Double Or Nothing 2026
Date: May 24, 2026
Location: Louis Armstrong Stadium, New York City, New York
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness

We’re back with another big time pay per view and that means the card is stacked. That’s a good thing as the card does look appealing, though there is always the chance that it is going to go all the way into tomorrow. The main event if MJF challenging Darby Allin for the World Title in a hair vs. title match. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Lena Kross/Megan Bayne vs. Zayda Steel/Viva Van

Non-title match with a five minute time limit. Steel gets smart and bails outside to run away from Bayne and burn some clock. Back in and Bayne reverses a DDT attempt but Steel bails outside as we’re already over a minute in. Van scores with a springboard spinwheel kick and knocks Bayne outside, followed by a throat snap across the top. Kross isn’t having that and superkicks Van, allowing Bayne to unload in the corner.

It’s off to Kross for a basement clothesline and the alternating elbows in the corner. An enziguri gets Van out of trouble though and it’s off to Steel, who snaps off a headscissors. A pump kick misses for Kross and Steel tornado DDTs her with less than a minute to go. Bayne comes in for a kick to the face and German suplex, followed by the Divine Intervention to pin Steel at 4:46.

Rating: C. This was pretty much in the vein of “what else were you expecting” as it was the dominant team against a makeshift pair of opponents. The match was more about Steel trying to stall, which isn’t a bad way to go. It just would have made more sense for her to do it again later in the match rather than going for a pin, as it’s the same result. Either way though, having Bayne wreck Steel at the end was fine.

Post match Bayne lays out Christopher Daniels and give Van a Divine Intervention of her own. Anna Jay and Tay Melo run in armed for the save.

Kickoff Show: Opps vs. Death Riders

Always nice to throw in a six man tag. Yuta slips out of Bowens’ armbar to start and gets him into a backslide. Bowens gets the same off a small package but gets sent into the corner for some shots to the face. Yuta insists that HE HAS TIL FIVE and gets hit in the face for his efforts.

Hook and Garcia come in with Hook sending him flying off a suplex. Shibata and Castagnoli come in to trade some rapid fire forearms, with Shibata knocking him into the corner for a running dropkick. Hook comes back in and has his suplex blocked, allowing Castagnoli to send him into the corner. Yuta gets atomic dropped but the Riders get together for a triple boot to Shibata.

Garcia tries to come in and hammer away, which just isn’t working for Shibata, who grabs an STO. It’s Hook coming in and getting caught in the wrong corner for some running elbows and a two count. A missed charge lets Hook snap off some suplexes though and he rolls underneath a double clothesline to bring Bowens in. That means house can be cleaned but Castagnoli makes a save and Bowens is left on his own. A faceplant puts him down and a running uppercut gives Castagnoli the pin at 10:34.

Rating: B-. This is exactly what you would have expected from what would likely be on Collision most of the time. They had a pretty fast paced match, but I’m not sure why you would have had Bowens take the fall when Hook is around. Is Hook really still supposed to be that important? Are we still pretending that’s the case?

Kickoff Show: Boom & Doom/Conglomeration vs. Shane Taylor Promotions

The good guys have Harley Cameron, Big Justice and the Rizzler with them. Marshall handspring kicks Bravo in the face to start and it’s off to AJ for some right hands in the corner. The good guys get to keep alternating for right hands to Bravo in the corner. Well right hand from Cassidy. Everything breaks down and Cassidy gets caught in the wrong corner for a running Bronco Buster from Dean.

Cassidy fights back but gets punched down, leaving him to grab a Stundog Millionaire on Moriarty. The tag brings in AJ to clean house as Cameron has to save Rizzler from Christyan XO. Briscoe comes in to wreck the Promotions, including using the chair for the big step up flip dive. The Tower Of Doom brings Bravo down for the pin at 6:31.

Rating: C. Yeah fine. As usual, you’re only going to be able to get so much out of a match like this one with so many people involved but it was hardly bad. The idea here was to get some popular stars on the show and they did just that, along with Marshall. I don’t get the appeal of AJ and company these days, but I can only get so annoyed about him being in a six and a half minute wacky tag match.

Post match Eddie Kingston, Ortiz and Mance Warner come in to chase off the Promotions, who they’ve been fighting a bit in Ring Of Honor.

Mick Foley and Renee Paquette are in the ring to hype up the main event when MJF interrupts. MJF doesn’t want to hear from someone whose entire career was built on failing. He mocks the New York Knicks and Darby Allin before saying Foley would always lose when the chips are down. Foley thanks MJF for letting him have this moment one last time and agrees that yes, he did lose a lot of matches. Granted he did beat the Rock a few times, but none of those losses were in 2:15.

Unless MJF wants his matches to be compared to how long it takes to fry an egg, he better get ready for Allin. Foley sees a lot of himself in Allin, but it’s a more athletic Allin who wants to be World Champion. Foley says MJF has wavy hair and tonight it’s waving goodbye. MJF kicks him low but here is Allin to chase MJF off. Foley talks about how he inspired Allin’s career and how he saw Allin at a small show and knew there was something there. Tonight, Foley wants Allin to win one for the weird ones. To quote one of Foley’s friends, BANG BANG!

And now, the show proper.  Also: points for lightening up on the Kickoff Show.  21ish minutes of wrestling and a big promo in an hour is fine and nowhere near as crammed as usual.

Tag Team Titles: Adam Copeland/Christian Cage vs. FTR

FTR, with Stokely, is defending in an I Quit match and if they win, Copeland and Cage can never team together again. They stare each other down to start and the double brawl is on, with Cage and Harwood being left in the ring. Cage hits a clothesline but it’s way too early for the Killswitch. Stokely slips Harwood some barbed wire, which Cage takes away just as fast. The wire is wrapped around the middle rope so Cage can send him throat/face first into it, followed by standing on his back.

Back in and Copeland whips the champs with the barbed wire before Cage hangs Harwood over the rope. Wheeler makes the save but Copeland is back up with a ladder. Harwood is suplexed onto said ladder so of course it’s time for a table. That’s enough of a delay for FTR to fight back but Cage uses pliers on Harwood’s I believe nose and Wheeler’s…well the front of his trunks.

That’s broken up and Copeland is sent outside for a spike piledriver onto the announcers’ table (dang). A cinder block to Cage’s bad arm misses so the arm is put inside the block. Cage: “I….I….I BANGED YOUR MOTHER!” The chair crushes the block on the arm on the steps but Cage is back up to bite Harwood’s head. A Killswitch drops Wheeler so Stokely starts unhooking the turnbuckle.

The buckle is unhooked and Cage gets choked into a Shatter Machine, only for Copeland to come back with a pair of spears. Copeland unloads with chair shots to both champions and Harwood begs for mercy, but doesn’t quit. Wheeler asks him to stop but Stokely is up with a wrench to knock Copeland into a Shatter Machine. Cue Beth Copeland, who is immediately sent into the steps.

Harwood is back up with lighter fluid and the table is set on fire. Wheeler misses Beth though and spears Stokely through the fire instead (as the tributes are on). Beth is up to save her husband from a Conchairto (six months off a piledriver, a minute off being rammed into the steps) and Adam hits a piledriver. Cage gets a Sharpshooter and Cage adds the Grindhouse with Spike to make Harwood quit for the titles at 19:34.

Rating: B. They hit most of the notes here, though I’m not sure how much they needed to draw this one out for an extra month. What matters the most is that the titles are off of FTR, who were ready to lose the things already. It’s a big nostalgia moment, but Cage and Copeland are still able to have a good match and this was a nice win in the end.

We recap Konosuke Takeshita challenging Kazuchika Okada for the International Title. They’re both part of the Don Callis Family but have been having issues for months. Okada beat him back in December in the Continental Classic but this is more personal.

International Title: Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Takeshita is challenging (and not defending his New Japan TV Title) and dang the fans certainly like him. They stare each other down to start and trade forearms until Takeshita charges into a boot to the face. Raging Fire is broken up though and it’s an early standoff. The fans get all over Callis as the two of them get into a shove off, with Takeshita hitting a jumping shoulder.

Okada is right back with a dropkick out to the floor, where Takeshita is driven into the barricade a few times. Back in and Okada suplexes him for a cocky one, followed by a neckbreaker for the same. Takeshita manages an exploder suplex but the middle rope backsplash hits raised knees. Okada charges into a jumping knee to send him outside, where Takeshita is right there with the big running flip dive.

Back in and Okada drops him down as well, setting up the top rope elbow. The build to the Rainmaker takes too long though and they fight over a Tombstone, with Takeshita planting him. A wheelbarrow suplex is shrugged off and Okada pops up with a dropkick into the Rainmaker and they’re both down. They slug it out on the apron until Okada hits another Rainmaker and Takeshita is down on the floor. Okada DDTs him on the floor but Callis calls off a Tombstone.

That’s enough for Okada to take a breather, allowing Takeshita to hit the brainbuster on the floor. Callis freaks out and Takeshita flips him off, followed by something like a very high German suplex for two. Okada’s Tombstone gets two but Takeshita gets all fired up and wins a slugout.

The Blue Thunder Bomb looks to set up the running knee, which is countered into a Rainmaker attempt, which is countered into a rollup for two. The Rainmaker connects but Okada holds onto the arm, only for Takeshita to hit his own Rainmaker. Takeshita’s running knee gets one and Raging Fire gives him the pin and the title at 19:04.

Rating: B+. I’m hardly surprised this was intense, with the result being the best way it could go. What matters the most is that Takeshita seems to be done with Callis for good, as there is no need for someone that talented and popular to be stuck with Callis for so much longer. They beat each other up and it felt like a showdown, with Takeshita dropping Okada on his head outside being quite the violent moment. Some of the quick kickouts got a bit annoying but they got the result absolutely right.

Post match the Don Callis Family comes in and Takeshita stares Okada down…as Kyle Fletcher returns. Fletcher stands with Takeshita and gives him a hug as the Family leaves. And of course Fletcher lays Takeshita out, then does it again with the brainbuster. Okada hands Fletcher the title and Takeshita is knocked colder.

We look at the Women’s Owen Hart Cup, which starts here with Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa. They’ve had some issues in Ring Of Honor to set things up a bit.

Women’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Mina Shirakawa vs. Athena

Athena’s Ring Of Honor Women’s Title isn’t on the line and she backs Shirakawa into the corner to start. Shirakawa ducks a charge and gets in her shake but Athena knees her off the top. They go outside, with Athena’s running knee hitting the steps. A running dropkick against the barricade knocks out a video screen has Shirakawa in trouble but she’s right back as they go inside again.

Shirakawa starts in on the leg but dives into a Wasteland for two. Back up and Shirakawa hits a Sling Blade before knocking her out to the floor. The slingshot corkscrew dive connects and it’s an electric chair drop back inside. The Figure Four is broken up though and Athena sweeps the leg (it works in No Mercy and it works here) but a middle rope O Face is broken up. Shirakawa’s seatbelt gets two and she gets the Figure Four, sending Athena over to the rope. Athena pumphandles her into a Tombstone and now the O Face finishes Shirakawa at 10:46.

Rating: B-. This was another Collision level match and Athena gets her latest win that isn’t likely to result in her finally breaking through on the main roster. She’s been such a star in Ring Of Honor for so long now and there is no reason, at least in front of the scenes, for her to not jump up. Hopefully it happens here, but I have no reason to believe that is the case, as we’ve been here for years now.

We recap Jon Moxley defending the Continental Title against Kyle O’Reilly. They went to a time limit draw on Dynamite and now it’s a no time limit rematch for the title. O’Reilly has made him tap a few times before so Moxley might be in danger.

The Conglomeration gives O’Reilly a pep talk.

Continental Title: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jon Moxley

Moxley is defending and there is no time limit. They go with the grappling to start and O’Reilly’s armbar doesn’t go anywhere. Moxley knocks him down and grabs a snapmare for a kick to the back, with O’Reilly popping right back up. O’Reilly strikes away and grabs a guillotine choke, with Moxley firing off right hands. That doesn’t work for Moxley as he gets sent outside for a running knee from the apron.

Some kicks to the chest and rams into the steps have Moxley in more trouble but O’Reilly’s big kick hits the post. Back in and they trade forearms until O’Reilly tries a kick, which hurts him even more. The leg is wrapped around the rope for a dropkick to the knee and Moxley grabs a leglock. O’Reilly grabs the rope so Moxley bites him in the head. They go to the corner, where O’Reilly snaps the arm over the top and hits a middle rope knee to said arm.

The cross armbreaker is reversed into a half crab, with Moxley shifting it into a leglock. O’Reilly gets out and grabs an ankle lock, with Moxley escaping but getting kicked out to the floor. Back in and Moxley shrugs off a Curb Stomp and hits a cutter for a double down. A double clothesline gives us the same result and they punch it out from their knees. Moxley clotheslines him into the Death Rider into a bulldog choke but O’Reilly reverses into an ankle lock. That’s reversed into a grapevined ankle lock and O’Reilly taps at 18:44.

Rating: B. I saw them do this for twenty minutes earlier in the week so I was only so interested in seeing them to it for another eighteen minutes here. Some of the two of them popping up made my eyes roll, but you have to expect that on occasion. It was incredibly physical and a way for the two of them to show off their skills, but doing it twice in a week was too much.

Post match their teams come out and we get a big handshake.

We recap Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe in the first round of the Owen Hart Tournament. Ospreay is back from his neck surgery and picked to train with the Death Riders over the Opps. That doesn’t work for Joe and that’s just not a good idea.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Samoa Joe vs. Will Ospreay

Ospreay Oscutters him at the bell and hammers away in the corner but Joe hits a heck of an elbow. Ospreay’s drop down into the dropkick sends Joe outside and there’s a suicide dive. Back in and a 450 looks to set up a cross armbreaker, with Joe going straight to the rope. Joe bails to the floor and is ready for a moonsault, instead choking Ospreay and sending him into the steps.

Back in and Joe goes after the neck before winning an exchange of forearms. Ospreay tries to chop back but gets knocked down again, this time for a backsplash. The MuscleBuster is broken up though and Ospreay stomps on Joe’s arm. A handspring kick to the head gets two but Joe walks away from the Oscutter. Joe goes into his string of holds, followed by a hard kick to the chest.

Ospreay Hulks Up and strikes away, with a Styles Clash connecting for two. The Hidden Blade gets two more but another Hidden Blade is cut off with a powerslam. The Koquina Clutch is countered but Joe plants him down and grabs it again, with the third arm drop seeing Ospreay grab the rope. Another MuscleBuster is countered into another Hidden Blade for one, followed by another Hidden Blade for the pin at 13:53.

Rating: B. As much as I can’t stand that “kick out at one off a finisher, then the same thing finishes you” stuff that we’ve seen twice now, this was a hard hitting fight. Joe is always just enough of a threat to beat anyone, though Ospreay going forward was by far the better way to go. He’s on the road to Wembley (in theory) and Joe was a heck of a first step there.

Post match Joe shows some respect before leaving.

We recap Bandido vs. Swerve Strickland in another Owen Tournament match. Strickland has attacked him a few times and Bandido is ready to fight back.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Swerve Strickland vs. Bandido

Bandido’s Ring Of Honor World Title isn’t on the line (of course) and Prince Nana is here with Strickland. Bandido goes right at him to start and dropkicks the knee but Strickland is right back up to take over. A big boot misses though and Bandido flips up into an Eddie Dance. Strickland is sent outside for a running dropkick and a superkick.

With Strickland sat in a chair, Bandido hits a running dive to knock him back out of it in a big crash. Back in and Strickland suplexes him into the corner before cranking on the neck. Bandido fights up but his leg is twitching. That’s shrugged off and Bandido kicks him out of the corner into a nifty German suplex.

