman Jr., Britt Baker, Brock Anderson, Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood, Fuego Del Sol, Leva Bates, Luchasarus, Madison Rayne, Matt Sydal, Michael Nakazawa, Miro, Ortiz, PAC, Penelope Ford, Red Velvet, Rush, Satnam Singh, Scorpio Sky, Serena Deeb, Shawn Dean, Shawn Spears, The Bunny, Trench, Yuka Sakazaki

Part-time/Semi-retired: Billy Gunn, El Hijo Del Vikingo* (AAA mega champion), Jeff Cobb*, Kyle Fletcher*, Mark Davis*, Mark Henry, Mark Sterling, Paul Wight, Paige Vanzant, Rebel, Stokely Hathaway, Sonjay Dutt

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Inactive

Abadon (shoulder - collarbone fracture)

Andrade El Idolo (left shoulder - pectoralis tear)

Christian Cage (storyline - "buried alive")

CM Punk (left arm - triceps tear)

Colt Cabana (unspecified injury)

Danhausen (right shoulder - pectoralis tear)

Dante Martin (left leg - unspecified injury)

Eddie Kingston (storyline - "quit" AEW, jumped to ROH)

Griff Garrison (unspecified injury)

Hikaru Shida (finger - unspecified injury)

Jeff Hardy (suspension - DUI)

Kris Statlander (left knee - ACL tear, lateral meniscus tear)

Kyle O'Reilly (neck - herniated disc)

Leyla Hirsch (knee - ACL tear)

Marq Quen (unspecified injury)

Matt Jackson (arm - partial biceps tear)

Nick Jackson (storyline - "separated shoulder")

Santana (left knee - unspecified injury)

Tay Melo (back - protrusion)

Thunder Rosa (back - unspecified injury)

#aew #fake rankings

[melissahausen]

Aew revolution predictions

As always this is who I think WILL win not nessacarily who I WANT to win.

John Silver and Alex Reynolds vs. Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta : Blackpool combat club but I love TDO so much.

2P Mark Briscoe and The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) (with Alex Abrahantes) vs. Ari Daivari and The Varsity Athletes (Josh Woods and Tony Nese) (with "Smart" Mark Sterling)

I mean gotta be Mark and the boys come on.

3 Christian Cage vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry: Final Burial match

So not interested in this feud but gotta be Jack.

4 Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Starks: Singles match

The Jericho Appreciation Society are banned from ringside

Ughh another fued that should already have ended weeks ago but we know Christopher is that person so he's gonna win cause he doesn't put anyone over.

5 The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) (c)

vs. The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) Six-man tag team match for the AEW World Trios Championship.

I can't call this match (you'll see that a few times on this lol), I really can't call it , is it the HOBs time? Hell yeah but has it been built up to anyone taking the titles from the boys? No ...

Gonna go with the elite and hope it's wrong lol but I love them both so I'm good for whoever wins.

6 Jamie Hayter (c) vs. Saraya vs. Ruby Soho Three-way match for the AEW Women's World Championship

Jamie

But I feel there's gonna be shenanigans with Britt and Toni.

7 Jon Moxley vs. "Hangman" Adam Page : Texas Death match.

Okay now I'm gonna be watching this through my fingers, I love them both but it's time for Jon to have a break he's been carrying this company on his back for almost 8 months.

Team hangy .

8 Samoa Joe (c) vs. Wardlow Singles match for the AEW TNT Championship

Wardlowwwwwww he gotta win this feud.

9 The Gunns (Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) (c) vs. The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) (with Billy Gunn) vs. Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett (with Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh) vs. Orange Cassidy and Danhausen Four-way tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship:

YO LISTENNNNN , the acclaimed have been so over for a year taking the titles off them was a stupid idea give my boys there belts back!

I'd love to see Danhausen with a belt though...

10 MJF (c) vs. Bryan Danielson 60-minute Iron man match for the AEW World Championship

Honestly I don't know...

Are we getting Tony's usual build up good first defense lose? Or is he actually gonna pull the trigger on max ...

I'll go with Bryan but I'm honestly not sure

Team Blackpool championships club!!

[deathtriangles]

oh those asks are so good... 12, 17, 34?

OOOH great choices !!! I’d say thinking of my faves atm my fave hoss-type wrestlers are totally lance archer, will hobbs and the late great brodie lee of course ! in terms of my fave style, even though my fave wrestlers tend to be high fliers, I absolutely LOVE watching technical submission wrestling ! I am a sucker for a good submission match and I absolutely love technical styles like natalya’s and serena deeb’s ! and as for which wrestler got me hooked, I’d say it wasn’t really down to a wrestler but three matches from different eras that got me hooked at different times! first it was Gail kim vs awesome kong, a great feud that got me HOOKED into impact! then it was sami vs pac vs breeze vs kidd for the nxt title at takeover, still to this day one of my fave matches! and then the match that got me into aew was actually moxley vs ortiz, and then subsequently the whole of the first dynamite from February 2020! I remember at the time just seeing it advertised and watching on a whim to distract myself from uni stress and oh my god I was absolutely hooked and still am to this day!

#TY SO MUCH!!!!! 🥺 these were great ones to answer ! #consolecowboy #x . amy speaks

[aaronpullinteeth]

Pro wrestling has been a huge thing in my life for most of the time I've been alive. Since I discovered it around 1999 / 2000. It's helped drag me through more shit times in my life than I care to remember. It's been there when I didn't have anything else.

It's no secret I've always gravitated to the weird and the wonderful. So round about 2013ish, I remember finding NXT on the Network. Laughing to myself thinking "I thought they stopped doing that gameshow thing". But I had nothing else to watch so I put it on.

The first image that stuck with me was one of Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper (aka Brodie Lee). I remember it clearly. It was a promo in a poorly lit, smokey room. The two grabbed me and hooked me in. I had to keep watching NXT now, I had to see what these two were going to do, what they were going to say.

Eventually weird videos started to air on the main roster shows and I don't think I've ever been as hyped for a main roster debut. I watched those promo videos building the The Wyatt Family debut so many times. I'd show my friends who were just getting into wrestling. Then when they arrived on the main roster I lost my mind.

Fast forward a little and The Wyatt Family started feuding with The Shield. It was the best thing in wrestling at the time. The Wyatts, The Shield and Daniel Bryan were the only things keeping me a WWE fan for a while. That 6 man tag at Elimination Chamber is still a favourite of mine (I'm gonna go back and watch it today, I think).

We then move on to somewhat of a split in the Wyatts. I remember getting a friend into wrestling by asking them to watch a PPV with me and it was Extreme Rules, Harper vs Ambrose was the first match she ever saw. The two of them taking half the night to finish the match, including a little car journey to mix it up.

I was 100% sold as a fan of Luke Harper / Brodie Lee by this point. As both a singles guy and part of a team. His IC Title matches with Ziggler were amazing. I started to educate myself on his stuff before WWE. Some insane matches in the likes of CZW stick out (funnily enough, with Jon Moxley).

When he was involved in that No1 contenders battle royal on Smackdown and it came down to Harper and AJ Styles, I was almost jumping around the room when I thought Harper won. It was honestly child like glee.

After his WWE run fizzled out as it does for so many when the higher ups get bored, I was a little worried what he'd do. Seeing him show up as the leader of The Dark Order in AEW was awesome. I didn't expect it to be him and damn near lost my mind seeing that hood come off. Then his amazing matches with Moxley for the world title and his matches with Cody for the TNT Title have been some of my favourites this year.

I cracked up whenever he showed up on BTE. He got hitting someone with a stack of paper over as comedy gold. The man was super talented.

I don't know where I was going with this. But I just wanted to tell some short stories about the memories Brodie Lee has left me with as a fan. Helping keep my love of this madness we call pro wrestling alive.

Thank you for the memories, Brodie. You're already missed.

It's Sunday, you know what that means.

#rip brodie lee #brodie lee #luke harper #wwe #nxt #aew

[waywardwrestlewritingwaif]

What a long strange trip...

One of the things about almost never being able to leave the house (even before COVID) is that it can be fun to binge on things. The last couple of weeks with wrestling, though, has been intense. I try to keep on top of things but damn... I guess I should thank the lads and lasses for keeping me entertained. Anyway, here are a few things that I liked and didn’t like that happened in the promotions I follow. 

Stuff I liked

Drew retaining the title against Randy Orton: I don’t kid myself, I know he’s losing it soon because Vince apparently wants to build to Orton v Edge at WM 37, but I’m going to be really sad when it happens and I don’t like being sad.

Asuka winning the Raw title: I absolutely adore Sasha but this was the right storyline move AND builds the storyline with her and Bayley. Also, we’re going to get Asuka vs Shayna WHICH WILL SLAY.

Brodie Lee beating Cody for the TNT title: It’s not just that it was time to put it on someone else but the way they did it was incredible. Completely unexpected. Also...

The elevation of Anna Jay: Girlfriend has had about a dozen matches IN HER LIFE. She’s ridiculously talented and on top of that, her wordless reactions have been top notch. Give her a few more months to get more experience and she is going to be a star. 

Hangman getting kicked out of The Elite: Just tear my heart out and stomp on it and then set it on fire, why don’t you? This story has been simmering for a YEAR. Hangman is this tragic hero figure who feels totally isolated and desperately wants to be loved. The split with the Bullet Club Ogs and the Marty getting left behind when AEW was formed has left him as the odd one out with the original BTE crew (Kenny and the Bucks). He doesn’t have the bond the way they do. (Plus he’s not straight edge the way they are.) FTR have seized on his vulnerability and made him feel like they get him. After All Out he’s going to be heartbroken and alone.

Naito winning back the Heavyweight and IC titles: The feeliest goodest moment. It’s like the whole Evil turn was done just to bring this about. 

Kenta winning the US title opportunity: Ok, I’ve had a thing for Kenta for ages but I also love the idea of him v Moxley. I also love the idea that this match *maybe might* happen on AEW. They teased collaborating with the Tanahashi/ Jericho match. Why not do this one instead.

Heel Roman? Ok, not 100% confirmed, but pretty much. I’ve wanted a Roman heel turn since the actual Roman Empire, I swear. 

Stuff I didn’t like

The whole Nia/ Shayna pairing: Ruby and Liv were RIGHT THERE, you idiot bookers. They have a story of strained friendship. How much more perfect could you get to square off against Sasha and Bayley. Shayna deserves a singles run with Asuka and Nia needs to do more training so she stops hurting people. 

Keith Lee debuting on Raw: New music sucks. Putting him in a shirt sucks. Setting him up to lose at Payback sucks. 

Hiromu losing the Junior Heavyweight Title: Sure, he’s had a great run but Ichimori, really? Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great wrestler but I thought whoever took down Hiromu would be a bigger star. (I absolutely love Shingo too, but it made more sense, him losing to Suzuki. Who the hell else was going to beat him?)

Britt Baker vs Big Swole: How the hell has AEW managed to screw this up? This was a super hot feud and somehow it just turned into nothing. A two minute match with a wrestler pretending she can’t wrestle and one participant who sits in a wheelchair even though she’s supposedly ok to fight at All Out? Ugh.

Jay White losing his first match back: This might have made a tiny bit of sense if the idea was to have Evil retain his titles so that there would be legit heat with him and Jay over who was the “real leader” of Bullet Club. But Jay lost on his first match and Evil lost too. So now, it’s like Taiji has the best claim to be the leader since he’s the one who has a title.

Toru Yano winning the KOPW tournament: First of all, it should have been Sanada. Sanada winning a tournament that was the brainchild of Okada? Still fuel in that feud. Look, I really like some of the NJ comedy stuff but Toru Yano gets on my last nerve. You had three aces to choose from and you gave it to the idiot. Way to devalue the whole tournament, New Japan.

Anyone else spent a lot of time watching wrestling recently? Anything you loved or that pissed you off? Agree or disagree with my choices? Come on, let me know!

#wwe #aew #njpw #king of pro wrestling #summer slam #aew dynamite #wwe raw #njpw summer struggle #njpw strong

[buttdawg]

All Out 2020 Predictions

Just gonna run down the card here, because I keep forgetting what’s on this show, and it is stacked.    

Side note: Looking this up on Wikipedia made me sad, because the article points out that the show was originally planned for a whole other venue before the pandemic started.  I had gotten so used to every AEW show being held in Jacksonville, that I had forgotten the good old days, when they could run every show in Chicago.

Casino Battle Royale, winner gets a shot at the AEW title

I thought they gave up on this stip when they did the Casino Ladder Match at Double-or-Nothing.   Here’s a dumb thought: Ditch the casino nonsense.   The last two casino battle royals were kind of dumb, because they sent out five guys at a time, and then the 21st guy got to come out last by himself.   The problem I had was that I had no idea who half the participants were, and sending them out in fives made it that much harder to keep track.  

