AEW Beach Break was a professional wrestling television special episode produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event took place on February 3, 2021 at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida and was broadcast on TNT, as a special episode of AEW's weekly television program, Dynamite.
Match Results:
Tag Team Battle Royal for an AEW World Tag Team Championship match at Revolution
Chris Jericho won by last eliminating Darius Martin
Had The Young Bucks (c) won, they would've chosen their opponents for Revolution.
The first portion of this match was an absolute clusterfuck and hard to follow with so much going on with so many people involved. I don't understand why AEW insists on doing so many of these multi-man matches that never come across well on television with so many people involved. For as much as people who used to give IMPACT/TNA Wrestling enough shit when they were doing these types of matches during Dixie Carter/Vince Russo's time there, AEW sure gets a pass on it. It was hard to follow there and it's the same thing here. Slow it down or limit how many people are in this thing.
I was already confused going into this thing anyway as I had to ask my Twitter followers why were the Bucks in this match, along with both the Dark Order having 4 members in this and the Inner Circle having 6 of their members in this match. The Inner Circle having all of their guys in this at least made a little sense since they are heels, but I thought the Dark Order turned over a new leaf following Brodie Lee's untimely demise?
The Dark Order's Evil Uno and John Silver had strong showings in this match and the same can be said for Top Flight and The Acclaimed. These throwaway efforts by Santana and Ortiz are doing absolutely nothing for their stock value in this company. Is there any other tag team in this company, outside of maybe FTR, who have fallen off the radar as much as Santana and Ortiz? Coming into this company, they were coming off a great run on the indies and in IMPACT Wrestling as the tag team to beat. Here in AEW, they have been regulated to being merely interchangable goofs aligned with Jericho who talk a big game but never get anything done. I have to wonder if they are regretting signing those contracts now.
At the end of the day, this match served as a backdrop for the ongoing rift between the members of the Inner Circle. Jericho unintentionally eliminated Sammy Guevara, but still won the match to win himself and MJF a future AEW Tag Title shot at Revolution. Speaking of the Inner Circle, it seems like whatever MJF is plotting behind the scenes to either destroy or takeover the faction from within is playing out exactly how he wanted.
It was announced after the in-ring exchange between Sting and Darby Allin and Team Taz that Darby would be defending the TNT Championship against Joey Janela next week on Dynamite. I legitimately busted out laughing. Thank Tony Khan for giving us a free reason to flip the channel or to take a bathroom break during the middle of next week's show.
Team Taz and Sting are devaluing themselves each and every week at this point on this show. Sting is already overexposing himself since his debut to the point that his appearances on Dynamite aren't special anymore, despite the fact that he's not wrestling. At the same time, it's getting tiresome to see Team Taz talk a big game when they haven't accomplished nothing to back those claims up. The time for talk is past due. It's time to be marching down to that ring and beating the bricks off this old man and the skinny emo kid that surprisingly not his son.
The wedding between Penelope Ford and Kip Sabian with Miro and Charles the Butler (Chuck Taylor)
This wedding was officiated by the Sinister Minister himself, Father James Mitchell. That had to be part of their partnership with IMPACT Wrestling for sure. This wasn't as entertaining as what it could have and should have been, but they didn't drag this out for too long. Miro got his foot chained to the bottom rope, which allowed "Charles" to lay in some punches onto Kip. That skirmish caused Penelope to get a face full of cake before Orange Cassidy popped out of it to join the action. I guess this is leading into a tag team match between these two factions, but I couldn't care less at this point.
I'm legitimately happy for Penelope and Kip though.
Singles Match
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (with Rebel) def. Thunder Rosa by referee stoppage
I don't know why people were surprised that Baker had the best match of her career up to this point with Thunder Rosa. It looked Rosa was really laying it in to help knock sense into her to do business as she led her through most of this match, but I could be reading a little too much into things.
