Big free-agent signing news for AEW: Tommaso Ciampa, who just last week announced he was not re-signing with WWE, is now All Elite.
Ciampa, 40, is a former NXT champ, and his 2018 feud with on-again, off-again tag partner Johnny Gargano is among the top singles feuds of the past 25 years.
Go back and watch their Last Man Standing match from “NXT Takeover: Brooklyn 4”; it’s in my Top 10 all-time.
Ciampa debuted last night on “Dynamite” as the next challenger in Mark Briscoe’s TNT title open challenge gimmick, with a match set for Saturday’s “Collision.”
Assuming he can avoid injury, big if there, given his history, Ciampa should eventually figure into the world title picture.
Movement at the top of the card
We were noticing watching the show last night that AEW is kinda lacking in terms of heels at the top of the card who can talk people into a show.
That’s a role that Ciampa can eventually help fill.
I mean, there’s MJF, obviously, but the top contenders for his world title – Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, “Hangman” Adam Page – are all babyfaces.
Andrade El Idolo might be in that mix; he’s booked for a match with Omega on next week’s “Dynamite” as part of a contenders’ series announced this week.
The winner will get a shot at MJF at “Revolution” in March.
I’d love to see Andrade get a serious push here; he looks to be in the best shape of his life.
He could at least get to a final match in this contenders’ series, to make things interesting for whichever of the babyfaces is being set up for the title match at the pay-per-view.
Recent former champ Samoa Joe, who could also factor in here, is likely a no-go for the contenders’ series, with AEW going public this week with word that he suffered a non-contact injury in training.
With Joe’s status up in the air, I’m not seeing anything about who Page will have as his dancing partner on the other side of the bracket in the contenders’ series.
It might be too soon for Ciampa to be in that mix.
The bench of top heels includes Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada, but none of those guys have any booking momentum at the moment.
Jon Moxley: Heel, or face?
After Jon Moxley defeated Ace Austin in one of those stupid title eliminator matches, he was confronted by Takeshita, then attacked by Mark Davis and Jake Doyle (more on him in a hot minute).
This is more booking that seems to be slowly turning Moxley from heel to babyface, even as his faction, The Death Riders, remains a heel group.
Hmmm.
Maybe the group turns on him at some point soon?
Do that, and you could elevate Daniel Garcia as the mouthpiece, with Claudio Castagnoli as the muscle, and Wheeler Yuta as … the guy who eats the fall in six-mans?
Jake Doyle news
Bad news for Doyle, who just debuted with AEW last month: he suffered a torn right biceps in the tag-title match with FTR last night, and will be out indefinitely.
A torn biceps is a four-month thing if it doesn’t need surgery, and eight months to a year if it does.
Jan. 31 ‘Collision’ preview
- AEW women’s world tag title match: Babes of Wrath (Harley Cameron & Willow Nightingale) defend against Sisters of Sin (Julia Hart & Skye Blue): I can see a title change here.
- Clark Connors vs. Darby Allin
- TNT title match: Mark Briscoe defends against Tommaso Ciampa
- The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) vs. CRU (Action Andretti & Lio Rush): Lio Rush is eternally underutilized.
Feb. 4 ‘Dynamite’ preview
- World championship eliminator match: MJF vs. Brody King. You can’t have your champ eat a fall here, but the stakes – if King wins, he gets a title shot at “Grand Slam Australia” – seem to foretell an upset.
- National title match: Ricochet vs. Jack Perry
- Contenders’ series match: Andrade El Idolo vs. Kenny Omega
- Young Bucks in action
Video: AEW news and notes
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Chris Graham
