SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Welcome everyone!
I am back with a “Blood and Guts” edition – Megan Bayne’s blood, of course, since I think I got some on me watching from my house. What a bloody mess.
First, did anyone watch Collision? If not, I thought it was worth the time this week. Having the show on the Jericho Cruise just gave the entire night a fun night. It felt very WCW Nitro from Spring Break.
Getting back to the subject at hand, are you a fan of this match type? For me, I grew up in the ’80s when a WarGames match was invented and really meant something. So I do enjoy the match type, but I do not enjoy the calendar booking aspect of it, as I’ve mentioned before.
This week’s column will be a tad different. I am going to put the “Blood & Guts” match as my top Rising Star and top Fading Star. I am going to give you my reasons for liking and disliking it. Then I will drop a couple of wrestlers into the runner-up column of each.
Let’s get to it!
RISING STAR OF THE WEEK
BLOOD & GUTS MATCH
Okay. So there was stuff I liked and stuff I didn’t like in both matches. Let’s, obviously, look at what I liked.
I loved how hard the women worked to get over their match. It was just brutal and they all wanted to show off – Megan Bayne, more than others, apparently. I also liked the ending of the women’s match over the men’s. Julia Hart looked terrified when she tapped out and I thought it looked great because of that.
For the men’s match, I enjoyed parts and disliked others. The first thing I want to bring up is the exploding bag spot. Did you watch Kevin Knight during this spot? He was pleading with Wardlow, along with the rest of the Don Callis Family, but Knight only pleaded for a second before diving from one ring into the other. I laughed so hard at that and I even went back again to watch it. Amusing stuff there.
For me, the overall story was told well, and it needed to be. Why? When the match started and the heels came down, all I thought was “my lord the DCF is so much bigger than the entire Ospreay team.” How do they not win? Which, to their credit, was kind of the story. The DCF was just bigger and stronger and could not be stopped.
RUNNER UP – NICK WAYNE
This kid is just getting better every time he comes on television. He was only in one quick segment on Dynamite, but he shined.
Then his appearance on Collision feels like a young performer that everything is clicking for. One day he is going to draw some huge heat with how much of a prick he is.
I know it’s crazy to say, but I do think he could rub people the wrong way enough to be boo’d like MJF or Don Callis. Hell, I would put MJF and Wayne together in a small capacity. Not in a faction, but just two douchebag heels that admire each other’s douchebag-ness.
MJF talking about being the youngest world champion in AEW history while also talking up Wayne as being the youngest overall champion in the company could get a lot of heat.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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FADING STAR OF THE WEEK
BLOOD & GUTS MATCH
Okay, for starters, the build for both of these matches were bad. They came out of nowhere and is the most egregious use of calendar booking AEW has done. The Cut vs. Death Riders has way more of a reason to be in this match than the teams we got.
That aside, the ending of the men’s match was not good. From the threat from Kyle Fletcher at the end to attempt to murder o Ospreay (which the crowd went mild about) to the Darby spot where it looks like Wardlow was so afraid to get near the edge that he basically “finger poke of doomed” Darby off the cage to almost no reaction.
For me, Blood an&d Guts should go away for a few years. Do I think it will? Absolutely not! Did you see the rating it did? All I can hope for is the next time it’s busted out there, it’s for a feud that needs it, not just because it’s November and you know what that means.
RUNNER UP – BANDIDO
I really don’t know where Bandido went wrong over the last few years. I saw him win his first ever ROH World Title prior to the AEW purchase. He was connected with the crowd organically. Things don’t feel that way anymore.
Let’s look at what he did on last week’s Dynamite. The first time we see Bandido on screen (he looks great, by the way). he throws a bag to knock Austin Creed down. Then he steps over Kofi and just stops to, I guess, look cool? As I said, he has the look, but after that he immediately takes me out of it because everything outside of that looks like an actor hitting spots.
This was all followed by a fine little brawl. I liked the fire Bandido showed. The problem was the ending. Bandido picking up some kind of small truss and then Frankenstein walking it over to hit Swerve was ridiculous looking.
The beginning of the brawl and the end are just two small reasons that when Bandido comes on screen, I tend to check out. Yes, he does some impressive things in the ring, but whether it’s doing a Macarena dance or having to constantly adjust his mask, I check out during Bandido matches now.
Look, I am not saying Bandido isn’t a good guy to have on the roster. I just don’t think his value is as high as Tony Khan does. I see him as a mid-card guy at this point.
I would love to be proved wrong.
