AEW’s Trent Barreta is facing some time out of action due to a partially torn pectoral muscle.
“Hey I have a partially torn pec and will be out for months. It’s fine,” Trent tweeted on Thursday.
Trent appears to have been injured during a 12-man tag match on last week’s episode of Dynamite. The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, MJF, Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz & Jake Hager) defeated Best Friends (Trent & Chuck Taylor), Top Flight (Darius Martin & Dante Martin) & The Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison) in that match.
There was an angle on this Wednesday’s Dynamite where Trent was shown being taken out by ambulance. Kip Sabian said he was going to reveal he and Penelope Ford’s wedding date, but Sabian, Ford, and Miro were interrupted by Best Friends’ theme music. Sabian, Ford, and Miro acted concerned before laughing and revealing what really happened. Video was then shown of Trent being put into an ambulance while Taylor and Orange Cassidy looked on.
Sabian and Ford’s wedding will be on the Wednesday, February 3 Beach Break episode of Dynamite.
Jon Moxley will be in action on Wednesday’s New Year’s Day edition of Dynamite.
AEW announced this morning that Moxley vs. Trent Barreta has been added to the card for Wednesday’s show. It’s being held at Daily’s Place amphitheater in Jacksonville, Florida.
Moxley responding to AEW World Champion Chris Jericho’s offer to join the Inner Circle is also scheduled for the episode.
In AEW’s final top-five roster rankings of 2019, Moxley was ranked as the top contender in the men’s division.
Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. PAC & The Lucha Bros, AEW Women’s Champion Riho defending her title against Nyla Rose, Britt Baker, and Hikaru Shida in a four-way match, and Cody Rhodes vs. Darby Allin have also been announced for the New Year’s Day Dynamite, and MJF will appear and give his stipulations for an upcoming match against Cody.
Riho was originally supposed to defend her title against Kris Statlander, but Statlander was pulled from the show due to a scheduling conflict and will instead get her title shot on the January 8 episode of Dynamite in Southaven, Mississippi.
PAC was last in action on Dynamite when he went to a time limit draw with Jon Moxley two weeks ago. PAC’s match for Full Gear was set up after that, with him facing Hangman Page at this Saturday’s pay-per-view.
Trent, Chuck Taylor & Orange Cassidy defeated John Silver, Alex Reynolds & QT Marshall in a six-man tag match on Dynamite last week.
Page & Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho & Sammy Guevara will headline this Wednesday’s Dynamite. The match will be part of the final build to Jericho’s AEW World Championship defense against Cody Rhodes at Full Gear.
A segment with Cody is also set for Wednesday, with him hyping that he’ll be making the announcement that he was going to make before being interrupted by Jericho and the Inner Circle two weeks ago: “This week’s @AEWonTNT #AEWDynamite I will be uninterrupted and have the chance to make my career announcement. I hope it resonates with the fans, because it matters a great deal to me.”
AEW has revealed The Young Bucks’ opponents for this Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite.
Matt & Nick Jackson will face Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) on the show. It’s taking place at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Young Bucks and Best Friends were both eliminated in the first round of the AEW Tag Team title tournament. The Young Bucks lost to Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy), while Best Friends lost to SoCal Uncensored (Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian).
Both semifinal matches in the Tag Team title tournament are set for this Wednesday’s Dynamite. The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) will face Private Party, while The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) will take on SCU.
The finals of the Tag Team title tournament will be held on Dynamite next week (Wednesday, October 30).
Jon Moxley vs. PAC has been announced for this Wednesday’s Dynamite. Britt Baker will also be in action in her hometown of Pittsburgh, though her opponent has yet to be revealed.
With the show now under two weeks away, AEW has added a couple of matches to the card for Double or Nothing.
During this week’s episode of Being the Elite, two tag matches were announced for Double or Nothing. Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) will face Angelico & Jack Evans, while Aja Kong, Yuka Sakazaki & Emi Sakura will team against Hikaru Shida, Riho & Ryo Mizunami in a six-woman tag match.
Angelico & Evans joining AEW was revealed last week. Best Friends had been involved in a storyline where they were refusing to be in the battle royal at Double or Nothing and demanding to be in a different match.
