Charlie Davis: The days are blending together and there is more wrestling than anyone can possibly consume! But I’ve got a Gin and Tonic and a can-try attitude so anything is possible! No, but really. Wrestlemania is coming soon, the AEW women are stepping up in a big way, and I GUESS Impact Wrestling is happening?
Thomas Cummins: The women of AEW are for sure the highlight of the week for me, and AEW in general. This week AEW put out almost 6 hours of wrestling! Two-thirds of it was free for anyone to watch on YouTube. That’s the kind of accessibility I love to see, especially with money the company has behind it.
Forrest Hollingsworth: Blood, Asuka, Kinshasas, and Christian? It was a pretty good week for me at least.
Vishal Gullapalli: It was a busy week for me, but I have some things to add!
Mikey Zee: There was definitely a lot going on, and dare I say, even earth-shaking? In that there was a LITERAL earthquake.
Monday
Mikey Zee: So, Mondays are a little more crowded this week than last. Not only do we have WWE Monday Night Raw, we also have All Elite Wrestling’s vlog-based skit show Being the Elite, new show AEW Dark: Elevation, and New Japan Pro Wrestling’s New Japan Cup 2021 Quarter Final. That’s a lot of wrestling to start off the week!
FH: Asuka 🙂
MZ: So this week, I watched the inaugural episode of Elevation. In terms of first impressions, it was a bit weird for a “hallmark” part of AEW’s product lineup to debut with no intro and just start cold, even for a Youtube show. I hope that’s something that changes in future episodes, if only to help ease new viewers into the programming. The match they opened onto was perfectly serviceable but didn’t hold my attention; the show picked up during the second match featuring Miro and Kip Sabian. Miro bringing his new monstrous energy while simultaneously driving a wedge between Kip and new bride Penelope Ford signaled that Elevation would mean the welcome return of the character work fans have bemoaned losing on AEW Dark in favor of rapid-fire enhancement matches.
Overall, this show had huge “first podcast” energy, which is not a bad thing! It was uneven here and there, but it had heart. For example, I have felt aggressively neutral about Cody Rhodes’ Nightmare Family faction, but the Lee Johnson video package made it clear that he is more than just one of “Cody’s guys.” AEW has finally started doing right by their women’s roster in terms of video packages and promos, so I’m glad to see it happening for lesser-known and younger talent as well. If this first episode was a glimpse at the kind of character building we can expect from Elevation, I’m all for it. I know the question in a lot of peoples’ minds has been: how does this show fit in between AEW: Dynamite and AEW Dark? I’m not sure I know yet, but I’m interested to see where it goes from here.
TC: Mikey, I agree about the energy feeling off for this first episode of Elevation. Even though we had that really well produced Lee Johnson video package, not having an intro was a glaring omission if they want to make it feel like a “real” show and an important part of the AEW lineup. Though, because of the types of matches and pre-produced content that was added in, it felt more, um…elevated than a typical episode of Dark does.
There was one match in particular that stood out to me: QT Marshall vs. Marko Stunt. Marko truly surprised me here. It had been a while since I’d seen him in a singles match, and he made a huge impression on me. This was similar to the match he had with Lance Archer during last year’s Atlanta pandemic shows, but because QT is less of a full blown heel right now, it had a bit more impact in terms of storytelling for me. Even though it seems obvious QT would squash him, Marko gave him a legit run for his money. It’s never not effective to see Marko effortlessly thrown across the ring. He has this unprecedented ability to put over big guys while also putting over himself because he’s always getting back up after a particularly brutal move. As far as QT is concerned, he’s someone who’s struggled to find a storyline to stick to his place in the roster, but between this match and the Bunkhouse Brawl from the end of last year, he’s proving he’s entertaining and can tell a good in-ring story. He just needs to commit to it, and he needs to be given the time to do it. Elevation seems like the perfect place for him to do that.
Two other small notes: It’s so heartwarming to see how much all the AEW cares about Brodie’s son, and I’m very happy to see Big Swole back in action!
MZ: (And also, if you haven’t–do yourself a favor and watch the Maki Itoh vs Riho match.)
VG: NEW!?DAY?ROCKS!? NEW!?DAY?ROCKS!
MZ: I’m so glad they picked up the tag belts.
VG: Okay, but also let’s talk about the New Japan Cup, and how I will miss KENTA talking trash on all of his opponents. He was the NJC winner of my heart. Also I would really like it if Dick Togo didn’t show up in EVIL’s matches anymore. I get that he’s maybe not as strong of a wrestler as Naito or Okada, but covering that up with constant interference makes all his matches a slog to get through.
FH: I was a considerable EVIL fan before the Bullet Club bait and switch because I saw him swing a chair at Chris Jericho’s head like a baseball bat, but I have to agree. He’s moved from one stasis to another, and it’s especially notable when other wrestlers in the New Japan Cup are performing at a calibre worthy of the name.
