[azianfreshness]

Why Hangman Adam Page and Jon Moxley wrestled one of the best death matches of the decade

So this review is gonna be a lot different from my others one. I am going to talk about two of the baddiest mother fuckers in AEW that beat each other to a bloody pulp on March 5th. I’m talking about Hangman Adam Page, the lovable cowboy that suffers from social anxiety and Jon Moxley, the ultra violent man that leaves no prisoners behind. Im talking about their match at AEW Revolution last Sunday. It was a Texas Death match and it was one of the best death matches in recent history and I’m gonna tell you why. So I don’t want to keep wasting your time so as the great Kenny Omega would say without further adieu lets get to this review!

THE STORY:

So the story of these two is really an interesting one. If you’ve been following AEW for a while now, you would know AEW loves making real-life situations into angles. Well, this is one is no different. During an episode of Dynamite Moxley, used a lariat that would hit so hard that would send Hangman flying in mid air and would land forcefully on his head. With no hesitation, the ref saw and would quickly call for the match. Everyone thought they were being worked but nope we weren’t. This was a real life and death situation and everyone was holding on to their breath and saying their prayers hoping hangman was alright.

While hangman was getting worked on by the medical team Jon Moxley would cut a heartfelt promo. He would go on by sending his prayers to hangman and hoping for a speedy recovery so he can hug his beautiful wife and newborn child. Finally, the medical team got hangman out of the ring in a stretcher and would send him to the hospital.

Hangman Adam Page was out for serval months until he finally made his return while Moxley was cutting a promo. Confronting Mox in the middle of the ring, Mox referenced the last time they faced off Hangman got a concussion and that was enough for Hangman to fire off a haymaker. The two fought all though out the ring and it continued backstage until the refs separated them. From then on the two had a series of two matches. Hangman got his revenge on Moxley, not only Hangman got his revenge but he left Mox with a concussion in the process. Mox came back from one of his worst injuries and once again beat Hangman. After this match we see a bloody Jon Moxley cut another tremendous promo on Hangman. Stating he will inflict endless pain on him and there is only room for one animal in AEW. From there we got an announcement from Tony Khan that their match is going to be a Texas Death Match at Revolution.

THE MATCH:

This match was a gorgeous one and a bloody gorgeous one at that. It had barbwire wrap chairs, bricks, barbwire wrapped tables, chains, and a fork. Yes, you read that correctly, A FORK, a utensil that we use every day to eat our food. The image of Jon Moxley having Adam Page in a triangle hold while Mox was jabbing a fork into Adam's wound while blood squirting out will forever be ingrained in my mind. I remember eating a pizza while this was happening and telling myself "I just lost my appetite". Or when Mox wedged a barbwire chair into the corner and Hangman went HEAD FIRST into it and him not moving at all. Only for Tony Schiavone to say " is that part of Hangman's skin dangling on the barbwire?" That's when I knew right then and there we are for one hell of a ride. Or when Hangman was on the top rope and WRAPPED himself in barbwire only for him to do a moonsault onto Mox into the outside. Or my personal favorite was when Mox shoutout his fellow shield brother Seth Rollins, when Mox hit a CURVE stomp on hangman ONTO the bricks. Only for the match to end with Hangman wrapping a chain around Mox’s neck and threw him over the ropes while trying to commit murder on live PPV.

Now I know you guys are thinking "we've seen these types of matches on WWE television" . Will here is the thing yes we have but when was the LAST time we've seen someone WRAPPED a barbwire around himself? Or someone jabbing a fork into a wound? You guys might be thinking maybe on CZW or GCW. CZW and GCW are known for death matches. But here is the thing, those two promotions don't have the financial banking to back them up. AEW has it and it's bringing these type of matches back for American audiences to witness. After all AEW is the 2nd biggest wrestling promotion in the world after all. I mean look at all the the backlash it got after. People were saying " it was too much blood, or too violent for their kids". In today's society, people are sensitive to this type of stuff. Look I understand death matches aren't everyone's cup of tea but what can you expect when you see the word DEATH in it?

So remember how I said AEW thrives on long term storytelling? Remember when Hangman cut a promo days before their match at Revolution? Hangman said "Moxley isn't going to be the same after their match". Or when a bloody Mox cut a promo stating " there can only be one animal in AEW and he would do ANYTHING to protect it". I can see Hangman having an massive ego trip since he just beat one of the baddest dudes in the game. That someone needs to knock him off his high horse. Maybe we see a heel turn? As for Moxley, I can see him being so pissed off and go a downward spiral that he got knocked down by one of Tony Khan's "golden boy" that he is trying to take down the whole company.Maybe this plays into a much bigger story. Where we get to see an AEW vs the outsiders storyline where both men are leading their respected fractions? We are already seeing it with Toni Storm, Ruby Sho and Saraya vs Britt Baker and the AEW woman's champion Jamie Hayter.

I'll end my review with this Hangman and Moxely put on one of THE best hardcore/ deathmatches of the decade and it is definitely up there with the likes of Terry Funk and Sandman vs Mick Foley and Shane Doulas, Cactus Jack vs Mikey Whipwreck, Sabu vs Terry Funk and my favorite Moxley vs Kenny at Full Gear 2019.

[azianfreshness]

CONTINENTAL CLASSIC DAY 2 (AEW COLLISION REVIEW 11/27/25)

PAC VS "SPEED BALL" BAILEY:

Great opener to start off the show. The match was as expected, an hard hitting slugfest with a dash of high flying moves. PAC moves are always gonna look brutal and "speed" sold them like death, "speed is such an underrated seller. The "bastard" PAC takes the 3 points of the CC.

DANIEL GRACIA VS "DADDY" MAGIC:

I love the story going into this match. Danny thinks cutting ties with "daddy" magic will finally make him into a "man". "Daddy" magic was very heated during the match which made it so good. Magic was getting most of the offense in but Danny was putting on some brutal strikes. We are gonna see more of this rivalry moving forward during the tournament.

EDDIE KINGSTON'S PROMO:

Eddie came back from injury and he looks like he never missed a step. He went on to say that professional wrestling is the only thing that keeps him from mentally stable and the people. He calls out Samoa Joe to challenge him for the world title at Winter's is coming. Just another banger promo from the "mad king"

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA VS RODRICK STRONG:

Very solid match to end the show. Rodrick had beautiful back breakers to slow Takeshita but Takeshita counters it with his own hard hitting flying moves. My highlight of the their match was the blue thunder bomb onto the barricade. In the end Takeshita takes his first 3 points of the tournament.

[azianfreshness]

THE CONTINENTAL CLASSIC DAY 1 (AEW DYNAMITE REVIEW (11/26/25)

It's the most wonderful time of the year, it's the CONTINENTAL CLASSIC! A round robin tournament consists of 12 participants that is separate in two groups. The gold league and the blue league. You get 3 points for a win, a lost is 0 and draw is 1 point, 20 min matches and no one in ring side. The winners of each group goes to the final at World's End. The winner of the tournament gets a title. This year contestants are Kazuchika Okada, Darby Allin, PAC, Kevin Knight, "speed ball" Mike Bailey and Kyle Fletcher of the Gold league. Then we have Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, Mascara Dorada, Orange Cassidy Konosuke Takeshita and Rodrick Strong.

KYLE FLETCHER VS KAZUCHIKA OKADA:

AEW opened up with another banger match between the two Don Callis members. I thought this was a great bounce back win for Fletcher after he lost the TNT title to Mark Briscoe at Full Gear. Kyle continues to show why he is one of the best young upcoming wrestlers and why he is in the main event slots. I can see a feud down the road from these two.

JON MOXLEY VS MASCARA:

I thought this was one of the weakest matches in the show. It was ok an ok match. Mascara put in a decent amount of offense but Mox controlled the match. I wanted to see another Moxley lost to see more of the Death Riders reaction.

DARBY ALLIN VS KEVIN KNIGHT:

One of my favorite matches of the night. This match show cased AEW's young core and how deep it is. One of my favorite spots of their match was the barricade and the coast to coast was silky smooth. I was shock that Kevin Knight ended up at the end. I thought it was a great of "passing the torch" moment.

CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI VS ORANGE CASSIDY:

I thought the match was good but also thought if you've seen their matches you've seen them all. Most of their matches that they had together are very formulaic.

[azianfreshness]

All Elite Wrestling Review (4/12/23)

SWERVE VS DARBY ALLIN 

Big hurricanrana by Darby off the ring apron

Prince Nana comes down the ramp, Nana puts Swerve’s foot on the rope to break the pin count

Darby chased Nana up the aisle, out comes Brain Cage

Darby renters the ring and Swerve with a big mule kick to Darby’s head

Swerve then does a leaping double stomp then went for the cover, Darby Kicks out

Darby kicks Swerve’s ankle, Darby then run the ropes, Cage then hits the rope which Darby fell to

Swerve then picked up a chair, then Swerve kicked it out of his hands 

Darby hits a code red for a near fall

Darby then scored a win with a last supper 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this match was fun to open the Show. Easy way to build up the four Pilars story to which I would assume going to be a fatal four way for the AEW world title match. As for Swerve, I am a fan of him but I which he would be booked more better. 

MJF SEGEMENT: 

I thought this segment was really good, again what a way to push the four pillar storyline with these two. MJF continues to out over the younger talent as usually 

HOBBS VS SILAS YOUNG: 

IT WAS A SQUASH MATCH

WARDLOW SEGMENT: 

After the match we see a segment where we see Wardlow destroying Hobbs car and attacks Hobbs’s crew 

THOUGHTS: 

Once again here is Tony Khan’s disastrous booking. Flip flopping the TNT title as usually. No matter who wins the title its going to look worse for both guys 

JAY WHITE AND JUICE ROBINSON SEGMENT: 

After that we get a video package of Jay White and Juice Robinson. Jay says they are both the best version of Bullet Club. They are Bullet club gold

THOUGHTS: 

We are definitely getting that Bullet Club civil war in AEW and I can see Jay taking the IWGP title off of Kenny. That title is going to be his ticket to get back into New Japan. I just hope Tony doesn’t fumble Jay White. I expect him to be the top guy within 6-8 months. 

ORANGE CASSIDY VS BUDDY MATTHEW'S INTERNATIONAL TITLE: 

hands was tapped couldn’t follow up, doctors was checking up on him

Cassidy countered Buddy off the tope rope. Saddle light DDT

Mathews blocked another saddle light DDT, Mathews fought back by putting Cassidy in the corner 

Both men are trading super kicks on the apron

Mathews once again blocked another DDT/ with a pump knee

Mathews wanted a destroyer but Cassidy responded with a beach break on the apron

Both guys beat the 10 count 

Back in the ring we get forearm battles back and forth 

Mathews went for the hand, that injured hand

Then Mathews went for the most devastating kicks of all of pro wrestling 

offered to fought back, stun dog millionaire followed by a superman punch

Cassidy went for a supplex/ Mathews countered for a huge avalanche DDT

Cassidy hit a diving DDT and then another DDT. we got 3 DDT’S

Mathews kicks out. Cassidy tried the Orange punch but Mathews does a pump knee

Mathews tries his finisher only for Cassidy to do the Orange Punch for a near fall 

Mathews then dares Cassidy to punch again only for Orange to collapse 

Matthews suckled in Cassidy for a pump knee

Mathews then does a curve stomp for two 

Mathews then tries his finisher again only for Cassidy to o a crucifix style pin. One, two and three, Cassidy retains the International title 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this match was easily the best match of the night. I can't tell you how many times iv’e said it but Buddy Mathews is such a great wrestler. I really thought he was gonna take that international title. 

CHRISTIAN CAGE AND LUCHASOURUS SEGMENT: 

After that match we go backstage where it's very dark and red clouds. We see Christian Cage and Luchasourus and Christian says “some things never change” 

THOUGHTS: 

Feels good to see Christian Cage and Luchasourus again. Christian Cage is doing his best heel work right now and can’t wait for these two to destroy the AEW locker room again

BEST FRIEND AND CASSIDY SEGMENT: 

Best friends is backstage with Cassidy and we see Cassidy very banged up. Best friends than challenges Aussie Open for the IWGP titles on rampage. 

THOUGHTS: 

I don’t watch Rampage but it should be a very good match between two fantastic tag teams. Again Best friends are a fantastic team but I wish they were booked better and not just a mid carder, they deserve gold

ETHAN PAGE AND THE FIRM PLUS JEFF HARDY SEGEMT: 

We see Ethan Page in the ring and he is pissed off because of what happened last week. Mat and one half of private party is out and they start brawling. The firm is beating up Matt and private party and all of a sudden we see hook, who is trying to save them. But the firm is still too much, then we see Jeff’s video played and there was a big pop. Jeff comes out with a chair and starts clearing up the ring. 

