Dynamite
Date: May 19, 2021
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

We have two shows left before Double Or Nothing and that means it is time to start hammering home the card. This time around we have a Tag Team Title match with the Varsity Blonds challenging the Young Bucks. Other than that, we are likely getting some more matches set for the pay per view. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Christian Cage vs. Matt Sydal

Taz is on commentary and it’s a feeling out process to start, with Sydal’s grab of a leg being reversed into a headlock. Sydal slips out for a standoff but gets sent outside for a crash. Back in and a backbreaker sets up a top rope elbow to the face for two on Sydal. There’s a headbutt to the back and a stomp to make it worse, as Christian is wrestling a bit more villainish here.

Another backbreaker is countered with a headscissors though and Sydal’s jumping spinning kick to the face gives him a breather. The Meteora gives Sydal two and there’s a clothesline for the same. Christian misses a charge and gets taken down with a spinwheel kick to the face, followed by a running knee in the corner. Christian’s spear is countered into a sunset flip for two and he misses a high crossbody as well. Now the spear can connect for two but Sydal pulls the knee out. A backsplash hits knees though and the Killswitch finishes Sydal at 9:15.

Rating: C+. I’m not a big Sydal fan but he was making it work here with Christian looking better than he has so far in AEW. I’m curious to see him being more aggressive, as it certainly seemed to suit him better. Christian still isn’t the star he was before, but he can still do things like this well enough.

Post match Taz yells at Christian but here is Ricky Starks to interrupt. Starks is his own man and he is right here. He isn’t going to be on the sidelines like these flunkies, so he and Christian have some business to handle. Cue Team Taz to jump Christian and Sydal for the beatdown. Hangman Page comes in to go after Cage, but Hook gets in a chop block. Cage powerbombs Page down hard.

Here’s what’s coming tonight.

The Varsity Blonds talk about Brian Pillman, who was not Brian Pillman Jr.’s inspiration to get into the business. All he knew was the dark side of the ring, but then he was inspired by the Young Bucks. Griff Garrison talks about running the Young Bucks’ merchandise table at an independent show, but the Bucks of today are not the Bucks of those days.

Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston aren’t sure about what they’re facing with the Acclaimed (Kingston: “One’s a rapper, the other is the rapper’s friend.”). They also don’t get why they’re going to a superkick party when neither of them throw superkicks. Oh well. They’ll just beat up the Acclaimed.

The Acclaimed promises to stomp Moxley and Kingston’s a**** and that is a mic drop.

Jon Moxley/Eddie Kingston vs. Acclaimed

Moxley and Kingston come out to the Major League version of Wild Thing, because AEW thinks Cleveland and Cincinnati are close enough. Caster says that Kingston looks like a pack of Newports and Moxley’s wife is trying to get him for an oral session (Caster: “What? She just wants me to be on the podcast!”). Moxley knocks Caster silly with a right hand and we start with a double shoulder to put Caster down again.

Kingston plants with an STO but gets caught with a super dragon screw legwhip as we take a break. Back with Kingston getting over for the hot tag to Moxley to clean house, but he gets caught in a suplex/high crossbody combination. Kingston makes the save and sends Bowens into the barricade but Moxley gets sent outside as well. Caster throws Bowens the chain for a distraction so he can bring in the boom box. Moxley breaks that up though and hits Caster with the boom box instead, setting up a wheelbarrow into a Paradigm Shift for the pin at 10:25.

Rating: C. This was a way to get Moxley and Kingston a win over a name team before they get their title shot. There is nothing wrong with building a team up, even if the Acclaimed is better known for their talking. Moxley and Kingston are turning into a pretty good team in the ring and their showdown with the Bucks very well could steal Double Or Nothing.

Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko reminisce about the number of holds they know.

Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page are in the ring to talk about Sting. Sky always wanted to be like Sting, but then he grew up and is now a grown man. Sting isn’t the man he used to be and now Sky is his own man. Page talks about Darby Allin loses and promises to be the nail in his coffin. Cue Sting and Allin to clean house, including Allin with some skateboard shots. The Scorpion Deathlock goes on but Page gets away, only to have the Dark Order cut off….well some of their exits at least.

The Pinnacle is at a nice dinner with MJF talking about how unfunny Chris Jericho is. Dax Wilder goes on a rant about how they have to deal with Jericho even after thirty years. Last year’s Stadium Stampede was a dog and pony show but this year it’s going to be serious. Shawn Spears attacks a waiter for making a mistake and smashes a bottle, so Tully Blanchard throws him some money. MJF says if the Inner Circle agrees to Stadium Stampede, it will be their last match, because when you’re in the Pinnacle, you’re always on top.

Hikaru Shida vs. Rebel

Non-title and Britt Baker is here as well. Rebel fakes an early injury but then snaps off some jumping jacks. Shida doesn’t take kindly to her dancing and puts on her own glove before trying the Lockjaw. Baker grabs the Women’s Title, allowing Rebel to hit Shida in the back with a crutch. A toss suplex gets two on Shida but she is right back with a knee breaker. The Stretch Muffler makes Rebel tap at 2:01.

Post match Baker comes in and drops Shida onto the belt.

Last week, Kenny Omega and Don Callis came in to see Orange Cassidy in the trainer’s room after he got dropped on his head. They need Cassidy to be the AEW mascot instead of challenging him for the title, so they have a contract for him to sign, saying that he can have his match later when he is a little healthier. Cassidy doesn’t even look at it and rips it up (rather slowly). Omega talks about how bad it could be if Cassidy takes the One Winged Angel and they offer him another copy of the same deal, which he can think about.

Here is the Inner Circle to respond to the Pinnacle. work with just about anyone.

Pac is glad to have his title shot because there is nothing Don Callis or Kenny Omega can do about it. Who is betting against him now?

Anthony Ogogo vs. Austin Gunn

A bunch of people, including an American flag clad Cody Rhodes, is here. Gunn dropkicks him down at the bell and Ogogo is starting to protect his bad eye. A gut shot puts Austin down and he is in big trouble. Back up and Ogogo does it again, meaning Gunn has to stop the referee from calling for the bell. Gunn is bleeding from the mouth and a pop up right hand knocks him silly for the knockout at 2:15. More baby steps for Ogogo and that’s a wise way to go.

Post match Ogogo grabs Cody’s American flag and throws it away, which is too far for Cody.

Christopher Daniels won’t say anything about SCU splitting up last week. Daniels whispers something to Kazarian and walks away. Kazarian says he can’t explain what Daniels means to him, but Kazarian knows what is next. Last week, he lost something very important to him and he blames the Elite for what happened. He is hunting them down and he is a bomb you cannot defuse and a gun you cannot unload. Kazarian as a singles star is an intriguing way to go.

Here is Miro for a chat. He thanks Jesus Christ for giving him the talent to hurt people, like he did to Darby Allin last week. Miro took what Allin said could not be taken and now everyone knows that it doesn’t matter who you are. If you have what he wants, it’s done. The fans want Allin, so Miro holds up the title and says here he is. Next week, he’ll be defending the title against someone and will destroy him on his way to Double Or Nothing.

Cue Lance Archer, who says he has been the beast of AEW since Miro was trying to get a day to himself. Last year he lost in the first ever TNT Title match, so nothing is stopping him from winning at Double Or Nothing. Miro is going to be his Bulgarian b****, which Miro says he has never heard before. As Archer has said, everyone dies, but Miro is going to make sure Archer dies first. Miro was showing the fire here like he has yet to do in AEW.

Here’s what’s coming next week, with Dante Martin getting the TNT Title shot. We are also getting a celebration of the Inner Circle’s greatest moments, plus Jade Cargill’s open challenge (Since EVERY SHOW NEEDS AN OPEN CHALLENGE THESE DAYS!).

At Double Or Nothing: Sting/Darby Allin vs. Ethan Page/Scorpio Sky.

Tag Team Titles: Young Bucks vs. Varsity Blonds

The Bucks are defending, Julia Hart is here with the Blonds and Don Callis is on commentary. Garrison and Nick run the ropes until a boot to the face drops Nick in a hurry. Matt comes in and gets one of his own, allowing Pillman to come in for some stereo dropkicks to the champs. We settle back down to Pillman armdragging Nick and working on the arm but Nick gets over for the hot tag to Matt.

That means Pillman gets sent outside for a crash onto the ramp, leaving Nick to walk the ropes and jump down onto him. A neck snap across the top rope has Pillman down again and we take a break. Back with Pillman hitting a crossbody and getting over for the hot tag to Garrison. House is cleaned in a hurry and Garrison hits a slingshot crossbody onto both champs. It’s back to Pillman, who gets suplexed down so Nick can dive onto Garrison.

Some kicks to the back keep Pillman in trouble but he sends Nick’s kick into Matt and hits a superkick of his own. Matt is right back with the Sharpshooter and Nick adds the cold spray to the eyes. Garrison makes the save but Nick hits a couple of superkicks. Matt gets another can of spray but Hart calls him out for it. That’s fine with Matt, who has a third can to spray her as well. The Sharpshooter goes on and Nick adds the slingshot X Factor to knock Pillman silly. Pillman taps at 11:55.

Rating: B-. I like the Blonds more each time I see them but there was never a bit of drama here. As usual, this was the Young Bucks Show as they are smarter than anyone they face, which goes along with being more athletic because we need to be reminded of how great they are every chance we have.

Post match here are Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston to choke out the Bucks and steal their expensive shoes. And the socks too!

We run down the Double Or Nothing card, with Tony making it clear that Sting/Allin vs. Page/Sky will NOT be a cinematic match. Also, Moxley/Kingston are now the #1 contenders and get their title shot.

Overall Rating: B. This was a promo heavy show and that’s what mattered most here. Since this is the last regularly scheduled Dynamite before the pay per view, they had to rush the build this week and get things ready for Double Or Nothing. That worked out rather well as I’m a good bit more interested in seeing the show than I was coming in. The wrestling here was good to quite good, but this was all about the talking and they were feeling it this week.

Results

Christian Cage b. Matt Sydal – Killswitch

Jon Moxley/Eddie Kingston b. The Acclaimed – Wheelbarrow Paradigm Shift to Caster

Hikaru Shida b. Rebel – Stretch Muffler

Serena Deeb b. Red Velvet – Serenity Lock

Anthony Ogogo b. Austin Gunn via referee stoppage

Young Bucks b. Varsity Blonds – Sharpshooter to Pillman

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

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

AND

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

Dynamite
Date: March 10, 2021
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

We’re done with Revolution and now the question becomes how they handle the bad ending. The logical solution would be to laugh it off and move on but I have a bad feeling they are going to try to turn it into a storyline. What they tried didn’t work and it seems like it would be a better idea to just accept it and move on, but that doesn’t seem like the AEW way. Let’s get to it.

Here is Revolution if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Matt Jackson vs. Rey Fenix

Nick Jackson is here with Matt. They trade the arm work to start as the fans are split early on. Matt takes him down but gets flipped away into a standoff. Fenix gets in a toss to the floor for the dive, followed by a springboard armdrag to take Matt down again. That means the big running flip dive to the floor and then it’s a chinlock with a bodyscissors to Matt back inside. That’s broken up and Matt throws him outside in a crash for a change.

Back in and the reverse chinlock with a knee in Fenix’s back doesn’t last long as he is back up with the chops. A faceplant gives Matt two and he rolls over into the Sharpshooter. That sends Fenix over to the rope for the break and he hits the steps up kick to the head in the corner. There’s the missile dropkick to take Matt down again and a rolling cutter makes it even worse.

Fenix grabs his modified spinning torture rack ‘before dropping Matt down. Back up and Matt hits a running kick to send Fenix outside, where Pac appears to give him some encouragement. Matt’s top rope elbow gets two and the Sharpshooter goes on for a bit longer this time.

Fenix grabs the rope again though and misses a running kick, knocking Nick down instead. Matt goes outside to superkick Pac away from Nick, flips out of a belly to back suplex, and hits two superkicks. That earns Matt a kick from Fenix and they’re both down again. They pull each other up and Fenix wins the slugout to set up the Black Fire Driver for the pin at 12:04.

Rating: B-. It’s always weird watching the Bucks having a singles match but it worked out rather well here. You can probably pencil in Nick vs. Pac for later as they continue building towards the Tag Team Title match, which should be a heck of a showdown. Good stuff here, with the flips looking pretty nice.

Here’s what’s coming later tonight.

Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley are having some drinks with some fire in front of them. Eddie talks about covering his friend when he had this much anxiety and it reminded him of being in jail. Everything went black then and it happened again on Sunday. They talk about how much of a mess the bomb was and think it was from ACME. Impact Wrestling must have paid for the thing. Moxley had an exploding ring match and all he got was this shirt. Yeah it’s a cool shirt but he also got a drinking buddy back. Moxley says if Omega is going to flash a weapon, he better use it. Now please let that be the end of the explanations.

Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Gargis

Before the match, Cody gives his weight belt to a fan in a wheelchair (that’s great). Cody shrugs off Gargis and finishes with the Figure Four in 48 seconds.

Post match Tony Schiavone gets in the ring to interview Cody but Penta El Zero M interrupts, saying (through a translator) that he’s a thousand times better than Cody. If Cody is the Price of Pro Wrestling, then Penta is the Lord of Lucha Libre. Penta says Cody Cody should be lucky that his arm isn’t hurt so badly he can’t pick up his newborn girl. That’s enough to get Cody out into the crowd for the brawl but it’s broken up in a hurry.

Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy are at an arcade and say that they have been at this with Miro and Kip Sabian far too long (yep). But they want one more match to end it all. If they lose, Taylor will be Miro’s butler forever. We’ll make it interesting though, and put a bunch of video games around ringside.

Here’s Sting to praise Darby Allin for their win on Sunday, but Lance Archer and Jake Roberts interrupt. Archer talks about how he was going to be the face of the revolution without getting in a ladder match. If AEW doesn’t give him the time, he’ll take something much worse. The two of them leave and Sting is done in a hurry.

QT Marshall got a little too emotional on Sunday but tonight is about Lee Johnson. Their mics are cut off before the end of their promo (there have been some audio issues throughout the show).

Ethan Page vs. Lee Johnson

Page gets an inset promo and (rather quietly) talks about wanting the spotlight. Feeling out process to start with Page taking him down with ease as some other audio (sounds like a basketball game) keeps coming through and drowning out commentary. Page drops him again and we take a break.

Back with Page working on the ribs as the basketball audio is leaking through even worse than before. Johnson hits a Blue Thunder Bomb for two but gets taken down off the top as we hear Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. Johnson comes up favoring his knee so Page kicks him in the face. That’s enough to send Johnson to the floor so Page throws him back inside for the Ego’s Edge (toss Razor’s Edge) for the pin at 7:48.

Rating: C. The bad week for AEW production continues, even though this is a TNT problem. Page’s win was completely overshadowed here and that’s a shame because he looked fine enough. Page isn’t going to be a top star but he’s a good hand, which is always going to have a place in wrestling.

Post match the beating stays on with QT Marshall not helping Johnson. Dustin Rhodes comes in for the save and the audio is fixed.

Hangman Page has bought a new saddle, Dwight Yoakam on vinyl, donated a bunch of money to the Jacksonville Public Education fund, and bought a big lawnmower. The Dark Order gets on to get ice cream, but 10 has to wait because of the weight limit.

Tony Schiavone is ready to introduce Christian Cage but gets interrupted by Kenny Omega, Don Callis and the Good Brothers. Things have been going great for Omega, who is now the King of the Deathmatch. There was that little thing on Sunday but they will neither confirm nor deny any influence on the explosion. What Callis and company will take credit for is taking away Jon Moxley’s win from Tony Khan.

Either way, it was a win win situation, because either the ring blew up and they left with the title or they left with the title anyway. Cue Eddie Kingston, with Callis saying he has seen Kingston’s talent for a long time now. That’s why he had Kingston in Impact Wrestling, but as usual he screwed it up again. Callis gives him ten seconds to get out of the ring so we get a countdown, with Callis and Omega freaking out about the clock. Omega: “I HAD FLASHBACKS TO THE TIME I HAD DETENTION IN GRADE SCHOOL!”

Omega tells Kingston to take his shot and see what happens, so Eddie decks him with a right hand. The beatdown is on so it’s Jon Moxley and then Christian Cage for the save, though Christian comes out after Omega is left alone in the ring. They go toe to toe and Omega swings, meaning Callis has to save him from the Unprettier. Christian picks up the World Title and Omega panics while leaving. I’m not sure how good of an idea it is to charge fans $50 to see something, have it screw up, and then laugh at people for thinking they would see it. AEW doesn’t have that reputation and it isn’t one they want to develop.

Britt Baker/Hikaru Shida/Nyla Rose vs. Maki Itoh/Thunder Rosa/Ryo Mizunami

Itoh does her song, even as everyone gets in a fight before the bell. She sings anyway and then hits Shida in the head with the microphone to get going. They get inside with Itoh missing a headbutt so Shida can hammer away, meaning it’s off to Ryo for more chopping. Rosa comes in to hammer on Rose but a Rebel distraction lets Rose take over.

We come back from a break with Shida suplexing Ryo into Baker in the corner for two. With everyone else on the floor, Rosa hits a big dive off the top for the huge knockdown. Back in and Itoh’s tornado DDT gets two on Rosa but Rebel’s crutch shot is broken up. Instead Rosa spikes Itoh on her head for the pin at 7:55.

Rating: C. This was a wild match though it was more silly than anything else at times. That isn’t the worst idea and the fans do seem to like Itoh’s deal so fair enough. I’m not sure where the division is going from here but at least they are bringing in someone who is going to get your attention one way or another.

Post match Rosa gets beaten down, including the Lockjaw and a crutch to the head.

Matt Hardy is upset over losing his first quarter money but he has some new signings: Butcher, Blade and Bunny. They’ll be teaming with Private Party this Monday on Dark: Elevation.

TNT Title: Darby Allin vs. Scorpio Sky

Sky is challenging after winning the ladder match at Revolution. They fight over a wristlock to start until Allin takes him down for some rollups. Sky has to bail into the corner and looks a little surprised by what just happened. Both of them try waistlocks to little avail and we take a break.

Back with Allin fighting out of an abdominal stretch and grabbing a Code Red for two. Sky rolls some German suplexes, including one to send Allin hard into the corner. Sky is sent outside so Allin tries a suicide dive, only to have Sky counter it into a cutter. Back in and the Coffin Drop is countered into a powerbomb but the TKO is countered into a small package to retain Allin’s title at 13:16.

Rating: B. This was a heck of a match and that should not be surprising in the slightest. Both of them are great at what they do and while I’m not wild on Sky losing his title shot so quickly but there is no reason to take the title off of Allin at this point either. Good match here, and that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Post match Allin goes to help Sky up but gets pulled into a heel hook. Referees break it up but Sky is very pleased.

Here’s what’s coming next week on St. Patrick’s Slam.

Here’s the Inner Circle for their War Council. Chris Jericho talks about how many problems the team has been having lately and it is time to start changing things a little bit. Maybe that even means adding a new member. MJF doesn’t think that’s the best idea but here is Sammy Guevara to interrupt. Sammy needs Jericho to see something and we see him set up a hidden camera, which films MJF talking to the rest of the team about getting rid of Jericho. Back in the arena, MJF says get him. Santana, Ortiz and Jake Hager turn to face Jericho….and then they all turn at MJF.

Jericho says they all knew this was coming because they talk to each other every day. MJF is shoved down and Jericho fires him before threatening a beatdown. He swears he wasn’t taking over Jericho’s Inner Circle….because he was too busy building his own. The lights go out and it’s Wardlow….with FTR, Shawn Spears and Tully Blanchard.

The beatdown is on, including spike piledrivers and handcuffs. MJF busts Jericho open with the Dynamite Diamond and some shots with Floyd the baseball bat leave him laying. Wardlow powerbombs Jericho off the stage and onto a crash pad to end the show. I like the end results, but another stable? They really needed one more?

Overall Rating: B. The wrestling mainly carries this one but the more important part is how many new things got started tonight. In addition to the big ending segment, you also have Cage vs. Omega, Sting vs. Archer/Roberts and Cody vs. Penta. I could go for a lot of that, but more importantly, I hope I can go for the end of the explanations of the ending of Revolution. Either way, good stuff here and I like their momentum coming out of Revolution.

Results
Rey Fenix b. Matt Jackson – Black Fire Driver
Cody Rhodes b. Seth Gargis – Figure Four
Ethan Page b. Lee Johnson – Ego’s Edge
Thunder Rosa/Hikaru Shida/Ryo Mizunami b. Britt Baker/Maki Itoh/Nyla Rose – Reverse Air Raid Crash to Itoh
Darby Allin b. Scorpio Sky – Small package

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

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

AND

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

Revolution 2021
Date: March 7, 2021
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Jim Ross

There is something rather pleasing about having another AEW pay per view. The company has such a great track record with these things and it should be awesome to see what they can do again. The main event is an exploding barbed wire deathmatch because….I have no idea why but it is certainly going to get them some attention. Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: Britt Baker/Rebel vs. Riho/Thunder Rosa

Hold on though as Rebel has been attacked (she’s on crutches so it must be true) so we have a replacement.

Pre-Show: Britt Baker/Maki Itoh vs. Riho/Thunder Rosa

Itoh sings her own entrance song rather loudly. Riho takes Baker down by the arm to start so it’s quickly off to the rope. Some dropkicks rock Baker and there’s a headscissors to put Baker down again. Rosa comes in to armbar Itoh down and it’s switched into a crossface. With that broken up, Rosa wins an exchange of forearms and Itoh starts to cry. A stomp to Rosa’s boot just makes her shoulder Itoh down and she drops Itoh face first onto the turnbuckle.

Riho comes in and gets dropped down onto Itoh for two of her own. Back up and they slug it out until Baker pulls Riho to the floor, where Rebel is suddenly fine enough to send her into the steps. Itoh misses a falling headbutt back inside so it’s back to Baker to stomp away. A missed charge allows the tag off to Rosa so house can be cleaned. The running backsplash gets two on Baker but a Sling Blade drops Rosa.

Now Itoh’s falling headbutt gets two but Rosa is right back with a Stunner. Itoh hits a tornado DDT for two so she goes up top, only to miss the falling headbutt. Riho comes back in and charges into a half crab from Itoh, meaning a rope has to be grabbed. Another headbutt is blocked with a shot to the head and it’s quickly back to Rosa vs. Baker for the exchange of rollups. Baker runs into Rebel by mistake and walks into the Death Valley Driver with Itoh making the save. Rebel gets in a crutch shot to Rosa to give Baker the pin at 14:52.

Rating: C+. It was certainly energetic and fast paced and it was quite nice to see Baker get the win. The Rebel swap was fine as Itoh certainly has a lot of charisma, though I’m not sure how long she is going to be around here. If it is a one off appearance then great, but I’d hope it isn’t someone else in the way of Baker getting her overdue Women’s Title.

The opening video looks at the big matches.

Tag Team Titles: Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho/MJF

The Bucks are defending and jump Jericho and MJF to start and hammer them out to the floor. Jericho and MJF send them together but stop to brag a bit, allowing the Bucks to take them down with stereo dives. The Bucks grab stereo Sharpshooters until the ropes are grabbed so Nick heads up top. This time Jericho is ready for it and hits the triangle dropkick to send him outside to take over.

Back in and a flapjack lets Jericho and MJF mock the Bucks’ pose. Nick flips over and slides between the legs to make the hot tag to Matt. The house cleaning doesn’t even get past the first room as MJF takes him down and gets in a Fargo Strut. Jericho hits a suplex as JR’s voice sounds like it is about to go out. A double suplex gets two on Matt and we hit the chinlock. Matt fights up but gets sent back into the corner, where he comes out with a double DDT.

It’s back to Nick to pick the pace way up, including the slingshot Canadian Destroyer for two on MJF. Everything breaks down with Matt hammering away at Jericho, who reverses into the Walls. That’s broken up so the Meltzer Driver is loaded up, only to have Jericho reverse into a Tombstone. Now the Walls can go on in full until Jericho stops to drag it back to the middle, allowing Matt to slip out. A missed charge in the corner crotches Jericho so MJF comes back in to counter a hurricanrana into a sitout powerbomb for two.

MJF gets rather cocky so Matt scoops him up for the Meltzer Driver, only to have Jericho hit the Codebreaker on Nick for the save. A Floyd the baseball bat sets up the Heatseeker for two on Matt and MJF is stunned. It’s back to Nick so the Bucks can hit stereo high crossbodies for two each. Jericho’s Judas Effect hits Wardlow by mistake but the Lionsault is superkicked out of the air. The BTE Trigger gets two as MJF makes the save, earning himself a trip to the floor. The Meltzer Driver finishes Jericho at 17:50.

Rating: B-. They did a nice job of making me buy into the drama off the Heatseeker so they had to be doing something right. There wasn’t much of a reason to believe new champions were coming here but they did a nice enough job of changing my mind throughout. Good opener, though it went on a little longer than it should have.

Post match we run down the card, with JR apologizing for how bad his voice sounds (fair enough as he sounds horrible).

Casino Battle Royale

It’s a tag team Royal Rumble with 15 teams announced coming in. There are ninety second intervals and both members have to be eliminated, with the winners becoming #1 contenders. At least they have the casino game to validate the gambling theme this time. The Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes/QT Marshall) are in at #1 and the Dark Order (5/10) are in at #2 and the brawling is on in a hurry. Dustin snaps off the powerslam on 5 but Marshall is caught in a fall away slam/running dropkick combination. A double bulldog takes the Order down and it’s Santana/Ortiz in at #3.

House is cleaned but the Order knocks them both down. Marshall tosses 5 for the first elimination and has to hang on when 10 tries to toss him out as well. The Sydal Brothers are in at #4 and we get everyone brawling again with no one being tossed. The ring is getting a little full and the Dark Order (Evil Uno/Stu Grayson) are in at #5 to make it even more crowded. Everyone in the Dark Order teams up on Santana for a toss powerbomb and 10 adds a spinebuster. Mike Sydal was tossed in there somewhere so things are a little less full. The Gunn Club (Austin/Colton) are in at #6 and get to clean house for a bit.

The Quick Draw takes Santana down and Matt Sydal is out for the first full team elimination. Peter Avalon/Cezar Bononi are in at #7 and get in their own share of house cleaning. With no more eliminations, the Varsity Blonds (Brian Pillman Jr./Griff Garrison) are in at #8. The Gunn Club starts taking over with Peter Avalon being tossed. Bononi is in trouble but Marshall dumps both of them (despite them being part of the Nightmare Family). Dustin yells at him but Marshall eliminates himself and walks out as Bear Country (Bronson/Boulder, who I’ve never actually seen in the ring before) are in at #9.

