IN LAIMAN’S TERMS #451
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Thoughts on AEW: WrestleDream 2023 With Special Guest Steve Shives
- RIS: It’s Sunday, etc. While I’m unfortunately not at the Climate Pledge Arena like I wanted to be, I’m hanging out with a longtime friend and fellow wrestling fan, Steve Shives. While commiserating over things discussed in his recent video about CM Punk, I thought it’d be fun to do a collab review, something I haven’t done since the last run with Tito and Hustle, both to talk wrestling with a friend and to distract myself that I’ll be in the PNW, just two weeks after this show. Thank you for joining me, my dear friend. And thank you for breaking your AEW fast to enjoy this show with me. For those who may be unfamiliar with your work, would you mind telling us a bit about yourself, how long you’ve been a wrestling fan, any match in particular you’re excited to see most tonight?
- STEVE: Hi, Ris! Thanks for having me. So, the short version is I’m a guy on YouTube with a big mouth and a lot of opinions, and while I don’t make videos about wrestling all that often, I do every once in a while. I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was about eight years old. I have a vivid memory of randomly catching an episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event during the build-up to Wrestlemania IV, with the big third match between Hogan and Andre booked as part of the World Title Tournament. There was an angle where Andre choked out Hulk Hogan, and for whatever reason, that hooked me for life. As for WrestleDream, the match I’m most excited to see — in fact, the only match I’m excited to see — is Danielson vs Zack Sabre Jr. I love technical wrestling, and Danielson and ZSJ are two of the best ever at it, so I’m really looking forward to that one.
- RIS: Not too much to write home about on the pre-show tonight, but at least we got to see Keith Lee and Athena. The post-match moment with Barnett putting Claudio over and saying Inoki would approve was really sweet. The crowd is a lot smaller at Climate Pledge than when I was there in January, but it seems like they’re at least hot for this show. And hey, Max Caster’s rap was at least not as phoned in as some of the other ones in the last few months. I’ll take salty Mox on commentary every day of the week though.
- STEVE: I’ll take Mox doing pretty much anything besides the death match stuff he seems irresistibly drawn to.
- RIS: All right, here we go, WrestleDream. Enough has been said about how AEW has lost momentum since All In, and they’re right, but this should be a good opportunity to show out. Too many PPVs in the last few months, but I think this one should live up to the AEW PPV reputation, even if a few of the matches are random as hell.
- STEVE: Random matches are par for the course for AEW and Tony Khan’s “dream match” centered booking style. But on paper it should at least deliver a few bangers. Let’s hope so, anyway. And, since this card of mostly random matches is being held in honor of Antonio Inoki, I’d just like to share with our readers that when I mowed my lawn earlier today, it was also to honor the memory of the great Inoki.
- RIS: Ah, we’re opening up with the ROH tag title match again, although the intrigue is far more on the not-Retribution attack of Jay White. Not often you see a heel getting a surprise backstage attack as such.
- STEVE: Personally, I’m just impressed that MJF’s commitment to giving New Japan the finger even extends to this card, which is technically not a New Japan joint venture, just a supposed Inoki tribute. Even here, he’s wrestling first so he can go home early. Truly an inspiration to us all.
- RIS: MJF on the mic by himself, of course denying the rumors of the backstage attack. It is ridiculous how he can get the crowd to chant literally anything at this point in his popularity. I have loved this angle with Adam Cole though, and while I’ll treat the injury as legit until or unless proven otherwise, I also won’t be surprised if it’s a work.
- STEVE: Incredibly, MJF as a babyface is just as good as MJF as a heel, which I would not have thought possible before a few months ago. He’s such a good heel, and so good as a heelish babyface, that I’m still not 100% convinced it’s not all a super long con on Max’s part, and he’s just planning on taking his sweet time before turning on Cole. Whatever, he’s been fantastic.
- RIS: I see we’ve added “bodyslam” to the 80s moves that MJF has gotten over by just wanting to do, along with Double Clothesline. He compared the Righteous to the Devil’s Rejects, though I would’ve gone with discount Wyatt Family with the white balance too high.
- STEVE: I love the Wyatt Family reference, but TOO SOON RIS.
- RIS: A loud “body-slam!” chant breaks out, because MJF could tell them to sing their A-B-Cs right now and they’d scream it with delight. He then calls for sportsmanship, and everyone on the other side of MJF in the ring continues to fall for it. It’s fun though. I like fun.
- STEVE: His “babyface who gleefully still works like a heel” act is fantastic. I love his self-satisfied smile when he does something like the handshake/eye-poke combo he just did. And now he’s selling, which I assume he’ll be doing for most of the match, and which he’s also really good at.
- RIS: You’re right, it’s a very fresh take on the concept of “recently turned face, but was a douchebag to most of the roster for the past few years.” I appreciate it when creative doesn’t expect us to have snowglobe memories and just forget all that’s happened every three weeks or so.
- STEVE: It’s also nice that MJF as well as whoever else has input into his programs are smart enough to realize that he can be a good guy without having to fundamentally change who he is. The people were ready to cheer him, so he can continue to be MJF, the scumbag. If he starts acting too differently, he’ll lose the people, like Randy Orton did like, what, ten years ago when he turned babyface after a really hot heel run.
- RIS: MJF goes for the empty corner to make the tag, and does the long, sad stare. Tugging at those heartstrings already. And that’s a great example, Randy Orton turned face and became the blandest person in history multiple times. It’s like they go “wait, they like this about him, let’s change the fundamental core of it and make them a gullible idiot with a boring smile.”
- STEVE: MJF grabs one of the discount Wyatts in the crotch and Taz calls it “A five-on-two!” Even when I’m utterly bored by the rest of AEW, Taz on color is always a highlight. When they were still doing those YouTube shows, sometimes I’d watch just to hear Taz and Excalibur as a two-man commentary team. They were often better than the three- or four-person teams on the actual TV shows.
- RIS: Taz is endlessly entertaining, both when he’s trying to be and when it’s unintentional. I love that he has a sense of humor about it too, as back in the day he was notorious for taking himself seriously to an extreme.
- STEVE: MJF just pressed that stinky, nasty giant fifteen feet over his head.
- RIS: I understood that reference, and the crowd chanted for it and they got it. Are we getting the Kangaroo Kick next? I think we are!
- STEVE: Incredibly how over he’s gotten this deeply silly move.
- RIS: Do you think he’s just trying to find the silliest thing possible at this point?
- STEVE: I hope so. And he wins with his feet on the rope unnecessarily, just to be a dick.
- RIS: I’m not surprised that he won, but I am surprised at how easy it was for him to do so. I guess they don’t want him to have to work too hard while he’s still missing his best friend.
- STEVE: That makes sense. Also, it’s kind of refreshing to see a match like that on an AEW pay-per-view, where it’s relatively short, fun, nothing too over the top, the person who should have won, won, and you don’t get the feeling everyone was trying to make it feel like the most important match ever. MJF is the man, he won a handicap match against, respectfully, a couple of geeks, like he should have.
- RIS: Couldn’t agree more. And now we’re heading into Shibata and Eddie in a “least amount of hits pulled possible” match.
- STEVE: This could be good. I like Shibata, but I love Eddie Kingston. Why he isn’t on TV every single week at least cutting a promo is still mystifying to me. He’s someone I’d be building the company around.
- RIS: He should be. For how over MJF is in his being silly and ridiculous, Eddie just comes across as authentic and legit in all the best ways. I’m so glad to finally see him getting his due instead of coming up just short yet again.
