Dynamite
Date: October 26, 2022
Location: Chartway Arena, Norfolk, Virginia
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Tony Schiavone

We’re well on our way to Full Gear and now it seems that we have a World Title main event. Last week saw MJF announce that he will be cashing in his chip at Full Gear, though the question is who he will be challenging. This week, AEW World Champion Jon Moxley will be defending against Penta El Cero Miedo. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Chris Jericho/Daniel Garcia vs. Wheeler Yuta/Claudio Castagnoli

The rest of the Jericho Appreciation Society is here too. Castagnoli takes Jericho down to start before handing it off to Yuta to armbar Garcia. Everything breaks down for a bit and it’s Garcia being sent into the post on the floor. A Hager distraction lets Jericho get in a cheap shot to Castagnoli though and we take a break.

Back with Castagnoli fighting out of a chinlock but Jericho knocks Yuta off the apron. Castagnoli knocks Jericho away and brings in Yuta as everything breaks down. Jericho Codebreakers Castagnoli out of the air for two but Yuta sends Garcia outside for a big flip dive onto the villains. Back in and Jericho grabs the bat but gets powerbombed. Garcia tries to break up the Swing but Castagnoli puts him in an airplane spin as he swings Jericho at the same time. The Neutralizer finishes Jericho at 11:40.

Rating: B. This was more about getting Castagnoli back in the swing of things as he gets one of the bigger wins he could have. It was also nice to see Garcia vs. Yuta again as having another big match between them would make sense. For now though, Castagnoli gets the pin and we could be in for another Jericho showdown down the line.

Bryan Danielson talks about being frustrated by everything that has been going on as of late, including Wheeler Yuta talking back to him last week. Yuta and Castagnoli come in, with the former saying it’s about time that Danielson got fired up. Yuta isn’t Danielson’s kid and doesn’t like being talked down to, earning himself a shove. Castagnoli and William Regal have to break it up.

We get a video on the Elite, showing them being erased from some of their moments in history. I can only assume this means the team is coming back, meaning I have some head shaking to do.

Chris Jericho isn’t happy with what happened and issues an open challenge for any former Ring Of Honor champion (seemingly any title is eligible) to come face him. I believe at least, as the audio was messed up.

Swerve In Our Glory vs. FTR

For a future Tag Team Title shot so the Acclaimed and Billy Gunn come out to watch while the Gunn Club is at ringside. Harwood and Swerve start things off with Swerve being wrestled down. Wheeler comes in for a headlock before handing it back to Harwood. A shot to the ribs slows him down so Lee can come in and block the Big Rig. Lee runs both of them over and we take a break.

Back with Wheeler kicking Lee in the face and handing it back to Harwood. Swerve seems to slip off the ropes and Harwood counters a middle rope high crossbody. A dragon suplex gives Wheeler two on Swerve but it’s back to Lee to crush Wheeler for two more. Harwood slingshot powerbombs swerve and Lee headbutts Wheeler for another near fall.

Back up and Harwood somehow manages to superplex Lee, with Wheeler turning it into a PowerPlex for two of his own. A rollup out of the corner gives Harwood two but Swerve hits Harwood low. The Gunn Club cuts off Wheeler and it’s the Big Bang Catastrophe to finish Harwood at 15:00.

Rating: B-. Another solid one here but it’s hard to get my head around the idea of FTR getting to fight the Gunn Club rather than for the titles. Acclaimed vs. Swerve/Lee is a feud that is set up but I don’t know if Swerve/Lee need to go over FTR (albeit with some interference) to get there. FTR is starting to not feel as special after mostly spinning their wheels for months, and if that continues, that is quite the shame.

Saraya is in the back when Britt Baker interrupts. Renee Paquette isn’t letting them fight because if they want to talk, they can do it as they are supposed to.

Here is MJF for a chat with Jon Moxley’s wife Renee Paquette. She asks what happens if MJF faces Moxley at Full Gear, sending MJF into a rather funny Moxley impression, complete with aggressive walk and discussion of breaking bones. MJF talks about how Moxley is mid, with all due respect. Renee: “Max you can’t just say “with all due respect” and then say something mean.” Max: “Renee with all due respect, shut your mouth.”

MJF is going to wrestle the main event of Full Gear….mostly clean. MJF: “I am MJF after all.” He will however promise not to use the Dynamite Diamond ring at Full Gear. At Full Gear, he isn’t fighting Regal but rather everyone who says he couldn’t do it. Cue Stokely Hathaway, but MJF slaps the microphone away from him. MJF doesn’t want the Firm’s help at Full Gear, so stay away or get fired. He’s MJF (and he has a lot of catchphrases). The slow push towards MJF’s face turn continues but I’m not sure I can imagine them pulling the trigger so easily.

The Kingdom is ready for Samoa Joe and Wardlow, with Matt Taven wanting the TNT Title. Works for Wardlow.

Sammy Guevara vs. Bryan Danielson

Tay Melo is here with Guevara. Danielson goes right after him to start but gets dropped with a shot to the face. The springboard cutter lets Guevara set up an early failed GTH attempt. Danielson ties up the legs for the surfboard before firing off the kicks to the chest in the corner. Some ripping at the hand set up a butterfly suplex into a cross armbreaker.

Guevara slips outside to avoid the stomps and manages to knee a diving Danielson out of the air. We take a break and come back with Danielson kicking the heck out of Guevara. Danielson sends him to the floor, then takes it back inside for a missile dropkick. Guevara is able to flip out of a belly to back superplex but a standing moonsault is pulled into the LeBell Lock.

Guevara makes the rope so Danielson goes up top, only to get pulled down with a super Spanish Fly. Danielson is back with a shot of his own and the running knee, but Danielson would rather stomp away than cover. The hammer and elbows and a triangle choke finish Guevara at 14:47.

Rating: B-. This was all about getting Danielson back on track after having some bad results. That is the right idea, as Danielson can instantly be reheated by having one of his good matches while making it look easy. If nothing else, this should cool down some of the heat in the Blackpool Combat Club, even though it is starting to get interesting.

Rey Fenix is ready for Penta El Cero Miedo to become the new World Champion. If that’s the case, Fenix should become the next All-Atlantic Champion. Christian Cage and Luchasaurus come in with the latter deserving the next title shot. Orange Cassidy comes in and says let’s do this next week.

Jamie Hayter vs. Riho

Britt Baker and Rebel are here with Hayter. Riho gets powered down to start but manages to send her outside for a heck of a dive. Back in and Hayter grabs a quick suplex and we take a break. We come back with Riho getting to the top for a high crossbody but Hayter rolls through into a suplex for two more.

Riho snaps off a middle rope hurricanrana for another near fall and a Code Red gets the same. A snapdragon suplex gives Riho two more but Hayter is back up with a boot to the face to take over again. Back up and the ripcord lariat knocks Riho silly for the pin at 10:52.

Rating: C+. The more I see of Hayter, the more I’m hoping that AEW does something with her. The women’s division could use someone moving up the ladder and Hayter would be a nice choice to move up. I could see that working well and it would be nice to see them do something with the Baker/Hayter tension already.

Post match Toni Storm comes out for a staredown with the villains.

Eddie Kingston, very sincerely, says he’s great and having a blast with controlling his temper. He has Pentagon in tonight’s main event.

Here’s what’s coming on various upcoming shows.

Darby Allin says Sting hasn’t been here for a bit because Allin said he hasn’t been happy in a bit. He wants to prove himself by himself.

Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt tell Darby Allin to be careful what he wishes for because he might just get it.

AEW World Title: Penta El Cero Miedo vs. Jon Moxley

Moxley is defending and Alex Abrahantes is here with Pentagon. They stare each other down to start and then slug it out. Penta busts out CERO MIEDO and gets a double middle finger in exchange. Moxley is sent outside and taken down again as we take an early break. Back with Penta hitting a Sling Blade but getting caught with a jumping cutter.

Moxley’s piledriver gets two but a Crossface sends Moxley over to the rope. Moxley stomps on the head but gets reversed into the arm snap. They head outside where Moxley’s arm is fine enough to plant Pentagon with a DDT onto the steps. Back in and Moxley hits a pair of Death Riders to retain the title at 12:15.

Rating: B. Penta is one of the most unique stars in all of AEW as he feels like he could be a top star but for some reason it never seems to come close to happening. He has the charisma and star power to him and the idea of him getting a title shot against Moxley had me curious. Instead, he was just another victim for Moxley after getting in his usual stuff. Good match, but not exactly a classic.

Post match the Firm comes in to beat Moxley down with an angry Stokely Hathaway coming out as well. Security runs in and is easily dispatched as we see the Blackpool Combat Club locker room chained shut (nice job of closing a logic hole). MJF finally comes to the stage and looks conflicted over making the save or not. He comes to the ring and shoves the Firm away (doesn’t hit them though) and fires the team.

That earns him a shot to the face from Ethan Page and MJF gets beaten down. The beating heads to the floor, where W. Morrissey chokeslams MJF through a table to end the show. They’re doing everything right to make MJF look like a good guy but I don’t know if I can imagine the trigger actually being pulled on a full fledged face turn.

Overall Rating: B+. I had more fun with this show as it felt like things moved forward a bit more. Full Gear is starting to come together and the show should be a pretty solid event if they keep moving things forward. Throw in two hours of good to rather good matches and this was a strong show. AEW seems to have settled back into their old style and that is a great thing to see. Now please just don’t have the Elite come back in and mess things up.

Results
Claudio Castagnoli/Wheeler Yuta b. Chris Jericho/Daniel Garcia – Neutralizer to Jericho
Swerve In Our Glory b. FTR – Big Bang Catastrophe to Harwood
Bryan Danielson b. Sammy Guevara – Triangle choke
Jamie Hayter b. Riho – Ripcord lariat
Jon Moxley b. Penta El Cero Miedo – Death Rider

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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Dynamite
Date: October 18, 2022
Location: Heritage Bank Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

We’re here for a big show as there are several titles on the line. The main event will see Jon Moxley defending the World Title against Hangman Page, with MJF hanging over their heads. The Trios Titles and the Interim Women’s Title are on the line too as the card is rather stacked. Let’s get to it.

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

I was in the arena for this show, sitting in the endzone, slightly to the left of the ring.

Opening sequence.

Trios Titles: Death Triangle vs. Best Friends/Orange Cassidy

Death Triangle is defending. Trent shoulders Pac down to start and they trade some jumps until Trent hits a clothesline. Everything breaks down (What took them so long?) and Fenix hits a heck of a Swanton for two on Chuck, who is back up to toss Fenix into something like a spear. The Friends’ triple splash is broken up and Death Triangle hit the stereo running flip dives to the floor.