A big boot to Grayson is enough for the Bears to toss him and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus) is in at #10. Jungle Boy clotheslines Ortiz out and Luchasaurus does the same to Bononi to get rid of another team. There go Garrison, Santana and Evil Uno all at the Express’ hands and Butcher and the Blade are in at #11. The rest of the Dark Order is out thanks to interference from Jack Evans, leaving us with Dustin, Bear Country, the Jurassic Express and Butcher and Blade. Bunny gets involved and pulls Dustin out to get us down to six at the moment.

Private Party (Marq Quen/Isaiah Kassidy) are in at #12 to make it eight people at once and more brawling ensues. Stunt saves Pillman from being tossed it’s SCU (Christopher Daniels/Kazarian) in at #13. Luchasaurus breaks up their house cleaning but Bear Country tosses him out. Butcher dumps both Bears thanks to a Bunny distraction, only to have the two of them pull Butcher underneath the ropes to beat the heck out of him.

Rey Fenix and Pac are in at #14 to wreck a bunch of people and toss Quen and Blade. The brawling continues until the Dark Order (John Silver/Alex Reynolds are in at #15 to complete the field. Some rapid fire eliminations leave us with Fenix, Pac, Silver and Boy, leaving us with three teams over four entrants. Silver is almost tossed but manages to hang on with one hand and Fenix has to do the same. Pac and Silver slug it out with Silver kicking him up against the ropes but missing a charge into the snap German suplex.

Pac tosses Silver to the apron and Fenix walks the rope to kick him in the head for the elimination. Boy can barely get up but he manages to duck Pac’s kick to the head and low bridge him to the floor. That leaves Fenix vs. Boy in the staredown with Boy being knocked through the ropes to the floor in a hurry. Fenix hits a heck of a flip dive but Boy is right back with a clothesline back inside. There’s the poisonrana but Fenix kicks him in the head and tosses him out for the win at 26:47.

Rating: C+. I’m never sure how to rate these but they kept things moving quickly enough to keep it from being boring. That’s the key to something like this as while the ring got too full more than once, it was cleared out in a hurry near the end, which is what matters most. Fenix and Pac winning is the right call and it’s rather impressive that they are such a good team despite being thrown together. Good enough stuff here and the right team won.

Paul Wight says the big signing is here and gives us a hint: no one can out work him.

Diamond Dallas Page and Al Snow are here.

We recap Ryo Mizunami vs. Hikaru Shida for the Women’s Title. Mizunami was ready to retire until she showed up at Double Or Nothing and it revitalized her career. She won the #1 contenders tournament and is ready to go for the title.

Women’s Title: Hikaru Shida vs. Ryo Mizunami

Shida is defending and gets knocked into the corner early on. The chops have Shida in trouble but she sends Ryo face first into the buckle and hits her own chops. Ryo chops away even more until Shida sends her into the corner for a running knee. Another running knee gets two but Ryo counters the running knee off the chair into a powerbomb over the barricade.

Back in and Ryo hammers away until Shida gets in a kick to the face out of the corner. The missile dropkick gets two on Ryo so Shida takes her to the ramp for a sunset driver. Shida smiles a lot and takes her back inside for two off a suplex. They strike it out until Ryo nails a few clotheslines to take over. Shida hits some running knees to the face but can’t cover. They grab hands and get up for another slugout until Ryo hits a Rock Bottom.

The guillotine legdrop gets two so Shida snaps off a straitjacket suplex, with Ryo popping back up for a screaming clothesline. Another running knee sets up the Falcon Arrow for two on Ryo and a poke to the eye sets up a small package for the same. The running knee connects but Ryo reverses into a rollup for two more. Shida hits an enziguri for two more and she tries another Falcon Arrow…which looked to be countered into a DDT but seemed to be swung into a Rock Bottom to plant Rio instead. Another running knee gets two on Ryo, followed by another knee to retain the title at 15:46.

Rating: C-. I’m so sick of Shida with her 917 running knees offense mixed in with some Falcon Arrows to spice it up a bit. She has been champion for almost ten months now and it feels like she has had the same match throughout her reign. I didn’t get into this for the most part as a good bit of the work was sloppy and the abundance of knees had me begging for the thing to be over. Shida needs to drop the title almost immediately and the sooner it is to Baker, the better.

Post match Nyla Rose, Britt Baker and Rebel run in to jump Shida and Ryo but Thunder Rosa makes the save, likely setting up a six woman on Dynamite.

Miro and Kip Sabian jump Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy in the back but demand the music be played anyway. Taylor is busted open thanks to going into some glass and is dragged to the ring as Miro calls him Charles over and over. Miro offers him the chance to let it stop but Taylor says ring the bell.

Miro/Kip Sabian vs. Chuck Taylor/Orange Cassidy

There is no Cassidy and Taylor is clotheslined down in a hurry. Miro rubs Taylor’s blood on his chest and Sabian is in with a missile dropkick. Chuck is sent into the corner for a boot to the face and another dropkick from Sabian makes it worse. Taylor gets in a shot to the face as Cassidy staggers to the ring. Well part of the way as he falls down on the stage on the way there.

Cassidy pops up to Orange Punch Miro and Taylor knocks Sabian down, allowing Cassidy to get the hot tag. Everything breaks down with Cassidy hitting a dive onto Sabian but getting caught in a fireman’s carry gutbuster. The Deathly Hallows is broken up and Taylor tags himself in for a Beach Break/double stomp combination. A piledriver gets two on Sabian with Miro having to make a save.

Cassidy puts his hands in his pockets for the slow motion kicks to Miro (of course), who kicks him down (as you should). Cassidy is back with the Stundog Millionaire but is driven into Penelope Ford to knock her to the floor. Miro kicks Cassidy in the head and throws Sabian back inside so Miro can make the tag. The jumping kick to the face sets up Game Over to finish Taylor at 7:54.

Rating: D+. Now can we please move them both on to ANYTHING else? Miro getting the win makes sense, but I hope this isn’t setting up some Miro vs. Cassidy showdown. The match needed to be this short after everything else has felt long and thankfully they didn’t do anything stupid here like giving Cassidy a fluke pin. They need to move on though if they want to make Miro into something important as it isn’t happening against Taylor and Cassidy.

MJF and Chris Jericho aren’t happy with their loss so on Wednesday it is the Inner Circle War Council, when changes are coming. MJF seems to suggest that Jericho may be in trouble.

We recap Matt Hardy vs. Hangman Page. Hardy wants to be Page’s manager/agent but Page tricked him into signing a contract where the winner gets the loser’s income for the first three months of the year. I’ve heard far worse ideas.

Matt Hardy vs. Hangman Page

Private Party is here with Hardy. Page ducks a right hand and hammers away in the corner as commentary talks about how Hardy has been wrestling almost as long as Page has been alive. There’s a fall away slam to Matt and they head outside with Page hitting an ax handle off part of the stage. Back in and Matt bails straight to the floor again, where he sends Page’s arm into the post.

The hand is wrapped around the post and sent into the steps with commentary wisely pointing out that it’s the Buckshot Lariat arm. Back in and Hardy bites the finger before bending the fingers back again. Page fights up and uses the right hand without thinking, which makes it even worse. The springboard clothesline puts Hardy down but the bad arm keeps Page down too. Hardy grabs a Twist of Fate on the floor and Page has to beat the count at nine.

Back in and Hardy German suplexes him off the top for two but Page is back up with a shot to the face. A clothesline puts them both on the floor as the fans are VERY into Hardy. Page is up first with a moonsault to take Hardy down again, followed by a sliding clothesline back inside. Deadeye is broken up and Hardy takes him down with a neckbreaker. Hardy catches him on top with a Razor’s Edge powerbomb for two more but the Twist of Fate is countered into the Deadeye.

That draws up Private Party for the distraction with Page having to get rid of both of them. The Buckshot Lariat is countered into the Side Effect (that looked good) and the Twist of Fate gets two (with commentary spoiling the kickout by shouting about how Matt is going to do it). Cue the Dark Order (all six members of them, which is not evening the odds as Excalibur calls it) to take care of Private Party, allowing Page to hit the Buckshot Lariat for the pin at 14:57.

Rating: C+. This was a better match than I would have bet on, though the fans at ringside screaming for Hardy every two seconds were rather pesky. They went with the only result they could have chosen so at least nothing went too far here. Page with the Dark Order intrigues me, but I’d rather they keep it this way instead of him joining in full.

Post match Dark Order and Page celebrate with some beer.

Video on the Face Of The Revolution ladder match for a TNT Title shot on Wednesday and with a mystery entrant.

Max Castor vs. Lance Archer vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Penta El Cero Miedo vs. Scorpio Sky vs. ???

Ladder match and the mystery entrant is…Ethan Page. Eh works for me. It’s a brawl to start with various people being knocked outside. Archer grabs a ladder to hit Cody in the bad shoulder and hit Sky and Castor in the head. Penta kicks Archer down and hits the Sling Blade but gets caught with by Sky’s German suplex. Castor comes in to clear the ring but here is Jack Evans with the boom box, only to have Dark Order’s 10 run out to take care of him (because a six man ladder match needs another story going on).

The ladder is set up and Page kicks Cody down to get rid of him. Castor starts hitting everyone with the boom box, including a few shots to Cody’s bad shoulder. Penta uses the ladder for a ramp to flip dive onto Cody and Castor. Archer dropkicks Penta to the floor but Page is back in to tie Archer up in the ladder. Page can’t hit a tilt-a-whirl side slam on Sky so he settles for Splash Mountain to drop Sky onto the ladder onto Archer.

Said ladder is bridged between the ring and the barricade so let’s bring in another one. Cody has to springboard in with a dropkick to knock Penta off the ladder but Penta is right back up with the Canadian Destroyer to drive Cody into the bridged ladder. That’s enough for Cody to be taken to the back (or at least to the entrance of the tunnel) as Sky pulls Castor off the ladder. Castor and Sky are up at the same time but Archer and Page join them. Everyone gets knocked off with Penta being up first for some kicking.

Sky pulls Penta down for the big crash, leaving Page and Castor to slug it out on the ladders again. Castor hits a huge sunset bomb to bring him down but Sky puts Castor onto the ladder in a crash. The frog splash crushes Castor onto the ladder and everyone is down again. Archer catapults Sky onto the ladder but then has to pull him back down. A jumping knee knocks Sky off the apron and through another ladder at ringside to put him way down.

Penta is back up to clean house but here’s Cody to whip a bunch of people with the belt. Archer suplexes Cody onto the bad arm and Castor adds an elbow drop off of the ladder to keep Cody down. Archer shoves the ladder over to take out Penta and Castor, followed by a string of chokeslams. The Black Out onto the ladder knocks Castor silly but Page powerbombs Archer off of the ladder.

That brings Jake Roberts in for a clothesline to Page but Penta kicks Roberts down. Cody is back up with the Cody….uh, slap to the face this time, to bring Penta off the ladder. Penta is right back up to take Cody off of the ladder but Sky cleans house with a chair. Cody and Sky slug it out on top of the ladder, with Sky being smart enough to pull on the bad arm. Cody gets knocked down and Sky wins at 23:16.

Rating: B. This was the spot fest that it needed to be and I’m rather pleased with Sky winning. Not just because I picked him to win, but also because he is the kind of smooth wrestler who can have a good match against anyone. Now they need to actually do something with him, because it feels like the kind of spot we have been in with him more than once before.

It’s time for the big signing and….yeah it’s Christian Cage. Cool moment as he was just in the Rumble, but dang I wanted to see Edge and Christian vs. the Usos. Christian signs without saying or doing anything else.

We recap Sting/Darby Allin vs. Team Taz. Allin has been getting on Team Taz’s nerves so they beat him up multiple times. Then Sting showed up to even the odds, meaning it’s cinematic match time.

Team Taz vs. Darby Allin/Sting

We go cinematic in a warehouse, with Allin hitching a ride on the back of a truck ala Back to the Future. Sting and Allin have an army of people in face paint to accompany them and we’re actually in a ring. Allin gets thrown over the top so he bounces off of a wall and back into the ring (Tony: “LIKE SPIDER!”) to drop Cage. They’re out of the ring in a hurry with Cage powerbombing one of the masked men against the apron. Cage drags Allin away from the ring as Sting hits the Stinger Splash on Starks.

A big camera zoom takes us across the building to Allin slipping out of a powerbomb attempt. Cage throws him through some doors as another Stinger Splash hits Starks. They leave the ring too with Sting grabbing the bat to chase Starks away. Starks says Sting is nothing without the bat so Sting throws it down and beats on Starks without it. We go back to Cage picking up Allin for a suplex and walking him up a flight of stairs (because he can just do that).

Back to Starks beating up Sting and throwing a barrel at his knees. Cage hits Starks in the head by mistake though and Allin is back with a bottle to Cage’s head. A double chokeslam puts Cage through a table and there’s a Coffin Drop off of a post to take Allin down. Cue Powerhouse Hobbs and Hook to beat Allin down and a big toss sends him through a window. Sting gets kicked in the ribs as JR says so much for this being a tag match.

With Sting in trouble, Allin pops up and throw him a bat (across the building and down a floor), which Sting breaks over Cage’s back. Allin then dives off of a balcony through Cage through part of the floor, leaving Starks and Sting to go back to the ring. The Stinger Splash hits exposed buckle and Starks spears him for two. Back up and Starks misses an elbow, setting up the Scorpion Death Drop to finish Starks at 13:49.

