I think people should draw fukase with his cane more, let the man be disabled

Hey God it's me again. Back by nobody's request once again: Me, 🦝.

Can we talk about Heizou?

Trick question. I WILL talk about Heizou and YOU WILL listen.

I like him so much the little skrunkly Mr canon daddy issues. Mr I want my father to be proud of me and it hurts. Mr I need to be the best and I'll still not be enough.

I love him a lot. I know I'm usually here to be horny but tbh today I'm not. I just feel bad for him. We all talk about Kazuha's my-best-friend-died-in-my-arms story but Heizou's is completely ignored. It's the ptsd for me. It's the family issues for me. It's the other people have a false image of the nature of his being for me. It's the hidden insecurities, the silent overthinking for me. Like bro did anyone ever pay attention to how careful he is with the traveler because he doesn't want to scare them off. It's the no friends (only mildly derogatory) for me.

It's the everything for me. My brain pointed at this little dude and went "that one" and now I think about him. All the time. I just want to hold him. Like bestie is u good? Do you need a hug? Some comfort? Some therapy? I will smooch him very lovingly mwah mwah

✿ 𝙨𝙖𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙧𝙢𝙨 ✿

characters: heizou x nb!reader

warnings: angst, fluff, PTSD, reverse comfort, insecurity, heizou’s just having a very very bad day😢reader and heizou’s not in a relationship yet

notes: SAME 🦝 NONNIE! i’ve reached friendship lvl10 with heizou and i read all stories of the characters whether i like them or not and heizou’s just made me cry😭😭😭 his only friend died out in public, in his arms, saying “i… i came to see you too”. i just cosnfijdnfjsjf

also i wrote this while listening to mitski and shed good few tears here and there 🦝 anon😔👍

detective shikanoin heizou of the tenryou commission is a name that’s widely known for it’s incredible intelligence, witty remarks and boy-ish charms. however that’s not all there is of heizou.

at 2 in the morning, when someone knocks on your door and wakes you up from your nice dreams, it’s safe to say that you’re ready to throw hands unless it’s an emergency. but then again almost every time you’re awoken at an unholy hours is because it’s an emergency.

‘this better be something good ‘cause i have a long day of commissions tomorrow’ throwing on a haori on top of your loose yukata, stumbling to the front door of your little house, the least person you expected to wake you up was the renowned detective of the tenryou commission.

immediately thinking of what you did that could’ve been considered law-breaking, one came into mind. but hey, you had to sock that guy because he was troubling the traveler when they were on the brink of collapsing!

“…hey, sorry to wake you up so late” heizou’s voice snapped you out of your little mind-ramble.

“oh no, it’s fine. would you like to come in?” nodding and quietly shuffling into your house, heizou seemed just so… quiet. most of the times he would spend time with you, he would be rambling about the newest case he got, how the criminals are getting dumber and dumber everyday or just about things in general.

asking him if he would like something to drink and sitting in your kitchen at 2am with the detective just silently staring at his glass of water was concerning. moreover there were dry tear tracks on his face and his clothes seemed half-heartedly thrown on.

after a while of just sitting in a deafening silence, heizou started to talk. about how he wants to be seen as the perfect reliable detective, how he wants his dad to be proud of him, about how his only childhood friend was a fraud and a thief, how after a year of staying out of contact, he met his friend again only for them to be bleeding out on the side of the road of the festival.

when recalling how his only friend had told him he wanted to see him as well, while holding a bloodied green pebble from his wallet which had no mora, only the pebble, the tears that filled his eyes fell. choking on his words, trying to apologize for dumping all of his problems on you, this was also heizou.

the same shikanoin heizou that throws around flirty remarks with you. the same shikanoin heizou that catches criminals left and right like they were just passing by him in the streets. the same shikanoin heizou who proudly declared he wanted to stop evil.

“i-i’m sorry hic i didn’t mean to dump-oomf!” being held close to your chest and telling him it was okay and that you understand was the last breaking point for him. sobbing out loudly like a child and clinging to you like a lifeline, this was also shikanoin heizou. your heizou.

after exhausting all his strength, you simply carried him to your bed for him to rest.

to heizou he felt like he was being gently cradled by the sun. so soft, warm and inviting.

to heizou, you were the only one to truly see who he was and not run away.

to heizou, you are the one he fell for and damn did he fell for the perfect person.

to heizou, your arms felt like home.

          hello , hello  !   first of all ,  i’m super excited to be here even if i’m like 10 hrs LATE  ( gmt timezone things )  i’m noe ,  a gay  they / them at the age of 19 ,  and this privileged lil disappointment of a jock boy is gonna be filling the position of kong_01 . despite the rumours ?  yuanjun’s actually not nearly as bad as some of the people he’ll be meeting here >:)  but you’ll get to know more about that below  !  if you’d like to plot just light up that HEART , or add me on disc*rd which i’ll give out in im’s , where i’m infinitely faster .  if i’m not gaming .  no tw’s under the cut  .

* backstory. > many people know of yuanjun, but few people truly know him. he's the famous kong families’ son, heir to the kong legacy, now forward position for south korea men’s national hockey team - which brought forth a ton of international fame from back home and amongst hockey lovers worldwide. while his talent is undeniable, he is long overshadowed by his families’ accomplishments, forever reminded that he’d never be the perfect son they’d hoped for, and no one ever lets him forget it.

> being the child of business tycoons who’s art business seemed to never be on the decline, tended to lend itself to an unconventional, pretty lonely childhood. 

> although jun no longer wants to dabble in the stupid shit he probably did as a teen, and escape from their home in a childish fit of rage and make the lives of the various nannies that tended to him while his parents were off being great hell, he still wonders sometimes whether this profession is what he would’ve wanted if he’d just not wanted to spite his parents. he loves hockey - that fact is undeniable. he thanks the nanny who took him there once out of necessity to stop his whining, and he fell in love with it almost instantly. but he also questions whether he gravitated to it because it was something he could throw himself into wholeheartedly to fill a void.

> he's very open to different types of people, and after being scouted at 19 and having a massive shift both in culture and identity as he then begun to travel worldwide, he’s a tiny bit more wordly now than he was back then. he's much more concerned about who you are underneath than superficial appearances, which means developing relationships are few and far between, because a lot of people do approach him because of his fame/fortune. he's unjudgemental to the point where his friends worry about his naivety and how easily he trusts people, but he's absolutely not dumb, just very well versed on telling good people from the bad.

> jun may even come across as naïve, but he's very aware of that perception is nearly important as reality. he's not extroverted in a way that demands conversation, but he knows how to talk to anyone from any background even if its just to maintain pleasantries. after competing in various competitions and versing players from canada to japan, he's become much more sharp and ambitious, a guy who very rarely lets distractions take their course. perhaps it’s with this that his family loathe his choices all the more, with his appetite, he was born with the skills required to run a business - pity he never took to anything of the creative sort.  

> working in a fast, stressful, highly coveted job such as pro-sports is a full time job and then some; jun doesn't spend much time not working on it. outside of his schedule, he likes bettering his stamina at the gym and eating healthy. he likes being surrounded by authentic people or nobody at all. he’s not one for trying new things and having new experiences due to time management, tending to stick to a schedule.

> he gets a lot of bad press though, which is beginning to weigh a little heavy on him. doubly now the murder has people talking. from being accused of performance-enhancing pills, various personality scandals, to being linked with ‘dating’ (see: ruining the image of) idols and chaebol’s alike. right now, he’s currently battling a lot of unwanted publicity because of a misunderstood interaction online against a wealthy sweetheart that went sour. 

> while jun might be generally unsympathetic and analytical when it comes to developing relationships with people that’ll last long-term, he's a bleeding heart when it comes to kids who may have experienced the same lonely upbringing as he did, without the financial gains. right now he spends sunday’s teaching a bunch of local foster home kids how to skate, and is trying to fund a couple of sports scholarships for those who show promise under a fake name, just generally being a good ‘ole guy.

> his family do not approve of his job, ofc. in fact neither of his parents have ever attended any of his matches to this day, and are only on semi-decent terms with him because jun begrudgingly is still tied by name to the business and shows his face at events for all of 30 minutes until he physically can no longer maintain pleasantries. his celebrity image perhaps is one thing they can manipulate, and even then, jun could get into scandals galore and still be doing his job. good press, bad press, it has the kong’s family name at the forefront of peoples’ minds, which always brings forth revenue.  

> pros: could be a lot worse considering his upbringing, collected, and level-headed most of the time. wicked good at sports, and keeps a cool head in a tough situation. ambitious, curious, a little reckless. eager to prove himself, rich? and very endeared to people/places he finds fascinating. which are many. knows where the good, authentic chinese cuisine is. hardworking and very interested in the idea of Progress.

> cons: the most private person alive, will not divulge any palatable information about himself or his feelings. devil's advocate always. will put himself and others at an arm’s length the second he feels (disgusted noises) e-emotions (love, namely). gets bored easily. paranoid, leads with the head more than the heart. friends > > > family. a little self-involved, never fucking sleeps - will be that neighbour you can hear padding around above your apartment at 3.05 am like it’s mid-day, aaaaand Loves Winning Above All Else

* personality & relationships.

> like many others, jun has his fair share of surface-level friends. he’s quick to be interested in people, to get to know them better, but it's difficult for him to get closer than that after a childhood of being picked up and dropped by those who looked over him - which kinda has left him with abandonment issues.

> he’s a curator of neat things that aren’t too overtly complex, and that includes friendships. so if you have something unusual about you, whether it's a talent or a way of thinking, he would be inclined to get to know you better. also, he has a lot of leverage with his job. being friends with a sports star slash million dollar trust fund baby who can get you free shit never hurts, just don’t befriend him for the perks, yanno?

> jun is very dedicated to his vision of things, and can sometimes be very obstinate in the way he a) wants them to be done b) doesn't accept other options, think steve jobs. he's very mercurial and can be nice one minute but isn't afraid to switch to hardass boss to get things done and did.  > he is insanely competitive and his strive is drawn out by always wanting to be on top. truly first child material. that's the kind of guy he is, with standards that do not reflect his passive side too well, which sometimes can get him into some “personality” scandals. he is driven, motivated, always looking for ways to be winning.

> i'm sure someone is bound to hate him, he’s probably got a few accounts online dedicated to a steady stream of shit-talking, given his cutthroat status or holding many hockey cups.

> jun doesn’t think too much about his sexuality - he'd probably best be labelled as pan, but leans towards those who identify as women? because of his current placement in a workspace, and with a cultural identity, that both don’t often lend themselves to lgbtq+ rights, i doubt he’d ever make that public.

> he works amongst some of the fittest people in the world, he knows how to appreciate beautiful bodies, but he's not about to discriminate. he's tragically a committaphobe and isn't interested in anything long-term right now, although i think it'd be funny if someone tried. he's very open for flings and one-night stands and even a friends with benefits sort of set up. 

* wc’s.  >  bring me his baby bro and sis. i command u. i have many thoughts  >  somebody who maybe gets in on his foster-kid situation? idk maybe they have a perception of jun being what he is in the articles they read of him, but they see him and are like <3_<3 he actually real Nice huh. i see this being romantic but it could bloom a really nice, wholesome friendship too. >  enemies. not gonna lie, he doesn’t vibe with rich kids w / a stick up their ass, especially since a lot of the people he works with aren’t from exorbitant families. people who loathe him for declining to take over his families’ business? like the boy can’t even name more than 3 artists off of the top of his head?   > fwb except neither of them know what “just friends” mean.  > i would love if jun had a confidante. a best friend, a partner in crime, a total bromance 'cause i can never get enough of those. whatever label you ‘wanna put on it. wiping up each other’s messes. maybe a Betrayal in the works  > again, gonna be a wc, but i would love a “rival” of jun's on a similar level (or bigger)  that’s entirely fabricated based off of trashy articles or a misunderstood interaction online. bonus points if they’re an absolute sweetheart, well loved by most people, and generally the antithesis of jun with his multiple drug/personality rumours, which in contrast, make him seem like the bad guy. 

> party buddy. this guy hasn’t touched alcohol/cigarettes/any other stimulants since he was underage and wanted to rebel. the word “relax” does not exist in his vocabulary. Help

{TMNT 2012 Fanfic} - Confession

( WARNING : This is not Turtle x Turtle related at all, this is purely just some family scenarios with no relationships at all what’s so ever. Just regular day in the life turtle stuff)

All the turtles have noticed their brother working out extra hard on his own as of late. Ever since the night he came back on a failed search mission as he said with Casey he hasn’t been himself. It started out with the rage outburst when he came back to the lair which was expected of him. If something went wrong it was always the first reaction his brother’s would get out of him. But once they found him lifting weights and adding more and more on to the bar. Punching his bag with pure rage in his eyes as each hit got stronger and meaner. There was something defiantly wrong at the moment with him and they weren’t really sure why. Raphael wasn’t an open person about his feelings ever. It was hard to even get him to open up a little to Master Splinter let alone his brothers. He never told them how he was feeling, what was getting him down or what pissed him off. It was always just an outburst of rage, annoyance or disgust. Depending on how he was feeling would be the outcome of the afternoon and how long he would stay in his room. But they for sure new it would be a battle trying to get him to confess what was wrong at least to one of them.

“Donnie you talk to him”

“What, why me?!”

“Because I’m pretty sure he will get defensive and start a fight with me and you know what will happen if Mikey goes up to him and asks what’s up. Besides you guys share a bond don’t you, being the two middle children?” Leo asked with an unsure smile on his face as he glanced over to Donnie beside him. They were trying to be as quiet as possible, being as though their brother was just in the other room. Beating the hell out of his punching bag at the moment.

“Leo we did, but Raph and I are opposites. Do you really think I’m going to have the best chance in talking to him. Especially with the mood he’s in, he could beat me to a pulp!” Donnie replied with a nervous tone to his voice as he crossed his arms. Trying not to show he was terrified of his brother and what he could do to him at the moment. To be fair he did have the best shot at trying to get through to him. They have always sort of leaned on each other for support ever since they were small. Leo and Mikey have gotten the most attention over the years so they only had each other. But as they grew up that bond slowly grew apart from how it was. He wasn’t even sure he would be able to get through to him at this point. Let alone make sure he knows he’s not the enemy at the moment with his fit of rage. 

“You know Raph would stop himself from hurting you that bad, give him a break guys he’s not a maniac” Mikey butted in, taking their hot headed brothers side over their’s. The way they were speaking was almost like they were comparing him to an animal. He felt as though they didn’t give Raph the benefit of the doubt. As much as he hated to think of it Raph could potentially hurt them with how angry he is. But he also knew Raph would never go that far as to hurt them extremely. His brother has gotten a hold of his emotions better then he has before. What ever happened was just really upsetting to him. Mikey glanced at his two older brother’s standing there. His confidence was rising in himself as he watched their gazes. One was filled with annoyance and the other was with fear. 

“We know he’s not a maniac Mikey, it’s just Raph is really sensitive and with him being really angry right now there is no telling to what he could possibly do” Leo replied, making Mikey even more annoyed with their Leader’s words. He hated when he put them down, he hated when anyone put his family down. He knew that they were brother’s and brother’s were supposed to act that way with each other. But it was almost as if Leo saw Raph as an uncontrollable maniac that could break any second if they did anything and potentially hurt them horribly.

“He wouldn’t hurt us like you think Leo.....I think you’re scared of him I really do. That’s our brother in there, he is the same as always.”

“I didn’t say that Mikey I just think if any of us should be messing with him it should be Donnie since they have a more close bond then us two. Plus I’m sure he could find a way out of there quicker them both you and I could” Leo replied with a triumphant look to his face as he glanced over to Donnie. Not catching Mikey rolling his eyes to his older brother’s words. 

A sigh escaped his lips as he stepped past them and out toward the makeshift weight room. Ignoring his brothers calling his name as he walked away, almost like they didn’t believe in him to confront his brother about his issues. He had to admit the more steps he took the more fearful he got, hearing the plastic and leather of the bag being hit. Two quickly then a follow up of three, already remembering the pattern his brother was hitting at currently with every flinch he had as he walked. Mikey sighed as he walked in to the room and found his brother there. Sweat dripped down his forehead and neck along with his arms as he stood there tensely. He noticed the blood and open wounds on his brother’s knuckles from how hard he was hitting the bag currently. But the look of concentration and seriousness never faded from his face. Not even one look of pain formed as he kept hitting at a constant rate. Almost like his injuries weren’t there in the first place. Mikey watched from the door way as he fought, his fierce and determined yet bothered look was all he could see at the moment. The punches were changed up now with a kick in between as he switched from his left to his right. Showing some skills even Mikey didn’t know about that he had. If this was any other day he would ask in joy how he did that and if he could teach him his moves. But he needed to stay as calm and pleasant as possible for him. Knowing his overly enthusiastic and loud attitude would get on his nerves even more then a usual day of the week. 

At this point Mikey wasn’t really sure what to even do or say now. How was he supposed to do this, ask him what’s up? Do you need a hand? Can I join you in a little extra training? He took a few steps closer to his brother training there. His anxiety was through the roof as he carefully walked forward in to the room like he was trying to get a snack from the kitchen at 4 in the morning. At this point there could be blood on his lip from how hard he was biting down upon the sensitive skin. He prayed his brother wouldn’t react horribly toward him for the interruption. The sudden sound of silence was heard though out the room. His body stopped like it malfunctioned from the sudden sound other then the noise he made on his own.

“What is it Mikey?” Raph’s harsh voice was heard clear as day through out the now quiet area. Mikey smiled softly to himself, noting that his brother’s rage was toned down some since he entered the room. Probably from beating out all of his anger previously. But over all it was less of a chance of getting his shell beaten in by him which was good. Raph’s emerald green eyes shined in the light as his gaze went to Mikey. The stare said a lot about his character and how he was feeling at the moment. But the stare over all just made Mikey’s nerves even more tense then they were before. He couldn’t show that he was afraid now other wise Raph could tell that there was something wrong. Raph was always good about knowing how his brother’s felt by their actions. But Mikey needed to be strong, for his sake and his brothers if he was going to help him with his issue at the moment.

“Well....I ah came by to see how you were doing since you’ve been in here a couple of hours.....Seeing as though your knuckles are ah....bloody I figured you needed a break ya know?”

“I’m fine Mikey, don’t worry about me-” Raph replied quickly, his gaze went down to his knuckles as if he was now realizing what Mikey had just said to him. Mikey glanced over to the wall and jogged over to the medical kit they had in there. He quickly grabbed some fresh bandages from within the box and walked back over to his brother before he could say no. Mikey’s hand calmly went to his shoulder, noticing how tense his brother was at the moment, He could almost feel the resistance and pain in his muscles from how hard he was working. Raph glanced back to him about ready to yell by his sudden touch. But once his eyes landed on what Mikey was holding was when his anger died down in realization.

