Review: AEW Fyter Fest and Summer Blockbuster (6-4 and 6-11-2025)

HEY! It’s some more AEW catch-up!

AEW Fyter Fest (6-4-2025)

• From Denver!

Matches

• Mark Briscoe vs Jon Moxley: Non-title, which is fair. This is about Mark trying to prove something to his son at home. These two could obviously have a really wild match in a different setting, but this is really good stuff, because you have a tremendous babyface in Briscoe and also, listen, Moxley is a really good heel, and even in this largely maligned run, he’s shown that in-ring in the better matches where he was properly motivated. Briscoe’s the sort of opponent I’m guessing just about everyone loves working with, and Mox is able to be a nasty fist-fighter, which Briscoe feeds off of quite well. Weasel Wheeler Yuta and asshole Marina Shafir are involved in spots, with Briscoe bloody and flying solo, trying to out-fox a guy who generally would be expected to beat him straight up, but AEW have also done a good job giving Mark the occasional cred-keeping upset win, so it’s not impossible to imagine here, even with Moxley working toward All In. This is just the sort of Real Good Match I particularly enjoy. Briscoe is tremendous trying to fight off Moxley’s choke, so the king of submission fighters goes to an armbar and Mark gets a foot on the bottom rope. Moxley gets to kick out of the Jay Driller and wins with the choke, once again Mark doesn’t quit and the referee has to stop it. ***¾

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• Julia Hart & Skye Blue vs Mina Shirakawa & Toni Storm: At ringside we have Mercedes Mone, star of something to do with Star Wars, Hollywood elite, seated and eating a large hunk of meat that has some lettuce underneath it. She is displeased about, you know, whatever. BIG hunk of meat, though. Taz accuses Excalibur of being a drunk. Blue and Hart are two of those people in wrestling who have very clear images but no motivations, which for some people counts enough as “a character.” Storm and Shirakawa have a comedic chemistry that is kept more than that because both of them can go, too. They win this one as they should, with very little trouble at all. Storm eats a chunk of Mercedes’ hunk. **½

• La Faccion Ingobernable vs Mike Bailey, Kevin Knight & Komander: Really fun match as you’d expect, there’s at least a couple of these weekly on AEW TV at this point, and it’s a good cornerstone for the audience you have and want. Ian Riccaboni saying “rulebreakers,” hell yeah. We’re bringing it back. My man Komander just tearing it up out here and then Dralistico hits a springboard destroyer which is pretty cool. Fan favorites win. I kinda love the way Rush is booked in America because that combined with the way he wrestles really does give the impression that he’s a malcontent whose arrogance trips him up really frequently, gives him a fairly low ceiling despite his obvious talent. ***¾

  • Post-match, Hurt Syndicate return after a promo issue with the match’s winners earlier, and the fan favorites use their speed and not wearing suits to get the better of that pretty handily.

• Powerhouse Hobbs vs Max Caster: Another of these.

• Kenny Omega vs Mascara Dorada vs Claudio Castagnoli vs Brody King: Canada! Mexico! Switzerland! United States! Really like the changes Omega has made to his style since coming back, a lot of it simply necessary, some of it just getting older, and he makes it mean something. Brody (blood!) and Claudio are their usual reliable selves and Dorada is great, so you wind up with a fantastic four-way. One of those Great Matches you won’t really remember long, but AEW and WWE both have lots of those now, so does any other company worth anything, because in-ring is so much more important to literally every company in the world now that the audience is so largely dominated by fans who care about that, many of whom grew up caring deeply about it because it’s been such a major talking point in more mainstream discussion of pro wrestling, or perhaps rather that the old nerd think has become more of what everyone reads, since ultimately every online outlet that focuses directly on wrestling is still working from Meltzer’s old playbook, like him or not.¹ Claudio has Trouble with Luchadores, just like the guy who took his Great Loser spot in WWE. Kenny is in the right place at the right time and pins Dorada, who had made quite a run at the win. ****

  • Omega in the ring post-match, and Kazuchika Okada joins him. A “holy shit” chant as they hold up their belts and jaw, and then it gets physical, with Omega starting aggressively but Okada hitting him right in the diverticulitis. Okada bails after Omega blocks the Rainmaker and goes for the One-Winged Angel. People are hot to see them go at it one more time. I am, too — it’s something where Okada seems truly invested and not just doing his job.

