AEW is now.... Undisputed?

Happy Holidays & Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary blog to the ODPH Podcast & 607 TWS on Twitch. On this week’s blog, we’re taking a deeper look at All Elite Wrestling’s Holiday Bash run going into a huge AEW Rampage on Christmas Day (9pm EST on TNT). There has been some noteowrthy moments coming from this past week’s AEW Dynamite but none were bigger than this one, which definitely had the internet buzzing:

On Wednesday, Kyle O’Reilly made his AEW debut. O’Reilly ran in the match involving Adam Cole & Orange Cassidy & made an immediate impact. O’Reilly, who had just left WWE NXT after their most recent WARGAMES Takeover show & follow-up, was heavily rumored to be going to AEW when he had the chance. Synonymous with Adam Cole (Bay Bay) & Bobby Fish, this wasn’t a big stretch to think O’Reilly would bring his talents here.

However, the question now becomes where does he fit into the AEW big picture. Starting off with re-teaming with Fish (reDRagon FTW!!!) & “loosely” rejoining Cole is the early prediction after Wednesday. That move can only lead to an Elite (Omega/Young Bucks) v. FKA Undisputed Era. Who becomes the faces & heels of that storyline should be interesting. From there, things become more hazy.

O’Reilly & Fish could make a run at the tag belts but how stacked is that division for them to really make some waves? They’re easily contenders for the belts off their incredible track record, but is that enough to jump the line over Santana & Ortiz? FTR? Private Party, who were long thought to be THE next big team? Throw in the rumors of the Briscoes coming in and there’s only so much space for them to get a run.

Another option would be stay as a singles competitor & vie for a belt. O’Reilly was doing that in NXT after feuding with Cole so it’s not out of thought to run that back, but once again, the same problem stands. With such an influx of talent arriving, can he jump the line to go for a belt? Either way, AEW just landed a great star to their roster & hopefully he gets the chance to showcase his skills for a belt sooner than later (cause we all NEED more O’Reilly air guitar in our lives).

This was some of the best face paint you’ll ever see in wrestling. As for the rest of the show, nothing else really jumped out except for a nasty scare involving Sting throwing MJF over the top rope and MJF coming down VERY badly on his neck. Entertaining matches but not too much else earth shattering. More than likely, AEW was holding out for Rampage this week, where 2 matches really jump off the page:

FORGET SANTA CLAUS….HOOK ARRIVES IN HOMES FRIDAY NIGHT!!!!

In all seriousness, the wrestler who’s winning over the IWC quicker than anyone in recent memory comes back to AEW TV with a bigger opponent to face off with In Bear Bronson. This should be a better eye test to see how Hook matches up with the AEW heavyweight roster.

There is one other match that is jumping off the page as well:

Sammy Guevara puts up the TNT Championship against THE RHODESLANDER aka Cody Rhodes. All signs point to a title change here. Guevara hasn’t exactly been lighting Dynamite on fire since winning the belt & it was only a matter of time before the “Heel Not Heel” Rhodeslander crept back in the title picture. What will be interesting is how the live crowd on Dynamite reacts after the title chance. And if anyone is wondering why they’re gonna do the title switch, this picture sums it up best:

Love him or Hate him, Cody will move the needle & get a loud reaction. Has Sammy done the same with his in-ring work as champion? That all said, predicting #ANDNEW on Christmas Day.

Last but not least for this week, Xcite Wrestling has announced former Ring Of Honor Champion Dalton Castle with face Dan Barry at “Year of the Xcite” on January 1st. For more information: Xcitewresting.com

That’s all for this week. For more pro-wrestling talk, check out the latest from the ODPH podcast & 607TWS.

Happy holidays & thanks for reading!

Ken M