Rampage
Date: June 24, 2022
Location: UW Panther Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Commentators: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Taz

It’s the go home show for Forbidden Door and I have no idea what that is going to mean here. This week’s Dynamite was a huge push towards the show, including several New Japan stars being added. That could mean more than a few things for this show and I’m curious to see where it going. Now to find out if that is a good thing. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Andrade El Idolo vs. Rey Fenix

After one week of including entrances for the opener, we’re right back to rushing straight to the opening bell. Jose and Alex Abrahantes are here as the seconds. They don’t bother with the feeling out process to start until it’s Fenix hitting a quick springboard hurricanrana to stagger Andrade. A boot in the corner staggers Fenix but he is right back with a kick to the ribs.

Something out of a fireman’s carry is countered into Andrade’s Three Amigos, which Fenix reverses into his own Three Amigos. That’s enough to send Andrade outside so Fenix hits a heck of a flip dive to drop him again (Jericho: “He looked like Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff!”). Back in and a bridging German suplex gives Fenix two but a springboard something is shoved off the top for a huge crash to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Andrade hitting the Alberto double stomp for two more. Fenix tries a rolling cutter but has to settle for a springboard missile dropkick instead. Now the rolling cutter connects for a slightly delayed two but Fenix’s frog splash hits knees for two. Fenix goes up again and gets kicked off the top, allowing Andrade to take him to the apron. The running knees hit post though and a top rope double stomp to the back crushes Andrade as we take another break.

Back again with Fenix hitting a super reverse Spanish Fly for another delayed two, as Andrade got his foot on the bottom rope. Hold on though as we pause for a look at Fenix’s knee, allowing Andrade to grab the table from Jose. That’s caught so Andrade pokes Fenix in the eye and kicks him in the knee. Fenix knocks him right back to the floor and hits the running suicide flip dive for another double knockdown. As the managers fight in the ring, here is Rush (oh yeah he’s a thing) to kick Fenix low. That’s enough for Andrade to hit El Idolo for the pin at 18:43.

Rating: B. The ending felt a bit flat but they beat the heck out of each other and left it in the ring here. Fenix continues to be able to do one crazy spectacle after another while Andrade can work well with a lot of people. I wasn’t wild on having Rush pop up again but at least it makes sense after what was set up at Double Or Nothing.

Post match Andrade and Rush show of the La Faccion Ingobernable shirts before ripping off Fenix’s mask. Penta Obscuro runs in with a shovel for the save.

Eddie Kingston is ready for Forbidden Door but he also wants to see Chris Jericho bleed at Blood And Guts. Maybe he’ll even have a taste.

Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee are ready for their match with El Desperado/Yoshinobu Kanemaru at Forbidden Door. Then they can get back to normal, though Lee isn’t sure if they’re ready for that yet.

Mercedes Martinez/Serena Deeb vs. Laynie Luck/Sierra

Deeb puts Sierra in an early abdominal stretch and then chops her down. It’s off to Luck, with Deeb taking her down into an Indian deathlock. A rope is reached so it’s Martinez coming in for a running dropkick in the corner. A double drop across the top rope has Luck in more trouble but Martinez runs into Deeb on the apron. Not that it matters as stereo submissions get the double tap from Sierra and Luck at 3:36.

Rating: C-. Just a squash here with Martinez and Deeb’s issue near the end meaning nothing whatsoever. Deeb vs. Martinez could be interesting down the line, though it will need to be after everything else cleans out a bit more. It should be a good match and that is all you need a lot of the time.

Tully Blanchard brags about his monsters, who I don’t know if we’ve seen since the Ring of Honor show nearly three months ago.

Post break Tully Blanchard interrupts Jonathan Gresham and Lee Moriarty, the latter of whom seems to want a ROH World Title match. Tully Blanchard interferes and says his guys deserve a title shot first. A tag match is made.

Hook vs. DKC

Hook takes him down into a leglock to start but DKC takes him into the corner for some chops. A high crotch suplex drops DKC and the crossface shots set up Redrum to finish at 1:45.

Cash Wheeler is ready for Jeff Cobb tonight and to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles on Sunday. Cobb doesn’t like the lack of respect

Billy Gunn explains to the Gunn Club and Max Caster that they’re on the Forbidden Door Buy-In show. This requires an explanation to his kids that they aren’t going to Tokyo, but rather Chicago.

Jeff Cobb vs. Cash Wheeler

Caprice Coleman is on commentary. They lock up to start and neither can get anywhere, meaning Wheeler grabs a quickly broken headlock. Wheeler bounces off of a shoulder block attempt and there’s the suplex to send him outside. We take a break and come back with Wheeler grabbing a sleeper (not a full nelson Jericho) but getting knocked away again. Cobb blocks a backslide with straight power so Wheeler starts striking away.

That’s enough to knock Cobb outside for a slingshot dive but he runs Wheeler over again. Back in and Cobb’s apron superplex is blocked and Wheeler hits a sunset bomb. The Tour of the Islands is blocked and a doctor bomb is countered into a hurricanrana to give Wheeler two. For some reason Wheeler tries a powerbomb and gets German suplexed for his efforts. The Tour of the Islands gives Cobb the pin at 10;56.

Rating: B-. FTR gets to lose again, which has me wondering what happens to them on Sunday. I would hope that if they lose, at least they don’t take another fall in the process. Both of them can do some great things in the ring, though it starts to mean less if they never win anything to keep them boosted up.

Post match the rest of the United Empire comes in to jump Wheeler but Orange Cassidy, Dax Harwood and Trent make the save. Eddie Kingston runs out and tries to stab Chris Jericho with a pen as the big brawl ends the show (eventually, as the fight goes on for a good while).

Overall Rating: B+. Rather strong show this week, even if it went very heavy with the ROH stuff for a bit of a curve ball. After barely talking about ROH for weeks, waiting another few days to put the focus back on them wouldn’t have been the worst idea. That being said, we had two rather good matches here and they toned down some of the invasion stuff so it wound up being a solid show as a result.

Results
Andrade El Idolo b. Rey Fenix – El Idolo
Mercedes Martinez/Serena Deeb b. Laynie Luck/Sierra – Double submission
Hook b. DKC – Redrum
Jeff Cobb b. Cash Wheeler – Tour of the Islands

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

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

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

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

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

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Wardlow

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hardys vs. Young Bucks

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TBS Title: Jade Cargill vs. Anna Jay

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

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

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

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

Forbidden Door is coming on June 26.

House Of Black vs. Death Triangle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Respect is shown post match.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Darby Allin

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

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

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

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

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

Women’s Title: Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AEW World Title: CM Punk vs. Hangman Page

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

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

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

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

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

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

Punk celebrates for a good while to end the show.

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

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

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

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AND

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hardys vs. Young Bucks

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

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

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Wardlow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Darby Allin

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

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

House Of Black vs. Death Triangle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall Thoughts

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

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

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AND

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

Dynamite
Date: May 18, 2022
Location: Fertitta Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

It’s Wild Card Wednesday, meaning we find out the two Joker entrants in the Owen Hart Foundation tournaments. Other than that, we have two Dynamites left before Double Or Nothing and that means it is time to start hammering out a few more matches on the card. Most of the show is already set though and that can make things all the more interesting. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament First Round: Samoa Joe vs. ???

Non-title and the joker is….Johnny Elite (Nitro/Morrison/about eight other names). Feeling out process to start as Joe doesn’t seem overly impressed. Joe knocks him into the corner for some shots to the ribs, followed by an elbow to the face. Some shots to the face have Joe in a bit of trouble though and Elite knocks him to the floor, setting up the big twisting cannonball to take Joe down again.

We take a break and come back with Joe hitting a big boot and then chopping Elite down. The MuscleBuster is loaded up but Elite takes him down and goes up top. The 450 connects (with Elite’s knees hitting a good bit short) for two but Joe is right back with the MuscleBuster for the pin at 10:21.

Rating: C+. Yeah fine. Elite is about as perfect of a choice as you could get to have him come in, be a nice enough surprise, and be fed to Joe without ruining a debut. I don’t need Elite to stick around, but he had a pretty nice start to his time in AEW, even if this is it. Joe is likely making a deep run in this thing and him winning the whole tournament wouldn’t shock me.

Post match Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh come in to take Joe out with a pipe. The Best Friends make the save.

We look back at Jeff Hardy getting banged up last week against Darby Allin (egads).

The Young Bucks come up to see the Hardys, with Jeff being cleared to wrestle tonight. The Bucks have been praying for him all week but Jeff wants that “Christian AF BS” out of here. Jeff has a tournament to win and Matt threatens violence if the Bucks interfere. Matt calling the Bucks Hardys cosplayers was funny.

Hangman Page vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Non-title and CM Punk is on commentary. Page starts fast and knocks him to the floor but Takeshita is back in with some strikes of his own. They head to the apron with Page taking him down again as we take a break. Back with Takeshita hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb and a jumping knee for two each. They clothesline each other down but Page is back up with a release German suplex, setting up a Tombstone for two.

The buckshot lariat is countered into a jumping knee and a stalling German suplex plants Page again. They go up top with Takeshita hitting a heck of a forearm to knock Page to the mat. Page pops right up with a discus lariat and the Buckshot lariat….but doesn’t cover. Instead it’s the GTS (Punk: “I’ve got him right where I want him.”) for the pin at 12:12.

Rating: B-. I’ve liked Takeshita more than I would have expected as DDT Pro doesn’t have the best reputation for being serious. Takeshita has a good look and his work has gone well enough so I could go for more of him going forward. That being said, this was an extended workout for Page and that’s all it needed to be.

