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

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

All Out 2020
Date: September 5, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, Excalibur

They’re back on pay per view and for once that’s a rather nice thing to see. AEW has a great history with the big shows and hopefully we continue the streak here. The main events are Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy where you can win by throwing the other one in a vat of mimosa and Jon Moxley defending the World Title against MJF. Let’s get to it.

Buy In: Joey Janela vs. Serpentico

This was announced earlier today and Sonny Kiss and Luther are here. Joey jumps him before the bell and they fight to the floor where Janela glares at Luther. Back in and Serpentico charges into a boot to the face but he sends Joey hard into the corner. Serpentico’s running thigh slap disguised as a shot to the face gets two and Joey is sent outside for some abuse from Luther.

Back in and a snap suplex gives Serpentico two but a Swanton hits raised knees. Janela’s Blue Thunder Bomb gets two but he misses a moonsault. Janela is back up with a super fisherman’s buster for two. Luther grabs the foot so Janela dropkicks him through the ropes. The top rope elbow gives Joey the pin at 7:55.

Rating: D+. So that happened and it could have been on any given edition of Dark. Janela still does nothing for me though I do kind of like Serpentico. For what feels like a really basic gimmick, he does well enough with what he has and that’s all you can ask for from something like this.

Buy In: Dark Order vs. Private Party

John Silver/Alex Reynolds for the Order. Silver starts with Isaiah Kassidy and they fight over wrist control. With that going nowhere, Marq Quen comes in for an atomic drop to send Silver into a clothesline. A top rope ax handle to Reynolds’ arm gets a delayed two but Silver comes in to powerbomb Kassidy onto Reynolds’ knees. There’s a backbreaker for two more and it’s time to kick at Kassidy’s chest for the same. The chinlock with a knee in the back goes on but Kassidy fights out.

A roll over into the corner brings in Quen to clean house, including a top rope moonsault press for two. Silly String is broken up and a heck of a torture rack spinning slam gets two more on Quen. Everything breaks down and Private Party knocks them off the top. A 450 and Swanton miss and it’s a Stunner into a German suplex for two. Private Party is back up and sends Reynolds to the floor, setting up Gin and Juice to finish Silver at 10:14.

Rating: C. This was a bit longer than it needed to be as Private Party isn’t ready to do a match this long on their own and the Dark Order isn’t going to be able to walk them through it. They certainly didn’t have a disaster out there and the match could have been a lot worse, but it came and went with one spot after another. They were good spots, but they were just spots.

Jim Ross gets his full entrance and really doesn’t seem thrilled to be here.

The announcers run down the card. Thank goodness they’re thinking of those people who buy pay per views and forget what they ordered.

Britt Baker vs. Big Swole

This is Tooth vs. Nail and is taking place in Baker’s dental office. Reba checks Swole in and shouts to Baker that she is here, earning herself a clipboard to the head. Swole goes hunting for Baker but finds a bunch of blood on a chair instead. Baker, in a face mask, stalks Swole, who finds a cabinet full of chattering teeth. Baker gets behind her and eventually breaks a framed diploma over her head. The doctor isn’t sure if they can save Swole’s teeth so it’s time to extract them but Swole fights out.

They go outside and into Baker’s motorized wheelchair with Reba helping Baker to little avail. Baker gets in a crutch shot to take Swole down though and they fight back inside. Swole manages to throw a chair at her and Baker is in trouble. They go into an exam room where Baker his a superkick and loads up a syringe full of Novocaine. Swole manages to knock into Baker’s leg to send Reba into hysterics and knocking Baker out for the stoppage at 6:29.

Rating: D+. This was quite the disappointment as they could have done a lot more than what we got here. There is only so much that you can get out of a match that has less than seven minutes and a good chunk of that was spent walking around. I’m not wild on Baker losing, but at least it wasn’t via pinfall so it could have been a lot worse.

Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express

No story here as they won an eight man tag on Wednesday and get to fight as a result. Nick and Jungle Boy start things off for some flipping before it’s quickly off to Matt, who goes outside to yell at Marko Stunt. Back in and Jungle Boy Tail Whips Nick into a Flatliner but Nick slips over for the tag to Matt. A dropkick staggers Luchasaurus but he sends the Bucks into each other and brings Boy back in.

Nick is sent over the top and hard onto the ramp but Matt is back with Locomotion. He suplexes Boy to the floor and hits some more Locomotion, plus another suplex over the barricade to drop Boy. Back in and Matt grabs a front facelock and Nick comes in for a running knee to the face. Boy sends him to the ropes though and Stunt gets in a cheap shot, allowing the hot tag to Luchasaurus. House is cleaned in a hurry, including the standing moonsault for two.

Everything breaks down but Boy’s hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb on the apron. A Canadian Destroyer hits Luchasaurus and there’s a superkick to Boy. Back in and the Swanton gets two more on Boy but he avoids the BTE Trigger. Luchasaurus breaks up the Meltzer Driver and chokeslams Nick. The Extinction Level Event hits Matt for two but the Bucks send Luchasaurus outside. The Superkick Party gets two on Boy and now the BTE Trigger is enough for the pin on Boy at 14:53.

Rating: B-. Good action here, even if there wasn’t a ton of drama over who was going to win. There was no reason to believe that the Bucks were going to lose when they have been teasing a heel turn in recent weeks. This worked well enough as a way to get the Bucks on the show, but it wasn’t anything that we haven’t seen before.

The announcers preview the Casino Battle Royal.

Casino Battle Royal

There are four groups of five wrestlers each and a group comes in every three minutes. One wrestler comes in as the Joker at the end and it’s a regular battle royal, with the winner getting a World Title shot in the future. Taz joins commentary for a bonus. First up we have the Spades, meaning Trent, Christopher Daniels, Jake Hager, the Blade and Rey Fenix to start things off. It’s a brawl to start with Daniels having to fight out of Hager and Blade’s double teaming. Fenix armdrags Trent down but walks into a tornado DDT.

Hager suplexes Daniels and everyone keeps fighting until it’s the Diamonds, consisting of Frankie Kazarian, Will Hobbs, Chuck Taylor, and Santana and Ortiz. The last two hit Chuck from behind with the baton before he can get in the ring and stay on him outside. Hobbs pulls Blade in the way of a charge and Blade is out, followed by Hager getting rid of Daniels. Everyone gets in and it’s time for the Hearts, including Billy, Penta El Zero M, Ricky Starks, Brian Cage and Darby Allin.

Cage gets rid of Billy in a hurry so here’s Allin with the skateboard to wreck people. Allin tosses Fenix and the Best Friends get to clean a little house, setting up the Big Hug. Santana and Ortiz get rid of Chuck because they’re not stupid enough to stop for a hug in a match like this. Now it’s time for the Clubs, with Shawn Spears (who goes over to commentary instead of getting in), Eddie Kingston, the Butcher, Sonny Kiss and Lance Archer.

