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Welcome To The Darby Era · Elite Heat

• All right, this is episode 25 of Elite Heat and perhaps more importantly, episode one of the Darby Allen era. Woo! Yes, Darby Allen baby. And let me tell you, if you were not aware that he won, they made sure you were aware that he won. But I think I understand why. We'll get into it, I'm sure, as the show goes on. Yeah. mean, well, here's we'll just put it up front then. Here's why I think they did it. As I texted you, Darby being champion, while perhaps not my favorite thing, has been To fair, new champ, you want to make that known. To be fair. Mm-hmm. good for business for us. Which makes me think, yeah, I'm not gonna complain. It makes me think AEW knew something we didn't. That they had some sort of, I don't know if it's focus group data or maybe they knew he was moving more merch than we realized. I don't know, I don't know. But it makes me think that they knew something we didn't. That it was gonna generate exactly the kind of buzz that they were hoping for during WrestleMania week. And so I get why you're doing this. Mm-hmm. Yes. because there is a very real chance that you have brand new eyes on the product because at least night one of WrestleMania, my understanding is was terrible and pushed a lot of people away from it. I look, look, it's a business. You got to do things based on the business. I respect it. I, if that's what it was, I, and if it's working the way they hoped it would tip of my non-existent cap. Yeah. Yeah. and having sat with it for a week. In a week? Yeah, a week now. Yeah, it's been a week. I'm the shock is done. And yeah, I'm in the pleasantly well, let's let them cook and see what shakes. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, let me let me address a couple things because some people first of all, I want to give just massive love to the people that commented on like YouTube and TikTok about this stuff in particular, because it was exactly the kind of conversation I hope to generate where we were just talking about it. Nobody's for the most part, nobody was slinging arrows just talking about it. One person did say Right, Yep. that it was, they found the video of when I said prior, the week prior, so two weeks ago, that I thought he should turn heel, that he should lose and turn heel. Someone was like, that's a bad take. You don't turn your top baby face heel. Well, number one, I don't think he's even still the top baby face, but maybe. Number two, my apologies, sir, you're absolutely right. That's why Hogan famously never turned heel, nor did Cena. Goldberg, Roman Reigns, Bret Hart, HBK, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Jericho. Wait, I'm not done. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Andre the Giant. Seth Rollins. Brock Lesnar, Hangman Adam Page, Swerve Strickland. go on and on and on and on and on and on. Happens all the time. the double switch with Stone Cold and Brett in one night. No, mean, no, no, no, that's the point though, Doug. It's never happened before. in one night, again, if that had happened, which of course, famously, it did not, because you don't switch a top baby face heel, why would you do that? Did not. Correct. No. You don't do that. You don't do that. Shame on you, Tim. Shame on you. No, punk never did it. I know, I know. Mocs never did it. still thought that was a great idea though. What do I know? I still think it would be intriguing as hell. I really do. I hope we get it someday. I think it'd be really interesting. But another person pointed out, they were like, look, if you're talking about a wrestler's size in the clip where I was talking about him being able to be blown over by a stiff breeze, let me clean that up. I don't care about a wrestler's size. I hated that narrative around Adam Cole. I think it's stupid. I don't care that he's not a big guy. Yeah, same. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep. I care that he's not a big guy and he squashes your top guy. Darby should probably never squash anybody. That's what I was trying to say. It didn't come out very eloquently. That's on me. All right. So with that said, welcome to the Darby Allen era and we're going to get a lot of it tonight. Right out of the gate, we got the recap of him winning in case you didn't see it, which is where I say, I think they were trying to welcome in new viewers that may be checking it out for the first time. So I get that. Yes. Correct. Yes, we are and that's okay. Yeah. Yep. Yep. I think that was good. I said, I think that's exactly what they should have done. I liked it. No problems. I guess the what's that? I I guess the rumors that MJF is off shooting a movie were in fact not true. Because there he was. Yeah, I thought Schiavone mocking MJF was really funny and be like, he's upset. that was very He was very prominent this evening. Schiavone. God love him. Who did you expect to come out when MJF was demanding Darby come out? Honestly, it was either going to be, I thought it was either going to be Champa or the Jet. I thought maybe Champa because I thought maybe Champa was going to say like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. The fact that the Jet came out doesn't shock me because he, you know, called his shot last week. And I think we both went, okay. So this is the trend. Everybody calls their shot and there we go. Okay. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I did not think that it was going to be Kevin Knight, to be honest with you. I thought that it was gonna be Champa. So that surprised me a little bit. I will say this right now. As of tonight, just at one segment, I'm officially over him referring to himself as the Jet, over and over and over again. Little overkill there, my guy. Little overkill. Yep. Yep. Yep. And I love... Just get a t-shirt, sell your merch, it's fine. Loved MJF calling them out on it. That was solid. I thought this was a great segment. I liked this from start to finish. I thought this was really, really well done. I loved the MJF coming out. I love them calling out Darby. Says Darby cheated. He wants his rematch. I loved Michael Knight coming out and know, it's today and wait, wait, wait. I also loved the line, the jet. I did too. Yeah. I did too. Mm-hmm. thinks it's socially acceptable to be friends with Speedball Mike Bailey. Yeah, they were very good. mean, credit to Kevin Knight, who I think did a pretty decent job of hanging in there with, I would say the best on the mic right now in professional wrestling. I do, I did have to laugh when MJF biffed eloquent. Like the irony of him biffing the word eloquent was just amazing. I'm not sure he did, but now he'll say he did. Mm-hmm. Yes. Perfect. I hope you did it on purpose, although he did not. But yeah, I liked it. I liked it a lot. course. I Yeah, I like this angle of, yeah, sure. this now, it's one of those things where we were like, where are we going with any of this now? Putting MJF and those two together, going after the TNT title, which he has not held yet. I think that makes a lot of sense, gives some traction, and it takes up some storytelling time, and I think it makes sense. And so I was on board with it. I was like, God, what's the jet going to do? And then I was like, my God, he calls himself the jet all the time. He should start. Mm-hmm. calling himself Michael Knight like I do, then everyone would be happy. But yeah, I thought this was a really, really solid intro, especially when MJF's like, we're doing this right now, and then he rolls out the ring. He's like, no, we're not. I was like, okay, that's