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I’m not sure why anyone would think Kenny and Callis had a convoluted “plan” to fake being concussed. You’re being willfully obtuse if you’re putting that theory forward. Kenny continued to sell that he was recovering from being knocked loopy well after he hit Moxley with the microphone, when it would have had no benefit to him to continue to fake it. It’s not like he suddenly popped up, no selling the head drop, with an evil gleam in his eye. The simpler and far more logical explanation is that Kenny and Callis expected to win straight up, but when Kenny got KO’d, Callis interjected himself to save his meal ticket, and Kenny, being the sleazy, disingenuous bastard that he is, took the easy way out when the opportunity presented itself.

Schiavone screaming IT'S STINNNGG was one of the best moments of 2020 fuck it ? Kenny and Don screwing over AEW and bringing the title to iMPACT is like if WWE would have actually done the Summer of Punk correctly. Great angle.

Random-ass thoughts as usual... It's awesome that Kenny won and I'm looking forward to what's next. I actually set my DVR to record Impact, so mission accomplished there. Really good match and I loved Kenny's match ending barrage of knees. Bad ass. The battle royale was inoffensive fun. I liked the continued teasing of Wardlow/MJF splitting up. I didn't like the typical lazy battle royale booking of one guy secretly going out and coming back at the end. That's kind of played out. Man, imagine if Cody had been the face in peril and allowed Darby to get the hot tag and run wild. That would have been some star-making shit right there. Instead, we got what we got, and even got Cody entering last again. Good to see he's made the new champ his lil' buddy. This is some Macho Man wearing red and yellow at Summerslam 88, put the other guy in his place type shit. For all the fond looking back we do about Dusty, that dude really knew how to get other babyfaces under and he sure passed that on. I did like Hobbs and Starks constantly taking breaks go give Cody the finger or give him the "up yours" sign. Like so many others here, it did my heart good to hear Tony yell "IT'S STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!!" like 20+ years haven't gone by. Sting should mentor Darby in storyline and tell him to stop trusting any of these dudes. Or maybe in real life, too. Jericho's belt finally tapping out was so hilarious I had to log right on and post about it last night. Layla Hirsh's nickname, "Legit," is very apt. Do not put her on Team Tazz. Let her be in the upper echelon of faces in the women's division She's got something. I did spend a good deal of the match honestly trying to figure out if she's a little person, though. She has that thing that John Silver and C**** B***** have/had where they're short already, and being muscular makes them look shorter. The Acclaimed guy yelling WOOOOORLDSTAAAAAAR was fucking tremendous. I never thought their book cover looked like they were peering at each other's dicks, but I do think it looks like a romance novel. If calling moves, and the history of these workers, is still important, then we NEED Excalibur. He called the Flux Capacitor and Croyt's Wrath and my indie-loving heart was warmed. Speaking of Kazarian, how old does it make you feel that we've lived through the full careers of two young guys whose nicknames were "The Future" (Kazarian and Sabin)? Is it too early for the Inner Circle Ultimatum/teased breakup? Or maybe they'll do something really creative. AEW hasn't exposed their refs to horribly in awhile, so I guess we're due. Aubrey had to stand there and watch Hager try to clothesline Kaz not once but twice, then grab his leg in full view, and then didn't kick him out. So stupid. I LOVED Shida being all Shaggy and Scooby over Abadon. And playing Sid to Marvez's Mean Gene. "Can we do that over?" "We're live, pal!" I don't know, big picture, what this means for her as a babyface and a champ, but I really liked it as a quick, self-contained thing. THE VARSITY BLONDES. Nice. Are we heading no a "every non-WWE promotion that has TV" shared universe? I don't hate it.