THOUGHTS: 

Just as I said last week. If you been following Dark, Elevation and Rampage then this is for you. But for someone like me who just watched Dynamite I didn't really care for this. As for Jeff, look I am happy he is back but can we really trust him to be silver? With the amount of chances he got I don’t know 

KENNY OMEGA SEGMENT:

We see Kenny Omega back into his house and we see him angry. He says whatever problem BCC has with the Elite, they will take care of it in the ring. They (BCC) wants to make an impact or headline, they got it. He then states when you involved family, it's serious. When Don was left in the pool of blood that angered him. He then finishes by saying they are gonna get very violent 

THOUGHTS: 

Once again the BCC/ELITE story is getting really really good and we are getting closer to NJPW Kenny

BLACK POOL COMBAT CLUB BVS BRANDON CUTLER AND NAKAWA: 

This was basically a squash match where the BCC left them in a pool of blood 

KENNY OMEGA AND THE ELITE SEGMENT: 

After the match we see Kenny coming out by the ramp. The BCC dares Kenny to come to the ring. Then we see Moxley steps out and out of the ring, both him and Kenny are getting ready to fight. Then out comes out Matt and Nick Jackson. The Elite runs to the ring and they start to brawl and that clears out the BCC. 

SWERVE AND BRIAN CAGE SEGMENT:

We go back stage with Swerve, Brian and prince Nana. Swerve says that he made Darby for what he is today and then says there is some unwished business he needs to take care of

THOGUHTS: 

Again I am a fan of Swerve, but honesty what are we doing with his booking? I don’t care about his new fraction. I need this man to be in the title picture 

SKY BLUE AND RIHO VS RUBY SHO AND TONI STORM: 

Ruby and Toni wins 

THOUGHTS: 

Couldn’t get into this match. Again this storyline of “the outcast” isn’t going nowhere and what is with the spray paint? Are they trying to recreate NWO? 

JERCHIO VS KEITH LEE: 

Jericho tried a shoulder tackle and had Lee no feeling

Lee then kissed Jerchio on top of his head 

Jerchio ate some punches and charging chop

Jerchio with a springboard drop kick, fast forward we see Lee doing a moonsault off the top rope. Jerchio puts his knees up

Jerchio hurt his own knee, Lee does a choke slam for two

Jerchio does an eye rake, locks in a walls of Jerchio

Lee powered out then does a overhead chop on Jerchio

Lee tries to do a finisher but Jerchio grabbed the ref

Only for Garcia to get him from his clutches of Lee

Lee dumpend Garcia in the ring then ate a double clothes line with Jerchio

Lee countered a code breaker attempt into a massive powerboat

Swerve comes out and hits Lee with an object, looks like a box?

Jerchio than got a cheap win over lee 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this match was fine. It was a very random match because of their styles but it worked. Jerchio continues to put over the young talent but just wish Keith Lee was booked more better. 

AFTER MATCH RESULT: 

After the match we see Adam Cole comes out and helps Keith Lee to the ramp but before he left Adam gave lee that side eye to Jerchio. The same way Jerchio gave Adam last week. The show then ends there 

THOUGHTS: 

For Adam’s first feud back into pro wrestling I think Jerchio is a safe bet. Jerchio is one of the safest workers in the ring and I think he is gonna keep Adam safe in the feud. Can’t believe I am hype to see a Jericho and Adam Cole match 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

I thought this show was ok. Storylines were push but I thought the wrestling was ok in general. I think AEW has conditioned us to think that every show has be a home run or a banger. Its ok to to slow down now and again 

[azianfreshness]

ROH reivew (4/6/23)

Hello everyone! Chris here again with another wrestling review! This time I'm reviewing this week’s ring of honor. This will be my first ROH review well technically this is my 2nd review for ROH. My first one was the SuperCard of Honor PPV that happened last Friday and I thought it was a great PPV from top to bottom. Anyways lets get to this review. 

Shane Taylor & the workhorse men vs Mark Briscore and the Lucha Bros: 

To start off the show we have a 6 man tag team match between Shane Taylor and the workhorse men vs Mark Briscore and the new ROH tag team champions the Lucha Brothers. I thought this was a decent tag match to open the show. Both teams wrestled a steady paced match which was surprising to me because the LB are known for their speed. There was a spot in a match that was beautiful was when Shane Taylor host up mark with a head lock onto the ropes and does a sit down power bomb. I know that didn't got a big reaction from the crowd due to them sitting down for 5 hours of wrestling, but that got a big reaction from me. In the end Mark and the LB got the dub

SHIBATA VS CHRISTOPHER DANIELS (PURE CHAMPIONSHIP) 

The second match of the night we have Shibata vs Christopher Daniels for the ROH pure Championship. Like I mentioned before the Pure Championship is one of my favorite titles in ROH due to how “sports like” it is, so you know I'm going to enjoy this match lol. Both man wrestled a very slow methodical match, CD was targeting the neck of Shibata, Shibata had neck issues in the past. Mostly because in one match in NJPW he almost hit a move with his neck that almost ended his career. So I was pretty squirmiest with this spot and Shibata trying to work the left eye of CD due to CD’s eye being damaged from the young bucks from two years ago. In the end Shibata got the win by a referee stoppage. I thought this match was a low-key banger, again I enjoy the slow methodical matches so I was really enjoying this. Also I think CD is an underrated wrestler and I'm glad he can still work a good match after all those years in professional wrestling 

CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI INTERVIEW: 

After that match we got an backstage interview with ROH champion Claudio. Claudio states that Eddie Kingston doesn’t deserve another shot at the ROH championship due to his actions from the PPV. Eddie curses and that is not what ROH represents. Claudio is a man of honor and will defend the title that feels that is worthy for a title shot because he is a man of worthy and integrity because that is who he is. 

I thought this promo by Claudio was fantastic and continues to show why Tony Khan put the title on Claudio in the first place. I am really enjoying his run so far. 

BRAIN CAGE VS ORTIZ: 

After that fantastic promo by Claudio we go to another singles competition, Brian Cage vs Ortiz. I thought this match was decent, we got some decent offense from both men and there was some big spots that got a pop from me. The story was basically another speed guy of Ortiz, who is a fan favorite in this match and he is trying to get the crowd to hype him up to get the win over the more bigger man Brian Cage, but in the end Cage wins. Look I'm not a big Brain Cage fan but I'm glad he went to ROH to rebrand himself because I felt like he will get lost in the shuffle on AEW. Brian’s run in ROH has been good and I am really enjoying his stuff, he is showing people that he is one of the best big men in the business. Commentary said Cage is 9-1 in ROH so maybe that is Claudio’s next opponent?  Also it's good to see Ortiz again he is an entertaining wrestler and I think he is a decent singles guy too. 

DARIUS MARTIN VS JAY LETHAL (THE KINGDOM ON THE COMMENTARY)

We got match number 4 of the night with one half of the tag team Top Flight, Darius Martin, taking on Jay Lethal. So this match was pretty much to push the storyline between Top Flight and the kingdom, due to their ladder match at SuperCard of Honor. The Kingdom was secretly cheering on for Jay, even though the Kingdom had their issues in the past, but Maria Kanellis said both of the Kingdom and Jay are from RING OF HONOR. So when she said that statement it was very intriguing to me, are we getting another big storyline where it's ROH vs AEW, like how we are getting AEW originals vs the outsiders? We shall see, but in the end Matt Tarvin helps Jay with the win over Darius Martin 

RUSH & DRALISTICIO VS THE INFANTRY:

We get another tag team action, where it's Rush and Dralisticio vs the Infantry. I thought this was a fun match, we started off pretty slow where the infantry was trying to do the “code of honor” but Dralisticio, didn’t wanted to shake hands at first. That was until we see Dralisticio getting the upper hand and then decided to do the “Code of Honor” but the infantry didn’t want to shake hands anymore.

From there all hell broke loose, Infantry got some decent offense in but most of the match it was all Rush and Dralistico. Rush and Dralisticio wins in a a fun match that I felt like should have went longer. I feel like these two should go for another round because their chemistry was really fun to watch. 

TRACY WILLIAMS VS DANIEL GARCIA: 

We get another singles action match but this time it's Daniel Garcia taking on Tracy Williams. Now this is the first time I'm seeing Tracy Williams, like I said this is the second time I'm reviewing ROH, so I am not really familiar with him. I know he wrestles on Dark and Elevation, but I don’t watch those either. But I really enjoyed this match, especially from tracy, he really impressed me. He reminds me a lot of the young lions from NJPW, old school wrestling at its finest. Good job on Daniel Garcia from putting him over. Speaking of Daniel, he was really entertaining in this match, especially the fake table spot, where the crowd was chanting “ we want tables”. So Garcia went to go under the ring, only for Garcia to flip off the crowd and that got a big reaction lol. In the end both men wrestled that slow, methodical, stiff style from NJPW, which I have mentioned before, I love. In the end Daniel got the dub over Tracy. 

WILLOW NIGHTINGLE VS NOTORIOUS MIMI: 

We get some woman's action in this show between the lovable Willow taking on Mimi. This match was basically a squash match for Willow. Mimi looked nervous out there but I thought she did ok, she hit some ok moves and Willow was selling for her. Willow wins with not even trying 

STEVE SOMERSET AND STEPHEN AZURE VS THE RIGHTEOUS: 

So before this match started when Bobby Cruise was announcing “the Stevens” that got a big pop from me. I am a sucker when it comes to old Disney shows, especially from my childhood. Even Stevens was one of my favorite shows while growing up so I was a geeking out when bobby cruise announced them lol. Either way this was a squash match from beginning to end. It was only to showcase how powerful the righteous are, I think they are next in line for those tag titles. Which if they are should be a good match between the Lucha Brothers and the righteous. 

TONY NESE VS KONOSUKE TAKESHITA: 

Next we have a match between Tony Ness and Konosuke Takeshita and in my opinion had match of the night. I love the chemistry these two have with each other and I hope we see another match down the line with them. I am really enjoying Nese’s AEW/ROH run so far, he is really an underrated wrestler and I hope we see him grab gold in either promotions. As for Takeshita, ever since he moved from Japan to the USA, he has been putting on bangers after bangers. Tony Khan is building him up really nicely to become one of the next stars in AEW and ROH. So these two put on a good back and forth with one another. There were a few moments where I thought one of them got the upper hand only for one of them to have a brilliant counter. There was two certain spots that got me to popped. The first one was when Nese had Takeshita on the ropes and Ness does a springboard moonsault from the top rope than onto Takeshita. The last one was the finish when there was a beautiful transition where Nese tries to do the running knee, only for Takeshita to counter to a rolling elbow to his finisher. In the end Takeshita takes the victory over Nese after a banger of the match. 

ATHENA VS MIYU YAMASHITA ROH WOMANS’S CHAMPIONSHIP: 

Now finally the main event. It's for the ROH woman's championship between Athena and Miyu. This is their second match between these two ladies, the first one was a classic on IWTV where Athena won and now we got a rematch with them on ROH tv. These two ladies put on another banger of a match and I feel like it was better than their first one. I feel like Athena likes to wrestle that stiff style matches because she is always challenging these Joshi wrestlers from TJPW lol. As I mentioned on my Super card of Honor review, Athena is elevating that woman's title to new heights. I’m really glad she is more on ROH instead of AEW because I feel like she will get lost doing nothing in AEW and it seems she is enjoying her time there too. As for Yamashita, what can I say about her? She is proving to be one of the best wrestlers from Japan and Tony Khan is lucky to have her and this relationship with TJPW. That stiff style that they wrestle is really growing on me. So this a regular TJPW match where its stiff and brutal punches and kicks that transitioned perfectly with the crowd. Yamashita has the most strongest kicks that I've seen and ever time that she kicked Athena I was cringing. Don’t understand how can Athena still work that match but she did. There was one thing that made me cringe all though out the match was when Athena was working the neck, she was very brutal to it. For instance Athena had Yamashita in a firmans carry and she ran Yamashita’s head to the post. Or when Athena had Yamashita by the post and Athena grabs Yamashita’s legs and used her momentum to whiplash Yamashita’s head to the ring post. That spot looked absolutely brutal and it made me cringe. After a hard fought battle Athena put away Yamashita with a cross face. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

I thought this weeks episode was good. My favorite matches was Shibata/CD, Rush & Dralistico/ the Infantry, Tracy Willams/ DG, Tony Nese/ Takeshita and of course the main event. No major storylines where here in this episode except for the Claudio segment and Rush and his brother trying to get ready for the AEW tag titles. We did get some new storylines involving the kingdom and Top Flight. Tony Khan continues to put on quality shows, sometimes I feel like Tony Khan is competing with himself, on who can put on the better show, ROH or AEW lol. 

Well that is my review, hope you enjoyed it. See you guys next week!

