SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Housekeeping
• The Rascalz (initially all four members until Trey Miguel was released per WBD edict according to reports) have signed multi-year contracts with AEW.
• Mascara Dorada and Persephone are the latest CMLL stars to sign dual contracts with AEW.
• MJF successfully defended his AEW Men’s World Championship at the Limitless Wrestling show against Alec Price. After the match he got on the mic and essentially offered Price and his tag team partner Jordan Oliver AEW contracts. (Price and Oliver will make their AEW debuts tonight fighting FTR.)
• On the flip side, Powerhouse Hobbs’s AEW contract expired at midnight and he’s expected to go to WWE. His final AEW appearance will be this Saturday’s Collision, which was taped after Dynamite.
• ROH announced two co-promoted Global Wars events. The first one, scheduled for Jan. 29, will be in cooperation with ROH Women’s Champion Athena’s all-women’s Metroplex Pro Wrestling. The second one is scheduled for Mar. 27 in cooperation with the Scott D’Amore-led Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling in Canada.
• The Demand and Roderick Strong spent the weekend in Mexico for CMLL’s Fin de Semana Internacional (International Weekend). On the Friday night show, GOA largely dominated Barbaro Cavernario and Soberano Jr. but lost the match when their cockiness got the better of them. Meanwhile, Roderick Strong defeated Hechicero in a stiff encounter and Ricochet successfully defended his National Championship against Tìtan in a spectacular main event.
Intro
…And we’re back with a super-sized Feud Tracker this week. Dynamite emanates from Orlando, Fla. Florida hasn’t always been kind in terms of audience reaction,, so hopefully we get a good crowd tonight. The card is full of matches with interconnecting threads. Kenny Omega will take to the ring in a rare Dynamite singles match. There’s a street fight on deck and MJF will likely get his next challenger in the form of a large tattooed man who likes to bark. Let’s see where everything stands.
First Title Defense
Latest Developments
MJF successfully defended the men’s AEW World Championship in a spirited match against Bandido.
Analysis
To his credit, MJF showed a lot of restraint in his promo with Bandido last week. He was the smarmy, unlikable heel playing on his history in CMLL and using Jon Cruz as his translator despite the fact that Bandido speaks perfect English. Bandido got to the get last laugh on MJF in that segment to give him some credibility.
As for the match itself, MJF continues to have uncanny chemistry with luchadors. While Bandido flew all over the ring hitting any number of high-flying moves including an absurd crossbody from the top rope over the barricade to the floor, MJF zeroed in on Bandido’s previously injured shoulder. While the damage to the arm didn’t slow down Bandido being able to press slam MJF, it did hinder his ability to hit a 21 Plex.
When he finally landed it on the third try, he was unable to execute the bridge. As MJF kicked out at two, he immediately transitioned into the Salt of the Earth armbar. Bandido just about made it to the ropes when MJF changed holds to the LeBell Lock. After a brief struggle, Bandido passed out. MJF feigned sportsmanship after the match only to attack and attempt to unmask Bandido before Brody King made the save.
It was a very good match even if the outcome was predictable. My one qualm is that the wrestler passing out rather than tapping out has gotten a little overused as of late. There’s nothing wrong with a babyface fighting valiantly and then tapping out. Given the infrequency, MJF wrestling on TV especially feels like a special event. The post-match would seem to set up a MJF-Brody King match, possibly for Grand Slam Australia in February.
Grade: B+
Thekla for Champion
Latest Developments
Thekla scored the pin on Kris Statlander in a trios match pitting the Triangle of Madness against the newly-titled Cosmic Babes of Wrath.
Analysis
The match itself was entertaining. Harley Cameron continues to impress with her continued in-ring improvement. The story here though was in setting up a Kris Statlander vs Thekla match. Stat sacrificed herself, shoving Willow out of the way and eating a spear from The Toxic Spider followed by a stomp for the win.
In the world of pro wrestling, the challenger pinning the champion in any kind of match is an automatic golden ticket to a title shot, so I expect a challenge and/or announcement pretty quickly. When the time comes, I wouldn’t be opposed to Thekla dethroning Stat. Yes, she’s been more relatable hanging around her best friend again, but I still think she’s a very good number two not a number one centerpiece babyface champion.
Grade: B-
Family Affairs
Latest Developments
As the Don Callis Family declared war on the Death Riders, Konosuke Takeshita returned from Japan and formed a tenuous alliance with Kyle Fletcher.
Analysis
Tensions between the two factions have been simmering for weeks ever since the Death Riders refused to work with the Family to take out Mark Briscoe. Things intensified at Worlds End when Jon Moxley defeated both Fletcher and Kazuchika Okada en route to winning the Continental Classic. This past weekend on Collision, Callis opted to launch an official attack. Callis joined commentary where Mox had been sitting in for Marina Shafir’s match against Zayda Steel. After trading barbs Mox stood up and started to leave. That’s when Callis called out his men to jump Mox. The Death Riders then hit the ringside area to aid their leader. The fight continued into the break as security and referees had to come down to restore order.
