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It's like the universe is trying to tell him something...

Collision started earlier than Fite was expecting it to, because the Basketball went short. So it randomly got a 7 minute overrun (that was actually an underrun if you think about it). Swerve getting the opening segment makes sense with the NBA lead-in. Basketball fans might see Swerve with the World title and think it's cool that he's World Champion and give the company a chance. Bit less embarrassing than that one year when they sent Jericho out there first, and thousands of NBA fans thought it was funny that he had gained weight. Jay White was a heavyweight in NJPW, and he wrestles more like a heavyweight weasel than a flier. But it's still jarring to see that he's physically smaller than the Brothers Martin. On the other hand, the Brothers Gunn hopping the railing at Daily's to pay tribute to their previous AEW life as the pandemic era superfans was a lot of fun. There is a reason (beyond nepotism) why they're the only guys from that era who are still here. Godspeed Pineapple Pete et cetera. Tony Schiavone saying move names that were originally in Spanish is unlike Excalibur saying the same words. Feels like Tony has only ever heard them said by English speakers. Fenix's comeback match being dominated by Beast Mortos' offence, and Rey barely keeping his head above water, that was a nice touch. There's a lot of narrative potential in a guy coming back from injury and being a step off, being rusty, not being able to put things together right away, but it's often a thing that commentators talk about but isn't incorporated into the actual match story. This time it was, really well. Martin Stone (Danny Burch in NXT) showing up in AEW as a jobber was unexpected. He was underutilised in WWE. If he and Biff had hit the indies as a tag team, they would have made waves, but Martin had a lot of injuries to recover from, and Biff went back to WWE* before Martin was back in the ring. I can see him potentially doing things as a singles guy, but AEW've already got two Martins, and it's hard to establish your own identity as your own man when you have Bobby Roode's exact face. Mariah May comes to the ring, and soon thereafter Tony Schiavone says "Settle Down, Nigel McGuiness-etico". And then the match went longer than most AEW Women's matches on TV go, and was much the better for it. I have seen people saying that Anna Jay hasn't progressed as a worker and is still the same rookie she was 4 years ago; If that's the case, then this was a hell of a carry job from Toni Storm. Which is good, because although she is a wrestler with a really strong gimmick right now, we shouldn't allow that to let us forget that she's a great bell to bell worker. The fact that she can incorporate her character into the story of the match, without making it a schtick match that consists of the fans waiting for her to hit her character spots so they can pop for them (which there's nothing wrong with that, some wrestling fans LOVE that style), it gives a whole other dimension to the work. This might have been Anna Jay's best match, actually. If the Grizzled Young Veterans are unsigned and available, AEW should pick them up. This match hits two recurring themes from things I've already written about: British Wrestlers being underutilised in NXT, and gimmick based wrestlers who have signature spots they want to get to. The Acclaimed had fallen into that trap... they had those handful of tag spots that were over, and they would just do those and go home. Here, they didn't. This was the best Acclaimed match in months, and I'm not attributing that to it being a simple Caster/Bowens tag with Billy back to standing ringside instead of being on the apron, awaiting the tag. I'm attributing it to Gibson and Drake being such good wrestlers, and such great heels, that they dragged The Acclaimed out of the comfort zone and into a great match. Claudio vs Swerve was great too. There wasn't a bad match on the show, the opening trios might have been the least good one, and that was still excellent. Claudio's great strength and athleticism means he can do things in the ring that most wrestlers simply cannot; Swerve is similarly a guy who can move unlike most other humans can move. So they probably could have created something especially esoteric out there... which they didn't. They had a really good, solid match, started Swerve's reign off with a great defence against a great opponent, established him as a fighting champion who'll take on all comers right off the bat (as opposed to one of those babyface champions who only defends against heels, or vice versa). You spend all of your life waiting for a wrestling show in which someone stands on top of someone else head (who is also standing up) and it never happens, for years... and then it happens twice on one show. Incredible. So yeah, Collision was really good. On to Rampage! * That was confusing, he had a couple of indie matches where he made the "I'm so glad to be back where the real action is, working for WWE messed with my mental health & motivation, finally I feel like myself again" promo, and then re-signed immediately. Perhaps the rah rah indies promos are a work; Perhaps he's willing to live with Depression if it brings financial security with it. Who knows?

