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Good Morning!
We’ve got this dog, Zelda. Well, actually, we’ve got two dogs, Ditka and Zelda. Zelda is our lovable, neurotic “replacement” dog. That is to say, when our beloved semi-foster dog, Frank the Pug, passed away during a routine surgery several years ago, we were heartbroken. We went to Rocky Mountain Puppy Rescue the next day and got her. Needless to say, it was a knee jerk reaction, but one that gave us the weirdest addition to our weird pack.
Zelda is a terrier mix, but that’s about as far as we can figure on her lineage. She’s wiry, hairy, overly cuddly, and goes absolutely insane when people come into, or anywhere near, the house – not in an aggressive way, just in a “happy to see you” way. We love her, and despite the occasional diva attitude towards food, she loves us back.
A strange thing has happened over the past few months, though. As we discussed, my little sidekick Mudge the Pug passed away on Christmas, and we have yet to decide if we want to take in another pup, especially since the other two dogs are getting older too. But Zelda has decided to take on more of a “dog” role in the house, as opposed to “weird overly cuddly child.” She’s bringing toys to me for the first 15-20 minutes I’m in the office, she plays fetch, she barks and plays – all things she never really did before. I wonder if she is trying to fill the void that the dumb little sister left. Of course, more often than not she decides to go full cute pupper right when I’m sitting down to work on something for the blog or SlashGear, which means I’m kind of an asshole in her eyes. That’s not fair! Be a pup when we’re hanging out!
It's a terrible thing, this dog owning. You know when you get into it you're going to outlive the things. You know you're going to love them, because they're willing to love you unconditionally. And you know the heartache you'll feel when they pass on. But you're still willing to risk it, because it's one of the best relationships you'll ever know. It's heartbreaking but in a way that reminds you that life is worth living, and that love is worth sharing, even if it's just with some dumb little furball that licks your face and sheds on your furniture.
Zelda is just so empathetic. On some level, she probably knows she's our "replacement," a mutt that was brought in to fill a pug-sized void in our hearts. My wife has been thinking about getting another pug, because we've kind of accepted that we're pug people. But while Ditka is our old guy, and our pugs are beloved memories, Zelda will always be special because of what she represents to me -- a little ball of fur that knows what our family needs, and is more than happy to change for the betterment of us all. That's a rare trait in any friendship, and one I don't think many of us have.
“It’s A Soap Opera With More Suplexes and Less Violence”
…in which I discuss the storylines that keep us watching week to week
I wanted to write about AEW Dynasty because I didn’t write about WrestleMania (I still might) but also because it was a fantastic show! There was maybe one match I didn’t love, and one story beat I could have done without, but otherwise it was a lot of fun! In keeping with the “untitled blog” theme, we’ll do more of a chat than a structured match-by-match recap.
The decision to start the show proper with Pac and Kazuchika Okada was interesting, because AEW has a tendency to want to kick things off with a high-energy banger. I was thinking maybe the ladder match with the Young Bucks and FTR, or maybe the Copeland-and-pals versus House of Black match. But Pac and Okada put on a master class in pacing, keeping things slow to start but unleashing devastating attacks to keep things exciting, but even-keeled until the finish. The outcome was predictable – Okada isn’t about to drop his new championship while the new Elite is still being established – but I still had my doubts a few times. And the audience’s reassurance of Pac after the loss was kinda heartwarming; the “he’s our bastard” chants seemed to really affect the guy.
Actually, a lot of the outcomes on Dynasty were predictable, but that didn’t make them any less interesting. Of the 12 announced matches, we were right on 11 of them. And in hindsight, it makes sense that House of Black FINALLY picked up a win on a pay-per-view, adding fuel to the rivalry between Adam Copeland and Malachai Black and hopefully getting us a singles match between the two at Double or Nothing with Cope’s TNT championship on the line.
I was hoping for Willow Nightingale to win, and when I heard that TBS champ Julia Hart was working through a shoulder injury, I figured it was even more likely to happen at Dynasty. Sure enough, the match was basically an extended squash, and Willow got her moment. Unfortunately, it was literally just a moment, because Mercedes Moné was there to interrupt her celebration to reiterate that she’d be challenging for the TBS Championship at Double or Nothing.
So either the rankings don’t matter, don’t count towards mid-level championships, or don’t apply towards Mercedes, who hasn’t wrestled a match in over a year. Honestly, I’m already getting tired of her. She hasn’t done anything but wear some stylish outfits and have a theme song that instructs the audience to chant, and she either can’t or won’t do anything physical yet. Also, about that chant – in a promotion where the EVPs are actively involved in storylines, does it make sense to claim another wrestler is CEO, but not as a title, just as a gimmick? Maybe I’m just nitpicking here, but it’s a miss in presentation for me.
She’s going to take that TBS title from Willow in about a month, and hopefully she reminds me why she’s considered one of the best in the world in the ring, because AEW has given her plenty of chances to remind me that she’s not on that level on the microphone. I liked Sasha Banks, and I’m looking forward to liking Mercedes Mone, I’m just not there yet. I’m all in on Willow Nightingale, though. She’s a peach!
Roddy Strong and Kyle O’Reilly (Kylo Reilly to me and my household) had a solid match, but nothing that couldn’t have headlined a Dynamite. And then Chris Jericho did the one thing nobody wanted and defeated HOOK for the FTW Championship. I had this feeling in my gut that Jericho was going to talk his way into forcing the audience’s rejection of him into an angle, but he’s not getting regular boos here, he’s getting “go home heat,” that rare flavor of vitriol where the crowd just does its best to get someone out of the ring and off their TVs.
