MJF is banged up and may or may not be walking out the door after this show.
Keith Lee is so banged up that he wasn’t able to get medically cleared for a match that is already a year too late.
Andrade El Idolo is reportedly set to finish up with AEW tonight, with those same reports saying that he could be making his return to WWE as early as the upcoming episode of Monday Night Raw.
We don’t know who The Devil is, or any of his minions, but we may very well get some answers tonight.
Chris Jericho has been torn to shreds on social media because of accusations that he has been, at best, inappropriate backstage in the past, and at worst, and outright sexual predator.
There is a lot to talk about, in and out of the ring, when it comes to AEW. With all of that going on, the company still has a pay-per-view to deliver here. AEW has a penchant for delivering on pay-per-view, no matter what is going on, so I’m looking forward to this show.
Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Mark Briscoe & Daniel Garcia vs Brody King, “Switchblade” Jay White, Rush & Jay Lethal
This is the “PWG Battle Of Los Angeles Special.” PWG loved doing matches like this at BOLA every year, where they take some/most/all of the names that weren’t in the tournament final and put them in a multi-person match on the tourney’s last day.
While the match was “random” and didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, it was a lot of fun. AEW does these six and eight-man tag matches so well, packing a shit ton of action from bell-to-bell, and allowing everyone involved to have a chance to shine.
A good pick to open the show. Lots of action, and some of the most over acts on the roster, guaranteed a strong reaction from the crowd. 3.5 Stars
Miro vs Andrade El Idolo
With as protective of AEW as their fan base is, and with all the rumors surrounding Andrade’s potential exit from the company, I’m surprised we’re not getting a WrestleMania 20 moment here. I kinda figured the crowd would treat Andrade like the Madison Square Garden crowd treated Goldberg and Brock Lesnar that night. Instead of taking a huge, creamy shit all over everything Andrade does, the crowd is almost indifferent.
While I wouldn’t say this was a bad match, I certainly wouldn’t say it was very good, either. Lots of slow, plodding moments mixed throughout. The addition of CJ Perry at ringside was almost too distracting, as there were multiple spots where the action came to an end so that she and Miro could argue. Every single time Miro and Andrade tried to get out of first gear, something would prevent it. 2.75 Stars
“Timeless” Toni Storm vs Riho – AEW Women’s Title Match
There’s something funny about the “Timeless” character being such a dedicated throwback to an era gone by, and yet, she has kinesio tape all over her left shoulder.
This was another strange one. There were a couple awkward moments, but nothing too egregious. The crowd didn’t really seem all that invested, either. There were moments when the crowd made a little bit of noise, but it wasn’t much. 3 Stars
Dustin Rhodes vs Swerve Strickland
Sigh.
They did a pre-match injury angle where Swerve placed Dustin’s ankle on a cinder block and then came down from the top with a stomp onto said ankle. Just when it seemed like the match would be over before it even started, AEW’s medical staff looks like complete fucking morons again by allowing Rhodes to compete, anyway. This, of course, affected the match itself. Dustin Rhodes is almost 55 years old, and isn’t exactly moving around like El Hijo Del Vikingo to begin with, but to make him wrestle with a badly injured foot made this sooooo slow… and sooooo… pointless. The match went on longer than it had any business going, and it didn’t do Swerve any real favors. 2 Stars. Did I jinx this show?
Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Sting & Darby Allin vs Ricky Starks, Big Bill, Konosuke Takeshita & Powerhouse Hobbs
Totally off-topic here, but it was just announced on social media that Kevin Dunn is leaving WWE. This is the single greatest day in the history of our sport, ladies and gentlemen. Fuck that fucking bucktoothed fuck. The production values on WWE programming will be infinitely better without him.
I was expecting a certain reaction from the crowd for Andrade based on real-life situations, and I didn’t get it. Perhaps I should’ve expected it for Chris Jericho based on his own real-life situation, because this Long Island crowd in Uniondale, New York is NOT supportive of Jericho. They booed him during his entrance, even though the sound of people singing along to “Judas” was louder. The boos increased once Jericho tagged in, and they increased some more whenever he performed any offense.
