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Dynamite time!



Well, and now we've seen WWE release a whole lotta people again, right after announcing great gains and the bloody Saudi Arabia show. Not 100% sure about Keith Lee's health status, but it looked like he's on the up and quite ready for a return. He's got it all, doesn't he? Also: Ember Moon. That sucks. I really, really like Ember Moon. I'm sure she'll pop up in another big promotion soon.

Remember the hooplah when Karrion Kross / Killer Kross was hired by WWE? It was a big, big thing. So what have they done with him in the mean time? And now they released him. It's crazy.

Nia Jax was tangled up in some stupid stuff during her WWE carreer, and in some cases it was her fault, no question. Feels like it's been about 7 years since Shayna Baszler's been in that tag team with her (and thus being kept from doing cool things). Still, I can't bring myself to dislike the person Nia Jax.

Eva Marie. What the heck was the plan there? It's almost as if WWE only hired her back for some interviews and some photos.

Of course WWE knows more than we do, and maybe Keith Lee is still less well than we think or they had a deal in which they keep him on until he's fully healed again. But as it stands now, it's just a bad look for WWE. Once again.

Yeah, Eva was basically brought in to rebrand Piper Niven as Doudrop (for some reason) and then be let go, apparently.

Typical WWE nonsense, in other words.

In other news, Windham posted a tweet which may be hinting at an AEW debut? He references Jake the Snake and Rome (Malakai Black referenced Caesar recently)

https://twitter.com/Windham6/status/1456472826358161411?s=20

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree on Eva Marie's latest WWE run.


Not to mention Jake the Snake's amazing initial AEW promo.

That sounds cool. I'd like to see him in AEW. Premier a new character on there, blow everybody's mind, have a limited run, then take the character somewhere else.

Ooooh, Kingston/Punk having an in-ring chat on Rampage. That was good.


This may sound horrible, but nobody likes Red Velvet, right?

 Sigur wrote:
This may sound horrible, but nobody likes Red Velvet, right?

...why do you ask, Siggy?

I find her rather unimpressive to be honest, and I haven't heard anything to the contrary so far. It's probably a very bad thing to say, but I find that interesting. Not that I think that she's a bad wrestler, but I have yet to find a reason to root for her over the Bunny for example.

I remember she did well teaming with Cody against Shaq & Jade - I think she's definitely one AEW see potential in.

So Shayna Baszler visited Warhammer World.

Confirmed in an Instagram post, but as I’m a Luddite I don’t know how to prove that.

Here you go, Doc.

Nice one! Always nice to see someone famous being a nerd!

She and Henry Cavill should do a podcast or somesuch.

Celebrity 40K Deathmatch. I’LL ALLOW IT! LET’S GET IT ON!

She's been wearing 40k inspired ring gear lately too.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So Shayna Baszler visited Warhammer World.

Confirmed in an Instagram post, but as I’m a Luddite I don’t know how to prove that.

Aye, Samoa Joe sent her a 40k-themed tweet today.

Oh nice!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also hadn’t realised Cesaro tagged along too.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So Shayna Baszler visited Warhammer World.

Confirmed in an Instagram post, but as I’m a Luddite I don’t know how to prove that.

Also on GW's Facebook page.

Caesaro is just an all-round cool dude. I'm pretty sure he'd despise me for being such an unoptimized slob. But he's class.

Interesting that GW referred to both Shayna and Cesaro as "superfans" - it's been known about Shayna for a while (and can currently be seen with a Dark Angels symbol on some of her gear), but I didn't think it'd ever come up about Cesaro.

Might mean he's a fan of the Total War games - does a good pose with a chainsword, though

Having said that, there are few things he can't do, so...

That is true. And I guess a big corporation will call anybody a 'superfan'. Ad-people speak, innit.

So I'm watching Dynamite, and I start wondering where the Varsity Blonds are and TH2? Haven't watched Dark in a while, so maybe that's where they are, but maybe there's some injury?

Do we dare to make predictions on AEW Full Gear before Rampage?

No, we don't, but now we do.

AEW World Championship -- Kenny Omega (c) vs. "Hangman" Adam Page: Adam Page wins (or we riot). Without the title Adam Cole might try kicking Kenny Omega out of the Elite as well. Or the Elite just dissolves in favour of the Superkliq. Either way, it'll be a really cool match.

AEW Women's Championship -- Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (c) vs. Tay Conti: I like Tay Conti as much as the next guy, and she will win the Women's championship at some point. Right now though I can't see Britt Baker losing it though.

Bryan Danielson vs. Miro: For that eliminator tournament championship shot. Miro will win. It's just the rigth thing to do, and I love Miro's character right now. Danielson is doing amazing things, and he either will finally take a week off or (more likely) he'll keep on having insane matches with just about everybody.

CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston: Interesting. The whole thing started out as a really petty thing, but as we know with things escalating over stupid little things, it's usually because something's bubbling underneath. I think that this feud is just beginning, and CM Punk will beat Kingston. But AEW will invest in this feud, and it will be amazing. Punk turning heel, Eddie Kingston being Eddie Kingston.

