Two title matches headlined last night’s AEW Dynamite.
In his first TNT Championship defense, Cody retained with a win over Jungle Boy in the main event. Kenny Omega & Hangman Page also retained the AEW Tag Team titles in a victory over Jimmy Havoc & Kip Sabian in the opener.
The show also saw Jon Moxley go face-to-face with his Fyter Fest opponent Brian Cage and Cage’s manager Taz.
FTR participated in a sit-down interview with Tony Schiavone on the show.
For the rest of what you missed, including Orange Cassidy confronting Chris Jericho and Nyla Rose vs. Big Swole, scroll below.
Jungle Boy will be the first to challenge Cody for the TNT championship next week.
The final four participants in tonight’s battle royal were Wardlow, MJF, Jungle Boy, and Orange Cassidy. The latter two managed to eliminate MJF and Wardlow, leaving them by themselves. After a back and forth battle, Jungle Boy sent Orange Cassidy to the floor with a hurricanrana, holding on to the ropes for the win.
Jungle Boy will be Cody’s first opponent for the championship. Cody came out for an interview on tonight’s show and said that going forward, he’ll be defending the championship each and every week in an open challenge.
Along with the TNT championship match, the Tag Team titles will also be on the line as Kip Sabian & Jimmy Havoc will face Hangman Page & Kenny Omega, where the winners will face Best Friends at Fyter Fest sometime this summer. Chris Jericho will also be in action.
Two new matches have been announced for Double or Nothing later this month.
It was announced that MJF will face Jungle Boy in a singles match. The announcement came when Tony Schiavone interviewed MJF and Shawn Spears at ringside. After MJF mentioned that he would be in action next week on Dynamite, Schiavone made the match announcement. MJF was less than happy to hear the news.
MJF had not been on television for most of April. When he returned, he said he was recovering from a hangnail injury. The following week, he wore a neck brace, saying that he had cut himself while shaving. Jungle Boy hasn’t wrestled for AEW since March 18, when he and Luchasarus defeated The Butcher and The Blade on Dynamite.
Also announced for Double or Nothing is a casino ladder match, where the winner will get a future AEW World championship match. The announcers said that more information regarding this match would be announced next week.
Double or Nothing is scheduled to take place on May 23, though it is currently unknown where the show will be held.
The first part of 199 was released today. Here are some highlights:
Matt Hardy opened the show by giving the rules of a squash match:
3 minute time limit
Job guys can only perform one offensive move (one combination move if it’s a tag match)
Job guys must not be in better shape or more tan than top talent
A finish occurs only when the over act performs a finishing maneuver once used by Legion of Doom, Acolytes or Steiner Brother
Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels defeated Simon Lotto & Steven Andrews in a Squash Match
Scorpio Sky was the referee for the match.
Lotto and Andrews did not adhere to the rules of the squash match as they got a brief flurry of offense.
Daniels and Kazarian won with a Doomsday Device.
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Matt Jackson said the ring they are using is the same one that PWG used in Reseda. Matt and Nick played in the ring with their kids.
Luchasaurus called Jungle Boy. Jungle Boy’s phone is a banana. Luchasaurus is still looking for his tail. Jungle Boy suggested that he contact some guys who are like fathers to them in his search.
Kenny Omega took us through his post-match gym ritual. He was bench pressing 20 lbs. and acting as though it was too heavy for him. He could not lift the bar off his chest until Colt Cabana appeared to aid him. Omega chased Cabana out of the gym.
Luchasaurus called Tommy Dreamer and asked him to help him find his tail. Dreamer blew him off.
A Hangman Page/Private Party storyline was teased.
Peter Avalon called Brandon Cutler and taunted him. They argued over which of them lost the match on last week’s BTE. Cutler brought Sky on to the call. Avalon challenged both Cutler and Sky to a triple threat match.
Scorpio Sky defeated Peter Avalon & Brandon Cutler
They kept this short and it was all action.
Sky sent Avalon outside, then hit an enziguri to Cutler. Cutler made a brief comeback until Avalon tossed him outside.
