SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
BEING THE ELITE EP. 198 – “ON THE BTE COMPOUND”
POSTED ON YOUTUBE.COM
APRIL 9, 2020
REPORT BY ZACH GRAHAM, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
– Peter Avalon gets out of the backseat of an Uber and walks along the sidewalk, stopping to admire the landscaping and the house he’s walking up to. He knocks on the door and out steps Brandon Cutler. Avalon immediately starts laughing at him and mocking him for being a loser. Cutler asks if he really drove over three hours to come make fun of him and Avalon says no, he took an Uber. Cutler calls Avalon the ultimate troll for that and gets offended when he realizes that Avalon even grew out a neck beard like his to further mock him. Avalon says that he didn’t grow the neck beard for that, it’s because he’s been in quarantine. Avalon said he came there to ask Cutler if he wanted to team up to try and get a win for them both as a tag team and Cutler contemplated it. Avalon said he has a match for them right now and Cutler said okay.
– The Being the Elite open aired.
– Cutler and Avalon, now in their ring gear, were standing in the ring opposite of Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels. The ring is the same ring that the Young Bucks were shown training in on the tennis court. Rick Knox was the official.
(1) SCU vs. BRANDON CUTLER & PETER AVALON
Excalibur provided commentary for the match and started by saying hello and welcome to the tennis courts on the BTE Compound. Cutler and Kazarian started the match with Kazarian quickly grounding Cutler. The two exchanged head locks. A hard camera angle was shown and Excalibur pointed out that Nick Jackson was filming on a handheld camera at ringside. Kazarian and Cutler took each other down and traded one count pin fall attempts until they both separated in a stalemate.
Avalon and Daniels tagged in. Avalon scolded Cutler before charging at Daniels only to be taken down quickly with an arm drag. Avalon created some separation throwing Daniels into the ropes then hitting him with a dropkick. Daniels reversed a move into a back breaker which prompted Cutler and Kazarian to enter the ring. SCU dispatched of Cutler after a running bulldog to the knee of Daniels. SCU then took Avalon down with a clothesline to the back of the head followed by a double stomp on his back. Kazarian tagged back in and scored a two count. Excalibur, on his own, talked about the “capacity crowd” at the compound then plugged the Young Bucks’ upcoming book and self-deprecatingly said he doubts that this is the last time he’s asked to plug that book.
Avalon tagged Cutler back in against Christopher Daniels now and Daniels isolated and focused his attack on the left arm and shoulder of Cutler. Cutler shoved Daniels into his corner and Avalon clotheslined him from outside the ring. Avalon then tagged in and punched away at Daniels. Excalibur made a point to now point out Matt Jackson taking still photos from above the ring as Nick Jackson walked around shooting the match at ringside. Avalon suplexed Daniels and scored a two count before tagging Cutler back in. Cutler and Avalon isolated Daniels for a minute, but a miscommunication on a double team move on Daniels allowed for an opening as Avalon and Cutler argued. Daniels shoved Cutler into Avalon and finally reached Kazarian who took out Cutler and Avalon. Daniels scored a couple of near falls until Avalon interfered and attempted to sunset flip Kazarian. Daniels ran in and grabbed Kazarian’s arms so he would be rolled up for a pin. Cutler sprinted in and tried to sunset flip Christopher Daniels. Both members of SCU held their ground and sat down on the chest of Avalon and Cutler and simultaneously pinned them both for the win.
WINNERS: SCU in 7:00.
– Rick Knox yelled to Cutler and Avalon that they were both losers as he exited the ring with SCU.
– Luchasaurus was shown solemnly walking down a sidewalk wearing his mask, a suit jacket, and a pair of swim trunks as sad music played. Luchasaurus sat down up against a building, then on a bench, before getting up and walking away. A small dog was shown on a couch and Taya Valkyrie was watching tv drinking some wine. Luchasaurus walks up and knocks on the back door. Valkyrie yells through the door asking Luchasaurus what he wants and he asks to see “him.” Valkyrie says you can’t. Luchasaurus notices that she’s having a drink and asks if she’s drinking because it’s 5 AM and she responds that her “quarantine watch” says that it’s happy hour. Luchasaurus says that it’s kind of embarrassing, but he’s trying to find his tail, Valkyrie mocks him and asks him if he ever really used it. Luchasaurus said he just needs his friends right now and Valkyrie sarcastically repeats him and tells him to go find his “elite” friends in Marko Stunt and Jungleboy. Luchasaurus sulks and walks away as Valkyrie yells at him to wash his hands.
