Latest / Elite Heat / Mile High Madness: Swerve’s Heel Justification, Mox vs El Clon Delivers, Tarzan Boy, & What’s Going On with the Women’s Division?
Transcript
- So, ah I don’t think i remember how to do this. that’s Nope. That’s exactly the start we wrote the first episode and you have continued to make it work. I don’t think it. I love it. Let’s start right there. let’s Let me stop you right there. the The idea that we wrote anything or prepared anything. Who are you trying to fool? Way to break the fourth wall. Come on, man. Who you crapping, my man? Me. Just crapping myself right now. What? That’s almost what I was doing. So I came back from vacation with a bug or food poisoning or possibly both. It was a good time, let me tell you. The urgent need to get everything inside of you, outside of you. So ah yeah pretty much, yeah. So as a result, though, it was very good ah that you did the solo episode because I listened to that, I believe, yesterday and got me all caught up because the plan was… ah you and thought you were going to say while you were on the turlet. I will neither confirm nor deny that. um But I, you know, it was good because I had planned to watch like Grand Slam and get all caught up and then it didn’t happen because other things did. I don’t know if you know this. AEW was in Australia. Did you know that? I’ve heard that. Yeah. Yeah, they were in Australia. Yeah. So I didn’t, I don’t know. How was it? Was it good? Yeah, it was really good. I liked it lot. Yeah. I thought, yeah, I thought those those shows were really good. was very happy with it. Okay. Yeah, very happy with A little surprised by some of the ongoings, but you know, that’s all right. Cool. well It was good. Well, that’s when wrestling’s at its best, right? liked it. Keep you on your toes. Heck yes. Heck yes. So then let’s talk about tonight’s Dynamite, which I did see. Oh, gay. ah Yeah, not from the bathroom either. So um opened up with what I’m going to start calling the Whip Around, where they do the quick little promo segments. Oh. First we had Babes of Wrath, then Mega Bad, and then they did the Swerve and Omega recap package. Mm-hmm. Yep. Or excuse me, Bucks and FTR recap package. Excuse me. Yes, that’s the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah um Which I still like it. I think it’s a good way to get you up to speed pretty quick. And, you know, again, I had i had missed that stuff. yeah. Yeah. I said… So it was nice to get caught up with the Bucks FTR stuff. I said last week that I was warming up to that idea that you initially liked and I initially thought, what is happening? But I am warming up to it and I agree. It’s it’s a good thing. And they show, let me just say hat is off to Malachi Buck because he ate that pile driver like a champ. He did. They did show that, and he did eat it like a champ. And also, I like the idea of his name being Malachi Buck. That’s tremendous. and ah what’s his nuts from FTR was wearing his glasses when he did it so I thought it was even funnier it was just it was well done i I liked that little encounter and that recap was really good and then it went to i wrote this under cool touches and they’ve done this uh several times now I really like when at the beginning that first match they throw it to Renee Paquette down at ringside and I thought that was a really cool touch Yeah. Yeah, they did a good job. Mm-hmm. But I got weird really quick this week when they they decided having Marina Shafir speak live was a good idea. Yeah, I agree. I’m with you on when they throw to her to do kind of like the sideline reporter sort of thing. um i like that. I think it’s an interesting way to work her in. Having her talk to Marina Shafir was a choice. Yeah. And that question was just, you knew once she asked it, this answer was not going to be good. I didn’t understand any of it. I was like, maybe it’s just because I missed stuff. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know. I was confused by the whole thing and just kind of went, okay, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I think it’s a really cool twist. I like getting her down there at the beginning of the match. And, like, it gives it that live event feel. It just gives it that little something extra. I thought that was a really cool touch. But then that happened. And I’m like, oh, come on, man. don’t A, what a weird question. And B, apparently Moxley wrote a bunch of bad poems and didn’t use some of them. So she picked them up off the floor and used it for this promo. I don’t know. But it was weird. Yeah, I don’t know. Something about a slap. That’s really all I know. I think. Yep. Yep. Yep. And I still don’t understand it, but still kind of a cool touch. Yeah. and And here’s what… Yeah, here’s what I do know. If it’s not about Malachi Buck, I don’t care. ah Didn’t he go back to the WWE Malachi box? He did. Oh, okay. Yeah, apparently he’s the new killer cross for them. I don’t know. But… Seriously, I read something about that today that that’s apparently how they plan to use him. I don’t do with that what you will. oh okay Doesn’t seem like a good thing to me, but okie doke. Nope. I digress. So back to Dynamite. That went into, like you said, the opening match of Mox versus El Clone, which I enjoyed greatly. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that was a hell of a match. Plus, I really like that they’re continuing to tell the story of the Don Callis family versus the the the the the the Death Riders. For some reason, Death Riders was not going to come out of my face for a second. But the Don Callis family versus Death Riders story continues to play out. El Clone looked amazing, as always. yeah And I just really liked that match. i thought it was really good. Very creative use of the tag rope there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. Oh, yeah. he was i saw he was reaching into the turnbuckle and I thought, oh, who planted a screwdriver this time? But he pulled the rope out and used it. I was like, okay, we haven’t seen that in a non-tag match in a long time, if ever. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it, to be honest. Maybe I have, but I don’t remember if I have, so. oh yeah. That’s like an old school tag team thing that they used to do all the time when the dads would do it. Yeah. But… Well, I mean, they got away from the tag rope for so long, you know? Yes, because FTR were the ones that wanted that, right? They wanted, when they first came in, they were like, we have to do it by the tag team rules and you have to be using the tag rope. Yeah. Yeah. And that went away. Yeah. And to be clear, when I say they got away from the tag rope, I just mean professional wrestling in general, you know, because WCW didn’t really use it in the Attitude Era. That’s also true. Yeah, very true. w WWE didn’t, you know. I’ve not really watched TNA to be able to comment on them, but good point. Yeah, it was. well they had a six-sided ring so where are you going to put the rope in the middle no one knows I think it was hanging from the ceiling and you had to climb up it to make the tag. yes to tag yes yes and climb a ladder to get to the uh the the trellis then you can tag and then you had climb back down and tag matches took forever I don’t, I don’t know. Yeah. Right. Right. Really long time, yeah. But anyway, Marx and Elkhorn, very good, really good match. I’m with you. They’re keeping that story going, which, oh, okay, cool. Yeah. Then we got… And already, i already I thought this could be my match of the night. It was so good. I was like, man. Yeah, it was very, very good for sure. Very, very good. Yeah. Really strong match. L clone is tremendous. um Mm Then we got the Swerve and Omega recap that I mentioned earlier, which again, very helpful for those of us that may have missed some things due to vacation or illness or both. hmm. Mm hmm. um hmm. So I thought it was a little weird when Nana ran commentary off. I understand that it was swerved then standing on the table, but I don’t think you needed to run them off for it. I guess it was just to get heat because we’re pretty much full heel here. Yeah, that happened that happened last week. And i I was surprised because if you remember, I think it was two weeks ago, I thought, are we… Yeah. seeing a weird glare out of hangman are we going to see a hangman heel turn and no it was swerve who went full swerve on this one and weirdly it was a little