In this WrestleTalk News, a botch in the finish of the main event of Dynamite, a WWE star
deemed not ready for a major WrestleMania match, and Oli’s review of AEW Dynamite.
Last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite was main evented with a Trios Trios Match of
House of Black vs The Elite vs Jericho Appreciation Society, [in Winnipeg!]
Those who were a tad more eagle eyed than others and weren’t distracted by the awesome wrestling
in the ring might have noticed an odd sequence of events to end the match, with Daniel Garcia
being the one to take the Dante’s Inferno from Brody King, allowing House of Black to retain.
There were some confused as it looked like Garcia wasn’t the legal man in the match at that point,
but as it turns out, he was. There was just a lot of other stuff surrounding
it to make you think he wasn’t. Which were in fact mistakes. Here’s a rundown…
Garcia was the legal man. Chris Jericho tagged himself in on Sammy Guevara, who was not legal,
so it shouldn’t have counted. Jericho went for a pin and the referee counted it,
which he shouldn’t have as Jericho wasn’t legal. Jericho left the ring and Garcia re-entered with
no tag, so he was still the legal man. So in the end, they got the right answer,
but for the wrong reasons. It was a tad confusing. Did you pick up on this when
you were watching? Let us know in the comments! It’s 3:16 Day! What, give me a hell yes etc.
Would you look at that, we’ve got the perfect news story to mark the occasion as a new report
has shed light on Steve Austin’s proposed match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania Hollywood.
As was reported earlier this week, a Lesnar vs Austin match was offered to Austin by WWE
over the summer, however, the finances involved in said offer were reportedly
not enough for Austin to take the bait. Now, however, a new report from Sports
Illustrated’s Justin Barasso has suggested that the match was closer to being a reality than
first thought. Barasso’s report states that the rather abrupt conclusion to
Lesnar’s feud with Bobby Lashley was pushed forward from WrestleMania to the Elimination
Chamber in order for Lesnar to prepare for a match with Austin in Hollywood instead.
Unfortunately, as we now know this match never came to fruition and instead we got
the equally as appealing Lesnar vs Omos. HOWEVER, it seems that the Austin match
wasn’t the only scrapped plan for Lesnar at Mania 39. Perhaps the match we all had penciled
in on our fantasy Mania cards was Lesnar vs one Intercontinental Champion Gunther. And
while WWE seemed to tease a confrontation between the two men at the Royal Rumble,
sadly nothing has come to fruition. Now, the reason for this may have
been revealed, once again courtesy of Sports Illustrated's Barasso,
who claims that the “prevailing belief internally in WWE” is that Gunther needs another year before
beating “a star the caliber of Lesnar”. The fact that Gunther beating a star the
caliber of Lesnar would elevate him to that level of superstardom is apparently lost
on them. But don’t worry I’m sure you’ve got great and meaningful plans for Omos.
It was widely reported that Vince was backstage at last week’s Raw in Boston,
to ‘visit John Cena’ but was also reported to be in Gorilla position during the show, according
to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio. While that may have been the case, according to,
again, Justin Barasso of Sports Illustrated, multiple WWE sources told him that Vince
“purposely stayed out of the way” while in Gorilla, not donning a headset or getting
involved in Triple H’s interactions with talent. It’s also worth noting that Vince also ‘stayed out
of the way’ from this week’s Raw, reportedly not attending the Rhode Island show at all.
It’s Wednesday, in Winnipeg, you know what that means - AEW and Warner Brothers Discovery are
proud to announce the leveling up of Shazam: Fury of the Gods this week in Winnipeg…
in about 5 minutes. I don’t know if it’s actually good, or
whether I’ve just been conditioned over 25 years of watching WWE, but hot damn do I love a meaty
20 minute in-ring promo segment to start a show. It was MJF’s actual birthday, so he threw himself
a re-barmitzvah party - complete with Checkov’s cake - not just getting heat by saying Judaism
is the superior religion, but also the far more politically divisive statement that
Shawn Michaels was great and Bret Hart was boring. This week in Winnipeg of all places.
This then turned into the most template WWE segment, where wrestler after wrestler walks out
one after another to declare why they should get a title shot. The only difference from the many,
many, many other times we’ve seen this format play out, being it was awesome.
It was ingeniously structured around AEW’s four pillars - with Jungle Boy,
Sammy Guevarra and Darby Allin all ruining the Barmiztvah, four homegrown young
wrestlers who have been in AEW from Day 1. And when MJF asked what do they all want,
they all awesomely replied at the same time: I want a title shot.
Each challenger cut a promo on why they deserved the championship more than Max.
