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Christian needs to use the 90210 theme song as his theme music.

So they canned Dewey?

THURSDAY REFLECTIONS: They REALLY need to keep United Empire around after the PPV. ALL of them are superstars. Well, Great O'Khan is amusing on twitter, and the REST are superstars. Once again, on rewatching, Trent Barretta is our secret all star. This match is very old school, psychologically. They put some SHINE~! on the faces with the goofy Orange Cassidy stuff and then the heels beat a mountain of heat on the babyfaces, here with Will Ospreay beating the fudge out of our all star Trent Barretta, who sells an assbeating like a champ on the INTERNATIONAL FEED! Orange Cassidy is a fucking great Robert Gibson- a fact I learned seeing him live against Butcher and the Blade, tagging with Tomohiro Ishii, and the INTERNATIONAL FEED builds up to his hot tag that you don't get that when you watch the TV feed like a JERK!, LIKE A RUBE! Then they preview the Ospreay versus Cassidy match and it looks like Ospreay will be able to make Cassidy look like a killer in their singles match. Trent Barretta hits a great Backdrop Driver and also kills Ospreay with a Lariat in this match- sandwiched between a million other moves Will Ospreay IS Shawn Michaels, in that he is a generational in ring worker, but I get the feeling he doesn't have a beef putting over other wrestlers or making them look good, so he's not like Shawn Michaels. AEW needs to latch on to him. And Aussie Open needs to work towards FTR, maybe at the next ROH PPV. They are also fucking awesome. Christian Cage is even better the second time around- as he assumes the role of an angry step father. He even alludes to it as he refuses to assume his fathering responsibility. That is fucking great. But then he assumes the role of Jungle Boy's father as he expresses his disappointment that JB isn't MAN enough to get up and fight after he was attacked. Christian IS the Great Santini! This is great. HEY! Kyle O'Riley isn't on the PPV! HEY! KOR would be a GREAT addition to the BCC! HEY! KOR versus Zack Sabre Jr would fucking RULE. HEY! Fuck Claudio, Kyle O'Riley is the Danielson replacement! YAAAY! And Adam Cole is going to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by lowblowing Hangman Adam Page and lowering THE BOOM! THAT WOULD RULE! AEW IS IMPACT! I still don't understand why Andrade, PENTA and Rey Fenix couldn't be on the PPV. Meltzer refuses to give a straight answer so I don't think even he fully understands. While you were watching picture in picture, like an IDIOT, we who have access to the INTERNATIONAL FEED got to hear Tony Schiavonne get really weird and slightly creepy talking about Malakai Black's long, muscular legs. The match itself was a clinic by PENTA on how to get the crowd behind you while selling an injury. He gets over the lingering effects of his back injury in that he would have won because his offense is so overpowering but he can't follow up because his back is all fucked up. The Avalanche Fear Factor is a great example. He sells his back long enough to make Black making the ropes on the two count make sense. PENTA is fucking awesome. Here, on Dark, anywhere. Yeah, I think this all points towards PAC versus Malakai Black. It's your next IWGP CHAMPION! ADAM COLE! INOKI! HASHIMOTO! KEIJI MUTO! ADAM COLE, BAY BAY! Adam Page is like PENTA, he has to have a compelling match against whoever he wrestles. I mean, I love Silas Young as much as the next ROH viewing, but he was the what? TENTH best guy on their roster? I mean if this was Josh Woods, it would make sense that Hangman would give him this much. I mean, I love Hangman Adam Page and his need to make every match clear the bar to being a great match. He is like Ric Flair like that. And it is on the big show. If this was on