AEW: Dynamite Review - April 5th, 2023

AEW Dynamite 

April 5th, 2023

Long Island, New York

AEW World Champion: MJF (since 11/19/22)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: The Gunn Club (since 2/8/23)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Jamie Hayter (since 11/19/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Powerhouse Hobbs (since 3/8/23)

AEW International Champion: Orange Cassidy (since 10/12/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, & Taz

1) Juice Robinson vs. Ricky Starks

I’m gonna be completely honest, I saw that this was up first and continued working on some music, only to turn around and see Jay White in the damn ring helping Juice assault Starks. Everyone knows I’m drained on anything Bullet Club related and Juice in AEW does nothing for me, and I’m top of that I’m not necessarily a massive Jay White fan. HOWEVER, a surprise Jay White debut instead of a 12 minute Juice match on dynamite? I’ll get riled up over that. Awesome, unique way to start the show that definitely breaks the formula that AEW normally uses. Jay & Juice too sweet and commentators are openly referring to this as Bullet Club which is interesting to me considering White is no longer under contract to NJPW and neither is Juice.

Backstage, Chris Jericho has an interview about Adam Cole. Keith Lee walks up and says he’s had battles with Adam Cole in the past, but he has respect for him. Jericho doesn’t and he challenges him to a match next week to teach him a lesson in respect. 

2) House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, & Buddy Matthews) (c) (w/ Julia Hart) vs. Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, & Trent?) - AEW Trios Title Match 

Decent little match here. They don’t run too long and we get signature OC/Best Friends stuff which Dynamite wouldn’t feel the same without. These two teams on paper are the perfect foil for one another gimmick wise. In ring, it’s fine. They run through stuff, the best part for me is Brody King. The way they built toward Trent hitting a piledriver on him was great. Buddy pins Chuck in the end to retain.

Match rating - **3/4

In a pre-tape, Christian Cage is staring at us as Luchasaurus walks up out of some smoke with some crazy new mask on.

3) Jamie Hayter (c) (w/ Britt Baker) vs. Riho - AEW Women’s World Championship Match

This will always be a great match. Jamie is the best women’s wrestler in the world and Riho is the Rey Mysterio of AEW. Everyone loves her and she’s phenomenal fighting from underneath, especially against a brute like Jamie. It was a little tough because both women are babyface now, but it was still a very good back & forth match and easily the best match on this show. Jamie retains after a couple of ripcord lariats. 

Match rating - ***1/2

The Outcasts are backstage after Jamie’s celebration. Ruby Soho says that she better not get too comfortable with that title because one of the three is coming for it soon. Saraya plugs their shirt and Renee sends it back to the ring. 

BACK ON THE STAGE AND MATT MENARD & ANGELO PARKER ARE HERE. After we find out what makes Daddy Magic’s nipples hard, The Acclaimed interrupts. Amazing reaction for them. Ang & Menard are still trying to get The Acclaimed to join JAS so they got them an 8 man tag together for Rampage. They do the scissor me bit and yeahhhh! 

It’s MJF DAY. They show clips of him earlier in the day getting the key to Long Island. We cut back to the arena and MJF comes out and does a full fledged performance with a band backing him. I thought we were gonna get out easy and only get singing from him instead of a long winded promo, but I was wrong. The singing was lowkey so much better. He tells a story about some teacher who doubted his wrestling dream and calls her a stupid bitch. He says any kid out there watching should know they can do anything in life if they work hard, but the one thing no one can do is be MJF. On his way back up the ramp, Jungle Boy is disguised as a member of the band. He attacks MJF and they get pulled apart as Sammy Guevara comes out for the next match.

4) Sammy Guevara vs. Komander 

Guevara poses with MJF’s World Championship at the top of the ramp before coming to the ring. He’s coming off a victory over Konosuke Takeshita on Rampage. An unfortunate occurrence followed by another unfortunate occurrence here as he defeats Komander in a match that was very much a Sammy match. They do stuff, most of it doesn’t make sense, but Komander isn’t able to fully go off so it’s less fun than most of his matches as this is more about him bumping around for Guevara. Darby Allin is in the rafters looking on and the cameras show him. They’re hyping up this pillars four way very well, even though I’m not sold on it as a PPV main event level match. Guevara wins with his finisher thing. 

Match rating - **1/2 

4) HOOK vs. Ethan Page (w/ Matt Hardy) - FTW Title Match

HOOK is HOOK and is cool. He retains in under two minutes and for some reason they are running this back again on Rampage on Friday. 

Backstage or in a pre-tape, Nigel McGuinness & Tony Khan with some help from Adam Cole announce the return of All In with AEW’s debut in the UK at WEMBLEY FUCKING STADIUM ON AUGUST 27th. Unbelievable. 

5) Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler Yuta (w/ Bryan Danielson) vs. SOME JOBBERS

Minute or so long squash and it rocks. BCC stands tall and Danielson cuts a promo on why he realigned with BCC and how much he loves each of his stablemates.. even Yuta who is in his words “a little shit” .. Danielson goes on to say there are no other real professionals in AEW and no other real wrestlers in the building besides them. HANGMAN PAGE COMES DOWN TO CHALLENGE THIS AND GOES RIGHT INTO THE FIRING SQUAD. Mox, Claudio, & Yuta beat him down. Danielson screams that he’s an amateur. Danielson says he has no friends and is not a pro wrestler. God damn this rules. Danielson then pulls out a screwdriver and jams it into the face/eye of Page. Crazy ass segment and this heel BCC run continues to deliver. 