Spears takes his time heading to the ring as Archer gets to clean house in a hurry. Kiss eliminates Hager but Cage gets rid of him as well. Tully Blanchard hands Spears the piece of metal for the glove as Hager decks Kiss on the floor. Trent gets rid of Santana but can only send Ortiz to the apron. Archer tosses Trent and then eliminates Ortiz as the Joker is….Matt Sydal. Well that’s a disappointment. He comes in and goes to the top to try the shooting star press….and slips off, crashing hard onto his back so Hobbs immediately goes to check on him.

Penta is out and Kazarian follows him and we hear a bunch of noise, which Taz blames on catering. Cage gets up to clean house and hits Starks by mistake, allowing Allin to throw Starks out. Starks is annoyed and pulls out a body bag, which Cage fills with thumbtacks. Cage puts Allin in the bag and zips it up as JR is DONE with this. A powerbomb over the top rope gets rid of the bag and Allin for the scary bump. Sydal kicks Spears to the apron but Spears pulls him out as well.

With Spears tied in the ropes, Spears adds a middle rope double stomp for the elimination. Back in and Hobbs hits a big spinebuster on Sydal but gets Pounced by Archer. Cage and Archer give us the big showdown and they strike it out until Cage hits a jumping knee. Hobbs cuts Cage off and pulls him to the apron though and Archer knocks both of them out.

That leaves us with Archer, Kingston, Sydal and Blade, with Archer not wanting to hear from Kingston. Archer dumps Butcher and throws Sydal through the air and right into a DDT onto Kingston. There’s the Blackout to Sydal but he lands on the apron. Kingston gets rid of Sydal and winds up on the apron with Archer. Jake Roberts busts out the snake bag but here is Blade to go after Archer. Kingston bites Archer’s ear but another snake distraction lets Archer throw Kingston out for the win at 21:50. JR: “Lance Hoyt wins it!”

Rating: C-. These things are always hard to rate and Sydal wasn’t exactly the biggest surprise. The botch didn’t make things any better but I did get to laugh as soon as he got up. Archer winning makes good sense as he needs a big win to get him back to the top level after the loss to Cody. It was fine enough for a battle royal, which means it has a pretty hard ceiling above everything.

We recap Sammy Guevara vs. Matt Hardy. Guevara busted him open with a chair by throwing it rather hard at Hardy’s head so Hardy busted him open in a tables match. Tonight it’s Broken Rules, meaning Last Man Standing, but if Matt loses, he leaves AEW.

Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara

Broken Rules so Last Man Standing. They start near the football field, with Sammy showing up behind him in the golf cart. Since Matt is a wrestler, he runs straight ahead instead of going over a barricade or something. Sammy crashes and the fight is on, with Matt heading over to a scissor lift. They go into the air and Matt tries the Side Effect. That winds up with a huge crash instead and Matt’s head hits the concrete, meaning we get the X sign. Hokey smoke that was terrifying and Matt is DONE. As in not moving and looks completely stiff.

Sammy goes after Matt again and gets a nine but here’s the doctor to say the match is over at 3:47. Sammy staggers towards the ring so Matt gets up and jumps him again. The bell rings and the match continues as they head towards ringside. They climb the set structure and Sammy gets knocked off for a huge crash through the stage. That’s enough for a ten count at 8:07, counting the break between the breaks.

Rating: D+. I’m really not sure what to say here as I can’t imagine this was the plan for the whole thing. It feels like Matt got hurt but they had to keep going until the finish because of the Matt Leaves stipulation, though that’s just a guess. It didn’t have the time to do much, which seems to be a continuing problem with this feud. They don’t need to do this again, and hopefully Matt isn’t too banged up.

We recap Thunder Rosa vs. Hikaru Shida for Shida’s AEW World Title. We hear a bunch of great things about Rosa, the NWA Women’s Champion, including comments from NWA owner Billy Corgan. Everyone knew Rosa was going to be a top star from the moment they saw her and she challenged Shida for a champion vs. champion match. Shida was certainly down.

AEW Women’s Title: Hikaru Shida vs. Thunder Rosa

Only Shida’s title is on the line. They go nose to nose to start before heading to the mat. With no one being able to get the advantage, it’s Shida hitting a running hurricanrana and it’s time to go nose to nose again. Rosa hits a hard elbow to the face and snapmares Shida down as Excalibur mentions that Rosa is also a champion in Tokyo Joshi Pro. JR: “BUT ONLY YOU KNOW THAT!” Shida gets in a shot of her own and hits a running knee to Rosa as she hangs over the apron. Rosa is back up to hit Shida in the face and bend her back around the post.

Back in and the Thunder Driver is escaped and Shida pulls her into a rear naked choke with a bodyscissors. Rosa slips out of that and grabs a rocking horse to drive Shida’s head into the bottom buckle over and over. Back up and Shida counters a kick to the head into the Stretch Muffler but that’s reversed into a headscissors. Shida hits a jumping knee to the head but her back is banged up from earlier. Rosa hits some running knees in the corner and they head to the ramp.

A Death Valley Driver is escaped so Rosa goes to the top, only to get shoved to the apron. That’s fine with Rosa, who hits the Death Valley Driver on the apron instead. An armbar goes on but Shida gets her foot on the rope for the fast save. Shida sends her to the ramp and hits the Meteora to drop Rosa hard on the back of her head. Back in and Shida gets one off the Falcon Arrow but can’t get the Full Metal Muffler. A rollup doesn’t work either so it’s a hard backbreaker for two on Rosa. The running knee finishes Rosa at 16:43.

Rating: B. Match of the night so far and I’m not at all surprised. You had two very talented wrestlers getting to showcase themselves in a long match. They weren’t going to have Shida lose to someone not signed to the promotion so the winner wasn’t in doubt, but they had a heck of a match on the way there. Good, hard hitting match match here which lived up to my expectations.

Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford announce that they are getting married on Dynamite, but first, Sabian needs a handsome best man. This week, we’ll find out who his best man is.

We recap the Dark Order vs. the Natural Nightmares/Scorpio Sky/Matt Cardona. Brodie Lee destroyed Cody to win the TNT Title and now it’s time for friends and family to fight for revenge.

Dark Order vs. Natural Nightmares/Scorpio Sky/Matt Cardona

It’s Brodie Lee/Colt Cabana/Evil Uno/Stu Grayson for the Order and the Nightmare Sisters are at ringside too. It’s a brawl to start before the bell until Lee knocks Dustin down to officially get things going. Uno comes in and gets taken into the corner by Dustin. It’s Uno getting caught in the corner for the big beatdown, including Cardona hitting a neckbreaker for two. Uno gets Marshall to chase him on the floor and the stomping is on back inside. Lee backdrops Marshall but Dustin comes in to stop Uno from using the wrist tape.

That just lets Uno choke anyway but Marshall manages a Lethal Combination. Marshall ducks a clothesline and that’s enough to bring in Cardona for the house cleaning. The middle rope dropkick hits Cabana and there’s a faceplant. Grayson and Uno low bridge Cardona to the floor as Cabana might have a broken nose. Now it’s Lee beating on Cardona in the corner, which again draws Dustin in for a failed save.

