- 2 days ago
Follow for more videos
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Well, if you watched AEW Fall Gear 2025 yesterday and was hoping deep down in your tootsie tires,
00:05oh my gosh, I hope I get a bunch of surprises in my face, which is the worst sentence I've said
00:10for a while. Boy, how did an AEW give it to you, which is also a terrible sentence, but don't worry.
00:16My name is Simon Miller. I am the board A-hole. You have tuned into AEW Fall Gear 2025. Ups and
00:21downs, where we are going to give you good bits and up and the bad bits and down. It's essentially
00:25a review, and I have opinions. And they're big opinions, which is probably going to divide the
00:30audience right down the middle, but that is what the comments are for. Then you can subscribe to
00:34Yell at Me every single day. I appreciate you, my friends. Now let's talk about Fall Gear.
00:40Now, I'm actually going to kick things off with a down, which I rarely do, but I'm always going to
00:43be true, which rhymes, so it must be true. I totally screwed that one up. But it was the Don Callis
00:48family taking on Mr. Co. Neon and Mascara Dorada, and this was meant to be the last show on the pre-show,
00:53but then it bled in to the main show, mostly because Okada decided I'm not going to turn up
00:58on time because I don't work the pre-show. But it did mean when we got our big pyrotechnic
01:02display, we went from the pre-show into the main show, which is exactly what we did in the last
01:07pay-per-view. Now listen, I loved it then, and I did enjoy it here too, but sometimes less is more,
01:12especially in pro wrestling. And the fact we did it on back-to-back big events, well, it just kind of
01:17me go, well, now next time we do it, it's not going to mean as much. I would have just given it a rest
01:20for four months or so, or whatever time frame you wanted to give it. And again, what do I know?
01:25Absolutely nothing. But it entered my brain, and then the rest of my body sort of agreed with it,
01:30and I was like, well, I'm going to have to talk about it now, so I'm going to give it a down.
01:34However, Okada did save the day, because yeah, he rolled out only once he had been told,
01:40yeah, full gear proper is on now, Okada. He's like, all right, fine, I'll go to the ring.
01:45And Takeshita was so upset about this. These two and their facial expressions, which could be the
01:50name of a cartoon, up. Mystico had been taken out before this as well, so it was actually two on two
01:55for a while, but that's just so that he could hover back down to the ring, because he is a good baby
01:58face. And essentially, because Okada and Takeshita were arguing on the outside, and they kept falling
02:04out, Mystico applied like Mystica onto Echicero. And boy, howdy, did he tap out so fast. I think
02:12somebody whispered to him, we're behind time. You have to speed up, and he totally got it.
02:16But it was a super fun match. I am going to give it an up as well. And we are really pulling some
02:20seeds for Okada and Takeshita. I thought we would do it on this show, but as it turned out,
02:25it could even tie into the Continental Classic. We'll talk about that later. But yeah, they're
02:29talented folk, up. When we got our first shock of the evening, because I did not see this coming,
02:35but it was Pac versus Darby Allin in a normal wrestling match. I guess that was the stipulation.
02:40And I thought Darby was going to win this, as he continues to make his way probably to a world
02:44title reign in 2026. Because if you can beat Pac, who is one of the best wrestlers on the planet,
02:50we'll just show you've got Moxie. But actually, we went the other way, because I believe there's
02:54a different story to tell. Now, there were still a couple of nuts things in this, including Pac
02:58press-slabbing Darby to the floor. And you should watch that just for the noise. It's like that,
03:03you hear bones crash. And because Darby Allin had been burned at Blood and Guts, he came out with
03:08tape all over him. Why wouldn't that fabric protect him? So Pac ripped off the bandages
03:13and started to basically just like play with his skin. This was disgusting, because Darby got
03:18burned for real. I kind of sat there and questioned my life choices. But I was like, you know what,
03:23Simon, you're in too deep now. You may as well keep going, Sum 41. Then we got some absolutely
03:26horrific-looking German suplexes, including one when Darby went for the coffin drop and Pac
03:31catched him again. When actually, Pac went for that black arrow and he missed. So Darby was like,
03:36great, I'm going to apply the scorpion death lock. And given that he has been using that move to win
03:40loads of matches, I was like, well, I was right. Of course, it's going to be victorious. When Pac did
03:45the death rider sign, whatever you want to call it, out came Wheeler Yuta. He cast distraction,
03:50put one on the dick board. So Pac just went and got the bat, which of course is on a March 2 sting.