- STEVE: Same here. I can’t honestly say I care about the ROH World Title at this point, but seeing Eddie win it, plus seeing him win his New Japan Strong title, means something because it’s him. He’s one of my favorites.
- RIS: It took him a while to grow on me, but once he wrote that article, especially the part where he mentioned Larry Sweeney, I feel like I started to get why everyone thought so highly of him. Shibata though, his comeback story alone is one of the most impressive things I’ve heard of in wrestling, and was a delightful thing to learn about after my five-year hiatus from wrestling.
- STEVE: With these two, it’s one of the few times when the psychology of the “let’s just take turns hitting each other” spot that seemingly everybody does now makes sense. With these two, you believe that they’d be nuts enough to do that, just to prove something.
- RIS: You’re absolutely right, I’d believe it if they challenged each other to a match just to see who could leave the bigger bruise on the other’s chest.
- STEVE: Eddie selling a figure four. He’s so good. His facial expressions when he’s in pain are amazing. I also love the way Eddie sells a really hard chop, the way sometimes he’ll grimace and take a step back, like the breath’s been knocked out of him. He’s just tremendous.
- RIS: Credit to both of them on that Figure Four too, as I actually believe Shibata is fighting just as hard to hold him in it as I do that Eddie is in agony. It’s the small things that put things over just that much more.
- STEVE: Both guys working a more typically Japanese style so far. Trying for moves but not getting them the first time, holding on to holds instead of going with the reversal, etc. I’ve always liked those little details that set the Japanese style apart from the U.S. style. It helps to dispel the perception that they’re cooperating with each other.
- RIS: I think AEW has done an admirable job since 2022’s Forbidden Door of meshing those two different styles into a cohesive, believable world where they can both exist simultaneously at these joint-production shows. This match with these two is no exception, obviously. Now we’ve got chops vs. kicks, and they’re both feeling the pain more the longer it goes on.
- STEVE: Eddie drops to one knee while attempting a lariat. Exactly the kind of thing I was alluding to earlier.
- RIS: Good call. The more you say it, the more I appreciate it. Having it so tangibly demonstrated by two experts such as these just accentuates the point. I’m really impressed with this match, especially coming off the back of something so silly.
- STEVE: Shibata must have noticed that this show felt like kind of a random Inoki tribute, so he decided to work as many Inoki moves into his moveset for this match as possible. He just transitioned from a Cobra hold into kind of an octopus submission hold. And now Eddie’s letting the backfists fly.
- RIS: I’ve never cared for the backfist as a finisher, but that exchange there just made it a helluva lot better, and Shibata throwing them right back fits the theme of the story they’ve told so well.
- STEVE: I don’t like the backfist as a finisher, I just wish Eddie would be a little more protective of it. I’m a little old fashioned, I think unless it’s, like, the main event of Wrestlemania between two living legends, when you hit your finish that should be it.
- RIS: Kingston hits one more backfist and then a powerbomb on top of it, somehow making it feel like desperation at the same time. Well done, though I see we still have the contrarian sign guy from Grand Slam following up, because it’s not cool to like things.
- STEVE: Really good match. I liked that one a lot. And again, didn’t overstay its welcome, they kept it in the ring, it was intense, it felt real. Good start to this show.
- RIS: Shibata getting the respect here too. I like when shows allow both competitors mutual time to have it shown like that, giving them their moment.
- STEVE: It is now time for our designated women’s match.
- RIS: They’re allergic to having more than one in a show, as we know. Even the one on the pre-show was mixed, as fun as it was. Somehow they still think that this problem has nothing to do with the reason that Jade made the “easy” decision to bail.
- STEVE: I mean, if I were a woman and a wrestler, and I had to choose between working for WWE or AEW, it’d be an easy decision for me, too. AEW has some fantastic talent in the women’s division, but it’s booked so indifferently that it barely even feels like an actual division. It’s just a group of people who sometimes randomly have matches with each other. I will say, as Julia Hart makes her entrance here, that I really appreciate how they’ve evolved the House of Black entrances over the last year or so. I used to hate it because it was just the same “lights off/lights on” stuff that lots of other people do, but now they’ve refined it with a special lighting effect, and it’s actually pretty moody and effective.
- RIS: Julia, like Toni Storm, has done a wonderful job of developing a truly engaging character. She’s managed to stay in the House of Black, and yet have her matches be visually distinct from theirs. I admittedly like the lights on/off gimmick, but the first wrestler who grabbed my attention as a kid was Kane, so the spooky stuff has always worked for me. Stat got to come back and end Jade’s undefeated streak, and I do at least like how they acknowledged that it’s becoming a thing she aims to do, hence going against Julia who has a streak going of her own. It feels like a low bar of consistency to go over, but at least they did.
- STEVE: Baby steps. If they come up with a few more little things like that, just give a few more members of the roster easily expressible goals and then stick with it instead of letting it disappear after a few shows, then before you know it they might have a coherent and consistent show!
- RIS: It shouldn’t be that difficult, but it is showing those signs of improvement. Having these two go at it with their vastly differing styles and backgrounds is also a good sign. Stat working in her fireman’s carry there as well, I still laugh about when she did an interview with Renee while doing squats with her on Stat’s shoulders.
- STEVE: Good classic heel work there. The man on the outside distracts the ref, allowing Julia to get nasty and take over on Stat. I’m a sucker for basic heel work like that. Julia is so much younger and smaller, she shouldn’t be able to stand much of a chance against Stat, but she does because she’s mean and she cheats. It’s old school and easy, but it works.
- RIS: Off the back and falling with a Senton, that looked vicious. With the smaller heel against the big badass face, that’s the kind of thing that makes it believable that she can take over a match. Old school still works when it’s done right, and it’s mixed with a couple of very unique characters here very well.
- STEVE: Decent comeback there from Statlander, stringing a few moves together for a near-fall, then leading into another bit with Brody King on the outside, and a nice fake-out with the black mist from Julia getting smacked away.
- RIS: One hell of a smack too. I’m interested to see if the corruption mist will have any lasting effects on Willow and Skye. They both go to the top rope, and Julia’s specialty lately has been hanging in the tree of woe and throwing people, so that’s a terrible decision.
- STEVE: Good near-fall there for Julia off the moonsault. That whole bit was impressive athletically from Julia, but I really don’t like those spots where both wrestlers spend an eternity on the top turnbuckle setting something up.
- RIS: She’s got an amazing moonsault, and the crowd’s chanting that it’s awesome. They’re correct. I’m loving this match.
- STEVE: Whew! I liked that finish. Made Statlander look strong as the champ, but also made Julia look tenacious for refusing to let go of that submission hold before Stat powered up.
- RIS: I did too. That’s the first true big match for Julia Hart and she didn’t lose a damn thing after it taking that much to take her down. Three matches in, three very distinct and yet extremely entertaining matches. Brody carrying Julia away with that look on his face is absolutely precious.
- STEVE: I agree with you, three good matches, three different matches. But more importantly for me, the show has been really well paced this first hour. We’ve got almost fifteen minutes left in the first hour, and we’re about to start the fourth match. So often, I’ve found AEW shows feel like they just drag on forever, but this one hasn’t felt like that at all so far.
- RIS: Orange Cassidy and Hook might be even more random than Hookhausen or JungleHook, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it. Probably because Orange Cassidy has been one of the best things about this entire year. Three sets of brothers and two guys who shared some chips once.
- STEVE: This next one is the four-way tag match, which just screams “We wanted to get these people on the show.” It’s by far the match I care the least about going in, so we’ll see how I feel about it when it’s over. I love both Hook and Orange Cassidy, so I kinda wish they both had something more meaningful to do here. But, we’ll see how it goes.
