#it's got your shape to it... i'm sensing owen at work again ����

[mobius-m-mobius]

#obsessed with their priorities

[wrestlingisfake]

All In preview

Swerve Strickland vs. Bryan Danielson - Danielson won the men's Owen Hart memorial tournament to earn this shot at the AEW men's world title. Taking the title of this show to heart, Bryan is going "all in," promising that if he does not win the title here, he will never wrestle again. If he succeeds, it will be his seventh world championship, counting the five he captured in WWE and his one run on top at Ring of Honor. If he fails, his historic career will suddenly stop, just six weeks before the 25th anniversary of his in-ring debut.

On September 9, 2023, Danielson stunned fans by announcing plans for his retirement: He promised his daughter that he would be wrapping up his full-time career around the time of her seventh birthday (May 9, 2024). It was quickly reported that Bryan intended to continue working as a special attraction on a part-time basis, presumably with at least a handshake agreement with AEW. If that's still the plan, then losing this match wouldn't make sense--Danielson promised to never wrestle again if he loses, so even an occasional comeback would violate the stipulation.

In the past few weeks, however, Danielson has suggested his neck is in rough shape, and he will probably need surgery before the end of the year. Now, it's possible the neck issue has changed his plans, and he's doing one last final match now because a lengthy part-time run is no longer an option. It's also possible he's just talking like that to put the question in your mind, so you won't see it coming when he wins the title and finishes up later, on his own terms. There's no way to be sure--Danielson knows how to lie, especially about his physical condition, in a way that hypes up his matches. We don't even really know he needs neck surgery--we just know he's been saying he does.

For me this uncertainty enhances the match. I really believe in Strickland as the world champion, and I don't want to see him drop the belt right now, especially not as a lifetime achievement award to a guy who's about to retire either way. On the other hand, I think Swerve has already had a good run, and losing the belt here won't hurt him, or stop him from getting it back later. So it's easy to think that AEW will make the easy decision to do a title change. But everybody thought that about Strickland vs. Ospreay in June, and Swerve came out of it a stronger champion for beating the odds. Would they have the guts to feed him an even bigger name, and his entire career? I just don't know.

Danielson has talked up this match by saying he'll give 100%, as in "101% is not physically possible." One way or another, it won't be pretty watching him sell the idea he's hitting his limit. Swerve has a lot of big moves that I wouldn't wish on a guy with a history of neck and concussion issues, and he's going to bust out all of them and show no mercy. Sooner or later the champ will have the challenger in the Ric Flair/Ol' Yeller situation, and we know he'll take the killshot. The only question is if he'll hit it, or if he'll be wondering the next day how he got beat by a man down to his last 1%.

Toni Storm vs. Mariah May - Storm is defending the AEW women's world championship. She endorsed May, her protege, to earn this shot in the Owen Hart women's tournament. But as soon as Mariah won the tournament she viciously turned on Toni to reveal her true colors. That was enough to sell me on the match, but then Storm later told the challenger "ARE YOU PREPARED TO DIE? BECAUSE I AM!"

This is one of those grudge matches that cannot, must not start with a lockup and exchanging holds. Toni is out for blood, and I can't believe she won't get disqualified in the first five seconds. Mariah is acting like she's already dispensed with Storm, and there's nothing left to do but take the title. In character, I'm not sure she's prepared for a bloody brawl--I think she'll hold her own in a bloody brawl, but I don't think she's expecting one.

I hope this goes at least 25 minutes. This is easily the best story AEW has even done with the women's division, and maybe the best story they've done period. Toni is on fire as champion and you can make a great case for keeping the belt on her for another year. At the same time, there's never going to be a better time for her to leave it all in the ring and end up in a pool of her own blood, wondering if she's hit rock bottom. There's a lot of ways this match can go and I'm good with all of 'em.

MJF vs. Will Ospreay - Ospreay lost the AEW international title to MJF on July 17, so this is the rematch. Since winning the title, Max has unilaterally renamed it the "American championship," and cast himself as jingoistic American hero, presumably to antagonize the crowd in London. Whoever wins here will defend the title--whatever it'll be called--against PAC on September 7.

The big plot point for Ospreay over the past few months has been the Tiger Driver '91, a modified double underhook powerbomb where you drop all of your opponent's weight on the back of his neck. Ospreay used to use the move fairly regularly until he "hurt" Bryan Danielson with it in April. After that he retired the move, over the objections of his evil mentor Don Callis, who thinks he should be more ruthless. Ospreay was tempted to use the move against Max but his hesitation arguably cost him the championship. The question now is whether it's ethical to use the move against a total douchebag like MJF. On August 21, Danielson weighed into the debate, simply telling Will "Do it."

