AEW Booms and Duds: Why is Mr. Brodie a Vince McMahon parody?

Boom: Archer, Guevara, Allin continue to impress

I’ve gushed before about how both Guevara and Allin seem to be on the path to superstardom, so I’ll briefly touch on them here before moving onto Archer.

Guevara just continues to grow into the smarmy, arrogant, pretty-boy heel. His constant advances towards Brandi Rhodes (which I think he’s only doing to infuriate Cody) just makes you want to slap him for Brandi. The compulsive need to bet on delayed vertical suplexes during the match with his partner Spears was hilariously agitating.

Guevara also takes the most wicked, painful looking bumps in AEW. If you have a chance, rewatch that nasty spike bump he took on Cody’s Cross Rhodes. My neck feels like it needs a brace after watching him.

With Allin, not only did we see another death-defying move as he Coffin Dropped from the top of a pole to the outside, but we saw further character development. Frustrated at losing to a leverage pin and Cody’s absence during the finish, Allin gave Cody a forearm shiver when Cody tried to gather Allin after the match. With them potentially meeting in a semi-final match, this could be really good.

This is the first action we’ve seen of Archer in AEW. However, Jake “The Snake” Roberts debuting and introducing Archer to the audience has helped build his hype, particularly the promos the last few weeks. The little video promo from Roberts before Archer entered once again let us know there’s a fearsome man about to make his mark.

Archer marched to the ring with reckless abandon, even kicking someone at ringside (Tony Schiavone said it may have been the ringside doctor). Stunt was the perfect foe to really highlight the size and power difference, particularly since Stunt wrestles with little fear since every opponent has a size advantage.

His lower-third informed us he was spotting Archer a foot and a half in height and 156 in size. Basically, Stunt was giving up a toddler in height and my weight after a BBQ feast to Archer.

Stepping right to Archer showed that fire in Stunt. That is, until Archer hit him with a nasty lariat before the bell rung.

Stunt had about 15 seconds of offense during the match only to be thoroughly destroyed. Archer’s chokeslam had Stunt a good nine feet in the air. His Blackout finisher looked even more impressive because of how easily he was able to manhandle Stunt’s body.

Then, he literally chokeslam threw Stunt from the ring apron over the barrier and onto the babyfaces watching at ringside. Poor Orange Cassidy took the brunt of Stunt.

With Archer’s involvement in the TNT Championship Tournament, giving him a defiant and definitive victory was a great call in the possibility of Archer as the TNT Champion. Speaking of the tournament…