ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 - Quickfire Reaction

It's been another wild month of wrestling, continuing on with ROH's second Khan-era PPV.

A stacked card begets a lot of potential to be a great show, doubly impressive when in the middle of G1 and Summerslam season, but can it top Forbidden Door? Let's see

Spoilers for the Show

Zero Hour

It's a little sad that Colt isn't repping Dark Order anymore but good to see him back in a ring. Same for Anthony Henry, the Workhorsemen are a good tag team well-suited for ROH (even though I must admit I love the Wingmen too)

Match was good for getting the crowd involved, Henry did a lovely piledriver and Frog Splash for two different nearfalls but Cabana powers through

I've heard news about the Trustbusters from some AEW Dark spoilers, but for first impressions: good music, good talent in Slim J, probably gonna do well as weaselly midcard heels until they get some muscle

Eli Isom impressed me a lot more this match than he did in Supercard against Gates of Agony

I dunno who this Prince Nana is but buying TBE seems weird to me, is Tully not gonna be a part of it anymore? Seems like it with them being called The Embassy, maybe Tully will just be with Gresham?

I said it at Supercard and I'll say it again, Cage is best when he's just hossing

Zayne (fresh off of BOSJ), Christian and Deppen did really well too, they built Christian's hot tag really well, Deppen did a lot of workhorsing and Zayne undoubtedly was great

How can you not love Willow? Her music is great too

Nice little blend of technique and power in that match

4 matches in 1 hour, you see that WWE?

Main Card

Kicking off with the world title!? That is bold

Love Claudio's new theme music btw, I wouldn't have minded if all of BCC had classical remixes but I get why Mox sticks with Wild Thing, plus Yoots still has a good theme tune

Gresham didn't come out with Tully though, so wonder what that's about? Regal joins commentary too to enrich us more

Classic story of ligament damage vs power

Gresham has struggled with AEW crowds getting him but GOD he is so clean

CLAUDIO DID IT! HE FINALLY WON A WORLD TITLE!

I appreciate the BCC elbows helped transition to the Ricola Bomb, we pushing that BCC agenda and I am here for it, I think I liked that match more than the ZSJ match

Claudio's joy is also infectious, that's an opener!

Glad to see more Dalton, dude is charismatic for years

This is the first I've seen of the Righteous, their music is unique, they have kinda cult energy with a dash of Big Lebowski, I'd happily see more of them

I enjoyed the match more than I thought tbf, lots of charisma, lots of fun, commentary made me grin too, I had predicted Castle and Boys to win but it surprised me that they went 2 title changes in a row

Garcia still rocking the kangol XD And using the Regal colours

Could we possibly just get Regal on commentary like every title match? He's so joyous but also technical, you learn so much

Production has gone up with the PURE rules UI, timer and the rope break bars

Yoots has a great German Suplex, not Takeshita level but still great

It's a very interesting but valid strategy to see Garcia and Yoots work the ears, you don't see it a lot

I was also glad to hear that there's intent towards Yoot not going for a rope break, because his last few Pure matches have had him be the first to lose a rope break and I always felt that feeling like weakness

Loved the submission swapping relating to JAS and BCC too

That is the best PURE match I've seen so far in the Khan era, if it weren't for Claudio challenging Gresham I would've picked Garcia for this, but I wanted that BCC agenda and I'm getting it, Bryan needs to come back so he's next

Dragon Lee. Lawn Darted RUSH. Through a Table!?

This is pure Penta vs Fenix energy in the best way, both have the same kind of builds and mentality

Seriously, no build, no title, and yet this still was a banger

I wonder if Lee will join La Faccion Ingobernable down the line, because I know RUSH and Andrade are facing the Lucha Bros but I see it going into trios, maybe Andrade taking the All-Atlantic title from PAC

Every American one time or another will call Worcester 'War-chester' XD to be fair us Brits do too but we learn quickly because of Worcestershire Sauce

No surprise that Serena vs Mercedes is extremely technical

Match got a little slow in the middle but it was good, really thought though that Serena would be given her due, she's showed up against Shida, Rosa and Mercedes and the ROH women's title did feel like a good fit for her

Lethal sent Singh and Dutt away which is interesting

Joe pulling a Suzuki look as they go straight at it!

Didn't last long, Singh came back to help Pillmanize Joe's shoulder, match hadn't started yet so fair game. But the ref ejects Singh before ringing the bell, which is clever, didn't eject Dutt though when he brought in a pipe (to feint so Lethal could use the belt)

Crowd have been rabid for this match, I was okay about it, the build and the interferences made me less invested

Woof, Fight for the Fallen ain't messing around; Mox vs RUSH, Swerve vs Sterling & Nese, Danielson returning vs Garcia, good stuff

Surprised Dax didn't wear his 'Fight like an 8 year old' shirt, AEW made them to donate to children's heart charity

The pop for the bell ringing wasn't as loud as last time which was a shame

Jay and Dax went 200 miles an hour there, but it looks like it hurt him a bit since they had him checked by medical, post-show reports say it's precautionary which is fortunate

Doesn't stop his capacity for the hot tag though

After the first fall we got some clever psychology from the Briscoes

Cash has a great hot tag too

The camera is looking for something but it's not quite finding it

Is 2 out of 3 no rules? Because I feel like being hit with a bell is a DQ

Everyone's showing some colour now

It's been a good night for clean looking piledrivers

Ref bump seems to be to give the Briscoes a visual win with the Jay Driller, though FTR also had a visual win with the Big Rig after, maybe a part 3 is in waiting? Iron Man maybe?

They did the Revival vs DIY/American Alpha spot with holding hands during a submission

JESUS! Chekov's table from Lethal/Joe comes back for Cash super back body dropping Mark!

Jay Driller just for 2!

SUPER PILEDRIVER

The finish was great, I think I slightly preferred the Supercard match but gosh that was a great match

Oh sure give me FTR vs BCC, I've got a vein to inject it into

Conclusion

This was a great PPV.

I think I preferred Forbidden Door by an inch, but it has to be on a similar level because ROH didn't suffer so much from abrupt endings and injury, but the match quality for Forbidden Door was slightly higher, but it was better than Supercard overall which is a plus.

The matches were all really good, very happy to see Claudio win a world title finally. Khan booked the PPV strongly and hopefully it pays off for him, I don't see how tv companies wouldn't be considering ROH right now.

Hopefully a new chapter will begin.

Results (and Predictions)

Zero Hour: Colt Cabana def. Anthony Henry (w/JD Drake) - Pinfall via Moonsault Trustbusters (Ari Daivari & Slim J) def. Cheeseburger & Eli Isom - Pinfall on Isom by Daivari via Frog Splash The Embassy (Brian Cage, Kaun & Toa Liona w/ Prince Nana) def Alex Zayne, Blake Christian & Tony Deppen - Pinfall on Deppen by Cage via Dominator/Big Boot combo Willow Nightingale def Allisyn Kay - Pinfall via Gutwrench Powerbomb

Main Card: Claudio Castagnoli (w/William Regal) def. Jonathon Gresham (w/Prince Nana) (c) - Pinfall via Ricola Bomb - TITLE CHANGE!!! Dalton Castle & The Boys def. The Righteous (Vincent, Bateman & Dutch w/ Vita VonStarr) (c) - Pinfall on Bateman by Castle via Bangarang - TITLE CHANGE!! Wheeler Yuta (w/William Regal) (c) def. Daniel Garcia - Pinfall via Seatbelt RUSH (w/José the Assistant) def. Dragon Lee - Pinfall via Bull's Horns Mercedes Martinez (c) def. Serena Deeb - Submission via Dragon Sleeper Stretch Samoa Joe (c) def. Jay Lethal (w/Sonjay Dutt & Satnam Singh) - Submission via Kirifuda Clutch FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) def. The Briscoes (Jay and Mark) [2-1 Falls]

Fall 1: Briscoes (1) def. FTR (0) - Pinfall on Dax by Mark via Doomsday Device

Fall 2: FTR (1) def. Briscoes (1) - Pinfall on Jay by Dax via Big Rig

Fall 3: FTR (2) def. Briscoes (1) - Pinfall on Jay by Dax via Avalanche Piledriver

Dishes got into wrestling in 2022 and has some faves

or my attempt at somehow squishing everything I watched down to one post for this beloved hellsite

~

Match of the year ❤️

Jun Kasai vs El Desperado, Takataichidespe mania, 2022

This match went right at the edge of my limits in hardcore/deathmatch spots without going over. Besides that, it’s just a wild ride that goes and goes for 30 minutes, with some gorgeous visuals, a crowd that’s super into it, and a post-match I still think about so much.

~

Wrestling matches wrapped 🔁 (some favorites that I rewatched a lot) (not all from this year)

Young Bucks vs reDRagon vs Jurassic Express, Revolution 2022

Young Bucks vs Swerve in our Glory vs Team Taz, Dynamite 2022

Orange Cassidy vs Will Ospreay, Forbidden Door 2022

Bryan Danielson vs Nick Jackson, Rampage 2021

Young Bucks vs Lucha Bros, cage match, All Out 2021

~

Some other memorable faves 💜 (of this year)

CM Punk vs MJF, dog collar match, Revolution

Jon Moxley vs Wheeler Yuta (where he joined BCC)

Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta vs Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta

Death Triangle vs House of Black, Double or Nothing

Blood & Guts, BCC vs JAS

Jon Moxley vs El Desperado, Music City Mayhem

The Elite vs United Empire

Hiromu Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori vs Master Wato & El Desperado, Battle Autumn

Shingo Takagi vs El Phantasmo, Rumble on 44th Street

Brandon Cutler vs Serpentico, Dark Elevation

Jamie Hayter vs Hikaru Shida

~

Matches to cry to 😭

El Desperado vs Jun Kasai, mostly that post-match, Takataichidespe mania

Eddie Kingston vs Jun Akiyama, All Out Zero Hour

KAIRI vs Miyu Iwatani, NJPWxSTARDOM

Suzuki-gun final match, Road to Tokyo Dome

~

Fav kiss 💋

Jon Moxley vs EFFY, GCW Homecoming I, 2022

Loved the match too, for vibes and story and visuals (Mox smoking while sitting on the top turnbuckle, while Effy’s squirming on the floor… good stuff).

~

Other favorite things 💙 (or how I got into wrestling)

HOOKhausen My gateway drug, I wouldn’t be watching wrestling if not for gifs of their tag team courtship. Even now, when I go back and watch their promos, I get all soft.

CM Punk vs MJF feud Yes, like 90% of tumblr I also saw the dog collar match gifs. After Hookhausen had caught my eye, I stumbled across Outside Interference’s video, which inspired me to go through all the shows to watch the full segments. I got to know lots of wrestlers along the way, very enjoyable way of exploring AEW for the first time, and very worth doing for the feud itself too.

G1 Climax 32 Although Forbidden Door introduced quite a few NJPW wrestlers, none of it really stuck (too many new faces and acronyms and mostly me laughing at and being impressed by Excalibur trying to power his way through it all). So G1 was me following El Phantasmo and getting to know the New Japan roster. Most of the matches weren’t as memorable as the ones I listed above, mostly on account of it all being very new to me. But I did get really into it as the tournament went on and had a blast.

~

And other assorted favorite things ✨ (most will be no surprise):

El Desperado :3

Penta’s little taunting walk, and his slingblade, too

Matt Jackson’s locomotion northernlight suplexes, and his hair, and also his gender

Kenta’s thighs

Tom Lawlor's whole vibe

Being the Elite

Trios Tag Team Tournament

ZSJ, Sanada, Taichi and Naito having their polycule moments, and Suzuki-gun vs LIJ nonsense in general

El Phantasmo’s antics and entrance

Binging free matches on YT, esp those with Orange Cassidy and the intergender ones

~

Also, yeah, there’s lots I didn’t watch (yet) if u wonder why xyz isn't on there.

Especially women’s wrestling is lacking on my list. I kept hoping for something in AEW to really drag me into it but unfortunately my fav got injured (I miss Kris!!) and I do need some narrative to hook me, but that didn’t happen 😔. I am enjoying Jamie Hayter having the belt, though, and there’s plenty of women on the roster I do like, so I’m keeping an eye out. NJPW and Stardom having their show introduced me to Stardom, so I might give that a go too.

I think that’s about it :3

Best wishes for this holiday season! 🎉

My Full Gear Predicitions

AHHHHHHHHH y'all! I haven't done a full structured write up in ages and I've gained so many followers and friends since then. I'm so psyched for Full Gear that I just have to do this. So here are my result predictions with explanations and potential follow up storylines.

