Welcome back to another Monday Morning Q&A where I toss out some questions to get a feel of how you guys and gals are feeling about certain topics.
So here are 5 questions I’d like to toss out for this week. I’ll give my answers, too, but the key here is that I want to know what YOU think! So make sure you chime in!
1) Jungle Boy is the first AEW star to reach 50 wins. Who do you think will be the first to hit 100?
Jungle Boy! It’s the lame, predictable, easy answer, but he already has a head start. Hikaru Shida, Matt and Nick Jackson are in the 40s, so they’re close. But Jungle Boy has an advantage in that he typically wrestles at least once a week, if not twice. That gives him far more opportunities to reach that number compared to someone like Shida, who wrestled only twice in June, twice in May, three times in April, etc.
Jungle Boy is also likely to remain a prospect AEW doesn’t get bored with. He’s young, so he has time to rack up those wins, and he’s on the rise, meaning it’s easy for him to beat people on Dark to look stronger when in contention for titles. Eventually, he’ll win one of those belts, and he’ll get more wins in tag team matches, too, that will count toward his tally.
2) Nikki A.S.H. – Almost a Superhero. Like it, love it, hate it?
Well, it could’ve been worse. I don’t necessarily love the name. Frankly, I’m not sure I’m entirely on board with the gimmick itself, either. If I’m nitpicking, superhero is one word and her acronym should either be AAS or AS, but “who the hell cares” is the response I’d get if I brought that up at the conference table. Mortal Kombat is with a K for God’s sake, right?
But I do think there’s potential here. At the very least, Nikki seems like she’s enthusiastic about it, which is nice to see. She’s been lingering with nothing to do for a while and this can breathe new life into her career and save her from being in the next round of cuts or disillusioned so much that she quits.
I wasn’t digging her other theme, nor did I want her to keep doing this whole thing where she was dancing because she won matches by count-out. With this superhero gimmick, she has a chance to show more range. If it catches on, it could be what catapults her to a title reign. Even if it fails, at least she’ll have tried, right?
It gets a thumbs up from me, even though it’s not likely the direction I would have taken her character, nor the name I would have given her if they truly wanted to avoid having Nikki Cross and Karrion Kross.
3) WWE trademarked “Happy Corbin” the other day. Where do you think this storyline is heading?
I’m hoping it’s not that they’ll try to make him a comedic character. Corbin’s someone I find myself being in the rare camp of rooting for and I think he could and should win the world title for at least a transitional reign at some point. But once you go down the “funny loser” path, it’s hard to break out of that.
I actually really liked what they did with his entrance this week and Greg Hamilton having to stop himself from announcing him as King Corbin. That got a chuckle out of me. Maybe that’s a sign of good things to come and I shouldn’t be worried. Track records point otherwise, though.
My guess is they’ll try to have him “put on a happy face” and someone will try to break him out of his funk and make him go from Sad Corbin to Happy Corbin. They’ll probably want fans to chant “Happy Corbin” for some heat. I don’t think that will work, but as always, I’m willing to be proven wrong with anything negative.
I’m hoping for the best, preparing for the worst and expecting something in the middle. Something tells me, though, that this isn’t going to be the gimmick that propels him to a world title. Then again, Bad News Barrett was awesome.
4) Does Bronson Reed’s loss of the North American Championship guarantee he’s getting traded to Raw or SmackDown soon, in your mind?
Absolutely 100% guaranteed without a doubt. They literally had tryout matches and put him on Main Event recently. Obviously, based on the way he’s been treated in the past few months, they like him. Switching the title is a DEFINITE sign he’s being called up.
They had to get the belt off him somehow. He can’t hold that North American Championship on the main roster. Giving it to Isaiah “Swerve” Scott isn’t so much about giving it to Scott (although, he’s clearly a priority and a valued star in his own right, so I’m sure that’s why he’s the one who got the belt) and more about getting it off Reed to allow him to move up to the red or blue brands.
I have no idea which of the two rosters would make more sense for him, seeing as how we don’t know the rest of the trades that will happen with the draft, but I’m inclined to believe more that he’s going to SmackDown right now.
5) What are you most excited about for Great American Bash and Road Rager coming up?
With Great American Bash, I’m excited for everything, but the women’s tag title match is the least of the bunch. I just can’t imagine the belts are changing hands. Cameron Grimes against LA Knight has stakes I’m interested in, so I’d rank that #3. The tag title match should be awesome and I’m really looking forward to that, but Adam Cole against Kyle O’Reilly should absolutely be the best part of the night and is what I’m most excited for.
With Road Rager, the Coffin Match would have been my answer before they decided to hold off on that. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a casket match and it’s yet to happen at all in AEW, so I’m curious what spin they’ll put on it.
With that no longer on the card, I’m defaulting to the South Beach Strap Match. Cody Rhodes has had the most consistent track record in AEW for me as far as myself continually enjoying his matches.
Pinnacle vs Inner Circle just feels like a lesser version of what we’ve already seen. It’ll be good, but it doesn’t match my hype. Andrade and Matt Sydal should also have a good match and so on, but I’m definitely disappointed I’ll have to wait for Ethan Page vs Darby Allin.
Let us know your thoughts about these questions by answering them in the comments!
