How To Watch The WWE & AEW In A Focused, Fun Manner Whether You're New Or A Long Time Fan, 22: Control Your Narrative

When I originally started this project during the pandemic of 2020, the intention was to focus on WWE storylines while also showing the WCW/ECW/ROH/Impact stories that fed into the WWE storylines. So you'd know who Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, etc. were before their first appearances in WWE.

As I fleshed out my ideas for seasons, though, I realized there were too many great WCW matches that I'd never bothered with because I didn't know the wrestlers because they'd never crossed over into WWE. So I had the first two seasons pretty much split evenly between WWE and WCW. 

ECW has some fun stuff, and is hugely important to the evolution of wrestling but it didn't have the quality production or the consistently good matches of the other two companies, so I only infused a few episodes.

Eventually, both WCW and ECW were bought out by the WWE, and there's an entire season of almost all WWe matches. Then, Ring of Honor and Impact/TNA showed up. While Ring Of Honor originally was filmed in high school gyms with poor lighting and probably just one or two camers, their matches were fantastic, so slotting them in to the vacant WCW slots made sense. But then Impact had a pay-per-view ever week and had almost WWE-quality production with a ton of rising, homegrown stars to balance out their Should Be Retired WWE Dinosaurs, so they also got slotted in, and it felt like a golden age.

While Impact and ROH still exist, Impact has slowly been transitioning into a WWE farm league, and ROH is actually owned by AEW and used as a legitimate farm league.

AEW, meanwhile had a brief window where it totally eclipsed WWE in match quaity and star power in a way that even WCW hadn't achieved during the Monday Night Wars. While that era started last season, it dominates this season as the dementia riddled tyrant of the WWE, Vince McMahon made bad decision after bad decision leading to one of WWE's many lean times. Luckily, WWE's resurgence is on the horizon but most of this season is AEW, and it's a joy to watch.

Season 22:
Control Your Narrative

Starring: CM Punk, Becky Lynch, Kenny Omega, Dean Ambrose (as Jon Moxley), Hangman Page, Iyo Sky, FTR, Young Bucks, New Day, Bobby Lashley, Darby Allin, Cody Rhodes, Chad Gable, Kevin Owens, Mickie James, Sammy Guevara, Eddie Kingston, Britt Baker, Trevor Murdock, Nick Aldis, EC3

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2200. The Monster In Us All, 2021

This season's sorbet episode is an odd one. It's shot like an indie film and it features a pseudo-intellectual narrator telling the tales of these wrestlers who were dissatisfied with the creative in their respective companies coming together to fight each other over ridiculously embellished metaphor. The criticism I saw for the company's two major show is that EC3 saw Fight Club too many times but didn't uite understand what it was about. It's a valid criticism. While I would never want to watch this style of wrestling storytelling on a regular basis, it was an important and creative moment for an industry trying to recover from the 2020 pandemic.

Announcers: The Narrator, Angelo Parker, Mark Menard

1. William vs Parrow
2. Moose vs Matt Sydal (as The Vision)
3. EC3 vs Matt Cardona
4. Parrow vs Gentleman Jervis
5. John Skyler vs Westin Blake
6. Matt Taven vs William
7. EC3 vs Braun Stroman (as Adam Scherr)

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2201. First Dance

There are some fantastic matches in this episode, including one of the better Jade Cargill matches as she fought her way through an impressive undefeated streak, despite unimpressive wrestling skills. The real story, though, is pretty simple: CM Punk is back.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Tazz, Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Justin Roberts

1. Rusev (as Miro) (AEW TNT Champ) vs Eddie Kingston
2. Dean Ambrose (as Jon Moxley) vs Satoshi Kajima 
3. Britt Baker (AEW Womens Champ) vs Krist Statlander
4. Young Bucks (AEW Tag Team Champs) vs Lucha Bros in a Steel Cage
5. Jade Cargill (AEW TBS Champ) vs Kiera Hogan
6. Chris Jericho vs MJF
​7. CM Punk vs Darby Allin

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2202. Grand Slam, 2021

This is probably the only season where we start off with two AEW episodes. Their TV output during 2021 and 2022 was just outstanding. Pretty much every episode of television that they put out had at least one ppv-level match. They were aflush with talent, and while their storytelling left a lot to be desired, their booking, their talent, and their match quality were far superior to WWE.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Tazz, Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Justin Roberts

