The next no. 1 contender for the Impact World title will be determined at this month’s Under Siege.
Announced Thursday, Eddie Edwards, Moose, Jonathan Gresham, Yuya Uemura, Frankie Kazarian and Alex Shelley will compete in a six-way for the future opportunity against either current champion Steve Maclin or his next title challenger PCO.
The streaming special is set for Friday, May 26th in London, Ontario, Canada.
Edwards and Moose are former Impact World titleholders while Kazarian and Shelley have held other Impact titles but never the big prize. Gresham and Uemura are still in search of their first taste of Impact gold.
The new match joins three title defenses previously announced for the show.
Here’s the current card:
Impact World Champion Steve Maclin defends against PCO
Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo defends against Jordynne Grace
X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defends against Chris Sabin
No. 1 contender’s six-way: Eddie Edwards vs. Moose vs. Jonathan Gresham vs. Yuya Uemura vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Alex Shelley
AEW has announced the lineup for Monday’s episode of Dark: Elevation.
Notable matches scheduled to air include The Lucha Bros vs. The Wingmen, The Best Friends vs. Starboy Charlie & Olumide, and Brian Cage vs. Jack Cartwheel. ROH Women’s World Champion Athena will also face Inder Mundi in a Proving Grounds match.
Jake Hager, Marina Shafir, Emi Sakura, and The Butcher & The Blade are advertised for the show as well.
AEW Dark: Elevation this week was filmed on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, from the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.
AEW: Dark Elevation 3/13 lineup:
Jake Hager /w Angelo Parker vs. Levi Shapiro
Marina Shafir vs. Mighty Mayra
Brian Cage w/ Prince Nana vs. Jack Cartwheel
The Butcher & The Blade vs. Vinnie Massaro & Midas Kreed
ROH Women’s World Champion Athena vs. Inder Mundi in a Proving Grounds Match
The Best Friends (Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor) vs. Starboy Charlie & Olumide
The Lucha Bros. (Rey Fenix & Penta El Zero Miedo) vs. Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth
13 matches are scheduled to air on Tuesday’s show including Trent Beretta vs. Tony Nese, Billie Starkz vs. Emi Sakura, and Jeff Jarrett & Satnam Singh vs. The Boys (Brandon & Brent).
Preston Vance, Julia Hart, Tony Deppen, Matt Sydal, Slim J, and The Workhorsemen will also be featured on this week’s episode.
AEW Dark on February 21, 2023, was filmed on Saturday, January 28, 2023, from Universal Studios in Orlando. The advertised lineup is as follows:
Iron Savages (Boulder & Bronson) vs. Chris Sandson & Terry Kid
Preston Vance w/ Jose the Assistant vs. Blanco Loco
Teased on last Thursday’s Impact on AXS TV, Frankie Kazarian will face Kon of The Design at Impact No Surrender.
The streaming special is set for Friday, February 24th at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kazarian was confronting Sami Callihan about what he’s doing with The Design when Deaner, Angels and Kon walked in and got in Kazarian’s face. The former X-Division Champion didn’t back down and called out Kon for a match.
Kazarian was on the losing end of an eight-man tag team match to The Design recently. This will be his first Impact singles match since his last Impact run ended in November 2022.
Here’s the current card:
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defends against Rich Swann
Knockouts Champion Mickie James defends against Masha Slamovich
Knockouts Tag Team Champions The Death Dollz defend against The Hex
No. 1 contender’s four-way: PCO vs. Brian Myers vs. TBD vs. TBD
Bullet Club vs. Time Machine
Frankie Kazarian vs. Kon
Pre-show: “Speedball” Mike Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham
The new issue of the Observer is up on the site with these stories:
The return of Vince McMahon, the sales talks, and the departure of Stephanie McMahon
Who is in charge of running the company right now
What Vince McMahon’s role is today
How Vince McMahon got back in power
A look at different entities who have expressed interest in WWE
Can Tony Khan get control of WWE
What kind of numbers are we talking about for the deal
What is the current market value of WWE
The Saudi Arabia rumors
How far did the rumors spread
What the experience of the UFC sale in 2016 tells you about what is said publicly
Notes from the meeting Stephanie McMahon, Frank Riddick and Nick Khan had with all the company employees
If something happens with Saudi Arabia, what would be the likely repercussions based on previous sports world examples
What companies did Nick Khan bring up to employees when talking the sale
Changes in WWE morale
2022 Business year in review for pro wrestling, MMA and boxing major events
Biggest crowds of the year
Main eventers on top for the most biggest crowds
PPV numbers for the year
Who drew the most 15,000+ crowds
UFC gate numbers
List of $2 million gates
Biggest pro wrestling drawing card each year since 1916
Biggest drawing cards in history
The changing of the media landscape and how this effects AEW and WWE
Analysis of the losses incurred by FOX on Smackdown by Morgan Stanley
The career of wrestler and promoter Johnny Powers, one of the biggest stars of the 60s and 70s
The attempt to promote nationally and what happened
How he got his first break with Bruno Sammartino
Multiple world title matches around the world
His runs with major promotions
Being the star of the NWF
How Powers figured into the early days of New Japan Pro Wrestling and his biggest matches there
How Powers was promoted in Japan
Powers and the Greatest 18 Club
Full coverage of PWG Battle of Los Angeles with thoughts on the shows, where PWG stands, background of the appearance of Chris Jericho, who you should keep your eyes on and match-by-match coverage
A look back at the career of Black Warrior
The most detailed look at the ratings from all the shows this past week as well as segment-by-segment
Mexican iconic character looking at retiring
Sting’s last match in Japan
Major change in New Japan’s U.S. approach
Update on Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone in New Japan with more dates
How Mercedes moved tickets for her first match
A look at the major matches on the next new Japan tour
Superstar Billy Graham health update
TV announcer starts up promoting new group
The death of the real Bobby Heenan, and how the pro wrestling legend found out about his brother and his family
Adam Cole’s return
Kyle O’Reilly gives health update
Streaming numbers for AEW and WWE
International TV numbers
Attendance for upcoming shows
California legislators critical of Dana White
Dana White talks at press conference about his situation
Bellator signs perhaps its top fighter
Phil Baroni charged with homicide and facing a lifetime in jail
PFL announces new tournaments
WWE tries to get things removed from the discovery process in MLW lawsuit
How slow the courts can be on these situations
How much did Shane McMahon earn from WWE in 2022
Former New Japan wrestler quietly started in WWE camp this week
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Tuesday Update
WWE
In a now-deleted TikTok video, Amari Miller shared that she had attempted to take her life in the last week. “Everything isn’t what it seems, mental health is hard, we should all speak out even though I know it’s hard, you are loved, fight through with me plz!” she wrote in the caption of the post.
