quote:

A Hangman Page video played after JR and co. introduced the show. A voiceover talked about Page's cowboy spirit and camaraderie. Dark Order then got a special entrance with a remixed Page theme, which was really special. Page came out in purple accented gear.

The Elite were called the "Elite Squad" and were introduced like a basketball team in basketball gear. "Kenny 'Air' Omega" was the call from Justin Roberts. They came out to "Get Ready For This" of Space Jam fame.

Don Callis joined commentary.

The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Doc Gallows, & Karl Anderson) defeated Hangman Page & Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, John Silver, & Alex Reynolds) in an elimination tag

This was a fantastic match but I'm baffled at the booking.

If Page's team wins, he earns an AEW World Championship shot and a Dark Order tag team earns a tag title shot.

Page and Omega faced off but Omega immediately tagged out to Anderson. After a fallaway slam from Page, Omega attacked from behind, leading to a free-for-all. The Dark Order hit simultaneous suplexes. Reynolds and Nick fought up top before Reynolds superplexed Nick onto the other competitors below.

Reynolds tagged in but was overpowered by Anderson, leading to the Elite hitting repeated corner clotheslines. Reynolds avoided the last from Gallows, leading to the Dark Order doing the same to him. A combination from Reynolds and Silver led to a German suplex bridge for two. Anderson than rolled up Reynolds with a handful of trunks for a three count and the first elimination.

The Dark Order surrounded Anderson in the ring, leading to Uno and Grayson hitting the Fatality to eliminate him. Silver bieled Matt around the ring repeatedly ahead of a commercial break. Once back, it was Grayson facing off with Gallows and hitting a Pele kick. Dark Order hit combination offense and a 450 splash on Gallows got two.

We got a parade of big moves concluded with Grayson hitting a springboard sky twister press to the floor. He looked like he banged his head on the floor. Gallows sent him into the crowd, where Grayson climbed a balcony and hit a diving axe handle on Gallows. They were both counted out for their trouble.

It was Omega and the Bucks against Page, Uno, and Silver at this point. Uno hit a hurricanrana and a flatliner on Omega for two. He climbed and went for the senton bomb, but Omega got his knees up and crushed him with a V-Trigger. The One-Winged Angel followed to eliminate Uno.

Silver speared Matt and laid in right hands. Matt responded by gouging at Silver's eyes. He hit his running knee bulldog combination and tried to goad Page into getting involved. A spinning heel kick from Matt led to another commercial break, this time with no picture in picture.

During the break, the Young Bucks powerbombed Page on the apron. Once back, Silver was in the middle of an insane run of offense, just all over the place. An inverted F5 on Matt got two. Silver was overwhelmed by an Omega/Nick double team concluded with a hard German.

Brandon Cutler brought out a basketball hoop and the Young Bucks dunked a basketball into a Meltzer Driver on the floor. (They missed the dunk.) The BTE Trigger followed to eliminate Silver as it was now a three-on-one match with Page vs. Omega and the Young Bucks.

Omega tagged in and gave Page a one on one fight. He spat in Page's face and hit a V-Trigger, Page came back with a running uppercut, the Bucks ran in with double superkicks and then did it again with Omega as their third for a good near fall. A draping 450 splash followed for two.

Page avoided a V-Trigger and flipped out of a German suplex. He then dispatched both Bucks with a double clothesline before hitting an Orihara moonsault on all three. Omega hit a big chop back in the ring, but Page came back with a stack powerbomb. The Bucks broke up the pin.

Matt inadvertently pushed Page into perfect Buckshot Lariat position. He fought off one, but then Page was able to hit a double Buckshot on both Bucks, pinning Matt for an elimination. Omega tried to use the belts, but the official stopped him from doing one and then Page avoided a second, hitting the Deadeye for a great near fall.

Omega avoided a Buckshot Lariat and smashed Page with the belt for an awesome near fall. Two V-Triggers followed and then Omega hit the One-Winged Angel on Page to pin him and win the match.

**********

PAC was about to be interviewed, but the Lucha Bros weren't there. He said someone cancelled their car. Andrade and Chavo Guerrero walked up, and Chavo said he set up a limo for them. Andrade recommended PAC get better transportation for his associates, or they'll work for someone who will.

