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Since the days World Championship Wrestling imploded and Vince McMahon bought them up, there was never a viable alternative to World Wrestling Entertainment. TNA/IMPACT constantly tripped over itself whenever it tried to take a step forward and shows like Lucha Underground were too niche for their own good. Then in 2019, All Elite Wrestling stepped in. A wrestling promotion that wasn’t afraid to be about wrestling. A place where the tag team division could thrive. Where storylines could make sense and not be made out of a dozen rematches filled with disqualifications and no contests. A place where a large dinosaur man can chokeslam a ghoul in clown makeup. A place where awesome wrestlers can have awesome wrestling matches. With a new show on the schedule, a brand new video game, and a MASSIVE show in England on the way, I figured it’s time for another go at doing an AEW primer. Reading all this poo poo isn’t by any means necessary to one’s enjoyment of the product, but it makes for some good sports education.  (Tony Nese...? They really couldn't figure out anyone better for that spot?) AEW’S SHOWS AEW has three main shows. On Wednesday night, there’s Dynamite, the two-hour main show on TBS. Friday night gives us the 1-hour Rampage on TNT, which isn’t nearly as important, but usually has some fun matches thrown in. Collision is a new two-hour show, meant to be on equal footing with Dynamite, which airs on TNT on Saturday night. Then there’s Ring of Honor, AEW’s sibling promotion, which airs on Honor Club on Thursday nights. AEW’s YouTube channel has special Countdown shows that go up on Tuesday nights that feature video packages and interviews to hype up upcoming matches. There’s also Being the Elite, the humor-based travel vlog by the Young Bucks, which features a bunch of comedy sketches from wrestlers and the occasional story beat. In terms of PPVs, AEW usually has five. Revolution in late February, Double or Nothing in late May, Forbidden Door (the NJPW crossover show) in late June, All Out in late August/early September, and Full Gear in early-to-mid November. Interesting thing happening at the end of the summer is how we’re getting All In on August 27 with All Out on September 3. No word yet if these will both be PPVs, but the rumor is that they will be available on MAX.  AEW’S CHAMPIONSHIPS AEW World Champion: MJF AEW International Champion: Orange Cassidy TNT Champion: Luchasaurus AEW Women’s World Champion: Toni Storm TBS Champion: Kris Statlander AEW Tag Team Champions: FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) AEW Trios Champions: House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, Buddy Matthews) There’s also the FTW Championship, held by Hook, though that is not an officially recognized title belt. It’s more of a vanity title that found a life of its own.  AEW SPECIALTY MATCHES Lights Out: A fancy way to say that it’s a no-DQ match that will happen at the end of the show. In-storyline, the match is not sanctioned by AEW and the results do not officially count towards the wrestlers’ win-loss records. Casino Battle Royal: A 21-person/tag team Royal Rumble. Everyone picks a playing card prior to the show. Every few minutes, a different set of wrestlers who drew certain suits would enter in clusters. Whoever drew the joker card would come in alone at #21. Casino Ladder Match: A ladder match with staggered entries, like a Royal Rumble. While coming out later makes you fresher, it’s also possible that somebody else might win the match before you have a chance to enter. Blood & Guts: Basically WarGames with a different name. Two teams of five will compete in a double ring with a roofed cage around it. Every few minutes a new entrant would go into the cage. Once everyone had entered, the match continues until somebody submits. Stadium Stampede: A team vs. team brawl through an entire football stadium and the adjacent parts of the building. Goes on until somebody gets pinned. Usually gets really bizarre. Anarchy in the Arena: A team vs. team Falls Count Anywhere match that spreads throughout the entire arena.  THE HISTORY OF AEW Once upon a time, somebody on Twitter asked wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer if anyone non-WWE could ever sell out a 10,000 person arena. Meltzer said no, but Cody Rhodes of the Bullet Club offshoot team the Elite decided to take that bet. A big wrestling show collaboration happened between promotions like Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling, National Wrestling Association, and so on. All In happened on September 1, 2018 and it was a major success. WWE needed a creative shot in the arm and was very close to signing the Elite guys in response to All In, but there was another player out of nowhere. Tony Khan, the billionaire son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, wanted to start his own major wrestling promotion and saw All In as an avenue of making that happen. He talked the Elite and various others into signing with him (including huge get Chris Jericho!) and getting on the ground floor. And so, on January 1, 2019, the Young Bucks’ goofball travel vlog Being the Elite did an episode that formally announced a new PPV event called Double or Nothing, as the logo appeared on all of their phones. Hangman Adam Page was confused, as his showed something different. It was the logo for All Elite Wrestling. There was plenty of skepticism about the promotion early on, calling it nothing more than a glorified t-shirt company. As if it was going to be no different than Jeff Jarrett’s hilarious Global Force Wrestling venture. Hell, all they had to promote their first PPV was a bunch of YouTube updates, including episodes of BTE. But shortly before Double or Nothing happened in May, it was announced that the promotion would start airing weekly on TNT in September. This was huge. Then Double or Nothing was a hit show with plenty of great word of mouth, ending with the surprise appearance of Jon Moxley, formerly WWE’s Dean Ambrose. While storylines were built up via YouTube content, AEW spent the next few months with two free-in-the-US PPVS (Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen, respectively) and a major PPV All Out. AEW Dynamite started airing on Wednesdays on TNT. WWE moved their developmental show NXT from Tuesday to Wednesday to counter-program it, but ultimately lost the war and went back to Tuesdays. This would actually have huge ramifications for WWE in general, namely the relationship between Vince McMahon and Triple H, which in turn would affect AEW via osmosis. Shortly after Dynamite started airing, they started a Tuesday YouTube show called AEW Dark that featured some lesser matches. While top stars would regularly appear on it, it was mostly a place for squash matches and throwaway stuff so named wrestlers could build up their win-loss records. Years later, a second version of this called AEW Dark Elevation would start airing on Mondays. It was all worth checking out purely for the hilarious commentary. AEW had plenty of momentum, especially after AEW Revolution in February 2020. Unfortunately... COVID happened. The pandemic disrupted much of the company, but not completely. They still had a home arena in Jacksonville and spent much of the next couple years doing shows there. They started out with only a third of the roster available and had to figure themselves out from there. The audience was initially replaced with just wrestlers booing and cheering. Eventually, fans were allowed in, but had to be masked and separated. AEW got by just fine, but the real news was what was going on at WWE. Despite huge profits, Vince McMahon and new right-hand man Nick Khan (no relation) started just firing people left and right. A RIDICULOUS amount of people were being let go due to very unnecessary budget cuts. AEW sucked up a lot of those names, but refused plenty of others. While morale was down in the gutter at WWE, AEW was becoming the safe haven for wrestlers who needed an alternative. The problem was that AEW was starting to get a bit too full. They were overflowing with talent. Luckily, Turner really dug them and gave them a second show. On Friday nights, AEW Rampage would air. Making it such a big deal was that the second show was the site for CM Punk’s grand return to wrestling after leaving WWE seven years earlier. After Punk came big names like Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson. Co-founder Cody Rhodes, meanwhile, let his contract expire and gambled on a well-paid WWE return. In March 2022, Tony Khan announced that he bought Ring of Honor. The promotion, which represented the apex of in-ring excellence in North America, had its status usurped by AEW and was destroyed by the pandemic. Tony now had it as a sister promotion to AEW with its own PPVs. Unfortunately, this meant promoting ROH titles and talent on AEW TV, which was already overstuffed and the whole thing started to get out of hand. Eventually, ROH would get its own weekly show on Honor Club, the online streaming service. Sadly, no TV for this promotion, but the lack of television formatting (ie. timing, commercials, ratings) has made it easier for Tony to book around. Speaking of other promotions, one thing that set AEW apart from WWE was their ability to work alongside other wrestling companies. NWA and IMPACT were regularly involved in crossover storylines and matches. The real holy grail was NJPW, which was soured due to their previous working relationship with ROH and the rough bad blood between them and the Elite. Regardless, wounds were healed and when NJPW wrestler KENTA made a surprise appearance for a few AEW shows, people were shocked as “the forbidden door” had been cracked open. The two companies would then collaborate on a joint PPV called Forbidden Door, which happened on June 22, 2022. Due to various AEW wrestler injuries and what seemed like disinterest from certain NJPW talent, the line-up was not as epic as hoped. Luckily, the show delivered and is considered one of the greatest AEW PPVs ever, giving way to an amazing 2023 follow-up. The AEW train got derailed when it came time for All Out 2022. During the post-show press conference, CM Punk proceeded to badmouth various people on the roster due to perceived slights and it culminated in a backstage brawl involving him and the Elite. Everyone involved was suspended and since Punk suffered an injury in his PPV match, he was going to be gone for a while regardless. His status in the company was up in the air for a while. This incident really screwed up a lot of plans and AEW fumbled around for several months, trying to get back on track. While the shows were still good, AEW lost plenty of momentum. But there was still definitely gas in the tank. Tony Khan announced that All In would finally return (the first show was technically ROH-owned, but since Tony bought ROH...) and that it would take place at Wembley Stadium. The tickets flew quickly and at this point it is all but sold out. All without a single match announced. A new show was announced for Saturdays called AEW Collision. While Rampage lost its importance over time, Collision would be AEW’s other main show. It was also a place to showcase more of the overstuffed roster, including the return of CM Punk. As part of this agreement, all the AEW non-PPVs have to be under the Turner umbrella. That meant the cancellation of Dark and Dark Elevation. As of this writing, it’s an exciting time for the company. Collision just started, Forbidden Door 2 kicked a lot of rear end, we’re about to get the AEW Fight Forever video game, and we’re a couple months away from All In, the company’s biggest show yet.
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Here are some write-ups of certain corners of AEW. Wrestlers and storylines that have been developing in some way over the company’s existence. Again, knowing these isn’t imperative, but you might find reading up on them interesting. HANGMAN PAGE AND THE ELITE As AEW started, the Elite was made up of five guys, mainly. Kenny Omega was the “Best Bout Machine” and the big singles superstar. Cody Rhodes was the guy who tried to capture the spirit of the wrestling era his father represented. The Young Bucks were the top name in tag team wrestling. While not considered “Elite,” they also had loyal buddies (and bottom tier wrestlers) in Brandon Cutler and Michael Nakazawa. Then there was Hangman Adam Page. He was the member of the Elite who didn’t have a reputation at that point. He was set on building one by becoming the company’s very first champion. He won the company’s first Casino Battle Royal to earn his spot in the match to crown the inaugural AEW World Champion. The other spot was decided with a match between Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega, which Jericho won. At All Out 2019, Hangman asked the Young Bucks if they would be in his corner, like they were with Omega during some of his big matches in Japan. The Bucks were busy with their own big match that night, so they declined. Hangman said he understood, but their dismissal did get under his skin. Even worse, Hangman lost the big match against Jericho. During a press conference after the show, Hangman was heckled by his rival PAC. In the months that followed, Hangman developed a drinking problem. He started doubting himself and wanted out of the Elite. He felt like he didn’t belong. It didn’t help that Omega and the Bucks dismissed his plans to leave. He wanted to go out on his own, but they insisted he was one of them and would get outright mad if he didn’t run out to have their backs during an ambush. Omega was having a rough patch too and ended up falling into a tag team with Hangman. The two ended up having amazing chemistry and won the tag titles! Then they had one of the best title runs in the company’s history. Hangman still had imposter syndrome, especially knowing that it was only a matter of time before they lost to the Bucks. They did have a title defense against the Young Bucks, which ended up being one of the all-time best AEW matches, and surprisingly won! Regardless, there was still plenty of tension after the bell. The Elite got wrapped up in a feud with Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle. Hangman came through and the team worked as a unit, defeating the Inner Circle in the company’s first Stadium Stampede match. He went back to chilling with the Elite, but he wasn’t entirely happy. As he put it, “I love you guys, but I don’t like you. And that’s okay.” Things went bad once the tag team FTR showed up. FTR befriended Hangman while acting like condescending dicks to Omega and the Bucks. After plenty of drinking and quality time with Hangman, they got into his head and convinced him that he couldn’t keep the tag titles away from the Bucks forever. During a gauntlet match to crown #1 contenders, a drunken Hangman interfered against the Bucks, costing them the match. Eventually, FTR won the gauntlet. The Bucks, furious with Hangman’s behavior, kicked him out of the Elite. FTR defeated Omega/Hangman and Omega left the exhausted Hangman in the ring. He washed his hands of the whole situation and decided to return to being a singles star. He and Hangman each entered a tournament to crown a new #1 contender and they met up in the finals. Omega won and at the same show, the Young Bucks defeated FTR for the tag titles. Hangman wanted to congratulate his former teammates, but realized they were probably happier without him around. Enter the Dark Order. I’ll elaborate in a later entry, but the Dark Order was originally introduced as a possibly supernatural Scientology-type cult that gradually increased its membership. Hangman had some run-ins against the Dark Order in the months prior, which did not end in his favor. During the night when Omega won the tournament and the Bucks won the tag titles, Hangman noticed the Dark Order members chanting, “gently caress HANGMAN!” backstage to rally themselves and surprised them by angrily joining in. Confused, but seeing this as an opportunity, Dark Order member Evil Uno realized that maybe they could recruit him. Though Hangman never officially joined the Dark Order, he did come to appreciate their friendship. They understood him in a way that the Elite never did. Meanwhile, Kenny Omega was able to wrest the title away from Jon Moxley via help from his longtime mentor Don Callis. Omega turned heel and the Bucks eventually joined him. Despite his own stellar win-loss record, Hangman was reluctant to ever challenge Omega for the title. Instead, the loyal and supportive Dark Order challenged Omega for him. Though there were road bumps in the way, Hangman eventually got his match. Prior to it, he apologized for his prior actions to the Bucks. The Bucks reacted by appearing at ringside during the match and refusing to interfere for Omega. Hangman defeated Omega to become the champion. Omega took time off to heal from his many injuries. Hangman would have a solid title run, eventually losing to CM Punk. A trios championship was announced and the Bucks offered Hangman a spot with them. Hangman instead chose to support the Dark Order. That led to Omega making his return from injury to join the Young Bucks. In the finals, Omega and the Bucks defeated the team of Hangman, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds. In the months that followed, a rivalry between Hangman and Jon Moxley expanded and became increasingly violent until Hangman and the Dark Order were at war with the Blackpool Combat Club. During a big brawl between the two sides, Hangman ended up in the ring at the same time as Omega and the Bucks. The Elite backed Hangman up to make the BCC back off. While there was no real reunion, it did piss off the BCC, who started targeting the Elite. Interested in making his meal ticket focus on being a singles star, Don Callis tried to prevent Omega from getting too involved with the BCC feud. This led to Callis betraying Omega and stabbing him with a screwdriver. In the aftermath, after all these attacks and brutal beatings, the four members of the Elite are now standing together once more. Unfortunately, the Dark Order feel slighted over Hangman rekindling his old friendships.  