#griff garrison one shot

[mywritingworld1994]

12 Days Of Fictmas: Day 4

Prompt: How did you get tangled up in Christmas lights? Wrestler: Griff Garrison OC: None Triggers: None

“Goddamnit!” I yelled in frustration as I struggled against my restraints.

Now, I know this sounds like some kinky shit, but I promise you it’s not. I thought I would be a good girlfriend and try to get the tree all set up by myself while Griff was away for Dynamite, but I then ended up in this situation. You see, I got distracted and forgot about it until the very last second. Griff was due home soon and I didn’t have the tree set up yet.

I was trying to get the Christmas lights untangled so that I could put them on the tree, but in doing so, I ended up somehow tangled in them. I started panicking a little bit more when I heard the front door open followed by the sound of keys getting hung up.

“Babe, you home?” I heard Griff call.

“Yeah…” I called back, a little embarrassed.

I saw him round the corner and look in my direction before bursting out into laughter. I hugged in frustration as Griff doubled over, tears coming out of his face.

“How did you get yourself tangled up in Christmas lights?” Griff asked once he composed himself.

“I was trying to get the tree lit so that it would be ready for us to decorate when you got home,” I explained. “But when I tried to untangle the lights, I just kind of ended up getting tangled up with them.”

Griff smiled down at me and I could see the admiration in his eyes.

“What?” I asked, tilting my head a little bit.

“You are the most beautiful woman in the world,” Griff said, squatting down in front of me. “Now, let’s get you untangled.”

It took 20 minutes for Griff to help me get untangled from the Christmas lights, but once I was free, the two of us spent the rest of the evening decorating the tree and drinking hot chocolate.

[wrestling-all-the-time]

Relationship Revealed

Request for @marvelwweprinxessesworld​

Pairing: Griff Garrison x Reader

Warning(s): None

Word Count: 477

~

I was in the locker room getting ready for my match tonight. I had just finished getting my gear on when there was a knock at the door.

"It's open!" I called as I fixed my hair.

"Hey, babe," Griff said after closing the door behind him. "I just wanted to tell you good luck with your match tonight."

He gave me a quick kiss.

"Thanks," I said with a smile.

"Well, I hate to rush off like this, but I told Brian I'd meet him in catering," Griff said.

"That's fine," I said. "We can meet later on tonight."

He gave me another kiss before leaving.

Griff and I had only been together for about a month and everything was going great. We hadn't gone public with the relationship yet, but we planned to within the next few weeks.

Later...

My match was going great, but half way through, it took a turn for the worse.

I hit my head off the corner of the ring post. When I brought my hand up to my forehead I could feel the cut that was now there. Doc Sampson came over to check on me.

Not even a minute later and Griff was at my side.

"Are you okay?" Griff asked.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

"You got hurt so I came running," Griff said.

I couldn't help but smile at how sweet he was.

"I'm okay. Just a bit dizzy" I said.

"The cut isn't too bad, but I'm worried you might have a mild concussion." Doc Sampson said.

The ref signaled for the bell to end the match. Doc Sampson and Griff walked with me backstage to medical.

The doctor bandaged the cut on my forehead before going to get me some water.

Griff sat next to me on the treatment table and I rested my head on his shoulder. Thankfully, the headache that was forming was bearable.

"This sucks," I said.

"I know, baby," Griff said. "But it-"

"I knew it!"

We both jumped at the sound of Sammy Guevara's voice. We looked over to the door just now realizing it had been left open. Sammy was standing there with his vlog camera in hand.

"What the hell, man?" Griff asked.

"I wanted to come check on (Y/N), but when I saw you two together I just had to," Sammy said. "We've all been suspicious about you two being a couple."

"And here we thought we were being sneaky," I said.

"I don't have to keep that part in the vlog if you don't want me to," Sammy said.

"I say leave it in," I said, looking over to Griff. "What do you think? We were planning on going public soon anyway so why not in the vlog?"

"If you're okay with it then so am I," Griff said before kissing me.

[darkorderaf]

May I ask 142/143 with Nick Jackson

Of course! So sorry for the wait! I really liked the idea of like...arrogant heel Nick being suddenly super shy around the person he likes. It really got the muse going! I hope you enjoy. <3

Pairing: Nick Jackson x OFC Rating: G. Prompt(s): “Hold my hand so he gets jealous.” “Ew, your hand is so sweaty.” Warnings/Content: None! Just fluff! Word Count: 929

(I don't own gif; credit to cowboyshit!)

“Look at this prick.”

“Ha. Which one?”

“The mullet-having prick.”

Matt huffed and looked up from his shoes to his brother’s face. Nick’s arms were folded tight across his chest and that soul-searing stare was fixated across the room. The older brother followed the trajectory of Nick’s ire then nodded in understanding. His hands went to his hips as he stood up. There she was and unfortunately, there was Brian Pillman Jr. Talking to her with one arm against the wall and a friendly smile. Nick could hear her laugh, the polite one he knew she made when she wanted to disengage from a conversation but was too nice to say so, and he couldn’t help the way his frown deepened. Matt lightly shoved him.

“Come on, man, are you just never going to say anything? This is like the third dude this month that you’ve almost burned a freaking hole through. You’re way better than him and you--I’m not going to say it--But just, come on, you know.”

Nick muttered something under his breath that Matt couldn’t quite catch and rubbed at his beard. Matt found the whole thing ridiculous. They were friends with her and had been for years. And even still, Nick hadn’t so much as said a word about his feelings. They had kept it purely platonic and Matt had long suffered Nick’s lamentations. The high flyer was rarely ever nervous, the image of cool and cocky calm, but something about her...It was different. Always had been.

So deeply entrenched in his thoughts and how he might ruin the other man’s day, Nick didn’t notice that she had pulled away from the conversation with Brian and had made her way over to him. He hadn’t even heard Matt greet her. He didn’t see her until she stood in front of him with a conspiratorial grin. Her palm slid against his and he froze. Matt’s eyebrows shot up and then only the younger brother was the only one not grinning in some way.

“Hey, Nick,” she called to him and that angry, dead stare he wore softened. Her fingers intertwined with his. Her other hand rubbed up and down his forearm. “Hold my hand so he gets jealous?”

Nothing else needed to be said for him to grip her hand in his. She turned back to Brian and waved at him, thanked him for the advice in the ring but that she was in good hands. As expected, Brian’s friendly face fell and he threw his arms up by his sides. Griff Garrison clapped him on his back and the two collectively shook their heads as they walked away. She looked back at him with a smile of relief and he thought that would be that. He wouldn’t think about how he wanted to hold her hand for as long as she would let him.

He didn’t have to.

She didn’t let go of his hand as the three walked around backstage and chatted up Kenny and Don. She didn’t let go of his hand as they picked up catering and took it back to the EVPs room. Nick’s face was calm but inside, his heart was going through the longest Iron Man match of his life. She made a show of inspecting her hand before she wiped it off on her shirt. His face flushed and he immediately furrowed his brow to cover for it. His salad suddenly became the most interesting bowl of green in the world and he stabbed at it.

“Ew, your hand is so sweaty.”

In spite of her words, there was no hint of disgust in her voice or in her face. He had peered up to look at her and he shook his head.

“I...Had just got done working out,” he quickly said as he shoveled salad into his mouth and frowned. He looked away and swallowed. A moonsault to the outside felt safer than sitting across from her. “That’s why they were sweaty.”

He looked away again and affection flooded her face. She gently cleared her throat and tapped the table to get his attention.

“I liked it, y’know.”

“My sweaty hand? The sweaty hand you said ew at?”

Nick’s deadpan caused her to snort and she covered her mouth with her hand to hide it. It was painfully endearing and Nick scrunched his nose to hide his smile.

“Holding your sweaty hand,” she said with a roll of her eyes as she reached across the table to curl her fingers around his hand. He eyed her precariously and his heart stopped up his throat. She nodded at him, her voice quiet and secret and soft for him. “Really.”

Nick gripped her fingers with his own. Slowly, that cocky grin of his appeared and she tilted her head with amusement.

“Right, I totally knew that.”

Before he could continue, Matt sauntered in and popped open the fridge.

“He totally didn’t,” he said with a wave as he grabbed water. “But hey, maybe this--” He paused to gesture at their entwined hands. “--Will get him out of Sweat City. He’s practically the mayor of that place when you’re around.”

Matt grinned and clapped Nick on his back, then shot her a wink. With a squeak of new shoes, he was gone and they were left alone. Nick’s face burned and he couldn’t quite meet her eyes. But then her hand squeezed his to get him to look at her.

“Mayor of Sweat City, huh? Do you do tours?”

His nervousness cracked and with his hand in hers, he laughed.

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, March 17

Men's singles division - babyfaces

CM Punk

Adam Page (AEW men's world champion)

Eddie Kingston

Sammy Guevara

Wardlow

Keith Lee

Swerve Strickland

Christian Cage

HOOK

Wheeler YUTA

Men's singles division - heels

Chris Jericho

MJF

Adam Cole

Scorpio Sky (AEW TNT champion)

Andrade El Idolo

Ricky Starks (FTW champion)

Daniel Garcia

Powerhouse Hobbs

Ethan Page

QT Marshall

Unranked: Cezar Bononi*, Erick Redbeard*, Fuego Del Sol, Jake Hager, Lee Moriarty, Nick Comoroto, Tony Nese

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Six months ago it felt like AEW had a lot of big names from WWE coming in, and I was curious how that would shake out. Interestingly, quite a few of those big names have moved into the tag division, so there's way more room now than I expected for the talent that came up through the minor leagues.

Even so, it's unmistakable that CM Punk and Chris Jericho are the stars of the show right now. Adam Page may be the top champion, but to truly be taken seriously as the top dog he's going to have to put the title up against one of them, and my guess is it'll be Punk. As for Jericho, he's already put over Kingston, but I think his first one-on-one loss with this new heel run will be where he really gives someone the rub. Could be Eddie again, or perhaps Guevara.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

Jon Moxley (GCW world champion) & Bryan Danielson

The Hardys - Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy

Darby Allin & Sting

Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy (AEW tag team champions)

Penta Obscuro & PAC

Santana & Ortiz

Top Flight - Dante Martin & Darius Martin

Alex Reynolds & John Silver

Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Varsity Blonds - Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison

Men's tag team division - heels

The Young Bucks - Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson

reDRagon - Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly

FTR - Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood (AAA tag team champions)

Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews

2point0 - Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

Private Party - Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

The Butcher & The Blade

Colten Gunn & Austin Gunn

Unranked: Alan Angels & Preston Vance, Anthony Henry* & JD Drake*, Bear Boulder & Bear Bronson, Brock Anderson & Lee Johnson, Evil Uno & Stu Grayson, Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

AEW helpfully got nearly every tag team booked in a couple of battle royales recently, which showed off the division in full force. But all of those teams have been overshadowed by three supergroups: Moxley-Danielson, Allin-Sting, and the reunited Hardys. Any of these teams would have to be considered heavy favorites against Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, but none of them have gotten in line for a title shot yet. I'm real curious how AEW will keep them all from crowding out the rest of the field.

