I found out astonishingly recently that the Lucha Bros are actually shoot brothers. I found this particularly surprising considering how little chemistry I felt they had the last time I watched them, both as personalities and in-ring. I must have either missed or forgot why Eddie and Butcher y Blade are out here with them. Jurassic Express were alright - I think Jack Perry is a mostly fine five or six out of ten kinda wrestler who, because of circumstances, people got really worked up about, but maybe that's over now. 'Saurus had some fun hot tags, but the real star was Marko Stunt who got injured in the last block and I will miss him.
Excalibur is asked by JR to explain why Penta is now Penta El Zero M, and it genuinely sounds like he's thinking up a non-copyright related reason off the top of his head. The best bit is when 'Saurus does a weird chokeslam type thing while Fenix was stood on the top rope that required Fenix to front flip and almost land on the top of his head. The rest of the match is about what I'd expect; pretty whatever. Inoffensive, but it's face v face (I think?) so nothing to really cling onto there, and the lads on the outside don't really add anything to the match itself. An airy late 2010s PWG match.
There's dissension between the defeated Lucha Bros after the match and Kingston INSISTS that they shake hands, which they eventually do. These five are a unit apparently, and they could run this place if they're on the same page. Eddie throws himself into this and delivers impeccably, but I'm ready for his next thing soon.
Jake The Snake and Archer cut cool promos in the rain.
People applaud Matt Hardy for not dying in that classic match at All Out. His shirt says "I don't die", so hopefully this can clear up any future perils.
Angelico is like Chris Brookes if he was fairly good. Orange makes quick enough work of him after some fun with wristlock reversals early on in the match. That's how you do this kind of match between two guys with vastly different hierarchies. Are they starting to learn? Not really, because that's still an issue today, but compared to Adam Page vs. "Five" in the last block this seems like a miracle.
Santana and Ortiz come out to pummel Orange and their adversaries the Best Friends come out for the save. The Best Friends say that this must end and next week they will meet in the parking lot for a fight. I'm looking forward to that because I recall their brawl in the last block being pretty good, and the Chuck Taylor retirement match which was basically a re-do of this was fucking awesome.
Alex Marvez would like to hear from the Young Bucks, so he knocks on their locker room door. There's no answer after one knock, but after the second they open up and kick him in the face.
Kip Sabian - officially crossed into "you've got to hand it to him" territory for still being employed. He oversaw the betrayal of Christian Cage and still added astonishingly little to the Patriarchy/Matriarchy act. Here he's overjoyed to announce his best man for his impending wedding to Penelope Ford... it's Beyond Wrestling alumni Puf!! No, actually he just told Puf that he said "he's the best, man" for subscribing to his twitch. Now for the real best man... it's TAFKA Brian Pillman Jr.! They make the same joke... again! For some reason! Third time lucky, they finally get around to introducing MIRO!
What a fucking baffling way to introduce him this is. It always lead to mixed results, the old AEW trope of "we'll just let 'em do their thing, unlike that OTHER PLACE who had them under the thumb!", but this one feels particularly ill-advised. The Bulgarian Brute is now Kip Sabian's gamer buddy from Twitch. So, so odd.
Miro immediately mentions both the glass ceiling and the brass ring. The latter of which you can take it and shove it up your ass! "Your" = Vince!! This stuff feels like such a relic already. Miro says that if you watch him on twitch you will see that he is the best gamer. JR says "impactful!..."
After this, Tony Schiavone is sat down for an interview with Adam Page after losing the tag titles to FTR last week. I really struggle with Page's character at this time. It feels like he has an aesthetic in lieu of an actual character, really, and he feels uncomfortable getting to grips with the size of role he's been given. I'm still not a big advocate of his at all, but he has certainly shown significant growth.
What a strange feeling it is to watch these four interacting. It is funny to see JR tackle the 'any pronouns' deal with Sonny Kiss. It's like he thinks there's a rule that you have to fluctuate each time you refer to them. This is a PG hardcore match that would slot onto any WWE house show. Janela takes a couple of nice bumps, as you'd expect. Otherwise, there's not much here. Jericho announces they want to go on a run in order to challenge for the tag titles.
MJF yells a bunch, just for a change. Wardlow's Batista push continues. Tony fucking loves a Batista push.
FTR insult almost all of the babyface teams in the division to their faces, then Marko Stunt dumps an ice cooler on them. Because it wouldn't be a 2020 Dynamite without some food or drink hijinks in there. Seriously, they're in love with this trope at the moment. It baffles me.
Taz is very amused with Ricky Starks' Darby impersonation, therefore so am I.
We are shown clips of the All Out matches, including Britt vs. Swole which made JR go "jeez..."
Conti is another one in the "you just have to hand it to her for still having a job" category, except she brought a Hijo/Hija de Guevara into the world so I DO NOT HAVE TO HAND IT TO HER! Apparently this is her first outing after being signed here. Much of Conti's offense looks pretty bad, there's an armbar shortly before the finish where she just has no idea what to do with her legs. Nyla does well just chucking her around though, and I kinda dig the association with Vickie. It's odd, but not bad at this point. Nyla wants to inflict further punishment on Conti but Shida comes out and plainly points a kendo stick at her.
Really good match. It didn't feel like they were going for anything extravagant, but it's just two guys I believe in and trust to deliver. I am sick of zooming shoots of guys' faces after their opponent kicks out of a big move, but Brodie's eyes make it really good here.
Pretty mediocre, saved by a high quality main event. There was nothing I really, really disliked here, but the average matches still just aren't up to the quality I'm accustomed to with current AEW. Segments aren't great either and it still feels like a grasp for identity at this stage.
Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss vs. Kip Sabian/Miro (w/ Penelope Ford)
RIP Road Warrior Animal. That graphic is the first thing we see. And now, in a fitting tribute, here's Kip Sabian. It's what he would've wanted.
A Janela pre-tape promo alludes to the fact that Kip Sabian is engaged to Penelope Ford, who Janela used to date, and this is important info that you could not do without. Then he laughs maniacally for some reason. Miro looks good, as you'd expect. Sadly, it's not a case of him finishing this one off within 90 seconds of tagging in, but oh well. JR mentions that he was trained by Rah-Kishi - yeah, in the Raja Jackson GBH promotion! Anyway, Miro gets the win with the Accol- the "Game Over"! Because he is gamer! Yeah, bizarre presentation here and though I can't fault Miro himself, this was not the impactful debut you would want from somebody such as him who stands out on looks alone and was so adept at squashes in WWE.
Eddie Kingston promo
Eddie Kingston paces out right as Kip & Miro are leaving and calls out Mox very well, labelling him as a sports entertainer, which I'm sure annoyed all the right people. Mox wastes no time meeting him out there, but a bunch of security dweebs pour out and get in between them before anything can happen. The anticipation for a main event I was already looking forward to on paper has increased, though! Good segment.
Adam Page vs. Evil Uno
I think I've made it quite clear that these extended Hangman matches vs. Dark Order members are really not doing it for me. Hangman is just not that good yet, and according to these matches, that applies to kayfabe too. I don't know if Page is just an overly giving wrestler, but just hurry the fuck up and put the guy you're actually pushing over. Dark Order members distractingly stand hard-cam side on the stage, but they don't really do anything. Kenny is on commentary again, but he doesn't really say anything. I quite like Uno from time to time, but just no, stop; it's going in the bad matches list.
AEW TNT Championship
Mr. Brodie Lee (c) (w/ Anna Jay, Evil Uno, John Silver, Five & Ten) vs. Orange Cassidy
It's unfathomable to think that there's less than a month left of Brodie Lee wrestling. Just fucking tragic. Orange starts this one off with his lethargic kicks, and it goes about as well as you'd expect. Brodie slaps the fuck out of him and beats him down for a long time. He takes his time picking Cassidy apart and showing off those magnetic eyes. Orange begins a compelling comeback flurry, but is put down emphatically with the discus lariat. Very good match.
Mysterious music plays. That music then morphs into Cody's music. Cody has been gone for five whole weeks and has dyed his hair a shade of "slightly too" black. It's distracting me while he lays out Dark Order job boys. Brodie challenges Cody to a dog collar match in a promo where he uses the term "thirst trap".
Really Great Matt Hardy promo
This Matt Hardy promo is Really Great. I particularly liked when he said "the more things change... the more things change, the less they say the-". Remember the compelling angle where he was attacked? He suspects Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle. The Inner Circle come out to respond to this callout. Jericho laments that Sammy Guevara was put on the shelf by Hardy and nobody knows when he's gonna come back, but he was just kidding because Sammy Guevara is back right now. Joy. Private Party are out there with Matt too, by the way. Quen gets on the mic and doesn't really say anything. Kassidy also grabs the mic and challenges Jericho to a match next week, and his mic-drop line is "how about I make you my le champion bitch?". Later on, Jericho and MJF have a conversation and continue their "what if the Jericho/Owens story but with MJF instead?" story. So, uhh, lots of Really Great stuff here.