  • Later, Okada vs Omega at All In is confirmed.

• Lio Rush vs Will Ospreay: I would like to praise Ospreay’s unselfishness because it’s, on paper, a fine attribute, but no, I don’t think Lio Rush should be getting this much offense against one of the company’s cornerstone stars. And I like Lio Rush. But this just smacks of a 2016 indie match where the guy who’s obviously going to lose in the end gets to kick out of a bunch of signature offense and oh, golly, he almost pulled it off, clapclapclapclap. I’m neither Ospreay’s biggest fan nor a hater, but it’s occasionally quite easy to think he just doesn’t really get his role or TV wrestling in general. But I am also open to thinking this is a me thing; even as I try to avoid trapping myself in thinking wrestling “should” be presented in certain ways, it inevitably does happen. Where I can avoid getting too “guy from the 80s who hasn’t done dick in 30 years” is by understanding that what I care about may simply not goddamn matter at all to the actual target audience. Anyway, Ospreay wins, “Cru” attack after the match, and Hangman Adam Page makes the save. **½

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• FTR vs Atlantis Jr & Templario: He’s just “Stokely” now. Sure, why not? FTR doing nothing special with their heel turn, just keeping it simple and making people dislike them. It’s a good match and an obvious style clash, which can in better cases like this one be a good time, because you’re watching two teams try to impose the will of their distinct approaches, the basics and fundamentals that molded them coming to the forefront. Sure, it’s not always the smoothest, but if you absolutely need that in every match you watch, I’m sure there are some ROHHH-era NXT classics uploaded on YouTube. FTR cheat to win because one consistent thing in wrestling storytelling is that Rulebreaking tends to come from those who are insecure, and in this particular case, and many others over the decades, that comes from a couple of guys who either worry or flat know they’ve lost a step, and don’t have the purity of soul to overcome that in other ways, their nastier instincts as human beings emerging. ***¼

  • I think one of the things that is working well with this turn is Stokely, who I think is a good talent and a really good manager in the classic fashion, but the wider audience may see him as a repeat failure at this point, someone who talks a lot but never seems to stick or succeed, a bit of a phony, manipulating his way into association with FTR, or FTR becoming so desperate that they’re just grasping at straws working with him.

• Bandido & The Outrunners vs Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita & Hechicero: Hechicero hanging with the Callis lads because Don is fully open to using freelancers. I think it’s nice that there are still some people who want to see the Outrunners in matches that have this much meat and are meant, mostly, to be taken seriously. I don’t know who they are, but it’s nice that they exist! The stuff with Bandido is good and the right guys lose. ***

• Nick Wayne vs AR Fox vs Lee Johnson vs Sammy Guevara: Bet this is the time AR Fox wins one. I mean, he’s due. The Colorado Rockies may be 17-58 right now, but there is the 17. Southampton may have only had 12 points in the Premier League this past season, but they did win twice. Perhaps the trade-off is that AR Fox gets to be a Good Performer when he loses all the time, whereas with bad sports teams, it’s not like Southampton were particularly entertaining to watch or whatever. This is a solid ROH midcard four-way for Wayne’s ROH midcard title. Crowd’s dead because nobody normal gives the first “S” or “F” about ROH, but that’s life. Now I do want to say this, going back to AR Fox. I think it might be time to re-think him a bit if you’re Tony Khan. He’s been that good and reliable. I’m not saying put one of the AEW belts on him or whatever, but maybe something closer to Mark Briscoe than 0-for-forever, you know what I mean? Maybe he doesn’t need to eat the pin in a match like this. Maybe he actually does grab a W now and then. He’s the clear standout performer in this match and this is a company where standout performances with his regularity should matter a bit more than this, because it’s what the company is built around. ***

• Thekla vs Lady Frost: Thekla has a level of corn to her whole act that’s going to need to be toned down a smidge for U.S. audiences. I could go on more about that but if you know what I mean then you know what I mean, and if you don’t then it’s not really worth spending two paragraphs on or whatever. I mean, the opponent here shows you what your U.S. career is if you can’t figure that out. Frost gets a couple shots in but no more and Thekla shows off her spider walk deal before the finish, a spear and the Death Trap. “That’s her move! The one that has made her so famous!” Crowd reactions still suggest that neither she nor the move are famous.

