A former WWE NXT wrestler will make her AEW debut on Tuesday’s AEW Dark.
Steph De Lander, the former Persia Pirotta in NXT, will wrestle her first bout in a Tony Khan organization as she faces Marina Shafir. Pirotta was released last year and made her Impact Wrestling debut this year.
De Lander’s former NXT rostermate Brady Booker (Bodhi Hayward) will have his second AEW outing as he takes on Serpentico.
Tuesday’s lineup was taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, last month.
Konosuke Takeshita will look to keep his recent win streak going as he faces Cole Karter.
Karter’s former mates who are now QTV (QT Marshall & Aaron Solo) will be in action against Austin Green & Vary Morales. Nick Comoroto, another former Factory member, will also take on AR Fox on the show.
Here’s the full nine-match lineup:
Top Flight vs. Liam Gray & Adrian Alanis
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Cole Karter
Brady Booker vs. Serpentico
Evil Uno vs. Alexander Moss
Zack Clayton vs. Schaff
Queen Aminata vs. Skye Blue
QT Marshall & Aaron Solo vs. Austin Green & Vary Morales
C4 is a younger team from DEFY Wrestling based in the Pacific Northwest who have actually squared off with WCWC in DEFY over the years. There were some nice chants going for C4 early on.
On commentary, Kevin Kelly shouted out Jim Valley of F4W, who also happens to take on announce duties at DEFY from time to time.
There was a point in this match where Isaacs, who was outside the ring, hoisted Chhun up in the air with a stalling vertical suplex and proceeded to walk with Chuun around the ring before dropping him on the floor, and in stereo with Nelson to boot. Nelson used a stalling vertical suplex of his own on Rosas and synched the slam with Isaacs’ on the floor.
Nelson lifted Chhun up into a power bomb hold and looked like he was about to pass Chhun off to Nelson, as the Wrecking Crew is known for their creative tag team offense. Instead, Chhun countered with a hurricanrana, which sent Nelson flying into Isaacs with an inadvertent spear. Chhun tagged out to Rosas, and the two hit an assisted Liger bomb on Nelson for two. Rosas got fired up and shook the ropes like Ultimate Warrior. Chhun hit a backspring cutter before diving out of the ring with a tope.
Nelson caught Chhun with a fisherman’s buster for two. Isaacs later put Chhun down with a dominator before Nelson came off the top rope and hit Chhun with a diving elbow drop. Isaacs was the legal man, so he pinned Chhun to pick up the three-count for WCWC.
KENTA defeated QT Marshall
This was good, and it sounded to be a real crowd-pleaser of a match. The crowd was loud in their support of KENTA in his debut at The Vermont Hollywood. They relished KENTA’s heelish antics, like cheap-shotting QT Marshall in the face with a slap coming off a rope break. Marshall was basically doing Heel 101 and delivered. He was perfect in giving the crowd everything they *didn’t* want from this match.
After almost five minutes of ring introductions and general jaw-jacking, the match was finally underway. It was a total “KENTA fan service” match in that he got dozens of moments to shine and do his signature spots. It was exactly the kind of match a fan should expect.
In the end, KENTA hit Go 2 Sleep on Marshall for the win. He basked in the “KENTA!” calls before heading to the back. This was a good one.
STRONG Openweight Tag Team Championship Match: Motor City Machine Guns (c) defeated Roppongi Vice
Sabin and Beretta kicked things off. After a nice exchange, Sabin offered Beretta a sportsman-like hug, then quickly turned it into a sneaky school boy cradle for two. Sabin then walked over to his corner and hugged Shelley before tagging him in. Beretta would also tag Romero into the match.
Romero and Shelley would later have a short dance-off which saw Shelley bust out a bit of the “Ravishing” Rick Rude hip swirl. It was all a ploy from Romero, though, the self-proclaimed “King of Sneaky Style”. We should have known. While in mid-swivel, Rocky tripped Shelley up and slapped on an ankle hold.
MCMG played heel to Roppongi Vice’s hometown babyface. They wrestled with a bit of an edge, more so than usual.
Beretta was able to swing the momentum back his way and trapped Sabin in the corner and began chopping him. This was right before he’d spike Sabin with a jumping piledriver for two. Beretta went for another piledriver on the apron, but Sabin back body dropped him onto the apron instead, where Beretta would ultimately crash onto the floor.
