AEW ALL IN

 

Wembley Stadium, London

LIO RUSH & THE RASCALZ (DESMOND XAVIER, MYRON REED & ZACHARY WENTZ) vs. THE OPPS (ACTION ANDRETTI, ANTHONY BOWENS & KATSUYORI SHIBATA) (9:13): How does AEW make any money when they have to pay all these wrestlers? They had 4 and 1/2 matches on the two hour pre-show (the Trios match started on the pre-show and ended on the main show). The pre-show actually ended up being pretty eventful which is usually not the case. This match was entertaining. Action Andretti was in a hardcore match on the ROH PPV at the ECW Arena last week and I was thinking to myself that he's a really great, fun wrestler...why did his career take a nosedive? Maybe it's his stupid name? The Opps were in this match, but Samoa Joe wasn't on this show. The Opps is basically now, without Samoa Joe, just a bunch of wrestlers that Tony Khan doesn't seem to know what to do with or want to push for whatever reason. This was a fun opener in a pretty empty 90,000 seat stadium (it did eventually fill up to supposedly 41,000). **1/2

HARLEY CAMERON & KRIS STATLANDER vs. SISTERS OF SIN (JULIA HART & SKYE BLUE) (9:55): Harley was a big star not too long ago and has seemingly been forgotten. It's funny how Tony Khan and the writers seemingly just get tired of people and stop using them for whatever reason. I do think she was injured for awhile, but she's back and losing on the pre-show. Julia Hart did look a little bit better wrestling wise here. Statlander was not too long ago the women's champ and now she's losing on the pre-show. Not good. *1/2

BOOM & DOOM (BIG BOOM AJ & QT MARSHALL) & THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY & SHELTON BENJAMIN) vs. SHANE TAYLOR PROMOTIONS (CARLIE BRAVO, LEE MORIARTY, SHANE TAYLOR & SHAWN DEAN) (11:23): Every time Big Boom AJ and his son show up in AEW I keep wondering 'is that still a thing?' When I was watching this my nephew mentioned, "Is that...?" whatever they're called: The Costco Guys or something. So maybe they still exist in the popular Tiktok/Youtube community. I don't know what happened to The Hurt Syndicate, either. They were unbeatable tag team champs last year. Now they're teaming with Youtube goofs on the pre-show. There were rumors that MVP had a beef with 'Speedball' Mike Bailey last year. Maybe that's why The Hurt Syndicate are in the dog house. They weren't even on TV for a long time until recently. There wasn't much to this match. *

PERSEPHONE vs. MAYA WORLD (11:19): This was for the TBS title. Maya World's meteoric rise has ended, as she lost to Persephone thanks to a masked figure pushing Maya off the top rope. The masked figure turned out to be the returning Britt Baker, who hasn't been in AEW since November of 2024. I think she was in the dog house, too, as there were rumors that she had problems with people backstage including MJF. Plus, there was that hot mic incident when she said, "Nobody cares" on Dynamite when Sereena Deeb came out to apparently start a program with her. Britt probably is still half in the dog house, though, as her big return was on the pre-show and not during the main show or during/after the women's world title match. This match was decent. **

AEW TRIOS TITLE ROULETTE ROYALE MATCH (SWERVE STRICKLAND & THE NEW LEVEL (AUSTIN CREED & KOFI) (39:04): 'Hangman' Adam Page, Bandido & Brody King were the Trios champions. They started this match on the pre-show but waited for the main show to start to have The New Day make their debut in this match. They're now called The New Level. Kofi Kingston is just Kofi and Xavier Woods is now Austin Creed. The crowds were chanting their name, so I guess they like that they're in AEW now. They even pulled out the old WWE gimmick with Kofi where he was eliminated but his feet didn't touch the floor (Prince Nana helped him to his feet). Ricochet and his goons were a team. The Death Riders, The Dogs and Gabe Kidd, Ricochet and his goons, The Conglomeration, and The Bang Bang Gang were the other teams. Very entertaining, fun match. ***

THE BRAWLING BIRDS (ALEX WINDSOR & JAMIE HAYTER) vs. DIVINE DOMINION (LENA KROSS & MEGAN BAYNE) (11:40): This was by far the weakest main event match. The women's tag team titles have been pretty meaningless ever since they were introduced. Hayter was once AEW's best women's wrestler but her tag team isn't all that exciting. Divine Dominion are just dull. This was also fairly dull. The Brawling Birds won the titles. *

JON MOXLEY vs. NIGEL McGUINNESS (17:12): They had a tournament to set this match up. This match was helped by the crowd being behind Nigel since he's English. I think they watched the recent G1 final because this was all submission holds and suspense and someone tapping (in the G1 final, the big submission drama was a head lock of all things...Ryohei Oiwa won). Nigel tapped out with his fingers inches from the ropes. Pretty good match. **1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. KYLE FLETCHER vs. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (13:13): Good match. Very exciting. The crowd was into everything on this show. They didn't get tired. The show didn't feel long and didn't drag. I think one reason was that the two best matches on the show were the last two. They did seem to have less matches on this show because the entrances and ring walks took longer (just walking to the ring from the giant stage took forever). Okada won the International title here (Fletcher came in as champ). They're setting up Fletcher/Okada eventually and I guess Fletcher going babyface. Okada has been in AEW for a few years now and hasn't had a main event title match yet on one of these PPV's. That's surprising but I can see that changing since Ospreay/Okada is a big time feud. ***

AEW WORLD TITLE #1 CONTENDER CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH (ANDRADE EL IDOLO) (21:06): There were no surprise entrants in this. MJF and Andrade started the match. I'm not sure why they didn't have MJF in a big singles match on this show. The announcer mistakenly announced Kommander as being Mistico. Mistico was next and he said, "You guessed it, the next entrant is Mistico!" Jericho got a big pop. It's funny, because a year ago AEW fans were chanting for him to retire. Jack Perry, Daniel Garcia, Ciampa, Nick Wayne, and Mark Davis were also in this. Garcia finally did his stripper dance again to cheers from the crowd. This was a very entertaining match. Andrade vs. Ospreay should be a hell of match, though it makes no sense since both guys are babyfaces. ***

CAGE & COPE (ADAM COPELAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE) vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (MATT & NICK JACKSON) (20:06): This "dream match" was good but not great. It seemed to finally be heating up into something when it suddenly ended. Christian Cage put a wrench in his cast and hit one of The Bucks to win. When it finally got going it was excellent, though. Afterwards, a bunch of other tag teams came down to the ring to stare at Edge & Christian. The New Level, The Motor City Machine Guns, and FTR came out. That was a cool moment. ***

DARBY ALLIN vs. KEVIN KNIGHT "FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH" (15:48): The big spot was Darby doing a Shane McMahon and doing a Coffin Drop off the lighting rig on the stage onto Knight through a gimmicked floor that broke apart. It was crazy high but the gimmick kind of negated the insanity. Immediately after, Knight was being wheeled away on a stretcher (those EMTs are fast!) and Darby did a Coffin Drop off the stage onto Knight. Darby won the TNT title. Darby was bleeding from the back of his head during the match. Knight did a top rope flying elbow onto Darby on the announce table. Jake Doyle and Brian Cage came out to beat up Darby but Sting and Sting's son came out to make the save. The Sting family set up a ladder and Sting started to climb it but his son told him no and did the dive off the ladder to the floor. Entertaining match. **1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. WILLOW NIGHTINGALE (21:52): These last two matches were great. There hasn't been a great women's match in forever in AEW. This was bloody and brutal. Mercedes had her nose broken and was gushing blood throughout. Willow's hand was storyline broken and in a cast so Mone worked on that. Every move seemed brutal and intense. There was high drama in this one. Willow tapped out and Mone won the title, a title she's never had in AEW yet. Great match. ***1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. KENNY OMEGA (34:25): When this was over, I said to myself: 'That was the best match I've ever seen.' So, yeah. This was phenomenal. The Will Ospreay entrance was also phenomenal. I can see wrestling companies copying that in the future. It was like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol; Will passing all the wrestlers that made up his lifetime in the business. There was a great video package set to The Who's "Baba O'Reilly" while Will's mother narrated. Then Will walked backstage towards the ring and passed Michael Oku and Amira, Zack Sabre, Jr., Ricochet, Swerve, and Aussie Open. Ospreay met his wife, Alex Windsor, and they kissed. Henare, Akira, and Callum Newman helped Ospreay put on his robe and walked out to the ring with him. Moxley appeared at the curtain to hand Ospreay the British flag to carry. This was fucking awesome stuff. This made the match feel like a big time event. The match itself was insane. The amount of brutality these two are willing to go through just to entertain us is beyond the pale. After the last time they wrestled, at Forbidden Door in 2023, I noted that maybe I don't want to see these two wrestle again simply because the amount of punishment and craziness they do to each other. In those two matches they had in 2023, they did one big spot that started the blood flow. In this match, it was Omega giving Ospreay a German Suplex throw off the announce table onto a table standing up. When Ospreay gave Omega a flying hidden blade, Omega's eye was busted open. There were two insane spots in this match. Ospreay gave Omega a full on head butt that was gruesome to watch. The other insane spot was Ospreay giving Omega a Tiger Driver and Omega landed on his head. After that move, Omega's arm wasn't moving and the announcer's mentioned that a numb arm probably meant a neck or spinal injury (Omega said later it was a shoulder injury which caused his arm to not be able to move). When Omega's arm went numb, he walked to the ropes and looked in the direction of the trainer. I was thinking: stop the fucking match, it's not worth it. They didn't. The story early on was that Omega was destroying a bloody, lifeless Ospreay. Ospreay eventually made a comeback, even kicking out of The One-Winged Angel (only MJF and Ibushi have kicked out of that, and MJF's kick out came when the ref was knocked out for a good 30 seconds). Omega gave Ospreay a Tiger Driver. Ospreay gave Omega a One-Winged Angel and Ospreay kicked out at 1. Ospreay gave Omega a Hidden Blade and a Stormbreaker and Omega kicked out at 1. The stadium was unglued at this point. Finally, Ospreay gave Omega another Hidden Blade and won. Ospreay finally is the AEW champ. This was pro-wrestling at it's apex. It really doesn't get better than this. The fantastic entrances. The big stadium. The hot crowd. The blood. The high drama. The devastating moves. Omega looked as good as ever here, which is a bit surprising since I said he looked old and slow and it was sad when he wrestled MJF in the main event of Dynasty. This was the Omega of old. He was fast, wild, crazy, and having the time of his life. Both men looked like they had survived a war when this was over. I watched this match three days ago and am still thinking about it. I have no idea how AEW will ever top this. I should probably just quit watching wrestling, because I don't think it'll ever be this good. ****

