Venue: Dollar Loan Center, Henderson, Nv.

Hopefully all you Cody Crybabies can wipe the tears out your eyes long enough to read this!

*****

So Miro was in the opening video.  Where’s that guy been for six weeks?

They were not panning the crowd the same way as Wednesday.  Supposedly we’re at less than 2,000 peeps.  Wild Thing blared and the BCC boys made their way through the crowd.  They played clips from Wednesday’s six-man: the BCC cheating and the CMLL extras hitting the ring.  Claudio has a gnarly scar above his left eye from a luchador’s kick per Kevin Kelly.

‘Just keep rollin’ em out,’ were Kelly’s words as the Mexicans made their entrance and about summed up this feud and Tony Khan’s approach to luchadors.  We got no other info about them other than they’re ‘exciting’ and are ‘tecnicos’ (good guys – they didn’t explain this term either).

Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs Star Jr. & Esfinge

Backstory: I assume the luchadors were among the mass of masked men who’ve been attacking the BCC

Mox and Star to set things off, working a headlock, it’s immediately so very quiet now the music’s ended.  Star tripped him to the mat, Mox countered back into a leg lock and a crossface shot.  Star tripped him from behind, working a bow and arrow briefly, Mox quickly freed his arm but was hauled into a crazy hold with every limb behind him.

Until Claudio simply walked in and stomped his pal free.

Star hit a kick to the back of the head, Claudio came back in and took a double thrust kick out, the luchas were prepping a dive when the BCC simply walked away, protected by the ringposts.

Claudio and Esfinge now, straight to the mat, lots of pin attempts from Esfinge for not even one counts, swept up into the swing as the crowd finally made sustained noise.  Mox back in, ten in the corner then dragging Esfinge to the BCC side.  The Mexican flipped out of a belly to back to tag out, Star did some somersault stuff for no reason then landed a double springboard tejeiras to send the BCC outside.

The Mexicans followed with topes.

Star then tried a sunset flip on Claudio.  Didn’t go well: he was hauled to his feet then tried a springboard and was nailed as Europe met Central America via uppercut.

Ads.

Esfinge got two with a crazy deathlock variation, Claudio made the save, Star took out Claudio with a tornijo through the ropes, Esfinge got a near fall on Mox via splash off the top.  Mox nailed him with a KKL for two.  The pair then exchanged shots, Mox talking trash and ignoring Esfinge’s offence until a very stiff kick and rising knee strike.

Star tried to springboard in and was caught and pressed by Claudio into a Mox cutter.

Esfinge then stood between the BCC and tried to fistfight both.  Claudio hit a Ricola to take him out, Mox got H&A then an armbar for the very quick tap.

Pretty entertaining.  Still don’t care about any of the CMLL guys.  Nor have we been given reason to.  Kelly noted Danielson was in Osaka to face Zack Sabre.

Winner: Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli

Mox took the mic then said ‘Gracias amigos’ and told them to take that message (the beating) to anyone anywhere in the world and ‘if anyone wants to step up they get STEPPED ON’.

FTR’s music hit the airwaves immediately and they headed to the ring.

Loud ‘FTR’ chants from the crowd as the four went face to face.  Mox pie-faced Dax and the fight was on.  A clutch of refs rushed the ring to separate them.  Joined by a bunch of lower card wrestlers.  The fans are into this yet it doesn’t sound all that much louder than an old studio show from the 80s.

Ads as the refs and etc were still struggling to separate them.

We returned to a ‘MOMENTS AGO’ graphic as they replayed the above.  A rarity in AEW.  Guessing we at some point find out what Mox said to Dax because they kept mentioning that he must have said something bad to set all that off.

Daniel Garcia vs Shane Taylor

Backstory: NONE

Matt Menard came out behind Dancin’ Daniel and will join on comms.  Lee Moriarty came with Taylor.  Said this before – Menard’s a really good announcer.  Shane Taylor’s music is garbage.

The announcers discussed Garcia and Cage’s interaction last week.

As a cagey (NPI) start saw the youngster avoiding wild strikes from Taylor before a restart.  Garcia this time tried an armbar takedown but didn’t have the strength.  After a rope break, Taylor slugged the youngster with a cheap shot.

