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Great Wrestling And One Bad Promo · Elite Heat

• This is a quote-unquote promo battle that to me felt like it came right off of a schoolyard. This was fifth-graders calling each other names. Yes. Well, let's talk about tonight's Dynamite and let us begin once again with the heat check where we talk about what we liked, what was mid, and what we did not like. Since I put you on the spot last week and made you go first, Doug, I'll go first tonight. Yeah, that seems fair. I liked every single match on this show. So rather than list them all, if it was a match. Thank you. Thank you. I liked it. Good news for this episode of Dynamite is I have way more in the liked it column than the other two. I liked the Briscoe MJF promo. We can talk a bit more. I have a couple more thoughts on it that we can talk about when we get to that when we run down the whole show, but I like the promo. I particularly enjoyed Orange Cassidy's tearaway jeans. Fair enough. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So good, so good. I liked the Thekla video package. I liked the Death Riders promo, even though it was very short. I liked the ZSJ video solely because of the match that it set up, which you can go ahead and hook to my veins right now. I liked the Don Callis Family with MJF backstage thing. And yeah, that's everything that I have on the like along with all the matches, like I said. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I'm having a hard time disagreeing with anything you said. All the matches were really, really solid. I liked the Moxley-Shane Taylor brawl at the end, because you know how I feel about brawls. I sometimes feel like they aren't super believable, but I really like this one. And the fact that it leads to a five-on-five. OK, I guess, yeah, that may go to my mid, but whatever. I loved the Don Callis, Kevin Knight, Andrade triangle. I'm really liking that. I too liked the Mm-hmm. The Thekla promo, I like the Mercedes promo. I thought it was good getting her back into remember who I am. I really like that. You know what? I should have put that in my likes. I think I just forgot. I should have put that in my likes 'cause I like that a lot as well. I also liked Ospreay's backstage thing, but I liked it because Alex Windsor came up and was really upset she lost. And I really liked them showing that, they were A, a couple, but B, real feelings, real emotion. It just felt very genuine in that moment. And I really, really liked that. That that's another one I accidentally overlooked as I was putting it together. Yeah, that should be in my like as well. See, this is why we do this. We just you complete me. Aw, samesies. I too liked that Death Riders backstage bit. It was short, sweet, and I gotta say, I like Daniel Garcia. I think he's getting better and better. I think he's almost way more coherent than Moxley is and has a really good... I would I wouldn't Even say almost. I'd say he definitely is. Yes. And I even like Marina Shafir back there. I thought she did a good job. Kept it short, kept it sweet. I liked it. Yeah, the Don Callis thing with MJF in the back and Andrade. And that whole thing, I'm really liking that. So those are pretty much, I think, all my likes. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Cool. Yeah. So I think we pretty well agree on that. The stuff that I thought was mid, and I suspect this is the stuff that will probably generate some discussion for us here tonight, but we'll find out. I thought the Kevin Knight, Don Callis, Andrade thing was mid, but it's one where it's on the borderline of mid slash I liked it. So I could probably be talked into liking it. I'll I'll explain why Okay. Again, when we do the rundown, I'll explain why I put it in my mid category. The I'm this is another one that was real borderline for me that could have gotten into the like column. The Kevin Knight promo that Darby crashed ended up in my mid. Yeah. That it that ended up in my mid. I forgot about that. I forgot about that. I Actually liked it. I forgot about it. But I liked it because of the way the interruption was handled. Then quick, I liked that Darby came in, quick hit, and then got out. And it didn't overstay its welcome. That's what I liked about it. Not so much the promo part, but how the Darby angle was executed. That I really liked. Yep. I totally get that. And like I said, we can talk more about these and why I put where I did when we do the rundown. There was only one thing I did not like on this show. I didn't mean to skip over. What's on your mid? I have feeling this mid and it could be borderline not like, but this mid is probably on your dislike and that's the Ciampa Jericho bit at the beginning. That's the one thing on my didn't like it list, yeah. It just, it fell flat. It feels forced. It feels like Jericho is trying to make it work. And unfortunately, I think it's the Ciampa part I don't like, because it's just, it feels more believable now that Jericho is talking a little bit about it and telling him, look, the only reason you're mad is because you're not me. But it just, it fell flat for me and I love Jericho and I like Ciampa. Yeah, dude. But I feel like this angle is falling a bit flat. I don't know how much breath it needs more. Give me one match to pin, then we can call that one quits. Other thing that I, and the reason I'm only putting this in mid is just simply because I didn't get to see it all the way through. I had to be in and out and that was the Skye Blue match. And it's not, here's what doesn't make it mid. Mm. Is the surprise finish. I did not see Skye Blue losing. I did not see that coming. And I was pretty stunned by that. So I guess I'll give that a mid and a half, a mid 0.5, I guess, because that ending was surprising. So that was good. And. Yeah. Me neither. Yeah. Tony Khan, don't hate me, the Tony Khan appearance I thought was awkward and. It It's always awkward with him. I love Tony Khan. I really do, but it's he's just an awkward dude. He just is. Adios. Yeah, Yeah. And I was a little surprised to see him on the screen. So I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it. So it has to fall in the mid category. That's all. I. I forgot the other one of the other things I liked. I'm going all over the board. I actually liked the Lio Rush bit in the Andrade Orange Cassidy match. I really liked it. It was so. I wrote love it so weird. I don't really get it. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you on that. Yeah. You're fine. I did too. But I like it. Yeah, I did too. I actually made a note of that when we get to it. And you're right, I could have put that in the like list as well. So Yeah, I just forgot about that. But yeah, so that's my mids. And I'm assuming that the Jericho champ thing is the thing you did not like. Mm-hmm. That's Correct. Did not care for it at all. Yeah. Did you have anything in the didn't like it? Okay. Not really, no. I'm looking over my notes. No, not at all. Yeah. All right. So then let's As I corporate speak here, let's circle back to the Ciampa Jericho thing, since that's what let off the show. I agree with everything that you said about why it hit the mid for you. This storyline is not working. And this promo didn't make it work. And that's why I put it in the didn't like it. It's it was The fact that the storyline isn't working and and these two guys did a promo that then All right, let's do that. No. No. In my mind, only made it more confusing. Like you didn't advance the story at all. That is enough for me to say, I don't like this. But then you throw in this is a quote-unquote promo battle that to me felt like it came right off of a schoolyard. This was fifth-graders calling each other names. This was, you know, Ciampa throwing a hissy fit. Yes. That didn't make any sense to me. You know, Jericho saying you're just mad because you're not me, and then Ciampa not responding to that in no way advances the story. Mm-hmm. No, and Jericho calling him Tommy isn't strong enough to be a fight in my humble opinion. And Yeah. Yeah. And and so I think that it's suffering from all sorts of problems here. One of them is I don't know what Jericho's character is right. So other than he's just being kind of goofy, which is fine, but you know, I don't know that's a character. I don't know that it isn't, but I don't know that it is. I actually think a sign in the crowd did a better job of giving him some kind of form of a character. It was someone just wrote Jericho, but the arrow was ERA and it was a different color. And I was like, is that what he's trying to do? And then I realized, no, it's just this wishful thinking. And I think that would be at least that's a shape to a character that has done in my opinion. Mm. Yeah. Yes. Yep, I agree. And the thing that I'm Also not liking is can we be done bullying Tony Schiavone? Come on. That's It's you know what it is? It's the it's AEW's version of when WWE used to have the heels get heat by picking on Jim Ross. And I get it. It's a it's an easy way to get heat. I get it. And I also understand this is what happens when the guy in charge of the company is basically the same age I am, and we were raised on the same wrestling, right? Like I need to get the heel heat. Everybody loves Tony Schiavone. Boom. Easy to do, right? Yeah. Yep. Yep. What I wrote down about that was it's very interesting to me to have Ciampa call Tony Schiavone a senile old man when Ciampa's beard is way more gray than Tony's. Like put them side-by-side and have somebody who knows nothing about wrestling guess which one is older. I don't know that they're gonna guess that Schiavone is, you know. By the way, for the record, for those of you watching this, I am older than Tommaso Ciampa. Absolutely. Yeah. No. And I think if you put he and I side-by-side, you're not guessing that yes I am. Yes I am. Not by a lot, but yes I am. Yeah. Actually I'm gonna Google it real quick, and give you an exact number, but I know I am. Are you really? I don't think I knew that. Fair enough. Fair enough. That's fair. The bullying, Schiavone, I do understand it. But it's a cheap heat and it's not quality heat. So, wow, I not realize that. You wear it better than he does. I'm yes. Yes. I'm two years older than him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I get it that people go gray at different rates and I got plenty of it popping up here, but He also has a looks like a lot more exposure to UV light. I'm not going to say why or how, just going to say the exposure is higher on his end and it's showing and that's okay. Well, yeah, I mean that's yeah, that's occupational hazard there, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, at the end of the day with this one, you know, my thought on it was, okay, so Ciampa's like an unhinged cartoon villain. He's like campy skeletor or something. And Jericho Yeah. Is behaving like I said, like a standard fifth-grader of I'm just gonna call you names. It just everything about it fell flat for me. I'm not in on this. Give me the match and move on. I'm with you. One match, move on. Let's do it next week. I'd be fine with that. Yep. Yep. Because this is This is Saturday morning cartoon rival. This is it. And the disappointing thing is, AEW is normally really good at starting off their shows hot. And this didn't do it for me. And I think that it took me a minute to get back into the swing of being into this show because of that. Yes, it's yeah. Mm-hmm. No, it was bad. Me too. If you go back and look at the stuff that I listed as mid, one of them is I think because it was in the shadow of this. And I was not, you know, I was in I'm not gonna lie, like that kind of put me in a bad mood. I was like, this is bad, and this is how we're starting the show. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was really surprised that was the start, because it's just so atypical of them. So. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So then it was the backstage with Kevin Knight and Don Callis kind of arriving to the arena, which this is part of my the I think this is what I was referring to. I should have made a more detailed note here on my mid part of it. What I wrote down was I thought it was fine. I thought it helped push the story along slightly, but not much more than that. And Right. That's why for me I like, I'm gonna put it in the mid. I do think part of it, like I said, is I had a bad taste in my mouth from the Jericho Ciampa promo. So that's probably not entirely fair to those guys. But it just didn't do I it wasn't bad, so I can't say I didn't like it, but it also didn't do a lot for me to make me go, okay, we're either Right. Really taking another step on the road of this storyline or it's, you know, piquing my interest or whatever. So I just I just didn't love it, which is why it ended up on my mid. Right. I thought it kind of solidified the roles a little better than it had been. I thought it was a little murky before. I don't think Kevin Knight's role was abundantly super clear, even though it been said he's the new member and yada yada. But this definitely for me drew the lines in the sand between him and Andrade. And so if there was any confusion, it did clear it up. Did it do a lot to move that story forward past that? No. But I did like the fact that it at least, okay, we are for certain that Callis seems to be leaning towards Kevin Knight. Love Andrade too so that love triangle in the ring is progressing. Just hope, I just hope they get to it quicker than they did with Takeshita and Okada, yes. With Okada and Takeshita. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. My concern with the Andrade story in general right now is that they're gonna draw this one out a little too long. I'm I'm hopeful with this that it's gonna move a little bit quicker because of some things that happen later in this show. But man, you just never know. You just never know with these guys. Yeah. Yep. Yes. No you don't. No you don't. How you know. So then we got the Continental Championship match between Jon Moxley and Shane Taylor, which surprised me, I think is the best way to put it. Because going into it, I was like, why is Shane Taylor in this spot? And I'm going into this match going, well, I certainly know who's winning, especially because the title was on the line. This isn't an eliminator match, the title's on the line. Mm. Yes. Correct. It surprised me with how good it was. I really enjoyed this match. I liked it. And I think the weakness of this match on Dynamite was most of this. And Excalibur noted that this had been taking place on collision the last couple of weeks. And if you haven't been watching collision, then this did feel a little disjointed. And that's where I think AEW should pick up the ball a little bit. They needed like, instead of that Ciampa Jericho thing, give us a quick recap of what happened on collision. And again, you don't need it to be super long, just highlights. And That would have helped, think, establish this match type. But I thought it was really, really good. I liked the fact that Shane Taylor with people who weren't familiar with him from the old ROH and now with AEW on collision, then I think they made Shane Taylor look really good. And then the brawl afterwards, I thought was really good. I liked him. My God, he whipped the crap out of him with that bell. So yeah. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Yeah, I I agree with you on everything you said there. Excalibur, I thought, did a really nice job of trying to bring people into that story, recognizing you might not know what's going on here. So I give him credit on that. Because he did get me caught up. It just when they are doing the introductions, you know, I'm like, why is Shane Taylor in this spot? That's interesting. Mox, I think, has been on a great run of making his opponents look Mm-hmm. Exactly. Really, really good lately and he deserves a lot of credit for that. Yes. Yes he does. Yes. And I really like this version of Mox because again he's not the weird Superman that just crushes everybody. Yeah he wins but man Shane Taylor looked really good and he should look good. He's a giant dude who knows how to move. That the splash off the top my god that looked terrible. I wouldn't want to be near that guy when he's falling that far. Mm-hmm. No. So Yeah, I really, I like this match a lot. I like the aftermath. I like the pull apart. I thought it was really well done. So yeah, I was a big fan of this match. Yeah. I thought the brawl at the end that you mentioned I thought was very good. I thought it was interesting that Shane Taylor Promotions got the upper hand on the Death Riders of all people. Now granted this is the Death Riders without Claudio. He wasn't he didn't come out. And I don't think PAC came out either, did he? Okay. Yeah. No, Yuda was not there. Mm-hmm. PAC did not come out, he was getting ready for his match and I don't think Yuta was there either. Not that he, but that's at least one more body to throw at him, but he wasn't in There, so. Yeah. So you can add that little asterisk to it, but I think it's very interesting. And I do think that it plays into what we saw last week with Mox talking about there are too many factions around here and I didn't like it. So I assume the Death Riders are now going to war with every faction. Yeah, I'm down for some good old fashioned faction warfare. You know, I mean, I always thought back in the day. Good. Good. Yeah. With, you know, like WWE and WCW, where it was like, okay, you've got these supergroups and like the nWo and DX, but they didn't really have anybody to fight, you know, they didn't have another group to to go to war with. And I don't have a problem with doing this. I think it's I think it's very interesting. I'm not sure where it's gonna lead. Right. Mm-hmm. Because I don't know that any of these groups break up because they lost to the Death Riders, but I don't know that they don't. Right. I don't really think they will, but I like the fact that they've got Shane Taylor Promotions, productions, promotions. I like that because the other three guys are getting some well-deserved spotlight time because those three guys are so good. And if that gets them on TV and gets them a little more, a little more pull and a little more push, I'm all in favor of that. And I think that's a good thing. And I like how AEW is doing their best. Mm-hmm. Yes. Promotions. Yeah. To really push those newer talents, those less familiar talents in front of us because they're good. And I think this is a good way to do it. It gives us a nice catalyst to see that action in the ring and to see more of these guys that maybe don't get enough exposure. So I'm a fan. No, I agree with you on that. It's nice to see Shane Taylor Promotions do something other than job to the YouTube guy, Big Boom AJ, and all of them, which is the like, I mean, I mentioned that in the Double or Nothing show. Like, good, we're doing this match again on the pre-show. And again, they job to, you know, Boom & Doom and everybody, you know. So it's nice to see them being treated seriously for the first time in a while. Yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. I like I said, I don't know where we're going with it. I don't think that's a bad thing that I don't know. I'm I'm very curious. No. Yeah. Yep. I like it. I like it a lot. Then we got the Mercedes video package that you mentioned. I think initially when I think this is part of why I forgot to to categorize it, is I think initially I was gonna skip over it, but no, I mean, I thought it was good. Like I think it was a good reminder of who she is. And the thing that jumped out at me immediately was I went, tell me when she's telling lies. When she was like, I've watched this division fall apart, basically, because how long? Yes! Have we been talking about that? Of the women's division is a mess and they needed her back. So Yes, is. Yep. And unfortunately, this show did not help the women's division a lot. Just did not help much at all because, once again, there was a lot of female talent not present, including, once again, the women's tag champs, not even mentioned. No, no it didn't. Yep. Yeah. Which I think they should have been mentioned. But but we'll get there. We'll get to where I think they should have been mentioned, and I think it was a mistake that they didn't. Then we got Don Callis and Kevin Knight again. This time we're in the ring. This also folds into the mid of it all because I go back to what we said last week of I don't understand why we're not having Don Callis be Kevin's mouthpiece. 100%. Fair enough. I just don't get it. It is a little confusing. I think Kevin is getting better. And oddly, I think what is working is the fact that he is coming off so weirdly cocky and that he is being his own mouthpiece instead of having Don do it. And that I think is part of the heel appeal that he has, at least for me. So while I'm never really super enamored with his promos, what I like, like I said earlier, and what I liked, I really liked how they handled the Darby run-in. And how MJF did not bother to come out for Kevin Knight. But Darby came out from behind, whacked him, smacked him, and got out before the Don Callis Family could even get to him. I really liked that. I thought that was really well done. Yeah, so I think, like I said, in the heat check, I think this was a borderline like for me. My two issues with it were number one, I just wish Don would do more talking. Kevin's just not great on the mic, and he's basically saying the same thing every single week. And got it. If you can't come up with a better promo, then let the guy who's really good at it do it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Is kind of where I'm at on that. I really liked the Darby aspect of it. I really liked his run-in. At one point, I typed this and then I erased it of Darby saved it. I actually had said Darby saved it. And then I erased it only because his appearance was so short. I get why it makes sense. I would have liked