MJf and Wardlow and Sammy and You
The show opens with Dasha talking to Wardlow about his win in the tournament against Jungle Boy. MJF jumps in front and lets us know he's still Wardlow's boss. MJF says if he wins that title, it doesn't belong to Wardlow, it belongs to him. Because of their argument after All Out, Wardlow has no choice but to agree. Sammy comes in afterwards and MJF talks down to him a bit before Sammy says he's going to do whatever it takes to keep him out of the Inner Circle.
Hangman/Wardlow
This absolute firecracker of a match opens next, for, spoilers, what will be an absolutely balls out great night of wrestling on television.
Hangman get's right to it, wailing on Wardlow from the word go. He kicks out his legs, get some offence in, before the match heads outside the ropes. Hangman, ferocious as hell, fighting with everything he has, throws Wardlow against a ringpost. Turning his back on the massive meat man, however, was his first major mistake. This is the same thing that happened to Jungle Boy last week. Wardlow takes Hangman to the gates and THROUGH them, driving him like 6 feet back out of the ring. An absolute monster hit.
The match gets a lot more physical after this in the ring, until Wardlow hits a gigantic F-10 on him. Hangman, WISELY rolls out of the ring and outside. Wardlow gets him back in but it's enough time for Hangman to get his breath back. He hits him with clothesline after lariat, finally landing TWO buckshots, and Wardlow goes down for the pin.
Wardlow looks amazing here, and I think if he can ever get away from MJF and be his own person, he really has a chance for greatness. Hangman, however, is now the first confirmed finalist in the tournament.
Moxley on Kingston (Part 5)
Mox is at the gym, working out for the match. He takes a moment to remind us once again that Eddie's gonna have to utter those unpleasant words "I quit", and accept that it was his own ego that brought him to this place. Mox says he's going for the throat. I believe him.
Eddie enter the ring.
Eddie retorts, escalating once more this continual war of words the two have been having. He chides John for not even being at AEW tonight. He says he'll fight anyway.
Kingston/Sydal
Man, Eddie is such a great wrestler. I just want to fawn all over him. He wrestles like a WCW heavyweight in the mid 90's or an NWA in the mid 80's. He sells like crazy. He really is such a wonderful classic wrestler, and an amazing heel. He fights both with conviction and cowardice at times, switching between the two so effortlessly and so perfectly.
This is, truthfully, maybe one of the best classical matches on the show. I love the big moves and flight of the modern wrestling repertoire, but a classic match likes this makes me feel like home. It's the kind of wrestling I grew up on, even if it is a little faster and a little longer than those matches would have been. I love it so much.
Sydal is also a good wrestler, someone noted for their abilities in the modern high flying world, but who transitions here to have a very grounded match with Eddie.
Kingston is, through much travail, able to get Sydal into Mox's Bulldog Choke, where he then makes Matt pretend to be Mox and say he quits before he lets him out. Eddie nearly kills him. Wonderful match. Wonderful story. Eddie had to win. He did. And he didn't cheat. He won.
FTR & The Bucks W/ Excalibur
FTR, being weenies, act like weenies for a bit, talking about the internet like weenies, and defend their weenie behavior before the interview turns to the Bucks. Excalibur asks them about their dickbag behavior over the last few weeks, and the Bucks double down. They say, yeah, maybe they were out of line, but they don't regret it. FTR lit a fire in them and they want that fire.
Excalibur then follows up, pissing off noted weenies FTR, who leave the interview with Tully. The Bucks then say, apropos of nothing and brought up by no one, that if they don't win the match, like Cody did last year, they won't challenge for the belt again. Excalibur is like, um...really? Matt's leg is trashed! They say yep, and that's that.
Inner Circle Town Hall
With MJF on one side of the ring and IC (Minus Hager, who is off doing MMA stuff right now) on the other, some of our favorite wrestlers pose questions to MJF and Jericho about the state of their union.
Luchasaurus asks what MJF will bring to IC monetarily, then after some fawning by "Reba" over Jericho, Britt asks what IC thinks about MJF's history of bad relationships with other wrestlers. MJF smoothes both of these over, while Jericho does seem suddenly riled up by MJF's dickbaggery in the past (dickbaggery that led Jericho to maintain his championship over Cody, I might add).
Next Peter Avalon is out. On DARK last night, he and Brandon Cutler FINALLY had a conclusion to their saga. Cutler won, but Avalon managed to also finally destroy what was left of his relationship with the other Librarian, Leva Bates. He comes up, looking lonely as hell, and basically whimpers that he'd like to join IC. Jericho and the others laugh him out. I feel bad for Peter, honestly. He has nothing now. Even Hangman has a chance at the title. Peter is just... defeated.
Eric Bischoff shows up next. Good to see him here again. He has several questions, ultimately what sets everything off, is that he accuses both MJF and Jericho of being primadonnas, and says whats the guarantee that they wont kill each other over it? This infuriates both of them, leading Jericho to issue his ultimatum. That MJF gets into IC if he beats Jericho at Full Gear. MJF agrees and the match is set.
Orange Cassidy/Cody for TNT Championship (Lumberjack Match)
This is AEW's second lumberjack match (The first being 6.24.20, Luchasaurus V Wardlow. Wardlow won that one, that was originally scheduled for March but got COVIDed like everything else at that time, RIP Blood and Guts.)
