AEW: Dynamite (Road Rager) Review - July 7th, 2021

AEW Dynamite

Road Rager

July 7th, 2021

Miami, Florida 

                                                     “COWBOY SHIZNIT.” -Jim Ross

We’re live outside of Daily’s Place for the first time in over a year and it feels GOOD. 

1) Cody Rhodes vs. QT Marshall - Strap Match 

Glad they are opening with this instead of trying to have it go on last. QT gets some color and they work the stipulation well. They don’t go overboard and treat this like some sort of epic rivalry that we all know it isn’t so that’s nice. Just simple, to the point and pretty inoffensive. Crowd is hot for Cody so the dive he hit to start and all his spots down the stretch came off well. The lights go out accidentally at one point and I think everyone thought something big was about to happen but it didn’t. Cody gets the win by touching all four corners after about 10 minutes or so. 

Match rating - **1/2

Backstage, Sammy Guevara gets revenge on Shawn Spears from last week by attacking him with a chair from behind and saying “GOTCHA BITCH!” 

Tony Schiavone brings out AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Don Callis. Callis continues what he was saying last week about how Omega has beaten everyone. Crowd chants loudly for Hangman Page. Dark Order shows up. Evil Uno continues to be such a tremendous promo and takes the lead here asking Omega why he’s ignoring the crowd, why he’s ignoring the #1 ranked wrestler, and why he’s ignoring his friend. 

“What’s the capital of Thailand, Uno? Bangkok.” -Kenny Omega

DDT: King of DDT 2021 Finals! Review - July 4th, 2021

SO, this is not the whole show. The whole show featured various multi man matches along with these tournament matches. My review just covers the semi finals and final round matches. 

1) Konosuke Takeshita vs. Daisuke Sasaki - King of DDT Semi Final Round Match

SOUP!! Ever since Takeshita popped up in AEW for a week or two, my interest in him has been re-invigorated. Here he’s facing Sasaki with the winner earning their spot in the finals of the King of DDT tournament. Sasaki is clearly the heel, with his cohort Paulie at ringside running interference and Sasaki himself taking cheap routes and doing sneaky stuff all match. Takeshita is smart enough to be able to combat it, though. This had its moments, but the ref bump stuff, to me, hindered what became a great finishing run, although it definitely wasn’t BAD and it made sense considering who is involved. The finish still rocked, though, as did the rest of the match. Takeshita wins and advances to the finals. 

Match rating - **3/4

2) Yuji Hino vs. Kazusada Higuchi - King of DDT Semi Final Round Match

HOSS FIGHT. This was just a straight up slug fest with several minutes of the match just being them standing in the center of the ring trading stiff chops. Hino looked super dominant throughout and the finish which saw him pin Higuchi with just his fist on his chest for a cover continued that trend. Just an insane performance from him and a great strong style sprint altogether. 

Match rating - ***1/4

3) Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuji Hino - King of DDT Finals Match 

Wow, what a match this was. It isn’t a MOTY contender, but had it continued it easily could have been. Hino continued his dominance here, but Takeshita fought from underneath so well and his comeback? One of my favorites that I’ve seen this year. As Hino is pulling him up by his hair and Takeshita starts chopping and striking his way out of desperation. It was just fantastic. Takeshita’s amazing comeback ends sort of abruptly with an AWESOME strait jacket style cross arm german that pins Hino’s shoulders to the mat for three. Big win for Takeshita here as he now is set for a title match with the legend Jun Akiyama, someone who has already beaten him twice (I think) prior. Excited to see if he can use his momentum from this match to take the K-OD Title home. 

Match rating - ***3/4

Random Match Review: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata - NJPW: Kizuna Road - July 1st, 2021

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata - NJPW: Kizuna Road - 7/1/21

I haven't tuned in for anything New Japan related since Shingo won the title around this time last month at Dominion. The Road to shows normally have some good stuff, but it isn't must-see viewing and I barely have any spare time on my hands these days. With that in mind, I was gonna just wait for the Shingo/Ibushi match to happen and catch up then.

Well, today, I decided to take a look and see if I might have missed any matches worth a look and I noticed this one. It had a pretty high rating on cagematch so I threw it on expecting a good, hard hitting contest. I mean, it's Ishii and Nagata, it'll at the least be a hoot.

Turns out it's more than a hoot. It's a complete banger. 

Sometimes I forgot how literally insane Tomohiro Ishii is and then he has a match like this that reminds me how dumb I am for sleeping on him. The same could be said for Mr. Nagata who had a decent match with Jon Moxley on AEW Dynamite back in May. This match, though? On an entirely different level from that contest. So, if that was your first time seeing Nagata (somehow) - please do yourself a favor and check out this match.