The heel side is a little light right now, and it may get lighter if the FTR storyline actually leads to a face turn. We should probably see a face team turn heel before too long. Mox and Bryan already seem kind of heelish, but nobody's going to boo them right now and AEW seems to accept that, so we'll see if that leads anywhere. It feels like something's up with the Dark Order, or at least with Alex Reynolds, but I can't imagine all three of its teams (Reynolds-Silver, Uno-Grayson, Angels-Vance) going heel.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Thunder Rosa (AEW women's world champion)

Kris Statlander

Tay Conti

Red Velvet

Mercedes Martinez

Women's singles division - heels

Britt Baker

Jade Cargill (AEW TBS champion)

Serena Deeb

Leyla Hirsch

Jamie Hayter

The Bunny

Unranked: Angelica Risk*, Kayla Sparks*, Leila Grey*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

There's still a lot of work to be done here, to get more women on TV regularly. It's a positive sign that we've been seeing two non-title storylines (Deeb vs. Hikaru Shida, Hirsch vs. Statlander & Velvet) in addition to Baker vs. Rosa and Cargill's winning streak. That's a good demonstration that creating more spots for the women isn't just a matter of rolling out new championships. At the same time, though, it's kind of absurd that Nyla Rose and Ruby Soho haven't been on TV in a month. It's also perplexing to me that a lot of top female talent that WWE cut last year hasn't shown up in AEW yet.

No TV matches in 30 days: Aaron Solo, Abadon, Anna Jay, AQA, Brandon Cutler, Colt Cabana, Diamante*, Emi Sakura, Frankie Kazarian, Jack Evans, Jay Lethal, Jora Johl*, Josh Woods* (ROH pure champion), Kiera Hogan*, KiLynn King*, Lance Archer, Luther, Marina Shafir*, Matt Sydal, Michael Nakazawa, Nyla Rose, Ruby Soho, Serpentico, Shawn Dean, Skye Blue, Sonny Kiss

* Not listed on AEW's official roster, but won at least one AEW match

Fans have been increasingly frustrated that a lot of wrestlers have been "demoted" to Dark and Elevation, the Youtube shows. Thing is, as long as AEW produces these shows, there will always be lower-tier talent that primarily appears on them. The only question is which wrestlers should be considered "lower-tier."

Archer, Lethal, Nyla, and Ruby are obviously just simmering and racking up wins to build to a TV push later. Cutler, Cabana, Diamante, Sakura, Kazarian, Evans, Luther, Sydal, Nakazawa, Serpentico, and Dean seem to be positioned as journeymen who are there to do reps with the developing talent. The rest are presumably considered "in development," for better or worse.

No AEW matches in 30 days: Anthony Greene*, Anthony Ogogo, Dustin Rhodes, Billy Gunn, Hikaru Shida, Joey Janela, Julia Hart*, Leva Bates, Megan Bayne*, Penelope Ford, Shawn Spears, Zack Clayton*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster, but won at least one AEW match

Here's the group that isn't even wrestling on Youtube. Spears and Shida have been appearing on TV recently, so that's fine. Rhodes and Gunn are basically player-coaches so I don't expect them to be around much. I expect Ogogo has travel issues getting into and out of the UK. Janela is planning to leave when his contract expires. Bates has reportedly taken on more of a backstage role, although she did return to the ring not that long ago. Greene, Bayne, and Clayton each have wins in AEW, which generally signals plans for a continuing relationship, but that's not a guarantee.

So of this group, the only ones I'm really scratching my head about are Penelope Ford and Julia Hart. But for all I know they could both be injured or taking time off.

No AEW matches in 2022: Angelico, Arjun Singh*, Brian Cage, Danhausen, Marko Stunt, Paige Vanzant, Ryo Mizunami*, Yuka Sakazaki

* Not listed on AEW's official roster, but won at least one AEW match

Angelico has appeared on Dark recently. Cage has (unexpectedly) had his contract extended, so I figure he'll be returning soon. Danhausen appears to be walking around okay after breaking his leg in October, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's cleared to wrestle. Vanzant just signed so I expect her in-ring debut within a few weeks. Marko is reportedly already out of the company, but AEW still lists him on their website roster. I keep thinking Mizunami and Sakazaki are gone for good, but they still manage to get back to the US once in a while.

Part-time/semi-retired: Christopher Daniels, Mark Henry, Paul Wight, Rebel, William Regal

Regal is listed on the official roster with a win-loss record, just like Sting, Henry, and Wight. That suggests that they expect Regal to have a match someday, although Henry's been here for nearly a year and still hasn't. I really can't imagine Regal working a match in 2022, but then again I didn't think I'd be seeing Sting doing big table spots either.

Inactive

Jake Atlas (left knee - ACL tear)

Kenny Omega (various injuries)

Kip Sabian (shoulder - undisclosed injury)

Miro (right thigh - hamstring injury)

Orange Cassidy (left arm - unspecified injury)

Rey Fenix (left elbow - dislocation)

Riho (right arm - unspecified injury)

I haven't seen any updates on any of these injuries, except that Omega reports that his recovery is taking longer than he planned. Sabian has been appearing for weeks in the audience with a box on his head, so I assume that means he's about to return, but he sure is taking his time with that. I predict Miro to return without warning, when we all least expect it. I also predict Orange will be on TV with that sling for months, and then one day they'll do a gag where he admits he forgot to take the sling off, and he's been medically cleared for weeks.

[lancearcherinrippedjeans]

Don’t Hurt Him

For previous parts, click HERE

Pairings -  Adam Page x OFC, Chuck Taylor x OC, Marq Quen x OFC

Catergories - Fluff, comedy and kinda angsty at the end

Warnings/Promises - Cheating, cussing

Word Count - 2,333

Summary/Desc - Marq and Bri get closer, week by week. Though, there is a slight dilemma in the road.

@kploveswrestling​ ,,,Bri and Alex might have something in common here

Another week at Daily’s Place for Gabby, Parker and Bri. Well, for Gab and Parker.

“Where is she?” Parker said, pacing back and forth in the parking lot. “You act like I know.” Gabby said, smacking her lips. The two had been calling and texting Bri for 30 minutes, not sure where the hell she was. “How much do you wanna bet that she’s sleeping?” Gabby asked, thinking of things Bri usually does.

Parker stopped her pacing and looked over at Gabby, “23 dollars.” “That’s very specific.”

“You’re very specific.” “Parker that makes no fucking sense!” “You make no fucking sense!” “Y’know what-” The two sat there arguing when they were stopped by the honk of a horn. They looked over to see a car pulling up. They had no idea who it was, until Bri stepped out of the passenger seat. “Brianna where the fuck were y-” Gabby was about to yell, when Marq also stepped out of the car.

“She was with me. Sorry that we lost track of time.” He said, happiness in his voice. Parker glared at Marq, swiping her tongue across her teeth. She was about to argue with him before her face softened and she held out her hand, “Pay up Gabby.”

“Goddamnit.” Gabby grumbled under her breath, paying up.

Marq looked over at Bri, “I’m gonna go find Isiah, meet up with us in 20?” Bri nodded, a certain look in her eyes. Marq just smiled and walked towards the building, “Catch you guys later.”

Gabby started grinning at Bri, “What?!” Gabby held her hands up in defense, “Nothing! Nothing.” “Just that you and Marq are in looove.” Parker said, voice girly at the end.

Bri shoved past the two, “Shut up, we are not.” “Okay then what are you two?” Gabby asked, genuinely curious. Bri stopped and turned around, a huge smile on her face, “I don’t know yet, but I really really like him.”

“Then ask him out!” Parker exclaimed. Bri turned away from the two and walked away mumbling, “We’ll see.”

The Elite

The The Elite

The Elite

The The Elite

The Elite

The The Elite

Superkick PAAARRRR-

Gabby was sitting in the EVP’s room, waiting on Adam. When she heard footsteps. “Why are you in here?” She looked up from her phone to see Kenny Omega above her. “I’m waiting for Adam to get back.”She said in confusion, could she not be back here? “Well uh, I need to talk to both of you anyways, but mostly you.” Kenny sat besides Gabby. “What is it?” Gabby folded her hands in her lap, interested in what Kenny had to say.

“I don’t know you. But I don’t like this thing you and Adam have. You're making him worse.” Kenny spat while looking down at the ground, not being able to look Gabby in the eye. “Worse?! That man isn’t worse Kenny, he’s being himself.” Gabby aggressively stated, she was offended by his words. “Look Gabby, no.” Kenny laughed in a serious matter, “He is not being himself ok? I’ve known him for years and he’s never been drinking this heavily. I blame YOU!” He shouted.

Gabby smirked, “What Kenny? Ya jealous you can’t find love? Get over yourself and let your friend be happy.” Gabby got up from her seat, Kenny got up as well. “Who the fuck are you to tell me about my love life? You’re not what he needs.” Kenny got in her face. “You know what? I’m gonna leave before I say something I’m gonna regret.” She gave him the middle finger before walking out the door.

Gabby walked out the room when on her way down the hallway she ran into Adam. “Gabby?” He mumbled out, obviously drinking again. She stop in her footsteps, “Get your fucking friends in line Adam. Because I’m not dealing with that.” Gabby said. Then kept walking, not wanting to deal with Adam right now.

Who The Fuck Is Griff Garrison?

Parker sat on her phone, living her best socially awkward life and sat on the apron of the ring. For the first time on Being The Elite she was genuinely smiling, that is until Alex Reynolds and John Silver walked up. 

“Parker! Good to see ya!” John spoke up, happy tone in his voice. She rolled her eyes and groaned, “What the fuck do you guys want now?” Alex chuckled, “I think it’s pretty clear, we-”

“Want me in the Dark Order?”

“Yes, yes exactly!” Parker shook her head, “I made it pretty clear that it’s a no.” John put his hands up, trying to reason with her, “Listen, we got Colt, we got Anna Jay, you, my friend, are the perfect edition to the Dark Order.”

“No.”

“Oh come on! You would be another one of the first evers!” Parker arched a brow, “Really? Like what?”

John stuttered for a second before speaking up, “You’d be the first non-binary member!” “And?” “And the first one who’s 5’10!”