WWE SUMMERSLAM

Minneapolis

Night 1 (Saturday):

LIV MORGAN vs. IYO SKY (13:35): The big problem with the WWE is the same problem that any company has when they get sold to a big corporation: they lose their soul. The WWE just feels like a glossy, safe, commercialized "product" now instead of something with drama, intensity, excitement, and freshness. The WWE with Vince in charge before the sale to TKO wasn't exactly fantastic, though, so it's not like the WWE is worse than it was. It just doesn't have that edge to it. It feels too manufactured and produced. It's stale and mostly dull. TKO only cares about making money so last year they decided to turn Summerslam into two nights. That didn't work, as a few weeks ago I heard they only sold 20,000 tickets each night for a show at a 60,000+ football stadium. I'm guessing they cut prices and gave out free tickets to fill some of the seats, though one side of the stadium was empty (they tried to not show it on TV) and the stage was set up around the 40 yard line, so they didn't even sell seats to probably 40% of the stadium. Why even do it in a football stadium then? Lesson learned? What did they think exactly? Minneapolis isn't a big market. They really thought they could sell out two nights in a football stadium in Minneapolis? Even if you combine the population of Minneapolis and St. Paul, they don't crack the top 10 of the highest populated U.S. cities. If they keep trying to do two nights of Wrestlemania and Summerslam at football stadiums every year, I think they're going to run out of cities to run where they could legitimately sell well. Next year's Wrestlemania is in Saudi Arabia, so I guess that's already happening. As for this show, Night 1, it was okay. There were no great matches. There actually weren't any good matches. Nothing was awful. The matches all pretty much felt like typical TV matches except for the Punk/Cody match not because that was good but because it was long. Liv Morgan retained her women's title in this opening match. It was okay, nothing special. They really didn't do anything noteworthy or memorable. The crowd seemed to like Iyo Sky. Maybe she should've won? Didn't they literally just do this match at the last PPV? **

LA KNIGHT, ROYCE KEYS & SOLO SIKOA vs. THE BLOODLINE (JACOB FATU & THE USO'S) (11:00): A 6 man tag! What is this? Smackdown? It seems like they're turning Solo Sikoa babyface because he was dancing around and doing Jey Uso's "Yeet" gimmick and the crowd was eating it up. He's supposed to be a dastardly heel, right? I also feel like they should finally give LA Knight the championship. This company needs something fresh. They had it with Sammy as champ and that lasted a week. With 6 guys in there, at least this was all action. I still can't believe how dumb the name Royce Keys is. Powerhouse Hobbs wasn't an awesome name or anything, but it was a hell of a lot better than Royce Keys. **1/2

GUNTHER vs. NICK ALDIS (11:40): Aldis never wrestled in the WWE. I only remember he was the NWA champ when Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins brought the NWA back and they had a weekly one-hour show and some PPV's years ago. He also wrestled in TNA a long time ago. Well, this was a one-off, as he went back to being the Smackdown GM on Night 2 of Summerslam. After Aldis lost, he brought in his wife, Mickie James, and his son to the ring. I guess he was retiring? I don't really know what the point of this match and feud was. Did anyone care that Aldis was going to wrestle all of a sudden? The match was fine. Aldis looked to be in great shape. Maybe he shouldn't retire from wrestling. Gunther hasn't been in a great match in forever. He needs to start eating more because he's so skinny he looks malnourished and sickly and he should go to AEW or Japan so he can actually be in good matches and use his skill set. *1/2

FATAL INFLUENCE (FALLON HENLEY, JACY JAYNE & LAINEY REID) vs. THE BELLA TWINS (BRIE BELLA & NIKKI BELLA) & PAIGE (7:30): The Bella's turned on Paige after Paige got pinned and they lost. Hmmm. Does anyone want to see Paige vs. Nikki or Paige vs. Brie? Unless that was just a way to actually fire Paige in real life. The crowd wasn't really into this match. Most of these new NXT wrestlers are young and good looking but not good wrestlers. That's a problem. If you only care about looks and not in-ring ability you can always go watch porn or Love Island or something else. When we're watching wrestling, we want to see good wrestling. *

CM PUNK vs. CODY RHODES (29:45): Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer noted that these two were trying to do an 80's match when Bryan Alvarez mentioned that this was sloppy and slow. They weren't trying to do an 80's match...this is how these two wrestle! You're not going to see dynamic moves like in a Takeshita/Fletcher/Ospreay match from Cody or Punk ever. The big deal about this match was that ref got knocked out and Randy Orton ran in to give Cody an RKO which led to him losing. The crowd loved seeing Orton show up. The match was slow. Punk attempted the worst moonsault you'll ever see. Punk tried a top rope elbow drop to the announce table but Cody moved. This wasn't bad or anything, but it never turned into anything exciting or dramatic. One problem with the two men's championship title matches was the fact that there was no story involved. Cody walked out on TV one night and told Punk he wanted a title match. Seth Rollins walked out on TV one night and told Roman Reigns he wanted a title match. Summerslam is supposed to be one of the bigger shows of the year. Why not, like, build up the championship matches a little bit? **

OBA FEMI vs. BROCK LESNAR "HELL IN A CELL" (11:30): The WWE championship match wasn't the main event. That kind of makes your title look lame. And no, this wasn't "hell." They barely used the cage. Oba threw Brock into a table leaning against the cage. They used a chair and the ring steps. Brock did pull back to mat to give Oba a Tombstone Pile Driver on the wood floor. Oba won of course. After the match, Brock took the mic and told the crowd that he was the past and Oba was the future. If you're going to do a supposed "hardcore" match...maybe make it a bit more hardcore? Maybe one more table break? Singapore Canes? A chain? I guess these two muscle heads can't climb the cage but jeez, there wasn't much to this. I can't really say that Night 1 was a disappointment because this is what the WWE is these days: a glossy, commercialized, safe, stale, predictable, mildly entertaining product. *1/2

Night 2 (Sunday):

KEVIN OWENS vs. FINN BALOR vs. GUNTHER vs. SAMI ZAYN (8:30): This match was supposed to be Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn for the #1 contender slot for one of the championships (they have 2 main WWE championship belts...which makes zero sense). For no reason, Nick Aldis decided to add to competitors: Gunther and the returning Kevin Owens. Owens has been out for a year and a half after neck or back surgery. I suppose the surgery was successful, as he was doing running cannonballs as soon as the match started. I'm not entirely sure why Gunther was in this match, as he wrestled yesterday. The match was fine but nothing special. I'm glad to see Owens back, though, as he's been consistently one of the more entertaining WWE wrestlers. **1/2

BARON CORBIN vs. TRICK WILLIAMS: Why is Baron Corbin back? I know Vince loved him for some reason. I guess Triple H does as well. The only possible reason I can think of that they brought him back is because they don't have a lot of heels on the roster. There's Gunther, Dominik, Bron Breakker, Logan Paul, and Austin Theory. I think Solo Sikoa is technically still a heel. Logan Paul is injured. Bron Breakker and Austin Theory weren't on either night of Summerslam for unknown reasons. Trick Williams is a big, new star that the crowds love...so why did they have him lose the U.S. title to Baron Corbin? I give up. * 

CHELSEA GREEN vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. JADE CARGILL vs. LASH LEGEND vs. TIFFANY STRATTON "LADDER MATCH" (13:00): I love ladder matches, so I thought this was entertaining. There weren't any death-defying spots, it was mostly just the women falling off ladders and being slammed onto ladders. Lash Legend slammed Tiffany from the top rope onto a ladder resting on the second rope. That was pretty brutal. For some reason, the fans went crazy when Chelsea was on the precipice of winning and then later when she won. Why? Is Chelsea Green over? Is she even on TV? It feels like I never see her for some reason. Someone I do see on TV all the time wasn't even on Summerslam: Bron Breakker. Wasn't he supposed to be the next big star? That's strange. **1/2

DANHAUSEN vs. DOMINIK MYSTERIO "HUMAN MONIES ON A POLE MATCH" (6:50): A Money on a Pole match? What, is Vince Russo writing this now? Danhausen was amusing in AEW, but the WWE has completely oversaturated him plus turned him into more of a kiddie goof. I'm already sick of the WWE Danhausen. JD came out to beat up Danhausen. I'm not entirely sure why interference is allowed, as this was a Pole match, not a no DQ match. The little Danhausen wrestlers came out to beat up Dominik and JD. You pretty much got what you expected with this clown show. 1/2*

