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Speaker 2: We have hit the midnight hour here on the East Coast.
I am pearlsing torchcolumnist Greg Parks, and this is the
aw Redemption Post Show for now July twenty seventh, twenty
twenty six. Thanks everybody for joining us live on YouTube,
and if you're not watching live, you're probably listening on
delay through the PW Torch VIP website, so we appreciate
you joining us there as well. We are excited to
be here to talk aew know, It's been a while
for me to do audio, so I'm happy to be back.
And I am joined by my co host for tonight
to break down Redemption with you, and he is p
tow Torch dot com contributor Brian Zillombrian. Welcome back to
the post show here, I know you joined me for
Clash in Italy a month or two ago, so it's
good to talk to you again.
Speaker 3: Absolutely good to be back. Thanks for having me yep.
Speaker 2: And so you can join in on the chat, provided
I'm doing it correctly, because I don't see any comments
right now, so maybe people are just shy or I
don't know, maybe I've screwed something up, but I don't
see any comments. But you can certainly comment if you're
watching live on YouTube and tell us what you thought
about AEW redemption. We will share some of those and
break those down and discuss some of those comments as
we go through the show. Again, provided I haven't broken something. Okay,
we've got a comment there, it is. So it's good
to know I've been out of the game for a
month or so and I haven't completely lost my touch here, Brian.
So let's jump right in here with the redemption discussion,
and I want to hit something right off the top, Brian,
and then we're not going to talk about it the
rest of the show. That is the length of this show,
because it was built it starts an hour earlier, right
seven Eastern. What's everybody thinking, Oh my gosh, we're gonna
get done before midnight. It's still going to be July
twenty sixth, it's still going to be Sunday by the
time we get done with this. As I said, as
soon as I clicked record, it went to midnight, and
so we didn't really save much time here. Did you
feel the length of the show even with the earlier
start time. What was your perspective on that tonight?
Speaker 3: No, absolutely, I felt the length of the show right away.
I believe if my math, calc and trigonometry is correct,
I believe each match when at least sixteen minutes. As
far as length, I was thinking, you know, optimistic, Brian
at the time, you know that in the past, was thinking, hey,
you know, early start time, maybe we get out of here,
the show wraps up. You know, it's a solid like
ten fifteen. I'm doing it like we're starting to we're
starting to post show at ten thirty, and you know
we're underway. But somehow it's it starts an hour earlier
and it still ends up the same length of time. Yeah,
we might. I might as well just preface this now
so that way we can kind of get it out
of the way and have better maybe dialogue throughout the show.
I must preface this, A longer match does not necessarily
mean a good match, and giving the someone a longer
match is not necessarily going to improve the quality of
the match, especially if it was just slap dashed together
like within a least time. That just that's not going
to give anybody really any oh like, oh well, you
know we announced this on a collision, but we're going
to give this twenty minutes. It'll be great. No, that
that doesn't work. That doesn't translate every There's only like
so many bandidos and Kyle Fletcher's on the roster that
you can kind of get away with that. And I
would I would say, you know, I know it's been
a while since you've dipped your toe and you know,
the AW pool. I would say, like throughout the entire year,
Aw's gotten away with like these longer shows, and you know,
there's been a lot of overlap with plunder and things
of that nature, and mostly you've been able to get
away with it. I would say, in this show, you
had a lot of plunder didn't need to happen at all,
And I just really question why, at least you know,
I you know, the format of these cards I think
needs to really be in question. And I admire Tony
Khnfort wanting to get as many of his talents on
the card, but I do feel like we're in the
stage where I want the pay per V spots to
be earned, not just given. And I feel like maybe
a lot of these matches would have gone over better
on television. And you know, that's why Collision exists. I
would have had a great time reviewing a lot the
majority of these matches on Collision. I would say at
least two or three. Two to three of these matches
did not need to exist on this pay per view show.
I was thinking at first, with the show being in Montreal,
I didn't know if there was going to be a curfew.
I was very again Brian in the past, thought there
was you know, the show was going to be maybe
a nice type four hours and fortunately it did not
end up that way. And uh, you know, back in
a little bit now Greg's back, Okay, Yeah, Greg, I
was just talking.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I don't know if yeah, I heard,
I heard, I heard most of that. Yeah, it's this
was a pay per view and we're going to talk about, uh,
this pay per view being what it was. I know
that was a big discussion point coming into the show
about the necessity of this pay per view, and then
what I kind of want to jump into right now
is the idea or the reporting out there that this
pay per view was initially maybe not created, but was
to feature Kenny o'megan defeat being MJF for the AW
World Heavyweight Championship that ended up being moved to television,
And so you're left with a pay per view that,
for a lot of people watching, didn't really need to
happen or didn't really need to exist. It didn't have
that one big selling point. You know, you had Kevin
Knight moving into the the challenger spot for the title
in the main event, which you know, we'll talk much
more about that later on. I'm curious, though, if if
MJF and Kenny Omega had taken place on this show,
would this have changed either your perception of the show
going in or would it have changed if the exact
same match that we saw on TV happened on this
pay per view? Would it have made the pay per
view better? And we haven't even gotten into whether we
liked the show or not, but I guess we can
dive into that as well, thumbs up, thumbs down, letter grade,
number grade, whatever. But so the two questions is would
it have made it better going in? And then would
it have made the show better if that exact same
match had taken place in the main event tonight?
Speaker 3: I would say, honestly both yes to both of those questions,
Greg and just you would have had definitely a capital
M moment and those two having that same style of
match like they did on TV on the pay per
view and then Ketty Mega getting like kind of the
hometown hero pop and the moment. I think the crowd
would have been hotter. Yeah, just weird crowd tonight too,
And I know we're kind of jumping a little bit
of everywhere weird crowd, Like they just had peaks of
like being super quiet and then they'd be really hyped
for a lot of things. They chose to just you know,
stick and move to be particular on, which is fine.
But yeah, yeah, I would say but yes to both
of those things. And ultimately, like you said, was MJF
so banged up where they had to pivot? Yeah, you know,
God bless and especially if he was working with his
knee just really jacked up. I understand why they had
to pivot, especially if you know, they wanted to obviously
protect the health and if that was the entire existence
of the show, I think it would have been better
on both of those merits, Greg, But like, ultimately, like
the thought of this show still didn't really make a
lot of sense in terms of like card placement. Like
a lot of these matches were just again thrown together
with the like a week notice, And I know Tony
Kahan was really trying to, like on the surface say,
you know, hey fans, I'm sorry we didn't give you
mjf and Kenney Omega in the main event, but I'm
going to try to give you like these bat crazy
matches to kind of make up for that. And ultimately,
like I don't know if that kind of counterbalance worked.
And uh, you know, back to your other question. As
far as grades, I would say definitely in the middle.
I would I would say, just in terms of like
quality across like a pay per view, I think this
is probably one of aw's weaker shows of the year. Again,
like you said, like based on everything you said, ultimately
knowing everything that happened that this show still need to exist. No,
absolutely not, and I think it does. It was interesting,
it did kind of like I felt like it kind
of like hurt, kind of like the steam going into
like the you know, the big all intro that you know,
next month, because you turn back time, you know, a
year ago, I would say March, and you know, uh,
you know for the last two two and a half
months leading up to all, you know all in last
year in Dallas, like the vibes were everything were like, uh,
you know, cooking and everything like that. Now obviously the
main event, it's still you know, the main event, and
it's you know, the highest built thing that they've shown.
It's great, It's gonna be great. So yeah, I mean
I would say definitely thumbs in the middle for me
as far as like a grading perspective just on the show.
Speaker 2: I think after the first three matches or so, this
felt like it was on its way to being an
old timer for AW and then it hit a little
valley I think with three or four matches, and then
I think it picked back up at the end. So
it was definitely a show with some peaks and valleys
in this one. Based on the match order and how
things ended, up progressing just a few comments. I want
to highlight here from the chat. I don't know how
to pronounce that, Babbo Man says, I'm just interested in
hearing what other people have to say about the show.
I found the outcomes of aw pay per view matches
to be overly predictable, and that was another complaint I
think we heard from people heading into this pay per
view had a lot of the match results were pretty predictable.
You know. I go back and forth on this because
we always make the argument, hey, predictable is not necessarily
a bad thing if the story is good. But I don't.
On the other hand, I think you don't want an
entire show where you can look down the card and
know with pretty good certainty who's going to win every match,
So I think it's a balancing act. Was that a
problem for you at all heading into this show? Did
you find the results too predictable for your liking?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, I would say, at least three matches
on the show, I thought, you know, you could have
gone either way. I didn't think the Young Bucks winning
was necessarily like one hundred percent, you know, Maya you know,
potentially going over Shida. I didn't think that was one
hundred percent, and then I didn't think Willow winning was
one hundred percent either. So for me, I feel like
there was doubt. I mean, obviously, like there's not even
that one percent of doubt dot Kevin Knight was going
to beat Kenny Omega, which you know, not necessarily a problem,
but I still felt like there was some like shadow
of doubt where it's like, Okay, I don't necessarily know
like either way, because especially like for the Women's World title,
I thought that was the most like unpredictable thing like
on the entire card.
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Speaker 2: And then another comment here says, I really enjoyed the
show overall. Probably could have left the Jericho Champa match
off the card though. Also what was that mcfoley and
Divine Dominion segment? Yeah, that was that was strange.
Speaker 3: It was uh weird. And my advice to Mick, I
understand he's in a good place work wise, maybe stop
with the hey sickos, like just maybe not do that.
And I thought about this, Greg so that moment like, uh,
have you ever had kind of like ever brought like
a significant other to like a family gathering and you've
got that one kind of uncle at Thanksgiving or Christmas
that's had a little bit too much wine. That's exactly
what mcfoley reminded me of. And I don't think he
was trying to be cringe on purpose. I think he
was trying to be funny. And you know, obviously, like
the Dominion, they're very tall, attractive ladies. I get it,
I understand that, but like it just came off very
just I don't I think he was trying to be funny.
That might have been funny in nineteen ninety nine or
nineteen ninety eight, But like, I think he just needs
to realize, Okay, I'm not in this era anymore. I
need to like elevate my like comedy and not be
like I think, you know, Tony Schavani, he's like the
kind of like warm, fuzzy uncle that you want to
see all the time. And then that moment mcfoley was like, Ooh,
that's the uncle I don't want to see at holidays, And.
