This week All Elite Wrestling comes our way from a closed set in Jacksonville, Florida. Last week, MJF laid on the ground before getting laid out, Hangman & Omega retained their tag team championships, Brodie Lee challenged Cody for the TNT championship, Orange Cassidy defeated Le Champeon, the women’s match lasted less than 5 minutes and FTR beat up the elderly.
Advertised for tonight:
- Cody versus Brodie Lee for the TNT Championship
- Women’s Tag Tournament “The Deadly Draw” Final
- The Elite versus The Dark Order
- The Lucha Bros and The Butcher & The Blade versus Jurassic Express and The Natural Nightmares
- FTR versus Private Party
- Darby Allin in action
- Orange Cassidy’s first ever in-ring interview
- Sammy Guevara confronts Matt Hardy
Here are five questions about AEW tonight:
1) Who wins the first ever Women’s Tag Team Tournament?
There has been a lot of drama surrounding this tournament. First, it was due to the fact that it was not being televised and would air on YouTube instead. (Meanwhile there was less than ten minutes of women’s wrestling on last week’s Dynamite.) Second, because it seems more like a vehicle to get Brandi and Heels over and less like a tool to promote women’s wrestling at AEW.
Tonight, the finals will air on Dynamite, but will it be a good representation of women’s wrestling? Ivelisse, Diamante and Allie are all seasoned, good wrestlers but Brandi (and lil Bran Bran) are the focus. Yes, she has worked hard to train, but she’s not a good wrestler yet. It is pretty absurd that her team has made it this far.
(Note to self: do not go on a rant about Nicole Savoy and how she is amazing and not only deserves to be in the finals of this tournament but deserves to be on weekly TV.)
I see this going one of two ways.
Ivelisse and Diamante win, The Nightmare sisters finally break-up and two women’s wrestlers get a good spotlight on Dynamite hopefully leading to more women’s tag matches. Or (the more likely scenario) Brandi and Allie win, Brandi uses it as bragging rights and the cup as a swimming pool for her action figure doll. It does nothing to further any story lines or prop up women’s wrestling in AEW and it does everything to prop up Brandi and the dumb “Nightmare” family.
Hey, maybe we’ll at least get a four minute match from the champion. Truly #Blessed by AEW’s writers room.
Eye roll forever.
2) Can Brodie Lee defeat Cody for the TNT Championship?
The answer is yes. But I’m not so sure it happens tonight. The Dark Order are still trying to find their footing in AEW. They have had some big wins, but are also, frankly, stuck in “we don’t know what to do this week so um...book Dark Order against The Young Bucks” territory.
Brodie Lee, as the Leader of Dark Order, has had some success, but also had a big loss to Moxley for the AEW Championship. Since the TNT Championship is strictly mid-card it could be good for Lee to win that and firmly establish Dark Order as a threat and not a booking mcguffin.
And, frankly, Cody has held the belt for too long already. He’s done a great job elevating lower and mid-card wrestlers, but it’s starting to turn into “Boss Cody” patting himself on the back every week. We need a shake-up.
Perhaps this is the beginning of a feud that could benefit both of them? Or it’s just another Cody win.
3) What does Orange Cassidy have to say after his win against Jericho?
Hopefully it’s just a thumbs up against the backdrop of Jericho’s face after he lost. Or maybe another poignant monologue about the dangerous of climate change!
Probably will end in the Inner Circle beating him up though.
4) Is the Hangman/Omega break-up story line the Banks/Bayley of AEW?
Last week, Omega called The Young Bucks “the greatest tag team in the world” and his unlikely partnership with Hangman Page “just two singles guys that have championships.”
Awkward.
Tonight, Omega teams up with The Bucks to face The Dark Order - again - and Hangman Page is no where to be found. Hangman has no love for The Dark Order, but his love for the Bucks waxes and wanes with the tide. It’s likely he’ll be too busy drinking with FTR to even watch the match.
Tensions between The Young Bucks (Kenny’s Boys) and FTR (Hangman’s drinking bros) are once again on the rise. FTR took out The Buck’s wrestling grandpas after all! Will Hangman and Omega be caught in the crossfire? Can Omega’s loyalty survive another round of Hangman vs. The Bucks?
I truly have no idea what is happening in this tag team. It’s a classic “will they or won’t they scenario” except it’s been dragged out so long that it seems like it’s never going to happen. At this point, they are functionally dysfunctional and maybe they will stay that way.
5) How many times are they going to “brag” about selling tickets to their shows again?
I bet if you turn it into a drinking game you’ll end up in the hospital with all the people that drank every time WWE personae said ThunderDome on SmackDown.
Now that’s what I call wrestling fan harmony.
Tune into AEW on TNT at 6EST (or immediately following the NBA playoffs) tonight to see if we get any answers to these questions!