Lee chokes in the corner and shouts WHERE’S CODY over and over. Chasing the Dragon drops Cardona, allowing commentary to talk about Batman and Robin. Cardona slips out of the suplex and grabs the neckbreaker, allowing the hot tag to Dustin to clean house. There’s a Canadian Destroyer to Cabana and Sky comes in for the showdown with Lee. Cue Anna Jay to go after Sky but Brandi kicks her in the face.

As JR wishes Anna had a wardrobe malfunction (seriously), Sky hits a TKO for two on Uno. Radio Silence (the Rough Ryder) hits Grayson and Cardona nails a flip dive to the floor. Cardona charges into a powerbomb from Lee so Marshall hits his own flip dive. Back in and Grayson throws Marshall into a sitout powerbomb and Cabana adds a splash for two. The hot tag brings in Dustin though and it’s time for the slugout with Lee. That means a quick discus lariat to Dustin but Lee tags in Cabana for the pin. Cabana would rather go up top to miss a moonsault though, allowing Dustin to grab a rollup for the pin at 15:03.

Rating: C. This was long and that’s not the best thing for this kind of a match. I’m really not sure why we need the Order to lose here, unless they’re setting up Dustin as Lee’s first challenge. I know Dustin is old and related to Cody, but I’m not exactly interested in seeing Dustin vs. Lee in a big showdown. This felt more like something you would see on Dynamite and while it was fine enough, I wasn’t exactly thrilled.

Post match Lee freaks out and yells at Cabana before leaving in a huff. Uno shakes Cabana’s hand.

Dustin Rhodes is very excited over the win because he’s still doing this after five decades. As a bonus, he gets the TNT Title shot against Lee on Dynamite and is rather fired up as a result.

We recap FTR vs. Kenny Omega/Hangman Page. FTR doesn’t like a thrown together team having the Tag Team Titles and Page seems more serious about drinking than wrestling. The Young Bucks have thrown him out of the Elite and say he’s going to get what he deserves.

Tag Team Titles: FTR vs. Hangman Page/Kenny Omega

Omega/Page are defending and Tully Blanchard is here with FTR. Omega and Wheeler start but Page (whose graphic says “I don’t care what the graphic says anymore”) wants in instead. Page slugs away to start but nearly hits Omega. The champs hit stereo big boots and Wheeler gets caught between some chops. Omega is finally willing to high five Page and it’s a snap suplex to drop Wheeler. It’s back to Omega for a springboard ax handle to the back and the Kitaro Crusher takes Wheeler down again.

Page hits a running shooting star to the back and it’s off to Harwood. That means a missed elbow but Page misses a boot in the corner. Harwood starts working on the leg as we hear that Matt Hardy is going to be ok. We hit the abdominal stretch until Omega is sent outside. Back in and Page gets to Omega for the tag so house can be cleaned. A jumping knee hits Harwood but Wheeler blocks the Snapdragon. Wheeler is dropkicked out of the air and Omega hits the big running flip dive to the floor.

Back in and Harwood powerbombs Omega into a German suplex from Wheeler for two more. Omega strikes both of them down though and everything breaks down again. A shot to the face takes Wheeler down for two and Omega goes up, where he gets to shove Wheeler down again. Harwood crotches him on top though the PowerPlex gets two. The Goodnight Express is broken up so Harwood brainbusters Omega instead. Omega is right back up with the poisonrana to Harwood and the Tiger Driver 98 gets two on Wheeler.

The V Trigger hits Wheeler but Harwood breaks up the One Winged Angel. Back to back dragon screw legwhips take Omega down and it’s off to the reverse Figure Four. The hold is broken up and Harwood stays on the leg with a Cannonball. Page finally comes over to try and break things up but is sent back to the corner as Omega’s leg is wrapped around the post. Omega manages to get up and hits back to back snapdragons but kicks Harwood into Page for the double knockdown.

Page gets back up for the hot tag a few seconds later though and house is cleaned. Wheeler is knocked down and Page dives onto Harwood at ringside. The big flip dive from the top takes FTR down again for a breather at ringside. Back in and Page is sent into Harwood’s knee for two and it’s the double Swan Dive for two, with Omega making the save. Page is sent to the apron again and gets caught with a reverse powerbomb/running bulldog combination for the big knockdown.

Back in and Omega breaks up a double team something, with Harwood falling off the top and landing hard on the apron. The super fall away slam hits Wheeler for two but the Buckshot Lariat misses. Omega V Triggers Page by mistake and Harwood takes out Omega’s knee. The Mindbreaker gives Harwood a cocky two so they do it again for the pin and the titles at 28:38.

Rating: B+. This was quite the match and they did the big mistake spot between Omega and Page to keep the issues going. FTR had to win here as there was no reason to keep them away from the titles at this point. The big deal is going to be the Omega/Page issues though as the Elite story continues. Heck of a match, but this started to feel long at the end.

Post match FTR leaves and Omega grabs one of the ringside tables. He throws it down though and Page collapses. Omega looks disgusted but walks away anyway. We follow Omega to the back where he finds the Young Bucks but storms off anyway. Omega says he’s done and let’s go so they head to the parking lot. Matt can’t talk him out of it as Omega says we need a good cleaning around here. Omega tells them to get in the car now or never but they stay out and Omega leaves.

We recap Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy. They have split the first two matches and now it is time for Mimosa Mayhem, where you can win by pinfall, submission or throwing your opponent into a big vat of mimosa.

Chris Jericho talks about how he has been dealing with Cassidy for fourteen weeks and has finally made Cassidy into a real main event draw. They have been through a lot and now it is time to beat him for good, by making him tap out and throwing him into the vat of champagne and orange juice.

Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy

You win by pinfall, submission or throwing your opponent into one of the vats of mimosa (on platforms of equal height to the ring). There are also no rope breaks. During the entrances, we hear more about Hardy, with Tony making it clear that Matt was cleared to continue by the doctor and everything was safe. Cassidy charges straight into the Codebreaker for two to start and Jericho sends him hard into the corner. They go over to one of the platforms with the vat and Jericho hits him in the head with a table.

Jericho gets knocked off to the floor though and Cassidy adds the big dive. They get back on the platform and tease knocking each other in before getting back to safer ground. Cassidy tries a hurricanrana but gets powerbombed onto the platform and then through the table. A kick to the face rocks Jericho and a champagne bucket to the head puts him back inside.

The triangle dropkick almost puts Cassidy in but he’s back with a sunset flip for two. Cassidy grabs a Michinoku Driver for two more and a Stundog Millionaire gets the same. Jericho is back with a counter into the Walls so it’s time to crawl towards the vat. Cassidy uses a pitcher to throw some mimosa into Jericho’s eyes for the break and the Orange Punch connects.

Jericho is thrown over the top and his foot goes in the vat (doesn’t count) so Cassidy hits a running penalty kick (Excalibur: “THE RUNNING PK!” Tony: “THE RUNNING PK!” JR: “THE RUNNING PK!”) and the tornado DDT for two. Cassidy gets planted again for two more but Jericho can’t lawn dart him into the vat. Splash Mountain into the vat is blocked so Cassidy Superman Punches him into the vat for the win at 15:01.