03:56He cracked Darby Allin and he pinned him. And he got the uno, dos, tres.
04:03Now this genuinely surprised me, but actually I do think it's going to tie into the end of the
04:06death riders, or at least the removal of Jon Moxley. But once more, we'll talk about that later.
04:11But it was just a great match. Pac is so down underrated. And I just find Darby Allin so
04:15compelling, because I think he wakes up every day and thinks to himself, what won't I do?
04:20And he looks at his list and it's empty. In fact, no, the only one thing is protect myself.
04:24But for that one, he's like, not interesting. I'm giving it an up. It was just so damn easy
04:29to watch. And yeah, in terms of Pac, maybe he could become the new leader on the death riders.
04:35But AEW actually got me again, because I'm just so easy. But it was that four-way women's
04:40tag team thingamajig that ties into the tournament, with the winners getting to decide what stipulation
04:45they had for their semi-final. And the timeless love bombs won. Now, given I had the timeless
04:50love bombs win the whole tournament, I didn't think they would win here.
04:53So now I don't know what we're going to do next. In terms of turning on Dynamite, I guess
04:58that's the correct thing. I mean, they could still be victorious. You just look back and
05:01go, wow, Tony Storm, Amina Shirakawa absolutely destroyed the field. And of course, because
05:06Megan Bain and Marina Shafira were in this, they were just throwing people around, because
05:10they're essentially big women, slapping women meat.
05:14They really could become the tag team champions, even though they were thrown together at the
05:17last minute as well, because I do think they work. At one point, they stopped Tony Storm
05:21from making the tag. So Amina was like, all right, I tag Willow instead, because that's
05:25just the rules when you get to a crazy tag team match like this. Julia Hart and Sky Blue
05:29then took out Harley Cameron, who of course was hanging out playing Nintendo 2. And I think
05:33that just pissed off Megan Bain, because she started hurling people all around the place.
05:36But eventually, we went back to Willow, and she did the hot tag. And listen, I'm just repeating
05:40myself now, but the babes of Wrath could also become the new tag team champions. Because
05:45in terms of teams that are left in this, apart from maybe the timeless love bombs, everybody
05:48loves Harley and Willow. And they're really on the definition of, ha ha, you make me feel
05:53warm and fuzzy in my tum tum. Bain and Shafir then basically copied the end of Blood and
05:56Guts, because they had Mina, and they were going to kill her with submissions, with Tony
05:59Storm going, no, no, don't do this to my bae. But actually, this time, she ran in and made
06:03the save, so now she'll be able to sleep well at night again. When Nightingale made sure
06:07she ended Bain with a pounce, and then Marina took something as well, when Mina went to the
06:11top rope and decided, you know what I can do? I can jump onto everybody, because again,
06:15I have 422 bodies down there, and I'm sure I'll be fine. Put a one on the dive counter,
06:20it's basically a dive. Eventually, it left Harley Cameron and Tony Storm in the ring,
06:23which was interesting, because they had a battle over the most devastating move.
06:26In all the sports, an attendance surprise roll-up, and I guess because Tony Storm is more experienced,
06:31she was able to stop Harley Cameron, and yeah, she pinned her for the one, two, three,
06:35so I guess it was a bit like, where did that come from? But it was also the correct finish,
06:39because you don't want to give too much away about who could go through from the semi-finals.
06:44So yes, this was totally fine. I still find this stipulation thing weird,
06:48because why is one semi-final going to have a stipulation, and the other one isn't?
06:51That doesn't make it a fair tournament, but we'll wait and see. But yes, it was a good match,
06:55it was a fine match. A small part of me was like, did we really need it?
06:59Because AEW papers are too long, but they did a good job.
07:02Up.