Speaker 2: You know, part of me wonders if it's just mcfoley
still trying to acclimate himself to AW. I think, so
find his way and kind of fit in. I mean,
he's been in the WWE ecosystem for so long. That's
you know, he had a stop over in TNA for
a little while, but you know, for for the most part,
he's been in WWE for the last thirty years or
been associated with them, And I think there might be
a bit of trying too hard maybe to fit into
the AW atmosphere we'll call it. And maybe that was
something going on there, But that was very cringe was
the good word that you used. I think that describes
that pretty well. The last thing I want to get
into before I get into some plugs. Then we'll of
course go match by match through this year no surprises.
We had a host of WWE releases whose ninety day
non competes recently expired, and the thinking was to kind
of make this pay per view seem more special than
it felt to a lot of people going in. Maybe
we would see New Day pop up, or maybe we
would see somebody debut on this show. We got nothing.
Was that a surprise for you?
Speaker 3: Not necessarily, Greg, because I believe the New Day's contract
is not toechnically up until closer to the middle of August.
I believe the chat might be able to look more
in detail on that. But I will say the Dynamite
this Wednesday is at Detroit, and uh, I believe there's
a tag team that's currently available from Detroit that could.
Speaker 2: Pop up from the Motor City if you will, yes, yes, yes,
So there's that. I just.
Speaker 3: I don't know if this would have been the best card,
Like obviously the New Day that that's like obviously the name, right,
but I feel like they already dropped the graphic for
the bucks and coping cage, which you know that could
easily change, but it just seems like more of a
that that that's an all in London pop. I think,
get them on a bigger stage. I feel like that's
kind of been written in the stars for you know
and say, you know, had their release from WWD. Honestly,
but anybody else, I just don't know the way this
crowd was. Greg, I just don't know, like yeah, like
you could have had a Kyrie Zane or someone like
that pop up. I just don't know if that would
have done anything. You know, Santo's Escobar, I believe he's
still injured. I don't think he's one hundred percent yet.
Any members of the wy At six, I just don't
know if those would have you even gotten like a
holy shit chant. Honestly, I'm trying to think. Obviously, Seamus
is still ages away from being that. That could have
been a guy who could have gotten like a you know,
good reaction if he would have been available. But I
would say I was honestly a little bit more taken
back where you know, I was on the you know,
the media call this past week, and it sounded like,
you know, they were we could see some people pop
up sooner or later. I was kind of expecting kind
of a direction from Schwarz strictling tonight. We did not
see him. We did not see him and Page I
would be you know, I would hope we would see
them both on Dynamite, but to kind of figure out
what they're doing at all in but not. I don't
think having someone debut, just the debut would have improved
the quality of the show.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, before we go match by match through this
as we always do here on the post show, just
a couple plugs to get in. If you're not a
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PW torch dot com VIP side no ads, but you
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as we've done here. That's it for now. I'll get
to the rest of the plugs a little later on
and let's jump into the show. This was of course,
AW Redemption from the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The show began the pay per view proper with the
six way ladder match for the number one contender for
the International Championship Commander versus the BC Morto's versus Mike Bailey,
Nick Wayne, Jack Perry and El Clone. So no surprise
fans clearly behind the hometown boy Mike Bailey. Great idea
to start off the show with this match that included Bailey.
I guess you know. I went along watching this match
and it was the first half of the match. I
was like, this is a pretty standard ladder match. I'm
surprised they're not taking more risks and everything like that
and then boy to the last half totally make up
for it, and then some with with the risks, so
Mike Bailey gets the victory here. I guess my thought
on this is very similar to my thought on Royal
Rumbo matches, where the Royal Rumbo matches always seem to
be today in this era, two guys or two women
fighting in the middle of the ring, everybody else is
laying around the ropes. I'll sell it, right, that's kind
of what this ladder match was. It was two people
at a time everybody else had disappeared. And I think,
if you want, because when I think of six way
ladder match, I think of chaos, like I think of
you know, the car crash aesthetic, right that you get
from these matches. And I think if you had, you know,
guys fighting outside the ring, while there's two sets of
guys fighting inside the ring, like I think that would
portray more of the chaos that you would expect in
a match like this, as opposed to it being fought
as if it's just several mini one on one matches
throughout the match. And maybe that's a nitpick, I guess,
but you know, certainly this was an aew ladder match
with a lot of big spots and big moves, but
it did feel like it was kind of spot to
spot to spot to spot a lot of times, which, again,
you know, lighter matches. I think you kind of assume
that going in in some ways. But from an athleticism standpoint,
from a big move standpoint, I thought it checked those boxes.
What was your impression of this match and Mike Bailey
getting the victory. He will take on Kyle Fletcher at
the he already cashed in later on the show Grand
Slam Mexico City that will be taking place in a
few weeks, So your thoughts on that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the ladder matches, it's not even an aw thing.
It just like you said you I like how you
mentioned the roll rumbo format, greg I. It always just
leaves me questions like why does everybody have to fight
on stage in a ladder match? Like I like, if
everybody wants to do stuff on the stage, the heel
there should be a smart heel saying okay, you idiots,
like I'm gonna just hide and go, you know, climb
the ladder. I felt like there was a couple of
moments for command. He kind of like got out there.
He definitely touched the contract a couple of times. I
was like, well, like, you know, I wish you wouldn't
have gotten so close, because then you kind of looked
silly a little bit.
Speaker 2: Well, there was a moment where Mortos was pushing the
ladder with Commander on top, but he was pushing it
towards the contract. Yeah, and I said, just just jump
onto the contract and pull it down, like that's all
you had.
Speaker 3: To do, right, Yeah, there were there were aspects of
the ladder match I did enjoy. I love how they
actually did all the introductions about seven till six for
those peop who are not watching the kickoff show. I
actually really enjoyed that. So they pretty much ran the
bell like at six oh one, which is great.
Speaker 2: And that's what made me think, oh my gosh, we're
gonna we're gonna make it. We're gonna get this done right,
you know, substantially before midnight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, little did we know, Greg.
Speaker 2: I was silly for thinking that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh no, absolutely no. But there were they like
the small nickpicks aside. I would have said, you know,
could we have trend maybe two to three minutes off
this probably and just like you, I don't need anything
just to go back and forth like for these types
of things, just have just be a car crash, like
go like balls of the Wall for twelve to fifteen minutes,
like I don't really need anybody kind of getting their
stuff in. I will say I really enjoyed kind of
like the continued story that they're doing with Nick Wayne
and Jack Perry. For those who don't watch Collisions, so
they've been kind of doing interactions in the past two weeks.
Jack Perry beat Nick Wayne two weeks ago on Collision,
and then Nick Wayne won his qualifying match last night,
and then they had a backstage interaction you know, afterwards
on the show. So I'm glad they're still interacting. It
was obviously something refreshing. It's like, oh cool, so we
get two people feuding in a match on a pay
per view that doesn't initially involve a title. That's kind
of cool. I really enjoyed that, And I thought Nick
Wayne looked great. Mike Bailey and going over wash you know,
pretty duh, like that would have been criminal for him
not to win. And uh, obviously crazy Spots Commander doing
the rope walk is always pretty nutty. There was a
double I think Elk Clone did a double stomped to
Bailey on the outside, which I was like, oh my god,
he's dead. Marto's did a kind of what did he do?
Kind of like a Samoan dropped the Elk Clone that
looked like it sucked. It looks like he didn't get
all of it. I'm glad l Clone it was okay
because it looked like he landed right on his face.
And we've got a lot more of that throughout the show.
But yeah, you know, I think, just like you said,
the second half picked up. Everybody looked, you know, got
their stuff in and Bailey going over and then I
think I haven't seen anything reported yet, but I hope
everybody made it out in one piece.
Speaker 2: I have to point out that I already broke my
own rule about not talking about the length of the show.
We're one match, and I said we're going to talk
about at the beginning and not mentioned it the rest
of the time. I've already broken that rule. So apologies
to those who were hoping that that discussion would be
uh had a bow on it at the very beginning.
Mike Bailey obviously the big winner coming out of this
the actual winner of the match. Is there anyone else
to you who stood out above and beyond the others?
Like to me, I thought Jack Perry was positioned as someone,
you know, based on how the match progressed and how
it played out. I thought he was someone positioned as
maybe right underneath Mike Bailey in terms of someone the
fans should care about it or take seriously after this match.
Is there anyone else that you notice who stood out
above the others?
Speaker 3: I mean, like I mentioned Nick Wayne, like you said
Jack Perry, I mean, you know, God bless him. He
I think he's all He's a good guy to have
in these type of spots because you know he does
I don't really I can't think of anybody else that
does stuff on the ropes like he does. It's incredible.
I was honestly really surprised they didn't stick Leo Rush
in this match because you know, as over as he
is right now. And I remember Greg you I don't
know if you watched the post show, because he it
was like when he started doing it. He popped up
in a match versus Brodie King on Dynamite, and I
remember just like not going on this big brand and
Wade was kind of Wade was kind of like ribbing
me a little bit. He was like, I think I
gotta like it. I was like, Wade, come on, like
you can't. But then, of course now he's like gotten over,
and you know, relative to how goofy it was at first,
he's actually kind of toned it down a bit where
it's like, okay, it's like a little bit more rustling ish,
which is like, okay, if you want to do the goofy,
if you're doing it all for the goofy golden thing,
I get it fine, But like, uh, you know, he's over.
I was kind of surprised. This would have been kind
of like a.
Speaker 2: And he lost correct correct me if I'm wrong, but
he lost on collision to Clone in a match to
get into this. Yeah, and that's it. Was it worth
having Ela Clone in here over Leo Rush? Like, I don't,
I don't see how that benefited.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would have put a Rush in this match.
Speaker 2: The only thing I was wondering. They did bring up
the announcers that Ella Clone was kind of put in
here to make sure that the the title was safe
for Kyle Fletcher at you know, the assumption being if
he won, maybe he wouldn't challenge, or maybe he would
lay down for Kyle Fletcher because they're all in the
don Kallus family, so maybe they wanted a callous family
member in this match to tell that story. But it
was a passing mention on commentary worth having him in
there over Leo Rush. Yeah, I wouldn't think so. I
wouldn't think so.