MZ: The booking in the NJC has been constant swerves, but I guess it’s good that they’re leaving us surprised? Still. KENTA… ?
CD: Should we talk about the slime? I feel like someone should talk about the slime?
FH: I will reluctantly talk about the slime. After Braun Strowman demanded an apology and a match from Shane McMahon last week on Raw, Shane responded this week by making a mockery of the “Strowman Express”, he danced and did jumping jacks around the ring before baiting Braun into getting knocked out by a ringside camera and then covered in thick green slime hidden below the ring. As WWE says, it was ‘WILD and CRAZY!!’
Mostly though, it was a reminder that any given Raw is too long. When you have things like Asuka and Shayna’s brutal tooth-for-a-tooth match right up next to this, it doesn’t make both or even one seem better — it devalues them nearly equally, it makes Raw feel like a waste of both mine and the talent’s time. Why would Asuka (empress of tomorrow and also of my life) be hanging out on a show like this? Why does Shane just get to…do stuff like this and Underground? Who made the slime and why do they call it ‘gunge’ in the UK? There’s too much going on to make any sense of it, especially when compared to how good SmackDown has been for months now.
Tuesday
CD: Someone summon me when Kenny Omega wins the belt.
MZ: He didn’t win any belts yet… but some other surprising title changes happened. We didn’t talk about it last week, but New Japan Pro Wrestling’s FinJuice are Impact Tag Team champs as of last Saturday AT SACRIFICE!
Ahem. As I was saying. It makes the inter-promotion storyline between the Good Brothers and Kenny Omega even more interesting, because they retained the titles this week and they’re taking them back to Japan! Which is a swerve I didn’t see coming… is someone from the current, actual Bullet Club in NJPW going to end up with them and lord them over Kenny’s “friends”? Who can say. But we will see Kenny on Impact next Tuesday, so uh, stay tuned and hope Charlie doesn’t die.
FH: I’m dispatching Matt and Nick Jackson on a special mission to retrieve the Impact titles and come back with Jay White or Kota Ibushi to fix this mess. Also, a shoutout to Don Callis’ unimpeachably imposing promo against Rich Swann this week. He talked for nearly six minutes about Swann and Omega’s upcoming match without losing the plot, and the subtle tweaks to the character like being more outwardly hostile and braggadocious on Tuesdays against the sly manipulations of Wednesday’s Dynamite do a lot for me.
MZ: But let’s not forget about AEW Dark, not to be confused with Elevation on Mondays.
Wednesday
CD: I really cannot emphasize enough how Wednesday’s are really just the day you need to watch wrestling. NXT is… well, it’s happening. Some rowdy boys (Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly) got arrested in a parking lot for being idiots (fighting) and my heart shattered into a thousand little pieces watching Kenny taunt his best friends until they had enough. ALSO. Did y’all see that lights out match between Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa? Goodness me.
Speaking of Adam Cole though. I’ve got a song to channel my Adam Cole feelings this week.
TC: Britt vs Rosa is my match of the week. Hell, it’s my match of the year so far. While it’s an absolute shame it took AEW this long to have a women’s match as the main event of Dynamite, what these two women did on Wednesday night set a bar not only for the women’s division moving forward, but for Dynamite main events in general. There’s a history in AEW in regards to an Unsanctioned Lights Out Match, and in my eyes Britt and Rosa lived up to that history with the pain, brutality, and blood put on display that night. That hauntingly beautiful photo of Britt, covered in blood, going around will stick with me for a long time to come. If you only have time to watch a single match from this week, this is the one you need to watch.
FH: Tony Khan is doing very well in the key “Forrest” demographic lately, but I did feel this week had some high highs and more sobering lows compared to how electrified I felt after Revolution and last week’s Dynamite. Christian acknowledging he needs to win some normal matches before challenging Kenny, Mox and Eddie’s rekindled friendship, and the awe-inspiring brutality of Britt and Rosa’s match are all highs.
But with the Young Bucks wrapped up in the implosion of The Elite (I’ll let the Superkick scholars among us speak on that), the tag division seems directionless, MJF’s new faction got way too much screen time to say very little, and the matches meant to pad out the show — including Cody needlessly no-selling Penta’s armbreaker — felt like little more than that. It’s still much, much better than any given Raw and usually SmackDown too, but you could see the seams in this one as they recalibrate for a new ‘season’ so to speak.
CD: I am very invested in Kenny’s story and exactly what’s going on with The Buck’s, but I see where you are coming from Forrest. I think that while I was really invested with Kenny’s segment this week, I think there were too many people in the ring and this hasn’t quite popped off yet. There was some wonderful parallelism with Kenny and Matt’s friendship literally dissolving in front of us and Mox and Eddie cradling each other in the ring. I am expecting this to really kick into gear very shortly. RIP ME.