so good. Thank you, that's good. Yes, you should. Yeah. Yeah, I thought he did a nice job with that. Yeah. I think it's an interesting, I think we're just setting up some storytelling here because later in the evening, when MJF would come back with the whole, you got to put something up. I think this is all going to tie together, but we'll talk about it when we get there. Yep. Yep. Yeah, we'll get into that. Yep. Then it was the demand and Jericho backstage. The only thought I really had here was I kind of want the shirt. I kind of want it. Oh yeah, I read he had trademarked that and I was like, why? And then as soon as Ricochet said, now you're guy, I was like, oh, here we go. Okay. All right, here we go. And again, I got to say, I like the new verbal quirk that Jericho is putting out where he just randomly says words at the end of sentences, bald. Mm-hmm. Mm. You know, you know what it is? It's the do you remember when Kevin Nealon did Weekend Update back in the 90s on SNL? It's it's the when he would do the Mr. Subliminal bit, right? Where he'd be talking and then just drop a word and go, you know, like it's and you know what? It's working. I ain't mad at it. Yeah, I ain't mad at it. Yes. Very good. I like it. I thought the first night was a little weird because he just kept saying bald all the time. But now that he's working other stuff in, I'm liking it more. So yeah, I'm on board. I like it. Yeah. Yeah, I think he did it on the fly because he was, you know, that first time was in the ring and I think he was just playing off the crowd energy because that's what you do when you're a savvy vet like Chris Jericho. And then I think he just went, well, screw it. We got a good pop. It probably got good traction online. Let's keep doing it. And he's pretty good about knowing when it's run its course. So I'm not too worried about that. Yeah, no, liked it. Thought it was good. Yep, this segment would come back around basically long story short, it was six man match, but you got to find two guys that don't hate you to which Jericho is like, no, I just got to find two guys that hate you. Nope, nope. Then we got our first match of the night, Brody King versus Leo Rush. Is Leo Rush supposed to be Gollum from Lord of the Rings? Yeah, which will not be difficult. Yeah. Maybe, maybe his new character since he been back has been I wrote down that it reminds me a little bit of his take on the fiend a little bit and as if he's an Asian horror movie star. Like he's the ghost in or the demon in an Asian horror movie because he's definitely walking around and doing the weird gallop which I thought was hilarious and Okay. I actually really liked that, yeah. and him talking to himself on the way in and talking about he's getting stronger and him just those contacts and the constant grin and the salivating all over. It is weird and creepy and I honestly really enjoyed it. I was like, I shouldn't like this so much, but I'm really digging this bit. I really am. So yeah. So yeah, my thought on it was I'm not sure if I like the gimmick or not, but I would say as the match went on, I warmed to it more and more. So I'm kind of curious to see where they go with it. I hope that they find ways to keep him on TV. And I don't think it matters if he wins or loses with this particular gimmick, which was also kind of true of the fiend. So I don't think it matters. I think you can keep throwing him at people and I'm not sure what the story is exactly, but it's kind of interesting. Yeah! Yeah, I'm at least intrigued enough. And I did see, think over the weekend, he was also wrestling. had the big, there were two big indie shows in Vegas and he wrestled at a bunch. I think he wrestled two or three matches and this character has gone with him. And so there's something just off enough about it that I'm like, okay, let's let this go. I'm... completely fine with it. did what it should have done. It got me interested in watching Leo Rush wrestle, which I haven't been interested in in a while. Yeah, I agree. It's an interesting concept. It's an interesting idea. We'll see where they go. I had to make the note of, hey, Brody's calling his shot at the title since. Yep. I wrote that one down too. Just a lot of that going on. Yep. I... Yeah. I feel like we've said everything there is to be said about it. Like this is just what it's gonna be for probably the next at least three weeks, probably longer, probably four or five. So. Huh? Mm-hmm. I just wrote down, this trend continues. I don't know if I hate it. I don't know. know I don't love it, but because it was Brody, I'm okay with it. Does that make sense? Yep. Yep. I I my yeah, my thought on it was I liked it a lot less when it started. I didn't like, you know, like Speedball with Hangman. didn't. OK, whatever, which I get that you're trying to keep the world title on TV. I get that, but I just, you know, especially after it wasn't on TV forever with the weird Yes. Mox putting it in a briefcase thing. I understand that and I understand the idea of fighting champions. It just, I wish they had waited to start with that stuff because I think it's less impactful now and it makes the most sense now. Which we'll get into again a little bit later. Yeah. Gotcha. Yep. I feel that. Yeah. It's your tease to listen to the end of the episode, but I don't, I'm a little apathetic towards it at this point where I'm just like, okay, so every week somebody is gonna call their shot and okay. And they're gonna get it. Yep, they're gonna get it. Speaking of calling your shot and getting the match, then it was a backstage with Champa. Okay. Yeah. And they're probably going to get it. Yep. My only issue with this, don't, the work itself is fine, my only issue with it is that he basically said everything that Darby had said last week. Thank you. I wrote down, isn't that the same thing Darby said? And then as well as swerve what he's like, I need this. All right, come on. Yep. Yeah. Well, I mean, Darby had said that the I need this was what got my mind going. He's going to turn heel, you know, so I Yeah. But Swerve had said it too when it but it was more when he was talking about Omega. But it just it felt like I was like am I is this deja vu here because I've heard this speech more than once. Mm-hmm. By the way, speaking of Omega, nowhere to be found tonight. Not sure how feel about that. Well, the reason I'm not sure I feel about it is because you left the dog fart promo as the last thing that we saw of him and Osprey in the training room that was just there. And it's like, this is weird. And I don't know what any of it means. And I'd like you to pay it off. So that was a little bit weird, but. Yeah. Yep. Yes sir. Yes sir. Then we got the Edge promo. I want to see if you picked out the same thing I did here. There is a couple things. The first is a couple bothersome things. If they well, he charged. He challenges them to another match. And if they lose, they retire as a team. That's what I picked out as a team is the key part of that. Yep. as a team. So while I appreciate the word play, I don't appreciate now this is... I don't know. It feels like the second or third time we've done a we'll never challenge for the belts or we'll be done. just... It feels a bit overplayed. Maybe not the exact same cards, but definitely the same hand in a different suit. just... Hmm? I'm gonna say it again of Tony Khan. I gotta lay the blame at his feet because he's the guy in charge, right? I feel like he locks in and hyper focuses on certain things and that's his shiny toy. And the two that are going right now are the everybody's gonna come call their shot