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

Boom: fantastic promos from Taz and Moxley

Boom: telling the story without resorting to a physical altercation…yet

Wow, what a promo from Taz. Then again, what a promo from Moxley.

Even though his promo was interrupted, Taz was able to convey his message in that short time through his words, passion, and intensity. He didn’t appreciate Moxley laughing at his words last week, and reiterated to Moxley that Cage is “going to kick the living s**t out of you.” He punctuated this by saying Moxley needs to get his head on right “or it’ll get taken off.”

Out comes Moxley through the crowd area and into the ring, looking as confident and focused as ever. I really liked how Taz sold the tension by telling Moxley he needs to think and be careful before entering the ring. Moxley, of course, heeded the warning for about two seconds before shaking his head as he does and entering the ring.

First, Moxley said he smiled because (as I said last week about his masochist tendencies) the thought of fighting someone as strong, powerful, and intense as Cage “makes me happy” (see? Masochist). He even complimented Cage as seemingly indestructible (his injury history might beg to differ), but that it would take him “all night” to beat Moxley.

Cage might be an entirely different thing than anyone else in AEW, according to Moxley, but Moxley also said that he’s a different thing entirely. He capped it off by telling Taz and Cage to stop trying to intimidate him or get in his head, and to “remember just who the hell you’re talking about.”

He left the ring, championship in hand, with no physical blows.

You know what? I’m glad they didn’t come to blows already. We can feel the tension between the two, aided by Taz’s consecutive weeks of great promos, and Moxley’s time on commentary last week and his promo last night. Having them come to blows here only for it to go unsettled would seem a bit flat.

It is something that we would probably see in WWE, and while there was a pull apart brawl last week between Tyson’s crew and Inner Circle, that was the genesis of their feud in AEW. Having Cage and Moxley come to blows 11 days after the genesis of their rivalry stemming from Cage’s victory at Double or Nothing would be backwards booking.

Saving that altercation for the first night of Fyter Fest (I expect this match to headline night two) should garner more interest and passion among fans to see the match because that little taste of action will come to a conclusion only a week after rather than three or four weeks later.

This allows Cage to pick up more victories to reiterate the threat he poses to Moxley, probably against stiffer competition than he’s faced the last two weeks in Lee Johnson and Sean Dean. Poor Marko Stunt is probably up soon, but don’t be surprised if he demolishes Joey Janela and/or Christopher Daniels, too.

Moxley should have a match or two to stay fresh, also possibly against Stunt or Janela. If he doesn’t wrestle, then videos of him training (much like in the build to his match with Jake Hager) would do the trick.

Promos/videos from Moxley and Taz, regardless of potential matches, might be all we need to keep us intrigued and sell us on their match at Fyter Fest. I just hope they hold off on the physical altercation until the go-home show for their match. I also wouldn’t be surprised if their match is their first physical interaction.