Funny / All Elite Wrestling

• During the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing, Orange Cassidy (who, in typical fashion, didn't even enter the ring until long after when he was supposed to) went after Tommy Dreamer and started 'attacking' him by repeatedly tapping him with his feet... while the announcers amusingly played it up like they were witnessing a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. One of them even said Dreamer might need crutches by the end of the night.
  • Jungle Boy and MJF's reactions, too. Jungle Boy looked at those kicks as if he'd seen a massacre, while MJF looked at them and back at the audience with a "WTF" face.
    • Oh, and after Dreamer knocked Cassidy down, knocking his sunglasses off, Jungle Boy cautiously reached out, grabbed the sunglasses, and put them on himself.
• MJF was the star of the Casino Battle Royal, a bastard heel par excellence who stomped a mudhole in Dustin Thomas (a handicapped wrestler who has no legs) before leaning down and shouting "Sorry 'bout that Lt. Dan!" in his face. Possibly the funniest bit came after he eliminated Glacier and, while basking in the hatred of the crowd, backed up into a furious Billy Gunn, who was standing right behind him glaring a hole through the back of MJF's head. MJF's smug expression froze as, without turning around, he reached backwards and cautiously felt out the shape of Gunn's face.
• At Fyter Fest, The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega made their way to the ring for their six-man tag team match as Ryu & Ken and Akuma. The funny part? They got ring announcer Justin Roberts to complete the Shout-Out by starting the match with "ROUND 1, FIGHT!".
  • Even better was when a 'fan' ran up the ramp to do Batista's entrance pose, then the stadium went dark, the Shun Goku Satsu was executed, and then Kenny Omega appeared with the 天 kanji on his back when the lights went back up, with the fan unconscious on the floor.
• October 9, 2019 Episode:
  • When Chris Jericho is introducing the Inner Circle, once he gets to Jake Hager, the crowd starts inevitably chanting "We the People!". There are two bits to this scene:
    • The first is Hager's face, as if he's getting PTSD flashbacks to an undesirable part of his life he would rather forget.
    • Then Jericho tops it by saying, "'We the People!' sucks, and it's dead and buried! It was a stupid idea from bad creative and all that's gone!"
• October 16, 2019 Episode:
  • Scorpio Sky is forced to take Christopher Daniels' spot in the tag match. During the match he loses one shoe, and then later on loses his other shoe and wrestles the rest of the match clad in socks leading the crowd to chant "He's got no shoes!"
  • After the dark matches, Cody plucks a fan out of the front row who's dressed like Orange Cassidy. The kid gets in the ring and does a dead-on impression of Cassidy, hands in pockets and no-selling everything. Cody then proceeds to bribe a referee to come out there and count a pinfall for the kid (MJF screaming and pleading in-character the entire time, as Cody's "ruining" his own win-loss record). The audience plays along, even giving the kid Cassidy's "FRESHLY SQUEEZED" chant.
• October 30, 2019 Episode:
  • Kenny Omega making an entrance themed around Undertale, of all things, complete with him coming out in Sans cosplay while "Megalovania" plays.
    Tony Schiavone: "Halloween is starting early for him, as he calls upon the powers of Sans from Undertale!"
  • From the same show, The Best Friends and Orange Cassidy come out dressed as Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith doing a cross promotion with the show. During their match, Trent's wig keeps falling off.
• November 6, 2019 Episode:
  • Chris Jericho decided to release a video package to hype his match for the AEW World Championship against Cody Rhodes- and chose to use it to do an absolutely deadpan spoof of a dead-serious video package Cody had done a few weeks earlier. What we got is just non-stop comedy gold. Highlights include:
  • The members of the Inner Circle hyping Jericho up, except for Jake Hager who just stared at the camera like he's bored out of his mind while saying absolutely nothing.
  • Jericho in a bath, drinking his "bubbleh" and just splurting it without a care in the world.
  • Sammy Guevara saying this line with complete seriousness, which is technically correct but still:
    Sammy Guevara: Chris Jericho, he's in the prime of his life. He's 48, the youngest AEW champion in history.^note The AEW Championship title was less than three months old at the time; when the episode aired, Jericho had been the ONLY person who had ever held that title.
  • For whatever reason, freaking Virgil (under the name 'Soultrain Jones') showed up as well, and also Chris' aunt's friend from church decided to join in the fun & saying with full confidence that Jericho will beat the sh*t out of Cody.
    • Soultrain Jones (credited as a 'Living Legend') got arguably the two best lines of a video crammed with great lines.
      Soultrain Jones: I don't know what a GOAT is because I'm not a farmer. But I know what Chris Jericho is- the Greatest of All Time. [...] Chris Jericho's talent is like the Olive Garden breadsticks: unlimited.
• On the November 8, 2019 episode of AEW Dark, The Librarian Leva Bates teams with Nyla Rose in a Tag Match. Rose refuses to tag in Bates the entire match, basically wrestling a handicap match. Once Bates realizes that she's not going to take part in the match, she spends the rest of the match on the ring apron reading a book and sipping coffee.
• November 13th, 2019 Episode:
  • There's a pretty intense backstage brawl underway between the Young Bucks, and Santana and Ortiz, but as soon as they knock down a bathroom door, Orange Cassidy is standing right there, chilling! Cue the audience erupting with laughter, while Santana sports a priceless "WTF?" expression as he slowly closes the door, before receiving a kick to the face.
  • After defeating Michael Nakazawa in under a minute, Jon Moxley upon getting the microphone first asks if that win counts.
  • During a triple threat match, Darby Allin and Shawn Spears are jawing at one another having a staredown. The third member of the match, Peter Avalon climbs the top rope for a sneak attack and when he dives off, the two casually move out of the way, and Avalon hits nothing but canvas. Spears' awkward shrug after the fact only adds the icing on the cake.
• November 20th, 2019 Episode:
  • Chris Jericho's "apology". He struggles to say it and can't bring himself to, so he just hands off the mic for Jake Hager to say it for him. This happens every time he tries to say sorry.
  • And if you look closely as Hager, you can see him cracking a smile like he's trying hard not to bust out laughing. Even funnier when you remember that this is the first time Hager has actually said so much as a single word in AEW so far.
  • Right after the above, SCU manages to trick Chris Jericho into giving Scorpio Sky, who pinned him the week before, a World Title shot with antics that would make Bugs Bunny proud.
• During the 11/26 episode of Dark, Leva Bates is facing Awesome Kong. The bell rings and she tries to convince Kong not to fight by showing her the book that she has. When Kong looks at it, Bates snaps the book shut right on her nose. Unfortunately, that would be the extent of her offense as Kong then destroys her.
  • Her accomplice Peter Avalon tries to get in and stop Kong, but she levels a Death Glare at him and he wisely decides to stay outside.
• November 27th, 2019 Episode:
  • Jericho's Thank You Celebration. Complete with Soultrain Jones as a host with a Marching Band performing his theme and giant presents and multiple mascots around the ring all for his ego.
    • There's a hilarious Call-Back to Soultrain Jones' joke in the previous promo about not knowing what a "GOAT" is, when Jake Hager brings out an actual goat. Called "Chris JeriGOAT". Despite it being female. And then the goat got its own merchandise◊. You can't make this stuff up.
• Dustin Rhodes, being the eldest man on the roster, occasionally has to stop and catch his breath during the middle of a match. He holds out his hands for his opponent he's facing to stop so he can get air in his lungs before telling them, "Okay, we can continue".
• The Lexicon of Le Champion
• The on-screen graphics for each entering wrestler have a brief fact attached to them. Adam Page's entrance fact on the 12/11 Dynamite episode? "Drank a bottle of whiskey at home alone last Wednesday".
  @theAdamPage: who did this
• During a match between Emi Sakura and Big Swole, Sakura gets her mic stand and goes to use it; when the ref takes hold of it, the two tussle over it and it flies into the hands of Big Swole, who catches it and channels James Brown as she dances with it and does the splits.
• Tony Schiavone has made his disdain for MJF known, referring to him coming out as a "Jerk Segment."
• Continuing the gag from the previous episode of Dynamite, Adam Page's entrance "fact": "IDK make it say something like Happyee Hawlidays".
  @theAdamPage: smdh
• After his match with Jungle Boy, Jericho boasts and claims that he knew Jungle Boy couldn't beat him, but Schiavone reminds him that Jungle Boy lasted 10 minutes with him which was the stipulation, which Jericho denies. The two argue over it until Jericho snaps at him to shut up.
• Jon Moxley and Orange Cassidy's staredown on the New Year's Day episode.
• Adam Page joins the commentary booth for a match later in the episode, and the name card "fact" this week? "Has been drinking". This one in particular caught on enough to become a shirt!
  @theAdamPage: come on, you gotta be kidding me
• Moxley declined to join The Inner Circle, calling them a "stupid group" and claiming they had nothing he wanted. This didn't stop him from leaving with the car they offered him.