Diamante/Ivelisse vs. Thunder Rosa/Hikaru Shida
Nothing to say really. A forgettable affair. The Puerto Ricans are alright. Shida wins with a kick.
AEW World Championship
Jon Moxley (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
Oh man, an instant checkmark on the JR bingo card here, and it's one of my favourite tropes of his - "I would be shocked if Eddie Kingston doesn't rip that EARRING right out of the ear of the champion!" - he fucking HATES when wrestlers wear earrings! Just in the last month as of writing this, I've heard him say it about Ahmed Johnson in 1998 and Test in 2003. An eternal pet peeve that JR will hold as long as he is puffin' air.
Really sick match. A straight-forward but great fight. Hard striking, plenty of intensity, and I loved the choke-out finish. The Lucha Bros come straight out and attack Moxley, Hobbs comes out for the save but is thwarted, then Darby comes out but he's dealt with by Ricky Starks and the heels stand tall.
episode verdict
Definitely one of the better episodes I've covered so far. There are still some really bad acts, but I sense the improvement from what I have been watching. All the Mox/Kingston stuff was great, and I really enjoyed Brodie/Cassidy as well.
AEW Dynamite #52 (30/09/2020)
Darby Allin vs. Ricky Starks
Darby's friend, who I was later told was JPEGMAFIA, filmed a message for Ricky which ended with Darby in a body bag, being pushed down a wooden ramp that's on a hill. That's what his mates do to him, so why would he be bothered about Ricky Starks?
Some sick matwork tricks early on from Darby, which Taz fully admits they were not so prepared for. I really do like these matches that underline how well-rounded Darby's game is. Brian Cage attempts an early interference, but is intercepted by Hobbs. I was quite fond of Starks and he shows a great cut-off game here and solid heat. Darby wins an excellent match with lightning comebacks, finishing with a coffin drop to the spine of Starks.
Black-haired Cody comes out
Cody is back after being stunned by Brodie Lee, who took the TNT title in three minutes - a match I now realise I somehow must have skipped past last time, and I should remedy that before getting into this upcoming dog collar match. Cody notes how he has seen some people call themselves the ace of AEW. Do not make him laugh! "That can only be one of three people; the full metal champ - HIKURU Shida". Probably not her if you don't know her name, like. BUT WAIT!! I said impending dog collar match because I read cagematch, but here Cody says no to Brodie's challenge! "No as in 'no regrets'", that is! Wow, he trolled me good. Cody & Brodie have a pull-apart brawl. Brandi runs out and does a top rope senton for some reason.
AEW World Tag Team Titles
FTR (c) (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. SCU (Scorpio Sky/Frankie Kazarian) (w/ Christopher Daniels)
The Bucks are still doing interminable stuff where they kick non-wrestlers and then go like "Aw jeez. That's kinda awkward." - it sucks. SCU, meanwhile, get an ominous good luck message from a brooding Shawn Spears. Adam Page will be watching this one at commentary with a WHISKEY! Holy fuck, this gives him all the character values!
Cash feigns interference from Chris Daniels and gets him kicked out by the ref. Taz feels that this match is insane and says to Hangman that he might need another drink, maybe even a bottle! Adam Page is like "ha, I'm gonna need-I'm gonna need another bottle" - this should not have been tolerated.
I'm not an SCU guy and find them exceedingly plain, but there's enough fun FTR tricks to keep me invested here. Quite drawn out for a TV match, but definitely quite good. Tully holds down Sky's leg during a pinfall and FTR win. Excalibur breaks news about an AEW title #1 contendership tournament which contains among others; Kenny Omega. This makes Hangman sad.
Chris Jericho (w/ The Inner Circle) vs. Isiah Kassidy (w/ Marq Quen & Matt Hardy)
Jericho takes a clothesline from Luther in this one after being sent over the barricade into the wrestler-fans - I'd hoped this was leading to a singles match between the two, because: funny, but one of those hasn't occurred since 1993 in "Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling"! As I write this, everyone in the world is anticipating Jericho's imminent return to the WWE (late 2026 edit: LOL!), and so to briefly look back at his AEW legacy; there are big ups, there are major downs, but I think what I'll appreciate the most is unearthing the charming rando that is Luther.
This is a harmless match where a 23-year-old Kassidy looks pretty okay. It's more drawn out and competitive than I'd usually like from a match with such a strong hierarchy gap, but the veteran vs. rookie dynamic prevents that from being such an issue. There's some pretty strong nearfalls for Kassidy, until a really sick judas effect cut-off from a springboard wins it for Jericho. Somehow, another recommended match. Kassidy along with Quen may be in Tony's void-world as of writing this, but I can imagine watching this at the time and thinking that maybe he could potentially be something more. It didn't materialize but that might be as good as it gets for this Jericho vs. Matt Hardy feud.
After the match, Inner Circle spill in to beat up the faces, and Jericho & Hager also go after Luther & Serpentico, so I guess that's what's coming up.
There's a segment with Kip & Miro are discussing an upcoming bachelor party, and Miro meets world record holding gamer Billy Mitchell. I DON'T GET IT!! WHY MIRO NOT CRUSH?!?
Orange Cassidy (w/ Best Friends) vs. Ten (w/ Colt Cabana, John Silver & Five)
Before the match, FTR confront the Best Friends and call them comedy backyard midcarders, Best Friends feign to punch FTR which makes FTR flinch and look pretty bad. Orange calls them "weenies" and Surly JR says "did he just say weenies on television?!? WEENIES!".
Rick Knox looks absolutely fucking miserable as Orange does lethargic shadowboxing. This is a straightforward match; not quite a squashy because Orange does some selling for Preston Vance here, but wins very simply after his first major comeback. Bit of a waste of time, really.
MJF has gifts for The Inner Circle but he forgot Sammy blah blah blah blah blah.
Red Velvet vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD (w/ Reba)
Extended squash. Red Velvet hardly got a lick in. Baker's offense honestly didn't look too bad, though. Baker underlines her victory by putting Velvet in the Lockjaw, which I think is a silly move - just bite down!
AEW World Title
Jon Moxley (c) vs. The Butcher (w/ Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero M & Rey Fenix)
Eddie comes out and he has his arm around a reluctant Bryce Remsburg. Eddie says that he is gonna choose the person to beat up Jon Moxley tonight, but first he questions Bryce why he rang the bell against Eddie in Eddie's previous match with Mox despite Eddie not tapping out to the bulldog choke. Bryce is eMoTiNG! Eddie and The Lucha Bros are about to beat Bryce up, but Mox comes down just in time to TURN HEEL BECAUSE I WANTED TO SEE BRYCE REMSBURG GET BEATEN UP!! Mox is here with a barbed wire bat. Taz is surly about it. Eddie distracts Mox on the mic as The Butcher materializes behind Mox to get the jumpstart on him.
The Butcher has had a world title match - not an eliminator, an actual world title match. Fun AEW quiz fodder of a statistic there. The Butcher looks cool, but he seems kinda uninspired and lethargic here in his long control segments. Perhaps the climate is playing its part here, as I anticipated a bit more intensity from both guys here but you only get that in spurts. Not terrible, just a bit disappointing. Mox retains, obviously, after Butcher taps to the bulldog choke.
verdict
One of the better episodes for matches! There are still a couple of crap segments, but solid episode on the whole. I am definitely feeling the progress they are making.
AEW Dynamite #53 - Chris Jericho's 30th Anniversary Celebration (07/10/2020)
Jericho tribute intro
A video package in which babyfaces and heels lavish praise on the career of Chris Jericho. Darby Allin sounds particularly bored while giving his soundbites.
FTW Title
Brian Cage (c) vs. Will Hobbs
I believe it was the Hobbs vs. Miro match in 2023 which started AEW fans chanting "meat!" any time there's a battle of the heavyweights. In this one, Taz says "two meat sandwiches collidin' - splat!", and I would like to petition that "splat!" would make a better chant. I liked this one quite a bit - always think Hobbs just looks solid as hell at all times and I was sad to see him leave Tonyland. Cage's worse tendencies tend to be pretty reined in in most of his AEW stuff too. Taz commends Hobbs on a great losing effort after the match, giving him an ultimatum to either join Team Taz or get whooped by Cage & Starks right now. Darby comes out, though, and Team Taz backs off. There's a shot where Hobbs moves into frame while Darby has his back turned to him that makes it seem as though a heel turn is imminent, but... it didn't happen!