This whole saga prompted me to go back to some Being The Elite episodes right around the last time Kenny and The Bucks had a falling out. Seems pertinent. Not really certain these initial wounds ever healed properly.
VG: I feel like everyone is expecting me to talk about NXT, but honestly I don’t have too much to say. I missed the first half and I don’t really plan on going back, based on the inclusion of people who should not be given a spot on TV. The back half did have some good stuff! Due to the Covid outbreak it seems like Thatcher wasn’t able to show up this week, so we instead got a Ciampa solo match that ended on the incredible reveal that WALTER is back in the US and ready to fight Ciampa! I can’t wait for that.
I’m a sucker for the classic booking of two people scheduled to fight at a PPV being forced to team up against an established tag team a little before their match. It’s a really fun way to portray character dynamics. Unfortunately, Danny Burch got injured really early in, so this ended up being mostly a Finn Balor vs Oney Lorcan match that ended after Kross interfered. I wasn’t a big fan of how this ended up but I still support making these kinds of matches in the future.
But what I haven’t talked about is the most important wrestling show of the week, the one that comes every Wednesday. That’s right, I’m talking about UpUpDownDown Uno featuring Austin Creed, Prince Pretty, Big Swiss, and CHUGS. We’re a year into this show and every single one has been a delight. Definitely watch this one if you’re interested in Adam Cole singing the Run-DMC version of the DX theme. And if you’re not, why are you even watching wrestling?
Thursday
VG: In more UpUpDownDown discussion, Creed and Breeze started Season 3 of Battle of the Brands, and spent a few hours creating some wrestlers on live stream. The highlight was absurdly large Malcolm Bivens, who I cannot wait to see dominate the roster of whoever drafts him. I expect they’ll start the actual game next week, with a full roster created, but it’s also possible they just keep doing these livestreams until the full roster of CAWs is done. Either way, I’m excited!
MZ: In a huge upset, David Finlay won over Jay White in the New Japan Cup. With FinJuice having taken the Impact tag titles to Japan recently, could this mean they’re transitional champs with Finlay’s singles success? Only time can tell. All I know is, I’m rooting for him.
Friday
TC: This is the first time I’ve caught SmackDown live in a while, but I thought since Fastlane is this Sunday it would be a good time to jump back in. That was a very good decision on my part. This was the first time I’d watched anything WWE since Elimination Chamber last month, and while it didn’t feel like anything of importance had changed since that pay-per-view, they put on one hell of a go-home show.
Daniel Bryan’s in-ring promo towards Roman was one of the standouts for me. It’s an aggressively confident version of him that I felt I haven’t seen before, or at least not in the position he currently holds in the company. In 2014 he was the underdog, but in 2021 I believe in his confidence so much more. He’s a wrestler at the top of his game, he knows his career won’t last that much longer, and I see that determination in his eyes and hear it in his voice. When he says to Roman, “I’m not just going to make you quit, I’m going to break you…I’m going to break you of everything you think you are,” I just can’t help but believe it completely.
Also, wow, did this episode make me wish Edge was wrestling with this lineup every single week.
CD: I also tuned in to watch Smackdown and I think this week had a lot of things to love about it. Edge had some very nice blue gear on and I like to remember how handsome he is when he’s on my screen. I am very much not loving Seth’s character right now even though he was wearing a pretty great suit this week. It feels like he’s borrowing someone else’s gimmick and unfortunately for him, that someone happens to be the best in the world at cartoon evil. In any case, him and Cesaro at Mania seems to be the goal and I’m here for it. I’m also here for Sami and Kevin at Mania because man they both deserve it so much.
MZ: Kevin no-selling Sami’s concerns TO HIS FACE and Sami answering that by spearing Kevin out of frustration was so tense and heartbreaking. I really hope they do get a great match to blow off this tension.
I also want to shout out Big E. Even though I wasn’t sure how to feel about the segment between he and Apollo Crews as a whole, it was a great reminder that Big E gives a hell of a promo, if you somehow still needed one after the promo he cut on Sami Zayn’s ass. (Yes, really.) Also, Big E got to have a golf cart spot and I love this for him.
FH: I’m glad some of the rest of the team are back to checking out SmackDown! I have been watching regularly since Roman returned and it is, in my humble opinion, the best stuff WWE is doing right now. I’m also very here for the revitalization of Shinsuke Nakamura, one of my first true wrestling loves, who delivered a Kinshasa that Seth Rollins sold like death. I wish Cesaro and Nakamura could beat him up like that every week, despite the obvious need for Seth to clinch a win headed into what I’m sure will be a satisfying ‘Mania match.