maybe like one more sentence out of him, or like for him to hit the coffin drop on Kevin Knight and then bail out. Yeah. It's nitpicky. I admit's nitpicky. But that's where for me I was like, this was, you know, when we talked about like the match that certainly appears to be the blow-off match between Kevin Knight and Speedball, how it could have been great and instead it was just good. This could have been really, really good, I think, with just a little bit more, and we just didn't get it. Which is why I put it in the It's, it's what I find, What I find weird is that for me, the fact we didn't get more that we didn't see Darby drop another coffin drop, like he always does. The fact we didn't get to see that and that he was smart enough to leave before he got pounded. That's what made me like this a little more. That pushed me, I think to the opposite side of that in the middle, because it was shorter, because it wasn't typical and because we didn't get to see the typical things out of Darby. He came in. Like I said, hit him, pounded him, was getting up like he was going to coffin drop him, saw everyone coming and left. Because I think the way they would have handled that before this, he would have hit the coffin drop, turned around, and then he would have got destroyed. And I'm glad we didn't see that. I was happy with how that went. I understand why you wanted more out of it, but for me, that was the appeal. Well, like I said in the heat check, I could probably be talked into putting it in a like and you make a very compelling case there. So I may reevaluate. I'm not gonna go back and watch it again. I'm gonna say that, but I'm not gonna. But hey, that's Why there's, you know, more than one color in the Crayola box. I don't know how many there are anymore. Might be a hundred. Yeah. Yeah. And again, I It's not like I thought it was bad. It just was it was really close to making my like list. It just didn't get there. And, you know, but it is definitely I'm far more intrigued by Kevin Knight and Darby than Kevin Knight and MJF, believe it or not. So Yep. Fair enough. Yes, and here's why. Because I feel like the Kevin Knight MJF thing is just a vehicle to perpetuate the Andrade drama, as opposed to an honest build. I agree. Yep. I agree. I agree with you on that. Then we got Mark Briscoe versus PAC, which was really good. Yeah, that match was baller. So good. Really, really good. And my other thought on this one was a win over PAC is a far more legitimate win for Briscoe making his case for the world title than what we've been doing with him. We asked for it and we finally got it tonight. Yep. Mm I liked it. I liked it a lot. And on I'm of mixed feelings with everything that happened after the match because I like seeing The Lethal Twist in the ring. I didn't know who they were at first, even though I've seen them before. I didn't recognize Jay Lethal at first because they're all wearing these weird tracksuits. And I'm like, I don't get it. And I couldn't read the Lethal Twist thing for a minute. So I liked seeing them. I thought it was a little weak. Okay. Mm-hmm. I didn't either. Mm-hmm. Did not what I didn't like is the step of a six-on-six match in a cage so that briscoe can get a shot. It just felt like it felt like that's okay. We already have a five-on-five match coming and granted that's not a Forbidden Door and this is in a cage, but man, we do so many, you know, multi, multi, multi-person matches that I just, just didn't feel that was necessary for this one. I feel like, you know, we talked a little bit about the last pay-per-view. Some of it was a little overbooked. I feel like this setup is getting a little overbooked and I feel like That's fair. It really maybe doesn't need to be, but it's going to be a fine match. I just, I'm getting a little bit of so many guys in a ring fatigue, I think. Mm-hmm. Yep. I totally understand that. So the reason I ended up putting it in my like list is I just am gonna enjoy it anytime MJF and Mark Briscoe are on the mic opposite each other. I think it's a damn masterclass in a promo battle with those two guys. I really do. And I really liked that. Now Yeah! Yes. I... They Have such different vibes and energy that it's so good. So good. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And I love it. I agree with everything else you said there. My other thoughts on this were I didn't I didn't even know The Lethal Twist was a thing. In fact, hearing you say it was the first time I've heard that because I'm not sure they said it on commentary. Maybe they did and I missed it. Okay. Had no idea that was a thing. I think that is a flimsy We did. Flimsy group to have come beat him down. I thought the conglomeration took way too long to get to the ring. I know that's a wrestling stereotype, cliche, whatever. Still, I thought they took way too long to get there. I agree with you I don't love the idea of the Forbidden Door main event being a multi-man match featuring only at least as of right now, featuring basically only AEW talent. It depends on how you qualify Ishii, I think. I Was just gonna say he is the only asterisk in that sentence. Yeah. Although I think he might be appearing more for AEW than he does for New Japan anymore, although I could be wrong on that. Yeah. So I don't love that being the Forbidden Door main event. I thought like, so it's blood and guts, but not, which is a little weird to me. I agree with you on the multi-man match fatigue. I'm surprised by all of it. Well, least recently. Yeah. With all that said, it didn't bother me enough to move it off of the line that I liked it. And that's but again, like you said, there's you know, there's 31 flavors for a reason. Now, by the time we get to this match, I might feel very differently about it. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it could be that I'm way into it, or it could be me going like, This is I just feel like MJF and Briscoe are strong enough to make it work. Yeah, that's fair. And I might love it, so we'll see. I you know. I d I don't know. Like I liked it. It wasn't my favorite thing on the show. I'm with you of we could quit with the multi-person matches, but you know, that's what he's locked into right now. Tony Khan, that's what he's locked into. So whatever. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. And again, it'll be good, and I'll watch it, and I'll like it. Yeah. Yep. So then Andrade and Orange Cassidy squared off. I had a lot of thoughts about this one, to be honest with you. Okay. Look, they gotta put the goofy wrestling somewhere and this is where they stuck it. My goodness. Like you said, Orange Cassidy's tearaway jeans with jeans underneath. Choice. Choice. They do. Yep. Loved it. Loved it. Like I said, all the matches I liked. So I have no I'm I have no issues with this one. All my thoughts on this one are good. Beginning with how many how many references in one match can we get from commentary you know toward the crotchal region? Like how many how many dick-and-ball references can we get? Yes. Okay. I Was bad talking about Juice Robinson's trunks, but those guys tonight, come on. Yeah. They rattled Off several in a row. And I'm and and and I was like, at some point, someone in the back is gonna be like, okay, that's enough, right? Like Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I like I said, I loved the tearaway jeans. I loved him doing Andrade's selfie bit with Lio Rush. I loved Lio Rush coming back to do the selfie bit with Andrade, and Andrade being like, I don't know. That whole part was great. Yeah. Guys, remember, this isn't a dark taping. We don't do that show anymore. I still don't know what we're doing with Lio Rush, but I'm not sure I care anymore. If we're gonna put him in positions like that, I might just be on board with it. I Yeah, I love the back and forth because you've got one ridiculous catchphrase, how you know. With Lio Rush's, he knows. And that was like a modern day Abbott and Costello who's on first bit because it's so bonkers, it could go back and forth. It's so ridiculous, it works for me. I think that this Lio Rush character is really, really entertaining and I'm a fan whenever I see him on TV. Again, he probably doesn't even need to get in the ring for me to like it. Put him on there. No. Mm-hmm. He didn't have to tonight, yeah. Just put them out there, let them do weird crap and I'm okay. Yeah, I agree. I really liked all that. It's it's a it's a contender for match of the night for me. The match I thought was really, really good. I really enjoyed it. You know, and like I said with the Mark Briscoe thing, Andrade picking up a win over Orange Cassidy does more for his world title resume than, you know, already in the ring. So you know, so I Yep. I'm glad that Tony finally got the memo on that of hey, if we're gonna build these guys to try and challenge for MJF, they gotta beat somebody. So thanks for listening to last week's episode, my guy. Thank you. Can that be our first Elite Heat t-shirt already in the ring? Can we make that? Yes. I'm fully on board with that. Yes. Yes. I you mentioned the post-match promo with the how you know. I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't get it. I don't get that catchphrase, but man, it seemed to be over with the crowd tonight, so okay. It's like when Austin was doing the what thing. I didn't get it then, I don't get it now, but it sold a bunch of T-shirts, so whatever. We'll make that up. Yep. Nope. Yes, it did. And I still didn't like it, but they still keep doing it. Yep. So, you know, but overall, I really enjoyed everything that happened here. Yeah. Then we went to what you mentioned before, that backstage pre-tape with Ospreay and Alex Windsor. That legitimately I just forgot to classify on my list. I did like this because I'm curious of where it's going. My thought was Yeah, solid, very solid. Yes. You know, first of all, I really liked this show of genuine emotion from her. And and really taking the loss hard. I thought, well, that's very interesting. It makes me wonder is she also going to start attending the Death Riders gym or dojo or whatever. See what the concern I have. I really liked it, but then it hit me. I'm like, no, is this going to be, are the death riders going to be the dividing line between those two on TV? Because he started to say, goes, I hate to say it, but I think, you know, the death riders are really, and that's when she came in. So I think you and I are both seeing it could go one of two ways. Can she start training with the death riders or my fear is they're going to have this be a Mm. Yeah. Will, what are you doing? Why are you doing this? He's like, you don't understand. I haven't been this good. And she's like, well, what about me? I don't want that to be the case. I have a bad feeling it might be. But for this and this alone, I really enjoyed it. Yeah, I like the segment. I hope it doesn't go the way that you just described there. I'd actually rather see her start training with the Death Riders, quite honestly, and I think that would make a lot more sense. The issue that I would have with that is something that again has been an a r a recurring theme around here of Yeah. Then that means you spend a lot of time hyping up the Brawling Birds, and they will at that point have effectively broken up and be non-existent. I would argue they may as well be at this point. Are such afterthoughts at this point. It's really sad. I think you're right, yeah. Yeah, I agree. I mean, they're non existent as is. Jamie Hayter is missing in action, you know. So I and maybe that's it. Maybe we're just gonna pretend it didn't happen and move on, and that might be the best thing. But I my fear, aside from the scenario you laid out there of the division between Will Ospreay and Alex Windsor, my fear is that they're going to use this to split up the Brawling Birds and try and make a program out of that where there's going to be no emotional impact whatsoever because this is not Edge and Christian breaking up. You know, this is not the Hardy Boys breaking up. This is a tag team that tagged together, I think four times, maybe five, on TV, and that was it. Right. Nope. I don't want to derail us from this show, but this does dovetail into a point that they mention, and that is the TBS title picture. And I think it is once again a glaring omission that neither one of the Brawling Birds are in the tournament. Mm-hmm. Well, do we know that? Have they laid out who's in the tournament? We have Shida, Statlander, Mina Shirakawa, Harley Cameron, Queen Aminata, and Zayda Steel. I think they mentioned it last week on collision. I was going to say I missed that entirely, but also that's a weird field for the TBS Championship. Like Shida, Statlander, Shirakawa. Fine. Harley Cameron, who hasn't been in the ring in six months. Okay. Well, it feels like it's been forever. It's been a good three, but regardless. Harley Cameron. Okay. Queen Aminata. Look, I don't have anything against Queen Aminata, but when's the last time we saw her on Dynamite? Okay, yeah. Yeah. Little surprising. Okay. It hasn't been six months. Well, it's been close, but yeah. Yeah. It's been yeah, it's been a while, yeah. Yeah, I mean that's the problem is they were trying to build her, and I think they were doing a good job of building her, and then she got hurt and you've lost all that momentum and you haven't done anything to get it back. You know, and again, that whole field is a field that would have made a lot more sense to me for the Owen Hart bracket, you know, for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. And now that, but that is a weird field for a belt that you have made feel pretty important. Yeah, you know, and there's Julia Hart not in it. Neither one of the Brawling Birds. I thought she was. I Thought they made a reference to that tonight. She's not in the tournament. Unless they've made an announcement that I do not know about. No, I You know what? As I'm thinking about it, they didn't actually in that it well, I mean, this is what happened next was the Thekla video package. And I guess actually as I'm thinking about it, Julia Hart did not make a reference to that. And they did not reference it. Why is she not in it? What are we doing? I don't know. But like I said, there's so many. Then what happened to... Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. See, I told you he'd get into it. You did. And what happened to... Man, I can't even think of her name now. They hyped her for a return match, had one match against Willow and lost. I'm gonna steal your bit. What are we doing, non existent person? I brought that on myself. I have no one to blame but me. Kamille. Mm-hmm. I the only thing I can maybe. The only thing I can think of, if it's if it's not that they are filming season two of American Gladiators, which they might be, if it's not that, the only thing I can think of is, you know, there had been rumors a while back that there was backstage heat on her and that maybe she did whatever to Kamille, where'd she go? Is the gladiator filming again? Because she's... Done. Get real-life heat and they're like they're casting her aside like they did with Britt Baker. I don't know. But man, that is a weird field for that. I don't Okay. I don't get it. And again, you know, where is Thunder Rosa? You bring her out occasionally when you need a big hitter, I guess, but she should be in this in my humble opinion over Queen Aminata. Yep. Mm-hmm. Well, I mean, I like what's her name? Zayda Steel, thank you. I like her. I think she's got real potential. I don't think she's there yet, though. And I think that she's gonna I mean, she's probably there to lose, although tonight makes me second guess all of that. But I like I said, I think she's got a bright future, but I don't think she's there yet. So Zayda Steel. Mm-hmm. Yep. No. Mm-hmm. No, I think this tournament clearly is set up for Shida and Statlander to fight for the belt. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would agree with that. Weird. So It's simply because of the people in it. Yeah. Very weird. Very, very weird field. No, it's okay. So, all right, so I apologize for the diversion, That's what got me thinking about it. That's, again, that was a glaring omission from tonight's Dynamite was the women's division for the most part. Yeah. Yeah, I mean they should be talking about that and they haven't. Interesting. Interesting, interesting. So like I mentioned, we got that Thekla video package next that I liked it solely because they did a I think a decent job of trying to catch you up on here's what happened with her in STARDOM. I think they could have gone a little bit deeper on it, but you know, if you don't know, now you've at least got a pretty good idea. Mm-hmm. Yeah, they should have been airing that promo or a version of it three weeks ago. But at the very least they're doing it now. So we got something and that was fine. Agreed. Yep, I agree. I agree. Moxley, Death Riders promo. I really just Death Riders promo after that. I did like that Mox was selling the choke with the like he couldn't talk. I thought that was really good. Like you said, we kinda went over this earlier. I thought man, now now I almost pulled a U. I almost called her Mina. I thought Marina Yeah. Was very good here. I thought Danny Garcia was very good here. Like you said, it's another multi-man match. It's another multi-person match, which I'm not sure I'm not sure I feel about that part of it. But yeah, whatever. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. This one at least makes sense to me. This one makes sense. The other One with MJF and Briscoe doesn't make sense to me. This one at least has some history to it and it makes sense. So I'm not near as upset with this one. No, I agree. Yeah, no, I agree with you on that. I think it makes a lot of sense and I think it fits a a story that they're telling there way better than making this weird multi-person match that let's be honest is the conglomeration versus the Don Callis Family featuring MJF, the main event for Forbidden Door for Forbidden Door. I don't I don't love that. But yeah, it was fine. Quick, did what it needed to do. It was fine. Yeah. Yep. Nope. Yeah, I liked it. And then we got the surprise of the night. Yeah, we did. Skye Blue versus Maya World in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Now, my understanding based on some quick Googling is that Sareee has well, I think they even mentioned it during the match, head slash neck injury. So that's why she couldn't compete. Yes, that's what I was getting from all that as well, yeah. Yeah, and and I mean, that's legit, it seems. Maya World surprised me as the replacement. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And the fact that she went over Skye Blue. When they said Maya World, I thought, okay, Skye Blue's clearly winning. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I thought too. And yeah, Maya World winning really surprised me. I mean Maya World winning produced a physical reaction out of me that made my wife stop what she was saying in the middle of a sentence and look at the TV like what just happened. Like it was like the record scratch happened in our living room. I mean, I really did not expect that. Kudos because I thought this was a very, very good match. Right. And I and and extra kudos because what they were talking about with Maya World dealing with the sudden death of her brother, that's I kudos to you for being able to block that out for however long that match went and put that match on. That's impressive. I'm not sure I could do that. So, you know, I'm very impressed. I feel like if I'm gonna nitpick this. Yep. And I am gonna nitpick it. There are two things that I didn't understand, slash, thought could have been better here. The first was they teased through like the whole episode. We'll have more on why Sareee is not competing, you know, later on tonight. And my whole thing with that was I would be far more interested in that if I knew who Sareee was, but I don't. What do? Mm. Yeah, Yeah. If it was, you know, this was supposed to be Mercedes Moné and she's out. Now you have my attention, right? But because Sareee is not familiar to the AEW audience, for example, let me let me let me throw this out here. Did you know she was in NXT for three years? Because I didn't. They're assuming you know that. I had no idea. No, because I don't really watch NXT anymore. Mm-hmm. Didn't know that. I assumed she was from- I assumed she was from STARDOM initially, but no. Well, I think she Well, I guess she's not actually, but that would have been a Now she Might have been wrestling there a little bit between NXT and now, but I don't think she's primarily known as from STARDOM though. Yeah. I think she just Yeah, no, I think she's basically doing indies for lack of a better term, like primarily in Japan, but still. So I think that's some far more impactful tease if it's somebody that I know who it is, but I don't know who she is. And then you put in Maya World, which again, all of that was surprising. You have her go over, which is shocking, but okay, that's fun. Let's do it. But you put Maya World in and you I, it's my assumption. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Don't ever once mention that she and her tag team partner took the women's tag champions almost to the five minute limit. What, was that a double or nothing, or was that was that pre-show or was it the pay-per-view before that? Either way, you're talking about it happening within the last two months, right? And I remember coming away from that match going like, wow, they really made Hyan and Maya World look really good there. I don't understand why you didn't mention that. Help sell her resume for people who didn't see it or who don't know who she is. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that would have been helpful. I think it would have made you know, I it would have been shocking no matter what, her going over Skye Blue, but it would have at least been like, Well, okay, I mean, she's got some credibility. You know what I mean? She pushed Divine Dominion to the limit, so But again, hats off because we did not see this coming. She was a last minute replacement and that's a bold move to have her move forward and I and I like it. No. I do too. I think it's really interesting and I think the match between her and Athena could be a lot of fun. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think so. I'm looking, I'm really looking forward to that one. Cause that one I think will be maybe not the show stealer of the night, but I think it will be a dark horse match that people didn't see coming in. It'll impress people more than they anticipated. Yeah, I agree with you on that. Yeah. So really very interesting kind of everything around that match for a match that on paper I was just sort of like, okay, you know Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Was like, oh, well, this isn't going to be very long and Skye Blue is going to win. It's like, oh no, this match is going longer than I thought. It's doing well. And Maya World won. What the balls? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. So that was fun. That was a lot of fun. Then we got the ZSJ promo, Zack Sabre Jr.. Promo. Very quick well, I shouldn't say very quick, but pretty quick. The main thing is we're getting Kenny Omega and Zack Sabre Jr.. And you can just hook that to my veins. I don't care about anything else that happens. Yeah. So cute. Yeah, man. That's a great, that's going to be a hell of a, I mean, good luck topping that. So good. Yeah. Yeah. I would actually prefer that they remove the main event that they booked tonight for Forbidden Door and have Forbidden Door just be that match, like those two guys for two hours. I'll give you my money. I will I will give you my money for that. Absolutely. Absolutely. That would be super fun. So very excited about that one if you can't tell. I would watch that. I would watch that all night. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm in. Speaking of in, my dog just came in. Hey buddy, where you at? He's like, I'm not talking to you right now. He doesn't want to talk to Dad. Hey buddy. Yeah. Like I'm gonna go poop in your shoe. Then Maybe. But from There, we go to the MJF Hyan Don Callis Family. Yeah. Overall, like I said, I pretty well liked this one. I don't necessarily love the result of it with the multi-man match and all that, but well I guess that was I guess that was already done. That's not really the result of this part. I thought it was very funny. When Kevin Knight stepped up to him and said, And I quote, I heard you're looking for top guys. Well, yeah, he literally just said that right in front of you. Yeah, you just you just yeah you just did. That he would have been better served to to step up to Max and go, I heard the thing you said. Because that's basically what he said was I heard the thing you said. That was that's why I'm like, make Don his mouthpiece. Cause he does things like that. And I'm like, huh. Mm-hmm. Anywho. Yeah. I mean But I did. I'm a little bit torn about it, but I thought it was okay. And mostly because I thought to me what saved it was the interaction between Don Callis and MJF and then the Andrade thing at the end where he's like, you said you gave me your word, so let's make this happen. The Kevin Knight stuff, And yeah, I know it's Kevin, shut up. I yes. I yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree with you on that. I think that MJF and Don were really good together because of course they were. They are what I liked and I liked I totally agree with you. The Andrade stuff at the end matters, it's important. Tony Schiavone saying he is lying to Andrade was perfect cherry on top of that. Could but did we need Kevin Knight? Yes, so good. So good. Talking to MJF, not really. Not really. I mean, I get it that you're trying to further that story and I use that word very loosely because I don't think there's much of a story there. Fine. Whatever. No. No. Love you. Like I said, Kevin Knight, in my humble opinion, is being used as the catalyst for the Andrade-Don Callis tension and to postpone the Andrade and MJF match. So it is what it is and it's okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah, I mean and and I think this segment is what really to me drives that home of this story is not about Kevin Knight, this story is about Andrade. Yeah. And then we got to our main event of the evening, Swerve Strickland versus Brody King in the Owen, which I mean, look, did anybody think it was gonna be bad? Not me either. Possible match of the night for me. I thought these guys were excellent together, which Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Not me. We already knew they were great together because we've seen it before. I will say this. My my only real other note from this match was I appreciated when Swerve clearly missed the drive-by or house call or whatever. I think it's the house call, whatever we're calling it now. Clearly missed it. That commentary didn't try to do the whole, well, he didn't get all of that one. I appreciate Excalibur just saying he missed. Right. Yep, he has tried to sneak in, I think grody ducked, and it's like, you can say that, we all know he kind of just sat there, and he missed him, and it happens, and it's okay. Don't don't tell me I didn't see what I just saw. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And and thank you for not trying to convince me that I didn't see what I just saw. I yeah. Nope. No, he missed and he missed pretty bad. Yeah. It happens. It's okay. But overall, good match. I enjoyed Swerve looking at the camera at the end of the show and saying hi, Will. Like that. Like that. Very much looking forward to Ospreay and Swerve in the Owen final. Exactly. Yeah. Took his head off. No, he missed. It's okay. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So good. Brody, Brody King bled a lot. I don't know if the blade went too deep or he actually cut himself on the ring. He was, it didn't look good, but. I don't have a lot to add to it. Yes, he did. It It made me wonder if he got busted open the hard way. It really did. If he did, or if it was a blade, he did a bad job on the blade. Did a bad job. Because that, it just, look, I get it, but even that for me was a little like, man, that poor dude. But it ended up making him look like a damn monster. Again, Brody King just to me keeps looking better and better. They keep making him look great, and I love it. Yeah. Yeah. And even in loss, I hope there's a point where we get Brody King to the point where he can win something of significance, get him back into the tag team things or whatever, get him a title of some sort. I just like seeing him on TV. I think he's really entertaining and he's a legitimate big dude and moves great. I like it. And this, for me, this was my match of the night. I thought this match was bonkers. It just was so good and I found myself just being so entertained throughout it. Like literally I like caught myself. I'm like, holy crap, I'm really, really liking this match. It's gotta be my match of the night. Even though I liked a bunch of other stuff on the show, this one for me, and it could be the recency bias of the fact that it was the last match, but I thought this was my match of the night. Well, I mean, I like I said it was a possible match of the night for me. I totally understand all that. For me, I give a I'm gonna give it to Andrade and Orange Cassidy. And it is a slight edge for those two guys over Andrade and Brody, or excuse me, Swerve and Brody. And and it's really because of the same thing that you said the whole time during Andrade and Orange Cassidy. I was just sitting there going like, I am really enjoying this and I'm really into it. I don't mind the goofy. I know, I know some people do. I don't mind it. I thought it was fun. Obviously I like it enough that I bought an Orange Cassidy T-shirt. I mean, you know. So, and this isn't the only one I have. I have two. But but you know, I really enjoyed it. No. Mm-hmm. Nothing against Swerve and Brody. They were great. I just really enjoyed Andrade and Orange Cassidy and I slightly more. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, I didn't think there was a bad match tonight. Every single one of them was I didn't even think there was a mid match tonight. Every single one of them I thought was really good. Those are my two favorite matches of the night, so I'm right there with you. No. Yeah, really, like I said, I enjoyed 90 % of the show, 95 % of the show. There were a few things that were like, meh. And I didn't really dislike anything other than I am fatigued by the multi-man matches, but that's not a huge dislike. It's the mid for me. But yeah, I liked it. Yeah. Yeah, though Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, I disliked the Jericho Ciampa stuff. You're gonna have to work to get me to care about that one. I mean, you really are. When my favorite part of it is the fact that they shot part of the pull apart from directly above and I thought, that's a cool angle. When that, when the camera angle is the angle that I like the best between those two, that's a problem. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Yeah. So they got some work to do on that one. But everything else tonight I thought worked pretty well. Even even the stuff that was mid, it's like it wasn't I've seen worse. You know what I mean? So overall I think pretty good show. I will at least applaud them for giving us two Forbidden Door matches. We at least got two of those made. Well, actually I guess three because I think that the Owen final is at Forbidden Door as well. Yeah? Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep. Three. Yeah, both of them, the women's end of it. Yeah, the men's and The women's. But we only know the men's final right now. We don't know the women yet. So we got three matches for the Forbidden Door card made tonight, so that's good. That's some progress. I'm a little confused, I think, that we haven't seen more from New Japan and CMLL and STARDOM in this. Correct. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't think We've seen any CMLL unless it's, No. She was in the, who was it? She has the title Persephone. Persephone? Yeah, but she lost. She's out of the Owen. Correct. That's Right. Here's the thing, and I know I'm derailing things at the 58 minute mark, but who cares? Did you see collision at all? Yeah. No. Here's what I really liked about Persephone on collision. And it made me go, yeah. She came out and she had an issue with her eye because she got the mist from, I wanted to call her Owen Hart and that is not her name. It's Julia Hart and it's the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. But Julia Hart sprayed the mist. She she got the mist, right? No, it is not. Julia Hart. Yeah. And for a minute I was like, why the hell is she spraying mist? And I was like, yeah, back when she was with House of Black, she was spraying mist. It's been the carryover. And this is the first time we've seen any lasting effects from the mist. And I was like, OK. I'm OK with this if we make it a consistent thing. Mm-hmm. So I'm interested to see if this is just a one-off or just for Persephone. But I would, I, at least that gives her something. Cause right now Julia Hart has nothing. Yeah. That's all. Yeah, no, I agree with you on that. I totally agree. So yeah, we'll we'll see if they do anything with that. And I'm I'm curious to see what the rest of Forbidden Door ends up being. I really am. I'm I'm a little surprised that nobody has called their shot on the IWGP heavyweight championship. That surprises me. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I mean I Mean, we have Zack Sabre Jr. Is from New Japan. Come on. Right, Right. But I mean like Okada is not on this card. Kazuchika Okada. Like a guy that in my mind is virtually synonymous with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and he's not on the card. Why has he not called a shot at the at the IWGP championship, you know? I would think, but okay. Not yet. I know. Seems like that would make sense. So anyway, I hope that they do some more build to for Forbidden Door next week, but I don't know. We'll see. 'Cause right now Forbidden Door is stacking up to just be a really long Dynamite. Yeah. Yeah. I have a feeling we're going to see a tag match, a three-way tag match between someone from CMLL, a team from New Japan, and Roppongi Vice would be my guess. Yeah, probably. Probably. Or, Or, or, The Lethal Twist. Throw them in there. Why not? Or maybe the misfits. Hell, where have they been? Misfits? Rascalz. Where are the Rascalz? Rascalz? Sure, why not? Well, you know, maybe the misfits. I don't know. Misfits was a band. Rascalz? Or is it radical? That was also no, no, no. I was thinking Of the headbangers that wore the Misfit t-shirts, the Misfits t-shirts. That's what I was thinking of. Yes, no. Yes, not the headbangers, not the Misfits, but the Rascalz. Where are they? Maybe we'll see them. I don't know. Probably not. Which is sad. But anyway, Anyway, we're derailing into things that make us sad. I know. Derailing into things that make us sad after what was a pretty good episode. So it was, it was pretty good episode. So with that, if you have not liked and subscribed and shared and all those good things, please do as it greatly helps us. We've we've What? Us? Me? No. It was really good, I liked it. Yeah. Yeah. I shout out to everybody that has been engaging and doing things because we're we're seeing some nice growth here. I'd like to keep that going. So share it with your friends. Keep commenting, keep liking, keep doing all those things. Really appreciate it. And with that, I am going to go see if I can find the women's tag team champions because somebody should do a wellness check on them. They are MIA and I feel like we should make sure they're okay. Good luck with you, sir. I wish you well on that endeavor. Well, they're both very tall. I feel like if I look up. See, and that's the thing when when you're looking for something most people don't look up maybe if you just look up they'll find them quicker. I think that That could be it. Maybe like well, they're not they're not on the ceiling in my house. So scratch that off the list. Perhaps tomorrow I'll venture outside. Never noticed them before. Noticed what, Doug? That guy? So Are you wearing a kilt? You might You might need God. You Now you're just pooping. Let's be honest. No, I did have to check, but no. I think somebody just made a boom boom. Big Boom Boom, Big Doom and Boom Boom. The greatest tag team that Shane Taylor Promotions will lose to. Aww. Okay, bye.