Ftr, more like five star wrestling. Bullet Club Gold, more like Starbucks Gold loyalty card levels of great.

Did you say that because I'm currently drinking a Starbucks? Did that come to you.

In this moment? It's as I was walking around. I was like, Who has a gold loyalty card?

I have the Starbucks Gold membership.

What I'm saying is there was really good wrestling on this week's Collision, and I am Luke Owen, DAD. I'm joined by the truth, the professor, Dan Leighton. Welcome to the AEW Collision podcast. Please do press the subscribe button here to the Restor podcast channel. Give us a subscribe, press the thumbs up button, give us a like and all that good jazz and leave your comments down below with what you thought of this episode of Collision. It's a Faith No More song. And if you are watching live, get in your...

Cmdms?

Your CMDMs.

I didn't know if that's what it was.

I think that's what we called it on the Collision live reaction. I seem.

To remember and I quite like it.

So get in your CMDMs to wrestletalk. Com support. We'll read out every single one of them, but the $5 US dollar amount. We are on a bit of a tight ship today, Dan, because in a 90 minutes time, I will be doing my... Well, we'll be doing Monday.

Night War. Yeah, that's happening today.

Monday Night War live stream. We're going to be playing through five weeks of the current season we're doing in the My GM mode live and in person. We're very excited about that. It's going to be on the Path to Unknown channel. It's t he page is now live for it. Our moderators will be spamming the links so you can go and bookmark that for once this show is finished. But we are there, 19 minutes I'm going to be doing that show live.

It's going to be a very interesting show to see how with the additional... We already talked about the pressure of being timed, thinking your booking plans out loud while.

Doing them. Entertaining people while you're doing it.

All of that. Which I do all the time. Oh, no. I mean, it's just inherently part of your being. I can't help myself. Now you've got the added pressure of being live. Everyone can see your screw ups in real time. The chat are going to be screaming at you, so the pressure is on.

And do you know where I'm sat? Next to the console that controls the live.

Stream and stuff. And all of you flailing, everything's going to go a bit wild.

So we're doing Monday Night War in about 85 minutes time. So please do check us out. Everyone parts for unknown. If you don't mind, I'm just going to have a quick sip of my one sixth of prime.

You do that while we are on ramp and it until you finish so that you can take over the show because I'm not the grown up in the room and never happened.

Never will be. I just wanted to make a prime joke. Anyway, this episode of Collision. Hey, do you like wrestling?

Because we.

Got it. Here's two hours of wrestling. I like collision. Yeah. Collision has got its own identity and that is it's the wrestling show.

Yeah, it's the fourth week now, so it's starting to really show us who it is. I do have this weird thing where I feel like... Third week? Fourth. Is it fourth? Yeah, there was the first week and then there's the second week and then there was the third week, which was last week, and then this week was the fourth week. What time, mate? I know. Timing wise, it doesn't seem like it because of dates and things like that, but this is the.

Fourth episode. You're right. I was thinking, I forgot last week's episode.

Yes. Well, you weren't here. But the thing we were saying last week and the thing we are saying this week is very much that it's the show taking its own identity on. And that identity is more wrestling based story. There's still the sports entertainment ty stuff that we'll go on to in the show, but this show was dominated by athletic competition.

Yeah. There's this match that we're going to be talking about here to kick us off, which is bullet club gold versus FTR in a Eliminator match where bullet club gold got to pin FTR. That means they would get themselves a championship match down the line, which is why are you playing.

That fight? Because this match was absolutely outstanding. I will a match of the year contender, just one that I loved. I was on the edge of my seat. I'm such a fan of tag team wrestling. And it's the classic aw thing where there's just one little bit where I'm like, What are you doing that for? No, what am I doing this face? Hang on. We would ding the ever living F out of Wwe for saying you've got to earn, you've got to win a.

Chance for titles.

And we would.

No, we'll get onto that. I'll review.

That in a second. Okay. But then also, let's talk about the match because the match was great. And then we could talk. I just think the framing of like, you've got to earn your chance to win because now they've beaten... They even said it themselves. We've beaten you twice already and we're signing on for a two out of three falls match. Four times these people have to beat the champions to win the belts. Four times. That's basic logic in the game. Not that I'm complaining because the.

Match was great. That one I will concede. I actually saw someone in the live chat say you could have just had this set up from the eight man the.

Previous week. If this.

Was a tag team title match, oh my God. Because they didn't pin FCR in that match. They pin Ricky Stark. That would be the argument. They have not pinned the champs. As healed, they can yuck it up and say, we've beaten you twice. It's not technically true. But that is a point I will concede. The championship contenders match, though, thing I will push back on. I don't. Because we on the rest of the podcast have been... We said this a lot back in the day when they were doing the championship contenders thing. We thought it was hilarious because it was just hilarious, Wwe branding of Vince's decided he doesn't like the word non title match anymore, so it was redubbed it, championship contenders matches. However, those Championship Contenders matches didn't actually mean anything because there was a period of time when I can't remember it wasn't it? It was like Shot C and someone else pinned the Women's Tag Champs three times but didn't get a title shot off the back of it in Championship Contenders matches. But AEW from day one has been very consistent. If you score a pinfall on the champion, you get a title shot.

Scorpio Sky pinned Chris Gerico, very early doors in Dynamite, and got a title shot off the back of it because that has been a standard of wrestling since day.

I don't like it.

So you're going to throw all that tradition out of the window?

No, I think that for me feels like it's one thing for one and another for another. I think the quality of the competition in this match was so much better than what I thought for me felt like, why have they got to win the opportunity? Because at this point, they've been through all of that stuff for a potential shot.

W have changed their tune. Since Trips has taken over, there is more of a case of if you pin the champion or... I mean, it's all Vince came back anyway. They're about like this whole thing of wins and losses do matter. If you get some wins, you do get yourself title matches. And there were people who had like, Pins champions and then they were like, Cool, now I get a championship match up the back of it. It was very much a Vince thing because Vince has run the wrestling business for 30, 40 years. It's ingrained in just like, No, this is not a good way to do things. I disagree on.

