Ricochet & Nigel McGuinness Debut: Reactions to ALL IN Casino Gauntlet's Surprises

the casino Gauntlet match followed the tag title match so they explained that the winner can use their title shot anytime they want like like a money in the bank that's how it was positioned so orange Cassidy is first as had been decided on television and we get a yeah the entrance we get a Mr Bean parody uh for orange Cassidy on the video falling from the sky so awesome yeah one of the few British um references that I like we would get inter yeah we got Mr Bean edl and uh cricket and um Barry Scott that's right Barry Scott there was a Barry Scott sign on the pre-show that you could see like someone hovering over the desk had a Barry Scott sign oh sure number two is kazuka okata who gets a monster reaction I mean first of all it's the surprise of like I think people might have assumed okata would be in this match but didn't know for sure so when he does walk out at Wembley it's a gigantic reaction and it made me think like we talk about some of the pre-show guys like this is the biggest M crowd they've ever worked in front of M this unless I'm just totally skipping on something like I don't think any wrestle Kingdom has done a legit 50,000 people that okata has been on this might be the biggest crowd okata has wrestled in front of unless I'm just totally forgetting something I think it is what other show in history would would have hit 50,000 in recent years yeah like I I None of these Tokyo do shows have um so yeah like when you think about it that way like it's just again like some people are going to honestly try to dismiss 53,000 people and it's like that's an incredible number that um that they that they did here for your second year coming back to a stadium one year later so orange and okata with the chaos history they Embrace an okata who's just like the master the the guy who everyone was wor like will he find the hard camer this guy owns the hard camera all right he just stares at like this dead pan stare as he's hugging orange and just puts the boots to Orange and orange stops a rain maker by placing his hands into his pockets the countdown clock Begins the intervals seemed all over the place but our third entrance is that is something that they're saying is sort of a rule right they stated that like it isn't a hard fixed time yeah and I love that like they're they're anyway like during the how often does it come whenever the Tony KH wants to put someone in just tell me it's random I I fully accept it yes mhm number three is Nigel mcginness and this crowd like they instantly recognize the music they probably saw the font on the screen too uh but out comes Nigel at 48 years of old years of age with a body that looks like it's uh 28 kid he's in better shape than when he was an active wrestler at least he looks you know slim down and chiseled more chiseled than than when he was um this was the moment of the show up until this point you know like obviously like there so much there's so much discussion and even rumor about Danielson facing Nigel for this particular show and the months leading up to it when we found out we didn't get that I I think we kind of shut the door on just even seeing Nigel period on on the show as a wrestler um I didn't I don't know why I didn't consider him for this casino Gauntlet it's the perfect place to have him arrive and he gets this incredible entrance at Wembley again maybe like like for all the Brits getting this sort of entrance I think it something extra special than than it could mean to any any certainly like more than you and I can can recognize so for him to get this return to in in this sort of Ovation in this sort of Spotlight was to me the most one of the most heartwarming things on this entire show I mean the only thing that would have topped it is if he came out in Ultimate Warrior paint like he had at SummerSlam 92 when he attended at Wembley Stadium um sure as great as this was I mean there's one thing that we we do have to address and that is that for the last 12 and a half years independent wrestler out of West Virginia TJ Phillips has been able to sit back and tell all of his colleagues you know I wrestled Nigel mcginness in his last ever match in December of 2011 and for 12 and a half years that that was his biggest noteworthy event he worked Nigel in his retirement match immortalized on a documentary Nigel produced but today Nigel broke that retirement and he came out and TJ Phillips no longer can cling to that trivia note well he could say I wrestled Nel in his last singles match that's still a well I I think that's going to be expiring in time as well oh yeah um great pop here for Nigel again like 48 years old here coming out um well clearly he's been training for something I mean the guy looks uh great here uh number four was Kyle O'Reilly so we get him and Nigel squaring off both are doing the the Les kellet uh rebound Lariat out of the ropes and all of a sudden thank you for giving credit to Les kellet that's that's a really nice um I mean that's that is the origin of the of the spot one of the best lines here was Taz all of a sudden realizing wait does this mean I'm going to have to work Saturdays because we better have a talk about this if Nigel's making a comeback and they need someone on collision I think it means uh Taz should be training to get set to jump into the next year's Casino dude Taz Taz ain't doing one these gauntlets I promise you that um Cassidy Ducks another rain maker and the number five oh you want to book me all of a sudden one week after I win the bloody G1 and it's Zach saber Jr coming out I've been working daily way tell me tell