It’s a perfect setting for the Mercedes MonéFormer Sasha Banks, coming on Explosives AEW last night. Not that Tony Khan could have foreseen that the night before, WWE would be flooded with rumors and reports that they were sold to PIF of Saudi Arabia (later rejected, though certainly with the words “yet” or “now”) before his weekly show. And it feels like the world of wrestling is about to spin off its axis. But if he could design it, he would throw his competitors into literal or hypothetical turmoil, and then reveal the only real star they overlooked. . One of them won’t pay. He will demonstrate what the alternative is, a safe haven as it is a place where things go as they should and the actual product. is the absolute hilt.
And it will also open a new page for AEW, a fortification of the female division as something he is fully taking seriously, filled with great wrestlers and burgeoning talent ready to take off later. The torch is held by one of the greatest female wrestlers ever. Perhaps if Khan had known all this, the trigger would have been pulled sooner, if it would have been.
But no, Mercedes didn’t show up Last night in L.A. We all expected it, we all convinced ourselves that it had to happen — and then not.
Of course, AEW never told us that Mercedes was coming. And although their style has always been to not say anything directly but just wink hard for the camera in the weeks before that, you wonder if they could not wince, but they didn’t. that to that extent this time. Sure, there’s Britt Baker calling herself the “Boss” of the AEW women’s division in a pre-recorded commercial. It’s pre-recorded, so they know what they’re doing, right? They announced this card match weeks in advance, which is a departure from the usual fast-paced nature of the women’s division. It’s after the first of the year when it was clear Mercedes was a free agent. Showing at Forum in L.ONE. molded gunpowder in the past. There are already big matches on the card, so why not pull out all the stops, we told ourselves. It was a week after Mercedes reappeared in Japan in Wrestle Kingdom. There are signs, not the usual flashing signs that AEW has given us for past major launches. We just do them in our heads. We took it and ran, even when the company didn’t line up for us as usual.
So the question would be why she doesn’t show? Perhaps NJPW insisted that her first match be on February 10th. 18 in their show in San Jose. Perhaps AEW was sure of a deal that didn’t materialize just in time. Maybe they have something else in mind. Maybe she has no interest, and her work with NJPW and Stardom is all she’s after. Maybe it’s something else entirely.
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Unfortunately, because Khan ran absolutely gunpowder when wrestling became the focus of interest after Tuesday night’s rage. On another night, running the company’s three best games of the past year (Jon Moxley-Hangman Page, Konosuke Takeshita-Bryan Danielson, and the trio in the main event (the seventh between The Elite and the Death Triangle) will be the perfect antidote/counter/beacon in wrestling news. They are three types rarely suits you if on WWE TV and perhaps in another dimension will once again change the conversation between the two companies. And that could still happen someday.
Still, AEW fans can’t help but feel a missed opportunity, even if it’s just a reality in our heads. There’s something unfortunate about the show where the women’s match doesn’t lead the show or main event, which is where you would arrange such a premiere. When it takes the place of ordinary women only after 9 P.m. Eastern time, you almost know what’s not to come. And again, unfortunately, because the women’s card match is really cool. However, it’s hard not to focus on what’s not there.
But then it’s only there because we’ve convinced ourselves it’s there. It’s okay, sometimes you can work by wrestling. That’s the point. You don’t always get what you want, you don’t always have to see what’s going to happen and what’s not. There was no way of knowing how the scene would play out, and it turned out that such an opportunity was missed. Only AEW could put on such a great performance but we all feel a bit cold at what they didn’t do. I consider themselves a victim of their own excellence. Next time.
Connor McDavid impresses again
Here’s Connor McDavid turning Trevor Zegras into a smoothie, if that’s what you start your morning with:
It was McDavid’s 35th goal of the season, he also had his 44th assist, in just 43 games. That puts him on 66 goals and 150 points this season, which are 1986 numbers. He will turn 26 in a few days. day, that’s really hard to believe. And on a nightly basis, he’s turning everyone who tries to stop him into pudding.
Donovan Mitchell Returns to Utah
Maybe it’s good to end often with a reminder of the joy we once felt thanks to sport. So this is Donovan Mitchell’s first time back in Utah since he was traded to Cleveland last summer.
