It's tough to just keep on writing about wrestling as if there aren't more insane things happening in our country every single day, but I feel like if I don't give myself some little joys and pleasures throughout the week I'll be broken by the time April rolls around.

So, here we are again to watch people bash each others' brains in for my enjoyment! And I do enjoy it!

Tonight, we get another chapter in Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet which should be maniacal. I know it's just a Wednesday and not a PPV, but I wouldn't be surprised to see either or both bleed buckets tonight. That is, unless we're saving the real bloodbath for a gimmick match on PPV.

And what of Hangman Page?? Will we see what he's up to in regards to Swerve this week? There is so much swirling around with Swerve, Ricochet, Hangman, MJF, and Jeff Jarrett (lol) all in the vicinity of one another – and that's when wrestling is the most fun. When it feels like anything can happen and storylines can start branching in new and exciting directions.

So, essentially, the complete opposite of Jon Moxley and Death Riders. Oh well, can't win 'em all!

The long and winding road of Dunkzilla

I was always a bit wishy washy on Aussie Open as a team, but Kyle Fletcher has obviously become a bit of a megastar as a singles wrestler.

When Mark Davis returned, I was excited to see what he'd get up to but he didn't do a ton if we're being honest. Not that he was bad! He hits hard and he's got the ideal wrestler body type, but he was just slotting into an already fairly clogged part of the card.

Tonight, Don Callis revealed that, through contract skullduggery, he controlled the contract of Mark Davis in addition to Kyle Fletcher. Davis became an official, full-fledged member of the Don Callis Family in a great match against Will Ospreay.

While nobody expected Davis to win, he had a super strong showing and got to do a bunch of cool power stuff that would have got the crowd behind him if this crowd was in any other city – unfortunately for Davis, the Atlanta crowd was LOUD for Will Ospreay and weren't going to cheer anyone against him despite the cool moves and athleticism.

Davis appeared a little unsure about his ties to the Don Callis Family at first, but there wasn't any tortured wrestler theater during the match which I was thankful for.

GUNNS UP

MY SWEET GUNNS ARE BACK!

We got one promo video for their return last week and tonight, interrupting The Hurt Syndicate, The Gunns returned to start paving the road toward regaining the Tag Team Titles.

When The Gunns first won the titles, it felt like a ridiculous mistake. It was fun and exciting to have a young, somewhat untested team become champions because that's sort of what peak AEW feels like for me. Then they grew into themselves and became insanely fun to watch both in and out of the ring.

Their rise and adoption into Bullet Club Gold was a real feel-good story for me. When they finally went guns up with Jay & Juice on Collision, and the crowd erupted in approval, it was an all-timer Collision moment for me.

To cap off this segment, after being called "ass boys" dismissively by MVP, Austin proudly cried out, "Ass boys...? You're damn right we are!"

Growth! What growth by The Gunns!

Now, let's figure out what the hell we're doing with them in regards to Jay and Juice so we can get back to the Collision Cowboys running rampant.

The perfect MJF segment DOES exist

It turns out, the best way to handle an MJF segment is to have him be constantly interrupted by people who are more enjoyable to watch and listen to.

We still got the same old bullshit from Max and his farm that grows only low-hanging fruit, but we got a really great Dustin Rhodes promo ahead of all of that noise.

If you're going to do an old southern style rasslin' feud in 2025, Dustin Rhodes is the safer bet than Jeff Jarrett a hundred times over. Jarrett is fine for what he does when kept in a certain range, but not everybody can promo like Dustin and still make you feel something.

Plus, in-ring, Dustin is way more dynamic than Jarrett. If that awful MJF/JJ promo segment from a few weeks back put a nail in that whole feud, good – especially if it means we get the upgrade of MJF/Dustin.

A perfectly Timeless performance

Not since Undertaker vs Undertaker have fans been as dazzled and confused by a performance on a wrestling show. Tonight, Toni Storm played the role of Mariah May to wrestle Queen Aminata while Mariah May sat on commentary aghast at everything she was seeing.

With cheap hair extensions and mannerisms worked out to a T, Toni raised the ire of Mariah while Aminata and Toni beat the hell out of each other.

Aminata is another wrestler on the roster who is ready to go to that next level whenever they decide to make the move. She's ready-made for a title feud and could easily be a TBS Champion sometime in 2025. She's always over with the crowd, she wrestles well, she hits hard, and she's got tons of charisma.

Toni picked up the win heading into Grand Slam and then poked the bear that is Mariah May a bit more in a post-match promo with Renee. Mariah considered getting getting into the ring with her challenger but thought better of it, storming off while shouting "I'M Mariah! I'M Mariah!" as Toni posed in the ring.

Toni Storm continues to be an absolute delight as she showcases exactly why she's the top woman in pro wrestling right now. Mariah May is no slouch either! She's playing the perfect foil for Toni, who has turned the corner from seemingly deranged to fully cognizant and playing mind games with Mariah.

And the mind games are working! Mariah has been thrown off of her game and there are still ten days left before they collide at Grand Slam Australia – how many more cracks can Toni create in Mariah's armor?

Ricochet is the worst man in wrestling

By which I mean, one of the best.

Ricochet's turn into completely vile piece of shit who is hanging on by a thread at all times has been simply marvelous. It's hard to believe (well, not really) that he never got to show off this side of what he could do all of those years he was in WWE.

Tonight, Swerve Strickland and Ricochet stole the show on a show that was loaded with great matches from top to bottom. They had a lot to live up to with the quality of matches all night and they surely delivered.

Aside from the story told from before the bell even rang, let's just take a second to think about that insane and disgusting powerbomb from Swerve on top of the barricade. Not to mention, the power and agility to catch and hold Ricochet while balancing on top of the railing for a couple of seconds first!

Through slightly nefarious means, Ricochet got the win after a defensive low blow on Swerve. Post-match, he rubbed salt into the wounds as he shoved Prince Nana to the ground and stole the robe of the late Jimmy Rave, donning the garment as he exited.

This thing with Swerve and Ricochet is far from over and tonight showed everybody that there is not only a lot left to write in this story, but that when the rest of the story is written the matches will be on another level.

Wrapping Up

This was a hot show! The crowd was loud and into everything on the show all night which made what would have already been a great show even better. A hyped crowd really does add a ton to the show for me and Atlanta delivered majorly.

It seems like they finally remembered that they have a full show to book in Australia, so now we're getting Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs Jay White & Adam Copeland and Kazuchika Okada vs Buddy Matthews for the Continental Championship. It probably would have been nice for the Australian fans to know about some of these matches more than 10 days in advance. But, hey – not my company, not my money!

I said it while watching Collision and I'll say it again here – Max Caster is in the absolute perfect role right now. Over-confident, loudmouthed Scrappy Doo who talks himself into beatings and potential beatings is excellent and he does it so naturally. It will be interesting to see how long this lasts before he starts picking up wins and if he does it on his own, or if he requires the help of a manager to help him get those important victories.

I don't love the Hounds of Hell losing a match so soon after resetting themselves after the apparent departure of Malakai Black. But, this is a common problem in AEW. Almost everyone on the show is being heated up for something and there aren't a whole lot of squashes on weekly TV, so you're always going to have someone losing when it feels like they shouldn't.

Is the solution to not book these matches when it feels like neither team should lose? Is the solution to have a section of the roster that's only somewhat heated up who can afford eating losses all of the time, with the bummer being that more matches become more predictable?

It's a tough call. It's not like the Hounds of Hell won't bounce back, it just would be nice to see them go on a tear for a bit before losing anything.