I love a Saturday in Suburbia. The sun is shining, the lawn care machines are running, the kids are shooting hoops in the cul-de-sac. My wife and her buddy are watching something in the other room and laughing maniacally, but that’s why they made headphones. The wife and I spent the better part of this morning on lawn care duty, picking up after my two pups, laying down clover and grass seed, and burning the weeds and brush we cleared out earlier this week. I watched SmackDown this morning while grocery shopping, a surprisingly easy task when the store is mostly empty. And now we’re here, ready to recap SmackDown and add to it once Collision airs. It’s almost WrestleMania week! SUPER EXCITING TIMES!
Weekend Rasslin'!
With the weekend having been pretty busy, let’s jump right in with some thoughts on the penultimate SmackDown before WrestleMania, an episode of WWE TV that surprisingly didn’t focus on the Bloodline’s story. We got four matches, none of them great but all serviceable, and they were there to move their respective plot lines along anyways. We saw A-Town Down Under defeat a distracted Street Profits, and the New Catch Republic take out the previously-assaulted Humberto and Angel of the Legado del Fantasma. Those two winners will get to fight for the tag belts at WrestleMania, along with DIY, Awesome Truth, the New Day, and current champions Judgment Day. I would love to see R-Truth get a title win at WrestleMania, even if that means Miz gets another one as well. Truth is a ray of sunshine, and deserves the reward of even just a short title reign. The guy is just universally beloved, like Paul Rudd or Kermit the Frog.
We got a couple more matches announced during the show, too! Jade Cargill signed her SmackDown contract, and after the main event arrived to help Naomi and Bianca Belair as they were getting assaulted by Damage CTRL. She’ll be teaming up with Naomi and Belair against the Kabuki Warriors and Dakota Kai, just like we predicted last week! I think it’s a great way to showcase Jade in the ring next to and against a bunch of veteran performers who can help make her look good in the ring, and I envy Kairi Sane, who I imagine will be getting tossed around the ring by Jade.
The Ligado del Fantasma and Latino World Order had a big promo-off that led to Rey Mysterio and the newest member of the LWO, Dragon Lee, challenging Dominic Mysterio and Santos Escobar to a tag match at WrestleMania that will undoubtedly feature both of these groups in an all-out brawl by the end. I was hoping for a big old street fight, but this should be fun as Lee is fantastic and the other folks have all proven their chops in the ring.
Some good promo work tonight, as well, headed up by IYO SKY getting to talk smack to Bayley in Japanese! I love me a good native language promo, because it feels more natural and even though I’m reading subtitles I can sense the annunciation and passion that sometimes doesn’t come across when folks are using a second language. Bayley was polite enough to let IYO say what she had to say before absolutely jacking her on the set of that video, tossing lighting setups and beating her down before the crew realized their equipment was at risk and stepped in.
Naomi and Bianca had a really sweet friendly chat a little later, and AJ Styles got to talk in the ring before getting assaulted (again) by LA Knight. Oh, and we got a glimpse of a non-goth Isla Dawn trying to chat up GM Nick Aldis. All good stuff, everybody got their point across in their own ways.
AEW Collision opened up with Adam Copeland heading to the ring for an open challenge, just ten days removed from his incredibly brutal match for the TNT Championship against Christian Cage. Cope offered up a title shot, and beloved indie deathmatch king Matt Cardona accepted. The two had a really fun match, with commentary doing a great job of catching those of us not in the know about the long mentor/student relationship the two had. The outcome never really seemed in doubt, but it was a cool surprise and a good match with a creative finish.
Oh, and speaking of cool surprises – post match, the lights went down and Malakai Black appeared in the ring when they came back. That was enough of a distraction to allow Black’s pal Buddy Matthews to attack Copeland from behind, but Mark Briscoe and Eddie Kingston arrived to even the odds. Briscoe and Kingston will be fighting at Friday’s Ring of Honor show, but we’d find out later that the pair will team with Cope at AEW Dynasty against the House of Black.
After some promos setting up Billy Gunn vs Jay White, with the two men’s factions staying in back, we got FTR versus The Infantry in the OTHER tag team tournament we’re keeping up with. Infantry looked great in this one, actually much better than the squeak-by victory they got over the House of Black to get here. FTR, as always, was solid, letting the younger men look faster before catching up by way of their veteran savvy.