Dave Meltzer reported in the most recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Riho has signed a five-show deal with AEW and wants to see how she likes working in the United States before she commits to a longer deal. Aja Kong and Sakazaki were announced for Double or Nothing at February’s ticket announcement party, while Shida signing with AEW was confirmed in April.
Double or Nothing is taking place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 25. Here’s the updated card:
Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho
AAA Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defending against The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix)
Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes
Hangman Page vs. PAC
Dr. Britt Baker vs. Nyla Rose vs. Kylie Rae
SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) vs. Strong Hearts (CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman)
Aja Kong, Yuka Sakazaki & Emi Sakura vs. Hikaru Shida, Riho & Ryo Mizunami
Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) vs. Angelico & Jack Evans
Casino Battle Royale (pre-show, winner gets a title shot against the AEW World Champion)
Cody Rhodes’ first IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship defense will be taking place at next month’s Global Wars tour.
ROH announced today that Cody will defend the IWGP United States title against Beretta at Global Wars: Toronto on November 11. They’ve been building up a match against each other, which has included Beretta issuing a challenge to Cody at an NJPW Road to Power Struggle show and Cody tweeting out a poll asking if Beretta deserves a shot at the title.
Cody won the IWGP United States Championship by defeating Juice Robinson at NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed in Long Beach, California last month.
Kenny King challenging for Jay Lethal’s ROH World Championship will main event the Global Wars event in Toronto. It’s the last stop on the tour, with shows also being held in Lewiston, Maine on November 7, Lowell, Massachusetts on November 8, and Buffalo, New York on November 9.
Ian Riccaboni, Caprice Coleman, and BJ Whitmer called the action from Las Vegas.
A recap aired of the finish of the ROH World Championship match between Jay Lethal and Will Ospreay from Death Before Dishonor, which ended with Lethal retaining. Lethal’s celebration was cut short as The Kingdom, featuring Matt Taven’s new haircut, laid him out.
The Kingdom came to the ring with what they were claiming to be the real ROH World Championship belt. Taven stood stoically, sporting an amazing sparkly purple robe and a crown.
TK O’Ryan screamed at Bobby Cruise and Todd Sinclair to stand still while he spoke. O’Ryan made Cruise read a list of all of Taven’s accomplishments, including a declaration that Taven was the real ROH World Champion.
Before the first match, a video package of Jeff Cobb’s reign of terror so far in ROH aired to hype up him challenging Punishment Martinez for the ROH Television Championship on next week’s show.
Kenny King defeated Chase Owens
The announcers reminded us that King has been on a winning streak, but lately has chosen to use nefarious means to get his wins. King greeted Owens with some technical offense — ending with a fancy Japanese arm drag and a few kip ups.
After the break, Owens was in control and was working over the neck of King. That didn’t last long as King managed to get the advantage by landing a spinning dive onto Owens. He followed that up with a high crossbody block off the top turnbuckle.
Owens regained the upper hand with a Shining Wizard knee. A unique neckbreaker earned Owens a two count. He then went for a package piledriver, but King fought out. Owens went for a slingshot belly-to-back suplex, but King landed on his feet and appeared to have injured his knee. However, it was a ploy to get Owens to lower his guard, which allowed King to roll him up for the win.
Backstage, Coast 2 Coast were talking about being undefeated in 2018. They looked forward to their ROH Tag Team Championship match against The Briscoes next week.
They replayed the angle with Riccaboni getting involved to assist Colt Cabana in an attempt to silence Bully Ray.
Shane Taylor vs. Flip Gordon didn’t happen
Before this could get started, Gordon grabbed a microphone and addressed Bully Ray putting Cabana through a table at Death Before Dishonor. Gordon explained that Ray cheated during their match and that he should have been declared the winner.
Ray came out to trash talk, and during the exchange, Silas Young slid into the ring and delivered a low blow to Gordon. Taylor then blasted Gordon with a chair. For good measure, Young landed Misery on Gordon.
