We’re back as promised! I’m reporting on AEW now and forever – and on Saturday night, AEW provided another show called Fight For the Fallen. Before you read, make sure you’ve caught up and read the last B&W of AEW. Let’s start with the best and worst off the bat.
BEST – AEW putting on another free show on Bleacher Report Live. But more importantly, AEW putting on a show with 100% of the proceeds going to the victims of gun violence, particularly in Jacksonville. It’s a great gesture from an up and coming organization and it’s nice to see this happening. But also…
WORST – WWE putting on a show to compete with AEW in a show that is being used to donate to victims of gun violence. I’m all for competition, but maybe not during charity events? That’s a little shady.
The “Buy-In” (pre-show) started with our librarians again. This time Peter Avalon in action with Leva Bates at his side. Avalon takes on Sonny Kiss. I’m giving the match a WORST I think. I honestly think Peter Avalon is talented – he is a great in ring performer – but the I’m not sure where this is going? The two librarians hate each other? But secretly kind of like each other? But they don’t work together at all. It’s more confusing than anything. I probably liked the librarian work better this time than on Fyter Fest and the crowd really reacted (and by that I mean booed loudly). As for Sonny Kiss, I think he’s talented, but still a little raw. The crowd reacted great to him – whether because of his talent or because they didn’t have to listen to the librarian but I feel like Kiss is just a couple cool moves right now. A lot of potential in this match – I just didn’t see it.
Another WORST for the women’s tag team match between debuting Bea Priestley and Shoko Nakajima vs. Dr. Britt Baker and Riho. I felt like this was a botch fest. Bea Priestley seemed really raw and I think she’s going to be great, but this wasn’t her best performance. I was genuinely worried Britt Baker was hurt during the match and even the post match fighting seemed odd. **UPDATE** apparently I was right. I’m not sure if someone was upset and it became real for a moment or what. All in all, just very raw and a little scattered.
Also, WORST for the random subtitles of sort with weird characters and whatever taking over the screen. It reminded me of the XFL when it first came out and in week 2 they had power outages and it all went to hell. I’m not saying this is the end of AEW, but it was just unprofessional at best.
BEST for Shawn Spears wearing a shirt…and then making the announcer correct himself to be called the chairman. There’s been a lot of back and forth about the chairshot to Cody Rhodes and I do believe it was just a botch and an accident but props to AEW for going with it. Shawn Spears is the most hated man in AEW right now and he LOVES it!! I love that Shawn Spears went from Tye Dillinger, a super over baby face, to this dark opportunistic asshole. He is playing the character so well and I’m ‘All In’ to watch where this goes. Although he should stop with the “10” gimmick if everyone is supposed to hate him.
Another BEST (and I’m writing this live so I reserve the right to change my mind) for the crowd. They’re so into this event. It sounds like an NXT crowd and I’m loving the energy. When Darby Allin tags in to take on Shawn Spears they go nuts. A great crowd can honestly trump good wrestling. It almost did in the women’s match on the pre-show.
BEST MJF. Just, duh. He remains my favorite character by a landslide.
The 6 man tag was great. This was 6 of the biggest egos in AEW. Props to Jimmy Havoc. I thought he was the 4th best competitor (out of 4) at Fyter Fest and he really shined here to me. Sammy Guevara was also amazing and probably had the best performance in the match. All of these guys. Give me these 6 all night!!
The Brandi Rhodes and Allie match really almost painted Allie as a heel during the pre-match promo and this being about Brandi’s demons and really an emotional story. Before the match even starts – with the pre-match handshake, we realize that is all a lie. Awesome Kong comes back on behalf of Brandi and is involved the entire match. This is a great match with great story telling. It’s not overly complicated and it’s fairly predictable but that’s not always bad. At the end, Aja Kong shows up and I had to do a bit of research but I’m going to give this both a BEST and a WORST because it’s awesome that she is there to counter the other Kong – but shouldn’t you build up Awesome Kong for several months and then have Aja show up? If Kong (either one) loses her first match – it’s kind of defeating the purpose, right? Plus, I would love to see Allie take on Awesome Kong. So let’s see where this goes.
I don’t think you can get more BEST than the 3 team match between The Dark Order, Angelico/Jack Evans, and Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy. First off, Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy are AMAZING.
I know I’m over doing it with pictures and GIFs – sorry. 1.) I just figured out how to make GIFs and 2.) I think it’s relevant sometimes?!
Luchasaurus is a star. No doubt. And Jungle Boy, too! They killed it and absolutely won the crowd during this match. But the match overall was perfect, regardless. I think The Dark Order winning was a given. I wish Angelico or Jack Evans would have eaten the loss instead of Jungle Boy, but it is what it is. Great story telling here. Also, the match meant something. That’s another huge BEST for AEW. They talk about things. It was mentioned quite often that the winner of this match got a first round bye in the tag team title tournament. Also, they talked about money again – winners get more, losers get less. And lastly, about how the competition committee factored in wins and losses for the women and who would get the first shot of a women’s title. WRESTLING MATTERS. That’s all I want in a show?
Adam “Hangman” Page versus Kip Sabian was a bit telegraphed and was only there to further the feud between Page and Chris Jericho and their match for the first ever AEW Championship. It was good, don’t get me wrong. I’m just not quite sold on Page, yet. He’s a good wrestler – but I feel like he’s being pushed onto me. I don’t love that. I shouldn’t be cheering for Jericho to win when his character is a total piece of shit (in a different way than MJF, of course). The match itself was fine – they both are great workers – I’m just not there yet.
The Lucha Bros and So Cal Uncensored was also a little weird. It just was a random match. Honestly, this match only existed, in my opinion, to get the end where the Lucha Bros challenge the Young Bucks to a ladder match at All Out. I think that match will be beyond phenomenal – but what’s on the ladders? There’s a separate tournament for the tag titles. Is it just a ladder match where ladders are legal? Are they climbing to get something else? Tell me more.
Speaking of – skipping a little and the Young Bucks defeated Cody and Dustin Rhodes. The match was good but a little underwhelming. I think it was just supposed to be “cool” that Cody and Dustin were fighting the Young Bucks. They did a lot building The Rhodes to have them lose, but the match itself was fine. Not quite a worst, not a best.
Lastly, a BEST to Kenny Omega and CIMA. This was a long match – maybe the longest in AEW thus far. It had a 30 minute time limit instead of the normal 20 and it went over 20. It was well fought match between two really, really good wrestlers. CIMA is a long time pro in the business but he can still go. Omega is just wrestling at another level and the back and forth was great between these two. A strong win for Kenny, also to get his first win in AEW. Not sure why they had to mention he was yet to win in AEW since there have only been two events. Winless, winless, winless…okay, we get it. Also, Kenny Omega being winless shouldn’t be that crazy, right? He’s fighting top tier talent and someone has to win. A lower tier guy has a better chance of being undefeated than Kenny O because he’s fighting bums. I don’t know – that’s another rabbit hole for another day.
Okay – without getting rambly – that’s it. Another AEW event, another great one, in my estimation. I love that it’s wrestling. I love that it matters. I love that the last two have been free (and this one for a good cause) but mostly I just love that it’s DIFFERENT. I don’t absolutely thing everything is great. In fact, I really dislike some of the stuff, but they’re trying. And for that, I’m appreciative. Until next time, drop down and let me know what you thought of Fight for the Fallen. (looking at you, Other Luke).
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