The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana & Ortiz) vs. Men of the Year (Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky) and American Top Team (Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski & Dan Lambert) - Couldn't this kinda just as well be in the pre-show? I didn't particularly enjoy the build-up (apart from Dan Lambert's promos), it doesn't help anybody except maybe Chris Jericho(?), and not much is at stake if I remember. I'm sure it'll be fun, and I hope it won't be too long. Oh, and the Inner Circle wins.

AEW Tag Team Championship -- Lucha Brothers (c) vs. FTR: That's more like it! It'll be lovely. I'm not educated enough to appreciate FTR for everything they do, but it will be a lovely match and the Lucha Bros win.

Darby Allin vs. MJF: MJF wins.

Christian Cage & Jurassic Express vs. Superkliq (Adam Cole & The Young Bucks): Surely this will be the opener, right? Superkliq wins.

PAC/Rhodes vs. Black/Andrade - Pac/Cody got this one.


It'll be a lovely, lovely show. Looking forward to it.

Going to do a quickfire round of predictions...

Pre-show - Hayter/Rose vs. Rosa/Shida - Rosa/Shida to win

Superkliq vs. Cage & Jurassic Express - Superkliq to win

Inner Circle vs. ATT & MotY in a Street Fight - IC to win

Darby Allin vs. MJF - Coin toss for me, so I'll give it to Darby

CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston - Punk to win. No actual heel turn. Possible show of respect from Punk after the match.

PAC/Rhodes vs. Black/Andrade - Black/Andrade to win. Might see the character evolution for Black, or it'll show up on Dynamite

Eliminator Tournament Final - Danielson vs. Miro - Another coin toss, but I'll give it to BD, as he targets Miro's "neck made of sand"

Tag Team Championship - Lucha Bros vs. FTR - Lucha Bros to retain

Women's Championship - Britt Baker vs. Tay Conti - Britt Baker to retain

Men's Championship - Omega vs. Page - Cowboy Shizz to capture the title

 Dysartes wrote:
...

CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston - Punk to win. No actual heel turn. Possible show of respect from Punk after the match....

Is it possible not to turn heel when going up against Eddie Kingston in such a passionate manner? Somewhere I read that CM Punk right now is what Cena was in 2011 when Punk was up against him. And Kingston's now in the CM Punk role. Which is an interesting angle.


Also, I completely forgot about the PAC/Rhodes vs. Black/Andrade match! Added it to my predictions. (I assume that Pac/Rhodes win that one. Possibly after Cody gets taken out by nerfarious means, is dead and stretchered out, but returns 2 minutes later to save the day, with adrenaline in his soul)

 Sigur wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:
...

CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston - Punk to win. No actual heel turn. Possible show of respect from Punk after the match....

Is it possible not to turn heel when going up against Eddie Kingston in such a passionate manner? Somewhere I read that CM Punk right now is what Cena was in 2011 when Punk was up against him. And Kingston's now in the CM Punk role. Which is an interesting angle.

Honestly? Yeah, I think it is.

This isn't/wasn't a match set up via the usual heel/babyface dynamics - it was two people with an issue, an issue with more history to it than I was aware of. In wrestling, sometimes these issues get aired out in the ring, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's a good person and a bad person.

Going back to the issue that kicked it all off - and treat everything as real - Punk only has so much time allotted to him to cut a promo on Rampage, so Eddie interrupting after getting beating and screwing the segment up is going to annoy him. Given the incident was televised, asking for an apology - and for it to be televised - isn't unreasonable.

Calling Eddie a coward is going a bit far, admittedly, especially when we find out later that Eddie was missing due to waiting on a response to COVID tests - and when it was the same week a close friend has gone for treatment due to alcohol issues - could've definitely cut him a little slack for the latter, even not knowing about the former.

Having the in-ring promo battle, Eddie could've defused things by saying he got hot after the loss and wasn't thinking straight - it's Eddie, no-one would've argued with that. Eddie then goes into their history and pulls out all this other stuff, things which Punk obviously thought was done with. It's only when Eddie tells Punk to walk away for another seven years that Punk snaps, despite all the barbs Eddie has thrown his way - Punk has come back to something he love(d/s), the crowd (and the wrestling world as a whole, I'd say) want him to be here, and now Eddie's telling him to leave again? I can see why he'd get hot over it.

The Player's Tribune piece by Eddie that came out during this is a great read, if you haven't already done so. It certainly positions Eddie as a sympathetic figure, and continues helping people become more aware of who Eddie is. I don't think Punk has done a similar piece since he's been back, so the scales are certainly tilting to Eddie's side of things at the moment.

Once I saw Danielson win, I thought it was telegraphing an Omega victory...

But I was wrong, as I often am in predicting these things.

Full Gear was a hell of a show, and it is hard to see where AEW is going with many of these things, and that's a good thing!

For the Women's Championship, the title change will probably be Britt Baker to Thunder Rosa. Unfortunate for Tay Conti now, but I'm sure she'll get a Championship run down the line - she's still developing, after all.

