The Bearhugs own “better than Wrestlemania X7”, Greg Wilson, share his random thoughts from the latest week in wrestling.
All Out 2021 is One of the Best PPV’s Ever!
Is there such a thing as a perfect PPV? If so, All Out 2021 is definitely in the running. From top to bottom the show was structured masterfully. No match ran too short or too long. Every match did what it was supposed to and hit the right notes. Even the Paul White match was done right! It was also a night filled with big returns, surprise debuts and a potential match of the year candidate;
CM Punk Has Still Got It – One of the main selling points for the PPV was CM Punk’s first match in 7 years and it didn’t disappoint. You could tell he had some very slight ring rust but that was too be expected. Only a few wrestlers can go away for so long and slip right back into the groove (Hello Shawn Michaels from Summerslam 2002). But for the most part Punk looked back where he belongs and he looked like he was actually having fun! I suppose it helped having a guy like Darby Allin in there with him. Darby sold like a champ and also looked very strong despite the loss. That corner bump though… Jesus Christ, man! Take it easy!
Match of the Year? – At this point, AEW already has banked many prime candidates for match of the year but The Young Bucks vs Lucha Bros may be the odds-on favourite. Hands down this is one of the best steel cage matches I have ever seen. There was never any doubt it would be a good match but this is the thing when these two teams come together, they will always blow away your expectations. If you aren’t too fussed about watching the full show you need to at least make this match a priority.
Destination Known! – In what would be a night of many big debuts, the first came in the form of Ruby Soho. Many had pretty much figured she would be the joker in the battle royal but she still received a tremendous welcome from the red hot Chicago crowd. She put on a tremendous showing as well, winning the match and getting a title shot at Britt Baker D.M.D. In just her first week alone she has already proven her worth and that WWE has once again let a solid gold talent slip through their fingers. I have also not been able to get Rancid out of my head for a week. So… cheers for that.
American Dragon!... Bay! Bay! – Following a brilliant main event, the show closed with it’s two best surprises of the night. First up was Adam Cole returning from the dead and immediately super kicking Jungle Boy to re-join the Elite. Cole got an amazing pop from the crowd and it shows he has made the smart choice in jumping ship. On top of that, his mic skills and in-ring work will just add further flavour to the prime Elite stew. But just when it seemed like the Elite would end the show on top, a remixed version of Ride of the Valkyries played and out came the “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. It appears AEW is wasting no time in giving us what we want, as Bryan has jumped straight to the front of the que for that dream match with Kenny Omega.
Many have compared All Out 2021 to Wrestlemania X7 and I have to strongly agree. I have not seen a PPV this brilliant in quite some time and for me it has immediately jumped into my top 5 favourite PPV’s of all time. If you haven’t already (what the hell have you been doing?!) go check it out!
WWE Joining the House of Mouse?
Further reports came out this week about WWE potentially looking to sell the company. Many have pointed to the mass amount of cuts and streamlining of its operations being a sign of WWE looking to sell in the next two years. NBC and Fox had been the front runners but now Diseny has entered the discussion, with looks to buying in the next 24 months or sooner. No doubt they will have to wait till the deals with Peacock and Fox have come to an end but with Disney’s deep pockets maybe they could buy out the remaining time on those deals.
Truthfully, this could be a great thing to happen. Many fans don’t seem happy with WWE selling to a “big bad corporation” but they are kind of missing the point that WWE is already a “big bad corporation”. You don’t sell out stadiums and sign billion dollar TV deals by being an indie company. Plus, if it goes to Disney I would only need the one subscription to what is already becoming the best streaming service. Imagine being able to watch Toy Story, The Simpsons and Raw all in one place? It would be wild.
I understand people’s concern about a company like Disney taking over. But our very own Garrod put it best; the biggest concern is not them messing it up, because it can’t get any worse than it currently is. It is not spurring any change that is the real worry. I think as long as they do try to revitalise the product, it can only lead towards good things. Plus with Disney’s proven track record in buying other properties and making them a success, WWE should be in safe hands if does sell to the House of Mouse.