- RIS: It may just be an excuse to get these guys on the show, but I’m totally okay with that being an excuse. I look forward to seeing what Orange Cassidy does to follow up that International title run, and the disappointment that followed with coming up just short against Mox. Did I just see Aron Ra in the crowd there behind fake Orange Cassidy?
- STEVE: Ha! I only caught a glance of that guy for a second because I was looking away from the screen, but maybe? There was definitely a resemblance.
- RIS: The perils of writing live.
- STEVE: Here come the Young Bucks. My least favorite wrestlers at the moment. I always get nervous when the Young Bucks come out for a match, because when the Bucks are in a match there’s always the chance that the Bucks will win a match.
- RIS: I’m feeling the aesthetics of their entrance though, very rainbow unicorn vaporwave, which is a thing I just said.
- STEVE: I will definitely agree with you that their entrance is usually the best part of a Young Bucks match.
- RIS: This feels very 1999 with only two in at the same time, do you think we’ll get the spot where the two partners get tagged in and they have to face each other instead of tagging out?
- STEVE: That is a good question. Does AEW have the Outlaw rule for three- and four-way tag matches? I wonder.
- RIS: They do have one of the Outlaws, it’s a distinct possibility. Let’s see how far we’ve come here, Orange Cassidy comes into a wrestling match intentionally when he has the option to stand and do nothing. Character development!
- STEVE: I like Cassidy a lot and have since he was on the indies. I still think my favorite moment from him in AEW was a couple of years ago when he walked out for a ladder match, stopped, walked over to the announcers and asked if they could tell him how you win the match. Excalibur told him how to win a ladder match, and he just kinda shrugged and walked to the ring. Hey! There you go, your “partner tries to pin his partner” spot!
- RIS: And it was from the sons of the Outlaw, ha!
- STEVE: Cute.
- RIS: I dig this all red Penta, though I admittedly also loved the Penta Oscuro vibe. It feels like he’s been just… there. Once again though, we’ve established I dig the spooky.
- STEVE: Hook in there with Matt Jackson. I hope Hook throws him around like a sack of potatoes.
- RIS: They made it a super big deal for Hook to be staring down someone much higher on the card, and the crowd was really into it. That’s a good sign for him moving on from that feud with persona non grata. I gotta say, much like this show itself, this doesn’t feel like chaotic randomness as might’ve been expected.
- STEVE: I really dig Hook. I dig his style. I’m a fan of technical/power guys, and Hook is that to a tee. Lots of suplexes, like his dad, but also some solid technical wrestling. It’s fun, but it also feels legit.
- RIS: Similar style but a completely different aura than Taz had, at least before they added the Z and had him feuding with the Mean Street Posse after beating Kurt Angle. It would’ve been tempting, I’m sure, to just throw a towel on him and make him Taz 2.0, but even Taz himself has been very adamant about not overshadowing his kid, and I think that’s admirable.
- STEVE: On almost the opposite end of the spectrum are the Gunns, who I also really like. Just good, goofy doofus heels. They’ve improved a lot in the last year or so, developed confidence and personality. And they sell pretty good, too.
- RIS: It would’ve been so easy for the Danhausen chanting curse to be the absolute end of any momentum they had gathered, but they’ve overcome that quite well, even leaning into those chants as they happen. Their super cool entrance doesn’t hurt either.
- STEVE: They do have a very cool entrance. Now we have a section here where Penta is taking on both Gunns at once. I don’t mind that — it’s a quick, action-packed bit — but notice how everyone else is off the apron, and has been for awhile. That’s a relatively recent trend in tag matches, where the partners will just vanish while the wrestlers in the ring do their thing, and it really annoys me.
- RIS: Hook tries to get the Redrum, but Austin Gunn of all people is able to fight out of it, at least until Orange Cassidy gives him an extra punch. Nick Jackson does a 450 onto the two of them, and for a second I thought Penta was going to follow up with another dive onto all three of them.
- STEVE: Now we’ve entered the silly spots portion of the match.
- RIS: Silly though it might’ve been… What was that, a double stomp to a Widow’s Peak/Paradigm Shift at the same time? I don’t even know what to call it.
- STEVE: Something like that. And the Bucks win. It wasn’t a bad match, at least it was relatively short and it wasn’t just “everybody does every move they’ve ever learned,” but it wasn’t as good as the three that came before it.
- RIS: Cool, I’m glad they’re getting themselves in line for tag title shots at the same time that they’re also getting singles title shots. That was a really fun match, a solid mix of the styles and moments that made pretty much everyone look good.
- STEVE: Next up is Swerve vs. Hangman, a super cool and talented badass heel vs a great big giant crybaby. In case you can’t tell, I’m rooting for Swerve. To be fair, Hangman seems like he’s probably a good guy in real life. But damn, I can’t think of any babyface in recent memory who has been made to look worse, and weaker, and more insufferable, than Hangman Page.
- RIS: I keep saying it, but Swerve is a future megastar who should already be a megastar. Hangman, I don’t know what he’s been doing since he won the AEW title at Full Gear 2021, but it feels like they put 2 years of slow character development into him, and then they’ve been lost ever since.
- STEVE: Swerve walks out with Prince Nana, who shimmies all the way to the ring.
- RIS: Nana doing the Swerve Dance alone makes him a perpetual HAM contender. Then throw in that badass coat he’s wearing, it’s like Swerve Helsing or something.
- STEVE: Absolutely. And you’re right, Swerve should be a massive, massive star. He’s just terrific, and he throws himself in to everything he does, even if it’s trash, and he makes it better for him being part of it. He should be one of AEW’s top guys.
- RIS: The best line of the build for this match was Swerve referring to the black rain cloud over Hangman’s head that he talked about, and pointing out that it’s always raining in Seattle. Perfection.
- STEVE: Seattle is Swerve’s hometown, and AEW has mostly been the anti-WWE in that they usually let the hometown wrestlers go over, so maybe that bodes well for the result.
- RIS: Yes, that’s one of the tropes that drew me to AEW in the first place; they don’t have a humiliation fetish for people in their hometown. And, on occasion, if they’re getting red hot reactions, they might actually call an audible rather than punishing someone for getting over when they weren’t supposed to. For all there is to criticize, after covering RAW and the PPVs in the mid-2010s, I have a lot to be grateful for.
- STEVE: Loving the crowd in this match. Cheering Swerve to the rafters and booing everything Hangman does. As it should be.
- RIS: When I was there in January, the reaction for Swerve was massive, even with him being a heel. He’s done nothing but get more evil since then, and Seattle unabashedly loves him still. You can tell he’s really hyped too, even if he’s hiding it beneath that badass stoicism.
- STEVE: Everything Swerve does looks good. And he’s got swagger, and he looks comfortable in the ring. Obviously working in front of a super supportive hometown crowd helps to fuel that, but damn, he’s just good. Crisp. Well timed. He takes a fallaway slam from Hangman and the crowd unleashes a chorus of boos. I love these people. And to his credit, Hangman soaks in the boos.
- RIS: That’s good adaptability on his part. I can think of plenty of times where people should have done that and instead pretended like it wasn’t happening. Hangman gets some air on that moonsault too. How he has knees after that landing is beyond me.
