With Wednesday’s news of the passing of Kim Wood, mentor to Brian Pillman and the first-ever full-time NFL strength coach, the following is Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales’ two hour talk with Wood from a 2021 edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
The following is free for anyone to listen to and is available here, Spotify or Apple Pods.
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Original description:
Dave Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales are back with Wrestling Observer Radio, and joining us is Kim Wood to talk about Brian Pillman and the Dark Side of the Ring season opener.
Kim talks about his participation in the episode and then he and Dave go into old stories about Pillman. Kim gives his thoughts on who were the strongest interviews from the episode as well as Eric Bischoff’s participation.
Kim talks about his interest in conmen and his history with pro wrestling. They talk about their memories from the wake and funeral for Pillman. Kim even brings up stories about Dave from many years ago.
Kim Wood, mentor to the late Brian Pillman and longtime strength coach for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, has passed away at the age of 80 after “a brief illness.”
The news was announced by the Bengals Wednesday night, noting he was the NFL’s first full-time strength coach. He worked in that capacity for 28 years.
He was also influential in the weight lifting and fitness world as noted by the Bengals’ story:
“Wood also emerged as a titan when weight training exploded in the late 1960s and early 1970s, first with Nautilus and then with his own company, Hammer Strength, a cutting-edge innovation overseeing the evolution of free weights to machines.”
For wrestling fans, he was the mentor to Pillman, then a special teams member of the Bengals. As documented by the Pillman-focused episode of Dark Side of the Ring that featured Wood prominently, he was a key figure in Pillman finding himself and his unique character.
“He made his mark in pro football as a trail-blazing strength coach. He made his mark in the strength world by forming Hammer Strength. And he made his mark in the pro wrestling world by guiding Brian Pillman into one of the most successful storylines of the 1990s that really changed pro wrestling with a blend of theatrics and reality that hadn’t been done before. What a testament,” former NFL reporter and current AEW employee Alex Marvez told Bengals.com.
Dave Meltzer wrote the following:
“The Cincinnati Bengals just announced the death of longtime strength coach Kim Wood at the age of 80. He was the mentor of many people, including myself, Alex Marvez, Brian Pillman, Anthony Munoz and countless others. This one hurts a lot. He was one of the inventors of the Hammer Strength exercise equipment line and a pioneer working for Arthur Jones in the Nautilus era. One of the strongest college football players of his era, great high school wrestler. Genius intellect.”
“I never thought I would see this day but after 27 long years, my siblings and I finally own the rights to our father’s legacy!,” she wrote. I just want to say THANK YOU to all the fans for keeping my father’s name alive, this is all because of YOU, and thanks to WWE for making this happen! Stay tuned for new merch coming soon.”
Pillman is best known for his time in both WCW and WWE. While under contract to WWE, he died on October 5, 1997 after being found dead in a motel just hours prior to WWE’s In Your House: Badd Blood event. An autopsy later determined that Pillman had died of a heart attack.
The son of Pillman, Brian Pillman Jr., currently wrestles in NXT under the name Lexis King. He will face Riley Osborne on Tuesday’s NXT.
There are a lot of weird coincidences this week that bring back the memory of Brian Pillman.
Pillman, a major 90s star, passed away in a Bloomington, MN, hotel room on October 5, 1997, the day of a PPV show in St. Louis, at the age of 35, from a heart attack. He had wrestled the night before in St. Paul.
As you’ll note by the date, this week is the 9th anniversary of the date. Coincidentally, the WWE this past week released a DVD called “The Loose Cannon,” on his life, showing many of his highlight matches, although with the Eric Bischoff book and Mr. McMahon DVD, the company is not promoting it. And most eerie is, the more you think about it, the more you realize that in so many ways, the wrestler who currently has most of the same attributes, Kurt Angle, is the most talked about wrestler in the business today.
