Go2Sleep

Agree all 10 guys brought it to offset the lackluster build. All of Swerve's stuff was executed well, especially the staple gun party. They went to great lengths to demonstrate Hangman is definitely not with the Elite. The Acclaimed ditched the comedy and upped the violence. Mark Briscoe despite not fitting into the story, showed that experience with this kind of stuff goes a long way and was the MVP of the match. The whole babyface team came out looking strong.

Roll them in with Stokeley and Stat, who's also a lifter. It would be a better version of Diamond Mine.

Love the idea, but I don't think you need Lashley for this. Hobbs/Wardlow doing this gimmick might just save both their AEW careers.

Something in Jay's lower body had to give carrying Billy's fail-sons for the past year.

Helluva autocorrect

I liked the feel of the E-Sports Arena, even if it looked small. An intimate studio with a good crowd is better than a 20% full basketball/hockey arena where you can't hear much. Really feel bad for Skye who was just getting back into the TV rounds after her story with Julia got scrapped. Her leg looked like it got tangled under her pretty bad. Hopefully youth and good flexibility will keep her from needing surgery. Hologram being someone completely fresh was a relief. Doesn't seem like a high-ceiling gimmick, but seems like a solid depth guy for AEW at least. BCG comes across as really low-rent without Jay White, although Juice plays well as a babyface. Definitely smart to flip the belts over to the Patriarchy and emphasize that feud for HOB headed to All In. I kinda feel like TK owes HOB one for jobbing them at their hottest last year for Acclaimed to get a "feel good" moment that never went anywhere.

It's probably better that the fact it was Sammy leaked a couple weeks ago so everyone could just shrug it off instead of building it up and having one singular moment of disappointment play out live. The door is mostly closed with Sammy. I suppose there is a small chance of something interesting coming from this Hologram thing, but it won't involve playing it straight.

I think Briscoe is more of the odd guy out than the Acclaimed. At least they have a pre-existing feud with the Elite and are Day 1 guys which makes them stepping up to defend the honor of Tony Khan a little more believable. I guess Kenny's not ready yet, so someone has to fill in, but this is where you just call up an "ol' reliable" like Mox or Danielson. I also kind of agree that the build up is an afterthought. Very WWE-like "well this match happens at this time of year, so here it is." I kinda get the feeling it was supposed to be Kenny in there with the match being for all the EVP power, but he's not ready and so they're kicking the can down the road. MJF/Ospreay was pretty cool because they filled 59 minutes well while still making it seem like they have even more available for a re-match. The diving hidden blade spot was top notch, and the false draw finish was a great play too.

Everything about it seems like it's non-title, but cutting Swerve's legs off like that would be one of the worst things in AEW history and is completely antithetical to them as a company. Also, while Okada's reputation precedes him, he isn't exactly positioned as a top guy in AEW right now. If Swerve loses, it'll be with lots of Elite interference to set up B&G. And I'll go further with the hot take that the Danielson/Okada matches have been good, but they haven't been that good. I expect Swerve can have an equally fine and much fresher match with Danielson that will benefit him and AEW a lot more in the long run. For Swerve, the big accomplishment isn't the match itself, it's the fans seeing that a billionaire promoter believes in him as a guy that deserves to headline their biggest show. Without that, he'll always be second tier, and he deserves way better.

