Greensboro, North Carolina
BANG BANG SCISSOR GANG (THE ACCLAIMED, BILLY GUNN, JAY WHITE & THE GUNNS) vs. JAY LETHAL, JEFF JARRETT, PRIVATE PARTY, SATNAM SINGH & WILLIE MACK (12:25): This was an awesome show, maybe the best AEW PPV ever. The pre-show, which featured the first two matches, wasn't anything worth watching, though. The Acclaimed & The Gunns used to be together and it was amusing...but now they're back and it's kind of stale. They're doing a weird gimmick where Max Caster forgets his rap during the entrance...I guess leading to his frustration with the group and him leaving or eventually wrestling Jay White? Or something? Who knows? Jeff Jarrett and his posse haven't even been on TV lately...I kind of thought Jarrett was done or something. Satnam Singh actually got to do some wrestling in this match my God does he look awful. No wonder they usually never give him anything to do but stand around. Private Party at least looked pretty exciting. And why was Willie Mack shoehorned into this match? *1/2
KRIS STATLANDER & WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. JULIA HART & SKYE BLUE (13:30): The crowd at least popped for some of the stuff Statlander and Willow did...which is more than I can say about the totally forgettable Toni Storm vs. Deonna Purrazzo match later on. Julie Hart did a cool moonsault...but when she's wrestling it just feels like she's never wrestled before or something. She just doesn't have that flow you need to wrestle a coherent, logical, exciting match. Skye Blue is pretty great compared to Hart. This was a bit sloppy. *
CHRISTIAN CAGE vs. DANIEL GARCIA (16:52): Good match. They seemed to be setting up another Edge vs. Christian match. I'm not sure why they didn't do this here. There was a great spot when Christian went for a spear and had to stop because his leg gave out and Garcia capitalized. Garcia had previously worked on Christian's leg. That spot got a huge pop from the audience. The crowd was really good for the most part tonight. They popped for the big stuff and were quiet until the matches heated up, which makes sense. They also were on their feet for the whole Sting match for obvious reasons and gasped and popped and screamed for every big spot in the Ospreay/Takeshita match (which was, realistically, the entire match). Cage's goons kept interfering, and eventually Nick Wayne snapped Garcia's head off the top rope to cause him to lose. Cage is AEW's best heel. Maybe they should give him the title (he retained the TNT title here). ***
EDDIE KINGSTON vs. BRYAN DANIELSON (19:45): This match was a little slow and dull early but got better as it went along leading to some really hard slaps and kicks and some dramatic near falls. Good match. Kingston retained the Triple Crown championship and Danielson had to shake his hand. ***
WARDLOW vs. CHRIS JERICHO vs. BRIAN CAGE vs. DANTE MARTIN vs. HOOK vs. LANCE ARCHER vs. MAGNUS vs. POWERHOUSE HOBBS (16:22): It seemed like everyone online hated this match. Yes, there were some missed spots and sloppiness, but I thought it was very entertaining and it was non-stop action. All of the big guys started this match and when they ran into each other the crowd chanted, "Meat!" This was probably because originally the match was supposed to be a "Meat Madness" match. That was scrapped because Miro and Keith Lee were injured. Since this match was only announced a few days ago, maybe that's why it was a little sloppy. Dante Martin messed up at least one dive. Magnus, who's from CMLL, was standing around looking like he didn't know what to do at one point early on. Lance Archer did two rope walks which were pretty cool. He's never around in AEW for whatever reason. Wardlow won and gets a future title shot. I thought this was a lot of fun. ***
RODERICK STRONG vs. ORANGE CASSIDY (12:43): Strong won the International Title here. Strong looked really good, which makes me wonder why he barely ever wrestles. This was mostly just a beat down, which made it kind of boring. Orange got a few comeback spots which made the match fairly entertaining, though. Not one of Orange Cassidy's better matches, though, considering he's had a fantastic last year defending or trying to win this title. After the match, Kyle O'Reilly jumped into the ring and hugged Roderick Strong...but he left before joining their faction. He's been gone so long I don't even remember the last thing he did in AEW. **1/2
BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB (JON MOXLEY & CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI) vs. FTR (21:47):
They had this match on Dynamite a few weeks ago and it went to a 30 minute draw. That match wasn't that great so I didn't really expect much here, either. It was kind of bland until Dax started gushing blood out of his forehead...then it picked up in action and excitement and turned into a pretty good match. I was surprised that Moxley and Claudio won because I thought FTR was from North Carolina. Oh, well. I'm getting a little tired of the BCC, actually. I'd love to see Claudio in some singles matches...and Moxley in some solo hardcore matches. I don't think as a tag team they're that exciting. **1/2
TONI STORM vs. DEONNA PURRAZZO (12:17): This was the one true dud on the show. Toni is a heel but everyone cheers her. The other problem is they enjoy her character but don't care about her wrestling. Plus...nobody cares about Deonna, either because she's new and they don't know her from TNA or because she's fucking dull in the ring. They did a lot of mat wrestling, which no one wanted to see. Supposedly these two are friends from long ago but they didn't gel at all in the ring. This was an utter bore and the crowd was quiet for most of it. Hopefully with Mercedes Monet debuting next week in Boston this women's division will get a much needed spark. -No Stars-