– Matt Jackson is shown sitting in a chair, taping up his wrists, dressed for a match. Christopher Daniels walks up to ask him a question, but Matt ignores him. Daniels tries getting his attention again and Matt points to a paper taped above his chair that says “Please Knock.” Daniels knocks on the wall and Matt finally acknowledges him. Daniels says they’re trying to find the Lysol to clean the ring and Matt tells him it’s down by the ring bell, Matt also tells Daniels he needs to stay six feet away from him because he’s only three feet away right now. Daniels walks off and Matt finishes taping up his wrists.
– Scorpio Sky rolls down his window and apologizes to the “officers” who have pulled him over. He says he knows he was driving a little fast. Being the Elite regulars “Trevor” and “Arthur” are the cops. Arthur tells Sky that they pulled him over because he’s garbage and the only thing good about him is his partners, especially Frankie Kazarian. Trevor interrupts to say that he thinks Christopher Daniels is the glue of the SCU machine. The two then try to insinuate that Sky can bribe them out of getting a ticket. Sky gets upset and says that he’s a law abiding citizen, Arthur responds by calling him a law abiding piece of shit. Sky then threatens to call his uncle who was with LAPD for 35 years.
– Kenny Omega was shown in front of the AEW Dynamite set from their undisclosed taping location in Georgia. Kenny said he’s there to give an update about his right hand. He said he isn’t taping it up, he’s just braving it out. Kenny then said he’s double checked the list of all personnel allowed to be at the building and Colt Cabana was not on that list. As Kenny is saying this, the camera zooms out slightly and Cabana can be seen slowly walking out of the entrance tunnel. Cabana was pretending to check the lights and stage structures until Omega noticed him. Omega turned around and noticed him, Cabana acted surprised that Kenny was filming for BTE. Omega got upset and began chasing Cabana. The two ran through the tunnel, some Benny Hill type music played as the two were shown chasing each other between the two entrance ramps. When the two reemerged, they had swapped clothes, the second time they came back through the tunnel Cabana was chasing Omega. Kenny stopped and realized he was chasing Cabana and the two changed directions so Omega was chasing Cabana again. Tony Schiavone then ran out wearing Colt Cabana’s clothes over his dress clothes which Dasha Gonzalez chasing him wearing Omega’s clothes. Finally, Omega was chasing a dog through the tunnel, who was wearing Colt’s pants, but stopped when he realized it was a puppy and began to pet it before Cabana walked up and started to love on the dog as well. Omega chased Cabana through the tunnel one last time to end the segment.
– Matt and Nick Jackson were stretching in their full ring gear. Matt said he set up an exhibition match for them against a couple of local wrestlers. Matt agreed to wrestle to help him recover and get back in ring shape. The two started walking to the ring, but Matt stopped and said the only thing missing was their ring entrance music. The music began playing and a recording of Justin Roberts introducing The Young Bucks also played.
(2) THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. TEAM HIGH RISK (Simon Lotto & Steven Andrews)
Excalibur calling the action again as Frankie Kazarian could be seen filming from ringside and Christopher Daniels was running the “hard cam” both still in their ring gear. Excalibur said that this is, undoubtedly, an enhancement match as the bell rang. Simon Lotto and Matt Jackson started the match locking up. The two exchanged holds until Matt rolled through, broke the grip on his hand and drop kicked Lotto to create separation. The two circled and locked up again and Matt tagged Nick into the match.
