For some reason that completely escapes my thought process right now, AEW has decided to have a pay-per-view one week after holding their previous pay-per-view. To make things even worse, there are even some AEW diehards who will tell you the card for this show isn’t quite up to par with a lot of the company’s pay-per-view outings. There are several matches on this show that would be better fits for Dynamite, Rampage, or Collision instead.
Does that mean the matches will be bad? I would venture a guess and say that the in-ring quality of this show won’t be affected much, but there are just some glaring omissions on this card. Either way, I’m locked and loaded, and I’m ready to go, so let’s get things started.
MJF & Adam Cole vs John Silver & Alex Reynolds – RoH Tag Team Title Match
The people complaining that the AEW World Title isn’t being defended on this show aren’t going to be happy that the World Champion is in the show opener, defending the RoH Tag Team Titles. This is certainly a choice. On the bright side, putting MJF and Cole in the first match is guaranteed to get this Chicago crowd going right away.
This was put together in a very “old school” way. We got MJF being taken out of the match early on with a neck injury, leaving Cole to work the match by himself for a while, only for MJF to make his heroic return. The Dark Order duo looked good, as they always do, as they controlled the match with MJF gone. This was fun. It’s not anything people will consider a great match, but it did its job, and it did it well. 3 Stars
Samoa Joe vs Shane Taylor – RoH Television Title Match
Shane Taylor is a lot of fun to watch. You wouldn’t know it based on the complete lack of reaction he received from this crowd during his entrance. I’m not saying he’s a gigantic megastar that everyone in the world should know, but the average AEW fans are a different breed than the average WWE fans. The AEW crowd should know more about Taylor, and react accordingly. They’re reacting like he’s some random job guy from out of nowhere.
There wasn’t a ton to review here. It wasn’t a squash match or anything like that. In fact, Taylor looked really good when he was on offense. This, however, was certainly a vehicle to show how much of a monster Samoa Joe is, and frankly, that works for me. It was fun while it lasted, and obviously some extra time would’ve improved the rating, but it’s difficult to give a high rating to any match that barely reached the six-minute mark. 3 Stars
Luchasaurus vs Darby Allin – AEW TNT Title Match
The $50 episode of Rampage continues on.
Darby took classes at the Jon Moxley School Of Bleeding during the week, as he was bleeding buckets seemingly 90 seconds after the opening bell.
With these two involved, you know exactly what you’re going to get in a match. That’s not a complaint. I’m just saying that it’s the “monster” going up against the “scrappy underdog” in a clash of styles, and that’s what we saw. As I’ve mentioned a million times before, Darby makes those types of matches better because he wrestles like someone who is a lot bigger than he actually is, as he uses his body as a dangerous weapon. 3.25 Stars
Miro vs Powerhouse Hobbs
Big. Meaty men. Slappin’ meat. This was yet another match that delivered exactly what you expected it to, and once again, that isn’t a complaint at all. Unfortunately, a lot of it happened to relatively tame crowd reactions. For the most part, the crowd has been disappointing, outside of the opening match. It took a while, but they finally came alive with Big E tributes, first chanting “slap that meat” and then chanting “meat” with every offensive move performed by both men, and finally chanting “this is meaty” at times. We even got a “meat forever” chant.
Miro needed to look strong here. He did. Hobbs needed to look strong here. He did. Even better is the fact that the feud clearly isn’t over yet, so we’ll get at least one more opportunity to see them fight. More newsworthy, though, is that we saw the AEW debut of Lana, CJ Perry, or whatever her name will be here, coming to the rescue of Miro as he was being attacked by Hobbs after the match. It wasn’t a happy reunion, though, as Miro simply stared at her and walked out of the ring before yelling that she’s “not real.” Okay then. 3.5 Stars
Kris Statlander vs Ruby Soho – AEW TBS Title Match
Another match that took place to a largely quiet response from the crowd. That’s unfortunate, as both women worked really hard to make this entertaining. What’s really unfortunate, though, is that AEW hasn’t been able to capitalize on the momentum Statlander should’ve had after beating Jade Cargill to win the TBS Title over three months ago. She has almost become just another woman on the roster, and I hate that.