“Stu Grayson is 5’10. See you guys can’t even keep track of all of them.” John and Alex whispered back and forth for a moment before looking back to Parker, “Well, your anger issues can actually play a huge part in-”

“Anger issues!? You’d better hope I don’t smack your idiotic big ass heads off your shoulders!” Alex leaned down to John, “I told you.”

“Y’know what? That’s it!” Parker stomped off camera while Reynolds and Silver taunted her, “Alright fine!” “Walk away you pussy!”

Their words suddenly stopped when she walked back, arm ahold of Mr. Brodie Lee, “What’s his face, House Mouse over there,” she pointed towards John, “had the AUDACITY, to insult me, saying I had anger issues, and call me a certain word when I walked away.”

John tried to convince Brodie that it wasn’t true when Parker continued, “And Pretty Boy over here,” She paused, “Well he didn’t do anything. So you, gentleman, correction, spooky perverts, will not be seeing me in the Dark Order.”

She grabbed her jacket, “Good day!” “But-” Parker turned around, clearly stifling laughter, “I said good day.”

Brodie turned to John, no words coming out of his mouth, all he did was pull out papers and throw them at Silver’s face. “Gah!”

Hey, did you like that video? Click the screen for more.

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And thanks so much for Being The Elite.

The Elite The The Elite

What Nick you’re not gonna sing it all with me this time?

After BTE, Parker was talking with the three men she had done her bit with this week, “Way to call out my anger issues guys.” The three men laughed before Alex spoke up, “I mean, are we wrong?” “Watch it pretty boy.”

The conversation went on for a few minutes before Chuck snuck up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, she let out a small yelp before she saw who it was, she rolled her eyes and smiled, “Why you gotta scare me?”

Chuck shrugged, “Because it’s fun and you look adorable when you get scared.” The three men in front of them made that annoying “aw” sound. “Bye now.” She said, grabbing Chuck’s hand and walking them away. “You have to let people call you cute at some point!” “Shut it pretty boy!”

Chuck looked down at Parker, brows raised, “Pretty boy?” She put her hand on his arm, “Oh come on it’s just a nickname. You know you’re my only pretty boy.” 

Chuck put his hand around her shoulder, “And you’re my only whatever.” “Even though you could go for anyone else yet you go for me.”

Chuck signed before he turned and hugged her, “Stop over thinking it,” He said in a soft voice, “It’s only been a few weeks and I can already tell you’re about to be one of the best things that's ever happened to me, ya idiot.”

She looked up at him and smiled, “I’ll try, for you.” They shared a kiss before he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, “C’mon, let’s go read the comments about us.”

Brianna walked into the bar, without Marq surprisingly.

“Bri!” Gabby nudged her shoulder in a greeting matter. “Hey bitch! And hey, Adam, and Cash?” Gabby nodded and chuckled, “Look I don’t wanna come off weird but, you should come out with us.” Gabby took a sip of her alcohol. “Yeah Bri, see Cash here he uh, can help you around.” Adam explained. Cash waved at Bri, his way of greeting her. “Gabby you do know I’m in a sorta kinda relationship right?” Bri and Marq still didn’t know what they were, all Bri knew is that she really liked him.

“See keywords sorta kinda, ma’am you can go out once.” “You know what? Whatever I’ll go.” Bri gave in. “Great!” Cash tilted his cup towards Bri, while she tried to hide that she was blushing.

 The couple had walked over to their usual spot where they had multiple shot glasses, full of alcohol. “You wanna know something babe?” Adam took one shot. “What is it?” Gabby took one shot, then smiled at him. “Getting drunk with love helps my anxiousness.” Adam took another shot. “Aww Adam, I love you so much.” Gabby ran her hand through his long curly hair.

 “You know I really enjoyed myself last night.” Gabby smirked, taking another shot. “Oh really?” Adam's eyebrows lifted, the previous night they slept with each other for the first time. “Yessir.” Gabby said, pulling Adam in for a kiss. Adam smirked at the ground then looking back at her, “Well I’m glad you did, I don’t wanna make you anything less than happy.” Adam made his lips down to her neck. Gabby pulled his head up from her then looked him in his eye. “Same for you.”

 In the corner, far away from Gabby and Adam, were Bri and Cash, who actually seemed quite awkward.

“So...how long have you, Gabby and Parker been friends?” Bri smiled, “Well Gabby and I have been friends for the longest, we made a group chat that we thought would die within a few days, but I met Parker there, and the rest is history. How did you and Dax become friends?”

 Cash took a drink before answering, “We almost instantly became friends for our respect for Bret Hart, and look at where we are now. Weird things happen.” Bri laughed and absentmindedly put her hand on his shoulder.

 Many topics and a many drinks later, Bri and Cash were pretty much shit-faced.

 “So you and Marq, how long have y’all been dating?” “Oh, we’re not, y’know, dating.”

 “Really? I just assumed that you two were, considering you guys have been together a lot these past few weeks.” “I mean, yeah, it’s been like what a month or two? He hasn’t asked me to be his girlfriend yet.”

 “So would it be okay if I called you beautiful?” Bri let out a flirty laugh, “Of course.”

 “What about if I tell you I’ve had my eyes on you since you first walked in here with Parker and Gab?” “Then I wouldn’t stop you at all.” Cash put his hand on her thigh, “How about I kiss you right now?” Bri bit her lip, “Do it.”

 Cash listened to Bri and connected his lips with her. He pulled away, “That was...I’m sorry I don’t know why I asked that.” Bri put her hand on his chest, “Don’t apologize, just do it again.”

 Cash pulled Bri back, hands on her waist while her hands tangled in his hair. Even if they weren’t in a dark corner, Adam and Gabby were too distracted by each other, so no one could see Cash and Bri, at least that’s what they thought.

 They heard a cough, interrupting them, they looked up to see the surprising duo of Isiah and Parker, probably looking for Bri. “Excuse me, could we borrow Bri for a moment.”

 Bri laughed, still shit-faced, “Be right back handsome.” She got up, and Isiah grabbed her by the arm, dragging her away from Cash.

 “Bri what the fuck?” Parker spat. “What Parker, I’m just having a little fun.” “You are kissing someone that isn’t Marq.” Isiah said, trying to stick up for his best friend. “Marq isn’t even my boyfriend, plus he doesn’t need to know, you guys just have to keep it a secret….shhhhhhhhhh.” She held up her finger to her mouth, while laughing like it was some joke.

 Parker looked over at Isiah, “What do we do?” 

 Isiah just scoffed, “Well, I don’t want my best friend heartbroken, so I’ll keep it a secret. I don’t know how long.” He looked over at Bri, “Cause Marq is important to me.” He turned to walk away, “Catch you later Parker.”

 Bri just laughed, “What’s the problem with him?”

 “Do you not even realize what you just did?” Bri just shrugged, “No, not really.” Parker shook her head, “Don’t hurt Marq, Bri. I’m serious.”

 “I won’t!”

 Parker walked away, angrily. Bri heard a ding from her phone. She saw it to see it was a text from Cash.

 Don’t worry, what Marq doesn’t know won’t kill him ;)

You can come stay in my room tonight if you want

 Suddenly Bri realized that what she was doing was wrong, but, she still wanted to do it. “Fuck. This is really really bad.”

 Cash walked out of the bar, clearly impatient, “You comin with me?”

 Bri bit her lip, “Let’s go.” From inside, Gabby and Adam saw the pair walk away, “Maybe, he’s just showing her around.” He suggested.

 Gabby sighed, “Yeah, but I’m sure it’s not around Daily’s Place.” Bri and Cash got in a Lyft, Marq completely off her mind.

 What Marq doesn’t know, won’t kill him. Right?

Omg???? Part 3??? On a Sunday??? Sorry guys! I got school tomorrow and won’t be able to take my laptop to school. BUT part 4 WILL be out next MONDAY. Hope you enjoyed! <3

[danwhobrowses]

AEW All Out 2020 Review

Okay...lot to unpack there All Out is in the books but not all of it was positive vibes, but there was still a lot of good stuff here that I’m gonna run down So Obviously, Spoilers for All Out