We settle down to Pac kicking Cassidy in the back of the head and Fenix taking him into the corner as we take a break. Back (after missing a Tower of Doom in the break, because of course that was in the break) with Trent fighting back and hitting a tornado DDT out of the corner on Fenix. The champs take the Friends down though and an assisted Codebreaker into a bridging German suplex gets two.

Chuck hits a stuff piledriver on Penta and Trent follows with a more regular version, setting up the big hug. The assisted splash gets two with Pac making another save. Pac grabs the hammer but Fenix takes it away, allowing Cassidy to grab a rollup for two. The Orange Punch connects and it’s back to Trent, who counters Penta’s Canadian Destroyer attempt into Strong Zero for two. Fenix comes back in for the spinning kick to Trent’s face and the Black Fire Driver retains the titles at 11:45.

Rating: B. You know what you’re getting with a match like this (as we saw it when the champs won the titles in the first place) and they delivered just that, with all kinds of flips, dives and hard shots. That being said, who is supposed to be a serious threat to Death Triangle and will actually be in contention for the belts? There are a lot of trios in AEW, but I don’t know how many could be seen as major challengers. For now though, this was a perfect choice to start the show as they kept the energy high the whole time.

Post match, the Lucha Bros remind Pac that he doesn’t need the hammer.

Video on Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Page for the AEW World Title later tonight. Moxley is glad to be back home and Page knows he can beat Moxley to win the title again.

Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter, with Rebel, promise to win the AEW Women’s Title by the end of the year (with Baker making sure to drop the interim moniker). Hayter doesn’t do the DMD taunt though.

Interim Women’s Title: Hikaru Shida vs. Toni Storm

Storm is defending. Feeling out process to start with Shida taking her down and going to the apron, only to get hip attacked out to the floor. We take a break and come back with Shida hitting a jumping knee and raining down right hands in the corner. A missile dropkick gives Shida two and an enziguri drops Storm again.

Storm is fine enough to catch Shida on top but a headbutt gets her out of trouble. Shida’s top rope Meteora gets two but Storm grabs a German suplex. The running hip attack in the corner connects, only to have Shida come back with a kind of suplex into a powerslam for two more. Storm blocks the Katana and grabs a bridging German suplex for two of her own. A springboard tornado DDT sets up Storm Zero to retain the title at 8:44.

Rating: C+. Storm continues to do her part in these matches but it still feels like she is the fourth or so biggest star in the division while holding a temporary title. Her value feels like it has plummeted and there is little chance of it bouncing back anytime soon. This was a strong win for her, but until she is treated like a bigger deal, it isn’t going to change much.

Post match Jamie Hayter and Rebel come in to jump Storm from behind, with Britt Baker, in a Pittsburgh Steelers (huge Cincinnati Bengals rivals) jersey, joining in. Cue Saraya to jump Baker and the fight is on in the aisle. They fight into the crowd and Riho makes her return to save Storm. How many women are being treated as a bigger deal than Storm now? Five? Six?

We look at the Kingdom returning on Rampage, with Samoa Joe and Wardlow not being pleased. Joe and Wardlow are ready to fight them in any fashion, so pick a title and come get it.

FTR talks about all the titles they have won but they want the AEW Tag Team Titles. They’re coming for them, but Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee come in to interrupt. Swerve thinks that just because FTR has been #1 contenders for six months, they aren’t getting the title shot right now. Lee agrees for once so we’ll have a #1 contenders match next week. Lee: “Indubitably.” Swerve: “What? WHAT?”

Jay Lethal wants a rematch with Darby Allin because Allin beating him two weeks ago was a fluke. Allin says sure to the rematch and trash is talked until the fight is on. They fight towards a garage door, which is lowered onto Allin’s ribs. Lethal goes around to the other side of the door and puts the Figure Four on Allin’s dangling legs for a visual that was way funnier than it should have been.

William Regal is in the ring with Tony Schiavone but MJF interrupts before they can get anywhere (for the non-Moxley pop of the night so far). Regal loads up the brass knuckles but MJF says he’s here to tell a story instead of fight. MJF talks about being 19 years old and training at the Create A Pro wrestling school under Brian Myers and Pat Buck (who MJF calls good guys).

Then one day, he was told that he got WWE extra work, which was the best thing he ever could have hoped for. He went to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where he was put under the care of Regal. The extras were told to have tryout matches in front of Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, Adam Pearce and Regal himself. MJF was up second and he knew he was fighting for his life, because wrestling is his lief. After winning the match, Regal said follow him.

They went to another room and Regal said MJF had three minutes to sell himself. MJF finished talking and Regal’s jaw was on the floor, with Regal saying he was getting him a job that day. It was then that MJF knew he had made it and he wasn’t going to be a “five foot nothing, ADD riddled little Jew boy”. Then Regal asked him how old he was and MJF said 19, which Regal said was way too young. Fans: “YOU F***** UP!”

Regal then made things better, by saying that when he put his name on people, they got jobs in WWE. The names he had put his names on were Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli. Regal told him to send him a match and promo every month. MJF did that for two months, but then in the third month, Regal sent him an email that MJF has saved to his phone to this very day. MJF: “Smirk all you want you son of a b****.”

He pulls out his phone and reads an email from Regal talking about how MJF didn’t have the abilities yet and to stop contacting him because WWE only hired the best in the world. “When you’re one of them, then maybe send me your stuff.” It had MJF ready to kill himself but he knew that would have proven every right. Now the tables have turned and Regal is a sad, withered old man who got FIRED.

Regal has snuck into MJF’s company and MJF is a 26 year old kid who is a generational talent. MJF is ready to make more money in the Bidding War Of 2024 and he reads that email when he needs a good laugh. He’s ready to win the AEW World Title because he is better than Regal and Regal knows it.

Regal grabs the mic and asks if MJF is done. MJF mentioned being nineteen, but when Regal was sixteen, he left home and was fighting grown men to make a living in this business. He likes what he sees in MJF because he knew MJF was going to be a big star. Regal wanted to light a fire under him, but he remembers crawling into bed every night with blood coming out of every part of his body. It was not going to make him quit though because Regal was going to make a living as a professional wrestler.

If an email has kept MJF angry for seven years, MJF has had it easy. Regal has told him to practice enough to make people notice him and yes he can see the talent in Regal. Before MJF was born, Regal was insulting Tony Schiavone but he never put a hand on Schiavone. Regal is an Ordinary Decent Villain, because he would only put his hands on people who stepped through these ropes to face him as fair game. For now though, MJF hasn’t proven a thing.

Just making money doesn’t prove anything because MJF hired people to do things for him. MJF wears a rung to knock people out, whereas Regal used the brass knuckles because he liked hitting people with them. If MJF wants to be the devil, make a name for yourself and do it right, but keep your hands off the wrong people. Regal turns his back to MJF and tells him to be the devil instead of taking his own way out. MJF loads up the ring and Regal opens his arm to give him a free shot, but MJF can’t do it. Regal turns back around and shakes his head, saying MJF still has a lot to prove. MJF isn’t sure what to do as Regal leaves.

I believe the term here is “whoa”, as this was one of the best exchanges I’ve seen in a very long time. What mattered here was that it felt real, as MJF made me feel everything that he went through with a gutwrenching story. Now MJF believes that he has gotten where he wants to be, but Regal cut him right back down by saying he is still just pretending to be great rather than having actually accomplished anything. MJF wants to be great and now he has to do it, which could provoke quite the change in him. This was incredible storytelling with some amazing emotions and it is absolutely worth your time to see.

Video on Dalton Castle vs. Chris Jericho for the Ring Of Honor World Title.

The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn doesn’t think much of Mark Sterling trying to take away the idea of scissoring. They’re ready for the Varsity Athletes on Friday though, titles vs. trademark. The audio of this kept cutting out in the arena so no one had any idea what they were saying.

Bryan Danielson and Wheeler Yuta sit down with Renee Paquette, with Danielson talking about how disappointed he is about losing his Ring Of Honor Title shot against Chris Jericho last week. He is also disappointed in Daniel Garcia, who has potential to be even better than Danielson. Yuta doesn’t seem impressed by what Danielson says about Garcia. Yuta asks how Danielson doesn’t see what Garcia is doing when everyone else does. The blood they have spilled means something to the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club, but maybe not to Danielson. Oh dear.

Ring Of Honor World Title: Dalton Castle vs. Chris Jericho

Castle is challenging and comes to the ring after rising off a throne and with an army of Boys. Ian Riccaboni is on commentary to make this feel more Ring Of Honorish. Jericho brings Jake Hager with him, which is noteworthy because of Hager’s snazzy purple hat. Castle teases pulling something out of his trunks but goes with a middle finger instead. Jericho knocks him outside though and Castle needs a lap around the ring, with the Boys of course.

Back in and Castle sends Jericho flying with some suplexes before throwing the Boys out onto Hager, eventually knocking him down. We take a break and come back with Jericho chopping away in the corner but Castle reverses for some strikes of his own. Castle sends him onto the turnbuckle and hits a running knee to knock Jericho outside. There’s the suicide dive and a hurricanrana takes Jericho down again.

Hold on though as the Boys give Hager quite the weak beatdown as Jericho and Castle hit stereo crossbodies. The Boys take Hager’s hat, causing Hager to yell I LOVE THAT HAT. He destroys said Boys and gets his hat back, which is enough of a distraction for Jericho to try the Walls. That’s countered into the Julie Newmar (because Castle’s choke is called the Julie Newmar), which is countered into the Walls.

The long crawl makes the rope to get Castle out of trouble, meaning Jericho needs to pose. They slug it out from their knees until Castle counters the Lionsault into a German suplex for a close two. The Codebreaker is countered into the Bang A Rang for two more and that’s about it for Castle’s chances for the upset. Back up and they slug it out again until Jericho hits the Judas Effect to retain at 12:27.

Rating: B. There was good and bad here, as Castle is so incredibly entertaining, though Jericho kicked out of his finisher and then pinned him clean to retain. Jericho going over Ring Of Honor doesn’t do much for me, but I can always go for more Castle. Throw in the Boys being rather hilarious and Hager’s very funny reaction to the hat and this was good, Jericho’s latest mega push aside.

Post match the Jericho Appreciation Society comes out to celebrate his win, with Jericho talking about how he wanted to destroy everything from Ring Of Honor. This includes commentators, so the Society goes to get Ian Riccaboni. Hold on though as Jerry Lynn (former Ring Of Honor World Champion) comes out for the save, earning himself a beatdown. Jericho Tombstones (very safely) Lynn onto the title.

Video on Luchasaurus/Christian Cage vs. Jungle Boy. Christian thinks quite a bit of Luchasaurus.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

The Baddies have yet to get the TNT Title back for Jade Cargill. Cue Jade, in a Reds jersey, to say she better get it back on Rampage or she’s holding the show hostage for an hour. You hear that Tony Khan?

