Welcome. It is Tuesday night, and you know what that means. It
is time for Ignition, the AEW Fan Hub podcast. I am your co
host, Alex. This is Kelson. Hey, Alex, have a lot
to talk about tonight, I think, so let's just jump right into it.
What do you want to talk about? Absolutely? Yeah, I think
the number one thing that I want to talk about is the cage match.
It made a lot of waves. There was a lot of people talking about
it. We got responses from all of the House of Black members on Twitter.
Yeah, so that's what I think we should start things off with.
Sounds good, Okay, So yeah, let's start from the beginning AW collision.
A week ago we had that Daniel Garcia versus Buddy Matthews. After that
match, they announced that there was going to be an elimination cage match the
week after. So two days ago they announced the elimination cage match. Then
on Dynamite they showed a new graphic that said it was a Escape the Cage
elimination cage match. So we know that AW has only had traditional cage matches,
and when I say traditional cage matches, I mean inner submission. The
cage exists to force the guys in the match to fight each other. Correct,
that's my understanding. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So WWEE we know
they've always done escaped the cage matches or whatever you want to call them,
But the goal of a cage match in WWE is to climb the side of
the cage. They opened the door for you so you can get out of
the cage. So I've always been a big fan of ae W dial cage
matches, and this is the same style. That's like going back to the
territory days. This is what a cage match has always been before WWE reinvented
them and made them stupid. In my opinion, I'm not a fan of
fair enough escape the cage matches. Do you have any thoughts on escaping the
cage versus pin and submission? Well, you know, look, when you
have a steel cage, to me, the whole purpose of the steel cage
is is to keep the people in the match in the match, not running
around the arena. Of course, you know, the cage is often used
as a weapon and that's always fun to watch too. But yeah, I
mean, I don't really have a problem with escaping the cage or pinfall submission
in the cage. I don't really have a preference. Well they're fine,
I think, okay, And with a multiman cage match like this was,
it was a three on three cage match, and then to have it be
escape the cage rules, now you're saying that, Okay, the guys need
to escape the cage to win. So whatever team escapes the cage first wins.
But now you're in a situation where if two guys on one team escape
the cage, now it's three guys versus one inside of the cage. So
until you win the match, it's like escaping the cage is the last thing
you want to do. And one of the things that I said, Alex
was when what the person escapes the cage in this case, instead of putting
your team at a disadvantage, they should just say okay. For example,
daxx Hardwood escape the cage. Now he's allowed to go back into the cage,
but he can't escape again. He he's already escaped, but he's there.
He can actually assist his team because exactly what you were saying, getting
two people escaping the cage on one team now puts that team, even though
they're you know, winning, I guess is the best way to put it.
They escape. They had two teammates achieved the goal. Now the other
teammate is an a complete disadvantage, is going to get mrked. Yeah,
and they even played into it in the match they had I think it was
like Cash and Buddy or escaping the cage and then Cash was out, his
feet hit the ground, and then Buddy Matthews is like, oh, I'm
going to go back in and give my team the advantage. It's like it's
so convoluted and silly, and yeah, the way you explained it, at
least that makes it make a little bit more sense your team a lot more
sense. I mean, I would say, just don't have this escape the
cage match rules in the first place. That's just going to be better.
But at least the way you're proposing is like an improvement. Yeah. You
know. The big thing for me, though, Alex, is this,
when they initially announced this match, it was you know, was it a
still cage eliminator match? Yeah? Right, right then they changed it,
but at no point that they and this is something that's kind of ongoing with
with a W and that and I could point to the Continental Classic. When
it initially started, people were not only confused by the rules, but they
were also confused by what. Okay, when they somebody wins, what are
they? Are they Continental Champion champion or the do Japan Strong open Weight Champion
or all three? And you don't be Frankly, I think there still people
that are more casual fans that still don't get it. You know, AW
has to get better at explaining what the world is going on. They've got
t TV, they've got three TV shows, five hours of TV, They've
got a strong presence on Twitter. You know, there's no reason why anybody
could should be confused over a match. That's just my opinion. Mm hmmm.
Yeah, and so yeah, back to this match. It was it
seemingly it seemed like they announced one thing and then changed it. And I'm
watching the match and I'm wondering, why did they change it? Right,
Like, I'm I'm thinking a couple of different thoughts. My first thought was,
like, you have six guys in this match, and they're in a
they're in the cage, and it's they're all like trapped in the ring in
the ropes because there's no room because it's a cage. My first thought was,
maybe they can't fit a ref in addition to these six guys, so
that's why it had escape the cage. But they have like three or four
ref refs outside the cage the match, Yeah, because they needed to be
there, I guess to to you know, see who escaped the cage anyway,
So that was my first thought, and then my second thought was,
yeah, maybe something along the lines of does the House of Black or everyone,
Like I thought, maybe everyone in the match they don't want to eat
a bunch of pins, like they don't want to get pinned, because if
it's an elimination match, then five guys are going to get pinned or submitted.
So that did cross my mind. Yeah, but then that leads to
I think David melt Dave Meltzer, David Meltzer, I just called him,
but he reported that basically be and he's a he's a so called journalist,
and the things that he says you kind of assume that he as sources or
he's talked to people at AEW, but he basically says that, you know,
House of Black doesn't want to do the job, and they don't want
to do the job because they want to leave and go to WWE. So
he's saying, Buddy Matthews wants to go and be with his wife, and
Malachi Black wants to go and be with his wife in WWE, And he
says all these things, and he makes it sound I feel like he's hearing
it from sources, right, But he's just going through the same thought process
that I'm having when I'm watching the match. Yeah, well, you know,
one of the things that came up was that the House of Black didn't
want to eat a pin MH and members of the House of Black came out
and we were like, are you absolutely insane? Basically they called him out
on it. Yeah. Since look, since All In, which was on
August twenty seventh of twenty twenty three. Since all Buddy Matthews is one and
two in singles matches and four and four in all types of matches, Brody
King is two and three in singles matches and four and six in other types
of matches. Malachi Black has not had any singles matches and has FOIGN three
overall since since then, So you're looking at basically all with not Basically,
it's absolutely the House of Black as a team has a losing record since all
in. Yeah, of course Julia Hart's in the House of Black and she
was part of this match. But you know, look, if you ask
Julia Hart's eleven and three overall since all in and ten and one in singles.