The Young Bucks defeated Los Ingobernobles de Japon (EVIL & SANADA), Best Friends (Beretta & Chuckie T), and SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) in a four corners tag match
This started off as a melee. The match had not yet even begun and The Young Bucks were already hitting dives. Nearly everyone hit a crazy dive in a sequence that ended with Nick Jackson wiping everyone out from the top rope to the floor. After that, Best Friends recovered and finally had time to hug each other before they hit stereo cannonball dives. Then, the bell finally rang.
SANADA and Daniels officially started the match. SANADA used the Paradise Lock on both members of SoCal Uncensored and tagged in EVIL. He went to work on the rear end of Daniels, which included EVIL catching a boot from Daniels and handing it off to the referee. That allowed EVIL to superkick Daniels in the bum. Daniels eventually fought out of it and returned the favor — doing the same thing back to EVIL.
Best Friends decided that they needed to strut around while wearing their sunglasses. They both got in and found themselves on the wrong end of a Nick Jackson lucha head scissors maneuver and a reverse Code Red.
After the break, EVIL continued to use the referee to assist him with the Magic Killer as SANADA had been indisposed at the moment. A parade of kicks and strikes left the Best Friends standing alone again. They landed a spike Dudebuster on Matt Jackson, but Nick broke it up with a Swanton.
An exchange of finishers created total chaos until the Bucks hosted a superkick party that laid waste to everyone. They isolated Beretta and landed the Five Star Meltzer Driver on him for the win.
Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana, and Mandy Leon called the action for the first match.
Women of Honor Champion Sumie Sakai defeated Madison Rayne to retain her title
They exchanged a rolling pin sequence to start it off. Sakai landed seven chops and followed that with some stiff forearms.
After the break, Sakai hit a missile dropkick off the top but missed a moonsault, which allowed Rayne to land a tornado DDT. Sakai kicked out at two and landed a fisherman’s suplex, but Rayne kicked out.
Rayne hit a cutter out of nowhere and almost got the win, but it was not enough to keep Sakai down. Rayne then ran into Sakai’s Smash Mouth finisher and Sakai retained with the win.
A video recap of the feud between Josh Woods and Shane Taylor aired.
Shane Taylor defeated Josh Woods
Woods started it off with a running knee. He declared that Taylor had a loaded glove, as Taylor was suspiciously wearing MMA gloves on this evening. Woods used some jiu-jitsu to attack the ankle of Taylor. A huge forearm sent Woods to the floor and the brawl continued outside the ring.
Back inside, Taylor landed a big splash but only got a one count. Woods fought back, landed a strong kick to the head of Taylor, and both went down. Woods landed a spinning back elbow, a running knee, and an exploder suplex that earned him a two count.
After the break, Woods applied an armbar and took off Taylor’s glove to reveal that, in fact, Taylor had loaded his glove. He pleaded with the referee not to throw out the match, but that allowed Taylor to recover and connect with his Greetings from the 216 piledriver for the finish.
SoCal Uncensored cut a promo on The Briscoes saying that Sandy Fork, Delaware was the worst town they’d ever been to.
They replayed the Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham video package that has been on the last few episodes hyping the upcoming 30-minute Iron Man match for the ROH World Championship that will air next week.
Caprice Coleman joined the announcers for the next match.
Marcus Kross and Charles Zanders went to a no contest in a Top Prospect Tournament first round match
A nice sequence of counters and kicks ensued, but this match didn’t last too long as Jeff Cobb made his way to the ring and destroyed both with monstrous suplexes.
Eli Isom came out and landed about 10 forearms to Cobb that had zero effect. Cobb manhandled Isom with an insane reverse powerslam as well.
Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) defeated Bully Ray & Silas Young
Ray talked trash to Cabana before the match. Coleman calmed down Cabana.
Ray slammed Barreta and went after his recently repaired arm. Barreta fought back and tagged in Taylor, but Ray squished him with a Thesz press. Young tagged in, then the Best Friends landed some friendly offense until Ray used a distraction of the referee to rack Barreta around the ring post.
After the break, Young went back to work on the arm of Barreta. Some cheap double team moves by Ray and Young kept Barreta isolated. Finally, Barreta landed a tornado DDT, flipped off Ray, and made the tag to Taylor. He landed the Falcon Arrow, but Young kicked out. The Best Friends landed a lawndart cutter and then gave each other a hug, but that allowed Ray to blindside them.