The WWE’s DVD is one of the better ones the company has put out. Besides wife Melanie, sisters Angie and Linda, mentor and father-figure Kim Wood (the long-time strength coach of the Cincinnati Bengals) a few childhood friends, the DVD contains some very frank comments from Steve Austin, who has always called Pillman his best friend ever in wrestling, Jim Ross, Eric Bischoff, Paul Heyman, Road Warrior Animal and Chris Benoit (who started his career with Pillman in Stampede Wrestling).
The state of emergency in Japan, combined with nine COVID test failures, has led New Japan Pro Wrestling to postpone both its 5/15 show at the Yokohama Baseball Stadium and 5/29 show at the Tokyo Dome.
It had become curious coming off the 5/4 Dontaku show at the Fukuoka Convention Center that no direct angles happened to set up matches with three major shows in the next five weeks. It was more notable when no press conference was held in the two days after Dontaku for the stadium shows.
The government announced a state of emergency through the end of May. It had already been decided that attendance at the 5/15 and 5/29 show and all entertainment events in a number of major cities in Japan be capped off at 5,000. The capacity limit had been known for some time, so the shows being called off is likely because of being cautious due to the COVID outbreak as they legally could run the events at a limited capacity. Also, most likely, the nine wrestlers affected would be available for the Tokyo Dome show, even if it would be touch-and-go for Yokohama Arena. WWE and AEW both have put people on the show 11 days after positive tests so a 5/15 date would have been touch-and-go, but New Japan as a company also may have been more cautious. Given we don’t know who tested positive, there could be other issues such as the advance for both of the shows and if they could put together a show worthy of stadium events, and certainly 5/15 would appear to have been hard to do so.
Dave Meltzer and I are back with a bonus episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. I mentioned during our last show with Kim Wood that we’d answer all the listener questions that we didn’t get to on The Fight Game Podcast, but didn’t realize that there’d be an open Sunday night slot for Wrestling Observer Radio. So here we are.
Dave answers the rest of the questions from listeners which are mostly about Brian Pillman, but there are a few Randy Savage ones in there as well.
How the NHL deal affects both WWE and AEW is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We look at the deal, have Tony Khan’s comments on it, update on AEW and TNT, AEW vs. NHL ratings, declining ratings equals larger right fees, notes on the next WWE and AEW deals, and key contract years for AEW and WWE.
Also in this issue:
A complete rundown of UFC 261, background of the show, match-by-match coverage, poll results, business notes, as well as what categories UFC won in television ratings this past week.
Peacock subscribers, Supreme Court ruling on a WWE case, WWE going back on the road, Mickie James talks her issues with her final run, why no second Evolution PPV show, front office changes in WWE, Daniel Bryan talks his future goals, Paul Levesque talks physical Hall of Fame, new WWE announcer, new WWE signings, how wrestling fared as compared with other sports on television, former headliner says he’s returning to WWE, upcoming major TV matches and the most-watched segments on YouTube of recent shows.
CMLL and ROH relationship falling apart, how Mexico is changing with a new promotion, the question a lot of the CMLL and AAA wrestlers have to ask themselves and money figures the top talent is getting with the new promotion.
What other wrestlers held three major world titles in three different companies besides Kenny Omega and details of that.
Impact Rebellion with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results, as well as early PPV notes, where the company is going forward and what happened in the Omega vs. Swann match.
WWE’s highest stakes television match in a long time with Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan.
A feature on Jake Paul, Triller’s lawsuit, and Paul challenges involving Daniel Cormier, Nate Diaz and Kamaru Usman.
PPV numbers from television from every company over the past six months.
More on last week’s feature about historical world title unification matches from different companies, including a reference to Babe Ruth.
How long the average fan watches the key wrestling shows, how many different people are actually watching, what show is watched live the most and what show is time delayed the most.