Rating: B. Your taste is going to entirely depend on what you think of cinematic matches so this could be quite the range of ratings. I’m not wild on the idea, but I would absolutely prefer this to a regular match for Sting. Starks taking the fall is frustrating but this is kind of a special circumstance. I know Sting isn’t going to be a regular wrestler and while he didn’t look bad here, he doesn’t need to be doing this very often.

Double Or Nothing is in May.

We run down the Dynamite card.

We recap Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega in an exploding barbed wire deathmatch. Moxley won’t leave Omega alone so he is picking this as a way to get rid of Moxley for good. Atsushi Onita talks about how dangerous the match is and violence is promised.

AEW World Title: Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega

Omega is defending and there is barbed wire everywhere. If you touch the barbed wire ropes something explodes, and if we go thirty minutes EVERYTHING EXPLODES. Don Callis in on commentary and the referee is in something resembling a hazmat suit. Moxley takes a shot of whiskey during the Big Match Intros and we’re ready to go. They take their time going to the lockup and Moxley blocks a drive into a barbed wire board in the corner. They chop it out until Omega grabs a headlock and Moxley can’t even suplex his way out of it.

Neither is able to send the other into the barbed wire board so Moxley sends him outside through the one section with no barbed wire. A Russian legsweep with a barbed wire baseball bat takes Omega down and there’s a kendo stick shot to the back. Back in and Omega throws powder into the eyes, meaning Moxley needs to blindly swing the barbed wire bat. Moxley is sent into the barbed wire for the first explosion for two.

Some kendo stick shots have Moxley in trouble and the Kitaro Crusher through a trashcan gets two. Back up and the rather bloody Moxley is sent into the barbed wire board in the corner, setting up Omega’s middle rope moonsault for two. Schiavone: “We have exactly twenty minutes before this ring explodes.” Moxley sends him into the ropes for an explosion and then dropkicks him into them for another.

Back up and Moxley suplexes Omega through another barbed wire board in the corner but a Paradigm Shift onto a barbed wire chair is blocked. Moxley sends Omega flying with a German suplex and a side slam onto the barbed wire chair has Omega in a lot of pain. The barbed wire is wrapped around Moxley’s arm but the running lariat is countered into a dragon suplex.

The V Trigger gets two and Moxley drives him into the wire, with the explosion going off in Omega’s face. They head to the apron for a slugout until Moxley hits a Paradigm Shift through the barbed wire board for a double explosion. They’re both down for a long time until Moxley pulls the wire off of the board. They get back in and we get a noise signaling that we are ten minutes away from the big explosions.

Omega gets in a low blow and there’s a V Trigger in the corner. Make that two in a row and the One Winged Angel gets two as Moxley puts his foot on the ropes for the explosion (clever). Cue the Good Brothers to beat on Moxley and an exploding barbed wire bat to the face gets two. The One Winged Angel through the chair retains the title at 25:09.

Rating: D+. For a barbed wire street fight, it was pretty good (assuming you don’t find “yeah he used barbed wire, but now he’s going to use MORE barbed wire” to be a rather dumb idea), but for something built around THE RING MIGHT EXPLODE, this was rather disappointing. The match was built around the danger and I was laughing when some sparklers and smoke went off. Throw in how ridiculous the barbed wire stuff was and this was horrible. Make it a regular barbed wire match and it’s FAR better, but the explosions being such a joke killed it.

Post match the beatdown stays on as we’re told the ring is going to explode no matter what because THERE IS NO FAIL SAFE. As I try to figure out why that would be a feature, Omega handcuffs Moxley’s hands behind his back and the big beatdown ensues as we kill off the last of the thirty minutes.

The one minute countdown is on and the handcuffed Moxley is in the ring. Eddie Kingston comes in to try and get him out….and a bit of pyro goes of around the ring. The pyro from the corners was smaller than what would come up during Diesel’s entrance and the stuff at ringside was even weaker. This was pathetic, and Kingston actually selling it makes things even worse. I actually can’t remember the last time I saw something so disappointing and it is going to be a rather black eye for AEW for a good while.

Overall Rating: C. There were some good parts to the show but I’m rather disappointed by the whole thing. It didn’t have anything that was must see, it felt rather long and then the ending was an all time letdown. Christian signing is cool and the cinematic match was good, but this is going to be remembered for one or two things and that’s it. They went too far with the build and now it is going to cause them trouble.

The ending was a good example of one of AEW’s biggest problems: they have to do too much. The main event ended with a One Winged Angel THROUGH A CHAIR. You could put Moxley on the shelf for three months with that and it would have been fine. But no, we need to (allegedly) blow up the ring because a move you could say broke his neck isn’t enough. That’s something they do far too often and it hurts them. I’m really disappointed and I don’t like that feeling with what is usually one of the best products out there.

If you ever needed proof that AEW needs someone to say no sometimes, this is it. One of the things that a lot of people were saying was it was going to be ridiculous and they were hyping it up too much because that’s over the top. Well this is what we wound up with because AN EXPLODING RING is kind of a stupid idea. Tony Khan needed to say no and just let them have the barbed wire match and move on. They’ll be fine in a bit after this, but this was a step back for them and that is a new situation for them to be in.

Results

Young Bucks b. Chris Jericho/MJF – Meltzer Driver to Jericho

Rey Fenix/Pac won the Casino Battle Royale last eliminating Jungle Boy

Hikaru Shida b. Ryo Mizunami – Running knee

Miro/Kip Sabian b. Chuck Taylor/Orange Cassidy – Game Over to Taylor

Hangman Page b. Matt Hardy – Buckshot Lariat

Scorpio Sky won the Face Of The Revolution ladder match

Sting/Darby Allin b. Team Taz – Scorpion Death Drop to Starks

Kenny Omega b. Jon Moxley – One Winged Angel through a chair

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

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

AND

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

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dynamite
Date: November 11, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross

It’s the show after Full Gear and that means we have a long time to go before Revolution at the end of February. There is a lot of ground to cover on the way to that show and that means they have the time to set up more than a few things. I’m not sure what that is going to include and that is a nice feeling to have. Let’s get to it.

Here is Full Gear if you need a recap.

Happy Veterans Day.

Opening sequence.

Here’s Team Taz for a chat before Brian Cage’s match. Taz talks about how Cage is going to wrestle but before that he can see Darby Allin sitting up in the rafters. The last time they saw him, he was splattered on the roof of his own car at Full Gear. If Allin comes near the ring, he is getting taken out again. While he is sitting up there, send a message to his friend Cody, who can get taken out too. Cage is about to wrestle someone who is respected around the world in Matt Sydal. See, Sydal is no joke and Cage isn’t either, so let’s go.

Brian Cage vs. Matt Sydal

Taz is on commentary and Ricky Starks is at ringside. Sydal starts fast with an enziguri into a kick to the face but gets tossed into the corner for the rapid fire clotheslines. A hiptoss into a backbreaker has Sydal in more trouble and Cage throws him around to make it even worse. There’s another clothesline and Cage does the curls into the fall away slam for two more. Sydal slips out of a powerbomb though and sends Cage to the ramp before going up top (Taz: “Oh no.”).

The top rope Meteora connects and it’s time to head back inside for the various kicks to various parts of Cage. The snap Angle Slam sets up another kick for two more and Sydal needs a breather. Another kick to the head connects but Cage is right back with a huge clothesline. The Drill Claw is countered into a hurricanrana for a hot near fall, which has Taz in near hysterics (which is a nice move as it adds drama). Sydal goes up top but Cage pulls him out of the air (dang) for the Drill Claw and the pin at 7:40. Taz: “VICTORY!!!!”

Rating: C+. That’s one of the better Sydal matches I’ve seen in a long time as he was fighting the monster and did so rather well. It helps that Cage is the kind of athletic freak that you don’t get to see very often. Sydal looked good in defeat and that’s nice to see, as he has only been doing so much around AEW so far.

Post match Ricky Starks grabs the mic and says the TNT Title is next. They’re ranked now and the revolution will be televised.

Here’s Cody Rhodes for a chat. After asking how the fans are, he congratulates Darby Allin (with a wince) and says that he will not be asking for a rematch right now. There are other giants to take care of….and here’s a rather tall and muscular woman to cut him off. Her name is Jade Cargill (not sure if I heard that right) and she is the total package.

She has been sitting on the sidelines studying her competition and has heard Cody talking about himself for months. He calls himself the giant killer but there is nothing giant about him. Jade knows a real giant and statements like Cody’s are an echo loud enough to wake him. The next time Cody wants to talk, keep that s*** to yourself.

Jade goes up the ramp but stops to say congratulations on the name. The giant that he was talking about is the real star, and his name is SHAQ (who commentary mentions was backstage at Full Gear to make a little more sense out of things). Cue Brandi, to ask who told her this was open mic night b****. Brandi shouts in her face about messing with her man and says get out of here until Brandi sends for her, heifer. Jerry Lynn comes out to break it up and commentary thinks it’s going to take more than just him.

Cue Cage to kick Cody low and Starks joins him, but it’s Darby Allin coming in for the save. Darby hits a Coffin Drop to a standing Starks, which is made a lot worse as he has a jacket with thumbtacks sticking out (that’s a new one). With everyone cleaned, out, Will Hobbs comes out to make it a trio. The Shaq thing was a little odd but Brandi snapping and going off on Jade was great.

We look at Kenny Omega beating Hangman Page to become #1 contender.

Jon Moxley talks about how he couldn’t say I Quit on Saturday because he was unable to. On Saturday, he realized that this title represents everyone who can’t pay their bills right now and every kid who gets mocked for being a wrestling fan. Now he has his biggest challenge in front of him. Beating Kenny Omega once is one thing but doing it again is another and it’s going to take someone special. Moxley creates magic though and while someone will beat him someday and it might be Omega, good luck.

Moxley vs. Omega for the title is set for December 2. Well that’s quite the surprise s that sounds more like a pay per view headliner. I can get the idea of not being able to wait three and a half months, but dang that sounds like leaving a lot of money on the table.

Butcher and Blade vs. Natural Nightmares

Bunkhouse match meaning anything goes and you can only win by pinfall or submission in the ring. It’s a brawl to start with Dustin taking Butcher outside for a face first drop onto an open chair. Marshall drops Blade and it’s time to set up a table at ringside. A guitar to the head drops Marshall so Dustin takes Blade back inside to load up Shattered Dreams. Butcher gets back up to run Dustin over though as Marshall is busted open bad. A ladder is brought in (as you tend to find in most bunkhouses) and we take a break.

Back with Butcher and Blade in control until Dustin fights up to take Butcher outside. They fight up to the set and climb onto the stage, where Marshall blasts Butcher with a fire extinguisher. That means a bulldog to take Butcher off the stage and through some well placed plywood. That leaves Marshall and Blade, busted open as well, to slug it out with Marshall nailing him with a trashcan lid.

The huge elbow drop off the ladder gets two and it’s Butcher and Dustin coming back in. Dustin’s sunset flip (not quite a Code Red) gets two on Butcher but Blade hits Dustin in the throat with a chain. A powerbomb/neckbreaker combination through some chairs gets two on Dustin with Marshall making the save. Marshall takes out Butcher with a cutter but Blade blocks one to him. Instead it’s Butcher being knocked into Bunny to put her through the table. A cowbell to Blade sets up the cutter to give Marshall the pin at 13:03.

Rating: B. Well that worked and the blood took it a lot higher than it would have been otherwise. I know the cowboy stuff is a little much at times but this was all about violence and four people wanting to hurt each other. That is the kind of thing that you shouldn’t be doing very often but when you get one that really works, it can be a heck of a showcase and that’s what it was here. Really violent brawl and I got into it in a big way.

Matt Hardy talks about the feud with Sammy Guevara, which is the most personal of his career. He went a long way to beat Guevara so don’t squander what Hardy has given him. Just don’t make us sit through the match again.

It’s time for Chris Jericho to induct MJF and Wardlow into the Inner Circle. Jericho talks about how it is the first time that the Inner Circle is adding in two members, but first we need the rest of the Inner Circle (minus Sammy Guevara). Jericho is confused by the lack of Sammy because he’s out of the hospital but we can worry about that later. Now it’s MJF and Wardlow, with MJF talking about how it has been a long hard road to get here. Tony: “Oh shut up.”

MJF has been in this industry for five years and all he had was a small loan from his father of a million dollars. He has taken a hard road to get here and he has written out some poetry, which he thinks his homies in Proud and Powerful will appreciate. The poem happens to be lyrics from a Drake song (MJF: “I WROTE THAT!”) and Santana and Ortiz aren’t pleased. Jericho says it’s on him if they have an issue but MJF beat him to get into the Inner Circle. MJF and Wardlow are going to make the team stronger than ever and they are already stronger than the Walls of Jericho.

They are a team and they are going to make it work. MJF: “I don’t even know who Drake is!” We’re not just here to celebrate him though, because it’s also Chris Jericho’s birthday, complete with confetti and balloons….which go flying out of the building instead of falling down. Next week though, they’re going to Vegas and it’s all on MJF. Jericho holds up the tickets as MJF sings him Happy Birthday and it’s a group pose. JR: “Well they’re probably bus tickets.” The tension is there and that’s an interesting thing to see for the future.

We look at the Young Bucks beating FTR to become the Tag Team Champions.