and get their title shot. And if I lose, I'll never challenge again. Yep. When, when, when Cope said he had a plan, I thought he was like, fine, you don't want me and me and Christian, me and Edge, you don't want me and- I wrote down Edge promo. think I said Edge promo. Yeah, but if Copeland is gonna team with Edge, that would be weird. But if he and Christian weren't gonna challenge, I thought he was gonna go and get someone else to challenge and still take the belts off of them. I didn't know who, or he was just going to help the Bucks take the belts off of them is what I was imagining. So. It would be. Yeah. So that was my other thought here is like we said, I think a couple weeks ago, if you are a tag team in AEW that is not Edge and Christian, I'm again, I'm just leaning into it. I can't help myself from calling him Edge. If you're not Edge and Christian or FTR, you don't matter. Might as well. We know who you're talking about. Basically, And that includes the Young Bucks right now. I mean, there's nothing really going and you see, you know, the tease for collision that they're in a 10 man match with the rascals and what was it? The death riders and the dogs, which okay. Kinda yeah. and the dogs. But it doesn't, that makes sense because they at least showed the package as to why. that, because that happened on collision and it was really good. Yeah, they did. Yeah, well, and look, if you want to build a feud between the Bucks and the dogs, I'm not going to complain about that. That's going to be very good. But it the winner then has to progress to the number one contenders coming out of double or nothing. And I just. I don't know. I don't know if they're going to switch the belts at double or nothing. I kind of feel like they should, which makes me think they're not gonna. I don't know. I don't know. Yep. Yeah, more. Mm-hmm. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah, maybe. I really don't know. So yeah, it was a decent promo. It was weird. I'm not sure again. I'm a fan of the we'll retire as a tag team, but whatever. It's fine. Yeah. I agree. The actual promo itself, I thought was was fairly good. It was pretty good work. I just I'm not sure I feel great about adding that stipulation yet again. Then we got into the next thing of the evening that had me going, I think I like this, which is Sheeta with Statlander versus Mina. Okay. First of all, let me throw some love to Excalibur, who may have had the line of the night when he said, I've got 1200 days on my language app and I'm pretty sure she said something about her cat. That was really funny. Really, really funny. That was very funny. That was so good. Also, I'm dying a little bit. I choked on my soda and I still am not recouping. Just FYI. It's fine. I got it. You just hit a play out here, bud. I got you. Yeah, little little carbonated. Yeah, but I the match itself I thought was pretty good. I just I'm a little dead. Little, little, little deaf, but I'm okay. I'll be all right. Little bit. Yeah, I thought there were some moments where I thought she looked things looked a little slow. I thought that Mina looked winded early. Maybe it was just just weird, but she just slow clap at the beginning for her coming in the ring was loved it, loved it. But overall, pretty solid. I wrote nice to see the ladies on TV, but I did feel this match went a little long. Yeah, it seemed like she got blown up quick. I thought it went a little long, particularly like you said, Mina looked like she ran out of gas relatively early. Now there were a couple moments in here where I thought she looked really good. And I think that I like what they're doing with her and like, yeah, she's still gonna do the dance, but she's more serious. I think that's a good angle for her. The She-Da character right now, as I mentioned last week, I don't get it. Yes. Nope. What I think I like it? Maybe? Maybe, yeah, it's weird that you have two characters that I want to like a lot, but I don't necessarily understand. Yeah. But okay, because I like Statlander, but I don't get what's going on with her. I liked Sheeta and it already seems like they've been tweaking their presentation. Cause when she came out, when she came back, she was clearly trying to work sneaky heel. And now she's just being overly excited weird. Okay. I mean. Yep. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I don't hate it, I'm just a little confused by both of them that I want to like a lot. Yeah, I agree. It's like the Leo Rush thing where I think I like this, but I'm kind of confused. And in both cases, I'm not entirely certain where you're going to go with it. I think at least with Sheeta, it's pretty obvious that we're building towards she's going to turn on Statlander at some point and those two will beat each other up, which fine. Yep. Yep. I don't know what that does for you long term in the women's division, but I don't know if it does either. But again, if the whole goal is to get to 18 hours worth of wrestling for double or nothing, you gotta do things like this. So I don't know. I wanna like it. I think I kinda sorta like it, but I'm not sure. And it... don't know if it does anything. Yes you do. That is a... Oddly, that's the clearest explanation of a thing that they're doing that I could probably give. Yeah. And it it's weird to me that there's two of those on the same show where I'm like, I think I like this, but I have no idea where you're going to long term go with this. Thank Right, right. the weird thing is, like with the Leo Rush thing, I'm really invested in, okay, I do want to see where you're going. I don't know where you are, but I want to see. With the Sheeta thing and even a little bit the Statlander thing, I think I know where you're going. I think I kind of like it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But okay, I kind of want this one to progress a little faster so I can get to the end of the book a little quicker. Yeah, but I'm not. I agree. agree. Yeah, we can. We can speed this one up. Speaking of things that went long, the hype promo for Okada and Takeshita, which if you've been listening, you know that this has been a roller coaster ride for us on this show where we were way into it then we weren't. And now we're kind of back in on it. So I would have liked more than just the kind of sizzle reel here to help build the feud. Exactly, Mm-hmm. Yep, kinda. Mm-hmm. You got Don Callis use him, but it's not the worst thing in the world. You mentioned it earlier than it was the recap of the Bucks and the Dogs on collision. I'm glad they're doing that. I'm glad that they're doing some recaps from collision. They probably need to do that a little bit more. That's really my only thought on that. Yeah. Yes. I thought I did a really good job of the recap. it said, everything I needed to say, the dog, like I told you when I said, I watched it, the dogs looked really strong. They took out all five of those guys by themselves. Looked great. So the, the, the 10 way makes sense. It's an interesting pairing with the death writers, but otherwise I think it'll be a fun match and good. But like you said, what comes after, I don't know, but hopefully the dogs come out looking good and move forward. And we get a dogs and we get a bucks, you know, rivalry for a minute. Yeah, I think we're headed to that at double or nothing, possibly with a step, or they might just keep putting them in multi man to keep them from full on squaring off against each other. If, if that's true, if that's where we're headed, I fully expect the bucks are going to do the honors and put them over. Mm. All right. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But again, we got to make the match before we fully expect they're going to make the match and that's how it's going to go. Boom, done. And now I'm going to be very wrong. It's just how it's been lately. I'm going to be very wrong and I'm going to hear about it in the comments. Well, you know what? We'll fix it in post and no one will know. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. That's true. I'll just delete it. No one will know it's fine. Then Will Ospreay and Mark Davis happened and I thought for 99 % of this match that this was going to be my match of night. Okay. I thought these two were excellent together. I love what they're doing with Mark Davis. I love, love, love it. Keep that going. And then the finish happened. I agree, 100%. Okay. Okay. I didn't love it. I didn't love the finish. I thought bad finish to a great match, although I will say Don like cackling was great. Because he's great. I thought it was a bad finish to a great match and that finish kept me from making a match of the night. Mm-hmm. Yes. This is where you and I are going to part philosophical ways because I really liked the entirety of this match. And actually, I went from not liking the initial setup because I wrote the story of Will being barely cleared to wrestle, question mark, come on, because they have been hounding and hounding and hounding that. But I will give them credit. They, in my opinion, Yeah, I didn't like that. that storyline came through at the end. And so I was like, okay, I'm back on board with this. And why I liked that finish is because I literally wrote, first I went, my gosh, Osprey, please stop trying to end your own career when he took that freaking bomb or the pile driver off the side onto the apron looked horrendous. And then I went, what is the doc doing? Yeah. Yes, it did. It's like, why are you asking him if he can wrestle? I wrote, do your damn job. And then in parentheses, okay, he's doing his job. So for once, I was pretty pleased that they bring a doctor out. If you're bringing the doc out, don't let the wrestler tell you he's fine. Let the doctor have his opinion and enforce it. That's why you're there. So I was completely fine with them finally using a doctor stoppage, because I thought A, they've teased it so often and it's not anymore. It started to become unrealistic that, the doc's out. Okay, the match is going to go on. He's not really hurt. This was finally, okay, again, I'm not super thrilled with using his injury like this for a lot of reasons. But then when Davis pulls him back in the ring and then you all of a sudden you've got a. What's her nuts out? want to say Mina Shirakawa, but it's not Marina Shafir. I'm sorry to both of them that I can never get their names correct, but you get Mina coming out and then the rest of the Death Riders. It is yeah, and but the rest of the Death Riders come out and then they haul him away. Okay, I am 100 % on board. I the the Death Riders might start making sense to me. This might be kind of. Marina Shaffir. Yeah. Kind of your gimmick, really. A cool thing. I was okay with it all the way around. Okay, I here are my issues with with that in particular. Don't get me wrong. The finish made sense for the story that they're telling. I'm just over it. I'm like I'm fully aware of the neck problem. I get it. Mm-hmm. Got it. And what I don't want to do with Will Ospreay is a month plus of, my God, the next time could be the last time. my God, he could literally die. Ladies and gentlemen, you could see a man die in the ring. You know, I'm, no, I got it. Yes. I agree. Yep. Okay, but the problem is, and I will suspend my disbelief a lot with professional wrestling, but the problem is, like you said, when you have a doctor ringside and you're telling me at the start of the match, he's on thin ice, he barely got cleared, and the first time he gets dropped on his head, the doctor isn't immediately like, stop, I gotta check him. Yeah. Yeah. I suspend my disbelief a lot, but it's... What you're doing there is you're either asking me to really take a leap with you when I know he's not that hurt, right? Or you're just making your doctor look like he's really bad at his job. The only thing I will say to that is the other times that he was getting clobbered and he did get clobbered a lot in this match is he almost immediately got up. Yes, he was gripping his neck, but he was getting up. He was moving when he got clomped on his head off the apron. He laid there for a minute and it's like, okay. Like I said, I finally thought that the doctor usage was believable for once this time. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I just look at it. But I see what you're saying about if you're going to have a doc and he's like, again, don't emphasize that he was barely cleared because there is a, hate to tell it to you. There's no such thing as barely being cleared. You either cleared or you're not. There is no barely. If you're barely cleared, you're not cleared and you're not going to get out there. So he was cleared and he wrestled. End of story. If there was even, if, if the implication is they don't know, so they're going to roll the dice. No, that's, that's bad. Correct. Correct. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. doctoring that's bad storytelling. I blame. Yeah, yeah. And so I blame the I blame the storytelling on on that. That's why I wasn't thrilled with how this started and loved the action, loved the way these two work together, thought it was a fabulous match. And it almost ruined me when they brought the doc in. I'm like, my god, they. He's not going to do anything. He let him wrestle last time. He's not. that just makes you a negligent company. mean, it just it Yeah. And then it's like, literally wrote, what's he doing? his job. OK, great, good. And then I was back in. So it's weird that we had similar reactions, but at different times. And I did enjoy it a lot. Yeah, I just. Yeah, I think part of it also for me was because I was like, damn, this match is really good. I can lie to you, It blue balled me a little bit that we didn't get a legit finish and I would have been OK with it if Mark Davis had continued to beat down. It's like, OK, we're going to run this back, right? Like you get the Osprey promo of him saying you didn't beat me. The doctor stopped it. Yep. You know, and then you're going to do that like a coward. We're supposed to be friends. I, know, you stay to my house, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We're doing this again. Okay. Then I would have been on board with it. But because we had yet another kidnapping immediately follow this. Mm-hmm. I didn't think of it that way. So yeah, I should not be as happy as I was about it. But again, weirdly, I liked it. I don't know what it is. I liked it. Well, let me be clear. That part of it, I was like, okay, so we're back in the kidnapping game. However, I'm intrigued by this because it wasn't a beat down. They carried him away. Interesting. Where are we going with that? at the end of it, like at the very end of all of it, you had me going, okay, I mean, I'm in, I'm on board. Look, it's Will Ospreay. I'm in, I'm on board, right? But like... Okay. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. but it just, was a very, was a deeply unsatisfying ending to me to a great match up until that point. And like I said, I do think a lot of that is tempered by, I am over the, my God, his neck is a mess. It's just a bag of marbles. Okay. Yeah. I remember when that was true about Bryan Danielson too. And then I watched him wrestle for like five more years. I remember when that was true about Edge and he's cutting promos about a street fight. I get it. I get it. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. Same thing about Christian. Mm-hmm, yep. Exactly. Christian, yeah, Serea, go down the line. So anyway, I want them to come off of that and I know they're not gonna and I think that that's what's bumming me out here, but anyway. Yeah, yeah, got, yeah, I went on a bit of a mental tangent in the middle of some of that when I was watching the match of, well, it really does, it's probably best for a separate cast. So I'll reserve my commentary until at some point later maybe, but yeah. But all in all, solid, I liked it. So, wait. Are we in wrestler court? That sounded very legal. Like I reserved my rebuttal until a later time, your honor. I give up. I give up my I return the floor to the chairman. Does that mean the Undertaker is here and presiding over wrestler court? balls I hope. guess it'd be Roman Reigns now. I don't know. Anyway, then it was Windsor and Persephone backstage. I missed this. I was dealing with dog stuff. I have literally no idea what they said. It's fine. They're gonna take on the Sisters of Sin. But this does bring up one of my issues with almost every wrestling promotion production. When they stop talking and they do the thing where they look right in the camera, cut it. Don't let it linger for that awkward second to two extra seconds and you leave them hanging because they look stupid. Don't do that to them. You know when the end is. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I know when the end is. You can say, cut it. Flash a freaking logo up. Yeah. Thank you. Otherwise, it was fine. Yeah. Yeah, especially because that was probably pre taped. Yeah, I remember when they used to do that to Triple H all the time and he'd do that head shake thing where he's and it was like, he's gonna have a stroke or something. You guys gotta cut away for his own health. Yeah. Suddenly a blood vessel pops in his eyeball. Yeah, and he really couldn't afford that with as much steroids as he was on. Anywho, then perhaps the surprise of the night, Samoa Joe is back. Yes, very true. Yeah, and I thought this was going to be a whale of a squash. It was squash-ish, but this guy got in more offense than almost anybody has in a squash. So congrats to even Cody Chun, believe, was his name. I did too. Yeah. He got more offensive than MJF did against Darby last week. Yeah. Damn right. Damn right. MJF got hit one nut shot, and that didn't go well. Two minutes, 14 seconds, by the way they said that match was. Two minutes, okay. I just found this fascinating because they must have cleared him really late because at no point did they promote his return. And then all of a sudden in, mean, I think we were like 30 minutes into the show. It's Samoa Joe returns tonight. Really? Y'all might want to tell people that like earlier. So he must have gotten cleared super late. to be able to go do this. But I look, man, I'm always happy when Joe's around. I'm not gonna complain about it. I also don't think I've ever seen somebody headbutt another person's wrist before tonight. I know that was very fun. I liked that a lot. I thought I wrote down when they brought it up. And so I'm just scanning. Yeah, because I was like, did they let us know that and I hope I didn't delete that note because I may have. That was good. That was good. like the exact moment that they, yeah. So I remember thinking it, I remember going, wait a minute, when did that happen? They didn't say anything about that. And I should have written it down and I didn't, I just had the thought. It might've been right before I was dealing with Dogstuff, so maybe it was even closer to the match, I don't know. But it doesn't matter, the point is, it happened awful late. I mean, the show had started before they told us Joe was gonna be on the show. So it makes me think something happened real late in the day there. Right. Exactly. It was... It was in the middle of the the Osprey match. Yeah. it was OK. So yeah, I mean that wasn't. There wasn't a lot between the Osprey Matt. There was there was the Osprey match. I think there was a commercial break and then a backstage promo and then here's Joe so. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think it was right near the beginning of that match. Because it was before I wrote down Davis's slap into the clothesline off the rope might have been my move of the night, because hot damn, that looked cool. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, he looked great. Then we got another Darby hype video, like I said, lot of that tonight. And I get it. I get it. And then the thing that had been teased earlier, who in the world would Jericho team with? We got our answer. It's the Hurt Syndicate. Yep. Didn't you call that? I did not call it what I when I had brought them up. I think was when we were talking about the tag team stuff where it was like you've got all these teams, but if you are not the big two right now, it just doesn't matter. And look, I'm not opposed to another FTR and edge and Christian match, but like I like her syndicate. I'd like to see them more on my TV. I like private party. I'd like to see them more on my TV. I like the young bucks. I'd like to see more on my TV. Like Yes. Yes. Mm-hmm. What's with making a big deal about private party returning and then sending them to the back again? So I did read one of them got hurt. I did read that one of them was dealing with an injury, which is unfortunately probably going to be the story of them in AEW, which is a bummer. But anyway, nice to see that the hurt syndicate are gonna be doing something that matters again on TV, because I do like those guys. Didn't one of them get hurt? Yes, okay, that's awesome. Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, I can't wait. think, and they're pairing with Jericho, I think is going to be really fun. think that could be really good. Yep. I do too. I think it's gonna be really interesting. And then we got Tony Skiavone in the ring with Darbs. Really, he just brought him in the ring and then left. Yup. Mm-hmm. Darby got a great reaction. He did. He got a I know they're still out in his his territory, Pacific Northwest. That's still his area. He got a bigger pop than I thought he was going to get. I'm going to be completely honest about that. I look, I actually mostly enjoyed this from him. I'm always a little skeptical of his promos. It's a little bit like Moxley with me at this point, where I'm a little skeptical of you. Yep. Mm-hmm. Understood. Yep, understood. I thought, but I thought he was good here. I thought of him saying, you know, look, Max makes everything better. So when he came out, I immediately was like, yeah, okay, this can be good. I liked the story that Darby is going to be a fighting champion. So you go back to everybody calling their shot. That's why I say it makes the most sense now, but it's the least impactful because you've been doing it for like two months, three, at least at least three, I think. Doesn't matter. Same. Yep. Yes. Yes, exactly. Yeah. because I think Brody was one of the first ones to start going after him. Right. I wrote down Darby got a great reaction, but when he was sitting in the ring by himself before talking, I said, does look a bit like a sad puppet though. He was, and now we've come all the way back around to him. So I was gonna skip over this, but I did write down when the way that they shot the angle of him holding up the belt on the ramp as an odd visual, because it makes the belt look as