IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: October 14, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

It’s a big show this week as we have an Anniversary edition. Since it’s Dynamite, that means it’s a packed show with all of the titles being defended in one night. You don’t see that too often around here as AEW has done a good job of making its titles and their defenses feel special. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Tag Team Titles: FTR vs. Best Friends

FTR, with Tully Blanchard, is defending and it’s Harwood working on Taylor’s arm to start. An armdrag into an armbar has Harwood in trouble and it’s off to Trent for some armbarring of his own. The champs take over on Trent in the corner as Tony talks about this show being around since October 2, 199…..and JR is all over him. A shoulder to the ribs puts Trent on the floor, followed by a seated abdominal stretch back inside.

Trent fights up and hits a clothesline but Harwood comes in to break up any tag attempt. A belly to back superplex drops Trent again but he gets his knees up to block a Vader Bomb. The hot tag brings in Chuck to start cleaning house, including a Falcon Arrow for two on Harwood. Back in and Tully sweeps the leg on a suplex attempt for two as the old trick doesn’t work this time. The champs are sent into each other and Chuck sunset flips Wilder for two more.

The Soul Food/half and half combination gets two and Trent’s running knee is good for another near fall. A pop up powerbomb plants Trent for the same and the champs are getting frustrated. Trent goes up but gets crotched on top, setting up another belly to back superplex but Trent spins around onto him for two more. A tornado DDT plants Wheeler but Harwood is right back up with a regular DDT.

The Mind Breaker is broken up and Strong Zero connects with Wheeler having to make the save. Wheeler gets knocked over the barricade and Trent follows, only to get sent into Kip Sabian’s arcade cabinet. Sabian sends Penelope Ford to the back for some reason and FTR brings the mostly out of it Trent back to the ring. Chuck breaks up the Good Night Express but the ref gets bumped and it’s a belt shot to finish Chuck at 16:31.

Rating: B. You know, when you drop the Big Hug and don’t have the Best Friends doing their weird gimmick of being nine year olds, they can have a good match. I didn’t need the arcade deal but at least it gives the Best Friends a bit more of an out. FTR continues to be able to do a lot of good things in the ring and can make anyone look good, so this worked as well as it could.

Post match the Best Friends hug but here are Miro and Sabian to jump both of them, setting up their next feud.

Miro/Kip Sabian vs. Lee Johnson/Sean Maluta

We’re joined during the middle of Miro’s entrances and the squashing is on in a hurry as Sabian is mourning his arcade cabinet. Johnson gets knocked off the apron and then sent into the barricade. Back in and Sabian hits the top rope splash to crush Maluta and Miro grabs Game Over for the tap at 1:53. Total squash, as Miro’s debut should have been in the first place.

Post match Sabian yells about how the Best Friends destroyed his most prized possession. Miro: “GAME OVER.”

We cut to the back where Lance Archer is destroying Jon Moxley.

We get the brackets for the #1 contenders tournament:

Penta El Cero M

Rey Fenix

Kenny Omega

Joey Janela

Colt Cabana

Hangman Page

Wardlow

Jungle Boy

It starts next week with the finals at Full Gear.

Here are Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Wardlow for an announcement. MJF talks about how he has accomplished more in a year than these people have in their entire lives. He not only got on top but is staying on top. Tonight he has an announcement, so can Chris Jericho please come out here to hear it in person. Instead he gets the full Inner Circle and after the Judas chorus is gone, we’re ready to move on. MJF isn’t happy that Sammy isn’t wearing his Inner Circle jacket so Jericho insists that he put it on. The jacket is way too big but MJF insists that it’s a perfect fit.

Speaking of fit, MJF praises Jericho’s abs and luscious hair, even asking to touch it. Jericho lets him but then tells MJF to cut the sh**. MJF claims that he is getting better ratings than Jericho, so he is the RATINGS RULER. The two of them have been on fire since AEW began and MJF suggests Jericho watches Animal Planet. Jericho: “I…..hate…..Animal Planet!” MJF: “Oddly specific.”

Anyway the point is when you’re watching Animal Planet, you never see two piranhas eating each other because they’re both predators. MJF and Jericho need to adapt to continue chasing their prey. After swallowing his pride about asking for a job and losing his smile, MJF says he might kind of sort of maybe plausibly perhaps join the Inner Circle. Santana says there is no maybe, because they don’t want MJF in the Inner Circle.

Jericho says hold on, but suggests that he and MJF meet one on one….for a steak dinner next week. MJF: “You want to eat steak?” Jericho: “I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life.” MJF: “YOU WANT TO EAT STEAK??? YOU WANT TO EAT STEAK??? YOU’RE ON!” Jericho: “I’ll see you at the restaurant, MAX.” This was a funny exchange and I want to see next week.

Earlier today, Tony Schiavone and Britt Baker were at the spa, where Britt was having something done to her face but still managed to have Reba come in with the chart of rules. She thinks you should be the baddest b**** on the block….and then realizes Schiavone is missing his clothes on the table next to him (under a sheet that is). Tony winds up getting a chest wax before Baker yells at him for not being around after the Young Bucks attacked him. Tony: “I got kicked in the face!” Baker: “I got kicked in the nose!” Baker is in action next week.

TNT Title: Orange Cassidy vs. Cody

Cody, with Brandi and Arn Anderson, is defending and is back to the blond hair. So much for the better look. Cassidy ducks a clothesline to start and then puts his hands in his pockets rather than going with a test of strength. A shove knocks the sunglasses off so Cassidy kicks them to the floor and it’s the first lockup of Cassidy’s AEW career. Cassidy takes him into the corner for a gentle shove before Cody waistlocks him to the mat. The hands into the pockets let Cassidy out and he nips up.

Cody takes him down again and we take a break. Back with Cassidy flipping out of an armbar and doing the weak leg kicks. Cassidy gets knocked down but comes back with the effort based offense to knock Cody outside. Cody is nearly knocked into the Dark Order but John Silver gets caught with the belt, earning a mass ejection. Cassidy gets the title but hands it to Anderson and throws Cody back inside. Cody rolls through a high crossbody but the Cross Rhodes is countered into a rollup for two.

The suplex is countered into a Stundog Millionaire, only to have Cody pop back up with the Cody Cutter. Cassidy strikes away at the chest but gets his knee kicked out to put both of them down. Cassidy’s leg is wrapped around the post and Arn is not pleased. The Disaster Kick calms Arn down a bit but only gets two. A kneeling half crab goes on but Cody lets go in a hurry. Cody runs him over with a clothesline and stops for some pushups before loading up what looked to be a Pedigree.

Cassidy falls down to escape so Cody puts him on top for the reverse superplex and another near fall. The knee got banged up again on the landing so Cody goes to wrap it around the post again, only to get pulled into the post. The top rope DDT gives Cassidy two and a nasty looking Michinoku Driver gets the same. Cody is right back with a shot to the knee into the Figure Four.

Cassidy rolls over to the ropes for the break and it’s the Beach Break onto the apron to knock both guys down to the floor. The knee is banged up again so Cassidy takes his time getting back in for the cover. With a minute left, the Orange Punch is countered into Cross Rhodes but Cassidy reverses into the tornado DDT. The Beach Break gets two more so Cassidy grabs the Mousetrap for two as time expires at 20:00.

Rating: B-. This got better at the end but it wasn’t the most dramatic match until the ending. I like Cassidy being more serious in bigger matches and he is getting better with the major performances. I’m assuming this sets up a rematch at Full Gear, with Darby Allin, already announced as getting a pay per view title shot at the show, which should be good. This worked out well enough, though it was kind of a long wait to get to the hot finish.

Post match Cody looks relieved.

Jon Moxley jumps Lance Archer in the back.

Matt Hardy is here with his wife and children to announce that he is medically cleared. A video pops up on screen to show a bunch of photos of Matt’s career, which are lit on fire. It’s Sammy Guevara, who was the one who attacked Hardy a few weeks back because he wants to end Hardy’s career. Hardy says he knows what his first order of business is now.

The tag division is on the stage and we are going to draw four names out of a tumbler to determine the participants in a #1 contenders match next week. The four teams are Private Party, John Silver/Alex Reynolds, Butcher and Blade and the Young Bucks (with Tony being disgusted). The Bucks come in and start superkicking people before clearing out the tumbler. House is cleaned and the Bucks stare it down with Private Party. That means stereo superkicks to drop Private Party so the Bucks can stare down FTR.

Women’s Title: Big Swole vs. Hikaru Shida

Shida is defending and grabs a headlock to start but gets reversed into a standing chinlock. That’s reversed into a cradle for two on Swole and they knock each other down a few times in a row. Shida heads to the floor and this a running knee to the face, only to get knocked into the barricade as we take a break.

Back with Swole not being able to hit a sunset bomb but she can hit a springboard cutter to the ramp. Another cutter gets two back inside but Dirty Dancing is blocked. Shida knees her down again and hits the Falcon Arrow for two. Dirty Dancing connects but Shida grabs the rope for the break. Shida knees her in the head again, setting up the running knee for the pin at 8:53.

Rating: C-. This took some time to get going and it never hit that next level. Shida uses those running knees quite a bit and they can get a little repetitive in a hurry. Then there’s Swole, who isn’t exactly the most polished out there. She has come a pretty long way in the last few months, but she needs a good bit more work.

Here’s what’s coming next week, plus in two weeks: Cassidy vs. Cody for the TNT Title again.

Video on Scorpio Sky vs. Shawn Spears.

AEW World Title: Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer

Moxley is defending, Eddie Kingston is on commentary with the Lucha Bros, and it’s No DQ. The Paradigm Shift gives Moxley two at the bell so he tries it again, only to get driven out to the floor. They brawl around ringside with Archer getting the better of things as Kingston promises a classic when Fenix faces Penta in the tournament. Archer sends him outside again for the Cannonball from the apron and we take a break. Back with Archer not being able to hit a chokeslam from the apron through some tables at ringside.

Another chokeslam is broken up so Moxley loses a forearm off instead. Moxley gets in a running shot for the knockdown though and it’s time to throw in a bunch of chairs. A hard chair shot drops Archer again but he slips out of a Death Valley Driver through some chairs. Archer chokeslams him through the chairs for two but Moxley pulls him down into a heel hook. The rope means nothing so Archer pulls himself to the floor for the escape.

Archer grabs a trashcan to block a dive but Moxley is back with a low blow on the apron. The Paradigm Shift from the apron through the tables leaves them both laying. Back in and the Paradigm Shift gives Moxley two more and we hit the Bulldog Choke. That’s broken up so Moxley rolls him up for two, only to get DDTed for two. The Black Out connects but Moxley reverses the cover into a crucifix to retain at 12:35.

Rating: B-. It was a good brawl but I can’t really bring myself to get excited about another Moxley fight. This is what he does these days and it is what he has done for months now. How many times can you get fired up about the same formula of the same match over and over again? Kingston vs. Moxley II sounds great, but Moxley is really starting to wear thin on me.

Post match the beatdown is on but Kingston sends in the Lucha Bros with chairs for the save. Fenix hits him in the back with a chair to little effect so Jake Roberts tells Archer to get out of here. Moxley pulls himself up as Kingston talks about their history together. Kingston says Moxley has carried the company for most of a year and wants the fans to cheer for him. The group hand raise sets up the spinning backfist into the rear naked choke to lay Moxley out. Kingston holds up the title and calls it beautiful while shouting that he’s going to finish Moxley to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. The wrestling was mostly good (women’s match aside) and the show as a whole was rather good. That being said, for a show built around the anniversary, there wasn’t a ton about the history of the promotion. That’s one way to go, though it wasn’t quite the blow away show they seemed to be building towards. Still though, Dynamite has been at worst the second best wrestling show of the week for its first year (and often the best period) and that’s pretty impressive given its rather limited history. Good show this week, though I was hoping for a bit stronger outing all around.

Results

FTR b. Best Friends – Belt shot to Chuck’s head

Miro/Kip Sabian b. Lee Johnson/Sean Maluta – Game Over to Maluta

Orange Cassidy vs. Cody went to a time limit draw

Hikaru Shida b. Big Swole – Running knee

Jon Moxley b. Lance Archer – Crucifix

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: Highspots

Lucha Aboveground
Date: May 5, 2019
Location: Hebron Hall, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Colt Cabana, Marty DeRosa

This is one of the shows I picked up in the big Highspots sale earlier this year and this time around it’s a video download, meaning I have even less to go on. We’re looking at $5 Wrestling this time around and I’m not exactly thinking this is going to be the most serious stuff in the world. Let’s get to it.

As usual, this isn’t a promotion I know anything about so I’m sorry in advance if I miss any plot points (if there are any).

Colt and Marty speak some Spanish to open the show with Colt not being pleased with the quality of his seven grade Spanish class education. We get a preview of the show, with various wrestlers being named with El in front of their names. Even the referee will be under a mask!

They are even going to have a five (or six) way match with the loser getting unmasked. Colt: “And more money for losing his mask.” Colt has also been giving Rush commentary lessons in exchange for teaching him Spanish. The two of them bicker a bit about throwing it to an interview and no, they don’t think that will be edited out. This isn’t going to be the most serious thing in the world is it?

Interviewer Jake Manning is with Mr. Thunderbolt, who has been having a social media feud with Jeff Hart that only Manning knew about. Thunderbolt talks about how there was a guy who thought he was too good for $5 Wrestling a few years ago, so he can come see Thunderbolt today. Then he speaks some Spanish and Manning says the guy who runs Lucha Underground is ticked. As for Hart, who says he is from Canada, Thunderbolt has a George South shirt, which is pink and black. That’s as close as Hart is ever going to get to being Canadian.

Apparently Hart has said he b**** slapped a woman, and since Thunderbolt (a man) is Ladies Champion, that isn’t cool. Then Hart kept running his mouth and Thunderbolt knows that he is a crack mouth (Jake: “And a meth mouth.”). This is wrestling, and Hart needs to either get ready to get hurt or get out of the business. Last time Hart challenged Jake Manning so tonight, Thunderbolt will fight for him.

Manning interviews Jeff Hart, who threatens to break Manning’s hand. Hart won’t look at the camera and calls Thunderbolt a b****, just like every American woman. See, Thunderbolt can’t understand English and Hart will destroy the storm. He can beat up a tornado and he’ll do it again. Manning mentions Matt Hardy’s old “I can slam a tornado” theme so Hart threatens to slap him again.