Ray screamed at Young to tag him. But as he went for the tag, Ray jumped off the apron and bailed on the match to teach him a lesson. The Best Friends landed the Dudebuster on Young for the win.
Image: SoCal Uncensored. Report submitted by reader Brian Reznick. Additional thanks to Dave Doyle and Ruby Flores.
– Adam Brooks defeated Brody King
Brooks won in 11:39 with a swanton. It was a good, short match. Brooks looked better than his previous PWG matches, and King was very over with the crowd while making his debut.
They did a few rough spots on the apron, which was a theme of the night. There were three different moments where they clearly miscommunicated or something went wrong, but they didn’t lose the crowd.
– Dalton Castle defeated Joey Janela
Castle hit the Bang-a-Rang to win in 21:29. The crowd loved both guys, and there was some good comedy based around eye poke spots by Janela. The match was a few minutes too long and lost the crowd a bit.
– Travis Banks defeated David Starr
A cradle/fisherman’s suplex off the turnbuckle ended this in 10:27. They had a good, hard-hitting match. Starr was much better here than in his PWG debut against Fred Yehi.
– Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Flip Gordon
Sabre submitted him in 15:43. This was my favorite match of the night up to this point, though a few people around me liked Banks vs. Starr better. The response for Gordon in his debut was great overall.
ZSJ took most of the match, stretching Gordon with creative submissions. They got a huge pop late when Gordon went for a standing Shooting Star Press and Sabre caught him in a triangle.
– Keith Lee defeated Matt Riddle
This was a hell of a match, with Lee using his big powerslam/jackhammer to get the pin in 18:31. Riddle’s chest was a mess coming into the match and Lee opened him up early with a huge double hand chop in the corner. The blood really increased the drama right away.
Lee landed a second rope moonsault late, but Riddle kicked out at one. Later, Riddle hit a top rope senton and Lee kicked out at two. Riddle stomped Lee down and hit another top rope senton, with Lee kicking out at one. Everyone jumped out of their seats for that.
Riddle kicked out of a powerslam/jackhammer, then Lee kicked out of the Bro to Sleep. Just a crazy, great match.
– PWG World Champion Chuck Taylor defeated Trent Barreta to retain his title
Taylor pinned Barreta with a low blow and a small package in 25:38 to retain. This was a heel turn as Barreta had the opportunity to hit Taylor with the title, but he decided not to and handed the belt to referee Rick Knox. Taylor then low-blowed and pinned Barreta when Knox turned to hand the title out of the ring.
There was good drama in the match. They did an exchange early that ended in the Best Friends hug for a pop. Much later, they did a Japanese-style forearm exchange that led to them each collapsing to their knees and falling against each other, making it look like they were doing the Best Friends hug again. It was really well done.
Barreta did a great blade job at one point, cutting himself over the eyebrow right before a stiff looking kick to the face. There were tons of piledrivers in the match: Taylor got piledriven twice on the apron, Barreta got piledriven on chairs outside, and there were multiple piledrivers in the ring. Taylor kicked out of a Dudebuster and Barreta kicked out of various piledrivers before the finish.
After the match, Taylor didn’t shake Barreta’s hand or hug him and just walked out. The crowd had already booed him and it really turned up at that point. The show then ended quickly and awkwardly, which I think made the heel turn more effective.
Overall, this was a very good show based on the excellent second half. The crowd enjoyed it and was very hot for the final two matches.
Kenny Omega’s match against Cody Rhodes for Ring of Honor won’t be the only time he’ll be wrestling during WrestleMania week.
WrestleCon announced last Friday that Omega would be appearing at their SuperShow on April 5th. They didn’t reveal Omega’s match then, but it was confirmed today that Omega & Kota Ibushi would be teaming against Best Friends (Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor) at the show.
The SuperShow falls on a Thursday and will be taking place at The Sugar Mill in New Orleans. When announcing Omega & Ibushi vs. Best Friends, the Highspots Wrestling Network tweeted that it will be “coming exclusively to HighspotsWrestlingNetwork.com.”
Omega is set to appear at the WrestleCon convention on Friday during WrestleMania week as well. His match against Cody is scheduled for that Saturday, with ROH’s Supercard of Honor XII going against NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.
