quote:

The show opened with Jericho entering to join the commentary desk.

MJF and Wardlow then entered for the opener.

MJF cut a strong promo on Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus. He said he thought he and Wardlow had dispatched of Jungle Boy and his dinosaur once and for all. He ripped on Jungle Boy going through his daddy's money and said Luchasaurus was greener than his tongue.

MJF said he finally understood why this match was made even though he and Wardlow had already beaten Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus. He said it's because they're in a ratings war and you can't win without MJF on the front lines.

Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (w/Marko Stunt) defeated MJF & Wardlow

This was a super opener.

Jungle Boy and MJF started off. Jungle Boy hit some strikes. He tried a hurricanrana off the apron but Wardlow caught him and MJF and Wardlow took control of the bout. They traded quick tags in working over Jungle Boy.

Jungle Boy finally made a hot tag to Luchasaurus who ran wild with tail whips and a variety of kicks. Wardlow and MJF traded powerful strikes. Luchasaurus hit a death valley driver into a double down.

MJF and Jungle Boy got tags. Jungle Boy hit three straight dives to MJF. He went for a springboard attack but Wardlow tossed him over the barricade. Luchasaurus hit Wardlow with a dive.

Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus hit a tandem cutter on Wardlow. Jungle Boy hit Wardlow ith a poison rana. Marko Stunt took the referee. Luchasaurus hit a powerbomb on MJF. MJF hit Luchasurus with a thrust kick. All four men went down.

Jungle Boy hit a destroyer off the back of Luchasaurus onto Wardlow. Wardlow tossed Stunt off the stage onto Jungle Boy on the floor. Wardlow hit a swanton bomb on Luchasaurus for a two count.

The finish saw MJF accidentally hit Wardlow with his Dynamite diamond ring. Wardlow avoided one accidental punch with the ring but MJF had his arm kicked into Wardlow's face. Luchasurus hit a series of kicks and pinned Wardlow with a standing moonsault.

A commercial aired for the AEW Dynamite Puppy Battle Royale which will air next week after Fyter Fest.

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Lance Archer and Joey Janela had a pull-apart in the crowd. I saw zero masks among the dozen or so fans that were shown in this shot.

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A Hikaru Shida and Penelope Ford hype video played. Both came off as big stars in this. Well done.

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AEW Women's World Championship match: Hikaru Shida defeated Penelope Ford (w/Kip Sabian) to retain the title

Jericho called this the best match of Ford's career and he was right. Both women were awesome here.

Referee Aubrey Edwards ejected Kip Sabian before the opening bell. Sabian took Shida's kendo stick with him as he left.

Shida tried to repeat the quick win she picked up last week with a running knee strike at the opening bell. She tried for a falcon arrow but Ford slipped out.

The match went to the floor where they sent each other into the barricade. Back inside, Ford took over with a handspring back elbow in the corner and a boot in the corner. Ford hit a German into a bridge for a two count before a commercial break.

They traded strikes after the break. Ford hit an inverted DDT for a two count. They had a slap fight. Shida hit an enzuigiri. Ford hit a nice pump kick. Shida blocked a stunner and grabbed a sleeper. They botched a backbreaker spot but recovered well.

Shida hit a flacon arrow. Ford rolled through and cradled Shida for a near fall. Ford used a matrix back bend to avoid a diving attack off the top. Ford hit a stunner for a great near fall.

Ford rolled outside and grabbed the title belt. Edwards went out after her. Sabian ran in with the kendo stick. Shida ducked a kendo stick shot and hit Sabian with the stick.

Ford jumped back in and hit a stunner for a near fall. Shida hit a falcon arrow but Ford kicked out.

Shida then hit two running knee strikes for the pin.

**********

Taz broke down Jon Moxley's double arm DDT in a video package.

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TNT Championship match: Cody (w/Arn Anderson) defeated Jake Hager (w/Catalina Hager) to retain the title

Cody entered wearing a new shirt that had an old school Great American Bash theme to it.

They started very slowly. They did some mat wrestling and traded ankle lock counters. Cody hit a springboard dive to the floor and things picked up a bit. Hager came back with some throws.

The match spilled outside. Hager went after Arn and shoved him against the barricade. Cody went after Hager but ended up taking a suplex on the floor before a commercial.

Catalina walked on Cody's back during the break. After the break, Hager tried to post Cody. Arn got in his way. Cody used the distraction to post Hager.

Back inside, Hager used a sleeper. Cody walked the buckle to try to break the hold and got a two count but Hager kept the hold. Cody finally broke the hold and hit a springboard cutter off the top.

Remember when everyone started doing Spanish Flys about two years ago? The trend in wrestling right now is the pump kick. Everyone is using the pump kick. Cody used a pump kick here. Hager hit a Vader bomb for a two count.

Hager tried a second Vader bomb. Cody blocked and hit an inverted DDT for a two count. Hager hit a throw off the buckle for a two count. Hager used an ankle lock but Cody forced a rope break.

Here was the finish. Hager took the ref. Catalina slapped Cody. Hager went back to the ankle lock. Arn got in the ring and took the ref. Dustin Rhodes ran down and punched Hager. Cody went for Cross Rhodes. Hager blocked it. Hager hit a uranage and floated over into the arm triangle. Cody postured up and pinned Hager.