That one. In sports, though, and it is a sporting athletic... This is the sports version of wrestling. It's more leaning more sports than a statement. A fake one, but yes. Yes, a fake one, sure. But it's still trying to be that. So if in Wimbledon, if you beat Jokovic, Jokovic goes out. You don't then have to beat Nowak Jokovic again to get the trophy.

No, it's Nowak Jokovic, the reigning tennis champion.

The reigning Wimbledon champion. Yeah.

Okay, so.

Specifically in a tournament? In a tournament, in a competition. And if I'm challenging you... In a tournament, it's.

Slightly different. If it's an eliminated tournament, Dan.

It's an elimination of... This isn't an eliminated tournament.

This was just a match. That's my point, Dan.

You're talking about apples and oranges here. I don't like the idea that you've beaten the champion, so now you get to try and beat the champions again. You should be contenders. Can we talk about how good the match was? I feel like we just said I didn't even mean for this to happen.

Lucas, 100 % right. I just want.

To find out that one.

Oh, great.

I like that one. It's just for 10 minutes in and we haven't talked about the incredible quality of the wrestling. This is why I get accused of nitpicking. It was just a thing where I'm like, I wish it had been for the titles. Now let's talk about the incredible quality of the match. That's where I was going. I don't think this idea of earning a chart of the champions by beating the champions is smart. I don't.

Think it's smart.

And also.

Tradition be damned. I think problem solved is you just have juice Robinson pin Cash or Dax in the eight man tag and you can set up a two out of three falls match or set up whatever match you want to do off the back of that. And also, look, to double onto that point, it also means you're not pinning Ricky Stark's one week before he advances towards the finals of the O and Hart Tournament.

Am I complaining about this match, receiving this match on television? Oh, no. Oh, it was wonderful. Am I complaining about seeing them do a two out of three falls? Later on, I was like, God, to my point of like, how do you make this a championship match? How are they going to top this next week? Oh, you make it a two out of three falls match, which is a completely different collection of match. Fine.

And also FTR had one of the greatest two out of three falls matches I've ever seen in my life last year during their trilogy with the Briscoes. So I loved this match.

The match was amazing.

The match is incredible. I was saying this to Oli when we were just hanging out in the office earlier that there's been this thing against AEW over the last few weeks of it's not been a great run for J White thus far. Jay White was the hottest free agent. Clearly, I don't think AEW expected to sign him. I think everyone was pretty much on that he's going to go to W.

The rumor in Skittlebot was.

I didn't even think it's rumor in Skittlebot. I think W, W, E were pinned on that they were going to sign him until Vince put in his.

Hiring freeze. Because you've moved.

The merger. Yeah. So he put on his hiring freeze, so they didn't get J White. They're probably not going to get Kota Robushi either, which is what they probably wanted to be doing. So Aew picked up Jay White and we're like, oh, snap. I actually don't really know what we're going to do with Jay White now. We got to do something with him. So they put him in a feud with Ricky Stark. I didn't hate the feud with Ricky Stark. I get what people were saying. It felt like a real demotion for Jay. I saw, surely we're wanting good things for Ricky. This feels like a bit of a promotion for Ricky. But regardless, there have been people who have been a bit down on bullet club gold, and I get that. These last four weeks of collision have been brilliant for Jay White because Jay White now feels like Jay White again. That time on Dynamate, he didn't feel like Jay White. This weird guy that looks like Jay White and he wrestles like Jay White.

I see the blade.

Right there. I see the blade. But that's not Jay. It was Samoah Joe, I I watched him for seven years in Wwe and the entire time being like, You're not Samoah Joe.

You're not the.

Samoah that I Joe. You're not my Samoah Joe. And then I thought, Oh, it's because he's older now. He's no... No, it's just that Wwe have got a different style. And he was adapting to that style. It comes out and I was like, Oh, there's my Samoah Joe. He's back again. I've had this with Jay White and I thought that Jay was excellent in this match. I thought J uice Robinson was awesome in this match. And FTRR as great as they always are. And the four of them just went out there and had a banger. This did not need to be a 28 minute banger, but on the collision, it gets to be a 28 minute banger. And I love.

It for that. I think so too. I think what was interesting was that something we spoke about last week, Laurie and I, was the idea of bullet club gold being like, and we were all fact, they're the secondary bullet club and it's like, what makes you... Other than you've got the T shirts and they're a different colour, what is it?

Who are you? It's also ousted from bullet clubs. It's just like, oh, I've paid it a.

Gold now. Yeah, don't worry about it, it's fine. And then they had a weird promo with Tony and there was, as in, it felt a bit I wasn't sure what was going on in that promo. There was a lot of different things happening at once. If there was any doubt that this is, I think what's going to get them over and what's going to make them work as a team why I think this probably should have been a tackling tile match and why I think the result should have stayed the same is because look at the pair of them wrestle together, the characters they have, the way they were playing with the crowd, the interactions, the chemistry they have with each other, the chemistry they have with other people in the ring. I just was so enamoured of it. And I was like, Okay, that's really more than a T shirt, more than a hand signal. This is what is going to show us as fans of wrestling and as fans of AW. This is going to show us who you are and it's going to allow you to stamp your identity. Because this was the old meme of whatever you did prior to W W doesn't count.

I don't watch Japan all the time, so I'm not as familiar with J White as everyone else. So for me, this is. But this is I'm being given a clean slate with J White. And if this is what I'm going to be presented, I'll eat more, thanks. I'll have seconds, thirds, and fourths because it was just incredible.

I think J is a fascinating story to follow along with because he was basically being pegged as the next foreign heel for New Japan. And then Kenny left, so they had to fast track those plans. They clearly, like, they had, Okay, here's a two year project that we've got with Jay White, and he can be the guy that can replace Kenny Omega at the top of the heel division. Then Kenny left because they went to go start AEW and they're like, Whoa.

Put.

