AEW TV 2025 Discussion

[Guest]

I don't know who the rumours are for the Wild Card to take on Hangman are, but I for one hope it's a returning Jeff Jarrett.

[The King of Old School]

That simple "I know" from Swerve stopping Hangman in his tracks as he gets riled up again was fantastic.

They should never team up or become mates or anything, but Hangman taking out the Death Riders so he gets a shot at Swerve at All In would be my way to go.

[tiger_rick]

19 minutes ago, Duke said:

I don't know who the rumours are for the Wild Card to take on Hangman are, but I for one hope it's a returning Jeff Jarrett.

Jeff was my immediate thought too. Any dates in Tennessee coming up?

I thought this was a real good episode. It's been a short turnaround from Grand Slam to Revolution to Dynasty and then with the Owen to prep going into Double or Nothing and I think they've booked really well. I liked that the show had definitive PPV go home angles and lots of stuff that was either a tease, like Hangman & Swerve, or was for the future, like MHF & Hurt Syndicate, the Owen brackets and the Brody King win. They've really got the balance right.

Big picture, it's nice to see them pushing the All In week, though the All In focus seems to have reduced Double or Nothing to just another show, which is a bit of a shame.

As for who wins Sunday, who wins the Owen, whether Hangman & Swerve is a destination for All In or part of an AEW squad to take on Death Riders in a multi man, where Ospreay get involved, whether MJF steps up with Hurt backing, there's a lot of stuff hanging at the moment. I haven't got a clue what's coming. I do like that.

[digforvictory]

I thought it was a fine episode and yeah, considering the short turnaround between Revolution and Dynasty I think they've done a pretty good job at getting a really good looking card together. Should be another really fun PPV.

As others have said anytime Swerve and Hangman interact it's absolutely electric, they are just magic together. Two amazing wrestlers who seem totally in sync with what they want in wrestling and work together to get each other over. It's brilliant.

Surely Swerve is winning at the PPV? Surely!?!?! 

Have an all looks lost moment in the main then Hangman arrives to save the day and help Swerve. Would be an all time great moment.

[LaGoosh]

2 hours ago, Duke said:

I don't know who the rumours are for the Wild Card to take on Hangman are, but I for one hope it's a returning Jeff Jarrett.

If Mox goes over at Dynasty I reckon it'll be Darby Allin.

But if all is right in the world Swerve is winning the title, Hanger is winning the Owen and we're seeing Hangman/Swerve at All In. I don't think Hangman helps Swerve win the title, that seems like crazy booking to me. The story needs to be Hangman in conflict, his desire to destroy Swerve and take that title from him against his inner babyface screaming to come out - there's weeks of twists and turns with that. 

Edited April 3, 2025 by LaGoosh

[Chili]

I like that as much as this is the Hangman redemption arc, it's also Swerve's story of understanding the consequences of his determination to be the champion and a top level star that sometimes that will come back to bite him for being a prick. Him going 'I know' was a cracking story beat in that he actually understands that he was just as in the wrong. Lovely stuff, I'm all for Hangman riding in like it's Austin at Backlash 2000 so long as It's just to deter the Death Riders and not be the one to hand Swerve the belt, Swerve needs to take Moxley out himself with his own moves.

[RedTwoster]

3 hours ago, Duke said:

I don't know who the rumours are for the Wild Card to take on Hangman are, but I for one hope it's a returning Jeff Jarrett.

For some reason I didn’t consider that, I was guessing it might be Josh Alexander.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

If Mox goes over at Dynasty I reckon it'll be Darby Allin.

But if all is right in the world Swerve is winning the title, Hanger is winning the Owen and we're seeing Hangman/Swerve at All In. I don't think Hangman helps Swerve win the title, that seems like crazy booking to me. The story needs to be Hangman in conflict, his desire to destroy Swerve and take that title from him against his inner babyface screaming to come out - there's weeks of twists and turns with that. 

Yeah 100% this.

I don't think Swerve is winning the belt at Dynasty lads. Not that he's not brilliant or capable of carrying the company, but I just don't think, when you've invested all this time in the angle - and with Tony's general unwillingness to change his plans - that they're going to have the big bad who's run roughshod lose at anywhere other than All In. It needs be at the biggest stage after a terribly scripted cinematic promo at a football field. Everyone knows that.  Yes I know that was a different match.

Look, ok, I still think Osprey should win the belt at All In after winning the Owen - stop fannying about and get your biggest babyface who sells the most merch who also happen to be the best wrestler alive belted chop chop, but IF NOT:

Swerve loses to the inevitable Death Riders applesauce at Dynasty, and when they're getting ready to put a bag on him, or put him in a barrel of scorpions or whatever, Hangman then comes out to save him because even he thinks it's just too much, which leads to Hanger winning then Owen and the parade of babyfaces stopping the Death Riders, including Darby returning and Swerve getting involved, Hangman wins, hoorah. 

Just as likely Mox doesn't defend at DON and we get a tag or trios main with Hangman and Swerve teaming, which I'm really down on.

Edited April 3, 2025 by Duke

[digforvictory]

I wouldn't have Hangman interfere and buckshot Moxley and then Swerve wins and they do a big hug after the match and become a tag team or anything like that. More something like you tease he's going to attack Swerve but instead he takes out the Death Riders leaving it an even playing field where Swerve eventually beats Mox on his own.

Then you have Hangman win the Owen and eventually he faces Swerve for the title at All In.

That's what I'd do I think.

I have a bad feeling though that Mox will win on Sunday, that Darby will be the wildcard in the Owen and we'll get Mox vs Darby at All In.  It's nothing against Darby, I think he's great but I just don't think that should be the way they go. Maybe that was the plan at the start but they need to pivot, another 3 or 4 months of this version of Mox as champion sounds horrible.

Edited April 3, 2025 by digforvictory

[Guest]

It says something about the intensity of Hangman/Swerve that a segment last night - that looks like it might be a road to peace - happens, and everyone fantasy books Hangman helping Swerve and this somehow leads to them fighting again in a month. A full ceasefire arc just takes them back to "Still fighting, but no one drinks anyone's blood"

Edited April 3, 2025 by Duke

[RedTwoster]

1 minute ago, Duke said:

It says something about the intensity of Hangman/Swerve that a segment last night - that looks like it might be a road to peace - happens, and everyone fantasy books Hangman helping Swerve and this somehow leads to them fighting again in a month. A full ceasefire arc just takes them back to "Still fighting, but no one drinks anyone's blood"

I don’t think it’s as ludicrous a route as I think you do.

Swerve was a shitty human being - a truly reprehensible heel. But he changed - the fans recognised it and, crucially, Swerve himself recognised it - and acknowledged how wrong his actions were, and that he deserved some of what came in his direction.

The next step is Hangman acknowledging it. They don’t need to be friends, but given what Moxley has done over the past while, culminating in the attack on Willow, Page could quite easily recognise that Moxley’s behaviour can’t be allowed to continue, and to end it - he needs to lose the title.

Strickland can then say he can’t make what he did right, but he can repay Hangman by offering to fight him one more time - with the title on the line.

They don’t need to shake hands, they don’t need to be friends, they don’t even need to forgive one another. But I think it’s very probably a version of this is going to happen this weekend. 

It’ll always be - and always should be - a fragile truce, but I think it’s the way to go.

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

It’ll always be - and always should be - a fragile truce, but I think it’s the way to go.

It's not a truce if it has to lead to a one on one main event at the biggest show in the company, is what I'm saying.

Also, fundamentally, that can't happen, because the winner of the Owen is the one that challenges at All In. Hanger would have to win the Owen to get that shot, and then...what? A build based around how they're trying to make it water under the bridge and just go for the spirit of competition? 

I'm not saying that I think Swerve and Hangman don't bury the hatchet in some way on Sunday. I think last night's angle telegraphs it, as much as that disappoints me, because I want them to fight forever (clap clap clap) and I can see how that leads to a stadium stampede, or a blood and guts, or a trio, or a tag, or some other kind of tentative thing before they go their separate ways a bit, but it doesn't make sense that it would lead to a match at least that quickly. 

Edited April 3, 2025 by Duke
Sorry I'm every other post on this thread right now, I'll duck out

[BomberPat]

I don't think Swerve and Hangman need to bury the hatchet, but they both need to grow and move beyond that, and to learn to fight for something bigger than themselves.

The undercurrent of the Death Riders storyline is that the babyfaces can't get on the same page, but the Death Riders can, and that's why the bad guys keep winning. I wish they would tell that story a little louder. Swerve and Hangman don't need to be friends, they just need to agree that the Death Riders are their common enemy, and that once they've got them out of the way, they can go back to not trusting each other. I don't think Hangman needs to - or should - help Swerve win on Dynasty, but he should help even the odds; Hangman taking out the other Death Riders to make it a fair fight, rather than Hangman attacking Moxley to help Swerve.

From there, either Swerve wins the title and Hangman fights him for it at All In (which, right now, feels like the biggest title match they could put together), or Swerve loses and Hangman can say, "even with my help, you couldn't get the job done", and they fight over that at All In, or Hangman wins the Owen and fights Moxley at All In, and Swerve does the same thing to him, and then they fight later down the line. There's a ton of ways this can go, most of them end up with them fighting, very few end up with a "can they co-exist?" tag team.

I think Hangman and Swerve might be the only two wrestlers active right now who can pull off having a standard match with no gimmicks and no blood, and make that feel like a progression in their story, rather than a step backwards, from the point where they were stabbing each other and setting houses on fire. Their story is about killing the monsters they made each other become, and the end of that story is them being able to have a straightforward title match that's about competing for the title, not trying to emotionally or physically torture the other man. It's only once that's out of the way that it's finally over.


Outside of that angle, I didn't think much of this episode. Speedball has barely been here two minutes and they've already got another flippy new toy to put on PPV. I hated the mixed tag; I hate treating a man hitting a wrestling move on a female wrestler as the most diabolical and dangerous thing they can possibly do, as if Moxley and Willow weren't just wrestling in the same match seconds earlier. I hated Moxley abandoning his plan to hit his finish on Willow because Swerve was about to hit a move on Marina Shafir - why does this version of Jon Moxley care whether Marina Shafir gets hit with a wrestling move or not? Why are we supposed to take her seriously as his super-deadly secret weapon when he's afraid of her getting hit with a wrestling move? 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

7 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

bury the hatchet,

I absolutely agree with all of you points BPat but please don't use the phrase "Bury the hatchet" We know Tony lurks on all the wrestling forums and he will be giving Moxley ideas. 

[ReturnOfTheMack]

That Hangman/Swerve bit was a thing of beauty.