NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

Osaka

BULLET CLUB (CLARK CONNORS, DRILLA MOLONEY, GABE KIDD, ROBBIE X & TAIJI ISHIMORI) vs. INTERGALACTIC JET SETTERS (KEVIN KNIGHT & KUSHIDA), THE VELOCITIES (JUDE LONDON & PARIS DE SILVA) & KATSUYA) & KATSUYA MURASHIMA (6:14): This match was awesome. I was not expecting that out of the opener (there was a kick off match but I didn't watch that). There were no tags in this match which made no sense. It was just everybody in the ring doing crazy moves for 6 minutes. Fun, wild stuff. ***

LOS IGNOBERNABLES DE JAPON (BUSHI, HIROMU TAKAHASHI, TETSUYA NAITO & YOTA TSUJI) vs. SKATEBOARD BROS (DRAGON DIA & RYUSUE TAGUCHI), TOMOAKI HONMA & TORU YANO (7:02): Honma and Taguchi are still wrestling? Interesting. Almost like they signed a 20 year contract or something. Naito, who lost the IWGP title in the main event of the last big show, is now relegated to a prelim, multi-man match. This wasn't good. *1/2

HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL & REN NARITA) vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI & OLEG BOLTIN (7:26): Tanahashi is going on a year long retirement tour next year. It starts at the Dome against Evil, hence why this match existed. Tanahashi can barely walk around so it's honestly kind of sad to see him still attempted to wrestle. Hopefully when he beats Evil, HOT will disband. One can hope. This wasn't good. And Boltin still comes out wearing the stupid fur hat. 1/2*

KENNY OMEGA: Shockingly, Omega came out here to say he'll be wrestling one of the younger New Japan guys on January 5th at the AEW/NJPW Dome show, Dynasty. Funny, because he's in AEW and didn't show up there first. I kind of thought he'd never wrestle again because he almost died from diverticulitis and had part of his intestines removed. He did 99% of his speech in Japanese. I guess it makes sense that he knows the language since he lived there for 15 years or something. Still weird seeing him fluently speaking Japanese. It just looks like such a hard language to learn. I wonder who he will face. They kind of set up David Finlay wanting to wrestle him. Could be Shota, Uemura, or Tsuji. I'd like to see Tsuji. That'd be wild.

SHOTA UMINO vs. SANADA (16:41): Shota was cheered in this match, which is strange because he was booed later on when he challenged Zack Sabre, Jr. I guess they like Shota but they don't want him being in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. This match was boring. I was watching it thinking that, man, this match is way too long...and it was only 16 minutes! Felt like 30. Towards the end it got somewhat decent with some near falls and action. *1/2

UNITED EMPIRE (GREAT-O-KHAN & HENARE) vs. TMDK (MIKEY NICHOLLS & SHANE HASTE (11:11): Great-O-Khan and Henare won the tag team titles here. Match was okay. It was very hard hitting. There were a lot of hard slaps. Nicholls had his forehead busted up from a head butt. Or it might have been Haste. They're so great I can't tell them apart! **

ICHIBAN SWEET BOYS (KOSEI FUJITA & ROBBIE EAGLES) vs. CATCH 22 (FRANCESCO AKIRA & TJP) (15:20): This was the match of the night. The first half was okay but the second half was back-and-forth, wild moves at a frenetic pace. This was the finals of the Jr. tag team tournament. I wonder if TJP is still doing that stupid demon alter-ego gimmick. He was wearing red contact lenses in this match. Is Ichiban Sweet Boys like a gay reference? Sounds like one. Eagles does always wear scarfs. After the match, Kushida and Kevin Knight came out. I think they're the tag champs. Then the War Dogs came out to beat everyone up. So it'll probably be a 4 way at the Dome. ***1/2

DOUKI vs. MASTER WATO (22:07): Douki is actually the Jr. champ. Really? I guess it got boring with Hiromu, Ishimori, and Desperado constantly holding it. It's funny, but when I was a kid we all used the word dookie. That's like a totally lost word these days. The only reason it's probably sort of still remembered is because Green Day's first album was titled that. I wonder where that word even came from. Honestly, these two aren't exactly setting the world on fire in their matches, so this wasn't that great. Douki choked out Wato. Desperado came out to challenge Douki. **

DAVID FINLAY vs. TAICHI (23:22): The first half was kind of okay, but the second half was dramatic as hell. The announcers had a field day shouting after big moves on this show. These two just gel I guess. The big storyline was that Sanada joined the War Dogs group and pulled the ref out of the ring to help Finlay win. Taichi was in Just 5 Guys with Sanada. I'm guessing this company realized that Sanada isn't a big enough star to have his own group so they got rid of it. Match was wildly entertaining in the last five minutes or so. ***