The frog splash gets two but Strickland gives him a House Call into a Swerve Stomp for two more. They go to the apron where Bandido somehow poisonranas him out to the floor for the big crash. Back in and the 21 Plex connects but Bandido’s neck gives out, meaning we get more twitching. Bandido is able to try a Code Red but backflips up into a hurricanrana. The 21 Plex is loaded up again, only to be reversed into a Vertebreaker. The House Call finishes Bandido at 15:17.

Rating: A-. Yeah this was rather awesome and I don’t think that’s much of a surprise. Bandido is more or less guaranteed to have a great match no matter what he’s doing and that was certainly the case here. They beat the fire out of each other but it always felt like Strickland was playing from ahead. That allowed Bandido to fight from underneath and that is where he works best. Outstanding match here from two of AEW’s most exciting stars.

We recap the Women’s Title match. A bunch of women want the title and Thekla isn’t worried. Well she might be but you can’t tell as she’s kind of nuts.

Women’s Title: Thekla vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter

Thekla is defending. Hayter cleans house to start and hits a double clothesline but Thekla fights back in a hurry. Statlander and Hayter have the big power standoff, which is broken up by Shida. With everyone else on the floor, Thekla hits a big dive onto the pile to put everyone down.

Back in and Statlander bites the hand to get out of Thekla’s Rings Of Saturn and Alabama Slams her into the corner to escape the Upside Down. Thekla knocks her down again but spends too much time posing, allowing Shida to get in a shot of her own. Shida and Statlander grab a suplex each and all four are down. They slug it out from their knees until Statlander and Hayter crossbody each other.

Back up and Thekla shoves Statlander into a suplex from Hayter, who Haytebreakers Thekla. That’s reversed into a Black Widow to Hayter, who reverses into the Hayterade. Shida breaks it up at two and there’s the Falcon Arrow. Shida tries to grab Hayter’s leg but Statlander cuts that off in a hurry. Staturday Night Fever hits Hayter but Shida is in with a kendo stick for a save of her own. Thekla knocks Shida outside and Stomps Statlander to retain at 14:03.

Rating: B. They went from bell to bell with pretty much non-stop action as they beat each other up. Shida and Statlander have their issues to build things up even more and it made for a good mini feud. Thekla needed to keep the title at the moment as she’s on fire and I could go for seeing whatever else she can do.

The villains in Stadium Stampede arrive. The idea here is pretty simple: Chris Jericho was feuding with Ricochet and the Demand. It’s Double Or Nothing so we have Stadium Stampede so they both built up teams of seven people for a wild fight.

The good guys all get together in the back, complete with music and graphics which are likely out of a movie I haven’t seen.

Chris Jericho/Elite/Hurt Syndicate vs. Don Callis Family/The Demand/The Dogs

Stadium Stampede, meaning anything goes and they’re going to go nuts everywhere. It’s a huge brawl to start and we go to a quick quadruple screen to keep track of everyone. Ricochet gets caught in the wrong corner for some running knees and then Lashley spinebusters him onto the pile on the floor. Back in and Andrade rolls some suplexes to Perry but gets kneed out to the floor by Benjamin.

Perry hits a piledriver to drop Benjamin on the chair and Liona Samoan drops both Bucks at once. Ricochet is up with a dive and the Demand stands tall. Liona grabs an abdominal stretch on Omega and all six of his partners pull together. Believe it or not, it’s a bad idea to leave all of Omega’s partners free and it’s broken up pretty quickly. Finlay is backdropped onto the pile at ringside and Omega is fine enough for his own flip dive. Benjamin’s dive makes it even worse and there’s Jericho with a dive of his own.

Back in and the good guys hit a string of four super hurricanranas, followed by a quadruple submission attempt. Perry hits Davis with something that leaves a lot of smoke near the ring and the holds are broken. The Bucks set up tables on the floor as the Hurt Syndicate and Gates Of Agony brawl to the back.

They fight up an aisle and Lio Rush pops in to freak Lashley out. Rush jumps on Liona’s back and they go through a door as we come back to the arena. Omega and Jericho beat up Andrade as the Bucks and the Dogs are brawling in the concourse. Andrade fights back and takes a photo with a woman, only for Luchasaurus to pop in and go after him instead. Back in the ring and Jericho pours out a bag of tennis balls for a suplex to Ricochet but the Walls are broken up.

Davis and Perry brawl near catering with Davis being went eye first into a table. Andrade joins them but has to run from Satnam Singh, triggering a food fight. The Dogs and the Bucks fight on the stage, with Connors being put in a trashcan and in a shopping cart for a ride down the aisle. Liona is back in to clean house and hits Benjamin in the head with some kind of a stick or baton.

Connors spears Lashley and we cut to the back, where Ricochet beats Jericho up with a tennis racket. Cue Luther to give Jericho a BIG tennis racket and Jericho beats on Ricochet before throwing tennis balls at him. Back in the ring and Nick and Benjamin roll different kinds of suplexes before the Bucks superkick a variety of people.

We cut to the back where Davis, with his eye taped up, finds a golf cart with a knife and a note. Cue Perry to drive his bus through the cart (and another car) with Davis running off. Back inside and Omega V Triggers Andrade and Benjamin suplexes Kaun through a table. Omega One Wing Angels Andrade off the apron through a table and it’s Ricochet left alone inside. The parade of finishers is on until Kaun makes the save, earning himself a septuple (yes septuple) superkick. The Lionsault gives Jericho the pin at 31:12.

Rating: B+. This was a nice balance of insanity, brawling, fun moments and goofiness, mainly because it didn’t feel like a lot of it was scripted. Now of course it was, but it felt naturally enough that you could believe it was made up on the fly. Heck of a spectacle here and better than I was expecting, which is a nice relief.

Post match the Syndicate joins Jericho for the big thumbs up. Then Jericho puts himself through a table, seemingly in a tribute to Sabu. Nothing wrong with that.

We recap Darby Allin defending the World Title against MJF. After MJF ran his mouth about how awesome he was as champion, Allin got his title shot and won the belt in about two minutes. MJF demanded a rematch and finally put his hair on the line to get a shot. Allin has been defending all over the place and is wearing down fast though.

AEW World Title: Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Darby Allin

Allin is defending, title vs. hair. We get a video of a guy getting in a cab to try to make it to the show for the main event. The camera pans below the street and Allin is skateboarding through the sewers. Well there’s nothing wrong with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tribute. We get the Big Match Intros and MJF insists on being introduced from “a mansion none of you can afford” and not from “one of the bulls*** boroughs”.

Some early headlock takeovers give Allin two each and he dropkicks MJF through the ropes. The suicide dive gets caught in the ropes though and Allin crashes out to the floor. Back in and the Heatseeker is broken up so MJF slingshots him in for a cutter instead. The chinlock is broken up but MJF forearms him out of the air. MJF tries a super Tombstone but gets reversed into the Diamond Dust to leave them both down.

It’s too early for the Coffin Drop though and MJF crawls outside, where Allin hits the suicide dive. The Coffin Drop only hits apron though and believe it or not, Allin is in big trouble on the floor. A package piledriver on the side of the steps knocks Allin sillier, but he’s right back with a low blow into a headlock takeover for two back inside. The Scorpion Deathlock goes on but MJF makes the rope, followed by raising his knees to block another Coffin Drop.

Another slingshot cutter is countered into a Scorpion Death Drop and they’re both down. They trade the headlock take for two each before trading rollups for one each. A Code Red gives Allin two more and they’re both down again. They pull themselves up and MJF is sent outside, where he pulls the cameraman in the way of Allin’s dive. MJF drags him up to the stage and tries to give Allin a hair cut but Allin reverses into a choke.

Allin puts him on a well placed table and climbs the scaffolding for the Coffin Drop to leave both of them down. Back in and another Coffin Drop gets two so Allin, who is bleeding from the back of the head, grabs the Scorpion Deathlock. Allin collapses again but is fine enough to grab the Scorpion Death Drop. Another Coffin Drop is broken up though and the super Tombstone into the headlock takeover finishes Allin to give MJF the title back at 24:02.

Rating: B+. These guys beat the heck out of each other and it felt like a match that could have gone either way. They had something with the idea of Allin fighting with everything he could and finally coming up short. I’m not sure about MJF getting the title back so soon but Allin couldn’t hold it that long given what he was doing as champion.

Post match Allin is stretchered out so MJF goes after him. Kevin Knight runs in for the save…and attacks Allin as MJF gives an “I’ll take it” look from the stage to end the show. If this gets Knight away from Mike Bailey, I’ll take that too.

Overall Rating: A. Yeah this was pretty outstanding, with one awesome match after another. It’s a good example of a show where you can pick multiple matches as your match of the night and be fine with any of them, from the Tag Team Titles to the International Title to the Continental Title to Stadium Stampede to Bandido vs. Strickland. That’s a heck of a lineup and watching it over two days helped. This was rather awesome stuff, as AEW gets back to its top level pay per view offerings. I have no idea if it lasts going into Dynamite, but I’ll absolutely take this here.

Results
Megan Bayne/Lena Kross b. Zayda Steel/Viva Van – Divine Intervention to Steel
Death Riders b. Opps – Running uppercut to Bowens
Boom & Doom/Conglomeration b. Shane Taylor Promotions – Tower Of Doom to Bravo
Adam Copeland/Christian Cage b. FTR – Sharpshooter/Grindhouse with Spike to Harwood
Konosuke Takeshita b. Kazuchika Okada – Raging Fire
Athena b. Mina Shirakawa – O Face
Jon Moxley b. Kyle O’Reilly – Ankle lock
Will Ospreay b. Samoa Joe – Hidden Blade
Thekla b. Hikaru Shida, Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter – Stomp to Statlander
Chris Jericho/Hurt Syndicate/Elite b. The Dogs/The Demand/Don Callis Family – Lionsault to Kaun
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Darby Allin – Headlock takeover

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We’re back to what might be the signature AEW pay per view and the card is certainly big enough. As usual there are a lot of matches and people on this show, with quite a few of them involving high stakes. That includes the main event, which is the rare mask vs. title match. We also have some wacky gimmickery on the docket so let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Megan Bayne/Lena Kross vs. Zayda Steel/Viva Van

This is one of the non-title five minute deals as Bayne and Kross get to toy with the two of them for a bit before destroying them. That doesn’t make for the most interesting matches, but it does help when the match is guaranteed to be relatively short. Van and Steel could be any two breathing humans here and it wouldn’t make much of a difference, which is kind of the point.

Of course I’ll take Bayne and Kross to win, as there is no reason to suggest that a makeshit pair, including Van with her one win ever in Ring Of Honor, is going to score the upset. Kross and Bayne are waiting on real challengers to show up and there is a good chance that won’t be until we get to Wembley with the Brawling Birds. For now, they run through another thrown together team in short order.

Kickoff Show: Death Riders vs. Opps

This is a fine example of the “let’s get everyone on the show” match, as there is little reason for the match to be happening other than to fill in time on a pre-show. At least the teams have been having some issues, but it is a little difficult to get excited over a match involving Wheeler Yuta and Hook. It’s a match that feels like it could open any given edition of Collision and that only means so much.

We’ll flip a coin and say the Opps win here, as they could use the victory. This is especially true of Anthony Bowens, who is still new to the team and would benefit from picking up a win. It’s not like Yuta or Daniel Garcia are going to be hurt by taking a loss and Claudio Castagnoli will be there to keep things from getting too dull. The match should be ok, though it’s something that could easily be dropped.

Kickoff Show: Boom & Doom/Conglomeration vs. Shane Taylor Promotions

And we’ll wrap up the pre-show with ten more people in a match, including a way to get QT Marshall of all people on the card. I’m really not sure how much value there is to have Big Boom AJ on the show again but he’s here one more time, likely with his son again as well. Other than that we have the Promotions, who might as well be AEW’s version of the Job Squad given their success rate.

Naturally I’ll take the good guys to win here, as there is really no reason to suggest something else is going to happen. Hopefully they keep this quick, as it’s a match that doesn’t serve much of a purpose on an already crowded show. I’m not sure what the appeal is if having AJ around anymore, but at least it’s mainly just once in awhile and rarely outside of something like this.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Samoa Joe vs. Will Ospreay

So here we have one of the first matches of the tournament and as usual, the two of them have been doing something to set up the match. Joe wanted Ospreay to join the Opps but Ospreay has been training with the Death Riders instead. That’s a fine enough way to go and hopefully they have enough of a story to make this work. Ok to be fair, there is almost no way that Ospreay vs. Joe won’t work in the first place.

I’ll go with Ospreay to win here, as he is fresh off the new training with the Death Riders and is going to be doing some fresh things in the ring. Joe is someone who can work with anyone and it should be a blast to see these two wreck each other for a good while. I can’t imagine Ospreay losing in a tournament with the right to challenge for the World Title in his home country on the line so I’ll go with Ospreay winning here.

Men’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Bandido vs. Swerve Strickland

We might as well do the other first round match as well and as usual, the Ring Of Honor World Title hasn’t been mentioned in the slightest. That’s hardly a surprise, as Bandido’s match at Dynasty didn’t see it mentioned whatsoever either. Hopefully the title either moves on or becomes a thing people actually want. Anyway, this is about moving forward towards All In and that should be going in one way.

I can’t imagine this goes anywhere other than Strickland going over, as he’s that much of a bigger star in AEW. Bandido can do just about anything in the ring with anyone but Strickland is someone who should be going forward. It’s going to be a rather awesome match either way due to their impressive talent, though it winds up with Strickland beating Bandido and moving on.

Women’s Owen Hart Tournament First Round: Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa

These two have had some recent interactions in Ring Of Honor, which is better than nothing. This is one of the trickier matches, as both of them tend to lose their bigger matches in AEW. That leaves this as a more of a sad tossup than anything else, as I could see either moving on to lose in the next round. They both need a win of their own though and one stands out more than the other.

I’ll take Athena to win here, as she has the crazy long title reign to make her seem important. Unfortunately that tends to mean absolutely nothing in the long run, but at the moment she’s higher up than Shirakawa. Neither is going to win the whole thing, but Athena going over makes a lot more sense. Now just find a way for Athena to get up to the main roster already because GOOD GRIEF ALREADY!

Women’s Title: Thekla(c) vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter

Ah yeah we have title matches on this show too. This is kind of a weird way to go but there is something about having so many challengers trying to take the title. Thekla has done rather well for herself in recent months and become one of the best things in all of AEW. I could go for seeing her keep the title for a good bit longer, though I’m not entirely sure that’s going to happen.

While I could see one of the other three taking the belt here, I’ll go with Thekla retaining. If nothing else, that’s partially due to wanting to see her do her insane yet entertaining promotions from week to week. She’ll have to lose the title one day and that might not be until All In, so for now we’ll go with her stealing the win to retain, possibly with an assist from the rest of the Triangle Of Madness.

Tag Team Titles: FTR(c) vs. Adam Copeland/Christian Cage

This is an I Quit match after FTR beat Copeland and Cage in Canada earlier this year. Since it’s a rematch, Copeland and Cage are putting up their careers (as a team) and that should make it a bit more interesting. In theory it should guarantee how the result goes, though that isn’t always the way AEW goes. I’m kind of curious to see how it goes, which is more than I could say about their first match.

I’ll go with the sake of sanity here and say that Copeland and Cage win the titles and get their big moment. If nothing else, FTR has held the titles for a very long time now and there isn’t much for them to do at the moment. It’s time for someone new to get in the title picture and naturally that means giving the titles to a team who are almost a hundred years old combined. The Canadians win here after things get rather violent.

Chris Jericho/Hurt Syndicate/Elite vs. Demand/Don Callis Family/The Dogs

Oh boy here we go. We have fourteen people in this version of Stadium Stampede and I’m not exactly looking forward to this. These matches wind up being fun, but at the same time it might as well be a short film. This is AEW’s version of a cinematic match as it’s all about doing whatever insanity they get together and think of this time around. Hopefully they don’t go insane with the time, but it’s an AEW pay per view.

