In this WrestleTalk News, Jeff Hardy spoils his own surprise announcing that he is All
Elite, Tony Khan teases a massive future announcement and a top free agent was backstage at last
night’s Dynamite.
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There have been no shortage of Jeff Hardy to AEW rumours recently, with his brother
Matt basically staging a dramatic re-enactment of Jeff’s last moments in WWE to really
drive the point home.
But nothing has been officially confirmed… until now?
The pair recently announced that they would be taking the Hardy Boyz tag team on tour
starting on March 12th at Big Time Wrestle in Webster, Massachusetts, but whether this
would transition into the other major wrestling promotion was up in the air.
Like one of those surprises Tony Khan is always banging on about.
Except for the fact that Jeff just flat out told someone in an interview backstage at
one of his concerts: “I’m going to AEW”.
He’s supposed to be the charismatic enigma, not the straightforward explainer.
So yeah, in an interview with Jared Myers, Hardy let the news slip adding: ““I’m
so excited, until this morning I didn’t really know.
I’m so nervous and excited.”
If the deal was only just set in stone yesterday morning as Hrady seems to suggest, we could
be waiting a while for a surprise slot on AEW to open up.Tony can fit you in around
April buddy.
Because just about every week the AEW President is teasing this announcement or that debut,
play with the toys you have Tony.
And he’s been at it again, on February 18th TK teased that he was working on something
massive which would be a big deal in wrestling, but ahead of last night’s Dynamite he went
further telling Tony Schiavone: “We're working on something massive.
The legal team right now has got us under NDAs, so I can't reveal all the details, but
sufficed to say, we're working on something that's going to be really great for the fans
and the wrestlers, and it's going to be awesome.”
“It's not like The First Dance where I can put a date and time and place on it and say
I know exactly when, but it is like The First Dance in that I know something big and important
is coming to AEW.
“ So he’s just casually teasing something
on the scale of CM Punk returning to wrestling.
OK.
You have my interest.
And that’s not even the end of the moving and the shaking that old TK is doing in AEW
- as according to Fightful Select another top free agent was backstage at last night’s
show.
Ring of Honor World Champion Jonathan Gresham was said to be behind the scenes for the taping,
no word on whether that means he’s signing with the company or if there are any immediate
plans for him to feature.
But the Octopus has been touring promotions defending his ROH Championship since the company
went on hiatus.
And that’s not even the end of it because after week’s of rumours surrounding Shane
Swerve Strickland’s future in wrestling and some serious buzz after appearances at
a number of promotions, it looks like we might have the realest info yet.
Fightful Select are reporting that "After weeks of rumors, Fightful has learned that
All Elite Wrestling is signing Shane "Swerve" Strickland."
Hot tag to Oli now.
And now it’s time for my review of AEW Dynamite… in about 5 minutes.
AEW arguably have the best tag division in the whole world right now.
Maybe even the best tag division in the history of professional wrestling.
So what could be better than just throwing them all in the ring at the same time for
a battle royal to crown a No. 1 contender for the tag titles?
I know, doing it twice, and booking the exact same thing for the following week.
I’m seeing double here… four tag team battle royals.
It’s such an uninspiring way to determine Jurassic Express’ opponents for Revolution,
where they just feel like extras to the Young Bucks/RedDragon feud.
Which is the other problem with AEW’s tag division.
No matter how much talent depth it has, they only really do good stories when the Bucks
have the belts.
They do always have the in-ring wrestling to fall back on, and the story, action and
spots in this were enough to distract from the bigger picture flaws.
Santana, in particular, was on fire in this match, with the match’s biggest reaction
coming for him facing off against Trent because of their parking lot brawl 18 months ago.
Another tag feud that deserved a lot more follow up.
The story was that the final six had no complete teams, leaving Santana, Trent, Kyle O’Reilly,
Matt Jackson, Dax Harwood and John Silver without their partners.
It came down to Adam Cole’s boyfriends vs the Bald Boys.
But then Kyle faked an injury so he could throw out Matt to win.
A fun match.
So it’s weird we’re getting it again next week, just with staggered entrances, and the
losers.
This episode’s strength, however, was angles and promos.
Hangman Page stormed down to beat up RedDragon after they attacked him last week, and the
Bucks stepped aside - further building their long burn reunion.
Cole ran down to save Bobby and Kyle, but Silver fought them off, Hangman hit O’Reilly
with a Buckshot, which Kyle sold for in only the way he can, and Page cut a promo on how
he’s going to beat Cole at Revolution.
It was an effective segment.
But imma stop you right there, MJF just cut one of the best interviews of all time.