Hart is a legend and wants to face the Great Muta and Abdullah the Butcher. Manning looks astounded as Hart threatens to stab Abdullah in the fork (yes in the fork). Hart: “Iron Sheik, go f*** your mother!” Manning, seemingly trying not to burst out laughing: “Anything else you have to say?” Hart: “Jake Manning, go f*** yourself.” You can hear the production team laughing out loud as Hart walks off. Hart had an accent and seemed to have some kind of a speech issue and the interview kind of implied he had some mental trouble as well, so this was more than a little awkward at times. Funny, but awkward.

Mr. Thunderbolt vs. Jeff Hart

Colt and Marty are on commentary and we can see them watching from behind ala Mystery Science Theater 3000. We even have a masked lucha referee. Thunderbolt jumps him before the bell to start fast and Thunderbolt, who looks to be near middle age, hiptosses him down a few times and hits a delayed slam. Back up and Hart bails to the floor, leaving Thunderbolt to drop to the mat with no one there to jump over him. Hart stalls on the floor and yells at a woman dubbed Local Babe.

Back in and the headlock doesn’t last long for Thunderbolt so he runs him over with a should. We get some miscommunication so Thunderbolt grabs a headlock (Colt: “Just grab a head kid!”) to take him over. That’s reversed into a headscissors as commentary mocks Hart’s lack of mobility. Thunderbolt manages to handstand his way to freedom and grabs a headlock. That stays on for a good bit as Thunderbolt talks to Hart a bit. Some bad choking goes on and it’s time to discuss what kind of drink Hart would prefer.

A distracted referee doesn’t see Hart get in a low blow so Thunderbolt rolls to the floor for a breather. Hart’s running leg nudge hits Thunderbolt and the referee trips as he follows them out. That’s about as par for the course as you could get around here and I’m glad to see it. Back in and Hart kicks away (Marty: “Eat your heart out Miz.”) but Thunderbolt starts firing up.

A clothesline connects and they’re both down again. Back up and a running….uh….well contact of some kind takes Hart down for two. Commentary can’t believe that a kid is yawning again in the front row but get distracted by Hart trying a Stunner but Thunderbolt falls backwards. Somehow that’s enough for Hart to get the pin at 9:44.

Rating: D+. Oh I was right about what I was getting myself into here and I’m cool with that. You had two rather overweight guys doing their thing out there (whatever that thing is supposed to be) and while it wasn’t exactly a masterpiece (or even anything resembling good), that was kind of the point and it worked well enough.

The crowd is uh, not quite impressed. Cabana: “MUY BIEN!”

Raider Rock (who looked to be about 52 years old and has a growth on his face) is ready to defend the honor of his student, Psycho, against King Jeremy Snaker. Psycho was injured in a car wreck and Rock has a bad elbow. Last night, Raider cheated to beat him (Manning: “Nobody saw that but it happened!”) but he’s ready to dominate, terminate and exterminate. Manning calls him out for saying his catchphrase really fast and explains how important a catchphrase is. Rock tries it again and gets it a little better this time.

Jeremy Snaker, with his valet Avril, talks about beating up Rock yesterday (with Manning again saying that no one saw that) and won’t answer questions about Avril being an old flame. Manning has been watching the Dark Side of the Ring on Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth so he tells Avril to stay away from Lex Luger. Snaker hopes Rock can keep up and no he didn’t visit Psycho in the hospital. Avril says Rock and Psycho got what they deserved.

So if you’re not getting this, the idea is that these people either aren’t wrestlers or actors. It’s being presented like they were brought in off the street but have characters and history, which does kind of fit into the overall theme. It’s taking a lot to get used to, but Manning is making it work by playing it mostly straight. Or as straight as you can be in a situation like this.

UCWF Title: Jeremy Snaker vs. Raider Rock

Rock is challenging and has a bad arm but demands that it’s title vs. career. Snaker takes him into the corner to start and kicks away as commentary tries to recap the story again. As commentary makes fun of Snaker for being dressed like Diesel, Snaker hits a piledriver and grabs an armbar. Snaker goes after the leg to change things up, with commentary not getting the logic. Rock takes him down before they awkwardly collide in the corner.

Snaker awkwardly kicks and chops in the corner before completely whiffing on a running enziguri, sending commentary into hysterics. Another missed superkick sends Rock into the corner anyway and a spear gets two. A very sloppy Pedigree (Colt: “That’s a Pedi-disagree.”) gets no count as Rock pops up (work with me here) and dropkicks the knee. Rock grabs a half crab and pulls back on the chin for the tap and the title at 4:33.

Rating: C. This was entertaining in a completely horrible way and that’s what they were shooting for. I’d be curious to know where they find these guys but that makes it all the more mysterious….I think. The Pedi-Disagree line was great and got an actual chuckle, which you don’t get very often out of a show like this. Keeping it short was important too, but it’s not like the wrestling is important in the slightest around here.

Post match Rock says he’s getting rid of his demon (?) side, meaning no more face paint.

Manning is with Wrestle Ranger (a guy in a cheap looking White Power Ranger costume, but today he’s LUCHA LIBRE Ranger. They aren’t sure about the copyright issues but they’ll roll with it anyway. Tonight, Ranger is in a five (or possibly six) way match where the loser must unmask.

It’s ok though, because he’s used to working with five other people and he’s usually the best of them all. Manning: “I should have watched more show I must not speak of.” After hoping that Zordon is the right reference (Manning: “It’s either him or Gandalf.”), Manning asks Ranger about his chances, with Ranger crediting his special coin. That sends us into references of Super Mario, Transformers and Voltron.

One Horned Liger is back in $5 Wrestling and he’s glad that he was asked to return. He even has all new gear, even though he has been unmasked before. Manning takes the blame for this, saying he had been drinking a lot that night. Liger: “If it happens, it happens.”

El Moono Dos vs. El Quako vs. Miguel Leavy vs. One Horned Liger vs. Wrestle Ranger

Everyone is in a mask and I think this is one fall to a finish. The masses go after the huge Quako until Moono spinebusters Ranger. Liger gives Moono a Codebreaker (for a face first fall) into a Cannonball in the corner for two and it’s ranger chopping Moono out to the floor. Quako comes in for a double chokeslam but falls down himself, allowing Leavy to hit a basement dropkick.

Miguel hits a Samoan driver for two on Ranger and it’s Quako hitting running splashes in the corner. The big splash crushes everyone as Quako’s shorts have mostly fallen down. Ranger and Liger clear the ring until Liger dives onto a bunch of people at once. Ranger slips on a springboard before diving onto even more, leaving Liger to hit a Swanton for the pin on Leavy at 5:16.

Rating: D. This was the first match on the show that was neither good nor funny, which brought it way down. For the first time it felt like they were trying too hard for the gag and even the shorter length didn’t help things. The botch felt right at home, but there was too much going on here to make it work.

Post match Leavy is unmasked as….Mike Leavy. This is treated as a big surprise.

Leavy says he is here because he is in demand and his manager insists no one can handle the Strong Arm. Maybe he can start losing to bigger and bigger names! Jake Manning things he could be the Jim Duggan of the promotion. Mike: “I hope to win. Realistically I might not.”

Little Donnie is ready to challenge Big Donnie and Porkchop Cash Jr., but he doesn’t have a partner. He isn’t picky though. The Burke County Boys (Big Donnie and Porkchop) come in to say they’ll give Little Donnie another beating. Little Donnie says he’s gotten beaten up a few times before, sending Manning into a rather nice speech about how he wishes he could be Little Donnie’s partner but he has to work the camera. And now we’re done because the knots on Little Donnie’s head are making Manning uncomfortable.

Terry Houston vs. Black Angel

Houston jumps him from behind as commentary laughs about their attires. Some shots to the face have Angel in trouble so Houston very slowly walks around. A slam gives Houston two and it’s time to choke a bit. Angel slowly fights up and hammers away so Houston hits a headbutt. This goes as poorly as you would imagine and it’s Angel getting in a swinging neckbreaker for the pin at 4:01.

Rating: D. Yeah the charm is wearing off fast with this show and that’s not going to make the last two matches much easier to watch. This was the battle of the big men and thank goodness it was short. Even with the four minute run time, there was a lot of stalling, making me long for the days of the Colossal Jostle.

Now it’s Dynamite, a bald guy who seems more interested in dancing with the fans than making a save. He walks around the ring, (accidentally knocking over a young girl in the process), poses and dances some more….and then leaves, all while Little Donnie has been taking a horrible beating (as in the beating itself was done horribly). Hold on though as the music starts again and this time Dynamite comes out in his wrestling gear for the actual save. Dynamite clears the ring and we’re making this a tag match.

Burke County Boys vs. Dynamite/Little Donnie

For some reason, Little Donnie tarts despite barely being able to stand. The huge Big Donnie splashes him in the corner and Cash comes in for two off a suplex. Little Donnie fights up for a chop off (Commentary: “BIG CHOP! PORK CHOP!”) and it’s back to Big Donnie to keep him in trouble in the corner. A big splash to the back set up a rather large Rings of Saturn before Cash is back in for some fish hooking.

Little Donnie fights up with a snapmare and cranks on both arms, because he’s not that bright you see. Big Donnie comes back in for a jumping kick to the chest (rather generously called a dropkick) and we hit the chinlock. Little Donnie finally gets up, hits Big Donnie once, and walks over for the tag to Dynamite.

House is cleaned as a manager we saw earlier in the night comes out to check on the fan Dynamite ran over earlier. Big Donnie hits a splash for two on Dynamite (Marty: “What did Dynamite do to that man???”) but pops back up with a cutter for his own two on Cash. Dynamite and Big Donnie fight to the floor with Dynamite chasing the Boys off with a chair but it’s a double countout at 7:29.

Rating: D+. This actually had a story to it but the joke of them being so inept at what they’re doing wore a little thin. Having an actual story, at least one which seemed to have some legs to it, is a nice change of pace though and we haven’t seen that throughout the show so far. Bad match, but it was nice to see a different presentation.

$5 Wrestling Champion Freight Train, sounding like a bit of a country hick, says he’s ready for Deon Johnson tonight. Deon isn’t going to take him off the tracks and Train isn’t letting Johnson get away with what he has been saying. He also isn’t saying Johnson’s tag partner’s name because he isn’t on the show. Train even calls out Johnson’s sister (Deonna) to come to the ring and take a Train Wreck of her own. She can go “crying like a woman” when she sees her brother getting beaten up by the Freight Train.

Yes he has a big gut because of all the beer and fried chicken but he’s been exercising because he doesn’t back down from no man. Train has a smooth belly and knows how to cut promos real good (his words) and he’s tall like Shaquille O’Neal. It’s Choo Choo time and he’s going to do some Shaq Fu tonight. Train: “I used to play the Shaq Fu game.”

He talks about playing it on Super Nintendo AND Sega Genesis before throwing a few kicks of his own. Train apologizes for sweating like a preacher while cutting his promo, because it’s hot in here and he’s sweating while cutting a promo. He promises to “smack the Hershey chocolate” off of Deon Johnson three different times and yes it’s Choo Choo time.

That was one of the most fascinating promos I’ve ever seen and it was actually in a good way. It started off sounding like it was going to be stupid and stereotypical, but Train was so incredibly bad and just kept going that it went back around and became funny. He repeated things multiple times, had some of the longest run on sentences I’ve ever heard and rambled beyond belief, all of which combined to make the whole thing incredible. It went on for the better part of five minutes and I wound up wanting to hear more. Well done, albeit by being so bad.

$5 Wrestling Title: Freight Train vs. Deon Johnson

Johnson is challenging and has strawberry themed gear. They talk trash to start, with the much bigger Train shoving him down. More staring ensues and Deon powers him into the corner, only to get bopped (not so much punched) n the head for a trip to the floor. Back in and the trash talk continues until Deon fails at a slam attempt. Train slams him down with ease and it’s time to stall some more.

Back in and Johnson unloads in the corner, only to get knocked down with a single shot. A low blow finally slows Train down and Johnson kicks away at his knee. Johnson’s manager (billed as Ric Flair’s nephew) chokes Train in the corner, meaning that Train can do more of his form of selling, which is him making various wincing faces while standing still in the corner. Train knocks him down again and we hit the chinlock, which doesn’t touch the chin and doesn’t seem to have much locking included.

That’s good for two arm drops before Johnson fights up and actually knocks Train down. Johnson drops an elbow for two and we hit a facelock, again minus the lock. For a bonus, Johnson rubs his gum over Train’s head and then takes out his teeth to put them in Train’s eye. Hold on though as Johnson gets in a shouting match with Dynamite in the front row. Train hits a running splash in the corner and CHOO CHOO sets up a running forearm (which looked like it was out of a wrestling scene in a sitcom) to retain the title at 9:22.

Rating: C-. Much like Train’s promo, this is firmly in the “so bad it’s funny” category, which works out well for the entire show. Train is one of the more interesting people to watch on the whole show, even though he might be the worst performer around. He’s literally just a big guy who jogs people over and that’s all he needs to be. It’s terrible, but it’s a funny kind of terrible and that’s ok.

Post match Train’s manager and Dynamite come in to celebrate.

Commentary talks about how Dynamite, who was retired, is creeping back in and seems ready to steal the show again. They recap the event and no one is happy with Jeff Hart being back. Cabana talks about how we need a fake Jake Roberts and a fake Diamond Dallas Page. If you’ve never wrestled before, come on down and we’ll put you on the roster! Commentary signs off, but not before mocking fans who have downloaded or torrented the show. Cabana: “It’s five dollars!” More quick jokes about how awesome this show is wrap us up.

Probably the most important thing though is this show lasts an hour and a half. They don’t overstay their welcome, which means the world on a comedy show. It isn’t quality and it isn’t something I want to watch regularly, but for the price (and I got it on sale) and some of Marty and Colt’s jokes, watching a random show from these guys is not the worst idea.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: October 7, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

It’s time for a big special show here as we’re looking at Thirty Years of Chris Jericho. There are a lot of wrestlers who can manage to be in the business for thirty years but it takes someone special to be involved at this high of a level for this long. Jericho has made it work though and he has more than earned this kind of a night. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a bunch of the roster paying tribute to Jericho. As it turns out, all of their favorite Jericho moments have come during his time in AEW.

Taz and Ricky Starks are joining commentary for a FIVE person booth. Please don’t let this be a show long thing.

Here’s what’s coming on the show.

