Just two weeks away from AEW All In and the stakes continue to rise. Last week was a pay-per-view level show, will this week continue the trend? In addition to feuds, we have the Continental Cup Classic contenders matches as well. There is a lot to pack for Wembley, let’s see how things turn out.
Paul Wight on commentary tonight, he’s a fun addition. Speedy recovery to Good Ol’ Jim Ross who is recovering from major surgery.
Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay open the show. It started with Ospreay talking about his match last week with Mark Davis. He asks for Kenny to join him to talk about their altercation. Instead, Don Callis interrupts which allows Rocky Romero, Trent Barretta, Jake Doyle, and Mark Davis to conduct a massive beatdown. Omega rushes out, metal pipe in hand to chase them off. He then cuts a straightforward promo about respect and wanting Ospreay to be at 100%. He also says this is his only save.
This continues this love/hate relationship-type feud. Omega still comes off with some arrogance and intimidation but Ospreay does not back down.
MJF defeated Mike Bailey and Nick Wayne to earn the #2 Gauntlet Spot
With the constant push of a feud between Andrade and MJF, it felt pretty obvious MJF was taking the win. The manner in which he did, was very entertaining. Nick Wayne and Speedball took center stage the majority of the match, with MJF occasionally jumping in when it was convenient. At one stage, MJF seemed to be instructing advice towards Wayne, which wound up backfiring later in the match. As Bailey appeared to have the match in-hand, MJF dumped him hard from the ring, quickly forcing Wayne to tap out.
Overall an excellent match, but the “One True Champion” emerging victorious was never a question.
I want his ring jacket.
Nick Wayne was very impressive and seems to have come a long way from being a generic-appearing lightweight into a character of his own. He does not need his mother Shayna anymore to stand out. The gooners will dispute me.
Mick Foley is with the Bang Bang Gang backstage. The stable is presented as a major threat, everyone in the group feels stronger than ever. They need to rack up more wins on TV to be considered favorites over the likes of the Death Riders, The Dogs, and other groups. Ace Austin is the PAC of the group.
Jay White defeated David Finlay to advance in the Continental Tournament
The feud continues on as White and Finlay get a long-awaited one-on-one. Some might wonder why now instead of a PPV build, but it seems this isn’t over yet and the PPV build might be in the works. An excellent storytelling of their hate, as wrestling is mixed with straight fighting intensity. The tide briefly turned as White hit a very nice German suplex but then immediately sold the neck as though he injured it. Despite Finlay capitalizing on it, White gets the win and advances.
One would have thought Finlay would get the win here to continue the feud, as the Dogs seemed to be on a mostly losing end. A rarity to see heels with more losses than wins in the building feud, but this is AEW after all where the traditional script is not always the norm.
The next segment gets crazy. As Adam Page, Bandido, and Brody King are about to cut their promo, the returning Swerve Strickland arrives! He cuts a fantastic promo highlighting history with each man. Praises Bandido for tearing down the house in their match. For Brody for the absolute hell they fought through, and of course, “Hangman” for what should be considered the greatest feud in AEW history.
Swerve is then interrupted by The Demand, including new members Jay Lethal, Christian Blake, and Lee Johnson. They demand, pun possibly intended, a rematch for the World Trios Championships. It appears The Demand will face Brodido and Page at All In.
It seemed for a moment Swerve was going to confront and perhaps challenge for the AEW World Trios Championships, but instead he walked off with the last word. If there was EVER a time to tease the debut of a certain tag team, that would have been the moment right then and there. A tease would have been enough, but alas, not to be.
Kevin Knight retains the TNT Championship against Chris Jericho
The veteran Jericho outsmarted Knight on more than one occasion, but Knight showed how he could stand in the ring with a genuine legend in the business. Knight losing never seemed likely, Callis resorting to using a foreign object and Knight with a blatant low blow behind the ref led to retaining the championship.
After the match a backstage promo featuring Darby Allin airs, with their upcoming match at All In being announced as a No DQ Falls Count Anywhere match. Cue the ambulance. Someone is going to need it.
Kris Statlander defeated Viva Van
While this appeared to be a bona-fine enhancement match, Viva Van is impressive and would certainly benefit from more showcasing on AEW television. She already has a presence in Ring of Honor, why not continue it? She put up quite the contest with Statlander, who took the match with the Staturday Night Fever.
After the match ended, Mick Foley came to the ring to announce a Women’s Four-Way next week for the TBS Championship featuring Stat-Daddy, Hikaru Shida, and Persephone, challenging the current TBS Champion, Maya World. This fed right into the next match as TBS Champion Maya World and Mexican Women’s National Champion Thunder Rosa defeated Hikaru Shida and Persephone. Good, albeit short match. Persephone came out looking the strongest, while Maya World continues to show in a very short time, the ability to maintain a presence in the main event scene.
A promo featuring Divine Dominion in a British Pub, attempting to shirk off any semblance of being intimidated by their challengers, The Brawling Birds.
A brief recorded segment shows Mercedes Mone attacking AEW Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale during a pre-recorded interview. Really leaning into Mone being an unhinged villainess.
Jon Moxley defeated “Jungle” Jack Perry in the main event to advance in the Continental Tournament. One hell of a show-closer. Already past the 10 p.m. Eastern mark, Mox and Perry took all the time in the world to battle in a contest which will be talked about until our collective memories are erased by the next mind-wrecking contest.
It’s true. One thing about AEW, there are a lot of great matches, but sometimes too many which then overshadow others. Perry looked incredibly strong against Mox. Despite being bloodied, bruised, and thrown in and around the ring, he combats Mox’s arsenal with the simple “never say die” resilience. The match started out as an actual wrestling match, broke down into a full on fight, then came back to some insane submission-style wrestling from both men. Perry would go on to eat multiple lariats, but would kick out at the last nano–second.
While the crowd initially sounded behind Mox, the longer Perry fought and struggled, the more the crowd became sympathetic in rooting for the clear underdog. Mox no-sold a ton, which both hurt Perry’s offensive but yet also added to Perry’s brilliant fight-till-I-die demeanor. At one point the ref was about to end the match as Perry lay motionless, but waved the ref off. This unfortunately only delayed the inevitable and Perry would pass out from a choking sleeper. Post-match, Mox shook hands with Perry and put him over to the live crowd.
Mox losing didn’t seem likely as he needs to win every match to “retain” the Continental Championship. An upset from Perry would have been very much welcomed as a surprise.
The brackets narrow down and matches will likely get more intense leading to All In which is just two weeks away.
There is a lot going on and not a whole lot of time left to flesh out all the feuds, plus the Continental Tournament.