A nervous Alex Marvez talks to the Young Bucks and asks what is next for the team. They talk about how big of an accomplishment this is for them and how they are looking for fresh competition. Next week it’s the Bucks vs. Top Flight, who have competed on Dark. New top guys out. I’ve heard good things about Top Flight so hopefully they get a great showcase next week.

Scorpio Sky vs. Shawn Spears

Tully Blanchard is here with Spears. They trade running shoulders to start until it’s an exchange of chops to put Spears into the corner. A big boot takes Spears down and they head outside with Sky hammering away. Sky bites at the ear to send Spears back inside but he rolls right back outside to keep things moving. Back in again and Spears throws him off the top as we take a break.

We come back with Sky hitting a big dive to the floor to drop Spears again and it’s a slingshot cutter back inside. They head to the floor again with Sky trying a dive off the steps, only to jump into a superkick. A backbreaker onto the steps has Sky down again (Tony: “That’s very abrasive steel too.”) and they head back inside one more time.

Sky’s TKO is countered so he goes with a Scorpion Deathlock (Tony: “It’s a Scorpio Deathlock!”). Tully begs Spears to make it to the ropes and then offers a distraction, allowing Spears to grab the slug to load up the glove. Tully throws another slug to Sky for a distraction, allowing Spears to hit the loaded glove for the pin at 9:04.

Rating: C. There was a lot going on here and it was a little bit too much for the match to work. They went in and out a lot and it was getting to be a big distracting. It’s also not the kind of thing that is going to make me care about Spears, but it’s not the worst idea in the world to give him a push. Not a bad match either, but it would be nice to see Sky getting a bigger push instead of the less interesting Spears.

Kenny Omega isn’t ready for an interview and is nowhere to be found.

Actually hang on as Omega is outside and on the phone with someone. The call ends and Omega is asked about the upcoming title match. Omega talks about how he has been living with everyone being on him about not being the Cleaner or the Best Bout Machine. Now he is ready to bring back the old Omega, who has never wrestled Moxley before. Now he has had a fight with him, but what happens when they have a match? That’s what’s coming on December 2, so Moxley better be ready. He has a flight to catch so enjoy Dynamite.

Tay Conti vs. Red Velvet

Anna Jay and Brandi, who begrudgingly does the Red Velvet mixing deal, are here too. Jay takes her into the corner to star but gets taken down into a rather complicated rollup for two. Back up and they trade armdrags before Velvet scores with a spinwheel kick for two. Conti kicks her down as well and we take a break.

Back with Velvet hitting a Rey Mysterio sitout bulldog into some running knees to the back in the ropes. They get back up and hit stereo kicks to the face, allowing Anna to slide in a chair. Conti wants nothing to do with that though and Velvet hits a leg lariat for two more. A kick to the face misses, though Velvet slaps her thigh anyway. Thankfully Conti doesn’t sell it and it’s a Gory Special into a spinning knee to the face to finish Velvet at 7:59.

Rating: C-. That miss near the end hurt it a lot but it’s nice to see a midcard women’s story as Conti isn’t interested in joining the Dark Order just yet. What we got worked out well enough, though it seems to be the next step in a much bigger story. It’s also nice to see Velvet getting a chance to showcase herself as she is getting more comfortable out there.

The Inner Circle is celebrating the Vegas trip when Sammy Guevara pops up to say he was told to go to the beach instead of being here. MJF insists he sent another email and has a ticket for Sammy as well. Sammy: “I only got one email.” I’d be more worried about Sammy being around four days after a Conchairto on concrete.

We recap Kip Sabian/Miro/Penelope Ford not being happy with Orange Cassidy’s apology and a brawl nearly breaking out.

Next week: Sabian vs. Cassidy, Team Taz vs. Darby Allin/Cody and Top Flight vs. the Young Bucks, plus the Inner Circle Slays Vegas.

Here’s Eddie Kingston for a chat. Kingston doesn’t need the fans to cheer his name because he already knows it. Yes he quit against Jon Moxley but he’s back here, unlike all of these people who never got in the ring in the first place. For tonight though, we have Penta vs. Rey Fenix and you’re welcome.

Penta El Cero Miedo vs. Rey Fenix

Kingston is on commentary. They kick each other down to start and then trade clotheslines. Fenix flips forward into a victory roll, which is reversed in a hurry as they get back to their feet. A twist into a sunset flip gives Penta two so Fenix hits a running headscissors to send him outside. Back in and Penta gives him a big backdrop to the floor, which seems to bang up Fenix’s knees. They head inside again with Penta lifting him up for a Tombstone but tying the legs up instead.

Penta goes extra evil by ripping part of the mask apart, revealing a good chunk of Fenix’s face. Excalibur: “This would be a disqualification in Mexico!” Kingston: “WE’RE IN JACKSONVILLE!” The chinlock goes on as Excalibur and Kingston keep up their argument. Back with Fenix hitting a running spinning kick to the head in the corner but getting sent out to the ramp. That’s fine with Fenix, who hits a quick kick to the head and now it’s time to rip Penta’s mask. Kingston: “You should DQ Fenix for that!”

Some shots to the face have Penta in trouble but he’s back with a flipping forward DDT (starts in a reverse DDT position and flips forward to drop Fenix on his head). Fenix sends him outside for a very spinning corkscrew dive. Penta is right back with a fear Factor onto the apron and Fenix is mostly done on the floor. Even Kingston thinks that was too much but Fenix is up a few seconds later anyway. Penta drops him on his head again and takes it back inside for another Fear Factor and the pin at 12:33.

Rating: B. Aside from Fenix possibly dying multiple times during the match, this was an awesome showcase between the two of them and you knew it was going to be. Kingston continues to be awesome on commentary, as he has a tendency to do. The ripping at the masks made it feel more personal, but there was no way this wasn’t going to be awesome. Heck of a main event, as you knew it was going to be.

Kingston: “THIS IS AWESOME! CLAP CLAP! Whatever you marks do!” He praises the match for being so great and calls Penta his best friend for showing his brother who is boss. Fenix falls outside….and here’s Pac to say he’s back. Pac is ready to go with Kingston but referees break it up to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. The wrestling carried this one for the most part as the show felt a little unfocused throughout. What we got worked out well enough though and that’s a nice thing to see, especially on a show that was more about taking a nice deep breath after Full Gear. It was a good show though and that’s nice to see in a spot that always has the potential to be a letdown. Pac being back and the rather brutal tag match were cool enough and it was an easy two hour watch.

Results

Brian Cage b. Matt Sydal – Drill Claw

Natural Nightmares b. Butcher and Blade – Cutter to Blade

Shawn Spears b. Scorpio Sky – Loaded left hand

Tay Conti b. Red Velvet – Gory Special into a knee to the face

Penta El Cero Miedo b. Rey Fenix – Fear Factor

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

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

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

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

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dark
Date: October 20, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz

We’re back and somehow the show is even bigger, at a sixteen match card. That’s a record even for this show and up there with the biggest Wrestlemania lineups of all time. I’m not sure why that needs to be the case around here but it’s not like there is much else to talk about with this show. Let’s get to it.

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

Commentators welcome.

Shawn Spears vs. Christopher Daniels

Again with the idea of opening with what could be the headliner. Spears works on the wrist to start before switching off to a headlock. Daniels is right back up to flip him to the floor though and we get a breather. Back in and an exchange of leapfrogs goes badly for Spears as Daniels clotheslines him down. A Fargo Strut sets up a t-bone suplex to send Spears outside again, with Daniels hitting a slingshot dive this time.

This one doesn’t go as well as Daniels is whipped hard into the barricade, setting up a neckbreaker on the floor. Back in and Daniels whips him hard into the corner, followed by a DDT to stay on the neck. The C4 is countered though and Daniels grabs a Downward Spiral. The STO plants Spears and another C4 is countered again into a rollup for two. Daniels gets another two off a high crossbody but the Angel’s Wings is blocked. A slingshot is cut off though and now the C4 can finish Daniels at 7:16.

Rating: C. As expected, two people who have done this for a long time and have shown that they can do good things in the ring have a completely watchable match. It’s nothing that hasn’t been done before, but there wasn’t a bad thing about the match and it was well set up throughout. Spears is still totally uninteresting, but it could have been far worse.

Post match Spears hits a second C4, drawing out Scorpio Sky to chase him off. Spears beats up a production guy to blow off some steam.

Brandi Rhodes vs. KiLynn King

I don’t see King breaking her losing streak here. King spins her down into a hammerlock but gets reversed with a headscissors. Back up and Brandi snaps off a headlock takeover as the mat grappling continues. King’s rollup gets two and Brandi’s gets the same, setting up an early standoff.

An armdrag into an armbar has Brandi in trouble again but she sends King into the corner for the running elbow as commentary makes radio jokes. Cue John Silver to campaign to be on Brandi’s cooking show, but Brandi is fine enough to hit a Sling Blade for two. They slug it out from their knees and it’s the Shot Of Brandi (which looked like it needed a camera cut) for the pin on King at 3:22.

Rating: D+. This was all you could have expected as Brandi isn’t going to lose a match like this, even if it’s against someone who seems like they could be a breakout star in King. The wrestling wasn’t anything great, but they did well enough with the counters and reversals. That finish still doesn’t look great, but it’s better than Brandi using the spear.

David Ali vs. Ricky Starks

Ali hammers away to start but gets picked up and dropped hard. The chopping is on as Taz is rather pleased with all of this. Ali manages to get to the corner though and it’s a missile dropkick to stagger Starks. After being confused for a second, Starks goes up again and gets crotched back down. A running boot in the corner connects and the Roshambo finishes Ali at 2:57.

Starks joins commentary, as is his custom.

Scorpio Sky vs. Fuego del Sol

Fuego flips out of a wristlock to start so Sky slows him down with a headlock. A front chancery has Fuego in trouble and a Russian legsweep gives Sky two. Sky hits a backbreaker and bends Fuego over the knee as the announcers talk about Goosebumps. The abdominal stretch goes on but Fuego is out in a hurry for a dropkick. That’s enough to send Sky outside and Fuego adds a slingshot dive. Back in and Sol rolls him up out of the corner for two, followed by an enziguri for the same. Not that it matters as Fuego dives into a very quick Scorpion Deathlock for the tap at 5:41.

Rating: C. Sky continues to be one of the smoothest workers around here and it’s nice to see him doing this kind of thing every time he’s out there. Fuego got to showcase himself here and Sky is someone who can do something with anyone. I liked this well enough, with Sky working on the ribs throughout and then getting the win with a hold that works on the back. Makes enough sense.

Post match Shawn Spears’ music hits but he doesn’t show up.

Aaron Solow vs. Luchasaurus

Luchasaurus shoves him down without much effort and unloads on him in the corner as Starks talks about his time teaming with Solow. Back up and Solow hits a headscissors to the floor but the suicide dive is caught. A tornado DDT on the floor works a bit better but Luchasaurus is right back with a kick to the face inside. Solow knees him in the face, only to get blasted by a running clothesline. The Tail Whip into the chokeslam into the standing moonsault finishes Solow at 3:36.

Rating: C-. Solow got in a lot of offense here and it was probably too much. Luchasaurus is a monster and not the kind of person who should be giving up so much. At the same time, he probably shouldn’t be needing to do so many big moves at the end. The Tail Whip, the chokeslam and the standing moonsault could all be finishers. Use one or two at most, not three.

Griff Garrison/Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Butcher and Blade

Eddie Kingston is here with Butcher and Blade. It’s Garrison getting chopped in the corner to start but it’s off to Pillman to kick away at Blade. A superkick doesn’t work on Butcher though, as he crushes Pillman with a running crossbody. It’s back to Blade for some choking on the ropes and Butcher drives in some knees to the back.

Pillman gets in a dropkick but Butcher whips him hard into the corner to cut him off again. A quick spinning high crossbody gives Pillman enough space for the hot tag to Garrison though and everything breaks down. Pillman is sent to the floor though and it’s a powerbomb/neckbreaker combination to finish Garrison at 6:03.

Rating: C. There is something to be said about Pillman taking a beating like that and then making a comeback. It worked out just fine here and that isn’t the most surprising. Garrison and Pillman as a small, plucky team is fine enough and I won’t be surprised when they’re both signed soon enough.

Penta El Cero M vs. QT Marshall

Dustin Rhodes is here too. Penta takes his time in removing the glove so Marshall hits him in the face. A running headscissors takes Penta down again but a dive is cut off with ease. Back in and Penta throws him right back to the floor for the strikes against the post. They head inside again with Penta charging into an elbow and then getting elbowed down again. Penta kicks him down and hits a double stomp for two but Marshall hits a handspring kick to the face.

A Sling Blade gives Penta two and here’s Eddie Kingston with a microphone to watch. The package piledriver is blocked and they kick each other down. Eddie waves at Marshall and says he has a surprise. Cue Allie in the Bunny gear again but she leaves with Eddie. Marshall is fine enough to get two off a backslide but Penta is back with a Pentagon Driver for two of his own. A Michinoku Driver gives Marshall two more so Penta goes up for a change. That means it’s the middle rope Canadian Destroyer into the Fear Factor to finish Marshall at 8:31.

Rating: C. They avoided the styles clash here and had a nice match, though the point is ending the rather unnecessary Allie/Marshall deal. I’m still not sure what the idea behind that was but maybe we get to find that out later. Either way, Penta winning is nice and it’s not like Marshall is hurt by a loss.