More into detail on the ratings than any other source, how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer Radio talking Raw, New Japan, Randy Savage and perhaps Brian Pillman. You can send questions to the show to [email protected]
What could be one of the best matches of 2021 takes place in a few hours with the New Japan show tonight at 2 a.m. Eastern time from Fukuoka in the second night of Dontaku:
Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi & Douki vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Jado
Kazuchika Okada & Sho vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Tetsuya Naito & Sanada & Bushi vs. Jeff Cobb & Great O’Khan & Aaron Henare
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato vs. Dick Togo & Evil & Jay White & Toru Yano & Taiji Ishimori
Desperado vs. Yoh for the IWGP jr. title
Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi for the IWGP title
One of Dragon Gate’s biggest shows of the year, Dead or Alive, takes place at 3 a.m. early Wednesday morning headlined by Yamato & Kai vs. Dragon Kid & SB Kento where the losing team then has a singles match and the loser of that match loses their mask or their hair.
Triller has announced they are giving one month’s amnesty for any person or entity who illegally streamed the 4/17 show. Anyone who pirated the PPV can pay the original cost for the show before 6/1 and obtain a release from a lawsuit by Triller. After 6/1, the company will be pursuing all individuals for a maximum penalty of $150,000 per illegal stream. Matt St. Claire, the Head of Piracy for Triller said that all the actual IP addresses of everyone who streamed the fight from an illegal source will be turned over in discovery, even if they used VPN’s as each stream has a unique fingerprint embedded.
Raw tonight has Bobby Lashley in a non-title match against either Drew McIntyre or Braun Strowman, A.J. Styles & Omos vs. The New Day for the tag titles and Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler defend the women’s tag titles against Lana & Naomi.
NXT tomorrow night has Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart vs. Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae in a street fight for the NXT women’s tag titles, Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah Scott falls count anywhere and Timothy Thatcher & Tommaso Ciampa vs. Grizzled Young Veterans.
The PFL show on Thursday night is moving from ESPN 2 to ESPN which means the PFL will be in front of the largest audience in the history of the promotion. It airs from 7-11 p.m. Eastern:
Vice will be doing a Dark Side of the Ring marathon on Thursday starting at 8:30 a.m. leading to the 9:30 p.m. episode on Brian Pillman. Owen Hart is at 3:30 pm. and Chris Benoit is at 7:30 p.m., the Road Warriors is at 10 a.m. and Von Erichs at 2:30 p.m.
Both WWE and AEW are part of the Huntington Disease Society of America online auction that takes place from now until 5/15. Huntington Disease is a brain disease passed down from generation to generation. WWE donated two virtual VIP tickets to the Thunderdome and the winner can get a virtual meet and greet with a WWE star of their choice. AEW donated signed turnbuckles with signatures of most of its biggest stars. Brandi Rhodes, Colt Cabana, Jungle Boy and McKenzie Mitchell also did awareness videos.
The WWE Network was nominated for a Sports Business Journal award for Best in Digital Sports Media. The award winners will be announced on 6/23.
AEW
Dark Elevation for tonight
Private Party vs. Duke Davis & Ganon Jones
10 vs. D3
Red Velvet vs. Reka Tehaka
QT Marshall vs Dillon McQueen
Ryo Mizunami vs. Abadon
Nick Comoroto vs Baron Black
FTR vs. Terrence & Terrell Hughes
Thunder Rosa vs. Willow Nightingale
Miro vs. Will Allday
Matt Hardy & Blade vs. Colt Cabana & 5
Nyla Rose vs. Madi Wrenkowski
Jon Moxley vs. Andrew Palace
OTHER NOTES
“The Claw,” a documentary on the life of James “Baron Von” Raschke, makes its worldwide debut on 5/14 at 8:20 p.m. as part of the Minneapolis-St.Paul International Film Festival. The premiere will air outdoors at the Como Lakeside Pavilion in St. Paul and then be available for online streaming from 5/15 to 5/23. More on that here.
