AEW Dark
Date: October 29, 2019
Location: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross
Host: Tony Schiavone

I’m not sure what to expect from this show, even though I know the card coming in. Sometimes you get a huge match on here and sometimes it’s just a bunch of stuff happening. The good part about it though is this is just the wrestling show and it’s not like it has any standard to meet. That takes a lot of the pressure off of things and makes for a pretty easy sit. Let’s get to it.

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

Tony Schiavone welcomes us to the show and runs down the card.

QT Marshall/Peter Avalon vs. Dustin Rhodes/Sonny Kiss

Well this could be…..I’m thinking a tag team wrestling match. Hold on though as Avalon and Leva Bates need to insult the Pittsburgh sports teams because that’s the kind of cheap heat he goes for. Avalon and Kiss start things off with Kiss stealing his book. He even beats Peter up and sits on him for a good read. The book gets thrown to the floor (again, not a face move to a lot of people) so Marshall comes in and wants Dustin.

That’s just what he gets and Dustin chops away in the corner before hitting Marshall in the face for daring to mock the Goldust pose. Kiss springboards back in with a clothesline and it’s a dancing moonsault for two. Leva offers a distraction though and Peter kicks Kiss in the face to take over. The beating begins on Kiss with the villains taking turns, including a double suplex.

Kiss tries the splits but Avalon is smart enough to stay with him and grab a chinlock to keep him down. An elbow to the face gets two with Dustin having to make a save. Avalon misses a moonsault though and Marshall misses an elbow as well, allowing the hot tag to Dustin. The snap powerslams set up a double spinning high crossbody for two on Avalon. Kiss adds a Meteora to Avalon but Bates’ high crossbody is pulled out of the air with ease. Dustin shushes her and Avalon is sent into her, setting up the Curtain Call to finish Avalon at 9:10.

Rating: C. Completely run of the mill tag match here with two teams that feel like they came out of a Lethal Lottery. Kiss was someone who had me a bit worried as he is a rather over the top gimmick but they have kept him right where he belongs: opening comedy matches, which is perfectly fine place to be. The Librarians….just go away already, even from a spot like this.

Sadie Gibbs vs. Penelope Ford vs. Allie vs. Emi Sakura

It’s a four way lockup to start and that goes to a four way staredown. Therefore it’s a four way test of strength with Gibbs easily getting the best of it. Allie backflips out and Gibbs is held down so we can get a Kaientai pose. This has been your completely staged moment of the match that is not hiding its nature whatsoever. Ford and Sakura are knocked down so Gibbs takes Allie down for two.

Allie’s backslide gets two of her own but Ford is back up for a kick to Gibbs’ head. Sakura comes in and takes Gibbs’ place….before dancing with the referee. JR: “That’s embarrassing.” I’ll go with the hatted one here. The surfboard goes on with Allie diving in to cover Sakura and force the break. That’s fine with Sakura, who tries a double surfboard on Allie and Gibbs, only to have Ford pulls Sakura back at the same time. Gibbs and Ford send the other two into the corner for stereo handspring elbows and it’s time to fight over the covers.

Some double teaming puts Ford and Sakura down and it’s Gibbs diving onto the two of them on the floor. Allie is knocked down as well and it’s a Samoan driver to give Gibbs two on Ford. More fighting over a suplex ensues with Sakura sitting it out and running over everyone. Sakura stops to clap but is fine enough to send Allie into Gibbs in the corner. All three of them are stacked in the corner but come out to triple team Sakura.

The three of them get crushed in the corner again and a Vader Bomb to all three of them gets a triple two. Allie superkicks Sakura but walks into a short DDT from Ford. Gibbs and Ford kick each other down and everyone is on the mat for a bit. The four way slugout is on with Sakura getting the better of it and hitting a butterfly backbreaker for two on Ford. The tiger driver gives Sakura the pin on Ford at 11:53.

Rating: C. This worked well enough as your weekly “joshi is AWESOME and you need to get used to it” as the three other women were spending a good bit of time fighting each other. Sakura was even beating all three of them up at various points and we heard about what a legend she was more than once. I have no idea if this is going to be a recurring problem, but just because you’re from Japan doesn’t instantly make you more interesting. Couple that with the really annoying parts at the beginning where it looked like they were just going through planned spot after planned spot and I could have gone for some changes here.

Cody sits down with MJF for the weekly interview. He grew up playing football and getting bullied for being Jewish so he grew up and is proud to say that the bully is now a homeless drug addict.