  • Post-match, Thekla continues her assault on Frost, before Queen Aminata arrives to back her down. Makes sense, Aminata is exactly one step up the ladder from Frost. After that and a break, Aminata speaks on the issue. Collision course!

• Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly & Daniel Garcia vs RPG Vice, Lance Archer & Josh Alexander: Decent match, but the back half of this show — the “Collision” half — dragged on a bit, which will happen with a four-hour TV show. You can’t be expecting too many people to have hung on this long, so no, you’re not going to put something all that important in this final match slot to wrap things up, nor would many of them stay on late on a Wednesday night if you did, it’s not like anyone’s Thursday responsibilities are going to change if you make this a Kenny Omega match². So this fits well enough, really; there are ongoing issues here, AEW specialize in these multi-man tags, and it matters enough for those who made it. Fan Favorites win, Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita — the guys who really matter — show up at the end but don’t do anything. ***

Other Stuff

• Will Ospreay admits it’s not his brightest idea to try getting Hangman and Swerve to work together, but he believes that if they could do it in one night, they could free the AEW title from Jon “Mox” Moxley and end this Death Riders business. Ospreay’s still not great on the mic and is never gonna be, but he gets his message across and the fans love him. Ospreay ranks the order of people he’ll get shot for, and AEW ranks ahead of Swerve, whom he calls out.

  • Interruption by “Cru.” Come on now. Action Andretti tries to get heat by calling Tony Schiavone “Tommy Schiavone,” but the crowd really just don’t want these two dudes out here right now. This really isn’t very good and feels super forced to set up Ospreay vs Lio Rush, which is a match I want to see, but this is the sort of thing that happens when you start trying to shove “a story” into everything. It’s OK if Ice Cube Jr never likes your Product, man, just be yourself.

  • Later, Ospreay argues backstage with MJF, with MJF telling Ospreay he needs to stay out of the business of Swerve and Hangman. Once MJF baits Ospreay into physically grabbing him, the Hurt Syndicate arrive and prevent that from going further. No physicality at all, even. Bobby Lashley and Ospreay share a short moment together.

• And then! The Hurt Syndicate are out proper. Lashley’s a local so he’s real over. Well, as over as Lashley gets. The crowd also chant for Shelton Benjamin briefly, but performatively boo MJF. MVP alleges that Lashley and Shelton are “mega-mega stars.” Says no one can take the tag belts off of them. MJF wants “his” world title back. “Marks in the back,” etc. Talks up a match with Mistico. MJF loves America, boo, and so forth. Boy, this sure goes on a while.

  • Eventually, we’re interrupted Mike Bailey, Kevin Knight, and Komander, the latter of whom is mad at MJF for disrespecting Mistico and Mexico and lucha libre. Bailey speaks Canadian French and calls his crew “international killers,” which sets MVP into a laughing fit. Hurt Syndicate reject a challenge for a match right now, which makes sense because they’re all wearing suits. We do get the other trios match, though, which was actually set up on the prior Collision.

• “Paragon” and Daniel Garcia will join forces! Garcia should really start setting his sights higher than the TNT title.

• Christian Cage is with Nick and Mother Wayne. Same stuff as usual. Stagnating, really.

• Ricochet isn’t competing — Denver too “crappy” — but he has his eyes on people to join his gang.

• Hangman Adam Page speaks after his Ospreay save. “I don’t need help to win the world championship.” Well, you probably do. There are several of the other guys and they keep helping Moxley retain. Hangman promises he “will never need, nor will I ever accept help from Swerve Strickland.”

  • Jon Moxley shows up in the ring. The other Death Riders surround the ring, and Will Ospreay returns with chairs for himself and Hangman. Nothing else happens but what tension!!!

• The Thekla video is a good deal better than that dead air debut she had. It’s not her fault or AEW’s really, and you just move on from it, as they are trying to do. They gave her the debut of a star and the truth is, outside of a pocket/niche group, she is not a star.