What I love most about the plan is the logic and simplicity. First: Omega has to take Moxley's finish on the floor. This is so Omega can pretend to be crippled. If he actually does get knocked out, the plan fails. Second: The referee has to step in immediately and keep Moxley from just throwing Kenny back in the ring and just pinning him. If the referee doesn't do that, the plan fails. Third: If the referee stops the match because Kenny can't continue, the plan fails. Fourth: Mox goes through the referees to get to Omega and toss him in the ring. If the referees disqualify Moxley for shoving officials, the plan fails. Fifth: Callis goes down to the ring to say Kenny is hurt. Mox shoves Callis allowing the microphone to get to Kenny and the referee to pay attention to Callis. If Moxley doesn't push Callis, the plan fails. Sixth: Kenny hits Mox with the microphone. If the referee hears the impact (har, har) of the microphone BECAUSE ITS A LIVE MICROPHONE, the plan fails. To be fair, all AEW officials are legally blind and deaf so this one is easier to accept. This is some Machiavellian shit. Success! BONUS Seventh: Kenny and Don run from the ring from nobody. As they get in the car, Alex Marvez jumps out of nowhere to ask what the deal is so Callis can plug Impact. If Marvez isn't standing by the car for no reason, there's no way anyone would know to turn in Tuesday for Impact. Isn't Dark on Tuesdays?

That's AEW's Music guy, if you didn't know.

Fuck all the hate, I love Shida selling fear for Abadon. Nobody likes invincible Cena Superman babyface in 2020. She'll be fine after she beats Abadon in a few weeks.

I also like that they put Callis on commentary for the PPV match a few weeks before this, to ensure that you didn’t pick up the scent tonight. The little things.

I love this potential AEW / Impact working relationship. I'm always skeptical of how invasions get booked so I'll tread lightly on this specific story, but as a talent exchange, Impact could use support from AEW's abundance of tag teams and hosses, while AEW could REALLY use the help of Impact's women. So are we on our way to AEW as basically WCW/NWO: World Tour, with AEW, Impact, NWA and NJPW as factions on the player select screen or what. I'm totally down with this so long as someone is Powder Keg or Saladin.

Tony completely marking out over Sting put the biggest shit eating grin on my face. That was so, so good. Maybe my favorite thing all year.

Oh man I forgot to mention the finish. Cody tags in, fucks EVERYBODY up, then Darby gets to tag in and pin the guy whose ass Cody kicked. NO doubt in anyone's minds who the star and bad ass is. We're about a month away from every babyface having to mention Cody on their promos, aren't we? Was there any mention or reference to Pat Patterson last night, outside of Mox saying the match would be "banana?"

Would be weird considering that NJPW push into USA started before Meij was hired. I think the angle at the end really pushed this from OK to GREAT, but more you think about it weirder it gets. I think one of the problems that AEW currently has is that they don't have enough time for everyone they already have signed. Sure, technically AEW could use Impact's women, but who are they going to sideline from their side for it? And then there is a headache of who goes over who. And once you are done do you sign Impact's wrestlers that you liked? Fire your own that got sidelined during this crossover? Ideally I hope it doesn't result in full out war and they stick on "Omega is working for another promotion" point, maybe add one or two Impact loyalists like Moose to the story so that it feels a bit bigger and provides some back up for Omega. It shouldn't turn into AEW vs Impact, but stay as AEW vs Omega. Promotions from time to time tend to do big heel storylines about how some wrestler is getting out of control and wants to destroy/take over/whatever the promotion, but it always feels fake-ish because you know that the wrestler is still signed to the company so there is no real gravity to the situation. Impact being a real thing does, in my opinion, bring some credibility to this storyline.

AEW has done this a few times but I'm still buzzing 90 minutes later. It's reminiscent of watching peak Austin-era Raw or Sting/nWo-era WCW as a kid. I love this shit even if I don't agree with everything. They just gave me AEW World Champion Kenny Omega (oh nooo! ?... ?) and Stang in the same fucking episode.

I love how much storylines that battle royale featured. From reminding everyone what a beast Miro can be, to Sabian/Miro vs. Best Friends, Spears getting revenge on Sydal for beeing eliminated the last time and his feud with Scorpio Sky, MJF vs. Guevara, MJF vs. Wardlow, a short throwback to MJF vs. Jungle Boy, Hangman maybe joining the Dark Order and Matt Hardy slowly turning heel on Private Party. Okay, one could argue that Matt Hardy turned mega-heel by eliminating John Silver and Hangman Page. Debut of Sting was cool. Watching WCW in the late 90s as a little kid made me a wrestling fan, mainly because of Sting and DDP fighting the nWo. I'm not really sure what value Sting can bring to the weekly product. He's obviously there to elevate Darby. My first thought was something like Pentagon-Vampiro from Lucha Underground but I don't think Sting has a match left in him, so, who knows. But even if he's just there to talk a little about Darby and dissapears again, maybe some new (old) people tune in and maybe that's all he needs to do. Shida sighting! This booking... now she's scared of a cosplayer and doesn't know that she's on live tv. Great to make you're champion look strong. Admittedly, she's booked strong in her matches, no complaint there, but her booking outside of the ring is just baffling. Also: BJ Whitmer sighting. Yeah. Now please get Jimmy Rave (fuck the U.S. health system) and Jimmy Jacobs (I know he's with Impact, but still) so my nostalgic ROH-heart can glow everytime I see one of them. And: I love how AEW admits beeing part of a larger wrestling world. JR or Tony always namedrop some wrestling trivia from the past, NJPW is mentioned weekly by now, NWA is cross-promoted and now Impact is part of the biggest cross-promoting angle in the US since forever.