Dark, this would be more like Flair versus Brad Armstrong on Worldwide. Actually, this is a lot like Flair versus Brad Armstrong on Worldwide if I remember correctly. That being said, I await the epic Silas Young/Konosuke Takeshita match on the next ROH PPV. OKADA! OKADA! OKADA! The big question is how will he distract the ref driving Jay White to the floor to let Adam Cole lowblow Hangman Page to lower the BOOM! to WIN THE IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE! ADAM COLE ADAM COLE! THEN BRITT BAKER ATTACKS THUNDER ROSA and TONI STORM! THey ECW-like morph it into a three way and REBEL HITS TONI STORM WITH BRASS KNUCKLES AND BAKER WINS THE AEW WOMEN'S TITLE AND DMD AND ADAM COLE HAVE DOUBLE BELTS! AWESOME! Oh wait, lost my mind for a minute. I love the look on Okada's face when he and Hangman first look at each other, He is quizzical and curious. Okada is so awesome. I assume that Trish Adora is the new Baddie. The outside candidate is the TURNING EVIl Willow Nightengale! That would rule too. The Baddie spot is great in that it milks off the overness of Jade Cargill and you get Stokely Hathaway to talk for you. Who said the start of Shafir and Storm was BAttlARTSian, because it was, but Toni Storm is like Carl Greca in that she uses European matwork to counter the straight shootstyle of Mrs Roderick Strong. Nyla's senton looked fucking GNARLEY. Shafir looks fucking great in the Big INTERNATIONAL FEED picture, because Storm knows how to take her offense and make her look good. Toni Storm is the Meiko Satomura of the AEW Women's division. Just a complete wrestler who can make anyone look good, as this match being the example as this is the best Shafir match I've ever seen- and I've seen a couple good ones (mostly in strange places, like in Championship Wrestling from Hollywood/Atlanta.) The finish is a roll-up so Shafir can beat on Storm postmatch and Nyla is our secret all star being a menace on the floor and attacking Storm postmatch. Storm versus Nyla will be good. I think they should just have Storm wrestle the other person who attacks her postmatch until eventually Kris Statlander attacks Storm after Storm pins Skye Blue. Let me reveal a secret. I never was very big on Tanahashi. I hate the Slingblade when he does it. He doesn't lay it in. I do see the rube appeal of him though and I can see how he got so over. He is the John Cena of New Japan Pro Wrestling. He has so much charisma one can overlook his averageness in the ring. I am sure Jon Moxley will pull a good match out of him because Jon Moxley will wrestle for 8 in that match. Jericho should have put Tanahashi over in this match if they really wanted to heat up the PPV match. Jericho does work his ass off in this match. Sammy Guevara looks so right being a little jerky heel being sneaky and hateful at ringside, with his redneck girlfriend smoking cigarettes and drinking wine coolers right next to him. Put the fucking belt on her! While you were watching picture in picture, we few got to hear Jim Ross notice that Lord Regal has very beautiful hair. Regal, is it JR or is it TAZZ? WHO DO YOU LOVE? Jericho is 51 years old and can still go. I guess WWE HOUSE STYLE~! saved his body. I'm guessing if he had gone the ROH route, he would be total physical wreck like those guys are. Or if he would have gone to New Japan he would be a physical wreck like Tanahashi. Jericho was the glue that kept that match together. Lance Archer kind of sat out the match except to take the pin. I just noticed that Sammy's coat says SELF LOVE across the back. What a great fucking heel! The all stars of the post match melee are Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia. Minoru Suzuki is so fucking great revelling in the chaos. Garcia going after Eddie Kingston is a match up that will endure forever. AEW RULES! ADAM COLE IS INEVITABLE!