Here's another video package with some of Jericho's buddies, featuring Slash from Guns 'N' Roses. Slash says wow 30 years, I had no idea you were doing it that long. I also doubt he was paying much attention or cared.
AEW World Tag Team Titles
FTR (c) vs. The Hybrid2
TH2 have racked up an astounding three consecutive victories on Dark. I haven't got to see a huge amount of Evans thus far and it's very funny to hear JR react to him, I wonder how he'd respond to witnessing Evans during his prime. The Young Bucks are watching this on a monitor at the WWE angle. A Cash hammerlock gets JR & Schiavone sidetracked reminiscing about Gene Anderson. JR does the 'overestimate their height' thing with Angelico, guessing he must be about 6'6", which is odd for someone who's never been looked at as a big man. Evans fucks up a corkscrew leg drop thing, almost crushing Dax's face with his foot. Otherwise, Evans was pretty fun to see here - it's not 2005 Evans of course, but it's pleasant enough to see him in this environment. Solid defence for FTR - obviously since I was mostly writing about the commentary, it wasn't all that great or anything.
The Young Bucks hit their favourite move - the superkick - on the cameraman who they notice has been filming them the whole time, then they make quippy remarks like 'ooh, sorry buddy'. It is not funny.
Now Best Friends come out and continue the bit of calling FTR weenies. Best Friends were pretty bulletproof when it came to acting like goofs, but this is unforgivably "some shit that Roman Reigns would say in 2015". Bad vibes in the tag division currently.
Gene Simmons, MJF, DDP, Don Callis (with a bit of hair!) and Lars Ulrich continue the Jericho love-in.
Dog Collar match
AEW TNT Title
Mr. Brodie Lee (c) (w/ John Silver) vs. Cody (w/ Arn Anderson)
I did make sure to get around to Brodie's squash to dethrone Cody - really well-done stuff, I'm sure it was super effective at the time, and now I'm even more looking forward to this one.
I know it's pandemic wrestling and all that, but what a sad image. Somebody be his friend!
Brodie really has the perfect face for getting across the gravity of the match gimmick and building anticipation. Cody gets an early smack on John Silver which causes him to bleed. Cody murks Silver again with a dropkick after Brodie instructed him to just take a seat and stay, and Anna Jay has to cart him away from ringside. Cody is the first of the actual competitors to bleed. Really nice hateful work, chains wrapped around fists and throats. Steel touching teeth. Malicious stuff. Some classic chain psychology - Cody utilising his arm to prevent himself being hanged over the top rope. Loved Brodie hurling a chair rim first at Arn, which provokes Arn into coming in. Alex Reynolds tries to intercept Arn but gets spinebuster'd, but then Brodie wipes out Arn.
Cody gains the win after getting Brodie into this fucked up scenario and hitting the CrossRhodes. What a fantastic match.
And that was the final match in the life of Brodie Lee. I don't know if he was mentioned much during his illness, but this might be the last time he is mentioned in this project until his tribute show. I was out of wrestling by the time the news hit, but it really upset me. I don't have much else to say. It was just a cruel loss and I miss him. He would be thriving today.
Big Swole vs. Serena Deeb
They won't stop plugging AEW Heels!! I don't get the purpose of it! Deeb gets a jobber entrance here, for some reason. It's a match that happened. Deeb's technique and form is very good, Swole's isn't. Swole wins. Thanks for that.
The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho & Jake Hager) vs. Chaos Project
Some final well wishes from the likes of Lance Storm, Ultimo Dragon and Thin Kevin Smith - hey, I just realised that I assume he did that shit before the ozempic boom. Nice.
Big babyface reception for Jericho despite him not doing anything babyfacey. I haven't seen much Luther in the ring and actually just watching him is pretty funny. You get some Luther/Hager interaction, this one has it all. Chaos Project play the heels for the night, never mind what happened last week. Jericho pops off a wee Judas Effect though to clinch the win.
MJF comes out, talks for ages, eventually gets to the point that he has some gifts for Jericho. Wardlow pulls a sheet and reveals a clown. The clown has a wrapped picture of MJF. Jericho smashes picture frame over the clown and does BEST JUDAS EFFECT EVER?? The ring fills up with dudes. Credits roll.
Alright.
verdict
Dragged way up by Brodie/Cody, but pretty inoffensive throughout.
AEW Dynamite #54 - Anniversary (14/10/2020)
EVERY AEW title will be defended tonight! If this was 2026, then this show would last for ONE HUNDRED HOURS!!
AEW World Tag Team Titles
FTR (c) (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Best Friends
Of course, what we want to see just before this tag title match kicks off is Kip & Penelope playing an arcade game - there they are, playing video games!.....Okay, tag titles match now.
Trent does a lot of FIP stuff here, which is an interesting choice when I'd have had Chuck down as much more natural for that. There's a bit where the ring has been cut off and Trent is striking Cash, edging ever closer towards Chuck and I'm kind of getting into it, but then Cash just hits the ropes and Trent turns around to lariat him and fall over rather than just go straight for the tag, and that took me out of it again.
The arcade game, out over the barricade where the wrestler-fans are standing, comes into play as Trent is sent into it, making quite a crash. Trent is out of it for the remainder, and a really stupid looking ref distraction means that Cash is able to hit Chuck with one of the titles and Dax gets the three. Eh, this definitely could've been better! Oh, Miro comes out to beat up Best Friends for wrecking the arcade game :-/ .........
Kip Sabian & Miro (w/ Penelope Ford) vs. Lee Johnson & Sean Maluta
It's a simple squashy - it would've made for a better debut than the Janela & Sonny match, for sure. Kip only does one move - a top rope splash - allowing Miro to make easy work of the two job boys. Kip & Miro get on the mic angry about the arcade game getting broken. It's just such a shit gimmick, wow.
Two great segments follow that. I don't really wish to write them out in full detail. MJF wants to join the Inner Circle and he & Jericho will meet next week for a steak dinner (L0L! FUNNEY!!). Britt Baker & Reba are in a spa and they're waxing Tony Schiavone's chest - I don't even know what's going on here. Britt's back next week. Much to look forward to!
AEW TNT Title
Cody (c) (w/ Arn Anderson & Brandi Rhodes) vs. Orange Cassidy
Pretty good match here, continuing the evolution of Orange Cassidy into what we see today. The beginning was well done, with Cody urging Orange to engage in supposedly his first ever collar-and-elbow tie-up. I enjoy Orange's balance here between the signature nonchalance and the willingness to wrestle intently for the title. It's a compliment to the rest of the action that when Justin Roberts announces that there's only one minute remaining, it felt like that had crept up on me rather than inevitable and transparent that that's what they were going for. Sadly, the last minute is the clumsiest of the twenty in total - Orange just doesn't ramp up the urgency upon this announcement, and I know that he is wholly capable of that. They were also a bit too desperate to have the bell ring after the referee's count of two because Roberts is counting down "four, three, two..." at which point Orange takes a solid two or three seconds to apply his cradle pin attempt. But ah well, good match! I recommend it.
Matt Hardy is cleared!! YAY!!!!! But who attacked Matt Hardy the other week? Ominous video shows a hooded man burning Matt Hardy 8x10s. It's Sammy Guevara. I AM SO PLEASED THEY ARE CONTINUING THIS FEUD!!!!
They are drawing names of tag teams out of a lottery cage to see who will be in a tournament to become #1 contenders to FTR at Full Gear. Private Party, Dark Order (Silver/Reynolds), Butcher y Blade, and The Young Bucks. Young Bucks superkick FTR!!!! The more things change... All the chosen teams brawl leaving Bucks & Private Party to stare each other down as if to say "this will obviously be the final of the tournament". Bucks feign to shake hands with Private Party but omg da superkick!
AEW Women's World Title
Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Big Swole
Day 1565 of me writing this blog and still no apology from me to Big Swole.
Shida actually looks inferior to Swole here. I've not been fond of either at all, but I still expected Shida to look like the better wrestler. Good lord no. Fuckin' patty-cake ass striking, ludicrously small and slow steps when running the ropes, she fucks up a kip-up badly. Given her reputation as this epic joshi underdog striker, a cut above all of those American women, I think she may be the most badly, bafflingly overrated wrestler of ALL TIME! And I wouldn't say ALL TIME as needless hyperbole; I really think nobody's reputation vs. the reality as I perceive it is as unbalanced as hers. Swole on the other hand just looked mediocre, but far better than Shida. Awful match!
No DQ
AEW World Title
Jon Moxley (c) vs. Lance Archer (w/ Jake Roberts)
We saw a bit of Archer beating Moxley up backstage and then a bit later a pull-apart brawl, that made Tony turn this into a no disqualification match.
