00:00While the WWE obviously gets a lot of the headlines with WrestleMania, AEW continues to put on fantastic show after
00:07fantastic show with their new champion, Darby Allin, putting the title on the line already.
00:12And when you are looking at trying to be greater than, different than WWE, Darby Allin certainly helps you check
00:20the different box.
00:21It's going to be a fun ride with Darby as the world champ. Let's talk about what it looked like
00:25on Dynamite.
00:34So Darby Allin as AEW champion defends against Tommaso Ciampa and the thing that I like, obviously right now, AEW
00:44as the alternative to WWE, that's kind of all you need for a lot of fans, given the product that
00:48WWE has put out.
00:49And it hasn't been positive headlines the last little bit either with everything going on with the cuts.
00:54And so for AEW to be the alternative and the wrestling company, that's great.
01:00But if you want to go one step further, having Darby as your champion is about as alternative as it
01:07gets when the other guys have Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns as their champion.
01:11Darby is different from anything you will see on WWE programming ever.
01:15And I think he is very deserving of this opportunity as the world champion.
01:20I do, I do understand some of the skepticism where your world champ, you should at least be able to
01:28make the case that he is the best on your show.
01:32And for Darby, that's never going to be the draw around him.
01:37It is going to be that he never gives up.
01:40He's tough as hell.
01:40He has the pain tolerance of whatever, like just an astronomical pain tolerance.
01:47And he is just going to survive long enough to be able to beat you.
01:51And he's never going to quit.
01:52And you can have that as your world champion.
01:54Absolutely.
01:55I see where other people are coming from where it's like, no, like you can.
01:58Um, no one is going to say technically Roman Reigns is the best wrestler in WWE, but you can like
02:03make the case because of his size and of how he carries himself and the athleticism that he has.
02:08Like, oh yeah, he, you can, you look at him as like, yep, he's the world champ.
02:11Same with Cody.
02:12But with Darby, there isn't necessarily that when you are on a show with Ospreay, Moxley, MJF, even Kenny Omega,
02:21Kazuchika Okada, Kanosuke Takeshi.
02:22You know, like there's a lot of very good wrestlers on this show.
02:25But to have the underdog there for a little bit in that championship spot is, I think, a very fun
02:32way of doing it.
02:33It also opens up a lot of different options for the title.
02:36The one thing, and I don't want to be overly critical because I do like where AEW is at right
02:41now.
02:41And I do find I tend to drift into the critical with AEW.
02:44So I don't, I want to state, I think what they're doing is good.
02:48But, like, Tommaso Ciampa gets a title opportunity after losing a battle royal.
02:55And Brody gets a title opportunity after a squash match.
02:58And the last time we saw him in a big spot, dude lost to Swerve Strickland.
03:02So, yes, it's fun to get these matches with Ciampa and Darby Allin.
03:08And it's fun to get Brody against Darby Allin.
03:10But this is kind of why title eliminators exist, right?
03:14I want, I don't want it to just be, well, this guy had a feud with Darby, so now we
03:19can make this happen.
03:20I do think that there still needs to be a little bit of earned with some of these title shots,
03:25especially if you're going to be doing them every week.
03:28I think there has to be at least a little bit of, wow, this guy's earned that opportunity at the
03:32championship.
03:32So, that's why I like the eliminator concept more than just Darby having basically an open challenge
03:37for the World Heavyweight Championship on the men's side every single week.
03:40There was one thing from Darby that really caught my eye, or I guess ear.
03:46When he is doing his promo thing with MJF, and MJF is kind of freaking out about everything,
03:55Darby had a really interesting line where he said,
03:58unlike you, I want everyone to get a shot at the title.
04:03And that, obviously, right now, it means Tommaso Ciampa gets that opportunity, right?
04:08Brody King gets to work into the title chase, right?
04:11MJF saying, like, Kevin Knight was beneath him, even though he's the TNT champion.
04:14Like, that sort of thing, that's not going to happen with Darby.
