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00:0052 years old. 52 flipping years old. That is how old Adam Copeland and Christian Cage are.
00:05And the only reason I bring this up, because you can go on the internet these days,
00:08look at, oh my gosh, there's something. Who gives a flub, man, when you're able to go out
00:13there and do a performance like this? Also, FTR, man, I told you, one of the best tag teams ever.
00:18That is what I'm just going to say throughout this episode of Ups and Downs, for AW Double
00:22or Nothing. You don't have to, like, squib, man, who almost said I'm expletive there,
00:25and maybe I'll drop one in later too. But if you enjoy the product that AW puts out there,
00:30I think this is one of the best previews they have ever done. And sure, there are a few things
00:35you could probably say, well, why did we do this and why did we do that? But I just think
00:38sometimes
00:38you've got to do a moonwalk and say to yourself, that was some good damn wrestling. Also, hello,
00:43my friends. I am Simon of the Positive Balls Idiot on the internet, who also wrestles himself.
00:48But now, because there is so much to talk about, let's just get into it and up those downs.
00:54But yes, the first match was Christian Cage and Adam Copeland taking on FTR.
00:58Talk about all the provisos here. It was a street fight. It was an I Quit match. And of course,
01:02if Edge and Christian, excuse me, but I'm going to make that mistake anyway, so I might as well throw
01:05it out there, did lose, they would never be able to tag again. Quite clearly, everybody in this had
01:10decided, we are starting the show. We've got to go out there and just deliver an explosion.
01:15This was absolutely excellent. Early on, Christian started to bite people,
01:18and why wouldn't you do that? And yes, for the I Quit stipulation, we would get a microphone
01:22and stick it into people's faces. Some people don't like this. I do. I think it's very funny.
01:27And some of the quips that everybody in this came up with made me laugh out loud. And also,
01:32barbed wire got introduced so fast. I was looking around like, wait, who put the barbed wire there?
01:37I mean, surely, if you were an AEW producer, the last thing you want to do is see people getting
01:41smashed with barbed wire, which does exactly what they did. We're also getting tables, ladders,
01:45chairs, and all this kind of stuff. And yes, Stokely Hathaway was going to get involved,
01:49which was going to tie in later. And at one point, FTR tried to sort of break Christian's hand
01:53like with a cinder block, but he got away, and they kind of crushed it a bit. And when he
01:57was
01:57asked, oh, hello there, my friend, do you quit? He said, I, I, I, banged your mother. Now,
02:03that doesn't make any sense. It is two plus two equals potato, but boy, howdy, I howled. This is
02:08why I love this nonsense. Christian then took a shower machine after he had murked some more,
02:12when also Adam Copeland, who had also been destroyed on the outside through a flipping table,
02:15came back and speared everyone. And this is when you have to shout out this crowd. Oh my gosh,
02:20New York City quite clearly had injected their cheering drugs. They treated every single thing
02:24on this pay-per-view like it was the most important thing that ever seen in their lives.
02:28You know what? I just have to give them an up. The work in the ring was phenomenal too,
02:32but when you have this kind of noise, it just puts it over the top.
02:36Of course, you always knew what was going to happen here, but it did make sense. As soon as
02:40Stokely Hathaway was going to use Christian Cage's stolen watch out came Beth Phoenix. And we've not
02:45seen her since, what, all in last year. But this does make sense because FTR tried to murder her
02:50on that show. She was going to get her revenge. Now, listen, at one point, after she beat up Stoke,
02:55Dax threw her into similar steel steps. I was like, oh my gosh, it's absolutely horrific.