- STEVE: More boos on Hangman after a dive through the ropes onto Swerve on the outside. Hangman isn’t quite working heel, but he is definitely playing into the crowd’s negative reaction to him. And you’re right, that’s something a lot of wrestlers don’t know how to do any more, or at least aren’t willing to do. It might be a positive effect of the “just do whatever you want” ethos of AEW, because it gives the wrestlers more control over the content of their matches and they’re more comfortable changing gears on the fly, whereas in WWE, especially for the undercard, it seems to be much more of a “just do what we told you to do” type of deal.
- RIS: Absolutely, especially when it’s not working, and they seem determined to pretend it isn’t happening. Damn, Swerve makes a comeback there and catches fire, every move coming with a resounding cheer. I again have to compliment the Seattle crowd who have stayed consistently loud this whole show.
- STEVE: Crowd chanting “SWERVE” like he’s Hulk Hogan and it’s 1986. Fantastic.
- RIS: I know it’s called something else when others do it, but I always think of Low-Ki’s tree of woe Ghetto Stomp when I see that, and having seen it from about five feet away on multiple occasions, I think it looks really devastating. Also, totally off-topic, but a cowboy in brown pants for a big match just makes my mind go “HBK: Survivor Series 2002” for some odd reason.
- STEVE: For sure. Still the most puzzling wardrobe choice for a wrestler I can think of in the last twenty years or so. HBK won the title that night, and we’re STILL talking about those brown tights.
- RIS: I don’t want to jinx it, but we’ve got the fifth match here, and I am having a freaking blast, both with talking to you and the show itself. I feel repetitive saying that this match is as exciting but also distinct from the others, but it’s true. I’m loving this match, they’ve made it feel so important just by how much each of them want it.
- STEVE: It has been a good show so far. I just hope the crowd doesn’t burn down the arena if Hangman wins this thing. Swerve with some Zack Sabre action on Hangman’s arm just now. Just nasty.
- RIS: I mean, I think Swerve is on top of the list of wrestlers on the roster who desperately need a huge win. Holy shit, Hangman with an injured arm, Swerve comes off the top rope to the apron with another Ghetto Stomp to an even bigger pop. He follows it up with a 450 specifically onto Hangman’s injured arm, brilliant!
- STEVE: I hope they’ve got something good planned for the finish, because that right there could have been it. The 450 into the near-fall into the arm-bar was a really nice sequence, and the crowd was there for it.
- RIS: Hangman comes back with a sick-looking Lariat, but can’t quite get the Deadeye in. Swerve traps him back in the submission. Interesting angle they’re taking here where Hangman’s attacking Swerve’s arm to make it an equal disadvantage. I imagine they’ve got something huge planned for fellow hometown star Darby later, but this match has main event vibes regardless of its placement.
- STEVE: Hangman hits his buckshot lariat finish, but can’t cover because of the bad arm. Swerve near the ropes, and Nana gets Swerve’s foot on the bottom rope.
- RIS: This is a really long conversation between the ref and Nana, and he finally throws him out. But as we learned from Don Callis during the Omega/Ospreay match, you can just stay there and it doesn’t matter. Meanwhile, during the distraction, Hangman goes for another Buckshot, but Swerve counters with a weapon I couldn’t see. Hangman still somehow kicks out, and it looks like Swerve has snapped. Swerve hits two House Calls and a JML Driver, pinning Hangman and getting the biggest win of his AEW career so far.
- STEVE: Damn. So, Swerve doesn’t pin him after the foreign object shot, so he decides to just murder him instead. Good match — match of the show so far, I’d say — and I am definitely not complaining about the result!
- RIS: I absolutely loved that match, and Swerve snapping and getting even more vicious at the end took it from good to great.
- STEVE: As always with AEW, the question now is what’s next for Swerve. He just won a very good match against a perceived top guy, so what now? I’d love to see him in the mix with MJF, but it seems like MJF is gonna be otherwise occupied for a while yet.
- RIS: If MJF weren’t in the midst of the run for 2024, and it wouldn’t be obvious that MJF would continue his reign of terror, his words not mine, then I’d say put him in the mix with him for the title yesterday. Maybe he takes the International title first? I don’t know, but he needs to follow up on it strongly. And now, another match even more random than the tag earlier, but at least this gets Ricky Starks on the show. And with more salty Mox on commentary, even better!
- STEVE: I love Starks. I want to like Yuta, but he just hasn’t done it for me yet. He’s good, but he seems like he could be anyone. Starks, on the other hand, is a star.
- RIS: Yuta showed in that feud with Mox to get into the BCC that he could deliver an emotionally charged performance when he needed to, but unfortunately he’s become the anointed “whipping boy” of the stable, so I don’t know if he can get back to that status anytime soon. Meanwhile, Mox says he got fined for language that used to fly on Dynamite all the time, so hopefully that’s hyperbole.
- STEVE: If not, I bet it was pretty funny when Mox was informed of the fine. I’d love to have seen his face.
- RIS: I’d be nervous to hand Mox a napkin he asked for, let alone tell him something he doesn’t want to hear.
- STEVE: He seems somewhat temperamental. Oh, and now Starks mocking Mox with his body language in the ring. But, Mox didn’t pick up on it, nor did any of the other commentators. Four commentators at the desk and nobody noticed.
- RIS: Unfortunately they’ve set this up as the cooldown match and it’s pretty obvious. Someone had to get that spot, but at least Ricky is on the show?
- STEVE: Yeah, the crowd definitely feels deflated following the last match, which is understandable. At least, like you said, Starks is on the show, and also at least they didn’t plug the women’s match into the death spot like WWE often does.
- RIS: They’ve still got Darby and Danielson’s match to go, so there had to be a dip eventually. And yes, Stat and Julia got the full reaction they deserved. I’m honestly surprised it took this long for the heat to wear down for a few minutes.
- STEVE: “He’s pretty, but he’s annoying with his mouth.” Jon Moxley on Ricky Starks.
- RIS: I believe he followed up with “I don’t know whether to fight him or take him on a date.” I think AO3 just had a few “Absolutely Mox” upticks, and if they haven’t, they should.
- STEVE: Big Bill saunters down to ringside to offer completely innocent moral support to Ricky. Good to see such clean, wholesome friendship on display.
- RIS: Well, Bill is quite familiar with needing to show up for someone who’s mouth gets him into trouble sometimes, so at least he’s doing what he knows.
- STEVE: Bill is quite big. I believe he may be close to seven feet tall, a quality which — and correct me if I’m wrong — cannot be taught.
- RIS: I do believe you are correct, and thus his status as being on, at the very least, the precipice of realness, as compared to most other people in that particular domicile on any given occasion.
- STEVE: Indubitably.
- RIS: Mox really wanting the protege to succeed here, even though he doesn’t have a chance in hell.
- STEVE: Yuta with the worst looking hammer-and-anvil elbow strikes in the BCC, into a seatbelt pinning combination for a near-fall. And now Ricky hits his finish for the pin. Some back and forth, but still a pretty definitive win for Starks.
- RIS: Can’t complain, even if it was a foregone conclusion. They can’t all be the burners the others have been, but it was in no way bad. Starks has had his amazing matches that he loses at the very end of a legendary performance, now he needs to beat everyone he faces definitively.
- STEVE: Time for ZSJ vs Danielson. Justin Roberts actually announces it as a “dream match,” which feels a little markish. But it’s the truth — one of the few remaining matches that I will (and did) pay to see just on the names of the participants alone, regardless of the story or build-up.
- RIS: They have a habit of billing matches that way, and I always feel like that’s up to us to decide rather than them to decide it is. In this case though, it’s not in doubt whatsoever. Admittedly I’m a little sad to not hear the opening synth chords of Europe blaring in his home state, but Danielson gets that huge pop regardless.