ZACK SABRE, JR. vs. SHINGO TAKAGI (29:28): I think that this probably should have been the Dome main event. Granted, their 1st match in the G1 was better than this. I realize that Zack's gimmick is submissions, but a lot of this match dragged with all of the holds. It just never heated up into anything fantastic. Zack won the G1 and, surprisingly, decided to cash in his IWGP title shot last month where he beat Naito for the title. We all wondered why that happened in October instead of at Wrestle Kingdom. The answer? Shota Umino came out to a chorus of boos to challenge Zack. So the reason Zack didn't wrestle Naito at WK is because they wanted Shota vs. Zack to be the main event of their biggest show in 2025? Wh-wh-what? I guess the boos happened because Shota didn't really earn the shot and doesn't even have a belt or anything. It's basically the company is forcing his push, and the fans don't like that. Or maybe New Japan wants to turn Shota heel, who knows? The big reason is obvious why Shota is getting such a stratospheric match: the company needs new, big stars right now. Okada, Jay White, and Ospreay all left for AEW. Tanahashi is retiring. Naito is halfway to a wheelchair. I think Shota vs. Zack is intriguing. It's something new. I kind of think Shota has to win, though, otherwise what's the point in doing it? Unless they want to do what they did with Shota and Ospreay. Those two had a 40 minute match where Shota put in his all and came up just short. The weird thing is, Ricochet showed up and did a top rope elbow drop onto Zack after this match and challenged him for Dynasty. That show is the day after the Dome. It's almost like Ricochet was saying that Shota aint beating Zack for the title. I'm so happy for Richochet. The WWE didn't do shit with him and now he's going to main event a show at the Tokyo Dome. This show was entertaining but wasn't spectacular or anything. They did do a good job of setting up Wrestle Kingdom and Dynasty, though. **

WWE CROWN JEWEL

 

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

THE BLOODLINE (JACOB FATU, SOLO SIKOA & TAMA TONGA) vs. ROMAN REIGNS & THE USO'S (16:35): With all the money that Saudi Arabia is spending just to get these shows, you'd think they'd eventually ask for a Wrestlemania or Royal Rumble or something. At least when these shows started they were getting out-of-retirement legends like Shawn Michaels, Goldberg, and The Undertaker to make the shows somewhat special. The hottest program these days in the WWE is still the Bloodline saga, so it was kind of surprising that this match went on first and was only 16 minutes long. Roman Reigns actually got pinned. Sami Zayn came out to save the day before contemplating going heel and joining Solo's team. Are they really going back to the will-Sami-Zayn-turn well again? Match was okay. **

BIANCA BeLAIR & JADE CARGILL vs. CHELSEA GREEN & PIPER NIVEN vs. DAMAGE CTRL (IYO SKY & KAIRI SANE) vs. META GIRLS (JAKARA JACKSON & LASH LEGEND) (12:00): Jade is a really tall woman, so of course the WWE now has a team, Meta Girls, featuring women even bigger than Jade, thus negating the whole point of Jade. There were some sloppy moments in this but the crowd got into some of the high flying by Iyo. Bianca and Jade retained the women's tag team titles. I kind of thought Bianca was a big solo star so I'm baffled why they put her in a tag team. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. BRONSON REED (12:20): This was a good match. Seth is the best wrestler in the WWE and Bronson used to be in New Japan so he can wrestle (he beat Okada! Why did he leave?). The match started with them brawling on the entranceway before the bell rang. It was pretty much a non-stop brawl, which made it entertaining. Seth gave Bronson a stomp on the ring stairs at one point. The crowd seemed into it. The whole night I was wondering who the two white guys in their 60's were sitting in the best seats in the front row. Are they, like, oil executives or something? Maybe they work for TKO. That's how great this show was...I was more interested in random people in the crowd. ***

LIV MORGAN vs. NIA JAX (8:15): They used to do champions vs. champions at Survivor Series for a few years. They'd have the RAW champ vs. the Smackdown champ and the RAW tag team champs vs. the Smackdown tag team champs. I guess that's why they did this here. Liv and Nia are both champs but this was for the Crown Jewel championship. The problem with doing that, though, is that who the fuck cares who wins or loses when their titles aren't at stake? Dominick and Raquel Rodriguez interfered to help Liv win. This wasn't good. 1/2*

RANDY ORTON vs. KEVIN OWENS: The crowd popped big for Randy Orton. Maybe because he's been around long enough for people in Saudi Arabia to remember him? This match never officially started because Kevin Owens started beating Orton with a chair. They both started giving their signature moves to the referees and officials that ran out to stop them. Eventually, Owens jumped off a guardrail in the crowd and gave an elbow drop onto Orton on a table. This was entertaining. I'm not sure why they turned Kevin heel, though. I guess...why not? He hasn't been doing much lately. **1/2

LA KNIGHT vs. ANDRADE vs. CARMELO HAYES (9:10): They were all doing moves off the top rope, so that was exciting. And the crowd seemed to be into LA Knight. They're not that into him, though, considering this time last year he main evented Crown Jewel against Roman Reigns. I said back then that he should've won. He didn't...and now he's just a mid-carder. You reap what you sow. **1/2

CODY RHODES vs. GUNTHER (23:00): I thought this match was boring, actually. It wasn't slow but it was basic and never heated up into anything great. These two are both champions and neither belt was on the line so who cares who wins? I think this was Gunther's first time in the main event on a PPV. The whole match I was thinking: I miss fat Walter. *1/2

AEW WRESTLE DREAM

Tacoma, Washington

BRIAN CAGE vs. ATLANTIS, JR. (11:00): This was another good AEW PPV. Nothing new there. The end, though, was a total downer. I get why they did it, but the show certainly ended with the viewer sad, which probably isn't the best thing if you just shelled out $50 to watch it on TV or even more to see it live. The crowd for this show was awesome. It reminded me of those hot Chicago and Vegas crowds in the early days of AEW. Because the show was so long, though, the super hot crowd got tired and wasn't as awesome or loud after the Takeshita/Ospreay/Ricochet match. The pre-show was over an hour long, which is kind of ridiculous. Why are these PPV's getting longer when they're now doing more PPV's a year? Shouldn't they be getting shorter? Either way, Brian Cage won the ROH TV title. Funny that Atlantis, Jr. was the champ. He's not even in AEW or ROH. The match was good. Brian Cage hasn't been on TV much lately for whatever reason, though he's fun to watch. Atlantis, Jr. isn't the greatest luchador, but he's adequate. **1/2

