Evan Luebbe

Kenny Omega is a master of long-term storytelling. Here is a quick speculation of how the next few years in AEW could play out for the current AEW world champion. He might (after defeating PAC and Orange Cassidy at Double or Nothing this weekend, and subsequently defeating men like The Machine Brian Cage and Christian Cage in the coming months) finish his title reign by losing the AEW world title to Hangman Page Around the beginning of 2022. It’s a foregone conclusion that Omega will hold the world title for at least a year (he won the title on December 2, 2020 from Jon Moxley at Winter is Coming).

Upon putting over Hangman Page by giving him his first AEW world championship victory, Kenny Omega can reinforce the story that has been going on for years that the Elite is a brotherhood by letting bygones be bygones and resurrecting the tag team with Page, and possibly even quitting the tag team titles again in AEW (the second time this particular team would become AEW world tag team champions). The American Dream Cody Rhodes could get involved next, because he was originally supposed to be included in the Elite when they were scheduled to participate in the first Stadium Stampede match against the Inner Circle on March 25, 2020.

In June of that year, Cody said on an episode of Dynamite, “I guess I’m still a member of the Elite.” On top of that, there are reports right now that Cody is having creative disputes with the Elite (at least in storyline) which ironically lends itself perfectly to a story like this manifesting in the future. A dispute between Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega could ultimately lead to a major match (maybe Stadium Stampede next year) between the Elite and the Nightmare Family. Once again Cody and the Elite could resurrect their brotherhood.

However, Dustin Rhodes, the brother, could conceivably have a problem with this. This might lead to a dispute between the two brothers and culminate with another match between the Rhodes brothers. The one match AEW has orchestrated between the two brothers at the company’s first-ever event Double or Nothing in May 2019 was one of the greatest stories I can remember in wrestling history, particularly one that included two brothers.

Bringing the golden days of wrestling and reality-based storylines of the Monday Night Wars – to current generations

AEW is in a way serving as the company to bridge the Attitude Era of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s into the present day. Tony Khan and the rest of the company are bridging these two generations through creating transparent, three-dimensional, forward-thinking characters that the audience can relate to on a profoundly simple and human level. The characters in this company are focused on revealing wrestlers’ humanity characteristics first and foremost because fans tend to find that most believable in this day and age of no real privacy.

A perfect example of this occurred on May 12 when Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle sprayed a hose on The Pinnacle – bringing back memories for many fans of the late 90s when Stone Cold Steve Austin did the same thing to The Rock and Vince McMahon in pursuit of a title match (only his was the beer). Chris Jericho serves as the perfect bridge for this because he was a part of both eras.

Miro wins the TNT championship in a total surprise

Darby Allin’s run with the TNT championship lasted for a solid seven months and he defended the title on numerous occasions which will increase his stock exponentially in AEW at just 28 years old. Miro sort of came out of left field and surprised everyone when he won the title this past week, but now that he is champion a kind of feels right. After debuting in AEW nine months ago in September 2020, the 35-year-old has finally captured a title – he struggled to gain momentum in his first six months in the company but found his way.

The lowest point for Miro since arriving in the company was right around February when Charles Taylor was serving as Miro’s butler (Orange Cassidy got involved in the story as well), but it all came full circle on May 12 when he became TNT champion (that title now has an established reputation as the workhorse belt, so Miro will have a heavy responsibility placed on his shoulders (the legacy of Cody Rhodes “twice”, the late Brodie Lee, and now Allin).

Kenny Omega will be defending his AEW world championship against both PAC and Orange Cassidy at Double or Nothing on May 30 – the company is having its cake and eating it too

To my knowledge the AEW world championship match at Double or Nothing will be the first world title match in AEW history involving three men. I could be wrong, but I don’t think there has ever been a 3-way world title match even on television, but certainly not on Pay-Per-View. There was Chris Jericho –Hangman Page, Jericho – Cody, Jericho – Moxley, Moxley – Mr. Brodie Lee, Moxley – MJF, Moxley – Eddie Kingston, and Omega – Moxley. Now it will be Omega – PAC – Orange Cassidy.