I’d like to preface that this has not been AEW’s best PPV, but parts of it was not AEW’s fault, I also have to add that the card took some heavy shuffles, starting with moving the Casino Battle Royale and Tooth and Nail match to the main card, quickly adding two new Buy In shows. The Buy In Joey Janela (w/Sonny Kiss) vs Serpentico (w/Luther) - Winner: Janela (Pinfall via Elbow Drop) A nice fun opener, Luther doesn’t do it for me but Serpentico definitely does, Janela looked very solid as Serpentico sold for him, some pretty decent athleticism and some solid heelish brutality from the Snakeman. Kiss got a hit in on Luther’s interfering and the result was fine, Janela then put over Kiss on the hard cam saying he’d win the Battle Royale. Private Party vs Dark Order Members John ‘3′ Silver and Alex ‘4′ Reynolds - Winner: Private Party (Pinfall via Gin n Juice) Another fun opening tag match, the kind of energetic tag you get from Pre-Shows really. Both teams were solid but it was the Dark Order who had the better share of the tag synergy. That being said, Marq Quen literally ignored gravity for a moment with a Moonsault and Silver rocked Quen with a Burning Hammer F-5 (I think it’s called the Spin Doctor) for a near fall. Many fans would be convinced that Dark Order should’ve won, and in hindsight they probably should have, but a small flurry got them the Gin n Juice for the win. Main Card Tooth and Nail Match, Britt Baker (w/Rebel ‘Reba’ Tanea) vs Big Swole - Winner: Big Swole (KO) After heavy fan demand, Tony Khan decided to move the match onto the main card as the opener. Swole rolled up with a BLM armband and a fancy car into Baker’s office, met by ‘Reba’ acting as the receptionist. After hitting her with a clipboard Swole was mentally tormented a little by blood in the sink and chattering teeth as Baker quietly stalked her and then hit Swole (kinda lightly really) with her diploma. Baker looked to torture Swole for most of the match with dentistry equipment, some solid landings on the unprotected floor did sell a bit of intensity, when Swole rallied they went to the back where Reba also returned, she was dunked into a nearby bin via Britt’s ‘Role’s Royce’. Britt returned to the advantage as she looked to inject Swole with something (I think it’d be a numbing agent), but ended up taking it into the leg herself as Reba funnily screamed ‘You Stabbed Her!’, a dazed Swole then used another Diploma to do ‘Dirty Dancing’ through the diploma on Reba, another Dirty Dancing on Britt knocked her into the Doctor’s chair as Swole finished Baker with some anesthetic. As cinematic matches go it was a mixed bag, some bits were funny but some of it was just ‘silly bobbins’, a theme with AEW’s women’s matches sadly is that JR really can’t commentate on Women without saying something wrong or outdated (more on that later), it probably should’ve stayed on the Buy In where it would’ve been afforded more time and less seriousness, also odd that Baker took the loss on her return. The Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express (w/ Marko Stunt) - Winner: The Young Bucks (Pinfall via BTE Trigger on Jungle Boy) A PPV-quality tag match, Jurassic Express and the Bucks started with a lot of energy as the Bucks started leaning into their asshole heel attitudes. Isolating Jungle Boy and infuriating Luchasaurus, there was a fair amount of Back and Forth which usually ended with the Bucks once more doubling on the Big Man to focus on JB. At one point, Marko Stunt (in a crutch after being demolished by Jake Hager on a prior AEW Dark match) pulled Matt off the ring apron as he mocked JB to tag him in. Eventually Luchasaurus did what he does best: the Hot Tag, taking both on with his unique offence, he also added what I could only call a ‘Chokesault’ since he chokeslammed Nick so hard onto Matt that he basically moonsaulted onto his prone brother. Jurassic Express wowed with their airborne abilities with JB using Luchasaurus to hop over the top rope onto Nick for a perfect crossbody but were again undone when the rana setup led to JB being powerbombed on the apron and Luchasaurus hit with a destroyer. The Boy and his Dinosaur almost got the win by reversing a Meltzer Driver setup into an Extinction Level Event but the pin was broken. Marko’s action before came to haunt him as Matt kicked away Marko’s crutch in torment, then murdered him with a superkick that wrote him out of interference. After the Bucks were set over the guard rail, Luchasaurus took himself out by launching from the ring over the barricade to the group of uncarded wrestlers (including Griff Garrison, Brandon Cutler - who was on the opposite end of the ring to Peter Avalon who split from him on Dark, and the Gunn Club) in a gravity-defying dive. But this left Jungle Boy at the mercy of the Bucks, eating a superkick for 2, then a Superkick Party also for 2 but then being destroyed by a BTE trigger for 3. A great birds eye shot of a limp Jungle Boy encapsulated the match as once again Jack Perry (and Luchasaurus) light up AEW’s card even in defeat, tremendous resilience as we see a much more heelish Bucks come about. Casino Battle Royale - Winner: Lance Archer (eliminated Eddie Kingston) The Casino Battle Royale started strong with Trent, Hager, Fénix, Blade and Christopher Daniels. No eliminations took place until the next bunch came out; Kazarian, Santana & Ortiz, Taylor and happy surprise Will Hobbs! And Hobbs was the first to get an elimination, taking out the Blade, CD was taken by Hager until the next group came about, Best Friends renewing hostilities with Santana and Ortiz. The third group was Billy Gunn, Penta El Zero M, Ricky Starks, Brian Cage and Darby Allin. The Latter quickly went for Team Tazz as Gunn went for the bigger fish, only to be eliminated by Cage, Allin then surprisingly eliminated Fenix as Santana and Ortiz doubled to take out Chuck. The final group of entrants came with Sonny Kiss, Eddie Kingston, the Butcher, Lance Archer and Shawn Spears - who lingered on the sides for a bit to cut a promo. Sonny Kiss made a quick impact by eliminating Hager, but was then eliminated by Cage and left prone to Hager’s wrath. Trent overcame the double team by eliminating Santana and almost got Ortiz until Archer through Trent over as Ortiz ducked...then Archer dumped Ortiz. Kazarian also got a surprise elimination of Penta as the Butcher then avenged him, Allin got some payback on Team Tazz by eliminating Starks to Tazz’s dismay, but this led to a brutal beatdown on Allin, with Starks pulling out a body bag for Cage and Cage ‘filled’ it with Thumbtacks, stuffed Allin in it completely then brutally dumped the bagged (and thus blind to impact) Allin out of the match. The Joker would soon arrive and it was someone nobody expected: Matt Sydal. The former Evan Bourne looked to make headlines and he did...for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately as he set up his beautiful shooting star press, he botched the jump and didn’t make the rotation, falling flat on his back (Props to Hobbs though who quickly rolled to check on him). A soured taste to a decent royale, Sydal did manage to rally by eliminating Spears before eating a Spinebuster from Hobbs, Kingston sticking in the corner with the Butcher as his shield while Cage began to clean up house. Cage and Archer had an exchange as the Machine went to deal with Hobbs, but Hobbs pulled Cage over with him leaving Archer to dropkick both of them off. Sydal then managed to take the Butcher out but was thrown out by Kingston in his decimation by Archer. This left some head scratching though, because Kingston went under the bottom rope in his exchange with Archer to the apron, but as he pulled the Murderhawk Monster over with him, it looked like there might be a double fall, Kingston was put onto the top turnbuckle but looked to knock away Archer, it’s only when Jake the Snake used his bag with a ‘snake’ (we never saw it) in it that Kingston was distracted for Archer to chokeslam him into his gang for the win. A good winner, still would’ve preferred Kingston, but the finish was weird, he went to the apron under the bottom rope so he should’ve still been legal, but I guess when he sat on the top turnbuckle that counted as in-ring? A fun royale though marred slightly by Sydal’s botch and that finish, Will Hobbs as well impressing many on a big stage. Broken Rules Match, Matt Hardy vs Sammy Guevara - Winner, Matt Hardy (via Sammy not answering the 10-Count) Ho boy. This one. So it started out very good, outside the stadium Matt called out Sammy, who had commondeered a golf cart of his own to chase Matt with, Matt weaved him to have Sammy crash into some boxes and bins as the fighting continued. The controversy began with a table spot involving a Scissor Lift, Matt looking to throw Sammy off it onto two merch tables below only to have Sammy Spear them both. Unfortunately, the trajectory was a bit over, Matt’s feet hit the first table which meant his landing onto the second was overshot and Matt landed head-first into the ground. Aubrey quickly checked on him and pulled up the X, but Matt seemed adamant to continue so they started the 10 count. Sammy noticed that Matt wasn’t going to stand for 10 so ‘attacked’ him to keep the match going but Matt continued to lose footing as fans felt unease on whether it was a work or shoot. The X was called again and the bell rang as Commentary noted the risks in wrestling, but by then Matt was walking on his feet and Sammy pulled nearer to the ring, the match controversially restarted with Matt blindsiding Sammy from the side, sprawling to the stage as they climbed scaffolding and dumped Sammy into the floor for the 10 Count. Concussed, AEW has gotten criticism for letting Matt continue, even to a rushed finish so that the storyline remained intact. I’m 50/50 myself, Khan later noted that the Doctor felt he could continue enough and they did limit his movement, they didn’t climb as high as they intended and Hardy was quickly rushed to hospital. Despite his wife’s fuming and angry fans looking to smear AEW like a shark in bloody water, they did as much as they could without ending the match super abruptly, and if anyone says ‘we’d be slaughtering them if WWE did this’, WWE did do this, memory serves me right Becky Lynch was concussed and kept going with the iconic ‘bloody Becky’ moment, Undertaker was concussed and kept going when the streak ended, Kairi Sane had 2 concussions in 2 different matches and finished both matches. It’s a shame, because the two did look like they had a lot of ideas, but this match did very much taint the first half of All Out and will overshadow a lot of positive vibes that came from the show as a whole. AEW Women’s Championship, Hikaru Shida (c) vs NWA Women’s Champion & TJPW International Princess Champion Thunder Rosa - Winner: Hikaru Shida (Pinfall via ‘Three Count’ Knee Strike) With a sour taste in the mouth, the anticipated Women’s match was just what fans needed to regain some excitement - though I personally questioned the card structure from here since Mimosa Mayhem and an 8 Man tag was still to come. Before the match I also popped for Shida getting streamers for her entrance, I fucking love streamers it’s a great way to involve the crowd. Shida and Rosa put on a strike and technical show which demonstrated why they were at the top of their divisions, Rosa proved to have scouted Shida’s movesets a lot by counter moves and cutting Shida off when she was getting momentum. But Shida would also pull out counters of her own, a great backbreaker and knee strike flowed with the back and forth nature of both champions, Rosa rocking Shida with a DVD on the apron but Shida wasting Rosa with a Meteora on the ramp. Both women also wore the other down with submissions, Rosa working the back with various stretches as Shida locked in the Stretch Muffler. Rosa looked to rally again as she kicked out of a Falcon Arrow at 1 and reversed a second attempt, but like lightning Shida struck with the Three Count, wiping her out for the win. This was the solid bout we needed to start the second half, both women looked strong and tough, Rosa lost nothing from the defeat and Shida was thoroughly challenged by her, it definitely met the expectations set out for it and hopefully we can see more of Rosa in AEW’s future. The only real criticism I can give for this match is commentary again, JR just can’t commentate a good women’s match anymore, and frankly I think for these matches we should really look towards having Veda Scott, Renee or Mauro be brought in, at least for these matches, let JR commentate matches that are more his speed or genre but that is the only criticism, and it’s not against the women. Segment: Interview with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford A short, oddly-placed, segment came next as Penelope announced that