I’ll go with the good guys winning here, even if it’s a total guess as to who is going to win this thing. The match is designed to be a big spectacle and nothing more, so hopefully they don’t go too far (ok you know better) and then we move on. If nothing else, Jericho can actually get a win without having to get the win himself. It could be fun, though I’m more than a bit uninterested.

International Title: Kazuchika Okada(c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita

This is one of the longer built matches on the card, as it has been teased for the better part of ever. They had a match back in the Continental Classic, about five months ago, though that was part of a tournament rather than the grudge match they’ve both been wanting. I’m curious to see how it goes, as Okada is capable of having a rather good match if he’s trying. If that’s the case, it should work here.

I’m expecting one of them to be kicked out of the Don Callis Family and that person is going to leave without the title. In this case, I’ll take with Okada retaining the title here, likely with Don Callis turning on Takeshita and setting up a third match down the line. Okada has already held the title for way too long and ultimately Takeshita will take it from him, but I’ll go with AEW waiting a bit longer to pull the trigger.

Continental Title: Jon Moxley(c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Here we have another AEW trope: a rematch from a long match from less than a week ago with possibilities of the rematch going even longer. That’s the case here, as we’re just waving the title’s time limit rule (again) after the two of them went to a twenty minute time limit draw on Dynamite. That’s not the most promising thing, though I’d bet on seeing a lot of forearms exchanged, which must be good right?

I’ll go with Moxley retaining here, as the solution for Moxley seems to be “he can have long matches and wins because he’s awesome”. Last year Moxley kept tapping out to O’Reilly but not he even better so he won’t do that again. That seems to be the story here and odds are Moxley needs to get his win back. It should be hard hitting, but you kind of know what you’re getting with Moxley most of the time.

AEW World Title: Darby Allin(c) vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Title vs. hair and…I have no idea where to go here. The idea seems to be that Allin is wearing himself out with the title defenses, though I’m still not sure I can imagine MJF getting the title back so soon. That’s one of the things that makes a match that much more interesting, though Allin’s title reign has already worn me down on him. The matches have been fun, but I don’t really need to see him going crazy long again. So who wins here?

Geez where does this go? The logical way to go would see to be MJF but I’ll go with the twist of Allin retaining and MJF losing his hair. Maybe Allin loses the title soon after, but him losing here seems so simple. MJF losing his hair has some great potential and I could see him going there, but I’m not sure I need to see him get the title back. I’ll take Allin retaining here, though with a grant total of no confidence.

Overall Thoughts

This is a heck of a card and there could be some rather good matches on it, though as usual the idea of how long these matches are going to go is just draining. I’m interested in some of them though and Double Or Nothing does tend to be one of the better shows on AEW’s calendar. The wrestlers will definitely put in the work though, and that’s going to help this go a long way.

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

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WWE Vault Grab Bag V
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Lord Alfred Hayes, David Crockett, Jim Ross

It’s time to dip back into the randomness that is the WWE Vault (and various other WWE Youtube channels) as there is a lot of stuff I’d like to see. Today we’re going to look at some more random entries, which could be a mixture of matches and/or segments. Either way, they should be from all over the place so let’s get to it.

From a WWE house show in Jonesboro, Arkansas, August 26, 2017.

John Cena vs. Samoa Joe

From what I can find, this is only one of two matches they ever had in WWE, with the other one coming the previous night. Joe powers him down to start and Cena starts bouncing a lot. A headlock slows Cena down again before running the ropes, with Cena hitting a shoulder. Cena’s headlock doesn’t work very well as Joe backs him into the corner for the quick shot to the face.

Joe sends him outside and then kicks him down back inside, meaning we get what looks like a Hulk Hogan pose of all things. A quick AA attempt is blocked and Joe’s enziguri gets two, meaning it’s time to get frustrated. Joe puts him down again for two more and knocks Cena into the corner, leaving Joe to walk around for a bit. Cena avoids a charge in the corner, only to get elbowed in the face.

Joe misses the backsplash though and Cena starts the usual comeback. The AA is countered with a grab of the rope and the referee gets knocked outside. Cena gets the STF for the unseen tap and of course lets go, allowing Joe to get in a low blow. Joe grabs a chair but Cena ducks and hits the AA for the clean pin at 10:00.

Rating: C+. This was more of a “whoa that match happened” and that’s not a bad way to go. It’s one of the appeals of a house show as a few fans got to see the match, even if it was rather basic. That’s all it needed to be and while I could have gone with a far bigger stage, I’ll take getting to see them have a decent match.

From a WWF house show in Long Island, New York, October 24, 1997.

Tag Team Titles: D-Generation X vs. Legion Of Doom

LOD is defending and Michaels tells a fan to suck it as Animal shoves HHH into the corner to start. Animal powers both of them down at the same time as Chyna is not pleased on the floor. We settle back down to Hawk slamming Michaels, who bails outside, with HHH and Chyna massaging the back of his tights. Back in and Michaels bails straight to the floor, only to get gorilla pressed by in by Animal, where Hawk clotheslines him right back to the floor for a big pratfall.

We settle down a bit with Animal grabbing a headlock and grinding Michaels down again as it’s all LOD thus far. The bearhug goes on but Michaels gets out and hands it off to HHH, who gets bearhugged as well. That’s broken up a bit faster and it’s a high/low to take over on Animal. HHH knocks Animal into the corner and Michaels comes back in with a sleeper. A belly to back suplex puts Michaels down but he makes the tag at the same time, allowing HHH to come in for a sleeper of his own.

It’s already back to Michaels for a front facelock but he accidentally ax handles a cheating HHH. The tag brings Hawk back in and the fans certainly seem to approve. Everything breaks down and Michaels gets in a belt shot to Hawk for the pin and the titles at 13:01. And hang on as here’s another referee to say what happened so no title change, as it’s a DQ instead. Actually the brawl keeps going and NOW it’s a DQ. Ok then.

Rating: B-. This was a fun match and that’s all I can ask for with a match like this one. What mattered the most here was that they had two teams who were both working hard and it felt like a big match. You don’t get that kind of thing very often and it was better than I was expecting. Michaels and HHH were a good team in their own right and the LOD had so much experience that they could do this kind of match so easily. I’d call this a nice surprise and it actually lived up to some of its hype.

Post match Chyna gets in and jumps Hawk, leaving DX to have to break up a Doomsday Device. Michaels chairs Animal but Hawk takes it away and sends Michaels running to wrap it up. Somehow DX wins on a DQ, presumably because the LOD beat them up too much. You know, instead of the belt shot which was called.

From a WWE house show in Leeds, England, November 8, 2021.

Walter vs. Cesaro

That would of course be Gunther before the name change. Cesaro backs him up against the ropes to start and gets shoved away. Walter misses the big chop and it’s off to a test of strength, with Walter actually getting the better of things. Cesaro’s headlock takeover puts Walter down for a change and grinds away for a little while. Back up and they trade the shoulders, with Cesaro’s jumping version working a bit better.

A shot to the throat puts Cesaro down though and we lower the pace. The double arm crank goes on, with Walter knocking him down to cut off an escape bid. The chinlock has Cesaro in more trouble and this one stays on for a good while. Cesaro fights up and knocks Walter down, so naturally the fans want the Swing. That’s not happening so they strike it out instead until Walter hits the dropkick.

The powerbomb gets two and it’s off to the sleeper to put Cesaro down. That’s broken up in a hurry though and Cesar scores with Swiss Death. Now the Swing goes on and Cesaro follows with the Sharpshooter, sending Walter over to the rope. The springboard uppercut is blocked though and Walter kicks him in the face. A whip into the post sets up a German suplex into the top rope splash to give Walter the pin at 14:27.

Rating: B. This started slowly and the chinlock in the middle hurt it a bit, but this wound up being quite the hard fought match. That’s what the match needed to be as you kind of know what you’re getting when you have Cesaro vs. Walter. Cesaro wasn’t about to go over the up and coming monster, but they had a good fight here and that’s what it was supposed to be.

From a WWE house show in Dublin, Ireland, June 18, 2005.

Smackdown World Title: John Cena vs. John Bradshaw Layfield vs. Kurt Angle

Cena is defending and a certain Steve Austin is guest referee. This is also a rare outdoor match and it’s a cool visual with various buildings and trees in the background. JBL yells about being a former champion before the match and shadow boxes/kicks while Angle makes his entrance. We’re clipped to Angle elbowing Cena as JBL is down on the floor. A backdrop sends Angle outside so JBL is in to boot Cena in the face.

We’re clipped a few times to Cena fighting out of JBL’s sleeper but a big boot drops him again. We’re clipped again to Cena superplexing JBL and making the comeback. Cena initiates the finishing sequence and hits the FU for two on Angle. We’re clipped again to JBL countering the ankle lock and sending Angle outside. Cena loads up the finishing sequence on JBL but Angle is back in with an accidental belt shot to Austin.

Angle is kicked outside and the Clothesline From JBL drops Cena, with another referee running in to count two. Cena kicks a chair into JBL’s face so Angle grabs the chair, only to get cut off with a Stunner. Austin pokes JBL’s eye into the AA to retain the title at about 5:00 shown. I’m not going to rate it due to the cuts but it felt like a house show match with Austin there to spice it up a bit.

Post match Austin and Cena celebrate.

From WCW Saturday Night, May 14, 1994.

WCW World Title: Ricky Steamboat vs. Ric Flair

For the vacant title after they went to a draw at Spring Stampede. They go to the mat to start and Steamboat grabs an armbar, with Flair having to escape. Steamboat reverses a headlock into a hammerlock but Flair is back with the half crab. That’s broken up as well and Steamboat grabs a gorilla press to send Flair to the apron, where a suplex brings him back inside.

Cue Colonel Robert Parker with a briefcase full of money as Flair is sent outside again. Back in and Steamboat drops him with a shoulder but runs into a right hand to the ribs. Flair knocks him into the corner and slowly hammers away as we take a break. We come back with Flair sending him outside and then back inside for some near falls. Steamboat can’t armdrag his way out of an armbar but he can chop the skin off of Flair’s chest.

An atomic drop out of the corner gets Flair out of trouble and he grabs a chinlock. Yes he puts his feet on the ropes and no that shouldn’t be a surprise whatsoever. Back up and they chop it out again with Steamboat getting the better of things, allowing Flair to be rocked even more than usual. Steamboat’s dropkick misses though, as does Flair’s big elbow drop. Flair is back with a poke to the eye and Steamboat needs a breather on the floor. Back in and a sunset flip gives Steamboat two but he charges into a boot in the corner.

As usual Flair goes up top and as usual he gets caught and superplexed for two. Flair plants him down for a breather though and we slow the pace a bit. A poke to the eye lets Flair grab a sleeper, with Flair even on Steamboat’s back. That’s finally broken up and Steamboat chops away again as we take another break.

We come back again with Steamboat winning another chop off (it works, so keep going back to it) but getting his dive punched out of the air. Back in and Flair misses a knee drop, allowing Steamboat to wrap the knee around the post. The Figure Four has Flair in trouble, with Heenan screaming how to break out. Flair finally makes the rope (now what Heenan said to do but it did work) so Steamboat is right back on the leg. Steamboat chops him so much that Flair falls down for two and we take a third break.

We come back again with Steamboat missing something off the top and they’re both down again. Steamboat comes up favoring his own knee, allowing Flair to grab a delayed vertical suplex. His own leg is hurt as well though and it’s another double down. Flair is up and on Steamboat’s leg, with the Figure Four going on. The ropes makes it even worse, but the referee finally catches Flair to break it up. Steamboat knocks him back down but Flair is still up first, only to get caught with a chop. A gorilla press brings him crashing down but they’re back up with another collision.

Steamboat’s sleeper is countered into a belly to back suplex so he goes up again, with Steamboat top rope superplexing him for a crash. A big chop off the top gives Steamboat two and he tries the high crossbody but hits both Flair and the referee. Back up and they trade rollups for two each as they’re somehow still moving at a high speed about 45 minutes into the match. Steamboat tries a leapfrog but seems to get headbutted low, giving Flair the pin and the title at 47:06. Parker never got involved at all.

Rating: A-. There’s a reason these two wrestled each other so many times for the better part of twenty years. Sweet goodness this was amazing stuff with both guys staying crisp throughout and a sense that the match really could have ended multiple times. It’s just high level, technically incredible wrestling between two guys who could do this stuff in their sleep. It says a lot when this is pretty firmly on the low end of their series, as it’s an instant classic with only the kind of sudden ending holding it back. Definitely check this out, plus pretty much anything else they’ve done, ever.

From a WWF house show in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, January 16, 1989.

WWF Title: Randy Savage vs. Bad News Brown

Savage, with Elizabeth, is defending in a Harlem Street Fight and they’re both in street clothes. Brown jumps him on the way in and they’re quickly outside with Savage striking away. A headbutt cuts Savage off though and a chair is thrown inside so Brown can use it to choke. Brown takes him back outside but punches the post, allowing Savage to ax handle him back inside.

Savage takes off his weightlifting belt and blasts Brown in the ribs. Brown is back up with another chair shot and sends Savage crashing over the barricade. A table (remember, this is 1989) is set up in the corner but Savage sends Brown into said table. There’s no referee as Brown hits the Ghetto Blaster for no count. A slam gets the same result so brown yells at the referee, allowing Savage to grab a backslide to retain (with the count from a second referee) at 6:49.

Rating: B. This didn’t last long and no it wasn’t as smooth as the kinds of street fights etc. that you would see in the future, but these guys beat the fire out of each other and it felt like a fight. The big thing here was that Brown basically beat him up and then got caught in the end. There was absolutely something to Brown, who was WAY ahead of his time and could have been incredible about ten years later. Still though, good stuff here, with Savage being more than capable of doing this kind of thing.

Post match Brown kicks Savage outside and then ties the original referee up in the Tree Of Woe. Brown easily takes Savage down into the corner but Savage is back up with a running ax handle. Some other wrestlers come in to break it up, or at least they do after a few misfires.

From WCW Worldwide, May 14, 1988.

NWA United States Tag Team Titles: Midnight Express vs. Fantastics

The Express, with Jim Cornette, is defending and after their usual pre-match hugs, we’re ready to go. Fulton and Lane start things off with Fulton knocking him down without much trouble. A running shoulder drops Lane again and it’s time for the champs to regroup. Lane wrestles him down and quickly gets a hammerlock, which works so well that he does it again.

We take a break and come back with Lane getting double hiptossed, allowing Rogers to work on an armbar. Rogers sends Lane outside so it’s off to Eaton for a change. Eaton gets in a standing chinlock but charges into a headscissors. Lane teases coming off the top for the save but Fulton shakes the ropes to bring him down and then chills on the top in a great spot.

We take another break and come back with Lane on the floor before coming back inside to headlock Fulton. That’s broken up and it’s back to Rogers to work on Lane’s leg. That earns him an enziguri though and Eaton comes back in, only to get taken down as well. Eaton is knocked to the floor and sent into the post as the Midnights are all discombobulated. Back in and Eaton takes over on Fulton, who comes off the middle rope with a kind of hip attack for two.

A hurricanrana takes Eaton down again and we take another break. We come back with Eaton getting in a shot to the throat, followed by Lane’s karate kick to the chest. The hammerlock goes on and the fans get behind Rogers, with Cornette losing his mind on the floor as only he can. Rogers gets sent into the wrong corner again, with Lane grabbing a Russian legsweep for two more.

We take another break and come back again with Eaton working on the arm. Rogers fights up and brings Fulton back in, only for the Midnights to pull him down into a seated abdominal stretch. Fulton’s throat is pulled across the top rope and an elbow gives Lane two. We take yet another break and come back with the bleeding Fulton getting neckbreakered for two. Eaton goes up top and drops the elbow for two more, followed by Lane kicking away in the corner.