Britt Baker's win here tells me that she has to be in line to take that title from Shida sooner more than later. She might be the dark horse who comes out of the Women's Championship Eliminator tournament to get her shot next. Otherwise, we could see another match between Rosa and Baker as this feud is clearly not over from that finish. Alternatively, Rosa could beat Baker in this tournament and win the AEW Women's Championship herself. AEW has a few ways that they could play this as I have found it rather strange that Rosa hasn't gotten her rematch to the NWA Women's Championship after Serena Deeb won it from her, nor that any other NWA Women's talent have come to take it from her either.
Kamille had a rather telling tweet too a few weeks ago that was really telling. So there has to be some frustration going on that end of that partnership.
This February the #AEW Women's World Championship eliminator tournament begins! Here are your participants in this competition. pic.twitter.com/v9fqx8Q2b7
While I'm not too familiar with majority of the names on the Japanese end of the brackets, I have heard some good things about Maki Itoh, so I'm pulling for her and Aja Kong on that end of the brackets. As for the US side, I think Thunder Rosa, Riho, and Britt Baker are all favorites to make it to the finals. All-round though? This tournament has the potential for some bangers on paper. Let's just see how it goes in terms of execution.
Tag Team Match
Adam Page and Matt Hardy def. Chaos Project (Luther and Serpentico)
Outside of being a personal favor to Chris Jericho since Luther is friends with him in real life, I can't fathom seeing why Luther is collecting a paycheck in this company or even presented on this television program this much. Keep him on AEW Dark where he belongs. Serpentico is just as bad as Luther, if not worse in some cases. The less I see of these guys, the better.
This was a complete nothing of a match used to further whatever they are teasing between Big Money Matt and Adam Page. I doubt this is going anywhere other than Page getting fed up of Page's bullshit and facing him at the next PPV.
Lumberjack Match
Lance Archer (with Jake Roberts) def. Eddie Kingston (with The Butcher, The Blade, and The Bunny)
Even though this was a rather messy match to watch with so many working pieces in it, I was happy to see Archer and Kingston get to duke it out again. The Lumberjacks got a little too involved at one point, but I was glad that Archer picked up the win here.
Hopefully this means that he's done with this feud and moving on. Given the match that they've confirmed for next week following the events of this show after the main event, that seems like the case, but we'll see.
Everyone involved in this Cody and Shaq feud must have had a come to Jesus meeting or an epiphany and realized that it might not be a good idea to have this match on PPV for multiple reasons. First and foremost, this is going to be Jade Cargill's first in-ring, televised match for this company. If she stinks the joint out on this one then that's not going to be a good look. Secondly, I believe Shaq is set to appear in the NBA All-Star game the weekend of AEW's upcoming Revolution PPV, so that would easily be a scheduling conflict. I still say it would be a good idea to give Jade a warm-up match or two on these weeks leading up to that match for she won't embarrass herself out there. So far they have been sending her out there to fail on her two feet.
Six-man Tag Team Match
Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (with Don Callis) def. Jon Moxley and Death Triangle (Pac and Rey Fénix)
I'm going to sound like a Debbie Downer here, but man are the Good Brothers just as boring to watch here as they are in IMPACT and back when they were in WWE. It's wild too because I enjoyed their few matches that I saw when they were in New Japan. I don't know what is going on. It just seems like they are merely going through the motions without any substance behind it. I've stated on multiple occasions that Moxley's matches haven't done anything for me even back when he was in WWE and it still doesn't do much for me here. Pac and Fenix were the definite highlight reels for this match. I can't write off Omega here either as he was the glue that was keeping this whole thing together for the most part.
This whole match was easily forgotten as the entire wrestling world were talking about what transpired in the closing minutes of this show with the arrival of NJPW's KENTA (formerly WWE NXT Superstar Hideo Itami) laying out Jon Moxley. Moxley had appeared on NJPW's recent New Japan Strong show last week and laid out KENTA, so it was justified for him to return the gesture in his own backyard.