02:59When the following happened, once again, I could not believe it. We were meant to think that Cash
03:03Wheeler was going to spear Beth Phoenix through a table when Dax decided, you know what? Why don't
03:08I set this table on fire? It's a perfect normal thing to do. Why wouldn't you do that? But just
03:13as
03:13Cash was going to, obviously Beth got out of the way and Cash Wheeler speared Stokely Hathaway
03:18through a flaming table. I just logged off into the distance. I was like, it's match
03:23one. My friends, it's match one. But Dax actually got even more crazy after this because he started
03:27to threaten Adam Copeland, if you don't quit, you'll never see your kids again, which surely
03:31has to be a crime where, quite rightly, Beth Phoenix whacked him right in the penis. I mean,
03:36I think she was allowed to do that. It also led to the finish because essentially Dax got put
03:41in a Scorpion Deathlock and a crossface. That's right, Christian and Cage, or Christian and Adam,
03:45I should say, applied both their moves. But because he wouldn't give up, Beth went and
03:49got Spike that horrific barbed wire back thing, or not even barbed wire, flipping spikes coming
03:54out of it, hence the name. And Adam Copeland got this and he squished it into Dax's face
03:59when, quite rightly, he did give up. I mean, if he hadn't have done, I would have thought
04:03he was a sociopath or an insane person. Nobody should have to go through it. But it also meant
04:08for the first time in however long, Adam Copeland and Christian Cage are the tag team champions.
04:12There was this massive celebration. Everybody was happy, which is the point of professional
04:16wrestling. It's meant to make you feel warm and fuzzy in your tum-tum. I am just going
04:19to give this an up. And really, you can give it whatever kind of up you do want. It was
04:24just so damn good. It could not have been even better. And if you do want to talk about
04:282026 and opening matches on pay-per-views, this one has got to be in the discussion.
04:33Also, I flipping love everybody in this. They just care, man. And they make you feel,
04:37once again, that's the point.
04:39When Tony Khan knew exactly what to do, because a good way to structure a card is to send something
04:43out that's completely different. But it is going to elicit the same kind of response.
04:47So it was Okada taking on Dikeshda for the international title. I mean, it's one of the
04:52best matches of the year. And sure, it's fair criticism to say that we took a long while
04:55to get here. I think kids were born and became 25-year-olds in the time it did take. But
04:59once
04:59again, who gives a damn? It's one of those matches that even though Okada lost, Dikeshda is your
05:04brand new champion, which is phenomenal. Nobody gives an absolute crap here, because
05:08the way you watch wrestling in 2026, you can't just clap like a seal, because you can't quite
05:13believe these two guys can be so talented.
05:16The fans once again made this such a big deal because they were going crazy. And this uppercut
05:20that Okada hit, so that uppercut that Okada hit made such a horrific noise, when really
05:25it just became, well, I'm going to hit you and you're going to hit me, that I'm going to
05:28reverse you, that I'm going to engage this drive, that all of a sudden I'm going to whip
05:31round your back and drop you on the floor. They just didn't stop. And actually, Don Callis
05:35was the only person that got involved here, because after Okada had murked Takeshda with
05:40this rainmaker, and he was on the mats, he was going to drop it on his head. Don Callis
05:44was like, no, no, you're both my boys. I can't handle that. So Takeshda was like, all right,
05:49I'll do it. He break busted Okada on the floor, and flipping Don Callis had a meltdown.
05:53Takeshda also went for the running knee, but he got tombstoned instead. And even when he hit
05:56the least devastating move in all of sports entertainment, the blue thunder bomb, like it didn't
06:00work, it didn't get the pin, but everything was just delivered so exquisitely. Can't even
06:05say that word. There was only a few people on this planet that would have been able to
06:08pull this off, and it's lucky for AW, the two of them were right in the ring. There's also
06:12this great part too, where Kada didn't get hit with the raging knee, and he kicked out
06:16at one. And listen, that happened a few times throughout this show, but somehow it just
06:20worked, mostly because the crowd did lose their mind. And after they'd done like 42,700 other
06:25moves, where like, how are you so smooth? You're smoother than my bald head. Takeshda did get
06:30the raging fire, and he pinned a Kada for the 1-2-3. Honestly, because this match had
06:34been so good, and because it got a mega reaction, it kind of felt like you were part of something
06:39seismic. I'm sat in this stupid room, and I was like, I can't believe it. I can't believe
06:43we've done this. What was I talking about? The aftermath was awesome as well, because
06:48do not forget this was Callis family versus Callis family. So out came the Callis family,
06:52and we kind of hinted, oh my gosh, maybe they finally are going to get Takeshda out the group.