We go to the AEW Control Center for a preview of this week’s Dynamite.

We look at how the finals of the Tag Team Title tournament were set up.

Here’s where the upcoming shows are coming.

Kip Sabian has the best record in AEW without appearing on Dynamite so he’s ready to debut this week.

Darby Allin vs. Jimmy Havoc vs. Jack Evans

Falls Count Anywhere. Evans starts fast with the flips, the kicks, and the flipping kicks. Havoc cuts him off with a Death Valley Driver out of the corner and a basement dropkick to send Evans outside. Allin gets two off a Code Red but Havoc is back up with a shot to the face as the brawling continues. The flipping Stunner drops Havoc and Allin hits the suicide dive onto Evans.

Another dive is cut off by Havoc raising a chair, which is then pelted at Evans’ head. Allin dives over the barricade to take Evans down again but Havoc flip dives onto both of them at once. They fight into the crowd until Evans suplexes Havoc for two on the ramp. A moonsault off the stage is caught and Havoc hits a reverse suplex for a good crash. Allin gets back up so Havoc hits a big flip dive off the stage onto both of them.

They go back to the ring with Evans throwing in a ton of chairs but spending WAY too much time yelling at the fans, allowing Havoc to move away from a legdrop. Havoc Death Valley Drivers Allin into a chair into Evans, only to have Allin and Evans play Moustache Mountain for two on Havoc instead. Havoc is right back up with a double underhook piledriver onto a chair for two on Allin with Evans making a save.

A chair shot drops Evans so Havoc lays two chairs onto their sides, only to get backbreakered onto them. Evans adds a frog splash onto Havoc onto the chairs for two, so it’s time to put a table over the middle rope. That earns Evans a super piledriver through said table, only to have Allin comes back in with the Coffin Drop, including a chair, to Havoc. That’s enough to steal the pin on Evans at 13:13.

Rating: C. This was another hardcore match which didn’t have anywhere near the charm as the Cracker Barrel match from a few months ago. It wasn’t bad or anything but some of the spots felt like they were there to fill in time and move the match closer to the ending. People popping up after big moves is rather annoying when it’s done this often and it became rather distracting. At least Allin won though.

Tony says goodbye.

Overall Rating: C-. I wasn’t feeling this one as it was a bunch of matches that I didn’t need to see and didn’t particularly care about. I’m sure there were a lot of fans who liked a good bit of this and there is nothing wrong with that. The matches were all completely watchable but nothing jumped off of the page at me. That being said, this show not being a great one is hardly a major problem as it’s nothing more than a supplement to Dynamite. It has a pretty low bar to clear so for what it was, this was completely acceptable.

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

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

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

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

Ring of Honor
Date: September 27, 2017
Location: Center Stage, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, BJ Whitmer

Dang it we’re at a post-pay per view show and that could mean absolutely anything. Well almost anything as it certainly won’t mean anything about the pay per view itself. Hopefully they keep this part of the schedule short and don’t spend weeks before we get back to the important stuff. Let’s get to it.

QT Marshall vs. Josh Woods

This is fallout from Marshall paying Shane Taylor to attack Woods. Yeah I don’t remember it either. Marshall is billed as God’s Gift so he comes out of a big gift box. An early armbar has Marshall in trouble but he rolls outside, only to have Woods run him over again. Woods runs over a security guard by mistake but just shrugs it off, as he should. A running knee staggers Marshall again but Woods can’t suplex him off the apron. You know, because it would kill him.

Marshall suplexes him onto the apron and we take a break. Back with Woods firing off some shots in the corner but charging into a superkick. Something like an AA into the corner drops Marshall again and a running knee gets two. Marshall gets in a powerbomb but Woods slaps on a triangle choke. That goes nowhere so Woods grabs the kneebar for the tap at 9:36.

Rating: C. As usual, Woods looked like a star who could go somewhere with some more polish. This was a good performance that showed his versatility, which is more than you get from a lot of people around here. Marshall didn’t show me much and was little more than a guy in trunks.

It’s time for Coleman’s Pulpit, with Mark Briscoe (in a tie over his Briscoe Brothers t-shirt) as his guest. Mark doesn’t want to talk about what’s wrong with his brother Jay, but Coleman suggests that the team is over. That’s not cool with Mark, but he does think Jay needs an attitude adjustment. They briefly touch on Jay turning heel at Death Before Dishonor, of course without actually saying what happened. Anyway, Mark says the team isn’t going anywhere.