Post AEW Worlds End 2023, AEW Revolution 2024 and AEW Dynasty 2024 update: 30. Minoru Suzuki vs. Samoa Joe. AEW Dynamite, 13th April 2022. 29. Sting/Darby Allin/Shingo Takagi vs. Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson/El Phantasmo. AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, 26th June 2022. 28. Jon Moxley vs. Mr. Brodie Lee. AEW Double or Nothing, 23rd May 2020. 27. MJF vs. Darby Allin. AEW Full Gear, 13th November 2021. 26. Trent/Chuck Taylor vs. Santana/Ortiz. AEW Dynamite, 16th September 2020. 25. Anna Jay/Tay Conti vs. The Bunny/Penelope Ford. AEW Rampage, 31st December 2021. 24. Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter. AEW Full Gear, 19th November 2022. 23. Kazuchika Okada vs. PAC. AEW Dynasty, 21st April 2024. 22. Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada. AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, 25th June 2023. 21. Cody vs. Mr Brodie Lee. AEW Dynamite, 22nd August 2020. 20. Jon Moxley vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Revolution, 6th March 2022. 19. Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley. AEW Revolution, 5th March 2023. *****. 18. Mr. Brodie Lee vs. Cody. AEW Dynamite, 7th October 2020. *****. 17. Kenny Omega/Adam Page vs. Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson. AEW Revolution, 29th February 2020. *****. 16. Dax Harwood/Cash Wheeler vs. Matt Jackson/Nick Jackson. AEW Dynamite, 6th April 2022. *****. 15. Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki. AEW The Buy In: Rampage, 15th October 2021. *****. 14. Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes. AEW Double or Nothing, 25th May 2019. *****. 13. CM Punk vs. MJF. AEW Revolution, 6th March 2022. *****. 12. MJF vs. CM Punk. AEW Dynamite, 2nd February 2022. *****. 11. Thunder Rosa vs. Dr. Britt Baker. AEW St. Patrick's Day Slam Dynamite, 17th March 2021. *****. 10. Sting/Darby Allin vs. Matthew Jackson/Nicholas Jackson. AEW Revolution, 3rd March 2024. *****. 9. Dax Harwood/Cash Wheeler vs. Jay White/Juice Robinson. AEW Collison, 15th July 2023. *****. 8. Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Dynamite, 6th January 2022. *****. 7. Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks. AEW All Out, 3rd September 2023. *****. 6. MJF vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Revolution, 5th March 2023. *****. 5. Adam Page/John Silver/Alex Reynolds vs. MJF/Santana/Ortiz. AEW Dynamite, 30th December 2020. 4. Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Winter is Coming Dynamite, 15th December 2021. *****. 3. Will Ospreay vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Dynasty, 21st April 2024. *****. 2. Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson. AEW Grand Slam Dynamite, 22nd September 2021. *****. 1. Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr. AEW WrestleDream, 1st October 2023. *****.

He's okay. Not a ringing endorsement, I know ;).

Darby Allin got hit by a bus when crossing the road. Thankfully he's okay.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NcJvi5TYEk&ab_channel=KeithRichards I'm waiting for my man

whoops

What a night of wrestling! Mortos was definitely the breakout star of the evening, I'm looking forward to seeing more of him. Claudio again showed why he's one of the best currently and possibly of all time. Serena is a gifted storyteller! Literally nothing she mentioned in her promo actually happened. It was almost as if she was reading a post from r/thathappened. Nigel is such a scamp! He had the best lines of the night, but I was worried he was going to get fired later on in the night (during the Shibata/Garcia vs. STP match). Speaking of which, who was that new interview lady? I don't think they even told us her name.

In the NHL Playoffs? As many times as they like.

Phil Salt didn't do badly either in that game, and Buttler's hit a couple of centuries himself. Some of the England batters have been going; but it's been rough for the bowlers. Then again, it's been rough for any bowler not named Bumrah.

Hot start going straight to the Americana/Santana vs Jessie with Abilene tag. No longer a mention of Amber still. Fun match that looked like the heels would end up not getting along but Abilene still gets the win anyways. Babyface Holidead rules and made a nice team with Chantilly. Chainsaw always finding a way to try and kill Foxy Fierce, made for a great post-match angle introducing Foxy's sister, Roxy Fierce! Really dug the build up for Kandi vs Aussie. Saw them going back and forth on Twitter earlier hyping this up so I was looking forward to it. They delivered a good match as expected. Great main event with Penelope Pink one of the few who matches up somewhat even with the Beast and can hang for a longer match like this. Awesome looking finish with the super powerbomb.

