Title Tuesday – Cable Dahmer Arena, Independence, MO
Commentary – Taz, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur
Christian starts the show with a promo in the production truck, He says this is biggest show and he is the biggest star. Not gonna lie he is right, nothing is as good in wrestling as to what Christian is doing right now. He talks about the implications tonight with Swerve Strickland facing Daniel Bryan who the winner will face him on Collision.
Singles Match
Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland with Prince Nana
Winner will face Christian for the TNT Championship. Big match with big stakes. I think a lot of Swerve Strickland and I really think he could be a world champion very soon. This is the kind of matches you want to put him in, against top guys like Danielson.
Both men go toe to toe in the early goings.
They took it to the outside apron where Bryan took a nasty bump on the corner apron.
Swerve got nailed by Danielson’s knees on a 450 splash that allowed him to gain control, nailing his top rope drop kick then into his trademark kicks to the chest.
Both men brawled on the outside until Swerve hanged Danielson up on the outside and hit him with a Swerve stomp which looked nasty.
Swerve tried another top rope assault but was reversed by Danielson in a single crab then switched into another leg lock.
Danielson nailed his kick and knee strikes on Swerve and put him into the labelle lock, swerve breaking the submission with his legs.
Strickland hit some big moves into the Swerve drop with Bryan narrowly kicking out.
Prince Nana tried to distract the referee so Swerve could use a foreign object but he was stopped by Hangman Page who came out of nowhere to steal the object off him.
Bryan hit his flying knees for the win in a hard fought contest.
This is back to back shows where Bryan has been the match of the night. Excellent.
A package of Samoa Joe was next hyping him going for the AEW world title on Collision.
Singles Match
Chris Jericho Vs Powerhouse Hobbs
Hobbs made his return recently and aligned himself with the Don Callis family. This match is a tough spot for both men to be in. Jericho is in this storyline against the Don Callis Family where I feel it’s not doing anything for him and as a Chris Jericho fan I feel he should be doing something more important on the show.
Hobbs on the other hand has just returned. He has all the potential in the world and looks like a million bucks, so to put him in this kind match straight away I think is a mistake. Hobbs overpowered Jericho for a good portion of this match, hitting some high impact moves including a crushing spine buster that looked like it took the wind out of Jericho.
Jericho was dominated and Hobbs got the pin. I didn’t like this at all. I’m happy for Hobbs because I think you need to push this guy but at the expense of Chris Jericho, I feel like this could have been done better.
Another segment of Adam Cole at Roderick Strongs house was next, this time Roderick wants him to cut his grass. Adam obliges and cuts his grass. Cole tries to leave again but Roderick says he has something for him in the house. It was a neck strong shirt which Cole was wearing in the next scene.
I’m not understanding what this neck strong gimmick is as in the weeks I’ve been watching it hasn’t been explained and secondly I don’t know what Roderick Strong has over Adam Cole to make him do anything he wants.
Same as the last segment the scene ends with Adam trying to leave with Roderick saying he needs one more thing.
AEW International Championship match
Rey Fenix (c) vs Orange Cassidy
I thought this match was suppose to be Jon Moxley but I guess it was changed? These guys wrestled like you had the the fast forward button clicked to plus 5, super quick back and forth exchanges.
Fenix sold his back again, it has been an issue in the last couple shows. He tried a suplex off the top rope but couldn’t lift because of his back.
Cassidy hit some big spinning DDT’s, Fenix tried a lot of highflying moves but failed due to his back problem. Orange Cassidy hit the orange punch and then rolled him in the mouse trap pin for the win to become the new International Champion.
Timeless Toni Storm backstage was next, she had made her own short film and played it for the viewer at home. I was kinda like her doing silent improv acting and it was a bit silly. This is to be continued so we will see where this goes.
Singles Match
Wardlow vs Matt Sydell
Another enhancement match to get Wardlow over, a bunch of power bombs and yet another TKO victory. I particularly like one of the power bombs which was in the style of Scott Norton back in day, kudos.
Singles Match
Hangman Adam Page vs Jay White with Bulletclub Gold
Jay White still had MJF’s world championship and was parading it around like he was the actual champion. The Gunns and Juice Robinson sat around barricade cheering on their stable mate.