The referee stops to check on Fulton’s cut but Rogers bets him not to stop the match. Fulton grabs Anderson’s leg to beg as well so Lane kicks Fulton in the face. Cornette is up on the apron to demand the match be stopped…and Rogers missile dropkicks Eaton into a rollup to give Fulton the pin and the titles at 36:48.

Rating: A. This has been called the greatest tag match to ever air on television in the United States and….yeah it’s kind of hard to argue. The Midnights were as good of an in-ring team as you could get at this point (if not ever) and the Fantastics could go move for move with them. There is nothing in here remotely bad or even less than good, as everyone is working hard and looks incredibly crisp. Throw in that Eaton hat a 100+ degree fever and was so sick that Cornette was asking him if they needed to cancel the match and it’s even better. Absolutely check this out as it’s a tag team wrestling clinic.

From a WWE house show in New York City, New York, December 26, 2017.

Intercontinental Title: Roman Reigns vs. John Cena

Reigns is defending and I guess this works if it’s all you’ve got. They fight over a lockup to start as the fans are split, as usual in a big cena match. Reigns backs him up against the ropes so Cena grabs a headlock as they’re taking their time to start. That’s switched into a chinlock as Reigns can’t get very far early on. Back up and they go to a test of strength, with Reigns powering him out to the floor. Cena gets back in and is pretty easily knocked down, followed by a headbutt back outside.

We hit…I’m really not sure as it’s a one camera shoot and the fans are in the way but Cena takes over on the floor. Back in and the AA attempt is broken up but Cena grabs a tornado DDT. Reigns fights back with some big right hands and Cena’s comeback is cut off with the corner clotheslines. A big boot drops Cena again but he’s right back with the usual finishing sequence. The AA is countered into a sunset flip to give Reigns two, as does the Samoan drop.

The Superman Punch is pulled into the STF, only for Cena to let go to pull him back to the middle. Now the Superman Punch gets two, as does the AA, with the fans losing their minds on these near falls. Cena goes up but dives into a sitout powerbomb to leave them both down. Back up and they slug it out until Cena tries the AA again. That’s escaped though and the spear retains Reigns’ title at 17:59.

Rating: B. They had the big fight feel going here and that’s what it needed to be. This was the main event with the biggest star of the previous generation coming back to go after one of the biggest stars of today. That’s a main event level match and Cena knows how to bring it as well as anyone else. Good stuff here, especially for a house show with a red hot crowd.

From a WWE house show in Lafayette, Louisiana, March 10, 2024.

Kevin Owens/Becky Lynch vs. Grayson Waller/Nia Jax

Ok then. Waller’s running shoulder can’t get anywhere with Owens and a stomp on the foot doesn’t do much better. For some reason Waller shoves him in the face before handing it off to Jax. A shove actually puts Owens down and it’s off to Lynch for a high crossbody. Lynch kicks her way out of the corner and hits a Diamond Dust for two. The Disarm-Her is blocked so Lynch dropkicks her out to the floor instead.

Waller gets ping ponged between the two of them and a double suplex puts him down again. Jax is back in to run Lynch over though, setting up a reverse Stinkface in the ropes. The regular version makes it even worse as Lynch is gagging. Owens even gives her some water to wake her back up. Lynch fights out of the corner but Waller is right there to cut off the tag.

A Samoan drop gives Jax two and she can’t believe the kickout. Jax’s charge hits the post though and it’s off to Owens to beat up Waller. The backsplash gives Owens two but the Stunner is blocked. Jax forearms Owens into a rollup for two but misses a charge. Lynch Stunners Jax and Owens does the same to Waller, setting up the Manhandle Slam for the pin at 9:44.

Rating: C+. This was the definition of a fun house show match and that’s always nice to see. They didn’t do anything too complicated here and it was all about giving the fans something unique. Owens and Lynch worked well together and they beat up some annoying villains. What else do you want?

From Over The Limit 2012.

Raw World Title: CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan

Punk is defending. Feeling out process to start with neither being able to get anywhere on the ropes. Instead Bryan grabs a headlock and hits a running shoulder, only to get hiptossed down. Punk takes him into the corner and starts in on the leg, including some cranking on the mat. Back up Bryan is able to flip over him out of the corner but the leg is kicked out again.

An Indian Deathlock is broken up as Bryan forearms him in the head, only for Punk to come back with a curb stomp. Bryan gets sent crashing out to the floor but drives Punk back first into the barricade. Punk is draped ribs first across the barricade and we hit the seated abdominal stretch back inside (with commentary reminding us that Kane recently injured Punk’s ribs).

Bryan switches into a surfboard with a dragon sleeper, followed by a heck of a running knee to the back. The Swan Dive gives Bryan two but Punk gets up for a double collision. Punk leg lariats him and hits the swinging neckbreaker as the comeback is on. A backdrop sends Bryan outside and the knee is banged up again. The suicide dive connects but Bryan is able to dropkick him out of the air.

One heck of a kick to the head gives Bryan two so he goes up, only to get crotched. A springboard clothesline gives Punk two and they go into a pinfall reversal sequence. Bryan can’t get the LeBell Lock but he can get kicked in the head for two. The top rope elbow connects but Punk’s knees are banged up again. Bryan gets the LeBell Lock in the middle of the ring, only for Punk to stack him up for the pin at 24:14. Punk taps a second after the pin but it is clearly after.

Rating: A-. This was every bit of the technical masterpiece that you would expect, with the hard strikes and some high flying thrown in. Punk winning clean is a bit of a surprise and thankfully they didn’t do anything screwy by having him tap at the same time. Naturally this didn’t headline the show because it wasn’t…let’s see here…John Cena vs. Johnny Ace. No wonder Punk had a chip on his shoulder.

From a WWF TV taping in Lowell, Massachusetts, August 18, 1993.

Mr. Hughes/Giant Gonzalez vs. Mr. Perfect/Randy Savage

This is the biggest “well ok” match I’ve seen in a bit and Harvey Wippleman is with the villains. Savage gets an interesting introduction with Mike McGuirk telling the fans to “give it all you got” for him. Hughes shoves the rather popular Perfect into the corner to start and then easily punches him down.

It’s off to Gonzalez, who looks even weirder than usual slowly hammering on Perfect. Hughes is back in and gives up the tag to Savage (who could pass for a Captain America knockoff), who is choked down by Gonzalez. A clothesline drops Savage again and it’s back to Hughes to miss a charge into the corner. Perfect comes back in to slug away, including a backdrop. Savage adds a top rope ax handle and Perfect gets a small package for the pin at 7:10.

Rating: C. The weird thing is this match actually made me feel bad for Gonzalez. There is only so much he could do against people literally a foot and a half shorter than him and that became quite the problem. Savage and Perfect couldn’t do much more than punch him, leaving Hughes as the only one they could do anything against. It’s not good, but it certainly had the spectacle.

From a WWE house show in Sydney, Australia, March 3, 2006.

Smackdown World Title: Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton vs. Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker

Angle is challenging. Orton bails to the floor to start, where some women are VERY excited to see him. We’re clipped to Orton back inside, with Undertaker hammering away. Orton bails outside so Angle rolls Undertaker up for two, earning himself a shot to the face. Henry comes back inside to choke Undertaker, as does Henry’s manager Daivari. Angle ankle locks Orton over the barricade, sending him into the crowd.

The other two join them, with Undertaker popping Orton with some right hands, sending him onto a woman who certainly does not seem to mind. Back in and Undertaker chinlocks Angle until Orton rather slowly rolls in for the save. Henry comes in to beat up Undertaker but Orton has to save him from the ankle lock. Undertaker is back up to stomp on Orton, who breaks up Old School.

A superplex puts Undertaker down for two and we’re clipped to Orton breaking up a superplex to Angle. The RKO is blocked but the Angle Slam hits Undertaker instead. We’re clipped again to Undertaker sitting up and chokeslamming Orton for two with Henry making a save. The Angle Slam finishes Orton to retain the title at about 9:00 shown. I won’t rate it due to the clips but what we saw looked good.

Post match Undertaker goes after Orton but has to beat up an invading JBL.

As has been the case with many shows over the years, we’ll wrap it up with a small package. This one features a collection of Mortis dark matches in WWE.

Velocity dark match, August 16, 2003.

Mortis vs. Austin Aries

Or “Austin Arius”, who is billed from St. Louis, where the match happens to be taking place. Aries strikes away to start but misses a high crossbody, allowing Mortis to strike away in the corner. A reverse Walls Of Jericho sends Aries over to the ropes and he gets some boots up in the corner. Aries is back with a discus forearm and a clothesline out to the floor. The slingshot dive misses but Aries is right back up for a missile dropkick. A sitout Dominator finishes Aries at 3:38.

Rating: C. I’m kind of surprised Aries didn’t get a closer look, as he was aggressive here and had some good looking high flying. You could tell he had the athleticism and balance that let him move around rather well. On the other and you have Mortis, who certainly looked cool and could have been fine enough without the Mortal Kombat stuff.

Velocity dark match, August 23, 2004.

Mortis vs. Truth Martini

Mortis punches him down to start but misses a springboard legdrop. Martini’s springboard spinning legdrop misses as well, allowing Mortis to hit a superkick. Back up and Mortis sends him into the corner for a middle rope Boston crab before sending Martini into the post. The crossarm choke goes on and a suplex drops Martini again. A tornado DDT gives Martini two of his own but he gets caught in an electric chair faceplant for the pin at 4:37.

Rating: C-. Ah now this was more like it, as there was nothing to Mortis here other than the look. Mortis does look cool, but his offense was “do a move, stand there, do another move, stand there again”, and so forth. That only works for so long and made a four and a half minute match feel a heck of a lot longer.

Velocity dark match, August 30, 2004.

Mortis/Funaki vs. Jack Bull/Mike Knox

Mortis strikes away at Bull to start so it’s off to Funaki, who gets beaten down by Knox. Bull comes back in to strike away. A reverse tornado DDT gets Funaki out of trouble and it’s back to Mortis. Everything breaks down and Mortis finishes Knox with a lifting Downward Spiral at 4:32.

Rating: C. Again, there’s just not much to say about these matches. Mortis is creepy looking but is teaming with the eternally likable Funaki against a pair of big bald guys. There was nothing to the match and Mortis certainly didn’t stand out, which is kind of the point of the whole thing.

Velocity dark match, October 25, 2003.

Mortis vs. John Walters

This is joined in progress for some reason with Walters flipping over him and hitting a clothesline for two. Walters’ neck crank doesn’t last long as Mortis is back up with a corner clothesline and a middle rope bulldog out of the corner. The superkick gets two and a sitout Alabama slam finishes Walters at 3:07.

Rating: C. Much like the previous matches, there’s something to the idea of this weird looking guy who does unique moves, but the whole Mortis deal was played so slowly. It was like Chris Kanyon was thinking “ok so I’m Mortis now” rather than getting into doing anything. This was another weak match and I’m not surprised WWE didn’t do anything with Mortis as a result.

Overall Rating: A-. The Mortis matches aren’t great, but they’re about the only things close to weak in this set. When you have the Flair vs. Steamboat match, that incredible Midnights/Fantastics match and the rather awesome Punk vs. Bryan match, almost anything else is going to be fine. I got lucky this time with a great set of matches and some actual rarities, which made for a rather fun (albeit crazy long) viewing. Check out those three matches for sure though, as they’re all worth your time.

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

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

Collision
Date: May 20, 2026
Location: Cross Insurance Arena, Portland, Maine
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

This is a special one hour edition of the show and is taking place just after the regular Dynamite. That should make for an interesting show as some of these wind up going a bit differently than regular editions. It’s also the last show before Sunday’s Double Or Nothing so it’s time to push towards the show. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

We open with Darby Allin getting up after retaining the World Title over Mike Bailey. Kevin Knight gets in the ring and says he’s proud of Bailey, even in defeat. Knight praises Allin’s success and tasks him with humbling MJF. If Knight can beat MJF, he knows Allin can do it, and everyone wants to see MJF get his head shaved. Bailey and Knight leave and here is MJF to jump Allin from behind. Somehow Bailey and Knight have no idea this is going on so MJF gets some hair clippers. Allin takes them away and goes for the hair, sending MJF running.

The Death Riders give Will Ospreay a pep talk.

Will Ospreay vs. Katsuyori Shibata

They immediately fight over a cross armbreaker attempt until Shibata grabs a front facelock. A suplex on the apron sets up a suplex on the floor and Shibata forearms away back inside. Ospreay fires right back with a Helluva Kick and another kick sends Shibata outside again. There’s the big dive and we take a break.

We come back with Ospreay hitting his handspring kick to the head, followed by a Phenomenal Forearm for two. The Kawada Kicks are shrugged off and Shibata grabs a choke. Shibata sends him into the corner for a running dropkick but Ospreay hits a quick running forearm.

The Falcon Arrow gives Ospreay two but here is Anthony Bowens for a distraction. Shibata hits his own Hidden Blade so here are the Death Riders. Back in and Shibata low blows him into a cross armbreaker, which is reversed into a Styles Clash. The Hidden Blade finishes Shibata at 10:51.

Rating: B-. The big thing that stands out here is that while Ospreay has learned some things from the Death Riders, he is still doing his older stuff. That’s a lot better than taking away the offense that made him a star for the sake of more submission stuff. He’s doing some things that Moxley has taught him, but it’s just a feature rather than the big focus. That’s great to see and it’s a rather nice surprise.

Post match Samoa Joe comes out to ask what we have here. Ospreay’s new friends had to come out and save him, which Joe would have done for his friends too. Ospreay has made a choice though and Joe is going to put him to sleep. That sends Ospreay into a rant about how bad his neck was and he doesn’t know how Joe is going to kill him when he’s already died in the ring. All he wants to do is go to All In and wrestle in his home country’s biggest stadium. The Death Riders have turned him into an assassin and he’s ready to take Joe out. Heck of a promo from Ospreay here.

Adam Copeland recaps how he and Christian Cage got to know each other as kids (a ninja star was involved). The fans have seen them grow from kids into men and this is real. FTR wants to kill this and Copeland wants the best version of FTR to show up. Cage says FTR has made choices (second promo in a row with that statement) and that means they are going to get f***** up. Another intense promo here and it did more to sell me on the match than what they’ve done otherwise.

Rush vs. TJ Crawford

Bull’s Horns finish at 1:00.

Megan Bayne/Lena Kross vs. Elle Valentine/Kayla Lopez

Non-title five minute time limit match. Bayne powers Lopez into the corner for the running shoulders, with Lopez celebrating an escape. That earns Lopez some hard shots in the corner and Kross comes in for the rapid fire elbows. Valentine comes in and gets kicked in the face and some delayed suplexes have Valentine and Lopez in more trouble. Divine Intervention finishes at 2:50. Another total squash.

Video on Darby Allin vs. MJF.

Double Or Nothing rundown, with the Kickoff Show being hosted by the debuting Mick Foley.

Tag Team Titles: Conglomeration vs. FTR

FTR, with Stokely, is defending and jump Cassidy and Strong to start fast. The early spike piledriver is broken up so FTR go up the aisle. Strong cuts that off and beats up the champs as we settle down. A gutbuster looks to set up the Orange Punch to Harwood but Wheeler pulls him out to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Strong fighting out of a chinlock and hitting a backbreaker. Cassidy comes in with a top rope clothesline to Harwood and a sunset flip gets two. A suicide dive hits Harwood but he’s back in with a spinebuster. Wheeler grabs a chinlock before handing it back to Harwood, who misses some elbows. Wheeler misses a charge on the apron and flies into the post but Harwood is right back up with a piledriver.