AEW World Title: Hangman Page vs. Jon Moxley

Moxley is defending and gets the superstar pop you knew he would get as MJF, with poker chip, is watching from a box. Page jumps Moxley during his entrance underneath the crowd (and underneath me) with the fight starting away from the ring. A suplex on the floor drops Moxley and page heads up into the crowd and moonsaults down onto Moxley, without even taking off his vest.

We take a break and come back with the fight at ringside, the bell seemingly having rung and, say it with me, Moxley busted open. Page grabs another suplex and kicks Moxley in the head, only to get pulled into a quick Figure Four. Page goes for the eyes for the break as he is in full on heel mode here. Moxley hammers away in the corner but Page is right back with the fall away slam into the nip up but Moxley is right back with a jumping cutter.

The right hands in the corner keep Page in trouble and there’s the back rake on the middle rope. Moxley superplexes him back down before stomping away at the head. The threat of a cross armbreaker sends Page bailing to the rope….and MJF has left his box. They fight to the apron, where Moxley’s piledriver is countered into the Dead Eye as we take a break. Back with Page hitting a super fall away slam for two and a heck of a discus lariat. Page gets a running start and Moxley BLASTS him with a clothesline….and Page isn’t getting up. The doctor comes in to check on Page and the match is stopped at 12:44.

Rating: B. First and foremost: AEW has announced that Page suffered a concussion and was released from the hospital a few hours after the show. That could have been so much worse so now we can get on with the match. I’m never sure how to rate a match that ends out of nowhere with what seems to be a rather legitimate injury like that one. They were having the main event style match here though and it was starting to cook at the end before everything got cut off. The big thing that I took out of this one was that I could go for a Page heel run, as he was pretty awesome playing one here.

The referee and doctor check on Page, whose arm and legs are moving. William Regal comes to the ring and the cameras look at anything other than Page. We talk about what is coming on Rampage and next week’s Dynamite as a stretcher is brought out. The bottom rope had to be loosened to get Page out. Moxley also got on the mic and said some rather un-PG things off camera.

The camera goes back on him, with Moxley saying he hopes Page is safe and 100% so he can come back and do it again for these fans. Moxley still has some energy in him and he wants MJF out here right now. Cue MJF and he’s got his own referee with him. MJF takes his shirt off (looking by far the best he’s looked in AEW) but he’ll wait on the cash-in for Full Gear because he wants to do it the right way. Moxley promises to put various parts of himself and his gear into and onto MJF at Full Gear to end the show.

Overall Rating: A-. This was MUCH better on TV than it was live, which is a weird flip of the norm but I’ll definitely take a series of pretty awesome matches and a likely all time promo for two hours. MJF seems to be gearing up for the major run of his career (so far) and there were multiple good matches throughout to back it up. Very strong show here, even if didn’t come across that way in the arena.

Results
Death Triangle b. Best Friends/Orange Cassidy – Black Fire Driver to Trent
Toni Storm b. Hikaru Shida – Storm Zero
Chris Jericho b. Dalton Castle – Judas Effect
Jon Moxley b. Hangman Page via referee stoppage

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.

Rampage
Date: September 30, 2022
Location: Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

Rampage is back to normal this week and that should make for a decent enough show. You never know what you’re going to get around here, though odds are you’ll get at least one important thing. Other than that though, there is a good chance you’ll be seeing some names who aren’t around on Dynamite very often. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Tag Team Titles: Acclaimed vs. Butcher and the Blade vs. Private Party

Acclaimed, with Billy Gunn, is defending. Bowens and Kassidy start things off as Matt Hardy is watching in the back. They trade quick one counts as the fans sing in praise of the Acclaimed. A standoff gives us a handshake before Bowens drives Kassidy into the corner for the tag off to Castor. With Kassidy down, Castor stops for some scissoring with Gunn before Bowens comes in for a neckbreaker onto Castor’s knees.

Quen comes in and gets a middle rope legdrop between the legs. That’s enough for Butcher and the Blade, who come in and run the champs over. Bowens fights back up and is quickly headbutted right back down. We take a break and come back with Bowens powering out of Blade’s chinlock but getting powerslammed instead.

A superkick drops Blade hard but it’s Private Party tagging themselves back in to clean house. Private Party hits the Motor City Machine Guns’ Skull & Bones (with a Swanton instead of a splash) for two on Blade with Castor making the save. Everything breaks down again and Kassidy hits a dive of his own. Castor hits his own dive and sends Blade back inside, where it’s the Arrival into the Mic Drop to retain the titles at 9:58.

Rating: C+. It was a fast paced match and a good way to get the Acclaimed their first win, though I have no idea why they went with a three way match featuring all of a few moments of setup. The Acclaimed are over and if they can deliver in the ring to back it up, their title reign could go on for a rather long time.

Celebratory scissoring ensues post match.

The Firm mock FTR for holding various Tag Team Titles, which they can’t remember anyway. The Gunn Club wants the Tag Team Titles and bring up FTR for being #1 contenders for almost six months. They’ll leapfrog FTR too. I’m not sure if mocking your own rankings is the best idea.

Jade Cargill mocks AEW for giving her no competition but Vickie Guerrero, Marina Shafir and Nyla Rose come in. Cargill says Rose can have a title match but on Jade’s time. It’s as good as anything else at the moment.

Lee Moriarty vs. Fuego del Sol

W. Morrissey and Stokely Hathaway are here with Moriarty. Fuego gets taken to the mat to start and then uppercutted up against the ropes. Some stomps keep Fuego in trouble and a Border City Stretch finishes him off at 1:57.

Post match Morrissey gives Fuego a chokeslam.

Hangman Page is ready for Jon Moxley and the Dark Order will be in their corner. Andrade and Jose the Assistant come in to mock 10. Next week is the anniversary of Brodie Lee’s last match so Andrade has an idea: they have a match next week, with the mask Brodie Lee gave 10 vs. Andrade’s career. That could be interesting. The Firm comes in to mock Andrade and brings up Matt Hardy’s contract tampering with Private Party. Please tell me that this isn’t going to be their take on WWE’s alleged tampering.

Willow Nightingale vs. Jamie Hayter

Rebel and Britt Baker are here with Hayter. Nightingale takes her down and fires off some headbutts until Hayter fights up for an exchange of shoulders. Hayter gets dropped for a basement crossbody and splash for two. Some chops have Hayter in more trouble but she’s right back with a big boot to drop Nightingale hard (and Baker dances).

We take a break and come back with Hayter hitting a backbreaker for two. Nightingale pops up and hits a heck of a Pounce out to the floor to rock Hayter hard. Back in and a Death Valley Driver gives Nightingale two so it’s time to go up top. Baker offers a distraction though and it’s a shortarm clothesline to give Hayter the pin at 8:08.

Rating: C+. This was an interesting one as Nightingale is such a ball of charisma that I’m looking forward to seeing her most weeks, while Hayter is looking like a breakout star. She has very good abilities in the ring and the crowd is reacting to her, but until she breaks away from Baker, none of that is going to matter. For now though, this was a nice meshing of styles, with Nightingale’s power working well for her.

Video on Wardlow and Samoa Joe, because the best use of two of your midcard champions is to have them team together.

Here is Ryan Nemeth to mock various Philadelphia legends until Hook comes out to wreck him. As Hook is going to leave, the Trustbusters come out with an envelope with his name on it, which Hook takes.

Video on Swerve Strickland at a music festival.

Video on Hangman Page vs. Jon Moxley.

John Silver and Rush are ready for the main event.

Here’s what is coming on upcoming shows.

Trent Beretta is ready for Pac and the All Atlantic Title at Battle of the Belts.

John Silver vs. Rush

Alex Reynolds, Andrade and Jose the Assistant are here too. Silver grabs a headlock to start and a running elbow sends Rush outside. The dive is loaded up but Silver flips down into the Tranquilo pose for a nice touch. Rush comes back in and hammers on Silver, even knocking him outside for a whip into the barricade. Back in and the running corner dropkick is loaded up, only to have Rush hit the cocky kick instead.

We take a break and come back with Silver hitting some corner clotheslines, followed by the rolling German suplexes. A sitout powerbomb gives Silver two and it’s time to slap it out. That goes to the bigger/stronger Rush but Silver grabs a brainbuster for two more. Jose tries to interfere so Reynolds pulls him down. The distraction lets Rush hit a running forearm into the corner though, setting up the Bull’s Horns for the pin at 10:55.

Rating: C. Silver is someone who is probably never going to become a major star in AEW but he has found a niche for himself and it is working. He has so much charisma that it is hard to ignore him. On the other side though, I have no idea what we are supposed to get out of Rush, who is a power guy with almost nothing else to him. Why this was a main event eludes me, but Rush did look dominant at the end.

Post match the beatdown is on, with Butcher and the Blade joining in. The rest of the Dark Order and Hangman Page run in for the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. As usual, Rampage is enough of a quality show but so much of if feels unimportant. Rush vs. John Silver? Jamie Hayter getting a win over Willow Nightingale and a Lee Moriarty squash? That’s not exactly must see TV and that is where Rampage falls. It could be something valuable to AEW but instead we get whatever they throw out there that week, I don’t quite get the thinking, but that’s what Rampage is.

Results
Acclaimed b. Butcher and the Blade and Private Party – Mic Drop to Blade
Lee Moriarty b. Fuego del Sol – Border City Stretch
Jamie Hayter b. Willow Nightingale – Shortarm clothesline
Rush b. John Silver – Bull’s Horns

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Dynamite
Date: August 24, 2022
Location: Wolstein Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Taz

We’ve got a big one this week as suddenly we have a World Title match between Interim World Champion Jon Moxley and World Champion CM Punk. This comes as we have All Out in about a week and a half and now we need a main event. Odds are we get the main event announced or all but announced by the end of the night. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Here is Chris Jericho to get things going but he gets to the point this time: Daniel Garcia needs to get out here to explain things to him. The fans tell Garcia that he is a wrestler as Jericho says all he wants is an apology. Garcia gets serious and talks about how he had wanted to face Danielson, his hero, for as long as he remembers. People are calling it the best match in Dynamite history (no, they aren’t) and they went thirty minutes (still not quite but closer to reality than best match in Dynamite history). It was the match he always wanted to have and Jericho ruined it.

Jericho wants him to say that he’s a sports entertainer but here is Danielson to interrupt. Danielson was proud of the match too but wants Garcia to be a wrestler. Jericho says Garcia is the best sports entertainer but Garcia says he can’t decide between his mentor and his hero. He gets so emotional that he knocks Jericho down and leaves.