By the way, look, I think people are reading misreading this completely.
Malachi Black is a very creative driven wrestler. He's creative, Okay,
the way I look at it and what I want to believe Now, I
have no sources, so I'm just saying this off the cuff. Malchi Black
looked at this match and said, what is the main purpose of this match
is to probably it's probably to get Daniel Garcia over. How can we get
Daniel Garcia over? Three ways? One, we have him somebody beat the
hell out of him before the match, that he's laying in a pool of
his own blood, you know, an hour before the match, and he's
if he about coming out. Two, we have Julia Hart spit the black
mist into his face, putting him in even more of a disadvantage. He's
already injured, he's bleeding, he's got his head wrapped, and now he's
got black crap all over his face and in his eyes, right, and
three you have him still persevere and who does he beat Basically didn't pin him,
but nobody got pinned in the match, but he beat him outside of
the ring. He escaped the ring first, he beat ultimately Malachi Black.
So how in the hell are you gonna say that Malachi Black and Brody King
and Buddy Matthews are refusing to job to anybody when the job just fine to
everybody. They did it in such a way that it furthered the story more
you look at it. Now, look at Daniel Garcia. Not only is
the hero because it was a huge celebration after the match, right, but
also you got to think, okay, well now he's been spit in the
eye, in the face the Black Mist. Is this going to affect him
in any way? Yeah? And yeah, and okay. To agree with
your point, I think House of Black loses too much. If anything,
they're they're the best stable or one of the best stables in ae W.
They're like a main event stable on Collision there. They need to be booked
strong. And Malachi Black's the leader, like you don't want him taking pins,
Like if anyone's choosing for Malachi Black not to lose, it would make
sense for it to be Tony Kahan if anyone. And yeah, and to
your other point, I I can't wait to see what they do with Daniel
Garcia, because yeah, you're gonna hint at joining House of Black? Are
we gonna get like the dark evil dancing Daniel Garcia, the evil dancing Daniel
Garcia because he can't stop dancing. It's it's the same dance. But now
he just told Machetes, Yeah it's Britney Spears spot style. Oh my god.
Yeah. But look all the crap that Malachi Black, Buddy Matthews and
Brody King got before, even before this match and after this match is preposterous.
It's it was uncalled for. Look at what they did in this match.
They got the crap beat out of them, and they put on a
good match. Why are people taking away from this match? This match should
have been about ultimately, it should have been about Daniel Garcia, persevering,
we shouldn't be talking about the House of Black at all. No, And
this match, despite all the things I said about the rules and how goofy
they were, it was a great match for what it was. And I
love the ending. Yeah, and they put on a great cage match despite
the fact that, yeah, the rules made no sense. Yeah. And
so another thing that came out with all this stuff that was the health of
Black is that Buddy Matthews and Malachi Black maybe leaving a w wend their contracts
over. Yeah. Well you know, well look, so let's talk about
that. Sure, Buddy Matthews's wife, our girlfriend of Freance. I think
they are engaged now. Ray Ripley is in ww's Alita Vega is married to
Malachi Black. She's in WWE. It makes perfect sense for Malachi Black and
Buddy Matthews to go to WWE. However, one thing I've learned from being
a fan of Malachi Black is that from time to time he gets on a
live video like a live Instagram video, and he starts talking with by saying,
I can't believe I have to do this all over again. I for
example, when he was absent for a late period of time, he said,
I am in I am taking some time off. I am still in
AW and I will be back. I guess what. He took some time
off he was still in AAW because he came back, you know, and
he basically says that I'm paraphrasing him here saying if you don't hear it from
me, don't believe it. So, look, is there a possibility to
Malachi Black is going to leave AW when his contract is up and go to
WWE. Sure, sure, anything is possible, But until Malachi Black says
it, it's a non issue. Yeah. And the reports are his contracts
up in twenty twenty seven. That gives us three years before any free agency
rumors, before he shows up at the twenty twenty eight Royal Rumble or twenty
twenty seven whatever. Yeah, and a lot can change in WWE. I
mean, the Triple H may not be there, there might be no supporters,
his wife may not be even employed there. In three years, A
lot, a lot can change. So, well, look what's happened just
recently between AW and WWE. There's j Cargill just made her debut in the
ring debut at the Royal Rumble, Andradi Lede Loge just showed up at the
Royal Rubble. DM Punk just showed up there. You know. So there's
free agents that are going there from AW and other places now, you know.
So, and all those people are taking top spots in WWE. Yeah,
but then you also have to look at aw look who's coming a w
recently. Of course, we've got Adam Copland. That was you know at
h Russell Dream. We got Deanna Well, we got Mariah May in early
November. It doesn't it's hard to believe it. It's been two months,
over two months already for that. Uh. We got Dianna Parazzo. Yeah,
there's you know, strong speculation that Mercedes Monett is coming. We've got
returns out the wazoo coming. I mean, you've got Britt Baker and Jamie
Hayter who seemed to be close to coming back. I mean, it just
makes sense they've be gone so long, just come back. Thunder Rosa just
came back. You have Tamello that may be coming back. You know,
she she had her baby. You know, we don't know the time frame
for that, but you know, and I'm sure that Tony Kahn is the
type of person that's not going to rush her to come back. But seems
to me from what Tamla is saying, that she's itching to come back.