Capital-W wholesome.

I love how Jay White annunciates the word "catalyst" in his promos as if he expects everyone in the crowd to know what a catalyst does. JAY WHITE, THE CATTLE LIST OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING~!

Timothy Thatcher and Biff Busick would both work if it isn’t Claudio, maybe Gresham although that would be a let down

I know this story ends with Jungle beating Christian but, man, if it were me it would be a long chase for that W. Give Christian the first match and make Jungle go on a long journey and show true growth to get to Christian's level. Let Christian ride this wave and give him some real juice before he puts over Jungle. That was tremendous even if he slipped a bit in the setup to the dad line. Heel Christian is god tier.

If Sonny Kiss isn't a baddie then what the fuck are we even doing?

Rementioning Sonny Kiss as I want to will it into existence, but I guess they need someone who normally fights women for the proposed 3 on 3. Although Kiss vs Statlander is a match I never knew I wanted until just now.

A Jack Tunney type figurehead as a person who relays decisions made by the "Board of Directors" or "The Championship Committee" is fine; just a guy who smooths out little booking gaps and makes things make sense. Authority figures suck when they become a lazy booking crutch. If wrestling never has another heel authority figure again, it'll be too soon.

I am Jay White and I. AM. THE. CATALYTIC. CONVERTER!

The IWGP 4 way situation is one of those rare occasions where it really would’ve been helpful for AEW to have some kind of authority figure who could walk out on stage and say, “I just spoke with President Ohbari, Jay, and he said that at Forbidden Door you’ll be defending your title against ALL THREE OF THESE MEN,” as opposed to just dropping it in a graphic like two segments later with no explanation.

I will not be disappointed if it's Claudio. (I will be bummed out if it's Gargano but I have friends who will be thrilled. And also internet friends who will be way more bummed than me). I kind of suspect they'd have given us a name, though, if it was one of them. I go into it more in the Forbidden thread, but I hope it's someone unexpected but good enough to win the crowd over by the end of the match and make sense in BCC with Regal influencing their style. Honestly, I hope it's Nick Wayne. I LOVED how happy Bryan seemed to be, just saying "pro wrestling" again and again. For me personally, ZSJ coming out on with the Lion Mark behind him, on Dynamite, was pure uncut mark out material. If AEW's primary goal today was "make Gordlow as happy as possible" then they completely succeeded. (that was probably not among their actual goals). Okada showing up, Suzuki showing up, Darby just casually tossing out "Shingo and Hiromu" like it's no big deal. I don't think my (beautiful and talented) daughters, who are 10 and 7 years old, were this excited at Christmas. Full heel Christian is more fun than good guy Christian. Bad Dinosaur Man will likely be fun, too. Jungle Bloke's Amazing Journey has the potential to be genuinely great, like the long Hangman arc. The little kid screaming STFU was truly delightful. I asked for Deeb and Mercedes at the top of this thread, and we are getting it on Wednesday. You are welcome. Or possibly thank you. Depending on who is reading this. Malakai vs PAC vs Ishii vs MIRO should be unsane, as well. Likewise Matt, Nick, Hiromu, Phantasmo, and Darby all in the same match. trying to top one another. With Shingo. And Sting. And Hikuleo to base for them. The actual wrestling was fun, too! In particular how Fletcher just died from the Orange Punch. And the Ass Attack. Good Lord! We are getting Cobb vs Cash! I was so happy to be able to sing along with Malakai's theme again!!

I'll be honest. I have like little to no interest in Forbidden Door. All the stars that I would've wanted to pay to see on the PPV have already been featured on Dynamite and/or Rampage. The card looks really bizarre and it's kinda like they threw darts to see what would stick, especially for those multi-man tag matches. That's not to say it's not going to be a great show, it probably will be, but I'm more interested in Blood & Guts and getting back to some sense of normalcy post-PPV. I think the main reason this show feels very lackluster to me is that they're working off the assumption that everyone knows who these New Japan people are. I only know people like Ospreay, Ishii, Suzuki, Okada and Tanahashi because I've either heard their names before or have seen them in places stateside like ROH, AEW, Impact, etc. They (being AEW) could've done a better job at introducing the wrestlers who haven't been shown on their TV before with video packages, highlights, etc to hype them up and get the casual fan more excited. As far as who the mystery person will be facing Zack Sabre Jr, the most likely bet is Claudio/Cesaro. Although, I wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Chris Hero pop up too. Gresham would be an interesting choice too, especially if they're working towards an ROH relaunch and the ROH champ beating one of the top technical wrestlers in the New Japan (as ZSJ is touted to be) would be a very interesting thing to help catapult towards that and the rumored next ROH PPV (which could be sometime in July I've heard).

I had the complete opposite reaction to this. Great characters have layers, and I like how that scene painted a picture of Mox being so laser-focused on winning the AEW title that he was able to resist joining in on the brawl. Really sold how important the title and the match with Tana is to him.

