Latest / Elite Heat / AEW's Tribute To PAC: Forever Our Bastard
Transcript
- I have a suspicion this is going to be the shortest episode we ever do. I would tend to agree. I don't really know how you effectively talk about this. I mean, I don't know about you, man, but here's my heat check. It was devastating and incredible all at once. I I can't wrap my head around how they did what they did tonight. I my hat is off to every single person involved Yeah. in Dynamite tonight. And and I'm the I'm not being hyperbolic. That that was rough to watch as just a fan who didn't personally know Benjamin. Yeah. And I started keeping tabs of regular heat checked, like the way I normally not the way I normally do, but like with just moments. And I couldn't really continue past the first match because it's like this is ridiculous. from Excalibur, I mean, my God, Excalibur, my hat is off to you and your composure, your ability to get through that opening segment. I don't know how you did it with the class and composure that you did. But my my hat and mask are off to you, good sir, because that was Being tasked with starting that show like that, man, man. Yeah. Well I and I I think the question is did he ask to? And I think he may have. yeah. Pro I I I mean that wouldn't shock me. And or he may have been asked to because he he it makes the most sense for him to. Yeah. I mean he is the voice of AEW, but also I I think it was very obvious tonight that that he and Pac had a very long standing relationship and so he may have asked to do it. I d I don't know. But I mean Yeah, I I'm with you. I don't know how you do that. I I don't know how they did what they did tonight and I am in awe of them in the best in the best way. I mean that is the highest compliment. I I don't know how they pulled that off. And, Absolutely. you know, like you were saying, I was started out doing my usual note taking. And I can tell you the moment I stopped, it was r when Renee read the letter from his family. And I just went, There's there's nothing. What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do? Am I gonna nitpick something? First of all, there's nothing to nitpick. No. This was an incredible show. I mean, if you just isolated the matches my god, dude. Ospreay and Ricochet may have just put on the match of the year tonight. Yeah. And and that's that's one thing I was going to mention that in spite of the uphill battle, this show was put together so well. It I think you had about the best opening match you could possibly imagine with Moxley and Orange starting off what was a devastating show and doing it in about the only way that you could to get anybody into wanting to see wrestling. instead of just sit there and reminisce. I mean, the exchanges they had. I I took so many notes in that first match about, you know, Orange Cassidy rolling out of the ring constantly, Mox returning the favor, Mox throwing the Orange Cassidy kicks. I Well, I mean that that was a a lot of what they did and the things you mentioned there. I'm sure you know, call back to PAC and OC I believe at Revolution. I yeah, I believe so, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which by the way, if you haven't watched that match, you should. You should go find it. It's incredible. Yeah. Yep. the thought that I had through it was there are a couple people that I specifically wanted to shine a light on. I mean, again, everybody involved, good on you. What you did tonight is incredible. I'm with you on Excalibur. And having to do that twice in the span of a couple of weeks. Yeah. You know, 'cause the the part that is almost easy to forget within all this is they just did this for Andy Williams, who passed away far too soon and now just double it. I mean Well and like you were telling me, some of them found out about Benjamin's passing at Andy Williams' funeral. Yeah, it's Serpentico, I know for a fact, found out at the Andy Williams celebration of life. But Excalibur, I thought was that's a pro. And Tony Schiavone. Tony Yeah. Man. Schiavone, man, like knowing that he was going to have to do some heavy lifting tonight and and managing to hold it together and managing to seamlessly fill in those spots. what a pro. But the the thing about there there were so many moments, like you said. The the Mox promo after All Out, which was the last time Benjamin appeared on camera, my God, the the things he said were eerie and crazy and weirdly one of the best promos Moxley's given. and with the opening match and the return of Bryan Danielson, I wrote Mm. down one of the things I wrote down is, well, I think we're seeing the face turn of Moxley and the Death Riders. And I Yeah. think this effectively ends the civil war of the Death Riders, because I think Yep, I agree. I agree. it tonight made very clear that not unlike when Brody Lee passed and the Dark Order. went was everyone's favorites. They were already on the face run. I just don't see how you can deny it after tonight. And I think they should No, I I yeah. lean into that hard. And that's about you know, I'm not gonna t we're not gonna sit here and talk about storyline because it really wasn't much. You know, they they mmm There