me how how well what what does the conversation sound like between Zack saber Jr and Nigel mcginness what do you think these two are saying to each other in the ring right here I thought you were retired I heard you yelling in your car it's late folks so anyway you get to see Zach and Nigel mcin I just thought some of these interactions these are interactions I never envisioned Nigel having well that's exact exactly the the draw of The cassino Gauntlet match okay aew Tony KH has found himself a toy box of just some of the most incredible pieces that somebody could curate from wrestling's entire history and this is his match where he can pair them up you know one by one with guys that you never even expected because they don't announce who's ahead of this in this ahead of time like you're getting a in this match now you're getting any sort of like pairing with okata feels special you're getting Zach in this match and you're getting Nigel in this match and any pairing with anybody especially the British wrestlers in there with Nigel feels very special have these two ever shared a ring as active wrestlers before I would I would have to double check that one but I would 90% sure this was the first time meeting yeah cage match tells me there's there's they haven't had a match together so even this is Monumental you know so yeah for these to have that moment in Wembley just just amazing so you get Zach and mcginness together there crowd's electric for this okada works with Zach briefly and okata gives his middle finger to the crowd so Zack then grabs the middle finger and ties up okata sixth is uh Roderick strong followed by Mark Brisco who gets a huge pop and then hangman pig is the eighth entrant into the match and uh he comes in and starts attacking okata he hits a apron bomb to rodick Cassidy B uh Ducks The Buckshot Lariat but then it's hangman with the Dead Eye which Mark Brisco breaks up and then number nine uh outside of Big Daddy I don't think anyone was going to get a pop like this uh Jeff Jared dude this place exploded for Jeff J this was one of the biggest pops on the whole show was Jeff Jarrett and that music hitting and he comes out uh and he's joined by Karen and he locks his eyes on hangman so they start going at it and forget Zack saber Jr and Nigel mcginness we get Jeff Jarrett trading punches with Zack saber Jr I would love to see that match Jeff Jarrett and Zack I mean z over to Champagne Illinois on Wednesday why don't you why don't we give him an IWGP title shot right now I mean at this point I mean put him in the G1 the bullet Club Zone Jeff Jarrett um does the Fargo strut and then as he's hitting the 10 punches in the corner Paige power bombs Jarrett in front of everyone and then Paige teases going after Karen number 10 is the debuting Ricochet and he comes out obviously huge reaction for Ricochet and um I'm going to State this uh off the bat here I didn't feel this was necessary for the match I just thought that at the end of this show I think Ricochet should have been introduced in such a way that yes bring him out in front of this prow but let's announce his first match if he was not winning this match I feel by the end of this show you were not thinking about Ricochet and you should be thinking about Ricochet and after watching this whole show like he wasn't involved in anything beyond this I would have just had him introduced by Tony KH or Tony shobani and it's the big pop and I'm going to wrestle on Dynamite this week or I'm wrestling it all out whatever it is but this is a guy who his first match in aw I think you could sell people on the idea of seeing Ricochet outside of a WWE ring for the first time in all these years um like yeah it got great pop in in the moment but I felt by the end of this show was he one of the three things you were immediately thinking about on the show maybe maybe he was but I did not like this introduction of Ricochet yeah I I don't fully disagree I understand why Tony did it though you know I think there's the Allure of like first of all wanting to add surprises for your big show of the year to lead people um satisfied I think there's the Allure of having this an entrance take place in front of the biggest crow that you're going to have all year um and Beyond I think you know introducing Ricochet I think wanting to see having seeing Ricochet wrestle and interact with so many of the names in this casino Gauntlet were also part of the novelty um and and maybe part of the memory of you know doing this debut but I don't disagree with you in saying that by the end of the show I wasn't necessarily thinking about this you know my preference would have been for him to have some sort of Face Off or interaction with Will off spray just to kind of like put that Spotlight on that rivalry that much more and to um just put the emphasis on Ricochet that much more here he had a really impressive debut looked great in in what he had to do uh but by the end end of the of the match kind of felt like a bit of a footnote and therefore maybe just a member of the mid card now all of that can change they can have the interaction with well ospry I think on Dynamite this Wednesday and give him that sort of Spotlight then and I still think there's value if they to a spot with him and ospry on Wednesday I'm going to hate this even worse because that is at the end of that match Ricochet coming out like I'm not going to get upset about that now because maybe they're not going in that direction but if they do I mean I that is 10 times more effective is p Ricochet just walking out at the end of that match and the two lock eyes and then we we cut to the next video package I mean