Sorry I'm late. Went with the family to the Galaxy Diner to celebrate my son's 20th birthday. HE'S 20! It was great fun. I had a falafel burger with RANCH! That's right- RANCH! Bryan Danielson comes out and.... Danielson isn't going to compete. That ain't no good. His replacement? I'm guessing Claudio. ZACK SABRE JR! I was digging the idea of KOR vs ZSJ but we'll see what's what Sunday. Orange Cassidy, Trent Barretta and Rocky Romero take on Will Ospreay and Aussie Open! I guess I need to learn Aussie Open's names. Mark Davis is the powerhouse. United Empire catches the Chaos/Best Friends contingent and slams all three against the apron! Will Ospreay hits a cool spinning backbreaker in picture in picture. Ah, Kyle Fletcher is the speedy guy. Aussie Open make Orange Cassidy look like 3 million bucks. Ospreay joins in by making Trent look like 2 million bucks. Ospreay then makes Cassidy look like 3 million bucks. So the United Empire are just motherfucking great. Aussie Open just fucking CRUSH Romero with a very elaborate Snap Powerbomb. This match is motherfucking GREAT. So much stuff happens, it's like Young Bucks match. United Empire can just flat out GO. It's like the Thunderqueen Battle between AJW and JPW in microcosm. Heel Christian is the Best Possible Christian. Children are chanting "Shut the fuck up!" Ah, stay classy Milwaukee. Christian Cage is the new MJF! AWESOME! I await Christian versus Jungle Boy now. That was fucking great. So the Young Bucks are in a 8 man against... Sting, Darby, Hook and Danhausen? And who else? PENTA hits a fucking AWESOME Tope Con Hilo! But hurts his back! Malakai Black targets the back thusly! He works the back during picture in picture. Man, I can;t wait to watch this match on the INTERNATIONAL FEED because it looks awesome in the tiny screen. PENTA is great at telling a story and the story he tells here is that his back hurts a lot. Malakai Black can't put him away until he does. TOPROPE FEAR FACTOR! PENTA selling the back is such good psychology. PENTA is fucking awesome. Oh man, I wanna see PAC versus Malakai Black. That match was great. Adam Cole! Silas Young? Sure! Why not! HAngman Adan Page wrestles Silas Young and the Milwaukee crowd is into it. Maybe Milwaukee is the greatest wrestling crowd on earth. Adam Cole is great putting over Silas Young. They kill time during the picture in picture. Silas Young looks great in this match. I assume ROH TV is coming up pretty soon. I await Fred Yehi to show up. I await seeing this match on the INTERNATIONAL FEED too. This match was great too. What a night of wrestling. HOLY FUCK! KAZUCHIKA OKADA! I don't quite understand what match this makes but OKADA! Marina Shafir! Hey, she's with Nyla! Toni Storm goes all World of Sport before laying it in. Nyla sentons Storm on the floor! And they go to picture in picture! I await the INTERNATIONAL FEED tomorrow! I hate watching this like a common rube! So Milwaukee is the best wrestling crowd on EARTH? Toni Storm is over in Milwaukee and they were MOLTEN for a match against Marina Shafir? I might need to move to Milwaukee. OH MAN! SHINGO TAKAGI AND HIROMU TAKAHASHI WITH DARBY ALLIN AND STING! I guess that is waaaay smarter than Allin versus Himoru- in that no one would survive. Moxley and Tanahashi are awesome standing there. Tana is our face in peril! Mox throws Jericho into a table- something he usually does in picture in picture! Sammy interferes! Archer is feeling it, beating on Moxley! As we go to picture in picture! Will Mox throw someone else into a table? TAY CONTI INTERFERES! This is fun. It will be more fun on the INTERNATIONAL FEED. THAT match was fucking GREAT. What a night of wrestling. Your ALL STAR of the evening is the Milwaukee crowd. Hey! MINORU SUZUKI! It's the SHOOTER! It's DANIEL GARCIA! So fun. AEW RULES THE ENTIRE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD.

Just think of Atlantic as an acronym: All The Lands And Nebulas That Include(d) Volcanoes According to google, there are no active volcanoes in the UK BUT 55 million years ago there was one. And with a company that has a dinosaur in it, it’s fair to count that. EDIT; FUCK. Why did I type V?!?!?! Ok, Cave. Let’s say Cave. Fuck. EDIT 2: I even looked up volcano facts for this. God damn it. EDIT 3: Doubling down. Make Ishii the All-Atlantiv champ. Book it, Tony.