Anyway, this time around it’s easier to just list them by faction.    We have

Eddie Kingston’s group (Eddie, Butcher, Blade, Pentagon Jr., and Rey Fenix)

Team Taz (Absolute Ricky Starks and DA MACHEEN Brian Cage, who is also the FTW World’s Heavyweight Champion of the World, Excalibur)

Gunn Club (Billy Gunn and Austin Gunn)

The Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz)

Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent)

Lance Archer

Darby Allin

Wait that’s only 16 guys.   You know, it’s been a long time since I learned the rules to Blackjack, but I think that’s about where you want to stand pat.    If you take another card, you’re much more likely to go over 21.    Anyway, I hope Warhorse ends up in this match somehow.   I guess I’ll pick Eddie Kingson to win, since he’s got the most guys helping him.  

No, wait, fuck all of that shit.   Lance Archer wins everything.    Call this Casino Battle Royale a George R. R. Martin novel, because Everybody Fucking Dies.

The Dark Order (Brodie Lee, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Colt Cabana) vs. Scorpio Sky, Matt Cardona, Dustin Rhodes, & QT Marshall.  

This is like the Dark Order vs. the Dark Order Revenge Squad, trying to make Brodie pay for beating the shit out of Cody.   I saw a video package for this on Dynamite yesterday, and it was fucking stupid, because they wanted me to believe that the good guy team are “four badasses”, even though one of them is QT Marshall for crying out loud.   They do this horseshit all the time, where a group of babyfaces try to gang up on the Dark Order, but it never works because the faces never bring enough guys.   There’s like eight or nine dudes in the Dark Order, so unless your team has ten or eleven, you’re gonna get your asses kicked.    Brodie killed Cody like he was nothing, so why am I supposed to believe Dustin has a chance in hell?  

The last time Scorpio Sky was on one of these anti-DO posse teams, it was with Colt Cabana and his partners in SCU.    Well, Colt ended up switching sides, and apparently Chris Daniels and Kazarian aren’t even booked, so that tells me what I need to know.     Dark Order wins.  

Britt Baker vs. Swole in a Tooth and Nail Match.

I don’t know if “Tooth and Nail” is an actual stipulation, or if they’re just calling it that for promotional purposes.  I wish they’d spell out the rules to these things instead of just calling out the names of matches like catchphrases.   Swole would look pretty dumb if she loses this, so I’m picking her to win.  

Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara  in a “Broken Rules” Match.

Wikipedia says this is a Last Man Standing match, so maybe they should have just called it that?  I mean, less than a month ago Matt claimed that he was ditching all his characters for the duration of the pandemic, and now he’s right back to chanting “Delete!” like nothing changed.   I heard a lot about Matt’s cinematic universe run in Impact, but so far I’m not overly impressed with his run in AEW.   He just makes a bunch of callbacks to stuff he did in WWE, Impact, and ROH like I’m supposed to know or give a shit about that time he was a douchebag.     If Matt loses, he’s supposed to leave AEW, but I’m pretty sure this is a trick, and he’ll just come back as “Leviticus” and pretend to be a robot from outer space.   I don’t think I care who wins.

Jurassic Express vs. The Young Bucks.

Why are these guys fighting?    I feel like they already did on TV?    I’m gonna pull for JE to win this one.    I think the Bucks might be my favorite act in AEW, but I mostly enjoy seeing them get the shit beat out of them.    Yeah, kill the Young Bucks.   

Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy in a Mimosa Mayhem Match.

You can win Mimosa Mayhem by pinfall, submission, or dumping your opponent into a big tank of mimosa.    I guess this is a way for OC to win their feud without actually pinning Jericho twice?    Alternately, the loser can get pinned, only to dump the winner in the tank to get a moral victory.    I’ll go with Orange to win.  

AEW Tag Team Championship: Kenny Omega/Hangman vs. FTR

Now that they finally kicked Hangman out of the Elite, and FTR has finally stopped pretending not to be heels, and now that Kenny Omega finally seems to give a shit about his tag team, I think this program could finally lead to something cool.    I sort of want FTR to win, just to move the Hangman/Omega angle onto the next stage.     If the tag titles are the only thing keeping that team together than we need to see what happens without them.  

Also, I want FTR to defend the titles against Santana and Ortiz.    Yeah, no offense to Omega and Hangman, but fuck this Elite Drama Bullshit, gimme FTR vs. PnP.

AEW Women’s Championship: Hikaru Shida vs. Thunder Rosa.

Fuck yeah, this is the real main event right here.    Thunder Rosa kicks ass, and now she can show her stuff without the nonsensical soap opera booking found in the NWA women’s division.   The last time I saw Thunder Rosa in NWA, Melina had inexplicably declared that she had a title match against Rosa, but when the match actually happened, Melina just rolled out of the ring and took a countout.    Seeing Eddie Kingston, Ricky Starks, and Thunder Rosa has opened my eyes to a lot of problems in NWA.

Anyway, here’s the AEW storyline for Thunder Rosa: Shida wanted competition, and Thunder Rosa showed up to kick her ass and take her belt.   I suspect Shida’s going to win, because Rosa’s NWA title isn’t on the line, but I’m rooting for Thunder Rosa to become the double champ.  

AEW Men’s Championship: Jon Moxley vs. MJF.

I want Moxley to win, although I’m not 100% sure this isn’t MJF’s time.   It feels too soon, but I didn’t think Moxley would win the title from Jericho back in February either.   Also, if Moxley loses the title, it might make it easier for AEW and NJPW to open the Forbidden Door long enough for him to defend the IWGP U.S. title against KENTA.    Is that worth putting the world title on MJF?   Probably not, but it’s fun to think about.  

I don’t understand this feud at all, because MJF has been “campaigning” for a world title shot, even though he’s the #1 contender and he’s undefeated, so I’m pretty sure he could just request the match and he’s all set.    MJF has also successfully lobbied to have Moxley’s finisher banned from their match, but what if Mox uses it anyway?   They’d just disqualify him and he’d retain the title, right?    Or maybe the ref would just stand there and let him do it anyway, because that seems to be how AEW referees do things.   

I really don’t get why MJF wanted the Paradigm Shift banned.   He got hit with one like two weeks ago, and he acted like it half-crippled him, but then he revealed it didn’t hurt him that badly, so why does he care if he takes another one?  MJF also seems to have this thing going on where he pretends to be this high-road-taking “pure wrestler”, who can out-finesse Moxley’s brawling style, but we’ve seen MJF just go apeshit and use hardcore tactics himself.  

This is kind of an aside, but I find it funny when Jim Cornette acts surprised when people accuse him of playing a character on his podcasts.   He’ll be like “No, no, you don’t understand, I really hate Vince Russo and Kenny Omega and I want them both dead for not respecting kayfabe!”    The thing is, wrestlers like MJF and FTR are out here repeating a lot of Cornette’s talking points on TV, specifically to get heel heat.   They praise themselves for being workhorses who stick to the fundamentals, but they’re hypocrites who use gamesmanship and trickery to get ahead.    So people hear Cornette blowing a gasket about Joey Janela and they just assume he’s being some sort of cartoonish supervillain character to sell his merch, because the alternative is too absurd to contemplate.    It’d be like MJF assuring people that he really does bloody people up with his diamond ring in real life, just like he does on TV.   

Anyway, I’ll stick with Moxley, but if MJF wins, I’ll be more intrigued than disappointed...

#aew #aew dynamite #aew all out

[allelitewrestlings]

#wrestlingedit #aewedit #jon moxley #brody king #aew #aew dynamite #feud: moxley vs brody #tv: dynamite #dynamite: s04e27 #ours: gifs #maker: s #*

[henshin1shot]

2020 Year in Review

Wrestler of The Year

Tetsuya Naito

Tag Team of the Year

Street Profits

Woman Wrestler of the Year.

Sasha Banks

Feud of the Year

Cody vs Brody Lee

Popular Wrestler of the Year

Orange Cassidy

Most Dominant Faction of the Year

The Hurt Business

Most Hated Faction of the Year

Retribution

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year

Moose

Comeback of the Year

Edge

Rookie of the Year

Dominic Mysterio

High Flyer of the Year

Kota Ibushi

Underrated of the Year

Isiah Swerve Scott

Overrated of the Year

Charlotte Flair

Best Maneuver

Austin Theory (Ataxia)

Best Technician

Johnathan Gresham

Best in ring performer

Roman Reigns

Commentator of the year

Samoa Joe

Special Mention: Shingo Takagi, Minoru Suzuki Kazuchika Okada, Jey Uso, KENTA, Will Osprey, Jay White, Cesaro, Matt Riddle, Jay Lethal, Jeff Cobb, Roderick Strong, Adam Cole, Dominik Dijakovic Roman Reigns, The North, LAX, The Rascalz, Shotzi Blackheart, Moose, RVD, Jon Moxley, Ricochet, RUSH, Dragon Lee, Drew McIntrye, Keith Lee, Evil, Sanada, Pete Dune, Danny Burch, Oney Lorcan, Tyler Bate, Walter, Imperium, Austin Theroy, Velveteen Dream, Tomassco Ciampa, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Andrande, Cody, Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Katsuyori Shibata, Matt Taven, PCO, Lucha Bros, (Matt Travis RIP) (Brodie Lee RIP)

[danwhobrowses]

AEW - Best and Worst Booking Decisions from Double or Nothing 2020 to 2021

As I promised back in my WWE Post Reviewing the Booking of Mania 35-36 it is time for me to run down AEW's booking over the last year.

Double or Nothing 2020 was AEW's first PPV of the Empty Arena Era, which they pulled off with the inaugural TNT champion being Cody'd, Brian Cage's debut and murder of Darby Allin, Hikaru Shida began her mammoth title reign, Moxley and Brodie Lee put on a fantastic show with their short build and we finished off with the wacky Stadium Stampede. But since then, it's had some ups and downs.

As I said with the WWE one, these are my opinions: some of which will act within hindsight rather than within the moment.

There will also be spoilers from the Dynamite after DoN 2020 to the end of DoN 2021, you have been warned

May 2020 Best - FTR They told us one day they would wrestle the Bucks and the world shall rejoice, and after several teases on BTE following The Revival's release from the E, FTR arrived and the division got even more stacked because of it.

Worst - Mike Tyson loses to his shirt AEW did try with Tyson, pushing for some shared history with Jericho as they began to stand off with one another. But his struggle to cleanly tear off his shirt really made the confrontation awkward and it wouldn't go anywhere.

Best - Baker becomes the Roll Model Baker's injury was a huge blow given how she was finally getting over thanks to her heel turn and bloody battle with Shida. It would've very easily killed her momentum to be off TV, but AEW instead played into Baker's injury by making her flaunt her heelish hilarity, starting with her being a wheelchair-riding 'roll model', this would begin Baker's time entertaining in spite of injury.

Worst - Allie and QT begin What was this huh? Now Allie in a red dress was a sight to behold but the whole romance angle where a very married Allie had a brief period as a babyface and pairing with the also very married QT Marshall. We all knew it was gonna lead to Butcher and Blade jumping the Natural Nightmares, but it really overstayed its welcome.

Best - The TNT Open Challenge We will get more on this but Cody's win of the TNT title was met with concern given the monster push of Lance Archer - not to mention the dismal design of the championship itself. But Cody did his best to add prestige via the weekly Open Challenge, which would showcase a lot of talent in a similar way to Cena's US title Open Challenge.

June 2020 Best - Brodie goes on the Recruitment Prowl Being the leader of the Dark Order, Mr. Brodie Lee needed a new direction after being felled by Jon Moxley. What he decided was to add to his ranks; bringing in Dark Standout Alan Angels, enticing Colt Cabana and extending a hand to Anna Jay. These choices bolstered the Dark Order's ranks to last much longer, especially with their segments in BTE showing all their comedic flair.

Worst - Sammy Guevara eats his words The Speaking Out movement affected AEW just as it did most of wrestling, leading to the release of Jimmy Havoc. But Sammy Guevara also got done in by his egregiously vulgar comments he made regarding his attraction WWE's Sasha Banks in an old interview that had now surfaced. While this isn't a booking decision per se, it was the fault of AEW to have not caught this on their background check. Sammy would rightfully be suspended with a full apology, seminars taken and a direct conversation with Banks herself to make amends.

Best - Red Velvet stirs in Red Velvet would debut on Dark in June, showcasing talent which would later be enhanced and explored later in the year, adding Red Velvet did indeed bolster the women's division a bit more, showing AEW's dedication towards building new stars was still alive.

Best - Wardlow vs Luchasaurus rocks the house Lumberjack matches are more miss than hit, but the long-awaited match between Wardlow and Luchasaurus was a sleeper hit for the month. Big time spots of athletic hosses slapping meat and flipping feet continued to showcase Wardlow's dominance with a big win over the Dino-man, just a good wrestling match worth the wait.

July 2020

Best - Open Challenge Opens Doors Cody's open challenges started with the AEW roster, but they soon expanded to being for indy talent and cross-promotional challengers too: Enter Eddie Kingston. The Mad King made an instant impact in his hardcore challenge against Cody, which quickly earned him a contract with the company. Also among the challengers was Ricky Starks - who would also get a contract - and Warhorse, who had rallied the fans into giving him a shot - and AEW did play into his popularity, having an answer for a lot of Cody's offense until he hurt his leg for the finish. It was smart booking even if Cody was bound to win.

