The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
The Pacific Rim Pro Wrestling Podcast is back!
Fumi Saito talks to me about the success of both Queen of Villains in Japan — the story of wrestling legend Dump Matsumoto — as well as the Mr. McMahon docuseries on Netflix.
Plus, CIMA & Shingo, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Wrestle Kingdom & Wrestle Dynasty take shape, NOAH’s Yoshiki Inamura heads to NXT, Fumi’s new book on Rikidozan, and much more.
We’ve been gone awhile, so we tried to make up a lot of ground.
Click Here to Listen (sub needed)
GLEAT held a big show in Osaka on Sunday.
The event featured Ricochet’s first match in Japan since 2017. He teamed with CIMA in a win over El Hijo Del Vikingo and Soma Watanabe on the show.
Kota Ibushi also wrestled in Osaka on Sunday despite DDT announcing yesterday that he will not make their shows on October 17 and 20. This has led some to speculate that Ibsuhi missing the DDT shows could be due to him making his AEW return around the same time.
Ibushi wrestled alongside former K-1 fighter and graduate of the “Ibushi Wrestling Research Institute” Ryo Aitaka, who will now be joining GLEAT full-time.
“I truly respect him, and I will be waiting for the day when I can meet the perfect, strongest Ryo Aitaka as a GLEAT wrestler in the same ring. I’m looking forward to it,” a translation of Ibushi’s comments to Tokyo Sports reads.
The Rascalz Zachary Wants & Trey Miguel won the G-Infinity Tag Team Championships on the show by defeating Kaito Ishida & Tetsuya Izuchi.
“No one is doing the same thing as the Rascalz. Rascalz is making history. Whether it’s TNA, NXT, or GLEAT, we’re conquering the world with these tag team championships,” Wentz said after the show.
“For six years, we have dreamed, shed blood, and have done everything we can to return to Japan. Since I’m back, let’s stay here for a while,” added Miguel.
Former NXT and AEW wrestler Parker Boudreaux also wrestled on the show. He unsuccessfully challenged Hayato Tamura for the G-Rex title. Tamura now has the record for most successful defenses of the belt with eight.
Match results from GLEAT Ver. MEGA in Osaka include:
GLEAT has revealed Ricochet’s match for his upcoming return to Japan.
Earlier this week, the promotion announced that AEW star Ricochet would be competing for them alongside CIMA in Osaka on Sunday, October 6. It’s now been confirmed that the match will be Ricochet & CIMA vs. El Hijo del Vikingo & Soma Watanabe.
CIMA was Ricochet’s mentor earlier in his career, with them holding tag team titles in Dragon Gate. They have not teamed together since 2017. Ricochet joined WWE in 2018 but left the company this summer. He signed with AEW following his WWE departure, debuting at All In.
Vikingo has been out of action since February due to injury but is now returning to the ring. This tag match will be the first time he and Ricochet have ever faced each other.
In a recent interview on the Battleground Podcast, Ricochet said he still has a lot of goals he wants to accomplish in Japan for NJPW, including competing in a G1 tournament.
“I already won the Best of the Super Junior [in 2014], so I feel like now I should upgrade my goals to the G1, for sure,” he said. “And actually, obviously, there’s still a lot of things in New Japan that I didn’t get to accomplish that I still plan on accomplishing.”
The Big Takeaways
This history-making episode featured three big matches:
Show Review
MLW’s 100th episode from Philadelphia, PA, opened with Jacob Fatu delivering a deadly message to CIMA, telling the OWE star he will put him down for good.
Davey Boy Smith Jr. defeated Erick Stevens (w/Kit Osbourne) (11:50)
“Filthy” Tom Lawlor joined AJ Kirch and Rich Bocchini on commentary.
Lawlor and Smith are on a collision course, and tonight was another step in that direction. In a pre-set promo with Alicia Atout, Smith told us that he is going to knock Stevens’ mohawk sideways and warned Team Filthy that he has the Von Erichs watching his back.
After a slowly built chain wrestling sequence, Stevens piefaced Smith but ate a forearm to the jaw in response as Lawlor told us that Kit Osbourne was one of the best cornermen in the business and gloated at the way he held his towel.