6) The Gunn Club (c) vs. FTR - AEW World Tag Team Title Match 

This was just a bad.. bad match. Thank god the Gunn’s title reign is over and thank god FTR finally has those titles back, but good grief, this sucked. FTR gave them way more than they deserved. I was unable to bite on any of the nearfalls. It just felt clunky and full of good ideas with bad, not smooth execution. Whatever. It’s over. FTR wins like we all hoped and assumed. Get the Gunn’s off my tv for the next.. however long. FTR celebrates to close the show and are joined by Mark Briscoe <3

Match rating - *3/4

AEW: Dynamite - Fight For the Fallen Review - July 27th, 2022

AEW Dynamite 

Fight for the Fallen 2022

July 27th, 2022

Worcester, MA

AEW World Champion: CM Punk (since 5/29/22)

AEW Interim World Champion: Jon Moxley (since 6/26/22)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee (since 7/13/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Wardlow (since 7/6/22)

1) Jon Moxley (c) vs. RUSH - AEW World Championship Match 

Listen, firstly, I’m not calling Mox the interim World champ because that’s just short selling this run he’s having. Rush had an insane match with Dragon Lee this past weekend and that was enough to get me hyped for this considering how killer Mox is right now. We get the best Mox entrance in recent memory as he comes out super fired up and throwing bottles in the crowd. This match couldn’t have happened at a more perfect moment in time. Rush gets the jump on Moxley early and we see blood from the forehead of the champion just minutes into this. This was a great brawl that fell into the vein of Moxley’s style of match while also leaning into Rush’s brawling side which truthfully isn’t very far off from Moxley’s in a way if you look at some Rush’s past grudge matches and such. This just rocked. Stiff strikes, suplexes, nearfalls and some blood. Everything you expect from 2022 Mox and nothing less. Everything you’d want from Rush after his barnburner with his brother last weekend. Andrade tried to run down to interfere, but the Lucha Bros made the save and ran them off which added some drama to the final stretch. Mox retains off of a paradigm shift. 

Match rating - ***3/4

Random Match Review: Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) - AEW: Dynamite - July 20th, 2022

Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) - AEW Dynamite - July 20th, 2022

This probably comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me, but I loved this match. I don’t think I loved it solely because of bias, though. I think I tend to be pretty fair in my analysis of most things and when I am being biased, I can call myself out for it and own it. 

Sure, I love Chuck Taylor more than most. Yes, Jon Moxley is my undoubted Wrestler of the Year so far and has me glued to the screen any time he’s on. And yes, Wheeler Yuta has been a consistent favorite of mine this year as well. 

Take all of that away, though, and I think you still have one of the best TV matches of the year. In all honesty, I think it may go down as one of the most underrated ones considering some of the takes I’ve seen on it. 

Random Match Review: Jon Moxley vs. Konsosuke Takeshita - AEW: Dynamite - July 13th, 2022

I don't do these often. That's mainly probably because I'm super OCD about reviewing shows in full. Lately, however, I just have not had the time or motivation to fully sit down and analyze all the shows I've been watching. That leads us here.

This week on Dynamite, we got possibly the best in-ring action overall of any week in recent memory. So much so that I woke up the next morning and couldn't stop thinking about two matches in particular with this being one of them.

When this was announced, everyone was ecstatic including myself. DDT’s ace Takeshita is in the midst of his US excursion where he’s had bangers against everyone he’s faced inside and outside of AEW from Hangman Page to Mike Bailey. Then, you have Jon Moxley. The undoubted wrestler of the year so far and not to jinx it or spoil my year end awards, but I don’t see ANYONE knocking him from that spot. This match and the circumstances around it are good reason as to why, too. 

The last calendar month of Mox boast a great, gritty GCW Title defense against Tony Deppen on 6/17, a bloody battle with Tanahashi to win the AEW Title on 6/26, the crazy ass Blood & Guts match on 6/29, a slugfest with Brody King on 7/6 and after ALL OF THAT, Mox sees Takeshita having a killer match with Eddie Kingston on Rampage and says YO LET ME FIGHT HIM NEXT WEEK. A maniac. A pro wrestler’s pro wrestler. A fighter. 

This turns out to be everything expected of it and more. Some could say Mox matches in 2022 are very similar.. or at-least have similar traits. Blood, suplexes, head drops, stiff strikes and chops. You wouldn’t be wrong, but they don’t come off as a routine to me, they come off as a fight. Mox wants to wrestle and he goes into these matches completely unhinged with this match being no different. 

This is snug and focused from Mox and truthfully we see more fire from Takeshita than we have yet in AEW. I would’ve liked to seen more fire, but that’s a minor note. Takeshita gets color during the commercial break and as someone who has watched a lot of Takeshita’s stuff back in Japan, I can never recall him bleeding so although I could he wrong, this is definitely a rare occurrence and something I did not anticipate here. It definitely added some urgency to things and some additional sympathy that Takeshita’s matches with Hanger and King didn’t have. 

This was definitely a Jon Moxley match, but he let Takeshita go the fuck off and counter a ton of his stuff which gave us some awesome nearfalls. These two really just threw fucking bombs and I’d love another match between the two or a match between Takeshita and Claudio because this definitely pushed Takeshita a level further in the eyes of the AEW fan base. Just fantastic, pro wrestling and another notch on the belt of both these guys’ monumental years. I could see this being an amazing AEW Title match 3-4 years in the future with the roles being reversed if AEW wants to take it there. Takeshita has IT and they need to do whatever they can to keep him coming back regularly and use him accordingly. 