Fuego del Sol and the Dark Order are ready for the House of Black.

Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee vs. Workhorsemen

Lee gets the better of a chop off with Drake to start and hands it off to Strickland. A jumping kick to the face rocks Henry in the corner and it’s back to Lee to clean house. Lee loads up a sitout powerbomb and Strickland adds a top rope double stomp for the pin at 2:21. Nice use of the new power/speed team here.

Post match Lee says they are a top five team but here is Team Taz to interrupt. Ricky Starks calls Lee Rex from Toy Story but Strickland says Starks looks like a bar of soap with a pearl necklace on. Cue Jurassic Express with Christian Cage to interrupt. Christian says they are the best and the triple threat challenge is thrown out for Double Or Nothing. Deal. Oh and for a bonus: let’s do Jungle Boy vs. Ricky Starks vs. Swerve Strickland next week.

Red Velvet and Kris Statlander are ready to fight in the first round of the Owen Hart Tournament on Friday. Jade Cargill comes in for catchphrases/trash talk.

Here are MJF and Shawn Spears, with MJF nearly getting sick when saying he’s in Houston. He tells Wardlow to get out here right now so here is Wardlow, with his hands still cuffed. MJF spits in his face and slaps him but Wardlow maintains his composure. MJF gets in a few whips but Wardlow doesn’t flinch. Spears gets in a few whips of his own and those wake him up, but MJF gets in a low blow and unloads with the belt. The Dynamite Diamond ring knocks Wardlow cold and MJF is rather pleased with himself.

Roppongi Vice throws out the challenge to FTR for a Ring of Honor Tag Team Title shot.

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament First Round: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Rey Fenix

Fenix starts with the flips but loses a chop off to put him right back down. Back up and an armbar slows Fenix down but he knocks O’Reilly to the floor for a heck of a running flip dive. O’Reilly posts the arm though and we take a break. Back with Fenix kicking him down as O’Relly’s chest is very red. O’Reilly grabs the rolling butterfly suplexes but Fenix drives him into the corner for a springboard spinning kick to the head.

Another spinning kick rocks O’Reilly but he bounces off the ropes with a rebound lariat. O’Reilly is back with a choke, which is reversed for a jumping enziguri. Fenix isn’t done and knocks him to the floor for a rope walk flip dive. Back in and a rolling cutter is countered into a cross armbreaker for the tap at 11:16.

Rating: B. This was an interesting back and forth style, with O’Reilly being perfectly logical by going after the arm that was hurt not too long ago. O’Reilly is going to go after a limb no matter what and they gave him an extra target here. Joe vs. O’Reilly should be a good showdown next week and they have done a nice job getting us there, especially with Fenix getting in just enough flips etc. to not take it too far.

Here is the Blackpool Combat Club/Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz, as William Regal and Chris Jericho have their face to face chat (as Jericho tends to do). The Jericho Appreciation Society comes out, with the order to cut off the pyro and music. Jericho brings up the attack last week and says he thought Regal would be dead by now. Regal gets a chuckle out of that and talks about how Regal should have been one of the best of all time given all of his skills. Instead, he wound up being a world class addict.

Regal has been fired from every company he has ever worked for until he weaseled his way in here on the coattails of his proteges. Then you have Eddie Kingston, whose face was burned with a fireball. Then you have Bryan Danielson, and we pause for a YES chant. Danielson has never had a drink or taken a drug in his life, but stick with this gang long enough and Regal will have him needing the program just like Moxley. Jericho tells Regal to get out of the business or the Wizard will shoot a fireball in his face. Or relieve himself in Regal’s tea again.

The tea gets Regal talking, as the two of them have known each other since 1997. The only thing that are worse than Jericho’s voice are the screams from a burning orphanage so please be quiet. Jericho is right about Regal’s issues, but one thing has kept him going for the last 21 years. Whenever he has been on a show with Jericho, Regal would go to Jericho’s bag when Jericho was in the ring and….place Jericho’s toothbrush in a certain area. Daniel Garcia: “HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO SOMEONE???” Regal: “Actually flower, I did it to yours last week.”

Jericho loads up the Stadium Stampede challenge but Moxley says he “isn’t doing that s***.” Moxley isn’t doing that sports entertainment stuff so let’s make it anything goes with glorious violence until the Society is bleeding like stuck pigs. Call it whatever you want, including wrestling vs. sports entertainment.

Jericho seems down with that and brings up the other team’s history with each other, including Danielson calling Kingston “a judgmental prick.” Kingston to Danielson: “You are.” Kingston doesn’t care about buyrates or ratings though so let’s fight right now. Jericho and company leave instead, with Danielson and Kingston being ready to fight over giving chase. There were some great lines in there, but this wasn’t what I had in mind for Regal vs. Jericho: Face To Face, especially as Regal didn’t exactly get in any great lines in response to Jericho’s stuff.

Dante Martin and Matt Sydal want the Blackpool Combat Club on Friday.

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament First Round: Britt Baker vs. ???

The Joker is Maki Itoh, the singing wrestler who teamed with Baker last year at Revolution. Baker loads up the Fingerpoke of Doom but Itoh small packages her for two instead. Itoh steps on her foot and hits a headbutt, only to miss a falling headbutt. There’s a Sling Blade to Baker and we take a break.

Back with Baker sending Itoh face first into the buckle, but Itoh has a hard head so she does it to herself. A headbutt puts Baker down and Itoh adds a tornado DDT for two. Itoh finally hits her falling headbutt for two but Baker pulls her straight into the Lockjaw for the win at 6:45.

Rating: D+. The match itself was nothing and that isn’t the point here. Itoh is the definition of a gimmick and therefore having her pop up once every now and then is going to work. I don’t know how much anyone was wanting a payoff to Itoh and Baker teaming together at Revolution, but for something that lasted about eight minutes, there are far worse ways to go.

Post match Toni Storm comes out for the staredown with Baker, who doesn’t seem impressed.

Here is Tony Schiavone in the ring to hype up next week’s three year anniversary show but Serena Deeb cuts him off. She is sick of hearing Tony talk, especially last week when Tony said that she can’t beat Thunder Rosa. Dustin Rhodes has had a lot to say about Deeb having no chance against Rosa, so here is Dustin to interrupt.

Deeb calls him the poster boy of failure and says Jim Ross might be the only one with any brains around here. She says Dustin knows how hard it was to be a woman in her era and even got implants to satisfy old perverts. So why does Dustin think Deeb can’t beat Thunder Rosa? Dustin has nothing to say so she slaps him in the face, which draws out Rosa. Deeb takes the Women’s Title from her and gets in a good shot. I have no idea what they were going for here, but Deeb talking isn’t a good thing.

Owen Hart Tournament Semifinals: Adam Cole vs. Jeff Hardy

Cole jumps him in the aisle and the beating starts fast. Hardy is sent into the steps, setting up a Backstabber to drop Jeff again. We take a break and come back with the slugout in the middle (because of course) but Cole enziguris him down. The sitout gordbuster gives Jeff two but the Whisper in the Wind is…kind of superkicked out of the air (that didn’t look great). The Boom misses so Jeff hits the Twisting Stunner, only to miss the Swanton. Cole hits the Boom for the pin at 7:05.

Rating: C. This felt like a rush job due to time constraints, especially with Cole jumping him in the aisle. I can kind of get the idea of not wanting Allin to lose to Cole here, but if that is the case, don’t set up the brackets that way in the first place. Hardy was still banged up here so he has an out, but it wasn’t like there was much to the match in the first place.

Post match Cole stares at Jeff but Matt Hardy gets in to cut him off. The Young Bucks come in for the cheap shot but the Hardys stare them down. Cole jumps the Hardys and here are Sting and Darby Allin for the save. Cue ReDRagon to go after Sting and Allin though, including Sting’s ankle being Pillmanized to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. AEW continues their weird streak of a good show with that one weird thing in there. This time it was Deeb’s segment, as I’m not sure I get what they were trying to do. Other than that (and the Baker vs. Itoh match, which was meant to be glorified comedy), there wasn’t much to complain about here. Double Or Nothing had matches either added or enhanced so I can’t complain all that much. Not a home run show here, but it did what it needed to do and didn’t go nuts with the surprises. I had fun, so call it at least mostly a success.

Results
Samoa Joe b. Johnny Elite – MuscleBuster
Hangman Page b. Konosuke Takeshita – GTS
Swerve Strickland/Keith Lee b. Workhorsemen – Sitout powerbomb/top rope double stomp to Henry
Kyle O’Reilly b. Rey Fenix – Cross armbreaker
Britt Baker b. Maki Itoh – Lockjaw
Adam Cole b. Jeff Hardy – Boom

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: May 4, 2022
Location: Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

I’m not sure how but we’re less than a month away from Double Or Nothing. Last week’s show saw the announcement that CM Punk would be challenging Hangman Page for the World Title at the pay per view so at least they have the top match set up pretty far in advance. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Fish

Adam Cole is on commentary and Matt Hardy and Kyle O’Reilly are at ringside. Fish takes him into the corner to start and kicks away at the leg, setting up a dragon screw legwhip onto the other leg. They head outside with another dragon screw legwhip sending Hardy into the barricade and we take a break.

Back with Hardy making a comeback and dropping Fish to go up top. The Swanton is broken up though and it’s the super Falcon Arrow to put Hardy down for two. Fish grabs the kneebar but Hardy gets over for the rope. Hardy puts him down again and it’s the Swanton to give Hardy the pin at 10:15.

