The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.

The Post Match Angle will return Oct. 31

WWE stacking the deck, trying to trounce AEW in the ratings as NXT and Dynamite get a rare head-to-head thanks to the MLB playoffs, isn’t about just one night.  

It’s just a small piece of a bigger and rather quiet power flex by WWE. Don’t think it didn’t notice 70,000 people in Wembley Stadium and the pay-per-view buy success AEW had this summer.

Don’t think it was just gonna let Adam Copeland (AKA Edge) jump ship quietly as AEW is now trying to make money and draw ratings off his and Christian Cage’s life and WWE history.

The industry’s king is acting like it’s against its top challenger for talent and wrestling fans’ money. It also just so happens that WWE TV rights are up next year – the biggest revenue generator for wrestling companies.  

Leave Tuesday aside for a second. WWE has begun to have more main roster stars than ever wrestling in NXT. Becky Lynch is NXT women’s champion. Dominik Mysterio is NXT North American champion – meaning Rhea Ripley and The Judgment Day can tag along. Not only has it helped NXT’s own ratings with its TV rights deal up, which is the main reason for all of it, but it comes with an added benefit. 

Loading up NXT makes its Saturday premium live events – in addition to the main roster ones – even more of a must-watch. And, what do they directly go up against? Well, “AEW: Collision,” which no longer carries CM Punk’s star power. WWE’s new SmackDown television deal added four Saturday primetime specials on NBC. Coincidence, I think not. Good business, with an added benefit.

It’s something that could also spill into Collison ticket sales as fans could stay home and watch WWE and NXT instead of spending the additional money for AEW tickets.

Now, the Tuesday Night War.

While you can make the case Tuesday night’s Dynamite card is a better wrestling show, WWE has added so many stars and teases of an all-time great that it’s almost unfathomable NXT would lose in the ratings. And it better not. 

John Cena, Cody Rhodes, Asuka and Paul Heyman were all announced for NXT, with only Asuka actually wrestling. You’d expect Lynch will also show up. WWE even teased the Undertaker appearing with his gong hitting in the advertisement for NXT.

All of this on this particular Tuesday and AEW president Tony Khan’s birthday of all days.

All of AEW’s top stars minus Kenny Omega were announced for the show: Jon Moxley, MJF, Bryan Danielson, Saraya, Chris Jericho and Copeland’s in-ring AEW debut against Luchasaurus. But just how much drawing power does that actually have as we see almost all of them weekly?

Both shows will be commercial-free for the first 30 minutes and AEW added a YouTube pre-show starting at 7:30 p.m. featuring Eddie Kingston vs. Minoru Suzuki as the companies played a game of one-upmanship Monday.

While it’s great for fans Tuesday, WWE winning is pretty meaningless considering what it’s offering and AEW has a solid enough fanbase to thrive for years to come. But Tuesday would be a small win in a larger battle. Also, if it goes the way it’s expected, it’s a reminder to AEW that when we talk about “stars” WWE still has it beat. 

Ironically, the one person who is as big a star as most in WWE, Punk, could be heading back to Vince McMahon’s brand after being fired from AEW with cause. Reports from the Wrestling Observer and Fightful Select said that Punk and WWE have been in talks about a return, maybe as early as Survivor Series in the Chicago area, but with hurdles still to clear.

Signing Punk would give WWE two of AEW’s biggest former stars, along with Cody Rhodes, and a potential future one in Jade Cargill. Don’t think a Warldow, a Powerhouse Hobbs and a Ricky Starks won’t be high on WWE’s list to try to sign when their contracts expire.

Tuesday night will be fun, a light throwback to the WWF-WCW “Monday Night Wars” of the late ’90s, but a bigger war is being waged and WWE may just be getting started.   

Face of Perfection 

It was not so much what was said in Copeland’s and Cage’s segment to end Dynamite, but the facial and body reactions to their words that made it so great. Cage didn’t say a word as Copeland implored him to team up again, but he didn’t need to.

Warning: Graphic language

You saw the range of emotion on his face, from disgusted, to warmth, to compassion, to denial and at least a little – maybe disingenuous – consideration for his best friend’s offer. Then on the hug, his face never broke – for a bit of a dead-fish embrace – but Copeland’s did, expressing the joy of reuniting with his buddy. 