  • After smashing a bottle of "the bubbly" over Jericho's head and hitting him with a Paradigm Shift, Moxley catches Sammy Guevara with another Paradigm Shift as he tries to save Jericho, then when Jake Hager storms the ring, Mox grabs another bottle, only for the sugar glass to shatter in his hand before he can swing it, forcing him to beat a hasty retreat through the crowd. Hager is left in the ring, cradling the unconscious Jericho as if he'd been shot and impotently screaming Moxley's name in fury. It was hilariously melodramatic.
• When Kenny Omega comes out to rescue The Young Bucks from a post-match attack, Hangman Adam Page walks down with a cup of beer in his hand to assist. He gets on the ring apron, hands his cup to Nick, hits the Buckshot, then asks for his beer back. A new case of "Hold my Beer."
• Not even teaming up with Kenny Omega stopped Adam Page from falling victim to the joking nameplates, when on the February 12, 2020 Dynamite, the nameplate said, "Days as champions: 22. Days Sober: Omega - 13,268 Hangman - 0".^note The number wasn't randomly selected; it was Omega's exact age at that date.
  • The following episode pits them against the Lucha Brothers and gives us this gem: "Como se dice (How do you say) Yeehaw?"
• After a show, two fans at ringside are brought into the ring and have a quick match teaming against Brandon Cutler and QT Marshall. Ladies and gentlemen...the hot new tag team of Scooby-Doo and Jesus. And as if wasn't amazing enough, Justin Roberts' ring announcing sells the whole thing. He goes to announce Jesus like he normally would, but stops halfway through and channels his inner Zandig and belts out an amazing "JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZUS!!!" and after the match, he corpses when announcing Scooby-Doo.
• During a Tag Battle Royal, Jack Evans climbs up to the top rope and somersaults onto all the other participants, however, they catch him in midair when he does and then toss him out of the ring, eliminating him.
• AEW's first Iron Man match (2/26 from Independence, MO) pitted Kenny Omega against Pac, with a memorable spot occurring when Pac gave Omega a brainbuster from the turnbuckle. There was only one way the crowd could respond to this: by chanting "You killed Kenny!" "You Bastard!"
  • On the same show, after a confrontation between PAC and Orange Cassidy, it was announced that the two would face each other at the upcoming PPV Revolution. Later in the night, after a Best Friends match, Chuckie T hyped the match up by saying this time, Orange Cassidy was going to try. The crowd immediately busted out a "He's gonna try!" chant that nearly got Orange to break character.
  • Another Orange Cassidy-related moment from the same episode came when the Best Friends were facing off against The Butcher and The Blade, and Cassidy ended up in the ring facing off against their manager, The Bunny. As to what happened next, well...
• When Freshly Squeezed Orange Cassidy is the competitor for once during Revolution, he ends up being billed, "From...wherever, weighing in at...whatever", and his titantron graphics is nothing more than the two parts of his name in black marker on a white background cycling between each other. Even the pyro came out in an uncoordinated sputter.
  • During the match against PAC itself, PAC drags a prone Cassidy over to one corner to set him up for the Black Arrow, only for Cassidy to roll away and out the other side of the ring. PAC climbs down from the turnbuckle, goes around to get Cassidy, and throws him back into the ring under the other turnbuckle again, only for Cassidy to roll over and out the other side of the ring this time. Exasperated, PAC goes and gets Cassidy one more time, but as Cassidy starts to roll across the ring again, PAC marches around to the other side and waits for Cassidy, who finds himself staring the unamused PAC in the face, and cracks up in a shit-eating grin.
• After Moxley won the AEW Heavyweight title match at Revolution 2020, he tried to continue his unscripted victory speech when his theme music was prematurely played. The abrupt cut in the music after he told backstage off for interrupting was awkward as well as hilarious.
  Moxley: Hey, what the fuck?
• Christopher Daniels has a public service announcement.
• The March 19, 2020 episode of Dynamite proved that Hangman Adam Page wasn't the only one given silly nameplate graphics, with Orange Cassidy being given simply, "Whatever", and Brandi Rhodes being given, "Promised she would never ring announce again"...as she takes on the role of ring announcer.
  • Funnier is that Orange Cassidy serves as a guest commentator for the opening match...and still doesn't say anything.
  • Adam Page's usual nameplate tomfoolery took proceedings up to eleven by not only having the fact "Social distancing since November" but even changing his name to "Adam 'Handwash' Page".
• The March 26, 2020 episode of Dynamite has Chris Jericho and Matt Hardy go into a Ham-to-Ham Combat over the words "Elite" and "DELETE". And Jericho even lampshades that there's no one in the audience to shout his catchphrase.
  • Matt states that he knew Judas, who "betrayed me as well". And then he starts claiming to see different spirits filling the audience, from Abraham Lincoln to Martin Luther King.
  • The entire segment is one of the greatest bits of comedy AEW has created so far. Other highlights include: "Judas" being sung by a cameraman who is ALMOST as out of key as Sammy Guevara was the previous week. Jericho cut a promo on Vanguard-1, trying to convince the drone to join the Inner Circle and referring to it as 'Guard' before it flies away to his rage. Then, Matt makes his appearance in the stands just like in his debut, but he 'teleports' down to the floor seats with obvious jump cuts that the commentary desk sells with shock and awe. (Kenny Omega proclaimed that Matt has Psycho Power)
• The Jericho/Vanguard hilarity doesn't stop there. The week after, as Jericho is lounging at the pool, Vanguard arrives. Jericho tries to get into Vanguard's good graces by giving him an Inner Circle shirt (still on a hanger so it's hooked onto the landing handles of said drone) before the drone flies away. Cue pissed off Jericho shouting, "RELEASE THE HOUNDS!" as three dogs chase after the drone while flying off. One dog, a small Chihuahua, seems content to merely stand on the concrete patio.
  • Continuing Orange Cassidy's run of hilariously creative ways to be lazy, during a match between Hikaru Shida and Anna Jayy (during the period where, owing to the coronavirus restrictions, the shows were taking place in empty arenas with only other wrestlers and staff at ringside), Cassidy was in the crowd area holding a sign. A blank sign.
• In a tag team match against the Best Friends, Michael Nakazawa takes advantage of a lull in the action to strip off his jockstrap and stretch it around his arm to make the Friends flinch. Meanwhile, on commentary, Tony Schiavone and Chris Jericho are selling it like a stink bomb detonated in the arena, with Jericho even confessing he would tap out if he were on the receiving end of it. And just outside of the ring, Orange Cassidy nearly corpses from how ridiculous of a move it is.
• During the coronavirus pandemic where not everyone could get together for shows, the Inner Circle had been meeting for several weeks via group video chat as "The Bubbly Bunch". On the 29th of April 2020 episode of Dynamite, Chris Jericho had the idea for them to compete in a "Manitoba Melee", a twist on the Don't Rush Challenge, where each of them would attack the camera and the next one along the line would sell the attack before hitting back. It started out normally enough with Ortiz "headbutting" Sammy, who "punched" Jake Hager, who "kicked" Santana. But then things went a bit off the rails when Santana pulled off his sandal and smacked... Peter Avalon (The Librarian). Avalon came back and smacked Jungle Boy with a book, who hit Sonny Kiss, who kicked Luther. Then things got really weird, as Luther came back and kicked Ted Irvine (Chris Jericho's famous hockey-playing father), who picked up his hockey stick and used it to... well, rather than spoil the long string of hilarious surprise appearances, you should just watch it.
  Chris Jericho: Was that Lou Ferrigno... with a taser...?!
  • One particularly hilarious little detail was the way the background music cut out completely when it was Silent Bob's turn.
• Put four of AEW's largest hams together for a tag team street fight (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara vs. Kenny Omega and Broken Matt Hardy) and the result is one of the most spectacular and gut-busting matches in the program:
  • The wackiness begins when Jericho slugs Hardy so bad he literally unbreaks Hardy, resulting in an unexpected switch to his normal persona.
  • After the match inevitably leaves the area and spills outdoors, Hardy gets slammed into a freezer and stuck inside for several minutes while Omega is assaulted by Guevara smashing open an ATM and punching him with a wad of bills.
  • The last six minutes of the match is best left to AEW's YouTube channel, as the escalation of the teams' antics is not done justice through text alone, but special attention must be given to a re-Broken Hardy and Omega assaulting Guevara in a golf cart.
• Double or Nothing 2020
  • The Casino Ladder match, with the winner getting a chance to face the AEW World Champion at a later date. Needless to say, it led to some funny moments.
    • It featured Orange Cassidy as one of the contestants. After taking the longest time just to get to the ring, including stopping by the commentator booth to ask how to win the match, Orange spends the next minute or two trying his best to open up a ladder by himself, failing to do so, and jumping up and down to try and get the Casino chip. Later, when Brian Cage made his AEW debut, Orange jumped on his back, climbing the ladder along with him in hopes of grabbing the chip first.
