Rampage
Date: August 5, 2022
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

We’re a day away from Battle Of The Belts and that is probably not going to mean very much. Other than that, we have a street fight this week between Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland and Josh Woods/Tony Nese, after Woods attacked Lee last week. In addition, Madison Rayne will be making her AEW debut which could be interesting. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Jon Moxley vs. Mance Warner

Non-title and William Regal is on commentary. Before the match, we get a video from Warner, who is quite the Tennessee style talker. He promises to fight Moxley (rather than dance with him) because he has heard Moxley talk about how much he loves to bleed. Now Ole Mancer is here to become the man. It’s a brawl in the aisle to start with Warner sending him into the steps before biting Moxley’s head.

They get inside for the bell and are back on the floor literally two seconds later. Moxley gets sent into the barricade and there’s a crotching on the barricade to make it worse. A clothesline knocks Moxley down again and they head inside but he tied Warner’s leg in the ropes. There’s a running dropkick to the ropes to set up a Figure Four but Warner is out without much trouble.

Back up and they trade right hands in the corner before going outside again. Moxley gets whipped hard into the steps but he’s back up with a suplex. They head inside but are right back outside (again) to fight on the steps. Warner hits a DDT onto said steps and we take a break. Back with Warner stomping on the ankle and hitting a not great spinebuster for two. A boot to Moxley’s bloody face gets two and Warner grabs a chair, which is forearmed into Warner’s head.

Now Warner is busted open as well, which offers a good target for Moxley’s suicide dive into the barricade. Back in and a superplex sets up the hammer and elbow elbows, though Moxley’s arm is hurt from forearming the chair. Warner hits him with a clothesline and they’re both down. The cover from Warner is countered into a Kimura before Moxley stomps away at the head. A piledriver sets up more stomping and Moxley chokes him out at 11:37.

Rating: C+. Yes it’s another Moxley brawl with blood and again it doesn’t get to stand out after how many times we have seen it. Warner is a good talker but his stuff between the bells doesn’t exactly stand out. It’s a bunch of whipping people into things and hitting them with weapons, which gets repetitive fast. Having both of them in the same match didn’t exactly hit a high level, though it was a decent brawl.

At Dynamite, Ricky Starks was interrupted by the Factory. QT Marshall offers Starks protection from the team (which now includes Kole Carter) but he isn’t interested in help, either from Marshall or Aaron Solo.

Ryan Nemeth vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Takeshita avoids a charge to start and hits a running boot in the corner as the fans seem rather invested here. Peter Avalon, in Nemeth’s corner, grabs Takeshita’s leg though and Nemeth starts kneeing away. Takeshita is right back up with a Blue Thunder Bomb and the running knee finishes Nemeth at 1:40. Well that’s how you build someone up for tomorrow’s title match.

Post match Avalon goes after Takeshita and gets kneed down for his efforts.

At Dynamite, Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends aren’t thrilled with how they’re doing as of late but think they do their best as a trio. They’re in for the Trios Title tournament, but Dr. Danhausen comes in to make it four. Because he’s a doctor too.

Madison Rayne vs. Leila Grey

Stokely Hathaway is here with Grey. They lock up to start with Grey driving her into the corner for a forearm to the chest. The frustration sets in for Rayne and they go to a series of standing switches. Some rollups gives Rayne some near falls and we hit the armbar to keep Grey in trouble.

Back up and Grey misses a charge into the corner but Hathaway jumps up and down on the steps for a rather obvious distraction. Grey knocks her off the apron and we take a break. Back with Rayne striking away and getting two off a northern lights suplex. Rayne hits a sliding lariat into Cross Raynes (yes Cross Raynes) to finish Grey at 8:29.

Rating: C. Rayne is an interesting veteran to bring in as the fans are going to know who she is and she can wrestle a good enough match. There are multiple women above her though and she is only going to draw so much interest. This was about what I expected and now Rayne can move on to do whatever else, though she might be better suited as a coach than a regular competitor.

Post match Jade Cargill comes out and issues the challenge to Rayne for next week’s Dynamite. Rayne is in and even takes out the invading Kiera Hogan.

Video on the Lucha Bros vs. La Faccion Ingobernable in a tornado tag.

Mark Sterling doesn’t think much of Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland, who are ready to face Tony Nese/Josh Woods in a street fight.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland vs. Tony Nese/Josh Woods

Non-title falls count anywhere and Mark Sterling is here with Nese and Woods. It’s a brawl on the floor to start with Woods driving Strickland into the barricade. They trade off with a drop toehold sending Nese into the barricade, leaving Woods to get forearmed in the face. Nese is back up with some protein powder in Lee’s face but that’s about it for offense, as Strickland grabs a toolbox and launches it, only to hit the steps.

As Lee gets some water for his eyes, Woods forearms Swerve in the face and grabs a twisting suplex to send him into the steps. We take a break and come back with Lee saving Strickland from being powerbombed off the apron and through a table. Lee can’t stop Nese from kicking Strickland in the face but he can break up a cover at two. Everyone gets back in with Lee cleaning house but Nese dropkicks a chair into his face. A double DDT onto a chair gets two as Strickland 450s in for the save.

Now we get a table set up, but Sterling comes in with a wrench (from the toolbox) to knock Strickland silly. Lee is back up with a headbutt to Nese and throws Sterling off the top and through the table. Woods still can’t suplex Lee off the apron and through more tables but Nese adds a suplex and the superplex does indeed drive Lee down hard. Nese brings in a bunch of chairs but gets backdropped onto them instead. The Swerve Stomp onto the chairs is enough to give Strickland the pin at 13:56.

Rating: B-. I’m not sure what to think about something like this, as it’s another weapons based brawl which we seem to have almost every week or so. Lee and Strickland are a rather good team and they did well here, but I could go a little while without seeing Nese, who never seems to win anything. There are so many good teams around here but Lee and Strickland are facing a makeshift team with Mark Sterling. I’m not sure I get that one.

Overall Rating: C+. Pretty good show here, but the amount of time spent on hardcore or weapons stuff around here gets annoying at times. Rayne vs. Grey was the only match here to get some time and not have a bunch of weapons stuff involved. There are talented wrestlers around here and they don’t need the stuff going on to make their matches interesting. The show was good enough, but it felt like they were tacking on a bunch of extra stuff that didn’t need to be there, which tends to be a recurring theme for AEW.

Results
Jon Moxley b. Mance Warner – Bulldog choke
Konosuke Takeshita b. Ryan Nemeth – Running knee
Madison Rayne b. Leila Grey – Cross Raynes
Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland b. Tony Nese/Josh Woods – Swerve Stomp onto chairs to Nese

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Dynamite
Date: July 20, 2022
Location: Gas South Arena, Duluth, Georgia
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

It’s time for the Shark Week show, because corporate synergy is a thing. That means a barbed wire match between Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho, with the rest of the Jericho Appreciation Society in shark cages. That’s quite the way to go but I’m sure we’ll get something else big tonight. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Brodie King vs. Darby Allin

Sting is here with Allin. They start fast with Allin knocking him to the floor for a suicide dive. Back in and King gets staggered again but is fine enough to shrug off a high crossbody attempt. King swings him around by the pants and Allin is sent outside, followed by some stomping back inside.

We take a break and come back with Allin hitting a suicide flip dive but a charge in the corner is countered into a sleeper. Allin tries to climb the rope but gets caught in the Tree of Woe for his efforts. The Cannonball only hits corner though and it’s a Code Red to give Allin two. Allin spins King over into a weird double arm crank, which thankfully is switched into a choke before I have to try and describe it. With that broken up, King is sent to the apron where he grabs the hanging sleeper. Allin is mostly out but beats the count back in, setting up the Ganso Bomb to give King the pin at 12:29.

Rating: B-. This was a well put together story, as Allin can only go with the fast paced hit and run stuff while King is the monster who can crush Allin with his bare hands. That’s what happened at the end as Allin was overwhelmed, which is the best way to go with these two. Nice stuff here, with King getting a win to boost himself up a bit.

Post match King goes after Allin again but Sting comes in for the save. The Death Drop is loaded up but the lights go out, with Malakai Black popping up. King chokes Sting and it’s the black mist from Black as King chokes him out. Cue Miro to stare down the House Of Black but he doesn’t get in the ring.

Cole Karter is ready for Ricky Stars tonight when Team Taz interrupts. Trash talk is exchanged before tonight’s title match.

Best Friends vs. Jon Moxley/Wheeler Yuta

Orange Cassidy and William Regal are on commentary. Moxley and Beretta start things off with some grappling until Moxley goes for the leg. Yuta comes in to face Chuck and gets shouldered down for an early two as Excalibur goes into a discussion about a trainer from Mexico. Cassidy: “Uh…..sure.” It’s quickly back to Trent to suplex Yuta and forearm him against the ropes. They head outside with Yuta being sent into the barricade as we take a break.

Back with Moxley getting the tag to take Trent’s head off, setting up the hammer and anvil elbows. Some stomps to the head rock Trent but Taylor makes the save. Yuta gets crotched on top and the Awful Waffle hits Moxley. Back to back piledrivers get two on Yuta and the Crunchie is good for the same, with Moxley making a save. Everything breaks down and Moxley Figure Fours Trent on the floor. That leaves Yuta to roll Chuck up (with a rather nifty arm trap) for the pin at 11:50.

Rating: C+. I’m not sure if they’re teasing Cassidy vs. Moxley or Yuta but neither is the most interesting. What matters here is that Yuta got to shine a bit, as he already has a major title defense coming up this weekend. Moxley is a star no matter what he does so letting Yuta get the attention here is a good thing. It isn’t like it happens every often.

Video on Jonathan Gresham vs. Claudio Castagnoli at Death Before Dishonor.

Chompy, the Shark Week mascot, is at commentary for some fin pumping.

Here are Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland for a championship celebration, complete with champagne and cake. The fans sing BASK IN HIS GLORY so Swerve throws in a WHO’S HOUSE. After a YOU DESERVE IT and a plug for a rapper in the front row, Lee thanks Swerve to getting them here. Lee says they don’t look down on anyone so if you want a shot, come get one.

It’s time for a toast, but here are Mark Sterling and Tony Nese with A PETITION. The petition is almost complete but Sterling wants the rapper (Kevin Gates) to sign as well. Gates won’t sign, so Sterling says Gates’ music is terrible. That’s good for a shot to the face, plus a cake to the face from Strickland.

The Dark Order tries to be nice to Butcher and the Blade, even giving them matching BUTCH shirts. That earns them a beatdown, with Hangman Page making the save. Page: “You guys all right???” Silver: “No. We’re pretty bad.”

Luchasaurus/Christian Cage vs. Varsity Blonds

Christian starts with Pillman but hands it off to Luchasaurus before doing anything. House is cleaned so Garrison comes in, only to get beaten up as well. The double chokeslam plants the Blonds and Christian comes in to get the pin at 2:00.

Post match Christian gets on Luchasaurus’ shoulders to celebrate but Jungle Boy is back. Luchasaurus looks at Jungle Boy….and then stands beside him. Christian bails through the crowd with Jungle Boy giving chase.

The Gunn Club doesn’t want a match with the Acclaimed, but Austin Gunn will have a rap battle with Max Caster this week on Rampage. The winner gets to set up the match between the teams.

JR comes out.

FTW Title: Cole Karter vs. Ricky Starks

Starks is defending and sends Karter into the corner for some shots to the face. Karter gets a boot up in the corner and hits a high crossbody before knocking Starks outside. We take a break and come back with Karter missing a 450, allowing Starks to hit the spear to retain at 6:11. Not enough shown to rate, but Karter looked fine, for a wrestler with nothing that makes him stand out in any way.

Post match Starks says he’s got something left so let’s have another open challenge.

FTW Title: Danhausen vs. Ricky Starks

Starks is defending….or at least he was going to as he backs off and says we can do this next week. No match.

Athena and Kris Statlander want titles, with Willow Nightingale approving.

Here is FTR for a chat. They aren’t used to this kind of a reaction, but now it’s time to talk about their upcoming match with the Briscoes. On Saturday, it’s 2/3 falls for the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Titles. FTR respects the Briscoes and what they have done for wrestling, but no one is taking these titles from them.

Harwood talks about a girl with a hole in her heart which could have healed on its own but she might need open heart surgery. Three years went by, and the hole was completely closed. She fought to get better and did it, because that little girl is his daughter. If she can fight that hard, then her daddy has to do the same thing, which is what he’ll do on Saturday. Harwood is going to fight like a girl on Saturday so Top Guys out. To the point with a good story here. That’s all you needed.

