For as much as I thoroughly enjoyed this match, the ending, and subsequent aftermath really left a sour taste in my mouth to be honest.

First off, and this is something that AEW have done so many times and they’ve never learned from it, time calls. You want people in the building to literally be falling over themselves with excitement as they know Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland only have five minutes, one minute, or ten seconds left, and the way you build that is through time calls. Let the crowd know how long is left rather than just ringing the bell, it takes the air out of the room and makes everyone boo the ending regardless of how good the match has been, which is never a good look.

Then there’s Swerve’s promo and request for a sudden death overtime. I understand that AEW have wanted to hammer home the fact that it’s where the best wrestle, but Swerve, your goal was to win the match, that’s your job. Get to the point and leave out the whole deal about how you just had a 30 minute classic because “IT’S WHERE THE BEST WRESTLE EVERYBODY!” Also, the time limit draw leading to someone asking for more time is one trope in wrestling that is severely overdone and yet nobody seems to talk about it.

Before Ospreay could gather his bearings, here come the Death Riders. I haven’t had too much of a problem about Jon Moxley and his gang of ghouls as of late, but this wasn’t timed well at all. You’ve already let the fans down by giving them a flat ending to a match they were really in to, and now they’ve got to hear the Temu “Shining” music and see another Death Riders beatdown? Come on now, I thought we were past this.

However, The Young Bucks come out to continue their beef with Swerve, resulting in another Reebok sneaker covered in thumbtacks to make an appearance, but just as people thought Swerve was going to become a pin cushion with a face, Ospreay launches himself into the ring to take the bullet for his opponent, something he mentioned seven days earlier. It’s a noble act for sure, but it’s yet another example of how it’s painfully obvious that this role that Ospreay is in was intended for Hangman Page, but because the fans wanted Hangman to be the one to challenge Moxley for the title, they had to change course and swap Hangman for Ospreay.

Literally everything that Ospreay has done as of late would make so much more sense if it was Hangman doing it. Close your eyes and imagine all the things Ospreay has said and done and imagine Hangman in that role, doesn’t that fit better? But we’re here now, and I want Hangman to win as much as the next man. With that said, it’s difficult to watch this story progress knowing that Ospreay’s role was originally made for someone else.

Written by Sam Palmer