Charlie Dempsey and Zoey Stark taped matches prior to Raw on Monday that will air this coming week on Main Event.
Sean Ross Sapp reported that indie content is being removed from Peacock and the WWE Network after people pointed out that ICW content would be removed from the network on January 19.
Tatanka wrote on Twitter that even though he was contacted to appear on Raw XXX next week, he will not be attending the show. “Even though @WWE contacted me 5 weeks ago, I will not be attending the 30th Anniversary Show…instead, as noted, my Son’s Wrestling Team won the Regional Championship & we’re heading out of town to the State Championship!,” he wrote. “No better place I would rather be! #Father #Son Support!”
Nigerian outlet The Nation did a story on Apollo Crews, who recently went to the country to film a WWE reality project.
Bianca Belair, Montez Ford, and The Usos will star in C4 Energy’s new campaign called “Be You. But Better.”
PWInsider reports that Belair and Ford will also be on NBC Saturday afternoon, appearing at the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars playoff game.
AEW Road to Fresno, which focuses on Bryan Danielson’s chase towards the AEW World title, Ricky Starks vs. Jake Hager, and Adam Cole’s return last week on Dynamite.
Frankie Kazrian spoke to PWInsider about leaving AEW and signing with Impact Wrestling. “AEW management had contacted me early December, which was only a few weeks after this match. So it’s just kind of a coincidence timing wise. But they contacted me 30 days out, which is what they’re supposed to do, and they had basically talked about rolling me over and said you wanted to get the process going on that, and I mean, I basically said simply kind of, you know, thanks, but no thanks,” he said. “I had kind of voiced, you know, concerns and frustrations and goals and aspirations, and had a really good talk with management AND kind of left it there for a while. I still was going to TVs and the last television I was at was in San Antonio, Texas. And I sat down with Megha who, if people don’t know, that’s the head legal in AEW, a very, very bright, brilliant woman, very nice, and had a long conversation in person and gave her the list of the reasons why I wanted to, you know, kind of move on bet on myself. That’s kind of the recurring theme here and that now was the time to do it. I wanted to do it so we could…I’ve always done business the right way. I wanted to be amicable about it. I wanted to get out before there was feelings of resistance or bitterness or any of that. So, that message was relayed and they wanted to do right by me, which I respect the hell out of and the deal was done. So, as of January 1st of this year, I was, quote unquote, [a] free agent.”
Young Rock on Friday scored 1,481,000 viewers, up from last week’s 1,306,000.
The Toronto Sun has an article on Hulk Hogan, who has been seen with people associated with Scientology recently including Tom Cruise.
PWInsider reported that Alberto El Patron’s lawsuit against MMA promotion Combate Global has been dismissed.
Wrestlecon will have a pop-up convention during the Royal Rumble on Saturday, January 28. Admission will be free, with pricing for autographs and photos. Those slated to appear include Sting, Trish Stratus, Diamond Dallas Page, Lita, Sean Waltman, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Ron Simmons, Jerry Lawler, The Steiner Brothers, and Matt Hardy.
Former X-Division and Tag Team Champion Frankie Kazarian made his return to Impact Wrestling during Friday’s Hard to Kill and for a longer run than last time around, announcing he signed a “long-term” deal with the company earlier in the day.
While not mentioning AEW by name, Kazarian cut a promo, saying that after his brief return to Impact last year, he went back to where he was and was surrounded by strangers who he thought were his friends and something didn’t seem right.
He said he didn’t like complacency and realized he had to make a decision to either just sit idly by or bet on himself and walk away, then revealing he signed a deal.
After re-signing with AEW in January 2022, he requested and was granted his release following his November match against Impact World Champion Josh Alexander at Over Drive, according to PWInsider.
“We are told it was a completely amicable situation based around Kazarian wanting to push himself harder as he’s getting closer to to the latter point of his career and that in Impact, he had a chance to be more in the mix than he’d likely be able to get the opportunity to do in AEW, given how massive that company’s roster is,” the report read.
“The word backstage at the PPV is that Kazarian pretty much told the truth about what happened,” it continued, adding he would be welcomed back to AEW anytime.
After seven years away, Kazarian returned to Impact in 2021 for a trios match and then again in 2022 for a late-spring run followed by a fall run that included an X-Division title win over “Speedball” Mike Bailey and the aforementioned loss to Alexander.
He is a six-time X-Division Champion and three-time Impact Tag Team Champion along with Christopher Daniels.
The 45-year-old last wrestled for AEW in December in a loss to Konosuke Takeshita, snapping a five-match win streak on the Dark/Dark: Elevation shows. His last TV appearance was in June’s Royal Rampage battle royal on AEW Rampage.