Jay Lethal is ready to win the Ring Of Honor TV Title but here is Christopher Daniels to say he’ll fight Lethal on Rampage.

Jade Cargill/Kiera Hogan vs. Athena/Willow Nightingale

Before the match, Stokely Hathaway says Leila Grey can’t compete but Kris Statlander is barred from the ring too. Cargill sidesteps Athena to start and hands it off to Hogan. That’s fine with Nightingale, who runs her over and hits a basement crossbody. Nightingale sends both of them to the floor and hits a running Blockbuster off the apron. Athena dives onto everyone and we take a break.

Back with Nightingale coming in to chop away at Hogan before we get the Cargill vs. Athena showdown. Cargill avoids a dropkick and hits a fall away slam but they both nip up. Some knees to the chest drop Cargill and Athena apron bombs Hogan. A Hathaway distraction lets Cargill send Athena into the steps and it’s Jaded to finish Nightingale at 8:26.

Rating: C. Again, at some point, you might want to make SOMEONE feel like a threat to Cargill because what they’re doing with Athena isn’t working. Cargill has shrugged off almost everything Athena has done and left her laying time after time. Why would I want to see a title match between them?

Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm are ready for Rosa’s title defense next week. Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter come in to laugh at them like the villains that they are.

Here is what is coming on future shows.

Eddie Kingston vs. Chris Jericho

There is barbed wire everywhere, including around the microphone. The Jericho Appreciation Society is in a shark cage and Ruby Soho is in charge of the key and the cage’s lift. Jericho is the Painmaker, complete with spike jacket and barbed wire bat. Kingston grabs the mic and spikes Jericho in the head with it, allowing Jericho to blade on camera.

They fight to the floor with Jericho going into various things, followed by a drop onto the barbed wire ropes back inside. A barbed wire chair to the back has Jericho in trouble but he backdrops Kingston onto a barbed wire board as we take a break. Back with Jericho getting crotched on the barbed wire but Jericho knocks him onto a barbed wire table. Cue Tay Conti to go after Soho but Anna Jay makes the save. Then Jay sends Soho into the post and the shark cage is lowered. Conti opens the cage and the Society gets out to beat on Kingston.

Cue Ortiz and company for the save, allowing Kingston to suplex Jericho through a barbed wire board in the corner for two. The Codebreaker cuts Kingston down for two more and some very weak barbed wire chair shots to the knee keep him in trouble. The Lionsault is cut off by Kingston tossing the barbed wire chair into the….well something on a flying Jericho. The spinning backfist gets two so the Stretch Plum, with barbed wire, goes on. Cue Sammy Guevara to break it up and the barbed wire Judas Effect gives Jericho the pin at 13:10.

Rating: C-. I’m sure there will be quite a bit of variance in the takes on this match but how the heck do you rate something like this? It’s one violent stunt after another and doing one barbed wire deal after another stops having any impact after about the fifth one. If this is your thing I completely get it, but I lost interest a few minutes in and never got it back.

Post match Kingston fights back and tries a spinning backfist to Guevara (which misses completely but Guevara falls outside anyway). That leaves Jericho to be thrown onto a barbed wire board to end the show, with Kingston looking mildly annoyed at the loss.

Overall Rating: C. This show was all over the place with a bunch of different things going on and it is a great example of “your mileage may vary”. They were focusing on some AEW feuds, plus a bunch of Ring Of Honor stuff. The show certainly wasn’t bad, but AEW continues to feel like it doesn’t have anything resembling a top story. There are things they’ll focus on, but nothing feels head and shoulders above the rest. That can work for a bit, but it’s getting a little tiresome in recent weeks. Not their best show, but it felt like more about trying to do too much than a drop in quality.

Results
Brodie King b. Darby Allin – Ganso Bomb
Jon Moxley/Wheeler Yuta b. Best Friends – Rollup to Taylor
Christian Cage/Luchasaurus b. Varsity Blonds – Double chokeslam
Ricky Starks b. Cole Karter – Spear
Jade Cargill/Kiera Hogan b. Willow Nightingale/Athena – Jaded to Nightingale
Chris Jericho b. Eddie Kingston – Judas Effect with barbed wire

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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Rampage
Date: July 15, 2022
Location: Enmarket Arena, Savannah, Georgia
Commentators: Jim Ross, Taz, Chris Jericho

We’re still in Fyter Fest with the second of four shows in two weeks. I’m not sure what that is going to mean, but we do have a big time Ring Of Honor World Title match as Jonathan Gresham defends against Lee Moriarty. Odds are we’re going to be seeing some kind of a surprise challenger to come out after the match and set up Death Before Dishonor so let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Dark Order vs. House Of Black

Black rolls Reynolds to the mat to start but Reynolds is back up with a wristlock. That doesn’t last long as Black knees him in the ribs to set up a chinlock before it’s off to Brody King. The big chop misses though, meaning John Silver wants to try King out of a slight case of insanity. King runs him over with a shoulder but misses a backsplash. Everything breaks down and the Order gets to clean house, including a double dropkick to send King outside. Reynolds’ dive is countered into a chokeslam onto the apron and we take a break with the House in control.

Back with Black kicking King in the face by mistake so Silver can snap off a belly to back suplex. Everything breaks down again and Silver has to save Reynolds from a powerbomb. A series of strikes to the face knock King into a German suplex, with Black diving in off the top for the save (with a camera angle possibly having to hide the landing). Dante’s Inferno finishes Reynolds at 9:17.

Rating: C+. This is the kind of spot that suits the Dark Order well, as they had no chance of winning but were able to hang in there long enough to make a match out of it. That isn’t something everyone is going to be able to do against the House but they made it work well enough here. Pretty fun match too, with the House getting to crush in the end.

Post match Darby Allin runs out to jump King but Sting has to come out and even things up. Sting and Black have the big staredown.

Miro still wants to destroy the House Of Black.

Ring Of Honor World Title: Jonathan Gresham vs. Lee Moriarty

Gresham, with Tully Blanchard, is defending and Matt Sydal is here with Moriarty. They start fast with Gresham being sent outside off a double leg attempt. Back in and Moriarty strikes away to send Gresham outside again, though this time he follows for some forearms. Gresham gets back inside and they strike away again, with Gresham pulling off some wrist tape. The referee takes care of that, allowing Gresham to hit Moriarty low, because he has gone to the evil side. Some headlock takeovers have Moriarty down again and we take a break.

Back with Moriarty striking away and starting to work on the arm. A dropkick cuts Gresham down and a single underhook bridging suplex gets two. Gresham is right back to the arm with a quick snap, followed by a stomp for two. Moriarty rolls him up for two more but gets pulled into the Octopus for the tap at 10:06.

Rating: B-. This felt oddly short but they did pretty well with the time that they had. What mattered here was getting Moriarty to look like he could hang against someone like Gresham before falling to the better wrestler. Gresham is a beast and when you throw in the cheating, things are that much better. Good match, but the bigger story is coming for Gresham.

Post match Blanchard and Gresham get in the ring, with Gresham bragging about how he is the best in the world. Cue Claudio Castagnoli for the staredown and we might have a Death Before Dishonor main event. That would be the bigger story.

Christopher Daniels is tired of Jay Lethal going after Samoa Joe. Lethal will get choked out at Death Before Dishonor, but Daniels seems interested in doing it herself.

Kris Statlander/Athena vs. Renegades

Statlander and Athena jump them before the bell and the beatdown is on in a hurry. Robyn is put on Statlander’s shoulders and tossed into two top roe knees from Athena (not sure if that was supposed to be a Codebreaker). The bell rings and the O Face (Eclipse) finishes Charlotte at 27 seconds.

Post match Leila Grey runs in to offer a distraction, allowing Kiera Hogan and Jade Cargill to come in and clean house without much effort. You know, if you want Athena and Statlander to be threats to Jade, you might want them to do something other than get beaten up most of the time.

Stokely Hathaway offers his services to Lee Moriarty, but Matt Sydal isn’t having any of this. With Stokely gone, Sydal announces that Moriarty is getting to face Dante Martin next week. Cue Martin, who absolutely had to be in Moriarty’s field of vision, to shake Moriarty’s hand.

Here is the Gunn Club to explain why they turned on the Acclaimed. Billy says everyone, including himself, loves the Acclaimed, but there comes a time when Daddy A** has to drop the hammer. Cue the Acclaimed but they don’t even rap on the way to the ring. Billy says hang on and offers scissoring but gets knocked down, allowing the Acclaimed to clear the ring. The challenge is thrown out but that isn’t going to happen. It had to be done somehow and this was as good of a face turn as you could have.

Andrade El Idolo is ready for Private Party to beat up the Lucha Bros, who don’t seem to agree.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

Private Party vs. Lucha Bros

There are a bunch of people at ringside too. Penta and Kassidy start things off with the latter being shoved down without much effort. Everything breaks down in a hurry and the Bros hit superkicks, only to be sent outside for the big flip dives. Back in and the Bros kick Quen down before scaring Kassidy back to the floor. Silly String hits Penta and a springboard Stunner knocks Penta outside as we take a break.

Back with the hot tag bringing in Fenix to clean house, including some chops to Quen in the corner. Kassidy makes a save though and it’s a Doomsday crossbody for two. Fenix gets stomped down in the corner but he gets away for the hot tag to Penta. This doesn’t quite work as a springboard doesn’t work, with Penta slipping down in a nasty crash. Penta is fine enough to hit a Death Valley Driver to send Quen into Kassidy in the corner. The lackeys get in a fight but here is Rush to deck Penta. This has no effect as Penta is back up with the Canadian Destroyer on Quen. Fenix adds the Black Fire Driver for the pin at 11:23.

Rating: C+. It was the kind of match you would expect from these teams, which is to say there were a lot of spots and they moved through them very fast. It wasn’t exactly crisp but Fenix can be one of the most entertaining guys in the world no matter what he is doing. Fun main event here, though Private Party is the same team they were a few years ago: potential, but not much to show for it.

Overall Rating: C+. This is a good example of a show where it was fine throughout and then pretty much nothing that happened here will stick with me for more than a few hours. It came and went with some good enough action, but AEW has a tendency to fly through these shows and not let much sink in. That was the case here, though the Claudio moment was good for a smile.

Results
House Of Black b. Dark Order – Dante’s Inferno to Reynolds
Jonathan Gresham b. Lee Moriarty – Octopus
Athena/Kris Statlander b. Renegades – O Face to Charlotte
Lucha Bros b. Private Party – Black Fire Driver to Quen

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Dynamite
Date: July 13, 2022
Location: Enmarket Arena, Savannah, Georgia
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

We’re on the way to Death Before Dishonor and thankfully the build for that show hasn’t taken everything over like the Forbidden Door stuff did. It’s the first of four Fyter Fest shows and the Tag Team Titles are on the line as the Young Bucks defend against Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee and Team Taz. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

TNT Title: Wardlow vs. Orange Cassidy

Cassidy is challenging, with the Best Friends in his corner (complete with managers’ licenses). They go with the test of strength to start and Cassidy puts his hands in his pockets….which are torn off by Wardlow. Now Wardlow’s straps come down….with Cassidy putting them right back up. The Powerbomb Symphony is broken up and Cassidy snaps off a headscissors but comes up favoring his eye. The referee checks on him, allowing Chuck Taylor to whip out A CHAINSAW.

Believe it or not, that’s enough for an ejection, with Wardlow blocking a quick Orange Punch attempt. The lazy kicks annoy Wardlow and he misses a charge to the floor. Cassidy has to slip out of an apron powerbomb, leaving Wardlow to choke an interfering Danhausen. Back in and an overhead belly to belly sends Cassidy flying as we take a break.

We come back with Cassidy driving him into the corner but Wardlow hits the F10….for two, making Cassidy the first person to ever kick out of it. Another powerbomb is countered into a hurricanrana and there’s the Orange Punch. The Beach Break connects for two but another Orange Punch is countered into powerbomb to retain the title at 11:44.

Rating: B-. This was a good example of a match that got a lot better once they dropped the nonsense with the Best Friends (and some with Cassidy). Once you let Cassidy do his thing, you can get a nice match, especially with him fighting from underneath. Wardlow won as he should have, but Cassidy was hardly destroyed.

Respect is shown post match.

Quick look at Pac retaining the All-Atlantic Title at a Rev Pro show in England.

Here is Chris Jericho for a chat. He’s here talking as Chris Jericho the man, not the rock star. Jericho is here to talk about Eddie Kingston, who is such a rotten friend. We hear about how Kingston’s friends are always getting hurt or injured, from Santana and Bryan Danielson to Ruby Soho. Jericho: “You need to take better care of your chicks Eddie.”