We take another break and come back again with Wheeler getting crotched in the corner, allowing Cassidy to get over to Strong. Everything breaks down and Strong throws Cassidy at Harwood in the corner and hands it back to him. Strong gets posted on the floor, leaving FTR to give Cassidy the lazy kicks.

Stokely loads up Christian Cage’s watch but misses a big swing, allowing Cassidy to get a rollup for two. Stundog Millionaire hits Harwood but Cassidy walks into the Shatter Machine. Strong makes the save and Cactus Clotheslines Wheeler out to the floor. That lets Stokely get in a shot with the watch to give Harwood the pin on Cassidy at 18:36.

Rating: B-. That ending wasn’t exactly inspiring, as it makes FTR look kind of weak heading into a pay per view title defense. It was nice to have Stokely actually do something for a change, but that wasn’t much of a finish. At least it clears out this feud so FTR can focus on Copeland and Cage, as there wasn’t much of a need to have them fighting on two different fronts.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked this well enough, though that main event could have been a bit shorter to wrap up an already long night a bit earlier. The Ospreay match and promo were good and it makes me want to see he and Joe unload on each other. If nothing else, it’s nice to have Collision dropped down by an hour for a week, as it makes for such an easier watch.

Results
Will Ospreay b. Katsuyori Shibata – Hidden Blade
Rush b. TJ Crawford – Bull’s Horns
Megan Bayne/Lena Kross b. Elle Valentine/Kayla Lopez – Divine Intervention to Valentine
FTR b. Conglomeration – Watch punch to Cassidy

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

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

More from my big assortment of leftovers from the WWE Network.

We go to an unspecified TV show from February 22, 1994 with Vince McMahon interviewing Jim Cornette on the platform. Cornette has the WWF Title with him and wants everyone to know that Lex Luger is never going to hold this because he can’t beat Yokozuna. Vince doesn’t know about that and here’s Luger, sending Cornette into terror. Luger takes the belt from him and puts it on, which Vince thinks looks pretty good. Not good enough to make Luger the champion mind you.

Vince wants the ring announcer to announce Luger as champion, with Luger doing a full on entrance with the title and getting in the ring to pose with the title. Luger walks around the ring and then takes the belt back to the platform to throw it at Cornette. This was actually a thing they did to make the fans think that Luger won the belt, as well as filming a special scene in advance in case they went with Luger at Wrestlemania. That obviously didn’t happen, but the fans needed a reason to see them filming this so the “what would happen if” deal was thrown together. Another cool little feature here.

From January 12, 1976 in Championship Wrestling From Florida.

Andre the Giant bends a bar around his neck (and breaks it), lifts 2000lbs and wins a tug of war (as in he’s in the middle with five wrestlers on each side) by pulling everyone into each other. This wasn’t even two minutes long.

Todd Hansen vs. Brian Black
Date: May 2, 2005
Location: Fleet Center, Boston, Massachusetts

Raw dark match with Lilian Garcia welcoming us to the night. Hanen is better known as Ivar (minus the long hair and/or beard) and Black is better known as the guy who is about to lose to Hansen in a dark match. Hansen grabs a headlock to start but gets elbowed in the stomach for his efforts.

A headlock takeover works a bit better for Hansen but Black whips him hard into the corner and puts on a double arm crank. That’s broken up as well and Hansen hits an ugly crossbody for two. Hansen makes the clothesline comeback and gets two off a spinning kick to the face. Black hits a pumphandle faceplant for the same but Hansen small packages him for the pin at 4:40.

Rating: D+. This was just a pair of local guys getting to have a quick match to warm up the crowd. There was nothing to indicate that Hansen would become a star in the future and it took a very long time for his career to take off. You have to start somewhere though and that’s what we were seeing here, in one of probably several similar matches he had during this part of his career.

From August 25, 1973 in the AWA.

Billy Graham loses to the Great Scott (with his 8 inch bicep) in an arm wrestling match. The clip runs 43 seconds and I have no idea what the joke was supposed to be here.

From the AWA on January 15, 1977.

Gene Okerlund brings in the Iron Sheik (who looks TINY compared to what he would become), who refuses to speak English. Sheik rants a lot, drops to his knees and prays and shows off the Persian clubs, as was his tradition. After a break, Sheik lifts a 300lb chain above his head and then rants a lot more. Gene says come and see Sheik when you have a chance. Of note: Sheik was billed from Lebanon here rather than Iran.

Kenny Omega vs. Cru Jones
Date: September 3, 2006
Location: Deep South Arena, McDonough, Georgia
Commentators: Bill DeMott, Nigel Sherrod

This is from Deep South Wrestling, where Omega was in the WWE developmental system for a bit before realizing he wasn’t going to get anywhere in this company. Before the match, Omega mocks Jones for being a former football player who yells a lot and promises to pin him. Yeah Omega wasn’t great with the talking at this point. Jones takes him into the corner to start so Omega tries a waistlock.

Omega picks up the pace and armdrags him into an armbar, with one fan calling it boring. Another armdrag into an armbar keeps Jones down but he throws Omega into the corner. The chinlock goes on until Omega fights up and drop toeholds him into the middle rope. A running dropkick to the side of the head gets two on Jones but Jones is back with a Michinoku Driver for the same. Omega is right back up with Sliced Bread for the pin at 5:06.

Rating: C-. Another historical curiosity more than anything else here as Omega was nowhere near what he would become. He was just a guy in trunks here without any kind of character or gimmick to speak of. I can see why he would want out, as doing something like this isn’t going to give him any kind of a change to shine. Jones never did anything of note in wrestling and retired in 2012.

From Championship Wrestling From Florida on September 8, 1988.

Dusty Rhodes introduces us to his son Dustin, who he says is green behind the ears and needs to fill out a bit. Dusty knows everyone is going to be watching and he wants the people to love his son like they love him. Dustin is ready to get funky like a monkey, but he looks rather stoic here and doesn’t say a word.

Rico Constantino vs. Brock Lesnar
Date: January 3, 2002
Location: MCI Center, Washington DC
Attendance: 13,978

Raw dark match and the arena might be 15% full. Lesnar is in white boots for a really weird look. Rico strikes away out of the corner and runs Lesnar over with a shoulder. The cross armbreaker goes on but Lesnar powerbombs out of it without much trouble. Lesnar stomps away in the corner and hits some shoulders to the back for two. The powerslam into the corner lets Lesnar stomp away some more but Rico comes back with a kick to the head. The spinning kick to the face is countered into a powerslam to finish Rico at 4:20.

Rating: C. Believe it or not, two of the more polished OVW wrestlers can have a completely passable match against each other. Lesnar was showing off the power here and that’s what you want to see from him. Rico continues to look more polished than you would ever imagine and I would have loved to see what he could do if he hadn’t been saddled with such a stupid gimmick.

Jim Duggan vs. Sgt. Slaughter
Date: February 4, 1981
Location: Fieldhouse, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson

This is from All-Star Wrestling and I absolutely would not have recognized Duggan. He has short blonde hair and a mustache here, to the point where I thought it was a typo until he was introduced. Slaughter has the Grand Wizard with him and gets in an argument with a fan in the front row before the match starts. Then he does it again, with Vince calling the fan “rotund”.

Duggan (an unknown here) forearms Slaughter in the chest and hits another in the corner. Slaughter unloads with shots to the chest against the ropes and whips him into the corner to cut off a comeback attempt. Duggan gets in his own whip but walks into a piledriver (Vince: “That’ll hurt.”) and the Cobra Clutch finishes for Slaughter at 6:31.

Rating: C-. Now this was fun, as Duggan showed the fire that would make him a star in Mid-South when he got the chance. He was a total rookie at this point though and it was amazing to see in a way. If you have never seen the old school Slaughter, make some time to do so, as he really was awesome in his slimmer days.

Great Kabuki vs. Bruiser Brody
Date: June 7, 1981
Location: Reunion Arena, Dallas Texas
Commentator: Stan Hart

From World Class inside a cage with escape rules only and if Brody wins, Fritz Von Erich gets to face Gary Hart (evil manager) inside the cage. They circle each other to start with Brody kicking his way out of the corner. Kabuki chokes him down but gets whipped into the corner for a right hand. Brody misses the knee though and Kabuki gets in a top rope forearm to the back.

The armpit claw goes on and a superkick cuts off Brody’s comeback attempt. Another comeback works a bit better as Brody kicks him down into the corner, only to get kicked up against the cage. Brody fights out of another nerve hold but a chop cuts him down again. There’s a top rope stomp to the head (geez) to bust Brody open (makes sense) but he kicks Kabuki down again. Now the big knee connects and Brody ties him in the Tree of Woe to escape at 9:55.

Rating: C-. I was expecting more from this but the big story here was more about setting up the next match. It’s a little weird to have what feels like a big showdown inside a cage for the sake of another match later, but that’s a Von Erich story for you. Brody vs. Kabuki would seem to be a bigger match than this, though there is only so much you can do with one guy knocking the other down, then having them swap roles over and over again for about ten minutes.

Bonus match time. Well after we come back from a break and look at the last thirty seconds of the match first.

Fritz Von Erich vs. Gary Hart

Hart, in his suit, is terrified and Fritz stalks him around for a good while. A charge in the corner goes badly for Hart as he gets pounded down, allowing Fritz to start ripping at the suit. Some people are running around at ringside as the pants go flying. The Claw goes on and Hart is left in his underwear. More stripping and more Clawing ensues to give Fritz the win at 4:47.

Rating: D. This was barely a match so there is only so much you’re going to get out of it. I’m sure this would mean a lot more if I know the story (to be fair, Hart vs. Von Erichs went on for years) but this was much more about giving the fans something to cheer. Fritz was a monster in real life but the fans loved him so this worked as well as it could have.

Post match Kabuki gets Hart out of the cage in search of pants.

Minnesota Stretching Crew vs. Mr. Black/Mark Henry
Date: December 16, 2000
Location: Davis Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Kenny Bolin, Dean Hill

That would be a VERY young Brock Lesnar/Shelton Benjamin and Black is a big guy. Black shrugs off Shelton’s dropkick to start and runs him over with a shoulder as commentary actually says this was taped before their big show (which wound up getting knocked out by a blizzard and postponed by a month anyway, so it was WAY before the big show). Shelton crucifixes Black for two and hits a top rope flip dive for the same. Black drives him into the corner and it’s off to Henry to toss Shelton around with ease.

A crossface chickenwing of all things has Benjamin in trouble and there’s a clothesline to drop him again. Henry drops a leg for two and Black blocks a sunset flip with a right hand. A missed charge lets Shelton bring in Brock off the hot tag and even Bolin (the heels’ manager) knows this is trouble. Everything breaks down and Black pulls out a police baton. Cue Rob Conway to take it from him and knock Black silly with it, giving Benjamin the pin at 5:40.

Rating: C. Totally watchable match here as they were just waiting on that hot tag to Lesnar. He was incredibly green at this point but when you can do things like that, does it really matter? I could have gone with the Stretching Crew on the main roster but Charlie Haas was a great choice for Benjamin’s partner and Brock did fine for himself. Black….well he was good for OVW.

Post match Henry and Black beat Conway down.

And now to Championship Wrestling From Florida, June 15, 1972.

We get a training session with Les Thornton, Harley Race, Danny Hodge and more slowly doing moves as commentary talks about what we’re seeing. We’re just seeing individual moves here and there is no crowd or anything. It’s mainly a bunch of suplexes and throws but they’re in slow motion to focus on the athletics and leverage. Believe it or not, Race looks exactly like he always wood as the guy never aged. We wrap it up with some clips of Chavo Guerrero dropkicking a Samoan in a match. This is the kind of thing I can always go for and it was a lot of fun for a short video.

From OVW, May 26, 2001.

Mark Henry is in the ring to talk about how OVW and its fans are on pace to raise $20000 for a children’s charity. Cue Bolin Services (top heel stable) with Kenny Bolin saying he is tired of Henry raising money that could go into his pocket in these towns. They have found something in the contract, with a Randy Savage impersonator (ahuh) saying that the contract states that all money Henry raises goes to Bolin, including the charity money.

Henry says he’ll see Bolin in the hospital and the brawl is on with Henry cleaning house. Cue some guy that commentary doesn’t recognize to beat Henry down with the help of Mr. Black. Jim Cornette wants to know who the guy is hitting a tornado DDT to leave Henry laying. He would know him soon enough: it’s a debuting John Cena.

Fritz Von Erich vs. The Sheik
Date: February 28, 1977
Location: Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Commentator: Bill Mercer

Texas Death Match, meaning anything goes. We’re joined in progress with Gary Hart offering a distraction so Sheik can get in a cheap shot. Fritz grabs the stomach claw anyway before switching to the head for a change. Sheik rolls over to the rope for the break (in a death match) but Fritz keeps the hold on. The hold has been on for about two minutes at this point, making it seems like one of the lamest holds in history.

Sheik finally gets in a cheap shot and makes the crazed comeback but Fritz chokes him down again. Some choking gets the bloody Sheik out of trouble and they slug it out as we take a break. Back with Fritz punching his way out of a choke to grab another claw from the mat. A headbutt knocks Sheik out to the floor but they’re both down for the count and the draw at 6:20.

Hang on though as Sheik gets a chance to come back in to answer the ten count (ok then)….and they’re both out again at 7:08. There must be a winner so the first person to his feet wins. Hart and company try to help Sheik up but Fritz is down. Cue Kerry Von Erich to pour water on Fritz and hit Hart with the bucket. Fritz FINALLY gets up for the win at 10:02.

Rating: D-. There was some nice drama with who gets up first but this was a lot of laying around (about 4 minutes out of 10) and the rest was spent on choking and the claw. I know the fans loved Fritz and that’s fair enough, but it would be nice to have them actually do something. Sheik can have his wild brawls, though you would never know it off of this one.

Post match Sheik uses the water on the mat to wash his face because he’s an odd duck.

UPW Heavyweight Title: Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels
Date: March 14, 2001
Location: Galaxy Theater, Santa Ana, California
Attendance: 775

Daniels is defending and this is Loser Leaves UPW (a California independent promotion which trained John Cena). We’re joined in progress with Joe (slim here) missing an enziguri and Daniels (with HAIR) pulling him into an STF. Joe makes the rope and pulls Daniels into a chinlock. That’s broken up as well but the referee gets crushed in the corner. A low blow into Angel’s Wings gets the pin….from a wrestler named Mikey Henderson, meaning it doesn’t seem to count. Joe gets back up and hits an enziguri, setting up the Emerald Driver (Emerald Flosion) for the pin and the title at 2:02 shown.

Daniels gets the Goodbye Song but grabs the mic and thanks the fans for everything over the years.

Samoa Joe, who looks YOUNG, says he’ll face everyone and ran both Daniels and Rob Van Dam out of UPW.

From Florida Championship Wrestling, February 23, 1989.

Oliver Humperdink is sick of Dusty Rhodes so he needs to get rid of Dustin Rhodes. So who should he bring in to take care of Dustin? The only solution is Terry Funk, and we see a video of Funk standing in front of an unpainted white figure with the word DUSTY on the chest. Funk talks about how worthless and fat he is, and how something like this can only be called a “Dusty”. Then he whips out a chainsaw and cuts off the limbs, which represent his words and fat. That leaves you with a Dustin, who is too stupid to speak. I think I’ve done this one before.

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

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

Dynamite
Date: January 21, 2026
Location: Addition Financial Arena, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Taz

Things are starting to pick up again around here, as MJF is having to deal with both Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page, plus a few other challengers. That’s how the World Champion should be treated, though hopefully he gets to talk about them a bit more. Other than that, Swerve Strickland is facing Kevin Knight, which should be a good one. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Tony Schiavone brings out MJF for a chat. MJF brags about his successes, including giving the Triple B a special introduction. Last week Bandido was the first one to find out that this is his year and no one is on the level of the devil. Cue Brody King to interrupt, saying he wants to hurt MJF for what he did to Bandido.