The title on him immediately. They put the title on him and had him beat a carder. Then he was just like, Oh, he's the new Kenny Omega. But he was not ready to be the next Kenny Omega. He was not ready to fill Kenny's shoes. I think it's fascinating as well, they're slightly rewriting this history to say that Will found himself in that position when it was very much it was Jay that was in that position. But he excelled. After a rocky start where people kept saying, This guy just has not got it, he is not as good as Omega. He is not as good as Devitt. He showed that he was, if not better, than some of those guys. He really did show out in his time in New Japan Pro wrestling, which is why I think some people have been so disappointed with the run in AEW so far because he's not been J White. He's not been the Switch Blake that we've seen previously. But I feel like we're now getting back to that ther. There was a moment in this match when he had cash in a moot or lock.

And.

He was daring Dax to get in and stop him from doing it. And he goaded Dax into making an emotional mistake. It was a miscalculation on Dax's part. Dax gets in and chops him in the middle. The referee has to throw Dax out. Jay uses this opportunity to knock Dax off the edge and throw him into the steps. That built to the big cash workover before the incredible Dax hot tack. It's that little moment of Jay White, it's like, There's Jay. That's Jay White right there. I thought it was so well done. There was another moment in this I particularly loved. There's spots galore in this match. It wasn't like a spot match, but there were spots that I absolutely endured, one of which was one of my favourite, like, false hope hot tags I've seen in a while, which is that Cash is trying to make it to the apron and Deuce runs round and he battles with Dax. But it's not like he yanks Dax off the apron or they battle. No, Dax again, emotionally charges down the ropes on his side of the ring to battle with Deuce Robinson. So he's now on the opposite side of the ring on the same side as Cash makes it to the corner and he turns around, he's like, Where is he?

And Dax realises it was a mistake, runs back to go and get him, but it's too late because J y's cut him off again. There were some really great false hope moments in this that then led to some excellent near falls.

Oh, my God. The near falls were unreal. You t's like, there's a handful of people who can sell a 2.999 kick out and one of them is J y. Yeah, I agree to all. I think this is one of the benefits of collision, which is the problem with AHA is there are too many stars. One of the issues I currently have with, especially this was happening on dynamite the other week, was I don't love the fact that currently the main event stuff is elite BCC because your world champion is in the midcard. And for me, that feels like the world champion regardless should be at the top. And I think what MJF and Adam Cole are doing is meriting it. I think that storyline is it's nascent and exceptional. I love it. I love the work.

I love the performance. I still don't think it feels like it is the top storyline in AEW, but it is a close second. But that's.

The thing. Your world champion is a close second, and I think your world champion should be. Now that's a problem for them to work out. What a problem. Oh, no, we have too many brilliant people working for us. That's not a criticism of BCC and Elite, which I also think is a main event programme. It's just that thing of I feel like your world champion should be the top. So everyone agreed. And then we had the issue with the 4 way, which was unbelievable. A double or nothing, but also it didn't feel like a main event for you leading up to it. With this hierarchy and with this level of talent, it's difficult to make a name for yourself. So if you're coming in and people have these expectations of Jay White until they're not so thrilled with his run, it's because where else is he going to go on the card? With collision and with a soft thrust of split or whatever, and with more of a focus on in ring than in the other things, and the other things are absolutely present, but with more of a focus on wrestling as the method of storytelling, this is Jay White's moment.

This is Jay White's spot. This is where we get the most out of this person. I'm really excited for the O in Heart tournament to be over so that we can start seeing that spread to other members of the roster.

Finally, what's in that bag?

Finally, what's in the bag.

Yeah. The tag action here was just like, at one moment, I just wrote, this tag action is amazing. It's just incredible.

I mean, you know me and tag. I love a tag match. I've always loved tag and team wrestling. I think there was the superplex that led into the splash from FCR that was.

So good. The late arrival for Cache to get up.

For that as well. And here's the other thing that made the near falls so good. And this is what I think specifically is going to make the two out of three falls match so interesting and why that for me was where I was like, this is where you take it to the next level is because the three count was a shocker. I didn't see it coming. I was ready then because they had given us so many near falls. By the time we did get to the three count, there he is. Is it Cash? I can never remember. It was because of dash Dorson and Scott.

I think it was Dax that was pinned because they.

Took out FTRR.

Because it was a blade run into Wheeler and that took him out and they were like, That is cash out of this match now. So it was like, Dax is on his own. He does the yabu spot. J uice gets the blind tag to White. So Dax doesn't realize that J uice is tagged in. So he just thinks that J uice is attacking him from behind. So he keeps his focus on Jay White while fighting off J uice. But then J uice hits his finish and J uice pins him and they timed it so perfectly to make it look like it was an error. They did this spot so brill to make it look like they mistimed the three count and it was not the planned finish of the match. Clearly, it was the planned finish.

Because.

It was so well done. Because it was so well done and also the structure and timing of the show worked out to be that is when that finish was supposed to go down. But it was so perfectly done that the crowd didn't fully believe that.

Was the finish. And it was leading to the idea of we could be going to a draw. And I think draws in AOR have been used brilliantly. And I think that it was a potential 28 minutes, wasn't it?

Twenty eight minutes. Twenty eight minutes eight minutes.

And 10 seconds. So we were leading right up to it. It was getting bad. It was getting frantic. And it came after the match had started with a slow build. Kevin Kelly, even at one point said that they haven't been able to get out of second gear yet. And then I remember there came a point in the match where I realised I was leaning forward. I didn't do it. I did it. It just happened. I was like, Oh, I'm so here now. I'm so present for this because they have done this beautiful graph and the action was relentless and it was frenetic and it was genuine feeling of... And this is why I was like, Oh, I wish it was a title match because I think they were giving us pay for the title match on weekly television, which was wonderful to receive. Thank you so much. More, please. And we're going to get it next week as well. But yeah, they just did so well with the timing of that finish and having set up so many near falls that I was expecting a near fall. And the level of exhaustionion and guttedness on the faces and body language of FTR really sold that moment even more.

I think on every level, this was an outstanding match, potential match of the year.

And they're all over again next week.

