#Moxley wins and then The Bucks retain (THEY SHOULD)

[mjfass]

This card is just unbelievable

[galaxy-brain-rasslin]

Thoughts on the AEW Revolution 2024 card:

The Young Bucks vs Sting and Darby Allin - I will be genuinely surprised if Sting and Darby win this match. I can see a reason to have them win and just have them relinquish the belts on Dynamite or something, but there would be no better way for the Bucks to cement themselves as Terrible People than by fucking on Sting and getting the belts.

Orange Cassidy vs Roderick Strong. While I have been enjoying OC as the Enternal International Champion, I think Roddy needs to win this to help legitimate Undisputed Kingdom as an actual faction to care about. I maintain some of the issues with the credibility of the group will be reduced once Adam Cole is able to actually go out there and do more than sit.

Samoa Joe vs Hangman Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland. It will suck if Hangman is unable to actually be there for the match (since reports are that there's some sort of "personal issue" that may impact this, which is why they did the foot thing). That said, regardless, I feel like Joe should retain. If it's all three of them, it perfectly sets up HangMAD being too caught up in trying keep Swerve from winning that he ends up also not winning.

Toni Storm vs Deonna Purrazzo. This match will probably be great. Deonna is great. Toni is great. I feel like the most likely outcome is some sort of fucky finish that allows Toni to retain. Although I wouldn't be surprised if it backfires and Deonna wins-- since that could feasibly set up a Toni/Mariah feud.

Eddie Kingston vs Bryan Danielson. I want Eddie to win. I always want Eddie to win. I think there's a solid case to be made for Bryan winning. However, I also think that Bryan's apparent refusal allow himself to be booked to win a title, and how hard he's going with the "Eddie is a bum and I don't respect him" lines, also makes a solid case for Eddie retaining. Undoubtedly, Eddie will have to lose the belts at some point, but I'm not sure that this is the best time. Plus, it would complete the story (lol) of Eddie earning the respect of Blackpool Combat Club (or re-earning, in the case of Mox).

Will Ospreay vs Konosuke Takeshita. Bruv I don't even care who wins. This match is gonna fuck.

Christian Cage vs Daniel Garcia. I *want* DG to win. Dude deserves having the belt. He's a former ROH Pure champ. He's great in the ring. People enjoy him. I legitimately don't think losing would hurt Christian from a fan perspective. The man can still be a reprehensible POS without the belt.

Wardlow vs Powerhouse Hobbs vs Lance Archer. A "Meat Madness" match. lmao. This is obviously just a big hoss shitpost match, but I think it'll be fun.

FTR vs Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli. Wheeler has his pending trial in May from where he allegedly brandished a gun at someone on the highway (wtf man, settle the hell down) so I don't know exactly how that's going to factor in with any potential booking. Both FTR and Mox are booked in ways that keep them pretty protected (Mox has only been pinned clean what, like, maybe 4 times the entire time he's been in AEW? And one of those was when he was accidentally concussed.) so it'll be really interesting to see where this goes. I can see a case for either side winning, but I would speculate that if BCC loses, it would probably be Claudio eating the loss (or it'll be some kind of DQ).

[omegawhiskers]

AEW FULL GEAR 2023 PREDICTIONS

Full Gear is shaping up to be a decent card, but I’m hoping we get resolutions to some nagging issues I’ve been having with AEW as of late.

MJF and TBA vs. The Gunns - ROH World Tag Team Championship

The Ring of Honor titles on AEW TV has done nothing but cause a distraction. Most of the titles are now back on ROH, and I think the tag belts will follow. The only other angle they could do is, Samoa Joe and MJF team to win. Now both men are tied together with these belts. I can see this working, but I can also see Jay White getting involved in a screwy finish. I’ll with The Gunns for the victory.

Hikaru Shida vs. "Timeless" Toni Storm - AEW Women's World Championship

Hikari Shida reign as been lackluster. No fault of Shida by the way. AEW women’s wrestling can go from hot to cold within a week. The lack of consistency and focus on the division is frustrating as a fan. I just don’t know how Shida comes out with the win when Toni Storm’s new gimmick is so over. It makes sense to strike while the iron is hot. Timeless gets the win.

Sting, Darby Allin, and Adam Copeland vs. Christian Cage, Luchasaurus, and Nick Wayne

This match is going to be a blast. I’m going all in with Adam Copeland going heel, thus causing Darby Allin and Sting to lose. Then they could do an Adam & Christan vs. Sting & Darby at Worlds End. It’s a risky prediction, but I’m sticking to it.

Orange Cassidy vs. Jon Moxley – International Championship

This past week on Dynamite we saw that the orange punch barely fazing Jon Moxley. If Orange Cassidy wasn’t the underdog already, he’s definitely walking in as one. The story is that the odds are stacked against Orange, which is why I’m giving him the win that he needs. Moxley should walk out with a newfound respect for Orange.

The Golden Jets vs. The Young Bucks 

The stipulation is simple; if The Young Bucks lose, then The Golden Jets (awful name) will obtain the Bucks number one contender spot for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. If the Jackson boys win, then Jericho and Omega must disband as a tag team. I’m giving the win to Kenny and Chris. The Golden Jets will then go on to win the belts from Big Bill and Ricky Starks and then the feud with The Young Buck - who are already pissed off due to the loss from Full Gear - will continue.

Ricky Starks and Big Bill vs. La Facción Ingobernable vs. FTR vs. Kings of The Black Throne - AEW World Tag Team Championship

Ricky Starks and Big Bill as tag team champions has been boring. I must keep reminding myself that they have the belts, which is a bad sign for the division. I don’t see LFI winning as it’s early days for them. FTR don’t need the belts, and Kings of The Black Throne just haven’t been built to take those belts. I believe Starks and Bill will retain, and as mentioned, they will drop the belts to The Golden Jets…unless The Young Bucks win their match and FTR wins this one, and we get another match with both teams…please, let’s not do this match again.

"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland - Texas Death Match

This is easily one of the best feuds of the year. Both men are telling a fantastic story where the drama keeps building each week. This is going to be a bloody and vicious fight. I’ve heard many people say that Serve Strickland needs to win this match, but he doesn’t because this is not your typical match, it’s a fight that has stemmed from a man breaking into another man’s house and threatening a baby. Adam Page needs to win to show he can defend his family. At the end of the day, both men will come out of this match looking great.

Kris Statlander  vs. Julia Hart vs. Skye Blue -  AEW TBS Championship

Who is Kris Statlander? She was an alien, but she dropped the gimmick, so who she is now? I don’t know. AEW has failed to explore her character. With no clear direction, she’s just been standing between to Skye Blue (whose had development as a character) and Willow Nightengale looking confused. Like Toni Storm, Julia Hart has been connecting with the audience. I think the belt will be going on Hart because it’s not doing anything for Statlander. I feel Blue still has some time to go before getting any gold.

MJF vs. Jay White – AEW World Championship

It feels like this feud has been going on forever, so I’m glad it’s being wrapped up this weekend. I’m also not a Jay White fans because AEW has failed to tell me anything about him as an individual whereas MJF has transitioned wonderfully into a babyface where we’ve seen a vulnerable side to his character that’s relatable. MJF wins this one.

I’m hoping Full Gear finally reveals The Devil. Again, it feels like this Devil character has been around for much longer than they have. I can’t wait for MJF to retain so he can move on. I want the tag division to have a clear direction and for the women’s division to shine the light on the characters that need it. I feel positive that this PPV will conclude and open up new and exciting stories.

[deathtriangles]

QUESTION FOR THE GALAXY BRAIN BOOKER!!!!!! Book Double or Nothing and predict what matches you think might happen!

OOOH LFGGGGG I’ve been dying to do this!

hikaru shida (c) vs dr britt baker dmd for the aew women’s championship: I feel like this is the only match set in stone so far but I’m highly excited for it!!!! it’s dr britt’s time to shine and it’ll be a great match to close shida’s record breaking title run!

the young bucks (c) vs scu for the aew tag team championships: scu are ranked #1 and have stated that they will split the next time they lose a match, meaning the bucks can beat them and set up for what seems to be daniels’ retirement

death triangle vs best friends and orange cassidy OR lucha bros vs best friends: I put the second one in case my fantasy booked main event happens BUT if it’s a trios bout this will be a fabulous match for the card to end a reignited rivalry against two teams with some great chemistry!!! I would honestly be okay with either team winning but I would have death triangle win since best friends won their last feud.

darby allin (c) vs miro OR lance archer for the tnt championship: I feel like by nature of how often it should be defended the tnt championship SHOULD have shorter reigns so it’s darby’s time to drop the title, and both miro and lance are my top two options for who right now could do with a go at the belt!

thunder rosa vs tay conti vs jade cargill: PURELY based on the rankings and that jade is likely going to be shooting up soon, this is to establish a number one contender ready for Britt to feud with among the top ranked contenders at the moment, while also giving these talented women a match to showcase themselves!

hangman adam page (w/ dark order) vs jon moxley (w/ eddie kingston): NOW this story I think they’re going to be telling is that even though he’s ranked #1, not only does hangman not want to talk about Kenny, but Kenny won’t even acknowledge hangman’s existence basically. after his win against starks, and with his match against cage next week, I think that hangman is being given more and more legitimate opponents to help sort of rationalise his ranking position. who is the best opponent for him to beat then but jon moxley?! after beating moxley, omega has no excuse but to acknowledge the fact that hangman is a threat to his reign.

brian cage (c) vs ricky starks for the ftw championship: though not an actual championship, the ftw championship is essentially taz’s way of labelling cage as the head of the group. with the dissension between starks and cage recently, it makes sense for starks to win the ftw belt, establishing him as the head of team taz, and for cage to break out on his own as a possibly great babyface

cody rhodes vs anthony ogogo: if we are to get cody on the card, let’s pop him against the Olympic level boxer! Cody goes over purely since he’s better versed in wrestling

mjf vs chris jericho: what I feel like will be the true conclusion of the pinnacle vs inner circle storyline, I would definitely have mjf go over to establish himself as a future contender for that world title again

MAIN EVENT: kenny omega (c) vs pac or christian cage in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the aew world championship: NOWWW here’s my fantasy booking! quietly, while this program with the bucks has been building, they’ve been building pac up as he is currently #5 ranked - with the defeat of hobbs and jungle boy this week, he should rise higher. christian too is picking up wins by the week. As hangman isn’t interested currently in that kenny match despite being ranked #1, it makes sense that these two men would be the next contenders for him. I would have them face each other in a match beforehand to determine who faces kenny. the stipulation is also imo perfect for the match for both competitors: for christian, with his “out work everyone” catchphrase, what more of a workhorse stipulation could you get than 2 out of 3 falls? for pac, it calls back to the iron man match, which actually finished 1-1 before kenny won in overtime when pac was caught off guard. in this match where three falls are predicted, it seems like the natural progression from their previous iron man from last year. either way, kenny retains on his way to face hangman.