When Cage delivered the cold “Go f–k yourself” line, Copeland’s face flipped with it and his body froze in disbelief for a second. You can almost see Cage’s side of it. He’s the TNT champion on his own, elevating the title and now Copeland wants to waltz in here on his first day and tell him to give that up in a sense and let’s be a team where Copeland has always been the more highly regarded member. “Go f–k yourself.” A masterclass indeed.  

The 10 Count

It was absolutely refreshing to see 17 different women appear on “Monday Night Raw,” including Xia Li’s return to television. We also are finally getting a clear set of challengers for Ripley’s Women’s Heavyweight championship as she faces Shayna Baszler next week and has Nia Jax and Raquel Rodriguez in the mix. Either do an AEW-style tournament to determine who is next or just do a fatal four-way that will put her reign in plenty of jeopardy.

Ricky Starks and Big Bill defeating FTR for the AEW tag team championships was certainly a surprise until the news of Cash Wheeler’s injury came out. The question now is: Will they be transitional champions with the Young Bucks owning a shot at the gold?  

It felt a little bizarre for Trick Williams to finally feel like a star who can stand on his own to having Mysterio and all of The Judgment Day give him the shortest NXT North American championship reign in history in four days. It adds another beat to Williams’ story with Carmelo Hayes and gives him some adversity I guess, but playing championship Hot Potato never feels like a good thing.

“Timeless” Toni Storm is tremendous because of her attention to detail and commitment to the role. The former women’s champion with her mind cracked is handing opponents full scripts for matches, biting Kiera Hogan’s butt during their match and her makeup looks like something Jack Nicholson’s Joker did. AEW needs to give her some live promo time and a proper story so the character can really connect with the audience now.

We have seen plenty of wrestlers stab each other in the back. Impact did it to the next level with Crazzy Steve actually stabbing Digtial Media champion and friend Tommy Dreamer in the back with a fork.

Thought the opening segment of Raw was booked perfectly. Drew McIntyre is walking an intriguing fine line. He is a good guy for wanting to face Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight title at Crown Jewel at 100 percent, but also a bad guy for not helping when Judgment Day attacked the champ, but good and self-serving for stopping Damian Priest’s cash-in.

The NWA launching a new version of the legendary “territory” system starting with Exodus Pro Midwest headed by EC3 feels like a perfect move for the company, if done right, to develop and open up a fresh pipeline of talent.

Athena is having as good a run, both in the ring and with promos, as any woman in the industry right now, while elevating Billie Starks, 18, in the process. If only Khan had a show or shows on primetime on cable to air it on instead of Ring of Honor’s streaming service. 

Kylie Fletcher went out there and had a banger against Bryan Danielson on Collision. The future is so bright for the 24-year-old.

For any of my fellow fans of “Wrestlers” on Netflix, there is a new OVW women’s champion as “Hollyhood” Haley J was beaten thanks to some shenanigans from Tiffany Nieves. Certainly two names to watch.

Social media post of the week

Wrestlers of the Week

Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso, WWE

Rhodes and Uso, certainly an odd-couple pairing, looked natural and in sync during their Undisputed Wwe Tag team championship win over Finn Balor and Damon Priest at Fastlane – even having their own sweet tag-team finisher. The second-generation stars were given the chance to make something special out of the unexpected win. And if their hilarious drunken press conference was any indication, there is plenty of natural chemistry there.

Match to Watch

Cody Rhodes and Jimmy Uso vs. Finn Balor and Damian Priest, Undisputed WWE tag team championships on “Monday Night Raw” (8 p.m. ET, USA)

This is a rematch from Fastlane and should tell us a lot about where these groups are heading going into Survivor Series, as it’s anticipated they will take part in WarGames. Uso and Rhodes seem to be on the same page after beating Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, and JD McDonagh needs to redeem his mistake that cost Balor and Priest the titles. Does this all lead to a very short reign for Uso and Rhodes?

Around the Ring

Becky Lynch’s new memoir, “Becky Lynch: The Man: Not Your Average Average Girl,” is officially available for pre-order.