We just had Serena deeb come back. All right, then you've got like
Megan will I'm just staying with the women's division, because that's why Traded thought
a women's division. You have Megan Baine who's coming back. Y Kazakazaki just
graduated from t J p W. She's she's coming to the United States.
Then again, I'm just talking to women's division. There's still speculation. I
don't really think that Julia is going to come, but she could, especially
with all the stuff that's going on in WWE right now, may make it
a little bit less uh attractive to a woman wrestler to go to w W
right now. Specifically, you've got Camille as well, who was backstage recently
at an aw show. You know she's got a look. Yeah, so
there's all that. Then when you you know, you brought up will Osprey.
As far as the men go, Okata is a very strong possibility coming
to AW. So here's the thing, And this is what I want to
ask you, Alex is like, Okay, so I just named off a
bunch of women, because let's face it, the women's free agency is a
little bit stronger and fluid right now. The men's free agency another man,
by the way that I can mention, that seems to be heading toward free
agency. Soon if the accounts are correct. Is Drew McIntyre. Yeah,
possibly Sammy Zaine. So but here's the thing is that right now it seems
like the free agency free agent market for the women is a little bit more
strong than the men's market. Uh. But the thing is, oh,
in another person, Jack Perry. I wanted to bring on Jack. We
don't know what's going on with Jack Perry? You know, is he still
aw? Is this you know? What's going on there? So I think
we'll get that answer pretty soon. But anyway, my point is is that
the women's free agency seems to be a little bit stronger than the men's free
agency right now as far as that goes. But let's just say that AW
brings in some of these people like Juliet, Mercedes Bonet and and uh Camille
uh and then of course we got will Osbrey Whatt's let's say they bring in
Sammis Ain and Drew McIntyre and Okata. Okay, do we have to make
room for some you know, it seems to be like you gotta voted roster
man. We got to get you know, we've got to make room for
these people. Yeah, well, we are going to be losing thing.
We're going to be losing Brian Danielson sometime in the next I probably like all
In would be his last match for Danielson. He still says that Daniel said
just say in an interview that he still wants to wrestle like maybe ten times
a year. That's that's a lot. That's it is a lot. You
know, that's like every AEW pay per view basically exactly, Yeah, why
not, but he's not. He said something. I believe he said something
like five ten times a year, So but go ahead, I'm sorry,
I didn't mean yeah, no worries. Yeah, I hope he sticks around
and and is maybe in that you know, less frequent time frame. But
yeah, the other person like will Ospray, I know we mentioned him,
but he comes in and he's he to me is the best wrestler in the
world and he can cut a good promo. Like bringing him in is going
to be a real game changer. It'll be interesting to see how they handle
that. Obviously if they bring in as well, there's so many dream matches
and like pay per view main events you can do with that's like just those
two they slid in immediately to like the top of the card. Yeah.
Well, you know the thing is is that, look, if you look
at the aw roster, you have guys like Daniel Cinapore and next thing who
you mentioned, You got people like Dustin Rhodes and you know, guys like
that, Chris Jericho even that are getting up there in age. Yeah,
and you know, not saying that they can't perform, because they certainly can.
However, being a guy of that age myself, I can tell you
that I can't do what I used to do be able to do, and
even if I can do it, it hurts a heck of a lot more
when now you know what I mean. It's just it's just, I mean,
you're more susceptible to injury. Let's face the facts. It's part of
the human condition. And I have all the respect of the world for these
guys for being able to go out there without killing themselves every week. Yeah,
and I think once you're up there in age, and I think Dustin's
there and Jericho is definitely quickly approaching there, you don't really want to see
those guys beating younger talent. You know, you're not fantasizing about them winning
world titles. I think it would be cool for Dustin because he's never really
climb that mountain to maybe see him get one run with the title at some
point. But like Jericho, I think fan interest is waning, and you
do want to see him. I'd love to see him on TV and in
some kind of program, but you don't want to see him beating Kyle Fletcher
on Dynamite next week or winning titles. You know, he's kind of he's
kind of past that point where you can really get behind him in my opinion.
Well, the thing that Jericho has done very well, and I have
to give him credit for this, is that Jericho's one of those older wrestlers
that works hard to put people over, not only by giving them good matches,
but actually getting them wins. Look at the matches that Jericho has had
against younger wrestlers like Action Andretti, where the opponents are better to Jericho because
he makes them look better. He makes them look good. Kenny Omega does
the same thing, does the same thing, and you know, as much
as I don't really want to talk about him, Ciampunk actually did very well
in that regard to putting over to younger wrestlers. But the thing with aw
is like I said, with the free agency and whatnot, is that yes,
we are gouda. AW is gonna lose some wrestlers, both on the
men's division and the women's division because they're good. Okay. For example,
everybody's been talking about Ricky Stark's poss moving to WWE. That's well and fine,
you know, but I guess what I'm saying here is AW is being
smart for example, what they did, what they're doing with Daniel Garcia,
because let's face it, we need is AW fan somebody to root for and
or somebody to root against, and not just the same people. We can't
rest on our laurels. Look at it this way. Kenny Omega is out
indefinitely. MJF. We don't know when he's coming back. Adam Cole,
we don't know when he's coming back. You know, these are guys that
are integral to aw's success and they're not able to wrestle right now. So
these young kids and the guys that have been toiling in the indies and never
got a chance, this is their opportunity and they've got to take it.