Smith hit a big 30-second delayed vertical suplex early on, but Stevens kicked out at two. On the outside, Stevens sent Smith into the guardrail and chopped him hard across the chest. Moments later, Smith reversed another suplex and slammed Stevens’ spine on the mats outside. Stevens kept fighting back and went after Smith’s knee back in the ring. Stevens told the referee “I have got ’til five!” and then came off the middle rope with a flying forearm to knock Smith down again.
He then locked in a single crab, but Smith was quick to grab the bottom rope. Stevens piefaced Smith again before they exchanged forearms. Smith hit an enzuigiri and fired up with ten punches in the corner, a back body drop, and some European uppercuts.
Stevens nearly slipped out the back door and won with a backslide, a magistral cradle, and a small package but Smith kicked out every time. Smith retaliated with a powerslam for a close two count of his own and moments later, caught Stevens on the top rope and hit him with a running power slam. He then finished off Stevens with a diving headbutt off the top rope to pick up the three count.
Lawlor complained that Smith cheated and he and Dominic Garrini got in Smith’s face after the match.
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– Due to Injustice attacking Brian Pillman Jr. over the last few weeks, they were banned from the building for tonight’s events. We saw them trying to enter the building, but security refused to let them inside.
– Jimmy Havoc had a video for Pillman. He said he has an addiction for pain and loves seeing his own blood, but he loves hurting other people more.
– Low Ki had a message for King Mo. He said we are going to find out who the king of the knockout really is, and that Mo is about to meet the lone wolf of Brooklyn.
– LA Park then told us he is a free man and a free agent and a mercenary in the wrestling business. And in a possible message to Salina de la Renta, he said he can do what he wants and doesn’t have a boss telling him what to do and he can fight who he wants.
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Brian Pillman Jr. defeated Jimmy Havoc (w/ Priscilla Kelly) (8:27)
I think Havoc might have surprised some of the Philadelphia crowd as he and Pillman exchanged holds and reversed submissions and face locks on the mat in the opening exchanges. Pillman frustrated Havoc as he escaped an arm ringer with an upkick to the jaw. Havoc smacked Pillman with a right hand, but this only fired the youngster up with him coming close to winning with a roll-up. Havoc caught a right hand and bit Pillman’s fingers before throwing him to the outside. Pillman’s hand torture continued as he missed a chop and hit the ring post instead.
Back inside, Pillman fired up and hit a powerslam and a big springboard crossbody off the top for two counts. He then hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a straight jacket lungblower, but Kelly put Havoc’s foot on the bottom rope behind the referee’s back. While the ref was distracted with Kelly, Havoc punched himself in the face with a chain and then threw the chain to Pillman ala Eddie Guerrero’s steel chair spot. The referee was having none of it and after a shoving match with Havoc, Pillman nearly picked up the win with a schoolboy.
As they exchanged finishers, Kelly came off the top and missed Pillman with a crossbody, instead landing on Havoc. This gave Pillman the opening to hit his swinging neck breaker, but as he made the cover in what would have finished the match, Kelly tried to get involved again. But, she again missed Pillman and landed on Havoc with a splash. Pillman then got rid of her with a low bridge and hit Air Pillman to pick up the win.
Atout then met Pillman on the stage and congratulated him on his victory. Pillman vowed to lose a few pounds and challenge Myron Reed for the MLW Middleweight title. He swore to win the title for his dad and the Hart Foundation.
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– Lifestyles of the Rich and Dynastic had Richard Holliday (with Savio Vega’s Caribbean title) on the phone with MJF and Gino Medina and Alex Hammerstone with him in person. They said they made the Caribbean title relevant again and were proud for having two champions in the group and proud that Medina will be taking on Mance Warner next week.
– Warner then met up with Atout who said Dynasty were “well-to-do pieces of sh*t”. He said he sometimes gets drunk, stands on some sh*t, and has to wipe it off his boots. He called his own boots sh*t kickers, and next week he is going to shove those boots up Gino Medina’s ass.
– Josef Samael then told us that they are preparing for the upcoming war, planning and getting stronger and recruiting.
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MLW World Champion Jacob Fatu (w/Josef Samael) defeated CIMA to retain (10:23)
Fatu had members of the Sentai death squad waving the CONTRA flag and guiding his way to the ring. They played off Fatu’s size and CIMA’s speed in the opening exchanges with a shoulderblock exchange that Fatu easily won. A chase around the ring let CIMA catch him with a dropkick when the champ was sliding back in. The OWE star hit double knees and a senton, then locking in a seated abdominal stretch.