[biancabelairs]

i'm bored and procrastinating from working on my thesis, so here are my revolution predictions with some added commentary:

hook vs. qt marshall: lol hook wins. probably in under 3 minutes. it'll be cool.

kris statlander vs. leyla hirsch: i honestly have NO idea about this one? my heart says kris, and if we're going based on who's most protected by the booking usually, then it'll be kris. but it's like the match i'm least confident about in terms of my predictions.

death triangle vs. house of black: feels like it's gotta be house of black? the only way i can see death triangle win is if jurassic express don't retain their titles, and even then it feels unlikely to me?

ahfo vs. darby, sammy & sting: prefacing this with what a weird ass match to have on a ppv that already has EIGHT OTHER MATCHES on the main card plus THREE BUY-IN MATCHES, but hey. i get wanting to have sting on your ppv. anyway, darby, sammy & sting are winning and matt hardy is eating that pin.

chris jericho vs. eddie kingston: it's gotta be eddie. i know jericho likes to overextend his feuds, but i don't see how that happens here? i also just don't want any more promos based on throwing around smark terms so maybe that's blinding me but it's GOTTA be eddie. IT'S GONNA BE EDDIE.

bryan danielson vs. jon moxley: second match i'm most unsure about, but i have a feeling danielson is taking it. either way it's gonna RULE!!!

face of the revolution ladder match: so when keith debuted, i thought it would be him or wardlow, but his budding feud with team taz has convinced me wardlow's taking it. plus, the mjf feud has to be about to happen and i still think wardlow winning this match has a part to play in that, so. wardlow.

cm punk vs. mjf: MAX SHOULD WIN AGAIN. but i think punk's going to, after the dynamite go home angle and honestly, this feud has been such A DREAM that i'm sure i'll love the way they do it anyway! i just don't want wardlow's turn to happen during this match, bc i think both things would end up mutually overshadowing each other, and that's my one concern regarding this match. and again, even if that happens, this feud has been soooooooo much MY THING that they can prob find a way to do that and still win me over.

jade cargill vs. tay conti (tbs title): JADE LMAO. honestly p excited to watch her wrestle on ppv actually!

jurassic express vs. redragon vs. young bucks (tag titles): i think jurassic express are retaining via redragon and bucks cancelling each other out (which, honestly, this tag reign hasn't done anything for jungle boy so far and playing second fiddle to the rd/yb feud in this match and during the whole ppv build, despite being one of the tag champs, is... a choice. one i truly don't love lmao. but i digress). i think there's a chance redragon win but i'm way more sold on that first option.

britt baker vs. thunder rosa (women's world title): lmao till dynamite this week i thought it would be rosa, and then they randomly had her pin britt clean, and then it came out she'll be wrestling through an injury in this match, so britt's def retaining. and honestly, the build has been so underwhelming to me given how anticipated this match felt, that i'd rather they have britt cheat to win here and then do a proper story based build up till double or nothing which i'm 70% sure they won't because of how they limit the time they give the women but hey i can hope.

adam cole vs. adam page (world title): HANGMAN!!! i'm like 99% sure of it and i love that for me! i'm also curious to see if they come back to this feud and, if so, how soon, because there's still so much they can do with it 👀 ue vs. hangman/bucks GIVE ME IT.

[wrestlingisfake]

All Out preview

Here we go with AEW's annual Labor Day weekend show in Hoffman Estates, just like the original All In show three years ago. I have been going to wrestling shows for days, and it all comes down to this!

The show starts at 8pm EDT, streaming on Bleacher Report (in the US and Canada) and Fite.tv for $49.99. A free pre-show will be available at 7pm EDT.

CM Punk vs. Darby Allin - This is CM Punk's first pro wrestling match since January 26, 2014, when he spent 49 minutes in the Royal Rumble working with a staph infection and a possible concussion. The following night he walked out of WWE, leading to seven and a half years of debate about what is next move would/should be. Two weeks ago he debuted with AEW and declared that he wanted to help the younger talent, starting with a match against Allin. Allin, for his part, took some exception to being the first opponent, as if he's just a stepping stone to bigger matches.

The big issue here is seeing how well Punk, 42, has held up after seven years away. I've seen reports that he's looking good in training, but you just don't know until the bell rings. Regardless, I expect the hometown crowd to be very forgiving to Punk, and Allin is good enough to carry the match if he really has to.

I feel like I ought to have more to say about this, but it also feels like everything's been said. I can't believe Punk would lose his first match in. But I can believe that if Punk insisted on doing the job, AEW would let him do that. It'd be unusual for the returning guy to come up short, but New Japan does that sometimes and it can work as a longer build to the first win. Still, it is Chicago (sort of), so my gut says Punk wins to let us feel special.

Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage - Omega is defending the AEW men's world title. For months, Omega held four different belts, representing championships in AEW, AAA, and Impact Wrestling. But on August 13 Christian defeated Omega for the Impact/TNA world title (and later retired the TNA belt), leaving Kenny more vulnerable than ever. The AAA and Impact titles aren't at stake in this match, so no matter who what happens the winner will be a double champion.

Cage is a great wrestler, but not a great challenger for this match. For months the storytelling pointed towards Hangman Page in this spot, but Page was abruptly written off television so he could take paternity leave. I don't think anybody resents Christian for filling in, but nobody really expects the 47-year-old, recently returned from a seven-year retirement, to win the big one. It's also a rematch of something we already saw a few weeks ago, which isn't a big deal but it's a bit of a talking point when everyone is always dogging WWE for excessive rematches.

The big go-home angle on September 1 was that Omega, the Young Bucks, and their buddies destroyed Christian, the Lucha Bros., and their buddies. After the show went off the air Tony Khan promised that this kind of bullshit interference wouldn't happen in the Bucks-Lucha Bros. cage match. Well, okay, but this match doesn't have a steel cage, so I have a feeling there will be plenty of bullshit interference. And I'm willing to bet that interference gives Omega the win while somewhat protecting Christian.

Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Penta El 0M & Rey Fenix - The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick) are defending the AEW tag team title. The Lucha Bros. won a four-team tournament to earn this shot. The Bucks have relied on a lot of outside interference from their entourage lately, so to counter that this match will be held inside a steel cage. In AEW, the only way to win a cage match is by pinfall or submission.

I was at All Out 2019 when these teams last met in a crazy ladder match (which feels like a million years ago). Everyone raved about it, and also worried that the Bucks damn near killed themselves. Personally I had a really shitty view of the ring, which made it hard to follow the match. This time I've got a much better view, so I'm looking forward to some good karma.

In theory the Bucks have sworn off doing the dangerous shit from the ladder match, but technically this is a cage match so maybe they'll just do different dangerous shit. Personally I'm more intrigued by seeing them change their game to fit in the confines of the cage, which doesn't lend itself to springboard flips off the ropes. But the cage has places to stand at the top, which will encourage the idea of setting up crazy highspots.

I feel like a title change is possible, but I could just as easily see the Bucks hold the belts for another six months. Santana and Ortiz seem to be next in line for a shot, and honestly I think that would work with either of these teams. But I guess I'll lean towards the Bucks retaining.

Chris Jericho vs. MJF - MJF defeated Jericho on November 7, 2020, to earn entry into Jericho's stable, the Inner Circle. MJF inevitably betrayed Jericho and formed his own stable, the Pinnacle, which beat the Inner Circle on May 5, 2021. Jericho was so determined to get revenge that he accepted MJF's terms to perform five "labors" to earn a rematch, but MJF beat Jericho once again on August 18, 2021. So now MJF is 3-0 against Jericho. (For some reason we're counting the ten-man match on May 5 but not the other one on May 30, which Jericho's team won, but whatever.) To get this final rematch, Jericho has put his career on the line.

Suddenly everything else in this storyline has taken a back seat to the idea that this may really be the end of Chris Jericho's 30-year in-ring career. There are plenty of fans who think Jericho, 50, should hang it up, but now that it might actually happen I think people aren't so sure they're ready for it all to end. The timing for Jericho to tease this is perfect, because he could easily just win and go another couple of years, or he could easily just finish today.

Part of what makes this work so well is MJF. I think everyone recognizes that MJF is going to be a top name in the 2020s, and that Jericho wants to make this guy. So it's like, if Jericho can get retired by anyone he wants, why wouldn't he pick MJF? I think the match will feel a little flat if Jericho comes up short yet again, but if it's the end of his career it suddenly doesn't matter if he's lost too many times, y'know?

Still, something tells me this isn't the end. Something tells me Jericho has more he wants to do. And something tells me, in a few years, we may be wondering if it would have been better if he retired on this show.

Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander - Baker is defending the AEW women's world title. I expect to like this match but there's not really much to it. Baker was feuding with Red Velvet a while back and then Statlander made the save for Velvet. Baker and her crony Rebel have brought in Jamie Hayter to stack the deck against Statlander and Velvet. I think it's way too soon for Baker to drop the title, and I don't expect Kris to be the one to take it from her. So this is kind of a formality to kill time until Baker vs. Thunder Rosa down the road.

Miro vs. Eddie Kingston - Miro's AEW TNT championship is on the line. Somehow in the past year Miro has gone from Kip Sabian's gamer buddy to a monster heel who thinks God has anointed him to beat the shit out of people. Kingston has gone from a gutless heel to the most beloved guy in AEW. Wrestling is great.

Anyway, I love both of these guys, but I can't just bet that all the wrestlers have a good time. If Eddie's going to win a championship, it really ought to be in New York. I realize Chicago is AEW's favorite and we get all the good shit, but I've had my CM Punk ice cream and I'm maaaaaybeee going to get the Bryan Danielson debut too, so I'm willing to let New York have this one thing. Just this one time.

Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima - Moxley is the new GCW world champion following a surprise appearance at last night's GCW show; I assume that does not turn this into a title match. Moxley told top contender Nick Gage "you know where to find me," and it's anyone's guess if Gage will show up here to accept that invitation.

Mox is a busy boy making friends everywhere he goes. For a few weeks he was angling for a match with a top New Japan Pro Wrestling star on this show. The leading candidate was Hiroshi Tanahashi, but several other interesting names were discussed by fans and pundits alike. After that buzz, Kojima is a bit of a letdown.

Don't get me wrong, it's cool to get a guy who's held the IWGP heavyweight title, the All Japan Triple Crown, and the NWA world title. Kojima's a legend. But at this stage of his career, he's the guy New Japan sends when the real stars aren't available. Besides which, my cup runneth over when it comes to 50-year-old guys showing up to prove they can wrestle like they're 40. And I don't think anybody really believes Kojima can beat Moxley.

Ideally, this match should end with a video message from a bigger New Japan name calling out Moxley. I'm not confident that will happen. Then again, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if Moxley showed up in NXT UK to pick a fight with WALTER.

Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall - Formerly the Giant in WCW and the Big Show in WWE, Wight debuted with AEW earlier this year as a color commentator. QT and his goons were picking on Wight's broadcast partner Tony Schiavone when Wight intervened, setting up this match.

I was actually kind of into the idea of this until Marshall showed photos of Wight's recent hip surgery. Up to that point, they'd managed to keep me from noticing if Wight could move okay, and I was willing to accept he could do a basic squash match without a problem. But now I just assume he's broken down and he'll need a lot of smoke and mirrors to do even a simple match. Maybe that's the plan, to get me to lower my expectations and be pleasantly surprised. I sure hope it works out.

I'm about 95% sure Wight clobbers QT and just wins handily. There's a chance QT's squad pulls enough shenanigans to get a bullshit win, but I'm not sure what the point would be.

21-woman Casino Battle Royale - This is AEW's funky concept for a gauntlet battle royale. Five women start the match, and then every five minutes another wave of five enters; the 21st entrant gets to come out alone. Eliminations can occur at any time, by exiting the ring over the top rope to the floor. The last woman left after the others have been eliminated is declared the winner, and receives a future title match against the AEW women's champion.

AEW has announced 20 participants: Abadon, Anna Jay, Big Swole, Diamante, Emi Sakura, Hikaru Shida, Jade Cargill, Jamie Hayter, Kiera Hogan, KiLynn King, Leyla Hirsch, Nyla Rose, Penelope Ford, Rebel, Red Velvet, Riho, Skye Blue (a late substitution for Julia Hart), Tay Conti, The Bunny, Thunder Rosa.

The 21st spot has been left open for a surprise. Ruby Soho (formerly Ruby Riott in WWE) is widely expected to join AEW, and this would be a sensible spot for that to happen. But there are other women who could potentially debut here as a swerve.

I always want to pick the surprise entrant to win these things, but they really haven't done all that well in AEW battle royales. I could see them giving the win to, say, Big Swole, and just having Britt Baker beat her a few weeks later on Dynamite. Or Thunder Rosa could win to set up a major program for the next pay-per-view. They have a lot of options, which makes it hard to predict but fun to watch.

Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor & Wheeler YUTA & Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy vs. Matt Hardy & Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy & Jack Evans & Angelico - This is booked for the pre-show. Hardy's heel group has been feuding with most of the midcard babyfaces for months. I don't expect this match will blow off the feud, but it'd be nice if it did so we could move on to something else. Orange's team should probably win.

[waywardwrestlewritingwaif]

What a long strange trip...

One of the things about almost never being able to leave the house (even before COVID) is that it can be fun to binge on things. The last couple of weeks with wrestling, though, has been intense. I try to keep on top of things but damn... I guess I should thank the lads and lasses for keeping me entertained. Anyway, here are a few things that I liked and didn’t like that happened in the promotions I follow. 

Stuff I liked

Drew retaining the title against Randy Orton: I don’t kid myself, I know he’s losing it soon because Vince apparently wants to build to Orton v Edge at WM 37, but I’m going to be really sad when it happens and I don’t like being sad.

Asuka winning the Raw title: I absolutely adore Sasha but this was the right storyline move AND builds the storyline with her and Bayley. Also, we’re going to get Asuka vs Shayna WHICH WILL SLAY.

Brodie Lee beating Cody for the TNT title: It’s not just that it was time to put it on someone else but the way they did it was incredible. Completely unexpected. Also...

The elevation of Anna Jay: Girlfriend has had about a dozen matches IN HER LIFE. She’s ridiculously talented and on top of that, her wordless reactions have been top notch. Give her a few more months to get more experience and she is going to be a star. 

Hangman getting kicked out of The Elite: Just tear my heart out and stomp on it and then set it on fire, why don’t you? This story has been simmering for a YEAR. Hangman is this tragic hero figure who feels totally isolated and desperately wants to be loved. The split with the Bullet Club Ogs and the Marty getting left behind when AEW was formed has left him as the odd one out with the original BTE crew (Kenny and the Bucks). He doesn’t have the bond the way they do. (Plus he’s not straight edge the way they are.) FTR have seized on his vulnerability and made him feel like they get him. After All Out he’s going to be heartbroken and alone.

Naito winning back the Heavyweight and IC titles: The feeliest goodest moment. It’s like the whole Evil turn was done just to bring this about. 

Kenta winning the US title opportunity: Ok, I’ve had a thing for Kenta for ages but I also love the idea of him v Moxley. I also love the idea that this match *maybe might* happen on AEW. They teased collaborating with the Tanahashi/ Jericho match. Why not do this one instead.

Heel Roman? Ok, not 100% confirmed, but pretty much. I’ve wanted a Roman heel turn since the actual Roman Empire, I swear. 

Stuff I didn’t like

The whole Nia/ Shayna pairing: Ruby and Liv were RIGHT THERE, you idiot bookers. They have a story of strained friendship. How much more perfect could you get to square off against Sasha and Bayley. Shayna deserves a singles run with Asuka and Nia needs to do more training so she stops hurting people. 

Keith Lee debuting on Raw: New music sucks. Putting him in a shirt sucks. Setting him up to lose at Payback sucks. 

Hiromu losing the Junior Heavyweight Title: Sure, he’s had a great run but Ichimori, really? Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great wrestler but I thought whoever took down Hiromu would be a bigger star. (I absolutely love Shingo too, but it made more sense, him losing to Suzuki. Who the hell else was going to beat him?)

Britt Baker vs Big Swole: How the hell has AEW managed to screw this up? This was a super hot feud and somehow it just turned into nothing. A two minute match with a wrestler pretending she can’t wrestle and one participant who sits in a wheelchair even though she’s supposedly ok to fight at All Out? Ugh.

Jay White losing his first match back: This might have made a tiny bit of sense if the idea was to have Evil retain his titles so that there would be legit heat with him and Jay over who was the “real leader” of Bullet Club. But Jay lost on his first match and Evil lost too. So now, it’s like Taiji has the best claim to be the leader since he’s the one who has a title.

Toru Yano winning the KOPW tournament: First of all, it should have been Sanada. Sanada winning a tournament that was the brainchild of Okada? Still fuel in that feud. Look, I really like some of the NJ comedy stuff but Toru Yano gets on my last nerve. You had three aces to choose from and you gave it to the idiot. Way to devalue the whole tournament, New Japan.

Anyone else spent a lot of time watching wrestling recently? Anything you loved or that pissed you off? Agree or disagree with my choices? Come on, let me know!

[danwhobrowses]

General Discussion: All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Part 2

This is a part 2 of a recent dump of stuff I’m talking about in regards to AEW, if you want to see my critiques and comments in hindsight about AEW Check it out on part 1 -> Here Part 2 is gonna revolve around the future, immediate and long-term, starting with the upcoming All Out PPV

All Out 2020

Criticisms about the Buy In aside, All Out still looks like a heavily stacked card, which is always a positive. I do worry a little that the Tooth and Nail match’s addition will cut into others’ time so hopefully everyone gets a good amount, but if people criticise some matches for being too short remember that fan demand insisted that the same Swole/Baker match be on the paid card rather than having a lot of time to show it for free. And as much as people criticise AEW’s women, the women’s matches are among the top 5 most anticipated matches on the card, probably only behind the tag title and world title match, isn’t that a great thing? Not to mention that the women’s title match encourages AEW/NWA relations, which really would make wrestling better if wrestlers could be more fluid in their appearances. But anyway, All Out is something I look forward to, so let’s break down some predictions? (if you’re wondering why I’m not just doing this on a podcast or something, my voice is not the dulcet flowing river of articulation my writing would imply to be, I like having time and proofing my words, plus if I talk to much my tongue swells and I stutter, stammer and suck at eye contact) So my thoughts for the full card

Predictions

The Buy In

Casino Battle Royale - Eddie Kingston. While I’d be down for Fénix, Pentagon, Archer or even a new or returning face like PAC to win, I think Kingston is the safe bet. The man talks like liquid and his match with Cody brought a lot of eyes to the product. This will continue and start new hostilities, but don’t expect anyone who has faced Moxley before to win, AEW don’t do title rematches so much.

Private Party vs Dark Order (Silver and Reynolds) - this quickly put-together match is going to Private Party, because Silver and Reynolds are enhancement tag teams still, they can win but they won’t win often. Plus the more Silver loses the more bits he’ll have with Brodie on BTE and those are gold.

Main Card

Tooth and Nail - Britt Baker, I expect the cinematic match to have shenanigans but also protect Baker in the midst of her injury recovery. While Swole has been doing the physical lifting of the feud I think having Britt lose on her return could be the wrong choice in the long run.

Dark Order vs The Nightmare Family - Dark Order, Brodie has elevated the tag team to the point where they are a big faction, and they need the big win for this. Cardona, Sky and the Natural Nightmares can take this loss too, but I’d expect QT or Dustin to take the fall for this. Bonus prediction that Tay Conti will indeed join the Dark Order with Anna Jay, leading to them beating down Brandi and Allie at ringside (setting up a women’s tag feud that’d explain why they were kept on other sides of the Deadly Draw bracket)

The Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express - This one I have Jurassic Express, it may be an upset because the Bucks are still reeling from Hangman’s betrayal, this can also lead to the Bucks being more heelish to accompany a Cleaner Kenny Omega. Keep your eye on Jungle Boy, AEW are still hot on him for good reason, this’ll be a huge scalping for Jurassic Express if they pull it off.

Broken Rules - A tough one, but I’m gonna stick with the Multifarious Matt Hardy. I don’t think he wants to end his career just yet and AEW would be foolish to let him go. Plus technically Sami is 2-0 in this feud, so it won’t hurt Sami too much to win in Hardy’s wheelhouse.

Mimosa Mayhem - Another tough one to put down the middle, I am gonna go with Orange Cassidy though. I think Jericho wants to amend the sloppy finish Cassidy’s win had and this’ll make for good comedy to see Jericho (and maybe Hager) flailing around in Mimosa

Women’s Title - I will be happy with either winning, but my heart says Shida. Mainly because I think Britt is the one who should take it from her, their last match was a banger after all. Rosa won’t look weak though, they may even have Shida challenge for the NWA women’s title down the line.

Tag Titles - FTR. That’s it, that’s all you need to know. Hangman’s head is out of the game and Kenny is becoming the Cleaner, it’s time for this schism to start properly, they’ve held it for about a year as well, it’s time.

World Title (Moxley cannot use Paradigm Shift) - It’s easy to say MJF, he is the home breed future and Moxley has had a long run defeating tougher opponents, but I am thinking that Moxley will retain. This is mainly because the odds are so stacked against him, he’ll eke out a win despite MJF’s trickery. The challenger will look fantastic to prove that he will be champion some day, but not today. Instead I think MJF will be thwarted by miscommunication, and as he hinted at during his tag match with Jurassic Express, will split from Wardlow for his ‘fatal error’. Then we’ll get Moxley vs Kingston which can be just as fantastic.

Looking to the Future So ‘looking to the future’ is not gonna all be direct consequences of All Out, some of it is just stuff I’d like to see happen, not all of it has to and my enjoyment isn’t killed from it, but certain things would make AEW better in my opinion. Business Relations So of course it’d be great to have more working relationships with other brands, AEW is already close to OWE and AAA, getting NWA on board would be a good step to establishing good relationships with ROH as well, maybe even NJPW. On the women’s side it’d be nice if they made more solid ties with Cyberfight - which has DDT Pro, TJPW and NOAH, maybe even Stardom, Sendai Girls, EVE and Ice Ribbon. More relationships would offer wrestlers not working Dynamite or Dark to perhaps represent elsewhere. In this representing it’d be great to see more outside titles being shown, it’s free advertising really. Thunder Rosa will for sure be carrying her NWA Women’s title but wouldn’t it be cool if other brand titles could be carried; Kenny carrying his AAA title with the tag titles, Cardona his Internet title, Lucha Bros their HOG and AAA Tag titles, Big Swole her Phoenix of Rise title, Moxley his NJPW US title (though I expect him to lose to KENTA soon), Rosa’s TJPW International Princess title as well and Yuka Sakazaki’s TJPW Princess of Princess Title. It may be me but seeing these titles does add an air of legitimacy to the competitors, showing how successful they are overseas while promoting other promotions. I’d also like to pitch a ‘Locked Down’ mini show or segment where AEW could show what their international talent is doing, Emi Sakura’s ChocoPro could be a light hearted segment, PAC could do some solid promos and like showing the titles, it’d expose the roster as talented. New Signings Someone just has to do good to have people ask for AEW to sign them, but in some cases it would be cool to sign them up. Of the frequent flyers right now AEW would be mad not to sign Ivelisse and Diamante, and I’ve already expressed my hopes that they sign Will Hobbs, Serpentico, Shawn Dean, Brian Pillman Jr, Kilynn King, Tay Conti, Veda Scott, Nicole Savoy/Lil’ Swole and Pineapple Pete, but it’d also be good business to at least call up Renee Paquette/Good/Young and Mauro Ranallo, even if it is for some guest appearances. Signing the likes of Danhausen, Warhorse, ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey, Millie McKenzie, Laura Di Matteo, Lana Austin, Jamie Hayter, Chris Brookes, Maki Itoh, Miyu Yamashita, Mirio (if he wants to come back into wrestling) and AR Fox. This being said, this should only ease into the Second Show, where we can expose more of the current roster as well. Speaking of Which. (A Few) New Accolades With a bigger division will require more competition. Not all of them need to be titles but something to be fought for. MJF’s Diamond Ring and Cage’s FTW title can help in that matter, but I think a Trios Accolade would be next in line for AEW. This would open the door for more teams to compete; The Elite, Jurassic Express, Best Friends, SCU, Dark Order, Nightmare Family, Death Triangle etc. would still keep it competitive and open the door for more stories of faction warfare. Since this is only my thoughts I would love to see the tag division be intergender too but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that. If we do move to this though PLEASE use whoever designed the world and tag belt, not the TNT belt. Faction Bolstering AEW are looking at the NJPW formula or big factions going into war or tensions with one another, which is good since it does make for lines to be written in the sand. But I think the factions can just be a little bit bigger in some places, and some are easy to add in already. Conti joins Dark Order for 2 women there, have Ivelisse and Diamante join the Inner Circle so we have full LAX (plus Ivelisse tagged with Sammy in LU), Statlander can pair with Best Friends and renew BTE’s skits of her and Orange Cassidy’s palpable sexual tension, I would also enjoy the thought of TH2 joining with Kip and Penelope just to be a faction of talented arseholes. May be the crass side of me, but I also seem to want Brian Pillman Jr to join the Gunn Club simply so we can have an entrance theme that starts ‘Someone call 911, Pillman’s got a Gunn’, Vickie Guerrero could grow her managing of Nyla to an all women ‘Las Guerreras’ faction maybe with Kilynn King, Shaul Guerrero, Abadon or someone else would be a decent move in my books but an exciting faction I can see clearly is a Moxley faction with Darby Allin and Lance Archer. Imagine having Jake the Snake taking care of all that, oh yes is that the good stuff. Future Feuds We’ll end with talking about some feuds I hope to see down the line too, even if they’re not set up already. I’ve already expressed my want for Kingston vs Moxley but another Kingston feud I see in the making is against PAC, Kingston is the man with the plan but PAC will want his Death Triangle buddies back. Speaking of, Moxley could use some bangers with Fenix and Pentagon, both are megastars. While the tag division is looking like it’ll lead to FTR vs Bucks, I think the bigger money is FTR vs Bucks vs Hangman and Kenny first, with Kenny having the Elite ties and Hangman with the FTR ties the storytelling would be ridiculously immense. This thought almost made me pick Hangman and Kenny to win at All Out...almost. I would expect a lot of title defenses from Mr. Brodie Lee, particularly from Cardona but I’d love it if Jungle Boy was the one to win it from him, and for JB to face Sammy Guevara, of the 4 Young Prospects of AEW I don’t think Sammy and JB have gone 1-on-1, could be wrong but Sammy usually went for Darby and JB to MJF, Fénix vs JB would be excellent also. Luchasaurus is also due his hoss match with the Butcher, as well as further conflict with Cage and Archer Also I’d like Shida vs Conti, both are very martial arts-like in their wrestling especially the latter so it would be a good physical match. But yeah, that’s out of my system for now, we’ve talked some good, some bad and some middle, don’t think it matters to anyone but I’ve said my piece Bring on All Out!