THE RISE OF MJF In the beginning, Maxwell Jacob Friedman was Cody Rhodes’ rear end in a top hat protégé. The two seemed like best friends, but whenever Cody wasn’t in the room, MJF would antagonize anyone and everyone. While everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before the other shoe dropped, there were times when MJF seemed like he genuinely had Cody’s back and the crowd was into it. Then came the day when Cody took on Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship. If Cody lost, he could never challenge for the title ever again. As Cody’s cornerman and with Cody locked in a submission he had little chance of escaping, MJF threw in the towel. After the match, MJF kicked Cody in the nuts, fully turning against him. Now 100% heel, MJF gained two major accessories. One was Wardlow, an agile brute who worked as his bodyguard. The other was the Dynamite Diamond Ring, the reward for winning an annual battle royal (that turns into a singles match with its finalists, usually). The ring has been successfully defended every year since it was introduced and has been a regular illegal weapon in MJF’s repertoire. Trying to escape Cody’s wrath, MJF started using a trope that he would break out over and over again over time: to face him one-on-one, you would have to go through various challenges and complete every single one of them. For example, Cody had to endure 10 lashes with a belt, defeat Wardlow, and agree not to put a hand on MJF in the lead-up to their match. MJF won the grudge match and Cody never did get his revenge. MJF earned his way into a match against Jon Moxley for the title. He was able to finagle it so that the Death Rider DDT was not allowed to be used, but Mox just hit him with it when the ref wasn’t looking. After his defeat, MJF decided that what he needed was a crew to back him up. He courted Chris Jericho and his Inner Circle, trying to win their trust and earn a spot for Wardlow and himself. Eventually, it worked out and they were let in. At the same time, Sammy Guevara did not trust MJF and Jericho’s heavy Jake Hager did not trust fellow heavy Wardlow. It seemed like MJF was building towards a coup against Jericho to run the Inner Circle, but instead he brutalized them with his own group, the Pinnacle. The team was made up of MJF, Wardlow, Shawn Spears, FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler), and their manager Tully Blanchard. The Inner Circle and the Pinnacle fought against each other for months and months, including the first ever Blood & Guts match, the second Stadium Stampede, and a blow-off match where Jericho defeated MJF. MJF moved on to mess with CM Punk in what was a feud many fans were looking forward to for months. At first, MJF was able to defeat Punk via cheating, giving Punk his first AEW loss. Then Punk was able to goad him into a Dog Collar match. MJF reacted by explaining his own backstory, trying to connect the way he was bullied for being Jewish to the betrayal he felt when CM Punk left WWE in 2014. Whether he was telling the truth or not was moot, as MJF used this moment of sympathy to kick Punk in the balls and bloody him up. Leading into the match, MJF’s relationship with Wardlow was getting rocky. Wardlow was getting incredibly popular and even absolutely destroyed Punk in a singles match until MJF’s angry distractions allowed Punk to get a desperate roll-up pin. MJF was getting more commanding and insulting and Wardlow had had enough. During the Dog Collar match, Wardlow appeared at ringside and gave Punk the Dynamite Diamond Ring to use. Punk won the match and the feud. MJF figured that since Wardlow’s contract was with him and not AEW, he could just order him to stay home until he was forgotten about. Wardlow insisted on showing up week after week, destroying any security guards in his way. FTR decided they wanted no part of this and the Pinnacle dissolved. Wardlow went through one of MJF’s gauntlets to earn a match for the right to get out of his contract. Then real life got in the way. On the weekend of Double or Nothing 2022, MJF no-showed a fan event. Word was that he was growing frustrated with his role in the company and was considering walking out on it all. He did in fact show up to start the PPV so he could get instantly destroyed by Wardlow, but then he left the arena. The following Wednesday, he cut an angry promo calling Tony Khan “a loving mark” and stormed off. While it looked like any real problems had been taken care of by the time he cut the promo, many agreed that this whole incident ruined what should have been Wardlow’s moment. During the lead-up to All Out 2022, heel manager Stokely Hathaway started to put together a group of clients on the undercard. All Out had a Casino Ladder match where the winner would become #1 contender. With one entrant left, Stokely’s group (the Firm) ran out and laid everyone out. A man in a devil mask appeared as the final entrant and won the match with no issue. At the end of the show, after Punk had won the title off Moxley, audio played of Tony Khan having an angry phone call where he was giving in to someone’s demands. “The Devil” reappeared and took off his mask, revealing MJF. Due to the “Brawl Out” situation, Punk was stripped of the title and a new tournament was created. MJF chose not to get involved, because what would be the point? Instead, Moxley regained the title and had to deal with MJF’s challenge. MJF had a chip on his shoulder because of an old, insulting email Regal (Mox’s mentor) once sent him. Regal explained that he was only trying to push MJF to be better. MJF seemed conflicted and even had conflict with the Firm, ending his friendship with Stokely. Perhaps MJF was starting to understand honor...? He did make it apparent that he considered being a selfish rear end in a top hat necessary for his success and it led to a lot of self-loathing. When the time came for the match, Regal handed MJF some brass knuckles, turning on Mox in the process. This was no long-term partnership, though. When MJF next showed up on AEW Dynamite, he punched out Regal with the knuckles, sending him to the hospital and out of the company. This raised the ire of Regal’s longtime protégé Bryan Danielson. Danielson earned an hour-long Iron Man match against MJF, which MJF survived by both cheating and successfully getting into Danielson’s head, convincing him to tap out during sudden death. MJF once said he considered himself, Jungle Boy, Sammy Guevara, and Darby Allin to be the Four Pillars of AEW. The four young talents that the company was built on. Funny enough, those three guys all demanded a title shot at the same time. MJF tried to make it into a corrupt singles match with Sammy, where he would pay him a shitload of money to take the fall, but it did not work out. It became a four-way match, though MJF still survived. He had been growing tired of being on top, but then Adam Cole arrived to be his next big challenger. In a non-title match, Cole had MJF beat, but they hit the time limit and it was a draw. Since then, they have been feuding over the aftermath.  CM PUNK AND BRAWL OUT CM Punk was one of the top names in the indies and joined WWE for several years. Despite representing everything the company hated for its top guys, Punk persevered. Unfortunately, his role as top guy came with an asterisk. After so much cumulative damaged to his body and spirit, he finally walked out of the company in a huff. Wrestling fans saw it as the greatest middle finger to a promotion that was out of touch. Punk later went on a podcast run by fellow wrestler and longtime friend Colt Cabana. There, he opened up about how frustrating WWE was and how bad their medical personnel were. This got him and Colt sued by WWE’s main doctor, obviously funded by WWE to drain Punk of money, even if he won. Punk did win, but the experience caused friction between him and Colt. Long story short (er...), the two turned on each other in real life and sued each other. Colt remained in the indies and eventually made it to AEW, where he joined the Dark Order. He wasn’t too important, but he was there semi-regularly. Punk stayed out of wrestling for seven years and some wondered if he was going to make his return by going to AEW. Impressed by the company, its young wrestlers, and the way they handled Brodie Lee’s death, Punk showed up at the end of summer 2021. It was the second episode of Rampage and Punk’s surprise appearance was an open secret at that point. Punk’s first match back was against Darby Allin at All Out 2021. As he was fresh in the company, he was immediately followed by Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson, giving AEW a feeling of being the cooler place for top tier talent to go. Punk would cut so many promos to hype up the crowd and mainly wrestle random midcarders that he was simply interested in going up against, like Powerhouse Hobbs, Daniel Garcia, and Dax Harwood. CM Punk had a match with Bobby Fish, in which he gave him the iggy, also known as the office. No, I will not explain any of that sentence. gently caress you. After feuding with Team Taz and MJF, it was finally time for Punk to rise to the top. He challenged AEW World Champion Hangman Page for the title. It was an interesting situation for the company. Who should be the champion: the protagonist whose reign was arguably running its course or the big name who only recently showed up? But there was another wrinkle in this matchup. One that would have MAJOR repercussions down the line. Colt Cabana was never all that big in AEW, but his screentime dwindled more and more. Apparently, Tony Khan wasn’t interested in renewing Colt’s contract, but with Ring of Honor now being Khan’s second promotion, the Young Bucks were able to convince him to give Colt a position there. Maybe Tony figured that there was not room enough for both Punk and Colt in the locker room and made an executive decision. Maybe he really just did not think Colt was worth keeping around. Either way, when you looked at what was happening, one could not help but put two and two together. Hangman, who was both Colt’s friend in real life and in storyline, made a subtle line referencing these rumors in a promo. It went over everyone’s heads. In fact, calling Punk a locker room shithead was something Eddie Kingston and MJF both brought up, but they actually cleared it with Punk first. Punk was legitimately not happy with how this accusation stained his reputation. The line went under his skin and stewed there for months. Punk won the title off Hangman. On the next Dynamite, he took part in a six-man tag match. At one point, he dove into the crowd and accidentally broke his foot. On the following Rampage, he announced that he would be off TV for a while. Tony Khan didn’t want him to be stripped of the title, so they did a mini-tournament to crown the Interim Champion. Jon Moxley won and had one hell of a run as Interim Champion. With Moxley growing tired of not being recognized as the true champion and All Out 2022 being on the way, Punk came back, albeit not at 100%. He would later admit that he was being brought back way too soon. That wouldn’t excuse one of his first actions, where he called out Hangman Page and offered him a title shot on the spot. This was not part of the script and obviously Hangman wasn’t going to come out, so Punk called him out for being a coward, still angry about the promo from months back. When Punk and Mox faced off, they ended up brawling several times in one show, so they announced their match would take place on the next week’s Dynamite. There, the match was incredibly short, as Punk’s leg gave out almost immediately and Moxley took advantage by spamming his finisher. Mox decided to offer an open contract for All Out, but backstage worker and Punk’s good friend Ace Steel took the contract, so he could convince Punk to give it another go. This segment took place in Chicago, Punk’s home, but one thing of note was that a fan chanted Colt Cabana’s name. This very obviously pissed Punk off and he made sure to verbally poo poo on the fan. At All Out, Punk defeated Moxley cleanly. In the aftermath, MJF appeared on stage as his next challenger. The fans in Chicago were pumped for MJF, which also visually annoyed Punk. More importantly, Punk had torn his pec in the match. He knew that this would be it for a long stretch, so he decided to go out in a blaze of embarrassing glory. After the show, they did the press conference. Punk arrived, covered in dry blood, eating a muffin. With Tony Khan next to him, Punk went on a lengthy rant about the state of the company, insulting various wrestlers like the Elite, Hangman Page, and MJF. He also got on one interviewer’s case about being an acquaintance of Colt Cabana, choosing to take a second to insult Colt for sharing a bank account with his own mother. Tony Khan sat in stunned silence during all of this. During another wrestler’s interview later on, some people were running off to deal with some big commotion backstage. The commotion would be known as the Brawl Out Incident. Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks were NOT happy with Punk’s rant and wanted to confront him. So as not to incriminate themselves, being Executive Vice Presidents and all, they brought the head of legal with them as a witness. There’s a lot of he said/he said about this incident, but the believed situation is that the Elite guys knocked on Punk’s locker room door and maybe even forced themselves in. Punk and Ace Steel went right for them with punches and a thrown chair. Omega tried to bring Punk’s dog Larry to safety among the fighting and Ace chomped down on Omega’s arm during the chaos. Everyone in the vicinity was immediately suspended. Their titles were vacated on TV with no mention of any of the parties. The Elite eventually came back to TV and Ace was fired. Punk was going to be off TV regardless due to his injury, but his status in the company was up in the air. Would they bring him back down the line? Would they buy out his contract? Would WWE and Punk be interested in working together again if that was the case? During this lull, Chris Jericho (who definitely had issues with Punk) did a storyline where he was challenging former Ring of Honor champions. This led to Jericho vs. Colt on Dynamite, which many saw as a blatant insult to Punk. Now Punk is back to be the face of Collision. While Chicago still loves him, reactions elsewhere have not been as warm. He claims that there is too much legal red tape for him to deal with the Bucks in a storyline fashion, but it’s felt that scars will heal over time and we will eventually get some kind of Punk/FTR vs. Elite feud.  BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB VS. THE WORLD Jon Moxley spent several years in AEW as a wrecking ball, taking on all comers by himself with the occasional help from Eddie Kingston. When Hangman Page was on his way to becoming champion, the plan was for Moxley to become increasingly brutal to those with the misfortune of standing across the ring from him, culminating in a heel turn so he could be a viable challenger for Hangman’s reign. Things did not work out that way. Moxley realized that he had a severe drinking problem (which was noticeable from how he looked on TV) and decided to get some help. Mox went to rehab and took care of himself. When it came time to return, they obviously couldn’t turn him heel. At least, not yet. Mox’s spot in the Hangman story went to Bryan Danielson, who played the role to perfection. After failing to win the belt off of Hangman, Danielson moved on. He was seen watching Moxley’s matches with a smug look on his face. Danielson vs. Moxley was on the horizon and people were stoked. What would have been a pretty basic face vs. heel storyline then became something more interesting. Danielson confronted Moxley and offered him an alliance where the two of them would mentor the promising youth of AEW through an education of brutal violence. Mox was supposed to turn him down and set up their rivalry, but while they were in the ring and Danielson was making the offer, the gears started turning in Mox’s head (as in the actual person and not the character he was playing) and he realized that this genuinely sounded like a really cool direction for them. So Mox claimed that he couldn’t trust somebody unless he had bled with them. At Revolution 2022, the two had their match and Moxley squeaked out a win. Post-match, the two got heated, only for William Regal to walk out out of nowhere and convince them to work together. Regal had a history of being their mentors both in real life and in storyline and he was fresh off being randomly fired from WWE, so they decided to bring him in and be the ringleader. Together, they would become the Blackpool Combat Club. Danielson was interested in roping in Jericho Appreciation Society’s Daniel Garcia, who insisted he was a “sports entertainer” instead of a wrestler. Though they built towards Garcia switching sides, the turn never happened and he remained with Jericho. Moxley found his own protégé with Wheeler Yuta, a young member of the Best Friends stable who wasn’t getting any respect from fellow member Trent Beretta. Yuta had a hell of a showing against Moxley and came close to beating him. Regal and the rest liked his spirit enough to offer him membership. Yuta easily left the Best Friends behind. The BCC teamed up with Eddie Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz to face the Jericho Appreciation Society in an Anarchy in the Arena match. It was a vicious brawl that ended with Kingston trying to douse Chris Jericho in gasoline and light him on fire. He failed to do that, sadly, and Danielson instead got his clock cleaned and lost. Shortly after, Danielson was supposed to compete at the Forbidden Door PPV against Zack Sabre Jr, but he was injured. Instead, they announced that he would have a mystery replacement who would be BCC’s latest member. That turned out to be Claudio Castagnoli, formerly Cesaro in WWE, who defeated Sabre. One person who wasn’t happy about this was Eddie Kingston. Without getting too into it, the two were rivals in the indies years earlier and when Kingston was supposed to face Claudio for his big, cathartic, climactic win that had been built to for years, Claudio got signed by WWE and cut out. Kingston always resented him for that, but decided to play nice out of his loyalty to Moxley. It got worse when the BCC and Kingston’s crew took on the JAS in a Blood & Guts match. Kingston had Chris Jericho locked in a submission and was about to get his much-needed decisive submission win over his rival, only for Claudio to beat him to the punch by making JAS henchman Matt Menard tap first. Kingston was openly annoyed, but tried to let it go, as their team did win. He later admitted that he had an agreement with Moxley that he would not go after Claudio in AEW. In the months that followed, the BCC was not as cohesive. Moxley was the on-again/off-again AEW World Champion. Claudio was the Ring of Honor World Champion. Yuta became the ROH Pure Champion. Bryan Danielson healed up and focused on Jericho for a bit. And then, as Moxley defended his title against MJF, Regal turned on Mox and helped MJF win. It was a very bizarre situation, as a couple weeks later, MJF immediately turned on Regal and wrote him off TV. A week later, there was a lame pre-taped interview where Regal claimed he did this all to help the BCC because he was no longer needed as their mentor. In reality, Triple H was back in charge in WWE and Regal was able to talk Tony Khan into letting him out of his contract so he could go and work with his son in NXT. Tony, dealing with his own family issues at the time, allowed this. Regal’s job ended up having him NOT work with his son in the capacity he suggested and that has some claiming that he took advantage of Tony’s situation with others (CM Punk included) claiming that he was always a stooge for Triple H to begin with. As all of this was going on, Eddie Kingston was having his own issues, storywise. Santana was badly injured in Blood & Guts and Kingston soon had a falling out with Ortiz. Frustrated with how things were going for him, he angrily quit AEW. Then he showed up on the new weekly ROH show a few days later. Why? Because Claudio was the champ there and while Kingston had agreed not to go after him in AEW, ROH was technically a completely different promotion. Kingston failed to win the title off of Claudio and later had to have hernia surgery, keeping him on the shelf for a bit. During Mox’s title reign, he had a match with Hangman Adam Page meant to push forward the Mox/MJF PPV match, but ended abruptly due to Hangman suffering a nasty concussion. When Hangman returned, he targeted Moxley, who jokingly downplayed the incident. They started trading wins back and forth and while it started with there being a bit of a mutual respect, the two started to outright hate each other over time. Then the BCC got involved. Then the Elite got involved. Thanks to interference from Konosuke Takeshita (Don Callis’ new protégé), the BCC defeated the Elite in an Anarchy in the Arena match. But as the Elite lick their wounds, Eddie Kingston has returned. He appears to be on nobody’s side but his own, but he really wants a piece of Claudio. Unfortunately, this means having to get violent with Moxley and it’s something Eddie isn’t ready to fully accept. Also, Bryan Danielson broke his arm wrestling Kazuchika Okada, so he’ll be out for a bit.  THE WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIPS Unfortunately, AEW has a problem with giving the women time. Whether it’s up to Tony Khan or the networks, it’s apparent that only one women’s match is allowed per show. I mean, it’s nice when they do a Battle of the Belts special immediately after an episode of Rampage because that means they get to do TWO women’s matches in a two-hour period. Because of that, it’s easier to explain the women’s division via the history of its two women’s titles. There was definitely some vision for the women’s division early on with a heavy emphasis on Japanese wrestlers and a handful of American women who didn’t have that WWE shine. Plus Awesome Kong made a surprise appearance at the first Double or Nothing. Unfortunately, Kong’s career was all but over at this point and she fizzled out almost immediately. Kylie Rae, who seemed like one of the top names of the budding division, left the company for unexplained reasons. As for many of the Japanese women...well, it’s not hard to figure that one out, but I’ll get to it in a bit. The women’s title was crowned with a mini-tournament where on one side, Nyla Rose won a Casino Battle Royal and on the other side, tiny high-flyer Riho defeated joshi badass Hikaru Shida. On the first AEW Dynamite, Riho defeated Nyla Rose to become the inaugural champion. Several months later, Nyla got a rematch and came out the winner and new champion. While Nyla would have likely been a dominant champion, she won the title in February of 2020. After her first and only successful title defense, the pandemic kicked in and things shut down. Nyla was off TV for a good amount of time and she ended up dropping the title to Hikaru Shida in May. Nyla would never hold gold again, but would remain a major go-to threat and regular contender. COVID destroyed any momentum the division had. Most of the Japanese women were off-limits and most of the American women were just...not good enough to get top pushes. One of the initial chosen ones in AEW was Dr. Britt Baker DMD, whose face run went nowhere, only to pivot into a really entertaining heel turn. She spent a good chunk of the pandemic with a leg injury, but made sure to at least show up on TV and antagonize people while in a wheelchair. Shida did what she could by having match after match and taking out all comers. She ended up holding onto the title for just over a year until the company decided it was time for Britt to have her run. Britt won the title at Double or Nothing 2021 to a huge ovation. Shida just vanished from TV because we can’t have nice things. Britt’s title run was...a bit much. There was so much cheating via interference by her sidekicks Rebel and Jamie Hayter that it got very annoying after a while. That plus a segment where she proceeded to talk poo poo in the ring during a promo to the women’s division, but nobody came out, so it felt like a waste of time. Around this time, AEW introduced a second women’s title called the TBS Championship. This one was decided via a tournament and the winner was obvious. Jade Cargill debuted in a bizarre feud where she was Shaquille O’Neal’s tag partner in a match against Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet (replacing a pregnant Brandi Rhodes). After that match, Jade was treated as this unstoppable goddess who ran through all opponents, but was kept away from the actual AEW Women’s Championship corner. Instead, they had her win the TBS Championship tournament and spend the next couple years winning against all challengers. This idea ran out of gas eventually and there were a couple storylines that simply went nowhere. Still, it made the two titles seem different and had people wondering who would finally get that win to end Jade’s streak. Britt finally met her match with Thunder Rosa, her longtime enemy from a star-making rivalry from before Britt’s title reign. Although there was a bit of a delay in having Britt drop the title (she survived the expected PPV loss so she could lose on a special episode of Dynamite weeks later), Thunder Rosa got her big win in a cage match. Rosa started teaming up with Toni Storm in order to fight off Britt and Jamie Hayter and their friendship was supposed to be put to the test in a match at All Out 2022 for the Women’s Championship. Instead, Rosa suffered an injury and could not compete. There was a lot of second-guessing about the truth behind this situation, as Rosa was said to be unpopular backstage, or at least with Britt herself. Either way, Storm became Interim Champion by winning a four-way match at the PPV. Storm lost to Hayter thanks to plenty of interference and cheating, but the crowd was totally into it. With Rosa’s injury seeming worse than initially believed, her hold on the title was fully vacated. Storm’s reign wasn’t considered truly official until AFTER she lost, which was frustrating to her. Weirdly, Britt did not make any real hints that she was jealous of her friend Hayter winning the title and instead acted supportive. Soon after, Saraya (formerly WWE’s Paige) came to AEW and started targeting Britt. Though Saraya started as a face, she, Storm, and later Ruby Soho started a heel stable based around being superior due to having prior careers in WWE. Their main rivals have been Britt, Hayter, and Hikaru Shida. As Hayter was suffering from an injury, she dropped the title back to Storm at Double or Nothing 2023. Her first major challenger was Willow Nightingale, who recently became the first ever NJPW Strong Women’s Champion. She became the inaugural champ out of necessity, as her opponent in the finals (and definite winner up to that point) Mercedes Mone badly hurt her leg during the match itself. As for TBS Champion Jade Cargill, she was in a lengthy holding pattern due to her chosen usurper Kris Statlander (who was depicted as a space alien until she wasn’t) having her own leg injury. After defeating Taya Valkyrie at Double or Nothing 2023, Jade decided on an impromptu open challenge. Statlander made her return to accept the challenge and moments later won the TBS Championship.  