Fatu came back with a superkick and a hip attack in the corner that crushed CIMA’s skull against the turnbuckle. Fatu took control from here and used his strength to throw, slam, and crush CIMA around the ring. He wrapped him in a tree of woe and hit a big diving headbutt. Samael even got involved with some cheap shots on the outside.
CIMA fought to his feet off a nerve hold. but Fatu quickly knocked him back down with a back elbow to the jaw. Fatu then missed a Vader bomb and CIMA flew off with a pair of knees to Fatu’s back. He then hit a guillotine DDT and locked the champion in a head and arm choke with his legs.
CIMA was fired up and the crowd were too as he kicked Fatu in the back of the head and went for his double foot stomp, but Fatu moved and hit his pop-up Samoan drop. Moments later, he hit not one but two double jump springboard moonsaults to put away CIMA and successfully defend his title.
After the match, Fatu put CIMA in a body bag that the Sentai death squad brought to ringside and draped it in a CONTRA flag as the death squad carried him out on a stretcher.
Next Week
CIMA is getting a World Heavyweight Championship shot when MLW returns to Philadelphia in February.
MLW has announced that Jacob Fatu will defend his World Heavyweight Championship against CIMA at Fightland on Saturday, February 1. The show is taking place at the 2300 Arena.
CIMA made his MLW debut earlier this month, with CIMA’s Strong Hearts stable facing Fatu’s CONTRA Unit group in a six-man tag match at MLW’s Opera Cup tapings.
Fatu has held the MLW World Heavyweight Championship since winning the title from Tom Lawlor this July. Fatu retained against LA Park in the main event of last month’s Saturday Night SuperFight pay-per-view. He also retained against Ross Von Erich on MLW Fusion’s Thanksgiving special, with Lawlor turning against The Von Erichs in an angle during the match.
Fightland is MLW’s second set of television tapings of 2020. They’ll kick off the year with Zero Hour taking place in North Richland Hills, Texas on January 11.
Next month’s Opera Cup event will see CIMA make his MLW debut.
MLW announced this morning that Strong Hearts (CIMA, El Lindaman & Shigehiro Irie) will face CONTRA Unit (MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu, Ikuro Kwon & Simon Gotch) in a six-man tag match at the Opera Cup television tapings. In storyline, the match was set up after an incident that CONTRA Unit got into in Japan.
CIMA is signed to AEW, where his Strong Hearts stable has also been featured. Lindaman & T-Hawk vs. The Young Bucks will air on this week’s episode of AEW Dark.
Strong Hearts vs. Contra Unit is the first non-tournament match that’s been announced for the Opera Cup. The tapings are taking place at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, New York on Thursday, December 5 and will feature a one-night, single-elimination tournament.
TJP vs. Brian Pillman Jr., MJF vs. Alexander Hammerstone, and Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Shinjiro Otani have been announced for the Opera Cup tournament. There will be four opening round matches, with the final one yet to be announced.
Kip Sabian & The Hybrid2 may want to find new trios partners, as they fell to 0-2 as a three-man team after a loss to SCU & CIMA in the main event.
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Welcome to a special Friday edition of AEW Dark, a show so sudden and surprising that AEW’s own Twitter page had nothing about it five minutes before the show. Their first tweet about it was literally just as the show began.
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Justin Roberts introduced Arn Anderson as a special member of the announce team tonight, joining Excalibur and Goldenboy. Unfortunately, Arn only announced the first match.
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Goldenboy broke out the “Rolodex of words” when talking about Arn Anderson’s “prowess” in the ring. Anyway, Swole tried using her size to bully Shida early, but Shida got the early advantage. It was highlighted by her jumping off of a chair outside the ring and landing a knee strike to Swole’s chin.
Swole missed a series of strikes and leg sweeps and hit a headbutt, followed by a flatliner for a two count.
Shida missed one knee strike, but hit on a second attempt after ducking a Rainmaker. Swole kicked out of that, but she didn’t kick out of the second running knee, as Shida picked up the win.
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Starting this week we are getting quick 30-second post-match backstage promos with the winners.