[buttdawg]

All Out 2020 Predictions

Just gonna run down the card here, because I keep forgetting what’s on this show, and it is stacked.    

Side note: Looking this up on Wikipedia made me sad, because the article points out that the show was originally planned for a whole other venue before the pandemic started.  I had gotten so used to every AEW show being held in Jacksonville, that I had forgotten the good old days, when they could run every show in Chicago.

Casino Battle Royale, winner gets a shot at the AEW title

I thought they gave up on this stip when they did the Casino Ladder Match at Double-or-Nothing.   Here’s a dumb thought: Ditch the casino nonsense.   The last two casino battle royals were kind of dumb, because they sent out five guys at a time, and then the 21st guy got to come out last by himself.   The problem I had was that I had no idea who half the participants were, and sending them out in fives made it that much harder to keep track.  

Anyway, this time around it’s easier to just list them by faction.    We have

Eddie Kingston’s group (Eddie, Butcher, Blade, Pentagon Jr., and Rey Fenix)

Team Taz (Absolute Ricky Starks and DA MACHEEN Brian Cage, who is also the FTW World’s Heavyweight Champion of the World, Excalibur)

Gunn Club (Billy Gunn and Austin Gunn)

The Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz)

Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent)

Lance Archer

Darby Allin

Wait that’s only 16 guys.   You know, it’s been a long time since I learned the rules to Blackjack, but I think that’s about where you want to stand pat.    If you take another card, you’re much more likely to go over 21.    Anyway, I hope Warhorse ends up in this match somehow.   I guess I’ll pick Eddie Kingson to win, since he’s got the most guys helping him.  

No, wait, fuck all of that shit.   Lance Archer wins everything.    Call this Casino Battle Royale a George R. R. Martin novel, because Everybody Fucking Dies.

The Dark Order (Brodie Lee, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Colt Cabana) vs. Scorpio Sky, Matt Cardona, Dustin Rhodes, & QT Marshall.  

This is like the Dark Order vs. the Dark Order Revenge Squad, trying to make Brodie pay for beating the shit out of Cody.   I saw a video package for this on Dynamite yesterday, and it was fucking stupid, because they wanted me to believe that the good guy team are “four badasses”, even though one of them is QT Marshall for crying out loud.   They do this horseshit all the time, where a group of babyfaces try to gang up on the Dark Order, but it never works because the faces never bring enough guys.   There’s like eight or nine dudes in the Dark Order, so unless your team has ten or eleven, you’re gonna get your asses kicked.    Brodie killed Cody like he was nothing, so why am I supposed to believe Dustin has a chance in hell?  

The last time Scorpio Sky was on one of these anti-DO posse teams, it was with Colt Cabana and his partners in SCU.    Well, Colt ended up switching sides, and apparently Chris Daniels and Kazarian aren’t even booked, so that tells me what I need to know.     Dark Order wins.  

Britt Baker vs. Swole in a Tooth and Nail Match.

I don’t know if “Tooth and Nail” is an actual stipulation, or if they’re just calling it that for promotional purposes.  I wish they’d spell out the rules to these things instead of just calling out the names of matches like catchphrases.   Swole would look pretty dumb if she loses this, so I’m picking her to win.  

Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara  in a “Broken Rules” Match.

Wikipedia says this is a Last Man Standing match, so maybe they should have just called it that?  I mean, less than a month ago Matt claimed that he was ditching all his characters for the duration of the pandemic, and now he’s right back to chanting “Delete!” like nothing changed.   I heard a lot about Matt’s cinematic universe run in Impact, but so far I’m not overly impressed with his run in AEW.   He just makes a bunch of callbacks to stuff he did in WWE, Impact, and ROH like I’m supposed to know or give a shit about that time he was a douchebag.     If Matt loses, he’s supposed to leave AEW, but I’m pretty sure this is a trick, and he’ll just come back as “Leviticus” and pretend to be a robot from outer space.   I don’t think I care who wins.

Jurassic Express vs. The Young Bucks.

Why are these guys fighting?    I feel like they already did on TV?    I’m gonna pull for JE to win this one.    I think the Bucks might be my favorite act in AEW, but I mostly enjoy seeing them get the shit beat out of them.    Yeah, kill the Young Bucks.   

Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy in a Mimosa Mayhem Match.

You can win Mimosa Mayhem by pinfall, submission, or dumping your opponent into a big tank of mimosa.    I guess this is a way for OC to win their feud without actually pinning Jericho twice?    Alternately, the loser can get pinned, only to dump the winner in the tank to get a moral victory.    I’ll go with Orange to win.  

AEW Tag Team Championship: Kenny Omega/Hangman vs. FTR

Now that they finally kicked Hangman out of the Elite, and FTR has finally stopped pretending not to be heels, and now that Kenny Omega finally seems to give a shit about his tag team, I think this program could finally lead to something cool.    I sort of want FTR to win, just to move the Hangman/Omega angle onto the next stage.     If the tag titles are the only thing keeping that team together than we need to see what happens without them.  

Also, I want FTR to defend the titles against Santana and Ortiz.    Yeah, no offense to Omega and Hangman, but fuck this Elite Drama Bullshit, gimme FTR vs. PnP.

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

Fuck yeah, this is the real main event right here.    Thunder Rosa kicks ass, and now she can show her stuff without the nonsensical soap opera booking found in the NWA women’s division.   The last time I saw Thunder Rosa in NWA, Melina had inexplicably declared that she had a title match against Rosa, but when the match actually happened, Melina just rolled out of the ring and took a countout.    Seeing Eddie Kingston, Ricky Starks, and Thunder Rosa has opened my eyes to a lot of problems in NWA.

Anyway, here’s the AEW storyline for Thunder Rosa: Shida wanted competition, and Thunder Rosa showed up to kick her ass and take her belt.   I suspect Shida’s going to win, because Rosa’s NWA title isn’t on the line, but I’m rooting for Thunder Rosa to become the double champ.  

AEW Men’s Championship: Jon Moxley vs. MJF.

I want Moxley to win, although I’m not 100% sure this isn’t MJF’s time.   It feels too soon, but I didn’t think Moxley would win the title from Jericho back in February either.   Also, if Moxley loses the title, it might make it easier for AEW and NJPW to open the Forbidden Door long enough for him to defend the IWGP U.S. title against KENTA.    Is that worth putting the world title on MJF?   Probably not, but it’s fun to think about.  

I don’t understand this feud at all, because MJF has been “campaigning” for a world title shot, even though he’s the #1 contender and he’s undefeated, so I’m pretty sure he could just request the match and he’s all set.    MJF has also successfully lobbied to have Moxley’s finisher banned from their match, but what if Mox uses it anyway?   They’d just disqualify him and he’d retain the title, right?    Or maybe the ref would just stand there and let him do it anyway, because that seems to be how AEW referees do things.   

I really don’t get why MJF wanted the Paradigm Shift banned.   He got hit with one like two weeks ago, and he acted like it half-crippled him, but then he revealed it didn’t hurt him that badly, so why does he care if he takes another one?  MJF also seems to have this thing going on where he pretends to be this high-road-taking “pure wrestler”, who can out-finesse Moxley’s brawling style, but we’ve seen MJF just go apeshit and use hardcore tactics himself.  

This is kind of an aside, but I find it funny when Jim Cornette acts surprised when people accuse him of playing a character on his podcasts.   He’ll be like “No, no, you don’t understand, I really hate Vince Russo and Kenny Omega and I want them both dead for not respecting kayfabe!”    The thing is, wrestlers like MJF and FTR are out here repeating a lot of Cornette’s talking points on TV, specifically to get heel heat.   They praise themselves for being workhorses who stick to the fundamentals, but they’re hypocrites who use gamesmanship and trickery to get ahead.    So people hear Cornette blowing a gasket about Joey Janela and they just assume he’s being some sort of cartoonish supervillain character to sell his merch, because the alternative is too absurd to contemplate.    It’d be like MJF assuring people that he really does bloody people up with his diamond ring in real life, just like he does on TV.   

Anyway, I’ll stick with Moxley, but if MJF wins, I’ll be more intrigued than disappointed...

[andymull]

AEW Revolution 2020 - Preview & Predictions

Jon Moxley vs Chris Jericho (c) - AEW Championship Match

Will the first ever AEW champions reign finally end tonight? Or will Le Champion retain?

A feud that’s developed really well over time as they've been waiting for this PPV to really hit it big, from the group to the eye patch nearly everything has hit it out the park.

For me I see a new champion crowned in Mox, but what follows for Jericho? Im not sure if we really know the answer yet to that question, in that I dont think he’ll want to be around weekly and would rather leave for afew months do some gigs then return later. Maybe stay around for a big rematch but then look to take a break, but then what becomes of the Inner Circle without its charismatic leader? It really could slow their progress without their leader around.

As for Moxley as champion who steps up as his first challenger? Do they get around Cody not being able to go for the title after his MJF feud? Maybe Lance Archer goes instantly into the title scene with his debut and carries on the brawls he had with Moxley in NJPW? After that it looks alittle bleak to be honest, Omega is in his tag team with Page, Pac has been beaten this week by Kenny and one win over Orange Cassidy tonight may not be enough to propel him into the slot. And the other person in the top rankings is MJF who will HAVE to beat Cody to take that spot, I thought that match was fairly dead on as to Cody winning but maybe that’s more open, more on that later....