ORANGE CASSIDY: TRICKSTER GOD Orange Cassidy came into AEW as one of its most divisive names. Now he’s considered one of the best workers on a roster filled with amazing talent. Orange spent years in the indies with a persona based on Paul Rudd’s slacker character from Wet Hot American Summer (fitting, since Orange’s other indie gimmick was an ant man). Initially, Orange was a wrestler who was constantly low energy due to being drunk, high, hungover, or some combination of the three. He could never muster up much of a pulse unless he was discussing Fast Five or somebody was being homophobic to his swamp creature friend. He later altered the gimmick so that he was just lazy and disinterested. He made his first appearance in the Double or Nothing 2019 opening Casino Battle Royal. It was a chaotic affair and not in a good way. A lot of unknown wrestlers showed up with no fanfare and Orange did not stand out among all the other novelty wrestlers. When it was announced later that he was signed to AEW, many took that as an insult. This one-dimensional joke wrestler was going to be in this promising new company? Bullshit. At All Out 2019, as the Dark Order beat up the Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Baretta), the lights went out. When the lights returned, Orange was in the ring, rescuing his Best Friends buddies with high-flying skills, all while keeping his hands in his pockets. In the months that followed, Orange came off as little more than Best Friends’ mascot. He would come off as docile, but there was a bizarre edge to him. One time a wrestler opened the men’s room door during a backstage brawl, saw Orange simply standing there with no expression, and the wrestler simply acted confused and disturbed by his sudden presence. This was never followed up on. Orange only wrestled in a limited capacity in trios matches. This came to an end when he annoyed “The Bastard” PAC. Chuck Taylor announced that not only would those two have a match together, but that Orange was going to ACTUALLY TRY! Orange lost the match, but it did a lot to silence critics, as he worked his rear end off. Despite his occasionally lazy and useless attacks, Orange was still competent and capable when needed. His persona was really a way to piss off his opponent, get them to underestimate him, and throw them off their game. With his tendency to just inexplicably show up, Orange pissed off Chris Jericho by walking by during one of his backstage promos. This led to a feud between the two where we got to see a bloody Orange kick Jericho’s rear end during a brawl, showing that there was some real drive in him. While the matches were not his best, Orange’s feud with Jericho included him dropping gallons of orange juice on the Inner Circle, winning a verbal debate, and defeating Jericho in the first and only Mimosa Mayhem match. For a while, Orange was put in a status quo where he was good enough to challenge for stuff, but it never went anywhere. He was in a triple threat for Kenny Omega’s AEW Championship, but failed. He tried to win the TNT Championship a few times but nope. He and the Best Friends tried to win the AEW Trios Championship, but again, nothing. Finally, he took on his rival PAC for PAC’s All-Atlantic Championship and finally got the win he so desperately needed. The belt was later renamed the International Championship and Orange would lug it around in a Jansport backpack. This was when he really started to break out. Orange would casually walk up to people backstage, show off his belt, then ask if they wanted a shot at it. He was even open to triple threat matches, where he had worse odds. Every time, he came out the winner. Sure, there were some wrinkles like Trent challenging for the title and losing, leaving him in a spot where he’s supportive of Orange, but possibly jealous of his success. Kip Sabian was able to get into Orange’s head for a bit, but nothing came of that outside of their match. Recently, Orange has been defending the title on almost a weekly basis, feeling the need to be a fighting champion and make his reign mean something. Every match is a banger and Orange himself is getting banged up. His fist is barely holding together, his ribs are raw, and he is just so, so tired. That won’t stop him from figuring out a way past every challenger, even if he has to change things up in the final moments. Now he has people wondering if the plan for him after he drops the title is to be the one who finally gets to take down MJF. He SHOULD be, at least.  CODY RHODES AND THE CODYVERSE If there’s one thing Cody Rhodes had at the beginning of AEW, it’s goodwill. Cody spent many years in WWE and he grew increasingly frustrated. They refused to entertain the idea of him moving up the card. They kept insisting he continue his dead-end gimmick of Stardust. They wouldn’t let him have his big, dramatic feud with his brother Dustin. Finally, he left to go prove the naysayers wrong and gamble on himself. Cody wrestled all around the world in many promotions, accompanied by his wife Brandi. This is how he became buddies with Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks and how he became part of the Elite. He was the face of All In. He was the face of the lead-up to AEW’s pre-Dynamite months. His match with Dustin at Double or Nothing tore the place down. He opened the very first Dynamite with a quality match with Sammy Guevara. In all of this, despite one of the Bucks saying that Cody was the one who waffled on the idea of signing with Tony Khan in the first place, Cody was the one who really wanted to declare war on WWE. At Double or Nothing, he smashed a throne with a sledgehammer was a middle finger to Triple H. He openly talked about mainstream wrestling tropes that made no sense. He had online interview segments with AEW people who were passed over by WWE. He wanted to be the general of WWE’s demise and, honestly, good for him. It was the perfect role for the son of Dusty. Not that he was perfect. Early in Dynamite’s existence, Cody spent a segment hanging out with Tony Schiavone in a limo, talking about whatever because either nobody could hear him or nobody cared. Meanwhile, Brandi went from playing herself as the heel authority antithesis of Stephanie McMahon to heading what’s considered to be the worst storyline in AEW history, the Nightmare Collective. Brandi, Mel (a woman who couldn’t wrestle), Awesome Kong (a woman who physically could no longer wrestle), and Luther (a now-beloved death match weirdo who added nothing) proceeded to poo poo up segments, including ones people were looking forward to. Realizing that Awesome Kong’s back was extra hosed and everyone HATED this group, they quietly wrote them off via YouTube videos of Brandi going to therapy. As one of the guys in charge, Cody did not want to be seen as putting himself over too much. When he faced Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship, he promised that if he lost, he would never challenge for the title again. He then lost. Once his MJF feud was done, Cody proceeded to create a new TNT Championship belt and, big shocker, he won the tournament to crown the first champion. Not that this was inherently a bad thing. Cody would do open challenges, which would not only lead to great matches on a nearly weekly basis, but he would take on guys who weren’t in the company. This is how Eddie Kingston and Ricky Starks got brought in. Warhorse was not as lucky. Something was becoming more apparent around this time. Cody had not interacted with the Elite guys in quite a while. Not as storyline thing. He simply quietly split from them and was no longer affiliated. Instead, he was affiliated with a seemingly never-ending line of bland dudes from his Nightmare Factory. When he’d feud with someone, it usually meant getting the poo poo beaten out of him and losing, only to come back weeks later and get his win back. It was like clockwork. All these storylines felt completely separated from everything else going on in AEW. It was what fans called the Codyverse. It got more unhinged over time. Cody and his PPV opponent Anthony Ogogo spending an entire segment doing a weigh-in. Cody using pyro for he and Brandi to do a gender reveal for their baby. Cody cutting a promo about how America is great because he has a mixed-race baby. Having Brock Anderson of all people main event a Dynamite against Malakai Black to push his story forward. It came to a head in early 2022. Cody cut a completely bonkers promo that went in all sorts of directions to build up to a ladder match against Sammy Guevara, who would win the TNT Championship. Also, Brandi was in a promo segment with obnoxious troll heel manager Dan Lambert where Brandi was so inexplicably unlikeable that even the fans sided with Lambert. Then, the two left AEW, the company they helped build. Cody’s contract was up and he wanted CM Punk-level money and/or the ability to book all of his own stuff. Tony Khan refused. In fact, Cody (much like the other EVPs) had a clause in his contract where Tony could have extended it and he chose not to exercise that option. Cody then went to WWE, debuting at that year’s WrestleMania. He was red hot and he had to be. WWE needed AEW talent to see why it would be a good idea to jump ship. Cody was injured shortly into his run and was off TV long enough that he could come back and win the Royal Rumble. Then again, he won the Royal Rumble by coming in at #30 and defeating the heel who came in at #1. It was a choice. Still, they seemed serious about Cody. Even though Sami Zayn was huge at the time and everybody wanted him to be the one to defeat Roman Reigns for the title, he was passed over for Cody. It was Cody’s time... Just kidding. Cody lost at WrestleMania. It even looked like he was told last minute. Cody has since moved on to a feud with Brock Lesnar that’s based around Cody getting mauled on a semi-regular basis, only because Brock can’t be there every week.  THE TRAGEDY OF BRODIE LEE The most genuinely sad thing about AEW was the sudden death of Brodie Lee, real name Jonathan Huber. But before getting to him, it’s worth explaining the stumbled origins of the Dark Order. After a tag match at the first Double or Nothing, the lights went out. Once they turned on, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson appeared in the ring and laid waste to everyone in the vicinity. The crowd chanted, “WHO ARE YOU?” which was fair, since in the indies they were known as the Super Smash Brothers and that was obviously not going to fly here. They were the Dark Order and they were initially accompanied by “creepers,” a bunch of masked goons who acted as Uno’s makeshift throne, which was cool as poo poo. Unfortunately, the Dark Order wasn’t quite clicking with the fans early on. They were trying to be midcard Undertakers and it came off as hokey. Over time, they started airing commercials for joining the Dark Order, which made them seem like a supernatural version of Scientology. The loser tag team of John Silver and Alex Reynold was recruited, but they continued to be total losers, especially with their failures in recruiting anyone themselves. To make things worse, the final Dynamite of 2019 ended with an embarrassingly bad segment where the Dark Order beat down the Elite and one of the creepers was pulling off the fakest punches in wrestling history. Finally, they at least seemed to be going somewhere by revealing that Evil Uno was not the leader of the group. There was a higher power. The Exalted One, to be more specific. They teased some red herrings like Christopher Daniels and Raven, but it ended up being Mr. Brodie Lee. Brodie was fresh off of a lengthy run in WWE that went very wrong. He spent much of his time as part of Bray Wyatt’s family, or at least a tag partner with Erick Rowan, but despite his great ability, look, and charisma, they never gave him much in terms of opportunities. Even when he was getting a big reaction, he was getting shoved to the sidelines. Then they really didn’t have anything for him and made him sit at home until his contract was up. He was incredibly frustrated by it. Also frustrating was that his reveal was supposed to be in Rochester, his hometown. But...COVID. Brodie debuted to no crowd and sadly would never get to perform in front of a real crowd ever again. While he was a brutal monster heel, he also acted as an eccentric businessman who could be soothingly well-spoken. His persona was a parody of Vince McMahon and his weird behaviors, like getting mad when others sneeze or not letting anyone else eat until he was finished with his steak. The Dark Order started to build itself up. Wrestler Alan Angels, who once had a strong effort against Kenny Omega, was brought in. Preston Vance, who had to give up his football career due to injury, was treated as Brodie’s chosen one. Anna Jay, who was hyped up for her first appearance only to lose, was recruited. Then there was Colt Cabana, who became the somewhat reluctant clean-cut face of the organization, like he was their Tom Cruise. On Being the Elite, the Dark Order sketches would regularly have Brodie losing his poo poo on his subordinates, especially via hitting them with rolled-up papers. John Silver was his main target due to being so pathetic and at times cringingly ridiculous. It was great. Brodie challenged for Moxley’s AEW World Championship, but failed in a way that made him look like an absolute beast in defeat. He regrouped and went after Cody’s TNT Championship. Cody was banged up due to so many months of defenses, so Brodie squashed him in just a few minutes. Brodie and the Dark Order then celebrated with Chili’s. Cody eventually returned and challenged Brodie to a Dog Collar match. During the match, Silver made a run-in and got busted open. Cody ended up winning what would be Brodie’s final match. In the BTE segment afterwards, in what was Brodie’s last AEW appearance, he chewed out the entire Dark Order and told them to leave him be... except for Silver due to his efforts in that match. It looked like their relationship was about to turn a corner. Brodie was taking time off, but he found himself getting winded really easy. Considering the pandemic, the reason seemed to be obvious, but COVID results kept coming back negative. He instead had some kind of completely separate lung issue. One that sadly did not get better. On the day after Christmas 2020, it was announced that Jon Huber had died. As the wrestlers and promotion kept a tight lip on his condition, this completely hit all wrestling fans off-guard. The next episode of Dynamite was dedicated to him, including the main event being a trios match with Huber’s son’s three favorite wrestlers – Cody Rhodes, Preston Vance, and Orange Cassidy – being put together. It was a wonderful show from start to finish and a beautiful tribute to a man everyone in the locker room seemed to truly love. In the aftermath, Brodie Lee Jr. has become the new leader of the Dark Order and he’s been busy training to be a wrestler himself one day. Just as long as his grades hold up. Gavok fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jul 9, 2023 |
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AEW'S BEST MATCHES So for here, I'm taking the AEW-related contents from the various MOTY threads from this subforum from the last several years. These are matches that various PSP posters saw and immediately considered one of the best matches of the year. Keep in mind, we are a very overzealous group and a lot of matches have been nominated. A LOT. I've spaced out and bunched together PPV matches to make the events pop out more. I've also bolded the matches that have been rated five or more stars by Dave Meltzer.  2019 05/25 | Aja Kong, Yuka Sakazaki and Emi Sakura vs. Hikaru Shida, Riho and Ryo Mizunami - AEW Double or Nothing 05/25 | Dustin Rhodes vs. Cody Rhodes - AEW Double or Nothing 05/25 | The Young Bucks (C) vs. The Lucha Bros for the AAA World Tag Team Championship - AEW Double or Nothing 05/25 | Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho - AEW Double or Nothing 06/29 | Jon Moxley vs. Joey Janela - AEW Fyter Fest 06/29 | Michael Nakazawa vs. Alex Jebailey - AEW Fyter Fest 06/29 | Cody vs. Darby Allin - AEW Fyter Fest 07/13 | Kenny Omega vs. CIMA - AEW Fight for the Fallen 08/31 | Kenny Omega vs. PAC - AEW ALL OUT 08/31 | Darby Allin vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Joey Janela in a Cracker Barrel Clash - AEW ALL OUT 08/31 | Lucha Brothers (C) vs. The Young Bucks for the AAA Tag Titles - AEW ALL OUT 10/02 | Nyla Rose vs. Riho for the inaugural AEW Women's Title - AEW Dynamite 10/09 | The Young Bucks vs. Private Party - AEW Dynamite 10/15 | Kenny Omega vs. Joey Janela in an Unsanctioned Lights Out Match - AEW Dark 10/23 | Private Party vs. Lucha Bros - AEW Dynamite 11/09 | The Young Bucks vs. Proud and Powerful - AEW Full Gear 11/09 | Riho (C) vs. Emi Sakura for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Full Gear 11/09 | Chris Jericho (C) vs. Cody for the AEW Championship - AEW Full Gear 11/09 | Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega in a Lights Out Unsanctioned Match - AEW Full Gear 11/20 | Fenix vs. Nick Jackson - AEW Dynamite 11/20 | Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin - AEW Dynamite 12/04 | Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander - AEW Dynamite  2020 01/01 | The Elite vs. Lucha Bros/Pac - AEW Dynamite 01/15 | Proud 'n' Powerful vs. Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. Best Friends vs. The Young Bucks - AEW Dynamite 01/15 | PAC vs. Darby Allin - AEW Dynamite 01/22 | SCU (C) vs. Kenny Omega and Hangman Adam Page for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Dynamite 02/05 | The Butcher & The Blade and Lucha Bros vs. Kenny Omega, Hangman Page and the Young Bucks - AEW Dynamite02/12 | Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. SCU for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Dynamite 02/12 | Riho (C) vs. Nyla Rose for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite 02/19 | Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. Lucha Bros for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Dynamite 02/26 | Kenny Omega vs. PAC in a 30-Minute Iron Man Match - AEW Dynamite 02/29 | Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (C) vs. The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Revolution 02/29 | PAC vs. Orange Cassidy - AEW Revolution 02/29 | Chris Jericho (C) vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship - AEW Revolution 03/25 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Sammy Guevara for the AAA Mega Title - AEW Dynamite 04/01 | Lance Archer vs. Marko Stunt - AEW Dynamite 04/20 | Matt Jackson vs. Nick Jackson in a Falls Count Anywhere Match - Being the Elite Episode 200 04/22 | Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin - AEW Dynamite 04/29 | Best Friends vs. Jimmy Havoc & Kip Sabian - AEW Dynamite 05/06 | Kenny Omega & Matt Hardy vs. Le Sex Gods - AEW Dynamite 05/23 | Casino Royale Ladder Match - AEW Double or Nothing 2020 05/23 | Jungle Boy Jack Perry vs. MJF - AEW Double or Nothing 2020 05/23 | Nyla Rose (C) vs. Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women's Title - AEW Double or Nothing 2020 05/23 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. Mr. Brodie for the AEW Championship - AEW Double or Nothing 2020 05/23 | The Stadium Stampede - AEW Double or Nothing 2020 07/01 | Jurassic Express vs. MJF & WARDLOW - AEW Fyter Fest Night 1 07/01 | Hikaru Shida (C) vs. Penelope Ford for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Fyter Fest Night 1 07/01 | Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. Best Friends for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Fyter Fest Night 1 07/08 | FTR & The Young Bucks vs. Lucha Bros & The Butcher and The Blade - AEW Fyter Fest Night 2 07/08 | Orange Cassidy vs. Chris Jericho - AEW Fyter Fest Night 2 07/22 | Cody (C) vs. Eddie Kingston for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 07/22 | The Young Bucks vs. The Butcher & the Blade - AEW Dynamite 08/05 | FTR & The Elite vs. The Dark Order - AEW Dynamite 08/05 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. Darby Allin for the AEW Championship - AEW Dynamite 08/22 | Cody (C) vs. Mr. Brodie Lee for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 09/02 | Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa - AEW Dynamite 09/05 | Casino Battle Royale - AEW All Out 09/05 | Hikaru Shida (C) vs. Thunder Rosa for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW All Out 09/05 | Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. FTR for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW All Out 09/05 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. MJF for the AEW World Championship - AEW All Out 09/16 | Hangman Adam Page vs. Kazarian - AEW Dynamite 09/16 | Best Friends vs. Proud N Powerful in a Parking Lot Fight - AEW Dynamite 10/07 | Brodie Lee (C) vs. Cody in a Dog Collar match for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 10/14 | Cody (C) vs. Orange Cassidy for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 10/14 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. Lance Archer for the AEW Championship - AEW Dynamite 10/21 | Ray Fenix vs. Penta El Zero M - AEW Dynamite 10/28 | Wardlow vs. Hangman Adam Page - AEW Dynamite 10/28 | Kenny Omega vs. Pentagon Jr - AEW Dynamite 11/07 | Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Adam Page - AEW Full Gear 11/07 | Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver- AEW Full Gear 11/07 | Hikaru Shida (C) vs. Nyla Rose for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Full Gear 11/07 | FTR (C) vs. The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Full Gear 11/07 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. Eddie Kingston in an I Quit match for the AEW World's Championship - AEW Full Gear 11/18 | Serena Deeb (C) vs. Thunder Rosa for the NWA Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite 12/02 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship - AEW Dynamite 12/30 | Evil Uno, Stu Grayson & Lance Archer vs. Eddie Kingston and The Butcher & The Blade - AEW Dynamite 12/30 | The Good, The Bad and the Hungiee vs. MJF and Proud'n'Powerful - AEW Dynamite  2021 01/06 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Rey Fenix for the AEW World Championship - AEW Dynamite New Year's Smash Night 1 01/13 | Darby Allin (C) vs. Brian Cage for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite New Year's Bash Night 2 01/27 | Jungle Boy vs. Dax Harwood - AEW Dynamite 02/03 | Britt Baker vs. Thunder Rosa - AEW Dynamite Beach Break 02/03 | Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Jon Moxley, PAC & Rey Fenix - AEW Dynamite Beach Break 02/10 | Kenny Omega & KENTA vs. Jon Moxley & Lance Archer in a Lights Out match - AEW Dynamite 02/17 | Riho vs. Serena Debb - AEW Dynamite 02/22 | Emi Sakura vs. Yuka Sakazaki - AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament 02/22 | Ryo Mizunami vs. Aja Kong - AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament 02/24 | Nyla Rose vs. Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D in the AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament - AEW Dynamite 02/24 | Lance Archer vs. Rey Fenix - AEW Dynamite 02/28 | Hikaru Shida, Mei Suruga and Rin Kadokura vs. Emi Sakura, Veny and Maki Itoh - AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament 02/28 | Yuka Sakazaki vs. Ryo Mizunami - AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament 03/03 | Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet vs. Shaquille O'Neal and Jade Cargill - AEW Dynamite 03/03 | Ryo Mizunami vs. Nyla Rose in the Final of the AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament - AEW Dynamite 03/07 | The Young Bucks (C) vs. Chris Jericho & MJF for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Revolution 03/07 | Casino Tag Team Battle Royale - AEW Revolution 03/07 | Hikaru Shida (C) vs. Ryo Mizunami for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Revolution 03/07 | Sting & Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks in a Street Fight - AEW Revolution 03/07 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Jon Moxley in an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch for the AEW Championship - AEW Revolution 03/09 | QT Marshall vs. Feugo del Sol - AEW Dark 03/17 | Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D vs. Thunder Rosa in a Lights Out Match - AEW Dynamite 03/24 | Kenny Omega vs. Matt Sydal - AEW Dynamite 03/24 | Lucha Bros & The Laredo Kid vs. The Young Bucks & Brandon Cutler - AEW Dynamite 03/24 | Darby Allin (C) vs. John Silver for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 03/29 | Ryo Mizunami vs. KiLynn King - AEW Dark Elevation 03/31 | Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Lucha Bros & Laredo Kid - AEW Dynamite 03/31 | Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy vs. Kip Sabian & Miro in Arcade Anarchy - AEW Dynamite 04/14 | The Young Bucks (C) vs. Rey Fenix & PAC for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Dynamite 04/21 | Hikaru Shida (C) vs. Tay Conti for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite 05/05 | The Pinnacle vs. The Inner Circle in a Blood & Guts match - AEW Dynamite 05/12 | The Young Bucks (C) vs. SCU for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Dynamite 05/12 | Darby Allin (C) vs. Miro for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 05/19 | Serena Deeb (C) vs. Red Velvet for the NWA Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite 05/30 | Serena Deeb (C) vs. Riho for the NWA Women's Championship - AEW Double or Nothing Pre-Show 05/30 | Hangman Adam Page vs. Brian Cage - AEW Double or Nothing 05/30 | The Young Bucks (C) vs. Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Double or Nothing 05/30 | Hikaru Shida (C) vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Double or Nothing 05/30 | Darby Allin & Sting vs. Scorpio Sky & All Ego Ethan Page - AEW Double or Nothing 05/30 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. PAC vs. Orange Cassidy for the AEW Championship - AEW Double or Nothing 05/30 | The Inner Circle vs. The Pinnacle in Stadium Stampede 2 - AEW Double or Nothing 06/18 | Orange Cassidy vs. Cezar Bononi - AEW Dynamite 06/26 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Jungle Boy for the AEW World Championship - AEW Dynamite 06/30 | The Young Bucks vs. Eddie Kingston & Penta El Zero Miedo - AEW Dynamite 06/30 | MJF vs. Sammy Guevara - AEW Dynamite 07/07 | The Young Bucks (C) vs. Eddie Kingston and Penta El 0 M for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Dynamite 07/14 | Darby Allin vs. All Ego Ethan Page in a Coffin Match - AEW Dynamite 07/21 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. Lance Archer for the IWGP US Championship - AEW Dynamite 07/28 | The Elite (Omega & The Bucks) & The Good Brothers vs. Hangman Page & The Dark Order (Uno, Stu, Reynolds & Silver) in an Elimination Tag match - AEW Dynamite 07/28 | Chris Jericho vs. Nick Gage in a No Rules Except Chris Jericho Can't Get Outside Help match - AEW Dynamite 08/04 | Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black - AEW Dynamite 08/11 | Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Dante Martin & The Sydal Brothers - AEW Dynamite 08/13 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Christian Cage for the Impact World Championship - AEW Rampage 08/18 | 2.0 (Jeff Parker & Matt Lee) vs. Darby Allin & Sting - AEW Dynamite 08/18 | Sammy Guevara vs. Shawn Spears - AEW Dynamite 08/18 | The Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express - AEW Dynamite 08/27 | Lucha Bros vs. Jurassic Express - AEW Rampage 09/01 | FTR vs. Proud 'n' Powerful - AEW Dynamite 09/05 | Miro (C) vs. Eddie Kingston for the TNT Championship - AEW All Out 09/05 | Dr Britt Baker DMD (C) vs. Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW All Out 09/05 | The Young Bucks (C) vs. The Lucha Bros in a Steel Cage match for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW All Out 09/05 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Christian for the AEW World Championship - AEW All Out 09/10 | Andrade El Idolo vs. PAC - AEW Rampage 09/22 | Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega - AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam 09/29 | Jungle Boy vs. Adam Cole - AEW Dynamite 09/29 | Miro (C) vs. Sammy Guevara for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 10/06 | The Super Kliq (Omega, Cole & The Young Bucks) vs. Bryan Danielson, Christian Cage & Jurassic Express - AEW Dynamite 10/06 | PAC, Orange Cassidy, Andrade, Matt Hardy, Lance Archer, Jon Moxley & Hangman Adam Page in a Casino Ladder match - AEW Dynamite 10/15 | Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki - AEW Rampage Buy In 10/22 | PAC vs. Andrade El Idolo - AEW Rampage 10/23 | Bryan Danielson vs. Dustin Rhodes - AEW Dynamite 10/23 | Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black - AEW Dynamite 10/27 | Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb - AEW Dynamite 10/27 | Dark Order (Uno, Stu, Colt & Silver) vs. The Super Elite (Omega, Cole & The Young Bucks) - AEW Dynamite 10/27 | Sammy Guevara (C) vs. Ethan Page for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 10/29 | Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston - AEW Rampage 11/10 | Dante Martin & Lio Rush vs. Matt Sydal & Lee Moriarty - AEW Dynamite 11/10 | PAC vs. Dax Harwood - AEW Dynamite 11/13 | MJF vs. Darby Allin - AEW Full Gear 11/13 | Lucha Bros (C) vs. FTR for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Full Gear 11/13 | Bryan Danielson vs. Miro - AEW Full Gear 11/13 | Christian Cage & The Jungle Express vs. The Super Kliq in a Falls Count Anywhere match - AEW Full Gear 11/13 | CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston - AEW Full Gear 11/13 | Inner Circle vs. Men of the Year & American Top Team in a Minneapolis Street Fight- AEW Full Gear 11/13 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Hangman Adam Page for the AEW World Title - AEW Full Gear 11/24 | Jamie Hayter vs. Thunder Rosa - AEW Dynamite 11/24 | Triangulo de la Muerte & Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black, Andrade El Idolo & FTR - AEW Dynamite 11/26 | Eddie Kingston vs. Daniel Garcia - AEW Rampage 12/01 | Andrade El Idolo vs. Cody Rhodes in an Atlanta Street Fight - AEW Dynamite 12/08 | The Young Bucks vs. Chuck Taylor & Rocky Romero - AEW Dynamite 12/08 | Riho vs. Jamie Hayter - AEW Dynamite 12/10 | Lucha Bros (C) vs. FTR for the AEW Tag Team Titles - AEW Rampage 12/10 | Hook vs. Fuego del Sol - AEW Rampage 12/15 | Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. Bryan Danielson for the AEW Championship - AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming 12/22 | CM Punk, Darby Allin & Sting vs. MJF & FTR - AEW Dynamite 12/31 | Anna Jay & Tay Conti vs. The Bunny & Penelope Ford in a Street Fight - AEW Rampage  2022 01/05 | Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Title - AEW Dynamite 01/05 | MJF vs. The Captain Shawn Dean - AEW Dynamite 01/08 | Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara - AEW Battle for the Belts 01/14 | Jurassic Express (C) vs. Dark Order (Silver/Reynolds) for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Rampage 01/26 | Cody Rhodes (C) vs. Sammy Guevara for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite Beach Break 02/02 | CM Punk vs. MJF - AEW Dynamite 02/09 | Isiah Kassidy vs. Keith Lee - AEW Dynamite 02/09 | CM Punk & Jon Moxley vs. FTR - AEW Dynamite 02/09 | Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. Lance Archer in a Texas Death Match for the AEW Championship - AEW Dynamite 02/11 | The Young Bucks vs. Roppongi Vice - AEW Rampage 02/16 | Bryan Danielson vs. Lee Moriarty - AEW Dynamite 02/16 | Sammy Guevara (C) vs. Darby Allin for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 02/18 | Trent? vs. Switchblade Jay White - AEW Rampage 03/04 | Sammy Guevara (C) vs. Darby Allin vs. Andrade El Idolo for the TNT Championship - AEW Rampage 03/06 | House of Black vs. Death Triangle & Erick Redbeard - AEW Revolution 03/06 | Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston - AEW Revolution 03/06 | Jurassic Express (C) vs. The Young Bucks vs. reDragon for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Revolution 03/06 | Face of the Revolution Ladder Match - AEW Revolution 03/06 | CM Punk vs. MJF in a Dog Collar match - AEW Revolution 03/06 | Jon Moxley vs. Bryan Danielson - AEW Revolution 03/06 | Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin & Sting vs. Matt Hardy, Andrade El Idolo & Isiah Kassidy - AEW Revolution 03/06 | Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. Adam Cole for the AEW Championship - AEW Revolution 03/16 | Dr. Britt Baker DMD (C) vs. Thunder Rosa in a Steel Cage match for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite St. Patrick's Day Stampede 03/23 | Sting, Darby Allin & The Hardys vs. Andrade Family Office (Private Party/Butcher & Blade) - AEW Dynamite 03/30 | Bryan Danielson vs. Wheeler Yuta - AEW Dynamite 04/06 | FTR (C) vs. The Young Bucks for the ROH and AAA Tag Team Titles - AEW Dynamite 04/08 | Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta - AEW Rampage 04/13 | Jurassic Express (C) vs. reDRagon for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Dynamite 04/13 | Minoru Suzuki (C) vs. Samoa Joe for the ROH Television Championship - AEW Dynamite 04/15 | Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. Adam Cole for the AEW World Title in a Texas Death Match - AEW Rampage 04/27 | Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler - AEW Dynamite 04/27 | Sammy Guevara (C) vs. Scorpio Sky in a Ladder Match for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 05/04 | Dante Martin vs. Rey Fénix - AEW Dynamite 05/06 | Riho vs. Yuka Sakazaki - AEW Rampage 05/11 | Adam Cole vs. Dax Harwood in the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament Quarterfinal - AEW Dynamite 05/11 | Darby Allin vs. Jeff Hardy in an Anything Goes Match in the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament Quarterfinal - AEW Dynamite 05/18 | Hangman Adam Page vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Dynamite 05/18 | Kyle O'Reilly vs. Fénix in the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament Quarterfinal - AEW Dynamite 05/25 | WARDLOW vs. Shawn Spears in a Steel Cage Match - AEW Dynamite 05/25 | Swerve vs. Jungle Boy vs. Ricky Starks - AEW Dynamite 05/29 | MJF vs. WARDLOW - AEW Double or Nothing 05/29 | Triangulo de la Muerte vs. House of Black - AEW Double or Nothing 05/29 | Thunder Rosa (C) vs. Serena Deeb for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Double or Nothing 05/29 | Blackpool Combat Club, Proud 'n' Powerful & Eddie Kingston vs. The Jericho Appreciation Society in an Anarchy in the Arena Match - AEW Double or Nothing 05/29 | Jurassic Express (C) vs. Team Taz vs. Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Double or Nothing 05/29 | Hangman Adam Page (C) vs. CM Punk for the AEW World Title - AEW Double or Nothing 06/01 | Jon Moxley vs. Daniel Garcia - AEW Dynamite 06/03 | The Young Bucks vs. The Lucha Bros - AEW Rampage 06/08 | Buddy Matthews vs. PAC - AEW Dynamite 06/08 | Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O'Reilly - AEW Dynamite 06/15 | Dax Harwood vs. Will Ospreay - AEW Dynamite 06/15 | Jurassic Express (C) vs. The Young Bucks in a Ladder Match for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Dynamite 06/24 | Andrade El Idolo vs. Rey Fénix - AEW Rampage 06/26 | Swerve in our Glory vs. Suzuki-Gun (Kanemaru & El Desperado) - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/26 | Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara & Minoru Suzuki vs. Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta & Shota Umino - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/26 | FTR (C) vs. United Empire (GOK & Cobb) (C) vs. Roppongi Vice for the ROH Tag Titles & IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/26 | Miro vs. PAC vs. Malakai Black vs. Clark Connors for the AEW All Atlantic Title - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/26 | Bullet Club (Bucks & ELP) vs. Dudes With Attitudes (Shingo, Darby, Sting) - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/26 | Thunder Rosa (C) vs. Toni Sofrm for the AEW Women's Championship - 06/26 | Will Ospreay (C) vs. Orange Cassidy for the IWGP United States Championship - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/26 | Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Claudio Castagnoli - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/26 | Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jon Moxley - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/29 | Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Blackpool Combat Club in a Blood & Guts Match - AEW Dynamite 07/08 | Eddie Kingston vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Rampage 07/13 | Jon Moxley vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Dynamite Fyter Fest Night 1 07/13 | The Young Bucks (C) vs. Swerve in our Glory vs. Team Taz (Hobbs and Starks) for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Dynamite Fyter Fest Night 1 07/20 | Brody King vs. Darby Allin - AEW Dynamite Fyter Fest Night 2 07/23 | Shingo Takagi vs. YOSHI-HASHI - NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 4 07/23 | Switchblade Jay White vs. Tomohiro Ishii - NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 4 07/27 | Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia - AEW Dynamite 08/10 | Darby Allin vs. Brody King in a Coffin Match - AEW Dynamite Quake at the Lake 08/10 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship - AEW Dynamite Quake at the Lake 08/17 | Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia in a Best 2-out-of-3 Falls Match - AEW Dynamite 08/17 | The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. La Faccion Ingobernable - AEW Dynamite 08/24 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. CM Punk for the AEW Championship - AEW Dynamite 08/24 | Triangulo de la Muerte vs. The United Empire (Ospreay & Aussie Open) - AEW Dynamite 08/31 | The Elite (Kenny & The Bucks) vs. The United Empire (Ospreay & Aussie Open) - AEW Dynamite 09/04 | Eddie Kingston vs. Tomohiro Ishii - AEW All Out Zero Hour 09/04 | Hangman & The Dark Order vs. The Elite (Kenny & The Bucks) for the AEW Trios Tag Titles - AEW All Out 09/04 | Swerve in our Glory (C) vs. The Acclaimed for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW All Out 09/04 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. CM Punk for the AEW World Championship - AEW All Out 09/07 | Bryan Danielson vs. Hangman Adam Page - AEW Dynamite 09/07 | Wheeler Yuta (C) vs. Daniel Garcia for the ROH Pure Title - AEW Dynamite 09/14 | Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho - AEW Dynamite 09/21 | Claudio Castagnoli (C) vs. Chris Jericho for the ROH World Title - AEW Grand Slam 09/21 | Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW World Title - AEW Grand Slam 09/23 | Jungle Boy vs. Rey Fénix - AEW Rampage Grand Slam 09/28 | Chris Jericho (C) vs. Bandido for the ROH World Championship - AEW Dynamite 10/05 | Wheeler Yuta vs. MJF - AEW Dynamite 10/05 | Willow Nightingale, Athena & Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter, Serena Deeb & Penelope Ford - AEW Dynamite 10/07 | PAC (C) vs. Trent? for the AEW All Atlantic Title - AEW Battle of the Belts IV 10/10 | Brandon Cutler vs. Serpentico - AEW Dark Elevation 10/12 | PAC (C) vs. Orange Cassidy for the AEW All Atlantic Title - AEW Dynamite 10/26 | FTR vs. Swerve in Our Glory - AEW Dynamite 11/09 | Bryan Danielson vs. Sammy Guevara in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match - AEW Dynamite 11/19 | Eddie Kingston vs. Jun Akiyama - AEW Zero Hour 11/19 | Jungle Boy vs. Luchasaurus in a Cage Match - AEW Full Gear 11/19 | Triangulo de la Muerte (C) vs. The Elite for the AEW Six Man Tag Titles - AEW Full Gear 11/19 | Chris Jericho (C) vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Sammy Guevara for the ROH World Championship - AEW Full Gear 11/19 | Toni Storm (C) vs. Jamie Hayter for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Full Gear 11/19 | The Acclaimed (C) vs. Swerve in our Glory for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Full Gear 11/19 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. MJF for the AEW World Title - AEW Full Gear 11/23 | Triangulo de la Muerte vs. The Elite in Best of 7 Match 2 - AEW Dynamite 11/23 | Chris Jericho (C) vs. Tomohiro Ishii for the ROH World Title - AEW Dynamite 11/30 | Triangulo de la Muerte vs. The Elite in Best of 7 Match 3 - AEW Dynamite 12/07 | Samoa Joe (C) vs. Darby Allin for the TNT Championship - AEW Dynamite 12/07 | The Acclaimed (C) vs. FTR for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Dynamite 12/09 | Jon Moxley vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Rampage 12/14 | Chris Jericho vs. Action Andretti - AEW Dynamite 12/21 | Jamie Hayter (C) vs. Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite  2023 01/04 | Samoa Joe (C) vs. Darby Allin for the TNT Title - AEW Dynamite 01/06 | The Acclaimed (C) vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal for the AEW Tag Titles - AEW Battle of the Belts 01/11 | Hangman Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley - AEW Dynamite 01/11 | Bryan Danielson vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Dynamite 01/11 | Triangulo de la Muerte (C) vs. The Elite for the AEW Trios Titles in Best of 7 Match 7 (Escalara de la Muerte) - AEW Dynamite 01/13 | Anna Jay & Tay Melo vs. Ruby Soho & Willow Nightingale in a Street Fight - AEW Rampage 01/18 | Bryan Danielson vs. Bandido - AEW Dynamite 01/25 | Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal - AEW Dynamite 01/27 | Jamie Hayter vs. Emi Sakura - AEW Rampage 02/01 | Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Adam Page - AEW Dynamite 02/01 | Darby Allin (C) vs. Samoa Joe for the TNT Title - AEW Dynamite 02/08 | MJF vs. Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Dynamite 02/08 | Bryan Danielson vs. RUSH - AEW Dynamite 02/08 | The Elite (C) vs. AR Fox & Top Flight for the AEW Trios Titles - AEW Dynamite 02/22 | Orange Cassidy (C) vs. Wheeler Yuta for the AEW All Atlantic Championship - AEW Dynamite 02/24 | The Young Bucks vs. Aussie Open - AEW Rampage 03/01 | Face of the Revolution Ladder Match - AEW Dynamite 03/05 | Jungle Boy vs. Christian Cage in a Final Burial Match - AEW Revolution 03/05 | The Elite (C) vs. The House of Black for the AEW Trios Titles - AEW Revolution 03/05 | Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Adam Page in a Texas Death Match - AEW Revolution 03/05 | MJF (C) vs. Bryan Danielson in an Iron Man Match for the AEW Title - AEW Revolution 03/22 | Kenny Omega vs. El Hijo del Vikingo - AEW Dynamite 04/05 | Jamie Hayter (C) vs. Riho for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite 05/10 | Claudio Castagnoli vs. Fénix - AEW Dynamite 05/10 | Orange Cassidy (C) vs. Daniel Garcia for the AEW All Atlantic Title - AEW Dynamite 05/10 | Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega in a Steel Cage Match - AEW Dynamite 05/17 | Chris Jericho vs. Roderick Strong in a Falls Count Anywhere Match - AEW Dynamite 05/28 | Blackjack Battle Royal for the AEW International Title - AEW Double or Nothing 05/28 | MJF (C) vs. Darby Allin vs. Jungle Boy vs. Sammy Guevara for the AEW World Title - AEW Double or Nothing 05/28 | Blackpool Combat Club (Mox, Danielson, Claudio & Yuta) vs. The Elite (Kenny, Hangman & The Young Bucks) in Anarchy in the Arena - AEW Double or Nothing 06/14 | MJF vs. Adam Cole - AEW Dynamite 06/14 | The Elite (Hangman & The Young Bucks) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Mox, Claudio & Yuta) - AEW Dynamite 06/17 | CM Punk & FTR vs. Samoa Joe & Bullet Club Gold - AEW Collision 06/25 | Orange Cassidy (C) vs. Daniel Garcia vs. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the AEW International Title - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/25 | The Elite, Eddie Kingston & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Blackpool Combat Club, Shota Umino & Konosuke Takeshita - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/25 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP US Championship - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/25 | Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada - AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door 06/28 | Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii - AEW Dynamite 06/28 | Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara vs. Sting & Darby Allin in a Tornado Tag Match - AEW Dynamite 07/08 | FTR vs. Bullet Club Gold (White & Robinson) - AEW Collision  AEW'S WORST MATCHES From the same threads, here are the few AEW matches considered the absolute worst. Granted, there IS some overlap with the ones on the best list, so your mileage may vary. 2020 01/08 | Riho (C) vs. Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite 01/15 | Hikaru Shida & Kris Statlander vs. Brandi Rhodes & Mel - AEW Dynamite 02/04 | Mel vs. Hikaru Shida - AEW Dark 02/29 | Dustin Rhodes vs. Jake Hager - AEW Revolution 04/15 | Jon Moxley (C) vs. Jake Hager in a No Holds Barred Empty Arena Match for the AEW Championship - AEW Dynamite 05/12 | Dr. Luther vs. Jimmy Havoc - AEW Dark 08/27 | Big Swole vs. Penelope Ford & Rebel - AEW Dynamite 09/05 | Dr. Britt Baker vs. Big Swole in a Tooth & Nail Match - AEW All Out 09/05 | Casino Battle Royale - AEW All Out 09/05 | Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara - AEW All Out 2021 03/07 | Kenny Omega (C) vs. Jon Moxley in an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch for the AEW Championship - AEW Revolution 06/18 | Jake Hager vs. WARDLOW in an MMA Steel Cage Match - AEW Dynamite 08/25 | The Gunn Club vs. The Factory - AEW Dynamite 11/12 | Orange Cassidy vs. Matt Hardy in a Lumberjack Match - AEW Rampage 2022 01/05 | Jade Cargill vs. Ruby Soho for the TBS Title - AEW Dynamite 03/06 | Dr. Britt Baker DMD (C) vs. Thunder Rosa for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Revolution 04/06 | The Hardys vs. The Butcher and The Blade in an Elimination Tables match - AEW Dynamite 04/13 | Marina Shafir vs. Skye Blue - AEW Dynamite 05/29 | Jade Cargill (C) vs. Anna Jay for the TBS Championship - AEW Double or Nothing 07/20 | Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston in a Barbed Wire Everywhere Match - AEW Dynamite Fyter Fest Night 2 08/05 | Madison Rayne vs. Leyla Grey - AEW Rampage 09/04 | Casino Ladder Match - AEW All Out 2023 05/28 | Adam Cole vs. Chris Jericho in an Unsanctioned Match - AEW Double or Nothing 05/28 | Jamie Hayter (C) vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women's Title - AEW Double or Nothing  AEW ALUMNI I’ve already discussed Cody Rhodes, Brandi Rhodes, Awesome Kong, William Regal, and Kylie Rae, but there are a handful of wrestlers and managers who have been part of AEW, only to vanish over time. On the upside, it’s usually because Tony Khan lets their contract run out without renewing it, as opposed to WWE just firing someone out of nowhere for random cost-cutting. Unfortunately, Tony is very bad at communicating this info and usually just ghosts his talent until they figure things out. A lot of these names end up being, at the very least, interesting footnotes to AEW’s beginnings. JOEY JANELA Early in AEW, there was a ridiculous three-way hardcore match called the Cracker Barrel Clash. When they ever show footage of it, it’s just Darby Allin smashing a literal barrel because the other two competitors are lost to time for one reason or another. Joey Janela’s deal is that he’s a skeezy hardcore wrestler with no butt. He’s a beloved staple in the indies, so seeing him on the ground floor of AEW was seen as a decent get. His persona also made him the prime candidate to be Jon Moxley’s first AEW opponent as they had a Lights Out match to main event Fyter Fest. Since then, he remained in the midcard and was a regular fixture on Dark. Though he was used in the Street Fighter X AEW t-shirt series where he was paired up against Blanka. Joey started a tag team with Sonny Kiss, but it rarely appeared on TV. They both got pretty badly squashed by Kenny Omega during his heel turn ascent to the title and they never really recovered. Not only did they compete on Dark for the most part afterwards, but they split up and had a pretty great feud. Unfortunately, nobody really watched that part. Joey’s AEW career petered out until his contract expired. FRANKIE KAZARIAN SCU was another perfect early acquisition for AEW. The trio of Scorpio Sky, Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian were veterans of the industry who were solid in the ring, had a built-in fanbase, and had minimal WWE history. They were also a blast on Being the Elite, especially with Kaz’s Bob Holly impression where he would loudly and intensely scream “DO YA?!” at others after getting the right setup. Kaz and Scorpio Sky then became the company’s inaugural tag team champions after winning a tournament. Though the focus was more on Scorpio with the underlying push to make him the breakout star of the group. And yes, Scorpio is certainly talented, but he’s also a bit on the bland side and AEW’s still struggling to push past that. SCU lost the tag titles to Hangman and Omega, who proceeded to have a title run that left Kaz and Scorpio in the dust. Scorpio quietly left the team, leaving Kaz with Daniels. The two faced the Young Bucks for the tag titles at one point with the caveat that if SCU lost, they would have to forever break up. The Young Bucks cheated to win, which was especially lovely as they had been longtime friends with Kaz and Daniels. Daniels had a heartbreaking mental breakdown on BTE over the realization that his career was all but over while Kaz became righteously pissed off. Kaz became “The Elite Hunter,” a lone vigilante out to kick the poo poo out of the Elite. This was a fantastic new direction for the wrestler, but they never did much with it other than having him go over