Very happy with this show as Chapter 2 on the road to All In. I'm glad Danielson won the men's tourney. Swerve and Hangman need a lot of time apart, although I'm ok with them being the focal point of B&G. I think there's a lot more interesting stuff to do with deranged Hangman coming to his senses (ideally with the assistance of Kenny Omega) than just trying to re-capture the lightning in the bottle they got with Swerve in the Texas Death Match. As for Bryan, he absolutely deserves one last mega-show main. The Jericho/Joe stuff was kind of silly, but the good kind of pro wrestling silly. Jericho's group has to get a little heat for the gimmick to work. That 4-way was surprisingly good. Expected it to be more filler-y, but they all went pretty hard down the stretch. Pac vs. Ospreay isn't a direction I was expecting, but it's not a bad overachieving midcard match to hide Will in if he's not going to be the focal point of the show. I'm sure both guys consider it a high honor and the fans will eat it up, but shouldn't drain the heat out of everything else. Guess they're just gonna do MJF/Garcia straight away, even though that seemed like a big angle match that could've waited for All Out. Good to see the women get the main, and Mariah 100% justified it with that closing angle. I said a while ago the best way for this angle to play out would be to have Mariah go the Mark Chapman/Yolanda Saldivar route. Toni has made the gimmick so big, that a psychotic superfan is really the only way to undo it. It'll be interesting to see how it plays in London, but I trust they'll make it work. Next week's show is just stupid in a good way. Ospreay/MJF and Swerve/Okada on free TV? Even with some expected bullshit in both matches, that's pretty crazy.

Who was that video teaser for before the women's match?

I think he's actually got potential as a future guy. He's young, got good size, can keep up with the main event style, and hanging out with Ospreay will hopefully enhance his charisma (which I think is there, but not showing currently as a Callis goon). I can imagine him as an AEW main eventer in few years easier than like Hook. The trios division is fine. When Buddy gets back from his honeymoon, HOB have feuds lined up with the Patriarchy and BCG, who are feuding with each other in the mean time. Jericho and Joe's competing educational institutions have a strong non-title feud and either group could be easily moved into the title scene when that's done. You still have Death Triangle and Top Flight floating around. I do agree that the tag division is lost right now, though, especially since FTR went down. Seems like they can only do one at a time. MCMG were rumored/seem like an ideal fit, but I don't think that was ever confirmed.

I like the alliance of Briscoe and KOR, but I don't like them being positioned as possible guys for Blood and Guts. There's just no natural heat with the Elite, no original-ness, and to be frank, no star power. The Elite already beat the FTR/Darby/Danielson team at Anarchy in the Arena, so you need better team than that for Blood and Guts, and Briscoe/KOR just don't fit the bill right now. The Acclaimed are at least originals and could use a rub like this to stay relevant, but the other 3 guys need to have some real firepower. Swerve is obvious, and Kenny should definitely be there if he's healthy. I could see a case for the 5th being Ricochet, Darby, or Hangman, but I'd pick Darby. He's a natural babyface who can sell choosing his loyalty to AEW over his feelings about Swerve, which highlights Hangman's personal failings for making the opposite choice and joining up with the Elite. Ricochet would have the instant gratification pop, but lacks the long-term story beats imo.

Very heel heavy show, but it was a good one. Britt/Mercedes segment was good stuff. Mercedes getting a little heat rub from the Bucks, then going out there and big-timing the AEW original to massive heat. The facial expressions from both women as the crowd chanted DMD (pure disgust from Mercedes, and a nearly tearful appreciative smile from Britt) literally made the whole feud. Jarrett, that sly old dog, just pulled out one of the better TV matches this year. I think Dustin has been trying to get that "one last shot" type of match for like 3 years straight to mediocre results, and Jeff put on a master class. Hangman was great here too, don't get me wrong. Both guys deserve credit for shaking off the "welcome back" pop for Hangman quickly and getting the crowd to pop big for a couple babyface Jarrett spots. The desperation Stroke on the apron, and ducking the first buckshot into the sharpshooter were both excellent spots. Goes to show you can get a great story out of a match with minimal build. The Learning Tree group finally got one over on Joe's School of Hard Knocks. It lacks the right irony level for the "Jericho vortex" meme, but match-wise, there's still some juice there. Main event was solid, and MJF heel turn was well done. Now that Ospreay is there to carry the top babyface mantle, MJF can go back to his natural habitat, though I think his face work was underrated. Garcia is finally breaking through with this angle, but I hope they run MJF/Ospreay with a completely over-the-top face/heel dynamic at Wembley.

For as much as AEW loves tournaments, they should do a U25 one. Mainly because I'm interested to see Hook pair off with Nick Wayne.