They pushed Big Business again after ticks went on sale this a.m.

Taylor knocked Garcia down then mocked his dance: ‘Kevin Kelly put those dollar bills away!’ yelled Nigel and I howled because I’m a fanboy.

A slap then woke the youngster who fired up, dragon screw looking for an ankle lock, Taylor got the ropes, Garcia did some classic Bret Hart-style stomps to the limb using the ropes.  Until Taylor’s strength again paid off as he sent the youngster out through them.

Ads.

Taylor knocked Garcia down via headbutt but Garcia avoided a legdrop on the apron and a splash in the corner, snapping jabs which Taylor quickly shook off, Garcia hit back with a low dropkick then stomped the big man down in the corner.  Before stomping the legs some more and placing the limb in the ropes for a pair of running dropkicks.

Taylor kicked free then caught him in a pop-up powerbomb, big forearm, near fall which the crowd didn’t buy at all.  Taylor said it was over but his leg gave out on a package piledriver.  Garcia tried one of his own but was elevated over, didn’t really avoid a legdrop but applied the kneebar anyway.

Taylor tapped.

Your standard Guy who isn’t winning is given a lot before losing AEW match.  Mentioned before I don’t think it’s the best way to get guys over.

Winner: Daniel Garcia

Footage of Sting and Darby winning the tag belts Wednesday.  Then the angle with the Bucks attack.  I figured there was going to be more but we quickly moved on to:

Eddie Kingston backstage with Lexy in a Public Enemy tee.  He said what the Bucks did was ‘disgusting’ the way they stole Sting’s thunder.  Just like Danielson did to Bryan Keith last week.  So Kingston challenged Danielson for Revolution.  If Kingston wins, Danielson has to shake his hand.

Because he knows it eats at Danielson that he lost to a guy he doesn’t respect.  And hopes it’ll eat him up more having to shake hands with a guy he doesn’t respect.

The fans were chanting through a lot of this so it was quite hard to hear.

Boy, talk about downplaying a massive show-closing angle.  This right here is why AEW doesn’t sell tickets and isn’t the hot product it once was.  They rush away from a chance to further emphasize and sell that angle which is crucial to their next ppv so we can watch Bryan Cage wrestle a squash amid two hours of matches any of which could have a few minutes trimmed.

The Outrunners vs Brian Cage

Backstory: Cage is trying to match Hook’s 1:2 effort from last week

Cage won quickly via tap.

Nana was with him so guess he’s still a heel.  Some mascot called Chance did the Swerve dance with Nana till Cage smacked him from behind.  The announcers sounded more disgusted by this than they were talking about that Bucks attack.

Hook came out and brawled to the back with Cage.  Cage is the level of guy Hook should smash the week after his match with Joe before moving on to a feud with at least a solid mid carder.  Not the level of guy he should be feuding with.

Winner: Brian Cage

Matt Taven called Ishii a Melvin because he still doesn’t realize it sucks yet.  Strong yelled ‘ISHI….I’ which was amusing if you forget he’s supposed to be the third guy in the top heel faction and is about the only one who wrestles.

Then yelled at him for a bit that he’d waited a long time for his International Title shot then left.  My attention may have drifted here but I struggled to see the point of the segment.

Ads.

*****

Schiavone called Adam Copeland to the ring.  A loud ‘Adam’ chant played.  Schiavone told him he was #3 contender and had his pick of the other titles.  Copeland said it was a pleasure (to be with Schiavone) then played to the crowd.  Before warning Nigel about ‘spewing crap’ since he’s a Christian fanboy.

Then said if he’d been there Wednesday what the Bucks did wouldn’t have happened: ‘Nicholas, Matthew, that’s a warning’ (really like other wrestlers talking about this, it’s just a shame the company haven’t actually taken the time to really sell it).

‘I could challenge Eddie Kingston for his dozens of championships,’ he added (popped me).  Then said he does want to do that and vowed it’d happen.  Just not now.  Because Christian Cage stole his title in December.

Which is when Daniel Garcia came back out.

Garcia said he agrees Copeland’s been winning a lot and that should lead to guys getting title shots.  He said he doesn’t mean any disrespect but he saw that TNT Title last week after he beat the Patriarchy and thought it looked good.

