Since news is starting will make the thread.

Queen of Simps on a plane to the US right now.  Joker 1 so gonna be Maki Itoh.

Cesaro's 90 are up as well.  

People are noting that Cesaro has a talent agent managing his bookings though, and is asking BIG MONEY for bookings so could very well be Miro returning too.  Cesaro is notoriously frugal so he likely never needs to actually work again, which makes luring him with cash far harder.  So, Cesaro likely, but not the lock everyone assumes.

Full card so far:

Owen Hart Tournament Semifinal Match
Jeff Hardy vs. Adam Cole

Owen Hart Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Rey Fenix

Owen Hart Women’s Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Britt Baker vs “Joker” Mystery Opponent

Owen Hart Tournament Quarterfinal Match
Samoa Joe vs. “Joker” Mystery Opponent

AEW World Heavyweight Champion Hangman Page vs. Takeshita in a non-title match

Other things that may be on the show...

New Brood reunited last night at a local show with Gangrel.

Kingston should be showing signs of the war he was in with Ishii. WATCH THIS MATCH if you have any love of King's Road or Strong Style. My Match of the Year right now, but I am a Kingston mark.

Highlights:

Have any other names come up for the Joker role other than CSRO? Judging from last week's promo the pick is known to Lethal, Dutt and Singh so you'd have to think they'd have some ROH affiliation. One name I saw mentioned on PWO is Gargano but that wouldn't make a lot of sense. That seemed more like doom posting if anything since they really got burnt out on the Gargano-Cole feud.

I'm curious to see how the Owen plays out from here. I presume Darby lost to Jeff because there was more utility to that result. Not only does Cole beating Jeff feel like a more acceptable result it also allows you to build for a rematch down the line where they can up the ante. So that's one final participant, between the Joker/Joe/KOR & Fenix I'm not entirely sure what direction they'll go in. I think KOR would be the safest pick but like Gargano feels completely over-done at this point. Joe seems like he's got his hands full with Lethal/Dutt & Singh. Similarly I think the joker maybe too tied into that. I'd be happy to see Fenix but it would feel completely out of left field.

It just seems like Fenix is one of those side characters who can do his thing without really figuring into any major storyline in the show.

I've been waiting all week for Emperor's reaction to the Wardlow contract signing. They're not even hiding the fact that MJF is recycling the exact same steps he had Cody go through. It'll be interesting to see how they'll mix it up but it seems creatively bankrupt at the moment.

The Blackpool Combat Club and the Kingston alliance was an interesting development. From the get go, it seemed like the Jericho Appreciation Society and Blackpool Combat Club were created in stark contrast to the other so I was keen to see when they would interact. I think they can have fun with this and I hope it's just not a case of having a temporary alliance just to give the BCC on the card somehow and getting them in some form of Blood and Guts to fill out the card and then pretend like that never happened.

Loved how after all that speculation about Danhausen it was just another throw-away segment that was perfectly acceptable. It felt like I watched a complete and utter draw that didn't move the discussion either way - if you were on board it was good, if you weren't this didn't sway you. All to build to a pre-show match only the core audience is going to pay attention to.

What else? Rosa/Deeb sells itself and should be a great match. I'm looking forward to the women's Owen as well and it's just a good excuse to put some of these matches together. I have no interest in the Itoh pick, it's fine for a Gillberg esque appearance but outside of that whatever. I'm keen to see Storm/Baker in the semi, I think that match can define the entire tournament. I think it's down to Toni, Britt and Ruby in terms of who wins and I'd have it in that order as well.

Hangman has some explaining to do behind why he's acting so prickly behind Punk. I'm sure we can put all the pieces together and there's some video essay talking about how amazingly subtle this is in Hangman's arc but I want this to be more personal than Hangman just laying down some shooty sound-bites and giving everyone the middle finger.

I only finished watching last week's Dynamite yesterday, felt too late to post my thoughts in the thread so I decided to leave it. But since Big Pete has basically done a full review, may as well drop my two cents.

Jeff beating Darby was a shocker. That's all I have to say on that.

