SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NEWS & NOTES
• WWE announced that they would be running an as-yet-unnamed PLE up against All Out. If Tony Khan were smart, he’d undercut WWE’s bullying tactics by changing the start time of All Out to the afternoon much the same way he did with All In.
• Paul Walter Hauser did guest commentary on this past Saturday’s Collision. He was surprisingly okay, not trying too hard or not taking it seriously which are either of the things that often happen with celebrity commentators.
INTRO
And we’re back! Apologies for missing last week, but life was life-ing. Nonetheless the AEW train kept right on rolling through Cleveland, Ohio and tonight into the home of the Bengals and Skyline chili, Cincinnati, Ohio. “Hangman” Adam Page and his potential challenger will go face-to-face. Jon Moxley faces ypung up-and-comer Kevin Knight in Mox’s hometown no less. Adam Copeland continues his feud with FTR by dismantling Stokely Hathaway. All of this and more as the build to Forbidden Door continues.
A Hangman, a Chicken Farmer, and a MJF
Latest Developments
MJF defeated Mark Briscoe after the referee blew the call by missing Briscoe’s foot on the rope. Hangman and MJF brawled to close the show.
Analysis
Mark Briscoe has been jonesing to get his hands on MJF for weeks to avenge the vile things Max said about his late brother. Once Hangman suggested that Briscoe was more deserving of an AEW World Title match than MJF, that incentivized Max to give Briscoe what he wanted.
The match was well-built throughout Wednesday’s show with MJF being typically cocky and dismissive and Briscoe being deadly serious telling Max that his day of atonement had arrived. The match was pretty darn good. The story of the match was MJF evading the Froggy Bow multiple times while Mark dealt with a rib injury. Briscoe finally hit the Froggy Bow, but his injury slowed down his ability to cover MJF which allowed MJF to kick out at two. An attempted Froggy Bow through a table on the outside led to a brutal crash and burn. MJF capitalized and hit a Heat Seeker. Briscoe got his foot on the rope, but referee Bryce Remsburg was hyper focused on the shoulders and failed to see it before the three. Max noticed after the fact and realizing that the ref hadn’t, shoved the foot off the rope.
Crafty finish which protected Briscoe to an extent although it feels like Briscoe should’ve beaten MJF given everything MJF said about Jay Briscoe. After the match MJF continued to attack Briscoe and that brought out Hangman for the save.
MJF had been trying to goad Hangman into granting him a title shot so he can keep his Casino Gauntlet contract in his back pocket as an insurance policy. So far, he hasn’t taken the bait. Let’s hope that continues through their scheduled face-to-face tonight.
Hangman has gotten more control over his emotions in recent months and nothing MJF has done warrants a backslide. There’s also the Briscoe wild card. Briscoe has a legitimate gripe given how his match with MJF ended so that could be a set up for a triple threat. We can’t forget about Mistico either. MJF is still feuding with the lucha legend. He won the CMLL World Light-Heavyweight title which I imagine is just so he can drop it to Mistico at the 92nd Anniversario show in September. There’s still a chance Mistico returns before then and potentially inserts himself to otherwise occupy MJF for Forbidden Door. It’s a nice change of pace to have so many options for how things could shake out.
Grade: B+
Callis Family Matters
Latest Developments
Kyle Fletcher celebrated his TNT Title victory and successfully defended it against Tomohiro Ishii as Takeshita continued to kill it in the G1.
Analysis
Kyle Fletcher and Dustin Rhodes went to war on last Thursday’s Collision. Despite getting the most shattered of all Shattered Dreams, “The Protostar” outlasted “The Natural” to claim the TNT Championship. Since that match, Dustin has announced that he will need to undergo double knee replacement surgery. That’s a major operation and recovery for a 56 year old. He says that his career isn’t over, but who knows given the extent of his injuries. If it is, he got to come out to his classic WCW “The Natural” theme song one last time and he certainly left everything in the ring.
Speaking of Dustin’s injury, Fletcher took credit for that as well as Adam Cole’s concussion during his victory promo which was smart. He was also gifted his own oil painting from Callis (props to Mel Coleman), this one featuring a typically buff Callis and Fletcher naked except for the TNT Title. Homoerotic elements aside, this felt like a rite of passage for Fletcher to have his own painting.
Fletcher had his first title defense in a very physical match against Ishii. Ishii spends his summers in AEW just hitting dudes as hard as he can and Fletcher was no exception. These two wore each other out but eventually Fletcher dropped Ishii on his head with a brainbuster for the win. Good match. The physicality made up for the predictability.
After the match, Fletcher and then Callis challenged NJPW to send their best to fight Fletcher at Forbidden Door. Some of the language they used could be construed to be a reference to David Finlay. Given his legend/career killer thing he’s got going, his opponent could be Hiroshi Tanahasi. The Japanese legend is on his year-long retirement tour, so Fletcher getting a win over him would be a nice notch on his belt.