    • Another moment came when Marko Stunt came out, using a small step stool to perform a chokeslam spot with Orange, who was trying to do the same with Luchasaurus.
    • When Brian Cage came out, Joey Janela, subbing for an injured Rey Fenix, was tossed out of the ring by Cage, leading Janela to shout out, "FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER!" live on air over the brunt force of the impact.
  • During the AEW Women's Championship Match between Nyla Rose and Hikaru Shida, at one point Rose press slams Shida over the barricade onto a nearby poker table, sending playing cards and chips flying everywhere. When the camera swings back to Rose, she snarls, "always bet on black!".
  • The main event saw The Elite facing off against the Inner Circle in a Stadium Stampede match a.k.a. the funniest thing you will ever see in professional wrestling! To whit:
    • The match takes place in the Jacksonville Jaguars home stadium (with a standard wrestling ring incongruously set up in the middle of the field, despite it being a falls count anywhere match), with the members of each team coming out through pyro and smoke like the teams at a football match, with the Inner Circle upping the ante by all wearing football jerseys with numbers on them. The Jaguars cheerleaders (all wearing face masks due to the coronavirus pandemic) are dancing, and instead of ringing a bell, the match is started by referee Aubrey Edwards blowing a whistle, leading the two teams to charge each other from opposite sides of the field for the kickoff.
    • After some brawling, Sammy Guevara gets up from a bump, somewhat dazed, then turns around and freezes as Hangman Page makes his arrival at last... riding on the back of an actual horse. He sets his sights on Sammy and Sammy runs for his life, with Hangman and the horse chasing him off the grounds and into the stadium's interior.
    • After Sammy gives Hangman the slip, Hangman rides his horse aimlessly around the halls of the stadium for about ten minutes, oblivious to the fact that Sammy has made his way back to the action in the field. Jim Ross on commentary delivers a great line just as Hangman gives up, dismounts his horse, and wanders into the bar instead.
      JR: If I ever get lost, Tony...
      Tony Schiavone: Yeah?
      JR: Please do not send Hangman Page to look for me.
    • After the brawl breaks up and spreads out into different parts of the stadium, Santana and Ortiz incapacitate Kenny Omega, then throw Matt Hardy into a small pool on the upper level. Santana jumps in to punish Hardy further, but Ortiz hesitates.
      Santana: Get in here!
      Ortiz: I can't swim!
      Santana: What do you mean?!
      Ortiz: I can't swim!
      Santana: Stop being a pendejo!
    • Despite the water being barely waist-high, Ortiz eventually uses the ladder to gingerly climb into the pool, and Proud and Powerful begin dunking Matt Hardy under the water. When they pull him up to get the ref to ask him if he taps out, he comes out as Team Xtreme-era Matt Hardy, complete with hand signs. Santana and Ortiz push him under again, and through the transparent side of the pool, the camera catches Matt mugging for it while still making the Team Xtreme hand signs. Back above the water, a MATTer of FACT overlay appears on the screen stating that "Matt can hold his breath for 346 seconds"... and Santana and Ortiz can see the overlay, prompting Ortiz to check his watch. Matt bursts out of the water as Version 1 Matt Hardy, and after a bit more of a scuffle (and a brief lecture from Matt), they dunk him under one more time, finally returning him to Broken Matt. The commentators assume the pool had been filled with water from the Lake of Reincarnation.
    • Matt turns the tables on his attackers, dragging Ortiz (who had inexplicably acquired a pool floaty) out of the pool, putting both him and Santana through a table, then drags him under a nearby bell and rings it right next to his ear, causing Ortiz to go into convulsions, giving Matt the opportunity to throw him into a "chair of wheels" and tie him in with duct tape, while giving him a medical prescription. After brawling with Santana some more, he eventually shoves him into an icebox ("to cool your inflammation!") and locks him in with a broom through the handles.
    • Jake Hager finds Adam Page drinking in the bar, and after it briefly looks like the two are going to have a quiet drink together, it instead turns into a bar brawl, complete with Page breaking a pool cue over Hager's back, and Hager slamming Page on the bar, dragging him down to the other end and throwing him off, leading Excalibur to quote The Big Lebowski:
      Excalibur: Hangman Page finding out sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you.
    • Back on the field, Matt Jackson is scrapping with Sammy Guevara at one end, while Chris Jericho is battling Nick Jackson down at the other. Matt catches Sammy with his favorite Northern Lights Suplex onto the field, and begins to roll through and do it again... and again... and again. After cutting away to Nick and Jericho, we see Matt and Sammy reach the half-way point, still suplexing, then after another cut-away, Matt finally suplexes Sammy into the endzone for a touchdown. He proceeds to spike Sammy's head into the ground and then perform an exuberant touchdown dance... leading to referee Rick Knox giving him a yellow card for excessive celebration and unsportsmanlike conduct, to which Matt superkicks Knox in the face.
    • Meanwhile, Nick and Chris Jericho have been brawling constantly. Jericho throws Nick into the open mouth of one of the inflatable jaguar heads that decorate the stadium, which upsets the Jaguars' mascot, Jaxson de Ville, who comes over and taunts Jericho. Jericho responds by giving the mascot the Judas Effect.
    • After beating Nick up with Floyd the baseball bat, Jericho tries to pin him, only for Nick to kick out at 2.9. Jericho argues with Aubrey Edwards about the pin, which is a common enough event in wrestling, but then unlike in wrestling he pulls out a red flag and shouts that he's challenging the play. Aubrey goes into the replay tent and Jericho follows her, despite her shouting that he's not allowed in there, and the replay shows that Nick did in fact get his shoulder up in time, so the match continues. Jericho is typically unimpressed.
      Chris Jericho: You're a shitty referee!
    • After Matt pins Jericho down on a table and Nick hits him with a massive splash, Hangman Page strolls out with a line marker, which he idly drives up and over Jericho's unconscious body, leaving a line of white chalk right down his middle and across his face.
      Excalibur: I'm not sure if that's a regulation line.
      JR: Well, why don't you go check? [the commentators start chuckling]
      Tony: Right up the crotch...
    • With every other member of the Inner Circle incapacitated, poor dazed Sammy Guevara (who's still completely out of it after an implied 100 Northern Lights Suplexes in a row) is crawling across the grounds on his belly when the sprinkler he's crawling over goes off, hitting him in the face and the crotch. Standing up, he looks around and can't see anyone else from either team, leading him to start celebrating as he thinks he's won by being the last man standing. Then he hears the sound of an engine, and a look of horror appears on his face as Matt Hardy and Kenny Omega drive into the stadium behind him on the same buggy they used to run him down a few weeks earlier. They repeat the exact spot with Sammy fleeing from the buggy while Kenny hangs out the side howling for blood, although this time Sammy makes it to the wall and climbs up into the stand to escape. What makes it even funnier, though, is referee Bryce Remsburg sprinting along behind the buggy almost as fast as Sammy.
• Due to the Pandemic with fans not being allowed at ringside or in attendance, wrestlers on the roster have been doing it. Big Swole is clearly enjoying herself being a fan and cheering and jawing at the ones wrestling.
• Eagle-eyed watchers of the 05/27/2020 episode of Dynamite will notice Vickie Guerrero's nameplate advising "Have your earplugs ready" just seconds before she begins her trademark high-pitched yelling.
• Having suffered a leg injury, an injured Dr. Britt Baker proceeds to outline the vast conspiracy against her.
• Apparently the nameplate foolery associated with Hangman Page also applies to his tag-team partners: while teamed up with Kenny Omega vs. the team of Jimmy Havoc and Kip Sabian on the 6/3/20 edition of Dynamite, the nameplate factoid reads "Prefers 2%, 80 proof."
• An injured Dr. Britt Baker stole the show on the 17th June 2020 episode of Dynamite, despite not even being able to walk, let alone wrestle, sending notes to Tony Schiavone from her wheelchair mounted on the back of her truck via a pulley system. When Schiavone came down and conducted an interview with her where he announced Penelope Ford would be challenging Hikaru Shida for the Women's Championship at Fyter Fest Baker blew up at him, put him in "a friendship time-out" and ordered her Beleaguered Assistant Reba to drive her away... only for the camera to swing around to reveal that the truck had been hijacked by Big Swole, who mockingly asked "Where to, Doctor?" before driving away with a screaming Baker, shouting threats about what she was going to do with her now she had her. Reba eventually tracked Britt down, discovering Swole had thrown her into a dumpster, and after screaming angry abuse at Reba for a few minutes, she cut a near-hysterical promo on Swole from within the dumpster, with a banana skin still on her head!
  Britt: You're fired, get out, get out!
  Reba: Uh, I... you mean I'm free?!
  Britt: <beat> ...no! You're not fired, you're rehired, you're rehired, help me get out of here!
  • Also, Baker screaming "I've been in here for five hours!" when Reba rightly points out it's been less than forty minutes.
