Ready? Ready. | AEWeekly #216

Welcome to the #AEWeekly review discussion where PWM contributors reflect on the highlights of the last week in AEW. The eligibility week always includes the most recent episode of Dynamite and Collision, plus any social-media exclusives up until publication.

This week’s contributors include Emiliana [sayakakurara.tumblr] and Sam B [@sir-samuel.bsky.social] covering for Abel this week, Emi taking Moment, and Sam covering MVP. We also have Lauren [@sithwitch.bsky.social] exploring a key Story Beat, Larissa [@actual-swamp-hag.bsky.social] examining the Match of the Week, and Sergei [@sergeialderman.bsky.social] talking about the Best Interview, as well as editing and organizing it all.

 A page of links to prior installments may be found here: #AEWeekly

We'd love for this and any and all of our content to be the beginning of a conversation with our readers. To interact with any and all of our contributors please accept our invitation to join the Pro Wrestling Musings Community Discord. Then follow this link to the #AEWeekly Discord Thread.

Will Ospreay vs Swerve Strickland

"A Perfect Match I’ll Never Watch Again"

by Larissa.

Every so often, the sickos and freaks at AEW deliver a match that I have to watch through my fingers, and Swerve Strickland v. Will Ospreay for the men’s Owen Hart Cup Final was one of those matches. There are plenty of fights where someone bleeds; there are fewer where someone leaves literal puddles of blood on the steps. Both Strickland and Ospreay leaked like faucets for most of their minutes and left the ring, as well as the mat outside it, looking like the floor of an abattoir. It was one of the most brutal matches I’ve ever seen, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

Ospreay’s flippy in-ring style is so distinctive and dialed-in; if you asked me to describe both men’s wrestling styles I’d have a much easier time describing his than Strickland’s. But Swerve’s blend of agility, raw power, and theatricality make him one of the best performers on the roster. He’s so good at character work in the ring, and he even managed to coax a few boos from the crowd during this match, although they were far outnumbered by “Swerve’s House” chants. Strickland’s versatility and charisma remind me of someone else, actually ... someone whose absence was keenly felt at Forbidden Door…

Yes folks, there’s a spectre haunting the AEW men’s roster: The spectre of Hangman Adam Page. Both Strickland and Ospreay included homages to the Anxious Millennial Cowboy in their movesets; Strickland used a Deadeye Driver on Ospreay, and Ospreay hit Strickland with a Buckshot-ified Hidden Blade. And people say romance is dead!

This is how I felt watching them do Hangman’s moves

At this point, Page has been gone for what feels like three thousand years. The roster isn’t suffering; TK has assembled a bench of some of the greatest wrestlers on Earth. But even when he’s not physically present, Hangman casts a long shadow over the division, particularly when it comes to Strickland and Ospreay. I don’t know how he’s going to slot into their stories when he comes back, but I know he will.

The most stirring moment for the match came right at the end. The Death Riders issued forth from their secret lair to surround the ring and cheer Will on, although they, uncharacteristically, didn’t attempt to interfere in the match. Both men were running on fumes and about 25% less blood than they had at the beginning of the match. Goaded by the Death Riders, Ospreay let out an agonized roar before hitting Strickland with the Tiger Driver 91 to win the match. I often find Ospreay to be a bit goofy, even when he’s trying to be serious, but that moment was pure, high drama. The match transformed Ospreay into the weapon Jon Moxley promised he’d become when he kidnapped him weeks ago. It was the perfect representation of the melodramatic heights that professional wrestling can achieve when it’s taken seriously. Technically magnificent, emotionally gripping, and breathtakingly violent. A Match of the Year contender for sure.

"You know how I know Stardom doesn't care about you?..."

"...Because they put you in the ring with me!"

by Sergei.

Thekla is Interview again? What can I say: it's just two short sentences, but the above is just some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker. And with that expression on her face? They immediately went to print with t-shirts of this moment, and you can see why. Thekla is just badass. There's not much more to say about it!

Kudos to Thekla that on Sunday night she was able to use her brutality to keep heel heat on herself in spite of her enormous rebellious appeal. But now her opponent for Wembley is set and it's not the sweetheart Cinderella story, which has me thinking that the Sisters of Sin are destined to start sinning AGAINST the Toxic Spider, and soon...

I don't know about you, but I can't wait for a full on vengeful babyface Thekla!

