SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
HOUSEKEEPING
•Megan Bayne made it the final two in the CMLL International Grand Prix before falling to Skadi. She had a great showing throughout the match. Bayne doesn’t miss in Mexico.
INTRO
AEW started the build to both Blood & Guts and Full Gear all at the same time last week. I wish AEW would stop setting themselves up to have to build two shows simultaneously. Neither one can get the full focus it deserves. That said, at least one of the Blood & Guts matches makes sense and the Full Gear cars is already shaping up nicely. Let’s see where things stand.
A Bloody Foundation
Latest
Recent and long-time enemies banded together against the Don Callis Family in the set up for the Blood & Guts match.
Analysis
Last week’s show opened with Davis & Doyle absolutely squashing The Young Bucks. The Jackson brothers didn’t get a single bit of offense in. Nick was powerbombed through a table while Matt ate three piledrivers from Davis. This was glorious. AEW does these things so rarely that this was a welcome surprise and put Davis and Doyle over strong.
In the next segment Will Ospreay and Adam Copeland teamed up to fight Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight. When this match was announced I assumed it was to be a vehicle to set up Copeland challenging Ospreay. For the second segment in a row we got swerved.
After a good back and forth match, Kazuchika Okada snuck down to ringside. He got into Copeland’s face only to get knocked off the apron. As Copeland went for a spear to Fletcher, Fletcher leapfrogged him. At that moment, Okada laid the International Title belt across the middle turnbuckle in time for Copeland’s head to slam into it, busting him open hard-way. Fletcher hit a brainbuster for the win.
After the match, the entire DCF hit the ring and overwhelmed Ospreay and Copeland with Fletcher ultimately standing over Ospreay with the world title belt in hand. Eventually, Darby Allin’s music hit and he and the returning Steven Borden made their way to the ring armed with Sting’s baseball bat while Nick Jackson ran out with some kind of paddle. The DCF scurried and Steven Borden laid down the challenge for Blood & Guts.
Was this a rushed set up for Blood & Guts? No question. That said the DCF has been the central heel faction in the company for years at this point. Ospreay has been feuding with them for years. The Bucks have been feuding with them for over a year. Darby and Steven Borden have been feuding with them for about five months now. The only new rival here is Copeland. I think the composition of the face team balances out the speed with which the match came together. I’m not opposed to a moratorium on Blood & Guts matches, but as a WCW fan I’ve seen worse builds with less logical teams so this one doesn’t bother me.
Beyond next week’s caged warfare, this also seemed to set up some Full Gear title matches. In addition to the Bucks defending against Davis & Doyle, it would appear that Adam Copeland will be challenging Okada for the International Title. Ospreay and Fletcher are reigniting their rivalry, this time for the AEW World Heavyweight Title which was made official last night. It is earlier than I expected that match to come around, but it doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t happen again down the road .
Grade: B
The CEO Has a Problem
Latest Developments
Mercedes Moné gloated about her victory over Thekla and then essentially laid out an open challenge which was promptly answered by Marina Shafir.
Analysis
Mercedes came out talked about taking Willow’s smile and now stomping out “The Spider” (Thekla). She said that she doesn’t chase the spotlight, she is the spotlight. She then basically said that whoever in the back thinks they can beat her, come on down. That’s when The Death Riders music and hit and Marina Shafir made her way through the crowd flanked by Jon Moxley. She took the mic from Mercedes and simply said “Don’t be a pussy.” Mercedes then repeated a few more times off mic before tucking tail and leaving the ring.
Let me take this moment to take a victory lap. I said in this very column right after the Pac tribute show that Marina Shafir should be Mercedes next challenger and I reiterated that last week. Low and behold, Marina is in fact the next challenger.
It’s been pointed out that her singles record isn’t great, but Mercedes essentially laid out an open challenge. Regardless of her stats, Marina has been treated as a badass enforcer for the Death Riders, unafraid to fight anyone male or female. The crowd genuinely loves her. She wrestles different than anyone Mercedes has faced.