“Mikey I told you I’m fine-”

“No you’re not bro, not with your knuckles bleeding like that....come on, it’s not wise to have them uncovered anyway and you know that. I will never forget how much you complained about the infected cuts on your hand from the accident with the glass when we were little.” Mikey replied with a soft smile, showing his concern greatly with his brother which he hoped he noticed. Raph’s eyes darted around, a sigh escaped his lips as he bent down. Taking a spot on the floor slowly with a pained expression as he leaned back. Mikey’s eyes wondered over him, trying to tell what other parts of his body were injured over all. His conclusion was that he was just to sore from working out so much over the past 2 days. But knowing Raph he would hide injuries from them too which was why he checked him over. Mikey smiled softly as he took Raph’s hand from his lap and stared at his bruised and wounded knuckles of his hand. He couldn’t understand how his brother could ignore something like this. Sometimes Raph was a mystery to him on over all everything.

“How could you go so long with out covering them up, I think you made em worse” Mikey said as he slowly wrapped the bandages around his brother’s hand as best he could. Being extra careful since he watched him wince a couple of times when he first wrapped the open wounds. But as a reply Raphael only shrugged his shoulders slightly. He wasn’t speaking at all almost like he was holding back from doing so. His eyes screamed out for help but his body stayed as stiff as a pole. Mikey continued to wrap his hand at a slow pace. The silence killing him every second it lasted, it didn’t help that it was awkward between them as well.

“Hey Raph....can I ask you a question?” Mikey said as he started to wrap his brother’s other hand which was less damaged then his right one. He only made it around one full time before his brother tensed up again for some reason.

“If it’s about when I came back from that thing with Casey the other night because Leo put you up to it then no-!”

“No bro chill....I was going to ask if you could teach me that kick move you just did when I walked in here. I thought it looked so cool and I eh....don’t remember going over it with Master Splinter so  figured you could teach me yourself?” Mikey replied to try and divert his real question which Raph already pointed out like it was nothing. The hot headed turtle’s guard was down slightly, not even expecting that to be his brother’s question to begin with. His eyes darted around as he thought of an answer to his younger brother’s question. The look of guilt for getting overly annoyed and angry with him was seen in his eyes as he stared to the side.

“I guess so?” Raphael replied as his gaze returned back to Mikey in front of him. Watching his brother that was somewhat unfamiliar with medical work wrap his hands in an average fashion. Actually proud of him for remembering what Donnie told him to do when Mikey assisted their brainiac brother in patching him up from a run in with bad guys on the surface. Raph’s eyes wandered the bandages, already seeing pink where the deepest gashes were located on his skin. The burning sensation never went away from the material touching his open wounds. It was nothing he wasn’t used to, but it was very annoying to deal with. The hot head sighed as he watched his brother finish up on wrapping his hand, going back over to the medical kit to put away any spare bandages he had. He wondered why Mikey showed up in the first place, usually when he was this angry they would try to avoid him completely. He would avoid himself if he was them too, even after the last time when he over reacted Mikey was the first to ask him if he was alright afterward. It was like his brother was fearless against him at times, or just straight up stupid for even going near him. Raphael was afraid he would hurt him, mentally or physically being at the rate of anger he was at. But his brother was trying to do good at that’s what mattered, he would make sure he would overreact over him as best he could. 

Raphael stood up from the floor with some stiffness, realizing he worked out to much over the past couple of days. What would Master splinter say when they go for training tomorrow about his condition. His mind was wondering all over the place, he didn’t even realize his little brother returned to his side. The turtle in red was brought out of his thoughts and returned his gaze to his brother waiting there patiently for him. A small smirk on his face formed as he moved to the punching bag. A quick glance was at his hands as he held them up. Not knowing if he should continue to train with his condition. The stubborn turtle only shook his head and got ready in his stance.

“You want to stand like this okay.....you’re going to punch left twice *Punches the bag* Switch over to a kick with your right foot. *Kicks with right foot* then three punches with your right, *proceeds to punch with right hand* Then a kick with your left foot and repeat. Got it?” Raphael asked as he took a step back from the punching bag. His eyes glanced down at his wrapped hands, seeing more pink and even a little bit of red from how much he was hitting. He decided to not think about his hands and gazed up at his brother smiling widely like usual. 

“So 2 left punches, a right kick, three right punches and a left kick?” Mikey asked to make sure he was going to do it right. Wanting to show off like his older brother did.

“Yeah....yeah exactly like that” Raphael replied, watching as his brother stood in a firm stance. Copying his moves almost all the way correctly, his kicks were a little off from perfect but that’s what practice was for. As soon as he was done and landed from his left kick. He turned to Raph for a look of approval, earning a small chuckle from him and a thumbs up.

“Your kicks were a little weak and off centered but it was pretty good for your first try I gotta admit”

“Yes!” Mikey replied as he threw his fist up in to the air in victory, getting confident in his skills now after his brother’s comment. He turned back to the punching bag and got ready in his stance. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Raphael walked to the side of him to watch. Mikey smiled widely, his attention back on to the punching bag as he redid the moves his brother taught him. Trying to at least fix his kicks so the moves could be perfect. He wanted to learn his brothers moves, but he also felt if he did this it would help Raph trust him more. He wasn’t going to make his brother confess, but if he trusted him at the moment there was a better chance of him confessing over all then before. As Mikey was in thought he finished the move and landed better then the last time. Watching Raph nod as he stood with his arms crossed tightly around his plastron.

“It was better.....but could you do it during a fight?” Raphael asked with a smirk on his face as he tilted his head. Proposing a challenge for his younger brother he knew he wouldn’t turn down. Mikey smiled as he nodded his head and got ready as Raph walked closer. They both bowed as they stood a couple feet away from each other. Raphael ran forward and tried to get a hit on him, using half of his strength at the moment so he could calm himself down. This was only a training exercise not a battle. Mikey laughed as he dodged out of the way of his hits. Trying the new moves his brother had taught him. The first two hits were okay but his right kick was a little shaky. He was expecting Raph to grab a hold of his leg and fling him to the side, making him redo the whole move entirely. But to his surprise he only moved out of the way and let him continue. Mikey smiled as he tried to punch him with his right how ever many times he was told. Dodging out of the way of Raph’s attempted punches to his shell and the sweep of his legs. Ending with a good left kick in to his stubborn brother’s plastron that knocked him back some but not enough to land on to the ground. Mikey stared in horror as Raph recovered as he clutched his shell where Mikey kicked. Fearing the worst since he stood there with out a word. 

“Nice finish” Raphael replied like he was swallowing a yell and all the rage he wanted to let out at his brother for hitting him like that. Mikey smiled insecurely as he stepped forward to check on his older brother. Noticing the bruising on the back of his arm and the new small cracks in his shell he never noticed before. Raph’s gaze connected with his, realizing his brother saw his injuries he tried to cover up from the other night. A sigh escaped his lips as he stood up as straight as he could. The little height difference in them didn’t help with the stern look the turtle in red was giving him. Trying to stay strong and to his word he set for himself not to tell his brothers. But alas with his younger brother’s worrying eyes he couldn’t bare to hide his secret any longer. He knew there was a big chance of him telling the others, but he felt like he could trust him at the moment over all.

“I’m not gonna ask what happened, but you shouldn’t be training if-”

“I know I know......look I shouldn’t have been acting this way the past couple of days alright.....if I tell you this you swear not to tell the others or master splinter got it!” Raph asked as he took a step forward toward his younger brother standing there. His face was serious instead of having that grin he always has. A slow nod of his head followed shortly after the words left Raphael’s mouth. The turtle in red slowly sat down back on to the floor with a sigh, his younger brother slowly followed him down and took a spot next to him. The stubborn turtle didn’t even know if he wanted to tell his brother what happened or not now. Most likely Leo put him up to confronting him about it to figure out what was wrong. His own brother was to scared to confront him so he sends the youngest out of the four to. Raph’s hand traveled to the back of his head, moving the tails of his mask away from his shoulder where the were resting.

“As you know me and Casey went out on our usual search of the city to go and beat some heads in. Well on our search when we were heading back we happened to find some Krang bots in the back of an ally way along with this guy and a women they were holding captive. Once we got closer we seen they had their hands on a mutagen canister we must have forgotten to grab when we searched the city of them. Me and Casey sprung in to action after I explained what the stuff was......”

“Casey still didn’t know what mutagen really was?”

“Do you expect the bone head to? His head is as empty as yours”

“Hey! I remember some things, don’t forget I saved you guys from those mutant scary wasps by remembering Donnie’s antidote correctly. Never underestimate the Big M bro”

“Yeah I guess you’re right, fine. He has an even smaller brain then your somewhat small brain”

“Thank you...hey!”

“Anyway......we took out all the bots in the area, up on the roof tops and all since Casey can’t be stealthy sometimes....we over heard their argument and the guy evidently didn’t hold up a deal on spare metal for them. Once we fought our way to the front and managed to get in close range to grab the canister. It was already to late and it was poured on to them instantly.......the bots grabbed them and shoved the forcefully back in to the back  of their van as they rest of the bots attacked us until we made a close get away.....It was all our fault that those people were turned because we weren’t fast enough to save them......I felt like if I could have smashed those bots faster then we would have had a chance but-” As Raph continued on the sadness was rising in his voice. Mikey knew Raph thought he could do it all no matter what and if he couldn’t he was always hard on himself to do better. Mikey leaned forward and placed a hand gently on his shoulder blade. Grabbing Raph’s attention and broke him out of his trance of over thinking.

“You tried your best Raph that’s all that matters, you know those krang bots are super quick and have faster reflexes. If they were planning on mutating them then they would have done it faster if they seen you show up faster too. You can’t do it all bro, it’s not your fault” Mikey replied with a sincere tone to his voice as he locked eyes with his brother. Trying to read his thoughts at the moment since his eyes were filled with mixed emotions. The air headed turtle would have blamed himself for what had happened too if he was out there with them during the fight. He hated seeing his brother like this, he already had Leo blaming himself for almost every wrong thing to happen to them. But seeing Raph this upset over something was something new and he didn’t like it either.

“It’s no excuse Mikey, those people are now monsters because of us. It’s all my fault that there are two more mutants in the world. We could have saved them but we were to slow...I was to slow” Raph replied, making Mikey realize that was one of the reasons why he was training so much lately. It was all starting to make a little more sense. 

As Raph sat there he started to clench his fists in rage. Getting more and more angry as he thought about what had happened the other day. He hasn’t even thought about going over to Casey’s to see how he was holding up at the moment. He knew he took more of a beat down then him since he blocked some hits from reaching Casey. But he would still have some bruising and cuts most likely. As he sat he was shocked to feel his brother hugging him tightly. He never really shared any affectionate times with his brothers. Let alone Mikey since he could turn a very serious situation in to an annoying one in a matter of seconds. The hot head didn’t really know what to do at this point. He wasn’t sure why his brother was hugging him over a stupid situation he felt he should be getting yelled at about over comfort. His shaky hands lifted up from his sides and slowly wrapped around his brother trying to comfort him. A small sigh escaped his lips as he held him, a feeling he would never get used to ever.

“You weren’t slow, you were trying your best out there Raph. You’re one of the most toughest people I know, you could have defiantly taken them down it was just bad timing is all. Don’t be so hard on yourself bro” 

“I just felt like I could....that I should have been faster to save them-”

“What’s done is done okay, who knows maybe Donnie will make an antimutagen and be able to turn them back to normal. But you can’t keep getting down on yourself for something that can’t be unchanged Raph. I know if sucks, but what happened happened and there is no point in dwelling upon something in the past” Mikey replied as he shifted slightly. Hearing his brother sigh, he hoped his words got through to him. He wasn’t sure if Raphael had calmed down or not. As Mikey pulled back he noticed the small smile on Raphael’s face. Mikey’s smile widen bigger as he seen his face since it was a rare sight to really see.

“You feel any better bro?”

“I guess so......thanks Mikey”

“Anytime dude, I’m always here if ya need me” Mikey replied with a cheerful tone. Knowing his brother truly thanked him instead of being sarcastic like normal. But as he stared off Mikey was brought back in to the real world as he heard his brother get up from sitting on the ground with him. Stretching until you could hear the pop of his shoulder blades.

“Up for round two?” Raphael asked suddenly, watching his brother’s eyes widen in surprise. The turtle in orange smiled from ear to ear as he stood up quickly. Nodding his head as he grabbed his nunchucks from his belt and spun them around.

“Heck yeah!”

Here’s another one you’re not gonna read...

(...because it’s excruciatingly long, not because it isn’t necessary.)

One of my most faithful followers (unless I’m confusing him with someone else, because what little blowback I get from the other side of the street tends to bleed together these days) checked in about a different post I made for this story, which I entitled (checks notes) ”Geriatric toddler threatens to dismiss a branch of the government during a national emergency unless he gets the toys that he wants”:

First of all, hope you’re doing well in the current situation, and thank you for your thoughtful analysis of the first two words of a joke headline.

The Washington Post article that joke was attached to goes into the president’s threat last week to dismiss Congress under the never-used Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, with the goal of making recess appointments that bypassed the hearings that have tripped up several high-profile nominees.

Like a lot of things that literally every other POTUS before the current one never attempted, there’s a pretty spirited debate as to what conditions would have to be fulfilled for Trump to successfully pull this maneuver off, assuming it’s not all bluster and no muster. One major condition that would have to exist is that the Senate and the House would have to be in disagreement on adjournment, and according to the National Law Journal, there is no disagreement between the chambers at the moment. The current session officially adjourns on January 3, 2021. So until circumstances prove otherwise, we have to operate under the assumption that he can, in fact, exercise this extraordinary Constitutional power...under a narrow set of conditions which don’t exist right now.

The reason he’s making this threat, and why his supplemental threat to “take it to the courts” is toothless, is that the last man in his current position tried to make a recess appointment between the type of pro forma sessions we’re dealing with now and was shot down by a unanimous Supreme Court decision, one which reaffirmed that Congress is done when Congress says it’s done. 

But one justice went a little bit further in his concurring opinion, issuing a warning about any court decision that “transforms the recess-appointment power from a tool carefully designed to fill a narrow and specific need into a weapon to be wielded by future presidents against future Senates.”

“The Recess Appointments Clause therefore is, or rather, should be, an anachronism—’essentially an historic relic, something whose original purpose has disappeared,’” the justice wrote. “The need it was designed to fill no longer exists, and its only remaining use is the ignoble one of enabling the president to circumvent the Senate’s role in the appointment process.” 

Antonin Scalia, ladies and gentlemen.

Here’s where things get interesting, though, because the statement that came from Mitch McConnell’s office, at least if you squint hard enough, signals “I feel ya, bro, but focus.”:  “The Leader pledged to find ways to confirm nominees considered mission-critical to the COVID-19 pandemic, but under Senate rules will take consent from Leader Schumer.”

Which brings us back to our article up there...

What qualifies as “mission-critical to the COVID-19 pandemic”? There are a few nominees that are cooling their heels at the moment, but for the Voice of America (and yes, now is when we finally get to the linked article), one of them strikes pretty close to home.

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to adjourn Congress because lawmakers have not approved his candidates for senior posts in his administration, including his nominee to run the independent agency overseeing the Voice of America.[...]

Documentary filmmaker Michael Pack, whom Trump has selected to run the U.S. Agency for Global Media, is one of 15 key nominees awaiting confirmation by the Senate. Trump cited Pack by name (but erroneously identified the body he would head as USAGM’s predecessor agency, the Broadcasting Board of Governors). 

Michael Pack is a self-described conservative documentary filmmaker, one who has done work with Trump’s ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon. And there’s a pretty damn good reason why the confirmation committee pumped the brakes on his nomination (per CNBC).:

The “problematic revelations” that Menendez says he discovered just before Pack’s confirmation hearing in 2019 include “whether Mr. Pack engaged in inappropriate or unlawful activity related to transactions between his business (Manifold Productions) and his non-profit (Public Media Lab)” and “whether Mr. Pack engaged in self-dealing while in a leadership position at the Claremont Institute through the awarding of a contract to Manifold” even though that company doesn’t appear to have any qualifications to act as a vendor to the conservative think tank.

The letter to Meadows also sheds light on another aspect of Pack’s confirmation, which is that the Democratic committee leader has asked Pack to provide documents and answers to a variety of questions that could clear up these issues, only for Trump’s nominee to respond in a “perfunctory and inadequate” way.

“More than seven months have gone by since my initial questions. Mr. Pack has yet to provide the Committee with the requested information or to engage in a good-faith and serious effort to do so,” Menendez said.

So when confronted with his unethical, possibly illegal wrongdoing, Pack stonewalled, the way all this president’s men do. Sounds like a great guy to trust with public funds.

But seriously, why is this “mission critical to the COVID-19 pandemic”? 

Back to VOA:

Pack’s nomination has “been stuck in committee for two years, preventing us from managing the Voice of America — very important,” the president said. “And if you heard what’s coming out of the Voice of America, it’s disgusting. The things they say are disgusting toward our country. And Michael Pack would get in and do a great job, but he’s been waiting for two years — can’t get him approved.”   

Disgusting, you say? Let’s settle into that accusation for a hot minute.

Here’s the deal about the VOA: It went on the air on February 9, 1942, a little over two months after America found itself pulled into a global conflict of a massive scale with the actual, non-metaphorical Nazi government which had steamrolled over the European continent. That first broadcast came from a small studio in New York City, directed at an aggressor nation which had developed a robust system of delivering misinformation to its enemies. 

So how do you combat lies? Double down on honesty.

“This is a voice speaking from America, a voice from America at war. Our voices are coming to you from New York, across the Atlantic Ocean to London, from where they are relayed to you in Germany. Today, America has been at war for 79 days. Daily at this time, we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.“

“The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.” I’ve never been a journalist, but the first time I read those words I was thunderstruck. In the simplest language possible, there’s the Platonic ideal of what news reporting is supposed to be. It also sets a high bar for how the United States presents itself to the world. We could argue all day on how many American organizations live up to those words, how many American administrations live up to those words, or if any configuration of the American government is equipped to be honest and forthright in every imaginable situation. But that’s the resolution, the goal for all the world to see.

So what is the “disgusting” VOA coverage that President Trump is complaining about? If we look at some recent headlines, we might get a hint.:

US Nowhere Near Ready for Business as Usual, Former CDC Head Says

Fauci: US Economy Won’t Recover Until Coronavirus Controlled

WHO Chief: Worst on Coronavirus Pandemic Yet to Come

WHO Fears US Funding Cuts Will Roll Back Health Gains in Africa

If you actually read these, they’re nothing more than articles recounting expert assessments of the potential consequences of federal actions (or, just as often, inactions) connected to our coronavirus response. Addressing these things in the public square is usually meant to be a corrective, especially when your chief executive pays more attention to the media than his own advisors, and that a broadcast outlet funded by the US government isn’t afraid to publicize criticism of government decisions gives our entire system a much-needed shot of credibility.

But Trump has never been able to take even constructive criticism as anything other than a personal insult, an attitude which he magnifies by using the power of the highest office in the country to scream “FAKE! FAKE! FAKE! FAKE!” at the top of his lungs whenever he sees or hears something that hurts his feelings. 

The only conclusion I can draw is that he wants the Voice of America to be more like the Voice of Korea, and the “mission critical” part of this gambit is that the VOA’s editorial independence distracts and confuses him. Do I seriously think the beacon of the Cold War era, the organization whose current director proudly proclaims “We export the First Amendment,” is going to be converted into a shoddy simulation of the old Eastern bloc broadcasters? Of course not. Would I put it past the current chief executive to at least try, destroying the VOA’s credibility to redesign it into yet another monument to himself? Not a shadow of a doubt.