Vince also turned a blind eye to Mel Phillips and Co. And helped cover up the murder Jimmy Snuka committed.

Said this for Will Ospreay vs. Claudio Castagnoli and will here for Swerve Strickland vs. Claudio Castagnoli. Claudio Castagnoli is one of the best wrestlers of all time, he's also one of the best bases ever. Amazing how strong he is.

God yes. The absence of Alpha 2 Gold and Alpha 3 Upper, which were arcade releases in Japan but console-exclusive in the West, is the 1 big miss in the 30th Anniversary collection

My point is that "owner wanting to be one of the boys" isn't a new Tony Khan phenomenon.

A couple more things now I'm back from work Death SS is a legendary Italian band whos guitar player Paul Chain cut his eye out in a Satanic ritual (!!!), turned into a Jehovah's Witness (?!?!) after, and formed his own group Paul Chain Violet Theater and later a musical container system for his works in doom metal, hard rock, experimental noise, etc. Vocalist Steve Sylvester, however, continued with the Death SS name forever and a day and is still making crappy albums 40 years later. The Story of Death SS album and The Cursed Singles and Paul's early stuff is where you need to go, simply incredible, the heaviest vibe ever and totally morbid. Later on he did some really good doom rock too, had Lee Dorrian from Cathedral sing some stuff, Wino on guitars, etc. He also sings in his own phonetic language! Strange, strange stuff. Naked Raygun became stalwarts that solidified the Chicago punk sound, which is actually very Misfits with a lot of "whoa-oh-oh"s and melody. Basement Screams is a bit of an odd-man-out to start. I like it just fine. Sax! The SSD EP is being re-released 40 years later. "At long last", as they say. Their LP before this (a perfect hardcore album) went for $1000 a pop or something like that and it just got the re-release as well. Los Lobos had a hit with their cover of "La Bamba" for the movie about Richie Valens and I actually saw the video on MTV2 late last night, and have seen them play it live on TV too, and shit yeah they would be awesome live. Cool as all get out. Rock and Roll! "Kill Yr. Idols" itself, the song off the EP, is my fave SY song actually

Craziest thing I've seen all season https://twitter.com/SheaSerrano/status/1784414227014311944?t=mIiUi0SpCba6JPBzCct6_Q&s=19

My Own Prison has a couple of good Alice in Chains/Soundgarden/Load-era Metallica-type cuts on it, and if you don't have at least some affinity for My Sacrifice as a wrestling fan, idk what to tell you - I will die on this hill! Had I not just caught this on BBC the other week this might've sailed over my head - well done! Also, apologies Raz - I have a real hatred for anything Sammy other than a handful, let me cool my jets

I remember liking some Black Taurus matches when I would catch TNA but holy hell Mortus was amazing! He absolutely should have won and came out looking super legit. Fenix definitely has a little rust to shake off, but glad to see him back. Never have seen Grizzled Young Vets before but they very much could fit right in on the AEW tag team scene and I wouldn’t have minded at all if they had pulled an upset. Caster needs to do less sexual stuff and more old school diss rhymes. Thinking about how Top Flight has had two major injury setbacks that have kept them from making it to the top, while Gunns have gotten over thanks to a Danhausen song and getting hooked up with Jay White, who desperately needs to break out in singles. Anyway, match was fine, I think I’m done with trios titles period. Darius-Switchblade could be a great match. Mariah May might be almost as big a ham as Toni Storm, they are both just killing it right now. Loving Toni rocking the super old school gear and continuing to find ways to be the inappropriate aunt during her matches. It’s RUSH! I want to see him and Mortus go at it for 10-12. Main event really clicked, and given Claudio’s decades of experience, comfort with lots of styles, excellent basing, and sheer strength it wears an excellent call for Swerve’s first defense. The giant swing just went on and on, and actually sped up at the end! I don’t love the Swerve Stomp, but they did great working it into the story of this match. I knew Swerve was not going to lose, but honestly I wanted Claudio to win after that performance. Didn’t see Rampage yet, but the spoilers seem promising.

Movies today.... The Personal History of David Copperfield (Hulu, leaving next week) The Mummy (1999) (saw at the theater for $5) Lost Illusions (Mubi, leaving next week) 13 Going on 30 (Netflix, leaving next week)

Something weird is going to happen like Hull City finishing 6th and winning the playoff spot.