[azianfreshness]

All Elite Wrestling Review (4/5/23)

RICKY STARKS VS JUCIE ROBINSON: 

To start off the show we have Juice vs Ricky Starks. Juice didn't have an entrance and is already standing in the middle of the ring. Ricky makes it down the ramp all of a sudden we hear the hottest free agent in professional wrestling. “switchblade” Jay White. No one is there at first, all we see is Ricky and Juice going at it in the middle of the ring, then the camera pans it to the ramp where Jay White is running to the ring to help out his fellow “bullet club” member, o so we think? The crowd is going nuts at this point, they are chanting “holy shit”, even Tony Schiavone said on commentary that the crowd popped really hard for his appearance. Ricky get a couple of shots in but that was until Jay and Juice got full control. Jay does a blade runner and we see both Jay and Juice going back to the ramp. 

THOUGHTS: 

AEW didn’t waste no time debuting one of the hottest free agent in professional wrestling. Tony Khan does a habit on starting off the show red hot and this was the best way to do it. Jay White looked like an absolute star here with Juice Robinson. One thing that I noticed though about this whole thing is Jay didn’t acknowledged the “two sweets” chants. Even during the post video of when Renee Paquette interview him she asked him “of he was still the leader of the Bullet Club?”. Jay didn't say anything. 

Remember Jay was “kicked out” of Bullet Club by David Finley but not the traditional way where ever member beat him up. So I found this VERY interesting. Maybe Jay and Juice are forming their own BC in AEW? There are stipulation where Swerve might be the leader or at least join the BC. We will definitely get answers these next couple of weeks. 

HOUSE OF BLACK VS BEST FRIENDS (MATCH #1)

HOB was in control, Cassidy cross body on Malakai

Broody King was set up to the ropes 

Cassidy was launched from the outside from BF onto everybody

back inside power bomb got a two count by Black

we see LFI from the crowd, they are next in line for a trios title championship

big moves here until we get a standoff by Orange Cassidy and Malakai. After missing the orange punch and round house kick

Cassidy does his kicks of doom, but Malakai quickly dropped him

Cassidy responded by a stunt dog millionaire

Trent connected with a pile driver on Buddy and on Malakai. Tried to do the same on Buddy and Malakai. Tried to do the same on Broody King, but didn’t got him up

BF took care of Broody King with some offense, than Trent hit the pier driver on King

Trent and Buddy was in the ring and they countered each others finishers. Until Mathews connected on a curve stomp to get the Victory. 

WINNER: HOUSE OF BLACK

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this was a fun match. House of Black finally get to show people their protential with those trio’s titles. I wouldn’t say they were “wasted” ever since they came to AEW, but they were definitely not used to their full potential, so I'm very happy to see their success. They are gonna do wonders with those trios titles. 

CHRISTIAN CAGE AND LUCHASAURUS SEGMENT: 

After that terrific match we go back stage where we a mysterious figure walking to another room that was filled with red and froggy. The mysterious figure turns around and it's Christian Cage and another mysterious figure appears from the frog and it's no other than Luchasaurus and the video ends there. 

THOUGHTS:

I am very happy that Christian Cage and Luchasaurus is back. Now we can finish the Luchasaurus vs Jungle Boy segment. Also Luchasaurus looks great with his new amor can’t wait for him to wreck the AEW locker room 

JAMIE HAYTER VS RIHO AEW CHAMPIONSHIP: 

Riho tried for another dragon supplex but Hayter blocked it

Hayter tried for a hayteraid but Riho missed it 

Hayter clogged Riho with Hayteraid for the win 

WINNER: Jamie Hayter 

THOUGHTS:

I thought this match good. Jamie and Riho wrestled that stiff style, which I love. Jamie looks great as always but I'm really impressed by Riho. Even though she is small she can hit you with some bombs man. 

OUTCAST SEGMENT:

We go back stage where we see Renee Young interviewing the Outcast. The Outcast mock Jamie on her win against Riho. They said they are going to take away the woman’s championship away and takeover the woman’s division. Renee states that there are three of them and only one championship so how are they gonna share it? Saraya comebacks and said “use your head Renee, you’re smart” The outcast exit with Saraya saying “buy a shirt” 

THOUGHTS:

Look I love all three woman but this whole storyline isn't progressing where it should be. I was pretty bored with this and honestly I don’t know where this storyline is going. I was hoping that Saraya was gonna help elevate that woman's division but man, she is heading where every new acquired woman wrestler in AEW. They start off hot and they do nothing.

Also they foreshadowed a woman's tag titles and honestly this is a bad idea. The woman’s division isn't where its supposed to be and bringing in new titles to a weak division isn’t gonna help.

2.0 AND THE ACCLAIMED SEGMENT: 

After the Outcast segment we go from the Acclaimed out with 2.0. The Acclaimed are doing their thing with the crowd, before they finish up their rap, 2.0 cuts them off. 2.0 wants to know if they can be friends, with 2.0 trying to do the scissoring. But Daddy ass and the Acclaimed cut them off and said scissoring is too much for them and do a regular handshake. 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this segment was whatever to be honest. I love both teams but this wasn’t entertaining to me. 

MJF SEGMENT:

After that we go to MJF entrance where he brings in a band with him. They are playing his theme song and he is doing a music number. After his great performance we go to the ring where MJF and the major of Long Island and the major says “today is official MJF day” and gives him the key to Long Island. MJF then goes he deserves it and continues to mock Jungle Boy’s girlfriend for having a penis and that got a big pop from the crowd. 

MJF then goes on and tell a story about how he always had troubled in school due to having a learning disability. His teacher mocked him every chance she get whenever he was in class. on the last day of school she pulled him to the said and asked him “where was his head at in her class?”. He responded by saying “his head was professional wrestling”. 

She resounded by saying “the chance of him becoming a wrestler was slim to known”. MJF says “looks like her math is wrong because he got the key to Long Island and he is the reigning AEW champion” and says “ don’t be like Ms. Benedict and by that don’t be a stupid bitch” 

MJF then goes up to the ramp and tries to end the segment with the band but one of his band member didn’t play on que. MJF then apologizes to the crowd, while he does this we see Jungle boy in disguise. He then attacks MJF, they get into a little brawl before security broke it up. We then hear Sammy Guava’s music and he comes out picks up the AEW title and walks to both Jungle boy and MJF. We then translates to Sammy vs Kommander match. 

THOUGHTS:

I thought this was another banger segment with MJF. The guy is really entertaining and him taking dance and singing lessons paid off. I said this so many times, out of all the world champion reigns, MJF is my favorite. He is elevating that world title to new heights. Also I totally understand where MJF is coming from for having a learning disability. I had a couple of friends that had a hard time learning in school, so this is definitely relatable and that transition to the match was very good. 

SAMMY GURVA VS KOMMANDER: 

Kommander does a rope walk and hits a shooting star press, nailed it into Sammy. 

Kommander does another rope walk but Sammy saw it coming and hits Kommander with a running knee

Sammy was in control and had him grounded so Kommader won’t have any aerial offense 

Kommander fought back with a spring board hurricanrana, walk the ropes and does a hue dive from the outside 

Kommander tries another shooting star press but Sammy hits a spring bored phoenix splash for a two count

Kommander tries another (3rd time) for a shooting star press but Sammy got his knees up. 

Sammy hits the GTS but was placed under the ropes so there was no count

Kommander and Sammy was on each other side, Kommander talked the ropes, Sammy did to but quickly hit the cutter 

Sammy hits the GTS and Sammy wins 

WINNER: SAMMY GURVA 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this was a good match. I feel like iv’e seen everything there is to see with Kommander due to him wrestling against Vikingo at super card of honor. I don’t like when a wrestler does the same move over and over again, it gets boring. With Sammy wining this pushes the four pillars storyline to Double or Nothing. 

SAMMY GURVA PROMO

After the win Tony gets in the ring and interviews Sammy. Sammy takes the mic from Tony and states that MJF beat every single pillars, but that one time he and Sammy got into the ring. Sammy had MJF, but MJF needed help. So MJF didn’t beat Sammy, is was Shawn Spears that beat him. He then goes by if the four pillars was built on this company and take it to new heights, then his side wasn’t built by MJF. MJF lied and cheat and manipulate his way into getting to the top. But if he took MJF’s way then Sammy would hate the person he is today. He ends it by saying he “sold his soul to be a pillar”

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this was a decent promo by Sammy, everything that he said was stating facts. He did manipulate his way to the top to get what he wanted but the other three pillars worked hard to get to where they are. Hard work pays off. I still think Sammy needs to a mouth piece or at least work on his promo skills because that is his only weak point right now. 

HOOK VS HARDY FTW CHAMPIONSHIP: 

Ethan was celebrating with the crowd, he threw hook into the ring

Ethan says “ I'm winning this asshole” 

Ethan sets up the twist of faith

hook got out of it, Ethan tried to set up the FTW championship  from Hardy, but Hardy hold onto it

Hardy than bash Ethan with the title

Hook applied a submission and with that hook wins 

THOUGHTS: 

We are at the lowest point of the show right now. If you watch Dark or elevation then this storyline is for you. But for people that only watch Dynamite this was a waste of time. I don’t care about Matt trying to hurt the firm. Also is AEW trying to make the FTW title an “official title” now? We have too many titles in AEW we don’t need another one, the FTW championship is useless. 

TONY KHAN ANNOUCNED SEGEMENT:

We go from that awful segment to backstage with Tony Khan and Nigel Mcguinness. Tony states that five years ago, before AEW. Four pioneer’s the young bucks, Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega put on a show called “All IN”. It was one of the biggest independent show’s outside of WWE to get a lot of buzz. Fast forward five years ago, AEW is gonna make their debut in London England on Sunday August 27th for the first ever “all in”. He than brings in Adam Cole to announced that Wembley Stadium in London England 

THOUGHTS: 

Really hype about this announcement. I remember the first “all in” show that was held in Chicago by the bucks, Cody and Kenny, it was the first Indi wrestling that I watched outside of WWE and it was such a great show. After that I've been following them ever since, so this is very nostalgic for me. Also AEW heading a show in London is great because I know the UK fans are one of the biggest wrestling fans in the world, so I know they are hungry. So i know this show is going to be great. 

BCC SEGMENT: 

We get a squash match from the BCC with a bunch of jobbers, the commentary didn’t mention their names. After the match we get a promo from no other than Bryan Danielson, Danielson says that the BCC are the only professional wrestler’s after what he seen last week ( WWE shot), out comes Hangman to attack the BCC, but the BCC was quickly on the attack. Danielson cuts another promo while the rest of BCC attack Hangman. Danielson says nobody loves this man and nobody from the locker room will save him. He than says he isn't a professional wrestler while putting over the BCC

THOUGHTS: 

Again there are so many layers to this history right here. The way AEW specially the elite tell their stories is second to known and I can’t wait for the pay off to this rivalry. 

FTR VS THE GUNS (CAREER VS TITLES) 

Guns came out with music by 50 cent

FTR was control, with some fast tags

Colt tried to regroup from the outside

Wheeler got a baseball slide, got caught by Austin

Guns take control, beat down on Wheeler a little bit 

Hardwood made the hot tag, came back in the ring firing punches

nice little lariat sent Colt to the outside, Austin ducked one of his own

Hardwood got a small package, double DDT to Colt

Blind tag by FTR, they plant Colt with a spike pillar driver

both teams tried their finishers, The Guns got it, they almost got a pitfall but Colt pulled the ref out of the ring

Colt tried to set up the ref to get them to DQ, so the Guns can retain the tag titles. But the ref said no

Colt and Hardwood both collided on the apron

Austin hits a Famouser for two

Austin tried a pedigree, but Hardwood spun out of it for a multiple pin attempts

Austin hits a low blow right in front of the ref, but the ref still wasn't gonna DQ him

Wheeler pleaded to the ref to not do it

Guns reattempt Wheeler hit

Austin set up Hardwood in the corner, ref saw one of the tag titles into the ring but he took care of it

back turned, another one came into the ring

Hardwood was on the top rope, Colt collied into him

Hardwood landed onto the title, but kicked out on two. 

Hardwood was on his knees and he spit on both Colt and Austin’s face

Wheeler came off the tope rope for the sunset flip, while Hardwood got a rollup on the Guns

Both Dax and Cash both pinned both Austin and Colt at the same time for the win 

FTR wins the tag titles

WINNER: FTR

THOUGHTS:

I thought this was a decent match. AEW did a really good job on making me think FTR was gonna lose even though we all know they were gonna win. The Guns have grown on me a lot since their days with their dad’s. I know they are still a little green in some parts but they will grown over time. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

Despite the FTW championship and the 2.0/ Acclaimed parts I really enjoyed this show. This show continues to push storylines for Double or Nothing specifically the Elite/ BCC, four pillars story and don’t forget the Bullet Club lore with Jay White. Speaking of Jay, I for sure thought Jay was WWE bound but I'm so happy he made the right choice. 

4/5 stars 

[azianfreshness]

Ring Of Honor: Super Card of Honor 2023 review!

