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Good Morning!
A lot has happened since we last talked! AEW’s Double or Nothing was a success, a good and at times great show with some standout matches. We’ve also gone in some interesting directions since that show, both due to booking decisions and Adam Copeland’s nasty injury.
Before we dive in, I want to talk a little bit about expectations, headcanon, and fantasy booking. After Wednesday’s Dynamite, I saw a lot of discourse about how disappointed so many fans are with the decision to have Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland square off at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view in a few weeks. Some folks are worried that it means Ospreay is already going to be taking the AEW World Championship off of Strickland; others feel like AEW is “blowing” this dream match by scheduling it so soon after Ospreay’s debut. And still others believe that Ospreay should be doing something with his newly-won International Championship, and staying away from the world title picture until he’s ready to win it.
I agree with all those concerns, to a degree. I think I would have preferred Ospreay take on an international star, Hechicero or someone from NJPW for example. I would have liked Strickland to also have one of the performers that isn’t a part of the AEW roster to feature against the champ, since Forbidden Door is kind of an interpromotional exhibition. However, I don’t see any reason for concern.
When AEW brought Ospreay, Mercedes Mone, and Kazuchika Okada into the company, it was fair to assume none of them would be eating a pin anytime soon. However, it’s been a few months now, and with Okada being a part of the biggest heel faction in the promotion, and Mercedes playing a heel-lite role, Will Ospreay’s friendly, crowd loving character is the one to play the victim here. He’ll look strong even in a loss, the match will be incredible, and I imagine that we’ll see the storyline between Ospreay, Don Callis, and whoever distracts or interferes with Will from the Family develop further.
The problem that can happen when we get our hopes up, or talk ourselves into a certain story, is that we can get angry or frustrated when a promoter goes in a different direction. Because once we get started down those rabbit holes, it’s hard not to keep fantasy booking for months ahead. And if those plans are dashed by Tony Khan or Triple H, one can easily fall into the trap of being predisposed to not liking the direction simply because it doesn’t mesh with one’s own plan.
I’ve always been a firm believer in “letting it play out.” That’s not to say I don't get annoyed with booking, whether it’s Tony’s constant tournaments or Trips’ affinity for every bad guy being “cool and relatable.” In the end, though, it’s nothing to get mad about. I don’t have any stake in this stuff, and neither do you. It’s just wrestling, right?
Recapping Raw, King and Queen of the Ring, Dynamite, and Double or Nothing
I assure you, this won’t be the slog it sounds like. I don’t know why I think I’ll make time to write separate blog posts for all this stuff, but I think I bit off more than I can chew again. I watched both PPVs and Raw and Dynamite, but still haven’t caught up with NXT despite having most of the show spoiled for me (which is fine, I’m too old to know what a Sexxy Red is anyways). So we’ll kinda double up on results and where we’re going.
Swerve Strickland beat Christian Cage to retain his AEW World Championship, in a match that was really good despite its predictable outcome. That was kind of a theme for the weekend – apart from a few surprises, almost everything went according to expectations. Dynamite, however, sent those expectations out the window when Will Ospreay became Swerve’s next challenger. This is the part where I admit that, while I’m excited for that match, I almost never catch Forbidden Door. It’s not out of malice or spite, I just have happened to be out of town or busy when the show is scheduled, and it falls on a friend’s birthday this year. So unless I get out of it somehow (unlikely) I’ll be missing yet another PPV.
Although, I mean, they expanded to like 12 a year and they’re fifty bucks a pop, I won’t die from not watching. You’ll catch me up, won’t you dear reader?
Liv Morgan was the big surprise, possibly the only surprise, on WWE’s Saudi show. She defeated Becky Lynch with a little Dominik Mysterio interference, and repeated the performance on Monday in a steel cage match. Dom was rewarded with a smooch for his “accidental” efforts, although one could argue that Liv was the kissER and Dominik was the kissEE.
Gunther and Nia Jax became King and Queen of the Ring, with Gunther treating the crown like a bauble with a title shot attached and Nia fully embracing her new royal image. I love both of these decisions, and I can see Gunther facing Drew McIntyre after Drew wins the title from Damian Priest in Scotland. Both of those matches sound pretty fun!