Hangman/Danielson should be a good match, though I don't foresee a title change on the first defense.

I'm hopeful for more Punk/Kingston stuff, but not straight away - with the possible exception of a Punk promo on Wednesday.

The tag match that was announced during Full Gear, with Cassidy bringing Ishii in from Chaos as reinforcements - am I alone in wanting to see Ishii caught up in (and bemused by) a Best Friends hug spot at the end?

Yup, with many of the matches I wasn't quite sure how they'd end. I actually watched with friends who watched AEW for the first time, and they kept pointing out how hard it was to predict the matches as they went on. But overall they liked it. Or they just wanted to be polite after 4 hours of PPV.

Yup, that was Reynolds with the beer.

I'm a little confused by Anna Jay coming out with DO at the end, but not being ringside for Tay's match to counteract Hayter/Reba, though.

 Dysartes wrote:
Yup, that was Reynolds with the beer.

I'm a little confused by Anna Jay coming out with DO at the end, but not being ringside for Tay's match to counteract Hayter/Reba, though.

True, I was surprised about her not showing up for that match either. Surely Tay Conti told her to stay back. Heroically so.


Btw, a thing came up while we watched Full Gear. Entirely unrelated, but did the whole turnbuckle break in the Roman Reigns vs. Demon Finn Bálor match ever get explained?

Another question: How do you explain Kenny Omega to people who don't know him? I went with the old "he's the best wrestler in the world. period.". Which probably caused more confusion than explained things.


Oh, also: Jay Lethal! What a solid, solid choice. I like him.

I don't recall the collapsing turnbuckle being mentioned, yet alone explained.

I try not to explain Kenny Omega He is meant to be at a convention over here this coming weekend, though, so I'm considering whether I want to try and meet him while I'm there.

Dysartes wrote:For the Women's Championship, the title change will probably be Britt Baker to Thunder Rosa. Unfortunate for Tay Conti now, but I'm sure she'll get a Championship run down the line - she's still developing, after all.

Hangman/Danielson should be a good match, though I don't foresee a title change on the first defense.

I'm hopeful for more Punk/Kingston stuff, but not straight away - with the possible exception of a Punk promo on Wednesday.

The tag match that was announced during Full Gear, with Cassidy bringing Ishii in from Chaos as reinforcements - am I alone in wanting to see Ishii caught up in (and bemused by) a Best Friends hug spot at the end?

No, not at all - that would be awesome.

I mean, you've got to give the people what they want, right?

(Hopefully Trent is back soon too?)

And I was *shocked* when Jay Lethal showed up.

More than just about any other wrestler, he is Ring of Honor, isn't he?

He's signed on with AEW - so is ROH not coming back?

OK, so yeah, Google is a thing:

Lethal has now become the first superstar from ROH to appear for another company since the announcement that ROH will be going on a hiatus. The former ROH World Champion spoke about the situation with the company he spent over a decade with and why he’s excited for this next chapter in his life with AEW.

“Unfortunately the doors are closing soon there,” Lethal said. “I met a lot of friends there, I’ve wrestled there for over 10 years. I’m a very loyal professional wrestler, if you’re good to me I’ll stay there till the doors close. The doors are closing [in ROH] and the opportunity presented itself [to come to AEW]. Mr. Opportunist here [Tony Khan] and I was welcomed in with open arms. To answer your question, my heart goes out to a lot of those guys who no longer have jobs. It’s a sad time but also a great time to be a professional wrestler because the wrestling world is frickin booming.”

Lethal continued to speak about the amount of time left on his contract before revealing he requested his release from the company. The 36-year-old said he chose to bet on himself knowing that WWE talent was also released recently and wanted to get to AEW before other recently released talent did.

“I had about a month left up until maybe five days ago, six days ago where I asked for my release,” Lethal said. “Because I knew that as a professional wrestler, everybody knows, left and right people were released, there was a massive amount of free agents and for a professional wrestler if you don’t strike while the iron is hot, then you’re going to be behind the eight ball. I figured I would bet on myself and try something and I got a response and it worked and I’m so thankful for it.”

ROH will be holding their last event, Final Battle on December 11th, before going on hiatus. Having spent over a decade with the company, Lethal was asked whether or not he’d appear at Final Battle and here’s what he said:

“I will not be,” Lethal said. “My new home is AEW.”

Yikes!

I really liked ROH over the years - but this doesn't look good for them...

Oh, indeed I'd love to see Ishii giving the people what they want. Most of all I'd like for Trent to return though of course.


Yeah, I mean it's really cool that RoH kept on all their people during the pandemic. I hope RoH make a return. It'll be different, but it's so important that we got alternatives, not only to WWE, but also to AEW. Because a Duopoly is almost as crap as a Monopoly, but less self-unmasking.

Is Bully Ray RoH's booker now? Would be majorly interesting to hear what he's got to say. I don't really follow his podcast, but I listened to what he had to say about two years ago or so when he was on Jericho's Podcast, and he's a highly interesting guy to listen to. I'M also very keen to know where people like Dalton Castle or the Briscoes(!) show up next.