Mission 018 – When the Business Lashes Back and Forth
Hello, fellow wrestling fans, and welcome to another mission! Tonight, we review WWE’s Backlash and last week’s AEW Dynamite! What a time it is to be a fan of the business, am I right?
For starters, let’s get into the predictions that Anthony jotted down before both of us watched Backlash this past Saturday:
What up, my dawgs?! It’s yo boy, Anthony and I am back up in your blog-Ms…er, that doesn’t make no sense, just like you fools who be bettin’ against by boy, Cena at Saturday doesn’t make no damn sense! You see, I have heard a lot about C-Dogg goin’ up against some mystery bitch wit no business bein’ here. Imma tell you all what: iz gonna be Johnny Lawrence. Ya heard me?! Iz Johnny, the Cobra bitch who gonna get his ass handed back to em’ in a cracker jack box with som fries on da side! Cena gonna fold him like yesterday’s laundry and then head back home to smash some gash!
Then we gonna head over to dem tag straps. I have dis feelin’ dat the New Catch Republic – wat kinda fuckin’ name dat be?? Shit take me two years to type! – dey gonna retain the straps against the fakers squarin’ up in here! Then! We gonna see Chad – my main man – Gable retain by takin dat Pinata or however the hell you spell dat shit and smashin dat shit over his foes heads just as hard as Cena will be smashin’ dat ass of som unfortunate bitch back at his crib! Speakin of smashin and gashin and shit, I wanna dedicate this shit to my boo Stacy, I knowya been thinkin bout me since we last chatted, bitch, come on over here and swing from by flesh tree for a sec! I mean, it’ll take longer than a sec, but you know what I mean!
Imma be real with you all tho, shit gonna get all hype in the Anthony house when Kofi dethrones dat fuckin Leprechaun Balor. Get outta here with yo stupid ass, Balor. Kofi owns this shit now! But let’s hear it for da top bitch, Asuka, because Naomi wit da fat ass ain’t getting da strap at this show! Fer real!
Finally! The Rock is gonna teach Roman who really owns the yard…or the table, the fuckin dinner plate, I dunno, all I know is that the Rock is leavin with da strap and then he gonna keep it until that Duxen record is broken! Ya heard it here first from ya boy, Anthony! PEACE!
Ok, everyone, Johnny here, and I am back to review what AEW gave us last Monday:
Dynamite kicked off with an ominous backstage flashback to just before Genesis started as the Executioner released Sami Zayn – who was understandably hesitant – in anticipation of Danhausen’s betrayal. Sami accepted the deal made with Mickey’s perennial slave and then proclaimed that they were going to collectively “get the devil”. I loved this, as I do with everything involving the family that hijacked Murrey’s industry, and I honestly can’t wait to see what happens next in the saga. This is getting really good and I am very excited to see what happens when Benny finally shows his face!
The next thing we see is the AEW Champion, Logan Paul, arriving only to have one half of his challengers at the next PPV – MJF – attack him ruthlessly. There was a time when Lenny would have lost his mind seeing ANYTHING involving Mr. Friedman, but the boss hasn’t been the same since two of his brothers died almost a year ago. Now, you have me, and I have to be honest here when I say this: I care more about the “Forgotten” participant in this three-way rivalry than I do about either of the main players therein. Just speaking from the heart here. Having said all of that, I am still a BIG fan of both of these competitors. I just love seeing Brandon Lee finally getting his flowers after all of these years!
The opening bout, which was for the AEW Television Championship, was fun, but the truth is that the outcome was NEVER in doubt; at least not for me. Dominik was a decent champion, and all, but you don’t introduce a guy like Shelton Benjamin back into the mix without a solid plan for him. This is especially the case considering how he is presently being groomed as Swerve Strickland’s foil. I have no idea whether Dominik will end up exempted from the Draft of not, but I do know that Shelton’s next stop is at the Swerve express, and who knows how that one is going to go.
After the break we have a fun vignette wherein Dragon Lee reveals why he attacked Will Ospreay at Genesis. Long story-short, the history between these two goes back to Japan, and Lee is embittered because Ospreay accidentally nearly cost him his career during one of their matches in the land of the rising sun. The best part about this – aside from the fact that Lee was talking to us from under the ring ostensibly during the Genesis PPV – was that Lee revealed that his match with Ospreay will transpire in the first ever Aerial Assault Match to occur outside of Mmouse Enterprises! Now that is a match that I can’t wait to see!
Following the vignette, Splinter – in an address to the audience – confirms what Dragon Lee just told us and then proceeds to slate the next week’s Dynamite, which will include a showdown between Brock Lesnar and Brandon Lee, with Brandon Lee being forced to defend his spot in the main event of AEW’s next PPV. He also schedules two Starrcade matches, which include the Dual Dominion Championship match with AEW and WWE talent and the annual Gold Rush Ladder match. But, he also makes sure to wish his best friend Slammu the best of luck in the Main Event of Cinco De Massacre just mere minutes before Slammu lost his mind on everyone. Good stuff all around.
A tag team match is featured next between the Acclaimed and FTR with the tag team champions, the Gunn Club on commentary. I was personally getting a kick listening to the thoughts of the champions as they were tearing down both prospective challenging teams. In the end, the Acclaimed won the match as the champions remained unimpressed and FTR was forced to just show a sign of respect to the victors. It’s crazy to think just how high AEW management was on FTR when they moved heaven and Earth to get their contracts. Now, you could barely tell that the team was exempted last year.
