AEW RISING AND FADING STARS: Redemption was the first AEW PPV with more negative than positive, but the Bucks and Speedball shined

Welcome everyone!

I hope you all have enjoyed a good week since my last column. I was on last week’s AEW Dynamite Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show, so check it out.

Without giving anything away, let’s see who landed where on my list this week.

RISING STAR OF THE WEEK

THE YOUNG BUCKS

Matt & Nick Jackson are not in this position because their match was great. Instead, they are here because they pinned a 3-time AEW World Champion, Jon Moxley in the middle of the ring and are now heading to All In London for a chance to win the AEW Tag Team Titles.

While I did not enjoy the story told throughout the Young Bucks vs. Mox & Will Ospreay match, I like that the Bucks are now telling more stories within the ring. We all know how talented they are at doing everything else inside the ring, but the storytelling has gotten better and better over the last 7 years.

With the match now set – The Bucks challenging Christian Cage & Adam Copeland – I am intrigued with what kind of story we are going to get from the two legendary teams. This is the biggest tag match, with traditional tag teams, that AEW can put on right now – four guys from two different generations squaring off for the first time.

This match is the type of match you want – no, need – on AEW’s biggest show of the year. I cannot wait.

RUNNER UP – “SPEEDBALL” MIKE BAILEY

The crowd heat throughout the show was lacking for a lot of parts. One place it was not lacking was any time Speedball was on offense during the opening match. Him winning was the correct call.

Then I enjoyed his post-match interview. His International Title match with Kyle Fletcher should be really good and it will be the second Fletcher title defense not on soil in the United States, which I also like for the International Title.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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FADING STAR OF THE WEEK

REDEMPTION PPV

I will give credit where credit is due: AEW does not typically miss on PPV. Even as they have slowly added shows throughout the years, each one tends to have some kind of meaning. This one tried, but failed.

My first issue is match length. Why does every match end within 10 minutes of each other’s overall time? I am just going to call out one match for time, but it’s not the only match I could call out.

Why am I watching a 17 minute Bang Bang Gang vs. Dogs match? AEW, or just Tony Khan, needs to give time limits to the wrestlers. The match did not need to be on the PPV; that’s my first point. Second, the match would have been so much better had it been 10-12 minutes. Instead, if you add entrances, we got almost 30 minutes of those four on our screens. Neither group has earned that time… at least not yet. Not to mention David Finley almost dumped Jay White on his head, but then again I believe White did the same to Clark Connors.

There was no drama in the fake drama. I watch wrestling because I want to see wrestling stories play out on my television. I don’t want to hear about someone yelling in the ring to kill someone (that’s aimed at you, Juice Robinson). I don’t want to see a guy, in the context of a fight, have a moral dilemma about hurting his opponent, Will Ospreay. And I sure as shit do NOT want to see the another plastic bag spot… EVER! This PPV had all three and I could go on.

The women’s matches underdelivered. One reason, for me, was the wrong person won both women’s matches.

Hikaru Shida vs. Maya World was fine, but went too long and felt like it should have been on television. Shida is a more compelling personality, right now, and that’s what the Women’s Division needs. Then on some of the closing 2 count sequences, Maya didn’t even lift her shoulder. Someone tell her just sticking her arm in the air is not a shoulder lift.

Thekla vs. Willow was a good match, but I don’t know if I can give an unbiased opinion on this one. I do not feel Willow is in the place to win that title right now and Thekla earned a big spot on the All In London show with her title reign.

So, for me, this is the first time in their history I did not enjoy more than I disliked on an AEW PPV. Rendemption was a rushed build and you could feel it. The lack of crowd heat for most of the show told you there was not an emotional investment in most of the matches.

I am happy they have five weeks to build the rest of All In London because pulling a compelling card together in two weeks did not work. Already two of the three matches announced for All In London I already have more emotional investment in than any one match on Redemption.