The first was, to be blunt, a pretty disappointing affair. Not that the match was terrible, but it wasn't really a lumberjack match. It was just a regular big guy fight with dudes on the outside who all just fought each other.
This one was a little bit better, more of a lumberjack match. Not perfect, but better.
After the time limit draw on 10.14, we were promised this rematch for reasons. They're a little more ready for each other this time. Best Friends/Nightmare Family and some others on one side, Dark Order and TH2 on the other.
They both lead with wind ups of their finishers, the Orange Punch and Cross Rhodes. This goes nowhere. At first, it seems like DO is there mostly to mess with Cody since they hate him, but this will come back to upset us later. They grab at Cody's foot early on, allowing OC to get some offence in with the distraction. Cody finally gets some wind back after a stalling suplex, doing those in-ring gloating pushups that Arn HATES. I love that so much. Arn Anderson hates those pushups more than anything.
Cody ends up knocking OC out of the ring but the jacks catch him and push him back in (GOOD). Then Cody gets knocked out, and Best Friends catch him too, but they hit him with some cheap shots before mailing him back into the ring.
After a quick break, chaos ensues between the lumberjacks as it is so want to be. Cody, who has been wailing on OC during the commercials, drives him out of the ring and onto the hoarde of wrestlers, all of whom are devastated by this incredible power. Somehow, OC gets the upper hand and lands the Beach Blast after a high rope DDT, but then.... Silver from DO runs in and cheap shots Cassidy?? And Cody win? Why would Silver hit OC and not Cody! I don't know!! They hate Cody!
This is confusing, but I'm sure DO will explain themselves... hopefully? I just don't know. The ending is weird, but it leads to total mayhem from the lumberjacks. Darby Allen looks on in the dark as he now will face Cody at Full Gear, their fourth match. Has he improved enough to beat him? Or will Dark Order beat him down too? Unclear at this time.
Miro & Kip Assault Best Friends
After the match, Miro and Kip (And Penelope as a spot on OC) pretend to make up with Best Friends for FTR throwing them through their arcade cabinet that was set up at ringside for several weeks for reasons. Then they totally juke them! Never saw it coming. They then beat up Best Friends.
Serena Deeb/Leyla Hirsch
So in an absolute shock, to me personally, Deeb beat Thunder Rosa for the NWA Womens Belt a few nights ago. This is either because Rosa is doing some MMA stuff or because she's leaving NWA, but it's unclear at this time.
Either way, immediately after that match, Deeb flew down to Jacksonville to come do a match for AEW to defend the NWA belt here for the first time.
Leyla had a match on DARK last night against Shida which was mmmmmmm pretty good. Not great great, but for DARK, good. Shida won that, obviously.
Anyway, Serena Deeb is spectacular. Leyla here looks too good not to sign. Will be embarrassing if they don't. They probably won't.
This match is blazing fast. An actual cardio spectacular. They hit so hard and go so fast-- Hirsch gets put over for her strong legs and short height giving her a strong center of gravity, making her a very difficult opponent for the lighter, taller Deeb. They both put their assets to good use. Leyla fights low, high, trying everything she can to keep Deeb from getting any kind of momentum, and shutting her down when she can. She misses a moonsault, however, and Deeb is able to capitalize on this and get a pin. They went so hard here. You need to see this one. This is Deeb's second real burner match, the first being her go with Thunder Rosa on Dynamite on 9.2.20. Her match with Big Swole was okay-- Swole just doesn't have the... I don't know, she didn't look as good as Leyla does.
I really hope AEW keeps working with the NWA, it's working for me. The dream of their second show just being POWERRR is too much for me to consider.
Shida Challenges Nyla
Last week, Nyla (Without Vickie? Is that over?) said she wouldn't wrestle again till she fought Shida. Alex Marvez asks Shida about this. Shida says yes. So, game on. This is Shida's second (2nd) time on the mic after being champion most of 2020. So it's Nyla V Shida III (Or is it II?) at Full Gear.
Shawn Spears/BSK
Shawn hits the DVD and wins in about 6 seconds. He attacks someone dressed as a bull outside the ring, which turns out to be Scorpio. Scorpio gets a spear in, then Tully and Shawn get scootin'. Match set for Full Gear.
Pentagon/Omega
Kenny is at maximum power now. He comes out there with his crazy entrance again, wearing a tshirt. Penta is fighting because last week, beating Pentagon, Rey Fenix took a nasty fall, and as a result is not cleared to wrestle. So Pentagon Jr takes his place. Kenny reveals the AAA belt he won off of Fenix way back.
They then put on one of the greatest matches in AEW history, and their first fight since All In back in 2018 with the Jericho reveal at the end. This is another one of those matches I couldn't possibly describe move for move, or beat for beat. I simply cannot believe how long and how hard these two people went. Kenny is full cleaner though, no doubt about this. Penta gets him in an arm breaker near the end, and destroys his OWA givin' arm. Despite this, Kenny is able to hit numerous V-Triggers and get the move on. He pins Pentagon but, man. This is PPV Main Event tier. Beyond reason how good both these wrestlers are. The story here was clearly designed for Fenix, which is unfortunate, but I love Penta, and everything about this was amazing
Pros
Cons:
Grade: A