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Caught the MJF bit. Wish I hadn’t. If Regal really wants to go back to his kid and his Hunter and Tony is kindly allowing it, well… more terrible luck for the promoter whose had more terrible luck in a year than any other in history. But that was very close to the worst possible scenario for how that segment could go. This was the moment where it was obvious just how weak the narrative foundation has become. Thankfully there’s so much else to rely on but that was inauspicious.

I read that as "Randy Hogan becomes the biggest wrestling star of all time."

For a tag specialist Dax is having quite the banner year for singles matches.

Shoutout to Kenny Omega. Here's someone who has nothing to prove to most fans, he could have easily retooled his work in a major way and dialed things back and taken it easy. And here he is, a handful of matches back, hitting the Kotaro Crusher on the stage and trying to break his dang butt. It's not thing I'd want to do, but he loves wrestling the way he wants to wrestle. Stay safe, please don't need a hip replacement in like a month's time.

Somewhere, MJF is still talking. Good lord that was Triple H at his interminable 20 minute 2003 worst. HYPED for Hangman/Mox 2, whenever it happens.

Just added: Samoa Joe vs AR Fox for the TNT Championship.

Since posting my fantasy tournament yesterday I’ve realized my true dream tournament would have Toru Yano go through Santino in the first round in a match that was a mix of comedy and them both tapping into their legit ability to throw people. Then in the second round William Regal gets to showcase all of his comedic timing and facials as he’s flummoxed at Yanos antics. And in the finals Yano and Eddie Guerrero (in full Lie, cheat and steal mode) trying to one up each other in stealing the win and set a record for most dusty finishes in one match regardless of who goes over we all win.

Honestly, what probably happens is that Kerry can't figure out the notoriously insane late 80s WWF trans and ends up accidentally taking a flight to Hawaii and just ends up living there.

Here's something you probably didn't know: There were a series of Bockwinkel vs Steamboat matches in JCP in 79. Most were for the AWA title but sometimes Steamboat defended the TV title and it ended in a title vs title match that was, of course, a count out. We don't even have a glimmer of these obviously.

Jesse the Body Ventura voice "McMahon, when you're in that ring, you're always in some sort of danger. I was a Navy Seal in Vietnam, and I was hit by Agent Orange. Years later, I got blood clots and I couldn't wrestle any more. When that happened, you didn't see me by that ring. People say that William Regal has had problems and that it's such an awful thing that MJF hit Regal because of his health problems. McMahon, if his health problems are that bad, why is he in the ring. He knew what he was getting himself into, Vinnie"

Maybe that match was taped in the southern hemisphere?

Then, Don Muraco sees Kerry down in Sunset Beach, trades the WWF title for a bunch of coke and just shows up on WWF tv next week with the title, claiming to have beat Kerry for it at a Hawaii house show.

Really looking forward to this one, ladies and gentlemen. An early Christmas present from Tony Khan.

I figure if you're only gonna announce three matches for a two-hour pro wrestling TV show, it's probably best if all three of those matches feel like they might be pretty great. Like, say: Willow Nightingale vs Anna Jay AS, Bryan Danielson vs Dax the Ax, and Death Triangle vs Wayward Sons Part 3 of 7. I mean, I am gonna watch regardless as are most of us here, but way to get me maximally stoked with minimal information, AEW. Off to sleep soon, maybe they'll have announced more matches by the time I wake up. Maybe we'll get a nice surprise or two. I'm almost afraid to ask for anything specific (Like, say, JD Drake vs Sting or a Maki Itoh appearance). Just looking forward to: 1) Good wrestling and 2) Pleasant surprises.

So Regal's made to look a complete idiot for what he did now, and that's why I hated the turn in the first place. Screwed over Moxley for nothing. The promo itself felt like it went on forever without actually explaining why the whole thing happened and more just going over what had happened. The one thing I did like about the segment is that they made a point to explain all the BCC guys not being there (Moxley ejected from the building, Claudio & Yuta in Nashville, Bryan in the trainers room after his match) If nothing else, I can at least dig it as a reason behind MJF vs. Bryan Bryan/Dax ruled as expected. Joe/Fox was fun. Loved the Hangman/Moxley brawl, that felt big time. BIG pop for the return of Ruby Soho! Destination Unnnnnnknown! Perfect time to bring her back in her home state. Welcome back Ruby & Hangman Final Battle feeling a bit rematch heavy with Jericho/Claudio, Yuta/Garcia again, and even Joe/Wardlow though that was a 3 way last time. The Best of 7 is the best. Love all of this. Also loving Carry on My Wayward Son as the entrance theme, just adds an extra bit of epic to it all. Nice for Kenny to get to do his old Goodbye & Goodnight again.

