AEW World Championship
Bryan Danielson will retire when he loses the AEW World Championship
Bryan Danielson (c) vs. Jon Moxley

AEW Women's World Championship
Mariah May (c) vs. Willow Nightingale

AEW Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks (c) vs. Private Party

TNT Championship
Jack Perry (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata

AEW International Championship
Will Ospreay (c) vs. Ricochet vs. Konosuke Takeshita

ROH World Championship
Mark Briscoe (c) vs. "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho

2 out of 3 Falls
The Beast Mortos vs. Hologram

Darby Allin vs. Brody King

"Hangman" Adam Page vs. "Switchblade" Jay White

The MxM Collection vs. The Acclaimed

Zero Hour

ROH Television Championship
Atlantis Jr. (c) vs. Brian Cage

Posting this now because I am gone for the weekend. Canadian Thanksgiving gets in the way of what very well might be Bryan Danielson's last match (for a while).

I'm going to try very hard to ignore the internet until Monday when I am at my apartment in Fort Mac and where I can hopefully watch the show without having seen spoilers. Gonna be fucking tough though.

I guess nobody watched the show?

I avoided spoilers for about 30 seconds. Saw the aftermath.

Danielson is the GOAT.

I’ll still watch the show Monday when I can. Absolutely gutted right now though.

Adam Cole returns as … the face.

That feud killed MJF, and they’re going right back to it.

My timeline was blowing up over Page/White, so I'm curious to get Emperor's thoughts on that match.

Personally I liked the bold finish to the show. If you guys can remember, I suggested they should have done the same to end Sting's career to really get some momentum behind the Elite angle, but hindsight proved the safer ending was the right way to go. It remains to be seen if this was the right course of action, but using Danielson to revitilise one of their biggest names in Moxley and potentially get the BCC back on track gives them a sense of direction. The key will be to have a suitable babyface to come in and save the day - Hangman for mine shapes as the most likely guy.

Cole is a huge return for AEW. This was supposed to be the guy who was going to beat MJF for the title until his untimely injury that really hurt the company. Clearly they value him as one of their biggest stars but can they replicate the initial success of Better Than You Bay-Bay? It's a big challenge for both him and MJF to make sense of this double switch and to find a way to split both guys from one another. AEW is absolutely desperate for babyfaces, I think Cole is the type of guy the core AEW fans can relate to and like and if they lean more into a genuine Adam Cole fending off the BCC who are looking to put him down like Old Yeller, you could have something.

Oct 13, 2024 22:13:41 GMT Big Pete said:

My timeline was blowing up over Page/White, so I'm curious to get Emperor 's thoughts on that match.

Personally I liked the bold finish to the show. If you guys can remember, I suggested they should have done the same to end Sting's career to really get some momentum behind the Elite angle, but hindsight proved the safer ending was the right way to go. It remains to be seen if this was the right course of action, but using Danielson to revitilise one of their biggest names in Moxley and potentially get the BCC back on track gives them a sense of direction. The key will be to have a suitable babyface to come in and save the day - Hangman for mine shapes as the most likely guy.

Cole is a huge return for AEW. This was supposed to be the guy who was going to beat MJF for the title until his untimely injury that really hurt the company. Clearly they value him as one of their biggest stars but can they replicate the initial success of Better Than You Bay-Bay? It's a big challenge for both him and MJF to make sense of this double switch and to find a way to split both guys from one another. AEW is absolutely desperate for babyfaces, I think Cole is the type of guy the core AEW fans can relate to and like and if they lean more into a genuine Adam Cole fending off the BCC who are looking to put him down like Old Yeller, you could have something.

This is where I immediately jump into the nuance of face (character) and popular (smart crowd).

Cole has often been quite popular amongst the smart crowds, but how often has he actually been a babyface? He was a heel through the entirety of NXT and he was a heel minus a few months last year (which was also buoyed by "who will turn," meaning neither he nor MJF were fully "trusted" as faces).

I say all that to say I'm not sure he can be a good babyface, as his strength is being a cocky dick (the go-to character for almost everyone in AEW).

Unrelated, but where does this leave Christian Cage with his guaranteed title shot? He tried to cash-in on Danielson, but was stopped by the BCC.

I loved this show. Even Jericho had a decent match. Private Party had their best match ever.

Hangman Page vs Jay White was excellent. A hard-hitting affair that told a great story and emphasised the strengths of both men. Hangman as this relentless hard-hitting brute may be the best Hangman we've ever seen, but he was bested by the master counter wrestler, who in addition to his usual tricks took out Hangman's leg, which ultimately led to victory in a beautiful finish. The outcome surprised me but it's the right call. Both men are booked incredibly strong but White has just returned from injury so he needed the win more to re-establish himself as a threat to the top guys.