Championship Matches

Hangman Adam Page v Kenny Omega for the AEW World Title

Many people feel that this match is unpredictable and I get why. But I refuse to believe that they would let all of our hopes down AGAIN with a loss for Hangman. I remember making a post about us still getting this match after the eliminator match defeat. Now here we are and DAMNIT HANGMAN FOR CHAMP 2021. I think Kenny is either going to take a well-deserved break or we are going to start to see the Elite fall apart with a feud between Adam Cole and Kenny. The seeds are already there. I'll be in my Cowboy Shit shirt swinging my Cowboy Shit bandana and possibly in tears when the dreamy cowboy wins.

Winner: Hangman Adam Page

Tay Conti v Britt Baker for the AEW Women's World Title

I said this earlier this week, I'm going to love seeing Tay Conti as world champ BUT, AEW is not going to allow anybody but ThunderRosa to take the title off of Britt. Now I don't actually watch the rankings but I'd comfortably bet that with a Tay loss, Thunder Rosa is the number one contender. I see Tay Conti being the first extended feud for whoever wins the TBS title. (The TBS title will either be Jade Cargill or Ruby Soho)

Winner: Britt Baker D.M.D.

FTR v The Lucha Brothers for the AEW World Tag Titles

Honestlyyyyyyy, this is kind of a toss-up. Two of the best tag teams in the world, both teams are over regardless of being heel and face, and the booking has been kind of 50/50. We've certainly seen a lot more of FTR than the Luchas Bros in the past couple of weeks. And I feel as though regardless of who wins, the tag team division is going to be revitalized. It hasn't been at the forefront as much as it usually is. But just to play favorites, I'll go with the Lucha Brother's retaining.

Winners: The Lucha Brothers

Bryan Danielson v Miro Tournament FInals (winner gets a world title shot)

Sheeeeeesh I'm going to be wincing throughout this match. The wrench in this prediction is that Miro was never supposed to be in the tournament. That'll lead some to believe that a Danielson win is guaranteed but I don't think so. I want to say Miro just for the shock factor. But at the same time, Hangman v Bryan sounds spicy. Hmmm, I'll use my one toss-up on this match.

Winner: Undecided

Stipulation Matches

The Super Kliq v Jurassic Express (this includes Christian Cage at this point) in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

Damnit I just used my one toss-up. Well, hmmm. If Kenny loses the title but Adam Cole picks up the victory for the Super Kliq that's a *chef's kiss* lead into the dissension that officially kicks off their feud. I'm sorry Jungle Boy, I love you but this setup is too perfect.

Winners: The Super Kliq

The Inner Circle v The Men of the Year + members of American Top Team + Dan Lambert in a Minneapolis Street Fight

Y'all I don't give a damn. I really don't. I'm honestly just watching to see Santana's fine ass and to see if Dan Lambert will actually work.

Winner: always me whenever Santana is on my screen

Good ol' Feuds

CM Punk v Eddie Kingston

WOOOOOOOOOWE. I see this being Punk's first loss in AEW and it would be brutal poetry. 15 years later and Kingston finally gets his bragging rights. And honestly, from a none kayfabe perspective, this is exactly what Punk came back to do. We talk about Kingston all the time any damn ways but can you imagine what it'll be like after whooping Punk and giving him his first loss since his return??? GIMME THIS!

Winner: Eddie F'n Kingston

MJF v Darby Allin

MJF. I can't even explain why, it just feels like the correct answer. And MJF is *undefeated (yes that needs an asterisk.) The only way I see him losing is if Wardlow turns on him mid-match. But even if MJF wins, his next feud is Wardlow.

Winner: MJF

PAC & Cody Rhodes v Malakai Black & Andrade El Idolo

Um... not entirely invested in this feud or its outcome. I feel like it's a pretty even match. I want Malakai and Andrade to win but I doubt that's what's booked to happen. UNLESS the next step is for the entire Nightmare factory to turn on Cody officially. Which would be dope, But we haven't seen a lot of PAC recently so I want him to get a win and some momentum. Damn this is hard.

Winners: Malakai and Andrade because its the cool kid answer

okay new series from me: when i’m not a massive fan of dynamite, i’m just gonna rewrite the episode lmFAO. all out’s build shoulda been better last night and this is how i would’ve done it ✨

varsity blonds vs lucha bros is the same, but they kick off the show instead. lucha bros win and both them and jurassic express do the spot fighting the bucks

we go backstage to kris statlander being interviewed by tony schiavone. she talks about being the #1 ranked woman in the division, and how baker avoided her at double or nothing last year due to injury. she challenges her for all out, and says that she’ll be leaving with that championship.

next, instead of the factory trios match (why was this even on lmao), we go to the ring for andrade el idolo vs dante martin! ideally this would be a 6-8 minute banger, fast from bell to bell, to show that andrade is capable of doing that fast match style again. pac is on commentary for the match where he talks about the contract and stipulation. andrade wins and puts dante in the figure four / figure eight ( ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ) after the match, while staring down pac from the ring. 

then we have the cm punk segment! keep this the same, it was freaking perfect.

next. jamie hayter vs red velvet! match is the same, but post match is different! baker addresses statlander and accepts her all out challenge. jamie hayter then take the mic and ...... expresses her intention to enter the women’s casino battle royale !!! she says that she will eliminate people who are “unworthy” of facing dr baker for her title. baker is pleased and they all do the d.m.d as they should.

then the omega and christian segment! this was super fun too, so keep this the same!

then, orange vs matt hardy! keep this the same, it was super fun!

jericho and mjf segment now! not keen on this rematch so soon, but it’s happening so might as well put it in.

ftr promo is the same because it was fucking mint

backstage with alex marvez, we have contenders in the women’s casino battle royale! tay and allie do their schtick and we also have swole and julia face off with diamante and nyla! they’re doing a cute lil storyline on dark so lets reference that here ! there’s a massive brawl !

then, malakai black murders brock anderson in like 30 seconds. however, after the bell.....miro appears! he says that malakai seems keen to keep referencing god, without coming near “god’s favourite champion”. he expresses his intention to face eddie kingston, but says that malakai should watch his back for what happens after since miro will be coming for him. the show closes out with him holding the tnt title high.

Best Two Out of Three, Part 12

I don’t know if this is too soon but I’m too excited, so. This part is @what-does-mine-say‘s fault. And by fault I mean she basically read my mind so we’re running with it.

So. Much. Angst.

Best Two Out of Three

Part: 12/26

Pairing: Kenny Omega x OFC x Cash Wheeler and Adam Page x OFC

Warnings: Language, angst

Word Count: 3.1k

Catch up on previous parts here.

Five weeks later… AEW Fight for the Fallen

Alex sat on the couch in FTR’s locker room, her eyes glued to the monitor in front of her. Dax and Cash were wrestling the Lucha Bros, and she’d been on the edge of her seat the entire time. It didn’t help matters that Butcher and Blade had driven the Lucha Bros to the ring in Dax and Cash’s stolen truck. Alex had considered sneaking out there to try to steal it back; but Butcher was quite literally twice her size, so she thought better of it.

Suddenly, Dax pulled Fenix by his mask down into an inside cradle.

One.

Two.

Three.

“Yes!” Alex clapped her hands, happy that FTR had won. She pushed herself off the couch to go meet them at Gorilla—but something on the monitor caught her eye and she stopped. Cash and Dax had been jaw-jacking Butcher and Blade at ringside when the Young Bucks had appeared and superkicked Butcher and Blade. Matt took the key to the truck, and he and Nick walked to the ring and returned it to Cash and Dax. It surprised Alex; the Bucks and FTR weren’t exactly friends. But it was nothing compared to the shock she got when she saw Kenny walk to the ring—and he was carrying a cooler full of beer.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she watched. Kenny offered Cash and Dax each a beer. Then he took one himself. What was he doing? He didn’t drink. She saw him say, “Just this once” as Cash and Dax cracked theirs open. But neither of them took a sip. Instead, FTR raised their beers and emptied them over Kenny’s head.

“What. The. Fuck.” Alex didn’t wait to see what happened next. She tore out the locker room door, making a beeline for Gorilla. She paced back and forth, feeling herself growing angrier by the second as she waited for Cash and Dax to come back through the curtain. Mercifully, it wasn’t long before they did.

“There’s my girl!” Cash proclaimed when he saw Alex. He walked over and wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her close against him. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said as he started to kiss her neck; but she pulled away.

“Are you serious?”

He froze. “What?”

Her eyebrows arched. “What? You just dumped beer on Kenny’s head, that’s what.” She looked between him and Dax both. “Was that really necessary?”

“Oh, come on,” Dax breathed. “It was just a rib.”

She blinked. “A rib?”

“Yeah! Kenny poured out the beer we offered him two weeks ago, so we poured out the beer he offered us… on him.”

Alex’s eyes bulged at his smirk. Was he being serious? “He was literally about to have a drink with you out there,” she said with a gesture toward the ring. “You do realize that, right? Kenny doesn’t drink.”

Dax rolled his eyes. “You can take care of this,” he said lowly to Cash. It angered Alex even more—but before she could lay into him, Cash stepped in between them.

“Alex, come on. Why are you so upset about this?”

She opened her mouth—but before she could answer, Kenny, Matt, and Nick came back through the curtain. For a brief second, Kenny’s eyes met Alex’s; but he turned and walked away, disappearing backstage without a word.

Matt cut Dax and Cash a look. “Real mature, guys.”

“Oh, and you’re welcome for the keys, by the way,” Nick shot, and with that they followed after Kenny, leaving Alex alone with FTR once more.

Cash looked at her with remorseful eyes. “Sweetheart…” he started, but she cut him off.

“Don’t,” she said, and she turned and walked away. She couldn’t talk to Cash about this now; not after Kenny had looked at her like she’d been the one who’d just dumped beer on his head.

* * * * * * * * * *

The door hit the wall with a loud bang as Kenny burst into the Elite’s locker room, Matt and Nick at his heels. He kicked a chair, sending it skittering across the floor, and when he couldn’t find anything else to hit, he pulled his beer-soaked shirt over his head and threw it hard against the wall. Matt and Nick looked on, unsure what to do or say. It would probably be best to just let him get it out of his system.

“What the fuck was that?” Kenny shouted. “Who the fuck do they think they are?”

Matt opened his mouth to answer—but Kenny cut him off.

“She left me for that? For someone that fucking childish?”

Matt and Nick glanced at each other. So that was why he was so angry. “I don’t think Alex is happy about it either, man,” Nick said.

“Yeah, she looked pretty upset,” Matt agreed.

“Oh, did she? I didn’t notice because of all the fucking beer her boyfriend dumped on me,” Kenny sarcastically bit, just as the door to the locker room opened again. Kenny’s brow lowered when he saw who it was. Adam. “Oh look, it’s FTR’s new best friend! Thanks for the warning, pal.”

Adam bit down on his jaw. “I didn’t know they were gonna do that, Kenny,” he evenly returned. “But I didn’t know you were gonna go out there and try to have a drink with them, either. What did you honestly think was gonna happen?”

Kenny’s eyes widened. “Oh, so it’s my fault I got beer dumped all over me?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Adam returned with a frustrated sigh. “But did you really think Dax and Cash would believe that you wanted to have a drink with them? You don’t drink, man. They probably thought you were trying to pull something on them.”

Kenny ran a hand through his hair, momentarily forgetting that it was wet with beer. He angrily shook the liquid off as he pulled his hand away in disgust. “Well, I guess you’re right, Adam. Because honestly, I didn’t want to have a drink with them. I wanted to throw that whole fucking cooler at Cash’s fucking head.”

Adam’s eyebrows arched. He saw the situation with a little more clarity now. “Is this about the beer or is it about Alex?”

Kenny’s eyes darkened at him. “Don’t you fucking talk to me about Alex,” he spat.

For a second, Adam was stunned. But then he got angry. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You know what it means,” Kenny returned. “You didn’t want her to be with me and it was fucking obvious.”

Adam faltered when he heard that. But this was a long overdue conversation—and if Kenny wanted the truth, then he’d give it to him. “Because I didn’t want her to get hurt again,” he said.

Kenny took a threatening step toward him. “Oh, so you just assumed I would hurt her?”