- STEVE: Hearing him come out to “The Final Countdown” is cool for nostalgia and all, but I really like his AEW theme.
- RIS: Mox mentioning Jimi Hendrix, another legend from the area. I’ve visited the Hendrix memorial in Renton, and it’s a really beautiful tribute.
- STEVE: Game of cat and mouse to start here.
- RIS: This is gonna be one of those matches that’s impossible to call note-for-note, even though they’re going to tell a precision story every step of the way. It seems like Danielson has saved up his best for this final full-time run, and I can’t wait to see how it continues to transpire.
- STEVE: Mox already doing more on commentary in the first minute here than he did for the entire previous match. Some really good analysis, comparing the technical styles of Danielson and ZSJ. I love when they have active wrestlers on commentary do that, adding to the realism of the match by explaining each wrestler’s strategy in terms of it being a sport.
- RIS: Even Mox couldn’t pretend to fully care about that last match, he knows who the people came to see. And you’re right, he’s doing a tremendous job of adding to the conversation. I feel like there’s a fine line between adding to the story and being obnoxious that some wrestlers cross all too easily, and Mox has managed to only do it once during the pre-show, where he was talking over a post-match promo. That’s impressive for someone who isn’t usually at the commentary table.
- STEVE: I wonder how much Zack and Bryan worked out ahead of time, and how much of this they’re just calling in the ring. They’re both so good and so comfortable in this style, that even though they’ve never worked together before (I think), it wouldn’t surprise me if they’ve got the finish and maybe a few major spots, and are just filling in the rest as they go.
- RIS: I think ZSJ and Danielson had discussed a “if we ever get the chance” a long time ago, and it must’ve been so devastating to miss out on that Forbidden Door match they were supposed to have last year. But also, if anyone could be trusted to call a match 100 percent in the ring, I can think of few better to entrust with that.
- STEVE: Really well paced match so far. I like that they’re not going a million miles per hour. They’re taking their time, circling each other, thinking and reacting and reversing, and giving it all time to breathe.
- RIS: Sometimes matches like this are hyped up so much that it’s impossible to deliver on, but these two are putting on the technical clinic that everyone expected.
- STEVE: And now the obligatory strike exchange, but damn they’re laying it in. And Bryan hurts his arm. Now we’re starting to get into the story of the match. Zack’s gonna pulverize that arm.
- RIS: I can’t help but be nervous when they work a real-life injury, especially one so recent. But he had to go along with it, and it wouldn’t be an appropriate ZSJ match if he didn’t take advantage of a weakness so well publicized in advance.
- STEVE: ZSJ is such a great cocky heel. He’s kicking Bryan and taunting him, and just comes off as such a dick. I love it. Bryan reverses into a single-leg crab.
- RIS: I agree, and the extra sauce on it is that he’s an even more dangerous version of that same cocky heel that Danielson was back in the ROH days. This is one of those dream matches that absolutely makes sense in every context. Holy shit, that spinning foot neck crank thing was scary!
- STEVE: Now they’re just taking turns ruining each other’s body parts. Bryan’s working the leg, and then Zack does that neck twist thing. They’re both gonna be crawling back to the locker room after this.
- RIS: They go up to the top turnbuckle facing away from each other, but fortunately for Danielson’s sake, it’s not Julia Hart, so he might have a chance of not being devastated if he flips it into the tree of woe.
- STEVE: Whew! Double-underhook superplex from the top rope by Danielson, and now they’re rolling around fighting over submission holds. Bryan trying for the LaBell Lock, but having trouble because of his injured arm.
- RIS: Maybe he’ll follow up on modifying it the same way he did with Okada, something to which they’ve pointed out the comparisons several times, and I doubt that’s entirely random.
- STEVE: I love Danielson, because I know he’ll sell that arm for the rest of the match, but at Forbidden Door when he actually had a broken arm for much of the match with Okada, I didn’t even know it until the match was over and they said so during the press conference.
- RIS: JR proclaims how great of a PPV it’s been, and it sounds genuine. JR has been notorious lately for being grumpy, so that’s nice to hear in addition to this absolute clinic we’re seeing.
- STEVE: For sure. JR buries AEW a lot on commentary, so much that even when I haven’t liked it, I’ve felt like he was being overly negative. But, he hasn’t had much to complain about tonight. This has been a good show, and this is a great match so far.
- RIS: I think that’s the first “Fight Forever” chant we’ve heard, and after the show we’ve seen, that’s saying something.
- STEVE: They’re seated opposite each other on the mat and they’ve graduated from trading slaps to trading kicks to the face. And now, back to their feet trading strikes to the injured body parts. They’ve got me wincing at a few of these, even though intellectually I know they’re only working. These guys are good.
- RIS: Knowing Danielson (I don’t know ZSJ as much but I’m sure it’s similar at least) the winces are probably with merit, because Danielson probably told him “don’t you dare take it easy on me, dammit!” Or something to that measure. And Mox is so into it that he blocked out his mic to yell something worth more of a fine than what he said on the pre-show. Whoops.
- STEVE: More kicks, and Danielson promises — for the second time in the match — to kick ZSJ’s head in. More fighting over an armbar, leading to a Regal-plex from Danielson. And the knee! And a kickout from Zack!
- RIS: The Regal-plex just reminds me that they make a ton of allusions to a star who is not only no longer with the company, but back with their competition, backstage role be damned. I think it’s neat that they don’t pretend that a wrestler doesn’t exist anymore if they’re not with the company.
- STEVE: Bryan gets the pin after another running knee strike. Damn. Fantastic match.
- RIS: That was everything I think we both hoped it would be, and what a show this is turning out to be. I’d hate to have to follow this match though, they must have something huge in the chamber for the main event.
- STEVE: I have my guesses for what they have planned for the end of the show, given the placement of that TNT Title match. Awww, and ZSJ refuses the handshake. What a heel.
- RIS: Absolutely, and even if it is that predictable, I’m still excited about it. Whether he’s called Ed G., or if as Kate from Fightful Select brilliantly said, if he’s about to introduce himself and suddenly Roddy comes out screaming “AAAAAAAAAADAM!”
- STEVE: You’ve ruined it for me, now if he doesn’t call himself Ed G., I’m gonna be disappointed.
- RIS: Danielson even giving Aubrey a hug, nice little moment for the Washingtonians there. They’re delivering as much as they did back in January. They don’t always play up the hometown crowd this much, but when you have Swerve, Darby, Aubrey, and Danielson, plus others, it goes a long way.
- STEVE: Honoring the Seattle-based wrestlers is what Inoki would have wanted.
- RIS: Despite the talent in this upcoming match, Jericho turning face before fighting Ospreay in the UK, and then somehow being the face after he literally alienated all his friends might be my least favorite angle in the company at this moment. The match I’m sure is going to deliver, even if it’s in another top spot.
- STEVE: The “Jericho and Omega as tag partners who hate each other” thing feels a little bit too close to the MJF/Cole story, or at least how it started, especially so soon after, with MJF/Cole still doing their thing. Plus, you’re right, the whole arc of it makes no sense. Why is Jericho a babyface here? Because they say so?
- RIS: Last night, we were even talking about how they seemed to be going for that MJF/AC “odd couple” mojo, but the two very long-winded promos that close to each other didn’t help it much.
- STEVE: Interesting that the babyface team is entering first, since they’re kind of a superteam. But, now here come the heels, led by Will Ospreay, who is wearing his customized UK version of the IWGP U.S. Title, which I really like. Nice looking belt.
