La Zona Muerta

I might be done for awhile.

Dramatic, I know. This space ISN’T an airport; no need to announce comings or goings. Still, we’ll see how I’m feeling after the show tonight but with the direction I’ve perceived AEW heading in and coupled with the death of PAC, on top of the death of the Butcher and the Rebel tribute show… I’m feeling a burnout I don’t know that I can easily quell. My enjoyment of the AEW product was already on the lower end of late. I was really hoping / waiting for the Continental Classic to recharge my batteries, so to speak, but I just don’t know, now. Maybe I’m a bit too emotional to make a decision like this right now.

I write this junk every week, and I’m grateful for everyone who bothers to read it (and the stats seem to show that’s more of you every month, which is gratifying in a way I can’t express) but before I launched this as a blog, I used to do this strange, conversational thing five to six times a week at the Observer site in the guise of recapping (often times “precapping” aka guessing what the day’s topic would be about) Wrestling Observer Live. For YEARS. A LOT of years. So burnout was probably bound to set in eventually. I sure didn’t foresee wrestler death becoming such a prevalent concern again. It feels like I’m reliving 2005, 2006, and I wouldn’t wish reliving THOSE years on anyone.

I’m also aware that suddenly cutting off an audience does not guarantee that you will have an audience when you come back. It’s not necessarily that I find the writing itself a chore (I was just telling a close friend that “writers write, but good writers write succinctly,” a skill I’ve certainly never developed), but it’s just that sometimes it’s difficult to hack out a column. AEW, even when I’m not necessarily super engaged by it is usually, even at its WORST, aggressively okay. Frankly, “okay” is difficult to write about in an engaging or funny manner. And while I certainly don’t mind the mechanical component of writing, it does take up no small amount of my time. This blog was never meant to be just mainly my Dynamite recap every week; it’s meant to be about all sorts of stuff. No Dynamite recap would certainly free me to write about other things, but those aren’t necessarily the things you’re coming here to read.

As I say, I haven’t made up my mind, yet. Maybe tonight’s show will change my mind or give me something else to latch on to.

One thing I can tell you about giving up on… something I am so sick, SICK TO MY GODDAMNED EYE TEETH OF. I’m sick of the culture war between AEW and WWE. More to the point, I’m sick of people “both sides”-ing things. I… WE need to give up on the engagement with these idiots that peddle hot takes out of their asses like diarrhea flung to the hungry masses, hoping for a splatter of their own (now there’s a horrible image and metaphor).

Let me make one thing perfectly clear (NOT a Vince Russo reference).

I couldn’t care LESS if you watch AEW or not.

Some people reading this right now DON’T watch AEW, and read what I have to say about it as their sole method of keeping up with it (hi, big T). What I DO care about is when you excuse WWE issues with some mealy mouthed “both sides” horseshit. NO GOOD BILLIONAIRES, amirite? Fuck OFF.

THERE ARE NO “SIDES.” Remove AEW from the equation entirely. WWE remains an evil company, and now it’s owned by an EVEN WORSE company, one that has taken the already predatory WWE and added it to it’s quest to monopolize not just pro wrestling but mixed martial arts, boxing (and BOY do people not get why that’s a bad thing. If you think MMA and wrestling are fucked, it PALES compared to what’s going on with boxing) and North American combat sports in general. Today, North America, tomorrow the world as the kudzu tentacles creep in and choke out the indigenous flora. WWE / TKO can not, WILL NOT settle for being the market leader. They have to be the market leader AND destroy their competition, too, in ways both blatant AND subtle. Buying media coverage. Messing with talent both in the company and outside it. Trying to co-opt the indies (an attempt that was repulsed… THIS time). Trying to get a foothold in Japan (an attempt that was repulsed… THIS time). Trying… and SUCCEEDING in getting a foothold in Mexico, making FAKE LUCHADORES more popular… and more INTERCHANGABLE, more EXPENDABLE than real ones.** Lawsuits. Changing laws when lawsuits aren’t enough.

Name five, name TEN AEW “controversies.” Are you STILL mad that Tony Khan subtweeted Big Swole and said she couldn’t work that one time*? Are you mad he HUGGED SOMEONE AWKWARDLY? Pissed he sent the Bucks home for two months three years ago? Whatever your top AEW “controversy” is, it PALES in comparison to WWE fucking with Benjamin Satterley’s ability to get work outside of their organization nearly two years after he stopped working for them. It PALES in comparison to allowing a framework where the abuse of women, EVEN WOMEN YOU SAW ON TV EVERY WEEK, was not only SYSTEMIC, it was ENCOURAGED. It PALES in comparison to demanding top paid talents restructure EXISTING DEALS or be let go. AEW’s laundry list of real issues PALE IN COMPARISON TO SUCKING UP DAILY TO THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OR TAKING GOBS OF SAUDI ARABIA BLOOD MONEY WITH A SMILE. It’s not “both sides.” It never has been.