06:56When we also got a surprise, because Karl Fletcher returned, and let's not forget he's been injured
07:00for ages. He hugged Takeshda and he scared everybody else away with his terrifying laser
07:04eyes or something. And just as they were celebrating, of course, he murked his former friend. He dropped
07:10him on his head. Takeshda is less than Don Callis family. Karl Fletcher remains a heel, and they're
07:15probably going to have a feud for that championship. And who could get mad at that, especially because
07:19when he didn't go to pick up that title, Okada went to pick it up as well. And him and
07:23Karl
07:23Fletcher were looking at each other. So Don Callis should be happy, because the next time
07:26you get to a family occasion, you are absolutely going to have less mouths to feed. So in terms of
07:31a piece of business, which is what the nerds say, I just thought this was absolutely incredible.
07:36What didn't it have? We finally moved on the Don Callis family to a place we've all wanted for a
07:40while. The match was next level. You probably won't see something like this again for a while.
07:44And you have Karl Fletcher returning, remaining a heel, and just having so many pathways going forward.
07:49It doesn't just get an up, it's a golden up. Once again, in terms of a nice steel little package
07:53that was delivered to your face, well, my nose, my ears, and my eyes were pretty damn satisfied.
07:59It was in the Owen Hart tournament next. Mina Shirakawa taking on Athena, which also made sense,
08:04because it's a tournament, even if you've never watched wrestling before. You know what a tournament
08:07is, and if you didn't, somebody would be able to explain this to you. So you can be like,
08:11I can invest in somebody here, and I'll try and support them all the way to the finish. It was
08:15also
08:16a very hard-hitting good match. Some bits were a bit wibbly-wobbly, but how many times do I have
08:20to say? Wrestling can be better, and that does happen. It's meant to be a simulated fight.
08:25Athena also booted Mina into the LAD boards at one point, so she was having a terrible time,
08:29although she did miss the O face, which when Shirakawa was like, well, that's fine. I'm going
08:33to get the seatbelt pin, which is essentially the least devastating move. No, the most devastating move
08:37in all of sports entertainment surprise roll-up, but she only got a 1-2-0. She also tried for
08:41a
08:41figure four, and as we are talking accidentally about the least devastating moves, we threw this
08:45in last week too. I think the figure four should be upgraded to that level. I mean, it never beats
08:49anybody, even with flipping Ric Flair. She did go for the glamour driver, which turned out to be a
08:53terrible mistake, because Athena just rocked her with a tombstone. She went to the top, and she hit
08:58the O face for the 1-2-3. And listen, Athena could make it all the way to the final.
09:02She is pretty damn
09:03good. But once again, in terms of watching this pay-per-view, I was like, okay, with three matches in,
09:08there's been no let-up whatsoever. It's just bam, bam, bam. Thank you, ma'am. Every single one has
09:12given me something in a specific way. You can start comparing things, but comparing things is the thief
09:17of joy. Just enjoy it for what it was. I'm giving it an up. They did the job. Which is
09:23what we settled
09:23into around about this time on Double or Nothing 2, because good wrestling was the way. It was John
09:28Moxie versus Kyle O'Reilly. Of course, they had history too. It's just like, this pay-per-view is
09:33ridiculous. They always have secret chemistry as well. And again, you could kind of pick either fighter
09:37here, because John Moxie is the guy that took Kyle O'Reilly out in a horrible way. But these days,
09:42John Moxie is basically a good guy. So you pick your poison and run with it. I heard you went
09:45really
09:46bad for Kyle O'Reilly, because he was using all our ringside friends, but I think he tried to use
09:49the repost, but he booted it instead. And as soon as Moxie realized, oh, your ankle is hurt too. I
09:55am
09:55going to go after that. And let's not forget in past matches, John Moxie's Achilles heel has been his
10:00ankle, which sounds like a contradiction in terms. But now Kyle had a bad ankle too. So of course,
10:05what did they do? They both went after the other person's ankle. There was a great point as well
10:08when Kyle was selling that leg, but still managed to stomp John Moxie, who instantly came back with
10:12a lariat. And that's exactly what this was. I suppose it leans into what John Moxie likes to do.
