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Fantastic. "Putting his draft obligations in question". Hoping he shows up in a neck brace.

Time will tell indeed, but they couldn't have sold that This is Serious Shit any harder than having Big Bad Dad Shad make his debut.

You're not wrong in the least, but I fucking love it that Jericho turned the internet's opinion of him into his new reinvention. That's some epic trolling combined with some epic carny work finding a way to make money off it. That's some HOF level work, bubbas.

Stardom ladies being a semi-regular thing in AEW is going to be a hoot. Also, Kenny stopped as short as humanly possible calling Rossy a pedo on one of his livestreams. What was possibly more alarming is that he heavily implied it was an open secret and people who want to praise him better watch their words because they'll end up looking really bad if/when the full story comes out. Made me think of all the times Cornette made off color jokes about Kenny being around underage Japanese girls, and how it might end up he was the one protecting them.

They’ve showed some decent restraint to not pull the “heels attack Tony Khan” angle up until now but it’s finally done. It’s all in the follow-up. Also, I’d have bet good money that this Jericho shit was leading to ANOTHER stable where 80% of the matches around it see Jericho facing someone to force them to join. Has he missed any TV since Dynamite started? Seems like every other worker in the company has went away, at least for a bit, but he’s there every week. Did he even miss much time when MJF turned on him?

Sting starts the night with a bang winning the TV title. Sid actually needs some help to get past Reed. Luger has better luck than Gilbert. Debeers manages to screw Atlas out of a fair match again. Terri might've just earned herself a women's title match. Piper brought a partner alright, just not the kind we expected. Sting's banner night continues as he breaks Sid's streak. Reed avenges his friend by helping Luger advance. Woman steps up to make sure her boys retain the tag titles. Luger legitimately deserves a award for his acting in the match with Sting. Made sure it he caught everyone off guard when he literally dragged Flair across the finish line. Woman's Horsemen now have all the gold but Luger now has a shot at Flair's title, I'll be looking forward to how that's resolved.

It's wild because it's a call back to a match they had in February. It's the exact same spot, except with Ilja hitting his move.

It's big brained shit but at the same time it can come across as cowardly. Yeah, give me all my dream matches while I won't commit to holding the top belt or any belt at all, thus making long-term feuds an impossibility.

Agreed, for as much as he loves wrestling, it's pretty staggering how he's doesn't see the upside of putting 1 guy over big instead of putting as many people over as possible. What makes it more weird is that he saw how that formula work when he did it with Homicide and Kofi.

Meltzer actually made a fairly compelling argument that Danielson should have gone over Ospreay. If Ospreay just wins non-stop through All In or whenever he gets the World title, he'll have no challengers. If his first loss is closer to All In, how does he get a World title shot? A Danielson loss would give him something to fight for that goes a little beyond, "Has great matches." But then, Danielson's "aw shucks, I just want to put guys over" act is in its own way as selfish as stuff not working for Hogan, brother.

Yeah, of all the options to delay him challenging Swerve and make him wait till August, an IC Title match was a bizarre move. And if he loses the match then it's just downright stupid.

Not to mention, Ospreay has all that momentum and they book him with lame-ass Roderick Strong (good worker, negligible character) for a title no one cares about?

-siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh-

Caught the angle at the end (thinking I was tuning in to watch the finish of Mox vs Hobbs, lol) and I truly hope they have a decent story to tell with this one because if the The Elite 2.0 become a heel authority figure I'm out. Done seen that fucking shit too many times in my life.

Ilja and Trick doing the Bryan/Will face off spot literally days later was hilarious.