I assume these two are going to try to have a total classic like their first match, but it probably won't be another hour-long epic. I think the most interesting outcome would be Will using the move to win, and then Max spends the next six weeks wearing a neck brace pretending to be crippled. But they've managed to drag out this tiger driver question for way longer than I expected, so maybe they won't pull the trigger here either. Maybe Max can simply retain, but I can't believe they're going to keep doing this "American champion" nonsense once they get back to the US, the one place it will not and has not worked as a heel gimmick. So I'm pretty sure Ospreay has to win, although I'm not sure how far he'll be tempted by the dark side to get there.

Mercedes Mone vs. Britt Baker - Mone's AEW TBS championship is at stake, but her STRONG women's title is not. Baker returned from a lengthy convalescence on June 30 to challenge the champion. The added wrinkle to this match is Mone's new enforcer, Kamille, who will almost certainly get involved.

I was hoping Mone would come to AEW pretty much since AEW started up, and I quickly hit on Baker as her opposite number. So I've been wanting to see this matchup for a long, long time. I'm so over promo battles where two women argue over which of them led the revolution, but with these two I actually buy that they both care about that sort of thing and each think they have an exclusive claim. They can't co-exist, they have to fight, I need to see 'em fight.

I feel like this could either be very smooth or very clunky. Both women work very well within their comfort zone, but it doesn't feel like Mone has found hers yet outside WWE, and Baker strikes me as the type that's better when working with her friends. For all I know these two have hit it off backstage and already developed a rapport that will lead to a great match, but I don't want to set my expectations too high. Honestly, even a clunky match here would feel like A Happening, so I could probably live with that.

It feels too early for Mone to end her undefeated streak or drop the TBS title. Then again, I can't see Baker just losing and moving on. Maybe Kamille interferes for the finish, to give Baker an excuse to get a rematch? Yeah, that seems like the best outcome.

Jack Perry vs. Darby Allin - Perry is defending the AEW TNT title in a coffin match, so a coffin will be placed at ringside, and the only way to win is to trap your opponent inside it. Other than that, there are no rules. Allin secured the match on July 24 by [checks notes] threatening to set Perry on fire, which he had already done before on May 26. They really hate each other, folks!

So yeah, they're in Wembley fucking Stadium and they need to top, or at least equal, the flamethrower spot. I don't know what that means, but it probably won't involve the coffin, or the finish. Maybe a fish tank full of piranhas? I wouldn't put it past either of them. Anyway, Jack just last week revealed his new custom title belt, so I can't believe he's going to immediately turn around and lose it (although it would suit Darby's aesthetic just as well). Unless Sting is in town for this match, I think Perry should retain; and even if Darby does win I'd put good money on him losing it back Jack at All Out.

Chris Jericho vs. HOOK - Jericho won the FTW title from Hook on April 21, and now Hook finally has his rematch. Per Jericho's stipulations, if Hook fails to regain the title, he can never again challenge for it. The whole storyline is "Heel Heat 101" but Jericho's Learning Tree gimmick is so deliberately insipid that I've given up on the whole thing. I'd love for Hook to just win the belt back and put this feud to bed, but I don't expect to get anything I want out of this.

Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler vs. Max Caster & Anthony Bowens - Matt and Nick, the Young Bucks, are defending the AEW tag team title. This is a three-way, so the first man to score a fall on any opponent will win the match and the championship for his team. The Acclaimed (Caster & Bowens) had earned a two-on-two title shot, but FTR (Dax & Cash) interfered to cause a disqualification. That led to FTR vs. Acclaimed to determine who gets the title shot at this show, but--wouldn't you know it?--that match got fucked too, to set up a three-way. That sure happens a lot, don't it?

I hate three-way matches, and I think I've explained why often enough. Any two of the three teams could have a better matchup. But the thought process is that all three need to be in a title bout at Wembley. As if there's no way to put one of the teams in a big #1 contender's match, which they could have spent the past four weeks building up if they'd thought to do it. Anyway, each team thinks the other two are overrated and entitled and selfish, and two of them aren't going to settle anything here, so they'll square off later in the match that actually matters. I don't care who wins here.

Four-way London Ladders match - This will be four teams of three, vying for the AEW trios title in a ladder match. I'm not sure if "London Ladders" means there are special rules. Typically they'd set up ladders all over the ringside area, and hang the title belts above the ring; the first man to climb up and retrieve the belts wins the match and the championship for his team. Since Christian Cage is involved there was an allusion to his history in WWE with TLC matches, but I don't know if that makes any difference. Even in a regular ladder match, there's no rule against using tables or chairs.