confusing but i did like prince nana taking that full heel turn and just being like get out just shut up you run in your mouth about swerve who cares let him talk you know i liked it it was weird but i did like swerve giving that Yeah. really well done and really intense promo on top of the commentary table. I thought that was so good. Yeah, I agree. what What I also wrote down was I thought that was a really, really good promo justifying the heel turn. Oh, yeah. You know, um his line about that was the most successful I’ve ever been in my career. So that’s just who I’m going to be. Basically, was a really good justification of the heel turn. Yep. Jon Moxley take notes for the next time. And what I really like about it is it it wasn’t, We’re seeing it as fans as a heel turn, but it it really isn’t your traditional heel turn. It’s just Swerve proving his point. Because he’s been saying, even as fans have embraced him, he’s the most dangerous man in AEW. yeah And I loved him going back to that. And that’s like, look, you insulted me as a man. You insulted me as dangerous. I can’t have that. And so I needed this. And that’s what he kept yelling saying at the end after he just destroyed… Kenny after the fact was I needed this. And so that whole story is coming together very, very nicely. Yeah. I really liked that. Really liked. Yeah. Now the Omega watch is on because I know if you don’t know the shoot reason why they did all that is he’s headed to Japan for, I think, ah an event around the street fighter game that he did motion capture for. I believe so. Yeah. Yep. I believe so. Um, And I know they’re hoping that he can work it where he can make an appearance at revolution, but that’s not, um, what am I trying to say? It’s not set in stone. It’s not, yeah, it’s not finalized. So now the Omega watch is on to see if he costs him the match that would get made later, but also that ties nicely into what came next, which was the quick Brody King promo, uh, which at the time I thought was like, okay, cool. Right. Yeah. Like, yeah okay. I’m glad that they’re finding ways to keep working Brody. And it made more sense later. Yeah. Well, and yeah, because kenny is the Kenny is the one who told Swerve that you’re not the most dangerous. Right. It’s Brody King. Right. But it it was really cool to see him be like, uh-uh, nope, no, no, call him out. I was really surprised. I just wrote down, calls out Swerve. Wow. Yeah. So I was very happy with that. That was very cool. Yeah, which again would make a little bit more, not that it didn’t make sense there, but would make a little bit more sense later in the show. After that, Orange Cassidy and Gabe Kidd. Mm-hmm. My question to you, sir, is, is Gabe Kidd good? In what respect? I can’t put my finger on it if he is or not. A good wrestler? A good human? A… Well, not a good human. I think we know that. Okay. Is… I mean, come on, man. we’ve We’ve discussed his crimes at length here. i mean, so we’ve we’ve discussed his crimes at length on this show. That’s very true. That’s very true. Very true. I just watching that match, I was going, I can’t tell if this guy is good or not in the ring. I’m not. i I wrote down, i think I like Kidd better when Clark Connors is around. I like that. I think you’re right. I think I like that team. Yeah. Yeah. i Here’s what I’m enjoying, though, about this. Even though the story is weird with this Darby drama going on, I really like the fact that they’re leaning in to trying to build Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors as this this rough and tumble. These guys aren’t taking any prisoners. Well, they literally did take a prisoner. ah Well, yeah. But they’re, you know, they’re they’re building groundwork and they’re laying levels for for you us to try and take them seriously because they’ve been shown as nothing but dangerous. So I really like the fact that they’re leaning into like, look, we’re going to invest time. We’re going to invest energy into these guys and give it enough time to breathe and see what happens. And like I said, I i think I do like Kidd and Connors together. I don’t know if I’m quite a big a fan is of Kidd by himself, but I understand why they did that because if it hasn’t been announced, I almost guarantee you it’s going to be Darby Orange and Kidd and Connors probably at Revolution. Probably. Probably during the opening, like the pre-show would be my guess. i Yeah, that that could be. i was trying to figure out if it was going to be that or if they’re going to go with like a handicap match, a two-on-one with Darby taking them both on. Hmm. That’s possible. Yeah. That’s possible. But now that you’ve worked Orange in there because… yeah And again, you may as well use Orange because you’re not using him for anything else. And you may as well use him to try and build up these other guys. um So I do like that. But we’ll just have to see where it goes. If they give them something meaty after this encounter, we’ll see what happens. Yeah, because yeah because my thought with it was i feel like we’re building towards Orange Cassidy and Roddy Strong probably on on the pre-show, especially given his yeah especially given that his video, Orange Cassidy’s video when he walked out, was the you know missing poster for Roddy Strong, which I thought was very funny. Oh, that yeah. yeah I have a, it’s on my list of things I really liked that weren’t necessarily wrestling that I was going to recap at the end. Yeah. And that is definitely on there. Yeah. I really enjoyed that. Um, I think this was a good match. I’m going to be honest with you. it didn’t hold my attention partially because I don’t know what to make of Gabe kid, but also because I was waiting for the inevitable Darby run in, which granted came after the match, but I was like, I know where this is going. Yep. Yeah. And that took me out of it a little bit. I think, um, But I will say I’m with you that when, when Connors hit the ring, I, I felt better about where we were at. If that makes any sort of sense. Like I felt like, you know, to, to quote Jr business had picked up. So, Yes. Yes. I think I think the issue that maybe you and I are both having with Gabe Kidd is like Clark Connors, the way he’s presenting himself, his brand of unhinged crazy is coming off as kind of genuine. so Whereas Gabe Kidd, while I think he’s pretty decent in the ring, I think he’s coming across as like generic bald bad guy. Yeah. He he’s coming across to me as the, like, um, almost like if you said to somebody who doesn’t really watch wrestling, be a crazy bad guy. Yes. Yes. Cause like the thing where he came out and he’s like, and, and, and maybe he always does this. That’s. I’m not very familiar with him, but like the crawling around on the top of the ramp thing, i was like, I don’t, Yeah. What are you doing? Like, are you just trying to get across that you’re nuts that you’re a crazy person? Because I think we know that from all the kidnapping. Right. Yeah. um Yes. You could have stopped at that one. We got it. We got it on the kidnapping, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. So I don’t know. He’s i’m I’m trying to figure out of is it suffering from. He’s playing a character that he’s played for a while in Japan and he’s not doing the work that you need to do to get it over with a new audience. Are they meaning AEW assuming that we know him from Japan, which you should never assume. right um i don’t know. I just feel like there needs to be some character work there beyond this guy is he and his buddy are attempting to kill Darby. Yeah. Yeah. Because also who isn’t trying to kill Darby? And it’s very true. It seems like everybody is. so Very true. And maybe I’m wrong and maybe I missed it, but I don’t know if they’ve established why they chose Darby. Like if there’s some prior history that I think that would go a long way Well, so they, they did a little bit. to getting this There was, there was a video package where, because Gabe kid had been the like mercenary or whatever. that would show up with the death writers. And it seemed like he always ended up, um, locking up with Darby, which, okay. Yeah. Like I’m all for long-term storytelling, but it wasn’t consistent enough for me to, to really think about it until they did one video package and they did it once, which they probably you should do it more than that. Yeah. Um, And again, it doesn’t, there hasn’t been a like, you know, there hasn’t been a justification