That leaves Jericho to rant about how much he knows more about wrestling than Danielson. That doesn’t compute for Danielson, who asks what Jericho’s mentor, Stu Hart (not exactly), would think of this. The result is a match at All Out, but here is Jake Hager to jump Danielson from behind. Jericho vs. Danielson at All Out isn’t a surprise, but dang I could go for dropping this SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT IS BAD/WRESTLING IS GOOD story. We get it: WWE is awful and AEW rocks. Move on already.

Dax Harwood vs. Jay Lethal

No seconds are here oddly enough. They chop it out to start as JR talks about how old school promoters would love this and Taz explains what makes chops loud. Harwood hammers away in the corner until Lethal slips out and hits a super Russian legsweep as we take a break.

Back with Harwood rolling German suplexes but Lethal is right back with a Figure Four attempt. That’s broken up so Harwood goes for a Sharpshooter, which is broken up as well. Another Figure Four attempt is countered into a small package for two before Lethal kicks him in the leg.

The leg is fine enough to hit a slingshot powerbomb for two and the Sharpshooter goes on. Sonjay Dutt (with pencil) gets on the apron for the break and Lethal grabs a rollup for two. A small package gives Harwood the same and a middle rope spinning crossbody gives him two more. Lethal gets crafty by distracting the referee though and a rollup with trunks is enough to pin Harwood at 12:47.

Rating: B-. Lethal isn’t likely to become the tops tar in AEW or even a champion around here, but you are almost never going to see him do anything close to bad in the ring. That is a fine reason to put him on television and it worked well here, with Harwood going step for step with him before getting cheated in the end. I could go for Harwood winning more of these singles matches, but he is making himself into more and more of a star every time he’s in there.

Post match Sonjay Dutt says we’re still having a six man tag at All Out, but he never said who was in it. Jay Lethal will be teaming with……the Motor City Machine Guns???? Well that’s an upgrade.

Thunder Rosa is in tears and announces that she has to vacate the Women’s Title. Therefore, an Interim (STOP DOING THAT!) Women’s Title will be crowned in a four way match at All Out.

Billy Gunn vs. Colten Gunn

The Acclaimed handles Billy’s entrance, bringing up student loan debt and backstage talent meetings. Billy wastes no time in powering Colten outside and we take an early break. Back with Billy unloading in the corner and stomping away, with the referee having to pull him off. The distraction lets Stokely Hathaway get in a cheap shot with the boom box on the floor. That’s also enough of a distraction so Colten can get in a low blow, setting up the Colt 45 for the pin at 6:16. Most of the match was in the break but that’s the right result.

Post match Hathaway again offers his business cards and this time the Gunns accept. The beatdown is on until Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland make the save.

Death Triangle is ready for Will Ospreay/Aussie Open.

Britt Baker vs. KiLynn King

Baker hammers away in the corner but King reverses and stomps away in said corner. A Downward Spiral into the buckle drops King though and Baker pulls her head into the post. Back in and King hits a German suplex but King gets taken down and Stomped. The Lockjaw finishes for Baker at 3:55.

Rating: C. Just a quick win to give Baker some momentum heading into the All Out title match. Baker isn’t exactly someone who needs such a win but at least they are doing something to build her back up. King continues to look like a good prospect and I could see her going somewhere just due to her unique look and size.

Post match Baker rips on the rest of the challenges for the Women’s Title, including Toni Storm. Jamie Hayter and Rebel jump her from behind but Hikaru Shida makes the save.

Keith lee and Serve Strickland are down to give the Acclaimed a Tag Team Title shot at All Out.

AEW World Title: CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley

Punk’s AEW World Title and Moxley’s Interim World Title are being unified. They fight over a lockup to start and Punk is taken into the corner, where Moxley hammers away. Punk is back with a kick but hurts the previously injured foot and he’s in trouble. The doctor is called over but Moxley hits a King King lariat. Leg cranking ensues, along with hammer and anvil elbows, setting up the Death Rider. Moxley hits it again and wins at 2:59.

I believe a “….whoa” is in order here as that wasn’t exactly what a lot of people were likely expecting. This feels like either Punk was still injured or those backstage issues are bigger than we think, but it is still a good bit too early to know for sure what is going on. What matters here is that Moxley wins and can move on to….I have no idea what actually at All Out, but the Interim Title (at least this one) nonsense is over. People are going to be talking about this one for awhile though and that is a good thing.

Punk is helped to the back.

Christian Cage is rather serious as he accepts Jungle Boy’s challenge for All Out. All he wanted was for two of them to be back together but then Jungle Boy took it to another level. Jungle Boy isn’t in his league but the match is on.

Here is a ticked off Ricky Starks to talk about how Powerhouse Hobbs turned on him. Veterans are telling him that this is show business and you have to get used to this but he thought he was the exception because he had Hobbs behind him. Hobbs was checking on him every day last year when he broke his neck, but then Hobbs got jealous of Starks’ success. Starks remembers Hobbs standing around in the background until they got together, but then Hobbs hit him in the neck. He sees Hobbs as a neck, and where Starks comes from, they step on snakes. The challenge is on for All Out in another match you knew was coming but needed to be officially set.

We look at the title change again.

Jon Moxley is sick of people writing his obituary as soon as Punk arrived. He is the answer to every wrestling problem and his time is right censored now.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

We look at Kenny Omega’s return last week.

Trios Titles Tournament: Death Triangle vs. Will Ospreay/Aussie Open

Don Callis in on commentary. Fenix and Ospreay trade flips to start before everything breaks down. Death Triangle sends them to the floor and hit the stereo flip dives for the big knockdown. Back in and Pac chops away at Ospreay before Fenix kicks him down for two. We take a break and come back with Osprey hitting a Sky Twister onto Pac and Penta, followed by a running boot in the corner to Fenix.

We settle down to a heck of a dropkick to Fenix but he chops away at the Aussies and hits a very springboard double wristdrag for a breather. The hot tag brings in Penta for a double high crossbody and everything breaks down as we take a break. Back with Pac coming in to clean house, but Aussie Open and the Lucha Bros come in for the brawl. Ospreay and Pac hit stereo poisonranas to the teams and it’s time for the big staredown. They slug it out until the Oscutter drops Pac, followed by a hard shot to the face to do it again.

Pac catches him on top though and it’s the big superplex for a double knockdown as we take a break. Back with Ospreay back up and hitting a hurricanrana on Pac but the Stormbreaker is countered into a hurricanrana to give Pac two. Everything breaks down again and Penta hits a step up Canadian Destroyer. Pac goes outside and stops to glare at whoever is in the Kip Sabian box because it clearly isn’t Sabian. It’s….just someone, allowing Sabian to jump Pac from behind. Back in and an assisted Oscutter gives Ospreay the pin on Fenix at 25:18.

Rating: B+. Kip Sabian aside, this is the reason you put a match like this on the card: total and complete insanity with very little resembling a tag match (though there was some in there for a bit of a bonus) and all of the insanity you could ask for in one match. It was a lot of fun and the result surprises me, so well done all around.

Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks come out for the staredown but Callis holds Omega back to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was a rather weird show with all kinds of stuff going on, a lot of which had a vibe like it was being cobbled together at the last minute. That’s usually a problem, but they have a huge out this week with the Punk/Moxley situation, which is going to completely dominate the post show chatter. I have no idea what they are going to do with the title at All Out but me being this curious says they seem to be doing something right.

Results
Jay Lethal b. Dax Harwood – Rollup with trunks
Colten Gunn b. Billy Gunn – Colt 45
Jon Moxley b. CM Punk – Death Rider
Britt Baker b. KiLynn King – Lockjaw
Will Ospreay/Aussie Open b. Death Triangle – Elevated Oscutter to Fenix

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: August 19, 2022
Location: North Charleston Coliseum, Charleston, West Virginia
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Jim Ross, Chris Jericho

Things have gotten all the more interesting around here in the last few days as we are now getting ready for one of the biggest matches in Dynamite history. Forget that for now though, because we have something far more important this week. That could only be one thing and say it with me: the Trustbusters are here! Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Here is Claudio Castagnoli, with Wheeler Yuta, to get things going. After praising Ricky Steamboat (in the front row), Claudio gets to the point: an open challenge for a future Ring Of Honor World Title shot. Cue Dustin Rhodes to say he has wanted to hold the World Title for thirty four years and until recently, they both had people saying they should be World Champion. Castagnoli knows the feeling Dustin has and sees the fire in his eyes. The challenge is accepted for next week, with Castagnoli wanting the best Dustin has. Respect is shown. I could go for this.

Ruby Soho and Ortiz want to fight Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti next week.

Tag Team Titles: Keith Lee/Swerve Strickland vs. Private Party

Private Party is challenging. Kassidy punches away at Lee to start and it’s off to Swerve, who can’t hit a suplex. He can however duck a Quen springboard crossbody but gets hurricanranaed to the floor by Kassidy. A corkscrew dive takes Swerve down and we take a break. Back with Kassidy posing at Lee, with the delay allowing Swerve to hit a middle rope stomp on Quen. That’s enough for the hot tag to Lee so house can be cleaned. Kassidy gets Pounced into the ropes and Swerve adds the running kick to the back of the head for two. Swerve doesn’t like that kickout so it’s the JML Driver to retain the titles at 7:58.

Rating: C+. Lee and Swerve didn’t exactly feel like they were in a ton of danger here and that really is how things should have gone. Private Party had that one big win over the Young Bucks and then have done almost nothing of note since them. That isn’t enough to make them threats to the titles here, but their athleticism is still worth at least a glance.

Powerhouse Hobbs interrupts the Factory’s card/dominoes game, asking why they didn’t take care of Ricky Starks. QT Marshall promises they’ll get it done.

FTW Title: Hook vs. Zack Clayton

Clayton (formerly of some Jersey Shore spinoff) is challenging and brags about his star power and promises to take it back to a state people actually like in New Jersey. Redrum retains the title in 12 seconds.

Angelo Parker and Matt Menard don’t like Hook having the FTW Title and think it should be around the waist of a sports entertainer.

Billy Gunn isn’t happy with the Gunn Club and is bringing the Acclaimed to deal with them next week.

We look at La Faccion Ingobernable turning on Dragon Lee and kicking him out of the team.

Buddy Matthews vs. Serpentico

This is billed as a standby match because Hook’s match was so fast in a nice touch. Julia Hart is here with Murphy, who knocks him to the corner to start. A buckle bomb sets up what used to be known as Murphy’s Law for the pin on Serpentico at 1:10.

Post match Miro comes out, holding Malakai Black’s mask. Miro brawls with Matthews and beats him down.

Britt Baker (in a KISS shirt), Rebel and Jamie Hayter aren’t happy that they’re not in the title match at All Out. They do want to see Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa implode though. It’s not like either of them can win anyway.