07:04When we got to our first title change of the night, because FTR took on Brodido,
07:08Bandido, Bandido, Bambadalido, and they did get the victory, I don't even know what to do here,
07:13because this was brilliant. It was arguably the match of the night, but really,
07:16it was one of the matches of the year. It was just so damn tremendous. It had so many good near
07:20falls, and because you did get the big title change as well, it just makes you go,
07:24I can't believe it, even more so, because one, FTR the heels, and two, at one point,
07:30Stokely Hathaway took a dive from Brody King, and he saved Dax Harwood,
07:35so he deserves every bit of his success, too.
07:37FTR were just super assholes throughout all of this as well, because they kept stopping the
07:40referee from seeing tags and taking all of these shortcuts, but when you got to the back end of
07:45the thing, and it was just you do a move, I'll do a move, we'll get a one-two-oo, then we'll reverse
07:49your move into another move, and we'll go back into a one-two-oo, and I think you could have made
07:53the case for Brodido keeping those belts, because they've been awesome this year, but FTR,
07:58as I alluded to my words, are one of the best tag teams ever, and it even said to you,
08:02this title win has to come our way for our legacy, so they kept you guessing, I'm just
08:07going to tell you to watch it, and he wants the rest of my stupid review instead, but it is
08:10genuinely brilliant, and also, Bandito was kicking out of things at the end that made me go,
08:17who's going to win, who's going to do it, even with his dodgy shoulder, and Brody King got
08:21Spike power-driven on the ring apron. Once again, if I get my What Didn't They Do book out,
08:26why do I have one of these, it makes no sense, where did everything, so is it empty, or is it
08:30full, I can't remember which way I phrased that. FTR just got pissed off at the end of this though,
08:35and they hit Bandito, who's basically a walking zombie, with the shat machine to get the one-two-three,
08:41I have zoomed through this way too fast, but your time would be better invested, go and watch this
08:46for yourself, it is a superb tag team match, and reminds you how great tag team wrestling can be,
08:51which has always been FTR's thing, and once more, even though Bandito and Brody King have lost,
08:56they should stay together, we have something here, I am not giving it an up, I am giving it a golden up,
09:01that's how good I think it was, and you just know if you give it three weeks, and you go watch it
09:05again, it's probably going to get better still, massive round of applause, this flubbing ruled.
09:12And it was pure fun after this, because it was time for our casino gauntlet match to crown the first
09:15ever national champion, and while there are a bunch of fair critiques about having yet another belt in
09:20AEW, this stipulation man, it is the best. And Bobby National Show and Benjamin did come in at number one
09:26and two, and they wrestled for a bit, but guess who number three was? Ricochet. If I was Bobby or
09:31Shelton, I would march into AEW Manage Shop and say, listen, we really busted our ass to be one and
09:36two, and that Ricochet, he was being a dickhead, and he gets to come in at number three, this whole
09:42thing needs to change. Of course, he came out of the gates of agony too, so they just beat up the
09:45Hurt Syndicate, including MVP, because that feud can never end. And Claudio came in at number four,
09:50Ricochet dived in, and Castagnoli gave him this uppercut. If all of a sudden, somebody rang me
09:57for some reason and said, did you hear Ricochet lost his head? I'd be like, I'm not surprised.
10:02Number five was Daniel Garcia, so I was shouting corruption at my television screen, because that's
10:06two Deathriders members, so that's not fair. And Orange Casting was next, but after that was
10:11Wheeler Uta, and I was like, somebody has rigged the vote. Kevin Knight was number eight, and my gosh,
10:16he jumped higher than the sun for his first move, as Roderick Strong came out at number nine. And do
10:20not forget that Rodders loves backbreaking, so if you do need to buy a gift for Mr. Strong, when it
10:25comes to this holiday Xmas season, you absolutely should buy him a backbreaker, because even though
10:30he has all of them, he'll want one more. Mark Davis was number 10, and he walked out clearly going,
10:34I'm going to show everyone they need to remember me, because my gosh, he too was the definition of
10:38big man slapping man, because he was talking to everyone. And Mike Bailey entered at number 11,
10:43probably tried to help his friend and get revenge on Shelton, but it said Daniel Garcia punched him
10:48right in the penis. But it actually worked really well, too, because Matt Menard, Daddy Magic was
10:52next, and he hate this guy. That was his protege that did turn his back, so they actually fought
10:56out throughout the crowd. I'm like, that's how you do a Raw Rumble-esque match, you just build in a
11:01nice story. And bless the commentators, too, because they were like, Big Daddy Magic has forgotten about
11:05the national championship, but it's just because his heart is broken in two. Claudio Benjamin Bobby and
11:10Mark Davis then had a big, well, we all jack people, so we should run into each other for a while. And
11:14Ricochet decided he was going to win that. Of course, they all turned around, and they bopped him, too.