The contract signing was dull. MJF talked far too much. While I didn't enjoy it I understood them giving MJF his moment in his hometown. I was expecting him to swerve and bury his own crowd to get the nuclear heatz, but I'm really glad they didn't and just played it straight. MJF acted like a dick as usual, Wardlow acted a little more prickish than usual. All ended very predictably. While the segment fell flat for me, I thought it was booked well. What I didn't like is the future booking, the blatant rehash of the Cody feud, and MJF nod-nod-wink-winking at this doesn't undo the lazy writing.

I loved the Danhausen segment: ticked both the Emperor boxes of being unpredictable/unconventional and interesting. Also I'm a Tony Neese fan and think he is being criminally underutilised. Loved Sterling's line of "why did this guy get an entrance?"

As you say the women's division has become really exciting with some great match ups. Deeb vs Rosa feels fresh despite them having two or three matches for the NWA belt in 2020. The tournament is great and already produced a real surprise in Ruby vs Riho. Also noteworthy that Ruby is using the Blade Runner as her new finish. Kris Statlander is a welcome replacement for the sadly injured Shida.

May 17, 2022 13:11:28 GMT Emperor said:

I only finished watching last week's Dynamite yesterday, felt too late to post my thoughts in the thread so I decided to leave it. But since Big Pete has basically done a full review, may as well drop my two cents.

Jeff beating Darby was a shocker. That's all I have to say on that.

The contract signing was dull. MJF talked far too much. While I didn't enjoy it I understood them giving MJF his moment in his hometown. I was expecting him to swerve and bury his own crowd to get the nuclear heatz, but I'm really glad they didn't and just played it straight. MJF acted like a dick as usual, Wardlow acted a little more prickish than usual. All ended very predictably. While the segment fell flat for me, I thought it was booked well. What I didn't like is the future booking, the blatant rehash of the Cody feud, and MJF nod-nod-wink-winking at this doesn't undo the lazy writing.

I loved the Danhausen segment: ticked both the Emperor boxes of being unpredictable/unconventional and interesting. Also I'm a Tony Neese fan and think he is being criminally underutilised. Loved Sterling's line of "why did this guy get an entrance?"

As you say the women's division has become really exciting with some great match ups. Deeb vs Rosa feels fresh despite them having two or three matches for the NWA belt in 2020. The tournament is great and already produced a real surprise in Ruby vs Riho. Also noteworthy that Ruby is using the Blade Runner as her new finish. Kris Statlander is a welcome replacement for the sadly injured Shida.

I always wanted someone to do that. The person who is in the jobber entrance spot beats the person who get an entrance in a dominating way.

Alright final predictions…

Women’s Joker: Maki Itoh
Men’s Joker: Claudio

Gonna be so let down if Maki is not one of the joker cards tonight.

May 18, 2022 19:12:06 GMT c said:

Gonna be so let down if Maki is not one of the joker cards tonight.

That's why I haven't been speculating for that reason, I don't want to end up disappointed.

Claudio and a complete shot in the dark Taya.

Heh. Nice one Ciampa:

http://instagram.com/p/CdtYPKDJq7t

Johnny Elite!!! Awesome!!!

Interesting.

Johnny Nitro-Morrison-Impact-Insertfednamehere-Elite.

May 18, 2022 20:40:00 GMT X-zero said:

Claudio and a complete shot in the dark Taya.

That is Mr. Taya can I get partial credit.

Great for Punk for having the balls to wear that shirt in Texas.

Both a tombstone piledriver and last ride used in Texas.

Page has no time for abortion rights!!!

Page isn't what Texas wants as a cowboy.

May 19, 2022 0:18:23 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Great for Punk for having the balls to wear that shirt in Texas.

What shirt? I can’t watch yet.

Abortions right are human rights shirt.

May 19, 2022 0:42:59 GMT RT said:

May 19, 2022 0:18:23 GMT CM Punk'd said:

Great for Punk for having the balls to wear that shirt in Texas.

What shirt? I can’t watch yet.

Abortion Rights Are Human Rights

Wardlow should keep this entourage even after his match with MJF. I get Goldberg vibes with this.

I suspect Wardlow is not long for AEW. Vince going to get him when his contract is up.

45 minutes left and my queen has not appeared yet!!!

O'Reilly's chest's been grounded like hamburger.

That was a cool finish.

It is time let's do this!!!

Le Wizard telling Regal what is up!!!

If they give Britt the main event it will have to be some top level female talent. Let's go Tessa

LMAO Mox got no time for Stadium Stampede.

Call it Cibernetico?