Darby Allin vs Swerve Strickland – We went straight to the action to start the show. Darby was on fire to start the match hitting an insane suicide dive through the middle and bottom rope. Swerve came back with some nice heel antics, then hit an impressive stomp from the top rope to the floor with Allin tied up in the ropes headed into the first break. Darby bit Swerve’s foot at one point which drew a justified “you sick fuck” chant from the crowd. He also got a “holy shit” chant after an amazing reverse rana. Swerve’s offense was impactful as well, he hit all his finishing moves leading to a good near fall. There were multiple exciting near falls late in the match. Darby had the match won when Prince Nana and Brian Cage appeared for the distraction. Allin was able to overcome the cheating and pinned Strickland with the Last Supper. I don’t think it’s a great sign for Swerve’s new crew that he lost his first match. None the less, it was an outstanding opener with a hot crowd! Grade 3 ¾ *
After the match, MJF showed up for his mandatory appearance. He put over Darby as a great competitor like how he did with Jungle Boy last week. There were loud Darby chants. The crowd is hot and very behind Darby, but it doesn’t sound like a huge crowd. Allin talked about how instead of selling out like MJF he stayed true to himself, bought his parents a house and helped his dad retire. Good for you Darby! MJF calls Darby Sting’s bitch which brings Sting out! Sting threw pom-poms at MJF then cut an energetic promo saying he’s Darby’s cheerleader mentioning Flair, Hall and Nash along the way. The most interesting thing was he brought up Cody and Cody being MJF’s support system who is now gone. MJF spit in Darby’s face and retreated to end it. This was really good! I’m excited for the 4 Pillars match whenever it happens. Double or Nothing seems likely.
Back from the break we get a segment from before the show with Powerhouse Hobbs showing up in his new car and intimidating a security guard. This was foreshadowing.
TNT Championship (C) Powerhouse Hobbs vs Silas Young – Grade Squash. This really isn’t a bad way to book Hobbs.
Wardlow predictably showed up after the match to destroy Hobbs's car. First, he hit the car with a long steel pipe, then he threw a stanchion through the windshield before tipping it over with a forklift that was conveniently sitting right beside the car. That led to a brawl between Wardlow and Hobbs where a bunch of jobbers came out to try to break them up only to get their butts kicked. The segment ended with Wardlow powerbombing Aaron Solo off the stage through 2 tables. Solo only went through one and likely smashed his head on the other. OUCH! Hopefully Solo is OK. This was a fun segment to progress the Wardlow/Hobbs storyline. It was good for the rivalry.
Jay White and Juice Robinson had a recorded promo officially confirming White is All-Elite! I’m glad New Japan are letting them be Bullet Club in AEW. I wasn’t sure after they threw up a different hand gesture last week. Jay said they are Bullet Club Gold. I don’t think that is a good or bad name. I thought they were going to be Bullet Club Black and Gold based on tweets from Jay. I think that would have been better. It doesn’t really matter though. I’m glad Jay is in AEW and hope he gets a big push. I think he will be treated like a big star. He should get plenty of TV time, but I think it’s possible he’ll get lost in the shuffle.
International Championship (C) Orange Cassidy vs Buddy Matthews – There were a lot of hard strikes early including a devastating looking Orange Punch where Matthews spit his gum out making it look like he lost a tooth. Orange did a nice job of selling his hand injury all throughout the match. There were a lot of big moves from both wrestlers including a Beach Break on the apron and a series of 3 DDT’s to Matthews. Buddy is such a deadly striker. Yes, you can see leg slaps sometimes. Still, it looks like he crushes fools out there. The finishing sequence saw Buddy kick out from an Orange Punch then Cassidy kicks out after a Stomp. Orange put away Matthews with the Mousetrap. This was the second excellent match on the show. Both matches had similar finishes that showed how evenly matched the competitors were. Grade 3 ¾ *
Ethan Page is in the ring and calls out Matt Hardy. Hardy and Isiah Kassidy come out. Matt explains the stipulation in the contract Ethan Page foolishly signed without looking at it. He and Private Party are no longer under contract to the Firm as a result. Page calls out the other members of the Firm; Big Bill and Lee Moriarty, they brawl for a bit. Hook comes out and evens the odds momentarily. The Firm eventually gets the better of them until... Jeff Hardy returns! Jeff runs down to the ring with a chair and takes out the Firm. Welcome back Jeff. I hope he’s in a good place and stays there this time! Jeff’s return should help what had been an underwhelming storyline between Matt Hardy and the Firm.