Now it’s time for a barbed wire match because Kingston is a mark for Sabu and Terry Funk but how many barbed wire matches has he been in? Jericho had a barbed wire match at 22 and knows how it tastes. Now it’s time for Kingston to face the Painmaker because it’s time for both of them to bleed in the final fight. This was the hard push to the match and while I still roll my eyes at the barbed wire stuff, Jericho sold it well.

Post break, Eddie Kingston gets very close to the camera and promises to make Jericho bleed every drop of his blood. Ruby Soho and Ortiz are behind him and don’t seem overly pleased.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Jon Moxley

Non-title, but a title eliminator match and William regal is on commentary. Moxley works on the arm to start before they trade shoulders. A headlock takeover puts Takeshita down but they’re back up for a double chop off. Moxley runs him over and we hit a rather loose STF. With that broken up they head to the apron, where a German suplex drops Moxley. He’s right back up and knocks Takeshita silly as we take a break.

Back with Moxley stomping away at a bleeding Takeshita. They get back up for a slugout, with Moxley being sent into the corner for a running big boot. A brainbuster gives Takeshita two but his frog splash hits raised knees. They slug it out again until Takeshita snaps off a hurricanrana to send him outside. There’s the big no hands flip dive as Takeshita is holding his arm. Back in and Takeshita’s frog splash connects for two, followed by a Blue Thunder Bomb for the same. The Death Rider is countered into a German suplex to give Takeshita two more but Moxley pulls him into the bulldog choke for the tap at 13:07.

Rating: B+. They beat the heck out of each other here and it was a pretty awesome match, with Moxley having to survive instead of just running over Takeshita. AEW has something with Takeshita if they want to go somewhere with him, as he can hang with anyone and the fans are into him. Find a story with him and go from there.

The House of Black doesn’t think much of Darby Allin and blame him for his problems.

Griff Garrison vs. Luchasaurus

Before the match, Christian Cage talks about how he just doesn’t like the Varsity Blonds, especially when Brian Pillman Jr.’s father was average at best. Christian would be so disappointed to see that his final legacy in wrestling is a failure like his son. As for Garrison, Christian doesn’t like a publicity picture that he put up this week because it makes him look like Jungle Boy. That’s too much for Luchasaurus, who stomps to the ring to start the beating. Luchasaurus drops him hard and a pair of chokeslams set up the Snare Trap variation (now dubbed the Tar Pit) for the tap at 1:34.

Post match Luchasaurus knocks Pillman out and puts him on the table, with Garrison being chokeslammed onto Pillman and through the table (on the second try).

The Jericho Appreciation Society aren’t happy with being in a shark cage next week and want Eddie Kingston’s friends in one of their own. Tony Schiavone is threatened with a comb until Daniel Garcia says Wheeler Yuta is doing a Garcia impression.

All Out is coming to Chicago on September 4.

The Dark Order interrupts Hangman Page, who wants to fight the House of Black. Page goes along with it, despite it not seeming to be his original idea.

Jake Hager vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Castagnoli uppercuts him fast and tries a Neutralizer and swing within the first ten seconds but Hager gets outside. Back in and Castagnoli counters the ankle lock into a 619 for two. A dropkick to the knee sets up a bulldog for two on Hager but he’s back with some body shots to the ribs to put Castagnoli down. There’s a beal to send Castagnoli flying, setting up the Vader bomb for two more.

We take a break and come back with Castagnoli hitting the springboard uppercut for a double knockdown. They fight to the floor with Castagnoli hitting a running uppercut against the barricade. Back in and it’s the giant swing into a Sharpshooter, with Hager calling out the rest of the Society. The distraction lets Hager plant Castagnoli down for two but he tries another Sharpshooter. That’s broken up by another Society distraction so Castagnoli goes with a pop up uppercut. The Riccola Bomb finishes Hager at 11:44.

Rating: B-. This was looking like a squash to start but they took their time and let Hager get in some offense of his own. That being said, Castagnoli never felt like he was in any trouble and won with his signature stuff in the end. Castagnoli continues to look like a monster around here and that should work well once he finally gets into a serious feud.

Hook won’t comment when asked about a possible title shot.

We look at Thunder Rosa getting pinned in Japan.

Thunder Rosa is ready to have a rematch here in America for the title. She and Toni Storm are ready to face anyone so here are Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter to say they’re back. This place is a natural disaster without them (Baker: “Get it?”) but luckily they know how to deal with these things. Rebel pops in with a sandbag, which Baker hands to Tony and says enjoy carrying it for a month.

Serena Deeb vs. Anna Jay

Jay is the home state girl. Deeb takes her to the mat to start and we hit the headlock, followed by a shoulder to put her down. Jay gets in a shot of her own and hits a running Blockbuster. Something like a reverse Rings of Saturn has Jay in trouble until she stacks Deeb up for two. The Queenslayer is broken up with a throat snap across the top and a fisherman’s neckbreaker gives Deeb two.

We take a break and come back with Jay firing off some running elbows and a northern lights suplex for two. The Queenslayer is broken up again and Deeb rolls her up for two more. They don’t quite get a backdrop into a rollup right so Deeb grabs a weird hold as she looks like she’s setting up a Code Red but sits down on Jay’s neck and cranks on the arms. That’s broken up and Jay misses a charge, only to come back with the Queenslayer again. With that escaped as well, the Serenity Lock makes Jay tap at 8:22.

Rating: C+. Deeb was doing a lot of the work here but they did a good job of keeping Jay looking strong. She isn’t great at what she does yet but she here a few things that she can do well and it worked here. Nice match and that’s all it needed to be, even with Jay having to tap in front of her hometown(ish) crowd.

Post match Deeb keeps the hold on until Mercedes Martinez runs in for the save.

Jade Cargill and the Baddies aren’t happy with Athena and Kris Statlander, but they also want Leila Grey to know her place.

We run down the Death Before Dishonor card.

Jay Lethal comes to the commentary desk and promises to win the Ring Of Honor TV Title.

Anna Jay is getting her knee looked at when Tay Conti comes in to mock her for not being on TV very much.

Tag Team Titles: Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland vs. Team Taz vs. Young Bucks

The Bucks are defending and Matt tries a superkick on Lee, who just stares at him. Nick comes in instead and trades flippy counters with Strickland until they both go outside. Stereo dropkick attempts don’t go anywhere so they’re back inside with Nick armdragging him into an armbar. Starks comes in and walks the top rope, as does Nick.

Both of those are broken up with a double crotching, leaving Matt to try to northern lights suplex Hobbs and Lee at the same time. Everything breaks down and Lee kind of suplexes Matt and Starks at the same time (this works a bit better). Starks tags himself back in to dropkick Swerve and we take a break.

Back with Lee coming in off the hot tag and cleaning house, but Nick slips out of the powerbomb. Hobbs and Lee hit stereo crossbodies before Hobbs goes up. Lee shoves him off and hits a heck of a frog splash for two with a save being needed. Team Taz is back in with Nick being put in an electric chair, allowing Starks to walk the rope for a cutter. Swerve tags himself back in and clotheslines Matt but it’s time for the Bucks to clean house with superkicks.

The referee gets bumped and the Bucks grab the titles, only to have Swerve take one away. Swerve can’t bring himself to use it though and it’s the Bucks cleaning house with the titles. A belt shot doesn’t pin Swerve so it’s the BTE Trigger, with Starks making the save. Lee breaks up the Meltzer Driver and it’s a powerbomb/Swerve Stomp combination for two, with Team Taz making the save.

Hobbs starts spinebustering people including a bunch of people being stacked onto Lee. Starks spears Swerve for two with Nick making his own save. Matt loses a shoe so Lee knocks the Bucks outside with it. Hobbs gets dumped to the floor and Swerve uses Lee’s chest as a launchpad for a moonsault. Back in and the Swerve Stomp crushes Starks for the pin and the titles at 13:04.

Rating: A-. And I had a long post thought out about how the Bucks never lose and the near falls were all a waste of time before the titles were retained. This was all action once it got going and that is a very fun way to spend a good chunk of the night. The surprise alone gave this an upgrade as I was actually shocked by the ending. Well done here and an awesome match.

Overall Rating: A-. Nothing bad, an actual surprise on the ending, and more than a few awesome matches. This was a great show that just kept going with the good stuff. It set up some things for the next few shows and if those are anything close to this, we should be in for a great few weeks. Pretty great show here and worth a look up and down the card.

Results
Wardlow b. Orange Cassidy – Powerbomb
Jon Moxley b. Konosuke Takeshita – Bulldog choke
Luchasaurus b. Griff Garrison – Tar Pit
Claudio Castagnoli b. Jake Hager – Riccola Bomb
Serena Deeb b. Anna Jay – Serenity Lock
Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland b. Young Bucks and Team Taz – Swerve Stomp to Starks

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Dynamite
Date: July 6, 2022
Location: Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, New York
Commentators: Taz, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

We’re back to the normal show this week and that could mean more than a few things. In this case it means that we are going to be seeing Jon Moxley defend the Interim World Title against Brody King, which should be a heck of a fight. Other than that, it is time to build towards Ring Of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor later this month. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

TNT Title: Wardlow vs. Scorpio Sky

Wardlow is challenging in a street fight. Sky strikes away at the leg to start and gets dropped with a hard shoulder. A low blow cuts off Wardlow but he’s fine enough to toss Sky around a few times. They head outside where an American Top Team distraction lets Sky send Wardlow into the steps.

We take a break and come back with Wardlow knocking him off the top and hitting a Swanton. The Powerbomb Symphony is loaded up but Wardlow clears them out without much effort. The distraction lets Sky get in a belt shot for two and Wardlow is back with the spinebuster. A three movement Powerbomb Symphony gives Wardlow the pin and the title at 8:29.

Rating: C. Not exactly a great match and I’m not sure on the idea of having Sky lose again here, but Wardlow needed to win something already and they pulled that off here. Wardlow shrugged off whatever was thrown at him here and he won the title like a monster should. Good enough match and it did what it needed to do.

Confetti falls and Wardlow gets to celebrate.

Jon Moxley is tired of people trying to make their name off of him and tonight, Brody King is going to do it again. You don’t know what kind of a monster you have with him but Moxley knows what he is facing tonight in King.

Here are Christian Cage and Luchasaurus for a chat. Christian has been asked what is going on for a few weeks now and why Luchasaurus has sided with him. Before he can say anything, here is Matt Hardy to interrupt. Matt says he and Jungle Boy have gotten close in recent weeks and Jungle Boy didn’t deserve what Christian did to him.

Christian: “Matt, you’re starting to make your brother sound like the sober one.” Matt talks about regretting the time he spent manipulating people and maybe the last month has been karma coming to get him. Christian calls Matt out for being delusional and for riding Jeff’s coattails for one more run. The brawl is on with Luchasaurus leaving Matt laying, including a chokeslam through the ringside table. I could have gone without the Jeff references but this was fine enough.

Video on Blood & Guts from last week. The Jericho Appreciation Society promises it is not over.

Jake Hager yells at Claudio Castagnoli for never being a World Champion. Castagnoli talks about respect and promises to earn it next week.

Butcher and the Blade vs. Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee

Bunny is here with the villains. Lee headbutts Butcher down to start so we’ll try Strickland vs. Blade instead. That doesn’t go so well for Strickland to start but he knocks Blade down and hands it back to Lee for a shot of his own. Blade jawbreaks his way to freedom but gets knocked outside. Bunny offers a distraction to cut off the dive though and Butcher gets in a cheap shot to take over as we take a break.

Back with Lee getting to clean house as everything breaks down. A lariat/enziguri combination drops Butcher but Blade pulls Swerve in the way of Lee. Butcher hits Lee with a Stunner and Butcher runs him over, allowing Butcher to toss Lee into Blade’s knee. A running knee gets a VERY close two on Swerve with Lee making a (maybe late) save. Back up and Swerve In Our Glory finishes Blade at 9:38.

Rating: C+. I’m not wild on the continued tease of Swerve and Lee breaking up, especially when they haven’t been around long in the first place, but at least they won the match in the end. Butcher and Blade almost feel like a relic from the past but they are still good enough as a team to make a match like this work. Just either split Swerve and Lee or let them stay together and stop with the teases if it isn’t happening.

Post match Team Taz comes out to yell at Swerve and Lee, with Ricky Starks losing his mind over what sounds like a challenge. Cue the Young Bucks to cut them off, though they don’t have to apologize for anything because they started this company. The Bucks brag about the tag division, including what we saw at Double Or Nothing, which was 4.5 stars. Granted that’s an off night for the Bucks, but they need to keep things going. The solution to that: a triple threat match next week at Fyter Fest. Fans: “FTR!” Nick: “We’re better than them and you know it.” The match seems to be on.

