Tonight All Elite Wrestling comes our way from Jacksonville, Florida. Last week, Hangman Adam Page retained his number one ranked slot but sadly did not rap, The Best Friends boldly interrupted The Death Triangle to announce that “The Boys (and the alien) are back in town,” Chris Jericho gave a clinic in promo cutting, Godzilla beat Kong Jurassic Express defeated Bear Country, QT Marshall cut a shockingly good promo calling out Cody Rhodes, Sting had his weekly televised meeting with Tony interrupted by Jake the Snake, Team Taz was trying (and failing) to focus, Darby Allin successfully defended his TNT Championship against JD Drake, Mike Tyson saved Jericho from a Pinnacle beatdown, Britt Baker made some excellent points about the w/l ranking system, Tay Conti took out The Bunny, and The Young Bucks proclaimed their love for Kenny Omega with a couple of well-placed superkicks to Jon Moxley’s skull.
This Week’s Headliner:
Last week Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle spoke for the first time since their brutal attack from The Pinnacle. Jericho admitted that My Jerkoff Friend got one better on him, but that will never happen again. You see, they KNEW he would betray them; they just didn’t think he would betray them with friends. But if Chris Jericho has one strength, it’s that he is always learning, and while Jericho is learning and adapting, MJF thinks he’s already got everything figured out. But you know, and I know, and MAX knows that he will never be better than Chris Jericho no matter who he surrounds himself with.
Of course, the only way to prove that The Inner Circle is better than The Pinnacle and that Jericho is, in fact, better than MJF is to challenge them to the first-ever AEW Blood & Guts match! We’ve been waiting a whole year for this, and it’s finally happening!
Tonight, Chris Jericho will take on Dax Harwood (or is it Axel Slash? Who can really keep these names straight?!) with Mike Tyson as the Special Enforcer. Sure, the last time we saw Tyson, he was getting ready to beat Jericho’s ass, but MJF is SO unlikeable that Tyson has seemingly sided with The Inner Circle.
Of course, Mike Tyson is no stranger to the well-time heel turn...could this be a recreation of one of his most iconic pro-wrestling moments? Has he been taking tips from The Young Bucks backstage? Tonight we find out!
The Title Scene:
Tonight the AEW Tag Team Champions, The Young Bucks, are putting their belts on the line against The Death Triangle’s PAC & Rey Fenix. PAC and Fenix have been practically unstoppable in their pursuit of the championships, and if they were facing anyone but The Bucks, it would be an easy call; tonight, they would be the new champions, no question. But The Bucks are called the best tag team in the world for a reason. That, plus the fact that they have officially gone dark-sided and reunited with their Bullet Club pals, makes them extremely dangerous.
And presumably, The AEW World Champion, Kenny Omega, will have the Bucks back tonight the same way they had his last week. After all, you never face just one member of The Bullet Club! But if anyone can do it, it’s Death Triangle.
TNT Champion Darby Allin has successfully defended his title every week in a series of open challenge matches and unsuccessfully defending against the slander coming from The Hardy Family Office. Tonight, Darby Allin finally gets his hands on Matt Hardy in a championship bout. I doubt Allin loses tonight - I smell shenanigans in the air - but I do think we enter into another round of Darby Allin against an entire faction for several weeks. It’s his bread and butter at this point.
Tay Conti has been at the top of the women’s rankings for a few weeks. She also has the respect of the AEW Women’s Champion, Hikaru Shida. BUT Britt Baker is also in the wings DEMANDING a title shot. Sure, she’s ranked fourth, but she’s been swamped getting people to care about this division. Shida has two solid choices for a championship challenger.
Ideally, we’ll hear from the champion tonight as to who she wants to face. Ideally, but it’s AEW, so we probably won’t hear from the champion for weeks.
Other Things to Keep an Eye On:
-Two weeks ago, Kris Stadtlander returned and buddied up to The Best Friends. That’s right! The Best Friends have an alien now! Which is perfect. All four of them are fantastic wrestlers with a silly streak. Tonight, Stadtlander returns to singles action against Amber Nova. It’s time for the alien to work her way back up the rankings and into that number one slot!
-Former boxer and AEW’s first developmental talent, Anthony Ogogo makes his debut tonight. He may have come up in the Nightmare Factory, but he’s not interested in being one of Cody’s boys. He’s joined QT in the rebellion against the Nightmare Family, and tonight he proves just why he’s a household name in England.
-Jade Cargill and Red Velvet have been feuding practically since Cargill debuted. Last night on Dark Cargill interrupted Velvet dancing with her partners Big Swole and KiLynn King. Cargill came out to mix it up a little bit before their match tonight, but Red Velvet wasn’t having any of it because she immediately speared the hell out of Cargill. Tonight, they go one-on-one in a match that is sure to be as intense as it is full of hate.
Tune into AEW on TNT at 8 p.m. EST to see how this all plays out!