APRIL 17, 1989 MID-SOUTH COLISEUM “The Crowning” Round 1 (The Winner of the Crowning Gets $100,000 & a Future WCW World Title Shot) “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert © vs Sting WCW World Television Title is on the Line Sting defeats “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert by submission when he followed up a Stinger Splash with the Scorpion Leglock. wrEddie Gilbert was once again by himself as Missy Hyatt has not been seen since Clash of Champions when her two men, Gilbert and Tatum, squared off against each other. Whether it was Missy not being there or Sting being on top of his game, Gilbert struggles to get much going in this bout. Sting did little celebrating when given the TV title as he said that it is great to be a champion but he really wants to earn that World Title! Hacksaw Butch Reed vs Psycho Sid with Oliver Humperdink Give Hacksaw some credit here as he went toe to toe with the monster across from him. Both men hit each other with some huge moves and there were many near pinfalls. This was the first time since bringing Sid to WCW that Humperdink actually looked nervous. This must be why he thought he needed to get involved. After Sid had nailed Reed in the corner with a closed fist, ref Pee Wee Anderson tried to step in and admonish Sid. Humperdink took the opportunity to wrap the tag rope around Reed’s neck and choke him. Reed was flailing around but the ref couldn’t see the rope. Finally, Reed managed an elbow to the face of Humperdink and the manager went flying. This took a lot of energy out of Reed who staggered out of the corner right into a powerbomb and a victory for Psycho Sid. “The Total Package” Lex Luger © vs Terry Funk (WCW United States Title is in the Line) Funk pulled out every dirty trick in the book and had Luger in some serious trouble until Luger rallied for the victory with the clothesline/Torture Rack Combo. “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas vs Col. Debeers While we have already seen some big matches, this just might be the one the crowd has been waiting for. Everyone in the building hoped Debeers finally would get what is coming to him. Every time Jerry Jarrett has thought he has Debeers set up to wrestle someone of the likes of Atlas, Debeers has found a way out of it. Well, tonight, it looks like we will finally see Debeers put-up or shut-up. Debeers comes out first and the Mid-South Coliseum is shaking from the raucous boos. Debeers does everything he can to insight them even more. These boos change to cheers as Atlas takes his first steps from behind the curtain. WHAM… from behind… the Iron Sheik, Mr. Saito, and the Russian Assassin attack Atlas. The beating is brutal and there is no help coming for Atlas. Reed has just been power-bombed from Sid and Ron Simmons is not in the building. After the attack has done its job, the Anti-American Coalition roll Atlas into the ring. Even though Atlas can barely stand up, Debeers is screaming at Pee Wee Anderson to ring the bell. Anderson, seems unsure what to do but Atlas is in the ring and is standing up, even though propped up by the ropes. Anderson decides to call for the bell and the match is under way. This takes only a few seconds as Debeers connects with a reverse piledriver on Atlas and then we get the 3-count. After Anderson has raised Debeers hand, he struts out of the ring like he has just accomplished some major feat. With Debeers already gone, the rest of the AAC, attack Atlas once again. Finally, we get Sting and Luger who come to his rescue but the damage is done. Many in the crowd wonder if we will see Atlas in the near future. WOMEN’S TAG TEAM MATCH Magnificent Mimi & Wendy Richter vs Madusa Micelli & Terri Powers It is like these 4 women realize that the future of WCW women’s wrestling depends on the show they put on tonight. All 4 give everything they got with the end coming in a moment of chaos. Madusa was in playing the face in peril and finally made the hot tag to Terri. Terri, comes in with a quick flex and then goes wild as both Mimi and Richter are being throttled from pillar to post. Madusa recovers enough and we go 2 on 2 with the babyfaces in complete control. The end comes in spectacular fashion as Terri and Madusa connect with Double Superplexes on the heels. Nobody seems to know or care who the legal women are in the ring but it doesn’t matter as Madusa covers Richter and Terri covers Mimi for the double pin and the win. The crowd seems to really like this new element to WCW. LOSER LEAVE TOWN STREET FIGHT MATCH Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Magnificent Muraco vs Roddy Piper & Mystery Partner Interesting thing here was with Snake and Muraco already in the ring, Piper came out all alone. When ref Teddy Long asked who is partner was, Piper negatively shook his head. Snake and Muraco, in street clothes ready for a rumble, told Piper that the contract was signed and that he had no choice but to face them alone. Piper shrugged like it was no big deal. WHAM… Muraco and Snake with the immediate double team attack. While there are not really any rules in this street fight, Teddy Long was able to get Muraco to the apron for a somewhat normal