On the other side of the Pacific, Konosuke Takeshita continued to make a run at the playoffs of the G1. He’s currently tied for second in the B-block with ten points behind only the block leader and current IWGP Champion Zack Sabre Jr.
The only Callis Family member missing this week was Okada, whose title was present but body was not during the Callis Family promo. Still, his match against Swerve Strickland was made official for Forbidden Door.
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)
The Match is Set
Latest Developments
Athena chose to cash in her Casino Gauntlet contract for a match against Toni Storm at Forbidden Door.
Analysis
In a video package on the July 31 Collision, Athena announced that after pinning Toni Storm the previous night she felt so confident she could beat her that she was going to cash her Casino Gauntlet contract in an underhanded fashion but with advanced notice for a match at Forbidden Door. This choice feels much more aligned with who Athena has been during her dominant run in ROH, brash and cocky. It also gives us the straight up Toni-Athena match which should be excellent.
As the by-the-numbers style video from this week’s Collision highlighted, this match could be Toni’s stiffest challenge to date – and that’s saying something considering she survived a bloody war with her former protégé, barely escaped Megan Bayne, and outdueled Mercedes Moné on the biggest stage of the year. Athena at 67-0 in singles competition and nearing a Roman Reigns length title run is a huge threat to Toni. Hopefully they put a fine point on that in the next two weeks.
Grade: B
Man on a Mission
Latest Developments
Darby Allin has made it his personal goal to bring down the Death Riders starting with challenging Jon Moxley at Forbidden Door.
Analysis
After spending a couple weeks silently stalking the Death Riders from increasingly closer distances, Darby Allin finally got physical, diving off a balcony in the Aragon Ballroom on the July 30 Dynamite in order to wipe out Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta.
The following night on Collision, Mox called out Darby who appeared in the rafters and baited the Death Riders to follow him. As they scoured the upper recesses of the building, Darby grabbed Mox using a towel presumably doused in chloroform. He attempted to throw Mox of the roof of the building but was stopped.
This past week on Dynamite during Mox’s match with “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Darby used another chloroform towel this time to snatch Yuta. After Mox defeated Bailey, he and Marina went looking for Yuta outside in a body bag about be turned into a speed bump by Darby. Upon opening the bag, Yuta was shown with a paper with “Forbidden Door” written on it stuck to his forehead.
Darby was essentially the catalyst for the Death Riders reign of terror. It was his loss to Jon Moxley last October that propelled Mox to the title match against Bryan Danielson at WrestleDream and thus the title. He was also leading the resistance against the Death Riders until he was tossed down a flight of stairs so it makes perfect sense that Darby would want to be the guy to the Death Riders down for good. The sooner the better, in my opinion.
Grade: B
Tag Team Tournament Madness Continued
Latest Developments
Brodido vs. FTR was set up as the finals as the tag team tournament reinvigorated the lagging tag division.
Analysis
FTR defeated The Bang Bang Gang in a good, albeit predictable match as them making it to the finals was the only realistic outcome.
On the other side of the bracket, Brody King & Bandido absolutely broke out as the unexpected stars of the tourney with two excellent matches, first against the Gates of Agony and then against the Young Bucks. Their big bruiser/luchador dynamic works quite well. The running leg press 450 splash they’re using as a finish has quite some snap on it.
The forthcoming FTR vs. Brodido match should be great. Even though FTR are likely going to win, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to capitalize on the lightning in a bottle Brodido has captured and put them into the match with the Hurt Syndicate. Either way, they should definitely remain a team for the foreseeable future.
Grade: B+
Random Questions
-Is that a women’s Blood & Guts that I see coming together? On the August 2 Collision the Thekla-Willow match ended with standoff between the Triangle of Madness, Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford on one side and Willow, Queen Aminata, and TayJay on the other. That certainly seems to be a signal that the annual WarGames style match will be between these women who have feuding with each other for months and, in some cases, even years. Backdoor building this match – that is to say, building it without being obvious about it – deserves some credit. Frankly, it’s a nice change of pace and a good showcase for the mid-card of the Women’s Division. This dovetails nicely with my next question…
– Can we get Kris Statlander back on track? Statlander started the year coming off two back to back excellent matches with Mercedes Moné and seeking a reconciliation with Willow. Willow wasn’t interested in reconciling. Stat should’ve moved into her own thing while occasionally crossing paths with Willow. Instead, she’s been all over the place. Most recently she cut that passive-aggressive promo on Collision. On this past week’s Dynamite, she cut a bizarre promo backstage with Willow that ended with her tossing confetti into Willow’s face. It seems clear that Stat’s going to end up being the fifth member of Willow’s team in the aforementioned Blood & Guts match. Hopefully once she and Willow are on the same page, she can go back to being more consistent.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.