ANNA JAY vs. HARLEY CAMERON (8:20): Anna Jay actually went to Stardom to be in their tournament. Is she a better wrestler now? Who knows? You don't really watch her for her wrestling moves. Harley Cameron is the stereotypical bimbo character that Vince McMahon loved to put in bra and panties and mud pit matches. She probably would've been a star in the Attitude Era WWF. Match was okay. *1/2

THE ACCLAIMED vs. MxM COLLECTION (11:25): I was kind of surprised that they put this match on the pre-show. MxM Collection is a new tag team and one of those comedy teams that the WWE loves (or used to, anyway). They're, like, fashion models that pose in their matches. I guess they're mildly amusing. MxM brought out Rico, some old has been wrestler that I don't remember. The crowd loved when Billy Gunn beat him up. **

KYLE O'REILLY & ORANGE CASSIDY vs. THE OUTRUNNERS vs. THE DARK ORDER vs. THE PREMIER ATHLETES (11:30): I don't know why, but The Outrunners are suddenly super over with the live crowds. Their gimmick is basically they're both like Hulk Hogan in the 80's Hulkamania phase. I guess the crowds like being reminded of their childhoods. Or it's just so over-the-top and stupid they've gotten behind it. Who knows? The Dark Order seems halfway out the door in AEW, as they're barely ever used. It's a shame because they were really popular and fun to watch a few years ago. This match was entertaining. **1/2

JAY WHITE vs. 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE (16:29): This was a good match, which was a surprise to be because usually Jay White is a bore. Because 'Swerve' is from Washington and 'Hangman' is his nemesis, they booed the hell out of Adam Page and cheered everything Jay White did. That certainly made the match better than it probably would've been. The ending was great. 'Hangman' went for his Buckshot Lariot but Jay caught him and reversed it into a Blade Runner for the pin. 'Hangman' just won in the main event of the last PPV, so you'd think they wouldn't have him lose clean right away, but I guess Jay's been out with a broken foot so they didn't want to have him lose in his return. ***

MARIAH MAY vs. WILLOW NIGHTINGALE (10:52): Without Toni Storm, Mariah's championship run so far has been kind of flat. This match didn't even really have much of a build and it turned out to be just okay. **

JACK PERRY vs. KATSUYORI SHIBATA (9:20): This was probably the weakest match on the main card. It was fine but never really heated up in anything fantastic. The end was kind of weird. Shibata had Jack in a chokehold but was laying on the mat on his back and so the ref counted 3 and he lost. I guess they couldn't have Shibata lose clean. After this match, Daniel Garcia ran out to save Shibata. Then MJF came out. Then Adam Cole came out. Adam Cole is a babyface now, which makes no sense as he was the evil, Devil Masked heel last year. The crowd ate up all these returns, though, and MJF was awesome on the mic. **

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. WILL OSPREAY vs. RICOCHET (20:42): If someone named this the best match of the year then I wouldn't have a problem with that. This match was by far the best match of the night. It was wild and the fans were standing on their feet just to witness the spectacle of crazy moves one after the other. One in particular move was phenomenal. Takeshita and Ospreay were running the ropes and Takeshita put his arm out to clothesline Ospreay. Ospreay flipped over Takeshita's arm then jumped off the second rope to deliver an Osscutter on Takeshita. That was just insanely athletic. And this match was filled with crazy moves like that. The ending had Don Callis run in the ring with a screwdriver to attack Ospreay. Kyle Fletcher ran out and turned heel and hit Ospreay with the screwdriver then gave him a Tiger Driver. Takeshita won the International Title. Finally, Takeshita won something. ***1/2

'SWERVE' SEGMENT: 'Swerve' Strickland is from Washington, so he kind of had to be on the show. He came out and then MVP and Shelton Benjamin came out. 'Swerve' said he's sticking with Prince Nana as his manager. Supposedly this is going to set up the debut of Bobby Lashley, who will be with MVP. I mean...they could've just done Lashley's debut here but I guess they didn't want to have 'Swerve' get beat up in his home state. 

HOLOGRAM vs. THE BEAST MORTOS "2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH" (16:45): These two seem to always be wrestling on Collision, so it felt kind of out of place on a PPV. They're both entertaining to watch, so I guess they figured they'd put them on a big stage. Tony Khan must love The Beast Mortos, because he's been wrestling on pretty much every TV show all summer while guys like Malakai Black, Ricky Starks, Miro, and countless others seem to rarely show up if ever. This was a typical match you'd see in CMLL. It was fun, but the hot crowd was gone after that Ospreay match. **1/2