We are then treated to yet another fun vignette, but this time it’s Toni Storm with a quasi-eulogy for the career of Athena Star. Toni also promises to depose Liv Morgan as the Knockout’s Champion in due time. A great way to continue Storm’s momentum as we close the season!
Following Storm’s comments, Paul Heyman is enraged when Brandon Lee is yet again compared to his brother Sean Olson. Heyman mocks “They” and pledges Lee’s impending victory. Seeing this fire in Heyman’s eyes, I am not inclined to believe that Brandon Lee is losing to Lesnar tonight!
In a match billed as each man’s opportunity to win over the powers that be as the 2025 Draft looms, Austin Theory (AEW’s first draft pick last year) scored an important victory over Adam Cole. I appreciated the commentary team helping remind us about the path these two have been on over the past few years. Let’s hope that this is the beginning of Theory’s redemption story.
After the break, “Hangman” Adam Page makes his way to the ring with a solemn look on his face. He can’t believe that the people still love him after everything he’s done over the past couple of years. He seems poised to throw away his AEW career and declare himself for the Draft alongside the fleeing personnel of WWE when AJ Styles suddenly returns from the E to encourage Page to try winning one more match…against him at the next PPV! Page accepts and then attacks an unsuspecting former AEW and WWE World Champion! A great segment that absolutely caught me and the rest of the audience off guard!
After that great moment we are taken to the final vignette of the night with Aleister Black, Brodie King, and Julia Hart making their sinister intentions known: bringing an end to the grip of the Mouse family in professional wrestling. This did a fantastic job getting me hyped for what this trio has to offer. However, I am hesitant to predict that any of these stars will be on the exemptions list. Then again, I could be wildly wrong, especially since I keep hearing rumblings about a major shakeup coming in the typical list of exempted stars in AEW.
Finally, the main event was stellar. I love every opportunity to see Will Ospreay and Bryan Danielson tear it up in the ring, but I was scratching my head a little about the fact that we are seeing Mr. Ospreay back AND WINNING so close to him getting obliterated to the point of being removed from the all-important Massacre Six match just days before. Either way, I loved the match and served as a nice rebuttal for Will against what Dragon Lee said earlier in the evening.
Solid show overall, and now we brace ourselves for AEW’s final ratings showdown of the season tonight with ULW!
Back to Backllash with what is now our review of the show and a comparison with what Anthony predicted:
To start the show, the World Heavyweight Champion, John Cena, successfully defended his championship against the Undertaker. While Anthony idiotically predicted that Johnny Lawrence would be the one to get the beatdown, he was correct that Cena would retain. It is far too early to take this prize from John, and now he ends the season on a much higher note than how he started it!
Next, WWE put on a hellacious Tag Team Title bout with the Street Profits reclaiming the tag gold, and now they enter Starrcade the way they left last year’s: as tag team champions! Hours after Backlash, the War Raiders declared themselves for the WOW Draft, and they were far from the only big names to do so! As you may recall, Anthony predicted that the New Catch Republic would retain, so the green ranger-wannabe moron is one for two!
In what was perhaps the craziest title match I have ever witnessed, Chad Gable proved Anthony’s crazy ass right by retaining his Intercontinental Championship over the three luchadores whom he sought to humiliate in Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, and Angel Garza. Anthony’s predictions are 2 for 3, and we move forward!
Anthony was undoubtedly disappointed in the absence of the next match, as he is 2 for 4 by default with Kofi mysteriously injured and the United States Champion, Finn Balor, missing in action. Did they get swept up in the locker room stampede for the draft? Curious. I look forward to seeing what happened here.
Not only was Anthony wrong in his prediction for this next match, but God himself couldn’t have predicted it as the longest reigning women’s champion of all time as well as the 6th Era’s WOW and WWE best women’s star, Asuka (the first and only woman to win a women’s championship in three different companies), lost the Women’s Title in the most shocking fashion to the former PWI Women’s Premier Athlete, Naomi. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and the sound of the crowd told the same story. What a way to get Naomi over. She ended a streak that I honestly never thought would end. To top it off, Asuka declared herself eligible for the 2025 Draft after the show concluded! Unbelievable!
Finally, for WWE Backlash, Anthony was vindicated and left the night batting 500 overall in his predictions as the Rock retained his WWE championship despite Mr. Murrey’s attempt at interference and declared himself the majority shareholder over the company!
Overall, a very good show to end the season for WWE. Moreover, The Rock revealed a new corporate owner of WWE and revealed the new administration which puzzlingly includes Mr. Murrey and Camden Cross! I don’t even know what to say!
Since Lenny’s press release already beat me to the punch, I won’t beat a dead horse by redundantly previewing Aggression’s card for tonight, but I will say that Lenny apparently has some blockbuster announcements prepared, so be sure to tune in!
Can ULW continue its streak of victories (hey, WOW, where’s the ratings for Friday the 2nd???), or will AEW rebound in sound fashion? Let’s find out!
Until our next Quest, this has been Johnny with yet another mission!
World Of Wrestling: Murrey Universe 