10:17They just fought each other and they clubbed each other. And while I think most of us assumed that
10:22Mox was going to win, Kyle O'Reilly does have a pretty good record against him. This is why O
10:26'Reilly
10:26went after that ankle lock as well, which is Moxie's kryptonite. But this time he was like, well, if I
10:30move to the
10:30left and wiggle and jiggle and kind of move my bum over here, maybe I can get Kyle O'Reilly
10:35with the
10:35ankle lock, which essentially is what they did do. So at one point we had dual ankle locks. We've read
10:40the text. We've read the old scrolls. You never put somebody in a double dual ankle lock. So really,
10:44it came down to science and maths here who had the worst injury. And of course, it was last year
10:48when John Moxie had trouble with Kyle. This time he had screwed the pooch. He didn't have a leg
10:53anymore. It's flashing red like a final boss fight in a video game. Kyle O'Reilly had to tap out.
10:58But then afterwards they shook and hugged and had a good time. And admittedly, you can be like,
11:02wait a minute, didn't John Moxie try to kill Kyle O'Reilly last year? Which he did. But that's
11:062025, man. We've moved on. And John Moxie clearly has father powers as well. Osprey came under his
11:12tree and now Kyle O'Reilly is fine. But I'm still going to give it an up. It just goes
11:17to show this
11:17paper, you had something for everyone. If you wanted to just see two dudes beat the shit out of each
11:22other, excuse my French, but you had that here. It's getting it up. Moxie wins.
11:27We double or nothing really let you know we were on to a winner because it was back to the
11:30Owen.
11:31It was Samoa Joe versus Will Osprey, which in many ways is a dream match because why is Will
11:35Osprey a wrestler today? Because one day, many a year ago, he saw Christopher Daniels versus AJ
11:40Styles versus Samoa Joe and was like, well, that's the greatest thing I've ever witnessed.
11:44Maybe I should do this myself.
11:47We started with the flipping Oz cutter, so we weren't messing around. And then Will Osprey was hitting
11:51450s. So Samoa Joe came back with the coquina clutch. Although my favorite part,
11:55and it may never be topped and it may be the best nope spot that Samoa Joe has ever done,
11:59which I do mean this high praise, is later on, William went for another Oz cutter and
12:04yeah, Samoa Joe noped him and walked off. This made me feel like I'd completed life,
12:08which doesn't make any sense. I'm just some nerd watching it from home, but that's how well
12:12executed it was. Honestly, this match may not get its due due to everything else around it,
12:17but I thought it was just incredible. Not the former ECW champion.
12:20I also thought that Will Osprey did look like a killer here, which is John Moxie's teachings
12:24once again. And even when Samoa Joe was going to muscle bust him, flipping Will Osprey landed on
12:29his heat. And I was like, someone needs to test that guy's blood. I don't think he's human.
12:32Another highlight absolutely that will be shared for ages was Samoa Joe getting Styles clashed
12:37by Will Osprey. And surely given how many times Styles and Samoa Joe fought, that probably did give
12:42him flashbacks. When everybody went crazy again because Will Osprey hit the hidden blade and Joe not only
12:46kicked out basically instantly, but he applied the coquina clutch. And while deep down in your
12:51tootsie toes, nobody actually thought that Will Osprey was going to lose. I tell you, I was so
12:54invested by this point. I was like, well, maybe we are going to pull a fast one. I mean, if
12:58anybody
12:58could do it, it would be Samoa Joe. What happened within the last year? He won the world title out
13:02of nowhere. This is when Joe sunk back in that coquina clutch and oh my gosh, Will Osprey almost faded.