Archer enters by hurling a backroom staff guy through some glass. It's a fun wee tables n chairs match where Mox takes the Blackout but turns the pin into his own cradle pin for the win. I think this could've reached another level if it was more of a wild brawl without the set-up weapon spots, but it's good and I really enjoy the dynamic between the two! Archer attacks Mox after the match and Eddie Kingston, who'd been doing commentary, orders the Lucha Brothers to go and help. Archer takes a chair shot to the back but is unphased and just walks away. Eddie picks Mox up and say he's proud of everything that Mox has achieved, but then swerves and back-fists him.
verdict
The segments are pretty fucking bad. MJF & Jericho is some WWE shite and continuing the Matt Hardy/Sammy Guevara feud just feels incredibly tone-deaf and deflating. The matches were largely better except for that mega crap women's title match. One of the worse episodes of this Full Gear build so far, probably.
AEW Dynamite #55 (21/10/2020)
AEW World Title eliminator tournament 1st round
Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy (w/ Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt)
Wardlow has some pretty cool stuff, it's just frustrating that he's known for his intensity and explosivity, and this is a padded-out match that only provides this in spurts. I think you could have made this a quick wee sprint victory for Wardlow without completely disregarding/burying Jungle Boy.
AEW World Title eliminator tournament 1st round
Kenny Omega vs. Sonny Kiss
After a couple of years of finding him pretty inoffensive, 2020 Kenny is reminding me why I was a bit of a hater in those days. Just a pretty ham-fisted heel act. Kenny, after coming out with women dancing with broomsticks during his entrance, finishes Sonny off swiftly with a v-trigger and a one-winged angel. No problem with that. Where I have a problem is this really annoying facial expression that Kenny holds for as long as possible during the pinfall - to me it is screaming "PLEASE MEME THIS!" and I disliked it viscerally. The bit Kenny does afterwards where he helps Sonny up and performatively points at Sonny as if to say 'Wow, what an effort. Everybody give a big hand to my opponent' is pretty good, but not enough to save this one from my shit list due to how annoyed I was by the rest of it.
Before we go into our next match, there are promos from Cody and Orange Cassidy about their upcoming match next week. There's a classic bit of thinly-veiled JR disdain after Orange's promo in which he says "that was really compelling, Tony..."
AEW World Title eliminator tournament 1st round
Penta El Zero M vs. Rey Fenix
I was braced for more of a straight up spot show, but the match had a fairly unusual rhythm to it. Penta assumes the more heelish role, with the match descending into a Methodical Pace™ as it goes into the ad break, which surprises JR. Fenix brings spurts of exciting comeback with like a Spanish fly in which he hops up from the second to the top rope at the last moment, though I expected a little more. The coolest moment is Penta cutting off with a pop-up Michinoku type powerbomb where Fenix gets great height on his sudden 90 degree bump. I was not at all keen on the finish, where Penta does the arm snapping thing, which already lacks gravity as an in-between spot on a weekly show, but importantly, he's already done it, but THEN he starts to act conflicted, doesn't capitalize straight away which allows a "playing possum" Fenix to hit a float-over destroyer and win.
That finish just did not work for me on any level there. Penta already doing a move that can be sold like death and THEN hesitating to do uhhh, his own destroyer, I guess. Secondly, the fact that Fenix is "playing possum" on a move we all saw was executed as intended that looks like it could lead to a serious injury. It was the same problem as all of those Marty Scurll matches back in the day; if you have a move where you maim a body part, but it's just a party trick you pull out as some shit that you get in, it's gonna look pretty fucking stupid every time the desired narrative is not "his limb is fucked now and so he dies" - I saw some people trying to point score by comparing the way Roman sold Penta's armbreaker recently to the way Mox and Cody had sold it in AEW - with the Cody one in particular, the armbreaker is done DIRECTLY before the finish in which Cody wins, how the fuck are you supposed to make it look good when that's the case? Roman obviously beat Penta by the way. It's good that it's been more than a decade and it's still not dawned on Penta that this always makes him look fucking toilet.
Final note on this finish: whatever you think about Fenix "playing possum" in this situation, doesn't it hurt its impact somewhat when commentary is like 'Could be playing possum here. Yep. I called it"? It totally undercuts any surprise element that it could have had, for better or worse. The rest of the match was alright. I saw the >8 rating of this on cagematch and despite not being bothered about either guy I figured I should include it in the project, since only so many TV matches have that kind of a rating, or else I may well have skipped this episode. Well, I am saying you can skip it. And what am I if not more trustworthy than 168 accumulated voters on the German website?
FALSCH!!
AEW World Title eliminator tournament 1st round
Adam Page vs. Colt Cabana (w/ Evil Uno)
It kinda bothers me that Evil Uno is rotating through idle poses on the stage opposite the hard cam rather than just being at ringside where he could conceivably be well placed to hand out tactical advice and encouragement to Colt.
The match itself is good, though! A surprise hit for me. It felt like a concerted effort by Page to give Colt his best match in years, as he takes a wild apron bump from the top rope for this seemingly throwaway match, though I certainly credit Colt equally for lots of the smart reversals - not reversals shoehorned into a homogenized sequence, but just satisfying, logical and instantly understood moments. Some of that is just good counter leverage/mat-based wrestling that you can expect from a prime Colt, but the defining moments are how the Buckshot lariat is handled - Colt keeps managing to duck it repeatedly, but Hangman hesitates for his final one, watching Colt duck again and waiting until he's back into position for it again to strike. I wasn't expecting to think much of this one, but it was a very nice match. I generally quite like Colt, but he's been largely very skippable for a long time now. As for Page, that has to be the most I've been impressed by him for this whole project so far by quite a distance.
that fuckin MJF/Jericho dinner segment
I've seen this once before on twitter or youtube or whatever. I'm sure you're quite aware of it, so I won't write out the beat-by-beat here. They bicker over steaks before launching into a Seth MacFarlane-esque comedy showtune. By the end of it, Jericho is beet red and sweating like a glazed ham, and what a fitting meat that is for this segment.
I'll give it enough credit to say that it is definitely a ballsy thing to put on a wrestling show. I'm not offended by the mere concept of a bit of surrealism or a musical number on the wrestling show. But is it good? I won't go that far. If the lyrics had been actively funnier then maybe, but no one-liners stood out to me more than the more general feeling of 'they actually did it - the absolute madmen!'. Like the concept alone of the segment is the memorable thing rather than the content of any of it.
Brian & Stewie's jobs are safe for now, I'd say.
Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. KiLynn King
Schiavone calls Britt a "domineering bitch", which earns him a brief scolding from Excalibur. I enjoy this wrinkle of Tony's character that we saw with the Mariah May stuff where he'll occasionally blurt something out in a moment of misogynistic rage. Elsewhere in the commentary booth, JR claims to be greatly entertained by the Impractical Jokers. By the way, female AEW fans, be sure to sign up to AEW heels .com! And it's that prompt from Excalibur which caused me to notice that this is the only representation of the women's division on this show, so, hey, they HAVE come a long way, folks. The match itself is a basic semi-competitive squash. Nothing especially good or bad to say about it. King seems a bit of a weird bumper, but did take a turnbuckle right to the face which looked pretty nice.
Before the main event, take a look at this: Darby Allin is with his buddy; Steve O. I didn't put a hyphen there because Jim Ross simply pronounced it like O was Steve's surname. We've seen Darby do some really elaborate stunts, but this is just a nice throwaway Jackass segment where he gets into a body bag and rolls from the top of a skate ramp, before underlining that he is gonna win that TNT championship. Cool.
AEW World Tag Team Titles #1 contendership
The Young Bucks vs. Private Party (w/ Matt Hardy) vs. The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs. The Butcher & The Blade (w/ The Bunny)
A clip is shown from yesterday's episode of Dark where Eddie Kingston has reunited The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny - much to the dismay of QT Marshall! I did not realise The Bunny was absent and I don't know how it involves QT Marshall. The things you miss when you're not a consistent Dark viewer.
This is a four corners type match where two guys are in and everyone else is just jamming on the apron. Sometimes there are tags and other times people just come in after somebody else falls out. I'm not usually a fan of these.
I started to think how DJ Hyde could have probably booked this exact match in like 2016 - only Butcher here is not a CZW alumni. I googled when Private Party got their start and if they ever worked Dojo Wars (they DID!!). I rewound the video at one point because it sounded like a commentator made a fart noise as Marq Quen was hitting a dropkick. I paused several times in order to write out these sentences. Anything, really, other than buying into this white noise of a match.