Avalon and Cutler teamed up on Sky until Avalon turned on Cutler and clotheslined him outside. Avalon hit Sky with a tiger driver for a near fall.
Sky and Cutler traded near falls. Cutler hit Avalon with a springboard clothesline, then used the TPK for a two count. Sky broke up the pin.
Sky hit a TKO to Avalon. Avalon landed on Cutler. Sky covered both for the pin.
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Luchasaurus called Joey Ryan to ask for help finding his tail. Ryan said Luchasaurus might be 65 million years old but he has to grow up.
Nick was working out. Matt said he looks back to his old self. Nick said they always dreamed of headlining BTE 200, the showcase of the immortals, as kids. Nick again teased the idea of a dangerous match that he wants to be in to test himself. Matt sold that the match was too dangerous.
Matt said we will have to tune in to the next part of the episode to see if Nick gets his match.
Another singles match has been added to this week’s Dynamite.
It was announced on AEW’s Road to Austin video that Jungle Boy will challenge MJF on Wednesday. The video had Jim Ross, Taz, Excalibur and Tony Schiavone talk about the match, explaining why Jungle Boy has the ability to beat MJF, why MJF may have made a mistake by taking the match, and what both men may be thinking about. You can view the video below:
The video also focused on two previously announced matches: Nyla Rose vs. Riho for the AEW Women’s championship, as well as Jon Moxley vs. Santana in what is being billed as an eye for an eye match. It was last week that Moxley took the car keys that once belonged to Chris Jericho and stabbed Santana in the eye, retaliation for when he was stabbed in the eye by Chris Jericho.
AEW earlier today announced that Dustin Rhodes would be facing Sammy Guevara in a rematch from last month.
Dynamite this week will take place at the H.E.B Center in Austin, Texas.
Here are spoilers from tonight’s Dynamite tapings in Huntsville, Alabama that will air next week as part of AEW Dark:
Riho defeated Shoko Nakajima. Nakajima is a regular for Tokyo Joshi Pro and last fought for AEW back at Fight for the Fallen when she teamed with Bea Priestley to defeat Britt Baker and Riho.
Jimmy Havoc defeated Sonny Kiss. This is Havoc’s first match in AEW since December.
Hikaru Shida defeated Cassandra Golden
The Dark Order defeated Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt
During the tapings, ring announcer Justin Roberts introduced Missy Hyatt and Austin Idol to the crowd. Both appeared regularly in the Alabama area for Continental Championship Wrestling during the 1980s.
Next week’s episode of Dynamite will feature two title matches: Hangman Page and Kenny Omega will defend the Tag Team titles against SCU (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky), while Riho will defend the Women’s title against Nyla Rose. Jon Moxley will also be in action, taking on Santana in what is being billed as a “eye for an eye” match.
Dynamite next week will be at the H.E.B. Center in Austin, Texas.
AEW Dynamite airs live tonight from the American Bank Center Arena in Corpus Christi, Texas. The final AEW event of 2019 features a stacked lineup.
The show will see SCU defend their AEW Tag Team titles against The Young Bucks. The Bucks scored a victory over Proud and Powerful last week to earn the title shot.
AEW World Champion Chris Jericho will face Jungle Boy in a non-title match with a 10-minute time limit. Jungle Boy is still searching for his first AEW victory.
In the opening match, Hangman Page and Kenny Omega will take on The Lucha Bros in tag team action. Page and Omega teamed last week in a victorious effort against Kip Sabian and Shawn Spears. Even in victory, there was dissension teased between Omega and Page, as Page looks to be headed for a heel turn.
Britt Baker and Kris Statlander will square off to determine the number one contender for the AEW Women’s title. Baker is 4-2 in AEW singles matches, while Statlander brings a 2-0 singles record into the contest.
Cody and Darby Allin will team against The Butcher and The Blade. Allin came to Cody’s rescue last week after a post-match beatdown by Butcher and Blade.
