Hot off the heels of AEW WrestleDream, a massively stacked lineup to carry on the current feuds and stories. AEW is on a hot streak with carrying both short-term and long-term arcs. Tonight’s episode felt very much like a format NJPW or ECW would follow, with match after match, and each match possessing a very aggressively competitive vibe. At times violent. The show kicks off with the most unexpected events. Davis & Doyle SQUASHED The Young Bucks, winning an Eliminator Contender’s Match. We got powerbombs and piledrivers straight for about five minutes until Davis connects with three Close Your Eyes and Count To **** for the extremely decisive win. This set the tone for a very violent show tonight.
Davis and Doyle look like absolute monsters. The issue is they can look like monsters but are not infallible. They could easily lose the title bout at Full Gear. But for the moment, the Bucks are going to be the championship underdogs.
Next up the show rolls right into Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight managing a win over Adam Copeland and AEW World Champion Will Ospreay after Kazuchka Okada clocked Cope mid-spear with the International Belt, busting him open, allows for Fletcher to connect with a brainbuster for the win. During the match, there was some tension between Cope and Ospreay, but they seemed to stay on the same page. After the match, The DCF came out in full, menacing Ospreay and Cope. Callis hands the AEW World Championship to Kyle Fletcher as Knight looks on with skepticism.
Just then, Darby Allin and a returning Steve Borden arrive along with Nick Jackson to even the odds up. They throw down a challenge for Blood ‘n’ Guts. Oh boy.
Swerve Strickland murders a local guy in a super-duper squash. The ongoing theme of intense hatred is intensifying. Backstage, Renee Paquette catches up with AEW World Trios Champions, Hangman and Brodido. But as they begin, Prince Nana and Swerve interrupt, and boy you can feel the hatred between Swerve and Page. Swerve demands a rematch on behalf of the New Level, in a Texas Deathmatch to take place at Full Gear.
I don’t care what happens, this continues the greatest feud and story in AEW history. Print the money.
Jay White & Orange Cassidy defeated Wheeler Yuta & Daniel Garcia
A very good match, while it may not have had the level of violence from prior matches, but the intensity is the same. Cassidy and White put them away with an Orange Punch/Blade Runner combo.
Backstage: Triangle of Madness and Divine Dominion are assaulting The Brawling Birds, Kris Statlander, and Harley Cameron. Perhaps, a Women’s Blood ‘n’ Guts?
Mercedes Mone comes out to gloat about her win over Thekla. She gets vicious on the mic stating there is no one left… Until Marina Shafir enters the chat which sends Mone backing away. Wow. AEW is finally pulling the trigger on giving Marina a run for the Women’s World Championship. This will be good. This rolls right into the next match, where Jon Moxley defeats Roderick Strong in an excellent match. Roddy looked fantastic against Mox, who clearly is still battling feelings of defeat and emptiness. After the match, things take a wild, wild turn, or turns…
Dave Finlay and Clark Connors attacked Roddy from behind, only for Mox to run back in and help Roddy. Here’s where things get NUTS. Mox comes back in and confronts them. They start getting into it. Uh oh, trouble between the Dogs and Riders? As Mox turns his back, they flip him off and strike!! Gabe Kidd rushes in and he doesn’t know what to do, until Connors and Finlay attack him!! The fighting continues as the rest of the Conglomeration rush in with Jay White to back off both the Dogs and the Death Riders. Suddenly, a wild Jay White attacks Orange Cassidy!! The Bang Bang Gang from out of literal nowhere attack both the Conglomeration and the Death Riders. What is happening here?!!? The Death Riders and Conglomeration are down, with Jay White and David Finlay seemingly burying the hatchet and reuniting the Bullet Club?
This was one of the best uses of turning stables face and heel. Vibe definitely something out of the NJPW stable playbook, with the feel of ECW’s controlled chaos. We have not had real feuds between stables in a while, so this will certainly be a fresh one to play out. Death Riders are uber-babyfaces now, even though everyone will still hate poor Wheeler Yuta.
Claudio’s run-in was not human. The guy single-handedly fought off both rival groups for a while before succumbing to the numbers. But man, this guy is NOT human.
Nick Wayne and Chris Jericho
In the ring, Nick Wayne continues to gloat about getting another one over on Jericho. He demands Jericho come out to apologize and for the next few minutes, Wayne constantly interrupts, sets off pyro, the works. It came off as funny, but also showing Wayne’s ability to be extremely clever and even having potential to outclass Jericho in the promo department. That is, until Jericho apologizes, but then cuts a masterful promo about how Wayne truly does have potential to be the greatest by doing what Jericho did. He LISTENS. He takes the words of advice from those before him, running down a list of legends he learned from. But as Wayne seemed to take it to heart, Jericho delivered one last caution… Don’t f*** it up.
Wow.
Queen Aminata defeated Maya World to become #1 Contender for the TBS Championship
Pull the trigger on Aminata. Let’s flash back to Thekla’s debut and her immediate feud with The Queen. Aminata could probably trade with Ishii. A face v. face match is a rarity, but always manages to deliver. Persephone and Dr. Baker, DMD joined commentary and definitely added a lot of flavor to the broadcast. Schiavone, Taz, and Excalibur are no match for her wit. After the match, it appeared Baker and Persephone were going to strike, but Aminata was backed up by Maya World and Hyan.
Hyan is underutilized. She’s always taking the pin in a tag or trios match. She’s a worker. Give her more chances, please!
Before the main event, a plethora of promos and matchmaking:
Samoa Joe with Hook, Shibata, and Andretti threaten Ospreay’s title reign. This is interrupted by Jack Perry who wants another match with Joe. Last time, Joe almost murdered him. This time Perry promises to deliver.
Don Callis accepts the challenge for Blood and Guts.
Recap of the Motor City Machine Guns defeating FTR at WrestleDream.
On Collision, Swerve will face Myron Reed. Hey AEW, don’t forget there are two other guys in the Rascalz.
Main Event: Ilya Dragunov defeated “Speedball” Mike Bailey
What an ovation for the debuting Dragunov. Epic theme, epic entrance. This has the same vibe as when Tommaso Ciampa made his debut. Felt like a main eventer. Speedball put on the match of his life. Both Dragunov and Bailey made you care. You could see Bailey turned up the intensity dial to eleventy billion. The slow hype and teasing of Dragunov hitting chops was very well done. You hear the live crowd jolt each time Ilya connects. While this was all about a major introduction of Dragunov to AEW, let’s not neglect the absolute stellar wrestling performance by Mike Bailey.
AEW is not messing around. WrestleDream appeared to break expectations of being a “filler” PPV and Dynamite felt like a major event following it up. Large scale feuds between stables, rivalries intensifying, Blood and Guts right around the corner… What else do they have in store?