Malakai Black says his House’s violence is by design and Jon Moxley doesn’t know what he is in for.

Here is Eddie Kingston for a chat. He congratulates Wardlow on winning the title and everyone who won Blood & Guts last week. The only person he doesn’t like is Chris Jericho, who made him a liar last week. Kingston didn’t get to taste his blood…but Jericho cuts him off on the screen. Jericho asks if Kingston wants to get nuts and we see the Jericho Appreciation Society slamming Ruby Soho’s hand in a car (granted it wasn’t in the car and they more or less had to tell her to get it slammed in the door, making it look really bad).

Here is the Dark Order, complete with -1, to say that they aren’t going anywhere. They’re here to stay because Dark Order is forever but here is QT Marshall to interrupt. Marshall doesn’t think much of the team and -1 in particular, so threats are made. Cue Hangman Page to send Marshall into the ring and the big beatdown is on. -1 teases beating Marshall but says he’ll wait until he’s 18. This could have, and probably should have, been a post show segment.

Rush vs. Penta Obscuro

Andrade, Jose, Fenix and Alex Abrahantes are here too. They go right at it to start with Rush getting the better of things by running Obscuro over. The fight heads to the floor, where the Alex Abrahantes and Jose get in a fight of their own and we take a break. Back with Rush hitting a powerslam for two but Penta grabs a Backstabber for the same.

They slug it out until Rush knocks him into the corner and hits a top rope dropkick for two. Penta is back up with a kick to the face and the Fear Factor gets two, with Andrade putting Rush’s foot on the rope. The distraction lets Rush get in a low blow and rip off Penta’s mask (of course) for the pin at 11:04.

Rating: C+. Good brawl here, though I am completely over that rip off the mask ending. It has been done so many times with both of the Lucha Bros that it feels like something they have to do instead of something special. These two can work the hard hitting style well and they did here, though Rush is still only so interesting.

Jay Lethal and company are happy with the upcoming ROH TV Title shot at Death Before Dishonor. Lethal isn’t taking Joe lightly, but he is taking Joe’s title. Good line.

Mark Sterling is trying to get the Best Friends to sign a petition to get rid of Swerve Strickland. Orange Cassidy wants his lawyer present and that’s….Danhausen? Sterling wants Tony Nese vs. Cassidy on Rampage so they can make a lot of money. but Cassidy isn’t sure. Danhausen to Cassidy: “How about you vs. his client on Rampage? We’ll make a lot of money.” Cassidy is in. Funny stuff, especially Danhausen shouting various legal terms and no one paying attention to him.

Ruffin It/Fuego del Sol vs. Gunn Club/Acclaimed

The Club cuts off Caster’s rap and tensions are high. Fuego takes Colten down to start but it’s Bear Bronson coming in for the house cleaning. Everything breaks down in a hurry and Caster hits the Mic Drop, but Austin tags himself in and steals the pin at 2:14. This story is oddly growing on me.

Post match the Club and Acclaimed get into it but Billy Gunn comes in the ring…and turns on the Acclaimed, leaving both of them laying. So there’s the Acclaimed’s face turn.

Miro is not happy with Malakai Black.

Thunder Rosa/Toni Storm vs. Marina Shafir/Nyla Rose

Rosa takes Shafir into the corner to start and it’s a double suplex for two. A hip attack keeps Shafir in trouble as the dominance is on to start. Rose gets in a cheap shot though and a fireman’s carry slam drops Storm as we take a break. Back with Storm fighting out of the corner and handing it back to Rosa to clean house. The running dropkick against the ropes staggers Rosa but she’s back up with a Rock Bottom. Everything breaks down and the hip attack hits Shafir, setting up a spike fire thunder driver to pin Shafir at 9:07.

Rating: C. Calling Rosa and Storm Thunderstorm is a funny way to go, though at first I thought it was AEW’s latest gimmick match. Anyway, this is a fine way to set up what should be Rosa vs. Storm for the title down the line, though the less Shafir we see on TV the better. It isn’t working with her, but she’s here pretty frequently anyway for whatever reason.

Stokely Hathaway recommends Leila Grey as the newest Baddie. Jade Cargill says he better be right.

Daniel Garcia is ready to take the Ring Of Honor Pure Title from Wheeler Yuta at Death Before Dishonor.

FTR wants the Briscoes at Death Before Dishonor, one more time.

Interim AEW World Title: Jon Moxley vs. Brody King

King is challenging and William Regal is on commentary. They shove each other around to start and get in each others’ faces to yell a lot. King knocks him outside and sends Moxley into various things to take over. Back in and Moxley gets in a few shots to the knee to take over but gets dropped again as we take a break.

Back with King missing a Cannonball in the corner so Moxley puts him on top and rakes the back for some pain. King blasts him with a clothesline and hits a piledriver for two before grabbing the sleeper in the corner. With that broken up due to being in the ropes, Moxley grabs a Paradigm Shift. The hammer and anvil elbows keep King in trouble, setting up the bulldog choke to finish him off (ala how Moxley beat Brodie Lee) at 11:14.

Rating: B-. They had a good fight here, even though it was Moxley defending against Moxley’s Designated Victim #1. There was no reason to believe that King was going to take the title here, but in this case that worked out well. Moxley gets a win over someone who looks impressive and King doesn’t lose anything from a loss to the champ. Completely logical choices.

Overall Rating: C+. This wasn’t their strongest effort as everything seemed a bit off. Maybe it was a post-holiday hangover or something but it just didn’t quite click. They have some time before All Out and you can probably guess the top of the card from here, but focusing on it would be nice. Certainly not a bad show, but Dynamite has a pretty high bar and this was beneath their usual.

Results
Wardlow b. Scorpio Sky – Powerbomb Symphony
Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland b. Butcher and Blade – Swerve In Our Glory to Blade
Rush b. Penta Obscuro – Small package
Gunn Club/Acclaimed b. Fuego del Sol/Ruffin It – Mic Drop to Bear Bronson
Thunder Rosa/Toni Storm b. Marina Shafir/Nyla Rose – Spike fire thunder driver to Shafir
Jon Moxley b. Brody King – Bulldog choke

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Dynamite
Date: June 29, 2022
Location: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Tony Schiavone

It’s another major show here as we go from Forbidden Door on Sunday to Blood & Guts tonight. That would be AEW’s version of WarGames, albeit with twelve people this time as the match needs to be bigger, but it does look good on paper. Other than that, I’m not sure what else we have as so much has been put into the New Japan stuff for the last few weeks. Let’s get to it.

Here is Forbidden Door if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Dig that double ring setup.

Ethan Page vs. Orange Cassidy

Before the match, Dan Lambert complains about the Best Friends being here because they aren’t official managers and we have regulations in his state. Oh and Cassidy is skinny and has no muscles whatsoever. Page starts fast and knocks him down but Cassidy nips up and grabs an armdrag to the floor. There’s the suicide dive, followed by the high crossbody for one back inside. Page is back up with some shots of his own and Cassidy gets knocked into the corner as we take an early break.

Back with Cassidy escaping a Razor’s Edge and then countering another into a hurricanrana. A powerslam cuts Cassidy off but he grabs a Stundog Millionaire and hits the tornado DDT for two. The Orange Punch is loaded up but Lambert, with orange juice, offers a distraction. Cassidy hits some very soft punches and takes the juice, setting up the Orange Punch. The juice is spat in Lambert’s eyes and another Orange Punch sets up the slam (third try) for the pin on Page at 10:57.

Rating: C+. The slam bit was fun and gave the fans something to cheer about, as Cassidy continues his slight rise back up the card. Page is someone with enough name value but nothing going on at the moment so the loss doesn’t really hurt him. Not exactly a great match but it was fun enough to work with a bit of a house show feeling.

Here is Christian Cage for a chat. He has heard a lot of things about saying Jungle Boy’s father was dead last week. Christian hasn’t apologized for many things, but he’s sorry that Jungle Boy’s entire family isn’t dead. Christian: “Well, except for your mom.” Who should call him. As for tonight, he has requested a match, but he never said it was for him. Cue Luchasaurus, with a rather intense new entrance.

Luchasaurus vs. Serpentico

The Snare Trap with a nerve hold finishes Serpentico at 49 seconds. That worked.

Post match Luchasaurus hits a chokeslam on the floor to leave Serpentico laying.

Wardlow and Scorpio Sky have a staredown in the back with Sky saying he beat Wardlow last time. Wardlow says bring every member of American Top Team and the title match is made for next week. We’ll make it a street fight.

Max Caster/Gunn Club vs. Danhausen/???/???

Caster’s rap makes various Michigan references but he won’t let the Club say the city names. Danhausen comes out and he does have some partners.

Max Caster/Gunn Club vs. Danhausen/FTR

Wheeler takes Austin down to start and hits a slam for a bonus. A spank to Austin brings Harwood in to chop away in the corner. Danhausen comes in and gets blasted by Colten as we take a break. Back with Harwood having to save Danhausen and everything breaks down. FTR rolls some German suplexes on the Club until Austin grabs most of the Quick Draw on Harwood for a breather. Danhausen comes back in and tries a GTS on Austin, but Anthony Bowens pops up to his feet (out of a wheelchair). The crutch shot hits Austin by mistake though and Danhausen steals the pin at 9:31.

Rating: C. Well you knew that was coming one day. The Acclaimed vs. the Gunn Club has the potential to be a rather fun mini feud and that is what we are probably going to be getting here. Danhausen getting the pin is going to work almost every chance he gets, as it isn’t like he did anything to earn it. At the same time though, did Caster do anything at all here?

Post match the Gunns and Acclaimed yell at each other but Billy sides with his not-sons.

Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal still want Samoa Joe to give him a Ring Of Honor TV Title match at Death Before Dishonor.

TBS Title: Jade Cargill vs. Leila Grey

Cargill, with Stokely Hathaway and Kiera Hogan, is defending and throws Grey down with no effort. Leila’s forearms have no effect and it’s Jaded to retain the title at 1:55. Total dominance.

Post match Cargill says she wants better competition. Stokely says this woman got a chance after the open challenge was on last night at 11:40. So Athena and Kris Statlander are just lazy for not being in the ring here. Cue Athena and Kris to go after Jade but Leila makes the save. The villains stand tall but Leila isn’t getting a handshake.

Grand Slam is back in September.

The Young Bucks talks about how all of their friends are hurt and they have no one here. The only thing they have left are the Tag Team Titles but they have no competition. On Friday though, they can keep the Forbidden Door open a bit, with Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi getting a shot at the titles.

Jim Ross comes out for commentary on Blood And Guts.

The cage is lowered.

We recap the Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Eddie Kingston/Blackpool Combat Club. The idea is that Kingston doesn’t trust his partners but he needs to take out Jericho and company.

Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz/Blackpool Combat Club

Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Matt Menard, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, Angelo Parker
Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz, Wheeler Yuta, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli

It’s WarGames with the opening period lasting four minutes. Then the Society will get the one man advantage for three minutes before they start alternating entrances. After everyone is in, it’s submission or surrender only. Claudio Castagnoli starts for the Club and throws Sammy Guevara over the ropes into the other ring. The running uppercut rocks Sammy, who tries to climb out and gets in a chase around the side of the cage.

Multiple springboards lets Sammy get away to the other ring before they fight between the rings for a change. Back in and the pop up uppercut is countered into a cutter to drop Castagnoli but we pause for a kiss from Tay Conti. Castagnoli loads up the Swing but Daniel Garcia comes in to make the save as we take an early break. Back with Wheeler Yuta evening things up to give Castagnoli a needed breather. A running uppercut/German suplex combination drops Guevara and the Club sends the two of them into some cages.

Jake Hager comes in to make it 3-2 and cleans some house, setting up the battle of the former Real Americans. The springboard corkscrew elbow drops Hager but Garcia is back up to take Castagnoli down. Yuta is back to make a save of his own but the numbers game takes him down. Jon Moxley is in to even things up again, complete with a chair, to start cleaning house again. What looks to be a fork is driven into Garcia’s head to give us the first blood. A Hart Attack of all things drops Garcia and a gorilla press into a cutter drops Guevara.

The Club set up the stereo hammer and anvil elbows (with Moxley’s elbows to Hager looking particularly terrible). Angelo Parker comes in and knows he’s in trouble so he tries to run away as well as he can. That works for all of ten seconds before the Club catches him and starts the big beatdown. The numbers game gets the Society out of trouble but it’s Ortiz coming in to clean house.