CHAD GABLE vs. PENTA (11:05): Gable won the Intercontinental title and then acted like he won the actual WWE championship. His wife, kids, and parents entered the ring to help him celebrate. I get it: he's from Minnesota and I guess they were trying to recreate the ending to his Mask vs. Mask match, but it's the frigging Intercontinental title! Why are you crying? Who gives a shit about that title? Gable had a lot of momentum after that Mask vs. Mask match and the WWE is turning him into a goof. The match was nothing special. And I'm still baffled why the WWE refuses to use The Lucha Brothers as a tag team. Penta isn't as good by himself. **

ROMAN REIGNS vs. SETH ROLLINS (33:30): The best thing about this match was how hot the crowd was for it. They were standing and cheering like this was Omega/Okada or something. It was good but very, very slow. Neither Reigns nor Rollins did anything dynamic. Michael Cole is still calling Jon Moxley "Dean Ambrose." I hate when these wrestling companies act like we don't know things. Rollins did a move that "Dean Ambrose" used to do and he mentioned it. They both slammed each other onto announce tables. They kicked out a bunch which apparently got the crowd into a frenzy. What...you've never seen a kick out? The ref got knocked out and no other ref ran in. Do they not watch this in the back and no one in charge notices the ref is out for ten minutes? Roman refused to use a chair when the ref was out. Roman retained the title. For the WWE it was a good match. In the real world, it was fine. I'll be honest: this company is not great right now, and I don't possibly see how they can get out of this dull mess they've put themselves in. **1/2

AEW REDEMPTION

 

Montreal

THE CONGLOMERATION (ORANGE CASSIDY, RODERICK STRONG & KYLE O'REILLY) vs. THE LETHAL TWIST (BLAKE CHRISTIAN, JAY LETHAL & LEE JOHNSON) (11:54): This was a B-show if there ever was one. Originally, Kenny Omega was supposed to beat MJF in the main event on this show and win the title, hence the "redemption" title and also why it was in Montreal (Omega is from Canada). Omega lost to MJF at Dynasty in the main event and this would be his redemption. Well...they didn't do that. They decided to have Omega win the title on the Beach Break episode of Dynamite a few weeks ago (which was outside in Florida). Some reports online mentioned that MJF asked for the match to be earlier so he could heal from his injuries in time for All In at the end of August. Either way, they really sacrificed this PPV for that decision. They'll definitely have a low buy rate for this show, and the show didn't get good reviews. The first three matches of the PPV were great and then the rest was average stuff. The show was also really long for a B-show, almost going 5 hours (Tony Khan apparently heard the criticism for these PPV's going late and instead of just shortening them he made this a 7 PM earlier start). They did only have on pre-show match, this Trios championship match. It was entertaining. I was thinking while watching this that they should really be doing something more with Orange Cassidy besides having him in these random trios matches. I guess they figured this out as well, since The Conglomeration lost the Trios championship to Ricochet and his boys on Dynamite after this show. **1/2

MIKE BAILEY vs. EL CLON vs. JACK PERRY vs. KOMANDER vs. NICK WAYNE vs. THE BEAST MORTOS "LADDER MATCH" (20:02): This match was fantastic. The Beast Mortos hasn't been on Dynamite or Collision for months because he can't get a Visa to enter the U.S. but I guess he doesn't have a problem getting into Canada. I'm so glad that Nick Wayne is back from injury because he's looked great so far and really adds a youthful energy to AEW. Mike Bailey and Jack Perry both did moonsaults off of a ladder by the stage. Kommander did his rope walk dive through someone on a table at ringside. Bailey, who's from Canada, won the contract to get an International title shot. The crowd was hot for this and roared when Bailey won. ***1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. WILL OSPREAY & JON MOXLEY (19:36): Good match. Instead of just doing a total spot fest, they came up with a creative storyline. Early on, Ospreay and Nick Jackson bumped heads. I totally fell for it at first and thought it was by accident. The story was that this head bump caused Nick to be concussed and out of it and thus laying at ringside out of the match. By the end, Moxley was giving Nick brutal DDT's and head shots and Ospreay wasn't into this because Ospreay is supposed to be a good guy. When Moxley grabbed a chair to use on Nick, Ospreay had enough and knocked Moxley down. Besides the storyline, they all did their high flying, fast paced moves and big moves that got the crowd pumped up. Early on, with Nick out of it, the match was slow and more a beat down...so the whole thing wasn't excellent. By the end, though, this turned into a great, dramatic match. ***1/2

KYLE FLETCHER vs. BANDIDO (26:14): Another really good match. Fletcher was the best wrestler of 2025 in my opinion. He was out of action for awhile with an injury this year and hasn't had as many big, great matches. The year is halfway over and he still might be the best wrestler of 2026 so far. I'm not sure who else there is? The crowd got really into this by the end with both men delivering big, devastating moves. The gimmick in this was that Bandido kept kicking out of everything and the crowd was shocked. Eventually, Fletcher gave Bandido a top rope, falling DDT on the ring post to win and keep the International title. ***1/2

THE DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DAVID FINLAY) vs. BANG BANG GANG (JAY WHITE & JUICE ROBINSON) "DOUBLE CHAIN MATCH" (17:35): This was when the wheels fell off the PPV. Nobody cared about this match and it wasn't any good. FTR and The Briscoe's had a good double chain match a few years ago. Obviously, it can be done. These two teams aren't FTR and The Briscoe's, though. The dead, silent crowd didn't help but who can blame them? It was boring. They whipped each other with the chains, clotheslined each other with the chains, and got tangled up in the chains and the ropes. Eh. Connors and Finlay have so far been duds in AEW. *

MAYA WORLD vs. HIKARU SHIDA (16:37): Maya World, who got a push because her brother died, won the TBS title here. The crowd wasn't really into this match. The big problem with this PPV was that a lot of these matches were just matches we'd see on Dynamite. And if this was on Dynamite I would've fast-forwarded it. This never turned into anything noteworthy, though it was fine. *1/2 

ADAM COPELAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & PAC (18:36): Edge & Christian retained the tag team titles. At least the crowd was into this because Cage & Cope are from Canada. The match was fine, though having a tag title match with a team that isn't even a tag team (Claudio & PAC) on a PPV is kind of lame. It was fairly entertaining. Cage & Cope are wrestling The Young Bucks at Wembley next month for the titles. Have they never really wrestled before? That's kind of crazy. **1/2

THE PAIN MAKER (JERICHO) vs. TOMMASO CIAMPA (21:52): At least when AEW does a hardcore match it's actually a hardcore match, unlike the WWE. The WWE is having a Hell in a Cell match at Summerslam next week with Brock vs. Oba Femi. I doubt that will be hell. This was hell. They used two windows, a barbed wire bat, a barbed wire table, and hockey pucks with thumbtacks attached to them, among other things. The ending had Jericho, who was doing his Pain Maker gimmick (he did it once before in NJPW), use an electric drill to drill Ciampa's skull. The ref stopped the match before Ciampa could, like, die...or, you know, actually drill his head. Ciampa was a bloody mess. The crowd popped for the gruesome spots. I thought the best spot was when Ciampa put on a Boston hockey jersey and then started beating up the Montreal Canadiens mascot doll then tried to pin it (the ref started counting for some reason). That was amusing. I give Jericho credit: he's still going all out at his age. I mean...he doesn't have to be going through barbed wire tables or being slammed off the top rope through a windowpane. **1/2

ANDRADE EL IDOLO vs. MARK DAVIS (16:13): Andrade won the National title. Andrade was never this over during his first run in AEW. He looks like he's having a blast now that the fans are cheering him and chanting his new catchphrase ("How you know?"). Good for him. This match didn't exactly belong on a PPV, though. This is something suitable for Dynamite or Collision. The match was fine but nothing special. **

WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. THEKLA (15:58): I'm glad Thekla lost the women's championship here because she's never been in a great match as champ. She's good as a heel and on the mic but not particularly entertaining in the ring. This match never really heated up into much of anything. It was fine, forgettable save for the title change. Willow will now face Mercedes at Wembley. Mercedes has never been the AEW women's champion yet? I'm surprised at that. And where's Toni Storm? Injured I guess? She's been gone for months without a peep. *1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. KEVIN KNIGHT (24:59): The big problem with this match was that the main event of Wembley was already announced (Ospreay vs. Omega) so nobody thought Kevin was winning the title. I figured that it didn't matter that much because Kevin Knight is exciting and does a lot of big dives and high spots and this should be good. It turned out to be just an okay match. Knight did do a cool bell-to-bell drop kick. Omega gave Knight a snap suplex on the announce table. There was no drama in this, though. Omega seemed fired up and looked better, faster, and crisper than usual...but this just never turned into the high stakes, dramatic, exciting main event you want to see. I figured that they'd do a bunch of interference from the Don Callis family but they didn't even do that. Knight did do a belt shot when the ref wasn't looking. After the match, The Death Riders beat up Kenny and Ospreay made the save. Moxley wanted Ospreay to choke out Omega with a plastic bag but Ospreay wouldn't do it and clocked Moxley. After all this, Omega gave Ospreay a One-Winged Angel. I guess they did this because at Wembley they want Ospreay to be the total babyface and Omega to be kind-of sort-of the heel. On to Grand Slam Mexico (Fletcher/Bailey) and then Wembley. Yeah, there's Summerslam before that but I'm not too excited about that one. **1/2

AEW + CMLL + NJPW + STARDOM FORBIDDEN DOOR

San Jose, California

DRILLA MALONEY vs. DANIEL GARCIA (10:26): This was a good show but not a show of the year or anything. One problem was that the show was too long at 6 hours (it ended at 1 AM Eastern time on a work night). The other problem was the crowd wasn't the greatest (they did get fired up for the "big" matches). This opened the pre-show. Drilla Maloney used to be in The War Dogs faction in New Japan, but Clark Connors and David Finlay left for AEW. So Drilla is a babyface now and seems to be pretty popular in Japan (he was cheered at Dominion, anyway). Drilla isn't the greatest wrestler, though. Daniel Garcia seemed fired up and hell bent on making this a great, slugfest match. It was average stuff at best. **