Worst - Cardona's time is Radio Silence You gotta feel bad for Matt Cardona, he has all the makings to be a great star, but he just suffers from either company disinterest, injury or poor timing. The latter was the case for his AEW time, since AEW were having to deal with WWE's COVID outbreak by extension of any partners, Cardona only had a rare appearance backing up Cody a few times and while he did find himself in Impact, it's sadly not as green as the other side.

Best - Sue is Over The Best Friends as babyfaces walk the line perfectly of being a group of goofball man-children but also legitimate and talented wrestlers. The cherry on the top though was the Friends' entrance to Fyter Fest in Trent's mom Sue's mini-van for their tag title match, immediately getting Sue over with fans. Sue would also be a cult figure for BTE in her skits with the Dark Order, being the only person ever to make Brodie Lee break character and corpse.

Worst - Cody cannot elevate Hager Cody's defenses led to Hager (and his wife) looking for a title match, the sale of it being a more legitimate bout with the weigh in and packages didn't pull off in the match though, being quite slow and simplistic. Hager still remains a wrestler who lacks any more potential than what he has now but knows the right people.

Best - Taz promos around Mox's COVID absence Due to the aforementioned outbreak, AEW were forced to reschedule their main event when Renee Young had contracted the virus, exposing their world champion Jon Moxley by extension. This meant that Brian Cage would have to wait longer for their match (though not as long as UK fans are waiting for AEW to come overseas), so AEW decided to let Taz carry them over this predicament, which he did marvelously by reviving his FTW title and handing it to Cage. It added some extra heat and something for Cage to carry around as if he had won the personal victory over Moxley already, and it would lead us into the following week's rescheduled Main Event at Fight for the Fallen.

August 2020 Best - Brodie Destroys Cody After a lot of defenses and Cody getting the 'finished product' TNT title, fans wondered how Cody's defense against Mr. Brodie Lee would go. And boy did we get a spectacle, the Exalted One demolished Cody, Anna Jay then choked out Brandi as the rest of the Dark Order held the Nightmare Family at bay, and we were left with the visual of Brodie on top and Cody and Brandi at their feet, covered in the shredded remains of the old TNT title that Cody had reigned with. It was great storytelling and a great way to elevate Brodie as well as finally putting the Dark Order over, the stable rode the highest they had been since their debut while Cody disappeared to film for the Go Big Show.

Worst - Bea and Sadie get released, Mel stays AEW did their best to keep as many people they could during the Pandemic, but due to the travel restrictions Bea Priestley was very much land locked and Sadie Gibbs was not getting a second chance at her botched debut. It was a shame because of how talented both women were, Bea especially since rumor has it she might be en route to the E. What was baffling was that Mel, of the failed Nightmare Collective, remains on AEW's payroll despite not having appeared for over a year, hard to add that up.

Best - Thunder Rosa makes her challenge Before the Forbidden Door, NWA opened their doors to AEW while the pandemic prevented them from filming shows. With champion Hikaru Shida lacking a built-up challenger, fans were interested in Thunder Rosa's intrigue about Shida's challenge, and would be pleased to see AEW roll with it too. Rosa and Shida made for a great cross-promotional feud which'd lead to a great match in the following month. To this very day, Thunder Rosa's appearance on AEW is one of the brand's most vital steps in terms of strengthening their women's division.

Worst - The Deadly Draw is on Youtube Speaking of the Women's Division, AEW had also decided to have an all-women's tournament called the Deadly Draw. 'Random' tag teams would be forged in a tag tournament that'd give women some time to show their stuff. Unfortunately, this would mostly be on Youtube - save for the Finals - and be dominated by Fans' disdain that Allie and Brandi were making the finals. The method of picking was not handled well since we didn't really get any mismatch teams aside from Nyla, and the amount of women we got were not all spectacular with Rache Chanel and the former Cameron being a part of it. While Ivelisse and Diamante would win too they only got some crappy medals, all of which leaves a bitter taste following Ivelisse's release.

Best - Deadly Draw gives us Conti, Diamante and Savoy That being said, the Deadly Draw had its saving graces. For one the use of Veda Scott on commentary, Madusa as the host and Shaul Guerrero as the announcer were nice touches, we also got to see Tay Conti, Diamante, Ivelisse and Nicole Savoy wrestle - the middle two win. Conti would turn out to be the most important of the lot with her team and friendship with Dark Order's Anna Jay, getting over because of their chemistry and making it to the semi-finals.

Worst - Conti to Dark Order doesn't develop Conti and Anna's friendship meant that soon after, Jay had extended an offer for her friend to join the stable. For weeks we saw Conti carry around this invitation but then: nothing. Conti never joined Dark Order and this didn't beget any friction between the friends either - in the end it became a missed opportunity as Conti dances on the edge of being supported by the Dark Order but not a part of the Dark Order.

Best - Jericho and Cassidy Debate With Mike Tyson unable to appear more to feud with Jericho, AEW slotted over-as-fuck Orange Cassidy to face Jericho. While Jericho got the win in the first match, we were graced with a fun 'debate' hosted by Schiavone and with a guest appearance of Eric Bischoff. Cassidy's monologue during the debate was great too.

Worst - Cassidy's first win over Jericho isn't as big as it should be Unfortunately, when Cassidy did get the win over Jericho was not as good as the first, getting clunky at times with some miscommunication and slow pacing. They would have their rubber match in the gimmicky Mimosa Mayhem which would also be a bit of a mixed bag.

Best - Hardy and the Mad King Squad Up Despite solid starts, Private Party, Lucha Bros and Butcher & the Blade had struggled a little to find success in AEW, but they would gain some benefit by associating with Matt Hardy and Eddie Kingston. Hardy worked well as a mentor to the similar styled tag team to his younger years, while Kingston's evil grin to the camera did signal that Kingston's new squad would be up to no good.

Best - Moxley and Allin make another classic Allin and Moxley somehow just click, they click so well that you could put them in a match every week and people wouldn't complain, hell there's fanart of Moxley essentially adopting Allin in the same vein as Shota 'Shooter' Umino. Anyway, Allin vs Moxley is always fantastic, and it made sense for the feud that was growing.

Best - You're Out of the Elite! Hangman's slow burn storytelling has been sublime, and it was at a new height when FTR started sniffing around Hangman like lions around a wounded gazelle. Feeding into Hangman's alcoholism - established since his inability to beat Jericho or PAC in his hunt to be world champion - FTR exposed doubt within Page that the Bucks were ousting him out and would soon turn on him. All of which were mind games to sow discontent between him and Omega in their bid for the tag titles. The cherry on the top came with Hangman's removal from the Elite, after a stellar feud in Revolution being brought up, Hangman impulsively screwed out the Bucks from getting another title match, after a dressing down and being kicked out of the group we pan to a shot of Hangman staring into a mirror cracked - perfect storytelling.

Best - MJF campaigns against Moxley MJF had been undefeated and fans have wondered when rather than if he would get his shot. And when he set his eyes on Moxley it is spectacular. The faux presidential campaign was right up MJF's alley as he looked to write out Moxley's go-to finish of the Paradigm Shift, this also had great easter eggs like MJF emulating Samoa Joe's shove on him to one of his entourage, as well as his lawyer Sterling being a good addition for the feud.

September 2020 Best - Allin/Starks, Johnson/Carter are bangers September came out with some very impressive matches, for Dynamite it was the culmination of Allin and Starks' feuding but on Dark we got unsigned Lee Johnson and Ben Carter blow the roof off, immediately both names were a topic of scouting and it remains a top level match.

Worst - Billy Mitchell's cameo Early into Miro's debut we got some vignettes of 'The Best Man' enjoying his other past-time as a gamer. While this wasn't the right way to go in hindsight, the cameo of Billy Mitchell - a controversial figure in Arcade Gaming - was quite out of place for AEW as well, many having to look up who the dude was anyway and why many gamers were disgruntled about it. 'Celebrity' Cameos can only really work if you know who they are.

Best - Kingston stories a weird finish into a Title Match It would've been a Worst moment on this list when Eddie Kingston lost a battle royale for a title shot by being pushed off the turnbuckle despite leaving to the apron via the middle rope. However, when winner Archer came down with COVID, AEW was put in a reverse Fyter Fest scenario, a champion but no opponent. This allowed Kingston an in to use the fact that he never technically went over the top rope to barter a title match, which he used to impressive effect.

Worst - Sydal Slips The Shooting Star Press is a difficult move to pull off, and dangerous to botch. It had also been the staple of Matt Sydal, who was the Joker in the Casino Battle Royale of All Out, but when he did his Shooting Star he slipped and faceplanted. While it's not a booking decision it is a sore spot, Sydal has partly recovered as a full time worker and a mini-feud with Nakazawa to save face on the botch, but he has only once tried the move again.

Best - Will Hobbs impresses When Sydal botched and hit the floor though, Will Hobbs was the one you saw roll over inconspicuously to check he wasn't hurt. The youngster had already been impressing on AEW Dark on a regular basis and his appearance alone in the Battle Royale was an encouraging sign. Hobbs would also put on a strong performance in that match, which would lean in on being more utilized on Dynamite, his momentum would also carry to Double or Nothing with another strong run in a Battle Royale mostly pitted against Christian Cage.

Worst - The Matt Hardy incident Perhaps the lowest point of All Out was the Broken Rules Match. Hardy and Sydal had overshot their spear spot from a forklift to a table and Hardy hit his head hard. Hardy wobbled with signs of concussion as the match to and fro'd about being called off, Hardy though was having none of it - since the stipulation would have him retire had he lost - he would continue for a scaffolding spot for the finish but it did put a lot of heat on Guevara and AEW for allowing the match to continue. Matt would make a recovery and have a cinematic match with Sammy to finish the tainted feud, but from there BROKEN Matt Hardy was seldom seen.

Best - Deeb arrives Serena Deeb is one of the most technically gifted women on wrestling. Someone so grossly underutilized by WWE that it's baffling that the best thing they would do with her on the main roster is shave her head for the admittedly great Straight Edge Society but then release her for not keeping up kayfabe in her personal life. This was the month though that the current NWA Women's Champion debuted on AEW Dark and would later get signed, Deeb adds veteran experience and technical mastery to AEW's women's roster and she is a cert to be AEW Women's Champion someday.

Worst - Fans fight Tooth and Nail but Swole/Baker doesn't deliver Despite Britt Baker's rise to superstardom, her return feud with Big Swole became a bit of a mishit. The build was fine with Swole often getting the better of the wheelchair-bound Baker, so for Baker's return AEW had set a cinematic match in her dentist's office. The match was placed on the Buy-In, which pissed a lot of fans off and had them strong-arm Khan into putting it as the opener, and it didn't pay off. The match was par at best, ending with Baker losing as well, while the quickly-put-together match of Private Party vs Silver & Reynolds shone brightly on the Buy In in the spot this match should've taken. Listening to fans is of course good but AEW had the hindsight to judge whether the match was worth it in the eyes of the fans and they picked wrong.

Best - Parking Lot Brawl But for every par match AEW has they always sneak in a blinder, and it was Best Friends' 5-Star Parking Lot Brawl against Santana & Ortiz that pulled it off. With Orange Cassidy coming out of the boot of the car, Santana & Ortiz's Dead Presidents' appearance and Sue getting a brand new minivan and flipping off the Inner Circle duo at the end, the match was a fantastic closer for the night.

October 2020 Best - Brandon Cutler gets the W Brandon Cutler had AEW's longest losing streak, and they loved to ham it up, except Peter Avalon also had AEW's longest losing streak too. They had tried working together but couldn't find the common ground, so when Avalon turned on Cutler we were set for one of these men to get the win. After two no contests due to double count outs and double disqualifications, Cutler and Avalon had a no rules rubber match on Dark and it was great. Cutler got his win in probably AEW Dark's best feud storytelling - though it probably should've been on Dynamite or even the Buy In of the PPV - giving a payoff years in the making.

Worst - Nyla/Shida II is built on Dark Hikaru Shida had gone through the majority of the Women's Roster, so with new manager Vickie Guerrero, Nyla Rose wanted her title back. The problem however was that all of Vickie's calling out of Shida after a Nyla squash was on Dark, so the match was poorly built. You feel bad for Tony Khan because he tried this so more eyes would go on Dark but it was also a reminder that title matches should be built on the Main Show.

Best - MJF and Jericho get musical MJF had decided once again to try and get in with the Inner Circle, only this time he was faring better thanks to his chemistry with Chris Jericho. What we got was Le Dinner Debonair, a pompous, broadway-esque musical scene that fit the larger than life and delusional heel aura of both men's ego. While some people called it 'too goofy', it was also named one of the best TV moments of the year.

Worst - Miro feuds over an Arcade Machine Fans wanted one thing from Miro: the beast, but AEW did not lead with that. Instead they had him feud with Best Friends because they were thrown into an Arcade Machine he was playing. While it's not the level of feuding over shampoo, it was still rather dumb and contrived given how the rest of this weak feud was telegraphed leading up to Kip and Penelope's wedding - despite Miro's attempts to subvert Wrestling Wedding Tropes.