DARBY ALLIN vs. BRODY KING (12:27): Supposedly, Darby was supposed to beat Bryan Danielson for the title in the main event of this show. They decided to change that for whatever reason so we got this random match. The match was brutal. Darby tossed Brody King off the top rope onto the steel stairs then did a Coffin Drop from the top rope onto him on the stairs. Brody basically killed Darby for the entire match but Darby ended up winning. **1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. PRIVATE PARTY (15:49): They had a video package before this match mentioning that Private Party beat The Bucks on Dynamite 5 years ago but haven't done anything since then. It seemed like they were pushing the idea that Private Party are losers now and need a big win to change that. Well, Private Party lost. So what was the point of this? Just to give Private Party a PPV match? That's enough apparently. The match was good but not a typical, great Bucks match. FTR wasn't on the show. Top Flight was sitting at ringside for this match. Maybe Top Flight will be the Bucks' next opponent? I mean...what other tag teams are there? The Outrunners? **1/2

MARK BRISCOE vs. CHRIS JERICHO (15:18): This match was good but I really don't want to see Jericho in a singles match anymore. He's too old to be having great matches anymore. The story here was Jericho is an evil heel and was rubbing it in about Mark's brother being dead. Yep, great storyline! Chris gave Mark the J-Driller, which was Jay Briscoe's finisher. Mark kicked out and eventually delivered his own J-Driller. Mark is fun to watch, so that aspect was entertaining. **1/2

JON MOXLEY vs. BRYAN DANIELSON (26:52): Darby was supposed to beat Danielson here and thus it would be a changing of the guard since Danielson is retiring from being a full time wrestler (he needs neck surgery but probably will eventually wrestle again). They decided to change that and create a monster heel in Moxley. I guess the idea is to have Moxley and his crew of Pac, Mina Shafir, Claudio, and Wheeler, be akin to WWE's Bloodline. A heel group that rules the company until a babyface hero rises up and finally wins back the title. Darby will apparently be that hero. So what they did was have Moxley not only beat Danielson (in his home state, too) but basically kill him off. The match was good mostly because the crowd was really into every comeback that Bryan got. Mina Shafir interfered a few times. She pulled back the ringside mat and both men eventually got slammed on the concrete, Moxley giving Bryan a Death Rider on the cement at one point. Moxley choked out Danielson to win the title. Wheeler Yuta ran in but turned heel and used a plastic bag to choke out Bryan. Claudio put a chair around Bryan's neck and did a foot stomp on the chair. A few guys ran out to try to stop the carnage. Private Party and Jeff Jarrett came out to try to stop the heels to no avail. Darby ran out but ended up getting beaten up and taped to the ropes to watch Bryan get murdered. Bryan was eventually taken out on a stretcher. What a retirement! Excalibur was crying while announcing this, which wasn't fake. It was a compelling way to end the show. And they wanted to make Moxley a monster heel and they succeeded. He's already had the title I think 3 times, though. He is perhaps the company's biggest star, though, so giving him the title isn't like a bad move. Downbeat ending but it was effective. ***

WWE BAD BLOOD

 Atlanta

CM PUNK vs. DREW McINTYRE “HELL IN A CELL” (31:23): Last week on Wrestling Observer Radio they noted that this show was sold out and the secondary market tickets were all going for really high prices. I guess because the card was pretty good. Well, at least there were two big matches. And the crowd probably went home happy because The Rock made an appearance at the end. There ended up only being one good match on the show and it was this one. The reason that this was the best Hell in a Cell match in years was obvious; both guys were bloody messes. Since the WWE sold to Endeavor, they've used blood on occasion after the WWE never used blood for decades. The reason they stopped using blood after the Attitude Era was so they could get family friendly advertisers on their shows. I guess they don't care about them anymore? While this was a typical HIAC match, the blood made it seem more brutal and more exciting. They used tables, chairs, a wrench, and the ring steps. McIntyre had a bag of something and it would've made the match better if it was thumbtacks but unfortunately it turned out to be friendship bracelet pieces. Yep, we're still not finished with this blood feud being about a friendship bracelet. Still, it was probably the WWE's best match of the year. ***

NIA JAX vs. BAYLEY (14:12): The rest of this show was boring and the crowd was fairly quiet until parts of the main event. In this match, Tiffany Stratton attempted to use her MITB briefcase but Nia saw it and thwarted the attempt. 1/2*

DAMIAN PRIEST vs. FINN BALOR (12:50): This was okay but totally forgettable. Carlito and JD interfered. Remember Edge started The Judgment Day? I think it's time is over. *1/2

GOLDBERG/GUNTHER/SAMI ZAYN SEGMENT: HHH came out to unveil the new Crown Jewel championship (another title? What is this, AEW?). The crowd booed when HHH mentioned Saudi Arabia. Gunther came out because it will be Cody vs. Gunther for this new title. Gunther made fun of Goldberg who was sitting ringside. Goldberg tried to get into the ring but security stopped him. Sami Zayn ran out to beat up Gunther. How old is Goldberg, anyway?