Anna Jay is smack dab at the top of the list of "folks who will benefit from Double J Double MMA running AEW house shows." She needs to be working way more often than she is. She's a gifted athlete with a good look but damn was that not great.

The dichotomy of man: I thought Anna Jay looked really bad, and Willow did great because she's awesome and helped cover for it most of the time. Send Anna overseas for a tour or two, sign Billie Starkz when she turns 18, and put her on TV instead and watch as she becomes AEW's 2015 Bayley or what they had originally planned for Kylie Rae.

Can't embed tweets, but Allie Katch with the line of the night: "girl not a Burberry belt for the man whose tan gonna come right off on it"

What a match that was.

I don't think it works in 1985. We were still in the "Hooray America! Bigger is better!" Reagan years. Hogan was a perfect storm of right place, right time, right look, right soundbites, right exposure in the mainstream to explode. Austin was the same thing in 1997-98. Both were just reflections of what was popular in America at those specific times.

And that is wonderful, but where are my Cash Wheeler singles matches, dammit?!

I've been reading the Stan Hansen autobiography, and one of the best things about it is that it gives a very good look at the Amarillo territory (NWA Western States) in the early 70s, which is one of the toughest territories for us to really know anything about as we have no meaningful footage. So far, however, my favorite thing was the story about Terry Funk and a cop from Happy, TX. Funk would speed like crazy, including through towns where the speed limit dropped from 55 to 25. He'd be going 100 at 2 am the same time every week since they had their weekly loop. So apparently there was one cop in Happy, TX that waited for him every week and tried to chase him down to give him speeding tickets and Funk would try to outrace him. Every week. There needs to be a movie about this. Just this.

The Octopus Cup 95 Lord Steven Regal vs 93 Genichiro Tenryu 05 Lo Ki vs 89 Ricky Steamboat 01 El Satanico vs 82 Nick Bockwinkel 19 Daisuke Sekimoto vs 04 Kenta Kobashi ——- Tenryu goes over Regal in a hard fought battle. Low Ki kicks Steamboat a lot but Steamboat comes back from a pounding. Bockwinkel get tied up by older face Satanico, but due to dirty tactics Bockwinkel wins. Kobashi and Sekimoto do long grapples and deviating chops. Kobashi goes over. ———— Steamboat vs Tenryu Bockwinkel be Kobashi ———- Uh oh! After the Kobashi win, Heenan makes a surprise entrance as Bockwinkel’s manager. Declares he pulled strings and corrupted the Octopus into announcing their match right away. No dancing girls like we were promised, only the Heels get that. Bockwinkel comes out and picks a part a tired beaten old Kobashi. But he fights back and chops the hell out of a once cocky Bockwinkel. Heenan distracts the ref and Bockwinkel kicks Kenta in the balls. Bock wins. Tenryu vs Steamboat is a thing of beauty. The audience cries in it’s glory. Steamboat wins from underneath. ——— Steamboat vs Bockwinkel ——— Scholars will write about this match. Two possible outcomes based on if this is the start of a promotion or just a yearly tournament: Yearly tournament? Steamboat wins clean and punches Heenan for trying to cheat. Start of a Promotion? Heenan calls out the Holy Demon Amy (Kawada & Taue) to beat up Stwamboat. RoadWarriors clear them out. Heenan is ejected! Steamboat is going to win! But wait, is that? Could it be? Nah, couldn’t? But it’s…it is…could it? A young Rocky Maivia interferes! Bockwinkel wins. Rocky changes his name to The Bock after his new mentor. The team of Nick Bockwinkel, The Bock, Bockiaki Kawada, & Bockira Taue managed by Bocky Heenan are named The Four Bockmen and for months they ravage through the Octopus Wrestling Alliance until they are challenged in a War Games. The Four Bockmen vs (Ricky Steamboat, Tugboat, A-Train, Hot Rod Rowdy Piper, and Northrop F-5 Brock Lesnar) Plane, Train, Automobile, and MOTHER FUCKING BOATS!!!