Shida cut a promo and said she came here to show Japanese style and is really happy to be able to do so. She was asked about the Riho-Emi Sakura Women’s Championship match at Full Gear tomorrow night and she picked Sakura to win after stating that it was a hard choice.
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Whatever you think of the man, it was a huge step down when Arn Anderson was replaced by Chuck Taylor. Bates was really happy to have Rose as a partner and we didn’t have Peter Avalon in their corner. Excalibur said Rose wanted this to be a two-on-one handicap match. AEW management wouldn’t allow it, so she was assigned a partner.
McKenzie threw a leg kick that Rose no sold and then got run over. Royal tried and fared no better, as she ran into Rose’s foot. Bate reached for a tag, but Rose ignored her.
The babyfaces teamed up for a double suplex, but it didn’t work. Bates went for a blind tag, but Rose glared her down, so Bates channeled The Nutty Professor and chanted “Hercules.” It did lead to 10 seconds of babyface offense, but they got cut off again.
Taylor asked if you could be disqualified for not leaving the ring on a 10 count if you’re getting your butt kicked. Actually on WWF Raw for the Sega Genesis, back in 1994, you could be counted out if you were being beaten up outside the ring, even if there was nothing you could do. It did lead to many arguments at the Witner house over “not allowing the other one to get back in the ring.”
Back to the match, this was an extended squash. Rose even threw Royal into Bates when Bates tried again for a tag. Rose laid Royal and McKenzie out with a double Death Valley Driver, stacked them up on top of each other, and pinned them both after a Swanton Bomb. Bates had given up by this point and was reading her book.
So, Bates gets her first win in a match she did nothing in.
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Alex Marvez asked Rose why she didn’t tag out. Rose told him she didn’t have to. She eliminated 10 people in the Casino Battle Royale and gets no respect from the company because none of that was included in her record. Why didn’t she tag out? “Because I’m Nyla Rose, the Native Beast,” Rose said.
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We were magically whisked away to the AEW Control Center, where Tony Schiavone and Dasha Gonzalez previewed Full Gear. Gonzalez was magically wearing the clothes she wore for last week’s Dark, which seems to indicate this is last week’s Control Center, just with a quick voiceover including the Tag Team title match.
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We got a video package for the Chris Jericho-Cody AEW World Championship match at Full Gear.
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We didn’t get a new edition of From Undesirable to Undeniable, which made me sad.
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AEW has a reputation of having a bunch of new young wrestlers, but the person with the least experience in this main event was Sabian, who just passed nine years in the ring.
Speaking of Sabian, him thumbing Sky in the eye (followed by an Evans pump kick) is how the heels got the heat. CIMA got the hot tag and ran wild on all three, hitting dropkicks on everyone. He countered a springboard move with a dropkick as well. CIMA slammed all three of his opponents on top of each other and hit a springboard knee to Evans, who was on top.
This match did a better job than most in enforcing the rules of tag team wrestling. There were a couple blips on the radar, but nothing as blatantly awful as usual. SCU hit the S-C-U-later on Sabian and CIMA finished him off with the meteora. They briefly turned up the lights in the building, which was definitely a weird look.
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The show abruptly went off the air after a commercial for Full Gear tomorrow night.
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This definitely had the vibe of a last-minute show. With that said, it was still better than both the Pittsburgh and Charleston episodes. Enjoy Full Gear tomorrow night!
Joey Janela, Nyla Rose, and Dustin Rhodes all picked up their first wins.
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– Tony Schiavone introduced the show from the AEW Dark Control Center, ran down the matches, and announced that joining Excalibur for tonight would be guest commentator Taz.
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Janela in back-to-back Dark matches, as he main evented last week against Kenny Omega and is opening up this week’s show. Both men were looking to pick up their first win in AEW.
Last week I made a joke about Kenny Omega and Janela’s unsanctioned match being a catch-as-catch-can mat classic — well I want to believe Janela read my joke and took it to heart. This week, in a match held under standard rules, Janela showed off his wrestling skills. Like with Mick Foley, his technical skills aren’t going to carry him, but it’s good to know he has them.
Cutler is a bit too bland in look and personality to stand out, but — in a weird way — it makes him stand out when he’s in the ring with someone like Janela or MJF (like he was on Dynamite’s debut).