Brandon Cutler. Otherwise, he got his rear end kicked by the Good Brothers and never amounted to anything. Kaz did briefly feud with Scorpio over the TNT Championship, but it didn’t go anywhere. Instead, Kaz remained on the Dark shows until asking for his release, putting over Takeshita, and going to IMPACT. Apparently, the door is open if he ever wants to return. THE GOOD BROTHERS Technically, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were never officially signed to AEW, but their story is worth mentioning. The two mainstays of the Bullet Club were in WWE with their contracts coming up. The idea was that they were going to go to AEW for the first episode of Dynamite, joining with Chris Jericho in the final minutes. But no, Triple H talked them into re-signing and told them to think about their children as AEW was not a proven force. So they re-signed and were later fired because Nick Khan didn’t like how much they were getting paid. They couldn’t exactly go to AEW because Tony Khan was pretty pissed about their decision to re-sign. Instead, they went to IMPACT and, over time, came to AEW as allies of Don Callis. They helped turn the Young Bucks heel and they became the Super Elite. They showed up a bunch on BTE with Gallows constantly making masturbation jokes while Anderson won the world over with his alter ego Sour Boy. He was the WORST! Eventually, they just stopped showing up on AEW with no fanfare. Then they left IMPACT and went back to WWE. JIMMY HAVOC Jimmy Havoc was nobody’s favorite wrestler, nor was he especially good in the ring to begin with, but he added a unique flavor to the early days of the product as a hardcore wrestler who looked like he was 20 years older than he really was. His deal was that he was obsessed with stapling people and when his brutality got him fined, he would write a check and staple it onto somebody. He never really had a chance to do much other than be one of Kip Sabian’s many tag partners. Speaking Out allegations painted him as a gigantic piece of poo poo and he was rightfully let go because of it. MARKO STUNT While the pairing of Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus was immediately interesting, Jungle Boy’s main tag partner pre-AEW was Marko Stunt. They ended up just making him the third member of the Jurassic Express. Marko’s whole deal is that he looks like he’s like 12 and he’d lean into it by doing the Floss and whatever. There was a Tarzan guy, a dinosaur, and a literal child. Marko was always seen as the weak link of the group, though he was more than capable of doing well in the ring. He did make for a great squash victim against the likes of Lance Archer. They also did a fun segment on Dark where he and Negative One got in a scuffle, suggesting that he would be Negative One’s first opponent down the line when he turns 18. Other than experimenting with a singing gimmick on Dark, that was about it for Marko. He quietly was removed from the Jurassic Express and his contract ended. When Christian Cage turned heel on Jungle Boy, he was able to convince Luchasaurus to listen to him by suggesting the threat that Luchasaurus would be forgotten and discarded like Marko. LEVA BATES Leva Bates found minor stardom in NXT as “Blue Pants,” though she was not actually very good as a wrestler. With a backstage role keeping her around, she was a personality in early AEW based around the idea that she and Peter Avalon both independently came up with the idea of doing a librarian gimmick. They ended up working together with Leva in Avalon’s corner where he lost pretty much all the time. They also proceeded to have a lot of segments of BTE that were entirely skippable. Well, except for the time the Inner Circle jumped Brandon at the end of a BTE, stole his camera, and carried Leva away. People found that part to be in bad taste, but they followed it up perfectly by starting the next week’s “Being the Inner Circle” by having Leva read to the stable like it was a kindergarten class. Leva and Avalon were considered the absolute bottom of the barrel in terms of either division, so they of course never did more than a fun Brandon Cutler feud where Avalon and Brandon battled over who would get their first win (it took three matches to find a winner). Leva rather abruptly discovered that she was no longer under contract to do her backstage stuff. JONATHAN GRESHAM Jonathan Gresham is a great talent with a badass pre-fight metal octopus helmet thing he walks to the ring with. With Ring of Honor dying, Gresham seemingly became its final champion. But then Tony Khan bought ROH and Gresham came with it. As this was before ROH had a weekly show again, Gresham mainly showed up on Rampage where he was just kind of there. It’s also worth noting that Gresham is very short and they made sure to do a segment where Satnam Singh confronted him. At the next ROH PPV, the plan was to have Gresham drop the title to Claudio Castagnoli. A disgruntled Gresham came out without his cool helmet, did the job, and left. Also, this was the first match of the show. By that point, he had already asked for his release and was granted it. This became way funnier when word got out that he was heard pointing out his spot in the PWI 500 as for why he should be pushed. Tony Khan was not won over. JACK EVANS Jack Evans “From the Heavens” was a top flippy indie guy who started in 2000s and spent the next couple decades competing around the world. Prior to AEW, he had a wonderful role as a loud little poo poo in Lucha Underground, where he was eventually murdered. He was one of the first to sign with AEW along with his partner Angelico. While a drat good duo, they were soon overshadowed by the company’s stellar tag team division. Eventually, the two got roped into Matt Hardy’s stable and would normally do his dirty work. Angelico got injured and Evans ate poo poo by losing a Hair vs. Hair match against Orange Cassidy after Matt Hardy volunteered him into it. Evans faded away after that and publicly said that his contract was not going to be renewed. He blamed himself for it as he could never bring himself to come up with any ideas worth pitching to Tony Khan. At least he got a pretty sweet Kenny Omega match out of his run. BIG SWOLE As an early AEW signing, Big Swole really stood out during the pandemic. There, she got to feud with a wheelchair-bound Britt Baker in a storyline that kept Britt relevant during her time injured. This led to a pre-taped PPV match at Britt’s dentist office called Tooth and Nail. It was a match that happened. Big Swole took time off due to her struggle with Crohn’s disease, but eventually returned to wrestle regularly on the Dark shows. During that, she feuded with Diamante and defeated her in a Three Strikes match (best two-out-of-three with different gimmicks). Shortly after, she appeared in a women’s Casino Battle Royale match, had one more Dark appearance, and then got dropped. At the time, there was some bad faith criticism online about AEW’s misuse of black talent. It involved a Twitter guy getting paid in literal cheese from WWE. Anyway, Big Swole joined in on that and blamed racism for why she wasn’t pushed or re-signed. While Tony Khan really should have kept his mouth shut, he made sure to tweet to her that he just didn’t think her wrestling was up to snuff. Swole’s complaints then came off as sour grapes when a Twitter exchange showed her complaining that Jade Cargill was getting a push that should have gone to her. Jade called her out on it and Swole immediately backed down. TULLY BLANCHARD As part of Cody’s obsession with old Four Horsemen stuff, Tully was brought in to be Shawn Spears’ manager in the Cody vs. Spears feud. This led to Arn Anderson becoming Cody’s mentor for the rest of Cody’s AEW run. Spears never did all that much as a midcard heel and was involved in an embarrassingly bad PPV match against Dustin Rhodes where Spears got stripped to a pair of underwear that inexplicably had a picture of Tully’s head over the crotch. They tried some storylines where Tully tried to find Spears a new partner and one where Spears started illegally using a loaded glove, but neither went anywhere. As FTR existed as a love letter to Tully and Arn’s days as a tag team, Tully became their manager. This led to the creation of MJF’s Pinnacle, which brought in FTR, Shawn Spears, and Tully. Eventually, he and FTR disagreed with the direction of the tag team as they were turning face and they fired him. Tully became a manager in ROH for a bit until being replaced with Prince Nana. That was it for him. VICKIE AND CHAVO GUERRERO Vickie Guerrero was a perfect heat magnet during her endless WWE run and they decided to see if that would translate to AEW. She was initially paired with Andrade El Idolo, which just did not work. His coolness just did not jibe with her angry screeching. She was soon replaced with Chavo Guerrero, who only stuck around briefly until interfering in a match against Andrade’s wishes. Chavo was fired in kayfabe and was shocked that Tony Khan had no further use for him in the company. Vickie became Nyla Rose’s manager, which was fine. It did feel really weird when Britt Baker won the women’s championship and they immediately jumped into a heel vs. heel feud. The Nyla/Vickie alliance mostly lent itself to the Dark shows and eventually Vickie’s contract ended. It was good timing for Tony as Vickie was making the absolute worst posts on social media in response to some sexual abuse allegations her daughter was making about Vickie’s current husband. BOBBY FISH This one’s pure schadenfreude. During its heyday, NXT’s most dominant faction was the Undisputed Era, made up of Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish. Cole left because he knew he would be screwed on the main roster. Kyle and Fish were both let go due to unnecessary budget cuts. All three of them came to AEW. Strong wanted out, but had just signed a new WWE contract before the cuts started and was basically stuck. Kyle and Fish were a drat good tag team and helped add some flavor to what was going on with the Elite. Fish also had a somewhat controversial match with CM Punk which, as I’ve previously mentioned, involved Punk giving Fish the iggy, also known as the office. Once again, I will not explain any of that. But the iggy/office happened. As Cole and Kyle received their own injuries that left them on the mend for an extended amount of time, that left only Fish. At the same time, Vince McMahon had just stepped down in WWE and Triple H was back in charge. Fish got excited, as his AEW contract was up. He wanted his Undisputed Era buddies to follow him back to WWE. Nobody was interested in doing that. Triple H had no interest in bringing in JUST Bobby Fish. So Fish spent a brief time in IMPACT, where he became known for a promo where upon saying, “I mean, where’s the lie?!” like it was this huge mic drop, there was absolutely zero reaction from the crowd. It’s honestly kind of impressive. LIO RUSH Lio Rush’s AEW run is as bizarre as it is brief. After a run in WWE where his main role was pointing at Bobby Lashley’s rear end, he showed up in the Joker spot for an AEW Casino Battle Royale match. Afterwards, he announced his retirement from wrestling. Then he went back to wrestling almost immediately. Several months later, he signed with AEW. He coerced Dante Martin into letting him represent him in what came off as heelish at first, but then the two had a loving amazing tag match and it looked like Lio was actually a face after all. They did a slightly messy story where it looked like Dante was leaving Lio to instead join Team Taz, but it was all a trick. Then Lio just plain announced that he was done with AEW and his contract was only for three months. He didn’t want to be tied down, so...bye, I guess. IVELISSE I don’t believe Ivelisse was ever officially under contract, but they did give her a lot of work. Under normal circumstances, she would be a great get. She’s solid enough in the ring and could have been a top name in the company down the line. She even won the Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament alongside Diamante. Unfortunately, Ivelisse has a reputation for being a locker room cancer. Jack Evans claimed he tried to warn people about this, but it fell under deaf ears. Wouldn’t you know it, Ivelisse had a match with Thunder Rosa where she was uncooperative and selling badly to the point that she was more interested in fixing her hair than pretending she was hurt. This heat led to her being let go, where she proceeded to play the victim on Twitter because she is a so-called respected veteran. ALAN ANGELS During the early pandemic era of AEW, Kenny Omega had a match with virtual unknown Alan Angels and proceeded to have a lengthy match with him. People were mad about this because how dare Kenny have a competitive match against some guy? Alan Angels was signed and was soon brought into the Dark Order. In the BTE sketches, Angels became the runt of the litter for the Dark Order. Week after week, they were talking about his ugly, tiny, smelly dick. Except for Anna, as she felt too awkward talking about it, but didn't want to ruin anyone's fun. He’s the one who fell to the wayside the most and although he got to run it back with Kenny at one point, he did little more than random tag matches on the Dark shows. After two years, he chose not to re-sign with AEW and instead went to go prove himself elsewhere. CIMA Representing Oriental Wrestling Entertainment, CIMA was a Japanese veteran wrestler there to help build up AEW in its early days. He was joined by his proteges T-Hawk and Lindaman as #Stronghearts and were staples in the pre-pandemic days of the company. They were even strongly hinting that he would join the Dark Order down the line. Unfortunately, the pandemic put the kibosh on #Stronghearts showing up in AEW. It's surprising that they never brought them back after the fact. FUEGO DEL SOL Fuego was one of several lovable jobber characters on the roster. Initially, he was somebody for heel Sammy Guevara to be patronizing to in the vlogs. Eventually, he showed up on Rampage, where he put up a decent fight against Miro. After the match, Sammy showed up (now a face) and announced that he had an AEW contract for him. Not that Fuego really had much more going on other than seconding Sammy in his own Miro feud and a few weeks where Fuego tried to stand up to the House of Black. His main role became tag matches on the Dark shows along with his partner and son (?) Fuego Dos. Fuego Dos happened to have the exact same body type as Cody Rhodes, but was totally not Cody Rhodes because he didn’t have that awful neck tattoo. Instead, he had something faded there, as if somebody was trying to cover up a tattoo. Regardless, Fuego Dos left AEW around the time that Cody did, so regular Fuego was left hanging. He left for a while for the sake of having surgery. Recently, he appeared to cut a passionate promo on social media, but it turns out that was just a desperate attempt to get some attention before his contract came up. TRENCH When Swerve Strickland turned full heel, he found two goons to back him up. One was Parker Boudreaux, who is like a lumpier Brock Lesnar. The other was a Queequeg-looking motherfucker with braided hair and tattoos from head-to-toe. Nicknamed here as “Baseball Mutant,” the newcomer was eventually named Trench and he proceeded to do nothing of note other than stand around and look threatening. See, Parker at least had experience as a wrestler. Trench seemed to be brand new when it came to it. He eventually vanished off TV with little explanation. Months later, he was simply gone from the company’s roster page. I guess the whole thing just wasn’t working out in its early stages. Gavok fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Jul 9, 2023 |
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Jun 28, 2023 03:43
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I feel like you're missing one very special (in our hearts) type of gimmick match.