Copeland said he didn’t beat the Patriarchy by himself.  FTR helped.  But they speak highly of Garcia and that means something to Copeland.  So Copeland challenged Garcia; Garcia accepted.

It was all going smoothly until a handshake saw Copeland pull the youngster back in:

The fact he’s already wrestled is ‘the only reason I’m not takin your face off right now’.  Garcia’s threatening to take food off his family’s table and that doesn’t work for him.  So he’s gonna beat Garcia’s ass next week.

Other than Copeland coming off a tad heelish at the end, like everything about this.  Guys who’ve been winning on tv clashing to earn a shot at a title.

And Tony Khan made the match!  Just like thaaat, I get in ya.

*****

Absolutely rushing through angles we were now backstage with Statlander, Willow and Stokely.  The gist here is Stokely keeps putting over Statlander and downplaying Willow though it seems they’re all getting along.

Statlander’s hair’s darker so guessing she’s going heel.  Willow cut a weird promo about dancing and stuff leading to fighting.  They were both upset with Skye Blue or something.  I haven’t seen any of this act for ages and they gave zero context.

Stokely said he couldn’t arrange that match because Tony Khan has him blocked.  But he’ll try.  He left.

Punishing your audience for not watching absolutely everything you do is never a good move.  It rarely leads to them deciding they’d better watch everything and more often leads to them thinking that if they can’t keep up, they’ll just skip everything.

Mark Briscoe vs Brody King

Backstory: The House took Briscoe out of the cage match two weeks ago, he cost them the match in retaliation, they then ‘got in his head’ with their usual lights off mumbo jumbo last week

Not the best match placement since this started the same way Garcia/Taylor did – Briscoe hitting and moving trying to avoid the bigger guy.  Until being caught mid-punches in the corner and slammed down in the opposite one.  Before being crushed via cannonball after the requisite barks.

King then unloaded with chops, scoop slam, senton splash, two.

Briscoe got to the apron after a whip then dragged King out through the ropes.  Before nailing a blockbuster off the apron.  Landing looked like it sucked.  Briscoe then tossed a chair into the ring, using it to propel him into a tope con hiro.  He then grabbed a table.

And Rick Knox finally remembered he’s supposed to stop that stuff.  Crowd weren’t happy.  King caught Briscoe diving off the apron again and flung him headfirst at a chair propped against the barricade.  Another sucky landing.

Ads.

Briscoe fired rights but was caught into a Bossman slam for two.  Briscoe hit back via Redneck Kung-fu, leaping forearm, King didn’t go down but was rocked back into the corner.  Where Briscoe nailed a running leg lariat/dropkick before launching ten in the corner.  King tried to grab him, Briscoe bit his way free then booted a dazed King out through the ropes.

Before heading upstairs, a twisting senton landing, King down, Briscoe stopping to play to the crowd before firing a big lariat.  King still not down, he hit back with one of his one which turned Briscoe inside out.  Still he managed to kick out.

Briscoe slipped out of a powerbomb but took a big right and crashed into the corner.  Though avoided a rushing King who he muscled up into a DVD, Froggy Bow coming, Julia Hart hit the apron for what was very predictable since only 5% of AEW’s roster ever win or lose cleanly.

King used the distraction to shove Briscoe off onto the table then hit the Gonzo Bomb to win.

There are dogs who wouldn’t expel this booking out their asses.

Julia then ‘stabbed’ Briscoe with a metal spike.  We weren’t shown the spike beforehand and certainly weren’t shown the attack which they shot from behind.  Briscoe was bleeding.  Who could possibly care at an angle we weren’t actually shown and which was such a ridiculous escalation?  A weapon smaller than that killed Trotsky.

The announcers did talk about it being ‘heinous’ and so forth briefly before we raced away from this bloody angle to…

Winner: Brody King

A Bryan Keith promo.  He said he’s all about his payday so he’s looking for big matches, stars and to climb the rankings and collect his bounty.  Whether you’re good or bad, if you face him, you better be ready to ‘pay up sucka’.

Decent promo which somewhat explains the character.  If he’s a bounty hunter though, couldn’t he be introduced in a more creative way by like trying to collect a bounty a star has put on somebody?  So that he gets a rub?