• In a match between Billy Gunn and MJF, Billy pops the smarmy weasel right in the face and MJF decides he's had enough and leaves; Billy however gives chase through the entrance way, and a few moments later he's shown carrying MJF, who's literally kicking and screaming, back to the ring.
• The Best Friends' entrance video. Just.. all of it.
• For their match at Fyter Fest, The Best Friends arrive to the ring being driven to it by Trent's mom in her Minivan. And she refuses to let them leave until she gives Trent a kiss to his chagrin and tells them to have fun as if they are going to the movies instead of wrestling a match.
• The AEW Puppy Battle Royale. Exactly What It Says on the Tin, and just as hilariously daft as you'd expect.
  Tony Schiavone: This match is better than anything I called back in 2000.
• A week after their match, Jericho congratulates Cassidy for putting up a good fight, even drinking some OJ with fellow Inner Circle members as if to show respect, yet makes it quite clear he won't fight him again. In response, the crowd chant "You scared!" to his unamusement, which is made all the funnier by Ortiz trying to cover Jericho's ears.
  • Soon, Cassidy comes out from the stands and as Jericho rants at him, he raises his thumb up his usual way, but then slowly lifting it upwards before pointing it down... cueing a giant load of OJ to drop down onto the Inner Circle.
    • Ortiz once again brings another comical moment by slipping around on the OJ, calling back to the Elite VS Inner Circle Stadium Stampede match where he made it clear he can't swim.
    • Jericho calls for a towel, trying to get dried off... Both Hager and Satana try to warn him what the towel is before Jericho holds it out, seeing it has Cassidy's face printed on the other side! Not surprisingly, this is what really sets him off.
  • Even better? This is right before Jericho joins the commentary team once again, and to his further unamusement, the shot of him getting doused in orange juice with his fellow Inner Circle members is shown from multiple angles!
• A week later, Jericho and the Inner Circle cut a promo where he mocks Jurassic Express... before asking Santana if his expensive jacket still smells like OJ? Satana takes a whiff, then confirms it still does to Jericho's anger, who then walks off as Santana tells Ortiz and Hager he couldn't lie to him.
• Britt Baker does it again as, after a (real) nose surgery, she does another rant about the "conspiracy" against her and brags of her coming epic comeback, comparing it to Tiger Woods' Masters victory, Rocky defeating Ivan Drago, and Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards. When Tony points out that Jordan's run was a mess, Baker snaps "I am Michael Jordan!" and Rebel fires off "I saw Space Jam 19 times and he beat the Monstars every single time!"
  • Before the interview is to start, Rebel is about to correct her name...and Baker rolls up screaming "Reba!"
• For their Falls Count Anywhere match, the Young Bucks go searching for the Butcher and Blade, wanting to get stright to brawling. They eventually find them in a kitchen and at work, cutting up some meat. The Young Bucks make clear they want to fight them right now, which the Butcher and Blade accept... But only after cleaning their hands. Got to stay hygienic!
  • The slabs of meat end up being used as weapons by the Young Bucks.
  • At one point in the match, the Blade is superkicked by the Young Bucks while he's standing behind an escalator, which he falls onto afterwards, slowly moving up as he lays there unconcious. Even funnier is that this is focused on for a bit before cutting to a commercial break.
• Before Brian Cage and Ricky Starks' tag team match against Jon Moxley and Darby Allin on the 30th July episode of Dynamite, Starks cuts a promo on their opponents where he tries to deconstruct Darby Allin's unique appeal: "You dress like Pig Pen and you wrestle like a crash test dummy!" This was sufficient to make Cage, who was standing next to him smugly scowling, crack up into a shit-eating grin.
• In a match on Dark, Jack Evans is performing multiple flips and spins around the ring as he shows off. His opponent Dustin Rhodes is not impressed and responds by punching him right in the mouth.
• The week after winning the AEW TNT Championship, "The Exalted One" Brodie Lee is spending the champion bonus money quite well: He's bought six lawnmowers, two new cars, and a new suit.
  • The Dark Order also held a mock "funeral" for Cody after his destruction at their hands the previous week, which is not a new thing for wrestling. What is a new thing, however, is the way that the Dark Order members who came out carrying the coffin were dancing while they were doing it, just like a certain 2020 meme.
• Jon Moxley signs a contract for a match for his AEW World Championship against MJF at All Out 2020, which would have his Finishing Move the Paradigm Shift banned, without hesitation, leading MJF to mock him for how stupid he would have to be to sign it so easily. This leads Moxley to reveal that he actually had added a clause to the contract: Have a match on the go-home show against MJF's lawyer who presided over the contract signing, Mark Sterling. The inept lawyer has no clue what to do in the ring as Moxley just sidesteps and avoids all his attempts to fight him. Wardlow is seen facepalming at his cluelessness until Moxley decides to end the match.
• The end of the special episode of Dynamite celebrating Chris Jericho's 30 years in wrestling featured a Credits Gag with Jericho being credited in every single department.
• Britt Baker is at the spa, being interviewed by Tony...and horrified to look over and see he's lying naked under a sheet next to her.
  • Which leads to Tony getting an actual chest wax ala The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
• The absolutely beautiful dinner showdown between Jericho and MJF. First, they try to one-up the other simply ordering a steak. Then the back and forth culminates in... a full-scale Broadway musical number that had wrestling blogs going wild.
  • Said steaks come back completely raw with just seasoning on them, prompting both men to become disgusted.
  • Even better, it got a mention in the New York Times and MJF acted like he won an award.
• Dark 10/27/20 edition: Justin Roberts is so tired of the Cutler/Avalon rivalry that he begins his announcements with: "For the love of God..."
• Adam Page's announcement regarding entering the Number One Contender tournament.
• Brandi and Jade Cargill's swearing was meant to be censored. Instead, whoever was doing the censoring was off by about two seconds, resulting in fully uncensored swearing and a second of silence afterwards.
• Chaos Project's double team maneuvers consist of Luther using his partner Serpentico as a weapon against their opponents, leaving him even more battered than those who they are against. All the while, Luther is screaming at his partner while Serpentico is adamantly shaking his head and dreading how he will be used as a human weapon.
  • At one point on commentary, Taz wonders if Serpentico ever tries to leave the team, given this status quo. Excalibur speculates that Serpentico is constantly trying to flee the team, and the pair conclude that it is a hostage situation.
• While the Brodie Lee tribute show was mostly a sad affair, one highlight was MJF being MJF and pulling Brodie Jr’s Dark Order mask off and holding it over his head triumphantly, only for -1 to drop him with a kendo stick when he turned back around to taunt him more.
  • When Erick Redbeard (the former Erick Rowan from WWE, Brodie Lee's long-time tag partner when he was Luke Harper) ran out to make the save for Silver, Reynolds and Page when Wardlow attemped to interfere, Chris Jericho lost his mind on commentary (making people think that he had no idea this was going to happen), causing him to completely forget certain matters of licensing:
    Jericho: Wardlow's back, baby! That's my boy right there! Waitwaitwait, what's this?! Erick Rowan!
    Excalibur: Erick Redbeard!
    Jericho: He doesn't even work here! Erick Rowan!
    Excalibur: Redbeard! Erick Redbeard!
    Jericho: <talking over Excalibur> Brodie Lee's longtime partner- look at that! <Rowan hits Wardlow with a Iron Claw Chokeslam> Big Red! Big Red!
• After the Epic Fail of the botched "exploding ring" at Revolution 2021, Jon Moxley got on the mic to say what many fans were thinking.
  Jon Moxley: Kenny Omega may be a tough son of a bitch...but he can't build an exploding ring for shit.
• On the 10th March episode of Dynamite, Maki Itoh comes out for her match (a 3-on-3 tag where she's teaming with Nyla Rose and Dr. Britt Baker against Hikaru Shida, Thunder Rosa and Ryo Mizunami) hyperactively dancing and singing along to her entrance theme, only for the animosity between the two teams to boil over and for them to start brawling in and around the ring, cutting off her music... and Maki just gives absolutely no fucks, continuing to dance and sing acapella while the other women slug it out in front of her. Just as she reaches the end, Shida jumps onto the ramp and rushes her, only for Maki to dodge and start beating the AEW Champion over the head with her still-live mic. Unsurprisingly, the commentators crack up.
  • Also from the show is a highlight of AEW's response to the botch of Revolution's finale by Kenny; "69 me, Don! 69 me!"
• On the March 31 episode of Dynamite, MJF is toasting his new stable The Pinnacle in the change room they stole from the Inner Circle, introducing their new personal stylist and talking about how they're going to spruce the place up and finally get rid of the "disgusting stench" from the bathroom. And then he opens the door to the bathroom, only for Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz to just be standing there, glaring at him. After a Beat, MJF calmly closes the door again.
  MJF: We gotta go.