she and Kip were getting married. Selling a wedding segment for Dynamite, Kip noted that first must come a Bachelor Party and he’s found a perfect best man for it. Kip notes that he’ll reveal who on Dynamite. Expect a debut or a faction formation, is my TH2 x Kip/Penelope faction hopes coming true? There was also a slight dig at WWE’s controversial edict to not approve third party monetization as Kip promoted his twitch channel with a disclaimer beneath saying that AEW approve it. The Dark Order (TNT Champion Mr Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) vs The Natural Nightmares (w/ Brandi Rhodes and Allie), Matt Cardona and Scorpio Sky - Winner: Nightmare Family (Pinfall via Rollup on Cabana by Dustin) A match that seemed a dead cert for the Dark Order to win especially since they failed on the Buy In, the 8-Man had a steady as each member showed off their athleticism, Sky and Cardona also getting some impressive moves on Uno and Grayson, but Lee was always prepared to clean up house as he also mocked Brandi at ringside. Dustin - appearing jarringly in blue this time - was the surprising speedster of the match, upping the pace was his hot tag as he set up the energy of the match. As Sky and Brodie confronted with the latter the illegal man, Anna Jay snuck up from behind but was blocked by Sky and booted out of her heels by Brandi before being pulled apart by Grayson (JR joking that she had a wardrobe malfunction did not sit well for many, including me). Grayson managed to rally for the Dark Order as QT Marshall was isolated by the Quartet, but Brodie stared a hole in Dustin in some solid storytelling, telling Cabana to tag him in despite a sure win, Brodie goaded Dustin into the match by throwing QT to tag Dustin in as they brawled. It was a bit of a hoss but it was great and well-timed, with Brodie wiping Dustin out with a delayed Discus Clothesline. Content, Brodie offered the pin to Cabana and tagged him in, but Cabana then made the misstep by missing the Moonsault, the Nightmare family pulled the Dark Order away as Dustin rolled up the hurt Cabana for 3. As the Nightmare Family praised Dustin, Brodie fumed at Cabana for going for the Moonsault when Dustin was already finished, shoving Cabana as he walked his frustrations off. Evil Uno proved to be the Good Cop as he helped Cabana up after Brodie left. Dustin was interviewed by Tony in a very 80s esque promo as Dustin kinda felt like he was jacked on ‘vitamins’, it was entertaining at the least and set up Brodie vs Dustin for the TNT Title. A surprise outcome for booking but not one I hated, this pushes a TNT title match and the Cabana story, I am upset we didn’t see Tay Conti show but maybe they’re saving it for later, Allie didn’t really involve herself at all with the match after all. AEW World Tag Team Championship, Kenny Omega & ‘Hangman’ Adam Page (c) vs FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard) - Winner: And NEW Tag Champions, FTR (via Pinfall by Dax on Page after a Spike Piledriver) The story of one of the more anticipated matches on the card was clear: the challengers, one of the best purist tag wrestlers in the world arrived together with little showmanship, and the champions, two of the most talented singles wrestlers in the world with their solo entrances, including the name plate guy having Hangman’s as ‘I don’t care what the graphic says anymore’. The match showed off the duality of both teams but it was the champions who started well, a hesitant high 10 from Kenny sowing the small seeds within the match as it became a war of Talent vs Cohesion. FTR worked their pace of isolating the legal man (mainly Hangman) as the solo wrestlers would look for their opening. For a while Kenny showed his Best Bout Machine talents to handle FTR but would be thwarted by their tandem offense of catch wrestling and lifts. Hangman would return to equalize at points including stopping a Goodnight Express on Kenny, but miscommunication was often in the air on Kenny’s part, one time even knocking Hangman off the apron in his attack. Hangman got a pop from a swanton onto FTR and Tully onto the outside while FTR wiped both men out individually with a Tower-of-Doom-esque Bulldog, Kenny’s outside the ring but Hangman’s inside. Hangman once again pushed back, getting his Fallaway Moonsault Slam from the top rope, but this led to the finish as Kenny motioned for the ‘Last Call’, Hangman had hesitations but went with it and got V-Triggered for his troubles, FTR threw Kenny out and landed the Spike Piledriver. But Hangman kicked out at 2! Bafflement on his face, Dax looked to an exhausted Kenny and then to Tully and went for the Spike Piledriver again, after nudging Kenny away it landed as Dax stared gladly at Kenny in great psychology; FTR let Kenny knew that they won, not just physically but mentally too. A bit of an abrupt end led into the aftermath of the match, Kenny rolled to grab what looked like a small coffee table from under the ring. After considering laying into Hangman, he threw the weapon away to the revenant Hangman’s relief, but as he went to embrace Kenny, Kenny side steps him as Hangman collapses. Some poetic storytelling there as Kenny just seems to give up on Hangman, a switch gone in his head as the camera follows him out, venting to the Bucks as he leaves and hints that they need a ‘clean break’. The saga continues, but the Cleaner is still kept in arm’s reach. So the match was a great wrestling match, and the end was good storytelling, but this would miss the mark with many since people were expecting the Cleaner, for the trigger to be pulled and for it to have the same emotional weight as the Bucks match. But at least for the latter, it is a tall ask, and it still was the correct booking decision. Mimosa Mayhem Match, Chris Jericho vs Orange Cassidy - Winner: Orange Cassidy (via Submerging Jericho into a pool of Mimosa with two Superman Punches) So the setup and positioning of this was weird, it was clear that AEW wanted a palatte cleanser between the heavy storylines but the match already looked super gimmicky. Two pools of Mimosa either side like a kids gameshow with tables of Bubbly, it wasn’t what I imagined at least. Jericho and Cassidy came out uncharacteristically alone and without their stablemates as they went for their rubber match, starting with an excellent opener as Cassidy’s charge was met with a codebreaker. Jericho controlled a lot of the match as he tried to dip Cassidy in Mimosa, getting a foot and his hair in there at different times and smashing a plate over Cassidy on the left side. Cassidy came to life a few times with some solid counters as he mostly looked for a pin, but he would often be caught by Jericho in tense situations, at one point being at the mercy of a powerbomb drop as he hammered at Jericho’s head, only to be sent through a table which still had the Bubbly, Glasses and Plates on it. Welted on his back, Cassidy wiped Jericho out but the Birds Eye shot conspicuously showed Aubrey adjust a glass. This unfortunately telegraphed its use later as Cassidy got caught in the Walls of Jericho, with no rope breaks Cassidy used the glass to throw Mimosa in Cassidy’s eyes, a Superman Punch led to a near fall as both looked to put the other away. Having to tightrope around the pool of Mimosa, Cassidy caught Jericho with a Superman Punch after escaping a suplex, Jericho lingered but the second did the trick, with Jericho soaking in this pool of Mimosa. Frankly I wasn’t all invested in this match, it was a bit too much especially since at this point it was 4am, but both men did good and OC gets very over as Jericho soaks in another ‘moment’. I was very surprised that the Inner Circle didn’t get involved at all, why were there two pools? Why was Hager wearing white? Something tells me that plans led to this match being condensed a little. AEW World Championship Match (If Moxley uses the Paradigm Shift he will be Disqualified and forfeit the title), Jon Moxley (c) vs MJF (w/ Wardlow) - Winner, Jon Moxley (Pinfall via Paradigm Shift) Unfortunately, the 5th hour of AEW was met with a lot of fatigue from the audience, to the point where the Main Event was hoped to be a short affair. MJF continued his Presidential Homages by wearing Red, White and Blue tights as Moxley appeared in his usual camo rogue uniform, Wardlow also had the a MJF scarf-styled tie. The Psychology of this match though was good, MJF frustrated Moxley with quick counters, pins and rest holds. After cooling off a bit, Moxley played smarter by baiting MJF into his offense, while reminding Wardlow that he was in the ref’s eyeshot. Moxley was twice enticed to use the Paradigm Shift but had to fight against his instincts, as MJF looked to quickly sneak advantages in, Wardlow would prove to gift him a big opening as his lingering gave MJF time to drop Moxley’s shoulder hard on the apron. Fighting with one arm now, MJF focused in as he groomed Moxley for the Salt of the Earth, but Moxley’s rabid offence would hit back, locking in the rear naked choke, but MJF would then counter himself and get the cross armbreaker on the hurt shoulder. MJF sold the idea that he could win by a pretty big blade job when Moxley took things to the outside, attacking with the guardrail as he has often done in his defenses, a third Paradigm Shift was shifted to a Money Clip but the arm gave out on the Gotch Piledriver, the two hammered at each other back and forth as Moxley scrapped him, even resorting to biting, MJF would return the favour after locking in a brutal-looking armbar after a vicious top rope double stomp on Moxley’s arm, biting the fingers in the process. Adrenaline proved Moxley’s fiend as his landed the Gotch Piledriver, swiftly knocking MJF down with suplexes and clotheslines, but only getting 2 because his injured arm prevented him from hooking the leg. MJF’s violent side looked to finish the champion as he used a rope-assisted facebuster but only got one, attempting the second granted Moxley the Air Raid Crash for 2, the two hit each other as they got to their feet, Moxley seeming immune of pain or caring as MJF seemed driven by blood and fury. The finish was how I predicted though, MJF’s usual last resort is the diamond ring, which would be handed to him by Wardlow as he makes a distraction. Only this time, when Wardlow threw the ring at MJF, he wasn’t ready. A brief stare ensued between Champion and Challenger as Moxley added up the numbers, MJF giving his ‘oh shit’ look as he realised in telling Moxley that the ref is distracted, he gave him an opening. A Paradigm Shift followed as Moxley then beckoned the distracted ref to count the fall, Moxley retains with a secret Silver Bullet. After the match Jake and Archer watch on with smiles as Moxley gives them the finger.  A great title match that did what it intended to do, look MJF look a million bucks. The schism between MJF and Wardlow will be the story that drives him forward until he is ready to lead the division, this also continues to sell the protection of the Paradigm Shift, through this match we are highlighted that while Moxley can win by other means he struggles without it, which can be a telling weak point in the future. For now though Moxley continues to prove himself to be a survivor, but how do you survive when Everybody Dies? Conclusion AEW All Out 2020 was not AEW’s best PPV. But it was still a very good PPV, outside of the Sydal Botch, the Hardy injury and the mixed response of the Tooth and Nail match (which really is the fault of fan demand forcing Khan’s hand, you got what you wished for and now you see why Khan was right all along) we got some great progression of storylines, great matches, and several talent got over. Will Hobbs had an impressive PPV debut making it into the final stages of the battle royale, Rosa and Shida were excellent and successfully brought the fans back into the match, Bucks, JE, Kenny, Hangman, FTR, Moxley, Archer, Kingston and MJF were all excellent in their matches too, it’s a little unfair that Hardy’s injury overshadows all that. Of course I hope he’s okay, but Wrestling comes with risk and they finished the match without having Matt take any serious bumps after.  Living in the UK the card was a bit long for me, the card shuffling did seem to upset the pace because of how abruptly the Buy In was changed again due to fan demand, I do feel like the card structure was a little off and that Tony and JR probably need to be talked about with their commentary of women. A lot of the energy got sapped out by their lack of enthusiasm. But despite what people may tell you, All Out was good. The matches were good, the wrestlers got over, the character directions all look promising and we have storyline progression which entices people to want to watch the next Dynamite Overall, 7/10 - which is also how many I got right in predictions (well 7/11)