John Silver is the MVP here and there's a pretty fun flurry of stuff from him here where he's just taking out everyone, that's about the only moment I can say I particularly liked. FTR are mildly funny on commentary, addressing a bit where Sammy suddenly assaults Matt Hardy at ringside by saying Sammy's thumb was on the inside of his fist, and lambasting the typically indifferent refereeing of Rick Knox for allowing a tag where Silver was not stood on the apron. Pins are reversed towards the end between Matt Jackson and Isiah Kassidy, Kassidy's shoulders seem to pop up before three on the final but it's Mike Knox so he doesn't give a shit, and neither do I because I'm glad it ended. It will be Bucks vs. FTR at Full Gear - the first 2-on-2 meeting between the two, and who knows - it could be the last...........................!
FTR go to confront the Bucks with beers in their hands before a masked-up hoodlum assaults the Bucks from behind - it's revealed to be TULLY!
verdict
Crap, but Hangman vs. Colt was a nice surprise.
This is an episode of Dark with three semi-acclaimed matches. From least to most acclaimed; Sydal vs. Lee Johnson, Shida vs. Leyla Hirsch and Brandon Cutler vs. Peter Avalon. The first of those sounds the most appealing but it has only mild acclaim - I mean 5.78 from 8 cagematch votes is not real acclaim, but it has a rating. I obviously can't stand Shida but uhh I saw Leyla have a good match at a CZW Cage Of Death once, so maybe. And I probably haven't seen either Cutler or Avalon wrestle since some battle royal in 2019. An interesting crop, I guess.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I saw that the last episode of Dark I watched was an hour and 35 minutes. So it was somewhere between a gut-punch and a stabbing when I read that this one is 2 hours 21 minutes long. AND FIFTEEN MATCHES!! WHY??? THERE IS NO NEED FOR THAT!!! C-SHOWS WEREN'T MEANT TO BE LIKE THIS!!! IT'S COVID ALSO!!1 MANY OTHER REASONS WHY I AM OPPOSED TO THIS!!!! Sometimes the smiling face of Tony Khan is incredibly charming, like hearing the distant tones of an ice cream van on a warm but breezy day. AND SOMETIMES I JUST WANNA PUMMEL MY FIST INTO HIS NOSE AND JUST NEVER EVER STOP!!! I'D NEVER EVER STOP!!!! I'D FUCKING BLUDGEON HIM WITH MANY HAMMERS!! ...What's up Tony? 😎🧨
It's Excalibur, Taz and Anthony Ogogo on commentary to start out. Here I learned that Ogogo has a Jonathan Ross-esque speech impediment, so naturally two of the first words he says are "eewie" and "auwa".
Were there Dark-exclusive storylines? The Bunny has been leading on QT Marshall, which is news to me. Eddie Kingston is tremendously amused by the whole thing though.
Sydal vs. Lee Johnson is a nice enough match. Veteran vs. youngster dynamic where a lot of major star player potential is deemed to be seen in Johnson, but Sydal is deemed to be destined for big things in AEW. It's my duty to report from 2026 that neither has come true. This one was just missing something intangible to make it worth putting on the recommended list.
Shida/Hirsch was pretty good for a Shida match! I didn't misremember Hirsch being pretty damn good. Her grappling ability is definitely able to carry this one into being a strong match. Shida, while second best at the grappling, is totally competent at it here with some good bumping and a bit of flying. I don't know why her 'thing' is her patty-cake striking and fighting spirit then. It's literally what she's the least competent at and it makes her look like one of the worst in the world to me! I know I'm saying a minority viewpoint here but I've got shooters on this topic! My shooters will back me up!! Anyway, this one was pretty cool. Granted, it wasn't against Big Swole, but as I said during that one; Shida looked inferior to Swole in that one! Anyway, yeah, she is quite a perplexing wrestler, full of contradictions, to me.
There's a Jurassic Express match with some dudes. It's not a squash! It is ridiculously 50/50. I quite like the Jurassic Express act with Marko, but my god - this is just not what this is supposed to be. Stupidly overstuffed match to match with the format and general vibe of this show. This could be an awesome hour long show.
Peter Avalon vs. Brandon Cutler now. Avalon comes out with Leva Bates and he is shushing. Cutler has some kind of scary dragon helmet? I vaguely remember the librarian thing with Leva, but this feels like tapping into a new promotion for the first time - none of this has been anywhere near Dynamite recently. Alright, so this is one of those jokey indie hardcore matches, gotcha. Makes sense. The weapons involved include books which they bump on (Cushions the fall if anything, no? I would rather fall on neatly laid out books than some planks of wood. Especially considering some of the books are paperbacks), and different types of dice in lieu of thumbtacks. I guess Avalon and Bates had a falling out because they yell at each other and then she slaps him. Cutler gets a roll-up on Avalon while Avalon has a book in his hand, but Avalon waits until after the two count to hit him with it. Avalon makes a particularly annoying face after being slammed into the dice. The Bucks come out to cheer on Cutler and he promptly reverses a top rope hurricanrana into a winning pin. Not really my thing at this point, but I'm not too mad at it. I'd honestly be a bit frightened if these two went out and had a straight-forward barn burner that I went mental for.
Elsewhere; we have an early appearance from The not-yet Acclaimed and the gimmick is pretty well formed already, the mayor of Mobile apparently promised to make today Fuego Del Sol day if Fuego Del Sol is able to beat Brian Cage - he wasn't, Archer wrecks both Aaron Solow and Sonny Kiss while Jake Roberts reads out Humpty Dumpty, I don't think I've seen Darby squash a rando before, but it was quite good - he handles the hierarchy better than most.
The show isn't all that bad once you're watching it, but the format is a true monstrosity. I know they toyed with show length and match quantity a lot on this show seeing as they could do with it pretty much as they wished with the freedom of YouTube, but yeah... I'm looking forward to episodes that are not like this! If it would be profoundly unkind to put a live crowd through it, you probably shouldn't do it (I will grant Go vs. Fujita as an exception to this, though I haven't exactly rushed to rewatch that either).
AEW Dynamite #56 (28/10/2020)
AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament Semi Final
Adam Page vs. Wardlow
Before this gets underway, there is further tension between MJF and Sammy Guevara who are nose-to-nose I couldn't look away...! Also, I don't know if the audio production team has done anything different or if I just haven't plugged into this project for a while, but the white noise of the crowd is seeming extra canned today. This match just kinda coasted past me, I may just need to get my bearings back in this project, but the feeling of a really smart and satisfying match like Page had with Colt is not present here.
Eddie Kingston (w/The Blade, The Bunny & The Butcher) vs. Matt Sydal
Eddie has a pre-match promo and obviously it is nice. I like when he just bullies the cameraman, telling him to get out of his ring because he didn't train to be here. This is a good put-over for Eddie. Sydal gets some nice shine in his first proper Dynamite match, Kingston brings the cut-off game. Strong, simple match. Eddie locks Moxley's bulldog choke in on Sydal and keeps wrenching it until Sydal says he quits.
Before anything else good happens, there's an interminably long roflcore segment with MJF and the Inner Circle, where questions are put to them by personalities such as "Peter Avalon" and "Eric Bischoff". I keep picking the worst shit to put on for my exercise bike sessions, fucking hell.
Lumberjack match
AEW TNT Title
Cody (w/Arn Anderson, Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall) (c) vs. Orange Cassidy (w/Chuck Taylor & Trent)
Another pretty good one between these two! The lumberjacks largely do their job here of catching wilder than usual dives and adding a little extra element of chaos. Bit of a lacklustre finish with Cody winning because uhh, John Silver got involved, but in general I like the chemistry between these two.
Miro and Kip Sabian beat up Best Friends some more backstage for breaking their arcade machine!!!! WrestleMania X8 ass storyline.
NWA World Women's Title
Serena Deeb (c) vs. Leyla Hirsch
This is a really quality TV match. Man, Leyla Hirsch is so great. Where the fuck did she go? I think I have only seen her three or four times now, including her getting me to buy into a match with Shida - one of my least favourite wrestlers - and I already believe she may be better than every 2026 AEW woman not named Mercedes or Willow. And Serena too! At least she is kind of tried and tested, she just is one of the worst promos going (there's a pretty bad pre-taped one prior to this match) and can't get anyone invested in a PPV feud, but she should be on Collision! ROH? What the fuck are we doing here? I wish there was more of this - a match that revels in its mat work rather than overlooking it, looking like a struggle, looking like they're hurting each other. It's actually kind of embarrassing to let the NWA title scene be much better than your own, Tony.
Shawn Spears (w/Tully Blanchard) vs. VSK
Spears beats the guy instantly. Then he finds somebody in a bull suit heckling him and drags them into the ring. It turns out it's Scorpio Sky, because apparently these guys are feuding. I even scanned my mentions of Spears in this article here in case I had just forgotten it, but I don't think so?? Did this start on Dark or something?
AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament Semi Final
Kenny Omega vs. Penta El Zero Miedo (w/Rey Fenix)
Hmm, yeah, not a fan of Omega's quasi-cleaner character work at this point, but I suppose the ring is the safest place for him. This is prime AEW bangerslop in that there's not so much to pick at but there's also not so much to make me feel anything and it goes on a bit.
episode verdict
Three matches I liked a fair bit - I'll take it. Only the Inner Circle/MJF stuff is really maddening at the moment.
AEW Dynamite #57 (04/11/2020)
This show looks shit, but it's the go-home, so I guess it's going in the project!
MJF & Wardlow vs. The Inner Circle (Ortiz & Sammy Guevara)
Sammy & Ortiz wish to compromise MJF, making sure he doesn't make it to Full Gear where he could win the right to be in the Inner Circle.
I've just written that out matter-of-factly because I'm already just so done with this storyline. I had a miserable time with the match which has the gall to present MJF being face-to-face with Sammy as some kind of 'moment'. Matt Hardy interferes on Sammy to continue that simply brilliant and delightful and fantastic feud too. MJF attacks Jericho on commentary even though I thought the whole point of the storyline is the thinly-veiled idea that MJF wants to be buds with Jericho. Whatever, +10ing.
Trent (w/Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy) vs. Miro (w/Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford)
The arcade game nonsense is rubbish, but these two go back to the FCW days where apparently Trent had to drive Miro around a bunch. That's a bit of a better hook for the match. It's still not terribly interesting but it has its moments. Fairly unique finish of Miro finally being able to pounce to the finish when Trent messes up a springboard, in what was presumably a deliberate artistic decision?
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen)
Is there a heavier-handed seller in wrestling history than Matt Jackson? This shit looks ridiculous, man. Just have your fizzy cola cubes sugar rush trampoline match like you clearly wanna. Have that match so I could shit on that too.
Isiah Kassidy has a bit of a flurry in this, culminating in a dive that he rather soils by blowing a kiss to the camera, but actually just spraying sweat and saliva into the camera lens. Minus one thousand auras!
I thought it could be effective to have Private Party beat an apparently incredibly compromised Bucks, setting something up for when the Bucks inevitably power through and beat FTR, as well as underlining how much peril they'll be in on Saturday, but it wasn't to be. Fast-forward six years into the future and Private Party have never risen above this level.
It's simply incredible that this belongs to the same show as the Kingston/Mox segment here. I'm not a fan of in-ring talky segments as a rule, but I can't deny their chemistry here; the extra personal edge, the grit, the needle in the mannerisms of both guys. What on earth is it doing here? The company is blessed to have both guys at this time.
We also get a funny Pac vignette where there's loads of twisted Pacs all screaming in the face of the one Pac who is sat down and wearing a shirt. I think I'll be pleased enough to see him, anyway.
Mate, you're fookin crackas, you are ya absolute mentalist.
Nyla Rose (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Red Velvet (w/Brandi Rhodes)
Now that's some vintage bare-minimum effort Tony women's division. It's actually not a bad match at all; Velvet shows good intensity going on the attack, Nyla cuts off well and the power stuff looks good. It's just very short. I personally don't mind that because it aligns better with my TV match ideals than most stuff here, but it's short because it's the women's segment, not because they've figured out what TV matches should look like. So I'm a little conflicted as to how much credit to give to this. I considered adding this to the listy, but the finish convinced me not to. Nyla catches Velvet with a spinning powerbomb and it looked wicked, but she pulls Velvet out of the cover so that she can hit Shida's finish in order to Send A Message. It just looked way less good, probably because she was channelling Shida.
Oh, and if you're interested - The Bunny punked out QT Marshall, I guess. Man, it's a fucking good job that this isn't going head-to-head with any other wrestling, there's been a few episodes where this slot has really just been Tony's "maybe there's somebody out there who gives a fuck?" quarter hour.
Colt Cabana & The Dark Order (John Silver & Ten) vs. Cody & The Gunn Club (Austin Gunn & Billy) (w/Arn Anderson)
Although it's mildly charming to see the Gunns get a Dynamite debut, this is a seriously odd choice of main event, because it's only Cody who has the main event star power. Darby is, I guess, doing his bit, watching the match from up in the rafters (they showed a vignette of him getting hit by a car, by the way, so that's cool). I've seen worse today, but it goes far too long for what it is. Austin pins the number guy, so that's nice, I suppose. Orange comes out to doof with John Silver for a bit, because that's a PPV match apparently. Cody says Darby will never be The Guy.
Also included here is like a post-show sign-off by Cody just for the fans and Triller viewers, I guess. The most interesting thing that happens here is Billy Gunn being egged on to flex his biceps. The second most interesting thing that happens here is Cody says he got his surname back. I also saw Jon Moxley in some backstage area being handed a mic pack and a coffee. Interesting.
episode verdict
Load of shite match-wise. Great Kingston/Mox promo, loved it.
AEW Full Gear 2020 (07/11/2020)
So I started with this question last time for All Out, and the answer was zero. How many matches did the television make me more excited for than I would be just by looking at this card on paper?
Well, going by how different the ratio of recommended matches to shitty matches this time was, I thought it might be a sizeable amount of the card ...but not really. Kingston vs. Mox - definitely. It's an appealing match, and very well built. I'm also looking forward to Cody vs. Darby, but I'm not sure I can attribute any of that to the build - I am intrigued about Team Taz's promise they will be a factor at the PPV. That's basically it. So, one? One and a half? Still not great. FTR vs. Bucks; it has some appeal as the first-time ever meeting and a major marquee match for the division, but the build has been pretty bad. Hangman vs. Kenny; awful. Sammy vs. Matt Hardy; awful. Jericho vs. MJF; making me reconsider this whole project.
The Buy-In: NWA World Women's title
Serena Deeb (c) vs. Allysin Kay
Before this match begins, the first half hour of the buy-in is video packages, and then they start going through some of them again, so this is +10 city over here. Tim Westwood interviews MJF, I think it's the first time I've seen Westwood here.
Let me show you how it's going down!
Match time. Well up for a bit of Deeb, whereas I don't really remember much of anything about Allysin, who I don't think I've seen since around this sort of time.
The NWA women's title has a fucking picture of the champion inside it?!? Is that always the case?
The match itself is pretty alright. A large portion of it is Allysin working over Serena, and I found Allysin to be a little nondescript here. I think that maybe she's trying to carry herself as a power type of wrestler, because I guess she's a little bit taller than most female wrestlers? But she doesn't really have the presence to make it click. Serena is a good seller though, so it's fine, and thankfully she retains. She is then confronted by the prior champion Thunder Rosa. Cool. Should be good.
AEW World Title eliminator tournament final
Kenny Omega vs. Adam Page
Don Callis is here on commentary. He's the Impact Wrestling EVP, didn't ya know? And he has wee patches of hair and some stubble.
This match is pretty good - neither guy is close to being one of my favourites, but their high-octane styles complimented each other and had a COVID arena feel like it was buzzing. Nice sense of struggle before the finishing OWA. I didn't adore it, but I guess I was in a receptive enough mood for it, and I feel like I can't ask for a huge amount more from this style of wrestling.
Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver
John Silver has had a singles match on PPV? Fucking...good on him, I guess. This is another pretty good match! Obviously, it absolutely reeks of a Dynamite match or even a Dark main event, but I think it's fine enough to include it here when you factor in the momentum Orange was benefitting from at the time. I quite like Silver, so while it's fairly eye-popping for him to be on a PPV, I'm not against it! He's got some stuff! It just dawned on me that Silver could well have been a stand-in for Brodie Lee here.
AEW TNT Title
Cody Rhodes (w/Arn Anderson) (c) vs. Darby Allin
It may have only been a so-so build, but the video package sets the dynamic better than most of the actual segments did. I have to keep remembering that although Darby was pretty much immediately amazing in his EVOLVE years, he was still relatively untested in big, big matches and some probably saw him as a bit of a gimmick? I feel that's a perception that hasn't entirely been shaken somehow, despite how great he is on offense, on the mat, selling, the full package IRT wrestling to his size, some people only let themselves see the car crash stuff, therefore he has never been put 'up there' in, say, the cagematchsphere with the Ospreays, Omegas, etc. I guess there are just a lot of very surface-level wrestling watchers. I've even heard Darby himself sell himself short saying he takes the risks that he does because can't be as great technically as a Danielson. He can, I want to see more of it, and I'm starting to go eye-twitchingly insane at anyone else who doesn't acknowledge it.