Match rating - ****1/4

AEW: Dynamite Review - May 18th, 2022

AEW Dynamite - WILDCARD WEDNESDAY 

May 18th, 2022

Houston, Texas 

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 4/27/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

1) Samoa Joe vs. Johnny Elite - Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Match 

The show opens with Samoa Joe against a mystery joker opponent. The ROH TV Champ enters with his title and awaits the rival of the joker which turns out to be the former John Morrison/Johnny Nitro/Johnny Mundo. This was a letdown for some. I admittedly wanted Claudio Castagnoli, but I will accept this rather than it being someone like Johnny Gargano. There’s been enough bland NXT people joining the team.. so a one off from Morrison? I’m fine with that. The match is fun as well. So no complaints from me. Is it great? Nah! But is it good? Yes. It felt like a match from 2014-2015 Raw that would be getting rave reviews under that platform. But here in AEW, the bar is so high. I’m just glad it wasn’t a melodramatic NXT/Adam Cole style match. It had close falls and big spots, but they didn’t go anywhere near overboard and as a result, I enjoyed the hell out of it. A Joe prolonged squash would’ve also satisfied me just as much, but it won’t complain at all about whag we got because it could’ve been MUCH worse and I enjoyed this more than a lot of recent matches that have made Dynamite. It’s not FTR/Bucks obviously and it’s nowhere near Punk/Dustin even.. but it beats a lot of other stuff. Joe wins to advance to the semi finals. 

Match rating - ***1/4

After the match, Joe is immediately jumped by Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. Satnam Singh begins walking down the ramp as well. Thankfully THE BOYS are in the building. Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, & Rocky Romero hit the ring with chairs to run off the bastards.

AEW: Dynamite Review - May 4th, 2022

AEW Dynamite

May 4th, 2022

Baltimore, Maryland

 AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 4/27/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

Adam Cole opens the show to a massive pop to join commentary for the opening match.

1) Jeff Hardy (w/ Matt Hardy) vs. Bobby Fish (w/ Kyle O’Reilly) - Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier 

Yeah this suuuucked. Not like offensively bad.. but not anywhere near good. Crowd was hot! And it was cool seeing Jeff in singles action. That’s about it though. Jeff took a falcon arrow which was nutty. Swanton bomb ends it and Jeff advances thank the lord. I’m dying to see Jeff/Darby in the tournament itself. 

Match rating - ** 

THEY AIR THE EPIC LEGENDARY REGAL BCC PROMO FROM “ROAD TO” IN ROUTE TO OUR NEXT MATCH 

2) Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, & Wheeler Yuta vs. Angelico, The Butcher, & The Blade 

NOW WE GET SOME GOOD SHIT. Butch & Blade deserve this match even though the outcome is obvious. Angelico is making TV for the first time in forever which is cool. The Andrade office boys jump BCC during Moxley’s entrance. They end up isolating Yuta and Yuta hits an awesome german on Butcher during his comeback. Moxley gets the hot tag and Jesus Christ man.. the dude just rules. He kicks Blade’s ass all around ringside and flips a table over. It’s not long before we are in the classic BCC finishing sequence with them locking every member in for the elbows followed by submissions for the win. 

Match rating - ***

Backstage, Jurassic Express accepts Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs’ tag title challenge. BUT Jungle Boy wants Starks for the FTW Title next week first. 

AEW: Rampage Review - April 15th, 2022

AEW Rampage 

April 15th, 2022

Garland, Texas

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 3/9/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Taz, Ricky Starks & William Regal

ITS A LIVE 7PM EDITION OF RAMPAGE

1) Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, & Wheeler Yuta) (w/ William Regal) vs. The Gunn Club (Billy, Austin, & Colten Gunn) 

AEW: Rampage Review - April 8th, 2022

AEW Rampage 

April 8th, 2022 

Boston, MA

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 3/9/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

1) Bryan Danielson vs. Trent Beretta 

William Regal joined commentary for this one. Loud, strong “you’re gonna get your fucking head kicked in” chants to start. The strongest since Danielson debuted in AEW which is sick. Good wrestling for the first few minutes with Danielson targeting Trent’s neck. A sick saito suplex on the floor from Trent to Danielson sends us to break. Trent fights from under after the break with a super plex and a release german for a nearfall. Danielson fires back with a shoulder capture suplex for a two count. They run back and forth with big moves for the final few minutes. Danielson hits the running knee and stomps Trent’s head in before wrenching back on his head and twisting it for the referee stoppage. Another dominant performance from Danielson and Trent put in a super solid singles effort as he always does when given the chance. 

Match rating - ***1/2

Backstage, HOOK is approached for an interview again. He still has nothing to say and goes to leave the room when Danhausen pops out of the trash can. Hausen eats the chips that Hook tossed in the can and says “maybe this is where he gets his powers” LMAO. 

2) Swerve Strickland vs. QT Marshall 

This was a throwaway match. It’s nice seeing Swerve, but there isn’t much to write home about. An easy way to get him on the show and put him over a name who’s been around since the start of AEW, but I barely even paid this any attention. Swerve wins and yeah. 

Match rating - *3/4

At some point around this time, Excalibur runs down matches for Dynamite next week and CASUALLY announces Samoa Joe challenging Minoru Suzuki for the ROH TV Title. WHAT THE FUCK. Dream match any day of the week and I cannot fucking wait. 