While he never won a singles title in AEW, he and Scorpio Sky won the inaugural AEW Tag Team titles in 2019.
The latest Impact X-Division title reign for Frankie Kazarian will be a short one.
On Thursday’s post-Bound for Glory edition of their weekly TV show, Kazarian told Impact World Champion Josh Alexander that he was exercising “option C” — an Impact rule where the X-Division champion can relinquish their title in exchange for a World title shot.
Kazarian will relinquish the title on next Thursday’s Impact on AXS after he defeated “Speedball” Mike Bailey for the title at Bound for Glory.
The date and location for that match will be revealed at that time, in addition to the plans for the soon-to-be vacant X-Division title.
Alexander received the news right after he defended his title once again, this time over Impact newcomer Bobby Fish. The win came a week after he successfully defended against Eddie Edwards at Bound for Glory.
When Alexander and Kazarian do meet, it will be for the first time.
Frankie Kazarian vs. Chris Sabin has been announced for Impact Citrus Brawl.
The event takes place over two nights on May 13 & 14 from Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida. It will be filmed for future episodes of Impact on AXS TV.
Kazarian and Sabin have been announced for the show held on Friday, May 13. Impact also announced that Moose & Steve Maclin will team up to take on PCO and W. Morrissey in tag team action the same night.
On Saturday, a six man tag team match pitting Violent By Design against the Briscoes and Josh Alexander has been scheduled.
The tapings this weekend are the last stop for Impact before Slammiversary. The annual pay-per-view will take place June 19 from the Asylum in Nashville, Tennessee.
The announced lineup for the show on Friday, May 13 is as follows:
Frankie Kazarian vs. Chris Sabin
Moose & Steve Maclin vs. PCO & W. Morrissey
The lineup for night two of Impact Citrus Brawl on Saturday, May 14 is as follows:
Violent By Design (Deaner, Eric Young, & Joe Doering) vs. Josh Alexander & The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe)
Two matches have been announced for next week’s AEW Rampage episode.
Scorpio Sky will defend the TNT Championship against his former SCU teammate Frankie Kazarian. Sky had promised Kazarian a title shot several weeks ago in a backstage promo segment, then lived up to the promise on this week’s Rampage.
Sky and Kazarian were the first-ever AEW World Tag Team Champions, defeating the Lucha Brothers in a tournament final on Dynamite in October 2019 to win the belts.
Also set for next week’s Rampage, Ruby Soho will face Riho in an Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament first round matchup. Riho returned for her first match in nearly three months on this week’s show, defeating Yuka Sakazaki in a qualifier.
Next week’s Rampage will be taped on Wednesday, set to air next Friday. Next week’s start time is listed as 6 p.m. Eastern time on TNT’s website. Here is the announced lineup:
AEW Rampage, Friday, May 13 —
TNT Championship: Scorpio Sky (c) vs. Frankie Kazarian
Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament quarterfinals: Ruby Soho vs. Riho
PW Insider was first to report that AEW and Frankie Kazarian have agreed on a new contract, extending the veteran’s stay with the company.
Kazarian’s original signing was announced at the introductory AEW press conference and pep rally in Jacksonville, Florida in January of 2019. Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, and Scorpio Sky formed the SCU trio, and face the Stronghearts on the first AEW show, Double or Nothing 2019.
Kazarian and Sky went on to win the inaugural AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament, establishing themselves as the first title holders.
After Sky split off for a singles run, Kazarian and Daniels lost a Tag title match to The Young Bucks in May 2021, with the stipulation that they would disband if they lost. Since then, Daniels has gone into semi-retirement, while Kazarian has cycled through a couple of different spins on his character, first as The Elite Hunter.
Adam Cole will make his in-ring debut for AEW on tonight’s Dynamite.
Cole will take on “The Elite Hunter” Frankie Kazarian. Kazarian has had his sights set on The Elite since The Young Bucks defeated Kazarian and Christopher Daniels on the May 12 Dynamite, forcing SCU to refrain from teaming together ever again.
CM Punk has been announced a s a special guest commentator for Dynamite. After defeating Darby Allin at the All Out pay-per-view, Punk has seemingly moved on to a feud with Team Taz.
Bryan Danielson will address AEW World Champion Kenny Omega. On last week’s Dynamite, Danielson confronted Omega and The Elite, but the group left their stooge Brandon Cutler to take a Busaiku knee from Danielson.
Darby Allin will face Shawn Spears. Sting will be in Allin’s corner, while Tully Blanchard will corner Spears. Blanchard began teasing some kind of match against Sting on last week’s Dynamite.
Minoru Suzuki had his entrance music cut short on last week’s Dynamite. This week, Suzuki and Lance Archer will address the matter and issue a challenge to Jon Moxley. For his part, Moxley will team with Eddie Kingston against 2point0.
Dan Lambert and Men of the Year (Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page) will issue an open challenge tonight. In the women’s division, Jade Cargill will face Leyla Hirsch.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Report —
CM Punk made his entrance to join the broadcast booth as tonight’s special guest commentator.
Adam Cole defeated Frankie Kazarian
They wrestled around with a technical exchange at the start. Kazarian had a brief advantage, but Cole was able to suplex him over the ropes onto the apron. Cole then drove Kazarian into the side of the ring. Back in, Cole took Kazarian down with a boot and slapped on a rear chinlock.
Kazarian fought back and hit some chops. He rolled up Cole for two before going for a modified calf slicer. Cole fired back and caught Kazarian with a ushigoroshi for two. He fired up the band, but Kazarian caught the superkick attempt and bridged a German suplex for two.
Cole caught Kazarian out of nowhere with a superkick. He climbed the ropes and went for Panama Sunrise, but Kazarian turned it into an Alabama slam and followed it up with a springboard leg drop for two.