The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Nick Wayne, and Killswitch) are the defending champions here. The Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) have been trying to get the belts back since the Patriarchy injured Jay White, leading to White and the Gunns having to forfeit the title. The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Wayne) earned a title shot weeks ago, but the Patriarchy took out Buddy Wayne to eliminate the competition. The fourth team--PAC, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta--was thrown together at the last minute and won a qualifying match earlier this week. Pac had been feuding with the Bang Bang Gang, but his usual partners Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo seem to be on their way out of AEW. So now he's stuck with Claudio, a man he violently despised last year, and Claudio's little buddy.

Sheesh, it took longer than I expected to list all the rules and participants and backstory. You already know it's going to be a trainwreck and Christian will sneak through the backdoor to get a cheap win and retain.

21-man Casino Gauntlet match - The winner receives a future title shot for the AEW men's world championship. Two men will start in the ring and each additional man enters one by one. (I'm not sure if the intervals are timed or totally arbitrary.) The twist here is that the match can end at any time on the first pinfall or submission. So if a winner is declared before it's your turn to go the ring, you'll be SOL (and you know what that means).

We may never actually know who all 21 participants are supposed to be, but as of this writing they've announced: Adam Page, Dustin Rhodes, Evil Uno, Kyle O'Reilly, Mark Briscoe, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Orange Cassidy, and Roderick Strong. Cassidy earned the right to start the match, so we at least know he'll see action. I'm sure the other announced names will also appear. But this is like the third time AEW has done this match, so by now I could see them doing an angle where an advertised participant flips out when he doesn't even get to participate.

I'm not sure when the winner will get his title shot, or even who the champion will be by then. (Darby Allin already has a title match waiting for him, whenever that will be.) So it's tough to predict the future here, but I guess the easy pick would be Orange.

Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kris Statlander & Stokely Hathaway - This is booked for the pre-show. The winning team will get the right to name the stipulations for September 7, when Statlander challenges Nightingale for the CMLL women's world title. Per the standard rules for mixed tag matches, when one team makes a tag, the other team has to also switch places, so that the legal participants in the ring are always the same gender.

Kris and Stokely turned on Willow back in May, so now Willow is bringing in some backup. I don't want to say Stokely isn't a wrestler, because he was trained and worked matches in the indies. But for most of his career he's played a wimpy manager like Bobby Heenan or Jimmy Hart. So the idea is that Stoke would be fucked going up against a "real" wrestler, and he's mega-fucked squaring off with a MEAN GUY~! like Ishii. Statlander figures she's strong enough to carry the match herself, and I suppose we'll get at least one Stat vs. Ishii spot, but the rules won't make it easy to keep Hathaway safe.

Dustin Rhodes & Katsuyori Shibata & Sammy Guevara & Ross Von Erich & Marshall Von Erich vs. Matt Taven & Mike Bennett & Brian Cage & Toa Liona & Bishop Kaun - Another pre-show match. Dustin and the Von Erichs defeated Taven, Bennett, and Roderick Strong to win the ROH trios title. Then, Dustin and Guevara won the ROH tag team title from Taven and Bennett. Shibata is a long-time friend of the Von Erich family. I'm not sure what Cage, Liona, and Kaun are doing here. I guess Taven and Bennett's associates in the Undisputed Kingdom are unavailable. I mean, Strong is here but he's in the gauntlet match...actually, I was under the impression Taven, Bennett, and Rhodes are too. So I don't know what we're doing here, except giving London a chance to see Shibata and the Von Erichs. So I figure Rhodes's team will win.

[booksandbeanjuice]

𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐔𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐍 ⌲ 𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘯𝘦𝘳

Word Count: 1205

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c h a p t e r t h r e e

"Alright, a cheeseburger extra pickles with potato wedges and a chicken tender platter with fries. Would you like any ketchup or honey mustard?" the waitress looked at Piper.

"Ketchup, please," the girl responded. The waitress nodded and took off toward the kitchen while Piper took a sip of her strawberry lemonade.

"Ranch goes better with chicken tenders than any other condiment. Too bad you can't have it," Lillian chuckled.

The brown haired girl rolled her eyes at her friend. Every time Lillian got the chance, she'd brag about how great food is with certain things that she knew Piper couldn't have. 'Ah, the many glories of being lactose intolerant,' as Piper would say.