• I realize this is one of those things I’m not going to get out as I mean it, and should probably just keep to myself in case there’s some other time I might find the words better, but You People don’t come here and read this far down for Old TAPE to be a coward, so here goes: There is something very aesthetically pleasing about the Penelope Ford and Megan Bayne combo; like, obviously, beautiful women, etc. But I mean there is a pleasing contrast and meshing in them as a duo, both visually and in their energies, they complement one another very well in the same way a lot of teams have over the years. And also, sure, hubba hubba. I’m not trying to lie here, I just want to say I’m not only saying that. Anyone can be “hot,” they have more going on than just that, and that comes from their personalities and presences.

  • Anyway, they’ve taken Harley Cameron out, and now they have Anna Jay held hostage, kinda, and are ready to do the same to her. But wait. It’s Tay Melo. “Tay Melo, incredibly, returns to AEW!” What’s incredible about it, Tony?

• Billy Gunn has almost no restraint; he’s just subtle enough so that it’s not too blatant, but he cannot stop trying to draw your attention his way instead of Anthony Bowens. Anyway, the Bowens character still sucks.

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AEW Summer Blockbuster (6-11-2025)

• From Portland!

Matches

• Swerve Strickland vs Will Ospreay: The two do shake hands to start, they are friends, they do respect each other, but there is an issue. How many fucking italics can I use right now? A lot!! You can see the basic differences between these two in personality, Swerve is absolutely meaner, has a lot of gnarlier depth to dig into as a man, which is not to say Ospreay can’t go to some ugly places himself. But Swerve built his name on being a real motherfucker, Ospreay can just be a pretty normal-type dick. Pretty great match, Ospreay back at the sort of speed at the sort of level where he’s arguably the best on the planet, depending on your tastes and whatnot, because Swerve is also more or less in that conversation. You know what you’re gonna get with these two, and they deliver it, which is good, because it’s what the people want. It’s also pretty much what I want; like, yeah, I’d love to see them work a note perfect Tribute to 1983 World Class, but I don’t think they’d get it right and also it’s a ridiculous thing to expect of them. Do I have the Dave Boner for it? No, not quite, but it’s definitely a great match, given all the time to basically be a PPV feature in quality. Also a match that has real drama because either man could use the win, either man realistically and logically can win, and also AEW is not afraid of using time-limit draws because Tony Khan is a TNM7 player at heart as much as an EWR/TEW guy, and yes there is a difference, though the bases overlapped. And we do get the TLD. I love it. That notches it up a quarter-star for me, even. ****½

  • Post-match, Swerve gets the mic and puts over their Great Match. Can I take that quarter-star back? Oh wait, he wants an extension on the time limit, even though they’re both beaten up pretty badly. The call for sudden death is interrupted by the Jon Moxley’s Death Riders, though, as it’s once again being made clear to Swerve — however much he might hate it — that he really does need to unite with Ospreay and, yes, Hangman, to finally take care of these guys. Ospreay’s basically deceased at ringside so he’s no help, Swerve standing alone. I mean, Prince Nana, but whatever.

  • Then the Young Bucks run in and nail Swerve from behind as he focuses on the Death Riders spreading out. Swerve gets handcuffed to the ropes by the Bucks after Nana is laid out with a superkick, and they lay in a bunch of superkicks on the defenseless Swerve. Wheeler Yuta passes them a bag with the spiked up Reeboks, Swerve’s custom Allen Iversons that he used at Anarchy in the Arena. The shit is falling off with every step, and it’s Ospreay who steps between and takes the bullet for Swerve, who now gets an even greater look at the reality of this situation. Someone he does like got hurt for him. Bucks bail, a bit unsure of what they’ve done since that was not their target.

• Mistico vs Blake Christian: Back in the mid-90s, when WCW built the bulk of their cruiserweight ranks around lucha guys, it really felt like quite the rise of a “new” (it wasn’t new obviously) style on American wrestling TV. And today, about 30 years later, we have CMLL guys regularly on AEW TV, WWE has goddamn bought AAA — it’s really something, I don’t know exactly what I’m trying to say, but it’s quite an interesting thing for me to see lucha, over time, be so much more properly integrated into the U.S. TV mix than it was even then, when WCW did lean on those guys to work a lot of TV time but also only a few of them ever really mattered much or were actually portrayed as top tier, in part because “divisions” have totally fallen by the wayside here. Anyway, this is about four minutes long and Mistico wins convincingly.