This weekend is one of the biggest weekend’s ever in terms of wrestling. Yes it is Wrestlemania weekend, all of WWE’s biggest stars and legends are out, but we aren't talking about WWE here. We are talking about Ring of Honor. Ever since Tony Khan purchased the rights to ROH he has been putting on bangers after bangers, so much so that he secured a tv deal for them. This is Tony’s way of saying “ROH is back baby and it's alive and well”. In my opinion this PPV was a near perfect home run for me, it had beautiful moments, amazing storytelling and most of a WRESTLING. 

VIKINGO VS KOMANDER AAA WORLD TITLE

This show started off red hot from the get go with the AAA title championship between Komander and Vikingo and boy they put on an absolute clinic. If you aren’t into the Lucha Libre style, where its basically a spot fest after spot fest and someone waiting for said person to do their big move then this match isn't for you. This match was nothing short of jaw dropping moments where you question if these two men are human or not. 

There was two specific spots that made me lose my mind. The first was when both men were on the ring apron, they are trading blows, Komander comes back with a fiery of kick and chest slaps of his own. Then came charging back with a Canadian destroyer off the ring apron. The last one was when Vikingo does an inside out corkscrew 450 splash from outside the ring ropes. In all my years of watching wrestling I have never seen someone did that before and it's amazing what these Luchadors can do. Vikingo retains the AAA title and both men share a hug in the ring that made me all fuzzy inside. I feel like both men has gain new fans after this match

4/5 

WINNER: VIKINGO

THE EMBASSY VS AR FOX, BLAKE CHRISTIAN AND METALIK (ROH 6 - MAN TAG CHAMPIONSHIPS) 

We go from that amazing match to the ROH 6 - man tag championships. So this match had a lot of buzz going around manly with Brain Cage. There has been reports where Brain Cage’s contract was up and agreed to drop the 6 man title. So I was surprised by the result’s here, maybe Cage did resign to ROH/AEW? Either way I felt like these two teams put on a solid story of the speed and quickness of Fox, Christian and Metalik trying to get one over the Embassy. But in the end the power and strength of the Embassy won the match. 

3/5

WINNER: Embassy 

Athena vs. Yuka Sakazaki (ROH Women's Championship)

Next we have the ROH woman’s championship between Athena and Yuka “the magic girl” Sakazai. One notable thing that I love is Athena’s entrance where she stomps on a doll. That moment right there is exactly I feel about her. Athena has really been on a great heel run so far and she is doing wonders with that ROH Championship. 

The match was a steady pace and had a very TJPW (Tokyo Joshi Princess Wrestling) feel to it. Hard and stiff hitting. After a late comeback from Yuka, Athena was able to put her away with a “oh face” from the top rope. 

3.5/5 

Samoa Joe vs. Mark Briscoe (ROH TV Championship)

Next up with have one of the most anticipated matches on the card. We have the ROH tv Championship between Samoa Joe and Mark Briscoe. This is the type of matches that I love seeing, two men that just goes in the ring and try to inflict as much damage as they can and that was pretty much the story here. Chests were purple, chairs were thrown in the faces, tables were broken in half, Jay’s kids screaming “daddy”  & of course some red neck Kung Fu. In the end Samoa Joe picks up a win with a ref stoppage by submission. 

At the end of the match both men does the traditional “code of honor” afterwards another heart warming moment came when Jay embraced his family from ringside. I thought this match was good, Its really cool seeing Jay Briscoe honoring his brother by praying every time before the match starts.

WINNER: Samoa Joe

3.5/5

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Daniel Garcia: 

The “forbidden door” PPV came early last night with the young rising pillar of AEW, Daniel Garcia, taking on NJPW star and legend Hiroshi Tanahashi. Now I feel like this match was very underrated in my opinion. I am big on that slow methodical type of wrestling and boy did we got a lot of it. It was mostly DG focusing on the leg, posing for the camera, him saying he is a “sports entertainer” with the crowd shouting back “you’re a wrestler” and of course  playing mind games with Tanahashi. At one point during the match when DG was in control he did an Shinsuke Nakamura pose that got a big reaction from the crowd. If you guys don’t know the history Shinsuke was Tanahashi’s biggest rival in NJPW, the stories that they told in that ring was top notch wrestling. So I thought it was a good strategy from Daniel here. 

Let's not forget how much Tanahashi was selling his butt off for Daniel with ever move. I don’t think Tanahashi gets the respect he deserves from his selling, he is very underrated. 

The story here was pretty simple. DG trying to make a name for himself with any open challenge because he feels like he is one of the best “sports entertainers” in professional wrestling. DG over came way over his head and meet his match with Tanahashi hitting his famous body splash for the win

Winner: Tanahashi 

4/5

Reach for the Sky Tag Title Ladder Match: 

With the sad tragic lost of the late Mark Briscoe. It was only right for Tony Khan to honor the Briscoe brothers with retiring the old ROH tag titles and bringing in a new ones. In this ladder match we have top flight, the kingdom, Aussie Open, LFI and the Lucha Brothers.  

Now look I am usually not a fan of ladder matches because they are very formulaic. One person has trouble climbing up the ladder while no one is in the ring, everyone hits their big spots in the ring, big ladder moves, rinse and repeat. But I thought this match was fun for what it was. It’s hard to go over what went down in this match because there was a lot going on. But my personal favorite was when Penta hit a Canadian destroyer off the ladder and onto the four tables outside the ring. 

After that spot I saw Dante clutch his knee and the refs was on it. Hopefully he is ok because that was a scary spot. In the end the Lucha Brothers captures the tag titles and are now the inaugural champions. After the match FTR came out and congratulated them all of a sudden we have Jay Briscoe came out still holding on to the old retired tag title, in an amazing moment. 

Winner: Lucha Brothers

3.5/5

Wheeler Yuta vs. Katsuyori Shibata (Pure Championship): 

Now this was the match that I was really looking forward to. We have the youngest member of the Black Pool Combat Club, Wheeler Yuta, taking on one of the most baddest mother f***** in NJPW, Katsuyori Shibata in a pure championship. The ROH Pure Championship is one of my favorite titles in ROH due to how “sports like” it is. This is what professional wrestling is supposed to be. The rules of this match was simple. 

- closed - fist punches to the face are not permitted; only - handed slaps or chops to the face are allowed. Punches to other parts of the body are permitted, excluding low blows. The first use of a closed fist will get a warning; the second will be a disqualification. 

- Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfalls. After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by his opponent are legal. 

- As in standard ROH matches, there will bee a 20 count when a wrestler is on the floor. 

- Outside inference will result in automatic termination from the roster for the wrestler that interferes. 

The story of this match goes that Yuta became cocky with that Pure championship and decided to do an open challenge to any wrestler. Yuta quickly realized that Shibata was way out of his league. So much so that Yuta had to use all three of his rope breaks and none of his attacks was working. One specific moment in mind where Yuta was using chest chops to take him down but Shibata no sold it and hit Yuta so hard he went to the corner. From there we get Shibata’s signature fly stomp from across the ring. 

In the end Shibata came out victorious with a flying knee for a win. I thought this match was very entertaining to say the lest. Both men wrestled a very heavy NJPW style which I adore. I was really shock that Shibata came out on top but I thought it was the right decision. Now I wonder how the rest of the Black Pool Combat Club will react when Yuta lost a title. 

Winner: Katsuyori Shibata

4/5

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston (ROH World Championship):

We are finally at the main event at this top notch PPV where the Swiss Claudio Castagnoli takes on his long time friend/ enemy and a AEW fan favorite Eddie Kingston. Before the match we have a video package where we see both of these men had a hatred for each other all the back to their Chikara days. Claudio would state how Eddie is a big waste of potential because Claudio would always invite Eddie to the gym but Eddie always wave him off. Eddie thought that he didn’t need to work as hard as the rest of everyone else when it comes to this business and that’s where the story is with this match. Eddie trying to get the respect from his friend/enemy. This match was a straight up fight than an actually wrestling match. Claudio is a more traditional wrestling with supplex’s and uppercuts, where Eddie is more of a street fighter mix with some AJPW moves here and there. Two very different styles in the match up. 

Claudio did a really good job on making Eddie the hometown hero. With a specific spot in mind that made people jump to their feet. Towards the end of their match Claudio hits a big neutralizer and goes for the pin, only for Eddie to kick out a one and the whole crowd jump the their feet with joy. Eddie Kingston doing his own version of “hulking up”. Honestly I don’t know how Eddie gets so over as he already is. The guy is so relatable and talks that real whenever he is on stage. 

With that big moment both men begin to trade blows only for Claudio to steal the win here with a back reversal. Eddie Kingston was not satisfied to say the least. At the end of the match we see Yuta comes out by Claudio’s side and looks like they are gonna ambush Eddie. Only for Shibata to come out to make the odds even. We both see Yuta and Shibata trying to see who the crowd was more over and it was defiantly Eddie. The PPV ends with Shibata and Eddie in the ring with their hands in the air. 

I thought this match was very good, I love when wrestlers turn their feud into real life stuff. It just makes the matches even more enjoyable. I knew Claudio was gonna win but man he did a really good job on making me think Eddie Kingston was gonna take that title. 

Winner: Claudio 

4/5 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

Originally I was going back and forth on whether or not if I am going to buy this PPV. But after Tony Khan announced the AAA title and the pure championship card that's when I was absolutely sold on this show. Like I said in the beginning of this review, this PPV had some heart warming, jaw dropping moments. Specially FTR and Jay Briscoe coming out and congratulating the new tag champions and Komander and Vinkgo hugging it out after an amazing match. Every match on this card was good to great and never had a dull moment and was definitely worth every penny. 

Tony Khan’s ROH reminds me a lot of NXT black and gold. A dark atmosphere, where good stories are told and there are consequences for your actions and that is what ROH is to me. Also let's not forget that the takeover cards are always 6 -8 matches and I hope Tony keeps that formula down the line when it comes to these ROH PPV’s.

My only “negative” that I have with this PPV and this is just a nick pick, but the crowd tonight absolutely sucked. The crowd on my tv came out like they didn’t care about any of the matches, I'm not sure if it was because of WM weekend and they just wanted to do something before then? I just wish they were more active. 

4.5.5 

[azianfreshness]

AEW Dynamite Review (3/29/23)

Jungle Boy vs Matt Hardy: 

Hardy tried the hook, but Paige ducked Hardy out

Jack Perry comes with a dive 

back inside Hardy tries a side effect but Jungle Boy countered with a flat liner 

Charged behind Hardy’s back and that got enough for a finish 

THOUGHTS:

I thought this was an ok match. Wasn’t really interested in seeing Matt Hardy wrestle. 

Mjf and Jungle Boy segment:

After the match MJF comes out and address Jungle Boy. MJF says that Jungle Boy hasn't grown in the last four years, he goes if he took his route he would be more successful. Jungle Boy came back and said “if he went his way he would be a narcissist just like him”. MJF fires back and said “his girlfriend is too easy”. 

That was enough for Jungle Boy to hit MJF and they brawl for a little and MJF cowardly escapes the ring. 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this was a very good exchange between these two. I love that the four pillars has grown in their four years in AEW. Especially Jungle Boy, I felt he has the biggest potential outside of MJF. He really improved on his in ring and especially his mic skills. He isn't as cringy as he was, I think MJF and Christian Cage gave him some advice. I can see the four pillars having a title match at Double or Nothing. 

BACKSTAGE SEGMENT WITH DON CALLIS AND KENNY OMEGA: 

We go from that to backstage from Alex Marvez who he is interviewing Kenny Omega and Don Callis. Don says he was at fault for pissing off Hangman and says he would go right now to him and apologize. 

THOUGHTS: 

The Elite are once again counting their story with Kenny getting manipulated by Don and also is leading into the Elite vs Black Pool Combat Club. This is probably one of the best stories in AEW happening right now. 

THE ACCLAIMED WITH 2.0 SEGMENT

In this segment we see 2.0 and the Acclaimed having fun around St Louis. 

THOUGHTS: 

Look I am a fan of the Acclaimed but I just do not care what they are doing right now. I feel like the Acclaimed aren’t as over as they once was when they were tag champions. I feel like it was a mistake for Tony to take those tag titles off of them. 

of course this is all a swerve from 2.0 so they can join the J.A.S. I don’t think the J.A.S doesn’t need anymore members, it kind of feels like the NWO in a way. The Acclaimed don’t need anyone to get over in my opinion. 

DALTON CASTLE & THE BOYS VS BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB:

It was a squash match 

THOUGHTS: 

I would have given this match a 8 min match, Dalton and the boys can go and I was really disappointed in the outcome. But I understand this is all for the Black Pool Combat Club being a dominant fraction. 

HANGMAN & DON CALLIS SEGMENT: 

we go from that match to a backstage interview with Hangman. Alex Marvez asked Hangman how’s the Dark Order. Hangman sarcastically says that they are doing great, says one of them is suffering from a shoulder injury and despite what happened last week he is doing great. All of a sudden Don comes and apologizes for last week and extends his hand. Hangman was hesitant at first but before he shook Don’s hands the BCC attacks Hangman. Don still has his hand out and is shock. Don tries to give Moxley a handshake but Moxley slaps Don’s sunglasses off and pushes him. He beats him so much that Don was bleeding from the forehead. 

