Last weekend was a big one for a number of people in AEW, not least of all Kenny Omega who made his in-ring return at Wrestle Dynasty with a victory over the actually insane (according to Chuck Taylor) Gabe Kidd.

Konosuke Takeshita also walked away with the NEVER Openweight Title after a win over Shingo Takagi at Wrestle Kingdom and a successful defense against Tomohiro Ishii the next day at Wrestle Dynasty.

Not the mention those damn Young Bucks who became the new IWGP Tag Team Champions!

As far as we know, the only person guaranteed on the show tonight is Kenny Omega who somehow makes his return even though Jack Perry stole all of his guts and dumped them on a birthday cake a few months ago.

What is Will Ospreay up to?

Will Ospreay and Buddy Murphy–er–Matthews had an excellent match to open the show, surprising nobody. Also surprising nobody, Ospreay came out on top though Buddy put in a great performance and looked strong in defeat.

Post-match, though, Ospreay got up to some antics. He got on the mic and told Buddy that he's now wrestled both he and Brody King and that neither of them need to be following a leader, which got a smattering of boos from the crowd.

Ospreay went on to say that there could be tag team gold in Buddy's future or even singles gold "if you work hard enough, Buddy." Finishing up, Ospreay told Buddy that if he ever needed a guy in his corner then Ospreay was his guy. The two shook hands and then went their separate ways.

Usually when something like this happens and Buddy Matthews shakes someone's hand in the ring, mysterious magic happens and a wild Malakai Black appears in Buddy's place.

Not so this time around.

So, what's going on here? Maybe it was just my read of the promo, but Ospreay came off awfully patronizing to Buddy. Was he being patronizing or was he being sincere? And, either way – what's the endgame? Is this all in service of a future Malakai Black vs Will Ospreay match (for custody of Buddy and Brody?), or is there more to unravel between Ospreay, Buddy, and Brody?

Few know this, but the J in MJF stands for Jeff Jarrett

MJF is finally out of the Adam Cole Zone which is a blessing unto itself. He's now entered the atmosphere of Planet Jarrett.

After Jarrett failed to win the Casino Gauntlet thanks to noted little shit Wheeler Yuta, MJF mocked Jarrett for being unable to win the medium one on his way to winning the big one.

MJF offered a solution: MJF guides Jeff Jarrett to the World Title and then gifts MJF with the first shot. It's not a bad deal!

Jarrett denied the offer, though, and stormed off leaving Maxwell alone in the ring.

This is an interesting little feud. I think MJF could really shine with an old school, southern rasslin' guy like Jarrett in a prolonged feud. This also keeps Jarrett outside of but still in the loose orbit of the World Title scene, which means we don't need to get continual attempts at becoming the number one contender for the next couple of months.

It's a feud that could also wash the bad taste out of everybody's mouths after having to sit through the revived MJF/Cole story that bored us all to tears. Here's hoping!

It's not time for Toni Time

In the three-way match to determine the first entrant in next week's Casino Gauntlet, Kris Statlander got a bit of a surprise win over Willow Nightingale and rookie Toni Storm. I think everyone expected Toni to win this - after all, she is undefeated since her debut.

In a post-match interview, Toni was dejected and it sounded like she wrote herself out of the Gauntlet all together because she's "not ready yet." Whether she actually appears in the match next week remains to be seen.

My assumption has been that, since the winner of the Gauntlet gets a World Title shot at Grand Slam Australia, Toni would win the Gauntlet and then the World Title in her home country. But, maybe there are other plans for Toni at Grand Slam.

I'm not sure when the other shoe drops on the Toni Storm story. Will she miraculously regain her memory/reveal that she's been acting all along if she enters and wins the Gauntlet next week? How long is too long to try to play the long con against Mariah May?

Wrapping Up

Mark Briscoe and Bobby Lashley had a match that was fun enough, but I still think I'm just not that into Lashley at all. I wasn't into his initial WWE run years and years ago and he hasn't done anything to really blow me away yet. Briscoe definitely did the heavy lifting in the match.

If Lashley and Shelton stuck to being a tag team, maybe I'd come around on him because there'd be a different dynamic in a tag team. We may get that soon, as The Hurt Syndicate laid out a challenge to Private Party for the Tag Team Titles.

I assume we'll get the match at Revolution, if not sooner, but it feels too early for Private Party to lose the belts. They've only got one defense under them and it'd be great to have them establish themselves more as champions before dropping the gold.

Powerhouse Hobbs won a good Casino Gauntlet and goes on to challenge Jon Moxley for the World Title next week, a rematch of the match where Hobbs was injured and put on the shelf for several months. While there's about a zero percent chance of Hobbs winning next week, it is nice to see him thrust into the spotlight like this.

Also on the show, Cope (I hate it) called out Jon Moxley and I really couldn't have cared less. I have little to no interest in a Cope/Mox feud or match. I like Cope (ugh) enough and he surprised me a lot once he shook off the WWE stink in AEW.

However, the thing I want to see least is an extended Cope vs Mox feud for the World Title. If the focus shifted to Rated FTR going for the Trios Titles I'd be fine with it, but you're telling me that the guy who's going to save AEW from Death Riders is a guy who spent most of his career in WWE? Not an AEW original? It simply feels inauthentic to me.

In the main event of the show, Kenny Omega made his return and was confronted by Don Callis. Kenny, throwing out all preconceived notions of what happens when a babyface confronts a heel manager, beat the absolute shit out of Callis before the Don Callis Family ran out to save Callis.

Brian Cage gave Kenny a tummy punch that earned him a match with Omega next week before Omega was saved by Will Ospreay.

A quick segment to get Kenny back on our television sets here in AEW, but nothing too groundbreaking otherwise. Next week we get Omega/Cage which should be an absolute spectacle because both guys are great and have insane wrestlebrains. Then, let's see where this all goes with so many different people involved – Kenny, The Don Callis Family, Will Ospreay, and maybe some sprinkling of the House of Black in there for good measure?