“Come on, you son of a bitch!” Shelley shouted at Romero. The two started decking each other. MCMG would later catch Beretta with a double superkick to the head while he stood on the floor. When MCMG went for a dive, Roppongi Vice blocked it with a double jumping knee. They hit Strong Zero on Sabin for two. Sabin landed a power bomb for two. He caught Beretta with a huge kick to the face in the corner. MCMG landed a power bomb/sliced bread double team maneuver from the top on Beretta but again, only for two. They did Roppongi’s Dudebuster + dropkick combo finish and *again* a count of two. The crowd was chanting “RO-PON-GI!” over and over.
The finish saw MCMG hit their finisher on Romero for the pinfall in 18:12. As one would imagine, this was a very good match. The Machine Guns retain their tag titles.
Final thoughts:
It was one more solid episode of Strong tonight, with a lot of tag team action plus a really good story match between KENTA and QT Marshall. The main event between MCMG and Roppongi Vice stole the show, though.
NJPW’s The Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb appeared on AEW Dynamite, making their intentions for the ROH World Tag Team titles clear.
FTR were defending the titles tonight during Dynamite against Roppongi Vice. The match ended when Khan and Cobb ran in and attacked both teams. Cobb ended up hitting the Tour of the Islands and put Dax Harwood through a table. O-Khan then took Trent Beretta, grabbed him in an iron claw, then slammed him off the apron and through another table. The segment ended with Cobb and O-Khan holding the ROH Tag Team titles.
In NJPW, O-Khan and Cobb are part of Will Ospreay’s United Empire stable. They held the IWGP Tag Team titles earlier this year, winning them at Hyper Battle 2022. However, they lost them after only 22 days, losing to Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens at Wrestling Dontaku on May 1.
NJPW and AEW will hold a joint show, Forbidden Door, on June 26 at the United Center in Chicago.
A match for the ROH World Tag Team titles has been added to this Wednesday’s Dynamite.
The match was made tonight on AEW Rampage. In a backstage interview, FTR accepted the challenge that Roppongi Vice issued on Dynamite this past Wednesday. FTR also expressed interest in eventually capturing the AEW World Tag Team titles and the IWGP Tag Team titles as well.
On Wednesday, Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero announced that they have returned as a full-time team and wanted a match for the ROH World Tag Team titles, issuing the challenge.
Here is the current lineup for Dynamite, which will be held at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada:
FTR vs. Roppongi Vice for the ROH World Tag Team titles
Owen Hart Tournament men’s semifinal: Samoa Joe vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Owen Hart Tournament women’s semifinal: Britt Baker vs. Toni Storm
Wardlow vs. Shawn Spears cage match with MJF as referee
It’s Monday and you know what that means: a nine-match AEW Dark: Elevation taped last Wednesday at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas. Excalibur, Mark Henry and Paul Wight were on the call tonight.
Lee Moriarty (w/ Matt Sydal) defeated Serpentico (w/ Luther)
Moriarty started real hot, but thanks to Luther’s guidance, Serpentico was able to control the match. Moriarty’s technical wrestling regained him the edge as he picked up the win with a crossface submission, upping his ’22 record to 6-3.
Abadon defeated Danni Bee
This was Bee’s debut. Abadon won in a squash with the Black Dahlia, improving her overall record to 30-3.
Penta Oscuro (w/ Alex Abrahantes) defeated JPH
This was JPH’s debut. Oscuro was more aggressive since he became more “sinister.” Oscuro used his armbreaker to win the match, improving to 60-30 overall.
Frankie Kazarian defeated Brandon Cutler
Cutler is the perfect stooge as his selling is so reminiscent of Pat Patterson and Jerry Brisco when they were stooges during the WWE Attitude Era. Kazarian dominated most of this match and prevented Cutler from using his cold spray. Kazarian submitted Cutler with the chicken wing crossface to improve his overall record is 67-29.
Jamie Hayter (w/ Rebel) defeated Rache Chanel
Hayter (3-0 in ’22) won with a brainbuster in a short match.