They traded forearms. The crowd was well behind Cole. Kazarian nailed a rebound lariat, but Cole hit another ushigoroshi for a near fall. Cole then hit the Panama Sunrise followed by the exposed knee strike to the back of Kazarian’s head (the former Last Shot) for the win.
– After the match, Cole invited the crowd for “Story Time with Adam Cole.” He said that hope is a dangerous thing, and that the locker room hopes they can keep up with the Elite — but that’s not going to happen. The three guys who have gotten under his skin since arriving are Christian Cage, Luchasaurus, and Jungle Boy. He challenged them to take on Cole and the Young Bucks in a six-man tag. “The SuperKliq is back, baybay, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.”
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A video promo recapped the history between AEW tag champions The Lucha Bros and the Butcher and the Blade, their top challengers. They will face off for the titles this week on Rampage.
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Fuego Del Sol and Sammy Guevara were backstage. Fuego has a new contract and a new car to go with it. He put the car on the line for another shot at Miro’s TNT Championship on Rampage.
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MJF Promo
He came out flanked by Wardlow. He insulted New Jersey a lot. He’s been made aware that his words from last week may have offended some people, and he doesn’t care. MJF’s the salt of the Earth and a religious man, so he’s going to have a conversation with the late, great Brian Pillman.
MJF addressed Pillman as if he were in hell. He said Pillman was a legend, but his son is the lame excuse for a legendary pedigree. “Tell your son that I’m going to massacre him.” The fans can chant all they want, but “I’m better than you, and you…”
Brian Pillman Jr.’s music played. MJF directed Wardlow to run interference on the ramp, but Pillman had it scouted and ran in from behind with a chair. Wardlow ran in and took the chair from Pillman. Pillman starched Wardlow and baited him to the outside, re-gaining possession of the chair and chasing the two heels off.
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Brian Pillman Jr. had a sit-down interview with Jim Ross. J.R. brought up his history with Pillman’s father, saying last week was embarrassing. “We need to see MJF get his ass whipped.” Does Pillman have what it takes?
Pillman has worked hard to live up to his father’s legacy. While MJF was living in luxury, Pillman was fighting for his life. “You have never been in the ring with somebody like me.” His upbringing was feral, and at Arther Ashe Stadium, MJF is stepping in the ring with a Pillman.
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Christian Cage and the Jurassic Express were backstage. Jungle Boy addressed Adam Cole and said he had better friends and better hair. Christian slightly disagreed, saying the Bucks are good enough friends to save Cole from developmental. Since they’re used to losing Wednesday night wars, let’s add Friday to the list. Jungle Boy accepted the challenge, and Luchasaurus growled.
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Ahead of this match, it was announced that next week’s Grand Slam special of AEW Rampage will be two hours.
FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (w/ Tully Blanchard) defeated Dante Martin & Matt Sydal
Martin and Sydal out-wrestled FTR at the start with their speed and quickness. Martin went to the apron and went for a springboard, but Cash, the illegal man, kicked him to the floor. Cash chopped Martin hard on the outside and sent him into the ring post.
FTR isolated Martin in their corner until Martin used his evasiveness to reach Sydal for the tag. Sydal fought off FTR with leaping kicks and strikes. He feinted on a dive before landing assisted combo dive with Martin on both of FTR. FTR regained control during a commercial break.
Once back, Martin accomplished a blind tag, dropkicking both of FTR for his entry into the ring. A tijeras took out Cash followed by a running senton on Dax. Martin and Cash exchanged cradles until Dax tagged in and a sunset flip cradle from Martin got a good near fall.
Dax baited Martin into an attack from Cash. He tried to fight both men off but eventually ran right into the Big Rig for the pin.
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Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer addressed “The Suzuki Incident,” where AEW cut off Suzuki’s theme song before the climax. Archer said Jon Moxley had an unfair hometown advantage. They will take on Moxley and Kingston next week in New York City. “Suzuki-gun, ichiban!”
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The lights went out in the building, leading to Malakai Black’s entrance. He started his promo with “Members of the House of Black, please rise.” He said we have an enemy in our midst.
The camera cut to actress Rosario Dawson at ringside, who was wearing some Cody Rhodes merch. She stepped into the ring, and it looked like Black was about to attack her, but Cody made his return. Dawson hopped on Black’s back to attack as Cody ran out, leading to a big brawl up into the stands. They will wrestle next week at Grand Slam.
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A video promo hyped Anna Jay vs. The Bunny on Rampage.
Jay was flanked by the Dark Order for an interview backstage. Evil Uno immediately interrupted her, then Alex Reynolds interrupted the segment. Jay shut everyone up, noting that if they can’t keep it together, she doesn’t want them out there.
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Dan Lambert, America’s Top Team, & Chris Jericho promo
Dan Lambert was in the ring with the Men of the Year and America’s Top Team, including Junior Dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski as usual. He insulted the fans, calling the men small and the women extra large. He mocked the flippy style.
Chris Jericho made his entrance flanked by Jake Hager. Lambert was livid as the crowd continued to sing “Judas” even as the music was cut off. Jericho called him a “fat-faced dipsh*t.”
Lambert called Jericho a manipulator, getting the fans to spend all their money on Jericho’s merch. Jericho asked of America’s Top Team: “Which one of you guys is on top?” He brought up the fact that he’s fought MMA fighters before. “Everybody’s got a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Jericho and Hager were about to head to the ring, but Lambert said this match had to happen in a real city. Jericho and Hager will take on the Men of the Year next week.
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The Gunn Club talked about why they attacked Paul Wight. They’re all undefeated in tag matches, but they haven’t gotten any respect.