tag team match set up. Muraco and Snake were just too much for Piper and, at times, the beating was just brutal. Piper has blood dripping down his face as he is being tossed around like a sack of potatoes. It almost seemed too easy. Muraco and Snake were having a grand time. Roberts eventually connects with a DDT but instead of covering Piper, Muraco and Snake just watch Piper suffer. They start toying with the fans as Piper eventually begins to crawl to the corner. The camera catches Piper untying the bottom turnbuckle as Muraco, with a big smirk on his face starts to strut to him! WHAM… Piper, out of nowhere, nails Muraco with a loaded right hand with what appears to be a pair of brass knuckles. Muraco goes down… as is Piper. Snake unsure of what happens rushes over to check on his teammate. Piper is now up. WHAM… Brass knuckles punch to Snake. Piper drags himself onto of Snake… Teddy Long, surprised as anyone, makes the 3-count. Somehow, Piper has survived! The camera goes back and shows the replay of Piper getting the brass knuckles out of the bottom turnbuckle. Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone are shocked but admit that nothing should ever be put past Roddy Piper. “The Crowning” Round 2 (The Winner of the Crowning Gets $100,000 & a Future WCW World Title Shot) “WCW World Television Champ” Sting vs Psycho Sid with Oliver Humperdink (TV Title is not on the line) As the match starts, we notice that Humperdink has come to the ring with a cane. Jim Ross suggests that he must have gotten injured when he fell off the ring apron after getting hit by Reed’s elbow when he was choking Hacksaw. As for the match itself, Sting does a great job of selling all of Sid’s big moves while Psycho Sid plays it pretty stiff and No Sells much of what Sting is doing. This gives the match the illusion that it is being dominated by Humperdink’s monster. Sting finally makes a comeback and has Sid up against the ropes and set up for the Stinger Splash. As Sting screams to the crowd, Humperdink climbs up on the apron. Sting rushes across the ring and leaps…. WHAM… Humperdink with the new cane accidently cracks his own man in the head. Couple that with the Splash and Sid is down. Sing covers him. Ref Pee Wee Anderson rushes in. 1…2…3! Jim Ross: Oh bawh Gawd! Sting has won. The streak is over. Sid has suffered his first defeat in WCW. Sting is going to the finals of the Crowning. “WCW United States Champion” Lex Luger vs Colonel Debeers (U.S. Title in not on the line) Luger seems to have learned from earlier in the night and is paying attention on his way to the ring as he knows that any member of the Anti-American Coalition could attack at any time. He also is coming to the ring with Hacksaw Butch Reed in case of an all-out attack. Colonel Debeers, surprisingly, does come to the ring by himself. As soon as he steps foot in the ring, he demands the house microphone. Colonel Debeers: It is not bad enough that I am being forced against my will to wrestle this freak Lex Luger but I will not wrestle with the likes of this creature, Butch Reed at ringside. He is not a manager and frankly, I have no idea what he is doing here. Reed walks right up to Debeers and looks him dead in the eye… Hacksaw Reed: I am as much of a manager as any of your goons that attacked my friend Tony Atlas a little while ago but, because I have so much respect for the WCW fans, I want them to see you get broken in half by Lex Luger, so I will leave. Oh, but one thing before I go! WHAM… Reed unloads on Debeers with a huge right hand and then tells Pee Wee Anderson to ring the bell like he did before in the match with Debeers and Atlas. Reed actually only goes halfway up the ramp and takes a seat. DING…DING…. DING! The match is under way and starts with Luger wrestling from the top but give Debbers some credit. He used enough dirty tactics to change the momentum. The crowd really gets behind Luger and he starts one last come back. After a few big blows by Luger he calls for the “Torture Rack.” From out of nowhere, here comes Saito, Iron Sheik and The Russian Assassin. Give Hacksaw Butch Reed some credit as he fights off 3 members of the AAC long enough for Luger to hoist up Debeers into The Rack. It looks like Luger is going to break him in half. Debeers is flailing around like a fish out of water and he finally submits! The crowd is going wild. Luger dumps Debeers to the ground just as the AAC get around Reed and head to the ring. Luger, knowing that he has another match coming up, exits stage left and escapes the attack. As Luger thanks Hacksaw Reed, Jim Ross hypes up the final match of the Crowning as Luger will face his best friend, Sting, for $100,000 and a shot at the WCW World Title. WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard © vs Ted Dibiase & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams One thing that did happen in this match that both Ted Dibiase and Dr. Seath predicted was that at no time did Ric Flair make any attempt to leave the locker room and help his fellow Horsemen. That doesn’t mean that it was going to be fought evenly and by rules. Woman did her best to make sure the Horseman left with the belt. From distracting the