Perry vs Shibata was similarly awesome. Shibata kicked the shit out of Perry as expected but the Scapegoat stayed in the fight and got a fluke win. The finish was lame on the surface but in NJPW referees (quite correctly) don't count pins when a guy applying a hold has their shoulders on the mat, so it's understandable Shibata got caught out by that rule. Still not the best finish but I appreciate the creativity.

Adam Cole and MJF seem inextricably tied to one another. My initial reaction was apathy, but I'll give them credit: they made me care about them before, so they could very well succeed again.

Ospreay vs Ricochet vs Takeshita was a ton of fun. I was surprised that most of the time all three guys were battling and they never ran out of creative spots. Yes it was a pure spotfest exhibition, which I normally don't care for, but I enjoyed the spectacle. Naturally Ricochet turned out to be a spare part in the Ospreay vs Don Callis feud. To be honest I didn't see that conclusion coming, I bought into Kyle Fletcher sticking by his buddy on Dynamite. However the only way this elevates Fletcher is if he defeats Ospreay, but I doubt that happens. He has a very clear ceiling as a singles star. Perhaps this is time for a timely Mark Davis return?

Swerve goes from being World Champion, main eventing Wembley, ending an epic blood feud in defeat, to...feuding with a has-been midcarder. I make it sound like a bad thing, but I'm OK with it. Too many top guys in AEW lose a championship only to immediately get a huge feud or win another almost-as-good championship. Swerve has actually been knocked down the pecking order.

Didn't check out the other matches, except the main event, which I haven't yet had time to watch.

Like Emperor, I am wait and see with Cole/MJF. I thought they were just going to squash that feud after MJF returned and kicked Cole in the balls, but apparently not. I’ll withhold judgment until I see where this goes.

But, Cole was always returning as a face. And MJF can’t help himself but be an asshole, ESPECIALLY after he finally let his guard down around someone and they fucked him over in the end. It’s a less messy double turn if you think about it for a bit.

Cole is appearing on Dynamite this week so I have to think that MJF is too. Give them 10 minutes in the ring with microphones and let them cook. Cole will say MJF tried to come between him and his friends (The Kingdom/Roddy), MJF will say his trust is worth more than anything and Cole broke it, there will be some grey areas with both men, and they’ll have a blow off match at the next PPV.

I’m slightly more interested if MJF & Cole showing up after the TNT title match was a coincidence or not. We know Garcia is targeting Perry and his title, but does this mean MJF is too or is he just being a dick to Garcia because he can and Cole showed up and ruined his fun?

Oct 13, 2024 23:51:29 GMT KJ said:

Unrelated, but where does this leave Christian Cage with his guaranteed title shot? He tried to cash-in on Danielson, but was stopped by the BCC.

This question was posed on the AEW subreddit and the top comment suggests maybe something was supposed to happen already but got derailed when Killswitch went down with his illness. I could see that.

Or, Christian is simply that patient and this gives him something to hold over people’s heads for the next several months. He obviously won’t attack BCC right now and probably wouldn’t even if Killswitch was here.

Maybe they pivot and someone wins the contract off Christian? I don’t know why he would ever put it up for grabs but who knows.

From the opening post:

Bryan Danielson will retire when he loses the AEW World Championship

Was that done on purpose or a slip? Or was it a foregone conclusion this was it? I just clicked because it was recently updated so I don't know the deets.

Oct 14, 2024 23:55:11 GMT @ness said:

From the opening post:

Bryan Danielson will retire when he loses the AEW World Championship

Was that done on purpose or a slip? Or was it a foregone conclusion this was it? I just clicked because it was recently updated so I don't know the deets.

Danielson announced after he beat Swerve that when he lost the world title he would retire.

However it’s been common knowledge that he was not fully retiring but walking away from a full time schedule. And after how he went out last night we will probably see him back in an AEW ring eventually.

I am utterly unsurprised by how Wrestledream ended. That's not to say I was expecting it, I just wasn't surprised. Brian Danielson, the least selfish wrestler on the planet, chooses the most humbling, degrading, no-silver-linings exit in his "retirement" match. Not even a out-of-kayfabe standing ovation or any kind of crowd acknowledgment. Classic Dragon.

It's a great cliffhanger. Still waiting for New BCC to explain their real motivation, although I must say I loved Moxley's promo from the last Dynamite, the best Moxley promo in a long time.

To be honest I'm getting sick of the choke out finishes. That's not a knock on AEW - the most frequent abuser is Gunther - but it still was a deflating finish. Exactly what Danielson was going for, I suspect.