CM Punk

AEW ALL OUT FINAL PREDICTIONS

Welcome to a special edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast and 607TWS: the Wrestling Show. It’s a HUGE weekend of wrestling going on with GCW’s Second City Summit & WWE’s Clash at the Castle along with NXT Worlds Collide. On this week’s 607TWS, the whole 607podcasts family gave their previews for those events. However, the show that everyone will have their eyes on is AEW’s “All Out” hailing from Chicago 8pm EST (available on BR Live). The card has been evolving since the go-home show on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite. Let’s take a final preview and give the last predictions until Sunday, shall we?

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

AEW ALL OUT BUY-IN SHOW (7PM EST)

Angelo Parker vs. HOOK (FTW Championship)

This match has come together pretty quickly, but let’s face it: The AEW Faithful LOVE Hook. There was no way he’s missing the show and there’s no way he’s losing in this one. Winner: HOOK

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Eddie Kingston

This is a “replacement” match from the first match announced for this card: Sammy Guevara vs. Kingston. This is definitely in Sammy’s best interest considering the drama backstage with him and Kingston. Ishii is a solid replacement but I don’t see Kingston taking the L here. Winner: Eddie Kingston

Kip Sabian vs. PAC (All-Atlantic Championship)

The forgotten title on AEW is getting defended against a forgotten wrestler. Sabian has fallen thru the cracks with all the new signings and disappeared to the point he started wearing a paper bag mask to shows. FINALLY, the powers that be are using one of their original signees in profile match. Unfortunately, Sabian’s return will be empty handed. PAC just won the belt at Forbidden Door in June. He’s not dropping it here. Winner: #ANDSTILL PAC

Oritz and Ruby Soho vs. Tay Melo & Sammy Geuvara (AAA mixed tag team championship)

This literally was added as I’m typing this blog. Sammy is back on the card after all the drama after all. Ruby and Ortiz got the win on AEW Rampage. Unfortunately, they’re not going back to back with the wins. Winners: #ANDSTILL Tay and Sammy

FTR & Wardlow

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

AEW ALL OUT MAIN CARD 8pm EST (BR Live)

Jay Lethal & The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. FTR & Wardlow

This is a very puzzling match as the TNT Champion and ROH Tag Team Champs are NOT defending their titles. Instead, it feels like a filler match but with 6 over-talented people in that ring. Wardlow has a feud going on with Team lethal and FTR isn’t getting an AEW title shot regardless of being no. 1 contenders for 8 months now. Super happy to see MCMG in AEW and hopefully this isn’t the last time. That said, The Pinnacle will rise to get the victory here. Winners: FTR/Wardlow

Powerhouse Hobbs Vs. Ricky Starks

One of AEW’s best storylines, Team Taz’s final goodbye happens here. Starks is prime for a bigger role on the card and ending feud with Hobbs here makes perfect sense. This will be a sleeper mach on the card but we are about to bear witness to the start of the Starks Era. Winner: Ricky Starks

Miro, Sting, & Darby Allin vs House Of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews)

In the “Why” moment of the night, Miro is teaming with Sting and Darby Allin to take on the House Of Black. “Why” because Miro has been thrown in this storyline and it doesn’t feel organic. House of Black has been an after thought on the roster (IMO). I’m hoping for an upset here cause if the House loses another big profile match, this would be a major blow to one of the more hyped factions in AEW. For argument sake, I’m going against what I think will happen. In the House We Trust. Winners: House Of Black via REASONS

Bryan Danielson

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho

This match has two first ballot hall of famers going at it on the big stage. Jericho has been borrowing from the Book of Mick Foley lately by tapping back into “former” personas. For this match, Jericho is going back to the “LionHeart” time. Danielson has just returned from injury and become wrapped up into a battle for Daniel Garcia, the Jericho Appreciation Society member whos earned Danielson’s respect and looks to be flipping sides. While that would make a great flip (esp. sending Wheeler Yuta to the JAS), I’m calling Garcia causes Danielson to take the pin and reunite the JAS. Winner: Chris Jericho

Jungle Boy vs Christian Cage

If the promos are any indication, this will be another sleeper match. Cage went from advisor to Jurassic Express to super villain to the AEW faithful. All signs point to Luchasaurus turning on Jungle Boy and become Cage’s muscle ala the days with Tomko in Impact Wrestling. Winner: Christian Cage.