SWE results from Saturday night in Dallas, TX before 250 fans: Rodney Mack b Action Jackson to keep the TV title, Christi Jaynes b Ivelisse, OMGs b Niles Plonk & Flex Berry, Blood Hunter b Pac Ortega, Charlie Haas b Moonshine Mantell to keep SWE title
International Big Time Wrestling from yesterday in Trenton, NJ: Royce Carney III won The Bug Memorial Battle Royal, Justin Tyme & Solo b Sean Tyler & Jorge Bravo, Rod Street b Mysterious Movado, David Lauren Jones b Justin Dream, Revenge of the Nerds b Sam Beale & Kenny Urban, Malcolm Monroe III b Billy Ray Daniels, DBA b Rick Cannon, Xavier Walker b Kongo Kong (thanks to Leonard Brand)
United Wrestling Coalition on 5/15 in Wrightstown, NJ at Kelly’s Banquet Hall
IWTV will be airing a live broadcast of Paradigm Pro Wrestling on 5/21 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time. The show will be under UWFi (Japanese 90s shootfighting group) rules. These will be combination of UWFi and hardcore style with Bobby Beverly vs. Mo Atlas, Matt Makowski vs. Matt Justice, John Wayne Murdoch vs. Reed Bentley and Dominic Garrini vs. Akira. There are 13 matches totla on the show, which takes place at the American Legion Hall in Sellersburg, IN.
MLW Fusion Wednesday at 7 p.m. on YouTube has Lio Rush vs. Myron Reed for the middleweight title and Richard Holliday in action.
PWP from Saturday night in Omaha: El Bigote b Nino Hatchet, Mack Riggs b Xander McIntosh, Tim Boston b JD Parker, Los Bollos b Omar Pachecco, Seto Kobara b Pat Powers, Pat Powers & Los Bollos & JD Parker b Branden Juarez & Seto Kobaara & Tim Boston. The next show is the 16th anniversary show on 5/20 at the Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha.
Dave Meltzer and I are back with Wrestling Observer Radio and special guest, Evan Husney, co-creator of the Dark Side of the Ring series on Vice TV.
Evan joins us to talk about season three of Dark Side of the Ring, which starts May 6 on Vice with the Brian Pillman two-parter.
We talk about the Pillman episode which features Dave. Pillman’s story is one that Dave was very close to as it was happening. We go back and talk about some of the memorable episodes and moments from the first two seasons.
Evan also talks about their research process, how to distinguish the real from the embellished stories, his dream episode, as well as competition in the wrestling documentary space.
How the NHL deal affects both WWE and AEW is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We look at the deal, have Tony Khan’s comments on it, update on AEW and TNT, AEW vs. NHL ratings, declining ratings equals larger right fees, notes on the next WWE and AEW deals, and key contract years for AEW and WWE.
Also in this issue:
A complete rundown of UFC 261, background of the show, match-by-match coverage, poll results, business notes, as well as what categories UFC won in television ratings this past week.
Peacock subscribers, Supreme Court ruling on a WWE case, WWE going back on the road, Mickie James talks her issues with her final run, why no second Evolution PPV show, front office changes in WWE, Daniel Bryan talks his future goals, Paul Levesque talks physical Hall of Fame, new WWE announcer, new WWE signings, how wrestling fared as compared with other sports on television, former headliner says he’s returning to WWE, upcoming major TV matches and the most-watched segments on YouTube of recent shows.
CMLL and ROH relationship falling apart, how Mexico is changing with a new promotion, the question a lot of the CMLL and AAA wrestlers have to ask themselves and money figures the top talent is getting with the new promotion.
What other wrestlers held three major world titles in three different companies besides Kenny Omega and details of that.
Impact Rebellion with match-by-match coverage, star ratings and poll results, as well as early PPV notes, where the company is going forward and what happened in the Omega vs. Swann match.
WWE’s highest stakes television match in a long time with Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan.
A feature on Jake Paul, Triller’s lawsuit, and Paul challenges involving Daniel Cormier, Nate Diaz and Kamaru Usman.
PPV numbers from television from every company over the past six months.
More on last week’s feature about historical world title unification matches from different companies, including a reference to Babe Ruth.
How long the average fan watches the key wrestling shows, how many different people are actually watching, what show is watched live the most and what show is time delayed the most.