3) Willow Nightingale vs. Red Velvet - Women’s Owen Hart Memorial Cup Qualifier 

Willow tried. Red Velvet should not have won this, and the match itself even told that story. Nightingale is clearly the better competitor and was the only thing that held this match together. Unfortunately, Velvet wins and gets an undeserving spot in the women’s portion of the Owen cup. A much more enjoyable story would’ve been Willow getting the shocking victory and tournament entry despite not being signed and then using this big loss to run a rehabilitating Red Velvet story if you insist on keeping her on TV. This was predictable and not in a good way. Great effort and performance from Willow, though. 

Match rating - **1/4

4) Jon Moxley vs. Wheeler Yuta 

Wow… I’m almost just at a loss for words. The greatest match in the short history of Rampage and one of the best matches in the history of AEW. And the fact that it was filmed on the same night as FTR/Bucks is just insane. A true testament to how special the run AEW is on is. This is a story that began developing before our eyes long before we even realized it. This is the third match between Mox and Yuta. The first two were fine, but it wasn’t until the last few weeks and this match in particular, that the full story came together right in front of us. Moxley absolutely pummels Yuta and Yuta refuses to die. Amazing facial expressions, his blade job was awesome— who knew Yuta was a grade a gusher? This just checked all the boxes. The blood and fire from Yuta was enough, then they threw in some crazy false finishes at the end. Yuta kicked out of TWO paradigm shift’s which I don’t think anyone ever expected. The crowd was biting on every single bit of this and I was too. In an era where AEW has been around a few years and a small bit of the luster from their first crop of top stars is beginning to wear off, a new breed has began to rise and Yuta is the first to ascend to that new level. This match will be remembered for years and years to come. After the match, we get an equally phenomenal moment as William Regal & Bryan Danielson come to the ring. After a staredown and Yuta asking for more as he still gushes blood, Regal shakes his hand. Yuta uses his own blood to write BCC on his chest and when the show goes off air, Danielson attaches the ROH Pure Title around his waist.. TALK ABOUT THE TORCH BEING PASSED HOLY FUCK WHAT A MOMENT. As the show goes off air, Mox tells Yuta “now the real work begins”.. my god. This was epic. 

Match rating - ****3/4

AEW: Dynamite Review - April 6th, 2022

AEW Dynamite 

April 6th, 2022

Boston, MA

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 3/9/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

Pyro blows off and the crowd goes nuts. We are live, motherfuckers. 

1) Adam Cole vs. Christian Cage

First time ever meeting here. Christian seems to keep Cole from having too much of a case of NXT brain as his bad habits don’t take the forefront like the Lethal match did the other week. It felt like a 2013 Christian TV match which is not at all a bad thing. If anything, it was nostalgic. But even better because this crowd was hot as fuck. So, yeah. They work a good pace then hit some big nearfalls near the end that the crowd loses their shit for completely. In the end, Cole wins and I’ll let Tony tell the rest..

Match rating - ***

“The termites are out.” -Tony Schiavone 

After the match, ReDragon runs down to attack Christian. Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus hit the ring to a huge pop to make the save. Hangman Page ends up coming out once everyone clears out to try and get his hands on Cole AND IT FUCKING RULES. He smushes Cole in the face and they go nose to nose. Page says if Cole wants a title match, he will get it on a live Rampage next week in Texas in a.. TEXAS DEATHMATCH. FUCKKK. Hanger just loves to bleed, man. I swear. This segment felt huge though. Hangman really continues to dig his teeth into his run as THE guy and he’s killing it. 

2) Samoa Joe vs. Max Caster (w/ Anthony Bowens)

AEW: Dynamite Review - March 23rd, 2022

AEW Dynamite

March 23rd, 2022

Austin, Texas 

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 3/9/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone

1) CM Punk vs. Dax Harwood 

These two having this match to open the show is so refreshing. Everyone jokes about it being a Bret Hart tribute match, but that just makes me love it even more. This is Punk’s first match and appearance since the classic dog collar match at Revolution a few weeks ago. I’m a massive fan of the Punk/FTR pairing so I was immediately glued to this and they made me love it even more once things got going. Just classic, traditional pro wrestling with no frills or flashy things. They throw some nice counters in down the stretch including an awesome GTS counter from Dax. This rocked. Punk wins after quite the back & forth. 

Match rating - ***3/4

Backstage, the Jericho Appreciation Society is here. Jericho stumbles through a promo about Silver & Reynolds. Garcia & 2.0 crush their lines. Hager stands there looking dumb. They point out that they ran off Santana, Ortiz, & Eddie Kingston as we haven’t seen them in recent weeks. Guess that means we might get a run-in tonight! 

2) Darby Allin, Sting, Jeff Hardy, & Matt Hardy vs. Private Party, The Butcher, & The Blade 

AEW: Dynamite Review - March 9th, 2022

AEW Dynamite 

March 9th, 2022

Fort Myers, Florida

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Britt Baker (since 5/30/21)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Sammy Guevara (since 1/26/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

