AEW Booms and Duds: Jake Roberts went full incel on us

Boom: what a tag match

Last week, I wrote that while I enjoyed the tag match, it was a little too cute especially coming off the street fight tag match between Best Friends and Sabian/Jimmy Havoc the week before.

This week, I’m not sure what else to say but what a damn good match. Then again, what else should we have expected considering Santana and Ortiz are one of the better tag teams of the past half-decade, Omega is a current Tag Team Champion and one of the best wrestlers of his generation, and Hardy is a tag team savant (not just a specialist) whose most memorable career moments are arguably from his tag team runs?

(An aside: should we call this team of Omega and Hardy One Winged Deletion? The Obsolete Cleaners? The Cleaners of Deletion? The Omega Vessel? The Damascus Trigger? The Best Dam-Ascus Machines? The Best Deletion Machines? One Winged Damascus?)

I don’t think there was a single part of the *match* I disliked. I absolutely love Ortiz’s Tiger Style and it brings me joy every time I see him do his Tiger Style pose. He and Santana worked so fluidly last night, tagging in and out and performing some impressive double-teams, like the Boston Crab-Camel Clutch combo submission.

Hardy and Omega teamed well, but the one part of this *segment* I didn’t like was how long it took Hardy to make his way to the ring after Omega was jumped by their opponents. It’s like he went to the Rhea Ripley school of making saves where you wait for your music, make your entire entrance, and slowly walk your way to the ring.

I appreciate the announcers mentioning how referee Rick Knox did not call for an end to the match when there were outside bodies making their way into the ring (and out) because none of the legal competitors were struck. That’s a subtle yet effectively coherent line that would be overlooked in WWE.

It also makes sense for the established tag team to lose to the makeshift team in only their second week of teaming. I already mentioned Omega is one of the best in the world, and he’s shown by capturing the Tag Team Championship with a different makeshift partner in Page that his skill translates well to a tag team with a partner of similar caliber.

Hardy is one of the best tag team wrestlers ever, and I don’t think it’s even arguable. He’s also been champion with partners who don’t share his last name, showing his tag style meshes well with others.

Though it hurts to say, Santana and Ortiz haven’t been built to be serious tag team threats the past few months. They’ve been more of Jericho’s heavies alongside Hager, not to mention the comedic range they’ve shown in “The Bubbly Bunch” videos (I hear they’re pretty hilarious outside of wrestling, too). They aren’t even ranked in this week’s tag team rankings, and though this loss means they won’t sniff the rankings next week, it’s also clear they’re positioned as a plucky yet unsuccessful team, like Private Party eight months ago.

Yes, Omega has lost tag matches with both Hardy (last week) and Michael Nakazawa to Best Friends weeks ago. However, Nakazawa is…Nakazawa; no one is taking him as a serious (in every possible sense) wrestler.

Last week’s match started as a tag match, but became a five-on-two beating. While it counts as a loss for Omega and Hardy, I don’t think many people will hold it against them that they couldn’t defeat five wrestlers like it was a movie or anime.

I mean, they showed us just how effective of a team they are last night when in a traditional tag team match. If we have a situation where Hardy is the Timothy Thatcher (and I haven’t watched NXT yet so NO SPOILERS!) to Omega’s Matt Riddle and Page’s Pete Dunne, then this should be fun, particularly to see what happens when Page returns.

After all, what happens with Page and The Elite with the inclusion of Hardy in their feud with Inner Circle was one of the big talking points before the pandemic.