11:20This Ricochet man, he just gets it. I love this character. I think he's doing good work. It also just
11:25triggered all the moves, and at one point, Wheeler used to hit up a psycho knee, and it felt like he was
11:29going to win. When Kevin Knight came flying onto him with a UFA smash, so of course, that got people excited.
11:34When Ricochet once again looked around, he smashed him with the spirit gun, and he pinned him for the
11:38one, two, three. And we predicted this, so it made me happy. I made that rhyme somehow. But yeah,
11:44there was always going to be a reason why he got squashed on Dynamite. So it makes all the sense
11:48in the world, and he can go to Ring of Honor, he can go to CMLL, he can go to New Japan. I mean,
11:52WrestleKing's like a few weeks away. I think it's a good decision. And if we want to look at
11:56championships, like rewarding people that have had great 2025, who deserves that more than Ricochet?
12:02Once again, I think he's just completely reinvented himself, which is the art in pro wrestling,
12:07giving it an up. I love this stipulation. And Tony Schiavone too was like, we will never know
12:12the remaining competitors, because that's how the casino gauntlet works. So we should give that
12:17to somebody over the next few weeks. They just turn up and down in my condition and be like,
12:21I was meant to be the next guy, and it got taken away from me.
12:25There's also kind of another surprise after this, but what a shout out we have to give to
12:29John Moxley, talking about people that have great 2025s. He has just started to pick and choose
12:34people to elevate. Imagine I told you just a few weeks ago, oh, by the end of November,
12:39Kyle O'Reilly will be a massive contender in AEW. You'd look at me like, well, we like him,
12:44what the flub's going to happen. But it just reminds you, it doesn't matter where you are
12:47on the card. If all of a sudden we can light a fire under your ass, it takes what, two weeks,
12:51three weeks, four weeks, all of a sudden people will buy in. If you want Kyle O'Reilly to have a
12:56massive 2026, well, you're planted the tree. Now, of course, there was no holds barred. So let's just go
13:01through a few things that did happen in this match, including the return of the fork. No,
13:06that is not a song from the late 90s, but yeah, you know, they were stabbing each other. There was
13:10a lot of blood. The one person got stabbed in the hand and there was more blood. And I was like,
13:15man, this fork, I struggle with this fork. Because I mean, sometimes when I have my dinner,
13:19I look at it and go, then I realize I'm not going to stab myself. We also got some chain strangling
13:24as yet more blood ran down people's faces. And of course, John Moxley was biting people because he has a
13:28problem when there was also a chair. I'm just going to sum it up for you as best I can.
13:33We did really disgusting things with the chair. It was basically using a torture device and we got
13:37a damn curb stomp on it. And no, don't go and do your grifting on the internet. Some people are
13:42going, I can't believe in an AEW show. People started trying for Seth Rollins. This was quite
13:47clearly done on purpose. John Moxley did a curb stomp and then basically looked at the camera like,
13:53I knew what I've done there. For goodness sake, let's just enjoy a fun moment.
14:00Now, of course, more importantly than all of this is the story, which is John Moxley is terrified of
14:04submitting these days. So even though Kyle O'Reilly had been absolutely busted up, he was able to apply
14:09the ankle lock and that flubbing John Moxley tapped out. There was so much to this. Once again,
14:14one, Kyle O'Reilly just beat him essentially twice. If you go back to that blood and guts match,
14:18which is totally massive. But also when the Death Riders did come out,
14:21they sort of beat Kyle O'Reilly up for a bit, while John Moxley did. They were all looking at
14:25John like, meh, you waste of space. We had a close-up shot of Marina Shafir. She didn't look
14:31happy. And by the time Pac was out there, he looked even less happy. So if that win for Pac
14:36does tie into the fact he can go, uh, Jonathan, you are not victorious, but I was. Unless there's
14:40Marina Shafir that takes him out, which would be absolutely massive narrative-wise, it's the right
14:45thing to do. If John Moxley can then be whoever the flubby wants to be, babyface, heel somewhere in
14:49the middle. Whereas the Death Riders get to reset and maybe even recruit a new member or sort of
14:54elevate Daniel Garcia too. That makes all the sense in the world. I'm just so impressed. And I love
14:59Kyle O'Reilly. I think he's incredibly talented. It just wasn't on my bingo card that he would beat
15:03John Moxley. But it means in this last six months, I mean, Hangman has benefited, Derby has benefited,
15:08and now Kyle, that's pro wrestling, man. That's how it works. Especially if you are a veteran,
15:13I'm giving it an up. It's good, good stuff.