What else was good…oh, right, Darby Allin set Jack Perry on fire before Allin was hung upside down in the middle of the ring. Anarchy in the Arena is always a good time, and this year was no exception. If you’ve got the means, that was one of the best matches of the night.
Adam Copeland went full Vampire Edge for his entrance, and he defeated Malakai Black despite Cope breaking his tibia in a poorly-executed leap from the top of the steel cage in which their match took place. That whole match was a bloody good time, and both guys put themselves through hell before beloved vampire Gangrel tore through the mat to attack the House of Black and help Copeland get the win.
That injury meant the Young Bucks had a reason to yank the TNT title from Adam Copeland, and they immediately did what we were expecting and gave the belt to their pal Jack Perry. However, new “interim EVP” slash Tony Khan mouthpiece Christopher Daniels said why would we give a guy a title when we could have qualifying matches and put on a LADDER MATCH for the TNT championship at Forbidden Door. We’re already getting my sweet Cinnabon son Konosuke Takeshita battling Penta el Zero Miedo for the first spot, and if all the matches are on this level I’ll be pretty stoked.
Mercedes Mone got the expected win over Willow Nightingale, but she’s still doing her best to play tweener. She offered some supportive words to Willow on Wednesday’s Dynamite during her championship celebration, and a surprise match against Skye Blue was pretty good too!
More importantly, the match rocked. As much as I don’t like that finisher, it kinda made sense in the context of the match, so I’m willing to overlook it. I’m still not completely sold on Mercedes in AEW, but I’m sure I’ll be chanting CEO along with the rest of the crowd when Dynamite comes to Colorado next week!
Trent Baretta beat Orange Cassidy, and Konosuke Takeshita lost his eliminator match against Jon Moxley. I really didn’t like either call, and Dynamite only made me double down on that. Cassidy followed up his victory with a dumb “accept the contract offer from the villain” bit that led to Baretta signing with the Don Callis family. So, to be clear, Callis actually wanted to sign the guy who never wins when it counts, and not the guy who was undefeatable as International champ for months.
And Moxley? Man, the guy can’t even lose a qualifying match? Who does that help? If anything, it made Take look worse, because Mox was playing the role of injured guy the whole match. He still beat Takeshita, a villain who desperately needs a turn or a real direction. And then he beat Rocky Romero (who, to be fair, hasn't had a singles win in AEW since Dark Elevation existed) in a second Eliminator match on Dynamite just to double down on how cool and tough he is. That annoyed me. I should have added Moxley to that intro, because he’s another guy AEW just can't allow to lose.
I like Moxley, I really do. But I'm not into his current character, and I don't like the Blackpool Combat Club as a unit. There's no reason for it, and the sooner Claudio abandons everybody to join Adam Cole as a full time streamer/part time wrestler, the better.
Oh, and MJF made his return! Shortly after Adam Cole popped up to re-establish that he's still a jerk, and still injured, a first-person video showed someone getting a scarf, a diamond ring, . Max offered a hug, followed up with a kick to the junk, and cut a passionate promo that let us know he's still a good guy (for now) but he's done with the cutesy friendship stuff. He wasn't around on Dynamite, meaning he was waiting for Loveland Colorado, home of AEW's most excitable fan base, to make his Dynamite return next week.
That feels about right, as far as covering the big happenings. Some folks won, some folks lost, and our PPV record for the weekend was 15/18. That’s not too shabby!
Closing Up Shop
And that’s it! I’ve been working on some house projects leading up to my wife’s 39th birthday extravaganza, but I try to make a point to post at least once a week. There aren’t any PPVs this weekend, but we’ve got qualifiers for the AEW TNT Championship ladder match and possibly the Owen Hart cup as well? Besides, I gotta pay attention this weekend so I know what’s going on when I go to the show on Wednesday. We’ll take pics, I’ll try to be observant towards what happens, and I might even try to talk with some other fans. It’s always a blast, and while this is a new location for AEW (its third since they started coming out here) I’m sure we’ll have a good turnout.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me in the comments or on my social media accounts. And if you're feeling super generous, you can buy me a Ko-fi using the link on the bottom of the page (assuming it actually works.) I’ll be back sometime next week, but until then…Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!