We take another break and come back with Menard coming in with a chair of his own to wreck a bunch of people. During the break, Moxley piledrove someone onto broken glass, because that’s what you do during a break. Things even up a bit and it’s Santana coming in with a table and a barbed wire bat to make things even bigger. The blood starts flowing even more, with Moxley pulling out some skewers to stab Menard in the head. Yuta and Garcia stand between the rings and slap each other a bunch until Jericho comes in with Floyd to clean house.

Jericho takes over until it’s Kingston coming in with the kendo stick to complete the field. Kingston walks through the Society with little trouble until Jericho is all that is left. The beating is on so Kingston pulls out rubbing alcohol, which is broken up for the sake of a lack of extreme pain. Conti slips the rubbing alcohol to Jericho as the table is set up between the rings. Hager goes through the table (JR: “SOMEBODY GET THE TABLES!”) and it’s time for the tacks.

Menard is dropped into the tacks as the mat is being ripped off of the ring. Garcia, COVERED in blood, is somehow hanging from the cage outside of the ring as we take another break. Back again with Jericho dragging Moxley through the tacks and then putting on the Walls. Kingston makes the save and gets to beat on Jericho, who is sent into the cage. Jericho finds a fire extinguisher to spray Kingston as Tay grabs the key from the referee.

Cue Ruby Riott to go after Tay and the brawl is on. The women are gone so Jericho goes up top of the cage, with Kingston following close behind. Regal: “This is the one thing I couldn’t strategize with anyone about. I’ve never even been on the top rope.” Kingston hits the backfist on top but Guevara joins them on top. A low blow cuts Guevara down and Eddie throws him through the well placed announcers’ table at ringside.

We take another break and come back again with Jericho getting Kingston in the Walls on top of the cage as Claudio climbs up as well. The Walls are broken up Claudio Swings Jericho. Menard comes up for the save but it’s the Stretch Plum to Jericho and the Sharpshooter to Menard for the tap and the win at 46:45.

Rating: A-. This might be the best example of “your mileage may vary” that you’ll see for a very long time as Blood & Guts is one of the most unique matches you’ll find. They had the blood and the violence and it didn’t feel too cluttered (the double ring thing gives it SO much more breathing room than NXT), though the ending wasn’t exactly amazing. What mattered here was having the teams beat the heck out of each other with a bunch of blood (Garcia was COVERED) and violence, as Claudio vs. Eddie continues. Heck of a match, though I’m still not sure if we need weapons in a WarGames match. Just seems like overkill.

Post match Kingston is mad at Claudio for being the one to get the tap. Respect is shown, but Kingston keeps running his mouth. The winners (minus Santana, who was apparently hurt during the match) all get on top to celebrate, for a rather good while, to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This is one of the harder shows to rate as it’s pretty much ALL about the main event. Everything else was good enough, but the second half of the show was focused on one match and that worked out pretty well. It’s a bit weird to have it be so sudden after Forbidden Door, but the match had been set up for weeks so it isn’t out of nowhere. Very good show, though as far as what the focus was on, it’s a one match episode.

Results
Orange Cassidy b. Ethan Page – Slam
Luchasaurus b. Serpentico – Snare Trap with a nerve hold
Danhausen/FTR b. Max Caster/Gunn Club
Jade Cargill b. Leila Grey – Jaded
Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz/Blackpool Combat Club b. Jericho Appreciation Society – Sharpshooter to Menard

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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Rampage
Date: June 17, 2022
Location: Chaifetz Arena, St. Louis, Missouri
Commentators: Taz, Excalibur, Chris Jericho

We are less than two weeks away from Forbidden Door and a bunch of matches were added to the card this week on Dynamite. I doubt that we get that much this time, but we do get Jade Cargill vs. Willow Nightingale. That should be a fun match and odds are we get something else on the same level. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Jon Moxley vs. Dante Martin

William Regal is on commentary and calls Jericho a Trout Slapper (I think). Moxley powers him into the corner to start as we talk about Zack Sabre Jr.’s comments about Bryan Danielson. They trade wristlocks into a headlock takeover from Moxley but Martin is back up with a dropkick out to the floor. Moxley runs him over again though and we take a break.

Back with Moxley hitting the running knee to the face and a butterfly superplex for two. Martin fights up and hits a quick ax handle, setting up a high crossbody for two of his own. The Nose Dive is countered into a rear naked choke but Martin climbs the corner for the escape. A super Sliced Bread gets two on Moxley and they strike it out (as required) until Moxley hits the running cutter. The King Kong lariat gives Moxley two and the hammer and anvil elbows rock Martin even more. Some kind of a choke with an arm trap and a bodyscissors makes Martin tap at 13:58.

Rating: B-. Martin continues to do well with the high flying stuff and they are building him up as the next one to win a big match. I’m not sure when that is going to happen, but it is going to be a heck of a moment when they actually go there. Moxley wasn’t going to lose on the way to the title match at Forbidden Door, but they had a good one on the way there.

Keith Lee isn’t happy with Swerve Strickland eliminating him from last week’s Casino Battle Royal but Swerve says it was a singles match instead of a tag match. Team Taz comes in to say Lee and Strickland still haven’t beaten them. Lee is rather silent.

The House of Black and Death Triangle are still ready to fight, this time in the All Atlantic Title tournament.

Bear Country/Leon Ruff vs. Max Caster/Gunn Club

Caster and the Club jump them to start and we have the required three way scissor party. Austin stomps Ruff down in the corner and it’s the Quick Draw into the Mic Drop for the pin at 1:13. Bear Country disappeared about halfway through this.

Hook isn’t worried about facing a New Japan top prospect but Danhausen comes in to swear their destruction. Hook says he has this.

TBS Title: Willow Nightingale vs. Jade Cargill

Cargill, with Kiera Hogan, is defending and Stokely Hathaway is on commentary. Cargill throws her down to start but Nightingale cartwheels her way out of a whip into the corner. There’s an enziguri to Cargill, who catches her in a fireman’s carry for some elbows to the face. What looked like a Pounce is countered by Cargill’s kick to the face, allowing Hogan to get in some stomps in the corner. Back with Nightingale knocking her into the corner for the almost required Cannonball. Cargill isn’t having that and faceplants her, setting up Jaded to retain at 6:04. Not enough shown to rate but it was a Cargill match.

Post match the beatdown is on but Athena pops in for a Fall From Grace to Hogan. Cargill gets in a kick to the face but Kris Statlander runs in for the save.

Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh and Sonjay Dutt brag about their success.

Forbidden Door rundown.

Bobby Fish and Darby Allin are ready for the main event after Fish and Kyle O’Reilly injured Sting a few weeks ago.

Bobby Fish vs. Darby Allin

Allin is so mad about Sting that he stops to pose on the ropes, allowing Fish to take him down. They head outside with Allin being driven into the apron, followed by a running charge through Allin. Fish hits the barricade though, allowing Allin to get back in and hit a dive. The running flip dive knocks Fish into the barricade as well but he’s right back on Allin’s legs to take over. A nasty dragon screw legwhip takes Allin down again and Fish takes him down again as we take a break.

Back with Allin getting in a shot of his own for a breather, setting up Code Red for two. Allin knocks him outside for a Coffin Drop to a standing Fish for the double knockdown. Fish is back up with a spear through the ropes and out to the floor again. They fight on the apron with Fish snapping off a German suplex, with Jericho begging Fish to end this. The super Falcon Arrow gives Fish two so he grabs the knee bar. Allin is fine with that, and reverses into the Last Supper for the pin at 11:45.

Rating: C+. They told a good story here with Allin being all about revenge and trying to crash into Fish as much as often while Fish kept pulling him in with the technical stuff. To cap it off, Allin wound up winning when Fish got a bit too violent and got pinned with a wrestling move. Good match, even if it might not have been the best revenge win.

Post match Fish hammers on Allin again as Kyle O’Reilly comes out with a chair. Cue the returning Sting for the save, allowing Allin to Pillmanize Fish’s ankle. Sting is pleased to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty solid week here as they kept the show moving and had enough good action throughout. I liked the Sting return in the end, though ReDRagon vs. Sting/Allin doesn’t sound like a match that should be overly competitive but it will be. This was more about the AEW side of things rather than Forbidden Door and that is nice to see for a change.

Results
Jon Moxley b. Dante Martin – Bodyscissors choke
Max Caster/Gunn Club b. Bear Country/Leon Ruff – Mic Drop to Ruff
Jade Cargill b. Willow Nightingale – Jaded
Darby Allin b. Bobby Fish – Last Supper

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Rampage
Date: June 10, 2022
Location: Cable Dahmer Arena, Independence, Missouri
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz

We are just over two weeks away from Forbidden Door but things have been shaken up pretty hard around here lately. A string of injuries has changed some of the direction in AEW but bringing in some of the New Japan wrestlers should help. That includes this week, as Will Ospreay/Aussie Open are teaming up to face FTR/Trent Beretta. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Eddie Kingston vs. Jake Hager

Kingston strikes away to start but Hager knocks him down with a knee to the ribs. Hager sends him outside before it’s back inside to crank on both arms. They’re already back to the floor with Hager pounding away, followed by some forearms in the corner back inside. The armbar goes on back inside but Kingston fights up. That doesn’t go well for Kingston, who gets chopped so hard that he takes down the straps. Kingston kicks him in the head to take over, only to walk into an overhead belly to belly.

We take a break and come back with Kingston getting in a shot of his own for the double knockdown. Kingston knocks him into the corner for the rapid fire chops but Hager hits him in the face. The Hager Bomb gets two but Kingston grabs a suplex of his own. Kingston’s spinning backfist is countered into a suplex, only to have Hager come back with the ankle lock. Hager’s right hands in the corner rock Kingston, who comes right back with a pair of spinning backfists for the pin at 11:24.

Rating: C+. They had a good, hard hitting back and forth match here and what matters most is that Kingston got another big win. Kingston is starting to put together a streak where you can believe he could take down some bigger names and this should help. Hager might not be a top star, but he has been treated as someone hard to beat so there is some value for Kingston in the win.

Kingston has to be helped out.

Britt Baker is so mad at Toni Storm that she calls Tony Schiavone a dumb***. She doesn’t like Storm touching the Owen Hart Title but more than that, she misses the Women’s Title.

Video on Ortiz vs. Chris Jericho in their upcoming hair vs. hair match.

Satnam Singh/Jay Lethal vs. Besties In The World

Lethal and Vega start things off but it’s already off to Singh. That means the chopping and tossing can begin, with Vega not having many options. Fitchett tries to come in but both Besties get crossbodied at the same time. Singh holds both Besties for a double Lethal Injection to give Lethal the pin at 1:39. Total squash so not much to get out of Singh here, though he looked rather slow.

Danhausen was so proud of he and Hook winning at Double Or Nothing that they have bought matching golf carts. Hook arrives in his to give chase.

Red Velvet vs. Kris Statlander

The other Baddies and Stokely Hathaway are here too. Velvet charges at her outside but gets powerslammed HARD on the floor, allowing Statlander to throw her inside for the opening bell. That leaves Velvet asking the Baddies for advice, which seems to be “CHOKE HER”. Not that it works as Statlander walks up the steps and then the corner before throwing Velvet inside. A high crossbody misses though and Velvet starts in on the leg.

We take a break and come back with Statlander hitting some shoulders to the ribs in the corner. Statlander powers up and hits a very spinning Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Something like a Michinoku Driver gets two but Velvet is back with a running knee to the back of the head. A spinning middle rope corner drops Statlander and Just Dessert gets two. Velvet’s spinning kick to the head is blocked though and Friday Night Fever finishes for Statlander at 8:55.

Rating: C. Statlander is being built up well, even if it seems like she is there to be fed to Cargill. Letting her run through the Baddies is a good idea as that is why you have lackeys, though Athena might be the one getting the big title shot. Cargill has needed some actual challenges though and Statlander could be just that.

Post match Kiera Hogan and Jade Cargill lay Statlander out until Anna Jay comes in for the failed save attempt. Athena comes in for the real save attempt but gets held back.

Miro is ready to hurt Ethan Page and win the All Atlantic Title.

Ethan Page says he looks up to and prays to himself so he is ready to wave the Canadian flag as he beats Miro next week.

The United Empire and FTR/Trent Beretta are ready for the main event and don’t like each other very much.

Here’s what’s coming on upcoming shows.

United Empire vs. FTR/Trent Beretta

That would be Will Ospreay/Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher/Mark Davis) with Aaron Henare for the Empire. Harwood takes Ospreay down to start but gets run over by a shoulder. Wheeler comes in and gets kind of hurricanranaed down, giving us a standoff. Wheeler gets taken into the corner and it’s off to Davis to toss Wheeler into the wrong corner. Trent comes in and hits a few chops as everything breaks down. The Empire is sent outside and Trent hits an Asai moonsault but comes up favoring his ankle.

