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I really liked the redeemer TNT title run and was so bummed when Sammy ended it. It felt like there was a lot of meat left on the bone. It is hard to book a monster, but I'd probably just try to spark the redeemer thing back up and just have him play in between for a while. The company has a lot more ready-to-beat lower card heels that could truck to get momentum and get people drummin' up dream matches. Maybe have him start with a jobber on a few Rampages in a row. Then have him move up to someone the factory. Then maybe the firm. You could sprinkle in a wrecking of Matt Hardy so he doesn't get too Face-y (even if that is a face move to me). A hoss fight with W. Morrisey could a fun chapter break for him before moving to stiffer competition. Just spitballing, but that feels like it would give you 2-3 months of short, fun matches, promos, and segments and you can see where the landscape is after that depending on what their other long term plans are. It isn't like they are maximizing Rampage minutes right now anyway. He could come out of that ready brew something up with Hobbs, Wardlow, Cassidy, Pac, Starks, Jungle Boy, Kingston... there is no shortage. Maybe that is just me though. I liked the idea of him being a crazy religious zealot who's only motivation was just murking people in the name of God. I think you could run it back and hold off on him going after a title a bit longer this time. This gives him motivations for pursuing matches that are not title oriented, at least for a while. Him accusing Kingston of "sloth" and running that back could be great, for example. Their match was great and I certainly want to see more of that. Eventually, if the run goes well, have him set his eyes on the world title or the TNT title.

Reading that Miro is healthy and wants to compete but there is just no creative for him makes me sad. I know they have a massive roster, but not having Kingston or Miro on your show for this long feels inexcusable at this point.

Absolute banger Dynamite. I - like everyone - really really liked Joe vs Darby. I think Joe's deliberate pace really helped set this apart from some of the other great Darby vs big guy matches. Not that it blew the others out of the water, but joe put his signature on it and that will always resonate with me. While the just mostly insult your opponent promo isn't my favorite, I really liked the segment with Starks and MJF. As much as I like Starks and as hot as he has been lately, they had some work to do to elevate him to MJF/world title picture level and I think having him cut that promo in front of that crowd was a quality step in that direction. Maybe I'm giving him the benifit of the doubt, but it felt to me like MJF was really giving Starks the space to shine here. Not only did he not steamroll Starks, but he sort of hammed it up a bit more than normal (at least for his more recent promos) and gave Starks a nice, big target to hit. But Starks deserves all the credit in the world for the way he delivered those lines. It really felt like a big deal. I also agree with the speculation that MJF will win the title match and Starks will win the ring. It will set up a rubber match of course for the title again and we will likely get a very good to great trilogy out of it. I sort of felt like the Regal stuff was a bit overthought, but I still loved it. I can't tell if that is because it was actually good or if its because I just love the Blackpool Combat Club and they speak to my sensibilities as a fan. I'm not sure there is anyone else in the world that could have pulled that off other than Regal. I haven't been following the rumor mill, but I'm assuming this means he goes back to WWE/NXT. If that's the case, I'll be sad to see him go, but don't begrudge him the decision. This is about the best way he could leave AEW. The main event was also really really good and made me want to see this match-up again on a ppv. Pitch-perfect ending for something like that too. FTR looked like the better team on the whole, but they just came up against the hotter team on the hotter streak that is in the middle of a massive level-up. The match stayed true to the story of each team and it didn't feel like anyone came out worse for it. And that announcement at the end.... I am absolutely amped. I wish the Briscoes could actually be on TV, but I'm assuming this still about their past remarks.

This was a pretty fun episode of Dynamite. - Loved Dax v Dragon (probably want to watch it again) - Loved the Hangman/Mox brawl. Their first match was on its way to greatness before the concussion. They seem to have good chemistry and the promos were and will continue to be awesome. - Loved the MJF promo. I wasn't crazy about the path MJF took to the title, but the Regal turn was awesome and this promo sort of course corrected and reestablished a good base moving forward. - Excited for Danielson vs MJF. - AR Fox v Joe was fun - Always happy to see Willow on my TV - The main was sort of fun, but sort of a mess. Just not really my thing, especially these days. I'm still down for some crazy-cocaine-spotcentric wrestling, but it isn't really my favorite thing. I sort of admire them (spitefully?) leaning into it with this best of 7 series, but it just isn't going to be my favorite thing on the show.

I probably wont get to watch live, but I'll catch up at some point tomorrow I assume. I've been pretty detached from WWE for a while, but the Bloodline stuff has my attention and that Wargames match should be at least compelling and at best a ripper.

"Different Strokes" I suppose. I absolutely loved the Mox match at Revolution and the two most recent Garcia matches. Anarchy in the Arena was an all timer to me and he was crucial to why it was so great. A smattering of really good matches with the likes of Yuta and Sammy (and I say that as not-at-all a sammy guy). I think he continues to demonstrate that he is the best in the world at what he does without necessarily outshining people. I do concede that if we don't get a proper run with him on top at some point it will feel like a bit of a letdown. There should come a time when Dragon does outshine everyone.