13:07But as he didn't, Samoa Joe picked him up for a muscle buster. But once again, somehow Will Osprey
13:12turned it into the hidden blade. Samoa Joe kicked out at one again.
13:16I was just flubber on the floor when Osprey was like, well, screw you. I hit a proper one
13:20to the back of the head and he pinned Samoa Joe for the one, two, three. I thought this
13:24was so awesome, especially because afterwards Samoa Joe became Roman Reigns. He basically
13:28acknowledged Will Osprey. And if that isn't a wink and a nod and a tee hee hee, he's probably
13:33going to win the world title out Wembley. I don't know what is. So just superb wrestling
13:36and as silly as this sounds, just give it the biggest possible up you can. I mean, really
13:40it is golden up worthy. That's how much I enjoyed it. But I said only to a show at the
13:44start
13:44of 2026, even though I break that rule all the time, but you can basically take any match
13:48on this. Go and watch it and you'll probably walk away skipping, right? Because that's
13:52how much it will entertain you. And sure, maybe it's not your style, but you can go eat
13:56your pizza instead. It is getting an up. These two guys are some of the best.
14:01Well, we count this on too, because of course it was back to the Owen and we've already
14:04talked about tournament matches. Swerve, Strickton versus Bandido. And they must have watched
14:08the Akata-Takester match and gone, oh, look, we found this amazing reversal wrestling
14:12maneuver book too. Shall we do all the other ones they didn't do? Which is what they did.
14:17Some of the ways that Swerve got out of the 21 plex. I don't know, man. That's two plus
14:21two equals potato. At one point he went from it and he turned it into a vertebraker.
14:25Do you understand the balance and the power and the strength you need? These two guys go
14:29check their blood too. They may not be human. Bandido was also whooping Swerve for large portions
14:33of this. So all that basically told you what the finish was going to be. It made Bandido
14:36look awesome. And at one point I think he went for a code red or kind of did a code
14:40red,
14:41but also turned it into a hurricanrana. I was like, I'm sorry, what is going on here?
14:45Did you practice that beforehand? And if not, why not? How'd you do it? There's also a poison
14:50rana to the floor, which is terrifying because you can't really see where you're going and
14:54you are headed towards concrete. And really, if I was just going to condense this down, because
14:57again, we do have so much to talk about, Swerve Strickland essentially became the better
15:02reverser of the two, if that makes sense. At one point he stood on Bandido's shoulders
15:06and he hit a house call. I was like, that's it. I'm going home, which once again was dumb
15:10because it was already home. But yes, after he'd reversed another 21 plex, he went on top.
15:15He hit this amazing Swerve stomp. They're not going to get killed, Bandido. And he got the
15:19one, two, three. He's probably going to go all the way to the final in this tournament.
15:22It's just another match you have to watch. I feel bad. I'm kind of insulting them because
15:26I have not given them the length on my stupid show that they do deserve. Just know it was
15:31totally tremendous and actually could tie it to a story that happened at the end of Double
15:35or Nothing, which of course we'll talk about when we do get there. It's just going to get
15:38an up. There is so much more you can do with Bandido. Swerve Strickland, he's not underrated
15:43because everyone knows how good he is, but let's throw more respect on his name. I don't
15:47know what I'm doing with my finger now. I'm stuck in perpetual motion. It just rot.
15:51When of course Sheena screwed over Chris Statlander. Stevie Wonder saw that coming, so it did
15:56make me giggle. But it was those two, Tecla and Jamie Hayter, in a four-way for the
15:59women's title. Once again, just copy and paste. Just go round and round on the record, man.