“Well, it was kind of hard not to, Kenny!” Adam argued. “Do you know how many times Alex came crying to me over you last year? And I don’t mean complaining or whining—I mean full-blown fucking crying. There were times I wanted to deck you in the fucking face for how you treated her.”

“I know!” Kenny burst. “You don’t need to remind me about how fucking shitty I treated her!”

“Then why are you so surprised that I was concerned about it happening again? She’s one of my closest friends, Kenny!”

“Yeah, well I’m in love with her, Adam!”

The room went instantly quiet. Adam, Matt, and Nick all stared at Kenny in open-mouthed shock. “What?” Matt said.

Kenny ran a hand over his face, fully realizing what he’d just said. It had just come out—and he didn’t want to talk about it. “Forget it,” he quickly breathed. “I’m gonna take a shower.” He walked over to his bag, grabbed his things, and retreated into the bathroom before any of them could ask anything else. It wasn’t that he’d shocked himself with what he’d said. He’d known for weeks that he was in love with Alex. Five weeks, to be specific; he’d known it the moment she’d walked out of his hotel room after she’d admitted her feelings for Cash. But this was the first time he’d admitted how he felt out loud—and now that he had, he was worried it was too late.

* * * * * * * * * *

“Thanks for meeting me.” Alex looked down into her beer as she sat across from Callie in a booth at the hotel bar. “I actually really appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Callie returned as she stirred her straw in her cocktail. “I’m not gonna lie, though—I was surprised I was the one you asked.”

Alex laughed wryly to herself. She was a little surprised, too. But, somehow, Adam’s cookout scheme had actually worked. She and Callie weren’t best friends, but they’d grown on each other over the last five weeks. And honestly? It was nice. “Well, I didn’t want to go to Adam because he’s probably sick to death of hearing about my guy problems. And I didn’t want to go to Trent or James because they’re not good with this stuff, and I definitely didn’t want to go to Chuck now that I know he actually was in love with me at one point. And Kris is out injured so… honestly, you were my sixth-string pick of who to talk to.”

She smirked. Callie playfully rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky this drink is good,” she returned.

Alex’s grin grew wider; but it quickly faded. “Speaking of drinks… I can’t fucking believe Cash and Dax did that to Kenny.”

Callie frowned. “Is this your first fight with Cash?”

She just nodded. She and Cash had only been official for three weeks now—it seemed way too soon for them to have their first fight. But he’d poured beer on Kenny’s head. If it had been anyone else, she probably wouldn’t have cared. But Cash knew damn well she’d picked him over Kenny. Because of that, his and Dax’s stunt was a step too far.

“Well, you have every right to be upset,” Callie said. “It was a jerk move to begin with… and Cash knows your history with Kenny.”

“It’s barely history,” she returned.  “I was sleeping with him five weeks ago.” She ran a frustrated hand through her long dark brown hair. “Did you know he was gonna go out there like that?”

Callie immediately shook her head, her blonde waves moving over her shoulders. “Kenny? No. Neither did Adam. I couldn’t believe he was actually going to have a beer with them.”

“Right? It didn’t make any sense.” She took a sip of her own beer then, but suddenly realized she didn’t want it and pushed it away. It had been the wrong drink to order tonight.

“So I guess you haven’t talked to Cash about it yet?” Callie asked as she eyed Alex’s suitcase next to the booth.

She shook her head. “No. I came straight here from the arena; I haven’t even gone up to our room yet.”

“Well, now might be your chance, then,” Callie said with a glance at the entrance to the bar. Alex turned to follow her line of sight. Cash had walked in. Their eyes connected across the room. She turned back around.

“I guess so,” she breathed.

Callie didn’t say anything in return. The next thing Alex knew, Cash was standing next to the booth. He looked down at her. “Hey. Can we talk?”

She hesitantly bit her lip; but she nodded. Callie knew that was her cue. “I’ll give you two some privacy,” she said as she picked up her drink and stood from the booth. Alex expected Cash to take her place, but he nudged his chin at her.

“Scoot over. Please.”

She slid further into the booth as he sat down next to her. Their legs touched underneath the table. He gripped her thigh. “Are you still mad at me?”

“I’m annoyed with you, yeah,” she admitted as she looked at him. It made him frown.

“I know. I’m sorry. But it’s like Dax said—it was just a rib.”

She rolled her eyes. “It might have seemed like just a rib to you, Cash, but to me it seemed like you were rubbing salt in a wound.”

He looked down at the tabletop. “I know,” he admitted. “I see that now. But I’m surprised by how much it upset you.”

She looked down at her hands, picking at her fingernails. “Well,” she breathed, “I get that you and Dax have your eyes set on the tag titles; I want that for you, too. And I know things will be more tense than average between you and Kenny because of everything that’s happened. But I would really appreciate it if you didn’t make it any more tense or awkward than it already is, Cash. I don’t want our relationship starting out with that… bad juju hanging over it.”

He squeezed her thigh. “I don’t either,” he said. “You’re right—it was a step too far tonight. I apologize for that. The last thing I want to do is make things worse on you.”

He looked into her eyes. It was obvious by the earnest look on his face that he meant every word. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m still not happy about it, but… I know it wasn’t intentional.”

He smiled. “Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him. “I don’t ever want to upset you like that, sweetheart.”

A frown tugged at her lips. “This was our first fight.”

“I know. But hey.” He brushed her hair over her shoulder and said into her ear, “Now we get to have makeup sex.”

A pleasant tingle ran up her spine as he kissed her neck. Makeup sex was definitely a silver lining of the situation. “You better bring your A game, then,” she teased.

“Please, you know I always do. You certainly didn’t complain last night. Or this morning.”

Alex bit her lip. They needed to get to the room—now. “Well, you can start by taking my bag to our room.”

He smirked. “Yes, ma’am.” He stood from the booth and offered her his hand as he grabbed her suitcase. Alex took it, interlacing their fingers together. It was less than ideal to start off her relationship with her new boyfriend while he was literally feuding with her “ex.” But, judging by how good her hand felt in Cash’s as he led her up to the room, she was hopeful that they’d get through it.

* * * * * * * * * *

“That was quick,” Adam said when Callie walked back into their room, obviously surprised she was back so soon. She hadn’t even been gone for ten minutes.

“Yeah well, Cash showed up and asked to talk to her, so I figured I should leave them to it,” Callie explained. She joined him on the bed and snuggled against his side, wrapping her arm around his middle. He hugged her close.

“I’m glad you two are getting along. It seems like you’re even becoming friends?”

She looked up at him. “She called me her sixth-string pick of who to talk to.”

“Ha!” he let out a loud burst of laughter. “Sorry,” he quickly said. “That’s kinda funny.”

Callie smirked despite herself as she rested her head back on his chest. But it faded as her thoughts turned to her conversation with Alex. “I don’t know what I’m more shocked by—that FTR did that to Kenny or that Kenny was honestly going to have a drink with them.”

Adam shook his head. “I don’t know what Kenny was thinking. I don’t think he was, to be honest.”

“Probably not,” Callie agreed. “Matt and Nick told me he was pretty heated afterward. They said he kicked a chair across the room.”

There was a pause. And then Adam asked, “Is that all they told you?”

She looked up at him again. “Yeah… why? Did something else happen?”

He drew in a deep breath, causing her head to rise with his chest. “Oh, something else happened, alright.”

Callie sat up and looked at him then, equal parts concerned and curious. “What?” she asked. She couldn’t have predicted what Adam said next.

“Kenny said he’s in love with Alex.”

Her mouth dropped. “What?” she repeated. “When? How?”

“Right after the thing with FTR happened,” he said. “I went to the locker room because I had a feeling I’d have to diffuse the situation. But then Kenny and I started yelling at each other about Alex… and he just spit it out.”

Callie’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe it. “Do you think he meant it?”

Adam nodded. “Yeah. I mean, he shut down the conversation after he said it but… he definitely meant it.”

“Wow,” Callie breathed. She was stunned. She knew Kenny cared for Alex—but love? And now, after she’d already chosen Cash? “Well, I guess it’s good that he admitted it, but… Alex seems really happy with Cash. Well, not tonight. But in general.”

Adam let his head fall back against the headboard. “Yeah,” he breathed. “She does.”

Callie’s brow furrowed. He looked upset. “What’s wrong?”

He sighed again. “I just… I’m responsible for Cash and Alex getting together. I literally told Alex that I thought Cash would be better for her than Kenny. And now that I know how Kenny feels... I don’t know. I feel guilty.”

“No,” Callie immediately soothed, shaking her head. “So what if you said that? You were just looking out for your friend, Adam. You shouldn’t feel guilty about that.”

He frowned at her. “I went behind Kenny’s back, Cal.”

She pouted. He really did look guilty—and she wanted to make it better. “Don’t beat yourself up about it,” she said, rubbing her hand over his chest. “Kenny made his bed by hurting Alex the first time, and now he has to lie in it. That’s not your fault. So stop worrying about it…” She trailed off and placed kisses along his jaw leading up to his ear. She nibbled his earlobe.

“Mm,” he hummed. “Are you trying to distract me?”

She smirked. “Is it working?”

He growled deep in his chest as she nipped his ear again. “Go get in the shower,” he ordered.

Callie didn’t need to be told twice. She jumped off the bed and hurried into the bathroom. Adam wasn’t far behind. If there was anything he could use right now, it was a distraction.

Space Jam A New Legacy Wishlist

This here’s a list of properties and characters that I want to see in Space Jam A New Legacy and some explanation as to why or how they can even appear. And I am well aware these would just be cameos. That doesn’t bother me. 

RWBY (Warner does in fact own RoosterTeeth and RWBY is just about their most well known original work. Plus Warner seems to have some interest in expanding the RWBY brand, what with a Justice League crossover comic and all) 

Mortal Kombat (Owned by Warner and if they’re willing to include the Droogs and freaking Pennywise this franchise has no reason not to appear. Plus it is getting a movie and cross promotion never hurt anyone) 

Birdman (There are already Hanna-Barbera super heroes appearing and this one is a personal favorite of mine) 

Mightor (Again with the Hanna-Barbera superheroes) 

Jonny Quest (Hanna-Barbera and honestly has gotten a bit more of a push in recent years than most of that brand has gotten) 

Speed Buggy (They got Jabberjaw so why not) 

Freakazoid (The only one of Spielberg’s 90′s cartoons that isn’t up for a reboot. Also it got a crossover episode with Teen Titans Go so it clearly isn’t forgotten) 

Beetlejuice (I just like Beetlejuice) 

Loonatics Unleashed (I actually enjoyed this show. It wasn’t groundbreaking but it was a pretty fun superhero show that tried to put an original spin on the Looney Tunes. I would just like to see an appearance by them that wasn’t a potshot) 

Xiaolin Showdown (This was actually a pretty decent show that seems forgotten nowadays. Would be nice to see something to show it isn’t forgotten.) 

Teen Titans (The original cartoon. I just want something for Teen Titans that doesn’t remotely involve Go at this point) 

Swat Kats (This is definitely a fan favorite that has gotten jack squat done for it for years. Would be nice if this is where they made a return for a quick moment) 

Road Rovers (A personal favorite of mine and also Warner Bros. Would be hilarious if they met the Swat Kats)

Ricochet Rabbit (A personal favorite Hanna-Barbera character of mine) 

Venture Bros. (Got screwed over big time with it’s cancellation. An appearance could be a good way of saying “No Hard Feelings”. Also makes the most sense for anything from Adult Swim appearing because they aren’t going to do the HB revamp stuff from Coast to Coast or Attorney at Law for that) 

TOM from Toonami (Would just make my day if I’m being honest) 

Tom and Jerry (We’ve never actually seen those guys with other Hanna-Barbera characters. Would like to see it happen.) 

Lego (I would take anything for this one given how much Warner Bros. has done with Lego media. My personal choice would be Bionicle given that it was hands down Lego’s best franchise but I don’t know if they could legally do that. There were plans for Takanuva in The Lego Movie sequel so it may be impossible.) 

Captain Planet (Would just be fun. Especially if he met Don Cheadle’s character face to face) 

Big Bird (Just want a Sesame Street character and he’s my choice) 

Sam and Dean Winchester (Supernatural got 15 seasons. I think their popularity speaks for itself) 

The Banana Splits (This is Hanna-Barbera’s only real stab at live action work. They deserve a spot for that alone) 

Godzilla (The Monsterverse is on an upswing after GvK. Plus Kong will appear. Plus it’s Godzilla and we would be there just for him) 

Osmosis Jones (If you want a real obscure pick here’s one)  

Rick and Morty (The biggest deal on Adult Swim. Need I say more?)  

