Perhaps AEW just really have something with Will Ospreay, but it genuinely feels as though AEW really have something with the Casino Gauntlet gimmick.
The International Champion has won two in two months now and kicked *ss in both, and while this can't just become the next thing the company books too many of, the format and consequences felt exhilarating once again.
Just about everybody that entered got to shine before Ospreay wrapped it up following a breathless exchange with Orange Cassidy, and though there's a bizarre lack of explanation about exactly who gets to work these things and doesn't dating back to Hangman Page randomly wrestling Silas Young in a singles match instead of entering a Dynamite one in 2022, the sheer quality of the contest powers through the plotholes.
Forbidden Door being the winner's destination massively sold the stakes too - the reemergence of Mistico, Hechicero, Lio Rush, Shota Umino and others was a reminder of just how wide the net had been cast for the show at this point.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