MAIKA vs. SKYE BLUE (9:18): Maika is from Stardom. Skye Blue came out later after the Thekla match wearing these thigh high, leather platform boots. They looked awesome. This match wasn't awesome. It was fine. This pre-show was pretty underwhelming. Tony Khan did announce after this show that the next PPV would start an hour earlier because everyone complains these shows end too late. *1/2

DIVINE DOMINION vs. OLYMPIA & THUNDER ROSA (10:48): Olympia is from CMLL. The crowd popped for a lot of what Thunder Rosa and Olympia did. This was more back-and-forth than a beatdown, which was good. Divine Dominion retained the tag team titles. **

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. EL SKY TEAM (MASCARA DORADA & MISTICO) vs. UNBOUND CO. (SHINGO TAKAGI & TITAN) (17:53): This was the PPV opener. It was also the best match on the show. This was just non-stop action, high flying moves, and a super boisterous crowd. Fantastic and super fun. I haven't watched a lot of New Japan lately so I haven't seen Shingo in awhile. I really want to see another Shingo/Ospreay match. For my money, that feud was better than Omega/Okada. ***1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (26:25): Speaking of Omega...everyone seems to think that he's winning the title at the next PPV because it's in Montreal and it's called Redemption. Omega just lost to MJF in the main event of April's PPV. I mean...if they wanted the main event of All In to be Ospreay/Omega for the title...why didn't Omega just win the title in April? This match was good but it was pretty slow. Omega does pretty much everything he's always done but he's older now so nothing is as exciting as it once was. ***

JON MOXLEY vs. BANDIDO (18:07): This was a good match. The story was that Moxley ripped open Bandido's mask (that got a gasp from the crowd when you could see part of Bandido's face) and Bandido was bleeding. Every match Bandido is in is good. He has a knack for getting the crowd into his matches. Moxley retained the Continental title. ***

SHOTA UMINO vs. PAC (18:11): Shota retained the NJPW Global Heavyweight title. I kind of feel like Shota should leave New Japan and go to NOAH or something, because the crowds just consider him a Nepo baby (his dad is Red Shoes, the referee) and will never seemingly embrace him. This match was pretty good but the crowd didn't much care about it and it never turned into anything fantastic. There was a great spot when Pac did the Mike Awesome move and gave him a Razor's Edge over the top rope onto a table. **1/2

THEKLA vs. STARLIGHT KID (18:42): Starlight Kid looked pretty good here. I never watch Stardom so I've never seen her before. The story here was that Thekla was fired from Stardom so he wanted revenge on the promotion. She beat up their president and spit on the Stardom logo on previous shows. Thekla is a good talker and has a good heel persona but her matches are never exceptional. After Thekla won she took off Starlight Kid's mask and then went over to the front row and hit Stardom's president with the mask until he lay cowering on the floor. I guess the feud isn't over. **1/2

ADAM COPELAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. THE DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DAVID FINLAY) (16:45): Did anyone think The Dogs were winning the tag team titles here? No. This felt more like a TV match. I think the only reason they did this was to have the surprise return of Jay White (The Bang Bang Gang had been feuding with The Dogs). Jay White's been out so long I can't even remember what he was doing when he got injured. Edge & Christian are always entertaining, so it was at least watchable. **1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. MAYA WORLD (24:51): This was pretty dull for about 15 minutes or so and the crowd was quiet and sitting down. By the end, the crowd was on their feet. Maybe the WWE should watch this match and learn from it because they have so many short PPV matches and don't realize that time can build drama and momentum. These women completely had the crowd in the palm of their hands by the end, so much so that they probably should have called an audible and had Maya World win. This was the final of the Owen Hart Cup and the winner gets a title shot at All In. Right now that would mean Thekla vs. Mercedes. I suppose that's a big match. The only reason Maya got this far in the tournament seems to be because her brother died in a car accident (he was hit by a car on the side of the road when his car broke down and he got out). I'm thinking Tony and the people in charge felt bad for her and thought it'd be a good move to give her a push. It turned into a good underdog story for the Owen even though she tapped out. ***

DARBY ALLIN, KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & THE CONGLOMERATION (KYLE O'REILLY, MARK BRISCOE, ORANGE CASSIDY & RODERICK STRONG) vs. DON CALLIS FAMILY (ANDRADE EL IDOLO, JAKE DOYLE, KAZUCHIKA OKADA, KEVIN KNIGHT) & MJF "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (31:45): This was a round cage that went around the ring and the outside of the ring. This was a lot of fun. Kyle O'Reilly introduced a Nintendo game console to hit people with (he even blew into a cartridge before inserting it). Orange Cassidy brought out a bag of oranges and squeezed the juice onto Fletcher's bloody forehead. Darby got tossed face first onto thumbtacks and they got stuck in his nose and face. There was a strange spot where Kevin Knight climbed up onto the cage and grabbed a bag that Darby had placed up there. The bag exploded and Knight fell down onto four stacked tables. Why would anyone grab a mystery bag? There was another bag that Lio Rush was in. Lio Rush is now doing a Gollum gimmick for whatever reason. So they had Lio entranced by MJF's ring. Yes, this match was creative. The big deal was that Andrade turned on the Don Callis family to cause Mark Briscoe pinning Jake Doyle to win the match. There was just too much in this crazy match to even mention. Briscoe put a ladder on his head and swung it around. Takeshita gave Fletcher a Blue Thunder Bomb through a table. Very entertaining. ***

WILL OSPREAY vs. SWERVE STRICKLAND (35:06): This was the final of the Owen Cup. This was also the same main event from Forbidden Door 2024. I think that match was better. This match had double juice. It was slow in spots but had some incredible back-and-forth action spots. The crowd was really hot for this even though it was so late. Swerve was bleeding so much it was leaving pools of blood all over the ringside area, announce table, and ring. The Death Riders all came out at the end to cheer on Ospreay. Both men kicked out of everything, but Ospreay won with a Tiger Driver. This was bloody, dramatic stuff. Ospreay will now wrestle for the tile at All In. MJF is facing Briscoe this week on Dynamite for the title. There's also next month's Redemption PPV and Grand Slam Mexico in August. I think the champion will be either MJF or Omega at All In. We already saw MJF vs. Ospreay at Wembley (in 2024, Ospreay beat him). I want to see Omega/Ospreay 3 for the title. I think that's the match that more people would want to see. ***

WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

OBA FEMI vs. JEY USO (7:56): This was the final in the King of the Ring tournament. The winner gets a title shot at Summerslam. In typical WWE fashion, Oba Femi wins but isn't getting a title shot at Summerslam. On RAW after this show, Oba Femi decided to give up his title shot so he can face Brock Lesnar in a Hell in a Cell match instead. So...was this a late decision? Because why didn't they have someone else win this tournament? It made the entire tournament pointless. Also, winning the title in pro-wrestling is supposed to be everyone's paramount objective. The title is supposed to be meaningful. Oba Femi simply giving up his title shot to wrestle someone else makes no fucking sense. This means that Oba Femi doesn't care about the title. So then why should the fans? I kind of thought that after Vince left in disgrace that the writing would be a little more logical and coherent. I guess Vince wasn't the entire problem. As for this actual match: it was all action and back and forth, so that was good. Having an 8 minute match as your tournament final is kind of lame, though. Shouldn't this be a long, dramatic, fighting tooth and nail for victory match? Not some short, superfluous thing? Eh. The WWE hasn't been good in a long time so I'm not exactly shocked at anything about this product anymore. The match in a vacuum was pretty good, though. There's that. **1/2 

IYO SKY vs. LIV MORGAN (14:56): This was the final of the Queen of the Ring tournament. Liv is the champion...so Iyo Sky winning just gets a title shot against...Liv. Who is the other champion? Rhea Ripley? She wasn't on this show for whatever reason. There was one moment when Iyo Sky was high fiving children at ringside and I was, like, maybe don't do this? I don't think boys are allowed to touch women in Saudi Arabia. Might get your hand cut off. Iyo did a bunch of high flying maneuvers. Those were exciting. The match wasn't anything special, though. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. BRON BREAKKER "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (19:04): Good match. They used a table and chairs in the cage. Seth gave Bron a superplex from the top rope through a table. Bron was bleeding from a cut on his eye. The one massive problem I have with this match is that Bron Breakker lost to Seth. He just lost to Seth on RAW a few weeks ago, too. Does the WWE not want to make new stars or something? I thought they were building Bron up to be a big, main event champion? You can't do that if he keeps losing! Baffling! ***

TRICK WILLIAMS vs. RICKY SAINTS (10:43): Unfortunately for Ricky, he's in the same position he was in AEW. I always thought in AEW that he was a good talker and good in the ring and had the potential to be a main event star. AEW never fully pushed him to that level. He was always just a mid-card guy (he did have one main event AEW championship title match on Dynamite that he lost). Considering he's losing to Trick Williams here, it looks like he's going to be a mid-card guy in the WWE forever. This match lacked excitement and drama. Nothing they did was exceptional. It just felt like a random TV match. Trick retained the U.S. title. 1/2

TIFFANY STRATTON vs. JADE CARGILL (7:40): Stratton retained the women's U.S. title here. This company is turning into AEW in that they have too many titles. The women have 2 championship titles, the Intercontinental title, the U.S. title, and the tag team title. Stratton is gorgeous, a real life Barbie doll. So I suppose just watching her should be enough. Sadly, it's not. *

