Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH podcast and 607TWS on Twitch (& now in podcast form). On this edition, it’s the road to Wrestlemania, the WWE’s biggest event of the year. There will be a deep dive on this week’s ODPHpod breaking that card down. For this blog, let’s take a quick trip around some other federations and stories that are making some noise going into this week. And here we go…..
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
HOW GOOD WAS THIS MATCH?!?!
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
All Elite Wrestling kicked off AEW Dynamite with an absolute classic between Dax Harwood of FTR vs. CM Punk. Classic storytelling that many feel was a love letter to Bret “the Hitman” Hart. Everything about this match clicked. The crowd and fans watching at home were locked in from the jump. Obviously, with who was involved, you knew this was gonna be something special & it delivered. Maybe that Dog Collar match at AEW Revolution finally awoke something? Maybe it’s because he had a great opponent who’s in arguably the best tag team on the planet right now facing him and at pushing him? In any case, anyone who missed it, make a point to check this match out. Definitely wouldn’t mind seeing this ran back sometime. However from that lead, the rest of the show started to slowly lose steam…then this happened:
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Fans had a promo segment with Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti addressing Dan Lambert with his AEW American Top Team faction (TNT Champion Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page, Paige Van Zant). In case anyone didn’t know, Guevara and Conti have become a bit of a polarizing couple imo. Ever since their relationship went public and other drama involving Guevara ( I don’t want to get into that situation), they have had very split opinions on social media from fans.
On Wednesday, Lambert wore the original TNT Championship belt while champion Sky had the newer belt. In story line purposes, Guevara wore both belts (old and interim) after winning a unification bout with Cody Rhodes. After battling on the mic, Guevara claimed that he and Conti did some “adult things” while wearing the belt Lambert kissed and left some “souvenirs” on the belt. Even post match, there was a tweet with a picture of Conti and Guevara naked with the belt alluding to what they “did”. That comment drew a lot of negative attention from some AEW members, most notably Eddie Kingston and fans who thought the comments was disrespectful to the belt and its’ legacy with the late Brodie Lee. I agree with that as well.
I understand that the promo was to get a “shock” moment but considering the PR damage that was done when WWE stars were involved in a situation like that, it was a bad look. Why after that promo was done, Conti and Guevara were trending on socials with Brad Maddox right behind them? For AEW, this is another situation of where promos like this need to be ran thru the proper channels. Knowing the legacy of Brodie Lee and what that belt means, it was a complete insult. Seeing the negative fan reaction, doubling down on it with the tweet after didn’t help matters.
Should any more drastic action be done about this? No. I’ve read where people online want Guevara and Conti off AEW and that’s way too much. IMO, What should be done is better regulation by AEW about promo content and crossing that line. It’s a fine line that needs to be walked but I can’t really see the brass at Warner Media being cool with this long term. There are better ways to cut promos and getting that type of “heat” is not a direction that Guevara and Conti want to go in.
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Hook’s reaction was my reaction hearing that segment as well. Btw… Hook v. Danhausen? ok…..
Now onto some better news to talk about:
Photo Credit: Ring Of Honor Wrestling
This Friday, Ring Of Honor returns with SuperCard of Honor taking place on Fite.TV with a new look for the well respected promotion. This will be the first card under the Tony Khan regime. There have been some small changes to the card but the big matches are still locked and loaded. Gresham vs. Bandido for the undisputed ROH title & Briscoes vs. FTR for the tag team titles are the big draws but there’s another match that was added that fans shouldn’t sleep on:
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Jay Lethal (pictured above) will be taking on Lee Moriarty! Expect some great wrestling action in this one (as well as Swerve Strickland vs. Alex Zayne). Lethal, the longtime franchise player in ROH returns for this Pay-Per-View is an interesting move. Lethal was one of the first wave of ROH talent to sign elsewhere when everyone was released from their contracts. Now coming bck full circle, will he be the face of ROH 2.0 now or how will the landscape of Ring Of Honor now change with Khan at the helm. We will see the beginnings starting this Friday.
Photo Credit: Game Changer Wrestling
Game Changer Wrestling once again takes over Wrestlemania weekend with the Collective. It is a showcase of great cards throughout the weekend such as Glory Pro, For The Culture, & Effy’s Big Gay Brunch to name a few. However, the one that has become the most attatched to the Collective is Joey Janela’s Spring Break. This card has literally everything on it & will be the one GCW fans will be buzzing about. Personally, I can’t wait to see Joey Janela vs X-Pac. It’s gonna be a loaded weekend of shows so make sure to check out Fite.TV and watch some great indie shows before or after Wrestlemania.
Just a reminder that “Super B” Brandon Sevilla will be in studio on the April 4th edition of 607TWS!
That’s all for this week. Hit me up on Twitter and let me know what pro wrestling you’re checking out and what card this weekend you’re most excited to see! As always, thanks for reading!