Penelope Ford vs. Athena

Athena armdrags her into an armbar to start but gets driven into the corner. A jumping knee cuts Ford off but she rolls Athena throat first into the middle rope as we see the guy with a box in his head. Commentary confirms that it’s Kip Sabian as Ford hits a slingshot elbow and we take a break. Back with Ford being sent into the barricade, setting up the O Face to finish Ford at 5:20. Not enough shown to rate but it’s nice to have Ford back.

Post match the Baddies run in to beat down Athena. Jade Cargill and Stokely Hathaway come out and destroy Athena’s wings with a sledgehammer. Cargill sledgehammers Athena down too. Can we GET TO THE MATCH ALREADY? This has been going on for months already.

We recap Jon Moxley and CM Punk on Dynamite.

Video on Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks. Hobbs was hired to keep the FTW Title on Starks but Starks couldn’t keep up his end. More from Starks on Dynamite.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

The Best Friends and Orange Cassidy are ready for the main event.

Trios Titles Tournament First Round: Trustbusters vs. Best Friends/Orange Cassidy

Sonny Kiss is with the Trustbusters. Slim J drives Trent into the corner with Jericho comparing Slim J to a ferret. Chuck makes the save and tosses him into a sitout powerbomb from Trent. Some house is cleaned but Boudreaux comes in to wreck people without much effort. Everything breaks down and we take a break with the Best Friends in trouble.

Back with Trent getting in a forearm but Daivari brings in Slim J, who knocks Chuck off the apron. Cassidy’s staredown distracts Slim J though and Trent gets in a suplex. That’s enough for the tag to Cassidy so the pace picks up, including a high crossbody to Slim Jr and the satellite DDT to Daivari. Now Cassidy wants Boudreaux (and seems to talk some trash). Boudreaux wrecks the good guys, at least until he gets knocked into the corner for a triple dropkick.

Slim J takes the Best Friends down with a top rope corkscrew dive, followed by something like a Whisper in the Wind to Cassidy. Daivari’s frog splash gets two as everything breaks down again. A series of shots send Boudreaux over the barricade but Kiss crotches Cassidy. Slim J’s top rope elbow gets two on Cassidy but here is Danhausen to curse him. That’s enough for the Best Friends to hit a double chokeslam, setting up an assisted splash (with the Best Friends holding Slim J up and Cassidy diving off of their shoulders at the same time) to give Cassidy the pin at 10:32.

Rating: C+. The finish was rather cool and they had the right team win, but it’s still trying to make me interested in the Trustbusters. Good luck with that, as I’ve yet to see something from either Daivari or Boudreaux that will draw my interest. They are getting it much more right with Cassidy though, as he is filling hie role as the guy who is better than the lower card and a possible spoiler for bigger spots perfectly.

Danhausen poses with the winners to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Better than last week’s as it felt like some interesting things took place here, but still not a must see show. Rampage has been around for just over a year now and the show hasn’t felt important in a long time. You might get one somewhat important thing a week and the rest of the show feels like they are just filling in their hour. Not a bad show whatsoever, but nothing you would need to watch, as has been the case with most recent editions.

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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Battle Of The Belts III
Date: August 6, 2022
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Taz, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone

It’s time for another of these specials and I’m not sure what to expect from something like this. AEW does not seem to be the most interested in running these shows but that very well might have a lot to do with the shows being network mandates. At least we should get some good action so let’s get to it.

TNT Title: Jay Lethal vs. Wardlow

Lethal, with Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh, is challenging. Wardlow shoves him around to start and a big toss sends Lethal outside. Lethal gets in a cheap shot though and scores with an enziguri back inside. A tilt-a-whirl slam gets Wardlow out of trouble but Lethal knocks him outside for the suicide dive. That means Lethal can get in the strut before wrapping Wardlow’s leg around the post. We take a break and come back with Lethal having to escape the powerbomb. Instead Wardlow goes with a clothesline to turn Lethal inside out and the powerbomb retains Wardlow’s title at 7:19.

Rating: C+. Wardlow wasn’t losing the title so soon into his reign but having Lethal in there made for a good match. Lethal is able to make almost anyone look better, even if he isn’t likely to be a major threat to the title. Wardlow could be champion for a rather long time and having him win matches like these is only going to boost his credibility.

Post match Wardlow gets jumped by the rest of the villains, with Singh putting his foot on Wardlow’s chest as Lethal applies the Figure Four. Lethal lets go so Wardlow fights up and kicks Singh low. The powerbomb is loaded up but Lethal makes the save, allowing Singh to chokeslam Wardlow through a table. I could go for a nice long break between table spots.

Women’s Title: Jamie Hayter vs. Thunder Rosa

Hayter, with Britt Baker and Rebel, is challenging while Rosa has Toni Storm with her. Rosa gets jumped fast, with Baker and Rebel being rather pleased at ringside. Some choking in the corner keeps Rosa in trouble but she knocks Hayter outside. A whip into the barricade cuts Rosa off but she’s back with a DDT on the floor. Baker grabs the title belt though and the distraction lets Hayter knock her off the top for a crash.

We take a break and come back with Rosa catching Hayter on top but getting dropped with a brainbuster. Baker and Storm get in a fight on the floor with Storm hitting a tornado DDT off the steps. The distraction lets Rosa grab a rollup for two, followed by another rollup to retain the title at 11:28.

Rating: C+. Another nice enough match here with Rosa surviving to retain the title, as she gets built up a bit more. I’m not sure I can imagine her surviving her next big title match, as you can probably pencil Storm in for the All Out shot. Rosa’s title reign hasn’t been a disaster, but it has never risen above a certain level and that is rather telling most of the time.

Video on FTR.

Here’s what’s coming on upcoming shows.

Ring Of Honor World Title: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Castagnoli is defending and William Regal is on commentary. Neither can hit a hard shot to start and it’s an early standoff. Takeshita is taken down with a test of strength and Castagnoli monkey flips him over, meaning it’s time for a handshake. A hiptoss takes Castagnoli down for a change but a running shoulder puts Takeshita down instead.

Castagnoli gets knocked outside where he avoids a slingshot dive. Back in and Castagnoli plants him for two as we take a break. Back with Takeshita hitting a middle rope hurricanrana and knocking Castagnoli outside, setting up the big running flip dive. They get back in with Castagnoli catching him on top with a gutwrench superplex for two, setting up the giant swing.

Takeshita catches him with a running big boot in the corner though and a Blue Thunder Bomb gets two. A turnbuckle DDT sets up a frog splash for two more on Castagnoli, who elbows him out of the air. The Crossface is countered with a rollup to give Takeshita two and he hits a clothesline for the same.

A running knee into the brainbuster gets another near fall on Castagnoli, who blocks a powerbomb. Back up and a double stomp to the ribs looks to set up the Riccola Bomb but Takeshita reverses into a hurricanrana for two. The Death Valley Driver drops Takeshita though and its the hammer and anvil elbows to rock Takeshita again. The Riccola Bomb retains the title at 19:52.

Rating: B+. This felt like an old school Ring Of Honor World Title match, as there was no major story here but they had a heck of a fight anyway. It was never about anger between the two of them but rather about being the best. They tore the house down here and had a pretty excellent match, which is exactly what you have someone like Castagnoli here to go. Very good stuff here as Takeshita continues to be unable to do wrong.

Overall Rating: B. As usual, this was a show that was completely skippable, but there was enough good action that it’s worth your time, especially the awesome main event. It’s also really hard to complain about a show that is only an hour long as it hardly overstays its welcome. This felt like a show where they threw some matches together and told the wrestlers to carry things and that worked out well. Nice stuff here, and check out the main event if you have time.

Results
Wardlow b. Jay Lethal – Powerbomb
Thunder Rosa b. Jamie Hayter – Rollup
Claudio Castagnoli b. Konosuke Takeshita – Riccola Bomb

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: July 29, 2022
Location: DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts
Commentators: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

It’s another night of Fight For The Fallen, which went very well on Wednesday so maybe they can keep it up here. You never know what that might mean but the more star power this show can have, the better it is going to be. I’m not sure what that is going to be this week, but Rampage can be quite fun. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Best Friends vs. Satnam Singh/Jay Lethal/Sonjay Dutt

Dutt is still in his suit, complete with pencil behind his ear. I know this because we actually get entrances this week instead of rushing straight to the ring. Trent and Lethal start things off with Trent countering la majistral into a cradle for two. That means a standoff and the fans seem pleased. Cassidy comes in (under the bottom rope) and gets Dutt, who takes off his jacket and tie, which he hands to the referee. Jericho: “That’s a $5000 suit he’s wrestling in!” Ross: “You really believe that?” Jericho: “Well it’s wrestling.”

Cassidy puts his sunglasses on the referee and kicks him in the legs, but it’s off to Singh for the chop in the corner. Taylor and Trent come in for some chops of their own, earning a double crossbody from Singh. Cassidy gets stomped down in the corner and we take a break. Back with Cassidy jumping over Lethal and very calmly tagging in Taylor.

House is cleaned, with Jericho referring to Taylor as a modern day Bobby Eaton (which has to be designed to get on Jim Cornette’s nerves). Singh breaks up the big hug but gets knocked outside, allowing the hugging to take place. That earns the Best Friends a double Lethal Injection so it’s back to Cassidy to hit the tornado DDT. Dutt tries his own lazy kicks but Cassidy breaks his pencil. The Orange Punch finishes Dutt at 7:29 as the Best Friends grab Singh’s leg.

Rating: C. Cassidy beating Dutt is a completely fine way to go as Dutt is little more than a joke and not even a wrestler these days. The Best Friends did their thing and they protected Singh and Lethal well enough. This felt like a one off match, leaving me wondering what is next for everyone involved.

Post match the beatdown is on but Wardlow makes the save and poses with the Best Friends.

We look at FTR retaining the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Titles against the Briscoes at Death Before Dishonor.

Ethan Page vs. Leon Ruffin

Ruffin charges at him to start but gets driven into the corner so the beating can begin. A hard whip into the corner has Ruffin crashing again and a heck of a forearm cuts him off again. The Ego’s Edge (Page: “I hate this place.”) finishes Ruffin at 1:38. Total dominance.

Cole Karter is in the back when the Factory comes in to offer him a spot on the team. Karter doesn’t say no, so QT Marshall tells him to sleep on it. Marshall: “But in your own bed, not with the fishes.” In case you didn’t get it, THAT’S A REFERENCE TO HOW HE LEFT NXT!

Lee Moriarty vs. Matt Sydal

Moriarty mocks Sydal’s peace sign to start and then suplexes him over. A clothesline misses for Moriarty though and there’s a kick to his chest to put him down. We take a break and come back with an exchange of kicks to the head until Moriarty drops him with a clothesline. Sydal gets in a kick to the head of his own and the Lightning Spiral gets two. Cue Stokely Hathaway as Sydal goes up top, with Moriarty catching him. Sydal kicks him away but has to slap Hathaway off, allowing Moriarty to crotch him down. A lifting Downward Spiral gives Moriarty two and the Border City Stretch gives Moriarty the win at 7:57.