I want -1 to go full on “evil child dictator” like the Flaming Dragon kid from Tropic Thunder…

I was seriously waiting for someone to toss Tanahashi his air guitar and the last 5 minutes was him and Mox trading licks while the ending to "Blazing Saddles" played out around them.

“That guy’s called The Catalyst? Weird. One time when I parked in my friends apartment complex someone went under my car and stole the catalyst. You can get like $300 for one on the black market.”

Man, what a mixed bag of a show. We've already talked about the post Double or Nothing booking curveballs that have made this thing kind of an unfocused mess. Now I'm just hoping the company gets some needed direction once Forbidden Door is out of the way. This is starting to feel like that WWE show that got all screwed up by ELEVATED LIVER ENZYMES. All the in-ring stuff was good to great, but, as has been the case for a few weeks now, the booking and extracurriculars are on a scale from "somewhat lacking" to "a real fucking mess." Is this the first AEW show with multiple talking segments in hour one where the actual wrestling content suffered? Having the second match of the night start at 47 minutes after the hour was certainly different. That Danielson promo was rough. It started fine but that buildup, only to end with "I'm not telling you," murdered the crowd. Meltzer is speculating that Danielson's replacement will be Claudio, which is awesome. How tall are the Aussie Open guys? They look bizarre in there with the house style smaller dudes, like some kind of NBA Jam cheat code, or how the refs were not coded to scale up or down along with the rest of the early Madden games, so you could zoom out touchdown replays and a massive ref would run onto the field. Speaking of football, it's Bill Cowher! Oh no, wait, that's Silas Young. Cool to see him and really good match. I hope that's the end of House of Black vs Death Triangle but probably not. Awesome that they got Okada, but two four ways on one show is weird, especially with so many other multiman matches as well. I know it's to get a lot of guys on the show while also being able to navigate the political minefield of who gets beat, but it's still really messy. The announce team alternates between "this is an invasion, we could be working for New Japan!" and "we're honored to have Tanahashi here!" and I have no idea what the fuck is going on. Okay, so Rosa was definitely sandbagging Shafir OR Rosa just is not that good, because I saw none of those "Shafir is green" issues tonight. That huge brawl at the end went SO long. It was some Naked Gun fireworks factory shit. Can't Excalibur pretape the promo packages? How can Christian pull off a YOUR DAD IS DEAD cheap heat promo that somehow doesn't feel cheap and I'm not skeeved about it the same way I would if MJF did it? Pure mastery, there! Rampage looks really good! Statlander and Athena getting a counterpoint goofy promo was excellent. Though Darby adding two more big NJPW stars in an offhanded way in a dull promo was certainly a choice, I did pop for their team being called DUDES WITH ATTITUDES in the graphic.

aaaaaand already rumors of McGregor wanting another season are starting to come out and I really hope we do not get that. We have closure man, let it lie! James

Vader after burying him.

“I was beaten in the Wednesday Night Wars by the guy who accidentally made wrestling fans think my wife fucked the Slim Jim guy, my father-in-law took time out of his paralegal to tell me I suck shit and demoted me, and thirty years on the gas finally exploded my heart. Now people keep asking me am I back? Yeah I’m thinking I’m back!”

That finale.. 90% awesome. If after a while Tanahashi and Moxley started throwing hands, infected by the mayhem going on outside. That's the kinda out-of-control brawl that I want to see, something out of Memphis. (as long as used judiciously, mind you. Not one a week, nor one a month). Not just one massive face off and then before things get really started, security breaks it off, but just one person starting a fight, and then friends come to help, and then the other's friends, and just an ever-widening melee that is completely out of control, until the point that while actual safety for fans is guaranteed, the fans get the idea it's gone completely beyond control, like the next step is calling out the riot squad. And I wish JR's grumpy "Who opened the gate"? quote was a Dragon Gate reference (and to its titles, the Open the FREEDOM Gate for example). Not likely, mind you. But if Excalibur had said it, I'd have no doubt it was. edit: At the risk of being told to "settle down, Fozziecito" Toni Storm's hips don't lie, and what they are yelling is "Here comes the pain"

Sonny Kiss needs to join the Blackpool Combat Club. WAIT! FUCK CLAUDIO! SONNY KISS versus ZACK SABRE JR!