Also advertised is Awesome Kong in singles action.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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THE LUCHA BROS. DEFEATED HANGMAN PAGE & KENNY OMEGA
This was a great opener. The post-match angle was really strange.
Fenix and Omega began with a nice little sequence. Omega went for the One-Winged Angel twice, but Feniz blocked both. Fenix used a springboard off the bottom rope to escape an arm wringer. Omega hit a Kotaro Krusher.
Page and Penta tagged in. They did some crowd work, trading taunts. Omega got a tag. Penta raked Omega’s eyes. Omega hit a snap rana and a terminator dive. Page tagged back in and got cut off. Fenix hit a spectacular springboard double stomp off the top.
Penta continued working over Page. He used a codebreaker, then strikes in the corner. Page hit a flatliner into a double down. Omega got a tag. He tried You Can’t Escape, but Penta got his knees up on the moonsault attempt.
Fenix hit a tope suicida. Penta hit a double stomp off the top for a near fall. Fenix tagged in and tried a rana but Omega turned it into a powerbomb. Omega managed a tag to Page. Page hit a plancha to Penta, a tope to Penta, then a tope to Fenix in succession.
Page used Penta as a springboard to hit a standing shooting star on Fenix. Fenix responded with a spin kick in the corner, then a crazy facebuster for a two count.
Page hit a fall-away slam off the second rope on Penta. Page hit a discus elbow on Fenix. Omega hit a powerbomb on Penta. Fenix hit Page with a superkick. Omega hit a snap dragon. After this flurry, Omega was the only man left standing.
Page tried to hit Penta with a Buckshot Lariat. Penta ducked. Page hit Omega with the lariat. The Lucha Bros followed with their double stomp/package piledriver combo, then Penta pinned Omega.
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After the bell, Omega and Page shoved each other in the ring. It looked as though they were about to trade blows when PAC appeared on the video wall.
PAC said that Omega must’ve forgotten who he is and what he’s capable of. PAC entered the locker room and approached Michael Nakazawa from behind, then closed the locker room door.
The show went to a commercial break. During the break, Omega left the ring to look for PAC. He got laid out backstage by the Lucha Bros. Page made the save for Omega. Omega and Page then went off together looking for Nakazawa and PAC.
After the break, the announcers ran down the rest of the card for the evening, making no mention of anything that happened during the break.
STOP SHOOTING ANGLES DURING THE COMMERCIAL BREAKS.
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CODY & DARBY ALLIN DEFEATED THE BUTCHER & THE BLADE
Allin blind-tagged himself in immediately to face off with Butcher. The announcers pointed out that Butcher weighs 100 pounds more than Allin. Butcher tossed Allin around, then tagged out. Why did he tag out? He was winning.
Blade tagged in and Allin hit him with a sweet springboard armdrag. Cody taged in and got cut off. Butcher and Blade worked Cody over through a commercial break.
Allin got a hot tag, but Butcher cut him off, then locked on a cloverleaf. Cody and Blade brawled to the outside. Allin hit a stunner and tagged Cody.
Cody hit Blade with Cross Rhodes and made a cover. The Bunny took the referee, who missed Cody’s pinfall.
Cody and Allin hit stereo suicide dives. Allin dove through the middle and bottom ropes and almost killed himself. Allin then hit Butcher with a Coffin Drop on the apron. Cody then hit the Cody Cutter on Blade for the pin.
No MJF appearance here, no promo by Cody, no follow-up on that angle.
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We saw a Jungle Boy training video.
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AWESOME KONG DEFEATED MIRANDA ALICEA
Kong hit a spinning backfist and won with her double underhook facebuster, then cut Alicea’s hair.
Brandi Rhodes cut an inset promo during the match teasing Kris Statlander joining her group later. The mystery bald guy was shown in the promo. The match was a squash. This angle isn’t good.
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We got a snippet of a sit-down between JR and Jungle Boy. Jungle Boy said he’s going to try his best and make his dad proud. Jericho vs. Jungle Boy is next.