And fully my only criticism, and this is where people talk about this in of nitpicking, because when you put over something so good and then you say there was a negative, I didn't like it, well, you're nitpicking, you got to enjoy it. Well, first of all, it's my job. But second of all, it's holding them to this high standard. I really hold a very high standard, perhaps an unfairly high standard because I know the process that's gone into it. I know why it exists and what they believe in. They talk a big game and I think they also deliver a big game. So I expect more from them. And as well, it's a personal thing. I don't like beating the champion to get a title shot. I think you should earn yourself a title shot and then you face the champion. You don't go in day one facing the champion. For me, that's how that works. But that's a personal thing. I get it. Leave me alone.

No, I get it. And that's the the beauty of discussion is that it's a rich tapestry of opinions. For me, it works both ways. I like the idea of people going through various winning a bunch of matches and then you have got enough momentum behind you to get a title shot. That is a great little story to tell. I think also pinning the champions, and because you pin the champions, I think you should get a title shot in the back of that. And then you do. It works both ways for me. I am happy for either way. I think you could have done this set up in the eight man tag. I think that removes the option of doing the match two weeks in a row. But also then they did enough in this match to make me want to see them do it all over again. Particularly as well because in this match, Wheeler had a visual pin on Jay White. Quite early doors as well, quite early on the match. I think it's a very smart thing to do when you're setting up a two out of three falls match for the following week is that this match, the first fall might not come 28 minutes in.

More likely it will come nine minutes in when this first fall would have taken place had the referee not been distracted.

And that's where critiquing booking on one level and then critiquing booking on the other level, like praising booking on the other level is that of all the matches that you could pick, it's an absolutely genius choice to book a two out of three falls match, I think. Because it's exactly for that reason, but also because it makes sense with the story. It makes sense with the tale that we're being told, don't like one thing, love the other choice.

Very smart. It's not nitpicking. I just want to be 100 % clear.

You tell them.

I won. Your point about this match is not nitpicking.

I think it is. But I do understand where the is a perspective that comes from where you're like... I think the reason people say nitpicking is the idea that everything is really good. When you're given a match like this, how can you whinge? So I think I can understand someone saying like, Oh, just don't be negative. Just enjoy the thing. I can understand it. I can see why someone might say that's a nitpicking thing. I don't think it is. But also.

I think it is like a lot of things in the internet, so the word that is lost or mean. There's some words I think that we won't get into it now. Maybe I'll have the discussion with.

You after. Let's make a list each. We could do three count, but it's with words.

That no longer have any meaning anymore. Please do keep getting in your CMDM to rest. Com support. We'll read out every single one of them above the five US dollar amount. And also our moderators will be spamming might be the word I would use. Spamming. A word that has not lost all context in the turn of the internet. Spamming links to our Monday Night War stream that we're going to be doing on partsf unknown in an hour at 65 minutes time. 65 minutes time. This episode of Collision opened with a very cool video hype promo for your two big matches on.

This show. I love these pre episode promos.

So good. Stark's and Hobbs in the Owen Hart tournament and Joe and punk. Jo punk 4 ahead of their Owen Hart semi final match that they were having. I thought this was really great. But it did as well because it end with CM punk being like, I got some things I want to say. I'm going to go do it live right now. And he walks off shot, we get the Elton John intro and then punk just comes out.

Nice music. Nice music. It's still the theme song.

I thought that was a really smart way to structure the show. It was cool. And make it feel like, Wow, what's going.

To happen next? It kicks you off of the sense of urgency. It's that whole thing of what's going to happen.

Look, I'm a childish man. I will fully admit that. I tried my best at land humour.

Oh, you did earlier on and it tanked. It was.

So funny. It didn't tank because everyone really thought it was funny, but ironically thought it was funny because it's not a funny joke.

That's not what you were going for. That is.

What I was going for. Dan, look at me. Look at me. Look where I am. Look what I'm surrounded by. I can't do land humour. Of course I can't. But I can do.

It ironically. Yeah, I see.

But I am a childish, childish person. So then just constantly saying Regina.

Stop.

No, it means queen. There's a Bloodhound Gang song called 3.144 third album of Hurray for Boobies. The central crux of the song is it's hard to rhyme a word like vagina. Calvin Klein Kinder, North Carolina. The whole joke is I can't find any words that rhyme with vagina. He calls his mom. There's a prank thing in the side. He calls his mom and she's suggesting something. How about that teenage witch, Sabrina? Nice. It's very good. So anytime he kept saying Regina, I could just hear the Bloodhound Gang in my head. Singing, It's hard to rhyme a.

Word like Regina. I haven't thought about the Bloodhound Gang since probably 2001, so I did not have this issue today.

I had a great time with this. Also, credit to AEW because they made this 2000 Faithful look like it was a packed old building.

Shot.

Very cleverly this episode.

Credit to them, the fans themselves for being loud. They weren't for one match, which we'll get to later on. But to get into the promo, the thing that I really enjoyed from the crowd was that one guy shouting, Joe is going to kill you, which punk responded to, not before someone else had the opportunity to fire back, No.

He's not, which.

I really enjoyed.

Okay, this tells you everything you need to know about me as a person and why I do not do lad humour and things like that. When you mentioned sports earlier and I had a big old question mark above my head. He said in this, If Joe beats me in a dream, he better wake up and apologize. I was like, Oh, that's from a movie. I was trying to Google what it was. What I was thinking, I was from Reservoir Dogs, where he says, You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologise. Now, it's a quite famous Muhammad Ali quote, but I'm there being like, Quint and Tarantino put in a script once. Which did. Punk, very much the baby face here, was treated like a baby face as well.

Yes, the crowd was.

Very responsive. Very pro punk, this crowd. They got their memo. He was there to put over Owen Hart and put over the importance of this ornament. It was a nice way to start this show, probably massively unnecessary, but you know what? It was not the worst thing I've.

Ever seen. No, it wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen. Like I say, I love the promos that open the show. I love the urgency of it. This promo was a lot of fire and very little substance.

Oh, yeah.

It came out and just said some things. And then at one point he said, This is the biggest match of my career. Honey, it's not even your biggest match in AW.

He said this might be the biggest match of my career. And I turned around and went.

No.

It's not. I don't think it is though, mate.

More power to you for trying. But I.

Was like.

Personally, it was.

The thing. On the three occasions, he's never beaten Jo. Personally, you could make the argument it's the biggest match of his career.

