The Headlines
It might take a few weeks for the rose-colored glasses to come off, but sometimes I like wearing rose-colored glasses. This is the fresh wrestling PRODUCT I was promised and I’ve got two thumbs up for this week’s show.
There was a whole lot of Chris Jericho‘s Inner Circle being DANGEROUS: first Santana & Ortiz laid out THE ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS (including use of a loaded sock and 63-year-old Ricky Morton taking a bump through the stage), then Sammy Guevera showed up on-screen during the Jericho/Cody contract signing to show Cody Jake Hager trying to cripple poor Dustin Rhodes, slamming his head into a car then slamming the car door on his arm, in what came off as less “ah jeez cheesy WCW cosplay” and more “hell yeah they’re bringing the wrestling back baby.” THEN Santana & Ortiz hid in Rick & Morty masks and attacked The Young Bucks. It was a crazy night.
Oh yeah, Rick & Morty were on this show.
This week was also all about Cody having the pure sports build main event run he always wanted, arriving at the start of the show in a private plane and emerging in his peacoat to meet his pal Tony Schiavone, who has been waiting to take him to the arena in a limo for the contract signing later in the night. I LOVED the Cody/Tony bits, having casual conversation on the tarmac and in the limo in the Highest Definition.
The AEW World Heavyweight Title Contract Signing ended up different than the usual wrestling contract signing, not like that’s hard to do. They did it on the entrance ramp instead of in the ring – oooooh! Jericho teased flipping the table – oooooh! Jericho, with his Dolph Ziggler blowout and pumpkin suit, is so good on-screen as heel champ that I really don’t even care if the matches end up terrible.
Oh yeah, Brandi Rhodes has activated Awesome Kong. I liked Captain Lou’s reaction the best: “Is she a voodoo sorceress now?”
Now, it did take only five weeks for Tony Khan to be an on-screen character even if he wasn’t technically on-screen. And… look. That’s annoying, but Jon Moxley confronting him behind closed doors with subtitles was an attempt at something. And every attempt at something is not going to hit. I still appreciate attempts at somethings. I hope they don’t over-use Big Tony and I really hope they don’t over-use this Lights Out stip.
Mox’s promo was good though and him laying out “The Librarian” Peter Avalon is why you have “The Librarian” Peter Avalon around.
Top Plays of the Week
3. Referee Bryce Remsburg puts Orange Cassidy’s sunglasses back on: Just in time for the camera zoom-out. Beautiful.
2. Cody & Tony’s Casual Conversation: It felt both different than WWE’s stuff AND more major league, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that combo.
1. Fenix’s Quadruple-Jump Armdrag: Holy.
Dum Dum’s Got Something to Say
3. “I’m gonna do some real cowboy shit!” is a once-in-a-generation catchphrase. Let’s build on this, people.
2. A tag team being named “The Hybrid2” is stupid. Please change it.
1. The Elite has got to prove they are elite again. AEW plays to the base, but they’re relying on the same “past” for The Elite that WWE usually relies on for main roster call-ups from NXT and then everybody wonders why it didn’t get over. Bucks losing to Private Party early was a cool move, but between the Kenny/Moxley feud and the weirdly extended wave to New Japan in Kenny’s intro this week and the Bucks’ gimmick right now being basically guys’ who got rich and became executives via t-shirt promotion, we’ve some work to do.
Pfizer Presents, The Scariest Side Effects of the Week
3. Sammy Guevera: I think he’s very good in his role, his face just pisses me off.
1. Tony Khan Talks to Jon Moxley Behind Closed Doors: Please stop.
1. Spot City: My favorite stuff this week was all out of the ring. Most of the in-ring was that type of Real Fun match that doesn’t register a minute later. I liked the AEW Tag Team Title Tournament Finals, but when Captain Lou brought up Kazarian’s table bump it occurred to me that I legitimately did not remember it.
5 Questions
5. Where was Darby?
4. Where is Shawn Spears?
3. Has this question gimmick become redundant?
2. Wouldn’t I ask any questions needed within the writing itself?
1. Alright, the Undertale stuff was a little silly wasn’t it?
Top 10
10. The Young Bucks
9. Shanna
8. Darby Allin
7. PAC
6. MJF
5. Jon Moxley
4. Riho
3. Fenix
2. Chris Jericho
1. Cody
The Wrestling
BOOOOOOOO’s for Sammy Guevera, BOOOOOO’s. He and Hangman Adam Page got some time and everybody involved might want to note that Hangman straight slapping Sammy in the face got a bigger pop than all the cool-ass little wrestling exchanges they did. “At Full Gear, I’m gonna do some real cowboy shit!” is as good a go-home line as I can think of
Honestly really enjoyed newcomer Shanna, Portugal’s Greatest Athlete or something, entering to near silence followed by polite applause. It brought back memories of a pro wrestling where everything didn’t have to be a moment, when you could just trot out a newbie on TV and say get to work. She went 10+ with Hikaru Shida and at times it got a little clunky but I can’t say they lost anyone. They even might’ve impressed some people.
Rick & Morty introduced Best Friends & Orange Cassidy who were dressed as Rick & Morty characters and wrestled John Silver, Alex Reynolds & QT Marshall, AEW’s very own recurring job squad. The Friends got their shit in while Trent tried to keep his wig on and the match built to an incredible spot with Orange Cassidy, this enigma of a man who is so different than anything else.
Kenny Omega‘s intro getting hacked (complete with an Ibushi silhouette!) was a legitimate extended piece of video production and as it blew my mind, I wondered what it could be: at best, we’re setting up a crazy new feud. At worst, it’s The Dark Order. At better than best, Jon Moxley used his time off to get very good at computers.
It ended up just being Omega having a custom intro for the Rick & Morty show. Damn.
Hybrid2 & “SUUUUUPERBAD” Kip Sabian were fine generic ridiculously athletically gifted foils for Omega and The Young Bucks – THE ELITE – having their first go in a while.
The main event was the finals of the AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky of SoCal Uncensored vs. Pentagon & Fenix of The Lucha Bros. And it was, like, THE All Elite Wrestling tag team match. They did ALL the stuff, and it wasn’t a re-invention or an epic or some big moment but it was really good and if you haven’t seen these guys do their thing before, really really really good. Fenix is unreal though, every time I see him wrestle it’s something new or at least something he’s already done done with even more hangtime. He’s in the main event for the tag titles and still feels underutilized. It wasn’t the finals anyone thought, but it delivered.
Official Star Rating
4.25 out of 5 Stars