Ishii and Nagata beat the everloving hell out of one another. Ishii focused on strikes and throws like usual. He blistered poor Nagata's chest to the point of me wincing at the sight of it. Nagata tried to focus on submissions and holds with offense targeted at the arm of Ishii. An arm/hand that would end up fucking swelling up from how hard and fast he had been striking Nagata as the match went on.

This was just a battle in every sense of the word and the purest form of Japanese strong style. The slaps and the striking showdown in the center of the ring about three quarters of the way through this thing was mind-blowing. A bloody mouth, a swollen wrist, a fucking war.

Ishii wins with the brainbuster. This ruled.

Match rating - ****1/4

AEW: Dynamite Review - June 30th, 2021

AEW Dynamite

June 30th, 2021

Daily’s Place - Jacksonville, FL

Commentators: Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, & Chris Jericho 

All I can say is damn… it feels GOOD to be back on Wednesday night. It’s truly where Dynamite belongs and feels at home, plus, we are LIVE. And it’s the end of an era sorta.. 

Daily’s Place has been the sole home of AEW for the past year and some change due to the pandemic, but starting next week, AEW returns to the road. The commentators note this early and say there will be a video package later to highlight the best moments from the past year in Jacksonville. 

Chris Jericho gets his grand entrance with everyone singing along to start the show as he makes his way to the commentary booth for the night. This was a nice touch considering he and his song have been such a centerpiece weekly during the past year at Daily’s. 

1) The Young Bucks (w/ Brandon Cutler) vs. Eddie Kingston & Penta El Zero Miedo 

NWA-TNA PPV #3 Review - July 3rd, 2002

NWA-TNA PPV #3

July 3rd, 2002

Nashville, TN

Commentary - Don West, Mike Tenay & Ed Ferrara

The show begins with Mike Tenay interviewing NWA President Jim Miller. He gives Tenay a trophy welcoming him to the NWA family and announces that he has been in Japan scouting talent. Next week, Takao Omori will be coming to the NWA TNA to face off with the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, the World's Most Dangerous Man.. KEN SHAMROCK. If he can retain against Malice tonight, that is. 

1) Chris Harris & James Storm vs. The Johnsons (w/ Mortimer Plumtree) - NWA/TNA Tag Team Title Tournament Match

Harris & Storm are officially ovER. And rightfully so. Storm is a god, popping off with his fake guns and shit. The Johnsons are still stupid despite being fine in the ring. But with that in mind, this match is more than suffice. Storm & Harris fight from under then have a nice comeback for a great pop when they get the pin and advance in the tournament.

Match rating - **1/4

Post match, The Johnsons turn on Mortimer Plumtree. 

NWA-TNA PPV #2 Review - June 26th, 2002

NWA-TNA PPV #2

June 26th, 2002

Huntsville, AL

Clips from the Styles/Lynn/Ki/Psichosis main event

Commentary - Don West, Mike Tenay & Ed Ferrara

Replays air of last week's Jeff Jarrett shenanigans and before you know it, his music hits and he wants his match with Scott Hall RIGHT NOW BY GOD.

1) Jeff Jarrett vs. Scott Hall (w/ Toby Keith & Jackie Fargo)

This was so much better than it had any right to be. Jarrett was such a good chicken shit heel. Focusing on outsmarting Hall/short cuts and rest hold. They tease the Toby/Jarrett stuff. It's soooo good then they do a stupid ass finish. Toby does a lowblow on Jarrett and he & Hall do a double team move on him and REFEREE SLICK JOHNSON slides back in and counts the pin with Toby standing right there.. alrighty.

Match rating - **1/4

AEW: Dynamite Review - June 26th, 2021

AEW: Saturday Night Dynamite

June 26th, 2021

Daily’s Place - Jacksonville, FL 

Commentary - Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, & Taz 

1) Hangman Adam Page vs. Powerhouse Will Hobbs 

This felt like it was on its way to being as good as Page’s matches with Hobbs’ stablemate Brian Cage. A few small details kept it from that, though. It had the physicality, Page even got a gash on the back of his head that gave us our first taste of red of the night. It had the fire. Little things like them completely missing the best spot of the whole thing - Hobbs countering Page’s buckshot lariat into a spine buster - is part of what threw me off. It’s also worth noting, Ricky Starks tried to interfere, but Brian Cage stopped him. Page hits Hobbs with the dead eye for the win. This still rocked despite the minor flaws. 

Match rating - ***

They air part of the video package from Road to Dynamite about Omega/Jungle Boy. I’m SO glad they did because damn that shit was too good to not. Half the Road to’s are so awesome and more of them deserve to be shown on the TV episodes, even in small portions like this.