FTW Title: Will Hobbs vs. Brian Cage

Cage is defending. They shoulder it out to start until Hobbs blasts him with a dropkick. Hobbs hammers away in the corner but gets dropped hard onto the top turnbuckle. A clothesline cuts Hobbs off again and the standing moonsault gives Cage two. We hit the chinlock for a bit until Hobbs suplexes his way to freedom. Some clotheslines into a jumping shoulder have Cage in trouble and a powerslam gets two.

A Sky High is good for the same but cage is back with a pumphandle flipped over into a faceplant. They fight over a standing switch until Hobbs no sells a German suplex. Cage does the same and it’s a double clothesline to put them both down. The Last Will And Testament gives Hobbs two more so he goes up top to miss a frog splash. The Drill Claw gives Cage the pin at 9:08.

Rating: C+. They had a good but somewhat slow power match here and that’s a good thing. What might not be the best thing is having Hobbs lose clean so soon into his push. I don’t think it means he’s already done in this spot, but having Starks interfere or something might have helped protect Hobbs a bit. It was far from a burial or even a shovel to the head, but I wouldn’t have had it be a clean loss.

Post match Ricky Starks gets in the ring for the beatdown but Taz calls him off. Taz gives Hobbs the option of joining Team Taz or getting beaten down. Hobbs doesn’t give an answer though as Darby Allin comes out for the save. Taz swears vengeance.

Slash congratulates Jericho on thirty years in wrestling.

Dennis Miller congratulates Jericho.

Hiroshi Tanahashi congratulates Jericho.

Ted Irvine congratulates Jericho. I’d hope he does.

Bully Ray congratulates Jericho.

Lance Archer talks about his Texas Death Match with Jon Moxley in New Japan. He has grown a lot since then and now it’s time to give Moxley a beating. Moxley has never faced anyone like him and Archer wants the title.

Tag Team Titles: Hybrid 2 vs. FTR

FTR, with Tully Blanchard, is defending as the Young Bucks watch from the back. Angelico kicks Harwood around to start and sends him outside in a hurry. The champs think about leaving but here’s Jack Evans to dive onto all three of them, only to hurt his knee in the process. That’s fine with Harwood, who takes Evans back to the floor and drops the bad leg onto the barricade.

Back from a break with Harwood staying on Evans’ knee until a sunset flip gets him out of trouble. Evans kicks him down though and the hot tag brings in Angelico to clean house. Wheeler gets knocked down for a leg crank but the rope is grabbed in a hurry. Evans tags himself back in and kicks Wheeler in the face. A top rope double stomp/belly to back suplex gets two on Wheeler and an assisted 450 is good for the same.

FTR is back in with a dragon suplex into the jackknife cover for two on Evans but Angelico saves him on the top. Evans tries a top rope flip but completely misses, save for maybe his boot hitting Harwood in the face. Angelico dives onto Wheeler, who Gory Bombs him onto the apron. Back in and Evans’ flipping backslide gets two on Harwood, who is right back with a tiger driver for two of his own. That’s enough kicking out so it’s the PowerPlex to plant Evans for the pin at 13:38.

Rating: C+. Another good match here as Evans, despite being a natural heel, sold very well here and made me think that they might do a surprise title change here. I haven’t been the biggest Hybrid 2 fan for most of their run but they toned down some of the ridiculous flipping here and had a much better match than you would have bet on. Nice little surprise here, mainly thanks to the leg stuff from Evans.

In the back, the Bucks think FTR is good but superkick the cameraman instead. That should be about a $10,000 fine but Matt doesn’t have his wallet.

Back in the arena, we see a picture of FTR as hot dogs, because they’re weenies you see. Cue the Best Friends and YES INDEED THERE IS AN FTR HOT DOG SHIRT. The Best Friends say FTR is a pair of weenies, but the Best Friends are #1 contenders. The title match is next week so the fight is on, with the Best Friends holding up the Tag Team Titles.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman talks about Chris Jericho praising him after Double Or Nothing. Jericho told him to pick little things up from people he admired. MJF poked him in the chest and Jericho seemed to approve. Jericho is an inspiration and MJF may congratulate him in person.

Shaquille O’Neal congratulates Jericho.

Gene Simmons congratulates Jericho.

Don Callis congratulates Jericho.

Lars Ulrich congratulates Jericho.

Diamond Dallas Page congratulates Jericho.

We recap Brodie Lee vs. Cody for the TNT Title. Lee squashed him to win the title in short order and now Cody is back for the title and revenge. Arn Anderson talks about how this is going to be more physical and all the more difficult, which makes him nervous.

TNT Title: Brodie Lee vs. Cody

Lee is defending in a Dog Collar match and the Dark Order, Brandi Rhodes and Arn Anderson are all here. We get the Big Match Intros and Greg Valentine of all people is actually here, looking like he has aged about two weeks since 1983. An early Dark Order distraction lets Brodie hit a big boot but Cody is right back with the drop down uppercut. The springboard is broken up though and Cody is pulled down hard to the mat.

Silver sits in a chair on the floor but Cody gets in a shot to take him down in a bit of a quick lesson. Back in and a DDT gives Lee…no cover but here’s Anna Jay to help Silver up. The two of them head to the back as Cody is busted open. That means it’s time for some chain shots to keep Cody down but he’s back with a low blow chain shot. A Russian legsweep with the chain takes Lee down again and they head outside.

Cody gets pulled down by the chain and Lee loads up a table at ringside. Some chairs are thrown inside as well but Cody pulls him off the apron and into a cutter in a smart move. They’re both down and we take a break. Back with Lee busted open after having been packaged piledriven through the ringside table and having to crawl around on the mat. Cody hammers away and hits the release gordbuster, followed by the choking in the corner.

Lee gets in some choking of his own though and there’s the swinging Boss Man Slam for two. A chained fist to the head has Cody busted open even worse and Lee throws a char at Anderson’s head (and it got pretty close). Arn gets inside but has to give Alex Reynolds a spinebuster. Lee decks Arn but it’s Cody back up with some chain shots in the corner. Cody chokes with the chain and smiles a lot as Lee looks mostly done.

There’s the moonsault press for two but Lee hits a superkick into a powerbomb onto the chain for two of his own. They go outside again with Lee crashing head first into the post. Brodie is fine enough to superplex him back inside but the discus lariat is countered into Dustin Rhodes’ Final Cut. Cody wraps the chain around Lee’s face and elbows away at the face, setting up Cross Rhodes for the pin and the title at 20:25.

Rating: B+. They were going for brutality here and that’s what they accomplished, so well done on that front. Both guys bleeding made it feel more important and violent, though the dog collar stipulation is a little strange. Cody losing the title for the sake of going off to make his show and then coming back doesn’t exactly make Lee feel like the most important guy, but at least he got one big win. Really good fight here too, and I’m actually surprised Cody won.

Post match Cody gives a rather fired up promo about how he isn’t changing anything because he changed his hair. Some people have wanted him to take another path and now he wants to defend the title next week at the Anniversary Show. He needs an opponent, so here’s Orange Cassidy for an exchange of thumbs up.

Announced for the #1 contenders tournament: Wardlow, Colt Cabana, Hangman Page.

Kenny Omega is excited for the tournament because he wins tournaments around the world. Don’t be surprised if he wins the tournament and then wins the title. He’ll face any man or cowboy to become the champion he was destined to become.

Big Swole vs. Serena Deeb

Swole goes for the leg to start but Deeb flips out and Swole needs to think about things. Some shots to the back slow Deeb down a bit but she’s right back with a hard right hand to the face. Deeb wrenches Swole’s leg around the middle rope and we take a break. Back with Swole’s knee still in trouble but a collision puts both of them down. Swole scores with a headbutt for two so she goes to the ropes, only to get pulled into a Backstabber to give Deeb two. Deeb’s arm trap piledriver is countered and Swole hits a superkick into Dirty Dancing for the pin at 8:33.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t all that great as Swole continues to not be the strongest in-ring performer. She has the charisma to balance it out though and that helps a lot, though I really can’t imagine her as one of the big challengers for the title. Hopefully Deeb gets a little bit better chance than this as she barely did anything here.

Jon Moxley isn’t going to be celebrating next week because it’s another monster waiting for him. Someone is going to have his number and maybe it’s going to be Lance Archer next week. They met in Tokyo and, with the flip of a coin, Moxley says it could go either way next week. Moxley is leaving it all in the ring but as Lance says, everybody dies.

Lance Storm congratulates Jericho.

Kevin Smith congratulates Jericho.

Eli Roth congratulates Jericho.

Gabriel Iglesias, with Chavo Guerrero on Zoom, congratulates Jericho.

Steel Panther congratulates Jericho.

Ultimate congratulates Jericho.

Paul Stanley congratulates Jericho.

Chris Jericho/Jake Hager vs. Chaos Project

Serpentico and Jericho start things off with Jericho knocking him into the corner in a hurry. It’s off to Luther for a clothesline and the stomping is on in a hurry. Serpentico adds a slingshot double stomp as we take a break. Back with Jericho hammering Serpentico down in the corner but getting caught with a DDT. Everything breaks down and Luther backdrops Serpentico onto the pile on the floor, followed by a big flip dive from the top.

Back in and Luther drops a top rope knee for two on Jericho, followed by a top rope knee to drive Jericho face first into the mat. The Judas Effect misses though and it’s the spinebuster/top rope Meteora for two more. Luther uses a Serpentico distraction to bring Floyd the bat to hit Jericho in the ribs. A running boot to the….I guess chest/stomach area gets two, which is enough to draw Sammy Guevara up to the apron. The distraction lets Sammy hit the Judas Effect for the pin on Luther at 9:05.

Rating: C-. This was a disguised version of Jericho vs. Luther as I don’t think Hager was ever tagged in, at least not during the part outside of the commercial. To be fair though, this was in no way shape or form supposed to be anything more than Jericho getting to face an old friend in a big match and that’s fine for this situation. The match wasn’t good and Luther looked old, but it’s a special occasion and that’s ok.

Post match Jericho grabs a mic and thanks the fans….but here’s MJF to cut him off. MJF says cut his music because he respects Jericho. He wants to be part of le celebration with Le Champion and he has a present for Jericho. MJF has Wardlow bring out….Clownico Le Clown, who has a present for Jericho. Before Jericho opens it, MJF promises a major announcement next week and he wants Jericho there for it.

As for the present, it’s a framed photo of MJF….which he breaks over the clown’s head. Jericho hits the Clown with a perfect Judas Effect and tells MJF that he hates clowns. MJF should never interrupt him again….and then they both laugh because everything is cool. The villains come out to celebrate with Jericho and we roll credits, with everything being credited to Jericho.

Overall Rating: A-. This was a heck of a show with the TNT Title match looking great and the Jericho stuff being very entertaining in a way that feels like Jericho had a lot to do with it. I had a good time with this show throughout and it was one of the better shows I can remember them doing. Next week is the bigger one though, and now we get to find out how well things are going to go when the lights are on a little bit brighter. For now though, we had a heck of a night and it’s a great show.

Results

Brian Cage b. Will Hobbs – Drill Claw

FTR b. Hybrid 2 – PowerPlex to Evans

Cody b. Brodie Lee – Cross Rhodes

Big Swole b. Serena Deeb – Dirty Dancing

Chris Jericho/Jake Hager b. Chaos Project – Judas Effect to Luther

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: September 30, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Taz

Things were shaken up in a pretty big way last week so things should be back to normal this time around. The roster had to deal with a Coronavirus outbreak last time around but all roads are leading towards the anniversary show in two weeks anyway. That includes World Champion Jon Moxley defending against Lance Archer and the champ is in action tonight. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Darby Allin vs. Ricky Starks

The long awaited showdown. Before his entrance, we get the latest Allin stunt video. Allin pulls him into a choke to start and they’re quickly on the apron, with Starks being suplexed down and out to the floor. There’s a dive to the floor but here’s Brian Cage to offer a distraction. Will Hobbs comes out to break it up and fight Cage to the back so Starks gets in a shot to the back to take over.

Starks pounds him down and even hits a reverse curb stomp for two. The Roshambo is countered into a Code Red for two and they’re both down again. They slap it out with Allin getting the better of things, sending Taz into hysterics. The flipping Stunner connects but Starks spears him out of the air for two more. Starks takes it up top and tries a super Roshambo but Allin knocks him off the top. The Coffin Drop gives Allin the pin at 9:53.

Rating: C+. These two have been built up for a showdown for a few weeks now and what we finally got was mostly worth the wait. They are both stars in the making and it’s great to see the two of them out there doing their thing. It was also nice to have a definitive winner, and hopefully that doesn’t lead straight into a rematch for no reason other than they need to have a rematch.

Here’s what’s coming for the rest of the show.

Here’s Cody for his first (wrestling) comments since losing to Brodie Lee. Cody talks about his trainer, Al Snow, saying you’ll always wrestle hurt but you should never wrestle injured. All these years later, Cody would offer this retort: what if the injury went beyond your body and was inside your soul? Cody talks about the tradition of shaking hands in the back (at least pre-pandemic) because the wrestlers need each other. The marquee has two names on it: you vs. someone else.

Now imagine if you lose your title and then you get that 323 phone call from Hollywood. Then he found himself sitting on the set of a show near Rosario Dawson and Snoop Dogg but he’s the guy who got beat in three minutes. Cody is back now but while he was gone he has heard people talking about being the future or the ace. He would love to say that he has the honor of being the ace, but that can only be the people who are holding the singles titles around here: Hikaru Shida, Jon Moxley or the man carrying the ace belt himself, Brodie Lee.

As for the dog collar match against Lee, the answer….is no, and Cody walks away. Actually hang on as he comes back to say that means NO regrets because he’s in for the dog collar match for the TNT Title next week. Cue the Dark Order for the brawl but a bunch of wrestlers come out to break it up. Brandi hits a dive onto the Dark Order because Brandi is a star and you will accept it. Anna Jay comes out to brawl with her and Nyla Rose jumps the barricade to stomp KiLynn King. Lee breaks through security and comes after Cody again to little avail. They’re finally broken up for good.

FTR and Tully Blanchard don’t think much of the Best Friends wanting a title shot but SCU is a different story. As for the Young Bucks, why should they get a title shot when they keep losing their big matches? Is it because Dave Meltzer loves them? Cue Matt Jackson to superkick Tony Schiavone and leave when FTR asks why they didn’t kick them.

SCU is ready to win the Tag Team Titles back. Shawn Spears comes in to sarcastically wish Scorpio Sky good luck, because they’re still trying with Spears for reasons I don’t want to try and fathom.