NJPW's KENTA arrives in All Elite Wrestling.
The thing that I didn't understand why people were losing their minds about was that KENTA made no qualms about keeping it a secret on Twitter that he was appearing on this show.
I won't deny that Schiavone's line about "The forbidden door has been opened..." was great though.
ALL of these companies SHOULD be working together, pooling resources against WWE. This makes for a great environment for not only the fans, but the talent as well. It gives talents more of that "territory" feel where you could get more experience and exposure in different companies, working against a variety of opponents who you wouldn't work with normally otherwise. This protects talents from being overexposed on television - a VERY common issue in WWE - while simultaneously giving your talents room to grow as performers. AJ Styles wouldn't be the performer he is today if he was just confined to working with exclusively IMPACT/TNA talent. He's a well-rounded wrestler from competing for years all over the globe for multiple promotions. He's able to adapt to any style instead of having one type of match he can wrestle - an issue that a LOT of men and women in not just AEW, but a lot of modern wrestlers as a whole have.
AEW Beach Break will be remembered in history for this moment, but also for the fact that this is the first time that IMPACT, New Japan, NWA, and AEW wrestlers all were on the same show and television network at the same time. Wrestling is pretty wild, sometimes, folks.
All Out was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It took place on September 5, 2020 at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida. It was the second event in the All Out chronology.
The event was originally slated to take place in the Sears Center, in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, just like the previous edition of All Out were held Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation, the state's equivalent to a state of emergency, since March 9, which banned large public gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the state. Instead, the event was moved to Daily's Place, where all of AEW's events have been held since March.
A completely rotten match won by arguably the worst talent (or lack of) on the entire AEW roster with the second place candidate taking the L here. I have remotely no clue why you would even start your PPV off with a completely "nothing" match like this that does absolutely NOTHING to garner interest in buying the PPV later tonight.
I remember chatting with a friend and saying that Sonny Kiss was great back in Lucha Underground, but I feel that him being associated with Janela is going to only bring him down. Kiss' glass ceiling is going to be whether or not the TNT Network (and more importantly mainstream wrestling as a whole) is ready to accept an extremely flamboyant wrestler (that's not a complete gimmick nor parody) as a serious competitor. He fit right in with the exoticos in Lucha Underground, but it's hard for me to tell what his shelf life is going to be in this company long-term.
Tag Team Match
Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) def. The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver)
I couldn't give a flying fuck about this match. It's the same as every other Private Party match, but just against the bottom of the rung guys in the Dark Order. The boys in PP do some nice spots but their basics STILL need a lot of work.
I LOVE Private Party's finish though.
I still can't help but chant "SPOTS! SPOTS! SPOTS!" during their entrance theme now after making that joke a while back.
Tooth and Nail Match
Big Swole def. Britt Baker (with Rebel) by knockout
I'm sure Big Swole is a nice person outside of wrestling in her personal life, but as an onscreen character and an in-ring talent, she's fucking horrible. I don't see why this company invested so much time into this nothing feud. While I love Britt Baker's heel persona, I'm fed up with all of these "role models" in mainstream wrestling, whether it's Madison Rayne in IMPACT as the "Locker Room Leader", Sasha Banks & Bayley in WWE as the "Golden Role Models", and here with Baker as the "Roll Model". I'm just sick and fed up of hearing that shit. Come up with something else original that not everyone and their grandmothers are using right now. I want to add that as much as I like Britt Baker's heel persona, I never thought her in-ring skills were much to write home about either, despite the fact she has a pretty sick submission finish. Reba's reactions (Rebel) was the best thing about this "cinematic" match - if you could even call it that. If this was supposed to be a dig at WWE's cinematic matches, then they definitely have a lot to learn in terms of cinematography.
Britt Baker stabbing herself with her own needle that loaded with numbing agent.
Britt Baker lost the match after falling victim to her own laughing gas/sedation.