With that said, this was a solid opener. Janela hit a suicide dive at one point and then did a lap around the ring and leaped off the stairs with a forearm strike. Cutler came back and went for a springboard move, but Janela dropped him stomach-first on the top rope and hit a top rope brainbuster for the win.
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It was time for From Undesirable to Undeniable, with Cody sitting down with QT Marshall aka Michael Cuellari. Cody met him at ROH, and he was a super nice, super friendly guy who then helped produce All In. Then he created a documentary called The Wrestler in an effort to get a job in WWE.
Marshall said he was hired in Ring of Honor and was immediately disliked by the locker room. He injured his neck almost immediately and decided to get out of the ring. Finally, he moved to Georgia and went all in on wrestling and now he’s here. He’s medically cleared and Cody told him he’d be wrestling in Pittsburgh this week.
It was a really good segment.
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Both women have zero official wins, despite Rose winning the women’s Casino Battle Royale at All Out. Avalon came out with Bates and cut a promo on how rude the fans are here in the City of Brotherly Love.
The fans did not appreciate being talked down to by the Librarian, who gave a history lesson. He compared the nation’s capital moving from Philly to D.C. to Bryce Harper moving from D.C. to Philly, since the Nationals flourished after Harper left for the Phillies. He also ripped on Rocky Balboa and the Eagles defense. Bates told Avalon to shhhh, which got a couple cheers.
Avalon threw some books in the ring for a distraction at the start, which did work, but Rose flung them back at him. Bates kept going for a crucifix pin, but she couldn’t get Rose over. Rose hit a Death Valley Driver, but Avalon jumped on the apron to show the referee a passage in the book he’s reading.
Bates nearly got a roll-up win, but Rose kicked out and then heaved Bates over the top rope and onto Avalon.
Back in the ring, Rose picked up the win with the Beast Bomb.
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Schiavone ran down the lineup for tomorrow night’s Dynamite and we got a video package for The Dark Order.
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After their match last week, Alex Marvez interviewed SoCal Uncensored. They did not have an update about Christopher Daniels. Both Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian cut fiery promos about the Lucha Brothers and vowed to win the AEW Tag Team titles.
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Jenn Decker attempted to interview PAC last week, who told her to move. PAC, covered in blood, said he has done nothing but help Jon Moxley since he got here. He left Kenny Omega laying out for him and this was the thanks he gets?
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Up next was a video package promoting Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle.
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CIMA got the best of Cody early, so he rolled to the outside to regroup. Brandi gave him a kiss, then Cody turned to MJF and started leaning in, which was funny. Back in the ring, Cody unnecessarily did a diving tag to Dustin, which cracked Taz up. Dustin has been wrestling 31 years. T-Hawk, Nick Jackson, and Private Party were all born after Dustin debuted.
This match was more about the comedy than the eight-men trying to have a **** bout. Matt Jackson used a rolling Northern Lights suplex on Marq Quen. Nick was going about 200 MPH, hitting kicks and dives and X-Factors on all four opponents. They turned around and hit all their big moves on Nick and that would have been it, but Cody broke it up.
CIMA and Nick reversed each other over and over as T-Hawk was setting up for a chop. He eventually went for it on Nick, but Nick reversed it one last time and CIMA took the chop.
Dustin tagged in and went at top speed, hitting powerslams on Quen, CIMA and T-Hawk. Isiah Kassidy ran in, but Dustin held up his finger and asked for a quick timeout to take a breath. Kassidy was nice enough to do it and then ran in for his powerslam.
We had the giant dive spot that ended with Brandi diving when MJF hopped up on the apron. MJF showed why he’s the best heel, as the referee got distracted again, so he went for a dive, but instead kept running the ropes and wouldn’t dive. CIMA laid him out, so Cody laid him out, so T-Hawk laid him out, and The Young Bucks laid him out.
The Young Bucks and Rhodes brothers set their foes up on all four corners and hit Unnatural Kicks (the former Shattered Dreams) on all four and Dustin pinned T-Hawk with the Final Reckoning.
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Probably the weakest of the three AEW Dark episodes, even though the show was fine. Thank you for reading. Talk to you again next week!
