I AM VALIDATED!!
If someone out there reads my columns (don’t forget to post a reply below so I know it), one would know ever since the first day of Mercedes Mone, I have been raging against the idea of pumping the “C-E-O” chants through the arena. Finally, I am not the only one out there, as Dr. Britt Baker shared the same sentiment in front of everyone watching live and at home.
Taking it out of order, I’m recapping this fantastic segment from AEW Dynamite Beach Break 2024 first.
The good dentist comes out for her segment and opens up about experiencing a TIA, a Transient Ischemic Attack, or a mini-stroke a few months ago. Don’t take the word “mini” as insignificant. These can have long-lasting effects if not treated. Thankfully, Dr. Baker was treated and has since recovered. Her road back was long and nerve-wracking in anticipation of returning to the ring. But here she is and immediately sets sights on Mone, someone who apparently made up her letters, and somehow conned her way straight into the title picture, not once but twice. Dr. Baker takes some major jabs about how Mone needed to pump a CEO chant in order to manufacture getting over and then wonders when she had ten years to actually earn her letters?
Mone then interrupts the promo and forces crew to set up her celebration. As Mone spouts her catchphrases and gloats about being a double-champion over and over, the live crowd lays it in with a very much expletive chant not-so-politely asking her to be quiet.
All In will feature Dr. Britt Baker vs. Mercedes Mone for the TBS Championship.
It was also nice to see Dr. Baker and Tony Schiavone hug in the middle of the ring. Nice touch.
The rest of the show was quite eventful, this was likely one of the best post-PPV shows to date. The show opened with Bryan Danielson defeated PAC in an absolutely fantastic match. The pacing looked fluid, as I often state for matches like these. PAC seemed to dominate most of it as Danielson continued to sell his neck and shoulder injuries. Danielson appeared to squeak away with the win via roll-up pinfall. Very good conclusion, showing Danielson needed to trap PAC to win, and could not put him away with any signature moves.
If this were one of the older wrestling games where body parts change color with damage, I would imagine with each week another limb of Danielson’s turns red. By All In he will be completely burned up.
Backstage: MJF wants to be in Daniel Garcia’s corner tonight. Daddy Magic looks skeptical but ultimately shakes hands.
Here we go. You know what’s coming.
In the ring, Mark Briscoe talks up Forbidden Door and then looks ahead to Blood and Guts. He declares himself the first man for Team AEW. Big mistake, as Jack Perry rushes in to attack him. Kyle O’Reilly makes the save, but is then laid out by Okada. However, The Acclaimed rush in to chase everyone away. Guessing we now have four members of Team AEW?
Willow Nightingale defeated Kris Statlander to advance in the Womens’ Bracket of the Owen Hart Tournament
This was a surprise, I expected Statlander to win to continue their blood feud. Which at this point might culminate with some sort of ECW-style no rules match. Willow and Statlander should feud forever. The promos are spectacular, Willow has 110% grown from day one in AEW and will likely become one of the greatest female wrestlers of all-time.
Statlander will likely not take the loss lightly. Could Willow become a two-time tournament winner? Not likely but the final will be one hell of a match.
The Women’s Division has been awesome lately, with Dr. Baker back it kicked up a few more notches.
Joe’s Gym (Joe, Hook, Shibata) defeated Cage of Agony (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun, Loa Liona)
Good match, lots of big beefy stuff happening. The real story saw Chris Jericho have Taz dismissed from color commentary and get a restraining order where Taz can’t be anywhere near where Jericho goes. This, courtesy of The Elite. After Joe’s crew win the match, The Learning Tree stable rushes the ring, clearly sore about losing in embarrassing fashion at Forbidden Door.
Jericho’s whole gripe is how Hook committed a “cardinal sin” by using someone else’s finisher. He is really leaning into a lot of the IWC tropes. Not sure if it’s part of the gimmick, but Jericho seemed a bit rattled by the ongoing “please retire” chants.
This could lead to humorous segments with Taz eating at a restaurant or having to use a bathroom and Jericho standing there doing his “Hi Guys! Hi Taz!” shtick.
“Hangman” Adam Page defeated Jeff Jarrett
Welp, so much for Jarrett’s passionate plan to win the Owen Hart Memorial. It is a bit of a shame how all those promos were produced, only for Jarrett to lose in the first round. When he locked Page in the Sharpshooter, the crowd went wild. However, we all knew Jarrett was not going to win. If it were any other opponent, it could have been believable. Once Hangman was announced, you just knew. His theme suggested a persona change, and we certainly saw that. He damaged Jarrett over and over with repeated ring apron drops and a few Deadeye Drivers. Bye bye kind-hearted Adam Page, hello Angry Millennial Cowboy.
Backstage, the Young Bucks congratulate him and ask Page to be the fifth man for Blood and Guts, however Page goes completely unhinged and declines. He wants to win the tournament, and face Swerve for the AEW World Championship.
Credit has to go to Jeff Jarrett as well, he put on one hell of a match, and most certainly came out of it as the sympathetic babyface. Will it stick?
Will Ospreay retains the AEW International Championship against Daniel Garcia in the main event of Beach Break 2024
Fantastic match, with a very long over-run. Almost 10 minutes! Garcia has been given a ton of main event opportunities, and I imagine was not the only one in thinking he could have legitimately won the championship. Remember, MJF was at ringside, so it could have been possible for him to underhandedly assist Garcia in winning.
After a fantastic contest in which it was believable Garcia could win, MJF offers him the use of the Dynamite Diamond Ring. After a brief exchange with Ospreay, he gives it back to MJF, but the monetary distraction allowed Ospreay to regain his bearings and deliver an absolutely brutal Hidden Blade just as Garcia turns around. Pinfall, and match.
Garcia loses because he turned away from his opponent.
But wait… There is more! After the match MJF consoles Garcia, with a swift kick in the groin! What follows is an absolutely brutal beat down of bloody proportions, exclamation mark with a piledriver off the second turnbuckle!
Gone is the pseudo-babyfaced MJF. Enter the violent and not-giving-a-you-know-what. He said this to us when he first came back, and now it is very much real.
Once again, Garcia is pushed forward but it is thwarted. Part of it could placed on him, the rest on MJF.
My guess is All In will in fact see MJF vs. Daniel Garcia, which makes me wonder who Will Ospreay’s opponent will be at Wembley Stadium.
Great follow-up episode of Dynamite, hopefully this streak will continue for the next two months.