There’s ONE FUCKING SIDE and that side is WWE / TKO is a malevolent entity and it ceasing to be would be better for EVERYONE, up to and including the “good” people who still work there. People who choose to go there in ANY capacity are making a chose that is in opposition to decent morality. The company I work for 100% has made bad decisions. They just announced a new level of AI integration, for instance that, if successful, will probably put people like me out of a job… but even THEN, they’ve never aligned themselves with Saudi Arabian sports washing paydays.

Issues with WWE can, MUST no longer be seen as being viable only because they cast AEW in a positive light. Instead, they need to be seen as what they are; the problems with a gluttonous troll of a company squatting atop of all combat sports, holding the fate of hundreds, THOUSANDS of fighters and wrestlers in its clutches. That’s not a PRO AEW spin. It’s just REALITY. Monopolies aren’t a GOOD thing for workers OR consumers. PS, that ISN’T a cue to start shouting about Tony Khan attempting to buy WWE. You’d think he was a MONSTER, all the pointless discourse THAT generated. “HE WOULD BE HIS OWN MONOPOLY!” Okay… IT DIDN’T HAPPEN, so YOU don’t need to WORRY about it. So much forum outrage generated at the time and yet everyone overlooks what TKO is doing in REAL TIME. Tony Khan could look at a cat askance and there would be no less than three hundred tweets, seventeen podcasts and forty-eight think pieces within twenty four hours, the punditry engines all devoted to the evils of glaring at a cat. Meanwhile, Triple H could be seen driving in his new car, the Kitty Killer 9000 on Tik Tok and people would be lining up to LICK THE TIRES.

The endless inches and hours of discourse AEW generates just by EXISTING and DOING WELL is tiring in the extreme, and that’s up to and including this crap I crank out every week. Boo hoo, I didn’t like a Jon Moxley match. So what? It’s better that he has a bad, overbooked match outside of WWE’s walls than one within them.

So, yeah. You might see where I’m coming from a bit. It’s probably… no, it IS unfair to expect yet another tribute show, and BOY has AEW mastered THAT sad art, to rekindle my interest in the product in light of the past seventy two hours’ worth of grief and discourse. As I say, we’ll see how I feel after tonight’s show. Again, I might be a bit too emotional to really make a rational decision. Full disclosure; I’ve written the proceeding words hours before the actual show so if I feel this show is something beyond review, I will let you know. Maybe I’ll go against the grain and do the boring move by move recap style for novelty.

The matches announced so far all sound like really good, really FITTING tributes. Orange Cassidy versus Moxley. The fully assembled Elite versus the Don Callis Family. Will Ospreay versus Ricochet, which will be SURE to make me cry.

I’m already crying and we’re like one minute into the show. Tony Schiavone tells us that PAC may have been a bastard in ring but outside of it, he was a kind, wonderful man.

Excalibur, understandably, is having a hard time. He’s known the guy for probably over twenty years.

Excalibur and Tony Schiavone are such consummate professionals. The absolute best and I’ll hear nothing different.

Oh god, they have footage of PAC roughly twenty four hours before he passed. This promo Mox was cutting is like a fucking EULOGY for PAC without it meaning to be. Eerie.

The entire crew is out for the ten bell salute. Bryce Remsburg was openly weeping. Me, too.

The Death Riders are here. Moxley versus Orange. The announcers remind us that when PAC first met Orange Cassidy in battle, this was when Sweet Chuckie T. vowed that Orange would “try.” Better days. Excalibur is having a hard time, obviously, but Tony is really helping hold it down. Moxley is largely using his size to overwhelm Orange, here. Moxley sends OC into the announce table and into commercial.

Oh LORD does this Street Fighter movie look BAD. I mean, I was around for the FIRST one and it was no great shakes, either, but at least that one didn’t have CODY RHODES in it. And why in the FUCK did they make Hirooki Goto a SUMO?

Back from break and OC is sent careening into the table AGAIN. MIND GAMES. DOUBLE MIND GAMES IN REVERSE. Orange Punch blocked. Orange Punch… NOT blocked. Cutter anyway. DEVASTATING SHIN KICKS versus forearms. Thrust kick by Orange! On man, THE TABLES HAVE TURNED. Hands in the pockets AND MOXLEY SOLD IT. ORANGE PUNCH. ANOTHER. Casadora into a Stundog… choke… Beach Break countered… penalty kick! Mox did the PAC running rebound lariat! Brutalizer! Orange got out! Orange going for a Brutalizer of his own! Nope, Death Rider, one, two, three!