Episode three of AEW Dark debuts on YouTube at 7 p.m. Eastern time tonight and will feature three matches taped in Philadelphia:
The show will be headlined by an eight-man tag match, with The Young Bucks, Cody (w/ Brandi Rhodes) & Dustin Rhodes facing Private Party, CIMA & T-Hawk. Private Party and The Young Bucks are facing off again after Private Party eliminated them from the AEW Tag Team title tournament.
Both semifinal matches in the tournament will take place on Dynamite tomorrow. Private Party will face The Lucha Bros, while The Dark Order will take on SoCal Uncensored.
Nyla Rose vs. Leva Bates (w/ Peter Avalon) and Brandon Cutler vs. Joey Janela are the other two matches on tonight’s AEW Dark. There will also be an Undesirable to Undeniable segment with Cody Rhodes interviewing QT Marshall.
With last week’s Dynamite being held in Philly, Taz appeared as a guest broadcaster for AEW Dark and did commentary for the matches with Excalibur.
– SCU remain undefeated in six-man tag team matches, winning their second match over Jurassic Express.
– The episode started with Tony Schiavone in a studio introducing the show. He noted that AEW Dynamite was TNT’s biggest premiere in five years.
– They used the Dynamite announce team of Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Schiavone, although Schiavone stepped out halfway through the show.
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Allin was sitting in the corner — soaking in the adulation — when CIMA gave him the running knees to the face to start the bout. Allin came back with a trio of suicide dives, which just got the crowd to ask for one more.
Allin went for the Coffin Drop, which he seemingly always misses, and he missed again, with CIMA turning it into a powerbomb. Allin worked over the knee of CIMA, including headbutting it. I’m not saying that sarcastically, he was throwing headbutts to CIMA’s knee.
After a chop to Allin, CIMA held his own arms behind his back for a chop, but Allin punched him in the face instead.
Allin went for another Coffin Drop, but this time CIMA got his knees up. CIMA hit a meteora for a near fall. He missed a diving knee drop, then Allin hit a Code Red and finally hit the Coffin Drop for the win.
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Schiavone announced that Allin will wrestle Jimmy Havoc tomorrow night on Dynamite. The winner will get a shot at Chris Jericho’s AEW World Championship on October 16.
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Evans and Angelico are now going by The Hybrid2. They were arguing with their partners from the opening bell.
I type pretty fast, relatively speaking, but I could not type everything that happened in this match if I tried. The first two minutes were an eight-way series of dives and moves to everyone else. After a few minutes, they settled down and a wrestling match broke out.
The heels (The Lucha Brothers and Hybrid2) had quite a few misdirection spots where they crashed into each other. Evans used a backflip back elbow to break up a hug attempt.
They fought outside and Cassidy got in between Hybrid2 and Best Friends and just put his hands in his pockets, so Evans punched him in the face. Taylor was about to dive when Barreta stopped him for a hug and then we had a double dive. Cassidy got back in the match and did a dive onto the heels outside the ring.
In the ring, Fenix broke up a Best Friends double team and Pentagon pinned Taylor after a package piledriver/foot stomp combo.
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The crowd was noticeably dead for most of this match, although Allie did her best to cheerlead. The story of this match was the continued feud between Baker and Priestley. Priestley did your classic heel tactics of taunting Baker when she was on the apron and then tagging out as soon as Baker tagged in.
The heels got the heat on Allie, working over her arm. Priestley did the Shayna Baszler move of stomping on Allie’s elbow. Allie came back and went for a hurricanrana on Ford, but they collapsed. Excalibur sold it as Ford blocking it and using a powerbomb.
Finally, Priestley and Baker tagged in and were the best part of the match. It broke down into a four-way and everyone hit a big move on everyone.
The DMD hit a DDT and then tapped Ford out with a laying down abdominal stretch while yanking on her jaw.
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Schiavone did a recap of the events of last Wednesday night. We then went into the AEW Control Center, where Schiavone previewed the Tag Team title tournament and tomorrow night’s Dynamite.
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It was an All Out rematch here as the AEW Dark main event.
Stunt started with Daniels and danced on Daniels’ back instead of jumping over it. Seconds later, Daniels returned the favor. JR continues to call Jungle Boy “Jungle Boy Jack Perry,” so I’m assuming that’s his name from now on.