Rating: C+. It was as good of a match as you were going to get based around the idea of throwing someone into a pool of champagne and orange juice. Cassidy already got the big rub off of pinning Jericho on Dynamite so this was more the goofy win than anything else. If this helps turn Cassidy into a main event star then so be it, but I’m not sure how much more of an impact this is going to have. It wasn’t bad, but it felt more silly rather than some big, serious match.

Full Gear is on November 7.

Here’s what’s coming on Dynamite.

We recap Jon Moxley vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman. MJF is the whiny kid who gets whatever he wants but now he has to find a way to beat Moxley to become the World Champion. This has seen a big campaign by MJF to get the title shot, which was pretty quickly dropped to set up MJF being injured by the Paradigm Shift. Then a lawyer got involved and now the Paradigm Shift is banned. Moxley wants to shut MJF up for good and MJF wants the title.

AEW World Title: Jon Moxley s. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Friedman is challenging and has Wardlow in his corner plus a big red robe to complete the look. The Paradigm Shift is banned as well and if Moxley uses it, he loses the title. Friedman headlocks him down to start but Moxley is up with a right hand. Moxley sends him outside and gives chase but MJF gets back inside. They do it again and this time Moxley tries a dive, only to have to land on his feet as MJF slides back in.

Moxley sends him to the floor again and this time fakes the dive to get in a stomp. There’s a suicide dive but Moxley has to stop and glare at Wardlow. MJF is sent through the barricade and now it’s time to bend the fingers back, sending MJF into a scream for the ref. Back in and Moxley grabs a sleeper but MJF flips back onto him for two. There’s a ribs first drop onto the top rope but Moxley gets thrown over the top so he can crash down onto his arm.

Wardlow throws him back in and MJF starts in on said arm, as he should. MJF whips him by the arm into the corner for two but Moxley sends him into the post, drawing a big old gash on MJF’s head. MJF is staggered so Moxley teases the Paradigm Shift before realizing that won’t work. The Gotch Style piledriver doesn’t work either because the arm gives out, meaning it’s a swinging Boss Man Slam on the floor instead. Back in and the Gotch Styles piledriver gets two as Moxley’s arm means he can’t hook the leg.

Moxley bites him in the corner as a receipt from Dynamite but MJF gets in a top rope stomp to the arm. They slug it out with Moxley’s arm giving out so he hits a big running clothesline for two instead. Moxley yells at him so MJF spits in Moxley’s face. That almost makes Moxley use the Paradigm Shift so he puts on the brakes, only to get pulled into the Salt of the Earth (Fujiwara armbar). That’s broken up as well so MJF grabs the Heatseeker for two.

Moxley is back with the Air Raid Crash for his own two and they slug it out from their knees. MJF goes to the eye and tries a backslide for two so Moxley is back with the sleeper. The referee gets pulled in so MJF kicks him low for two more. MJF is bleeding even more as he grabs Cross Rhodes for another near fall. Wardlow has had it and gets on the apron to throw in the ring, but Moxley sees MJF pick it up. As the ref is with Wardlow, it’s the Paradigm Shift to give Moxley the pin and the title at 23:45.

Rating: C+. It was good enough and the blood helped but this was a long main event at the end of a show that felt very long and it hurt things a lot. The ending wasn’t exactly the most creative either, but they did find a way to keep the title on Moxley and give MJF something else to complain about. I liked it well enough, but I would have liked MJF winning the title more.

Overall Rating: B-. It’s their weakest pay per view to date and, just like Dynamite, that makes it one of the more entertaining shows I can remember in a good while. There was nothing close to really bad on here and the big matches delivered. That being said, I was done with this with about an hour to go and it just kept going.

They needed to trim some time off of some stuff here (5-10 minutes off the Tag Team Title match and the Bucks vs. Jurassic Express in its entirety would be good places to start) as it took away some of the impact that the bigger matches could have had. It was by no means bad or close to it, but it was a case where less would have equaled more.

Now as for the good stuff, the Tag Team Title match and Women’s Title match were both very good to great and the main event was good enough. The Hardy vs. Guevara match was more scary than anything else and I can’t imagine how much they had to cut out of that to make things work out. Cassidy got another rub here so they seem to have a plan in mind for him. There were a lot of positives here and more of them than negatives, but there was a bit too much of the whole show and it became an issue by the end. Still though, another good AEW pay per view as they remain perfect in that regard.

Results

Big Swole b. Britt Baker via knockout

Young Bucks b. Jurassic Express – BTE Trigger to Jungle Boy

Lance Archer won the Casino Battle Royal last eliminating Eddie Kingston

Matt Hardy b. Sammy Guevara when Guevara could not answer the ten count

Hikaru Shida b. Thunder Rosa – Running knee

Natural Nightmares/Scorpio Sky/Matt Cardona b. Dark Order – Rollup to Cabana

FTR b. Kenny Omega/Hangman Page – Mindbreaker to Page

Orange Cassidy b. Chris Jericho – Orange Punch into the mimosa

Jon Moxley b. Maxwell Jacob Friedman – 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:

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IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

We haven’t done one of these in awhile. AEW does not run very many pay per view events but they will be having one this weekend. That means the expectations are high, as AEW’s pay per views have been rather successful so far. There is always a first time for everything, but AEW has given me a lot of reason to believe that they can make this work again. Let’s get to it.

Buy In: Private Party vs. Dark Order

This was a change made on Friday with a new match being added and the original Buy In match being added to the main card. Private Party has been in a weird place since they debuted as they seemed to be the chosen ones but then fell WAY back and haven’t come close to their original status since. They have at least been on television more as of late so maybe things are turning around.

The thing that is going to help them turn around the most is a win here, which they will get. The Dark Order has been getting a push but I can’t imagine they actually beat a team like Private Party. This is a good choice for an opening match as Private Party can bring some energy to the show and give the fans a nice reaction when they beat the cult. It won’t be a great match or anything, but it will help the show get going in the right direction.

Dark Order vs. Matt Cardona/Natural Nightmares/Scorpio Sky

I can always go with a ragtag bunch of people against the monster cult (you hear about it all the time). This is fallout from Brodie Lee mauling Cody to take the TNT Title and I think I like this more than a regular title defense. We’ve already seen what Lee can do on his own so it’s ok to go with something designed to follow up on that rather than going in the more traditional route.

I’ll take the Dark Order here as there is no reason to have Lee lose in his first match after winning the title. Even if he didn’t take the fall, you don’t want to slow the momentum of the main core of the Dark Order. QT Marshall can take a fall as well as anyone here and if it happens to be after Lee blasts him with a clothesline, so be it. This is the Order’s to win, as it should be.

Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express

Here we have a match that is just kind of happening for the sake of happening, which is rarely a good sign. These four won a match on Dynamite to earn their spot in this one and that’s about it. In other words, they had to come up with something for the Bucks to do on the show and this was as good as anything else they could come up with. At least Marko Stunt is injured and can’t interfere so we have at least one positive.

Of course the Bucks win here because it’s their company and you have to give the people what they want (or something). Much like Private Party, Jurassic Express has fallen a long way (I assure you that the addition of Stunt had NOTHING to do with it though) and they are just kind of the designated victims for the Bucks. The match will have some good spots, but the Bucks win in the end, as they should.

Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara

This is a Broken Rules match, meaning Last Man Standing. These two have had a big feud going in recent weeks (Guevara has even had signs) and then they had a tables match which was completely ripped off by having its time hacked off. I’m hoping they can do something great here, or at least really good, which might be about as good as you can expect from them here.

Given the “Hardy leaves AEW if he loses”, I think I’ll go with Guevara, mainly because that seems like a way to have Hardy get out of the company and come back as another character. Guevara also needs the win a lot more, but I’m almost scared to see what we are going to be seeing from Hardy in the near future, because he might go for epic again and that….egads it does not work a lot of the time.

Women’s Title: Hikaru Shida(c) vs. Thunder Rosa

This is actually the only singles match on the show with no special rules or stipulation. Rosa debuted on Dynamite and made me care about Serena Deeb well enough, though I don’t know if that was the point. They have built this up fairly well for Rosa through her promos, but at the same time, Shida has barely been around in the last few weeks. She still feels like the ace of the division though and that’s all you need in something like this.

I’ll go with Shida retaining here, as I’m not sure I can imagine Rosa just showing up and winning the title. Now that being said, if they want to put a rocket to someone in the short term, Rosa would make a ton of sense. Rosa could be a heck of a star as she has seemed like one every time and hopefully they give her a chance later on, because she could be a big star in a hurry around…anywhere really.

Tag Team Titles: Kenny Omega/Hangman Page(c) vs. FTR

Man alive this could have been something more interesting at another time but it is still entertaining enough here. The main crux of the story here is the continuing deterioration of the Elite, with Page now having been tossed out, despite Omega not having any say of it. We could be seeing something great in the ring here, but the real interesting parts are going to be around the drama, which tends to be the case in most big matches.

This absolutely has to be the title change, as Omega and Page being the champs mean that the story can’t really move forward in any significant way. FTR can be a great team and upgrade anyone they face, so hopefully they are given the chance to do that here. Omega and Page need to drop the titles already and there is no reason not to do that here. It will be very good to great match, and the title change should be on the same level. FTR wins, as they have to.

Britt Baker vs. Big Swole

This is the cinematic match and that means we are going to be seeing something interesting. The match is going to be taking place in Baker’s dental office, which should be a heck of an idea. AEW seems like it should be able to have the right kind of humor to make something work in the first place. These two have been wanting to fight for a few months now and if they go with the right path, we should be fine.

I’ll with with Baker here, as there is little reason to have her lose. Baker’s greatest strength is when she gets to talk and there is little reason for her to keep talking if she gets beaten here. Swole is good enough at what she does, but Baker could be the best talker in the entire division and should not lose for a good while. It’s Baker all day here and that should be the case for a long time.

Casino Battle Royal

One day someone is going to have to explain to me why they keep going with the gambling theme, especially when they aren’t in Las Vegas. Anyway, this is the big #1 contenders battle royal with the groups of wrestlers coming in at timed intervals and then one guy coming in last as the Joker. I’m not sure what to expect here as the field has not been completely announced, but this should be hard to screw up.

Based on the field that we have at the moment, I’ll be taking Darby Allin to win, if nothing else for the sake of hearing Taz freak out about it on commentary. I don’t know if that is the kind of title shot that can be defended, but some matches against Team Taz could work out rather well. You can almost guarantee that another former WWE star will debut here, but Allin winning makes the most sense out of everyone announced so far.

Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy

If you have been watching Dynamite and Dark, you very well could believe that this is the main event (and I’m not 100% convinced it won’t be). This is the Mimosa Mayhem match, because AEW loves it some uniquely named gimmick matches. It’s basically a casket match, but with a vat of orange juice and champagne instead of a casket. Plus you can win via pinfall or submission to really mix it up.

There is no real reason for Jericho to win here (aside from it’s Jericho vs. Cassidy on pay per view) and I can’t imagine Cassidy actually losing so I’ll go with what makes sense. Cassidy has already proven that he can pin Jericho so throwing him into the mimosas would make the most sense. Actually it would have made the most sense to have Cassidy beat him in this in the second match and then win via pinfall later in the big moment, but the way they did it works well enough.

AEW World Title: Jon Moxley(c) vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

And then there’s this, which is going to be one of the more interesting matches on the show. I’m not sure which way this is going to go and that’s what makes it more fun. Friedman has been pretty clearly the next breakout star for a long time as he can talk as well as anyone in the world right now, but it’s almost hard to picture them taking the title off of Moxley. The Paradigm Shift is banned here, but that has taken a backseat to the lawyer stuff which just did not end. So that leaves us with the match and I’m not entirely sure.

I’ll go with Friedman winning though, as I really can’t imagine who else can take the title from Moxley at the moment. They have something with Moxley beating all of the giants in a row and then having trouble with the smaller guy so hopefully they pull the trigger. I’m not sure how good the match is going to be, but Friedman’s celebration could be outstanding and my hope for seeing it carries me through.

Overall Thoughts

I’m excited for this one and it’s nice to be able to say that about a pay per view for once. They have done something different with the shows and given how infrequently we see them, that could make for a rather nice show indeed. This is kind of the anniversary show, or at least the anniversary of the show before the show, so they are going to be going harder than usual. All out you might even say.

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

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 22, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Taz

It’s a special Saturday edition of the show and as luck would have it, the only time that the show could air this week was opposite the first hour of Takeover. With that coincidence out of the way, it’s a big night with the finals of the Women’s Tag Team Tournament and we get a sitdown interview with Orange Cassidy. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

FTR vs. Private Party

Tully Blanchard is here with FTR. Dash Harwood hiptossed Marq Quen to start and everything breaks down in a hurry for not quite stereo dropkicks from Private Party. We settle down to Cash Wheeler offering a distraction so Harwood can rake Quen’s eyes to take over. It’s off to Kassidy anyway and a top rope ax handle hits Harwood’s arm. Some quick double teaming takes Harwood down to give Quen two and we hit the hammerlock.

Harwood bails to the floor for a second and it’s a Wheeler distraction to set up a double clothesline to take Quen down. Choking ensues behind the referee’s back, followed by some old school eye raking across the top rope ala Arn Anderson. The chinlock goes on but Quen fights up and we go to an overhead camera shot. Wheeler comes back in for two off a powerbomb and another chinlock goes on.

Quen fights up and sends both of them to the floor, allowing the hot tag off to Kassidy. A blind tag brings Quen back in for two off a springboard crossbody plus a small package for the same. Wheeler hits a spinebuster for two more and everyone is down again. Kassidy’s slingshot dive to the floor misses thanks to a Tully save, leaving Quen to go shoulder near to the post. The Goodnight Express is good for the pin at 12:51.

Rating: B. That’s the best FTR match in AEW so far as they had a solid, back and forth effort here. Pairing them with Tully is about as perfect as you can get outside of Arn Anderson and I’m not sure why it took so long to get us here. This worked rather well and I could go for more of it down the road. Private Party looked good here too and FTR felt even more old school than usual here.

