All of the wrestling world is trying to make the most out of a bad situation utilizing shows with reduced crews, and All Elite Wrestling looks to keep up the quick pace of its ongoing storylines with a stacked pay-per0view from Daily’s Place. And coming out of this show, there are a variety of factors leading me to feel they’re positioning themselves as a babyface company for the time being. This card was an interesting blend of traditional pro-wrestling and the “cinematic” approach seen in things like Lucha Underground, the Hardy compound matches, and a couple of battles at Wrestlemania 36.
In the Buy-In pre-show match, the Best Friends defeated Private Party. Both teams were evenly matched, and the most noteworthy aspect is how the typically high-flying Quen and Kasady executed more fundamental wrestling in their offense, while Trent and Barretta showed off their athleticism. Though they’re definitely not glaciers, Best Friends are probably the more physically stronger of the two teams.
The Casino Ladder Match
Christopher Daniels’ promo talking about SCU willing to compete with one another to win is apt as Scorpio and Kaz start out with a friendly teammate encounter, before Sabian and Jimmy Havoc in a creepy white blood-splattered suit crash the party. Orange Cassidy takes a full minute to get into the ring, and gesture-complains he can’t reach because he’s too lazy and apathetic to use a ladder, still fiddling with it as Colt Cabana enters. He chucks him outside to (uncharacteristically) end the nonsense, but SCU just double-team him.
Surprisingly enough it wasn’t Joey Janela- as exuberant as he was- who shocked me the most in this match, but rather Darby Allin with his attempt on skateboarding Sabain through a ladder off of another ladder, and his willingness to take a Steiner Screwdriver from Taz’s new client Brian Cage. All the other competitors gang up on Cage and bury him with ladders and giant setpiece chips, and back inside Sabian dropkicks a ladder into Colt’s chest. Penelope Ford comes out to help Kip fight OC, but Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt (with the help of a ladder) have more success against Cassidy as they double chokeslam him.
Janela’s death valley driver on Cassidy into the chip pile outside unfortunately has the effect of waking up the monster buried underneath it, and Cage comes back inside to kill everyone, including a nice exchange with Luchasaurus. He benchpresses Darby on top of a ladder to the floor outside and grabs the suspended chip to win the match and a #1 contender’s spot for the world title. A nice car crash of an opener, but this was mostly to introduce a new devastating force to scare everyone.
Jungle Boy vs. MJF
MJF’s entrance music and ring attire are constantly being spiced up, which is a strong sign they’re quickly grooming him for the main events. Lots of great heel psychology from Friedman here, allowing the plucky face Jungle Boy to properly embarrass him. MJF in turn is an irritating show-off, kipping up after a belly-to-belly suplex and Fargo strutting. And as much as we fans complain about Canadian Destroyers being overused, Jungle Boy works one into this match in a clever way, getting superkicked by a dizzy MJF and having to kick out at two when he collapses on him- only for Jungle to quickly lock in a submission.
Some cool spots from Jungle Boy including an avalanche Ligerbomb and a poisonrana from the ring apron, but MJF’s able to sneak out a three-count after modifying Jungle’s Okana roll into a European clutch. Great exchange between the two, and though this was mostly an MJF showcase I don’t think Jungle Boy looked too bad in his loss. He probably does need a big win soon to keep his stock high, however.
TNT Championship Tournament Finals: Lance Archer vs. Cody
In the video package to open this match, they’ve added some footage of Lance Archer murdering jobbers in a backyard ring, while Jake Roberts just sits in a chair smiling evilly. It’s very Emperor Palpatine-esque and a nice touch (unsurprising, given how big a Star Wars fan Cody is). Not quite as nice as “Iron” Mike Tyson presenting the new TNT Championship, which initially surprised me by its apparent plainness- before Schiavone points out isn’t finished due to a Coronavirus delay.