RHEA RIPLEY vs. LIV MORGAN (14:32): They botched the ending to this. That didn't really matter, as it was a bad, boring match anyway. Dominik was suspended in a shark cage. He somehow got the door open and ended up falling out but was hanging by a chain on his ankle. Rhea went over and hit him with a Singapore cane. The ending was supposed to be Raquel Rodriguez returning, helping Liv to win. The problem was that the ref wasn't supposed to see this interference but he did and so just rang the bell for the DQ. Raquel still laid Liv over Rhea for the pin, not realizing the ending was botched and the bell had already rang. Awkward, bad ending. 1/2*

CODY RHODES & ROMAN REIGNS vs. THE BLOODLINE (SOLO SIKOA & JACOB FATU) (25:50): Shockingly, this was Roman's first match since Wrestlemania. Jesus. He has quite the sweet deal. The match was boring. Cody did a top rope splash onto Jacob Fatu on the announce table. That was great. The rest of this didn't feel special, it just felt like a random TV match. After the match The Rock came out and stood there and then left. Okay. At least do something! **

AEW ALL OUT

 Hoffman Estates, Illinois

 

THE ACCLAIMED vs. IRON SAVAGES (8:08): I still don't think it's a good idea doing a PPV right after All In. Last year they did this show a week after All In, so at least this was two weeks later. It's still too close. The show was good, though. I think the first half was better than the second half. While the double main event provided a lot of brutality and shocking moments, both the championship match and the steel cage match were a little too slow and plodding. The pre-show had four matches, all typical matches you might randomly see on a forgettable Rampage show. The Acclaimed seemed to be getting pushed this summer. They were in the “Blood & Guts” match and they got big matches against The Young Bucks and FTR on TV and then a title match at All In. Now they're opening the pre-show against a team I never heard of. I guess the push is over. They probably should just turn them heel. *1/2

DUSTIN RHODES, HOLOGRAM & SAMMY GUEVARA vs. THE PREMIER ATHLETES (ARIYA DAIVARI, JOSH WOODS & TONY NEESE) (9:51): Sammy Guevara seems to still be in the dog house. The crowd chanted for Dustin to get in and popped when he did. Hologram seemed a little more sloppy than usual. Match was entertaining for the most part. **

BANG BANG GANG (AUSTIN GUNN, COLTEN GUNN & JUICE ROBINSON) vs. THE DARK ORDER (ALEX REYNOLDS, EVIL UNO & JOHN SILVER) (7:37): The Dark Order have also kind of been forgotten about. Remember when they sort of a big deal? Or, at least, the crowds liked John Silver? I guess Jay White is still injured. Hopefully he's not out for a long time like a lot of AEW stars that go missing (Ricky Starks, Miro...I could go on). Match was okay. *1/2

THE UNDISPUTED KINGDOM (MATT TAVEN, MIKE BENNETT & RODERICK STRONG) vs. ACTION ANRETTI & TOP FLIGHT (DANTE & DARIUS MARTIN) vs. SHANE TAYLOR PROMOTIONS (SHANE TAYLOR & LEE MORIARTY) & THE BEAST MORTOS (10:52): There were a lot of people in this match. I'm not sure why. The Beast Mortos has been given a lot of TV time lately. His match on Collision against Takeshita was really good. This was fun but forgettable. **

MJF vs. DANIEL GARCIA (23:37): They really pushed Daniel Garcia this summer as being a mid-card guy finally ascending to main event status. Unfortunately, he probably should have won this match for that storyline to make sense. Match was kind of slow. MJF hit Garcia in the balls when the ref wasn't looking and quickly pinned him. After the match, Garcia got his revenge and gave him a pile driver from the top rope. MJF didn't need to win here. **

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB (WHEELER YUTA & CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI) (15:45): Match was fine but nothing special. This was more or less just a typical TV match. Supposedly they sold out the building for this show, which is actually a great feat considering most AEW shows only get a couple thousand fans if that. **1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. PAC (20:36): This was the best match on the show. Of course it was. Ospreay looked even better than usual if that's possible. I was thinking they should have let PAC win since he's been kind of sidelined in the mid-card for a long time. The crowd was going nuts for a lot of the crazy, seamless spots they did. I still like Takeshita/Ospreay from earlier this year was better, though. ***1/2

KRIS STATLANDER vs. WILLOW NIGHTINGALE “CHICAGO STREET FIGHT” (14:57): This match was fantastic. Did they really need a street fight, though? They were already doing a “Lights Out” steel cage match. They actually used light tubes in this match, which AEW rarely does. Willow smashed a stick of tubes taped together over Statlander's head. They did have to do that on the entranceway away from the crowd. Statlander put Willow through the announce table. They crashed through the guardrail by the fans. Statlander speared Willow off the entranceway and down onto two tables. They used thumbtacks. This was nuts and super entertaining. ***1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. ORANGE CASSIDY vs. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. MARK BRISCOE (14:59): This was maybe Okada's best match in AEW. Which is probably saying how disappointing his matches so far have been. I think his matches are too slow for AEW, but this had four guys in the ring so it was never totally boring. Takeshita looked awesome, even delivering a better Orange Punch than Cassidy does. Crowd was a little quiet in spots and Briscoe kept trying to hype them up. Okada retained whatever meaningless title he has. **1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. HIKARU SHIDA (16:32): This was probably the weakest match on the main card. It was fine. They wrestled. It wasn't very exciting. Mercedes kept trying to fix her wig and I thought it was going to come off. There were two funny signs in the crowd for this match. One said “Mercedes Phoney” and the other said something like “Mercedes Blowme.” Crude. Mercedes has yet to have a great match in AEW. *1/2