At the end of the day, I thought the finish was creative, but Britt Baker buried it when she woke up immediately following the decision. She's a fucking dentist after all, so she should know how long laughing gas/sedation would keep someone under. C'mon, now. In either case, I'm ready for both of these women to move on to another feud.
Tag Team Match
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) def. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) (with Marko Stunt)
I hate to admit it, but I honestly liked this match more than the AEW Tag Title match later in this show. It didn't overstay it's welcome and it showed the best of both teams here, even though I wasn't too crazy about how much stuff Jungle Boy was kicking out of at the end. I thought the Jurassic Express should have pulled off the upset towards the end, but of course, the BTE boys had to turn things around for the win. To their credit though, I like seeing them working with a more serious "edge" them now as if they are teasing a heel turn too, much like they have been planting the seeds to the point that it's inevitable with Kenny Omega for the last few months now.
21-man Casino Battle Royale
Winner received a future AEW World Championship match
Lance Archer won by last eliminating Eddie Kingston
Matt Sydal pulled the Joker card and made his AEW debut in this match, only to deliver the first scary as hell moment on this show when he slipped and fell off the ropes while attempting to do a Shooting Star Press. That scared the hell out of me seeing it live and I thought we were watching that guy break his neck from how bad that was. Fortunately, he was fine and was able to complete the match. As of this posting (9/11/20) he hasn't reported any injuries.
Introducing Will Hobbs. One of AEW's best kept secrets tucked away on AEW Dark...
This match marked the standout performance of Will Hobbs. Now where have they been hiding this guy? Dude was on par with Big E's size while showing off Keith Lee's power and ability. This is a guy they should be featuring on Dynamite instead of regulating to Dark every week.
Seems like AEW is just pairing people off to rekindle old Lucha Underground dynamics and/of feuds as that was the exact vibe I got from Sonny Kiss eliminating Jake Hager. Kiss/Janela are already booked to face Hager/Jericho on Dynamite this week as payback from Jericho's brutal attack on Janela the week prior in his "warm-up" match for Cassidy later tonight.
— GIFSkull IV - Banned Soon Due to False DMCA Spam (@GifSkullIV) September 6, 2020
Stupidest bump of the night (up to this point anyway) went to Brian Cage performing a Border Toss on Darby Allin trapped within a body bag full of thumb tacks to land on the corner of the stage/ramp. There was absolutely no reason to do this bump but a million and one ways that this could have ended horribly wrong. This wasn't cool nor amazing to watch. It was just fucking stupid.
I was fine with Lance Archer picking up the win here, but it pretty much spoiled the main event in a sense. You knew that AEW are marks for that New Japan style matches and feuds, so you know that they want to setup the Wrestle Kingdom rematch between Lance Archer and Jon Moxley at Full Gear.
Broken Rules Match
Matt Hardy def. Sammy Guevara
Had Hardy lost, he would have had to leave AEW
The match started out into the stadium arena where the Stadium Stampede Match took place at their last PPV and quickly spilled out into the backstage area/parking area. One thing led to another that set Sammy and Matt up on a raised platform that saw Sammy SPEAR Matt Hardy off the platform, seemingly to go through the two tables that were set up below. What happened instead was their lower bodies hit ONE of the tables while the back of Matt Hardy's head hit the unforgiving concrete below.
This was the moment where I was absolutely disgusted with this company. I've seen wrestling podcasters, journalists, wrestlers, and even the die-hard of their fanbase express their absolute disgust with how AEW handled this situation.
Let me be absolutely fucking clear.