A squash for the recently-returned Kyle O’Reilly (or Kylo Reilly, as we call him ‘round these parts) was next, followed by a celebration by the Undisputed Kingdom with their old pal. Then we had the second tournament match, with Top Flight taking on Big Bill and Ricky Starks, the latter of whom we haven’t seen much of since they lost the tag titles to Sting and Darby. It was what you’d expect from the high-flying Martin brothers and Bill and Starks, although there was a scary moment when Ricky suffered what’s been called a “stinger,” which might have led to Top Flight getting the win as a precaution/call on the fly kind of thing. Thankfully, Starks has said on social media that he’s okay, and since it feels like this whole tournament was set up for us to get to another FTR/Young Bucks match anyway, I don’t think it’s that big a setback for the Big/Ricky team.
A good match between Thunder Rosa and Lady Frost followed, and I have been noticing that Rosa acts kinda mad for her matches lately. Like, not salty, per se, but definitely like she’s got a chip on her shoulder, or feels disrespected by booking. Regardless, it was a solid fight, and Lady Frost is really good in the role AEW has given her.
Speaking of, Storm and Mariah May were interviewed after that match, with Toni learning that a match next week will decide whether Thunder Rosa or Mariah May will face her at Dynasty. Storm immediately, charmingly, turns on May, asking if that was her plan all along before smooching her and calling her a genius. “I see myself in you and I love me” was just a great line, and Storm continues to do well with a gimmick some have turned on, but I was slow to warm to so it’s still working for me.
Our main event was Claudio Castignoli, Bryan Danielson, and Katsuyori Shibata challenging The Righteous and Lance Archer. This one was one of those matches that pits big guys who lose a lot against an AEW favorites group, which are always a good time even if the ending is rarely in doubt. There were some entertaining spots, including Castignoli and Shibata teaming up on a series of running uppercuts and shotgun dropkicks, and Shibata ended up getting the victory with his PK. Overall, a fine ending to a good episode of Collision!
Closing Up Shop
…in which I say goodbye for now
And that’s it! This week should be pretty stacked with WrestleMania and Stand and Deliver go-home shows, an already-loaded Dynamite card, and the Bray Wyatt documentary dropping tomorrow. I can’t say I’m in a rush to start bawling in front of my wife and my TV, but she really liked Bray too, and I would like to review the program, so be on the lookout for that whenever I get to watching it!
I’ll also be doing the usual previews for ‘Mania and Stand and Deliver, with the latter probably coming Wednesday or Thursday after we’ve watched the last episode of NXT, and the former going up as part of the Casual Friday blog – most of SmackDown looks to be devoted to Hall of Fame stuff, promo packages for WrestleMania, and the Andre the Giant Battle Royale.
My "plan," dear reader, is to knock out the article I’m working on for SlashGear after I've published this, and write the previews as kind of a primer, perfect for lapsed fans or people who just want to watch the biggest show of the year with a little background. I’m hoping to break the preview into two parts, but that kinda depends on tonight’s Raw and whether they announce what matches will be on what nights. Regardless, if you’ve got plans to watch, or you’ve got Peacock and a free weekend, this will be perfect for you -- or perfect to share with a buddy before the biggest weekend on the pro wrestling calendar!
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.
Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and we’ll see you back here Fridays and Mondays. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!
Hey, it’s a Monday blog? I know, weird, especially since we didn’t have our normal SmackDown/Rampage/Collision weekend schedule due to the NCAA tournament. However, it’s only two weeks until Wrestlemania XL, and I really wanted to write about the big show.
Two reasons for that. One, obviously, is that I really like writing about pro wrestling, and this is arguably gonna be one of the biggest WrestleManias of all time, both in terms of size and scope. And two, because I’d like to weigh in on some of the matches. So this is less of a preview, per se – I’ll make one of those next week, once everything is locked in and we have an idea of the schedule. But, using Wikipedia and what we think we know about the card, I’ll be booking my own two-night ‘Mania and we’ll see how it goes. It’s our…
Thing of the Week!
