SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Intro
Forbidden Door is only days away now. Tonight, Dynamite emanates from across the pond, at the Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland. The lineup is pretty strong and it’s a go-home show which rarely disappoints. To quote Olmec from the classic game show “Legends of the Hidden Temple,” let’s rock!
Who’s Zooming Who?
Latest Developments
“Hangman” Adam Page successfully turned MJF’s attempt at goading around on him and baited him into cashing in his contract for a match at Forbidden Door.
Analysis
MJF came out of the gate exposing his plan, calling Hangman “Seabiscuit” and telling him he was going to make him angry because that’s when he’s most vulnerable. Hangman immediately shut him down calling him a B-movie villain and reminding him Seabiscuit won in the end.
That sent MJF into a tirade about how Hangman was a false idol the fans worship, a weak-minded, depressed, alcoholic little boy. He talked about Forbidden Door as though he already had the match but Hangman reminded him that wasn’t the case. He said MJF had a contract for a title shot any time he wanted it, but he was a coward and wanted an insurance policy because he knew he couldn’t beat Hangman.
According to Hangman, the only way to prove he wasn’t a coward was for him to call his shot. At this point, MJF was a red as a tomato and screamed in Hangman’s face that he would execute the contract at Forbidden Door. Almost immediately MJF realized that he’d gotten got as the crowd chanted “You f—ed up!”
This was fantastic. Hangman showed growth by remaining calm, cool, and collected in the face of MJF’s blatant attempt to goad him. I loved him reminding MJF that Seabiscuit won. MJF has always been a hot-head, so it made sense that Hangman was able to flip the script and bait him into cashing-in his contract. I love that both contracts are being cashed-in and dealt with.
There’s a small sense of uncertainty surrounding the outcome of this one although it’s unlikely that Hangman loses the title this soon.
In related news, MJF appeared in CMLL on Friday and set up a mask vs. title match with Mistico as expected for the 92nd Anniversario show in September. This month-long feud is a perfect example of the benefits of the partnership between the two companies. MJF took a protected loss on the Grand Slam Mexico show and will put over CMLL’s legend on their biggest show of the year.
Grade: A-
It’s a (Callis) Family Affair
Latest Developments
Kyle Fletcher learned the identity of his opponent for Forbidden Door; Konosuke Takeshita overcame the House of Torture nonsense to defeat Evil and win the 35th G1 Climax tournament.
Analysis
Fletcher and Josh Alexander teamed with the Bucks to take on Brody King, Tomohiro Ishii, Hologram, and Fletcher’s opponent for Forbidden Door who was revealed to be Hiromu Takahashi. Takahashi got the pin on Alexander to give him a win ahead of the TNT Title match.
Takahashi and Fletcher should be an excellent match albeit one without much drama as Fletcher isn’t losing the title here. Still, a strong win over a New Japan mainstay will only bolster Fletcher’s credibility.
Speaking of New Japan, Konosuke Takeshita won the 35th G1 Climax tournament. Despite the tourney being marred by the rampant and repetitive interference of the House of Torture, Takeshita put great matches each time culminating in the finals in which he pulled a surprisingly strong match out of the King of Darkness once the House was disposed of.
Now that he’s won, Takeshita declared his intention to not just main event WrestleKingdom but to do so as champion meaning he will have to cash in his shot against Zack Sabre Jr. sometime this fall. Don Callis needs to cut a promo selling how big of a deal this win is. This is the most prestigious tournament in wrestling. It needs to be treated that way.
Grade: B+
Girls, Girls, Girls
Latest Developments
Toni Storm and Athena continued the build to their showdown as Mercedes mixed it up with Alex Windsor.
Analysis
Alex Windsor, Willow Nightingale, and Queen Aminata battled Skye Blue, Thekla and Mercedes Moné while both Toni Storm and Athena watched from the balcony. Eventually, Windsor got the submission win with the Sharpshooter. After the match, Athena attacked Toni and the two brawled from the balcony down to the ring. Eventually, Toni and Alex were able to get the upper hand on their adversaries and run them off. Toni challenged Athena and Mercedes to meat her and Alex tonight in Glasgow.
On Collision, Toni opened the show appearing in her spotlight at the top of the stage and cutting a very Toni promo. She mocked Athena’s various nicknames and said even God must’ve found her annoying if she’s a fallen goddess. Toni then knelt down to pray. She did a humorous take on the sign of the cross and then commenced to praying about how she was going to beat Athena at Forbidden Door.
Before she could get to “amen” though Athena and Billie Starkz attacked her. Athena had Billie drag Toni to the ring and force her to listen as she promised to beat Toni and expose her as a fraud. Suddenly Mina Shirakawa’s music hit. That allowed Toni to hit a German suplex on Billie while Athena jumped into the waiting arms of security to avoid both women.
Nice to see Mina back. There’s been a solid job building to Athena vs Toni though they didn’t drive home the point of how tough of a challenge it should be for Toni. They still have tonight though. The tag match should be great by the way.
Grade: B-
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the “All Elite Conversation Club” with Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
Friends in Low Places
Latest Developments
Will Ospreay returned from injury to aid Darby Allin in his war against the Death Riders and set up an stacked albeit mismatched five-on-five cage match.
Analysis
After Jon Moxley defeated Kevin Knight with a unique choke submission, Darby Allin hit the ring, body bag and skateboard in hand. Darby clocked both Mox and Wheeler Yuta with the skateboard and then zipped Yuta in the body bag. As he went up for the Coffin Drop on Yuta, Claudio hit the ring and caught him in midair. Darby was beaten down, zipped up in the body bag himself and dropped in a UFO spin. Claudio and Yuta set him up for stomp with the chair around his neck and that’s when Will Ospreay made his shocking return. He saved Darby and wiped Yuta out with a Hidden Blade. He then challenged Mox to put together a team and meet him in a lights out steel cage at Forbidden Door.
Later in the night, Ospreay announced that he had just gotten off the phone with Hiroshi Tanahasi and secured the Ace’s services as a teammate for he and Darby. Shortly thereafter, Mox was informed during and an interview with Lexy Nair that Ospreay had gotten Tanahashi as a partner (Mox’s reaction was priceless) which led Mox to approach the Bucks who were relegated to the “Extras” room (a nice touch). Just before the main event Tony Schiavone rather unexpectedly announced all ten participants in the match: Ospreay, Darby, and Tanahashi joined by the Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) against Mox, Claudio, Gabe Kidd, and the Bucks.
Any way you slice it, this match is stacked in terms of talent. That’s not the issue. The issue is that the way the match was assembled. While Ospreay and Darby obviously have beef with the Death Riders; Tanahasi, Omega, and Ibushi do not. On the other side, Mox enlisting help from the Bucks again made little sense given that Nick Jackson ate the pin in Anarchy in the Arena.
This match is the first of two matches that needed more time to be built and felt very rushed as a result. Having an extra week for both sides to put their teams together would’ve allowed for an explanation of why each teammate is on the team. Perhaps Ospreay and Mox can do it in a compressed fashion during their face-to-face but it won’t be the same. The match itself should be insane, but that doesn’t excuse the rushed build and mismatched partners.
Grade: C+
Reunited and It Feels So Good?
Latest Developments
After Christian Cage came to Adam Copeland’s aid from a beating by FTR, the two longtime friends turned enemies appeared to reconcile though Christian wasn’t completely sold on the reunion.
Analysis
Adam Copeland had his weird “match” with Stokely Hathaway which was more him beating Stoke up and dragging him around through the crowd. The whole point of this was for him to provoke FTR into coming out to save Stokely and break their restraining order. They finally did and after he flattened Stoke with two spears they couldn’t take it anymore and jumped into the ring.
Stokely blinded Copeland with powder and FTR double-teamed him. As they set him up for the spiked piledriver, Christian Cage’s music hit. Copeland’s former best friend raced to the ring, “Spike” in hand, to make the save. FTR bailed out, but Nick Wayne hit the ring wielding a chair.
Christian knocked the chair out of Wayne’s hands with Spike. Kip Sabian attempted into intervene but got a spear from Copeland for his trouble. Copeland and Christian did the classic backing into each other thing. They stared at each other. Christian returned Spike and turned to leave when Copeland grabbed him and hugged him.
Christian didn’t push him away but he didn’t reciprocate either. He just stared tentatively and walked away. During his pre main event announcements, Schiavone also announced that Copeland and Christian would be teaming up to face The Matriarchy.
This would be the other story that needed more time to play out. Christian only sold that brutal Conchairto for a week. He should’ve been out until Forbidden Door. It would’ve made more sense if this reunion took place on PPV. The match with the Matriarchy could’ve main evented a Dynamite.
Credit where it’s due: Christian was hesitant about actually getting the band back together even after Copeland embraced him. I think that was the best part of the whole scene. It left more story on the table. However, it was completely undercut by the announcement of the match by Schiavone. That could’ve waited a week.
Tonight’s dual interview is going to be doing a lot of heavy lifting to try to frame this reunion properly. Christian has to maintain character integrity, but it needs to be hammered home that this is the first time they’ve teamed up in 14 years. That’s a big deal and it should be treated as such.
Grade: C+
Random Questions
– Who would’ve imagined we’d get Nigel McGuiness vs. Zack Sabre Jr in 2025? Technical wrestling legend meets technical wizard. Technical wrestling may not be for everyone, but at the level these two pull it off it will be a blast only made more fun by the fact that both men will be in front of their home country.
– Who’s the fifth woman? Last I pointed out that it looks like there’s a women’s Blood & Guts match coming in the near future. The heel side was pretty clear and remains so. The babyface side was one person short and it sure seemed like that spot was reserved for Kris Statlander. After Statlander won a $100K in Tony Khan’s latest match for money, she was immediately mugged by Julia Hart and Penelope Ford who were salty about having lost out on the dough. They were joined by the other members of the Triangle of Madness as well as Megan Bayne. Queen Aminata Nd Tay Melo as well as Anna Jay who’d also been in the match, came to her aid but that wasn’t it. “Feel the Wrath” blared over the loudspeaker and Harley Cameron returned wearing her cat mask and wielding a guitar neck wrapped in a chain. It was Bayne who put Harley out of action several weeks ago with a broken nose so it would make sense that the multi-hyphenate wrestler would return wanting revenge. So now, both Stat and Harley both make sense to be the fifth face from a story perspective. My vote would be for Stat who really needs something to steady her. Plus, she has more experience in violent matches.
– How deep can AEW’s bench get? To use an extended sports analogy, AEW has an impressive starting lineup consisting of Hangman Page, MJF, Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, Kazuchika Okada, and Jon Moxley. Underneath is an absurdly deep bench led off by the likes of Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita, and Darby Allin. The wealth of talent underneath them is ridiculous. Just this year Kevin Knight, “Speedball” Mike Bailey, and as of this week Ace Austin. Having a near endless supply of talent who can put on strong matches without necessarily needing a sustained push is a boon to a wrestling forward company like AEW.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.