[pwchronicle]

Ring of Honor “Best in the World” TV Taping Report June 29th in Philadelphia, PA

ROH followed up their annual Best in the World PPV in Baltimore with a TV taping at the 2300 Arena. For fans in my neck of the woods, it was either this or All Elite Wrestling’s second show, Fyter Fest, available for free on B/R Live. There was also UFC airing on regular ESPN, so plenty of choices tonight. A number of people chose not to attend tonight’s taping; it definitely did not look like the sell-out ROH was reporting, certainly down from the last two times ROH ran here last October and December. Myself? I can catch these other shows later in the weekend. I went in to this after just reading about what went down in Baltimore, unfortunately not all that compelled to order it, but still looking forward to fun stuff tonight. 

Future of Honor: Azrieal beat Matita (?) with a splash off the top rope. That’s right, Azrieal, the former Special K member who cleaned up his act, has made his way back into ROH after being absent for several years. He and his opponent (billed from Africa) both looked pretty good. I probably butchered his opponent’s name, but towards the end he was up on the top rope when Azrieal shoved the ref into the ropes, pretending it was an accident as his opponent was crotched on the top. Azrieal then hit him with a draping DDT to lead to the finish.

Future of Honor: The Tate Twins (formerly The Boys) beat Geddy Cahoon and “Classy” Max Stenway after a double chokeslam on the larger Cahoon. The Boys have matured a little, with a Batman-esque video screen that still calls them The Boys as they come out in capes. I’ve seen Cahoon once before in Chikara’s Young Lions Cup tournament last year I think. He has an old-school look, black trunks with white boots, while his partner wore gray pants and a top that looked like a buttoned vest. I thought this was okay, one noticeable hiccup being one of the twins and Cahoon doing some sloppy pin exchanges. 

The injured Colt Cabana was able to make it out tonight, with the help of a cane, to call the action with Ian Riccaboni. Kenny King joined them on commentary for the first televised match.

1. Shane Taylor beat Rhett Titus in a Proving Ground Match after hitting him with a headbutt. Titus did some flexing early to get out of Taylor’s grip for comedic effect, and he was able to hit a nice dropkick early. Taylor was all business and gave him a legdrop on the edge of the ring. Nearfall by Titus following at least three running boots in the corner and a Samoan Drop.

- Following Titus’ loss, King came down ringside and said he was disgusted. He brought up his history with Titus as the All Night Express, when they picked up wins over the Briscoes, the Young Bucks, Roderick Strong, and Tyler Black. Now King thinks Titus is a joke, and he brought up his pregnant wife in the crowd. He asked Titus how she could be proud of him, and why Titus’ son (Jimmy Controversy? I’ve seen him wrestle late last year) can’t look him in the eye. Titus got hot, but he just left the ring as King called him a punkass bitch.

2. Tasha Steelz won a 4-Way #1 Contender’s Match over Angelina Love (w/ Velvet Sky and Mandy Leon), Jenny Rose, and Stella Grey when she pinned Grey after hitting an ace crusher. Kelly Klein joined commentary for this, and this was the first time I’ve noticed Brian Hebner reffing for ROH. Sky said this match was bull and that Love is already the true #1 Contender to Klein’s WOH World Title. Leon, meanwhile, had a dog with her, and the dog was wearing a leather jacket. There were no incidents between the Allure and fans in the crowd, but there wasn’t much enthusiasm from fans during this match either, even though Rose and Grey got hometown wrestler pops, and everyone liked the dog, though it didn’t get involved. Leon got involved trying to trip one of the women, and Hebner ejected her, Sky, and the dog from ringside because of it. Love hit a dive to the floor from the top rope, then got up in another corner to call out to Klein afterward. Klein came down to ringside briefly, and this distraction led to the other three wrestlers taking down Love.

- After the match, the lights went out while Love and Steelz were still in the ring, the Maneater video played, and when the lights came back on, newcomer Maria Manic was standing behind Love and Steelz. Manic got a good reception. Love bailed out of the ring while the next title challenger Steelz stepped up to her. Four crew members separated the two of them. Manic took out all four guys herself, including putting one of them in a torture rack before dumping him out of the ring, and taking out another with a tree slam. This made Manic even more popular, so a job well done on her arrival into ROH and Women of Honor.

3. Jay Lethal & The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas) beat The Kingdom (Matt Taven, TK O’Ryan, and Vinny Marseglia) after the Bouncers hit O’Ryan with Closing Time. Good action with three popular babyfaces. Before the match, Lethal demanded timekeeper Amy Rose (not Sonic the Hedgehog’s friend) to leave the ringside area because of her interference in Lethal’s match against Kenny King at Best in the World (she returned maybe two matches later). The Kingdom preferred to be in the ring with Lethal as opposed to the Bouncers, and Lethal was worked over before making hot tags to each of them. Lethal hit his suicide dives towards the end. The Bouncers’ stock continues to rise (they recently earned a Tag Team Title shot in the Northwest), but before they could celebrate with post-match beers, Taven yanked Lethal down from the apron and gave him a Climax on the floor. The Bouncers and other crew attended to Lethal as he was helped to the back.

4. Eli Drake beat Grizzly Redwood with an air raid crash. Pretty short squash by new NWA signee Drake on another returning face in Redwood, though he’s local, so I’m not sure how much of a return it really is. Nick Aldis, flanked by Kamille, was on commentary during this. Drake cut a promo afterward about his arrival into the NWA and his pursuit of the World Title, and I thought he came off well.

5. Coast 2 Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali) beat Marcus Kross & Griff Garrison when Ali pinned Kross after a Boss Man Slam spun out from a powerslam position. This ended up being a competitive match and not a squash, with Kross (with gear and hair inspired by Goku) and Garrison (who just looks like an in-shape wrestler) getting a good amount of offense against the more established Coast 2 Coast. I also thought it was quite good, and a portion of the crowd chanted “Please Come Back!” to Kross and Garrison.

6. Jonathan Gresham won a Four Corner Survival over Jeff Cobb, Kenny King, and Dalton Castle. Caprice Coleman joined the commentary team from this point on. Castle, who is now heel and has ditched the flowing, winged robe for just a glittery jacket, was still beloved by the crowd. He and King hesitated getting in the ring, while Gresham and G1 Jeff kept it more serious. The Four Corner Survival rules of only two men in the ring at a time via tags (which confused the rowdy group of guys behind me, down from Ottawa, ONT Canada [!] for a bachelor party) naturally broke down, leading to Cobb going nuts with his suplexes. The end came when King took a shoe from Amy Rose to use as a weapon, but Gresham got a hold of it, hit King with it, and pinned King with a handful of his trunks. I thought it was fun, and it might come off better to me if I were to watch it on TV. Gresham returned the shoe to Rose. 

- Jay Lethal came out to speak to the crowd. He said he hasn’t spoken about his losing the ROH World Title at G1 Supercard because he’s a bad loser, and it was a heavy pill to swallow. Then he remembered that he’s a two-time World Champion, meaning he lost it once, but worked hard and was able to win it again. He will have a title match next month in New York, and he plans to win the title back from Matt Taven. This cued Taven to come out and dress down Lethal. He said Lethal was embarrassing his parents, who were in the crowd, and that Lethal was proving that his parents raised a liar. Taven said Lethal choked in Madison Square Garden, and now Taven is the face of ROH, and they’re living in the Time of Taven. As Taven finished what he had to say, out came Alex Shelley in a suit. He’s making his return, as he said he was careful not to say he was retiring when he last appeared in ROH. He said he’s been wrestling for seventeen years, has constantly been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but he’s left his mark around the world. He said he’s pulling out his proverbial veteran’s card yet again, and that he wants a shot at whoever is the champion after the match in New York. This segment was followed by intermission.

7. The Soldiers of Savagery (Moses & Kaun) beat two wrestlers after hitting double chokeslams on both of them. After just doing run-ins up until now, the Soldiers of Savagery had an official entrance, and it was a pretty cool one. Quick post-intermission squash, as they attacked their opponents (who were in matching gear) before they could be introduced.

- Caprice Coleman came out to the ring to host an interview segment with Nick Aldis. Kamille held the NWA World Heavyweight Title for Aldis. Coleman brought up the Summer Supercard happening in Toronto on August 9, with ROH hosting talent from New Japan and CMLL. Coleman had heard the NWA World Heavyweight Title would be defended at Summer Supercard and asked Aldis who his challenger would be. Aldis started by bringing up his fight with the Briscoes at Best in the World, and he offered Jay Briscoe a title shot whenever he pleases. As for Summer Supercard, he suggested he might want to have another match with Marty Scurll. This prompted Scurll to come out, and he said that he would also like to have a rematch. Aldis said he wasn’t finished, as he’s actually offering the title shot at Summer Supercard to any member of Villian Enterprises, and he will let Scurll choose who it will be. Aldis and Kamille left, as Coleman asked Scurll who he chooses for the title match, or if he’s taking the match himself. Scurll stalled for a little bit and said he had a lot to think about. Coleman closed by reiterating the name of the event and it’s August 9 date.

- Another segment followed, with Riccaboni and Cabana coming down to ringside. Riccaboni talked a little about Cabana’s injury and asked him for an update. Cabana stated how he has a cane now, barely got the the okay from his doctor to fly out to the events this weekend, but then James Storm interrupted. He was dressed to wrestle, brought up his match against Cabana in Chicago for the NWA National Title, and that he’s here for those five more minutes Cabana offered after the match went to a time limit draw. Cabana brought up how Cabana would have given him those five more minutes, but the Briscoes attacked him and Storm did nothing. Cabana began to leave when Storm shoved him from behind to the ground and berated him. Cabana agreed to the title match after this, despite his bad leg and not being dressed to compete.

8. James Storm beat Colt Cabana to win the NWA National Title. This couldn’t have lasted more than five minutes. Cabana tried for his Superman pin right off the bat but couldn’t get it properly with his bad leg. Storm worked over Cabana’s leg as Riccaboni remained at ringside and tried to convince Storm to stop, very concerned for Cabana. Storm put Cabana in a half crab on the injured leg, but Cabana got to the ropes. Cabana fought back, and he tried and failed to get Storm in the Billy Goat’s Curse. Storm hit a superkick and locked in the half crab in the middle of the ring, finally forcing Cabana to submit. Storm then made Riccaboni announce him as the winner and new NWA National Champion. Good drama throughout that the crowd followed. This was likely the end of Cabana’s commentary for the night.

9. Silas Young beat Josh Woods with a small package. After the opening bell but before any action took place, Young got a hold of the mic. He said Woods has been in ROH for two years, but he hasn’t accomplished anything. He said the fans don’t respect Woods like they respect him, and that Woods could benefit from learning from him. He then gave the mic back to the ref, and as the ref did so Young kicked Woods in the groin and rolled him up for the quick win. Young has already corrupted Gresham, and he might be doing the same to Woods.

10. Shinobi Shadow Squad (Cheeseburger, Eli Isom, and Ryan Nova) beat Brian Johnson, Joe Keys, and Dante Caballero after they hit Caballero with a draping DDT/top rope double stomp combo. The three Future of Honor regulars, especially Johnson and Caballero, got a chance to show more of their personalities during this match. They suffered from some miscommunication though, ending with Keys accidentally hitting Caballero to lead to the finish. Afterward, Keys and Caballero came to blows with each other and had to be separated while Johnson just walked off.

