AEW Grand Slam 2022 kicks off huge with the Ring of Honor World Championship on the line, and with an insane shocker, CHRIS JERICHO IS YOUR NEW ROH WORLD CHAMPION!!
What a match. Jericho has been on the best in-ring run in years. 2022 has been phenomenal. From being the Painmaker to The Wizard and to the Lionheart, Jericho’s wrestling grade has been A+. Fantastic bout with Claudio dominating most of it, out-maneuvering Jericho with some damn incredible offense. Big swing and the straight-jacket tiger bomb nearly earned the win, but Jericho would kick out and even avoid submission to the sharpshooter. Later on, Jericho sensing defeat, turned desperate and with a distracted referee, Jericho managed to hit a low blow, after failing earlier in the match, then connecting with the Judas Effect for the tainted championship win.
Post-match, the Jericho Appreciation Society celebrate, however Daniel Garcia does not seem too thrilled, but high-fives the new champ anyway.
The Acclaimed (finally!) defeat Swerve in Our Glory
If Acclaimed lost, I guarantee the live crowd would riot. Thankfully, this did not happen. The crowd added extra excitement. A lot of tense near-falls, but a late rally nearly saw Acclaimed take the titles, until it appears Max Caster injured his leg before connecting with the Mic Drop elbow. The match slowed and the crowd died a bit with worry, but Anthony Bowens turned it up with many dramatic near-falls. Caster managed to return only to awkwardly eat a double-team finish but thankfully kicked out. Thanks to an assist by “Daddy Ass” Billy Gunn, Swerve falls victim to the Mic Drop and Arthur Ashe explodes in celebration.
Post-match, Lee seems to show respect to the new champs while Swerve staggers away in disbelief.
We next have Tony Schiavone interviewing Wheeler Yuta about tonight’s main event, when “Salt of the Earth” and the “Devil himself” Maxwell Jacob Friedman interrupts and rips into Yuta mercilessly. Yuta attempts a verbal comeback, falls somewhat short, but gets a line in about MJF’s finance, earning boos from the crowd. MJF then rips apart the BCC with personal attacks, landing with Regal and “popping pills.” A fight breaks out until Morrisey strikes, giving MJF the advantage.
MJF is at a level where he could commit murder on television and the crowd will cheer. MJF can do no wrong and he knows it. But, he is smart. He isn’t playing character, he’s himself. He’s got big money, big draw, and knows the fans want him on TV. He’s back doing interviews, he’s active on Twitter, and he’s been blunt honest and smart not feeding into speculation.
Backstage: Jade Cargill and her baddies talk about facing Diamante on Rampage. The challenger shows up with Trina. She still uses profanity, which is bleeped thankfully, but a everyone throwing around another word while not bleeped, still comes off as garbage.
Sorry, while her wrestling has improved, these promos have not.
PAC retains the All-Atlantic Championship against Orange Cassidy
In case anyone forgot, Cassidy is one hell of a wrestler when called. Fantastic bout with PAC getting frustrated more than once, falling for Cassidy’s antics which fake out to a dropkick or other move. The comedy spots were so well done during the match, even PAC had to acknowledge the shrewd tactics. Ultimately, PAC realizing he could not win by standard means, having to resort to sneaking the use of a foreign object, the ring bell hammer, to KO Cassidy and get the win.
Toni Storm retains the AEW Interim Women’s Championship against Athena, Serena Deeb, and Dr. Britt Baker, DMD
Good match, lots of solid looking moments. Deeb displays her submission finesse. Athena sells everything like death. Baker takes a sick bump with Athena landing on her face, resulting in yet another broken nose. Even though Storm retains, the MVP goes to Athena.
Editor’s Note: To the shock of everyone in the arena and at home, Saraya (Fka Paige in WWE) shows up during the post-match beat down of Storm and Athena by Deeb, Baker and Jamie Hayter (who teased a turn on Britt). She was announced on Twitter as being “All Elite” — interesting to see where this goes.
AEW Grand Slam 2022 Main Event: Jon Moxley defeats Bryan Danielson to become a three-time AEW Champion, winning the tournament for the vacant championship
What a match, what a fight. My only negative is wanting the match to have been longer. There was such a healthy exchange of strong-style hitting with transitions to mat-based wrestling to throwing each other was suplexes. At no point could anyone predict who would win. They successfully portrayed each wrestler as equal. Neither had the offensive for very long which led to telling a great, simple story of two wrestlers fighting their hardest to be the champion of AEW.
After numerous stomps and elbows and repeated strikes, it would be Mox’s penchant for being the stronger submission player, with a rear naked choke, causing Danielson to pass out, leaving Mox alive, hand raised, and becoming a three-time AEW World Champion.
I was pulling for Danielson, I felt he would have made a great World Champion. I didn’t expect AEW to put the belt back on Mox so soon, but given the circumstances, it does make sense.
Throughout the match the camera would pan or change view to MJF sitting in a private section up high. They cut to him so many times I for sure thought one of the cuts would reveal an empty seat. It would seem the Casino Chip might be similar to the Money in the Bank stipulation, but the announce team was a bit vague during their explanation, so there is a chance of some alteration in the future.
Part two of the Grand Slam 2022 will take place on Rampage, it’s got a loaded card.