• On the 9th of April, AEW debuted their new webshow, AEW Outside the Ring, with host Lexy Nair interviewing a wrestler (in character), asking them short questions about themselves. Her guest for the first episode? Abadon. Yes, Abadon. Surprisingly, Lexy actually managed to get some answers out of the Living Dead Girl.
• On the 12th April episode of Dark Elevation, after Konosuke Takeshita's barn burner of a debut match against Danny Limelight, he was about to be interviewed by Alex Marvez, who mangled the pronounciation of Takeshita's name so badly that Kenny Omega (an old friend of Takeshita's from his time in Dramatic Dream Team) came out and shooed Marvez off, saying he'd conduct the interview in his place since he spoke Japanese- and them promptly brought back an old heel trick from NJPW by refusing to speak Japanese to Takeshita, instead getting his assistant Michael Nakazawa (another DDT alumnus) to translate for him. After talking Takeshita into "repaying" him for past favours by helping him deal with the Sydal Brothers who'd been a thorn in his side recently, Kenny revealed that Takeshita wouldn't be tagging with him- he'd be tagging with Nakazawa. No doubt remembering Nakazawa from their time in DDT, Takeshita reacted with aghast horror at the prospect, shaking Nakazawa off when he tried to sling a friendly arm across his shoulder.^note AEW later revealed on Twitter that Tony Khan had refused to approve the match the way Kenny had proposed it and had instead booked Takeshita, Nakazawa and Omega against the Sydal Brothers and Danny Limelight for the next week's episode of Elevation.
• The Acclaimed's entrance from the May 11th 2021 edition of AEW Dark.
  • Really just pick any of the Acclaimed’s disses, they’re all hilarious.
• On the May 31st 2021 edition of Elevation, Penta El Zero M is facing Jack Evans and Evans is more concerned with showing off to the crowd performing dance moves and handstands, Penta looks on unamused before kicking the crap out of him.
• At the ending of the tag match between the Young Bucks (with their stooge Brandon Cutler) and the team of Eddie Kingston and Penta el Zero M on the 30th of June episode of Dynamite, Nick Jackson is distracting the ref while Matt has Penta in a full nelson hold, pointing him at the edge of the ring for Cutler to spray in the eyes with cold spray, a cheating trick they've used to win several matches over the past few weeks. Predictably, Penta slips out at the last second, leading to Cutler accidentally spraying Matt instead- but the spot departs from standard wrestling cliche into the realms of Looney Tunes hilarity when Cutler, petrified by panic at his own screw-up, continues spraying Matt in the face for several seconds while Matt flails around on the spot, jogging and screaming and waving his arms but making no attempt to actually move away. Then when Frankie Kazarian runs out to yank Cutler off the apron and clothesline him to the floor, he still can't release the spray buttons, aimlessly spraying into the air until Kazarian snatches the can from his hand. Even Chris Jericho on commentary can't help but scream what everyone is thinking:
  Jericho: Stop spraying, you idiot!
• MJF announcing that going through indie hardcore icon Nick Gage will be Jericho’s second trial was a Shocking Moment bar none for a variety of reasons, but the reveal is made much funnier thanks to a Genre Savvy fan caught by the TV mic that managed to call the reveal in the funniest way possible:
  MJF: He once stabbed a man... in the jugular.
  Random Fan: New Jack’s dead!
  MJF: He once robbed a bank...
  Random Fan: Oh shit, it's Nick Gage!
  • MJF then proceeded to add the qualifier "With no mask on!", and downright looks gleeful as he does so.
  • The moment Gage himself appears, Jim Ross remarks "I thought this guy was in jail!"
• In a match between Darby Allin and Wheeler Yuta, Sting and Orange Cassidy who were in their respective corners faced off against each other... and Sting began tapping the shins of Orange Cassidy, who returns in kind until they both 'hit' each other with their lazy superkicks... and then Sting does a lazy version of his chest thumps. Even the referee stops counting to watch the showdown.
• A darkly funny, Crosses the Line Twice moment: during the match between Chris Jericho and Nick Gage, Gage runs his trademark pizza cutter across Jericho's forehead. The match then goes to commercial while picture-in-picture, with the very first one in some markets being a commercial for Domino's Pizza, which prominently features the pizza being cut into slices in the box. Your Milage May Vary on it being even funnier that this actually nearly got AEW in trouble, too!
• Before one match, as Sonny Kiss makes his entrance, his partner, Joey Janela, heads over to the commentators, puts on a headset and starts talking... but unbeknownst to him, the headset he's using isn't plugged in. Once Excalibur and Taz have told him this, Janela runs offstage while Kiss cracks up in the background.
• For some reason, AEW fans have decided to make their opinions on various video games heard via signs in the audience.
• The Running Gag of Justin Roberts interrupting his introductions of Lance Archer due to his pre-match assaults on whatever jobber is unlucky enough to have to face him that week. Most notably, on one episode of Dark, as Archer's music played, his opponent came out first running away from him, so Roberts matter-of-factly started his introduction with "Chasing his opponent to the ring..."
• Some time after losing to him and threatening to do so, Matt Hardy demands a Hair VS. Hair match with Orange Cassidy… On Jack Evan’s behalf. Needless to say, he’s quite incredulous when Matt announces this, whom notes Jack is ready and willing to do it.
  • While Jack Evans is sweating bullets, Orange Cassidy learns what he's wrestling for in the first place during the pre-match interview with Mark Henry.
    Orange Cassidy: I have no thoughts. I don't know what this is.
  • After Orange Cassidy defeats Jack Evans, Taz and Ricky Starks are horrified for Jack with Angelico sent by Matt Hardy to go try and save him, only to then get easily pushed back by the Dark Order with Evil Uno putting on his hat and gesturing for the other members of HFO to come forth and try their luck. Matt Hardy quickly decides there to, “for the greater good” as he puts it, retreat with his group to their shock as Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends proceed to shave some bits of Jack’s hair, Chuck Taylor and Wheeler Yuta even wearing barber outfits with the proper tools already set. Orange Cassidy also uses a broom to swipe a way some of the hair on the mat!
  • Shortly after Orange Cassidy casually shoves Jack Evans off of the chair and Kris helps him roll out the ring, Yuta gives -1 a fake moustache to wear before the Best Friends and Dark Order all give him a hug in the centre of the ring.
• Hangman Page returned after some personal time off to compete in the October 6th 2021 edition of Dynamite's Ladder Match. The vanity plate was on point: "Finally showed up to work."
• The 26th October episode of Dark saw a tag team match between the team of Dean Alexander and Kid Bandit, and the new team "2 Fast 2 Fuego", Ensemble Dark Horse Fuego Del Sol teaming with "Fuego 2"... who was pretty obviously Cody dressed in a luchador mask and singlet, with his giveaway neck tattoo covered by makeup. Excalibur and Taz had a ball on commentary wondering about the identity of Fuego 2, with Taz taking a number of insulting shots at him.
• One of the matches CM Punk commentated on involved Serena Deeb, Punk commented that Deeb has a nice head of hair.^note A reference to when Punk and Deeb were in WWE together and Punk shaved Deeb's head for her induction into his Straight Edge Society.
• The 27th October episode of Dynamite saw the Main Event of Dark Order versus the Super Elite in Costumes. John Silver was Bambi, Stu Grayson as Kratos, Colt Cabana as associate stooge Brandon Cutler, with Evil Uno as a cowboy. The Elite were out as the Ghostbusters. Hilarity Ensues.
  • The highlight was the reveal of Hangman Adam Page as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Matt's scared face and Hangman's Death Glare as the cheers ring out is priceless.
  • The reveal itself follows after another reveal of the person who was dressed as a horse; Brandon Cutler. This being after the Elite low-blowed him and hit him with a 4-man BTE Trigger.
  • Also, after the match, Page tried to strip out of the Stay Puft costume, only to eventually realise there was no way he'd be able to get it off over his boots without sitting down and working it off, or even having to take his boots off. So he just continued swaggering around the ring with the costume dragging from his ankles.
• After Sammy’s TNT Title defense win against Ethan Page, the Inner Circle were then allowed to chose which members of American Top Team they’d get to face alongside the Man of the Year. A whole slew of funny moments between both sides ensued.
  • Dan Lambert, as per usual, jaw-jacks at the opposing team and boasts about his team, citing himself as the first member of ATT... Which comes to bite him HARD when Jericho turns this around on him by using this information as proof that he can sign him as a member to face in their match at Full Gear. Dan’s meltdown and his fellow teammates’ Oh, Crap! faces as he tries to weasel out of it is a thing of beauty.
  • Everytime the crowd chant that he’s a “fat-faced dipshit,” Dan Lambert comically screams his face isn’t even that fat.
  • During the segment, Paige, whom Jericho had dissed quite a bit the last time Inner Circle and ATT held a promo against each other, made clear she was willing to be a part of the upcoming match, boasting that “Her schedule is wide open” and “take on all five of you by myself.” Many could tell from Jericho’s clear amusement that he was thinking of a dozen ways to respond to that ala how he dissed a certain other woman 20 years ago at the other company, with him even lampshading how that joke writes itself... before noting maybe she can put that on her OnlyFans page. To that, she does a making money gesture, unbothered. Mind you, she was right beside her husband throughout it all.