BRYAN DANIELSON vs. JACK PERRY (27:53): This match was kind of slow and boring until the last ten minutes or so. The crowd got into it late with the “Yes!” chants and the near-falls and, of course, the ref bump. The Young Bucks came out to beat up Danielson. Wheeler Yuta and Claudio chased them away. Danielson finally won and then Christian came out to cash in his title shot. Moxley came out to stop this and then Claudio and Wheeler came out. Claudio turned on Danielson by giving him a clothesline. Then Moxley put a plastic bag over Danielson's head to presumably kill him. The crowd chanted, “This is murder!” Wheeler was crying and held back by Claudio. So I guess Moxley, Claudio, and PAC are the new heel group along with Mirina Shafir, who's been hanging out with Moxley. I guess they had nothing else for Marina to do. The refs saved Danielson and the doctors gave him oxygen and stretchered him out. Interesting angle. It's something new having heel Moxley vs. Danielson for the title, so that's good. **1/2

'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. SWERVE STRICKLAND “LIGHTS OUT STEEL CAGE MATCH” (31:22): While this match was certainly brutal and disturbing...it was not exciting like their epic “Texas Death Match.” The crowd was also quiet, which made this feel kind of lethargic. Since they were in a steel cage and were just using weapons, it wasn't fast paced or entertaining. There were a few “sick” spots. They both got slammed back first onto a cinderblock. 'Hangman' used a charred piece of wood from the fire (oh, yeah...'Hangman' burned down Swerve's childhood home in what was one of the great moments in AEW history on Dynamite) to try to stab Swerve but Swerve took it to stab 'Hangman.' They used a staple gun. Swerve stapled a picture of his family to 'Hangman's face. The big, shocking finale had 'Hangman' using a syringe needle to stab Swerve in the inside of his mouth then hit him over the head with a chair. The ref called for the bell. 'Hangman' won. I would have liked this more if it was fast paced and exciting with maybe more moves than just them idly walking around the ring seeking weapons in front of a hushed crowd. I can't really say it was disappointing as it was billed as being gruesome and crazy and it delivered on that. 'Hangman' let out a cathartic scream on the entranceway to close the show. Finally he's finished the feud. He won. **

WWE BASH IN BERLIN

Berlin, Germany

CODY RHODES vs. KEVIN OWENS (26:10): The WWE's been having a lot of international shows lately, right? Do they make more money doing those or something? I'd think just flying everyone there would cost a lot. In May they had PPV's in France and Saudi Arabia. Then their June PPV was in Scotland. Now they're in Germany. Maybe this has something to do with pushing their RAW to Netflix deal, which starts in January. Who knows? The crowd in Germany was good but nothing like that raucous Lyon, France crowd. It didn't help that this felt like a forgettable house show. The WWE PPV's have not been that great this year, although the big ones like 'Mania and Summerslam were pretty good. This first match was kind of pointless because who the hell thought Kevin Owens, who's a babyface, anyway, had a chance to win the title? Granted, AEW is having Bryan Danielson defend the title against Jack Perry next week at All Out, and that match seems just as pointless. The work in this match was fine. It was decent. The story had Kevin Owens refusing to “go for the kill” and thus ending up losing. So they made him look pathetic. I'm guessing this means he will turn heel, otherwise, what's the point of making him look like a pathetic loser who doesn't want to win? **

BIANCA BeLAIR & JADE CARGILL vs. THE UNHOLY UNION (ALBA FYRE & ISLA DAWN) (12:02): Bianca and Jade won the tag titles in this match. Bianca used to be a big, main event star, so I'm not entirely sure why she's now suddenly slumming it in the tag team division. Jade doesn't seem to have become the big WWE star they thought she would, although that's kind of their fault for not giving her anything to do and putting her in a tag team. The crowd was mostly silent for this. *1/2

CM PUNK vs. DREW McINTYRE “STRAP MATCH” (19:15): Punk was bleeding a little bit and they still decided to shoehorn the friendship bracelet story into this match. To win you had to touch each corner and they had a confusing red and green light on each corner. Eventually I figured out that the green light was for Punk and Drew's was red. Match was good but nothing spectacular. They really built this feud up into being this blood feud for the ages and then delivered two average matches. **1/2

THE TERROR TWINS (RHEA RIPLEY & DAMIAN PRIEST) vs. THE JUDGMENT DAY (DOMINIK MYSTERIO & LIV MORGAN) (14:20): They probably should have had the heels win, otherwise the feud is kind of over, right? Nope! They did have Liv attack Rhea on RAW and Rhea was on crutches by the end of the show. The fans really loved the whole Dominik/Rhea dynamic, so I think that was stupid to break them up. This match would have really been better if the men and women could wrestle each other. They did do some of the women doing moves on the men, but God forbid a man hit a woman even though they've done men vs. women in some Japan promotions like DDT and in U.S. indie companies like GCW and PWG. I don't get why they won't do that, as Dominik vs. Rhea would be fucking huge. Match was entertaining. The other Judgment Day members interfered. It was fine. **1/2

GUNTHER vs. RANDY ORTON (34:28): Jesus. 34 minutes? What is this? Pro Wrestling Noah? Because of that epic length, this match was pretty boring. I don't even think Orton delivered an RKO. Orton did put Gunther through the announce table, but did it in the dumbest way possible. He put the stairs next to the table then climbed up and dropped Gunther onto the table. Gunther choked out Orton. The crowd was hot early but got bored. Roman Reigns and the whole Bloodline gang weren't on this show for some reason. Considering that's been the hot angle on TV, it made this show feel kind of weak without them. *