But it's not up to them. It's also up to Tony kNN to book
them to take that opportunity and giving them a chance, affording them that opportunity.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And I I think, yeah, you've
mentioned Daniel Garcia, and he's he's just hit you know, another level because
he's now like the full package, right, Like he's on the cusp of
being I could see him being a main event guy or at least being there
in like a TNT title picture winner champion. So I think they've done a
good job with some of these homegrown talent. And I think Chris Jericho,
especially for Daniel Garcia, like he he owes, he could get a lot
of credit for that because he gave him that sports entertainer aspect and I thought
that was a good fit, even though people probably didn't like it at the
time and probably preferred seeing him with the Blackpool Combat Club, but I think
it just kind of rounded him out and made him what he is today.
Yeah, And another thing to mention, I think, you know, there
is a lot of free agents and there's going to be people going back and
forth between aw and WWE, and that's good. That's good for wrestling because
you want to see fresh faces in both companies for both fans, and I
think we're seeing Tony early on he was picking up every free agent, like
he brought in Miro and Andraday and so on and so on, and anyone
that left WWE, he was ready to pick him up. But we've seen
him not pick up Dolf Zigler now Nick Nemeth, and we've seen him not
pick up Mustafa Ali. So both those guys are in New Japan and TNA
both, so we've seen him not pick those guys up, and he's going
instead for will Osprey and possibly Okata Mercedes Monet. So it's almost like he's
focusing more on main event talent, like maybe putting his money, bundling it
together and giving it two bigger names, and maybe that's more of his focus.
And I think that makes a lot of sense to me. Oh,
you know what also makes sense to me is you know you're getting wrestlers in
And again I don't mean this disrespectful. I'm just using this as an example.
You know, you're trying to build a company that's gonna have momentum through
the next decade. It doesn't make sense to get guys in their fifties,
m you know, because by the time you build that momentum, they're too
old to perform realistically, you know. So hey, you know, it's
a it's a very weird situation. But the one thing I will say,
you know, and I think that you will probably agree with me, is
that when it comes to free agency and signing free agents and booking, I've
never done it before. I don't have the money, I don't have a
company to do that. So hey, it's easy for me to sit back
in my little reclining chair here and spew at the mouth, But that doesn't
mean I know what the hell I'm talking about. Yeah, it is wild.
A lot of people seem to think they'd be so great at it,
and it's a job that you're not going to be able to get a lot
of on the job training, considering like, you know, five people have
done it successfully in like the history of the last thirty years or something.
True. True. Yeah, well, anyway, let's move on. Is
there anything else you want to mention about? Collision, Alex. I think
the only other thing that jumps to my mind is Serenade. We saw her
return put on a pretty short match, but I thought it was pretty fun
and just seeing her, you know, she's like that technical wrestler who is
technical in a mean way. She doesn't like take a break and pose after
doing a bunch of technical things. She's just trying to hurt people. And
then I thought she cut like her best promo ever at the end of that
match. I remember back maybe a year or maybe multiple years ago, where
she cut some promo and she was like, said something about your your favorite
sports team or the sports team here. She didn't even mention the sports team's
name, and it was just one of the worst promos I had heard on
TV. And I thought she gave a really good promo this week. And
I was happy to hear that she was speaking sincerely, which makes a difference,
I think. And yeah, that match short was short, but you
know, we talk a lot about rig Rust and Rustler's coming back needed to
be protected having rig Ross and they should be in a tag team match.
Sube deeb looked like she was ready to go after Tony Storm right then,
write then, you know, simply put she's ready, you know. And
second thing I want to bring up on this match, you know, and
I and I actually posted this on Twitter x is I I wanted to give
a little bit of credit to Robin Renegade, who was very fluid, very
light on her feet and was just there. I mean, she nailed it.
Yes it was a short match, but everything she did she did right.
You know. I give Robert Rennegade a lot of credit and patting myself
on the back a little bit, you know, it kind of made me
feel good when I made that Twitter post. Robin Renegade's father actually liked the
post, and so Robin Renegade herself, so it was your Twitter post basically,
it was on Twitter. I basically said, you know, hey,
it was great to see Sarita d D back. She is back, you
know, thank goodness. And I also want to give a special shout out
to Robin Renegade for really doing really well, you know, and that was
cool. Your dad's name Renegade, No Papa Renegade. Papa Renegade is his
Twitter bio is like, I'm the father of two women, two female wrestlers,
at a rock star at a at a you know whatever. I think
his son. I think he said my son is a rock star, so
whatever. Maybe maybe he is, maybe he isn't. I don't know.
But anyway, that was that he'd liked my post and a couple hours later,
Robin Renegade did I just thought it was interesting. You know, it's
I like, I like when you say something positive about a wrestler instead of
being so damn critical all the time needlessly. Look, it's you know,
from the short time that you've been doing these podcasts with us, is you
know that what I'm critical, I'm gonna be critical, but damn it,
if something's good, I'm gonna say it was good. And that match was
good even though it was pre you know, predestined that there was no way
that's there to do, was gonna lose that match. I'm Renegade put on
a fine match. Yeah. Yeah, she's good and I hope to see
more of them, the Renegade sisters in aw proper and I'm sure you know
a year from now where a year and a half, we'll start to see
them more. Yeah. So gosh, let's move on to let's just talk
briefly about well, we don't have to talk briefly. I'm gonna talk briefly
about Dynamite because it's not for you. This this card is as I said,
I'm not afraid to critique anything. I haven't watched the matches yet on
paper, however, this card is awful. There's nothing in this card that
and it is confusing because we're Strickland and Adam Page could pick anybody they wanted
to to fight. These guys fight the other in this Dealer's choice batch,
and I'm like, okay, well, neither of these are gonna strike care
in anybody. And then these other matches are I mean, they're fine.