shouldn't have been. and no, and that's the and that's great, you know. But from a storyline perspective and whatever however you want to call it, if they don't lean into this Death Rider face turn. I I think it's a mistake. I think it's time. I think it's finally giving weirdly some coherency to the Death Riders. And it it man, tonight was tragic, but felt really good in a lot of ways to see some things happen in there. And I mean, come on, how good did it as tragic as it was? How good was it to see Bryan Danielson get out there and do his thing Well, I mean, for a minute? that's one of the things that that I thought was that's how much Pac meant to all them. It got him back in the ring. Like I can't Yeah. Yeah. I I don't think I could have come up with a scenario that would get him back in the ring, and then there it is. Yeah. but anyway, just to finish kinda highlighting some people, John Moxley, say what you want about him, and God knows we have. That man, I am so impressed by him tonight. I mean, y you talked about the promo, which again was an incredible promo, and I'm sure that he was thinking a lot about Andy as he was saying a lot of those things. Yeah. Great promo. The end of it, the final shot of Pac. One of the things that that really confirms to me he was about to be in for the push of his life. He he was yeah. yeah. clearly going to be the face of the Death Rider revolution that turns on Mox. He was about to be in the push of his life. And you know, that's incredibly sad, but but you know, then John Moxley, so you do that, and then you go and you do the opening match against Orange Cassidy to set the tone. And he just kept coming out tonight. And John Moxley is their Undertaker. He is the Yeah. he is I I think the heart and soul of the locker room behind the scenes. multiple people said that after the news broke, he started calling people and said, you know, look, I I know, I get it, but you gotta lace your boots up and you gotta go to work because it's what he would want. And I gotta give that dude a tremendous amount of respect for what he did tonight and the way that he held them together tonight. Really, Yeah. Yeah. really impressive. This night and here's what's crazy about it. You if if you take away the circumstance, say say Pac is just gone tonight, and this same show goes on, minus some of the, you know, the the in betweens, but the match per match per match, I think you're hard pressed to find a better non pay per view show. than tonight. Mm. Yeah, I agree. I mean, they clearly locked in and wanted to I think they aspired to be on his level tonight. Yeah. That's a really good way to put that. That's yeah. I I think that that was probably the unspoken goal of everybody that worked a match tonight. And they were great. They were every single one of them was great tonight. one other that I wanted to give some love to is Will Ospreay because, yeah. you know, I appreciated him coming out. I appreciated everything he did. And again, he and Ricochet may have had the match of the year tonight. I I mean, good God. Dude, that was such a good match. But the way that he let the moment hang in the air a little bit, and then when they rang the bell, just did everything he could to fire up that crowd. Yep. And remind it's okay to take joy in this. Yeah, yeah. It it was incredible. And that crowd, man, they were great. I mean, the Yeah, yeah. way that they poured what they had into these performers tonight was very impressive. I mean, it for as terrible as the situation was, it was about as perfect of a night that you could have constructed for this terrible thing. And it Yeah. to me and this is I know I don't I really don't give a shit how how corny I sound at the at this moment. I really don't. But this is the kind of thing that I absolutely positively love about this professional wrestling. As a community, is that we can all get together and argue over what was the match of the year and argue over who has the better move and argue over which company is better. But at the end of the day, we as fans, them as performers, all have that same passion and all have that same level of commitment and care and just that deep connection. And it just shows you how connected. Someone with the moniker, the bastard, had on his community. Whether you want to view the us as viewers and watchers as community or not, we are. And that connection is amazing. And that is what I 100% love about professional wrestling is being able to be you and me, being able to sit here and vicariously connect through this show. And get that understanding and that feeling and that connection, Andy. I it you'll be hard pressed to find that in in other industries, media, whatever you want to say. But Yeah. damn, this was this was a tough one to watch. I'm so glad I did though. It was so good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I agree. PAC was one of those guys that it was like, I don't think a lot of us talked about him as like, you know, I don't think he was ever gonna be like the number one on the PWI five hundred or whatever, right? And with this. He wasn't gonna be the Sports Illustrated wrestler of the year, but he he