Rating: C. That’s about as high as I can go, as the match was technically fine, but they were both looking old and slow here. Granted that might be because they’re both old and slow, though I can always go for someone taking out a knee. Fish banging up Hardy’s knee was a good way to explain the slower pace, but it’s getting harder to watch Hardy out there.

Post match the Young Bucks come out for a staredown with the Hardys. I don’t think that’s a big surprise, but the Hardys trying to go at that pace could be rough.

We get a video from William Regal on training the Blackpool Combat Club. Regal talks about how this is about physicality and hurting people, which is what wrestling is. The video includes Regal physically training the team before saying that the Club would rather cut you on the face than stab you, because that is what you will remember. Check this out as it was nearly chilling with Regal sounding so serious about the whole thing. Also note that this is the shortened version, with the whole thing being available on Twitter.

AFO vs. Blackpool Combat Club

It’s Butcher/Blade/Angelico for the AFO here and the fight starts before the bell. Blade beats on Danielson at the bell before Angelico comes in and gets rolled up for two. Danielson starts on the arm and hands it off to Yuta for the same. The armdrag into an armbar keeps Blade down but it’s off to Butcher to take Yuta into the corner.

We take a break and come back with Yuta taking Butcher down so Moxley can come in. A cutter of all things drops Blade (that’s a new one from Moxley) and some biting allows Danielson to come back in on Angelico. Stereo chokes keep Butcher and Blade down and set up the triple stomps. Danielson chokes Angelico out for the win at 7:40.

Rating: C+. This needs to be about it for the Club in these nothing matches. They’re fun and entertaining, but they’re glorified target practice. The good thing is that we should be getting ready for a bigger match at Double Or Nothing so at least things aren’t going to be run into the ground. It’s still very fun to see them pounding the stuffing out of people, but it’s time to move up.

Jurassic Express is in on Team Taz’s challenge for the Tag Team Title match. First though, how about Jungle Boy gets an FTW World Title shot?

Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland are ready for Team Taz as well.

Wardlow vs. ???

Before the match, MJF and Shawn Spears come to the stage to insult Maryland and the opponent is….William Morrissey (better known as Big Cass, or W. Morrissey in Impact), which is the name that was all but guaranteed last week. They start slowly with the power game not getting either very far. Morrissey’s running splash in the corner doesn’t work but Wardlow’s does, only to have Morrissey come back with a big boot.

Wardlow is knocked outside for a posting as we get dueling WE WANT ENZO/NO WE DON’T chants. Back in and the slug it out until Morrissey hits a swinging Boss Man Slam. Morrissey puts him on top but gets knocked down, with Wardlow hitting something like a moonsault while landing on his feet. A one movement Powerbomb Symphony (also known as a powerbomb) finishes Morrissey at 5:29.

Rating: C. This went a bit longer than it needed to but Wardlow surviving a beating and then coming back for the win is all that matters. Wardlow continues to run through monsters, which should mean he can destroy MJF when he gets the chance. Not a bad monster clash here, with Wardlow continuing his roll.

Post match Wardlow isn’t being handcuffed and beats up security, leaving MJF with a stunned look on his face. Wardlow says he wants his release so MJF says they can have a little match. The match is on, but there are going to be some stipulations. Wardlow can hear about those stipulations in a contract signing next week in Long Island.

Toni Storm/Ruby Soho and Britt Baker/Jamie Hayter are ready for their tag match on Rampage. It’s the first time a women’s match has opened the show, which is another point for Baker. Soho is sick of hearing about Baker and they are counting down the minutes until 5:30 on Friday (special start time).

Here is Hangman Page for a chat. Page talks about his World Title defense against CM Punk at Double Or Nothing and he sees it differently than some do. It would be easy to talk about the two of them having a great match and a classic with a handshake but that isn’t what is going to happen.

Page is going to destroy Punk and yells at a fan in a Punk shirt, saying she is going to be running back to the merch stand for a refund. Punk isn’t here tonight because he is probably off filming another TV show. If Punk wants a fight, it will be the fight of his life. This was a pretty hard shift from Page and I can go for more of the serious version.

Video on Konosuke Takeshita.

Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh aren’t impressed with DDT Pro’s Konosuke Takeshita getting the red carpet treatment. Where is Lethal’s red carpet? Lethal throws out the challenge for Rampage.

Santana vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho, now billed as the Wizard, has the rest of the Jericho Appreciation Society while Santana is here alone. Santana isn’t waiting and hits a flip dive onto Jericho before the bell. The fight starts on the floor with Santana sending him into the barricade but taking way too long to set up the steps. Instead Jericho grabs the camera, giving us a first person view of Santana’s double middle fingers.

Santana kicks him down and they get inside for the opening bell. Minard grabs Santana’s leg and the triangle dropkick puts Santana on the floor and we take a very early break. We come back with Santana hitting the Three Amigos, setting up a top rope splash for two. Jericho is right back with a knockdown into the Walls but Santana makes the rope. The rest of the Society tries to bring in the bat but Santana fights them down and hits a discus lariat for two. A Society distraction lets Jericho get in a low blow though and the Judas Effect finishes for Jericho at 8:58.

Rating: C+. They kept Santana strong here as there is no shame in losing to a much bigger star when said star has a five on one advantage. Santana and Ortiz continue to feel like they should be the breakout stars but it just hasn’t clicked yet. A singles match like this is a good start, but AEW needs to follow up on it. Also, ending this team feud already would be a good move because it has started to get old.

Post match the beatdown is on with Ortiz’s save being cut off almost immediately.

Samoa Joe is coming for Jay Lethal.

The Gunn Club has gifts for the Acclaimed: SCISSORS! Scissoring ensues. As long as it isn’t a running joke, they should be fine.

Here are the Varsity Blonds for a chat. Brian Pillman Jr. talks about how the team has gotten complacent, but that brings him to his father’s best friend (and college roommate), Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. John told him to attack every day, so that is what he is doing tonight. The House of Black is called out and here they come, with the House destroying the Blonds in short order.

Malakai Black comes over to Julia Hart and stares at her before she is handed a chair. Julia can’t bring herself to swing so Black rips the eye patch off….but here is the Death Triangle for the save. This went on WAY too long and we still didn’t actually have anything happen. Please just get to the Death Triangle vs. the House of Black already so we can move on to anything else.

Jade Cargill and the Baddies are ready to keep dominating.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Dante Martin vs. Rey Fenix

Julia Hart is still here as Fenix kicks Martin down to start. Martin is sent outside and we take an early break. Back with Fenix hitting a middle rope reverse Spanish Fly (kind of making it into a flipping Russian legsweep) but Martin kicks him down again. Commentary isn’t happy with how long Martin is taking to stay on Fenix, allowing Fenix to hurricanrana him to the floor. Back in and Fenix hits a pop up cutter for two, setting up another super reverse Spanish Fly. This time they both land on their feet, setting up Martin’s poisonrana. The Nosedive misses though and Fenix grabs an over the shoulder piledriver for the pin at 9:38.

Rating: B. This was more exciting than pretty much anything else on the show and they did exactly what you would have expected from them. They flew through the match with one big spot after another (meaning we didn’t need a break here) and that’s all they should have tried here. Fenix winning makes sense but Martin looked good in defeat. Very fun match and the kind of stuff you knew was coming when it was announced.

We finally have Owen Hart Foundation brackets:

Rey Fenix
Kyle O’Reilly

Samoa Joe
JOKER

Jeff Hardy
Darby Allin

Adam Cole
Dax Harwood

Darby Allin and Sting know Allin’s match with Jeff Hardy will be special.

Here is Thunder Rosa for a chat. Everyone has a story and they all have good and bad people. She is the undisputed Women’s Champion and has worked hard to get here. Now she is the boss of this division and wants the best competition in the world. She drove eight hours to see the wrestler who made her what she is today and calls out the #1 contender, Serena Deeb. Cue Deeb, who thinks they can make this the best women’s division in the entire world. Deeb says Rosa knows she is on another level and it is time for her to win the title to show the world. The title match is set for Double Or Nothing after a fairly stumbling exchange.

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

John Silver is ready for CM Punk next week.

Ring Of Honor Women’s Title: Deonna Purrazzo vs. Mercedes Martinez

Champion vs. Interim Champion for the undisputed title. Feeling out process to start with neither of them being able to get very far. Purrazzo is looking frustrated early on as we take a break. Back with the forearm exchange with Purrazzo getting the better of things until a fisherman’s buster gives Martinez two. Purrazzo can’t get the Fujiwara armbar and it’s a double clothesline to put both of them down. The armbar is blocked again and this time Martinez pulls her into a surfboard dragon sleeper for the tap and the title at 10:38.

Rating: C-. I’m really not sure what to think of this, but these two were put in about as bad of a position as they could have been. Purrazzo is an Impact wrestler and Martinez, while in AEW, is hardly a regular. They were fighting over another company’s title in an AEW main event. In short, the fans came here to see AEW, not another company’s wrestler fighting for a third company’s title.

It was also an ice cold match as there was no hype for it on AEW TV and the limited promo time they had coming in was “I’m going to be the champ/No I’m going to be the champ”. The match might not have been great on its own, but they were put in a no win situation and the crowd being so eerily silent told you everything you needed to know about how this went.

Martinez celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This was not the strongest edition of Dynamite, as aside from the Fenix vs. Martin match and Page’s (short) promo, there wasn’t much to see. It felt like a show that was designed to fill in two hours with the main event in particular being a letdown. I wasn’t feeling this one, though odds are the NBA and NHL games are going to put a big hit in the audience. Maybe they took the week off as a result, but it didn’t make this much easier to get through. The good thing about AEW though: I have every reason to believe that this is a one off and not a downward trend, which is more than most companies can say.