Rating: C+. These two can do the technical stuff rather well and that is why they were put in the ring. Hathaway is the interesting factor though as there is a good chance that he is going to get Moriarty and that could get good. Sydal continues to be a good hand who is just kind of there, but that isn’t a bad role to have.

Britt Baker, with Rebel, isn’t worried about Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm next week. Baker thinks Rosa is keeping Storm close because Storm is the biggest threat to the title. See you next week.

Tony Schiavone brings out Ring Of Honor World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, with William Regal, for a chat. Castagnoli soaks in the YOU DESERVE IT chants and then thanks the fans in a variety of languages. This is just the beginning for himself and the Combat Club so here is Ring Of Honor Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta. Before that can go anywhere, Chris Jericho interrupts to say he is tired of hearing about the Club, but Yuta tells him to shut up. Yuta knows that Jericho is going to talk about how sports entertainers beat wrestlers every time, except when he beat Daniel Garcia at Death Before Dishonor.

The challenge for Jericho is on, with Yuta going on about how he knows he can win, so the match is on. Jericho says they can do it on Dynamite, but Yuta says nah because he knows he can win. They yell at each other again until Jericho says shut up. Jericho is so confident that he’ll put up his title match against Jon Moxley at Quake By The Lake. Yuta: “Well that was easier than I thought.” The match is on after a clever segment.

And now, an Acclaimed music video about the Gunn Club, who need to be thrown out on trash day. This involves beating up Gunn Club lookalikes, mocking the Smoking Gunns, and a challenge for a dumpster match. In other words, funny stuff.

Anna Jay cuts off Ruby Soho and doesn’t have to pretend to like her this time. Soho had high hopes for Jay but she’s just another entitled ***** who needs to be beaten up. Jay says Soho doesn’t learn her and she’s learning the dark side.

Here’s what’s coming up on various shows, including Battle Of The Belts, which is a show that’s happening next Saturday. Good to know.

Anna Jay vs. Ruby Soho

Feeling out process to start with Jay having to avoid an early No Future attempt. Some chops against the rope go a bit better for Soho so she tries a headstand in the corner. For some reason she does this right in front of Jay, who kicks her in the bad hand to take over. We take a break and come back with Jay getting the brace off of Soho’s hand, causing Aubrey Edwards to take it away. Soho hits some headbutts for a breather and adds a running kick to the head.

There’s an STO for two but Jay hits a Gory Bomb for the same. Jay threatens to choke out people at ringside but then tries to choke Soho instead. That’s escaped so No Future can connect for two but Soho’s backsplash is countered into a backsplash. Jay reverses that into a choke, which is broken up as well. The frustrated Jay throws her gauntlets down, which is enough of a distraction to grab the cast and put on the Queenslayer for the win at 9:56.

Rating: C+. Jay has gotten significantly more competent in the ring and that was on display here. She looks comfortable out there and much more sure of herself, though having someone as skilled as Soho in there certainly helped. I could go for more of evil Jay and that certainly seems to be what we are in for going forward.

Overall Rating: C+. Pretty nice show here, even without a lot of the big names involved. It’s always a good sign when a company can put together a solid show even without the main stars, if nothing else for the sake of finding some good stories that don’t burn out the top of the card. Throw in an Acclaimed Video and this was a nice hour of wrestling.

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Dynamite
Date: March 2, 2022
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

This is an interesting show as we have both the go home show for Revolution but Tony Khan himself is also making a major announcement. That could go a lot of different ways and I’m curious to see what he has next. Other than that, we need the final push towards Sunday and we should be in for something good. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Tony Schiavone is in the ring with Tony Khan for the big announcement. Khan talks about how far AEW has come in three years and how proud he is of everyone, including the fans. He has also been a fan of another company that started twenty years ago called Ring of Honor. That’s why he is proud to announce that as of today, he is officially the owner of Ring of Honor Wrestling. Two of the men in the first Ring of Honor main event are here in AEW and that’s our opening match.

That is a heck of a headline and I’m curious to see where it goes. That is the problem though, as I’m not sure exactly what is going on here. I would assume that Ring of Honor is the new developmental territory and that is not a bad idea. Use the name brand that you already have instead of making it another edition of Dark for a change. I’ll wait and see where this goes, but I’m cautiously optimistic, especially about that tape library.

Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels

Danielson takes him down to start but lets him up for some jumping jacks. Back up Daniels takes Danielson down for a change, meaning it’s Daniels doing his own jumping jacks. Daniels sends him outside for the Arabian moonsault and Danielson is rocked. They head back inside with Danielson hitting some kicks and tying up Daniels’ legs. Daniels fights out and gets to his feet, only to get German suplexed.

The cross armbreaker is broken up but Danielson reverses la majistral into a cradle of his own. They trade near falls until Daniels punches him in the face, making Danielson shake his head. They slug it out until Daniels gets dropped, though he is fine enough to catch Danielson on top. The Iconoclasm is broken up so Daniels loads up a hurricanrana, which is shoved off without too much effort. Daniels hits a release Rock Bottom and goes up for the BME, which is pulled into the triangle choke to give Danielson the win at 11:10.

Rating: C+. This was more of a nod to the big announcement than anything else but it was still a good way to start. Danielson wasn’t in any serious danger from Daniels, who still looks awesome at 51 years old. Sometimes you need a match against a still talented star who is going to make you work but not much beyond that and Danielson got such a match here.

Post match Danielson shakes the still out of it Daniels’ hand….but this isn’t Ring of Honor. He’s in AEW, and it’s time to kick someone’s head in. Danielson stomps away at Daniels until Jon Moxley comes out to break things up. Moxley talks about how he is on two different paths, one of which ends with him getting his head kicked in. The other path ends with him fighting in blood and he’s ready to start right now. The jacket comes off but Danielson bails.

Sting and Darby Allin are ready for Revolution and Rampage.

Casino Tag Team Battle Royal

There are fifteen teams but this seems to be a regular Royal Rumble format with ninety second intervals and both members needing to be eliminated. The winners join the Young Bucks and ReDRagon in a triple threat Tag Team Title match at Revolution. FTR and the returning Top Flight start things off with Top Flight flying around (oddly enough) early on. The Acclaimed is in at #3 and Caster’s rap eats up most of his time, talking about sending FTR to ROH and making things less popular than Glenn Jacobs’ tweets.

Since they don’t have much time, it’s the Dark Order (10/Alan Angels) in at #4 and get to clean house for a bit as the clock seems to be speeding up. Butcher and Blade are in at #5 to add in some power, meaning house is cleaned even more. Angels is tossed out and it’s the Varsity Blonds in at #6 as we take a break. Back with Bear Country having entered at #7 and Santana and Ortiz in at #8.

Santana and Ortiz go right after Bear Country and toss them without much trouble for the first team elimination. Caster is knocked out and it’s the Best Friends in at #9. Garrison is tossed and apparently Pillman was eliminated during the break, so the Blonds are gone too. More Dark Order (Evil Uno/Stu Grayson) are in at #10 as Blade gets kicked out. Three members of the Dark Order get rid of Butcher to eliminate another team. The Big Rig hits Grayson and it’s the Young Bucks in at #11 for the showdown with FTR.

That’s broken up by everyone else though and we take another break. Back again with the Wingmen in at #12 and the Gunn Club coming in at #13. The means a double Big Rig and the Bucks team up with FTR to get rid of the Club. Brock Anderson and Lee Johnson are in at #14 and get caught in the melee. Bowens goes after 10’s mask and tosses him out to get rid of the team. Chuck Taylor is tossed and the Wingmen go after them. There goes Grayson for a nasty crash and it’s 2.0 to complete the field at #15.

Anderson and Lee are tossed and Top Flight knocks Bowens out to get rid of the Acclaimed. Uno and Trent wind up on the apron, with Uno poking him in the eye and trying a piledriver, only to have Danhausen pop out from underneath the ring. The curse to Uno allows Trent to suplex Uno out, with Trent thanking Danhausen. Santana, Ortiz and 2.0 all wind up on the same apron for a fight with 2.0 being eliminated, followed by FTR getting rid of Santana and Ortiz.

Matt Jackson sends Trent into the corner ala Ric Flair and then clotheslines him off the apron ala Hulk Hogan. That leaves us with the Bucks, Top Flight and FTR as the final six so the slugout is on. Dante misses the Nosedive but grabs a hurricanrana on Cash, which eliminates both of them. Harwood tries a slingshot powerbomb on Matt but gets countered with another hurricanrana. Cue ReDRagon for a distraction, allowing the Bucks to superkick Harwood out.

That leaves the Bucks vs. Darius Martin, the latter of whom knocks Matt down. Darius hits a handspring elbow to Nick and a Spanish Fly to Matt but Brandon Cutler saves Nick. The Meltzer Driver is broken up though and now Nick is tossed. Darius throws Matt to the apron but not out, meaning Matt can backdrop him to the apron. Matt gets pulled to the apron as well, where he kicks Darius low and then superkicks him out for the win at 26:54.

Rating: B. The best thing about this match was that they kept things moving and didn’t let the match get bogged down. I like the Royal Rumble format better than the Casino style, though it makes me wonder why they bothered with the Casino name here. Anyway, it was a good showing for multiple teams, including Top Flight, but the Bucks winning was the only real choice.

Post match the Bucks and ReDRagon are pleased with each other but here is the Jurassic Express for the staredown.

Chris Jericho is ready to beat Eddie Kingston and, after explaining what a promo means, says he knows Eddie is going to fail again because he is scared of success. After Revolution, he is going to tell Eddie to GFY. Santana and Ortiz come in and fist bump Jericho, but won’t say if they’re good with him or not.

Here is a serious looking CM Punk for a chat. He has spent the last week asking himself if he is the bad guy, but he can’t be sure that MJF isn’t gaslighting him. Punk believes that those things happened to MJF, but he isn’t sure if he cares. There is a photo of a young Punk on the internet meeting Steve Austin, though Punk wasn’t hut when Austin took his ball and went home.

Punk has seen MJF do horrible things to people like Dean Malenko and insult the memory of Brian Pillman. When Punk arrived, MJF offered him a handshake but Punk didn’t accept it. Does that make him Dr. Frankenstein and MJF the Monster? Punk wants the MJF from last week to come out here for a conversation, so here is MJF, sans music. Punk talks about the horrible things he has done over the years, from pouring alcohol down an alcoholic’s throat, poured ashes from an urn onto another person, and insulted an addict until they lost their job.

