Liacouras Centre Philadelphia PA
Commentary – Tony Schiavone, Excalibur and Taz.
Backstage with Renee Paquette interviewing MJF. MJF calls up Adam Cole on his phone and said he is glad he got out of the psycho Roderick Strong’s house and got surgery.
Before the interview can take place Strong in his wheelchair wheels himself into the scene with Mike Bennett and Matt Taven.
Strong says everyone knows he is the man in the devil mask but it doesn’t matter he will help MJF.
MJF pushes Strong’s wheelchair out of the scene and cuts a promo on tonight’s challenger Juice Robinson and that he has a bullet with his name on it and he won’t miss.
Dynamite Diamond Ring Match
MJF (c) vs Juice Robinson (with The Gunns)
From MJF’s body language you could tell he was in a foul mood and meant business, he threw his jacket at Juice Robinson and attacked him, stomping a mud hole through him in the corner posts, beating his ass from pillar to post all around the ring and the outside.
Juice was now busted open from the attack which was going to get a lot worse with steps involved until the Gunns distraction allowed a window for Juice to nail MJF and get back in the match.
Juice used MJF’s scarf to choke him in the middle of the ring. Jay White came out to observe from the top of the ramp.
The Gunns inference didn’t work out this time around as they tried to throw the scarf back into Juice but MJF got a hold on it off him and choked Juice as the referee was distracted.
MJF did the big 10 count punches in the corner but instead of doing the tenth his bit into Juice’s bloody forehead leaving him with blood all around his mouth, gross.
MJF hit his comical Kangaroo Kick and was looking like he was going to win but once again the Gunns distraction allowed Juice to get back in the match.
The Gunns were trying to distract the referee again but he had enough and started to kick their hands away from the ropes, not sure why he doesn’t just eject them.
While the ref was distracted by The Gunns, Juice put his fake ring on to try hit MJF, little did he know that MJF was putting his Dynamite Dozen ring on as well as he nailed Juice with it, he nailed both The Gunns as well and hit his Heatseeker finisher on Juice for the win.
The Gunns jump MJF after the match, Roderick Strong in his wheelchair, Mike Bennet and Matt Taven came down the ramp to help MJF, they failed as The Gunns, Juice Robinson and now Jay White cleared them out and were now in the ring with MJF.
The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass came down and The Bang Bang retreat.
Jay White and The Gunns cut a promo at the top the ramp. MJF says he getting back his belt so he accepts their challenge so next week on Dynamite it will be MJF and partners of his choosing against The Bang Bang Gang.
Now it was Roderick Strong’s time to talk, he says MJF is picking him, Taven and Bennett as his partners, MJF tells them to ride off a cliff.
Max Caster chimes in to say he is going to pick them right? MJF insults Caster saying that he never liked him and he would never tag with him even if his body was on fire and the only way to put it out was to tag with him. Caster responded with “Your saying there is a chance”?
Caster asks for MJF to scissor him, MJF closes his hand and exits. Just as MJF was at the top of the ramp Kenny Omega comes out for a stair down with MJF.
Kenny Omega got the mic. Kenny requests a title shot and MJF agrees for a match for the world title on this Saturdays Collision.
MJF showed great aggression and viscousness in this match, this mean streak really works for him.
I do think they are putting too much angles and feuds with MJF and this segment in particular had way too many moving parts. I think giving away MJF vs Omega on free TV and not PPV is a huge mistake also.
Wardlow said he has been gone not because he was injured but because he was in a dark place.
He blamed MJF and said he is going to take everything from him. Another example of too much going on with MJF.
Tag Team Match
Jon Silver and Alex Reynolds vs Hook and RVD
Silver and Reynolds were already in the ring so this match seems like it was designed for RVD and Hook to get the win.
This is a good little team for Hook to be in to learn from RVD, I’ve found Hook to be a little green so this maybe is a good way for him to get to the next level.
The finish came after Silver tried to kick RVD’s head off but missed, Hook grabbed him and locked in the choke grapple to tap Silver out.
Predictable match on to the next.
Tony Storm Vignette
Another one of these black and white clips with Storm over reacting talking to RJ City, they now introduce Luther into this group, still not sure where this is going.