**********

Ricky Starks' FTW Championship Celebration

Taz introduced the proceedings. A New Orleans-style brass band brought Starks out flanked by HOOK. Starks said he made history when he won the FTW title and got rid of some garbage in Brian Cage. He's been the anchor of the group while Cage was focused on being friendly on social media. When Starks broke his neck, Cage didn't check on him. Cage is selfish and inconsiderate and has no charisma.

Cage's music played and he came out, attacking the band members. He smashed the bass drum over the drummer's head. Starks fled the scene and posed on the ramp as Cage wanted a fight.

**********

A video from NJPW legend HIROSHI TANAHASHI played. He said he'd be challenging the winner of Lance Archer and Hikuleo tonight.

**********

FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (w/ Tully Blanchard) defeated Santana & Ortiz (w/ Konnan)

Ortiz and Wheeler started off. They performed a chain wrestling sequence before an up kick on a leapfrog sent Wheeler to the floor. Harwood and Santana tagged in and exchanged hard strikes. Santana hit Three Amigos, with Ortiz assisting on the third. Santana and Ortiz then hit an assisted powerbomb on Wheeler.

Harwood came back with a spinebuster leading to the break. Once back, Santana ran wild on FTR, sending Wheeler to the floor and hitting a release back suplex on Harwood. He catapulted Harwood into the corner and then took out Wheeler with a great dive. Harwood avoided a diving stomp and Ortiz blind tagged in and rolled up Harwood for two. Ortiz used the momentum from the kickout to hit Wheeler with a dive.

Ortiz hit a powerbomb followed by a frog splash from Santana for two. Santana laid in hard chops in the corner, then shrugged off a lariat and hit a German. A parade of big moves followed, concluded with Santana hitting a powerbomb on Harwood for two. Ortiz tagged in but was immediately cradled for two.

Harwood starched Ortiz with a right hand and set up for a superplex, but Santana stopped it. Harwood used misdirection to hit a DDT on Ortiz. He tried to turn it into a cradle, but neither man's shoulders were down. Harwood took out Santana with a baseball side and hit a sheer drop brainbuster on Ortiz for the clean win.

It should be noted that it looked like Wheeler got hurt during the match and that wasn't exactly the planned finish.

**********

Britt Baker and Rebel were backstage. She managed to tap Nyla Rose out with a broken wrist. Baker said she and Rebel needed extra help because everyone's gunning for her.

**********

Tony Schiavone revealed the big AEW live event announcement: Friday, August 20, AEW Rampage: First Dance will hail from the United Center in Chicago.

**********

Darby Allin and Sting were backstage. Allin said AEW is where people prove themselves, even if you're the "best in the world" – implying CM Punk.

**********

IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship: Lance Archer (c) (w/ Jake Roberts) defeated Hikuleo (w/ King Haku)

Archer immediately booted Hikuleo into the corner and hit repeated clotheslines. He went for ten punches in the corner, but Hikuleo powered out and hit a powerbomb for two. Archer came back with forearms, then Hikuleo hit a powerslam. They fought on the floor into the commercial.

Haku got involved during the break, sending Archer into the barricade. Once back, HIkuleo was firmly in control. Archer blindsided Hikuleo and hit a big boot followed by some strong strikes with ripcord clotheslines. Archer walked the top rope and hit a moonsault. He followed it up with a big superplex for two.

Archer then hit the Blackout in the center of the ring to win and retain.

**********

Cody Rhodes was about to be interviewed at the gorilla position, but Malakai Black attacked. Cody got the advantage and hit his drop-down right hand, but Black came back with a jumping knee on the ramp. The crowd adored Black and hated Cody. Some wrestlers and backstage personnel came out to break it up. One of them was Fuego Del Sol, who Black killed with his spinning heel kick.

**********

Miro talked about Lee Johnson challenging him next week. He said Johnson was really talented, but nobody can take Miro's divine right away from him. No matter what, a glorious reckoning awaits Johnson.

**********

Christian Cage & Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) (w/ Marko Stunt) defeated H.F.O. (Marq Quen, Isiah Kassidy, & Angélico) (w/ Matt Hardy)

Christian and Angélico started off as Excalibur pointed out Christian's place in the rankings. He worked with Jungle Boy to hit a double hip toss, then Jungle Boy tagged in with an arm drag and a dropkick. Jungle Boy went to the floor and got a cheap shot from Hardy. Christian and Stunt chased Hardy all the way to the back.