Powerpuff Girls (Due for a live action show. If any Cartoon Cartoons get chosen it would be this one) 

Samurai Jack (Still freaking popular with folks. Would drive all of us insane) 

Courage the Cowardly Dog (My personal favorite Cartoon Cartoon) 

Ed, Edd, n Eddy (Would just be fun) 

Johnny Bravo (Very popular Cartoon Cartoon) 

Dexter’s Laboratory (Same as above) 

Cow and Chicken (Ditto) 

I Am Weasel (Michael Dorn would be a good win for the movie) 

The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (Just think of the jokes this one could be used for) 

Codename Kids Next Door (Really just want to see these characters again) 

Gremlins (Due for an HBO Max cartoon so why not) 

Adventure Time (Started the Renaissance age for Cartoon Network so it deserves a spot for that)  

He-Man (If Thundercats have gotten in than he deserves to too) 

Steven Universe (A personal favorite and Warner Bros isn’t done with the property yet) 

Regular Show (The chance to see Mordecai and Rigby’s “Whoa” is too good to pass up) 

Young Justice (Love this show. Greg Weisman is the genius who gave it to us. And Phantoms is still a ways off) 

Mucha Lucha (Pretty off-kilter and could be a visual stand out) 

Speed Racer (I am pretty sure that Warner Bros. has the rights licensed out like the deal they have with Godzilla. I just think it would be fun and awesome) 

Raw Fake Rankings, 12/31/2020

Men’s heavyweight singles division - babyfaces

Drew McIntyre (WWE world champion)

Sheamus

Keith Lee

Ricochet

Men’s heavyweight singles division - heels

Randy Orton

Bobby Lashley (WWE United States champion)

AJ Styles

MVP

Elias

Mustafa Ali

Unranked: Akira Tozawa, Angel Garza, Drew Gulak, Humberto Carrillo, Jaxson Ryker, Mace, Slapjack, T-Bar

It feels like the real direction for the main event involves the intrigue between Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, with the Miz in the background with his Money in the Bank contract.  Sounds like a pretty solid plan to kick off the year 2011, with fresh young talent that...wait, I’m being handed a bulletin.  Tomorrow is 2021.

Seriously, though, the Sheamus storyline is at least novel, in that he never really turned babyface but--by virtue of his association with McIntyre--he’s all but ceased acting as a heel except to tease turning on Drew someday.  And they seem to be doing a better job than usual protecting a guy (Lashley) to set up a money match down the line.  (Although I’m not sure what that match is, since Lashley already challenged McIntyre and lost.)  And I suppose they have a plan for Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt, even if I don’t get it.

However, Raw has struggled to make new stars.  (McIntyre’s 2020 push has been a success, but I’d call that a do-over from when they dropped the ball on him in 2009-2013).  Keith Lee’s run on this brand has been a critical failure.  Elias is about 5% wrestler and 95% cheap heat skits, and now he’s got Ryker standing around helping him not wrestle much.  Ricochet and Ali’s Retribution stable are in a battle of losers.  The Hurt Business is getting over as a top heel group, but they have a median age of 45 and they’re running out of hot faces to fight.

What will make Raw interesting in 2021 is that the brand is truly painted into a corner.  The show hit record low rating multiple times in 2020, and tried a lot of quick-fix hot angles that went nowhere.  The big arrivals this year didn’t make much of an impact, and indeed they’ve eroded the fandom’s faith in “calling up someone from NXT for a big push on Raw.”  So what else can they try?  We’ll soon find out.

Men’s tag team division - babyfaces

The Hardy Bros - Jeff Hardy & Matt Riddle

The New Day - Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods

Lucha House Party - Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado

Men’s tag team division - heels

Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin (Raw tag team champions)

The Miz (Mr. Money in the Bank) & John Morrison

I’m not even totally sure Riddle and Hardy are a long-term team, but I guess WWE has already trademarked “Hardy Bros” so for now they believe they’re sticking with that.  Lucha House Party showed up on the December 30 NXT to feud with Legado del Fantasma, which sure sounds like they’re leaving Raw for good, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Women’s singles division - babyfaces

Nikki Cross

Women’s singles division - heels

Reckoning

Raw’s women’s division is currently revolving around the tag title, so the singles division amounts to the women who don’t have tag partners right now.  Incidentally, I’m very surprised that the Alexa Bliss-Nikki Cross split ended without either of them really turning heel.

Women’s tag team division - babyfaces

Asuka (Raw women’s champion) & Charlotte Flair (WWE women’s tag team champions)

Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose

Women’s tag team division - heels

Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler

Lacey Evans & Peyton Royce

Jax and Baszler were kinda thrown together as a monster super-team a while back, which then led to them picking on Lana, which then led to Asuka offering to help Lana go after the tag title, which somehow led to Asuka and Flair as the tag champions.  Meanwhile, WWE went to all the trouble of repackaging Rose and Royce as solo acts just to turn around and put them in new teams for lack of any other ideas. 

I suppose you could build up the tag division from these four makeshift teams, but I don’t expect they will.  It’s all just in service to Asuka and Flair inevitably feuding over the singles title.  Once that gets going, I would imagine Asuka and Flair will do a “lose the tag title through miscommunication” thing and the belts will go to Evans and Royce, and get lost in the shuffle just like every time Royce and Billie Kay got the belts.

No matches in 30 days: Alexa Bliss, Dabba-Kato, Erik, Omos, R-Truth (WWE 24/7 champion), Titus O’Neil, Tucker

Dabba-Kato has yet to wrestle an actual match on Raw, and hasn’t been seen since Raw Underground was shelved.  Omos also hasn’t had a match yet, and technically isn’t even listed on WWE’s official roster.  I’m not sure what the in-ring future is for Bliss--her association with Bray Wyatt is money, but I don’t foresee it leading to a lot of women’s matches.

I’m starting to wonder if WWE has actually lost interest in the 24/7 title, given that nobody seems to have chased R-Truth around for it in a while.  It’s one of those things that can keep running on autopilot, well after they stop putting in actual effort--not unlike the original WWE hardcore title that inspired it--but now they don’t even seem to be doing that.

Part-time/semi-retired: Shane McMahon, The Big Show, Triple H

Shane was brought back in 2020 as the spokesperson for Raw Underground, so when that idea got canned, he disappeared as well.  So it’s really hard to imagine how he could return, since his primary value to WWE is to make an unexpected return to hype some new hotshot idea, and they literally just tried and failed to do that.  And it wouldn’t make much since for him to “invade” with a hotshot new faction, considering they still haven’t wound down Retribution.

Inactive

Andrade (elective surgery)

Becky Lynch (maternity leave)

Braun Strowman (storyline - indefinite suspension)

Bray Wyatt (storyline - burnt to a crisp)

Edge (right arm - triceps tear)

Ivar (neck - cervical vertebrae injury)

Jinder Mahal (right knee - unspecified injury)

Lana (storyline - head and left knee injuries)

Mickie James (nose - collapsed nasal cavity)

Naomi (abdomen - myomectomy)

Riddick Moss (knee - ACL tear)

Samoa Joe (concussion)

It was never entirely clear why Strowman was taken off TV, but I would assume he’ll back in time for the Royal Rumble, unless he’s dealing with an injury.  Similarly, I’m sure Wyatt will be back by the end of January, having magically recovered from being immolated by Randy Orton.  It’s interesting, though, that Wyatt and Orton will be settling their differences right around the time Edge is expected to return to renew his rivalry with Orton.  Is it possible Orton could go 2-0 with Wyatt to build him up for Edge?  And if so, how does Orton finish off Wyatt in a way that can top burning him alive?

Lana should be available to return whenever WWE needs, but it’s tough to gauge whether they’re waiting for the right moment in her story with Nia Jax, or if they’ve given up on all that and will leave her on the bench until they think of some totally new gimmick for her.

For the record, Andrade and James were in the 2020 draft pool but never picked, so technically they can show up on any brand once they return to action.  Lynch, Edge, Ivar, Mahal, and Joe weren’t even included in the draft pool, but I think that had more to do with their lengthy time away than anything else.  Regardless, I wouldn’t count on any of these performers leaving Raw anytime soon.

My thoughts on Full Gear

I didn't get to watch Full Gear tonight but I did watch Wrestletalks watch along (seriously go check them out they're amazing) so for the most part I got what happened so hear are me thoughts on/favorite moments from AEW Full Gear. (Also sorry no buy in thoughts it was just kinda there for me)

Before I go on any futher I will admit I missed last weeks show. But without futher ado lets get to it.

1: The rock n' roll express getting revenge on Santana and Ortiz was good but I feel like I'm forgeting something oh yeah,

2: THE CANADIAN DESTROYER. Holy s word that was amazing.

3: Adam vs Pac need I say more, no.

4: but I will anyways, Pac had some great offense to a point where I thought he was going to win, but then The hangman got him adding to his win record.

5: Sean Spears is amazing and I love watching him wrestle (even listening tonight I could tell he gave a good preformance).

6: Joey Janela was good too.

7: Tully getting envolved really put over him and Sean.

8: Scu vs. Lucha bros. Vs. Private party in a three way tag team match, AWESOME.

9: Wait they're doing the terible triple threat rules from WWE, why? (I'll come back to this in a moment)

10: First the match was really good and SCU retained the titles, but I feel the lucha bros. should have won.

Now I'm not in their creative team so they could have this all planned out already, but this is just what I'd do.

11: Change the rules and you can do this in multiple ways and here they are

1. Make it a tornado tag so you dont have to worry about who's the legal man in the tag, while this doesn't work with what I have planned it still works none the less.

2. have it be like a gauntlet match and start with two teams the then have the third team come out when one of the first two are eliminated, this way even if SCU does win it makes them look like bigger baby faces since they essentially fought in two matches in the same night, on the other hand it makes the third team to come out look like even bigger heels since they are picking the bones of what's left so to say.

3. Have one person from all teams start in the match, this would effectively even the playing fields for all teams involved.

4. Just do straight lucha rules the lucha bros. are already in the match so use that to their advantage, by having one the other teams do their finnisher then have lucha bros. throw them out of the ring hit their finnisher and win.

12: Riho vs. Emi seemed a little too short for my liking but was still a good match.

That's almost all the complaints I have with this show, so dont worry this isn't going to be me hating on the entire show.

13: I had a feeling Cody would lose.

14: Cody's mom slapping Chris and cussing him out was funny though.

15: And Jericho having beef with Milenko was a nice call back to *the other company*

16: Cody's going for a dive. He missed. Its ok he put all the weight on his eyebrow. WAIT WHAT!

17: Also MJF, I GOT TWO WORDS FOR YA!

18: OMG GOD THEY KILLED KENNY

19: JR: BY GOD HE'S BROKEN IN HALF

20: Renee Youngs twitter through this match

1st tweet: My husband looks so handsome. Also a bad Mfer.

2nd tweet: wtf.

3rd tweet: Hi. Yes. Hello. I hate this.

4th tweet: seriously wtf

5th tweet (when it ended): Anyways i hear cristmas movies are a good palette cleanser. (help!)

So yeah over all I give the show a 7.5 or 8, like I said I missed last weeks show and couldn't see what was happening on the show its self but from what I could hear it was a solid show, with fast paced action and a brutal final match.

Protectors

Requested by: @monstersmaid

Featuring:  Pentagon Jr./FC/Fenix

Category:   fluff

Word Count: 596

Warnings: none really, mentions of violence

39.          “Who hurt you?”

Fenix the voracious bouncy energetic one with a ready smile and friend to everyone.  Pentagon, the surly one with a permanent scowl with a short temper and even shorter fuse. Together they formed the Lucha Bros tag team, a formidable force against any opponent.  I knew they had many championships between them, singles and tag, and were widely regarded as two of the best luchadores in the business.  However, that was the extent of my knowledge.  Nevertheless I was fascinated by them.   I lurked in the shadows when they were near, too shy to actually speak to them, but I did my part to make sure they were well taken care of. 

They didn’t seem to have anyone other than each other, so I would make sure to put fresh waters in their locker after their matches and I had learned their favorite snacks and snuck a few into their bags.   Little things I thought would make their day a bit better and made me feel good.   I didn’t think they knew who their mysterious benefactor was, if they did there was never any indication from them.   