Saturday
MZ: I needed a break from wrestling so I didn’t catch Saturday’s portion of the New Japan Cup; however, I did see the videos of the 7.2 magnitude quake stopping the match. Glad everyone is okay!
Sunday
CD: Let’s do some RAPID FIRE FASTLANE PREDICTIONS! My first thought! Why are there so many matches! Your first thought might be that this isn’t the logo for this year! I don’t really care. Fastlane is like the obligation you have with your family you don’t really want to do, but you promised everyone you’d show up to.
Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura:
CD: I hope Shinsuke knee’s the bad fashion sense right out of Seth. Get a new gimmick, boy. Sadly. Seth’s probably winning.
VG: Seth’s gonna win this one but I hope we at least get to see these two stellar wrestlers actually get to wrestle instead of sports entertain.
TC: My heart says Shinsuke, but my head says Seth.
United States Championship — Riddle (c) vs. Mustafa Ali:
CD: Mustafa deserves this. So I am gonna give it to him. Retribution be damned.
VG: My prediction, and heart, belongs to Mustafa Ali, but my cynicism has me worried.
TC: Everyone loses when Matthew Riddle takes off his shoes.
Shane McMahon vs. Braun Strowman:
CD: I hope we see more slime. Maybe Braun can challenge for the aggro crag once he wins.
VG: I have no idea what’s happening here, flip a coin?
Edit: The coin landed on heads, which I guess means Shane.
TC: I’m gonna say Braun, but I’m not sure what this win does for him.
Randy Orton vs. Alexa Bliss:
CD: I wonder if the Fiend is gonna pop out of Randy’s chest like a chest burster in Alien? Guess we gotta tune in to find out. This is gonna need to be real bonkers to work for me. I am taking Alexa.
VG: No matter who loses, Bray Wyatt wins.
TC: I want whatever sends Alexa back into the arms of Nikki Cross faster.
Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus (No Holds Barred):
CD: All I really care about seeing with these two is a good match. I hope they tear it up. Drew wins setting up his contention for the belt against Bobby.
VG: I think Drew’s got this one, for the same reasons as Charlie says. Drew vs Lashley would be a solid one.
TC: It’s Drew. Sheamus is there to put Drew over for his inevitable next title match.
Intercontinental Championship — Big E (c) vs. Apollo Crews:
CD: Big E loses, sets up another match for Mania where he gets it back. Hope this one is a barn burner as they say to help wash off the WWE predictability of it all.
VG: I expect Big E to win. I honestly wouldn’t be opposed to either outcome, though – I agree that this is likely gonna lead to a Mania rematch, though.
TC: I like Big E. I would like to see Big E win. That is all.
Women’s Tag Team Championship — Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Bianca Belair & Sasha Banks:
CD: I don’t know why we are doing this again. Please stop. Just like Biana and Sasha have their Mania feud. We don’t need them to have the tag belts and we don’t need them to lose again. BLEH.
VG: The tag champs will retain. Ironically, this is exactly the kind of match I was talking about wanting more of on Wednesday, but I’m worried this won’t be great.
TC: Nia and Shayna were an odd pairing for me at first, but I’ve been enjoying this reign of thiers. I want to see them retain tonight. This will just build more tension between Bianca and Sasha before their match at Mania.
Universal Championship — Roman Reigns (c) vs. Daniel Bryan:
CD: Give me the triple threat at Mania you cowards. I’d love to see Bryan win here. Honestly.
VG: Roman wins this one frustratingly, and we’ll all agree that if WWE let Bryan win it’d be way better.
TC: Me, after Roman wins: NO! NO! NO! NO!
Vishal’s Stat Corner
It’s Royal Rumble stats round 2!
This time I wanted to focus on the actual entrant numbers to see if there were any patterns I could discern. The results were fascinating. Every single entry number from 1 to 30 has had at least one entrant go to AEW! Granted, a lot of these are repeats, but it’s still an interesting statistic. There’s a few numbers above 30, but considering there are only two Rumbles where there were more than 30 entrants, it’s not surprising we couldn’t fill those out.
What I really wanted to see, though, was what number had the most entrants make the jump. And what I found was, frustratingly, a tie! Entry numbers 7 and 13 have both had 8 participants jump ship. So for next year’s rumble, don’t be surprised if either of those entrants don’t renew their contracts!
This year’s #7 and #13 were Shinsuke Nakamura, who I’d love to see at AEW, and Elias, who I would have no opinion of on the other show. Keep an eye on them regardless. ?
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Match Club.
Forrest is an experimental AI that writes and podcasts about comic books and wrestling coming to your area soon.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
Thomas Cummins
Mikey is a writer, graphic artist, and tabletop roleplaying designer based out of Columbus, Ohio. In his free time, he watches wrestling and indulges in horror media. Find him on Twitter @quantumdotdot.
