JEFF HARDY = ALL ELITE/AEW REVOLUTION FALLOUT/GCW ASTRONAUT

Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast & 607TWS (on Twitch & podcast form). The major headline grabs have been coming off the heels of All Elite Wrestling’s “AEW Revolution” pay per view. A very solid card of pro wrestling (5 hours worth including pre-show) that left AEW fans very happy. However, the entire wrestling world was buzzing on Wednesday night during AEW Dynamite. After weeks of rumors & hints, fans finally witness the AEW debut of the one & only Jeff Hardy

Hardy was released from WWE after a very weird moment at a house show late last year. No need to speculate on that situation. What should be the takeaway now is: The Hardy Boys are now in one of the deepest tag team divisions in all of wrestling. This move is a win for all parties involved. For AEW, it’s an established team that you can make some dream matches happen with. Jeff & Matt vs. Santana & Ortiz is first one on my list. This also helps AEW with adding depth to Ring Of Honor. Pending on what is going to be the final vision there, the Hardy Boys will be great additions on either roster wherever they fall.

For Matt, this is a big win. Since his debut with AEW, Matt seemed (imo) not to find a set groove in AEW. With the “Broken” persona, that went only so far with All Elite. After that was the transition to “Big Money Matt” & the HFO. With so many people under that faction, imo, it just never worked and was very confusing. Matt has a great creative mind and seeing him back with Jeff usually leads to some great new stories. i feel we will see start after the program with Andrade and the AFO (?) is over.

Lastly, Jeff gets to wipe away the messy divorce from WWE & get focused on having some great matches. There’s a bunch of opponents for him to have some classics with. Hopefully being in AEW re-ignites that fire under him and we get the “charismatic enigma” rolling again (just no Willow. That was awful).

If it were not for Hardy’s debut, the other debuts would have been the lead. On Sunday night, AEW added two new members to the roster. First up was “Swerve” Strickland. Swerve has crushed it no matter where he’s wrestled at & was one of the more surprising WWE releases in 2021. The “Hit Row” stable was gaining momentum & a high draft pick on the main roster draft. However, after one match, they never were prominently featured on WWE programming.

Swerve is a great add for AEW. Normally I would worry about the inflated roster, but with the Ring Of Honor deal, I feel more comfortable with their signings. Whoever it is will be will get ring time. Swerve will be stealing spotlights once he gets started. In his first match on AEW rampage, Swerve main-evented against longtime 205Live rival Tony Nese. It’s only a matter of When an not IF Swerve is in a title program. Post April 1st (next ROH Show), fans should see something started for this amazing superstar/mogul.

The other BIG signing is the one and only William Regal. The longtime commissioner of WWE NXT & all around wrestling legend made a BIG splash appearing at the end of the Moxley/Danielson match at revolution. Next time we saw all 3, we have a new faction in AEW. Fans also had a heartfelt promo from Regal which anyone complaining about the time he took needs to back off. Regal is a legend and deserved the moment he had. Where we are going long-term is uncertain, but with Regal’s experience, AEW would be foolish not to utilize him to the fullest on & off screen.

Another noteworthy moment from AEW this week is….we have a NEW TNT Champion! Scorpio Sky defeated Sammy Guevara & kept his win streak going to become champion. Sky is set to defend the title against Wardlow next week on Dynamite. It is LONG overdue Sky is back in the title picture, let alone champion. One of the best on the roster, Sky became lost in the shuffle (along with Ethan Page) so when this streak was announced, it really felt like it came out of nowhere. Now as champion, Sky should look to have some big prime-time matches (pending on what happens next week).

Last bit of AEW news: It was announced Britt Baker will defend her AEW women’s title against Thunder Rosa one year to the day of their MOTY candidate street fight. This time, they’re going to be in a steel cage. It’s an odd set-up for this match as Rosa lost on Sunday to Baker but was then put into a title eliminator match with Leelya Hirsch, which she won. End of the day, it doesn’t matter how we got here, it’s that we’re hear and there is NO WAY Rosa leaves without the gold.

Speaking of MOTY candidates, On Saturday Night, Game Changer Wrestling took over Atlanta Center Stage for “GCW Astronaut.” One that card, fans FINALLY got “All Heart” Blake Christian vs. ROH Campion Jonathan Gresham in an absolute classic. The whole card was extremely good, but this match stands out. As we’ve preached on 60TWS, 2022 is the #YEARofALLHEART. If you’re not familiar, you need to catch up on the work of Blake Christian since leaving WWE. Check out the replay of Fite TV ASAP.

Last but not least, Shout out to “Super B” Brandon Sevilla who kicked off Xcite Wrestling’s #XCITE10 with a big win. Super B will be stopping by 607TWS in the near future. If you’re not following him on social media, make a point to fix that asap.

Positive thoughts and energy for Big E & Scott Hall

Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what wrestling you’re checking out. For more pro-wrestling coverage, make sure you’re following all the 607 podcast family. Thanks for reading.

Ken M