for the hatred other than for a while Darby was a thorn in the Deathrider side and Gabe Kidd kind of hung out with them. But the Deathriders have moved on and he hasn’t. Yeah. Exactly. And it it does seem weird. Like i said, I didn’t even remember that package. Yeah. So… They did it once. Yeah, so I’m still at a loss as to why, I mean, you know, hate who you want to hate, love who you want to love, but like, tell me. Yeah. you know tell me Tell me what it is. Yeah. Do you not like the fact that he only paints half his face? I mean, i don’t i don’t know. Do you not like that he basically went almost full Sting cosplay tonight? don’t know. I mean, he showed up looking a lot like Sting. I always kind of like that. um Yeah, I don’t know. That’s very true. That’s very true. There needs to be some more justification here other than you kidnap each other a lot. I don’t know. I don’t know. Just kiss already and stop playing around. a yeah Yeah, I don’t. you know Look, we get it. We accept all wrestlers here, man. We don’t care. Yeah, man. we don’t care. and We aren’t going to judge you, man. No. Just go ahead. Tell them how you really feel. You don’t want to you don’t want to punch them. Come on. We get it we get it Yeah, I don’t. I think maybe that’s the stickler. We know what’s really going on and he’s just not, you know, but you know what though, Gabe Kibb, don’t let me pressure you into coming out. Maybe that is it. Nope. You do that on your terms. I just want to let you know if that’s the case, we see you and we still, we accept you, man. Yep. Yeah. We do. We do. Yeah, that’s all. it’s It’s a bizarre. i’m I’m going to very loosely use the word story here because I’m not entirely certain that it is a story. Yes. Yes. But anyway, ah from there, we got another sort of bizarre thing to me. I would agree. I would agree. And this is one where I thought maybe it’s because I miss stuff. Mm-hmm. But we got the backstage with Thunder Rosa and Kris Statlander, and I thought I’m confused. I don’t i don’t know what’s going on there. They did that last week as well, and it was like, it was like hey, Thunder Rosa’s back, and Kris Statlander’s here, and here’s a thing, a flimsy reason why they’re together, because they liked each other in the past, and Statlander, I guess, is probably actually hurt, maybe, and so she can’t really wrestle yet, so but apparently is cleared for Saturday. Cause they said that. Yeah. So Thunder Rosa is going to pick up the gauntlet and fight for her. But like that was a very I wrote down weird pairing, weird Statlander. And then I wrote because because you know how suspicious I am. Yeah. Are we going to see Statlander join with the sisters and tech club? I had the same thought because the way that she was acting, OK, good, good. I’m like, this feels like almost like they’re teasing a heel turn because, you know, especially with her going, just be careful. And Renee saying, what do you mean by be careful? Yep. And she doesn’t, she just looks at her and walks away. And, and where I struggle with it is, is this the beginning of yet another turn for Kris Statlander, keeping her as big show 2.0 where he’ll face, he’ll face, he’ll face, snip, snap sip snap, snip, snap, snip, snap. Um, Or is this the same problem that we’ve been talking about for a while with her of like, she’s not finding it, man. Like, I don’t know if she’s not a good promo and we didn’t know it until now, or if it’s just, she’s struggling to figure out what this character is supposed to be outside of the whole alien gimmick. Like, I don’t, I i can’t figure that out. And the fact that I can’t figure it out isn’t good. No, i I think it’s a lot of all of that. I think she is having an issue landing with the character. And what I couldn’t figure out is Because the obvious reason for the tension is she does she wants her to be careful with that match so that she doesn’t win because Statlander wants to get the title back, not Thunder Rosa. and But then I thought, well… instead of doing a traditional heel turn of just turning on Thunder Rosa, will she turn and join up with Tecla and the sisters and give them some new life? Because i like that Tecla has the belt, but i don’t know. ah yeah That belt feels weird now. It doesn’t feel like it has the the the momentum when Mercedes had it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, she hasn’t had it yet, but Tony’s like TBS, but it’s like the one belt she didn’t have, but you know, like you, but, but I’m with you of, yeah, that’s fair. Oh, the no, she had the, yes. Yeah. That’s right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. ah She had so many, it was hard for me to keep driving. I mean, but, but I’m with you of like, you know Tony Storm had a great run with it, which I think was due entirely to the way that she understands her character and commits to it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. There have been other good runs with it. Britt Baker had a good run with the title. Yep. Yeah. Uh-uh. I thought Sheeta actually had a pretty good run with it. Yep. you know So I don’t know what’s going on here. It just feels like We’re ah something’s missing and i don’t know what that ingredient is, but something is missing. And like I said, I can’t tell if it’s because Statlander can’t land on the character. If it’s because maybe she just wasn’t a great talker and we didn’t know it, which is possible. And that’s okay. Not everybody is. Yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. Or if it’s that they’re trying to do a cryptic thing again, having not learned the lesson from a year of terrible mocks promos. i don’t I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on here. What I do know is it better get a lot clearer quick or what little, i I’m going to say what little juice you’ve got from the return of Thunder Rosa is going to go away quick. Yeah. And is it me or is Thunder Rosa coming off as also weird, but in a different way? Yeah, what I didn’t understand was… Look, I get it that she’s bilingual and I respect the hell out of that. Yeah. But the switching to Spanish when you’re addressing Tecla would make a lot more sense to me if Tecla also was of Latin descent. Yeah. But she’s Austrian, if I’m not mistaken. So that doesn’t make a lot of sense. No, that whole pairing comes off weird to me. So… And it’s weird because I really like Thunder Rosa as a performer. I thought she was great coming in I do too. this This whole weird waddle of women has got me wonky in the bean hole because I don’t understand it Yeah, it’s it’s I don’t fully understand what all is going on here. Weirdly, no not weirdly, I think the clearest picture is with the tag titles. And, you know, i don’t get it. Yeah, I don’t get where we’re going. I don’t get why she switched to Spanish to address Tecla. That seems to me like the stuff that you really want to get across. Yeah. yeah I see what you’re saying. Yep. you know i don’t I don’t know that that’s helping you sell this match, particularly when I’m going into it going, well, I don’t think she’s got a chance. don’t There’s no way. I shouldn’t say there’s no way, but it’s a non-zero chance, but it’s a pretty close to zero chance, I think, that they’re going hot shot that belt to Thunder Rosa. If Thekla’s going to drop, she’s going to drop it back to Kris Statlanders. Yeah. So… Absolutely. And I’m of the impression, look, you did you you took so long to figure out what you were going to do with Thekla. You finally gave her the belt. Let her run, and not just run, but run rough shot. I think she should kind of destroy Thunder Rosa. Yeah. I think if if Statlander doesn’t turn and comes back again, I think she should definitively destroy Statlander. Yep. And I think she should continue and hold that belt and give it… put some shine back on it and be, you know, we had talked about there isn’t, you know, we were lacking for a, a, a heel that is just a beast, you know, a heel champ. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a, that’s just running through everybody. Swerve is building up to be that guy on the men’s side. Thekla is an odd choice because she’s not the most physically dominant, but she would be a interesting choice if that’s who they went with to be that. But do something with her now that she has it. Please, that’s all I want. Just do something interesting with her. Yeah, I agree. I think where they fumbled a little bit with Thekla was when she first came in, they were presenting her as like, yeah, she might be small, but she’ll wreck you. Yep. And when she would hit that, I remember the first time that I saw her, that I saw her hit that spear, I went, oh, because it looked, it looked brutal. You know, like it was one of the better spears I’ve seen. Yeah. yeah, then they just kinda went away from that and her in a lot of ways. And I, I’m glad she’s got the title. I think we talked about that before. I think that’s the right move, but I’m with you of, you’ve got to have her look dominant. It doesn’t matter that, that she’s not huge. Yep. You know what I mean? If it looks like she’s breaking people in half, that’s enough, but you gotta, you gotta do it and you gotta make sure that people are selling it. Right. Yep. So, Okay, i I’m going to go with you through revolution here, but after revolution, if we’re still trying to milk this and it’s this bizarre, like, dude, I’m that’s going to be Yeah. Yeah. That’s going to be the bathroom break, you know? like Yep. And I don’t want to see it become that. Right. Speaking of bathroom breaks. Yes. What? Don’t get me wrong. i will watch Kevin Knight matches all day. But like you and I have talked about, with a roster this stacked and people fighting for airtime, putting Kevin Knight versus Mansoor on Dynamite? Yep. Yep. Why are we seeing this? Now, at the end, I know why now. That should have been a much shorter match. And I i think this could have been handled in a promo. I think you could have given that ring time to someone else that needed some some build. You know, anybody else, you could have thrown them in there. But this is what we got. and i’m and okay, like I said, I like watching Kevin Knight work when I can remember his name. But, because I’m pretty sure it’s actually Michael Knight. But All that to lead up to Kevin going, hey, hangman, if you win, i want a shot. Okay. So here’s my thought on that. um I know that last week, the Beast Mortos, when he, was was it him and Kevin Knight? I believe that was the Beast Mortos got thrown in there because travel issues. the winter storm on the East coast has really affected that. Yeah. And I think, you know, the stuff that happened, uh, just the other day in Mexico has, has wreaked some havoc there too. Oh, yeah. So I’m when, when, when I saw this match, I went, I wonder if Mansoor got tossed in there as a replacement because somebody couldn’t get there. Mm-hmm. They, you know, and now that I’m thinking, they did call this a standby match, which is really interesting because that doesn’t happen a lot. Um, Yeah. No. And, and I don’t, when they do that, every time they do that, I’m like, I don’t think you need to say that. Like it, to me, it devalues the match. Correct. I don’t think you need to do that. I agree. You could have just, because here’s the other thing too. I actually enjoyed the match. I thought Mansoor was funny. Oh, don’t get me wrong. i liked it. I was just confused as to why we’re seeing it. i get I get it. I get where you’re coming from with that. i think that’s what I think is I wonder if this was supposed to be something else and somebody or multiple, somebody’s couldn’t get to, couldn’t get there. So they put these guys in that spot or they put man sore in that spot and it was supposed to be Kevin Knight and somebody else. Mm-hmm. I don’t know. But again, kudos to man sore. I thought he was really funny when he jumped in front of the camera going, don’t show that. yeah That was legitimately hilarious. That was really funny. Like, and again, i like i do like this match. I liked it a lot. And now it does make sense. And if it was just a, we have to fill time because we have nothing else, that was a great call. Yeah. But then having Kevin call out Hangman a little bit at the end was probably even a little more confusing. But Yeah, I mean… I’m good. look If you’re going to put them in the title hunt, why not get everybody in the title hunt? I guess if that’s what we’re doing. Yeah, that’s fine. i So here was my thought on that. It was on one hand, the downside of doing that is we literally just did it, right? We just did this with Andrade and then it was supposed to be Joe, but he got hurt and, you know, Omega and Swerve and blah, blah, blah, blah. blah blah blah So on one hand, we just did it. Yep. On the other hand, if Hangman wins, and we can talk more about this when we get to their segment, but if Hangman wins, who is the next challenger? Yeah. I’ll hang up and listen, because I don’t know the answer to that. Like, I don’t think they do either, because I don’t think you can… I don’t think they do either. And I think, and umlogiously that but honestly, that the the reason you can’t answer that is a better reason as not that there’s nobody. There’s so many. Yeah, I agree with you on that. I think you’ve got a couple different choices, but the one thing that I think you cannot do is immediately go back to him and swerve. I don’t think you can do that. I agree. I agree. I mean, you can, but i think you I think you’re leaving money on the table if you do. So if you look at it from the perspective of who is the next challenger, if you don’t run it back with him and MJF, who’s the next challenger? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Mm-hmm. and And at that point, you might as well line up these one-offs of like, yeah, okay, I’ll give my buddy the shot because someday he’s going to be world champ, so let’s do it. And yeah, Brody, I’ll give you your shot, even though it’s going to hurt. you know like These these are the the justifications we’re going to get for it. I don’t mind the one-off matches. Yep. Right. what they What they also can’t do is try and make a program out of that. which I don’t think they’re going to. right I think we’re going to get these one-off matches, kind of, you know, your your flavor of the week sort of thing. Which is fine. Yeah, which is which is perfectly fine. Yeah. And if they use this, if if if this does come to fruition, Hangman wins and he gives Kevin Knight this match, if they use that as a way to somehow then transition those trios belts into someone that’s going to be more present than Hangman or put it up for a tournament, whatever, then okay. If they’re using that as momentum to take care of the trios titles too, because I think the I think they could be in quite a quandary with the trios titles, especially if Hangman wins. Yep. Yeah. Then it’s… You’re going to have to do something with those trios titles. Eventually, you’re going to have to defend them. And i would that’s why I was shocked that the Beast Mortos lost last week. I thought he was going to win because I thought for sure they were going to… LMFAO was going to go up against… jet speed donkey and thought that was i thought that was gonna be the match well get the appeal 100 i i am partial to ms jet speed I’m a bigger fan of Jet Speed Donkey Jr., but that’s me. donkey well i get the appeal one hundred percent i am partial to ms jetsby donkey Yeah, yeah. um Sure. Sure. ah I don’t know what to say after that because that was really funny. Well done. No, I agree. You’ve got to figure out what to do with at the trio’s house. I think it’s very telling that hangman rarely wears the belt, the trio’s belt. Yeah. um Maybe he lost it. It could be. it It wouldn’t be the first time. No, it would not. Jericho lost the world title, if you don’t recall. Did you know that I think it was two weeks ago, Okada, when he came to the ring, it might have been collision, and they wouldn’t show it because he couldn’t find it. Yes. He lost Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah, no see yeah it’s not unheard of. Guys. Yeah. um Yeah, it’s not unheard of. Come on. But I’m with you. of They got to figure out the plan for the trios championships, and they clearly don’t have one. They clearly do not have one. No. So they’re going to have to figure that out. Nope. um Yep. I guess this is since MJF and Hangman came next, we might as well talk about that because it’s all part of the same somewhat messy picture. Yes, we should. Yes, we should. um And I say somewhat messy because… I am with you. ah i hate the, if I don’t win, I’ll never challenge a again stipulation. I totally agree with you of, it was stupid when Cody did it. Cody even said it was a bad idea. Yep. Yep. at You know, hindsight after he left, he said that was a bad idea. Mm-hmm. um I understand the symmetry of, and they