You know, like, a storyline?

Deonna Purazzo vs Kiera Hogan

Backstory: NONE

Guessing we’re getting back-to-back women’s matches.  Has to be a first.

Deonna immediately targeted the arm, fans absolutely silent.  Hogan got a couple quick pins with early kickouts before Deonna worked the arm some more.  The crowd remain silent.  Hogan tripped Deonna into the ropes then got the crowd behind her against the babyface #1 contender with a leg lariat in the ropes.

Deonna went back to working the arm, the crowd got silent some more.  This continued as she applied a chinlock using the arms.  Then hit a backstabber for barely two.  They exchanged thrust kicks and pump kicks before Deonna got two with a single arm ddt.

They awkwardly crashed together as Tony announced there’s no Collision next weekend due to NBA All Star.

Hogan blocked a piledriver, Deonna hit a running knee, Russian legsweep, floatover into the Venus de Milo for the tap.

The way Deonna smiled before she’s about to basically break another babyface’s arm continues her strange approach to her role.  She was posing on the ramp after doing her brush-off motion to fans at ringside when Toni Storm just happened to make her entrance.

Enjoyed this shtick with Danielson/Kingston but doing it every single week is overkill.

Not a great match.  After seeing her a few times now, Deonna seems to have an over-reliance on working joints.  Not ideal for a babyface, as highlighted by the fact the only time the crowd got into this was when Kiera played to them then hit a couple impact moves with a bit of speed.

Winner: Deonna Purazzo

Toni Storm vs Queen Aminata

Backstory: NONE

As far as I’m aware this is heel vs heel?  And Deonna’s match was babyface vs babyface.  Is booking matches that hard?

Storm acted all weird, darting and moving jaggedly before we started as Nigel called her ‘the  Excellence of Elocution’.

Each took turns working the arm till Storm took Aminata down.  Aminata got a brief rollup, Storm went to a headlock, working it for a while on the mat.  Crowd are at least into this.  Aminata freed herself via legscissors then wiggled her butt in Toni’s face.

‘Howwwww dare you!’.

Storm hit back with a Thesz Press which Schiavone called ‘almost like a Thesz Press’.

Ads.

Back to Toni snapmaring Aminata into a full nelson on the mat.  Aminata fought to her feet, got a sunset flip for two before Toni blasted her with a kick.  Aminata ran into an inside cradle for a near fall before nailing Storm via clothesline.

This is miles better than the previous match.

Snap suplex, running kick to the face as Aminata went close once more.  You could hear Storm calling ‘DDT’ before she countered a suplex into one.  Aminata countered a piledriver into an air raid crash for another close call.  Fans didn’t really care though.

Storm used her new trip into the buckle to counter a hip attack, Storm Zero, win.

This felt like a different genre to the previous match – crisp, physical, nice back and forth.

Toni took the mic to say to ‘Mr Schavonn’ that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas so he needs to stop looking at her like that.

She lay on the mat with a mic to talk about how great her ‘technical’ performance had been, as the camera shot from above the ring.  Then said that on ‘Dy-na-mee-tay’ she’d preview a new ‘fil-im (film)’.  They put a graphic up for ‘Wet Ink’, clearly too early since she said she wasn’t done.

She finished by saying that if Deonna thought she was impressed with her previous match she was wrong then compared her to a ‘wart on my bumhole’.

The chasm between she and Purazzo personality and presence-wise was bigger than that between the quality of their matches (Yes, I’m aware that I’ve performed a very quick 180 on Deonna).

Winner: Toni Storm

Orange Cassidy vs Tomohiro Ishii (International Title)

Backstory: NONE

Strong apparently said something about a rematch vs Ishii during that earlier segment after a match they had years ago.

Both guys got a nice response as they came out.  Right to a lockup, Cassidy ran in place trying to budge Ishii and got nowhere, repeatedly forced back against the ropes, arms up for the clean break before dipping them into his pockets.  Ishii no sold the start of the pockets routine and sent Orange flying outside.