Archer gets off to a hot start with an early Blackout, but Cody’s able to fight off a Claw attempt. Lance still takes control of the match due to his massive power, and JR cracks me up when he throws out references to Don “The Spoiler” Jardine as Archer walks the ropes. Cody works in an impressive delayed front suplex, but that’s in-between Archer chucking him around (including an impressive toss into one of the cameras. Big Swole at ringside is hilarious as she screams trash talk to Lance while Sonny Kiss holds her back.
They both work in ribs at their respective managers as Cody hits Archer with a DDT and Lance gives Rhodes a AA-Spinebuster. Eventually, referee Bryce Remsberg tosses them both after they interfere one time too many. Jake comes back out anyway with the snake bag, but Tyson rips his shirt off, flexes and threatens him away while Cody hits a pair of CrossRhodes for the win and the prestige of being the first TNT champ.
Leading into this match I was expecting Archer to take it and Cody would probably chase him and Jake for the belt, but the creepy build-up involving Jake being freaky on Brandi Rhodes with a snake made it almost where Cody had to get revenge. That uncomfortable element aside, Archer still looked like a suitably scary monster throughout, and I think he’ll continue to be a major protected force in AEW.
Penelope Ford vs. Kris Statlander
Ford is replacing everyone’s favorite role model (sorry Bayley) Dr. Britt Baker after she suffered a nasty injury on Dynamite. This match opens like Statlander is wrestling with an earpiece to hear the announcers because Tony and JR go on about her gymnastics background and athleticism, and she’s all “damn right” as she cartwheels around the ring as they say this. Sabian on crutches coming out to call Kris an “alien freak” makes me smile.
Muck like Kip, Ford shows plenty of attitude while getting the heat, and Statlander’s suicide dives are the only others in the company that look as intense as Darby Allin’s. She drops Ford right on her head with a german suplex that makes me shudder. Ford hits a scorpion death drop for two and then a top rope hurricanrana but gets powerbombed and Big Bang Theoryed for the Statlander win. Good effort from both women, and if Baker’s out for a while they do have plenty in the division ready to step up and impress.
Dustin Rhodes vs. Shawn Spears
So this is more of a segment than a true match. Spears comes out in dress clothes to taunt the crowd as Dustin’s late, working in a Joker from 1989 Batman reference and demanding that Aubrey Edwards count out Rhodes. But Brandi Rhodes arrives to distract Shawn while Dustin comes from behind and beats his ass, stripping him down to eventually his underwear that has a tiny bust of Tully Blanchard on the front, and Spears insisting the camera not show it is awesome. A Final Reckoning from Dustin finishes it quickly. I’m not sure if this is going to lead towards a downgrade for Spears or a more pointed heel push, because he sold and sold and sold, but he also performed his role very well and looked more charismatic than usual.
AEW Women’s Championship: Nyla Rose © vs. Hikaru Shida
I can tell they at least plan to make Shida look strong when the video package is hyping Rose up as a killer, but Shida points out “hey, I beat Aja Kong, so I don’t sweat monster opponents.” Nyla definitely tries to put the fear of God in her by lariating her down and whacking her with the kendo stick, then tossing her through a poker table before making a goofy pun to the camera.
What follows is a solid big-little wrestler match, with Rose killing Shida but Shida’s able to get in her hope spots, including kendo shots of her own and an impressive running knee through some giant poker chips. Nyla flattens her with a powerslam to break the momentum, but she doesn’t springboard on her guillotine knee drop and it only gets a near-fall. A powerbomb on Shida through a table in the corner isn’t enough for Rose either, and Shida gets a top rope falcon arrow for a dramatic two-count.
Two running knee strikes are enough to KO Rose and give Shida the AEW Women’s Title. They clearly have big plans for Hikaru going forward, but I don’t see Nyla being away from the belt for too long because she was incredibly magnetic as usual. Shida for her part was a perfect come-from-behind heroine herself as well.
AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley © vs. Brodie Lee
Mox looks more like a weird, angry vagrant than usual wandering through the stands of Daily’s Place since his belt was stolen by Lee a couple of weeks ago. He gets some early success with a tope suicide that has Excalibur even more excited than usual, but it’s not long before Brodie is slamming him around and matching Mox’s dive with one of his own. The Exalted one beats him up on the floor for a while, tossing him into the railing and exploder suplexing him through a table. But the announcers point out that he didn’t land on his bad elbow during the impact, and he’s able to fight back inside and knee the Dark Order leader in the face, but his backdrop suplexed down.