04:19The first name I thought of, though, when he said that, was Hangman Adam Page.
04:24Because there is the stipulation coming off of the match those two had, that Hangman can
04:29now never compete for the World Championship again, because he lost to Darby Allen, and
04:34that was the stipulation that was put on it.
04:37I could see this whole thing being like, unlike you, I want everyone to get a shot at the title.
04:43I can see this being used to get Hangman back into that.
04:47Either it is Darby saying the only way he's going to face MJF is if they rip up that part
04:53of the contract, and Hangman gets his opportunity at being World Champion again, or do we get
05:02another Hangman heel turn, and he's saying, look, you're saying everyone gets a chance.
05:07How am I not everyone?
05:08Like, this is hypocrisy.
05:09You're dodging me.
05:10You're scared of me.
05:11Give me my opportunity.
05:14And setting it up that way.
05:15So I feel like this opened the door to allow them to creatively get out of the kind of
05:25corner that they painted themselves into with the Hangman Adam Page stipulation that they
05:30had.
05:30So I think that could be a very interesting thing and just something to kind of look out
05:35for as we go along here.
05:37Other things from AEW.
05:39Jericho bringing in the Hurt Business to face the demand.
05:42That's fun.
05:43I kind of like the idea of the Hurt Business being the modern day APA.
05:47I think that's an interesting one.
05:50Jericho, there's a polarizing figure, we could say.
05:55Getting a lot of positive reactions right now, sticking in this babyface role.
05:58So I do imagine at some point we get somewhat of a Jericho heel turn.
06:03I like this a whole lot better than, oh, he's bringing the learning tree back and everything
06:07there.
06:07I'm happy that we just keep that over there.
06:09And having this, at least for a week, with Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin makes all
06:16the sense in the world.
06:17And I do like Kevin Knight getting into it a little bit with MJF.
06:20It makes a lot of sense.
06:21You're integrating new people into new feuds.
06:23Because that was the criticism, right?
06:25It's like, oh, the main events are always just one of Omega, MJF, Moxley, now that he's
06:31back, Ospreay, Hangman, and Swerve.
06:35And so I do like that we're getting a little bit of life brought into that.
06:39I will say, there is a touch of hypocrisy with some of that.
06:43Because for those of us who are around, and I do think that there are some similarities
06:48in the people complaining about this and who are watching at that time.
06:51But for people who are around, the SmackDown 6 was an incredible era on SmackDown.
06:55And it led to the elevation of Eddie and Edge.
06:59And I do feel like, like Undertaker was a made man, obviously.
07:04But I feel like it, like, 100% drove home.
07:08He is, like, one of the best of all time in that SmackDown era that they did.
07:13And you listen to Paul Heyman talk about it, and he's like, yeah, we're going to have
07:15six guys who are the focus.
07:16And the only time they're going to lose is when they're facing each other.
07:19And that led to some incredible matches that we got.
07:23And some incredible stories, and the development of some of these guys.
07:26And so, I would be a hypocrite to love that era, and then shit on, well, there's only six
07:32guys in the main event picture.
07:34They're all six guys.
07:35Like, a couple of them have been on TV for a while, and in this picture for a little bit.
07:39But for the most part, they're still only a couple years into being main eventers here,
07:44and kind of elevating their status along with the company makes a lot of sense.
07:48So, I get where people were a little bit like, hey, this is getting a little one-note.
07:52But, that one-note was one of the best eras of just wrestling and character development
07:57that we've seen in this industry in a really long time.
08:01So, I just thought there was a touch of hypocrisy there.
08:04But I do like that we are getting a little bit of fresh blood being integrated into these
08:09title pictures here on AEW.
08:11So, overall, they're in a pretty good spot, and have the opportunity to bring some more
08:15people in with everything that's gone down here over the last little while.
08:19So, those are my thoughts on Dynamite.
08:22Where are you guys at?
08:23Are you in just complete disagreement with me that AEW, that they've ruined everything?
08:30Let me know what you think about it all in the comments, and we can keep those conversations
08:35going.
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