But alas, here is a match with the Codester, who it's weird to watch in AEW in the present day with so much WWE running through his veins again, but he really did set the big match tone better than most of the originals were ready for at this time, and so the dynamic here with him being Darby's litmus test is a strong one. I was pondering whether it was a mistake for Cody to immediately rule himself out of AEW World title contention, but I guess that he didn't need to make the Jerichos, Moxleys and Omegas feel big time as much as he did the people who fought for the TNT title. Also, you can't ignore that the fake humbleness is a big part of the brand.
Gotta say, maybe it's because I pad these shows out a lot, allowing some things to seep out of my memory, but I have no fucking clue why Billy Gunn (and Hijos de Gunn) are in Cody's entourage clapping him.
I picked a good match to go on my little spiel about Darby, because this is immediately brilliant. The strength vs. speed storyline and the little taunts they do to underline it. Cody showing just the right amount of vulnerability in the early stages, with Darby able to overwhelm him technically when he utilizes his pace, until the first truly brutish moment changes the tone - hurling Darby from the ring to the ramp with his arm hammerlocked. Arn's great at ringside, bellowing out at Cody to stay on the gameplan. I miss him as a manager. And as a wrestler, to be fair. Cody's hubris while dominating eventually leads him to go outside of his bread-and-butter and miss a moonsault, allowing Darby to claw back a bit of momentum. It's short-lived though, and then becomes about how Darby won't die. A crossrhodes from the top, a big electric chair drop and a gorilla press slam won't kill him - sometimes through luck, other times through perseverance. It only looks one major blow away for Cody to take it home, though, but he lingers in position for the crossrhodes for too long. Darby attempts a pin, Cody sits on it, 2 count, Darby pin, 2 count, Cody pin, 2 count, I think a couple more instances of that, just as I'm waiting for the applause break I've become accustomed to; Darby pin, 3 count. That was wonderful, and certainly one of AEW's greatest matches up to this date. I wish more wrestling felt like it was of this substance and made my brain tick like this. Loved it.
Cody shows his respect to the new champ, but this is liable to make Taz puke! So Team Taz fucks everyone up, including throwing Darby through a very cardboard-looking part of the set, until Hobbs makes the save.
AEW Women's World Title
Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Nyla Rose (w/Vickie Guerrero)
Surprise, surprise - I didn't like it. To be fair, it was inoffensive for much of its runtime, but also uninspiring, and then started actively annoying me in the back half. Shida pulls off a falcon arrow from the second rope, and it just didn't feel like this big, earned moment that pulling off a power move on the giant should do, and then Shida pulls Nyla up out of the pin...! Why the fuck is an underdog babyface doing that? That's awful. Then Shida almost loses because of messy interference from Vickie, who I don't think adds much to Nyla's act. Shida wins anyway.
Post-match, Vickie screams in Nyla's face, slaps her, and Nyla just stands there and takes it. Jeez. I don't know how much title level stuff Nyla will be in from now on, but it'll be difficult to take much of it seriously after this shiter.
AEW World Tag Team Titles
FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)
I just wanna point out first that Meltzer gave this a fivenaquarta. Just a really funny Melty increment there.
I think that, similar to Kenny vs. Hangman, the build to this stuff has had me questioning my decision making to do this project, but when it comes time to just watch them wrestle each other; yeah, sure, fine.
I think having missed this stuff as it happened meant that I wasn't completely on the "oh god, stop booking this fucking match" train that others have been on for the last three or so years. I've also enjoyed the matches more than I enjoy the average Bucks match - Wembley 2023 was fine - the first time I saw the pairing together and it felt like they worked to their position on the stadium card, that ladder match was pretty crazy and is probably the most I've enjoyed an AEW ladder match (not the biggest compliment, but still), and the most recent one with a bit of blood and a more personal feeling was good by me too. I can be extremely low on the Bucks, so I call that a successful series of matches.
I'm big on FTR and I think they have one of the strongest structures in modern wrestling, up there with a Mercedes Mone. I've been sensing a bit of a loss of respect for that in recent years, partially cos the bald one likes Bret Hart 10% too much or whatever, but they're still top guys to me when it comes to modern tag teams.
I'm gonna have to go against the grain a bit here and say that I liked this less than the aforementioned matches, by a significant margin. Such a significant margin that I basically didn't enjoy this match at all. I should've seen it coming after Bucks vs. Private Party - Matt Jackson coming into a match with the world's sorest ankle, bringing back memories of his 'back selling year', which felt very performative and reactionary to all the "Bucks can't sell" critiques, and I'm not into it. I found myself comparing this to a match that happened recently as of the time I write this, Nigel vs. Moxley at Wembley Stadium, Nigel nailed the level of selling a pre-injured limb that I like to see - keeping it as an important bullet point of the match without bludgeoning it into me at every opportunity that foot hurty. Exactly the kind of thing I'm referring to occurs when Matt hobbles over to work over Dax's compromised hand, lifts his leg up higher than usual for a big stomp, but it turns out that it is painful to the pained foot when you slam the foot which is in pain into the ground as hard as possible! It just feels like complete lip-service selling, to sell not for the artform of it, but because your detractors said you couldn't do it, and oh boy I'll show them! I don't believe there's any rules to wrestling matches other than the kayfabe ones (although the prior match having an underdog babyface pull a monster heel up out of a cover certainly tested that theory), so if you are better at just doing a car crash stunt show than selling with any kind of consistent vulnerability, then just do that and it's fine - it doesn't mean I'll like it, but I think I respect it more in a 'staying true to yourself' kind of way. I do believe the Bucks have it in them to be more nuanced than that, but this attempt here was something I just found incredibly eyeroll-worthy.
I wish it was just this aspect of the match that I hated, but there's more. Elsewhere, there's a strike exchangey bit featuring Matt, which is something I don't think he even did in Japan and it seems quite self-evident as to why - he's not any good at it."Pulling a page out of DIY's playbook" isn't a sentence that should've ever been uttered in AEW, nor should it describe something which indeed happened. They also do Dudley and Hardy spots, because this is a tag team match and those are also tag teams of note. The FTR formula trademark of both being caught in submissions and one stopping the other from tapping is a bit of melodrama that has worked for me numerous times, but here it just doesn't feel earned. Melodrama in wrestling that doesn't feel earned just brings to mind why I and so many others all stopped watching NXT at around the same time in the year and a bit prior to this match. The "will Matt use a steel chair and get disqualified?" portion sinks this further into that territory.
FTR turn the heat up, remove Matt's boot and wrench the fuck out of that foot. Nick sees this and rather than entering the ring in the timeliest manner possible, climbs rope by rope to the top so that he can break it up with a 450, which adds nothing that a basic save wouldn't have achieved whilst completely diluting the feeling of urgency they were trying to achieve.
The only elements here I didn't mind were Dax hitting the ringpost and getting a bit of a wound on his hand, though more was done with that in a Mox/Mark Davis TV match earlier in 2026, and the finish of Cash getting overly cocky and ambitious, betraying their 'no flips' philosophy to try a springboard 450 being his undoing is fine. Cash does some other cool things throughout, because Cash is a nutter, but overall: what an annoying slog. I think the first paragraph that I wrote prior to starting the match is enough evidence that I really didn't expect to hate this match, coming somewhat to the defence of a feud many roll their eyes at that I would ultimately call "fine", despite a distaste for the Bucks' general work. Instead, I've only been reminded of why that distaste is present in the first place. I will say - all of the Bucks vs. FTR matches I've seen (all of them except the 2022 one now) have been very distinct from one another, and it'd be weird considering my standard hit rate for Bucks matches if I didn't dislike one of them.
I get it, though. It was a big first-time meeting - a dream match worked as such, in a style particularly en vogue at the time. I don't think it will age as well as most matches as I have a suspicion things are starting to trend away from these kinds of matches, but if this analysis in any way irritated you, let me instead leave you with the words of Ethan75 from the Dropkickd app: "A phenomenal display of tag team wrestling at its absolute peak, seamlessly blending breathtaking athleticism, intricate teamwork, and compelling storytelling to create a match that transcended the genre. ★★★★★" - his other reviews are usually just "Good.", "Solid.", "Mediocre.", "Bad.", so it's noteworthy that this matched evoked something more than a grunt in this guy.
Elite Deletion match
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara
Having disliked the prior match more than I expected, what a time to dive into two of the worst feuds the company ever did!
Of course, this can hardly be worse than their All Out debacle, but I'm still just about as excited to see it as I am roadkill. Squashed animals on the road, I mean, not the ECW guy.