Wikipedia has ten matches listed, with the main events set and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship being contested on night two as well. It also made a point to note that the matches I didn’t just mention are “subject to change”, which I assume means they’re making this up just like I am. And that’s fine! While we've got match graphics for most of the matches I didn't make up, we've still got two weeks of shows remaining; any number of them could be swapped out or added to. There’s also room for more – since the introduction of a two-night WrestleMania in 2020, we’ve had cards with 18 (in 2020), 14 at 37, 16 at 38, and 15 matches at last year’s WrestleMania 39. 18 seems like a lot in hindsight, but we gotta remember that we were also all locked in our homes in 2020 because of COVID, and what else did we have to do?
So far, we’ve got seven championships up for grabs at the Show of Shows, with only the Women’s Tag Team Championships still going undefended. But with Bianca Belair and recently-returned Naomi getting involved in the drama around Iyo Sky’s WWE Women’s Championship, I’m thinking the Kabuki Warriors will be defending, too, either in a straight up match against Belair and Naomi (or Bianca and Jade Cargill, if she and Naomi can't get on the same page), or in some kind of showcase match similar to the six-pack ladder match the men are running. Hell, we could even do Bianca, Naomi, and Jade against the Kabuki Warriors and Dakota Kai, although then it wouldn't be for the tag belts.
Actually, given that we will need SOMETHING for these women to do after 'Mania, I like that better. Get Jade in front of a lot of eyes on the biggest stage imaginable, alongside proven champs, and then we can branch off after Raw. That woman is gonna be a superstar (outside of my home, where we're already sold on her) and a WrestleMania appearance will only help get her there faster.
We also have several Bloodline-adjacent matches. Aside from the main events of nights one and two, and the brother-against-brother match between Jimmy and Jey Uso, we’ll also see Seth Rollins defend his title on night two against Drew McIntyre. I don’t think Drew will get involved in the night one tag team match involving Seth, Cody Rhodes, The Rock, and Roman Reigns, but you never know. Drew has been adamant that the Bloodline is the reason he doesn’t have a championship, but he’s also been fine taking advantage of Bloodline attacks when they work in his favor. A beaten-down Rollins might be enough for Drew to take him down on his own.
Tonight’s CM Punk appearance on Raw might also factor into this match, since Rollins was set to defend against Punk before both men got injured, and Drew has gloated about being the one to take Punk out in the Royal Rumble. Maybe Punk is healthy enough to serve as a guest referee, or to join on commentary, getting involved when the action gets a little close to the announce table. Punk could have a hand in the match or a cash-in, even if it’s just his hand that counts the pin that ends Drew’s short reign, or Seth’s slightly longer one. Priest’s MitB run hasn’t been spectacular, or even memorable, but that all goes away with a successful cash-in. And keeping Punk involved, even if it can't be physically just yet, goes a long way in keeping him relevant.
I still think Chad Gable will have a part to play in the Sami Zayn match against Gunther for the Intercontinental title. He and Sami had some heated discussions last week. Maybe Chad goes full heel and costs Sami the belt at ‘Mania, or the two decide to include Gable in the match and stay respectful…who’s to say? I’d like a triple threat, personally, but we do have to factor in the fact that there isn’t an offseason and we’re gonna need some storylines to drag on past the beginning of April.
The women’s championship matches have been set for some time, and the general consensus seems to be that both champs will be dethroned at the big show. Really, I think Logan Paul might be the only person to successfully defend his title – an achievement that would both be kinda dumb and a great next thing for the ego-driven superstar to latch onto.
As far as the women’s belts though – there’s a chance Becky Lynch could lose, right? She’s had a big WrestleMania win already. She’s been hot lately, getting good matches out of Nia Jax and Liv Morgan on recent Raws. And Rhea Ripley hasn’t really had many rivalries of note since winning the title…Cagematch says she’s defended ten times, but can you name an opponent besides Nia Jax?
I couldn’t, and I’ve watched every one of ‘em. Since winning the belt off of Charlotte Flair at last year’s WrestleMania, Ripley defended in singles matches against Zelina Vega, Natalya twice (albeit one being a Saudi Squash), Raquel Rodriguez twice, Zoey Stark, Ivy Nile, and Nia Jax. There was also a five-way defense at last year’s Crown Jewel where she beat Nia, Rodriguez, Stark, and Shayna Baszler.