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Jun 28, 2023 05:02
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Fantastic Gavok, thanks, I updated the old link in the Wrestling Questions thread to link to this. In regards to Mr. Brodie Lee as the Exalted One, reading your write-up once again reminded me of that wonderful period where they had recruited Colt but were trying to hide that they were a cult from him. I'll always remember the episode where the Dark Order is leading a vicious beatdown on some wrestlers but Mr. Brodie Lee has made a point of very gently escorting Colt away so he didn't see it happen. It was so good. Also words don't really do it justice, his squash of Cody Rhodes to win the TNT title and the aftermath (and follow-up BTE!) is one of the most astonishing things I've ever seen in wrestling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O7nC60mHas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZPLyRtvU04
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Jun 28, 2023 05:05
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Jun 28, 2023 05:11
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If you want to do a deep dive in to the prehistory of All Elite Wrestling here are a few video documentaries on the important stuff: AEW's Stars on The Indies Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli | A Matter of Respect by Joseph Monticello https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SX21cxOtag Making MJF (Maxwell Jacob Friedman) // A Real Documentary by Kenny Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJGYy1X_6Ok CLOSE UP // Eddie Kingston // Why He Didn't Retire by Kenny Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOD66gJhRP4 The Comedy in Wrestling // Orange Cassidy by Kenny Johnson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thVHAHJ1Mig The Greatest Match You've Never Seen | Invisible Man vs. Invisible Stan by Joseph Monticello (Referee Bryce Remsburg) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFx5COzDzkA The Elite in New Japan Pro Wrestling The Official NjPW Recount: The Bullet Club (Multipart Playlist) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFb8Dxypi00 The Very Unofficial Showbuckle Pack (On 2010s NJPW in general but watch The Tale of The Golden Lovers) https://archive.org/details/showbuckle-pack Background on AEW's Japanese Women Wrestlers (Joshi) Miyu Yamashita and Yuka Sakazaki - race to the ace by NeoJoshiSizzle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zc3SbwH1jg Yuka Sakazaki - The Birth of The Magical Girl | Part 1 by Karen Watches Wrestling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ9Icywjt2o How Friendship Conquers All - Yuka Sakazaki & MIZUKI (Part 2) by Karen Watches Wrestling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc1wBljaAgQ Maki Itoh - the fired idol by NeoJoshiSizzle (now out of date, she's become a good wrestler) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0T5iB47gLg Maki itoh part 2 - finally a happy ending? by NeoJoshiSizzle (the update so only a little out of date) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvzdWndYSTM Past AEW Storyline Videos The Saga of Dustin vs Cody Rhodes in AEW by DropMick Wrestling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6suYDY1fxk4 Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes - Blood is Thicker than Water by Joseph Monticello https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuRWNv1YXJc The Good, The Bad, and The Elite by Outside Interference (should have a playlist) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0YJgm6Auz8 BETTER THAN YOU - Complete CM Punk vs MJF Feud by Outside Interference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CbZQpmacJI CM Punk in AEW: His Complete First Run by DropMick Wrestling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juv_SN2wLm0 There's also Tranquilo Club on youtube but I find his output spotty
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Jun 28, 2023 05:21
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Jerusalem posted:Fantastic Gavok, thanks, I updated the old link in the Wrestling Questions thread to link to this. First off great job overall Gavok (as per usual)! Secondly I almost forgot what an all-time great that squash (and subsequent BTE) was, Brodie was the loving best and it’s so tragic how he didn’t get more time to continue being the best  AEW was such a comfort during the thick of the pandemic/stay at home era, it’s astonishing to see how much chicken salad they made from that chicken poo poo. Conversely, that era feels so quaint compared to the heights they’ve gotten to since getting back on the road.
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Jun 28, 2023 15:57
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I like this but I believe the story of our mad king addressing his enemies should be in the primer
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Jun 28, 2023 20:26
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Defenestrategy posted:I like this but I believe the story of our mad king addressing his enemies should be in the primer Yes, but a list of Eddie Kingston's enemies is just a roster list for AEW, minus maybe Ruby Soho and a few of the Joshis. (This list has to include Eddie himself, of course.)
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Jun 28, 2023 21:48
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Kvantum posted:Yes, but a list of Eddie Kingston's enemies is just a roster list for AEW, minus maybe Ruby Soho and a few of the Joshis. Mox is on Eddie's friends list He's also on Eddie's enemies list
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Jun 28, 2023 22:16
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I learned a lot about the Codyverse. Thank you, Gavok.
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Jun 28, 2023 23:17
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Someone do a writeup of the Eternal Tragedy of Death Triangle
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Jun 28, 2023 23:23
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nothing in the op about how CM Punk got his whole entire dick and balls iggy'd (also known as the office'd) by New Japan Pro Wrestling living legend Satoshi Kojima, voted 1 edit: this 
Prokhor Zakharov fucked around with this message at 06:42 on Jun 29, 2023 |
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Jun 29, 2023 06:34
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fez_machine posted:CLOSE UP // Eddie Kingston // Why He Didn't Retire by Kenny Johnson Watching these two right now and it's wild that Eddie can make a stadium turn on CM Punk (on their promo battle) and OC is in my opinion, the best champion AEW ever had.
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Jun 30, 2023 16:14
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Wanted to suggest this as an addition to the past storyline list. I really like how the guy who made it dissects the moment to moment layout of a match, even though it's a squash. The Semiotics of Jon Moxley vs Wheeler Yuta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgdKjw-V76g
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Jul 4, 2023 23:10
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the codyverse was a beautiful and special place, i miss it so i hope our perfect wrestling prince returns some day also the whole dark order sitting around with the TNT belt hollering "gently caress HANG MAN!" is still one of the best moments ever
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Jul 6, 2023 07:33
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Finally got around to adding that third post, focusing on the MOTY nominees and notable people who left the company over the years.
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Jul 9, 2023 23:12
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quote:01/08 | Riho (C) vs. Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship - AEW Dynamite DMorbid fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Jul 10, 2023 |
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Jul 9, 2023 23:28
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So the story of All In is fairly romaniticized at this point, with the Meltzer tweet and Cody reply being the sole genesis of it all. The truth (or what I've heard) is understandably not nearly as inspirational. (Here is where I give the disclaimer that what I've heard is all hearsay and not on the record, so I make no claims that this would hold up in court, but it seems to make sense) Late 2010's ROH was being propped up by New Japan, primarily Bullet Club. The Young Bucks travel vlog Being The Elite was starting to pick up traction and they/Kenny Omega/ For a while the Elite, primarily the Bucks and Cody with Omega tagging along, had been considering promotioning their own event, feeling that their star power was greater than that of ROH's and thus they would make more money running on their own. However, to put on a show, they needed funding. ROH was willing to help but insisted that it be a ROH-promoted show, which the Elite felt was defeating the point. Omega was wanting to do a show under the New Japan banner, given that he was promised to be the one to end Okada's record setting title reign and that the New Japan brand was stronger in the states than ROH's. New Japan was already running stateside events with reasonable crowds, but not the 10k that Cody wanted. As a test drive, Omega helped put together the New Japan x CEO mini-show, half-funded by CEO promoter/Twitch meme Alex Jebailey and half-funded by New Japan having a full US date later in the week and thus most of the roster already in the states. This show was notable for two things: known/convicted? pedophile Chasyn Raynce being on the pre-show on the basis that he provided CEO with the rings for their fighting game tournament, something else both Jebailey, Omega, and all parties involved would rather you not bring up, and the main event of newly crowned IWGP champion Omega/Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito/Hiromu Takahashi going far harder than they needed too, with Omega/Kota almost paralyzing Naito on a team German suplex. The show did okay but Jebailey didn't have the funding necessary for a full show and there was considerable doubt that the New Japan brand was strong enough to draw 10k on their own, plus the politics of New Japan wanting to control what was being ran under their banner vs the Elite wanting to run their show their way (this was the Harold Meij era so the relationships were starting to frey). Then there was the angle that the Bucks and Cody were working, with PW Tees being the primarily banker of the indy supershow. PW Tees had been wanting to run a Wrestlecade-level show in Chicago for some time, and depending on who you talked to, had some degree of verbal committment from CM Punk for the show, ranging from "Yeah I'll make an appearance" to "I'll be in the main event." They booked the Sears Centre in Chicago with the hope that they could have two of the following three wrestlers in the main event: Omega, Chicago native Punk, and/or Bryan Danielson, who was trying to get out of his WWE contract at the time given that they wouldn't clear him to wrestle. Despite not having committments from the latter two, plans were made with a hope of drawing 4,000-5,000, and more if they could promote Omega vs Punk/Danielson as a main later on. When the tickets sold out upon release and a 10,000+ crowd was guaranteed, the need for Danielson and Punk disappeared. Punk did end up doing the convention part of the show, and there was a belief that Punk would have been revealed as Bernard, the Business Bear from BTE skits, but the sides never came to an agreement. From there costs began to spin out of control, ROH was brought in as another financial backer and to do production/distribution on the basis that ROH would be the event rightholders (hence why ROH had All In and not AEW until the purchase), NWA promised Cody their title if they could get on the show, more people who have been literally wiped away from BTE history were involved, and Tony Kahn began to contact the parties involved about this promotion he had been talking to Turner Networks about. From there is rest is history.
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Jul 10, 2023 05:46
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Gavok posted:Finally got around to adding that third post, focusing on the MOTY nominees and notable people who left the company over the years. Lio Rush's final departure was right at the same time as the Tony/Big Swole tweetstorm and was a pretty clear case of Tony letting Lio walked if he stopped publically slating him
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Jul 10, 2023 13:15
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Gavok posted:Also, Bryan Danielson broke his arm wrestling Kazuchika Okada, so he’ll be out for a bit. This really doesn't do it justice. AmDrag wrestled 15 more minutes still doing top rope bumps to the outside and two Rainmaker attempts from Okada using the busted arm, then tapped him out using a leg for extra leverage because his arm was too hosed to take it. With one of his arm bones broken so badly he ended up with nine screws and a steel rod to put it back together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM8Q3TyVqAo Because the man rivals Mox for lack of a sense of self-preservation.
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Jul 20, 2023 09:06
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Liquid Communism posted:This really doesn't do it justice. AmDrag wrestled 15 more minutes still doing top rope bumps to the outside and two Rainmaker attempts from Okada using the busted arm, then tapped him out using a leg for extra leverage because his arm was too hosed to take it. With one of his arm bones broken so badly he ended up with nine screws and a steel rod to put it back together. I recently said that Mox and Bryan are basically the dark and light sides of the same person and I basically stand by it.
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Jul 24, 2023 03:51
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edit: wrong thread
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Jul 27, 2023 01:51
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SamuraiFoochs posted:I recently said that Mox and Bryan are basically the dark and light sides of the same person and I basically stand by it. As I've pointed out, this is a guy who basically called Triple H a pussy for stopping his (Danielson's) match because he (Danielson) couldn't feel his hands.
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Jul 27, 2023 01:53
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I watched dragon wrestle with a detached freakin retina. Man is a stupid wrestling machine
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Jul 28, 2023 17:51
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What shows are The Acclaimed and Daddy rear end on now? Rampage and Collision?
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Aug 1, 2023 02:26
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The Acclaimed are everywhere, but they were last seen on Collision where Billy Gunn seemingly retired.
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Aug 1, 2023 02:54
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Gavok posted:The Acclaimed are everywhere, but they were last seen on Collision where Billy Gunn seemingly retired. for context the evil Malachi Black whispered in Billy's ear and threatened to play Billy and Chuck footage to cancel Billy unless he retired
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Aug 1, 2023 04:59
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Gavok posted:So Fish spent a brief time in IMPACT, where he became known for a promo where upon saying, “I mean, where’s the lie?!” like it was this huge mic drop, there was absolutely zero reaction from the crowd. It’s honestly kind of impressive. After being a big Punk fan every since the pipebomb I'm becoming less of one as I keep being worried that all the drama is going to hurt a company I really like, but no matter what happens in the future I'll always find it hilarious that as a contrast to Fish, during his 2023 return promo he repeatedly said "tell me when I'm telling lies" and the Chicago crowd ate it up.
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Aug 18, 2023 20:56
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Ok, so I don't have cable package because I'm an advanced future being from the future. Can I pay 9.99 or 14.99 a month and get AEW? Preferably with the back catalog because I want to watch every show.
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Nov 8, 2023 03:28
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SpeakSlow posted:Ok, so I don't have cable package because I'm an advanced future being from the future. they have not yet signed with anyone to air their library.
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Nov 8, 2023 03:36
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They have, just not in the USA. For people outside the US (or who appear to be outside the US) AEW Plus on Fite is pretty reliable.
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Nov 8, 2023 09:22
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SpeakSlow posted:Ok, so I don't have cable package because I'm an advanced future being from the future. If you want to watch every show then for some reason the weekly TV episodes are on archive.org And the PPVs are easily found on vk or Bilibili
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Nov 8, 2023 10:35
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Most ppvs are in archive.org too but only at 720 iirc
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Nov 8, 2023 20:09
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I've been able to watch every PPV since Revolution 2022 via VLC, so it's available wherever you get video files too.
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Nov 8, 2023 20:11
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i paid for years of all those papes on brlive, if they shut that poo poo down i want copies  think there's any chance of that happening ?
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Nov 8, 2023 21:04
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graph posted:i paid for years of all those papes on brlive, if they shut that poo poo down i want copies why dont you just go to your purchase history, start up the replay for the one you bought and use OBS to record your screen? https://bleacherreport.com/videos/all-elite-wrestling-ppv?from=sub Just go to this screen, log in and click on any ppv you paid for and you can watch it again. Then just record your screen. BAM you got yourself a new digital copy.
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Nov 8, 2023 21:26
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Shard posted:why dont you just go to your purchase history, start up the replay for the one you bought and use OBS to record your screen? i very literally may do that
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Nov 8, 2023 22:03
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At that point just pirate them imo. It's just someone else doing it for you.
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Nov 8, 2023 23:13
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