SAMI ZAYN vs. CODY RHODES vs. GUNTHER (18:38): Heh. They finally gave Sami Zayn the title, two years too late. Way to go. Pat on the back. It might've been nice to have given him the title when he was a babyface and popular. That might have made sense, right? Sami Zayn is popular in Saudi Arabia because he's a Muslim. That's why they did it on this show. They even fucked the crowd pop, though, by having Sami Zayn pin Cody on a quick rollup. That meant half the crowd didn't know what happened for a few moments and that instant surge of crowd approval didn't happen at once. They had a perfect way to end this match and didn't do it. Sami gave Gunther an Exploder Suplex and a Helluva Kick and a but Gunther kicked out at 2. Jesus Christ. That was the perfect ending to the match! Have him win there! How is this company so full of morons? The rest of the match was good but not great. Sami is a heel now in the states, so he'll be booed as champion everywhere. It could have all been different. It could have been something special...once. Oh, well. **1/2

WWE CLASH IN ITALY

 

Turin, Italy

CODY RHODES vs. GUNTHER (11:35): The critics all hated this show. Honestly, it just felt like a typical WWE show. I'm not sure what anyone watching this show was expecting. The WWE hasn't been good in years. This first match kind of makes the case for why the WWE isn't good. This was for one of the championship belts. You would think a championship match would be the main event or the co-main event and be around 25 minutes long. You would be sorely mistaken! This goes on first and is a mere 11 minutes long. That's not the only problem. Don't you think that the guy they picked to beat and retire John Cena would...I don't know...get a push? Otherwise, what the fuck was the point of having John Cena lose on his retirement show and have everyone watching be sad? Well, Gunther retires Goldberg, Cena, and AJ Styles...and now he's losing his title match to Cody. Gunther did have his foot under the ropes during some of the count, which Michael Cole and Corey Graves mentioned. The match was at least all action. Cody somehow got out of the sleeper hold, which made no sense. This was a good match that could've used more time and perhaps a different finish. **1/2

RHEA RIPLEY vs. JADE CARGILL (16:57): This wasn't very good. I kind of zoned out watching this match because how monotonous it was. The crowd here in Italy was pretty loud for the men's matches but not for either of the women's matches. The ending of this was lame. Charlotte Flair came out and put Rhea's foot on the ropes at one point to save her. This came after Jade's goons ran out to attempt to put Jade's foot on the ropes to save her. *

BROCK LESNAR vs. OBA FEMI (6:21): This was the best match on the show because it was all action and the crowd was super into it. The glaring problem is that Oba beat Brock and Brock retired...then came back. Oba was the big, new, unbeatable star on the main roster now...so why the heck did they beat him already? And why have Brock be the one to beat him? Brock is, apparently, still going to retire sometime this year. Why not have Oba be undefeated for a year and then have a new star born by beating him? I don't know...the writers in the WWE are fucking morons a lot of the time. This match was exciting, though. It could've still been exciting if Oba won. **1/2

SOL RUCA vs. BECKY LYNCH (14:02): Sol Ruca won the Intercontinental title. You might be asking: why does Becky Lynch, one of the company's biggest stars, have the Intercontinental title? And I would not have an answer. It used to be that the Intercontinental title was for the up-and-coming stars on their way to the main title and main event platform. Eh, this match was sloppy. Sol Ruca does a lot of high flying but all her matches are kind of a sloppy mess. This never heated up into anything worthwhile. *1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. JACOB FATU "TRIBAL COMBAT MATCH" (27:02) I think one reason everyone online hated this show was because this main event was a dull slog. I often harp about how short most WWE PPV matches are...and now I'm complaining that this match was too long. I mean...there is a sweet spot, somewhere. This was a weapons and no DQ match, so they brawled in the stands, broke a table, fell through the barricade at ringside. This match made no sense, since their previous match had a stipulation that if Jacob lost he would have to acknowledge Roman. He didn't! So he lost again and now has to acknowledge him...again! After this match, the other Bloodline showed up to stare at Jacob (some of them were fired, but Solo Sikoa and one of the Tongans is left). That means...they're still doing the Bloodline feud! Jesus Christ! *1/2

AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING

Louis Armstrong Stadium, Queens, New York

DIVINE DOMINION (LENA KROSS & MEGAN BAYNE) vs. VIVA VAN & ZAYDA (4:45): Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer said that this was the best AEW PPV ever. Well...of course he thought that because he never watches the pre-show matches on these PPV's. The big deal on the pre-show was that Mick Foley was one of the co-hosts and it was his first time in AEW. This first match was mostly a squash. The Divine Dominion are the women's tag team champions. It seems like since that tournament to crown brand new women's tag team champs finished, there haven't been many women's tag teams around lately. The only intriguing aspect of this match was that Christopher Daniels was the manager of this unknown tag team that lost. That baffled me. 1/2*

DEATH RIDERS (CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI, DANIEL GARCIA & WHEELER YUTA) vs. THE OPPS (ANTHONY BOWENS, HOOK & KATSUYORI SHIBATA) (10:32): I'm over the Death Riders. I feel like that group has passed its' prime. It also doesn't seem to have helped either Claudio, Garcia or Wheeler in terms of getting pushed or adding popularity, at least lately. The Opps is another story: why is Bowens in this evil heel group? That's defying logic. And what happened to his partner? He disappeared. The match was fine but nothing special. **

BOOM & DOOM (BIG BOOM AJ & QT MARSHALL) & THE CONGLOMERATION (MARK BRISCOE, ORANGE CASSIDY & RODERICK STRONG) vs. SHANE TAYLOR PROMOTIONS (ANTHONY OGOGO, CARLIE BRAVO, LEE MORIARTY, SHANE TAYLOR & SHAWN DEAN) (6:31): Are these Costco guys still a thing online? I know those stars on Youtube don't last forever, right? Or do they? Well, they were back in a match on a pre-show again. The only memorable part of this match was that QT slipped off the ropes and fell to the floor and had to be helped to the back. **

ADAM COPELAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. FTR (CASH WHEELER & DAX HARWOOD) "I QUIT MATCH" (19:34): This was the PPV opener and it had a flaming table spot. Good luck following that, rest of the show! The funniest thing about that flaming table spot was that the NYC commission didn't let AEW do blood or brawling in the crowd...but they were allowed to light a table on fire and have Cash tackle Stokely through it from the ring (he was trying to tackle Beth Phoenix, but she moved). There was also barbed wire, Edge's 2x4 with nails, and a pair of plyers used. They got Dax to quit by using the 2x4 with nails on his head while he was in a sharpshooter. Edge & Christian won the tag titles for the first time in AEW. I'm thinking they're going to do a ladder match for the title at Wembley against The Young Bucks. Great match. This match, and this show, was helped by the fantastic live crowd. The building, which is the 2nd biggest stadium at the U.S. Open tournament, also looked great on TV. I was in this stadium once, but it was before they remodeled it and added a roof. The only reason they didn't have this show at the bigger tennis stadium was because they're doing work on it (and they've done a few Grand Slam Dynamite shows at Arthur Ashe Stadium before). This was an excellent match to open the PPV. It had a hot crowd, violence, Beth Phoenix showing up, & a title change. Good stuff. ***

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA (19:01): This was the best match on the show. The reason: this was the Okada of old. We haven't really seen a great Okada match in AEW. I figured it's because he's old, the glory days are gone. Well, Okada pulled a rabbit out of a hat because this felt like a classic, Okada NJPW match of old. There was the drama, the near-falls, the crowd on their feet going nuts. This was great. Takeshita won the International Title, or whatever the hell it's called (AEW has too many belts). After the match, Kyle Fletcher returned from injury only to turn on Takeshita and beat him up. Takeshita is out of the Don Callis family. ***1/2

ATHENA vs. MINA SHIRAKAWA (10:46): This was probably the only match that the crowd didn't really get into. That's not a shocker, as Athena is a ROH champ and barely ever on Dynamite or Collision. Mina just loses all the time. This was the first round of the Owen Hart tournament. Match was pretty dull. *

JON MOXLEY vs. KYLE O'REILLY (18:44): These two had a 20 minute draw on Dynamite...so I wasn't exactly clamoring to see it again. Kyle made a big stink about this match not having a time limit and then they ended it under 20 minutes anyway. Match was decent, though I don't think it was anything particularly fantastic or anything. Moxley retained the Continental Classic title or whatever the hell it's called. Kyle tapped out. **1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. SAMOA JOE (13:52): This was the first round of the Owen Hart tournament. Everyone expects Ospreay to win this tournament and then win the title at Wembley. This match was good and hard hitting. It was short, though. The crowd was into both guys even though Joe is supposed to be the dastardly heel. ***

SWERVE STRICKLAND vs. BANDIDO (15:15): Really good match. This was super creative. They did a bunch of interesting spots in this. Strickland jumped onto Bandido's shoulders to give him a kick to the head. Bandido did a reverse Hurricanrana on Swerve to the floor from the ring apron. The hot Queens crowd was going nuts for some of these unique maneuvers and reversals. This was also the first round of the Owen Hart tournament. ***1/2

THEKLA vs. HIKARU SHIDA vs. JAMIE HAYTER vs. KRIS STATLANDER (13:59): There haven't been too many great women's title matches in AEW history. This one was helped by it being a 4 way, meaning it was mostly all action. Thekla retained her title. The two biggest names in the division, Mercedes Mone and Toni Storm, haven't been around lately for some reason (injury?). That kind of leaves the Owen Hart winner and the champ going into Wembley wide open. **1/2