Mox takes the win and the title - MOXLEY

Cody vs MJF

The blood feud reaches its peak tonight after all of the steps required were crossed by Cody, but can he get that vital win over MJF or will a further step find itself in Cody’s way (its Arn!).

This has been the best feud that AEW has put on so far, Cody has positioned his-self so well in staying away from the title scene immediately to see how that settles down before getting involved and instead focused on making this feud the best it can be without needed a belt be the focus.

Initially I saw this a clear win for Cody while making MJF a deadly threat at the same time, I then switched to being in the mindset of someone turning on Cody to help MJF win (Arn its you!), then ive gone back to Cody winning again lately in his heroes journey. Its just that the prospect of Arn turning on Cody would be great, Arn has convinced Cody to go through all of the requirements MJF made no matter how tough or degrading but now imagine if Arn screws Cody tonight and it was all for nothing!! All done to embarrass Cody, to show MJF as the mastermind paying off Arn, to move MJF to the world title scene knowing Cody cant follow him.

Honestly lets flip a coin and stick with it.............Cody.......there we have it! Cody wins and moves to a respectful feud with Moxley for the title, while MJF retains his heat by feuding and beating Darby Allin - CODY

The Young Bucks vs Kenny Omega & Adam Page (c) - AEW Tag Team Championship Match

Should be a really fun match with guys comfortable with each other, I expect this to develop differently to how its being built in that I see Kenny getting no joy to begin by being friends with the Bucks then will take Pages approach to really not caring who they are just wanting to beat them.

We really need Omega in the world title scene and to be honest this tag team story is just going to hold him away for longer, we’ll have the tag reign then then titles loss then him and age feuding when they split, that’s going to be afew months still. Dont get me wrong it will provide some great moments and matches, and the most important thing here being them getting Page built to a much higher level.

The Bucks really need the titles soon I just feel they want to get Jericho’s long reign finished first before doing another one, give it another month and I feel they pull the trigger on the title change just not tonight - OMEGA/PAGE

Dustin Rhodes vs Jake Hager

Finally we get to Hager being able to have a match, his MMA contract has seemingly been pretty restrictive for him with them not fancying him losing weekly on tv and become a weaker fighter for them to use on MMA shows.

This has been ok so far, worked the injury angle with Dustin and afew brawls, I really dont think this should go too long and should be fairly easy to predict in Dustin getting a great reaction but ultimately losing to Hager - HAGER

Darby Allin vs Sammy Guevara 

Another well built feud here doing better than the previous match and needing to do so as well, with both guys being less known by the general public its been tough to have them work together and both get over. The inclusion of Sammy into the Inner Circle was vital as without that I dont think this would work just yet. The development of Darby has been good both in getting over his style as well as his character which does still need work but is definitely going in the right direction.

In terms of the winner I think it has to be Sammy, and I feel that due to my thinking that Jericho may take alittle time off and see Sammy as being a winner tonight and trying to step up and take the Jericho spot if he’s away - GUEVARA

Kris Statlander vs Nyla Rose (c) - AEW Women’s Championship Match

The recently crowned champion in Rose defends her title in a match that was delayed recently against Kris, this should develop into more of a bruising match than the title has seen in recent months with Riho as champion. 

I really dont see the need to change this title anytime soon so expect them to have Kris get some good highlights in with her moves and character but ultimately Nyla will retain her crown - ROSE

Pac vs Orange Cassidy

And we have Orange’s first singles match in the company and his big opportunity, and it really is big as he has gotten over the gimmick so far and has the fans behind him but the next big step is carry that over into actual matches and not just spots.

Pac meanwhile just needs the win, nothing else, just the win.

Will be interesting and eye opening - PAC

SCU vs The Dark Order - Pre Show Match

Match wise we’ve probably seen this already once or twice, with the big news being how they move along the angle of Chris Daniels and the Dark Order leadership.

I doubt we get a final answer tonight with this only being on the pre show so I imagine everyone's thinking up ideas of a clever way to tease something but finally not get there just yet. I guess at the Dark Order getting the win with failed help from Daniels leading to SCU thinking he failed to help on purpose - DARK ORDER

Should be a fun show, hopefully the matches dont go too long like they did pre Dynamite, but will provide some great action.

Hopefully over the next few months we get the likes of Lance Archer, Luke Harper and maybe Matt Hardy added to the show, then the challenge will be to get them into the mix in a vital way to improve the brand further.

Bye for now

Andy

[themellowaewfan]

Full Gear Predictions

Full Gear is here. I’m excited for this PPV, though I would admit the build up has been a mixed bag. Every episode of AEW Dynamite has been good, but I felt like some of the feuds leading into this PPV could have been developed more. To be fair they only had a month to build to the show and the ones that they did develop though were developed really well. I do predictions for every AEW PPV so let’s do it for tonight!

Britt Baker vs Bea Priestley

I don’t want to be too negative, but I don’t like Britt Baker so far. She has no personality. Yes her being a dentist in real life is neat, but she's just so bland. She has one tone of voice, only 2-3 facial expressions, and she always acts like she’s so bored. I understand why AEW wants to push her (real life friend, was in All In, First woman signed), but I think they should give her a de-push or change something. I’m going with Bea because while I don’t find her that interesting either, I feel like she’s more likely to grow on me than Britt is. She might make a good villain to go after Riho next. 

Winner: Bea Priestley. 

Shawn Spears vs Joey Janela

This match could’ve used more build up, but what we got was decent. I could go either way with this match. I think I’ll go with Joey Janela for this one. 

Winner: Joey Janela 

Hangman Page vs PAC

Now we get a rematch from the debut episode of AEW Dynamite. I think PAC will win because Hangman Page seems to be teasing a heel turn and another loss will be a good catalyst. 

Winner: PAC 

Santana & Ortiz vs The Young Bucks

I think Santana & Ortiz should win this one to establish them as threats. The Young Bucks have a history of success so beating them should be a big deal. 

Winner: Santana & Ortiz 

The Lucha Bros vs SCU vs Private Party 

It would be weird for them to take the titles off of SCU almost right away, but I feel like going bold for this prediction. Lucha Bros will win the title.��

Winner: Lucha Bros 

Riho vs Emi Sakura 

When I said that some of the matches could of used more build up, this one is the prime example. Riho is defending her title against her own teacher, there is a lot that could’ve been done for the story. The good news is that this will probably be a great match. Riho should retain. 

Winner: Riho. 

Cody vs Jericho 

The build up for the match has been fantastic. It’s a bit hard to call because Cody added the stakes that if he loses he can’t challenge for the title again. I think Jericho is going to win this match. He’s been a good main antagonist for AEW and it might be good for Cody to never challenge for the title. 

Winner: Chris Jericho 

Jon Moxley vs Kenny Omega 

Here it is, the most built up match in AEW so far. It’s going to be big and it’s going to be hard hitting. It’s hard to call this one, but I think I’ll go with Moxley. He’s still one of AEW’s biggest draws (just look at the Youtube views). Kenny will be fine though. 

Winner: Jon Moxley 

[hazyheel]

AEW All Out Predictions

The sequel to All In is happening on Saturday, and it is a stacked show. I cannot describe how excited I am to watch, and as bummed as I am about the Moxley injury, his replacement still lends itself to an interesting match. The card has a lot of interesting stories from top to bottom, and those that don’t have much of a story should be pretty good matches anyway. I’m really excited, but who will get the wins? Here are my predictions for All Out.

21 Woman Casino Battle Royal for #1 contendership to the AEW Women’s Championship: This is the first of two pre-show matches. The rules are the same as last time. Five Women will start in the ring, and then every few minutes, five more will enter. The twenty first competitor will enter the match last and alone, giving them a distinct advantage. Lots of names have been announced already, such as: Nyla Rose, Britt Baker, Allie, Brandi Rhodes, Teal Piper, Ivelisse, Jazz, Big Swole, Sadie Gibbs, Awesome Kong, and Shazza McKenzie. This is pretty exciting, lots of new names and big names on this show. I’m thinking that Britt Baker will get the win, considering how much she has been pushed recently, and how much the Bucks and Cody seem to like her. She won the first official women’s match in AEW, while also participating in the Women’s match at All In, and Fight for the Fallen. While it may seem pretty obvious to pick her, I don’t think AEW will shy away from an obvious choice if it is the right one. Personally though, I will be rooting for Ivelisse. Should be fun, but I’m always skeptical of Battle Royals. 

Angelico & Jack Evans vs. Private Party: The next pre show match pits two up and coming tag teams in AEW. Both teams have impressed me in the past, but I think Private Party will get the win here. The Bucks seem really big on them, and they will need to impress in a big way to get over on the event. Angelico and Jack Evans are also without wins, but I don’t know how prominent their roles in AEW will be early on. Private Party will be big, because the Bucks love them. So they will probably win here, but I expect a good match. 

SoCal Uncensored vs. Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt: This is just sorta a thrown together match, but I’m still looking forward to it. I think that Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt will win, really just to establish them as a strong team. They need to make some names, and for how popular they were at fight for the fallen, none of them have won a match. So they need to look strong. I’m actually looking forward to this match, because SoCal uncensored is great, Jungle Boy is goddamned awesome, Luchasaurus is great, and Marko Stunt is... probably good? I haven’t watched him much. But I’m excited for this. I think it will be really good to great. 

Darby Allin vs. Joey Janela vs. Jimmy Havoc in a Cracker Barrel Clash: I genuinely had no idea that this match had a stipulation on it until I read the wikipedia. it’s a funny way to incorporate product placement. Anyway, this match stems from Fight for the Fallen. These three teamed together in a six man tag against Shawn Spears, MJF and Sammy Guevara. They didn’t work together very well at all, and when they lost, they each blamed each other for the loss and brawled a bunch. So the three way was booked for All Out, and they added the stipulation randomly some other time. I assume it’s a hardcore stipulation considering the people in it. I am thinking that Darby Allin will get the win here, because they have been pushing him in a subtle way. He went to a time limit draw with Cody at Fyter Fest, and then ate the pin in the 6-man tag from Shawn Spears. Considering that he was a catalyst for the feud, I imagine that he will be important in the company. Although I can see any of these guys winning, because none of them have a win under their belt. Should be a fun hardcore match, but I cringe to think about what they will do to each other. 

Kenny Omega vs. Pac: this is simultaneously the most disappointing and possibly most exciting match on the card. It was supposed to by Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley, but Moxley went out with a staph infection last week. So that is disappointing. But then AEW resolved their issues with Pac, so he is coming in instead, which is so exciting. And although there is no story to this, it could easily be the best match of the night. I think Omega is going to win, because even though this is Pac’s debut, Omega has been building up to this match for three months. But this is an exciting match and I think it will be great. 

Cody vs. Shawn Spears: a personal feud that has developed superbly. These two have been friends for years, going back to OVW. However, at Fyter Fest, Spears walloped Cody in the head with a chair shot following his draw against Darby Allin. The story unfolded a bit after that match, with Spears saying that Cody referred to him as a “good hand” after his signing, which irked him. He wants to be remembered as a great wrestler, not just some guy who Cody hired to fill out the roster. At Fight for the Fallen, Shawn Spears pinned Darby Allin in a six man tag, which was a good booking decision. So that match was signed for All Out, with an interesting stipulation. It is a normal singles match, but each guy can only have one person in his corner. Tully Blanchard, Spears’ new manager, is in Spears’ corner, mainly because Blanchard had a lot of success against Dusty Rhodes. We still don’t know who will stay in Cody’s corner, so there is a bit of intrigue going into it. I love this story to death, but I’m a bit skeptical of the match. I think both these guys are really good, but I don’t know if they can pull out a great match. I think good is the best they can do, but I will happily be wrong about that. I think Cody will win this so that he can look strong, and be a trumphant babyface, but I would be perfectly happy to see Spears get the win and go on a tear as a heel. 