I find the idea that Dragon's run hasn't been good to be kinda wild. I think this has 100% raised his all time case and has been a blast for the most part. He hasn't demanded the top spot, but he has had a lot of great matches against both established and rising stars. I guess I'd like to see him on TV even more, but other than that I'm not sure what folks want.

I wasn't able to watch Full Gear live and had to watch it in pieces over the past three days. My quick thoughts: I finally got to watch Full Gear and thought it was a really tremendous PPV. I didn't suffer from fatigue because I watched it in pieces over 3 days, so maybe that helped. Zero Hour: Watched most of this in the background, but was glued to Kignston v Akiyama. I absolutely loved the match. It wasn't anything out of this world, but it was a feel good match that delivered the goods. The finish with Kingston going over clean as a sheet was awesome. Jungle Boy vs Luchasaurus: Awesome opener. Great pace and action. Luchasaurus looked good on top and Jungle Boy sold like a mother fucker. That had to have been the most non-contrived destroyer I have ever seen. Loved the fire from Jungle Boy. This was very much a tip of the hat to Taker/HBK, but remained really rooted in their own history. Death Triangle vs The Elite: A fun cocaine trios match. I've never been super into the my turn-your turn spots, but I feel very over them and wasn't into that part of the match. Even still, this featured a lot of pace and athleticism to carry the pace and energy from the opener. It was fun to see the elite back. Shame we got the anti-punk chants. I'm ready to put it all behind us to be honest. Cargill vs Rose: I'm not going to lie... the highlight of this match was Cargill's gear (respectfully). Cargill has such a presence. She is a star. She still needs to hit her stride in the ring. Sometimes she knocks it out of the park and other times there seems to be a disconnect. This felt like the latter. It wasn't all bad. Cargill continues to build that championship, but it feels like they need to sort out an exit strategy for her before it becomes a bigger challenge than it should be. Claudio v Danielson v Jericho v Sammy: One of my two favorite matches of the night. I absolutely adored this. They did a great job weaving the stories together and making you want to see more of combos like Claudio v Dragon and Claudio v Sammy. I heard some folks on a podcast really down on the finish, so I assume this was a thing on the twitter machine, but I thought they worked through it really well. Maybe if the comentary team had outright said something like "judas effect to the stomach" it wouldn't even have stuck out that much. Didn't bother me at all. I thought this was tremendous. Something I'll have to watch again before I finalize my MOTY list. Saraya v Baker: I hated the build to this, but everyone seemed up for the match itself and that really helped. For what this match could be I thought it was solid. The energy and emotion of the match might serve as a good reset for this whole thing and everyone involved, which would be nice. Joe v Hobbs v Wardlow: This felt a bit like it underwhealmed me given how excited I was for this hoss fight. It wasn't bad, but it didn't blow me away. I'll also never really be upset with Joe winning a match like this. It was a bit of a surprise and I suspect it is just a way to Wardlow on the ROH ppv. I think this is sort of win-win. If we get Wardlow v Joe at the ppv and Wardlow wins it back... COOL. This has been an OK reign. They could amp up his second reign. If we get any other permutation of these three (triple threat rematch or Hobbs v Joe) or even something else and Wardlow winds up moving on... COOL. Wardlow moving on from what has been a fine reign without being pinned for his belt would be ok with me. He has still been on an upward trajectory and there are lots of potential feuds for him out there. Sting/Darby v Jarrett/Lethal: Never bet against a Sting/Darby match. This was so much fun. Singh's spot with Darby was absolutely insane. Jarrett had his working boots on. One of the better Lethal performances (I say that as not a huge Lethan fan myself). Sting and Darby vs the entire world of pro wrestling... please and thank you! Hayter v Storm: This might be my favorite women's match in AEW history. Holy shit. I'm a huge Hayter fan and am super pumped for her to be champ, but Storm worked her ass off. She has a really good reign and, unfortunately for her, she was in the ring with one of the most white-hot wrestlers in the company. This was absolutely awesome. They had me biting on so many near falls. I was 100% invested. Another match I'll have to revisit before I finalize my MOTY list. Acclaimed v Swerve/Lee: I put this right along side Hayter/Storm and the ROH Title Match as the highlights of the night. This was some pitch perfect storytelling. Keith Lee really stood out in that regard, but everyone knocked the narrative out of the park. The arm injury added an awesome layer to this. I think I preferred this to their other two matches. It had such depth and the finish was extremely well executed and rewarding. MJF v Mox: It took guts to book this kind of world title match after a long ppv. I thought this was pretty good stuff on the whole. It was an awesome dynamic between Mox just believing he was better than MJF and being almost dismissive of him as a challenge was palpable in the match. MJF walking that line between heel and face in the way he worked this and played to the audience made the somewhat predictable finish that much more amazing. There were multiple ways I thought this could go, but Regal siding with MJF was by far the most interesting to me. Overall, I thought this show was pretty awesome. A few really good to great matches and quite a bit to sink one's teeth into coming out of this.