Chris Jericho begins the show with his thoughts on Eddie Kingston after his loss to him on Sunday at Revolution. Jericho looks young and sympathetic for once tonight.. I don’t know what he did differently. But yeah, he says he wants Eddie to come out so he can shake his hand because he respects the hell out of him for giving him one of the best matches of entire his career. Eddie comes out and says before they say anything, he wants it to be clear that he didn’t go into the match Sunday with anyone in mind, but the 4 people he met at Fan Fest the day before that said his players tribune interview saved their life. King said he didn’t want to shake Jericho’s hand on Sunday for him, he put his hand out for Jericho because he knows there’s something missing in there that caused him not to shake his hand. Jericho says he really just wants to thank and show respect to Eddie so they shake hands. 2.0 & Daniel Garcia run down and attack them both, but mainly Eddie. Santana & Ortiz run down for the save and JERICHO TURNS ON THEM AND BEAT THEM WITH A BAT. Some stuff shots in there too. This kinda fucking rules. Jake Hager is out next, he teases dissension with Jericho only to plow over Santana & Ortiz and maintain his alignment with Jericho. Hager power bombs Kingston off the apron through a table and it is NASTY. Hager, Jericho, 2.0 & Garcia do the Inner Circle middle finger pose. This angle fucking ruled and of course Jericho gives this new group a corny ass name.. “the Jericho appreciation society” … ima just pretend that part didn’t happen because otherwise this was awesome. Just call it Inner Circle 2.0 or something, dammit. 

A video package airs on CM Punk’s victory over MJF at Revolution. Punk says if people thought they wanted the old Punk back, they should think again. 

1) “Hangman” Adam Page (c) vs. Dante Martin - AEW World Championship Match 

AEW: Revolution 2022 Review - March 6th, 2022

AEW Revolution 

Match 6th, 2022

Orlando, Florida

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Britt Baker (since 5/30/21)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Sammy Guevara (since 1/26/22)

Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone 

Last night, I had a bunch of friends over for what turned out to be one of the greatest wrestling PPV’s of all time. LETS GET INTO IT. 

Pre-Show / THE BUY IN: 

1) Kris Statlander vs. Leyla Hirsch 

I’m very glad these women got this chance. Although the feud has come off as a back burner thing, I’m thankful AEW has tried to put in effort and keep it going. PLUS, the ladies have killed it, even in the promo pre-tapes. I complain a lot about the booking of the women’s division, but this show has three women’s matches in total so that’s a step forward. Plus, this one doesn’t even involve a total. So, yes, very promising. And to no ones surprise, or not mine at least, this roooocks. Lots of good grappling early on. Leyla goes after the arm of Stat and sticks with it. Leyla is really and truly SOOO good. Stat sells it well. They stick with the story and hit some sick spots. Including some crazy ones on the apron and floor. In the end, even with the awesome limb work, Leyla can’t put Kris away so she resorts to using a turnbuckle bar from under the ring when the ref was distracted. This doesn’t get her the win immediately, but it leads her to it. I liked this match, a lot. I think both women came out of this looking better than they did going in as we got to see their roles & characters accentuated with how the match was booked. 

Match rating - ***

2) HOOK vs. QT Marshall 

AEW: Rampage Review - February 4th, 2022

AEW Rampage

February 4th, 2022

Chicago, Illinois 

AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)

AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)

AEW Women’s World Champion: Britt Baker (since 5/30/21)

AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)

AEW TNT Champion: Sammy Guevara (since 1/26/22)

Commentators: Excalibur, Chris Jericho, Taz, & Ricky Starks 

1) Adam Cole vs. Evil Uno 

Uno gets the jobber entrance :/ aka no entrance. But WHATEVER. We know he’s a king. This doesn’t go long at all, though and he doesn’t look so good as a result. That sucks. This was basically just Cole hitting all his stuff on Uno and winning in less than 2-3 minutes. 

Match rating - *3/4

AEW: Dynamite Review - January 12th, 2022

AEW Dynamite

January 12th, 2022

Raleigh, North Carolina

Commentators: Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone

The show opens with Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, & Bobby Fish making their way to the ring. Cole says 2021 was a good year for he and the boys, but 2022 will be even bigger. He reminds everyone that he is undefeated in AEW and that the boys are here. Cole says this is a new era in AEW. The Young Bucks come out and remind O’Reilly & Fish that this is their company and they’re the longest reigning tag team champions in company history and their 2022 resolution? To get the belts back. O’Reilly says he & Fish have the same resolution. Cole breaks this up before it gets too intense and says he’s all for some friendly competition and that’s what makes them the best “stable” in AEW unlike a group like the Best Friends who—- CUE BEST FRIENDS. LETS GO BABY. CHUCKIE ORANGE GREG AND YUTA!!!! Cole asks Orange what is one thing he has to say that means anything and ORANGE SPEARS DOWN COLE AND A BRAWL BREAKS OUT YES!! Yes!!! This rules. The SuperKliq/UE crew lays everyone out. Kris Statlander shows up and goes face to face with Cole AND OUT COMES BRITT BAKER!!! BRITT CURBSTOMPS KRIS AND KISSES HER REAL LIFE BOYFRIEND ADAM COLE. Beautiful, just beautiful. Been waiting on Cole & Britt to finally be together on screen. At points, I wondered if it would even happen, well, it has and it’s just as perfect as I anticipated. This Best Friends/Superkliq feud seems to have regained a fire it didn’t have coming off that terrible trios match to close out the last Dynamite of 2021. 

1) CM Punk vs. Wardlow (w/ MJF)

AEW: Dynamite - New Years Smash Review - December 29th, 2021

AEW: Dynamite 

December 29th, 2021

Jacksonville, Florida - Dailys Place

Commentary - Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, & Jim Ross

The final show of 2021, the final episode on TNT, the return of Jim Ross, and the final show produced by Keith Mitchell. It’s a big one tonight, folks. Let’s dive in! 

The show begins with Jim Ross making his triumphant return to the commentary booth after beating cancer. Welcome back, Jim! JR’s first words are ITS WEDNESDAY AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. 

1) Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, Christian Cage, Penta El Zero Miedo, & Rey Fenix vs. FTR, Matt Hardy, & Private Party 

AEW: Rampage Review - December 17th, 2021

AEW Rampage

December 17th, 2021

Garland, Texas 

Commentators - Excalibur, Taz, & Ricky Starks

1) Adam Cole, The Young Bucks, & Bobby Fish vs. Chuck Taylor, Trent, Orange Cassidy, & Rocky Romero 

I love love love love trios and atomicos matches so hell yeah on this happening. Lots of different stories and issues foiled into this one little match. Rocky & Fish hooking up was cool, but the best part early was Orange hitting his flurry on Cole, the place coming unglued and The Elite/Superkliq nailing him with a gang attack during the middle of it. Good ass shit. This begins a small heat segment with Orange being the face in peril. Naturally.. good shit. Trent gets the hot tag and we get some tandem moves from him & Chuck that we haven’t seen in a while like the soul food-half & half combo. Not to mention, some RPG Vice shit from Trent & Rocky. Shit breaks down from here. Some good near falls between Fish & Trent. The Bucks go nuts and Orange gets his shit in before Trent pins Fish with the CRUNCHIE. This was a blast. 

Match rating - ***1/4

We return from commercial and Dan Lambert is in the ring. He’s with Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky per usual. He lays into Tony Khan saying he’s began playing politics and doing everything he promised initially that he wouldn’t. He goes after Cody next and Cody comes out. He snatches the mic from Lambert so Lambert snatches it back. They do this over and over before Cody gets pissed and a brawl breaks out. Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara make the save for Cody when the numbers get to him. Sammy shares an awkward stare at Cody & Dustin after the heels leave the ring. Sammy and Cody face for the TNT Title this coming Wednesday on Dynamite. 

2) Tay Conti (w/ Anna Jay) vs. Penelope Ford (w/ The Bunny) - Submission Match

This was ok. It didn’t get much time to develop into a lot, but what they did was solid. Tay looked awesome as always as of late. From her selling to her offense, everything from her ruled. She wins after a couple minutes and yeah. That’s all for this one.

Match rating - **1/4

The card for next week’s Dynamite is announced and is as follows: 

Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy 

Malakai Black vs. Griff Garrison

Christmas Party w/ Britt Baker & Tony Schiavone 

FTR/MJF vs. Darby/Sting/Punk 

PLUS Rampage next week will feature HOOK facing Bear Bronson and Cody Rhodes challenging Sammy Guevara for the TNT Title. 

3) Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero Miedo, Rey Fenix, Santana, & Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia, 2.0, & The Acclaimed 

Eh. This was kind of a cluster fuck. As I honestly pretty much expected. There was no need for the Lucha Bros or The Acclaimed to be here, if you wanted them involved just throw it on Dark. For TV, this would’ve been much more effective as a trios match with King & Lucha Bros vs. Dan & 2.0 instead we get unnecessary filler and the only truly great bits are from Dan & King although Santana & Ortiz and 2.0 did do some fun stuff also. Dan Garcia gets the flash roll up on King to win. 

Match rating - **1/2

Heels beat down the faces after the match. Jungle Boy, Christian Cage, & Luchasaurus make the awesome save. JB & Lucha stare down the Lucha Bros teasing the tag title match that we are expecting to get soon. This closes the show. 

After the show went off air, I went live on YouTube with Mike, Courtland, and Zach to give our immediate thoughts PLUS Mike opens a pro wrestling crate package live to kick off the stream! Check it out below:  

Thanks for reading and watching. See y’all next week <3

AEW: Dynamite (WINTER IS COMING 2021) Review - December 15th, 2021

AEW: Dynamite

Garland, TX

December 15th, 2021

Commentators - Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, & Taz

1) “Hangman” Adam Page (c) vs. Bryan Danielson - AEW World Title Match 

I’m having to take a deep breath before writing this. How to even tackle covering a spectacle such as this? What do I even rate this? It’s hard to think when you just took one of the most insane rollercoaster rides in recent wrestling memory. I guess I’ll start at the beginning, when this popped up as the opener for the show, I literally rose to my feet. An immediate sign that my investment in this match was even more than I anticipated. To begin, they work a very slow and deliberate pace. A pace similar to the Page/Omega match at Full Gear, but despite that moment undoubtedly being the most fulfilling of the year, as a match this built to so much more. The first 30 minutes flew by. Danielson works the legs, but mainly targets the mid section of Hangman. Page going for and missing moonsaults only added to the emphasis Dragon put on the mid section. Things begin picking up around 25-30 minutes in and just when I thought we were going toward a finishing run, a scuffle on the outside leads to Page getting split open by a post shot reminiscent of how Danielson busted Nigel McGuinness open back in one of their epic Ring of Honor clashes. What a callback to show the state that Dragon is in and what a moment to place perfectly right in the middle of this match. It gave us the break we needed to almost reset how this match was going to go. My Up & Over Podcast and friend/contributor to the blog, Mike, watches on FITE and says this came off a lot more awkward for him considering he had no commercials and it felt like a lot of stalling during some of the breaks. This is something I can’t comment on due to watching on regular TV with commercials, BUT something to consider and re-watch. None the less, I loved where we went from here. The first half of this was pure wrestling and the match was fine in that realm because Danielson is fantastic at the little things like accentuating how lightly he takes Page. Shit, he spent the first ten minutes basically playing with him. But yeah, the final 30 of this match saw it grow from a match to a fight with the blood of Hangman really sending this to the next level as Danielson threw closed fists into the head causing the blood to gush further, especially when he boots his head against the turnbuckle at one point and the camera got the PERFECT shot of it, too. By the time, the final quarter rolls around, we are in the midst of a barnburner. Page has clearly been outwrestled by Danielson and all of his normal moves and tricks have not worked. Danielson has weakened the arm for the buckshot, he’s went to work on the mid section and weakened his stamina, something that was only furthered by missed moonsaults and a dive to the outside through a table. And most of all, Danielson has beaten up the champion with no remorse. However, what holds all of this together is the same reason I think people love Hangman so much. His will, his determination and his desire to remain our champion. This makes the desperation finishing run from him so fucking epic. From the moment he finally nails Danielson with a lariat despite all the work on the arm and the pain coursing through it to the struggle on the mat as Danielson tried to hold Page in the labelle lock long enough for a submission win, this was breathtaking. Some don’t like the idea of Page’s first defense being a draw, but I do. We are seeing Hangman Page grow, yet again, and become one of the best wrestlers in the world. He’s already the sympathetic babyface, but with matches like this, he’s gonna become so much more. What a performance. This one will be talked about for decades to come. They had myself and the crowd glued to the action from bell to bell and that is an astonishing feat for TV wrestling in 2021. Unbelievable. So, yeah, this rating may change as I need to watch it with fresh eyes and I'm doing my best of 2021 re-watch soon, but for now it sits at 4.75.