THOUGHTS: 

Again a lot of moving parts here in this storyline. Don being the slimy snake he is trying to manipulate hangman. But a lot of people here including me thinks he is behind the attack of the elite also I think Don is going to be the manger of the BCC. 

While managing Kenny’s arc enemy Jon Moxley and I think this is heading into blood and guts. I like the idea that the Black Pool Combat Club is being this dominating fraction and tearing the whole AEW locker room. They are so dominating that AEW needs to build up a big baby face to knock them off their high horse. 

KENNY OMEGA VS JEFF COBB IWGP U.S CHAMPIONSHIP 

Cobb was sent to the floor/ Kenny tries his terminator dive

Kenny does his moonsault on the outside

Omega tries for a body slam/ Cobb crushes him because Cobb is too big to left

brain buster by Cobb/ he was in control, targeting the ribs of Omega due to Omega’s injuries from last week. 

Omega tried to use the “you can’t escape” basically a (fireman’s carry into a moonsault off the ropes.) But Omega’s knee buckled with Cobb reversed it

Cobb released huge German supplex/ Omega charged with a polish hammer 

backslider for a running knee. Omega got a two count 

Omega tried to use the V- trigger but Cobb uses a drop kick

Omega got out of a firman’s carry and uses multiple snap dragon supplex’s 

both guys are down

both guys stand offish to get to their feet, both guys guys uses Forman’s, chops and Cobb hits a uppercut

Cobb continue’s to attack the ribs again

Cobb sets up Omega again with a raising head butt 

Big delay vertical supplex off the top rope

standing moonsault by Cobb but only for a near fall

Cobb tired his on One wing Angel but couldn't get it. Then tries a tour of the island, Omega with a big knee followed by a V- trigger 

Omega uses a One Wing Angel for the finish

THOUGHTS:

I thought this was a very good match. When he came out with Devil’s sky I knew we were getting NJPW Kenny. He is one my favorite version of him, don’t get me wrong I love AEW Kenny when he is goofy and plays around. But NJPW Kenny is a whole different animal. He is the one that is more serious that took Okada to a 60 min match at Wrestle Kingdom for the IWGP championship. From this episode and last episode Kenny used devil sky from his entrance. I think we are getting more serious Kenny on his singles run and maybe return of the cleaner? We shall see

BRYAN DANILSON HEEL TURN: 

So after the match we see the Black Pool Combat Club invading the ring like sharks. Bryan comes out for the save, or does he? Kenny was heisted at first but decides to extend his hand. He tries to attack Wheeler from the ring apron but Yuta got out of the way. While Kenny is doing this Bryan is by the ring buckle setting up an attack, Kenny turns around and Bryan hits a beautiful recycle knee on Omega. With that the rest of the BCC comes into the ring and joins the attack

THOUGHTS:

For all the people that are saying “is Bryan still in the BCC?” here you go. He just with the BCC he just took a break. Honestly as much as I love baby face Bryan I love heel Bryan even more. He knows how to play the crowd and get heat on him. I can sense that we are getting a round 2 of Kenny and him. But this time the roles are reversed and we are gonna see NJPW Kenny and ROH Bryan. Can’t wait

BUTCHER & ORANGE CASSIDY INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: 

I thought this match was an underrated match. Butcher is one of those underrated wrestlers that wrestle that old school grimy style that I love. It seems like Orange Cassidy is getting a banged up from defending his championship constantly on tv and I see a new title holder but the question is who? 

ADAM COLE VS DANIEL GRACIA: 

Garcia was in control for most of the match. They really played up to the story of Adam Cole being out for 9 months with a concussion 

there was lots of pile drivers 

Garcia blocked a super kick into a slap

both men are trading boots

Garcia hits a big German supplex 

Garcia sets up a super kick but ran into Adam’s cool’s own

Adam Cole missed the boom/ Garcia ran into an elbow

Garcia legged super kicks out with that Adam missed the Panama sunrise

Garcia countered it into a lion tamer 

Cole got to the ropes while Garcia posed 

Garcia got both hands and legs for another pile driver 

Cole kicked out/ Garcia charged into a super kick

Cole hit a Panama sunrise, followed by the boom and with that Cole wins 

After the match Britt Baker comes out to celebrate with her boyfriend. They are sharing a moment. All of a sudden Chris Jerchio’s music hit, he is coming down the ramp with a very serious look. He takes Garcia and takes one look at Adam Cole behind his shoulder’s before leaving the ring and that's how the episode ends. 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this match was solid. I’ll admit when Garcia hit that first pillar driver my heart sank for a second. I really thought Adam was injured again but thankfully he didn’t. God job on Adam for selling the injury, like I said they really told the story in this match of Cole’s concussion. There was some moments where I thought Adam was rusty but what can you do when you are out for 9 months. 

Chris Jericho coming out to save Daniel was teasing a feud with Adam Cole which I don’t mind at all. You can tell that Tony is really careful on easing Adam back in again, this next feud should be good 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

Look if you one of those people that says AEW doesn’t tell stories then you are either not watching the product or not paying attention enough to the show. This episode was VERY story driven, they were building up stories to the forbidden door, the Elite vs BCC, the Elite, building up the BCC into a dominating fraction, Cassidy getting tired out of all the constant mates. So many moving parts from today’s episode, I was getting AEW 2019 vibes. 

4.5/5 stars 

[azianfreshness]

(A very unexpected review) Impact Wrestling: sacrifice 2023

Howdy guys Chris here with another wrestling review and this is an UNEXPECTED one. I’m gonna be reviewing Impact Wrestling Sacrifice that happened last Friday. Now look, the last time I watched an Impact show was when Kenny Omega was champion, when he dropped the title to Christian Cage, that's when I stopped watching. So please excuse me if I am not familiar with the storylines or certain wrestlers. Ok so now that’s out of the way let's start this review. 

Jonathan Gresham vs. Mike  “speedball” Bailey: 

Ok to start the PPV off we have in my opinion the match of the night. Now this is the first exposure that I have with Mike Bailey and boy did he won me over in this match. Jonathan Gresham did a really good job of putting him over. The story of the match is basically Gresham underestimating  Bailey with having a win over him and this is their second meet together. 

There was some chain wrestling involved and at some point Gresham was getting frustrated so he decided to use some heel tendencies by poking Bailey in the eye. Gresham quickly apologizes and shake hands, at one point Gresham has Bailey’s leg in the pretzel, Bailey got a rope break but Gresham claimed he was stuck so he needed the referee to break it up. We get a shoving match between them followed by a slap by Gresham, Bailey gets hot by doing some quick lighting strikes to Gresham legs. Throughout the match Bailey had some moments where he was taking over the match but Gresham quickly dismisses this with a hot counter. 

In the end it was Bailey that came out on top with a reversed figure four leg lock that has Gresham tapping out. Now this surprised me because I thought Gresham was gonna win but it’s nice for a veteran putting over a young talent. They are even at 1-1 

3.5/5 stars 

Joe Hendry vs Brian Myers Impact Digital Media Championship: 

I thought this was a decent match It had a very old school traditional feel to it. If you are grew up in the golden age of wrestling with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior and such this is for you. Henry wins by a counter in mid air that turned into a cutter and finishing him off by a choke slam spine buster. 

3/5 stars

We go from that decent match to a backstage interview with Impact World Champion Mickie James. She states she is not medically cleared to defend her championship at Sacrifice or at the NJPW x IMPACT show Multiverse. Santino Marella explains that Grace will wrestle the winner of Masha Slamovich vs. Deonna Purrazzo vs. Gisele Shaw vs. Miyu Yamashita (at Multiverse United on March 30) at Rebellion on April 16. If James is healthy, then that match will be a three-way. If James still isn’t cleared, then she will relinquish the title to the winner of the Rebellion match

THOUGHTS: 

Now like I said I don’t watch the product regularly but when Mickie was explaining her injury she seems a little cocky about it. Like she is happy she doesn’t have to defend her title at Sacrifice or at Multiverse. Heel turn incoming? 

Deonna Purrazzo vs Gisele Shaw: 

I thought this match was ok for what it was. Deonna show’s why she is the one of the best woman’s wrestler in the world. I don’t know why Impact took the title off of her and put it on Mickie. But that’s another story for another day.

Dennoa wins by a double arm bar

After the match Purrazzo was attacked by Shaw’s crew until Tasha Steelz makes her return with the save. 

2.5/5

Kenny King vs PCO: 

PCO sets up King by his head on the ring apron and PCO goes to the top rope. Eddie Edwards tries to distract PCO, PCO kicks off Eddie, just enough for King to recover and throws off PCO off the top rope spine first into the apron.

King does a supplex on the exposed floor. back in the ring Eddie throws a Kendo stick in for King. King nails PCO with a chair but it doesn't have no effect. That was enough for PCO to punch through the chair and nails King with it for the win. 

THOUGHTS:

It wasn’t the worst match of the PPV but it was ok for what it was. PCO at his stage of his career he shouldn’t be taking those crazy bumps. Specially the exposed floor and him flying off the top rope. Those spots made me cringe. 

2.5/5 stars 

Trey Miguel vs Lince Dorado X - DIVISION IMPACT CHAMPIONSHIP: 

Now we get to my second favorite match of the night. This was a very high flying match to say the least. Trey is doing wonders on his singles run in impact.I can’t do this match justice so we will take this to the ending.  Both men are trading shots Trey puts a boot to Lince, follow by a uppercut off the rope and a Rana for the win 

4/5 stars 

We go from that awesome match to backstage with TMDK getting interview by Gia. TMDK talks about how the Bullet Club is still around and this isn't 2014 anymore, the bullet club is pretty much relevant at this day and age. TMDK then states they are gonna capture the Impact tag titles and see’s the Bullet Club at Multiverse. 

BULLET CLUB vs TMDK IMPACT TAG CHAMPIONSHIPS: 

TMDK controlled most of the match until Ace and Bey came back with the sauciness. Bullet Club does their signuature 1 - 2  punch like Jordan and Scottie Pippin did in the 90′s for the win. 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought it was a pretty fun tag match

3.5/5 stars 

BULLY RAY vs TOMMY DREAMER BUSTED OPEN MATCH: 

*sigh* So now we get to the lowest point of the PPV and in my opinion the worst match of the card. I honestly don’t know why this match was on here it should have been on the pre show. Maybe this was Impact's way of trying to get the casual fan to come watch? Either way this didn't do it for me. Bully way wins 

1/5 stars 

STEVE MACLIN, RICH SWANN AND FRANKIE KAZARIAN VS TIME MACHINE: 

To start off the match we have some really nice counter wrestling. From there we get some nice high pace wrestling from the Time Machine. Kushida was working the hoover board most of the match with Maclin’s head and a the end Maclin taps from it. 

4/5 Stars 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought this match was entertaining and fun to watch. The story of this match was Maclin’s teammates not trusting him and now Kushida has bragging rights heading into their next PPV. 

FINAL OVERALL THOUGHTS: 

Both of Impact’s world champions were unexpectedly out of the PPV due to injuries and it was time for the rest of the roster to feel their shoes. I felt they did put on a solid PPV to say the least. 

- There were some matches where I felt that should have been on tv, manly the main event, King vs PCO and the digit media championship.

 - There was time’s throughout the PPV that the crowd seemed half asleep and I feel like it effected the matches a bit. After watching this PPV I'm still debating if I want to be a regular watcher of the product but we will see in the future *shrugs*

- I thought the 3 way submission lock in the center of the ring by the Time Machine was a cool spot

-  Lince do a 450 splash off the top rope only for Trey to counter was neat 

- The corner two sweet spot by Ace reminded me a lot of when Jay White did was funny ( in a good way) 

3/5 stars 

[azianfreshness]

Kenny Omega vs El Hijo Vikingo an dazzling success:

Hello again guys and welcome to another article of mine. The first one that I wrote was really fun doing so I decided to write another one. This one is going to be about the best wrestler in our generation Kenny “bi god” Omega vs the best Luchadores in the game El Hijo Vikingo and why alternative wrestling is a thing of beauty. 

BACKSTORY: 

So before I start on why both of these men wrestled in my opinion a masterpiece of a match, let me explain to you guys the backstory. The backstory is pretty important.  Last week on social media, Tony Khan announced on Twitter that Kenny Omega and El Hijo Vikingo will wrestling on AEW Dynamite and dubbed it as a “dream match”. Now the backlash that Tony Khan got for this was bad. Everyone and their mother was complaining saying “this match had no story”, “why was this match announced”, “I don’t even know who Vikingo is” was the criticism leading up to this match. Look I totally understand the criticism here, about not building up to a match and throwing a random match on Dynamite. If you guys read my last review on Revolution, the House of Black vs the Elite for the trios tag titles it had no story whatsoever. The “build up” was the lights turning on and off and the elite playing basketball...So the criticism was there but still ended up being a spectacular match in the end. Also to be fair I was one of those people that wasn’t too familer with him. Aside from seeing his name online from BTE and a highlights here and there I knew he  was one of the best Luchadores in the game. So I was coming in pretty cold coming into this match. 