ref, to grabbing hold of Dibiase’s leg to courageously smacking Dr. Death across the face, Woman was involved from the opening bell. Despite all that Woman did, the Horseman were in trouble in this one. There was no way to match Dr. Death’s power and Dibiase can simply do it all in the ring. While the Horsemen did have plenty of time wrestling from the top, it appeared that their title reign was in jeopardy. That is until Woman sprays Ted Dibiase in the eyes with perfume. Dibiase is now like Ray Charles wrestling a bear… He has no shot. Dr. Death tried to take over but he is still not 100% and eventually the Horseman are in control. We see Dibiase tag himself in to try and give Dr. Death a break but this just led to the end as he was literally wrestling blind. An Arn Anderson spinebuster followed by a slingshot suplex by Tully along with a grab of the tights during the ref’s count and the Horsemen survive. The Finals of The Crowning (The Winner of the Crowning Gets $100,000 & a Future WCW World Title Shot) WCW United States Champion “The Total Package” Lex luger Vs WCW World Television Champion Sting Both men are obviously excited at the opportunity that this match presents but you tell they both wish the match was against someone else. The match starts with a true handshake followed by about 5 minutes of nothing. We get a few armbars and a few leglocks but this is neither man’s forte. Eventually, Sting and Luger shake hands again and both agree the match is ON! Each man gives it his all and we see some big moves by each. After about 10 more minutes, both men appear to be dead even. The crowd moans as out comes Woman! Nobody knows what is going on. Sting and Luger both look at her and then at each other as if to say, “Is she with you?” They both shrug their shoulders and begin to wrestle again. At one point, Luger pushes Sting to the corner. Woman pounces and for the second time tonight, the perfume bottle is out and she sprays Sting in the eyes. Luger is beside himself and chases her up the aisle. Luger runs back to the ring to see if Sting is okay. Sting, like Dibiase, is flailing around. He is clawing at his eyes. Luger puts his hand on him to try and help him. WHAM… Sting hits Luger by accident. Luger shrugs it off and tries to tells Sting what happened. Sting still can’t see. Luger again comes to his aid. WHAM… again Sting in self-defense mode, hits Luger. Luger seems frustrated even though he knows Sting is just trying to protect himself. WHAM… This time it is Luger with a huge clothesline. He figures the only way to get Sting the help he needs is to end the match. Luger picks up Sting… WHAM… Powerbomb! Luger mercifully covers Sting as Teddy Long makes the 3-count. Luger immediately calls for help as officials rush in and are pouring water all over Sting’s eyes. He is taken to the back as an upset Luger is not celebrating one of the biggest wins in his career. WCW WORLD TITLE MATCH “Nature Boy” Ric Flair with Woman © vs Jerry “The King” Lawler Mid-South Coliseum has seen its share of big matches before. They have blown the roof of the place both with cheers for their favorites including the King and deafening choruses of boos for those they hate. This one might have been the loudest of both worlds. By bringing wrestling back to Memphis, WCW has endeared it to the fans and now they get to cheer their hometown hero in a World Title match has them exploding with excitement. That is until Flair is lead to the ring by Woman. After what she just did to Dibiase and Sting, she is enemy #1. With these two in the match, we already know it is an instant classic. As we get near the 30-minute mark, we see the champ in some serious trouble. We have already seen him flip himself over the turnbuckle out onto the floor. He has suffered in agony at the King’s version of figure four. Lawler has pulled the strap down and nailed the middle rope fist drop. Now he is calling for the piledriver. Woman is up on the apron while the ref is admonishing her get down. WHAM… Flair has mustered the strength to shove The King into ref Pee Wee Anderson and down he goes. Woman, for the third time tonight, reaches into the purse for the perfume bottle. She starts toward the King. Suddenly the crowd erupts… Lex Luger is running to the ring. He heads straight for Woman who looks like she has seen a ghost. She takes off in the other direction and narrowly escapes up the ramp. Luger goes to Pee Wee Anderson but he is out… Luger goes to check on Lawler who is struggling to his feet. Luger helps him up and points him in the direction of Flair who is in big trouble. WHAM… Luger grabs Lawler’s arm and connects with a devastating short armed clothesline. Luger quickly drags Flair on top of Lawler. Next he drags Pee Wee Anderson over and uses his own arm to lift and drop Anderson’s arm 3 times for the World’s fastest 3 count. Luger basically in a full sprint makes an escape as he is dragging Flair behind him. They as he is dodging all types of debris on the way. Give Mid-South Coliseum security its due. Somehow, a riot was avoided as Jerry Lawler drags himself up on the bottom rope and stares out into the abyss and thinks how close he came to being WCW World Champion.