JACK PERRY, JERICHO, THE ELITE (KENNY OMEGA & THE YOUNG BUCKS) & THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY & SHELTON BENJAMIN) vs. THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (ANDRADE EL IDOLO & MARK DAVIS), THE DEMAND (BISHOP KAUN, RICOCHET & TOA LIONA) & THE DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DAVID FINLAY) "STADIUM STAMPEDE" (31:10): This was a typical Stampede match even though they weren't allowed to have blood or brawl in the crowd. They did brawl backstage and outside the stadium. At one point, Jack Perry drove his bus into a golf cart that Mark Davis had been in before running out of the way. They brawled backstage in the cafeteria where Satnam Singh got involved. Lio Rush helped Bobby Lashley backstage (Lio Rush was Bobby's manager in WWE for a bit). They broke a bunch of tables at ringside. The most amusing part was when Andrade went ringside to take a picture with some pretty girls (this is his new gimmick), Luchasaurus was there in a blonde wig. The only thing lacking here was they didn't leave a song playing during the match which they did last year. This was very entertaining as these always are. ***

MJF vs. DARBY ALLIN (24:01): Darby beat MJF to win the title on the Dynamite right after Dynasty. Darby then defended the title every single week on Dynamite and Collision, beating PAC, Sammy Guevara, Kevin Knight, Speedball, Takeshita, Ciampa, and Brody King. Every one of those matches was great. The PAC match was great because it took place at the indoor golf course arena, so they were throwing each other into the sand traps. That match also had Darby being thrown off the balcony through four stacked tables. The Sammy Guevara match was great because Sammy did a Swanton Bomb off the top of a ladder onto Darby through a table, plus Sammy did a flip off the top rope through a table. This match's highlight had Darby climbing the scaffolding by the entrance to do a Coffin Drop down onto MJF on a table. Darby hit the back of his head on the table and was bleeding (so much for no blood on the show). The stip in this match was that MJF would be shaved bald if he lost. MJF ended up winning the title. Darby's 39 day reign was not the shortest men's title reign. Moxley had an 11 day reign and CM Punk had a 3 day reign. This match was good. It was pretty much just the same as all of the other Darby matches. I do think his title run was unique and made the TV shows this last month very exciting. I think his reign will be one that's talked about forever, actually. Was it a fitting end? Eh. MJF just had the title. This show was excellent, though. It was a typical, long AEW show (5 hours and 9 minutes if you include the pre-show) but didn't drag like most of the others do. It just felt like banger after banger and this hot crowd was one of the best ever. The building had a great look to it as well. Just an all-around great show. ***

WWE BACKLASH

Tampa, Florida

BRON BREAKKER vs. SETH ROLLINS (21:26): The big story in the WWE is that all of the executives are making record amounts of money, so they decided to fire a bunch of wrestlers because...fuck them, right? The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston), The Motor City Machine Guns, the entire Wyatt Family, Jeff Cobb, and Aleister Black and his wife were the big names fired, though they fired a bunch of developmental people, too. It's just weird to fire a ton of people at once when the company is selling out everywhere and making a ton of money thanks to Netflix, Saudi Arabia, and ESPN. And, really, it's the WWE's fault that guys like Jeff Cobb never "got over" because they never even did anything with him. Turning The New Day heel was a dumb idea, too, so was it any surprise that nobody cared about them lately? The one thing I really hate about the WWE since TKO took over is these monotonously bland PPV's with only a few matches, a ton of commercials and breaks between matches, and half the roster mysteriously not on the show. CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, the entire Judgment Day, Becky Lynch, The Uso's, Oba Femi, LA Knight, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, Randy Orton, Stephanie Vaquer, Penta, Dragon Lee, Rey Mysterio and Jade Cargill were not on this show. I did the math, and there was around 80 minutes of actual wrestling and 70 minutes of everything else (entrances, commercials, video packages and John Cena's talking segment) on this show. None of the matches on this show were bad or anything, but none of them were great. This opener was probably the best match. Breakker won, mostly because Rollins was a bit distracted dealing with Logan Paul and Austin Theory at ringside. It seemed like they were pushing Breakker to be a big star and main event draw and champ...but then he didn't beat CM Punk on the first RAW of the year in that title match, and then he got hurt. He does some exciting things in the ring. He did a Jeff Cobb standing moonsault. The match was fast paced. The crowd in Tampa was really hot for this show which helped. **1/2

TRICK WILLIAMS vs. SAMI ZAYN (12:56): One of the more amusing things on WWE TV lately was Sami Zayn dressing up as a gingerbread man and beating up Trick Williams. Then Sami beat up the gingerbread man costume a week later and they had a funeral for him. Before, Backlash usually had rematches from Wrestlemania. This was the only one...and that's too bad, because this was the one Wrestlemania match that no one was dying for a rematch of. The big problem with Trick is that his entrance is everything. Once his entrance is done, his matches are fairly dull. Trick came to the ring with his friend, the rapper Li'l Yachty. Sami eventually used the gingerbread man's candy cane to beat Li'l Yachty with it. No, I don't understand what a gingerbread man has to do with anything. *1/2

DANHAUSEN & MINIHAUSEN vs. KIT WILSON & THE MIZ (11:38): Danhausen seems to be pretty popular with the WWE fans. He was pretty popular in AEW, too. I don't know why Tony stopped using him. Tony seems very vindictive because there's always AEW wrestlers that just disappear still under contract and I'm sure they did something to upset Tony. Danhausen probably did something. Or maybe Tony was just bored of him. I think his comedy skits are fairly entertaining, but I don't exactly want to see him wrestling in a match unless it's a multi-man tag team or something and he's barely in it. Danhausen's mystery partner for this match was a little person that came out of a cloning machine. Eventually, for no good reason, Kit put the little Danhausen back in the cloning machine and out came more little people. Yeah. That happened. What I'm really surprised about is that Kit Wilson wasn't one of the wrestlers fired. The Miz also ended up spraying himself and Kit with a fire extinguisher. *

IYO SKY vs. ASUKA (18:07): This match was supposed to be at Wrestlemania. A lot of fans were glad it wasn't, as at least on this show they would get more time (most of the 'Mania matches were super short). They got more time, but this wasn't anything special. Asuka sprayed mist at Iyo but Iyo grabbed Wade Barrett's notebook to block the mist (this happened on the announce table). That spot was unique. The match never really heated up into anything dramatic or super exciting, though. It was fine. **

JOHN CENA SEGMENT: Remember last year during Cena's retirement tour, they kept saying, 'This is the last time Cena will be in' whatever city RAW or Smackdown was in that day. What a crock of shit. He was in Vegas for 'Mania and he was here, in Tampa, for Backlash. And he came out tonight to announce a new PPV, which will be NXT wrestlers vs. main roster WWE wrestlers. I'm assuming Cena will be at that show, too. While in theory that seems like a good idea to give NXT wrestlers more exposure...I couldn't give two shits about that show. They did that same thing on Cena's lame retirement show and I didn't watch any of those other matches then, either.

ROMAN REIGNS vs. JACOB FATU (17:50): This match made zero sense because after the match they set up THE EXACT MATCH THAT JUST HAPPENED! No, it makes no sense. The match was fine, though nothing great. Is it me, or does Fatu look like he got a lot fatter and out of shape since his debut? And did Michael Cole say that Fatu has 7 kids? Roman won basically by cheating. He tore the pad off the turnbuckle and slammed Fatu into it and the ref saw this. Roman then won with a spear. But after the match, Fatu beat up Roman and all the WWE execs had to run out to stop Fatu. So they're setting up a rematch to a match we just watched. Lame. I guess they have to do that because their next PPV, Clash in Italy, is in three weeks, and God forbid they set up some new feuds/matches in three weeks for that show. I don't know...the WWE just feels really stale and safe these days. It feels like they're not even trying or attempting to have great matches. You can tell because when they do, like with Roman and Punk at 'Mania, it makes people talk about it like it's Ospreay/Takagi or something. & it's not even close. **

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 42

Allegiant Stadium, Paradise, Nevada

NIGHT 1 (Saturday, April 18th):