That won’t happen though, because everyone knows MJF is just a b****. What he wants is a match for the World Title and we should just make it tonight. MJF steps back before accusing King of beating a bunch of jobbers. He says King is all bark and no bite before turning down the title shot. King barks at him and MJF runs off.

We look back at Hangman Page and JetSpeed winning the Trios Titles last week.

Page and JetSpeed talk about coming up with a team name but instead opt to focus on their matches tonight.

Samoa Joe vs. Mike Bailey

Joe bails out to the floor to start but comes back in to forearm him down rather easily. Bailey is pulled outside and one heck of a chop puts him down. Joe knocks him down again as the rest of the Opps come in for the beatdown. We take a break and come back with Bailey still in trouble but avoiding a charge in the corner. Bailey kicks away and the shooting star press gets two.

Bailey misses the moonsault knees on the apron though and Katsuyori Shibata snaps off some suplexes onto various hard objects. Back in and Joe smashes the knee down and grabs a kneebar. A heel hook keeps Bailey in trouble but he gets to the rope for the break. Joe kicks the knee out again so Bailey goes with a crane kick.

The moonsault knees (oh here we go) connect for Bailey but he misses the tornado kick in the corner. Hook’s distraction breaks up the Ultimate Weapon and Bailey has to climb the corner to flip away from the Koquina Clutch. Shibata gets in a cheap shot though and the MuscleBuster finishes Bailey at 15:14.

Rating: B-. Bailey was doing his usual lack of selling of the knee near the end and I can’t even get mad at it anymore. Joe smashing through him in the end was nice to see, though they’re already teasing running the title match back. It’s not like the titles are likely to feel important for long so get the title match in while you can.

We run down the rest of the card.

Death Riders vs. Don Callis Family

Street fight and it’s a brawl to start fast, as you probably expected. The fights go around the arena, with Moxley and Archer fighting in the crowd while Garcia makes Hechicero tap to an ankle lock on the ramp. Back in and Archer gets triple teamed in the corner before he falls out to the floor. That’s fine with Archer, who chokeslams a diving Yuta onto the announcers’ table.

We take a break and come back with Moxley surrounded but trying to fight everyone off anyway. Archer crossbodies Moxley down though and it’s time to bring in a table. Marina Shafir comes in to triangle choke Archer, which is broken up just as quickly. Archer sends Moxley through a table in the corner, leaving Garcia and Yuta to get tied in some abdominal stretches.

Moxley is back up with a double DDT and it’s time for a barbed wire/broken glass table. Romero escapes a suplex though and it’s a chokeslam to send Moxley onto the board for two. Cue the rest of the Death Riders with a crutch to take Archer out and Shafir low blows Hechicero. Garcia’s piledriver and the Dragontamer, with a stomp from Moxley, finishes Romero at 15:34.

Rating: B-. This is about what you would expect from this kind of a match, with the barbed wire/glass board feeling rather out of place. The match came off more like something that was late in a feud rather than close to the beginning, though you can almost guarantee we see this again. The Riders as good guys is still weird, but hopefully they tone it down a bit. It would help a lot.

Post match Moxley comes up to Don Callis and says Callis’ boy (presumably Konosuke Takeshita) knows where to find him.

Thekla, with the rest of the Triangle Of Madness, wants to face Kris Statlander next week. As for this week, Julia Hart wants the TBS Title on Collision.

FTR vs. Alec Price/Jordan Oliver

Non-title. Oliver locks up with Wheeler to start with Wheeler running him down, A small package gives Wheeler two but everything breaks down, with FTR being sent outside for the stereo dives. Back in and a top rope double stomp gets two on Wheeler, who is right back with a big clothesline. Price is right back up to bring in Oliver for the house cleaning. Harwood catches him in the corner but the PowerPlex is broken up. Price tries to fight back but walks into the Shatter Machine for the pin at 5:14.

Rating: B-. This was the “hi, you’re new here so you get to lose to a big name” match for Price and Oliver. They got to lose before they were signed to the roster and now they get to lose as official wrestlers. I’m sure they’ll be fine but having someone new get some wins sounds like an idea that just might work.

Kris Statlander is down with Thekla’s challenge and issues an open challenge for an eliminator match on Collision. Willow Nightingale will face Julia Hart as well, which leaves Harley Cameron to hit the catchphrase.

Kenny Omega vs. Josh Alexander

Alexander jumps him from behind to start the brawl before the bell. Omega blocks a ram into the barricade and hits a moonsault before they go inside for the opening bell. A running forearm gives Omega two but he charges into a World’s Strongest Slam onto the apron. We take a break and come back with Alexander kneeing him in the face again. They go up top with Alexander hitting a super Regal Roll for two before heading outside.

The floor pads are peeled back and Omega grabs the Snapdragon, followed by the running flip dive to take Alexander down again. They get back inside with Omega’s brainbuster onto the knee getting two. Alexander is back up with a suplex and they crash out to the floor for a double breather.

They slug it out until Omega goes after Don Callis, allowing Alexander to grab the ankle lock. That’s broken up so Alexander hits the running crossbody to knock Omega off the apron. Back in and Omega hits a V Trigger out of nowhere, followed by another running knee. The One Winged Angel finishes Alexander at 11:51.

Rating: B-. Omega is nowhere near what he used to be but at least he’s still able to do something like this. They didn’t give this as much time as some matches and that’s ok, as the idea of less is more being a good concept to learn. Also, Alexander getting to lose again is almost amusing, as he’s just the designated big name jobber of the Family.

Post match Omega says he’s feeling great and living in Orlando, so he’s coming for MJF and the World Title.

We get one of Taz’s always awesome breakdowns, as he looks at the physics behind MJF’s Salt Of The Earth armbar on Bandido from last week.

Megan Bayne/Penelope Ford vs. Timeless Love Bombs

The villains take over to start but of course the Bombs use a do-see-do to escape. Storm drops Shirakawa onto Ford but Bayne is back up to wreck both of them. Bayne throws Shirakawa onto Storm on the floor and then throws Ford onto the two of them for a big crash as we take a break.

We come back with Shirakawa trying to roll over for the tag but getting caught with the release German suplex. Shirakawa manages to get up top for a high crossbody though and it’s off to Storm to clean house. Stereo hip attacks send the villains outside for a pair of dives, followed by a top rope sling blade for two on Ford. All four get back inside until Shirakawa backfists Ford down. Bayne breaks it up again though and it’s a Doomsday Device to finish Shirakawa at 10:51.

Rating: C+. The Bombs losing is an interesting way to go, but Bayne is certainly feeling like a monster again. Maybe she isn’t ready to be the face of the women’s division, but I could go for her doing something other than being the monster in a tag team. The Bombs still have the charm and chemistry, but the team loses some of its luster when Storm isn’t talking. That might not be a great sign.

Post match Marina Shafir cuts off Storm with the Mother’s Milk.

We look at Roderick Strong becoming #1 contender for the CMLL World Title.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows, with Excalibur bringing back his rapid fire delivery.

Swerve Strickland vs. Kevin Knight

Knight tries to take him down to start but gets sent flying as a result. Back up and Knight works on an armbar before sending Strickland outside. Strickland is back in to knock Knight off the top and out to the floor. A piledriver onto the steps is broken up though and Knight grabs a hurricanrana off the apron as we take a break.

We come back with Strickland hitting a kneeling backbreaker. Knight fights out of a half crab attempt and Strickland is getting frustrated. They forearm it out until Knight gets in a neckbreaker to leave them both down. Knight’s jumping clothesline connects, as does Strickland’s rolling Downward Spiral, but the House Call isn’t quite the same.

Strickland puts him on top, where Knight manages to come back with a sunset bomb. They head to the apron, where Strickland grabs a Death Valley Driver. Strickland isn’t done as he hits a Texas piledriver on the barricade. Back in and a 450 to the back sets up Strickland’s dragon sleeper.

Knight fights up so Strickland sends him into the corner, where Knight hurricanranas him down for the Coast To Coast. A UFO Splash gets two and Strickland smiles at him, earning a House Call from Knight for two. They trade pump kicks until Strickland House Calls him out of the air. The Vertebreaker into the JML Driver finishes Knight at 17:20.

Rating: B. This was about showing that Knight belongs on this level and while he might not be all the way there yet, he certainly took a nice step forward here. Hanging in there with someone as good as Strickland is a big deal and Strickland had to work to win the thing. Knight will get a chance and it’s clear that AEW sees something in him.

An annoyed MJF looks down from a box to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. They focused on the wrestling side of things here and that worked well for the week. The main event is worth a look and you can see some of the matches starting to be set up for Revolution. The show is still a long way off but the stories are coming together, which is a great thing to see. I’ll take a night with this much solid action, so it’s a rather good show as a result.

Results
Samoa Joe b. Mike Bailey – MuscleBuster
Death Riders b. Don Callis Family – Dragontamer to Romero
FTR b. Alec Price/Jordan Oliver – Shatter Machine to Price
Kenny Omega b. Josh Alexander – One Winged Angel
Megan Bayne/Penelope Ford b. Timeless Love Bombs – Doomsday Device to Shirakawa
Swerve Strickland b. Kevin Knight – JML Driver

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

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Dynamite
Date: January 15, 2026
Location: Arizona Financial Theater, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Excalibur, Bryan Danielson

It’s Maximum Carnage, which…really doesn’t seem to mean much, other than we have Bandido challenging MJF for the World Title. There is still a long time to go before Revolution, but these special named shows do tend to do pretty well for AEW, as they know what they’re doing with them. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Samoa Joe wants to deal with Hangman Page, but he needs to get ready to defend the Trios Titles. Therefore, he’s putting a bounty out on Page, with Bryan Keith here to collect it. That would be the second bounty of the year thus far.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Pac vs. Darby Allin

Allin jumps Pac from behind during the entrances and they quickly fight into the crowd. Pac gets staggered with some shots to the face, setting up the Coffin Drop off a balcony. They head back to ringside, where Pac gets in a suplex on the floor. An overhead belly to belly sends Allin crashing into the steps and they get inside for the opening bell. A very hard clothesline gives Pac two and he drops Allin onto the ropes as we take a break.

We come back with Allin hitting a missile dropkick but charging into a belly to belly into the corner. A release belly to belly superplex sets up a Razor’s Edge over the ropes and onto the ramp to drop Allin again. Back in and Allin flips Pac off and knocks him to the floor, setting up another Coffin Drop. A third Coffin Drop, this time onto the apron, connects but the referee gets bumped back inside. The Scorpion Deathlock goes on so here are the Death Riders to save Pac. A chair is wrapped around Pac’s ankle and another Coffin Drop is good for the Pillmanization. The Scorpion Deathlock finishes Pac at 11:05.

Rating: B-. It was a hard hitting match, but I’m losing interest more in Allin every time he does his “I do stupid stuff and get hurt a lot”. It’s been his thing since he got here and it is rapidly losing its charm. Allin is talented enough that he doesn’t need to do that all the time and it would be nice to see it happen a lot less frequently.

Hangman Page vs. Bryan Keith

Big Bill is here with Keith, who chops away to start but gets kicked away. Page fires off forearms in the corner and knocks him outside to keep up the hammering. Bill offers a distraction though, allowing Keith to take over in the corner and we take a break. We come back with Page slugging away, setting up a fall away slam. Bill offers a distraction to break up the Buckshot Lariat, which brings out Swerve Strickland to cut Bill off with the chain. Now the Buckshot Lariat can finish Keith at 9:27.

Rating: C+. This felt like little more than an extended workout for Page and that’s fine. He’s one of the biggest stars in AEW so it’s hard to find someone who is going to give him a real challenge. Sometimes you just need to get him in the ring and he dispatched Keith with an assist from Bill. That could have been worse so I’ll take it.

Post match Page rants about Samoa Joe not being man enough to fight him. Strickland says they’re coming for MJF too because they want to be back on top. Cue Kenny Omega to interrupt, saying three of the greatest challengers for the World Title are in the ring right now. Omega took pride in being called the god of professional wrestling and he knows he has to win some matches to get the World Title shot. He looks at Page and Swerve and says he’s going for the title, with Page saying if they cross paths, may the best man win. Page and Omega shake hands, but Swerve glares at Omega.

Swerve and Page leave and here is the Don Callis Family to interrupt. Callis says if Omega needs to win matches, he should face Josh Alexander. That’s fine with Omega, who is ready to go tonight. Alexander is ready too but Callis says not so fast. We’ll do it next week, with Omega hitting the catchphrase to wrap it up.

Brody King runs into Jon Cruz, who says don’t let Bandido punch him in the face anymore. That’s fine with King, because it’s his turn in their standby match.

Brody King vs. Jon Cruz

King punches him out of the air and finishes with the Ganso Bomb at 38 seconds. About as expected.

Post match King tells Bandido to win the World Title and then it would be his honor to get a title shot.

Video on MJF vs. Bandido.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Davis And Doyle vs. Gates Of Agony vs. JetSpeed vs. Young Bucks

Tornado tag and for a future Tag Team Title shot. The Bucks and JetSpeed start fast with dives to the floor before getting back inside for the staredown. The Bucks get in stereo slams but all four miss elbows, allowing the Gates to come in and take over. Davis And Doyle are right there for the power slugout until the four good guys are back in.

The powerhouses are sent outside for some dives, which are pulled out of the air. Nick dives onto everyone for the big knockdown and the Bucks get to pose. Davis And Doyle collide back inside and then get superkicked down. Liona is up with a moonsault from the apron to the floor and the Gates are in control as we take a break.

We come back with Matt sending Davis And Doyle into each other, allowing the Bucks to clear the ring. All eight get back in for a quadruple superkick and quadruple dives off the top. A wheelbarrow cutter drops Matt and it’s Open The Gates for two on Nick, with Knight making the save. Liona pulls both Bucks into a fireman’s carry but Bailey is in with the Ultimate Weapon to break it up. The Bucks and JetSpeed trade rollups for two each until the BTE Trigger connects. Ricochet pulls the referee but here is Jack Perry to take Ricochet out. Doyle powerbombs Bailey onto a pile at ringside and Davis’ piledriver finishes Knight at 14:51.

Rating: B-. This was your AEW match of the week, as they might as well have had an introduction saying that they scripted this down to the letter. It felt like a performance rather than a match and that took me way out of the whole thing. It’s definitely entertaining and they’re very athletic, but egads going with a wrestling match instead of insanity sounds nice.

Post match FTR comes in for the brawl with Davis And Doyle.

We get a quick tribute to Bob Weir, the Grateful Dead guitarist who recently passed away.

SkyFlight is ready for the Don Callis Family.

Babes Of Wrath/Kris Statlander vs. Triangle Of Madness

Statlander and Thekla start things off…or not as we’ll go with Hart instead. Cameron comes in to take Hart down and a running Sling Blade gets two. Some basement clotheslines and a backsplash crush Blue but she’s able to grab a springboard neckbreaker on Cameron. We take a break and come back with Cameron still in trouble, with her partners being pulled off the apron.

As usual, the tag goes through a few seconds later, with Statlander getting to come in and clean house. Hart and Blue are rammed into each other and Nightingale is in with a spinebuster. Hart helps plant Nightingale with the assisted swinging Rock Bottom and Thekla knocks her into the corner. Thekla spears Statlander (who shoved Nightingale out of the way), setting up the stomp for the pin at 11:34.

Rating: C+. This should set up at least one title match and that’s not a bad way to go. Thekla vs. Statlander has been built up for more than a little while now and it would make sense to do it in the next few weeks. Nice enough match too, as it only got wild near the end, which is a good change of pace.

Swerve Strickland gives JetSpeed a pep talk. With Swerve gone, Hangman Page comes in and decides he’s teaming with them to go after the Trios Titles on Collision. So less than an hour after Omega’s statement that “you don’t just get handed title shots”, Page just decided that he and JetSpeed are getting a title shot.