MJF stood in the ring, tears welling in his eyes, and spoke about his childhood in school.
He didn’t fit in the classroom because of his ADD.
He didn’t fit in the football team, because his ‘teammates’ would throw nickels at
him in antisemtic abuse.
The only thing that got him through was professional wrestling and his hero CM Punk.
But when he needed Punk most in 2014, Punk quit on wrestling.
Punk quit on him.
MJF threw away his dreams.
Decided to become a football player instead.
But he was unhappy.
It ate away at him.
So he decided to become the best in the world not because of Punk, but in spite of him.
Punk then came down, not as a fiery babyface ready with shoot replies, but as someone concerned
for another human being.
Is it true, Punk asked off mic.
MJF walked off without reply, and the commentary team - even Tony Schiavone - put over how
they felt for Maxwell.
Stop making me feel complicated emotions, AEW, MJF is meant to be a heel.
It’s the recognition that even the bad guys, even the guys you hate, even the guys that
cheated to beat you in your hometown twice, they have their own struggles, their own lives,
their own reasons for being who they are.
And that cut through to Punk, and suddenly the hero understands the true reason his arch
nemesis hates him.
This feud has entered its third, and presumably for now, final act - and they’ve taken a
direction I don’t think anyone saw coming: basing it on the emotion of MJF’s relatable,
humanising past.
This was MJF’s supervillain origin story, and Punk is the former idol he now has to
kill.
The Knights of the Black Throne took on PAC and Penta in a rematch just a few weeks after
their first fight, which was disappointingly, but ultimately understandably, just an entrance
and an angle - saving the actual epic tag they can have for the pay-per-view.
Penta came out in his Oscuro gimmick, while Alex Abrahantes cosplayed as Count Dracula
from Sesame Street, but he never really wrestled any differently.
But it was all about the angle afterwards.
The Knights of the Black Throne have a Buddy now!
Buddy Matthews, the former Buddy Murphy in WWE, made his debut, teased attacking Malakai,
but joined him instead in a brutally awesome beatdown.
Even with Chris Jericho cringely sticking with his new Influencer gimmick, his promo
with Eddie Kingston was another early contender for interview of the year.
He put over Eddie strong, saying he realised after Kingston’s debut match against What’s
his name (in a fun reference to Cody), he could be a huge babyface.
To which Kingston replied: ‘what’s a babyface?’
It’s still real to him, dammit.
But Eddie’s biggest weakness is his own head.
Jericho said he has achievemaphobia - a fear of success - and that’ll stop him from ever
winning the big one.
Kingston’s reply was typically raw, accusing Jericho of being a sports entertainer, not
a wrestler, and that his blood is full of kool-aid he gives younger wrestlers to keep
Y2K relevant.
When they fight at Revolution, he wants the old Chris Jericho, AEW’s first world champion,
the guy that broke out in WCW, the guy that Leveque hates.
No wonder Cody helped Eddie join AEW with all these WWE shots.
This was a stellar performance from both men, with the match more being about Eddie vs Eddie,
than Eddie vs Jericho.
If the HFO have so much money, why is their office a random stairwell?
Ricky Starks quickly beat 10 with a spear, meaning Team Taz has two people in the Revolution
ladder match.
Him and Powerhouse Hobbs crashed a Keith Lee interview later.
Jade Cargill beat The Bunny in a fun, heavily booked match, involving Matt Hardy and Mark
Sterling both trying to interfere with weapons, getting sent to the back and Jade ultimately
retaining to bring her unbeaten streak to 28-0.
She asked ‘who’s next?’ and out came Tay Conti to set up a title match for Revolution.
And the main event was a dream Battle of the Dans match: Daniel Garcia vs Bryan DANIELson.
This was an awesomely violent, technical match, having more of a vicious edge than last week’s
Danielson match against Lee Moriarty.
Danielson choked out Garcia with a triangle sleeper in under ten minutes.
Because, again, it was all about the post-match angle.
2.0 jumped Danielson, so Jon Moxley came out for the save.
Danielson, in turn, saved him from a Garcia surprise attack, and the two agreed to fight
at Revolution before, hopefully, they start their own faction.
What did you think of Dynamite?
84% of you voted for STOP MAKING ME CRY, MJF.
YOU'RE NOT MEANT TO BE A BABYFACE.
This was a promo and angle heavy show with three excellent segments from Mox/Danielson,
Jericho/Kingston and MJF/Punk, and Buddy Matthew’s debut angle - which is exactly what you want
to sell the PPV.
Save the big wrestling matches now for Revolution.
This week’s Dynamite is exactly the same as last week’s at 88%.
Now watch one of the craziest QuizzleManias ever from last night…