“The news may be good or bad. We shall tell you the truth.” It’s a core element of America’s self-image, and the image we project to friends and foes alike. And the 45th President of the United States thinks that’s disgusting. 

Because he doesn’t want the truth. He wants to be soothed and coddled. He wants a cookie and a story before bedtime. You know, like a toddler.

(PS: For the record, the “very clever boy” in this account’s original title was always intended to be Donald Trump, because, as you probably figured out a long time ago, I don’t view him as very clever, nor has he been a boy for quite some time. I changed the official name of the blog to Trump Happens because some people don’t get sarcasm.)

Sanjivani - Week 6

Overall Plot

Holy shit, what a fucking week. Lots of interpersonal developments (read: dhamakas!) Shashank ousted Juhi all those years ago (on the request of Rahul) because he was in love with her?!?!? Shashank is also possibly Sid's father, or somehow personally associated with him?????? Rishabh's background is revealed too!!!!! Phew. I am dizzy.

The Medical Stuff

Not that much focus on the medical stuff this week. Neil's dad is quickly diagnosed with Legionnaire's disease and I assume cured (since we didn't see him after that, and Neil happily went along to Sid's for Ganpati.) There's an old friend of Shashank's whose wife had a nasty fall and is showing some pretty bad effects of concussion. Sid's injuries seem to be the priority right now.

The Acting

Dude. Sayantani, what a stellar actress. I could not take my eyes off her in the the scenes where she's at Juhi's house. Her eyes glittering with a strange sort of determination, almost like a suicide bomber, as she presses the button to detonate life as Shashank and Juhi know it. Fucking amazing. She blew (pun unintended!) even Mohnish outta the water, with her ice-cool, unperturbed performance, standing up to him so ably! Gurdeep too, had a nice couple of scenes, alternating between Juhi being disturbed at what she found out, as well as having to take charge of one crisis after the other, and she played it with such grace and poise. Surbhi had a more toned-down week (other than the scenes when Sid gets injured.) I particularly liked the apology scene and the scene where she's praying for Sid. I'm watching YPNTKH rn, and find Namit to be waaaay more polished in that than he is here? How did his dialogue delivery and acting regress a level or two, when he’s so damn steady there? Now I'm legit suspicious of the director(s) of this show, coz if they're not extracting the best out of their two leads, who have proven to be much better performers than they’re exhibiting in this show.... What are they even there for?  

The Characters

Sid: Watching YPNTKH has given me a new appreciation for Sanjivani!Sid (he's called Siddhant in that show too!) because he's a much better character here. He's a soft boi who isn't hyped up on ego and toxic masculinity, and I really really love and appreciate that. His admonishment of Ishani (during her apology) underscores his true character; he glossed over her poor behaviour towards him in public and even the fact that she slapped him, to focus on how she was ready to blow up her own career and throw it all away over a past she had nothing to do with. He's an excellent mentor who truly cares for his team and wants to make them the best doctors that they can be. Also, I'm so, so heartened to see how accommodating he is of Ishani's germophobia. Everyone else treats it as a quirk or inconvenience, but he truly takes it into consideration, asking for consent before coming in contact with her (at almost every instance they're close by - not just once for effect and done - I hope they maintain this aspect for good), or protecting her from unwanted contact from others. His crush on her is just so adorable - checking if she’s okay while he’s carrying her, remarking he’s glad that he didn’t punish her for her insubordination because he likes seeing her all soft and contrite; his bashful glee when she gives him a flower, the (mischievously) proud grin as he watches Ishani walk off to give Rishabh what he deserves; gently guiding her to where the best views of the Ganpati fest are, all the while shielding her from unwanted contact from strangers; semi-consciously dragging himself on top of her, to protect her from the gunde!!!!!! What a good, good bean he is. He's truly so beloved that seeing him brought in injured paralyses the whole hospital in shock, and they all unite in both dawa-and-dua ways to ensure he pulls through. Please show, I am fucking begging you; do not ever ruin this character by making him a typical Tellywood hero. Keep him soft and respectful and lovable forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I deserve a male character like this after all the fuckery I’ve been through the years!

Ishani: Ishani finally comes around to seeing Sid for what he is. Even before she learns that he wasn’t the one to blame for the poster drama, she opens up about her emotional issues to him, perhaps the first person she's let in for over 20 years now. Not only him, we see she lets in his mom as well; letting her smear colours on her face, hug her, and feed her sweets from her hand, even asking for more. Really sweet and shows the willingness to make progress on her part, for people who really matter. We also see the side of Ishani that's fiercely protective of those she considers her own; lambasting Rishabh for trying to play with Asha's career, and taking on a whole group of rowdy men who were harassing her, but as per usual, her impulsive side creates more problems than she ever accounts for. Couple that with her tendency to self-blame to a destructive degree, and our girl has a lottttt of work to do, mentally. I really liked the scene where she's praying for Sid, and she says that Sid is her friend, he's everyone's friend here, and they all really need him in Sanjivani. That's all the emotional development that's appropriate for now; what the fuck is this sudden realization of "love" that's coming outta nowhere acc. to the promo for next week???? Please! It's too fucking early for love and all. Friendship, maybe a confusing infatuation of sorts because he’s been her saviour multiple times now, that's it. Not CAPITAL L waala LOVE and all. Also not a fan of how she was just paralyzed and clutching at Sid and weeping after he got injured, instead of doing something helpful. Like, it's hard to believe she's a good doctor when she reacts so emotionally in scenarios like these. I think her skills extend only to diagnosis and she should maybe focus on that, instead of the surgical part.

Asha & Aman: Asha's woes against the patriarchy continue. First with Rishabh threatening to derail her career by bringing her family into the picture, and then those random drunkards at Ganpati. She does pull together nicely though while Ishani is panicking tf out, and manages to insert a chest tube for Sid to alleviate the internal bleeding. I’m glad that she finally opened up to Ishani about why she’s so competitive and bullheaded at work, which in turn leads Ishani standing up for her against Rishabh. A solid girl!love bond growing there and I am thrilled! Aman toh... Lol, continues being Aman. He offers to beat Rishabh up for Asha, roams around the hospital like an errant 10 year old, just generally having a gala time, unlike the others who are there to focus on work. I really cannot read the vibe between these two; are they just really good bro-sis type friends, or is there a romantic undercurrent? I can't tell. Either way, they're good together, and I don't mind whichever way it develops.

Dialogue(s) of the Week:

Asha [when Ishani freaks out that she threw away the literal white flag she was carrying to make up with Sid]: Ab ke ho gaya???? Wapas se teri overacting; dekh, sahi dustbin mein daala hai (iss baar.)

Aman [literally rolling into the scene on a razor scooter, seeing the yellow rose that Asha suggests Ishani give Sid]: Chee, chee, chee chee; itni gareebi aa gayi, ki yo peela phool dene laage tum log? Arre, manne bol diya hota, english waala phool mangwa deta, phoren se. Lekin [scoffs disdainfully] tumhari marzi... [scoots away]

Rishabh: We finally conclusively know who the worst fucking person in this show is so far. Ding ding ding! Winner winner, chicken dinner! This dude is just something fucking else. He threatens to fuck up Asha’s career if she tells anyone about the poster drama. He is a classist fucker who puts down Asha’s background to Ishani, saying she has “gaon waali harkatein.” He doesn’t give a shit if Sid dies of his injuries, to the point that even Vardhan is taken aback with how vitriolic he is. A truly vile creature, this one. We finally find out that he’s the son of the canteen waale chachaji, which explains the confrontation on the day Sid was called in for his investigation (Sid says that only he knows Rishabh’s “asli aukaat”, before Rishabh rudely pushes past him and the canteen chacha who came to offer them both chai.) All his LV belts and fancy car and show-shaa is just to hide his actual economic background and as such, he prevents his father from interacting with him while in Sanjivani. He’s terribly rude and dismissive of him, to the point where the dad wishes it was Rishabh who was battling for his life instead of Sid, who’s always been more of a son to him. Yiiiiikes. Anyway for all his bluster, I am happy that he’s properly terrified of Ishani, who threatened to fuck. him. up. if he steps out of line as far as she and her friends are concerned.

Neil: I was hoping we’d see more of the Neil-struggles-with-medicine-and-his-father’s-expectations plot, but it was done away with for this Ganpati wala track. Maybe next week? Shout out to him for his adorable wardrobe filled with cartoon characters, even a Tweety Bird waala kurta that he wore to Ganpati!

Rahil: Ride or die for Sid, and I’m so glad these two soft boys are best bros. They deserve each other. He seems to be pretty close with Sid’s mom too, which makes me wonder what his family situation is? It was nice to finally see Rahil integrated into the group of residents, teaming up with Asha and Aman to get the truth out of Rishabh. I also like that despite his own terrible injuries, he takes charge of the situation when Sid is injured and gets him the first aid he requires at the moment by instructing Asha/Aman/Neil what to do. Nice progress from that first case where he was panicking and Ishani had to step in. He’s inconsolable when they reach the hospital though, and unwilling to leave Sid’s side to get his own injuries looked at. Best boy, all the love for him!!!!!!!! 

Shashank: Lord above, what a week for poor Dr. Shashank. All his children are spontaneously combusting and giving this poor man the worst week of his life (probably.) Anjali unrepentantly blew up his personal and professional relationship with Juhi, Juhi is freezing him the fuck out (I refuse to believe that he has any romantic feelings for her unless he says so himself, out loud), Sid has been brought in at the brink of death, and Ishani is on the verge of a breakdown blaming herself for what happened with Sid. For godssake, this poor man is still recovering from a VERY MAJOR BRAIN SURGERY! Could y’all cut him some damn slack, you terrible little brats!?! He’s trying his best to manage; diplomatically addressing the issue with Anjali, trying to engage in conversation with Juhi, comforting Ishani and friends about Sid, but gosh, he’s really struggling to keep his head above water. Also, the overwrought reaction about Sid......... We’re supposed to think he’s Sid’s father right? But would they really do that to this character???? Make him romantically involved with Juhi AND have an illegitimate child with another woman? Very unlikely that they’d make him such a horndog. So one of these plotlines has to give up, and I really hope that it’s the Juhi one. I can begrudgingly tolerate him being Sid’s dad, but being in romantic love with a woman who was canonically a daughter-figure to him for all these years? Un-fucking-acceptable.

Sid’s mom: We don’t have a name yet, but Aarti Bahl (aka Ekta Sohini) also played Nurse Padma Bansal Gupta (Shashank’s second wife) in DMG after Shilpa Tulaskar left. So is she Padma here too, or a whole new character with the same face? As for why the previous actress was replaced, I have a feeling it was because she didn’t look age-appropriate and/or conventionally “attractive” to be paired against Mohnish for this “is Shashank Sid’s father?” plotline. I’m not sure what to make of Aarti’s acting, she seemed very stiff with that forced smile throughout the Ganpati function; and wasn’t too impressive in the scenes where she was panicking and hiding from Shashank either. The scenes I really liked her in were when she was lovingly fussing over Ishani, and later in the hospital when she remarked how proud she was of Sid for standing up to protect the honour of a woman. She has a very soft and calming voice, and her dialogue delivery is really pleasant and soothing, so I’m hoping I grow to like her in this character.

Juhi: Juhi’s not really having a great week either, but she’s a boss bitch who has everything (mostly) in control and I am so fucking happy to see that. I’m glad she didn’t fall apart over the “truth” or try to leave Sanjivani over it - curtly stating to Shashank that she’s signed a contract and intends to honour it, unless he fires her again. She has a brief confusing moment with him while conducting a motor function assessment to determine his fitness to do surgery again, but other than that, she’s all pulled together. She’s mostly brusque with Shashank, trying to prove that she deserves to be here because of her capabilities, and trying to break out from under his shadow to be a proficient COS in her own right; but she’s also gently firm with him when he emotionally barges in trying to help with Sid, insisting that she has it under control and assuring that she will not let anything happen to him. It’s so great to see her balance both her medical/admin skills as well as the firm-yet-empathizing demeanor so ably.

Anjali: Oh Anjali. I love you but you have some serious daddy issues that you need heavy-duty therapy for. On one hand, I understand why she is so resentful and passive-aggressive the way she is (Sayantani’s portrayal compels us to peek beneath the layers!) but on the other, she really had no right to throw Shashank under the bus like that. But I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the way she did it - so bloody spectacularly; unfazed at getting slapped by her father in front of her “rival”, chugging down a whole glass of wine and insulting Juhi’s cooking before she left for the night. So tragic, yet so fucking hilarious. On a professional front, I’m predicting that she’s gonna tire of this Luxury Ward COS post real soon, since it only seems to have her stand around kowtowing to rich assholes like a receptionist of some sort. I can only hope that she wises up to Vardhan’s BS soon enough, instead of serving as collateral damage and falling into the quagmire he’s planning with Rahul to target Shashank/Juhi.

Vardhan: Not much of Vardhan this week other than him entering that secret room he’s built for Rahul in the Luxury Ward. Good. I prefer him in small, controlled doses. And at least we have some clarification that even with all his shady crap, he’s not as horrible a human being as Rishabh - stating that even though he doesn’t like the way Sid operates within Sanjivani, he hopes he pulls through in surgery.

Overall Rating: 4/5

You Killed My Love, Now Your Blood Pays My Revenge!

A/N: this is for @imagineteamfreewill for meg's chicon challenge... another bumpy ride!

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Prompt: "If you take one more step, I can promise you that you won't like what comes next."

Summery: you and Sam have been together for a year and a half now... you loved hunting and sparring cooking dancing basically you guys loved trying to be as normal as possible! but when you found out that azazal was trying to open the devils gate and that he had captured Sam... you were dead set on a rescue mission one that you knew would one way or another not end well...

Masterlist

to hunt is to hunt things that go bump in the night... that's also how you met the love of your life.

Sam and his Brother Dean had saved you from a pack of werewolves, your heart raced as Sam's giant form covered yours protecting you from the lunging werewolf...

he took a set of claw marks to save you, you later thanked him by bandaging his wounds and giving him a kiss which led to a blurred night of passion!

that was what started you on the Winchester love trail... only to have something tear you away from your love...

Sam: "so according to every single biblical reference there is something called the devils gate!!! and apparently..."

Y/N: "the apocalypse is on the way and somehow Sam is apart of it..."

Dean: “ya so am i... well apart of the apocalypse anyway but you were very very right when you said that Sam is massively apart of this...”

Bobby: “none of you are 2 far off, everything with Azazel it lines up directly for the fucking apocalypse... if Azazel gets his hands on Sam he can use his blood to open the devil’s gate which is like the gateway to the part of hell where all the higher form demons and things are kept...”

Dean: “then he shan’t get him...”

Bobby: “if we let him out of the area he needs to be with someone he cant go alone... till we can find the devils gate and till we can can stop azazel we need to stay safe...”

Sam: “maybe we shouldn’t change anything maybe we should keep them the same...”

you shot straight out of your chair and stormed out of there before another word could be said...

Bobby: “Sam do you not realize what that girl has done to save your ass... seriously boy whats wrong with you... thinking things could be normal is an understatement... this is not normal, someone else would have left your ass, this girl sacrificed her entire career, going to school and everything to hunt full time just to spend all her time with you boy...”

Dean: “bobby has a point, Y/N showed me a photo of her scholarship she was supposed to be heading to Yale the week after she met us... but she gave it all up for you...  she said that giving up Yale broke her heart but she mended her heart when she started dating you bro...”

Sam looked out the door watching you standing near the edge of the property... he sunk his head down low...

Sam: “she gave all that up for me... why would she do that... i didnt ask her too...”

Dean: “you didn’t have to... she did it cause she loves you dude...”

Bobby: “Sam go talk to her now before i kick your ass to kingdom come...”

Sam got up off his chair and walked out the door adjusting his shirt a thousand times before you turned around and stood in a fighting stance...

Y/N: “what now Sam? come to break up with me to make things easier...”

Sam: “that’s not it at all, Y/N i love you and i always will... but right now you have no idea what kind of pressure i am under, i mean having my girlfriend, my uncle and my brother protecting me, its like i never had the chance to grow up at all...”

you started walking away, knowin’ he would follow, your own heart screaming at you, your mind dangerously wandering... that’s when you stopped dead in your tracks, you could feel someone or something else following you and Sam...

Sam: “whats wrong?”

Y/N: “someone or something else is following us...”

Sam: “stand back to back with me we need to prepare for anything...”

Y/N: “no we need to get back to the house...”

you turn to leave but stop immediately, you turn around to see Azazel approaching you but cant stop him in time before you get blasted into a tree... Sam rushes to your side...

Sam: “Y/N...”

Azazel: “minions grab him...”

immediately as fast as Sam’s arms had been around you, they left you as quick as well... you leaned against the tree grasping your side, you dared to look but you of course were able to move long enough to see there was blood, you pulled out your phone and hit dial for Dean...

Dean (over the phone): “Y/N...”

Y/N (over the phone): “Sam, Azazel, ambush... woods just outside of Bobby’s... im bleeding...”

Dean (over the phone): “stay calm we are on our way...”

the best description of what happened next is simple:

you were rescued by both Dean and Bobby who brought you back to the house, stitching you up they listened to you about what happened... 

as you explained how you felt like you & Sam were being followed while arguing and working out your issues in the woods... 

you were stitched up quickly before Bobby spoke up with some interesting news...

Bobby: “so i dug around a little bit more after Sam went to talk to you... i found out that Samuel Colt made a set of railway tracks in the shape of a devils trap... in the center of it is a bunch of empty field and a graveyard...”

you get up off your chair and you smile lightly making your way to grab your gun holster, you put it on switching your torn bloody shirt out for your plaid shirt, leaving it undone knowing you were wearing your sports bra... 

you were stopped by Bobby & Dean before you could reach the door... no one could tell what the fuck you were thinkng, no one could tell how pissed you were...

Y/N: “Bobby, Dean get out of my god damn way...”

Dean: “where the hell do you think you are going?”

Y/N: “i am going to get Sam back... you can get out of my way or you can come with me... but the longer we wait the worse i fear it will get...”

Dean: “slow down and think about this for a moment, Sam wouldn’t want you to do something stupid... especially when it comes to hunting or even that of saving him yourself... don’t do anything you would regret...”

Y/N: “i owe him Dean he took that huge werewolf scratch for me, i have to do this to repay him for that...”

Dean stood aside he understood where you were coming from... Bobby staring at you like you were nuts didn’t stand aside, but you walked right passed him out to your motorcycle slinging your bag of weapons on your back... you shot one more look at the house, to see Dean and Bobby standing there looking at you...

you drive off and all you could think about was the love of your life being in the hands of yellow eyes himself... although you had no idea that after you left you were about to be followed or beaten to the devils gate...

~back at Bobby’s~

Dean and Bobby were on the phone with Ellen and Jo...

Ellen: “wait wait wait woah slow down guys... we have a few small options...”

Dean: “like what ellen we couldn’t stop Y/N from leaving...”

Ellen: “boy don’t make me come over there and slap you, now lets all get to the devils gate before she does... how long ago did she leave...”

Bobby: “bout an hour...”

Ellen: “ok boys listen up Jo and I will go on ahead but at the end of it we all need to be there, this is all hands on deck... we will also see if we can talk some sense into Y/N...”

after a few seconds of silence the line disconnected, leaving dean and bobby standing in the kitchen, not sure what just happened...