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Speaker 2: Okay, Let's go to the second match here, which is
I think probably the match that's going to have the
most polarizing opinions from fans, and that is the Young
Bucks against Will Osprey and John Moxley. Lots of star
power here in this second match. On the show, the
story was nick getting his bell rung in a head
on collision with will Osprey early in the match. He
sat out a lot of the match, and then you
had the situation where John Moxley wants Osprey to attack
and show no mercy basically, which is still not part
of Osprey's character even after this initiation. As part of
the death writers, you know, I was critical for the
build to the build for this match on Dynamite. I
wrote a Parks's take on PW Torch dot Com. I
didn't think the main events segment on Dynamite and the
ending of the match was very good, and I thought
one of the problems with this was we've seen what
happens when wrestlers get hurt. The trainer did not check
on Nick, which I thought was odd because we've seen
the trainer check on wrestlers injured BEFOREIGN storyline. You know,
certainly there's some people saying, well, the ref should have
thrown it out or something, but I mean, maybe he
keeps it going two on one. I don't know if
it was legitimate, but the Young Bucks ended up, you know,
they overcome so the story because that's what I mean.
This was as much of a story as it was
a match. What did you think of it? How it
played out, and you know it did sort of play
into the aftermath of the main event later on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean to me, Greg, I thought this the
Young Bucks prioritized storytelling over match quality because you know,
all throughout the year they've had a like phenomenal matches
all throughout like every pay per view cycle they've had,
And for me, ultimately that kind of paid off towards
like the you know, the postmatch of the main event,
and you know, it kind of fed into Moxley trying
to you know, prioritize the will like he needs to
be a killer and obviously, there was like the backstage
segment later in the show with Renee as well, and
I liked how they kind of showed a different layer
of you know, match quality, because everybody thinks, you know,
the Young Bucks are just you know, you know, spot monkeys,
and they don't. Actually they're not good actors. They don't
know how to a moat or actually tell a story,
and I just these are probably the same people. I've
never seen young Buck dressle in a New Japan match before,
where it's just like, yeah, there was like how many
years did the It was a oh god, I'm having
a brain part? He was like Nick Jackson sold his
back for like years, it felt like, because he would
always sell us back, so they can actually sell very well.
And I understand if like the head spot. Like to me,
I read it as it was part of the entire
story of the match, which fed into the you know,
the rest of the show got off the show show
long hook, just because there was definitely better quality of
a match style they could have had with these two. Yeah,
because those four guys are incredible, so of course they
could have. So I like that throughout the match obviously,
like Moxley instructing Osbary to be a killer, which ended
up backfiring. And then I do like the callback of
the Bucks beating Moxley akin to the Dailiesplaces tag team
match that he had with where Kingston was his partner.
I don't know if you remember that finished. That was
like the callbacks of the Bucks kind of killing Moxley,
and uh, you know, again, this was like I didn't
know necessarily who was going to win, if you know,
because Oscar and obviously you weren't going to pin Osprey,
So it was either the Bucks we're losing or Macky
with taking the pin and uh, you know, I I
think I'd have to really think about it, but I
think as far as what happened on the show, as
far as like a development, I think this was one
of my favorite things that happened on the entire show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my first instinct was to like it, and I
think part of it is because it was so different. Right,
Sometimes we are chasing the rabbit trying to catch up
on all of the wrestling we watch, and it's like
as soon as we consume it, it's onnd of the
next thing and we don't remember it. We don't you know,
I was just thinking about this too, like the days
of going to your local store and renting a VHS
of a Royal Rumble and watching it over and over again.
Those days are gone. You know, this match stood out
and this one you'll remember from this card in way
is that you don't remember a lot of matches these days.
So I thought from that perspective it worked.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, absolutely, And then like you were saying, like
from a card, I always ask myself, like would I
go back and watch what like of these matches that
occurred on this card, Like which matches would I go
back and watch? And I would absolutely go back and
watch this match. And not that the Young Bucks needed
anything additional to add to the resume for like Tag
Team of the Year, but again just different flavor of
you know, match quality that they can have. And it was,
just like you said, it was the most unique thing
on the entire card. And I appreciate that just because
not every match on the card needs to be this
twenty five to thirty minute epic. Sometimes you need a
little bit of you know, flavor on the card. And
I still and then based on like the Tech Team
Titnel matches, was like completely different, and you know, I
really appreciate that.
Speaker 2: In the chat, Sadler says, this match is exactly why
I don't like the Young Bucks. The ridiculous no sell
spots completely take me out of the match. I will
say I thought that Nick sold the head butt a
lot more than he sold the follow up pile driver
on the out side of the ring, which was a
bit of an odd choice, but he sold it for longer.
I thought good fella chimes in match psychology was weird
to me. Will's holier than now turn meh.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: That's one of the other things I wanted to ask
you about is the effectiveness of will Osprey being a
part of the Death Writers and that whole story that
kind of came to a head today in the main
event seems to have blown up. But to this point,
what's been your thoughts on that storyline where will Osprey
becomes a part of the Death Writers, he tries to
get that edge right to take him to the next level. Like,
I get it. I understand what they're trying to do
there and what the story is they're trying to tell,
but I also understand that a lot of people have
not enjoyed it. As much. And part of that is
because of John Moxley's character, where sometimes he's a babyface,
sometimes he's a heel, and the rest of the Death
Writers are always heal and it it can be very confusing.
So what's been your overall thoughts about now that we've
seen the end of it, it seems tonight the effectiveness
of putting will Osbury with the rest of the Death
Writers and being kind of a subservient in some ways
to John Moxley.
Speaker 3: I was really patient with it. Greg, Honestly, I would
you know, I would you know the Death Writers saying
worked last year, like ultimately, whether you liked it or not,
Like I think it was an overall success, look what
you know, look what it led to it all in.
I think I was willing to let a lot of
this play out. I thought I've enjoyed more segments than
others throughout this entire journey. I think, again, what's frustrating
me more if there would have been some type of
consistency with a group dynamic. I just really, like you said,
I did not like how John Moxley was a face
sometimes and then the rest of the group were working
as face our you know, heels and then depending on
who they were wrestling. It was just kind of what's
the dynamic of this group and the messaging between like
getting Moxley like hooked up with Osprey, Like there was
a chance to kind of tell more of a personal
story with Osprey, which I do appreciate because you got
to kind of have him be a little bit more
vulnerable about his neck and everything else. So I don't
want to say it was like ultimately like a failure,
but I'm ready to kind of like move on with
the Death Writers honestly if they don't even want to do,
like I don't want Kenny and Will the constant Kenny
and Will to constantly tag against the death Rids leading
up to you know, all in at this point, I
at this point, if you want to kind of like
part like put that to the side and just acknowledge
Moxley is an easy challenger out the gate for Osprey
and hopefully at some point Moxley, uh, the group finally
just turns on Moxley so we can kind of get
baby face John Moxley again. I'm I'm ready for something
different because Rick I thought easily last year when Moxley
won the the C two, like he cut a baby
Face promo that was a baby Face promo to me,
and I just thought, like, Okay, we're getting like baby
Face John Moxley again, And.
Speaker 2: I thought they were gonna turn on him, Like I'm
surprised today they're still together.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I I don't know why we're still here.
John Moxley has a plan and I'm just waiting for
it to execute. And yeah, I'm just I hope they
can kind of just put everything else to the side.
I mean, obviously they still have to kind of address
the Moxley stuff on Wednesday, but if they want to
kind of just have the death ritters go away for
a little bit, so if we can kind of get
focused on the good stuff, I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2: Bandido versus Kyle Fletcher for the International title was next.
In my notes, I wrote one word, tremendous. I didn't
know what else. There wasn't a lot, you know, this
was not some intricate storyline that had been set up
for this match that you know. Fletcher did say he
wanted the don Callis family to stay in the back.
He didn't want them at rings side. This was an
effort to prove that he could do this on his own.
As I said earlier sets up like Bailey versus Kyle Fletcher,
which Bailey's already decided to when and where on that.
So I had mentioned that the first three matches kind
of set this show up as a potential Alzheimer right
away with the ladder match and the tag match and
the story that was involved, plus Bandito versus Fletcher kind
of went downhill after that, but we'll talk about that.
Your thoughts on on Kyle Fletcher and Bandido. This is
I think when people talk about this show in regards
to the match outcome is being predictable. I think this
is one of those they probably look at and say, yeah,
obviously Kyle Fletcher was going to win right, really good match.
And I think this is one of those matches where
you're going to look at it and say, how much
does match quality mean to you if you're a viewer,
Because if match quality is high on your list of
things that and I think a lot of people who
watch AW are in that camp. But maybe the outcome
doesn't matter so much. Maybe you finished this match and say, Wow,
that was a great match, And maybe you watch that
match and say you know I knew who's going to
win the entire time, like it is a waste of
my time?
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Speaker 2: So you got those two competing camps here, But what
were your thoughts on the match itself and anything else
that I touched on there?
Speaker 3: Well, I will say I will acknowledge the fans that
were kind of like annoyed about this match being put together.
I believe there was potential speculation like there could have
been a Fletcher Mystico match kind of like set up
down the road, but I guess due to injury, that's
not taking place. And they I will say, at least
on television, Bendido did pin Kyle Fletcher in the ring
with the twenty one flex, and there were actually two
near falls in this match that got me. And there
was one point in my notes that made me kind
of like actually say, oh my god, Like there was
a spot where Bandido did the frog splash to Kyle
Fletcher on the floor and I thought, oh my god,
you just squashed his face and I thought he was
busted open. I thought he broke an order boom. But
obviously they showed the replay and there was just enough
space for Kyle like to not get killed, which I
was like, Okay, you worked me there, because I thought
it just looked like he ate, you know, because normally,
traditionally you're supposed to land closer to the stomach. But
I just saw his face go crunch and it looked
like he started bleeding a little bit from his forehead,
and he did. There was a little blood on cal
head afterwards, which I was like, oh my god, like
he broke something, which is terrible. I will say Bandido
is like one of those guys that you have to
always kind of pencil in on a pay per view
at this point because my word, like you just all
the matches he's had, like him and Swerve is still
like ridiculous Him and Andrade like would just you know,
insane To those who thought this was a very predictable match,
I understand that. I do wish at this point they
stopped beating Bandido like a drum, which you know, well
that was.