Cassidy asked him to come out after him then ran inside as Ishii exited, trying a couple shoulder blocks as the Japanese reentered.  Ishii wobbled a bit until a diving shoulder finally took him down.  Cassidy though followed with forearms in the corner but dude ain’t called ‘stone’ for nothing: Ishii walked through them all the way to the opposing corner till Cassidy was trapped.

Cassidy looked like he wanted to give up and took a big chop.  A second and third each sent him to the mat.

Ads.  Fun character-based match as usual from Cassidy.

Back to Cassidy hitting stundog and a tornado ddt, tope through the ropes, Ishii back in, a second tornado which spiked Ishii.  For two.

Orange hit the top, diving ddt, stack, Ishii out again at two.  A weak superkick left him down in the corner, Cassidy stomping away, Shibata-style dropkick, Ishii popped up to follow him to the corner, the pair exchanged kicks, Cassidy finally took him down; Ishii popped right back up again to nail something like a pounce but more like a football (NFL) tackle.  Looked great, he just crashed right through him.

A big right bagged two for the challenger, Ishii stalked Cassidy to the corner then placed him upstairs, superplex coming, delayed, from the middle rope.  Crowd really into that.  Slightly awkward landing as it might have been supposed to be a brainbuster. Orange out at two.

Ishii fired up again, Cassidy down, Ishii firing chops, Cassidy yelling ‘cmon!’ after each, firing up, until just collapsing to the mat.  Ishii was perplexed by this as the ref checked the champ.  Before dragging him up, forearm, Cassidy lunged for beach break, Ishii countered into a powerbomb, Cassidy avoided a sliding lariat for two, ducked another lariat, rollup for another near fall, sunset flip, another near fall in rapid succession.

Cassidy tried a lariat but took a headbutt, though Ishii rebounded off the ropes right into an Orange Punch, beach break, Ishii out at 2.9.

Elbow pad off, second Punch coming, Ishii staggering to his feet, snatching Orange into a dragon suplex, Cassidy popped up but was nailed with a lariat for two.  Ishii fired up, forearm strike, Cassidy superkick, Ishii enziguri, basement lariat, Cassidy out again at two.

Brainbuster coming, Cassidy slipped behind, Orange Punch, Ishii staggering but not down, he landed a headbutt, blocked another Punch but Orange hooked a cradle to win.

Really fun match.  Ishii always loses in AEW.  Where no name wrestlers ever lose to anything other than a rollup or egregious cheating.  These are all facts.

The Disputed Kingdom hit the scene as Ishii left and hit a spike piledriver to Cassidy.  They barely squeezed this in as the show left the air.

Winner: Orange Cassidy

 ________________________________________________________________

Next Dynamite:

• Adam Copeland vs Daniel Garcia (#1 Contender TNT Title)
• Toni Storm’s new film – ‘Wet Ink’
• ‘EVPs Matthew and Nicholas Jackson’ vs Top Flight (Seems the Bucks have new music coming too – it’s generically ‘hip hop’ but more heelish than their previous tune)
• Hangman, Swerve and Joe promo segment
• Skye Blue vs Willow Nightingale (‘They used to be friends’ was the tagline here from Kelly; WWE must be fuming, that’s what they had planned for Rock vs Roman)

No Collision next week due to All Star.

Thumbs Up/Down

• Storm vs Aminata – It didn’t last all that long but it was good for the reasons listed above and because Storm felt like a ray of sunshine on a show where no-one else was or had time to be a character
• Orange vs Ishii
• It overall was an entertaining enough show, but the usual issues remain…

 *****

• It was totally for hardcore fans – this had nothing to draw in irregular viewers
• I wrote a thing about attention to detail the other day – this featured a baby vs baby & heel vs heel match, a match which totally ignored the new rankings with no explanation, and only a couple matches had the barest reason for existing: that’s a whole lot of don’t know who I’m supposed to route for; why do they have these rankings?; why should I care about this match? – again not a great way to hook new viewers
• Worst exemplified in their failure to spend more than thirty seconds on that big show-closing angle from Wednesday
• The usual lame cheap finish in any match where the finish isn’t obvious going in
• Deonna Purazzo doesn’t seem comfortable as a babyface in or out of the ring, Storm basically is one already, they should change these roles

Appreciate you reading.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend.