AEW Booms and Duds: Are Butcher and Blade a worthy threat for FTR?

Boom: a great showing filled with little stories between Omega and Page

The SuperBad Crew of Sabian and Havoc have meshed very well considering their lack of time as a team. There is a great chemistry between the two Englishmen. Their contrasting styles both visually and in the ring provide a unique teaming experience. They’re an exciting young team, and I’m looking forward to their journey in the tag team division.

Then again, their opponents in Tag Team Champion Omega and Page have a very similar dynamic, only to a higher degree and with better results.

It was a fun match, but what drew me in the most during this match were the subtleties in the acts of Omega and Page. Maybe this is just me looking for clues in this long-standing saga of Page and The Elite, but I thought there were some interesting points during the match.

First, let me quickly jump back to last week, where Omega and Page went back to their hotel to have some drinks (milk and whiskey, respectively…at least I think it was whiskey). This week, the lower third informed us that Omega prefers 2% (like me) and Page prefers 80 proof. Well done.

This is notable because it seems like Omega is making a more concerted effort to not only be there for his tag team partner, but also to help Page feel like he’s not the outcast of The Elite. It’s almost like Omega can feel a turn coming, so he’s doing what he can to both prevent the turn and make up for the time Page felt alone in the group.

I also still wonder how the addition of Hardy as a pseudo-The Elite member affected Page. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t, but that could be one reason he was so quick to leave last week during the backstage segment with Hardy and the Young Bucks, and walk off into the tunnel after their victory in the Stadium Stampede match.

To last night’s match, I found it intriguing the first half of the match was Page taking most of the damage for his team with Omega incapacitated on the outside. It’s just another addition to the ledger of potential reasons for Page to turn on Omega. Interestingly enough, Page also inflicted a heavy portion of offense through this first part of the match, almost as if to say, “I can go it alone if needed; it’s what I’ve always done.”

The spot wit Penelope Ford attempting to hit a huricanrana off the top onto Page only to be caught was pretty funny. Seeing Ford just hang from Page’s neck like that while referee Rick Knox and Page both looked perplexed was a great comedy spot. It was topped by Page just dropping Ford.

They also nearly lost their titles if it hadn’t been for Page breaking up what would have been a three count on Omega after a sequence ending in Havoc’s fisherman’s DDT.

They won by hitting The Last Call (buckshot lariat/V-Trigger combo) on Havoc, who crumbled to the ground. The timing on The Last Call from both competitors is always on point as they seem to hit their opponent at the same time.

(The Last Call is very similar to the name of NXT Champion Adam Cole’s finisher, his Last Shot shining wizard variant. I already had enough troubles remembering if it was the Last Shot, Final Shot, or Last Call and now this?!)

Now, they defend their titles against Best Friends at Fyter Fest (unclear which night), a match I predicted will see Best Friends become the new champion. We have between three and four shows until Fyter Fest (depending on which night the match happens), so it’ll be interesting to see how this match will be built, and if we will have any other interactions that make us question if a turn is coming sooner rather than later.