This was a Revolution 2020 rematch from February 29, 2020 between Orange Cassidy and PAC that took place on May 12, 2021. Standard 50/50 booking (as is common in WWE) would ordinarily indicate that because PAC got the victory over Orange 15 months ago, Orange should get the nod this time around. But to the contrary, AEW fortunately does not necessarily abide by this mentality, which can be rather strict and inflexible at times, thus preventing many favorable matchups.

AEW is abiding by the elected “moments” ability in which everyone feels out the situation and decides what is most favorable given all circumstances as opposed to a model that is somewhat antiquated. For example, through Kenny Omega defending his title against both Orange Cassidy and PAC at Double or Nothing on May 30, AEW takes full advantage of the popularity of Orange currently as well as capitalizes on the benefits of the long-term storyline between Omega and PAC (this is extremely typical of Kenny, and the last time these two faced each other in a one-on-one encounter was in early 2020 in a 30-minute Ironman match which Omega won).

The Young Bucks split SCU – and essentially retire Christopher Daniels in the process – with no nostalgia involved whatsoever

SCU – Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian – are officially finished as a tag team – which theoretically makes sense because Daniels is getting old into his 50s. Daniels is about ready to bring his in-ring career to a close while Kazarian probably has a minimum of five good years left in him as a singles wrestler. The Bucks were the perfect team to bring SCU’s career as a team to a close (even though it was Scorpio Sky – not Daniels – who won the first ever AEW world tag team titles with Kazarian) because they don’t rely on nostalgia at all (much like Chris Jericho).

It makes sense that Nick Jackson looks energetically older than he is. This is only because he began his professional wrestling career at age 14 (because his brother Matt was four years older) so he got to experience the ups and downs of the business before most get the opportunity. The Bucks were wrestling incessantly from the time they were young kids and had a ring assembled in their backyard by their father. Nick is only 31 years old (almost 32) but has experienced many of the joys of life for a long time already – he got married at just 21, has made numerous trips to Japan, and already has three children.

Then there was the moment in the match when Matt told Christopher Daniels, “I’m sorry, I love you” right before a superkick – making fun of the heartwarming moment from WrestleMania 24 in 2008 when Shawn Michaels was about to deliver sweet chin music to Ric Flair in his retirement match. The Bucks make fun of virtually everyone – it’s a good way to bring the wrestling business forward and train people to become not so hung up on nostalgia as is common for fans.

May 12 was also the first time – at least to my recollection – that Matt and Nick publicly acknowledged their Christian upbringing. This makes sense, however, because they already have a book out so people can learn about it if they buy the book. They are willing to use any and all aspects of their life to further their characters in wrestling, which they have been brave enough to do. It takes audacity to be utterly transparent about all aspects of your life, but there are always unexpected positive surprises along the journey of life – you just need to be brave enough to make that choice and stick to it, which requires integrity.

The global pandemic has continued to impact us for the past 14 months. The last AEW Dynamite in front of a life audience at full capacity was on March 11, 2020. Blood & Guts was originally scheduled to take place just two weeks later but was ultimately delayed for over a year (the event finally took place on May 5 the following year). AEW ran shows out of QT Marshall’s for a few months before moving to Daily’s Place almost a year ago (which is directly connected to the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium. Tony Khan, the CEO of AEW, is a co-owner of the franchise along with his father Shad).

AEW began allowing fans to attend Dynamite in a limited capacity starting in June 2020. Apparently that will come to a close in July 2021 as AEW will begin traveling again starting on July 7. The first show will be in Miami. And the company will be headed to Texas in Cedar Park on July 14 and Garland on July 21. All events will obviously follow COVID safety protocols. Tony Khan clarified that Miami, Austin, and Dallas are the first three of many cities the company is planning on traveling to.

Florida and Texas are two of the looser states when it comes to these pandemic protocols for whatever reason. Not necessarily good or bad – just different. That’s probably why WrestleMania 37 was moved to Tampa Bay, because it was originally scheduled to be held in Los Angeles. But California has been tight with their restrictions.

A new TV show my also come to fruition on TNT for AEW by the end of this year. The company now has a solid base with Dynamite having been around for 1.5 years.