Mick Foley Says What We Are Thinking
Never one to hold back, Mick Foley has upset Vince and co with a recent video he posted this week. Following All Out, Foley posted a video titled – “WWE-WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM”. Essentially, the video basically said what has been on a lot of people’s minds that WWE has no longer become the place that talent aspire to. Foley brought up AEW and the recent call up of Karrion Kross to make his point:
"Part of it is because AEW is doing a great job of attracting great talent, proven talent, building other talent, creating storylines. But part of it is a problem of your own making. I think younger talent sees the way developmental characters are cut or left by the wayside, or in the case of Karrion Kross greatly watered down and even made a joke of when they debut on the main roster. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
"If I was an aspiring talent now, big league talent, with a major decision to make, I’m not sure that I would trust WWE Creative to do the right thing with my career. You guys did wonders with me back in the day but that was a different time, a different place. If it was today, I’m not sure I would trust the powers at be with my career in their hands.
"Until that changes, WWE - you’ve got a problem."
Foley is not wrong with his recent comments. WWE used to be the place where talent could go and become a star. When WWE creative really wanted to they could work wonders of coming up with great characters and storylines. These days though they have an incredibly poor track record. Kross should have been an easy home run for them but instead they decided to completely ruin him on his first night. Needless to say, Foley’s comments have got him a lot of heat in WWE. Despite being signed to WWE on a legends deal, Foley has doubled down on his comments and has refused to take anything back. Truly, he has always been a man of the people. I’ll link his video above for you to take a look.
Dynamite and Rampage Continue the Hype
Following a tremendous PPV, the pressure was no doubt on for Dynamite and Rampage to continue the wave of success. Which thankfully they did without breaking a sweat. Not too mention, they smashed it in the demographic, with this Dynamite becoming the second most watched episode behind the debut episode. Here are my favourite talking points:
The House of Black Continues to Dominate – Malakai Black took on the older Rhodes sibling in the form of Dustin. The pair had a damn solid match that admittedly was slightly sloppy in some places. Black once again picked up the win and continues his destruction of the Nightmare Factory. It is just brilliant to see Black showing his worth, once again demonstrating the talent that WWE let slip through their fingers. It was also announced on this show that his rematch with Cody will take place at the huge New York show on the 22nd September. I cannot wait!
Punk vs Team Taz – While CM Punk was hosting his usual love-in with the crowd he was interrupted by Taz getting up from the commentary table. It seems Taz is not happy with Punk name dropping his stable mates in recent interviews and now it all looks confirmed that Punk will be on a collision course with all the Team Taz members. Maybe we will even see Punk team with Brian Cage to continue the Machines revenge on his former stable? Regardless, expect some brilliant matches and promo sparring ahead.
Martin vs Hobbs – Following Punks promo, Dante Martin and Powerhouse Hobbs put on a great small man verses big man bout. It was the perfect mismatch of agile vs brute strength. Martin continues to dazzle in the ring with his style that it needs to be seen to be believed.
The All Out Three – All three of the big debuts from All Out made their presence felt on Dynamite. Ruby Soho picked up a win over Jamie Hayter in a solid match. Adam Cole cut a great heel promo including him turning into a jealous dick over Tony Shivones relationship with Cole’s real life girlfriend Britt Baker. And Bryan Danielson showed up to set further anticipation for his show down against Kenny Omega.