Tag Team Titles: SCU vs. FTR

FTR, with Tully Blanchard, is defending and SCU has Christopher Daniels in their corner. Hangman Page is on commentary for a bonus. Sky dropkicks Harwood for an early two but gets taken into the champs’ corner. That goes nowhere as Sky escapes and it’s a headlock takeover to put Wheeler down for a change. Back up and they trade leapfrogs until Wheeler throws himself down and blames Daniels.

That’s worthy of an ejection and FTR is knocked outside as JR talks about Schiavone being superkicked not being “part of the show.” FTR takes Sky down on the floor and we take a break. Back with Sky hitting a Russian legsweep and bringing Kazarian in to clean house. Kazarian cradles Harwood and suplexes Wheeler for two at the same time, followed by a fisherman’s suplex for two on Wheeler alone. Harwood takes Kazarian down but an elbow to the face allows the tag back to Sky.

Everything breaks down and a high crossbody/sunset flip gets a double near fall on the champs. Stereo slingshot cutters get the same but SCU collides, allowing Wheeler to dragon suplex Kazarian for two. Kazarian gets crotched on top but the powerbomb/top rope clothesline is powerslammed out of the air for a rather near fall. Sky grabs some quick rollups for two each on Wheeler, even with Tully grabbing Wheeler’s hand to try and block one. Sky tries a suplex but Tully sweeps the leg and holds it down so Wheeler can get the pin at 15:44.

Rating: B. They surprised me by not going to the time limit here and it makes FTR look like a bigger deal by beating former champs rather than having to settle for a draw. FTR feels like a dominant team and that’s a great thing to have around. SCU is very valuable as well as they can take a loss like this and not really blink an eye. Good match too, but were you expecting something else with these teams?

Excalibur announces a #1 contenders tournament with the finals at Full Gear. We know three of the eight participants so far: Jungle Boy, Rey Fenix and Kenny Omega, with the final announcement making Page rather emotional.

Isaiah Kassidy vs. Chris Jericho

Matt Hardy, Marq Quen and the rest of the Inner Circle is here too. Jericho gets in Kassidy’s face to start and Kassidy looks a little shaken. That’s playing possum though as Kassidy takes him down and hammers away but Jericho comes right back with shots of his own. They head outside with Jericho being sent over the barricade, where Luther punches Jericho back and clotheslines him back to ringside.

Kassidy hits the big dive and a Swanton gets two back inside. Jericho gets in another good shot though and we take a break. Back with Jericho’s running bulldog being countered into a crotching in the corner. Kassidy hits a springboard flipping Stunner for a near fall and a springboard non-flipping Stunner gets two more. The Lionsault misses so Kassidy hits his own Codebreaker for another two. Jericho has finally had enough of this and hits the Judas Effect for the pin at 11:03.

Rating: C. Jericho continues to try and get people over, which only works so well when he keeps doing it over and over. It was far from a bad match, though I’m not exactly interested in seeing the Inner Circle vs. the Chaos Project (Luther and Serpentico, because they needed a team name too). The match was fine with Kassidy doing his high flying but not being good enough, but it wasn’t exactly a thrilling setup to get here.

Post match the Inner Circle jumps Quen, along with getting in a brawl with Luther and Serpentico.

Kip Sabian and Miro discuss the bachelor party, which needs to be epic. Miro makes phone calls while Sabian throws axes. Now it’s off to an arcade where they play Pac-Man…with Billy Mitchell, a famous video gamer. He has an idea if Miro is interested.

The Best Friends and Orange Cassidy are asked about what happened to them last week but FTR comes in to say the three of them are comedic backyard wrestlers. They can get in the van, half milk and cookies and be midcard relief. Top guys out. Cassidy grabs a mic and calls them weenies. I’m sure there will be a shirt by Friday.

10 vs. Orange Cassidy

A good chunk of the Dark Order is here, along with the Best Friends. 10 takes Cassidy’s sunglasses and gives them to Silver, who dances in celebration….I think. Cassidy gets caught in a swinging Downward Spiral for one, followed by a delayed vertical suplex for two. Back up and Cassidy grabs a rollup for his own two, only to walk into a spinebuster.

10 kicks him out to the floor, where Dark Order mocks the Big Hug. The distraction lets Cassidy hit a dive off the top to take the team out, only to have his high crossbody pulled out of the air. Cassidy hits a tornado DDT and the Orange Punch is good for….well not even enough to put 10 down. The Beach Break ends 10 at 3:30.

Rating: C-. Not much in the way of a match but Cassidy getting a win after last week’s loss was a good idea. This was more of the serious version of Cassidy, which often helps a good bit. The goofy shtick is going to get old in a hurry if he does it all the time, so going with something else from time to time is a good idea. It wasn’t a great match or anything, but it went as it should have.

MJF and Wardlow come in to see the Inner Circle, complete with customized jackets for the team. Well not for Sammy Guevara actually, as there is nothing left in the box. MJF says this wasn’t on purpose but Sammy and Jericho (using the same words back to back) want to know why MJF is here. Jericho thanks him for the jackets but wants to know what MJF wants.

MJF says he asked Jericho a long time ago if he wanted MJF on the team. This turns into a “do you want me in/do you want in” argument until Hager and Wardlow get into a staredown. Jericho says they appreciate the jackets, which were a very MJF move. MJF says it’s a very Jericho move to notice. He and Wardlow leave in peace, prompting Sammy to dub MJF a loser. Jericho says maybe not as this is starting to get interesting.

Britt Baker vs. Red Velvet

Baker takes her down into a rollup to start as Taz brags about the dental plan that Team Taz has. It’s off to a hammerlock on the mat with Baker driving a forearm into the side of the head. Velvet is back up with a leg lariat and a Rey Mysterio sitout bulldog gets two. Baker is right back with a hammerlock lariat and there’s a kick into the ropes. Another into the bottom rope has Velvet in even more trouble but she gets in a rollup. The superkick sets up a fisherman’s neckbreaker to give Baker…the chance to trash talk instead of cover. A Stomp is enough to finish Velvet at 4:39.

Rating: C-. They kept this short as Baker was in her first real match in about four months. Velvet is someone who has been around for a good while on Dark and has gotten to showcase herself multiple times. The match wasn’t anything great but all that mattered was getting Baker back out there and showcasing some more. Well done on that count, which is what mattered.

Post match Baker puts on the Lockjaw for a bonus.

Here’s what’s coming next week.

Eddie Kingston is in the ring with the Lucha Bros and referee Bryce Remsburg. Eddie talks about getting choked out last week but he never tapped or said he gave up. So why did Remsburg call the match like that? Remsburg says Eddie was unresponsive last week. They’ve known each other for years and last week they were in their professional lives so Remsburg did his job. The beatdown is teased but here’s Jon Moxley to break it up. Eddie says cut the music and here’s the Butcher from behind Moxley to start their match.

AEW World Title: Jon Moxley vs. The Butcher

Moxley is defending and chops out of the corner to start. A running knee misses though and Butcher counters a chop into a slam to take over. Butcher runs him over with a clothesline and we take a break. Back with Butcher working on the leg but Moxley pulls him into a cross armbreaker. Butcher reverses that into a half crab to stay on the leg but lets it go to hit a running powerslam.

The half crab goes on again, followed by a failed attempt at a Brock Lock. They head outside with Moxley avoiding a charge to send Butcher into the barricade. Eddie and the Bros try to fire Butcher up again and it’s time to head back inside for the slugout. Butcher hits a crossbody and a Rock Bottom for two, followed by a big leg for the same.

For some reason Butcher goes up but gets caught by Moxley, who brings him back down into a superplex. Butcher is right back with another leglock but Moxley gets away again. This time it’s a jumping piledriver for one on Butcher, who is able to block another superplex attempt. A middle rope crossbody gets two on Moxley but he pops back up with the Paradigm Shift into the bulldog choke to retain at 14:34.

Rating: C+. This got some time and they worked a classic formula, but Butcher might not be the kind of guy you want working a nearly fifteen minute main event singles match. He’s a good brawler and worked well enough here, but it felt like he was trying to figure out what to do next at times. Moxley knows how to work this style rather well though and they wound up being pretty good.

Moxley and Kingston stare each other down to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Another show that might not have been great but it was certainly good enough to do its job. They didn’t focus as much on the anniversary show this week, but given Archer’s status that is pretty excusable. What we got was good enough, as usual, as AEW continues to not really have bad shows. I can certainly live with a company whose low end is one of the better shows of the week and that’s what this show usually is.

Results

Darby Allin b. Ricky Starks – Coffin Drop

FTR b. SCU – Wheeler reversed a suplex from Sky

Chris Jericho b. Isaiah Kassidy – Judas Effect

Orange Cassidy b. 10 – Beach Breaker

Britt Baker b. Red Velvet – Fisherman’s neckbreaker

Jon Moxley b. Butcher – Bulldog choke

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: September 23, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

It’s the third AEW show in just over twenty four hours and they are 2/2 so far. I’m not sure what that is going to mean for tonight though, as Lance Archer has tested positive for the Coronavirus. Therefore the six man tag is out and Jon Moxley will be defending the World Title against Eddie Kingston instead. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

In Memory of Road Warrior Animal.

Opening sequence.

Kip Sabian/Miro vs. Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss

Sabian introduces Miro as the most handsome man and The Best Man in wrestling. We get an inset promo from Janela, who says Sabian marrying Ford is a bad, bad mistake. They’re not here to talk about real life or video games though because he and Sonny are on the express to victory. Sabian takes Sonny down by the arm to start but some armdrags have Sabian down as well.

The handspring slap connects in the corner and it’s off to Janela to start in on the arm. They take turns working on said arm until Sonny’s standing moonsault gets two. Miro comes in for a save which doesn’t work but he kicks Sonny anyway. The tag brings in Miro for the first time and he slams Joey with a spinning release Rock Bottom. There’s a release gutwrench suplex and it’s already back to Sabian for a kick to the chest.

Sonny gets over for the tag off to Janela but Miro comes in as well. Miro gets low bridged to the floor and comes up limping, allowing Janela to get in a kick from the apron. He’s fine enough to send Janela over the barricade and Miro tries to throw Sabian at him, only to have Sabian knocked out of the air.

Sonny adds a dropkick to take Miro down again and it’s Janela’s superkick for two on Sabian back inside. Miro comes back in to kick Janela in the head (which the camera barely catches) but Sonny blocks a springboard from Sabian. Sonny fights back but gets launched into Sabian’s Codebreaker for two with Janela making the save. The jumping superkick drops Sonny and the camel clutch (now named Game Over because they are running with this Twitch deal) finishes at 9:36.

Rating: C-. This….did not work. It was sloppy, it didn’t showcase Miro until the end (if he was actually hurt then fair enough) and it felt more like a way to make Janela and Kiss look good than establishing Miro. It could have been a lot worse, but this should have been Miro slaughtering someone, not Kiss and Janela showing they can hang with a monster.

Post match Eddie Kingston comes out to say if you haven’t been checking social media today, he’s getting a World Title shot tonight because he was never eliminated from the battle royal. He and Moxley were cut from the same cloth but then Moxley sold his soul to the land of sports entertainers. Before their match, he wants to look into the eyes of the entertainer so get out here Mox. Cue Moxley to get in Kingston’s face but referees break it up in a hurry.

Evil Uno vs. Hangman Page

Kenny Omega is on commentary again. Apparently Omega/Page were offered a tag match against the Dark Order but turned it down. Page, who is apparently sticking with the long pants, is backed into the corner for an early clean break before Uno shoulders him down. Page nips back up and kicks Uno in the chest to set up the big smile. The bridging pumphandle suplex gets two on Uno and a springboard clothesline knocks him off the apron.

Page hits a slingshot dive to take Uno down again and we take a break. Back with the rest of the Dark Order coming down to glare at Page but the team leaves before doing anything. Page drops Uno onto the apron but misses a top rope clothesline. There’s the fall away slam though and Page hits a running shooting star press for two. Uno gets up for a Swanton and a near fall but Page is back with a clothesline. The running shooting star press hits knees but Page shrugs it off and hits the Buckshot Lariat for the pin at 10:19.

Rating: C. Uno has indeed gotten better and even if that isn’t the most difficult improvement to make, it is an improvement and he deserves some credit. This wasn’t terrible by any means and while the ending wasn’t quite surprising, it’s good to see Page getting some more wins.

Earlier today, Tony Schiavone interviewed Matt Jackson, who says the Young Bucks have been acting a little weird as of late. It’s true that they shouldn’t have attacked that announcer or what’s his face the referee. The Bucks have lost a lot over the last few weeks though and some of their relationships have fallen apart.

They will do better though and Tony says FTR is the source of a lot of these problems but Matt wants to move on to the next fight. He asks if Tony has his phone….and smashes it against the wall. Matt whips out some money and throws it at Tony before walking back into the locker room. Tony: “Put this in their book. New chapter maybe.”

TNT Title: Brodie Lee vs. Orange Cassidy

Lee is defending and the Dark Order is at ringside. John Silver beats up Cassidy’s jacket and shirt on the floor, much to his own lack of a response. Anna Jay gets up on the apron for a distraction so Cassidy gives her his sunglasses, which Lee takes away. Cassidy starts with the slow kicks and gets a big boot for his efforts. A dropkick puts Lee on the floor though and Cassidy loads up a dive…which the rest of the Order catches.

Lee dives onto everyone and Cassidy is in trouble early. The referee gets distracted and the Order hammers away, setting up Lee’s slingshot hilo for two. Cassidy counters the swinging DDT into a swinging Boss Man Slam for two more. Back from a break with Lee hitting another suplex but getting sent outside. Cassidy hits the suicide elbow and then does it again.

The rest of the Order tries to interfere but accidentally takes each other out, leaving Cassidy to hit a top rope DDT. Some running penalty kicks have Lee annoyed so Cassidy hits the swinging DDT. The Air Raid Crash gets two on Lee in a pretty warm near fall. Silver gets inside but gets Orange Punched, allowing Lee to hit the powerbomb into the discus lariat to retain at 11:32.

Rating: C+. It was a little better than I was expecting and that’s always a nice thing to say. Cassidy getting in some offense is a good thing as it would have been a lot to have Cassidy win the feud with Jericho and then lose to Lee in a squash. It was an entertaining enough match though and that’s as good as you can ask for with Cassidy.

Post match Cody is back, now with dark hair and in dark gear, to unload on the Order. The Cody Cutter drops 5 and Cody wraps the leg around the post while throwing in an evil smile. The Figure Four makes it even worse as Cody is looking more intense than ever.