But the thing about what makes a great sport and AEW so great is that there are thousands of thousands of wrestlers that we have never heard. So we learn more about said wrestler from whatever promotion they are coming from. Also I hate making it this an WWE vs AEW debate but I think this need to be said. AEW is supposed to be an alternate to what WWE is. They tell their stories differently than what WWE does, instead of telling it through sports entertainmen and soap opera as you will. AEW tells it more of subtle way where you need to pay attention to detail, the more you pay attention, the more they award you and Tony Khan makes sure you do your homework to the viewers. If you don’t then you can always look said wrestler, that's what I love about it. I’m not saying one is better than the other but people need to take into consideration that one company is different from the other. If you prefer soap operas more then WWE is for you. But if you prefer more professional wrestling than AEW is for you. 

THE STORY:

So the one thing that I love about AEW is that they listen to their fans. As I said in my backstory this match had no story build up. So what did AEW did? From the beginning of the episode to the end they built a story. Now I know what you are saying, “but Chris how can they build a story to a match from an episode?”. Well again like I said, AEW does subtle storytelling where you need to pay attention. Let me directly you from the images above. Right from the get go we see the young bucks getting treated by in ambulance, the young bucks have been attacked but we don’t know who attacked them. Hangman Adam Page despite how the bucks been treated him in the past is still there by their side and goes into the a the ambulance with them. While Kenny is trying to go but Don Callis is trying to manipulate his way from keeping Kenny in check. This is what I love about the Elite, there is so much layers to their storytelling it is crazy. Right now you have stories interwinding into this, You have the young bucks and hangman trying to form a bound with one other again even though Kenny doesn’t even know. In fact fast forward to two years ago at Full Gear 2021 during the AEW world championship match, when Hangman was doing the buckshot lariat Mat nodded at Hangman from the outside. Basically telling him “I am not going to interfere with your match” or “ go for the final blow Adam”.  Kenny also doesn’t know about this, so it's going to be interesting on what Kenny does. Meanwhile you have Don manipulating his way into Kenny’s head again, because he is the “invisible hand” in his life. Somewhere down the line I feel like Don is losing faith in Kenny and trying to worm his way from someone else. We see him scouting Takeshita from the side line which I don’t think Kenny and the Young Bucks know of. But in my opinion I think Takeshita is just a decoy from something bigger. Remember in the episode I believe it was during New Years Dash, where Don said “whenever he is out for a match something big happens”. For example, the good brothers coming out of nowhere and attacking Jon Moxley in his match with Kenny Omega and announcing an impact x AEW partnership. Since Don and the good brothers was part of Impact during that time. Also another example was during the tag match between Kenny and the good brother vs Rey Fenix, Jon Moxley and Pac at beach break. Kenta came out of nowhere and attacked Moxley from behind and Don was laughing maniacally like he KNEW it was gonna happen. So maybe I feel like Don is sneaky talking to someone from the shadows, maybe a Jay White? Jay is one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling so far and there are so much history between Kenny and White. I think adding Jay to this will add another layer to this awesome story. 

Though out the episode we see Kenny worrying about his friends and it affects him into the match against Vikingo. Now with Vikingo, his story is interesting. He is a Luchador that wrestles mostly in Mexico (AAA). So he is coming into a new territory that he is not used to (America) so he is really nervous and wants to prove to American audiences that he belongs here and boy did he delivered. 

THE MATCH: 

The match really delivered on what Tony Khan hoped for. Two of the best high flyers from their respected companies putting on a show for their fans. The stuff that Vikingo did in the match left my mouth on the floor, like the 630 splash through the table explosion hurricane in the corner. Seriously Kenny was selling his butt off for him and the crowd was chanting his name not into 5 mins into the match. 

As for Kenny, Kenny came out as his NJPW self again.The “cleaner” that was going to “clean up” the singles division. As I said on my Dynamite review I liked Kenny doing tag matches but I felt he really shines where he puts those 5 star matches in the singles. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

I think AEW just proved to people that they can do storytelling in their matches they just do it a certain way. Like I said in my introduction, if you want to know about a certain wrestler you can always look them up. AEW is putting these unknown wrestlers to showcase their skills and hopefully you can become a fan of them in the long wrong. I feel like wrestling fans have been condition for decades now that there is only one way to tell a story and I Think AEW just proved their critics wrong with putting on this banger of a match. 

[azianfreshness]

All Elite Wrestling Dynamite Review (3/22/2023)

To start off this show off we are seen backstage where the Young Bucks are being put in the ambulance. Hangman is on the phone with someone and suggested to go with him. Kenny Omega wants to go but Don is not letting him. 

THOUGHTS: 

Alright so there are a lot of moving parts here. We got the young bucks and Hangman Adam Page reuniting soon to take on the Black Pool Combat Club. At the time we have Don Callis continue the story of him manipulating Kenny after taking a long break of singles matches. Thank goodness, look there is nothing wrong with Kenny doing tag matches but I feel like singles matches is where he does his best work. We are finally getting “the cleaner, the best bout machine” back and it's truly amazing. 

Darby, Sting and Orange Cassidy vs Kip Sabin, Butcher and the blade: 

I thought this match was fun little opener. The roar of the crowd when Sting got that hot tagged and went bananas got chills. Not to mention him doing his best Orange Cassidy impression is great stuff. Of course I love Butcher and the Blade, I think they are a great underrated tag team that feels like they deserve gold and not just a jobber role. 

The Guns vs Top Flight (AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP):

I thought this was a good tag match. The Guns has really grown on me the past three years. They know how to get heat, I absolutely LOVE their “Ass Boys” gimmick, love that every time they wrestle they dress like Shawn Micheals and I think they are improving in the ring. I just wish they have a much longer run as tag champions instead of being transitional champs, maybe later down the line we might get that? 

Jade Cargill interview: 

We go from that match to backstage where Renee Paquette is interviewing the TBS champion Jade Cargill. Jade talks about how the addition of the woman's division Taya Valkyrie. Jade states it was very rude for Taya to use her finisher on her baddies last week and also states Taya is NOT allowed to use it anymore with the signed papers by Mark Sterling. 

Leila Grey goes on saying she will personally hand that contract to her this Friday on Rampage

THOUGHTS: 

I'll be real with you guys I could care less about this segment and you guys already know how I feel about Jade’s run as TBS champion. I do not see Taya taking that title off of Jade and I feel like Kris Statlander is going to be the one who takes the title off but we will see. 

Hook vs Stockley (FTW CHAMPIONSHIP):

So the story here is that Matt Hardy and Private Party is trying to ruin the firm. By purposely by losing and putting Stockley in a match by the handsome devil hook. This match was surprisingly to say the least. Stockey is very entertaining and he knows how to sell a match. Him taking that rail bump inside the ring got me cringing haha. Hook is great as always I just feel the FTW championship is not doing him any favors. 

ADAM COLE SEGEMENT: 

After that entertaining match we get Adam Cole segment from inside the ring. He talks about he is only 7 days away from his in ring debut and wonders who is his opponent going to be at Double or Nothing. He is interrupted by Daniel Garcia and talks and almost slips he is the best wrestler in the world. He quickly corrects himself and says “sports entertainer”. He quickly reminds Adam that for the past nine months when he was on the shelf he was out grinding with the best and he is gonna make an example out of Adam next week. 

THOUGHTS:

This match is gonna be a banger none less, you can tell that Tony Khan is trying to ease Adam Cole back into the ring before going full throttle with all the dream matches. I really wanted to see Adam Cole, Bobby Fish vs the Elite but we already know where Bobby Fish ended. Maybe we can still see that with Kyle O’Reily and Adam Cole vs the Young Bucks instead? Don’t forget that story with Jay White IF he is coming to AEW that is. 

KENNY OMEGA/ DON CALLIS SEGEMENT: 

We get another backstage segment where Kenny Omega is obviously upset about what happened to the Young Bucks and he wanted to be by their side. Don quickly dismisses this and says they are fine they have Micheal Nakazawa with them. Don insures this is a good thing since now he can focus on his singles run. 

THOUGHTS: 

Ok so hear me out I think this is a way to bring in Jay White and here is my reasons. 

1: Don is slowly losing faith in Kenny so he is slowly talking to Jay on the side but he wants us to think he is recruiting Takeshita 

2: Don ordered the hit to take out the Young Bucks just like he did with Jon Moxley when the good brothers attacked him 

3: Don wants to manipulate someone else 

Stu Grayson vs Jon Moxley: 

It was a very good match, I forgot how much Stu is such an underrated wrestler and AEW fans missed him dearly. Jon Moxley being the leader of the BCC is what I need and I'm very excited for the eventually Elite vs BCC at blood and Guts 

RICKY STARKS SEGEMENT: 

Ricky once against calls out Juice Robinson for being a pussy and says he wants to face him at Rampage if he is man enough. 

THOUGHTS: 

I still believe Ricky’s match with Juice is a gateway for Jay White or the Bullet Club to come over to AEW. Ricky did did hint at it about two weeks ago 

QTV SEGEMENT: 

We get a video package of once again with QT and his gang and once again they are talking about his match with Will Fenix and how Will Hobbs squash him. We then get a announcement of Will Hobbs facing Penta on Rampage 

THOUGHTS: 

Not really enjoying this segment to be honest. Maybe someone down the line it might grow on me? I still think Will Hobbs should have another better manger 

TONI STORM VS SKY BLUE:

Surprisingly I enjoyed this match, It was decent and it pushed the outsiders vs AEW originals storyline. Sky Blue is getting better in the win, that transitioned into her finisher was a thing of beauty 

BCC ATTACKS STU: 

We are seen backstage with Stu and the medics. All of a sudden he is attacked by the BCC with Max saying “its just business” 

THOUGHTS: 

Once again this is pushing for an elite vs the BCC 

VINKINO VS KENNY (DREAM MATCH): 

This match lived up to the hype that Tony set up to be. Kenny was selling his butt off for Vinkino, not to mention the story telling that we got. I think this is going to be match of the year candidate. Like Excalibur said “if you don’t know who Vinkino is you do now” 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Tony Khan has listened  to the criticism of how people say how is the Kenny Omega and Vinkino a “ dream match”. Honestly everyone has their own version of what a “dream match” is. I think this match for Indi fans that is this is our “dream match” for us, while mainstream fans think a “dream match” might be Bret Hart vs Seth Rollings. What Kenny Omega did not only told a great story in the ring, but told a great story throughout the episode. If you've have been paying attention. Kenny Omega was and Vinkino was supposed to fight a year ago, Kenny was so caught up on this “dream match” that he forgot everything that happened around him, cue the young bucks going to the hospital. With this Kenny was going into this match worrying about his best friends. After the match Kenny was so fatigued after the match that the BCC attacked him. 

This episode provided so much Elite lore though out the episode for people that was complaining about that “there is no story”. The thing about AEW is they tell story different than AEW has. It’s just they do it more subtle and the Elite are one of the best storytellers in our generation

[azianfreshness]

All Elite Wrestling Dynamite Review (3/15/23)

MJF RE-BAR MITZVAH CELEBRATION SEGEMENT

To start off this show we have MJF’s MITZVAH. He comes out with with four beautiful women and gives each one of them a kiss. He enters the ring and tells the history of a mitzvah where a boy becomes a man at the age of 13 in which he lost his V card. He then goes on and says March 5th is where he beat Bryan Danielson to become the undisputed AEW champion and he isn’t a man any more he is IRON MAN. From here he then dances with I believe his friends, they are laughing and are having a good time. That is when he is interrupted by Jungle boy, Sammy and then Darby Allin, the four pillars of AEW. From Jungle Boy to Sammy then to Darby they all claim they want a title match because they feel like they deserved it. MJF admits that he and them are part of the four pillars but MJF is the only one that hold the company to a float. 

MJF then tells them they don’t deserve to sniff the AEW championship and they should get out of the ring because they weren’t invited and he is going to eat his cake because he DESERVES it. From there MJF slaps Jungle Boy’s head and we get an all out brawl in the ring while MJF was on the aproned, Jungle boy knocks MJF so hard that he fell into his cake. 