Jon Moxley likes to let his actions do the talking. MJF thinks he’s the future but Moxley would be one to disagree. Moxley wants the company to succeed for the next twenty five years and since he won’t be here that long, he needs MJF to move out of his basement. On September 5, MJF is going to take one heck of a beating and then get dumped on top of his head. MJF better be ready.

MJF, in a neckbrace and using a walker (which matches the scarf of course), says he hopes Moxley knows his actions have consequences. He hopes that he can have kids some day and wants to hear “Pa-pa, can we have a game of catch? But now he might be too injured to allow that to happen. MJF’s lawyer takes over to talk about the Paradigm Shift, also known as the double arm DDT, being so dangerous. If MJF is injured, who is next? Wardlow? Gum Guy? They have put a petition online to get the Paradigm Shift, also known as the double arm DDT, banned, and FIVE MILLION people have signed. That’s why they have a contract ready to ban it and if Moxley doesn’t sign it, they’ll sue.

Lucha Bros/Butcher and Blade vs. Natural Nightmares/Jurassic Express

It’s the Dark Special making it to Dynamite. The brawl is on before the introductions until Marshall hits a handspring forearm to Blade. Marshall has to flip out of a double belly to back suplex and the hot tag brings in Dustin to clean house. Dustin gets taken to the floor though and the beating is on. Back in and Pentagon starts working on Dustin’s leg before handing it off to Fenix for more of the same.

Rating: C. It feels like we’ve seen some version of this match between all of the midcard tag teams around here at least once a week. They aren’t bad and there was no Marko Stunt involvement so it couldn’t be as bad. The match was short enough to not overstay its welcome but it’s nothing we haven’t seen far better before, including anything from the Lucha Bros.

Post match the losers argue a lot but here’s Eddie Kingston to ask why they’re fighting. TNT knows drama so why is there drama here? After that good line, he says that if the four of them follow him, they can have anything they want. The five of them hug and Eddie winks at the camera, because we have another stable around here.

We go to the gym with Britt Baker talking about how awesome she is but Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford are physically expressing their affections with each other. Baker calls them off because that’s a way to exchange germs and offers free dental care for a year if they’ll help get rid of Big Swole. Oh and Reba will do her makeup for a year. Ford says deal.

Tony Schiavone is in the ring and brings out Orange Cassidy for an interview. The Best Friends are here too because they’re on every single show in the history of ever. Tony talks about it being the biggest win of Cassidy’s career but here’s Chris Jericho to interrupt. Jericho congratulates Cassidy on his win because it doesn’t happen around here very often. That means Cassidy is learning, because now he knows what it takes to be a main eventer around here. Jericho wants to offer him a toast but there is one more thing. They’re even in their two matches so they need to do it again.

Jericho invented a match involving a ladder and a briefcase so they need to do something else: the Mimosa Mayhem Match. We see a video explaining the rules: there will be an eighty gallon tub of orange juice mixed with A Little Bit Of The Bubbly at ringside and you win by pinfall, submission, or throwing your opponent in. Back in the arena, Cassidy gives him a thumbs up for All Out. Jericho is pleased and still wants to toast Cassidy, but not alone. Cue the Inner Circle to surround the ring and Jericho says get them. The beating is on and Cassidy is held upside down with Jericho pouring champagne over his face.

Kenny Omega/Young Bucks vs. Dark Order

It’s Alan Angels/John Silver/Alex Reynolds for the Order here. Nick and Angels (I think, as the Order are all in masks) start things off and Matt comes in for the early double teaming. The Bucks shrug off a triple teaming and Omega comes in to show them how it’s properly done. The Order is sent outside until it’s Omega chopping away at Reynolds. Omega is sent outside for a stomp to a chair to his chest and Reynolds hits a suicide dive. Back in and Omega gets beaten down in the corner as we take a break.

We come back with Nick in and cleaning house, including a Backstabber out of the corner to Reynolds. It’s Reynolds getting caught in the corner, including a bulldog/dropkick combination. Omega misses a charge in the corner though and it’s the Order starting with the running corner elbows. Reynolds’ powerbomb to Omega is broken up and it’s time to unleash the snapdragons.

The Meltzer Driver is broken up though and the Order hits back to back Tombstones on the Bucks. Angels comes in with a top rope double stomp for two on Matt with Omega diving in for the save. Angels’ moonsault is superkicked out of the air and Nick hits a moonsault onto the other two. A launch into the Indytaker into the One Winged Angel finishes Angels at 11:17.

Rating: C+. This was as good as the Elite beating up three masked goons was going to be. Omega and the Bucks are fine as a mini stable inside the Elite but it’s only going to be so good given their opponents. Omega wasn’t quite as aggressive as he had been teasing, but then again how angry can you get in a match against the Dark Order?

Post match Omega grabs a chair and loads up a powerbomb to send Angels through it, with the Bucks having to break it up. There’s your aggression.

FTR and Tully Blanchard like the idea of a #1 contenders gauntlet match next week. Tully says it’s time to prove that they are the best and they’ll go through everyone to get there. Hangman Page comes in to share drinks and they seem to be cool with the idea of coming after the titles once they win the gauntlet match. Page and Omega have beaten everyone, but not FTR. Things seem to be all cool.

Darby Allin vs. Will Hobbs

Allin jumps him during the entrance and dropkicks him outside. The dive takes Hobbs out again but he says ring the bell anyway. Allin can’t whip him in so Hobbs hits a heck of a backdrop. Hobbs pulls him out of the corner for two before yelling a lot. That takes a little too long and Allin hits a headbutt to the ribs. The Coffin Drop finishes Hobbs at 2:46.

Post match Taz laughs at Darby and introduces the newest member of Team Taz. His name is Darby also, and it’s…..Ricky Starks in Darby face paint. Starks talks about how no one likes him while he only likes skateboards. He also likes shredding someone’s back with thumb tacks because life is a joke. Ha ha ha. Cue Brian cage from behind to hit Allin with the FTW Title.

We come back with Matt Hardy unloading on Sammy Guevara (who had been out with his signs about Matt) with a chair. Sammy is thrown off the stage and through the table. Matt isn’t done and grabs the same kind of chair that busted him open a few weeks back but referees won’t let him throw it.

NWA Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa, with the title, is coming for Hikaru Shida so she can make the women’s division mean something. She wants a shot at Shida at All Out and nothing else.

Women’s Tag Team Tournament Finals: Nightmare Sisters vs. Diamante/Ivelisse

Veda Scott joins commentary for the four person booth. The Natural Nightmares are here, with Dustin keeping track of Brandi’s action figures. Ivelisse strikes away at Brandi, including kicking out her knee for a kick to the chest. Diamante comes in to kick her down as well but it’s quickly off to Allie for a forearm in the corner.

We take a break and come back with Allie putting Diamante on top but Diamante comes back with a quick suplex to get a breather. The double tag brings in Allie for the reverse DDT but Ivelisse make the save as everything breaks down. Allie is caught in a double team but QT Marshall offers a distraction. He gets knocked off the apron and Brandi is dropped onto him, leaving Allie to be snapmared into a kick to the head for the pin and the tournament at 9:34.