1. Casino Battle Royal For Womens Championship Match
Abadon, Anna Jay, Big Swole, Diamante, Emi Sakura, Hikaru Shida,  Jade Cargill, Jamie Hayter, Kiera Hogan, KiLynn King, Leyla Hirsch, Nyla Rose, Penelope Ford, Rebel, Red Velvet, Riho, Ruby Soho, Skye Blue, Tay Conti, The Bunny, Thunder Rosa
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2. FTR vs Darby Allin & Sting
3. Kenny Omega (AEW Champ) vs Christian (Impact Champ)
4. Britt Baker (AEW Womens Champ) vs Ruby Soho
5. Supercliq vs Lucha Express & Christian
6. Kenny Omega (AEW Champ) vs Daniel Bryan (as Bryan Danielson)

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2203. Gish, 2022

NWA started to build a little bit of post-pandemic momentum thanks to their continued focus on their womens' division and borrowing some AEW and ROH talent to battle their band of ex-WWE stars. I prefer their era of making stars out of rejected WWE midcarders to WCW's era of recycling WWE main eventers who were bordering retirement. 

1. OKG (NWA Tag Team Champs) vs Damien Sandow (as Aaron Stevens) & JR Kratos
2. Mickie James (Impact Knockout Champ) vs Kiera Hogan
3. Tyrus (NWA TV Champ) vs Cyon
4. Chris Adonis (NWA National Champ) vs Judais
5. La Reblion (NWA Tag Team Champs) vs The End
6. Kamile (NWA Womens Champ) vs Melina
7. Trevor Murdoch (NWA Champ) vs Mike Knox
8. The Briscoes vs The Cardonas
9. The Hex (NWA Womens Tag Team Champs) vs Pretty Empowered
10. Matt Cardona (NWA Champ) vs Nick Aldis

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2204. Rampage The Foundation, 2021

More solid wrestling. We finally see Omega lose the last of his many belts that he won last season, as CM Punk continues to have solid matches with AEW's homegrown talent, rather than his fellow WWE refugees.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Tazz, Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Justin Roberts

1. CM Punk vs Powerhouse Hobbs
2. Penelope Ford vs Anna Jay
3. Dean Ambrose (as Jon Moxley) & Edde Kingston vs Suzuki-Gun
4. MJF vs Darby Allin
5. Lucha Bros (AEW Tag Champs) vs FTR
​6. Kenny Omega (AEW Champ) vs Hangman Page

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2205. Day One, 2022

2022 is kind of a crap year for WWE. The fake fall of Vince McMahon (not a storyline, a real life event) gave a sense of promise that fizzled out and ended up with Vince returning to water down the product some more. Of course there are still some great matches but there are some disappointing storylines in this season, and they start here. Also, there are no promos or skits from The Bloodline, and yet they still dominate this show.

Announcers: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Pat McAfee, Jimmy Smith, Kevin Patrick, Mike Rome

1. The Usos (WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champs) vs New Day
2. RKBro (WWE Raw Tag Team Champs) vs Street Profits
3. Big E (WWE Champ) vs Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley vs Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins
4. Becky Lynch (WWE Raw Womens Champ) vs Liv Morgan
5. Big E vs Bobby Lashley vs Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins
6. Roman Reigns (WWE Universal Champ) vs Seth Rollins

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2206. Winter Remix, 2021

The late 2021/2022 era AEW was rock star central. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, MJF, Eddie Kingston, Christian, Chris Jericho, Sting, and The Elite all hanging out and mixing it up is fantastic. And in this episode we get to see the debut of Taz's son, Hook, who seems destined to surpass his father's fame in the ring.

​Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Justin Roberts
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1. Hook vs Fuego Del Sol
2. Daniel Bryan (as Bryan Danielson) vs Rusev (as Miro)
3. Britt Baker (AEW Womens Champ) vs Tai Conti
4. CM Punk vs Eddie Kingston
5. Inner Circle vs Men Of The Year & American Top Team
6. MJF vs Dante Martin for the AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring
7. Hangman Page (AEW Champ) vs Daniel Bryan (as Bryan Danielson)

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2207. Course Changes, 2022

AEW showing ppv quality matches on TV is incredibly common. Since its inception, its had more TV matches in this chronology than ppv matches. The same is not remotely true of the WWE. But 2022's early pay-per-views were almost top to bottom awful due to Vince McMahon's declining mental health. Occasionally, a TV match seemed to escape his clutches and was good in spite of itself, and that's almost the entirety of this episode, with the addition of a generational dream match between Becky Lynch and Lita.

Announcers: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Kayla Braxton, Mike Rome, Samantha Irvin

1. Chad Gable vs Randy Orton
​2. New Day vs Los Lotharios
3. Charlotte Flair (WWE Smackdown Womens Champ) vs Naomi
4. Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins
5. Bobby Lashley (WWE Champ) vs Brock Lesnar vs AJ Styles vs Seth Rollins vs Riddle vs Austin Theory in an Elimination Chamber

6. Becky Lynch (WWE Raw Womens Champ) vs Lita

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​2208. New Year's Smash, 2021/2022

We have a couple of squash matches in this card from late 2021/early 2022, as well as some dream trios like CM Punk, Sting, and Darby Allin, and Adam Cole and reDRagon. Also, a stellar rematch as Hangman Page puts the title on the line against Bryan Danielson for the second time. 

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Taz, Ricky Starks, Mark Henry, Justin Roberts

1. Malakai Black vs Griff Garrison
2. The Pinnacle vs CM Punk, Sting & Darby Allin
​3. Hook vs Bear Bronson
4. Sammy Guevara (AEW TNT Champ) vs Cody Rhodes
5. Jade Cargill vs Thunder Rosa
6. Adam Cole & reDRagon vs Best Friends
7. Cody Rhodes (AEW TNT Champ) vs Ethan Page
8. Hangman Page (AEW Champ) vs Daniel Bryan (as Bryan Danielson)

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2209. New Year's Evil, 2022

Time to put on your Jams and your Max Headroom shades, it's NXT Splatoon, Vince McMahon and Bruce Pritchard's terrible experiment to prove that neither of them had any idea what made NXT work before they put their wrinkly paws on it. While they didn't quite kill it with their incompetence, it was certainly a giant step down from the Black & Gold era. There's a few wrestlers so talented that they couldn't quite be buried under bad bookins, and these are their stories from the beginning 0f 2022. There aren't really any promos because whoooof, they were even less inspired and intriguing than the matches. 

Announcers: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph, Kayla Braxton

1. AJ Styles vs Grayson Waller
2. Imperium vs MSK & Riddle
3. Carmelo Hayes (NXT North American Champ) vs Roderick Strong (WWE Cruiserweight Champ)

4. Roderick Strong  vs Gunther
5. Tomasso Ciampa (NXT Champ) vs Bron Breakker
6. Raquel Rodriguez (as Raquel Gonzales) vs Cora Jade
7. Creed Brothers vs Grizzled Young Veterans
8. Dolph Ziggler vs Tomasso Ciampa
9. Carmello Hayes (NXT North American Champ) vs Cameron Grimes
10. Grayson Waller vs LA Knight in a Last Man Standing Match

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2210. Back To The Beach, 2022

The end of 2021/beginning of 2022 was an amazing time to be an AEW fan. Every week there was at least one four or five star match on Dynamite or Rampage. The tag team division was absolutely on fire, and the young pillars of AEW: MJF, Darby Allin, Jungle Boy, and Sammy Guevara have incredible up-punching matches with the top veterans: Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Dustin Rhodes.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Taz, Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Justin Roberts

1. Lucha Bros (AEW Tag Team Champs) vs Jurassic Express
2. Sammy Guevara (AEW TNT Champ) vs Goldust (as Dustin Rhodes)
3. Britt Baker (AEW Womens Champ) vs Riho
4. Jurassic Express (AEW Tag Team Champs) vs Dark Order
5. Nick Jackson vs Trent Baretta
6. Cody Rhodes (AEW TNT Champ) vs Sammy Guevara in a Ladder Match

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2211. Because KO Said So, 2022

One semi-interesting story forks into two phenomenal return matches as Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins lose a shot at the tag team belts at Wrestlemania and, after doing battle with each other, each end up with a legendary opponent returning to WWE after a long absence.

Announcers: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Pat McAfee, Jimmy Smith, Samantha Irvin

1. Alpha Academy (WWE Tag Team Champs) vs RKBro vs Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens 
2. Sami Zayn (WWE Intercontinental Champ)  vs Ricochet
3. Dominik & Rey Mysterio vs The Miz & Logan Paul
4. Seth Rollins vs Kevin Owens
5. Becky Lynch (WWE Raw Womens Champ) vs Bianca Belair
6. Cody Rhodes vs Seth Rollins
​7. Steve Austin vs Kevin Owens

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2212. Lights Out, Go To Sleep 2022

Hangman Page's TX Death Match with Lance Archer might be Archer's greatest AEW match but the true story of this episode, like the last AEW episode is the feud between CM Punk and MJF. The best talkers in the game are building up to their finest hour. Plus we see some excellent tage team matches and Mr. Pockets, Orange Cassidy has an absolute belter with Adam Cole, bay bay.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Taz, Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Justin Roberts

1. Adam Cole vs Orange Cassidy in a Lights Out Match
2. CM Punk vs MJF
3. Jurassic Express (AEW Tag Team Champs) vs Private Party
4. FTR vs CM Punk & Jon Moxley
5. Young Bucks vs Roppongi Vice
6. Hangman Page (AEW Champ) vs Lance Archer in a TX Death Match

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2213. Faces Of The Revolution, 2022

All killer, no-filler as The Pillars, The Punk, The Elite, and the two spooky stables of AEW go all-out against each other in this set of fantastic matches.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Taz, Excalibur, Justin Roberts

1. Sammy Guevara (AEW TNT Champ) vs Andrade vs Darby Allin
2. The House Of Black vs Pac, Penta El Zero, Erick Rowan
3. Chris Jericho vs Eddie Kingston
4. Jurassic Express (AEW Tag Team Champs) vs Young Bucks vs reDRagon
5. Face Of The Ravolution Ladder Match
Christian, Orange Cassidy, Wardlow, Keith Lee, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks

6. CM Punk vs MJF in a Dog Collar Match

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2214. TV Timeout, 2022

This season has had very few and far between WWE episodes. While Triple H's cleansing of the brand is in the future, there's a couple more episodes to go with no one's favorite sex-offending-billionaire-with-dementia at the helm. This is mostly still Bloodline, RKBro, and Becky Lynch. We're going to entirely skip Edge's time with The Judgement Day, but we get to see the Finn Balor-led Judgement Day "debut" near the end of this episode.

Announcers: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Samantha Irvin

1. The Bloodline vs Drew McIntyre & RKBro 
2. Becky Lynch vs Asuka
3. Drew McIntyre vs Shamus
4. Bobby Lashley (WWE US Champ) vs Tomasso Ciampa
5. Kevin Owens vs Chad Gable
6. The Viking Raiders vs New Day in a Vikings Rules Match
7. Edge vs Damien Priest
8. Roman Reigns (WWE Universal Champ) vs Matt Riddle

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2215. St Patrick's Day Slam, 2022

Wrestling's top gentleman jumps ship from NXT to AEW here, as William Regal begins assembling The Blackpool Combat Club, who will spend years dominating every competitor. We also have some fun multi-man matches and a hell of a main event as Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa go toe-to-toe in a steel cage.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, Taz, Exaclibur, Justin Roberts

1. Daniel Bryan (as Bryan Danielson) vs Dean Ambrose (as Jon Moxley)
2. Matt Hardy, Andrade & Isaiah Kassidy vs Sting, Darby Allin & Sammy Guevera
3. Hangman Page (AEW Champ) vs Adam Cole
4. Sammy Guevera (AEW TNT Champ) vs Scorpio Sky
5. Adam Cole & reDRagon vs Hangman Page & Jurassic Express
6. CM Punk vs Dax Harwood
7. Britt Baker (AEW Womens Champ) vs Thunder Rosa in a Steel Cage

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2216. The Wheeler In Motion

​The Blackpool Combat Club starts to recruit more members, Hook and Danhausen each need a storyline to remain interesting so their paths intersect here, and Samoa Joe returns to Ring Of Honor to wreck house like it's 2004.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Taz, Excalibur, Chris Jericho, William Regal, Mark Henry, Justin Roberts, Bobby Cruz

1. Jay Lethal vs Dean Ambrose (as Jon Moxley)
2. Daniel Bryan (as Bryan Danielson) vs Wheeler Yuta
3. Andrade vs Darby Allin
4. FTR (AEW Tag Team Champs) vs Young Bucks (ROH Tag Team Champs & AAA Tag Team Champs)

5. Wheeler Yuta (ROH Puro Champ) vs Dean Ambrose (as Jon Moxley)
6. Hook vs JD Drake
7. Jurassic Express (AEW Tag Team Champs) vs reDRagon
8. Swerved In Our Glory vs Team Taz
9. Minoru Suzuki (ROH Champ) vs Samoa Joe

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2217. Back To Backlash

Our final WWE main roster episode of the season takes no prisoners. The Zay/Knoxville match is a silly spotfest but everything else is brutal right up until the best ever Roman Reigns/Brock Lesnar match. This is everything their Wrestlemania 38 match should have been but wasn't.

​Announcers: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee

1. RKBro vs Street Profits vs Alpha Academy
2. Sami Zayn vs Johnny Knoxville
3. Seth Rollins vs Cody Rhodes in Hell In A Cell
4. Charlotte Flair (WWE Smackdown Womens Champ) vs Ronda Rousey in an I Quit Match

5. Roman Reigns (WWE Universal Champ) vs Brock Lesnar

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​2218. The Penultimate Challenge

While AEW's focus is definitely more on matches than storylines, we do get the bare minimum requirements to set up this season's finale. One of the fun highlights of this episode is two good-natured friendly matches in a row, as CM Punk and Dustin Rhodes square off, and then the two members of the ROH Tag Champs, FTR, go head to head in a tournament qualifying match and it DOESN'T end up breaking up the team.

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Tazz, Excalibur, Mike Henry, Justin Roberts

1. Hangman Page (AEW Champ) vs Adam Cole in a TX Death Match
2. CM Punk vs Goldust (as Dustin Rhodes)
3. Cash Wheeler vs Dax Harwood
4. Sammy Guevara (AEW TNT Champ) vs Scorpio Sky in a Ladder Match
5. Riho vs Yuka Sakazaki
6. Adam Cole vs Dax Harwood
7. Jeff Hardy vs Darby Allin

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2219. Dirty Dawgs

Our second and final NXT episode from the Splatwon.0 era has a decent balance of veterans putting over new talent, and also new talent putting over other new talent. It's fun to see a Dolph Ziggler match, a Robert Rhoode match, and a Mandy Rose match again, and I had no idea until I started watching this era of NXT (which I skipped while it was happening) that there were three good Grayson Waller matches in all of human history.

Announcers: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph, Samantha Irvin

1. Bron Breakker (NXT Champ) vs Dolph Ziggler vs Tomasso Ciampa
2. Kay Lee Rey & Iyo Sky (as Io Shirai) vs Katy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter
3. Bron Breakker vs Robert Roode
4. Cameron Grimes vs Roderick Strong vs A-Kid
5. Kay Lee Rey & Iyo Sky (as Io Shirai) vs Dakota Kai & Wendy Choo
6. Carmelo Hayes vs Santos Escobar
7. Gunther vs Bron Breakker
8. Tag Team Gauntlet Match
Legado Del Fantasma, Josh Briggs & Brook Jensen, The Creed Brothers, Pretty Deadly, Grayson Waller & Sanga

9. Mandy Rose vs Roxanne Perez
10. Grayson Waller vs Nathan Frazier
11. Tomasso Ciampa vs Tony D'Angelo

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2220. Anarchy In The Arena, 2022

The story of this season has been the return of CM Punk and his rise to the title scene, and in this final episode we get to see him in his first title match in a decade. If that's not enough for you, the tag team dream match of the ages happens when The Young Bucks face The Hardys. Oh, and we get Danhausen and Hookhausen's first ever matches in AEW. Very nice. Very evil.​

Announcers: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Taz, Excalibur, William Regal, Ricky Starks, Justin Roberts

1. Danhausen vs Tony Nese
2. Death Triangle vs. House Of Black
3. Samoa Joe vs Kyle O'Reilly
4. Daniel Bryan vs Matt Sydal
5. Young Bucks vs Taylor Rust & Jon Cruz
6. HookHausen vs Mark Sterling & Tony Nese
7. Young Bucks vs Hardy Boyz
8. Death Triangle vs House Of Black
9. Thunder Rosa (AEW Womens Champ) vs Serena Deeb
10. Jericho Appreciation Society vs Blackpool Combat Club
​11. Hangman Page (AEW Champ) vs CM Punk