I just don't buy that. Here's my thing with that is that it's like, Will you tell me that? Sell me that. Tell me that story. I was really excited for Pong to cut a promo on why this match was so important to him and why this match was so special and talk about that history and talk about... And we just didn't get any of that.

It was more.

About Owen Hart. It was more about Owen Hart, which, lovely and respectful, thank you very much. But we have that in this tournament. It's called Owen Hart, so you don't need to put Owen Hart, but we already do. So tell us about you guys and tell us about your history. Do a little bit about Owen Hart and then tell us about you guys. We then did get it with a little package, which I really appreciated.

That ring of honor little video back then was so good. Like, highlighting the three matches that they have had previously. But even more brilliantly than that, promos by them from 15 years ago.

Oh, my God. That was so prescient.

So good. Particularly, punk squad was next time we meet and there will be a next time, you're going to find out who the king is. And I was like, And here we are, 15 years later, and the next time.

Is happening. What did Joe say? Joe said something that felt like it was a promo that he got last week about what's coming. And then it was like, I was like, Cribs, that's lucky. What a great find in the archives. Yeah, great.

The O in Heart Tournament continued with powerhouse Hobs versus Ricky Stark. Speaking of things I like about collision, and this is something that Dynamite annoyingly doesn't do it often enough, is they use a lot of video context to inform you the viewer that if you're new to this product, here are these people. Me and Olly, I remember on Dynamite Reviews, used to be like, I didn't get this part of the storyline or anything. And then it was like, That's because it happened on Being the Elite. I was like, Well, that's.

No good.

Because there's a small portion of the audience that watch being the elite and watch dynamite. To your point. You need to be able to tell me, keep me up with... He was like, Oh, well, hang, man. I've been doing loads of stuff with the dark one. I was like, Yeah, on the YouTube show, I'm watching dynamite. You need to be able to show me these things.

A big tick on that one for me because I agree, before joining Rest of the Talk and working with everyone, I was more of a casual AW viewer, so I missed all of this. I didn't know that they're history together. So I actually thought it was really interesting that we had too much matches in the semifinals that were both steeped in a type of history. One 17 years brewing, one more recent, but they could have made more out of that. And so I appreciated that I was given a little...

Absolutely, yeah. Because we got a video recap of Stark's and Hobb's qualifying on last week's show, but then we got recaps of Hobb's helping Ricky Stark's win the FTW Championship, which I thought was a really cool bit, and showing them working together as a tag team. And now it's like these two tag partners and now we're colliding.

Well, again, the sports element of it. Nothing makes me cry more than a BBC sports package. W hen they show you a little thing beforehand, they really sell it to you. And it's these things that make me invested. It makes you as the audience member invest more when you're given more context. Really good. Really good.

But this match really was a lot about QT on the outside. Positively, as we got into the finish, this was much better than their all out match. It was given way more time. Qt tripped Stark's and that allowed powerhouse Hobs to hit the spinebuster. But the referee, Aubrey Edwards, knows that QT Marshall is a bit of a dick on the outside. So went over to ask him, Did you trip Stark? The more he protested, the more he was distracting the referee. It was not his intention to distract the referee. He was just pleading his case and that distracted the referee. And that allowed for Hobbs to stop the cover, Stark to hit the spear and get the win. I really liked it as a finish.

I really didn't. Well, I did and I didn't. I agree with all of that. I think it is truly stupid to be someone's manager and not just back away completely. The ref is saying, get down, get down, and he's not getting down. Meanwhile, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. That's truly.

That's malpractice. He's a bad manager. He's a bad manager. He's a bad performance.

But.

That's the story.

But in KFAPE. That's the story, isn't it? I then was like, Yes, I understand that. I'll go with it. It was a thing I didn't like in service to a story, which meant that after the match when we got a little push extravaganza and then a spine booster on Aaron Solow. Thank you. I was like, Oh, yeah, go on. Give him his because, again, I've been told for the past few weeks, Hobbs is way better than this cutie Marshall guy.

Yeah, he's way, way better. He should not have been part of QTV.

I was ready for a full beatdown, which I didn't quite get, but I at least appreciated that that was mentioned, that was talked about. So I stepped down.

In the weeks that we've had since the Don Calles thing in the Kenny Will match, a referee being logical and being a smart.

Referee.

Because that was the one criticism.

Against that. And I went hard on that. So I agree, a ref doing their job.

I appreciate it. Yes. So QT was trying to console Hobbs afterwards, but Hobbs shoved him down. He gave Aaron Solow the spinebuster and was about to beat up QT more. But Harley Cameron dived in front of QT and Hobbs walked away. So I guess Hobbs is out.

Of QTV? It's ambiguous enough.

It's ambiguous enough that we could. It's just been frustrated. Miro cut a video promo. No one can hurt the man who has nothing else to love. I am Miro and I send some big battles coming and it's the one we've all been waiting for.

Poor Lama.

I was curious what it.

All means. Nothing else to love. Then referenced her again. I will say, the good thing about the O in tournament finishing is like I said, we were going to get more opportunities to see people. Miro is one of them. Feel s refreshed, seems to be in great shape. Oh, my God. Last week I was having time of my life watching him. He looked great. I think it's now time to give him a little promo, a programme rather, something to sink his teeth into, a real nice bit of story. Who knows what that might be?

I'm curious to find out what it is, but it's just nice to see him cutting promos again. I agree with you. It's time for a story now. We cut backstage to Tony Schivane, who was with Willow Nightingale to explain that Nightingale picked up an injury during her NJPW Strong Women's Title match against Julia, but she can't compete tonight. Which that was the OCR scheduled match and we got something else. But we got two matches in its place instead, which suggests to me that that match was going to be given some time.

Which makes sense for the show.

Absolutely. It's happening next Friday on Rampage instead. Yes.

It's a shame it's not going to be.

On TV. Yeah, exactly. Dynamite. The problem is they've already got one women's match on dynamite.

You.

Can't have more than that. Dan, I just don't think it's possible to book more than one women's match per wrestling card unless it's a pay.

Per view. Because then you'd be pandering.

Because which case you might be able to.

Do two or.