THOUGHTS:

I thought this segment was awesome. They show cased the future of AEW and that is what you do when you are still a brand new company. I think MJF did an awesome job of putting over the young talent that is what a champion does. Out of all the AEW champions so far MJF is becoming one of my favorite champion so far and Kenny Omega is my favorite wrestler! I think this is MJF’s next feud heading into Double or Nothing. I thought it was gonna be Hangman since MJF said he original beat Hangman for the diamond ring or have another MJF/Punk feud again maybe at All Out? I think these feuds are gonna take us all the way to 2023 because I don’t see MJF losing the title until his supposed contract is up. So we will see what happens 

BLACK POOL COMBAT CLUB vs DARK ORDER

Grayson was isolated during the commercial break, Max was in control with a piler driver

Big pump knee too Max out, Grayson made the hot tag to Adam Page

Hangman went wild/ follow through slam on Yuta

Uno made a blind tag on page/ power bomb on Yuta

Uno hit a swanton bomb

Mosley and Page was face to face slug it out

Mosley took out the ref with Yuta clocking Page behind the refs back with a ring bell

Uno and Grayson charged into the brawl/ Yuta chopped block Uno’s leg

Grayson was trying to swing the momentum into the dark order’s favor

Grayson does a dive outside the ring post on top of Claudio 

Uno hits a paradigm shift on Moxley

Uno and Grayson hits the double team fatality on Mox. But Yuta broke it up at the last second 

Grayson got a popup roll up on Claudio, Uno was taking out by Yuta

Grayson suffered a pop up uppercut by Claudio

rear naked choke transitioned into a bull dog choke for the win 

Thoughts: 

I thought it was a very fun match it set the tone for an eventually Black Pool Combat Club vs the Elite at blood and guts 

Rating: 3.5/5

Jade vs a jobber:

After the win Jade was getting interview by Renee and Jade said “ aren’t you from Canada?” All of a sudden Tay Valkyrie comes out and confronts Jade

Thoughts:

I feel like her TBS title run is very forgettable and that title is only for her and I don't see no one taking that title off. 

As for Tay, I see her being like every other woman singing. Tay will start off hot and will get use on useless segments 

QTV SEGMENT: 

It was basically a TMZ segment where they made fun of the former TNT champion Wardlow

Thoughts: 

It was an ok segment. We finally saw who broke into Wardlow’s car and it was Aaron Solow. Want to see more of this to get my final opinion 

Orange Cassidy vs Jeff Jarrett Intetnational title: 

Singh was on the outside, he toss Cassidy inside 

Jeff was on the attack/ Cassidy was selling the leg

Jeff faked the figure four leg lock and put on the sharp shooter 

Cassidy reversed into his own

Sanjay helped with the rope break

Jeff put on a sleeper on Cassidy, with Sanjay taking away the ref’s attention 

Jeff applied the figure four but Cassidy fought of it

Slug fest between the two that set up Cassidy into the ref bump

Sanjay slip the guitar into the ring. Aubrey Edwards comes out

Aubrey pulled the guitar away/ as Cassidy got a school boy roll up 

Jarrett and Aubrey got into it

Singh pulled away from Cassidy on double J

Aubrey tossed Singh and Dust of of the arena 

saddle light DDT in J by Cassidy 

Cassidy kicked up on one leg 

Jarrett distracted Bruce 

Jay Lethal comes out and smashes Cassidy with the golden globe 

Cassidy kicks out

Trent comes out and hits Lethal/ they brawl by the ramp

Jarrett almost hit the stroke on Cassidy and Cassidy hits the orange punch on Jarrett and 1-2-3/ Orange retains the International title 

THOUGHTS: 

Thought it was a fun match. I know a lot of people don’t enjoy Jeff on their tv screen but I am one of the few that is enjoying his AEW run. 

RATING: 3/5

ACCLAMID SEGMENT: 

I thought this segment was ok. Max Caster’s lyrics wasn’t hitting for me and the beat wasn’t all that. 

OUTCAST SEGMENT:

I thought this segment was decent. The outcast continue to impress me every week. I can see Mercedes eventually come and join the outcast. Then we can see Thunder Rosa and Serena Dee join the AEW woman’s division 

2.0 segment: 

I don’t see the acclaimed joining the JAS. They are too over with the fans 

HOUSE OF BLACK VS THE ELITE VS JAS:

Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega stand off/ Canada got hyped

black pool combat club drawing with the dark order backstage 

Omega got a knees up on moonsault on Chris Jericho 

Matt hits Gracie/ does the same thing to Sammy 

Bucks try a Meltzer driver/ code breaker in mid air 

Shooting star press by Sammy on Mat

Broody king broke that up for a near pin fall 

Sammy and Gracie with both cannon ball by Brodie King 

King tossed Jericho/ Jericho tried to fight them off 

Dante Inferno on Jericho by Omega 

Jericho got the baseball bat and hits Brodie right into the face

Sammy took out the elite with a shooting star press on the outside 

King kicked out at two

Jericho wind up a judas effect but got ate by a black mass by Malakai

Jericho fell into a Garcia tagged 

king did the Dante Inferno 

House of Black retains the trios titles 

THOUGHTS: 

I thought it was a really fun match. I’m so happy that HOB is finally getting they shine that they deserved. I can see them having a very long title reign 

RATING:4/5

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

I thought it was a fine show from top to bottom. Storylines continued to be push and that Canada crowd was eating everything Tony Khan’s hand 

[azianfreshness]

All Elite Wrestling Dynamite Review (3/8/23)

Orange Cassidy vs Jay Lethal All Atlantic Championship 

Lethal throws Cassidy into the steps from the outside and brings him back into the ring

Lethal does the Jeff Jarrett strut in the ring

Lethal blocked a stunt dog millionaire and a saddle light DDT but Cassidy was able to hit the brain buster

diving DDT for another attempt for a saddle light DDT and nailed it for a two count

Cassidy was going for an orange punch but his knee buckled. Lethal took the opportunity to lock on a figure four leg lock

Cassidy got to the ropes and both went to the apron and had a little chop battle back and forth 

Lethal took out Cassidy from the outside with a Lethal combination

Top rope elbow missed

Lethal countered the orange punch to a cutter for a near fall 

Thrust kick to the knee of Cassidy, this lead to Lethal going for a Lethal injection. But an injured shoulder from earlier in the match had him collapsed

Cassidy capitalize for an orange punch for a pin fall 

Postive 

thought this match was decent opener to open the show

Negative 

Not really a fan of rematches we already seen these two wrestled weeks before we don’t have to see it again. Tony Needs to keep rotating people in and out. Tony Khan has a habit of keep certain feuds going for no reason, this is one of them. Please have this feud end already 

Overall rating 

3/5 

Backstage interview with Renee Paquette and “power house” Hobbs 

Hobbs says it was so unfortunate what happened and his life is in shambles. The only thing Wardlow has left is him being champion and tonight he is gonna take that away from him 

Thoughts 

Very straight forward and simple promo to further the storyline

Ricky Starks segment 

Ricky Starks comes inside the ring and talks about how he has been in California for 10 or 11 days, his two wins over Chris Jericho and is having one hell of a week. He goes on and says people are asking him “whats next”. He is not really sure, says the question that weighs on his mind is “what’s next but WHERE he is going next?’ 

Ricky gets interrupted by a bullet club theme song and out comes “rock hard” juice Robinson from behind and does a DDT on Ricky 

Thoughts 

I’ll be the first one to admit when the bullet club logo and theme song came on i popped so hard. I thought it was going to be “switchblade” Jay White, since he is currently a free agent. But was a little disappointed when Juice Robinson came out. Look Juice is a very underrated wrestler but Ricky Starks solo run so far has been mid. First Chris Jericho and now him, i was expecting more better upper card wrestlers to build Ricky up for an eventually contender for MJF to face in the near future. 

A lot of people say this segment was to open the door for Jay White to come into AEW to get his revenge from not competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling and maybe get his own fraction into AEW. But we shall see what happens 

Renee Paquette interviews Ruby Sho

Ruby cuts a promo about why she joins Toni Storm and Sayara aka “the outsiders”. She goes on saying the home grown talent of AEW got more pops than Toni ,Ruby and Sayara.  She even goes on saying that Tony Khan didn’t respected Toni enough to call her a proper champion and only an interim. She continues on saying the rookies in the back think they deserve the world because Tony Khan gives it to them. 

Thoughts 

I thought Ruby cut a phenomenal promo and cut a lot of loose ends, specially the whole “interim” thing. When she addressed it my mind was blown and was like “that is genius!” The whole AEW originals vs Outsiders is really starting to heat up and I can see the men getting into to. 

Ruby Sho vs Sky Blue

Blue tried going for a knee or a knee strike 

Blue connects into a big high cross body off the top rope for two

Ruby avoids the “code blue” and pulls the hair into a destination unknown for a pin fall

Postive 

none

Negative

This match shouldn’t of happened. I thought the promo that Ruby cut was perfect and did not needed to continue because this match was very messy

Overall rating 

1/5 

Backstage interview with Renne and “hangman” Adam Page 

“hangman” summons up that his match with Moxley put him in a place that he hated to go to but he had to get into that mindset. He goes on giving anyone in the AEW locker room a warring that if they were to push him he will take you to hell and rip your flesh off the bones and choke you out until your life leaves your body. 

Thoughts 

Love the character development from “hangman” here that he is not the nice guy when he first started in AEW and is tired of everyone’s crap. I think we are gonna see a more heelish Hangman in the future because he has teased it and Moxley’s heel turn in that go home promo before Revolution 

FTR Segment 

Tony Schiavone is joined by FTR in the ring. FTR says it’s great to be back in AEW and continues to promise to make to spank the “ass boys” because they are spoiled brats and to take those AEW tag championships from them

Thoughts

Its good to see FTR finally back in AEW and can’t wait for them to get a proper title run that they deserve. I am not really sure if the end game is to have the Young Bucks to take those titles off of them, since we already seen that story at Full Gear 2020. But we will see where it goes 

MJF Segment

MJF talks about his match with Bryan Danielson and says people doubted him from only being one dimensional wrestler and proved them wrong by putting on one of the best iron match’s of all time.

Thoughts

MJF is becoming one of my favorite title reigns so far in AEW and continues to make me more of a fan of his work

Backstage interview with Renne and Jade cargill

Jade brags about her 50-0 streak and that no one in the AEW locker room isn’t on level. She continues by saying she is going to Canada next week and has an open challenge to any Canadian that wants to get “stepped on”

Thoughts

Jade is really becoming into her own you can see the confidence flowing in her with her promo skills. I just wish the TBS title had some prestige

JAS vs Ar fox/ Top Flight 

JAS does a series of hot tags and moonsault 

Garica was able to knock Dante out with a right hand in mid air

JAS was in full control 

Monkey flipped turned Sammy inside out and that allowed Ar Fox to make a hot tag 

big spring broad and cutter connected on Sammy and Garcia

Darius showing off on a gut wrench/ german suplex

Jericho ran into a one man spanish fly and a big back flip into a corner 

Dante does a dive on Garcia and Fox hits a swanton to take out Sammy and Parker from the outside

Dante countered the walls of Jericho 

Jericho hit him with his bat with the ref turned behind his back. This lead to a Judus affect and a pin fall. The JAS wins 

Positive 

Pretty fun match. Love how Jericho keeps putting over the future of AEW

Negative 

again i’m not a fan of rematches. 

Overall rating

3/5

Tony Khan segment 

Tony Khan announces that due to them going to Canada next week he is changing the All Atlantic Championship to the international championship follow by promoting the new Shazam movie 

Thoughts

Think this is a fresh start for the title because i could care less about this title and hopefully Orange can bring some prestigious to the new title by going to different promotions and defending it 

Bryan Danielson video package segment

We get a beautiful video package of Bryan recapping what happened at his match with MJF. He goes on by saying MJF was right about no being able to play with his kids again due to MJF had him broken his right hand from the LeBell Lock and it is time to “go home”. 

Thoughts

I thought this video package was nice and emotional and love the story about Bryan won’t be able to hold his kids again. A lot of people joke about him goin back to WWE, now i am not saying he won’t ever show up in WWE again, maybe in the near future he might go back. But right now he is having fun putting on bangers after bangers in AEW. When he says he is “going home” i think he meant him going back to Ring of Honor since that’s where he started. 

