AEW FEUD TRACKER: Assessing and grading Samoa Joe vs. Eddie Kingston, Briscoe’s challengers, FTR’s challengers, more

The Continental Classic is off and running as AEW invades Fishers, Ind. tonight. There’s a fine slate of tournament matches on deck. We’re also scheduled to hear from the new Men’s World Champion and his first challenger and by the end of the night, plus the finals of the Women’s Tag Team Title tournament will be set. All of this and more tonight on Dynamite.

Good Enemies, Better Friends?

Latest Developments

After Samoa Joe and Hook revealed that they had been in cahoots all along, Swerve Strickland and “Hangman” Page marched through the Nashville crowd and to the ring and wiped out the Opps Dojo.

Analysis

Samoa Joe and The Opps hit the ring to celebrate his AEW World Title victory at Full Gear. He called the fans “simpletons,” compared himself to Sun-Tzu, and aired a video purporting to show how he and Hook had been conspicuously all along.

Midway through, Swerve Strickland was shown arriving as Hangman waited for him backstage. Back in the ring, Hook came out called the crowd “rednecks” and claimed to be the best second generation wrestler of all time. That’s when Swerve and Hangman made their way to the ring from opposite sides of the crowd, each wearing a chain around his neck.

Samoa Joe had filled the ring with “trainees” from the Opps Dojo and used them as human shields to escape. Hangman and Swerve tore through those poor schmucks like a hot knives through butter. They capped things off by each hanging a guy over the ropes with a chain.

Lots of mixed emotions on this segment. Samoa Joe cut another fairly basic heel promo. If Joe is going to be the heel at the top of the Men’s World Title picture, he’s going to need to have more inspired promos. A bigger missed opportunity, though, was explaining the conspiracy with Hook. Yes, they made an effort with the video, but it wasn’t quite explanatory enough. Joe and/or Hook should’ve filled in the blanks so that there was a coherent picture of their plan.

When it comes to Swerve and Hangman, though, I thought they were great. Coming through the crowd, Hangman taking a shot at the bar beforehand – these guys were the coolest, most badass guys in the world. They way they disposed of the Opps Dojo wasn’t exactly a great advertisement for that facility, but it certainly made a statement. I definitely think we need to hear from them this week. These guys made peace ahead of All In, but it’s important to understand the nature of their friendship right now.

More importantly, who’s going for the title? It’s clear Hangman wants a piece of Hook, but it’s to hard imagine he doesn’t want a rematch for the title that was stolen from him. Conversely, Swerve’s been out for the last few months so he doesn’t have a strong claim to a title match. Sense needs to be made of this.

In the meantime, Joe has a challenge for next week’s annual Winter is Coming episode of Dynamite. Eddie Kingston finally did what he does best and that’s cut an off-the-cuff promo. Truly, one of my favorite pairings in wrestling is Eddie Kingston and a live mic. After a well placed “F— Twitter” and basically telling Hook that you reap what you sew, he laid into Joe for manipulating Hook and challenged him for the title. Eddie isn’t going to win but the face to face with Joe tonight should be excellent.

Grade: B

Fighting for the Finals

Latest Developments

The Timeless Love Bombs will do battle with Megan Bayne & Marina Shafir in Hardcore Holiday Death Match to determine who will meet the Babes of Wrath in the finals of the Women’s Tag Team Title Tournament.

Analysis

The Babes of Wrath defeated The Sisters of Sin in the first semi-final match. It wasn’t the smoothest of encounters, but the Babes of Wrath pulled it out.

Later in the night, following his Continental Classic match, Toni Storm came out to confront Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir. She ran both of them down in a way that only Toni can and then announced that she chosen the stipulation of a Hardcore Holiday Death Match as a Christmas gift for Mina Shirakawa.

I’m no prude when it comes to violence, but the last two weeks have been particularly bloody. I think was an opportunity to use a stipulation that would’ve been more creative. With the Babes of Wrath advancing, it seems more likely that Megan & Marina defeat the Timeless Love Bombs.

Grade: B

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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New Champions, New Challengers

Latest Developments

Mark Briscoe and FTR each got an immediate challenger for their newly won titles.

Analysis

Mark Briscoe reflected on his TNT Championship win in a promo taped right afterwards. He talked about how he lost half of himself when his brother died and how he had to prove to himself and everyone else that he could go it alone. He dedicated his win to his home family and road family and his brother’s memory.

On Collision, Daniel Garcia cut a promo before his match with Matt Menard, mentioning how he wanted the TNT Title back. After Garcia had beaten Menard, Briscoe came out to confront him and offer up a title shot.

FTR came out to cut a celebratory promo. Stokely spoke but before Dax or Cash could speak Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn hit the ring. They pointed out how they owned a victory the new champions and how Juice and Jay White had taken them to their limit once upon a time.

I think in both cases the challenges are perfect first stops for the new champions. As a fighting babyface champion, it makes sense for Mark Briscoe to offer Daniel Garcia a title match. Conversely The Bang Bang Gang did score that win over FTR. A few weeks back so this is a way to pay that off.

Grade: B+

Random Question

-Michael Ray isn’t going to wrestle Ricochet, is he? The new National champion got into with the country music performer who was ringside for Collision last week. WWE had Jelly Roll team with Randy Orton at Summerslam. I don’t know what bothered me more. While Michael Ray is more legitimate representative of country than that hack, I have no desire to see him in the ring. If anything, he can second the Outrunners and Dalton who the Demand seemingly started a feud with.