I think Rhea might have a better run in her, but I don’t believe that stretching this title reign any further is the right call. Maybe it IS best if Becky takes the belt off of her for a while, and a future title run focuses more on Ripley and less on the Judgment Day, a faction that feels like it’s run its course. I imagine title losses for Ripley, Finn Balor, and Damien Priest will introduce some faction-ending tension in the group, with a Priest singles run all but guaranteed with that Money in the Bank contract.
I’ve talked myself out of that one pretty fast, haven’t I?
So, my night one could be:
*LWO (Rey Mysterio, Joaquin Wilde, Cruz del Toro, Carlito, and Zelina Vega) versus Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Elektra Lopez, Angel, and Berto) w/Dom Mysterio, maybe in a street fight?
That gives us thirteen matches, with four of them made up on the fly by me, just now. Trying to keep both tag belts away from their respective women’s title feuds was tough, as both sets of belts are paired with women’s championship matches, and Priest may be involved in the McIntyre/Rollins match as well. My logic was that the Bayley win should be the biggest moment in the women’s division at WrestleMania, and that crowd should get a nice good guy victory before the Rock and Roman (and Jimmy, and Solo, and whoever else they can find) get the win over Cody and Seth.
I hated putting Rhea and Becky in the spot before the main, but it will be labeled as a co-main and I think it will be great to get a nice moment before the bad guys pick up the win to end night one. Like last year, Sunday will feature a triple main event, with three of the most important championships in the company being defended. I also tossed in that LWO/LdF match after Friday’s SmackDown had Dom reprising his role as Rey Mysterio’s biggest hater, since that feud has been running for a long while now.
But, as always, this card is subject to change. I’ll be surprised if this entire post isn’t outdated by the time we finish watching Raw tonight!
Closing Up Shop
…in which I say goodbye for now
And that’s it! I’ll be using Mondays for catching up on the weekend action from here on out, although I might post these a little later than the Casual Friday blog. Look for Untitled Monday Wrestling Blog around the crack of noon on Mondays.
As per usual, this week we’ll be watching RAW on Monday night, NXT on Tuesday night, and AEW Dynamite on Wednesday night. I’m considering trying something new, posting short recap posts the mornings after those shows, but we’ll see how that works out with my house cholo schedule. As always, Thursdays are my day for putting all week’s events into a nice, convenient blog for you to check out on Fridays – we call it the Casual Friday blog, and it’s usually up at 9am Mountain time on Friday, appropriately.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.
Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and we’ll see you back here Fridays and Mondays. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!
Hey, it’s Revolution Weekend! Before we get into things, I wanted to talk a little bit about the Stinger himself. This is a guy who has been on our little blue marble in the universe for over sixty years (!) and has been performing since 1985 (!!). For a little perspective, that’s the last time the Bears won a Super Bowl. Hell, my WIFE was born in 1985 – on Monday morning, for not just her but thousands of wrestling fans, the part of their lives where Sting isn’t a professional wrestler will begin. The part of Sting’s life where he was a wrestler – the part after his attendance of a WWF show in California, until his retirement nearly forty years later – will be over. He’ll be Steve Borden again, dad and husband and man of faith.
I revealed this little nugget to my wife and we immediately decided she’ll wake up Monday and reflexively put on Crow makeup. A snow machine will kick on whenever she enters the living room, and Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” will become number one on her Spotify list. But I digress…
Sting has been as good a guy, both in kayfabe and in real life, as any pro wrestler I can remember. He’s one of those “never hear a bad word about him” dudes. I think that’s part of why Sunday’s show is going to be so special for so many of us. He’s a good person, going out on his own terms, and he’s probably one of the few who we believe when he says he’s done. Read this autobiographical article in The Players’ Tribune, and this one at the same site written by his AEW tag team partner Darby Allen, one can learn a lot about Sting.
For as much as the Chicagoland version of me is a CM Punk guy, Eddie Guerrero is always going to be my all-time favorite wrestler. While the first professional wrestling I ever saw was SummerSlam in 1990, when I got really into the sport it was watching WCW Monday Nitro in my friend’s basement – shoutout to Benny, Jerry, PJ, and Ed) around 1997. And Eddie was a big part of that. I didn’t realize until years later what similar personal stories Eddie and Sting had. Both men suffered crises of faith and battles with addiction. But both also did the work overcoming those demons, and eventually becoming two of the most beloved guys in their industry. Of course, Eddie’s story had a much sadder ending, passing away in a hotel room, his heart having suffered too much from the years of abuse. For Sting, getting to go out in a way fitting for a hero, whether that’s on his back or standing tall in victory, just feels like the best possible way to finish his legendary career.