big as he is. It did, I wouldn't do that angle, that camera angle. I wouldn't, like it's an odd visual. And look, again, I'm not trying to harp on the guy's size. Like I said last week, you are who you are. Hell. Yep. And I don't care that he's not a big guy and he's the world champion. I genuinely don't care. I don't buy into the whole like you gotta be Lashley or whomever. I've never bought into that. It was just a real weird visual. Right. By the way, did you know he was on Everest? Because he brought it, he mentioned it tonight. Yeah, I think it's first time he's talked about it, but he mentioned it tonight. He went up to Everest. I did not. Has anyone updated his Wikipedia page about that? Because I feel like we should. feel like somebody should. But like I said, yeah, I like that he's going to be a fighting champion. I think that makes a lot of sense for him. I liked him basically saying to Max, I liked him being very calm and just saying, no. I could probably do that while we're Yes! my god, yes! I really liked that. then if I'm not mistaken, he said, not until you put something on the line, right? Yes, and I had a problem with that. Because why? Why does Max have to put anything up? He should be, shouldn't, aren't almost every champion get a auto rematch? So what does he have to put on the line? I don't, this is now the second or third time, the second time tonight we heard someone's putting something on the line in order to entice someone to wrestle. But it's like, what is he going to do? So if this is a, Okay, what's your problem? a lead in or a little precursor to MJF winning the TNT title and then putting that on the line against the world title and then someone walking away with two belts that isn't Jet Two Belts, which he likes to say. I didn't like it. I just didn't like it. I don't think it's needed. I don't think it's necessary. I think it's OK if he would have said almost anything else. But just like, look, if you want to, great, get in line. That's fair. I don't disagree with you on that of we are harping again. It's the hyper focus of we're going to put we're going to put stakes on all sorts of stuff, right? And I'm not trying again. I'm not trying to pick on Tony Khan. I just he's got a pattern of doing this where he locks in on certain storytelling devices and he's locked in on this right now. Here is my thought on it. I don't hate it. Maybe, yeah. Mm-hmm. OK. I'm with you of so the automatic rematch thing. I don't think AEW has ever. In fact, I know AEW has never done it because one of my gripes for them forever has been why are you not running it back? Like there were so many title matches, especially in the first couple of years where I was like, why did you not run this back? So that that's not a thing in AEW. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's on me, that's on me, yeah yeah. Well, that's okay because that's what it was forever. And apparently at some point, WWE even officially announced like, we're getting rid of the automatic rematch clause and then realized, well, great idea. And just quietly like made it a thing again, but not like officially. anyway, but I get where you're coming from on it. I, what I liked about it was I think it's an interesting angle for Darby to be an in control world champion. Yeah. Because the whole point of him up to this is he's never in control. That he's friggin' insane, right? Because I don't know if you know this, the man climbed Mount Everest. I don't know if you've heard about that. so I think him just very calmly saying no made sense. Or was interesting, I should say. The other part about it to me that made sense is remember, part of the angle here, Okay. Yeah, very true. What? Let me check his Wikipedia page. I loved it. they haven't gotten it over very well, is everybody hates MJF. And so if I'm in the driver's seat and I know everybody hates MJF, why do I give you the shot? You don't have an automatic rematch. Why would I give you the shot? I'm gonna make you do what you've done to everybody else. I'm gonna tell you no until you put skin in the game beyond the championship, right? Like, because Max has done that to people. Yeah. So I get where they're coming from on it. I don't hate it. I do think this is going to end with a double champion. I do think MJF takes the TNT title next week and that's going to be what he puts on the line and somebody's coming out a double or nothing, a double champ. I think you're correct. I think your explaining it is way better than they did on the air of trying to explain that. And cause that was a little lost on me. felt like it just felt like a cheap way to get to that point as opposed to telling the story to get us to that point. Again, I think that's the story you could have told, take it a little longer, drawn it out, made it apparent, look, Max, you can come out here every week. I'm going to tell you no, cause that's what you've done to everyone in the back. You said no. So prove yourself. Exactly. So that would have made more sense to me. I didn't like it in the moment. I get it now, but I'm still not the... Well, I'm willing to let it simmer and see what happens is what I'm Yeah. Yep. You don't deserve it. Yep. Yep. I agree. Here's Here's what I'll say to your point is they have been rushing storylines as we have talked about a lot. They are Russian stuff. You've got some time here. Take a breath. It's a more compelling story. If Max like Max crashing out and I don't know if you saw this, but he'd been crashing out all week on social media. Him crashing out is way more compelling than. Yeah, too. Yeah. Yes. Okay, so now he's going to win the TNT championship this coming Wednesday and go here. That's what I'm putting on the line because I I'm willing to bet that's what happens Wednesday. They're going to open the show. He's going to win the TNT title and then he'll interrupt the intro or whatever for Darby and Brody and that's or he'll come out after and say this what I'm putting on line. Well, somehow I think that's all going to happen on Wednesday. I 100 % agree. think that's exactly what's going to happen. And again, I'm with you, you could take some time on that. You could take another two weeks to get to the, right, it's gonna be for both belts. My guess is that part of why they aren't dragging that out a little bit is I have a suspicion it's gonna be a coffin match at double or nothing. I have a suspicion, yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, that makes sense, Makes sense, yeah. So anyway, then we got into the actual match between Darby and Champa, which I really loved. I really loved this match. Champa, you know, I said this last week about Mox, I think. Dude, Champa bumped his ass off for him. He made him look like a world champion. I mean, he was really good. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes, he did. Yes, he certainly did. The freaking psycho driller to the floor. here's, A, crazy, but here's the other comment I put. I put, what the fuck? But then I went, wait, no doctor? my god. my god. I was not okay after that. You just dropped a guy from 15 feet to the floor. He laid still until he went to break. And then he comes back and there's no mention the doc looked him over. There's no mention of nothing. Doctor didn't make an appearance. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, my ass hurt after watching that. Like, yeah, no, I think, I think that's a fair point. That's fair point. I just was so, the move broke my brain. So I didn't even think about that, but. Yes. Before that though, the derby from the top of the ring post to the outside onto Champa. Yeah. Wow! I mean, I know Darby is trying to break himself into 10 pieces. That was amazing. That looked great. Yeah. Yes, he is. It was it was so I like I said, I love this match. This is my match of the night. Spoiler alert. This is my match of the night. I loved it. One of the things that struck me here is I saw a blog post on blue sky after Darby one that I thought really eloquently got across what I think we were trying to say last week. Yeah, see why, yeah. Which is that Darby's whole thing, when he's not with Sting, when he's not teeming with Sting forever, was he wins on, for lack of a better term, a fluke. He catches you and he rolls you up. You aren't paying attention and he hits you with a coffin drop out of nowhere because you're mugging to the crowd. He is the guy that snatches victory from the jaws of defeat over and over and over again. And to be honest with you, Mmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. It works for him because again, this is a guy that when you see him in the ring standing across from Andrade and Hangman and MJF and Brody King and whatever you're going, this guy's got no chance. So it makes sense. He absolutely is. And there is not a thing in the world wrong with that. What I really liked here, at no point did I think... Okay. He's the epitome of the Scrappy Underdog. here we go. He's just going to catch the beat down and catch the beat down. He was in this from the jump. He got his offense in from the jump. Like he, he looked legit in this for lack of a better term. And this was a great match. It sets a high bar for him and Brody next week. Yep. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. This may be one of my favorite Derby matches from a purely match standpoint, not from a shock value, not from a car crash value, but from a, this guy can go and he was believable. And of course it makes sense that you're going to put him in with someone like Champa. So of course that's going to be a hell of a match. And it was, it was from start to finish and you are 100 % right. He looked more legit tonight than I think, I think he helped make Mm-hmm. I agree. Yep. yeah. Yeah. me a more of a believer in him as the world champ. Yep, me too. And he showed you tonight he can work a different style, kinda, tell a different story is probably the way to put it in the ring than he has shown you to this point. And if you're gonna be the world champion, you better be able to do that. And I was very impressed by him tonight. Good on you, my man. You might make me a believer yet. Good on you. Yeah? A little yeah. Yes. Mm-hmm. So that was your match of the night, right? That was yours? That is... I am going... Again, I am going kind of off script with my match of the night. Because it's not that... I'm not going that far off script. Brody versus Leo Rush is my match of the night. It really is. Simply because it was... As my match of the night. Yes, sir. Is it it cheetah and Mina? Leo Rush? Is it really? Okay. I thought it was really interesting. thought Leo Rush, again, for the first time, I'm interested in watching Leo Rush in the ring. This character is weird and creepy and has just enough what in the hell kind of thing going on. I Brody looked great. And I thought they both looked really good. And from a storytelling aspect, it's like, okay, I want to see more of Leo Rush. And with the Brody King callout, Okay, that's a little bit of a thing, but I'm like, of anybody who should, that guy should, because he was the first to really call out Max. Let him have his flowers, let him go do it. I love it. I just, really enjoyed that match. I thought Brody looked great. I thought Leo looked really weird and interesting, and it was your typical little guy versus big guy. And I thought they did it in a way that was a little fresher and wasn't just... I just I just liked it. I thought it was really cool and maybe it's because it was the first match of the night, but I liked it a lot. No, I'll tell you if this had been a more standard Darby match tonight, I probably would have been there with you because I would have. Well, no, because the Osprey Oh yeah, but but I would have I would have thrown the Osprey Davis match out because I really didn't like the finish like that was my match of the night until the end. So and if this had been a more kind of like I said, standard Darby match, I probably would have been like, you know what? I think it might be those two guys because it was good. It was interesting. It was entertaining. So I'm not I'm not. I'm not a I ain't again it I'm for it. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And here's why I like this show so much because those three in it and you can throw the the Sheeta Mina match in there. I liked all of them for different reasons and they were all different in their own and so that's what I liked about this whole show is I liked the Leo Rush match because it was weird and creepy and what are you doing? And I liked the Sheeta Mina match because it was good and I thought it a good show and Mm-hmm. Yeah. It actually was good. Yeah. It was good. Even though I don't get Sheetah's character yet, I still find her entertaining. And I do kind of want to see, but I'm less intrigued. And the freaking Osprey match was just bangers. And I'm really intrigued by what the Death Riders are doing. And it could be good. I hope they don't blow it, but it could be really good. And that freaking match with Darby, come on. That was amazing. So yeah, everything was really good on the show tonight as far as in-ring action. I was really, really happy with it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So then the out of ring stuff will work for you, it didn't. I mean, I think we kind of touched on it. Like, I'm not sure that the... I'm not sure you're feeling the Edge FTR stuff so much. I don't like the... I like, like you said, I liked the work. I don't like the stipulation more than I didn't like the work. I think the prepackaged stuff was less appealing. I thought, I understand why we did two different Darby vignettes. I thought the second one was a little much. I could have done with... Mm-hmm. Yeah, I thought it was too. I'll be honest with you, man. I'm getting to the point where I'm about to start skipping these vignettes when we do this thing because they don't add a lot. Yeah. Yeah, and that's fine. We can, unless one really, really comes out. Yeah, unless one really is out there, I don't, I think we could skip them or unless they're just setting up something in the future, that's fine too. But that being said, I really am glad that they did the dogs recap, because that, you needed it, you know, so. So yeah, in-ring, great. Out of ring, decent. You know, for the most part, decent. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, okay. All right. Yeah. I mean, we've got to hurt Cindy, come on. Yeah, no, for sure. Yeah, I mean, I overall, I think if I'm going to sum the show up in one word, it's interesting. Because there's a lot of stuff that made me go, OK, I don't like the death writers thing like, OK, I don't know where we're going here, but it's interesting. I'm curious to see where you go about it. And, you know, as you're building to one of your big four pay per views, that's probably what you want right now. So. yeah. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. You know what we have not talked about and they announced last week? Don't they have a new animated show on YouTube? yeah, or is it on YouTube or is it on Adult Swim or is it both? I don't know. I didn't look that closely into it. It might be. I haven't either. I didn't look that closely into it, but yeah, that's that's definitely that's something that I'm glad you mentioned because I forgot about it after I saw it and I'm like, that'll be interesting. So yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not a bad idea. I think what's on a on a. Non kayfabe like more businessy. I thought it was on their YouTube channel, but I could be wrong. I haven't seen it yet. Yeah, I'm gonna have to look it up. Mm. side of things, I think some of the moves that they're making are very interesting to me. I think the myAEW.com or whatever it is is very interesting. I feel like that's an easy thing to turn into your honor club or your WWE network. And I know that there had been lots of reports that the pending merger Mm-hmm. between Paramount Skydance and Warner Brothers Discovery would likely not affect AEW. The moves they're making makes me think that either Tony Khan disagrees with that or he's setting up the chessboard for when the TV deal is up to not need them because he, I think he is too. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I think he's just hedging his bets, quite frankly. I think it's hard. I think he's hedging his bets because there's there are rumors out there that HBO Max could go away. It'll be very, very interesting to see what happens when the TV deal is up. If this merger goes through, which it probably will. So I think from that standpoint, things like the. Like the cartoon can live on YouTube now and then eventually move to whatever their own. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. owned platform is. So I think you're going to see more of this stuff. I think you'll see them generating more of this kind of content to fill what will probably be the AEW network. It wouldn't shock me to see that merge with the ROH offerings. So you have one under one roof. And yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So anywho, overall, know, for the, I'm gonna say first step towards double or nothing, because that's kind of what this felt like to me. It was really the first one building to double or nothing. Pretty good, pretty good start, pretty good start. Thanks. Yeah, like I said, I was very happy. I was very encouraged by some of the seeds they had sown. They're starting to pick up and they're starting to prove that yes, we do have a plan. Yes, they may be going faster than you and I were like, but at least it looks like they do definitely have a plan in place and that is encouraging. And I'm on board. Let's see what happens. Yep. Yep. Agreed. I also would like to know where Kenny Omega, Hangman and Swerve are. They're in a trunk of a car owned by Tony Storm, who is driving around with a Big Bill riding shotgun. okay. And Keith Lee is in the back. He's in the back seat. Yeah. I couldn't think of his name and I couldn't think of any other names we haven't seen in a hot minute. Kip Sabian is also there. Yeah. God. Good poll. Good poll there. Right. and the women's tag team champions. It's a big car. Yeah. Yeah. No, sure didn't. And Camille. Yeah. Already. Yes! Thank you, Divine Dominion! They mentioned them! Did not see them. and Kamille. ready. All ready. Only saw two women tonight. That's it. Two women. No willow. No, I'm sorry, three. Yeah, interesting. That is interesting. Yeah. yeah, because with because that later and then I guess okay yeah you had. And you had the Persephone thing, but... Okay, that's okay. I can't count Well, but I think it speaks to, it felt buried. I think it felt buried on this show. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like I said, at least we got to see the women on TV. They got a decent time and my one comment was, went a little long. So what kind of a dork am I? Thanks. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, right. Well, we, like most wrestling fans, we're hypocrites. You know you are too. We all are. So on that note, go ahead and just land this plane on this episode and we will see you next week as we find out if we're right. If MJF is going to take the TNT title and if we are going to start setting up a double champion for double or nothing here, which Exactly. gonna end up saying double a lot already. What if they are setting up the double champ, it is gonna be the Jett? My first reaction was I don't hate it. But well, but then I went, I know, but but but then my brain went, okay, but then that would mean he carries into all in and I don't think you can do that. I don't think. Yeah, I still have questions about Darby carrying into all in. Kinda do. And I said it. You can't. I was mostly being... Now they took a big step forward tonight towards answering those, but Yep, and I think it looks like he's probably going to. Yeah, probably. double or nothing. I'm very intrigued by by the world title match, whatever it ends up being a very intrigued, very intrigued because I'm pretty sure it's going to be him and MJF. But yeah. more than likely and co-headlined by Divine Dominion and a team to be named later. Yeah By that I mean, they need to find two women to put together and meet. They're gonna, it's gonna be, it's gonna be, you did, it's gonna be Divine Dominion versus the ghosts of the Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young. That's the best they can do. my god, I killed Tim gonna be running around They used that black and white effect that they had for Toni Storm. They're like, look, we got it. We got to use it. Yeah. And they're going to, they're just going to have people run around with a bed sheet over their heads. I would watch that match. You know what match I watched? You know what match? I know we're going long, but you know what match I watched over the weekend that was way better than it had any right to be? The Sandman's final match. Do you know who he wrestled in his final match? Have you heard? The Invisible Man. And it was bonkers. It was bonkers. You had, who's the, Mick Foley? There's so many people ran in. You know what I would do? Oh, I don't care. The invisible man, right? Yeah. I bet. I heard Mick Foley got involved. So many people, you also had Fonzie, the ref manager of Taz and RBD show up managing the invisible man. So many people had run ins. So many refs came running in and got handed by the invisible man and Sam, it was so good. It went like 20 minutes. I thought this was going to be the dumbest thing I ever watched and it was, but it was awesome. So awesome. The collective that GCW puts on is really, really great. It's like. wow. Wow. three, four days of wrestling and it's so fun. But that match, thank you, Sam, man. That was great. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I might have to go find that. All right. Well, on that note, if you hung in here through our little tangent here, well, if you did, thanks. And you might as well tell other people about it. So, you know, you hit the five stars, if you would please, and share and like and subscribe. And again, I enjoy the conversation on YouTube and TikTok and all that stuff. So come find us, come talk wrestling with us. It's good time. Yeah, sorry. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And if you do leave a five star review, we'll call it a five star frog splash review. I didn't even guys. Good time. No, it'll be a flog splash review. Or a flog splash? Now we're talking. Now we're talking. Picked up one of those once in Tijuana. But anyway. Ooh, let me just say that you still got it. I know. Believe me. Believe me, I know. Yeah, but anyway. Yeah, so anyway, all right, on that note, I gotta go get ointment. You still got it. It's down there. That's why it burns.