AEW WRESTLE DREAM

Orlando

DIVINE DOMINION (LENA KROSS & MEGAN BAYNE) vs. SISTERS OF SIN (JULIA HART & SKYE BLUE) (9:38): This was a pretty good show, though it wasn't fantastic or anything. I don't think I would recommend going out of your way to watch anything on it, though the Bucks title defense was certainly a highlight. Now that AEW is doing PPV's almost every month, a lot of the matches on these supposed "big" shows feel like just random matches you'd see on TV every week. The first three matches were on the pre-show and the FTR match started on the pre-show and ended on the PPV. The women's tag team champs, The Brawling Birds, weren't on this show, nor was MJF or Kenny Omega. This match was, obviously, nothing special. Divine Dominion are tall women...and that's their gimmick. They definitely have never been involved in a great match. The Sisters of Sin have definitely never been involved in a great match either. I'm not sure you can expect anything out of having them wrestle eachother. *1/2

DON CALLIS FAMILY (JAKE DOYLE, JOSH ALEXANDER & WARDLOW) vs. ALEX BREEZE, PAPI D & RHYS MADDOX (2:46): This was just a beat down of a team of local nobodies. Wardlow is back. Where the heck has he been? *1/2

DEATH RIDERS (CALUDIO CASTAGNOLI, DANIEL GARCIA, GABE KIDD & WHEELER YUTA) & THE DOGS (CLARK CONNORS & DAVID FINLAY) vs. BANG BANG GANG (AUSTIN GUNN, COLTEN GUNN & JAY WHITE) & THE CONGLOMERATION (KYLE O'REILLY, ORANGE CASSIDY & RODERICK STRONG) (11:03): This was a fun party type of match. Just a typical, amusing pre-show romp. It would be nice to see Orange Cassidy go and do some singles matches again instead of seemingly being forgotten in these nothing, multi-man matches. **1/2

THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS (ALEX SHELLEY & CHRIS SABIN) vs. FTR (CASH WHEELER & DAX HARWOOD) (26:05): This is a Best of 5 series. The sold-out Orlando crowd was pretty hot tonight until they got tired late, as is expected on a show that lasted until 12:15 AM. This started kind of pedestrian but got hot in the middle. It turned into a good match. I'm not really sure I want to see four more of these matches, but I guess they've got to fill time on TV every week showing something and this match is better than most. **1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. THEKLA (14:34): I was kind of surprised that the women's title match went on early. This was really dull early until it picked up late and the crowd got into it. Mone retained. **1/2

NICK WAYNE vs. JERICHO (14:47): Wayne beat Jericho two weeks ago in Paris. He won again here. Wayne kicked Jericho in the balls, but Jericho revealed that he was wearing a cup. Don't wrestlers always wear a cup? The crowd was going nuts when Jericho did his patented moves. The crowd was also super into Adam Copeland in the main event. I guess this crowd just enjoys harkening back to the glory days of WWE. Nick Wayne is fantastic but Jericho is too old to be in singles matches so this never amounted to anything noteworthy. *1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS (MATT & NICK JACKSON) vs. DON CALLIS FAMILY (KEVIN KNIGHT & KYLE FLETCHER) (22:39): This was the best match of the night. It was basically just four wrestlers stopping to set up creative spots one after another. I seem to always note in these reviews about how certain matches never heated up to anything. Well...this one did. It started pedestrian but heated up to a point where the crowd was all standing on their feet. They did a lot of crazy, creative stuff in this one. The Bucks retained the tag titles. ***1/2

PERSEPHONE vs. DANI LUNA vs. HYAN vs. QUEEN AMINATA (13:55): Persephone retained the TBS title. Shockingly, the crowd got really into this one in the middle of it even though at the beginning the crowd was silent. There was some good action throughout. Dani Luna did a mid-rope standing suplex that was pretty cool. **