Wonderful tribute to PAC, there, with Moxley do the willing to play along stuff. Moxley is clearly overcome. Here comes… Bryan Danielson? FUCK YOUR YES CHANTS. I dunno if this forgiveness is canonical or not (and yes, I AM an asshole in the mold of GLADE YELLER).

Oh man, it’s the Elite versus the DCF eight man? I don’t think I can do a recap of that.

Oh god, Hangman Adam Page is crying and the sunnvabitch got me, too.

Bad guys out first. It’s Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher plus Roppongi Vice. Schiavone points out that this is a difficult task tonight.

Young Bucks out next. Thinking of what PAC meant to them in particular is killing me. Hanger next. He is distraught. Oh god, here comes Kenny Omega. Typing is almost impossible for me at this point. Bless the announcers trying to tie this into canon and All Out. Action is already too fast to call. Bucks doing their party match thing on Knight and now Trent. Oh man, Hangman is gonna DESTROY Rocky Romero (sorry, Jen). Actually, Hanger and Kenny combined forces LIKE THE OLD DAYS. The DCF gang are such perfect fall guys for this stuff. FOUR WAY RISE OF THE TERMINATOR. Four way corner countdown. MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK?! No, cut off by Kyle! Kyle gets the DCF back on track. Rocky shitcans Matt into commercial.

Rob Lowe wants to sell me… pet insurance? I dunno. I’M A LITTLE VULNERABLE RIGHT NOW, ROB.

Matt Jackson making a comeback from break. Rocky is like “fuck your hope spot.” Matt is like, “no, fuck YOUR hope spot.” Well, maybe he didn’t use the swear; good Christian boys, after all. Nick is in and he’s fighting RPG Vice on his own! Kyle and Kevin take charge. Hangman is legal and levels EVERYONE. Running shooty boy! BIG TAG TO BIG KEN. Knight GOUGES THE EYES because he doesn’t want to go to ZONE TWO. Snapdragon suplexes for all! Kyle with a HUGE Michinoku Driver on Kenny. Too much to call again; RPG Vice take control. The Elite RUN A TRAIN on Rocky. Four way moonsaults by the Elite! BUCKSHOT / V TRIGGER combo on Trent! BTE Trigger! ONE WINGED ANGEL! Big group hug. Tear ducts running overtime.

Cash Wheeler is absolutely bawling. This is rough. Jay White, too, talking about trying to emulate PAC. This is too much.

A statement from his family. Renee Paquette understandably has a hard time getting through making the statement.

Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana are here. New Level, too. Austin Creed is very broken up. They lay down their trios titles in front of a picture of PAC and a wreath.

Oh god, the Ospreay / Ricochet match is next. That’s going to be nothing but PAC callbacks from two people really, really close to him, especially Ricochet. Ricochet might be the babyface in the match if people know the history.

Ricochet talks about his days with PAC in Dragon Gate. I want to give everyone there the biggest hug.

Gotta feel for the folks doing heel stuff on this show. Bless them. Will Ospreay hugs the Demand. Tony tells us to go watch PAC / Ospreay from All Out 2024. Ospreay and Ricochet hugging and me weeping.

Trying to recap this is a fool’s errand. Excalibur talks about PAC’s route from PWG to Dragon Gate to becoming so influential. Huge pescado by Ospreay to Ricochet on the outside. Ricochet makes it look EASY with a huge over the rope dive to the outside on Ospreay and LANDS ON HIS FEET. FUCK ME NOT ANOTHER SAD ANIMAL COMMERCIAL WHEN I AM AT MY LOWEST EBB. This is emotional cruelty at it’s HIGHEST LEVEL. Cynically timed! Robinson Special out of the break. Chop fest! Stundog! Ricochet DRILLS Will’s head with a kick. DISGUSTING DDT by Ospreay. Ricochet with an actual hurricanrana (meaning into a pinning predicament). Phoenix Splash by Ricochet from the second rope! Christ. Superrana; Ricochet lands on his feet! TNA kick! PAC USED TO LOVE THAT SPOT. Poisonrana! Poisonrana right back! Wow. Elbow exchange! Multiple TNA kicks from Rico! Enziguri! Blue Thunder Bomb from Ospreay! Hidden Blade turned into a BACKSLIDE DRIVER! Liger Bomb by Rico! Fucking SICK; that’s a deep Dragon Gate cut. Some sort of crazy 450 degree kick! Shooty Boy! Styles Clash from Ospreay is NOT ENOUGH! Hidden Blade! Ospreay IS GONNA DO THE BLACK ARROW BRITISH AIRWAYS, MOTHERFUCKER. OH GOD. I have to stop typing for a minute.