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CHRIS JERICHO & JUNGLE BOY WENT TO A 10 MINUTE TIME LIMIT DRAW
Jungle Boy used a schoolboy for an early near fall. Jericho tried for the Liontamer. Jungle Boy used another quick cradle for a two count. Jericho hit a codebreaker, then another. He had Jungle Boy pinned, but pulled him up at two.
Jericho threw Jungle Boy outside. Hager went after him. Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt made the save. Hager killed Stunt with a forearm shot. Aubrey Edwards kicked Hager out from ringside. Luchasaurus carried Stunt to the back.
Jericho tried his springboard dropkick to the apron, but Jungle Boy moved. Jungle Boy hit three consecutive topes, then used a DDT for a great near fall. Jungle Boy hit a backstabber for another near fall.
Jericho hit a back elbow, but missed a Lionsault. Jungle Boy answered with a Lionsault for a two count.
Jericho hit a lariat and Jungle Boy took a flip bump. Jericho covered for a two count.
They traded strikes. Jericho hit a powerbomb, then used the Walls of Jericho with a minute left in the match. Jungle Boy survived the last minute.
Jericho acted like Jungle Boy tapped. He was told that the match was a draw, so Jericho demanded five more minutes. Apparently this is a Justin Roberts call, as Roberts agreed and the bell rang.
Jungle Boy used a hurricanrana and a crucifix for two quick near falls, so Jericho just walked out on the overtime period he called for. They never officially rang the bell, so it’s as though the overtime period never happened.
The first part of this was exactly what it should have been. The post-match had some wonky execution.
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Jericho came out during the commercial break and jawed with Jungle Boy’s family at ringside. Back from break, Tony Schiavone interviewed Jericho.
Jericho said he said Jungle Boy couldn’t beat him. Schiavone said no, you said he couldn’t last ten minutes with you. They did some comedy. Jericho then said he would get to the point, which was to hear from Moxley on his decision on whether or not to join Inner Circle.
Jericho said he and the Inner Circle will have a surprise for Mox on January 1, and wished him a merry Christmas. Aw.
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Jenn Decker interviewed SCU. The Lucha Bros interrupted. Pentagon told Chris Daniels that he doesn’t have it any more and showed video of their match last week on his phone.
Kazarian told Daniels to show Penta that he still has it, but Daniels just walked off instead.
The bulk of this was a nothing-doing striking battle during an ad break. Baker worked on Statlander’s legs a little bit with kicks. Baker hit a running knee in the corner. Statlander came back with a top rope missile dropkick.
Baker hit a slingblade. Statlander hit a lariat. A crawl for the Dark Order website appeared on screen. JR spent the next minute plugging his barbecue sauce on his own site.
They traded strikes. Baker hit a swinging neckbreaker. They traded superkicks. Baker tried for Lockjaw. Statlander rolled through, hoisted Baker up into a fireman’s carry, then moved to a spike package piledriver position. Statlander hit the spike, then got the pin.
This picked up towards the end. Statlander has a special charisma.
Riho was shown at ringside reacting? to the finish.
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Tony Schiavone went to ringside to interview Statlander. Statlander booped him. Brandi entered. She cursed at Schiavone for leaving her a bad mic or something.
Brandi asked if Statlander was joining her Nightmare Collective. Statlander said no. Kong and Melanie Cruz came out and beat down Statlander. Brandi spiked Statlander in the eye with a high heel. Sadie Gibbs ran out to make the save.
Sigh.
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Shawn Spears and Tully Blanchard were shown backstage. They hyped their search for a tag partner for Spears.
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The Young Bucks did a pre-taped promo promising to win the tag titles and display them for their family at Christmas dinner.
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AEW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: SCU DEFEATED THE YOUNG BUCKS TO RETAIN THE TITLES
The Bucks got some shine at the outset. They hit some tandem offense. Sky cut Nick off with a rana off the apron to the floor. Nick came back with a springboard rana off the top rope. Matt hit a top rope elbow on Sky for a two count.