Bobby: “i guess we should pack...”

Dean: “i guess we should...”

while they packed and loaded the cars you were almost at the cemetary in wyoming... but thats when you saw it, you saw the same beat up car blocking your path you pulled into the small motel parking lot to see who the fuck was blocking your path... 

you got off the bike and stored towards the other car only to watch the doors open... 

Ellen: “calm down girl its us...”

Y/N: “Ellen, Jo what the hell are you guys doing here...”

Jo: “we could ask you the same thing... but Bobby and Dean filled us in, after they called in a panic... saying you took off all pissed and hell bent on rescuing Sam whatever it takes...”

Y/N: “damnit i knew they would call for backup but i didn’t think you would try to stop me from saving the love of my life... of all people in this world i expected you guys to be on my side...”

you stormed towards the motel office to book a room, you didnt know how long you would be so you booked it for 3 days... this way you would either succeed or die trying... once in the room you unpacked the weapons to polish them...

Y/N (to self): “just because i want to be the one to save the love of my life doesn’t mean i don’t think any less of the rest of them, seriously its my fault Sam got captured, its my fault we were even outside of the property...”

Ellen: “its not your fault hun...”

Y/N: “if Sam and i hadn’t been arguing, i wouldn’t have stormed off, if i hadn’t stormed off he wouldn’t have come after me, he wouldn’t have gotten captured...”

Ellen comes over and sits beside you on the bed noticing you starting to cry, making sure that she was there incase you had a meltdown... you were on the verge of one, but you were just upset and angry... that is never a good combination of emotions in any circumstance...

Jo: “the impala should be arriving soon... mom let me worry about Y/N you deal with Bobby and Dean...”

Ellen: “ok, but neither of you leave this room tonight... well all head out as a group when the sun rises...”

Jo: “don’t worry i wont leave her side...”

you let go of Ellen and got swept into Jo’s embrace, Ellen heard the roar of the impala as she headed for the door, both you and Jo sitting cuddled on the bed... Ellen shut the door which stopped Bobby and Dean from entering...

Ellen: “she’s with Jo she is fine, neither of you are to enter this room you hear me...”

Bobby and Dean nod as they present the map to Ellen of how the lines are on the devils trap... while you and Jo sit inside and cuddle...

Jo: “once everyone is asleep we will leave, Mom will most likely bunk with Bobby and Dean... just to give us some space... so we will head out after they go to bed...”

Y/N: “but what...”

Jo: “if your gonna ask about my mom don’t worry by the time she realizes whats happened it will be too late...”

Y/n: “good but the only things we will need are guns, bullets, and voices... its mainly gonna be demons... no one is gonna blame us for this, we are gonna get in so much shit but i don’t care, i wouldn’t sleep much anyway without Sam by my side...”

Jo: “i know how you feel girl... its gonna be ok, tomorrow you will have the love of your life back, and we will spend more time together right...”

Y/N: “absolutely... i just hope i’m ready for this... but if Azazel has hurt Sam in any way shape or form, ill kill him... well that’s the plan anyway but it will be worse...”

You pull the colt out of your bag, Jo looks at it then at you and then back at the gun...

Jo: “does dean know you have this?”

Y/N: “no he doesn’t and that’s the thing is he hasn’t noticed that i took it for weeks now... i have been waiting for an opportunity to arise for me to kill this son of a bitch... i’m not gonna let him kill Sam... when do we leave...”

Jo: “in a while... i mean if we tried to leave now, we would surely be drawn and quartered...”

Y/N: “i know but every second we just sit here it could mean one second less time we have till they spill all of Sam’s blood or worse...”

Jo places her hand on your shoulder and then goes to see the stash of weaponry you brought seeking out a nice set of gun and bullets... she grabs the duel glocks you have sitting there... 

Jo: “these are very nice...”

Y/N: “lets just say they are great for making head shots on vamps, i dont even have to get dirty...”

Jo: “what do they shoot range wise?”

Y/N: “260 range...”

Jo’s jaw drops in shock and surprise... you were amazed that she didnt know...

Jo: “your kidding right?”

Y/N: “nope but my duel Uzi that i have in my duel holster are 2 up from those glocks... laced with demon trapping bullets and silver bullets... however Jo you use those glocks they wont let you put them back down, i took those off a witch who spelled them to be used against hunters, i had a different witch de spell them but they bond with their owner...”

Jo: “how will i know when they have bonded with me...”

Y/N: “when your strength feels like its gonna rip your shirt...”

at that moment Jo felt what you just described... you were certain that someone was gonna die tonight and you had a feeling that more than one life would be lost, if not 2 then 1...

that moment that the door 2 down from you guys shut and the sound of bobby, ellen and Dean floated through the walls you and Jo geared up and went out of the room as quiet as possible... went over to your bike and pushed it together down the road once far enough away you started it, with Jo on the back holding on for dear life you guys sped off towards danger...

Jo: “how do you think this will go?”

Y/N: “I think we have a 50/50 chance of this going badly…”

Jo: “what's the plan?”

You felt the wind rush passed you as you sped up… feeling like something was already wrong…

Y/N: “we go in and shoot anything that tries to stop us but Azazal is my battle and Sam needs to come out of this alive…”

Jo: “I'm ready for this… you know if we pull this off perfectly no one else will question us for anything…”

You and jo see the graveyard and you guys pull in seeing immediately Azazel Sam and some other dude… you and Jo get off the bike and are immediately pulled in closer by a force…

Azazel: “ladies welcome to the greatest moment in history… I'm about to open the gate… but I want you both to see what I've done to these 2 men…”

You saw Sam and the other man turn towards you and Jo their eyes red…

Y/N: “you spelled them you bastard... what the hell is your big obsession with Sam and what's his face anyway… why do they fit into this…”

Azazel: “their blood is used to fuel the spell to open the gate… don't worry kiddo your boyfriend won't know what he's about to do yet…”

You and Jo took a few steps back as Sam approached you both, you took steps forward and made your final approach between the 2 of you… but Sam or at least spelled Sam was either very angry or forcibly angry… he lunged himself at you… his hands clasping around your neck…

Jo: “Y/N…”

Y/N: “toss me the pocket knife…”

Jo: “Y/N no…”

you look slightly at Jo to see her being held against her will by Azazel… Sam was still choking you but you wer3 able to reach up and pull his hair back, releasing his hold on your neck you leaned up and kissed him… instantly breaking Azazel’s spell Sam instantly breaking the kiss making you gasp…

Sam: “Y/N…”

You touch his cheek and feel his hands pull you off the ground pulling you close to him, he realizes that you have fear in your eyes… Sam turns around holding onto you as he spots Azazel holding Jo…

Azazel: “Its a shame to see that true love does exist… oh well if I can't have soldiers I'll just settle for one… kill him…”

that's when there was a gunshot in the air, your love bleeding as he falls holding you, Ellen Bobby and Dean had also just shown up at the time of the order given… they all witnessed the love of your life getting shot… Azazel gets the nerve to throw Jo into another tree knocking her unconscious ...

Azazel: “oh well time to open the door…”

You stand up with tears in your eyes you look at Sam’s body, then turning to Azazel as he opens the gate… gearing up your guns you start slowly walking to Azazel…

Y/N: "If you take one more step, I can promise you that you won't like what comes next."

Azazel turns to you upon hearing that…

Azazel: “I killed the love of your life I wonder how it would look right now to him you standing over his murderer but your the true one that killed him…”

You fell to your knees, no one could blame you but Dean was at your side in an instant you leaned into him…

Y/N: “Dean I'm sorry… I said I was gonna get him back but instead I made it worse... “

Dean: “hey hey hey it's ok… none of this is your fault never believe this piece of shit…”

Y/N: “but it is if Jo and I had just waited… we wouldn't be in this situation…”

Dean looked at you then at the gate which was just about to burst… Dean covered you with his own flesh as the gate burst open… you and Dean had a front row seat… you both witnessed several thousand clouds of black smoke flying around, you and Dean dared not look up… until a white light surrounded the both of you… it knocked back several of the clouds then it faced Azazel…

Azazel: “didnt i break you… John…”

The white light turned into the likeness of John Winchester… you were amazed when he didnt speak but instead he smiled lightly as he nodded at you, you knew right away what he was meaning… you pulled the colt out of the back of your jeans, handing it to Dean he looks at you…

Dean: “you took this, why…”

Y/N: “i wanted revenge, i was seeing revenge, i wanted to kill Azazel for what he was doing to Sam… i was gonna use it on him but Sam’s death has hit me really hard… i have to let someone else do this… Avenge Sam, Avenge everything and if this works correctly, we will have victory and mourning later…”

Dean took the Colt in his hand as John watched and stepped aside, Dean kneels and looks straight at Aazel…

Dean: “hey asswipe, this is for all the toruble and pain you have caused my family… go to hell…”

With that he pulled the trigger and shot Azazel point blank… Ellen, and Bobby worked to close the gate, and with it sealed you were immediately the center of all concern...

~thats all for now folks~

RANDOM OVERWATCH/MCHANZO HEADCANONS

My headcanons are usually global, so to say, so once established they mainly hold true for anything I write in that fandom until canon actively overwrites it (and sometimes even after that if I think the real answer is dumb ha ha). Most of what I’ve already done is the ‘Scoundrels and Thieves’ AU series. 

- Shimadamom died during the omnic crisis, since I feel like she would come up a lot more if she was actually around when her sons literally tried to murder each other. (It would also explain why Hanzo shoots the omnic in ‘Dragons’ even as he goes to some lengths to only incapacitate the other guards and why he thinks Numbani sucks, as well as adding a layer of ouch to Genji’s... robo-dysphoria.) Hanzo remembers her better than Genji does, since Genji would have been pretty young at that point.

- Hanzo is a dog person (oh hello there entire alternate wardrobe made up of wolf imagery) and Jesse is a cat person. (Both because of That Scene in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly with the kitten and the hat (!!!!!) and because really he himself is kind of a very affable yet still half-feral tomcat kind of a man)

- In ‘Scoundrels and Thieves’, at least, Jesse started out smoking cigarettes and graduated to cigars as he got older/had more cash, for that Authentic Man With No Name Look. He still goes for cigarettes sometimes when he’s on edge because he finds the little rituals of rolling them comforting. (Hanzo also has a very private Pavlovian reaction to the smell of a certain brand Jesse smoked around the time they started sleeping together. I’ll let you fill in the embarrassing details in your own time.)

- Hanzo usually cuts his own hair - just chops a bit off with a knife or something when it gets too annoying. The first time it was the dramatic symbolic gesture of dishonor ™, but these days it’s just because he can’t be bothered with anything fancier, in the same vein as ‘why even put my shirt on all the way btw did I mention I KILLED MY BROTHER’. (Yes, I know it’s a real traditional archery technique thing, just… let me have this.) Probably also why he wears it up most of the time so you can’t really tell it’s a bit of a catastrophe.

- Jesse taught himself how to play the guitar as a kid and has a wonderful voice for everyday life - it doesn’t belong on a stage but it is perfect for crooning in the background while making dinner or doing chores, stuff like that.  

- Jesse is quite ticklish, a fact Hanzo ‘Innate Talent for Strategy and Tactics’ Shimada uses without compunctions when it suits his goals. (His goals usually being a Jesse pink-faced and loose-limbed with laughter)

- Hanzo looks A LOT like his dad but takes after his mum personality-wise - more cynical and closed off except for with their loved ones - while Genji looks more like their mum.

- Jesse’s parents died during the war, quite early on. (tbh this is mostly b/c it breaks my heart to imagine his family would be okay with him having become a notorious killer by the age of seventeen. Like. Bro. I’d rather have someone love and protect him unflinchingly and then having no choice in leaving him. Though if the Deadlock gang had some element of a family business that would mean ANOTHER parallel between them, so if that’s how canon eventually lands I can work with that too ha ha)

- Do you ever think about Jesse at fourteen, coming back from a fight victorious but with new constellations of scars and bruises, curling up somewhere no one’ll find him to watch that scene in For A Fistful of Dollars where the man with no name gets beat up to hell and back and still gets out of it through sheer tenacity and being a tricksy fuck

Because I think about that every day and that’s why I’m constantly on the verge of tears

Anyway not so much a headcanon there as a window into the dark aching corners of my soul let’s carry on

- Jesse is demisexual, Hanzo is gay.

- At first I had settled for Hanzo being bi (what better orientation for a ninja than one that makes you invisible, after all? Who’s bitter you’re bitter) but then there were the White Day lines between Hanzo and Genji and now I’m 100% convinced that he’s gay, if only because it’s so much funnier to me. Let me show my work a bit here:

So as far as I understand, on Valentine’s day in Japan it’s women who give the ~*special men*~ in their life chocolates/gifts. (There’s also an uh ‘tier’ of chocolate that’s completely platonic and is given to friends and coworkers, but from the tone of Genji’s voice I doubt that’s what he’s talking about lol) White day is a month later, and it’s when the men reciprocate the gifts they were given. So essentially what Genji is doing with that line is going “SO… any special GIRLS in your life bro?? *I know you can’t see my face through the visor but you can feel the wink wink nudge nudge through the air*” and Hanzo’s answer is a sort of long-suffering reference to young Genji’s playboy lifestyle as well as a callback to a previous voice line between them, not a slight aimed at any cocoa beans.

Now I like to imagine bb!Genji as a bit of a hilarious dick - like basically sweet and well-meaning, but also hugely spoiled, self-absorbed and easily distracted. It would lend Hanzo’s annoyance so many levels of hilarity if his little brother just… hadn’t realized that the reason he wasn’t dating girls wasn’t just a) he’s been riding a wave of shame, guilt, grief, depression & light alcoholism these last ten years and it’s hard to date with a tight schedule like that, b) he is kind of weird and socially awkward at the best of times, c) his eventual anachronistic weirdo soulmate was running around on the other side of the world doing crazy shit for Overwatch

The reason he’s never dated any girls is that he’s FUCKING GAY

Like it was not as though it was secret, Genji, all you’d have to do was fucking pay attention or hey, ask at any point in the last closing-in-on-forty-years and it would have been EASILY AVAILABLE INFORMATION

FATHER KNEW AND HE NEVER NEEDED TO ASK,GENJI

Anyway I thrive on Hanzo Shimada’s annoyance and consternation because he takes everything so damn seriously and I love him very much

(Obviously in the ‘Scoundrels and Thieves’ ‘verse Genji does know. He’s not THAT massively oblivious.)

- Jesse is mostly ambidextrous but prefers to shoot with his right hand. I think there was some kerfuffle about his holster being put on both sides in official art that prompted this one? I’m not above going ‘*shrug* why have continuity errors when you can have headcanon’

- Shimadadad, intent on his sons not turning into Useless Rich Ninja Kids, made sure they were taught some essential life skills, like cooking and laundry and shit - meaning Hanzo knows how to make a handful of dishes to, like, double Michelin Star levels. He doesn’t actually enjoy it very much, though, so mostly he won’t. Meanwhile Jesse has no outside training whatsoever beyond at one point being shown how to turn on a microwave but figured things out on his own and has pretty good instincts. Hanzo prefers Jesse’s cooking and will happily just do chopping duty (which he’s still proficient at to the point that Jesse’s not sure whether to be unsettled or turned on).

- Jesse learned about horses from an older lady who semi-adopted him after finding him feverish and bleeding in her back garden when he was in his early teens. He stayed on her ranch for a couple of years and then left because he was worried some of the people he’d pissed off would be able to track him down there and burn it all down.

- Hanzo doesn’t like - or really get - giving and receiving gifts as a way to express affection. I’m pretty sure his line of association would go something like gifts ----> money ------> business -----> bribe -----> obligation -------> duty -------> faMILY OH GOD EVERYTHING JUST GOT REAL MESSED UP AND COMPLICATED IN MY HEAD I NEED A DRINK

- Another one where I’ll accept either outcome: I can’t decide from the in-game dialogue if Genji and McCree’s relationship is more bro-like ribbing or if they’re actually a little uh. Adversarial. (“You’re not quicker than a bullet”: a Schröedinger’s playful banter/death threat lol) If they’re mostly friendly that’s great! They can form a harmonious ‘Save Hanzo From Himself’ support group. If they’re more antagonistic? Pure. Fucking. Hilarity. Can you imagine Genji being SO FUCKING MAD because as it turns out the one thing in this world that has ever made his sadsack brother happy is that cocky jingle-jangle bizarro Western cosplay jackass. Like naturally I would prefer it if they were bros but I never turn down comedic potential like that.

- Jesse’s greatest fear has to do with being seen and with leaving. He’s very clearly set up a theatrical, elaborate part of his identity between himself and the world - I don’t think any psychologically unscarred person goes ‘well I’ll just wrap myself in this loner/vigilante archetype until it works for me’ lol. It’s a very smart ‘people are going to look at me so let’s make sure they can’t actually see me’ move. Also it makes me sad that me must have, like, reverse abandonment issues: every time he belongs to something - to the Deadlock gang, to Overwatch, to Hanzo in ‘Scoundrels and Thieves’ - he’s inevitably forced to leave it behind. (I guess this is part of why I love the pairing so much; they’re both wanderers now, they can go together ;____;)

Hanzo’s greatest fear is to really hurt someone he loves again. (Remember that time in Junkenstein’s Revenge where Jack looks at Reaper and goes ‘what could turn a man into this’ and Hanzo immediately answers “To be tested, and to fail”? Because I remember that all the time.)

by the skin of your teeth (part 3)

in this gripping installment, Stan walks to the bathroom, thinks about comic books, and walks back. 

“...unfh...what…?”

  So this was it.

Stan sat down in one of the kitchen chairs, feeling…empty. Somewhere very far away, some part of his brain was still working, buzzing with urgent thoughts- what was that, what just happened, is Ford okay, am I okay, there's blood all over me, he's not moving, get up, see if he's alright, do something- but it was all distant, disconnected, like someone else's thoughts entirely, nothing to do with him.

He couldn't seem to think anything. His head was filled with white noise.

“...Stan?...oh...oh, God!”

Ford hated him.

Ford​ had tried to kill him.

“Oh God, oh God, Stan, I'm so sorry-”

A fight would have been one thing. He'd come prepared for a fight. A shouting match, hurled insults, even a full-on brawl- he could have dealt with that. He could have understood that. He'd wanted things to be better, he'd hoped...but it had been ten years, and there was a lot of anger between them. He knew that.

He hadn't known there was this between them.

“Stan, your face...I...oh, God, I didn't even realize he'd gotten a knife…”

He'd always clung to the hope that maybe, somehow, he could make everything up. He could make things better. If he just worked hard enough, tried hard enough, if the latest plan worked, if he made enough money... he'd buried it, hidden it under I don't need him anyway and I'm doing just fine on my own. But it had always been there, somewhere, keeping him going.

But now-

“Stan? Stan, can you hear me?”

What was the point now?

He couldn't fix this. He couldn't fix this, and he knew he should be feeling something else-anger, fear, he had just nearly died, he should care about that- but all he could think was there's nothing left, there's nothing left, there's nothing left-

“Stan? Stan!”

Click.

Light hit him like a punch to the face, blinding after so long in the dark. There was a moment of even greater confusion than before as he squinted, trying to make sense of the blur of color before him. The small grimy kitchen suddenly felt almost painfully real, as if the world were making up for its temporary absence by pressing closer than ever.

Ford was standing on the other side of the kitchen by the light switch, holding himself up with one hand against the old stove. He had fumbled his glasses on, leaving smears of blood on his face and smudged across the lenses. He was shaking hard and looked like he was about to cry or throw up or maybe both at once, but somehow he also looked so much more like Ford that for a moment Stan felt a tiny bloom of hope in his chest.

He instantly hated himself for it. How stupid did a man have to be, to believe there could still be hope of reconciliation with someone who only moments before had gleefully taken a knife to his face?

“Stan,” Ford said, his voice sounding thick and strangled, “I-I know you don't have any reason to-to trust me right now, but I...I just need...I need to know you're, you're still here. Please? Can you hear me, Stan? Can you say something?”

Stan couldn't process any of this.

“Why?” he said, his own voice sounding strange to him.

Ford stared back at him. “W...why?”

“You were trying to kill me a minute ago,” Stan said, slowly since Ford seemed to be having trouble keeping up. “Now you're concerned for me?” To his own surprise he started to laugh, because really-what else was he supposed to do? “Pick one, Ford.”

Ford’s face crumpled, and for a moment Stan thought he actually had started crying. Then he realized, with a distant jolt, that the fluid leaking from Ford's eye was a lot darker than tears.

“What- what did he do?” Ford whispered.

None of this was making any sense. “What do you mean, he? You were the only one here, Ford.”

For a moment Ford looked blank, as though Stan were the one talking weird nonsense. Then his eyes widened even further in some kind of remembrance and he swallowed hard several times. “I... I...Stan, I-I know you, you don't have much reason to trust me right now but-but I don't remember the last few minutes. I...I need you to tell me what happened. Please.”

Stan stared at him.

He should have been angry. He should have been. Not too long ago he had been furious beyond belief over dashed hopes and flippant remarks. What was that, what was anything he had ever been angry at Ford for, compared to this?

But it was...too much. Too big. He couldn't be angry, he couldn't​ be anything, blood was dripping down his face and he couldn't feel anything about it because it was all too much to fit into his head.

“You came in here acting all...funny,” he said slowly. “Talking funny. You...wanted me to make a deal with you.”

He wouldn't have thought Ford could get any paler, but somehow he managed it. He was almost starting to look blue around the edges.  “A deal?” his brother croaked. “Wh- what kind of deal? Oh God, you didn't agree, did you?”

“No, I didn't agree. It was weird. You...just said you wanted me to help you with a project. Be your muscle. And that if I did, you would...forgive me.”

Ford really looked like he was about to be sick. “Forgive you?”

Stan looked down. “Yeah. That...that everything would be alright between us.”

He watched distantly as a drop of blood hit the tiled floor, leaving a tiny crimson dot.

“Oh. Stan…” Ford whispered.

“And you were right, you know.” Drip. Drip. It almost looked pretty, like one of those modern art paintings. Red on white. “That is what I want. Wanted. I dunno.”

“But you didn't agree?”

“No. I know that's not how it works. I'm not that stupid.”

There was silence for a moment. Then Ford said, “You're not stupid at all. You're smarter than I was.”

For a moment, the words didn’t even make sense. Stan, smarter than Ford? No one had ever said that. No one would ever say that. It was ridiculous to suggest even in a situation as surreal as this.

“What happened when you...refused?” Ford asked before Stan could figure that one out.

“You...you said if I wouldn't​ agree you'd just have to get rid of me. That I was a loose end. And you took the knife out and…” He made a vague, uncertain gesture.

And then, because he had to say it, because it was stuck in his throat, because he could feel it hot and painful and bitter like rising bile and if he didn’t say it he was going to choke, “You said you hated me. And that you...you thought it would have been better if I’d...if I’d offed myself before I could ruin things for everyone.”

Ford drew in a sharp breath. “No. No, Stan, I-I didn’t. I don’t. I would never-”

“Hate to break it to you, bro, but you did,” Stan said. “You were very definite about it while you were swinging a knife in my face.” He drew in a breath of his own, shaky, trying to get some air past whatever seemed to be blocking his throat. “And...and I’m not saying that, you know, that you don’t...that I haven’t...that you might not have, have a point there, but-”

“NO!”

The exclamation was so unexpectedly loud and clear in the midst of the fog that seemed to still be circling around Stan that he jerked his head up in surprise. Ford was staring at him, fingers shaking on the wall he was holding, and that was definitely blood trickling down his nose from the corner of one eye. Had Stan hit him that hard? Had he topped off a long list of sins by half-blinding his brother?

“Stan, listen to me,” Ford said urgently, heedless of the blood that was now starting to drip off his chin. “I-I don’t hate you. I do not...think...those things. That wasn’t me.”

“Uh, yeah it was,” Stan said in abject confusion. “What, are you saying that it was some guy who happened to look exactly like you? That can’t be it, cause I can account for his whereabouts.”

Ford didn’t seem to find that funny. “No. I...listen, I know this is going to sound unbelievable-”

“That’s the third time you’ve said something like that,” Stan said.

“The...situation remains...improbable.” Ford swayed a little bit and steadied himself against the wall. “It...it was a demon.”

Stan stared at him.

Ford stared back. “Stan-”

“Your eye is bleeding.”

Ford swiped at the blood irritably. “It’s not important. Stan-”

“A demon, Ford? Really? That’s the best you can come up with? I mean I’ve spun some pretty damn tall tales, but I’ve never gone that far.”

“I know-”

“Don’t say you know it’s unbelievable, that’s not helping. It doesn’t make it any more believable.”

Ford opened his mouth, shut it, and finally just stared at him helplessly.

Stan sighed and wiped a hand across his face, annoyed at the oozing blood. The gash was finally starting to hurt, but it felt like the thoughts buzzing in the background of his head: distant, like something that wasn’t really a part of him.

He supposed he should do something about it.

The image arose, unbidden, of a sink and mirror smeared with bloody fingerprints. He had the sudden feeling that he should have pushed that issue a lot earlier.

“Okay,” he said, slowly. “So...what? You’re saying a demon...impersonated you?”

Ford made a strange little choking sound, almost a sob.

“N-no,” he said. “Or...that is...yes, but…”

“Any time you want to make sense, that would be great,” Stan said.

“He can take control of me,” Ford said. “When I'm asleep, he can possess me. That's why I can't, I have to stay awake. I have to...but it's getting harder and harder... that's why you have to leave, Stan, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but he could hurt you again, and it could be worse…I have to get the journal away from here, you see, before he can finish what he's planning-”

“This have to do with the doomsday device in your basement?”

“It's not a-” Ford began defensively, then stopped and slumped. “Yes. It does.”

“And the fact that your bathroom's covered in blood?”

Ford slumped a little further. “You noticed that, did you?”

“Kinda hard to miss.”

Ford rubbed a hand along along his arm defensively, but didn’t say anything.

Stan sighed heavily and stood up. Everything swayed around him for a moment, but it settled back down quickly enough.

“Where-where are you going?” Ford said as Stan stomped past him.

For a moment Stan was really, honestly tempted to say, “Well, you told me to leave,” just to see the look on Ford’s face; but now was probably not the time. Heh. Never let it be said that Stan Pines didn’t have any tact.

“Gonna clean up,” he muttered instead, and hurried away before Ford could say anything else. Probably he shouldn’t have just left Ford there, ashen and still oozing blood from his eye and looking ready to collapse any second, but he had to, he had to get away, just for a second, just to think, and anyway he figured that being slashed across the face by somebody earned you the right to a bit of distance from them.

Not that the actual slashing, specifically, was really why he wanted to get away from his brother at the moment.

I’ll just have to get rid of you…

Why so surprised? It wouldn’t be the first time he threw you aside because you weren’t useful to him.

Shut up, Stan told the voice, even though that never worked. Shut up, shut up, shut up.

He wasn’t exactly eager to patch himself up in Ford’s horror-show bathroom, which currently looked like an image from a PSA about Where Not To Perform First Aid, but it was where the bandages and disinfectant were and he needed a mirror and really it wasn’t that bad compared to that one time in New Orleans, so.

He flicked on the light and almost did a double take at the sight of himself in the dirty glass. The blood had run down all over the lower half of his face and dripped onto his neck and the collar of his t-shirt. It made him look downright gruesome.

“I look like a Batman villain,” he muttered to his reflection.

The casual words brought up a strange surge of memories: a childhood bedroom full of comic books bought or pilfered from the nearby newstand; sitting in Fort Stan on a rainy day, surrounded by cheaply colored paper and companionable silence; a shared case of the chickenpox spent in bed scratching at spots and arguing about which characters would win in a fight.

Ford had always preferred Marvel. He loved the science: the radiation that did this or that, the strange chemicals and lab equipment used to save the day, the adventures through space or different dimensions to encounter strange new worlds and lifeforms. He gushed over Reed Richards and Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, scientists who used their smarts to save the day. But most of all he adored the X-Men. The mutants, the outcasts, taunted and rejected by society for nothing more than being born different, but heroes all the same. Stan liked to tease Ford about his ‘nerdy science heroes’, but he never made fun of the X-Men, not when he saw the way his brother turned to them when the bullying got too much to bear.

Stan himself had favored DC. He liked the silliness of the stories, the over-the-top covers promising ridiculous exploits within, the glorious fist-fights in the name of truth, justice, and the American way. But most of all he liked Batman. Bruce Wayne was an ordinary person-relatively speaking-in a world full of extraordinary people. He didn’t have superpowers or gadgets bestowed by aliens or gods; he was smart, but in a cool, cunning way, not in that powerful, untouchable way like Ford’s heroes. Not like, well, Ford. But Batman didn’t let not being special stop him. He was still a hero, still won the day, still triumphed over the villains, was still respected and looked up to and important.

Stan had always liked that.

There had been, of course, no comic books in the duffel bag thrown at him one early summer night. What was once a collection shared between Stan and Ford became, in an instant, only Ford’s. Just like everything else.

He wondered sometimes what Ford had done with Stan’s comics. Thrown them out, he assumed. Maybe burned them in anger, or gleefully ripped them to shreds in joy of finally being rid of his brother.

Stan caught his own eye in the mirror and grimaced. “You’re a grown man and you’ve got a knife wound to treat and you’re standing here thinking about comic books,” he told himself. “Get it together, Stan.”

He washed away the gore and finally got a good look at the damage-as good a look as he could in the flickering light of the bathroom. It wasn’t as gruesome as it had first seemed, actually. The knife must have been pretty sharp; it had cut a neat, clean line, and the gash was long but shallow. It ran diagonally from temple to cheek, slicing across his nose on the way, and seeing how close it had come to his eye made his stomach twist a little. Still, he'd had worse. New Orleans came to mind again.

He cleaned it out with the peroxide as best he could, wincing as it stung terribly but also, in a strange way, feeling relieved that he could feel the pain, that the fog finally seemed to be lifting somewhat.

The angle made bandaging it difficult, but he managed by tying the strip behind his head, resulting in something that looked like an off-kilter eyepatch. He doused the bandage in peroxide first; he didn’t trust anything that had been sitting on that sink. And to think Ford had always accused him of being the gross one.

He looked ridiculous, but then, he thought as he scrubbed down his hands with as much soap as was left, what else was new?

Finally he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and stepped back out into the hallway. In the blur of the confrontation and its aftermath he’d forgotten just how creepy Ford’s house was. It was even worse now that full dark had fallen, and he had the memory of those footsteps coming down the hall toward him rattling around in his head…

It wasn’t right. It wasn’t right at all. Stan had been angry at his twin more times than he could count; he’d been resentful of him for ten years; on a few occasions he had even been a bit intimidated. But the idea of being scared of Ford didn’t fit in his head at all. Before tonight he wouldn’t have said it was possible.

Then again, to hear Ford tell it, it wasn’t really him that had Stan scared.

The stupid thing was, in a way it made sense. Some twisted story of demonic possession fit perfectly into everything he’d seen so far: Ford’s paranoid rambling, the eerie and disordered house, the bloodied bathroom. It did all feel like he had walked right into the middle of a horror movie. Which probably meant he was going to be killed off pretty soon, he thought glumly. The dumb brother called in for reinforcement who didn’t know what was going on and wouldn’t leave when he was told? Stan wouldn’t put any bets on that character surviving the movie if he was watching it.

What was worse, though, was that he wanted to believe it.

He wanted to believe it hadn’t been Ford who had casually tried to get rid of him like a broken appliance.

He wanted to believe it hadn’t been Ford who had looked him in the eye and gleefully told him he should have died long ago.

But. Demons.

You’re so desperate you’re willing to believe a ridiculous ghost story rather than accept what happened right in front of your eyes. How much plainer could he possibly be? He told you clear as day he hates you. He tried to kill you. If this doesn’t make you accept the truth, what possibly could?

Something about that made Stan slow to a stop in the dark hallway.

Because...because...because that wasn’t right.

Because Ford saying he had always hated Stan, Ford saying he was going to get rid of Stan...that wasn’t Ford. That was the version of Ford from his nightmares, the idea that haunted him on long lonely nights when he wondered if he would ever see his family again, the fear that pushed him to give up every time he had tried to contact his brother. It was Ford as the ever-present voice in his head wanted Stan to see him. But as terrible and persistent as that phantom was, it wasn’t real. It belonged in Stan’s beat-up broken head, not standing over him holding a knife.

I’m giving you the chance to do the first worthwhile thing in your life was Ford. Why would I want to do anything with the person who sabotaged my entire future? was Ford. Ford pushing him away, Ford turning his back, Ford shoving him to ground was real. And it hurt, oh God it hurt, but it was real. He knew what that pain felt like. And he knew what it didn’t feel like.

Ford might hate him, Ford might never want to see him again-that might be real. He didn’t really know. But Ford cheerfully trying to kill him wasn’t.

Of course, demons also weren’t real.

So the question now was, did he believe in demons more or less than he believed in this nightmare version of Ford suddenly and inexplicably existing in real life?

A strange sound from the kitchen blew his train of thought off the rails. For a moment all he could think of was something in the dark, coming toward him, something with a taunting singsong voice and eyes that were somehow wrong. He froze, hardly daring to breathe, not sure whether to run or fight or hide or-

Then the sound happened again, and this time he realized what it was.

He crept into the kitchen and saw Ford kneeling in front of the kitchen trashcan, looking absolutely miserable as he retched a third time. A quick, reluctant glance at the trashcan showed that nothing much had really come up but bile.

He abruptly found himself wondering when the last time Ford had actually eaten was. His twin had proven himself more than capable of completely forgetting about basic human needs over something as minor as studying for an algebra exam; given a situation like this-whatever this was-it was almost surprising Ford had managed to keep himself alive at all.

Stan instantly regretted that thought.

He cleared his throat. Ford glanced at him. “Oh. Stan. Your...your timing is impeccable.”

Stan rolled his eyes. “You’re the only person I ever met who could use words like that while you’re puking your guts out.”

Usually Stan would have expected Ford to respond to his crassness with irritation, but he only folded in on himself more and glanced ruefully at the trashcan. “I don’t think there’s much of my guts left,” he muttered.

For a moment they both hung there in the awkward silence, not sure what to do next.

I don’t know, Stan thought. I don’t know what I believe in. Maybe it’s because Ford’s sick, or maybe he finally snapped after spending who-knew-how-long out here alone, or maybe I really am just too stupid to see what’s right in front of my eyes.

Or maybe it is a demon.

It had to be stupid to stick around here. If he was watching this movie he would have yelled at the dumb brother for not getting out while he had the chance.

But there was one thing he did know, one certainty that was creeping up behind him: this was his last chance. For better or worse, if he left now, he knew he wasn’t going to see Ford again.

Maybe that would be the right thing, the smart thing. Maybe that was better than whatever fate was waiting for him here.

But he would never know.

Anyway, where else was he going to go? What else was he going to do? What was really the point of escaping death here if all it meant was extending a life of misery and solitude, of scrounging to survive, of one failed con after another?

No.

He crossed the kitchen and put a hand on his brother’s shaking shoulder. “You all done for now?”

Ford swallowed and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “I...I think so.”

“Okay. Let’s get you back to bed, yeah?”

Ford looked up at him in shock. “Stan-I can’t just-”

“You’re sick, Ford. You need to-”

“I am not crazy!”

Well. That had touched a nerve.

Ford glared up at him, desperate and defiant. “I know this...this all seems insane, I know you don’t believe me but I am not delusional, Stan! Think what you will, but-”

“Whoa, Ford. Time out.” Stan put his hands up placatingly. “I’m not talking about that. I mean, literally, you are sick. You just threw up in your kitchen trash. So you need to rest, okay, because whatever’s going on here, I’m willing to bet that you running yourself to the brink of death ain’t going to make it any better.”

“Stan, I can’t sleep,” Ford said. “You saw what happened-”

“I didn’t say you had to sleep. Just...look, just come back where it’s warm and lay down and...and...you can tell me what’s going on, okay? I won’t let you fall asleep, I promise. But sitting here on the cold floor isn’t helping anything.”

Ford looked at him for a long moment. Stan knew that look. It was the look Ford got when he knew he needed to rest but was too tired to actually make the decision to do so, only now it was mixed with a lot more fear and hopelessness than Stan remembered.

He was about ready to just drag Ford back to bed anyway-he didn’t think Ford could stop him at this point-but, to his surprise, Ford finally nodded. “Okay,” he said weakly. “Okay. But you have to promise-”

“I promise. C’mon.”

He gave Ford a hand up.

“Stan?” Ford said as they trekked down the hallway. Stan was idly wondering how often he was going to have to help Ford hobble back to bed before all this was over.

“Hmm?”

“I...I really am...I’m so sorry. That you got hurt. I mean, that I-”

“Hey. It’s okay.” The cut was really starting to hurt now, but that was alright. It was better than that distance, better than not being able to feel anything when he knew he should. “It’ll heal. Things can do that, y’know.”