Both these guys went for more a classic wrestling match, slower, methodical, lots of chops and whips into the turnbuckle.
Hangman hit a great counter for Jay Whites crossbody into a DVD driver. Hangman punished Jay white with a pop up powerbomb on the outside apron.
Hangman seemed to tweak his knee during the match and continued to sell i through the match. It didn’t stop him from doing a moon salt to the outside to connect with Jay White which seemed to make it worse. Jay White went after the injured knee and it become a crutch for Hangman as it was Whites way to always get back in the match.
Hangmen almost won the match with his Deadeye finisher with White kicking out narrowly.
Prince Nana from the Mogul Embassy made his way down to hit Adam Page with a foreign object, he failed but allowed the distraction for White to roll up Hangman, grab a hand full of tights and pick the victory.
MJF came out after the match was over to demand his belt back. Jay White on the mic stirred the crowd which resulted in them telling him to “Shut the F%#zK up”
Jay said he had to earn his title back and if he could get a team of four to face his team of four then maybe he could earn it. Juice Robinson had a roll of quarters with Friedman on it, he said was going to use them on MJF. MJF was irate, called Juice a piece of shit and left to the back.
Another Toni Storm package was next, it was a part 2 from the previous package, This was much the same as the first with Toni silently improvising with her facials to tell the story.
AEW Womens World Championship Match
Saraya (c) vs Hakiru Shida
Shida took it Saraya in early goings. The match was a little clunky at times and felt little disjointed.
A masked women came and to try to interfere on the outside but was stopped and unmasked by Shida. It was Ruby Soho who had some really bad acting and facials.
Toni Storm came out down the ramp and chased Ruby Soho out of the arena.
The match continued in the ring, Saraya hit some big moves on her opponent including her DDT but could not put Shida away.
Shida rolled Saraya into a submission and then into a sneaky pin, potentially using the ropes for leverage to become a 3 times women’s champion.
Not sure where this title change came from as Saraya just won it recently and I was assuming she would continue her feud with Storm. Not really a title run I’m excited about with Shida as champ, I know little to nothing about her.
Backstage Dan Callis and Takeshita used cue cards to get their point across about what they have done to Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega and that the revenge was far from over.
Backstage it’s Renee Paquette with MJF, he said he doesn’t feel like being interviewed and just wants to talk to Adam Cole. He rings but it doesn’t seem to be Cole on the other line. The Acclaimed and Daddy ass come in the scene. Max Caster offers MJF them as partners to face the Bang Bang Gang. Daddy ass asks Max what is his infatuation with MJF.
Adam Copeland vs Luchasaurus
Christian comes to the ring with Luchasaurus and cuts a great promo, takes a little jab at WWE’s The Judgment day. A stable Adam Copeland started. He said he is the hottest star in wrestling and says it’s funny how Adam has tag team aspirations now when his career is on a downward slope. Christian references Adam’s girls and said they will have a new Daddy.
Adam Copelands music hits as he runs to the ring, Nick Wayne runs behind and trips Copeland underneath the ropes allowing Luchasaurus to jump Copeland and gain the advantage. Luchasaurus beat down Copeland for a good portion of this match.
Copeland started to come back and Christian came down to ringside to nail his former friend with the TNT title, Copeland fought off Christian and ended up taking it off Christian and hitting Luchasaurus with it, he then tossed the title back to Christian.
I like how they done this because it created the seeds of doubt as Luchasaurus looked at Christian like he hit him with the title.
Adam Copeland hit the spear on Luchasaurus and got his first win in AEW.
Nick Wayne jumped in and attacked Copeland. Bryan Danielson came out to help, followed by Blackpool combat club, Mogul Embasssay and Swerve Strickland and then Hangman Page, bodies were flying everywhere, and chaos erupted.
The show goes off the air with Bryan tapping out Christian with the labelle lock setting up their title match for the upcoming Collision.
Smart move for AEW to end the show with the hottest angle on the show, Christian is gold right now and it’s great to see him be the focal point of the show.