This match was… not good. It might’ve been the first time in his entire AEW run that Sting looked his age, and it’s not like he was asked to do a lot here. Jericho had some clunky moments, perhaps rattled a bit by the crowd reaction. Big Bill had some timing issues with both Jericho and Darby. The best parts of the match were Sammy Guevara and Konosuke Takeshita, but both men weren’t involved in the match as much as they should’ve been. This was a mess. 2 Stars. I think I did jinx the show.
Julia Hart vs Abadon – House Rules Match for the AEW TBS Title
I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think this is going to help save this show. That will put a lot of pressure on Christian Cage, Adam Copeland, Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, MJF, and Samoa Joe to do so.
I like being right, but not in this instance. This was another match that was… not good. Abadon matches are Abadon matches, and you know exactly what you’re going to get. This, unfortunately, was Julia Hart’s worst match in a long time. The pace of this match was like watching snails fuck. Realistically, this match had no business being on pay-per-view. The crowd was much more interested in “this is spooky” and “YERRR” (it’s a New York thing) chants than anything that took place in the ring. Even the finish was botched. Yikes. 1 Star
Christian Cage vs Adam Copeland – No Disqualification Match for the AEW TNT Title
Cage celebrated his 50th birthday exactly one month ago. Copeland’s 50th birthday was exactly one month before that. Even with that said, the pace of this match was so much faster than just about anything we’ve seen tonight.
This wasn’t a TLC Match, but it might as well have been one. All three elements were involved and used here. During Copeland’s entrance, it was said that he’s wearing the same gear that he wore during his match against Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22. That choreographed the use of another element in this match… fire. So much going on here, but it was all fun. 4 Stars. That might actually be too low.
I know I said spoiler-free, but I have to spoil things to talk about what happened after the match, so consider yourselves warned. During the pre-show, Luchasaurus won a Battle Royal to earn a shot at the TNT Title whenever he wants. After Adam Copeland won this match, and therefore, won the TNT Title, Luchasaurus attacked him and wore him out. Right as he was about to cash his shot in, Christian convinced him to hand the shot over, whispering something in Luchasaurus’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s ear. Just like that, we got Copeland vs Cage again, but this time, it was over in seconds, and Cage is the new TNT Champion. Copeland’s title reign lasted all of a couple minutes. It was one of those situations that made the entire match we initially saw pointless, but at the same time, it was the PERFECT thing for Christian’s character to do.
Eddie Kingston vs Jon Moxley – Continental Classic Finals for the Continental Crown Title
The crowd has come alive after the last match. Good. They’ve been missed.
Things went back to a much slower pace here, but that was to be expected, based on who is involved. This was an ugly match, but unlike some of the other stuff we’ve seen tonight, “ugly” was a compliment. Eddie Kingston matches are going to see a lot of standing and banging, so to speak. This was no different. Both Eddie and Mox stood, toe-to-toe, and hit each other with some wildly stiff shots. Kingston, especially, seemed like he was trying to cave Moxley’s chest in. 3.5 Stars. Again, that might be a bit too low. I’ll probably need a second viewing to see.
MJF vs Samoa Joe – AEW World Title Match
After this shit show of a pay-per-view… overall, one of the worst AEW has put on in a long time… there is A LOT of pressure on AEW to get this Devil reveal right. That could be the final on-screen moment for AEW in 2023, and if it ends with the crowd being disappointed, it could be a major problem.
Another match with a slower pace, but this was also to be expected. Joe doesn’t work a speedy style, and MJF is super beat up.
To say this match featured an awkward finish would be an understatement. Nobody expected that the ending would be the ending, and there was no initial reaction to it. The match itself was fine. It was put together in a way that it was never going to be a classic, as they leaned heavily on MJF being a one-armed man and struggling to perform a lot of his offense. 3 Stars. They worked hard. Like I said, though, it just wasn’t designed to be anything special.
After the match, we did find out who The Devil is. We also found out who his minions are. Without truly spoiling it for anyone, The Devil is the man who most people assumed it was when the storyline began, and like it or not, that’s going to come with a lot of complaints from people moving forward.
Man, this was not AEW’s night. Their worst pay-per-view in recent memory, without a doubt, and in the running for one of their worst pay-per-views ever. That’s a shame.