Also last year before the Forbidden Door PPV he was meant to wrestle Zack Sabre Jr so maybe he is gonna wrestle him at the next Forbidden Door PPV or in Ring of honor? We shall see what happens 

Backstage interview with the Acclaimed

The Acclaimed talks about them being back in the chase for the tag team titles. They are interrupted by daddy magic & Parker. Daddy magic and Parker gush about how the JAS loves the acclaimed and should join them. Max Caster and Anthony Bowens left with no words

Thoughts

The acclaimed has teased a break up with daddy ass for a while now and I feel like this is a way to do it. Maybe the acclaimed into the JAS can bring em into new heights

Dark Order vs Black Pool Combat Club 

Alex Reynolds was isolated by the Black Pool Combat Club

Silver made the hot tag and he came in with his signature offense

Moxley was in there and got dropped by a german suplex 

Mox sank into a triangle choke and Silver countered into a cross face

Silver and Reynolds tried their wombo combo. But Moxley cut it off into a rear naked choke on Reynolds then transitioned into a bull dog choke. The Black Pool Combat Club wins 

Positive 

none

Negative 

Boring

Overall thoughts 

Thought this match was boring overall. This match happened to push the storyline of hangman and Moxley since they arent done. This is gonna end up with Hangman rejoining the elite and from there we are getting a Black Pool Combat Club/ Elite fued 

Wardlow vs “power house” Will Hobbs TNT championship falls count anywhere 

Match starts with both men backstage by a car

Wardlow chucks a beer can at Hobbs head and misses it 

Hobbs ends super flexing Wardlow at the hood of the car and tried do a power bomb. But Hobbs back dropped into the hood and windshield 

both men brawl all over backstage

Wardlow connected with a spine buster

Hobbs got back up and does a spine buster of his own 

round house lariat from Wardlow and goes for a cover for a near fall

Hobbs cameback with 3 spine buster in a row goes for a cover and Wardlow kicks out

Wardlow went to the floor again

Hobbs sets up a table 

Wardlow misted Hobbs with water in the face 

sets up Hobbs on the table from the outside and does a swanton bomb from the top rope onto hobbs

Wardlow hits a powerbomb on the ramp

Wardlow tires a powerbomb off the stage but was interrupted by QT Marshall 

Qt hits Wardlow with a chair repeatedly 

Marshall and Hobbs PowerBomb’s Wardlow off the ramp and onto the table 

Wardlow struggle to get to his feet and Hobbs is the new TNT champion 

Postive 

none

Negative

It was a fun match until Qt showed up. Look I get the whole long term story that Qt owed Hobbs a favor but can AEW at least get someone that is a legend or a another star to put over Hobbs? Qt “helping” Hobbs did not do Hobbs any favors.  Also the TNT title is worthless with the frequent title changes and it makes Wardlow look like a loser here, when he just won the title 72 hours ago. Wardlow’s booking has been really bad and he hasn’t been the same person since he won against MJF. I hate throwing this word around but Wardlow is definitely buried and I don’t think he can come back from this.

And please don’t get me started on that terrible power bomb finish

Overall Thoughts

I thought the overall show was ok, it definitely pushes the continue storylines and plants some new seeds into the road of Double or Nothing. I think AEW has created this narrative when they first started that every episode should be good to banger. But I understand that it doesn’t have to be this way because i know the road to the next PPV has just started 

[azianfreshness]

All Elite Wrestling Revolution 2023 Review

Chris Jericho vs Ricky Starks

Jerchio was beating up Ricky for most of the match

Starks countered a code breaker into a power bomb

Ricky tries the roshambo and a spear only for it to be countered into another code breaker in mid air, that was close to a near fall

Jerchio went to the top Rope but Ricky uses a spear only went to a two count

They meet in the middle of the ring blow for blow. Ricky went to the top rope and jumped but twerked his leg in the process. Jerchio took advantage of this and applied the walls of Jericho . Starks countered it to a single leg crab

Jericho tries to use his bat and he hits Ricky. Then Jericho tries to use the Judas effect

Ricky counters it and uses a roshambo for a pin fall

Positives

Thought this match was decent. Chris Jericho really put over Ricky by outsmarting him and for being the first person to counter the Judas effect in AEW. I think Chris Jericho did everything there is to do with Ricky and I hope we move on from this. I can see Ricky as MJF’s next opponent for the World title at maybe Double or nothing.

Negative

I felt their tv match was more better than this one. Also the stipulation of the match says “the JAS is banned from ringside”. But Sammy was waltzing to the ring like it’s no one’s business. If you are gonna apply an stipulation to a match. You got to be a man of your word.

Overall rating: 3/5

Christian Cage vs Jungle Boy burial match

Cage comes out with a tank top with a turtle neck

Jungle boy pours a beer on cage while fighting into the crowd

Jungle boy drags Cage to the steel stairs and tries to stomp on his hands. Only for Cage to move out of the way and swipes jungle boy legs under him. Jungle boy lands brutal on the stairs

Cage takes Jungle Boy’s belt and whips him in front of his mom and sister

Cage opens the casket and you can see a couple of chairs in there

Cage tries to use the kills switch on to the chair. Jungle boy counters it and sends Cage flying off the stage

Jungle boy uses a moonsault off the stage and onto Christian Cage

Cage tries to use a chair swung and miss and Jungle Boy uses a shovel to knock out the chair out of Cage’s hands

Jungle boy hits a snarl trap with a shovel into Cage’s mouth

Cage passes out then Jungle Boy does a con chair.

Jungle boy drags Cage’s lifeless body to the casket. Puts Cage’s body into the casket and Jungle Boy Kiss’s cage’s head

Jungle boy closes the casket and sends Cage back to the ground

Positives

This match was so fun to watch. Jungle boy really is becoming into his own and is showing why he is one of the four pillars of AEW. I can see him being world champion in the next three years if they build him up like this

I’ll admit I wasn’t a fan when Christian Cage first signed to AEW. But over time he has proved to be a tremendous hand in elevating the young talent and he is doing his best work so far

The sound of the casket going down sounded great and I hope they continue the tradition

Negatives

Christian Cage’s injury really derailed the momentum of this match

Overall rating

4/5

The Elite vs House of Black

Lots of knee attacks

Julia heart distracts Nick Jackson for a sleeper hold outside the apron by Brody king. The same hold he used on Darby Allen

Mat broke that up/ Kenny uses a V trigger and we get a series of snap dragon suplex’s

Julia Heart tries to distract the elite again. Omega tries to use a one wing Angel on Malakai. Malakai breaks out, Omega try’s another V trigger and accidentally took out Julia

Malakai uses a black mass. Nick bails out Omega because Malakai went for the cover

Bucks tries for a Meltzer driver but only for Buddy Mathews to hit him in mid air with a brutal knee

House of black hits a Dante Inferno and the House of black wins the trios title

Positives

thought the match was very fun and lived up to the hype because when AEW first started everyone wanted to see this match

House of black finally got gold!!!!

Negatives

I wasn’t a fan of the way they build this match. The elite playing basketball, lights going on and off. Also taking the titles off of the elite so soon after having a 7 game series match with death triangle made the trios titles less prestigious.

Overall rating 4/5

John Moxley vs Hangman Adam Page Texas death match

Hangman Adam Page comes out with a new entrance theme song (ghost riders in the sky)

Hangman jumps Moxley during his ring entrance

Moxley has Hangman in a triangle hold and Mox uses a fork and starts digging the fork into hangman’s wounds. Which was on his forehead

Mox sets up a barbwire chair in the corner that was wedge between the second and third rope

Hangman tries to charge into him but Mox moves out of the way only for hangman to dive head first into the barbwire chair

Mox takes two bricks puts hangman’s hands in between the bricks and Mox does a curve stomp.

Page wraps barbwire around his arm and does a series of rolling elbow strikes for a follow out slam onto the barbwire steel chair

Page uses a dead eye onto the chair and Mox gets up by 9

Page uses a sling shot dive into a barbwire table that was set up outside

Page & Mox are up on the top rope goes outside and sets up another barbwire board

Moxley gets back in the ring to beat the 10 count

Page hits a big lariat and a fired up one

Page tries a buck shot but Mox counters it into a death rider and a curve stomp onto the brick

Page sets up two bricks he tries to do a dead eye only for Mox to sink into a rear naked choke

Mox Hits a big mule kick, Mox charges hangman takes the bricks and hits him with it

Mox wraps a chain in his arm. Paige hits him with a buck shot lariat

Paige wraps the chain around Mox and throws Mox outside the ring and Moxley taps out

Positives

HARDCORE DEATH MATCHES RULE!!!!

I hope Hangman keeps his new theme song. In my opinion it’s better than his last one

Love the attention to detail when the commentators said this was the first time that someone made Moxley tapped out in his AEW career. Mox really put over the future of AEW. Mox and Hangman’s chemistry is unmatched

I feel like this match rivals the “lights out” match at Full Gear 2019

Negatives

NONE!

Overall rating

5/5

Wardlow vs Samoa Joe TNT championship

Wardlow hits a beautiful swanton bomb off the top rope

Joe avoided the lariat and got a clutch locked in but Wardlow got to the ropes

Wardlow hits Samoa Joe into the corner

Joe tries a power bomb sympathy but Wardlow escapes and uses a head bit and a clutch into his own

Joe got his hands dropped 3 times by the ref

Wardlow wins the TNT title

Positives

it was a decent match and I love the story of what the hair means to Wardlow

Negatives

This match had no business on PPV and was put on a death slot. Should of had it on tv instead. You can tell that the crowd was exhausted from the Texas death match and it showed. I feel bad for both Wardlow and Joe because I am a fan of them but this is not it

Also Tony put both Wardlow and Hobbs in a tight situation. Wardlow had a lot of start/stop momentum and he won the TNT championship again. On the other hand you have Hobbs who is white hot right now so you can just stop his momentum either. So I don’t know how Tony is gonna do this.

TNT title keeps changing hands to frequently and it’s worthless. Hasn’t been relevant since Miro’s reign

Overall rating

3/5

Gunn club vs Orange Cassidy/ Danhausen vs Jeff Jarrett/ Jay Lethal vs the Acclaimed AEW tag Team Championship

Positives

Thought it was a fun match. The Gunn club has grown on me.

Also Jeff Jarrett knows how to play his role

Orange Cassidy and Danhausen’s chemistry is really good

FTR RETURNS!!

Negatives

Think it was too soon for the Gunn Club to be tag champs. I would give them another year of so.

Not really fan of rematches because we have seen these teams go at it on tv already. They just added Orange Cassidy and Danhausen in the mix

Overall ratings

3/5

MJF vs Bryan Danielson 60 man iron man match AEW world heavyweight championship

First fall went to Bryan by doing a recycle knee

As soon Bryan got the win MJF did a low blow that was so vicious that got him two pin falls

Bryan does a spinning drop kick and does a figure four. Rope break by MJF

Both traded like drivers on the apron

MJF sets up Danielson on the table ring announcer table

MJF does a elbow drop from the top rope to outside the table

Mjf than hits a tomb stone on the table with MJF clutching his bad knee

Heat seeker by MJF and he goes up 3 falls to Bryan

Bryan hits MJF with a high cross body

Super flex to the head and that would bust open MJF

Bryan does a recycle knee onto the regal stretch and MJF taps out. That pin fall ties it we are up 3-3

MJF uses salt of the earth and Danielson counters it to a Lebell lock

MJF does an avalanche tombstone

Danielson applies a single leg crab and took it all the way to 0

It ends in a tie. Only for Tony Schiavone to go down the ramp and says he got word that Tony Khan said this match will go to a sudden death

During this time MJF is laying on the floor with an oxygen tank. While Danielson is laughing as he is doing jump jacks

Bryan uses a school boy roll up only for MJF counters it into his own

MJF tries to use a belt. The ref said go ahead and use it you are gonna get yourself DQ

The ref takes away the belt only for MJF to pull out the diamond ring out of his trunks

MJF tries to use it and misses

Danielson hits MJF with a poison rama and a recycle knee on him

Danielson uses a half crap on MJF

The ref notices the diamond ring is still on MJF’s finger so he took it away

MJF uses a rope break and Danielson thinks MJF taps out

MJF Rolls outside and pulls out the oxygen tank from under the ring

Bryan leans outside the ring only for MJF to hit him with the oxygen tank

MJF applies the LeBell Lock with an unconscious Bryan and Bryan taps out

MJF retains the AEW world championship

Positives

AEW produced one of the greatest iron man match’s of all time. If you still think MJF is only one dimensional and can only talk I don’t know what to tell you. He proved everyone wrong. MJF DQ himself with a low blow only for him to get his win back was a brilliant move. Not to mention MJF made Bryan Danielson tapped out in a Lebell lock! Also the storytelling of Bryan telling MJF “he won’t last 60 mins with him in the ring.” Only for MJF to take water breaks in between the match was a nice touch

Bryan Danielson doing multiple Iron Man matches when he was in Ring Of Honor told the story that he has one of the best stamina in wrestling today

Also him doing the “yes” chant while being held in a Lebell lock was a sight to see

Negatives

NONE!!!

Overall Rating

5/5

Overall thoughts

Despite the build to this PPV being bad I thought AEW hit a near perfect home run with this. It had awesome moments, storytelling was top notch and it was well paced. I like that this PPV only had 8 matches but I know this is only due to the 60 min iron man match. Hopefully Tony khan keeps it in this format because this is definitely the sweet spot for AEW. After the trios tag match I thought to myself there is no way a match can be THAT. Then we had the Texas Death Match and I was like “GOD DAMN!”. Then I said no match on the card can top that, then we had the main event happened and my soul left my body. It was so good.

This PPV right here reminded me why I am a wrestling fan in the first place and I haven’t felt THAT good about spending $50 on a show.

4/5 rating for me