4. The War Is On.
Once AEW shifted the main event from Adam Page challenging for the title to Christian Cage having that honor, most fans knew something was a foot. AEW have been building up to this crescendo since its inception. The shift could only mean AEW were avoiding overshadowing the biggest pay off in the company with whatever AEW had in store for after the main event. Naturally rumours spread in the wrestling community it would be a debuting wrestlers, but which one? To end up with both Adam Cole & Daniel Bryan was huge.
Punk refer to Cole & Bryan’s switch as bigger than when the outsiders joined WCW. Who am I to question the best in the world. Daniel Bryan main evented this years WrestleMania. Adam Cole has been the focal point of NXT for the past four years. Ironically, In WWE’s attempt to become the land of Giants in hopes to discover the next John Cena, Dave Batista and Brock Lesnar, they just let the next Shawn Michaels in Adam Cole slip through their fingers. Two things that helped shape the first war and aid in WWE coming out the victor might work against WWE this time. One Vince McMahon always had the good sense to stop Shawn Michaels from joining up with his Kliq buddies in WCW. Paying Shawn while he sat on the shelf in the late 1990s. Second was simply WCW had no idea what to do with Bret Hart. One of the biggest draws and best technical wrestler in the business walked out of SummerSlam and right into WCW nitro. AEW knows exactly what to do with their Bret Hart and WWE lost out on the next Shawn Michaels. If you have been paying attention to the wrestling landscape particularly WWE since All Out, you know that the War is on.
3. Chris Jericho Is A Genius.
Chris Jericho might just be a wrestling genius. The man could simply sit back and take his kudos for helping form a company that is directly competing with the WWE, but he continues to innovate and surprise. The Five Labour’s of Jericho was fun. The feud with MJF has been great. Once the match was announced for All Out Fans were found wanting. This feud has been bloody, personnel and prolonged. This feud deserved a stipulation more than any other match on the card. Jericho had to agree to retire if he lost this match. It was the perfect set up for an “I Quit” match. Begrudgingly I watch the match knowing it would feel cheap. One of my pet peeves of WWE in the last few years is feud never seem to have an actual end. Stipulations are only utilized for pay-per-view events. AEW wasn’t about to do the same where they? As the match got underway the story Chris Jericho told was brilliant. The match reeled us in. The false finish and restart had the crowd captivated and a very routine finish seemed completely exhilarating. I have not been drawn into a match as much as I was drawn into this. A true testament to the Wrestling IQ of Chris Jericho.