Post break Lee grabs the mic and screams about Cody being gone for five weeks while he has been here doing the work. What kind of a man lets others do his work for him or have his wife sent out thirst trap photos while calling him daddy? Lee grabs a dog collar from John Silver and says he’s going to wrap it around Cody’s awful tattoo (ha) and end him for good. Cody has a week to decide. Lee was really intense here and it worked.

Here are Matt Hardy and Private Party, with Matt saying the cheers just made his birthday. Matt talks about being attacked last week, which has him wondering who wanted to do it. Earlier that day, he talked to Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Brodie Lee, and of course he has issues with the Inner Circle. All he knows is that someone was wearing a face covering and someone hit him in the knee with something really hard.

Then Chris Jericho and Jake Hager were right there, with Jericho holding a bat. That makes Jericho the prime suspect and then they used the same bat to beat Private Party. After the match, Jericho tries to injure Isaiah Kassidy, because the more things change, the more they stay the same (which Matt gets out after three tries).

Cue Jericho, with bat, and the Inner Circle to interrupt, complete with a lot of pyro. Jericho denies attacking Matt last week because he would do it to his face. Matt is ready to fight right now even though he isn’t cleared. Marq Quen says he’s cleared to fight but Kassidy takes the mic and says he’s got this. Quen issues the challenge to Jericho for next week, promising to make him his Le Champion b****. Jericho doesn’t look impressed.

Here are FTR and Tully Blanchard in the ring for a chat. Tully talks about how great it is to have some fans here in attendance and he has some new ideas. Usually a World Title match has a one hour time limit but they have something in mind. From now on, title defenses on television are going to have twenty minute time limits so the fans can get a little brush with greatness. The champs get to pick the opponents too, so next week it’s FTR vs. SCU. If SCU can’t win in twenty minutes, FTR gets credit for the win.

They’ll need some new challengers after SCU though, but last week Best Friends were in a glorified backyard match…so here are the Best Friends to interrupt. Trent says last week was a war so let’s do this twenty minute challenge right now. A referee comes down and we’re ready to go but Dax says not so fast because the Best Friends need to become #1 contenders first. Chuck calls them a couple of “weenies” and we get the Big Hug.

Hikaru Shida/Thunder Rosa vs. Diamante/Ivelisse

It’s a big brawl to start with everyone fighting on the floor. Shida and Rosa hit stereo kicks to Diamante’s head and there’s a slam to put her down back inside. Shida suplexes Rosa onto Diamante for two and a running backsplash gets the same. Ivelisse comes in to hit Rosa in the throat and a quick powerbomb gets two. We take a break and come back with Shida getting two on Diamante.

Ivelisse gets the tag and starts to clean house, including a Downward Spiral and a Stunner. Rosa knees Shida by mistake and Ivelisse adds a kick to the head for two. An assisted Sliced Bread gets the same on Shida with Rosa making the save. Rosa and Ivelisse fight to the floor but Rosa comes back in to break up a Code Red. A Death Valley Driver hits Diamante and Shida’s Falcon Arrow gets two on Diamante. Shida hits the running knee to finish Diamante at 6:14.

Rating: C+. It was more of a brawl than a match and you could all but guarantee that the singles champions weren’t losing here. I like the feud between the two of them and you can probably pencil them in for another champion vs. champion match down the line. Some of the near falls were good here and I liked what we got for the most part.

Chris Jericho agrees to face Kassidy next week and dubs himself the Million Viewer Man. The only shots Kassidy is getting next week are from his right and left hands but here is MJF to interrupt. MJF doesn’t like Jericho being disrespected, which Jericho appreciates. Jericho calls him the uncrowned World Champion and MJF imitates Jericho in a funny bit.

They like each other, but they both ask why they called each other a loser. MJF talks about seeing it all over social media but Jericho says he saw it on Dynamite (nice save). MJF was calling his limo driver a loser and Jericho was calling Schiavone a loser so they agree they’re both all right. MJF and Jericho at the same time: “Thanks Dasha.”

Here’s what’s coming next week.

On October 7, Chris Jericho is celebrating thirty years in wrestling.

AEW World Title: Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston

Kingston is challenging. They go to the mat to start with Moxley grabbing a quickly broken headscissors. The exchange of strikes ensues until Kingston takes him down with a clothesline. They head outside with Moxley being thrown over the announcers’ table and we take a break. Back with Kingston cranking on a chinlock before chopping Moxley down hard.

Moxley manages a quick piledriver for two with Kingston using the ropes to escape. Kingston is back with a powerbomb out of the corner for the same but misses the spinning backfist. They slowly slug it out again until Kingston suplexes him down twice for two. Kingston chops away in the corner but Moxley slaps him away. The spinning backfist is blocked again and Moxley slaps on a bulldog choke to retain at 10:53.

Rating: B-. Again this was much more like a fight than a match and that’s what it should have been. Kingston and Moxley are both brawlers at heart so it makes sense to have them do this instead of wrestle a technical masterpiece. It was a thrown together match and considering how little time they had to set it up, this worked out perfectly well.

Post match the Lucha Bros run in for the beatdown but Will Hobbs runs in for the save. A double superkick takes Hobbs down but here’s Darby Allin for…well not much of a save really as Ricky Starks jumps him from behind. The big beatdown is on, including Starks getting in a shot to Allin with the skateboard.

Overall Rating: B-. All in all, a completely fine show but it wasn’t quite as good as some of the stuff they have done in the past. What we got was good though and it was by no means a bad show. The problem is last night’s bonus Dynamite had a show stealer and this just had mostly pretty good stuff. I liked what we got though and they have some bigger stuff coming up in the next few weeks. Completely watchable show, but down a step from recent weeks.

Results

Miro/Kip Sabian b. Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss – Game Over to Kiss

Hangman Page b. Evil Uno – Buckshot Lariat

Brodie Lee b. Orange Cassidy – Discus lariat

Hikaru Shida/Thunder Rosa b. Diamante/Ivelisse – Running knee to Rosa

Jon Moxley b. Eddie Kingston – Bulldog choke

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Late Night Dynamite
Date: September 23, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Chris Jericho, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Jim Ross

It’s a special edition of Dynamite for those who need a bridge to the next one. Dark was on…well officially yesterday as this is airing after the NBA Playoffs and Inside The NBA, meaning it is going to be starting at about 12:40AM. I’m not sure why we need three AEW shows in less than a day and a half but maybe they can surprise me. Let’s get to it.

Chris Jericho joins commentary.

Ben Carter vs. Scorpio Sky

Carter is a British wrestler who has been rather impressive on Dark. They take each other down to start until Sky is ready for an armdrag attempt. That’s fine with Carter, who hits the second attempt to give us a standoff. Another armdrag into an armbar has Sky in trouble for a bit before Sky fights up to run the ropes. A dropkick puts Sky down on the floor and he has no idea what to do with Carter here (those looks are doing more for Carter than almost anything else he can do).

Back in and Sky catches him with an elbow to the face into a dropkick and there’s a Russian legsweep. Sky hits a backbreaker into an abdominal stretch as the logical offense continues (Chris Jericho: “Homage to Tony Garea there!” Schiavone: “Wow….Tony Garea.”). Carter flips out and chops away in the corner (he might not want to do that again) but gets knocked down as we take a break.

Back with Carter fighting out of a camel clutch but getting knocked down for two more. Carter is back up and hits an AJ Styles moonsault into the reverse DDT, though he switches his into an Eye of the Hurricane for two instead. A running shooting star press gives Carter two more but he misses the moonsault to the floor. Sky kicks him in the face and rams Carter face first into the apron.

Carter shrugs that off and hits a running flip dive to the floor. Back in and Carter hits a frog splash for a very near fall. Sky grabs a neckbreaker but Carter is back with some forearms to the head. A spinning kick to the back connects but Sky is right back with a fisherman’s buster for a very near fall. Carter kicks him in the face and grabs a rollup for two more but misses some kicks to the face. Sky hits a running double stomp to the back and Carter looks mostly done on the mat. A big boot drops Carter again and the TKO finally gives Sky the pin at 15:32.

Rating: B+. Yeah that was outstanding and I don’t know what else you can say about something like this. Carter looked like a young star here and Sky gave him an outstanding rub here with Carter being presented as a major threat. His offense looked good and I could go for a lot more of him in the future. How did NXT UK not pick this guy up?

Video on the six man tag between Will Hobbs/Jon Moxley/probably Darby Allin vs. Team Taz/Lance Archer.

Anna Jay vs. Brandi Rhodes

They slug it out to start and Brandi hits an early spear to send Anna to the apron. Something close to a DDT onto the apron plants Anna again and Brandi whips her hard into the corner. Anna is right back with a sleeper but Brandi reverses into a victory roll for two. Brandi hits some atrocious right hands but gets sent into the corner for some rakes to the back.

A snap suplex drops Brandi again and it’s time for the boot choke in the corner. There’s a running seated Blockbuster for two on Brandi and we hit the seated crossface chickenwing. Brandi fights up again and hits a clothesline into a Sling Blade but here’s the Dark Order. Evil Uno doesn’t let Stu Grayson interfere so there is a very delayed two off a Shot Of Brandi (bicycle kick) which….I think grazed Anna’s arm. The Queenslayer knocks Brandi out at 6:03.

Rating: C-. They started very hot here but then it turned into a regular match and it didn’t work all that well as a result. Brandi botches a lot (that kick was horrible and the right hands were almost as bad) and Anna is far from someone who can do anything great in the ring yet. This wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but dang there were some very bad parts.

Scorpio Sky wants the TNT Title but here’s Matt Sydal to praise him as well. Sydal was happy with his debut in the Casino Battle Royal and Sky wants to see him do it again. Maybe they’ll even go out for drinks after the show. Sydal seems interested.

Video on Brodie Lee and his path of destruction. He gets to defend against Orange Cassidy, who receives quite a bit of praise.

Matt Sydal vs. Shawn Spears

Tully Blanchard is here with Spears, who drives Sydal into the corner to start. Spears grabs a headlock into a wristlock, which is escaped with a little spin in a hurry. Sydal headlocks takeovers him over, which seems to confuse Jericho. They head to the apron with Spears getting dropped back first but being fine enough to hit a baseball slide. Back in and Sydal hits a spinwheel kick and we hit an arm crank on the mat. We take a break and come back with Sydal hitting a standing corkscrew moonsault for two.

Spears grabs a Sky High for two more and a brainbuster onto the knee connects, sending Jericho over the edge when Excalibur uses the Japanese name. Sydal blocks the C4 and goes up top (where he wipes the sweat off in a nice nod to All Out) for a top rope Meteora and another near fall. Spears goes outside and has a seat in a chair so Sydal can hit a running charge to knock him out. Tully uses the distraction to load up Spears’ glove. Back in and the C4 is countered so Spears uses the loaded glove to knock Sydal silly. Now the C4 finishes Sydal at 13:42.

Rating: B-. I’m not surprised that they had a good match, but asking me to get interested in a Shawn Spears match that started at 1:23am is not going to be the easiest sell in the world. They did surprise me with the result though, as Spears does not seem like the kind of guy who was going to pin Sydal in Sydal’s first singles match. Well done with the twist ending, though Spears is still far from thrilling.

Post match Spears goes after Sydal again but Scorpio Sky makes the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Ok they actually got me here as I was expecting an absolutely nothing show and got two good to VERY good matches, plus Brandi vs. Anna thrown in the middle. The obvious problem here is obvious though: aside from the most hardcore of hardcore fans, who in the world stayed up to watch this? It was a very good show (one of AEW’s best in a while actually), but it’s kind of hard to have that much interest or enthusiasm when it starts so late and comes on after another hour and thirty five minute Dark with several hours in between. Check out Carter vs. Sky though as they tore the house down.

Results

Scorpio Sky b. Ben Carter – TKO

Anna Jay b. Brandi Rhodes – Queenslayer

Shawn Spears b. Matt Sydal – C4

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: September 16, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

We are still dealing with the fallout from All Out and things are looking up for AEW. Last week’s show was the first time in the better part of a year that they got back to one million viewers, which is a heck of an accomplishment. Now the trick is to do it again and hopefully they can pull it off for a second time. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

The Jurassic Express is here for the opening match against FTR. Hang on though as the Young Bucks come out to superkick the referee. The Bucks walk to the back and throw a stack of money at Tony Khan (I’d assume paying the fine from last week) before walking in front of FTR, who seem…I guess indifferent? I know it’s an upgrade for the Bucks to be heels, but dang they are the least intimidating looking heels that I’ve seen in years.

Tag Team Titles: Jurassic Express vs. FTR

FTR, with Tully Blanchard is defending. Dax Harwood takes Jungle Boy into the corner to start and it’s quickly off to Cash Wheeler for more of the same. It’s already back to Harwood who gets dropkicked down, with Wheeler receiving one of his own. Luchasaurus comes in and gets taken into the corner for the double teaming but some clotheslines get him out of trouble.

Harwood goes up but dives into a powerslam and it’s back to Boy. This doesn’t go well again as Boy is sent into the corner but comes back out with a double hurricanrana to send the champs outside. Back in and Wheeler hits Rick Steiner’s backdrop/powerslam for two and it’s time for an old school surfboard. The abdominal stretch stays on Boy’s ribs and Harwood comes back in for a gordbuster. Boy finally gets in a clothesline and drops Harwood, allowing the hot tag off to Luchasaurus. A double clothesline takes FTR down and it’s a chokeslam for two.

Some kicks to the head connect for two on Wheeler but he’s back up with another powerslam attempt. That’s countered into a small package for two and a crucifix gets the same on Harwood. Boy’s high crossbody connects but Wheeler rolls through for two more, even with a handful of trunks. Everything breaks down and Boy rolls Harwood up for two more. Luchasaurus is sent over the barricade and Boy dives onto Wheeler. Boy tries a sunset flip but Harwood sits down on it and Wheeler grabs his hand for the pin at 12:24.

Rating: B. Those were some hot near falls and I was thinking they were going to have the upset a few times. I can go for these old school stuff from FTR and it makes for such a contrast compared to so much else you see in the division. Jurassic Express is a lot better when they let Jungle Boy do all of the work and they seem to have understood that we don’t need to stop the matches for the Marko Stunt Show. You can do that every now and then but it was every single match for awhile there.

Matt Hardy has been attacked with Private Party not being sure what happened. They were planning for the match against Jake Hager and Chris Jericho tonight and then he was laid out. Cue Jericho and Hager to wonder how bad it is, with Jericho thinking they may need to amputate.

