Now that the dust has settled from this year’s WWE Draft, we can be sure of two things: the
format still doesn’t make any sense, and WWE don’t care about Andrade or Mickie James.
They were the only two people that were part of the draft pools to remain undrafted, and
not join a brand in free agency either. Mickie James was reportedly left out because of a
broken nose, but there’s no such excuse for Andrade - who actually wrestled on Raw,
losing to Angel Garza before being beaten up by The Fiend.
According to Wrestling Inc., though, the reason Andrade wasn’t picked in the draft is because
he’s set to undergo a “minor elective procedure” soon, and is expected to miss
about a month of TV time. And, apparently - but take this with a huge pinch of salt
alongside the tequila slamma, because not one person recently that Vince McMahon is
high on backstage has done anything - the report adds Andrade “is expected to receive
a push when he returns” - which PWInsider has reported he’ll stay on Raw.
His real-life fiance Charlotte Flair teased being his manager yesterday now Zelina Vega
has been drafted to SmackDown. But that’s not the only person that could
help Andrade out on another brand. Andrade was originally in line for a renewed
push on Raw while Paul Heyman was still the show’s head booker. But since Heyman’s
firing there, these plans were seemingly dropped for the much better storyline of losing to
the Street Profits for four months. Without Heyman fighting his corner, Dave Meltzer
has revealed Andrade can probably expect to get buried on Raw, as: “Vince never got
it with him. Whatever he got was just remnants because Heyman saw him in Mexico & Japan and
thought he was top talent, and got him as far as he could. There's a reason when Heyman
was ousted I told everyone Andrade was dead.” Things are looking much better for Aleister
Black, who was actually drafted to a show on Monday! In the sixth round. After Titus
O’Neil… god dammit WWE. Black was also one of Heyman’s projects
while booking Raw, but it’s been reported McMahon was never a fan of his gimmick. Black
was written off TV with a kayfabe eye injury, and brought back as a heel with new music.
Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Black shot on WWE creative for not replicating his NXT
success on the main roster: “We moved so far away from what Aleister
Black was in NXT that people started getting confused about what exactly Aleister Black
was supposed to be. After a few conversations, I said, ‘I need a different direction.’...You
don’t have to agree with the motives to understand [a character], but the motive had
got lost for Aleister Black on the main roster.” Someone else who’s got a fresh start is
John Cena, who secretly got married to girlfriend Shay Shariatzadeh on Monday, full on living
the You Can’t See Me gimmick. The couple have been dating since 2019, and had a private
ceremony in Tampa, Florida, which sadly wasn’t the Thunderdome.
Now here’s last night’s AEW Dynamite reviewed in about 5 minutes.
To open AEW Dynamite’s first anniversary show - or in WrestleMania terms, it’s second
anniversary show - the Best Friends got to brush FTR’s greatness.
FTR worked over Trent Berreta, including a rare huge German suplex off the top rope,
for Chuckie T to hot tag in, tag out and get Trent worked over again - which had a second
comeback with an awesome crossbody counter off another top rope German.
Trent then took working himself over into his own hands, diving headfirst into Kip Sabian’s
arcade cabinet in the crowd when Cash moved out the way. Best Bachelor Party ever! Cash
then hit Chuckie T with the belt behind the ref’s back for Dax to win this really fun
match. Then, starting the Best Friend’s next feud
seamlessly, The Angriest Man Miro avenged Kip’s broken arcade cabinet and brutally
beat them up - Best Friends vs the Best Man, eh, get it? And then he also squashed Sean
Maluta and Lee Johnson in what I would call single-handedly, but that would be exaggerating
how much of the Accolade/Game Over submission hold Miro actually got on. He got that fire
right back though, awesomely cutting a promo on the Chuckie and Trent saying ‘Best Friends,
you broke my s-word’. The tournament brackets for the AEW Title
No. 1 contender’s tournament was announced - with Fenix and Penta going against each
other, dear god, and Kenny Omega and Hangman Page - who were missing from this anniversary
show - on opposite sides. Hopefully setting up a Page vs Omega final.
Further complicating their burgeoning bromance, or feud, I don’t know if they want to fight
or f-word - Chris Jericho challenged MJF to a 1 on 1… steak dinner next week, to discuss
MJF potentially joining the Inner Circle. MJF and Jericho are great together, and the
dynamic is made even better by the rest of the Inner Circle not trusting Friedman. Even
when he finally got Sammy his jacket, it’s not his fault it’s way too big.