  • To all that, Ortiz asks Paige a question in Spanish, to which she demands to know what she means; Sammy answers that he called her a bitch. Ortiz was actually asking if she kissed her mother with that mouth, even looking a bit gobsmacked at Sammy’s “translation” while the other Inner Circle members crack up.
• November 24, 2021 of Dynamite features what is essentially a roasting match between CM Punk and MJF. It must be seen to be believed.
• Following on the success of 2 Fast 2 Fuego on Dark, the 30th November 2021 episode saw the debut of the mysterious Infinito, a wrestler whose entire body except for his hands was completely covered by his costume, in a match against Ray Jazz. While the disguise was much less paper-thin this time, there was a certain hilarity to the fact that almost EVERYONE already knew in advance that under the mask was Bryan Danielson, just taking some time out from his main event feud against Hangman Page to mess around. Poor Ray Jazz got completely schooled, with Infinito winning the bout by hitting him with a truly ridiculous Airplane Spin (one of Danielson's old signature moves) that lasted for so long that when he finally put Jazz down he was so dizzy that Infinito was able to simply roll him up for an easy pin, after which Jazz simply fell out of the ring.
• The Atlanta Street Fight between Cody and Andrade el Idolo in the main event of the 1st December episode of Dynamite was pretty much a train wreck, but a hilarious one. At the start, Andrade and Jose the Assistant rush Cody and Arn during their entrance, but before Jose could jump Arn, Arn took a misstep backwards and toppled off the stage (fortunately he only fell down about a foot onto a lower platform, but he still took a nasty spill), forcing a panicking Jose to help him up and check that he was alright... before going back to beating the crap out of him as planned. During the match, Cody went under the ring for a weapon and pulled out a kendo stick, but he discarded it and, after some more rummaging, came up with a sledgehammer... which he also discarded, before eventually pulling out a weapon that pleased him- a golden shovel! (Cody: “LEAN IN!”) The match ended with Cody delivering a reverse suplex from the top turnbuckle to Andrade through a burning table that had been set alight by Brandi, but while Andrade missed the table almost completely, Cody went full-on through it back first, before getting up with his back still literally on fire and pinning Andrade (who admittedly would have gotten a face full of fire), who was too busy trying to slap out the flames on both himself and Cody to even think of trying to kick out! People were overawed, but at the same time wondering what the hell Cody is thinking?!
• During the trio's match of CM Punk, Darby Allin & Sting Vs. MJF & FTR on the 29th of December 2021 Dynamite, MJF did everything he could to avoid confronting CM Punk. Even going as far as to run across a ridiculously long run-around in the crowd, just to get a way from Punk.
  • After Punk, Darby and Sting win the match? MJF goes over to the commentator’s booth to make his voice heard and has the absolute GALL to say Punk is afraid of him and wouldn’t even touch him despite evidence otherwise. Taz, being Taz, agrees with MJF.
• MJF vs. Captain Shawn Dean on the January 5, 2022 episode of Dynamite. This match had all the signs of a quick Jobber squash of the kind that MJF has done before... until CM Punk ran down to the ring just after it began with MJF leaving rightafter and hit Shawn Dean with the GTS, ensuring MJF lost by disqualification and giving Dean the unlikely win. There's not just the image of a poker-faced Aubrey Edwards raising Dean's hand in victory while he's still rattled on the floor, but also the fact that the highly protected MJF goes into 2022 with an 0-1 record thanks to CM Punk's spite.
  MJF: WHAT?! GODDAMNIT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!
  • Even better is that Shawn Dean seem to have took it in stride, changing his Twitter handler to acknowledging his “win” over MJF. He even got a new T-shirt with the slogan "I Beat You And You Know It"
• The Gunn Club’s online feud with Danhausen where the Brothers get incredibly irked by the very nice, very evil Danhausen’s title for them, “Ass Boys.” Billy, on the other hand, seems to have taken this in stride, acknowledging the fan’s entertainment by wearing a shirt that has “Sons of Gunn” crossed out and replaced by “Ass Boys.” Austin and Colten are, of course, unamused by this, even walking out on a Dark match after Austin demanded the fans not to call them that when they enter the ring. They didn’t comply.
• Danhausen's debut. In the middle of Adam Cole vs Orange Cassidy's match at Beach Break 2022, Cole tries taking a steel chair from under the ring, only to pull out none other than Danhausen, who strikes a menacing pose (which many know is his pose for cursing people) before heading to the back like someone lost in an airport. Many believe this act is what caused Adam Cole to lose the match. Even Orange Cassidy looked bewildered to see Danhausen.
• During the opening match of AEW Dark: Elevation #48, Lance Archer and Jake Roberts entered the arena with the former dragging his opponent, Chase Oliver, whom proceeds to toss him across the ramp. The funny part? The way how Justin Roberts introduced Archer.
  Justin Roberts: This bout is set for one fall with a 20-time limit, rolling? his opponent to the ring...
• At the start of the March 2, 2022 episode of Dynamite, Tony Khan himself appeared in the ring to announce he acquired Ring of Honor... and then makes a point of stating "Shane's not here! There's no Shane! It's me!"
• At Revolution 2022, Powerhouse Hobbs and Wardlow fight over a ladder and ended up ripping it in half, with both men holding each half and then using them as weapons.
• At the climax of the bloody and emotional Dog Collar match between CM Punk and MJF, MJF uses a brief reprieve to scream for Wardlow to come and bring him the Dynamite Diamond Ring he uses to punch opponents out. Wardlow, who'd been rapidly tiring of MJF's abuse and had won the ladder match earlier in the night, strolls down to the ring in a suit and goes into his pockets for the ring... but then can't seem to find it, rooting through every pocket of his jacket one after another and shrugging as MJF stares at him in bafflement. Then Punk drags MJF into a GTS which drops the heel onto a bed of thumbtacks, and finds himself staring at Wardlow, who suddenly seems to have an epiphany as he remembers that he'd put the ring in his right hip pocket, giving an insincere "oopsie" and smiling as he left the ring on the mat for Punk to pick up and use instead. Wardlow's smug facial expressions throughout the scene were hilarious.
• At the end of the Mox vs. Danielson match the two immediately tear into each other, only to have William Regal march into the ring and slap the both of them like a pair of rowdy schoolboys. The image of Regal disciplining Mox and Danielson like his bratty sons is both awesome and hilarious, especially since Danielson was laughing like a smug sibling before he got the next slap.
• Wheeler Yuta borrowed a page from the Guerreros' book in his March 7th, 2022 Elevation match against Aaron Solo. While Solo was being tended to by referee Remsburg, Wheeler feigned injury in order to get Solo's manager QT Marshall ejected. Wheeler then waved and gave QT a mocking thumbs up behind Remsburg's back and had to keep faking pain even after the match was finished in order to not expose the ruse.
• On the March 9th, 2022 episode of Dynamite, while Matt Hardy is taking a savage beatdown at the hands of the Andrade Family Office, Jeff Hardy bustles in to his theme music for his AEW debut. However, he's so caught up in the moment that he does a mini-dance before remembering his brother was in mortal danger, sprinting into the ring. Some likened it to him taunting to fill up his finisher bar.
• For the 2022 St. Patrick's Day Slam edition of Dynamite, Chris Jericho cements his turn back to the heel side as he and his new stable, the Jericho Appreciation Society, deliver a blistering promo which mocks WWE at every opportunity, right down to favoring the phrase "sports entertainment" over "wrestling" and christening himself "The Influencer".
• The AEW Awards for 2021, a hilarious 40-minute YouTube show where the hosts (Tony Schiavone, Dr. Britt Baker DMD and the Men of the Year), the award winners, and the various guests all get a chance to show off their comedy chops, from CM Punk complaining about not being allowed to swear, to MJF cradling his award in his arms like a baby and calling it "so pretty", to Danhausen constantly showing up to harass people and being extremely reluctant to release his grip on Sammy Guevara's "Breakout Star of the Year (Male)" trophy. Even the captions team repeatedly get in on the fun.
  Caption reads "ORANGE CASSIDY: WAS TOLD HE HAD TO BE HERE FOR THIS"
  Cassidy: There was blood. Then there was more blood. There's probably, uh... a video. To play now. So. <looks off camera> Do you really need me to be here for this?
  Caption returns, now reading "ORANGE CASSIDY: WE NEED YOU TO BE HERE FOR THIS"
  Cassidy: OK then, well... <trails off, lowers the mic and gives a thumbs-up>
• History repeats against MJF on the April 13th, 2022 episode of Dynamite when he faces off against "Captain" Shawn Dean for a second time in the year: for weeks since St. Patrick's Day Slam 2022, Wardlow has been hounding his employer for costing him a chance at winning the TNT Championship - this night was no different as Mr. Mayhem disguised himself as security and headed to ringside to surprise Max. Although Wardlow couldn't get his hands on Max and was held back by security, MJF couldn't get back into the ring, fearing Wardlow would get him despite the guards. As referee Bryce Remsburg starts counting to ten for a count-out, Max takes a mic and tells Bryce he'll pay triple the amount that Tony Khan pays him if he won't count Max out. For a moment, Remsburg is exasperated by MJF, only to complete the count, giving Max his second loss to Shawn Dean in 2022! Naturally, Shawn's Twitter handle would change post-Dynamite to the obvious "I'm The Captain and I Beat MJF...TWICE"!
• Heading back to Long Island, New York for the May 11th, 2022 episode of Dynamite, Wardlow is escorted to the ring by security guards while cuffed in order to sign an agreement to fight MJF at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view. Just like weeks beforehand, Wardlow enters with no entrance music, and since Maxwell is the Hometown Hero of Long Island, the screens say "Boo Wardlow", to which the crowds do. Following that, a "promo" (really, a parody) for the next season of Dark Side of the Ring is previewed, where Chris Jericho narrates how Wardlow screwed over MJF at AEW Revolution, while Taz ("MJF's Consigliere"), Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Barry Horowitz ("Legendary Jewish Wrestler") provide "interviews" against Wardlow's actions. Hilariously, in the midst of his narration, Chris can't believe he's even doing this for Max since he doesn't like him after all the two have been through, but after finding out how much he's getting paid to do this, he obliges and continues.
• After nailing MJF by accident with a chair on the May 25th, 2022 episode of Dynamite in the steel cage match, Shawn Spears has a look of resignment on his face, realizing he is about to suffer a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Wardlow. Just to add to the moment, the camera zooms out from Shawn's Oh, Crap! face just as Wardlow rises behind him like a horror movie monster.
• Prior to the Rampage go-home show before Double or Nothing 2022, The Hardys called out The Young Bucks for being nothing more than a pair of "Hardy cosplayers", so Matt and Nick Jackson took that to its logical conclusion: dress up like Matt and Jeff Hardy, complete with their entrance music, including Brandon Cutler as a stand-in for Lita, as well as a surprise appearance of Gangrel (former leader of The New Brood who recruited The Hardy Boyz during the Attitude Era). As a reference to the numerous parodies seen in that era, The Bucks mocked The Hardys' moveset, as well as Nick wearing facepaint and dancing like Jeff to Matt Jackson matching Matt Hardy's infamous botch back in 2010 where he fumbled over the top rope.
• Knowing what's going to happen between The Jericho Appreciation Society, The Blackpool Combat Club, Eddie Kingston and Proud and Powerful, ring announcer Justin Roberts said one of the most Exactly What It Says on the Tin things he's ever announced in AEW during Double or Nothing 2022:
  "Ladies and gentleman...(Beat, with a look of exasperation) ...shit's about to hit the fan: THIS IS ANARCHY IN THE ARENA!!!"
  • Amidst all the carnage throughout the match, at one point, the cameras cut to Eddie Kingston and Matt Menard fighting in the arena's concourse, where the former had managed to cover the latter in mustard, adding some "color" into the already bloody-filled bout.
  • When Eddie and Daniel Garcia's fighting spilled into a cargo elevator, the doors closed and what happens next is not shown, but it would wind up with The Mad King returning to the ring from the entrance stage wearing the "crimson mask" and carrying a gasoline canister. On Twitter, Garcia spoke of what really happened in the elevator, citing "the things that happened behind those doors I will take to the grave".
• In a promo regarding his match against Miro for a buy into the AEW All-Atlantic Championship bout at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, "All Ego" Ethan Page mocks The Redeemer for his beliefs and for worshipping his God, whereas Ethan only believes and prays to himself. However, one line he says catches Scorpio Sky off-guard so much that the latter can't help but be ridiculously shocked and amazed he even made that statement.
  "Buddy, Jesus wears a chain with Ethan Page on the cross!"
• Because of Sammy Guevara's actions at AEW Road Rager 2022, Fuego del Sol would go on Twitter explaining his side of the story - that Sammy stole his wrestling gear after saying he would help Fuego pick it up from dry cleaning, then besmirched and sullied his good name by masquerading as him in Chris Jericho and Ortiz' Hair vs. Hair match. Fuego would play this up for days by starting up a new Twitter hashtag "#JusticeForFuego".
• On the June 17, 2022 episode of Rampage, Kyle O'Reilly comes out with a steel chair to help his reDRagon partner Bobby Fish (who had just lost his main event match against Darby Allin and was mad as hell about it) beat up Darby, only for the lights to go out and then turn on again as Sting returns to rescue his protégé. When Kyle tries to brain Sting with the chair as soon as he looks away, Sting turns back and counters by swinging his bat right into Kyle's crotch! Kyle doubles over with his eyes bugging out (selling as only Kyle O'Reilly can sell) and the bat remaining clenched between his thighs as Sting releases it, casually plucks the chair out of Kyle's frozen hands as if it was being offered to him, then kicks the bat again to free it, sending poor Kyle crumpling to the floor.
• Ever since Claudio Castagnoli left WWE when his contract with them expired in February 2022, it was suggested he would appear in AEW down the line. For some reason, a ringside cameraman wearing a baseball cap and mask had some fans theorizing that this was Claudio all along, but nothing ever came out of it. When Claudio did appear at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, he posed with that same cameraman before climbing into the ring, referencing the theory.
• A Twitter user drew a picture referencing Danhausen and Hook's match-up against Tony Nese and "Smart" Mark Sterling at AEW Double or Nothing 2022 in the style of Ace Attorney. When Danhausen appeared as Orange Cassidy's "lawyer" on the July 8th, 2022 episode of Rampage, the same user decided to continue this with "Case 2".
• The July 12, 2022 episode of Dark for the first time featured tapings of independent shows featuring AEW talent, which also marked the debut of a UK crowd at an AEW-adjacent event where PAC defended his All-Altantic Championship against Shota Umino. International fans were treated to a taste of UK sporting culture with crowd performances of songs like "PAC's The Way (I Like It)", "Everybody (PAC is Back)", and "PAC for Good", as well as that old classic, singing "He's a bastard, he's a bastard, he's a bastard, yes he is!" to the tune of "Oh My Darling Clementine". PAC responded by threatening to walk out.
• The AEW Fyter Fest 2022 Week 1 episode of Dynamite saw Wardlow making his first defence of the TNT Championship against Orange Cassidy, backed up by The Best Friends. Faced with the daunting prospect of the monolithic TNT Champion, Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor pre-match explained their plan to help Cassidy triumph over Wardlow - cheat like mad! Of course, being Faces, The Best Friends are really bad at cheating and their attempts don't manage to accomplish much towards helping Cassidy, culminating in them trying to sneak him a weapon behind referee Bryce Remsburg's back, but making the unwise decision to offer him a chainsaw! Unsurprisingly, Bryce notices and isn't amused, ejecting Trent and Chuck from ringside. Later in the match, Cassidy gets out of the ring and runs around it with Wardlow giving chase, but stops and reaches under the ring, grabbing and dragging out Danhausen who was lurking under there waiting for him. Danhausen is tempted to "curse" Wardlow, but ends up thinking better of it and just sheepishly slopes off to the back as well.
• It's been a while since Sammy Guevara was being chased by something: recall that Matt Hardy and Kenny Omega did it first via golf cart in a street fight back in May 2020 on Dynamite and at AEW Double or Nothing 2020 in the Stadium Stampede match; even "Hangman" Adam Page went after The Spanish God via horseback in the same event. Guess who and what ruined Sammy and Tay Melo's interview during the Buy-In at AEW All Out 2022 before their mixed tag team match? Why, Ortiz and Ruby Soho driving a golf cart running down the couple, with Sammy taking the hit, of course!
• The post-All Out media scrum and subsequent backstage incidents resulted in the suspensions of CM Punk, the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and several backstage personnel. On the very next Dynamite, The Acclaimed comes out and Max Caster is about to go into the most anticipated rap of his career...only for Swerve Strickland to interrupt to MASSIVE jeers.
  • Everyone knew MJF was going to be cheered when he returned, so when he first came out, he played to the audience, acting like a Face while still taking not so subtle shots at them. He just about immediately drops all of this when Jon Moxley appears and calls him out on his BS.
    • As MJF’s seemingly about to throw down with Moxley, a sleeve of the former’s shirt gets caught on his own hand. He immediately looks to the audience and tells them to shut up as he struggles to remove it. Taz, whom MJF went to hug in his entrance and acted like MJF was sincere in his Face act, remarks that the shirt has MJF in a hold.
• MJF's promo on the September 14, 2022 episode of Dynamite hits most stock elements of Heel heat one would expect from him, including a barrage of insults pointed towards the home crowd of Albany, New York...except for the part where the Albany crowd kept cheering every single thing MJF lobbed at them because of a mixture of him being so damn entertaining and the crowd missing him after being gone for so long.
• Because Isiah Kassidy of Private Party lost to "All Ego" Ethan Page in a match at Rampage on October 14, 2022, he and his tag team partner Marq Quen, including Matt Hardy, now have their AEW contracts belonging to The Firm. On Twitter, Firm leader Stokely Hathaway showed the amended contracts, but not without adding a little dash of his Heel personality:
  "TLDR: Avatar 8 is gonna be in theaters by the time I let you out this shit LMAOOOOOO"
• After his dream match with Jun Akiyama on the Full Gear pre-show, Eddie Kingston confirms with Bryce Remsburg that there's still time before the PPV starts, and takes a moment on the mic to thank the crowd, Akiyama, and the deceased King's Road greats. After encouraging the viewers at home to "buy the goddamn pay-per-view", he then begins hyping up the card, and has to cut himself off mid-sentence with "Oh, he told me I gotta go. Peace!"
• At Full Gear 2022, after Nick Jackson performed a tope suicida, a fan suddenly hands him a drink, presumably black coffee, and Nick accepts. Don Callis comments that he wouldn't trust that fan.
• On December 15, 2022, fresh off of losing the Ring Of Honor World Championship to Claudio Castagnoli, Jericho cuts a promo wherein he talks about how he needs a "tune-up" match to get back on track. Therefore, he'll be facing a Jobber (his words) later that night. The "jobber" was Action Andretti, who actually ended up beating Jericho to the joy of the crowd, but that's not the funny part. The funny part is that during the match, there were chants of "Let's go jobber!"
  • Shortly after the match a camera catches Jericho having a huge temper tantrum over his loss, which is pretty amusing in itself, but the kicker is Jericho trying to slam a door shut behind him, but it has a pneumatic hinge causing it to rapidly slow and close gently in anticlimactic fashion.
• MJF's Re-Bar Mitzvah to celebrate his victory over Bryan Danielson at Revolution 2023 gets interrupted by Jungle Boy Jack Perry, Sammy Guevara, and Darby Allin. When Max demands to know what is so important that they gatecrashed his party for it, all three men simultaneously demand a title match. After a verbal lashing from each man, MJF declares that he's gonna enjoy his cake without them, and gets blindsided by Perry on his way out. The ensuing brawl leads to MJF getting knocked right into his own cake, much to Taz's dismay on commentary.
• The Hardy Compound always brings giggles whenever a match occurs there and the Firm Deletion on May 5, 2023 episode of Rampage is no different. As the Hardys, HOOK, and Isiah Kassidy brawl with Ethan Page, Big Bill, and Lee Moriety, Stokely Hathaway is meanwhile being chased by Matt's children on an electric car. Hathaway tries to hide at the home theater only for Eevee Hardy, aka Gothic Baby, suddenly appears in front of him, followed by Reby Hardy sliding down a pole to confront him and then Senor Benjamin tased him from behind. Matt's family then brings Hathaway to the ring where Reby delivers a Twist of Fate on him, followed by Maxel channeling Uncle Jeff and performs a Swanton Bomb on Hathaway. Maxel clearly wants to beat up Hathaway even more before Rebar tells him to go to bed.
  • As the older three children attack Hathaway after their grandfather tased him, Hathaway cries out "Tony Khan will pay for his crimes".
  • "Orgasmic Isiah... I knew you'd come!"
• Just when you thought that Hangman Page had put the unflattering nameplates behind him, the main event of the 6/13/2023 Dynamite proves you wrong. Context: Hangman and the Young Bucks had challenged the Blackpool Combat Club to a trios match the previous week, and the three of them had been referred to over the ensuing seven days as "The Hung Bucks". When the trio made their entrance for the match, the graphic listed them as simply "Hangman Page & Young Bucks". And underneath that:
  Formerly known by a sexually suggestive & anatomically misleading team name.
• On the 6/21/2023 episode of Dynamite, Adam Cole and MJF's confrontation is interrupted by Tony Schiavone, who says he has an announcement to make. Their simultaneous response is "SHUT UP, SCHIAVONE!" Schiavone carries on regardless, revealing that the first picks for the Blind Eliminator tag team tournament have been made: Adam Cole, and his partner...MJF. Naturally Cole is furious that he will have to team with MJF, while MJF is incensed that he will now have to wrestle every week.
• During the match between CM Punk and Satoshi Kojima at Forbidden Door 2023, Kojima went for a flying elbow on a downed Punk which very obviously hit him... somewhere distinctly unpleasant ("got 'im in the yambag" as Taz put it). That was amusing enough already, but the next day, Kojima apologised for it in a rather unique tweet.
• The Young Bucks and Hangman Page make their entrance at Forbidden Door 2023 and their nameplate reads "Recently bought a lazy river, a palm springs vacation home & an upside-down frozen yogurt chain." Which is particularly hilarious for anyone watching Being The Elite. ^note For those who don't, here's the story in a nutshell: all of them got insanely lucrative offers for sponsorship deals with Chili's. They also received an offer from Wendy's that was just as insanely lucrative. Both would be exclusive deals, meaning that they would have to pick one restaurant chain and turn down the other. However, they were confident that the two would engage in a bidding war for their services, resulting in even more money that would make them set for life. So confident that they started buying the things mentioned, and lots more, with money they didn't have yet. Then Matt ruined everything by demanding more money than either chain was willing to part with, causing both to withdraw their offers.
• On the August 4, 2023 episode of Rampage, Renee Paquette is interviewing TBS Champion Kris Statlander about her title match against Mercedes Martinez on Collision the next day. Except this isn't your typical interview. During this segment, the Galaxy's Greatest Alien is carrying Renee on her shoulders while doing squats, and Renee apparently isn't bothered about being used as a human dumbell.
• On October 1st 2023, on the Wrestle Dream Preshow, after the pinfall in the match between Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne a fan in the crowd out of nowhere pulls a giant sign featuring a picture of PS2 Yakuza's Akira Nishikiyama face. The comments section of the video descended into a Fountain Of Meme references over the small showing.^note This is mostly a reference to the infamous English Dub of the game where the character in question speaks hilarious lines during the final battle such as "Ten years in the joint made you a fuckin' pussy" thanks to the efforts of the dub. The Nishiki face is a sign associated with it. Worth noting no dub was done in the series for a long time thanks to that entry.
• On the October 21, 2023 episode of Collision, the BCC and FTR have just fend off an attack from Big Bill, Ricky Starks and the House of Black with the help of a returning Jon Moxley. When it looks like as if the heels are returning into the ring for another brawl, Starks is the only one who enters while the others leave him to his fate. What follows is Starks being on the receiving end of multiple finishers and a Big Swing from Claudio while all Bill can do is to take Starks' tag title with him. Collision ends with Claudio still swinging Starks around and at one point, Cash Wheeler plays along by jumping over Starks each pass as if he is playing with jump rope.
• The 10/26/2023 episode of Dynamite featured an appearance by Kazuchika Okada who hit his signature Rainmaker taunt during his match, which of course included the famous hard cam zoom out. He was immediately met by Orange Cassidy demanding a hug before he could step away... which of course prompted a second zoom out right as the camera returned to its normal perspective, because you've got to give the people what they want ^note made even better with the second zoom syncing perfectly with Excalibur's "got", while he's corpsing!
• "Timeless" Toni Storm's acceptance speech after winning the women's title for the third time was extremely funny. Highlights include claiming to have been surprised and having nothing prepared after pulling her speech out of her top, thanking Frank Warner, who's been dead since the 70's, and almost getting played off early.
• During the No Holds Barred match between Adam Copeland and Christian Cage at Worlds End 2023, Nigel McGuinness is carrying on with his usual ass-kissing of Christian and ragging on his opposition when he makes the mistake of doing it within earshot of a very angry Copeland.
  McGuiness: You sick son of a-
  Copeland: SHUT UP, NIGEL!
  McGuiness: Yes sir. <raises his hands and turns his chair to face the corner of the announcers area with his head down like a scolded child>
• Toni Storm and Deonna Purrazzo have a dual interview where Toni's half of the screen is in black and white. They trade barbs which includes Toni finding it ridiculous that Deonna was recently body-shamed because "There is so much else to shame about you!" and "I will twist your lip so hard, you'll need an epidural!" Renee Paquette clearly cannot keep a straight face and that's before they start throwing shoes at each other.
• Tony Khan getting suddenly beaten up and pile-driven by The Elite and Jack Perry during the 4/25/24 episode of Dynamite? Itself a bit scary and not very funny. However, Khan had obligations to attend the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 2024 NFL Draft less than 24 hours later, and he wound up doing so in a neck brace and with no little to no context for the NFL crowd, seemingly just to continue selling the beatdown he just experienced a day ago.

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