Max Caster (w/ Anthony Bowens) defeated Sonny Kiss
Caster’s entrance rap was amazing this week due to an Ed, Edd and Eddy reference. Kiss tried to control the flow, but the numbers game wasn’t in his favor. Caster grounded his opponent for good portions of the match, hitting the Mic Drop and picking up the win (with some help from Bowens along the way).
Hikaru Shida defeated Madi Wrenkowski
Shida (53-12) won in a short match, using a combination of an axe kick and a falcon arrow to get the win.
Anna Jay & Ruby Soho defeated The Renegade Twins
Soho and Jay started strong, but Charlette and Robyn used some dirty tricks to stop the babyfaces. A combination of a No Future kick and the Queenslayer on Robyn got Jay and Soho another win.
Roppongi Vice (w/ Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy) defeated The Factory (w/ Nick Comoroto)
This match took place due to The Factory invading a NJPW Strong show with NJPW allowing the reunion of Roppongi Vice to teach The Factory a lesson.
Aaron Solo and QT Marshall blindsided Trent Baretta and Rocky Romero and attacked them before the bell rang. The match was built around a Baretta hot tag and him then cleaning house. Comoroto interfered in favor of The Factory and even stopped Barretta from hitting a suicide dive on Marshall. Roppongi Vice used Strong Zero on Solo to win their first AEW match as a team.
The main event delivered and it was great to see Roppongi Vice back together again.
The Roppongi Vice vs. Young Bucks match originally set to take place last month will now take place on this week’s AEW Rampage.
Also announced for Friday’s was AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker vs. Robyn Renegade in a non-title match in addition to an appearance by Bryan Danielson.
The Young Bucks and Adam Cole, along with the debuting Jay White, attacked Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero as they were cutting a promo near the production trucks. In a later segment backstage, Cole said that White would have their back for their match at Rampage. The Bucks didn’t seem pleased that Cole brought in White without telling them.
The two teams were scheduled to face off on the January 21 edition of Rampage. However, Romero tested positive for COVID-19 and had to pull out of the show. The match was instead changed to Beretta vs. Nick Jackson, with Beretta getting the win.
Danielson will appear on the show after talking to Jon Moxley last week on Dynamite about the prospect of working together to form a stable. Moxley did not commit to the idea, but Danielson told him to think it over.
Already announced for Friday is Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus defending the AEW World Tag Team titles against Colten and Austin Gunn of the Gunn Club and Hook facing QT Marshall’s top student Blake Li.
Here’s the full lineup:
AEW Tag Team Champions Jurassic Express vs. Gunn Club (Colten and Austin) title match
Hook vs. Blake Li
AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker vs. Robyn Renegade non-title match
The last NJPW show before this Sunday’s Dominion event took place this morning at Korakuen Hall, featuring a big six-man match as the main event. Here are the results:
El Desperado & Taka Michinoku defeated Shota Umino & Tetsuhiro Yagi
This was a solid opener with your typical fare. Both Umino and Yagi looked good for their experience level. Umino showed great fire at points. Desperado submitted Yagi with the stretch muffler for the win.
They had a short, pretty good ten-man tag, but there wasn’t much to note beyond it being a solid bout. Kitamura was showcased a lot. He’s fine, at least for this level in terms of his work but definitely stands out, even beyond just having a great physique. He took the fall for his team after Nagata planted him with a backdrop driver.
The winners gained momentum going into the NEVER Six-Man Tag Team Championship gauntlet match at Dominion. This match was nothing of note aside from Page’s offense. Yujiro pinned Gedo with the Pimp Juice DDT to pick up the win.
Cody, Bad Luck Fale & Guerillas of Destiny defeated Michael Elgin, David Finlay & War Machine
Solid match. Bullet Club managed to isolate Hanson for a bit before he avoided a clothesline and tagged in Ray Rowe, who ran wild. Both War Machine and Guerrillas of Destiny brawled to the back as Cody and David Finlay went at it. Finlay went for his stunner finisher, but Cody reversed it into the Cross Rhodes for the win.
Suzuki-gun gained control with their usual underhanded tactics. The faces started to gain momentum once Sabre Jr. came in thanks to Goto, but he was taken out and kept down by Suzuki. Gedo tried to capitalize on the brief comeback, but Sabre Jr. took him down and quickly submitted him with a double armbar.