Video on the War of the Worlds: UK show, which really wasn’t anything special.

Honor Rumble

This is basically a twenty man Royal Rumble with the winner getting a World Title shot at some point in the future. Cody comes out for commentary and Ian mentions that he retained at Death Before Dishonor. Jay White is in at #1 and Sho is in at #2 and will fight for two minutes, though the rest of the intervals will only be one minute.

Sho bows at him to start and even kisses White’s boots. White doesn’t seem to approve of it (jerk) and tries to toss him but settles for a good looking dropkick. That goes nowhere though and it’s Punishment Martinez in at #3. Martinez starts cleaning house but misses a charge in the corner as Jonathan Gresham is in at #4. Rhett Titus is in at #5 as Sho is eliminated. Titus starts to clean house but runs into Martinez, who would rather choke White instead. Frankie Kazarian is in at #6 to what Cody calls a nostalgia pop.

Back from a break with Alex Shelley in at #9, seemingly following Yo and Will Ferrara in some order. Gresham and White are eliminated and it’s Silas Young, the defending winner, in at #10 to eliminate Ferrara. Everyone gets together to eliminate Martinez and it’s Sal Rinauro, who was half of the Tag Team Champions over a decade ago, at #11. Shane Taylor is in at #12 to eliminate Young and Shelley with no effort. Rinauro is gone as well, followed by Yo with little effort. That leaves us with Taylor and Kazarian but Cody hops the barricade to pay Taylor off.

Flip Gordon is in at #13 and he goes right for Taylor. That’s about as successful as you would expect but he skins the cat to stave off elimination. Jay Lethal is in at #14 and we take another break. Back again with Hanson in at #15 and hitting his running corner clotheslines. Kazarian is smart enough to run the corners to avoid taking a shot, which isn’t something you see very often. Taylor runs Hanson over though and it’s Chris Sabin in at #16.

Sabin goes right after Kazarian due to old issues and it’s Bully Ray in at #17. Some right hands to almost everyone has Ray in trouble until it’s Ray Rowe in at #18. War Machine gets together but can’t eliminate Ray. Mark Briscoe is in at #19 for some Red Neck Kung Fu. Finally, in one of those dumb moves for the sake of nostalgia, freaking GLACIER is in at #20. For some reason Cody is terrified of a 53 year old former jobber to the stars as we take a third break.

Back with a final group of Glacier, Lethal, Ray, Hanson, Rowe, Kazarian, Taylor, Sabin and Gordon (How is he still in this?). War Machine tosses Taylor and Rowe kicks Sabin out as well. Ray dumps Glacier (turning Ray heel for a few seconds) and gets rid of War Machine without too much effort.

Gordon slugs away at Bully but has to save himself from a backdrop. An enziguri drops Ray but a springboard takes too long, allowing Kazarian to eliminate Gordon. Kazarian and Lethal fight on the top until Frankie is shoved down, setting up What’s Up with Lethal playing D-Von.

Lethal and Ray slug it out with Bully being tossed but Kazarian saves himself on the apron again. A cutter drops Kazarian again but here’s Daniels for a distraction as Kazarian is eliminated. Naturally the referee doesn’t see it so Kazarian gets back in, only to be sent into Daniels. Kazarian bails to the floor so Daniels takes the Lethal Injection, allowing Kazarian to eliminate Lethal for the win and the title shot at 28:56.

Rating: B-. Not bad at all here as I didn’t know who was going to win until the ending and there were several possible outcomes. Kazarian winning is an interesting idea as it sets up a heel vs. heel match (kind of) next week. I didn’t think they would give us Lethal vs. Cody on such a nothing stage, but Kazarian is a fine choice for an opponent. They kept things moving here too and, save for Glacier as a stupid final entrant, there wasn’t anyone who felt out of place.

Post match the Addiction rips on the crowd and promises that Kazarian will take the title next week.

Overall Rating: B. The main event was the focus of the show but they threw in the opener to make things work a little bit better. I can live with something like this over something like a random midcard feud getting way more time than it needs. Good showing this week and having the title match next week is fine, especially with the Death Before Dishonor fallout likely coming the next week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the Complete 2002 Monday Night Raw Reviews in either E-Book or Paperback. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2017/07/21/new-e-bookpaperback-kbs-complete-monday-night-raw-2002-reviews/

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

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