SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Housekeeping
· Jake Doyle suffered a tornado bicep during his and Mark Davis’s match against FTR. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out.
· Samoa Joe suffered a non-contact injury while training that will keep out for little while as well.
· Claudio Castagnoli retained his CMLL World Title over Xelhua at the CMLL show last Friday night
Intro
As the build towards Grand Slam Australia continues, AEW is presenting a must-see show tonight featuring the men’s AEW World Champion in a rare TV match and Kenny Omega fighting Andrade. While the world continues to go crazy around us, I for one am grateful that AEW presents two hours of high-quality wrestling every week as a distraction.
The Field is Narrowed
Latest Developments
The road to MJF diverged in two different directions with Andrade, Kenny Omega, “Hangman” Adam Page, and Swerve Strickland involved in a mini-tournament of sorts to determine a challenger for Revolution and Brody King getting an eliminator match for a shot at Grand Slam Australia.
Analysis
Kenny Omega opened last week’s Dynamite dispatching of Rocky Romero in short order. Rocky, posing for the camera in the corner, being completely obliterated by a V-Trigger to the back of the head was shot perfectly.
Following the match Tony Schiavone announced the mini-tournament, telling Kenny that he would face the winner of the night’s main event of Andrade El Idolo and Swerve Strickland. The winner of that match would then go on to Grand Slam Australia to fight for the right to face MJF at Revolution. Swerve and Hangman each came down to face off with Omega while Don Callis cut a promo from the stage in support of Andrade.
The main event between Andrade and Swerve was incredible. Those two had perfect in-ring chemistry combining lucha-style action with crisp strikes such as a jaw-rattling elbow from Andrade to Swerve. Swerve intercepted Andrade’s running knees in the corner with a House Call for a two. As Swerve went for Big Pressure, Andrade blocked it with a low blow behind the ref’s back and hit the DM for the win. An outstanding match and something of a statement for Andrade who’s really trying to prove himself since his return. Tonight he takes on Kenny and the winner faces the winner of the Mark Davis-Hangman match at Grand Slam Australia.
Elsewhere, MJF came out and cut another 1980s heel champion promo before Brody King interrupted him. MJF ran down Brody as a follower and said that Brody could follow him but he’d need a makeover first because he’d never seen a liberal man who looked more like a Nazi. He then moved onto reminding Brody that he hadn’t beaten anyone of note. That’s when Brody dropped the bomb that Tony Khan had granted him an eliminator match against MJF, MJF was uncharacteristically silenced by this before choking out a few words and slinking away from the ring.
This was a good segment. MJF got his insult in but kept things moving. Brody seemed completely comfortable in the most high-profile situation he’s been in thus far in AEW. It’s likely he pins MJF tonight to earn his title shot and prove that he’s a credible threat to MJF.
Grade: B+
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the “All Elite Conversation Club” with Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
Who Wants Want?
Latest Developments
Kris Statlander retained her AEW Women’s World Championship against Thekla; The Babes of Wrath retained the AEW Women’s Tag Team titles against the Sisters of Sin.
Analysis
The match between Statlander and Thekla was as good as expected. Between the ropes is where both of these women shine. Stat won clean with Night Fever. (Side note: I’m glad they’re just calling the move Night Fever now, like the Bee Gees song, instead adding whatever day she’s doing the move on to the front) I took the clean win to mean Stat was maybe moving on from Thekla especially once Megan Bayne and Penelope Ford came out and stared her down.
Fast-forward to Collision and the Babes of Wrath defending against the Sisters of Sin. I went to that thinking that the Triangle of Madness as a whole needed a win after Thekla’s loss and that the tag titles being on the Sisters would allow Willow Nightingale to focus on the TBS Title thus giving the women a third unique story. That didn’t happen. Instead Willow and Harley retained the belts. After the match the entire Triangle of Madness beat up Willow and Harley three on two until Stat came out to even the odds. All of a sudden Ford and Bayne hit the ring and joined the fray. Notably, Bayne took out Willow while Thekla laid out Stat again.