We take a break and come back with Trent hitting an enziguri but getting knocked down again by Davis. Fletcher misses a running dropkick in the corner though and the hot tag brings in Harwood to clean house. Some clotheslines set up the rolling German suplexes to Fletcher and it’s off to Wheeler for a powerbomb.

Another German suplex into a jackknife rollup gets two but Aussie Open gets back up to beat Wheeler down. A toss into a cutter sets up Ospreay’s springboard 450 for two. The Oscutter gives Ospreay the same but Wheeler gets away and brings Trent back in. Everything breaks down and Ospreay hits a slingshot dive onto FTR. That leaves Davis to go after Trent, who catches Davis in Strong Zero for the pin at 13:57.

Rating: B. This took some time to get going but the last few minutes were quite good. The Empire didn’t get to showcase itself very much here and that was more than surprising, but at least they did get to beat on Wheeler for a bit. Odds are all three of them will be around for Forbidden Door so there is something of a long term plan here. Good main event, with the guest stars working well before coming up short.

Overall Rating: B-. They went with the wrestling show here and as usual, it was good stuff. The main event took its time to get going but eventually found its gear and the opener was a hard hitting brawl. Statlander got a win and Singh….uh, Statlander got a win! This continues to be more of a supplemental show and thankfully that means cutting out some of the more illogical parts, which works out well as they seem to know what they want from Rampage.

Results
Eddie Kingston b. Jake Hager – Spinning backfist
Jay Lethal/Satnam Singh b. Besties In The World – Double Lethal Injection
Kris Statlander b. Red Velvet – Friday Night Fever
FTR/Trent Beretta b. United Empire – Strong Zero to Davis

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Double Or Nothing 2022
Date: May 29, 2022
Location: T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone

AEW is back on pay per view and that should mean good things. The main event will feature CM Punk challenging Hangman Page for the World Title, but the question is around MJF. While he is scheduled to face Wardlow in a match a long time in the making, he has had some issues with AEW and there is a chance he won’t show up. That wouldn’t exactly be great to see so let’s get to it.

Buy In Show: Tony Nese/Mark Sterling vs. Hookhausen

Hook and Nese start things off with Hook taking him down without much trouble. Danhausen comes in and is allowed to grab a headlock before Nese runs him over. The curse is loaded up but Danhausen goes with the middle rope hurricanrana instead. Nese drops Danhausen again and it’s Sterling coming in to stomp away in the corner. Sterling misses a legdrop though and Danhausen suplexes his way to freedom, allowing the tag off to Hook. Suplexes abound and Danhausen gets to come in for the posing pin on Sterling at 5:22.

Rating: C. This is all you needed it to be and I had fun with the thing. Let Danhausen come in and pick up the scraps left by Hook, who gets to dominate over a manager and someone who is somehow in the top five. They didn’t bother trying to do anything out of the ordinary and the fans got to cheer for Danhausen’s wacky antics. It was exactly what you expected and that’s what it should have been.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Wardlow

If Wardlow wins, he is free of MJF but if he loses, he is pretty much done. MJF is indeed here so hopefully things are ok, at least for tonight. Wardlow is led out of a cell in the back where rowdy fans are kept to give this a Goldberg style vibe. The handcuffs (two pairs) are taken off so MJF bails to the floor before the bell. The bell rings and we get a HE SHOWED UP chant.

Wardlow wastes no time in trying the powerbomb so MJF bails to the floor again. Back in and MJF has to bite his way out of a powerbomb attempt before a cradle gets two. Hold on though as MJF is holding his leg and even the commentators are calling him out for making it up. The delay lets MJF load up the ring but the referee catches it this time, leaving MJF to beg off into the corner.

MJF: “I’LL DOUBLE YOUR PAY!” He ups it to quadruple and Wardlow shakes his hand….but doesn’t let go. MJF knows he’s done and the powerbomb connects. That’s part one of a ten movement Powerbomb Symphony, including at least one to each side of the ring and a tease of a cover in the middle, which finishes MJF at 7:25. Of note, during the Symphony was Excalibur: “I think I’ve figured out MJF’s strategy: he’s trying to take it to a time limit draw.”

Rating: B. This is a case where the match wasn’t the point but rather the complete and total destruction of MJF and it worked very well. Wardlow was never in trouble and absolutely demolished MJF, who couldn’t even get the chance to cheat. The fans had been wanting to see this and they got what they wanted, so well done on giving them that catharsis.

Post match MJF gets stretchered out and Wardlow is officially All Elite.

We recap the Hardys vs. the Young Bucks, which is presented as a dream match. The Bucks have gone after the Hardys, who have been accused of being Hardy cosplayers. The best you can hope for here is that the Hardys make it through the match without some kind of terrible injury.

Hardys vs. Young Bucks

Caprice Coleman is on commentary. The Matts start things off but Matt Jackson hands it off to Nick, who gets shouldered down by Jeff. That lets Nick get taken into the corner so Matt Hardy can come back in, meaning Nick bails to the floor. Matt Jackson comes back in and gets caught in a Razor’s Edge out of the corner but Nick breaks it up with a superkick. It’s Jeff coming back in and getting beaten down, with Nick getting to pose a lot.

Jeff finally gets over for the hot tag to Matt Hardy, who sends Nick into the buckle over and over. Brandon Cutler gets knocked off the apron and the hot tag brings in Matt as everything breaks down. They all wind up on the floor, where superkicks and dives drop the Hardys. Back in and Nick pounds on Matt Hardy before a running knee sets up Risky Business for two.

Nick accidentally kicks his brother and then does it to Cutler as well, allowing Jeff to hit a running clothesline off the apron. A Side Effect on the apron drops Matt Jackson and they’re all down on the floor again. Back in and Poetry In Motion hits Matt Jackson but he breaks up the Twist of Fate/Swanton combination. Jeff has to jawbreak his way to freedom on top, even if it means crotching himself.

The Swanton misses though and the Bucks hit their own Twist of Fate into a Swanton for two. A bunch of superkicks drop the Hardys but they’re back up and demanding more kicks. The Bucks oblige for a double two so it’s time to load up the steps. That takes long enough that Matt Hardy can Razor’s Edge bomb Nick, leaving Matt Jackson to be loaded up on the steps, which have been turned on their side. The Swanton connects to Matt Jackson and it’s a Twist of Fate for two on Nick back inside. Another Twist of Fate plants Nick and the Swanton finishes for Jeff at 19:16.

Rating: B-. The Hardys winning here is certainly a choice, as that would suggest the feud is continuing because of reasons. They didn’t have a disaster or even a bad match, but I don’t think this quite lived up to a dream match level. What matters most is that the Hardys didn’t get seriously injured, which might as well be a win for them these days.

Post match, Jeff teases going through the crowd but then comes back to the ring.

The Acclaimed and the Gunn Club promise to tear Las Vegas up. The next day, Billy Gunn finds them all out cold, calls his sons disappointments, and tucks in the Acclaimed.

TBS Title: Jade Cargill vs. Anna Jay

Jay is challenging and comes up through an elevator in the stage, while Cargill has a bunch of showgirls with her. An early Queenslayer attempt doesn’t work for Jay and Cargill throws her down without much effort. A snap suplex and a clothesline lets Cargill go up top but Jay superplexes her back down. Back up and a running forearm staggers Cargill and a running Blockbuster sends her outside. Cargill is sent back inside but Jay has to take out the Baddies with a double DDT. Back in and Cargill kicks her in the face but Jaded is reversed into a cradle for two.

Cue Smart Mark Sterling to throw in the crutch, which Jay grabs for a Russian legsweep and a near fall. Cue John Silver to brainbuster Sterling on the floor, leaving Cargill to hit the Eye of the Storm for two. Jaded is countered into the Queenslayer but Cargill gets up and sends her into the corner. They both go up and here is Stokely Hathaway (fifth person to come out during the match) for a distraction so a super Jaded can finish Jay at 7:23.

Rating: B-. This was a good bit better than I was expecting as Cargill’s matches continue to be structured to fit her strengths rather well. I didn’t buy Jay having a chance whatsoever, but that is the case with just about every Cargill challenger. Hathaway would be an upgrade over Sterling if that is where they are going, and he certainly has the skills to make Cargill feel that much more important. Good stuff here, even if it could have been done on Dynamite.

Post match the beatdown is loaded up but Kris Statlander comes in to go after Red Velvet. The staredown is on but Athena comes in for the debut and the big six way staredown. The Baddies bail and the fans seem rather happy to see Athena.

Forbidden Door is coming on June 26.

House Of Black vs. Death Triangle

Death Triangle has a young boy, who I’m assuming is one of their sons, with them during the entrance. Fenix flips out of Black’s suplex to start but they both miss spinning kicks to the head, meaning it’s time for the cross legged sitdown staredown. Matthews comes in and gets superkicked by Penta so it’s off to the floor, only to have Penta waiting on him with an evil glare.

King comes in and kicks down Fenix’s springboard, setting up the six way staredown. The brawl is on with everyone getting to knock someone else down until Pac poisonranas Matthews to leave everyone down. King is back up with a Boss Man Slam to Pac and Matthews adds a slingshot hilo for two. Matthews misses a charge in the corner though and the hot tag brings in Fenix to clean house. Stereo superkicks clear the ring and there are the double dives from the Bros.

Back in and Fenix hits a step up kick to the head on King but Matthews suplexes him on the floor. That sets up the series of dives until King hits a dive, albeit with a crash onto the apron on the way down. Fenix gets triple teamed inside, including Dante’s Inferno for two, with Pac driving Black into the cover for the save. Triple brainbusters are broken up and Death Triangle gets to kick them in the face in the corner.

A springboard Canadian Destroyer plants Matthews on the floor and a top rope double stomp/hanging DDT combination drops King next to him. That leaves Black to get kicked in the face a lot but he kicks his way out of trouble. Pac kicks Black down and throws Matthews onto King on the floor. An Alex Abrahantes distraction lets Pac kick Black low….and the lights go out again (JR is NOT happy). Cue Julia Hart to mist Pac, allowing Black to kick Pac in the head for the pin at 15:19.

Rating: A-. This was pure insanity for the most part, which also includes a rather nutty ending as Hart wasn’t evil a few weeks ago but she is now. Anyway, the match was the hard hitting, fast paced match that everyone had been hoping. I’m not sure it was worth all of the delays, but House of Black FINALLY getting a big win is good to see. Now just move on from this feud for all time.

We recap Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole in the Owen Hart Foundation finals, which is more about Owen than either of them.

Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Final: Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole

Non-title. Joe powers him into the corner to start but Cole slips out and wants a test of strength. That goes to Joe as well, who sends him into the corner for the jumping enziguri. An elbow sends Cole to the floor, where he manages to post Joe’s bad shoulder to take over. Back in and Cole chokes on the ropes before wrapping the arm around said rope. The Panama Sunrise is blocked though and Joe hits the Rock Bottom out of the corner.

Joe’s powerbomb is countered into a jumping enziguri and Cole grabs a Crossface. Joe cranks on both arms but Cole is in the ropes as well. Cue Bobby Fish to snap Joe’s arm across the top but the Boom misses. Joe grabs the Koquina Clutch, which has to be let go so Joe can take out Fish. Cole kicks him down and fires off more kicks, setting up the Boom for the pin at 13:15.

Rating: B-. Another good match here, though having even more interference had me rolling my eyes. Cole winning isn’t exactly a surprise and it is good to have him win something around here. It’s a fine enough way to go, even if it doesn’t have any kind of a connection to Owen whatsoever.

Forbidden Door is still coming on June 26. Nothing has changed in the last 40 minutes.

We recap the Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, which is a rematch from Grand Slam, where Britt Baker beat Ruby Soho.

Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Finals: Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho

Baker gets played to the ring by Fozzy’s guitarist while Rancid plays Soho to the ring. We’ll call that advantage Soho. Baker takes her down by the arm to start but Soho is back up with a wristlock of her own. Some kicks don’t do much to Soho, who knees Baker out to the floor. Soho’s shotgun dropkick off the apron has Baker rocked but Soho is holding her ribs. Baker is smart enough to pull the ribs into the post before stretching her out back inside.

Some elbows to the ribs give Baker two but she takes too long going up top. A superplex brings her back down as JR talks about Soho owning a farm in Indiana. They forearm it out until it’s another double knockdown. No Future is blocked but Baker misses the Stomp. Soho is back up with a Saito suplex and a top rope backsplash gets two.