One last thing. The Players’ Tribune posted the above YouTube video of Sting listening to voicemails they collected from the man’s family, friends, and fellow wrestlers. It’s sweet, but there’s a point that I think encapsulates how much he puts into his performance. He’s clearly getting emotional hearing all these nice things…and someone off screen must walk past and do the “Stinger point” at him – the Scott Hall style thing, you know the one – and he instantly pops back into Showtime mode, hitting them with the point back. It’s a little thing for him, something he’s probably done hundreds of thousands of times for hundreds of thousands of fans. But Sting knows what it means to someone else, and just flips a switch to give them a moment that’ll stay with them forever.
That’s what we’re losing on Sunday night. Not just another performer, but one of the last true Icons of the industry. A man who genuinely cares about the fans, and who gives his all to make that ticket price worth it to everyone in attendance. And while it’s ultimately his call on how he goes out as Revolution ends, I’d love to see him ride off into the sunset, undefeated in All Elite Wrestling, standing tall over the kind of sleazy heels in the Young Bucks that he’s eventually overcome his whole career.
To me, that’s Sting.
A Quick Recap of the Weekend in Wrestling
Friday’s SmackDown gave us The Rock in full heel mode, but added some wrinkles to both WrestleMania and the road we’re on to get us there. In a (LONG) promo to open the show, Roman Reigns quickly tired of the crowd not properly acknowledging his presence, to the point where Roman was ready to dip out. After a clearly frazzled Paul Heyman explained that they couldn’t leave until The Rock made his appearance, Rocky joined the Bloodline to call out Cody Rhodes, and to indirectly allow for two main even matches to be locked in. A tag team match between Rhodes, with Seth “Freakin” Rollins, and The Rock, joined by Our Tribal Chief, would decide whether Cody gets a title shot on night two of WrestleMania – albeit with “Bloodline Rules,” whatever that means.
So Roman was basically put into a match he didn’t necessarily want. BUT he also didn’t allow the promo to end with Rock calling the shots for the family. When Rock went for the segment-ending “If ya smelllllll…” Roman literally pushed the mic from Rock’s mouth. Reigns said he’d do anything for the family, but he needed one thing from The Rock – he needed Rock to acknowledge him. Rock paused, removed his sunglasses, and did so. But the tension was there, even after the two embraced and Rocky admonished the fans for booing his willingness to do anything for family as well. The tension was there, and I’m hoping this may even lead to a match for the position of Tribal Chief, whether it’s at next year’s ‘Mania or at another big event like SummerSlam.
The rest of the show was good, with a lot of match-building and storyline growth. LA Knight was featured wandering the backstage area, hunting for AJ Styles until he ran into SmackDown GM Nick Aldis, who informed him that AJ was home to prevent just this confrontation. Knight was adamant that he’ll get his hands on Styles one way or the other, and I think we’ve all but locked in this match for WrestleMania as well.
Tiffany Stratton got a big win over Naomi, which was a great way to build off of Tiffy’s incredible performance in the Elimination Chamber. It sucks that it came against Naomi, but maybe this leads to a full-on program between the two superstars.
The Kabuki Warriors battled a definitely-not-evil Dakota Kai and Bayley, only for Kai to turn on Bayley in an expected move that honestly felt a bit rushed to me. Still, they needed to establish Bayley as a lone wolf babyface, abandoned by her former friends and proteges, and they did that. Now let’s see those duct-taped Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Bayley Buddies at ‘Mania for Bayley’s match against IO SKY!
Bron Breakker absolutely destroyed fellow NXT wrestler Xyon Quinn with a spear and a pinfall, keeping the big fella’s momentum strong going into both ‘Mania season and next week’s NXT Roadblock TV special.
The following Carlito versus Santos Escobar street fight was a lot of fun, and featured the return of Rey Mysterio after Carlito and his LWO pals were laid out by Escobar’s Legado de Fantasma. Rey’s grey beard poking out of his Jason Baker-designed hard mask is a cool look, and the good guys celebrated the returning hero after a victory.
After Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate met Aldis to lobby for a WrestleMania rematch against the Judgment Day for the Tag Team championships, we got a good main event that saw Randy Orton defeat Austin Theory, with the always-great Kevin Owens on commentary. Theory and his buddy (for now) Grayson Waller attacked after the match, only to eat some finishers and allow the good guys to stand tall to end the show.
On Rampage, CMLL continued their invasion/collaboration with AEW, as we saw Claudo get a hard fought victory over Rugido, and Magnus qualify for the All-Star Scramble (RIP Meat Madness) over Matt Sydal. Lance Archer teamed with The Righteous for a quick squash, and beloved former champ Riho made her return to the ring in a decent match with Trish Adora, who absolutely should be on TV more often. I don’t watch enough Ring of Honor but I have heard she’s put some good matches on over there.
We also saw Ruby Soho and Angelo Parker continue their on-screen pairing, only for them to get wrecked by Saraya and pals. I like that we still have a story that’s basically Rampage-centric, giving fans a reason to tune into the fastest hour of wrestling on TV.
Collision was up next, but aside from the opening three-way that saw Dante Martin earn his way into the All-Star Scramble, and the main event that featured several of the guys that will be on the Revolution card, it wasn't super eventful. We did see Mark Briscoe attempt to set Buddy Matthews on fire with the entrance pyro, though! That was cool.
And that’s that! All caught up. It’s time for…
The Let’s Watch Some Wrestling AEW Revolution Preview!
Just so we’re keeping track, my current PLE/PPV record is .500. A perfect Elimination Chamber was preceded by an abysmal one outta six for NXT Vengeance Day and a half-and-half Royal Rumble. Hopefully it was just a rough start to the year, or people will start to doubt my incredible prognostication!
We’ve got eleven matches on the card per Wikipedia, although that includes a pair of Zero Hour matches. However, since we know they’re happening, they still count towards the overall record. The main card features six championship matches and another fight for a title shot. We’ve got a lot of predicting to get to, so ramblers, let’s get rambling!
Zero Hour Match: Julia Hart and Skye Blue versus Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale in a tag team match
I’ve been talking up Kris Statlander a lot recently, because she deserves it! She’s talented, creative, and has a personality that rarely gets the spotlight it should. Willow is fantastic as well, if still a little rough from time to time, but that will smooth out with experience. Julia Hart is just getting back from injury and Skye Blue has had some decent outings lately, including a win over Statlander on Dynamite after kinda-manager Stokely Hathaway distracted Stat by offering her a chain to attack Skye.
All that is to say that the bad guys will likely pick up the win here, allowing Hart to look strong in her return to the ring while also building the rift Stokely has introduced between Nightingale and Statlander.
Zero Hour Match: The Bang Bang Scissor Gang versus Planet Jarrett, Private Party, and Willie Mack in a twelve-man tag team match
What’s there to say about a tossed-together twelve-man tag team match? It’ll be fun, and I’m sure there will be some good spots to go along with the assumed tension that will lead to (maybe) a trios title unification when the Bang Bang Gang remembers that they’re just better as bad guys. I’ll go with the good guys winning, but not without a miscommunication or two.
FTR versus the Blackpool Combat Club in a tag team match
I can’t help but think that the victory by the BCC on Wednesday’s Dynamite foreshadowed a few events. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but I see FTR winning here and (spoiler for several paragraphs down) Danielson losing to Eddie Kingston as well. What I’m hoping is that those losses lead to some self-reflection on the part of the Blackpool Combat Club, with the members realizing the BCC might be better off separating for a while. Regardless, these guys put on a hell of a show on Dynamite, and I’d expect the same on Sting’s send-off show.
Will Ospreay versus Konosuke Takeshita
This might be our match of the night. Ospreay’s first performance as an AEW wrestler, Takeshita getting a big stage against a world class opponent, and the Don Callis family there to … well, okay, they don’t add much to the fight. But Callis aside, these two have the ability to tear the house down, and barring interference or some other shmozzy finish, it might be a contender for match of the year. I think Ospreay starts his All Elite run with a win, but that won’t take anything away from my sweet Cinnabon son Takeshita.