There is NOTHING entertaining about a concussion. Shame on everyone in that goddamn building. pic.twitter.com/ujdOU9Z60I
They needed additional imaging done after his CT. He’s still in the hospital. 1000% concussion. Anyone with eyes could have told you that tho. pic.twitter.com/pvitxewWI5
As of this posting (9/11/20), Reby Hardy (Matt's wife) has reported that Matt Hardy has suffered a concussion when he was checked out at the hospital that evening and was kept for more testing Sunday. On the other end of things, Tony Khan has been removing all of the blame on himself and pointing it towards the ring doctor who checked Hardy out and clarified that Matt was able to continue after administering a concussion impact test. There's no way in hell that they ran an impact test when the match was restarted within the span of 3-4 minutes after Matt Hardy was knocked out unconscious for at least 45 seconds. That tells you right there that there's no sort of concussion protocol in place nor that Tony Khan have the slightest idea of how to administer one, despite the fact that he owns a fucking football team. This entire incident showed me a complete lack of proper leadership and this money mark - that's all what he is at this point to me - only cares about booking his fantasy matches and jerking off to high spots no matter who gets hurt as long as it pops a rating. It's HIS fucking company. He could have easily overruled the doctor to stop this match. Stipulation or not, this match should have been stopped the moment Matt Hardy was knocked unconscious for his own safety. Instead, Khan is giving his company a very bad look not only to his fanbase but to the wrestling industry as a whole for this false narrative that he is painting with how this entire situation played out Saturday night.
But yet, you have ass-hats out there like Dave Meltzer is siding with Tony Khan on this decision. Like seriously, how much is that dude paying you to blow him every week in your writing and radio shows dude? Anyone with a fully functioning brain could tell that Matt Hardy suffered a concussion in that match. You could see it in Ref Aubrey's face when it turned pale when she trying to get him to respond. That was arguably the hardest moment to watch as wrestling fan out of my 30+ years of being a fan. When I saw Matt Hardy's head hit that concrete and his body stiffened up like he was frozen, I thought we just saw that man die live on PPV and it legitimately scared the shit out of me for the second time tonight during this broadcast. If I saw a man die on this broadcast tonight, I can guarantee you that I would not have come back to watch this sport again.
For me personally? I'm siding with Konnan and Disco Inferno on this discussion.
Seriously, this should be the last straw and wake up call for every fan out there that fails to realize week to week that these reckless, downright STUPID, and completely unnecessary bumps (especially with or without crowds) aren't needed to make any match any better. That doesn't just go for AEW, but for all of modern wrestling as a whole.
Singles match for the AEW Women's World Championship
Hikaru Shida (c) defeated Thunder Rosa
I was hyped for this match ever since it was announced and they did the mock MMA contract signing for it between both respective champions.
Watching this live was pretty darn tough after the horror show that we witnessed with the Matt Hardy situation, but Rosa and Shida definitely had my favorite match of the evening by far. If you don't watch anything else from this shit-storm of a PPV, go out of your way to watch this match. This is EASILY the best thing on this show and not only the second best women's match in this company's history. That's shocking too when Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb killed it on Dynamite a few days prior to this event.
Another completely unnecessary, reckless bump that could have EASILY ended horribly, like many things on this card.
The only knock I have against this match was the diving senton spot out onto the stage where if Thunder Rosa's head and neck was any closer to those steps from the entrance ramp that Shida would've killed or paralyzed her from the landing. Can ANYONE in this fucking company tell these people enough is enough when it comes to these reckless and completely unnecessary bumps? Seeing that spot really made me mad, especially after what we saw with Matt Hardy in the match prior to this.
Outside of that one knock, this match raised the bar for women's wrestling in this company. I felt sorry for the folks who had follow this act. NWA's Thunder Rosa may have lost here, but she has put on two standout performances in every match AEW has featured her in.
Eight-Man Tag Team Match
Matt Cardona, Scorpio Sky, and The Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall) (with Allie and Brandi Rhodes) def. The Dark Order (Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) (with Anna Jay)
This was easily the bathroom break match of the night and should have served as the buffer following the Matt Hardy situation. Piss poor match order placement in regard of having these matches following that event. If the crowd was struggling to cope with what had transpired in the last match then they really didn't care about this shit. I know I sure as hell didn't. Hell, I didn't even know that Brodie Lee was even in this match until it started. I thought it was going to be full of more of standard losers of the Dark Order. To be fair though, Stu Grayson and Evil Uno are decent workers. I'll give them that much, but they are saddled with this gimmick that is utter shit, no matter what AEW does to polish this turd.