The AEW Champ gets a clothesline and Gotch-style piledriver for two, showing shades of Minoru Suzuki as he apparently absorbed some of his moveset while fighting him earlier this year in NJPW. He blocks Brodie’s attempt to piledrive him on the steps with a backdrop through a table, and gets a near-fall roll-up after being superplexed. The surprisingly well-drawn setpieces of Mox and Brodie (which look way better than that freaky bug eyed picture of Brandi that Sammy kissed), nor the ramp when Mox hits a Paraidgm Shift on Lee through it, don’t survive the chaos outside either.
More Paraidgm DDTs and a sleeper hold put away a bloodied Brodie Lee for Mox to retain and get his physical belt back. This was a fun and brutal brawl that had a decisive finish where one guy just eventually got beat down too badly. Brodie Lee was built up almost to where it felt like he was due to win, but maybe there’s room to keep growing the Dark Order from here. That, and it felt a little too early for Moxley to drop the title here.
Stadium Stampede Match: The Inner Circle vs. The Elite
As the name implies “Stadium Stampede” means that either team can get a fall anywhere in the stadium, and they all take advantage of it by having football-style team entrances (Ortiz’s hair being too big for the helmet is amazing) and charging down the field armed with plunder. Having beel run over by Kenny and Matt with a golf cart a few weeks earlier, his fortunes don’t get any better as Hangman chases him down with a live horse. But they do manage tow work in some nice actual in-ring wrestling as Proud & Powerful and Hagar battle Omega, Matt Hardy and the Bucks.
Sami makes it back to the ring, but his shooting star on Matt whiffs and the faces kill him. The brawling again spills outside to the field, where Matt Jackson hits a moonsault off the goalpost. Meanwhile, Page parks his horse to get a drink at the bar and I am dying laughing. Lots of brawling in the fan rally area, where Santana & Ortiz bomb Kenny through a table, and now I’m wincing.
He and Jake Hagar have a drink before they start fighting, while Matt Hardy gets a highlight spot as Proud & Powerful then try to literally *drown* him. But then he transforms into Matt Version 1.0 underwater, with the Matt Facts graphic popping up on screen. They put him under again, which just transforms him back into his Damascus version and then he backdrops them both through a table, then rings a giant bell on Ortiz’s head before tying him to a wheelchair, then stuffing Santana into an ice box. Just incredible.
Y2J is a hoot brawling with and yelling at Nick Jackson with a bullhorn while Nick throws footballs at him, and then draws big boos when he Judases Effects the Jacksonville Jaguars mascot. He then argues for a replay when he gets a two-count, continuing his rivalry with Aubrey Edwards in a great touch. The Bucks then put Jericho through a table, while Page rolls over him with a line marker as insult to injury. And in a great callback, Kenny and Damascus return with the golf cart to torment poor Sammy even further. More fun callbacks as Vanguard One’s recovered from his injuries, and Kenny One Wing Angels Guevara from the top of a platform for the Elite to win a crazy, fun falls-count-anywhere fight. Damn, Sammy truly is the Wile E. Coyote of wrestling at this point.
Overall, this show felt like a needed pallet-cleanser after a week filled with sad news in the wrestling world, especially because outside of building up MJF this was a babyface-focused show in terms of the booking. So on my part, it’s a strong recommendation.
I can see where some might think they blew off some of those programs a little too early, but I’d argue – and I know this is an overused term when it comes to wrestling pushes- many of the vanquished tonight still looked strong in defeat, including Rose, Archer, and Lee I’d argue. The Inner Circle still feels like a threat as much as they gave the Elite in the Stampede match, and Archer and Lee can still be threats to just about anyone on the roster IMO.
But what did you think? Stop by @Official_FAN on Twitter and let us know your opinion on the show!