Best Friends vs. The Dark Order for a BYE in the AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament: simple booking got us here. At Double or Nothing, Best Friends, Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor, beat Angelico and Jack Evans. After the match, the Dark Order, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson made their debut and attacked everyone. They made a particular show of beating down Best Friends, as they hate them for some reason. At Fyter Fest, Best Friends beat Private Party and SoCal Uncensored (Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian) in a triple threat tag match to qualify for a BYE match at All Out. The Dark Order beat A Boy and His Dinosaur and Angelico & Jack Evans at Fight for the Fallen to also qualify, and here we are. I think that the Dark Order will win here, because they are creepy, dominant heels. I think they win here and maybe even make it to the finals of the tournament, or win. If anyone is going to beat them, it’ll be the Young Bucks. But this should be a good match. Best Friends are great, and the Dark Order seem pretty good too.

Hikaru Shida vs. Riho for #1 contendership to the AEW Women’s Championship: This was a bit thrown together, but should be a good match. I have limitted experience with both of them, but I think Riho will win. Omega really likes her, and I think that she would be a great wrestler to have in the #1 contenders slot opposite Britt Baker, but I don’t think she will win. I wish I knew more about these gals, but I don’t, so I will just move on. 

The Lucha Bros vs. The Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AAA World Tag Team Championships: Ah yes, an eternal rivalry. I don’t think these two teams will ever stop feuding. This all started back in PWG where they constantly fought over those tag belts, but the current story started at the second AEW press conference. The Lucha Bros attacked the Young Bucks, and challenged them for Double or Nothing. The Bucks accepted, and later ambushed them at AAA’s Rey de Reyes, challenging and defeating the Lucha Bros in a match for the AAA World Tag Team Championships. Those belts were put on the line at Double or Nothing, and the Bucks retained. They fought again for the belts at AAA’s Verano de Escándalo, with the Lucha Bros winning the belts back. The teams then clashed in six man tags at both AEW’s Fyter Ffest and AAA’s Triplemania, with Kenny Omega on the Young Bucks’ team and Laredo Kid on the Lucha Bros team, with the Elite winning at the AEW event and the luchadores winning in AAA. After defeating Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky at Fight for the Fallen, the Lucha Bros challenged The Young Bucks to a ladder match at All Out. Later that night, after The Young Bucks defeated The Brotherhood (Cody and Dustin Rhodes), they accepted. The AAA World Tag Team Championships were put on the line once again later on. This has feud ender written all over it. I mean seriously, these teams have fought each other in some way, shape or form at five events this year. We don’t need this many rematches. The stipulation will keep things fresh, but this has to be the end, at least for a while. I think that the Lucha Bros will get the win here, because this is the kind of strong victory they need to cement themselves in AEW, whereas the Bucks have yet to lose. And the Bucks will be protected by the ladder stipulation, they don’t need to eat a pin. However, that doesn’t take away from how goddamn scary this will be. These two teams are gonna kill themselves in this ladder match. I am both worried out of my mind, and incredibly excited for this match. It is the one I’m most excited for, I think it will be great, but I hope no one gets hurt. 

Adam Page vs. Chris Jericho for the inaugural AEW World Championship: This is history in the making folks. The first crowning of a world champion in what is now considered the #2 wrestling company in the world. Big stuff. The story started out simple. Adam Page was the surprise last entrant in the first Casino Battle Royal, last eliminating MJF to win the match at Double or Nothing and qualify for this match. In the main event of the same show, Chris Jericho defeated Kenny Omega, debuting the Judas effect in the process, to qualify as well. From there, Page won two matches: a four way against MJF, Jimmy Havoc and Jungle Boy at Fyter Fest, and a singles match against Kip Sabian at Fight for the Fallen. In contrast, Jericho lost against Kazuchika Okada in New Japan in a match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion, albeit unconvincingly. After Page’s win over Sabian, Jericho attacked Page. Later on, he said that he had to win this World Championship match, because if he lost it would mean the end of the wrestling god known as Chris Jericho. Page then attacked him to return the favor, and was shown to be the underdog. Both guys want this more than anything, but I think that Jericho should win it. He may not be in his prime, but he is still a legend, and if they have a legend holding that belt on their first TV show, then people will be interested. Page is world championship material, this feud has shown that, but just not yet. He will win the belt eventually, but he won’t be the first. I just don’t think he can compete with Jericho’s name value, even if that value is from WWE and WWE affiliates. However, Page could still win considering that he is close with the EVP’s. And it would be a feel good way to end the show, so I could be wrong. This match should be really good if not great, but either way it’ll be a visceral sight to see the first champion crowned. 

[mjfass]

Alright, I know the PPV is on sunday, but i might as well post my predictions now!

REVOLOOSHUN 2022: NOW WITH 100% LESS CODY

- Hook vs QT Marshall: Hook. QT is gonna get absolutely worldstarred and it's gonna be great.

-Leyla Hirsch vs Kris Statlander: I really like Stat, so hopefully Stat wins?

-Jade Cargill vs Tay Conti: this is Jade's first PPV title defense, she's gotta win it.

-AHFO vs Sammy, Sting and Darby: AHFO has been dead in the water for a while, so I think Sammy, Sting and Darby will win it.

- JE vs RD vs YB: Honestly, I hope ReDRagon win it here, but I wouldn't be surprised if ReDRagon and the Bucks got in eachothers way, causing JE to retain.

- Jon Moxley vs Brian Danielson: This is Mox's first PPV back from his triumphant return, so I think they'll give him the win here, but Danielson will definitely earn Mox's respect.

-Jericho vs Kingston: Kingston. Nuff Said.

-Face of the Revolooshun: Hopefully Keith Lee or Wardlow. Either one as TNT champ would be fire.

-Britt Baker vs Thunder Rosa: I hope it's Rosa. I hope it's Rosa so that Britt can go to the newly TK-owned Ring of Honor and face Deonna Purrazzo for the ROH women's championship.

-CM Punk vs MJF: Punk's gotta get his win back. MJF showed his hand too early this past dynamite and Punk is gonna be pissed.

- Adam vs Adam: Adam. I think Adam is gonna beat Adam.. Honestly, this is Hangman's first PPV title defense, I think he should beat Cole.

Bonus predictions (or at least stuff I hope happens at the PPV)

- Claudio Castagnoli debuts and stares down Kingston after beating Jericho.

- Samoa Joe comes down to congratulate Punk on the win before challenging him on the next Dynamite saying something like "since your boss bought Ring of Honor and you're in the interest of playing the hits, why don't you and I run it back?"

- Johnny Gargano comes down and prevents ReDRagon from interfering in the Adam Cole vs Hangman Page match.

- Other Debuts I'd wanna see but don't know when they'd happen: Mia Yim, Nixon Newell, Athena, Jeff Hardy, Swerve Strickland

Hook vs QT Marshall: Hook, of course. Tonight is Hookvolution.

Leyla vs Kris: Kris, without a doubt.

Jade vs Tay: Jade. She shouldn’t lose the championship yet.

AHFO vs Sammy, Darby and Sting: Sammy, Darby and Sting, because Matt needs to lose and get angry and cut a promo about how this isn’t working… just for Jeff to debut next week.

Bucks vs ReDRagon vs Jurassic Express: Jurassic Express. The idiots will start fighting and it will be a mess.

Moxley vs Danielson: Mox, of course. But I expect something interesting happening here. I don’t picture Danielson just losing and then just moving to the next match; could happen during or after the match, with Mox giving him a handshake or… imagine someone debuting.

Jericho vs Kingston… EDDIE FREAKING KINGSTON, OF COURSE.

Face of the Revolution: Keith. There’s no doubt here.

Britt vs Rosa: My heart says Rosa but my mind says Britt.

Punk vs MJF: Punk, after Wardlow helps him win.

Cole vs Hangman: Hangman will retain.

[officialotakudome]

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, Tech, and Geek Culture

New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/aew-double-or-nothing-2021-review/

AEW Double or Nothing 2021 Review

Double or Nothing has come and gone and AEW put on a a spectacle of an event for a good four hours or so of pro wrestling action. In what definitely felt like a star making show Double or Nothing featured five title matches, and tons of great wrestling. Though it did suffer from some small duds the show overall was an incredible presentation. 

AEW Double or Nothing is a 2021 pro wrestling event, it is produced by All Elite Wrestling and aired on May 30, 2021. It is available on demand as a replay on Fite.TV and other services.

Editor’s Note: Medium to complete spoilers for AEW Double or Nothing 2021 may be present within this review.

Double or Nothing was probably AEW’s strongest PPV to date.

Following it’s debut on Friday nights AEW once again returned with a packed house. This time for it’s annual Double or Nothing event. The show was nearly a complete sell out with The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reporting that only 352 tickets were left available for purchase just hours before the show began. The show opened with AEW’s free portion known as the buy-in which featured NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb defending against former AEW Women’s World Champion Riho. While I’m in agreement with those that this should have been on the main card, I think this was the perfect way to wake up the live crowd and get the energy flowing from the jump. Deeb has been killing it with strong performances since debuting in NWA & AEW and this one was no different. Riho is another well-received worker so this match was expected to deliver and it did. The finish saw Deeb who was working Riho’s leg all match slam her knee down on the mat several times following with a Serenity Lock for the win.

Winner: Serena Deeb retains **** stars

Double or Nothing opens with a very fun title match.

Next it’s the main show and Taz is out on commentary to rep his (soon to be former?) man Brian Cage as he takes on former Number 1 Contender Adam Page in a rematch from Dynamite a few weeks back. Cage promised Page a man to man contest after screwing him out of title contention much to Taz’s chagrin. The match was very good but Cage was doing a lot of really odd moves for the sake of it and it looked hilarious in motion. The finish saw Ricky Starks coming in with the FTW Championship calling for Cage to use it. Cage refuses keeping his word to Page only for Page to turn the tables with the distraction and hitting the Buckshot Lariat for the win. This would be lame otherwise, but the storyline made up for it. Cage is also clearly turning babyface very soon.

Winner: Adam Page **** stars

Adam Page makes another comeback while Brian Cage prepares for a different direction.

The second title match of the night is up as those dastardly heels The Young Bucks take on Jon Moxley and long-time companion Eddie Kingston for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. The feud all began because Kingston got involved with Kenny Omega and Moxley’s beef during the finish of Revolution leading to the Bucks joining Omega & The Good Bros. and reforming The Elite as a heel group. Since then, Moxley and Kingston have reformed their friendship entering the tag division. I really like Kingston & Moxley together, but as a wrestling duo they don’t always click for me. Their match with the Bucks however, is probably the best match we’ll see the two together in during their tag team run (prove me wrong AEW). The match opened with a trademark AEW brawl before the match began. There was a hilarious bit where Moxley shoved the streamers from the Buck’s entrance into Matt’s (God I hope I got the right Buck) mouth. There were tons of Superkicks and even an even an Indie Taker on the ramp. At one point Moxley got color on his face and looked like a badass throughout the rest of the match. After a couple of Paradigm Shifts and some very realistic near falls the finish saw the Bucks hitting the BTE Trigger for the win.

Winner: The Young Bucks retain ***** stars

AEW continues to show that the tag division is probably the strongest quality wise.

The next bout is the annual Casino Battle Royal featuring 21 men vying for a future AEW World Championship title match. This match also featured two of my favorite moments of the show which I’ll get to in a bit. So for a battle royal there isn’t much to go about talking on the wrestling of the match. However, I will say that when Max Caster made his entrance he continued with his no fucks given epic rap entrances. He even had no issue giving Christian an Edge dig. The Acclaimed was one of my favorite teams on Dark just based on their ring work alone, but since being featured on TV more that fandom has only grew. Speaking of Caster, there was a nasty spot during his elimination where it looked like he injured his leg hopefully he’s ok. This was an extremely fast paced match and the eliminations came quick. Following Double or Nothing doesn’t look like the Rhodes Family is done with The Factory just yet as they teased Dustin feuding with Nick Comoroto moving forward. Now on to favorite moment number one, Lio Rush made his debut. Yes that Lio Rush and I have no idea what it means for AEW as a business moving forward. And what I mean by that is, is this the beginning of a talent program with Major League Wrestling? If so awesome, last I checked Rush was still signed to MLW and he’s been working NJPW’s US-based show Strong. So is Rush gone from MLW or is this the start of a partnership? So many question unanswered with this one. The second favorite moment was of course the winner of the match. Everyone and their ancient ancestor expected Christian Cage to win. However, AEW went for the swerve and gave the win to a fresh face in Jungle Boy. And yes I’m aware he’s been on AEW TV for well over two years now but he’s really come into his own as someone they see a future in the last year. There was a moment post-match where it looked like Christian was dangerously close to turning heel with the story being he’s pissed he lost. However, Christian continued the moment by pumping up Jungle Boy and telling him to win the gold which was a neat moment.

