Latest / Elite Heat / Forbidden Door Fallout

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Forbidden Door Fallout · Elite Heat

• Welcome into the Forbidden Door Fallout as Dynamite came to us live from San Diego, California, which is of course Latin for Forbidden Door. Yep. You beat me to it. But yep. No, you were right. No, you were right. Yeah. yeah. No? I didn't, I really didn't know where you're going with that one. I hope I got it. I don't I don't I don't know if you noticed my face there, but I didn't know where I was going with it either. I choked. Cause all I could think of then was whale's vagina. And I'm like, well, no, I can't that's I can't steal that joke. Like, yeah. I could, but isn't it wasn't it also it's German for whale's vagina, I think. But yeah. So it was it was I just I my brain locked. So thank you for bailing me out there. All right. So I think really there's the That's not, yeah. I mean, could, but you know. I so, yeah. You're welcome. There are both are and are not a lot of moving parts in tonight's episode, if that makes sense. Like really, this themes around the world title and Omega, MJF, and Ospreay, but there are kind of multiple moving parts with that, but then there also sort of aren't. But anyway, we'll we'll talk about it. But let us begin, as we so often do, with the Heat Check, which is not touching the oven to make sure it's on. Okay. Yeah. Do you think? Yep. Yes! but it's also not not that. Yeah, that's true. You wanna lead us off today? I think I did the Forbidden Door lead off, didn't I? Yeah. I can do it. I don't remember, so I can do it. Here's what I'll say about just overall. I thought this episode of Dynamite was really well paced. I thought they did a really good job of pacing, of really concentrating on the main storylines. And I was kind of trying to keep tabs on the A lines, the B level, and then the C level. I think you know which one that is. And I really thought the pacing of this was really good. Mm-hmm. I thought so as far as Heat Check: fire, the opening segment fire loved it. Will Ospreay, had Will Ospreay, had Mox, you had Kenny, whole thing. Just really liked it. I also liked the entire opening match and the whole fallout afterwards. I thought that was really fantastic. I loved that. I loved then the backstage stuff with MJF after that, that two was Fire that was really good. I like the Mercedes, Moné promo. thought that was really good. I thought the Kenny and the Bucks segment backstage with Renee was really solid too. And it just, it layers into the story that's been being told all night long. I thought the Jay White in the ring with the Bang Bang Gang was awesome. The only thing that I'll say is kind of lukewarm for me was the Survival of the Fittest match and I'll get into why that is. It's mostly because I don't think we saw enough of everybody doing enough yet. I thought it was a little, I don't think they got the shine they deserved, but overall I thought it was a solid match so I liked it. And then the one thing and I think I mentioned this before and I think I just need to get used to it. Okay. That's fair. is I'm still not, and it's a me thing, I'm still not comfy with them ending on a promo. Even though it ended in a good pull-apart and it made sense, it just feels odd to me to wrap up a match and then come back with a promo. It it feels weird. I I I I agree with you. And the way that they had to keep trying to tease you through to the promo by putting the graphic up and Excalibur talking about it, I I agree. I don't love that. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. which I guess would plant it squarely in the mid category than for me, just from a structural thing, I guess. But Mm-hmm. But again, it may be one of those things that it will make sense later and maybe we just need to get used to it. But for right now, it just feels odd. right now, I'm not a huge fan of it, but I do understand it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I I think the the real reason for it is they're trying to make sure to pull you through to the end of the episode and especially with how far they overrun it now, they're really trying to pick up, you know, as many rating points as they can. And also right now, stuff is gonna be I I don't even know how to put it. Stuff is gonna be interesting, I think, right now, because look, Tony Khan is a soccer guy. He owns Yes. Right. a Premier League team and he knows what he's up against when he's up against the World Cup and the US was playing tonight on top of it. It's not like you were just up up against, you know, Brazil and Japan or something. You know, you're up against the US team as well. So I think part of that was also to try and pull you through to keep you from flipping to the match if that's something you were going to do. But yeah, I agree with you. It feels weird. Right. Yeah, so that was that's my Heat Check. And before you do yours, I want to see if you can hear this. I got a little surprise for you. If it works, it might not work. Let me see if you can hear this. Heat check. Could you hear that? Okay. Mm-hmm. I could. This is like Satan. HEAT CHECK Yeah. Okay. All right. Well somebody's been ha been playing around. All right. I like it. Yep, yep, got more later coming later. I just didn't have time for the rest. I just didn't have time, Yeah, so let me set you up. So here's Tim with Heat Check. Okay. You know what it it reminds me a little bit of the old A Current Affair thing. You remember that? And that's I mean that in a good way. That was awesome. But anyway. mine is very, very similar to yours. I liked I I'm gonna run down what I liked here, and you're probably gonna notice a couple things that weren't on or or that were on your list that aren't on mine. Yeah. first thing, I really liked the Briscoe versus MJF match. I thought that was very good. yeah. my god. That's okay. I'm with you that what happened afterwards was good. I liked MJF and and Ospreay and Omega and all that. Everything that happened afterwards I thought was very good. Kevin Knight and Lio Rush were very good. Yep, I totally forgot about that match, but yeah, I really liked it. Yeah, the Darby promo I thought was quite good that came after that. I'm with you. I agree that Renee with the Elite was good. The Jay White promo was probably the best thing on this show. I said what I said. That is that was my favorite thing on the show tonight, I think. A close second for my favorite thing on the show tonight. That's fair. That's fair. Mm-hmm. came from the Shane Taylor Promotions promo, which is why I'm putting it on my like list, which was when the one dude said Dweebass. That's now going into my vocabulary. I'm gonna start calling people a dweeb ass. Also, dweeb is a word that fell out of like our pop culture vocabulary or whatever way too early in its lifespan. We need to bring dweeb back. Yes. Well, I think just tagging with ass really elevates it, really brings it to the forefront. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. I enjoyed the survival of the fittest match. I hear what you're saying. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it well enough to put it on my liked it list. I like the Omega closing promo. I like the whole pull-apart and everything. I agree with you structurally. It's odd, but I liked the content of it. my mid list is everything else. yeah, and and the main reason we can get into it. Mm-hmm. that's fair. well I guess we can just launch into it. Was there anything you didn't like? No, not really. the, the weakest, like I said, I tried to keep tabs on, and I'll call this the, the C level storyline is Jericho/Ciampa. It continues. The Bluff will be next week, but them having the fight outside, that may be the most interested I've been in this angle. And it's enough to be like, okay, let them fight next week and then let us be done with it. And, but you know, for me, that was like the meh. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Yep. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm. That was like a C level thing. But as far as like the, I think I said, basically the first 40 minutes, 45 minutes, I really thought was really well done. The, the entire opening I thought was just really solid all the way up into the MJF backstage. And it, and here's why, because I think they, that I think Tony and AEW are taking time with, this is clearly their A level storyline. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And what I like about it is what really bothered me at first about it, which was so many moving parts. But I like it because they're all connected, but not everybody is connected directly with MJF. Because you've got Ospreay and the Death Riders. That is an interesting thing. He's progressing with them. You have Ospreay and Kenny. And that relationship, as we've seen throughout the night, is... Mm-hmm. being strained by the Death Riders. You have Ospreay and MJF, which has got a weird thing with Kenny in there too, and you have Kenny and MJF. And the whole thing, keep bringing Hangman up. So I like how they're layering that in. I think there's plenty of players. They're all interacting. It's all kind of around the world title, but some of it kind of moves off that center point. So I like those interlaced storylines that... kind of have to do with the world title, but kind of don't. So I thought this was a really, really, really solid first 30, 45 minutes because of that, what I consider an A level storyline and the one they're really paying attention to. Yeah. Yeah, I I agree with you on on all that. I think the story itself is quite good. I think the the characters in it are quite good. Really, Ospreay is the main character in it. Everything centers around he's he's Kevin Bacon, right? Everybody is six degrees of Will Ospreay here. and I don't think that's a bad thing. I like it. I like it as a storytelling device. I like what they're doing with all of that. The opening segment where they had the Yeah, yeah. Pre-tape from Forbidden Door didn't quite hit with me the way it did with you. Because to me, I came away from it going, okay, so the whole thing was just to make Will officially a death writer, which is fine. I don't have a problem with that. But it was just a little like, I don't know, Mox got a little bit cryptic there, not as bad as he's been, but a little bit cryptic. And then it was, you know, I I agreed with MJF. It's a lover's quarrel. It's, it's, you know. Yeah. And I that's not a bad thing. I just agreed with him on it. And so it was a thing where it didn't hit as hard with me as I think it did with you. I would not call it bad by any stretch of the imagination. I didn't put anything on my didn't like it list tonight. It just fell a little bit outside the cut for me, being like, wow, I liked that. I don't think it's bad. And and it ties into a larger story that I think is very good. So I'm probably giving it More of a pass than I would if this had been like the start of the story. You know what I'm saying? but that, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Here's, here's what I liked about Mox though, even though it seemed cryptic, I felt like he was actually less cryptic than he had been in the past because finally he's saying titles don't matter. We have to keep the business pure. And that's kind of the first time he's really kind of solidified that angle for him. And that's that, that through line of his logic of, yeah, we can get titles that that doesn't matter. It's making sure that we work and we're the best we can be. And we're not just whining and complaining and doing all this. And we have to keep the business, keep the business, keep the business. And I thought that was the most succinct he's put it, even though it still was kind of cryptic. So I just, I liked that a lot. I thought that was finally a little more coherent for, for mocks. Yeah, it was definitely more coherent. And I get what he's saying about we have to protect the craft. It fell apart a little bit with me when he was talking about like the titles don't mean anything. I'm like, dude, you have held a title more often than not in this company over the last, what, seven years or whatever. Why have it then? Like the logic of it fell apart for me a little bit because this is a guy, like I said, who spent most of his time in AEW as a champion, but also the whole point. Right. Here. of this story really revolves around that championship. So why tell me it doesn't matter? Yes. Well, I think ever since, if you remember back, and I think this actually is again showing that AEW is trying to tell that long story or at least connect dots is when the Death Riders were kind of just going and Mox had the world title, he kept it in a bag and he didn't show it. Now, are they doing a little retconning of history to make that make sense? Maybe, but at least they're taking things and tying it together where he's like, look, titles. Yeah. They don't really matter. Yes, you can win a title. And so, and maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it felt to me like. I don't think you are. I think you're right. I just I to me, I understand like I think to me w my where it falls apart for me is they spend a lot of time talking about that belt as being the richest prize in professional wrestling. Which is what they should do. It's what they should call it. And to have the guy who is Yeah. I would say arguably the top guy in the company. Arguably. I I it's him and MJF in my mind. And and just because of his history, Jon Moxley's history in the business, because he is probably a bit more recognized still than MJF because of his WWE run. I mean the guy was in The Shield. Yes. Yeah. Well, it also is his workrate in AEW. mean, my gosh, he was, he, he carried that company for a long time when things were, you know, other things were out of everyone else's control. So absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's the MVP of the pandemic for them, no doubt. No doubt. I just feel like he could have cut that promo, but still said, you know, it's all about protecting the craft, and there's no better way to do it than as the guy, as the champion in the the company, right? I think he could have put the belt over while also putting the rest of the story over. That's my nitpick with it. yeah. Mm-hmm. Gotcha. Again, admittedly, it is a nitpick, but that's kind of my issue is I don't like it when anybody does anything to devalue a championship. I get it. You don't win a professional wrestling championship. They give it to you. I understand that. But like I said before, don't remind me of that while I'm watching. And it felt a little bit to me like they were reminding me of that. Here's where I'll deviate because in my head, I know, but the way, the way I'm wrong in this case is the way I took it as not that he was devaluing the championship. I think when, at least the way I interpreted it, when Mox said titles don't matter, I think he was trying to get Ospreay to get his eyes off the belt and get his eyes onto being effective and being a wrestler. And if he did that, he would get the belt. Well, you're wrong. And I think that was Moxley's way of showing him, if you stay focused on what we're doing and the belt, yeah, the belt will come, but that's not the point. The point