This match didn't do anything for me. The TNT title time limit actually hurts Cody matches because his best matches are long brawls where he can spend a long time selling. I also can't recall having seen Hager have a good outing in AEW yet.

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Hager jumped up after the match as though he had won. Hager thought Cody passed out in the hold and that's why the bell rang.

Hager knocked out the referee. A bunch of referees and road agents ran in to get Hager out of the ring.

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A Darby Allin hype video played. He was skateboarding and stuff. It was okay. Precisely as much thought went into coming up with the content for this video as it seems from this description.

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Orange Cassidy sauntered in and sat next to the commentary team with his feet on the desk.

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Private Party (w/Matt Hardy) defeated Santana & Ortiz

There was some good action in this one. Isiah Kassidy was the star of the match, he was absolutley on fire tonight.

Quen and Kassidy ran wild early with some spectacular dives. Kassidy in particular hit a great dive to the floor. Santana cut Kassidy off with a backdrop. Ortiz tagged in and hit a DDT and Santana and Ortiz established control.

Quen got a tag during a commercial break and hit some dives before he was also cut off. Kassidy got tag and hit a crazy tornillo. Kassidy hit a swanton on Ortiz for a near fall. Quen tagged in and fell victim to some tandem offense. Ortiz made a cover and Kassidy made the save for Quen.

Santana took out Kassidy on the floor. Ortiz took the ref. Santana tried to use a mad ball on Quen but Hardy jumped on the apron and took it away.

Santana and Ortiz went for the Street Sweeper. Quen pulled Santana's headband over his eyes and blocked the move. Private Party hit the Gin and Juice on Santana and Quen picked up the pin. Ortiz was just seconds late on making the save.

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Jericho and Cassidy had a pull-apart. I wouldn't even have done this angle here. As far as generating interest in their match, nothing was going to top the angle that closed last week's show. They should have just replayed that in some form. Jericho left the commentary desk for the rest of the show.

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The announcers previewed next week's show.

Private Party vs. the winners of the tag title match tonight was added to the show.

Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage for the AEW title was moved to two weeks from tonight, which will apparently be Fight for the Fallen.

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Taz and Cage entered for a promo. Taz said he's not upset that the match was moved back a week.

Taz said Moxley didn't want to come to Fyter Fest out of fear for the health of the staff and crew. Taz said that sounds good but he knows Moxley has been tested time and again at home and has tested negative. He said the only thing Mox is positive for is the chicken shits.

Taz promised that Cage will take the title from Moxley's "dumb rear end" at Fight for the Fallen.

This was a great promo. Taz is making a strong case for best on interviews this year.

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The Best Friends vs Kenny Omega and Adam Page

The Best Friends came out in a mini van with Trent's mom. This really made The Best Friends look like losers if they can't afford their own car.

Kenny Omega and Adam Page came out.

They did moves.

FTR came out and drank beer.

Chuck Taylor did a dive.

The Best Friends got double teamed.

The Best Friends did their finishing move.

It only got two because Kenny Omega made the save.

Adam Page almost got pinned on a roll up.

Adam Page won with the Buck Shot Clothesline.

FTR came out.

Kenny Omega spilled a beer.

The Young Bucks came out.

Everyone yelled.

The rest of the show seems to be next week, seems weird to only have half of a show.

NAG posted:

Jackie D posted:

I think private party will lose a #1 contender match to ftr

Crapple! posted:

If you thought Jericho was bad tonight, you should have heard him last time he was on commentary. Holy poo poo. It's like he was the only person at the desk. Tonight I thought he dialed it back enough that he added to the commentary instead of taking away from everyone else. Still talking a lot obviously but it was so much better

STAC Goat posted:

I don't think you had to break up the champs just because they lost the belt. I would have told the same story they seem to be telling now just without the gold. The beer thing actually made me kind of think it would be funny to reverse the Drunk Page story and have Kenny be at constant odds with FTR. Then you could play around and have Page go through the same thing Kenny did when he's trying to hold it together, and depending on who you wanted to turn heel you could have Kenny turn on Page like Page never did or Page turn on Kenny like Kenny never did.

But like whatever you do I see no reason why Kenny and Page couldn't have remained champs. I was hoping those side bouts were just to give them some wins before they drop the gold so the reign looks better. I was disappointed the Best Friends were just another fodder win.

ChrisBTY posted:

The build had one proper vignette last week and a sidetrack against Jericho/Sammy that didn't actually have anything to do with the champs. Other than that it was just Excalibur reminding us the match was going to happen for a month.

And the match itself seemed to have all the ingredients for a banger but something was very much missing. Something that made it feel like a punch-the-clock 3 star title defense by the champs. It wasn't a crowd because the opener and the women's match did just fine without one.

Pylons posted:

I kinda like the idea that they won't get their shot until Mr. Brodie asks for it, and he's distracted right now.

the escape goat posted:

I got a bar I go to to show Dynamite and it was the night MJF was giving Cody all the melodramatic lashings. "What the gently caress" and "...why do you like this?" were the universal responses and I was embarrassed as hell because yeah, not a great way to get "normies" to give a poo poo.

CopywrightMMXI posted:

Sonny Kiss has a nice ride in those vignettes.

Endless Mike posted:

It's a Jaguar F-Type.