The submission finish was pretty cool, but it was pretty much the only highlight of the match, which was just fine.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Ricochet, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated SANADA, BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, EVIL & SANADA
Tanahashi’s right arm was heavily taped up from the torn bicep. He worked the latter part of the match and ate a four-way superkick from all of LIJ. Naito did the springboard dropkick into the corner and SANADA followed with a TKO, but Tanahashi kicked out. More back and forth went on until Tanahashi caught SANADA with a crucifix and picked up the win.
Naito immediately attacked Tanahashi’s arm as the rest of LIJ attacked everyone else. Tanahashi’s injury will probably play a big part in his match against Naito at Dominion. Naito and Tanahashi did a pose-off for a bit before Naito handed him the Intercontinental title and left.
The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) defeated Kazuchika Okada & Roppongi Vice
This was a pretty fun main event, but it wasn’t an out of this world match. I think with everyone having big matches in a couple of days, they wanted to have a fun match more than anything and they accomplished that here.
The Elite tried to go for a triple suicide dive early, but the faces took them out and teased their own dives before posing. They bailed and ran to the back, with Chaos following them. They came back and hid under the ring.
Chaos came back to beat the count, but they walked right into The Elite’s trap. They went for a triple superkick, only for Chaos to grab them, but The Elite countered and laid them all out.
They did some comedy, with the Bucks going to the ropes to deliver four boots on Baretta. Cody made his way out to give up his cowboy boots to make it six, but Baretta threw Omega in there instead. With the referee casually distracted by Matt Jackson, Cody took out Gedo and helped his stablemates in the ring.
Rocky Romero began to make a comeback but ate a superkick. The heels remained in control until Okada managed to regain momentum. Romero went for a super rana, but Nick Jackson held on. Matt came in and planted Romero with an Indytaker, then Omega followed with the One Winged Angel for the win.
Omega called Okada back into the ring after the match. Omega distracted him long enough for Matt Jackson to come in and lay Okada out with a superkick. The Bucks set up a table and Omega teased like he was about to send Okada through it with a One Winged Angel, but instead paused and let him go.
Omega took a microphone and said he’d rather beat him at Dominion at 100 percent, fair and square…goodbye and good luck.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the full card for Dominion, which will take place on June 11th at Osaka-jo Hall.
In a match that became apparent once KUSHIDA won this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, he’ll challenge for Hiromu Takahashi’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight title at Dominion. KUSHIDA defeated Will Ospreay in the finals of this year’s BOSJ to become the tournament champion and receive the title shot.
There will be a gauntlet match for the NEVER Six-Man tag titles as well, with SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defending against Ricochet, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI, Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi, and Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr.
Tiger Mask W (Kota Ibushi) will also make his return to NJPW as he’ll team with Togi Makabe, Tiger Mask IV & Yuji Nagata to take on Jushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan.
Before Dominion, the final build to the event will take place at Korakuen Hall with a “Road to” show on June 9th, airing at 5:30 a.m. ET. The card is mostly comprised of tag team matches, with a big six-man tag headlining the show.
That main event will be Kazuchika Okada & Roppongi Vice vs. Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks. It will be Okada and Omega’s final in-ring meeting before their rematch for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion. The Young Bucks will also challenge for Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta’s IWGP Junior tag titles in Osaka.
Both shows will air live on New Japan World and will have English commentary. The full cards are:
Dominion in Osaka-Jo Hall (June 11th at 3 a.m. ET) —
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defending against Kenny Omega
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito defending against Hiroshi Tanahashi
NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki defending against Hirooki Goto in a lumberjack match
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defending against KUSHIDA
Michael Elgin vs. Cody
IWGP Tag Team Champions War Machine defending against Guerrillas of Destiny
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Roppongi Vice defending against The Young Bucks
NEVER Six-Man Tag Team Champions SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI defending against Ricochet, Juice Robinson & Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI, Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi, and Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr. in a gauntlet match
Tiger Mask W, Togi Makabe, Tiger Mask IV & Yuji Nagata vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
David Finlay, Tomoyuki Oka & Shota Umino vs. Hirai Kawato, Katsuya Kitamura & Tetsuhiro Yagi
Road to Dominion (June 9th at 5:30 a.m. ET) —
Kazuchika Okada & Roppongi Vice vs. Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Juice Robinson, Ricochet & KUSHIDA vs. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi
Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Jado vs. Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Zack Sabre Jr.