AEW Full Gear results, recap, grades: Jon Moxley-Kenny Omega violence, heel turn highlight solid show

AEW's return to pay-per-view for Full Gear at Baltimore's State Farm Arena felt, in many ways, like "another AEW effort." That is, until the final two matches of the night brought a unique approach that only AEW can truly deliver with a lack of the restrictions imposed on WWE efforts and the elite level talents on the All Elite Wrestling roster. Cody came up short in a war with AEW champion Chris Jericho, suffering the humiliation of MJF not only throwing in the towel as Jericho locked in the Lion Tamer but also seeing his best friend turn on him with a low blow after the conclusion of the match. In the main event "lights out" match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, seemingly every variety of weapon was brought into play before Moxley finally got the win over Omega in a violent, blood-filled battle to settle their months-old issues. In other championship action, SCU was able to retain the tag championship while Riho emerged to retain the AEW women's championship. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Saturday, updating this story with live results and highlights along with a detailed recap and grades.  AEW Full Gear recap, grades Britt Baker def. Bea Priestly via submission: This was, while still shaky at times, Baker's best showing in AEW in large part due to the efforts of Priestley. Baker went for Lockjaw early but couldn't quite lock it in. Priestly hit some big, flashy spots before Baker was finally able to get Lockjaw clinched for the tap. After the match, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong came out and attacked Priestley. The duo cut off a chunk of Priestley's hair after a brief attack and walked off. Grade: C Santana & Ortiz def. The Young Bucks via pinfall: Chaos reigned from the opening bell with all four men going at it in and out of the ring before settling back into a standard tag match. In an early highlight, Santana and Ortiz locked both Jacksons up in a combination Boston Crab, Gory Special and Camel Clutch. The Bucks spent a lot of the match attacking the non-legal man to keep things flowing in their direction, which eventually backfired when Nick missed a kick and hit the ring post. He would sell the leg injury from kicking the post the rest of the match, including crashing to the canvas while trying to hit the springboard for the Meltzer Driver down the finishing stretch. Santana blew his nose at the Rock 'n' Roll Express, who were seated ringside, calling back to Proud -n- Powerful's power bombing Ricky Morton through the stage on Dynamite. Santana & Ortiz hit the Street Sweeper on Nick to get the victory. A more traditional tag match than some may have expected between the two, but still good, technical action. Following the match, Sammy Guevara came to the ring to celebrate and join in the beatdown on the Jacksons. As they were about to use a sock full of baseballs, The Express ran in to make the save with Morton hitting a Destroyer and a suicide dive. Grade: B Adam "Hangman" Page def. PAC via pinfall: There was some nasty, physical action in this one. Page hit a big suicide dive early on but the tables turned when PAC whipped him in the face using the ring ropes. Page hit a huge moonsault dive to the outside but Page came back with a brainbuster on the chair on the outside. The match became a series of high-impact moves from both men, including a top rope fallaway slam from Page into a reverse German suplex from PAC right into a powerbomb from Page. As Page tried to lock in the Deadeye, PAC countered into the Brutalizer. Page escaped the hold, PAC missed the Black Arrow and Page drilled him with a forearm and clothesline before hitting PAC with Deadeye for the win. Grade: B Shawn Spears def. Joey Janela via pinfall: Janela came out hard, attacking Spears before even removing his jacket. Spears caught Janela as he tried a cross body to the outside, turning it into a powerslam. Spears tied Janela's hair to the corner tag rope, forcing Janela to rip a chunk of hair out to escape after briefly taking a beating. Janela took several big spills in the match, even when getting his offense in which included a flipping senton dive from the top rope. Spears hit the C-4 death valley driver after using an exposed turnbuckle and a spike piledriver with the help of Tully Blanchard to get the victory. A slight step down from the previous two matches, but still quality stuff. Grade: B- AEW Tag Team Championship -- SCU (c) def. Private Party & Lucha Bros. via pinfall to retain the titles: The early part of the match was surprisingly clunky, with spots not quite going off smoothly. Once the action settled down, the action smoothed out into the kind of constant action fans would expect from these six men. That action included the kind of dive-after-dive spot necessary in a match featuring an impressive collection of high fliers. Private Party had a good near fall after Marq Quen hit a 450 splash. Moments after Kazarian kicked out, they hit Isiah Kassidy with the SCU Later for the victory. Lucha Bros went on the attack after the match, and as Pentagon was about to hit a package piledriver on the chair, the lights went out. When they came back, Christopher Daniels attacked the Lucha Bros and ran them off while dressed like Pentagon. Grade: B- AEW Women's Championship -- Riho def. Emi Sakura via pinfall to retain the title: Teacher vs. student. Speed vs. Power. All the things you'd expect from a match between these two, with Riho looking to outpace the older, larger Sakura. At this point in the show, the dead crowd is starting to affect the way matches are coming across on the broadcast. Sakura hit a vicious cross body on Riho in the corner. Sakura also turned up her heel work as the match went on, raking the back and mocking referee Bryce Remsburg for intervening. Riho came back after a flurry of big moves and quick pinfall attempts by Sakura to hit a tilt-a-whirl into a pin to retain her championship. Good stuff from both women in a very solid showcase for the champion. Grade: B+ AEW World Championship -- Chris Jericho (c) def. Cody via corner stoppage to retain the title: Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko and The Great Muta were judges for the match, set to determine a winner should the match reach the 60-minute time limit. MJF was in Cody's corner while Jericho was seconded by Jake Hager. The match started with a slow pace, teasing the men would go the distance. Rhodes was busted open early after missing a dive and hitting his face on the entrance ramp. Cody also sold a rib injury from the dive as Jericho alternated focus between the cut over Cody's eye and attacking the ribs. Cody's mom got involved at ringside, yelling "f--k you" in Jericho's face as he taunted her. The distraction was enough for Cody to take over on offense and attack with a figure four. Hager got involved, landing a pair of right hands on Cody before he was ejected from ringside. In retaliation, he attacked MJF, tossing him into the guardrail. Using the distraction, Jericho laid out Cody with the championship belt. Cody was able to kick out. Cody countered the Judas Effect into Cross Rhodes, but the champ kicked out on the near fall. Jericho eventually removed his weight belt and whipped Cody several times. Cody escaped from the Liontamer once, but when it was locked in the second time, including a few stomps to the head, MJF threw in the towel to save Cody, giving Jericho the win after a tremendous effort from both men. After the match, an emotional MJF apologized to Cody before hitting him with a low blow before walking off. Grade: A- Unsanctioned, Lights Out Match -- Jon Moxley def. Kenny Omega via pinfall: This was not a wrestling match, it was a brawl featuring spots you'd expect from a death match card. Moxley opened up fast, blasting Omega with punches. Omega fired right back with shots of his own. They were quick to move the brawl out to the crowd, with Omega landing a flying stomp to a trash can on Moxley's abdomen. When the action returned to the ring, Moxley grabbed the barbed wire bat from under the ring, using it on the back of Omega and drawing blood. Moxley also raked Omega's arm with the bat to escape a snap dragon suplex. Omega came back with a piledriver on a trash can before grabbing -- and then throwing away -- the bat. He then left the ring to retrieve a table and the barbed wire broom, hitting Moxley in the head with it and drawing significant blood from the neck and back of Moxley.  After the barbed wire assault left Moxley bleeding from the side of his face, Omega grabbed a board covered with mousetraps. The plan backfired as Omega was slammed on the board. Moxley brought out chains, slamming Omega on them repeatedly before placing one in the mouth of Moxley and wrenching back with a submission. After Moxley brought an ice pick into the ring, Omega fought back, eventually hanging Moxley from the side of the ring by the neck using the chain. Omega then brought out a bag of broken glass from the table Moxley had driven him through weeks ago. Omega hit a powerbomb into the glass but still couldn't get a pin. Moxley then had to crawl through broken glass to escape a Sharpshooter. After using the ice pick on the forehead of Moxley, Omega called out The Young Bucks and Adam Page, demanding they bring out a net of barbed wire. Moxley suplexed Omega into the barbed wire, with both men landing in the netting. After they were assisted out, Omega hit a V-Trigger through the Full Gear set. They ended up back in the ring, with Moxley hitting the Paradigm Shift in the glass, but again finding himself unable to get the pin. Moxley then cut away the padding on the ring apron. Omega missed a Phoenix Splash, landing on the exposed wood. Moxley followed up with a Paradigm Shift to get the pinfall. A spot fest, pure and simple, but one that paid off a lengthy program between Moxley and Omega. Grade: A- AEW Full Gear highlights If you are unable to view the live updates or want to refresh the detailed results and grades updating throughout the show below the application, please click here. Read More Read the full article

An inside look at the team leading Coinbase’s acquisition spree and its plans to become the Google of crypto

Aiming to diversify beyond the cryptocurrency exchange that made it famous, Coinbase is looking to M&A.

The company has made three acquisitions already in 2018 as part of its strategy to bring new talent and products into the fold.

Leading the spree is Emilie Choi, a tech M&A juggernaut who did more than 40 deals in her eight years at LinkedIn.

Choi shared her strategy with Business Insider. Here's what to expect dealwise from Coinbase in the future.

Coinbase is doing something completely new in the world of crypto: it's going on an M&A shopping spree. The company has already acquired three companies this year. Plus, it just hired Emilie Choi, LinkedIn's top dealmaker, to help Coinbase step up its acquisition game.

Using a playbook perfected by Google, Coinbase wants to build its team with ambitious talent from the field and to fill its portfolio with cutting edge technology that will expand the world's understanding of what crypto can mean and do.

The goal is to transform Coinbase into the one-stop shop that brings crypto to the masses and to ensure that its booming business can withstand the wild fluctuations in bitcoin prices that currently dictate its revenue stream. 

But the strategy has put Coinbase at odds with the freewheeling leanings of the cryptocommunity, some of whom see its moves as a competition-crushing consolidation spree. And as Choi tries to make the case for Coinbase in the fast-changing crypto landscape, the effort will test Coinbase itself, which has until now been driven by the social connections of its well-regarded founder.  

Here's how the company plans to do it. 

Coinbase's secret weapon: a seasoned vet in tech M&A

Leading the charge is Choi, VP of corporate and business development and business operations at Coinbase, and a recent addition from LinkedIn.

Among her goals: to echo Google's acquisition strategy in the early days of Web 2.0 by acquiring products and talent that are pushing the boundaries of what's possible with the technology at hand. Think Google's 2004 acquisition of Keyhole, which provided the foundation for Google Earth.

While Choi is new to cryptocurrency, she's spent most of her career in corporate development. After two years at Yahoo, Choi got an MBA from the acclaimed Wharton School. From there, she joined the corporate development team at the Warner Bros. movie studio, before setting up camp for over eight years as head of corporate development at LinkedIn, where she oversaw more than 40 deals.

Choi told Business Insider that she is pursuing four types of acquisitions: acquihires and "tuck-ins", which allow Coinbase to snap up talent and to get important product features; strategic acquisitions, which includes businesses that Coinbase wants in its portfolio; and fintech companies which have compliance experience in the financial space that Coinbase wants access too.

"There are people in the world working on things that we care deeply about," Choi said. "If there are teams that have been thinking about these things and understand the edge cases, we want them working for us."

While building out its portfolio internally is always an option, sources said that the company has been too burdened by its quick success to put the necessary internal resources toward research and development.

"Their growth last year has never happened in the history of Silicon Valley," one insider said. "It was a breath-taking year and a real challenge to build the senior team quickly and get over the growing pains of service issues."

Riding the wave of excitement that sent bitcoin's price soaring toward $20,000, Coinbase's core cryptocurrency exchange business boomed. The company saw $1 billion in revenue in 2017.

And it's filled its coffers with venture capital. Last August, the company raised $100 million led by IVP at a $1.6 billion valuation. It has since privately touted a valuation of $8 billion in equity negotiations, according to Recode.

It's unclear exactly how much moola is allocated to M&A. So far all of its deals have been on the small-side.

Coinbase reportedly paid around $100 million to acquire Earn, in its largest acquisition to date. But Choi said most of its tuck-ins are under the $20 million mark, and that acquihires are little more than employment offers, though sometimes they include a portion of money that goes back to investors.

Coinbase is acquiring talent and products to make crypto stick

Coinbase may not be the largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, but it's widely understood to be the most popular  — especially with newcomers to the cryptocurrency market who are looking for a simple and direct way to trade digital coins.

Its mixed position between tech and finance means that the company has to keep its eyes open to two industries at once.  

"We're the ultimate mullet company: business in the front, party in the back," Choi said, describing a metaphor used by her colleague CTO Balaji Srinivasan, who joined the company through its Earn.com acquisition.

"We have these incredibly strong core businesses that leverage the power of crypto and are crypto first, but they look like financial institutions. The back part is the bleeding-edge, crypto-first services that we invest in because of the power of our core businesses," she said.

As it stands, Coinbase's portfolio includes its core cryptocurrency exchange; another exchange called GDAX, which is aimed at institutional traders; a cryptocurrency storage business called Coinbase Custody; and a unit called Toshi, which is an open-source browser for Ethereum developers.

But sources close to the company characterized it as being extremely dependent on its exchange business, which itself is impacted by the volatile prices of cryptocurrencies. 

Choi said her sights are set on finding companies which can help Coinbase build out Custody and Toshi, as well adding new features that consumers find "delightful," like tools that make it easier to do taxes within the platform.

Coinbase's two most recent acquisitions reflect these goals.

In April, the company acquired Cipher Browser, an ethereum wallet developed by Pete Kim. Kim is now head of engineering for Toshi, Coinbase's ethereum browser project and a key area of growth for the company.

Coinbase hopes that Toshi will improve the user experience when using applications built on the ethereum blockchain, and give customers more reasons to engage with cryptocurrencies in their day-to-day lives.

A few days after Cipher, Coinbase announced its acquisition of Earn.com, and made its CEO and co-founder Balaji Srinivasan Coinbase's first ever chief technology officer.

Earn lets people, like marketers, send an email and pay its recipient in cryptocurrency if they reply or compete a specific task. Armstrong said in a blog post that he plans to double down on Earn "as they have built a paid email product that is arguably one of the earliest practical blockchain applications to achieve meaningful traction." It will remain a separate service from the rest of Coinbase.

Joining the "Coinbase mafia" does have its downsides

While Choi runs the M&A operation, it's not without ample input from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

Armstrong, who co-founded the company, uses his personal network to bolster the company's recruiting efforts, sources said. So far, he's had a hand in nearly all of the acquisitions and many of the deals have been with people he's close with.

That may say more about the startup scene in San Francisco than it does about Coinbase's strategy. Most cryptocurrency and blockchain startups are still extremely young, and many of the most successful people in the space have been working along side one another since the beginning.

"They clearly are supporting this notion of a Coinbase mafia and I don't think that's on accident," said Spencer Bogart, partner at Coinbase investor Blockchain Capital, alluding to the successful group of tech founders known as the PayPal mafia.

Employees are encouraged to work on their own side projects, Bogart said, which sweetens the deal for founders worried about joining a larger company.

But for those who follow Coinbase, it's not all rainbows and unicorns. As one of the most centralized companies in a digital community that's obsessed with decentralization, Coinbase takes its share of criticism online. Some critics see its acquisitions as little more than a competition-crushing consolidation spree, though sources said there is little truth to this.

"Within our industry, Coinbase can take some heat because they're the most bank like. They're the most conservative in the industry," said Bogart. "The crown always rests heavy."

Plus, with most of Coinbase's deals sitting under $20 million, venture capital firms aren't getting a very big return on investment — at least for the time being.

"I would love to see them do something bigger. It's hard to view them as a viable exit when they're buying small chunks. That's not an ideal outcome," said Bogart, whose firm has had six exits since forming in 2013.

Broadly speaking, there have been few substantial acquisitions in cryptocurrency. In February, Poloniex was acquired by Circle Internet Financial for a reported $400 million.

There is one scenario, though, which Bogart said could justify the small purchase price: if a company is "facing competitive threats."

"Taking 2x on the investment and de-risking it could be a positive opportunity," he said.

SEE ALSO: 'We're innovating at the cusp of a whole new ecosystem': A former Goldman Sachs exec explains why she made the leap to blockchain

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AEW Full Gear results, recap, grades: Jon Moxley-Kenny Omega violence, heel turn highlight solid show