This right here though is bigger than the two of them because it is about that eleven year old kid at home. This morning, Punk asked himself if he was the good guy and he said he sure was trying. Punk extends his hand but MJF isn’t sure about that. Instead MJF hugs him, which Punk eventually accepts. MJF kicks him low though and then takes off the jacket, revealing a shirt with the photo of MJF meeting Punk as a kid.

The beating is on, including the Dynamite Diamond to the face. Wardlow and Shawn Spears come out with the dog collar as Punk is busted open. Punk is hung with the collar and chain and is COVERED in blood. MJF says Punk is a stupid old man and calls himself the devil himself. Spears hangs Punk over the top rope until Darby Allin, Sting and Sammy Guevara run out for the save. That was a heck of an angle, with Punk being COVERED in blood. Vengeance should be sweet on Sunday and that is what they were going for here.

Keith Lee is interrupted by Team Taz and isn’t happy about it. They’ll see each other at Revolution.

Britt Baker/Jamie Hayter vs. Thunder Rosa/Mercedes Martinez

Rebel is here with Baker/Hayter. Baker gets double teamed into the corner to start but she comes back with a Sling Blade to Martinez. Hayter comes in and gets shouldered down but Rebel offers a distraction. That means a superkick can drop Martinez and we take a break. Back with Martinez taking Hayter down for two but Baker comes back in to forearm Martinez in the face.

A superkick puts Martinez down but she is able to get over to Rosa for the Baker showdown. They slug it out until Rosa scores with a Death Valley Driver for two. Everything breaks down though and Martinez takes out Hayter and Rebel, leaving Rosa to hit an Emerald Flosion for the pin on Baker (Tony: “NO! NO! NO!”) at 8:20.

Rating: C+. Rosa had to get a pin here to set up the big title showdown and make it feel a lot more dramatic. That is going to be the match where it feels like Baker could lose and making it feel more likely here is a good idea. Martinez and Hayter were fine in their roles as well so this was a good step forward to the bigger match.

Jade Cargill isn’t interested in hearing about Tay Conti’s martial arts so Anna Jay has to hold her back.

Kris Statlander doesn’t think much of Leyla Hirsch calling herself a real athlete but Hirsch doesn’t think enough of her to respond. Statlander promises to show a new side of herself that no one has ever seen before.

Wardlow vs. Cezar Bononi

Bononi tries a powerbomb to start and gets powerbombed for the first time. The Powerbomb Symphony finishes for Wardlow at 49 seconds. Longer than I was expecting.

Post match Wardlow breaks up Shawn Spears’ chair shot to Bononi and they stare each other down. Spears thinks better of things.

Here’s the rundown of upcoming shows.

The House of Black takes credit for turning Pentagon into something so evil. Just remember that the house always wins.

MJF comes in to see Wardlow and says that if he wins the ladder match, he can even keep the TNT Title. MJF: “It’s not like you’re going to win it anyway.” Wardlow says he’s too busy making sure MJF is always winning so MJF slaps him in the face. MJF reminds Wardlow that he isn’t a professional wrestler but rather the bodyguard. That means he needs to stay in line or his family is going to be in trouble.

Hangman Page/Dark Order vs. Adam Cole/ReDRagon

Page backs Cole into the corner to start so it’s off to Fish instead. That’s fine with Page, who stomps Fish down into the corner so O’Reilly comes in for a change. Silver strikes him down and it’s the Dark Order flipping O’Reilly over for a crash, followed by a dropkick from Reynolds. O’Reilly manages to pull him into an abdominal stretch but Reynolds is out in a hurry. Page comes back in but gets taken down by a cheap shot.

Cole’s Panama Sunrise is countered into a cradle so they hit the pinfall reversal sequence. The Deadeye is broken up and Cole superkicks him in the leg. Page gets over to the apron but the threat of the Buckshot sends Cole bailing to the floor as we take a break. Back with Silver in trouble but managing to kick his way to freedom. Granted it isn’t a freedom that doesn’t last long though, as O’Reilly pulls him down into a kneebar.

That’s broken up as well and the hot tag brings in Page for the staredown. Cole gets suckered in as well and the slugout is on, with the other four joining in as well. Everything breaks down and Cole hits the brainbuster onto the knee to drop Silver. Page decks Cole, who is right back with an enziguri. Reynolds hits a pop up knee to Cole, who superkicks him twice. The Boom finishes Reynolds off at 12:42.

Rating: B-. Pretty nice main event here and much like the women’s tag, it helped advance the bigger title match at the pay per view. This worked out well and Cole gets to look stronger on the way to Revolution. At the same time, Cole vs. Page isn’t exactly feeling like a major pay per view showdown. Maybe that is because Punk vs. MJF is that awesome, but Cole vs. Page needed all the help it could get.

Post match Page goes after Cole again but gets duct taped to the ropes. That leaves the Dark Order to get beaten down. Cole superkicks Page and drapes the title onto his shoulder to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was quite the weird show, as it had the big announcement to start and then a nearly thirty minute match eating up about a fourth of the show. That put a lot of focus on two things when the rest of Revolution needed a good bit more focus. Rosa vs. Baker needed some more focus over the last few weeks and the main event still doesn’t feel hue. That being said, the Ring of Honor announcement was interesting and the action was all good to very good. Kind of a weird show, but it was more solid stuff, as usual.

Results
Bryan Danielson b. Christopher Daniels – Triangle choke
Young Bucks won a casino battle royal last eliminating Top Flight
Thunder Rosa/Mercedes Martinez b. Jamie Hayter/Britt Baker – Emerald Flosion to Baker
Wardlow b. Cezar Bononi – Powerbomb Symphony
Adam Cole/ReDRagon b. Hangman Page/Dark Order – Boom to Reynolds

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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Battle of the Belts
Date: January 8, 2022
Location: Bojangles Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

It’s the first of AEW’s quarterly specials but I’m assuming they couldn’t get the rights to Clash Of Champions. This show is all about the titles, with three championships on the line. One of them is a new title, as Cody Rhodes’ medical issues means we need an Interim TNT Title. Let’s get to it.

Interim TNT Title: Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara

This is a new title as TNT Champion Cody Rhodes is missing due to Coronavirus issues. Arn Anderson is here with Dustin. Respect is shown and it’s an armdrag to take Sammy down. That’s fine with Guevara, who grabs a hiptoss but gets kicked away to give us a standoff. They run the ropes and Dustin needs a breather (because he’s old you see) so Sammy flips over him a few times before knocking Dustin outside.

A whip into the barricade rocks Dustin again but he’s back with more chops. There’s a piledriver on the floor to leave Sammy laying but he beats the count as we take a break. Back with Dustin hitting the powerslam and hammering away in the corner. Dustin’s monkey flip is blocked though and Sammy sends him outside, setting up a heck of a double springboard flip dive.

Back in and a cutter is countered, allowing Dustin to hit Cross Rhodes for two. Dustin’s Code Red gets two so he goes up top, only to get pulled into the GTH for a very near fall. Cue Fuego del Sol from underneath the ring with a table (because reasons) but Arn chases him off, allowing Dustin to hit a Canadian Destroyer off the apron through the table (there’s your scarier than it needed to be crash). That’s only good for two so Dustin hits back to back Cross Rhodes. What looks to be the Tiger Driver 98 is countered into a rollup for two. The pinfall reversal sequence is on until Sammy gets a sunset flip for the pin and the title at 16:13.

Rating: B-. Dustin is one of the true marvels of wrestling as he has been at this for over thirty three years and is still going fairly strong. That isn’t the kind of thing you see anyone do and you can throw him into a spot like this with no worries. I don’t think there was any doubt about the winner here, but it was nice to hear commentary hype up a potential Dustin vs. Cody match to make you think they might go the other way.

Post match here is Daniel Garcia to jump Guevara but it’s broken up.

Post break, Sammy issues the challenge to Garcia for Dynamite.

FTW Title: Matt Sydal vs. Ricky Starks

Starks, with Powerhouse Hobbs, is defending and gets small packaged for a fast two. Sydal sends him outside in a hurry and it’s a standoff with Hobbs as we take a break. Back with Sydal firing off a bunch of kicks to the head and chest. A super hurricanrana sets up a Michinoku Driver for two more on Starks as the champ is in trouble. Starks loads up Roshambo but his knee gives out, allowing Sydal to kick him in the head. The Lighting Spiral gets two more so it’s the two rope Meteora, with Starks’ foot needing the ropes to escape. Back up and it’s a spear into the Roshambo to retain the title at 9:05.

Rating: C+. Another good enough match here, but above all else it’s nice to see Starks healthy enough to get back in the ring without having to use a bunch of smoke and mirrors. Starks could be a big deal around here in the future and the neck injury derailed that for a long time. Sydal is often good for a solid performance and he was fine enough as a challenger of the week here.

Post match Hobbs comes in to go after Sydal but Lee Moriarty and Dante Martin run in for the save.

Video on Britt Baker vs. Riho for Baker’s Women’s Title.

Women’s Title: Britt Baker vs. Riho

Riho is challenging and Baker has Jamie Hayter and Rebel with her. Riho starts fast and knocks Baker to the floor, where a big dive takes Rebel out. That’s enough for Baker to get in a shot of her own but Hayter is annoyed at Baker for not checking on Rebel. A table is set up but Riho uses the distraction to take out Baker and Hayter. Back in and Baker knocks her hard into the corner to stomp away as we take a break.

We come back with Riho hitting a double stomp for two and a running knee strike rocks Baker again. A 619 gets two and we hit a half crab to keep Baker in trouble. Riho goes up top but Rebel pulls Baker away before Riho can dive. That’s fine with Riho, who hits a double stomp onto Rebel to take her out.

The same double stomp misses Baker though and an Air Raid Crash gets two on Riho. Lockjaw is loaded up but Riho slips out into a cover for two of her own. Baker isn’t happy and hits the stomp for two more. Hayter throws in the belt and Rebel hands it to Baker, which is enough to eject Rebel. Riho sends Baker into Hayter and grabs a bridging northern lights suplex for two. Baker kicks her in the face and hits another stomp for two. Lockjaw goes on and Riho taps to retain the title at 12:49.

Rating: B. They had the drama going here and Riho got in some good near falls, to the point where I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. Baker still feels like the dominant champion though, and while the issues with Hayter continue to grow, that rematch with Thunder Rosa has to be looming. Best match of the show here though and a solid main event.

Post match Rebel and Hayter argue over who gets to hand Baker the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Three good matches throughout the card, though I was expecting something to actually happen. As it is, it’s an entertaining but uneventful show, with only the Interim Title changing hands (which isn’t quite the same thing). Maybe the virus issues shook things up too much, but this felt like a glorified Rampage more than anything else.