16:04It's the same old thing. It was just a good, hard-hitting wrestling match, which anybody
16:08could enjoy. I also liked it as well because before this match, Tex was going, man, all
16:12these bitches. I hate these bitches. So of course, all three went. We didn't appreciate
16:15that, Tecla, and they whooped her ass. I really did laugh as well when Sheena kind
16:19of accidentally on purpose kneed Chris Statlander because one, I know it ties into the story
16:23and wrestling can be silly, but this was the worst time for Chris to get mad. I was like,
16:27Stat, man. It's a four-way. She's allowed to beat the absolute hell out of you. And
16:31you can't get mad, but you did get mad. They started staring at each other. And then,
16:35yes, of course, Sheena slapped her around the face. So Chris fought back. They have
16:38broken up. But if I weren't going to be that guy, it never really fell on it. We're friends
16:42to begin with. Their relationship sacked. It was still a barrel of laughs, though.
16:45And when Jamie Hayter stopped the Saturday Night Fever or Sunday Night Fever and just started
16:49wrecking everybody with hater aids and hate breakers, I was having a jolly old good time.
16:53And sure, yeah, straight after this is when Chris and Sheena did fall out. But when Chris
16:56Statlander had this match won, she'd hit her big move. Shida, and you can see this in the camera,
17:01which made it even more amusing, had her kendo stick. She just smacked Chris Statlander right
17:06on the back. And then was like, shrug emoji. What? What did I do? I didn't mean to do that
17:11because apparently she became Italian. It was a cool moment, though, because Statlander had
17:14actually avoided the Tekla spear and hit the Sunday Night Fever before Shida did do that.
17:18When Jamie Hayter took out Shida not to dinner. So Tekla was like, once again,
17:22I told you, you lot were going to be done. She hit the curb stop and she pissed Chris Statlander,
17:27which actually is the right finish because now on Dynamite or Collision, Chris can be like,
17:31well, not only did I lose, but I was the one to get pinned even though I had the match
17:34won.
17:35And what's the reason? Five letters, Shida. So she can rightfully be furious,
17:39but at the same time, she kind of walked into this. But I am really enjoying Tekla as the world
17:43champion. If we can come up with someone to have a mega feud, obviously, I think that was meant to
17:47be
17:47Toni Storm, but some kind of substitute. I think she can keep climbing the ladder. There's just
17:51something about it. And sometimes you can't explain it, but I am going to give it an up.
17:55Nobody dropped the ball here. They just ticked the box again.
18:00When he was Stadium Stampede, what am I meant to do? I won't do this justice. And all I'm going
18:04to do
18:04instead is read you a list of notes I've made. But this is why I love AEW. It's a serious
18:10match.
18:10There was serious stuff going on, but it was also goofy wrestling for life. I am throwing a separate up
18:14in there. And I imagine this was not Chris Jericho. So thank you to you, not Chris.
18:18But the baby faces came out to Devil Dance by Metallica. I was so happy. Like, honestly,
18:24I had water in my seeing devices. I love that song for many reasons. Up. But anyway,
18:28it was the Hurt Syndicate and the Elite and Chris Jericho taking on demand. The Don Callis family
18:32and about 42,700 other people. The dogs were in there too. And yes, here are some things you may
18:37have seen. Ricochet getting wrecked early on because he was in a Tekla situation here when everyone was
18:42like, we hate that guy. The greatest assist in a domino stretch you'd ever seen by the heels
18:47when eventually MVP got his cane and he broke this chain, which rhymes so must be true. So
18:51everybody fell down like dominoes. Blackheart Leo Rush coming to help his old friend Bobby Lashley
18:56and build that weird, yes, yes, I'm here. And I will tell you firsthand, I actually wrestled
19:00Leo Rush in a four-way in a progress ring a couple of weeks ago. That guy is so damn
19:04good,
19:05even though he scared the shit out of me. So it made me laugh. There's also a surprise super
19:08kick in the elevator, like it opened up and somehow the young bucks are teleported in.