More into detail on the ratings than any other source, how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I have a new show with Chris Jericho talking AEW, Wednesday’s promo, Blood and Guts, his new book and more up on the site right now. Garrett Gonzalez and I will have a show up tonight talking about Dark Side of the Ring with co-creator Evan Husney. We will also have a news show on Saturday night.
Smackdown tonight has one of the highest stip matches on the show in years with Roman Reigns defending the Universal title against Daniel Bryan, who has to leave Smackdown if he loses. Plus Apollo Crews vs. Big E for the IC title and Street Profits & Bianca Belair vs. Bayley & Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler.
205 Live has Ever Rise vs. Ariya Daivari & Tony Nese and The Singh Brothers vs. Austin Gray & Jake Atlas.
Sunday’s WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures episode has Jerry Lawler looking for items related to his feud with Andy Kaufman.
UFC tomorrow night from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern on ESPN 2:
Luke Sanders (145.5) vs,. Felipe Colares (145.5)
Andreas Michailidis (185.5) vs. KB Bhullar (186)
Loma Lookboonmee (116) vs. Sam Hughes (115.5)
Kai Kamaka (146) vs. TJ Brown (145.5)
Gabriel Benitez (150.5) vs. Jonathan Pearce (146) – Benitez was fined for missing weight
Randa Markos (115) vs. Luana Pinheiro (115.5)
Poliana Botelho (125.5) vs. Luana Carolina (128.5) – Carolina was fined for missing weight
Merab Dvalishvili (135.5) vs. Cody Stamann (135.5)
Sean Strickland (185.5) vs. Krzysztof Jotko (185.5)
Ion Cutelaba (206) vs. Dustin Jacoby (205)
Cub Swanson (145.5) vs. Giga Chikadze (146)
Dominick Reyes (205.5) vs. Jiro Prochazka (204)
On Wednesday’s AEW show, there were several points in the Pinnacle/Inner Circle promo that topped 1 million viewers and the show ended with the post-match of Darby Allin vs. 10 with more than 500,000 18-49 viewers.
Alberto Rodriguez’s aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault charges from an incident with an ex-girlfriend in May goes to trial on Monday in San Antonio.
New Japan Strong tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern has:
Karl Fredericks vs.Clark Connors
Ren Narita & Fred Rosser vs. Alex Coughlin & Kevin Knight
Brandon Vera defends the ONE heavyweight title against Arjan Bhuller, a former Canadian national wrestling champion, on 5/15 at Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Dragon Gate announced that Oji Shiiba is leaving the company due to injuries.
MLW debuts on Vice tomorrow at Noon with an old episode headlined by MJF vs. Marshall Von Erich and Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Simon Gotch.
The Shooting the Shiznit podcast on the new Championship Wrestling from Memphis airs at about 2:30 p.m. on Facebook every Saturday at stspod.club It isn’t on Twitch as we reported earlier in the week.
Wrestlefest tomorrow on FITE TV features Laynie Luck vs. Jordynne Grace for the women’s title and a ladder match for the Zelo Pro championship with CJ Esparza vs. Brubaker vs. Robert Anthony vs. GPA vs. Mason Conrad vs. Bryce Benjamin. Colt Cabana is also on the show.
Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship tonight from Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham. Main event has Frank Tate (257.3) vs. Josh Burns (257) in a heavyweight bout.
NFC on 5/8 at District Atlanta with an MMA show.
LFA tonight on UFC Fight Pass from the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort in Shawnee, OK features Joshua Silveira (4-0) vs. Rafael Viana (6-1) and Luis Gavinho (10-4) vs. Terrance McKinney (8-3) in the top fights.
Combate Globo on 5/7 on Univision at midnight Friday night Easter time is headlined by Juan Puerta (1-6) vs Lloyd McKenney (14-7)
Glory announced Badr Hari (108-15, 92 knockouts) vs. Arkasdiuz Wrzeosek (12-5, seven knockouts) in a heavyweight main event from the Rotterdam Ahoy on 7/17.