Now I’m left wondering who wants what title. Are Bayne and Ford after the tag titles? Is Thekla still going after Statlander despite losing cleanly? This needs to be sorted out posthaste because it’s a little bit confusing.
Grade: B
The Callis Family Soap Opera
Latest Developments
Kazuchika Okada apologized to Fletcher for stealing the screwdriver at Worlds End which Fletcher accepted much to the dismay of Konosuke Takeshita.
Analysis
Okada requested a moment backstage with Fletcher. He took the opportunity to apologize to Fletcher for using the screwdriver Fletcher had planted, explaining that he was just trying to win not hurt Kyle. Fletcher accepted the apology and shook Okada hand. Okada seemed sincere. There was no shit-eating grin or “bitch” afterwards. Later in the night, Callis was cutting a promo flanked on either side by Fletcher and Takeshita. He mentioned that Fletcher had forgiven Okada and that Takeshita should do the same. Once he walked off, Takeshita despondently looked at Fletcher and asked him if he had really forgiven Okada before shaking his head and walking off.
The inner Family turmoil continues. Fletcher accepting Okada’s apology would certainly seem to support my previous assertion that he will ultimately side with The Family over Takeshita when it comes down to it. Jon Moxley officially called out Takeshita for a match and followed that up by cutting a promo on Collision in which he said that Takeshita was too good for the DCF. I suspect that Mox gets his win back and that’s the point when Callis oversteps while chastising Takeshita and Takeshita finally has enough and breaks with the Family.
Grade: B+
Random Questions
– Are the Unbound Company AEW Bound?
Clark Connors had a very good match with Darby Allin on Collision in which he spent the majority of the time pulverizing Darby. The spear through the ropes to the floor at about 30mph was particularly nasty. Darby pulled out the win with the Scorpion Deathlock.
When the match was first announced, it seemed like a random match. As soon as it started though, Tony Schiavone reminded the audience that Connors was part of the newly renamed Unbound Company in NJPW with Darby’s recent rival Gabe Kidd.
Sure enough, after the match Kidd arrived to cut Darby off before he fully throw his name in the hat of potential men’s World Title challengers. He vowed to follow Darby around until he was “pushing up daisies” all while crushing him underneath the stairs.
The interesting thing is that the NJPW contracts of all four members of the Unbound Company (Kidd, Connors, David Finlay, and Drilla Maloney) have expired as of Sunday. Given his presence in AEW over the last year and his declaration on Collision, Kidd feels like a shoo-in for an AEW deal.
Fightful reported that Connors is expected to sign and that that bodes well for interest in Finlay as well. Losing even three-fourths of the Unbound Company would be a blow for New Japan but it would immediately give Darby fresh talent to work with and burnish the tag and trios divisions.
– Who’s Getting their Head Shaved?
Toni Storm and Orange Cassidy’s feud with the Death Riders took a turn this week. OC made a comment about Yuta’s hair in a backstage promo. After a squash win on Collision, Toni and OC were blindsided by Yuta and Marina Shafir. OC was isolated and that’s when Yuta brought in the scissors. Before he could actually cut any of OC’s hair though, Toni intervened and took the scissors. She then challenged Yuta and Marina to a mixed tag hair vs hair match at Grand Slam Australia.
The one weird caveat for this match is that only the person who gets pinned gets their head shaved. The way I see it, Yuta’s actually least likely to get his head shaved because he’s the person most in need of a haircut. I think it comes down to one of the women and, even though it’s Australia, I think it could go either way.
– Could a Debut Have Gone Any Better?
With a banger theme and renewed lease on life, Tomasso Ciampa made a surprise debut on last week’s Dynamite, answering Mark Briscoe’s TNT Title open challenge. On Collision on Saturday night, Ciampa and Briscoe had a very physical match which Ciampa won after absolutely blasting Briscoe with a running knee. Between the song, the presentation, and the title victory, this debut couldn’t have gone much better.
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