Match rating - ****3/4

Backstage, Super Kliq & Bobby Fish are here. Adam Cole has a gift for them next week… hmmm.. 

2) Wardlow (w/ Shawn Spears) vs. Matt Sydal

Wardlow squash YEAH BABY. Shawn Spears tells him to finish it after one powerbomb but Wardlow likes to do more. Spears then says MJF called him and he needs Wardlow to go get him champagne for his celebration later after he wins the main event.. I sense this Wardlow turn starting to build. 

Match rating - *3/4

Tay Conti / Penelope Ford pre-tape promo airs. Great job by both. They clash in a submission match on Friday on Rampage.  

Malakai Black pre-tape and I loved this one. I’m hit or miss on him and these videos, but this one was a cool and he seemingly teased Brody King as he crowned a new member.. the first member of the House of Black and whispered in his ear.. “Now you’re so much more than a king.” 

3) Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb

Hey! Hell yea! Crowd is burnt which is unfortunate for these ladies, but they worked their asses off and were able to get the audience into it by the end. Shida has been showing a lot more aggression lately and did so here as she threw her kendo stick at Deeb before the bell. Shida charges Deeb and this felt like a real fight from the jump. They work a really good match that benefits from all the backstory between them. Part of me wishes they had a better crowd for it, but truthfully, this women’s division is still in the building stages and I doubt this would’ve gotten THAT much more of a reaction in front of a fresh crowd. However, little bangers like this definitely help build that investment, I think. 

Match rating - ***1/4

Griff Garrison says he will bring the fight to Malakai Black. He & Pillman Jr argue because Pillman thinks he shouldn’t pick this fight. Griff insists though and says next week.. he will break Malakai’s jaw. 

4) MJF vs. Dante Martin - Dynamite Diamond Match

Another fantastic showing from Dante in a big match scenario. He hasn’t missed at all this year and didn’t here. MJF did his thing as usual, but when Dante is in the ring in the year 2021, it’s gonna be hard to do something to top him and take the spotlight off him. His comeback here rocked as he hit so much insane shit and it was just a blast as always because he’s such a fresh, unique flyer. Of course, he falls to a screwy finish and MJF wins the Diamond for the third year in a row. 

Match rating - ***

After the match, FTR & MJF beat down Dante. The lights go out and ITS STIIIING and Darby Allin. This still isn’t enough backup and the crowd starts chanting for CM Punk and that’s exactly what they get! Awesome save from Punk in a PRO CHOICE SHIRT IN TEXAS !!! Yes !!! But yeah! This sets up the big trios main event for Greensboro next week in the form of Punk/Darby/Sting vs. FTR & MJF. I can’t think of a more perfect main event for that show! Goodnight y’all. 

Also, if you missed it, we did a live recap and review stream of this show after it went off air, check it out below and make sure to subscribe to the Pro Wrestling Truth YouTube channel:

AEW: Rampage Review - December 10th, 2021

AEW: Rampage 

Long Island, New York 

December 10th, 2021 

Commentary - Excalibur & Taz

They seem to be rushing into things production wise as we head straight to the ring as Excalibur is talking 1,000mph. 

1) Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix) (c) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) - AEW World Tag Team Title Match 

I’ve not been the biggest fan of this feud, and subsequently, I never look forward to their matches. I think it’s because of how much I didn’t enjoy the Full Gear match, but every match after has ruled. This was no exception and is definitely my favorite match of the entire Death Triangle/FTR feud. It was so much better paced than the Full Gear match and the false finishes were placed perfectly to the point that they felt super believable. There were some rough patches of miscommunication, but the flow of things was so much better than their prior match at Full Gear that I can’t help but still rate it higher because they actually had me completely invested in this one. Penta & Fenix retain after a thrilling match. 