ANDRADE EL IDOLO vs. TOMMASO CIAMPA (20:54): Ciampa's character seems to an evil, punishing heel. Maybe he doesn't want that, though, as he pulled out some full comedy spots in this one. He went to the front row and did the Andrade gimmick by taking a picture with someone at ringside, but this time it was with his daughter. Ciampa also did the Andrade gimmick by taking off his pants, this time revealing trunks that read: "I Just Know" (a play on Andrade's "How You Know?" catchphrase on his trunks). When Andrade finally took off his pants, Ciampa started to wrestle the pants. He then pinned the pants, and the referee started to count but the pants kicked out at 2. As stupid as this was, the crowd fucking loved it. Andrade also did his moonsault off the top rope into another standing moonsault while his pants were still halfway around his ankles. So, this was certainly engrossing to watch in spots. Andrade retained the National title. Andrade also still has a title shot contract to face Ospreay in the future. **1/2

'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE & BRODIDO (BANDIDO & BRODY KING) vs. SWERVE STRICKLAND & THE NEW LEVEL (AUSTIN CREED & KOFI) "2 OUT OF 3 Falls Match" (23:40): This was entertaining but not as good as their match on the last PPV. 'Hangman' and Brodido won the Trios titles here, winning the 2nd and 3rd fall. It feels like they're on the precipice of doing another 'Hangman' vs. Swerve match soon, which is what the crowd really wants to see. Bandido did a cool spot where he did the top-rope suplex slam on both Kofi and Austin Creed. **1/2

JON MOXLEY vs. MARK DAVIS (23:28): This was very bloody, very slow, and very brutal. I mean...if you're into this sort of down-and-dirty, slug fest than you probably loved this. This match felt super long which is probably a negative. Moxley was bleeding buckets and by the end Davis was bleeding, too. It was just a lot of punishing clotheslines and hard elbows and sleeper holds. At one point, Marina and Garcia came out to will Moxley on while Moxley was bleeding and sitting outside of the ring looking like he was about to quit. Moxley retained the Continental title. **1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. SAMOA JOE vs. ADAM COPELAND vs. DARBY ALLIN vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. RICOCHET vs. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. 'SPEEDBALL' MIKE BAILEY "CLOCKWORK CARNAGE MATCH" (32:23): I do enjoy seeing wrestling companies try out new gimmick matches. My favorite WWE PPV's are all the gimmick ones: Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, and Money in the Bank (the WWE doesn't do the TLC or Hell in a Cell PPV's anymore, do they?). The basic idea behind this match is a multi-person Iron Man match. They did add a bit of a catch: two wrestlers start and then every three minutes another wrestler enters. Before everyone enters, anyone pinned is eliminated. Then there's 15 minutes with the winner being the one getting the most pinfalls. It wasn't confusing for me, but it might've been for the live audience since they didn't have the announcers explaining it. I think it turned out good and I can see them doing this again. It wasn't a great match or anything, and I think I would have rather seen the Okada/Ospreay match that took place two weeks ago in Paris on Dynamite as the main event on this show. Takeshita and 'Speedball' were eliminated before the Iron Man portion. Everyone in the match won pinfalls. Ospreay gave Copeland a Hidden Blade to win with 3 pinfalls. The highlights included Edge giving Ricochet a spear through the ropes onto a table and Samoa Joe slamming Darby onto the ring steps. The crowd was super into Copeland, so much so that I thought they might start booing Ospreay (they didn't). Earlier in the show they introduced Ilja Dragunov, the newest AEW signing. Honestly? Forget all of Ospreay's opponents in this match. I want to see Dragunov vs. Ospreay for the title at the next PPV. *** 

WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

New Orleans

ROMAN REIGNS vs. LA KNIGHT (26:51): It's been awhile. The last WWE PPV was Summerslam in the beginning of August. They didn't have a September PPV for whatever reason (they did have a few big AAA shows that had a few WWE wrestlers on them in September). It's also strange that Money in the Bank is in October this year. Usually, this show is in July. This was pretty much a typical WWE PPV. It was fine and nothing special. This first match was the best on the show. I don't know why, but I really thought that LA Knight was going to win the title in this match. Three years ago, LA Knight was getting really popular with the crowds so they gave him a main event title match against Roman in Saudi Arabia during Roman's epic 3 and 1/2 year title reign. They didn't pull the trigger then (I said they should have) and they didn't tonight, either. So...what was the point of having this match then? Do they not want LA Knight to be a main event star...ever? I have a weird feeling that they just don't know what to do with Roman Reigns if he isn't champion. That, or they're just scared of biting the bullet and trying something new. They did give Sami Zayn the title three years too late. Maybe LA Knight will finally win the title in a couple of years when it's meaningless and the crowds are tired of him. This New Orleans crowd did boo Roman at certain points. The crowd was super hot for this match. Some of that was because it went on early. My one gripe with this match was that there were actually too many kick-outs. After awhile, the drama is lost. **1/2