Matt sold his right elbow and the announcers pointed out that this was a result of the street fight last week. Nick hit a crazy escalera to the floor on both Kazarian and Sky.
during an ad break, Sky and Matt traded strikes. Matt used a sharpshooter. Kazarian broke the hold with a DDT. Kazarian got a tag and ran wild on both Bucks. He connected on a double lariat. Kazarian hit a pullover rana to the floor. Sky followed with a tope con giro.
Sky tried a TKO on Matt. Matt escaped, then hit a spear. Nick got a tag and tried a springboard off the top, but Sky caught him coming in with a cutter.
Sky and Kazarian used tandem dragon sleepers. The Bcuks escaped. Nick hit a DDT on the apron on Kazarian. Matt used a cradle on Sky for a near fall. Sky hit Matt with a TKO. Sky and Kazarian hit the SCU Later on Matt, and Kaz got the pin.
This was good, but the finish felt like it came out of nowhere.
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After the match, the Creepers came to the ring. The lights went out. Dark Order appeared on the stage. Uno cut a promo. He congratulated SCU. He said he would recruit The Bucks another time, but tonight was an initiation.
Reynolds and Silver jumped the Bucks and SCU. The Creepers and Reynolds and Silver beat down everyone. Omega ran out for the save, but fell victim to the numbers game.
Cody and Dustin Rhodes ran down and got beat down as well. The announcers called attention to the fact that Hangman Page was not there. Uno put his hand in Matt’s mouth and ripped away at something, then pulled his bloody hand out.
The show ended with Dark Order standing tall.
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Final thoughts:
This was a night of good-to-very good in-ring work, and some bad angles.
The only significant angle that ran during an ad break this week was the first one. My theory is that the opener ran long, and that the angle was not supposed to take place during the break.
The Dark Order came closer to being over tonight than at any point in their AEW tenure.
The crowd was hot for the opener, but seemed to get turned off by everything else in the first hour. Jericho and Jungle Boy got them back. The angle after the Statlander/Baker match lost them again to the point that Matt Jackson was begging for reactions in the main event.
The people are speaking. They love the in-ring. Your angles are turning them off. Let’s take a break, regroup, and meet back here January 1. Happy Holidays, everybody.
Chris Jericho’s next match on Dynamite will be in two weeks.
On tonight’s episode of Dynamite, Chris Jericho came out and said he was contractually obligated to wrestle one more time this year on December 18. He took out what he called the Lexicon of Le Champion. He rattled off a number of names, making sure to repeatedly list Jon Moxley, who ended last week’s episode of Dynamite staring Jericho down in the crowd.
The Jurassic Express then came out. Jericho confronted them, saying that it just so happened that dinosaurs and small children were also on the lexicon. Jericho eventually started to run down Jungle Boy, saying that Jungle Boy couldn’t even last ten minutes with him. Jungle Boy said that he knows he can last ten minutes and said he would beat his ass.
A brawl then ensued, with the Jurassic Express sending both Jericho and Jake Hager out of the ring. Jericho threw a fit on the outside and eventually retreated.
That edition of Dynamite will be at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
AEW’s return to the Sears Centre Arena last night included three matches taped for AEW Dark.
– Jimmy Havoc defeated Brandon Cutler
Havoc used a staple gun after the match.
– Shawn Spears (w/ Tully Blanchard) defeated Sonny Kiss
After the match was over, Spears gave Kiss a piledriver on the floor.
– Santana & Ortiz defeated Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt)
Sammy Guevara helped Santana and Ortiz attack Jungle Boy and Stunt following the match. Luchasaurus came out to make the save, then Jake Hager arrived to help the Inner Circle. The Young Bucks got involved and the babyfaces stood tall.
Nyla Rose was the guest commentator on this week’s AEW Dark tapings. The show premieres on YouTube at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesdays.
Next Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite is also taking place in Illinois, with the show being held at the State Farm Center in Champaign.
Luchasaurus returned from injury tonight at AEW Dynamite, helping his friends ward off The Dark Order.
The Dark Order had defeated the team of Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt on tonight’s episode of Dynamite. After the match, Evil Uno asked Marko Stunt to join them. Stunt didn’t seem interested. The Dark Order, along with their minions, attacked Stunt and Jungle Boy and was about to put their mask on Jungle Boy when Luchasaurus arrived and laid everyone out. The trio then hugged afterwards.
Luchasaurus had been out for several weeks following a hamstring injury that he suffered just hours before the October 16 edition of AEW Dynamite. He was originally set to team with Jungle Boy to take on The Lucha Bros. in a AEW Tag Team tournament match. Marko Stunt ended up teaming with Jungle Boy instead in a losing effort.
Luchasaurus noted his return in a short and simple tweet on Twitter: “I’m back”.
Shawn Spears picked up his first singles win and started a feud with Joey Janela.
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The show started with Tony Schiavone introducing Spanish announcer Dasha Gonzales (the former Dasha Fuentes) as his newest co-host. Speaking of changes, this week Excalibur was joined at the booth by Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
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Shawn Spears (w/ Tully Blanchard) defeated Michael Nakazawa
I know they were on Dynamite last week, but it’s weird to not have The Librarians on the show. This was Nakazawa’s first match for AEW since facing Alex Jebailey back at Fyter Fest. MJF asked the Facebook meme question about if olive oil is made out of olives and coconut oil is made out of coconuts, what is baby oil, which Nakazawa slathers himself in, made of?
Spears had the early advantage until Nakazawa pulled out the baby oil. Spears was not happy with getting it on him and tried to wipe it off onto referee Aubrey Edwards. Both Spears and Tully Blanchard slipped and bumped due to the baby oil.
Spears used the chop to much success. For the finish, Spears blocked Nakazawa’s attempts at using his thong for an offensive maneuver and got the pin with a slingshot brainbuster.
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Allie & Sadie Gibbs defeated Mercedes Martinez & Big Swole
Gibbs and Swole started the match doing the running shoulder blocks at each other, which Gibbs won by finally taking Swole down.
They began running the ropes and we never found out what happened, as the director felt it was more important to show a fan sitting at ringside. This happened a second time later on when Allie was going for a sliding elbow to Martinez, but instead we saw the fans.
Gibbs picked Allie up and dropped her on Martinez, but did it in the “wrong” direction, as she dropped Allie vertically, across the face and chest. Martinez and Swole hit the H Bomb on Gibbs.
Gibbs ignored the beating she got, shoved Swole across the ring, and casually tagged in Allie. After the producer didn’t show Allie’s offense, the heels decided that was enough and cut her off to get the heat. We got the expected four-way, which culminated with a giant dive spot with Gibbs doing a cartwheel into a dive over the top rope.
Everyone hit a big move on everyone, including the Allie Valley Driver, and Gibbs pinned Swole with a moonsault. This was rough in spots, but it accomplished its goals at the end of the day.
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They formally announced Dr. Britt Baker vs. Bea Priestley for the Full Gear Buy-In show, which included a video package building it up. Baker called Priestley a piece of sh*t.
After that we got a recap of the Chris Jericho-Cody angle from last Wednesday.
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Up next was our weekly From Undesirable To Undeniable segment where Cody interviewed Jimmy Havoc. Havoc said he feels undesirable a lot of the time now and all you have to do was look on his Twitter feed.
Havoc did look back to a moment when he was three years old which started him down the road he’s on. He started feeling undeniable by wrestling the way he wants to now and said getting signed shows that he is good enough.
Honestly, this was the weakest of the four segments, but that’s mostly because the three before this were really good.
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Joey Janela & Jimmy Havoc defeated Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt)
Stunt put on a Luchasaurus mask, but he took it off as the match began. The announcers said he was 5’3″, which I am calling shenanigans on.