Cage Fury announced a return with shows on 5/28 and 5/29 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. These shows air on Fight Pass with C.M. Punk announcing. 5/28 is headlined by Jamelle Jones (11-6) defending his heavyweight title against Rakim Cleveland (20-13-1). Saturday has strawweight champion Elise Reed (3-0) defending against Hilario Rose (5-2).
Lio Rush vs. Myron Reed for the middleweight title headlines Wednesday’s MLW show on YouTube.
Celebrity Boxing on 6/11 in Atlantic City features NBA star Lamar Odom vs. Aaron Carter, brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys.
Jersey Championship Wrestling returns tomorrow with a live show streaming on YouTube from the Showboat in Atlantic City, NJ headlined by Joey Janela vs. Slayer.
The premiere episode of Dark Side of the Ring’s third season will be focused on the career and passing of Brian Pillman.
Steve Austin revealed the news on a Vice podcast Thursday, adding that he was interviewed for it. Austin and Pillman had an extensive history together, including a run as the Hollywood Blonds tag team in WCW and as rivals during the early portion of WWE’s Attitude Era.
Pillman was just 35 years old when he died of a heart attack in a hotel room in Minnesota while still with WWE. Austin later said Pillman had the same heart disease as his father, but it was undetected.
Our Dave Meltzer was also interviewed for the episode.
Vice announced last October that Dark Side would return for a third season. The 14-episode run will kick off at some point this year with focuses on the Dynamite Kid, Grizzly Smith, XPW, and the WCW/NJPW show in North Korea.
Allie came to the ring holding a “I miss you, QT” sign. Diamante and Allie started the match. Early on, Allie hit a flying knee on Diamante for a one count. Diamante tagged Chanel in, but Allie and Brandi continued to control the match.
After multiple tag team moves, Diamante and Chanel briefly took control. Diamante landed multiple downward elbows on Allie, which resulted in a two count. Allie reversed a cazadora and planted Diamante face down onto the canvas.
Diamante attempted a running dropkick into the corner onto Allie, but Brandi pushed Allie out of the way. Allie made the hot tag to Brandi, and she hit a sling blade on Chanel while Allie took out Diamante. Brandi landed a pump kick and then a spear for the win.
Ricky Starks defeated Robert Anthony
Anthony got the best of Starks early on with solid mat wrestling. Starks hit a clothesline and a release northern lights suplex, but was unable to go for a pin. Starks landed a swinging neckbreaker for a near fall. Anthony locked on a romero special and then slammed him face down onto the mat for a two count.
Significant swelling began to show under Starks’ right eye. Starks regained momentum and landed a double underhook facebuster for the win.
After the match, Starks went to the commentary table and fist bumped Taz. Potential partnership?
– A video package aired of Shawn Spears explaining the significance of the glove Tully Blanchard gave him.
The Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds & Alan Angels) defeated Shawn Dean, Will Hobbs & Joe Alonzo
Angels and Hobbs started the match. Hobbs tossed Angels into his corner which allowed Silver to tag in. Silver took control and tagged in Reynolds and the two hit stereo dropkicks on Alonzo for a two count. Alonzo escaped Reynolds and tagged in Dean.
Dean threw Reynolds to the outside and landed a beautiful suicide dive. Back inside, Angels tagged in and regained control for the Dark Order. Silver hit a running kick on Dean for a two count. The Dark Order continued to make quick tags as Silver and Reynolds held Dean up while Angels hit a top rope moonsault on his back for a two count.
Hobbs distracted Angels, which allowed Dean to roll up him up for a two count. Angels hit a beautiful standing spanish fly on Dean, and chaos ensued as all six guys entered the ring and hit their spots. Reynolds and Silver hit a flipping destroyer DDT on Alonzo for the win.