The two girls were complete opposites, but mentally and emotionally were somewhat the same; it's what makes them such great friends. Lillian was the type of person that you would be intimidated by at first, but would grow to love if you didn't piss her off the first time you'd met. Bold and stubborn are her most obvious traits, but only a few new Lillian for who she was deep down behind closed doors. Piper could read her like a book, but never pushed Lillian when she knew she wasn't ready. Lillian Greene was the friend everyone needed in their lives, but only few have been graced with.

"Has Artemis calmed down a little since Hudson came home?"

Piper was chewing the bite of french fries she had just put in her mouth. "Uh, no, not really." She swallowed her food before she continued. "I mean, he has in the sense of coming home before three in the morning. The dude still goes out and does who knows what, but Hudson keeps close tabs on him. I'm just glad he came home and I didn't have to babysit Art anymore."

The curly haired best friend nodded to Piper as a sign of understanding and comprehension of what she had said. "Well, if you and Hudson ever need a babysitter for him, you know my schedule." Lillian winked at her friend.

Piper gagged. "I still think it's so weird that you like my brother. It's been over ten years now, Lil. You know you can't tame that feral beast."

Lillian shot back playfully, "Hey, a girl can try!"

The friends giggled until a phone notification caught their attention. "Work?" Lillian asked Piper.

"Who else would it be," Piper stated dryly. "They want me to come in fifteen minutes early because they've hired a new girl and she starts today." She started to pile her utensils and things on top of her empty plate of food and took one last sip of her drink. Piper stood up from the booth. "Text me how much mine is and I'll venmo you when I get a chance. I'm so sorry."

Lillian looked at her friend. "Don't worry about it, Pipes. I still owe you for buying my food last week. Call this even."

Piper smiled at her friend and held up her hands in the shape of a heart in front of her chest before she turned around and headed for the front door. Even though her job was just right down the road, Piper got in her car and drove since she wouldn't be going back to Greene's after her shift.

The familiar bells chiming above the door when Piper walked in grabbed the attention of her coworker, manager and the new hire. She made her way over behind the desk to set her belongings down and then faced the people present in the room. The lobby was quiet besides the constant low hum of the vending machine echoing through the space.

"Thank you for coming in early. I know you were probably at lunch with Lillian, and I apologize for that, but Lloyd wanted you to come in so that he could show the new girl around."

The girl smiled softly at her friend. "It's okay, Z. I was finished with my food anyway."

"Right, okay, so welcome to The Lotus, Zoe! This is Piper and Zion. Piper is lead concierge and been here for about four years and Zion has been here for around two and a half. If you have any other questions that I do not answer during your training today, feel free to ask Piper for answers. This girl knows this place like the back of her hand." The dark haired girl glanced at Piper for a second, then at Zion, and then back at Piper. Her second look at Piper could have turned her into stone.

Lloyd and Zoe walked to the back to go over some ground rules and give her papers containing information about her new job. Zion turned to his friend and coworker. "Let's hope she doesn't quit after a week like the last person did."

Piper chuckled, "Yeah, let's hope not."

A few hours go by with foot traffic being steady  for a Thursday afternoon. Zion was forced to take his break with the new girl, which left Piper at the front desk all by herself for half an hour. She didn't particularly mind since there was still an hour or so before the business started to pick up. The girl hopped off of her stool to go scan a room key back into the system as unoccupied. The chiming bells above the front door signaled that someone had probably come in. Piper faintly heard footsteps approaching the front desk and a couple seconds later hearing the bell atop of it ringing out.

"I'll help you in just one second," she called out.

The red indicator on the computer screen switched to green, telling her the key has been unassigned to the previous person. Piper slid the key into it's manila envelope and placed it into the correct number cubby.

"Alright," she said as she exited the room," how may I help y-"

Piper's words were cut off when she saw the person waiting at the desk. She wanted to speak, but she couldn't find the words.

"Hi, Piper. I need a room i- if that's okay,” he quickly stuttered the last part. The boy pushed the sides of his hair that was sticking out under his hat back behind his right ear.

"Of, course you can, Mr. Joyner. Is it just for one night?" Piper asked. The shock and excitement of seeing Owen again after a couple weeks made her want to do a little dance.

"I'll actually be here for about a week," he said.

"A week it is then," she said to him with a smile as she registered a room to him.

Piper went and grabbed a key card for him after taking his payment. He thanked her and went on his way to find his room that he would reside in for the next week. Her mind was spinning a million miles an hour. She hasn't seen the guy for only a short period of time and couldn't get him out of her head for any of it. Why was this guy so special? Why was he so stuck in her mind? Piper didn't have any answers to these questions, but knew this - Oh, what a week this will be.

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[somebodytookmyusername]

come on, we all saw loki hoofed it, and he hoofed it very well.

#obsessed with their priorities