That's all I'll say is are fine. There's nothing wrong about them, There's
nothing special about them. There's no main event matches in this in this card
name either what's your main event? Nobody can I'm looking. I think the
main event would be Rob van Dam versus Swear Strickland boiler alert, because you
know, Robert Dam has not been announced yet, but I think everybody and
their mother knows it's going to be Rob Adnam announced. No, but like
just hints being dropped that are just stupid. For example, uh, because
I guess they're trying to be cute. What was the one? Let me
think I got to look it up now, but there was one hint that
was posted by on the aw official Twitter page, you know, and it's
and it says it's high time hangman Man. It's it's high time for hangman
Adam Page to pick an opponent for tomorrow's aw Dynamite. When the smoke clears,
who will and then in all caps, who will walk down the ramp
to face where strickly Well, look, yeah, you know, you know,
hit hit, nudge, nudge, you know it's it's it's Rob van
Dam unless look unless it's a unless it's a you know, part of the
pun a swerve that they're trying to get over on people. But this would
be a pretty dumb swerve when you have all these opportunities, for all these
swerves they could have done and they didn't do, this is the one they're
gonna choose to actually pull off. Yeah, it's a strange match. Rob
van Dam obviously well passed his prime, but he can still go. He
can still do the things he used to do, maybe a little bit slower.
And I am I love that Tony paid for Pantera Walk and and he
better keep paying for it every time Rob van Dam comes out. But like
when you go and watch old w W E footage of Rob van Dam,
or because they bought the easy D library, like they cut that music out
because ECW didn't pay the rights for it, so to have that come back,
I mean, that's just such a treat for me, as like a
Rob van Damn ECW fan from back in the day. So I'm happy just
because of that weird match. I mean, yeah, you're a hangman out
of a page. Yeah, but let me ask you this. The purpose
of this match is to basically beat the other guy down right, Yeah,
h would Rob van dam be your fifth choice, sixth choice, fifteenth choice
for that. I'm not putting Rob van Damn down here, but I'm telling
you, man, if it was me, if I was hangman at a
page in a real world situation, who would I want to get into into
the ring? What's worst? Rickland Wardlow? Yeah, I guess it has
to be someone that's good. I mean, I guess Keith Lee's getting surgery,
so he's not an option. Yeah, or put somebody in there.
No, I would pick someone maybe under the age of forty, somebody that
can act like an assassin, somebody that's known for Yeah. Remember when they
remember when they brought in I think like Jeff Cobb and maybe he was NJF.
But yeah, they brought in Jeff Cobb and he was like the bounty
hunter. Yeah, like someone like that. You can go pick someone out
of New Japan or like freaking who's that guy that was had some matches dirty?
He's like an m M A guy. Yeah, yeah, I can't
think, I know, I know you're talking about Yeah, filthy, filthy,
filthy Tom Lawler. Yeah, a cool guy to bring to lawn,
Yeah, filthy Tom Lawler. Okay, I didn't know if it was filthy.
Yeah yeah, filthy, Yeah, like him, like someone that's you
know, an MMA guy, a killer, or just someone that's young and
known for just somebody. You're not going in there to win a match.
Rob van Dam would be going in there to win a match, right,
yeah, hayvan Adam Page should not want Rob van Dam to go in there
to win a match. Adam Page should be wanting Rob van Dam to go
in there to beat the snot out of Swearstrickland, whether he want it or
not. And that's what you get somebody like fifthly filthy Tom Lawler or Ward
Low or somebody of that elk to do, you know, not Rob van
Dam and then you go on the other side sphere Strickland picked his uh one
of his Mogul embassy members, which is great even though you know it's kind
of weird because I could never say his name because I always get a mistaken
with David Company's wife Taolione. So I'm just gonna call him TAOLIONI because I
will not get it right if I tried to say the right arm. So
Tayoleoni against Adam Paige may mean, Yeah, that's kind of what I'm talking
about. Yeah, Yeah, that's a cool match. And I don't think
he's had a singles match. He hasn't, right, he hasn't had a
singles match, And I think it's cool that he's getting some time to have
a match against the great wrestler and he's probably gonna look amazing. Yeah,
I'm excited for that match. I mean, obviously, hangman, Adam Paige
is gonna win, But yeah, that makes a lot more sense than Rob
van Dam for sure. See even if Adam Paige. Look, we know
that Adam Page is gonna win, But is Adam Page going to get the
snot beat out of him as he wins? Yes, guarantee, yes,
yes, Rob dan Dam is not going to beat the snot out of Square
Strickland. Even if he even if he wins the match, he's not going
to beat the snot out of Stricklin. See what I'm saying. That's just
that's just it. So then what else? What other match? Ah?
Well, okay, let's just start Jeff Hardy versus John Moxley. That's probably
the one that's got me scratching my head the most. Okay, why why
are you scratching your head on that one? Because it's just a weird fit.
Uh, you know, I guess they're both kind of baby faces.
I guess John Moxley is trying to challenge veterans at this point, it's not
really clear. Maybe we get a Jeff Hardy heel turn, and he's had
some great his last two matches against Swerve last week and Darby at Rampage.
We're both like fantastic Jeff Hardy matches. So but that, But John Moxley
and his style don't really sink up the me So it is weird. Bill
probably be a better match than I'm expecting. Bold prediction time. Boxley isn't
gonna bleed in this match either, Yeah, unless he hits his head on
the you know, on the stage walking out of the tunnel, you know
whatever. Do you think he's not going to bleed? No, he's not
gonna bleed. You know how longest bets it's Boxley's blood in a match.