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Jade Cargill (w/ Mark Sterling) defeated Leyla Hirsch
Sterling got involved early on. Hirsch took out Cargill’s legs and hit running knees in the corner, but she only got a one count. Hirsch went for the cross armbreaker, but Cargill easily powered out with a powerbomb leading into the break.
Upon return, Hirsch hopped on Cargill’s back and locked on a sleeper. Cargill hip tossed Hirsch out of it, but Hirsch came back with a ripcord German for two. She followed it up with a tope suicida and a bicycle knee for two.
Hirsch climbed the ropes, but Cargill rolled out of the way of a moonsault and crushed her with a pump kick. Cargill then hit Jaded for the win.
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An Andrade El Idolo video promo aired. He demanded that his assistant explain his actions from Rampage. Chavo may have given him the directions, but Andrade is the boss.
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Taz, followed by HOOK, walked out to commentary. He got in Punk’s face about “taking his job.” Punk dropped the headset and faced off with HOOK. Powerhouse Hobbs laid Punk out from behind. Punk fought back, but HOOK locked on a dragon sleeper and they cleared off the announce table. Hobbs chokeslammed Punk onto the table, which didn’t break.
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Shawn Spears addressed Darby Allin. He’s the man who gave Allin his first loss. “The Chairman cometh.”
Spears dropped Allin over the ropes right away and beat him down on the floor. He attacked using the ring steps, repeatedly kneeing his head into the steps. Spears flipped off Sting, but the hesitation was enough of a delay to allow Allin to avoid a knee strike as Spears kneed the steps. Allin wanted a tope suicida, but Tully got in the way, allowing Spears to pull Allin to the floor.
On the outside, Spears wetted a cloth and used it to wipe away Allin’s face paint ahead of the commercial. Once back, Spears had Allin trapped in a Scorpion Deathlock, mocking Sting. Allin reached the ropes to force a break and took out Spears with a basement dropkick and a Code Red for a near fall.
They fought on the top rope. Spears pulled Allin down by the chain around his neck. He went for the C4 onto the ring steps, but Allin countered it with a stunner before taking out Spears with an awesome suicide dive. The Coffin Drop followed for the win.
– After the match, FTR came out and faced off with Allin and Sting. They brawled, and Tully whacked Sting with a chair. Sting got in Tully’s face but was overwhelmed by the numbers advantage. FTR hit a nasty-looking spike piledriver on Sting before Tully wiped off his face paint.
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A Bryan Danielson video promo aired. He called the Elite “insecure,” noting that he’s only going after one member: Kenny Omega. He knows how great Omega can be, but he’s just excited to get into the ring and wrestle. In AEW, everybody wants to prove themselves. “I’m here, and I’m game.”
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Bryan Danielson & Kenny Omega promo
Schiavone brought him out. “The American Dragon is back, and he is in AEW!” He asked Danielson about a potential match with Kenny Omega. Danielson asked what the crowd thought, but Omega and Don Callis interrupted.
Callis called Danielson “sickening.” He mocked Danielson’s statements about how hard of a decision his move to AEW was. If Danielson really made this decision for the good of the wrestling industry, he’s “just a mark.”
Danielson told him to shut up, because he’s here to talk to Omega. “Someday, this will be about the title, but right now, it’s just about who’s better.” He challenged Omega, but Callis said “no way.” Danielson told him to shut up once again. He came to AEW to fight the Best Bout Machine, but since he’s been here, all he’s seen is a guy who hangs out with a bunch of goofy stooges and lets Callis speak for him. He doesn’t believe the rumors that Omega’s lost a step; he just thinks Omega’s lost his balls.
Omega’s answer is “yes.” Callis was unhappy.
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Miro addressed Fuego Del Sol. He couldn’t believe Fuego was calling him out. Fuego’s putting his throat on a blade that already spared him. “I am gonna bash your brain, and then I’m gonna bash your car. This is the word of the Redeemer.”
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Matt Hardy called out Orange Cassidy. He said Orange owes him a debt for breaking his nose. He’s going to shave Orange’s head.
AEW Rampage (9/17) lineup:
AEW World Tag Team Championships: Lucha Bros (c) vs. Butcher & Blade
Anna Jay vs. The Bunny
TNT Championship: Miro (c) vs. Fuego Del Sol
AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam (9/22) lineup:
Non-title: Kenny Omega vs. Bryan Danielson
Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black
AEW Women’s World Championship: Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (c) vs. Ruby Soho
FTR vs. Sting & Darby Allin
MJF vs. Brian Pillman Jr.
CM Punk live interview
AEW Rampage: Grand Slam (9/24) lineup:
Adam Cole & Young Bucks vs. Christian Cage & Jurassic Express
CM Punk vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
Chris Jericho & Jake Hager vs. Men of the Year (Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky)
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Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston defeated 2point0 (Matt Lee & Jeff Parker) (w/ Daniel Garcia)
2point0 and Garcia attacked Moxley and Kingston before the bell. They all brawled at ringside until Parker and Moxley entered the ring. Moxley dropped Parker right away and hit a release suplex. Lee tagged in but was immediately taken out with a back suplex. Moxley bit at his face. A Garcia distraction allowed 2point0 to hit a combination suplex on Moxley ahead of the break.
Kingston got the hot tag and leveled both of 2point0 with right hands. He hit machine gun chops in the corner followed by an exploder. A Garcia distraction allowed Parker to roll Kingston up for a quick two, but Kingston immediately hit the spinning backfist and tagged in Moxley. They hit their combination lariat and half-and-half suplex for the decisive win.
– After the match, Minoru Suzuki made his entrance again, this time getting the full “Kaze ni nare!” He had a nasty bruised eye. Lance Archer came out from behind and pulled Kingston into the crowd, and the two pairings brawled all over. Suzuki went for the Gotch piledriver on the timekeeper’s table, but Moxley used the microphone to fight his way out of it. They continued to brawl as the show ended.
The first five AEW talent announcements have been made for this year’s Chris Jericho cruise.
It was announced today that AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker, Orange Cassidy, Frankie Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, and Colt Cabana will be part of the Jericho cruise. It’s sailing from Miami, Florida to Grand Bahama Island from Thursday, October 21 to Monday, October 25.
“Excited to announce that @realbrittbaker, @orangecassidy, @frankiekazarian, @facdaniels, and @ColtCabana have been added to our incredible wrestling lineup! More additions to come SOON – stay tuned! #JerichoCruise,” the announcement said.
Chris Jericho will be the master of ceremonies on the cruise.
AEW has a live episode of Dynamite being held in Orlando, Florida on Saturday, October 23. Dynamite is being moved to a Saturday on both October 16 and October 23 due to a scheduling conflict with the NHL on TNT.
Jericho sent out a tweet earlier this week noting that there would still be AEW talent on the Jericho cruise despite the Orlando Dynamite episode taking place while the cruise is happening: “Hey @jericho_cruise rockers!! Just letting you know that even with the #AEWDynamite event on Oct 23, there’s still gonna be an amazing roster of @AEW talent aboard the #TripleWhammy! @TonyKhan & I are putting together the great talent list & the first announcement is this Thur!”
The first two editions of Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea took place in 2018 and 2020. This year’s Triple Whammy version of the cruise was originally supposed to happen in February but was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cruise attendees must be fully vaccinated at least two weeks prior to departure.
Frankie Kazarian made his surprise return to Impact Wrestling Thursday and is still hunting The Elite.
The AEW roster member made the save for Sami Callihan after he was getting beat down by Kenny Omega and the Good Brothers after an in-ring promo. Afterward, Kazarian agreed to team with Callihan and a mystery partner to face the three next week. Tommy Dreamer told Kazarian and Callihan that he had a perfect partner in mind, later announcing Eddie Edwards as that person.
Kazarian’s recent gimmick has been “The Elite Hunter” after the AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defeated he and tag partner Christopher Daniels in May, ending the tag team run of SCU.
The appearance was Kazarian’s first for Impact/TNA after having been with the company from 2003-2014. He’s a five-time X-Division champion and a three-time TNA Tag Team Champion. Kazarian spent a few years with Ring Of Honor after departing the company before eventually signing with AEW in 2019.
SCU are no longer a team following tonight’s match against The Young Bucks.
Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels faced the Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team titles on tonight’s Dynamite, with the stipulation being that they would break up if they lost. During the match, Daniels was superkicked into the ring post, causing him to bleed heavily. The finish of the match had Daniels kicking out of a pinfall after being laid out with an air can, but was then struck with a double v-trigger by The Young Bucks, with Matt covering Daniels for the win.
After the commercial break, Daniels and Kazarian hugged, signifying the end of their run as a tag team.
Since last fall, Kazarian and Daniels had agreed to a stipulation where if they were to lose one more match as a team, they would split up. Since then, they have won every single tag team match they have taken part in, including a four-way tag match last week that cemented themselves as the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team titles.
Kazarian and Daniels have been teaming regularly since 2011, first calling themselves Bad Influence in TNA, then later The Addiction. They would eventually join forces with Scorpio Sky as SoCal Uncensored, and later went to AEW under the same name.
Christian Cage makes his AEW in-ring debut on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
Cage, whose signing was announced at the March 7 Revolution PPV, will face SCU’s Frankie Kazarian.
The rivalry between Orange Cassidy/Best Friends and Miro, Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford will continue tonight as Cassidy and Chuck Taylor face Miro and Sabian in an Arcade Anarchy match, where arcade machines will be placed around ringside.
AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida will team with Tay Conti against Nyla Rose and The Bunny.
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will team with Impact Wrestling’s The Good Brothers against The Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid.
In an exhibition match, Cody Rhodes will face fellow Nightmare Family member QT Marshall. Arn Anderson will serve as the guest referee. Cody said on last week’s episode that he won’t hurt Marshall in the match if given the opportunity.
Jon Moxley will face Cezar Bononi in a singles match. JD Drake and Ryan Nemeth will be in Bononi’s corner.
MJF giving a gift to The Pinnacle has also been advertised for tonight’s show.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Christian Cage defeated Frankie Kazarian
This match was extremely decent, if that makes sense. Nothing was wrong with it, the work was pretty flawless, but it lacked energy and urgency from the start, especially going longer than 15 minutes.
Neither man could establish an advantage early on as they performed chain wrestling. A back elbow from Kazarian was the first big strike of the match, sending Christian to the ramp. Christian struck Kazarian with a hard slap but was backdropped back into the ring. Kazarian then laid in strikes in the corner before sending him off the top rope all the way to the floor.
Christian tried to attack upon-re-entry, but Kazarian surprised him with a leg drop before applying a cravat. Kazarian turned it into a front sleeler, and Christian began to fade before Kazarian hit a neckbreaker for two. He followed it up with a back suplex for another two.
A frustrated Kazarian shrugged off from shots from Christian and dropped him with one of his own. Christian made his comeback by fighting out of a corner attack and hitting a swinging DDT for two. He dropped to the floor and hit his draping right hand and the diving European uppercut for two. Christian attacked in the corner with a ten-count of right hands as the ten-minute call sounded.
Kazarian surprised Christian with a jackknife but was turned into a cradle himself for two. He went for the crossface chickenwing, but then Christian turned it around and went for the Killswitch. Christian escaped a suplex and hit a reverse DDT. He headed to the top rope, but Kazarian rolled out of the way of a diving headbutt.
