10 Storylines AEW Dropped Cold
Long term story killing in AEW, starring Jon Moxley, Miro and a shot or two of Brandi.
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00:00 AEW is great. I know some people can't stand hearing that, which is a bit weird, but I'm
00:05 just happy we have two major western promotions fighting it out. More content for me. No matter
00:10 what level you're operating at though, certain things always fall through the cracks. It's
00:14 just the nature of the beast when you're doing twice weekly television that never stops.
00:17 How could anyone realistically keep on top of every single story? So I'm Simon from Whatculture,
00:22 please do hit that subscribe button, and this is 10 AEW Storylines Dropped Cold.
00:27 10. Frankie Kazarian – Elite Hunter
00:30 Not everybody on your books can be the world champion. If they could,
00:33 the title wouldn't mean anything anyway, so sometimes you just have to find your place
00:37 amongst the madness. Really, as long as you're presenting the best version of yourself,
00:41 all will be well, and this was definitely the case when Frankie Kazarian finally lost his rag
00:45 and decided he was going to take out the Elite. No matter where they went, he would be in their ass.
00:50 It was a cool story. This was fuelled forward by what the group had done to his partner,
00:54 Chrystia Daniels, so it was personal too, and then one day it was just over.
00:58 Frankie did have a decent run with it as he stopped them interfering in matches,
01:02 but before he had gotten around to taking them all out, we just stopped this and moved on to
01:06 something else. There was a match against Adam Cole a month later that felt like it could reignite
01:10 it all, but Kazarian lost and we just never spoke of this again. Maybe he was just tired
01:15 of evil running wild. 9. Miro The Gold and His Wife
01:18 After he lost the TNT title to Sammy Guevara, Miro launched into a series of vignettes where
01:23 he promised to take out the entire Inner Circle, as well as finish off hangman Adam Page. He was
01:28 mad. His reasoning was not only shame for his defeat, but also that there was no way he could
01:32 go home to his wife unless he was a champion. It seemed like we'd see this through when he was
01:36 inserted into the World Title Eliminator Tournament, but he lost to Bryan Danielson,
01:40 and once again that was that. To be fair, Miro had to take some time off for injuries after this,
01:45 and we've not seen him since, but if you didn't read behind the scenes news, you didn't know this.
01:49 Apparently he did go home to his partner, he took his licks and he just stayed there.
01:53 Hopefully we will pick this up again when he is back, and man I hope that soon. I miss him.
01:58 Miro is the best. 8. Brandi Rhodes' Struggles
02:01 A lot was going on with Brandi Rhodes in 2019. She was a pseudo heel authority figure teamed up with
02:07 Awesome Kong, and they just made a lot of noise. Then all of a sudden this hardened edge was
02:11 softened, and it was kinda pitched that all of this came from a place of self-doubt. As she then
02:15 geared up for a match against Ali, she was clearly worried about performing on a bigger stage,
02:19 leaving us all to assume this was gonna tie in, and then well it really didn't.
02:24 When we got to the contest, Brandi was just a bad guy with Kong doing her thing on the outside,
02:28 and after she won it was a bit confusing. Apart from one angle, which ties into...
02:33 7. Kong vs. Kong
02:35 Over the years, Tony Khan has proved he's somewhat of a master when it comes to giving
02:38 you matches you didn't know you wanted, as he flashes up a graphic that makes you go "oh wow".
02:43 This was the case when we got it for Awesome Kong vs. Asia Kong, because even though they
02:46 had gone at it before, it was something that most had wanted to see on a bigger stage.
02:51 Unfortunately, you know where this is going. It never happened.
02:54 We got the image and the hype, but after four matches Awesome left AEW when the Nightmare
02:58 Collective story was ended, whereas Asia didn't fight for two years until appearing in the
03:02 Japanese side of the 2021 Eliminator Tournament. This was nobody's fault because it was just life
03:07 being life, but that doesn't mean it was a shame, because it really was. And if you do
03:11 need evidence to this, just go and type it into your YouTube machine right now,
03:16 and enjoy everything that comes your way.
03:18 6. Shawn Spears' Tag Team Partner Hunt
03:21 This wasn't anyone's fault, as weeks after Shawn Spears and Tully Blanche began this,
03:25 a worldwide pandemic hit and changed the wrestling scene forever.
03:29 I don't think anybody was gonna call that. But beforehand, the chairman did put out a
03:33 casting call for a teammate, and it went so far, even I, the bald a-hole, threw my hat into the
03:38 ring. I even appeared on Dynamite for a second, and as a massive nerd, I tell you, that made my day.
03:44 When the unthinkable happened, every single promotion had to pivot, and as less people
03:48 were now going to be brought in, a narrative like this was never going to work, so it stopped. For
03:53 a while it looked like it had derailed Shawn too as he lost his angle, until the pinnacle was formed
03:57 and he made a pretty damn solid comeback. I am still waiting by my phone though, I'm sure eventually
04:04 he will call.
04:05 5. The Gun Club vs Paul Wight
04:07 Almost serving as a way to turn the Gun Club heel without ever telling us why,
04:11 Billy, Austin and Colton all decided to beat up Paul Wight before his match with QT Martial
04:16 at All Out. I suppose they just didn't like him. It did work in the sense the As-Boys embraced this
04:21 role and became far more fun than they were previously, but after Wight had knocked out QT,
04:25 this literally went nowhere. It just faded into the background, to the point I said to myself,
04:30 well maybe Paul didn't want any of this.
04:32 There may have been a hint of irony about it as the big show turned bad guy so many times in WWE,
04:37 maybe this was a joke, but there was no explanation here, so what are we meant to do?
04:42 You need some sort of story, you can't just allow things to happen.
04:45 I don't even think this was referenced after the fact even though Paul Wight does commentary on
04:49 Elevation, so if anybody does know, write me a card, I promise you I'll read it.
04:54 4. QT Martial vs The Bunny - May Be In Love
04:57 I really like QT Martial. He gets some stick from the darker corners of the internet,
05:02 but the man is so solid and understands his role perfectly. Plus he seems to be essential behind
05:06 the scenes and he's a great trainer. You need folk like that.
05:09 A couple of years ago though, he was thrown into the story with The Bunny,
05:12 who for a few months had reverted back to her original gimmick, aka Ali. It was kind of obvious
05:17 this was going to turn out to be a classic "she was stringing me along the whole time" tale,
05:21 or at least that's what we thought. Because while she did return to the Butcher and the Blade
05:25 eventually, there was so much teasing that Martial and Ali were more than just friends,
05:29 and yet nothing happened here. I mean, it's likely fair to say it's a narrative that has
05:32 been overplayed a bit, but you would have thought there would have been some big reveal,
05:36 instead we finished it and moved on. To be fair to AEW though, there's every chance they'd realise
05:40 this wasn't working but wanted to ensure everything was in order, and I respect that.
05:44 I prefer this than taking the GTV approach.
05:47 3. The Codyverse
05:49 I mean, we say this didn't end, but I think more specifically it didn't end in AEW.
05:54 I am not shy in saying that I love pretty much everything Cody Rhodes does because it's so
05:58 damn interesting. I've never once been bored when watching The American Nightmare, and now
06:02 that his story is taking him to WWE, you can never say you know what he's going to do. It's a constant
06:07 and entertaining guessing game. In terms of All Elite Wrestling though, there was this assumption
06:11 that something big was on the horizon, especially as Cody would drop lines such as what he intended
06:15 to do had never been seen before. And again, this was true in the sense he'd jump promotions,
06:19 but we'll now never know if there was something else on the cards. Do not forget he cut that
06:24 promo where he name-dropped CM Punk, but here's the thing. If in a few years Rhodes does decide
06:28 to come back, my word, the stories we are going to be able to tell. So if we do look at it from
06:33 a singular promotion perspective, you are right in saying that we never got to the end of this,
06:37 but if you treat wrestling as a whole, good grief, maybe he actually is changing the game.
06:42 2. Brandi Rhodes Goes After The Title
06:45 There was definitely something else brewing when the Rhodeses left AEW,
06:49 and on the other side, it was Brandi seemingly going after a Women's Championship.
06:53 While it had begun on darkened elevation, Brandi was slowly building up an undefeated
06:57 streak that seemed likely would be pitted against somebody else's record,
07:00 and maybe, just maybe, TBS Champion Jade Cargill.
07:04 There's also a chance it could have tied into a shot at the then-current Women's Champ Britt
07:07 Baker, but it was definitely heading in a certain direction, and one that was quite interesting.
07:11 It also doubled down on the whole wins and losses matter idea, and if we had seen this through,
07:16 I think it would have worked. You invest time in anything, and you'll get some reward.
07:20 However, as we know, before we got to the end of this, Brandi and Cody were gone from AEW,
07:25 and obviously that meant this was over too. You can't really finish a narrative
07:29 without the person who's at the centre of it.
07:32 1. Who Attacked Jon Moxley?
07:34 I am not totally convinced that AEW won't come back to this at some point,
07:38 and I don't even know why. It was so long ago they don't have to. I've just got this odd inkling.
07:43 There was also a ton of potential assailants about who could have attacked Jon Moxley,
07:46 which is one of the reasons it was so intriguing. Kenny Omega seemed cleaned at first until we
07:50 learned he had associated himself with Don Callis and the Good Brothers, and as the Forbidden Door
07:54 was heating up, KENTA was also mentioned. Keen detectives on ready were also quick to mention
07:59 that Moxley was left in the hanged position, which if true could even implicate hangman Adam Page.
08:04 So it certainly captured the imagination and seemed destined to turn Mox heel,
08:08 whereas now it's just a giant question mark. I mean, you could even say it was Malakai Black today,
08:12 and he wasn't even in the company at the time. That's how long it's been,
08:16 and how much fun we could potentially have with it.
08:19 Do you know of any other storylines that AEW dropped cold? Make sure you let us know in the
08:22 comments below and don't forget to like the video, share the video and subscribe.
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08:37 thank you very much for watching me as always, and I look forward to seeing you very very soon.