[M-A-G]

Originally Posted by Evil Vito It is night 1 of the AEW's Grand Climax Tournament! Tonight, we will see 5 A Block matches and 5 B Block matches. Fans and competitors alike have been kept in the dark on who is even in this tournament, who is in their block and even who they are facing tonight.

I'm going to assume this will have zero connection to your previous AEW sim in EWR but is going off of real world continuity?

Justin Roberts announces that our opening contest will be from the A Block. One can only wonder what surprises will lie ahead...

Maybe there will be something that causes Justin Roberts to...*ahem*...choke up....

The crowd gasps as, holy shit, MJF is here! We haven't seen him since he famously and publicly demanded to be fired over a month ago! He has evidently returned to win this tournament and possibly give himself even more contract leverage. MJF soaks up the combination of heel heat and adulation for a while before the music of Wheeler Yuta hits. The ROH Pure Champion and popular young member of the Blackpool Combat Club charges out to the ring and we are on! A Block: MJF vs. Wheeler Yuta MJF's return match didn't look like it would go as planned at the start with Yuta catching MJF off guard with some high octane offense, requiring MJF to beg off for a bit. The announcers point out that Yuta was in NJPW's Best of Super Junior tournament earlier in the year, and he's well-prepared for the endurance required to get through a grueling tournament of this style. MJF eventually gets the upper hand, ironically, using some underhanded tactics including busting out the Dynamite Diamond Ring. MJF counters a clothesline from Yuta into the Salt of the Earth armbar and that's all she wrote. Winner: MJF Time: 14:01 Rating: 80% ---

Have to say just by appearance, MJF reminds me of the Miz. His "fire-me-oops-wait-I'm-back" is such a George Costanza move. Is the ROH Pure Title still a thing? I used to follow ROH when we carried the channel but I said goodbye to cable companies a long ass time ago.

We're told we'll be alternating blocks tonight as B Block is next. "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes is out to a big hand, followed by Scorpio Sky. B Block: "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes vs. Scorpio Sky Chances are quite good that the 53-year old Rhodes will be the oldest participant in this tournament, how will his body hold up over 9 block matches? Fortunately for him, Sky's head didn't seem fully in the game here, possibly still dealing with the disappointment of dropping his TNT Title to Wardlow recently. He picks Dustin up for a TKO but Dustin slides out. Scorpio leaps up to try a hurricanrana but is reversed into a powerbomb pin for a flash pin. Winner: Dustin Rhodes Time: 10:36 Rating: 76% ---

Even in video game world, fucking 50+ year old Dustin Runnels still going will always be hilarious.

Dustin celebrates his win. Sky sulks to the back. On the way back, Sky is passed by his Men of the Year teammate Ethan Page, apparently up next for the A Block. He gets a tough draw as "The Murderhawk Monster" Lance Archer charges out next.

Men of the Year and Murderhawk are actually pretty boss names.

B Block: Daniel Garcia vs. Samoa Joe After what fans just saw, I'm not sure how they will hold up for 7 more matches tonight but the show must go on, and these two were a treat to be paired up against one another. Both men are known for their hard strikes and their submission ability, but neither man could make the other tap. Joe had to call in the heavy artillery and put down Garcia with the Muscle Buster. Winner: Samoa Joe Time: 12:14 Rating: 85% ---

The employment situation of Joe confuses me. I could've sworn he was in WWE again a while back.

In a similar site to Sky and Page earlier, Garcia worked his way to the back only to be comforted by the leader of the Jericho Appreciation Society, that's right, Chris Jericho is here and in the A Block! He gets an interesting round 1 matchup against the charismatic Swerve Strickland.

Swerve Strickland? Please tell me he specializes in propane and propane accessories.

B Block: Malakai Black vs. Powerhouse Hobbs A potential clash of styles in this one. Hobbs, as his name would imply, is a powerhouse through and through while Malakai relies on a more vicious kick-based arsenal. This is another match that probably went longer than people expected, with both men throwing everything they have at one another. Hobbs gets Black up for a Powerslam, but Black rolls out. Hobbs turns around directly into a Black Mass kick, and that's that. The leader of the House of Black starts his tournament off with a W. Winner: Malakai Black Time: 19:42 Rating: 83% ---

I've seen that Black guy's name tossed around here and there, more so than some of these other guys. Wasn't he one of the big names that got the axe from NXT a while back?

A Block: Darby Allin vs. Kyle O'Reilly These two kick off their tournament with a rematch, KOR having beaten Darby at Double or Nothing back in May. That was considered to be a pretty good match, this one sadly was not. Actually a fairly one-sided affair, Darby doesn't seem to have learned from their last meeting as KOR had a counter for everything, including countering a top rope splash into a Guillotine Choke. Darby taps and KOR starts off with a relatively easy 2 points. [b]Winner: Kyle O'Reilly Time: 9:47 Rating: 61% ---

I love it when the computer gives zero fucks about the real world and produces results that are like this. I remember simulating an Iron Man Match between Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho and RVD ended up with like 25 decisions in his favor.

We've got ourselves another return as the crowd gets on their feet within 2 notes of Flight of the Valkyries. Blackpool Combat Club's Bryan Danielson is back to kick some fucking heads in! And he's drawn a man synonymous with the latter days of ROH in his first match. B Block: "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson vs. Jay Lethal Lethal attempted to quiet the crowd who were showering Bryan with "YES" chants even though that's not his gimmick anymore. Nothing really could've stopped this momentum though. It was far from the strongest showing for Bryan, who looked like he was shaking off some ring rust. Lethal was able to counter the Running Knee, only to then turn around right into a rollup for a flash pin. Winner: Bryan Danielson Time: 9:53 Rating: 80% ---

I've mentioned that I haven't played a wrestling video game in over 15 years but I do have to ask: did they ever incorporate the "YES!" chants in the WWE 2K games? Or did they go the extra mile in their burial attempts and downplay him there, too?

THE CHAMP IS HERE! Wait, wrong guy. We've got our 3rd and final surprise return of the evening as AEW World Champion CM Punk makes a return to join what is looking like a very crowded B Block. B Block: CM Punk vs. PAC B Block gets even stronger and it's a fitting way to close out the inaugural tournament show, with a Champion vs. Champion match between the World Champion and the All-Atlantic Champion. On paper, this should've been a dream match and truth be told, it was still nothing to sneeze at, but these two guys just didn't seem to gel like expected. Neither guy could successfully connect with a finish, which is always a great way to tease a crowd. But perhaps spending the night watching the B Block action unfold and realizing Malakai Black was possibly PAC's most hated rival, Punk decided to break out a Roundhouse Kick of his own. This put PAC down and, to the surprise of the crowd, was enough to get the win. Winner: CM Punk Time: 11:12 Rating: 77%

LOL, that "THE CHAMP IS HERE" bit made me call back to Punk's feud with Cena a decade ago. I wonder if he'd get in any trouble if he was to wear the Cena shirt with that phrase on TV. Of course, him rocking pro-choice apparel is good enough.

Once again, welcome back to the land of the simming. I've never worked with Fire Pro but whatever works, I suppose. I don't know when I'll get back to my game but I can work on the Slammy Award nominees so that I can be prepared for when they roll around after Survivor Series.