MJF Causes Pillman’s Sister to Go Into Labour – MJF took his heel powers to a whole new level this week on Dynamite. While talking about his loss to Jericho his ire became aimed at the Pillman family in the front row. Which included Brian Pillman Jr. very pregnant sister who apparently went into labour while verbally sparring with MJF. Needless to say, MJF was his usual reserved self on Twitter about the incident…
Hometown Heroes! – Both shows came to us from Cincinnati this week and it featured two hometown boys getting their big moment. Jon Moxley beat NJPW legend Minouro Suzuki in a brutally stiff match in the Dynamite main event. The hard as nails Suzuki had to get 8 stitches after the match which shows Mox was not holding back against the strong style icon. Pillman Jr also beat Max Caster in the Rampage main event whilst wearing trunks that were a tribute to his farther. I love his work in the Varsity Blondes but I’m looking forward to when Pillman Jr will break out on his own as a singles star.
Pac vs Andrade – Originally set for All Out before travel issues moved it to Rampage, this match delivered while also leaving us wanting more. For one thing, it was just great to see Andrade finally step into the ring again. Since showing up he has been slightly underwhelming having only had one match with AEW so far. But this match went a long way to remind everyone of how great he is and that he will hopefully become more of a break out star. Pac of course was his usual badass self and this match gave us a great taster of more to come. I predict we will see a rematch down the line and hopefully they will be given a longer time to go at it. Very surprised to see what could already be the end of the partnership between Andrade and Chavo Guerrero…
Smackdown Returns to MSG
I’m not going to bother talking about Raw because… well… there really isn’t anything worth bringing up. Smackdown however had a great show, no doubt because it was back in WWE’s spiritual home of Madison Square Garden. For starters, Brock Lesnar made his first appearance since Summerslam and did so in dominant fashion. I’ll be the first to say I have not been the biggest fan of Lesnar the last few years on account fo multiple reasons. But I am digging this run so far with him being face and his new look. On top of that, it really does add a fresh chapter in the Roman Reigns heel run, especially where Paul Heyman is concerned.
Elsewhere, the current Reigns chapter continued as Finn Balor brought back the demon a head of his title match against Roman. It’s been a long time since we have seen the demon on TV and it seemed like that part of Balor had been long since removed. In fact, I believe Balor made comments not that long ago saying he had moved on from that element of his character. No doubt McMahon might have got in his ear if this is true, after all it is a licence to print merchandise. It is going to be cool seeing demon Balor in action but it is no doubt leading to the demon suffering his first loss on the main roster. I suppose there is no one better than Reigns to do it but I just hope they build it up right.
Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair had a contract signing on the show as well. It’s great to see Becky dialling up the heel heat even further. I mean, just coming out in that coat was enough, it was simply fabulous. But her using the fans praise against them is masterfully done in her new evil cocky persona. “I left my baby girl at home for you people” – is just a chef kiss of a line. I’m looking forward to the rematch between these two, I just hope it isn’t a repeat of the first…
The show was not without controversy though. There was no women’s match on the card despite a tag team match being advertised and eventually being cut. The match was supposed to feature Zelina Vega, Carmella, Toni Storm and Liv Morgan with most of the competitors going straight to Twitter to vent their frustration. What makes this more frustrating is the emotional stakes Vega had going into this show. The whole event was built around the 20th anniversary of 9/11 in which Vega tragically lost her farther. You can’t help but agree with Vega’s frustration and it’s baffling WWE would not prioritise this match with the amount of 9/11 tributes they had on the show.
Dawn of a New Era?
I’ll wrap up this week’s edition by talking about the word that is on a lot of people’s lips. Following All Out many seem to point that we are about to enter a new golden age of wrestling and I have to agree. Now WWE really does have stiff competition on its hands, wrestling really does feel exciting again. WWE has gotten far too comfortable without anyone challenging it’s thrown and as a long AEW stays the course they will become a real threat to McMahon’s dominance. Whatever happens in the times a head it will certainly be nothing short of exciting. Goddamn it feels good to be a wrestling fan.
Make sure to tune into this week’s episode of Wednesday Night Paw where the podcast boys begin their look at the G1 Climax. Starting with taking a look at the History and Legacy of the event. Tune in September 15 at 6:30pm GMT on Twitch.
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