Didn't want to gum up the main thread, so I'll post my thoughts here on the show. MJF clearly looked like a guy going through the motions on his way to the ring, but once the match started, I think MJF relaxed a little and the match went off really well. I'm not sure if a squash finish was always in the making (and maybe that's why MJF drew his line), but it made Wardlow a legit star. If it is MJF's last ride in AEW, he did what any good wrestler will do, and that's build a new star on their way out.
After that, it felt like the PPV went into Dynamite mode. Personally, I was not a fan of Matt coming in prior, and really was not a fan of Jeff coming in at all. AEW has a great tag division, and the Hardy's are going to suck the air out of the room, which is what's happening here in my opinion. HFO was a flop, it did nothing to build new stars out of that faction (looking at Butcher/Blade, my personal favorite tag team in AEW), and now we're probably going to see the Hardy's be the ones to dethrone JE and get one last ride as tag champs.
Owen finals I was OK with. Cole needed a high profile win, Britt made sense to win with Cole, but I really wanted Ruby to have that spot. She really needed that win, especially after coming up short in title matches, and her feud with Britt. Britt/Cole may have been Martha's picks for the tourney in discussions with TK, who knows. It was really cool to see both Cole/Britt come out of character and you could tell winning this meant a lot to them too. I really hope this gives Martha some good closure on Owen's professional career, since it was never allowed to happen with WWE.
KOR/Allin was good, KOR has had some big wins here recently. He's actually been booked the best out of Undisputed Elite these past few months. Also, KOR, please stop cupping, those salami marks are distracting.
Jade/Athena is going to be interesting, but I'm wondering if its actually going to end up being Statlander in a feud with Jade.
Anarchy in the Arena was insane. Chaotic fun, Eddie channeling Trevor from GTA was awesome. Eddie is the heart of AEW, his passion for his angles are so damn good. He's believable, and someday he needs to get one run w/ the title. Please TK, just one run.
I was surprised to see JE retain, though as I mentioned, I think its because we're on a nostalgia train for the summer. Punk with the AEW title, and the Hardy's are going to be the ones to take it off JE. But, I think in the lead up to JE losing, we're gonna get some sprinkles from Christian on his hatred for the Hardy's, and that he needs JE to do what he never got to do: finish them for good. It won't happen, Christian will turn on JB to kick off that feud.
I'm not shocked at all for Punk's win. Hangman had a great run in hindsight. Yes, it wasn't full of PPV victories, but AEW doesn't have that many PPV's. He had two tremendous matches with Bryan, his match with Archer was fantastic. His match with Cole was great as well. But Punk didn't come to AEW to not get a run with the title. It's going to be a fun summer, and with Punk already putting a lot of his dream matches aside, I'm salivating at Punk/Mox, Punk/Bryan, Punk/Kingston, Punk/Jericho. It's a shame MJF is having his fallout with TK, because MJF taking the strap off Punk I think would have been the plan. I'm thinking Punk holds it until Omega is back.