  • Post-match, Hurt Syndicate are here, having been seen backstage laying out Komander earlier in the day. Sad for the Hurt Syndicate that they’ve been reduced to, in all reality, flunkies for MJF and his bog standard edgelord “storylines.” In theory they have the upper hand and power over him, but they’re also just sort of standing around while he does normal MJF time-killer stuff. Anyway, Mistico and MJF next week in Mexico City. He says “Sin Cara”! Haha! I know about that. This all leads right into

• Mascara Dorada, Mike Bailey & Kevin Knight vs MJF, Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin: I don’t doubt the idea that Taz might be a true blue modern mega patriot who loves America and thinks all other countries are inferior, but I also hear him struggling to keep a straight face doing his pro-America commentary, especially when Excalibur says, “I didn’t realize you loved paying taxes so much.” Dorada is in to replace the HS-injured Komander. MJF in MVP-esque gear. MJF at one point joins commentary as a pop-in and amazingly, when he hasn’t penned a full promo and rehearsed it, he just comes off like LA Knight.

  • I saw one negative review of this match that focused on the absurdity of these “small guys” giving the Hurt Syndicate any problems, and it strikes me all the time that wrestling fans have a real tendency to reveal how little exposure to basically anything else they have — other media, sports, etc. How many times did relatively Van Damme or Jackie Chan or the like smoke up some lumbering oaf tough guy in an action movie? The 50-win Indiana Pacers — going here again, yes — are forcing game seven with the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder because they’re a tough style matchup playing on a hot streak. Mike Bailey is, both in reality and in character, a skilled martial artist, and it’s not like Bailey is in here physically bullying these guys, he picks his spots. When they get hold of him, it’s bad news for Bailey, yes, but if they can’t grab him up, he can do some damage. I just don’t think it’s “unrealistic,” is what I’m saying.

  • Hurt Syndicate do win, the match is good. MJF rips off another luchador’s mask. That’s his new thing. He is disrespectful to lucha! Then Mistico runs in and makes MJF tap to an armbar. ***½

• Tay Melo & Anna Jay vs Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford: Wow, the big return of “TayJay.” They bump butts! We are treated to their tag team expertise. Melo looks pretty good after the long layoff — a funny thing to call “having and raising a baby,” but here we are. Bayne plays her role nicely, as does Ford as the reason Bayne can lose matches. Anna Jay better in this one than she’s looked in months. Pure quality-wise, from the “artistic critique” standpoint, Ford’s lousy timing once again is an issue, but she is mostly hidden behind people doing better work. “TayJay” win. They do not bump butts again. ***

• Anthony Bowens vs Kyle Fletcher: I don’t know what else I can say, man. Bowens’ character is wack (and a heel). His entrance gear is, like, a cartoon idea of itself. He comes off at all moments like a midcarder who is totally unaware of what he’s lacking and is certain he truly does have all the goods to be a top guy. He has no true “plus” attributes, he is a competent pro wrestler across the board who belongs in a tag team, and it doesn’t matter who you stick him in the ring against, he’s never going to come off like he has serious main event potential because as he is right now, he simply does not. Trying to discuss this reminds me of Hesh talking to Christopher Moltisanti about why a song doesn’t have the goods to be a hit, and Chis, frustrated, wants to know exactly why that is. Hesh responds, “For reasons we couldn’t comprehend or codify.” As he also says, there’s good and there’s not good, and this is not good.³ Fletcher wins. **½

• Toni Storm vs Julia Hart: We once again get Mercedes Mone ringside, eating. Her meat is less of a hilarious hunk this time around and also they decided maybe a rich person should have sides and not just eat Piece of Beef. She’s really struggling with the asparagus, though. Skye Blue takes shots at Toni ringside before Aubrey Edwards becomes the focus of the moment and ejects Skye. But even diminished from that attack, Toni Storm is far too much for Julia Hart, if only barely. I think Tony Khan has flaws as a booker, as all bookers do, and that a lot of his have been clear in the women’s division over the years, I also sincerely think he’s getting a bit too much flak right now for Toni not being able to immediately follow the Mariah feud with something of equal quality or really all that close. ***