The Rascalz are coming. That’s either a perfect fit or more people who wrestle a similar style in this company.

We look back at the one time Hangman Page and JetSpeed team together (back in August), which is enough for them to get a title shot. Kenny Omega should want a word about this.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

AEW World Title: Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Bandido

Bandido is challenging (and his ROH World Title is not on the line). MJF shoulders him down to start and does an Eddie Dance, only for Bandido to come back with an armdrag. Back up and MJF yells at him, only to get his legs swept out for two. The gorilla press sends MJF outside and there’s the required dive to take him out again. Back in and MJF bails out to the apron, where a cheap shot lets him grab an armbar on Bandido.

MJF knocks him down and does a quick Macarena, allowing Bandido to roll him up for two. A flip of the bad arm sends Bandido into the corner and we take a break. We come back with Bandido breaking up the Three Amigos and hitting a suplex of his own. The one armed gorilla press has MJF in more trouble and he goes outside, with Bandido hitting a big dive. MJF heads into the crowd so Bandido hits an even bigger dive to take him down again.

Back in and MJF hits a Codebreaker onto the arm to cut him off for a breather. Bandido gets two off a Code Red but the 21 Plex is blocked. MJF pulls him into a slingshot cutter for two more and they trade rollups for twos, and then ones, each. Bandido hits the X Knee into the 21 Plex but he can’t bridge, giving MJF enough of a breather to kick out. That’s enough for MJF to pull him into the Salt Of The Earth and then the LeBell Lock. Bandido fights but passes out to retain MJF’s title at 19:43.

Rating: B. They worked hard and had a good match, as MJF can more than hang in the ring to go with his abilities on the mic. That makes him a rare combination and it makes sense that he’s one of the top stars in the company as a result. On the other hand, Bandido continues to have one great match after another and it’s awesome to see.

Post match MJF agrees that Bandido will be a World Champion sometimes. Oh in AEW that is. That means he has to do this, and the beatdown is on, with Brody King making the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Good show overall here, with the main event being a good way to wrap things up. At the same time, there were some less than steady storytelling, mainly involving what it takes to get a title shot. That stuff aside, it was another good night inside the ring and that’s where AEW tends to stay. Nice job here, as we should be able to move on to Revolution in the near future.

Results
Darby Allin b. Pac – Scorpion Deathlock
Hangman Page b. Bryan Keith – Buckshot Lariat
Brody King b. Jon Cruz – Ganso Bomb
Davis And Doyle b. Young Bucks, JetSpeed and Gates Of Agony – Piledriver to Knight
Triangle Of Madness b. Babes Of Wrath/Kris Statlander – Stomp to Nightingale
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Bandido – LeBell Lock

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

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Collision
Date: December 25, 2025
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Nigel McGuinness, Tony Schiavone

It’s the last night of the Continental Classic, or at least the league stage, and that means we should be in for something interesting. There is a six way tie in the Gold League so something is going to have to give as we move on to Saturday. We also have an extended show this week, because AEW loves content. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

The opening video looks at the Continental Classic, as you probably expected.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kyle Fletcher (6 points) vs. Jack Perry (6 points)

They circle each other a bit to start with Fletcher avoiding a dropkick but not being able to get anywhere with a grab of the (previously injured) leg. Instead Fletcher stomps on the leg and grabs a half crab. That’s broken up and Perry avoids a charge in the corner to send Fletcher outside. Fletcher cuts off a hurricanrana and powerbombs him onto the apron before slamming Perry into the corner.

With Perry down, Fletcher starts taking off Perry’s boot. Referee: “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Fletcher: “I’M TAKING HIS BOOT OFF!” A big stomp onto the apron onto the step has Perry in more trouble as we take a break. We come back with Perry hitting a dropkick but hurting his ankle again. Perry knocks him outside and hits a sitout bulldog on the floor. Fletcher is able to hit a brainbuster on the floor, followed by a Michinoku Driver for two. Perry fights out of trouble on top and hits a super sunset bomb.

The running knee is countered into another half crab, but Perry reverses that into the Snare Trap, leaving Fletcher panicking. One finger on the rope gets Fletcher out of trouble and he knocks Perry back again. The sitout powerbomb is countered into a Code Red, setting up a piledriver for two. Perry knocks him off the top but gets caught with a running boot to the face. The brainbuster finishes Perry at 19:20.

Rating: B+. Heck of a match here with Perry trying to fight from underneath with the leg injury. It made Fletcher look like that much more of a killer as he was going after the damaged Perry, who managed to make it more than interesting. I liked this more than I was expecting as Fletcher likely moves on to the next round.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kevin Knight – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Pac – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Kyle O’Reilly tries to tell Roderick Strong to lean on the Conglomeration and to never give up. Strong seems encouraged.

Continental Classic Blue League: Konosuke Takeshita (10 points) vs. Mascara Dorada (6 points)

Dorada works on the arm to start before grabbing a rollup for two. Takeshita stomps him down in the corner and knees him in the face but Dorada is back with a springboard wristdrag. The big dive to the floor only hits barricade though and we’re back with Dorada grabbing a rather spinning headscissors.

Another springboard is countered into a Blue Thunder Bomb to give Takeshita two. Dorada’s charge is cut off with a clothesline but he’s able to grab a super hurricanrana. They trade rollups for two each before Dorada’s running shooting star press gets two more. Takeshita is back with a running knee and the Raging Fire finishes Dorada off at 11:39.

Rating: B-. It was hard to imagine Dorada being a major threat to Takeshita here, which is kind of a shame as Dorada has been showcasing himself rather well in recent months. He’s someone who could be quite the star if he’s given a chance, but Takeshita is going to be a favorite to win the whole tournament. Let him look strong going into the semifinals this weekend.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (1 match remaining)

Continental Classic Blue League: Claudio Castagnoli (7 points) vs. Roderick Strong (0 points)

Castagnoli hits a running uppercut for an early two and Strong rolls him up for the same. Another uppercut sends Strong outside and Castagnoli dumps him over the barricade. Back in and Strong grabs an Angle Slam, followed by some jumping knees for the VERY quick pin at 3:22.

Rating: B-. Well ok. During this match I was thinking that I really didn’t need to see a long match between two people who have no realistic chance to win the tournament and they didn’t give me one. Well done on throwing in a curve ball there, as you do not see short matches like this in the tournament at all.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 3 points (0 matches remaining)

Post match the Death Riders run in to beat down Strong but Mark Briscoe runs in for the save. Toni Storm comes in to go after Marina Shafir and gets a kiss on the hand from Briscoe, leaving Storm with the vapors.

The Bang Bang Gang wants a rematch from FTR, with Stokley Hathaway accepting for Worlds End.

Worlds End rundown.

Video on Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kevin Knight (6 points) vs. Pac (6 points)

Pac takes him up against the ropes to start so Knight grabs a wristlock. A running shoulder puts Knight down but he sends Pac outside for a breather. Back in and they chop it out until Knight sends him outside again. Knight hurricanranas him on the floor, setting up a springboard clothesline. A sliding forearm gives Knight two and we take a break.

We come back with Fletcher charging into an overhead belly to belly suplex to send him crashing over the top for a scary landing. An overhead belly to belly superplex gives Pac two but Knight is back up with a missile dropkick. Pac German suplexes him on the floor though and, after flipping off the crowd, wants the countout.

Knight beats the count back inside and jumps to the top for a top rope superplex. They forearm it out and Knight dropkicks him down, setting up the Coast To Coast. Knight’s UFO Splash hits raised knees though and Pac rolls him up. The Black Arrow hits raised knees and Knight rolls him up a few times, only to get pulled into the Brutalizer…as time expires for the draw at 20:00.

Rating: B. They have something with Knight who is athletic, has some size, and has momentum right now. That is worth a look, and hopefully it happens rather than seeing more with Mike Bailey. Pac getting aggressive (ok more aggressive) as time ran out was great, but Knight survived in a cool moment,. Nice job here.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kevin Knight – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Pac – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Here is Gabe Kidd, who talks about hearing Darby Allin’s body bouncing down the steps. He said Allin isn’t indestructible and now Allin is in the ICU. Cue Allin (of course) with a baseball bat to chase Kidd off. The match is set for Worlds End.

Video on Mercedes Mone/Athena challenging the Babes Of Wrath for the Women’s Tag Team Titles.

Babes Of Wrath vs. Maya World/Hyan

Non-title. Hyan gets elbowed and side slammed for two to start. Nightingale drops Cameron onto Hyan for two more and everything breaks down. The running flip dive off the apron drops Hyan and World as we take a break. We come back with Nightingale suplexing both of them down and giving World a backbreaker. Everything breaks down and Soul Food into a swinging neckbreaker finishes Hyan at 7:01.

Rating: C. This was just a long squash and odds are that was the case due to the extended run time this week. Thankfully the Babes didn’t have any trouble here, which is a good way to go before they have their big title defense on Saturday. The team is still relatively new and they need some more reps so this wasn’t a bad idea.

Post match the Babes talk about being in New York, including going to Eddie Kingston’s mother’s house. They met Santa Claus and talked about wanting peace, except for in Chicago, because they’re going to hurt Mercedes Mone and Athena.

Continental Classic Blue League: Orange Cassidy (6 points) vs. Jon Moxley (6 points)

They fight over a piledriver/Beach Break to start before crashing out to the floor. Moxley wins a slugout but gets hammered in the corner back inside. Cassidy gets knocked outside and his elbow is banged into the barricade. Moxley is right on him with a whip into the steps but a Stundog Millionaire gives Cassidy a breather back inside. A top rope DDT drops Moxley back inside and we take a break.

We come back with Cassidy actually winning an exchange of forearms, setting up the Orange Punch. Moxley is sent outside for a suicide dive and they go onto the barricade, where Cassidy DDTs him through a table. They barely beat the count and Cassidy nails an Orange Punch. Moxley grabs the Gotch style piledriver for two but he comes up favoring his leg. Cassidy grabs a half crab but Moxley is quickly out, only to get caught with a running DDT. The Beach Break gets two and Cassidy goes for the leg, which is reversed into a small package to give Moxley the pin at 17:06.

Rating: B. These two do have chemistry together and it feels like something of an accomplishment for Moxley to beat Cassidy in a bigger match. At the same time, it’s interesting to see Cassidy just kind of floating around lately. He hasn’t had much to do in recent months and I’m not sure what changes that.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 13 points (0 matches remaining)
Jon Moxley – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (0 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 3 points (0 matches remaining)

Video on the World Title match at Worlds End.

Continental Classic Gold League: Kazuchika Okada (6 points) vs. Mike Bailey (6 points)

They take turns backing each other up against the ropes and Okada has to avoid a tornado kick. Bailey sends him to the floor and hits a triangle moonsault, only to charge into a flapjack back inside. Instead a missile dropkick connects for Bailey, who walks into the neckbreaker onto the knee. Okada’s top rope elbow connects and he flips off the fans and they strike it out until we take a break.

We come back with Bailey winning a strike off (doesn’t seem too bright for Okada) but getting sunset flipped for two. The moonsault knees miss for Bailey but he avoids a charge and hits a springboard corkscrew moonsault to the floor. They go to the ramp where Bailey hits the moonsault knees to the chest and a kick to the face gets two back inside.

The Ultimate Weapon connects but Okada rolls outside before the cover. Back in and Okada hits a Rainmaker but another is cut off with a superkick. The Ultimate Weapon gets two so Bailey loads up the Flamingo Driver. That’s reversed as well but Okada misses the Rainmaker, only to grab the rollup for the pin at 16:08.

Rating: B. They had another good match here with Bailey feeling like a long shot at best to win the thing. Okada gets to move on to the next stage, because he is THE BEST TOURNAMENT WRESTLER EVER and since that is apparently a thing, he can survive to fight another day. It wraps up a pretty awesome group stage of the tournament and it worked well with a good match.

Gold League Standings

Kyle Fletcher – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kazuchika Okada – 9 points (0 matches remaining)
Kevin Knight – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Pac – 7 points (0 matches remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (0 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (0 matches remaining)

Konosuke Takeshita comes out to stare Okada (his opponent at Worlds End) to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was a rather good show with a bunch of solid wrestling and a bit of drama as there were a few options for who might advance. This show was almost all about the Continental Classic, which makes sense as it has dominated the last month or so. They were focusing on the wrestling here and that is one of the best things AEW can do, though I’m almost scared of what comes next for them.

Results
Kyle Fletcher b. Jack Perry – Brainbuster
Konosuke Takeshita b. Mascara Dorada – Raging Fire
Roderick Strong b. Claudio Castagnoli – Jumping knee
Kevin Knight vs. Pac went to a time limit draw
Babes Of Wrath b. Hyan/Maya World – Swinging neckbreaker to Hyan
Jon Moxley b. Orange Cassidy – Small package
Kazuchika Okada b. Mike Bailey – Rollup

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

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Dynamite
Date: December 24, 2025
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Bryan Danielson

It’s Christmas Eve and naturally that means it’s time to do more in the Continental Classic. The next two nights will determine the final four at Worlds End this weekend and that that should make for an interesting double header. Other than that, we need to build towards the rest of the pay per view, which will likely take place this week. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Blue League: Orange Cassidy (6 points) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (7 points)

Cassidy rolls him up to start and he spins out of a Blue Thunder Bomb attempt. A crucifix gets a very close two and they go outside, with Takeshita sending him into the barricade. Cassidy comes back with a slingshot DDT into a tornado DDT for two of his own. The lazy kicks have their usual effect, followed by a hands in the pockets middle rope hurricanrana. Takeshita is right back up with a Blue Thunder Bomb and we take a break.

We come back with Cassidy reversing a super Raging Fire into a Stundog Millionaire. Takeshita rolls outside but gets caught with a diving DDT for two back inside. A wheelbarrow suplex drops Cassidy, who comes right back with an Orange Punch. They head to the apron where Cassidy grabs a Beach Break, followed by another Orange Punch into the crowd. Takeshita dives back in and reverses a small package into the Raging Fire for the pin at 15:26.

Rating: B. This was the serious Cassidy (for the most part) and he did well before being taken out in the end. That’s how it should have gone as Takeshita turning on the jets to beat someone like Cassidy makes sense. Takeshita is all but guaranteed (if not entirely guaranteed) a spot in the final four and now we get to see where that goes.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 10 points (1 match remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 3 points (2 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (2 matches remaining)

Gabe Kidd wants revenge on Darby Allin, who he has already sent down the steps and lit on fire.

The Bang Bang Gang wants a Chicago street fight with FTR.

Continental Classic Blue League: Roderick Strong (0 points) vs. Mascara Dorada (3 points)

They both go technical to start and fight over wrist control, with Strong bailing over to the ropes. Strong can’t get a cross armbreaker, instead being pulled into a surfboard. They head outside, with Strong dropping him onto the apron as we take a break. We come back with Dorada armdragging him on the floor, followed by a Swanton for two back inside. Strong’s Sick Kick gives him two of his own but Dorada kicks him down. The shooting star press gives Dorada the pin at 9:23.

Rating: B-. They didn’t have as much time as some of the tournament matches have received but it was still a good enough match. Dorada wins to keep himself alive while Strong can only play spoiler. It’s a bit more interesting when you see some of the people eliminated and things tightening up somewhat, which is the point we’ve finally reached.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 10 points (1 match remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (1 matches remaining)

AEW won a bunch of Sports Illustrated awards.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Here are Jamie Hayter and Kris Statlander for a face to face stat. Statlander tells her to let it go with her sob story about having everything taken away from her. Don’t pity her for what she was, but fear her for what she’s become. They’re both ready to win.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Dustin Waller

A running knee, a slap, a lifting DDT and the Salt Of The Earth finish for MJF at 1:12.

Post match MJF gets the mic and the fans greet him with a HAPPY HANUKKAH chant. Cue Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland in the crowd to stare at him though, with Page saying the no physicality thing was left in England. Page tells MJF to cut another 90s style promo insulting them, but Page comes to the ring, where he and Swerve take out the Opps Dojo members.

Samoa Joe pops up on the screen to say he’s coming for all of them one by one and promises to retain the title at Worlds End. Page and Swerve lay MJF out and choke him with a chain, leaving Swerve to say MJF is more of a Diddy than he’ll ever be. Swerve talks about a bunch of the people MJF has used, such as Wardlow, the Pinnacle and Adam Cole. The reality is Swerve always works to make himself better while MJF just uses them. We hit the catchphrase to wrap it up.

The Babes Of Wrath are ready for their upcoming matches and praise each other quite a bit.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite Diamond: Bandido vs. Ricochet

For the vacant ring (and a World Title shot in January) and neither title is on the line. Feeling out process to start with neither being able to get anywhere so it’s another standoff. Bandido connects with a headscissors into a dropkick but Ricochet manages a toss out to the apron.

Ricochet tries the Macarena but gets slapped in the back of the head, followed by the one armed gorilla press. Bandido throws him outside and we take a break. We come back with Ricochet rolling some suplexes, including one on the apron. Bandido rolls through that for a suplex of his own on the floor and they both get back inside. The referee almost gets crushed in the corner and Ricochet uses the distraction to hit Vertigo for two.

The Spirit Gun is blocked but Ricochet flips out of the 21 Plex. A Styles Clash is loaded up but instead Bandido jumps down into a sitout powerbomb (that was cool) for two more. The X Knee looks to set up the 21 Plex again but cue Kaun to make the save. Ricochet kicks him low and tries the Spirit Gun, which is reversed into a cradle for the pin at 12:27.

Rating: B. I’m a bit surprised Ricochet lost here, though either champion losing a singles match doesn’t feel like a good idea. If nothing else, this should set Bandido up for a National Title shot, which would go nicely with his ring. I still don’t know why this has to remain a thing, but it was nice to see it wrapped up this fast.

Post match Ricochet and the Gates Of Agony go after Bandido, with Brody King running in for the save.

Darby Allin isn’t worried about Gabe Kidd, who shows up and throws him down the steps.

Marina Shafir vs. Mina Shirakawa

Shirakawa fires off the kicks in the corner to start and snaps the leg over the middle rope. A missile dropkick gives Shirakawa two but Shafir counters a kick to the head with a powerbomb. We take a break and come back with Shirakawa hitting a top rope clothesline for two. The Figure Four goes on but Shafir fights out and grabs Mother’s Milk for the rather quick win at 7:20.

Rating: C+. This didn’t have a ton of time with the commercial in the middle taking up so much of the match. At the same time, Shirakawa basically squashed her until Shafir got in a few shots to win with the choke. Maybe this sets up Storm to come after Shafir, but for now it’s rather surprising that Shafir would win while looking fairly week for the most part.

Post match the choke goes on again but Toni Storm runs in for the save…and gets laid out just as fast.

The Young Bucks reveal that they are officially not cleared to return to the ring for the rest of the year. Kenny Omega has something to do while they’re out.

Jon Moxley wants to fight more in the Continental Classic.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Gold League: Pac (6 points) vs. Jack Perry (3 points)

Pac works on the arm to start and they go to the mat, with Perry grabbing a hammerlock. A running hurricanrana sends Pac outside and Perry takes him down with a suicide dive. Back in and a top rope standing elbow gives Perry two and they head back outside. Pac hits a quick suplex of his own, with Perry banging up his ankle and we take a break.

We come back with Pac getting two off a missile dropkick before they slug it out. Perry belly to back suplexes him down but the leg is giving him trouble. A DDT gives Perry two but he charges into a suplex into the corner. Pac belly to belly superplexes him for two so Perry comes back with a poisonrana. One heck of a rebound lariat drops Pac again but Pac pulls him into the Brutalizer. That’s broken up so Pac goes with another hard clothesline into the Brutalizer…which is reversed into a cradle to give Perry the upset pin at 14:26.

Rating: B. Another good one here, with Perry getting a big win and making the Gold League VERY interesting. That’s one of the best things that can happen with this kind of a tournament and I’m curious to see where it goes. Hopefully they have some kind of a clever way out of things, though it’s getting into some uncharted territory. At least Perry is getting something out of the tournament rather than just being a doormat.

Gold League Standings

Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kyle Fletcher – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kevin Knight – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Pac – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Jack Perry – 6 points (1 match remaining)

Post match Luchasaurus brings out mile and cookies for Perry. And of course a Santa hat.

Overall Rating: B. The tournament stuff was working well here, though the rest of the show was only so good. The Dynamite Diamond stopped being interesting years ago and hopefully it isn’t anything more than something that we hear about from time to time. I’m almost scared of what is going to happen to a lot of these people when the tournament is over. Hopefully that includes some of these matches being followed up on, which should also be the case with Bandido pinning Ricochet. Either way, good enough show here, even on a fairly busy day.

Results
Konosuke Takeshita b. Orange Cassidy – Raging Fire
Mascara Dorada b. Roderick Strong – Shooting star press
Maxwell Jacob Friedman b. Dustin Waller – Salt Of The Earth
Bandido b. Ricochet – 21 Plex
Marina Shafir b. Mina Shirakawa – Mother’s Milk
Jack Perry b. Pac – Rollup

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

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

Dynamite
Date: December 17, 2025
Location: Co-op Live, Manchester, England
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone

We’re in England again and that should make for a big night. The last few weeks have gone rather well, with the Continental Classic being more than enough to carry the shows. The matches have been rather good and hopefully we get to see something on the same level this week. Let’s get to it.

Here is Collision if you need a recap.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Continental Classic Blue League: Jon Moxley (3 points) vs. Roderick Strong (o points)

No entrances here and Moxley starts in on the arm but has to bail to the ropes to escape an ankle lock. A headlock takeover drops Strong but he’s back up with a dragon screw legwhip. Strong stomps the leg in the corner and backdrops Moxley out to the floor. The brawl in the crowd goes to Strong, who is back with a suicide dive against the announcers’ table.

We take a break and come back with Strong slipping out of a crossface before countering a cradle piledriver. Strong slams him down and goes after the legs again, which sends Moxley bailing to the floor. A backbreaker onto the steps has Moxley in more trouble and a top rope suplex makes it worse.

They forearm it out until Moxley hits a hard lariat. We have five minutes left as Moxley hits a cutter for two. A piledriver gets two more and Moxley grabs a crossface chinlock, sending Strong rolling over to the rope. Strong’s jumping knee gets two and the Stronghold goes on, but Strong switches up his grip. Moxley kicks him away and hits a Paradigm Shift for a delayed two. The Death Rider finishes Strong at 18:11.

Rating: B-. Moxley needed the win to stay alive and there was almost no way he was going to be eliminated so soon. Moxley is still one of the biggest names in AEW and having him make a comeback like this is a fine way to go. Strong is still someone who can have a good match with anyone, and this worked well for a longer opening match.

Blue League Standings

Konosuke Takeshita – 7 points (2 matches remaining)
Claudio Castagnoli – 7 points (1 match remaining)
Jon Moxley – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Mascara Dorada – 3 points (3 matches remaining)
Orange Cassidy – 3 points (3 matches remaining)
Roderick Strong – 0 points (2 matches remaining)

Eddie Kingston talks about learning from his loss to Samoa Joe and that’s going to be a problem for everyone he faces after that match. An open challenge is implied for Collision.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Don Callis Family vs. Elite

For $1 million. Omega and Takeshita start things off and the fans are already singing for the former. They run the ropes until Omega grabs an armdrag into an armbar. The Bucks come in to clean house, including a triple team shot to the head to a cornered Takeshita. We take a break and come back with Nick rolling away from Hechicero to make the tag off to Omega. Hechicero goes to the eyes to cut him off but Okada and Takeshita almost get into it again.

Omega manages a suplex to Okada and (after slipping) hits You Can’t Escape to Hechicero. Okada comes back in but gets sent outside by the Bucks. That means a triple dive from the Elite, only for Hechicero to hit the hammerlock backbreaker on Matt. We take a break and come back with Matt fighting out of a chinlock and hitting a flipping Stunner off the apron. Okada gets faceplanted back inside and it’s back to Nick to clean house with his usual array.

Risky Business gets two on Takeshita and a Canadian Destroyer drops Hechicero, meaning it’s time for the big Omega vs. Okada showdown. They chop it out for a bit until the other four come back in to break it up. Omega knees Okada down and brings Nick back in to face Takeshita. Everything breaks down and the Meltzer Driver is broken up by Okada.

A running knee gets two on Matt but Takeshita and Okada get in another argument. Hechicero tries to calm it down, only for Nick to fire off some superkicks. Omega is back in with the snapdragons and a triple superkick hits Hechicero. A spike One Winged Angel gives Omega the pin at 22:32.

Rating: B. It was the good match you would have expected from these guys and I’m sure the UK fans were happy to get to see the Elite in the ring. That’s not the worst idea in the world and it’s at least a match with some history. The money stuff doesn’t feel overly important but it’s probably worth more than the Trios Titles at this point.

Post match Okada and Takeshita lay out the Bucks but get into it again. Omega makes the save with a broom.

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Tony Schiavone brings out Hangman Page, Swerve Strickland and Samoa Joe (with the Opps) to sign the contract for World’s End. Joe knows Strickland and Page will destruct in the match so he signs. Swerve talks about how he has some mutual respect with Page, but there is a mutual hatred with Joe. He promises to leave a boot print on Joe’s face that was uglier than his fake tattoo in 2007.

Swerve signs and that leaves just Page, who talks about how they all worked together to get the World Title off of Jon Moxley. Any of them could have done it but Page wound up pulling it off. Then Page gave both of them title shots and Joe chose to side with the Opps. Page doesn’t want Joe to be remembered as what he is today. He was ready to defend the title against anyone who helped him, including Joe. Now he isn’t sure who is going to leave World’s End with the title, but it’s going to be someone new. And then the lights go out…and MJF is back.

MJF wastes no time and cashes in his contract, making the match a four way. After throwing Schiavone out, MJF talks about how he’s been working to prove that he’s not a coward. Joe gets in MJF’s face but actually gets cut off. MJF wants to prove to Joe and these people that he really is great and promises to end Joe’s title reign at the same place where Joe ended MJF’s reign.

That brings MJF to Swerve, who he compares to P Diddy. The fans know him as Swerve but MJF has known him for years as Shane. He remembers Swerve going to WWE (the fans don’t like it) and he remembers Swerve twerking for Top Dolla. Then Swerve came here and has done rather well, though not as well as MJF. It’s his house and the rent is due at World’s End. He hits the catchphrase and we’re out, with MJF not saying much out of the ordinary, though it’s nice to have him back.

Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight fire each other up for their upcoming matches.

Marina Shafir/Megan Bayne/Athena/Mercedes Mone vs. Babes Of Wrath/Timeless Love Bombs

Athena drops Cameron to start but gets taken down with Soul Food. Shafir comes in and gets legsweeped down, allowing Shirakawa to come in with a slingshot twisting splash. Shirakawa takes over on Shafir’s leg and DDTs Bayne at the same time. Everything breaks down and we take an early break.

We come back with Cameron managing a spinning DDT on Bayne, allowing the tag off to Storm. The running hip attack hits Shafir in the corner and they slug it out until Storm nails a headbutt. Nightingale comes in to but Bayne’s spine for two but the Babe With The Powerbomb is broken up. A super hurricanrana drops Nightingale and Shirakawa hits a dive to the floor. Mone’s dive is cut off by a Pounce from Nightingale and there’s a flip dive to drop Bayne outside. Back in and a quick O Face finishes Nightingale at 9:25.

Rating: B-. They didn’t have a ton of time with so many people involved but they did what they could. Athena getting the pin is a nice surprise as she has some hit and miss results on AEW. I’m not sure if I would have had one of the new champions take the fall here, but there were only so many options if Storm and Shirakawa can’t lose either.

Continental Classic Gold League: Pac (3 points) vs. Kyle Fletcher (6 points)

Pac grabs an armdrag into an armbar to start and it works so well that he does it again. A running hurricanrana sends Fletcher outside, where he hits a clothesline, allowing posing to ensue. Back in and Pac breaks up a quick chinlock by sending Fletcher outside for a running hurricanrana. Fletcher gets back inside and goes up top, where Pac runs the corner for a belly to belly superplex and we take a break.

We come back with an exchange of forearms until Fletcher grabs the Michinoku Driver for two. Pac kicks him in the face so Fletcher rolls outside, where Pac scores with a big dive. Back in and a tiger suplex gives Pac two, followed by a poisonrana. Fletcher pops up with a kick to the face and a powerbomb for two. Pac escapes the brainbuster though and gets the Brutalizer, only for a foot to make the rope. One heck of a running clothesline gives Pac two but Fletcher kicks him into the corner. The brainbuster gives Fletcher two and they go to the corner, where a super poisonrana plants Fletcher. The Black Arrow gives Pac the pin at 14:57.

Rating: B+. This was the hard hitting, back and forth fight that you would have expected from these two. That made for a pretty awesome match and it’s nice to see Pac getting a win as he seems to put a lot of people over. It made for the best match of the show thus far and makes the tournament that much more interesting.

Gold League Standings

Kazuchika Okada – 6 points (2 matches remaining)
Mike Bailey – 6 points (2 matches remaining)
Pac – 6 points (2 matches remaining)
Kyle Fletcher – 6 points (1 match remaining)
Kevin Knight – 3 points (2 matches remaining)
Jack Perry – 0 points (3 matches remaining)

Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal

Luchasaurus, Ace Austin, Shelton Benjamin, Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, Josh Alexander, Mark Davis, Brody King, Bandido, Bishop Kaun, Toa Liona, Ricochet

The last two face off for the ring next week. It’s a big brawl on the floor to start until Benjamin and Luchasaurus trade clotheslines. That’s broken up and the former Acclaimed tease working together before splitting off. We do however get a Scissor Me Timbers to Liona but the scissoring reunion is broken up as Ricochet eliminates Caster. Benjamin is back in to knock all of the Demand outside for no eliminations as people keep coming in and out.

Bowens neckbreakers Ricochet but gets eliminated instead as we take a break. We come back with Austin out as well, leaving Davis and King to forearm it out. Benjamin throws Ricochet to Luchasaurus for a chokeslam but Benjamin, Davis and Luchasaurus are all eliminated in a row. King has to fight out of the corner and Death Valley Drivers Ricochet into Kaun in the corner. A bunch of the people head outside until Liona grabs Bandido by the throat. King hits a running charge, eliminating himself and Liona at the same time. Bandido dumps Kaun and Ricochet gets back in, meaning they’re the last two for the win at 11:07.

Rating: C. The action was fine but it’s a bad sign when I have almost no idea who is still in or out of the match because so many people are on the floor. It doesn’t help that it’s for yet another prize rather than one of the far too many titles. This wasn’t much to see, though Ricochet vs. Bandido should be awesome.

Overall Rating: B. Not so great main event aside, this went well with the Continental Classic carrying things as usual. The MJF return was the big story of the show and it went well, though he didn’t quite hit his full on ceiling. Other than that, the show worked well, with the wrestling working well and the fans being hot throughout. Solid show here, as tends to be the case with the Continental Classic editions.

Results
Jon Moxley b. Roderick Strong – Death Rider
Elite b. Don Callis Family – Spike One Winged Angel to Hechicero
Marina Shafir/Mercedes Mone/Athena/Megan Bayne b. Timeless Love Bombs/Babes Of Wrath – O Face to Nightingale
Bandido and Ricochet won the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal

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

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