Maybe the two even shake hands afterward, before Callis orders the other family members to attack Ospreay. That sends Will on a face run that can take him all the way to London in August, and maybe allows Will Hobbs and Takeshita to defect alongside him.
Chris Jericho vs Wardlow vs Powerhouse Hobbs vs Lance Archer vs HOOK vs Brian Cage vs Magnus vs Dante Martin in an All-Star Scramble for a future AEW World Championship match
This is our replacement for the Meat Madness match we were teased but had cruelly taken away due to Miro and Keith Lee unable to participate. Honestly, it’s nice that Tony Khan wanted all participants of the big MEAT matches to be healthy and take part in Meat Madness, so I’m fine with waiting for Miro and maybe Keith Lee to get cleared. That’s speculation on my part, but those are the names I remember garnering MEAT chants, however as we’ve discussed I also have the memory of a goldfish. But I digress!
This scramble, the breakfast replacement for the full dinner that Meat Madness would have supplied, features a more diverse lineup – a continental breakfast, if you will. It’s light, but it’ll pass the time and leave you just full enough to get through the day…ok, I’m taking this metaphor as far as it’ll go. Wardlow has been cutting some passionate promos lately in between destroying jobbers in squash matches. Between those and Adam Cole’s initial claims that Wardlow will win the AEW World Championship just to hand it over once Cole is healthy, I think Wardlow is picking up the win here. Maybe he holds onto that title shot for a while, until Cole is ready to get back in the ring. Or maybe he just cashes it in at the next pay-per-view, giving the champ another win and setting up a face turn for the big, meaty Wardlow. Who’s to say?
I have said a lot about the whole Undisputed Kingdom / Devil storyline, which means I can say less here! The whole faction feels like a placeholder without MJF on television, but if they’re trying to make the best of a dumb situation, AEW is going to start putting things in motion to make this a dominant group.
That means Strong gets to be the guy to take the International Championship off of Cassidy after a second run that never quite reached the heights of the first, but still provided plenty of great matches. Cassidy’s been favoring his back since the attack after his match on Wednesday, and Roddy is known for some great counters into backbreakers, so this should be another good one…just not one that Cassidy walks away from as champ.
I’m seeing a lot of folks online thinking this is an obvious win for Bryan Danielson, but I disagree. Danielson really seems to love the builds to his matches as much as his ability to tell a story between the ropes, and he’s found a similar skill set in Eddie Kingston. Once the handshake stipulation was established, I felt like this is Kingston’s moment. On a card where even if the good guy wins in the main event, we’ll all be a little down knowing what that means, Kingston winning gives another good moment for the crowd to cheer the good guy overcoming the odds, and the bad guy getting what he deserves. I see Eddie retaining, earning that handshake, and Danielson getting mad or getting down on the BCC.
Daniel Garcia has been so damn impressive in the past few weeks. His in ring work has been amazing, he’s improved immensely on the microphone, and he’s gone from the guy struggling to get a point in the Continental Classic to a technician who deserves respect – and this title shot.
However, if he’s respected, then Christian Cage is there to remind him that he had a father…and his father is dead. I should not find that stupid line as funny as I do, it gets me every time. Anyways, the suspicious disappearance of Adam Copeland after his beating from Cage’s Patriarchy crew makes me think one of two things: either Copeland intentionally stepped away to allow Garcia to get the full focus during this match with Cage, or Cope is coming back and blaming Garcia for his suffering. I’m kinda hoping for the latter, as a full rivalry between Copeland and Garcia would be fun as hell. It would also kinda align Christian and Copeland, maybe giving us that final tag team run many fans have been hoping to see.
Since I’m hoping for the motorcycle-helmeted surprise attack a la ECW One Night Stand 2006’s main event, I also have Christian Cage retaining his TNT Championship. Garcia has some friends that will help neutralize Killswitch and Nick Wayne, but he’ll still fall victim to a spear and a big reveal after the pinfall.
I enjoy the “Timeless” Toni Storm gimmick – the black and white camera, the hammy acting, the vague innuendo, it’s all great. I’ve also argued from the start of its popularity that Storm hasn’t needed a championship to keep the character strong. However, now that she’s had a good run, losing that title could send her into fun new directions, i.e. absolutely losing her goddamn mind. That’ll be fun when it happens, probably shortly after Mercedes Moné debuts. It’s not happening tonight.
Deonna Purrazzo has had a lot of fun with this rivalry, and I think both women have really gotten their story over. The whole mentor/mentee thing and the matching tattoos have worked well, and Purrazzo has had more good matches than bad in her introduction to AEW fans since her debut. If I have a problem with her, it’s that Purrazzo’s wrestling character just doesn’t work as a good guy. She keeps the whole “Virtuosa” thing, with the shooing hand motions and better-than-you attitude, but fans are expected to cheer her over Toni because Toni is having a bit of an identity crisis?
I don’t mean to complain. Storm and Purrazzo will put on a good match, Storm will retain, and she’ll eventually hand the belt over to Mercedes. Hopefully the debut of a real, legit superstar in the women’s division means everybody gets more TV time – you know, rising tide lifts all ships – and we continue to see Storm’s great character work.
The story that we’ve been seeing over the last few weeks has been really interesting. Hangman has been incredibly single-minded in his pursuit of Swerve, and I think that’s going to play into how he wrestles this three-way match. Swerve wants a championship, and he’s willing to do anything to get it, as evidenced by the whole breaking-and-entering-and-child-endangerment thing a while back. Samoa Joe rightfully seems disrespected by the two men who are getting a shot at his title. And these three mindsets could lead to an interesting finish on Sunday.
I’m thinking Joe retains, and here’s why. Hangman, as intent on preventing Strickland from winning a title as he is on winning one himself, will cost Swerve the match at Page’s own expense. Sacrificing himself to keep the belt off of his enemy, as it were. I believe Swerve deserves a championship, and he deserves to win it in the biggest possible way. That can’t possibly happen on a night when an industry icon is hanging up his boots. So, we carry this storyline on a little longer. We allow another battle between Page and Strickland. Maybe we even let Wardlow take the title off of Joe, only to drop it to a waiting and highly-ranked Swerve. Who’s to say? All I know is I wouldn’t put a world title change on a retirement night where it’s not even the main event, and therefore Joe keeps his belt.
It all builds to this. It’s a long night with ten matches preceding it, but this building will explode once Sting’s music hits. We spoke at length about Sting, so let’s give a little thought to the other guys in this match, and how a win or loss affects them.
The Young Bucks, relishing their roles as evil vice presidents, have already done a lot with their characters since their return from hiatus. It’s been said and written that they lost their smiles, to borrow a phrase from Shawn Michaels, and that they weren’t really having fun as wrestlers. This heel turn seems to have helped get them back in a better mindset, and a win would cement them as the worst bosses since … well, most wrestling bosses, really. They would get a lot of mileage from sending Sting out on his back, and some might argue that the old way of putting a guy over as you leave is what Sting would want to do. Darby would also benefit, with a long rivalry with the Bucks growing out of this match.
I also will tell you that I personally don’t care about any of that. You send the fans home happy, you let the good guys win, you allow the legendary man who gave us all more than any of us deserved over the last 39-plus years to stand tall and walk off a champion. Does it make booking difficult, forcing Darby to find another partner or relinquish the title? Not really. It’s pro wrestling, you can always think of a way to get a belt off someone. Force Allin to partner with mystery guys every week, or have him respectfully give up the titles that he won with the Stinger, moving on from tag team action to focus on his own career, refreshed and revitalized by a mentorship from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring.
I won’t be mad either way. I understand wanting to put guys over, and I also understand a business wanting to thank a guy who meant so much to it. So what I’m really hoping for is spectacle. Get a helicopter to bring Sting in. Sign Metallica to play “Seek and Destroy.” Do a full-on shmozz where the Bucks reveal that they’ve put a bounty out on Sting, and then have every other performer on the roster surround Sting and Darby in Sting masks. Hell, pull the “I love you, I’m sorry” from HBK and just let Sting no-sell it. I have a hundred of these in my head, but at the end of the day I just like seeing the good guys win in the end. It’s the naive kid in me that keeps me watching this stuff. Good guys win, bad guys lose, we all try not to openly bawl.
Closing Up Shop
And that’s it! Kind of an emotional rollercoaster today, huh? I’ll be back on Monday to do a short recap, and we’ll see how things went. Have a good Sunday and enjoy Revolution!
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