Welcome to an all new edition of Blogs Count Anywhere, the complementary pro wrestling blog to the ODPH Podcast and 607TWS. This week has been pretty heavily dominated by WWE news. Whether it’s been Vince McMahon “retiring”, Triple H taking over creative or SummerSlam on July 30th (8pm EST Peacock Streaming), majority of headlines and coverage of pro wrestling has been focused there. For this blog, I’m highlighting some moments that fans should be keeping their eyes on. AEW started the week with their “Fight For The Fallen” event. During this event, $100,000 was donated by to Oceana, an organization devoted to ocean conservation. If any fans are interested in donating as well, check out Oceana.org/donate. For there, it was all wrestling as some story lines look to be forming for three noteworthy competitors. Let’s check it out, shall we?
Claudio Castagnoli
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
First off was Claudio Castagnoli. After winning the Ring Of Honor world title from Jonathan Gresham (with a whole lot of rumored drama behind the scenes), Claudio came out on AEW Rampage to address the fans. This was a cool moment as Claudio has always been a favorite to fans for his uncanny strength and abilities. Seeing him with his first singles world title was a great moment. Claudio’s first challenger was announced as Konosuke Takeshita is slated to wrestle Claudio at AEW Battle Of The Belts 3 on August 6th (TNT Network 8pm EST).
This will be an excellent match as Takeshita has been putting on some great matches in AEW along with the indies. Featuring Claudio on the show also helps this show, which (in theory) is a showcase of champions. The previous times have felt somewhat lackluster. The first BotB featured Sammy Guevara as TNT champ, Britt Baker as AEW women’s champ & “FTW”, a title fans are confused at its placement in the AEW/ROH landscape, champion Ricky Starks. The latest one featured AEW women’s champion Thunder Rosa vs. Nyla Rose in an excellent match, TNT Champion Scorpio Sky vs. Sammy Guevara and ROH world Champion Gresham vs Dalton Castle. The in-ring work has never been a question with these cards but the major hurdle (imo) has been building enough of storylines prior to the shows so that fans tune in on Saturday nights to watch. Trying to sell fans on watching an FTW title match when it’s been rarely seen as a viable title (Hook’s winning it this week might chang things. Wait and see) is tough. Throw in a lack of push (imo again) at the time for Rosa’s initial run as champ and introducing Gresham to the masses where he may not be as well known as he is on the IWC is extremely difficult.
What would be the smart play here is feature on AEW tv or YouTube specials an “embedded” series like the UFC uses for hyping up pay-per-view cards. A behind the scenes look at training and prep for the matches. Give this card a “Big Fight Feel” would work wonders. These are supposed to be special events, so make them special. Guessing the card will be Claudio/Takeshita as main, Thunder Rosa defending against either Toni Storm or a Nyla Rose rematch from BotB 2, and Wardlow defending TNT against Scorpio Sky. It’s a solid card to showcase if in unfolds like this and AEW really needs to drive that home to their fan base. At the very least, it helps ROH get more TV with their champion. It’s a win for Claudio so lets see how he runs with the ball as your ROH Champion on August 6th.
Ricky Strks
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Another noteworthy moment from this week was Ricky Starks made some big waves on AEW programming. After “losing” the FTW title to Hook in an impromptu open challenge after defeating Danhausen, Starks cut a fantastic emotional promo on the mic. It was abruptly ended by PowerHouse Hobbs turning on him and leaving him face down in the ring. As weird as this may sound, this was a BIG win for one of AEW’s future stars.
Starks had become lost in the shuffle until recently. “Team Taz” was once a faction with potential, but as time has gone on, it became an after thought. Brian Cage departed for (eventually) ROH. Hook became a fan-favorite and went his own way. Taz has been doing more commentary (which is another big win). That left Hobbs and Starks to become a formidable tag team. After feuding with Strickland and Lee, they wound up in a 3-way dance for the AEW Tag Titles. They fell short but had a great outing in the match. After this, a question I’ve had is where do they go from here as a team? The division is over loaded with talent and ROH isn’t on TV (yet). Starks has had all the tools to break out on his own and after this feud with Hobbs is done, Starks should be given a jet pack towards a program for the TNT title. I would LOVE to see him and Wardlow at Full Gear in November, but mark my words: Sooner than later, Starks will be a featured player on the AEW title landscape.
Stokley Hathaway and Lee Moriarty
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
FINALLY! Lee Moriarty, one of the best wrestlers on the planet appears to have something in the works to get more TV time. On AEW Rampage, he turned on former mentor Matt Sydel and joined up with Stokley Hathaway as his representative (ala Paul Heyman to Roman Reigns). Since he debuted in AEW, Moriarty has been relegated to spots here and there with more recent activity involving the ROH brand. last we saw, he was used to get Jonathan Gresham’s “heel” turn over to set up the ROH ppv. Plus, Stokley will add some charisma to any storyline he’s in. Take a look at the impact he’s had with Jade Cargill. With Stokley at Moriarty’s side, I feel this means big things for one of the best kept secrets in AEW/ROH.
Daniel Garcia
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Last but of AEW talk for the blog: Daniel Garcia got a HUGE win over the returning Bryan Danielson on AEW Dynamite this week. The only drawback from this match is the story told was playing up too much (imo) to Danielson’s health issues. That aside, this was a fantastic match for another wrestler on AEW/ROH that needed a big win like that. With two factions getting a lot of programming time and often compared to heavily, Garcia is benchmarked against current ROH Pure champion Wheeler Yuta. These two had a great match (not a great ending imo) at ROH Death Before Dishonor, but seeing Garcia get the W here takes away from the sting of that loss in many fan’s minds. Nothing wrong with that.
Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling
The People vs. GCW
Photo Credit: Game Changer Wrestling
Taking a lap around the indies, let me go on record & say Game Changer Wresting “The People Vs. GCW” is in contention for card of the year. No question about it. There will be a deeper dive on 607TWS this week, but you need to purchase the replay on Fite.tv and see for yourself. Huge card to lead into Homecoming weekend at the Showboat on August 13th and 14th.
Glory Pro Wrestling: Live at The Pageant 2
Photo Credit: Glory Pro Wrestling
Tickets are moving fast for Glory Pro Wrestling’s return to the Pageant in St. Louis! First 2 rows are completely sold out. If able to go to the show, make sure to get your tickets quickly. If not, make sure to drop that follow on YouTube and don’t miss the action on Sept 25th (5M CST).
MLW Super Series
Photo Credit: Major League Wreslting
Lastly, Major League Wrestling announced it will be heading to Atlanta for its’ Super Series. The date is September 18th for TV tapings with promotions and match announcements coming. For more info: check out MLW.com.
That’s all the pro wrestling talk for this week. What other promotions are you watch? Hit me up on Twitter and let’s talk some pro wrestling. Thanks for reading.