Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
In case you missed it, it was announced that Blackpool Combat Club will defend the AEW World Trios Championships at AEW Grand Slam, but whether it will take place on Dynamite or Collision isn’t the only question up in the air. Not only do we not know who they will be facing, we also don’t know whether or not Wheeler Yuta’s going to be able to really handle tagging alongside Claudio Castagnoli and PAC. While he did state that he’ll “kick whoever ass [he has] to” in his interview, he admitted to being conflicted on his allegiance and viewpoint of their actions.
My question for you today is “Who would you book them to face and how would you proceed to have the match play out?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
First off, we need challengers. Otherwise, you know, a match can’t even happen, and I’m not interested in some setup where there is no match because the whole segment was just a plot to beat up Yuta and take his title from him. However, we’ll come back to this idea.
Full stop, I don’t think it makes any sense for BCC to lose the titles, so we need to pick an option of challengers that can seem like a viable threat and worthwhile contenders, but can lose, all while not having seemingly any time at all to build up how or why they were able to get the title shot. Unless something happens on Collision that sparks this decision, it will have to be a spontaneous thing.
I’d give some serious consideration to Dustin Rhodes and The Von Erichs. As the ROH six-man tag team champions, they should be near the top of the pecking order, and they’d be babyfaces that position BCC as definitive heels instead of cool ones that should be cheered. They still might be, but it will be harder to cheer them over Dustin Rhodes, at least. Technically, since AEW operates under a lot of “Shut up about logic and just enjoy the in-ring action” rules, they could just as easily throw in Cage of Agony or Shane Taylor Promotions and call it a day, though; I just don’t think it will be as effective as a babyface team.
The Conglomeration would be my go-to-choice if they weren’t already feuding with The Learning Tree, as well as a team that I could see dethroning BCC, which can’t happen here. My backup option would be Top Flight, as they’d have a fun match and can garner sympathy, with a bronze medal pick being The Acclaimed with Billy Gunn. I’d rather save them for later, too, though.
But it would ultimately lead to the same place regardless of those teams or any other options that are chosen.
During the match, I would have Yuta wrestling an obviously different style than Pac and Castagnoli. The latter two would be cutting corners, cheating, and overall being more vicious by doing maneuvers that run the risk of a disqualification for a slight advantage, like not adhering to the referee’s five count and maybe even hitting a low blow or something. Yuta wrestles his normal style, which is tenacious, but fair.
The opponents start to get the upper-hand on Yuta, which pisses off Pac and Castagnoli. Pac is bad cop, Claudio is good cop, just like the promo. Castagnoli tags Yuta out and tells him to get his act together, focus, and do the job. Yuta eventually gets tagged back in and loses control of the match again. This time, Pac tries the firmer approach, slaps Yuta and tells him to get his head out of his ass, stop acting like a child, and man up to their new ways.
Yuta pushes Pac back. Castagnoli tries to mediate a bit. The opponents take advantage of this and almost score a pin with a roll-up or something. Kick out. Now Claudio is also fired up, and he wins the match for the team. As the “celebration” post-match is going down and they’re being handed the belts, Pac grabs Yuta’s away from him, saying he doesn’t deserve it. Castagnoli again seems like he’s going to be the voice of reason, taking the belt from Pac, but instead of handing it to Yuta, he drops it in front of him. We get one of those “oh no” type moments of realization, and they pounce, beating down Yuta. Perhaps Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir come out (or are already out there) to join in on the beat down.
They leave with Yuta’s title, leaving him a mess in the ring. Later in the show in a backstage interview/promo or maybe on Collision if this takes place on Dynamite, or the next week’s Dynamite, they explain that he made his decision and there is no room for weakness. Therefore, they’ve stripped him of his title, and the BCC will be essentially holding auditions for a new recruit.
This puts the entire roster on notice, and if the end result is someone who isn’t on the current roster being brought into the company, it can even be alluded to that they will scout outside of AEW as well. If someone wants to join, they’d better make an impression. For the next few weeks, we can see some people trying to earn that spot through some matches and/or attacks, while being rejected. Ultimately, someone—I’m not sure who, but I go back to a previous EWN QOTD and suggest Daniel Garcia, if he’s sticking around—will win them over and join the group, being declared the replacement champion in the trios team and the new person to take over that title reign.
Yuta, meanwhile, will join back up with Bryan Danielson, so we can get some matches between Yuta and the BCC members, most notably Moxley, in the build to WrestleDream.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!