Marko Stunt defeated Michael Nakazawa
Taz mentioned how Nakazawa was packing multiple items in the front of his trunks. Nakazawa, at a minimum, had two bottles of oil in there. At the bell, he said he didn’t need the oil and threw one bottle to the outside.
Stunt hit numerous dropkicks in the corner, which led to Nakazawa escaping to the outside. Stunt then landed an elbow suicide dive to the outside. Back in the ring, Nakazawa laid in multiple chops, stomps, and a bodyslam for a two count. As predicted, Nakazawa brought out another bottle of oil and lathered Stunt up with it.
Stunt attempted a comeback, but Nakazawa hit a Samoan drop and a spear for a two count. For the second week in a row, Nakazawa brought out the thong which he wrapped around his hand. Stunt dropkicked Nakazawa’s hand into his face, and the thong stuck to his face allowing Stunt to roll him up for the win.
What did I just watch?
Dr. Luther & Serpentico defeated Brady Pierce & Pineapple Pete
At the bell, Luther began his assault on Pete. Serpentico tagged in which gave Pete the breather he needed to take control. Pierce and Luther both tagged in. Pierce sent Luther in the corner and Pete once again tagged in.
Luther hit a belly to belly suplex for a two count. Serpentico tagged in, and Luther slammed him onto Pete three times. Luther and Serpentico made multiple tags and landed numerous tag team maneuvers on Pete.
Pete rallied back and spiked Serpentico’s head onto the canvas, which allowed him enough time to tag in Pierce. Pierce landed a pump kick into a spinebuster for a two count. Luther wasn’t having it and jumped in to shift the momentum back in their favor. Luther held up Pierce while Serpentico hit a top rope meteora on him for the win, their first as a team.
Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy defeated Brandon Cutler & Peter Avalon (w/Leva Bates)
The Young Bucks were ringside for this match, hoping to see their friend Cutler pick up his first win in AEW. Jungle Boy and Avalon started things off. Cutler tagged in and hit multiple kicks to Jungle Boy’s head for a two count.
Jungle Boy tagged in Luchasaurus and the two used the ten count to their advantage, hitting a flapjack on Cutler for a two count. Jungle Boy landed a double stomp for another near fall. Cutler countered a waist lock and hit a springboard forearm to take control.
Avalon tagged in, cut the ring off, and landed a brainbuster. Jungle Boy hit a clothesline and made the hot tag to Luchasaurus, who laid out both Avalon and Cutler. Luchasaurus executed a chokeslam and attempted a moonsault, but Cutler got his knees up.
On the outside, Bates neutralized Jungle Boy with a hurricanrana, which allowed Cutler to land a DDT and make the tag to Avalon. Cutler nailed Luchasaurus with a springboard elbow drop, but the pinfall attempt was broken up by Jungle Boy. Luchasaurus made the tag to Jungle Boy, who hit back-to-back topé suicidas on Avalon and Cutler.
Jungle Boy nailed a tiger suplex into a bridge on Avalon for a near fall. Jungle Boy hit an outside-in DDT on Cutler to send him out. Luchasaurus then helped elevate Avalon into Jungle Boy who hit a cutter for the win.
FTW Champion Brian Cage defeated Brian Pillman
Excalibur mentioned numerous times that the FTW title is not sanctioned by AEW. Cage took control early on with chops and a gnarly release german suplex. On the outside, Pillman reversed a powerbomb attempt and landed a diving dropkick through the ropes.
Pillman attempted a cannonball senton from the apron to the floor, but Cage caught him and landed a suplex. Back in the ring, Cage hit the drill claw for the win. After the match, Cage continued his assault with some powerbombs and an F5.
Closing Thoughts:
There’s no reason Dark should be longer than one hour. The match between Jurassic Express and Brandon Cutler & Peter Avalon was worth watching, but everything else was skippable.
In the future, I’d like to see more lower card wrestlers get victories against each other as right now, it’s the same guys losing each week. It would be nice for some of them to gain a little credibility. But, “The Original Death Dealer” and Serpentico picked up a win tonight, so I guess that’s a step in the right direction.