AEW's return to pay-per-view for Full Gear at Baltimore's State Farm Arena felt, in many ways, like "another AEW effort." That is, until the final two matches of the night brought a unique approach that only AEW can truly deliver with a lack of the restrictions imposed on WWE efforts and the elite level talents on the All Elite Wrestling roster. Cody came up short in a war with AEW champion Chris Jericho, suffering the humiliation of MJF not only throwing in the towel as Jericho locked in the Lion Tamer but also seeing his best friend turn on him with a low blow after the conclusion of the match. In the main event "lights out" match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, seemingly every variety of weapon was brought into play before Moxley finally got the win over Omega in a violent, blood-filled battle to settle their months-old issues. In other championship action, SCU was able to retain the tag championship while Riho emerged to retain the AEW women's championship. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Saturday, updating this story with live results and highlights along with a detailed recap and grades.  AEW Full Gear recap, grades Britt Baker def. Bea Priestly via submission: This was, while still shaky at times, Baker's best showing in AEW in large part due to the efforts of Priestley. Baker went for Lockjaw early but couldn't quite lock it in. Priestly hit some big, flashy spots before Baker was finally able to get Lockjaw clinched for the tap. After the match, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong came out and attacked Priestley. The duo cut off a chunk of Priestley's hair after a brief attack and walked off. Grade: C Santana & Ortiz def. The Young Bucks via pinfall: Chaos reigned from the opening bell with all four men going at it in and out of the ring before settling back into a standard tag match. In an early highlight, Santana and Ortiz locked both Jacksons up in a combination Boston Crab, Gory Special and Camel Clutch. The Bucks spent a lot of the match attacking the non-legal man to keep things flowing in their direction, which eventually backfired when Nick missed a kick and hit the ring post. He would sell the leg injury from kicking the post the rest of the match, including crashing to the canvas while trying to hit the springboard for the Meltzer Driver down the finishing stretch. Santana blew his nose at the Rock 'n' Roll Express, who were seated ringside, calling back to Proud -n- Powerful's power bombing Ricky Morton through the stage on Dynamite. Santana & Ortiz hit the Street Sweeper on Nick to get the victory. A more traditional tag match than some may have expected between the two, but still good, technical action. Following the match, Sammy Guevara came to the ring to celebrate and join in the beatdown on the Jacksons. As they were about to use a sock full of baseballs, The Express ran in to make the save with Morton hitting a Destroyer and a suicide dive. Grade: B Adam "Hangman" Page def. PAC via pinfall: There was some nasty, physical action in this one. Page hit a big suicide dive early on but the tables turned when PAC whipped him in the face using the ring ropes. Page hit a huge moonsault dive to the outside but Page came back with a brainbuster on the chair on the outside. The match became a series of high-impact moves from both men, including a top rope fallaway slam from Page into a reverse German suplex from PAC right into a powerbomb from Page. As Page tried to lock in the Deadeye, PAC countered into the Brutalizer. Page escaped the hold, PAC missed the Black Arrow and Page drilled him with a forearm and clothesline before hitting PAC with Deadeye for the win. Grade: B Shawn Spears def. Joey Janela via pinfall: Janela came out hard, attacking Spears before even removing his jacket. Spears caught Janela as he tried a cross body to the outside, turning it into a powerslam. Spears tied Janela's hair to the corner tag rope, forcing Janela to rip a chunk of hair out to escape after briefly taking a beating. Janela took several big spills in the match, even when getting his offense in which included a flipping senton dive from the top rope. Spears hit the C-4 death valley driver after using an exposed turnbuckle and a spike piledriver with the help of Tully Blanchard to get the victory. A slight step down from the previous two matches, but still quality stuff. Grade: B- AEW Tag Team Championship -- SCU (c) def. Private Party & Lucha Bros. via pinfall to retain the titles: The early part of the match was surprisingly clunky, with spots not quite going off smoothly. Once the action settled down, the action smoothed out into the kind of constant action fans would expect from these six men. That action included the kind of dive-after-dive spot necessary in a match featuring an impressive collection of high fliers. Private Party had a good near fall after Marq Quen hit a 450 splash. Moments after Kazarian kicked out, they hit Isiah Kassidy with the SCU Later for the victory. Lucha Bros went on the attack after the match, and as Pentagon was about to hit a package piledriver on the chair, the lights went out. When they came back, Christopher Daniels attacked the Lucha Bros and ran them off while dressed like Pentagon. Grade: B- AEW Women's Championship -- Riho def. Emi Sakura via pinfall to retain the title: Teacher vs. student. Speed vs. Power. All the things you'd expect from a match between these two, with Riho looking to outpace the older, larger Sakura. At this point in the show, the dead crowd is starting to affect the way matches are coming across on the broadcast. Sakura hit a vicious cross body on Riho in the corner. Sakura also turned up her heel work as the match went on, raking the back and mocking referee Bryce Remsburg for intervening. Riho came back after a flurry of big moves and quick pinfall attempts by Sakura to hit a tilt-a-whirl into a pin to retain her championship. Good stuff from both women in a very solid showcase for the champion. Grade: B+ AEW World Championship -- Chris Jericho (c) def. Cody via corner stoppage to retain the title: Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko and The Great Muta were judges for the match, set to determine a winner should the match reach the 60-minute time limit. MJF was in Cody's corner while Jericho was seconded by Jake Hager. The match started with a slow pace, teasing the men would go the distance. Rhodes was busted open early after missing a dive and hitting his face on the entrance ramp. Cody also sold a rib injury from the dive as Jericho alternated focus between the cut over Cody's eye and attacking the ribs. Cody's mom got involved at ringside, yelling "f--k you" in Jericho's face as he taunted her. The distraction was enough for Cody to take over on offense and attack with a figure four. Hager got involved, landing a pair of right hands on Cody before he was ejected from ringside. In retaliation, he attacked MJF, tossing him into the guardrail. Using the distraction, Jericho laid out Cody with the championship belt. Cody was able to kick out. Cody countered the Judas Effect into Cross Rhodes, but the champ kicked out on the near fall. Jericho eventually removed his weight belt and whipped Cody several times. Cody escaped from the Liontamer once, but when it was locked in the second time, including a few stomps to the head, MJF threw in the towel to save Cody, giving Jericho the win after a tremendous effort from both men. After the match, an emotional MJF apologized to Cody before hitting him with a low blow before walking off. Grade: A- Unsanctioned, Lights Out Match -- Jon Moxley def. Kenny Omega via pinfall: This was not a wrestling match, it was a brawl featuring spots you'd expect from a death match card. Moxley opened up fast, blasting Omega with punches. Omega fired right back with shots of his own. They were quick to move the brawl out to the crowd, with Omega landing a flying stomp to a trash can on Moxley's abdomen. When the action returned to the ring, Moxley grabbed the barbed wire bat from under the ring, using it on the back of Omega and drawing blood. Moxley also raked Omega's arm with the bat to escape a snap dragon suplex. Omega came back with a piledriver on a trash can before grabbing -- and then throwing away -- the bat. He then left the ring to retrieve a table and the barbed wire broom, hitting Moxley in the head with it and drawing significant blood from the neck and back of Moxley.  After the barbed wire assault left Moxley bleeding from the side of his face, Omega grabbed a board covered with mousetraps. The plan backfired as Omega was slammed on the board. Moxley brought out chains, slamming Omega on them repeatedly before placing one in the mouth of Moxley and wrenching back with a submission. After Moxley brought an ice pick into the ring, Omega fought back, eventually hanging Moxley from the side of the ring by the neck using the chain. Omega then brought out a bag of broken glass from the table Moxley had driven him through weeks ago. Omega hit a powerbomb into the glass but still couldn't get a pin. Moxley then had to crawl through broken glass to escape a Sharpshooter. After using the ice pick on the forehead of Moxley, Omega called out The Young Bucks and Adam Page, demanding they bring out a net of barbed wire. Moxley suplexed Omega into the barbed wire, with both men landing in the netting. After they were assisted out, Omega hit a V-Trigger through the Full Gear set. They ended up back in the ring, with Moxley hitting the Paradigm Shift in the glass, but again finding himself unable to get the pin. Moxley then cut away the padding on the ring apron. Omega missed a Phoenix Splash, landing on the exposed wood. Moxley followed up with a Paradigm Shift to get the pinfall. A spot fest, pure and simple, but one that paid off a lengthy program between Moxley and Omega. Grade: A- AEW Full Gear highlights If you are unable to view the live updates or want to refresh the detailed results and grades updating throughout the show below the application, please click here. Read More Read the full article

AEW Full Gear results, recap, grades: Jon Moxley-Kenny Omega violence, heel turn highlight solid show

AEW's return to pay-per-view for Full Gear at Baltimore's State Farm Arena felt, in many ways, like "another AEW effort." That is, until the final two matches of the night brought a unique approach that only AEW can truly deliver with a lack of the restrictions imposed on WWE efforts and the elite level talents on the All Elite Wrestling roster. Cody came up short in a war with AEW champion Chris Jericho, suffering the humiliation of MJF not only throwing in the towel as Jericho locked in the Lion Tamer but also seeing his best friend turn on him with a low blow after the conclusion of the match. In the main event "lights out" match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, seemingly every variety of weapon was brought into play before Moxley finally got the win over Omega in a violent, blood-filled battle to settle their months-old issues. In other championship action, SCU was able to retain the tag championship while Riho emerged to retain the AEW women's championship. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Saturday, updating this story with live results and highlights along with a detailed recap and grades.  AEW Full Gear recap, grades Britt Baker def. Bea Priestly via submission: This was, while still shaky at times, Baker's best showing in AEW in large part due to the efforts of Priestley. Baker went for Lockjaw early but couldn't quite lock it in. Priestly hit some big, flashy spots before Baker was finally able to get Lockjaw clinched for the tap. After the match, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong came out and attacked Priestley. The duo cut off a chunk of Priestley's hair after a brief attack and walked off. Grade: C Santana & Ortiz def. The Young Bucks via pinfall: Chaos reigned from the opening bell with all four men going at it in and out of the ring before settling back into a standard tag match. In an early highlight, Santana and Ortiz locked both Jacksons up in a combination Boston Crab, Gory Special and Camel Clutch. The Bucks spent a lot of the match attacking the non-legal man to keep things flowing in their direction, which eventually backfired when Nick missed a kick and hit the ring post. He would sell the leg injury from kicking the post the rest of the match, including crashing to the canvas while trying to hit the springboard for the Meltzer Driver down the finishing stretch. Santana blew his nose at the Rock 'n' Roll Express, who were seated ringside, calling back to Proud -n- Powerful's power bombing Ricky Morton through the stage on Dynamite. Santana & Ortiz hit the Street Sweeper on Nick to get the victory. A more traditional tag match than some may have expected between the two, but still good, technical action. Following the match, Sammy Guevara came to the ring to celebrate and join in the beatdown on the Jacksons. As they were about to use a sock full of baseballs, The Express ran in to make the save with Morton hitting a Destroyer and a suicide dive. Grade: B Adam "Hangman" Page def. PAC via pinfall: There was some nasty, physical action in this one. Page hit a big suicide dive early on but the tables turned when PAC whipped him in the face using the ring ropes. Page hit a huge moonsault dive to the outside but Page came back with a brainbuster on the chair on the outside. The match became a series of high-impact moves from both men, including a top rope fallaway slam from Page into a reverse German suplex from PAC right into a powerbomb from Page. As Page tried to lock in the Deadeye, PAC countered into the Brutalizer. Page escaped the hold, PAC missed the Black Arrow and Page drilled him with a forearm and clothesline before hitting PAC with Deadeye for the win. Grade: B Shawn Spears def. Joey Janela via pinfall: Janela came out hard, attacking Spears before even removing his jacket. Spears caught Janela as he tried a cross body to the outside, turning it into a powerslam. Spears tied Janela's hair to the corner tag rope, forcing Janela to rip a chunk of hair out to escape after briefly taking a beating. Janela took several big spills in the match, even when getting his offense in which included a flipping senton dive from the top rope. Spears hit the C-4 death valley driver after using an exposed turnbuckle and a spike piledriver with the help of Tully Blanchard to get the victory. A slight step down from the previous two matches, but still quality stuff. Grade: B- AEW Tag Team Championship -- SCU (c) def. Private Party & Lucha Bros. via pinfall to retain the titles: The early part of the match was surprisingly clunky, with spots not quite going off smoothly. Once the action settled down, the action smoothed out into the kind of constant action fans would expect from these six men. That action included the kind of dive-after-dive spot necessary in a match featuring an impressive collection of high fliers. Private Party had a good near fall after Marq Quen hit a 450 splash. Moments after Kazarian kicked out, they hit Isiah Kassidy with the SCU Later for the victory. Lucha Bros went on the attack after the match, and as Pentagon was about to hit a package piledriver on the chair, the lights went out. When they came back, Christopher Daniels attacked the Lucha Bros and ran them off while dressed like Pentagon. Grade: B- AEW Women's Championship -- Riho def. Emi Sakura via pinfall to retain the title: Teacher vs. student. Speed vs. Power. All the things you'd expect from a match between these two, with Riho looking to outpace the older, larger Sakura. At this point in the show, the dead crowd is starting to affect the way matches are coming across on the broadcast. Sakura hit a vicious cross body on Riho in the corner. Sakura also turned up her heel work as the match went on, raking the back and mocking referee Bryce Remsburg for intervening. Riho came back after a flurry of big moves and quick pinfall attempts by Sakura to hit a tilt-a-whirl into a pin to retain her championship. Good stuff from both women in a very solid showcase for the champion. Grade: B+ AEW World Championship -- Chris Jericho (c) def. Cody via corner stoppage to retain the title: Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko and The Great Muta were judges for the match, set to determine a winner should the match reach the 60-minute time limit. MJF was in Cody's corner while Jericho was seconded by Jake Hager. The match started with a slow pace, teasing the men would go the distance. Rhodes was busted open early after missing a dive and hitting his face on the entrance ramp. Cody also sold a rib injury from the dive as Jericho alternated focus between the cut over Cody's eye and attacking the ribs. Cody's mom got involved at ringside, yelling "f--k you" in Jericho's face as he taunted her. The distraction was enough for Cody to take over on offense and attack with a figure four. Hager got involved, landing a pair of right hands on Cody before he was ejected from ringside. In retaliation, he attacked MJF, tossing him into the guardrail. Using the distraction, Jericho laid out Cody with the championship belt. Cody was able to kick out. Cody countered the Judas Effect into Cross Rhodes, but the champ kicked out on the near fall. Jericho eventually removed his weight belt and whipped Cody several times. Cody escaped from the Liontamer once, but when it was locked in the second time, including a few stomps to the head, MJF threw in the towel to save Cody, giving Jericho the win after a tremendous effort from both men. After the match, an emotional MJF apologized to Cody before hitting him with a low blow before walking off. Grade: A- Unsanctioned, Lights Out Match -- Jon Moxley def. Kenny Omega via pinfall: This was not a wrestling match, it was a brawl featuring spots you'd expect from a death match card. Moxley opened up fast, blasting Omega with punches. Omega fired right back with shots of his own. They were quick to move the brawl out to the crowd, with Omega landing a flying stomp to a trash can on Moxley's abdomen. When the action returned to the ring, Moxley grabbed the barbed wire bat from under the ring, using it on the back of Omega and drawing blood. Moxley also raked Omega's arm with the bat to escape a snap dragon suplex. Omega came back with a piledriver on a trash can before grabbing -- and then throwing away -- the bat. He then left the ring to retrieve a table and the barbed wire broom, hitting Moxley in the head with it and drawing significant blood from the neck and back of Moxley.  After the barbed wire assault left Moxley bleeding from the side of his face, Omega grabbed a board covered with mousetraps. The plan backfired as Omega was slammed on the board. Moxley brought out chains, slamming Omega on them repeatedly before placing one in the mouth of Moxley and wrenching back with a submission. After Moxley brought an ice pick into the ring, Omega fought back, eventually hanging Moxley from the side of the ring by the neck using the chain. Omega then brought out a bag of broken glass from the table Moxley had driven him through weeks ago. Omega hit a powerbomb into the glass but still couldn't get a pin. Moxley then had to crawl through broken glass to escape a Sharpshooter. After using the ice pick on the forehead of Moxley, Omega called out The Young Bucks and Adam Page, demanding they bring out a net of barbed wire. Moxley suplexed Omega into the barbed wire, with both men landing in the netting. After they were assisted out, Omega hit a V-Trigger through the Full Gear set. They ended up back in the ring, with Moxley hitting the Paradigm Shift in the glass, but again finding himself unable to get the pin. Moxley then cut away the padding on the ring apron. Omega missed a Phoenix Splash, landing on the exposed wood. Moxley followed up with a Paradigm Shift to get the pinfall. A spot fest, pure and simple, but one that paid off a lengthy program between Moxley and Omega. Grade: A- AEW Full Gear highlights If you are unable to view the live updates or want to refresh the detailed results and grades updating throughout the show below the application, please click here. Read More Read the full article

AEW Full Gear results, recap, grades: Jon Moxley-Kenny Omega violence, heel turn highlight solid show

AEW's return to pay-per-view for Full Gear at Baltimore's State Farm Arena felt, in many ways, like "another AEW effort." That is, until the final two matches of the night brought a unique approach that only AEW can truly deliver with a lack of the restrictions imposed on WWE efforts and the elite level talents on the All Elite Wrestling roster. Cody came up short in a war with AEW champion Chris Jericho, suffering the humiliation of MJF not only throwing in the towel as Jericho locked in the Lion Tamer but also seeing his best friend turn on him with a low blow after the conclusion of the match. In the main event "lights out" match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, seemingly every variety of weapon was brought into play before Moxley finally got the win over Omega in a violent, blood-filled battle to settle their months-old issues. In other championship action, SCU was able to retain the tag championship while Riho emerged to retain the AEW women's championship. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Saturday, updating this story with live results and highlights along with a detailed recap and grades.  AEW Full Gear recap, grades Britt Baker def. Bea Priestly via submission: This was, while still shaky at times, Baker's best showing in AEW in large part due to the efforts of Priestley. Baker went for Lockjaw early but couldn't quite lock it in. Priestly hit some big, flashy spots before Baker was finally able to get Lockjaw clinched for the tap. After the match, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong came out and attacked Priestley. The duo cut off a chunk of Priestley's hair after a brief attack and walked off. Grade: C Santana & Ortiz def. The Young Bucks via pinfall: Chaos reigned from the opening bell with all four men going at it in and out of the ring before settling back into a standard tag match. In an early highlight, Santana and Ortiz locked both Jacksons up in a combination Boston Crab, Gory Special and Camel Clutch. The Bucks spent a lot of the match attacking the non-legal man to keep things flowing in their direction, which eventually backfired when Nick missed a kick and hit the ring post. He would sell the leg injury from kicking the post the rest of the match, including crashing to the canvas while trying to hit the springboard for the Meltzer Driver down the finishing stretch. Santana blew his nose at the Rock 'n' Roll Express, who were seated ringside, calling back to Proud -n- Powerful's power bombing Ricky Morton through the stage on Dynamite. Santana & Ortiz hit the Street Sweeper on Nick to get the victory. A more traditional tag match than some may have expected between the two, but still good, technical action. Following the match, Sammy Guevara came to the ring to celebrate and join in the beatdown on the Jacksons. As they were about to use a sock full of baseballs, The Express ran in to make the save with Morton hitting a Destroyer and a suicide dive. Grade: B Adam "Hangman" Page def. PAC via pinfall: There was some nasty, physical action in this one. Page hit a big suicide dive early on but the tables turned when PAC whipped him in the face using the ring ropes. Page hit a huge moonsault dive to the outside but Page came back with a brainbuster on the chair on the outside. The match became a series of high-impact moves from both men, including a top rope fallaway slam from Page into a reverse German suplex from PAC right into a powerbomb from Page. As Page tried to lock in the Deadeye, PAC countered into the Brutalizer. Page escaped the hold, PAC missed the Black Arrow and Page drilled him with a forearm and clothesline before hitting PAC with Deadeye for the win. Grade: B Shawn Spears def. Joey Janela via pinfall: Janela came out hard, attacking Spears before even removing his jacket. Spears caught Janela as he tried a cross body to the outside, turning it into a powerslam. Spears tied Janela's hair to the corner tag rope, forcing Janela to rip a chunk of hair out to escape after briefly taking a beating. Janela took several big spills in the match, even when getting his offense in which included a flipping senton dive from the top rope. Spears hit the C-4 death valley driver after using an exposed turnbuckle and a spike piledriver with the help of Tully Blanchard to get the victory. A slight step down from the previous two matches, but still quality stuff. Grade: B- AEW Tag Team Championship -- SCU (c) def. Private Party & Lucha Bros. via pinfall to retain the titles: The early part of the match was surprisingly clunky, with spots not quite going off smoothly. Once the action settled down, the action smoothed out into the kind of constant action fans would expect from these six men. That action included the kind of dive-after-dive spot necessary in a match featuring an impressive collection of high fliers. Private Party had a good near fall after Marq Quen hit a 450 splash. Moments after Kazarian kicked out, they hit Isiah Kassidy with the SCU Later for the victory. Lucha Bros went on the attack after the match, and as Pentagon was about to hit a package piledriver on the chair, the lights went out. When they came back, Christopher Daniels attacked the Lucha Bros and ran them off while dressed like Pentagon. Grade: B- AEW Women's Championship -- Riho def. Emi Sakura via pinfall to retain the title: Teacher vs. student. Speed vs. Power. All the things you'd expect from a match between these two, with Riho looking to outpace the older, larger Sakura. At this point in the show, the dead crowd is starting to affect the way matches are coming across on the broadcast. Sakura hit a vicious cross body on Riho in the corner. Sakura also turned up her heel work as the match went on, raking the back and mocking referee Bryce Remsburg for intervening. Riho came back after a flurry of big moves and quick pinfall attempts by Sakura to hit a tilt-a-whirl into a pin to retain her championship. Good stuff from both women in a very solid showcase for the champion. Grade: B+ AEW World Championship -- Chris Jericho (c) def. Cody via corner stoppage to retain the title: Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko and The Great Muta were judges for the match, set to determine a winner should the match reach the 60-minute time limit. MJF was in Cody's corner while Jericho was seconded by Jake Hager. The match started with a slow pace, teasing the men would go the distance. Rhodes was busted open early after missing a dive and hitting his face on the entrance ramp. Cody also sold a rib injury from the dive as Jericho alternated focus between the cut over Cody's eye and attacking the ribs. Cody's mom got involved at ringside, yelling "f--k you" in Jericho's face as he taunted her. The distraction was enough for Cody to take over on offense and attack with a figure four. Hager got involved, landing a pair of right hands on Cody before he was ejected from ringside. In retaliation, he attacked MJF, tossing him into the guardrail. Using the distraction, Jericho laid out Cody with the championship belt. Cody was able to kick out. Cody countered the Judas Effect into Cross Rhodes, but the champ kicked out on the near fall. Jericho eventually removed his weight belt and whipped Cody several times. Cody escaped from the Liontamer once, but when it was locked in the second time, including a few stomps to the head, MJF threw in the towel to save Cody, giving Jericho the win after a tremendous effort from both men. After the match, an emotional MJF apologized to Cody before hitting him with a low blow before walking off. Grade: A- Unsanctioned, Lights Out Match -- Jon Moxley def. Kenny Omega via pinfall: This was not a wrestling match, it was a brawl featuring spots you'd expect from a death match card. Moxley opened up fast, blasting Omega with punches. Omega fired right back with shots of his own. They were quick to move the brawl out to the crowd, with Omega landing a flying stomp to a trash can on Moxley's abdomen. When the action returned to the ring, Moxley grabbed the barbed wire bat from under the ring, using it on the back of Omega and drawing blood. Moxley also raked Omega's arm with the bat to escape a snap dragon suplex. Omega came back with a piledriver on a trash can before grabbing -- and then throwing away -- the bat. He then left the ring to retrieve a table and the barbed wire broom, hitting Moxley in the head with it and drawing significant blood from the neck and back of Moxley.  After the barbed wire assault left Moxley bleeding from the side of his face, Omega grabbed a board covered with mousetraps. The plan backfired as Omega was slammed on the board. Moxley brought out chains, slamming Omega on them repeatedly before placing one in the mouth of Moxley and wrenching back with a submission. After Moxley brought an ice pick into the ring, Omega fought back, eventually hanging Moxley from the side of the ring by the neck using the chain. Omega then brought out a bag of broken glass from the table Moxley had driven him through weeks ago. Omega hit a powerbomb into the glass but still couldn't get a pin. Moxley then had to crawl through broken glass to escape a Sharpshooter. After using the ice pick on the forehead of Moxley, Omega called out The Young Bucks and Adam Page, demanding they bring out a net of barbed wire. Moxley suplexed Omega into the barbed wire, with both men landing in the netting. After they were assisted out, Omega hit a V-Trigger through the Full Gear set. They ended up back in the ring, with Moxley hitting the Paradigm Shift in the glass, but again finding himself unable to get the pin. Moxley then cut away the padding on the ring apron. Omega missed a Phoenix Splash, landing on the exposed wood. Moxley followed up with a Paradigm Shift to get the pinfall. A spot fest, pure and simple, but one that paid off a lengthy program between Moxley and Omega. Grade: A- AEW Full Gear highlights If you are unable to view the live updates or want to refresh the detailed results and grades updating throughout the show below the application, please click here. Read More Read the full article