Speaking of things I hate, I continue to completely despise that bitch ass Excalibur for continuing to spoil the outcome of almost every match he calls. I do not give one fuck if it’s an order coming down from Tony Khan himself. Excalibur is supposed to be the smarter, fan-friendly play-by-play guy. He shouldn’t be the one falling to the usual lame ass wrestling commentator tropes. Do better, you masked twat. 3.25 Stars
Bryan Danielson vs Ricky Starks – Strap Match
I can’t express to you how happy it makes me that Europe’s “The Final Countdown” wasn’t just brought back for one Bryan Danielson appearance.
Danielson is another enrollee at the Jon Moxley School Of Bleeding, coming up with a crimson mask early on in the match. At least it makes more sense here with the match type.
We know that there are certain physical limitations in a Strap Match, as there’s only so much that can be done when you’re tied to your opponent, but we also know that there’s going to be lots of violence in a Strap Match. That’s what we saw. There were some strap strikes that sounded like a gun being fired in the arena, especially when Danielson was delivering them.
This was such a blast. Lots of great work from both men in between all of the strap shots. Both men are bloodied, battered, and bruised. 4.25 Stars
Eddie Kingston & Katsuyori Shibata vs Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta
Shout-out to Kingston for the “Claudio Sucks Eggs” shirt he wore to the ring. We continue to miss you, Terry Funk.
I really enjoyed this match. It was a great combination of the hard-hitting Japanese style and the pure technical style, which are two of my absolute favorites in this wonderful sport. Lots to like, even though it might not have crossed the line between a “really good” match and a “great” match. 3.75 Stars
Kenny Omega vs Konosuke Takeshita
I’ve been waiting to see these two face each other one-on-one for a long time now, and this didn’t disappoint at all. Such an amazing battle, and both men looked like bonafide stars. Takeshita proved that he could/should be a future AEW World Champion with his performance, and Omega continued to prove that he is one of the absolute greatest wrestlers of this generation.
It wouldn’t surprise, nor bother, me if we got to see another singles match between these two down the road with much bigger stakes on the line. 4.5 Stars
FTR & The Young Bucks vs “Switchblade” Jay White, Juice Robinson & The Gunns – Eight-Man Tag Match
There has been a shocking lack of CM Punk-related chants or reactions from this Chicago crowd… until now. Let’s just say that Matt and Nick Jackson are not the most popular people in the state of Illinois tonight. Whenever either of the Bucks was in the match, loud boos could be heard, but hey, I’m just glad that the crowd is involved. They’ve been quiet for too many stretches tonight.
As the match went on, the pace quickened more and more, and by the time we got to the finish, things were at a fever pitch. Absolute chaos, and I loved every moment of it. The dynamic of FTR and the Bucks being teammates was fun, and the crowd reactions to Punk’s friends and Punk’s enemies made it even more fun. 4 Stars
Orange Cassidy vs Jon Moxley – AEW International Title Match
Even with the crazy run he has been on during his title reign, it is still super strange to see Orange Cassidy and the International Title in the main event of an AEW pay-per-view.
Blood was spilled early in the match, and it flowed freely, making a mess of any and everything it came in contact with.
I know, I know… you’re not surprised.
What if I told you it was Orange Cassidy that was bleeding?
Another really good match in a night that was full of them. Mox was Mox, sadistic and bloodthirsty, which presented an entirely new hurdle for Orange Cassidy, but the champion was every bit the warrior that he needed to be here. He took the best that Mox had to dish out, and he was able to hand out a beating of his own. This was a ton of fun. 4 Stars
AEW has done a really good job of making pay-per-views that exceed expectations, and this was another example of it. Nothing dipped below the 3-star mark for me, and the final five matches topped, or got close to, the 4-star mark. This was a really good night of professional wrestling action, at a time when eyes were on AEW and what they would do in the immediate aftermath of the entire CM Punk fiasco.
Now, if they could only do something about that human yeast infection, Excalibur, spoiling the result of every fucking match on every fucking show.