This feud has an opportunity to make Marina. Mercedes can the best match out of just about everyone. I don’t see Marina being any different. Marina put Persephone to sleep with Mother’s Milk to eliminate her from CMLL’s Women’s International Grand Prix and followed that up by tapping out Trish Adora with the Brutalizer in a mixed trios match the next night on Collision.
Last night, Marina was fed an enhancement talent that spent three minutes ragdolling before tapping her out as well. Building up Marina in this way will give the match some jeopardy. Based on the post-match promo between the two women though, I fear Wade is going to have to set up a Pussy-o-Meter to go along with his Bitch-o-Meter.
Grade: B+
Back to Where Things Began
Latest Developments
Swerve Strickland challenged The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly to a Texas Death match for the AEW Trios Titles. “Hangman” Adam Page accepted the rematch but turned down the Texas Death stipulation.
Analysis
Swerve dispatched of an enhancement talent in 25 seconds. Once backstage, he confronted the new Trios Champions and demanded a rematch on behalf of himself and The New Level. He thought about Full Gear and his history with Hangman and asked that the match be a Texas Death Match. Hangman accepted the rematch but refused the Texas Death stipulation, saying that he wasn’t dragging Brodido into that. Swerve coolly responded, “We’ll see.”
I do appreciate that Hangman didn’t want to drag his partners into the darkness that is a Texas Death Match. That said, we know it’s coming. The only questions are how does New Level feel about Texas Death, how many felonies will Swerve commit to force Hangman to accept the match, and how will New Level feel about that?
We got some answers to those questions last night. The New Level had no desire to partake in the brutality that is a Texas Death match because they don’t have the intense beef with any of the Trios Champions that Swerve does.
Speaking of Swerve, his first act to attempt to force The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly into the stipulation was to abduct Bandido and beat him to a bloody pulp. An incensed Brody King rushed the ring to confront New Level who quickly and emphatically disavowed having anything to do with Swerve’s actions and Hangman was able to talk Brody down after begging him not to give Swerve what he wants.
I can only imagine how far Swerve might have to go. I just wonder if the New Level will intercede to try to talk him down or if he’ll convince them to go along with him.
Grade: B+
What is Their Name?
Latest Developments
The Dogs ended their alliance with the Death Riders, turned on Gabe Kidd, and merged with a newly turned Bang Bang Gang to form a new faction.
Analysis
Stay with me for this one. After Jon Moxley defeated Roderick Strong in a Continental Championship eliminator match, the Dogs hit the ring and continued beating on him. Mox stepped in and backed them off. That’s when the Dogs jumped Mox. Gabe Kidd then hit the ring. He had, as Excalibur put it, dual citizenship in both groups and was perplexed why the Dogs were sabotaging their alliance. Clark Connors speared him thus ending terminating Kidd’s affiliation with the Dogs and turning him heel.
“Switchblade” Jay White and Orange Cassidy, flanked by Kyle O’Reilly ran out to seemingly even the odds. That’s when Switchblade suddenly grabbed Cassidy and nailed him with the Blade Runner. The rest of the Bang Bang Gang then hit the ring and laid a beating on KOR as well as the rest of the Death Riders who had come out to join the fight. Claudio Castagnoli got to look like the Swiss Superman fighting against the odds until a lug wrench and shillelagh finally put him down.
I thought this segment was tremendously effective. The Death Riders needed to be full on faces and not awkwardly positioned as heels against the Conglomeration. The Dogs need a jolt of life. Most importantly, Jay White needed something meaningful and leading a fun-loving faction of guys wasn’t it. This segment corrected all of that.
The now-beloved Death Riders get to be the badass babyfaces everyone wants them to be. Jay White is instantly elevated to top heel against Mox. The only weird thing to come out of this is Gabe Kidd being a face. That feels like an odd fit, but we’ll see.