Results
Jeff Hardy b. Bobby Fish – Swanton Bomb
Blackpool Combat Club b. AFO – Triangle choke to Angelico
Wardlow b. William Morrissey – Powerbomb
Chris Jericho b. Santana – Judas Effect
Rey Fenix b. Dante Martin – Over the shoulder piledriver
Mercedes Martinez b. Deonna Purrazzo – Dragon sleeper

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

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Dynamite
Date: April 27, 2022
Location: Liacouras Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone

We’re back with another focus on the Owen Hart Foundation tournament as Dax Harwood faces Cash Wheeler. In addition to that, we won’t be see Hangman Page this week as he has come down with the Coronavirus, meaning that we don’t quite get any advancement in his feud with CM Punk. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Owen Hart Foundation Qualifying Match: Dax Harwood vs. Cash Wheeler

CM Punk is on commentary and the guys come out together for a nice touch. They go to the mat to start as Punk talks about how he doesn’t necessarily like these guys but he does respect him. A series of headlocks takeovers are countered with a series of nip ups and we get a standoff with some applause. An armdrag into an armbar has Wheeler in control as commentary cracks some jokes about the wrestlers’ names.

Harwood pokes him in the eye though and Wheeler doesn’t seem happy. Wheeler takes it back to the mat for a quickly broken chinlock as Harwood takes him up top for a heck of a superplex. We take a break and come back with Harwood sending him flying off a suplex. They both hit crossbodies at the same time for a double knockdown before it’s off to an exchange of rollups for two each.

Harwood tries a slingshot powerbomb but gets reversed into a hurricanrana for two and they’re both needing a breather. The second slingshot powerbomb attempt works for Harwood but Wheeler is back with a piledriver. Harwood is able to catch him on top but Wheeler slips through the legs and pushes Harwood down.

The belly to back superplex is countered into a crossbody for two on Wheeler and a running crossbody sends them both to the floor. They both make it back inside at nine but Wheeler has a banged up knee. Harwood can’t bring himself to stay on the leg (Punk: “You gotta sharp that shooter!”), allowing Wheeler to try a small package, which is reversed into another one to give Harwood the pin at 14:26.

Rating: B. This was the kind of match you would expect from these two and Harwood wins with a wrestling move in the end. That’s all you could have asked for from these two and now they can go back to being the best team in the world. They teased just enough tension to make it interesting without going over the line and it was good quality stuff on top of that, just in case you didn’t think this would be pretty awesome.

Official for Double Or Nothing: CM Punk vs. Hangman Page for the World Title.

CM Punk heads to ringside and says he has never been in a locker room with as much talent as this before. Before he came back here, he wasn’t sure if he could still do this again. Now he knows that he can do this again and while he can’t guarantee a win, he can guarantee that he will give 100%. He has never been a gambling man, but you can bet that he will fight until the wheels fall off in Las Vegas.

Scorpio Sky says it is no coincidence that he is here, fighting for the TNT Title again. He didn’t ask Frankie Kazarian to step aside if he was going to win and the fans are here to see him beat up Scorpio Sky. There can only be one face of TNT and you’re looking at him.

Blackpool Combat Club vs. The Factory

Wheeler Yuta gets the hometown reaction and William Regal is on commentary. The Club has nothing to do with this waiting around and jumps them before the bell. Moxley hits the release suplex on Aaron Solow and hits a belly to belly suplex. Regal loves that Solow’s eyes are watering so Moxley can “batter the granny” out of him without him seeing it coming. Yuta comes in with a dropkick for two but doesn’t quite hit the one on Comoroto that well (Regal: “We’ll have to work on that.”).

We take a break and come back with Marshall making the mistake of mocking Danielson, allowing Yuta to snap off a German suplex. Danielson comes in to clean house, including the dive to the floor. There’s the missile dropkick to Solow but Marshall breaks up the LeBell Lock. Moxley takes Marshall down and clotheslines him to the floor, leaving Danielson to kick Solow out of the air. Yuta gets the tag but is thrown around by Comoroto. A pair of chokes doesn’t work on Comoroto so Yuta elbows away and rolls him up (with Moxley and Danielson choking out the other two) for the pin at 8:20.

Rating: C+. I think we’ve firmly established the idea here and now it’s time for these guys to move into an actual feud. The Club is a hard hitting team who feels like they could fight anyone, but they’ve been beating up lower level people for weeks now. They need to move into an actual story rather than a bunch of one offs, as their status is pretty clear. Maybe they can make one more of these things work, but find them some good opponents soon.

Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter and Toni Storm are willing to just talk and avoid physicality but Storm brings in Ruby Soho, who has also qualified for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. Soho knows the two of them have always had something to say so she wants to fight right now. Baker says no physicality because they’re off to Soho’s home in catering.

Jungle Boy says that he should have beaten Kyle O’Reilly last week but he didn’t get it done. Christian Cage says that Jungle Boy sounds like a loser, even if he isn’t one. Cage says he’s throwing out the challenge to any top five ranked team so here is Team Taz, ranked #3, to accept. Luchasaurus growls.

Lance Archer vs. Wardlow

Before the match, MJF and Shawn Spears are in the luxury box again, with MJF saying Philadelphia women use their personality as birth control. Wardlow comes out to no music and wearing handcuffs, allowing Archer to dive onto him as the handcuffs are removed. The bell rings and Wardlow sends him straight into the corner, setting up a running shoulder to the ribs. The Powerbomb Symphony is broken up, as is Archer’s chokeslam.

They clothesline each other down and it’s Archer up first to hammer away. Archer walks the ropes to set up a moonsault into the chokeslam for two, with the crowd not really reacting. The Blackout gets two but Wardlow knocks him off the top and hits a Swanton of all things for two of his own. A four movement Powerbomb Symphony finishes Archer at 5:26.

Rating: B-. The booking of Wardlow continues to be the high point around here and this was no exception. Wardlow survived a beating against someone with some success and won in the end to slay the monster. That’s all it should have been as he gets one step closer to MJF. Double Or Nothing is coming and I’m curious to see what the stakes will be for their showdown.

Here is the Jericho Appreciation Society for a face to face sitdown with Eddie Kingston/Santana/Ortiz. There will be no physicality so get the three of them out here right now. The chairs are turned over and Jericho talks about how lucky everyone is to be living in his era. Santana flips Jericho off and says that Jericho forgot who got him here.

Trash is talked because Santana and Ortiz can’t hit them and Kingston isn’t happy with this standing around. Kingston talks about what a hit means in his world but Jericho says this place is Kingston’s last chance if he gets kicked out of another company. That’s too far for Kingston, who backs Jericho into a chair and threatens to put him in the ground. Jericho looks terrified as Eddie and company leave. They really need to announce/get to a match between these guys already because they’ve talked a lot.

Sammy Guevara is ready to beat Scorpio Sky again because Sky is so boring.

Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb

Street fight with Shida hammering away to start. The middle rope missile dropkick sends Deeb outside and then rams her into the buckle from the apron. Deeb falls back to the floor but manages to chair a flying Shida out of the air to take over. Back in and a shinbreaker onto the chair makes it worse for Shida as we take a break. We come back with Shida’s knee in big trouble but managing to counter another shinbreaker onto the chair. Deeb is sent outside but comes up with some powder to blind Shida.

That’s broken up as well as Shida comes back with a kendo stick shot, allowing her to wash her eyes out with some water. The Katana is cut off with a chair to the knee though and Deeb wraps the chair around Shida’s leg. That’s broken up as well and Shida hits the super Falcon Arrow for two. Deeb is back with Deebtox onto the chair for the same, setting up some rams of the knee into the chair. The Texas Cloverleaf makes Shida tap at 11:37.

Rating: B-. It was fun enough, though I don’t think it needed the weapons to prove the same point. This feud stopped being interesting more than a few weeks ago and I didn’t exactly need the blowoff but at least the right person won. Deeb gets the win to end the feud and should be on to a run against Thunder Rosa, which should be a good match.

MJF screams at Lexi to get out of his frame and then calls someone, offering him six figures to face Wardlow. He called someone bigger, taller and stronger than Wardlow….and you can’t teach that.

The House Of Black has taken out Fuego del Sol. They tease unmasking him but Alex Abrahantes pops up in the ring to say not so fast. The House goes after him but here is Penta Obscuro, Pac and…..Alex Abrahantes, because it’s Rey Fenix in the Abrahantes costume in the ring. Death Triangle clears the ring and we seem to have a six man tag set. This is another feud that has dragged on for so long now that I can’t quite bring myself to be interested. Also, it’s hard to care that much when I keep expecting Pac or one of the other members to go away for a month and a half after the match.

Swerve Strickland and Darby Allin are ready for their Owen Hart Foundation qualifying match on Rampage. They have fought for years and don’t quite see eye to eye on whose house it is.

Undisputed Elite vs. Varsity Blonds/Brock Anderson/Dante Martin/Lee Johnson

Martin gets punched in the head to start but the Blonds come in for the save. The non-Elite takes turns kicking everyone to the floor and it’s a pair of dives from Johnson and Martin. The good guys rule the ring and we take an early break. Back with Johnson getting double superkicked, setting up a four way BTE Trigger, setting up the Boom for the pin on Johnson at 6:27.

Rating: C. They hyped up this match as something important and then it’s a six minute match with a break in the middle? Kind of a weird way to go with this one but they didn’t bother with much of anything in the way of wasting time. Just have the bigger team take a few shots and then win in the end, as should have been the case. Now maybe we can move on to the most interesting thing in the world: the Bucks having friends.