Frankie Kazarian vs. Hangman Page

Kenny Omega is on commentary, because talking is such a strong point for him. Page, who is no longer in a tag team, drives him into the corner to start and we get a clean break. Kazarian grabs a front facelock for two and drop toeholds him into a cravate. Back up and some shoulders go to Page, followed by a big slam. Some chops have Kazarian in trouble in the corner and Page clotheslines him off the apron. There’s the slingshot dive to the floor and we take a break.

Back with a double knockdown but Page is up with a fall away slam to put both guys down again. Page nips up and hits a running shooting star press for two. Another springboard clothesline misses though and Kazarian hits a slingshot DDT for two more. Kazarian hits an Unprettier for two and Page is right back up with a pumphandle Death Valley Driver for the same.

Page goes to the apron and gets pulled back in for a good looking slingshot cutter for a rather near fall. Kazarian’s springboard is countered into a Spirit Bomb for two and they head back outside. A clothesline drives Page against the barricade but they head back inside with Page nailing the Buckshot Lariat for the pin at 13:52.

Rating: B. They’re starting hot tonight and this was another heck of a match with the two of them working very well together. Kazarian can have a pretty awesome match with anyone and this was no exception. I had a really good time with this and Page was pulled up to another level, which is great to see.

Post match Page has a beer.

Video on Best Friends vs. Santana and Ortiz.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Shawn Dean

Poke to the eye and Salt of the Earth finishes Dean at 6 seconds.

Post match MJF says Jon Moxley cheated at All Out and he should be the World Champion. Therefore, he is going to be known as the Undefeated Undisputed. Uncrowned World Champion of All Elite Wrestling. He even makes Justin Roberts call him such, albeit with some gusto. With that out of the way, MJF says you have to be part of a faction around here so maybe it’s time for this lone wolf to join up with someone. Even if he doesn’t though, he is still better than you and you know it.

Taz breaks down Ricky Starks’ offense, even showing the difference between the grips he uses depending on the opponent’s size.

Eddie Kingston is in the ring with the Lucha Bros with the Butcher and Blade on the floor. Kingston talks about how they are a family and that means they are going to hurt people. Butcher and Blade pulls some wrestlers over the barricade and the four of them beat all of them up. Kingston: “That was hilarious.” Kingston says that now that their house is in order, it’s time for Blade to get his house in order.

Chris Jericho/Jake Hager vs. Private Party

The fans sing Judas to continue the cool tradition. Tony: “JR you have to learn the lyrics to that song and we’re going to sing it on our trip back to Atlanta.” Hager takes Quen down to start but Quen jumps over him in the corner and brings Kassidy in for a reverse Sling Blade. Jericho comes in and gets sent to the apron with a dropkick sending him outside. A double dive takes Hager and Jericho down again but Hager takes over on Quen a second time.

Jericho elbows Quen in the face and it’s already back to Hager, who gets dropkicked down. The hot tag brings in Kassidy for a standing Lionsault press. Jericho is frustrated so Hager gets in a bat shot to put Kassidy down and we take a break. Back with Hager grabbing a chinlock and pounding away with some forearms to the chest. Hager even knocks Quen off the apron but he gets back up for the Silly String (Tony: “It was a desperation Silly String!”) and eventually the hot tag.

The pace picks up in a hurry with Quen hitting a springboard crossbody for two on Jericho. Hager launches Quen into the air for a super hurricanrana on Jericho before being sent outside. Kassidy ducks the Judas Effect and hits a springboard Stunner for no cover. Instead, Kassidy goes up top but misses the Swanton, allowing the Judas Effect for the pin at 13:01.

Rating: C+. And somehow that’s the worst match of the night so far. Private Party still feel like people who are just doing things for the sake of doing things, but the good sign is that they have shown the ability to be helped to a good match by people like Jericho and FTR. That shows potential in them and there is nothing wrong with being young and in need of experience and coaching. If they can improve, they’ll be fine in the long run.

Post match, Jericho puts Kassidy in the Walls.

NWA Women’s Title: Thunder Rosa vs. Ivelisse

Rosa is defending, Diamante is in Ivelisse’s corner, and they both try armdrags to start. Ivelisse slaps her in the face so Rosa gives her one right back. A raised boot in the corner gets Ivelisse out of trouble and she snaps off a middle rope hurricanrana. The Gory Special goes on but Ivelisse slips out and sends her to the floor for a kick to the head.

Back from a break with Rosa hitting a delayed running dropkick against the ropes for two. The Crossface goes on but Ivelisse is out in a hurry, earning herself a Death Valley Driver. Ivelisse kicks her in the face for two but Rosa is back with a Tombstone (which it takes some time to secure) to retain at 9:33.

Rating: C. I like Rosa more and more every time I see her and it’s great to see her getting a shot like this. A the same time, it’s nice to see the NWA getting a little spotlight as it isn’t like they’re doing anything important at this point. The women’s division has gotten a lot better as of late with the different wrestlers and styles meshing together, which is a hard trick to accomplish.

Post match Diamante jumps Rosa so Hikaru Shida comes out of the crowd and makes the save. She also picks up the title and hands it to Rosa without any drama.

Miro is working out and Kip Sabian (in an AEW Is For Everyone, featuring someone wearing what look to be the headphones you see on a Twitch stream) and they talk about how Miro will be the best man. The bachelor party is coming.

Here are Jake Roberts and Lance Archer, with Lance destroying someone at ringside. Jake quotes some Pink Floyd and talks about how in wrestling, you can find yourself in bed with someone you wouldn’t expect. Sometimes you need information or money or a way out, but this time they need tag team partners for a six man tag. If Roberts is going to lay in bed with the devil, it might as well be with the Tasmanian Devil.

Cue Taz, who looks rather small by comparison. Team Taz is happy to do business with Archer and Roberts, though remember the deal: when Archer wins the World Title, Brian Cage gets the first shot. Archer agrees, and then he and Cage can go Godzilla. Cue Jon Moxley but Cage and Starks jump him from the crowd. Will Hobbs of all people makes the save with a chair. Moxley introduces Hobbs as his partner. Oh and they’ll need a third so Darby Allin can meet them in Jacksonville next week.

Next week: Orange Cassidy gets a TNT Title shot, plus Shida/Rosa vs. Ivelisse/Diamante.

Santana and Ortiz vs. Best Friends

This is in the parking lot in the old circle of cars. Santana and Ortiz have white face paint on, making them look like the Guerrillas of Destiny if you let some air out of them. Chuck is sent into the side of a car but Ortiz is thrown under the hood of a car for some slams down onto his back. Chuck adds a Swanton off the top onto the hood and Trent does the same. Santana is sent into a mirror to bust him open but comes back with the baton to get in a few shots.

The flying sledgehammer goes through the windshield of a car and Chuck is suplexed on top of it. Santana’s splash from the top of a truck gets two but Trent spears Ortiz through a piece of plywood. Santana is sent into the bed of a truck and there is a good bit of blood on the ground. Ortiz hits Trent with a metal dust pan Chuck suplexes Ortiz mostly through a piece of barricade but Ortiz is back with a low blow to Trent. A powerbomb onto the top of the car drops Trent again as the four of them are starting to fade.

The double powerbomb sends Trent hard through a windshield and there is some glass in his back. Chuck makes the save with a baseball bat and breaks a wooden board over Ortiz’s back. Trent pulls himself up but gets knocked down again….and Orange Cassidy pops out of a trunk with an Orange Punch (with a chain around his fist) to take out Santana. Chuck piledrives Santana on the hood of a car and Trent hits Strong Zero through plywood into the bed of a truck for the pin at 12:48.

Rating: B. This was a heck of a lot better than the usual Best Friends match, mainly because they took it seriously when they needed to. There was no big hug or anything else and even though the feud was over a minivan, the payoff was a violent and bloody brawl. This was a lot of fun and I cringed a few times (though not at Orange Cassidy as I didn’t expect it and it made sense to have a nine of spades in the hole).

Post match Cassidy carries them over to Sue’s van to drive them….well about a foot before Sue flips off Santana and Ortiz (ok that was hilarious) to end the show.

Overall Rating: A-. Now this was a lot more like it as they started off hot and then kept it going for most of the show. Nothing was even close to bad and it was a heck of a way to spend two hours. They’ve built some stuff up for the anniversary show and did so with a heck of a show here. This was the most enjoyable episode they have had in a long time and I had a really good time with the whole thing.

Results

FTR b. Jurassic Express – Rollup to Boy with an assist from Cash Wheeler

Hangman Page b. Frankie Kazarian – Buckshot lariat

Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Shawn Dean – Salt of the Earth

Chris Jericho/Jake Hager b. Private Party – Judas Effect to Kassidy

Thunder Rosa b. Ivelisse – Tombstone

Best Friends b. Santana and Ortiz – Strong Zero into the bed of a truck to Ortiz

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: September 9, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

We’re done with All Out and about two months away from Full Gear, which means there is some time before we need to really get started on the build to the show. Tonight is likely to be about fallout, which could make for a rather fun night. There are a lot of ways this show could go so let’s get to it.

Here is All Out if you need a recap.

Chris Jericho talks to Maxwell Jacob Friedman about the loss to loss to Jon Moxley on Saturday. They respect each other and know that the other will be World Champion one day. After an elbow bump they go their separate ways, where they call each other a loser.

Opening sequence.

Lucha Bros vs. Jurassic Express

Jungle Boy and Fenix start things off with an exchange of armdrags. Penta comes in but can’t hit the Fear Factor. Instead it’s Luchasaurus coming in to throw Boy at him for a swinging Downward Spiral. The Bros are sent outside but Penta is right back in for an exchange of chops with Luchasaurus. When that doesn’t go well, it’s a shot to the knee to bring in Boy, who takes Fenix to the floor for a suicide dive. Back in and Penta shoves Boy off the ropes and into a kick from Fenix to take over.

The beating is on until a double clothesline misses, allowing Boy to roll over for the tag to Luchasaurus. Fenix gets chokeslammed off the top (which looked more like a slam off the top) but Penta takes Luchasaurus down. The Gory Bomb into the legdrop combination gets two on Luchasaurus and it’s the spike Fear Factor to Boy. Fenix dives onto Luchasaurus as Penta gets two for a shocked reaction. Back in and Boy sends them into each other, setting up a rollup to give Boy the pin at 9:21.

Rating: B-. Total action match here and it’s amazing how much more interesting and entertaining Jurassic Express has been since Marko Stunt went onto the shelf. You might even think that he’s a completely unnecessary part of the team and little more than a mascot. It’s nice to see Jurassic Express win here though, even if it came at the Lucha Bros’ expense, though they have lost so many big matches that it doesn’t mean much anymore.

Post match the Bros are about to fight but Eddie Kingston and Butcher and Blade break it up. Eddie talks about how they are brothers and need to get along, eventually getting them to hug.

Clips of Jon Moxley retaining the World Title over MJF at All Out.

Here’s what’s coming on the rest of the show.

While standing in the rain, Jake Roberts talks about how he and Lance Archer were confident going into All Out because that’s what they do. They’re here to trash cars instead of driving them because it’s like getting wet. Archer is ready to take the World Title.

Here’s Matt Hardy for a chat. He can’t believe all of the outpouring of love and concern over the last few days and he is very happy to stand here in front of the people. After a bunch of tests, Hardy is expected to make a full recovery because he is very lucky. He has a wife and family who are here tonight and he is sorry for putting them through that on Saturday. The only thing he is sorry about is the Broken Rules match not going as he wanted. It is time for him to get healthy though, meaning he can start winning matches and going after his first title. Matt praises Private Party and thanks the fans because they are the best.

Orange Cassidy vs. Angelico

Angelico starts with a top wristlock into a wristlock, leaning to them spinning around a lot for the break. With that not working, Angelico traps the leg and pulls on the neck, followed by something like an STF from the side instead of on Cassidy’s back. That’s broken up with a grab of the rope and Angelico misses a running boot in the corner. Cassidy hits a suicide dive into a high crossbody inside, setting up a tornado DDT. The Orange Punch finishes Angelico at 3:11.

Rating: C. That’s a good way to use Cassidy here after the big win on Saturday. If they want to make him a big deal going forward, this is something you need to do. Cassidy wasn’t doing his shtick here either and that is going to need to happen more often if he is going to have some longevity.

Post match Santana and Ortiz run in to jump Cassidy but the Best Friends run in for the save. Chuck, in a shirt featuring Trent’s mom’s van, calls them ding dongs and yells about Santana and Ortiz destroying his best friend’s mom’s van. The challenge is on for a parking lot fight and Trent says they are coming to hurt them instead of making mama proud. The levity of the mom’s van stuff and the intensity of wanting a parking lot brawl isn’t quite working here.

The Young Bucks knock down the interviewer for trying to ask them questions.

Here are Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford for an in-ring chat. Sabian throws Tony Schiavone out because all anyone wants to know is who is the best man for his wedding. Cue a rather large man in a loud shirt to say he’s here to be the best man. Sabian doesn’t think so, because the guy is a subscriber to Sabian’s Twitch channel and was told he was “the best, man”.

Next up is Brian Pillman Jr. for the same issue. Sabian sends Pillman away and says he hopes his birthday was awful. Now it’s time for the real best man: Miro, formerly known as Rusev. Miro talks about spending ten years chasing the brass ring and tells you where you can stick it. He’s shown he’s the best gamer on Twitch and now he’s all elite.

Tony Schiavone had a sitdown interview with Hangman Page earlier today. Page is banged up after All Out but Tony wants the real answer about how he’s feeling. Page talks about how there were a few hundred fans at All Out but they were pretty far away. He couldn’t hear a sound for thirty minutes because it was like everyone was waiting for he and Kenny Omega to fall apart and lose the Tag Team Titles.

It wasn’t inevitable though and it was Page’s fault that FTR became #1 contenders in the first place. It was his fault that he cost the Young Bucks the gauntlet match because they are the best tag team in the world. From head to toe, he is full of poison. Tony talks about Omega walking away from him on Saturday and Page talks about the issues the two of them have had despite their successes. Now it’s time to get back to the top for another title shot and they’ll get through this too. Page continues to be the best talker in the Elite (past or present) by about ten miles.