probably should have. He was a guy who yeah. was so consistently great that we just came to expect it. And so then Mm-hmm. it was like, well, yeah, of course it was a good match. Cause it was him. You know, and and he and Andrade put on a banger Saturday night. And like we barely talked about it on this show. Cause it was like my my thing was like, well, of course it was good. It was them. How is it not going to be good? What else are you going to Yeah. say? It was two of the best in the world doing the thing that they do. Of course it was great. I just hope that. People take some time to really appreciate how great he was and to go find Mm-hmm. not just the AEW stuff, find the Dragon Gate stuff. Go Mm-hmm. watch some of that WWE stuff for a while there. That that was part of the time where I was like, Yeah, I think I might be done with WWE. Like Yeah. this just isn't for me anymore. But that was never true about him. Like when Right. Right. he went up to the main roster, they kind of saddled him with a crap gimmick and I'll be damned if he didn't make it work, you know. Mm-hmm. And he was just so great. it it it reminds me, I I thought this a lot tonight. It reminds me of when Eddie passed and yeah. how we knew Eddie was great, but maybe we didn't know how great, or maybe maybe we took it a little bit for granted and then he was gone. Okay. Yeah. And and I think from that point on people really understood, like really started to appreciate how lucky we were to get to see him. Mm-hmm. I hope that the same thing happens with Pac. I hope that as time goes on, we really appreciate. We were really damn lucky to get to watch that man do what he did. The stuff he did in NXT, good God. There are some bangers there, man. Him and Finn Balor, him and Sami were great together. I mean Well and I had almost completely forgot he was with Death Triangle and I loved that character. That That best of seven series with them and the elite for the trios titles, Man. incredible. And I had almost forgot because he had done so many good things. That's how good he was. Is the death triangle run for any other wrestler would be like the pinnacle of what they've done. And that was a thing I forgot he did. Because there are so many other good things that he did. It's just stupid crazy how good that guy is was. I don't know even how to refer to it. I feel ridiculous right now. Both. I mean, I think one of the things that I appreciate about performers, whether it's, you know, actors or musicians or professional wrestlers, is that stuff lives forever. Like No, yeah. you can go find their work, especially this day and age where so much stuff Okay. is digitized and on YouTube and whatever else. Like you can always go find it again. And so they get to live forever in that way. Mm-hmm. And so yeah, I I just I hope that we understand how good we had it getting to see him. Yeah. And clearly, clearly, the world is worse off without both him and Andy Williams in it. Absolutely. Absolutely. And just real quick, you had started on, you know, wanted to tip your hat. I d I just want to make Mm-hmm. sure before I forget to say anything. Like you had said, God, hats off to Renee for having to being the one to present his family's note. And that was again, what a what a pro to even be able to get through it. 'Cause that was crazy. Yeah. Swerve, Prince Nana, and New Level, what a classy tribute. That was so good. Austin Creed clearly has history with with Pac and clearly so emotional. And I thought that I mean what a perfect tribute. They didn't say a word, but they showed him as the as high respect as you could. I thought that was great. And, you know, Ospreay pulling out the black arrow finish, that was amazing. Yep. Yep. His his reaction to it was incredible. You know, and yeah. of the like, holy shit, I did it. You know, and Andrade Yeah. Yeah. big, big shout out to Andrade for immediately sliding in to check on him and make sure he was okay. Yep. Yep. And not from a physical standpoint, checking on him to go like, Hey man, you did So it. You okay? Like, I know he meant everything to you. Are you okay? Do you and and I think there was a a level of do you want me to block the camera? You know, Yeah. which was really cool of Andrade to do that and Yeah. And to be able to go in and go, Are you good? D do you want me to be near you? Do you want me to just be kind of here? Like that Right. Right. level of care and understanding and professionalism, hats off to him. I mean, and Yeah. Yeah. again, the one one of the few actual wrestling things I'll say other than I think he and Ricochet put on possibly the Match of the Year was give me this Marina Shafir. Yeah. every night. The passion, the spark you saw in her. She's not perfect in the ring, but good God, I loved to see that that fire in her. And like just Yeah. it felt like you saw Marina Shafir for one of the first times. And I think you can lay that squarely on the shoulders of of Pac, of Yeah. helping get like worm his way into her. And that was definitely coming out. And then, you know, Bryan Danielson in the in the match. I mean my hat is off to everybody tonight. That was a hell of a show. Hell of a show. Hell