A couple people tried to start either an ECW or a CZW chant, but it didn’t pick up steam. Havoc and Jungle Boy were displaying fine technical wrestling until Havoc decided to gnaw on Jungle Boy’s wrist. Jungle Boy hit a beautiful high dropkick. Stunt did a suicide dive — diving between Jungle Boy’s legs to Havoc — and Jungle Boy hit a beautiful Asai moonsault on Janela.
There were a lot of people shown not paying attention, which is weird since this was the last match of the night, so if you’re not gonna watch or care, why not leave early? Havoc bit the neck of Stunt, which led to an announcer discussion about vampires.
Stunt made the hot tag to Jungle Boy, which the fans did pop for. Jungle Boy got tired of his team being bit, so he bit Havoc, which made the crowd happy. Jungle Boy gave Janela an atomic drop and an inverted atomic drop, both of which Janela sold like sure death.
A series of big moves saw Janela hit Jungle Boy with a big lariat as the last move. Jungle Boy ducked the Acid Rainmaker, but it led to Stunt nearly being pinned with a Michinoku driver.
Havoc pulled out a staple gun, but Janela blind tagged himself in and took the staple gun. Janela turned on his partner by stapling him in the head. Despite that, Havoc still helped his partner win, as Janela pinned Stunt with a top rope package piledriver.
After the match, Havoc took his staple gun, glared at Janela, and walked away.
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We were whisked away backstage, where Janela was smoking a cigarette after the match. Tully Blanchard approached him and said he wasn’t happy with how Janela treated him the last time they saw each other. Spears attacked Janela and appeared to force cigarettes down Janela’s throat, but the camera was turned away and the show came to its conclusion.
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Final Thoughts —
This was the first time the show really felt like Velocity. Unlike prior episodes that had some degree of stardom, this was the midcard and under showcase.
The show peaked early as Jungle Boy and Jake Atlas had a long match filled with great spots and near falls. The debut of Aramis, who looks to follow in the footsteps of Fenix, Bandido and Dragon Lee, also got a strong reaction. It was very hard for people to follow them, although there were good matches that followed them.
Unlike in the past when I have seen long PWG shows where early matches tear down the house but sustain crowd interest through the end, Friday peaked early and the crowd was very tired toward the latter part of the card. Tonight was four hours after a long show on Thursday.
BOLA Round 1: Joey Janela defeated Mick Morretti
Janela defeated the Australian after a superkick. Morretti was aggressive, in great condition, and got very loud “please come back” chants.
BOLA Round 1: Jake Atlas defeated Jungle Boy
This was one tremendous match. It wasn’t perfect, but as far as what this crowd was looking for, many had it as the best match so far of the tournament. It was the best Jungle Boy match I have seen to date and his improvement since January is astounding. At one point, Atlas did a cartwheel on the ropes, Jungle Boy superkicked him to the floor, hit a tope and then hit a Canadian Destroyer. (We got a ton of that move again tonight.) Atlas used a V-Trigger, Diamond Cutter, and cartwheel on the ropes into a DDT for the pin. Fans threw money in the ring afterward.
BOLA Round 1: Rey Fenix defeated Aramis
In my opinion, this was the best match of the tournament so far. People were tired from the blowout match previously, but they were into this. Aramis did a ropewalk 450 and also did a ropewalk flip plancha to the floor. Fenix won with a spinning muscle buster. Fans threw money in the ring again.
Fenix put over Aramis as the next generation Mexican who will show the world Lucha Libre. He said that there are people who talk bad about Aramis but he showed everyone tonight. Aramis said that when he was a kid, he told his parents that some day he would be in PWG and now he’s here. I suspect Aramis will be getting contract offers coming out of this performance. Regarding Atlas, he’s already getting offers. It’s a different world today when it comes to being an indie talent.
This was supposed to be for the PWG tag titles but it was made non-title due to an injury to Mark Davis of Aussie Open who blew out his knee during the afternoon. He wasn’t doing anything risky, but it was just one of those things where guys do the craziest things and are fine, and then get hurt doing something simple. He was hospitalized and showed up later with a big cast on his leg. A-Kid took his place.