mentioned it, MJF mentioned it tonight, of I understand the symmetry of he he cost one guy that shot, now he’s going to cost another one, and theoretically they were buds since they were both in the Elite, although I always wondered, because Hangman and Cody rarely interacted, but whatever. True, true. Um, so I was wondering about that, but, um, I hate that stipulation with a passion and I’m with you of, I think hang man has to win. Agreed. Yeah. He has to. I think that stipulation alone, I think kind of, for me, sours this a lot. Yeah. Yeah. not Maybe not a lot, but it’s like you have now painted yourself into a corner of… The timing of MJF dropping the belt right now to me doesn’t make logical sense. I think he should have, like we have talked about, I think he should keep the belt. He should have a good six-month run, maybe more. He should be he should be the Ric Flair of AEW. He should be the guy holding onto that belt either by clean winds, by dirty, it doesn’t matter. He should keep that belt. And putting Hangman in this position, now you have, now you put yourself in the in the corner of we give the Hangman goes over and takes the title, but if he loses, now we lose one of our own homegrown top guys. Yep. it It doesn’t make any sense. And I think that’s such a huge mistake. Such a huge mistake. And here’s, here’s the other part too. So, so then add that to what we saw tonight, which the segment in a vacuum was fine. It was utterly predictable, utterly predictable, but I, I knew from the jump how this was going to go. Yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. And with that said, these guys are all good enough. I was, I was entertained. Yep. No, no issue there, but, Yep. Not only do you have that dumb ass stipulation. And I saw a headline earlier today that was Hangman Page the dumbest of asses. And he is for this. He is. Not only do you have that dumb ass stipulation, but now you even got him his match. You got him Texas death. That is his match, right? Like they mentioned it tonight. I think they said he’s five and one in those matches. So if he loses this with now everything in his favor, what do you do with it at that point? Yeah. What do you do with him at that point? You might as well make him a mid Carter. You’re done, dude. Yeah. Yeah. You can’t go for the title anymore. Yeah, at that at that point yeah and You better hold on to that trio’s belt, buddy, and find it and start wearing it. yeah at that point, you have created Cody 2.0, where your options with him are you either hang up the TNT belt or one of those other secondary belts on him forever, Or you’ve got a guy who’s going to paint himself into a corner. We’re going to, we’re going to turn on him the way we turned on Cody and homeboy going be in WWE in five years, you know, or TNA or, well, that might be the same thing at this point, but you see, you see where, I mean, like you you are going, if he doesn’t win, if hangman doesn’t win at revolution, you have so put yourself in the, Yeah. Yeah. I do, yeah. all the wrong corner. You put baby in a corner and nobody puts baby in a corner. Like he has to win. Nope. If he doesn’t win colossal mistake on everybody’s part here, unless you, unless you’re like, we’re going to turn him heel or, and and he’s going to threaten the EVPs until they give him what he wants. I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know, but I don’t see a good way out of it. If he loses. I was just going to say something that makes no sense because it with ah with it being Texas death, they can’t pull a win by DQ and and make it so that he he didn’t lose so he can still challenge later, but he doesn’t get the belt. Right. So you don’t have even that caveat to get out of it. Right. Man, I don’t know what the hell they’re going to do. There’s I really don’t. yeah he has to win if he doesn’t. Yeah. Okay. if If he doesn’t win at that point, he should go away for like six months and come back in a mask and we’ll all just pretend it’s not him. I was just going to say that. You should pull a Dusty Rhodes and like come back and, you know I don’t know, Walker, Texas cowboy dumbass or something. Yeah. Yeah. El Grande cowboy. Oh, yes. i don’t know, but, but I, Yes. Jet ski donkey. There you go. But I don’t know. there’s If he doesn’t win this match, they will have royally, royally screwed themselves. It almost makes me wonder, and again, this is conspiracy theory brainworking. It almost makes me wonder if, is his contract up soon and no one’s talking about it? So but maybe my recollection is that the four of them. So him, Omega and the bucks signed new contracts a couple years ago, but I want to say at the time it was announced, they were five year deals. And I don’t think we’ve, I don’t think it was five years ago. Right. Cause that would have been like year two of the company. Mm-hmm. Um, So I want to say it was like maybe I want to say we might be in year like two or three of those. and Okay. So I don’t think his deal is up soon. um I don’t. But it just makes me wonder when you put yourself in such a position like that, when you only have really one logical option… Yeah. Yeah. Well, and. It made me wonder, like, well, are things going sideways? And is he soon to be gone? Like, what the hell? I think it’s a very fair question because the thing, as we’re sitting here talking about it, I’m literally getting anxious because the more I say he cannot lose, the more I think he’s gonna. Yeah. and And I don’t know what you do with him at that point. Because here’s the thing, him losing to MJF does nothing but make MJF look amazing. Yeah. And that’s a good thing. But you don’t need to do that. You don’t, but it’s it’s not going to hurt MJF. You know what I mean? Like, it will make him, like, he will ride off that win for six months and rub it into everybody and rub it in and rub it in. Yeah. Yeah. And it would play well with MJF. Like, that makes so much sense. But you’re doing it at the expense, like I said, of one of your homegrown top guys who started off as the guy that everyone looked at This is going to be the first, if it’s not Jericho, it’s going to be Hangman as the first AEW champ. Everyone thought that. Yeah. Finally, you have him in that position. And that was the match. Yeah. That was the first ever championship match was those two guys. And finally, you have him in that position. And you and his and he’s I feel like they’ve the belts kind of been dicked around on him and like they haven’t given him a fair shake yet. Yeah. And now this I just a I said it last week and you’ve said it this week. I hate this stipulation. It’s the dumbest thing ever. Yeah. Well, and and to your point, we talked about that when they ended this most recent title run of twice you have taken the guy who’s allegedly the main character and in you hurt him. You put the belt on him and then you hurt him. Yeah. I understand if you think that there’s more money in him chasing it. I get that. I do. Yeah. But. Yeah. at some point when he gets to the top of the mountain, you’ve got to let him stay there for a while. The money, like I’m, I’m going to go back to Cody. Yep. The money was in Cody chasing Roman. That was the money. And as much as I disagree with that first WrestleMania, that they should have made the switch. Yep. Then I get why they did it. I get why get why he had to fight Roman twice to do it. Yeah. Cause the money was in the chase. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But then, i am very critical of that company for a lot of reasons, but they were right to leave the belt on him as long as they did, and they have been right to when he drops it, he gets it back pretty quick. They’ve been right about that, because you got if this is your guy, if this is one of your top, top guys, then he’s got to be one of your top, top guys, and they don’t always treat Hangman that way. yeah No, they don’t. They really don’t. And I don’t understand that. And if they if they if they don’t… If he loses this match, i you might as well you might as well the very next day announce that he’s left the company. The only other thought I have… Yeah, he may as well ask for his release because I don’t know what you’re going do with him. yeah The only other thought I have is at that point, you know, I read ah earlier this week that apparently ROH is going to start taping in like a studio again. hu The only thought I had is maybe they finally got a deal they like for ROH and he’s going to be the main character of Ring of Honor now. And you’re going to ship him over there to try and get it off the ground as part of whatever deal they may or may not have. Okay. but you could do that without this dumb ass stipulation. Yeah, you could. 