THE USO'S & LA KNIGHT vs. THE VISION (LOGAN PAUL & AUSTIN THEORY) & ISHOWSPEED (7:08): Last year's Wrestlemania was in this football stadium, too, which is kind of lazy and weird, right? Even weirder, though, is that this stadium, which is, literally, on the next street from The Strip, is in Paradise, Nevada technically and not Las Vegas. Next year's Wrestlemania is in Saudi Arabia, which is even more weird, and we haven't even started hearing about all the controversy and bitching that's going to get (I don't think TKO understands how much backlash that's going to get yet). I do like Wrestlemania week with all of the other wrestling shows and a lot going on...but, man, the "aura" of Wrestlemania being this big, great, legendary show is fucking over. Other than the fact that Wrestlemania takes place in a football stadium, why is this show even a big deal anymore? They at least made CM Punk vs. Roman seem like a big deal...but it wasn't some long simmering feud or anything. Also, they're both babyfaces, which is odd for a Wrestlemania main event. The biggest story of the week ended up being a non-WWE story: Darby Allin won the AEW championship on Dynamite. & I didn't really watch any of the other Las Vegas wrestling shows. I tuned into Joey Janela's Spring Break show and watched about 10 minutes of the new Hyabusa match. There's way too much to watch, anyway. I saw people online talking about the hardcore match on the New Japan Death Vegas show that featured Nick Gage and Matt Tremont vs. some of the famous Japanese Death Match dudes. Apparently, that was pretty wild. & I heard that the Brodie Lee, Jr. match against Janela was surprisingly great. As for the big dog: Wrestlemania night 1 sucked hard, and night 2 had a good main event and a few other good matches. Everyone complained that the shows had too many commercials and the matches were all too short. I didn't watch either night live, so I fast forwarded through the commercials which probably helped my enjoyment of the shows. Yes, the matches, for what's supposed to be this big, epic, once-a-year show, were way too short. The women's title match on night 1 was a mere 6 minutes long. What the fuck, dude? I mean, if they're worried they don't want the shows to go too long, then don't have 6 or 7 matches. I don't want to say TKO has ruined the WWE, because it wasn't exactly legendary before Vince sold it, but they certainly haven't made it better. The other big talking point of this year's Wrestlemania was ticket prices. The average ticket price was $635. The cheapest in the lower bowl (this is a football stadium, so the lower bowl is, like, 20-30,000 tickets) was $2,000. Prices were so high that they made a few 25% off deals plus they made it a storyline where CM Punk on RAW told the audience that ticket prices were too high and they needed to lower them. The stadium was filled to the brim both nights, so maybe they eventually gave away some tickets to tourists on the strip or something. And as for this opener: John Cena was the host. They added him last minute to probably attempt to sell more tickets. They also added a late Pat McAfee heel storyline to drum up interest that ended up being talked about as being similar to how bad late stage WCW was. This opener had one highlight: when Ishowspeed, who's apparently a Youtube celebrity, did a top rope dive to Austin Theory on the announce table. The Uso's, who's entrance used to be this big deal, seemed to have cooled off. And The Vision used to be the big deal group on RAW...felt like an afterthought here. They turned on Ishowspeed. Why is he called Ishowspeed, anyway? Did he, like, run races on his Youtube videos or something? I feel like anyone that's famous from Youtube just did pranks, right? Or, like, just stupid comedy set ups. Anyway, this match was really short and like most of the matches on both nights, pretty monotonous. *1/2

 

JACOB FATU vs. DREW McINTYRE "UNSANCTIONED MATCH" (14:09): This was a hardcore match, so both men ended up going through tables at one point. Fatu did a moonsault off the top rope through McIntyre on a table to win. I feel like both of these guys were bigger stars practically a month ago. What happened? McIntyre lost the title to Cody on Smackdown a month ago and Fatu is popular with fans, but management hasn't pushed him to the top yet. With the hardcore stuff the match was at least semi-entertaining. **

BRIE BELLA & PAIGE vs. THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCES (NIA JAX & LASH LEGEND) vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR & ALEXA BLISS vs. BAYLEY & LYRA VALKYRIA (8:33): Nikki Bella was injured so she brought out Paige to take her place. Paige hasn't been in AEW in awhile so that answers that question. She got a huge reaction. I guess we'll see how long she stays back, though she did win the tag titles with Brie. This match was fine but just felt like a typical TV match. Most of the matches on both shows just felt like random TV matches. That was a giant problem with both nights. *1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. AJ LEE (8:15): This was for the Intercontinental title and they got a whopping 8 minutes. I think the entrances to all of these matches were longer than the actual matches. You can't really do much of anything in 8 minutes. Night 1 ended up being close to 4 hours and there was only 1 hour and 24 minutes of wrestling. That's...insane! These WWE shows almost seem like wrestling is secondary. You can't build any kind of drama in 8 minutes. There's no beginning, middle, and end. There was a story here, and that's how Becky hates the female referee. Um...maybe the story should be about the title and not the referee? These two also just had a match on the last PPV. I feel like that was better. I did like AJ's entrance when a group of little girls came out dressed like her and skipping down the ramp. That was cute. And one little girl seemed lost and just stood behind everyone in the entrance and finally just walked off backstage. Maybe she realized how much of a trainwreck night 1 was, too, and thought: I'm not gonna be a part of this mess. *1/2

GUNTHER vs. SETH ROLLINS (17:52): So this match was good and by far the best match on night 1. They started fast and it was back and forth and by WWE standards it was excellent. Bron Breaker returned to spear Rollins when the ref wasn't looking. Considering Gunther just retired Cena and AJ Styles...you'd think he would've been pushed to be in the main event or something by this juncture. Nope! I guess they at least gave him a win. Rollins had returned with a group of masked men but they were mysteriously absent for this match. Probably because the online hatred for how stupid the gimmick was (Rollins was one of the masked men and they would all run around in circles so you didn't know which one Rollins was). ***

LIV MORGAN vs. STEPHANIE VAQUER (6:51): This was for the women's championship. Wrestlemania was the latest it's ever been so they had plenty of time to build it up...and yet we got an almost 7 minute match. Jesus Christ. I give up. Vaquer is actually a really good wrestler. I'm sure she could've pulled out a good match against Morgan if they had been given the time. Nope! We've got a 20 minute block of commercials we've gotta get to! *1/2

BIANCA BELAIR: Cena didn't do much as the host. He came out for this segment for the return of Bianca Belair. She's been out for a year with a finger injury. Yes, a finger injury. And she announced she's pregnant by taking off her robe to reveal a baby bump which means she'll be out for another year. They're still paying her for two years off? I want that job. 

CODY RHODES vs. RANDY ORTON (22:44): Originally this match seemed to be heading to being McIntyre as champ vs. Cody vs. Jacob Fatu. The company seemed to realize that McIntyre isn't a star (they even had Roman completely and totally bury him on Smackdown when he was picking his opponent for 'Mania) and so they pivoted to this. Then they seemingly didn't want their boy Cody to get booed so they turned Orton heel. Then they realized that Orton would still be cheered so they introduced Pat McAfee as a heel character aligned with Orton. McAfee went on Smackdown to belittle the audience and complain about ticket prices and also bury the WWE by saying that it sucks because Orton isn't champion. Well...it got worse. They seemed to realize that this McAfee storyline sucked so they got rid of it in this match by having Orton give McAfee an RKO at the end. All of this just made a bunch of fans online note that this feels like late-stage WCW in how ludicrous and nonsensical the storyline is. McAfee also said that if Orton loses then he will leave the WWE forever. Orton lost. Knowing this company, McAfee will probably be on RAW this week. The match started with McAfee hitting Cody over the head with the microphone. Orton and McAfee beat up Cody before the bell even started. Cody gave McAfee a Cross Roads. Jelly Roll got involved to give McAfee a splash through the announce table. McAfee was taken out on a stretcher. Then the actual match happened and it was a total fucking bore. Cody turned heel in this match which kind of made no sense since Orton turned babyface by giving McAfee an RKO but then punting Cody in the head after the match to basically revert back to heel. Yeah, this match was a logical disaster of epic proportions. It just felt like the writers and people in charge had no idea what to do or how to do it or why to do it. McAfee was apparently in the storyline because his agent is Ari Emmanuel and Ari works for TKO. Both men ended up bleeding. Cody gave Orton a finger poke in the eye and so Orton inadvertently gave the ref an RKO. McAfee returned with a neck brace and a referee shirt to give a 2 count. Another ref eventually came out. Cody gave Orton an RKO. Orton gave Cody a Cross Roads. Eventually Cody won to retain the title. Then Orton RKO'd McAfee. Then Orton punted Cody in the head and grabbed the title and the show ended. So...the actual wrestling portion was dull. All of the smoke and mirrors was at least intriguing. The amount of hate this match and Night 1 got online was immense. Has Cody ever been a heel? They booed him in AEW at the end of his run but he was still attempting to be a good guy. I don't know if Cody as a bad guy is a good thing. It seems kind of stupid to turn him heel considering he was one of their biggest draws. They do have too many good guys, though. The only "big" heel is McIntyre, realistically, and he lost on a random mid-card match. I have no idea if Orton is supposed to be a heel still or not...but the fans seem to cheer him no matter what. You know...I actually liked late-stage WCW so that's probably why I didn't hate this. Watching this match was like driving past the remnants of a car accident in that it kept your eyes glued to the disaster. **

NIGHT 2 (Sunday, April 19th):

OBA FEMI vs. BROCK LESNAR (4:46): Everyone online hated Night 1 but liked Night 2. It's funny, but everyone (including me) complained for years to make Wrestlemania two nights and now are complaining to return it back to one night. This was the shortest match on either night. It was exciting and entertaining, though, so you can't really complain. It was all big moves and then Oba slammed Brock and won. Brock left his boots in the ring and left, presumably to retire (next year's Wrestlemania is in Saudi Arabia, though, so it's guaranteed he'll wrestle there). Remember Lesnar destroyed Cena last September and they never did anything with that? Like...give him a title shot or something? He is still involved tangentially with Vince's sexual assault case...maybe his "retirement" has something to do with that, who knows? Now the big question is: will they actually do something with Oba Femi? Realistically he should go win the title now since he beat the monster Brock. **1/2

PENTA vs. JE'VON EVANS vs. DRAGON LEE vs. JD McDONAGH vs. RUSEV vs. REY MYSTERIO "LADDER MATCH" (15:08): This was an exciting match, one of the better matches on either night. The big move was Penta giving JD a Canadian Destroyer onto a ladder bridge in the ring. Mysterio also did a top rope jump onto Rusev through a ladder bridge at ringside. Je'von did a bunch of crazy, top rope leaps that looked cool. Mysterio gave Dragon Lee a 619 when Lee was stuck in a ladder. That was unique. Penta retained the Intercontinental title. I'm still baffled that the WWE signed Penta and Fenix and haven't put them together as The Lucha Brothers. Oh, well. ***