I didn’t even think they knew I existed.  My job didn’t require me to interact with the talent, so I kept a wide berth.   I had no doubt if I had crossed his path that Fenix would have greeted me warmly.  Pentagon I wasn’t so sure of, but I had an inkling that beneath that angry exterior there was a softer side.   I might get a grunt or nod from him.  

It wasn’t until I came into work with a broken wrist and busted eye that I learned they had known all along that it was me and were apparently now my self-appointed protectors.  Before my purse was even in my makeshift desk they were at my side startling me with their presence. 

Fenix shifted me to face him, carefully looking over my injuries with concern bright in his brown eyes. 

“Who hurt you?” Pentagon growled his face a picture of anger.  “Tell them where they are we’ll show them why it was a bad idea to put hands on you.”  

“Si Hermosa,” Fenix chimed in.  “Tell us.  We’ll make them pay.” 

The sudden interaction had me confused and it took a moment for me to realize what they assumed.  Looking from one brother to the other, each radiating anger and looking ready to murder someone on my behalf I didn’t know whether to laugh at the absurdity or cry at how sweet they were.” 

“You guys, I appreciate you rushing to my defense.”  I told them.  “I really do.  But there’s no vengeance needed.  Thank you.”

They exchanged a glance before Pentagon spoke once again.

“You don’t have to protect anyone.  We won’t let them hurt you.” 

This time I did chuckle a little making them frown.

“The only person you could beat up for hurting me is me.”  I told them giggling at the confusion that spread on their faces.  “I got in a car accident.  I rear-ended someone.  Completely my fault. No big bad guy, just a bad a driver.” 

Their shoulders deflated and they sighed and I could tell they were really upset there was no one to hurt on my behalf. 

“Lighten up guys.  I piss people off all the time.  I’m sure someone will come along that you two can set straight for me.”   I said with a laugh.  “Now if you’ll excuse me I do have work to do.” 

Fyter Fest: SUCCESS

I liked this show a lot! Not everything was to my taste, but there was plenty to enjoy. Briefly:

* The Cody vs. Darby Allin match was one of the best wrestling matches I’ve seen in 2019. The crowd was a little subdued for long stretches of it, perhaps being accustomed to more of a flashy style, but I loved the whole thing. Cody, who liked like a giant compared to Allin, was trying to wrestle and old-school (dare I say, Southern) style match, while Allin was trying to shift it to a more familiar indie style, which would be to his advantage. It was a genuine collision of two different approaches to wrestling, and it worked incredibly well. Darby took at least two completely insane bumps I’ve never seen anyone do, and after one of them, Cody contemptuously did push-ups in the ring. THAT’S GOOD OLD SCHOOL VILLAINY. I also loved that this was a time-limit draw, another old school story device. Neither guy lost any face in the match, and the crowd was still excited by the end, which they timed very well (Cody hit his finisher with two seconds left, and thus couldn’t get the three-count). Cody, derided in his initial indie run as “The Three-Star General” for his supposedly pedestrian matches, has stolen the show on both AEW events so far. 

* I did not love the post-match run-in by Shawn Spears! Without getting into any of the piping hot takes about unprotected chair shots, I thought it pulled focus from the great wrestling match that just happened, with Darby Allin being turned into kind of an afterthought. I get that they need to advance storylines and right now they don’t have weekly TV to do that, but this felt almost Russo-esque. 

* The Moxley-Janela match was really good! Going into it, I wondered how much different an AEW hardcore match was going to be from the WWE template. Like, would they go full indie and have shopping carts and pizza graters and barbecue skewers? The answer is no: we didn’t see any items in this match that would be outside the bounds of a WWE match (except maybe the barbed wire), but it was how the two wrestlers used them that made the difference. The barbed wire spots were wince-inducing without being truly gruesome, the tables were swiftly destroyed, and the barefoot thumbtacks spot at the end was a stroke of sadistic genius. What a first match for Moxley in AEW!

* The women’s triple threat match was a little sloppy at parts, but the whole thing was redeemed by Nyla Rose totally playing against type down the stretch and hitting a truly insane flying guillotine knee drop from the top turnbuckle. She then snapped off a truly brutal German suplex to solidify her status as the early badass of AEW. Yuka Sakazaki and Riho looked a little out of step a few times, but mostly they did well in the role of competitors who also have to compete against the monster opponent. 

* One thing AEW has managed to do well so far is put on three and four-way matches that don’t get bogged down the way they do so often in other companies. You know: there’s a three-way match and invariably one person spends most of it outside the ring, effectively turning into a two-person match with occasional run-ins. In the women’s match and in the four-way, AEW’s agents managed to produce matches that actually felt like all the competitors were involved throughout the course of the contests. The four-way was particularly good, and should go a fair distance toward making Jungle Boy a breakout star in the company. He’s got a great look, he’s got unique offense, and his friendship with giant dinosaur man Luchasaurus is the stuff of a marketer’s dreams. 

* The six-man tag was fine. I know this is going to sound like I’m complaining that a buffet is too good, but I think I’m full up on matches pitting the Young Bucks against the Lucha Bros for a while. They’re fun, they involve incredible athleticism and exhibitions of timing and skill, but you know what to expect. The bright spot of the match for me was the underappreciated luchador Laredo Kid, who got a lot of quality time as the Lucha Bros’ partner. 

* I really did not like the pre-show. The three-way tag match was very good, and I was really happy to see people online reacting with astonishment at Private Party. Those guys are fantastic, and they’re so young. They’re only going to get better. Everything after that match was extremely not my thing. I appreciate they’re trying to do something different with the comedy, and it’s going to be important for them to have something that connects with non-wrestling fans or wrestling-curious fans who aren’t going to want to watch two hours of matches every week. And I certainly don’t expect a company that has two shows under its belt to have a foolproof formula in place. But if they’re going to do comedy, they should really hire actual comedy writers, as much as the idea of writers has become a taboo in non-WWE wrestling. The jokes were flat and most of them centered around the Fyre Fest documentaries, which are really yesterday’s news at this point. 

* The librarian thing really died a death with the crowd. I don’t watch Being the Elite or The Road to, so I missed the explanation for this gimmick, but it does not come across well. The constant shushing is so bad it feels almost avant-garde after a while, like it’s actively confrontational with the audience over our expectations for a wrestling show. Then Leva Bates cut a heel promo in defense of books and I wanted to check out. Her match with Allie was decent for a match on a Shine midcard, but Leva’s limitations as a wrestler are pretty much what they’ve always been. The match ended with a totally blown spot that was supposed to be the pay off for the whole “the librarians love books” thing. Terrible.

* I hated the last pre-show match. Every once in a while, you’ll see a super local indie show where one of the sponsors gets to “wrestle,” usually meaning the crowd is treated to the owner of a car dealership standing on the apron for most of a tag match, until getting the chance to throw a weak clothesline and cover a hated midcard baddie for the three count. AEW, though, decided they should do that same thing but with the non-wrestler sponsor being put in a 10-minute hardcore match. I’m sure some people liked this. I am not among them. This match inadvertently featured the gnarliest spot of the night (until the Darby Allin coffin drop onto the edge of the apron JESUS DARBY WHAT ARE YOU THINKING DO YOU WANT TO DIE YOU HAVE A LOVING SLEAZY WEIRDO SPOUSE PLEASE THINK OF HER) when the fighting games convention organizer guy did a German suplex that dumped Nakazawa directly on his neck. Thank God Japanese wrestling training involves constant neck bridges! This is why super local indies only let the sponsor guys throw a weak clothesline: because they know that non-wrestlers doing wrestling moves endangers everyone’s safety. 

* Other things: Commentary seemed to be markedly better for the most part, thanks to the addition of “Goldenboy” who might be a video game person? (sorry video game people I am no use here) ... JR is really straying into Grampa Gaffes territory with his praise of “Oriental” wrestlers and blurting out that the women wrestlers all seem like his daughters ... the camera direction still needs work, with the director missing a number of big spots ... Kenny Omega running in to pummel Moxley after the final match was good stuff ... the Super Smash Brothers’ “Dark Order” thing is treading perilously close to Black Scorpion territory ... this was just shy of four hours, counting the pre-show, and I found myself wanting more when it was over ... a friend was over watching with me and we found ourselves yelling at the screen in a way we haven’t done with televised wrestling in a long time 

AEW/ROH - Predicting the Next Champions

Okay so Collision is in the books and I totally didn't forget to do one of these after Jade dropped the title at DoN XD

Including ROH but unlike my past ones just gonna make it more brief, also no FTW title because it's not official, just a small bit of fun too. Also just to not go too into fan booking I'm only using people currently hired by AEW, so no Kota Ibushi.

Spoilers for AEW Collision's debut just in case (18th June 23)

AEW World Championship (MJF) Next Champion: Eddie Kingston Alternatives: Adam Cole, Darby Allin, CM Punk Reason: He is the perfect people's champion AEW needs, I don't expect him to do it first time but he's the antithesis of MJF's young prodigy character.

ROH World Championship (Claudio Castagnoli) Next Champion: Mark Briscoe Alternatives: Eddie Kingston, Bandido, Hangman Page Reason: I know people have him set on the TV title but I feel like this is the better destination.

AEW Women's World Championship (Toni Storm) Next Champion: Jamie Hayter Alternatives: Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale, Thunder Rosa Reason: Because she only lost it to injury, and AEW would be foolish not to put it back on her during or in time for Wembley.

ROH Women's World Championship (Athena) Next Champion: Mercedes Martinez Alternatives: Red Velvet, Leyla Hirsch, Willow Nightingale Reason: You need someone who can match her aggression as well as her technique, but you also want to pass over that honour to someone who can use it as a launch pad. Honestly this was the toughest one to figure out because of how great Athena's been, so I went back to her more storied opponent.

TNT Championship (Luchasaurus) Next Champion: Ricky Starks Alternatives: Keith Lee, Roderick Strong, Ethan Page (face) Reason: One is hoping that Christian and Dino hold for a long time through shenaniganry to keep the heat, which is why you'd need a babyface to finally wipe the smug grin off of Cage's face, Ricky needs gold too so he's the best for the job.

ROH Television Championship (Samoa Joe) Next Champion: Dalton Castle Alternatives: AR Fox, Shane Taylor, Bandido Reason: It's no easy feat to defeat Joe, so I went with the man who oozes enough charisma (and can throw a Boy or two at him) to carry on the entertainment value.

TBS Championship (Kris Statlander) Next Champion: Serena Deeb (BCC) Alternatives: Emi Sakura, Ruby Soho, Athena Reason: Whoever takes the title off of Kris will have to be able to handle the heat they'll get because of how beloved she is, this is why you'd need a physical kind of heel who can carry that level, plus Deeb is overdue her plaudits and I want her in the BCC.

AEW International Championship (Orange Cassidy) Next Champion: Miro Alternatives: Konosuke Takeshita, Jay White, Kip Sabian Reason: Whoever takes it off of OC needs to either be brutally dominant or a sly opportunist, I picked the former since we all want to Belt the Redeemer, Champion of All Nations, plus the man really needs to see his hot flexible wife.

ROH PURE Championship (Katsuyori Shibata) Next Champion: Bryan Danielson Alternatives: Daniel Garcia (BCC) Reason: It's a dream match and you need a person of pedigree or endorsement to beat Shibata's legend status, since Pure rules prevents heel shenaniganry. I don't have much other options since Moriarty has already been beaten but if Garcia were to beat Shibata it'd have to be under Bryan's wing, not Jericho's.

AEW World Tag Championship (FTR) Next Champion: Aussie Open Alternatives: 2point0, The Hardys, Bullet Club Gold Reason: It feels like this was the intent before Davis' injury and if they waited months for Statlander they'll wait for Dunkzilla. 2point0 is an option only because I want them to get a taste of da titles! Plus I want them used more.

ROH World Tag Championship (Lucha Bros) Next Champion: The Butcher & The Blade Alternatives: The Kingdom, Iron Savages, BCC Reason: The duo are due a title run, and with shared history of 'Eddie's friends' ROH is a good place for them to finally string some dominant wins together.

AEW Trios Championship (House of Black) Next Champion: Blackpool Combat Club Alternatives: Death Triangle, Best Friends, CMFTR Reason: They are the most dominant trio for a reason and I think they're the only trio who can match the House for their aggression and brutality.