Can someone explain to me why Brandi Rhodes is already back to managing the Natural Nightmares? She couldn't sell that attack that her and Cody suffered for a few weeks at least? She stayed out for what felt like a goddamn week or two only to show up at the PPV like nothing happened. She only came out here to contribute to some of the run-ins in this match, namely to get some payback on Anna Jay (who strangled her to death during the assault on Cody) - when Allie could have done that to the same capacity. The Nightmare Family has all of these managers and extra sidekicks and associates that they are starting to look as foolish as the Dark Order as the weeks and months have rolled on since the start of AEW. Speaking of friends, Matt Cardona sure looks like he's taking full advantage of not being tested on WWE's Wellness Policy. Scorpio Sky seemed like he was just there to be the extra guy on this mash-up of guys who needed to be in this filler match that should have been relegated to Dynamite the following week.
Jim Ross got a lot of heat online for his wardrobe malfunction comment he made towards Anna Jay on commentary. I laughed hearing it live, but at the same time, it just adds to the laundry list of questionable moments of him on commentary since signing with this company. It just adds to the proof that JR doesn't give a flying fuck working here as long as he's just collecting that fat paycheck while squandering away his own credibility by endorsing this tomfoolery going on in this company with his name and voice attached to it.
And for the record, I can't speak for anyone else, but while I think that Dustin Rhodes has had a career renaissance since the tail end of his last WWE run to now in terms of his ring work, I don't give a damn about seeing him face Brodie Lee for the TNT title on Dynamite. I don't understand why they are rushing this match, along with having Brandi coming back so soon, when they could afford to space this out a bit. Let the Dark Order breathe a bit and garner more big wins if they are so dead set on establish them as this "dominant" faction (laughs), even though they are no less threatening than Aces & Eights (BEFORE Bully Ray was revealed as the leader) at this point.
Tag Team Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (with Tully Blanchard) defeated Kenny Omega and Adam Page (c)
I watched this match twice - once live and again a few days later to make sure I didn't miss anything. I don't fault the talents involved, but I didn't think this was a very good match at all. The best tag team match on the card goes to the Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express in my humble opinion. FTR against Omega and Page felt like a styles clash at multiple points in this match. The lack of a pumped, enthusiastic crowd for this match hurt it even more, along with the fact that Omega was half-assing the selling of the limbs that FTR were tirelessly working over. Working over Omega proved to be for nothing when Page was the one who got pinned when it was all said and done. Did I miss something or did they do the exact same finish twice before covering Hangman for the win?
After the match was won by FTR, Omega immediately quit selling his leg (even though he was barely doing it during this match, if at all) and went outside of the ring to get a table. He TEASED using it on Page to complete the heel turn that everyone is anticipating at this moment and thought better of it before storming into the back with the Young Bucks. They seem to be teasing a heel turn for the Elite collectively instead of solely with Omega. I'm fine with that if they are going forward with Hangman being a lone wolf babyface.
Even though I wasn't happy with the match as a whole, I'm glad that the tag team title are with FTR, who can confidently call themselves the first tag team to hold the NXT, RAW, SmackDown, AND AEW Tag Team Championships.
Mimosa Mayhem match
Orange Cassidy def. Chris Jericho by knocking him into the vat of mimosa
Match could be won by pinfall, submission, or fully submerging an opponent into a vat of mimosa
This was just there at this point as I kept looking at the clock in my room. It was past 11PM after this point. I get that AEW doesn't have too many PPVs over the year, but by this point we were clocking in roughly 6-7 hours of AEW content in one night if you watched the Countdown to All Out on TNT, the Buy-In Pre-show, and the Red Carpet specials on YouTube - along with this PPV in its entirety to this point. I was pretty much waiting for the bump into the mimosa and Jericho didn't disappoint in that regard at all.