Speaker 2: Going to be. My next question is how bothersome is
it that Bandido as ROH champion is losing too, I
mean a second or a third level title holder, depending
on how you view the international title on an aw
pay per view, Are we pass the point of caring
about Roh as a separate entity enough to get worked
up about Bandido they're champion losing or is that still
going to be a sore point?
Speaker 3: I honestly forget sometimes Greg he's the Ring of Honor
champion until he comes out with the belt, or they
pointed out. Now, I will still go out of my
way to watch the Ring of Honor shows because I
you know, I'm a big fan of Atina, and you know,
Bandido's great, and there's still like very high quality stuff
on that show. But I'm not even that's not even
on my mind. I'm just thinking, God, this guy is
really really good even in a in a mask, he
still emotes very well, and I you know, obviously there's
so many people that you can push at one time,
but I just I really wish they would stop beating
him like a drum and maybe figure out, like what
the what the next step is? I mean, there's obviously
a big opportunity and the upcoming Arina Mexico show I
would definitely feature him strong. A part of me thinks like,
oh God, are they going to book him and Kenny
Omega on that show? Which it's it's a possibility and
they would tear the roof off that place, but it
would just be unfortunate, just like to continue to beat.
I would say at this point, there's there are people
that are teugh on, like Darby Allen to me's teflon,
like he's a guy that can lose all the time
and it does not matter. I would say, just be
be careful, be careful because at some point people lose,
no matter how good they are in the ring, they
lose their credibility.
Speaker 2: There's a tipping there's a tipping point for everybody.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, absolutely, but yeah, I mean it was a
fantastic match, Like they were incredible. The finish was not
not necessarily filmed. Great if you're going to do an
avalanche brainbuster, maybe just be a little bit more careful
on that because it was kind of filmed not great.
And yeah, I mean, other than that, there was two
near falls that like were incredible. I thought after he
got the twenty one plex, it was all I thought,
he got me. And then there was the creative twenty
one Dragon suplex that he got that was very creative
by Bandy Do. I really liked that a lot, And
you know, Kyle Fletcher you know one, and I think,
you know, down the road hopefully this is kind of
just feeding into the potential Kyle Fletcher babyface during as
he did when he won clean didn't cheat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking about that during the match, and
you know what a great baby face he would make
at some point. And I'm not saying six months from now,
even the year from now, you know, I would like
to see certainly down the line. I think he has
the makings of a tremendous babyface top talent, But I
was thinking of that during this match as well. Interesting
that you brought that up. Match Number four was Dave
Finley and Clark Connors defeating Juice Robinson and Jay White
in a chain match. I thought it was look, the
build was unique. They had some very funny videos in vignettes,
so I thought that was a positive. You had some
creative spots here for a chain match, which we don't
see very often. No blood, which was a surprise. We
got plenty of that later on in the show, But
this seemed to be for a lot of people the
match that sent this show into one of its valleys.
What was it, Brian about this match that just didn't do.
Speaker 3: It for you, I mean every like, well, just the
matchic existing. Really that was a problem. And I have
the preference is there was not a bad match on
this entire show. There were matches that probably could have
been so better with more build on television. I think
this was a little like you said, there were there
was creativity on it, but like it was so slow, Greg,
like I and I this did not need to go
seventeen minutes. I'm absolutely sorry because, like.
Speaker 2: To me, when you got weapons like chains and they
play such an integral part in the match, the match
should theoretically be shorter, yes, because you have these maybe
not deadly weapons, but you have these weapons that should
do much more damage than your fists or your feet
or anything else. So in theory, that should wear down
your opponents and yourself a lot quicker. So agreed on that,
even though we're not talking about show length or anything
with that. I agree with you, right.
Speaker 3: And it was funny because a good fellow in the
chat said this would have been a cool collision match,
and I actually agree, Like, if you would have given
this eighteen to twenty minutes on collision, I think they
could have probably told a better story. You could have
probably like and something like this, you.
Speaker 2: Could have drawn some viewers to Collision.
Speaker 3: Yes, you could have gotten this could have been a
big Collision main event. And you know, more or less,
this was kind of like a Texas bull rope match
in a way, because I was kind of confused, like, Okay,
you do the bit with the dogs, How's this not
a dog collar match? It just it would have made
more sense, man. And I've enjoyed actually the vignettes on
Collision that they've been very entertaining, the dogs actually leaning
into kind of like more sports entertainment than tough guy stuff.
I think it's been refreshing. They've been so I've enjoyed
them so much more. And my biggest kind of takeaway
from the match, other than it just existing, and it's,
you know, the the I heard this on a podcast, Greg,
and I don't know if I brought this up last time,
and it's probably like the one time I've actually popped
way before and one of my ride ups. There's nothing
worse than watching wrestling happening in front of you and
you feel nothing, and that's what this was. It's just
like I'm bored, brother, Like I'm sorry, I know you
guys are trying to do your stuff. It just it
was boring. I'm sorry, it was very boring. There could
have been a lot more zip excitement to everything. And
I'm really worried they're like, because we go back to
the name of the card redemption, this should have been
a place where you could have had Finley and White
have singles match, and that would have made the most
sense in the world. I'm worried now that they're trying
to build that too all in and I I don't
know if that has enough merit and heft to be
like on that p review cards and in a vacuum,
which I wish they would have done. I really wish
they would have just done a multi man eight man
with Cope and Cage and you know the guns are
you know, the Bullet Club versus the Dogs and the
death Riders. That's what you should have done, because then
you would have had one less match, and then you
could have had maybe more creativity with like Cope and
Cage in there and stuff like that. But that's what
you could have reduced the match the card length. One
less match and this match could have not existed, and
I just it's kind of hurt. Ja White. Honestly for me, Greg,
and I am a big J White guy, and you know,
I just I don't think him and Finley have enough.
They're they're gonna be on the card. At this point,
I'm kind of already penciled in. I just, you know,
I want good things for J. White, and I don't
think it's helped.
Speaker 2: Comment from the chat said this match didn't work. A
normal tag match would would have been better?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Absolutely?
Speaker 2: Would that have sufficed for you? Yeah? I think it
would have been better than Okay, go ahead, you can, yeah,
you can finish that.
Speaker 3: No, No, Like, yeah, absolutely, I think if it was a
normal tag match, it would have been better. And they're
you know, I just think too, like the juice has
been really entertaining in this entire feud so far, with
like vignettes. I feel like we didn't even get rip
really crazy juices, And oh my god, how did I
forget my biggest issue with this entire match, Greg, What
was J White wearing like that was so distracting to me?
I don't think I've ever been I haven't been as
distracted by wrestler's attire look since Cody Rose w to
his neck tattoo it was very distracting because he was
wearing like the long white pants with the cowboy boots.
It made absolutely no Like I'm almost forty, so I
can't like judge anybody's fashion, but like, tell anybody hip
and cool, tell me how that outfit makes sense, like juice.
At least his boots made casual sense with his outfit.
They matched like it absolutely made no sense. He wore
white pants with these like basic brown work boots. It
looked absolutely ridiculous, and his pants were like so baggy,
and it just like was very distracting from me the
entire match. Maybe that's why I was really ultimately bothered
by the match.
Speaker 4: Crag.
Speaker 2: It seems like that might be the case. I'm not crazy, Brian,
but that could explain a lot. And maybe it's just
subconsciously affecting everybody else too. A Goodfella says they played
to the crowd, seemed to keep them somewhat involved. So yeah,
I mean this was a crowd that I think wanted
to get in on stuff. I know Montreal has not
been a very strong market for aw in the past,
but they seemed to do pretty well here tonight. But
we move on to match number five Hakarushida versus Maya
World for the TBS title. It takes some sacrifices in
some rough moments to get a new talent over, and
I think that's what we're experiencing with Maya World. I
think she's doing a good job. I think the fans
are largely responding to her positively. But this is a
this is kind of a slow build, right to get
her over to the level of, uh, someone who's going
to be on top of the division. And right now,
AW needs top women's stars. They're missing some you know,
Mercedes Maney just came back, but you know, they're still
missing Britt Baker, They're still missing Tony Storm, They're you know,
Mariah may Is gone. So uh, they've had a lot
of defections, uh for one reason or another, from the
top of the women's division, and they need to replenish that.
And so here comes My World, and and so I
applaud a w for taking the time to build her
up to top stars. She wins the TBS title. Here
you sort of I had the feeling. And I know
earlier on the show you said you weren't really sure
about this one. I had a feeling after she lost
the oen to Mercedes Manet, and then she was put
in this situation. Okay, this is going to be kind
of the make good for that loss, and she wins
the title. Sheida doesn't really need the titles. She's not
really doing anything with it. I wish they would give
Maya more mic time to tell her story, and maybe
now that she's champion they will, because we don't know
a ton about her. The announcers kind of filled in
some blanks tonight, but you know, the most salient thing
we know about her is her brother died in a
car accident, and such a shame, so young. But you know,
that shouldn't define your personality and who you are and
what you're about. And unless aew fills in those blanks
about who she is beyond that, there's a risk of
that kind of sticking to her and being what we
think about when we think about Maya world. I thought
this dragged a little bit. It was okay, it dragged,
especially late. It looked like both women were just worn
out by the end of it, and it didn't look
like it was selling. It looked like they were just
really tired and going half speed for some of the
stuff but you know, I think this is a good
opportunity for Maya World here TBS title gets some focus,
get some pick up some victories and see what she
can do, you know, and see if they've got a
future star here in the division.
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Speaker 2: See you in the Paradise. What do you think about
the match? And you know, some of the things I
talked about in terms of establishing that my World character
and the necessity of doing that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I would say, first off, congrads to
my World. She's someone I've seen the last few years
in the you know, Texas indie indie scene, and I
couldn't be more happy for her. She's such a she's
such a nice kid, and I'm you know, obviously over
the moon that she's one had this opportunity and then
when she signed last year, you know, officially with aw
her and her partner high On, who I've also watched
kind of grow and developed in the Texas indie scene.
It's really cool. You know, Maya's from Dallas. You know,
she's obviously got great ties with Athena and you had
the dream match with Mercedes, And you know, I'm over
the moon. So I can still part my appreciation and
like fandom for her to the side, because like you said,
there's still a lot of meat on the bone bone
not necessarily maya need to get, but more just aw
giving that volume and presentation to do so, you know,
because in most cases in wrestling, sometimes greg the most
important thing is not necessarily what happened that night, but
the follow up after. And you know, this was definitely
you could say, a moment to make good with however
you want to phrase it. You know, God blessed she came.
I did like her, you know, matches on Collision, especially
when she upset Athena. It was they made it seem
and sound like a big deal. And they've cut kind
of like backstage kind of like vignette kind of high
videos for her. But like I think it's imperative. You know,
they need to really I know there will be a
lot of fallout stuff for the Dynamite after, you know,
the show. They need to have her in front of
a mic and like live mic. I don't care if
it's lunky, because sometimes even like with I saw a
tweet from EBU from the Wrestling Space from self made
if anybody uh saw this, uh he kind of throughout
Kevin Uh. Kevin Knight's match to night is on the
job training and I really admire that because you know,
if you're a franchise trying to you know, get better,
sometimes you have to take your lumps with the rookies
and you got to just let them go out, go
out there and play so that way they can get
an experience and uh, you know it might hurt in
the short term, but long term, you're actually building new stars,
you're building growth, You're building like had you you have
the development in you know, on your roster because like
you said, uh, you know Tecla who will get too shortly.
I think she's done a tremendous job filling that Tony
Storm get a gap uh that Aw's had and then
nobody's really been able to kind of pick up the
ball other than Tecla. And you know they're they're given
Maya the ball, and I really hope they just continue
to go if they're a little wary of giving them.
Uh you know my a live mic by yourself, put
me nay out there. That is what Renee Paquet is
there for give her, have her be that kind of
like shield to kind of like give her the the
pitches so that way she can kind of hit those
soft doubles and singles and even if she's a little
clunky out there. I wouldn't even care. It's like, you
know what, Like even with like Kevin Knight, throughout this
entire process, he's been kind of like, not you know,
not him specifically, but kind of like the direction they've
been giving him hasn't been great. But like sometimes you
gotta just let people just try and if it doesn't
work out that, you know, it's it's fine. Like they're
they're giving these people time to grow and develop, and
that's a great thing. Like you said, the match, I
will say Maya did a fantastic job selling her leg
I think she did a really great job. There was
like a one legging moon Salt as she hit. There
was a couple of times where they I didn't love
how they kind of spammed finishes. I hate shot kick
n X, kickout face. I hate it. It's one of
the worst tropey things I hate in wrestling. When she
did the debt, she'da god bless her. I think she's
a good She's obviously like you have to put her
on the mount rushmore of like women like within the
aw like sphere. Since the company's been like in development,
but she's lost a step Unfortunately she's just not there
where she was, you know, where she was through or
four years ago. So I thought that kind of like
hurt the match quality a little bit. And obviously the
I wish Maya would have cooked her leg too, but
like you said, maybe the the length of the match
and then maybe them being both tired kind of played
into the like execution. But yeah, you know, they gave
Maya the moment, and you know, they gave her like
the big new champion, the pyro, and I just hope,
you know, I don't know what her destiny is and
I'll in, but I really really hope they give her
like a MIC on Wisday because, like you said, like
I want to know my biggest thing in wrestling, Greg,
Like I don't care what their style is, I want
to know how I can relate to them as like
a person a character, like give us a little depth
to your like show fans why we should get behind you.
Speaker 2: And I don't even think you need to go out
there for the traditional stand in the middle of the
ring talk to the fans interview. I just saw that
Maya World was on the post show press or that
aw did I think if there's a way to edit
that clip that up and put it on Dynamite if
she said anything interesting or constructive to getting over her character,
I think that would be a great outside the box
way of doing it, because you know, AW doesn't often
show a lot of the clips of the pressers that
they do after the show. But if Maya was particularly charming,
or if she was if she got over or said
anything interesting, I would be afraid to do that and
use that kind of as the gateway to other ways
to introduce your character in subsequent weeks. But even if
you just did that on Dynamite, I think that would
be a good way to get the ball rolling on
getting to know more about this person who's now the
TBS champion.
Speaker 3: Yeah no, I agree. Really cool also to have my
World and Kevin I your Faces, TBS and t T
really cool.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Well, pause here just to kind of we've got
some new people tuning in. I am Greg Parks, Prost
and Torch columnists along with Brian zillam PW torch dot
com contributor. This is the ae W Redemption post show.
Just a couple plugs to get in here. You can
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Kellorkelorwade at gmail dot com. Brian, let's go to match
number six. We are halfway through. It was Adam Copeland
and Christian Cage defeating CSARO and Pac. This was another
match and I feel like this is becoming a monthly
theme here where we always ask ourselves, are the producers?
Are the agents talking to each other? Do they have
conversations with each other? I tweeted it out on Twitter
X you can follow me at Greg M Parks. But
I thought, you know, this is another match where we
have a tag team partner who is on the outside
for an extended time selling an injury, just as we
had earlier in the show. So it's it's stuff like
that that is just so easy to fix and it
keeps happening. So I don't I don't really. They may
not think it's a big deal to do it in
multiple matches on a show. I don't know. I think
it is, but I guess we can we can politely
differ on that aw And myself, I thought this we
had Cesorrow and Pack dominating basically the bulk of the match,
which I makes sense to me, Like you've got these
two guys in their prime in so Sorrow and Pack,
and they're going against two guys who are very close
to retirement in Copeland and Cave, So it would make
sense that the younger guys would have the advantage for
most of it. Young bucks come out after the match
and sets up a match it all in with Cope
and Christian very I guess I'm a little surprised that
the lack of fan fair for that. And it was
just it was very and very simple the way it
was done.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 2: You know, there was no cajoling, there was no storyline
to set it up, and you know they had done
some things beforehand, so you know, I guess this was
everybody knew this was going to be the ultimate conclusion anyway,
so why not just put it here on the show
rather than drag it out necessarily? What'd you think of
the match and what do you think of the announcement
post match of the young Bucks versus Cope and Christian.
Speaker 3: It all in well one production thing I wanted to
actually bring up. I'm surprised you haven't brought it up yet,
Like this was I believe there was three matches in
total where the Heels jumped the baby Faces before the
match started, so it was this, It was the Dogs
and the book Club and then also in the main event.
Like you said, I just you get I gotta just
communicate a little bit like you can't do like you know,
I know, earlier this year aw had like the every
you know, there was two matches on the card, everybody
was kicking out of one everything like that. I just
communicate talk like there's gotta be there's gotta be like
the you know, the whiteboard run sheet like somebody like
there's only so many producers. I can't remember like how
many there are. But it's just like, you know.
Speaker 2: Just talk. And I want to point out standard deviation
in the chat says to be fair, when you have
twelve matches, you're bound to repeat ideas. It's a problem
of structure, not necessarily communication. I mean, if you only
have twelve ideas, go beyond that. That's a whole other
set of issues. Like there's got to be another way
to tell the story, Like, I mean, how necessary was
Christian being taken out of the match for that type?
Did it play substantially into the finish or to the
storyline coming out of the match. No, you could have
very easily done something completely different in that match than
what they did.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Now I do acknowledge and appreciate the heels trying
to take away people singing Cope's song. That's good Heat
in Canada is like so anywhere? Really? Yes, Yeah, absolutely,
but especially in Canada, I appreciate that, you know, I
ultimately I think this is a nice little spot for
Coping Cage, like especially as their careers are winding down.
They're obviously not like top top guys anymore, so the
having them in the tag team division and uh, you know,
this was a nice little fun tag team match, like
very simple. I actually there was a great breakup towards
the end where Cage broke up the pinfall. I think
it was after the death Riders hit, kind of like
the Spike power Driver. Cope got like a great save
and you know, they got the kind of like I
don't want to say out of nowhere like win, but
you know, they picked up the win. It wasn't like
this spam kickout finishers, which you know, at this stage
in the career, like you don't need to do that,
And like you mentioned, the setup with the Bucks afterwards
just made sense. I am kind of surprised. I foreshadowed
potentially like some type of crazy TLC combination with them
FTR and maybe Mystery team debuting potentially, which you know,
I thought maybe like a TLC match could have maybe
protected Cop and Cage a little bit more but we'll see.
I'm intrigued, you know, I'll throw my hands up because
I didn't think the FDR match that they had earlier
this year with the cop and Cage was going to
be fantastic, But I mean it was, so I can
only imagine like what they can do with each other.
I will honestly be disappointed if it does. Like that's
the standard I'm gonna have for this match. It should
be great, and it kind of it is kind of
cool knowing Greg I'll be there live next month and
I'll kind of really this is kind of like the
last raw with Coping Cage and that's the you know, ultimately,
because I think I've asked way at points, like does
cop and Cage like mean anything to people wanting to
like go, especially since they've done the discount tickets now
they're finally really moving tickets, like since it's official now,
Like I wonder if that actually gets some extra butts
in the seats.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I do wonder that as well. It's it's
hard to say what moves tickets. I think there's just
so many different reasons why people do or don't go. Certainly,
the price in prising it down a little bit is
going to help, so the closer we get, I think
we'll also move a lot more as well.
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Speaker 2: I mentioned how the Bucks versus Omega and Moxley is
probably going to be the most polarizing match on the show.
Lest we forget the Painmaker Chris Jericho against Tamasa Chhampa,
because this is also a contender for perhaps the most
polarizing match on the show. I felt like Beach Break
and the match that they had there should have been
the blowoff. I thought it was would have been an
appropriate blowoff match. I thought it was. It kind of
felt structured like one. It was a memorable match on
the beach, so I thought that would have been a
great place to end it. I think it's been kind
of stretched beyond it's beyond its limits at this point
to get us here. This was the one that was bloody,
all kinds of weapons. I think this match was done solely,
and I have no sourcing on this, but I think
this match was done solely to stick it to Wade,
who complains, you know where I'm going with this, who
complained in all of his recaps of this this match
introducing a drill is so stupid. They're never going to
use it. You can't introduce something like that if you're
never going to use it, and they used it in
this match, so they said, see Wade, we introduced it,
We used the drill exactly who says ribs are from
another another era now. But yeah, this was a lot
of a lot. You had the mid match inclusion of
the Montreal mascot, which was a very bizarre time out
because you have this blood literally a blood feud going
on and they're taking time out to joke around with
a tiny mascot. I thought that was it did not
fit the theme of the match, so that was kind
of odd to me. Talk a little bit about the match,
but also talk about Chris Jericho's return so far, because
Jericho has set the standard so high, especially from his
time in WWE, and he has such a lengthy time off.
I think it was over a year that the expectation
was he would come back with some grand idea about
how to re energize his character. And I think we're
all still kind of waiting for that other shoe to drop.
We're seeing and we're kind of trying to say, ah
see he's saying this, that must mean that he's going
to like, we're trying to connect the dots to something more.
And the longer this goes on the less, I think
there's something more to it and this is just what
it is. So talk a little bit about what your
perception of Chris Jericho's return has been like as well
as the match. Was it too much, too violent?
Speaker 3: To whatever? Man, Yeah, the Jericho thing is still like
an incomplete letter grade for me. I just I'm still
waiting for the other shooter drop. Like you said, I
will be honest when he came back. I I you know,
very so often can I get my wife to kind of, like,
you know, get really excited about a segment on Dynamite,
She's like, oh, wrestlings on, That's neat. But then, you know,
he was doing the promo with Bricochet and I was like, hey,
I was like, Babe, Jericho's back. And then he went
through the list and she she popped. She's going crazy.
She's like the list. So that's like, you know, that's
what you know. So I was like, okay, so are
we going to just kind of go through these different
phases of Jericho kind of doing these old characters, which
I guess he kind of has to agree. He's got
the list, Jericho, He's done the painmaker. You know what
you know, we've got like sparkly pants Jericho, Like you know,
I don't know where else we can kind of go
from here. As far as his character, you know, is
he going to do the sports entertainer next? Who knows.
Speaker 2: It's almost like we're seeing pieces of these characters being
presented some subtly because you have to because they're they're
WWE and you know you can only fly so close
to the sun with those characters. But you know, he
mentioned the list, Champa had the the the moves right
from WW and we see the painmak your return. So
it does like you're trying to connect the dots. You're
trying to say, is there something here that we should
be paying attention to that means something more than you know,
are these puzzle pieces that we need to try to
fit together to figure out what's going on? Or are
we just are we just making something out of nothing?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean, as we talk it through, this might
kind of just be the Christical experience at this point.
Now I have to you have to acknowledge he's doing jobs.
He might be losing too much, which you know, I
guess you can kind of discuss that as you will.
He's taking some gnarly bumps like I and as a
you know, a guy in his fifties doing what he's doing,
Like I give him all the credit in the world
for that, because I could do that at thirty nine,
So like kudos to Jericho for doing that. I will
say this match as a whole, Greg got me kind
of like more in the movie for the show. I'm
not necessarily for sports entertainment all the time in aw
but if the tone is there, and it just felt
like this was like the fans really needed this, because
I felt like this was one of the loudest reactions
they got all night. Obviously like Champa doing like the
Boston Bruins, Jersey got like good heat and then beating
up the mascot, I saw more positive reactions, and this
was a match where I thought I was gonna feel
the same for the dog collar or like the chain
match as for this, but no, I was. This was
an over delivery for me. And obviously did they overdo
it in certain spots, like yes, absolutely, the drill thing
was very silly, like obviously Jericho didn't commit murder, which
obviously they sold it as. But like you said, like
why would they do this entire time. So in my hand,
like in my mind, Champ, I better have like a
huge like don kallis like hole on his forehead like
the rest of the way. And you know, I don't
know what's next for Jericho. I would I under the
impression if I'm putting Jericho in the best position, I
think he needs to be in an attack division. I've
always enjoyed his work as attack I actually liked the
list Sex Gods a lot with him and Sammuy Gervara,
who might need you know, a guy reach out to
him for a hand. At this point, maybe I don't
know what's going on with him, but yeah, I don't know.
I just you see what Cop and Kate is doing,
and I you can't tell me Jericho couldn't do the
same thing. Jericho could be a great hot tag guy
like and you know, I just I feel like that's
the best solution for him. I don't know what you
do with him at all. In I was really trying
to I was trying to rack my brain Greg, like
what do you do with Jericho? Because I had thought
when he returned, I was pitching for him to kind
of return versus Hangman last year as like a key
Ol opponent just because you know, Jericho beat him before
their story there. But I just don't know, like what
you do with him? And then if this is kind
of what the Jericho experience is, does that lose his
star power? Like does he have that you know draw
that you know Jericho once did a few years ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, you would think that
someone of his stature is going to have something meaningful
to do at a show like all In. You know,
you look at some of the top heels.
Speaker 3: Is it?
Speaker 2: Is it Kyle Fletcher? Is it? John Moxley? Is it?
I mean I was gonna say Mark Davis, but he's
not really champion anymore. So I'm not sure if he's
going to be in a in a big position. Come
all in, good fellow, says Kevin Knight. I'll possibly say that.
Speaker 3: That's reserved for Darby Allen at this point, I imagine that's, uh,
that's got Coffin match written all over it. I think, kay.
Speaker 2: So, I mean there's no shortage of heels for you know,
big heels for him to do something at with all In.
It's just a matter of you know, going back to
the puzzle, metaphor, it's a matter of fitting the puzzle
piece together on this card and you know, finding a
dance partner for everybody before we move on. Question from
the chat, why did the match stop so fast because
of the drill? Well, when you take a drill and
you drill someone's head, as as christ Jericho did to Champa,
it tends to cause them to want to submit very quickly.
So I think that is where and Brian correct me
if I'm wrong, that's probably where the match ending so quickly.
Once that was the drill was drilled into Tamassa Champa's
head and he submitted. I can't blame.
Speaker 3: Him, yes, I will say, I don't know if you
caught this, Greg, did you see like the fantastic camera
shot where it was Champ of bleeding profusely and then
like the mascotes, Yes, at the very end like top notch,
like that was actually like really really good. I was like, Okay,
this worth it, like this entire if that was the
entire purpose of the match or who idea, like whether
that was Jericho's idea or production at the back, that
was fantastic.
Speaker 2: That was very well done. Match number eight Andrade winning
the AW national title from Mark Davis. I think, you know,
Davis is a great success story of AW booking because
he was a guy that I could have absolutely been.
I could have seen him being left for dead after
Kyle Fletcher had his star turn Davis got hurt. It
would have been very easy for and I thought, you know,
based on the early booking of him, I didn't have
a lot of confidence that they were going to do
much with him. But he's been a real find. And
so when holding the national title, getting a match on
a pay per view like this against Andrade and really shining,
this is a really good match, I thought has been
awesome for Mark Davis, and so kudos to him for
stepping up. Kudos to AW for sticking with him when
it would have been very easy to just kind of
discard him and either get rid of him, let his
contract lapse, you know, throw him on Collision to do
jobs or whatever like that. But he's been he's been
a real find. But Androte gets to win another one
of those matches where you kind of see a title
change coming, it sets the ball rolling for Androtte to
continue to take out members of the Don Kallis family
as he works his way up to aw title contention.
So in Andrade after the match, shaking hands with everybody,
I thought someone was going to attack him out of
the crowd. I thought they were setting up setting up
an angle for that, whether it was a Kallus family
member whomever, because they were with him. The camera stayed
with him, and he was celebrating with everybody at ringside
yes a while. And there was in the corner when
he was talking to this woman, there was a guy
who had a drink up and he was just staring
and I'm like, what's that guy up to? But he
just walked by. I thought it was gonna be like
the boyfriend finally, the boyfriend of one of these women
that he's hitting on and he's had enough or whatever
like that. I thought maybe they were setting something up.
But no, Yeah, Androde, I like what they're doing. I
like the baby face turn. Fans were clearly getting behind
him even while he was a heel, so they kind
of struck at the right time with him for this
baby face turn. And lord knows, they have no shortage
of Don Callos family heels for him to get through
as he as they bide time waiting for the right
time for him to challenge for the AW Championship.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what I ANDROTI might be like a story like
the story in twenty twenty six. I wonder if somehow,
like there's like an unreal episode of like Michael Hayes
Richard watching AW Dynamite and asking how did how did
they get this guy over? And the fact that he's
got a catchphrase how you know, like something so like
you know, because he's done that bit before. When you
know he did it, you know, with Tony Savanni. I
think it was like it originated at a rampage show
and he's gotten it over and he was a guy
you know when he came back, like I kind of
just like was like okay, sure, like you know, you know,
and all the reports before he got like came back again.
You know, he left on good terms and you know whatever.
The weird thing was like he debuted, re debuted, he
had to lead because of contract legal ality. Who I
don't think we ever got the full story on that.
Speaker 2: His contract I think was for longer than what he thought.
So he thought his contract was up and WW legal said, uh,
it's not up until such and such a date, and
so they had to stop using him until that date came,
is what I recall.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that that that that is probably that sounds about right,
but yeah, I mean, you know, and I don't know
when it started.
Speaker 3: I mean his match quality. The thing about it is
it's always been there, So he's always been able to
do that. I will say since he's come back to
AW this time around, he's definitely trimmed down on you know,
because he used to be jacked like he was almost
like super heavyweight as far as like his bulk, but
he's slimmed down, kept his speed, you know. His move
set is still some of the coolest stuff that you'll
see on AW. And that speaks for like a lot
to me personally, Like his uh spinning back elbow just
sounds like death anytime he hits it. It's it's it's
a great, uh, you know, move set. And I want
to greg he initially started getting over on Collision when
he started, just like fans were channing take your pants off,
and you know, I and I think that was like
one of the first shows he did, like the selfie bit,
and I remember I was not at a Dynamite where
he beat he beats Swerve. Fans were super over, like
loads of fans channing take your pants off, and I
was like, man, this is incredible, Like I just I
wouldn't have not had this on the Bengo board, like
at all that Androtti is getting over as a baby
face first and foremost, he's got to catch phase over
and like he's like and I and again.
Speaker 2: But so much as that was accidental too, I mean
you think.
Speaker 3: So Greg, they have they have to be Ruce Prichard
has to be furious in the back that like he's
a Latino heart throb. How long has WW been trying
to find that?
Speaker 2: I know, I know, and and I mean you look
at him and he looks like a superstar. He wrestles
like a superstar. And yet it's taken the series of
accidental things, the catchphrase of the pants, you know, even
the women at ringside, which I don't know that that
was ever meant to be a long term thing. It
like right, it kind of felt like a one off
that just somebody said, hey, let's do that again, and
it just kind of snowballed from there. But it's taken
all of these kind of little things to get him over,
whereas when you look at him, it's like it should
have been from day one, like it should have been automatic.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 7: Longing for some nostalgia or maybe you want to learn
some wrestling history, don't miss the nineties Pass cast every
Friday on the PW Towards Daily Cast Feed. Alex and
Patrick will transport you thirty years into the past by
taking you through the Torch issue from that very follow
news from the WWF and WCW, and all the happenings
from across the wrestling industry in real time as The
Torch reported it thirty years ago. That's the nineties Pass
cast every Friday on the PW Torch.
Speaker 3: Daily Cast Feed. And like, I love the new did
you like his new tron his presentation of like him
as like the true Latino heart throb, like on the
boat And.
Speaker 2: Then he's like, I don't think I saw that.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, no, that that looked great. I don't think that.
I think Sean russ Up pointed out that wasn't a
Mikey Ruckus production, But like, I don't know, he got
like the superstar repackaged representation as a traditional babyface. Now
you know he's a singles champion, which is great, and
yeah he's another one he's like like Bandido. You almost
have to kind of find a way to pencil him
in on a paper book card because like he's great.
You know, he's delivered each time he's gotten an opportunity,
and you know, maybe he's a guy that you could
have wreussell Kenny Omega at the Grand Slam or the
you know, Mexico Show, because he did beat Omega, so
that he's got and he's been saying he wants his
world title shot, even though, like you know, the uptem
singles title holders demand to be two belt people, which
I wish that would stop being a thing in wrestling
in twenty twenty six, Corregt, I appreciate the title that
you have, Yeah, being so greedy.
Speaker 2: Yes, Then, speaking of Willow Nightingale wins the Women's World
title over Tekla in the semi main event of this show,
and I had to point out on social media just
how strange this whole odyssey for Willow Nightingale has been
since her injury. She wins the title, she gives up
the title because she's injured, she comes back, and I think,
if I have my timeline correct, she came back before
the tournament was ever over. To crown a new champion. Yeah,
I think that that track, but she gets onto the
world title track, and so I'm winning the world title
after she comes back from injury. So it's just the
step by step has been strange in the way this
has worked out for Willow, but couldn't happen to a
nicer person because she seems awesome and I'm super happy
for her, you know, just like my world for Willa
to win this, and and people who've listened to these
shows for long enough, and back to Wrestling Night in
America when I was doing it weekly, know that I've
been pushing for Willow almost since she started in AW
as someone who should be a big star in the company,
so I'm glad to see her get this title here.
I thought this match worked really well because Willow and
Tekla both bring different energy to the match, and you know,
Willow comes at it from the most extreme babyface end
of the spectrum and Tecla comes at it from the
most extreme heel end of the spectrum, so that that
was cool to see them that come to a head
in a match. I thought that really worked well here,
and they played off each other really well, so I
really enjoyed this match. You know, we had Skyblue interfering,
But what do you think Brian.
Speaker 3: Mixed emotions, Greg, Honestly because I didn't want Tecla to lose.
I felt like.
Speaker 2: If there was a way for Willow to win in
Techla to not lose, that would have been the ideal results.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, absolutely, just because, like you mentioned, Tecla has been,
you know, the standard bearer of the division since Tony
Storm has been gone since March of this year. She's
kind of felt this. You know, Tony Storm left a big,
huge gap in the division and that's not an easy
role to fill, and Tekla by all means, has been.
You know. So she's very unique on how she carries herself.
It doesn't matter on her, you know, size at all
because obviously she's not the tallest woman, but she carries
herself different. She has a different cadence in her promos.
Not every promo has been She's had like the occasional
one that's not been as great, but like she's very entertaining.
She has almost kind of like a razor ramone kind
of like twained like how she like has her swag.
It's very it's you know it's very entertaining, very refreshing
because she's so different. I part of me, like I
struggle with this because, like you said, Greg, you know,
I love will and Nightingale. She's great. I do understand
if people have kind of like their gripes on how
she's presented on TV, because I think Wade's mentioned, uh,
like her character trait like just not necessarily like Willow,
like how she's awkward, but just like there hasn't been
enough depth in her character on like giving us more
behind the scenes of who she is. And she always
has a small like small anyway anything, but like I
will say, like the vignettes as she was coming back,
like super early did a great job with that, and
you know from the story like a story standpoint, her
mer cities, like there's so much history there like that
you can kind of go to and pull out, you know,
in the next thirty days or so. I wonder, like, God,
does it suck to have because ultimately it sounds I
don't know, it sounds like Willow injury. Injury kind of
like made like a detour on things where maybe Willow
was the one that was meant to win, to own
and win at all. In potentially who knows, But like
you said, someth I'm the injuries kind of like maybe
curse the show in a way and derailed plans and
sometimes you got to just make the best of the situation.
And I will say I did not love that sky
Blue spot. I thought that kind of looked dumb because
Techno kind of made that on her own. And I
didn't love the rough reeze position where they kind of
I was like, dude, you I was like, ah, you're
right there looking at her. That's not necessarily ideal overcomes,
which is fine. I would have liked to have like
a little bit more build too, and then Willow get
a little bit more I just I didn't I wanted
to have like a little bit more react. I thought
you got like a better reaction, and it felt like
when she won the TBS title for Mercedes at the
New Year's Eve show, and I don't know happy with
Perillo said that. I mean, you know, just because they
make a graphic doesn't mean that you can't necessarily add
another person. I thought maybe if you were gonna have
a triple threat, this was probably the one you potentially add,
because I mean, Tekla has been great but you know,
ultimately Mercedes is the biggest star. Obviously, she came back
for a reason. She won the Owen. I think she's
probably gonna thurn Willow. People might get annoyed, but I
just think she's the big it's the biggest show. She's
the biggest star on the stage. That's probably. And then
you know, not only that, like in her entering quality
is really great, like really, I think if anything from
that maya world match like it kind of showed her
strength as like a ring general at this point as well.
And you know, their chemistry of Mercedes and Willow has
been fantastic as well. So happy for Willow, but I
presume this is probably gonna be a short rain. I
think Mercedes wins all.
Speaker 2: In yeah, go hoops junkies said, I get it with Willow,
but Tecklo was, in my opinion, the best to ever
hold the women's title. And it appears that Willow will
drop the title to Mercedes in a Darby esque fashion.
I assume the Darby esque is a short title reign,
not that she's going to jump off some high thing
and do some deathifying moves. But yeah, that that kind
of feels like I mean Willow could win. I certainly wouldn't,
you know, eliminate that idea out of hand, but feels like,
you know, Mercedes, I wouldn't be surprised if Mercedes wins
and Willow has a short rain.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I know there was a common in chat.
I don't know if they were saying that and Jeff,
but somebody was asking if Mercedes loses, they could debut
Bailey as a distraction. But I don't know if legally
they can. Although I've seen I'm starting kind of maybe
speculate Bailey still could be over sooner than people think.
I don't know. Wade might have more about that in
the coming weeks, hopefully to kind of clarify, but I
don't think she could legally pop up.
Speaker 2: I don't even know when her contract expires.
Speaker 3: I've heard different things. Some people think it's the end
of the year. Some people think it's September. I don't know,
like it just nobody's really gotten kind of like a
one way or another. Although Bailey did work at a
hostel last night in San Jose, that doesn't necessarily mean
anything because you know, she was just there. It's a
house show, doesn't really matter, so but I can't see
Bailey popping in at all. In it would be really cool,
and I hope she does come in to Ultimately, I
hope she gets paid. She should leverage both companies. She
should absolutely get it back. She's, you know, an integral
part on like women's wrestling. She should absolutely get it back.
And but honestly, I would hope she pops up in
AW because again, it would add to the depth and
I would be really intrigued to see what Bailey in
this stage of career. Like, I don't need Bailey to
have a five star match, Greg, I just need I
need a character, and I need ideas to look at
and then just the variety of matches that you can
have with Bailey potentially on this roster or Pam like
her like actual name or whatever, you know, whatever name
she'll go by. But you know you've got her Mercedes obviously,
her and Willow Statlander, Tecla, Queen Amanada, Maya World, Megan Bain.
There's a plethora of people I'm sure Bailey would love to,
you know, have a go at.
Speaker 2: We've reached the main event. Kenny Omega versus Kevin Knight.
Let's split this into two we'll take the match first
and then we'll do the post match. So can you
Omega wins? I'm I'm sure that's not uh yeah, that's
that's not headline news or anything like that. The way
I looked at this is Aw's goal should have been
too pronged in this match. The first is keep Kenny
strong heading into his his match with will Osprey at
all in a foregone conclusion even before the match started.
But you also want to establish Night. I mean this
is this is a great opportunity for AW in some
ways to not have Omega versus MJF.
Speaker 4: Here.
Speaker 2: You have the opportunity to establish a new main eventor
main eventing a pay per view in Kevin Knight. Is
he gonna win? No, But if Omega treats him as
such in the match, you know, night could be. This
could be step one or whatever you want to call
it toward Kevin Knight being cemented down the line as
a main event guy in AW. That was my take
anyway on what the goals should have been for this match.
Do you think those goals were accomplished?
Speaker 3: I think so. I mean, I do think it's you
could kind of say a lot where you know, technically
this is Kevin Knight's second straight you know, pay perview
cycle where he's main invented, which is kind of cool
because you know, he was in that triage of like
a team Don Kallis and you know, like you said,
there was like, uh, you know, objective one obviously keep
Kenny strong, which he did. And it was nice to
have serious Kenny Omega for a change, just because I
joke with Wade about Kenny Omega all the time. Greg.
There's just times where I just get really annoyed with
Kenny Omega just because he's so dang aloof and it's
just like, Kenny, I need you to be a little
bit serious. And you know, throughout this build and then
winning the title, he's come out and suits. He's not
just wearing just like random athletic gear. He looks like
the business. You know, he's got the jacket. You know,
he just you know, I want you to be fired
up and not just be like so lase fair about stuff.
So that was that was refreshing to see. He did,
like look like a killer throughout, so good on him
for that. And yeah, like you said, it was it
was really cool to see Kevin in the spot like,
he's a guy I've seen on the indie seeing indie
scene as well. And again for anybody who's listening, cause
still go to indie shows because it's really cool when
you watch somebody at a local show and then like
two or three years years later they're like innovating like
a mainstream wrestling show. It's it's it's really cool. And
if you ever want to get in like the you
know space and have relationships, like, that's how you start it. Yeah,
how you gain relationships. Just food for thought there for
anybody wanting to dive in.
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Speaker 3: But yeah, Kevin had a different Any thoughts on the
new theme potentially? What do we think of the new
music presentation for Kevin Knight?
Speaker 2: Greg Well Folks in the Chest said he looked cool,
but you know I was. I think that's a good
way to establish yourself as a main inventor. Like, Okay,
I'm kind of shedding that. I don't want to say
mid card, but you know that that mid card tag
team with Mike Bailey look, and I'm this is how
I want you to see me now as a main
eventor right. So I think I think that's an important transition.
Even if the look is not everybody's favorite. And I
don't know what the consensus is going to be on
Kevin Knight, but just that change, I think is a
signal to the fans watching this guy's different. He's taking
a step up now and so that I think that helps.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's been a guy I will be honest,
I have not loved the don Kallis pairing with him, honestly,
and as they kind of you know, his relationship with
the group the past couple week has been interesting how
they kind of showcased it. It kind of makes me think, Okay,
we got to just like straight get rid of this
because it seems like Kevin Knight is trying to project
it it's not working. Or are we gonna just self
kind of like just admit, like, okay, this isn't working.
We're gonna just like Kevin Knight be a heel by
himself and see what that looks like. I wouldn't mind
them kind of just going away from the don Kallis family,
just because even though people have not loved Kevin Knight's
like heal cadence, sometimes you just let him figure it out,
Like let him figure it out. Like I know, it's
easy to have like a you know, a mouthpiece like
a Stoke Lee or somebody like that that aw could
obviously use that. Frankly, I think it would be better
than Don Callous honestly, but you know, Knight is someone
that I don't think needs to be in this big
goofy faction of people just because I think not that
he would be overshadowed. It's just like I want to
focus be on him and not the not Don Callis
or the family. It should be focused on Kevin Knight
because he's a guy under thirty that they're trying to
build for the future and obviously, like you've got new
TV deals coming like the you want to pitch Kevin
Knight to the executives of Paramount and the Ellison family
just saying, hey, he's he's our face, Like he's going
to be made inventing shows the next like three or
four years. And he's been another one Greg where I've
been really happy on the on the the follow up
of him because when he beat Darby Allen and the
C two, I don't think I ever like that was
one of my favorite shows I've ever done with Wade, honestly,
just because I felt like that was like the most
like oh my god, like aw just made a potential start,
like let's keep going, and they have, and you know,
I would say the Night overall kind of put a
bow on it.
Speaker 2: And Standard Deviation in the chat says, it reminds me
of Fletcher's main event eighteen months ago, and I think
if Kevin Knight finds himself in the situation Kevin Kyle
Fletcher is in eighteen months from now, I think that's
a good space to be in, where you know you're
seen as kind of a made man as Kyle Fletcher
is today. You know, Kyle Fletcher's not made of any
every pay per view, but he's certainly a guy who
I think fans look at as someone who could be
plugged into to the main events and someone who is
probably going to be the future of AW five ten
years down the road. So a good spot to be
in for sure. The post match, we had a wheeler
da Daniel Garcia, and I should mention earlier in the show,
there's a backstage tete a tet between John Moxley and
Will Osbury where Max so he basically says if you
can't do it, I'll show you how it's done, or
or we'll do it for you in that aggressiveness, and
so here comes the Death Riders out to attack Kenny Omega,
softening him up for will Osprey. Osprey comes out makes
the save for Kenny Omega. Mox gives Osprey a bag,
a bag that he used to suffocate Brian Danielson some
time ago. Osprey seems to consider the bag much more
than he considered using the chair, which I thought again
a strange but Ospray ended up ripping up the bag
didn't use it takes out the other Death Riders, so
it seems to be his swan song for being a
part of the Death Riders group. Omega comes to kind
of celebrate set first with Osprey. The young Bucks were
out as well, and then he attacks Osprey leaves him
laying at the end of the show, which I didn't
see coming. I thought they would go in to all
in and maybe they still will. Maybe this will be
explained away on Dynamite. So I guess my question is
are they positioning Kenny Omega as a heel against Babyface
will Ospury knowing that Osprey is going to get cheered
anyway in the UK or was this just a slight
diversion and Omega is really going to air more on
the side of a babyface in this build up and
it'll be more Babyface versus baby Face. Maybe Omega plays
a little heelish, but he's not a heel. If they
can circle that square or square that circle, I'm not
sure it matters which which one is which? But I
think it's square that circle. But I digress, as as
would say, so do you do you see it more?
A's Omega heel straight up or they kind of ride
with you know, Omega kind of riding the line between
heel and babyface.
Speaker 3: Right in the line. I think that's probably the latter.
It makes more sense. I wonder objectively if Omega is
thinking like not that he got everything, you know, confused,
because you know, I'm sure I don't know if he's
like lift more because you know, I don't know if
you know this great so Live Morgan. She's the avid
watcher of watching Monday Night. We're all on Netflix all
the time. So I wonder if Kenny and Mega is
gonna go back and rewatch this and still be upset.
Speaker 2: I thought you were gonna say Live Morgan was an
avid watcher of the show. Oh, I did not know that.
But she is who knows, she might be who knows?
Speaker 3: Okay, But I wonder if ultimately, if I can try
to make sense of like the cannon. I wonder if
Omega is more just annoyed with will Osprey just because
he told him don't trust these guys. He warned him,
He warned you, and he still is not necessarily mad
that Osprey thought about it or even considered it. He's
just like, I'm really mad at you, Like I told
you this was gonna happen, and that's what you get
kind of thing, and we'll see you one month month
from now. I don't I don't think we're gonna get
the you know, the Kenny Omega don caallis heel. I
think they'll have a way to kind of like tet
a tet uh, you know, dynamite. We'll see what happens ultimately.
Like you said, I don't, even though the people were
still going to cheer for, you know, Omega, just because
this this is something the UK proper have been asking
for a year since they started doing these shows. They
want the proper Kenney Omega singles match at Wembley and
they're gonna get it, and I'm gonna see it live
and I'm I'm really looking. I'm fascinated to see what
it is and looks like I'm you know, I was.
I will say when I saw the Omega Ocado match
last year, it kind of left me. I don't know,
I felt like that wasn't necessarily it I you know,
it just didn't hit the watermark for me. And I'm
really fascinated to see like what a proper in the
mood Kenney Omega looks like, because you know, he's winding
down a little bit, and he might be kind of
like on the Roman Remains schedule potentially because I mean,
my god, like he absolutely should because like all things considered,
he was wrestling more.
Speaker 2: He's wrestling more than I expected him to at this point.
Speaker 3: Yes, and he was literally on television and almost died
literally like within hours, like had he not gone to
the hospital, Like it's crazy to think about, and all
the injuries his body has been through, and he absolutely
deserves to be on whatever schedule he wants, like if
he wants to do video games, maybe, like I presume
maybe after the stage we might get more elite stuff,
which I've actually kind of enjoyed the Elite Separate rating
this entire year. I think that's been really refreshing. But
I imagine if you know, a certain pair of tag team
rocks up, maybe Omega would be a little bit fancy
himself maybe to get a little bit more in the
tag team division after that and you know, kind of
like Cope and Cage just might be kind of like
the last proper championship Omega that you see in a
live setting, Viva in person or pay per viewing. I'm
really excited to see it, but yeah, I think they'll
probably kind of do what you know, Wede hates the most,
kind of like the Grays thing, but I would hope
they kind of just have this kind of pissing contest, honestly,
Greg and like kind of just you know, I know,
Osprey said a couple of weeks ago, this is Goku
and vegeta kind of thing, and you know, we'll see
what kind of you know, I imagine they'll have a
brawl or two in between, which is fine. I the
less righter stuff the better, and ultimately the goal I hope.
You know, I would really be disappointed if Keny Omega
is addressed like Omega red and Osbrey's not Wolverine. I'll
be really disappointed if that's not the gear on all.
Speaker 2: In well, that's a good place to send it here tonight, Brian.
Any final thoughts about the show, anything you want to
sum up, anything we didn't mention that you think is
worth mentioning before we hit the showers as it were tonight.
Speaker 3: No, again, overall thumbs in the middle. I think ultimately
everybody has kind of like the same prognostication of the show,
like obviously length, like card placement for sure. I just
ultimately I'm glad that we're not being grumpy about things,
and you know, there should be kind of like an evaluation.
I'm just like hard placement format and just really like
understanding the apartment, like the importance of being on a
pay per view. Like now, don't get me wrong, we
don't I don't want to five to six car format
like a POE because then each match to go thirty
five minutes and that's not great for anybody. But areas
of opportunity for Tony to potentially maybe kind of trim
back on indulging so much on you know, certain matches
and just hey, you know, leave some for TV so
that way we can go back and review it and
have a good time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good luck with that and anything you'd like to
plug In terms of your work at the Torch.
Speaker 3: Oh, no, I really appreciate everybody you know reading my stuff.
We've been so kind of highlighting the hits and miss
Collision each week, which, like I know, not everybody has
time for Collision. Completely understand if you want to take
a deep dive on my analytical thoughts. You know, Josh
White obviously does a great job weekly recapping Collision. He's
a trooper for doing that, doing the full TV report,
And yeah, you know, next you know, next month, I'll
make my way on you know, to London for the show,
and that'll be great. I'll definitely have a live in
person report up for the show for anybody who's interested
on that. I don't know if I'll be available for
run ins potentially because there's the press scrum afterwards, but yeah,
I'll try to provide any additional content i can for
the site and looking forward to it well.
Speaker 2: I enjoy the trip, as some have shared in the
chat already, and if anyone wants to check out my work,
I'll be kind of ramping things back up this week.
I've got a new column in the Torch newsletter where
I look at the autobiography of Barry Darso do a
review of that, which was a real fun read. Obviously,
this show Summer Slam next weekend, maybe one night i'll
co host. I haven't quite figured that out yet, but
I will be on the flagship with Wade Keller this week,
so probably a little bit look back at at this
pay per view look ahead to SummerSlam. I'll also be
covering two G one Climax shows for the site pw
torch dot com this week, so just a lot going
on this week for myself and if you're interested, make
sure to check those out and of course check out
everything PW Torch and go vip pw torch dot com
slash go vip. Brian, thanks as always for joining. It
was a real pleasure to talk to you again tonight,
and thanks everybody for tuning in until next time. Have
a good night everybody.
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