Quen had control on Jungle Boy, but the latter escaped to tag in Luchasaurus, who ran wild. He hit a triple German suplex on all three opponents. Luchasaurus went for a double chokeslam on Private Party, but they fought out and took him as well as Christian out. Jungle Boy hit his rebound discus lariat and took out Angélico and Quen before a frog splash from Luchasaurus and a frog splash from Christian got their team the win.

– After the match, Blade, who works for H.F.O., laid out Christian with brass knuckles.

**********

A Nick Gage video package played. He's the "deathmatch king." He said Jericho's going to look in the mirror and know Nick Gage did that to him. "MDK All Day."

**********

Earlier today, the Varsity Blonds cut a promo on Hart's behalf. They said she'd prove why she's one of the best athletes in this sport.

Thunder Rosa said she'd have her first official match as an AEW roster member. She can do whatever the heck she wants.

Thunder Rosa defeated Julia Hart (w/ Varsity Blonds)

They performed chain wrestling at the start. Hart isolated Rosa in the corner, but then Rosa came back and did the same. Hart rolled out of the way of a corner dropkick and hit a cartwheel clothesline. Rosa came back and picked Hart's ankle, locking on a knee bar and forcing Hart to reach the ropes to break.

Rosa hit the corner dropkick and followed it up with the Fire Thunder Driver for the quick win.

**********

Next week's lineup for AEW Dynamite: Homecoming from Daily's Place –

Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black
TNT Championship: Miro (c) vs. Lee Johnson
The Bunny vs. Leyla Hirsch in an NWA Women's Championship Eliminator match
Christian Cage vs. The Blade

**********

Jon Moxley was backstage. He's upset about not being able to make it to Japan. The second Moxley lost the title, Hiroshi Tanahashi showed up. He said Tanahashi's been avoiding and dodging him for months. Maybe Tanahashi's the only smart one here; the Forbidden Door may be open, but there's nothing good waiting for him on the other side.

**********

MJF joined commentary.

Chris Jericho defeated Nick Gage in a no rules match

Gage came out with a pizza cutter and immediately swiped Jericho's arm with it, bloodying him. Gage hit a spinebuster and a face wash. Out on the floor, Jericho sent Gage into the barricade. Back inside, Gage hit a superplex and a falcon arrow for two.

Jericho turned a running boot into the Liontamer, but Gage reached the ropes, so Jericho released the hold. Back to the floor, Gage drove Jericho face first into the ring post. Gage pulled some fluorescent light tubes from under the ring, but Jericho had Floyd the bat and surprised him with it. Jericho had a crimson mask.

Gage avoided a swing of the bat and hit the chokebreaker. He pulled out the pizza cutter and carved up Jericho's forehead. During the break, Gage brought chairs and a pane of glass into the ring. He propped Jericho below the glass, but Jericho popped up and they fought on the top rope. Jericho then hit a top-rope hurricanrana, sending Gage through the glass.

Jericho went for the Codebreaker, but Gage caught it and planted Jericho in the glass. Gage then broke light tubes over Jericho. A straight piledriver onto glass followed for two. Gage grabbed a shard of glass and stabbed it into Jericho's head repeatedly.

Gage grabbed two bundles of light tubes. He was about to smash one over Jericho's head, but Jericho spat green mist into Gage's face, smashed the tubes over his head, and hit the Judas Effect for the win.

– As soon as the match ended, MJF grabbed a mic and said Labor #3 is that Jericho has to hit a move off the top rope to win. He played a video from November 2019, when they brought up Juventud Guerrera in a promo. MJF announced Juve would be Jericho's third labor.

NAG posted:

IcePhoenix posted:

Dacap posted:

dsriggs posted:

Eat My Fuc posted:

Remember when the Acclaimed came out and rapped "Young Cucks you can't beat us you're laughable, Trump really won we gotta storm the capital". Disgusting.