AEW ALL IN

Wembley Stadium, London

ACTION ANDRETTI, KIP SABIAN, KYLE FLETCHER, LIO RUSH, ROCKY ROMERO, TOMMY BILLINGTON & TOP FLIGHT vs. ANTHONY AGOGO, ARIYA DAIVARI, JAY LETHAL, PRIVATE PARTY, SATNAM SINGH & DARK ORDER (11:34): How is AEW making any money paying all these wrestlers? There were over 70 wrestlers on this show. And some of the big AEW stars weren't even there, like Moxley, Takeshita, and Adam Cole. Anyway, this was a great show with a great main event and a lot of big moments. The 50,000+ crowd was awesome. You definitely got your money's worth if you paid to watch it. The only thing fantastic on this pre-show was the return of Jamie Hayter. She was out with an injury at last year's All In, too. What possible injury did she have to be out more than a year? She didn't break her neck or anything. As for this match...it was entertaining though pretty much just a match to get as many wrestlers as possible on the show. Are the Dark Order guys heels? They were on the heel team. AEW hasn't been using them on TV lately for whatever reason. Top Flight and Private Party used to be bigger stars in AEW, now they seem to only be booked on forgettable Rampage matches. The one big star they have been pushing this summer is Kyle Fletcher. He's awesome so it's too bad he got stuck in this. **

TOMOHIRO ISHII & WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. KRIS STATLANDER & STOKELY HATHAWAY (8:14): The shocking thing about this match was that Stokely actually looked good when he was wrestling. Ishii pinned him so Willow gets to pick the stipulation for the Statlander/Willow match at All Out in two weeks (they decided not to do a Labor Day weekend PPV this year and moved it back a week). Willow is probably the most over AEW women's wrestler. Maybe they should start giving her bigger matches than this. **

DUSTIN RHODES, KATSUYORI SHIBATA, SAMMY GUEVARA & THE VON ERICHS vs. CAGE OF AGONY & THE UNDISPUTED KINGDOM (13:08): Sammy was suspended after doing a Shooting Star Press and landing on Jeff Hardy's face. That happened so long ago because Jeff Hardy is in TNA now. You could tell Sammy is trying to get back in Tony Khan's good graces because he was doing top rope flips and dives non-stop, probably trying to look as exciting as possible. Match was fun. **

SARAYA/JAMIE HAYTER: Saraya came out with her family to berate the crowd, saying she won the title here last year and wasn't even booked on the show this year. Jamie Hayter returned to a gigantic pop and laid everyone out. Kind of weird having Hayter's big return be on the pre-show instead of somewhere more prominent on the card, but it was at least in front of her hometown crowd.

BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB (PAC, CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & WHEELER YUTA) vs. THE PATRIARCHY (CHRISTIAN CAGE, KILLSWITCH & NICK WAYNE) vs. HOUSE OF BLACK (BRODY KING, MALAKAI BLACK & BUDDY MATTHEWS) vs. BANG BANG GANG (THE GUNN'S & JUICE ROBINSON) (18:58): This was the PPV opener. Great match. Another typical, crazy, wildly entertaining AEW ladder, tables, and chairs match. Originally, Death Triangle was supposed to be in this match but The Lucha Brothers decided to go to WWE. That meant they had to insert PAC into the BCC for no real reason. I still have no idea why Moxley wasn't on this show. He was last seen in AEW losing the IWGP title to Naito at Forbidden Door. I don't think he's hurt. Maybe Tony Khan just decided to give him July and August off because Moxley had been traveling to Japan a few times in the Spring and was probably burned out. Christian started the match running away and leaving. He returned when everyone was down to attempt to climb a ladder and win. Nick Wayne's mom tried to climb the ladder at one point. Nick Wayne did a running, over the top rope into a Canadian Destroyer onto Malakai through a ringside table. That was a wild spot. Just a bunch of craziness. Really entertaining. The odd team of Claudio, PAC, and Wheeler Yuta are now the Trios champs. PAC is from England and got a big pop when he grabbed the title, so that's the reason they won. ***

MARIAH MAY vs. TONI STORM (15:14): Good match. Mariah, being an evil heel, walked over to her mother at ringside and slapped her. That was kind of a weird spot. I mean...now her mom had to sit there looking forlorn and holding her cheek the whole match. Toni then ran over and hugged Mariah's mom. The crowd was super into Toni Storm. Mariah is from England...so you'd think they could have tried to switch the roles so Mariah would be cheered in her hometown. I guess they realized the fans were never going to boo Toni Storm because, if you remember, her 'Timeless' gimmick started as a heel gimmick but everyone loved it. Toni gave Mariah a piledriver on the stairs and Mariah was bleeding. This was better than the 'bigger' women's match, Britt/Mone. Mariah is now the women's champ. ***

HOOK vs. CHRIS JERICHO (10:14): They had Dyanmite in Cardiff, Wales on Wednesday and also taped Collision after that. On Collision, Hook wrestled Big Bill. I don't know why, but Big Bill got cheered voraciously in that match. It was the funniest thing ever (he's supposed to be a heel...plus nobody in the states cares about him). And I'm not talking just cheered, they were going ape shit for him. So that continued here, with them cheering when Big Bill was beating up Hook (this was an FTW rules match...meaning no rules) and booing when Hook was beating up Big Bill. Eventually, Big Bill got pushed off the apron onto a table with a barbed wire board on top. There were some “please retire” chants for Jericho. He came out singing with his band Fozzy. All of the guys in Fozzy are, like, thirty years younger than Jericho. It's kind of weird. This was probably the weakest match on the show. They brought out a bag of cricket balls and a cricket mallet and used that stuff. Hook wins the FTW title. I would not be surprised if Jericho heads back to WWE. If you remember, Cody left as soon as he started getting booed and now people chant for Jericho to retire. He'd definitely be cheered in WWE. **