Now for the slightly awkward part that was Collision. Jay White and the new faction opened the show. There were nuggets of good and logic in the promo like Jay declaring that he wants the Continental Championship and saying that he and his buddies haven’t forgotten all of the bad that the Death Riders perpetrated.
Those nuggets were unfortunately outshone by Jay’s atypical awkward delivery and the protracted renaming of the merged faction. I think Jay was trying too hard to manage a crowd that still wanted to do all his catchphrases.
As for the name thing, that was just a mess. Obviously, the Bang Bang Gang was too babyface for a heel faction and the Dogs has never been an inspired name. I initially thought that they would just revive Bullet Club as New Japan retired that name in February and it’s possible their ten year trademark expired some time this year.
Instead. Jay christened the group “The Last Outfit” which to be quite frank sounds like a challenge for contestants on “America’s Next Top Model” or “Project Runway.” It doesn’t sound like a wrestling faction. In a social media promo after the show that was much better and featured Jay calling The Death Riders a cancer, he re-christened the group “The Cut.” Not a whole lot better, as it also sounds like it could be part of those aforementioned reality shows. They really should’ve workshopped some names because there has to be something better.
On the upside, Collision ended with a Nitro-style show closing brawl between the two factions and demonstrated why I think this could and should be a compelling part of AEW moving forward.
That proved to be the case on Dynamite as a match between The Cut and The Death Riders opened the show. The Cut got the win when Jay White pinned Danny Garcia with the Blade Runner. The real story came after the match when both factions engaged in another chaotic brawl.
Once the Death Riders sent the Cut packing, Mox laid out the challenge for Anarchy in the Arena for Full Gear. Later in the night members of The Cut jumped Mox, who was on commentary for Marina’s squash match. This led to another full-scale brawn between the two factions.
Just when it looked like the Death Riders were done for, Claudio came down the ramp wielding a trash can. He began cleaning house like he was Super Claudio, just taking out all six guys . Eventually, Super Claudio met his kryptonite in the form of David Finlay’s shillelagh. It took two shots, but Claudio was finally brought down.
Switchblade put cherry on the sundae but delivering a Blade Runner to Claudio on the exposed concrete floor outside the ring leading to Claudio being stretchered out. I guess the question now is: Will he be ready for Full Gear and, if not, does he send a very pale red-headed friend of his to fill in for him.
Grade: B
Random Questions
– It’s over now right? Please let it be over. The “it” I’m referring to in this case is Nick Wayne vs. Chris Jericho. Wayne came and gloated about his win over Jericho complete with pyro. He then got his apology from Jericho and then Jericho just left after telling not to eff things up. Nick Wayne is great in the ring and he’s got the annoying “cocky young punk you want to punch in the face” thing down. He’s gotten everything he can from Jericho. It’s time to move him into something bigger. Jericho has a cruise to deal with anyway.
– We knew this was how this was going to go right? Two really good matches between the Motor City Machine Guns and FTR and each team has one win apiece. Tonight one team will go up 2-1. My guess would be FTR so that MCMG have to claw their way back into the series and win from behind so to speak.
– That’s how we’re getting to a women’s Blood & Guts match? A backstage beatdown from a group of heels who were on opposite sides as of two weeks ago led to the AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions, their current challengers, and Willow Nightingale uniting against them. Just a completely thrown-together match for the sake of making sure the women had equal representation. I’m sure the match will be fine, but this one definitely feels like a casualty of the calendar.
– What’s going on with the TBS Title? Tonight, Persephone defends the TBS Title against Queen Aminata. Aminata and Persephone crossed paths in the CMLL Women’s International Grand Prix on Friday night. Bigger picture: This is Aminata’s third title match in five weeks. It feels like as much as it seems early to take the belt off Persephone, Aminata can’t lose again or it risks devaluing her (Spoiler: She didn’t) . The TBS Title has moved around a lot in the last few months and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s helped establish multiple women in the division from Maya World to Persephone and perhaps tonight Aminata. That’s the optimal use of this championship.