Let it go.

That shit was smooth as hell! And also, I'm really, really hoping we get playable/young versions of Jake, Arn, Tully, DDP, Taz etc.

You think we get old and young Sting in the video game? Can we plz get the Revenge animation for the death drop?

Wherever it is, leave them there.

I haven't legit felt that kind of enthusiasm and excitement watching something in a long while. The whole show was good, but man when the lights went out and in that video you saw the crow I was like "no, it can't be". If AEW can keep doing moment's like that, the sky is the limit. Mox vs. Omega was a good match. I liked the ending with Kenny faking an injury and Don Callis trying to stop the match only for the old switcheroo. It's 2020 and we might be getting territories back. This is genuinely exciting. It's been a while since I've said I have to tune into Impact to see what's going on.

@Andy in Kansashad the partial quote. But the full quote explains it more. Tony said he's never seen the show but it's one of his mom's favorites. And he went to Warner Media to ask for permission to use the name since they own the IP through HBO. So it actually was specifically based on GOT, and they got the proper permission to use it. Which already puts Kahn in the top 5% of the most intelligent promoters, since the other 95% would just use the name without getting the actual legal rights to do so lol.

What a damn fantastic episode that was. The battle royal was well-done and I thought the main event was great. Callis breaking down what's going on on commentary made me miss when he would play it straight. And I liked the fuck finish as while it did shit on AEW it made the upcoming Impact a must-watch. I don't have Axs but I'll be checking out their Twitch stream for the first time (normally wait until it's on the Impact app days later) And watching it again it's still hard not to get a bit emotional seeing Sting coming out and Tony losing his mind. You're damn right it felt great and it was like we traveled back to WCW when Tony cared about what he was doing. It's also crazy to think about how WCW crushed his enthusiasm for wrestling but since his podcast and especially AEW he's so in love with it all again. It's just so heartwarming to see and I just adore the guy for it.

Khan gets bully psychology. One big guy can take down one little guy, but not ten little guys. The strength of AEW is that it acknowledges the outside world and cheerfully namedrops other organizations because hey, they might be interested in working with you.

The Living Legend & The Great One Roberto Clemente.

Wrestling has more than one universe.

Tony Schiavone screaming “it’s Stttiiiiiiinnnnnnggg” on a TNT Broadcast just made me cry a little with happiness. 2020 is one wacky year.

This Relationship gets us one step closer to the dream tag team of Leyla Hirsch & Killer Kelly.

https://whatculture.com/wwe/the-bizarre-tale-of-the-misfits-in-wcw-2

Thanks for that Gedo. NJPW honoured their relationship with ROH. Past that it’s been pretty well established that Meij didn’t want to do business with other groups. He’s gone now, the door is wide open. Once world travel begins again you can guarantee Gallows and Anderson, FTR, Omega etc will be taking dates in Japan. I guess Omega just happened to do Okada’s routine tonight? He doesn’t do anything by accident.

Oh shit they could create the Austin vs Alliance moment shot for shot with Hangman. That needs a 100% live crowd, but yeah that’d be the crowning

Team Natural's My Favourite Poster. I hope you reconsider the necessity of this post.

You are saying that like I have not already thought extensively about it. Anyway: Yes.

My kid is tall for her age, granted, but it’s crazy to think that Hirsh is only 10-11 inches taller than my 5 year old daughter.

http://youtu.be/TfObFdpnv3Q Randomly watched this video just now and lol that the Revenge Scorpion Death Drop animation seems to have been based on this Sting sneak attack on Bischoff, right down to Bischoff trying to tap out before he hits it

Ew! That's such a great heel move to come out with the pretty girls dancing for you. Man, we have very different tastes in wrestling and high key that is perfectly fine. low key tho:

Sounds like a job for Cody and Brandi Rhodes.