My big takeaway from this show is that for me, personally, Orange Cassidy's promo with QT was a million times more effective than MJF's epic "look at me cutting a heel promo here" heel promo. (Though, I do like that he set up possible programs with Kingston and Danielson - though, I will be bummed when he cheats to beat them). Same deal with him decking Regal. I do not dig fake injury angles. At all. And it makes Regal look like an idiot. But, at least it adds heat to the eventual Danielson match. Which will be great until the bummer ending. And speaking of long discursive workyshooty promos that are just not my cup of tea at all... Hey! It's Jade! Anyway, enough about the stuff that is not my cup of tea. Lotsa folks apparently love that stuff. Hope they enjoyed the heaping helping of it we got today. Sincerely. Joe vs AR is exactly the kind of thing I watch AEW to see. Established ex-indie greats vs up n comers. Or sub in a Japanese wrestler on either side of that equation. And obviously Bryan vs Dax. Good Lord! What a match. Why are they fighting? Because they are both great at fighting and they want to see who is better, because Dax wants to test himself, because Bryan doesn't back down from a challenge. More than good enough reason for me. Personally. Willow is why I watch AEW. Didn't have a clue she existed all that long ago. now I am delighted when she gets a win. I personally would like as much of that as possible. Certainly, we got a sufficient dose of it today. And Orange won promo of the night by a mile.

I'm ALMOST LATE! Had to watch VCU play Vanderbilt. So I was watching Dynamite on the TBS APP~! So I need to go back and watch the beginning of the Dax Harwood/ Dragon match. Dax Harwood is Danielson's Tomohiro Ishii! From what I saw! AR Fox gets to get crushed by Samoa Joe! I'm assuming that Wardlow injects himself in this. AR Fox is selling an assbeating well. Joe mangles him all during picture in picture. Fox makes a really great comeback! Joe CRUSHES Fox with a Muscle Buster. My wife has gone to bed so I can watch Danielson/Dax on the DVR! Oh good! MJF is going to yammer on so I should be able to CATCH UP! Is MOX not ever going on vacation? Hey! It's Regal! I thought he was going back to WWE and the arms of HHH?!? DAMN YOU, TWITTER! HANGMAN RETURNS! MOX WILL NEVER GET HIS VACATION! This is fun pull apart. DAX the AXE! The AMERICAN DRAGON! MJF is talking! I would fast forward through it but I have Dax/Dragon on the other screen. I fast forward through the Bloodline stuff too, so it isn't that I hate MJF or anything. I think Dragon saw Jericho last week and said, "I'd better step up my great match game." They kick each other in the face on a ropebreak and this match is officially awesome. They channel Jericho/Ishii by chopping the fudge out of each other. GREAT FUCKING TOPE by Dragon! Bryan Danielson IS Darby Allin! Suplex on the floor as we revel in picture in picture. (Meanwhile, MJF is speaking on the TBS APP~! feed. I'm sure the fine people on the Death Valley Driver Video Review Message Board will hip me if I need to go watch it.) Dax is beating the shit out of Dragon as we continue into the HEART of picture in picture! Released German Suplex by Dax! GREAT FUCKING PILEDRIVER by Dax! This is more complex of a match than Jericho/Ishii but just as hard edged. Man. this match is fucking GREAT, (MJF turns on Regal!) GREAT FUCKING SLINGSHOT LYGER BOMB! SHARPSHOOTER! Roll ups! Transition to the LaBelle Lock! Dax taps! Awesome! Chris Jericho- your move! That was fucking great. Regal is stretchered out! Bryan Danielson now has a reason to go after MJF! This is some fun stuff. Ricky Starks gets to follow that. Ethan Page cuts a PROMO on Ricky! Ricky makes quick work of Ari Daivari. Anna JAS! Willow Nightingale! Willow is OVER in Indianapolis! Anna JAS goes on offense as we FEAST on the picture in picture! (VCU BEATS VANDERBILT! RUNnnnn RUNnnnn RUNnnnn VCU!) Indianapolis is a great wrestling city. The bass player for Honor Roll used to cut Dick the Bruisers grass when he (Chip the bassplayer) was a kid. This was the best Anna JAS match so far! PUT THE BELT ON WILLOW! HOLY SHIT! RUBY SOHO! SHE has NEW HAIR! RUBY TAKES ON TAY! AWESOME! Awesome! Orange Cassidy versus QT! Jade Cargill is wearing tiny paunts! I was hoping Kris Statlander was going to show up. Instead. we got. Bow Wow. People in Indiana know the words to songs by Kansas! Death Triangle should come out to "Point of noooo RETURN! THE POINT OF NO RETUuuuRN!" I guess they are going ECW with tonight's match. I hope they fit a BattlARTS match in before they are done. They need to make it to the concession stand! Matt Missile Dropkicks the ref! All kindsa stuff happens! Rey Fenix is STILL a wuss when it comes to cheating! Death Triangle. GREAT fucking Stuff Piledriver by PENTA! AVALANCHE FALCON ARROW by PAC! We wallow in the awesomeness of picture in picture and we get a TAG to Rey Fenix! Omega becomes our tweener in peril! MORE ALL KINDSA STUFF HAPPENS! GREAT Brainbuster by PAC! Matt Jackson reverses SOMETHING to roll up PAC for the win! That was GREAT total TRAINWRECK! BattlARTS! BattlARTS! BattlARTS! AEW RULES THE WHOLE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD!

