Clearing the Air - Avatar Aang Soars as the Road to All In: London Grows More Turbulent

A wise, tea-loving firebender once said, "It’s time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions: who are you, and what do you want?"

That's exactly what Will Ospreay had to do in the aftermath of Kenny Omega's successful All Elite Wrestling Men's World Championship defense against "The Jet" Kevin Knight at Redemption this past Sunday. As "The Best Bout Machine" stood tall, undoubtedly feeling the effects of a hard-fought first title defense, the Death Riders emerged poised to bend blood on behalf of their recently-initiated brother in arms.

However, much to the chagrin of the leader of the Death Riders - AEW Continental Champion, Jon Moxley - Ospreay had no intention of allowing his sparring partners to maim his All In: London opponent. The winner of the 2026 Men's Owen Hart Cup Tournament made a definitive statement; enough was enough, it was time for a change. He stood over Omega to protect him, prevented Claudio Castagnoli from stomping a steel chair that'd been wrapped around his neck, tore the plastic bag that Mox had equipped him with to reenact their infamous attack on "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson, forearmed him clear out of the ring, and quickly disposed of the rest of the Death Riders.

One could argue that Will not seeing all of this coming made him look like he's not the sharpest hidden blade in the drawer, but at least he figured out who he could trust, right? Well, not exactly. Unfortunately, that lasted about as long as it'll take to fire up a bag of microwave popcorn for when you stream "Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender," because Kenny made a definitive statement of his own when he hit Will with an earthshattering One-Winged Angel that would've made Toph proud.

If you ask me, Ospreay deserved that. Kenny didn't mince words last night on Dynamite when he said, "You weren't one now to talk down to me. You weren't one then. You never will be, Will." The Death Riders had Ospreay feeling himself to the point where he got cocky. When it came to his interactions with Kenny Bi-God Omega, he became a habitual line stepper, and as habitual line steppers do, he got slapped.

You don't have to be Firelord Zuko to know that the bridge between AEW Men's World Champion Kenny Omega and his #1 Contender Will Ospreay has been burned to ash. With just 31 days left until All In: London live from Wembley Stadium, this rivalry has become white hot, and it's safe to assume that these two warriors will go full Avatar state and deliver a match that'll send the sickos to the Spirit World.

The road to the release of "Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender" has arguably been just as tumultuous as Will Ospreay's journey to Wembley, surviving an unfortunate full leak and an early, direct-to-streaming release. Nevertheless, the Gaang's back with some very promising stats. The film is currently sitting at a 90%, Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's reportedly the top-streamed movie in 28 countries since it hit Paramount+ on July 25th. My family and I were fortunate enough to be able to nab tickets for one of the limited theatrical release showings here in NYC, and I'm so glad we did. This is a gorgeously-animated and scored film that you can tell was crafted with a lot of love.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not particularly difficult to please when it comes to movies, but I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. I know that a lot of folks are upset that Dante Basco didn't get the call to reprise his role as Zuko, but I thought all the voice actors - including Steven Yeun - truly did the characters justice. I'd actually completely forgotten that Dave Bautista was in the film, so that was a pleasant recollection as we were watching. His voice fit his character, Tagah, like a glove.

Everything about this movie felt true to the source material, in my opinion. I'm sure folks could present some valid gripes about characters not getting enough lines or certain aspects of the story not being more fleshed out, but I always try to keep in mind that films - especially animated ones - are often at the mercy of their major studios. Many writers have to make difficult sacrifices to get their projects through, and I imagine the teams make the best choices they can under those circumstances.

At the end of the day, I feel like this was a thrilling, joyful, and heartfelt addition to ATLA lore, and I highly recommend streaming it.