Go2Sleep

The Bucks stuff was great and makes sense that everyone from the production truck to the ring announcer would needle them after how they've been treating everyone the last year plus. The payoff is probably Callis treating them like shit and then reuniting with Kenny to take down the family, which is neither here nor there, but the pop for Carry On My Wayward Son will be huge. I was surprised how much I liked the Matriarchy promo. Shayna has clearly done some homework on promos since the last time they put her on the mic, so respect there. Julia/Skye/Thekla is the coolest stable that will never do anything. Swerve/Okada? Sure why not? I took the finish of the show to mean that Hangman is done with the Death Riders and they're Darby's problem now.

Very interesting trios match that's suspiciously quick after Hangman's big win. Feels like there has to be a big story pivot coming with Hanger, Mox, or both.

I also think Stat needs a real "day in the sun" reign with the big belt way more than Mercedes (who shouldn't win it until she's a face again).

Men's title could go any number of ways and be good. The true 4 pillars of Hanger, Swerve, MJF, and Ospreay give you a lot of flexibility, and that's before you add Okada, Omega, Jay White, and Fletcher to the mix. For Women's, either Athena needs to knock off Toni and then do a condensed version of the minion angle where Billie takes the belt off Athena, or if Toni fends off Athena, Billie takes down Toni in a massive upset and feuds with Athena that way. They're dangerously close to running out of credible challengers, so they kinda need to do something now. If they protected Thekla better, they'd have that in the chamber, but having her go 50/50 with Aminata isn't helping in that regard.

Yeah, I get wanting to give JR a moment after all the cancer stuff, but he sounded like he was sundowning hard by the end. Also forgot to mention they pulled off the Cope/Christian thing pretty well. Hopefully whoever was writing for Swerve and Hanger picks up this angle too. Cope made the point early on that he could see in Nick's eyes that he would turn on Christian eventually. He didn't just save Christian and pretend nothing ever happened, he's going to make Christian give the Happy Gilmore apology first. Bashing Christian in the nuts with Spike didn't bring his best friend back, it's going to take genuine empathy and self-reflection, and Cope is the bigger man taking the first step towards that.

Really good show all around that delivered everything it needed to. Felt like the right person went over in every match. Trios titles was fine, but it was the one thing on the show that felt closest to "clutter." At least it served the purpose of clearing some guys out of the main event run-ins. Men's gauntlet was good, I was a bit surprised by the lack of surprises, as it were. Juice coming back looking like the love child of Damian Priest and Ezekiel was unexpected, I guess. I like the idea of the Bang Bang Gang feuding with Ric and the Gates. Seemed like everyone got some shine and had the right pace throughout. MJF is a fine winner, the dude's way too good to be on the sidelines this long. I don't mind Dustin getting a token run with the TNT belt, but Kyle should merc him pretty soon. The Swerve/Ospreay/Bucks match was some good fast-paced AEW fun. I thought there could be some good story arcs working with Swerve and Will not being able to challenge for a year, but ultimately it's preferable to dump the heel authority figures. Wouldn't mind the Bucks back at some point since they can still go, but that trope needs to disappear for AEW's "fresh start" to work. Women's gauntlet had it's moments. I liked Stat and Megan working together and Athena finally getting a big win in AEW is the right call. Only minor complaints was the ending stretch kind of dragged and went so long without a new entrant that it didn't quite feel right with the rest of the match, and also having Anna/Penelope/Skye as seconds when they should have been in the match (or at least acted as if they were prepared to be in the match). Toni/Mercedes delivered as expected. The tombstone reversal was like the most epic Toni spot, but no one will ever be allowed to talk about it (and they didn't really give it much chance to simmer). The kiss at the end before the avalanche storm zero would've been fine on its own. Omega/Okada was fine, but didn't need all the BS at the end. Kenny can absorb a clean loss. Hangman/Mox was great, and all the BS made sense because it was all people the Death Riders took out at some point and the match was suitably violent. I have to say despite all the sports-entertainment-y stuff about it, Hangman and Swerve putting in the effort to show how blood enemies can form a respectful alliance, taking one of the most-complained-about wrestling tropes and giving it serious thought and life, is one of the best pro wrestling angles of all time. Mox's promo shitting all over their heart to heart was perfect heel work for the angle, and it all gets paid off by Swerve (and Nana) putting the finishing touches on Mox's defeat. That nod and passing of the chain was everything. They nailed the Wrestlemania finish better than WWE has in years.

So what's the deal with Adam Cole? He just wrestled Thursday and can't do anything by Saturday? I'm worried that it's something serious like blood clots or a heart condition. Even with a joint or muscle injury, most wrestlers can still do a quick squash or pre-match beatdown to complete the angle, so it has to be something pretty extreme for zero contact.

Megan's not actually that big, the majority of the AEW women's division is just tiny.

Yeah, one of the most insidious aspects of Vince having a monopoly for so long is that it permanently ingrained the idea that tag teams should only exist to break up and set one of the two up for a singles push.

Darby/Mox doesn't need the belt. Let Darby do a Sting entrance to be the decisive guy to fend off all the interference and call it a day.

Jet Speed vs. Hurt Syndicate is a great matchup on paper, but the setup was way too similar to Hangman/Mox. Not sure why you wouldn't just have them and Briscoe run 'em off in that spot. The trios match was really good. Good to see Ibushi have a strong match too. It's been sad to see him so washed, but he turned back the clock a little here. That bump on the high angle German and the avalanche tiger driver looked great. I feel like there was a huge missed opportunity with Mercedes hitting Toni with the cake, given the famous meme of her WWE vs. AEW run.

God I hope Luchasaurus can get back, because a team with him and Mortos that is some kind of Money Inc/FoF mash-up is my new ultimate fantasy booking.

You have the two matches you mentioned that were face/face, plus Hurt Syndicate who are tweeners that everyone is much more into than Dustin/Sammy. It also helps that Mercedes and Okada are in the same boat where crowds are mostly "we're happy to play along with you being a heel, but we really love you." Another great little moment in AITA was Willow's reaction when Bodies started playing.

The old-ass ECW carnies would be wise to play the two against each other for the biggest payday.

AEW is basically ROH grit and grinding their way to the big stage. Black and gold NXT was great, but that clearly had a hard ceiling. WWE buying WCW set the wrestling world back literal decades, and it's nice to see us finally coming out of the dark ages.