TRICK WILLIAMS vs. SAMI ZAYN (7:07): Sami is a heel now because the WWE seemed to run out of things to do with him since they refused to ever give him the title. I think Trick is also supposed to be a heel, but maybe they're turning him into a babyface. The crowd do love his entrance because they can shout, "Whoop that Trick!" whatever the fuck that means. Doesn't it mean beat up Trick? So wouldn't that be a bad thing? The crowds that all love his entrance don't really give two shits about his wrestling, though, which would be a problem if they ever decide to put him in a long match. That shouldn't be a problem in the WWE, though, since long matches are rare. There wasn't much to this match. Some rapper came out with Trick and ended up getting involved. Trick won the U.S. title. *

'THE DEMON' FINN BALOR vs. DOMINIK MYSTERIO "STREET FIGHT" (10:27): Remember when "The Demon" gimmick was a big deal in NXT? Yeah. It's been awhile. This was a hardcore match. Dominik put Finn's head in a chair and gave him a 619. Finn did a top rope foot stomp onto Dominik through a table to win. Match wasn't anything special. Now that Finn is a babyface...I wonder what the heck they're gonna do with him. *1/2

RHEA RIPLEY vs. JADE CARGILL (10:08): This was for the women's title. At least they gave them over 10 minutes. Rhea won the title. Michin and B-Fab were interfering and beating up Rhea when the ref wasn't looking. Iyo Skye ran out to beat them up. This was pretty basic stuff. At one point, Jade did a One Winged Angel. I didn't realize she did Omega's move. I guess it's not her finisher because Rhea kicked out of it. I wonder if Omega cares. I also wonder if Omega stole that from someone else. Maybe I should look it up! *1/2

DANHAUSEN & THE MIZ SEGMENT: Cena was the host and didn't do much. He started the show and then did this segment. Danhausen came out with a bunch of dwarfs dressed up like Danhausen. The WWE crowds seem to like Danhausen so that's good. This WWE crowd did seem different than in past years when they would sometimes cheer heels and boo babyfaces. It was always mentioned that, well, the Wrestlemania crowds are always different. Not this year. Anyway, the dwarfs beat up The Miz and carried him away to the back. 

ROMAN REIGNS vs. CM PUNK (33:56): This was the best match of both nights. This was pretty much a classic, long, bloody, epic main event. The WWE doesn't do this type of match very often. Maybe they wouldn't even have done it if everyone online criticized Night 1 so harshly. Punk gave Roman a top rope elbow drop through the announce table. Punk was dangling on the ropes outside of the ring and Roman gave him three Super Man punches. This busted Punk open. Roman hit CM Punk in the head with the ring steps and the ref saw it and didn't DQ him. Okay. The finale had CM Punk being so spent and tired to barely stand and Roman running the ropes to deliver a spear to win the title. The finish actually felt a bit anticlimactic after such a long, dramatic match. The finish seemed to come out of nowhere, which is a surprise considering the match went almost 34 minutes. Good match, though, and they saved the best for last. It's just too bad the rest of both Nights weren't on this level. It felt like these two went out there to put on a hell of a show and everyone else didn't. Which isn't their fault, exactly, as they just do what they're told...but it does highlight the glaring problem with the WWE these days: if they wanted to, they can deliver great matches like this but they purposely don't most of the time for no good reason. ***

AEW DYNASTY

Vancouver

ALEX WINDSOR vs. MARINA SHAFIR (8:55): This was a good show, not a great show. It definitely wasn't a legendary AEW PPV nor will be in consideration for show of the year or anything. I think one problem was that all the big heels retained their titles (FTR, MJF, Moxley) against the crowd favorites. Also, one big talking point is that the majority of the Canadians lost on this show which was in Canada (Cope & Christian lost, Omega lost, and Jericho lost). Since none of the "big" titles changed hands and there were no debuts or shocking turns, you didn't really miss much if you skipped this show except see some good wrestling matches. This whole pre-show, encapsulating the first four matches, was pretty forgettable except for the Jack Perry match which was just okay. Honestly? Both of these women do nothing for me in-ring. 1/2*

KAMILLE vs. BIG ANNE (1:25): This was Kamille's first match in 18 months. She's been gone for so long I forget who she is. Apparently, she was Mercedes Monet's bodyguard. Funny, but I thought I vaguely remember her being Penelope Ford's bodyguard. Supposedly, Kamille was shooting a new American Gladiators show that also stars Wardlow. I wondered whatever happened to Wardlow. So this match was a squash. 1/2*

JACK PERRY vs. MARK DAVIS (8:30): Okay match. Perry retained the National Title, which, let's face it, is fairly meaningless. Mark Davis has been great lately in AEW and they've been showcasing him on TV a lot. There wasn't much to this match, though. **

DIVINE DOMINION (MEGAN BAYNE & LENA KROSS) vs. HYAN & MAYA WORLD (10:35): The Divine Dominion retained the women's tag team titles. Hyan and Maya World are not in AEW. I guess they're just local jobbers, although one of the two did a bunch of nifty high flying maneuvers that looked fairly cool. *1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA & KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (20:10): Probably not a good thing that this was the best match on the show. Nothing topped it after 4 and a 1/2 hours. I actually thought this might be better, though, as well. At one point, Okada beat up one of the Bucks and put on their jacket and bandana and went in their corner to get tagged in, pretending he was a Buck. That was amusing. At one point, Okada and Takeshita just started hitting each other (they're feuding even though they're in the same heel group). This definitely got better the longer it went (Okada always take his time). The crowd was, at this point, super hot. Good match. ***

RICOCHET vs. CHRIS JERICHO (19:12): Jericho is back in AEW. His last match was at last year's Dynasty where he lost to Bandido and he was a total heel. The crowd popped big time for him and he was a total baby face. Weird that he lost then. Jericho is a legend and all and he can still do all his patented moves...but he's fucking old and slow and I don't want to see him wrestling in singles matches anymore. This was mostly dull, though the voracious crowd helped it. I am curious what new gimmick Jericho will pull out of his hat this time around, because he's probably going to start getting booed once he leaves Canada (he was previously getting "retire" chants and things like that last year). *1/2

DARBY ALLIN vs. ANDRADE EL IDOLO (16:46): Good match. This was a typical Darby car crash match. It kept your eyes glued to the screen. This was for the #1 contender. Basically it was just Darby running and slamming his body hard into things. ***

FTR (CASH WHEELER & DAX HARWOOD) vs. ADAM COPELAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE (21:00): I really thought Edge & Christian would win the titles here, especially because it was in Canada. Plus, I figured The Young Bucks vs. Edge & Christian would be the big All In London championship match. I suppose they can still get there. This was entertaining. Edge got popped in the face by the title and was a bloody mess. At one point, Christian tossed Stokely into the ring to break up a cover. FTR matches are always wild, all-over-the-place spectacles, and this was nothing different. ***

TNT TITLE CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH (KEVIN KNIGHT) (22:36): There were no surprise entrants in this match. Rush and Ciampa started the match. Mike Bailey, Bandido, El Clon, Anthony Bowens, and PAC were the rest of the bunch. Kyle Fletcher got injured so this match was for his TNT title. This was super entertaining and a ton of fun. ***

THEKLA vs. JAMIE HAYTER (16:31): This was when the crowd got tired and mostly silent except for big move pops the rest of the night. This match was boring. Thekla is a boring wrestler. She is a good heel and has good energy but in the ring she's dull. At one point, Hayter was AEW's best women's wrestler. She was out for a whole year with an injury and just hasn't been the same since returning. Thekla retained the women's title. This was hard hitting. I think that's the best I can say about it. *1/2

JON MOXLEY vs. WILL OSPREAY (18:13): Another surprise finish. Ospreay just got back so they immediately have him lose. Nice! This was a really good match but I actually thought this would be better as well. They had a 20 minute time limit because this was for Moxley's Continental title. The crowd booed when they made the 10 and 5 minute time calls. Good, dramatic, exciting match...but I think if it was longer it might have bloomed into something greater. ***

ORANGE CASSIDY, KYLE O'REILLY & RODERICK STRONG vs. THE DOGS (GABE KIDD, DAVID FINLAY & CLARK CONNORS) (10:00): This was the one good guy title change on the show. Kyle O'Reilly returned from injury. He's from Canada, so one Canadian won on this show. The match was short and at this point, everyone was just ready for the main event. Gabe Kidd got injured in the middle of the match and disappeared (he apparently separated his shoulder). Match was fine. The crowd popped at Cassidy's silliness. It seemed like they botched the ending when Cassidy went for an Orange Punch but Connors didn't see it or sell it. **

MJF vs. KENNY OMEGA (38:56): I kind of figured that MJF was winning this match because Darby was the #1 contender. Omega vs. Darby in the main event of Double or Nothing makes no sense. This was a good, long, slow match. I think the glaring problem is that Omega is old now and looked really tired and spent. He still did all of his trademark stuff, though, and the crowd was into most of this. They pulled off a WWE finish in this match, getting the ref knocked out and MJF low blowing Omega then hitting him with the ring. MJF gave Omega a pile driver through a ring side table and then his Heat Seeker DDT off the ropes to get the pin. I felt kind of sad watching this match because of how old, tired, and slow Omega looked. I mean...maybe doing a 38 minute match wasn't the best idea. Granted, I was never bored watching this match, it just wasn't fast paced at all. MJF might be trying to emulate the legendary run Go Shiozaki had in 2021 in Noah. Remember that? When Go as champ had all these 45 minute epics? Well last month's MJF match against 'Hangman' went 46 minutes and this one was 38. Think he can do a long match with Darby next month? That seems doubtful, although Darby might be jumping off the tennis stadium roof knowing him, and it'd take, like, ten minutes to climb up it. This was also, shockingly, the first Omega main event PPV singles match since November of 2021. Jesus Christ. Well, I'm glad they at least did it one more time, because the way he looked, there ain't gonna be too many more. ***