Chris Jericho/Jake Hager vs. Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss

Anything goes. Jericho hammers away at Janela in the corner but Janela knocks him down for his own right hands. Kiss comes in for a double hot shot to Jericho and a double dropkick puts him down again. Stereo missile dropkicks connect to send Hager and Jericho to the floor and Janela hits a suicide dive on Jericho. Back in and Janela hits Jericho with a chair a few times but gets suplexed onto said chair for his troubles.

We take a break and come back with Janela throwing Jericho head first into a chair in the corner and making the hot tag to Kiss. Jericho’s trashcan shot is broken up and Hager runs Kiss over from behind. The Vader Bomb onto the trashcan onto Kiss is blocked as Janela and Jericho brawl to the stage. Jericho catapults Janela into a toss off the stage and through a table to leave Janela laying. Kiss dives onto the two of them at once and Cactus Clotheslines Hager from the ramp to the ring. Back in and Jericho sprays Kiss with a fire extinguisher to send him into Hager’s head and arm choke for the win at 9:45.

Rating: C. I didn’t really need to see this getting any kind of time or Janela getting in that much offense (or Janela in general but that’s a different story) but the result worked well enough. Jericho gets back on track and Hager gets to look like a monster again so it accomplished its goals. Now just stop having Janela as a face and things should be better.

Post match Jericho talks about how bad All Out was for the Inner Circle, but the team has a new plan: he and Hager are coming for the Tag Team Titles. I’ve heard worse ideas.

MJF is in his campaign office and freaks out over Jon Moxley cheating to retain the title at All Out. They’re all fired, including Nina, who is FINALLY smiling. After throwing her out, MJF doesn’t like Wardlow calling him sir and yells about Wardlow screwing up. Remember that MJF signs off on Wardlow’s checks instead of Tony Khan, so either get it together or be thrown out on the street. Wardlow is annoyed but agrees that they don’t have a problem. It’s time to plan to get back to the top.

Jon Moxley knows that Lance Archer is coming because this never gets any easier. Would you want to bet against him though?

Here are Tully Blanchard and FTR, with the ring surrounded by the tag division to celebrate their newly won Tag Team Titles….complete with cake. Tully seems to dub the team Fear the Revelation before talking about FTR winning the titles in an 117 degree ring. They came out with the gold to go on top of the deepest tag team division in the world. FTR grew up watching SCU and wished they were still in their prime. Then there’s Private Party. Dax: “Yeah there’s Private Party.”

Billy is one of the most successful tag team wrestlers of all time but being in a second bit Hall of Fame doesn’t get them to the top. Next week they have the Jurassic Express but a cosplay dinosaur isn’t getting a to run the tag team division. The Express comes in and FTR keeps insulting them before bailing from the threat of a double chokeslam. The division surrounds them and the Express pours the cooler of ice onto them. With the champs gone, everyone else has cake.

We look at the Casino Battle Royal.

Taz joins commentary and here is Ricky Starks dressed as Darby Allin instead. Starks, as Allin, talks about finally getting injured and not being able to go skateboarding with his friends. Now as himself, Starks calls out Allin for being reckless and no one wants to be around him. That leaves Allin hurt and alone and the next time he sees Allin, it will be even worse.

Nyla Rose vs. Tay Conti

Vickie Guerrero is in Rose’s corner. Rose drives her into the corner to start and tosses Conti down without much effort. Conti comes back with some kicks to the head but Rose knocks her to the floor for a shot from Vickie. We take a break and come back with Conti pulling her into a reverse cross armbreaker but gets reversed into the Beast Bomb for the fast pin at 5:26. Not enough shown due to the commercial, though I’m not sure why you would have Conti lose like this in her first match under contract.

Post match Vickie says that they are here to make a statement but here’s Hikaru Shida with the kendo stick for the staredown.

The Bucks are being fined $5000 for knocking the interviewer down.

JR had a sitdown interview with Kenny Omega earlier today. Omega’s big takeaway is that he was a champion and now he isn’t, which is part of the game. He and Page had chemistry together so they were a great team, which changed Omega’s perception in the company. Maybe he was supposed to be the breakout star around here but maybe he can be more than a singles guy. JR asks what’s next for him but Omega isn’t sure if they are going to be able to be a team again. He spent a year on the team and now it seems to be time to go back to his singles career.

Moxley vs. Archer for the World Title is taking place on October 14 for the Anniversary Show.

Here’s what’s coming next week.

TNT Title: Brodie Lee vs. Dustin Rhodes

Lee is defending and some of the Dark Order is here. Dustin jumps him to start and the brawl is on outside before they head back in for the opening bell. Lee chops away in the corner but Dustin does the same. They slug it out until Lee knees him in the ribs and catapults him throat first into the middle rope. We take a break and come back with Dustin hitting a bulldog and snaps off the powerslam but the Canadian Destroyer is broken up. A hurricanrana out of the corner sets up the Code Red for two and they’re both down.

Back up and Cross Rhodes gives Dustin two but Lee is back with a superkick. Lee powerbombs him for two but misses a running boot in the corner. Dustin hits the running flip dive off the apron so John Silver tries to interfere. That lets Dustin hit the Unnatural Kick to Lee and a snap powerslam to Silver. Dustin piledrives Lee for two and a big clothesline gets the same. Back up and Lee hits the discus lariat for the pin at 10:23.

Rating: B. Coming out of All Out, one of the things that I kept hearing praised was Dustin’s fired up promo and how well he has been doing as of late. I hadn’t really gotten it so I paid extra attention to this and yeah, it worked very well. While I don’t particularly care about Dustin avenging the Rhodes Family name, I can get into the idea of the old cowboy with one shot left at glory and putting in a fired up attempt to get the title. This worked very well and they kept my attention after getting it early on.

Post match here’s the rest of the Dark Order with the unconscious QT Marshall but Lee throws Colt Cabana out. Evil Uno tries to calm Cabana down as Lee returns the low blow to Dustin.

We get some Breaking News from Cody. He has gone to Marietta, Georgia to shoot the Go Big Show, which is a new competition series with all kinds of unique acts. Cody will be a judge on the show, which is the only connection the show has to wrestling.

Overall Rating: B-. The opening match and main event helped this one out but it was kind of a cool down show after last time. They have a lot to build towards in the future and it’s ok to burn off a show like this coming off a rare pay per view. That being said, it was far from bad and they did enough to keep me interested. It wasn’t a great show, but it was good enough and that’s all it needs to be.

Results

Jurassic Express b. Lucha Bros – Rollup to Fenix

Orange Cassidy b. Angelico – Orange Punch

Chris Jericho/Jake Hager b. Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss – Head and arm choke to Kiss

Nyla Rose b. Tay Conti – Beast Bomb

Brodie Lee b. Dustin Rhodes – Discus lariat

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: September 2, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

It’s the go home show for All out and the show is mostly set. That being said, AEW knows how to add some matches to the card at the last minute. I’m not going to argue with how they build their pay per views in a hurry as they certainly know what they’re doing so far. Hopefully that is the case again this time around. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Santana and Ortiz vs. Best Friends

The Best Friends jump them during the entrances with the fight being on outside. Chuck avoids a double suplex on the floor and Trent hits a big dive off the platform. Santana has to save Ortiz from a suplex onto the steps so the Best Friends send him over the barricade. Trent spears Ortiz down as Chuck sets up a big pile of chairs near the platform. That takes too long though and Santana is back up to send him through the whole thing.

Now the bell rings and it’s Trent hitting running double knees to Santana but a double suplex takes Trent down for two. A tornado DDT gets Trent out of trouble and the hot tag brings in Chuck to clean house. The big running flip dive lets Chuck mug for the camera and it’s Soul Food for Santana back inside. A Falcon Arrow gets two with Ortiz making the save.

Santana charges into a knee to the face in the corner and the hot tag brings in Trent. That just earns him a trip to the floor and a powerbomb onto the steps. Back in and Trent slips out of the Street Sweeper and grabs the belly to back piledriver on Ortiz. Santana puts Ortiz’s hand on the ropes just after three and then throws Chuck over the barricade. The metal baton to the back sets up the Street Sweeper to finish Trent at 6:54.

Rating: C+. Well at least they didn’t stop to hug. The match itself wasn’t all that long but there was an extra five minutes of brawling before the bell to make up for it a little bit. If you cut out a lot of the goofy stuff that the Best Friends do and have Trent be the focal point of the team, it’s a lot easier to put up with them. That and having Santana and Ortiz get the win.

MJF’s lawyer has locked himself in his locker room so Wardlow kicks the door in and drags him out. MJF gets in the lawyer’s face and says he has done everything he can to become a World Champion. It is all he has ever wanted and he isn’t having someone lose his chance for him. So either go out there, or be sent into a f****** woodchipper. Which monster do you want to face?

SCU/Private Party vs. Young Bucks/Jurassic Express

The winning team has a regular tag match at All Out. Kazarian and Jungle Boy go with the technical exchange to start before it’s off to Marq Quen to take Matt down. Isaiah Kassidy hits a springboard hurricanrana to put Matt on the floor, where a fan is holding a “HANGMAN DRINK MY BEER” sign. Matt doesn’t care for that and pours the beer out, though he might want to be more concerned about the fan next to him reading a book.

Back in and the Bucks take over on Daniels until he sends them into each other. A belly to back suplex allows the double tag to Kazarian and Boy as everything breaks down. Daniels moonsaults onto the Bucks on the floor as Boy takes Kazarian into the corner. Back in and Daniels comes in to send Boy face first into Kazarian’s raised boot as we take a break. Back with Boy hitting an Angle Slam neckbreaker to Kassidy and bringing in Luchasaurus to clean house.

Private Party dropkick him down so Luchasaurus does the Undertaker situp and kicks them in the face. The moonsault takes SCU down on the floor but Matt tags himself in. We get a double frog splash/standing moonsaults onto Private Party but SCU comes back in for their powerbomb/neckbreaker combination for two on Boy. Matt superkicks Boy by mistake and the BME hits Boy, followed by Quen’s shooting star press. Luchasaurus makes his own save and tosses Quen into a spinebuster from Boy. Matt tags himself back in and the BTE Trigger finishes at 14:13.

Rating: C. This was a bit longer than it needed to be and was your usual insane spot fest, which can start to run together when they do them week after week. That has been the case with most Bucks matches and it didn’t help that you knew the Bucks weren’t being left off of a pay per view. It was entertaining, but it makes the FTR vs. Private Party match from a few weeks ago stand out even more because it was different, unlike this one.

Jake Hager comes in to see Orange Cassidy because Chris Jericho wants Cassidy at ringside for his match tonight. Violence is implied.

Tully Blanchard tells FTR that they accomplished half of their goals and now it is time to go complete everything by winning the Tag Team Titles. They can be sore on Sunday and on Saturday they are fearing the revelation.

Here’s Kenny Omega for a chat, sans Hangman Page. Tony Schiavone recaps Page being thrown out of the Elite, which Omega describes as a mistake that Page has made. Omega says FTR fooled Page but Omega and Page will defend FTR again because they will be bringing their A game. Cue Tully Blanchard and FTR with the cooler with the team saying they’re looking forward to having a great tag team match.

They offer a toast and even have a chocolate milk for Omega. That’s fine with Omega, but he isn’t going to drink with a double of censoreds like them. If they want to do it right now, Omega is fine with 3-1 because he can get in a few good shots. Just do him a favor first: keep the old man away from him because he can smell him from here. Cue Hangman Page with FTR talking about how Page got inside his own head.

They didn’t do a thing because Page wanted to do this all along. Page has to be held back with Omega telling him that they’re just trying to get in his head. FTR grab the titles and then drop them in front of Page. That’s enough for FTR so Page holds out the title to Omega, who is already on the floor and staring back in. This worked well enough, and it’s nice to see them doing something with the story after a good while. Now they need to change the titles though.

Chris Jericho asks Alex Marvez when he last experienced something for the first time. Like kissing a woman for example. That’s how fans are feeling about the Mimosa Mayhem match because he is happy to have turned Orange Cassidy into a main event star. On Saturday, there is going to be a little bit of the bubbly and a lot of Le Champion.

Chris Jericho vs. Joey Janela

Jake Hager is here with Jericho and Orange Cassidy comes to the ring, carrying a backpack. Jericho, in a white Orange Cassidy shirt (get the liquids ready), jumps Janela, with his hand in pigtails, to start and then hits a running clothesline in the corner. More shots to the face put Janela down again and Jericho stands on his hair. Janela gets in a few shots for his comeback but springboards into a Codebreaker. The Walls finishes Janela at 3:14.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here to show that Jericho is serious going into the match with Cassidy on Saturday. That’s a nice idea, but you can only get so far when you have a match built up around throwing someone into a big vat of orange juice. Granted there is something to be said about watching Janela being beaten up so it could have been worse.

Post match Jericho takes off a turnbuckle pad and sends Janela face first into the steel to bust him open. The blood goes on the Cassidy shirt and Cassidy finally comes in for the brawl. Hager comes in for the save but Sonny Kiss runs in for the save. Cassidy pulls out A Little Bit Of The Bubbly from the backpack and pours it out (second time tonight they’ve done the pour out a drink deal, not counting the time where FTR’s cooler was thrown down).

Video on Sammy Guevara vs. Matt Hardy.

Back from a break with Matt near the top of the building shouting down at Sammy Guevara as they engage in a battle of signs.

Here is Team Taz for a chat. Taz promises that either Ricky Starks or Cage will win, whether Darby Allin, Jake Roberts or Lance Archer like it or not. Cue Roberts and Archer, with the former promising that no one is busting a nut around here. Jake sees a great pair of blue jeans in the ring but here are Eddie Kingston and company to talk about how none of them are winning. Jake: “You’ve been drinking. You must have been drinking.”

Shawn Spears and Tully Blanchard come out to watch as well and the fight is on, with the Gunn Club and Darby Allin running in as well. Some wrestlers jump the barricade and are cleaned out in a hurry. Cue the Inner Circle and the Best Friends to get in on this as well. The brawling takes us to a break and we come back with the big brawl continuing…and now it’s a vignette on the Dark Order.

Video on the Dark Order’s success as of late, including Brodie Lee squashing Cody to win the TNT Title. They will meet Scorpio Sky/Matt Cardona/Dustin Rhodes/QT Marshall at All Out.

Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa

Rosa’s NWA Women’s Title isn’t on the line. Deeb takes her to the mat to start but a shot to the face just makes Rosa mad. Rosa comes back with her own shot to the face and a dropkick but Deep grabs a neckbreaker. With Rosa’s arm trapped, Deeb slams the knee into the mat and grabs a half crab. That doesn’t last long and we take a break.

