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It's Wednesday, you know what that means.  That means we're LIVE from Dailey's Place is Jacksonvile, FL. We are JUST TWO WEEKS AWAY from Shaq AND Jade Cargill vs. Cody Rhodes and Velvet Sky.  Yes, folks, I have turned over a new leaf.  I am going into tonight's show and the big match two weeks away with a completely open mind and a position of positivity.  I'm in a good mood.  Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur are on tonight's call as usual.  Hell, I won't even complain about the inevitable loss NWA Women's Champion Serena Deeb is going to have to probably eat tonight.  But that comes later.  Hangman Adam Page is out first and he's joined by Matt Hardy.  

The opposition tonight is TH2, Angelico and Jack Evans.  Talented? Yes.  Cosmetically pleasing?  Sure.  Credible?  Not in any way, shape or form.  Their fault?  Hardly.  BUT this is not a night to complain.  They're on national TV.  We get our first plug for the big mixed tag in two weeks.  I'm gonna say this about this opener: Page is a star.  He looks like a million bucks.  If I suddenly for Tony Khan money, he'd be my #1 pick.  How he's not the top star or even the top star in waiting is beyond me.  I'm not complaining as Adam and Big Money Matt pick up the win.  Matt's got the mic and he wants to thank Adam for signing with him.

Page revealed he signed a COMPLETLY different contract.  The contract was actually for a Revolution match between Matt and Page.  If Page wins, he gets 100% of Matt's earnings for the first quarter of 2021.  Matt wants a stip added where HE gets 100% of Page's 2021 first Q money if Matt wins.  The Jags mascot then attacks Page, revealing himself to be Isiah Kassidy.  He's saved by the Mighty Dark Order, led by -1.  OK, I'll say it, that was a fun as hell, old school set up for a match.  I enjoyed the heck out of that.  FUN.

Santana and Ortiz, with the Inner Circle in tow, are pumped and jacked (credit Pete Carroll) about their AEW World Tag Team Title match tonight.  Ever see the movie "Powder"?  That's how un-tan MJF is.  Sammy Guevara is dead to Chris Jericho.  I wish Proud & Powerful had been given more credibility prior to this.  This could have been a HUGE PPV attraction.

Big shoutout to mega Post Game Party fan Patrick Connors on his 11th birthday! He has a follow up question for tonight's show.  E-mail anthonypires@verizon.net and Cory and I will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Looking at the brackets, I see that the winner of tonight's match meets Thunder Rosa in the 2nd Round.  I've already ordered the PPV and will say right now that Riho/Serena Deeb v Thunder Rosa will be worth the price by itself.  Deeb comes out first and looks great.  It's been a while since we've seen her but nowhere near as long as it's been since AEW U.S. fans have seen Riho stateside.  The announcers getv across the idea that Deeb is coming in with a sore knee.  Riho is good, very good and I'm not Jim Cornette.  I won't dislike her on the basis of her size.  On the contrary, I think she's extremely innovative.  Her move-set is my issue.  Someone her size, in my opinion, needs to be something of a heel or, at the very least, use some heel tactics.  Do something to make it plausable that she'd be able to dominate.

We're at commercial and the NXT report references Kim Bauer.  That popped me huge.

During commercial, Dr. Samson checked Deeb's knee.  Not sure if this is storyline or not but they're giving her an out in the event she loses this.  I'd hate to the see the NWA champion go down in round 1 here.  As an NWA fan, I'm completely unsure as to their status.  It seems like every other company has figured out how to either keep running or get back in the game.  NWA Powerrr was done in front of 200 or so at a TV studio.  Champions like Deeb and Nick Aldis need their spotlight.  It's great that, currently, Deeb has a place to be seen but it does the NWA absolutely no good to have their champion getting another company over all the time. And, make no mistake, Deeb is the real deal.  As I finish that, Riho gets the pin with a reverse roll up.  Very good match, no question.  I'll argue that no way a recognized World Champion should have gone down in the first round of a contenders tournament.

Oh good! a Jade Cargill and Shaq training montage, or rather a montage where we see Jade walking.  I'm keeping this positive, she walked very very well.

Luther v Orange Cassidy starts off FAST as Luther goes on the attack.  It ain't long until he takes a hard power bomb to the floor.  Serpentico's attempt at interference backfires as Chuck Taylor takes him out and Cassidy ends this quick with the Orange Punch.  I think he needs a better finish.

No time wasted as we see what's been going on with Sting, Darby Allin and Team Taz. And here comes Team Taz.  We're told they've been significantly fined for the parking lot attack on Darby last week.  Taz, Hook and Brian Cage come out, the others being victims of the horrible weather the South is enduring at this time.  Sting comes out to his snow.  Given the climate this week, I can't tell if this is shoot or working snow.  To Team Taz' credit, Sting's presence didn't make them run off.  Sting goes on the attack and he takes a power bomb from The Machine.  Give that man credit.  His age and that neck?  No way that could've felt good, no matter how well Cage took care of him.  Team Taz FINALLY got one one over on the Stinger.