Winner: Jungle Boy ** 2/4 stars

Quick Update: Turns out Lio Rush is signed to NJPW who allows him to freelance elsewhere and they have a deal with AEW so this all lines up.

AEW provided us with a star making move by giving Jungle Boy the feel good win.

Reaching the middle point of the show it’s time for The “American Dream” (yes that’s the name he used for this match) Cody Rhodes to face off against The Guv’nor Anthony Ogogo. So this match should have been way better than it was given the hype. However the point was to show off Anthony Ogogo’s wrestling training from the last two years. Which I think they ultimately succeeded in doing. After a gut punch Ogogo opened the match with an Olympic Slam and showed off some really strong wrestling talent. I’m glad they didn’t go too far with Ogogo’s “former boxer” gimmick (yes I know Ogogo is a shoot boxer). They definitely teased it in the beginning of Ogogo’s run, which I was always worried about, but I’m glad I was wrong and the wrestling came above all else. Cody picked up the win with the Cross Rhodes.

Winner: Cody Rhodes ** 2/4 stars

While the match itself could have been much better Ogogo showed off his two years of training impressively well.

It was time for the big HOSS fight in TNT Champion Miro defending against “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer. This was a really short but sweet match between two very solid big man workers. Strong showcase of power style wrestling from both men. At one point Archer slammed Miro through a table. Jake “the Snake” Roberts brought out the snake (in bag), but Miro attacked him and tossed the snake for huge heat. Finish saw Miro taking advantage of Archer being distracted from another Roberts attack with Archer being choked out with the guillotine hold.

Winner: Miro retains *** stars

A good big man wrestling match which featured two monster workers.

Our next match was the second Women’s Championship with Britt Baker facing off against AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida whose held the belt for over a year. So this one kind of hurts as I’m a bit of a Britt fan and I was looking forward to seeing her win the belt with a great match. Unfortunately this match seemed to suffer from going on a tad too long. And it especially sucks because it was just last year that Shida and Britt had a fantastic match in which Britt had to deal with a broken, bloody nose afterwards. Here the chemistry just felt off again I don’t know if there was too much time given or what. But something just wasn’t clicking here. There was a ton of near falls, Rebel (Reba?) interferred but was caught. Shida hit the Tamashii, but Britt kicked out and caught her in the Lockjaw for the win. I really wanted Britt and Shida to have another great match to start Britt’s run and cap off her & Shida’s feud. Hopefully things only improve from this point.

Winner and NEW AEW Women’s World Champion DMD Britt Baker ** 3/4 stars

The doctor is in as Britt Baker’s moment continues as she ends Shida’s run as Champion.

Sting’s first in-ring match since 2015 is here as he teams with young Darby Allin against the newly formed team of Scorpio Sky and Allin’s old rival Ethan Page. This match likely surprised many who watched as Sting, especially for his age of 62 went above and beyond in his performance. It starts with Sting & Darby attacking Page & Sky and he does a crossbody dive off the ramp. We even get to see Sting wrestle without a shirt on for God knows how long. Commentary even made what looked like a jab at the shirt wearing Sting joke by immediately pointing out that the “old Sting is back” after he ripped it off. Sky hit Sting with a suplex on the ramp, which I’m sure made people watching shit bricks with worry. However, Sting almost instantly got back up and no sold it which was cool. There was also a fun spot where had Page in the Scorpion Deathlock and Sky had Allin in a hold of his own. The two were face to face and began beating the hell out of each other while in their respective holds. Finish saw Sky going for what looked like a cutter only for Sting to reverse it into the Scorpion Death Drop for the win. Really fun match that saw Sting being in much better shape than initially thought.

Winners: Sting & Darby Allin *** 1/2 stars

Sting made his return to the ring in a very solid tag match.

The penultimate match arrives as the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defends against “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy & “The Bastard” Pac. Don Callis is out on commentary and I love his character. He has the obnoxious, talentless heel using the talent of others to boost himself gimmick down to a T. Wrestling wise this was probably the strongest match on the card, but the tag title match had a lot going on that give it a bit of an edge in overall quality. A lot of focus on Pac and Kenny going at it basically ignoring Orange in the process. When Orange got some work in it was great. Some fun near falls. There was a spot where Kenny & Orange were trading pins and Pac broke it up with the Black Arrow onto both men. Don got involved with a very convincing Orange fall. The finish had Orange giving Omega an Orange Punch with an extremely close fall only for Omega to reverse the pin into a crucifix pin for the victory. Really supreme back and forth wrestling from all three workers in this match. They had a perfect opportunity to have Cassidy regain the moment he lost with the pandemic effecting attendance and took full advantage of it establishing him as an upper midcarder & potential main eventer.

Winner: Kenny Omega retains ****

Kenny Omega successfully retains in a very fun world title match.

The main event arrives as The Inner Circle take on the Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match where if the Inner Circle loses then they must disband. The Inner Circle made a neat entrance by coming in on hanging wire from the big tron. Fun fact the John Wick stunt coordinator apparently helped AEW pull this off among a number of other sequences in this match. It starts off on the football field with most of Inner Circle & Pinnacle battling it out. MJF who had began taunting them earlier alone hid jn a limo thinking he one upped the group only to be outsmarted by Chris Jericho who was waiting for him. The two battle across the arena and there’s a bit with a staple which MJF was a champ for being on the receiving end of. There was also a funny moment with a cardboard cutout of Tony Khan’s dad Shahid being used as a weapon and Jericho “protecting” it afterward. We got a couple of NFL cameos one of which being Urban Meyer who responded to Jericho & MJF busting into his room with a “holy shit”. We see Wardlow and Jake Hager beating the hell out of each other before it becomes completely one sided on Wardlow’s end. Wardlow beats Hager with water jugs and eventually spears him through a wall. A very surprising lack of Santana and Ortiz in this we get a couple of moments of them facing FTR but nothing too special. However, there was a scene in a bar with a Konnan appearance that was awesome. Jericho & MJF eventually spill into the live arena and beat each other between the crowd. Sammy & Spears appear next in what I can only describe as a “chair war” they toss and beat the hell out of each other with chairs before heading to the ring. The crowd was in absolute love with Sammy. The finish saw a call back to the Pinnacle’s debut where Sammy got his face mashed in by a chair in the corner. He did the same spot to Spears before ending it with a 450 Splash for the win. There was so much going on in this match. Sammy winning was the right move he’s gonna be a huge star for AEW when he has his solo babyface run. I thought this match was a bit weaker compared to the first that had stronger wrestling, but this year the match was way more about the story and it told an excellent one.

  Winner: The Inner Circle *** 1/2 stars

While not as good as the first, the second Stadium Stampede provided some cool moments to send fans home happy.

 OVERALL THOUGHTS: AEW’s second PPV for 2021 was one of it’s strongest shows in quite sometime. Most of the matches were good, but there were some duds of which were disappointing to be unimpressive matches. This was a show meant to invest in the promotion’s future and I think they succeeded for the most part. Otaku Dome gives Double or Nothing 2021 an 88 out of 100.

[wrestlingisfake]

Double or Nothing preview

Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara & Santana & Ortiz & Jake Hager vs. MJF & Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler & Shawn Spears & Wardlow - This is a "Stadium Stampede" match, so the contest will start in a wrestling ring set up on the 50-yard line of TIAA Bank Field. There are no disqualifications and falls count anywhere, so basically both teams can brawl all over the stadium until one guy scores a pin or submission on someone from the other team. If the Pinnacle (MJF's team) wins, then Jericho's Inner Circle will be forced to disband forever.

The Jericho/MJF rivalry has been brewing since the fall of 2019, when the subject of MJF joining the Inner Circle was broached. MJF (and Wardlow) finally joined up a year later, but it was all a plot to destroy the group from within to make way for the Pinnacle. The original five members of the Inner Circle stayed together and collectively turned babyface. The Pinnacle defeated the Inner Circle in a "blood & guts" cage match, where Jericho suffered a real dislocation in his elbow, but the Inner Circle demanded another chance to settle the score. So MJF challenged them to this match, knowing that Jericho's squad lost the first Stadium Stampede last year.

The first stadium match worked because they took full advantage of the format to do a lot of wacky comedy and absurd brawling spots. I don't think these teams can replicate that here, and really shouldn't try. They'll be better off focusing on the brutality of this blood feud and the dangers of an unfamiliar environment. Last year's match was all about finding new things to jump off of that nobody ever used in a wrestling match before. This one should be about finding new ways to hurt people.

I can't see the Inner Circle actually breaking up here, because there's a lot more left for them to do. In theory you could do it and just have Jericho keep targeting MJF all on his own. But they also still need to do Santana & Ortiz vs. Harwood & Wheeler, and Guevara vs. Spears, and I'd even be up for Hager vs. Wardlow. So it makes more sense to just give the Inner Circle the win here, although I can't deny that it's possible they could surprise me.

Kenny Omega vs. PAC vs. Orange Cassidy - This is a three-way match for Omega's AEW men's world championship, so the first man to score a fall on either opponent wins the match and the title. Omega's other championships--the Impact world title and AAA mega title--are not at stake.

As far as I can tell this match was always supposed to be a three-way. A Pac vs. Cassidy match on May 12 was set to decide Omega's next challenger and booked to go a time-limit draw. Omega would then argue that neither man won a title match, only to be overruled and have to face both of them, in a bit we've seen a million times. However, in the match Orange got legit knocked out. So instead of just declaring Pac the winner and sole challenger, which would make more sense anyway, they had to do some wacky hijinx to get back on the stupid track to their stupid draw to do the stupid trope for a stupid three-way.

So yeah, I'm not thrilled with this match, because nothing about it is more interesting to me than if the May 12 match had a winner and this match was one-on-one. Orange just beating Pac to earn the biggest match of his career would have been cool. Orange losing to Pac, so that it takes longer for him to prove he belongs in the main event, would have been cool. But a three-way just says to me "we don't think either of these challengers is a credible draw on their own, and you won't either after they both lose at the same time." Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if WWE hadn't run this sort of thing into the ground, but they did.

Anyway, Omega probably steals a pin from Orange, and the announcers all squabble with Don Callis for 25 minutes. I would really like to see this Omega heel run actually start going somewhere.

Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson vs. Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston - The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick) are defending the AEW tag team title. The Moxley-Kingston alliance came about when Eddie set aside their differences to rescue Mox from the exploding ring on March 7. But the ring didn't explode, so both of them wanted to beat up Kenny Omega for embarrassing them. But they couldn't get at Omega becaue his faction kept getting in the way, and then the Bucks turned on Moxley to join Omega's faction. So Moxley and Kingston started targeting the Bucks, and by the time they stole the Bucks' fancy designer sneakers we had a title match.

I think I actually find the Bucks less irritating as heels than as babyfaces. When they're bad guys, they spend half of their time being all insider-y, like "WOW THAT SURE WAS AN EVIL THING WE JUST DID, THAT SURE WILL GET SOME 'HEEL' 'HEAT' FROM THE 'MARKS' LOL." But when they're good guys, they devote that time to being all "WOW THIS SURE WOULD BE A GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR A 'HEEL' 'TURN' BUT WE'RE NOT GOING TO DO IT YET YOU 'MARKS' LOL." At least now they're supposed to be annoying.