Maya World

"Maya World has been waiting a decade to kick out of that maneuver…’

by Lauren.

Maya World was not supposed to be here. Not just in the finals for the Women's Owen Hart Cup, not just in the Owens at all: she and Hyan, while they had done shows as enhancement talent, were signed after taking the place of another tag team. Nixon Newell and Miranda Alize declined the three minutes of time they would have been given; Maya and Hyan grabbed those minutes with both hands and showed the world what they could do.

Since then, whether in Ring of Honor or in AEW, they have shown out. Maya especially has shown what someone trained by Athena can do, even beating her mentor in the semi-finals of the Owen. At Forbidden Door, she battled her idol, Mercedes Moné, for almost 25 minutes. Even if she ultimately lost, it was a star-making performance that had thousands of people cheering for her at a fever pitch.

The Call to Adventure is the first part of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey framework. Maya and Hyan both jumped at the call after others refused it. Becoming All Elite can be seen as the Crossing of the First Threshold, officially entering the world of adventure. And, while a real person's tragedy is not a literary device, the recent loss of Maya's brother can be seen as a step along the Hero's path. Her brother, Jatwane Anton Wilson, introduced her to wrestling. On Twitter, she said, “everything I do in my career from here in out will be in his memory.” When our loved ones leave us, and we use their memory as strength, inspiration, and comfort, it can be seen from a certain point of view as Supernatural Aid.

When Sareee was not medically cleared to participate in this year's Owen, Maya once again jumped at the call. Originally, I considered this to be Maya's start on the Road of Trials, but after more thought and consideration, I've now come to believe that this is her Belly of the Whale. The Owen Cup is separate from the traditional structure of AEW, thus cutting Maya off from the world. Most importantly, this is a transformative event, and Maya has sure come out the other end transformed.

Each fight of the Owen–against Skye Blue, Athena, and Mercedes–has shown both the crowd and other competitors what Maya is capable of. (As an aside, what are her matches with Athena if not Meeting with the Goddess? But, like Taz, I digress.) The purpose of the Belly of the Whale is rebirth as a figure more suited to the rest of the adventure, and each match has helped forge Maya into someone worthy of note. Maya was reborn to the screams of thousands in the stadium and at home, all cheering her name and begging her not to tap. She is not yet who she'll be at her eventual apotheosis, but she is on her way.

Maya has won in defeat. Mercedes is now the villain who crushed the dreams of a girl who worshiped her, and Maya is the underdog hero who we hope will one day unseat her. She is not yet who she'll be at her eventual apotheosis, but she is on her way.

Jay White

"Ready."

by Emi.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve had a hand in these, so here we go: JAY WHITE IS BACK, BABY! After what felt like EIGHTY FOUR YEARS, the Bang Bang Gang is finally back together again and entirely whole, with the final piece of the puzzle making his shock return at this month’s multi-promotion PPV, Forbidden Door. And as a multi-promotional PPV, it only stands to reason that there would be some callbacks to history.

Now, I am not the biggest Jay White historian, (as we all know, my concentration and focus is usually on Hangman Adam Page) but I have been given a few scraps to work with from my more Jay-White enthusiast friends that I thought were very pertinent. For those that are not aware, Jay White and David Finlay have a deep history. They were both young lions in the New Japan dojo and ended up together in the Bullet Club long after men like Kenny Omega, Hangman, and the Young Bucks had left New Japan. With the birth of AEW, these two young gaijin had big shoes to fill, and many would probably say they didn’t. Regardless, their relationship in the Bullet Club and New Japan was very fun to witness, given the penchant that BC members have for betrayal.

Jay White’s last match for New Japan was basically a Loser Leaves match at Battle in the Valley (February 18, 2023) where he lost to Eddie Kingston, in San Jose, California – the very same city where Forbidden Door happened this past weekend. And in this same city, David Finlay had attacked Jay White after that fateful day in 2023, all but making it plain that Finlay would be taking over as leader, now that Jay White would be leaving New Japan (and debuting in AEW the next month). It was a full circle moment for Finlay this weekend, then, when the lights went dark and the full force of the Bang Bang Gang showed up to stir a little chaos in an otherwise underwhelming match up between the Dogs and Cope & Christian.