Post match, the Undisputed Elite all put on matching shirts.

The Jericho Appreciation Society has jumped Santana and Ortiz and throw a fireball at Eddie Kingston. This company has an obsession with angles involving someone being blinded.

Quick video on Trent Beretta vs. Samoa Joe for the Ring Of Honor TV Title.

TNT Title: Sammy Guevara vs. Scorpio Sky

Guevara is defending in a ladder match. They fight on the floor to start with Sky sending him into the barricade but Guevara comes back with a Release German suplex on the ramp. That lets Guevara bust out some angels in the snow, which has JR a bit taken aback. They get inside with Sammy going up (nowhere near the belt) and then diving off….and hitting only the mat, leaving him knocked silly as we take a break.

Back with Sky climbing a ladder so Guevara dives off another, only to get pulled out of the air with a cutter. With nothing else working, it’s time to bring out a barbed wire ladder (because that’s a thing). Guevara fights up and sends Sky into the ladder but Tay Conti and Dan Lambert get in, with Conti kicking him low. Cue Paige VanZant so the big brawl can be on, with Conti kicking him in the face.

The ladder is set up and they both climb, each with a woman on their back. The women are thrown off, leaving Sky to bite Guevara’s finger. Guevara shoves him down anyway and goes up, only to be knocked down onto the barbed wire ladder. Sky goes up and, after knocking the springboarding Guevara down again (because he was back up in 12 seconds), wins the title at 14:02.

Rating: C+. This show ended about 20 minutes ago now and I have no idea what to make of this match. They certainly did some stuff and Sky gets the title back, but that’s about the extent of the logic. I was more or less checked out on the match as soon as the barbed wire ladder was brought into play, as that sounds like something you put in a comedy match rather than something important. Throw in Sammy bouncing back up from landing on it and the rather scary landing before the break and this was much more a WHAT ARE THEY DOING match than anything I would have liked to see.

Overall Rating: B-. Given how ridiculously (and I don’t mean that in a good way) stacked this show was, I was fairly disappointed in what we got. The ten man tag was a squash, the street fight was pretty good and the ladder match…..hey did you see that street fight? They crammed A LOT into this show but most of it only somewhat delivered.

There was some rather good stuff in here though as Wardlow continues to be presented perfectly and Sky winning the title again got a great reaction. I liked Punk’s stuff too and the opener was very good, but the parts that they hyped up the most didn’t work all that well and it brought things down a bit.

Results
Dax Harwood b. Cash Wheeler – Small package
Blackpool Combat Club b. The Factory – Cradle to Comoroto
Wardlow b. Lance Archer – Powerbomb Symphony
Serena Deeb b. Hikaru Shida – Texas Cloverleaf
Undisputed Elite b. Brock Anderson/Dante Martin/Lee Johnson/Varsity Blonds – Boom to Johnson
Scorpio Sky b. Sammy Guevara – Sky pulled down the title

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

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Rampage
Date: February 25, 2022
Location: Webster Bank Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Chris Jericho

We are less than two weeks away from Revolution and the show has mostly come together. There were three more matches announced for the card this week on Dynamite so now it is time to start hammering in the build. That might be the case this week, as Rampage tends to have some storyline progression to go with the main wresting focus. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

TNT Title: Andrade El Idolo vs. Sammy Guevara

Andrade, with Matt Hardy, is challenging and he takes it to the mat early. A chop rocks Sammy but he’s back with a kick to the face. Neither of them can hit a finisher early so it’s a shoulder to put Sammy down again. Sammy knocks him outside and teases the dive but Andrade slides back in. That’s fine with the champ, who hits the Spanish Fly to drop Andrade this time.

Sammy’s springboard is loaded up but Andrade shoves him off the top and out to the floor for a crash into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Andrade being sent outside again, this time for a big running flip dive. Andrade is fine enough to hit a slingshot hanging DDT onto the apron (cool) but Sammy grabs a super Spanish Fly for two more.

They slug it out until Andrade goes to unhook the turnbuckle pad, allowing Matt to unhook the other pad. Sammy is back up with a failed GTH attempt, allowing Andrade to roll him up for two with his feet on the rope. Replays showed that Matt shoved the foot off, allowing Sammy to jump over him and hit a superkick. Sammy goes up on the exposed buckle but Andrade is up there to meet him. That earns him a kick to the face, sending Andrade down onto the exposed buckle. The double springboard cutter drops Andrade to retain the title at 12:24.

Rating: B. The match was a bit clunky in places but Sammy getting another win, and possibly knocking Andrade away from the title picture for a bit, are both good things. There was one minor note here that got my attention: Jericho mentioned that Sammy asked him to stay out of this at all costs. It was a quick line, but it explained why Jericho wasn’t down there helping his buddy when he was dealing with a numbers advantage. One quick explanation covered an issue and that is very nice to see. Er, hear.

Post match Matt jumps Guevara, but Darby Allin and Sting run in for the save.

Here is QT Marshall to complain about Hook not being the nicest guy in the world. Marshall takes credit for teaching Hook how to be respectful and says he made Hook the man he is today. Taz: “He’s lost his mind.” Why doesn’t Hook get out here right now and get stretched? Cue Hook, so here are Marshall’s students to go after hook, who takes them out in a hurry. One of the students bails instead.

Dan Lambert has talked to Tony Khan about getting Scorpio Sky a TNT Title match but Khan only offered him a Face of the Revolution ladder match. Sky isn’t pleased but Ethan Page tells him to trust Lambert, who promises to get him his TNT Title shot before the winner of the ladder match gets theirs.

Nick Comorato vs. Wardlow

Wardlow gets knocked down to start but he’s back up with some suplexes. We take a break and come back with Wardlow slipping out of an Alabama Slam and hitting the Powerbomb Symphony for the pin at 6:25.

Rating: C. Why in the world was there a commercial in a match that barely broke six minutes? What we got was more of the Wardlow power display and that is always fun. It’s nice to see him doing this against someone who has some size and power of their own too, as Wardlow has mainly been squashing the smaller guys.

Post match Aaron Solow goes after Wardlow but Shawn Spears makes the save with a chair. Wardlow isn’t happy but Spears says the Powerbomb Symphony thing isn’t working. Spears tells Wardlow to get back to basics with NO MORE POWERBOMBS! Wardlow has so much potential and Spears and Max are so proud of him. Hugging ensues.

Kayla Sparks vs. Serena Deeb

It’s the Professor’s Five Minute Challenge so Deeb jumps her to start and chokes with a jacket. An uppercut to the back of the neck drops Sparks again and the Serenity Lock finishes for Deeb at 2:32.

It’s time for a Thunder Rosa/Britt Baker contract signing. Rosa says it’s time for a champion who doesn’t cheat and signs. Baker goes on a rant about how she got everything out of their Lights Out match, like the shirt and the action figure. Rosa is stuck wrestling online and being jealous because she’s so insecure. Baker signs and Rosa jumps her with Baker’s goons coming in for the beatdown. Mercedes Martinez makes the save and Rebel is put through a table. This was fast and felt like it belonged on Smackdown.

We get the face to face showdown between Orange Cassidy, with Wheeler Yuta, and the Acclaimed. Max Caster says Cassidy looks like Ryan Gosling with scurvy but Cassidy says he stopped listening hours ago.

Face of the Revolution Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Anthony Bowens vs. Orange Cassidy

Max Caster and Wheeler Yuta are here too. Hold on though as Cassidy is going to rap as well. Actually make that the lazy kicks before taking out the Acclaimed. Cassidy: “Word to your mother.” Caster takes out Yuta with a chain to the face, leaving Bowens to drop Cassidy face first onto the apron.

We take a break and come back with Bowens sending him into the buckle a few times. Cassidy slips away though and hits a high crossbody, only to get caught with a superkick. The Stundog Millionaire gets Cassidy out of trouble again and he plants Bowens with a Michinoku Driver for two. Bowens catches him on the apron but Cassidy takes out Caster on the floor.

There’s a big springboard flip dive to drop Bowens and Caster again as the pace picks up. Back in and top rope DDT and a spinning DDT plant Bowens for two but Bowens gets in a shot of his own. Caster goes after Cassidy but here’s Danhausen to curse Caster instead. The Orange Punch to Caster sets up an Orange Punch to Bowens to send Cassidy to Revolution at 10:15.

Rating: C+. There wasn’t much drama to this one but Cassidy can put on some entertaining matches under the right circumstances. If nothing else, the word to your mother part at the beginning was good for a chuckle. The Acclaimed continue to look pretty good in defeat, though their talking and charisma are the real strong points.

Overall Rating: B-. I’m still not a big fan out of how rushed this show tends to feel. There were no entrances until the Cassidy vs. Bowens match, which might not be that important but it would be nice to have a chance to see what is going on before the action starts fast. That point aside, this was still a good show with nothing bad and a solid opener. Another fun night, though you don’t need to see much after the title match.

Results
Sammy Guevara b. Andrade El Idolo – Springboard cutter
Wardlow b. Nick Comorato – Powerbomb Symphony
Serena Deeb b. Kayla Sparks – Serenity Lock
Orange Cassidy b. Anthony Bowens – Orange Punch

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

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Rampage
Date: February 18, 2022
Location: Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz, Chris Jericho, Ricky Starks

We’re a few hours earlier this week due to the NBA All Star Weekend. This week’s show doesn’t have quite the same level of star power that most weeks have, but Revolution is in about two weeks and it’s time to set up some more things. You can probably guess most of the matches from here though and that’s a good thing. Let’s get to it.