Jungle Boy vs. KTB

KTB charges but gets dropkicked to the corner. Boy snaps off a headscissors out of the corner but KTB sends him into the corner for the rolling shoulder to the ribs (that’s a new one). A dragon screw legwhip sets up a fireman’s carry slam for two and it’s an atomic drop into a quick splash for the same.

Boy pops off a clothesline and hits his own dragon screw legwhip to the floor. That means a suicide dive and a slingshot DDT gives Boy two more. Boy goes to the ropes again but gets caught in a Razor’s Edge flipped down into a knee to the face for two more. KTB misses a moonsault though and it’s a running elbow to the back of the head. Boy’s top rope double knee drop is good for the pin at 5:27.

Rating: C+. KTB got to showcase himself here and that was all you could hope for. Boy is not big enough to be someone to look dominant so having him fight from underneath is the right idea every time. The match worked a lot better than I would have bet on and that’s always a nice surprise.

And that’s the halfway point.

Ivelisse/Diamante vs. Skyler Moore/Kenzie Paige

It’s a brawl to start with Moore and Paige being cleared out in a hurry. Diamante muscles Moore up in a not great looking suplex and there’s an uppercut into the corner. A double suplex gets two on Moore and we hit the chinlock. Diamante charges into a boot though and it’s a double clothesline for the double knockdown. Paige and Ivelisse come in to pick up the pace and Paige’s Natural Selection gets two. Diamante is right back with a quick Stunner though and Ivelisse hits the rolling kick to the face for the pin at 4:09.

Rating: D+. Just a quick match here to remind you that Ivelisse and Diamante exist. You might have forgotten after they won that tournament, which wound up meaning a grand total of nothing. Moore and Paige are both find enough, but there is only so much that can be done in a situation like this.

Colt Cabana vs. Bshp King

There’s no Dark Order with Cabana and he seems to be confused. Commentary talks about Cabana’s jackets and make an Orange Cassidy/Pockets reference to make sure that we know they listen to Jim Cornette. Feeling out process to start with both taking turns going after the arm as John Silver and Alex Reynolds come out.

Actually never mind as Cabana sends them back before kicking at King’s legs. Something close to an old Stump Puller has King in more trouble and some elbows to the head make it worse. The Order is here again and the distraction means Cabana can’t hit the Chicago Skyline. The Flying Apple into the Superman Pin is enough to finish King at 4:07.

Rating: C-. Another match that came and went with little of interest. I guess Cabana is having issues with the Dark Order now and this needed to be on the show because…maybe having sixteen matches sounds better than having fifteen? Yeah this is the first candidate for the match being cut so far and that’s not a good place to be.

Adam Priest vs. Alan Angels

Most of the Dark Order is here with Angels. Priest gets knocked into the corner to start and Angels hits a middle rope springboard clothesline. A quick moonsault gives Angels two but Priest is back with a big boot and clothesline of his own. Angels grabs a twisting fisherman’s buster and the Wing Snapper finishes Priest at 3:16.

Rating: C-. Ironically enough this didn’t get enough time and it hurt things a lot. It wasn’t a bad match at all and Angels continues to get to showcase himself well. Priest is another guy in a long list of them around here and while I don’t think this was meant to be a showcase for him, he didn’t quite get to do much here.

Frankie Kazarian tells Jack Evans that respect is earned and now he wants to be at the top of the industry. He has always been the bridesmaid but never the bride so tonight is the start of his wedding march.

Frankie Kazarian vs. Jack Evans

Angelico is here with Evans. Kazarian takes him down by the arm to start but Evans gets a quickly broken chancery. Back up and a shoulder runs Evans over, setting up an armdrag into an armbar. A cartwheel into a headscissors takes Kazarian down but he’s right back with the armdrag into a second armbar. That’s broken up and Evans offers a distraction so Angelico can get in a cheap shot, setting up a northern lights suplex. Evans pops up onto Kazarian’s ribs into a standing moonsault for two more.

A hair takedown gets another two on Kazarian and there’s a hard whip into the corner. Kazarian gets a sunset flip out of the corner for his own two but he has to deal with Angelico. Evans gets clotheslined down for another near fall and there’s two more off a springboard spinning legdrop. Kazarian’s leg is kicked out and a standing sky twister press (geez) gives Evans another two. Kazarian reverses the moonsault into a reverse DDT into a reverse DDT of his own to finish Evans at 7:57.

Rating: C. Kazarian can go with anyone and Evans was doing all of his flips and dives, as he is known to do. It’s another case of having a steady hand like Kazarian in there and that’s the best way to use Evans. It wasn’t a classic or anything but it got a little time and they traded some nice spots so it went well enough.

Post match Angelico jumps Kazarian but Christopher Daniels runs in for the save.

Louie Valle/Baron Black/D3 vs. Dark Order

It’s 3/4/10 for the Order here and the fact that we have now had two different stables with three matches each and have four matches left might suggest that this show is TOO FREAKING LONG. Taz: “Maybe we should call this show AEW Dark Order.” See? Even he gets it. Valle is offered a spot in the Dark Order to start but turns it down, meaning Reynolds beats him up. That’s broken up with Valle getting in a few shots of his own but not being ready to follow up.

Black comes in but gets crotched, meaning it’s off to D3, who is shouldered down by Silver. An arm trap rollup gives D3 two so Silver knocks him down again. Vance comes in and blocks a hurricanrana, followed by a hard fall away slam into the corner. A double flipping faceplant drops D3 again and there’s a delayed suplex from Vance. Silver sends D3 flying across the ring but he slips out of a gorilla press. The hot tag brings in Valle for a running crossbody as Taz talks about how short both of them are. Everything breaks down and Vance spinebusters Black. The double flipping slam finishes Black at 5:48.

Rating: C. In case you didn’t get the idea the first 183 times we’ve seen it, the Dark Order can beat up jobbers in a match that doesn’t last very long and look good together as a trio. I don’t know how many times we need to see them do this or some combination of it to get the point already, but since this is the third Dark Order match on the show, it probably isn’t enough yet. The team has gotten better, but I’m sick of seeing them do the same stuff over and over like this.

Wardlow vs. Vinny Pacifico

Wardlow’s knee in the corner knocks Pacifico out at 40 seconds. This is just like last week when Wardlow’s knee in the corner knocked out another jobber in a short match, but you needed to see it twice to get the point or something.

Post match Wardlow gives him an F10.

Eddie Kingston and company welcome Allie to the fold to complete the team.

Matt Sydal vs. Shawn Dean

Sydal takes him down into a headscissors to start before cranking on the arm. A front facelock keeps Dean in trouble but he’s back up with some armdrags into a dropkick. That earns him a jumping spinwheel kick and a standing twisting Swanton gets two on Dean. Back up and Dean slugs away but gets pulled down into a reverse Rings of Saturn. That’s broken up as well because we’ve already had our short matches of the night. Dean grabs a tiger driver for two but Sydal hits a jumping knee. A kick to the head sets up the cobra stretch to finish Dean at 6:02.

Rating: C-. Another Sydal match as he gets to show what he can do outside of the high flying. It was fine enough and Dean can go better than most of the job squad. I just didn’t need to see another six minute match after fourteen matches throughout the card so far. That’s where this show gets in trouble: everything gets crushed by all of the other stuff and it defeats the purpose of making Sydal look good.

Sonny Kiss vs. Rey Fenix

Joey Janela is here too. Kiss shoves him away to start and they go to a test of strength to show off their counters. A step up hurricanrana takes Fenix down so Fenix rolls into a hurricanrana of his own. Fenix dropkicks him into the corner and then pulls him shoulder first into the corner.

We hit the armbar for a bit until Fenix goes with a sunset flip but cranks on the leg instead (that’s a new one). Something like a Tequila Sunrise has Kiss in more trouble and Fenix kicks the arm to make it worse. Kiss is back with a twisting elbow to the face and the front flip kick to the ribs in the corner. A victory roll gives Kiss two and he drops Fenix on top of his head. Fenix is fine enough to catch him on top though and the Black Fire Driver finishes Kiss at 7:44.

Rating: C. This was Kiss doing his gymnastics and Fenix doing his lucha stuff and it wound up being ok. The arm and leg stuff from Fenix was a nice twist and I’m glad to see him getting a chance in the big tournament. I could see him getting to the second round and after not being able to do much else around here, that’s a pretty good result all things considered.

Overall Rating: D+. What even is there to say? It’s a longer version of the same problems that this show always has. Last week’s show was fourteen matches and they even had four matches that were similar to last week, down to the same people. I honestly have no idea what this show is supposed to be or who it is supposed to appeal to, but if they keep this up, plus Dynamite and the third show, they are going to risk burning out their audience REALLY fast.

The point of Dynamite was the same as the glory days of NXT: the best show you get all week and it leaves you wanting more. This isn’t the same as Dynamite, but it has a lot of the same people and there is rarely anything worth going out of your way to see. It’s still AEW though, and if you keep pumping out this much content, fans are going to get burned out one day and there is no one to blame but yourselves.

Another problem with the show itself is in the matches. It would be one thing if these matches were all a minute or two, but when it’s one five to six minute match after another, that time adds up in a hurry and, again, nothing gets to stand out. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done better elsewhere and I don’t get invested in anything they do. It has a nice idea and if you fix things up it would be a good supplement to Dynamite. At this rate though it’s WAY longer than Dynamite (with commercials factored out) and that’s killing whatever benefits it has. Cut it down by two thirds (geez) and it works, but this was insane.

Results

Shawn Spears b. Christopher Daniels – C4

Brandi Rhodes b. KiLynn King – Shot Of Brandi

Ricky Starks b. David Ali – Roshambo

Scorpio Sky b. Fuego del Sol – Scorpion Deathlock

Luchasaurus b. Aaron Solow – Standing moonsault

Butcher and Blade b. Brian Pillman Jr./Griff Garrison – Powerbomb/neckbreaker combination to Garrison

Penta El Cero M b. QT Marshall – Fear Factor

Jungle Boy b. KTB – Top rope double knee drop

Ivelisse/Diamante b. Kenzie Paige/Skyler Moore – Rolling kick to Paige’s face

Colt Cabana b. Bshp King – Superman Pin

Alan Angels b. Adam Priest – Wing Snapper

Frankie Kazarian b. Jack Evans – Reverse DDT

Dark Order b. D3/Baron Black/Louie Valle – Double flipping slam to Black

Wardlow b. Vinny Pacifico – Knee to the face

Matt Sydal b. Shawn Dean – Cobra stretch

Fenix b. Sonny Kiss – Black Fire Driver

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

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

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

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

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Late Night Dynamite
Date: September 23, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Chris Jericho, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur, Jim Ross

It’s a special edition of Dynamite for those who need a bridge to the next one. Dark was on…well officially yesterday as this is airing after the NBA Playoffs and Inside The NBA, meaning it is going to be starting at about 12:40AM. I’m not sure why we need three AEW shows in less than a day and a half but maybe they can surprise me. Let’s get to it.

Chris Jericho joins commentary.

Ben Carter vs. Scorpio Sky

Carter is a British wrestler who has been rather impressive on Dark. They take each other down to start until Sky is ready for an armdrag attempt. That’s fine with Carter, who hits the second attempt to give us a standoff. Another armdrag into an armbar has Sky in trouble for a bit before Sky fights up to run the ropes. A dropkick puts Sky down on the floor and he has no idea what to do with Carter here (those looks are doing more for Carter than almost anything else he can do).

Back in and Sky catches him with an elbow to the face into a dropkick and there’s a Russian legsweep. Sky hits a backbreaker into an abdominal stretch as the logical offense continues (Chris Jericho: “Homage to Tony Garea there!” Schiavone: “Wow….Tony Garea.”). Carter flips out and chops away in the corner (he might not want to do that again) but gets knocked down as we take a break.

Back with Carter fighting out of a camel clutch but getting knocked down for two more. Carter is back up and hits an AJ Styles moonsault into the reverse DDT, though he switches his into an Eye of the Hurricane for two instead. A running shooting star press gives Carter two more but he misses the moonsault to the floor. Sky kicks him in the face and rams Carter face first into the apron.

Carter shrugs that off and hits a running flip dive to the floor. Back in and Carter hits a frog splash for a very near fall. Sky grabs a neckbreaker but Carter is back with some forearms to the head. A spinning kick to the back connects but Sky is right back with a fisherman’s buster for a very near fall. Carter kicks him in the face and grabs a rollup for two more but misses some kicks to the face. Sky hits a running double stomp to the back and Carter looks mostly done on the mat. A big boot drops Carter again and the TKO finally gives Sky the pin at 15:32.

Rating: B+. Yeah that was outstanding and I don’t know what else you can say about something like this. Carter looked like a young star here and Sky gave him an outstanding rub here with Carter being presented as a major threat. His offense looked good and I could go for a lot more of him in the future. How did NXT UK not pick this guy up?

Video on the six man tag between Will Hobbs/Jon Moxley/probably Darby Allin vs. Team Taz/Lance Archer.

Anna Jay vs. Brandi Rhodes

They slug it out to start and Brandi hits an early spear to send Anna to the apron. Something close to a DDT onto the apron plants Anna again and Brandi whips her hard into the corner. Anna is right back with a sleeper but Brandi reverses into a victory roll for two. Brandi hits some atrocious right hands but gets sent into the corner for some rakes to the back.

A snap suplex drops Brandi again and it’s time for the boot choke in the corner. There’s a running seated Blockbuster for two on Brandi and we hit the seated crossface chickenwing. Brandi fights up again and hits a clothesline into a Sling Blade but here’s the Dark Order. Evil Uno doesn’t let Stu Grayson interfere so there is a very delayed two off a Shot Of Brandi (bicycle kick) which….I think grazed Anna’s arm. The Queenslayer knocks Brandi out at 6:03.

Rating: C-. They started very hot here but then it turned into a regular match and it didn’t work all that well as a result. Brandi botches a lot (that kick was horrible and the right hands were almost as bad) and Anna is far from someone who can do anything great in the ring yet. This wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but dang there were some very bad parts.

Scorpio Sky wants the TNT Title but here’s Matt Sydal to praise him as well. Sydal was happy with his debut in the Casino Battle Royal and Sky wants to see him do it again. Maybe they’ll even go out for drinks after the show. Sydal seems interested.

Video on Brodie Lee and his path of destruction. He gets to defend against Orange Cassidy, who receives quite a bit of praise.

Matt Sydal vs. Shawn Spears

Tully Blanchard is here with Spears, who drives Sydal into the corner to start. Spears grabs a headlock into a wristlock, which is escaped with a little spin in a hurry. Sydal headlocks takeovers him over, which seems to confuse Jericho. They head to the apron with Spears getting dropped back first but being fine enough to hit a baseball slide. Back in and Sydal hits a spinwheel kick and we hit an arm crank on the mat. We take a break and come back with Sydal hitting a standing corkscrew moonsault for two.

Spears grabs a Sky High for two more and a brainbuster onto the knee connects, sending Jericho over the edge when Excalibur uses the Japanese name. Sydal blocks the C4 and goes up top (where he wipes the sweat off in a nice nod to All Out) for a top rope Meteora and another near fall. Spears goes outside and has a seat in a chair so Sydal can hit a running charge to knock him out. Tully uses the distraction to load up Spears’ glove. Back in and the C4 is countered so Spears uses the loaded glove to knock Sydal silly. Now the C4 finishes Sydal at 13:42.

Rating: B-. I’m not surprised that they had a good match, but asking me to get interested in a Shawn Spears match that started at 1:23am is not going to be the easiest sell in the world. They did surprise me with the result though, as Spears does not seem like the kind of guy who was going to pin Sydal in Sydal’s first singles match. Well done with the twist ending, though Spears is still far from thrilling.

Post match Spears goes after Sydal again but Scorpio Sky makes the save to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Ok they actually got me here as I was expecting an absolutely nothing show and got two good to VERY good matches, plus Brandi vs. Anna thrown in the middle. The obvious problem here is obvious though: aside from the most hardcore of hardcore fans, who in the world stayed up to watch this? It was a very good show (one of AEW’s best in a while actually), but it’s kind of hard to have that much interest or enthusiasm when it starts so late and comes on after another hour and thirty five minute Dark with several hours in between. Check out Carter vs. Sky though as they tore the house down.

Results

Scorpio Sky b. Ben Carter – TKO

Anna Jay b. Brandi Rhodes – Queenslayer

Shawn Spears b. Matt Sydal – C4

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

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

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

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

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

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

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

Buy In: Joey Janela vs. Serpentico

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

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

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

Buy In: Dark Order vs. Private Party

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

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

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

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

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

Britt Baker vs. Big Swole

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

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

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

Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express

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

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

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

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

The announcers preview the Casino Battle Royal.

Casino Battle Royal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy

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

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

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

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

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

Full Gear is on November 7.

Here’s what’s coming on Dynamite.

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

AEW World Title: Jon Moxley s. Maxwell Jacob Friedman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Results

Big Swole b. Britt Baker via knockout

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

Lance Archer won the Casino Battle Royal last eliminating Eddie Kingston

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

Hikaru Shida b. Thunder Rosa – Running knee

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

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

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

Jon Moxley b. Maxwell Jacob Friedman – Paradigm Shift

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

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

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

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

IMG Credit: AEW

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

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

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

Opening sequence.

Young Bucks vs. Dark Order

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TNT Title: Scorpio Sky vs. Cody

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

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

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

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

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

Private Party’s favorite team is the Hardys.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hikaru Shida vs. Heather Monroe

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

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

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

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

Video on Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy.

Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy

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

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

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

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

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

Results

Young Bucks b. Dark Order – Rollup to Grayson

Cody b. Scorpio Sky – Cross Rhodes

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

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

Orange Cassidy b. Chris Jericho – Arm trap rollup

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

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

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

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

IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Dark
Date: August 4, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Taz

Things are getting interesting around here again as the road to All Out is getting bigger and bigger. The most important thing we seem likely to be seeing is Maxwell Jacob Friedman challenging Jon Moxley for the World Title. I’m not sure how much we will be seeing of that round here, but at least they seem to have a goal in mind about a month out. Let’s get to it.

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

Tony and Taz give the usual quick preview.

Will Hobbs vs. Scorpio Sky

Hobbs jumps him in the corner to start and hits a good spinebuster for two. Sky slips out of a powerslam though and hits a running kick to the back of the head in the corner. The TKO gives Sky the pin at 1:15. Well that worked.

Post match Sky puts a chair in the ring and calls it symbolic. Lately, people have been calling him the king of AEW Dark so this might as well be a throne. Sky does not like the idea of that being his ceiling because he is one of two people to pin Chris Jericho around here. You people have forgotten who he is so say the name and remember it. Nice promo here and I could go for more from him.

Gunn Club vs. Serpentico/Aaron Solow

Serpentico dives at Billy’s leg to start to no avail. Billy kicking him in the face works a lot better and it’s off to Austin, who runs Serpentico over for two. Serpentico gets him into the corner though and Solow comes in, only to be quickly armdragged. Solow hits a slingshot stomp but Austin kicks Serpentico away. That’s fine though as Solow is right there with a basement clothesline to keep Austin down. Austin sends them into each other though and rolls over for the hot tag to Billy. A missed charge sends Serpentico outside and Austin hits the Fameasser on Solow. The hiptoss neckbreaker finishes Serpentico at 5:26.

Rating: D+. The Gunn Club is just there at the moment as a way to get Austin on TV. He isn’t exactly making me all that interested but I’ll take him over Billy doing his old shtick again. They’re harmless as a Dark team and the match could have been worse, as we at least got a fresh jobber pairing to fed to them.

Sonny Kiss/Joey Janela vs. The Initiative

Janela’s headlock doesn’t get him very far with Cutler so he grabs a running rollup to send Cutler into the corner. It’s off to Kiss so Cutler ducks underneath him and dives onto Janela on the floor. That’s fine with Kiss, who hits his own dive to take Cutler down with a DDT. A running hurricanrana takes Avalon down but he pops back up to take Kiss into the corner. That doesn’t last long either though as Janela comes in for a Hart Attack. Part of the Motor City Machine Guns’ Dream Sequence gets two as Taz talks about being buried online.

Janela hits a running forearm to knock Avalon up the ramp but misses a charge to send himself into the set, hurting his arm in the process. Back in and Avalon works on the banged up shoulder, followed by more of the same from Cutler. Janela dives for the tag but gets driven back into the corner. As you might have guessed, the hot tag goes through a few seconds later and Kiss gets to clean house. Janela throws Avalon at Leva Bates but takes too long, allowing Cutler to escape.

Cutler gets shoved off the top and into a fireman’s carry from Avalon, allowing Kiss to hit a top rope Blockbuster to take them both down. Avalon is back up with a middle rope Russian legsweep for two on Kiss, followed by Bates hitting a Sliced Bread off the post to drop Janela. Back in and Janela is already up on the apron again, allowing Kiss to make another tag. Janela throws Avalon into an electric chair and Kiss adds the top rope splits splash for the pin at 9:38.

Rating: C. The match was entertaining but you really can see how little of a traditional structure their tag matches have. This was about pumping as many spots as they could into a single match and while that wasn’t bad, it does get a little repetitive at times. Janela and Kiss are getting better as a team, though I’m still not sure I can imagine seeing them get much higher up the card than they are now.

Abadon vs. KiLynn King

King goes straight at her to start and they head to the mat for the slugout. Abadon is sent outside where she whips King into the barricade. Back in and King is sent face first into the mat, only to come back with a middle rope dropkick. It’s Abadon getting back up first though (in a rather creepy way) but King gets two off a release German suplex. Abadon doesn’t mind though as she kicks her in the face and hits the hurricanrana driver for the pin at 4:08.

Rating: C-. This didn’t have much time here and that was possibly better for Abadon. What makes her work so well for the most part is having her out there in a quick match and let her do her creepy thing. King is someone who could go somewhere if she had a character or story of some sort but the potential is there.

Jack Evans vs. QT Marshall

Angelico and Allie are the seconds. Marshall takes him into the corner for a clean break and they trade wristlocks. Evans flips out of a hiptoss and adds a handstand kick to the face. Taz thinks Tony would be over huge if he could do that as Evans hammers away in the corner. A middle rope spinning crossbody is countered into a suplex from Marshall and they head outside for a bit. Angelico offers a distraction and Evans hits a running flip dive to take over.

Back in and Evans flips around before poking him in the eye, setting up something like an Octopus hold, with Evans hanging in the air off of Marshall’s shoulders. Marshall gets out and counters Evans’ springboard with a powerslam for the big crash. A pop up right hand gives Marshall two but Evans kicks him in the head. The standing corkscrew moonsault gives Evans two and draws Allie up to the apron. Angelico uses the distraction to get in a cheap shot though and Evans grabs a backslide with a flip over for the pin at 8:24.

Rating: C-. That might be the biggest upset ever on this show, assuming you consider it to be that big of an upset. Evans and Angelico are a nice midcard heel team and it’s nice to see them back after such a long time away. Allie and Marshall continue to be a weird combination, but I don’t think I can picture anything happening to them anytime soon.

Post match the beatdown is on until Dustin Rhodes makes the save.

FTR vs. Griff Garrison/Brian Pillman Jr.

Points for Pillman for getting as much ring time as he can. FTR seems to get some advice from Tully Blanchard before they come through the entrance. Harwood and Pillman start things off and it’s a quick standoff. A wristlock doesn’t last long for Harwood as Pillman flips around and kicks him in the head. After the Hollywood Blonds camera work, Pillman allows the tag off to Wheeler, who chops away rather hard. Pillman is back up with a high crossbody and a superkick, allowing the tag to Garrison.

Harwood pulls him down by the hair but he’s back up with a heck of a right hand to Wheeler. Pillman is back in with a running shot in the corner and an armbar. Wheeler powerslams his way to freedom though and it’s Harwood tying him in the ropes to strike away. A kick to the head almost gets Pillman out of trouble but Wheeler drags him right back to the corner. Pillman slips out of of a gordbuster and rolls over to bring in Garrison….who walks into the Goodnight Express for the pin at 6:20.

Rating: C. I liked the ending to this one as it was a nice twist on the usual story. Instead of going with Garrison cleaning house and going into the ending sequence, they just knocked Garrison silly for the pin. Pillman continues to look young but full of potential and that’s a place that he can grow from in a big way.

Post match we see Shawn Spears watching FTR.

Butcher and the Blade vs. Private Party

Butcher easily drives Quen into the corner to start and it’s off to Butcher vs. Kassidy. This time it’s Kassidy being brought into the corner and the beating is on in a hurry. A hiptoss into a dropkick gets Kassidy out of trouble but Blade cuts him off with a hot shot. Butcher comes back in and hits a running clothesline in the corner. The quick tag brings Quen back in though and everything breaks down. Blade is sent outside, where he helps break up Silly String so Butcher can plant Quen to take over again. Some corner clotheslines give Butcher two and it’s time to stand on Quen’s throat.

The chinlock goes on for a few seconds but Quen sends Blade into the middle buckle. The hot tag brings in Kassidy, who mostly misses a springboard Stunner to knock Blade off the apron. A springboard flipping Stunner to Butcher works a bit better and it’s already back to Quen. Butcher gets double drop toeholded onto Kassidy’s knees for a standing moonsault to the back from Quen. Blade shoves Quen off the top for a big crash to the floor, leaving Kassidy to miss his Swanton. The suplex onto Blade’s knees is enough for the pin at 8:48.

Rating: C+. It really is amazing how much better it is to have even a pair of midcard teams like this fighting each other on this show. They give us something a little more interesting and makes the stakes feel somewhat higher. On top of that, the match wasn’t too bad as it felt a lot more structured than a lot of AEW matches, even though the ending wasn’t in the most doubt.

The Dynamite preview wraps us up.

Overall Rating: C. The length was a lot better on this show and it made things easier. The biggest problem with a show being that long continues to be that it feels draining to look over and see how much longer there is. They kept this show short and to the point, with only a handful of matches and the winners getting to showcase themselves a little bit more than usual. In other words, doing what should be the point of the show.

Results

Scorpio Sky b. Will Hobbs – TKO

Gunn Club b. Serpentico/Peter Avalon – Hiptoss neckbreaker to Serpentico

Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss b. Initiative – Top rope splits splash to Avalon

Abadon b. KiLynn King – Hurricanrana driver

Jack Evans b. QT Marshall – Flipping backslide

FTR b. Brian Pillman Jr./Griff Garrison – Goodnight Express to Garrison

Butcher and The Blade b. Private Party – Suplex onto Blade’s knees to Kassidy

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

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

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

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

IMG Credit: AEW

Dark
Date: July 28, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz

We’re back to the long form show as this week is going to have more content than an episode of Dynamite. This time around the show is featuring 12 matches over the course of an hour and fifty minutes for reasons I don’t think I want to understand. Hopefully we at least get some good action. Let’s get to it.