Malcolm Excellent posted:

Hey everyone I made a meme

Gaz-L posted:

That definitely read as Jericho checking off a bucket list item "Do a for-real deathmatch".

abraham linksys posted:

we definitely get gage on talk is jericho now right

Long-Time Lurker posted:

I didn't think the main event would be this divisive (it ruled imo, but I'm no death match connoisseur). Seems like people are high on it in the Best and Worst thread whereas it's very much split here.

flatluigi posted:

reminder

Penguin Patrol posted:

looking forward to Tanahashi doing a month-long run on Elevation that ends with him putting over Fuego

Long-Time Lurker posted:

Thought they were quite into the show? But someone here did say that 75% of the show had audio issues at the venue itself (hence the "We can't hear you" chant during Starks' fantastic promo), that could have contributed to their not reacting as hot as you expected.

kinetic77 posted:

Those light tubes used last night must have been gimmicked right? I assume you can make a tube with no mercury in it. I didn’t notice any dust flying when they hit.

your friend wicka posted:

Maybe I'm misremembering how they've booked previous title matches but it seems a little early for Hangman to earn his title shot, no? There's a lot of big shows between now and All Out, they'd just be treading water for over a month.

Also the commentary in that match repeatedly stressed that Hangman's emotions were getting the best of him and undermining his teammates, seems like addressing that is the obvious next step.

Forceholy posted:

I get the appeal of MDK, but honestly, he's coming off to me as a white New Jack with a better work rate.

little munchkin posted:

jericho letting a deathmatch guy do a piledriver was far more dangerous than any of the objects, hope this helps

DLC Inc posted:

shocked that Stu wasnt severely hurt by none of those guys loving catching him, that is bush league levels of stupidity.

Mr. Squishy posted:

Stu seemed to land like, three feet beyond the huddle, I'm not sure what they could have done.

fawning deference posted:

The first match with the chair stipulation should have been La Parka

Mr. Squishy posted:

Such is my faith in AEW that I trust this match will be at least OK, even though my only exposure to Juventud is Bryan and Vinny talking through old WCW shows and saying "well this match wasn't very good either".

DLC Inc posted:

three straight weeks in the millions, god drat. not out of the question that they could actually beat RAW this year at least once.

Ringo Roadagain posted:

quote:

Six years ago, I looked at a picture of the world's greatest newspaper men. I felt like a kid in front of a candy store.

Well, tonight, six years later, I got my candy -- all of it.

Welcome, gentlemen, to the Enquirer!

Make up an extra copy of that picture and send it to the Chronicle, will you please? It will make you all happy to learn that our circulation this morning was the greatest in New York: Six hundred and eighty-four thousand!

Bard Maddox posted:

Malakai Black just begging Cody, please keep wearing the white suit, it’s very important to the lore

Gaz-L posted:

I think he's making a mistake. Not a fatal one, but the Naito comparison does feel apt

Raffles posted:

It's going to be amazing when Hangman finally does get his title shot and Kenny hits him with the exact same belt shot, V-Trigger, OWA combo and Page kicks out.

Procrastinator posted:

this only matters if he would not have done tremendous business if he had won the belt on the previous attempt. which i think is very very hard to prove.

Ziggy Tzardust posted:

MRT brought up Tyler Black. That was a multi-year title hunt that was left too late and it was only a couple of months between Final Battle and 8th anniversary. It did irreparable damage to Tyler's reign as champion. I hope I'm wrong but the crowd is never going to be hotter than this.

STONE COLD 64 posted:

he probably should have won it in jan 09.

STONE COLD 64 posted:

did we watch two completely different final battles?

Shaman Tank Spec posted:

Uhh. If they're genuinely doing that, then wtf. The Hangman story was handled perfectly until now, and if trying to press pause on it for a few months while Kenny wrestlers Bryan or CM Punk or something just feels like a huge gently caress up.

They haven't made too many of those so far so I want to believe, but god drat.

neoaxd posted:

I have faith in AEW's booking. This whole thing is pretty weird.
We haven't even seen Hangman's reaction.

e:

Exactly. It's not like Kenny beat him 1v1 clean.

smarxist posted:

on BTE they can have him tease spooky stuff that turns out completely mundane

Alan_Shore posted:

So IRS then

Jerusalem posted:

Bray should go to DDT and have some fun. He can also do matches in NOAH explicitly to piss off Kenoh

fez_machine posted:

After this Elite run ends, The Good Brothers should join the real nepotism stable, The Chaos Project and become beloved jobbers on Dark.

Pylons posted:

https://heelbynature.com/wrestling-news/aew-files-trademark-for-king-of-harts/

Gonna assume this isn't Teddy. What could it be?

BigBallChunkyTime posted:

Has a date been announced yet?

Mons Hubris posted:

Simpson?