JR and Excalibur put over Sky’s potential as Luchasaurus tagged in to spin kick Daniels in the face. Stunt tried a running crossbody to Sky, but it didn’t work and he just bounced off. Sky assisted Kazarian in a tornado DDT on Luchasaurus, who kicked out of the cover and went kick crazy on SCU.
Stunt rolled through on Kazarian’s Tombstone attempt, but got pinned after a combo powerbomb/lung blower. So that is SCU: 2, Jurassic Express: 0.
It would probably be better to film all of these matches before Dynamite, since the last two matches had a bit of a dead crowd, while the opener (taped before the show) and the eight-man (taped immediately after the show ended) had a more lively crowd.
The viewership mostly increased throughout the show, starting with 14,895 at the start and ending with 25,820 when the show ended. The only time when I noticed it go down was at the start of the women’s tag. It went down around a thousand viewers, but it got those thousand back and more.
At February’s ticket announcement party, it was announced that CIMA would be teaming with two partners from Oriental Wrestling Entertainment in a six-man tag match against SoCal Uncensored at AEW Double or Nothing.
That was followed up on today, with it being revealed that CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman will be facing SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) at Double or Nothing. The show is taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 25.
AEW’s partnership with OWE was first announced in January. CIMA, T-Hawk, and El Lindaman formerly wrestled for Dragon Gate. They’re part of OWE’s Strong Hearts stable.
CIMA vs. Kenny Omega is set for AEW’s Fight for the Fallen event in Jacksonville, Florida on July 13.
Here’s the updated card for Double or Nothing:
Two matches have now been confirmed for AEW Fight for the Fallen.
Kenny Omega vs. CIMA was announced for the show today, joining Brandi Rhodes vs. Allie on the card. Daily’s Place Amphitheater at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida is hosting Fight for the Fallen on Saturday, July 13, with proceeds from the gate benefiting Jacksonville’s Victim Assistance Advisory Council.
Omega’s first match for AEW will be against Chris Jericho at Double or Nothing in Las Vegas on May 25. Omega & The Young Bucks vs. PAC, Pentagon Jr. & Fenix has been announced for Fyter Fest in Daytona Beach, Florida on June 29.
On this week’s Being the Elite, it was revealed that CIMA has signed a full-time contract with AEW. CIMA and two partners will face SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) at Double or Nothing.
The pre-sale for Fight for the Fallen will begin on Ticketmaster at 9 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow (April 18) and end at 9 p.m. Eastern. Tickets will go on sale to the general public at 9 a.m. Eastern this Friday.
“AEWFIGHT” is the pre-sale code.
CIMA’s in-ring involvement with All Elite Wrestling will extend past his match at Double or Nothing.
On this week’s episode of Being the Elite, it was announced that CIMA has signed a full-time contract with AEW. The announcement was made by The Young Bucks, who said they want to work with people who have helped them along the way. The Young Bucks credited CIMA for giving them their first big break in pro wrestling by booking them in Dragon Gate after seeing them in PWG early in their careers.
CIMA and two partners from China’s Oriental Wrestling Entertainment will face SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) in a six-man tag match at Double or Nothing in Las Vegas on May 25.
AEW’s partnership with OWE was announced at January’s Double or Nothing rally, with Matt Jackson saying that AEW would be bringing in CIMA’s Strong Hearts group. CIMA then made an appearance at February’s ticket announcement party for Double or Nothing.
This week’s Being the Elite is available to watch below. It ends with a tease of AEW hiring the Super Smash Bros (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson):
Rounding out the lineup for the tournament, 14 more wrestlers have been added to this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angles, including some big international names.
Some of the biggest names announced are CIMA, T-Hawk and Shingo Takagi. While T-Hawk has wrestled in the United States in the last year, CIMA and Takagaki haven’t wrestled in the US since 2013 and 2010, respectively. Travis Banks, just coming off of the finals of the WWE UK tournament, was also announced.
PWG regulars coming in for the tournament include PWG champion WALTER, Adam Brooks, Jeff Cobb, Flamita, Jonah Rock, Timothy Thatcher, Matt Riddle and Bandido. Impact’s DJZ and independent wrestler Darby Allin round out the 14 names announced over the last few days. Names previously announced include the likes of Ilja Dragunov of wXw, Puma King, Jody Fleisch and Pierre Carl Ouellet.
Here are the full list of participants for this year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament, which will take place over three days from September 14-16:
