Per Taz’s request, his Hardcore Hall of Fame induction, banner and tribute at the 2300 Arena that took place Wednesday did not air on the live AEW Dynamite broadcast.
In an eight-minute live video by Tony Khan seen below, he and Taz talked about the situation and that Taz preferred to not have any ceremony take up time on Dynamite so the focus could be on the current talent instead. Khan said he wanted to put the whole thing on TV, but wanted to honor Taz’s wishes. The two also ran down the card at length and joked about the TV show Seinfeld.
The banner (seen below) inside the former ECW Arena was shown on TV during the broadcast and acknowledged by Taz who said he was appreciative of the gesture and that it was “humbling.” He appreciated Khan and the fans, especially those in Philadelphia.
The ceremony that took place before Dynamite has yet to make it to social media or YouTube as of this writing.
Tonight’s live AEW Collision from the former ECW Arena in Philadelphia will feature AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm in action.
In a trios bout, Storm joins Mina Shirakawa & Queen Aminata to take on Julia Hart, Skye Blue & Billie Starkz.
TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher will team with Josh Alexander against Kyle O’Reilly and Tomohiro Ishii. Whether Fletcher chooses to answer Mark Briscoe’s challenge from last week remains to be seen.
In a grudge match building for weeks, Juice Robinson takes on Big Bill while the undefeated Hologram challenges former ROH World Champion Jay Lethal.
Former AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR will take on JD Drake & Adam Priest in a battle of North Carolinians.
Our live coverage begins at 8 PM Eastern.
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Live from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia with Tony Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness were on commentary.
Daniel Garcia (w/ Matt Menard) vs. Blake Christian (w/ Lee Johnson)
Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir came out as the bell rang to offer some advice to Daniel Garcia, with Moxley whispering something in Garcia’s ear. They left and Menard was confused on commentary. Garcia came out of the blocks aggressively with a hard back elbow. On the floor, Garcia caught Christian with a hard boot. Lee Johnson distracted Garcia, setting him up for a tope from Christian. Christian hit a standing moonsault off the barricade.
Christian wore down Garcia with a chinlock. Garcia broke free and came back with forearms and hard chops. Garcia hit a Twist ’n Shout swinging neckbreaker for a near fall. Christian came back with a springboard DDT. Christian went for a springboard 450, but Garcia caught him with a front guillotine, then transitioned into a piledriver and got the pinfall.
After the match, Schiavone interviewed Garcia about Moxley, but Garcia doesn’t want to talk about it. Instead, Garcia challenged Moxley to a match next week. Shafir and Wheeler Yuta came out to accept on Moxley’s behalf. Yuta reminded Garcia they’ve already slayed the “real American Dragon” before Shafir dragged him to the back.
Match Result: Daniel Garcia defeated Blake Christian (6:06)
— In the parking lot, the Conglomerations conglomerated with Roderick Strong. Kyle O’Reilly doesn’t even think the members of the Don Callis family are related!
Kyle Fletcher & Josh Alexander (w/ Don Callis) vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Kyle O’Reilly
It’s about time to run back Kyle vs. Kyle, and doing it in Philadelphia should result in some spectacular chants. Immediately the crowd started with “Let’s Go Kyle!” chants.
O’Reilly began the match with Alexander and some spectacular mat work while the fans chanted their love Don Callis as only Philly fans can. Ishii got the tag and got a pop. Ishii leveled Alexander with a forearm and ran through him with a tackle. After a consult from Fletcher on the floor, Alexander caught Ishii with a knee to take control. Tags were made on both sides for the first Kyle v. Kyle confrontation. “Let’s Go Kyle/Kyle Sucks!” O’Reilly caught Fletcher with a cross arm breaker into an anklelock, and somehow Fletcher got bloodied right at his left eye. Ishii caught Fletcher with more chops. Fletcher finally caught O’Reilly with a boot to send him to the floor, and Alexander followed up with a boot of his own to allow the Callis family to take control.
Back in the ring, Alexander missed a moonsault off the top on O’Reilly, and both men knocked each other down with a double clothesline. Ishii and Fletcher got the tags, and Ishii beat on both his opponents with forearms. Ishii sent Fletcher flying with a pounce. Ishii with a brainbuster on Fletcher for a near fall. Fletcher hit a superkick, Ishii came back and dumped him with a German suplex, so Fletcher dropped Ishii on his head with a Michinoku Driver.
Tags were made on both sides again, and O’Reilly and Alexander exchanged forearms. O’Reilly hit a knee and locked on a guillotine choke, but Alexander escaped with an ankle lock! O’Reilly countered that with an ankle lock of his own. O’Reilly hit a combination of strikes and a suplex for a near fall. O’Reilly locked in another arm bar, but Alexander escaped by getting to the ropes. More strikes from O’Reilly and Ishii, and they leveled Alexander with a Hi-Lo attack for a near fall, broken up by Fletcher.
The Kyles went to the floor where O’Reilly missed a running knee off the apron and hit the barricade. Fletcher then tripped up Ishii. Distracted, Alexander kicked Ishii low, then dropped him on his head with a package piledriver to get the pinfall. Great tag match, but the Kyles weren’t really in the ring against each other enough to get some really inspired chants from the crowd.
After the match, Roderick Strong came to check on O’Reilly, who was more interested in checking on Ishii.
Match Result: Kyle Fletcher & Josh Alexander defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Kyle O’Reilly (13:00)
— Thekla and Jamie Hayter brawled in the parking lot.
— In a different part of the parking lot, Mother Wayne tried to moderate a truce between Kip Sabian and Killswitch, with little success.
Hologram vs. Jay Lethal
The match opened with both guys exchanging holds and counters, with neither gaining an edge until Lethal caught Hologram with a backbreaker. Lethal followed that by sending Hologram face down to the mat out of a suplex.
Lethal charged in for a clothesline, but Hologram caught him with an enziguri. Lethal powered Hologram up for a suplex, but Hologram escaped and caught Lethal with a small package for two. Lethal hit a snap suplex. Letha hit a springboard dropkick to send Hologram to the floor, and he followed him out with a tope. Lethal threw Hologram back in the ring, but as Lethal caught his breath on the floor, Hologram quickly came back to hit Lethal with a tope of his own!
Back in the ring, Hologram hit a high-angle death valley driver for a near fall. The crowd chanted for both men as Hologram climbed to the top. Hologram dove off the top into a Lethal Combination. Lethal went to the top for an elbow, but Hologram turned that into a cradle for another near fall. Lethal countered a submission attempt from Hologram with the figure-four leg lock, but Hologram got the ropes. Lethal went for a Lethal Injection, but Hologram caught him with a backstabber. Hologram hit a helicopter sitout powerbomb to get the pinfall. This was Hologram’s 31st victory.
After the match, Hologram’s music “glitched” again (like it did last night at Death Before Dishonor). This time the arena lights turned red and the screen read “Clon activated.”
Match Result: Hologram defeated Jay Lethal (9:54)
— Ricochet with the Gates of Agony and The Hurt Syndicate cut pre-taped promos on each other in a video package. MVP said Ricochet started a war he can’t win, while Ricochet demands respect.
Alex Windsor vs. Ashley Vox
Windsor shouts her last name a lot. A powerbomb and a sharpshooter leads to a quick tap out from Vox.
After the match, Schiavone interviewed Windsor in the ring, stirring stuff up between she and Mercedes Mone. Windsor does not appreciate Mone making jokes about Will Ospreay injuries and wants a match with Mone in Philadelphia.
Match Result: Alex Windsor defeated Ashley Vox (1:11)
— Under an overpass in Philadelphia, Lexi Nair moderated a face-to-face between Mark Briscoe and Don Callis. If Briscoe can beat another member of the Don Callis family (probably Lance Archer I’m guessing), then Briscoe gets a TNT title shot with Kyle Fletcher.
FTR vs. JD Drake & Adam Priest (8:50)
No Stokely Hathaway with FTR after Wednesday. Dax Harwood was caught in the opposite corner for a bit and has his leg worked over. Drake caught Wheeler with a slingshot senton. He went to the top for a moonsault, but Wheeler distracted the ref so Harwood could crotch him on the top rope, then clothesline him to the mat.
Coming back from commercial, Drake hit the moonsault on Wheeler for a near fall, and the crowd was going nuts. FTR took Drake out with a Shatter Machine. Priest tried to fight off both members of FTR. Harwood cut him off with a jab. The crowd chanted what FTR used to mean at Dax and Cash. Priest German suplexed Harwood out of the corner. Harwood leveled him with a lariat. Harwood sent Priest into the corner shoulder-first several times. Harwood locked in Adam Copeland’s version of the crossface and Priest tapped out.
After the match, Cash cut a promo, trying to shout over the crowd’s boos. Cash’s shouting promo wasn’t great, but Dax took the mic and redeemed it. All Out should have been a dream match between eras, but now it’s going to be the end of the careers of Copeland and Cage.
Match Result: FTR defeated JD Drake & Adam Priest (8:50)
— A recap from Death Before Dishonor, where Sammy Guevara chose Rush as his mystery partner to win the held up ROH World Tag Team Championship. Guevara turned heel in the process and joined Los Facción Ingobernable.
— In a loading dock next to a dumpster, Lexi Nair got words from the Don Callis Family. Josh Alexander is going after Kenny Omega in the 8-man tag on Dynamite, and it sounded like Kyle Fletcher might be targeting Adam Page.
Big Bill (w/ Bryan Keith) vs. Juice Robinson (w/ Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn cutouts) (9:28)
The commentators brought up how Big Bill and Bryan Keith learned a lot under Chris Jericho. Robinson worked Bill over with a side headlock. Bill tried to escape with a back suplex, but Robinson held on the headlock! Bill finally escaped, did a nice leapfrog to avoid Robinson’s charge, then sent him to the floor with a nasty boot.
The fight went to the floor where Robinson and Bill sent each other headfirst into the big support beam in the middle of the entrance way. Back in the ring, Bill hit a clothesline for a near fall. Bill slowed things down with a bearhug, but Robinson elbowed and bit his way out of it. Bill miss a splash in the corner, and Robinson went to work on Bill’s knee. Robinson went low with a sliding dropkick. Robinson peppered Bill with rights, hit a shotgun dropkick, and delivered the Left Hand of God for a near fall. Robinson went to the top, but Bryan Keith jumped on the apron to distract him. Robinson took Keith out with a clothesline, but then walked right into a Black Hole Slam and Bill got the pinfall.
Match Result: Big Bill defeated Juice Robinson (9:28)
— Sky Flight want the ROH World Six Man Titles.
— Gabe Kidd wants Darby Allin in a fight next week in Philadelphia.
Toni Storm, Mina Shirakawa & Queen Aminata vs. Billie Starkz, Julia Hart & Skye Blue (12:01)
I think one side is short a couple of stars.
Crowd was very much into Toni Storm, who outwrestled Blue in the opening minutes. One determined fan chanted for Bille Starks, so Blue tagged her in. She got some offense in until Storm put her down with a backbreaker. Then the babyfaces had their way with Starks. Stakrs escaped and tagged in Hart. Aminatia floored Hart with a forearm and suplexed her to the mat. Aminata drove Hart to the mat with a sit-out full nelson drop, then gave her the Chocolate Kisses. After the other heels were dumped to the floor, Aminata held Hart open for the hip attack from Storm. Shirakawa took out all the heels with a crossbody to the floor.
Back in the ring after a commercial, Aminata took Hart down with a twisting neckbreaker. Tags were made, and Storm hit Skye Blue with a pair of shotgun dropkicks. A German suplex and hip attack followed. Hart tried to run in and got dumped with a German suplex. Hart got her nose bloodied on a shot from Storm, which I think messed up a spot or two.
Storm floored Blue with a clothesline. Shirawaka took Hart down with a slingblade. Mina tied up Hart’s legs with a cloverleaf, but instead of stepping over like a sharpshooter, Mina snapped back to the mat. Shirakawa locked Hart in a figure-four, but Blue turned them over to reverse the hold. Aminata and Storm suplexed Starkz on the floor, but Blue caught Storm and Aminata with kicks. Starkz got the tag and came off the top, but Mina ducked and caught Starkz with an elbow. Shirakawa finished off Starkz with the Glamorous Driver to get the pinfall.
After the match, Thekla ran in and attacked Shirakawa and Aminata, giving the 4-3 edge to the heels. Blue and Hart double teamed Storm with a face-first suplex and a double thrust kick. Thekla finished off Storm with a spear. The Triangle of Madness did the same to Shirakawa and Aminata. The Triangle of Madness stood over the babyfaces to end the show.
Match Result: Toni Storm, Mina Shirakawa & Queen Aminata defeated Billie Starkz, Julia Hart & Skye Blue (12:01)
New for this Wednesday:
Mercedes Mone will defend the TBS title against Alex Windsor
Taz’s 2300 Arena tribute is being pushed back slightly.
During Friday’s ROH Death Before Dishonor media scrum, Tony Khan said that Taz had asked if they could move the Hardcore Hall of Fame ceremony to this coming Wednesday’s Dynamite instead of Collision so more of his family could attend.
“He asked for more time to get his family and everybody lined up,” Khan explained. “It’s for him. It’s the least we can do for Taz….it’s a real honor for us to do that for him here in this building. Taz is an indespensible part of the team. ”
Khan surprised Taz on Wednesday by announcing that he would be the latest to be inducted into the 2300 Arena’s Hardcore Hall of Fame. The arena is better known to longtime fans as the ECW Arena, where Taz was a major star in the 1990s.
Here are notes from Saturday’s press conference with Paul Walter Hauser, Shane Taylor Promotions, ROH Champion Bandido, ROH Women’s Champion Athena, and Khan all took questions from the media.
Paul Walter Hauser
He took time to praise Khan, saying he provided so many jobs to people. To see Tony create these jobs and this world, he is indebted as a fan. Tony Khan said with his performance tonight Paul Walter Hauser proved that he is a wrestler.
He said that he felt more equipped for this match than previous matches, saying AEW cares a lot about performer safety.
Hauser said he wanted to pay tribute to people like Mick Foley and Dustin Rhodes by doing a rolling senton.
He said he didn’t even feel the tacks connect to the back of his head, he felt the powerbomb and had the wind knocked out of him and as a result didn’t have to sell much.
Khan during this segment put over QT Marshall, saying he’s one of the most intelligent people in wrestling.
Shane Taylor Promotions
Taylor said our goal was to do our best and win titles and we proved that tonight.
The Infantry said that the gear they wore tonight was a tribute to New Jack. Shane Taylor thanked the city of Philadelphia, saying they recognize real rather than “bull****.”
Taylor said out of all of his accomplishments, this was the most important title win of his 18 year career because of the people he’s involved with now. They are the most complete unit in pro wrestling.
ROH World Champion Bandido
Bandido says after two years out, since he came back to AEW and ROH, it’s been like a dream. He’s excited to be part of AEW and ROH.
He said being ROH Champion now feels incredible. He said he would be back to wrestle during the residency and wanted a Philly cheesesteak.
ROH Women’s Champion Athena
Regarding her match with Mina Shirakawa, Athena said it was tough, it was hard, but she is the ROH Women’s Champion. She considered Mina a great opponent but wished she did less dancing.
They pushed Athena was nearing 1000 days as champion.
Athena said that ROH was the be all growing up, bringing up names like Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson. She said now not only is she working with them, she’s proven she is better than them, this platform is where the best wrestle. AEW is where the best wrestle but ROH is where people grind and become the workhorses.
Athena says she’s prepared for Mercedes Mone if she is looking to collect a tenth belt. She said she is also changing her mentality for a future Toni Storm rematch.
Tony Khan
First question asked if we’ll see AEW Dark, Elevation, and ROH content on HBO Max. Khan talked about the success of AEW on HBO Max. More content would be great and they are trying to put up more free content as well, mentioning recent ROH content being put up on YouTube.
He mentioned that he made the decision mid-show to make the show free due to streaming issues on some browsers. All current Honor Club subscribers will get a month free as a result of the error. He said that will cost a lot of money, up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it’s okay, because they made new fans tonight.
Asked if they’ll return to the 2300 Arena. Fans have been excellent, the environment is awesome. He wants to do more shows here and loves Philadelphia.
Tony Khan said he was figuring out who was cleared before booking more matches for tomorrow’s Collision.
Someone asked if we could see more of Adam Priest. Khan said he was a big fan and scouted him at a recent show, saying he was impressive in the British J Cup. Great competitor.
He mentioned that Anthony Henry asked for the night off and that’s why the Workhorsemen weren’t on the show.
Tony Khan suggested we could see ROH Women’s Pure title tournament matches on Collision, since ROH is taped during these shows.
WWE NXT is returning to Philadelphia’s famed 2300 Arena with an interesting date.
First reported by WrestleVotes on Thursday, an episode of NXT TV will emanate from the former ECW Arena on Tuesday, August 19th — eight days before AEW’s previously announced residency that begins on Wednesday, August 27th through Thursday, September 11th.
AEW announced their seven-show residency in May that will see the venue host three episodes of Dynamite, three episodes of Collision, and Ring of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor.
It’s the latest interesting scheduling issue with the two companies.
WWE formally announced that they will hold three shows over the July 12th weekend including NXT Great American Bash, Saturday Night’s Main Event, and Evolution. The Bash will run head-to-head with All In.
This past Sunday as AEW was holding their Double or Nothing pay-per-view, NXT Battleground went head-to-head with it — a trend with NXT premium live events and some AEW pay-per-views.
Tony Khan would love to bring AEW to the former home of ECW one day.
Philadelphia played host to AEW’s Dynasty pay-per-view on Sunday night with the show taking place at the Liacouras Center. At his media scrum after the event, Khan fielded a question about whether a future Dynamite or Collision could take place at the former ECW Arena (now named the 2300 Arena).
“2300 Arena, right? I would be very interested in that, truthfully,” Khan said before recounting the story of how the ECW Arena was the second place he ever saw pro wrestling live. “So I would absolutely love to run there… I think that would be really cool if we could go to the 2300 Arena sometime. I haven’t been there in a long time.”
Khan said that, when he was 13 years old, his parents allowed him to go to an ECW show in Philly as an incentive for choosing to attend the University of Illinois Laboratory High School. At the show, he met some of his online friends in real life for the first time after they had been talking about wrestling on the internet.
WWE NXT ran the 2300 Arena in November of last year. The NXT special episode went head-to-head with Dynamite that week with NXT being moved to Wednesday due to election coverage.
Dynasty 2025 was the first-ever AEW PPV to be held in Philly. The Liacouras Center has regularly been hosting AEW events ever since the third episode of Dynamite in 2019.
WWE NXT Champion Trick Williams will team with Bubba Ray Dudley against former champion Ethan Page and Ridge Holland as part of tonight’s live debut from the former ECW Arena.
Dudley and Holland got into a verbal altercation at last month’s Halloween Havoc leading to Dudley getting physically involved in defending Williams on last week’s NXT TV.
The show is taking place on a different night as well, going head-to-head with AEW Dynamite.
In an all-star 10-woman tag team match, former TNA Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace returns to team with Stephanie Vaquer, Giulia, Kelani Jordan and Zaria against NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez, Cora Jade, and all three members of Fatal Influence.
In an homage to the now-2300 Arena, Lola Vice will go one-on-one with Jaida Parker in a hardcore match with former ECW manager Dawn Marie as special guest referee.
In an anticipated singles bout, Je’Von Evans will go to battle with Wes Lee.
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The show begins with a canned intro that uses the ECW “This is Extreme!” theme song, along with clips from NXT action. NXT is live on the air from the corner of Swanson and Ritner, from the former home of the ECW Arena.
In the crowd is someone dressed like Hat Guy, and his seat is nearly in the same spot. Opening the show is a “hardcore” match.
Jaida Parker defeated Lola Vice in a hardcore match with Dawn Marie as special guest referee
Parker pinned Vice after a hip attack finisher. They steal a page from the Friday script, except in this version the heel grabs a brick and hits the babyface. That set up the finish.
Metal folding chairs are used early and often in the match. There are spinning back fists into chairs, chairs wedged between the ropes, chairs scattered in the ring, and also chair shots of course. Vice tries to get a table from underneath the ring, but Parker shoves the table back under the ring.
Double clothesline on the floor, and a double down as the show cuts to its first commercial break. When the show returns, ladders, trash cans, and kendo sticks (or “Singapore canes” since this is an ECW tribute show).
Vice is put on a ladder bridged in the ropes, and Parker jumps off a standing ladder in the ring. Parker with a “teardrop” senton and crushes the ladder bridge, and Parker gets a near fall. Vice fights back to apply a choke, yet Parker is able to escape. They took turns hitting each other with the Singapore canes, and they took some big bumps.
Just before they go home, Vice has Parker trapped in a chokehold. Parker is able to pick up a gimmicked brick that is laying in the ring, and Parker hits Vice with the brick. The hold is broken of course, and Parker gets to her feet so she can run the ropes. Parker delivers her hip attack finisher, and Parker covers Vice for a three count.
Ridge Holland and Ethan Page are together to cut promos on their opponents for tonight. Notably, Page says there will be no tables in their match.
Wes Lee ambushes Rob Van Dam in a backstage skit. RVD is giving some advice to Kelani Jordan, who points Rob in the direction of Ava’s office. Suddenly, Wes Lee runs in to attack RVD. The skit is shot in a way that chair shots are not seen, but heard instead.
Adrianna Rizzo against Nikkita Lyons in a singles match is official for next week, which is first mentioned in a skit where Nunzio (Little Guido) and Tony Mamaluke meet up with a Tony D’Angelo and his Family for not checking in. Nunzio is apparently now a gangster from Philly. It was silly, but not in the fun way when Little Guido ran with the FBI.
Je’Von Evans defeated Wes Lee
Evans pinned Lee, in a match where RVD shows up at ringside. This was a pretty dang good match, and it was more in the spirit of the original ECW than anything else on the show so far.
The match goes through a commercial break. The show cuts to commercial after Lee drops Evans with a brain buster on the ring steps.
Less brawling after the break, and more high spots. Lots of flying. Evans does his double springboard into a cutter, but Lee rolls out of the ring before Evans can make a cover. Evans then sails through the ropes with tope suicida that sends him crashing over the announce desk.
Lee gets a chair and goes to hit Evans, but the ref takes the chair away. Moments later, Lee gets the chair again. That brings out RVD, who made a miraculous recovery. Lee confronts RVD, and RVD ducks a chair shot. Evans then dives over the ropes on Lee.
Rolling back into the ring, Lee takes a flying cutter from Evans. RVD cheers on Evans as he does a frog splash, and Evans covers Lee for a pinfall.
Eddy Thorpe wants to speak with Ava, but she makes an excuse and says it can wait. Ava is headed to the ring alongside Stevie Turner and Robert Stone.
After a commercial break, Ava and company are in the ring. The crowd is tough as Ava announces the next NXT PLE will be Deadline. Robert Stone butts in to cut a promo on Philly fans. Stone puts over New York fans over Philly fans. Stone keeps cutting a promo on Philly when the arena lights go dark. The lights come back on and Rhino is in the ring. Rhino gores Stone, and the crowd pops.
Ridge Holland & Ethan Page defeated NXT Champion Trick Williams & Bubba Ray Dudley
Holland pinned Williams to win the match. With Holland pinning the champion, that likely sets up a title bout for the near future. D-Von Dudley made a cameo in a post-match angle.
Holland shoves Bubba early on, so they square off. Later on, Bubba cleans house after a mildly hot tag. The crowd was nonetheless hot for Bubba. The heels are reeling as the show cuts to a commercial break.
When the show returns from the break, Bubba is crotched on the ring post. Holland & Page then get heat on Bubba, as they work him over. Bubba is audibly calling spots clear as day, as he sets up to deliver a spear. Hot tag to Trick, and he is a house of fire. All four are involved in the match just before the finish.
For the finish, Holland dodges Trick’s knee strike finisher, and Holland rolls up Trick for a pinfall.
Page jumps Trick after the match. Holland then joins in to team up on Trick. Page & Holland are beating down Trick when Bubba makes a save. Bubba and Trick do the “wazzzup” and the “get the tables” spots, which were actually not part of ECW lore. Whatever, though. It got over with the live crowd.
When Trick went to get a table, he could not find a table under the ring. They wondered what to do when the Dudley’s theme song blares, and out comes D’Von Dudley with a table. Page is then put through a table. D-Von then presents Trick with a pair of Dudley glasses.
The love story between Ashante “Thee” Adonis and Karmen Petrovic continues to blossom. Slow burn here.
NXT North American Champion Tony D’Angelo (with The Family) defeated Nunzio (with Tony Mamaluke)
D’Angelo pinned Nunzio after a spinebuster. Nunzio looked very thin in tights, but he can still work pretty well. He did a few of his signature spots, before getting a crowbar to use. The ref takes the crowbar from Nunzio, and D’Angelo finishes him off. D’Angelo executes his finisher, and he covers Nunzio for a pinfall. Tony D and Nunzio embrace after the match after shaking hands.
Backstage, Shawn Spears tells Brooks Jensen that he is “feeling Italian” next week in Orlando.
In footage from last week, Mr. William Regal shakes hands and says farewell to Lexis King. Regal the runs into Charlie Dempsey and the No Quarter Crew. Regal remarks to Dempsey that King is not his father’s son. Regals asks Dempsey is he is his father’s son. Dempsey says time will tell. The inside joke here is Dempsey’s actual father is Regal.
Zaria pinned Perez to win the match. This was a good match where everyone got to shine or get some spots in. Giulia and Vaquer worked together with tandem moves, since they are an established team. Zaria eventually tags in, and she looks strong.
All ten face off in a standoff that turns into a slugfest. Jordan does a moonsault off the top rope to the floor, just before the show cuts to its final commercial break. A replay shows the moonsault in slow motion as the show fades into commercials.
After returning from the break, heat on Jordan. She is kept away from her corner, as Jordan is in peril. Hot tag to Grace, and she is a house of fire. She gets a near fall on Jade.
Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson come down to ringside, and they are wiped out with high flying from Vaquer & Giulia.
Everyone gets involved with a parade of high spots in the closing moments. Zaria inadvertently spears Grace in the match, which was a very notable spot.
For the finish itself, Perez goes for Pop Rocks. Zaria blocks the move, and Zaria gives Perez the F-5. Zaria then covers Perez to win the match.
The babyfaces celebrate with their hands’ raised, as the ECW theme song plays before the show fades to black.
There was some really good wrestling on the show, but this was the lamest ECW tribute I have seen. As a fan of the original ECW, this show had none of the magic of past tribute shows.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including the departure of Samantha Irvin, WWE running the former ECW Arena to go head-to-head with Dynamite, weekend TV, Bryan’s knee, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
This week’s New Japan Strong kicked off the most recent set of tapings from The New Beginning USA tapings in Seattle at Washington Hall, the home of super indie DEFY Wrestling.
ROH’s Ian Riccaboni joined Alex Koslov on commentary. Riccaboni, who has also appeared for both Impact Wrestling and GCW recently, was filling in for Kevin Kelly, who was overseas doing English broadcasting in Japan.
If you’ve seen the 2019 NJPW Super J Cup, which was also filmed in Washington, tonight’s production quality and overall look was similar.
Brody King defeated Yuya Uemura
The two stood face to face in the ring before the bell, King almost a full head over Uemura. There were lots of chants for King before things got started.
This was a good opener. King was on the offensive throughout most of this. He squashed Uemura with a senton early, later putting Ueumura in a seated abdominal stretch and clubbing him in the chest with his free arm as he stretched him out.
While Ueumura took a beating, he always wrestled with fire and attempted to come back. It was King who was just too much for the recently-graduated Young Lion.
Uemura would eventually connect with a string of moves to help him put King on the defensive. They traded big elbows, but Uemura landed a nice dropkick off the ropes soon after. He caught King with a running dropkick in the corner later and somehow put King down on the mat with a backdrop Saito suplex.
King answered back, locking Uemura in a bear hug and spiking him with a piledriver for two. Uemura slapped on a desperation armbar but King was close enough to the ropes to have the referee call for the break. He then put Uemura away with a big lariat and the Gonzo Bomb for the win.
King, who has been on a roll since last year, looked great, but so did Uemura who earned a chant of his own before he exited to the back.
Lio Rush & Rocky Romero defeated West Coast Wrecking Crew
The WCWC (Royce Isaacs & Jorel Nelson) were regulars in the Seattle area for DEFY before they got to NJPW, where they wrestled under the name The One Percent. As a result, the crowd sounded familiar with them.
There was lots of action in this one. WCWC jumped Romero & Rush before the bell. Rush and Nelson fought on the floor while Isaacs worked Romero over in the ring. They did stereo delayed suplexes next, one in the ring and one on the floor. Nelson used a gourdbuster and dumped Rush face first to the mat while Isaacs dropped Romero with a suplex in the ring. WCWC then ran back into the ring to do some flexing and posing for the fans.
Romero later landed some hard chops on Isaacs and the crowd was loudly behind him. Isaacs kiboshed that and kept working him over while Nelson began tearing the red ringpost pad from the turnbuckle in the corner “Toru Yano style” as Riccaboni put it.
Romero was finally able to swing out of Isaac’s grip with a tornado DDT and tag out to Rush. Isaacs tagged out Nelson, who caught a springboard moonsault from Rush upon entering the ring. Rush did an Asai moonsault to the floor onto Isaacs next and ran back into the ring for a flying frog crossbody attack (he did the froggy pump and a crossbody block, like Hiroshi Tanahashi does sometimes) onto Nelson.
A proverbial “house of fire,” Rush was. This kid has so much in-ring talent alone that it’s kind of crazy he’s not in a top spot somewhere.
Nelson caught Rush with flying double knees in the corner and tagged out to Isaacs. Rush landed an enzuigiri on Isaacs and tagged out to Romero, who ran wild from corner to corner with Forever Clotheslines on both Isaacs and Nelson.
WCWC took Romero out soon after, using a running knee-to-German suplex double team spot on Romero for two. They did a cool double team slingshot-to-powerslam for another two. The match began breaking down. Rush dove onto the floor with a tope suicida as we hit the ten minute mark.
Romero caught Isaacs coming off the ropes with a flying armbar, transitioning to a triangle choke and finally to an armbar on the opposite side. He grabbed Isaacs’ left leg for more leverage and pressure, which got Isaacs to ultimately tap out. This match had really good stuff from everyone involved.
WCWC beat up Romero after the match with a black kendo stick—a message from Black Tiger and Team Filthy to Romero, who has been feuding with the new Black Tiger since early in the year. Isaacs looked to the camera and told Black Tiger they had his back.
Romero and the new Black Tiger will finally have a singles match at the upcoming NJPW Strong: Rivals tapings this month.
— Riccaboni interviewed David Finlay and Juice Robinson. FinJuice were pissed and called out JONAH and Bad Dude Tito for sticking their noses in their business. Finlay and Robinson usually come off happy-go-lucky babyfaces, but this promo had an edge to it for sure.
The promo was short and to the point, covering all that’s happened between the four within the past month like when JONAH and Tito jumped Robinson after JONAH’s singles match against him at NJPW Strong: Nemesis. These two teams will also square off at NJPW Strong: Rivals this month.
Clark Connors defeated TJP
NJPW Strong has been slow cooking this mentor vs. mentee rivalry over the past two years or so. A video package broke down all the different stops along the way, starting with the aforementioned Super J-Cup 2019 all the way through Showdown 2021.
Connors, who comes from the Pacific Northwest, got a great reception before the match started. He slammed TJP into the corner and took his knee tape off. It’s business time. Connors next walked back to the corner and chopped the hell out of TJP, who was still reeling. He launched him with two very high angle German suplexes and went for a third before TJP escaped to the floor. Connors ran after him and pounced TJP over the guardrail onto the ring announcer’s table. This was great but also would have looked better if the lighting wasn’t so dark.
TJP locked Connors in a guillotine choke inside the ropes, his back facing the audience. He then planted him with a high back suplex with one grapevined leg for a two count. He put Connors in a chinlock for a while and the crowd got loud in support of Connors. TJP face washed him in the corner and I liked how Riccaboni said, “I don’t agree with this move” which is such an accurate take on the spot. It’s not illegal, yet there’s nothing sportsmanlike about it. Heavy boos rained down onto TJP.
Connors was able to gather up a burst of energy to catch TJP running off the ropes with a flying shoulder block. He dropped an elbow on to his former mentor just after the ten minute call sounded.
TJP tried springboarding off the ropes, but Connors caught him mid-air with a spear. Both were out for a while. TJP was back up first and gave Connors more disrespectful face washes as he pointed to those booing him in the crowd. He locked Connors in an armbar next, but Connors reversed it into a Mr. Gannosuke-style full nelson clutch. TJP escaped after grabbing the ropes for a break.
When TJP tried escaping to the floor again, Connors caught him with a spear while he was still on the apron which got the crowd to chant “this is awesome.”
Connors tried suplexing TJP back into the ring, but TJP countered and locked Connors in a triangle choke in the ropes. He let go and then dashed to the top rope to drop a flying knee across the back of Connors, who was still caught in the ropes. TJP then rolled Connors to the center and hit his Mamba Splash finisher for a really close two count. The crowd was steaming hot at this point.
TJP then hit a crazy looking cobra twist driver, but Connors kicked out at one. He landed a fireman’s carry-to-gamengiri kick but again, Connors kicked out after the count of one. If this were a video game, his spirit level would have been flashing like crazy at this moment.
TJP did a backslide followed by a modified scorpion deathlock, wrenching on Connors’ injured knee. Connors caught the ropes for a break and then rolled TJP up for two. They then knocked each other down after a double lariat. Referee Jeremy Marcus shouted at both to get back up. When both were, TJP went for a tornado DDT but Connors instead just launched the guy forward and he went flying, landing face first onto the mat. Connors climbed to the top but TJP stopped him, again wrenching on Connors’ injured shoulder.
Moments later, Connors connected with a Mamba Splash of his own. Connors flashed the LA Dojo sign at TJP, which the crowd enjoyed, and then used a big stacked power bomb on him for two. TJP flipped Connors off and Connors powerslammed him. Then, he put his former mentor TJP away with Catch and Kill, a backdrop suplex-to-power bomb, for the emphatic win in 18:19.
This was excellent and Connors’ best match on NJPW Strong of all time, and possibly even the best match of his career so far.
Final thoughts:
This show had a big time feel and delivered with three very good-to-great matches. Each is worth going out of your way to see, and each had a different flavor than the other. King vs. Uemura was a killer hard-hitting opener while the West Coast Wrecking Crew vs. Rush & Romero was top-tier tag team wrestling.
The main event wasn’t just Connors’ best match on the show but possibly also TJP’s as well. Actually, I can’t think of too many better TJP matches in the past few years than this one. Good on both of them for this ripper of a match.
This was the next installment of New Japan Showdown tapings from 2300 Arena f.k.a. the ECW Arena in Philadelphia.
Alex Coughlin Challenge Match Series: Jonathan Gresham defeated Alex Coughlin
New Japan’s “Challenge Match Series” is usually a pre-graduation routine, a series of matches where rookie Young Lions take on top talent. This happens right before they transition to a higher position on the card and get new tights and/or a gimmick. Alex Coughlin looks to be the next graduate from the LA Dojo, and his first match was against ROH’s Jonathan Gresham.
Gresham’s last appearances with NJPW were at the 2019 Super J-Cup tournament shows, pre-pandemic.
They shook hands before the bout. The two traded headlock takeovers. They got tied up in the corner, both tangled up in a collar-and-elbow, and neither wanted to be first to break. This led to some chippiness between the two. They bumped chests. Coughlin shoved Gresham, but the veteran Gresham quickly had rookie Coughlin back on the mat with another headlock takeover.
What’s so great about Gresham is how he injects life into fundamental chain wrestling. He’s never boring, yet he’s not reinventing the wheel in terms of creativity. He’s just that damn good. So much of this match was built on a headlock takeover, and it worked.
Coughlin hung right in there, too. He’s bigger than Gresham, but since Gresham wrestled the smarter, craftier style, thus neutralizing any size advantage Coughlin had. Coughlin escaped eventually and locked in a headscissors hold. When Gresham attempted to bridge out of the headscissors, was able to clasp his hands around Gresham’s waist and deadlift him onto his shoulder—from a seated position, mind you. He threw Gresham to the mat with a gutwrench suplex.
They traded lots of close nearfalls. After exchanging a number of sunset flips and inside cradles, Gresham caught Coughlin with a headscissors pin for the win. This was mid-sequence, too, meaning most of the audience didn’t see it coming. I sure didn’t. It was a nice spin on the headlock takeover-to-headscissors spot we’ve seen in pro wrestling ad nauseam over the years, plus it was a loss that doesn’t take anything away from Coughlin while also enhancing Gresham’s “best pure wrestler in the world” gimmick. This was excellent.
Fred Rosser, Karl Fredericks, Ren Narita, Rocky Romero & the DKC defeated Team Filthy (Danny Limelight, Jorel Nelson, JR Kratos, Royce Isaacs & Tom Lawlor) via disqualification
The babyface team stormed the ring and went after Team Filthy before the bell even rang. Rosser’s head was shaved as a result of Lawlor shaving Rosser’s head after a match a few weeks ago, with Lawlor eating his hair. Filthy.
Rosser immediately began biting Lawlor while the rest of the match spilled out onto the floor. Rosser and Lawlor threw wild punches at each other, in and out of the corner. Rosser took off his shirt and choked Lawlor with it, then blew snot-rockets at him. Great energy from everyone here, but particularly Rosser, who was fired-the-hell up. JR Kratos put the kibosh on this after he ambushed Rosser, taking him out with a huge jumping lariat.
Lawlor pounced on top of the fallen Rosser and began strangling him. This is an especially great spot since we know Lawlor is a BJJ black belt and he’s choosing to strangle Rosser with two hands like an angry guy in a bar fight. The rest of Team Filthy came back into the ring and posed over Rosser until the rest of the babyfaces broke things up.
Team Filthy continued to work Rosser over. The West Coast Wrecking Crew and Danny Limelight used a 3-on-1 offense to keep Rosser down. They fed Rosser to Kratos who was waiting for Rosser on the floor. When Kratos went to deadlift suplex Rosser, “Mr. No Days Off ” slipped out and shoved Kratos into the ring post. WCWC came at him from the opposite side, but Rosser took both out with a double-lariat. Danny Limelight darted in, but Rosser launched him into the air, back body dropping him onto Kratos, who was still recovering on the floor. Rosser’s proverbial spirit bar was flashing at this point. He drilled Lawlor with a gutbuster on the floor, though I’m not sure who that would’ve hurt worse, him or Lawlor.
Ren Narita and Royce Isaacs were in together next. Narita scored a two-count with a beautiful single-arm suplex. Narita might have the best bridge in the business right now. Jorel Nelson broke up the pin. The DKC jumped in next and unleashed some kiai power onto Isaacs, chopping him up in the corner before whipping him to Narita for a release front suplex. DKC and Karl Fredericks showed off nice double-team work.
Isaacs, the legal man for Team Filthy, caught Fredericks with a pop-up kneelift, then tagged out to Limelight. Fredericks planted Limelight with a spinebuster after Limelight was doing the cha-cha. Romero tagged in next and he and Limelight then got into it.
Later, Lawlor and Rosser brawled again in the ring, doing their own rendition of the Frye-Takayama endless punches spot.
Limelight almost landed his patented double-jump swinging DDT, but Romero cut him off and turned it into a falcon arrow-to-armbar submission attempt. The match ended when a masked and hooded wrestler entered the ring and began hitting Romero with a black kendo stick.
The wrestler then removed his hoodie and was revealed to be the new Black Tiger, or as Alex Koslov called him on commentary, “the Black Tiger Mask.” Black Tiger laid Romero out with a tombstone piledriver. He appears to be aligned with Team Filthy.
Tiger, Lawlor and Kratos beat on Rosser in the ring. The crowd chanted “F*CK YOU KRATOS,” then “SHUT THE F*CK UP” at Tom Lawlor when he got on the mic.
“I’m sick and damn tired of Rocky Romero gettin’ his ass off SoundCloud and into the ring! I’m so sick of hearing about how far Darren has come in the past few years!” Lawlor went on to explain that the new Black Tiger hadn’t come back to haunt him, but to end him. He’d then put his foot across Rosser’s neck. The crowd started chanting “FRED,” a retort to Lawlor’s “Darrren (Young)” comment earlier.
In the post-match promo backstage, Lawlor explained that he believed Rocky Romero had been with NJPW for 20 years and was abusing his power. He accused Romero of trying to “hold everybody down” and that he was sick of it. He said Team Filthy deserves all of the top spots in Japan. Lawlor called out “Darren” (Fred Rosser) for threatening to come to his house and beat him up. He said Rosser wasn’t man enough to ever do something like that.
By the end of this promo, it felt like it turned into an old-school Survivor Series team interview, with most of Team Filthy eyeballing the camera while Lawlor cut his promo on Rosser.
After a break, we saw NJPW Young Lion Gabriel Kidd make his post-pandemic return. Kidd was previously based out of Japan and had a number of awesome matches with Yota Tsuji, Ren Narita and Yuya Uemura (among others) over the past few years.
Kidd got on the mic and said he would be at New Japan’s Detonation show in Riverside, CA. He said that he saw fellow Young Lion Alex Coughlin’s match with Jonathan Gresham earlier in the night and that he liked it very much. He called Gresham out to the ring next and implied he wanted a match with him in Riverside at Detonation.
Gresham came to the ring. Before handing him the mic, Kidd explained how much respect he had for Gresham and what he’d done for wrestling, but that if he thought he could ever out-wrestle a British wrestler, he’d be mistaken.
Gresham explained that he didn’t even know who Kidd was, but that it wasn’t a knock, it was just that Gresham hadn’t been paying attention to NJPW recently. He said that he was impressed with Kidd’s training partner, Alex Coughlin, and that he was sure Kidd was at least as good or better than Coughlin, and that he’d gladly accept his challenge for a match in California. The two would shake hands and Gresham would then exit the ring.
Before the segment ended, Kidd grabbed the mic once more and told the crowd that if they were going through hard times these days to not give up, to keep steppin’ and to speak up, because no one is alone.
Daniel Garcia & Violence Unlimited (Brody King & Chris Dickinson) defeated Stray Dog Army (Barrett Brown, Bateman & Misterioso)
This was a fun but relatively short match that the crowd loved. Dickinson and Brown mixed it up first. Brown went toe-to-toe with Dickinson, but the bigger “Dirty Daddy” stamped him out with a hard shoulder block before he tagged young phenom Daniel Garcia in for some double-team offense. Brody King and Misterioso got into it later. The crowd loved King.
Garcia systematically tore through the Stray Dog Army. He, King, and Dickinson locked all three Stray Dogs in simultaneous submission holds.
Bateman used a Northern Lights bomb variation on King to lay him out. Dickinson and Garcia were able to save King from the Stray Dog 3-on-1 attack. King would then power bomb Barrett Brown onto the rest of the wrestlers on the floor, Mike Awesome-style. Violence Unlimited and Garcia put the Stray Dog Army away with tandem piledrivers (plus one Gonzo Bomb from King, the legal man).
Philadelphia Street Fight: Suzuki-gun (Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki) defeat Eddie Kingston & Jon Moxley
This was taped before Jon Moxley’s hiatus.
Before the match, they aired a production package made up of mostly past AEW footage of the four wrestlers going at it on a past episode of Dynamite.
Archer came out first and took out a few Young Lions standing ringside. Vintage Archer. The crowd went wild for “Kaze Ni Nare” as usual.
Retired NJPW referee Tiger Hattori joined Matt Rehwoldt and Alex Koslov on commentary
When Moxley and Kingston were in the ring with Suzuki-gun before the bell, Suzuki and Mox began poking and shoving each other.
Suzuki knocked Kingston out cold with a forearm shot. Suzuki terrorized with a kendo stick. Hattori said on commentary that Suzuki has a lot of experience doing kendo.
The fight spilled to the backstage area, and then the backlot. I got deja vu as all four brawled into the parking lot area, which ECW fans have seen a number of times over the years in famous promos and matches. Archer did the 1996 Kevin Nash–Rey Mysterio lawn-dart-into-side-of-truck spot to Mox. Suzuki choked Moxley with the top part of a folding chair.
Something may have happened inside the arena at this point in the match. People started booing just as Eddie Kingston threw a cinderblock at Archer but missed. Rehwoldt mentioned the inside feed may have cut out. Not entirely sure what was happening inside the venue, but the match quickly moved back inside the arena.
Suzuki brought a traffic cone into the venue, hitting Kingston over the head with it. Then, he whacked Kingston a couple times with a kendo stick and bowed, then respectfully placed the stick near the announcers table.
Archer strangled Kingston with a dustpan. He and Suzuki beat on Kingston inside the ring, this time with kendo sticks. Suzuki wound up and swung like a baseball player, then placed the stick under Kingston’s arm for an armbar with the extra kendo stick leverage.
Mox reappeared and came with an unhinged door in hand. The crowd started chanting “E-C-W!” though I can’t recall a time when someone in ECW ever used a door. Mox grabbed someone’s sign because someone had written “MOX USE MY SIGN!” on it. He ripped off the paper and revealed the object to be a stop sign. I wonder how the fan got a hold of that.
Moxley slid the door into the ring and would eventually dropkick Archer through it as it was set up against the turnbuckle. The crowd chanted “this is awesome.”
Archer would later level Kingston with a full nelson slam, but Kingston powered up and landed two urakens and a DDT for two—Suzuki made a last minute save. He put Kingston in a guillotine choke. Suzuki went for the Gotch-Style piledriver but Mox broke it up. Finally, Suzuki-gun put the match away after Archer pinned Kingston with a Blackout onto a garbage can.
Afterwards, Archer grabbed a mic and ordered a cameraman onto the apron. He then told Kingston that he was sick of Kingston screwing him out of matches and titles. He said this was for disrespecting Suzuki-gun. He’d then talk about his then-upcoming match with Kingston as part of AEW’s World Title Eliminator tournament. Suzuki threw the mic at Kingston and said “We are Suzuki-gun!” before leaving ringside.
Kingston grabbed the mic and said something too, but it was garbled because NJPW bleeped a word and you couldn’t hear the end of what he said because it was so short. So, Eddie Kingston said something. And it was probably vulgar, as you’d expect.
Final thoughts:
This was a top-tier edition of NJPW Strong. The opener between Coughlin and Gresham was an excellent opener; the tag matches in between had tons of fire and the Rosser vs. Lawlor angle for the Openweight title has been arguably the best long-term angle in the show’s short history; the main event was a hell of a main event brawl with more grit and grime than the AEW version.
From quality to action to star power, this show had a bit of everything for everyone, especially if you like your wrestling to be a little more rough-and-tumble than the usual.
