-Well I’ll be damned. Congrats to AEW. I was skeptical as to whether or not they’d open this week’s show with proper follow-up on the Elite and Tony Khan attack angle from last week, but they did. Tony Khan and The Young Bucks offered up a reasonable explanation for what would take place during the show in terms of leadership. That explanation tied back to the story and helped accomplish the overall goal of the week — to keep tremendously hot heat on The New Elite. Very well done.
Leader of the rebellion
-Swerve Strickland positioned as the lead babyface opposite The New Elite’s tyranny is a smart call and some good booking. As a babyface champion, Swerve should be the face of that rebellion and his promo continued to plant seeds for a showdown in the future.
-Look, I know Christian Cage is on the back end of his career, but he’s a perfect Swerve Strickland PPV opponent at Double or Nothing. Hard to believe, I supposed, but true nonetheless. Cage is a real heel that is interested in being hated. Strickland needs an opponent that will push all the fans to his side and Cage does that. Remember, Cage is coming off a strong run with the TNT Championship and was the hottest heel AEW had in the last year. This is strong material for a PPV and may be instrumental in helping push Swerve to an even higher level than he’s already at.
-Adam Copeland vs. Buddy Matthews was needlessly long, but not bad by any means. Malaki and the House of Black torturing Copeland’s mind is a good little mid-card story that should culminate with a solid title match at Double or Nothing. Not exactly what I thought Copeland would be doing in AEW given his notoriety, but a fine angle for where he is right now.
Samoa Joe is the best
-Samoa Joe destroying Isaiah Kassidy was such a blast. Joe elevated himself with his title reign and presents more as a babyface now than a heel. If I’m Tony Khan, I’m putting him in a babyface Brock Lesnar type role STAT.
-What the hell do you say about Chris Jericho vs. Shibata. A lot of it was total comedy nonsense, but it worked this time around. Why? Well, because of Shibata. Shibata sold all the gimmick spots with a deadpan demeanor and somehow that made it all stick the landing better than it should have. Call me crazy, right? Jericho working heel is the right move and Big Bill as his heavy is an effective way to enhance his new act. Plus, it gives something for Bill to do. Thumbs up.
-A solid win for Claudio Castagnoli after losing to Swerve Strickland on Collision over the weekend. A win, but he’s a bit of a lost soul on the show right now. With Blackpool Combat Club not working in tandem on any feuds, he’s lost momentum and relevance.
Mariah > Mercedes
-I continue to be impressed with Mariah May. She works on a lot of the AEW television shows and not only is getting better in the ring by doing so, but she’s getting over organically with the audience too. Toni Storm throwing in the towel for May gave the title shot to Serena Deeb at Double or Nothing — another bread crumb for a big future feud between May and Storm for the title. I know it’s weird to say, but outside of the paychecks, May is in a much better position in AEW than Mercedes Mone.
-Ok, where the heck has THAT Kenny Omega been for the last five years. Omega cut a wonderful promo this week after being away from AEW for months. Just tremendous. Not only was it heartfelt and emotional, but it was delivered crisp and serious, along with a tone of a superstar. When AEW began and there was off the chart excitement in seeing Omega on a weekly television show, this was the Omega people needed to see. Better late than never I guess.
Home run
-As for the attack on Omega by The New Elite? Perfection. On this week’s flagship podcast, I mentioned AEW needing a home run to follow-up last week’s angle and they got it here. First, Omega set the table really well in outlined what his health problems were. Then, The Elite leaned right at those problems and the result was big time heat. Nothing meta here. This was a straightforward pro wrestling angle that got everyone involved more over in their roles. Really well done across the board and a hook for next week.
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