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

Quick announcer preview.

Initiative vs. FTR

That would be the official name for Peter Avalon/Brandon Cutler, because you want to lose in style. The Young Bucks are watching at ringside and Tully Blanchard is in the bleachers. Harwood headlocks Avalon down to start and it’s off to Cutler in a hurry. Wheeler’s distraction lets Harwood get in a shot from behind, because FTR needs to cheat against these goofs.

Avalon comes back in for a double flapjack for one on Wheeler, who sticks out his leg for a tag. That doesn’t count as Harwood was too far down the apron though, in a rule you don’t see used all that often. Wheeler grabs a headlock but gets belly to belly suplexed….right into his own corner so it’s Harwood coming back in. Avalon’s right hands actually stagger Harwood so it’s back to Wheeler, who misses a charge in the corner. Avalon hits a split legged moonsault for two but Harwood BLASTS him with a clothesline. Cutler is knocked outside and it’s the Mind Breaker to finish Avalon at 7:16.

Rating: C-. They didn’t even bother with teasing the upset here as FTR isn’t going to be losing for a good while. It’s almost weird to see the spike piledriver being used in modern wrestling but it is a heck of a finisher. Cutler and Avalon having a name doesn’t make things much better for them, but at least they’ve found a niche here. Granted it’s a losing niche, but it is still a niche nonetheless.

Post match Revival shakes hands with the Bucks.

Michael Nakazawa/Pineapple Pete vs. Sonny Kiss/Joey Janela

Kiss loads up a headscissors on Nakazawa to start but Nakazawa pulls out the baby oil (here we freaking go). Janela takes it away though and sprays it on the back of Kiss’ trunks, which Nakazawa’s face is pulled into. Taz: “….what the heck was that?” Exactly what you should have expected? Pete sprays more oil in the middle of the ring so Kiss’ handspring elbow doesn’t work. It’s off to Pete who gets a running start and slides off of Nakazawa’s oiled back to crash into Kiss in the corner but a jumping hug doesn’t work due to slippage.

Janela comes in with a double dropkick and it’s Kiss coming back in to trade some missed charges with Pete. Pete’s knee to the face gets two on Kiss but he escapes a double suplex and makes the hot tag to Janela. A German suplex into the corner rocks Nakazawa and there’s a Death Valley Driver. Nakazawa is sent outside for a suicide elbow from Janela, followed by a top rope splash for two on Pete. Back in and Nakazawa underwear claws Pete by mistake and it’s a shot to the face from Janela. Kiss adds the top rope splits splash for the pin on Pete at 5:19.

Rating: F. Nakazawa is the definition of the kind of “comedy” wrestling that I can’t stand. Not only is his stuff not funny in the first place, but he does the same bits every week. There’s all of the oil nonsense and then the underwear claw always goes onto the wrong person. How many times can they do the exact same gag over and over and over? Kiss and Janela aren’t going to become a top team, but they work well together and Kiss’ athleticism and gymnastics are very impressive.

Skyler Moore vs. Abadon

Abadon does her crawl to the ring and takes Moore down to hammer away. A lot of yelling scares Moore but she slugs away anyway and grabs a DDT. Back up and Abadon pops her neck and chases Moore outside. A whip into the barricade has Abadon in trouble and a World’s Strongest Slam gets two. Abadon is right back with the Widow’s Peak for the pin at 3:17.

Rating: D+. Abadon plays the creepy monster well and not being able to feel pain is one of those classic ideas that will always work. They need someone to stand out as different in the women’s division and Abadon certainly fits the description. Moore doesn’t win much but she looks different enough to make herself a bit memorable.

Shawn Spears talks about the importance of the black glove. He is ready for people trying to take his throne, which is why the glove is self defense.

Dark Order vs. Shawn Dean/Will Hobbs

Evil Uno and Stu Grayson for the Order with the rest of the team on the stage. Grayson takes Dean into the corner to start and it’s off to Uno for a shot to the face. Grayson’s kick to the chest keeps Dean in trouble but he enziguris Uno down. Not that it matters though as Grayson comes back in for a Rock Bottom. A side slam/springboard elbow plants Dean again until he grabs a swinging neckbreaker.

Hobbs has been dropkicked off the apron though, meaning Dean has to hit a running flip dive onto Uno instead. Back in and the hot tag brings in Hobbs to clean house, including an Oklahoma Stampede for two on Uno. Everything breaks down and it’s the Knightfall to Hobbs, setting up the Fatality to finish Dean at 5:44.

Rating: C-. This could have been a lot worse, though I don’t quite buy the Dark Order as the top challengers to the Tag Team Titles. Hopefully their title match can be a good one without a ton of drama, though a surprise isn’t out of the question. Dean and Hobbs are still good for a quick appearance like this though and that’s a valuable thing to have.

Scorpio Sky vs. Corey Hollis

Feeling out process to start as they fight over a hammerlock into a standoff. Sky gets in an atomic drop into a Russian legsweep for two before hitting a good dropkick. Hollis heads outside and sweeps the leg before hitting a shot to the face. A middle rope spinning kick to the head gives Hollis two more but Sky blocks a Stunner. Some small packages get two each until Sky kicks him in the face. The Stundog Millionaire gets Hollis out of trouble but his top rope splash hits raised knees. The TKO finishes Hollis at 5:21.

Rating: C. I know I say it every week but man alive is Sky smooth in the ring. He can do this kind of thing against anyone around and that makes him a very easy watch. I could go for more of him on a higher level and that doesn’t seem to be too far out of the realm of possibility. They played Hollis up as someone of note here too so maybe he’ll be around in the future.

Penelope Ford vs. Kenzie Page

Kip Sabian is here too. Ford sends her into the corner for a running clothesline to start but Page hits a clothesline of her own. A charge is sent into the middle buckle though and Ford glares down at Paige for daring to try something. We hit the fish hook camel clutch and commentary goes into a Fresh Prince routine since Ford is from Philadelphia. Ford hits a Stunner but charges into a superkick. That just earns Paige a Lethal Injection into a fisherman’s suplex for the pin at 4:47.

Rating: D+. Ford has come a long way in the last few months and that’s great to see. This wasn’t much of a match though as Ford isn’t ready to be out there squashing people. Paige is another one of the several jobbers that they throw into these spots, so it wasn’t like Ford had the greatest stuff to work with in the first place.

Wardlow vs. Aaron Solow

Solo’s strikes have no effect and Wardlow knocks him hard into the corner. Some hard shots in the corner set up a swinging release Rock Bottom and Wardlow hits a heck of a clothesline. Wardlow knees him out of the corner and the referee stops it at 2:54.

Post match Wardlow stays on him and hits the F10.

Dark Order vs. Best Friends

Oh well where would we be without TWO Dark Order matches??? It’s Alex Reynolds and John Silver for the team here and they jump the Friends from being to start. They head outside with the Friends being sent into the barricade but shrugging it off to take over without much trouble. Back in and we get the big hug but Strong Zero is broken up. A Stunner into a German suplex gets two on Trent and the Order takes turns raking their boots over his face.

Silver hits a running double leg takedown for two and Reynolds hits a cutter for the same. Trent shrugs off some YES Kicks and hits a few forearms, only to have Reynolds take Chuck down to break up a hot tag attempt. A double torture rack faceplant gets two on Trent but he’s back with a belly to back suplex to Reynolds. The hot tag brings in Chuck and Silver is thrown into Reynolds in the corner. Chuck’s Falcon Arrow gets two on Silver as everything breaks down. The Awful Waffle finishes Silver at 9:09.

Rating: C-. This was every middle of the road Friends match you’ve seen in a long time. The action was fine, the story was fine, but it was the Dark Order’s B team vs. the Best Friends. As usual, that’s where the matches on this show keep losing me: after an hour, I really don’t need to see these people out there for nine minutes before the obvious conclusion.

Post match the Dark Order chases the Friends off.

Lance Archer vs. Frankie Thomas

Archer has Jake Roberts with him and carries a production worker to the ring. Thomas gets in his face and is Pounced down to start. Hold on as Archer needs to point down at Lee Johnson before heading outside, where he pulls Thomas’ slingshot dive out of the air. Back in and Archer sends him hard into the corner but the Blackout is escaped. A chokeslam sets up the EBD Claw for the pin at 3:22.

Rating: D+. Another match that was similar to everything you see from Archer more often than not. It can be fun to see Archer beat people up like this but can we find something for him to do already? He hasn’t had an important feud since the TNT Title match with Cody and that didn’t go so well for him. Find something else for him, please?

Orange Cassidy vs. Serpentico

Cassidy takes his time getting ready and then avoids a charge in the corner. The hands go into the pockets and it’s a dropkick into the nipup. The threat of a Superman punch sends Serpentico bailing to the floor so he pulls Cassidy down by the leg. A slingshot double stomp sets up a short DDT for two. Cassidy sends him outside again and hits the suicide dive but gets caught up top. Serpentico hits a superplex and rolls through, only to get cradled to give Cassidy the pin at 3:17.

Rating: D+. And so, AGAIN, it’s similar to everything we usually see from Cassidy. He did the hands in the pockets, the nipup, the lazy stuff and then the rollup pin. It’s almost like this show has nothing left to offer and is nothing more than putting wrestlers in the ring for the same stuff they do on the shows that matter.

Post match Serpentico charges at Cassidy, who hits the Superman punch.

Sammy Guevara vs. Fuego del Sol

Low Rider is here with Sol. Sammy takes him down with ease to start and the cockiness is flowing early. A front facelock goes on but Sol uses a springboard to reverse it into a rollup for two. Something close to a 619 in the corner connects but Sammy knees a springboard out of the air for two of his own. Sammy’s delayed vertical suplex gets two more and it’s time for a fireman’s carry with squats. Sol is sent outside so Sammy can strike a pose back inside. Back in and Sol hits a faceplant but misses a corkscrew Swanton. Another knee to the face sets up GTH to finish Sol at 5:13.

Rating: C-. I’m glad to see Sammy back as he really is that great to watch in the ring. The confidence is insane for him and it’s something that makes the Inner Circle better. Sol and Rider weren’t exactly great opposition but the point here was for Sammy to get his feet wet again so they worked out fine.

Post match it’s a GTH for Rider as well.

Private Party is ready for the main event and Big Money Matt Hardy comes in to say he likes the two of them. The more over they are, the more over he stays. Now go win by any means necessary. Kassidy: “Wow Big Money Matt. Kind of a d***.”

Private Party vs. Santana and Ortiz vs. SCU

Matt Hardy is here with Private Party. Kazarian and Kassidy start things off and they go to the mat for a bit of a surprise. Ortiz tags himself in and throws Kassidy outside, allowing Kazarian to get in a kick to the face. A neckbreaker drops Kazarian though and Santana comes in with a moonsault off of Ortiz’s back. It’s off to Daniels to double team Santana for two and he falls into the corner for the tag to Quen.

The camel clutch/jumping double stomp hits Daniels but Matt isn’t happy with Private Party posing instead of following up. Santana and Ortiz come in to continue the beating on Daniels and things slow down with the choking in the corner. A sitout powerbomb into a kick to the face gets two with Kassidy making the save. Daniels and Ortiz hit a double clothesline for the double knockdown and the rolling tag brings in Quen.

That means the running flip dive onto Santana and Ortiz, setting up Kassidy’s Lionsault for two on Ortiz. It’s back to Quen for his half of a top rope splash/top rope legdrop and everything breaks down. Ortiz hits a flipping Stunner on Daniels but gets caught by Kazarian’s slingshot DDT. Kassidy dives onto Daniels and Ortiz low blows Quen for the pin at 10:49.

Rating: C. This was the only thing on the show that got my interest up whatsoever and that’s because it felt different. For once it wasn’t the same matches we see week after week with the people being rotated in and out. It’s nice to not have a match where you know what’s going to happen the second you see who the big star is and that was so nice after an hour and a half of the same stuff.

The Dynamite preview takes us out.

Overall Rating: D+. I had to take multiple breaks to get through this thing because this is far from the most interesting way to watch a wrestling show. In addition to having WAY too many matches on the show, the biggest problem is there is nothing going on between them. Other than that Matt/Private Party promo, it’s match after match after match with the same commercials bridging the gaps. This show had the same problem that most Raw’s have: you get through a long stretch and then can’t believe how much time is left. I’m not sure why AEW feels required to put EVERYONE on these shows but it really drags them down a lot.

Results

FTR b. Initiative – Mind Breaker to Avalon

Sonny Kiss/Joey Janela b. Michael Nakazawa/Pineapple Pete – Splits splash to Pete

Abadon b. Skyler Moose – Widow’s Peak

Dark Order b. Shawn Dean/Will Hobbs – Fatality to Dean

Scorpio Sky b. Corey Hollis – TKO

Penelope Ford b. Kenzie Paige – Fisherman’s suplex

Wardlow b. Aaron Solow via referee stoppage

Best Friends b. Dark Order – Awful Waffle to Silver

Lance Archer b. Frankie Thomas – EBD Claw

Orange Cassidy b. Serpentico – Cradle

Sammy Guevara b. Fuego del Sol – GTH

Santana and Ortiz b. Private Party and SCU – Low blow to Quen

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

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

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

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