Rating: C-. And that’s the tournament, thank goodness. This was one of the worse things that AEW has done so far and thank goodness it didn’t go on longer. They didn’t have the personnel and it wasn’t exactly interesting as a big trailer for Brandi and Heels. The final could have been worse, but the whole thing felt like such a horrible waste of time. Either get better with the talent or don’t do this again. Keep Veda though, as she was great on commentary.

Post match Madusa comes out to present the trophy. That doesn’t involve saying anything, but the winners get some medals too.

TNT Title: Brodie Lee vs. Cody

Cody is defending and has Arn Anderson in his corner. Brodie starts fast with a dropkick and Cody is sent outside, meaning it’s a hard whip into the barricade. Back in and the smiling Lee drops him again for two. A powerbomb sets up the discus lariat….and Lee wins the title at 3:06. Cody got in no significant offense.

Rating: D+. This was a complete squash and my eyes bugged out on the pin. That’s a good way to send in a shock and I didn’t see it coming. This was in the Brock Lesnar squashes John Cena mold, albeit the shorter form. It wasn’t a good match, but it was a big shock and that’s a positive thing here.

Post match the Dark Order comes in to celebrate as Lee says he told us so. Cody is taken out on a stretcher. He does the big thumbs up….and Lee sends the Dark Order after Arn. Anderson slugs away but gets knocked down, allowing Lee to turn the stretcher over. Dustin Rhodes runs out and gets laid out as well. Lee hits Cody in the head with a rolled up bag and poses over him. Cue Brandi to stand over Cody but Anna Jay chokes her out. Lee calls her off and poses with the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. The wrestling wasn’t as good here but the ending angle and title change were quite good. They moved some things forward here and All Out is starting to come together. They don’t have a lot of time left before the pay per view and hopefully now they can hammer things down and blow it out of the water again. Good show here, and things are looking bright down the road.

Results

FTR b. Private Party – Goodnight Express to Quen

Jurassic Express/Natural Nightmares b. Lucha Bros/Butcher and Blade – Rollup to Pentagon

Kenny Omega/Young Bucks b. Dark Order – One Winged Angel to Angels

Diamante/Ivelisse b. Nightmare Sisters – Kick to Allie’s head

Brodie Lee b. Cody – 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: AEW

Dynamite
Date: August 12, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Taz, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

It’s time for a big night here (tends to be a trend around this place) with both Tag Team Appreciation Night and the big showdown between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy. I’m not sure if I can imagine Cassidy actually beating Jericho, but they have set it up as the most logical way to go. Throw in some good tag stuff and we could be in for a nice night. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Young Bucks vs. Dark Order

The Order jumps the Bucks before the bell and it’s Nick in trouble on the floor. Nick fights up with a big flip dive off the set but Matt’s bad back is sent into various things. Back in and Uno slams Matt back first onto Nick’s knee but Matt flips over both of them and brings Nick in off the hot tag. The springboard armdrag takes Grayson down but he dropkicks Nick’s knee out and dropkicks both Bucks at once.

Matt gets knocked onto the apron and Grayson hits a slingshot knee to the ribs. Choking with the tag rope ensues and an elbow gives Grayson two. Matt gets pulled outside but manages to send Grayson head first into the post. That leaves Matt surrounded by the Order but he crawls underneath the ring to escape. That’s not enough for the hot tag though as Uno hits a jumping neckbreaker to take him right back down. A big boot cuts off another comeback bid but Matt snaps off a reverse hurricanrana to Grayson, setting up the hot tag to Nick.

Everything breaks down and Grayson is sent over the barricade, leaving Uno to get superkicked. There’s another one to Grayson, setting up Risky Business for two on Uno. The springboard Swanton to Uno gets two more thanks to a foot on the rope. Grayson is back in for the Swanton to Matt while Uno Cannonballs Nick. Another kick to the face gets another two on Matt with Nick making the save. Nick is dragged up to the entrance, leaving Matt to counter Fatality into a rollup for the pin at 12:28.

Rating: B-. Why yes, the Bucks did just get destroyed for most of the match, hit a bunch of superkicks, kick out of a bunch of stuff and then win in the end off a fluke rollup. They’re rather popular, but my goodness they can get into a formula with the best of them. That can also become a problem as there is rarely a doubt about them losing a match, but they shouldn’t be losing to the Dark Order anyway.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman makes his walk to the ring, likes his new gum, and shoves a guy for getting in his shot.

Hangman Page and Kenny Omega pick the Young Bucks as their favorite tag team ever. Page: “I was going to say us but….”. Omega goes on about how great the Bucks are and Page doesn’t seem convinced.

Here’s MJF for his weekly campaign speech. After giving us the hashtags, MJF yells at his assistant to smile and has her show us some polling. We see that MJF is up 500% to -1000% nationwide and the numbers don’t lie. It’s time to move over to someone better than MJF because we deserve better. MJF even lays down to make it easier for Moxley, who isn’t even here this week. He gives Moxley the keys to everything, and here’s Moxley’s music.

MJF sends everyone to where Moxley tends to come from, but Moxley comes in through the entrance and hits the Paradigm Shift. Moxley leaves and says that doesn’t make us even. That doesn’t come until All Out when he teaches him a violent lesson. MJF screams for Wardlow to help him but be careful.

We look back at the NASTY chair to Matt Hardy’s head which busted him open. That was horrible.

Matt says he isn’t cleared for ten days, which happens to be the date of the next Dynamite on Saturday August 22. Matt is ready for Sammy then but he’s waiting for Sammy tonight. Matt insists he’s ok and not crazy, but he then jumps a referee who looks a little bit like Sammy before realizing what he does.

TNT Title: Scorpio Sky vs. Cody

Sky is challenging and kicks a door in on his entrance for the symbolic entrance. The TNT Title is complete, and Cody now has the Natural Nightmares, the Nightmare Sisters and Arn Anderson with him, at least for the entrance. Mike Chioda makes his debut as referee and they trade headlock takeovers to start. Cody gets sent outside and the frustration sets in quickly.

Back in and Cody shows off the double bicep before sending Sky to the floor with a hiptoss. Sky ignores Cody’s offer of holding the ropes open and they head back inside, only to fall to the floor again. Some shots to Sky’s ribs on the floor set up a powerslam inside and we take a break. Back with Cody getting two off a sunset flip out of the corner but Sky drops him ribs first across the top rope.

The ribs are sent hard into the post and Sky sends him onto the ramp. The slingshot cutter over the ropes gives Sky two but Cody gets in a shot and takes him up top. That means a superplex, with Sky reversing into a small package for two. The TKO is countered into Cross Rhodes for two in the big kickout. Sky grabs a jumping Downward Spiral for the same so he loads up another slingshot cutter. This time Cody grabs the rope for the block and hits the Cross Rhodes again to retain at 11:50.

Rating: B. This was good but could have been great. Sky is one of the smoothest hands in all of AEW and it is nice to see him doing something like this in a bigger spot. That being said, he needs to actually win a match of note on his own one day. The match was good though and Sky looked like a bigger deal on this stage. Cody winning isn’t a surprise, but I was hoping for a little more from this one.