“It was good, but it wasn’t as good as Ben’s.” – Excalibur

Ospreay talks about being compared to PAC and walking the same road he did. HE PUT HATS ON HIS LITTLE SAUSAGE DOGS.

They modified the announced women’s match a bit to have Persephone, Mercedes Moné and Dr. Britt Baker on one side, and Rosa, Hyan and MARINA SHAFIR on the other. Oh god, don’t show PAC’s empty chair. Marina has a need… and it’s a need to swear like a BASTARD. Jesus, some sort of Tiger feint kick into a headscissors DDT thing by Marina? CRIPES. Marina is tossing around Mercedes in a PACian fashion! All the ladies hit a big move, and Britt hits a curb stomp on Marina IN FRONT OF MOX! Lockjaw attempt… Judo throw… BRUTALIZER! Marina wins! Absolutely tremendous finish. SHE IS A… BASTARD!

FUCK YOU, KALSHI ADS.

They have added a special main event; the rest of the Death Riders versus the rest of the Don Callis Family in a ten man. That’s obviously going to be a difficult thing to recap; I’ll try to pick out highlights.

Swerve speaks on PAC’s perfectionism and the contrast with Ben Satterley the man.

Darby Allin is very emotional, talking about watching PAC clips. Oh god, that golf course match was so fucking great. Feels like a lifetime ago, and it was just earlier this Spring.

We got Josh Alexander, Lance Archer, Mark Davis, Jake Doyle and… Wardlow? Huh. Some big dudes. Good on Wardlow; he could have waited for a bigger moment to return but everyone here tonight is a volunteer.

DRs field Claudio Castagnoli, Gabe Kidd, Wheeler YUTA and Danny Garcia. Is Moxley gonna do double duty? THEY ALL DO PENANCE PUSH UPS. Moxley on comms! Hey, isn’t that a deficit? Mox says “Maybe things will work out.” Oh shit, Danielson is joining the Death Riders for that fifth spot! ALWAYS BRING YOUR BOOTS. Moxley wants Danielson to be BLOWN UP. His conditioning MAY be too good for that, who knows. Danny Garcia is in trouble, surrounded by BIG MEN. Gabe Kidd does Gabe Kidd stuff. Guillotine leg drop by Danielson on Alexander! Claudio and YUTA hit the Kings of Wrestling swing / dropkick combo on Alexander. Wardlow is in and so are the commercials.

My wife is wearing a HARVARD cardigan because she is cold but that makes no sense; she went to the same shitty community college that I did. I get no explanation, just a shrug and half smile.

FUCK YOUR YES CHANTS.

Moxley points out Danielson is running purely on MUSCLE MEMORY. Alexander is probably happy as a clam right now. MAYBE A GEODUCK***. Davis and Claudio have a BEEF BATTLE. YUTA hits a rana on big Lance Archer. Back to Alexander and Danielson. I PROMISE DANIELSON DID STUFF PRIOR TO THE YES SHIT. WATCH SOME TAPE. Danny and Doyle! TOO MUCH MAN. TOO MUCH MEN. Double Busaiku Knee from Bryan and YUTA! Marina versus Archer?! Riders run the train on Doyle! YUTA mirroring Danielson is a nice touch. Combo Sharpshooter / curb stomp on Doyle! DRs win! The Riders embrace.

Tribute package to end the show. It really SUCKS that AEW has become so good at this sort of thing. It sucks that they have HAD to become so good at this sort of thing. They spliced in Marina talking about PAC from MONDAY NIGHT, which was CRUSHING. Equally crushing, footage of PAC and Brodie Lee in DG USA. I’M DONE, GUS.

Gravity may have forgotten him, but WE sure as hell won’t. An emotionally devastating night, but a beautiful one.

“Throw your heart out in front of you and run ahead to catch it.” – PAC

*Three words for those of you still holding onto some residual offense on Swole’s behalf: “OH, SHE PRETTY.” Any anger you had over her… not even her dismissal but rather her NOT BEING PICKED UP, which is a completely different thing, should have IMMEDIATELY evaporated when she chose to weigh in on the Janel Grant matter in the most completely unserious way like that

**CMLL is BAD somehow because they use a handful of AEW talent, generally NOT beating their own people (for the most part. Claudio doesn’t often lose, I suppose. Maybe Andrade). CMLL is bad and AMERICANIZING THE PRODUCT because they eliminated captain’s fall matches but meanwhile WWE promotes WHITE PEOPLE in expendable luchadore roles over native Latin talent. “Yo soy… como se dice ‘a fucking honky.’”

***Pacific Northwest reference