Blood & Guts couldn’t live up to the Hype due to the Excellent Mic work of the Participants – Primarily Maxwell Jacob Friedman & Chris Jericho

This match between The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle was AEW’s cross between Hell in a Cell and WarGames (that WCW, which also used to air on TNT, did back in the day). This match immediately took AEW fans back to February 2020 and the communities first ever steel cage match between Cody Rhodes and Wardlow (who was also in this match). Blood & Guts seemed like such a major event; it was almost too big to give away on Dynamite. It was somewhat disappointing in that regard (it probably seemed bigger because it took place over a year after it was originally advertised), no fault to the performers – they did everything possible to make the match unforgettable, including Chris Jericho taking a bump from the top of the steel cage.

The Inner Circle indirectly put The Pinnacle over without directly taking a loss or making themselves look weak by compromising their integrity. The highlight of the match, at least in my opinion, was when Jericho put Maxwell in the Liontamer/Walls of Jericho on top of the cage. It was a direct throwback to the 2002 HIAC match with Triple H when he did the exact same thing. The only thing this match could have used was a little more of a spotlight on a couple of the other members of the two groups – like Jake Hager or Wardlow – as opposed to giving nearly all the spotlight to Jericho and MJF.

At the end of the day, this match was extremely well-executed, and this is all just constructive criticism. It is a bit of a bummer, however, that Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle will likely be taking some time away from AEW as this bump off the cage will likely write the group off TV for the foreseeable future.

Tony Khan has had no difficulty whatsoever in finding a plethora of Challengers for Kenny Omega’s AEW World Title – Challengers are coming from every direction after the World Title

Kenny Omega is portraying his character in a very authentic and grounded way. He has been doing that for a while and is clearly very bold in this persona – the cocky, arrogant heel who has the skills necessary to back up his claims as being the best in the world. He is also opting to take the extremely long-term route in regard to storytelling, which is extremely characteristic of Kenny Omega (given his history in Japan with that style of storytelling among other places). The story with Jon Moxley is being put off even further in favor of pursuing a message right now between Omega and PAC/Orange Cassidy.

PAC has obviously defeated Omega in the past as Kenny pointed out in his promo. The two men had a legendary Iron Man match (in AEW) in early 2020, so it would be fitting to see this story conclude at Double or Nothing. With all that being said, it looks like the direction the company is going in is an AEW world championship match between Omega and Orange Cassidy. The company is clearly looking to take advantage of the popularity of Orange right now (as Tony Khan should be doing). The actual wrestling won’t be nearly as good because Cassidy is not nearly as good a wrestler as PAC, but his character is significantly more over than just about anyone else in the entire company – as has been the case for about a year.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Orange has been trending upward at about a 90° angle. The summer 2020 culminated with a victory for Cassidy over Chris Jericho – signaling that his popularity had reached an all-time high. AEW is seeking to take full advantage of Orange’s popularity by placing him in a match for the world title with the company’s biggest star in Omega. Cassidy may not win the title, but this will be a great opportunity for him to further his credibility in the ring by delivering a solid match with the best in the world.

Since Omega is electing to take this detour in storylines, the feud with Jon Moxley will be given a few more months to marinate in the minds of fans – which will only add to the anticipation for this rivalry to coordinate. A line is forming for Omega’s belt because Hangman Page (who was ranked No. 1 in the company on the win-loss column just a few weeks ago) has been waiting for the story between the two of them to be revisited. And of course, we can’t forget about Brian Cage, who beat Page in the first place. Omega – Page is probably the biggest story in the company aside from Omega – Moxley (because of the tag team, etc.). Christian Cage also wants a shot down the line.

Darby Allin defended the TNT championship for the eighth time overall – and for the fifth consecutive week. The 28-year-old defended his title against The Dark Order’s 10, who was chosen by Mr. Brodie Lee before his passing to become the star of the group and Siri on the legacy of the TNT championship.

Those plans will obviously not come to fruition exactly as they were conceived as the man who conceived them as moved into the next life, but one could conclude that 10 might be motivated (because of someone so close passing – almost like osmosis, or energy absorption, of Brodie’s residual energy) to become a better version of himself every day in honor of the fallen leader of The Dark Order. This would be like that of John Silver, who shares the same mentality.