Results
Sammy Guevara b. Dustin Rhodes – Sunset flip
Ricky Starks b. Matt Sydal – Roshambo
Britt Baker b. Riho – Lockjaw

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: November 10, 2021
Location: Indianapolis Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis, Indiana
Commentators: Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur

It’s the go home show for Full Gear and that means things might actually be interesting around here. AEW knows how to stick the landing on their way to a pay per view and there is still some stuff that they need to cover. Odds are they’ll hit a lot of those points this week so let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Bryan Danielson vs. Rocky Romero

Orange Cassidy is here with Romero. They go technical to start and the fans are behind Danielson as he grabs a headlock. The threat of an armbar sends Danielson over to the ropes so Romero elbows him in the face. Danielson flips over Romero in the corner but misses the running clothesline. Instead, Romero sends him outside, where Cassidy gives Danielson the hands in the pockets.

The delay lets Romero score with a suicide dive but Danielson is back with the kicks and chops in the corner. A kick to the back sets up a knee to Romero’s face but Romero is back with a springboard tornado DDT. Romero drapes him over the ropes and hits a dropkick to the side of the head. There’s a running Sliced Bread for two and it’s off to a triangle choke.

Danielson stacks him up for two and then grabs a sitout powerbomb for the real break. Another cross armbreaker is broken up and Danielson kicks him in the face for a breather. Romero tries another Sliced Bread but gets countered into the stomps to the face. The LeBell Lock is blocked so Danielson switches to something like a Tequila Sunrise for the tap at 10:53.

Rating: B. This was the match that you would have expected from these two as they both know how to work this exact style. Danielson continues to be a wrestling machine on this show as he will fight anyone, often in a match that gets some time. That is a great thing to see and fits Danielson so well, which is all you can ask for from him.

Commentary runs down the card.

Tony Schiavone brings out the Inner Circle for a chat but American Top Team jumps them and lays everyone out, including sending them into various things. Dan Lambert gives Chris Jericho an assisted powerbomb through a table and gets to brag a lot. The Men of the Year promise to destroy the Inner Circle at Full Gear, where Lambert will pin Jericho. Tonight though, they’re going to make Lambert tap Jericho out, so put him in the Walls! Lambert puts it on and shouts about it being a Boston crab. Scorpio Sky grabs Jericho’s hand and slaps the mat to really rub it in. Classic heel stuff here and it worked as a result.

Tay Conti/Anna Jay/Thunder Rosa vs. Rebel/Britt Baker/Jamie Hayter

Rosa and Baker start things off and you can see Baker getting more serious about this one. Rosa can’t hit a quick Fire Thunder Driver and the fans are split. Baker bails over to Rebel to hammer on Rosa but it’s off to Anna. Rosa whips Anna into Rebel in the corner but it’s Anna being knocked outside for the double teaming.

We take a break with Anna in trouble and come back with her suplexing her way to freedom. The hot tag brings in Conti to clean house until the numbers game gets the better of her. Rosa comes in and gets to run some people over as everything breaks down. Rosa dives onto Hayter and CRUSHES HER with a high crossbody to the floor (with Rosa immediately checking on her). Conti loads up the TayKO, glares at Baker, and plants Rebel for the pin at 7:58.

Rating: C. Not much of a match here, but again it was about building things up for Sunday. I don’t know if Conti has the greatest chance of winning the title at Full Gear but you have to do something like this to set her up as a potential threat. Just Baker looking scared of her at the end is enough to get her somewhere, so this worked out perfectly well given what they were trying to do.

Video on Ruby Soho vs. Kris Statlander.

Anthony Bowens vs. Jungle Boy

Max Caster’s rap insults Jungle Boy’s physique and wonders why he leaves his girlfriend (Anna Jay) alone with seven guys. Feeling out process to start until Bowens takes him down and poses. Bowens chops away in the corner but Jungle is right back with his own set of chops to take over.

Caster offers a distraction though and Bowens hits a Codebreaker over the ropes as we take a break. Back with Jungle striking away and grabbing the Snare Trap but Caster offers a distraction. That earns Caster a suicide dive but Bowens gets in a kick to the head and a twisting hanging DDT for a near fall. That’s about it for Bowens, as Jungle pulls him into the Snare Trap for the win at 10:07.

Rating: C. This is what the match should have been, as it was the same thing that happened with Bowens vs. Bryan Danielson on Rampage: Bowens can only get the advantage over a bigger star when his partner is helping him, which makes perfect sense for a tag team wrestler. Bowens has a lot of the tools but needs to be built up a little more, which can happen in the future. Jungle gets to overcome some odds and win though, which is what he should be doing.

Post match here is Bobby Fish to take out Jungle Boy, with Luchasaurus and Christian Cage making the save.

We get a video on Hangman Page vs. Kenny Omega, with both guys plus some talking heads going into what it means for Page. Omega says he never loses big matches and Page never wins them, so Page doesn’t have a chance.

Adam Cole introduces Bobby Fish to the Young Bucks, who the Bucks know very well. There is no dispute around here though, because this era is about the Elite. Cole has an idea: Fish vs. Jungle Boy on Rampage, but he’d like Fish to leave just a little piece for Cole on Saturday. Deal.

We get a video on CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston, featuring a bunch of clips from their time on the independent scene, cut together with clips from their epic argument on Rampage.

Wheeler Yuta vs. Wardlow

The Best Friends are here too. Yuta starts fast and kicks away, only to miss a dropkick. Wardlow hits a heck of a powerbomb and then does it again. Two more powerbombs set up the knee to the face in the corner to finish Yuta at 2:18. Total dominance.

Post match the Hardy Family Office jumps the Best Friends. Matt Hardy wraps a chair around Orange Cassidy’s neck and hits the Twist of Fate to leave Cassidy writhing in pain. Can we please just get to the match already? This is reaching Brian Cage vs. Ricky Starks levels of GET ON WITH IT.

CM Punk and Eddie Kingston have to be held apart in the parking lot. Those are always cool to see.

Lio Rush/Dante Martin vs. Lee Moriarty/Matt Sydal

Moriarty works on Martin’s arm to start but they trade leg sweeps for no counts each. Martin rolls him up for two and then Moriarty rolls him up for two as they’re flying through this stuff. They go to a standoff and the fans give them a standing ovation. It’s off to Rush vs. Sydal, with Rush dodging around to avoid anything from Sydal.

Moriarty gets in a shot from the apron but Rush dodges more right hands. A springboard hurricanrana takes Sydal down and Moriarty gets knocked off the apron, setting up a big showdown. We take a break and come back with Rush and Moriarty coming in off the double tag to pick the pace right back up.

Everything breaks down again and Rush nails Sydal with a sinning kick to the face. Moriarty gets kicked to the floor as well and the fans seem very pleased with him. A double handspring elbow drops Sydal and Moriarty again, setting up back to back suicide dives. Sydal loads up something on top but gets pulled down, leaving Moriarty to hit a running uppercut for two on Martin. Rush enziguris Sydal and kicks Moriarty in the head again, setting up the double springboard moonsault press to finish Moriarty at 10:18.

Rating: B. Yeah this worked and a lot of that was due to Rush going insane to hit everything he could think of in a pretty short amount of time. The rest of the people involved were holding up their ends as well, as this was all about getting in as much as they could. It might have been a total spotfest, but dang it was a fun one.

Miro asks if Bryan Danielson thinks his God is messing with him. Would he trade Miro’s bad neck for Danielson’s bad neck? Danielson should fear him because this is going to hurt.

Dax Harwood vs. Pac

Tully Blanchard is here with Harwood. A lockup doesn’t go anywhere so Harwood cranks on the arm instead. Pac shoulders him down and starts taking over, including a bunch of chops in the corner. They forearm it out in the corner until ac sends him into the ropes for a German suplex. A clothesline puts Harwood on the floor and Pac nails a big running flip dive as we take a break.

Back with Harwood on top and getting kicked in the head to stagger him again. The top rope brainbuster (geez) connects and they’re both down in quite the heap. Pac knocks him into the corner again but Harwood rolls away before the Black Arrow can launch. Instead, Tully pulls Harwood out of the corner to avoid a charge, allowing Harwood to hit a brainbuster of his own for two.

Pac superkicks him out of the corner but the Black Arrow is broken up again. Harwood’s belly to back superplex drops Pac but he can’t follow up. Pac is back up but can’t hit a German suplex. Instead Harwood elbows him in the face, setting up a Liger Bomb for two. A backslide gives Pac two before he grabs the Brutalizer for the very fast tap (with commentary making it clear that Harwood doesn’t want to be hurt for Full Gear) at 13:47.

Rating: B. This was another hard hitting match with both guys doing everything they could. It helped that they got some extra time and they had a rather clever way out of either of them taking a definitive loss. Harwood tapping so fast made a lot of sense and it came after a heck of a fight.

Post match Cash Wheeler runs in for the beatdown and the lights go out. Cue Malakai Black and Andrade to help stomp Pac, drawing out Cody Rhodes and the Lucha Bros for the big brawl.

Here’s what’s coming on Rampage and at Full Gear.

Video on MJF vs. Darby Allin, which is a battle of two of the pillars of AEW.

Tony Schiavone is in the ring for the contract signing between Hangman Page and Kenny Omega. Before he signs, Page says that he can’t wait to get his hands on Omega and win the World Title. Page signs but Omega talks about how this could have all been for Page in the first place. Then Page had to deal with his insecurities and failures and it was always the Elite helping him up to do his cowboy s***.

Omega did it because he saw himself in Page but how wrong he was. Page brings up Omega’s former (unnamed partner) and maybe he didn’t live up to that partner either. Last year, Omega said that he was proud of Page, but the truth is Omega was scared. Omega didn’t want Page to become what he could become, which he will do at Full Gear.

They shake hands and Omega says he’s proud of Page before leaving (without signing)….and the cameraman jumps Page. It’s Don Callis and the beating is on, with Page being busted open. Omega signs the contract in blood to end the show. The Callis deal was a nice surprise, until you remember that it’s Don Callis.

Overall Rating: B+. This show did a rather good job of hyping up Full Gear, as they were in full on final push mode. I want to see the show more than I did coming in so at least they are on the right path with most of this stuff. They had some rather entertaining wrestling to go with it so it was a very well put together use of two hours. Now keep up their regular work on pay per view and they’ll be in better shape than usual.

Results
Bryan Danielson b. Rocky Romero – Tequila Sunrise
Tay Conti/Anna Jay/Thunder Rosa b. Rebel/Britt Baker/Jamie Hayter – TayKO to Hayter
Jungle Boy b. Anthony Bowens – Snare Trap
Wardlow b. Wheeler Yuta – Knee to the face
Lio Rush/Dante Martin b. Matt Sydal/Lee Moriarty – Double springboard moonsault press to Moriarty
Pac b. Dax Harwood – Brutalizer

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