Back with Rosa grabbing a waistlock and then putting on a cross arm choke. Deeb reverses into a Backstabber and they’re both down. A quick rollup gives Deeb two but Rosa hits some running knees in the corner. The running dropkick against the ropes gets two and a Death Valley Driver is good for the same. Rosa hits a running knee to the face for two and then the Thunder Driver is good for the pin at 9:53.

Rating: C+. Well they certainly had some time. I’m not sure who in the world thought someone they are treating as a big deal needed to go about ten minutes before heading into her title match was a good idea, but at least Rosa won. Granted it was after some near falls and after Deeb kicked out of some big stuff, but at least Rosa won.

Jon Moxley is ready to hurt MJF on Saturday.

Big Swole talks about being ready to beat some revenge into Britt Baker during Saturday’s Buy In. Cue a woman with a pizza for Swole, but she isn’t quite buying it (or paying for it). Swole jumps her but here is Baker from behind to hit her with a pole. Baker shoves the pizza in Swole’s face and puts on the Lockjaw.

Here’s what’s coming up this weekend, including a Friday Dark and the All Out card.

Mark Sterling vs. Jon Moxley

Non-title and Wardlow is here with the lawyer as JR promises it is going to be bowling shoe ugly. Sterling’s name graphic says he is MJF’s inattentive lawyer, but he was attentive to his color scheme as he is covered in red white and blue and has an MJF campaign sign on his back. Moxley offers Sterling a free shot and has to show him how to make a fist. The punch misses and Moxley knocks him down with a slap. A breath sends Sterling outside, where he shows some great bumping abilities for someone who found out he was debuting a week ago.

Back in and Sterling’s next free shot misses and he goes sailing outside again. Sterling pokes him in the eye back inside (Excalibur: “Maybe Mark is a smart mark after all.”) but Moxley clotheslines him back to the floor. Sterling is covered by barricades and chairs before Moxley steals his shoe to beat him up even more. Back in again and Moxley has a seat in a chair before getting up and offering a handshake. That doesn’t work so it’s the Paradigm Shift for the pin at 5:03.

Rating: D+. What is there to say here? The point was to have Moxley beat up the lawyer and he did that for a good while. I’m really not sure if this was the right way to go for the go home angle before a pay per view title match, but at least they got through this point. The match has been well built, but it felt a little weird to go here for the big final push.

Post match Wardlow comes in to beat on Moxley and here’s MJF on his walker. The neck brace comes off and MJF beats him down. MJF loads up the diamond ring and knocks Moxley cold, including busting him open. A bite of the cut makes it even worse and MJF holds up the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This was a bit of a weird show as the main stuff on the card was set up and there wasn’t a lot on here that enhanced Saturday’s matches. It was a fine enough show, but they didn’t do the best job of getting in a final push towards All Out. What we got here was good enough but it’s an AEW pay per view: they have built up more than enough of a good reputation to make me give them the benefit of the doubt.

Results

Santana and Ortiz b. Best Friends – Street Sweeper to Trent

Young Bucks/Jurassic Express b. Private Party/SCU – BTE Trigger to Quen

Chris Jericho b. Joey Janela – Walls of Jericho

Thunder Rosa b. Serena Deeb – Thunder Driver

Jon Moxley b. Mark Sterling – Paradigm Shift

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: August 27, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Chris Jericho, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

We’re on another special schedule this week and this time around it’s another stacked show. We have a tag team gauntlet match for the #1 contendership to the Tag Team Titles for All Out, plus all of the other tag matches that this show really likes presenting. Throw in a Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara tables match (though a chairs match would make more sense) and we should be good to go. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

There are fans back too and it already helps a lot.

Tag Team Gauntlet Match

The winners get the title shot against Kenny Omega/Hangman Page at All Out. The Young Bucks and the Natural Nightmares start things off with Nick hiptossing Marshall early on. Dustin comes in to trade armdrags with Matt and Dustin needs a little breather. The powerslams plant the Bucks and a double Russian legsweep gets two on Matt. It’s back to Dustin who teases the Goldust deep breath but just works on the arm instead.

Matt gets away from Dustin though and the Bucks get in a double dropkick to send Marshall outside. Dustin is right back with a Canadian Destroyer to Matt though and it’s back to Marshall. The QT Special is broken up and a double superkick drops Marshall. The BTE Trigger finishers Marshall at 6:23.

It’s the Best Friends in third and they shoulder Nick down to start. Trent is sent to the floor but he avoids the moonsault and hits a spear on Nick. Back in and Nick is sent hard into the corner as Jericho rants about how much he hates Being The Elite. A superkick and a German suplex on the apron allow Nick to get over for the hot tag though and house is cleaned. Something like Diamond Dust sets up the rolling northern lights suplexes but Trent grabs the tornado DDT out of the corner to put both of them down.

It’s back to Nick for more kicks until Chuck spinebusters him down, although he is favoring his knee a bit. Soul Food into the half and half suplex takes Nick down again and there’s the Big Hug. Strong Zero is reversed into a rollup for two on Trent and he’s pulled down to the floor for a Swanton from the apron. Back in and the hanging 450 gets two on Trent. The Meltzer Driver is reversed into a rollup on Matt and here’s Hangman Page to hold Nick back to give Chuck the pin at 16:31.

FTR is in last and has Tully Blanchard in their corner. Back from a break with Chuck in trouble but countering a Figure Four attempt with a quick small package. Wheeler breaks up the hot tag attempt and even pulls Trent to the floor for a suplex to break it up again. That lets Harwood grab a reverse Figure Four…and Chuck taps at 26:20. It’s so sudden that commentary acknowledges that they almost missed it.

Rating: C+. You could pretty much figure out the order of eliminations and the winners here without much effort and that’s not a bad thing. I’m also glad that they didn’t pad the match out with a bunch of teams who didn’t need to be there. Throw in the fact that they had normal tag matches instead of some big eight man insanity and it was downright not bad.

Darby Allin, in a Ricky Starks mask, walks across a really high bridge and says he isn’t afraid of Starks. Then he dives off the bridge.

Lance Archer vs. Sean Maluta

Archer has Jake Roberts with him and runs Maluta over at the bell. Another shot puts him on the floor but Archer lets him come back in for a slugout. That just annoys Archer, who throws him into the corner with a suplex. The chokeslam gets two with Archer pulling him up, much to Jake’s delight. The Blackout into the EBD Claw finishes Maluta at 2:55.

Post break Jake says there will be twenty one men in the Casino Battle Royal and Archer better win it. Archer thinks he can throw out all twenty men, which makes Jake happy because he loves to abuse people. Cue Team Taz (Jake: “IT’S THE FLINTSTONES!”) with Taz saying that one of the members is winning the battle royal. Jake says they should put on some chicken suits because they’re going to get plucked. Violence is teased but here’s Darby Allin, on the skateboard, to go after Starks. The two of them fight to the back so Archer and Cage are ready to go.

MJF manages to get down the hall way and doesn’t like someone sounding like they’re laughing.

Video on Thunder Rosa, including clips from the NWA and comments from Billy Corgan.

We get a quick signing between Thunder Rosa and Hikaru Shida.

It’s time for the contract signing between Jon Moxley and MJF. Jericho rants about Moxley being #1 in the PWI 500 and Tony makes it worse by saying Jericho is #3. Jericho: “WHO IS NUMBER TWO??? MARKO STUNT???” The contract involves banning the Paradigm Shift from their match and MJF signs in a hurry but Moxley hesitates. MJF talks about how contract signings end in violence ten times out of ten but they need to practice social distancing. MJF: “Kind of like your hairline Jon.”

Moxley laughs it off and says MJF will get there one day. MJF says Moxley is as sharp as a marble and that’s not surprising. He knows Moxley is crazy because even Mike Tyson said he wouldn’t want to be in a dark alley with Moxley. On September 5, they’re going to be in a ring though and MJF is a wrestling prodigy. He is going to pick Moxley apart and use every piece of the ring to take him apart like a brain surgeon.

Moxley is going to try to take him outside for the brawling because that’s all he knows. He grew up watching and idolizing people like Sandman, New Jack and Onita. MJF grew up watching Buddy Rogers, Ernie Ladd (those are two rather different influences) and Tully Blanchard and they made him a wrestling machine. When they leave the ring on September 5, he’s wearing platinum because he’s the best in the world.

If Moxley is so sure that he’s a better wrestler though, why does he need the Paradigm Shift? If Moxley isn’t so sure, maybe MJF should call Moxley’s hot little wife and tell him he’s single. Moxley is ready to fight so the lawyer threatens a lawsuit. Sure he wants to use the Paradigm Shift and drop MJF on his head to cause him permanent neck damage. But he doesn’t want to get sued because the only lawyer he knows is his old public defender and he’s in jail. None of this matters anyway because on September 5, MJF is a dead man.

Moxley signs and MJF celebrates, though Moxley says he loved what is on page 17. MJF: “THERE ARE ONLY SIXTEEN PAGES!” Moxley slipped in a deal, saying that he gets to face the lawyer next week and the Paradigm Shift is legal. If the lawyer doesn’t show up, MJF doesn’t get a title shot. Moxley: “I should be a lawyer.”

Santana and Ortiz recap their issues with the Best Friends and sure they’ll apologize. They’re just sorry that Trent’s mom wasn’t in the van when they wrecked it.

Butcher and Blade/Lucha Bros vs. Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss/Brian Pillman Jr./Griff Garrison

Eddie laughs off the idea that he and his friends are a faction. They’re just about titles and nothing more. It’s a brawl to start with the Bros hitting big flip dives out to the floor to take down all four of them. Back in and a running dropkick into a gutwrench suplex drops Garrison as JR and Jericho talk about guitars. Kiss comes in and Matrixes away from Blade’s right hand. It’s off to Janela to forearm Blade in the corner.

Back from a break with Janela punching Fenix down but getting sent to the ramp by Butcher. That earns Butcher a Stunner over the ropes and Janela runs over for the tag off to Kiss. House is cleaned but Janela gets caught on the apron with a package piledriver. Pillman comes in and gets to chop away but walks into the spike Fear Factor for the pin at 9:02.

Rating: D+. This could have been on any given episode of Dark and that’s not the best place to be. What mattered here was getting the new team together for a win and that’s perfectly fine. Just let Kingston talk a lot and the team will be fine. I’m not sure what they’re going to do next, but they had a passable debut as a team here.

Post match Kingston says the five of them are in the Casino Battle Royal and guarantees a winner.

We recap Brodie Lee destroying Cody last week and making it even worse post match.

Here’s the Dark Order, minus Lee, carrying a casket (Jericho: ‘IS CODY IN THERE???”). Evil Uno talks about the team purchasing six lawn mowers for this kind of a celebration. This is a farewell to the man known as Cody and they open the casket, with Ten inside. He even has a Nightmare Family jacket and a fake Cody tattoo. They throw the jacket inside and put the Cody flag onto the casket. Now it’s Brodie coming out and Uno demands that all of them show respect.

The team gets in the ring for an interview with Tony, with Lee saying the Dark Order was laughed at about a year ago because of people like Tony. See, Lee was sitting in prison back then and now they’re here with the gold in his hands. Lee tells the team to shut up for chanting for him and introduces Ann Jay as the Queen Slayer. Cody is never getting the title back and the Open Challenge is over.

One of the members tries to cheer for him so Lee punches him in the face. Cue the Natural Nightmares to go after the Order but the numbers take him down. Scorpio Sky comes in to clear out everyone but Lee, only to have Anna come in from behind for a slap. That lets Lee get in a cheap shot so here’s Matt Cardona to chase everyone else off.

The Young Bucks find Hangman Page at the bar and yell at him for costing them the match. They know he doesn’t want to be part of this because he’s a drunk. He’s also out of the Elite.

Penelope Ford/Reba/Britt Baker vs. Big Swole

Baker is still in her wheelchair but has an offer for Swole: if Swole wins, she can have any match with Baker that she wants. It’s a brawl before the bell and Swole can’t fight off the numbers game. Swole catches Reba on the top though and a super hurricanrana barely works. Kip Sabian distracts the referee so Swole gives him Dirty Dancing. Ford throws Swole back in so Reba can hit a middle rope moonsault for two. Reba tries to bring in the crutch but the referee stops it. The crutch is picked up anyway but Swole ducks and Ford is knocked out to give Swole the pin at 2:48. A little messy but it did what it was supposed to.

Here’s the Dark Order again with a JOIN US folder for Taya Conti. A big hug seems to say yes. JR: “Let’s all go tot he mall.”

All Out rundown.

We look at the Inner Circle destroying Orange Cassidy last week.

Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara

Tables match. Matt wastes no time in sending it outside for a whip over the barricade. The beating stays on near the crowd but Sammy gets in a knee to the face as we take a fast break. Back again with Matt hitting a Side Effect on the apron and loading a bloody Sammy onto the table. The apron elbow misses though and the table is destroyed.

Sammy grabs a chair but Matt gives him a Twist of Fate through it instead. It’s time for a table with DELETED painted on top (Jericho: “OH NO!”) and Matt even knows how to get it untangled from the ropes. Matt puts it on top of an open chair and goes up but his balance gives out. That lets Sammy superplex Matt through the table for the win at 6:28.

Rating: D+. The lack of time destroyed this as they didn’t have a lot of time and then that was cut out because of the commercial. There isn’t much anyone can do under those circumstances, especially with a gimmick match. I’m hoping they get another change at this and with some more time because this was criminal given what they had set up.

Post match Orange Cassidy sprints across the stage (nicely done too as the camera was on Sammy so you just saw a white shirt streaking through the background) to jump Jericho and the big fight is on with Sammy trying to help Jericho to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. I wasn’t feeling this one as much as some of the matches felt like they belonged on Dark instead of the big show and the big segments were only ok. I don’t need to see the Dark Order as the featured team, especially against Dustin Rhodes and Matt Cardona. The contract signing worked because MJF can say anything, but Moxley beating up a lawyer isn’t exactly interesting. It’s a good enough show and they moved things along, but not one of their best efforts.

Results

FTR won a gauntlet match last eliminating Best Friends

Lance Archer b. Sean Maluta – EBD Claw

Butcher and Blade/Lucha Bros b. Brian Pillman Jr./Griff Garrison/Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss – Spike Fear Factor to Pillman

Big Swole b. Penelope Ford/Britt Baker/Reba – Crutch shot to Ford

Sammy Guevara b. Matt Hardy – Superplex through a table

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