Wardlow with a moment of gold on the AEW podcast this week. He is discussing possibly getting into MMA and Tony asks “have you ever talked to Swagger about MMA?” Wardlow “no. Me and Jack do not speak much.” “I don’t even know why we hate each other, we just do” Blur the lines brother!

Yokozuna is going to join the Hart Foundation any day now.

Tony losing his mind on Sting was so great that it seems like we completely missed that Tony was yelling BULLSHIT as Callis and Omega are running out of the building.

I am all about philosophical razors and usually think that the simplest explanation is the best. I cannot blame Kenny Omega for smashing Mox with the microphone. He beat the guy that took a low bridge to beat MJF.... Mox also jumped Omega twice before this championship match. If Mox had the mic, you can best believe it would've been Kenny that got busted open. Pot Kettle Black. As a Pittsburg Steelers fan, I cannot love Britt Baker more for having the Steelers logo on her ring attire.

Didn't Shaq just kinda abandon plans to work for WWE two or three different times? If that thing is over, my money is on Shaq backing out. This is Sting!!! I've said for a long time Darby reminds me of young Sting crossed with Jeff Hardy (others have often said the same) so I hope they find something interesting with the two of them together. Kenny and Mox was good. The tope sucidia into the V-Trigger was so perfectly timed they managed to air three replays from different angles and not expose it at all. I'm hyped to see where things go with Kenny/Callis/Impact/whatever. And it feels like it's time for Kenny to have the belt and sink or swim as THE top guy.

A few negatives: - they are overdoing having managers/seconds/factions at ringside and doing distractions. It's veering into NJPW Bullet Club territory. Obviously, the whole faction thing is modeled from NJPW but they are leaning into the worst booking instincts with it. - the Inner Circle stuff is a little tiring. We went from wacky skits to now dissension. I mean, I guess it's logical but everything with Jericho has just been a little too much of WWE-lite. The good: - Sting showing up was awesome, if only for the TNT and Tony Schiavone nostalgia. What is so funny about Sting is for a guy that doesn't feel over-exposed, he's never really gone away either. He's probably been on TV more than any other legend aside from maybe Flair in the last twenty years but he still feels like he brings value in the way that other legends don't. He's also an example of one of the great axioms in wrestling that masked wrestlers and painted wrestlers never really look old in the way that other guys will. Everyone understands this except WWE. - I was thinking that Callis showing up meant that Impact was going to get some benefit of cross-promotion. I was thinking like "maybe Private Party goes to Impact for a short-run with the tag titles" or "Ricky Starks does some angles." Didn't think that it would be this high-profile. There's some downsides. Impact is such a toxic joke brand (historically) that even though it's a perfectly fine glorified indie now will this lessen AEW by proxy? The upside is Callis is a great performer and him as Paul Heyman managing Omega is a solid act. This is also a big, bold angle in a way that you don't see much in wrestling anymore. It's Omega not only as a heel but as a guy who has turned his back on AEW and, by default, the entire Elite. This is a big, big heel turn and if it leads to Hangman as the AEW savior that's really good storytelling. Obviously, Impact has little to offer except a good women's division and I guess maybe Anderson and Gallows coming in to do a Bullet Club explosion with the Bucks? Also, they way the company is splitting the shows every week is so interesting. There's almost an A squad and a B squad and then a few guys who show up weekly no matter what. No one feels over-exposed yet except maybe Jericho.

I hope this isn’t a full-blown invasion angle. A little bleed over between rosters is fine (clearly it was an Impact guy that attacked Moxley and that score will need to be settled), but brand war really only helps Impact and drags perception of AEW down to their level. Great show!

I would rather see Contra Unit. I mean sure Simon Gotch sucks ass but imagine Jacob Fatu in AEW

Also, the Gunn Club staying at ringside and yelling shit without actually getting involved while the Rhodeses get beaten up make them even bigger losers than I thought.

Not going to lie, Tony's "IT'S STIIIIIIIING" brought a tear to my eye. Main event fucking ruled and was legit surprising.

WCW