ROH Six-Man Tag Championship (Mogul Embassy) Next Champion: The Righteous Alternatives: Dark Order, Iron Savages (& Jacked Jameson), Mack Attack (plus one other ally) Reason: There's not a lot of trios in ROH outside of whoever AR Fox or Blake Christian is teaming with, but I went with the Righteous mainly since they have stolen Stu from the Dark Order, and thus need to profit from it.

Nearly twenty years after the end of the “Monday Night Wars,” the landscape of professional wrestling is on the precipice of a massive shift.

The catalyst for the seismic change is All Elite Wrestling, the upstart company founded by Tony Khan, son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, and professional wrestlers Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega and Matt and Nick Jackson — better known as the Young Bucks.

After holding four shows — two pay-per-views and two free events — all eyes will be on the upstart wrestling company this week as it debuts its live television program, titled “Dynamite,” on TNT.

“I guess you could say there are a lot of nerves because going live you face that fact that anything could happen,” Nick Jackson told Yahoo Sports. “You just never know if something wrong is going to go down, like someone getting hurt. Knock on wood, hopefully everyone just kills it and we have a great time. We’re just hoping everything goes right.”

The birth of All Elite Wrestling

Wednesday night represents a culmination of a months-long effort by the Bucks, Omega, Rhodes and Khan, among others. On the heels of their successful independent show, “All In,” in August 2018, the group announced the creation of All Elite Wrestling in January and the buzz immediately started.

What started as a conversation on his back patio between Matt Jackson, his wife and Khan had finally become a reality.

“With the feedback right away we knew it was something that could be big,” Nick Jackson said. “As soon as we announced Chris Jericho, then people knew this was real and it could be as big as anything we’ve seen over the past 20 years. Right off the bat we knew. When we hit a home run with [May’s event] ‘Double or Nothing,’ that was further proof that this was going to be the next alternative.”

While the concept of All Elite Wrestling kicked into high gear over the past nine months, the Jacksons recognize that their YouTube series, “Being the Elite,” served almost as a training ground for the production aspect of AEW.

“I don’t think we would have ever guessed that it would get this big,” Matt Jackson said. “When we first started it, it was just a fun little project that was Nick’s idea to document our day-to-day activities for the fans to help us connect on a more personal level. The fact that it became what it became is really crazy to us. We’re hoping to keep it around.”

Since its inception in 2016, “Being the Elite” has grown to include several other members of All Elite Wrestling’s roster and has served as a conduit to further storylines in between events. As AEW grew, inching closer to the October debut, the Jacksons’ responsibilities expanded and ultimately, the brothers admit that the hit series may change.

“We’re hoping to keep it around,” Matt Jackson said. “I don’t know what that means though exactly, it will depend on what our schedule looks like. We have a huge following, it’s too big to just go away. I think we’ll be going through a transitional phase here soon while we figure out what ‘BTE’ will look like.”

‘My sleep schedule hasn’t been great’

The biggest adjustment for the Jacksons has been juggling dual roles. In addition to being two of the marquee talents on AEW’s roster, the brothers serve as executive vice presidents for the company.

It’s one thing to have to prepare for your own match ahead of a show, it’s an entirely different beast to ensure every aspect of the production is firing on all cylinders.

“I’m learning that it was a lot easier just being a wrestler, especially with this whole project,” Matt Jackson said. “The biggest adjustment for me has been being on the phone every second of the day, trying to be a dad also. Trying to stay fit, trying to do all of my other daily things.”

“A few months into this my phone never stopped ringing and I never stop getting text messages. It’s been a non-stop work pace since June. I love it, but at the same time I will admit that of course I’m struggling with balance. We’re an upstart but I have my own family too. Juggling a billion things at once, my sleep schedule hasn’t been great.”

Juggling their time is just one part of the equation for the Jacksons.

As All Elite Wrestling continues to grow, there’s inevitably going to be the perception that if they are continuously booked at the top of the card that the Jacksons — along with Rhodes and Omega — are putting themselves “over.”

The Jacksons are attempting to squash the issue before it starts.

“That’ll always be a concern,” Nick Jackson said. “Matt, myself and Kenny, we’ve made this a rule where you cannot talk about our position in the office on camera. You’ll never hear about anything that we do outside of being in the wrestling ring when you watch an episode on TNT. The only way you’ll know that is if you’re really a true insider, a huge wrestling fan and we want to keep it that way.

“If we’re the most popular act on a show, then that popular act should win,” Nick Jackson continued. “If we aren’t getting the biggest reaction, we should lose. We just have to know better and what’s right and wrong. I feel like Matt and I are pretty thoughtful in a selfish business.”

Making a place for tag-team wrestling

The Jacksons are one of the best — if not the best — tag teams in the world, so it’s no surprise that All Elite Wrestling is placing a huge emphasis on the format.

The early success of “Dynamite” will hinge on a number of factors, but one of the most important will be the tag-team tournament that will inevitably crown the promotions first champions.

“We’ve always fantasized — we never thought we’d get to do it — but if we had the book, we would make tag-team wrestling a priority,” Matt Jackson said. “Every team that you see with us, they were hand-picked by Nick and I. We’ve either worked with them elsewhere or have been watching them. We asked ourselves, ‘Who are the teams we want to work with?’ We figured, if we could have a good match with these wrestlers, the other teams could as well. A lot of it was almost selfish, us saying, ‘Who can we tear the house down with? OK, sign them.’”

There’s obviously an old-school feel as AEW goes up against WWE — by far the biggest competitor in the wrestling industry — but putting tag-team wrestling front and center is a sign that the company hopes to take the business even further back than the “Monday Night Wars” of the 1990s.

“Tag-team wrestling historically has been big box office,” Matt Jackson said. “In the old territory days, the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express was the main event in every town. It was clearly something that worked. Even as recently as the TLC era, Matt and Jeff Hardy were the biggest box office draw in tag-team history. They’re brothers, there’s a lot of parallels. I don’t know why it hasn’t shined as brightly in the past 20 years, but it’s time for it to take its spot back.”

With teams like the Young Bucks, Lucha Bros. and SCU, among others, it won’t be difficult for AEW to sell tag-team wrestling. Anyone who has watched a match involving these teams knows that there is no shortage of death-defying and jaw-dropping spots.

While some teams may alter their style with the move to weekly television — there’s a belief that wrestlers want to save certain moments for bigger shows — don’t expect that in the early going from the Jacksons.

“Matt and I have built a career off doing everything every day and every show,” Nick Jackson said. “I don’t think we’re going to change that philosophy. You might see that change with other wrestlers, but Matt and I are going to go into it thinking, ‘Let’s do what we do and keep doing what got us to the dance.’ Maybe during commercial breaks we’ll take it a little more easy.”

“Now is not the time to hold back,” Matt Jackson said. “Now is the time to show the world what we’re capable of. This may be the moment where everyone wants to sample our product and we may just have 15 seconds to gain some viewers when they are flipping through the channels. Now it’s the time to show the world what AEW looks like.”

And if fans are hooked, they’ll get to see tag-team wrestling in the biggest time slots.

“I don’t want anybody to be surprised when tag-team matches headline and main event a bunch of our shows,” Matt Jackson said. “There’s nothing more beautiful than a good tag-team wrestling match.”

The billion-dollar question

AEW is far from the first wrestling promotion to try and compete with Vince McMahon and WWE.

After Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling and Paul Heyman’s Extreme Championship Wrestling were purchased by McMahon, the wrestling landscape has been dominated by WWE.

Smaller promotions such as Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action have all operated over the past 20 years, but none has gained a large enough share to truly pose a threat to McMahon’s behemoth.

With AEW debuting on TNT — the same channel that aired “Monday Night Nitro” in the 1990s — things feel different. WWE has also moved its NXT brand, which more closely resembles the independent-adjacent style that AEW will have, to air on Wednesday nights in the same exact time slot as “Dynamite.”

“Of course [competition] is a conversation [we have],” Matt Jackson said. “I feel like the entire group of guys, we’re all so tunnel-visioned on what our idea is and what we want our show to look like, we have a vision of what we want AEW to be and we can’t stray too far away from that.

“Obviously, it’s smart to survey, see what the competitor is doing and what’s clicking or not clicking. A lot of this is going to be organic. If one week they are putting on something similar to what we have planned, maybe we change that. If they have a huge match planned and we didn’t, maybe that changes things. I think all it does is breed competitive nature in all of us, makes us all step up our game and put on the best show possible. It’s corny, but the fans win in all of this.”

At the end of the day, AEW’s ability to compete will boil down to the in-ring product and its production value.

Although the members of the AEW roster have vast experience in the professional wrestling world, there’s a significant difference between working on the independent circuit and putting on a live television program every week.

“We need to learn how to tighten up the show and tell our stories in 90 minutes,” Matt Jackson said. “The other thing is it’s going to be on live television, so we’re working with commercial breaks. I think we will gain our footing. This is all new to us and we’re a brand new company. We’re expecting hiccups but the best thing will be for us to pivot from those things and learn from our mistakes. We’re learning on the job but we also think we’re the most qualified team.”

Much like wrestlers calling a match in the ring, everyone involved in AEW will also need to be able to change things on the fly.

“We have an idea of where we want to go, but we also have to be ready to switch gears,” Matt Jackson said. “In wrestling, things just kind of organically happen. I always use this example, but we didn’t have a clue that after doing four shows that having a guy who dresses up as a dinosaur be one of our most over acts. Happy surprises happen. One thing we need to be ready to do is shift things and go with the flow.”

Saying goodbye to the old Young Bucks

In August, the Jacksons said goodbye to the independent circuit with a main event match against Private Party in Queens, New York. The show, put on by House of Glory, was in a venue that held maybe 1,000 people.

For comparison, “Dynamite” will take place at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. — a 20,000-plus seat venue that sold out in minutes.

“The one thing Matt and I will certainly miss is how close we were to that fan base,” Nick Jackson said. “We’re not leaving them, but it felt so intimate, being in a smaller venue.”

It’s not just moving to a bigger venue for the Jacksons, it’s leaving behind the part of the business that helped make them who they are today.

“It’s an environment for being able to really thrive, be creative and try new things, take risks,” Matt Jackson said. “That’s one thing I miss. Every match we have there’s a lot of pressure, it’s high stakes, we have to hit a home run every time. It felt good to do independent shows because that’s where we really crafted our act and created these characters that everyone has come to love now.

“[Now we’re] realizing that that part of our career is over and I’m not sure if it has really sunk in for us.”

On arguably the biggest night of their careers on Wednesday, it will.

AEW Fight for the Fallen

A slightly frustrating night for the nascent promotion nonetheless featured plenty of quality wrestling and serves as a decent ‘go-home show’ for August’s All Out. 