Casino Ladder Match: Wheeler Yuta vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Rey Fenix vs. Penta vs. Andrade El Idolo vs. Rush vs. Dante Martin vs. “The Joker”

A ladder match to determine a future championship opportunity? Nothing earth shattering here, but the field is very solid. It will be a great match, but unless there’s a big tie swerve, history has shown to bet on the Joker during these matches. Nothing new there. As for who’s the Joker? Some will say MJF, but I’m going with Winner: ADAM COLE (BAY BAY)

Athena vs. Jade Cargill (TBS Championship)

Cargill is undefeated and on a roll. Athena is the next contender and has been trying to make the most from this storyline. This will be a great test to see how far Cargill has progressed (remember she’s only been doing this for a year years now). All signs point to Cargill winning but I’m going a different rout that I;ll explain a bit later. Winner: #ANDNEW Athena

Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Hangman Adam Page/Dark order (AEW Trios Tag Championship)

What a long, strange trip this has been. When this tourney was announced, most fans saw Hangman Adam Page joining the Bucks for the tourney. That didn’t happen but fans saw Kenny Omega return from nearly 9 months off from injury to help the Bucks get to the finals. Page was still part of this tourney as a late replacement for 10 with the Dark order to help get them to the finals.

This should be an excellent match. The Bucks show out for the PPV’s. Silver and Reynolds are very slept on for how good they are as a team. Omega and Page have a lengthy history ranging from being partners to rivals resulting in Page taking the World Title from Omega. That all said, the safe money is bet on the Elite, but what happens if someone interferes and costs the Bucks the titles? How bout an Adam Cole (Bay Bay). This becomes an even safe bet if he’s not the joker in the ladder match. Winners: Hangman/Dark Order.

Britt Baker vs. Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida (AEW Interim Women’s Championship)

Thunder Rosa is out due to injury so Toni Storm needed a new opponent. She got 3 instead. Baker and Shida are former champs. Hayter is a BIG X Factor as she’s been Baker’s muscle for months now. With everything going on, this was a great call to make. If we’re doing this Locks & leaps style, Winner: the Lock is Toni Storm. Regardless if this was vs. Rosa or everyone else, she’s becoming champ.

Why this makes even more sense. Remember when I said Jade Cargill might drop the TBS title, the only reason I see that happening is so she would be on a path vs. the Women’s champion if it’s Storm or Rosa at “Full Gear”. How fast we get there is another question, but Lock is Storm, Leap is Hayter.

Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee (C) vs. The Acclaimed (AEW world tag team titles)

First and foremost, FTR should be in this match. Secondly, this match had very little build to feel “pay Per View” level. Swerve and Lee have been a great team, but if rankings matter, they should have different opponents. The Acclaimed seem to have come out of nowhere to get the shot. Granted, they are over with the AEW faithful but is that enough here? This will be a great match but without a noteworthy build, it’s reading like this will be an easy #ANDSTILL for Swerve and Lee.

CM Punk

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Jon Moxley

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

CM PUNK VS. JON MOXLEY (C) - AEW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

A few questions answered, a few more raised. That’s the general reaction to this match. After 7 years away, CM Punk returns to wrestling and defeats Adam Page at “Double Or Nothing”to win the World title. Punk gets injured shortly there after and is out of action for a few months with a foot injury. In the meantime, an interim world champ was decided with Moxley taking on a battle royal winner (Kyle O’Reilley), winning at “AEWxNJPW Forbidden Door” to become interim champ, and has been defending it left and right since. Punk returns a few weeks ago, and fans get the main event of All out on free TV for all of 3:11 as Punk appears to re-injure his foot and Moxley squashes him. This past week’s AEW Dynamite showed Ace Steel, longtime friend of Punk giving him a “Rocky-esque” speech to help him find his smile and sign the open challenge for All OUT.

The first question that comes to mind is why do this match on Dynamite if it’s going to be a squash. What’s the incentive to see another match? Sure, there was a great speech by Steel, but what does that mean for a match where the opponent ran right thru Punk? Can one speech wipe away that memory from fans so they shell out $49.99 on PPV to watch? The answer to that will be shown in the buys for the PPV. If the buys are low, then the fans tuned out. If they are huge, then the fans bought in.

The second question is what is the true status of Punk? Is he able to go at the high level expected for this spotlight? The answer is: He has to be. Running it back so quickly after a squash, Punk has to go an easy 20 mins + to get this match over. I feel he will. Knowing it’s in Chicago and what this means for his legacy, there is no alternative.

The last one: Moxley is on fire right now with his AEW run. Does he drop the belt? That one is a bit more easy to decipher. Since his return last year, everything AEW has been building centers around CM Punk. Love it or hate it, he’s the franchise guy since Cody Rhodes left. By forcing a story to be had, squash match, inspirational speech and all interview points in between, all signs point to CM PUNK #ANDNEW.

Overall, AEW All Out is a very loaded card that will be generating some buzz whenever it gets over (banking this might be a 4+ hour show). In the meantime, hit me up on Twitter and let me know your picks and thoughts for AEW’s big sunday night.

For more pro-wrestling content, Listen to the latest 607TWS this week. Thanks for reading.

SUMMER OF PUNK AGAIN?/LIONHEART RETURNS/CIRCLE 6

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast and 607 TWS. It has been a more relatively quiet week than we’ve seen in recent weeks, so this will be a shorter blog than usual. WWE keeps bringing back familiar faces while the eyes on the independent scene have been locked into Atlantic City for GCW Homecoming. In between that, there are some stories worth mentioning about so lets’ talk about them, shall we?

CM Punk

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

First up is AEW Dynamite closed with the return of current AEW world champion CM PUNK. Punk has been out with a foot injury in early June. In the meantime, AEW has crowned Jon Moxley as their intern champion. There has been rumors of when Punk would be back, but no clarification until this moment. The only other time anyone had seen Punk out really was seeing him at San Diego Comic Con in July. That said, the main event for their biggest show of the year appears to be all set with the unification bout locked up for September 4th at “All Out” in Chicago.

It’s the smart move to make and if Punk’ 100% ready, then go for it. It will be an interesting reaction form the crowd because both Mox and Punk are considered faces in this battle. I’m expecting it to be very pro-Punk but what (if anything) does this mean for the Blackpool Combat Club? They have been getting booked as top faces. It’s a bit confusing on that perspective but all signs point to Punk winning regardless.

Since his arrival last year, Punk has been pushed HEAVY into this position on the card. Whatever your feelings are about him, you can’t deny he gets fans attention. Has the return been the ”game changer” many thought? Debatable on what do you measure that on. Ratings still struggle to continuously clear 1 million for Dynamite. Social media impressions appear to be increased, but overall, imo, the jury is still out. With his return heading into the big show, it will be interesting to see how this set-up goes. AEW programing and PPV Buys will give a general idea if it’s the “Summer Of Punk” again or is the honeymoon phase finally over? Wait and see…..

Chris Jericho

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Also “returning” this week was the “Lionheart” persona of one Chris Jericho. Facing Jon Moxley, Jericho went back to his original gimmick that he broke into most notably ECW with during the 90’s. The match started a bit off imo, but picked up towards the end (I personally didn’t score it 4.75 but to each their own). Seeing Jericho borrow from the playbook of Mick Foley with bringing back characters like “Lionheart” and “The Painmaker” from NJPW has been good for nostalgia, and is a credit to how Jericho has gotten over pretty much every character he’s created thus far. “The Wizard”…..to be determined. Seeing less of the trip into the past would make these moves more impactful, but the AEW faithful enjoyed it. End of the day, that’s what matters more.