Best - Leyla legitimately impresses In October, 'Legit' Leyla Hirsch came out of nowhere and made the best of her moment. A non-title debut against champion Hikaru Shida on Dark proved an extremely entertaining affair as Hirsch got to showcase her physicality, and then that was followed instantly by a NWA Women's Title shot against Deeb on Dynamite - which she also really impressed in. While it took a while for AEW to announce Leyla as a signing, it was a definite plus to see Olympic qualities in the Women's Division.

Worst - Jericho can't get Luther over When Jericho got a whole Dynamite to celebrate 30 years in the business he had a lot on his plate, several cameos from Slash and Hiroshi Tanahashi made it a special moment but the Main Event didn't work. Luther is sadly another one of those Brutus Beefcake cases of knowing the right people, and while Luther could probably go when he was younger, currently he isn't the best. People wondered if Jericho could carry Luther in his match with Chaos Project but unfortunately it didn't land, Luther after all has his place on the undercard throwing Serpentico around, he doesn't need any more than that.

Best - The Cleaner shows signs of returning After an Anniversary Show meant that Moxley had gone through another opponent in his mammoth title reign, AEW had set up a tournament to name the new Number 1 Contender. At this time as well FTR had already dealt with Hangman and Omega but their post-match embrace was not reciprocated by Omega, who had more or less washed his hands with his partner. The two were in different places, Page had descended further into the bottom of a drink without any of his friends while Kenny had become focused upon being a singles competitor again. Metaphorically winking to the hard cam, Omega would enter in an over the top fashion with cheerleaders of the Jacksonville Jaguars dancing with brooms to hark the slow arrival of the Cleaner. His disgruntled face after squashing Sonny Kiss was also meme quality.

Worst - Brodie's Reign is cut short Brodie Lee's TNT title reign was great, it had put the Dark Order on top and his segments on BTE were extremely entertaining too. An emphatic return of the dark haired Cody Rhodes did invite a rematch which would be a more brutal affair than Cody's prior squashing, but sadly Brodie would not retain. His reign only lasted a month and in hindsight that would be the only time Brodie held gold, while he stated he had no regrets on how short his reign was it was not great booking to put it immediately back on Cody as if Brodie only held it because Cody had another show to record.

Best - Dog Collar Match was great Result notwithstanding though, the Dog Collar match proved as brutal as it was entertaining. Another match that elevated the TNT title's prestige, Lee and Cody tore into each other in a match that could've easily screamed Vince Russo late-WCW failure. But the men pulled it off with their raw talent and nobody looked bad out of it.

November 2020 Best - Kenny vs Hangman I Since AEW's inception, Hangman Page has been on a slow course to squaring off against Kenny Omega. This came to a head in the finals of the No.1 Contendership Tournament, the confident Kenny vs the angsty Page proved an effective opener which further spiralled Hangman into depression while Kenny would return to the top of the card.

Worst - Hornswoggle in a nappy? The Inner Circle's Vegas skit was probably too much, it had some good moments like Hager and Wardlow continually staring at each other as they beat up people in the club, also the appearance of an Elvis Impersonator and Konnan. But the bit finished on a weird note trying to homage The Hangover by having WWE's former Hornswoggle appear in a baby's nappy, it was just weird no ways around it.

Best - Cargill and Top Flight make an impression November saw the debuts of new members of the Women's and Tag Division. The Martin brothers impressed as the new vibrant and athletic tag team, putting on a wild show against The Bucks. Jade Cargill would start AEW by confronting Cody with the tease of one Shaquille O'Neal, but the moment the camera panned to Cargill she had one word printed on her and it was 'Star'. While Top Flight are halved by injury, Cargill has continued to show her growth.

Worst - Shida vs Abadon has a short build When Abadon debuted on AEW Dark she put on an impressive match with then-not-champion Hikaru Shida, the story being that Shida was weirded out by the Living Dead Girl. Since then, Abadon had been undefeated in her sporadic appearances - partly delayed by injury - so she was put on a course to reignite this storyline with Shida. However, they didn't get enough time, only a couple segments of Shida trying to prove herself not scared and an AEW Dark segment when Abadon jumped Shida and hit a Cemetery Drive on her. A decent match would follow, but we could've done a lot more.

Best - Hobbs turns to FTW Will Hobbs had grown more and more impressive with each appearance, put over as well in promo by Jon Moxley too gave him a lot of credit. During Darby's feud with Team Taz, Hobbs had often come to make the save to prevent Darby from being injured, however he did have a habit of arriving a little late. This proved to be intentional when Hobbs turned heel, aligning with Team Taz to learn under the ECW Legend. While Hobbs has yet to taste gold, he has of recent found himself elevated by the feud with Christian Cage and should Brian Cage move away from Team Taz, he would clearly be the top choice to take the FTW belt from him.

Worst - Cody Hogan's his title loss When it was time for Cody to drop the TNT belt again, fans would hope that it would be a similar case of Cody putting someone over red hot like he did Brodie. However, instead Darby defeated Cody with a series of roll ups which Cody kicked out in 3.1, a very Hogan vs Warrior title change with Cody also having to keep the spotlight on him by handing the belt to Darby before Darby's moment was further interrupted by Team Taz's attack.

Best - Darby has gold At the very least, Darby being crowned TNT champion after finally beating Cody was a perfect narrative for the talented and albeit batshit crazy masochist Emo Skater Boy. Darby's reign would also be consistently good and maintain Allin's star aura against opponents of all shapes and sizes.

Best - PAC is BAC Due to COVID, several of AEW's international talents were land-locked and unable to appear, but when the UK's borders loosened slightly The Bastard PAC made an emphatic return to reestablish Death Triangle. This had also come off the heels of Eddie Kingston trying to sway Penta away from his brother and kick Fénix out of his group. PAC's mini-feud with Kingston would remind the world that AEW had some world class talent to put in against Kenny Omega as well as reminding the world that PAC is just amazing as a wrestler.

Best - Bunkhouse match blows the roof off Dustin Rhodes seems to have carved an interesting spot for himself as the 'Obscure Gimmick Match Master'. Currently teasing a Bullrope match with Nick Comoroto, he shone brightly in the culmination of the long-winded QT/Allie storyline which lead to a Bunkhouse Match against the Butcher and the Blade. It had old school qualities with amazing spots that continued a long chain of AEW pulling off impressive gimmick matches even if the feud wasn't as impressive itself.

Best - Mox and Kingston, Feud of the Year 2020 You know what was an impressive feud though? Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston. Imagine winning feud of the year for something set up in September to November? And most of it was promo, but these were two of the best promo guys in the world, touching on their roots, their former friendship, the lengths either would go and all coming to a head in an I Quit Match. Kingston made you believe every word he said when he declared that he would never quit and he wouldn't stop until he was champion but come the match Moxley proved more resilient than words can be. Getting Feud of the Year is not bad going for what originally started as a one-off title match because Archer got COVID.

December 2020 Best - Brodie Lee Memorial Show Near the end of December the wrestling world was shocked by the death of Brodie Lee, the Exalted One was someone fans really wanted to see be a major world champion someday, but he had tragically succumbed to a Lung condition. At this time too AEW were promoting a 2-part special of New Year's Dash, but delayed the shows a week to put on a memorial show for Brodie. With matches picked by Brodie's eldest son, AEW did perhaps the perfect tribute show, with a perfect blend of clips and tributes paired with matches that honored the Big Rig. Brodie's influence was shown with Silver emulating Brodie's outfit, Eric Redbeard appearing, FTR renaming their Goodnight Express to the Big Rig, and the TNT title being handed to Brodie Lee Jr. - who became AEW's youngest signing - and a special t-shirt being the highest selling t-shirt of 2020, with proceeds going to Brodie's wife, Amanda. Brodie's influence still reigns in AEW as the Dark Order have become somewhat gatekeepers to the TNT title and the quote 'It's [day], and you know what that means' being frequently used or displayed via signs to start off an AEW show.

Worst - Ben Carter slips through their fingers Ben Carter had proven a sensational talent on his AEW showings, quickly having rose to having a match on Dynamite. However, AEW did not get his signature on the dotted line, and the E came a-callin'. The loss of the now-Nathan Frazer was a rough blow for AEW business since it showed that WWE could still outbid them if they wanted someone enough, and AEW made the mistake of not signing him before other companies started sniffing around.

Best - IT'S STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! The 'Winter is Coming' special had many big things happen, but one of the biggest of all was the return of Sting. Instantly Sting's T-Shirt sales broke records in AEW (until the Brodie shirt would break Sting's) as the WCW legend had made his return to TNT in a veil of snow staring down Darby Allin, nostalgia was high on this moment.

Worst - STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING does nothing for a month But. There was a problem with Sting's arrival on AEW, he wasn't exactly spry in his 60s and AEW were cautious in wanting him to come back into the ring despite being classed as an active talent. AEW did miss a mark by promoting Sting to just do the same interview over and over, more than once in fact, you gotta do something with Sting to get the fans excited.

Best - Taz chokes out Cody While feuding with Darby, Cody became involved when he dropped the TNT title to Darby and got attacked by Team Taz all the same. When this led to a verbose conflict between Cody and Taz over the legitimacy of the FTW championship, Cody made the mistake of turning his back on Taz after diminishing his philosophy because Taz's son Hook was training under his factory rather than his father. Jake the Snake did warn him not to turn your back on someone you respect, but maybe he should've warned him to not turn your back on a Human Suplex Machine, because Taz immediately put him in the Tazmission - to a huge pop from fans - choking out the younger Rhodes to further personalize their feud.

Worst - Dynamite Diamond Ring doesn't change MJF had used the Dynamite Diamond Ring sporadically as a weapon to cheat in matches, but it anything it was a glorified brass knuckles that had limited prestige. When AEW had the chance to give it new prestige by having it fought over a year after MJF won it, they decided to simply keep it on MJF's pinky finger. As a result we had a battle royale and a match that kinda went nowhere narratively, and AEW should've really just made the ring a one-off or given it to someone else to signify a young up-and-coming talent getting a rub.

Best - The Acclaimed prove they're not all talk Not to be outdone by Top Flight, who they seem destined to have an eternal rivalry with, The Acclaimed put on an impressive showing in their title match with the Bucks too. Max Caster's diss tracks continue to slowly win fans over but this was the moment the Acclaimed turned into a mainstay of AEW's tag division.

Worst - TNT ask for no more surprises While reported months later, fans were alerted that after Sting's debut, TNT had asked AEW to not do any more surprises. Business-wise it made sense since they wanted to promote any big moments on the show for a greater viewership, but Wrestling-wise eliminating the shock factor would be a detriment to the business as a whole. AEW have managed to work their way around such things by promoting 'mystery entrants' or debuting surprise characters between other promoted segments but it is still a questionable decision by TNT to request such a thing.

Best - This is Bear Country Next on the 'XX impress on Dark, get signed up' is the tag team of Bear Country. Different to Top Flight's flippy talent and the Acclaimed's knack for mind games and more technical wrestling was two big hoss men running roughshot War Machine-style, there's not much else you need to sell with that, Bear Country was just good stuff and provided another style AEW's tag division could use.

January 2021 Best - Negative One With Brodie Lee Jr. now signed to AEW, he started to make appearances as Dark Order's new leader 'Negative One'. And instantly, Brodie Jr had become an excellent presence. With great understanding of the business for such a young age, Negative One would delight audiences on Dark and Elevation be it on commentary or simply being the feral prince that often accompanied Preston Vance, Anna Jay and/or Tay Conti. The kid was having the time of his life too.

Worst - TNT title doesn't get revamped enough With the original finished product of the TNT title handed to Brodie Jr, there was an opening to make a new TNT title which learned from the criticisms that the original had. Unfortunately we did not have this, we mostly just got a Black strap. Granted COVID would've been a part of that but given how long Darby's reign was, we could've put work towards giving us a better looking TNT championship.

Best - Dark Order turn face, help the Hangman On BTE Dark Order found their feet with their flair for comedy, one of the segments that began this was Evil Uno's selling of Brodie's throwing of papers, the bit originated from Lee discovering that Hangman had once reached out to the Dark Order website sometime at the beginning of his depression spiral. Because of the rejection, the Dark Order had fostered an animosity against Page with frequent 'Fuck Hangman' chants, and yet Hangman would sporadically appear in their hangout, starting his own 'Fuck Hangman' chant when kicked out of the Elite in a brutal show of Page's self-loathing. From there though the Dark Order had softened to the Anxious Millennial Cowboy and after a face turn they had grown to become AEW's most popular faction and a much-needed friend for Page. While Hangman wouldn't officially join the Dark Order, it definitely proved to be an entertaining chapter in Page's story from an unlikely source.

Worst - Team Taz will jump Darby, but not Sting During their feud, Team Taz were seen to jump Darby Allin whenever they could, didn't matter if he had Cody or Moxley on his side they would still try to get the upper hand on the TNT champion. But now that Sting has arrived, Team Taz decided to stop doing that. As much as it was AEW protecting Sting from bumps, it really diminished Team Taz as well because five men that included Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs and Brian Cage were scurrying away from a lone 60 year old with a baseball bat.

Best - Bullet Club in AEW Tama Tonga might refute it, but the appearance of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in AEW was big, and their arrival to aid Kenny and then to two sweet him with the Bucks was an image definitely worthy of closing the night. From Gallows and Anderson's arrival to AEW led to Impact's doors being opened, which has recently led to Omega being the Belt Collector.

Worst - Callis' feud with the Bucks is gimmicky When Kenny won the AEW World Title at Winter is Coming, he had began a full on chaotic turn with Don Callis as his manager of sorts. The Young Bucks however were still firm babyfaces and were perturbed by Callis' actions that were ousting the Jackson brothers out of Kenny's social circles. Some bits were good, Callis really laying in thick the fact that he felt the Bucks had lost their edge, but the majority of it was a bit too much soap opera for my liking, the fake shiner was probably where it jumped the shark.

Best - Tay Conti shows her improvement against Deeb Tay Conti had grown a lot as a wrestler since her debut, and when set to challenge Serena Deeb for the NWA Women's Championship we had the story of 'Jack of All Trades vs Master of One'. Leaning more into her Judo and martial arts background, Tay Conti showed the wrestling world that she had arrived as a wrestler thanks to the AEW machine. WWE's loss had officially become AEW's gain as Tay Conti continues her rise to perhaps being one of the biggest female stars in the company.

Worst - Archer can't win a feud Having lost to Cody in May and then Moxley on the Anniversary episode, Archer was put in a no-win situation by feuding with Eddie Kingston. Now Kingston is great, but the problem was that both men desperately needed to win a feud for credibility, and Archer was the one who lost. Archer continues to be sold as a monster but also someone who will lose all his major feuds. Suffice to say, more can be done with the Murderhawk Monster.

Best - MJF sows seeds of discontent Having officially gotten in with the Inner Circle, MJF now had Chris Jericho's ear and he was ready to spread his poison. This started with the ousting of Sammy Guevara - Jericho's protege of sorts - before moving on to sowing tension between Jericho and Santana & Ortiz. This would be the beginnings of an excellent swerve by AEW, which we will get to later.

Worst - Santana and Ortiz aren't even the Inner Circle's tag team? Because of MJF's sowing though, we had a weird scenario where the Inner Circle were debating who was their official tag team? Debating between Jericho and MJF the singles competitors, Sammy and Hager the singles competitors or Santana & Ortiz the tag team. In this as well MJF and Jericho won, which was more sowing on MJF's part but it does still leave the worrying sense that AEW's tag division is perhaps too big as Tony Khan waits for the right moment to introduce a Trios title.

Best - Wardlow vs Hager was surprisingly good Another recurring narrative of MJF joining the Inner Circle was Jake Hager and Wardlow staring each other off whenever they could. In order to 'bury the hatchet', Hager challenged the War Dog to a match, and surprisingly this was Hager's best match in an AEW ring so far, big men slapping meat with the right conclusion of Wardlow winning.

Worst - The Waiting Room fades out While Britt Baker was injured but not Wheelchair bound she had started an interview show on Dark called 'The Waiting Room', it had a few flaws here and there but eventually it showed on Dynamite to decent effect. But after that it was gone, which is a shame because it could've easily been a longstanding segment for either of AEW's shows at the time to give some promo segments or interviews to AEW's talent.

Best - Private Party are leeched After working under the wing of 'Big Money' Matt Hardy, Private Party turned heel to compliment Hardy's newfound persona as the Company Leech. The heel turn has somewhat revitalized the once-promising tag team and proved they can play either side, it even got them an Impact Tag Title shot and an impressive match on the PPV.

Worst - Whatever Snoop Dogg was doing Snoop Dogg made an AEW appearance where he was insistent on doing a spot, but it didn't really work - much like it didn't really work when he tried it in WWE. Snoop as a guest wasn't the worst idea in the world and it is good that he's willing to bump on the show, but could does not always mean should.

Best - Jungle Boy and Dax put on a masterclass In the middle of FTR's midcard feud with Jurassic Express - the one that'd involve Marko Stunt being kidnapped - Dax Harwood and Jungle Boy crossed paths in an excellently technical match. The match received high praise that'd further put Jungle Boy over while also giving worthy praise for Harwood's wrestling ability.

Best - Jungle Boy gets some Baltimora While on the subject of Jungle Jack Perry, Tony Khan had decided that he had a library of songs he owned or could own and use as entrance themes for some of AEW's more earmarked talent. This would begin with Jungle Boy, who was given Baltimora's 'Tarzan Boy' per the suggestion of Joey Janela. Immediately Jungle Boy had something the fans could use to rally behind, a chantable song that embraced all that Jungle Boy's character was.

February 2021 Best - JD Drake makes an impression JD Drake does not look like AEW's typical wrestler, but that's the point. On his debut on Dark he surprised many with his great offense and agility, even able to pull off a moonsault. Quickly Drake was signed and becomes the odd one out but also the oft-ignored voice of common sense in the Wingmen faction of prettyboys. He's having a lot of fun with it too and has put on good matches, recently against Rocky Romero.

Worst - Women's Eliminator Tournament partly goes on Youtube The Women's Eliminator Tournament opened up the Women's Division in a big way, but COVID meant that not all of it could be filmed in Jacksonville. So like the Deadly Draw, the tournament had to spend some of its time on Youtube. Now I have no problem with Youtube being used, it's a wider medium that can be accessed at any time, but it did mimic the downsides of the Deadly Draw and alienate the TNT-only audience, especially since Dynamite rarely showed highlights of the tournament progress.

Best - Women's Eliminator Tournament exceeds expectations That is however, the only criticism with hindsight one can give the Eliminator Tournament. Because not only did it give us the return of Riho, Yuka Sakazaki, Ryo Mizunami, Emi Sakura and Aja Kong, but it also graced us with the talented debuts of Maki Itoh, VENY (aka Asuka, who also wore Hana Kimura's robe) and Mei Suruga. In addition Shida provided Japanese commentary for the Joshi matches sporting a strikingly beautiful white suit. The tournament did not have a bad match at all; with VENY vs Sakura, Suruga vs Sakazaki, Sakazaki vs Sakura (which had Sakura perform a fantastic entrance), Serena Deeb vs Riho, Leyla Hirsch vs Thunder Rosa, Riho vs Rosa, Baker vs Nyla, Conti vs Nyla and the finals were all great and unique matches. The non-tournament 6-woman joshi tag match was also excellent and so was the surprise winner of Ryo Mizunami and her title shot against Shida at Revolution.

Best - Moxley brings the IWGP US Championship Jon Moxley may've lost the AEW World Championship, he still had a title on hand he could use: the IWGP US Championship. While NJPW had intended to keep it mainly on NJPW Strong during COVID, New Japan also allowed Moxley to bring his title on rare occasions to AEW, later to the point where he could defend it. It was definite good business and the next thing is why it was such a big deal.

Best - THE FORBIDDEN DOOR OPENS! 'New Japan will not work with AEW' - that was what we were told in the early stages of AEW, but we held out hope. We got more hope when Harold Meij stepped down from NJPW but still the 'Forbidden Door' remained shut, all the way until Beach Break when a hooded figure came up to Jon Moxley, hit a GTS and revealed himself. KENTA, the holder of the IWGP US Championship Briefcase he won in the inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. The internet went wild, the forbidden door was open and there was no way fans will let it close again.

March 2021 Best - Sting debuts cinematically Team Taz's feud with Darby came to a head with a Tag Team Street Fight. It was Sting's first AEW match and fans were concerned on how many bumps he could take - memory of his 'career-ending' match with Rollins echoing in the mind. AEW though would not make that mistake, deciding to go cinematic to protect Sting and give him time to recover from any bumps caused - as well as win the match like one HHH refused to do - the match itself was fantastic with Team Taz and Darby fitting in a ton of extreme spots and Brian Cage just flexing all over the place.

Worst - Archer feuds(?) with Sting After said Street Fight though, Sting continued said momentum with: Interviews. Worse yet these interviews started being interrupted by Lance Archer, who wanted to take Sting's TV time from him. This amounted to nothing as well because after Sting put an endorsement on Archer, the Murderhawk Monster would decide not to fight for a spot and come in to save Sting and Darby from time to time. If we were gonna establish this alliance we could've done more with it, sadly AEW keep on following up Sting wrestling with a ton of Sting talking.

Best - The Pinnacle debut MJF's snaking in on the Inner Circle was paying off dividends, but after an unsuccessful challenge for the tag titles, the Inner Circle had announced a 'War Council' to discuss their future. It looked as though MJF was gonna completely oust out Jericho from his own group, but out came Sammy Guevara. Absent since leaving the group, Guevara had unraveled MJF, revealing that the Inner Circle was wise to MJF's plot all along: except they weren't. MJF had played 5 steps ahead of the Inner Circle, because he wasn't trying to steal his faction, he was setting up his own. FTR, Spears, Wardlow and MJF swarmed the Inner Circle for an epic debut which would be known as the Pinnacle.

Worst - Cody beats Penta despite a shoulder injury At this point fans were beginning to wonder how Cody Rhodes would write himself off of TV. His wife Brandi was halfway through pregnancy and the Rhodes had announced a Miz & Mrs-esque reality show too. So when Cody was kayfabing a shoulder injury and pitted against Penta El 0M, fans were hoping that this time Cody could not finagle his way into defeating a charismatic and popular member of the roster who could use the rub and has a history of kayfabe breaking arms, and yet he did. The feud set up ended up being a one-off that harmed Penta more than it did good, he had done the arm breaker but Cody just shrugged it off and won anyway. It was growing all too apparent that clean Cody losses will remain to be few and far between.

Best - Penta Says that Alex is a Great Hype Man There is one saving grace to the Penta/Cody mini feud though and it's that pseudo-Dark Order member, Spanish announcer and interviewer Alex Abrahantes had been paired with Penta as his translator/hype man. Sporting some Rollins-esque outfitting of gloves and jackets, Abrahantes added extra venom to his translations which of course gave Penta a lot more vibrance. Alex as well seems to be having a whale of a time doing so.

Worst - Team Taz Dissension starts, but will pause for 2 months In the aftermath of their Street Fight defeat, Cage had drawn the ire of his Team Taz comrades by showing Sting some respect. This led to some light tension between Cage and the rest of the team, especially Ricky Starks. While this could've worked towards a Cage face turn, the tension fizzled out, only reigniting recently.

Best - Jade, Velvet and Shaq impress at a Crossroads The special episode 'The Crossroads' had been set up to promote a mixed tag match which served as Jade Cargill and Shaq's AEW wrestling debut. Competing against Cody and Red Velvet, the match did put fan minds at ease by keeping Shaq's spots simple but classic, while Velvet and Cargill ran the show in the ring. Shaq took a table bump as well which was cool and the match started Jade's star-level momentum on a high.

Worst - Shaq just, disappears In the aftermath of the table spot Shaq was put on a stretcher and into an ambulance, but when we went backstage to get some comments from Shaq before being sent off we found that the ambulance was empty. A weird thing considering that in a few days Shaq would be back on TNT anyway like that had no continuity, it was a strange decision nonetheless.

Best - Exploding. Barbed Wire. Deathmatch! AEW and their penchant for gimmick matches is an interesting relationship, but the moment this match was announced it had garnered a lot of hype. I mean it's not every day you see an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch, and Kenny and Mox had already tore into each other in Full Gear to the point where they legitimately broke state laws. The match was every bit as brutal as promised, homaging Onita many a time through Mox but also with the wired up baseball bat, 99% of the match was freaking awesome.

Worst - Fizzling. Barbed Wire. Deathmatch. Sadly, that 1% that wasn't would be the final visual of the PPV. Moxley is defeated and the whole ring is gonna blow, Kenny and co have scurried and Mox is handcuffed and KO'd in the middle of the ring. Disregarding the warnings of the Butcher, Blade and Bunny, Eddie Kingston rushes in to help his former friend, past enmity be damned, he cannot free Mox in time and in a narratively pivotal act of self-sacrifice drapes himself over Moxley to take the blow. And all we got was a fizzle, a few sparklers and fireworks would end the night unfulfilled, undoing all the good the match had delivered. It would be AEW's most unsatisfying moment caused by a botched ending that could never be undone.

Best - Mox and Kingston reunite to rule the promos Although they could not take back the botched finish, the storyline still allowed a new dynamic of Moxley and Kingston reuniting as chaotic street brothers eyeing up the Elite for a fight. One King of Promo would be enough but two was just fantastic, you could watch Kingston and Moxley bounce off of each other all day and still remain thoroughly entertained.

Worst - Kingston doesn't get a crack at Kenny It was however a shame that draping your body over your friend to protect him from an intended explosion was not enough to validate a feud between said person and the creator of the explosive device. Kingston looked all but set to try and avenge his friend by facing Kenny, but it would not turn out to be. The closest we got was a jump and a One Winged Angel, which is a shame because Kingston vs Kenny would've been fantastic - but alas, Mox and Kingston jumped over Kenny and just went for the tag teams instead.