So, I was questioning "what's an elite deletion match?". Somehow, and I really am ashamed of this, it really didn't cross my mind that I would see a 2017 TNA cinematic match. You idiot, you stupid fucking cunt. Of course it's a 2017 TNA cinematic match from the year 2017 in the promotion TNA, also known as Impact Wrestling. I basically forgot these matches existed, but I really should've sensed it coming and not been caught off guard by that first note of eeriemusic.wmv probably taken from the same copyright free folder Anthem used.
I did actually re/watch some of these matches last year when I arrived at this boxy hotel room with like the roku style of TV, so instead of normal TV channels it was like the Kitchen Nightmares channel, the Strongman Champions League channel, the Come Dine With Me channel etc. We have one at home in lieu of cable, and I usually just flick between Pink Panther and BBC documentaries with circa-2001-CGI prehistoric beasts fighting each other. For some reason, instead of any of these inherently better options I settled on the TNA Wrestling channel, obviously hoping for something from the 2000s but it was a Best Of Broken Hardyverse compilation episode.
I did like the original Final Deletion at the time and I think it held up okay - behind all the nonsense, that one was built around Jeff doing a cool swanton out of a tree. Then it immediately devolved into some of the worst, most self-indulgent shit I've ever seen. I understand it gave an already hobbling Matt Hardy an extra ten years and counting of work, but it's frustrating that a once great, funny and creative wrestler has dined out on the same tired, hacky shit for a decade now. It's also frustrating that his brother Jeff, objectively the coolest and sexiest wrestler of all time, has been weighed down by it too. At least for now it's only Sammy Fucking Guevara.
Here he is then, Sammy, in his fucking golf cart. It's a really crazy feeling to be like 3 seconds in and already hate something. It normally takes at least a minute or two to be in full seethe mode. I am relieved that the cinema takes more of a backseat after Matt tries to squash Sammy's golf cart with his monster truck, but there's still something so odd and desolate about watching one of these pre-taped with just a bit of crowd noise in the background and some very unenergized commentators. I don't think any previous iterations of this stuff had commentary and that was probably a wise move.
I keep willing it to turn into a 1999 hardcore title match, but there is lore and cameos to get to. Matt Hardy's one-man show of doing a move and then saying a meta comment in a funny voice can not be derailed. Gangrel turning up and threatening to murk The Hurricane (for some reason! I think I remember Hurricane being in one of those Hardyverse matches, but I think Gangrel is a new addition here) brought a brief sniff of quasi-laughter. And then it's also vaguely novel when Gangrel has to mix it up with Hardy's boys Private Party, who showed to try to neutralize Santana y Ortiz.
Towards the climax, the two get locked in Hardy's dome of whatever. Matt kicks out of a swanton off a ladder. Then they pay tribute to their WMOTY (WMOTD?) contender by painting some blood on the ground after Hardy sends Sammy through a table. Matt Hardy kills Sammy Guevara. Matt Hardy kills Sammy Guevara. Matt Hardy kills Sammy Guevara. The ref gets in for a better look and is like hmm dunno. Thankfully, a pinfall ends it here. The most late-TNA thing I've ever seen AEW do, and hopefully there's no more of it. It's not the worst of these Hardyverse matches because there is still somewhat of a focus on the action, and as far as these cameos go Gangrel is a good one, uhh the stuff with the fireworks could've been cool. But still, it's shit, and it's the third consecutive entry on the shit list.
If MJF wins, he joins the Inner Circle
Chris Jericho vs. MJF
Brief respite: I wish Lance Archer got a more focused push because this promo is nice and the partnership with Jake Roberts is great.
Is it a relief after the epic Matt Hardy cinema to watch a standardly boring and phony feeling pro-wrestling match? No, not really, but at least I don't feel the need to write a lot about this one. The meat of it is that both guys encourage one another to be at their hammiest and the cameras are always well positioned to capture their whiffiest strikes. The finish is MJF doing the Eddie playing possum spot when Hager threw the bat to Jericho, but rolling Jericho up when he was being reprimanded by Aubrey. Jericho is happy to welcome MJF into the fold after all. Okay. It's mercifully not too long, escaping my shit list by a smidge.
AEW World Title I quit match
Jon Moxley (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
I've been trying not to be too presumptuous that the bad sounding matches will be bad and the good sounding matches will be good, but I really needed the urgency of this one after everything that followed Darby vs. Cody. It's just a good story, worth telling. It's that gritty underdog's big chance role that Kingston succeeds so effortlessly in, something I really hope he can get back to in 2026, because when everything around him is on point, there's nobody quite like him in modern wrestling. It's such a strong narrative, I dare say it doesn't even need all of this plunder we have here. Although, the barbed wire and the tacks do feed nicely into Kingston's willingness to hurt himself to hurt Moxley more. Eddie pouring the rubbing alcohol on Mox was nice and novel, though it did have me wondering whether we'd get a sneaky fire tease.
One small critique - I know that Mox and probably Eddie too were deep into their contemporary NJPW bag at the time, and I could have done without the suplex-no sell-suplex-no sell-collapse spot, but it's a brief wee thing. Something I was wondering throughout this is how on earth they get Kingston to quit when he feels like the most determined guy on the planet, but it was handled convincingly enough: the bulldog choke with a strand of barbed wire doesn't sound like the most violent thing possible to end a hardcore match, but it's the slow realisation from Eddie that is done really well, while Bryce does his bit basically pleading for Eddie to see sense and give in - you won't see me praising Bryce acting much, but this worked on this one occasion. I may have preferred their prior Dynamite match by a nose hair, but still a quality main event! Nice post-loss reactions from Eddie and a wee nod of recognition from Mox, whose next major defence will be against Kenny Omega.
show verdict
An AEW PPV with some other solid stuff on it, but mostly carried by a Darby Allin match and a Jon Moxley match? Is it 2020 or 2026? Overall, certainly an improvement on All Out - genuinely one of the worst PPVs I've ever seen in any promotion imo, but I'd struggle to call Full Gear a good show despite the main leaving me on a high note, because that run of Nyla/Shida, Bucks/FTR, Hardy/Sammy & Jericho/MJF was extremely tough to sit through. It was really difficult to get the motivation to watch - it legitimately took me days to get through after consuming everything from the start up to Cody/Darby in one sitting. Cody/Darby was comfortably MOTN. Overall, let's say 4.5/10 whereas All Out was like a 2/10.
twisty matches (recommendable; caps = especially recommended):
- Mr. Brodie Lee vs. Dustin Rhodes, Dynamite 09/09
- BEST FRIENDS VS. ORTIZ/SANTANA, DYNAMITE 16/09
- Eddie Kingston vs. Brian Pillman Jr., Dark 22/09
- Mr. Brodie Lee vs. Orange Cassidy, Dynamite 23/09
- JON MOXLEY VS. EDDIE KINGSTON, DYNAMITE 23/09
- DARBY ALLIN VS. RICKY STARKS, DYNAMITE 30/09
- FTR vs. Scorpio Sky/Frankie Kazarian, Dynamite 30/09
- Chris Jericho vs. Isiah Kassidy, Dynamite 30/09
- Brian Cage vs. Will Hobbs, Dynamite 07/10
- CODY VS. MR. BRODIE LEE, DYNAMITE 07/10
- Orange Cassidy vs. Cody, Dynamite 14/10
- Jon Moxley vs. Lance Archer, Dynamite 14/10
- Adam Page vs. Colt Cabana, Dynamite 21/10
- Leyla Hirsch vs. Hikaru Shida, Dark 27/10
- Darby Allin vs. Alex Chamberlain, Dark 27/10
- Matt Sydal vs. Eddie Kingston, Dynamite 28/10
- Cody vs. Orange Cassidy, Dynamite 28/10
- Leyla Hirsch vs. Serena Deeb, Dynamite 28/10
- Adam Page vs. Kenny Omega, Full Gear 07/11
- Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver, Full Gear 07/11
- CODY RHODES VS. DARBY ALLIN, FULL GEAR 07/11
- JON MOXLEY VS. EDDIE KINGSTON, FULL GEAR 07/11
total: 22
I mean, improvement has definitely occurred. It was a much less painful block of stuff to get through this time, and I believe the ratio of twisty matches to shitty matches (although the PPV made a late sprint for it) speaks for itself. (Last time out it was 7 to 12, compared to 22 to 10 now). The floor is still really low, but the median is certainly rising, and the ceiling possibly is too.
Next time I'll go through the turn-of-the-year stuff and get to Revolution 2021 - a very okay-received card by the cagematchsphere, I guess that's considered a failure by AEW PPV standards. Glancing at the card, I know exactly what happens in the finish of the main, hah, but I will be interested to analyse the actual wrestling that preceded it. There's also a certain debut that I'm really looking forward to. The rest.... hmm.... could be a chore, could be a real, real chore, but full judgment will be reserved until next time!
