MOX VS. ANTHONY BOWENS
Ladies and gentlemen, Mox is back! After a few months off to take care of some personal demons, Jon Moxley is back and better than ever. Trimmed down, focused, and looking great. After making Ethan Page pass out last week, Mox took on Anthony Bowens of the Acclaimed. Max Caster laid down another great dis track as The Acclaimed made their way to the ring. Caster brought up Mox’s wife, Renee Pacquette, AND said that Mox’s new book was boring.
Big mistake. Mox was fired up and ready to go. The first half of the match was a one-sided brawl throughout the arena, but once the match found its way back into the ring, it was a much more even affair. Bowens definitely fights like an old-school heel, but he can do a whole lot more than just throw punches and kicks. On top of being a great seller, Anthony Bowens is an extremely underrated technical wrestler. A beautiful side Russian leg sweep was followed up by a succession of neckbreakers, and finally a picture-perfect superplex.
Bowens continued to keep control through most of the remainder of the match, delivering DDT’s, piledrivers, and suplexes, but Jon’s moxy (pun intended) was too much. He was able to kick out of all Bowen’s Impressive moves, and it took just one moment of distraction for Mox to take the advantage and deliver a Paradigm Shift DDT for the victory.
After the match, Bryan Danielson was seen watching the match in the backstage area, continuing the tease from last week’s Rampage, slowly setting up a much anticipated match between the two veterans.
ANDRADE IS STILL CONFUSED
After purchasing a majority stake in the Hardy Family Office, now known as the Andrade-Hardy Family Office (someone in creative was phoning it in that day), Andrade still has his eyes set on acquiring Darby Allin. He goes to Sting’s locker room (because for some reason nobody can seem to explain to Andrade that Darby doesn’t “work for” Sting) and tries to get Darby to sign a contract to work for him. Darby laughs it off and Andrade leaves. Kind of a throw-away segment, as we’ve already established the beginning of this story, and the segment didn’t do anything to further the story or raise the intensity. One thing is for sure though, whenever Darby and Andrade get in the ring together, they will tear the place down.
LEE JOHNSON AND BROCK ANDERSON VS. FTR
A rivalry which is really about Tully vs. Arn took a nice stop on the journey, as Blanchard’s proteges FTR took on Lee Johnson and Brock Anderson (Arn’s son). Lee Johnson’s high-flying ability was definitely showcased, but the story of the match was the stalemate between Brock Anderson and Dax Harwood, who is claiming to be the son Arn Anderson always wanted. It’s a fun and very old school type of story, which is perfect for these performers, all of whom do a great job of using classic wrestling match psychology with new and innovative moves to keep the crowd excited and invested. The match ended as FTR hit the spike piledriver (the Brain Buster’s old finishing move) on Lee Johnson for the victory. The rivalry is far from over, but this round definitely went to Tully, who got the better of Anderson’s team in pretty much every way.
JADE CARGILL VS. JULIA HART (TBS WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP)
The newly crowned TBS champion Jade Cargill made her second title defense against Julia Hart. Julia was sporting an eye patch, clearly still showing the effects of being sprayed in the eye by Aleister Black’s mist. A lot of criticism has been made of Jade Cargill, who is still very green to the business, but there is no denying her character. Nobody on the women’s roster has the “look” that Jade has, and she definitely has more potential to be a crossover mainstream celebrity over anybody else currently on the women’s roster (or men’s, for that matter). This is evidenced by the fact that I personally know several people who are aware of Jade that don’t watch wrestling at all.
The match itself was not much to speak of, as Jade disposed of Julia in short order. These short matches serve a couple purposes: 1) they are being used to show Jade’s dominance. 2) They are designed to protect Jade from being overly exposed. Simply put, you can’t botch too many moves if your matches are only two minutes long. Eventually Jade is going to have to step up her in-ring performances, but her look and charisma alone are going to make creative give her the benefit of the doubt for a long time.
JURASSIC EXPRESS VS. PRIVATE PARTY (AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP)
The title matches kept coming as this week’s main event featured tag team champions Jurassic Express taking on Private Party. Before the match there was a lot of smack talking, and Isiah Kassidy seemed a little too obsessed with “pounding Jungle Boy’s ass,” but hey, to each his own.
The match was nearly over before it started, as Private Party nailed their finishing move, Gin and Juice, on Jungle Boy right as the opening bell rang. Fortunately for the prehistoric performer, Jungle Boy was able to kick out and the match continued. Private Party utilized a lot of outside interference, as both Matt Hardy and The Blade got in as many cheap shots as they could. Luchasaurus was taking quite the beating before eventually making a hot tag and Jungle Boy came in and quickened the pace of the match immediately. The rest of the match was fairly chaotic, with tons of big spots and exciting moves. Eventually Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy hit “Thoracic Express” (a brilliant pun) and got the victory to retain their titles.
Immediately after the match, the Gunn Club (known from this point forward as the Ass Boys) jumped in the ring and beat down the champs, making their claim to be the next contenders for the titles.