WILL OSPREAY vs. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (21:57): This was perhaps the best match in AEW history. I'm trying to think of one better. Maybe Omega/'Hangman' vs. The Young Bucks? Maybe Ospreay vs. Omega from Forbidden Door? Either way, this match was phenomenal. This was Ospreay's first match as a signed AEW talent...and, honestly, he could never wrestle again for the company and they already got their money's worth. The crowd definitely knows who Ospreay is because they chanted his name at the right points during his entrance song (I don't even know that). But it seemed like some in the crowd didn't know Ospreay too much, because they were popping and gasping for every big move he did that, maybe, they hadn't seen before. This reminded me of those Naito/Ibushi matches where they were just doing suicidal moves back and forth dropping each other on their heads. This was brutal and crazy and a sight to behold. The big move came when Takeshita tried to do a sort of DDT or something on Ospreay while they were both on the ropes. Ospreay kind of missed the ropes but his lower back hit the turn buckle and he fell straight down. I don't know if they botched that or what, but it was gruesome. There really was no point to this match because they're both in the same heel group...but do you need a point when two of the best wrestlers in the world are putting on what might end up being the best match of the year? ****
SOMOA JOE vs. 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. SWERVE STRICKLAND (19:41): They definitely had a difficult time following that all time classic. This did end up being a good match, but it wasn't great or anything. 'Hangman' played the part of being a total heel/crazy person. He pulled one ref out of the ring and beat up another ref. Early on, Somoa Joe had to keep stopping Swerve or 'Hangman' from pinning each other and thus losing his title. Eventually 'Hangman' tapped out to Somoa Joe's chokehold. Did he tap out because he was submitting? Or did he just not want Swerve to have a chance to win the title? A lot of good story telling in this one, even though I probably would have rather seen a singles match between Swerve and Somoa Joe. They don't seem ready to give the title to Swerve just yet, so that's probably why they did the three way. Prince Nana came out to do his dance with a few female dancers before the match during Swerve's entrance. That was probably the highlight, actually. ***
STING & DARBY ALLIN vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (21:03): I guess the idea was to do something extremely memorable for Sting's last match. Well...this was something memorable all right. This match was fucking insane. It was bonkers. It was wild. I actually laughed out loud and gasped and was out of my seat watching this car crash of a match. Holy shit, this was something else. It was quite the spectacle. Before Sting came out, there was a video package of him in a movie theater watching clips of his old matches. Then he said, "It's showtime...for the last time. Let's do this." Then his son's came out dressed as old versions of Sting. One was the surfer Sting in blonde hair and colorful gear. Then the other son was the Wolfpac Sting. Ric Flair and Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat were also at ringside. There were a few other old wrestlers like Lex Luger watching in the crowd. They ended up using a ladder, panes of glass, and tables in this match. The Bucks gave Darby and Sting suplexes off of the stage through two tables. Darby climbed a big ladder in the ring and jumped down onto a pane of glass resting on chairs. The Bucks moved out of the way of that one. Darby was bleeding so much on his back that the doctor had to put some bandages on his back while he was out of the match for a while (when they showed Darby's bloody back on the Titan Tron the crowd gasped in horror...I guess these folks never watch Big Japan, Freedoms, or GCW). Sting climbed up the ladder in the ring but The Bucks grabbed him and put him through a table. Then the Bucks beat the shit out of Sting. They gave him a low blow. They gave him multiple super kicks. But Sting kept kicking out, at one point kicking out at 1. The place was going nuts for all of this and everyone was standing. Ric Flair came into the ring and laid over Sting to prevent the beat down. The Bucks super kicked Ric Flair. Then Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat got on the apron and The Bucks super kicked him. Holy shit. Did I mention that this match was insane? Eventually Darby got back in the ring, his back still covered in blood, and did a Coffin Drop on one of the Bucks. Then Sting put Matt Jackson in the Scorpion Death Lock and Matt tapped out. Sting and Darby retained the tag team titles. And Sting goes undefeated at 29-0 in AEW (30-0 if you count Sting & Darby's win in Noah in Japan). I kind of thought they might have more of a retirement ceremony after the match. Like have the famous, retired wrestlers and Sting's family come in the ring and shake his hand. Or maybe Sting leave his boots in the ring. No, they just had Sting talk on the mic for a bit. His sons came in and he hugged them. They called Tony Khan into the ring and he thanked Sting and the crowd. The AEW locker room stood on the stage and clapped. I saw Dax Harwood crying but Sting didn't cry or get emotional at all. Maybe he's not that type of a guy. If you wanted a memorable last match then they definitely delivered that. This was just an unbelievably crazy match and one for the ages. And it was a great way to go out for a legend. Hell, I remember back in 1997 when everyone was into the Sting vs. Hogan & the N.W.O. feud. That was 27 years ago. Not to mention he was having legendary matches with Ric Flair in the late 80's when I was a little kid. To think that at 65 he's still putting on a great show and selling out an arena. Crazy. This was an epic show and one hell of a main event. ****