TIFFANY STRATTON vs. JACY JAYNE vs. LASH LEGEND vs. LOLA VICE vs. ROXANNE PEREZ vs. SOL RUCA "LADDER MATCH" (15:18): This was pretty sloppy. Tiffany did a moonsault off of a ladder at ringside and barely made it all around. She hit the back of her head on the mat. After that spot, everyone was just laying around as if the match had stopped. There was another spot where two of the women did a backdrop onto a ladder bridge and the ladder and the women slid out of the ring to the floor. Even bad ladder matches are watchable, though, so this was never dull. This is Tiffany's 2nd time winning a Money in the Bank briefcase, which got everyone online pissed off for some reason. **

OBA FEMI vs. BRONSON REED (11:37): Bronson Reed got injured and was out for awhile and came back in better shape. That's a bit of a problem since he was this big, fat beast, portrayed as a monster, and now he's...not really that. Logan Paul, Austin Theory, and Maxine all tried to interfere. Bronson hit Oba with brass knuckles twice when the ref wasn't looking. None of that mattered. Oba still won. This match was pretty boring, actually. During it I was thinking, 'Man, they really shouldn't put Oba in long matches like this.' It was only 11 minutes long! The horror! *1/2

LIV MORGAN vs. BECKY LYNCH vs. STEPHANIE VAQUER (16:58): The WWE had a house show in Chile, where Stephanie Vaquer is from. On that show, Stephanie beat Liv for the title. Liv quickly won the title back in this match. This match wasn't very exciting. Vaquer and Lynch have been in good matches before. I'm not sure I've ever seen a really good Liv Morgan match. Giving her the title just seems to cement that the WWE fucking loves the Judgment Day group. After all, Edge started that group and he's been in AEW for three years already. It's been around that long and, apparently, not going anywhere. *1/2

PENTA vs. BRON BREAKKER vs. CM PUNK vs. JE'VON EVANS vs. KEVIN OWENS vs. TRICK WILLIAMS "LADDER MATCH" (31:55): The WWE has been pretty stale for awhile now, probably since that fantastic Sami Zayn/Bloodline breakup feud years ago. Kevin Owens returning from injury has definitely gave the WWE a shot in the arm. He's fantastic on the mic and in the ring and brings a level of excitement and unpolished oomph that the WWE lacks (ever since TKO bought WWE, it's felt like a polished, safe, boring "product"). Owens and Punk going at it was the highlight (they actually wrestle like they really hate eachother). Penta did a package piledriver onto a ladder bridge on Bron. The big spot was set up by Bron giving Je'Von Evans a spear and Je'Von being stretchered out in an ambulance. Je'Von returned later on driving the ambulance. Eventually, Je'Von was on top of a ladder and was pushed off, crashing through the roof of the ambulance. That was a cool spot and something new, though the spot made zero sense. Je'Von had to climb the ladder next to the ropes. The briefcase is in the middle of the ring. Why was he climbing the ladder next to the ropes then? They definitely could have set it up better. Like...he was climbing up to jump off onto a group at ringside or something. Penta ended up winning. That seems a bit silly, as Penta just had a title match against Roman and lost. Oh, now you want to push him? Why didn't you just have him win the title in front of a mega hot Mexico City crowd? This fucking company baffles me sometimes. I was thinking of what the most memorable briefcase cash in spots were in the past and could only think of 2: The Miz winning the title on the Monday Night RAW before Thanksgiving, and Seth Rollins cashing in after the main event of Wrestlemania to beat Roman. Those two cash ins were years ago (The Miz was in 2010, Rollins was in 2015). It's been too long since this whole briefcase thing was shocking and exciting. Will that change with Penta and Tiffany? I don't have much hope. **1/2