- RIS: I may not care about this match, comparatively anyway, but the crowd is still into it. I suppose putting Don Callis near absolutely anything brings a certain guaranteed level of heat regardless.
- STEVE: The amount of heat Callis draws is really impressive. If you think about it, nothing he’s done since turning on Kenny has been any worse than anything typical heels have been doing since forever, but he just has this quality about him that makes him incredibly hateable. It’s quite something.
- RIS: The man took a single note and made it into a theme that’s the cue to boo the shit out of whatever follows. And holy shit, that missed kick by Ospreay on Omega had some zip on it. Speaking of heat though, I can’t help but think of the story a friend told me of saying at an indy show once that Sammy had the world’s most punchable face, but they were sitting right behind Sammy’s family and said it loud enough to be heard.
- STEVE: Ha! Fantastic. I have to say, I’ve been mixed on Sammy, but he’s so much better as a heel than as a babyface. He does have that “punchable face” quality, and he’s so good at being a weaselly, cocky little jerk that it’s kind of amazing they’ve ever tried to seriously push him as a babyface. He just works so much better as a heel.
- RIS: His most recent sort-of face run was at least better than the one with the TNT title and Scorpio Sky involved. Nice old school heel touch of getting on commentary while he’s out of the match, while Taz looks very uncomfortable for the moment. And it looks like Ospreay got a very intense cupping session right before the match started too.
- STEVE: Omega and Ospreay are noticeably stiffer with each other than the others. Not that I’m complaining.
- RIS: They’ve earned that trust with each other, particularly after that Forbidden Door match and the Tiger Driver that had me convinced Kenny Omega was broken. I also can’t help but find it adorable that Ibushi takes a moment after the dive to the outside to say hi to a couple kids at ringside.
- STEVE: Heh. Ibushi walks in, stares down Takeshita for a few seconds, then just walks away like “I see you, you ain’t nothin’.”
- RIS: For a minute I thought they referred to the “DDP Pro Wrestling Dojo” and that would be something very different than DDT.
- STEVE: It’s the DDT dojo, which I believe means they only teach them that one move. Though I could be wrong about that.
- RIS: You might be onto something there, I’ll have to look into that. To think, this match is after Danielson/ZSJ and Darby/Christian is still to come, and they’re still going this hard and this intense, and it doesn’t feel like it’s taking anything away from either of them. Other than the Starks/Yuta lull, this show has been so consistent in its delivery. Gotta get our goofy moment in there too, with Jericho and Ibushi doing a double pose. I don’t mind at all.
- STEVE: No, Ibushi is able to move back and forth from goofy to believable ass-kicker that it works. Now he’s in there with Kenny, to a “Golden Lovers” chant.
- RIS: Jericho really wanted as big of a tag-in pop as the other two, he waved for it as hard as he could. Not to play into the “can they co-exist” drama, but I am surprised at how well this match is working despite those two being on the same side. Doesn’t feel like a beat has been missed at all. Oof, Omega takes another nasty landing on a suplex, but much like the Tiger Driver at FB23, I can’t get worked by it because I’m sure that’s exactly the way he wanted it. But still…
- STEVE: Omega with a big dive to the outside on Ospreay and Takeshita, which I don’t mind because we haven’t seen that sort of thing much at all tonight. . . . And as soon as I say that, Sammy does his own dive. And I bet that’s not the last one.
- RIS: For an AEW show, the dives have been kept to a relative minimum, you’re right. And Jon Moxley made up for the 2021 Dynamite Shit-Quota, so everything’s running strong tonight. Not so strong, though, Sammy tries for the cutter and… not sure if he was short or what happened there. Jericho gets the Hulk up spot, which I think is the only one so far tonight after quite a few at All In. It got a Jericho chant going, so he got what he wanted, gotta give him credit.
- STEVE: And now Ibushi has come to kill everyone.
- RIS: That was so badass. Staring them down three-on-one, and still being like “yep, got ‘em exactly where I want ‘em.”
- STEVE: I like what they did just now, with Ibushi knocking Sammy and Ospreay out with one punch each, but then he can’t knock Takeshita down that easily.
- RIS: Everyone getting in their shots now, a particularly nice counter of the One-Winged Angel into the hurricanrana to the outside. This crowd is going nuts, and they’ve already had so much to cheer about.
- STEVE: And there’s that other dive I knew was coming, from Ospreay.
- RIS: On a night with relatively few shenanigans, Will holds onto Aubrey, who herself is working quite hard tonight, and keeps Jericho from getting the pin on Sammy. Hard to believe Jericho in the Walls didn’t see Callis take that long to get into the ring and hit him with the bat, but still. Family wins after a 38-minute ref distraction.
- STEVE: Not a great finish. A few too many shenanigans for my taste. But the match overall wasn’t bad. And I’m a little surprised, I figured if the heels won it would be Takeshita getting the pin, and it was Sammy.
- RIS: I am surprised, and at least the shenanigans were saved mostly until this point. It’s worse when it feels like all the matches have them. The last matches have been so good that I completely forgot about the tag title match, and that’s no disrespect to either team.
- STEVE: Two of the best tag teams working anywhere in the world right now, FTR and Aussie Open. Should be a good one.
- RIS: While AEW does have a problem with wrestlers/teams failing upward, as Aussie Open recently lost the ROH tag titles, so sure they should go for these. That’ll be irrelevant in a few minutes here when they’re in the ring for the match. Nobody has been as bad as Triple J though, how many title shots can you get from never winning?
- STEVE: Wrestlers getting title shots they’ve done nothing to earn, or because they won a three-way or a four-way they were randomly thrown into, is a somewhat common trope in AEW and WWE these days, and I really don’t care for it.
- RIS: I suppose. I guess I miss the ranking system and the statistics that used to be much more heavily featured. I like stats like that, and I don’t know why they gave up on it.
- STEVE: I liked the rankings, too. Whether they had rankings or not, I just wish the company felt like it had actual divisions, instead of having champions and challengers that are kind of just plucked from the ranks when it’s time to have a big match, which is mostly what it’s been.
- RIS: I don’t mind the exception being the International title, which has been the “open challenge, opening match banger” belt, and Orange Cassidy did a tremendous amount of work to make that title relevant that way. But, all the same, as a match this will be fun.
- STEVE: “But it’ll be a good match, though” has been the saving grace of AEW from the beginning.
- RIS: At least the matches that are foregone conclusions have been comparatively smaller than some recent shows. I don’t expect Aussie Open to win here, particularly with the run FTR has been on since returning, but stranger things have happened.
- STEVE: A do-si-do spot!
- RIS: And a long camera shot afterward, so I assume they just came back from Picture-in-Picture on the American feed. Aussie Open fitting in Seattle well with the green. The crowd is having fun with the Aussie chant and callback.
- STEVE: Nice combination from Aussie open just now, ending with an assisted powerbomb on Cash. The whole thing was impressive, and looked exhausting. Cash is earning his pay as the “Ricky Morton” in this one so far.
- RIS: Cash is taking some abuse here, even for a Ricky Morton face in peril. Now we’ve drifted into competing chants, right before Mark Davis gets punched right in the fuck, finally leading to the hot tag to Dax Harwood.
- STEVE: Dax throwing some serious clotheslines here.
- RIS: Mark Davis just getting angrier as he takes them. Which does remind me that they’ve done nothing to follow up on the MEATsterpiece from All Out with Hobbs and Miro. That’s a shame, but them mentioning Mark being a big meaty man reminded me of it.
- STEVE: I wonder if they have enough meaty guys on the roster to have a Beef Battle Royal or something. If so, I’m sure Tony will book it for some episode of Rampage coming up here before too long.
- RIS: Miro, Wardlow, Hobbs, Luchasaurus, Keith Lee, Shane Taylor, to name but a few. If they need someone to referee, they’ve got Butcher and the Blade waiting around for their moment too. And I’d be okay with that, might even make me watch a Rampage here or there.
- STEVE: Watch Rampage? Well, let’s not go nuts.
- RIS: You’re right, I suppose I did get ahead of myself there. Hell of a double-team/near-fall with the superplex combo, and it comes back to a neutral with all four of them just punching each other in the middle of the ring. Sometimes when things never change, it’s still a good thing. That attempt at the Shatter Machine by Aussie Open did not go well. Not sure what went wrong there, but it just missed.
- STEVE: They’re doing a pretty fair job of making these near-falls feel plausible, even though I still don’t believe Aussie Open are winning this thing.
- RIS: They’ve done enough to create doubt, which is more than I was expecting.
- STEVE: Goddamn. Spike piledriver on the apron by FTR, the sickos.
- RIS: Kyle Fletcher trying to take advantage of the moment, and we’ve got another square-off on the top turnbuckle that turns into a Super Shatter Machine. FTR gets the win, an even better match than expected!
- STEVE: Indeed. I expected a good match, given who was involved, but they managed to make the ending feel like less of a foregone conclusion than it was.
- RIS: I have to compliment AEW also on not having a single match end in a JBLdamn roll-up. They’ve been far too reliant on that one recently. All right Darby, the fellow hometowners have left a lot to live up to this evening, let’s see what ya got.
- STEVE: I love how Christian is talking to Darby in the build-up to this like, “Oh, your uncle is dead, not your dad? . . . Eh, close enough.”
- RIS: I was really sensitive to that gimmick the night that he first introduced himself to Nick Wayne, but that was also right after Terry Funk and like four other people I was connected to had died within a span of three days. This gimmick is at least in contention for the best that Christian has ever been, and not just for the memes. I have to compliment whoever put together the song at the end of Botchamania this past episode, with Christian saying “but your father’s dead, dead, dead” to the beat of his theme music.
- STEVE: I saw that. Hilarious. And yes, this heel run from Christian has been amazing. Not just the “your father is dead” stuff, which is great in its own right, but also the whole run with Luchasaurus where Christian was acting like the champion even though he wasn’t. I was disappointed when I saw that they had him actually win the title. But, now I think maybe that had something to do with what I assume they have up their sleeve for the end of this.
- RIS: Do you think it’s as a result of Nick Wayne turning on Darby? Which, if it does happen, is easily the most justified heel turn in recent memory. Like, Darby, Fox tried to slice him up at his own place and you’re just like nah, you’re fine. I can’t help but empathize with him.
- STEVE: Oh, that whole thing with AR Fox was embarrassingly bad. And yeah, it doesn’t make Darby look very good, especially relative to Nick. If Nick does turn on him, it will feel totally reasonable.
- RIS: Darby making up for the lack of blood on the show by pulling the Goldberg and bleeding before the match even starts. (I know it’s probably paint, it still works.)
- STEVE: Darby giving his skateboard away to a fan at ringside like a pair of Bret Hart’s sunglasses.
- RIS: Reminds me of how I missed the Bret Hart reference from MJF’s parody and thought it was Mean Joe Greene. But I’d rather have a skateboard than a pair of sunglasses too, lucky kid. Hopefully Christian doesn’t come over and try to take it while asking about their father.
- STEVE: Great line from Nigel on commentary about how Christian sees Darby as a son, “But not a legitimate son.”
- RIS: Nigel has been gold ever since they brought him in, but in this storyline in particular, he’s just gone to next level HAM. Now they’ve compared Darby’s nails to Cher, a reference that confuses even themselves.
- STEVE: Christian swearing at the crowd, telling them to shut up. He’s just been on another level as a heel since he turned on Jungle Boy.
- RIS: I’ve always loved the stories I’ve heard from people who worked with them, about how if they were in a match with him, they’d relax because they knew Christian would put it all together. I’m so glad he’s getting this big run, he was never utilized to his full and deserved potential.
- STEVE: He’s great, and he’s been great for a long time. I remember being so happy that he won the World Title in WWE after Edge had to retire. But of course, that was the OTHER World Title in WWE, not the real top title, and that run didn’t really amount to much. So, this run in AEW actually feels like a bigger deal. And Darby takes the first fall!
- RIS: That came out of nowhere, and he used the leverage of the Turtleneck! That’s gonna be a particular kind of backlash from someone specific in my house. Hi, I know you’re reading.
- STEVE: Well, it is a shame, you know, you spend a little money on a custom fighting turtleneck, and then the guy you’re wrestling uses it to cheat against you. It’s just fundamentally unfair.
- RIS: That’s the unexpected twist to the end of Fargo I wasn’t expecting. “Messing up the turtleneck for what? A little bit of money? A first fall for the TNT title? Was it worth it?”
- STEVE: She definitely deserved that Oscar.
- RIS: Two votes. How’d you like to have the seats behind Nick Wayne’s Mom over there?
- STEVE: Heh. “HEY! Sit down!”
- RIS: Maybe she’s in on it with Nick too, wouldn’t that be a twist?
- STEVE: I hope they’re secretly having an affair, and that they are very happy together. And Darby with the best looking dive in the business leading to a coffin drop.
- RIS: Agreed, you can never hope for too much happiness in wrestling. Also yes, Darby’s dives always look like he’s legit throwing himself into a person or whatever he’s hitting. Probably because he actually is. Speaking of which, the announce table.
- STEVE: His dives always look great, and like actual offensive moves. The coffin drop is a great finish — I’m still annoyed that he’s ever allowed anyone to kick out of it. Darby’s one of my favorites.
- RIS: He’s got that intensity about him that just puts it over the top in the best of ways. Not quite the same kind of intensity as, say, an Eddie Kingston, but it’s relatively authentic and believable in a similar sense. But… wait, what the hell happened? Either he was supposed to roll out of it, or he wasn’t and we just got spared a devastating fall from the apron onto the steps.
- STEVE: Yeah, that felt like something didn’t go as planned. I assumed Christian decided he didn’t want to suplex Darby onto the steps like that from the apron. But apparently he was fine with slamming him on them from the apron a minute later.
- RIS: This leads to Christian getting a countout victory to even it up. That was really clever, and this is yet another example of Darby being both so tough and legitimately wild with his moves that he’s either selling the hell out of it or he’s really hurt, and I don’t know which one it is. The stretcher is being brought out, and Christian is tearing off the ring apron.
- STEVE: When they were going over the back in the locker room beforehand, Christian said “So, what do you want to do?” and Darby said “I want you to murder me.”
- RIS: If I’d believe that anyone would say that, it’d be Darby. Christian’s getting ahead of the ring crew and taking the ring apart. Holy freaking hell, he now just frog splashed Darby on the damn stretcher!
- STEVE: I actually laughed. What a massive dick. And he’s taking up the ring canvas and mat, because I guess he’s thinking “If he’s still alive after being slammed on the steps, I’ll just roll him in here and kill him the rest of the way.”
- RIS: Now they’ve got half a ring left to work with, and Christian is getting repeated (and deserved) “you sick fuck” chants. Now he’s done the Unprettier on the bare ring boards, and Darby somehow still kicked out. Huge Darby chant breaking out as a result. They’ve saved all the legit crazy shit for this match. I now understand for multiple reasons why this is the main event.