- All Out loomed pretty large over the entire card, even before the show -- Page and Omega both faced roadblocks en-route to the bigger show, Bucks/Rhodes brothers against brothers was built mostly on a few jokes on BTE -- but the promises made for August were all tantalizing. - Really liked the venue, amphitheater style seating and open air is a novelty I’d like to see more of,  the entrance ramp level with the ring paid off a few times. Wondering if they’ll adopt a more ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach for TV, but it’s been interesting noticing the tweaks to production. Entrance music still needs to be turned up on the feed. - End of the show was unnecessarily awkward and probably didn’t need to be part of the broadcast, which apparently confused Cody/Kenny/Everybody in the ring... Obviously that’s one of the things to take a look at when they’re debriefing. - Aubrey Edwards had herself a night, love how she gets between the wrestlers and doesn’t stand in the corner wishing she could do something. - Way too much ‘A-E-Dub’ chanting. Cheer the wrestlers. Boo the heels. *Pre-Card Sonny Kiss v The Librarian Peter Avalon (**1/2) - Maybe it’s because Avalon’s a little better in the ring than his counterpart, but this was the first time the Librarians have clicked properly -- the crowd is more than ready to pump up anyone who can knock these heaters around, and Sonny Kiss took the opportunity and ran. He was non-stop impressive from entrance to pinfall and the crowd ate it up.  Dr Britt Baker DMD & Riho v Shoko Nakajima & Bea Priestley (**) - Britt and Bea have shared the ring exactly once before, Shoko and Riho have a handful of matches together per Cagematch, and chemistry failed to find a spark in a lot of this match, which was fun enough but didn’t showcase any of the competitors at their best. The crowd was hot for Bea, and she’s been having some good matches in STARD✪M, but this was not peak-Priestley. I was excited to see Shoko, since tiny wrestlers with furry tails are my fave, but only Riho looked the part tonight. - Bea clocked Britt pretty good at one point, speculation is that’s part of why the good Doctor attempted to tag in Shoko. Kinda sums up the match. *Main-Card MJF, Sammy Guevara and Shawn Spears v Darby Allin, Jimmy Havoc and Joey Janela (***) - As far as multi-man schmozz curtain-jerkers go, this was a fun to-do. Darby Allin’s so fluid and speedy -- could do with more converted skateboarders in the squared circle. - I do think it’s odd to see MJF teaming with Shawn Spears, but I guess if it’s against Team Loveable Scuz, it’s for the greater good. The greater good. - Looks like Spears is indeed first up for a push, which sorta follows, other than Havoc, everyone else in this match is a sassy small child. Brandi Rhodes v Allie (dud) - I really feel for Allie, she’s not a world-beater or anything but she’s a good wrestler with a fun persona that you’ve got to imagine they’d like to get over, and now she’s been in the two worst matches of the last two shows. Brandi’s been trying to make being a wrestler work for a couple years, she’s got the drive and ambition but it’s not really coming along, I don’t know if it’s a lack of reps or what. This was a slow, sloppy, lifeless slog to the point that the best parts were the camera cutaways to Awesome Kong and Aja’s entrance. - Decently excited for Kong v Kong, less so for commentary tying themselves into knots during. A Boy and His Dinosaur v The Dark Order v Los Gueros Del Cielo (***1/2) - Another stupid ‘two in’ three-way match, this felt like it was headed for disaster until about halfway through and it devolved into a lucha-style tag match, and then it was a cooker. - Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus pulled off a string of the wildest tag team maneuvers of the night. Worth pointing out that The Young Bucks and Lucha Bros also worked this show. Both are improving show after show, the dinosaur still isn’t much for selling, but they’re getting over in a big way. - Jack Evans routinely leaves me amazed that he hasn’t had a higher-profile career, his small size and somewhat looser style accounts for some of it, but maybe he’s just made some odd choices along the way. Awesome he’s here now. - The Dark Order are assuredly the baddies, but the crowd seemed actively disinterested at times. Not sure what to make of that. Hangman Adam Pages v Kip Sabian (**1/2) - Sabian appeared to give Page a decent test on the road to Jericho, not quite a star-making turn but I liked what we saw of Sabian’s crowd-work. Seeds of doubt as to the outcome only really pointed toward ‘time limit draw.’ - Is it unreasonable to ask Commentary to be wise to the fact that the goth dad version of Jericho is literally always pulling shit like this, and to jump to conclusions at the point of that stiff as hell single-leg codebreaker? - Heel Jericho’s ironic reliance on cheap heat does not get old. He’s the greatest. Lucha Bros v SCU (***) - The SCU entrance is beautifully canned in the tradition of so many beautifully canned entrance schticks. Viva SCU. Pentagon and Fenix are Ant Samurai now, so watch out for that. - Solid as ever, given the participants, the main issue here is that this fracas was not super memorable, my main takeaway is that we’re headed toward a ladder war between the Bucks and Lucha Bros. (!!!) CIMA v Kenny Omega (****) - Kenny Omega lives. Granted, he’s barely worked since Wrestle Kingdom, but it’s nice to see him go all-out and look like one of the greatest in the world for the first time this year.  - CIMA’s an awesome opponent for Omega, they seem to operate on similar wavelengths, even their theatricality is similar. - So. Many. Knees. How on earth has CIMA been hitting meteora after meteora for decades? V-Trigger spam was in full, glorious effect. - Uhhh, that one spot, with the meteora onto the little timekeeper table. What in the fuck. The Young Bucks v Brotherhood (***1/2) - Finding a working pace between these two teams was going to be difficult, though Cody’s really been pulling his weight lately and this was no exception, and Dustin is as fluid and dogged as he’s ever been. The Rhodes boys really went for it here, and the clash of styles was definitely rewarding in parts, even as the pace jerked back and forth. - Without much of a story to tell, Cody is sapped of his unique talents as a wrestler. Looking forward to what he can put together when Spears comes knocking down his door again. - The Bucks don’t necessarily need to be telling much of a story but it would’ve helped this match to greatness. It is totally possible these teams could have had a classic. Maybe another time.

Fight for the Fallen Predictions

Tonight is Fight for the Fallen. I’m excited even though it has the weakest build up of any AEW pay per view so far. I mean almost half of the matches were just announced this week. I still think it will be a good show. Let’s do this!

Britt Baker & Riho vs. Shoko Nakajima & Bea Priestley 

This should be a good match. We get the debut of Bea Priestley & a new Joshi with Shoko Nakajima (I’ve actually have seen a match of hers). I do think that Britt Baker & Riho will win. They have a bit of a winning streak going and I made the mistake of betting against Riho last time. 

Winners: Britt Baker & Riho 

Sonny Kiss vs. Peter Avalon w/ Leva Bates 

You know what, I actually like the Librarians. I might make a post detailing why, but I will say people misunderstand the gimmick. The gimmick isn’t that they’re Librarians it’s that they’re wrestlers with stupid gimmicks. I’m actually interested in where the story will go next. Will Leva screw over Peter as retaliation for him costing her match with Allie? Will Leva actually start liking Peter? Will Peter forget about Leva and run off with Sonny? The possibilities are endless. I don’t see the either of the Librarians picking up any wins right now while they have the gimmick (which I think was meant to be temporary from the beginning). 

Winner: Sonny Kiss

Jimmy Havoc, Darby Allin & Joey Janela vs. MJF, Sammy Guevara  & Shawn Spears 

This is one of the more strangely set up matches. On surface it’s the classic team Babyface vs Team Heel match, but the set up is confusing. On Road to Fight for the Fallen episode 2, MJF confronted Shawn Spears because of Shawn’s attack on Cody. It’s clear that MJF hates Shawn Spears, but later in the same episode this match is announced with no context. I thought context would be given on Being the Elite or Road to Fight For the Fallen Episode 3, but nope. I do think this will be an interesting match. MJF doesn’t want to work with Shawn Spears, but MJF also has a huge ego. Would he really throw a match? He probably wouldn’t but the inner conflict will probably cost them. 

Winner: Jimmy Havoc, Darby Allin & Joey Janela 

SCU vs. Lucha Bros 

If this isn’t one of the better matches of the night, then I’ll be surprised. I think the win should go to the Lucha Bros. They have been part of two of the best matches in AEW so far, and a win would give them more credibility. 

Winner: Lucha Bros

Brandi Rhodes vs. Allie 

This is one of the better built up matches for Fight for the Fallen. Episode 2 of Road to Fight for the Fallen had Brandi talk about her past and how anxiety ruined opportunities for her. It was touching and relatable. I’ve seen many people say that Brandi isn’t a good wrestler and I really want her to prove them wrong. I don't think she’s going to pick up the win though. 

Winner: Allie 

Dark Order vs. Jack Evans & Angelico vs. Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy 

This should be a fun match. We get the AEW wrestling debut of The Dark Order and we get to see how Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy work as a tag team. The winner of the match is very clear. The Dark Order has been feuding with The Best Friends since Double or Nothing so it’s logical that they pick up the win. I would be really surprised if they didn’t. 

Winner: Dark Order 

Hangman Adam Page vs. Kip Sabian 

I like what they did with the match. Kip Sabian won the first singles match in AEW & the winner of the fatal four way at Fyter Fest got the chance to wrestle him. It made it seem like Kip Sabian beating Sammy Guevara meant something. I do think Hangman Page is going to win. He’s the up and coming babyface who will face the established heel Chris Jericho at All Out for the AEW Championship. I think he needs to keep a winning streak before the championship match. 

Winner: Adam Page 

Kenny Omega vs Cima

This match will probably be very good. I think Kenny will win, unless they want to push Cima. I do think Cima needs a bit of character development in AEW 

Winner: Kenny Omega

The Young Bucks vs. Cody & Dustin Rhodes 

Whoever wins this match, somebody will complain about the EVPs booking themselves to win matches. I’m surprised there was actually a bit of feud going on here. The Young Bucks have been continually mocking the “I want my Older Brother” speech on Being the Elite. Cody seems ok with this, Dustin not so much. It should be a very good match. I keep going back and forth on who’s going to win. *flips coin* Cody & Dustin Rhodes will win. 

Winner: Cody & Dustin Rhodes 

MEDIA DIARY JANUARY

:::::::::: MOVIES ::::::::::

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) I liked this so much I ended up seeing it twice. The animation is on a whole different level from everything else in theaters I just can’t believe it. Nothing has immediately endeared me to a character more that when Miles gets to the place where he’s going to put up graffiti and yells “BROOKLYN!” to get the echo. Absolutely perfect. 

Happy Death Day (2017) The trailer looked good but the trailer for the sequel looked even better. Good time repeating movie. Way better than Blood Punch. I’m excited to see more of this.

Alien: Covenant (2017) Had no clue what to expect going in but I actually dug it. It’s just Alien again like every Alien movie but what they do with David from Prometheus makes it really interesting. There’s also some straight up slasher movie sleaze that definitely appeals to me.

MacGruber (2010) It’s just a bunch of dick jokes while a bad action movie happens. There’s no clever spin to it.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) Wanted to watch this due to the Fast & Furious connection. It’s a great movie about overachievers and getting away with shit. I think Justin Lin is a great director and his unique voice benefits every movie he does.

Collateral (2004) I didn’t realize until the credits that this was a Michael Mann movie but it was so obvious in hindsight. The premise is simple, Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx are great, and everything comes together in a genuinely cool film.

Wilson (2017) Based on a comic I don’t particularly like from Dan Clowes’ grumpy old man phase. The cool thing about the comic is that each page works on its own and has a different art style. The movie can’t do that. But it’s still faithful to the book which means it feels like a series of one page gags strung together until it finishes. Woody and Laura Dern are great though and it is pretty funny at times.

Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare (2018) There was another truth or dare based horror movie a year before that was a Syfy original. The Syfy one is better. The problem with them both is the supernatural contrivances that make people play truth or dare against their will. It’s such a strained premise.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) Guy Ritchie made a King Arthur movie and it feels exactly like you’d expect. 

Thoroughbreds (2017) Girl who can’t feel emotions befriends girl who is very politely hiding her extreme emotions. Things get bad when they start to think about murder. Anton Yelchin plays a druggie scumbag loser. It’s such a good movie. 100% my kind of thing.

:::::::::: TV ::::::::::

The Great British Baking Show (Beginnings, Collections 1-4) Got addicted to this one. I love cooking competitions shows and pleasant ones are usually the best. I like seeing competitors that like each other. I like Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry not trying to tear people down. I love Mel and Sue. It’s just a nice show for the nice people.

Toei Spider-Man (Episodes 1-5) I’m not a big toku guy but Spider-Verse got me curious about various Spider-Men. Takuya Yamashiro wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider, he was injected with blood from the last survivor of Planet Spider and carries out a mission against Professor Monster’s Iron Cross Army to avenge Planet Spider and his own father. Next to nothing present from the classic Lee/Ditko Spider-Man and that’s totally alright. I’m going to try to watch more because the episode where Spider-Man has to donate his blood to hurt child has some serious heart.

The Prisoner (Episodes 7-17) I started watching this a while ago but only now got around to finishing. Mostly super clever plots and the atmosphere is always great. Patrick McGoohan sells it every single time. Some of the later episodes go really off the rails though. There’s an entire wild west episode. Nothing in this stretch tops my favorite episode, The Schizoid Man, where Number Two brainwashes Number Six to act differently and then forces Number Six to pretend to be Number Six while a different man is already pretending to be Number Six. The ending is solid though and carries a really good tv series to a confusing, surreal end.

Cutthroat Kitchen (Season 7, Episodes 1-7) Polar opposite of The Great British Baking Show. It’s the Mario Kart of cooking competition shows. Everyone tries to fuck each other over and Alton laughs at them the entire time. It’s brilliant.

:::::::::: PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING ::::::::::

TJPW Tokyo Joshi Pro ‘19 (January 4) I don’t follow TJPW and don’t know any of their wrestlers besides Meiko Satomura but I watched this because it was on before Wrestle Kingdom. Meiko vs Reika Saiki definitely made the show worth watching and the rest was pretty alright. Lots of fun, new personalities that I like.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 (January 4) Probably the most I’ve looked forward to a show and it absolutely delivered. For the past few years I’d watch WK and recommended matches but in in July I started following everything NJPW. That added investment made this WK special. Ibushi/Ospreay tore it up and I really hope Ibushi recovers soon. Jay White/Okada shocked me. Naito/Jericho was fucking brutal. And Kenny Omega vs Hiroshi Tanahashi was a match I was so invested in that I thought I was going to cry. If you haven’t checked out New Japan yet this show would make an excellent start. GO ACE!