Because of the unexpected death of Brodie Lee due to a lung condition the day after Christmas last year, any match with a member of The Dark Order from this point forward will have a deeper layer of meaning – which will only prove to help grow the company further in the long run. 10 will also likely become a TNT champion in the not-too-distant future. Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page – either one or both – are looking like they will emerge as the next challenger to the TNT championship. This match will likely take place at Double or Nothing.

Moxley, Kingston, Omega, and Nakazawa set up a tag match next week

It was great to see Eddie Kingston getting a major spotlight in a segment that also featured Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega. Moxley and Omega remain the focal points of this storyline and will probably have another title match. MT Nakazawa was also featured on Dynamite for the first time in months (even if he was just Kenny’s stooge). At least they have a tag match next week.

It was ingenious of Tony Khan to pair Eddie Kingston with Jon Moxley in a storyline. They are working very well off one another, in addition to having history with each other from November’s Full Gear Pay-Per-View in a world title match. One part of Kenny Omega’s promo from earlier in the evening that was somewhat confusing is that he did not mention anything about winning the Impact World Championship at Rebellion on April 25. However, this small mistake was made up for by including some attitudinal language in the promo that will resonate primarily with the younger male audience (which is the primary demographic AEW is attempting to appeal to).

Jericho speaking from experience

All the participants in the Blood & Guts match on May 12 did an extremely effective job starting their piece around the actual match – that is until MJF took it to a slightly higher level talking directly to Christopher about how he wanted to take his spot.

Jericho, however, completely blew Maxwell out of the water with his promo; beginning directly from experience about how he was damn proud of his history and career because every piece of the story got him to where he is today as the King of AEW and the bridge from WWE. Maxwell talked about how he is already a way bigger star than Jericho at only 25 years old. Well let’s look at Jericho at 25 – it was 1996 and he was not yet signed by WCW, although he had headlined arenas all over the world, including Mexico, Germany, and Japan.

Maxwell has never been anywhere other than the United States, so his horizons in the business need to expand (which most likely will be). Jericho is one of the originals in the wrestling business with a plethora of knowledge, and it would be stupid for younger wrestlers to not take full advantage of this opportunity to talk to him while he is still in AEW.

Brian Cage might leapfrog Hangman to challenge Omega for the AEW world championship to add even more of a layer and meaning to the ultimate showdown between Kenny and Page

This was the next step Brian Cage desperately needed to take to elevate himself into world title contention as any intuitive fan could see he would do eventually. When he debuted at Double or Nothing 2020 I thought to myself “that’s a future world champion right there.”

Brian Cage got a victory on April 28 over the number one wrestler in AEW Hangman Adam Page (AEW must like the last names Page and Cage because the company has two wrestlers with each of those names), signifying that he might get a world title shot in the future. Kenny Omega has some sort of belt for three different companies right now, but at least in AEW there seems to be a line for title shots. Jon Moxley will most likely get the first crack, after that it will probably be Brian Cage, then the long-term story could finally pay off between Omega and Hangman that has been building since day one the AEW tag titles in January 2020.

They had those titles for most of the year in 2020, then met in the finals of a tournament to be the number one contender to the AEW world championship which was held by Jon Moxley at the time. Kenny obviously won the tournament and subsequently won the title from Moxley at Winter Is Coming on December 2. Page’s drinking problem might resurface again as it could be used as a distraction from the onset of a depression from the loss; maybe even joining The Dark Order, a shadow that has not left Adam’s side as they are still coming to his aid nearly every week. They mean well but it still might be the wrong crowd.

The Young Bucks are building toward their next title defense

The Sydal Brothers got a massive opportunity to show what they can do against one of the best teams in the world The Young Bucks. Matt and Nick Jackson made sure to slow down what they were doing to make it mean more. The Undertaker reiterates this point every time he is interviewed: “less is more.” That’s exactly what Matt and Nick were doing in the match to get the non-Disney version of their tag team over. The cold spray after the match was an excellent touch, adding a little bit of comedy.

Christopher Daniels and Kazarian are theoretically still undefeated as a team since saying the next time they lose a match as a team they would retire. In theory, yes they are still the number one contenders for the AEW world tag team championships, but you can’t definitively call yourselves the number one contenders. I can’t even remember the last time Daniels and Kazarian teamed together in a match.