15:17Now I'm going to throw a small down in here because we went from a no-holds-barred match into a DQ match
15:21because it was TNT title time between Kyle Fletcher and Mark Briscoe. I don't want to get away from the
15:26fact that all of these guys absolutely busted their ass. But it was a bit like I could use a cleanser here.
15:32Literally, I could use something to wipe the blood from my eyes. That's just me. And if you like the
15:37carnage more power to you, I am going to give it a down. Not that it matters because like I just said,
15:42we basically did the whole wink, wink, nudge, nudge. The Mark Briscoe title win is coming because
15:46he had this amazing entrance when, yeah, I think Kyle and Briscoe looked what everybody else had done.
15:52They're like, we're going to have tables, we're going to have thumbtacks, we're going to have barbed wire.
15:56In about eight seconds, they were bleeding. And this one may have been more disgusting than the other one.
16:03This basically became a tables match after a while. Then it had become a ladder match because
16:06everyone was just being thrown through them and thrown into them. And then of course,
16:09the barbed wire was being squished too. Although there were some incredible moments like this
16:13frocky bro Mark Briscoe hit into all the nonsense. Now that wasn't the finish, but look, it riled the
16:19fans up something fierce. And I certainly did buy him. I just think maybe you could have done it
16:23without all the weapons, but it doesn't matter. It's much of a muchness. They took their plunder,
16:28they made it work. And it was a pretty damn emotional experience. I mean, I personally could
16:32have done without more stabbing because Kyle Fletcher had the screwdriver. Although that has
16:37become his weapon, which makes him a weird dude. And when Mark Briscoe kicked out of the brain buster,
16:42oh man, at the one-two, the place did explode. When they did fight to the top rope, it looked like
16:47Fletcher was going to do the avalanche version. But instead, this Mark Briscoe hit, what, an avalanche
16:51razor's edge, I guess you could call it. Kyle Fletcher went just smashing through this table.
16:57Briscoe grabbed him, gave him the drage jello, and he got the one-two-three. And you could just
17:01feel it in the room, which makes no sense coming from me. That's two plus two because potato,
17:05because I wasn't in the room. But I tell you, the atmosphere came out of my damn TV screen,
17:08and it hit me in the face. I was just so pleased for him, because this is what we wanted of Mark
17:13Briscoe. And we all know what he has been through through the last few years. I thought it was
17:17tremendous. I don't even care if he loses the belt back to Kyle Fletcher on Wednesday nights,
17:21whatever you want to do. It's one of those things that's tangible, and you can hold it in your hand,
17:25even though you're like a strange old person. I'm giving it up. It was a fantastic match. And yeah,
17:30Mark Briscoe just won a singles championship, and flubbed me sideways. Did he earn it?
17:35It was in time for Kenny Omega and the Jurassic Express taking on the Young Bucks and Josh Alexander.
17:41I'm going to keep this one simple, because my words can't do it justice. Yes, it was your party
17:46match. Yes, I would imagine it was greatly inspired by what they used to do back in PWG. But without
17:51all that, we probably wouldn't have AEW today. And they were all just brilliant, and they're a bunch
17:56of all-timers. And this Kenny Omega, the way he sells, I was like, has he hurt his leg? I think he's
18:01hurt his leg. He is just next level, as are the Young Bucks. It was tremendous. Go and watch it.