100%. And he didn’t. Just not win And yeah. And I mean, you could have done this whole story without that dumb ass stipulation. And I don’t, if he doesn’t win this match, dude, they got a problem. Yeah. They got a re they have created a complete, that is the definition of an unforced error. Yep. Oh, yeah. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. And and i mean, I’m glad MJF addressed it a little bit tonight, but the stipulation started last week with Hangman going, I’m going to give you a stip. You give me a stip. We’ll let the fans choose which one it is. And that’s not how it went down. Like that completely went out the window. Yeah. And I was like, wait, but I thought we were going to know. I mean, i fits MJF’s character, but I thought that’s what we were doing with this. Well, yeah. And now we’re not. Okay. Well, that’s what i was going to say is it makes total sense within MJF’s character. All right. And also, if I’m MJF, why in the world would I ever leave it up to the fans? I know what they’re going to do. I know who they’re going to side with. Yeah. Why would I ever agree to that? Well, like I said, i get it from MJF’s point of view, but I’m like, well why would you bring? yeah I don’t know. It just feels like a weird thing to put in to immediately take out for really no reason. Oh, I agree. This is one of those instances where they’re overbooking it. And Tony, there’s a, there’s, i’m going to talk about this again in a little bit. Yeah. Yep. Sometimes with Tony, I’m like, I get it that this tickles your fancy, buddy. It ain’t about you. as As much as it is about you, it’s not about you. Yep. This show is not for your entertainment. It’s for ours. Correct. Correct. And sometimes I think he forgets that. It’s possible. And sometimes I think that people start throwing a bunch of ideas. Like you and I have been there, right? Like you’re in the room and people are goingnna like, ooh, what if we did this? It’s like, oh yeah, and then we could do this, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then the key part of that is afterwards, you got to go back through and go, nah, that’s not going to work. doesn Maybe later. Yep. I think that they go, Ooh, what if we do all this? And then sometimes they just run with that. And like, then you get this overbooked stuff. And I’m very concerned. I’m very concerned about how this is going to go. Well, then let’s move on to something bigger and brighter in the Brawling Birds recap and their promo where they got off not one, but two flying fuck jokes. Yeah. And that seemed to be the whole point of that promo. You want to know what I wrote down? flying fuck. No, I wrote down whatever. Yeah. Like in my best orange Cassidy, whatever. And it’s too bad because i appreciate the fact that they are trying to put more energy into the women’s division and especially the tag division. Uh-huh. And I think this is a solid team and I think they work well together. But this this weird schtick that they have going, trying to be funny, trying to be tough, trying to be funny… It’s not quite there. and the And the fact that this whole promo was to do the flying joke. and the Yeah. I like the two of them. I think that it’s a good idea to team them up. a I lean into the brawling part of the name. Yeah. Thank you. Yep. Speaking of the women’s tag ah division, then we got the tag team championship match. Yep. um I thought the match itself was fine. It was fine. Mm-hmm. Here’s my question. I didn’t. I heard Nigel, and by the way, love Nigel. Always glad when he’s on commentary. Mm-hmm. I heard him say, but because I thought that finish was weird. i was like, what happened there? And then I was like, it seemed very odd and out of nowhere. It was. And then I heard Nigel say, Penelope Ford is seriously hurt. Now, I missed it. Yeah. I did, too. Did you see it? Okay. No, I think it might have happened during the break because… Okay. They were just, and I’ll have to rewatch it, but he made some comment, Penelope port Ford is still down and appears to be seriously injured. And I’m like, I even wrote down, I missed… where Penelope took ah a serious bump. Yeah. And so, but I did write down at the beginning, Lena Cross didn’t come out with them, which I thought was interesting. And then to have her pop up out of nowhere for the DQ, was like, I think I missed something. Yeah. And then I’m like, oh, I think Penelope Ford is actually really hurt. That’s what I think too. I think she really got hurt tonight and they had to change that finish on the fly and they ran her out there for the DQ to end it and and just get out of it. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. And what sucks is Penelope Ford just got back fairly recently from an ACL injury. Yeah. Yeah. And if that’s what’s gone again, like, again, it’s like that sucks because this team is getting to get there. They’re getting some momentum. And I really like mega bad. I think I think there are some legs to that team. yeah Fuck now, you know, now they’re one down. It’s like, dang, man, I hope the best for Penelope because that sucks. I do too. I hope that it’s a work. I don’t think it is because that, that finish was weird and it made me think they changed it on the fly. I don’t think so either. Yep. Yep, I believe you’re right. So from that, we got the ah Brody versus Mark Davis match, which all I wrote down here was big meaty men slapping meat. 100%. one hundred Yep. Loved it. Thought it was really solid. Yeah. I thought, again, I think Brody looked, I thought those two worked well together. I think, I think Davis, they’re doing a really good job of keeping him in the forefront, keeping him as a, as a beast. Yep. I liked the weird last week I talked about, you don’t see someone punching, punching the post and then bleeding from that. I thought that was an interesting take on the injury. And when you looked at the replay they showed tonight, it looked like he might’ve actually punched that damn thing. So. So yeah, when, when I heard you talk about it, I was like, I wonder if he accidentally hit it too hard and just busted himself open. Yeah. Seeing it tonight. Maybe. I think that’s exactly what happened. Or I think he just caught the corner when he didn’t mean to whatever, whatever was. I think that’s exactly what happened. Do I think he’s anywhere near as hurt as they played it up tonight? No, I do not. No. But Not at all. I thought it was a smart way. I thought it was smart to bring that into the match and have that be something that would be a factor, ah you know, because it helps protect him in a situation where I think we all were pretty sure he was losing to Brody King. Yep. Yeah. Um, so anyway, uh, I thought the match was really good. Yeah. i like that. They’re like, you said, I liked that. They’re continuing to position both of these guys strong. Also. I think that, uh, they need to talk to the fan that was in the front row with the sign that said, no Kings except Brody. And they need to make that a t-shirt. That was really good. It was so good. That was clever. Well done to the fan in the front row. I’ll mention it in my list of things I really liked, but yeah, there was another cool thing that matched. Oh, okay. ah Then we got the Fletcher backstage. and I like the pink belt. ah Hold on. all Hold on. What? Oh, you did it because because the promos you’re right. You’re right. we had We had Brody call out Swerve. Yep. no And then Bandito decides he wants a fight and out comes Andrade. Yep. Yep. um Perfect. Yeah, no, I’m blu That match is to be banger. Love it. Yeah, I’m i’m very on board for both of those. That’s going to be tremendous. Yep. um Both of those are going really good. Then we got Fletcher backstage. I like the pink belt. Yep. I’m a fan of that. Loved it it it. was great. Pinky. Loved it. um Protokata? Yeah, man. Okay, let’s do it. Yep. That’s kind of all I have say. I love, I really like how Okada has been just digging at Takeshita whenever he could. Last week, he made a big deal of, I came back to work, unlike Takeshita, who stayed in Australia with k my friend Kyle. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it’s like it’s been so seeing this weird smarmy Okada is so fun for me. And it’s it’s interesting. Kyle’s I don’t know where Kyle is landing on this and I don’t know if they’ve decided because I thought for sure Kyle was pro Takeshita. But now it seems like he’s kind of buying in with this Okada thing. So I don’t know. I think it’s, yeah, I think it’s interesting. I’m liking it. I think that they are still basically doing the love triangle that we talked about a couple weeks ago. Oh. And at some point, Kyle’s going to have to make a decision. Mm-hmm. Yeah. i think that not unlike with the death writers, they’re kind of letting the crowd dictate this one. Mm-hmm. um I think it’s pretty obvious to cash it is going to end up turning face. I think they’ll keep Okada the heel. I think so, yeah, 100%. Mm-hmm. ah beton As a betting man, I’d put my money on Fletcher stays heel and stays with the Don Callis family, but I think they’re going to put him in a position where he has to choose. um I think you’re right. But, you know, i’m I’m on board with it. I think it’s been pretty entertaining. I’m going to say this again, though. We are about at the point of if Takeshita and Okada are going to fight, we need to do it. Yeah. We need to just go ahead and do it. Throw hands, baby. Yeah, i’m i’m I’m a little, um’ I’m about at my breaking point where I’m not going to care anymore. Let’s see it. Mm-hmm. You know, of like, okay, I get it. Yep. You don’t like each other, but you’re not going to do anything about it. Got it. Great. Fine. Right. Thank you. Yeah. If I can’t remember why you’re mad at each other, you don’t need to fight. Yes. And by the way, I don’t remember why they’re mad at each other. don’t need to fight. I just know they are. Calling Takeshi the alpha, and Okada thinks he was the ace, and so that, I think, is what led to the disagreements. I believe. Maybe I’m misremembering. I don’t know. I just know they don’t like each other. That’s enough. That’s all you need. Yeah, sometimes it is. That’s all you need in wrestling, man. Yeah. Finally, main event time with Mile High Madness. Uh-oh. I think we’re going to – I think we’re this is where the road divides for you and I. It probably is. i am I am fairly certain that I’m in the minority on this one. All right. Let’s hear it. But I hate when they do these matches and keep playing the music. I hate it. Oh, okay. I hate it. That’s fine. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. And they restarted it. Yep. Oh, that pissed me off. Because I find I’m trying, you know, commentaries trying to do their thing. They got to yell over the top of the music. It’s distracting as fuck. I hate it. You got it. Stop it. But clearly it’s something that Tony Khan thinks is funny and he keeps doing it and God damn it. Quit it. The only time it was funny was, uh, I think it was an anarchy in the arena when Brian Daniels or sorry, sorry, sorry, We’ll slip there. ah ah No, Brian Danielson. I had it right. I thought I called him i thought i called him by the other name for a second. you got it That’s how fired up I am. when When he forced him to switch it to play the final countdown and then Matt Jackson was like, no, this is costing me. You don know how much money this is costing me? Stop it. That was funny. All the other times, it just sounds like somebody screwed up and it doesn’t make any sense to me and stop it. I can appreciate that. Other than that, I enjoyed the match. I can appreciate that take a lot. I think when they let it restart, that was a mistake. Mm-hmm. Yeah. What I liked about it, first, I love the fact that it was such a quick start. You get one guy down, you get Jack Perry down, and then the other team is on him. And so to me, that made it feel like Okay, there’s confusion. no one bothered to hit stop on the music. That’s okay for me. And I get that they’re trying to give it that that new Jack feel because it was it literally was just, in my opinion, beautiful chaos. I absolutely loved this match. I liked almost everything about it. i I was fine with them restarting it. I thought it was funny. And the reason I thought it was funny was because ah the the way it ended, because it’s not meant to loop. There was an actual fade out and then a beginning. Yeah, it fades. Yeah. And it’s like, if you’re going to do that, please make an edit so that it just goes. And we don’t notice that so that it just kind of goes and goes and goes. and if you’re going to do it, do it all the way through the end. And you could, you didn’t even commit to that bit. You’ll let it go partway and then stop. So, I understand why that wasn’t appealing, but man, i I loved this match so much. I even wrote, this reminds me of the energy that was in the original All In. Sure. That’s the kind of vibe I got from this match. It was constant movement. It was… Really well put together. it With the so many people doing so many things, it didn’t look like there was a lot of confusion when they came to highlighting what was going on, where that match could very well have gotten out of control with those guys. But it didn’t. And I thought, ah i it was it’ one of my favorite matches for a long time. And I really liked it. My only question was, vacuum cleaner? Yeah, I thought that was weird. um I’ll say this, having been to several live events, as you have, they actually do vacuum. Like, that is a thing that they will actually do. So it’s not unreasonable for it to be there. It was just a little odd. The visual was was nice of it exploding, though. Oh, I know. Yeah. Let me be clear. I don’t have a problem with the match. I enjoyed the match, but I… i know yeah but them doing that for me takes me so out of the match that I don’t know what happened until they came back from break and they, they knocked that crap off. And, and, but I’m glad because that was when your boy from the rascals, Myron, Holy crap. Mm-hmm. Yep. Myron Reed, baby. Did he look great tonight? Wow. i wrote down i one got Myron got his his his time to shine. Wow. Myron Reed run in Looked great. He looked amazing. So good. He looked amazing. Mm-hmm. I look again, i don’t have a problem with the match. I just wish they would quit with the music playing through the whole beginning of it and certainly don’t restart the damn song when it ends. You are not wrong on that card. I will give that to you 100%. Yeah, but I liked the match. Let me be clear. I liked it. I thought well put together by everybody involved. Just. I think this is clearly Tony trying to recreate some ECW energy with New Jack with playing the music. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s why the vacuum cleaner was there because one of New Jack’s things was to hit people over the head with an acoustic that always had like baby powder in it. So it was this big cloud of puff. that That was just my thought because I know he was a big ECW fan and I know he saw a lot of those matches. So I don’t know if he if this is his way of taking that New Jack vibe and trying to make it with the new Jack Perry, maybe. I don’t know if that’s the angle he’s going for, but I get like, I wasn’t near as offended by the music. I understand the critique about it and, and I’m not going to argue it. And even though the vacuum cleaner i thought was ridiculous. I loved the visual. The visual was just this giant plume and it was great. So I, I freaking love this match. Yeah. i thought it was great. I mean, like I said, the the visual of the vacuum cleaner is great. I have no problem with it. um This is one of those things like I alluded to earlier that I think Tony’s doing stuff there to pop himself. he’s He’s, I know, but I think he’s doing stuff sometimes because it entertains him and maybe it pops the boys in the back, right? Like maybe, you know, you’ve got a locker room full of wrestling nerds and I say that in a loving way um that are like, oh my God, that’s hilarious, blah, blah, blah. yeah Oh, yeah, absolutely. Fine. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have fun at work, but… Mm-hmm. You’re not making this show for you. You’re not making this show for the boys in the back. You’re making it for me. You’re making it for Doug. You’re making for anybody listening to to this right now. You’re making this show for a lot of people that are just trying to watch a wrestling show that don’t always know those references. Right? Right. It did feel a little too inside baseball on this one. Yeah. It felt a little too niche, a little too inside. Yeah. and And they do that sometimes where it’s like you guys are going way inside with an obscure reference that like seven people get. Mm-hmm. And that’s not what your job is. Your job is to try and be as mass appeal as you can be, particularly at a time where I believe Yeah. The big dog on the block is more vulnerable than they have been since AEW has come into existence. They are very vulnerable right now for a lot of different reasons. Yep. You have a real opportunity to take a chunk out of their market share. don’t piss it down your leg because you think this is funny and therefore everybody must. That just isn’t how it works. It’s not how it works. It’s the same thing as you and I worked with a guy that was convinced that because he hated the Sammy Hagar version of Van Halen, everybody hated the Sammy Hagar version of Van Halen, but they sold a buttload of records. so that’s just not true. Yes, they did. They pulled out a shit ton of concerts, too. Yeah. So… You know who enjoyed the music? The live crowd. They did. Because when its when it stopped, they kept singing. Yeah, they did. And that’s fine. But again, the arena is, I know, i’m i’m I feel that I have to die on this hill. And again, I’m not arguing your point. I’m not arguing that. I agree with you. The arena’s this big. The TV audience is this big. Yep. Yep. Think audience back and think TV audience back, you know. Oh, I get it. Yep. and i and And I just think that this is one of those things that clearly several people, I think the Bucks think it’s funny because every time they’re involved in these things, it happens. Like, I think they think it’s funny that, okay, great. I’m not here to tell you, like, you can’t find that funny or whatever. But what I am here to tell you is, Don’t do things just because you think it’s funny. Do it because you have enough, and maybe they do, but do it because you have enough data and enough feedback from your audience that are paying for these tickets, you know, to say like, you better know that I’m in the minority here. You better have, you better be able to dispute me on, no, people actually really enjoy it. And if somebody can show me that, fine, fine. But until then, Knock it off. It does remind me of what Jericho said at All in or afterwards, because if you recall, but for the Hangman match, the penis druids, Jericho was like, guys, I get it, but what are you you’re pay-per-view. The penis druids. What are you doing? He’s not wrong. Like, come on. And i think that I think that analogy is very similar to what you’re saying here is He’s not wrong. Yeah. while And maybe um maybe I’m wrong. maybe he Maybe Tony’s just doing these things be for reasons that aren’t to recreate the this ECW vibe. I have a pretty solid gut feeling that’s why he’s doing that. No, I think you’re right. And again, you can do that in ECW because it was… and and New Jack was bonkers and you wanted more things to take away from his limited skillset because he was just ah a gimmick brawler. These guys aren’t, you don’t need to do that. You can do it occasionally. I, I, I understand. I 100%. Yeah. Okay. Maybe. Yeah. I mean, it’s going to happen once a year at this point, it’s a guarantee that he’s going to do it at least once a year. okay one He might do it more than that, you know? maybe And, and so that’s, it just, it, when you talk about Jericho, it reminded me of something else that he said, where he said, because when they did the residency, I, it was at one of the ballrooms might’ve been at the ECW or, uh, uh, man yeah It doesn’t matter. Is it one of the ballrooms that they did a residency at at in 2025? Right. Mm-hmm. So they did like three, four, like three weeks of shows or something from there, two weeks shows. And he was like, I watched that and then I watched TNA and we didn’t look like the number two company. We just we didn’t in that small little room. I agree with him. I agree with him. I, you know, when they did the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, i was like, oh, that’s fun. Do it. Do it for one. Do one dynamite and one collision there and then and then leave. You don’t need to do the residency there. And i don’t hate the idea of it. Right. I don’t hate trying it. But Jericho was not wrong about that, of if you’re supposed to be, you know, the alternative promotion, if you’re supposed to be the number two promotion and you are. Yeah. You kind of got to act like it. And they don’t always. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I agree. But other than that, I really enjoyed the match. I get I really did. ah It’s not my match of the night. Yeah. Oh, yeah. 100%. Moxley ah and El Clone got my match of the night because holy crap, were they good. But but this this would have made a strong case for it as well. I just act like it. Yeah. If the music would taken me out like it like you did, I would say Mox, El Clon. For me, the energy. And I found myself just grinning and and watching and looking and like never being disappointed. And I think I was just so amazed that everything was hitting. And and and I just… that I don’t get to see that type of controlled chaos executed so well very often, and I feel like they were hitting on all cylinders tonight with that match. So that’s what that’s got my match of the night. I yeah, yeah. So now, for your pleasure, here’s the list of things that i really real here’s a list of things that I really like. Okay. Top moments that weren’t wrestling that I really, really enjoyed in order of appearance, but not necessarily in favorites. Okay. Swerve’s quote when he was on top of the commentator’s table and someone said something and he went, your mama, son. Yeah. Completely loved it. MJF’s jacket. Yep. Jeff’s kiss. MJF throwing his gum in the garbage, which was the front row. Awesome. Fun new chant for Denver. Yep. ah Tony, unintentionally being funny, saying during the women’s match, look at this. Power on both ends. And he said that, and I just laughed out loud. And it’s probably because I’m 12. Me too. um I believe it was Nigel McGuinness who said… boobs of wrath and i just went i think i even wrote down nigel really come on man and then the the chant f don callus f ice too that So that was the, what was the other chant then? That’s the one I thought you meant. What was the other one? uh weed weed weeded weed but Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. I forgot about that. That was really good. Yeah, that was really good. Yeah, so those are the things I really enjoyed that had nothing to really to do with the wrestling, but I thought were, you know, you this is why I love wrestling, because dumb things like that happen, and it just makes so much sense. Mm-mm. Mm-hmm. It’s so good. Yeah. So good. Yeah. And again, i you know, kind of going back to the soapbox I very much was just on, I understand positioning yourself as the alternative to WWE because you are, and you should, and I think they do a very good job of it, but you know, so you can do stuff like that with AEW. Mm-hmm. And if that had happened at WWE, wwe they would have censored it. Right. Like there’s a bunch of stuff we saw and heard that we wouldn’t have. Oh, yeah. So Good on you. Right. But again, act like the number two act like the alternative to it, but not the ECW, the WCW alternative, not the ECW alternative. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. In the good WCW alternative. Right, right, right. Not, not the end there. No. No. But anyway, overall really enjoyed the show. Um, yeah, Yeah. Really liked it. Yeah, I am still concerned about that world title match, though. I’m I am too. I am too. going to try really hard not to lose sleep over it. I can’t wait until I see Kevin Knight as champ. You know what? I wouldn’t hate it. Oh, I wouldn’t either. I wouldn’t hate it. i mean, it would confuse the hell out of me and I’d be a little frustrated, but I would like seeing it. I think that if he wins the world championship at least once, he’s got to come out to the Knight Rider music just for you. Thank you. You’re welcome. Thank you. Can we make that happen, monkey? Damn it. Monkey’s thinking. See, now you can’t say I’m not talking anybody. I’m talking to the monkey. Oh, because you’re talking to the monkey? I’m talking to the monkey. Okay. What do you think I’ve been talking to this whole time? Okay. Not the monkey. Well, you would be wrong. All right. Wouldn’t be the first time. Always talking to the monkey.