Welcome back for an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere. On this edition, I’m doing a bit more of a deep dive for AEW’s next moves after All Out. As heard on the ODPH Podcast this week, All Elite Wrestling had it’s best PPV card to date (Grade: A-) this past Sunday. Tony Khan stated (on Busted Open Radio) recently that they buyrate for All Out was “well over 200,000 buys” There were stand-out moments, big surprises & one hell of a candidate for Match of The Year with the Lucha Bros. winning the tag team titles from the Young Bucks. Penta’s look says it all:
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
There was quite the buzz for the days following until we got to AEW Dynamite. 1.3 million viewers tuned into see where AEW was heading on the road to their next PPV: Full Gear (slated for Nov. 6th in St. Louis). What we got was a LOT of talking & a lot less action. One week down & how does everything fare now? Let’s see how the biggest debuts look to be heading now:
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
CM PUNK
The biggest domino to fall & affect pre-ALL Out was CM Punk’s return to pro-wrestling. The Match against Dary Allin was a LOT better than expected. Great throwback knods to the Bret Hart/123 Kid match of years past. Punk showed he’s still got it & lead Darby to his best match in AEW.
However, Wednesday was more of an uncertain feel for what’s next for Punk. He did hype work putting over the company & the movement happening. Punk also said he’s letting the AEW fans guide him on who’s next. Team Taz confronted him & “got next”.
It appears Punk’s doing a “Rocky-esque” comeback story here. Working his way back up the card is a different turn that I wasn’t expecting but wondering how long this will last before he’s going to take the AEW TNT title from Miro. After not dropping it to Eddie Kingston, a Punk/Miro collision seems like it will happen sooner than later. Who else than the “best in the world” to take the title from the “redeemer” with a comeback story built in? Maybe not at Full Gear, but more than likely Revolution.
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
RUBY SOHO
THE best debut on AEW All Out! Why? Soho appearing as the Joker in the Women’s Casino Battle Royal showcased a BIG addition in a women’s division that needed some star power. Does she move the ratings meter as much as Punk or the other 2 debuts? No, but Soho will bring eyes to the Women’s division & give them a legit made star to build around.
It appears Soho is getting immediately pushed for the title vs. Britt Baker & while she’s worthy of it, I was hoping they’d wait on this. One knock on AEW is it appears that the minute a big (former) WWE star debuts, they seem to be pushed into a title program. In this case, I’d much rather see Soho come in & feud with some other wrestlers first (Nyla Rose, Big Swole, Jade Cargill) then go for the belt. There’s a title program overlooked right now & that’s with Baker & Thunder Rosa. They’ve got a bigger history & Soho should be lined up for the winner of that.
Either way, Soho’s addition is more impactful to AEW than a lot of people realize.
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
ADAM COLE
The biggest SHOCK of the weekend! Cole, who helps redefine WWE NXT for years & looked groomed to do the same on WWE TV, made the jump to AEW when his contract ran out. It was heavily rumored but nothing was certain till you heard the music. Cole re-unites with the Young Bucks & co. in the Elite & is a huge addition to a very stacked main event scene. It was the move that had fans talking all week. The question now became: where does Cole go now?
However, Dynamite didn’t really give answers. Other than barking at Tony Schiavone, it wasn’t a memorable promo he gave. AEW Rampage didn’t do much better. Cole is scheduled to face Kaz on the next AEW Dynamite but after that, it is very uncertain. Cole is a main event guy & Kenny Omega is off the board for opponents (for now). Being an Elite lackey will only last for so long till title matches become too much to ignore.
In the meantime, how bout a Cole vs. a returning “Hangman” Adam Page program, Bay-Bay?
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
BRYAN DANIELSON
Danielson had long been connected with CM Punk in signing with the company. Danielson was last seen on WWE TV months ago and fans were wondering what was next. It was surprising to see him debut here instead of the NYC show to cap off the PPV. The biggest take away of all this is: Forget the “Yes” movement. We are now back to the “American Dragon” era.
Much like Cole, Dynamite didn’t do a lot to say anything new. It almost felt like deja vu to Sunday. Great moment for fans, but nothing real game changing. Now all signs appear to point towards Omega/Danielson at Full Gear for the world championship.
This works and it doesn’t. Omega has been booked so strong that the only people beating him are gonna be major main event players. Danielson is one. Skipping the line to make this program happen quickly though isn’t the best idea. The guy who should be the one to beat Omega is Adam Page. Danielson winning will be good, but not as good as Page winning.
If AEW is smart, Bryan’s best WWE feud is arguably The Miz. There’s a guy on their roster who is compared to MIz a lot, OVER AF, can carry himself on the mic & could take the blueprint for that feud to a whole other level. His name: MJF. It appears (for the love of God please) the feud with Jericho is done, so why not give him “The American Dragon” next? That’s money to be made!
No matter how you break it down, AEW made some big-time moves with their 4 latest additions. There is potential for this to really work, but will they or won’t they. Main event talent belongs in Main event feuds. Are they poised to go that route? Only time will tell how Elite these moves are….
Hit me up on Twitter & let me know what you think of AEW’s big roster editions. Thanks for reading!