Baker is back with the Stomp and the Lockjaw is loaded up but Soho powers away. No Future connects and the Sharpshooter (with Soho dropping to a knee) goes on, with Baker finally making the rope for the save. With that Owen finisher not working, Soho loads up a victory roll, only to have Baker reverse into a cradle for the pin at 14:15.

Rating: C+. So Baker gets to win, meaning it’s a power couple winning both of them. The match itself was fine, as expected, though that Sharpshooter left a lot to be desired. I could have gone with Soho winning here but it would have been a bit weird to have Cole and Soho at the trophy presentation. Baker very well may be on her way to a face turn and that could be a good thing for her, as we have kind of covered everything she can do otherwise.

Respect is shown post match.

Post match Tony Schiavone has the trophy presentation (with Adam Cole coming out to glare at Tony for hugging Britt). Martha Hart gets an entrance, accompanied by Tony Khan, and gets to give a speech about how important this whole thing is. She thanks everyone from Khan to Chris Jericho to Dark Side of the Ring and her legal team. Cole and Baker are congratulated, with Martha even making fun of her own fairly ridiculous looking hat to wrap it up. Both are presented with a special belt and it’s a rather nice moment.

Sammy Guevara/Frankie Kazarian/Tay Conti vs. Men Of The Year/Paige VanZant

If the Men Of The Year/VanZant win, Guevara and Kazarian can never challenge for the TNT Title again. Kazarian and Sky start things off but Guevara tags himself in and gets to face Ethan. The slugout goes to Page so it’s back to Kazarian vs. Sky, with Kazarian taking him into the corner. Guevara comes back in and Conti gets in a rake to Sky’s back from the apron. VanZant is drawn in so Sammy and Conti can hit a double suplex. Kazarian grabs a front facelock on Sky, who fights out and hits a Downward Spiral.

Conti runs in to deck VanZant and then dives onto Sammy for some spinning around. That has Kazarian yelling at them before grabbing the chickenwing but Sammy tags himself in. Tony: “What kind of dumba** strategy is that?” The double tag brings in the women, with JR saying VanZant is going to be green. VanZant grabs a suplex on Conti and a handspring elbow hits Conti in the face.

A TKO is broken up by Sammy, who stops to kiss Conti and gets caught with a tornado DDT. Conti uses the distraction to strike away at VanZant and some pump kicks to the face get two. A spinning belly to back faceplant (JR: “What the h*** was that?”) plants VanZant but we pause for more kissing. The staredown is on but Kazarian is having none of this and walks out….before coming back in with a slingshot DDT to Sky. Kazarian clears the ring but Conti yells at him, only to have Sammy accidentally knock her down. Sky TKO’s Kazarian for the pin at 12:01.

Rating: C+. This was fun with Conti and Guevara totally embracing the hate, but what matters most is that this should mean the end of the feud. It has gone on far longer than it needed to and this really needs to be the blowoff. VanZant was fine enough in her pay per view debut but she clearly has a long way to go to feel natural in the ring. Good enough, but the show is running very long and this is something that could have been moved to another show.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Darby Allin

Allin goes straight for the legs and gets kneed in the face to cut him off. O’Reilly starts working on the arm and cranking away as Allin’s face is busted open from that knee. Back up and Allin gets in a few shots of his own to knock O’Reilly outside, setting up a suicide dive which nearly goes horribly wrong. Thankfully Allin is back up so he tries it again, only to get pulled into a guillotine choke.

Back in and the Last Supper gives Allin two and a small package is good for the same. A brainbuster plants Allin but he is able to fight off a cross armbreaker attempt. The ankle lock goes on but Allin ties up the legs and reverses into a Scorpion (again, not a great one). O’Reilly makes the rope so Allin goes up and hits a Coffin Drop onto O’Reilly in the ropes before crashing out to the floor.

Back in and O’Reilly goes for the arm again but gets stacked up for two more. They strike it out with O’Reilly getting the better of things and wrapping Allin’s chain around his mouth. Excalibur: “The unbreakable chain!” Then it breaks immediately. Some penalty kicks set up the top rope knee to finish Allin at 10:33.

Rating: B. Hard hitting fight here and that is a heck of a big win for O’Reilly as beating Allin clean on pay per view is an impressive feat. It doesn’t say much for Allin to lose in his match for his mentor’s honor, but I can go for O’Reilly getting this kind of a push. Good stuff here, though I hope it gets any kind of memory on a show with so much else.

We recap Thunder Rosa vs. Serena Deeb for the Women’s Title. Both want to be the best so they’re having a title match.

Women’s Title: Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa

Rosa is defending. They fight over a lockup to start and go to the mat with neither being able to get anywhere. Back up and Deeb starts going for the limbs but that isn’t going to work for Rosa. They go back to the mat with Rosa grabbing the pendulum to rock Deeb around a bit. A backslide gives Rosa two but Deeb blocks a second one, allowing Rosa to hit an uppercut.

Rosa knocks her to the floor but misses a baseball slide, allowing Deeb to snap her across the top rope. A neckbreaker over the ropes puts Rosa back on the floor until Deeb takes it back inside. Deeb ties her up in the corner and cranks away, setting up an abdominal stretch to stay on the ribs. Rosa fights out and hits a running corner clothesline, followed by knees in the corner. A northern lights suplex gets two but Deeb catches her in the corner and hits Diamond Dust for two.

Deebtox is broken up though and Rosa slams Deeb’s knee into the mat for a change. Deeb gets in a shot to knock her away but Rosa is back with the Death Valley Driver for two. A chop block cuts Rosa down and we hit the Figure Four, with the two of them slapping each other in the face at the same time. They roll out to the floor but it’s Deeb grabbing a dragon screw legwhip in the ropes back inside.

Deebtox gets two and the Serenity Lock goes on, though Deeb lets it go to hit a powerbomb. The Texas Cloverleaf goes on but Rosa makes the rope, setting up a kick to the head. Deep knocks her down again and goes up, only to get superplexed down. Rosa isn’t done and rolls her up into the Fire Thunder Driver to retain at 16:43.

Rating: B. This was a heck of a fight with the technical master vs. the fighter, but they were in a near death spot this late in a show with a long match. I could go with another look at this in a vacuum as Rosa was bringing it and Deeb was her usual awesome self. It’s a good example of a match where they overcame a really bad build and had a heck of a match. Just in the wrong spot.

We recap Anarchy in the Arena, which is Sports Entertainers vs. Wrestlers.

Justin Roberts: “Ladies and gentlemen…..s***’s about to hit the fan.”

Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Blackpool Combat Club/Santana/Ortiz/Eddie Kingston

Anything goes and the Society is all in white, making them look like a painting crew. It’s a brawl to start with Wild Thing still playing, which seems like it is going to go throughout the match. Everyone brawls around the arena and we keep cutting from fight to fight, including Moxley stabbing someone in the head with a fork. Kingston is already busted open as Jericho and Moxley get on some kind of a cart.

Minard’s face is COVERED in blood as Jericho gets in a shot to Moxley with….something. We actually go to the ring where Santana and Ortiz suplex Hager. Jericho goes over to the sound board and hits Moxley to FINALLY kill the song. Some people fight to the back as Santana and Ortiz Street Sweep Hager through two tables at ringside. Moxley hits Jericho with a boom camera as Minard and Kingston fight over mustard at the concession stand. Garcia piledrives Ortiz on the steps and I think Minard takes Kingston down with a t-shirt stand.

Parker hits Danielson with a ring bell and Jericho suplexes Moxley onto a row of chairs. Back up and Moxley chucks a cooler at Jericho’s head as Tony dubs this as better than Stadium Stampede. Garcia chokes Kingston in the concourse and drags him around the floor as Jericho gets the Walls on Moxley on the announcers’ table….which breaks. Back up and Moxley hits a suicide dive to take Jericho down as a turnbuckle is unhooked.

Some unhooked turnbuckle shots slow Jericho down as I think Kingston and Garcia brawl in a freight elevator. Moxley hits a running knee to knock Jericho out of a chair as Santana and Ortiz set up a ladder over on the other side of the arena. They hit big splashes to drive Minard and Parker through tables as Jericho fire extinguishers Moxley. Jericho and Moxley pull themselves back into the ring, where Hager and Danielson are pulling themselves up. The four of them slug it out with Moxley and Danielson hitting the hammer and anvil elbows.

Stereo holds go on….and here is Kingston with a can of gasoline. Kingston pours gas onto Jericho (which breaks up the LeBell Lock) but Danielson goes after Kingston for general hatred. Moxley is sent onto a barbed wire board at ringside and a turnbuckle shot to the head gives Jericho two on Danielson. A bunch of kicks rock Hager and Jericho, including the YES Kicks to the latter. Danielson promises to kick his f****** head in but Hager makes the save with a baseball bat to the knee. A half crab to Danielson, with Hager choking with a rope (Tony: “HANG IN THERE!”) gives Jericho the win at 22:31.

Rating: B. I have no idea what to say about this and that’s about all you can get out of it. They were all over the place with one crazy spot after another and there was nothing close to a way to keep track of the whole thing. I’m not sure why the Society won, but maybe Jericho used some wizard magic to convince AEW it was a good idea.

We go to Andrade El Idolo, who brings in his new business partner: Rush.

Scorpio Sky/Ethan Page/Dan Lambert are really happy to be done with Sammy Guevara and company. Sky wants a new challenger and here is Dante Martin to issue the challenge. Game on.

Tag Team Titles: Jurassic Express vs. Team Taz vs. Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland

Jurassic Express, with Christian Cage, is defending. It’s a brawl to start and the fight heads to the floor before the Express hits a top rope elbow/side slam combination for two on Starks. We settle down to Hobbs blasting Strickland with a clothesline. Lee comes in and staggers Hobbs with a shoulder, setting up Strickland’s jumping knee. It’s off to Jungle Boy for some suicide dives but Lee pulls the big flip dive out of the air.

Back in and Hobbs hits a suplex slam on Jungle Boy and Starks grabs a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Starks tries to run the corner and walk the ropes but stops to dance, allowing Jungle Boy to crotch him (JR’s disdain at the start followed by happiness in Starks getting hurt is hilarious). Everything breaks down and Starks gets tossed out to the floor for a nasty landing, setting up Strickland’s moonsault (off of Lee’s chest) onto the pile.

Back in and Strickland hits the running kick to the head for two on Hobbs and it’s Luchasaurus coming in to clean house. Hobbs gets kicked into the corner where Lee tags himself in, giving us Luchasaurus vs. Lee. A double chokeslam puts Luchasaurus down, leaving Lee to suplex Hobbs over the top. Lee hits the big no hands flip dive to show off a bit but Luchasaurus is back up with a fireman’s carry slam for two.

Starks is back in to take Jungle Boy down for two but Christian makes the save. The spear gets two more on Jungle Boy and a slingshot Roshambo gets the same. Luchasaurus comes back in but Hobbs cleans house, allowing Starks to grab the FTW Title. Christian breaks that up and it’s the Throwassic Express for the pin at 17:18.

Rating: B. Another good match here with a surprising ending as I would not have bet on the champs retaining here. What matters is that the tag division remains hot, but there is only so much that you can get when your champs are barely in the top five teams in the company. I was hoping for a title change here as Jurassic Express have held the belts for awhile, but it’s not like this is a horrible decision.

We recap Hangman Page vs. CM Punk for the AEW World Title. Punk sees it as a title shot and Page wants to stop Punk from destroying AEW….somehow.

AEW World Title: CM Punk vs. Hangman Page

Page is defending. They start fast with Punk taking him into the corner and giving him a break, albeit with a rake of the eyes. They strike it out with Punk getting the better of things but they go to the mat to exchange some near falls. Back up and Punk starts the string of slams, setting up the high crossbody. Page rolls through though and hits a fall away slam into a nip up. With Punk on the floor, Page hits a slingshot crossbody to take him down again.

Back in and Punk slugs away, only to get elbowed in the face to knock him silly. A running clothesline out of the corner looks to set up the Buckshot but it’s way too early for that, as Punk knocks him to the floor. That’s fine with Page, who gets in a powerbomb onto the apron to drop Punk again. Back in and a top rope clothesline gives Page two and Punk is tossed outside again.

What looks to be the moonsault is broken up and Punk superplexes him back down. They take their time getting back up for the slugout, setting up Punk’s leg lariat. There’s the running knee in the corner into the bulldog into the springboard clothesline and Punk is fired up. Page slips out of the GTS and Punk grabs a neckbreaker for two more. Punk goes up but gets knocked down, setting up the moonsault to the floor. Back in and the Buckshot Lariat is countered into a Sharpshooter, sending Page over to the ropes.