Once again, Kazarian went for the crossface chickenwing, locking it on tight this time. After a long fight, Christian’s foot reached the ropes. Christian rolled Kazarian up but fell victim to a strike combination and a springboard leg drop for two. They went to the top rope and fought until Kazarian attacked with a well-placed headbutt. Kazarian followed it up with the Flux Capacitor for another near fall.
Christian avoided a springboard leg drop and landed a frog splash for a close near fall. He rolled out of a chickenwing attempt and sent Kazarian shoulder-first into the corner post before hitting the Killswitch for his first AEW victory.
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A Darby Allin video played where he addressed Matt Hardy. He put over Hardy’s legacy while pointing out how he’s changed. He said Hardy would have to earn Allin’s respect, because Hardy’s money doesn’t mean anything to him.
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A Jade Cargill video aired. She talked about Red Velvet before talking about all her physical gifts. Just like last week, she’s “that bitch.”
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Unsanctioned exhibition match: Cody Rhodes vs. QT Marshall w/ special guest referee Arn Anderson went to a no contest
This was a crazy angle.
All the Nightmare Factory trainees, including guys like the Gunn Club and Lee Johnson, were at ringside for this match.
Cody took Marshall down with a shoulder tackle before a criss-cross led to a series of arm drags. He teased stomping on Marshall until the latter reached the ropes. Cody then hit the Rhodes drop-down right hand but ran into a dropkick, allowing Marshall to target Cody’s shoulder through a commercial break.
Back from break, Cody turned the tables with a body slam before going for the figure four. He then opted not to apply it, based on his words from last week, before doing the same with the Cross Rhodes. Marshall starched Cody with a slap but missed a crossbody on the follow-up.
– Marshall snapped and attacked Arn with a cheap shot right hand. All the trainees ran into the ring to ostensibly make the save, but they all turned on the veterans and coaches (and Lee Johnson). Johnson took a powerbomb on the apron before a busted-open Dustin Rhodes took a piledriver from Marshall on the steel steps. The boxer Anthony Ogogo dropped Cody with a body shot.
They propped Cody up on the steel steps and Marshall was about to crack him with a chair shot, but Red Velvet ran out and got in the way of it to stop it.
The students that turned heel to join Marshall included Anthony Ogogo, Nick Comoroto, and Aaron Solow. The babyfaces were the Gunn Club, Dustin, Cody, and Lee Johnson.
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A video package played where Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky essentially cut the same promo overlapping with each other. They said everybody would see what they mean on Monday.
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Red Velvet was interviewed by Dasha about the attack but was immediately attacked by Jade Cargill, who tossed her into some crates before screaming that she’s “that bitch.”
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Jon Moxley cut a promo about the Good Brothers’ attack on Eddie Kingston last week. He’s confused and pissed off about everyone’s motivations and everything else going on before talking about Cezar Bononi. He said someone Bononi might be a big moneymaker, but not if Moxley kills him first.
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Jon Moxley defeated Cezar Bononi (w/ Ryan Nemeth & JD Drake)
Bononi overpowered Moxley at the start before Moxley took him down with a leg crank and a dragon screw. Nemeth grabbed Moxley’s boot, allowing Bononi to down him with a vertical suplex for two.
This match surprisingly went through a commercial break, where Bononi maintained control. Moxley came back with strikes but couldn’t knock the big man down before suckering Bononi in for a German suplex. Bononi’s associates got involved, but Moxley downed Nemeth with a Paradigm Shift before transitioning into a rear naked choke on Bononi for the win.
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Team Taz relayed a message. Taz tried to explain everything, but Ricky Starks interrupted to ask for Brian Cage’s thoughts. Cage got heated about how it took them a long time to put their opponents away, but Taz calmed everyone down and said they couldn’t be stopped.
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MJF’s gift to The Pinnacle
MJF introduced the gift: their new personal Pinnacle stylist. He also got them an interior decorator to remodel the locker room, including the bathroom, but when he opened the door, the Inner Circle was incide. The two stables brawled all over the backstage area, with the individual Inner Circle members gaining the upper hand each time.
Guevara sent Spears through a door, Hager tossed Wardlow through a table, Santana & Ortiz put Wheeler in an ice bath and beat down Tully and a busted-open Harwood, and Jericho gave MJF a swirlie in the toilet before sending him through a vending machine and dumping bubbly on him. They put the Inner Circle sign back on the locker room.
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The Young Bucks were interviewed by Alex Marvez but were interrupted by Don Callis, who told Marvez to beat it. Callis talked to Matt one-on-one, saying he loves Kenny Omega and he thought Matt did too, but last week, Matt broke Omega’s heart.
Callis tried to guilt Matt by bringing up the attack on Matt’s dad, clearly trying to provoke Matt into attacking him. Callis slapped Matt across the face, leading to Matt getting in Callis’s face, but Matt didn’t end up doing anything. Callis ended the segment saying “You make me sick.”
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The Lucha Bros and Laredo Kid cut a promo before the match, with Alex Abrahantes translating by saying they’re coming for all the championships.
Callis joined commentary for the match.
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) defeated Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fénix) & Laredo Kid
This was a fantastic, all-action tag match, with Laredo Kid in particular looking impressive in the same way Fénix has in recent months.
Kid attacked everyone right away with a dive, as did Fénix. They triple-teamed Omega in the ring with superkicks for two. The three luchadors then landed stereo dives on all three opponents on the floor.
With the match reset, it was Omega and Kid in the ring. Kid landed a couple moonsaults for two. Omega countered a corner attack with a running takedown before tagging in Gallows. Involvement from Anderson allowed Gallows to down Kid with a roundhouse kick.