19:12And you had Luchasaurus in a wig, spitting mist, I think in Andrade's face, once again,
19:18just giggling away. I love that stupid dinosaur. We also had a DVD into a tennis ball, a cameo from
19:23Flipping Tommy Invincible. And this one part where Luther appeared from nowhere in a door,
19:27he gave an oversized tennis racket to Chris Jericho, who then went to one of those tennis
19:32ball machines, fired them at Ricochet. But my favourite part is that Jericho was throwing them to.
19:36It was absolutely pointless. Once again, it put a smile on my face.
19:40We also got a food fight with Satinam Singh and a shopping trolley skit that made me laugh out loud.
19:44And yes, for those asking, there were so many crimes committed in this match,
19:48including Jack Perry trying to run people over with his bus. And when he wasn't able to do it,
19:53he was like, oh man, I wasn't able to commit a murder. I know we don't usually do it when
19:57it's
19:57in a match, but I won the crime counter because that's unhinged.
20:01And there's loads more to this as well, so you should just go and watch it. But man,
20:05this one wing and angel that Kenny Omega gave to Andrade through a table was absolute death.
20:09And also, bless Kenny, because during the entrance, he would try to smoke a cigar
20:12and he started to cough when, yes, all the baby faces were like, aha, who's left in the ring?
20:17It is Ricochet. When actually it was Bishop Khan that took the bullet, and it sucks to be him,
20:21he got hit with everybody's finishers. Like even random people coming out of the crowd
20:25and finishing off that guy, when Chris Jericho, not Chris Jericho, just Jericho got the line sold,
20:30he pinned him for the one, two, three. And just in case you needed a cherry on top,
20:34Jericho then threw himself through a table as a tribute to Cebu. And I thought that was very,
20:39very nice. So it was just a mad home run all over the place. And it genuinely took my two
20:43favorite things in wrestling, which is please just entertain me and be goofy and threw them
20:47together. I am just going to give it up. I thought it was perfect. That's right.
20:51What else could you have possibly done? Salutes all around.
20:54When we get to our main event, and I'm just going to summarize this as best as I can.
20:59MGF has got to be one of the best wrestlers in the world. Darby Allin is right up there too.
21:02And the story they have told with this world championship, which is Darby is going to run
21:07himself into the ground, run out of HP, run out of MP, to the point he can't give anymore.
21:11But that's what he did here, which is why when he did go for that final coffin drop and fail,
21:16this New York crowd went absolutely crazy because they wanted to believe. Without wanting to sound
21:21like a massive geek, that's what wrestling is. You suspend your disbelief. These two,
21:25I thought it was wonderful. They did main event a pay-per-view of this level because they are OG
21:30AEW stars and they're only going to get better and better and better. I also thought the stipulation
21:34of MGF going bald had been delivered brilliantly because it actually felt like a big deal.
21:38And then yes, straight away, Darby went for his dive. MGF swatted him and the way he landed on the
21:42floor. Is that right? We're eight seconds in and we're already trying to kill Darby.
21:46It happened again when he went for a coffin drop and just went splat. And then yes, MGF
21:50grabbed him and package par-drived him on Simba the Still Steps. And the way they sold this,
21:55I know wrestling mystery, oh my gosh, we've got you. But it absolutely landed. And all these fans
22:00in unison went, they were genuinely scared. At 1.2, Darby whammed MGF right in the penis
22:05too and hit him with the headlock takeover, which of course was a callback to when he won the world
22:09championship. But then yes, I suppose because Mick Foley was in the building, he set a table up on the
22:14entranceway. He climbed this massive stanchion or whatever the flip you want to call it, a
22:19construction set. And he did a coffin drop off there all the way through the table. I hope both
22:24of them were right, especially because Darby was bleeding from the back of his head. It was just
22:28like two vehicles coming together. They're absolute loons. There's also this awesome Mortal Kombat
22:33sequence where Darby went for a code red, but MGF stopped it, went for a tombstone. And that's when
22:37Darby still hit a flipping code red when we got to the final few minutes. And once again, just give
22:42him a bravo. Because Darby was able to apply the scorpion death lock, but then he did just pass out
22:47because he had been totally ruined for everything he had given over the last six, seven, eight weeks.