— GIFSkull IV - Banned Soon Due to False DMCA Spam (@GifSkullIV) September 6, 2020
I legitimately laughed at how Jericho flew back into the mimosa like it was Charlie Murphy kicking Rick James into the mirror. #AEWAllOutpic.twitter.com/yEv4X9MXUS
Moxley was banned from using the Paradigm Shift finishing move
Time and time again and I honestly don't see what's the fascination with Moxley as a world champion. I didn't see it in WWE and I REALLY don't see it here in AEW. Out of the three guys in The Shield - Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose (now Jon Moxley), Moxley was the easily the short end of the stick. I think that it's ironic that while he went off on podcasts and interviews after leaving WWE that he was frustrated with being the "wacky Dean" character on WWE programming, he still gives off that vibe here when he's trying to splice in elements of Stone Cold Steve Austin too. I have tried to give him the benefit of a doubt but there hasn't been a single Moxley match in this company that I have seen that I have been blown away by in any capacity. Ambrose bored me to tears in WWE and Moxley is repeating that trend in AEW. I'm really starting to see why Vince McMahon (much like Brodie Lee) didn't have faith in him as a top draw. This match had a lot of ass-backwards psychology going on, with MJF working majority of the match from underneath as the heel while Moxley was in control as the babyface no less. It didn't make much sense to me, especially when they kept dragging this match along and it was minutes to midnight at this point of the show. Watching this match live, I was just beyond fed up and ready for this show to end.
A Paradigm Shift ends the match regardless of the fact it was banned.
Like I mentioned earlier, the end result wasn't a surprise in the least when you already knew that Lance Archer won the Casino Battle Royal for the future title shot against Moxley. This company isn't stupid. They want to do the Wrestle Kingdom rematch from this year that New Japan can't capitalize on. I will give AEW props for the finish here as that was a nice touch as it gives MJF an out and something to complain about like all shit-eating heels do.
Afterthoughts:
Dear AEW,
PLEASE refrain from anymore stupid, dangerous, and completely unnecessary bumps tonight. I don't want to see any of these hard working men and women to die not tonight or any night. Work smart not stupid. #AEWAllOut
Overall, I thought this was AEW's most embarrassing PPV outing to date. I was downright disgusted with this company by the time it was over. This show, from top to bottom, should be a wake-up call for every wrestling fan thinking that this company does no wrong when that is the furthest thing away from being true.
I'm not the only one saying this either. You got a wealth of people calling out AEW for this bullshit tonight with a few noteworthy tweets below.
Much like several podcasters said or wrote. Last night was a wake up call for everyone who sees a can do no wrong promotion in aew. Nothing is perfect or always 5 stars. Least that being pro wrestling. Tony Kahn and his brain trust crew. Should be taken to task. Nothing to debate
Wait so Matt Hardy was knocked out for a full minute, Aubry tried to end the match, a doctor said he's good & they kept going? They didn't even give him a Z Pack?
AEW operates with the same reckless abandonment that WWE has. It's just what happens when you can throw a billion dollars at a company. But nobody takes issue with it because it's the smart fan's show. But it's the same exact shit.
WWE has a COVID outbreak yall go crazy. AEW let's Jerich wrestle after playing a concert stating "he passed the test" but it can take 2 weeks for symptoms to show & there have been 500 cases from that event, plus they've invited fans back. But it's all good.
WWE has made gimmick matches the center of their PPVs. So people continuously have to up the ante and it leads to injuries. AEW is doing the same exact shit. Matt Hardy should have never been allowed to do something like that at his age in the first place.