^^^^This^^^^^^ I couldn't care less about the ratings. I want wrestling companies to do well, but they don't interest me as talking point. I'm a wrestling fan, not a wrestling business fan. 100%. I want Kingston to get a push and at least a short title run. I genuinely think that could make for some awesome wrestling and I KNOW I'd mark out for it. But I'd also be completely content watching him have bangers with anyone and everyone. Just put him on my TV.

Holy shit... that is awesome. I really hope they use this to book an Akiyama v Kingston singles match at the PPV.

100% agree with Matt D. I'm a bit higher on it than most folks seem to be. But there are a lot of flaws and the week to week is inconsistent at best. The good to great match list on the other hand is out of this world.

Regarding Saraya, I agree that putting her against Britt wasn't a great idea. Honestly, the pressure is really on her come Full Gear. They have framed her as this top babyface, pitted her against the top heel along with the misguided dynamics NL pointed out, and built it all around her comeback match. I think lots of folks are going to have unreasonable expectations about this match. I'm not one of them. If this match is a disaster it could really derail Saraya in a big way.

Ohh yeah, I think it is a bad idea, but it is so very TK right now. Kingston is the man. If they give him a chance he will be fine, but it all does feel like some wasted time given how white hot he was.

I don't really understand why they decided to cool Kingston so much, but I do think it is the service of heating him back up following some "he lost his way" or "hit rock bottom" kinda storyline. It sort of feels like when Andrade was losing in NXT and they clearly had a plan for him, but it was still frustrating to folks. It isn't my favorite wrestling trope, but they are "keeping him strong". He beat Sammy before they overturned it. He had Page beat with a visible tap. They hyped that he has won quite a few matches in a row on Dark I believe. I'm not sure I think this is about punishing him. TK seems to get fixated on things and I think he got fixated on using using rumors/backstage news to inform stories around the time Kingston got into it with Sammy. I suspect he suspension was his punishment and then TK got the bright idea of doing this slow downward spiral and then redemption arch out of it. Regardless, it feels like they have a plan for him post Full Gear. The JAS/BCC stuff has lingered a bit too long for me as well. However, they introduced some interesting dynamics into this match at Full Gear. I'm less interested in from a "great match" perspective than I am what happens between Dragon and Claudio and what happens between Sammy and Jericho. Hopefully it sort of pushes the groups away from one another. As much as I love the BCC (in theory and in practice), I think they may begin to implode or at least splinter off at Full Gear. Britt absolutely cooked Saraya and no amount of emotion or vulnerability or wink-nod turns of phrase could fix that. Saraya coming in with the "I started this and this is my house" thing was a misfire. Mox v MJF is really hitting its stride. There are so many ways it can go, so many unknowns. It is going to be a blast. Whatever way it goes, I believe MJF does something to solidify his heel status. It was sort of smart to give fans some time and a way to cheer MJF because they wanted to do it, but I don't think this is going to lead to him being a face. At most it is a little preview of what that may look like down the road if/when it is time. I think I might have to come to terms with the fact that I like Jeff Jarrett, at least in small doses. I never really thought of myself as a guy who likes Jeff Jarrett, but I sort of dug his whole promo and presentation last night and I'm kind of excited for his tag match. I have no real interest in Jay Lethal and remain absolutely dumbfounded that he is continuously featured on my TV (which they went out of their way to do this week), but other than that, I'm weirdly into the match. This is all based on the optimism that Jarrett will be a short term TV personality and may do stuff sporadically at best. I have zero interest in him being a staple of the show Also, I genuinely want Dutt v Danhausen on the buy in. Bryan Danielson is so casually the best wrestler in the world. It is absolutely bonkers. That 2/3 falls match was quite good. For the most part, most of the things that feel like contrivances in Sammy's matches worked well here. I know a lot of folks are having better, or at least more shiny years, but I remain steadfast that there is no better wrestler in the world than Danielson and he can prove it at the drop of a hat. Joe turning on wardlow and presumably joining the TNT title match at Full Gear is another example of TK stuffing talent onto the PPV, but I am way down for that three way hoss fight.

I don't mind this particular tournament, but it does feel a bit like they do a lot of them. In fairness their hand was sort of forced with the last one. It sort of looks like they are trying to build these #1 contenders tournament around the idea of elevating folks and forwarding stories. I expect Starks and maybe Page are going to get a lot of shine in this. I also suspect that Kingston's story will continue develop (excited about Starks, less so about Page personally). I'm interested to see which direction they go with Bandito and Rush, both have had world title matches somewhat recently (ROH and AEW, respectively). They seem to have plans for Cage in ROH, so he and Dante will probably do some wacky shit. It doesn't have quite as much fire power as previous tournaments, but I'd this tournament as a concept near the end of the year and if they can use it to get some momentum behind a few guys and/or stories (which I think they can), I'm for it.