Eddie Kingston speaks on behalf of his team.  Quick rundown of why he hates tonight's opposition (Jon Moxley, Rey Fenix and Lance Archer)

Kenny Omega is reading to children.  He's reading the Young Bucks book and a kid asks if the Bucks are in love.  He's putting over himself to 2nd graders.  I know this is not Dave Scherer's cup of tea but this is entertaining as hell.  Omega and Callis offer to make Michael Nakazawa stay and play with the children but they beat him up instead.  Call me nuts, but this was fun and Omega is a very punchable heel.  Exactly what he should be.

World Tag Team Title time as Santana and Ortiz, with Jake Hager in their corner, challenge the Young Bucks.  Mama and Papa Buck are at ringside.  If 18 months of working with Cory Strode has taught me one thing, it's that if we see something in act 1, it will be become very important in the 3rd stanza.  Omega, Callis and the Good Brothers are watching on the monitor.  I can't help but think the boat got missed on Santana and Ortiz along the way.  There's an old theory that some acts don't need a title to be credible (Jake Roberts and Roddy Piper come to mind) but others that would greatly benefit from the gold.  Santana and Ortiz fit that bill.  Go back in time and have them win the first AEW Championship.  Holding the title and dropping them to Omega and Page would have done a lot more for them then it ever did for SCU, who seem to be forever stuck in Dark purgatory.

Back from commercial and, thus farm this has been standard Buck/Santana and Ortiz fare. Not bad, but I can't help but shake the notion that, this close to the PPV and with Santana and Ortiz embroiled in Inner Circle turmoil, this match is simply a placeholder.  It's good, do not get me wrong.  It's just that the former Proud and Powerful haven't been rehabbed properly after their street fight loss to Best Friends and MJF and Chris Jericho sort of supplanting them as the Inner Circle's tag team.  DANG Ortiz and Santana just cam so close to winning it.

BTW I've noticed Ryan Nemeth standing on his seat all night.  Nice way to draw attention to himself.  Quick inside cradle and the Young Bucks win to retain the titles.  The Inner Circle goes on the attack as Callis tries to hold back the OG Bullet Club from helping.  Gallows and Anderson gingerly run in (you could call it a walk in) to make the save.  Jerciho gets into it with Papa Buck.

FTR, back from suspension, take on Matt and Mike Sydal.  Cody joins the booth and we're told that that Dory Funk Jr. is in the house.  Cody announces there'll be a ladder match for a TNT Title shot at a later date.  Cody, Scorpio Sky and Penta El Zero Muerto were announced for the ladder match.  I missed the others.  As we go to picture and picture, Cody has yet to hype the Shaq match in two weeks.

Back from commercial and there's a passing reference to the big mixed tag in two weeks before it picks up a bit.  FTR are so good, have I ever mentioned that?  Mike Sydal with a cross body almost crushed Cash's throat.  Big Rig and FTR with another win.  These guys need to be back in the title hunt pronto.  They go to cut Mike Sydal's hair and the lights go out.  When they come on, there's Jurassic Express on the attack.  I was hoping the kidnapping would end this feud but to no avail

Tully Blanchard returns to the ring in 2 weeks in a 6 man tag with FTR against Jurassic Express. 

Main event time as Eddie Kingston, Butcher and Blade take on Rey Fenix, Jon Moxley and Lance Archer.  Mox and company emerge through the crowd.  Archer has been playing babyface a few weeks now but I'm really not sure where this leaves Fenix and the Death Triangle.  Pac's character may be a heel, but he's so "kick ass" that there's a large portion of the audience that loves him for it.

I've seen Archer up close.  Words don't do justice to how big he is.  What I find a little odd is that we're only 2 and a half weeks from Revolution and we really don't have an established main event as of yet.  I'm assuming Kenny Omega will defend the World Title but nothing's pointed in that direction clearly yet.  This seems like the first AEW PPV that's being promoted almost strictly on the AEW name.  That won't hurt the buyrate one bit.  However, I'm not convinced it'll help it at all. I appreciate they've kept the Kingston-Moxley bad blood.  Always good to see these guys brawl.  We've got an old fashioned pier six brawl until Moxley puts Kingston away with the Paradigm Shift.  The announcers are trying to tell the interesting story that Moxley wants his friendship with Kingston back.

The Good Brothers attack Moxley and hold him down as Omega and Callis make their appearance.  Five minutes ago I lamented there was no main event for Revolution.  Turns out, Tony Khan has ordered the rematch for Revolution. Per the AEW Champion, it'll be an Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match.  Did not see that coming.

We'll break this all down later tonight.  Thanks for reading.

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