- STEVE: And the ref is allowing it, because apparently pulling the ring apart and exposing the boards is totally legal.
- RIS: Call the match as a shoot, no matter what? I guess?
- STEVE: Coffin drop! Awwwww. And a kickout. Boo.
- RIS: Coffin Drop on the exposed ring, and they’re still going. You were saying about people kicking out of the Coffin Drop, but this was an extra example of that.
- STEVE: I mean, if Christian is winning, I don’t mind him winning, but I really wish they’d protect that finisher more, because it’s such a cool and unique move.
- RIS: Ref bump, at least Bryce got to take it on the padding. But now will Darby go for the pinfall despite seeing the ref get taken out? Is this the first ref bump tonight? I think it is.
- STEVE: Yeah, I think it is. They’re really loading this one up with bells and whistles. Here’s Nick Wayne to prevent Christian from hitting Darby with the TNT Title belt.
- RIS: Here’s the two-on-one standoff though, is he gonna turn? They’re holding on it way too long.
- STEVE: There it is. Nick turns on Darby.
- RIS: I’m on his side. Apparently Mom wasn’t in on it though. How in the shiny blue fuck do they have the nerve to be surprised?
- STEVE: Christian wins and retains, and breaks up another family, so all in all a good night for him.
- RIS: Can’t end here. Can’t just tear up the ring like that and have that be all. They’ve been going extra all night.
- STEVE: Somebody’s gonna have to save Darby from this two-on-one assault. Because I guess it’s Sting’s night off?
- RIS: Hey, good point. Where the hell is Sting? Oh, there he is.
- STEVE: Speak of the devil! He just strolls out. “Hey, you! What are you doing?”
- RIS: “I guess I’ll come out now. Enough abuse has happened at this point.” Luchasaurus comes out to make it 3-on-2, so now…. Come on, I don’t care if everyone is predicting it, do it!
- STEVE: At least they thought to include Sting so we wouldn’t wonder why he didn’t come to the rescue.
- RIS: They’re going for the Con-Chair-To, it’s too perfect. Do it!
- STEVE: Right? Come on.
- RIS: Lights out! Our Feature Presentation! Badass old car, pyro in the background!
- STEVE: Sexton Hardcastle is in the house! Oh damn, and Tony popped for the song and everything.
- RIS: With the Alterbridge song and a re-edited “You Think You Know Me!” I don’t care if we saw it coming, I popped so freaking loud!
- STEVE: They’re really milking this. Who’s side is he on! And there we go.
- RIS: Two swerves (no Strickland) on “who will they hit with the weapon?” And two nasty spears on the exposed ring. Why does the Alterbridge song sound like it’s being played down a well?
- STEVE: And Christian bails before contact, to save that for later. Nicely done. I see what you mean about the song, though. I wonder why it sounds like that. You wouldn’t think they mixed it that way because they had to. I mean, if Tony got the rights, he got the rights.
- RIS: Edge, Sting, and Darby all shaking hands to get another few massive pops out of it. What an absolute blast of a show, (almost) entirely from start to finish. What do you think, Steve?
- STEVE: I agree, I liked it a lot. Nothing was really bad, it felt like it was well paced even though it ran almost exactly four hours. A couple of the matches were genuinely outstanding, and it had the ending that we expected but also that we hoped we would get. So, thumbs up for me.
- RIS: Sometimes the obvious thing is actually the best thing. Just because you see it coming doesn’t make it bad. And it was a joy and privilege to spend the evening hanging out with you, my friend. A four hour wrestling show and sharing thoughts on it, couldn’t have asked for a better time. Before we go though, I have to ask one very important question… Who is your HAM of the Night?
- STEVE: That’s really tough, because there are a few solid candidates. I think I’m gonna go with Christian, though, for that splash to Darby on the stretcher. Not only did I actually laugh out loud, it’s one of the most over-the-top gratuitously evil things I’ve seen a heel do in a while.
- RIS: I have to agree with you, so it’s gonna be two votes for Christian. You know when you apply the qualifier “extra” to Christian and it’s true, there’s little that can compete with it. Thank you so much, Steve, where can the people find you if they want to get your thoughts on wrestling and various other nerderies?
- STEVE: The best place to find me is my YouTube channel, youtube.com/SteveShives, where you can see far more of me, talking about various subjects, then you could ever possibly want or need. And, thanks so much for inviting me to join you for this! I had a great time.
- Completely mutual, thank you so much. Enjoy your night, and I’ll see ya soon
1/4/23 – The Gunns
1/11/23 – Daddy Magic
1/13/23 – Danhausen
1/18/23 – Sonjay Dutt
1/20/23 – Stokely Hathaway
1/25/23 – Tony Schiavone
1/27/23 – Danhausen
2/1/23 – Jade Cargill
2/3/23 – Ethan Page
2/8/23 – MJF
2/10/23 – STIIIIIIING
2/15/23 – Ruby Soho
2/17/23 – Dustin Rhodes
2/22/23 – Chris Jericho
2/24/23 – Matt Hardy
3/1/23 – Big Bill
3/3/23 – Jungle Boy
3/5/23 – MJF
3/8/23 – Anthony Bowens
3/10/23 – Riho
3/15/23 – MJF/Darby Allin/Jungle Boy/Sammy Guevara
3/22/23 – STIIIIIING
3/29/23 – Juice Robinson
3/31/23 – Eddie Kingston
4/5/23 – MJF
4/7/23 – Darby Allin/Julia Hart
4/12/23 – STIIIIIIIIING
4/14/23 – 2.0/Biff Hager
4/19/23 – Sammy Guevara
4/26/23 – MJF
5/3/23 – Triple J/Mark Briscoe
5/5/23 – The Firm Deletion – All of it
5/10/23 – Chuck Taylor and Trent Baretta
5/17/23 – Toni Storm
5/24/23 – Jay White
5/28/23 – Darby Allin
5/31/23 – Juice Robinson
6/7/23 – MJF
6/9/23 – Ethan Page
6/14/23 – The cardboard cutout of Saraya
6/17/23 – CM Punk
6/21/23 – Adam Cole/MJF
6/23/23 – Anthony Bowens
6/24/23 – Powerhouse Hobbs
6/25/23 – Will Ospreay
6/28/23 – Keith Lee
7/1/23 – Andrade
7/5/23 – Adam Cole/MJF
7/7/23 – Daniel Garcia
7/8/23 – Samoa Joe
7/12/23 – Jack Perry
7/17/23 – Ricky Starks
7/19/23 – MJF and Adam Cole
7/22/23 – Ricky Starks
7/26/23 – Jeff Hardy
7/31/23 – Samoa Joe
8/2/23 – Swerve
8/4/23 – Kris Statlander
8/5/23 – Christian Cage
8/9/23 – MJF and Adam Cole
8/11/23 – Orange Cassidy
8/12/23 – Ricky Starks
8/16/23 – MJF and Adam Cole
8/18/23 – Ruby Soho
8/19/23 – Toni Storm
8/23/23 – Billy Gunn
8/25/23 – Kris Statlander
8/26/23 – Eddie Kingston
8/27/23 – Nigel McGuinness
8/31/23 – Toni Storm
9/1/23 – Claudio Castagnoli
9/3/23 – Samoa Joe
9/6/23 – Roderick Strong
9/9/23 – Cardblade
9/13/23 – MJF
9/16/23 – Prince Nana
9/20/23 – MJF/Adam Cole
9/27/23 – Paul Wight
10/1/23 –