is you need to stay focused. You need to be dangerous because Ospreay started that with what is it? And he's like, if I could, you know, if it was that easy to say, I'd be doing it all the time. So I, and that's just how I took it is don't worry about the belt. Worry about finding it in you and making that happen. Yeah. So I think that's why I liked it, because that was the angle I took from it. And so yeah, that's why I really enjoyed that first part. I think you're probably right about all of that. I think everything you said there makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. But wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Watch this. Watch how I land the plane on making me right again. Ready? The fact you had to explain it makes it not the greatest promo, right? I'm out. Clip that. Clip that and said I was right. Yep. Yeah. Well, it's not my fault. Look, here's the thing. It's not my fault you're not smart enough to figure it out. you son of a bitch Yeah, that's true. That's Listen. Listen. Look, I'm not saying you're wrong, but you are a son of a bitch for pointing it out. I just meant on me being dumb. Everything else, wrong. You ign Doug, you ignorant slut. All right. A 70s reference from I wasn't even born yet, but anyway. Yep. then of course it was the Mark Briscoe versus MJF match that we knew was coming thanks to Forbidden Door. I don't have a lot to say about this one other than I'm not saying you're wrong, but you ain't right, Doug. I'm totally wrong about that part. Still a good one. Good match. Look, these guys are good together. I think we're probably gonna get more from them down the road and really strong match. Yeah, I liked it. mean, again, this is where I was starting to get in that vibe of the pacing of this is really good. They gave him a good 25 minutes to play this out in the ring, which I think they should have. And they really played up the storytelling of, you had the redneck taking on MJF, the self-proclaimed best in the world and kind of that hardcore versus the I'm above that garbage wrestling kind of thing. So you had the two playing off each other. Mm-hmm. You get Briscoe the visual pin, you get that pop, you get everyone going, see, you know, he can do it, he can do it. And then MJF wins with clean. So yeah, that's really up there. That was my first, well, his first match, but I thought maybe match of the night already. So. Yeah, I and it's definitely they definitely set a high bar. They definitely set a high bar for the night. Kenny Omega would follow all of that with I'm gonna say a promo. I I put down here, you know, he basically came out and said, Well, let's do it tonight. Let's fight tonight, which we all knew was not gonna happen. However, I would have laughed my ass off if they did do it tonight. Kenny had won and then Max just spent like a month Mm-hmm. Yeah. hanging out at home doing nothing. Like I would have laughed my ass off if that had happened. Come. Yeah, when they brought that up, it made me think for a minute, ooh, are they going to do that now so that MJF can really rehab that leg? But it looked like in that match his leg wasn't near as hurt as he's wanting you to think, or at least he's moving better on it. Yeah. Yeah, so all the reports that I read were he really did hyper extend his knee in the match with RUSH, but everything obviously everything has been like he can work through it. And that's why you got the multi-man match at Forbidden Door and all that was to help protect him, right? He didn't have to do as much with that. Obviously, I mean he's moving around great. I don't think it's hampering him too badly. Certainly, if they had done that, if they had switched it. Mm-hmm. And he did go home for like a month, I would have like, Well, yeah, he earned it. You you earned a break, you know. 100%. Yeah. Plus I liked the Kenny promo because he had some passion that I hadn't seen him fire off within a minute. So that was really good. I liked that a lot. Yes. I agree. I agree. And I had a thought here, but I'm gonna save it for the end because Okay. I'm pretty sure one of my dogs just started slapping the door behind me. But anyway, she likes to paw at stuff to try and get you to do things and that's her new habit. But yeah. Anyway, I'll save that thought for the end because I think when we get to the end and how the show ended, I want a fantasy book where we go from here because I have I have two thoughts of what I think will happen and then the one that that that could be fun if we just went a completely different direction. But Me too. okay. Okay, looking forward to that. What did you think of the backstage bit where MJF ran down all the big names he's beaten? We'll get to that. Of course did I I liked it a lot because number one, I don't think it's a bad thing to give his resume again. I don't think it's ever a bad thing to do that, but I think it's particularly not a bad thing when you have that many big names and you are constantly, I think, bringing in new people to the audience that don't know that weren't there for year one to see him beat Cody. Arguably the biggest name on that list, you know. No, it's not. Right. Mm hmm. Right. At least at present. maybe Jericho, depending on where you're coming from. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, Jericho would probably Jericho probably is the biggest with Cody at least at present right up there. we'll see how that All In. But Right. We'll come back to that. but yeah, I thought it was I thought it was fine. I didn't have a problem. I mean, look, it's MJ it's an MJF promo. I'm always gonna like it. He's never done a bad one. Yeah. Then Andrade and Tony Schiavone did a little thing and my main takeaway from the talking portion of this, when did we start calling that match Death's Door? I think halfway through it, they mentioned it. So here's what I noticed on at Forbidden Door, they called it Death's Door like twice and then didn't say it again. And now that's like the only way they're referring to it. Look, guys, at that point it was too late to name the match. Okay, put that one in your pocket, save it for something else. Don't try and quit trying to make fetch happen. Yeah, it does. Yep. Thank you, yes. And I don't think it'd make all that much sense, so... I don't either. I don't either. So, okay, great. You came up with a fun name. You should have just put it in your pocket, but okay. You had to figure the DCF, the Don Callis Family beatdown was coming here. I thought it was interesting though, and tell me what you thought about this, that they brought out multiple guys, but really Brian Cage did all the work. Yep. Yep. Yeah, I mean, it made sense because he's clearly going to be next up and you know, we already see now that he's got a match with Andrade next. And I thought it was fine because I, you know, he's freshly back. I love how they sent out the three biggest dudes they've got to just whoop on Andrade and having Brian Cage do what he did. I think that's great. Plus if you notice, Brian Cage looks so great right now because did you realize he just recently won Mr. Nevada? Mm-hmm. I did. thanks to his interview with Chris Van Vliet. I I I knew that. But otherwise I would not have known it. He did it on like five weeks notice too. Crazy. Crazy. you know, I was fine that it was just him and I don't know why they're not letting Lance Archer do a little more, but at least he got on TV. So that was okay. But Yeah, it's pretty impressive. Yeah. The only thing I can think is that maybe he's got an injury that we don't know about. And it's not bad enough to keep him off TV, but it keeps him out of the ring. I don't I don't know. That's true. Yeah. Maybe. I mean, he's not wearing the cast anymore, so I'm not 100%. But look, if you're going to give me Brian Cage on TV, yeah, bring it back. I think it's solid. I really liked it. So yeah, I'm with that. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Yep, I agree. Don got on the mic after that. He didn't have a whole lot to say there, but it was f whatever, it's fine. It's Don. Like I'm not gonna complain. The Mercedes pre-tape you mentioned happened after that. Thought it was fine. Good reminder of who she is. Not that we necessarily need it, but you know. But it got her on TV. It kept it short. It reminded you she's going to be wrestling for the title. I think that's great. Yep. Yep. And this is going to be a slow burn, as we would find out later in the show, because they would announce that I believe it's next week, the women's casino gauntlet winner gets the AEW women's title shot at Redemption. Finally learned the name in the new pay-per-view. Which what how do you feel about that? Mm-hmm. Huh? Huh? The fact they're calling it Redemption. No, that that there's going to be a match between Thekla and somebody at Redemption and then they'll move to her and Mercedes. Or whoever wins in Mercedes, I guess I should say. I mean... It does feel weird, keeping Mercedes and Thekla, which is probably who it's going to be, for All In makes sense because it's a bigger match, I think. But... Yeah. I agree. Well, and that's the stipulation with the Owen is the winner gets the match at All In. Right. And so. It keeps the world title in present mind. It gets us to see Thekla more and I'm going to guess they're going to build her as even more of a badass without as much interference like they did at Forbidden Door. I thought she looked great there. And if they continue that route, then I'm 100 % fine with it. It kind of depends on who's going to be in that gauntlet match. It's a gauntlet match, right? Or no. Yeah. Casino gauntlet. Yeah. Kind of depends on who they throw in there and who's coming out of that. Yeah, casino gauntlet match, yeah. Yeah. Here's my yeah, here's my thought on it. This is where AEW gets hit with the you don't do long term storytelling tag, which is wrong, but this is where they get hit with it because you're gonna do whatever sort of quick program between the winner of that match and Thekla to build a Redemption, and then you're gonna pivot to Mercedes and Thekla for All In. So... But yeah, I'm okay with it. Mm-hmm. You could just take this time to slowly increase the heat between Thekla and Mercedes. And like at Redemption, you could have a tag match, right? Where it could be Athena and Mercedes versus Thekla and either Julia Hart or Skye Blue. Yeah. You know, you can you can do those old tricks to help kind of slowly build more and more, a little more heat, a little more heat, a little more heat as we head into All In. I mean. Guy Blue. I kind of would like to see them do that. I don't have a huge problem with this, but I would kinda like to see them do it. And maybe this isn't the feud to do that with, but I would kinda like to see them do it. I don't think it's not the feud, I think what they chose to do instead is they're using this to elevate a different rivalry, probably between, as we will find out, maybe Stat, Lander, and Persephone, or someone along those lines. Like maybe Harley is in the mix too. That's my gut is that that's what they're using this for. It feels weird to use the women's title to elevate a different rivalry, but Mm-hmm. If that's your only mechanism to do it, then okay, get them on TV, get some stories built with that as your mechanism, then I'm okay. If we get some more light on some of the other women, then I'm fine with it. But if it's just gonna be a throwaway, I agree with you, then they should have used it to just slow build the heat till All In. Yeah, I think it is and isn't going to be a throwaway 'cause here's who I'm gonna tell you right now I think is coming out of that casino gauntlet match. I think it's gonna be Maya World. okay. Yeah, that would make sense. Yeah. I think she's gonna win it and they're gonna try and ri you know keep riding that wave. And that's how she's gonna get her title shot. I mean, it's I shouldn't put it in air quote. She's gonna get a title shot. But then she's probably gonna fade out of the picture after that. Because now you have to move to Mercedes. And so I don't have a problem with them doing that. And and especially at the Forbidden Door, I said, you know, please keep using her. Possibly, yeah. Yeah. So I I don't have a problem with them doing that. It just feels a little bit to me of like you could take Maya World and again over time continue to build her and eventually have her take that title. And man, what a big moment that that would be Hangman winning all over again when he won the first time. And and you could recreate that moment, I think. Mm-hmm. And you don't get a lot of opportunities to genuinely recreate moments like that. So this is one where I wouldn't mind being wrong. I wouldn't mind it being Statlander or somebody that comes out of the casino gauntlet match, but I think it's gonna be Maya World. And that's okay, especially if they do what you're thinking. they... Now, I don't think having her win the title makes sense right away, but I think building that case and continuing to put her on that platform and like you said, slow build it to her winning maybe in a year, then I think they're doing a... Then that's a great job. So I hope, now that I'm thinking about it, I hope you're right. And I hope that it is Maya World coming out of it. But if they announce the participants, I did not pay close enough attention and do not know. She's not gonna Yeah. They did not. They did not. The only thing that they announced was Athena. Okay, good. Is wrestling somebody. It might be Maya World, but she's wrestling somebody for the number one spot on Collision. I remember that. that's all they said though. And you know how it is. They never announce all the participants for it. We'll know who number one and number two are probably, and that's gonna be it. okay. Okay. That's true. Mm-hmm. All right, so then Kevin Knight and Lio Rush fought for the TNT title. I didn't actually think Lio Rush was gonna win this one, but I don't care. This was fun. Yeah, I'm really liking Lio Rush's character and I like the fact that okay now Lio Rush is going to start annoying the Don Callis Family. It keeps him on TV, it gives the family something to do, it gives some of the other members something to do and who knows what could come of it. Lio Rush is, I think he showed tonight that new character is so good and so it's it's creepy but it's funny. He's still amazingly athletic, he is still pulling off moves Yeah. And there were times in this match where I think maybe if there was, it had to do with Kevin Knight and his leg, something happened and you could see Leo immediately just, it looked like he just improved it where he grabbed his knee and bit it. And I was like, he is so good and so quick and so smart in the ring that I'm just, I'm enjoying the daylights out of this Lio Rush. I say, give me more black. Mm-hmm. I agree. And I think this was a good way to use him. I I agree with everything you said there. Also, I'll give a little credit to Kevin Knight on selling the exploding backpack injuries and that nasty ass bump he took off the cage or the Death's Door or whatever we're calling it today. He went through the Don Callis door. He did he did. Then Darby came out to cut a promo on in post match. I really liked Darby here. I thought he was really good. I'm in on this. The the world title run really did a lot to boost Darby in my mind. And I'm in. I'm in on this story. I'm in on this inevitable match that I hope they put it on All In. I hope they don't do it on Redemption, but we'll find out. Mm-hmm. Yeah, the Darby Allen, Kevin Knight storyline is the only other one I had at A level storyline. And I, all the reasons you said, that's why I think it's an A level storyline right now. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I I think it's gonna be real fun. Mm-hmm. Then I mentioned this mostly because I want them to continue doing these. There was the quick Collision recap of basically Jericho getting Tony Schiavone to say he's better than Ciampa. because Ciampa had Tony Schiavone say he was better than Jericho. Right, I get that, but like okay. Like I like that they do the Collision recap. That's important. But this of course leads us into the storyline that you and I and a lot of other people are not feeling. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm with you. My hope is th this is everything you said in the Heat Check I agree with. This was the most interesting this feud has been. I don't know why there was randomly a shopping cart in the parking lot, but fine, whatever. Mm-hmm. Also just a table of four t-shirts for a merch table in the back. Huh? Okay. Look, times are tough. I don't know. Yeah, man. That one security guard took a hell of a bump into the upright tables, like, because those did not give any inch. Oof. The the He did Yeah, he did. No, no. But ultimately, while I enjoyed the segment kinda, the problem is again, this does not feel like a legitimate feud to me. I don't buy that these two guys hate each other. I'm just not buying it. No. So when they said we're gonna do it next week, I went, thank God. Let this be the blow off and move them on to something else. I agree, that's what it should be. And I really hope it is. I do too. This thing is just falling flat, which is too bad because like I said before, I like both of them, but man, I am not buying it. They did not build this one well at all. Well, it was so flimsy. The building blocks were so flimsy that it didn't stand much of a chance from the jump. I think they let it go too long, but I'm glad they're cutting it short. Let's move on. It'll be a fun match. And then we can stop talking about it. Yeah. Yep, exactly. Then Renee talked to the elite and I think everything you said in the Heat Check pretty well covered this, except for one thing. This was now the second of what would end up being three references on this show to one Cody Raheem Rhodes. So let us now speculate wildly that this clearly means he's coming back. yeah. My former best friend lives again. He's been dead for many years. He's coming back to life. I'm delighted. That is a very inside joke between me and my friend Mike. Basically, we said Cody was our best friend and then when he left, we were like, our friend died. Well, yeah, I, well, I don't know if that's best joke. I think it was true. think all of that was true. Yes, you do. That is, you know what? Here's the thing. I hope you get credit for starting that rumor online is that Cody's coming back to AEW, which is why he lost the belt and why they've started to mention him a little more on AEW. It is, but you know, you smile through the pain. Yeah. Me too. Yep. Yep. Yeah. And if we do this right, if you and I play this right, and we start reading into like, did you notice the bucks, what they were wearing? It's the same year they wore the last time Cody was on AEW TV. You think that was an accident? Cause it wasn't. That's They wore those shirts once on BTE and he was in it and yeah. Yeah. No, we can make this happen. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. 100 %! That may be my favorite thing of Heat Check right now is us doing that and you starting that rumor. That's my with a bullet. Sure. Well good. Good. Then Ospreay and Mox took on Blake Christian and Lee Johnson, which fine. Can I just say I really like that team. I think Blake Christian and Lee Johnson are really good. I think Blake Christian is highly underrated. I think that dude, he's got so much potential. I'm glad they're giving them time on ROH. I wish that ROH was more readily available to everyone, because I think some really good stuff is going on there. But I really, I like that team a lot. I think that's a really fun team. I agree. Yeah. I wouldn't mind seeing more of them in AEW proper, but yeah, I just like them. And I knew that was going to be good match, you know? Yep. I agree. I like Blake Christian. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was I mean, yeah, it was fine. It was entertaining. It was, you know, I what purpose did it serve? I guess it was to let Ospreay come out with the Death Riders logo sewn on his pants. I don't know. Mm-hmm. Did you notice it at first or did you, I didn't notice it until the end. No. I didn't notice it at all. I I saw it online. Somebody zoomed in on it. And maybe, maybe they did that on the broadcast, because I I'll be honest with you, when I heard Mox's music start, I went to the bathroom because I was like, I've got time 'cause his intro takes forever. And when I came back, they were the match had already started. In fact, it might have been in a commercial break. I don't remember. So if they zoomed in on it on the broadcast on his entrance, I missed that, but I saw it online. So okay. I don't think they did it on the entrance. think they did it at the end of the match because I was looking and I didn't see it and it's not very large and it was just on his hip and they zoomed in at the end because I even wrote down, oh, interesting. Will isn't wearing the patch yet. And then at the end of the match, it's like they zoomed in on it and they showed it. It's like, all right, well, I got to delete that sentence and say he's wearing it because I was wrong. that could be. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, it wasn't very obvious, so anywho, they'll Did you find it interesting that now Tony Schiavone is suddenly on board with Will Ospreay hanging out with the Death Riders? That he thinks it's the best move Will's ever made? Yes. And this is kind of what I was getting at in the Forbidden Door show that we did. Where they were commentary was trashing Moxley like a heel. And then now tonight it's the best move he's ever made. And this is one of the things that eventually they've really gotta settle on with the Death Riders in general. What are they? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Do we like them or do we not? And Jay White even would bring it up. And I think honestly, if they play this right, they shouldn't define them and it could work as long as they aren't overtly being one way or the other. And if commentary lays off jumping on one side of the bandwagon, then I think, you know, the Death Riders can be what you need them to be. If they do it right. I I agree with you on that, but yeah, we gotta pick a lane for commentary in particular. We gotta pick a lane for them. Yep. Yes, yes, 100%. But it just seemed so shocking to me that out of nowhere Tony's like, I think this is the best movie he's made in his career. I was like, where did that come from, Tony? OK. Yeah. Yeah. And I and I think that is what we're talking about of they haven't defined it for commentary on how to talk about these guys and specifically how to talk about Jon Moxley. Yeah, exactly. Speaking of Jay White, we would then get a reminder that Christian Cage has beef with him in a quick little segment. And then Jay himself would come out and return to Dynamite for the first time in 459 days. Yeah. And great promo. I thought he was awesome. I did find it ironic that he pointed out that Finlay is a Nepo baby while he's standing in the ring with the Gunns. Mm-hmm. Damn. Yes. I know. Did you notice the Gunns were high-fiving? Yeah. Yeah, I did. But great promo. I thought he was great. Yeah, I loved it. loved that. Hey, I love that he called out the dog. we are clear again. I thought the pacing and the storytelling tonight was really solid. They're clearly drawing a line. Okay, we've got a, we've got a nice alley for AEW Dynamite and for the Gunns and the dogs. And then right after that, Shane Taylor Promotions comes out and now we have a line for the Bang Bang Gang and Shane Taylor Promotions on Collision because Yes. Jay called them the Collision cowboys and Shane Taylor's like, uh-uh, dweeb ass or whoever said that. So I, I liked that a lot. I, again, maybe I was just in the right frame of mind, but it felt to me like they, they had clear, they had a clear destination in mind. They had a clear story to tell and they were doing it. I felt very well tonight, whereas some nights we went, well, that was a match they threw together. feels like, and not, you know, it was fun, but whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, yep. I I agree. I I thought this was all really good. I agree with you there. I also thought it was very good that in his that it as Jay White is running down David Finlay, he caught you up very quickly on we have history. He and I go way back. We have history. He didn't get into Bullet Club stuff, which is fine, but you know, we have history, we've got longstanding beef, and I guess I'm not finished with you yet. Mm-hmm. Right. Cool, good, good job. No notes, good job. Then the survival of oop, sorry. Yep. Yeah, it was great. Like, no, I was just going to say, I think of any team, those two factions, I think are going to be fired together. I just think that's amazing. Yeah. Yeah, I think they're gonna be really good. Yeah. then the survival of the fittest match would happen for the TBS title, which you I think enjoyed less than I did. I don't get me wrong. I thought this match was really good. I just thought we would get to see a little more, have a little more focus on some of the players that don't get as much attention. thought maybe we'd get to see a little more from Queen Aminata and Maika. And like Persephone was clearly the breakout star of this one. Harley looked good. And yeah, the fact that she was the first eliminated was interesting. I thought we'd get more of her, quite honestly. Yeah. Which I gotta I quick aside, when that happened, I loudly went, wow, because I forgot how the match worked and I thought first pinfall won. And so I was like, Whoa, they're putting it on Persephone and then no, never mind. My bad. Gotcha, OK, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Well, I thought maybe, you know, as this match went on, I thought maybe they aren't going to completely swerve us and Persephone is going to be our breakout, but she was our breakout in another way. And I really enjoyed what they did with Persephone tonight. Yeah. Yeah, I thought they really did a good job of elevating her in the match. I agree with you that we probably did not get enough of Harley Cameron and Queen Aminata in this because I think those are two women that are going to factor in more long term. They've been building them sort of quietly, I think is the way to put it for a while now, and injuries have Mm-hmm. you know, stalled some of that, but I thought we would see more from them. So I I hear you on that. I enjoyed the match though overall. It was a nice spotlight for the women and they don't always get that, particularly of late because of injuries and we've talked about it a lot on this show of the women's division needs direction. They need a purpose and this at least I think moved us a little bit more. Mm-hmm. yeah. Yeah. in that direction. But I mean, look, did anybody not think this was coming down to Shida Statlander? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. no, I knew. But like more to your point, this elevated Persephone a lot. I don't think it elevated Maika, Queen Aminata or Harley at all. Because we didn't get to see them enough. mean, Harley I think needs less elevation than the rest because we've seen her. She's been the tag champ. She went out first, a little surprising. And maybe it was me, but I felt like they went to break and then shortly after Queen Aminata is out. It did. No. I I agree. And I agree. I don't, and then Maika, they went, did they go to a second break and then Maika's back and then she gets out? I just felt like we could have done more to elevate all of them a little bit more. Again, I'm being very nitpicky about this. I really did like the match. And that's my only flaw in it. Yeah. No, I I mean no, I I agree with you. I in my mind, if I were booking it, Maika would have been the first out because unless you're planning on doing more with her and with stardom, which I don't think they are, let her be the first one out. Let her, you know, let her hit some spots and then let her be the first one out because I don't think anybody really thought she was winning it. No, no, but for those of us, you know, some people, I'm assuming more people watch Dynamite than watch the pay-per-view. So you might not be familiar with the, some of the, these ladies. So let them, that was my only thing is let them shine a little more. Like I said, yeah, let Maika go out first, let her look strong. Let of course, you know, Persephone turn on her or Shida turn on her or some noise and then get her out. But overall, I thought it was really good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I th yeah, I think this is where the again, I understand why they structured the show the way they did, but I think this is where it hurt them a little bit because that match had to be within a specific time frame so then they could get to what followed. If you give them a little more time, if you let them close the show and and eat up that overrun, you could have let Maika hit some more spots, then be the first one out. Harley gets to hit some spots. Then she's out or a Queen Aminata. You know, yeah. So you're right. They could have structured this a little bit differently. Overall, I enjoyed it. I thought Shida was gonna win it going in. Turns out I was right. But I'll tell you, there were multiple points in the match where I wasn't sure about it. And that's in a match like this, that makes me pretty happy. You hear? Yeah, exactly. And I will say. I don't even know if I should say it, but sharp eyed viewers, you're watching that match. Statlander had an unfortunate. a wardrobe issue that I am not gonna name. lot of that happening lately. I actually don't. I I must have missed that. Did you know what I'm talking about specifically? Okay. Don't look for it. Once I noticed it, I couldn't stop seeing it. And I think they did a decent job of, I don't know if anyone else noticed or if the cameramen noticed, but I think they did an okay job of trying to avoid that. yeah. No. Okay. Okay. All right. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it was something else. I just don't think so, and I thought it was unfortunate. That's all. You're welcome. Okay. Cryptic. All right. I can hear people running to Google now, but Don't do, don't look it up, please. See, I shouldn't have said it. Too late. Toothpaste is out the tube. Then we got the final segment, which was Kenny Omega answering MJF and his stipulation of sure, you can fight me for the title next week, but if you lose, you can never challenge again. Which of course has been a theme through all this. And and I get it. MJF is feeling himself after, you know, he took Hangman out of it and he referenced it again. He took Cody out of it all those years ago. Yeah, I know. Damn it. Mm-hmm. So first of all, l I'll just talk about the actual segment. I don't think anybody was surprised that Kenny accepted. No. I don't care for them talking about Kenny not having much time left in the ring. They've there's been a lot of that talk and I'm not prepared for that at all. Like I want this is really all I want. Like I want my dogs to live forever and I want Kenny Omega to wrestle forever. Like at the end of the world, I want my dogs to be watching him on Dynamite. Yes, my heart can't take it right now. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't think that's much to ask for. No. So, but overall, you know, good promo. Again, I thought there like you mentioned earlier, there was fire from Omega that we haven't necessarily seen that much of lately. Got a weird bro hug between him and Ospreay beforehand. Mm-hmm. I like that little touch. like that, yes, we respect each other. Is this going to go anyway? Are we going to fight through it? I like the not being obvious as to what's going to happen with that. So I'm a fan of that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I also love that Max spent two hours in his sweaty, bloody gear. I thought the same thing! It's like, Max, change clothes, bro! What's up? my gosh, dude. Yeah, take a shower, my man. But anyway. so yeah, a lot to like here, and it sets up what's gonna be a very good match next week on their Beach Break show, which is gonna be loaded up again as they compete with the World Cup, and you know how they like to do these periodically pay-per-view level ish dynamites, so Okay. Yeah, but before you get into your fantasy booking, I, and this could be fantasy booking a little bit on my part, and it has to do with Ospreay and Kenny. When I saw that moment with them and they hugged, I wrote down, and this was before Kenny answered the question, I wrote down, could we see Kenny join the Death Riders? Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's interesting. because he's trying to get Will away from them and keep his eyes open. And Will's just trying to say, look, bro, I love you and we're tight, but this is good for me. And I'm wondering if, I'm not saying soon, but like, I'm wondering if that will play in and Kenny tries, you know, maybe that's a thing that could happen. I think I am pretty far off the mark right at the moment. But I thought it was interesting, now that it's in my head, I wouldn't hate seeing that potential in that drama. Yeah, that that's interesting. That's not what I thought, but that's an interesting angle. I mean, stranger things have happened. Sami Zayn won the world title. I mean I didn't think that was ever gonna happen. totally. Sami is one of those guys I want to come to AEW, but now I don't think it's gonna happen. But anyway. About time. About time, Yes. Yes. But I want them to come as El Generico. Yeah, I want El Generico and I want Kevin Steen. But I digress. All right. So here's how I'm fantasy booking this one. Okay. First of all, I I know that I've been saying this a lot lately. I gotta believe Hangman's back next week. I've got to believe that he's gonna interfere in this match. He's gonna cost Max the title. Hell yeah I do. Let's hear it. You Kenny's g he's gonna help his old buddy win. He's gonna screw Max over, and we're gonna start building to I think Hangman and Max in some, you know, in a grudge match at All In. That's my guess on what we're actually gonna do here. Okay. I don't think that's terrible. I don't either. I don't have a problem with that. I and I think that that's probably what they're going to do. However, what if because when it comes to this stuff, they have swerved me a bunch, right? Didn't think Darby was gonna win, didn't think Hangman was gonna lose when it was the stipulation for him. Mm-hmm. What if Kenny loses this? What if he loses and it is gonna be MJF and Ospreay at All In? I think I don't know, but I think there's a lane for that where it actually gets a little bit interesting. Okay. 'Cause I think then now you think about it this way. So if Hangman does not come back next week, okay, which there's every chance in the world 'cause I'm not even sure he's still on the planet. I'm kidding, he is. I've seen him put pictures of his garden up on blue sky. So OK. So if Hangman doesn't come back next week and if Kenny loses it, now I don't know what you do for your main eva main event at Redemption, which is where I think this falls apart, but now you've got Hangman and Omega that have nothing to lose by costing Max the title at All In. I would love to see Ospreay win a clean. I would love to see him not get any help from anybody. But I think there's a lane for it there, right? Like I think that there is a narrative that could be created there of these two guys are going to make sure that they screw Max the way Max screwed them. I don't think it's going to happen, but as I started thinking about it, I was like, that's quasi-interesting to me. Okay. Of course, I don't know what you do with Omega going forward after that, but I you know, look, I recall once upon a time there was a trios championship out there. Perhaps he and the Young Bucks could take that back, you know. Yeah. True. Thank I can't even tell you who's got it now. I don't even know. I believe it's still the conglomeration, right? It's still Orange Cassidy and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is the problem though when they take the belt off TV, when they put it in the backpacks and stuff, you forget who's got what. You forget about them. I don't think that that helps anything. But anyway, so I had more thoughts originally on how is fantasy booking that, and of course I didn't write them down, so now I've forgotten exactly how I was gonna play that out between now and All In. But yeah, the backpack boys, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Right. I do think that there is. I mean, there's also a lane here where Hangman comes back and screws Kenny, and it's him and Kenny it All In. I doubt it. But there's a possibility, right? But I think what I think is going to happen is I think Hangman's going to come back next week. I think he's going to screw MJF. I think MJF is going to demand a rematch for Redemption. He'll get it. He'll lose. And then it's Omega and Ospreay at All In. Yeah, I, yeah. Yeah. That's what I think. Okay, I'm not going argue that. I think it makes sense. think I was a little surprised they were doing the title match next week because I think you and I decided that they were doing it at Redemption. Which I think makes more sense. I do, which since they're doing it next week, it does make me feel like something is going to occur that isn't completely black and white. I think the idea of Hangman coming back next week, it's always possible. Costing Max the title makes sense. having and then maybe, maybe we get. we get Max demanding a rematch at Redemption, but Hangman somehow saying, no, you're not gonna, I'm not gonna let you wrestle Kenny unless you remove the stip. You you've got to take the stip away from me so that I can, you know, and then you've got a three-way match for the title and Kenny can still win somehow. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Here's what I yeah. Yeah. Here's what I think. I think that Omega's gonna beat him next week. And then I think that they're gonna want to get one legit title defense for Omega. Okay, because if you switch it next week and he doesn't defend. between now and All In and he just drops to Ospreay, then we're gonna be sitting here going, Why did you make Kenny Omega a transitional champion? Now we're probably gonna say it anyway, but I think they're gonna try and give him one legitimate defense, not these, you know, the Beast Mortos calls his shot and, you know, gets a match next week, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You know. Right. Right. Right. Someone like Kip Sabian steps up and then we're finally, finally... So I think what's gonna happen so I think that's gonna happen. Max is gonna throw a hissy fit the following Wednesday, just like he did with Darby and all that. Right. He'll find a way to. Or I mean, I don't I don't even want a repeat of exactly what happened with Darby of well, you gotta put something on the line. I think Kenny could probably just say, Yeah, fine, let's do it. I'll do it again. Let's go to Redemption. My home country, let's do it, you know. Cause I think Kenny Omega is going to be in the main event in Montreal. I don't I don't see how he's not going to be. And I think they're going to walk him into Montreal with the belt. So Mm-hmm. I do too. I do too. Mm-hmm. Him and Max rematch at Redemption. He beats him again. Maybe Hangman gets involved again. And that is how we're gonna run to Hangman and MJF at All In. And I think that's where Hangman is gonna demand, okay, you, you know, he's gonna, they're gonna do the thing where They're gonna goad Max into the match one way or another, right? Either Max comes out and just says, That I've had enough of you. I I already cost you everything, but fine. You want me to, you know, you want me to break your neck, I'll break your neck or whatever, right? I mean, you know, get an unhinged MJF promo, right? Where he threatens crimes. And then that's how I think Hangman's gonna eventually get him to agree to if I beat you it All In. Right. Yep. Exactly. I get to challenge for the title again. Now, I don't I don't love that for removing the stipulation. But if you think back to when we first talked about it and how I said they're gonna take this off him, but be prepared for it to be unsatisfying because I think there's no really good path for a satisfying way of of getting Hangman back into the world title picture. Right. This is probably about the best version of it they can do, I think. You're okay. You have spurred spurred spurred you have sparked a thought in my bean hole that Next week Kenny wins a title off MJF He MJF is like I want you I want you at Redemption. I want you at Redemption. I want you at Redemption Kenny says Fine, you can have the title shot at Redemption But if you lose you never get to wrestle for the title again Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's probably it. Yeah. Kenny wins, Max is pissed whether he wins clean or with Hangman's interference. Now you've got MJF and Hangman who neither one can wrestle for the title again. And somehow you bring them to All In where if Max wins, Hangman can't ever wrestle for the title period. But if Hangman wins, he's like, that stipulation is off the board moving forward. No one can call it. No one can claim it. We're done with that. I like that. We remove it forever from everybody. Which then when Cody comes back, he can title he can challenge for the title. and you put a bow on that. Right, which clearly is what is happening. This is all leading up to Cody coming back. He's gonna come back, leading the new day into AEW. That's really what this is all about. This is all yes, that's what everything is about right now. Yes, yes, you are absolutely correct. That is how that's gonna go. Yeah, they're going to call it New Nightmare Day or some noise. I don't know. I just thought of it. But I think that would be really interesting that Kenny says, Nope, Daymare? Okay. Nightmare Dick Daymare? Ooh. I kinda like Daymare. I said it again and liked it less the second time. It's okay. Yeah. Here's what you do. Imagine that on a neck tattoo. How do you feel about it? I feel about as bad about the actual neck tattoo. When he unveiled that thing, I went, God, let that be fake. Okay. I just thought, you and Brandy got in a fight. I'm guessing as soon as you got home with that, you got into a fight. But yeah, I think if Kenny says you can't wrestle for the title and MJF loses, now you have an excuse to try and take the step out of contention forever. No it wasn't. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you're right. I think you're absolutely right about that. Yep. I will say, here's what I'll say to wrap up where I think where we have said, AEW is doing some long-term storytelling and I think they've done it well tonight. We were not thrilled that the step with Hangman was, or with Kenny again was, you know, or with Hangman, you can't, you can't wrestle for the belt. Doing with Kenny now, now to me, it makes sense that why they rushed that first match. Mm-hmm. to have Kenny lose and to build to this point to where this now makes sense that MJF's on a roll. He's like, fine, your boy can't wrestle for it again. You won't be able to wrestle for it again. I think this, what I initially thought was, you're making the same mistake again, was actually better thought out than I gave them credit for. And for that, I apologize. But this, I loved this. Yeah. Yeah. unless I'm misinterpreting it and I don't think I am, I thought this was a really good job of that long-term storytelling coming back and you have to be able to go, oh, now I get it. Yeah, this makes sense. So again, my head is off. I really thought tonight's Dynamite was really, really well done. I thought the structure was great. The pacing was great. I thought they did a really good job of layering their A story lines, their B level storyline, and then mentioning Jericho and Champ. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I agree with you and I think you're absolutely right. I think that's probably how that's gonna play itself out. So I guess we'll find out. But really I think the main takeaway from all of this, Cody's coming back. Yeah. And he will be the AEW champion before you know it. yeah, clearly, clearly. As a matter of fact, I think if you play the Death Riders theme backwards, you will hear Cody's coming back. I I think if you play it backwards you hear adrenaline in my soul. But that's it. It's just that line over and over again. Actually it's just him going wrestling has more than one royal family over and over and over again. Got it. Got it. That's what I was hearing. Okay, I knew it was something like that. That's fair. Yeah. And did you know this whole time by the way, he wasn't talking about his family. You know who he was talking about? He was talking about the Von Erichs. I'm kidding, I made that up. No. Huh. Huh. That I made up, but he's really coming back. All right. I don't know what just happened. What? Yeah, yeah, that's true. I mean the great but not many are alive. That was really just the first wrestling family I could think of. Yeah. I kind of wish I'd gone with somebody more obscure, but He was talking about the Samoans. I don't know. No, that's fair. The bloodline? And now I'm upset. All right. On that note, clearly it's time to shut this thing down. So Cody's coming back. That's the main takeaway. And yes. And we are on to Beach Break and whatever's gonna happen there. Although I think we just told you exactly what's going to happen. So all right, like, share, like, share, subscribe, follow, all those things. Follow us at Elite Heat Pod. That's what you should be thinking moving forward. on social media and we will talk to you next week. Yep.