This ws very heavy on the comedy, but featured some good wrestling as well. They were in a tough position and also went more than 22:00. There was lots of Wentz trying to kiss Kid & Fletcher.
BOLA Round 1: Bandido defeated Puma King to win the DDT Ironmetal Heavyweight title
Bandido won after a fallaway slam and spike in a really good match. Bandido did a super high springboard plancha.
Puma King defeated Bandido to win the DDT Ironmetal Heavyweight title
After the match, Puma King cradled Bandido so he got his belt back which is a DDT storyline.
BOLA Round 1: Pentagon Jr. defeated Tony Deppan
Pentagon Jr. won with the broken arm spot and Canadian Destroyer in a very good match. Deppan is very animated and reminds me of Oney Lorcan. The crowd liked him a lot.
BOLA Round 1: David Starr defeated Orange Cassidy
Starr won with a running forearm. They went 19:00 which was too long. This was mostly Starr beating on Cassidy.
Daisuke Sekimoto & Jonathan Gresham defeated Jeff Cobb & Brody King
This was eally good but the crowd was tired. They also went long and told a story with Cobb and King not getting along. King did comedy telling “Marty” and “PCO” to do stuff like he was conditioned to think of them as partners. There was a big pop for little Gresham power ombing King.
Sekimoto pinned King with a German suplex and they all raised each others’ arms, leaving the ring to Sekimoto who thanked the fans. It felt like they were building Cobb vs. King but it was stage one of a build.
AEW is holding a fan vote to determine the final team for their Tag title tournament.
On Twitter today, AEW opened voting to decide whether Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy or Angelico & Jack Evans will be the final team in the tournament. Both teams having winless records was the reason given for the fan vote.
As would be expected, Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy are solidly in the lead at press time. They have 85 percent of the vote to Angelico & Evans’ 15 percent.
Voting ends tomorrow (Saturday, September 14) at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.
Angelico & Evans lost to Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) on the All Out pre-show last month. After the match, there was an angle where Angelico & Evans turned heel by attacking Private Party.
The Dark Order got a first-round bye in the Tag Team title tournament by defeating Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) at All Out. A first-round match between The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) and Private Party has been announced for week two of AEW TV on Wednesday, October 9. The rest of the teams for the tournament have yet to be revealed.
The semifinals of the tournament are set for week four of AEW TV on Wednesday, October 23. The inaugural champions will then be crowned on week five of AEW TV.
AEW has added a six-man tag match to the card for All Out.
Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt vs. SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) is set for the pay-per-view. The match announcement was made on today’s episode of Being the Elite.
Stunt accompanied Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy for their three-way tag match against The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) and Angelico & Jack Evans at Fight for the Fallen last month. It was later announced that Stunt has officially joined the AEW roster.
All Out is taking place at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois this Saturday (August 31). Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
Chris Jericho vs. Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship
Kenny Omega vs. PAC
AAA Tag Team Champions The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) defending against The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) in a ladder match
Cody Rhodes vs. Shawn Spears
Hikaru Shida vs. Riho
Darby Allin vs. Joey Janela vs. Jimmy Havoc
Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) (winning team gets a first-round bye in AEW’s Tag Team title tournament)
Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt vs. SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky)
Women’s Casino Battle Royale (pre-show)
Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) vs. Angelico & Jack Evans (pre-show)
This week’s Being the Elite is available to watch below:
Jungle Boy is set to take part in his first Battle of Los Angeles.
On Monday night, PWG announced that Jungle Boy will be an entrant in this year’s BOLA tournament. It’s taking place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, September 19, Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22.
Jungle Boy made his PWG debut earlier this year and has had four matches for the promotion.
It was announced in January that Jungle Boy has signed with AEW. He debuted in the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing, faced Hangman Page, MJF, and Jimmy Havoc in a four-way match at Fyter Fest, and teamed with Luchasaurus against The Dark Order and Angelico & Jack Evans in a triple threat match at Fight for the Fallen.
There will be 24 entrants in BOLA, with the winner getting a shot at the PWG World Championship. Here’s the updated list of participants:
