All Elite Wrestling comes our way from Jacksonville, Florida. Last week, Christian Cage defeated Matt Sydal, and all he got for it was a beatdown from Team Taz. The Acclaimed insulted Jon Moxley’s wife through song and then paid the price. Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky’s interview was interrupted by Sting, Darby Allin, and the entire Dark Order. Shawn Spears was mean to a waiter just trying to do her job. Hikaru Shida defeated Britt Baker’s right-hand woman, Rebel, despite some well time cheating. The Inner Circle accepted The Pinnacle’s challenge with the iconic line, “we’re gonna dance all over your face and piss all over your grave!” Jade Cargill said she doesn’t need a manager but continued to look for a manager. Serena Deeb successfully defended her NWA championship against Red Velvet. Anthony Ogogo made quick work out of Austin Gunn. Frankie Kazarian put The Elite on notice after they ruined his besties farewell, and Miro and Lance Archer had a war of words to end the show.
This Week’s Headliner:
It feels like lately, all the wrestling world (i.e., Twitter) can talk about is Cody Rhodes. Some people are on the American Nightmare’s team and buy-in to all his self-generated hype, while many others have perpetual headaches from all the eye-rolling the Rhodes clan continues to inspire. Cody just can’t keep his mouth shut when it matters. While he has admitted he didn’t use a focus group for his disastrous “American Dream” promo, maybe he should hire a focus group to prevent him from perpetually putting his foot in his mouth.
And he’s supposed to be the good guy! We’re supposed to be rooting against Anthony Ogogo in this feud, but as far as I can tell, this guy keeps beating up self-righteous jerks, so really, who is the heel here?
Tonight, there is a weigh-in scheduled for Cody Rhodes and Anthony Ogogo, but the jury is out on whether this match will actually happen. Ogogo currently has a broken rib, so don’t be surprised if this weigh-in ends in match-altering shenanigans.
The Title Scene:
Orange Cassidy will confirm his status for The AEW World Championship tonight. He took a nasty bump from PAC a couple of weeks back, and Kenny Omega, ever the magnanimous champion, has given him the option of pulling out of the match. What a guy! Last week, OC tore up Omega’s new contract but didn’t verbally agree either way. I’m not much of a betting gal, but something tells me the champ isn’t going to be happy with OC’s answer.
New TNT Champion Miro has been threatening violence on the entire Dynamite roster. He may be out for blood, but he’s still a defending champion. If by defending, you mean taking on smaller, less experienced opponents like Top Flight’s Daunte Martin and slaughtering them on live TV.
Hikaru Shida has been the AEW Women’s Champion for a year now. Before her battle with Britt Baker on Sunday, AEW is celebrating her one-year anniversary as champion. I just hope Britt got her VIP invitation. Nobody likes a mad dentist.
AEW Tag Team Championships don’t have a match or segment scheduled for tonight, and neither do their Double or Nothing opponents. This means 1 of three things. One, we get a banging video hype package, and these four men get the night off. Two, backstage beatdowns and random carnage. Three, a nonscheduled promo showdown. There is no way these four men don’t appear on the go-home show, especially considering that some are already predicting this will be the match of the night.
Other Things to Keep an Eye On:
-Eric Bischoff is hosting a celebration of Inner Circle. Because we are stuck in a perpetual time loop of “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better.”
-Dark Order’s Evil Uno & Stu Grayson take on Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky, making good on their ominous looming threat.
-Hangman Page battles Joey Janela. It’s like the old proverb says, “Before one takes on The Machine, one must defeat the Party Machine.”
-Darby Allin goes one-on-one with Cezar Bononi because, at this point, we don’t know how to have a Dynamite without Darby Allin. Oh, and Sting will be there too.
- Surely, someone has to be stupid enough to answer Jade Cargill’s open challenge. Let’s just hope it’s not another manager.
Tune into AEW on TNT at 8 p.m. EST to see how this all plays out!