Tony Schiavone introduces Sting and Darby Allin to the ring. Sting is on his retirement run, he said that Darby is the best tag team partner he has ever had, he also thanked Tony Kahn for making the call to bring him in.
Tony Kahn had a gift for Sting. It turns out to be Ric Flair and for the first time in AEW. A “Holy Shit” chant erupted from the crowd.
Flair put over Sting as one of the best ever and he would be there for the ride.
Christian Cage came out with Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne.
Christian had a great line, he said Tony Kahn bought Sting a gift of A suit with gold chains and a black liver. He compared Flair to the movie Weekend at Burnies and said he looked great sarcastically.
He said he knew there wasn’t a god, because if there was, Flair would have been dead 20 years ago. Brutal! A “F#%k you Christian” erupted from the crowd.
Christian took more jabs at Flair and challenged Sting and Darby Allan to find a partner to face him, Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne at the Full Gear PPV to which Sting accepted.
Renee Paquette interviewed Chris Jericho. He talked about how bad his beat down was at the hands of Powerhouse Hobbs.
He said his ego was damaged, he reflected and was weighing things up and teased that he knew someone bigger than Hobbs and maybe it was time to make a call.
ROH Trios Championship match
Hardys with Brother Zay vs Hangman Page and The Young Bucks (c)
Match started in the ring from the ad break, no entrances, this is the 3rd week the Hardy’s having no entrance.
I’m not liking them being involved in this trios team with Zay, they deserve better than this.
Fast paced match with frequent tags in and out with some crazy high flying spots from Zay and The Bucks.
I have to say also The Bucks don’t really feel important on the show in the last few weeks.
Hangman Page hit the buckshot lariat on Zay and The Bucks hit the BTE trigger to pick up the win and retain their titles.
A clip on the screen appeared with Swerve Strickland with Prince Nana at Hangman Page’s house.
Swerve ripped up ones of Hangman’s kids finger paintings hanging on the fridge.
He made is way into Hangman baby’s room and threw a Mogul Embassy shirt into the cot.
This was good, I think this is something that makes the feud more personal instead of just matches over who is better. More of this would be welcomed.
Adam Copeland was backstage with Renee discussing if anything had changed with Christian, Darby Allin and Sting came into the scene.
Darby Allin said don’t be stupid, his fairytale ending with his best friend wasn’t happening and this wasn’t the world they were in. Sting interrupted and said Copeland had blinders on and he needs to wake up, he shook Copeland and said wake up before it’s too late.
AEW Womens Championship match
Hikura Shida (c) vs Ruby Soho
A match with no heat, I haven’t been given a reason to care either way with the way these two have been presented even though Shida is the champion yet I still don’t know anything about her.
A felt the crowd didn’t seem to care either way either and that’s nothing to do with them as they busted thier ass in the ring, just there is a lack of connection with the presentation of these women.
Shida retained her title and was interrupted by Toni Storm and her music, nothing happened, literally.
MJF backstage with Renee was interrupted by Samoa Joe, he offered to be MJF’s partner but said on condition he would get a rematch for the AEW championship.
Tag Team Match
Orange Cassidy and Okada vs Daniel Bryan vs Claudio Castagnoli
Cassidy took a beating for most of this match until he made the hot tag to Okada who did the you hit me and then I hit you spot with Danielson. Okada’s chest was red and welted after this exchange.
Okada’s chest got a lot worse as Bryan kicked his chest with his trademark strikes. Both went at it at a fast pace and collided in a double clothesline allowing both to tag out.
Cassidy standing right next to Claudio looks like such a mismatch, He got Cassidy in the big swing and locked in the Scorpion death lock with was broken by Okada.
Okada and Cassidy did a silly hugging spot which ended up coming back to haunt them as Claudio ended up taking Okada out and hit Cassidy with the uppercut to win the match.
After the match, Danielson had some injury angle going on as he clutches his eye, bit of a flat end to the show.
I think this show was a direct response to being beat by NXT the previous week, there was less wrestling on this show than previous weeks and more promos packages and backstage segments.
It just had too many things going on, MJF is way overbooked on this show and in general. It’s overkill in my view.
