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| The best ever, no hyperbole Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
The Young Bucks Are Not Cowards - The show opened with the first match in the AEW Tag Team Championship tournament, a blockbuster pitting EVPs Matt and Nick Jackson, the Young Bucks, against Private Party, who match them hop for hop in high-flying prowess. While at some points in the match the bodies were flying high, a lot of the match went back to the Bucks, especially Matt, working over the upstarts, in the style of a methodical mid-'80s heel. There were a few spots where I thought Matt had a submission victory locked up with the sharpshooter. The match was laid out superbly though, basically a cat-and-mouse affair where the Marq Quen and Isaiah Kassidy no matter what the situation would find a way out of peril.
The finish was a standard upset rollup, a victory roll out of a counter to an electric chair. However, the fact that the Bucks, in their first standard tag match on TNT, put over the dudes that they hand-picked to join the roster, was the biggest breath of fresh air to the company so far with respect to its short track record. It's one thing to have Cody put Darby Allin over by going to a time limit draw (as he had a visual pin on him), or having Sammy Guevara take him to the limit, or having CIMA be the guy who acted as Kenny Omega's slump-buster. It's another, in a company where wins matter, to allow an up-and-coming team to get a win over an established act. The Bucks could have won that match and maybe put over the Dark Order or the Lucha Bros. in the finals. But in allowing Private Party to be the guys who put them out, they showed that they're serious about building a real tag division, and not a vanity showcase for themselves.
You Still Think It's Not A War? - Chris Jericho said that his group wasn't "next" and that the "We the People" chant for Jack Hager that originated in WWE was a result of "bad creative." Whether or not AEW management wants to admit there's a war, Jericho's comments confirm that there are. Honestly, it would be refreshing to see some enmity between companies, especially since WWE doesn't deserve kid gloves nowadays. Other than those comments and Jericho dropping the word "shit," it was a boilerplate introduction for his new backing stable, the Inner Circle. One other thing to note is that even though Le Champion tried his best to get the fans to boo him, they were lustily cheering for him like he was a plucky underdog trying to win the WWE Championship from Triple H. While his minions get the correct reaction, it'll remain to be seen if Jericho will ever be booed in an American wrestling ring again. I say American because I doubt fans will cheer him when Hiroshi Tanahashi is across the ring from him at the Tokyo Dome in January.
Yawn - Honestly, they probably should've had Darby Allin vs. CIMA as the number one contendership match on the main show rather than as a prelude for the Dark premiere. Maybe he's better when he has light tubes or whatever, but Jimmy Havoc, from pre-tape promo through the match was frightfully dull. Most of the match saw him working from on top, and it was a drag. The contrast is even starker when realizing how electric Allin was when he was on offense. I mean, even Havoc doing a spot to the outside looked stilted and mechanical. The less I think about this match, the better.
The Feminine Slobberknocker - Contrasting with the prior match, the women's tag featuring Britt Baker and Riho taking on Emi Sakura and Bea Priestley, was, in a word, bonkers. It started out looking like it was going to be a standard joshi slugfest, the highlight being Sakura just letting Riho drop to the mat hard after releasing her from the Romero special. But then they went to the outside and I'm shocked Jim Ross didn't start going apoplectic while repeating the word "slobberknocker" ad infinitum until he became a brain-damaged golem like Hodor in Game of Thrones. Seriously, there was so much furious intensity, but it wasn't concentrated. It felt like a page taken out of the Memphis playbook, wild fists, reckless tackles, crashes into the fixed scenery. It's becoming clearer and clearer that Riho is the best worker, regardless of gender, in the company. I hope she's over in America more often than I imagine with her prominence in Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. Also, while the dentist angle around Baker is already played out, her finisher, a combo STF-Mandible Claw, combines gimmick authenticity with grotesque and lurid brutality. I love it.
Did You Hear That Pop? - The Best Friends had a short but silly video vignette that segued into the interviewer asking them what they thought their chances were against SCU. When Trent? and Chuck Taylor parted, the arena crested like a tsunami with their voices. Every detractor keeps saying that Orange Cassidy is a small-room gimmick, but what they fail to realize is that AEW is filled with an agglomeration of people who go to those small rooms and who love the shit out of Cassidy. The people who aren't hip to the indies are catching on quickly as well. Be careful with wielding your ignorance regarding wrestlers Jim Cornette tells you you're not allowed to like.
Tully's Rubbed off on Him - When the arena went dark and Shawn Spears appeared with the house lights coming back up, I too groaned with a not-insignificant portion of the audience at home, judging by my Twitter feed. Spears' shtick just seemed so corny, and regardless of whether or not that chairshot to Cody's head was smart, it felt forced. That being said, when finally got the chance to work on top of Jon Moxley in their match, he showed a knack for the methodical, torture-inflicting heel that his manager, Tully Blanchard, was so good at playing in the '80s up and down the Southern coast along the Atlantic. Obviously, it's been hard to have a bad match with Mox since he left WWE. I can't speak to his dalliances in Northeast Wrestling taking on dead weight such as nZo and CaZXL, but I mean, he was a star of the G1 Climax not just because he had a famous name. Spears acquitted himself nicely here. He left WWE looking for screen time, and while I wouldn't put him in the upper, upper echelon of guys fighting for the big title, there are probably worse dudes you can have as a black hat hogging up the secondary belt scene, when AEW gets one.
Additionally, the post-match scene with Kenny Omega venturing down to ringside with a bat and a broom (!) both wrapped in barbed wire was amazing for several reasons. One, Omega had a fucking broom wrapped in barbed wire. That dude might only do two things well, but he does them exceedingly better than most people his field. Two, it gave PAC something to do other than whine about wins and losses on commentary. He was the worst part of that match, but it was less his delivery and more the material. Counting heavily on wins and losses leads to even the best performers reciting rote bullshit about getting opportunities. Third, it added a layer to Moxley's character, in that he didn't pile on Omega after PAC had laid him out. The way that they're layering levels of faces and heels in AEW is both interesting and a bit confusing, but I think showing that Mox won't scavenge off another wrestler's kill is a good thing.
Darby Allin Is God - The main event was what it was, a strong tag match that featured Hangman Page taking someone's head off, Dustin Rhodes trying to hockey-fight Chris Jericho, and gratuitous interference from Jake Hager that will lead to a match Full Gear with one of the members within the Elite's orbit. It also had Ross utter the word "psychology," and it was the first time I got mad at him in two episodes, which is a lot longer than I thought. I thought I'd want to dunk him in a shark tank after two segments. I'm pleasantly surprised. However, the big news from that main event was when Allin rode in on a skateboard to murk his opponent for next week, Jericho. I've seen a lot of shit in wrestling, but a dude flying in from the ramp on a skateboard is both the coolest thing and also something I'm shocked hasn't happened before now. Either way, I think Allin is a made man with the fans, and if they don't strap him by this time next year, he could be the subject of AEW's first ever fan riot. Nawww.
One other thing I wanted to note was MJF running in on behalf of Cody. Yes, they're positioning him as Cody's best friend, which I get, but then they have him cutting cheap heat promos whenever he's not involved with that aforementioned bestie. It's early on in the promotion's life to not give them the benefit of the doubt here, and I know there's probably a turn a-brewin'. I hope they address that duality sooner rather than later though. Maybe I'm just nitpicking, but still.