of a tribute. Yeah. Yep. Yep. They should be proud of themselves. They should be proud Yeah. of what they did tonight. Absolutely. So, you know, I I think to your point, you know, they say that that we become the aggregate of the people we spend the most time around. I think you saw the effect he had on everybody, not just Marina, but on everybody Mm-hmm. tonight. And find your PAC and spend as much time as you can around that that person and those people. I mean, look at how that turned out after the the the Ospreay and Ricochet match, how everyone got in the ring and just hugged it out and like it takes us it it takes a special person to be able to and and yes, I know that you you know, say what you want. kayfabe was down tonight. I don't g I don't care. And it should have been. I don't yeah. I don't care. Yeah. But it's it still takes a special person to be able to touch that many people that that way and that deeply. And Yeah. it was just man, tonight was such a like I said, I bittersweet is the best I can do because it was such a great Yeah. rest it was a great professional wrestling show. It was a hell of a tribute. It again pulled back the curtain on what that these are that these human beings in the ring are Exactly that. They're the human beings that are in there and it's a constant reminder that yes, they're amazing on the screen and they're amazing in the ring. He, you know, they've have they have family, they have friends, they have a little wiener dog that wears hats apparently. Yeah. So And they aren't the character. And and I think No. too often, particularly in a world that we live in now where it gets harder every day to distinguish what is real and what is not. Where Yeah. lines get blurred and and people get more and more isolated and they have a harder time distinguishing reality from fiction. It's a good reminder of they aren't who they present themselves as on TV. Right. And You know, you think you know them, but you don't. And Yeah. Exactly. that doesn't take anything away from it. It doesn't mean that Mm-mm. you're a bad fan and it doesn't mean that you should feel bad Yeah. if you feel bad. I never met the man and I'm on I've been on the verge of tears slash crying all night. You know. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, I texted you ten minutes in going, God bless it, I am I've cried twice already and I my literally my skull hurts because I was trying not to or just crying Yeah. I gave myself a headache. Yeah. tonight. Yeah. Like and I never met him, you know. No. But it's okay to feel that way. It's just, you know, it it's just a reminder that they go out and they put everything on the line to entertain us and and It's okay now and then to celebrate them and to tell them like, Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, man. 'cause it's a really nice escape from a really shitty world. So Dude, you're not kidding. You're not kidding. And I know that we've been we've been, you know, are not normal selves tonight because this wasn't a normal show. And and that's Yeah. No. that's cool. However, I would be remiss if I did not not only tip my hat to John Moxley for being the professional he is, but for these three things he said tonight. my god, yes. And I think you probably know what they are. First one, probably, but yeah. dragon screw that big bitch. Even Shivani was like, That's the line of the night. And then, I don't know if you got it, Wardlow was posing and he goes, Good looking double bicep, but there's no charisma behind it. I yeah, yeah. And I and then it was off camera, but Schiavone called it out and you heard Moxley go, Look good out there. You look good out there tonight. And there was this pause Yeah. and Schiavone's like, That is John Moxley telling Wardlow. Congratulations. Yeah. Yeah. I I also liked him yelling at Wardlow like, Yeah, go bounce your pec some more, you big bitch, or whatever he said. Like it was it was To the point where I don't know what he said, but the censors shut his mic off at one point because Yeah. Yeah. he was getting over the top. And Yeah. I I I have to thank him for for doing that. And Yeah. and my god, how have we not talked about this? I about lost it during the first Death Rider match when they just showed the chair with the towel over it. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Dude. I know. Yep. I I agree. One other person that I wanna give some love to, believe it or not, Bryce Remsburg, who Bryce has been my god, yes. a guy who has had some tough moments over the run of AEW. He's had some really good ones, but he's had some tough moments. And a lot of the time when we talk about like Yeah, that was three and it didn't get counted. He's often the one that Uh-huh. didn't count it. And that's not his fault. We've talked about that, but he seems to be at the center of a lot of these things. Right. Clearly, he and Pac were were very close. And he worked almost every match tonight. It was him and Aubrey were the two that that worked tonight. And he worked almost every match. And that by itself would be hard, but to do it. under those circumstances and to be pretty damn flawless tonight. Mm-hmm. I respect the