18:06I know, but I don't like that kind of wrestling. It's fine. I don't know why I applied the voice
18:10there. Then don't watch it. But if you are into it, well, it was nigh on perfect. Of course,
18:15the Young Bucks and Josh Alexander struggled to be on the same page, because it is pro wrestling.
18:19And they kept crashing together all of the time. At one point, the Young Bucks were having a super
18:23kick party. And I guess they over-invited Josh Alexander, because he got whammed right in the mouth.
18:29And then that led him into Kenny Omega, who won Winged Angel him on the outside.
18:35It's in my notes. I literally wrote this, and then Josh Alexander was killed.
18:38Jack Perry had been watching all of this, though, so he snuck in and tried to get the
18:41most devastating move in all of sports entertainment. But sadly, that didn't work,
18:45because Matt Jackson decided he wasn't into it when the Bucks hit the BT trigger.
18:49And yeah, they just won. And don't forget, that is a massive deal,
18:53because it means they just got $1 million. They're rich again.
18:56The Don Callis family then celebrated too, and Callis especially was like,
18:59Matt and Nick, you did it. You can go buy a Ferrari, whatever the hell you want to do.
19:02But this is when the rest of the fan went to the ring, and they beat up Kenny Omega.
19:06And we just hit fast forward here. Matt and Nick decided, no, we don't like this.
19:10They turned on the Don Callis family. They beat everybody up. It looked like there was going
19:15to be some animosity between them and Kenny, which would make all the sense in the world,
19:18and make it be like, you've been awful people for the last few years.
19:21But after they embraced with the Jurassic Express, nope, Kenny Omega ignored their handshake,
19:26and he gave them a big hug. I was like, well, there we go. We're back together again.
19:30They also did this with the boy from the jungle on a dinosaur. It was like the end of a cartoon.
19:35Because I can be a bit of a nerd, I was like, man, I hope we haven't hit fast forward,
19:39because Kenny Omega this week again has told us how much he does struggle with injuries.
19:42I just hope he is okay. But ultimately, if wrestling is there to make you feel good in your
19:47tootsie-toes, which was the idea, sometimes why not just jump to the conclusion? I mean,
19:52what else are you going to do? But when you take this, I did think it was lovely. And the match
19:56itself, I really do have to give it an up. I mean, their timing, their execution, their ring psychology,
20:02once again, the way they sell, they really are tremendous. And I get they're not going to be
20:06everybody's cup of tea, but as a man that wrestles, sometimes they do things. I'm like, well,
20:10you just next level. I thought it was fantastic.
20:13Well, I also think that AEW confirmed that Chris Statlander is an alien again,
20:19because during her entrance, she kicked out of a UFO and then did a little bit of a pose.
20:24So I hope the booping comes back. And of course, Mercedes Manet came out with a bunch of people
20:28with all of her belts, and she actually did a 14 Three Amigos. It's one of the stupidest things I've
20:34ever said. That doesn't make any sense. But she did 14 suplexes. And why did she did this?
20:39Because she has 14 titles. There's another one who I think has had a tremendous 2025.
20:45Mercedes Manet has been great. There's also a cool story here too, because surprise,
20:48surprise, Chris Statlander did get the win. So now Mercedes Manet can travel the world and she
20:53can win this championship and that championship. But when it comes to the world title, which I
20:56presume is the crown in her eye or the jewel in her eye, she's not able to do it because it's the
21:01second time she's attempted it. Once I go back to my book, she's failed. She also worked over
21:05Statlander's arm during this. And I like to think it's because somebody had told her that aliens
21:10don't like their limbs being attacked. Imagine that was a story. Imagine AEW actually said that.
21:15People would be so mad. What are we talking about?