Kenny Omega was filmed in a hotel room before the show. There is a ridiculous picture of him and Don Callis in the background. Nice touch there! Kenny said something about blood for blood and what the Elite will do to BCC will be worse. I thought he was going to announce Blood and Guts here. It didn’t happen.
John Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli vs Brandon Cutler and Michael Nakazawa – Perhaps the biggest mismatch in AEW history. Cutler and Nak actually got a little offense in, but they just ended up a bloody mess. This was more an angle than a match. It was a fun beat down. Fine for a short match to further the storyline. Grade 1 ¾*
Moxley grabs a mic and says he and Claudio put the elite in All Elite Wrestling. Kenny Omega’s music hits. He is in the building! He lied in his promo where he said he wouldn’t be at Dynamite. The Bucks also returned! They are in the ring with BCC. The Elite has them surrounded and quickly gets the upper hand. They grab a toolbox and get out a screwdriver! Kenny has it and charges Mox. Yuta and Claudio pull him out of the ring. BCC retreats like the cowardly heels they now are. The Elite gets a measure of revenge for now. Great to see Matt Jackson back so quickly. I thought he’d be out much longer.
Swerve is with Nana and Cage backstage. He gives Darby props for beating him and says he’s not done for the night. That’s more foreshadowing. Looks like Keith Lee is in trouble. I think it was good Swerve acknowledged his loss. His biggest issue is still with Keith Lee so the loss shouldn’t hurt him too much.
Toni Storm and Ruby Soho vs Rhio and Sky Blue – Quick entrance for Rhio and Sky that seemed rushed. This really wasn’t much of a match. Rhio had a nice dive to the floor before the commercial break. It seemed like there were only 2-3 minutes of the match on TV. Toni hit Storm Zero on Blue for the win. Grade 1 ½ *
The Outcasts did their typical beatdown after the match and spray painted Rhio. Jaime Hayter came out by herself and got beat up. Britt Baker came out and stood tall at the end of it. Even with Britt coming out on top, this really made the homegrown wrestlers look dumb. Why are they never prepared? Why would you book your champion to run out by herself and get beat down knowing this happens every week? Hayter looked weak for no reason here. The Outcasts vs Homegrown storyline is a step up for the women, but it’s become repetitive and stale. It needs a shot in the arm. Especially if they are planning a Blood and Guts or big stipulation match at Double or Nothing. All of this was also very similar to the last segment with BCC and the Elite.
Chris Jericho vs Keith Lee – There was a funny spot early in the match where Keith Lee kissed Chris Jericho on the forehead. Jericho’s facial expression was hilarious. The match had a slower pace as you might expect. Lee looked very strong. His offense really is impressive. He nailed Jericho with a huge chokeslam and powerbomb. Jericho wisely rolled away after the powerbomb to avoid a pinfall attempt. Lee had the match well under control at that point so Daniel Garcia went for the distraction. That allowed Swerve to hit the ring to attack Keith with the ring bell knocking him out cold. Swerve was true to his word. Jericho scored the pin without hitting another move. It wasn’t either of their best matches, but I enjoyed it. Grade 3 *
Adam Cole came out after the match to check on Lee and show him respect. He looked over his shoulder back at Jericho the same way Jericho did to him last week. The show ended there. Subtle way to add to a budding rivalry.
Overall Grade 7.65 - Great show that had an excellent first hour then slowed down a bit in the second hour. We got 2 excellent matches, a solid main event and good storyline progression all night long! AEW has been storyline heavy in recent weeks. They are building things slowly which makes sense since Double or Nothing is still 6 weeks away. Almost everything on the show was done to advance a storyline. That’s good to see as it hasn’t been a strong point for AEW. Most of the stories are simple but it isn’t just matches being thrown together right now.
I think the 4 Pillars and Elite/BCC rivalries are going great! There was good progression in the storylines for Hobbs and Wardlow, Hardy’s and the Firm, Keith Lee and Swerve. Orange and Best Friends have had beef with House of Black. That may be over for now with Orange getting the better of Buddy. I can’t say the same thing for the women. AEW really needs to do a better job with the women. You can tell AEW is trying to step it up with the big returns of Jeff Hardy, The Elite and Sting after Jay White debuted last week. Overall, I enjoyed the show a lot and think AEW is in a great place with a lot of huge events on the horizon!
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