Haven't read the spoilers so I'm not sure what happens on Rampage but I hope they give us Shafir/Nyla vs Martinez/Deeb next week.

Add Tana winning the AEW Title so we can have an NJPW rep as AEW Champ and an AEW rep as NJPW champ. 2022 is gonna go bonkers!

I cannot wait for the absolute meltdown when Adam Cole wins.

SOMETHING~! SOMETHING~! YAAAAA~!! YAAAAHHHH~!! What he said. The four-way is a compromise and stinks of politics, but it gives the fans the appearances they expect to see on a PPV card like Forbidden Door. Cole will be the sacrificial lamb so that Hangman, White, and Okada can remain strong. Cole can afford the job since he was already booked strong in the Owen Hart tournament and has a vanity title to carry around. He'll be an AEW World Championship contender regardless of what happens in this match.

Man, Shafir vs Storm was good as hell. The quasi-Battlarts opening ruled, as did them just throwing nasty push kicks into each other's chests. Pairing her with Nyla, who has charisma to spare, is a really good choice. They could run this back a few more times (or give us Shafir vs Hayter) and I'd be thrilled.

He's 65 million years old. I wouldn't waste my time bonding with humans either.

Your son is obviously already has the capability of thinking ahead. "Look, dad, it will be for the best if Black takes that beating, instead!" Wonderful.

From the not knowing how to read the room department

...well, that figures. At least Okada wasn't in a full-blown match. Actually, at the moment I'm feeling more relieved that I didn't miss a chance to chant "Kaze ni Nare." I think I am starting to be swayed to the camp holding the belief that AEW tries to pack too much in to their shows. I didn't hate that Christian segment, but I felt it could've been a little shorter to help fit in other things. That Shafir/Storm match maybe could've also waited. Here's why: for those who are not avid NJPW followers, Zack Sabre Jr. is an entertaining talker, with his post-match backstage segments usually being a highlight amongst NJPW's roster. Don't just rush him out to the stage to yell for ten seconds, give him a mic. He's plenty capable. Let him introduce himself to a new audience, give Danielson a retort to help build up the match on Sunday, then plant seeds to a future match between the two so it's not off the table for good. I feel that was a missed opportunity. I'm with the rest of you: Danielson's replacement has to be Claudio. They have history, so does Claudio and Regal. Just about anything else will be something of a letdown. I'm happy there will be LIJ representation at Forbidden Door. Seemed like AEW was careful to avoid mentioning that stable name.

I swear at least three people will come down with elevated liver enzymes before Sunday. Main will be switched to Mox vs Gedo Punjabi Prison Match.

When it comes to Hostess pies... Buy 1 Cherry and 1 Chocolate Pudding pie. Take alternating bites of each I'm a former fat guy, trust me I know what I'm talking about James

I love Tay Conti.

A Tunney type and frequency would be fine, but let me just one more time express my love for this company's decision not to have an 'authority figure'. The crutch you speak of is seemingly too tempting for any bookerman. Further, Lord Regal is perfect right where he is.

100% this. All these random [NJPW wrestler/faction] shows up and attacks [AEW wrestler/faction] only to helped by [AEW or NJPW wrestler with no real connection] feuds kind of remind me of when WWE would make Survivor Series a brand vs brand show and guys who have no history would randomly team or feud because of "brand supremacy". "Hey remember these two guys who hated each other? Well they're going to team up and wrestle some guys they were previously friends with because they were randomly drafted to Smackdown this year while the others weren't!" See I know Mox has been "after" Tanahashi for however long but his whole promo about wanting to defeat him so he can be called the "Ace" is so counter to his AEW "I just wanna fight" persona, especially since he's in the middle of a vicious blood feud with a faction that his injured his friend. It'd be like if in the middle of John Wick, he stopped chasing the baddies who wronged him and his family, to compete in a car race or something.

I mean, it’s clear that TK was expecting Okada to be champ and to run Okada/Hanger, and NJPW just didn’t smarten him up. I *think* that when Jay won the belt, TK decided he didn’t want Hangman doing a job for him, which led us down this path to the 4-way, where we still get some Okada/Hanger interaction but also have Cole there to eat the fall.