Post match Brodie Lee pops up on screen with the old TNT Title, saying that Cody can have that because Lee will take the real one next week. Tick tock, time’s up.

Private Party’s favorite team is the Hardys.

Tag Team Titles: Jurassic Express vs. Hangman Page/Kenny Omega

The Express is challenging and Luchasaurus says hi to his mom. It only took sixty five million years but a dinosaur is finally getting a shot. Boy and Omega start things off but the referee has to deal with Marko Stunt interfering. Both Taz and JR sound sick of him as the referee gets rid of him in a hurry. We settle down to Boy reversing a fireman’s carry into an armbar, followed by a multiple springboard armdrag.

A dropkick gives Omega one but a shot to the face messes up Omega’s nose. Luchasaurus comes in for some shots in the corner before it’s quickly back to Boy. Page makes a blind tag and scores with a quick basement lariat for two. Everything breaks down and Page chops it out with Boy, sending JR into some annoyance as we take a break. Back with Luchasaurus cleaning house, including a chokeslam to Page to set up a standing moonsault for two.

Omega hits a V Trigger to Luchasaurus’ back, followed by a pair of Snapdragons. Omega is sent outside where Stunt gets on his nerves, meaning it’s a Snapdragon on the floor. Boy hits a big suicide dive (barely making contact) but Omega is right back in with a fisherman’s suplex for two on Luchasaurus. Page takes Luchasaurus’ place and gets chokeslammed, but Luchasaurus has to throw Stunt over the top onto Omega. Everyone gets back in and Omega sends the Express outside for the big flip dive. Boy is sent back inside for a powerbomb from Page for two and it’s the Last Call to finish Boy at 14:10.

Rating: B-. Not bad here, but it is nice to hear commentary just getting sick of everything about Stunt. It has been annoying for a long time now and the team is trying to win the Tag Team Titles here. Why are we seeing Stunt get involved with something that should be a lot more important? Anyway, good match here, but not at the level that Page and Omega have hit before.

Santana and Ortiz throw the Best Friends’ gear in the shower and cover it with bleach.

Butcher and Blade pick the Road Warriors as the best team ever because no one could clear a ring like they could.

The Young Bucks and FTR are in the ring with the Rock N Roll Express and Arn Anderson/Tully Blanchard. Matt talks about how the Express developed the style that the Bucks use to this day. The Express made the style for Shawn and Marty and Matt and Jeff (the names they use) and the Bucks have nothing but respect for them. Dax talks about how he’s a huge Express mark because the Express has allowed him to make a living in this business. He has a beautiful wife and a perfect daughter and he can provide that life for them because of these legends.

Ricky talks about how much he loves AEW and how the Young Bucks are bringing tag team wrestling back to what they did years ago. Arn says he doesn’t blow smoke because it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. The Bucks have taken tag team wrestling to another level and Arn’s hat is off to them. As for FTR, they’re the best tag team in the world today. Tully takes the mic from Ricky and tells him not to start something he can’t finish. What matters the most is being the Tag Team Champions and FTR aren’t the champions.

As for Arn, Tully hasn’t been cool with him since last year when he cost Shawn Spears a match against Cody. Spears comes out and Arn sees where this is going and leaves. Ricky pops Tully in the mouth and they have to be separated as Dax has aggravated last week’s knee injury. The knee brace comes off….and FTR jumps the Express from behind. Ricky takes a spike piledriver and it’s the Bucks and Omega/Page (with drink) making the save. Nice job here as the swerve worked well.

Mike Chioda is proud to be here but Chris Jericho interrupts. Jericho talks about their time together and implies that the fix is in. Chioda says he’s calling it down the middle, so Jericho says that’s fine. When he gives the signal, ahem, call it right down the middle. If Chioda does the right thing, maybe Jericho gets him his job back here.

Sammy Guevara comes out with his signs to ask about Matt Hardy. That is all for Sammy at the moment, though he’s still no Lodi.

Hikaru Shida vs. Heather Monroe

Non-title. Monroe jumps her to start so Shida is right back with a running knee. Shida gets caught in the corner though and Monroe hits some knees to the back, setting up a cross arm choke. A flip into the corner looks to set up the Falcon Arrow but Monroe reverses into a rollup for two. That’s fine with Shida, who grabs the Brock Lock and pulls on the arm at the same time for the tap at 2:25.

Post match, Shida says bring it on at All Out.

Jake Roberts talks about having a mental advantage as Lance Archer beats up people in the locker room behind him. Archer wants Jake to tell them something and then rips Jake’s shirt open, revealing a message on his back: EVERYBODY DIES.

Here’s what’s coming on the August 22 Dynamite (with at least half of it up against Takeover), including Cody defending the TNT Title against Brodie Lee and the finals of the women’s tag team tournament.

Video on Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy.

Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy

If Jericho wins, Cassidy owes him $7000 and the Best Friends/the Inner Circle are banned from ringside. Cassidy puts his hands in his pockets and the fight is on in a hurry. They head outside with Cassidy hitting a dive and then going up top, meaning it’s the hands in pockets (for most of the trip) dive. A top rope DDT gets two on Jericho back inside but the Superman Punch is blocked. Jericho suplexes him down and chops away, setting up the triangle dropkick to the floor.

Back from a break with Jericho hitting a very delayed vertical suplex. Cassidy is back with a nasty dragon screw legwhip though and Jericho is in some trouble. The top rope hurricanrana is loaded up but Jericho counters into the Walls. Cassidy slips out so Jericho grabs the Codebreaker for two. Frustration sets in so Jericho grabs Floyd the bat and tells Mike Chioda to do the right thing. Chioda turns around but turns back around and takes the bat away.

Cassidy gets two off a rollup and hits a Falcon Arrow for the same. At least there’s no Excalibur here for his line about the move. Cue Santana and Ortiz to brawl on the stage with the Best Friends for a distraction, allowing Jake Hager to run in and hits a powerslam on Cassidy to give Jericho two. A low blow slows Cassidy down but he avoids the Judas Effect, allowing Cassidy to….mostly botch his Oklahoma roll but he winds up on top to pin Jericho at 13:48.

Rating: C. Not exactly a great match (the ending was rather bad) but it was the only thing they could do here. They built up Cassidy as having a chance against Jericho and while I still have quite the issue with Jericho putting Cassidy over in general, it was all they could do in this situation. Not a good match for the most part, but the logical conclusion.

Overall Rating: C+. If you didn’t see the logo on the graphics, the Tag Team Appreciation Night would have probably slipped by you. It was kind of a weird show in that they had a theme but didn’t really follow up on it and the main event was built around a mostly comedy feud. Almost everything felt like it could have been more, though what we got was good enough. Not a bad show by any means, but I was hoping for more almost up and down the card.

Results

Young Bucks b. Dark Order – Rollup to Grayson

Cody b. Scorpio Sky – Cross Rhodes

Hangman Page/Kenny Omega b. Jurassic Express – Last Call to Boy

Hikaru Shida b. Heather Monroe – Over the neck leg and arm stretch

Orange Cassidy b. Chris Jericho – Arm trap rollup

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