What was perhaps one of the more interesting character notes here is that Finlay – unlike most AEW wrestlers when their backs are turned on a seemingly empty ring – recognized that there was someone behind him. Whether that was because he was smart enough to realize that the BBG at his front would not come leaderless or because he’s just that clever, I can’t really say. But one can only imagine what it must feel like to sense your long lost partner (in crime, in life) and know that they want your head on a spike, and now they have the backing of an even bigger faction than yours to make it happen.

Jay White, for all his faults, is one of the greatest injectors of chaos (pun intended) that I’ve ever had the privilege of watching since I became a pro wrestling fan. Thinking back to his tweets over the course of his absence, the constant “Ready?” right before every PPV, the endless cycle of torment. Even as a Hangman girlie first and Jay White enjoyer second, I was very READY for Jay White to come home first. Just this January, I had the amazing privilege of seeing Jay return to NJPW for the ‘Ace’ Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement ceremony live and in person. The scream I scrumpt when I saw that lovely man in a perfectly fitted black suit to come pay his respects and say goodbye to Tanahashi… man, it was a shriek of pure joy. I missed him so much. So when, the day of Forbidden Door this weekend, Jay White tweeted AGAIN, I was, once again, READY and champing at the bit to see him. Only this time, instead of a question, it was an answer:

The English major in me couldn’t help but wonder, maybe this was it. Maybe this is finally the moment. That period had to mean something. A week before, my closest friend Maj and I came back for a podcast episode where we both begged and pleaded for a Jay White return, that we would be okay if Hangman stayed home and Jay White came back first. It feels almost providential that he made his return exactly one week later.

Jay White is incredibly talented on the microphone, a countering machine in the ring, and he walks around with the aura of a man who just doesn’t give a fuck about you. Make no mistake, it is not often you see him ‘friendless’, so it isn’t worth it to push your luck. My hope is that Tony Khan finally puts some respect on the catalyst of pro wrestling’s name. I’ve already fantasy booked a Bang Bang Gang faction war against the Death Riders in my head once Jay’s feud with Finlay comes to a close. I want the Bang Bang Gang to shake things up. I want the Death Riders six feet under. What better way to end them than with these silly agents of chaos?

Guns UP!

Mercedes Moné

"Crisis, Averted!"

by Sam B.

Anyone can relate to having an absolute shitter of a day where one thing after another goes wrong. The milk in the fridge was off, something went wrong at work, you dropped your phone and on the way home your car broke down. No matter what you did it was fated that something bad would come of it. At Forbidden Door, in the biggest moment of her career to this point, Maya World was having one of those days.

First her wig, next her costume, then her legs themselves began to betray her as she slipped and couldn’t execute movements practiced thousands of times before. It could have been the kind of career-altering disaster that is spoken of in ten years’ time as a ‘what-if’. Thankfully for Maya, across the ring from her stood Mercedes Moné.

In what can only be described as a tour-de-force performance, Mercedes Moné stuck her arm around her young opponent, her middle finger up at the forces of destiny seemingly wanting to derail their match and used every ounce of skill, charisma and veteran guile in her arsenal to not only save the match but wind up with what will be a contender for the women’s match of the year.

If you’ve observed Moné’s career, you could see her dipping into her great performances past to will this match along. Be it the arrogant showmanship that had Brooklyn behind Bayley, this time employed to give Maya time to fix her top and wig. The high impact, bordering on reckless bumping and selling from matches with Charlotte and Bianca Belair to pull the audience’s attention back to the match and away from Maya’s early stumbles. The technical precision and sense of escalation to create a climax for Kris, Willow and so many more, borrowed here to make the crowd believe Maya World could topple her.

Praise must of course be given to Maya who under the worst of circumstances managed to pull her feet out of the fire, breathe and recover her composure. However I’m not confident any other currently active woman in AEW, barring maybe Thekla, would have been able to turn the situation around from its disastrous beginning.

Now instead of the story being a likeable young wrestler having an unlikely but doomed run through a cursed tournament, we have a budding young star who has managed to seize their moment against the odds. A wrestler who could go back to Ring of Honor and win the world title, a wrestler who will now demand mention alongside the likes of Willow or Alex Windsor as the next crop of uncrowned AEW women’s world champions and a wrestler who will demand a chunky pay rise next time she sits down to negotiate her contract.

None of that happens without Mercedes Moné and her complete refusal to succumb to the will of the wrestling gods. If there was still a question about who is the greatest women’s wrestler North America has ever produced, at Forbidden Door she not only slammed it shut, she had it locked and bolted.