Possibly three if you got Seraya on the card. That just means that it's got to be done on rampage.

I really like Willa Knight and Yale. She's great. I really do. And I really like that Tina got a little promo spot here as well. I love Athena. I think it was good for both of them to get. I mean, it's making the best of a bad situation to give them time on TV, at least. Again, thank you for explaining it to audiences who may not be on Twitter all the time. You could have just palmed it off and said that, Oh, she's in. We'll do it another time. Instead, we got a little segment, which provides a little in for the match beyond just... Because again, not that I like, okay, here's where I'll allow it. If Willow beats Athena in the context of a tournament and then goes, I'd like to go to that belt now, that's fine. Beating her to earn a shot, different.

It's the same thing.

It's not the same thing because one of them is a tournament and one of them is different. It's not.

The same. It is the.

Same thing. It's not the same.

I mean, Athena did allude to that to be like, if you can beat me, then maybe you'll get a shot of this ROH Women's Champion, the Forever Champion, Athena. I believe 2023 is undefeated. Congratulations to her. Got a video package for Blood and Gut. Or as an Omega chat we have in the Dynamate Review, accidentally mistyped the two Blood and Guys.

Not wrong.

I said this on the news on Friday. That is just what I'm going to refer to it as now.

It's Blood and Guys. We see far more guys than we do guts.

One of the replacement matches we got for Athena and Willow Hall was Julia Hart versus Bambi Hall. Clearly, they're desperate for ratings. They're putting Julia Hart out on TV. That is not a joke, by the way. Julia Hart is a rating spike. Really? Oddly.

She's very compelling.

She is very compelling. When she's been on rampage, it's done better numbers and her quarter hours spike more than anyone else.

Is it because she's fit? Not to dismiss her work because, like I say, she is very good at the character. This is an opportunity for her to develop more in ring.

People like the theme song?

The.

Pacific theme song is great. Because I know that Tempest likes it. Tempest won't shut up about her entrance theme. All the other bloody talks about these days. He listened to it like five times in a row a couple of weeks back. But anyway, J ulia Hart quickly tapped out this young Bamby Hall and it was fine.

I really enjoyed that night when we're going to tell this local competitor, I was like, Thank you for giving us the meme. This match, for me, exposed how small this little crowd was because they were quite quiet for a bit and so the echo got really loud. Regina, apparently, is quite a small town, so on the one hand, it's quite nice of them to go there. I think the capacity of this arena for hockey is 6,000. But I think it was a testament to the passion of the crowd that shows that they and this otherwise would have been exposed in this match a little bit.

Also, it just occurred to me then when I mentioned earlier, there's a pro punk crowd. One of it is because there's probably quite a few comp tickets here. And if you are just going there as someone who doesn't really know much of a W, but you have heard of a CM punk, you go there and you cheer the CM punk.

They were quite passionately in his favour in their defence.

Yes, but that's what I mean is, if he's the one guy that you do know of, you are going to be passionately pro that guy, not knowing the context of draw out or anything like that. That is, I'm not saying that is what happened. I'm just saying I'm presenting that. My wife recently told me this is one of her I'm presenting that as a potential world view.

She hates the clock tower.

We say it.

Every five minutes.

From Tower, she was like, That's a real ache for me. People say, I'm just going to put out this potential world view.

But it's interesting as well because you have the alternate with the WB Recard often is that these arenas can be close to fall and some people are making any noise. W hat's going on? It's this very weird thing. I'd rather however many people are in the crowd that you are making it feel like a vibe because that's how you make it feel like a must Watch Show.

Apparently, the population of Regina is 226,000.

There you go. It's what I'm saying. It's a small town. On the one hand.

They're saying that it's not that small.

I live in a 10 million city. Also, Canada and the UK are very different. Our perspectives in America, they're like, Oh, it's just a short six hour drive. And we're like, I'm sorry, that's get at least four rest stops overnight.

I get through. I can get the M 4, M 5, and M 6 into Scotland by.

The time. It's all perspective, I suppose.

Malakai black color promo on Andrade about stealing his mask. And Andrade cut a return promo backstage, which was very nice.

I'm into the idea of the story. And again, I think this felt like the same as last week a little bit. It was more of that. So I'm looking forward to them having this is another one where space for more things other than the tournament. Kevin Kelly saying, I appreciate that he spoke slowly so that we could all understand. It was a bit of a.

Yikes for me. I'm not sure that's what he was inferring.

No, I don't think he was what he.

Was inferring either. What he was inferring was that he is getting across the importance of this and making sure that his point is being very clearly heard.

I agree. That's probably what he was going for, but it was a bit of a yikes.

I will not have any slander against.

Kevin Kelly. I love Kevin Kelly.

He is the world's greatest play by play commentator.

I'm inclined to agree. Kevin and I were going, This are a fantastic team. They certainly are. He had a little flubsy in this line, though.

I'm not saying he's perfect. We then got the FTRR and bullet club gold match. I've seen a few people trying to I don't know what the word is here instigate war about different ideology. What war? War of idiotic statements, I guess, because if you were like, Well, on one hand, you got 28 minutes of great wrestling, and on another show, you got 28 minutes of teenage Melodrama reference to the Bloodline segment, which is like 35 minutes.

There's room in the world for both.

That's exactly the point, Dan, is that there is a world for both. However, there are some people who are using this opportunity to be like, I can stoke some fires here.

Do you know what? This is my thing to talk about because I haven't really spoken about these things so much. Other people have. I got a comment on the Forbidden Door of view. Someone just said, Oh, you can tell Dan doesn't care about EW? Let me tell you something. I don't really care about EW. Don't really care about Wwe either. I don't really care about these companies. I care about wrestling, care about the art of pro wrestling and the storytellers who do it. I care about the narrative in this incredible medium that is so unique. I care about the live spectacle of it all. I care about the performance. I care about the theatre. I care about the drama that you can get in all the different ways. I think it's so incredible. It's my favourite thing in the world. I've had a longer relationship with wrestling than I've had with most people in my life. It's there for me when some people aren't. I love wrestling. I care about AW and Wwe in the same way that I care about Sony pictures. If Sony pictures go down, I'll worry about the state of the movie industry, but I'm not going to cry for Amy Pascal.