Both guys have to counter their own finisher until Punk is kicked to the apron. Punk kicks him in the head and hits a Buckshot Lariat but the knee gives out on the way. Both guys miss the GTS and Punk’s running knee in the corner is countered into the Last Ride. Page rolls him into the Deadeye for two more before calling for the GTS. Punk kicks him in the head and tries the GTS but Page escapes and hits one of his own.

They slug it out until Page kicks him in the face but they fall out to the floor. Page throws him over the announcers’ table and grabs the belt, which he emphasizes is HIS. Back in and the Buckshot Lariat is loaded up but gets countered into the GTS. Punk swings him around to kick the referee, meaning Page’s escape into the Buckshot Lariat gets no cover. Page looks at the belt and teases the shot but second guesses himself. Another Buckshot Lariat is countered into the GTS to give Punk the pin and the title at 25:58.

Rating: B+. There’s your controversial ending that is going to get people talking. Punk winning is the right call as you can only get so much out of Page as champion when there are so many bigger stars around him. The will he/won’t he was good and while it might lead to a heel turn down the line, it’s the right way to go here. Heck of a match too, which didn’t feel close to the length it went.

Punk celebrates for a good while to end the show.

Overall Rating: A-. The action was very good to great, but egads I was done with this show with about an hour left. I’ll spare you the long, drawn out version and say a lot of this could have been left for Dynamite/Rampage and move on to the praise the show deserves. There was some awesome action here and I like a lot of the choices for the winners, though the tournaments still don’t feel important (save for Martha Hart looking so happy out there, which was great). Definitely check this out, but cut it off for a bit in the middle for the sake of a sandwich or something as you’re going to need to refuel.

Results
Wardlow b. Maxwell Jacob Friedman – Powerbomb Symphony
Hardys b. Young Bucks – Swanton to Nick
Jade Cargill b. Anna Jay – Super Jaded
House Of Black b. Death Triangle – Spinning kick to Fenix
Adam Cole b. Samoa Joe – Boom
Britt Baker b. Ruby Soho – Rollup
Men Of The Year/Paige VanZant b. Sammy Guevara/Frankie Kazarian/Tay Conti – TKO to Guevara
Kyle O’Reilly b. Darby Allin – Top rope knee to the back
Thunder Rosa b. Serena Deeb – Fire Thunder Driver
Jericho Appreciation Society b. Blackpool Combat Club/Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz – Half crab to Danielson
Jurassic Express b. Team Taz and Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee – Throwassic Express to Starks
CM Punk b. Hangman Page – GTS

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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It’s time for another AEW pay per view and most of the time, that has been some very good news. AEW has a heck of a track record with pay per views, though things have been a bit weaker than usual in recent months. I don’t entirely know what that is going to mean for this show, but the card is absolutely huge with a staggering thirteen matches. Maybe they can make it work though so let’s get to it.

Buy-In Show: Hookhausen vs. Mark Sterling/Tony Nese

They aren’t starting with anything serious here as Hook and Danhausen are the latest comedy guys around here. There is a short form possibility to the two of them working together but I’d like to believe that Hook could mean a lot more than he is being given so far. Danhausen is one of the most unique guys around, and now he and Hook can do their thing here.

That thing here would be winning, as Hookhausen has no reason to lose whatsoever. Hook can be the muscle for Danhausen as he does his wacky deal. That is all you need in something like this as the fans are going to go nuts over anything Hookhausen does. Keep it short, let Danhausen pin the manager, and we get to move on to the important stuff. That’s a good opener and they have the right idea with this on the Buy-In.

Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Finals: Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho

This is a match that has some history to it and now the question becomes can Soho finally get a big win around here. Soho is someone with as unique of a look as you can find and the intangibles to back it up, but she hasn’t actually won anything just yet. Beating Baker would even their series up and that is a way they can go. At the same time though, it is hard to buy the idea of Baker losing her second big match in a row.

I’m in a total coin flip here but I’ll go with Baker winning here as Soho loses again for the sake of getting Baker back on track. This could be leading to a heck of a showdown between Baker and Jade Cargill, assuming they don’t do a rubber match with Thunder Rosa. Either way, I don’t see Soho winning here, and I’m really not sure where that leaves her going forward.

Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Finals: Adam Cole vs. Samoa Joe

I like this one more than the previous match and we could be in for a heck of a showdown here. Cole is someone who is still waiting for his own big win around here, while Joe has the Ring Of Honor TV Title, meaning that he too is waiting for his first big win in AEW. This is at least an interesting match and that puts it above a lot of what we have been seeing in the tournament so far.

I’ll go with Cole winning again here, as AEW not only likes pushing the heck out of him, but the idea of Cole and Baker as the winners of the tournaments is likely something AEW likes. The match should be a good, pay per view level fight as Joe knows how to make the big fight feel. Cole wins here though, possibly even with some help from Jay Lethal and pals to take out Joe.

Jericho Appreciation Society vs. Blackpool Combat Club/Santana/Ortiz/Eddie Kingston

This is the Anarchy In The Arena match, which seems to be the latest insane brawl that the company loves to run. The problem this time though is the lineups aren’t exactly even, as it’s hard to imagine the Combat Club and Kingston would have trouble against the entire Appreciation Society. Then again there is a good chance that the villains can take out a member to uneven things and make it a bit more even.

That being said, there isn’t much in the way of doubt here, as this should be a one sided victory for Kingston and company. Unfortunately I don’t think that is going to happen, as I could see AEW running with the Jericho Wizard/fireball stuff. Therefore, I’ll take the Appreciation Society winning here, even if that makes so little sense and will just mean more of the not so great act.

Hardys vs. Young Bucks

Now we have the Dream Match, which might have been the case about ten years ago but now, I’m not entirely convinced. To put it mildly, the Hardys are in their mid 40s and wrestle like they’re about ten years older than that each. Jeff looks close to terrible and you know what you’re going to get from Matt. I’m far from a Bucks fan, but they can run circles around the Hardys at the moment and this is going to be a mess as a result.

I’ll take the Bucks winning here, as there is no reason whatsoever to put the Hardys over anyone ever (unless you’re Darby Allin because reasons). I’m not exactly interested in seeing this one but maybe they can pull off something decent. All I know is I don’t need to see the Hardys trying to recreate their glory days again and odds are that is exactly what we are going to be getting here.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Wardlow

This now needs an asterisk as there have been a few issues involving MJF, but we’ll assume that the match is going to take place. This is a story that has been built up for years and is a more physical version of Ted DiBiase vs. Virgil from back in the day. The good thing is that Wardlow is almost on Virgil’s level and might even be able to get something out of this if they do it right.

Of course I’ll go with Wardlow here, as he should powerbomb MJF into oblivion here. Now that being said, MJF should not get squashed and will likely get in some offense off the back of Shawn Spears and some well timed cheating, but at the end of the day, this is Wardlow’s breaking out moment and I could go with seeing him wreck MJF as the fans get more and more into each powerbomb. Assuming the match takes place that is.

Women’s Title: Thunder Rosa(c) vs. Serena Deeb

The more I watch from Rosa, the less I think she is cut out to be champion. There are some people who are more interesting as the challenger rather than the champion and that is what we might have with her. The promo from this week was good, but I really can’t bring myself to get into this match. Granted it doesn’t help that Cargill feels like a much bigger star, but this is the next showdown.

I’ll take Rosa to retain here, as she deserves a longer title reign than a few months after FINALLY getting the belt. We might be up for a rematch with Baker, but at the moment the best thing that they can do is have Rosa keep going as champion to set up a showdown with someone. Rosa is still a star and I could go for seeing more of her with the title, but they need to find a better way to present her.

Tag Team Titles: Jurassic Express(c) vs. Team Taz vs. Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland

One thing that is interesting here is that AEW rarely runs triple threat. The company loves itself some gimmick matches but that isn’t the case with triple threat, which is certainly a nice bonus. Anyway, this has been set up as the two challenging teams have been set up as potential threats to take the titles. Granted it helps that Jurassic Express have been kind of there as champions for a lot of their reigns, so it is kind of somewhere in the middle.

As much as I’d like to see Lee and Strickland get somewhere, I have a feeling Team Taz wins here. At some point you have to give Taz and company some (official) titles and I think they do it here. Ricky Starks has been moving up higher and higher in recent weeks and Powerhouse Hobbs is one of the better potential stars around. They should have a good match here, but it’s time for the title change with the belts going to Team Taz.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Darby Allin

This is a grudge match which was added to the show on Rampage, even if it is one of the first matches that could be moved to Dynamite for the sake of cutting down the pay per view rundown. Allin is mad at O’Reilly for injuring Sting, meaning it is time to fight. Thankfully this seems to be a regular match, which is quite the change for Allin and his obsession with hardcore stuff.

I’ll go with Allin winning here, as he is still shaking off some of his funk, especially after that pretty ridiculous loss to Jeff Hardy a few weeks ago. O’Reilly could use a win too and it wouldn’t shock me if he won here, but Allin needs it more and is someone the fans are already behind. Seeing O’Reilly get a push of his own would be nice, but it’s Allin winning here in a match that should be pretty awesome.

House Of Black vs. Death Triangle

Yes, finally. After what feels like 37 years, this match is FINALLY going to take place, even though I can’t imagine it is going to live up to the hype that has been presented around it. Both teams are actually healthy for once and since it was on the books at some point back in the day, AEW had to get it in instead of cutting their losses and just moving on like anyone sane would do.

It’s one that could go either way, but I’ll take the House Of Black to win here. Death Triangle is a team that has a tendency to not be around very often for one reason or another so the House Of Black seems to be a better option at the moment. Odds are it will be a heck of a fight and Death Triangle will look great in defeat, but the House Of Black wins here to finally give them something.

Men Of The Year/Paige VanZant vs. Frankie Kazarian/Sammy Guevara/Tay Conti

Speaking of feuds that won’t go away, we have this mess that must continue no matter how many people are waiting in line for the TNT Title. This week seemed to show Guevara and company as the good ones, even if that involved invading the American Top Team facility and stealing stuff. I don’t think AEW knows what they are doing with this feud anymore, but even worse I don’t think many people care about it either. Granted, why let that get in the way of what AEW has decided to do?

Since the feud must continue and Guevara/Kazarian get no more shots if they lose, I’ll go with Guevara and company winning to keep their hopes alive. I’m not sure why that is something we need to continue, but this feud is probably heading for one big final blowoff to the whole thing. Maybe we could even get a ladder involved! For now, though Guevara and company win, because it must continue.

TBS Title: Jade Cargill(c) vs. Anna Jay

AEW has a bit of a weird situation on their hands with Cargill. While they have done a great job of building her up, there is no reason to believe that she is going to lose anytime soon. That makes this feel like nothing more than a requirement as she gets to add another win over someone who was thrown into a title match. I don’t particularly care about this match and it would have been fine on Dynamite, but maybe Cargill can get in her catchphrase for the 485th time.

Of course I’ll take Cargill, as Jay gets to be the latest sacrificial lamb. They REALLY need someone who is going to give Cargill a challenge and Jay, who hasn’t wrestled a singles match since March (or a TV match since January, when Cargill beat her) isn’t it. This is a match that probably doesn’t need to be on the pay per view but we are getting it for the sake of Cargill appearing, which does make sense.

AEW World Title: Hangman Page(c) vs. CM Punk

And then there’s this, which has been hit and miss so far. This has not been anywhere close to a disaster, but I’m not sure I buy Page as someone on Punk’s level. Punk had to get to the World Title shot at some point though, which comes after the end of the great Friedman feud. Hopefully they can go beyond the hype, which hasn’t quite hit the levels they seem to have been shooting for with the build.

I’ve been going back and forth on this for weeks now but I think I have Page retaining. If you want to elevate him, beating Punk and Danielson is about as perfect of a way as you can do so. Punk is going to be fine no matter what he does, but in this case it makes more sense to have him lose and give Page the next biggest rub of his career. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Punk win the title, but Page needs this a lot more than Punk. I think. Maybe. Perhaps.

Overall Thoughts

I’m expecting the show to be good, as almost every AEW pay per view tends to be, but my goodness there is way too much on here. There is no need for the show to have every one of these matches but for some reason that is what we’re getting. Hopefully they move something up to the Buy-In show, as having a twelve minute pay per view card is not going to leave them with much breathing room. The show has a lot of potential, but I’m worried about giving the matches the time that they need. Make something fast, or at least shuffle it up a bit, just to make it better. Either way, we should be fine, as is AEW’s custom.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.