FTR and Wardlow

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Speaking of Nostalgia, Wardlow reunited with FTR for a semi-reunion of The Pinnacle, the faction started by he who AEW does not name (MJF). The ROH tag team champs came to back up Wardlow versus the Jay Lethal faction (name TBD) on AEW Dynamite this week. Seeing the 3 together makes me wonder if this is going to be a thing moving forward. AEW is in full trios tag team mode with champions to be crowned at All Out. Could we see the Pinnacle reformed? And what about adding a fourth member again? With MJF gone, I’m not doubting a certain returning champion bringing these three out with him to stand off against Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Wheeler Yuta and Claudio….just saying…..

HOOK  Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

HOOK

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

HOOK will be defending the FTW tile vs. “The Reality” Zack Clayton …. so that’s happening. …

Photo Credit: Circle 6 Wrestling

Circle 6 is lining up to crown their first world champion with a “Hybrid Ladder Match”. The concept is very interesting and RSP breaks it down in a recent tweet. The upstart promotion has been building their fan base up and this match should catch a lot of attention when it happens on Sept. 9th.

Credit: National Wrestling Alliance

Last bit of news: It was announced that the NWA is taming up with Vet Tix to offer complimentary tickets for NWA 74 on August 27th and 28th to active Military members, Veterans and the immediate family members of those killed in duty. This is an incredible action for the NWA to do and they should be applauded for this. For more information on the NWA, click here.

That’s all the pro wrestling talk for this week. Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what pro wrestling you’re checking out! Thanks for reading!

AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING WEEK/ GCW MANIAC/ GP MASSIVE AGGRESSION

Welcome to an all new edition of Blog Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH Podcast and #607TWS on Twitch (and in podcast form). This week, all the eyes that aren’t focused on the Sasha banks/Naomi/WWE drama are laser focused on the 3 year anniversary of All Elite Wrestling’s “Double Or Nothing” going down in Las Vegas May 29th!

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

AEW’s biggest* (depends on opinion between DoN & All Out) Pay Per View event has forever been mentioned as the “Anniversary” date of the Tony Khan-led company. 3 years ago, this was the debut show following the New Years Eve announcement & following press conferences shortly there after introducing the wrestling world to the newest player on the pro wrestling landscape. Since that time, a LOT has changed & going into the show, there’s a few story lines to keep an eye on this week of AEW programming.

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Are we heading into the “Reign Of Punk”? Will “Hangman” Adam Page retain? This is the question on the minds of AEW fans. There has been some promo segments between the two & one final “face-to-face” is announced for Dynamite this week between the DoN main event participants, but does it already feel like all signs are leaning to #ANDNEW on Sunday?

Page’s run as champ has felt very lackluster in comparison to other previous champions. On the flip side, Punk has come off better in each segment with this feud and in more position to FINALLY go “Best In The World 2.0” by the time the match is over. IMO, Page needs to have a very strong moment on Wednesday night to sway where things appear to be going. It’s possible, but I’m still saying we’ve got a new champ at DoN until further notice.

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

The next one to keep an eye on this week is the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC) members Jon Moxley & Bryan Danielson teaming with Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz vs. “The Wizard” and his Appreciation Society. There isn’t a tremendous amount of build up for this as far as the BCC is concerned but it still works. The JAS (ugh) storyline with Team Kingston has been solid. The billing for this match is “Anarchy In The Arena” and it should be.

A few quick notes concerning this match:
1. Wheeler Yuta is not involved in this as he’s currently competing in Japan for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Best Of The Super J’s

2. Bryan Danielson appeared to have been slightly banged up after AEW Rampage tapings after a weird freak issue with his leg getting stuck in the rampway. As of this blog, he’s slated to still be a go

Fans shouldn’t expect a lot of technical moves and be ready for a great street fight as this is how it’s looking to play out. Anytime we get Moxley teaming up with Kingston is a win.