Jericho has reinvented himself more times than I can count, and many of those reinventions have been successful. But he’s also done those things while taking breaks from TV, and it really feels like he’s just unwilling to go away for a while. Maybe he’s afraid of losing his spot, or facing the very relatable fear of being replaced by younger, more popular wrestlers. Whatever it is, taking the FTR title while also forcing this program with HOOK feels desperate, like he’s hanging on to a popular young performer just to take credit for that popularity. Hopefully it’s a short program, one that ends with HOOK getting his family’s title back and Jericho going on a cruise or a Fozzy tour.
Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa switched this show into overdrive, and the last four matches were all certified main event level performances. These two women beat the hell out of each other, and even though I was pretty sure Mariah May is the one who will eventually relieve Storm of her AEW Women’s Championship, I talked myself into the makeup-less Thunder Rosa getting back the title she never lost, but had to relinquish due to injuries.
Seriously, if you somehow have access to the whole show but are wondering what’s really worth the time, watch the opener and the final four and you’ll be impressed. There was a bit of shmozz in the back half of Rosa/Toni when Deonna Purrazzo, frenemy of Rosa, dealt with the distraction of May, but that means we’ve got four women involved in the main title picture, which is never a bad thing. I’ll be interested to see what direction they head in for next month’s Double or Nothing PPV, whether it’s a rematch between Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm, or whether Purrazzo and/or May get involved.
That Will Ospreay match with Bryan Danielson was something else. I’m literally watching it a third time on my second monitor while I’m writing this. Folks are already calling it a contender for best of the year, or even best of all time, and I’m inclined to agree with at least the former statement. Incredible pacing, amazing moves including a few that we rarely see, an incredible anime-looking finishing sequence, and an interesting angle after the match all added up to one of the best bits of storytelling in a wrestling ring.
And for those folks who are adamant that we aren’t allowed to fully appreciate the match because Ospreay was a jerk in his younger days, maybe remember that the guy seems genuinely contrite, was young, and also deals with some mental health issues every day of his life. And even if that’s not enough for you, personally, sometimes you gotta be able to separate art from the artist. It’s true in music, in cinema, and in professional wrestling.
The example that many people from my generation of wrestling enthusiasts point to is Chris Benoit. What he did as a person was reprehensible, regardless of what led to it. However, watching his matches in a bubble, the guy was an incredible performer, and his win at WrestleMania 20 was one a lot of us won’t ever forget, especially when he and Eddie Guerrero celebrated with their championships to close out the show.
It’s a rough business, and always has been, and there will always be people whose personalities or politics aren’t the same as yours. That’s fair, and if you can’t square those things away in a healthy way, maybe it's best to just not watch them. I know a lot of people have been actively avoiding MLW because they signed Matt Riddle, and I understand that. Actually, I’m just incurious and not-online enough to not know why, but one can glean from the occasional visit to BlueSky or Twitter that he’s not the best guy.
Regardless, you can’t say that a match isn’t good simply because you don’t like one of the participants – I’ll admit that Logan Paul is a good wrestler while also acknowledging that he’s kind of a turd, but that WrestleMania 40 match with Kevin Owens and Randy Orton was still a blast.
But I digress! My point is, even if one doesn’t like Ospreay (or Danielson, for that matter) one has to admit that their match was fantastic.
And then the Young Bucks, who I’ll say right off the bat aren’t my favorite, met FTR for the AEW Tag Team Championships and had to follow the aforementioned match of the year candidate, and somehow managed to keep the crowd interested and put on a hell of a match in their own right! I’ve seen some talk that this match wasn’t anticipated for much more than the expected Jack Perry interference, but I thought the Bucks and FTR understood their place on the card and added the ladder stipulation to keep things as intense as possible. There were some intense spots, a lot of blood from Uncle Dax’s forehead, and a terrific “Please be careful” chant from the St. Louis crowd, which was incredible all night long. When a masked fan ran in to knock Dax off the ladder, we all knew it was Jack Perry, but the reveal was well done and Perry must have practiced what version of “smug prick smile” he would use, because it was perfect.
So Jack Perry is back, meaning my least favorite storyline in AEW must continue – the CM Punk backstage kerfuffle fallout. Part of why I don’t like the Young Bucks’ shtick is because of all the little “too cute” meta storylines they love. A lot of people like it! It’s just not for me. I do like a lot of their in-ring work, and as champs we’ll likely get some good matches down the line, especially since they have rebuilt the Elite with Okada and, I would assume, Perry. It’s fine, though. Bad guys get to do bad guy stuff, I’ll cringe at the “clever” promos, and eventually the Bucks will get their comeuppance.
I will also admit that I had my doubts going into the main event. My worry was that the moment might have been dulled because Swerve Strickland wasn’t facing his rival Hangman Adam Page. Or that Swerve might already be considered a transitional champion, since Will Ospreay fighting for that championship at All In in the UK seems to be a given. But Samoa Joe was also called a transitional champ, and I think he’s done a fantastic job as the tweener tough guy champ, being cheered when the match called for it or respectfully booed when he was the baddie.
When Swerve hit the stomp and got the pinfall, I felt like his long, long journey had finally paid off. I’ve been following his career since Lucha Underground, where he performed under a mask as Killshot, and during his NXT run where he was honestly terribly booked and never really got the shot he should have. But in AEW he’s been able to work his way into the main event, and in the process has built a rival in Hangman that might be the Rock/Stone Cold of this promotion.
The fact that Swerve managed to do a home invasion – in which he literally threatened a man’s baby – and worked himself into the good guy role against Joe in a matter of months is something of a miracle, and I think a lot of that has to do with AEW’s audience being able to keep kayfabe separate from real life. Swerve has earned our respect, and he earned that belt. Even if a long title run isn’t to be, he will always be a champion – the first Black AEW World Heavyweight Champion – and nobody can take that away from him.
Closing Up Shop
…in which I say goodbye for now
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