I know he's in the tag match that'll have storyline ramifications down the line, but with the year he's having - give Dax ZSJ at Forbidden Door. I'd love to see the real best wrestler in the world right now get his hands on Sabre.

I know we're supposed to avoid politics here so I'll just say that they know Congress isn't capable of doing shit and has shown no willingness to enforce any sort of accountability, especially for white billionaires flaunting the rules.

What a great go home show! I miss the days of the WCW A and B shows that fed into the WCW vs New Japan Supershow where just about anything could happen and usually did. This episode of Dynamite felt really big! The only thing missing from the lead-up to Forbidden Door was something like House of Torture coming to America and publicly assassinating Larry Lazard, Terry Yaki, & Jay Lucas on AEW Dark. Kinda like when Mr. Saito and Kensuke Sasaki murdered the Southern Posse on live television during an episode of WCW Worldwide right before Starrcade '95. Lots and lots of great wrestling last night and Storm vs. Shafir was the violent bag of potatoes that I expected it to be. Even Nyla's cheating spots were super stiff. OKADA~! TANAHASHI~! SUZUKI~! HOLY FUCK~! I am bummed that Danielson is not clear to wrestle a classic against ZSJ. I wish they would just pull the trigger and announce Claudio's involvement or have ZSJ work Naito since Naito is conspicuously not working the PPV. Milwaukee is a hot wrestling city. Richmond and the rest of the cities in Horseman Country need to step the fuck up and represent. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

tHe BiRtH oF oKaDa'S fIrSt ChIlD iS iMpOrTaNt To HiM. Buncha marks! That Bullet Club v Dudes with Attitudes match is one of the best 'get everyone on the card' tags they could have done. Bucks v Hiromu / Shingo is going to be peak and looking forward to El Phantasmo against Sting. EP has the perfect combination of 'can go' and 'can stooge' for that slot.

Murder Grandpa wants some.

JIMINY CHRISTMAS!

That ending with Mox and Tanahashi staring at each other making Triple H faces at each other while an actual all-in fight is going on around them, is such a prime example of not booking angles to ensure characters are consistent in their actions. Nothing Mox has done has shown that he would prefer to do stupid goofy sports-entertainment shit like that, rather than get involved with the fight going on around him.

And unfortunately they weren't able to get the details of the NDAs yet or else they'd print them. That's why this story has legs. If the WSJ or someone else gets proof of the NDAs and settlements and etc., then those will come out. The board supposedly learned of their discovery in the initial investigation. My hunch is that the WSJ most likely has at least some of that information and it's working on a Part 2 once it gets some more reporting done. They might be working on getting someone who signed a NDA to speak without printing a name, confirming that a NDA was signed with a performer, some people to go on the record about Vince or Luarinitis's behavior, etc. Meanwhile, at the same time, Vince and his lawyer and whatever crisis communications PR firm they hired are putting together a defense dossier or whatever to prepare for the spin efforts. And I would also assume his lawyer is going through the NDAs to see how airtight they actually are. In a normal circumstance, everything would be framed with a canned quote (Vince gave one of those in the WSJ article -- I doubt he actually said that, but it was more attributed to him). But since Vince is fucking crazy, he might even be interested in doing an interview thinking he'll be able to outspin a Pulitzer Prize winning Wall Street Journal reporter. I had to do some crisis communications when I was still working in public relations. My client at the time did things involving subprime mortgages and securitizing them -- stuff from The Big Short. (Vomit.) They had someone on the junior end of their executive team get in trouble for something and Bloomberg or someone of the like was going to write an article about it. One of the senior executives kept screaming about how unfair it was for the media to report on them and it was some reporter looking to make a name for himself at the expense of their firm. Really hard for me to tell him "Your firm is bragging about being a leader in a sector of finance that ruined the global economy. I'd hope reporters are going to ask you questions. Also, your firm is not Goldman Sachs and nobody is making a career writing an article about your company." PR is a fucking nightmare. It has to be so fucking bad to do that for Vince McMahon right now.