Holy cow, he's probably got more blood in his body today that he's had
in the last fifteen years, maybe saving up to donate blood. I don't
know if he's gonna donate blood at the Revolution, there's gonna be that's gonna
be gonna be a blood bath because he's got a lot of storage. Mm
hmm. Yeah. Wondering what direction they're going. It seems like a revolution.
If I had to guess, he's going to have just one of those
random dream matches, maybe somebody out of New Japan or something like that.
I really do not. I think I think they got to stop doing that.
They really do. I'm sorry. Uh, don't get me wrong.
When you get somebody from like will Will Osprey comes over from New Japan,
great, But when you have a fifty five year old come in to wrestle
Brian Danielson, I am not gonna lie to you. When the Brian Danielson
and the Gotta match was going on, I just I was like, oh
god, you know, this is just this is just boring. It was
a boor It was it good, yes, but it was good in a
boring way. I'm the kind of guy that wants to watch you know,
mission impossible, and what I got was Dalton Abbey. You know, it
doesn't mean the Dalton Abbey is not a good show. It's just not my
style. And I honestly, the match was over and I noticed that the
match was over, and I in our chat, I was like, oh
who won? I totally just zoned out. Yeah, it was so boring.
I just like my eyes rolled up into the back of my head and
that was it. I was done. I honestly, god did not know
who won that match, because you know, it has I mean, I
know Brian. I know Brian Danielson won it, because of course he did.
But yeah, I can't really picture the ending, actually I can.
I actually enjoyed the match more than I thought, but yeah, it's not
it's not I actually actually I actually went on YouTube to pay my respects and
try to watch the match the next day, like the next afternoon, Sunday
afternoon, like just before football playoffs started. NFL playoffs started. You No,
my eyes rolled right back into the back of my head again. I
was like, no, this is just not That's actually what Eugi Nagata is
known for for putting on his like Fuji war arm bar and then rolling his
head his eyes in the back of his head, because yeah, look,
I have nothing against the new japan guys coming over. But look, when
you have Murder Grandpa come out and fight Adam Copeland, and then the next
week, like that same week, you have somebody who's older than Murder Grandpa
come out, you know, like Murder great Grandpa come out and fight.
Brian Daniels said it totally. Look they are I get the purpose of it.
They are good matches, They're like dream matches that probably Danielson was just
thrilled to death, and I'm happy for him. Then he got to wrestle
it, and I bet you Copeland was thrilled to death too, and having
wrestled uh Suzuki. But ultimately those matches were completely meaningless. When you have
a stacked locker room waiting to have meaningful matches, don't put on meaningless matches.
Stop. My biggest wish, and I'm just being honest with you here.
My biggest wish is that w W strikes a deal with New Japan,
and Forbidden Door is over. Wow, wain and simple. I did not
watch Forbidden Door the first I was there. I was not watch Forbidden Door
the first one. I did not watch for Forbidden Door. The second one
I completely expressed my disinterest in because I look at Forbidden Doors great matches,
great matches, meaningless matches and total momentum killers for aw So yeah, I
see what you mean. Like they definitely do have to put all their stories
on halt basically for meaningless match. I like, I mean, I'm somebody
that I love being introduced to new people, but I don't. I don't
care about being introduced to Eugene Nagata or Minoro Szuki even like those guys are
their best days are so far behind them. Yeah, like I'm going to
get excited about following their careers. No, like their careers are over.
They're Yeah, I mean a ton of Hashi Holy cow, Yeah he's I
mean, I mean we were like nostalgia. Like the guy him being able
to walk from the tunnel to the ring is a win for him without you
know, he's his knees are completely shot mm hmm. You know, and
it's just I'm just sorry. I mean Formidden Door is, they're great matches.
I did go back and watch some of them, like the highlights of
them, but there is no way I'm gonna for a meaningless show. It
really is meaningly, but there's versus Omega. I mean, I could just
watch those guys wrestle every single day in my life. The Forbidden Doors show
they had there was like a woman's match at the show, and of course
it was aw woman against a w woman. That was only like that was
a meaningful match. And I'm not saying but there's a there's a far difference
than Will Osprey now and Tanahashi now. Yeah, I mean yeah, I
mean it is prime. Tanahashi could have probably been one of the could have
been just as good as the Osprey match. Mm hmm. Yeah. Anymore,
I don't want to see sixty year old, you know, wrestlers out
of pay per view. Yeah, I'm sorry, Like I I watched maybe
the last like there's I'm gonna There's a lot of great wrestlers in New Japan
that are younger guys, up and coming guys, and to me, those
are the guys you want to be introducing the American audience to like I want
to see new exciting guys having like fast page like peak matches. Yeah,
I don't. I don't get Panahashi, I don't get Suzuki. I don't
get even yeah, any any of these guys that are bringing in, like
obviously Okada is still very much in his prime, but beyond that, they
just even Kodobushi. I mean, come on, he can barely move and
he's a younger guy. But yeah, it's it's rough. Yeah, I
mean, you know, but about what he was on a tricycle with a
pipe that was the biggest that was. That was pretty funny, that was.
But you know, you know, I don't want to be negative about
it, you know too much, but just state back, I do not
like the Forbidden Door and the Canadian tour. I like almost as almost as
almost do not like that almost as much as the as the uh as Forbidden
Door because well I'm Canadian. Yeah, I don't mind it, but it
does hurt my wallet because they did a lot of shows in the Toronto and
I can't prevent myself from getting in Toronto though you know that's barely Canadian to
Americans. You know what I'm saying, it's like it's Canadian, but it's
you're you're like us, there's not But when you get the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
there's people coming out there. You know, they wrote their boose to
the show and uh and you know, all twelve of them were there and
they had no clue any of these people were because because they don't get them
on their transistor radios and they're igloos. You know what I'm saying. It's
just that in parts of Canada, they're they just don't know what a w
is. AW went some parts like dude last year and it was like,
what are you doing? Man? Even yeah, I knew that that was
a bad choice, and I'm not in that business, but I was like,
what the hell? Mm hmm. They Yeah, they did make some
questionable decisions even here. They did a show like in Hamilton, which is
next city over. But you know, I think they had to comp some
tickets because there wasn't a lot of people that seemed to be that familiar with
AW at that show. Yeah, but let me put it this way.
Yeah, all right, I'm not saying anything bad about Canada here. What
I am saying is that where is the money for a w at it's in
the United States, and when you spend all summer, the entirety of the
summer out of the country with I think they had one show in the United
States in the summer of last year and that three month period of time.
That's just plain stupidity. I am sorry. Well, I think the thinking
must have been that, hey, we have this truck, we're going to
drive it. They probably have a bunch of trucks, they drive them to
Canada and then we just drive around Canada for a while. Yeah, so
maybe it saved money in some way, like obviously crossing the border is time
consuming, and they thought maybe they could sell a bunch of tickets. But
yeah, I can only imagine outside of Toronto. Toronto. Toronto was a
good, good place to go. Winnipeg was a good place in Montreal too,
that's a big state. Montreal was cool, except you could read the
signs because they're in Fride. But but now that Philippe and Francois Jackson are
the EVPs and with their spray tad and everything and there they're going to be
retiring sting. You know, maybe they could go home to Montreal and you
know, and they should be right at home, because they do look like
up tight French boys to me right now. Yeah, well I believe you
know what's his name, Daddy Magic and cool Hand Ange. They're from Montreal
or Quebec, all right, Sammy Zaine. So yeah, maybe they could
all get together. They could teach him how to actually speak French. Wow.
There's two other matches on. Yeah, we've got we've got Kyle Fletcher
and Chris Jericho, and then we've also got the Outo Prazzo on Tyavalcar.
So yeah, first, Kyle Fletcher is my boy. I love Kyle Fletcher
when just because of that six man that six man match at Ring of Honor,
like he's my guy for life. Now. I love Kyle Fletcher.
He's so good. I think I can't wait to see him just talking about
the six man final battle match where he yeah, yeah commander to win the
belt. Yeah, that match was just so good. And he's like he's
right up there with Kenoski Takeshta. They're like these guys have like the talent
of Kenny Omega and just and he's so big too, Like both these guys
are like six to three. They look great, they're so young, like
I just think the sky's the limit for Kyle Fletcher. Unfortunately, he's probably
gonna lose to Chris Jericho here and set up a feud with for the next
pay per view with the rest of the family. But do you think I
actually think that he's that Jericho is going to succumb to uh to Kyle Fletcher.
And I got to give a special shout out to shades the Vibe by
mentioning that, yeah, Kyle Fletcher has like the worst haircut of any manner.
Yes he does. Yeah, he does. When you see him not
wrestling, it kind of makes more sense. It looks a little bit more
appropriate when you see his clothes in that. But it's very it's very off
putting. Yeah, I'm not kidding you here, and I hate to be
crass and I may have that it this out, but his haircut looks like
a looks like a circumcision gone wrong. I'm sorry. Yeah, but he's
a bad guy, so I guess it kind of works. Yes, I
mean, look at Boris Natasha. All those guys have bad haircut, so
yeah, yees. Do you give tya Valkyria Snowball's chance and hell meaning Deanna
Barozzo no, obviously not. I mean Leanna Prozzo's fresh, she's new.
Ta Valkyrie has already kind of been a jobber to the stars for a little
while. But like in all fairness, time of val, I feel like
she's someone that we we've mentioned how good the women's division in AW is once
they get some people coming back in big names, and I don't think once
we've mentioned Tya Valkyrie, But I think she's good. She's definitely a higher
echelon woman's wrestler in my opinion, and doing well at our Oh yeah,
yeah, and I think she belongs in that conversation. But yeah, it's
going to be a Deanna Prazzo make her look good match, and I think
it'll be a good woman's match for sure. It should be a good match,
but there's no way that that ty of Valkyri is going to win.
And we're also going to see the non wrestling edition of the AW Women's World
Champion Tony Storm on commentary. Uh so we're getting close to well, I
think we've actually surpassed now two months, yes, two months today since Tony
Storm has been in a wrestling ring. So yeah, no one, I
know you were intensely keeping track of this. Well, I'm just saying it's
like, come on, I mean, if you're gonna have champions, they
got to get in the ring and fight. And I don't even count Ricky
Starks a big bill. Their defense against Jericho and Sammy is as a I
don't think it counts because they never made it to the ring. I don't
think they were ever in the rig. If they were, it was a
very brief period of time. You got to get into ring and fight if
you're a champion. And Tony Storm has won the championship on November eighteenth,
and she's had two matches, two total matches, been well over two months,
and that's just not gonna fly. Sorry, I mean, if if
that's gonna be the case, take to take the title off of Tony Storm
and put it on somebody that's gonna wrestle, because that's what I watched the
show sports to see them wrestle. And if your champion's not wrestling like Tony
Storm, you're If your champions not wrestling like Ricky Stark's a big bill,
and what's the point having them in having them in the having them with a
title. Yeah, I'm just being honest. There you know, I mean
to wrestling. You know, Tony Ston's there, She's being treated like a
big deal at least like compared to Ricky Starks some big bill. They do
feel like an afterthought. I mean, you mentioned Ricky Stark's potentially leaving in
free agency, and you kind of get that vibe that maybe he's being treated
as such. He's hanging around, but you know, biting his time.
I don't know, but they gotta do some. I mean, you talk
to anybody about it on social media. One of the big things that what
does AW have to improve the tacting division because it's it's it's bad right now.
Yeah, that was so good. It was so good before with FTR
and them with like all the tag titles and the Young Bucks and Loucher Brothers
and having like amazing matches and yeah, and it's it's coming back. It's
coming back. But you know they're just it's it hasn't They've had good tag
matches, but there's been no good tag title matches. Yeah, you need
you needed multiple. It feels like there's not a lot of tag teams that
are being treated as tag teams and fighting other tag teams. Yeah, but
if you look at it. Over the last month or two, AW has
done a really decent job of building the men's tag division. Unfortunately, the
tag teams that they've been mentioning are not getting title shots, you know,
other than Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara, you know. And frankly, that
was a goes good match. I enjoyed that. It was a lot of
fun. Yeah, you know, but it was. I mean, nobody's
was fun to watch. But nobody's really talking about it right now other than
that spot. Yeah. No, it feels like FTR lost the titles the
Big Bill and Ricky Starks, and then the tag titles just fell into like
a bottomless pit and they just became something no one cares or thinks about anymore.
And hopefully it sounds like Darby Allen and Sting are gonna retrieve those tag
titles, put them on the line against the Young Bucks, and maybe the
Young Bucks will take them and bring us to a much better place. Let
me ask you this, do you have any put you on the spot here?
Do you have any spicy predictions for Dynamite tomorrow? I guess that the
the most spicy prediction I can make based on what I'm looking at is Jeff
Hardy heel turn like full out heel Jeff Hardy. Okay, maybe attacking John
Moxley in some form after the match, Like something's gonna happen with Jeff Hardy.
I feel like you think Matt Hardy gets involved in that too, because
Matt Hardy will probably be out at the ring. He could. I find
it hard to imagine Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy alone as being good competition for
the Blackpool Combat Club, right, but yeah, maybe something along those lines,
like they need more guys if they're gonna do that. But yeah,
I see something happening interesting with Jeff Hardy. That's my spicy prediction. My
spicy prediction is far, far less engaging, intelligent, or even make sense.
My spicy prediction is that we're going to see the mother of all Food
of all shoe fights tomorrow night. I think that we're gonna see Mariah May,
Tony Storm, Diana Pronzo, and Tia Valkyri just really tossing the shoes.
I think we're going to see a full odd bloodbath with shoes. I
just watched the stiletto does get stuck in your forehead, That's all I can
say, are they they're all going to throw their own shoes? I think
that No, I think that Tony Storm and Mariah May will we'll throw shoes,
they will get thrown back, and then maybe Mariah May. This is
how Maria May is going to turn on Tony Storm by hitting Tony Storm with
the shoe accidentally. No, I think on purpose, because I don't think
I think that's the whole point of it is. Yeah, you know,
there's just it's weird because when you look at the at Samoa Joe, we
we know who we think is going to go after the title at at the
Revolution, but we're not sure if it's going to be one person, or
if it's going to be two persons, or if it's gonna be three persons.
And we've kind of the same situation with which situation with Tony Storm.
Yeah, it looks like Deanna Parazzo is going to be going after the belt.
But frankly, it seems more reasonable for thunder Rosa to go after the
belt because again, thunder Rosa never lost the title when Tony Storm got it
initially, you know, as the Intern champion. So yeah, thunder Rose
could rightfully say I never lost the title, so it's hers to hers to
get back. You know, she should be the number one contender. She
never lost it, so yeah, yeah, for sure. And have they
announced Dianna Parozzo versus Tony for the pay per view? Is that they have
not announced it, but it just seems obvious that that's what the way they're
going, you know. Yeah, I mean they're building up the other thing
that's going to be interesting tomorrow night. And I may be wrong on this,
but I do believe the rankings are going to be revealed. They're coming
back tomorrow night. Could they could be it could be uh on collision,
but I'm pretty sure the rankings are going to be revealed tomorrow night. So
look at the lower thirds when these wrestlers come out, because I think you're
going to see the rankings as part of their lower thirds again. So that
would be interesting to see. M M yeah, I guess would be a
big part of Surtrick Lind and hang Man Out of Pages match like. So,
I don't know if you can remind me how their rankings work. Is
it you have to become the number one ranked person in order to get a
title shot. But what they used to do to number one person would get
a title shot. However, sometimes they would have number one and number two
with number three get into a three way match and the winner that match gets
a title shot. Uh huh, yeah, that's you know, so you
know, there's different ways they can do it. The only problem that I
have with the ranking system is that it still just comes down to booking.
So if you want to make Commander the number one contender, you just put
Commander against in matches that he's going to have a win against, you know,
local talent or sir petigo, you know, stuff like that, and
let him rack up some wins and next thing you know, hey, he's
he's got the he's the number one rank contender, and that he did in
the past, and then they would have a number one contender fight for the
championship, lose, and then that number one contender would then fall down the
rankings and they would never get built back up, but they just be tossed
aside. They've got to make the fame ranking is more fluid and meaningful,
not just as a means to build up somebody to lose and never be seen
again. Yeah. Yeah, and that's whether there's rankings. There are no
rankings. They have to do that, all right, then, Well I
think that's gonna be it for the show. Uh, Alex, always a
pleasure talking to you. Yeah, thank you bye for now. Yeah so
for for aw Fanhubb, this is Ignition. I'm Kelson and I'm Alex.
Good night, everybody,