Well, the build-up has been impressive, but can the PPV live up to the hype they have created with the Dynamite TV show? This is possibly the first PPV I’ve looked forward to in a long time. As in, the whole PPV, not just a couple of matches.
Let’s see if it can live up to my utterly unrealistic expectations? Thoughts!
Oh, and Taz is on commentary for the pre-game? Wow.
1) Bea Priestly v Britt Baker
A little sloppy at times, still not a bad match to put on the Buy-In (pre-show). Baker is improving every time I see her, but there is still some work to do before she should be champ. Nice destroyer, though. Priestley is showing something, though. This felt like a good rivalry, as well, not just a thrown together match. In the end, Baker won with her lockjaw submission. And then the Brandi Rhodes thing started to become reality. She and Awesome Kong came out. Kong knocked Priestly out, gave a knife to Rhodes, and then they cut a hunk of Priestly’s hair off. That was incredibly heelish, but done to another heel. Okay, this sort of sh*t annoys me. It doesn’t add anything except stupid soap opera story-lines and will never lead to a payoff that is satisfying for the crowd. It happened in TNA – what came of it? I think this is a misstep.
2) The Young Bucks v Santana & Ortiz (Proud’n’Powerful)
A good match that was actually more of the standard tag team match instead of the high spot exhibition the Young Bucks have demonstrated thus far. The best part of the match was when Nick Jackson kicked the ring-post and then sold the leg really well throughout. Really good opener, and I think the idea behind keeping it a little more grounded is not to take away from the tag title match later on. And, to my personal surprise, Santana & Ortiz got the pin! Yeah, I liked it.
3) The Rock’n’Roll Express are in the front row. After the match, Sammy Guevara comes out and all three beat down the Bucks, until the R’n’R make the save! Ricky Morton hit a Canadian Destroyer!! Then he hit a suicide dive!! The man is in his 60s!! Holy f*ck!! No, seriously, HOLY F*CK!!
4) Pac v Hangman Adam Page
This was a hard-hitting, intense match. The moves were strong and they delivered and took some very nice moves. (Brain buster on the chair outside by Pac on Page looked nasty.) Both men looked good here. My only complaint is this is a match I would have liked to have seen go a little longer. Yes, I did like it, and it felt like there was more left. Page won with the Deadeye, but I honestly did not know who was going to win watching it until the three was counted.
5) Shawn Spears (with Tilly Blanchard) v Joey Janela
A brawl but it felt odd to me. Janela’s hair was tied to a tag rope at one point and he had to rip part out to continue (what is it with hair tonight)? Tully got involved, an exposed turnbuckle got involved, and Spears won. Highlight – Tully and Spears delivering a spike piledriver on the floor. Just a match. Not terrible, but nothing to rave about.
6) Kip Sabian interviewed by Goldenboy. Because… yeah. He basically said that he and the hyped Penelope Ford are now an item. Yeah. PPV worthy announcement. Surely.
7) Tag Team Titles: Private Party v Lucha Brothers v SCU (c)
Started off a little disjointed – maybe Private Party need a little more time, although Kucha Bros were guilty more than the others – but eventually got into the nice high-flying groove we were all expecting going into this. Some nice spotfest-y moves, cool double teams and it was a lot of fun. And the ending came when SCU hit the SCU-Later on Isaiah Kassidy to retain. Then the Lucha Brothers attacked the champs until some-one came out dressed like Pentagon, and made the save, and it is the returning Christopher Daniels. Nice ending there as well.
8) Women’s Title: Emi Sakura v Riho (c)
Student v teacher. One of the better (if not the best) women’s match in AEW to date. These two put on a good match, and it was one of the better matches of the night. It was the smaller, younger Riho simply outlasting the polder Sakura. Nice finishing sequence saw Riho retain. Yes, it was a good match, and I enjoy watching Riho wrestle. Now, I mentioned in a few of my Dynamite 10 Thoughts that WWE is way above AEW in the women; well, that still stands. However, a few more like this, and the other women – like Baker and Priestly and Hayter and Shanna – learning from these two, and they will start to close the gap.
9) AEW World Title: Cody Rhodes v Chris Jericho (c)
And your judges are Dean Malenko, Arn Anderson and Great Muta. This was a good match. A really good match. It was a wrestling match, very akin to the old-fashioned NWA (pre-WCW) main event style, though with more flow and better story-telling. The ending, though. Look, I have no issues with the corner-man for Cody (MJF) throwing in the towel. It gave it a real sporting event feel. But two things. One – Cody is seriously never going to challenge again? When (not if) he does, then this will be WCW all over again. Two – MJF turning on Cody at the end with a ball shot? Has he joined the Inner Circle? Does that mean it’s like the nWo when we get a new member every week, watering it down? I am starting to have some concerns. There is more than a whiff of the WCW arising at times.
10) Lights Out (Unsanctioned) Match: Kenny Omega v Jon Moxley
All right, I am not the biggest fan of hardcore wrestling. Especially when you have a show that is garbage match after garbage match. Well, this was the only one on the card, so it stood out, the two combatants made it feel like it meant something, the build-up logically led here (logically… as opposed to throwing some randoms into a HiaC), and it was freakin’ brutal. Blood, carnage and sick bumps that all looked painful. They looked like they genuinely did not like one another and wanted to hurt each other. Through the crowd, chairs, barbed wire, broken glass, exposed wood, it all got used to violent effect. Great way to finish the show, to be honest. Mox won. Wow. I mean… wow.
Okay, MOTN is tough. Mox v Omega or Pac v Page… call it a tie. They were different sorts of matches and both really good in their own way. Cody/Jericho was also close. This was another really strong PPV. One dud match only. Good average.
Oh, and tonight’s MVP? Ricky f’n Morton. 60-plus years old…