Michael Elgin, David Finlay & War Machine vs. Cody, Bad Luck Fale & Guerrillas of Destiny
Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo vs. Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi
Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask IV, Hirai Kawato & Tomoyuki Oka vs. Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Katsuya Kitamura
Shota Umino & Tetsuhiro Yagi vs. El Desperado & Taka Michinoku
Ring of Honor television from this past week focused on tag team wrestling with two traditional tag matches, an impromptu tag match, and a six-man tag in the main event.
Taped at Sam Town’s in Las Vegas, the show continues the build towards the next pay-per-view, All-Star Extravaganza.
Steve Corino returned to color commentary on this episode after his storyline suspension was lifted. Of course, he was still kayfabing his run on commentary as the masked Mr. Wrestling #3.
Guerillas of Destiny defeated All Night Express w/ Caprice Coleman
ANX came out with an entourage from The Cabinet. They all left the scene before the match started, except for Coleman. They had a standard tag team match underway when a brawl erupted. Coleman tried to interfere only to get dispatched by Tama Tonga. After hitting their Guerrilla Warfare (double team DDT bomb) finisher, Tanga Roa covered Rhett Titus for the pinfall.
After the match, Coleman cut a promo saying The Cabinet was not done. He vowed to “finish our work” on Bullet Club. This feud with Bullet Club is apparently The Cabinet again attempting to “make wrestling great again.” Hopefully after the presidential election, their campaign will end as the gimmick arguably jumped the shark weeks ago.
With follow up on an angle from the previous episode, Jay Lethal cut a fiery promo on Tetsuya Naito ahead of their upcoming match at the PPV. According to Lethal, the feud is now both business and personal after Naito and EVIL both bailed on Lethal.
In some character development, Shane Taylor told his side of the story as it relates his background with Raymond Rowe. He talked about Rowe taking him in then Rowe allegedly turning his back on him when as he rose through the ranks.
Shane Taylor & Keith Lee defeated Ken Phoenix & Ricardo Rojas
This was a complete squash. On commentary, Corino did put over Phoenix as an unsung hero behind the scenes in ROH. Phoenix stayed in most of this match to get pummeled. His partner, Rojas, came in to get spiked by Keith Lee with a uranage. To finish off their prey, Lee powerbombed Phoenix then Taylor jumped off the middle rope with a splash, and Taylor covered him for the pin.
Taylor called out War Machine. Hanson and Rowe obliged them, but not before Rowe cut a scathing promo about their feud, relating it to their past. Rowe said he figured Taylor would be the last person to stab him in the back. Rowe said they were “just here for violence” and warned Taylor that they would regret making this challenge.
War Machine vs. Shane Taylor & Keith Lee ended in a double DQ
Shine for Rowe at the start, then he got cut off. Heat on Rowe until Hanson got a hot tag and cleaned house. Taylor hit Rowe with a chair, so Hanson hit Lee with a chair in retaliation. Referee Todd Sinclair called for the bell and threw out the match. The brawl continued until Lee and Taylor gained the upperhand. They set up two chairs in the ring and powerbombed Rowe on the chairs. This feud must continue!
Matt Taven, with a decorative walking stick surely inspired by an admiration for hair metal bands, provided guest commentary for the main event six-man tag team match.
Tiger Hattori was the referee. Okada and RPG Vice represented their Chaos stable in this match. Kamaitachi demanded to square off with Okada, who eventually cleared the ring. The action was wild and back-and-forth until things settled down with heat on Baretta that went through a commercial. After the break, Baretta made a hot tag to Okada. He ran wild, leading to his signature elbow drop off the top rope. Okada went for the Rainmaker clothesline on Daniels, but Kazarian made the save.
Everybody got involved in the later stage of the match with high spots galore. Okada dropped Daniels with a neckbreaker and went to cover him, but Kamaitachi made the save. Moments later, RPG Vice went for their Strong Zero finisher but Daniels countered. Daniels executed Anegel’s Wing on Baretta to dispatch him. Addiction then finished off Romero with the Best Meltzer Ever, and Daniels covered Romero to score the pin.
On the next episode of ROH that begins airing in syndication this weekend, it’s Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole & Hangman Page on the go-home show ahead of All-Star Extravaganza.
