-I know Hangman Page swerving Swerve got some to gasp and caused the jaws of some others to hit the floor, but c’mon folks, this segment made absolutely no sense. First and foremost, what if Swerve Strickland never would have walked out to face Page? Page is just fine giving up his slot in a world championship match on PPV? Worse than that though is the fact that Swerve Strickland only recently has been cast as a true babyface in AEW. Strickland and Page both have done terrible things to the other. Swerve has invaded Page’s home and threatened his infant child and has literally tasted Page’s blood because he drank it during a match on PPV late last year. Now, we’re supposed to hate Page because he just whacked Swerve with a crutch? Really? They missed the mark here. If you’re going to go ahead and do a triple threat match with Swerve, Page, and champion Samoa Joe, just tell that story. It’s easy. Joe is the champion and two hated rivals in Page and Swerve want the championship. That story can play out week to week and then in the ring as well during the match. Too often, AEW gets too cute in how they book things and the cuteness makes the end product messy. This nonsense was an example of that playing out.
-I liked the six-man tag match with FTR & Eddie Kingston against Blackpool Combat Club this week. The action was great and they left room for added story during the respective PPV matches between these guys Sunday at Revolution.
What’s up with Bryan Danielson?
-Look, the match was good, but AEW continues to swim upstream with Bryan Danielson. There are wrestlers who would kill to be as over as he is as a babyface and Danielson couldn’t care less. No interest. I get it. He wants to ride off into the sunset his way and his way only. At some point, though, the business of Danielson as a babyface should be important to Tony Khan because it is important for his company.
-Will Ospreay looked thrilled to finally be in AEW full time. He looked comfortable out there for his first promo as a member of the roster and got a really strong reaction as well. If I’m Tony Khan, I’m looking his way when I’m picking out stars to build the company around. He’s got charisma, can talk, and is mesmerizing in the ring. In many ways, he’s the perfect act to carry the AEW banner.
-Had Ospreay just dropped Konosuke Takeshita and Don Callis, I think he’d be in a stronger position than faking his involvement with them just to get through a PPV match. The turn is coming and that’s good, but it’s a bit silly to watch him jump through hoops as a member of that faction right now for no real reason.
Uh oh for Undisputed Kingdom
-Another good title defense by Orange Cassidy this week. Nick Wayne was the opponent and they both worked well together and had a fun match. The post-match Roderick Strong attack was a needed storyline element ahead of his PPV match with Cassidy, but the dead reaction showed just how cold he and the Undisputed Kingdom really are.
-Skye Blue had one of her better matches in AEW this week against Kris Statlander. She gets a lot of opportunities on various AEW television shows, but she seemed to have a little extra umph in what she did out there this week. Sure, her win was tainted because of Stokely Hathaway accidentally interfering on her behalf, but she’ll take it.
-The Hathaway/Statlander/Willow Nightingale saga continues to bore. It’s a Rampage story at best and all three are better off being away from it at this point. They’ve all become less over since the storyline started.
Look in the mirror Jericho
-Chris Jericho vs. Atlantis Jr. was a bit of a disaster. Jericho tried to tee up the significance of the match and almost landed the plane, but didn’t. The match itself was clunky all the way through and left me thinking “why.” Jericho with the Lionheart gimmick? Against this guy on national television? Like, it’s a fun little nod, but isn’t a very good use of Jericho if the plan is to continue to feature him as a relevant and credible star in the company. Jericho had to do things in this match that he may just not be able to do anymore and it hurts his marketability to see him in that spot.
A brilliant mix of nostalgia and hype
-Just an excellent Revolution go-home segment for the Sting & Darby Allin vs. The Young Bucks this week. AEW set the hook for the big main event moment by having The Young Bucks searching for Sting backstage. Once Darby Allin attacked The Bucks in the ring, but then was overwhelmed, my initial reaction was “ok, here comes Sting, just in a normal entrance.” Wrong. In classic Sting fashion, he repelled from the damn rafters to a chorus of loud cheers and then cleared the ring with Darby to close the show as a final “buy this” moment for the fans. Tony Khan is great at capitalizing on the nostalgia of his stars and he worked that skill perfectly there.
-Yes, I could have done without Ric Flair getting involved and the segment truly didn’t need him, but overall, this worked well to drive stakes and personal drama into the Revolution main event on Sunday, while also giving the fans another nostalgic Sting moment for his final television appearance as an active wrestler. Very well done.