hell out of that. Good on you, Bryce. I respect the hell out of that. the you know, I th I think the people that three of the people that had the hardest jobs tonight were John Moxley, Orange Cassidy, and Bryce Remsburg because they had to start Mm-hmm. in the ring. They had to start the the the festivities. And Bryce was still clearly upset. And Orange Cassidy was still clearly upset at the beginning. And again, I don't know if you could have picked a better opening match to get to the business of wrestling on a night that is meant The so full of s sorrow and yet Well, it's so full of real. You know, it's it's so Yeah. Yeah. full of the real world when it's when it never is, you Right. know, and and yeah, I I agree. And and again, that was a big part of where I was really impressed by John again, is I think he looked at those two guys, and I'm sure I'll never know, but I thoroughly believe in that very first tie up that he did with Orange Cassidy. I I guarantee with every fiber of my being that he just started talking to Orange Cassidy saying, Just breathe. It's gonna be okay. Just breathe. Okay. Yep. And I bet he said something similar to Bryce at some point too. Like I respect the hell out of that man. Now I'm gonna criticize him again, I guarantee you that, but I respect the hell out yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. of him. But again, i if they if if they do what I think is respectful of of the memory and and respectful of the fan reaction, if they just lean in to the face with the Death Riders, I think it's it's gonna be such a good thing for them and I think You could be seeing possibly the best John Moxley in AEW moving forward, weirdly enough, because like you said, tonight, the he was damn near flawless in w how what he did. And my hat is off. My hat's off. Dude's just great. My actually technically I'm still wearing my hat, but you understand, metaphorically. Yeah, well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I I'm really impressed by everyone tonight. And I just, you know, I wish nothing but the best. They're gonna have a long trip to Paris and they're gonna have to put that show on and try and get back on track. you know, 'cause Wrestle Dream is not far away. They're Mm-hmm. gonna have to try and get back on track and it's gonna be really hard. But I believe that they can do it and I believe they're gonna put on a bunch of really good shows between now and then because they're Absolutely Jar. Absolutely. really fucking talented. That's a really talented group of people. And I just I think that was more than obvious tonight. Yeah, absolutely. And I just, you know, I I just send them all the love and all the the positivity I can. And Mm-hmm. you know, if I may borrow from The Rock who who did a video, talking about how sorry he was to hear the news and how sad it made him. If I may borrow from him, you know, I I just I send you all the light, all my light. And I just wish them nothing but the best 'cause it's gonna be hard, but Mm-hmm. they're gonna they're gonna pull it off. They are. yeah. yeah. Without a doubt. And normally we would probably pitch Yeah. out Doich Foods, but I'm not gonna do that tonight. Tonight I'm gonna tell you to go to ShopAEW.com and pick up one of those bastard shirts. Yep. Yeah. it helps his family. One hundred percent of those proceeds is going to help his family. I think that's great. Cause and you know AEW and Tony Khan are are gonna help him anyway, but Yes, they are. if you have i if you're feeling some kind of way. If you're feeling some kind of debt, some kind of loss because of this, because you know, it these these people you see each and every week, they they may not ever see you face to face and may not know your name, but they are part of your existence and they're part of, like you said, they're the thing that keeps us from thinking about the things that hurt. And if you want to do something to support, I think that's one of the simplest ways you can do it. It's thirty two dollars. And you get a cool shirt and you help. his family. I think that's a really wonderful way to pay tribute to this guy. So that that's all I'm gonna pimp out and yeah, I don't know Yeah, no, I I totally agree. I mean, I know Tony Khan's taking care of them yeah. and will continue to do so. I think sometimes the act matters more. You know, I I think Yes. that seeing at some point they're gonna get a check from I don't know, Pro Wrestling Tees or AEW or both. I don't know. And seeing how many people were moved to support them is gonna Yeah. probably ultimately matter more than the number on the check. You know what I mean? And absolutely. Absolutely. so so yeah, I I agree. If if you got it, I encourage you to go do it. I encourage you to go get that shirt. You know, a couple of weeks I I think it was a couple episodes ago, I was wearing my Scott Hall one that I bought after he died because the proceeds went to his family and also Scott Hall was one of my favorite wrestlers ever. But Yeah, I I I second that. Yeah, I'm not I'm not gonna do the plugs. Just the only the only thing I'm I'm gonna say is I'm just gonna echo what Excalibur said. Hold your people close.