My gut says Omega comes back on Weds. It's just about the only thing I can work out for why they wouldn't be announcing a bunch of matches for Thursday when ticket sales hadn't been doing all that well, for a show that doesn't even air in Canada. Having it be a surprise on Weds to set up a match on Thursday is about the only thing that makes sense.

Literally the only thing they've done to push the show is have Jericho say that he's using Lionheart music on Weds and if they want to sing along to Judas, they have to come Thursday.

(Regardless, I hope Renee debuts to MC as the start of Dynamite and the place comes unglued for her like Saraya.)

Mox working on a handshake before he re-signed says a lot about his character. Glad he's there for the long haul, he's been awesome this year. Having Renee is a really good thing for AEW if they use her to the most of her abilities. Both true professionals too, which is badly needed right now (plus I would guess Renee is pretty much universally loved, so that's a good vibe in the locker room).

Mox is the heart and soul of AEW. More than Punk, more than Omega. He's the one who should be the Big Dog of All Elite Wrestling. 

Despite my gripes of him being flat-out lazy in his matches beforehand, he's clearly in a better space right now, and is having some of the best material of his career. He speaks, and I believe in him, which is the most precious skill a wrestler can have. Plus he's well liked AND is able to say things like they are without coming off as an asshole. He's the leader AEW has been needing for a while. 

I wonder, though, will Renee be a backstage interviewer? Will she work on the commentary table? I guess she could develop a nice dynamic with Schiavone.

Its hard to say whether it was because was Vince in her ear or not, but I did not find her to be great on commentary.

I think she's a fantastic interviewer/host, though, and in that role, she could add to the flow of the show the same way that I think Gene Okerlund did for Nitro in its early years. I know people don't look back too fondly on Gene's WCW days, but rewatching some of those shows recently, they really did flow well and he was often the conduit between segments. 

 

Moxley is clearly the most universally beloved figure amongst the AEW hardcore, but I just can't stand him as a performer. Good promo at times, but terrible look to back it up and has the same "omg chaos let's fight on the floor i'm bleeding omg" match all the fucking time. Plus he never lays his shit in, which is just so lame for a brawler/street fighter gimmick. 

Renee would really shine doing longer sit-down interview segments, like the old Jim Ross interviews on RAW. I think a lot of characters would benefit from that. 

LMAO! This is the height of arrogance and stupidity. I like JD Drake, but no one knows who the fuck he is, and he's off his rocker if he thinks NXT's Josh Briggs stole anything from him. Now I know why Drake never really "made it."

So basically, he's right. 

The real victim here is Booker himself who hasn’t had the luxury to enjoy JD Drake matches.

Since when wrestling moves have become exclusive to a specific wrestler? Let alone JD Drake?

32 minutes ago, El-P said:

So basically, he's right. 

One of them is a jobber on Dark who still hasn't gotten signed, and his arrogance and stupidity are obvious reasons why.

The other is a future WWE World Champ.

It's a shame because I'm actually a big fan of JD Drake and I hate it when wrestlers self-sabotage like he's doing here.

3 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

Since when wrestling moves have become exclusive to a specific wrestler? Let alone JD Drake?

Exactly. JD Drake really comes across as a giant mark for himself. Completely unwarranted, because Tony Khan is willing to sign anything with a pulse - Tony Nese, Bobby Fish, etc. - but even he's all like "nope" when it comes to offering Drake a contract. 

Again, I like Drake and would sign him over many of the people who have gotten deals, but now I can see why that hasn't happened yet. 

I dunno. This whole discussion about who gets to use what moves tends to get ridiculous. Like, I remember a wrestler (Brian Cage?) DM'ing Tazz about using the Tazzmission - which is an actual judo hold! It's not like Josh Briggs' presentation is exactly like JD Drake's, even if the move is similar.

Like, CM Punk made it big lifting his entire moveset from NJPW and NOAH wrestlers. He was doing the KENTA combo and G2S, ffs. Early Bradshaw was essentially a shitty Stan Hansen. John Nord was Bruiser Brody without attitute problems. Abyss was a Kane/Manking fusion. Willie Mack was doing Stone Cold Steve Austin stuff on Lucha Underground.

Complaining on Twitter about something so small seems counterproductive. Yeah, he took one spot and used it during his Cesaro moment. What about it? Is everything he does 100% original? Doesn't he draw inspiration from somewhere? Just tiresome. 

42 minutes ago, C.S. said:

It's a shame because I'm actually a big fan of JD Drake and I hate it when wrestlers self-sabotage like he's doing here.

Seriously. It's a tweet. Literally no one cares. It's not real life.

As far as giving credit to whomever did it first, yeah, people have borrowed from everyone everywhere forever. It's 2022 and I still wait for anyone giving credit to Etsuko Mita whenever someone does a Death Valley Driver. 

2 hours ago, El-P said:

Seriously. It's a tweet. Literally no one cares. It's not real life.

This is a real whopper of a statement after podcasts and tweets led to major issues between Sammy Guevara and Andrade. 

35 minutes ago, C.S. said:

This is a real whopper of a statement after podcasts and tweets led to major issues between Sammy Guevara and Andrade. 

You're right when saying that tweets helped escalate the Sammy/Andrade situation, but what ignited that fire was that interview Andrade gave (which might have been done without prior authorization, even). I get what you are saying, that wrestlers giving out on public forums is a bad look, but I don't think this means doom for JD Drake. He's a solid hand in the ring and has been featured rather constantly. Maybe he'll get signed, maybe not, but I doubt those tweets would matter much.

This a whole bunch of nothing. Drake is flattered Biggs used one of his moves, let's move on to something important. 

There was an issue a few years ago with Manami Toyota being upset at Bea Priestley for using the Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex without her permission. Just about everyone else thought she was being ridiculous, though.

Wrestlers have always been weird about others using their moves. KO made a point to be clear he got Austin's blessing to use the Stunner too.

https://www.postwrestling.com/2022/10/12/warner-bros-discovery-attempting-to-develop-new-aew-content/

Non-answer aside, you think he'll come back anytime soon? 

At the very least, he's able to keep his Twitch streams going, which is relatively good news. Better safe than sorry.

That sucks, but at least he has his Twitch streams to occupy his time and AEW has more than enough folks to fill the roster, so he can take as much time as needed to make sure he's 100%. 

What move scrambled him? 

It was in the Forbidden Door match. It was a gnarly landing but can’t remember offhand what it was. 

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

That sucks, but at least he has his Twitch streams to occupy his time and AEW has more than enough folks to fill the roster, so he can take as much time as needed to make sure he's 100%. 

Even if he never comes back, monetizing Twitch and having a nice and sweet commentary gig isn't the worst of deals. Dude is clearly comfortable on the mic.