Ibushi has also been announced for Supercard of Honor.
Another title match was confirmed for Power Struggle as NJPW rounded out the show’s card.
In his biggest match since moving up to heavyweight, Trent Barreta will challenge for Kenny Omega’s IWGP United States Championship. The match was set up when Barreta challenged Omega at NJPW’s road to Power Struggle show on Sunday.
This will be Omega’s third defense of the title since winning it in Long Beach this summer. He previously retained against Juice Robinson at Destruction in Kobe and against YOSHI-HASHI at ROH’s Global Wars: Chicago iPPV. Barreta also defeated Yujiro Takahashi in his first singles match at heavyweight at Destruction in Kobe.
There will be four title matches at Power Struggle, which will take place at the Edion Arena in Osaka on Sunday morning. The wrestler who has been billed in vignettes as “Switchblade” will be revealed at the show as well. Here’s a look at the finalized card:
IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defending against Kota Ibushi
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending against Trent Barreta
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay defending against Marty Scurll
NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki defending against Toru Yano in a bullrope match
Sho & Yoh vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH in the finals of the Super Junior Tag Team Tournament
Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Cody, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, KUSHIDA & Hirai Kawato vs. Zack Sabre Jr., Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, El Desperado & Taka Michinoku
This week in wrestling, the 2017 G1 Climax lineup was announced, SmackDown had its Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Mauro Ranallo announced that he’s the new voice of NXT, and sadly, Tetsuo “Mr. Pogo” Sekigawa passed away. Here are our favorite wrestlers this week. Who’s yours?
This week’s panel —
Alan 4L (Dr. Keith Presents host and Figure Four Weekly writer)
Joseph Currier (WrestlingObserver.com editor and Figure Four Weekly writer)
I don’t think anyone disagrees that Trent? is a super talented pro wrestler, whether as a singles or in a tag team with Rocky Romero or Chuck Taylor, and if you do disagree, well, stop that now.
But the reason Beretta is my favorite wrestler this week is for his unfailingly entertaining Twitter account. Oh, you want examples? Perhaps you’ll enjoy his rivalry with some gym dude:
Me and some dude at gym both hate each other I can just feel it
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, really. Trent Barreta, making Twitter fun again.
Paddy Morrow
By Alan 4L
Having just re-watched OTT’s huge ScrapperMania show from April on their new OnDemand service, I was in awe of the most unheralded Irish wrestler of all time as he put on one of the best single match performances of any wrestler this year.
Paddy “Suicide Machine” Morrow (or simply Paddy M as he’s now known as part of the popular Lads From The Flats) was a man on a mission in the big LFTF vs. Kings of the North trios match. His selling, his fire, his execution, and his timing were all so impressive.
Paddy may not be the most eye-catching in appearance, but he’s a wrestler’s wrestler. He’ll make anyone look good and he’ll always get the crowd invested. Nobody ever watches a Paddy Morrow match and winds up disappointed. He was a key part of the NWA Ireland promotion ran by Fergal Devitt (Finn Balor) and Paul Tracey in the mid 2000s, and is one of the many great wrestlers that have come from and continue to come from that gym in Bray, Co. Wicklow (now moving premises into the City Centre of Dublin).
Paddy is one of the most over acts in OTT and I hope some big matches await him throughout the rest of 2017, at home and maybe even abroad.
Kota Ibushi
By Joseph Currier
I’m incredibly excited that Kota Ibushi is in this summer’s G1 Climax.
NJPW confirmed last week that Ibushi (as himself and not the Tiger Mask W character that he’s been playing) would be in this year’s tournament. The company still has to announce the blocks for the G1, but Ibushi’s inclusion brings so many possibilities.
Will we finally get Ibushi vs. Kenny Omega in NJPW? Will we get Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. after it wasn’t meant to happen at the Cruiserweight Classic? Which other top guys will be in his block? Will he make the finals (or even win the whole thing and go on to main event the Tokyo Dome in January)?
While some of those things probably won’t happen, we’ll still be getting at least nine Kota Ibushi singles matches in NJPW this summer. There will be plenty more opportunities for him to be chosen as my favorite wrestler of the week again in July and August.
