THE HEAT OF SUMMER might be beginning to die down—depending on your location—but the wrestling calendar never truly cools off.
AEW All In is mere days away, as are major shows from AAA, NXT, and the National Wrestling Alliance (to name a few). Whether you’re tuning in to the top international promotions, attending local independent shows, or just reading about it all in the pages of PWI, there’s plenty to get excited about.
In this edition of the PWI Weekly, we’re bringing you thoughts on some things that have gotten us through the dog days of summer.
TRIO OF THE WEEK
Quite frankly, the pairing of Adam Page, Brody King, and Bandido makes so much sense that we can’t believe they haven’t done it sooner. Combining King’s brute force, Bandido’s arial agility, and Page’s Cowboy S…, um, spirit, the trio are a unique force in All Elite Wrestling. So much so that in their first challenge for the AEW Trios title, they struck gold. Lovingly self-referred to as “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” (much to King’s perplexment of who the ugly one is) this trio makes for compelling viewing and for our money, could be champs for quite a while.
ANOTHER TRIO OF THE WEEK …
Don’t think it’s just the boys who are providing some formidable trios lately either. Over in WWE, Fatal Influence has proven to be a real triple threat to the women on Smackdown since debuting a few months ago. Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid won the WWE Women’s tag team championship at SummerSlam, and Jacy Jayne followed it up mere weeks later by bagging the Women’s United States championship. It’s a lot of success in a short span of time. Don’t be surprised if a World title is next on the Influence’s agenda.
SPOTLIGHT ON …
Ryohei Oiwa cemented his status as a major player in New Japan Pro-Wrestling by winning the G1 Climax on August 16. Battling through the gruelling field, the 27-year-old TMDK member capped off a star-making run by defeating Yuya Uemura in the tournament final. The closely fought contest saw Oiwa and Uemura attempt their signature holds—the side headlock and the wristlock, respectively—for much of the duration. It was the kind of old-school wrestling match rarely seen in the modern industry. Naturally, this delighted fans of classic mat wrestling.
In classic TMDK fashion, Oiwa announced that he wouldn’t wait until Wrestle Kingdom for his obligatory shot at the IWGP World title. He will instead challenge for the championship at King of Pro Wrestling on October 12.
MUSINGS, WITH MATT BROCK
When Dory Funk Jr. passed away on August 4, professional wrestling lost a true one-of-a-kind individual.
The cliché holds true: They don’t make ’em like that anymore. And even if they did, wrestling wouldn’t know what to do with ’em.
Back when a wrestler earned a championship through his reliability, work ethic, and talent, rather than the whims of a “creative” team, Funk was everything a company could have asked for. The Amarillo man held the NWA World heavyweight title for the better part of five years. He managed to do so without acrobatics, pyrotechnics, or 20-minute-long television promos.
With plain trunks, plain boots, and a stoic attitude, Funk made people from Texas to Tokyo believe that everything he did was as real as life and death. Maybe that was because Funk himself was as real as they come. While today’s grapplers are trying to perfect their flips, Funk perfected a spinning toe hold that carried him through more than six decades of success. Sometimes it’s the fundamentals, kids.
Outsde of his own in-ring career, Funk trained and mentored scores of wrestlers, including Kurt Angle. Plenty of others he didn’t directly train speak of how valuable his advice was throughout the years. It is perhaps this aspect of Funk’s presence that pro wrestling will miss the most.
As for me, I will miss his soft-spoken reflections, his professionalism, and his gentlemanly nature. And I will lament that we have lost yet another legend. With his passing, wrestling got a little less authentic. Rest easy, champ.
FAREWELL FUNKER
Speaking of Dory Funk Jr., we have to imagine he’d have been thrilled to see Nick Aldis make his long-awaited in-ring appearance at WWE SummerSlam. The former NWA World champions had a special meeting a few years ago during Aldis’ reign with “The Ten Pounds Of Gold”—and we know Funk thought highly of the current Smackdown general manager.
Rest in peace Dory Funk Jr. My first exposure to Funk was during his Florida run in the early 80's...turning David Von Erich into a heel, and mentoring the younger Texan.
The Funk family. Absolute legendary.