In my genuinely favourite segment of the night, Tony Shiavone interviewed Britt Baker about
her epic comeback… in a spa, which included him getting his chest waxed 40 Year Old Virgin
style. Because every title was on the line for the
anniversary show, Cody defended his TNT title next against Orange Cassidy - now with original
Blonde flavour. This was the most I’ve enjoyed a Cassidy
match since PAC at Revolution - with the perfect mix of low effort mind games and really credible
wrestling. This is what he needs to be for a while following the overly comedic Jericho
feud. The match went up a gear following John Silver
trying to attack Cody with the TNT title, a spot to transition into a really exciting
back and forth second half, putting over how Cody is still dealing with his injuries from
last week’s Brodie match. Cassidy’s AirRaid Crash on the apron was so good, you thought
he was going to win - even rolling him up, but Justin Roberts called for the time limit
draw just before the 3 count. A rematch was announced for two weeks’ time.
The TNT title schedule is very well laid out, with Darby Allin getting a shot at Full Gear
- who was shown watching on from the stands like Sting. Sting, social distancing before
it was cool. Matt Hardy was in the crowd with his family,
announcing he’s finally cleared to return after that horrific Sammy Guevarra match…
to be interrupted by Sammy Guevarra. He revealed himself as Matt’s attacker several weeks
ago, presumably setting up yet another match between them. Given the amount of times Matt
gets legitimately injured with Sammy, I’m struggling to properly invest in the feud.
The Butcher and the Blade, John Silver and Alex Reynolds (get in, Silver!), Private Party
and the Young Bucks were then announced for a four way tag team No. 1 contenders match
next week. While it’s very likely the Bucks will win, they did a good job here building
the Bucks vs Private Party - putting over how the rookies beat the Jacksons this time
last year. The token women’s match saw Shida defend
her title against Big Swole. It was decent, but the division again lacked the same care
and focus given to literally everything else in the promotion. They went 9 minutes, a third
of which was a picture-in-picture adbreak, and Shida beat Swole with two running knees.
Shawn Spears got a video promo on Scorpio Sky.
And then, after brawling backstage twice earlier in the show, our Lance Archer vs Jon Moxley
main event was made a No DQ match - making The Eddie Kingston Family’s looming presence
on commentary even more threatening. But no wear near as intimidating as Archer’s
spiky helmet - which he’d previously worn for his US title match against Mox in New
Japan. Their feud had cooled off a bit due to CoVid
delays, but both men immediately picked it up again - with Mox hitting a Paradigm Shift
for a 2 count as soon as the bell rang. Mox would hit two more Paradigm Shifts, including
one off the apron through two tables, which also only got him near falls. It’s not very
effective. After a really exciting hardcore brawl, Lance
hit the Blackout, but Mox reversed the pin into one of his own to retain in a great main
event. And then, on AEW’s big anniversary show,
the big cliffhanger angle was with a guy who wasn’t even supposed to be signed. In the
last five years, who has taken an opportunity better than Eddie Kingston? Getting over in
a one-off match with Cody, and then just a few months later, is signed by AEW full time,
has his own faction which includes the Lucha Bros, is now recognised as one of the best
promo guys in a company full of great promo guys, and is feuding for the top title.
Kingston congratulated Mox on winning, then hit a sick backfist and choked him out looking
right down the camera, in what is presumably building to an I Quit match.
What did you think of AEW Dynamite? Let me know in the comments down below because I’ll
be replying to people FROM OUTTA JOHN SILVER’S BEARD!
This was an incredibly solid episode for AEW, really showing how far the promotion has come
from its first episode a year ago. It’s almost emotional in a way, watching your little
baby grow like this. And to see them tweak, adapt, get people over, keep people over,
swells my little marky heart with both pride and joy. This week’s Dynamite is 4 out of
5. Luke Warm Luke Owen has ranked every WWE Draft
trade - click the video on the right to see what’s best and what’s the worst. And
find out what happened on last night’s QuizzleMania, where Luke and I defended our tag titles against
the Good Brothers Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson by clicking the video below that. I’ve been
Mr Davis, Jam that Jam.