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. THE ACCLAIMED vs. FTR (13:32): This was entertaining, though nothing particularly special nor on the level of the FTR/Bucks matches from the past. They probably should have just had The Acclaimed vs. The Bucks because they had been pushing that story all summer long. The Bucks looked great. The Acclaimed are probably turning heel...maybe. At one point, Max joined in to do an EVP trigger. The Bucks retain the tag titles. After the match, The Grizzled Young Veterans, who used to be in NXT, came out. They beat up FTR. The GYV actually wrestled on Collision awhile back, so this wasn't, like, a big debut or anything. **1/2

CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. JEFF JARRETT vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. KYLE O'REILLY vs. LUCHASAURUS vs. MARK BRISCOE vs. NIGEL McGUINNESS vs. ORANGE CASSIDY vs. RICOCHET vs. RODERICK STRONG vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. “CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH” (25:57): This was a hell of a lot of fun. The rules for this are that anyone can pin anyone at any time, even before all the wrestlers get in the ring. It started off with Orange Cassidy and Okada. Okada may be a heel, but the crowd here adored him (kind of a running problem with AEW heels, right?). Nigel McGuinness was a surprise entrant, considering he's long retired and is just an announcer these days. The fans loved everything he did and he looked great considering he hasn't wrestled in years. Zack Sabre was another surprise. And Ricochet was the big debut of the night. He did all his top rope flips and looked like a superstar (something he definitely wasn't in WWE). Christian Cage eventually won and gets a title shot. I love Christian but I doubt they'd ever put the title on him. Super entertaining match. ***1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. MJF (25:57): This was excellent...but it wasn't as good as their 59 minute match on Dynamite last month. The ending was a classic, though. The story started in the Ospreay/Danielson match all the way back in April. Will fake injured Danielson with the Tiger Driver and vowed never to do it again. So of course he did it here on MJF and won. The final five minutes or so was as good as pro-wrestling gets. High drama, back and forth kickouts, a hot crowd. Ospreay wins back the International title. I will say, though, when they announced they signed Will Ospreay I figured that he should be in the main event of this show winning the title. Maybe they thought it was too soon, or maybe they figured Danielson might not be around the next time they have a big stadium show and wanted to give him a big title win on a grand stage (they announced tonight that they're doing a stadium show in Brisbane in February and Forbidden Door next August in London...they previously announced All In will be at the Texas Rangers' baseball stadium next July). ***1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. BRITT BAKER (17:19): Britt Baker is rarely if ever in good matches, so it wasn't a big surprise that this was just okay. Mercedes hasn't been in any really good matches, either, since coming to AEW. They did have a good build for this match as they do both present themselves as big time stars. The match just wasn't all that exciting. Mercedes retained the TBS title. **

JACK PERRY vs. DARBY ALLIN “COFFIN MATCH” (10:37): This was watchable but too short to amount to much. Darby came out with thumbtacks glued to his face. Jack Perry brought out a bag of glass and poured it in the ring, causing some “CM Punk” chants. Perry got slammed on the glass. Darby did a running dive and missed Perry and hit the coffin. Perry taped Darby's hands together and tied his feet with a belt and tossed him off the stage on a table. Then he put him in a body bag and dragged him to the coffin, put him in, and won. I was, like, that's it? Well...no. The Young Bucks came out with a can of gasoline and were going to set the coffin with Darby in it on fire. Sting then came out and the place went nuts. The Bucks hit Sting with a chair and he no sold it, then gave The Bucks a double Scorpion Death Drop. That was great stuff. The actual match was just okay. **1/2

BRYAN DANIELSON vs. SWERVE STRICKLAND (25:59): Towards the end of this match, they did the story where Danielson was done, he was beaten, and Swerve was just toying with him. Then Swerve would deliver a big move or a finisher and Bryan would miraculously kick out. When these kickouts happened, the stadium popped so loud it brought tears to my eyes. This was high-level, emotional, dramatic stuff. The gimmick was that Bryan would retire if he lost. Nobody believed it. But they had Bryan's wife and kids and ringside, and the story had Bryan fighting to win for his family. They did do a spot that didn't sit well with me, though, which was kind of the point. Bryan was a bloody mess, and so Swerve dragged him over to show his kids their father was bleeding and beaten. The kids were fucking crying! Jesus Christ. And his kids are too young to comprehend that this is, like, fake. I mean...I'm sure they told the kids it's fake, but their brains aren't fully developed. This spot did work, though, because when Bryan started to comeback, you could see his daughter standing up and cheering in the front row. It doesn't get much more emotional than that. 'Hangman' Adam Page ran out during the match but was quickly chased off by security. This caused Swerve to be distracted and Bryan him him with a knee but only got a 2 count. Eventually, finally, Bryan submitted Swerve and won the title. Bryan's family came in the ring (his wife is ex-WWE's Brie Bella, if you, like, don't know) and celebrated. That was just an awesome end to this show. The match itself was good but it was the family drama that really made this a high water mark in wrestling for the year. AEW really delivered, again. And this company is #2 behind WWE? I'm just fucking baffled. ****