Steven Andrews tagged in against Nick and threw him into the ropes. After a couple of avoidances, Andrews drop kicked Nick to the mat and tagged Lotto back in. Nick grabbed Lotto and threw him into his corner and hit him with a draping neck breaker as Matt tagged in. Matt charged and took Andrews off the apron before running the ropes and hitting him with a diving drop kick. Matt held on to the top rope and flipped back into the ring where Nick hit Lotto with a gut buster followed by a neck breaker from Matt. The brothers touched elbows instead of high fiving. Matt looked into the camera and said that this is what they do. Excalibur confidently chimed in that the floor cameraman has to be Frankie Kazarian. Nick went to dive onto Lotto and Andrews, but Andrews caught him as he went through the ropes and hit a cutter as he sat on the apron. Lotto followed it up with a enzeguri. Matt entered the ring and was hit immediately with a double super kick. Both Young Bucks were on the outside of the ring together and Lotto ran the ropes to dive onto them, but slid up to the bottom rope and did the signature DX crotch chop while Andrews jumped over the top rope onto the Young Bucks. Nick Jackson was thrown back into the ring and hit with a flurry of offense. Excalibur “speculated” that Nick has to be at 60.5% recovered instead of 61%, though it may actually be less. Lotto and Andrews hit a shooting star press and neck breaker combo and went for the cover, but Matt entered and broke up the pin fall attempt at two.
Matt got in the ear of Nick, upset with the success these two were having against them. Nick fired up and took down both opponents with a series of elbows and finally tagged Matt in. Matt hit a trio of northern lights suplexes on Andrews before Lotto charged in. Matt then hit the pair with two northern lights suplexes and covered them both for a pin fall, but the pair kicked out at two. Nick tagged back in and kicked Lotto who was at ringside. The Young Bucks hit Andrews with Risky Business, then a pair of super kicks and knee strikes. Lotto tried to interfere, but was hit with a double super kick before the Young Bucks picked up the win.
WINNERS: The Young Bucks in 5:00
– Excalibur sarcastically said that Nick must not have sent the memo to hit their music in post-editing, a memo to himself.
– The Young Bucks walked off. Matt asked Nick how he was feeling and he said he isn’t 100 percent, but he’s getting there. Nick then told Matt that he knows what would make him 100%. Nick told Matt he knows exactly what would make him 100 percent, Matt immediately understood what he was talking about and said no way, it’s not happening. Nick tried to convince him, but Matt said no unless Nick wants someone to die. Nick said if he can do “that,” he’ll know he’s 100 percent. Nick told Matt to think about it and Matt responded saying he won’t and walking off.
– Simon Lott and Steven Andrews were shown working out in the Young Bucks garage gym when Frankie Kazarian walked up. Kazarian said he saw the match where they got their asses kicked by the Young Bucks and got jobbed out, but he appreciates that they left the ring and immediately started training. Kazarian said they have heart and balls and he likes a man that has heart and balls. Lotto stepped away from the dumb bells he was using and Kazarian asked if he was going to rack his weight. Kazarian asked if they have any gym etiquette and got really mad. Christopher Daniels walked in, as did Rick Knox. Knox said this isn’t the time or place for this. Kazarian said they’ll settle this like gentlemen in a wrestling match, but not just any wrestling match. This will be settled in a “Squash Match.” Christopher Daniels pulls Kazarian aside and said he hasn’t been in a squash match since Beyond the Mat. Kazarian assured him that they will be fine.
– A graphic aired showing SCU vs. Team High Risk on Being the Elite. Someone (presumably Nick Jackson) then did a voiceover, but not in his typical voice and said that this squash match will happen next week on BTE.
FINAL THOUGHTS: If they’re going to start using the West Coast wrestlers for matches, I’m a little confused why they’re on BTE instead of AEW Dark, but maybe the goal is to get more people watching BTE and maybe this will do the trick. That can be both good and bad, though as there are some seriously inside jokes and references on BTE and some of these guys aren’t their typical characters. Kenny Omega and Colt Cabana chasing each other around in a Scooby Doo-esque chase scene is funny, but that’s not exactly the image I’d want for someone who’s considered one of the best in the world in Kenny Omega. The idea of two separate universes just isn’t appealing to me, so I wish this was more a show of people being their TV characters, but maybe more relaxed. Kenny’s recent obsession with not allowing Cabana on BTE is cartoonish, and hilarious in my opinion, but it’s not the image I’d want the AEW Dynamite audience to see. Being the Elite is something not often mentioned on AEW Dynamite or AEW Dark, so I’m not sure if the matches are meant to do anything other than fill time on BTE?
I’m very curious what Nick proposed that Matt shot down so quickly. Maybe it’s obvious to those who’ve watched The Young Bucks for years and years and I just lack that historical knowledge, but for me it’s a really interesting hook and I can’t wait to see where it goes. Matt may have shot it down, but in the end we all know it’s going to happen so I can’t wait to see what it is.
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