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

The last one to watch this week is the “Undisputed Elite” stories. It was announced the Young Bucks will be facing the Hardys at DoN. Two great teams facing off for the first time in an AEW ring? Solid addition for the card. This is resulting from the aftermath of Adam Cole defeating Jeff Hardy in the Owen Hart Foundation Tourney. It also seems as we’re gearing for a possible Cole/Samoa Joe Mens final for the Tourney as well.

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Joe punched his ticket for a match with Kyle O’Reilly with a win over the AEW debuting Johnny ELITE (fka John Morrison, Johnny Impact, etc.). With a win there, the finals are set unless fan get a major swerve and its O’Reilly vs. Cole (Bay Bay) one more time. Somehow I don’t think AEW is gonna go that route for the finals but we will have to tune in on Wednesday to find out!

Photo Credit: Game Changer Wrestling

Switching gears, Game Changer Wrestling kicked off a big west coast pair of shows with GCW Manic taking place on May 21st and “GCW Downward Spiral” happening next Saturday. Get the bundle on Fite & don’t miss these incredible shows

Photo Credit: Glory Pro Wrestling

Glory Pro Wrestling has a cant-miss card airing on their YouTube page Sunday May 22nd! GP “Massive Agression” is headlined by Eddie Kingston vs. Davey Richards & many other great matches on this card! Follow now and don’t miss it!

Photo Credit: Major League Wrestling

Last but not least, Major League Wrestling has announced Lince Dorado is the latest name entered for Battle Riot 4 on June 23rd! For more information, check out MLW.com

That’s al the pro wrestling talk for this edition. Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what pro wrestling you’re watching this week. For more pro wrestling content, Follow the ODPH podcast and 607 TWS.

As always, thanks for reading!

AEW BATTLE OF THE BELTS 2 / CIRCLE 6 RETURNS / GLORY PRO WRESTLING

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast & 607TWS on Twitch! For this edition, we’re taking a look at All Elite Wrestling’s busy week capping off with their second edition of “Battle Of The Belts” on April 16th. Factor that in with a few other indie promotions that you should have on your radar and you can’t say “nothing i going on in the land of professional wrestling”! There is so much wrestling to talk about, let’s not waste anymore time and jump in, shall we?

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

As previously mentioned, AEW capped off a very busy week of action with “Battle Of The Belts 2” from Garland, Texas (aired on TNT network). Fans in attendance were treated to 3 title belts but the one that stole the show (imo) was the Ring Of Honor world championship match between Dalton Castle and ROH Champ Jonathan Gresham (pictured above). For some of the AEW faithful, they might not have gotten why this was such a big deal. Here’s a quick catch-up why it was:

It has been heavily rumored that Gresham has signed an AEW contract (since Tony Khan owns both AEW & ROH now) & fans should expect to see more of him on AEW programming moving forward. No one bleeds the ideals of ROH more than Gresham. Gresham is arguably the BEST technical wrestler on the planet. Outside of following the indies or ROH, this was the first impression of Gresham to many of the AEW fans. He absolutely put on a fantastic match with Castle & showcased his skills. I strongly suggest going back thru his catalog of work and there will be no doubt on why this is a huge addition for AEW/ROH. Gresham can put on “5 star” matches with anyone you match him against. Just wait till he faces off with Bryan Danielson…… just saying.

The only “bad thing” coming from this match was post match run-in from the Jay Lethal/Sonjay Dutt/ Satnam, in which people on the internet lost their minds to the height comparison of Satnam to Gresham. Let me put this argument to bed once and for all: Danielson is 5’10, AJ Styles 5’11, Rey Mysterio is 5’6 and Gresham 5’4. What do all 4 have in common? They’re all touted for their wrestling skills where everyone’s level when taken down on a mat. Satnam is 7’2. OF COURSE HE’S GOING TO TOWER OVER SOMEONE! For my money, give me someone who can put on solid matches with a good story behind it regardless of their height. If that’s all you can focus on during a match, you’re not watching the right things.

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

New ROH TV champ Samoa Joe (6’2 btw) came in for the save and looked to continue building the story-line he has going with Team Lethal. No surprise he walked away Wednesday with the TV title but it is interesting to see that Satnam appears to be his first challenger for the belt. With someone just coming into the world of professional wrestling, this is fast tracking Satnam into a spot he might not be ready for.

This is also an interesting path for ROH 2.0. With no TV deal (as of this blog), building the stories for their champions with very new talent to the business on AEW programming feels like high risk/high reward. It’s great exposure but this puts a ton of pressure on those new roster members to deliver. Failure to do so won’t be an easy thing to recover from.

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Speaking of storylines, Hangman Adam Page retained his AEW world title against Adam Cole (Bay Bay) in (another) Texas Death match on AEW Rampage. This should be the closure of their feud and hopefully the last TDM we see for a while. Page has had most of this blow-off matches end with that gimmick match. It would be a good thing to mix something else in there for the next one. Now, the question becomes who’s next for Page? The more and more I watch AEW, the answer is becoming more clear:

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

CM Punk has been hinting about making a run for the belt. Looking at how he’s gone over everyone that has been thrown at him on the roster (except MJF), all signs point to Punk facing Page at some point. This could be the Double or Nothing main event. It makes sense. Page’s run as champion has had mixed results. It seemed to finally start getting some steam behind it recently but not doubting this is where Punk goes in and captures the gold. With less that 6 weeks to get a title contender ready, Punk’s story is the easiest to plug and play.

I’m not sure how the AEW faithful will react to this. Fans remember how passionate they were for Page to finally win the big one, but seem to have extremely cooled off to him as champion. This is nothing new to pro wrestling where the fans get fickle when their chosen one wins. The only question now is: Has AEW become fickle enough to make the move? We’ll see in May.

Photo Credit: Major League Wrestling

Major League Wrestling keeps stacking their card for “Kings Of Colosseum” in May with the addition of Taya Valkyrie. It hasn’t been announced who she is fighting yet but it will be a can’t miss match. Don’t forget about their big main event with Hammerstone & Richard Holiday! Guaranteed to have something for all pro wrestling fans. For more info on this card: MLW.com

Photo Credit: Circle Six Wrestling

Circle 6 has announced their 2nd show “Terrible Lie” slated for April 30th. Coming off their strong debut show “Skewered”, Expect there to be no “sophomore jinx” for this promotion. Killer Kross, Scarlett, Rocky Romero and Matt Cross have all been announced for ‘Terrible Lie.” Make plans to check this card out. For more information: Drop that follow for Circle 6 Wrestling

Photo Credit: Glory Pro Wrestling

Rounding out the list of news-making promotions this week, Glory Pro Wrestling has an incredible card set for April 24th live from the Pageant in St. Louis (5PM CST)! How cool is this: Glory Pro is streaming the event FOR FREE on their YouTube channel! With Effy, Allie Katch, Minoru Suzuki on the card (just to name a few) there is no way any pro-wrestling fan should miss this show! Make sure you’re following Glory Pro Wrestling for all the latest on their big moves!

That’s all for this week. Make sure to hit me up on Twitter and let me know about what pro wrestling promotions are making some big moves to discuss. As always, thanks for reading & supporting!

CM PUNK vs. DAX/ SUPERCARD OF HONOR/ JOEY JANELA SPRING BREAK

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast and 607TWS on Twitch (& now in podcast form). On this edition, it’s the road to Wrestlemania, the WWE’s biggest event of the year. There will be a deep dive on this week’s ODPHpod breaking that card down. For this blog, let’s take a quick trip around some other federations and stories that are making some noise going into this week. And here we go…..

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

HOW GOOD WAS THIS MATCH?!?!

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

All Elite Wrestling kicked off AEW Dynamite with an absolute classic between Dax Harwood of FTR vs. CM Punk. Classic storytelling that many feel was a love letter to Bret “the Hitman” Hart. Everything about this match clicked. The crowd and fans watching at home were locked in from the jump. Obviously, with who was involved, you knew this was gonna be something special & it delivered. Maybe that Dog Collar match at AEW Revolution finally awoke something? Maybe it’s because he had a great opponent who’s in arguably the best tag team on the planet right now facing him and at pushing him? In any case, anyone who missed it, make a point to check this match out. Definitely wouldn’t mind seeing this ran back sometime. However from that lead, the rest of the show started to slowly lose steam…then this happened:

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Fans had a promo segment with Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti addressing Dan Lambert with his AEW American Top Team faction (TNT Champion Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page, Paige Van Zant). In case anyone didn’t know, Guevara and Conti have become a bit of a polarizing couple imo. Ever since their relationship went public and other drama involving Guevara ( I don’t want to get into that situation), they have had very split opinions on social media from fans.

On Wednesday, Lambert wore the original TNT Championship belt while champion Sky had the newer belt. In story line purposes, Guevara wore both belts (old and interim) after winning a unification bout with Cody Rhodes. After battling on the mic, Guevara claimed that he and Conti did some “adult things” while wearing the belt Lambert kissed and left some “souvenirs” on the belt. Even post match, there was a tweet with a picture of Conti and Guevara naked with the belt alluding to what they “did”. That comment drew a lot of negative attention from some AEW members, most notably Eddie Kingston and fans who thought the comments was disrespectful to the belt and its’ legacy with the late Brodie Lee. I agree with that as well.

I understand that the promo was to get a “shock” moment but considering the PR damage that was done when WWE stars were involved in a situation like that, it was a bad look. Why after that promo was done, Conti and Guevara were trending on socials with Brad Maddox right behind them? For AEW, this is another situation of where promos like this need to be ran thru the proper channels. Knowing the legacy of Brodie Lee and what that belt means, it was a complete insult. Seeing the negative fan reaction, doubling down on it with the tweet after didn’t help matters.

Should any more drastic action be done about this? No. I’ve read where people online want Guevara and Conti off AEW and that’s way too much. IMO, What should be done is better regulation by AEW about promo content and crossing that line. It’s a fine line that needs to be walked but I can’t really see the brass at Warner Media being cool with this long term. There are better ways to cut promos and getting that type of “heat” is not a direction that Guevara and Conti want to go in.

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Hook’s reaction was my reaction hearing that segment as well. Btw… Hook v. Danhausen? ok…..

Now onto some better news to talk about:

Photo Credit: Ring Of Honor Wrestling

This Friday, Ring Of Honor returns with SuperCard of Honor taking place on Fite.TV with a new look for the well respected promotion. This will be the first card under the Tony Khan regime. There have been some small changes to the card but the big matches are still locked and loaded. Gresham vs. Bandido for the undisputed ROH title & Briscoes vs. FTR for the tag team titles are the big draws but there’s another match that was added that fans shouldn’t sleep on:

Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Jay Lethal (pictured above) will be taking on Lee Moriarty! Expect some great wrestling action in this one (as well as Swerve Strickland vs. Alex Zayne). Lethal, the longtime franchise player in ROH returns for this Pay-Per-View is an interesting move. Lethal was one of the first wave of ROH talent to sign elsewhere when everyone was released from their contracts. Now coming bck full circle, will he be the face of ROH 2.0 now or how will the landscape of Ring Of Honor now change with Khan at the helm. We will see the beginnings starting this Friday.

Photo Credit: Game Changer Wrestling

Game Changer Wrestling once again takes over Wrestlemania weekend with the Collective. It is a showcase of great cards throughout the weekend such as Glory Pro, For The Culture, & Effy’s Big Gay Brunch to name a few. However, the one that has become the most attatched to the Collective is Joey Janela’s Spring Break. This card has literally everything on it & will be the one GCW fans will be buzzing about. Personally, I can’t wait to see Joey Janela vs X-Pac. It’s gonna be a loaded weekend of shows so make sure to check out Fite.TV and watch some great indie shows before or after Wrestlemania.

Just a reminder that “Super B” Brandon Sevilla will be in studio on the April 4th edition of 607TWS!

That’s all for this week. Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what pro wrestling you’re checking out and what card this weekend you’re most excited to see! As always, thanks for reading!