Impact Homecoming (January 6) Impact has gotten pretty good. I’ve only seen a few of their most recent ppvs but it’s obvious that they have a wealth of talent and they’re willing to tell the kind of dumb stories that I really like. Since Homecoming was in Nashville I went and it was one of the best shows I’ve been to. The energy was insane all night and LAX vs Lucha Bros has to be the best match I’ve seen live. Now that they air on Twitch I’ve been following the weekly show and enjoying it quite a bit.

WWE Royal Rumble (January 27) I always love the rumble but the rumble was weird. Both rumble matches were okay but filled with dumb stuff and way too many recovery spots that were immediately deflated by the person getting eliminated. I like the winners. AJ/Daniel didn’t deliver like I wanted. Sasha and Ronda had a good match. I loved how Finn Balor worked Brock Lesnar’s diverticulitis. Fun show.

NXT UK Takeover Blackpool (January 12) NXT UK doesn’t really grip me aside from the women’s division. I liked this well enough but nothing really changed my mind. Finn Balor made a surprise appearance and he looked like such a star compared to everyone else. Excited to see what WALTER can do here though.

GCW 400 Degreez (January 12) GCW’s brand of hardcore indie nonsense is my absolute favorite. 400 Degreez isn’t the best they’ve done but it was full of disgusting beautiful deathmatch bullshit. Markus Crane vs Nate Webb especially.

NXT Takeover Phoenix (January 26) Takeover always delivers. Johnny Gargano vs Ricochet was definitely the match of the night. I don’t dig the War Raiders schtick but their match was great. Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler also killed it.

:::::::::: COMICS ::::::::::

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Volumes 1-10) I wanted something long to start reading so why not One Piece? Enjoying it so far. I like getting the crew together and Usopp’s story in particular is great. Oda is a master cartoonist. I love every time we get reaction faces.

Spider-Man: Fever by Brendan McCarthy Spider-Man fever got me wanting to revisit Spider-Man: Fever because I remember liking it. I still like it. Doctor Strange accidentally opens a doorway into a spider dimension and Spider-Man gets caught in Doctor Strange’s bathtub and the alternate dimension spiders take him. All this and McCarthy’s art make Fever pretty far out. 

Spider-Man 2099 by Peter David, Kelley Jones, and Rick Leonardi (1-15) Miguel O’Hara wasn’t bitten by a radioactive spider, he had Peter Parker’s DNA put into him by weird future DNA machine and he wages war against the gigantic corporations that control everything. I like Spider-Man 2099. Miguel is so different from the Peter Parker archetype and he’s got claws and fangs. He’s brutal. It’s got a neat post-hero future kind of like Batman Beyond. I stopped reading because the next part is a crossover with Punisher 2099, Ravage 2099, Doom 2099, and X-Men 2099. I’ll hopefully pick it back up because I want to know what happens with the hologram that’s in love with Miguel. 

Spider-Man by Kazumasa Hirai & Ryoichi Ikegami Yu Komori was bitten by a radioactive spider and he definitely wishes he wasn’t. It starts off a lot like our usual Spider-Man but the villains are so much more tragic and Yu deals with some heavy shit. Ikegami’s art evolves from cartoony to serious as the tone of the book changes. He’s a really incredible artist who is consistently pulling neat tricks and trying new things. I really liked this and it may top my favorite Spider-Man comics. It’s just so bleak and unforgiving to poor Yu. By the way, the final plotline is exactly the same as the Sonny Chiba movie Wolf Guy. Turns out the comic that movie was based on was written by the same guy that write Spider-Man. An odd find.

:::::::::: VIDEOGAMES ::::::::::

Axiom Verge Had my eye on this for a long time and finally picked it up on sale on my Switch. It’s okay. There are a lot of clever ideas here that I don’t think work for me. But I do like the decorrupter and the teleport. Some of the movement feels great but some stuff like the grappling hook feels awful. I hate the story. Completely incoherent sci-fi nonsense. But it’s a fun game and I enjoyed my time with it.

Hollow Knight I’ve spent about 30 hours on this game and I feel like I’m close to the end of the story. I absolutely love it. The movement, the combat, and the exploration all feel excellent. I’ve played over ten metroidvanias in the past year (I really like them) and this might be the best. My favorite part about them is how you’re almost never wasting time because there are new secrets to discover all across the map and Hollow Knight does such a good job with that.

Impact Wrestling 2/22/19 Review

Now, I am pretty new to Impact. I have kept up on the storylines generally, and I know a lot of the wrestlers, but I haven’t watched week to week consistently in a long time. I am not sure what their average episode looks like, but I wasn’t too impressed with the episodes. They had some really good wrestling on the show, but it seems like Impact only really cares about the tag division right now. Not much storyline progression outside of that, but there were some segments that, while they may not seem important now, could be a key factor in events to come. So on a show that was pretty inconsistent, the tag matches did impress, but the stories leave a bit to be desired.

The night started out with a promo from Johnny Impact, addressing his win in the fatal 4-way match last week. He said that he has been a fighting champion, and has given a match to anyone who deserves it. He says that other people may claim that he has too many defenses, but he knows that this is what the fans want to see. He says that after beating Killer Kross, Moose and Brian Cage last week, it is time to move on, but Moose interrupted. Moose then called him out for complaining about his body breaking down, and said the Impact is the worst champion in Impact history. He claims that he would have won the match, if Killer Kross hadn’t betrayed him. Killer Kross then comes out, and says that Moose betrayed him, not the other way around. Moose then claimed that Kross blew two of his championship shots, so Moose should get the next match. Impact then offered that the two have a match for #1 contendership to the impact world championship, and the match started right up.

Grade: C+. The promo got the point across, but it was very awkward at times. The arguing about outfits, for example, was a bit confusing, but that could be because I am new to impact. I like the idea of Johnny just booking an impromptu #1 contenders match, seems right in his character, but there was not much excitement to the segment.

We went right into the match, Moose vs. Killer Kross, with Johnny Impact on commentary. Both men hit low blows quickly, although they kicked out of the following pin attempts. It didn’t take long for Johnny impact to get involved, as Kross threw hot coffee in his face, before then allowing Moose to land a big boot on him. Johnny then ran in the ring, and caused a disqualification. After the match, the two former best friends were going to work together to take out Johnny, but Brian Cage ran down for the save, and the faces stood tall, although in an uneasy alliance. Cage did give the belt to Johnny impact, before walking away.

Grade: D-. This did not seem like it progressed any stories. The match was too short to be any good, and there was a non finish despite the interesting stipulation. The promo made it sound like there would at least be a bit of a plan moving forward, but by the end of the segment, it seemed to have regressed.

We cut to a pre-recorded promo from LAX, where Konan repeats that this is the last match between LAX and the Lucha Bros. In another pre-recorded segment, Johnny Impact and Brian Cage discuss how to get a clean one on one match, and Johnny suggests that they tag up to defeat Kross and Moose. Cage is skeptical about the offer, but Johnny gives him a signed contract, allowing him to get a title match after the tag match. The next segment was the Rascalz competing with each other over who is better, before Gama gave them some drug that poisons them. Funny segment, I like it.

The next match pits the Desi Hit Squad vs. Dezmond Xavier and Trey Miguel of The Rascalz. A lot of fast paced action, and a lot of good teamwork. The match was over after hitting a double 619 and then a meteora from Miguel for the win.

Grade: B-. The match was quite good, lots of great action. I really like the Rascalz, they are an awesome team. My biggest issue here was only really a lack of time, but I don’t want to complain about it too . much, because it was just a fun match.

Backstage, Eli Drake talks about his attack on Eddie Edwards, saying that Edwards deserved it for attacking Drake. He also insults hardcore wrestling, and says that he will win easily. In a pre record, Sami Callihan and Rich Swann talk in a hospital, where Callihan apologizes for attacking Swann, saying that Swann needs to join OvE to live up to his potential. Callihan tries to prove to Swann that he cares, desperately trying to recruit him. By the end, it seemed to work, as Swann told a nurse that Callihan was his family. Interesting story, I am intrigued.

Now into Eli Drake vs. Eddie Edwards, armed with Kenny the Kendo Stick. Drake refused to enter the ring while Edwards had his weapon. Before they started to fight, Edwards promised to not use weapons during the match. Drake was clearly trying to frustrate Edwards, complimenting him whenever Edwards hit an actual wrestling move. Edwards tried to use Kenny in the match, but Drake hit an inverted fireman’s slam for a near fall. Then Drake tried to use Kenny, and Edwards took him to the ground and stacked him up for the win

Grade C. It seemed like neither of these guys were particularly into this match, but it told a good story. Their respective movesets are very exciting, and I really enjoy watching them together. This is a feud that I could get into, and I want to see where things go after this. It could be Eddie’s transition back into the awesome wrestler he once was, or this could end up being a bunch of hardcore matches, either would be fun. But the match did not really impress, so I cannot go higher than a C.

Backstage, Tessa Blanchard was angry about not getting a rematch for the Knockouts Championship, blaming her attack on Gail Kim for why Impact management refuses to book the match. In a pre record, a guy who I do not recognize (I googled it, and it was Disco Inferno. Sorry Disco) kept claiming he was a big star, but was getting lost in the building

Next up was Alisha Edwards vs. Delilah Doom. This was Doom’s debut, and I really hadn’t heard anything about her, and the match didn’t do much to impress me. The match was over before it could really get started, when Tessa Blanchard came out and caused the DQ. She then brutalized both of the competitors. Its clear that she will do whatever it takes to get another match for the belt.

Grade: D+. The match was not very impressive at all, and I am definitely not a fan of when matches end in a disqualification for the sake of another angle. But, given how good Tessa is, I do like her storyline right now. I’m always a big fan of when people are suspended but continue their attacks on members of the locker room. I want to see where the story goes, but this segment wasn’t very interesting nor entertaining.

Backstage, Doom challenges Blanchard to a match for next week. There was a package about how Impact partnered with the NFL Alumni Association. They then had a segment backstage with Rosemary and Father James Mitchell, where she agrees to a match billed as a Dark War. If Rosemary and her team wins, they get Allie, if they lose, then Rosemary joins Mitchell. Taya Valkyrie then addresses Blanchard’s attack, but merely says that she has better things to worry about than Blanchard.

In the main event, we had the Lucha Brothers against LAX for the Impact Tag Team Championships.  The match started quickly with LAX attacking the Lucha Bros before the bell. Crowd was pretty split throughout the match, Both of these teams have awesome double team maneuvers. LAX seemed to be playing the heels throughout the match, while The Lucha Bros upped their exciting offense to be mega babyfaces. At one point, Fenix was thrown out of the ring, but then he grabbed the top and middle rope to spin back into the ring, hitting a spin kick as he landed. As Satana was up going for a move off the top rope, Fenix hit his jumping superkick to take him out of the match, and the Lucha Bros hit the Fear Factor on Ortiz for the win, retaining their belts. After the match, Konan shook hands with both of the champions, but when Ortiz and Santana offered their hands, Fenix and Pentagon got in their faces, causing a brawl after the match, and even unmasking the two. The show ended with LAX standing tall.

Grade: B. The match was fast paced and exciting, but it was surprisingly short for a main event of this caliber. It didn’t really kick into the second gear that I expected it to, and that hurt the match a bit for me. Still, these are two of the best tag teams in the world right now, and they still put on a good match. And then the antics after the bell rang will keep the feud going, possibly a heel turn for Ortiz and Santana (although I am unsure about Konan at this point) I think these teams are far from through with each other. They put on a quick match that was very fun, and was the match of the night.

Next week, we have a match between Tessa Blanchard and Delilah Doom, as well as the Dark war between Rosemary and her “army” against Su Yung’s army that at least has Allie in it. Probably a fun hardcore brawl, I’ll look forward to it. And we have Zachary Wentz against Ethan Page.

Overall Grade: C+

Pros: Rascalz are funny; Desi Hit squad vs. the Rascalz; Eddie Edwards vs. Eli Drake story; Tessa Blanchard is cool; tag team championship match

Cons: Main event scene is kinda stagnant; Eddie Edwards vs. Eli Drake match; Delilah Doom debut; not much story