Having the same issues must be on TBS.

Is the sound off for anyone? It sounds like the commentary and crowd are significantly turned down.

Don't tell me Swerve is hurt.

Chucky T in the parking lot, let's go!!!!

I know that AEW's usual move after delivering a big PPV is to have a wet fart Dynamite days later, but they have what feels like the best opportunity in months to build some real momentum coming out of Dynasty with Swerve and (especially) Ospreay. Here's hoping that they buck that trend.

I had an epiphany today. Bear with me, as I struggle to try to explain myself as I go: When I was a kid growing up, my favorite wrestlers, as you can probably imagine, were just the top pushed babyfaces. Over the years, a lot of nostalgia makes it so that I fondly remember the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior & Jake "The Snake" Roberts. I'm able to separate the performer from the person, because I learned a lot more about each person over the years & none of them turned out to be super great dudes. I got into Japanese wrestling thanks to the internet become more stable at the end of the 90's. With watching Japan, tape trading & what not, I got into guys like Terry Funk & Stan Hansen. Other greats as well, too, like Kawada, Misawa, Kobashi, etc., but it was the Americans wrestling in Japan that stuck with me. It was kind of surreal to see a guy like Vader mean so little in WWF when he was such a monster in Japan. Or Scott Norton in WCW compared to Japan. When the Monday Night Wars were going on, I loved Raven & I used to really enjoy the Goldberg squash matches. Sting coming down to fight off all of the nWo by himself & hitting the Scorpion Death Drop on someone was must-see TV for me. I was real big into ECW in the late 90's too. Especially when they finally got their PPVs in my areas. I instantly became a fan of Rob Van Dam, The Dudley Boyz (who had the best finish I had ever seen!) and many more. So when my friends & I were talking, since most of us have been watching wrestling since the late 80's, we were talking about our favorite wrestlers over the years. I had my childhood favorites. I had my teenager favorites. I had my tape trading favorites & guilty pleasure wrestlers & all sorts of many guys from over the years, from all over the world. WWF, ECW, WCW, Japan... Then I realized, man, I never really give the proper respect to all the Indie wrestling I've watched over the years. Samoa Joe, despite wrestling in TNA, AEW & WWE, made me a believer because of his ROH run & the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I think Samoa Joe, just based off of the strength of his Ring of Honor run, is one of my favorite wrestlers. There was a time when I think ROH was the best promotion on the planet. Their roster was stacked. You had American Dragon, Jamie Noble, Homicide, Punk, Nigel, etc. all these crazy good wrestlers - many of which went on to much bigger things - and you had Samoa Joe holding down the fort. Looking like the ultimate bad ass. Sounding like the ultimate bad ass. Putting on a ton of good, believable, strong style matches. I still have the Joe Vs. Kobashi ROH DVD. It's a shame that Joe spent so long in TNA & got hurt because he deserved to have a bigger platform for a longer time but I'm glad he got his run in WWE & his run in AEW. Now that he's passed the torch to Swerve, I just wanted to give Joe his flowers because I feel like I've overlooked him a bit & he's one of the all-time greats, even if his peak was on the Indies.