Here is Dynamite if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Adam Cole vs. 10

10 shoves him around to start before snapping off a German suplex. The right hands start up in the corner but Cole slips out and kicks 10’s braced knee. The knee is wrapped around the post but 10 is fine enough to hit a delayed vertical suplex. Cole knocks him outside though and it’s right back to the leg as we take a break.

Back with 10 not being able to get the full nelson, meaning Cole can enziguri him into a Backstabber for two. A discus lariat gives 10 his own two but Cole kicks him down again. The Panama Sunrise is countered with a spear for two so 10 grabs the full nelson. Cole drives him into the corner though and it’s a low blow to escape. Some superkicks set up the Boom to give Cole the pin at 9:46.

Rating: C. 10’s selling issues aside, this worked well enough as a showcase for both of them. Cole is only way to the World Title shot at Revolution and needed a win like this to help make him seem like a bigger deal and it isn’t like the Dark Order is going to be hurt by a loss. Nothing great, but at least Cole didn’t no sell something.

We look at CM Punk announcing his dog collar match against MJF at Revolution.

Face Of The Revolution Ladder Match Qualifying Match: Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Dante Martin

Martin strikes away to start and hits a springboard dropkick, followed by a non-springboard version to put Hobbs on the floor. Another springboard is broken up though and Hobbs launches Martin hard into the corner. Then he does it again as commentary points out how that has happened in every qualifying match so far.

We take a break and come back with Martin escaping a bearhug but not getting very far with some running shots to the face. A springboard uppercut works a bit better though and a springboard corkscrew dive to the floor drops Hobbs again. Back in and Martin tries to fly around a bit too much, allowing Hobbs to plant him with a spinebuster for the pin at 9:28.

Rating: B-. Power vs. speed/high flying is about as simple and classic of a wrestling formula as you are going to get and that is what we had here. Hobbs winning actually surprised me as Martin would have seemed to be a layup for the ladder match, so I can appreciate a bit of a twist. Good enough match here as Martin got to do his flying before taking the loss.

Jade Cargill wants her next opponent so here is Matt hardy with the Bunny. Matt thinks that would be a money match so Cargill says she’s fine fine with beating up the rabbit lady.

Serena Deeb vs. Angelica Risk

Five Minute Professor Challenge. Deeb takes her down without much trouble to start before sending Risk into the corner. There’s a catapult into the bottom rope for two as Deeb pulls her up. The powerbomb sets up the Serenity Lock for the fast tap at 1:51.

We get the split screen interview, with Jay White saying he’s ready for Trent Beretta, while Trent says he is in fact ready as well.

Trent Beretta vs. Jay White

Orange Cassidy is here with Trent. Commentary hypes up White being the first Grand Slam winner in the history of New Japan, which has been around for decades. Granted the Grand Slam has only been around since 2017 but he is the first. White drives him into the corner to start and stomps away until Trent fights up with some chops.

A suplex drops White and they head outside with White being sent into the barricade. Trent clotheslines him down and then heads back inside, only to get suplexed over the top. We take a break and come back with Trent whipping him into the corner and hitting an Asai moonsault (though Trent landed HARD on the floor). They head back inside where White hits a Downward Spiral into a bridging German suplex for two.

Trent punches and elbows him down against the ropes and White is knocked outside again. Trent’s spear is cut off with a raised knee though and Trent gets suplexed into the barricade. Back in and White hits a spinning Rock Bottom but the Blade Runner is countered into a running knee to give Trent two. They strike is out until Trent hits a piledriver for another near fall. Back up and White grabs the Bladerunner for the fast pin at 15:05.

Rating: B. White continues to look good and this was a nice debut for him. Trent is someone with the value to make White’s win matter without doing that much damage to him, making this a logical way to go. White is probably in for a huge story because he’s involved in the Bullet Club, meaning we are likely to see him a lot more going forward. That’s not a bad thing.

Post match Cassidy checks on Trent but White bumps into him, which sets up a bit of a showdown to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This one slowed down a bit as the star power wasn’t quite as high. That being said, it was still a good show with nothing bad and White making his debut. Rampage has a nice formula and it worked well here, albeit with some slightly weaker star power. If this is a bad one though, this show is going to be fine.

Results
Adam Cole b. 10 – Boom
Powerhouse Hobbs b. Dante Martin – Spinebuster
Serena Deeb b. Angelica Risk – Serenity Lock
Jay White b. Trent Beretta – Bladerunner

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

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Dynamite
Date: February 9, 2022
Location: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone

This is another big night and that is because Tony Khan has promised a huge debut in a qualifying match for the Face of the Revolution ladder match. As a result, there has been a lot of excited speculation and that has made the show feel that much more important. Other than that, we are probably seeing some more from the potential Jon Moxley/Bryan Danielson pairing. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Here is Wardlow with some cardboard cutouts of MJF sitting on CM Punk’s chest and MJF putting Punk in the sleeper. Wardlow looks annoyed as he hands Justin Roberts some cards with introductions for FTR with Tully Blanchard and Shawn Spears, who has his own introduction for MJF. As you might expect, it is as over the top as you can get, including talking about how he beat punk TWICE in the garbage heap that is Chicago in the mid-mid-mid-midwest.

MJF comes out on a throne carried by various men and kisses one of the women nearby. Confetti falls and the Pinnacle (minus Wardlow) celebrates before MJF talks about how he has proven that he is the best in the world. Actually, he is better than the Best In The World, but he couldn’t have done it without that big strapping muscular man…..Shawn Spears (Wardlow is not pleased). Speaking of Spears, he has a gift for MJF: his new Better Than The Best In The World shirt!

MJF is happy, but now he wants to be World Champion. Cue CM Punk to the stage, with Tony Schiavone going up with a microphone. Punk mocks MJF’s spray tan but realizes that he’s at a numbers disadvantage. That’s why he has some friends with him. Cue Sting and Darby Allin with baseball bats, with Punk saying he’s getting what he wants or beats it out of him: he wants a rematch.

MJF says no, but Punk wants a rematch with the man who really beat him: Wardlow. Dax Harwood is ready to fight, but MJF has an idea. We’re in Atlantic City so let’s gamble: Punk can pick any partner save for Sting/Allin and if he can beat the Revival, he can face MJF in any kind of match he wants. As for Wardlow, who is in a suit, he has a match right now!

There was a lot here, but something stuck out when Punk came to the stage. One thing I love about AEW is that when someone comes out with a microphone, it sounds like a person talking rather than a wrestler reciting lines given to them. Punk sounds different than MJF who sounds different than Hangman who sounds different than Britt Baker etc. It feels like people talking instead of people performing. That was the case here, as I’m not sure anyone else saying these lines would have worked, as they felt natural coming from these people. That’s a huge difference to what you hear in WWE and it helps a lot.

Andrade is in the back with Sting and Darby Allin and asks about Sting owning him. Sting says Allin has already explained this and Allin, who isn’t a boy, doesn’t need Sting to speak for him. Allin says he wants the TNT Title back, but Andrade says he’s the next champion.

Blade vs. Wardlow

Blade stomps him into the corner to start but Wardlow snaps off an overhead belly to belly. They head outside with Wardlow driving him into various hard things and we take a break. Back with Wardlow hitting a suplex and then the first powerbomb. The Powerbomb Symphony finishes Blade at 6:11.

Rating: C-. I doubt enough was shown for a rating but this was near total dominance, as it should have been. Wardlow continues to rise up the ranks and this time he beat someone with some more status. The Powerbomb Symphony is over and when Wardlow FINALLY turns on MJF, the reaction is going to be incredible.

Post match Wardlow celebrates and Shawn Spears chairs Blade in the back. Wardlow doesn’t look happy.

Penta El Zero Miedo is ready to destroy Malakai Black.

Here is part of the Inner Circle for a chant. Chris Jericho (who looks like he has slimmed down) says they haven’t seen Santana and Ortiz all day, but here they are to their own entrance and not in their Inner Circle gear. Jericho talks about how they wouldn’t tag him in during a six man tag a few weeks ago and wants to know what is up. Santana says it boils down to Jericho only caring about himself.

Every time Santana and Ortiz get closer to winning the Tag Team Titles, they have to come save Jericho from whatever he is doing. The days of bailing Jericho out are over because Santana and Ortiz need the titles. Jericho says Santana reminds him of Eddie Guerrero and says this is all because of Eddie Kingston getting in their ears. Kingston has never done anything but it was Jericho who brought them in and is responsible for their success.

Jericho brings up them losing the Tag Team Title shot against the Young Bucks about a year ago, which had nothing to do with him. He brought them into the Inner Circle and he can kick them out, because maybe he brought in the wrong members of LAX. Jericho: “Hey Jake, do you have Homicide and Hernandez….” and Santana lunges for him.

Sammy Guevara cuts them but Jericho tells him to shut up. Guevara tells Jericho to save it and while he loves these guys, he’ll quit again if the team can’t figure this out. Guevara leaves and Ortiz yells at Jericho about how he keeps talking about things. Instead of talking, they can fight it out next week. Jericho accepts the match on Hager’s behalf against the two of them and attendance is mandatory next week. Hager never said anything during the whole showdown.

Roppongi Vice is ready for the Young Bucks, who show up and are ready to fight right now. Adam Cole jumps Vice from behind and the big beatdown is on, including the BTE Trigger to Rocky Romero. Cue Jay White to take out Romero and seem to be happy with Cole and the Bucks.

Face of the Revolution Qualifying Match: Isiah Kassidy vs. ???