22:51And as soon as MGF realized this, he turned into M Bison or maybe Sagat. It was just, ha ha
22:56ha,
22:56I'm going to get it. And we actually didn't because Darby got the scorpion death drop instead. But when
22:59he went for a last final coffin drop, again, he had no energy left. MGF crotched him at this insane
23:06avalanche tombstone pile driver, which was genuinely scary. When of course he picked him up,
23:10he hit the headlock takeover and he got the one, two, three. Much like Stadion Stampede and
23:15everything else on this show, I have not gone through this enough. So many sequences, so many
23:19reversals, so many, oh my gosh, I can't believe they did that. They have such good chemistry. Why
23:24the flop? Aren't they teaching science? We do have a brand new world champion. His name is
23:28Maxwell Jacob Freeman. Three times by the time he is 30 years old. I said it once, I'll say it
23:33twice.
23:34There are a few people, if any, better than him.
23:37We also sold this big as well because we put Darby on a stretcher, which is not the name of
23:41my brand
23:41new kids book. And MGF actually stood on him, which is disgusting, when quite rightfully out
23:46came Kevin Knight to make the save. But you could see what was going to happen here, which I mean
23:50is a massive plus. As soon as he was in the right place and Kevin Knight was hanging out on
23:54the ropes,
23:54he hit this UFO splash onto Darby, which also looked like he sucked. But give us the headlines,
24:00Kevin Knight just turned heel. Now, of course, this is absolutely going to tie into the fact that a few
24:04weeks ago, if not months ago, Swerve Strictly went to Kevin. If you want to get to the top,
24:08man, you've got to be a nuts guy. And it worked for Swerve. Maybe we even do get some kind
24:12of
24:12brand new mogul empire here. But I just thought to end the show, it was so good, especially because
24:17MGF was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe it. But also, I'm very, very happy. And Kevin Knight now
24:21can use this to rise to the tippity top. Even the facials he was doing here, I bet he was
24:25over the
24:26moon to be given this opportunity. So when you take the whole thing, it doesn't just get an up,
24:30it gets a golden up. I think this has given so many directors for AEW to go in. And it
24:35was the
24:35right move for Kevin Knight. Remember when Mike Bailey lost the other day? He's like, oh man,
24:39come on, we're going to be great. You could just smell it in the air. One last bravo round of
24:43applause. This show went on forever and it still ended with a bang, which is ironic given that
24:48Mick Foley debuted. Just salute, love and anything else you want to take away from me, which does sound
24:53weird. It's truly phenomenal. Which yes, boys, to the end of the show. And listen, if you want to call
24:57it
24:57AEW's best preview ever, you can. Let's just say it's one of the best, because again, comparison
25:01is the thief of joy. It doesn't just get an up, it gets a golden up. And truly, I mean
25:06this,
25:07you can put it on and then just click somewhere and you will get a good match, right? There was
25:11no bad matches on this. Kudos to everybody involved for going out there and just giving
25:15us so much as well. And to the fans live in the building that brought the energy, genuinely,
25:20some of the most fun I've had watching wrestling in ages. Now, of course, my friends, you may disagree
25:23with me, so make sure you let me know in the comments below before you like the video, share the
25:26video,
25:26and subscribe. There was another show yesterday, Saturday's main event, so that'll be on the
25:30screen right now if you want my opinions on that. But now I do have to go lay down,
25:34because it's been a crazy weekend. But AEW, you went out there, you totally smashed it.
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