You know what I mean?

No one cries for Amy Pascal. Well, there you go.

But here's the thing. I've seen her emails. We all.

Saw the emails. We all saw the emails.

Poileded and talented brats. But point being, what a wonderful era it is to be a wrestling fan. Well, we can have a 28 minute Melodrama soap opera in front of a live crowd segment and the crowd are hanging on every moment, and then they're really milking it and screaming. And then a couple of days later, literally a day later, we get a 28 minute match where I couldn't breathe for a part of it because it was so incredible. What a wonderful thing. Why are we complaining about this? Some of you weren't around to watch Vladimir Kovlev, and it shows. Do you remember Mama Benjamin? God love her.

Because I do. I liked that story.

This and I wasn't mad about it, but it was not great.

I thought it was.

Quite funny. Okay, fine.

For the three weeks that it lasted. We then got the other match that replaced Will and Nightingale and Athena, which was Scorpious Guy in Action and Treaddy. This is Guy's first match back in about a year or so. The crowd did not care and he won with the TK.

I think it was interesting because this match...

I think they were more burned out by the previous match as a.

Result of not giving them the tK. Oh yeah, you're a bit knackered. But also, how do you watch the show? Do you watch it on a fight? A fight. Fight, right. So I watch it on fire as well, which means we get them saying, Keep those in picture.

In picture. But we don't get the picture in picture, we just get the picture.

The match, which means we get commercial wrestling as part of the match. And often in commercial wrestling, even in picture in picture, they will slow things down.

A little bit. Oh yeah, that's where the rest holes come in.

The rest holes. Holds come in. And so it feels like... Because we're still getting commentary, we're still getting everything. It feels like the match feels disjointed. It feels hard to get into. So when you're only getting a small portion of tele time at the best of times, and part of that is commercial picture and picture rest holes, it's hard to really get into it. So crowd burned out. The match also wasn't designed to pop them in that big way. Nice to see Skopio Sky back on tele getting a match. Is this the second match where it probably was time for Willow and Veena.

Yes. This was a bonus match.

So in that respect, did its job.

I'm going to use this as my bragging moment here. But as a long time point viewer of AEW shows, use. If it's a match where I'm like, This is going to be nothing during the commercial break, during the picture in picture, if you just start pressing the right key, it's 4 to 10 seconds. You know what camera angles they use for the We're Coming Back live.

Can you tell me them? Because I've been trying to work it out for the past couple of weeks.

I'll show you them. It's usually the crane shots, usually from the crowd to the ring or a swooping round shot. But there are aw have five camera moves that they do to show we're coming back from commercial break.

Because even if I was in America watching.

It, bought them from a.

Mile away. I was watching picture in picture, I'd still get up and go to the loo. You know what I mean?

It's still an ad break. Yeah, I guess it's designed to catch people who are flicking channels and they're just like, it's already in the ad break. Yeah, obviously some wrestling on? Yes.

I guess that's what it is. Yeah, it makes perfect sense.

Also, if I can do my little snacky comment, Good job on getting that Action Andretti guy over Chris Gerico. We then had our main event of Samoah Joe versus CM P unk. This crowd was.

Super hot for punk. It felt like a main event, didn't it?

It really did. And Joe did the walk away spot. So it's a five star match.

I loved it. The bantering off of a high.

Cross body. It is perhaps my favourite spot in all of professional wrestling. I remember the first time I saw Samoah Joe do the walk away spot in TNA in 2005, and I was like, That's the greatest spot I've ever seen in the history of professional wrestling. And he does it all the time, and I love it. And every time he does it, it just gets better and better.

I see you and I raise you. And it's the only thing where I'm like, You can't do it enough. And I think the reason I can't do it all the time, that's what makes it sing even more for me is that Sat Nav sing moment where he dives out the ring and doesn't move at all, where the top of his ear, see the hits you and you don't sell it. That is the only thing I find better.

I think that's what Sat Nav sing doing the dive for a second. I was like.

What did I miss? Could you imagine? No, that's the only thing that I get more entertained by than walking away. I mean, that's great.

I've written here, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I love having my Samoah Joe back.

Yeah, you did.

Joe dominated a lot of this match and it meant that CM Pong had to wrestle a slightly different style than he would normally. He would do, rather than do one running knee strike in the corner, he did multiple running knee strikes in the corner because he needs to wear the bigger man down, especially if he was going to try and hit the GTS on. He did hoist him up for the GTS at one point but couldn't quite get it there and actually got the win with a shock roll up after surviving the Kikina clutch. But it was very, very visual to note this. Joe was the one that was standing up at the end of the match and it was CM P unk that was sat down.

It was knackered.

They put up a really cleverly on commentary. Kevin Kelly was saying this. The Andrew Thomas, the referee had to go up and tell punk he just won that match because punk himself didn't realise because he was so battered and bruised that he'd actually beat Joe. He hadn't quite registered the fact you have just beaten Samoah Joffs and you've not been able to do for 17 years.

I think that's I love the fact that it's a wrestling thing. It's a wrestling hold. It's perfectly legitimate. It didn't feel cheap. It didn't feel like it. Because it's one of those things, it does just take three seconds. You could do it immediately. If you can use your strength to keep their shoulders to the mat for three seconds, that's a win. It's how it works. So it was really cool as well. I don't think the match quite took off.

For me. It felt like this was... Because although this is Jo P unk 4, this is JoPunk4. This is JoPunk4 1 of the AEW era. This has felt like this is just part 1 of the story that we're telling here, particularly because JoP in my part of the match.

And they're considerably older. So their styles aren't going to be what you expect from early Northies, R ing of Honor, P unk and Jo. They're going to be different. They're still going to be great in their own way. I loved as well, put over Kevin Kelly, it was like, How do you avoid the choke? Don't get in it. Well, now what? Because punk had said on common traits that I avoided by not getting in the mood, Well, you're in it now, so what are you going to do? Now that really sold that to me. That was a great call. Then there was a minute where I was ready to be real mad about Roddy Strong because I was disappointed last week that he wasn't brutalised enough. It was a sidewalk slam onto a chair and he got treaded out the building and we had to have a medical update in the middle of dynamite. It felt like they weren't going to reference that at all. Joe was just like, Now, well... When he pulled him into that cacina clutch and choked him out and was like, I'm better than you. I'm better. I was like, Whoa.

Yeah. Because it came in from the Code of Honor handshake as well.

The disrespect from. So I would rock the Code of Honor handshake? Yes.

Yeah.

Even Clive Jones was like, Oh, there you go. Handshake. Well, yeah. Code of Honor. Code of Honor. I love that. Love that touch. Great.

I thought it was really great. I thought the post match was excellent. Ftr ran down to... Because Joe went outside to get the chair, exactly what he did to Roddy last week. Ftr ran down to ward him off. And then the final shot was Ricky Stark staring down CM P unk as they're going into their finals match.

And next week. Which is a great choice for the final, I think.

I hope Stark's wins. Me too. I think you've got a good story you can tell with punk being hurt.

Going in. And they've got a little union between them as well.

I think it'd be really nice. I'd really like to see Stark's win. I don't think he will, but I would really like to see him win. I just want to give a quick shout as well. Mara's in the chat. Hey, Mara. Hi, Mara. Lovely to see you. Just mention there, Joe isn't what he was, but he's still a delight.

I love him so much. I do too. I love.

Him so much.

I really do.

He's perfect. He's my perfect Samoah Joe. I'm just going to quickly see if we have shout outs to do on this show. We do, in fact. If I can find them. I found them. If you want to join us over on Restor. Com, no, p atrian. Com wrestle talk. Try again.

You know what, Dan?

I'm just going to... Head on over to a patron. Com wrestle talk and become one of our pledge hammers on patron. What's great about that is because as I edit to this show, I can cut.

Out my flub. Great. Nice work. I was like, you're just pulling the curtain back there.

Yeah, no, it's exposing the business. It's not like it's a live show or anything where my flub and my inability to be able to do this job to an adequate standards is broadcast to the entire world.

It's already gone viral.

Yeah. So become one of our pledge hammers over at Patron. Com wrestle talk. We got a whole bunch of content over there, including uncut versions of things like No Holes Bored. We got the Monday Night War booking podcast. We've also got a series of podcasts. Every Wednesday, a new podcast comes out. This week it will be Rest Talk Behind the Scen es. Next week it will be Rest Talk After Dark. Then the week after that, it'll be Olly Davis and I, The Three Pete, three TNA shows who have now won the poll. We're now on the poll and we're going to be doing TNA Victory Road 2009 for Rest Talk Extra, which is the Jenner Maresca Charmel minus five star match. It'll be the second time within the span of six months where I will get to watch that match again.

Have you? Don't get distracted by Pete walking you. But it's just such a vision. Olly, question whether or not you're reading these votes?

No, he just knows that it's what the people want.

They clearly do.

But if you are one of our $25 and above Patron pledge h ammers, you get your name read out on the air like these fine folks. Daniel Sweet American Chocolate Hebarra.

It's actually Mexican chocolate. What did I say? You said American chocolate. Oh, I do apologise. It's a different country.

It is very much a different country and a different chocolate. Daniel Sweet Mexican Chocolate Ibarra.

A tall handsome guy who has golden life, Delanta Blain.

Dr. Hook, Noland Evans.

All ego, Ethan Wiley.

Send me to heaven, Evan Reich.

No limb bisquets here, Fred First.

What a shame. They're playing London.

Limp.

Biscuit. Limp Biscuit. It's the week after Summer Slam.

Where are they playing? The South Bank? Just on the corner?

They're busking?

Gunnersbury Park. Gunnersbury Park? Are they doing the festival?

Well, they're doing a little mini festival as well. That's sick.

Pendulum are playing. Gunnersbury Park is a good place for a venue.

It's actually a place for a venue. Because I was in the morning, I was like, Oh, I might go to this. One incident I told her and she was like, Is that the week after Summer Slam? I said, Yeah. She goes, You work in Summer Slam? I said, Yeah. She goes, Maybe don't do two weekends in a row where you leave me and your child. Maybe I won't do Summer Slam then. Always shining, Garrett Albright.

Hannah A. Bay Bay. Come on, mate. It's much funnier this way.

Yai, Geordie Bus Driver, Harry.

The Aztec Warrior, Hector Rodriguez.

The Overstepper, James.

Nepo r. And murderous, James murder.

That is your Hall of Fame class for the 10th of July 2023. Right, so let's get into your... I can't get this link to.

Open, Dan. Yeah, I had to press and hold it.

Is that what I've got to do? And then open link.

There you go.

And you know what? We actually have no ultra chats at all.

Interesting. It is interesting, isn't it? Which means we're going to wrap up this episode. Thank you all so much for watching. Please do press the subscribe button if you haven't already. You made it this far. Give us a little thumbs up as well. Thank you all so much for joining us. Head on over to parts of Unknown because in 35 minutes time we'll be going live on parts of Unknown with Monday Night War. It's me versus Pete, my GM mode 23. This will be week.

15.

16 through to 20, where currently your boy is number one. And he's going to hold on to that number one. I ain't coming second today. And Kendo Nagasaki, British wrestling legend Kendo Nagasaki, believes in me.

I've been making some calls for Pete to get giant haystacks in some way.

I think you're going to really struggle with that one, bud.

He's well dead. I was making the wrong call. I have a medium just next door.

He's.

Very dead.

Very.

Dead.

He's very dead.

Ken's still with us. Well, there you go.

So yeah, Ken Naganesaki believes in me. Xavier Woods believes in me. 2 K believes in me. And I know all of you watching along believe in me.

But do you believe in yourself? No.

So thank you all so much for watching. We will see you in 35 minutes time. Over on parts of Unown, please click the links that our moderators are spamming. And we will see you on tomorrow. Me and Dan will be back tomorrow to do the Roar review. Take care, everyone. I've been Luke Owen, DAD. That's been the professor, Dan Layton. Jam that Jam.

In the Jam. Get in the Jam. Get in the Jam.