11. Karissa Rivera beat Sumie Sakai after sitting down on a sunset flip attempt for the pin. This was Sakai’s first match back from injury, and this seemed to get a good amount of time with a lot of nearfalls. The action was pretty decent, though there was a moment where Sakai bowed to Rivera, Rivera went to bow back, and Sakai rolled her up in a small package that looked pretty bad. Rivera getting the upset win here came off well to me based on the crowd reaction, and Sakai sold the shock of it. Quinn McKay came into the ring to interview Rivera about it, but Sakai intervened and offered Rivera a handshake and congratulated her. If this is just a torch passing from Sakai, that’s A-okay.

12. Rush & Dragon Lee beat Jay & Mark Briscoe when Rush pinned Jay after hitting the Bull’s Horns. This match came off fantastic, as it was basically a fast-paced brawl. They began brawling on the floor early, starting when Dragon Lee went to hit a suicide dive onto the Briscoes, but they caught Lee and gave him a double suplex onto the floor. A little later, Mark came up bleeding heavily from the forehead, and I don’t know how it happened if it was hardway. It likely was as someone retrieved a towel to attend to Mark. This wasn’t at the level of how Jay has bled in the past, but Mark was bleeding so much Rush began focusing on it, wiping some of it on his chest and biting at the wound. ROH TV likely wouldn’t allow spots like this, so I imagine this match will be heavily edited when it airs, with the full uncut match featuring these spots put on HonorClub. Nevertheless, the blood added some intensity to the match, and the wrestlers capitalized on it. Mark used a chair to assist his running dive over the top to the floor. Rush was given a neckbreaker by Jay and the Froggy Bow by Mark, but Rush still kicked out that a lot of fans saw as three. Lee took out Mark with a running hurricanrana over the top rope to the floor to leave Rush to finish off Jay. A wild match that had the crowd shitting apes. Dragon Lee continues to be on a roll after some stellar matches these last two months in New Japan.

- There was a quick change of the ring canvas and wiping down of the ropes as Bobby Cruise announced that Villain Enterprises would be out next. When the ring was ready, the LifeBlood trio of Bandido, Tracy Williams, and Mark Haskins came out (they’re all that’s left of this faction!). Haskins brought up how Villain Enterprises played a fast one on them at the PPV with their recruiting of Flip Gordon when they thought he would join LifeBlood, and they demanded they came out. Marty Scurll came out again, accompanied by Gordon, Brody King, and PCO. Scurll properly introduced Gordon to the crowd as the newest employee of Villain Enterprises, the understudy, the intern, and the mercenary. He then gave Gordon the night off (following a potential injury at the PPV) to watch this six-man tag team match from the back, and he told LifeBlood that this would not be for their recently remade Six-Man Tag Team Titles, as they just defended them at the PPV (against Haskins, Williams, and PJ Black). Williams was fine with that, as they just wanted a fight, and given where they were, he demanded a Philadelphia Street Fight. The crowd was all for this, Villain Enterprises agreed, and the match was on.

13. LifeBlood beat Villain Enterprises in a non-title Philadelphia Street Fight when Bandido pinned Scurll. Chaos from the start. The timekeeper’s table was cleared off early and set up where the entrance way reaches ringside. The first big moment was King attempting to superplex Haskins onto two rows of chairs, but King went through them himself after Williams and Bandido made the save. LifeBlood began using canes. Bandido gave PCO a hurricanrana off the top rope through the table on the floor, and it all seemed perfectly executed. This left Scurll alone, and he was put into a sharpshooter by Haskins and a cane-assisted crossface by Williams, but King made the save. Dives to the floor from King and PCO was followed by a twisting dive from the top by Bandido. The landing looked rough but Bandido still got up. Back in the ring, Bandido gave PCO his version of the GTS, followed by the 21-plex onto an open chair. During all of this, a woman in the crowd shouted, “Leave him alone! He’s old!” This was only a nearfall as Scurll and King made the save, and then they brought a second table into the ring. Williams and Haskins peppered King with more cane shots. Scurll responded with shots from his umbrella. Scurll took down Bandido with his umbrella, placed him on the table, and went up top, but Bandido recovered and stopped Scurll, finally giving him his moonsault slam off the top through the table for the big win. Another wild, crowd-pleasing match. Bandido, Haskins, and Williams shook hands with all of the ringside fans, and then Williams took the mic and thanked the crowd for coming out on behalf of LifeBlood and everyone at ROH. 

The main show started at about 6 PM and ended at 9:47 PM. I had some issues with the pacing of this show early on. A lot of talking segments that were good, some longer matches that weren’t good, and some shorter matches, but I really enjoyed the two last matches, and they energized the crowd and ended the night on a high note. A lot of focus on the NWA, and I’m not sure how it will play into ROH as I don’t know how much of it will be part of ROH TV. Cabana vs. Storm likely will be, but I don’t know about the Aldis-Scurll segment or the Eli Drake squash. ROH has a little bit of direction with the faction warfare, the World Title picture with Alex Shelley returning, and Maria Manic joining the women’s division, but I listened to the reactions, and they varied to people from Dalton Castle to Rush. No direction for Jeff Cobb following the PPV as he’s off to be G1 Jeff, and late in the game I joined the bandwagon of wanting him to win the ROH World Title and take it with him to Japan for a month in change, throwing the other contenders into crisitunity over the summer in the attempt of some more compelling stories. But no, ROH is focused on Matt Taven and company, and Taven still has his fans. No return date was given for Philadelphia, while they hit up New York City and Lowell, MA next month.

[aion-rsa]

Is MJF Ready for the AEW World Title?

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Since its inception last year, AEW has been a company that relies on records on and statistics. It’s an analytical approach to wrestling that has made Tony Khan’s promotion stand out against WWE, whose booking often feels directionless and without any continuity.

But AEW finds itself falling into the same traps as WWE sometimes.

MJF is set to challenge Jon Moxley at the All Out pay-per-view next month. MJF is a future star, there’s no doubt, but AEW has done little to get him ready for a main-event push. Again, in a company where wins and losses matter, and where there are rankings and supposedly a strict system to who gets title shots and who doesn’t, MJF’s record just doesn’t seem worth of a world title match.

Sure, he hasn’t been pinned or submitted, but let’s look at who he’s faced.

Since March, MJF’s singles victories on AEW television include victories over Lee Johnson, Marko Stunt, Jungle Boy, Billy Gunn and Griff Garrison. That’s worthy of a top-five ranking and an AEW World Title match? 

Hardly.

MJF beat Cody at Revolution this past February and he beat Adam Page on an episode of Dynamite last November, but those two huge victories feel like ages ago.

Read more

TV

WWE Raw Ratings Hit New Low Because Vince McMahon is Clueless

By Mike McMahon

MJF may very well be ready for this spot. That’s not the argument. The point is that AEW should have done more on television to get MJF ready for this spot. All Out is one of AEW’s two big pay-per-views, and it might be their biggest on the calendar. MJF needed to get wins over some more prominent members of the roster in order to feel like he’s in a proper position as the No. 1 challenger to the AEW World Title.

Perhaps a more recent win over Adam Page, who is currently in a tag-team anyway. He could have beaten Cody again, if they worked a non-title match, or even Dustin Rhodes, Luchasaurus, Matt Hardy, Pentagon or Fenix. Anyone who has been positioned in a higher spot on the card, but AEW didn’t do that.

Squash matches over a couple of no-names and wins over Billy Gunn, Mark Stunt and Jungle Boy hardly feels like the road to a World Title match.

Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend for AEW, whose booking is supposed to be strict and disciplined. WWE will start and stop storylines without any reason or explanation, and AEW has begun to do similar things. Allie dropped the Bunny character and joined QT Marshall without any explanation. Brandi Rhodes has flipped between heel and babyface more times than Big Show, and now it feels like AEW is booking on the fly, shoving MJF into a World Title match without getting him there on television.

The post Is MJF Ready for the AEW World Title? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 9/25/2021

Men's singles division - babyfaces

CM Punk

Bryan Danielson

Jon Moxley (GCW world champion)

Chris Jericho

Cody Rhodes

Darby Allin

Christian Cage (Impact men's world champion)

Eddie Kingston

Orange Cassidy

Brian Pillman, Jr.

Men's singles division - heels

Kenny Omega (AEW men's world champion, AAA mega champion)

Miro (AEW TNT champion)

MJF

Malakai Black

Adam Cole

Andrade El Idolo

Matt Hardy

Powerhouse Hobbs

Shawn Spears

Daniel Garcia*

Unranked: Brian Cage, Dante Martin, Dustin Rhodes, Frankie Kazarian, Feugo Del Sol, Jake Hager, John Silver, Lance Archer, Lee Johnson, Matt Sydal, PAC, QT Marshall

* Not listed on official AEW website roster

A big talking point lately is that AEW's roster has gotten pretty huge. One effect of this expansion is that it's a major pain in the ass for me to keep track of all the wrestlers who mainly compete on the YouTube shows. Going forward, I'll be focusing on the performers who have wrestled in the past 30 days on television or pay-per-views.

There's concern that the big stars from other major-league companies (mostly WWE) will crowd out the wrestlers who came up from the minors. That issue became more clear to me when I put together the above list. Twelve of my men's top 20 came to AEW best known for their WWE runs, and Omega made his name in New Japan. So if you expected AEW to be "the best of the rest," you're left with Darby, Eddie, Orange, Pillman, MJF, Hobbs, Garcia, and a bunch of guys in the background.

We'll have to see if this becomes a problem. I'm optimistic that AEW knows what they're doing, and wrestlers will be regularly cycled into and out of the spotlight. But WWE has conditioned wrestling fans to think that if a wrestler only appears on the C-show, then the bookers have totally given up on them. So I don't blame fans for being skeptical that AEW can find a better way. It's on AEW to prove that guys like Brian Cage, Pac, John Silver, Dante Martin, and Lee Johnson will get their day in the sun. And that's not even getting into the dozens of wrestlers that aren't listed above.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

Lucha Bros. - Rey Fenix & Penta El 0M (AEW tag team champions, AAA tag team champions)

Santana & Ortiz

Jurassic Express - Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson

Chuck Taylor & Wheeler YUTA*

Men's tag team division - heels

The Young Bucks - Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson

Men of the Year - Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky

FTR - Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood

The Butcher & The Blade

Private Party & Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

2point0 - Matt Lee & Jeff Parker

TH2 - Jack Evans & Angelico

* Not listed on official AEW website roster

At any given time, AEW has about 16-20 active tag teams, but a lot of them are mainly on Dark and Elevation. Limiting the rankings to teams that have been on real TV in the past month gives us just twelve men's teams. Then again, that's still more than you'll see on most other wrestling shows.