to me I I wait to see what how it feels you know after it's done um because you know maybe Tony just wants to sa something for TV um I also think that there's a lot of value in promoting Ricochet first singles match you know like I I kind of you kind of joke about that the dude who had um Nigel's last singles match but there is a difference between somebody making a a Battle Royal appearance and and also so you're saying Ricochet versus TJ Phillips on Dynamite yeah yeah yeah um Ricochet did this like I mean he did look great for the brief time he was in this match including scaling to the top gaining his balance on the top and then finishing a shooting star press to the floor like this guy's balance is insane it was amazing like it it it felt like he just came out here and was like I could do anything I think about in this ring on these ropes and it's not going to be difficult at all and that's how it came across like this is like the high level sort of like Comfort doing that style that is so rarely seen that um I don't know for some reason didn't feel so special in the WWE anymore by the certainly by the time he you know was wrestling those speed matches like we just kind of all took it for granted but this kind of colored him in in a very different context then Christian Cage is the 11th entrant he's limping to the ring selling the effects of the ladder match and uh he has met with a high cross from Ricochet to the floor and then a buckshot attempt is uh attempted when Karen Jarrett grabs hangman and it leads to a guitar shot from Jeff for the big and then okata hits Jeff Jarrett with the rain maker and then after that we have uh Cassidy backslide Zach out of a armar attempt and then we get orange and Zach going back and forth an End Of Heartache to Orange Cassidy a froggy Bow by Mark Brisco onto strong and then a j driller gets blocked by Nigel Nigel hits a Tower of Doom on a Tower of London onto kylo Riley using Mark in place of the turnbuckle for a nearfall and then it's one one final Les kellet Lariat to Kyle before cage Spears Nigel and then the 12th entrant it's killshot but the screen reads luchasaurus as he comes out and the idea here he's announced as luchasaurus he's announced as luchasaurus that he has he has turned a leaf he heard the chance he heard you in the opener and he's decided to Rebrand himself and he comes out and you think he's going to go for Christian but instead he choke slams Kyle O'Reilly and puts k on top as Christian wins in 25 minutes and 57 seconds right yeah and then immediately they cut the hangman page who realizes that he's failed um and I yeah I I thought it was a tremendously fun and casino Gauntlet match these can maybe the best one they've had um they've had only good Casino Gauntlet matches this continues to like build itself as like one of my favorite Tony KH original Creations um and and part of the reason is because they stack them with people who are upper tier main event or sorry midc Carters or main aventor or people that are just like great wrestlers so every pairing you you see every interaction you see is one that like will make you really excited if you're you know a fan of like professional wrestling um this had a lot of great surprises this had a lot of like great just like holy moments um and you know I thought the Nigel stuff was to me like so heartwarming to see I think this if this means he's he's back as an active wrestler I I I I hope he stays on commentary I I can't see him like wrestling full time but like the occasional match back on TV I think would be wonderful I I'd love to see him paired with GB for instance as like a bit of a trio I think that would be that would make a lot of sense Ricochet debut he looked great uh but he does need something a bit bigger to follow up and the sort of outcome here with Christian unfortunately I think of of the entire field Christian might be one of the least interesting to me um I don't know if I care that much to see like what are we talking about D I just think the way it was structured like you do have a bit of a backstory in that Christian did beat Danielson on TV like it was almost a year ago but I'm with you I just felt like so much of this match felt as though it was like the the ghosts of Brian danielson's past and who is going to be positioned here and you're teasing people with another okata match with Danielson with a Zach match with a hangman for swerve or even hangman with Danielson that have their history all these different Nigel even with Danielson all these options and it's Christian at the end that I I can see people not having a huge uh spark of interest from the way that this one uh peaked but and the fact that that it's a cash in stipulation almost seems to assure to me that they're um setting up a Christian Championship run could be be based off of Danielson or not it could be like you know months from now could be a year from now from I I guess we don't know the exact rules but you know could be that long and I don't know if I'm that excited for it like I've really enjoyed Christian Cage in this sort of like midcard role as part of the patriarchy but I don't know if I want to see a world Tuttle run from Christian or even like the suggestion of it with him like competing for it you know well we will see um I I don't say see as being an immediate uh thing that they they utilize um but Adam Copeland's return too could change that you know like I could see Christian and Adam Copeland feuding for the championship but is is that a feud that that people want to see for for the world title I I mean anyway maybe we're get getting 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