AEW Full Gear results, recap, grades: Jon Moxley-Kenny Omega violence, heel turn highlight solid show

AEW's return to pay-per-view for Full Gear at Baltimore's State Farm Arena felt, in many ways, like "another AEW effort." That is, until the final two matches of the night brought a unique approach that only AEW can truly deliver with a lack of the restrictions imposed on WWE efforts and the elite level talents on the All Elite Wrestling roster. Cody came up short in a war with AEW champion Chris Jericho, suffering the humiliation of MJF not only throwing in the towel as Jericho locked in the Lion Tamer but also seeing his best friend turn on him with a low blow after the conclusion of the match. In the main event "lights out" match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, seemingly every variety of weapon was brought into play before Moxley finally got the win over Omega in a violent, blood-filled battle to settle their months-old issues. In other championship action, SCU was able to retain the tag championship while Riho emerged to retain the AEW women's championship. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Saturday, updating this story with live results and highlights along with a detailed recap and grades.  AEW Full Gear recap, grades Britt Baker def. Bea Priestly via submission: This was, while still shaky at times, Baker's best showing in AEW in large part due to the efforts of Priestley. Baker went for Lockjaw early but couldn't quite lock it in. Priestly hit some big, flashy spots before Baker was finally able to get Lockjaw clinched for the tap. After the match, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong came out and attacked Priestley. The duo cut off a chunk of Priestley's hair after a brief attack and walked off. Grade: C Santana & Ortiz def. The Young Bucks via pinfall: Chaos reigned from the opening bell with all four men going at it in and out of the ring before settling back into a standard tag match. In an early highlight, Santana and Ortiz locked both Jacksons up in a combination Boston Crab, Gory Special and Camel Clutch. The Bucks spent a lot of the match attacking the non-legal man to keep things flowing in their direction, which eventually backfired when Nick missed a kick and hit the ring post. He would sell the leg injury from kicking the post the rest of the match, including crashing to the canvas while trying to hit the springboard for the Meltzer Driver down the finishing stretch. Santana blew his nose at the Rock 'n' Roll Express, who were seated ringside, calling back to Proud -n- Powerful's power bombing Ricky Morton through the stage on Dynamite. Santana & Ortiz hit the Street Sweeper on Nick to get the victory. A more traditional tag match than some may have expected between the two, but still good, technical action. Following the match, Sammy Guevara came to the ring to celebrate and join in the beatdown on the Jacksons. As they were about to use a sock full of baseballs, The Express ran in to make the save with Morton hitting a Destroyer and a suicide dive. Grade: B Adam "Hangman" Page def. PAC via pinfall: There was some nasty, physical action in this one. Page hit a big suicide dive early on but the tables turned when PAC whipped him in the face using the ring ropes. Page hit a huge moonsault dive to the outside but Page came back with a brainbuster on the chair on the outside. The match became a series of high-impact moves from both men, including a top rope fallaway slam from Page into a reverse German suplex from PAC right into a powerbomb from Page. As Page tried to lock in the Deadeye, PAC countered into the Brutalizer. Page escaped the hold, PAC missed the Black Arrow and Page drilled him with a forearm and clothesline before hitting PAC with Deadeye for the win. Grade: B Shawn Spears def. Joey Janela via pinfall: Janela came out hard, attacking Spears before even removing his jacket. Spears caught Janela as he tried a cross body to the outside, turning it into a powerslam. Spears tied Janela's hair to the corner tag rope, forcing Janela to rip a chunk of hair out to escape after briefly taking a beating. Janela took several big spills in the match, even when getting his offense in which included a flipping senton dive from the top rope. Spears hit the C-4 death valley driver after using an exposed turnbuckle and a spike piledriver with the help of Tully Blanchard to get the victory. A slight step down from the previous two matches, but still quality stuff. Grade: B- AEW Tag Team Championship -- SCU (c) def. Private Party & Lucha Bros. via pinfall to retain the titles: The early part of the match was surprisingly clunky, with spots not quite going off smoothly. Once the action settled down, the action smoothed out into the kind of constant action fans would expect from these six men. That action included the kind of dive-after-dive spot necessary in a match featuring an impressive collection of high fliers. Private Party had a good near fall after Marq Quen hit a 450 splash. Moments after Kazarian kicked out, they hit Isiah Kassidy with the SCU Later for the victory. Lucha Bros went on the attack after the match, and as Pentagon was about to hit a package piledriver on the chair, the lights went out. When they came back, Christopher Daniels attacked the Lucha Bros and ran them off while dressed like Pentagon. Grade: B- AEW Women's Championship -- Riho def. Emi Sakura via pinfall to retain the title: Teacher vs. student. Speed vs. Power. All the things you'd expect from a match between these two, with Riho looking to outpace the older, larger Sakura. At this point in the show, the dead crowd is starting to affect the way matches are coming across on the broadcast. Sakura hit a vicious cross body on Riho in the corner. Sakura also turned up her heel work as the match went on, raking the back and mocking referee Bryce Remsburg for intervening. Riho came back after a flurry of big moves and quick pinfall attempts by Sakura to hit a tilt-a-whirl into a pin to retain her championship. Good stuff from both women in a very solid showcase for the champion. Grade: B+ AEW World Championship -- Chris Jericho (c) def. Cody via corner stoppage to retain the title: Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko and The Great Muta were judges for the match, set to determine a winner should the match reach the 60-minute time limit. MJF was in Cody's corner while Jericho was seconded by Jake Hager. The match started with a slow pace, teasing the men would go the distance. Rhodes was busted open early after missing a dive and hitting his face on the entrance ramp. Cody also sold a rib injury from the dive as Jericho alternated focus between the cut over Cody's eye and attacking the ribs. Cody's mom got involved at ringside, yelling "f--k you" in Jericho's face as he taunted her. The distraction was enough for Cody to take over on offense and attack with a figure four. Hager got involved, landing a pair of right hands on Cody before he was ejected from ringside. In retaliation, he attacked MJF, tossing him into the guardrail. Using the distraction, Jericho laid out Cody with the championship belt. Cody was able to kick out. Cody countered the Judas Effect into Cross Rhodes, but the champ kicked out on the near fall. Jericho eventually removed his weight belt and whipped Cody several times. Cody escaped from the Liontamer once, but when it was locked in the second time, including a few stomps to the head, MJF threw in the towel to save Cody, giving Jericho the win after a tremendous effort from both men. After the match, an emotional MJF apologized to Cody before hitting him with a low blow before walking off. Grade: A- Unsanctioned, Lights Out Match -- Jon Moxley def. Kenny Omega via pinfall: This was not a wrestling match, it was a brawl featuring spots you'd expect from a death match card. Moxley opened up fast, blasting Omega with punches. Omega fired right back with shots of his own. They were quick to move the brawl out to the crowd, with Omega landing a flying stomp to a trash can on Moxley's abdomen. When the action returned to the ring, Moxley grabbed the barbed wire bat from under the ring, using it on the back of Omega and drawing blood. Moxley also raked Omega's arm with the bat to escape a snap dragon suplex. Omega came back with a piledriver on a trash can before grabbing -- and then throwing away -- the bat. He then left the ring to retrieve a table and the barbed wire broom, hitting Moxley in the head with it and drawing significant blood from the neck and back of Moxley.  After the barbed wire assault left Moxley bleeding from the side of his face, Omega grabbed a board covered with mousetraps. The plan backfired as Omega was slammed on the board. Moxley brought out chains, slamming Omega on them repeatedly before placing one in the mouth of Moxley and wrenching back with a submission. After Moxley brought an ice pick into the ring, Omega fought back, eventually hanging Moxley from the side of the ring by the neck using the chain. Omega then brought out a bag of broken glass from the table Moxley had driven him through weeks ago. Omega hit a powerbomb into the glass but still couldn't get a pin. Moxley then had to crawl through broken glass to escape a Sharpshooter. After using the ice pick on the forehead of Moxley, Omega called out The Young Bucks and Adam Page, demanding they bring out a net of barbed wire. Moxley suplexed Omega into the barbed wire, with both men landing in the netting. After they were assisted out, Omega hit a V-Trigger through the Full Gear set. They ended up back in the ring, with Moxley hitting the Paradigm Shift in the glass, but again finding himself unable to get the pin. Moxley then cut away the padding on the ring apron. Omega missed a Phoenix Splash, landing on the exposed wood. Moxley followed up with a Paradigm Shift to get the pinfall. A spot fest, pure and simple, but one that paid off a lengthy program between Moxley and Omega. Grade: A- AEW Full Gear highlights If you are unable to view the live updates or want to refresh the detailed results and grades updating throughout the show below the application, please click here. Read More Read the full article

AEW Full Gear results, recap, grades: Jon Moxley-Kenny Omega violence, heel turn highlight solid show

AEW's return to pay-per-view for Full Gear at Baltimore's State Farm Arena felt, in many ways, like "another AEW effort." That is, until the final two matches of the night brought a unique approach that only AEW can truly deliver with a lack of the restrictions imposed on WWE efforts and the elite level talents on the All Elite Wrestling roster. Cody came up short in a war with AEW champion Chris Jericho, suffering the humiliation of MJF not only throwing in the towel as Jericho locked in the Lion Tamer but also seeing his best friend turn on him with a low blow after the conclusion of the match. In the main event "lights out" match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, seemingly every variety of weapon was brought into play before Moxley finally got the win over Omega in a violent, blood-filled battle to settle their months-old issues. In other championship action, SCU was able to retain the tag championship while Riho emerged to retain the AEW women's championship. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Saturday, updating this story with live results and highlights along with a detailed recap and grades.  AEW Full Gear recap, grades Britt Baker def. Bea Priestly via submission: This was, while still shaky at times, Baker's best showing in AEW in large part due to the efforts of Priestley. Baker went for Lockjaw early but couldn't quite lock it in. Priestly hit some big, flashy spots before Baker was finally able to get Lockjaw clinched for the tap. After the match, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong came out and attacked Priestley. The duo cut off a chunk of Priestley's hair after a brief attack and walked off. Grade: C Santana & Ortiz def. The Young Bucks via pinfall: Chaos reigned from the opening bell with all four men going at it in and out of the ring before settling back into a standard tag match. In an early highlight, Santana and Ortiz locked both Jacksons up in a combination Boston Crab, Gory Special and Camel Clutch. The Bucks spent a lot of the match attacking the non-legal man to keep things flowing in their direction, which eventually backfired when Nick missed a kick and hit the ring post. He would sell the leg injury from kicking the post the rest of the match, including crashing to the canvas while trying to hit the springboard for the Meltzer Driver down the finishing stretch. Santana blew his nose at the Rock 'n' Roll Express, who were seated ringside, calling back to Proud -n- Powerful's power bombing Ricky Morton through the stage on Dynamite. Santana & Ortiz hit the Street Sweeper on Nick to get the victory. A more traditional tag match than some may have expected between the two, but still good, technical action. Following the match, Sammy Guevara came to the ring to celebrate and join in the beatdown on the Jacksons. As they were about to use a sock full of baseballs, The Express ran in to make the save with Morton hitting a Destroyer and a suicide dive. Grade: B Adam "Hangman" Page def. PAC via pinfall: There was some nasty, physical action in this one. Page hit a big suicide dive early on but the tables turned when PAC whipped him in the face using the ring ropes. Page hit a huge moonsault dive to the outside but Page came back with a brainbuster on the chair on the outside. The match became a series of high-impact moves from both men, including a top rope fallaway slam from Page into a reverse German suplex from PAC right into a powerbomb from Page. As Page tried to lock in the Deadeye, PAC countered into the Brutalizer. Page escaped the hold, PAC missed the Black Arrow and Page drilled him with a forearm and clothesline before hitting PAC with Deadeye for the win. Grade: B Shawn Spears def. Joey Janela via pinfall: Janela came out hard, attacking Spears before even removing his jacket. Spears caught Janela as he tried a cross body to the outside, turning it into a powerslam. Spears tied Janela's hair to the corner tag rope, forcing Janela to rip a chunk of hair out to escape after briefly taking a beating. Janela took several big spills in the match, even when getting his offense in which included a flipping senton dive from the top rope. Spears hit the C-4 death valley driver after using an exposed turnbuckle and a spike piledriver with the help of Tully Blanchard to get the victory. A slight step down from the previous two matches, but still quality stuff. Grade: B- AEW Tag Team Championship -- SCU (c) def. Private Party & Lucha Bros. via pinfall to retain the titles: The early part of the match was surprisingly clunky, with spots not quite going off smoothly. Once the action settled down, the action smoothed out into the kind of constant action fans would expect from these six men. That action included the kind of dive-after-dive spot necessary in a match featuring an impressive collection of high fliers. Private Party had a good near fall after Marq Quen hit a 450 splash. Moments after Kazarian kicked out, they hit Isiah Kassidy with the SCU Later for the victory. Lucha Bros went on the attack after the match, and as Pentagon was about to hit a package piledriver on the chair, the lights went out. When they came back, Christopher Daniels attacked the Lucha Bros and ran them off while dressed like Pentagon. Grade: B- AEW Women's Championship -- Riho def. Emi Sakura via pinfall to retain the title: Teacher vs. student. Speed vs. Power. All the things you'd expect from a match between these two, with Riho looking to outpace the older, larger Sakura. At this point in the show, the dead crowd is starting to affect the way matches are coming across on the broadcast. Sakura hit a vicious cross body on Riho in the corner. Sakura also turned up her heel work as the match went on, raking the back and mocking referee Bryce Remsburg for intervening. Riho came back after a flurry of big moves and quick pinfall attempts by Sakura to hit a tilt-a-whirl into a pin to retain her championship. Good stuff from both women in a very solid showcase for the champion. Grade: B+ AEW World Championship -- Chris Jericho (c) def. Cody via corner stoppage to retain the title: Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko and The Great Muta were judges for the match, set to determine a winner should the match reach the 60-minute time limit. MJF was in Cody's corner while Jericho was seconded by Jake Hager. The match started with a slow pace, teasing the men would go the distance. Rhodes was busted open early after missing a dive and hitting his face on the entrance ramp. Cody also sold a rib injury from the dive as Jericho alternated focus between the cut over Cody's eye and attacking the ribs. Cody's mom got involved at ringside, yelling "f--k you" in Jericho's face as he taunted her. The distraction was enough for Cody to take over on offense and attack with a figure four. Hager got involved, landing a pair of right hands on Cody before he was ejected from ringside. In retaliation, he attacked MJF, tossing him into the guardrail. Using the distraction, Jericho laid out Cody with the championship belt. Cody was able to kick out. Cody countered the Judas Effect into Cross Rhodes, but the champ kicked out on the near fall. Jericho eventually removed his weight belt and whipped Cody several times. Cody escaped from the Liontamer once, but when it was locked in the second time, including a few stomps to the head, MJF threw in the towel to save Cody, giving Jericho the win after a tremendous effort from both men. After the match, an emotional MJF apologized to Cody before hitting him with a low blow before walking off. Grade: A- Unsanctioned, Lights Out Match -- Jon Moxley def. Kenny Omega via pinfall: This was not a wrestling match, it was a brawl featuring spots you'd expect from a death match card. Moxley opened up fast, blasting Omega with punches. Omega fired right back with shots of his own. They were quick to move the brawl out to the crowd, with Omega landing a flying stomp to a trash can on Moxley's abdomen. When the action returned to the ring, Moxley grabbed the barbed wire bat from under the ring, using it on the back of Omega and drawing blood. Moxley also raked Omega's arm with the bat to escape a snap dragon suplex. Omega came back with a piledriver on a trash can before grabbing -- and then throwing away -- the bat. He then left the ring to retrieve a table and the barbed wire broom, hitting Moxley in the head with it and drawing significant blood from the neck and back of Moxley.  After the barbed wire assault left Moxley bleeding from the side of his face, Omega grabbed a board covered with mousetraps. The plan backfired as Omega was slammed on the board. Moxley brought out chains, slamming Omega on them repeatedly before placing one in the mouth of Moxley and wrenching back with a submission. After Moxley brought an ice pick into the ring, Omega fought back, eventually hanging Moxley from the side of the ring by the neck using the chain. Omega then brought out a bag of broken glass from the table Moxley had driven him through weeks ago. Omega hit a powerbomb into the glass but still couldn't get a pin. Moxley then had to crawl through broken glass to escape a Sharpshooter. After using the ice pick on the forehead of Moxley, Omega called out The Young Bucks and Adam Page, demanding they bring out a net of barbed wire. Moxley suplexed Omega into the barbed wire, with both men landing in the netting. After they were assisted out, Omega hit a V-Trigger through the Full Gear set. They ended up back in the ring, with Moxley hitting the Paradigm Shift in the glass, but again finding himself unable to get the pin. Moxley then cut away the padding on the ring apron. Omega missed a Phoenix Splash, landing on the exposed wood. Moxley followed up with a Paradigm Shift to get the pinfall. A spot fest, pure and simple, but one that paid off a lengthy program between Moxley and Omega. Grade: A- AEW Full Gear highlights If you are unable to view the live updates or want to refresh the detailed results and grades updating throughout the show below the application, please click here. Read More Read the full article