Match rating - ***1/2

2) Ruby Soho, Tay Conti, & Anna Jay vs. Nyla Rose, The Bunny, & Penelope Ford

I love these women’s tags and trios that AEW has been doing. It’s much easier to play toward each woman’s strengths and that means a lot when you have so much green talent in the division. There were some rocky moments here or there, but they largely held this together and I loved the formula they went for here with the faces in peril and hot tag choices. Really just a blast. Nyla gets the win off a brass knuckle shot from Bunny to Anna. 

Match rating - **1/2

Backstage, Tony Schiavone is with Sting & Darby Allin. Tony starts talking about Sting’s history in Greensboro, NC and the upcoming Dynamite there in January. Before he can really comment, FTR jumps them and Tully kicks Sting in the nuts.

3) Hook vs. Fuego Del Sol 

HOOK HAS AN ACTION BRONSON THEME SONG. It’s Hook’s debut match. This had a lot to live up to considering how hype people have been for Hook and it undoubtedly delivered. Hook looked just about flawless and Fuego was a perfect first opponent. You got some spots where Hook’s inexperience almost cost him like on the roll up spot, those little things rocked. The most important part is that we got to see what Hook was made of and we all loved it. HOOK. 

Match rating - *** 

4) Adam Cole vs. Wheeler Yuta

Happy to see Yuta getting this match. It’s not a full on squash, more like an extended with one and I’m very happy with that. Cole doesn’t deserve to be taken to the limit by Yuta, but Yuta doesn’t deserve to be completely squashed either. So best of both worlds, here. Some nice exchanges down the stretch before Cole gets the victory. 

Match rating - **3/4

After the match, great beatdown by the Superkliq/Elite. BTE trigger to Trent and a kick to the nuts to Orange after Cole faked him out by teasing a Panama Sunrise which was hilarious. 

That’s all for this week, make sure to check out myself, Mike, Courtland, and Zach’s Rampage instant reaction show from last night, it’s embedded at the top of this review. Also be sure to follow @ThePWTruth and @UpAndOverPod on Twitter! Thanks for reading, see y’all next time <3

AEW: Dynamite Review - December 8th, 2021

AEW: Dynamite

December 8th, 2021 

UBS Arena - Long Island, New York 

Commentators - Excalibur, Taz & Tony Schiavone

CM Punk opens the show, but not in the fashion you’d expect. MJf’s music hits and his hometown crowd loses their mind… only for CM Punk to walk up through the tunnel. This set the stage for one of the most odd, but interesting promos since Punk joined the company. The crowd largely booed Punk and I don’t think he even anticipated them to be that partisan toward MJF considering he IS the heel in the program and has been the antagonist the entirety of his AEW career. But they were partisan and not ashamed of it, either. Punk almost seems taken aback and repeats a line about the Islander’s a couple of times, but he does lean deeper towards villainous Punk and that alone is cool! He closes by calling the crowd chicken shits then leaving LMAO. I enjoyed this more than last week’s garbage so hell yea. 

1) Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal 

AEW: Rampage Review - December 3rd, 2021

AEW: Rampage

December 3rd, 2021

Duluth, GA 

Commentators - Excalibur, Taz, Ricky Starks & Thunder Rosa

 

1) Sammy Guevara (c) vs. Tony Nese - TNT Title Match 

A lot of people probably anticipate my review of this match, but truthfully there’s nothing wrong with it. That’s the thing about Tony Nese, there’s not anything offensive or outwardly bad about much of what he does. The issue is there’s also nothing to write home or frankly, to care about. No need to harp on it, however. Because this isn’t something that keeps me up at night, it’s just the way it is viewed through my eyes. It also needed to be mentioned to further explain how I felt about this. So yeah, Sammy did cool stuff and Nese did stuff, too. Sammy’s was just cooler and meant more because he has so much more depth. Sammy retains, as expected. 

Match rating - **1/2 

Christian is backstage with Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus. They will be watching the FTR/PAC & Penta match closely in prep for Jurassic Express getting their shot at the titles. 

2) Jade Cargill vs. Janai Kai 

HEY ! JANAI KAI ! Well, nice seeing her for a second before she eats the pin I guess. SQUASH for Jade and Thunder Rosa runs down post match and we get a below average pull apart between the two to try to hype their semi finals match in the TBS Title Tournament coming up next week? Or sometime soon.

The Young Bucks & Adam Cole are backstage. The Bucks return to tag team action on Dynamite and want two of the Best Friends to show up and face them. Nick calls Brandon Cutler a “stupid dumbass” and cuts the camera. 

Eddie Kingston is on some stairs and says 2.0 will reap what they sow PATNA. 

Bryan Danielson/John Silver video package and BABY IM SO READY FOR THIS. They are gonna tear the damn roof off. 

Next week on Dynamite it’s Jamie Hayter/Riho, Young Bucks/Chuck Taylor & Rocky Romero + more!

3) PAC & Penta El Zero Miedo vs. FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard) 

The pre-match interview turns into chaos and Mark Henry has to yell to someone shit down. This was supposed to be Lucha Bros defending the tag titles, but apparently Fenix is hurt so PAC is subbing in. Bell rings and great flurries from PAC & Penta to start doing their flashy and schtick stuff, respectively til we SETTLE RIGHT IN TO AN FTR STYLE CONTEST DADDY. And it’s great, honestly. Amazing southern heel tag work from FTR. Cutting off the ring, breaking up tag attempts. They build to the Penta hot tag phenomenally well and it RULES. The work here is a blast, but the eye patch shit is just goofy and the fact that it played into the finish took away from this as a whole for me. Malakai Black came down and sprayed PAC in the eyes again and FTR gets the win. 

Match rating - ***1/4