Tonight (June 17) All Elite Wrestling comes our way live from a closed set in Jacksonville, Florida. Last week, FTR made won their in-ring debut and insulted The Young Bucks, the women’s division had a killer tag team match, Cody retained his TNT championship against an impressive Marc Quen, & Orange Cassidy got juiced.
Advertised for tonight:
- Kenny Omega & Hangman Page defend their tag team championships against The Natural Nightmares
- Le Sex Gods vs. The Best Friends for the #1 contendership for the tag team titles
- Cody defends the TNT Championship
- Young Bucks vs. Superbad Squad
- MJF vs. Billy
- Anna Jay in action
Here are five questions about AEW tonight:
1) Can The Natural Nightmares focus long enough to win gold?
The Natural Nightmares have some how inexplicably earned themselves a tag team championship match. After almost retiring multiple times it seems that Dustin Rhodes has found a new energy and focus within his nightmare “family” tag team. But working with your family is always going to come with family drama. QT Marshall & Dustin have proven that they work together well, but QT has recently been distracted by a certain formerly leather clad Bunny and no one is happy about it.
Now being distracted by the new lady love in your life is one thing, but not only is Allie pulling QT’s focus she is also infuriating Brandi. You might not remember because it’s been happening on and off and has never come to a head, but Brandi and Allie have been rivals and enemies since day one of AEW. Imagine your “brother” starts dating your worst enemy - there is gonna be tension!
Last night on AEW Dark, Allie & Brandi teamed up in a tag match and while they technically won it didn’t prevent them from coming to blows and having to be separated. Allie is also technically banned from ringside (per Dustin’s order) for tonight’s match, but I don’t see the Bunny as one who loves to follow orders...and it’s going to cost them the match.
Let’s face it, The Natural Nightmares getting a title shot is less about Dustin and QT gelling as a team and is more like the third attempt to FINALLY give us the Brandi/Allie feud they have been teasing us with for over a year. Let’s hope they follow through this time.
2) Who will challenge Cody for the TNT Championship?
I love an open challenge! Cody has defended the title twice against two competitors that really benefited from not only the screen time, but from an elevated status in the company. Both Jungle Boy and Marc Quen put on excellent matches and were able to showcase their skills in the main event of AEW and that’s super exciting. Both of those matches were announced before the show aired, but tonight it’s a mystery opponent! Who will it be? Will it be another young talent they are looking to spotlight or will the call be answered by someone looking to feud long term with Cody? Both could be interesting choices.
Personally, I hope it’s Colt Cabana. If he hasn’t already joined Mr. Lee’s forces and he loses to Cody it would only further fuel his desire to #JoinDarkOrder, but if he has already joined pursuing Cody in a more long term feud could be super interesting! What I am trying to say is more Colt Cabana please.
3) Will Orange Cassidy seek revenge on Le Sex Gods?
Jericho is supposedly in a feud with Mike Tyson, but as a placeholder to keep the momentum moving on weekly TV he has been feuding with the other baddest man on the planet, Orange Cassidy. Last week, Jericho beat the denim clad denizen with bag full of oranges and a promo full of puns and this week Le Sex Gods are facing off with The Best Friends for the number one contendership to the AEW world tag team titles.
The Best Friends have been working toward a championship match with Omega & Page for a long time and we’ve already seen The Elite vs. The Inner Circle plenty so I highly doubt that Le Sex Gods take this one home. Orange Cassidy will almost assuredly be the the cause for their loss, but what is the appropriate response to getting beat with oranges? Perhaps he’ll put Floyd in a wood grinder? Or Steal Jericho’s fancy jacket? Who knows, but I bet it’ll be interesting. You know what they say, it’s always the quiet one’s who are the craziest.
4) What the hell is happening in the women’s division?
On this week’s episode of AEW Dark there were three women’s matches. There is only one women’s match announced for tonight’s show and it was announced less than 24 hours ago, only on twitter (not on the AEW website) and is featuring a competitor that, truly, no one remembers.
I have questions.
Now, I’m not trying to rain on Anna Jay’s parade, I like that they are highlighting new talent in the women's division, but it is SUPER weird to not announce any other women’s matches and then announce “Anna Jay in action” like it’s some kind of draw. It’s not.
Do they put all the women’s matches on Dark because they know that the audience wants to see the women in their division wrestle and that’s the only way to guarantee people will watch Dark? Because, boy, does it feel that way!
Sure, Allie & Brandi will have some screen time either during or after The Natural Nightmares match and Penelope will be at Sabian’s side, but it’s not the same. AEW always talks about how they are focused on “the wrestling” so it seems real suspect that they continuously seem to think that simply having women there is enough.
AEW, as always, needs to figure out what the hell they are doing with their women’s division.
E V E R G R E E N
5) Is Colt Cabana “Cult Cabana” now?
I know he’s not scheduled for a match, but I’m hoping we get some follow up after last week’s cliffhanger. The Dark Order has been courting Cabana for weeks and it seems that he has finally succumbed to all the losses and is joining their ranks! If that’s true, what will evil Cult Cabana be like? Will he be moved into a leadership position or will be have to work his way up the ranks? Will he start saying “Doom Doom”? Or is this some kind of elaborate do-gooder scheme where Cabana is going to prove his worth by defeating the Dark Order from the inside?
Tune into AEW on TNT at 8 EST tonight to see if we get any answers to these questions!