Best - AEW support Cezar Bononi and his wife Cezar Bononi was doing fine as part of the Undercard faction of the Wingmen with Pretty Peter Avalon, Ryan Nemeth and JD Drake. Behind the curtain though Bononi's wife Camila was suffering from Leukemia and needed a Bone Marrow transplant, her sister was a match but she was in Brazil so they needed an emergency visa so to do the transplant on time. Thanks to the collective efforts of fans and the continued exposure AEW provided for Bononi, Camila's sister would make it in time and Camila herself got her transplant and seems to be doing well.

Worst - Big Money Matt loses his quarter, but it doesn't go anywhere In the conclusion of the chapter where Matt Hardy tried to leech his way into Hangman Page's profits, Hangman had defeated Hardy in a 'Big Money' match which meant that Page had won all of Hardy's money over the last quarter. This opened an avenue to see what Big Money Matt could be like with No Money, but it amounted to very little. In fact the worst we got from Matt was eating olives, a missed opportunity for sure, we could've even had Matt be hounded by loan sharks and debt collectors but alas, it didn't dent his money in the end, at the very least Hangman got his lawnmower.

Best - Elevation elevates Mizunami, Leyla and Limelight In March, AEW debuted a more canonized version of Dark called Elevation, which'd be used to show off a bit of the undercard and allow more opportunity to climb the rankings. In the first month of Elevation, we were graced with several good matches, usually including one of three Elevation Regulars. The Eliminator Tournament Winner Ryo Mizunami would go on a series of bouts with female talent such as Tesha Price and KiLynn King where she effortlessly fit into the role of AEW's women's division gatekeeper, meaning that whoever beat her would get a solid rub - and Abadon did. When Mizunami returned to Japan, one of the people she felled took over from her duties and that was Leyla Hirsch, Hirsch had teamed successfully with Mizunami a couple of times as well and has effectively used her spot to get some wins in. On the men's side, NJPW Strong regular Danny Limelight was given his namesake with some high profile matches including Jungle Boy, Frankie Kazarian and Dark Order's 10, not to mention Takeshita, Omega, Kingston and Moxley in later months, the Team Filthy member definitely taking the show's name to heart.

Best - Cassidy wonders where his mind is Not long after Jungle Boy had obtained Baltimora, plans had been made to give Orange Cassidy a new theme too. The pick was an inspired one with The Pixies' 'Where is My Mind?' - which many would be familiar with as the ending song to Fight Club - the song suited Cassidy really well, and after positive testing on Dark it was used for the next Dynamite to close off the night.

Best - Arcade Anarchy delivers in spite of a weak feud It should probably be a word of caution to not face the Best Friends in a gimmick match in AEW, because they hit a new gear whenever they do. The feud with Miro and Kip was poor, and fans were more than happy for it to end on the PPV when Miro got his win, but AEW insisted on one more match: Arcade Anarchy - agreed to by Kip. In spite of fears this match ruled: Trent's return with Sue was great, Kris Statlander's return was a huge surprise, it took all 3 Best Friends to keep Miro down and we finished the night with Where is My Mind playing us off. Despite the weak feud, AEW had finished strongly which made reheating Miro a lot easier.

Best - Tully Blanchard wrestles in 2021 The culmination of Jurassic Express vs FTR came in the Crossroads in a 6-Man tag match. Made extra bonkers because Tully Blanchard was FTR's third man in the match. They of course limited his spots and a Shawn Spears return would prove the difference, but it's an entertainingly ridiculous thing that Tully Blanchard both wrestled in 2021 and won: wrestling is just crazy.

Best - Final 4 of Casino Tag Royale put on a Show AEW have played around with the 'Casino' concept for a few stipulations; regular battle royale for men and women, ladder match, and then tag royale. This royale finished strongly though with the final 4; John Silver, Fénix, PAC and Jungle Boy. Four absolutely over stars brawling out in mini-matches that left fans salivating for more, after Silver and PAC were eliminated Fénix and JB put on an absolute treat of a finale, which ended with Fénix getting the win for Death Triangle to face the Bucks.

Best - Silver earns Sting's respect with a Dislocated Shoulder John Silver was voted by Dark Order to take Darby Allin's open challenge for the TNT title - offered because it was the anniversary of Brodie's debut. Silver vs Allin became a great match, made even more impressive since Silver dislocated his shoulder early in the match and kept going. While Silver couldn't bring the title home to the Dark Order, he got a show of respect from Sting - which in turn would lead to the Dark Order coming to Darby and Sting's aid at times.

Best - Maki Itoh breaks America Fans of TJPW or twitter's tdegifs were very familiar with the charismatic foul-mouthed hard-headed former idol Maki Itoh, and seeing her in the Women's Eliminator tournament paid dividends despite her first round elimination. Itoh's popularity skyrocketed, she had an It factor which pissed off Jim Cornette for extra adulation, and come Revolution's Buy-In, Maki Itoh had arrived in Jacksonville for one of the biggest pops of the night. Itoh proved charming and entertaining even though she was aligned with the heels, to the point where she even main evented the inaugural Elevation against Riho. Sadly Itoh would have to return to Japan and unsuccessfully challenge for Rika Tatsumi's TJPW Princess of Princess Championship (her tag partner/former longstanding rival/sauce boss/Pink Striker Miyu Yamashita would however win), have her twitter hacked and set up a new division of her faction 'Saitama Itoh Respect Army 2021' with Yuki Kamifuku and Marika Kobashi, but she had made her mark and then some, the world was a simp for Maki Itoh, and she allowed it because she needed the monies.

Best - Rosa/Baker break the ceiling Itoh vs Riho wasn't the only cross-promotional women's main event AEW gave us, because 2 days later on St. Patrick's Day Smash, Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa's unsanctioned match would deliver on one of the highest rated matches in modern women's wrestling. A bloody and fantastic affair instantly rose Baker and Rosa's stakes in a fitting end to their rivalry, but one that also didn't cost Baker any standing because it technically 'didn't count'. It remains to this day AEW's best match in the women's division.

April 2021 Best - Miro ditches Kip After months of hanging with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford, Miro had become fed up with Superbad. The acceptance against his wishes to fight the Arcade Anarchy proved the last straw as Miro set his focus on capturing any and every title within his reach, with or without Kip. After a few weeks of not seeing Sabian, Miro attacked him, writing Sabian out of action with a legitimate wrist injury while Ford was dealing with an allergic reaction to her eyelashes, with Kip gone Miro could finally be who we were waiting for: at freaking last.

Worst - Interference finishes beget questions of Faction Bloat Although not as bad as WWE, many matches on AEW seemed to end one way or another with factions fighting one another, clean finish or not. This did of course grind on fans and cause questions to arise that perhaps there are too many factions in AEW, they have a point, though easily fixable without splitting any factions up.

Best - Bucks descend to heeldom Don Callis had been a thorn in the Bucks' side for a while, but his words had got in their head, they were indeed the most successful when they were cocky assholes. Although they did save Moxley from being swarmed one time, the six-man tag proved too much for them: they didn't want to see the feral Moxley take out their old and storied friend and so they chose Kenny over morality. No longer annoyed by Callis, the Bucks became absolute shiteating heels again, which benefits the climate of the tag division.

Best - Jade is elevated by being sought out While Jade Cargill would only sporadically appear for squashes, AEW have done well to slow burn her star power by having managers try to get her as a client. It's simple storytelling but effective, because people want Jade it means that Jade is desirable and that makes her more important as a talent.

Best - Baker DeManDs her title shot Because the Unsanctioned Match 'didn't count' Britt Baker had carried the acclaim of that match even in defeat. Baker had stopped dossing around too, legitimately rising up the ranks to the Number 1 spot like a looming shadow to have her crack at Shida's title. It could've been easy to give her a shot by virtue of her performance but AEW did it right - and gave Tay Conti her shot in the process - which made Baker much more valued in her title hunt.

Best - Cage upsets the Hangman At the Number 1 Spot, Hangman Page looked like he was on course to fight Kenny Omega, but when asked about this prospect Page dodged the subject entirely. The thought though would weigh on his mind in his match against Cage, where he was practically squashed in an upset fashion, it was a surprising plot twist and delays Page's clash with Kenny while also adds to Cage's reputation.

May 2021 Best - Varsity Blonds add some Hart The Varsity Blonds had done well considering that they started as being an undercard pair-up and grew into a talented young combo homaging Brian Pillman and Steve Austin's team of the Hollywood Blonds. But adding Nightmare Factory upstart Julia Hart just added the missing piece for the blonds, as a trio they look the part, and their rise feels earned as they put on a great showing against the Bucks.

Worst - QT loses to Cody after all that Cody's Ace Problem had transitioned to the point where QT Marshall was picked to turn on him next, collecting a small portion of the Nightmare Factory who felt that the students were secondary to Cody's ego. When it came to the exhibition Cody won by DQ, but got assaulted by the Factory, so when they had a proper match we had a choice: elevate this new faction or have their leader lose, guess which they chose? QT tapped out to the Figure Four and Cody prevailed.

Best - SCU put it on the line For several months, SCU had put a challenge on themselves that if they lost in tag competition (not singles or battle royales) they would split up. It had worked well because they were undefeated since, but being at the top of the rankings with a heel Young Bucks signalled the inevitable clash between the two teams. The question would be could the Bucks really end the team they welcomed to AEW on Day 1, their friends, the first World Tag Champions of their company, and the answer was yes. A bloodied affair of near falls and the Bucks hamming up any emotional bonds they once had led to a fantastic match that has put a tragic end to SCU.

Worst - SCU's embrace is cut short But immediately after that we cut to Mox and Eddie trashing their locker room. AEW would return to show SCU's final embrace but a 'previously on' is not as effective as seeing it when the wound is fresh, it was the end of a partnership that had spanned a decade, all the way back to Fortune, Bad Influence and then The Addiction, it deserved the time to linger.

Best - Blood and Guts! Last year it was planned that the Elite would face the Inner Circle in a WarGames-esque match called Blood and Guts. But COVID had prevented this, so we changed to Stadium Stampede. With the Inner Circle feuding with the newfly formed Pinnacle, AEW made the right call in bringing Blood and Guts back a year later to clash the two factions against one another. And it truly did live up to its names, a brutish match which cemented the Pinnacle as one of AEW's top factions.

Worst - Blood and Guts (nor Stadium Stampede II) doesn't finish the feud Big gimmick matches like these should be feud enders, but AEW wanted to put the two factions at odds again. With the threat of disbanding, the Inner Circle got a rematch for Double or Nothing for Stadium Stampede and while it wasn't bad fans did feel that the feud should've ended at Blood and Guts. In addition, Stadium Stampede wouldn't even finish their beef as they look to divide into 3 mini-feuds again.

Best - Miro crushes Darby Without Kip, Miro was a monster and he immediately went for gold. A perfect usurper for Darby Allin's TNT title reign, Miro destroyed the fearless and near-indestructible daredevil - who was protected from the squash because Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky had thrown him down some stairs last week - his look over to Sting as they both accepted that they were likely losing this match was a great moment between Miro's destructive force. And as TNT champion Miro is great, his thanking of God for various things are both charming and hilarious but he also manages to pair it with psychotic menace, long may the Best Man reign.

Worst - Cody's American Dream wins over Ogogo's valid points After submitting QT in his match, Cody's celebrations were cut off by Anthony Ogogo, the Olympic Bronze Medallist and former Boxer in QT's Factory, who KO'd Cody and covered him with the UK flag. A feud with Ogogo could've been the saving face moment for the Factory but instead Cody opted to zone in on the flag thing. Painting Ogogo as the 'Anti-American Foreign Heel' did not sit well for anyone who wasn't an uber-American 'Patriot' since the concept was heavily outdated, in addition Ogogo was making real valid points about why he disliked America: pointing out the gross flaws in the country's healthcare system and Cody would reply with how his pregnant wife and unborn daughter were black, choking up his words to garner sympathy. This all falls flat given how Ogogo is also black and never once implied that Cody was a racist. With the chance to put over the Factory with a charismatic young competitor, Cody instead decided to win without even using a finisher - because it was Memorial Day Weekend and America always wins, at this point the Factory remain pretty tainted now since Cody has beaten every member he's faced (and Dustin beat the other one). Saying things worked out on 'Focus Groups' didn't help Cody's defense as to why the feud went the way it did either, it was an outdated narrative with a result that all but screws over the Factory.

Best - The Forbidden Door opens again While none have risen the heights of KENTA's shocking arrival, the Forbidden Door did remain open for some more appearances from NJPW's personnel. Yuji Nagata made a big return to TNT to fight Moxley for the IWGP US Championship but also Ren Narita and Rocky Romero made appearances, the latter having a mini Roppongi Vice reunion with Trent. AEW had also extended the forbidden door to DDT with Konosuke Takeshita impressing on AEW's first house show and on Elevation, and recently a Joker Card appearance for Lio Rush.