Passes the airport test.

Bad News Brown basically was Austin in 80's WWF. Bald, plain black trunked badass who didn't like the faces or the heels.

He also had a singles vs Cobb on Rampage to heat up Forbidden Door.

I’m surprised that an all time Battlebowl simulator doesn’t exist somewhere on the internet. Easy to create and awesome. Like give me Brian Blair and Otto Wanz vs Vordell Walker and Mr Pogo

But, butbut...that would take...perfection!

Hennig manages to spin anti-clockwise after getting hit in the left side of the face...try it at home.

Randy Savage becomes the biggest wrestling star of all time.

They probably would wait until she finishes high school but yea, Billie Starkz definitely deserves a closer look, even if it starts with some Dark matches or something.

Welcome back.

Pretty decent work tonight. Dax/Bryan was the banger of the night, and now I want Cash/Bryan. The trios match was good and I figured every one of these seven matches were going to be a little unique. The guy in the Dick the Bruiser shirt was clearly the man and probably stole that shitty Cornette sign from the first segment and threw it away.

Piledriver!

Here you go, mate:

He also had one vs Jeff Cobb E: Gotta get up pretty early to beat ol' Matty D

Yeah, he did let it expire, that was my bad. But it wasn’t to sign with AEW, he felt the presentation of his NXT character didn’t feel right. I listened to the podcast last night, it appears he was just in a shitty place mentally around that time but realized he wasn’t quite as bad as he thought once he committed himself. Said the places you check yourself into in Florida more resemble a prison, in his opinion. It’s an interesting listen. I didn’t know he was trained by Claudio, Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy.

https://twitter.com/AlGetzWrestling/status/1597975979221479425?t=0uwYlEwY1jcYXmOQDnTjbg&s=19 You can apparently draw your photo for your Tennessee wrestling license

I'm hoping the fact that only three matches are announced means Tony said 'Fuck it' and are letting Danielson and Dax do a Broadway.

I predict hard chops.

Theo's rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas is the best version. RIP. Theo was my inspiration to get into IT and cybersecurity. There, I said it. Between Theo, the crazy black scientist in the remake of The Blob, and Miles Bennett Dyson (the Cyberdyne Systems computer engineer that created Skynet), I am shocked that black people aren't forever banned from holding any jobs in the STEM fields.

I love how Eivion's post reads like a translation of DEAN's

Genuinely surprised that Ethan Page is going the mafia route. It makes this story somewhat interesting now. Gotta say I thoroughly enjoy watching Nicky Boy and all the wacky things he does ringside.

This fricking board and its relationship with Chrome.

I guess the NFL didn't want Russell Wilson getting assaulted by his team mid game when he goes 3 and out for the sixth consecutive time in primetime.

Stuff like this continues to highlight how unfortunate and unnecessary all of this was. Between talk like this and stories like the one ESPN put out about Punk running into Dax at a Starbucks and getting them booked for Dynamite later that night, it's clear he had a decent amount of say in who he did or didn't want to work with. Tony might have wanted to get to some marquee matches eventually, but with how deliberately many stars are kept apart on television that could have been way down the road if ever. People could have stayed in their own lanes and still had plenty of people to work with for years. Based on Stokely's wording, that's about as clearly as anyone's said "he's gone" yet. Everything sucks.