The dance tonight is gonna be an all timer.

It's impossible to read too much into this as we get what seems like a glimpse of the finishing stretch, but it sure looks like it was an amazing spectacle. Super rabid atmosphere here as Londos is slamming O'Mahoney like crazy trying to put him down and he is constantly fighting back with Forearms and trying to hit the Irish Whip. Really dug the Full Nelson head slams O'Mahoney pulled off as well. Someone from the crowd yelling at Londos and calling him a "stupid little guerilla" got a legit laugh-out-loud out of me. Amazing footage of a historically important match, a minute and a half as it may be.

Time for a clip show. The longest thing here is maybe five minutes. Johnny Smith/Arc Angel vs. Bruce Hart/Kevin Brosny (Stampede 11/24/1989) Sometimes you wonder why two Hart brothers are hall of famers and a whole bunch of others aren't. Then you see Bruce Hart and you stop wondering. He is fortunately on the apron for most of this while the heels beat up Kevin Brosny. Arc Angel is a great big muscle guy most famous as Firebreaker Chip. From WCW Special Forces! He gets the pin with a Doomsday Device followed by a pretty dopey finisher where he does a vertical suplex setup but then drops the guy on his face. The highlight is when A. Angel runs into Brosny, and the color guy says it's like getting hit by a truck going, "60 miles an hour (or 100 kilometers depending on who you are)." Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith vs. Butch Masters/Skywalker Nitron (AJPW RWTL 12/1/1990) I could have sworn one of these guys was Kevin Nash, but it's not the case. One of them became an actor (he played Ajax in Troy), and the other one did motivational speaking. Good heat. Whichever tall guy it is gets booed hard, and we get a big pop when Dynamite throws him off the second rope. Which is followed by an even bigger pop for Johnny's missile dropkick. Good guys win after a DK headbutt. I really enjoyed this but only because I thought it was Kevin Nash getting manhandled by two short guys. Terry Funk & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith (AJPW RWTL 11/25/1990) Only a minute, but it’s odd to see even a minute of DK and Johnny beating up a couple NWA worlds heavyweight champions. And, you know, NWA champions back when it meant something. We’re not talking about Mike Rapada and Colt Cabana here. They work on Terry for about 45 seconds, who flops around like a trout. Then he and Smith do some pretty slick rollup stuff and Terry wins. Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith vs. Giant Baba/Andre the Giant (AJPW RWTL 12/4/1991) The British Bruisers aren't so lucky against these tall guys. You have to get used to watching Baba. When you have haven't seen him in a while, his movements look uncanny, like he’s a Ray Harryhausen effect. It's hard to believe he’d be racking up all those Meltzer stars years after this. He DDTs Johnny, and Andre just stands in front of DK in the corner to guard the pin. Probably a good use of Andre there.