Technically this episode aired on the 23rd here, starting after midnight, but for the sake of clarity I'm keeping it 9/22 like it was intended. 

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Scorpio Sky/Ben Carter

So I saw Ben's match on Dark earlier today-- I thought he looked pretty good though I was largely unfamiliar with him. However, this match was off the charts. First of all, this is the best Scorpio has looked maybe since his match with Jericho on 11/27/2019. I mean seriously. This match was amazing. So much stuff happened I can't even describe it. Ben was doing all these insane moves and Scorpio put him down over and over and over, even started bleeding from his eyebrow but he couldn't quite nail it. Honestly I don't even remember what Scorpio did to finally keep him down, I was too awestruck at what was happening. Ben maybe had the run of a lifetime mid match, he was hitting move after move after move, just blowing it the fuck up. He did this luchasarus esque standing moonsault once and just, hot damn dude. This match was too good for this show that maybe 200,000 people saw at best. I would not be mad if they signed Ben. In fact, I hope they do. 

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Brandi Rhodes/AnnaJay


I was hoping for a Dark Order win here-- got it. So Brandi comes out on FIRE and pummels the shit out of AJ. Hits her with a spear right away, drops her on the apron, just spends the first 5 minutes of the match crushing her down. Anna goes for a quick queenslayer early but Brandi got out of it. They beat the hell out of each other. I just said this about Scorpio too, but both these women were on tonight. Brandi is usually kind of hit or miss, and Anna is SUPER SUPER SUPER green, but they both just wrecked ass. 

Near the end Stu and Uno came out, Stu trying to get in the ring because Brandi was about to get the pin. Uno held him back and distracted the ref while Brandi got an 8-count that turned into 1.5ish, Anna reversed and got the queenslayer and knocked Brandi out cold. Awesome match. Truly fantastic. The best either of them has ever done. 

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Quick Scorpio promo w/ Matt Sydal

Scorpio is celebrating his win with a good opponent when Matt comes over, they're friends, they're gonna party when Matt wins. We also get a short package about the OC/Brodie fight for... later tonight. It's standard OC stuff about how the old people hated him but now they know he's good. Sorry olds, OC was always good. 

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Matt Sydal/Shawn Spears

This was also good-- not as good as the other two matches, but good. Brandi/Anna had story heat, and the Ben/Scorpio match was just MAGIC, this was just a good match. Shawn did look great though. 

Matt honestly has the upper hand throughout this match. Doesn't trip and fall this time though he wipes off the turnbuckle before he climbs up lol. It starts off really mat heavy with a lot of grapples and such, before amping up and getting aerial and violent. They really started giving it to each other, Shawn at one point nearly breaking Matt's neck. 

Matt decks Shawn outside the ring which lets Tully load up Shawn's power glove. Shawn comes back in, delivers a quick left, wham bam see ya man Shawn gets the 1,2,3. Scorpio runs in after a minute and they exchange some pleasantries-- hopefully this leads to a little Shawn/Scorpio action because that would be very hot for me personally. I like both of them but they haven't really done anything spectacular or had any real good feuds. Seems like a fun pairing. 

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Overall

Honestly I'm just pleased as I can be. The show, for a little one hour write off, showcased some really excellent singles action. I really don't mind the tag division in AEW, it's really good, but honestly it really is kind of a relief sometimes just to see some singles work. It's just easier to focus on the story of the match when it's one on one. I hadn't considered that really until after this show, but its true. I repeat again, I like AEW's tag division. I'm not saying Tags suck, just that once in awhile, it's nice to see more singles stuff. 

This show was unnecessarily good. I can't imagine it'll have a high viewership, even amongst AEW fans, but you have to watch it, seriously. 

I think Brandi/Anna Jay will get another match since this one had kind of a funky finish, and why not, they need more womens' feuds, but it might be donezo. I definitely hope we see more of Ben, and I'm sure it's leading to Scorpio/Shawn. Even if its just a little feud, I'm in for it. Scorpio needs something to do and so does Shawn. 

Ultimately this just makes me want AEW's second show even more. I neeeeeed it.