As I said, this has been brewing for awhile. In fact, hostilities between Mox and Callis go back years to when Mox split Callis open and gave him the scar he bears on his forehead to this day. With all that history, a feud between these two factions makes logical sense. The problem is the Death Riders.
For weeks in this column, I’ve been predicting when the DR would turn on Mox because that seemed to be the direction things were headed. That is clearly no longer the case. The entire Death Rider faction is being turned face. Loose ends are already being tied up. Darby Allin finally defeated Pac on last week’s Dynamite and Claudio will defend his CMLL World Heavyweight Title against Roderick Strong on Collision this weekend.
Marina very subtly began her transition to face after her aforementioned match with Zayda when she saluted the crowd rather than flipping them off, something I haven’t seen any other analyst pick up on. I don’t think she or Pac or Claudio or obviously Mox will have any trouble getting cheered.
Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia are a different story. Yuta is universally despised by the AEW faithful to the point that chanting “F— you Yuta” is a right of passage. Garcia barely turned heel in October so feels way too soon for him to be a face again even if it’s not specifically about him. There’s also the small issue of the fact that none of the Death Riders have never really expressed any remorse for their previous behavior. Yes, the backstage promo on Collision tried to reframe the Death Riders from semi-anarchists to brooding no-nonsense badasses, but the lack of an acknowledgement of the past thus far is an admission there’s no way to explain it away.
This week on Dynamite members of the Death Riders are set to do battle with members of the Don Callis Family in a street fight. Starting with a street fight feels a little much, but it will be a good test to see if the Death Riders besides Mox can get the crowd on their side.
Elsewhere, the Callis Family defeated Skyflight. Afterwards, Takeshita returned from his latest sojourn to Japan. He walked right past Callis without even acknowledging him and embraced Kyle Fletcher. Nearly 30 years of watching wrestling says that Fletcher is going to betray Takeshita and choose the Family when the time comes. Until then, I’m sure Proto-Shita will be thick as thieves.
One final Callis Family note, as Kenny Omega further established his goal to earn a men’s AAEW World Title shot, Callis interrupted and challenged him to a match on behalf of Josh Alexander. That match happens tonight so we get the rare treat of a Kenny Omega singles match on TV. Look for Andrade to get involved.
Grade: B
Hook Got Hanged
Latest Developments
Seeking revenge on the Opps, Hangman hanged over the top rope to win a lights out tag match and then, alongside JetSpeed, defeated the Opps for the trios titles.
Analysis
Hangman and Swerve teamed up fight Hook and Powerhouse Hobbs in a lights out match two weeks ago on Dynamite. The unlikely allies were victorious after Hobbs took a Dead Eye on a pallet of cinderblocks and Hook was forced to tap out when Hangman hanged him over the top rope. Hangman wasn’t finished with the Opps, though. After fairly easily dispatching of Samoa Joe’s hired gun in Bryan Keith, he challenged the Opps to a trios titles match and recruited JetSpeed to be his partners.
The match itself was fine. Humorously, Hook was on commentary but couldn’t actually speak due to the damage from the hanging. In the end, Kevin Knight reversed an attempted spinebuster into a roll-up with a high stack for the surprise win. Well, it was surprising for the live crowd. Those watching on TV were aware of Hobbs’s departure, so the titles being changed wasn’t a shock. It’ll be interesting to see how long Hangman and JetSpeed hold the titles given Hangman’s ongoing pursuit of the Men’s World Championship.
Grade: B+
Random Questions
– Why is Tony Khan Still Platforming Twitter/X? For months now on both Dynamite and Collision, positive social media posts mostly from the platform formerly known as Twitter have periodically popped up onscreen. I found it derivative of WWE’s self-congratulatory behavior, but I largely ignored it even as X devolved further into a hellscape of hate. At this point it, can no longer be ignored. The Twitter/X AI has been spewing out fake nude images of various celebrities.
Things went even a step further last week when it generated a fake image of Renee Good, the woman brutally murdered by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, in a bikini. Continuing to give airtime to a vile platform owned and operated by an equally vile, insane, fascist billionaire is irresponsible and should cease immediately. I would argue that they don’t need to put the posts on the screen at all, but if they feel need to, there are other social media platforms they can use.
– Heel vs Heel for the tag titles, seriously? The new Don Callis Family team of Davis & Doyle won a four-way tornado tag match for the right to challenge FTR for the AEW Tag Team Titles. Given what they planned to do with JetSpeed later in the show and the fact that another Young Bucks-FTR match isn’t that appetizing right now I think a different babyface team should’ve been slotted in this role. A heel vs. heel match feels like an odd and questionable choice. FTR’s promo on Collision while very ’80s heel style, didn’t much mitigate that issue. I wouldn’t be shocked if a third team wasn’t tossed into the mix.
– What in the EDM hell is the new Collision theme song? The last few weeks Sir Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” has been conspicuous by its absence. This week a brand-new opening with a new theme song debuted. Personally, it leaves a lot to be desired. It starts with a Jabba the Hutt sounding voice saying “Welcome to Saturday night” and then transitions into a song that is better suited for a rave rather than a wrestling show. Tony, this ain’t it. Whatever Sir Elton wants in licensing fees for his classic banger, pay him. It fit Collision like a glove.
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