21:18Melania went for the splash of the frogs, but she totally missed. So Chris smacked her right in
21:21the face. When Statlander hit the least devastating move in all of sports entertainment, the blue
21:27thunder bomb. But she did it on the outside. So I think she'd done the maths and gone, well,
21:31it is a good maneuver. Like it can do good things. They can't put anyone. So let's just use it for
21:36maximum damage. Now once again, Mercedes took this on the floor. So people love to throw shade to her,
21:41but she's totally kicking it. When Chris Statlander did the ultimate insult, she applied the statement
21:45maker. And surprise, surprise, Monet reversed that because she's been there before. Monet then has
21:50her own reversals because she stopped the satellite fever into the most devastating move. In all of
21:54sports entertainment, surprise roll up. But that didn't work. And that's when Statlander hit a
21:58flipping package pile driver. And Mercedes grabbed the rope at the 1-2-0. Then I even got a flipping
22:03poison rider by Mercedes. But I actually think that did tie into the finish because Monet went for
22:07some kind of head scissors in the corner. Chris Statlander stopped her. She hit the satellite
22:12fever and she got the 1-2-3. I was like, damn, there was no shenanigans. Essentially, Chris just
22:17outworked and outwrestled Mercedes. And that's an awesome story in itself. Kind of goes back to the
22:22Kyle O'Reilly stuff. If you're trying to elevate someone, just have them win matches. It wasn't easy.
22:28It was a big old fight, but it's simple as that. You've got to give it an up. Chris Statlander is now
22:32established as the champion going into 2026. And as for Mercedes, she's in an interesting position.
22:39All these belts, but she's not got the star on top of the tree. Akata, Carl Fletcher and Takeshi
22:43then all declared they're going into the Continental Classic because they hate each other. They're all
22:48like, well, you suck and you didn't help me and I'm offended by your face. So now they are going to do it
22:52in the tournament. When my gosh, did we get to one hell of a main event.
22:58This was Hangman and a Page versus Samoa Joe for the AW world title. And Hangman came out to music
23:03from Red Dead Redemption 2. So how can you not love that guy? And if you go watch some of my
23:07predictions, you will hear me say, I actually think I said this word for word, nobody in their right
23:12mind thinks Samoa Joe is going to win. So who doesn't deserve a job? It's you. I can't fire myself.
23:19I said, I have no money. I am going to be a bit awful here. So please do forgive me.
23:23But Hangman and a Page was bleeding in about two minutes. This Samoa Joe was bleeding as well
23:27to the point they basically got out of some submission holds because they had blood lube,
23:31which is the worst thing I've ever said. I don't think you need this much blood on a show.
23:35Like I don't mind it. If you want to put blood in every single match, why not? But I kind of see
23:39it from an artistic point of view because I'm an absolute dickhead. And if every single match has
23:44blood in it, then it almost feels like no matches have blood in it because it has the same effect.
23:48Does that make sense? Am I making sense? Probably not. I'm going to give it a tiny down
23:52because now really you want to go for like six months without any blood, but also AEW shouldn't
23:57do that because they kind of lean into that to begin with. So it's absolute gibberish that came
24:01out of my mouth. But sometimes you can't explain things. You can tell me I'm a fool in the comments
24:05below. Of course, the running started pretty quickly as we all assumed they would because Shibata
24:09ran down there and he just scaled the cage like Spider-Man. But then Kingston was like,
24:13I don't want you to do this. So he walked out there too and stopped him.
24:16When we had a great bit with Powerhouse Hobbs, always played the classics, he came to the ring
24:21and he ripped the door off the cage. Now this does happen too much in cage matches or people
24:26escape too much. But if you've got a big dude and he's never ripped a door off the cage,
24:30you have to do this. I was a big fan and may have laughed like a child.
24:34Around this time too, Joe took out the referee when Hangman hit the dead eye. So he did have a
24:38visual pinfall over Joe. That's when my brain kicked in, Tiggy. I was like, well,
24:43there's only one reason to do that. Oh my gosh, I think Samoa Joe is going to win. But even then,
24:47I didn't believe. Now Page was still able to get rid of Hobbs using the steel. And this is when he
24:53was able to hit the buckshot lariat. But because the referee was still down, out came Hook and he
24:57was like, let me revive you with my magical powers. When instead, he saw that AEW world title and he
25:05smacked Adam Page right in the head. He went heel when he revealed he'd been wearing an Ops t-shirt the
25:10entire time because I'm a weird guy. I inter-remember that time Samoa Joe told me that the Ops was a
25:17three-man group only. I was like, you damn liar. I believed in your maths. Izzy Samoa Joe took his
25:22Phoenix down. He was back to his feet and he hit the damn muscle buster onto a chair, if you can
25:28believe it. Very well timed. The referee came back to his feet. He counted three. I actually looked
25:33around my room, which is strange. I watched wrestling by myself. I was like, Samoa Joe is the world
25:38champion. Then I went right on social media because I knew there was going to be a meltdown.