The mystery opponent is…..Keith Lee, who looks like he has gotten in better shape. The fans sing BASK IN HIS GLORY and Lee LAUNCHES Kassidy with a beal to start. Kassidy gets sent outside but comes back in to fight out of the Spirit Bomb. A dropkick has no effect on Lee, who Pounces him out of the ring. Matt Hardy walks out on the match so Marq Quen grabs Lee’s leg. The distraction lets Kassidy get in a corkscrew dive to actually knock Lee down, but Lee swats a kick to the face out of the way. The Big Bang Catastrophe finishes for Lee at 4:26.

Rating: B-. But remember: there was nothing for him to do in WWE. You know what you have him do? Beat up people every week and wow the crowd, then have him do it to a bigger name. That’s how wrestling has worked for the better part of ever, but for some reason WWE couldn’t think of something for him. Either way, at least he’s here now and got a great debut.

Post match Quen goes after Lee, who gets knocked to the floor. Then he catches a diving Kassidy, followed by catching a diving Quen.

Mercedes Martinez is ready to end Thunder Rosa in a No DQ match, because we need one every week or so.

FTR vs. CM Punk/???

The partner is…..Jon Moxley in a good choice. Harwood works on Punk’s wrist to start but Punk is out without much effort. Moxley comes in for a headlock takeover but it’s quickly back to Punk. Everything breaks down in a hurry with FTR being sent outside for a dive from Punk (who is favoring his leg).

We take a break and come back with Moxley getting choked down in the corner. Some legdrops put Moxley in more trouble but he manages a belly to back on Wheeler for a save. That’s not enough for the save though as it’s a Veg-O-Matic (old Midnight Express move) for two on Moxley.

Back up and the big clothesline gets Moxley out of trouble, allowing the hot tag off to Punk. Everything breaks down and it’s a Doomsday Device for a close two on Harwood. Wheeler pulls Moxley outside for a tornado DDT before grabbing the ring bell. Punk rolls Harwood up for two and the kickout lets Wheeler hit Punk with the bell.

The brainbuster gets two on Punk but the GTS is countered into the Big Rig for two more, with Moxley having to make a save. A simultaneous GTS/Paradigm Shift is broken up so Punk pulls Harwood down into the Anaconda Vice for the tap….which the referee doesn’t see. Instead Tully Blanchard hits Punk with a jacket so it’s a GTS (after some stumbling) to Tully. Now the Paradigm Shift/GTS can connect for the stereo pins at 19:36.

Rating: B+. Yeah this was great and I don’t think that’s the biggest surprise. I don’t think there is any shame in losing to a pair of former World Champions and it isn’t like FTR has meant much in the last few months anyway. What mattered here was having a great match with Punk and Moxley fighting through all kinds of trouble to get the win. I don’t think Punk vs. MJF II is a shock, but Moxley getting involved, even slightly, is interesting. Heck of a match.

Jade Cargill vs. AQA

Non-title and the debuting AQA was trained by Booker T. AQA goes after the arm to start but her short armscissors is countered with a deadlift into a slam. A dropkick puts Cargill on the floor but she blasts AQA with a forearm. We take a break and come back with Cargill hitting an Ultimate Warrior gorilla press slam but AQA knocks her down again. A heck of a shooting star press gets two on Cargill but she catches AQA with a Tour of the Islands. Jaded finishes AQA at 7:31.

Rating: C+. This was longer than it needed to be but AQA showcased herself well. She looked smooth and crisp in the ring and felt like she knew what she was doing. At the same time, Jade continues to be a force of nature, though she is clearly still rather green. That being said, leaving her to basic power moves that show off her natural skills is a great thing and works very well for her.

The Young Bucks, with Adam Cole, are ready to go after Roppongi Vice. Cole says Jay White can have their back next time, but the Bucks aren’t wild on Cole bringing in White without giving them a heads up. Don’t worry though, because Cole says it’s cool.

Serena Deeb vs. Katie Arquette

This is part of Deeb’s new Professor’s Five Minute Rookie Challenge, meaning there is a five minute time limit. Deeb knocks her into the corner, pulls her down, waits for a second, and finishes with the Serenity Lock at 58 seconds.

The Gunn Club is ready to win the Tag Team Titles on Friday.

AEW World Title: Hangman Page vs. Lance Archer

Page is defending in a Texas Death Match and the fight is on in the back before the bell. They come to the stage with the bell ringing and Page hitting a running belt shot. Page sends him through a glass wall and Archer is busted open. They get inside where Page hits the Buckshot Lariat to send Archer outside for a seven count. A suicide dive is cut off with a trashcan lid to the head, but here is Dan Lambert to unhook a turnbuckle. Page has to superkick his way out of a chokeslam and it’s a moonsault off the barricade to take Archer down. They head back inside, where the top rope is down, meaning no Buckshot Lariat.

We take a break and come back with two tables set up at ringside. The Black Out and the Deadeye are both broken up so Page (also bleeding) kicks Archer in the face twice but gets knocked down again. Jake Roberts hits the short arm clothesline on the floor but Archer won’t let him hit the DDT for some reason.

Instead Page hits one behind Jake’s back but a bunch of kendo stick shots wake Archer up. The chokeslam onto the trashcan knocks Page silly but Archer would rather whip out a fork to stab Page in the head. He even licks the blood off as it feels like we’re in ECW again. Archer pulls out a barbed wire chair before hitting the Blackout onto the side of the steps.

Instead of winning, Archer picks him up though and Page pulls the barbed wire off the chair. The Hangman Page, using the referee instead of a rope, with wire around the arm, drives Archer through the tables at ringside. That’s finally enough to finish Archer and retain the title at 15:24.

Rating: B. The ending was cool, but egads this was up there in the “violence for the sake of violence” category. I’m not sure how much drama there was over the result but at least they beat each other up. That being said, the fork and the licking of the blood was WAY too far for me, as it didn’t so much make me think thata the match was extreme. Instead, it made me think I was watching something out of XPW or some hardcore indy and that’s not a good thing.

Post match Adam Cole comes down and picks up the title to end the show.

Overall Rating: A-. This show was built around surprise moments and energy and they both made for an awesome night. Lee wasn’t the biggest surprise, but you could feel that he was bringing something different and it worked on all levels. Jay White is a very cool addition and Moxley made for a great partner in an outstanding match. The main event is going to be hit or miss for a lot of people, but it was a hard fought cap on one of the more entertaining nights I’ve seen around here in a long time.

Results
Wardlow b. The Blade – Powerbomb Symphony
Keith Lee b. Isiah Kassidy – Big Bang Catastrophe
Jon Moxley/CM Punk b. FTR – Double pin
Jade Cargill b. AQA – Jaded
Serena Deeb b. Katie Arquette – Serenity Lock
Hangman Page b. Lance Archer when Archer couldn’t answer the ten count

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: January 19, 2022
Location: Entertainment & Sports Arena, Washington DC
Commentators: Jim Ross, Excalibur, Tony Schiavone

It’s a big night around here as we have the return of Jon Moxley after a nearly three month absence. Moxley has been out of action due to undergoing alcohol rehabilitation treatment and it is great to have him back. What matters most is that he is healthy and if that is the case, I’m glad he can be around here again. Let’s get to it.

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

Here is Jon Moxley to a hero’s welcome to get things going. Moxley gets in the ring and, after telling a fan “Go f*** yourself, get that piece of s*** out of here” (completely uncensored on the broadcast), Moxley talks about having a dream where a demon told him he would never make it. He has more scars on his body than most people and those are the things that tell our story. Those scars are the ones that tell us the story of who we are. Nobody is perfect and no one should be afraid to stand up and bare it all.

Everything that makes you the person you are, scars and all, should make you say THIS IS ME. If you want to write him off, he’ll tell you where to shove all that s***, just like he told that demon. For everyone who has supported him, thank you. He is going on a pilgrimage and do whatever he wants to the world of professional wrestling because he is truly free. No one here can put him through worse than he has been through and these days, all he drinks is blood. Well that was amazing, and one of the most emotional speeches you’ll see in a LONG time.

MJF talks about CM Punk needing to steal a win by using the hair and trunks last week to beat Wardlow (who could have escaped with a bit more experience). As for this week, it is Wardlow’s birthday and MJF offers him a sincere apology for losing it last week. Wardlow seems to appreciate that….but MJF is docking Wardlow’s pay for putting his hands on him. MJF moves on to Shawn Spears, who is going to hand PG Punk his first loss, while teaching Wardlow a lesson. The turn is going to be incredible when we finally get there.

Adam Cole/Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander/Orange Cassidy

The women start but Baker tags out almost immediately. Then Cole tags out, meaning Statlander has to come back in. Hold on though as Cassidy does the lazy kicks, earning himself a stomp to the food. Statlander comes in to slam the posing Baker but it’s too early for the Big Bang Theory. It’s back to the men, meaning Cassidy can hit a tornado DDT to send Cole outside.

Back in and Statlander grabs a delayed vertical suplex on Baker, with Cassidy shoving it over. Cassidy hits a rather low dive on Cole before stopping for a pose, allowing Baker and Cole to superkick them down. A nice kiss sends us to a break and we come back with Cassidy taking Cole down.

The women come back in with Statlander hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb for her own two. A neckbreaker takes Statlander down though and it’s back to Cole for the superkick to Cassidy’s knee. Cole hits an enziguri but Stundog Millionaire gets Cassidy out of trouble. Baker comes in off the blind tag to break up Beach Break and Stomp Cassidy down. Statlander kicks her in the face and hits something like a Falcon Arrow for two.