Sometimes they veered too much into shoot territory, like Guevarra saying he was just
brought in to take bumps for Chris Jericho, but they mostly stayed on the right side of kayfabe,
with Darby cutting a great speech about how he’s never going to start a bidding war, because AEW
is the only place that will let him be him. MJF expertly ran them all down, saying Darby
had Sting, Sammy had Jericho, JB had Christian. Max was given nobody. He’s the only one with
enough talent that didn’t have to go in AEW daddy day care. But in all the bravado,
he took off his sunglasses to reveal two black and bruised eyes, the effects of not just a one
hour ironman match against Danielson, but also of a crumbling fragile ego.
A brawl ensued, MJF went through a table full of cake, and all was right with the
world. A great opening segment that sets up a very exciting next World title program.
The first match saw Blackpool Combat Club continue their heelish ways, taking out
Hangman Page with a ring bell to isolate Evil Uno and a returning Stu Grayson. The final few
minutes were terrifically dramatic, with Uno and Stu somehow getting believable near falls, but
Mox choked Grayson out to win. More on this later… Jade Cargill has beaten everyone AEW has to offer…
apart from Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter, Saraya, Riho, Shida, Kris Statlander,
Serena Deeb and Toni Storm. So she squashed local veteran Nicolle Matthews in two moves
to extend her winning streak to 54-0. And that was the big mystery Canadian
wrestler reveal… just one more thing. Taya Valkyrie made her entrance,
stared down Jade and then hit her Road to Valhalla - which is the same as Jade’s Jaded - on Leila
Grey. There’s some finisher battle meat on the bone here, but I’ve struggled to get
excited for anything TBS in about a year. Ricky Starks replied to Juice Robinson’s
earlier promo, telling him to bring Bullet Club - potentially teasing a larger faction invasion.
We got a QTV segment, a fun TMZ parody led by QT Marshall that revealed it was Aaron Solow
who broke into Wardlow’s car last week. The focus felt far more on QT than Hobbs though,
which I think is a huge mistake. Because none of us were into QT as the manager of the TNT
champion. We just wanted Powerhouse Hobbs. Then it was time for the real most anticipated
match this week in Winnipeg as we level up Shazam: Fury of the Gods,
in a partnership between AEW and Warner Bros Discovery: Orange Cassidy vs Double J Jeff
Jarrett for the newly rebranded AEW International Level Up Shazampionship this week in Winnipeg!
As usual with Jarrett matches, the structure was: MAXIMUM BULLS***
There was a ref bump, Satnum Singh tried to use the guitar, a second ref ejected Satnum and
Sonjay, but Lethal hit Cassidy over the head with the Golden Globe for a great near fall,
and Cassidy eventually got the win with the first ref recovered.
It’s what Shazam: Fury of the Gods would’ve wanted.
The Acclaimed debuted a new music video, and 2.0 want to feud with them.
Toni Storm, Saraya and Ruby Ruby Ruby Soho were introduced as the Outcasts - it’s like
the Outsiders [WINK] - where they cut another really decent promo about how
the fans mistreated them. Usually an overdone, inauthentic trope - but here, with Toni saying
how she was only ever the inaugural champion, and everyone just wanted Hayter to win, rang true.
Hayter and Baker ran down for a denim denim denim brawl, got beaten up, so Riho, Willow
Nightingale and Sky Blue made the save. Which raises a big question: where the hell is Shida?
The main event was a fantastic blend of in-ring awesomeness, long term storytelling and just plain
old fashioned ‘I love pro wrestling’ sweetness. As the trios trio match of The Elite vs J.A.S. vs
House of Black this week in Winnipeg, had Kenny Omega from Winnipeg, Chris Jericho,
from Winnipeg, and Don Callis, from Winnipeg. The match was brilliant from the first opening
entrance note. The Winnipeg crowd popped so hard and genuinely for Omega and Jericho,
with Jericho’s dad spotted singing Judas in the crowd, everyone in the ring, despite feuding,
just looked in the best mood. Apart from House of Black, they always look scary.
Even though there were nine people in the match, it was neatly tied around the interactions
of the two hometown boys Omega and Jericho, tying into their storied New Japan rivalry,
a match that arguably changed the wrestling industry, indirectly causing the creation of AEW.
They teased out their first touch, they had a hockey fight, Jericho locked in the Walls,
but the best parts were when they worked together to take on Brody King, who was booked yet again
to arguably steal the show. The House of Black ended up retaining in a really special match.
But wait, there’s more! An inter-faction brawl erupted
in the post-match, not just between those that had just competed, but Blackpool Combat Club,
Hangman Page and the Dark Order from earlier too. It climaxed with Page in the ring, all alone,
with Mox, Claudio and Yuta lining up on the apron to attack him. When suddenly,
behind Hangman, in slide Omega and The Bucks to back him up. The Blackpool Combat Club retreated,
but the show ended just before we saw Hangman turn around to find out why. A fantastic cliffhanger,
and a much needed injection of story into AEW, reprising the long-running Elite melodrama
that’s typically been the soapy operatic heart of the promotion. I now can’t wait for that to
be followed up on in five months! This week’s Dynamite is 88%.
Now go watch Luke and I review every WrestleMania in 3 words or less!