BOAD: Darby Allin's First AEW Dynamite as Champion

0.031 - 31.35 Tommy Dreamer

welcome to the busted open after dark podcast i'm your host tommy dreamer talking aew's dynamite with a dynamite main event for the ages darby allen's first title defense against tomaso champa and it was frigging awesome this is the busted open podcast frigging awesome aew's dynamite tonight uh I really, really enjoyed it. I had to because I've been away so much.

31.932 - 57.957 Tommy Dreamer

I had to really catch up on my dynamites and my collisions. And I thought also AEW did a phenomenal job of letting me know what happened. That's a big, great thing that I love that WWE does. It's for casual viewers. It's for your people who may not have seen the show. Like, this is what happened last week type of deal. I'm not just talking about an open.

58.418 - 82.38 Tommy Dreamer

I'm talking about a thread throughout the show. Yeah. We open up the show, Portland, Oregon. Here comes MJF, a pissed off MJF. And man, when MJF is mad, he is even better. And listen, I love Max. I love Maxwell Jacob Friedman. I love MJF. I think he's an amazing heel. I love him on the microphone.

82.44 - 113.67 Tommy Dreamer

I love him in the ring. I was frigging shocked when I heard he lost the title. And... I didn't see it until, what is today, Wednesday night? So I watched it probably Tuesday, the match and how he lost, all that stuff. And MJF just comes out spitting fire and gives his version of his truth. And his truth is, after three days...

113.65 - 141.531 Tommy Dreamer

of beating Kenny Omega, kicking out of the one-winged angel, beating the best to ever, you know, one of the best ever to do it in the game, former champion, a pillar of AEW. Three days later on, no notice, he gets Shanghai'd into a match, and he loses his title, and he wants his title back. Another great drop of throwing Hangman Page out there, because we haven't

142.439 - 165.088 Tommy Dreamer

seen or heard from Hangman Page since he lost his match and why I love wrestling fans. I always say this to everybody. We remember. Nation, you remember better than I do. You people, hell, I didn't even know today was an anniversary of me winning my first ever ECW world title. Creating some history. But

166.874 - 181.731 Tommy Dreamer

saying, like, and getting a reaction on something that happened so, so long ago is truly, like, how he brought it up, why he brought it up, great. And then basically demands, like, you know, Darby, come out here, and I want my title back. Interrupt?

182.291 - 210.613 Tommy Dreamer

Well, not so much interrupt. He invited him out there, and here comes Kevin Knight, the Jet. And he starts talking. And listen, I really... I can praise Kevin Knight all night long. When you're in there with Max, you better up your promo game. He got schooled a little bit by Max because that's what Max does.

210.713 - 230.787 Tommy Dreamer

And like I said, if you're in there with a great promo guy, it's going to be a battle of wits, just like a wrestling match. And he's going to counter to your counter. Referencing yourself in the third person as the jet, if that's the way you want to go, cool.

231.428 - 271.57 Tommy Dreamer

The announcer's got to put that over. And then because his response and him by MJF, when he's like, okay, let's talk about what you said, got a bit of a chuckle. And then it's like, oh, but we hate MJF. If... You just got to be careful when you're towing that line as a baby face, talking yourself in the third person. The Rock did it the best. The Nature Boy did it. Trick Williams does it.

272.056 - 299.734 Tommy Dreamer

but there were all heels that had proven commodity going against whoever, but they got over doing it as heels first. Sometimes I say this all the time, no matter how great you are, humility as a baby face helps because there's not...

300.727 - 332.366 Tommy Dreamer

you're just proving yourself as this singles commodity. So, Kevin comes out there and Kevin, or I'm going to start calling him the Jet. The Jet comes out there, starts basically putting himself over and getting reactions, right? And says, you want to come out here, not the person you're really expecting, but I should have beaten you before. And this is now, look who's a champion now.

333.107 - 353.51 Tommy Dreamer

All that stuff. And MJF is just like... After he kind of makes fun of him for what the Jets' mission statement kind of sort of is, then he kind of belittles the secondary title. It is a secondary title.

355.011 - 387.052 Tommy Dreamer

Jet then does a great job of putting that title over, which then entices MJF. They have a back-and-forth verbal battle, and... We're going to have this match right now. What a great match. Match is about to happen. Referee ring and MJF leaves. God, he had heat. It was brilliant. I was literally sitting on my couch saying, MJF leave. MJF leave. MJF leave.

388.353 - 411.801 Tommy Dreamer

Don't give the people what they want right now. And because you're the heel. Because here's what we have to worry about. If MJF wins that match, the champion is the one who kind of caused that. And like, it's a big issue.

413.603 - 429.098 Tommy Dreamer

And obviously MJF's not going to win it right off the bat, but that would hurt the Jets' momentum and sort of get people behind MJF and lose this great momentum that Kevin Knight has.