Hey, We’re Back

I mean, it feels like forever since we’ve had a show to do predictions for. So long that I completely forgot that Zack won the belt our last go-around. He’ll get Redemption tonight and Summerslam next weekend to try to make his first defense of the belt. Will he continue reign #14 or epically collapse like a cheap card table. He’ll tell you why he picked what he did down below

	Zack (c)	Dan	Jerry	Lisa	Mike
AEW Women’s World Championship: Thekla (c) vs. Willow Nightingale	Nightingale	Nightingale	Thekla	Nightingale	Nightingale
AEW National Championship: Mark Davis (c) vs. Andrade El Idolo	Andrade El Idolo	Andrade El Idolo	Andrade El Idolo	Andrade El Idolo	Andrade El Idolo
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Kevin Knight	Omega	Omega	Omega	Omega	Omega
No Holds Barred match: The Painmaker Chris Jericho vs. Tommasso Ciampa		Painmaker	Ciampa	Painmaker	Painmaker
AEW International Championship: Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. Bandido	Fletcher	Fletcher	Fletcher	Fletcher	Fletcher
AEW World Tag Team Championship: Cage and Cope (c) vs. Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli & Pac)	Cage & Cope	Cage & Cope	Cage & Cope	Cage & Cope	Cope & Cage
Death Riders (Jon Moxley & Will Ospreay) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)	Young Bucks	Death Riders	Death Riders	Young Bucks	Death Riders
AEW TBS Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Maya World	Shida	Shida	Shida	Shida	Shida
Ladder Match for #1 Contendership to the AEW International Title: Jack Perry vs. The Beast Mortos vs. Komander vs. Speedball Mike Bailey vs. Nick Wayne vs. El Clon	Bailey	Bailey	Bailey	Perry	Perry
Double Chain tag team match: Bang Bang Gang (Jay White & Juice Robinson) vs. The Dogs (David Finlay & Clark Connors)	Bang Bang Gang	Bang Bang Gang	The Dogs	Bang Bang Gang	Bang Bang Gang

No Holds Barred Match: Chris Jericho

Only as an excuse to use the gif. You know the one. Hopefully this will excise Ciampa from the vortex and let him go off and do something meaningful.

Tag Team Match: The Young Bucks

Two things competing here. First off, I don’t think you push the Bucks to have one more serious run (perhaps Bucks vs. Cope and Cage vs. The New Day vs. MCMG vs. the ladders in London? Why not, right?) by booking them to lose for not-titles against a not-tag team.

Also, I think you need to sew the seeds of distrust with the Death Riders. I don’t know if you pull the cord quite yet, and I don’t think this should lead to Mox being put into the All-In Main Event. But I think this keeps that narrative going pretty loudly for the next several weeks.

Double Chain Tag Team Match: Bang Bang Gang

If you wanted to keep this going and put the Dogs over now in anticipation of a later blow-off, I wouldn’t hate it. Problem is, what more is there to do here? Jay is likely destined for bigger and better in the singles realm, and the Ass Boys will hopefully be able to stay healthy and make another run of their own. As for the Dogs, maybe that’s the stable that can get some trios love?

International Title #1 Contender Ladder Match: Mike Bailey

So at first I thought that Jack was a slam dunk here, after all the vignettes and everything. But I feel like he works best as a heel, and a perfect slot for him would be the DCF. After losing Will and Konosuke and most recently Andrade, they need a superstar signing. No offense to Volador Jr., but Jack Perry would really round out the group again.

Which leads to an easy overbooking of the ensuing Bailey vs. Fletcher title match. Then Bailey vs. Perry is right there, which should also be a banger. Maybe Bandido vs. Perry for the ROH title too. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be hard, Deano.

National Title: Andrade el Idolo

How I know? How everyone know? I mean, c’mon. It’s the third-biggest lock on the card to most, and to me the biggest lock since I think there’s runway for a swerve in the Main Event. Andrade has gotten over so well lately without a belt, and the Nat’l strap will just help his cause.

Tag Team Titles: Cage and Cope

…as we get to the next lock. deAth riDErs Black & White here is an odd booking, even as a filler booking. I feel like they could’ve done better to at least make a swerve believable… now we don’t even get a sweat.

TBS Title: Hikaru Shida

“The Best is Shida” is basically what happens when “How You Know?” doesn’t get over. Not knocking Shida or Creative at all – you gotta try it and see if it sticks, right? This one unfortunately ain’t stickin’. Still won’t be enough to swing the needle Maya’s way though, since I think her momentum has worn off. Which is a damn shame, because she’s an INCREDIBLE wrestler who deserves to be put over here, and not just because of her personal tragedy. I would love to be wrong about my pick here.

International Title: Kyle Fletcher

I realize that my mentioning of “the ensuing Bailey vs. Fletcher title match” kinda gave my pick away. This will be the match of the night IMO, as I have a hunch that both guys will work swimmingly together. I would like to see Bandido get a run with an AEW belt for once, but they gotta find a way to get the ROH strap off of him first.

Women’s World Title: Willow Nightingale

Surprisingly, Thekla’s nearly 6-month run with the belt is only the 8th-longest in the history of the title. But she’s done so much with that nearly 6-months, going from “the latest through the forbidden door” to “bonafide star”.

She’s had a similar ascent to Toni (albeit with very different gimmicks), and divesting now would help her stay fresh. She’ll still be firmly in the mix, and I would expect her to factor in at Wembley too. But I feel getting Willow back to one of the big women’s titles helps everyone here – including Thekla.

Men’s World Title: Kenny Omega

I said that there was room for a major swerve here. I didn’t say that it would happen (because I don’t think it will), but there’s room for it. I think this will be a fantastic match, and we’ll certainly get some capital-S Shenanigans here. But at the end of the day, this stop on the road to London will be anchored by the Best Bout Machine.