The Good Brothers and Omega isolated Kid on their side of the ring with frequent tags and double teams, including throughout a commercial break. After the commercial, Omega and the Good Brothers landed a triple splash on Kid for two. Kid eventually reached Penta for the hot tag.
Penta hit slingblades before taggin in Fénix, who hit a double cutter. They hit their assisted cazadora splash before tagging for three consecutive dives on Anderson for two. The Good Brothers and Omega regained control with a triple team on Fénix, with Penta barely making it back in the ring to break up the count. Anderson hit a Claymore kick for two, then the Good Brothers set up for Magic Killer, before a Penta interruption led to a parade of big moves.
Fénix hit a hook kick and Penta hit a destroyer on Omega, but Anderson cut Fénix off with a spinebuster. Kid broke up the pin with a dive. Omega and Kid tagged in with a strike exchange, but Omega countered a dive into a powerbomb and a V-Trigger for two. Omega then set up for the One-Winged Angel, but Kid escaped and landed an insane tope on Omega.
Penta landed a dive on both Lucha Brothers as Omega and Kid both re-entered the ring. Fénix hit his rope-walk kick and Kid hit an great Michinoku driver on Omega for an awesome near fall. Omega avoided a Phoenix Splash, hit a V-Trigger, and hit the One-Winged Angel for the win.
– Jon Moxley, followed by the Young Bucks, walked out to face off with Omega and the Good Brothers, who bailed out of the ring.
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Britt Baker was interviewed by her associate Rebel. Baker talked about the new AEW Dark: Elevation show, pointing out that Thunder Rosa is on the show, which is good because her victory over Baker didn’t count in the win-loss column. Baker will continue to put Rosa and AEW on the map.
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A Matt Hardy promo aired before the match, pointing out that tomorrow is April 1, meaning he’ll start to make his money back.
Nyla Rose & The Bunny (w/ Vickie Guerrero, Matt Hardy, Private Party, The Butcher, & The Blade) defeated Hikaru Shida & Tay Conti (w/ Dark Order)
The teams brawled before the bell, with Rose attacking Shida with a leg drop right away. Bunny tagged in, allowing Shida to take control with a throw before going for the Fujiwara armbar. Bunny reached the ropes, leading to Shida’s draping knee lift. Shida got in Hardy’s face, allowing Rose to blindside her ahead of a commercial.
Once back, Shida made a comeback by suplexing Bunny into Rose. Conti tagged in for the first time and hit repeated judo throws before hitting multiple nice knee strikes. Out on the floor, she hit a backbreaker on Bunny right in front of Hardy. Dark Order and Hardy’s group started to brawl as Conti hit the Tay-KO, but Rose broke it up.
Shida dispatched Rose and then the two hit a convoluted dive sequence on Hardy’s group. With the official distracted, Bunny grabbed a kendo stick and whacked Conti with it, leading to the pin.
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Next week’s Dynamite lineup:
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Jon Moxley & The Young Bucks
Tay Conti vs. The Bunny
TNT Championship: Darby Allin (c) vs. JD Drake
The Inner Circle returns
Jurassic Express vs. Bear Country
Jurassic Express cut a promo on Bear Country. They brought up Godzilla vs. Kong, but Stunt had a Kong tattoo even though Godzilla’s a dinosaur like Luchasaurus.
As expected, this match was a wild brawl with a ton of fun moments. The big story will be the return of both Trent and Kris Statlander but the match was great on its own terms.
This was Falls Count Anywhere with video game machines all over ringside.
Taylor and Cassidy attacked before the bell, with Taylor pairing off with Miro and Cassidy with Sabian. Miro flattened Taylor with a fallaway slam as Cassidy sent Sabian through the Whack-A-Mole machine. Miro came out of nowhere and leveled Cassidy before beating him down on the floor. He then propped up a barricade, but Taylor and Cassidy double teamed him. Miro powered out and suplexed Taylor through the barricade.
Miro grabbed a chair and beat down Cassidy in the ring before wedging the chair in the corner and sending Cassidy headfirst into it. Out of nowhere, Taylor jumped off an arcade cabinet to save Cassidy, allowing them to regain control. Cassidy then waffled Miro with a trash can lid as Taylor teed off with a kendo stick. They then used the barricade as a battering ram to take down Miro before dumping plunder on him to bury him.
Cassidy went for a cover, but Sabian came out to break it up. Sabian made a one-man comeback on both opponents, dropkicking Cassidy through a wall, but Taylor cut him off and sent him into the ring. Taylor grabbed a teddy bear and dumped out the contents: Legos.
Taylor tried to suplex Taylor onto the Legos, but Sabian escaped and powerbombed him onto them. Cassidy ran in to break up the pinfall. Cassidy hit a tornado DDT and the Beach Break for two before hitting the Orange Punch. Cassidy would’ve had it won, but Penelope pulled the official out of the ring and punted Cassidy for a low blow.
It appeared as if Penelope was going to attack Cassidy, but Kris Statlander returned by popping out of a claw machine, following it up with a fisherman’s buster through an arcade machine at ringside.
Miro showed up and tossed Cassidy the length of the ring with a biel. He attacked both opponents with a chair and propped up a table. While he did so, Trent’s mom Sue’s minivan rolled up and Trent made his return as well. The Best Friends all beat down Miro, but Miro fought them all off. Miro then made his way to the minivan, but Trent made the save.
Trent avoided having a token machine sent into his face and tossed a chair at Miro before spearing him through the propped-up table. On the stabe, Taylor hit a running powerslam through some staged tables for the win.
The Best Friends, plus Statlander, all hugged before giving Sue the thumbs up to end the show.