• Taya Valkyrie & MxM Collection vs Willow Nightingale, Mark Briscoe & Tomohiro Ishii: It’s the last hour so here comes the scrub squad from Ring of Khanor. This works for what it is, though, and the best news is we don’t have to see Johnny Honor wrestle. Five minutes of some good Willow and Briscoe stuff, and Taya’s very fun with Ishii for a moment. I think the MxM lads, in all honesty, deserve a lot of credit for trying to truly be pro wrestlers and not just giving up the ghost after burning out in WWE and working four indie dates, and they’ve become a good TV tag team; even if that’s their ceiling, whatever, you need those, too. Well, if you have a real tag division, which AEW kinda doesn’t at the moment. Still. Babyfaces win, it’s no great match or anything but they did the job assigned.

• Bandido vs The Beast Mortos: Schiavone says this is the “standby match,” which I think is a fun concept to lie about, so that you can throw out “a banger” like this and give the idea that, brother, this wasn’t even truly scheduled, this is just what we can do here in the AEW. HEY! Guess what, this rules. Plenty of history, plenty of chemistry, and they have great strengths that mesh so well. They also simply — and don’t discount this — look cool in the same ring together. It just looks like a cool fight. Great pace, great action, they work it so they can pick things up over and over without ever truly “going slow,” but also without going breakneck the whole way. Bandido picks up the W. ****

• Queen Aminata vs Thekla: Another week, another step for Thekla. As usual, Aminata gets to hold her own and eventually lose, though I guess her current upside is not being associated with charisma vacuum Serena Deeb. I’m gonna be honest, Thekla would be a “bit much” in her mannerisms even for NXT. This has to be a focal point for her to change. Famous Thekla wins again with her famous maneuver. Kinda think Aminata stole the shine from her in this match, designed as a Thekla showcase but she looked like the second-most interesting wrestler in the match by a fair distance. Or maybe a better way to put it is that Thekla just didn’t shine like she was meant to and Aminata “stole” nothing, it’s just what happened because Aminata was better. **¾

• Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly & Daniel Garcia vs Konosuke Takeshita, Josh Alexander, Lance Archer & Hechicero: Who you gonna call when you got an 11:45 ET start time for your final match on a Wednesday night? By God, it’s Adam Colebaby and Friends. Just important enough, not too important. Please give me Garcia vs Hechicero one-on-one sometime and let Grapplefuck Dan come back out for it. This one’s very good, not as high on it as Meltzer was but higher than a lot of other people, I guess. Notably better than the similar match that closed Fyter Fest. Rulebreakers get the W this time around with all their effective teamwork and willingness to take shortcuts and also being bigger, which as we all know is what always wins a fight. ***½

Other Stuff

• To kick us off, Adam Page arrives backstage and is told by Christopher Daniels that he literally can’t win the title at All In if he tries to go it alone, which I guess someone needed to tell this cowboy moron. Page doesn’t verbally respond, then when Daniels leaves we see Jon Moxley had been laying low nearby, and he motions the other Death Riders to follow Page.

  • Jon Moxley’s Death Riders have dragged Adam Page to the ring later in the evening. This is well after the Ospreay-Swerve match. Hangman is gagged and bound with duct tape and whatnot. Moxley talks it up in front of everyone, so that we can all hear. As they look to Pillmanize Page’s neck, we get a run-in from “The Opps.” Samoa Joe hasn’t forgotten about this whole deal. I really do like these guys as a trio who are flat-out willing to stand up for something and are sick of these Death Rider dopes. Joe was never gonna win the belt or anything, but it was someone fighting back directly, and fearlessly, and it was overdue. With the Opps running the Riders off, Page gets to get on the mic and threaten violence if he finds any of those Rider lads.

  • Much later, Page screams at the Bucks backstage like he’s always screaming. This guy is just always shouting and yelling. He tells the Bucks to stay out of his business, Ospreay’s business … and Swerve’s business. Prince Nana overheard from the trainer’s room, and so did Swerve.

• Kazuchika Okada talks with Renee Paquette, but Don Callis steps in before Okada can answer her question. Callis wants to know why Okada is getting the match and not Kyle Fletcher. “Has Okada had a better six months in the ring than Kyle Fletcher?” Well, let’s discuss that, since we’re here. In the last six months, we’ll just date back to the top of December for the fuck of it, Fletcher is 9-5 in AEW singles competition. He has won zero titles and lost in two tournament semifinals. Okada, on the other hand, is 13-1 in AEW singles competition, won the 2024 Continental Classic, and has successfully defended his Continental title five times, along with fending off two “Eliminator” challengers. The lone wrinkle is that the “1” on Okada’s record is, in fact, Kyle Fletcher. But perhaps the Jackal means star ratings, which is sort of a mark thing for the guy who talks about “marks” all the time to care about. He poses the same question about Takeshita. Okada grabs Callis’ wrist, but then he’s surrounded by Lance Archer, Kyle Fletcher, and Konosuke Takeshita. He calls Callis a bitch and leaves. (I know where this is going, yes.)

  • Later, Okada and Kenny Omega sign their contract, and Callis interrupts again to complain about Fletcher and Takeshita being “passed over.” Okada seems to basically be on the same page as Omega, who says he knows all of Callis’ tricks. “Kid, you didn’t know this one, did ya?” and Okada jumps Omega. Callis has a police baton and Omega takes it right to Omega’s diverticulitis. He hit him right where some intestine used to be.

  • The dopey crowd chants “you sold out” at Okada, who until recently had been hanging out exclusively with the company’s bad guy EVPs.

  • This all goes on a while until Omega is spitting up comical amounts of fake blood and making NXT faces. I know this is meant to be serious and dramatic but Omega’s not a good “serious” or “dramatic” actor in this regard and it just all looks too dumb. It’s a good, potentially even exceptional angle as an idea, but the execution does not hit for me in the way it’s intended. I still want to see the match and all that.

• Atlantis and Atlantis Jr are here to talk, but they’re of course interrupted by FTR and Stokely. Man, Atlantis is still in great shape at 62. I mean, you can guess his age, basically, at least if you know Wrestler Body, but he’s kept his fitness up for sure. Dax Harwood acts like a dick long enough that Atlantis just starts throwing hands. Adam Cole runs in from commentary — where he is once again adding absolutely nothing — to stop a stuff piledriver. Don Callis Family runs in — Fletcher, Takeshita, and freelancer Hechicero. And now it’s Bandido and Templario. It’s all being set up. Brody King joins the fray. Eventually Dax is surrounded by all the good guys — Cole, King, the Atlantises, Templario, Bandido — and gets a little frontier justice before he runs off.

• Big Bill and Bryan Keith still exist! I kinda forgot. But I like them as partners who may be becoming true partners and a real team. Whoa, the Workhorsemen are here. The roof blows off in Oregon. I do think that could be a really fun dynamic.

• Ricochet has his eyes on Blake Christian and Lee Johnson, but he’s playing mind games with them about it, I think. Insults them, basically, but could it be his attempt to motivate them, so that they go out and show some great desire to prove him wrong, at his side?

• I don’t think professional wrestling companies should be allowed to have partnerships, even just as advertisers, with sports betting companies.

• Kris Statlander is really trying to get better at the promos, which is great to see. She’s having sort of an identity crisis. Wheeler Yuta offers advice. She’s not really receptive, but she’s not entirely not receptive. Quick staredown with Marina Shafir. Tony doesn’t know what to make of it. Me either, Tony.

• Mercedes Mone “made a post on X” about wanting the CMLL women’s championship, and here’s Zeuxis to punch her and accept. Alright! Asked and answered.

• I have had it with The Patriarchy. Wrap it up, lads.

1. That was an incredible run-on sentence so I’m also working from Meltzer’s old playbook.

2. In short, the entire concept is less than ideal.

3. “A Hit Is a Hit” is a definite contender for worst “Sopranos” episode, for what it’s worth. I think most dedicated fans agree with that, it’s not some bold statement I’m making, but it always stands out to me because I thought Bokeem Woodbine — who is a good actor — got hung out to dry a bit with a badly-written, cardboard one-off character.