The CCP Virus strikes again. As I was trying to avoid spoilers for Dark and Late Night Dynamite on Wednesday, I missed the news that Lance Archer had been around people who had the virus, so the planned main event of Archer, Brian Cage, and Ricky Starks vs. Jon Moxley, Will Hobbs, and Darby Allin had to be scrapped. In its place, we got Moxley defending the AEW World Championship against the man who was never truly eliminated from the Casino Battle Royale, Eddie Kingston.
- Kip Sabian and “The Best Man” Miro w/ Penelope Ford defeated Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss via Game Over Camel Clutch on Kiss
Miro looked pretty good. Kiss looked pretty good. Would’ve been more of a showcase if Miro would’ve beaten either Janela or Kiss in a singles match, or if he would’ve been the one doing most of the work in the ring. Instead, they seemed to want to save him for special spots. He also may have gotten legitimately hurt going out of the ring at one point. There were a couple of near-botches that soured things, but I don’t think either was Miro’s fault. The best part, I thought, was when Janela made the hot tag and hit both Sabian and Miro, but instead of falling off the apron, Miro just got mad and came after him. Anyway, it was fine, but far from the best of any of these guys.
- “Hangman” Adam Page defeated Evil Uno via Buckshot Lariat
Similar to last week, including Kenny Omega on commentary. Omega seemed a little more positive about Page this time, but he still insisted he’s a singles guy now and wouldn’t acknowledge Page to his face. They’ve gotta have a match at some point. Anyway, this was shorter and less in doubt than the Kazarian match, but Uno’s pretty good. I’ve known that for a while
- TNT Champion Brodie Lee successfully defended against Orange Cassidy via Discus Lariat
My HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT. I think they did a good job of keeping both Cassidy and Lee strong witout diminishing either. Lee didn’t fall for Cassidy’s regular tricks, but Cassidy was able to bait him by feigning exhaustion later. He also had to fight off the Dark Order a couple times, especially John Silver. Silver came in and took an Orange Punch for Lee, meaning that Lee didn’t have to kick out after it, so that protected Orange’s finisher. Silver was also abused by Lee once or twice, too.
After the match, the lights went out, and some familiar music led to the return of Cody Rhodes. I like that he ditched the bleached blonde hair; I was actually just wondering the other day when he would do that. He also had a nice, dark suit. He attacked a Dark Order guy’s leg and put him in the Figure Four, but he couldn’t get his hands on Lee. I’m curious to see if this darker Cody will turn heel after he’s done feuding with Lee.
Then after the break, Lee cut an angry promo on Cody and essentially challenged him to a Dog Collar Match. Surely that will be for the anniversary show, if not the next PPV.
- Thunder Rosa and Hikaru Shida defeated Ivelisse and Diamante via Tamashii to Diamante
Ivelisse and Diamante had some good moments, but they also looked a little off. Actually, I think there’s been at least one point in each of their matches where they’ve seemed off. This time, just as commentary was talking about how well gelled they are, they proceeded to be unable to do a double kick at the same time. Shida and Rosa worked very well as a team, however. Nothing big came from this match, as the babyfaces won and held up their arms, and that was that.
- AEW World Champion Jon Moxley successfully defended against Eddie Kingston via Bulldog Choke
They beat each other up. Who would have expected that? It’s kind of a bummer that this match had to happen so soon, but their hands were kind of tied with Archer having to pull out of the scheduled six-man at the last minute. In all reality, though, I feel like it wouldn’t take much to heat up a pay-per-view rematch, even with the clean finish here. Moxley won without even going for the Pradigm Shift yet again (as far as I could tell), so it’s weird that they made the move such a big deal in the MJF match.
Afterwards, the Lucha Bros attacked. Will Hobbs made the save temporarily (I was wondering if they were going to give him something to do). I thought it looked kind of silly for him to get in the ring and then wait for Fenix and Penta to come to him, especially when Penta basically ignored him for several seconds and continued to choke Moxley. Darby Allin then came in to even the odds, but Ricky Starks (with Taz) hit him with a spear and had his music play as the show ended. Fine beatdown. Not sure how much it will be followed up on before Archer gets his title shot in October.
I do wonder what the original endgame was for Kingston’s insistence that he get something for the battle royal, because he’s gotten his shot now, so he shouldn’t have any grounds to complain anymore.
Outside of the matches…
There was a nice tribute graphic to Road Warrior Animal who just passed away. They mentioned him on the show, and Thunder Rosa’s face paint had a tribute design to him.
Eddie Kingston called out Moxley immediately after the first match because he wanted to look in his eyes before their title match. He also said that Moxley sold out to sports entertainment, and that was the difference between them. Ouch.
Tony Schiavone talked to Matt Jackson earlier in the day. He didn’t get superkicked, but Jackson did break his phone for asking about FTR. Then he tossed some cash at him. Matt was a huge dick here, asking people to sympathize with him and Nick while giving fake apologies for their recent actions.
Matt Hardy (still not taking time off) and Private Party called out Chris Jericho. After some talking and a random appearance by Sammy Guevara (no-selling any effects from the Broken Rules Match), Isiah Kassidy challenged Jericho for next week.
FTR and Tully Blanchard said that they’re defending against SCU next week, but from now on, tag title defenses on TV will follow a strict twenty minute time limit, and if there’s a draw, FTR will get credit for a win. They then called Best Friends backyarders because of the parking lot fight last week, so Best Friends challenged them to a match right then. They teased it, then bailed, but the seeds are set for that showdown.
Jericho accepted Kassidy’s challenge backstage, then had another interaction with MJF. They sucked up to each other, then called each other out on saying the other was a loser behind their backs. They both covered with excuses and decided to be friends.
Overall, I thought it was a good show. It kind of felt like it was coming off of a PPV after the universal praise last week’s show got, and it didn’t have any matches I liked as much as Scorpio Sky vs. Ben Carter from Late Night Dynamite the night before. But it was still good.
Next week, it’s FTR vs. SCU, Jericho vs. Kassidy, Cody answering Brodie Lee’s challenge, and Moxley appearing. And probably other stuff. The week after, there will be a celebration of Jericho’s thirty years in wrestling.
Hook the Leg, Man! 