Tonight, AEW presents a massive three-hour show, a combination of Dynamite and Collision. Every match tonight has direct ramifications and will affect the pay-per-view directly. Kicking off the show we are shown an exclusive backstage segment with Ospreay, Cope, Steve Borden, and the Young Bucks. Ospreay is upset Cope surrendered, but Cope explains in firm-yet-aggressive fashion, he’s had to retire for nine years, and he did what he had to do to protect them from ending their careers early like he did. “If you can’t understand that… maybe this isn’t the place for me.”
Cope gets up and storms out. Well, this will be part of the inevitable Ospreay/Cope title clash.
Kyle Fletcher and Will Ospreay confront each other before the World Championship Match at Full Gear. Ospreay and Fletcher briefly put each other over before they start tearing into each other. Fletcher snarkingly credits Ospreay for his accomplishments. Ospreay cuts a beautiful promo on his accomplishments, from injury to return, from defeat to victory. Ospreay highlights his entrance for the AEW Championship match against Kenny Omega where Ospreay walked through the hall, meeting Davis and Fletcher. Questioning Fletcher, who was adamant he felt nothing, soon cracked under pressure and admitted he was jealous. This led to Fletcher tearing into Ospreay getting all the opportunities he has yet to have, but he will have them because he’s earned them.
Fletcher said “bullocks” during the segment. A fan loudly kept calling Fletcher jealous and the timing was hysterically perfect. Turns out, the fan was right.
Ospreay and Fletcher cut great promos, but this might have been the absolute best between them. Their match on Saturday night is expected to be Match of the Year.
New Level & Brodido fight to a no-contest
Given the level of anger and fight between them, the result made perfect sense, despite the live crowd booing it. They tore into each other before the bell, between the bells, after the bell, and all over the place. An absolute war.
Referees and security couldn’t contain the collision, which one should expect for Saturday night is going to be absolute carnage.
David Finlay defeated Orange Cassidy
A fun match, Cassidy’s apathy frustrated Finlay until his no-nonsense demeanor shut down O.C.’s antics. Finlay got the win thanks to interference, furthering The Cut’s willingness to resort to underhanded tactics to claim victory.
Backstage: Andrade El Idolo laments the loss of the AEW National Championship, however now he has a new focus, the potential to cash in for a match to challenge for the AEW World Championship.
Backstage: Lexy Nair catches up with Big Stoke who demeans her instantly. Sheesh. He puts over the Motor City Machine Guns as earning FTR’s respect, but respect doesn’t pay bills. Tonight is the night FTR wins and becomes number one contenders.
Persephone defeated Gypsy Mac
This was a squash by all definitions. Poor Gypsy did not stand a chance against the extremely angry and vengeful former champ. Persephone mauled her all over the wing while Dr. Britt Baker, DMD talked trash on commentary.
Motor City Machine Guns defeated FTR to win the Best of Five and New #1 Contenders for the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championships
Tag Team Wrestling has earned a lot of love from AEW. FTR and MCMG have certainly elevated tag team action in AEW. The action was fast and intense. Both teams hit the other with everything they’ve got. However, FTR seemed to resort to underhanded tactics more than once but while close to victory, would not steal it. Sabin and Shelly turned up the intensity with a hot crowd behind them, managing to survive the Power and Glory, the Shatter Machine, and even Spike Piledrivers. Despite FTR’s best, it wasn’t enough as MCMG outsmarted the former AEW champs with a roll up for the decisive win.
After the match, they shook hands, FTR respecting the victors.
Stokely took a few wild bumps during the match.
Tommaso Ciampa retains “Ruby” the AEW National Championship against “Speedball” Mike Bailey
Incredible match. Absolutely awesome. Fresh off winning the National Championship, Ciampa’s first defense of “Ruby” goes against the highly unpredictable and unexpectedly resilient Speedball. His fast kicks and bizarrely creative offensives kept Ciampa frustrated, until a hard throw into the ring stairs changed the pace. Bailey, a bloody mess continues to fight on as Ciampa hits him with everything but the kitchen sink. The number of kickouts from Bailey were ungodly and each one brought the live crowd louder and louder. But, at some point you gotta realize it’s a bit much. Eventually a top tope Lumbar Check followed by two running knee strikes ends it.
Ciampa’s victory is cut short as Ilya Dragunov arrives, conducting the screen to reveal he will face the champ at Full Gear. Potential MOTY there.
The Death Riders (Mox & Marina) defeated The Cut (Jay White & Mercedes Mone) when Marina forced Mone to tap out to the Brutalizer. Lots of story telling but also a lot of intensity built up. White and Shafir faced off, which stalled the confrontation between Shafir and Mone. or a mixed-tag match, there was a lot of action between Shafir and White, and even some between Mone and Mox.
While White and Mox will continue to build the feud towards Anarchy in the Arena, the bigger clash will be Mone and Marina for the World Championship.
The Elite (Bucks & Perry) defeated the Don Callis Family (Cage, El Clon, Kevin Knight)
An exciting match, lots of spots. El Clon is bizarrely agile, his exchange with Perry looked impossible. Brian Cage is a beast, but still hard to take seriously with his insane number of losses. Fun match. Afterwards, Jack Perry calls out Samoa Joe again.
Wardlow defeated Nick Comorrotto
Squash. It seems Comorrotto, Solo, and Griff Garrison are the modern-day Job Squad. Wardlow hits a few lariats followed by a Powerbomb Symphony for the win. Post-match, we got another powerbomb with Davis and Doyle hitting stereo piledrivers.
Sky Team (Mistico & Dorada) defeated The Swirl (Johnson & Christian) to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship
Another fun match. “Shotty” Lee and “Vanilla” Blake are so underrated and under-appreciated. It’s so amazing to see Misitico and Dorada get such adoration in the states. These four men, expectedly to put on a great showing, regardless of who wins, would be entertaining for all.
The post-match celebration is interrupted by Nick Wayne. Did you know, he beat Chris Jericho, twice??
Queen Aminata defeats Skye Blue & Hyan in a triple threat
After enduring hell in the Blood and Guts match, Aminata defends against two worthy challengers. It seems long overdue for Hyan to get a main event spot. I believe she is so underestimated. She appears to be so incredibly talented, that being said, it would be Skye Blue who takes the pinfall loss tonight. After the match, Dr. Britt Baker, DMD returns to distract the TBS Champion, allowing Persephone to attack from behind. However, Hyan and the returning Maya World come to the save. However, it is announced the Queen will once again defend in a triple threat match, against Maya World and Persephone.
This will be interesting.