25:42And who doesn't like a good old-fashioned meltdown? Now there's actually more here as well,
25:46because not only do we have the coolest shot of the year, when Samoa Joe just had blood dripping
25:50down his face, but we got the lights out gimmick. Prince Nana appeared. Swarm Strickland made his
25:55return. We had more teases because there was a bunch of Ops dojo members, if you want to call them
26:00that, kind of making a pathway for him. And even Samoa Joe was like, yeah, get Angman Adam Page.
26:04Did you hate that guy? But of course he didn't. He started to beat up the Ops. Samoa Joe ran away
26:09because now he's a proper coward. And the show or the pay-per-view went off air with Angman Adam Page
26:14down on the floor. Swerve looking at Joe. Joe looking at Swerve. I was like, I didn't predict any
26:19of this. What an absolute barrage of madness. Now here is the deal. I will admit I went full-on geek,
26:25full-on nerd when this happened. I was like, you can't take the melt of Angman Adam Page so soon
26:29after all in. And then I was like, why? Why the flub not? This is probably going to be Samoa Joe's
26:34last ever world title reign. If you want to talk about the modern day, he absolutely is one of
26:37the modern goats. I mean, even when he's just talking to a microphone, it's like, oh my gosh,
26:40that guy. Two, it puts you on a mindset of, well, now you never know what's going to happen in any
26:45match. Three, it justifies doing Samoa Joe and Angman Adam Page. We all thought it was a filler
26:50feud. No, it wasn't. But number four, I think that's right. One, two, three, four, which is the most
26:55important part. Sometimes you should just do things because it's fun to do things. And now you can't just do
27:01it like swerve wise. I don't mean swerve, swerve Strickland. I mean like a Vince Russo swerve
27:05because that never works. But Samoa Joe is a legitimate competitor. Having him feud with swerve
27:10is perfectly fine. Having Angman Adam Page thrown into the mix makes it super interesting because he
27:14hates Strickland, but now he probably hates Samoa Joe more. And also you can change world titles when
27:20you want to do it. You can change any belt when you want to do it. Not every single person has to
27:24hold that damn thing for 42,791 years. So the way that it made me feel, the way that it surprised me,
27:30the way that it made me want to talk people about it. And it's not like some random person
27:34won it. It's Samoa Joe. I actually totally love this. WWE can do it more. AEW could do it more.
27:39Let's say Cody Rhodes lost to Drew McIntyre at whatever the last show was. That actually may
27:44have been better. All things considered, looking back, I appreciated the risk. I appreciate the fact
27:48AEW had done this. And once again, I want to make it very clear. My big point is just two words.
27:54Samoa Joe. Samoa Joe is the absolute best. I mean, I enjoyed it. It doesn't affect Hangman Adam Page.
27:59He's one of the best babyfaces in all of wrestling. He'll be totally fine. Story should
28:04be about taking a roller coaster. That's exactly what we did here. So actually, rather than just
28:09react to it, when I gave my brain some time to think about it, it gets an up. It was a fantastic
28:14end to a really good pay-per-view. And Swerve Strickland is back. And the way we re-represented
28:20him, that's not the right word, re-brought him back. Talking absolute nonsense now. It just
28:25made him feel like a super-duper-whooping megastar 9000. So yes, as just mentioned there,
28:29I thought full gear or full gore, because there was so much blood, I shouldn't have said
28:34that, I'm sorry, was a terrific show. I would always enjoy it, or prefer it, I should say,
28:39if we just shaved off 20 or 30 minutes here, because I just think it would make it feel
28:42more like an adrenaline shot to your arm. But either way, great pay-per-view. So much
28:46to talk about. If AEW can just make sure they follow up on some of these stories on Dynamite,
28:51I think they move into the end of the year in a great position. It's getting it up.
28:54Now, of course, there'll be so much you agree and don't agree with me with, so put it in
28:57the comments below, like the video, share the video, and subscribe. My thoughts for Smackdown
29:01on the screen right now, it's the ups and downs for Smackdown, obviously. Otherwise, have a terrific
29:05session.