Best - Shida gets recognized, and a revamped title After a year of holding the AEW Women's Championship Hikaru Shida had been the subject of criticism from neckbeards acting like she was the 'female Brock Lesnar'. Some were annoyed that Shida's title reign had lasted so long and were blind to the fact that this was clearly intended so Baker could win in front of a crowd. The Dynamite before Double or Nothing though AEW did right by recognizing Shida's work ethic and title reign and by presenting her with a new and larger Women's Championship. While people may complain that they could've unveiled this new title at the PPV I felt it was right to at least let Shida enter the PPV with this title considering how long she had held the Women's Division down. Some poor builds aside, Shida had carried the division with strong matches and worked behind the scenes as well for improving the division, as well as producing the Women's Eliminator Tournament. In this house we do not disrespect Hikaru Shida.

Best - Double or Nothing 2021 And we end on the crescendo, and what a crescendo. The full-time return of fans were graced with an excellently feel-good PPV - aside from Cody beating Ogogo - which had all the competitors perform at a high level. Starting hot, giving Jungle Boy a big unexpected win, Mark Henry debuting and topping it off with Stadium Stampede signed off a big and entertaining year for AEW and closing off with the returning crowd chanting Judas: masterful chef kiss level idea.

The aftermath of DoN while mentioned will probably not be touched on next year because damn were these posts long, but at the very least I did it for WWE and AEW as I said I would. Let's hope that both companies can rise to higher heights and avoid lower lows in the next year when we retread these ppvs again.

#aew #all elite wrestling #double or nothing #aew double or nothing #aew dynamite #aew dark #aew dark elevation #new japan pro wrestling #aew all out #aew full gear #full gear #all out #aew revolution #revolution #aew the crossroads #the crossroads #aew fyter fest #fyter fest #aew beach break #beach break #brodie lee celebration of life #aew new years dash #new years dash #st patricks day smash #aew st patricks day smash #aew winter is coming #fight for the fallen #aew fight for the fallen #the deadly draw #aew deadly draw

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 12/17/2022

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Jon Moxley

Bryan Danielson

Claudio Castagnoli (ROH men's world champion)

Orange Cassidy (AEW all-Atlantic champion)

Wardlow

Ricky Starks

Jack Perry

Keith Lee

Wheeler YUTA (ROH pure champion)

HOOK (FTW champion)

Men's singles division - heels

MJF (AEW men's world champion)

Chris Jericho

Samoa Joe (AEW TNT champion, ROH television champion)

Sammy Guevara (AAA mixed tag team champion)

Daniel Garcia

Ethan Page

Swerve Strickland

Luchasaurus

Powerhouse Hobbs

Lance Archer

Unranked: Aaron Solo, Action Andretti*, Anthony Henry*, Ari Daivari, Clayton Bloodstone*, Cole Karter, Danhausen, Dralistico*, Dustin Rhodes, Exodus Prime*, Izzy James*, Jake Hager, Jeff Cobb*, JD Griffey*, Juice Robinson*, Jun Akiyama*, Kip Sabian, Konosuke Takeshita, Lee Johnson, Mascara Dorada*, Nick Comoroto, Preston Vance, QT Marshall, Rocky Romero*, Rush, Shane Taylor*, Shawn Dean, Trent Seven*, Tomohiro Ishii*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

The top programs right now look to be Moxley vs. Adam Page, MJF vs. Danielson, Wardlow vs. Joe, and Lee vs. Strickland. I don't know if Jericho will keep targetting Andretti after that shocking upset, but obviously Jericho will get something big to do. Hobbs seems to be getting a push but doesn't have a clear opponent for a feud yet. Cassidy is clearly headed for a title match with Sabian, but I don't expect that story to take up much time.

The babyface side is noticeably stronger than the heel side. That works out, though, since MJF needs a steady supply of good guy opponents who already have credibility, so they won't look so bad when he beats them. After Danielson you can easily get months of booking out of MJF vs. Wardlow, MJF vs. Perry, MJF vs. Castagnoli, MJF vs. Keith Lee, MJF vs. Hook, etc., etc. I assume a rematch with Moxley will happen but it might take a while to get around to it.

While MJF is on top, AEW would do well to figure out what they're doing with lesser heels like Ethan Page, Luchasaurus, Daniel Garcia, and Lance Archer. I'm not worried about Strickland, who will be moving on up now that he's a singles guy again, but the others have rarely felt like they have a clear direction.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens (AEW tag team champions)

FTR - Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler (IWGP tag team champions, AAA tag team champions)

Darby Allin & Sting

The Briscoes - Jay Briscoe* & Mark Briscoe* (ROH tag team champions)

Eddie Kingston & Ortiz

Top Flight - Dante Martin & Darius Martin

Best Friends - Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Blake Christian & AR Fox

Shinobi Shadow Squad - Cheeseburger* & Eli Isom*

Men's tag team division - heels

The Butcher & The Blade

Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal

The Kingdom - Matt Taven & Mike Bennett

Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

Lee Moriarty & Big Bill

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

The big feuds here are the Acclaimed vs. Lethal's dumb faction, FTR vs. Austin and Colten Gunn, Moriarty/Bill vs. Jack Perry & Hook, and the Best Friends vs. Butcher and Blade. Silver and Reynolds have business with Rush and Preston Vance, but that may end up being a trios deal or something. Kingston and Ortiz have a score to settle with the House of Black but they probably need a third guy.

The heel side is awfully thin right now. It wasn't a big deal when FTR was mostly fighting other face teams, but they need to balance things out somehow. It would help to get the Gunns and the Varsity Athletes (Josh Woods & Tony Nese) back on TV.

Men's trios division - babyfaces

The Elite - Kenny Omega & Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson

Dalton Castle* & Brandon Tate* & Brent Tate*

Hardy Party - Matt Hardy & Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

Men's trios division - heels

Death Triangle - PAC & Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix (AEW trios champions)

The Embassy - Brian Cage & Toa Liona* & Bishop Kaun* (ROH trios champions)

The House of Black - Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

AEW managed to put together eight trios for the championship tournament this summer, and then by September virtually all eight teams were off the board. So it's good to see they've rebuilt the division somewhat. Personally I'd rather see 8-10 trios here, which should be doable without cannibalizing the singles and tag divisions.

The most notable absences here are QT Marshall's Factory, the Jericho Appreciation Society, and Ari Daivari's Trustbusters--all those groups could focus three of their guys on a trios run. I always assumed if AEW got a trios division going that the Dark Order would be a fixture in it; now that there's only three guys left in the group (Silver, Reynolds, and Evil Uno) it seems even more natural.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Saraya

Toni Storm

Hikaru Shida (Regina di WAVE champion)

Ruby Soho

Mercedes Martinez

Willow Nightingale

Skye Blue*

Kiera Hogan

Madison Rayne

Women's singles division - heels

Jade Cargill (AEW TBS champion)

Britt Baker

Jamie Hayter (AEW women's world champion)

Athena (ROH women's world champion)

Nyla Rose

Tay Melo (AAA mixed tag team champion)

Anna Jay

The Bunny

Red Velvet

Leila Grey

Unranked: Dani Mo*, Queen Aminata*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

AEW has always struggled to present the women's division well, but I have to give them credit for actually getting 21 women on TV in the past 30 days. The storylines feel a little fuzzy right now, but maybe that'll clear up in a few weeks when we get closer to the next pay-per-view.

I feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football whenever I think this, but it seems like AEW is pairing the women off for a potential tag division. Of late we've seen Baker & Hayter, Cargill/Velvet/Grey, Anna & Tay, Bunny & Penelope Ford, Nyla & Marina Shafir, and a few makeshift babyface teams to oppose them. My dream scenario would be for this to build to Sasha Banks and Naomi coming in to finish what they started in WWE, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

No TV or PPV matches in 30 days: Angelico, Brandon Cutler, Emi Sakura, Evil Uno, Hagane Shinno*, Josh Woods, Leva Bates, Luther, Marina Shafir*, Peter Avalon, Satnam Singh, Serpentico, Sonny Kiss, Tony Nese, Zack Clayton*

*Not listed on AEW's official roster webpage

There are way too many wrestlers on Dark and Elevation for me to keep track of, so I'm only including the ones who wrestled in the last month and either a) won a match or b) are listed on the official roster. This rule is particularly tough on the Wingmen and the Trustbusters, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

No AEW/ROH matches in 30 days: Adam Page, Anthony Ogogo, AQA, Austin Gunn, Bandido, Brian Pillman Jr., Brock Anderson, Christopher Daniels, Colten Gunn, Frankie Kazarian, Fuego Del Sol, Matt Sydal, Michael Nakazawa, Miro, Parker Boudreaux, Penelope Ford, Riho, Scorpio Sky, Serena Deeb, Shawn Spears, Sonjay Dutt, Yuka Sakazaki

I'm not sure what's going on with these names. Adam Page is obviously medically cleared or they wouldn't even fly him in to do interviews about how he's not medically cleared. Miro and Scorp are reportedly ready to go and just don't have anything planned for them. Bandido literally just got signed a month ago and hasn't been seen since. Pillman is probably in limbo until they decide what to do with him while Griff Garrison is sidelined. I keep thinking Daniels, Nakazawa, and Dutt have retired or something, but as soon as I assume that they'll be in a match next week.

As for the rest, for all I know any of them could have an injury that didn't make the news, and we'll never know until they show up again. Four years ago it was WWE that always had a dozen or more wrestlers on ice, and I never expected AEW to end up being as bad (if not worse) with that same issue.

Part-time/semi-retired: Billy Gunn, Mark Henry, Mark Sterling, Paige VanZant, Paul Wight, Rebel, Stokely Hathaway

Inactive

Abadon (shoulder - collarbone fracture)

Adam Cole (unspecified injury - possible concussion)

Andrade El Idolo (right arm - pectoralis tear)

Christian Cage (right arm - triceps tear)

CM Punk (left arm - triceps tear; negotiating release)

Colt Cabana (unspecified injury)

Griff Garrison (unspecified injury)

Jeff Hardy (suspension; awaiting DUI trial)

Kris Statlander (right knee - ACL/meniscus tear)

Kyle O'Reilly (neck - fusion surgery)

Leyla Hirsch (right knee - ACL tear)

Santana (left knee - unspecified injury)

Thunder Rosa (back - unspecified injury)

Even if the backstage fight hadn't happened, Punk would be out with his triceps injury until at least March or April. It's been reported that Punk and AEW are negotiating a buyout of his contract, which suggests one or both sides don't want him to return. I suppose there's a slim possibility they could mend fences for a shocking comeback, but if it happened it would naturally be top super-duper maxi-extreme ultra secret.

#aew #fake rankings

[junker-town]

Chris Jericho and his crew beat up a drone with a baseball bat named Floyd on AEW Dynamite

Chris Jericho finally got revenge on his greatest enemy, a drone.

Professional wrestling is the only sport where we can develop an emotional attachment to a drone. This week, James Dator and Hector Diaz look at AEW Dynamite and discuss if Matt Hardy is truly “broken” now that his best friend is dead, and how we’re feeling about the matches set to take place at Double or Nothing on May 23.

James Dator: So lemme start by saying that while I’m sure people will endlessly argue about who’s the “best” wrestler in the world, nobody is better than Cody at taking a match nobody is hype for and getting it over.

Hector Diaz: And he does it in the simplest ways. This week, it was by huffing and puffing and driving his truck to the arena to get his hands on Lance Archer. Cody is mad that Lance and Jake the Snake messed with his wife. Let them fight. Sometimes it’s best not to overthink it.

JD: It was super funny that he revved up his prized truck then gently nudged over a barricade, though.

HD: It almost feels like someone else pitched the idea, Cody was all for it, then had to step back a bit when they told him about crashing his expensive truck into that barricade. “Hey wait, do you know how much this costs?” Speaking of which, how much does a drone go for these days?

JD: Is it wrong that I got emotional over the death of a drone?

HD: Absolutely not. Especially with the emotional attachment AEW fans got from seeing Matt Hardy’s drone Vanguard-1 do its thing for weeks. It was the scrappy young foil to the legendary Chris Jericho. He basically broke into Jericho’s house and rejected his offer to join The Inner Circle. That, plus that drone was technically the entity that introduced Matt Hardy to AEW. It’s a shame that it died via Chris Jericho’s new friend, a baseball bat named Floyd.

JD: Floyd is my most-hated heel in AEW. It makes me really excited though because we’ve seen the whole “you hurt my friend” routine in wrestling before, but the possibility of a totally unhinged Matt Hardy mourning the loss of his flying electronic camera friend means he could do literally anything, and that paired with his creativity makes me hyper-excited for what comes next. While I’m a little disappointed we won’t see a Matt vs. Jericho compound match, I’m super-hyped for the Stadium Stampede match at Double or Nothing.

HD: The Stadium Stampede match feels like an incredible flex for AEW. While WWE had a match in their corporate building last week, AEW has an empty football stadium to run a 5 vs. 5 match. I’m looking forward to it, especially since it means we’re going to see Sammy Guevara get beat up more. Is there a certain wrestler or matchup you’re looking forward to in the Stadium Stampede match?

JD: Not so much a specific matchup, but I want to know where Hangman Page fits in. As it stands he’d be The Elite’s fifth with Kenny, the Young Bucks and Matt — but I’m not sure he’ll actually be a part of it. This is the moment where they can truly break up that relationship in a way that makes sense, and what bigger betrayal than ruining the match against The Inner Circle? As someone who tends to be more excited about story than in-ring action I want to see how this all fits together. What about you? What do you want to see from that match?