The biggest missing piece in the Bucks' current heel run has been a team that won't take their crap and just punches each of them in the mouth. So Moxley and Kingston are really the perfect opponents for them right now. Like, I really buy that the Bucks have bitten off more than they can chew here. But I also believe that Mox and Eddie's deathmathch powers won't save them if they get cold spray in their eyes. So it averages out to an even fight, which I like.

I wouldn't book the Bucks to drop the title at this particular time, but I can see where it'd be hot for Moxley and Kingston to cement their bond as a team and get a short title run to set up a rematch.

Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker - Baker is challenging for the AEW women's world title, which Shida has held for just over a year. It's been a tough run for Shida, being booked as a dominant champion in an empty building, while Baker got all the glory of getting built up as a cult favorite heel. The fandom is impatient for a title change, and specifically for Baker to get the belt. I knew all along that we'd get here eventually, and the long wait would build it up, but it still feels hotter than I expected.

I kind of want to consider the possibility of Shida surprising everyone by retaining. But I think fans would be genuinely pissed if that happened, after waiting so long to see Baker's "coronation." So this is definitely one match where the "predictable" outcome is the right one. Baker should win the title and feud with all the faces she clobbered to get here for the next year. Shida should have to climb her way up to a big rematch down the line.

Sting & Darby Allin vs. Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page - Sky and Page sort of got thrown together because they both have the same "bellyache about not getting opportunities" gimmick. To that end, they both targeted Darby Allin, but instead of challenging him for the TNT championship they caused him to lose it to Miro. So now they're going to get their asses beat by Darby and his buddy Sting, while Miro gets a big PPV title match. You guys might want to review your strategy.

When Sting joined AEW with the intent to work matches, I think everybody assumed he'd just do "cinematic" matches like the pre-taped brawl on the March 7 show. However, AEW went out of their way to say this will be a normal tag team match in the arena, live in front of the fans. It'll be his first "real" match since September 20, 2015, when a bad bump forced him to retire. I sure hope they know what they're doing.

It's conceivable that Page and Sky will get the win, but it makes more sense to me for Allin to get the momentum on his way to rematch with Miro. Also, I think they'll want to give the live crowd a feel-good moment with Sting getting his hand raised.

Miro vs. Lance Archer - Miro won the TNT championship from Darby Allin a couple of weeks ago, and now Allin's busy with Pafge and Sky so that clears the way for Archer to step up and demand a shot. I felt like neither of these guys got their full due in WWE/NJPW, so it's especially rewarding to see them both get pushed in AEW and then beat the crap out of each other in a MEAN GUY MATCH~!

The money is in building to a Miro vs. Allin rematch for the title, so I don't think Archer is winning the belt and I sure don't think Miro is losing it this early. So this isn't about who'll win so much as it's about BIG MEATY MEN...SLAPPING MEAT.

Cody Rhodes vs. Anthony Ogogo - Ogogo won the bronze medal for middleweight boxing in the 2012 Olympics, but of late he's been training at the wrestling school started by Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall. Then QT turned on Cody, taking several students with him to form a faction called "The Factory." Cody got revenge on Marshall, but Ogogo hit Cody with his deadly body blow. Cody can out-wrestle Ogogo, but it won't matter if Ogogo lands that one punch again.

That's what the story of the match actually is. For some reason, Cody thinks it has to do with whether the United States sucks or rules. Basically, this is the same time of year that the Great American Bash would be held, and Cody wants to take up his dad's "The American Dream" moniker for one night weekend only, so that's how he's justifying it. So yeah.

Cody's storylines seem to operate in a parallel universe from the rest of AEW, but if you go along with that and buy what he's selling, it works. I can't decide if it's more important to deliver the happy ending for the white-meat babyface or to put heat on the up-and-coming future star. It probably depends on whether Ogogo's ready for a sustained push, and we won't know that until we see how he performs in this match.

Hangman Page vs. Brian Cage - This match actually relates to the company's rankings, in that Page was the #1 contender until a loss to Cage knocked him down a peg. So the inevitable rise of Page to complete his story arc by challenging his ex-partner for the world title can't proceed becaue Brian Cage is in the way. That's enough to get me motivated.

Cage has been lowkey teasing a face turn since he and Ricky Starks lost to Sting and Darby Allin. That's mainly important because Page is playing into that, suggesting he expected more integrity from Cage than the rest of Team Taz and daring him not to bring his goons to the match. It feels natural for Cage to lose this match because he refuses to accept help from his heel allies, who then turn on him for doing the right thing. Then again, Cage could just win to send Page spiraling further into despair and drag that issue out a while longer. But I really hope we're done with that.

21-man Casino Battle Royale - This is a gauntlet battle royale with timed entry, sort of like WWE's Royal Rumble, but five wrestlers start the match and every three minutes another five enter, until the 21st man enters alone. Once a wrestler enters the match, he can be eliminated at any time by exiting the ring over the top rope and landing on the floor. The match can only end once everyone has entered, and all but one is eliminated; the last man in the ring wins the match and a future world title shot.

Twenty of the 21 participants have been announced: Anthony Bowens, The Blade, Brian Pillman Jr., Christian Cage, Colt Cabana, Dustin Rhodes, Evil Uno, Griff Garrison, Isiah Kassidy, Jungle Boy, Lee Johnson, Marq Quen, Matt Hardy, Matt Sydal, Max Caster, Nick Comoroto, Penta El 0M, Powerhouse Hobbs, Preston Vance, and QT Marshall. The final participant hasn't been named; I'm guessing he'll just happen to enter last as luck #21.

A lot of AEW's factions are represented in this match, but the Hardy Family Office stands out for getting four of their guys (Blade, Hardy, Quen, and Kassidy) in this thing. I'm interested to see if that plays into the story of the match. But the heavy favorites have to be Christian Cage (a big acquisition that is already on track for a title match later this year) and whoever the mystery man is. Of course, last year's surprise entrant was Matt Sydal, so don't assume this one is going to be a huge deal.

Serena Deeb vs. Riho - Deeb is defending the NWA women's world championship on the pre-show. We haven't seen a lot of either of these women lately, because Deeb was out with an injury and Riho's international travel has been severely limited by the pandemic. (The NWA itself has also been out of commission for months, but they're back and probably anxious to book the winner of this match on one of their shows.)

So this match feels like it came out of nowhere, but it still manages to feel important. I mean, Riho ought to be the favorite, but doing a title change with another group's belt is no small thing. I'm really not sure what's going to happen, which is more buzz than I usually get for a pre-show match.

[aion-rsa]

AEW All Out 2020: Date, Matches, Roster, and How to Watch

https://ift.tt/33CgaYQ

There were some growing pains, but All Elite Wrestling has been able to hold its own during the days of COVID. In their last PPV, Double or Nothing 2020, they played up the situation with what’s probably the best ever use of the cinematic wrestling match gimmck with the Stadium Stampede. Now they’re getting ready for their next big PPV, AEW All Out 2020.

There’s some history behind the name of this PPV. AEW’s prototype show back in September 2018 was called All In, which centered around various wrestling promotions and indie talent working together. AEW officially launched a few months later and around its anniversary they had the first All Out. It gave us the crowning of the first AEW Champion in Chris Jericho, an all-women Casino Battle Royal, the surprise debut of Orange Cassidy, and the first (and hopefully not last) Cracker Barrel Clash.

As we prepare for the new edition of AEW All Out, here’s what you need to know about this year’s PPV:

WHEN IS AEW ALL OUT 2020?

The show will take place on Sept. 5 at 8pm ET at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL. Presumably, there will be a Buy-In pre-show at 7 pm.

WHERE CAN I WATCH AEW ALL OUT 2020?

In North America, the show is available on B/R Live. Internationally, you can check it out on Fite.TV.

AEW ALL OUT 2020 MATCHES

JON MOXLEY (C) VS. MJF

AEW World Championship

Since joining AEW, Jon Moxley has been undefeated in singles competition and it helped him springboard to the top and dethrone original champion Chris Jericho. Moxley has defended the title against Jake Hager, Brodie Lee, Brian Cage, and Darby Allin. So far, nobody’s had his number.

But then there’s Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Like Moxley, his win/loss record is virtually untouchable. His only losses have come in battle royals, a four-way, and a tag match. At no point has he been pinned in AEW. With major wins over guys like Cody and Jungle Boy, MJF truly deserves a high-profile shot at the title.

MJF also feels that not only is he needed as champion but as the true leader of the locker room. MJF’s ascent has taken the form of a political campaign. He and his pet muscle Wardlow also tried to get Moxley to lose his title to Darby Allin (presumably an easier opponent to win the belt), but Moxley retained regardless.

AEW ALL OUT 2020 UNOFFICIAL AND LIKELY MATCHES

One of the bigger stories going on at AEW right now is between the tag champions Kenny Omega and Hangman Page, their frenemies the Young Bucks, not-so-trustworthy newcomers FTR, and the malevolent Dark Order. There’s a lot going on with the four parties and it’s hard to figure how it might work out for All Out. My guess is we’re either getting a four-way match (Brodie Lee and Colt Cabana representing the Dark Order) or we’ll have Kenny Omega and Hangman Page defend the AEW Tag Team Championship against the Dark Order while Young Bucks and FTR have their long-awaited dream match.

Big Swole vs. Britt Baker seems almost definite, but it really depends on how healthy Baker is around the time of the match. Due to a bad leg injury, she abruptly had to be removed from Double or Nothing. Rather than hide out and return months down the line, the wheelchair-bound Baker has become an annoying fixture on AEW Dynamite. Eventually, her attitude got the attention of Big Swole, who proceeded to kidnap Baker and throw her into a dumpster. For a while, Swole was banned from the building, but has been welcomed back, ready to get her hands on Baker once she’s able to compete.

Read more

Culture

Is MJF Ready for the AEW World Title?

By Mike McMahon

TV

AEW vs. WWE Ratings War Heats Up as Companies Take Shots at Each Other

By Mike McMahon

Speaking of women, we should be seeing the finals for the AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament. Broadcast on Mondays on YouTube, the tournament has been based on various women being paired together due to random draw. One of the favorites to hit the finals are, at the very least, the Nightmare Sisters, made up of Allie and Brandi Rhodes.

Best Friends vs. Proud ‘n’ Powerful is likely. Recently, the two had a match on Dynamite with Best Friends squeaking out a win. Santana and Ortiz didn’t take their loss in stride and took out their frustrations on Trent’s mother’s car. The monsters. Now Best Friends want revenge, which includes forcing Proud ‘n’ Powerful to apologize to Sue on speakerphone.

Cody may defend the TNT Championship against Matt Cardona. The former Zack Ryder popped up in AEW and apparently has a short-term deal. So far, he’s been helping out Cody, but that’s probably going to lead to the two facing each other in some form.

Darby Allin vs. Ricky Starks is likely, possibly in a hardcore match. Allin has had issues with Taz’s proteges, Brian Cage and Ricky Starks. During a tag match, Allin attacked Starks from the top-rope, landing a tack-covered skateboard onto Stark’s bare back. His back torn up, Starks made it clear that they weren’t through by a longshot.

Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara was a match that they were building to since the aftermath of Double or Nothing. Unfortunately, Guevara’s problematic online presence got him in hot water and he was written off TV for a few months. Now they’re back to feuding over Hardy’s belief that Guevara would be better off leaving Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle. Guevara didn’t take kindly to that idea and bloodied up Matt in response.

We could very well be getting some form of Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy. As of this writing, the two are set for their second match on Dynamite, but they’re so high profile and it’s hard to think of anything else for AEW to do for the big PPV.

Check back for more information on AEW All Out 2020 as we learn more!

The post AEW All Out 2020: Date, Matches, Roster, and How to Watch appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3gH5Wdi