Area 451 is loaded up but Cole covers Baker….which is fine with Statlander, who splashes both of them. The Beach Break hits Cole for two but he superkicks a dive out of the air. Baker takes Statlander to the ramp for a Canadian Destroyer, leaving Cole to Panama Sunrise Cassidy for two. With nothing else working, Cole loads up a table at ringside (because we need tables), only to have Cassidy accidentally knock Baker through it. Cole is livid and it’s a low blow into the Boom for the pin at 14:22.

Rating: C+. That’s it for the feud right? There is no reason for Cole and Cassidy to feud any longer and hopefully we can move on and let Cole do something more important. The match was your usual AEW match with big kickouts and went on a bit longer than necessary, but it did have the entertaining bits that you would expect.

Chris Jericho tells Eddie Kingston to GFY but Santana and Ortiz don’t like him talking about Kingston that way. Actually, when has Jericho even had their back? Maybe next week, they can prove that they don’t need Jericho. That seems to shake Jericho a bit.

Adam Cole is sick of Orange Cassidy. He has beaten Cassidy every way he can, but now Cassidy is attacking Baker? Next week, it can be No DQ, anything goes, lights out. It might not be a good idea to point out that you have beaten the guy over and over before challenging him to another match. And great, ANOTHER hardcore match.

CM Punk vs. Shawn Spears

MJF is on commentary as the GTS finishes Spears at 12 seconds. Much like last week: that’s how I like my Spears matches.

Post match Punk poses so MJF tries to sneak in, only to have Punk jump in his face. Punk grabs the scarf but MJF bails from the threat of a right hand.

Billy Gunn stops Christian Cage in the back and says his sons have earned a Tag Team Title shot against Cage’s friends, the Jurassic Express. Cage says make a statement and they’ll talk. Cue the Gunn Club to jump Christian and send him head first into the steel door. Billy as a mouthpiece for his kids is a completely acceptable idea and an upgrade over what he has been doing.

Here is Cody Rhodes, with a huge ladder in the ring. Rhodes talks about CM Punk’s pipe bomb, which was the beginning of a revolution. Some of the things Punk were saying were the blueprint for what AEW would do. After pausing for some negative chants, Cody talks about how Punk made the comeback of the decade and we are all living it. Cody starts yelling about how he carried the revolution and since “you ask me why I won’t turn heel”, it’s because they cheered him when he needed it the most.

There are industry journalists who talk about opening the forbidden door…and now let’s talk about how ReDRagon passed hiptoss class. There are wrestlers elsewhere named Gunner McGillcutty or whatever it is but then he was gone for two weeks and there is an Interim TNT Title. Fans have been taught to believe that any title without the word World in it doesn’t matter.

That’s why he wants to face Sammy Guevara in a ladder match at Beach Break for the undisputed title. I got the gist of what Cody was saying here, but this was all over the place with one idea after another thrown out there but he kept moving on before getting to the point. The ladder match (because this company loves ladder matches) is a fine way to unify the titles, but this was a rambling mess of an insider/shoot promo and it was all about Cody, again, without making much sense until the end.

Jade Cargill has issued an open challenge for the TBS Title and Anna Jay is ready to accept it. Jay talks about the hardcore match from a few weeks ago to show she’s ready.

Kings of the Black Throne vs. Varsity Blonds

Brody shoves Garrison around to start and sends him outside, meaning it’s off to Pillman. That doesn’t work though as Pillman won’t try Air Pillman. Instead he drops outside to talk to Garrison, who is driven into the steps. Back in and Black sweeps Pillman’s leg so Garrison can hit a backsplash. Garrison is taken out again and Dante’s Inferno finishes Pillman at 1:48.

Post match Black tells the House of Black to rise but Pac, still blind, pops up on screen to say he is beyond Black’s reach.

Video on Lance Archer vs. Hangman Page, with Jake Roberts returning to say Archer is ready for Page.

Roppongi Vice steals Brandon Cutler to challenge the Young Bucks to a match on Rampage. They beat the Bucks in Japan once so they can do it again. Cutler thinks the Bucks are going to kill him. Romero: “Then turn the camera off bro.”

Lance Archer vs. Frankie Kazarian

Jake Roberts and Dan Lambert are in Archer’s corner. Archer hammers him down before the bell and then stands on Kazarian’s neck. The beating continues with Archer slowly pounding away as Kazarian can’t get anything going. Kazarian gets dropped again and again and we take a break.

We come back with Archer loudly saying “F*** YOU” (seemingly to a fan) and sending Kazarian chest first into the buckle. The Blackout is broken up with Kazarian finally getting in a little something. That doesn’t work for Archer though and he chokeslams Kazarian down as this is going WAY too long. Archer finally finishes with the Blackout at 10:01.

Rating: D. This was a bad miss, as Archer didn’t look like a monster but rather a guy lumbering around and (very) slowly beating Kazarian down. I don’t know if they were told to fill in time or what, but they took what should have been a three minute match and stretched it way further than it needed to be. This doesn’t make me want to see Archer vs. Page, but rather seeing a big audible call.

Post match, Dan Lambert goes on another cowboy rant against Hangman Page, but Archer cuts him off because he’s sick of this s*** (as we have even more swearing, which isn’t as edgy as AEW seems to think it is). Archer loads up a chokeslam off the ramp but here is Hangman Page for the save. Page gets kneed down so he pulls off his cowboy boot to blast Archer in the head. The Buckshot Lariat is blocked so Page forearms him out to the floor. Page stands tall.

Dante Martin is ready for Team Taz, with Lee Moriarty and Matt Sydal having his back until his brother gets back.

Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs are going to prove Martin is all alone because he’ll need someone to watch every side.

Leyla Hirsch breaks up a Red Velvet/Kris Statlander interview to complain about their loss on Friday. Velvet says it was miscommunication and gets her arm barred as a result.

Serena Deeb vs. Skye Blue

Deeb takes her down to start and sends Blue to the apron to keep up the beating. Back in and some uppercuts to the back of the heck set up a fisherman’s neckbreaker. The Serenity Lock finishes Blue at 2:50. I can absolutely go for more of this Deeb.

Ethan Page wants a big match on Rampage and tells Tony Khan to put the franchise player in.

On Rampage: Ethan Page vs. Jon Moxley, plus Roppongi Vice vs. the Young Bucks. We get some New Japan footage of their previous matches.

Video on Hook.

Matt Hardy has signed Andrade El Idolo 51% of the Hardy Family Office but he is still in charge of the board of directors. Andrade will be the president though, and they are now the AHFO. Now, they want Darby Allin. I’ll take them combining some of their more boring acts into one.

Acclaimed vs. Darby Allin/Sting

Caster’s rap promises to make this worse than Starrcade 97 so you know it’s serious. The Acclaimed jump them before the bell as Tony says he still can’t explain Starrcade 1997. A chair is wrapped around Allin’s neck and Caster whips it into the post. Sting is back up as medics check on Allin but he’s willing to fight on his own. Sting takes the Acclaimed down to start but the Stinger Splash hits an exposed buckle, giving Bowens two.

We take a break and come back with Sting putting Caster in the Deathlock. Bowens hits a discus forearm but Sting yells and doesn’t let go. A superkick breaks it up but Allin comes back in to make the save. Allin gets taken down again so the Mic Drop can give Caster two. Sting backdrops Bowens over the top and splashes Caster through a table at ringside. Fans: “YOU STILL GOT IT!” I don’t think YOU STILL GOT IT is a term that applies to something that Sting rarely did, but fair enough. The Coffin Drop finishes Bowens at 9:20.

Rating: C+. Sting matches are all smoke and mirrors, but dang they’re fun smoke and mirrors. They aren’t doing anything too bad and the fans’ reactions alone carry the matches to another level. That being said, Sting and Allin have to be close to being #1 contenders right? They’re undefeated and just beat the #1 contenders, so shouldn’t their title shot be coming soon? That’s not a bad thing, but it should be addressed.

Overall Rating: C-. I’m not sure what happened tonight but this might have been the biggest miss Dynamite has had to date. There were good parts to it (Gunn being moved into a manager role (at least for now), Deeb’s squash, the main event, Spears going short again and King/Black’s debut) but the rest was a bit of a mess. It felt like they didn’t have a plan tonight and it was kind of all over the place.

The biggest standout part was the Cody promo, which started and ended well but took a right turn into lala land in the middle. I still don’t know what he was trying to say with a lot of that and it was one of the bigger head scratchers in recent memory. In addition, you have Cole saying that he has done everything he can to Cassidy, including pinning him tonight, but now we’re going to do it AGAIN, and this time in a hardcore match.

That is where AEW is starting to slip a bit for me, as it feels like they are trying to be a modern day ECW. Between the constant hardcore based matches (I believe Cole vs. Cassidy makes three since December 31), the table spots (two tonight) and ALL THE SWEARING, it feels like they are trying to push the envelope for the sake of pushing the envelope. When you do that kind of thing all the time, the impact goes away very fast and that is what they are doing now. Just pull it back a bit and save that stuff for when it matters, not whenever you can throw it out.

Overall, this show just did not feel like AEW quality. Dynamite has been good to excellent most of the time but they have been missing a bit in recent weeks. I don’t know if that is due to some kind of Covid deal shaking things up backstage or something else, but the shows have not been the best as of late. Maybe they need to change something backstage, because this is starting to trend in a bad direction.

Results
Adam Cole/Britt Baker b. Orange Cassidy/Kris Statlander – Boom to Cassidy
CM Punk b. Shawn Spears – GTS
Kings of the Black Throne b. Varsity Blonds – Dante’s Inferno to Pillman
Lance Archer b. Frankie Kazarian – Blackout
Serena Deeb b. Skye Blue – Serenity Lock
Sting/Darby Allin b. Acclaimed – Coffin Drop to Bowens

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