I think it's important that three of the heel teams (Butcher/Blade, Quen/Kassidy, Evans/Angelico) are in Matt Hardy's stable, so it feels like Matt is begging for one of those teams to break away and turn face. The Dark Order also features three teams (Uno/Grayson, John Silver/Alex Reynolds, Alan Angels/Preston Vance), but their storyline about internal problems could break up one or more of those pairings, if not the entire faction. Interestingly, they've started to set up a feud between the entire Hardy Family Office and the sort-of reunited Dark Order, which may be where they blow off a lot of these issues.

Women's division - babyfaces

Ruby Soho

Kris Statlander

Thunder Rosa

Anna Jay

Tay Conti

Hikaru Shida

Big Swole

Riho

Red Velvet

Leyla Hirsch

Women's division - heels

Britt Baker (AEW women's world champion)

Jade Cargill

Nyla Rose

The Bunny

Penelope Ford

Jamie Hayter

Abadon

Diamante*

Unranked: Emi Sakura, Kiera Hogan*, KiLynn King*

* Not listed on official AEW website roster

AEW doesn't do a lot of women's matches on Dynamite and Rampage, but because of the battle royale on the 9/4 pay-per-view some of the overlooked ladies managed to make the cut.

We've seen some alliances forming in this division, which has stoked talk of introducing a women's tag team championship. However, it looks like AEW has other plans, involving a new women's TBS title to complement the men's TNT title.

I don't think the women's roster is deep enough to support any new belts. That doesn't mean I don't want a secondary title or a tag title. I do. But I'm not convinced that introducing a new title will commit AEW to actually push more wrestlers and expand the roster. That commitment is what I really want; new belts are just gravy.

Part-time/semi-retired: Chavo Guerrero Jr., Homicide, Karl Anderson (Impact men's tag team champion), Luke Gallows (Impact men's tag team champion), Mark Henry, Minoru Suzuki, Rebel, Sting, Tully Blanchard, Paul Wight

I don't get the impression that Homicide and Suzuki will be sticking around for very long. Aside from them, all AEW is getting from the "forbidden door" these days is Gallows and Anderson, and all they do lately is stand in the back of Kenny Omega's entourage. These crossovers have been fun and all, but they've been more like Green Lantern/Silver Surfer than JLA/Avengers, if you get my drift.

The Dan Lambert/American Top Team storyline appears to be setting up some kind of match involving Junior dos Santos, Jorge Masvidal, Paige VanZant, and a bunch of other MMA jagoffs I can't be bothered to remember. We'll see if that actually happens, or if they just jerk around about it for another two months.

No TV or PPV matches in 30 days: Aaron Solo, Alan Angels, Alex Reynolds, Anthony Bowens, Austin Gunn, Billy Gunn, Colt Cabana, Colten Gunn, Griff Garrison, Joey Janela, Luther, Marko Stunt, Max Caster, Nick Comoroto, Peter Avalon, Preston Vance, Ricky Starks (FTW champion), Shawn Dean, Sonny Kiss, Wardlow

This doesn't include people like Julia Hart and Serpentico, who regularly appear for AEW but aren't on the official roster and apparently aren't under contract. Regardless, this gives you a good sense of which wrestlers would be the "AEW Dark roster," if we treated it like a separate brand or something. It'll be interesting to check in a few months which of these names are still stuck in this category.

No matches in 30 days: Anthony Ogogo, Brandi Rhodes, Brandon Cutler, Christopher Daniels, Leva Bates, Michael Nakazawa, Sammy Guevara, Yuka Sakazaki

As huge as AEW's roster is, it's impressive that only eight wrestlers are listed here. Guevara has a match set for 9/29, and Daniels is doing a little crossover thing on Impact Wrestling. Brandi just got back from maternity leave, and while I assume she plans to get back in the ring, that remains to be seen. As for the others, it's possible some of these people have injuries or are taking time off, and the details just haven't gotten out.

Inactive

Darius Martin (knee - unspecified ACL injury)

Hangman Page (paternity leave)

Kip Sabian (undisclosed injury)

Serena Deeb (left knee - unspecified injury)

Trent Beretta (neck - herniated intervertebral disc)

The big story here is Page, who was being set up for a major run for Kenny Omega only to suddenly lose his title shot and disappear from the show. That left everyone pretty anxious for Page to get back, especially since a wave of big new stars could crowd him out of his spot. I'm sure AEW knows when Hangman is scheduled to return, but there's no way for any of us to figure it out, which is frustrating.

Trent had neck fusion surgery, which has a notoriously slow recovery time; I don't expect him to be on TV until the middle of 2022. I haven't seen any kind of timetable for Sabian or Martin, probably because there are so few details available about the extent of their injuries.

Deeb had knee surgery in March, returned to the ring in May, and went back on the shelf in July. Evidently she came back too soon, and she's still rehabbing the original knee injury. I worry about that kind of thing when I see Britt Baker (or Impact's Chelsea Green) working through a broken wrist.

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 5/16/2021

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Darby Allin

Cody Rhodes

Orange Cassidy

PAC

Hangman Page

Christian Cage

Lance Archer

Sammy Guevara

Dustin Rhodes

Jake Hager

Men's singles division - heels

Kenny Omega (AEW men's world champion, Impact world champion, AAA mega champion)

MJF

Miro (AEW TNT champion)

Brian Cage (FTW champion)

Matt Hardy

Shawn Spears

Anthony Ogogo

QT Marshall

Powerhouse Hobbs

Nick Comorotto

Unranked: Alex Reynolds, Christopher Daniels, Colt Cabana, Danny Limelight, Dante Martin, Frankie Kazarian, Lee Johnson, MT Nakazawa, Wardlow

It feels premature to rank Darby Allin so highly. But given that Chris Jericho's hurt, Kenny Omega's a heel, and Jon Moxley's chasing the tag title, I can't argue any other babyface is ahead of him. Cody's clout and presentation goes a long way, but that only goes so far when he's been barely been on TV and feuding with QT's band of trainees. AEW deserves a lot of credit for giving Allin the ball and letting him run with it. Even though he just lost the TNT title to Miro, his chase to get it back ought to be even hotter than his run as champion.

A lot of the key fueds right now involve factions--Cody's Nightmare Family vs. QT's The Factory, Jericho's Inner Circle vs. MJF's The Pinnacle, and the Hardy Family Office vs. the Dark Order, Orange's buddies vs. Pac's Death Triangle--not to mention Team Taz and Kenny Omega's group running around. As a New Japan fan I dig it, but it does make it kind of tough to decide where one faction's minions rank relative to another's.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

Jon Moxley (IWGP United Stats champion) & Eddie Kingston

Santana & Ortiz

Best Friends - Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Lucha Bros. - Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix

Jurassic Express - Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson

Varsity Blondes - Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr.

The Gunn Club - Billy Gunn & Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn

Matt Sydal & Mike Sydal

Alan Angels & Preston Vance

Men's tag team division - heels

The Young Bucks - Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson (AEW tag team champions)

FTR - Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler

Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

Private Party & Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy

The Butcher & The Blade

TH2 - Jack Evans & Angelico

Chaos Project - Luther & Serpentico

Cezar Bononi & Ryan Nemeth

Unranked: Sonny Kiss & Joey Janela

(Names not listed on the AEW website's roster are noted in italics.)

With Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian disbanding their team, the top title contenders on AEW's official rankings are Garrison and Pillman. However, the team that's actually getting a title shot at the May 30 pay-per-view is Moxley and Kingston, because they trashed the champs' dressing room. Just in case you were wondering why I bother doing this when AEW does it every week.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Hikaru Shida (AEW women's world champion)

Thunder Rosa

Tay Conti

Kris Statlander

Ryo Mizunami

Big Swole

Red Velvet

Leyla Hirsch

KiLynn King

Women's singles division - heels

Britt Baker

Nyla Rose

Jade Cargill

Abadon

Penelope Ford

Diamante

The Bunny

A year ago I was griping that AEW wasn't doing enough with the women's division. They're still not giving them enough time on the main show, but it definitely feels like Shida, Baker, and Statlander are more important to the product now than they were back then. I wanted them to bring in more women and give them a chance, and that paid off big time with Thunder Rosa. Swole, Conti, Abadon, and Velvet feel underutilized, but I'm confident that will change. Cargill is going to be great once they decide she's ready for more than simple squash matches. Granted, There are others on this list that seem to be just...there. But it's amazing how much less frustrating that is when more than two women on the roster are getting pushed.

No matches in over 30 days: Awesome Kong, Emi Sukara, Karl Anderson, Leva Bates, Doc Gallows, Mel, Peter Avalon, Riho, Shanna, Shawn Dean, Serena Deeb (NWA women's world champion), Yuka Sakazaki

Same old story with Riho, Shanna, Sukara, and Sakazaki (travel restrictions), and with Kong and Mel (no idea). Deeb is booked for the May 19 show, which is probably a relief for the NWA, since they can finally book some title matches again.

When the AEW/Impact storyline started, I expected a lot more Impact wrestlers to appear on AEW programming than just Gallows and Anderson. As it turns out, even Gallows and Anderson haven't wrestled much on AEW lately. I'm really starting to wonder what the point is for all of this.

Part-time/semi-retired: Dasha Gonzalez, Paul Wight, Rebel not Reba, Sting, Tully Blanchard

I feel weird having Tully here but hell, he's probably had more ring time in 2021 than everybody else in this list put together.

Inactive

Anna Jay (right shoulder - dislocation)

Brandon Cutler (orbital bone - unspecified injury)

Brandi Rhodes (pregnancy)

Chris Jericho (right elbow - dislocation)

Kip Sabian (right arm - storyline injury?)

John Silver (right shoulder - dislocation)

Ricky Starks (neck - fractured vertebrae)

Darius Martin (knee - unspecified ACL injury)

Miro "injured" Sabian's arm recently, and Sabian announced on Twitter that he's getting surgery. So is he just playing into the storyline on social media, or is the storyline designed to cover for an actual injury? Either way I don't expect him back in the ring for a while.

In contrast, Jericho's arm injury is legit but he's still appearing on TV and trying to get a match like it's no big deal. MJF challenged Jericho to a Stadium Stampede match two weeks from now, but Jericho reportedly needs 4-6 weeks to recover. So either the reports are overestimating how hurt he is, or Jericho's going to have to creatively avoid doing anything physical...or they'll have to postpone the match right after setting the date. I'm not sure what they're thinking with this one. (Maybe Jericho could call his new buddy Mike Tyson?)