From memory, a few weeks ago Kazarian wrestled Christian Cage in his first singles match on Dynamite (the two men had major history from TNA). That is the only downside to this match; Daniels is old and cannot go like he used to be able to, but he can still pull out a classic match from time to time. The next test will be at Double or Nothing against Matt and Nick Jackson for the AEW world tag team championships.

The Bucks are running a successful wrestling promotion and for the second time in their lives – the difference is that the first time it was out of their own backyard and eventually moved to smaller venues. This time AEW is also broadcast weekly on national television. Other people also need to be leaned on in a major way to make everything run smoothly, so it is being done on a much bigger scale.

Cody Rhodes’ storyline with QT Marshall is moving quickly

The highlight of the six-man tag match was Lee of the Nightmare Family – infusing his positive energy into every move. The real news is how quickly the storyline is moving between Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall. A match is already going to take place between them on May 12 – even before Double or Nothing.

Billy Gunn’s sons got a major spotlight on April 28 – contributing in a significant spot to build towards a match between Cody Rhodes and QT. Lee Johnson might ultimately get involved in this story and a triple threat match may be booked down the line. That might be the direction AEW is heading regarding Johnson getting the chance to stand out this week – because (as we know) everything has a purpose in AEW that will come to fruition eventually.

Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander both win matches to regain rising trajectory

Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander (by association) have most likely the best music in the entire company – it just suits them perfectly because of the nonchalant beat of the music, and they are basically just two different versions of the same entrance song. Orange needed to get the victory over Penta so he could remain somewhat of a big deal in AEW – after all, this guy has beaten Chris Jericho. Penta has gained momentum in recent times with his character and since he has a mouthpiece so standard booking would typically indicate that he should won the match. This would be true if Tony Khan and the rest of the AEW team had not fully committed to Orange in the summer of last year by having him get not just one victory over Chris Jericho – the life blood of AEW – but also getting a second victory over him in a Mimosa Mayhem match at All Out in September.

It was a nice touch during the actual match to have Penta lock in a shoulder submission on Cassidy, only for him to fight out to get his hand in his pocket rather than performing an offensive move. The next step for Cassidy will be to develop a slightly more serious aspect to his character as opposed to just a comedy bit – perhaps becoming a TNT champion within the next year to develop more range to his character and show that he can be more than just a comedy attraction.

Another highlight was when Penta was able to catch Orange in midair with one hand holding him up in a gorilla press after Cassidy attempted a dive out of the ring (shows incredible strength and balance).

Finally, the women’s division got an opportunity to take center stage in the form of a match between Kris Statlander and Penelope Ford. Statlamder is coming off a gruesome ACL tear in June of last year, and just made her return a few weeks ago. She was not affiliated with Orange Cassidy or Best Friends in any capacity before the injury – so this is brand-new.

Meanwhile, Ford is coming off an opportunity at the AEW women’s championship last July. In this women’s match they are hoping to regain the momentum they had less than a year ago. Things can change in the rest of the business rather quickly however, and these women are simply too good to not regain their status at some point in the near future.

Tony Khan also had a massive day on Thursday, April 29. In addition to being an owner and executive who is heavily involved in the production of AEW Dynamite every week, he is also a co-owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars along with his father. The Jaguars had the number one selection in the 2021 NFL draft – and they directed the man who is hopefully going to be the quarterback for at least the next decade in Trevor Lawrence. Excalibur or somebody else on commentary will most likely mention this next week on Dynamite.

It is also a massive deal that Yuji Nagata (who currently is signed to NJPW as he has been for most of his career) is going to make an appearance on Dynamite against Jon Moxley on May 5. It says something about this organization in Japan that nearly every wrestler who signs with the company usually stays for an extended time. Tony Schiavone used to call Nagata’s matches back in WCW in the 90’s when Yuji was a young man.

Nagata is a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, including having held the title for a then-record 392 days, and in addition setting the record for most title defenses with 10 which stood until 2012 when Hiroshi Tanahashi broke it at Wrestle Kingdom VI. He has also won all three of the major tournaments in Japan (between three different companies) for New Japan, All Japan, and Pro Wrestling Noah.