HD: I really want to see what happens with Santana and Ortiz. As far as members of The Inner Circle go, they don’t get enough credit for being jerks and beating people up. I can’t wait to see what they do with an entire stadium at their disposal. Let them get super campy with this entire match concept. Dress them up in football pads and let them tackle The Young Bucks on the field.

JD: Santana’s athleticism is so underrated. Seeing him go wild in an empty stadium will be a blast. We’re getting a better idea of the full card now. I really like what we’re seeing. I’m very excited for Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander. Any new matches announced you’re excited for?

HD: I’m excited for the AEW Women’s Championship match between Nyla Rosa and Hikaru Shida. Last week, I complained that there was no story arch besides “Hey here’s two people fighting for a championship.” But we got a little taste of a storyline with the help of Shida’s kendo stick.

For weeks Hikaru Shida has been trying to find her lost kendo stick, and it turns out Nyla Rose has had it the entire time. That means Rose has been holding onto it, knowing that Shida has been the No. 1 contender this entire time. It’s a good mind game and I hope AEW plays that up a little more. Having said that, the championship match is a No Disqualification Match. Shida is going to take an L, and maybe go through a few tables.

JD: There’s so much I’m loving right now that I don’t want to turn this into an all-positive discussion. Honestly, I don’t love what’s happening with MJF at the moment. They haven’t really justified him plummeting in the rankings outside of his fake injury — and now putting him vs. Jungle Boy at Double or Nothing oddly moves him further from the title. I don’t doubt they’ll have an amazing match, I just don’t quite understand why he’s out of the discussion totally, when a couple of months ago he was talking about facing Mox.

HD: Yeah, there’s something missing there. On paper, it’s just a squash match but I’m sure that Jungle Boy will put up a good fight. Jungle Boy will probably but still though. With Wardlow protecting MJF, I’m sure it will evolve into a tag team match later on against Jungle boy and the rest of Jurassic Express.

JD: It also makes me wonder about who else is in the ladder match? I would have assumed Jungle Boy and MJF made sense there.

HD: There’s no clear winner so far, which is both confusing and exciting. Based on the entrants already announced, you would assume Rey Fenix could win, but also he’s in Death Triangle and will probably be used more in tag team competition. Also, can we also talk about this spectacular video game kick from Rey Fenix to Orange Cassidy?

.@ReyFenixMx just blindsided Orange Cassidy! #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/T8ouv7beds

— TDE Wrestling (@tde_gif) May 14, 2020

JD: I honestly don’t know how he got that much height. I’ve watched this 100 times and still can’t work it out. It has to be wizardry.

Honestly, I’m just excited to see Fenix and Darby in the ladder match because they’re going to do something ludicrous I’ll need to cover my eyes for.

My last question to you: How are you feeling about the build for Brodie Lee vs Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship?

HD: It’s not as hyped up as previous AEW Championship matches have been, but there’s been some intrigue with the help of Brodie Lee stealing the title. Having said that, this feels like a transitionary feud that will probably lead to something bigger. As far as Brodie Lee’s Dark Order faction is concerned, we haven’t seen them all together. Now they have Brodie, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, 10, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds. Double or Nothing might be when they all show up to outnumber Mox. I still think Mox is winning though.

JD: I agree. It feels too early to take the belt off him. Ultimately I’m left feeling more excited for Double or Nothing than I did before, and really that’s all they could hope for.

[aion-rsa]

AEW All Out 2020: Date, Time, Card, Matches, Roster, Price, and How to Watch

https://ift.tt/33CgaYQ

There were some growing pains, but All Elite Wrestling has been able to hold its own during the days of COVID. In their last PPV, Double or Nothing 2020, they played up the situation with what’s probably the best ever use of the cinematic wrestling match gimmck with the Stadium Stampede. Now they’re getting ready for their next big PPV, AEW All Out 2020.

There’s some history behind the name of this PPV. AEW’s prototype show back in September 2018 was called All In, which centered around various wrestling promotions and indie talent working together. AEW officially launched a few months later and around its anniversary they had the first All Out. It gave us the crowning of the first AEW Champion in Chris Jericho, an all-women Casino Battle Royal, the surprise debut of Orange Cassidy, and the first (and hopefully not last) Cracker Barrel Clash.

As we prepare for the new edition of AEW All Out, here’s what you need to know about this year’s PPV:

WHEN IS AEW ALL OUT 2020?

The show will take place on Sept. 5 at 8pm ET at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL. Presumably, there will be a Buy-In pre-show at 7 pm.

WHERE CAN I WATCH AEW ALL OUT 2020?

In North America, the show is available on B/R Live. Internationally, you can check it out on Fite.TV.

AEW All Out Price

If you’re watching through FiteTV AEW All Out will cost $49.99. If it’s through another PPV provider, the price is $59.99.

AEW ALL OUT 2020 MATCHES AND CARD

JON MOXLEY (C) VS. MJF

AEW World Championship

Since joining AEW, Jon Moxley has been undefeated in singles competition and it helped him springboard to the top and dethrone original champion Chris Jericho. Moxley has defended the title against Jake Hager, Brodie Lee, Brian Cage, and Darby Allin. So far, nobody’s had his number.

But then there’s Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Like Moxley, his win/loss record is virtually untouchable. His only losses have come in battle royals, a four-way, and a tag match. At no point has he been pinned in AEW. With major wins over guys like Cody and Jungle Boy, MJF truly deserves a high-profile shot at the title.

MJF also feels that not only is he needed as champion but as the true leader of the locker room. MJF’s ascent has taken the form of a political campaign. He and his pet muscle Wardlow also tried to get Moxley to lose his title to Darby Allin (presumably an easier opponent to win the belt), but Moxley retained regardless.

Moxley retaliated by dropping MJF with the Death Rider. MJF and his lawyer have been insisting that the Death Rider be banned from their All Out match. Moxley agreed to sign the contract, but also put in an extra page claiming that he would get a singles match against MJF’s lawyer first.

The match was, as expected, very one-sided and Moxley destroyed the lawyer. Afterwards, Wardlow ambushed Moxley and MJF followed soon after. MJF bloodied up Moxley and posed with his title belt.

CHRIS JERICHO VS. ORANGE CASSIDY

Mimosa Mayhem Match

Ever since Orange Cassidy casually walked through an Inner Circle promo, Chris Jericho has had his problems with the mellow slacker. This led to a match between the two that Jericho won, thanks in part to his teammates interfering. Orange goaded Jericho into a rematch, mostly because he spilled gallons of orange juice onto him from the rafters. Angry at how his $7,000 jacket was ruined, Jericho agreed with the rule that if Jericho won, Orange had to pay him back for the jacket.

Orange defeated Jericho in the rematch. A week later, when Orange was being interviewed, Jericho came out to congratulate him. Since they were 1-1, Jericho offered a special kind of rubber match. Mixing Orange Cassidy’s love for orange juice and Chris Jericho’s love for “the bubbly,” they would surround the ring with a moat of mimosas. Their match can only be decided by pinfall, submission, or throwing the opponent into the mimosa pool.

Read more

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AEW vs. WWE Ratings War Heats Up as Companies Take Shots at Each Other

By Mike McMahon

Orange accepted and immediately after, he was beaten down by the Inner Circle. Jericho poured out several bottles of his champagne over Orange’s head. A week later, as Jericho did commentary for Dynamite, the show ended with Orange racing out and brawling with him.

SHIDA (C) VS. THUNDER ROSA

AEW Women’s World Championship

Shida won the AEW Women’s World Championship at Double or Nothing against Nyla Rose. Unfortunately, due to the state of AEW’s women’s division, Shida’s potential challengers either already had their chance, are injured, or aren’t up to the standards of getting a title match. Shida asked for someone to step up.

Thunder Rosa answered. The current NWA Women’s Champion has intent to make her AEW debut by becoming a double champion.

KENNY OMEGA AND HANGMAN PAGE (C) VS. FTR

AEW World Tag Team Championship

This one has been brewing for a while. After losing his chance to be the first AEW World Champion at last year’s All Out, Hangman has wanted out of the Elite. Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks still considered him a friend and that feeling of comradery meant never really respecting his decision. As they were concerned, he was always going to be part of their group…whether he liked it or not. This helped Hangman fall into a downward spiral of drinking, but he also started to gain some success.

Hangman and Kenny won the tag titles and defeated all comers. This included a match against the Young Bucks, which seemed to surprise even Hangman. Between that victory and having to band together against the Inner Circle at Double or Nothing, Hangman seemed to have some sense of peace with his Elite teammates. As he put it, he loved them, but just didn’t really like them.

Enter FTR, formally known as the Revival. For years, people have wanted to see them take on the Young Bucks. They played friendly enough with the Bucks and had a couple moments of conflict with Kenny, but they really got their hooks into Hangman. Hangman became an apologist for every shitty thing FTR did.

This all culminated in a tag team gauntlet between the top ranked four teams. Afraid of having to face and potentially lose to the Young Bucks, Hangman cost them the match. FTR ended up winning in the end. Never getting a chance to explain himself, Hangman proceeded to get chewed out and yelled at by the Bucks, who said that he was no longer part of the Elite and no longer their friend.

A week later, FTR mocked Hangman and said that they barely needed to nudge him. While Hangman is pissed at FTR, he also realizes that Kenny is just as disappointed in him as the Bucks.

CASINO BATTLE ROYALE

Winner Gets an AEW World Championship Match

Introduced at Double or Nothing 2019, the Casino Battle Royale is a 21-man Royal Rumble with a twist. Each wrestler selects a playing card from a deck of 21 cards. Every five minutes, five wrestlers will enter the fray, bundled together by the suit they all drew (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs). After the first 20 have entered, there’s another five minutes of waiting before whoever drew the joker makes his entrance. Elimination only comes from going over the top rope and having both feet hitting the floor.

As it is right now, the entrants include Darby Allin, Ricky Starks, Brian Cage, Lance Archer, Eddie Kingston, Pentagon Jr., Rey Fenix, the Butcher, the Blade, Shawn Spears, Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn, Jake Hager, Santana, Ortiz, Chuck Taylor, Trent, and four others.

MATT HARDY VS SAMMY GUEVARA

Broken Rules Match. If Matt Hardy loses, he must leave AEW

Due to being key parts of the Elite vs. Inner Circle feud, Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara have been at it for a while. Once that faction war blew off, Matt was very open about how he thought Sammy would be better off by himself than with Chris Jericho. Sammy didn’t take this well and the two started messing with each other’s matches. This culminated in Sammy beating Matt into a bloody pulp, including a projectile chair to the skull that busted Matt open.

Matt became obsessed with getting his revenge. The two had a Tables Match on Dynamite and although Sammy won, he also suffered a huge gash on his head. Now the two will face off in what is basically a Last Man Standing bout. If Matt loses, then he’s out of the company.

DARK ORDER VS. NATURAL NIGHTMARES, MATT CARDONA, AND SCORPIO SKY

Nearly week after week, Cody defended the TNT Championship against all comers, whether they were from AEW or the indies. This was starting to take its toll, as shown when he teamed up with Matt Cardona against a couple Dark Order flunkies and when he barely won against Scorpio Sky. This was when Mr. Brodie Lee of the Dark Order chose to make his own challenge.

A week later, Brodie absolutely destroyed Cody. Cody didn’t even get a lick of offense in. The new TNT Champion celebrated by further injuring Cody. He and his cronies spent the week drinking and eating a lot of Chili’s (it’s…a long story).

When celebrating further on the next Dynamite, the Dark Order was interrupted by Dustin, QT Marshall, Scorpio Sky, and Matt Cardona. A brawl ensued and Cody’s friends and family won out. Now the top members of the Dark Order (Brodie, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, and Colt Cabana) will face them at the PPV.

YOUNG BUCKS VS. JURASSIC EXPRESS

In the final show before All Out, an eight-man tag was put together of Young Bucks/Jurassic Express vs. Private Party/SCU with the winning team facing each other at the PPV. Thanks to some impressive teamwork, the Bucks and Jurassic Express came out the winners. The Bucks came off seeming more annoyed than anything else, still angry about losing their title shot.

DR. BRITT BAKER DMD VS. BIG SWOLE

Tooth and Nail Match

Due to a bad leg injury, Britt Baker abruptly had to be removed from Double or Nothing. Rather than hide out and return months down the line, the wheelchair-bound Baker had become an annoying fixture on AEW Dynamite. Eventually, her attitude got the attention of Big Swole, who proceeded to kidnap Baker and throw her into a dumpster. For a while, Swole was banned from the building, but has been welcomed back, ready to get her hands on Baker once she’s able to compete. Swole won a 3-on-1 handicap match to earn a shot at Britt and even pick the stipulation.

Big Swole announced it would be a “Tooth and Nail Match,” but before she could explain what that was, Baker and Reba attacked her. Baker revealed that she no longer needed a wheelchair to move.

Check back for more information on AEW All Out 2020 as we learn more!

The post AEW All Out 2020: Date, Time, Card, Matches, Roster, Price, and How to Watch appeared first on Den of Geek.

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