Without a shadow of a doubt, All Out (2020) will live on as a complete embarrassment for this company. The honeymoon period is CLEARLY over and we need to stop giving AEW a free pass when it comes to constructive criticism and grade them in the same capacity as IMPACT, WWE, or any other promotion under the sun. A lot of stupid shit went down on this show and AEW along with Tony Khan should be called out for it, no matter how much you may love the talent that works here or want to see an alternative "topple" WWE. If Khan expects AEW to survive long term and no one doesn't end up killing themselves on his programming then he needs to really start telling these guys and girls NO when it comes to some of this reckless abandon that I see on these shows on a regular basis. It's not cool - it's goddamn stupid and that's exactly what we need to be calling it as.
As of this posting (9/11/20), the All Out fallout edition of Dynamite has come and gone. Matt Hardy appeared on Dynamite, accompanied by his wife, Reby Hardy with their infant child in the crowd, and thanked all of the fans for their support in that dire situation on Saturday night. He apologized for scaring everyone, his family included, for putting them through that traumatic experience, but I felt that Tony Khan should have made a rare appearance on-camera and apologized not only to Matt Hardy, but Reby Hardy as well, for allowing that match to continue when Hardy wasn't in any shape to continue it just to do the finish spot. Instead, Khan continues to brush this whole situation under the rug and sweep all blame away from himself. If you go onto AEW's Twitter page, you will notice that they have removed all traces of Matt Hardy's infamous fall off their account. Between how this company has mishandled that situation and the stupidity that allowed on this program on a regular basis, I can't see Tony Khan as nothing more than a money mark. I'm sorry, but he hasn't shown me anything to make me think any different.
During an interview on Dynamite, Kenny Omega clarifies that everything between himself and Hangman Page is fine, but the more he talks it seems to be that he's teasing a return of "The Cleaner" from his days in New Japan while the Young Bucks seem to be going "all in" on this heel turn for The Elite. Omega needs to do something as compared to a year ago, his stock value in wrestling has drastically gone down. He's nowhere as the high profile free agent that was in high demand this time last year. Being a giving performer in this business is one thing, but you don't be so giving that it's detrimental to your own career. Omega and the Bucks should have taken the reigns at the start, much like Chris Jericho and THEN put over guys to bring them up to their level. One year later, it seems like it's going to be all for nothing when only the AEW die-hards still think those guys are in high demand anymore.
Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford revealed that Miro - the former "Bulgarian Brute" Rusev in WWE - is their "best man" for their pending wedding. Miro came out to the same song and dance as every other ex-WWE guy coming into this company or IMPACT Wrestling for the last decade and a half, saying how they were misused and denied a brass ring. I'm sorry but I'm not feeling sorry for him with that shit. Same goes for a lot of ex-WWE talent. No one held a gun to your head and MADE you sign those renewal contract deals for all of those years you stayed there. Don't be mad now that the checks stopped coming in. That was your own stupidity. The best way to get back at WWE is to rub your newfound success in their faces, not constantly bring up the past looking for some sort of a pity party. Rusev, now Miro, had a lot of high-profile matches for WWE. I can't say that they completely misused the guy when his ultimate downfall was him and his own wife, Lana, went to TMZ and told him about their real life wedding when they were in divorce storyline on camera. I don't blame WWE for burying him for killing kayfabe on what was a great gimmick and pairing at the time. In regard to Miro in AEW, I don't have any high expectations for this lackluster debut. All I'm going to say is that it's "nut up or shut up" time.
FTR held a "celebration" of sorts on Dynamite to celebrate their win with the entire tag team division, but I was more surprised that they didn't get their faces dunked into that sheet cake that they brought out. Instead, all of the tag teams at ringside were able to enjoy it at their leisure. That definitely has to be a first for modern wrestling that a cake was shown on television and not ruined in any capacity. On a positive note, I'm anxious to see who FTR works with next in hopes of elevating this tag team division because that mess with Hangman and Omega didn't click at all.
NWA's Women's Champion Thunder Rosa walked away from All Out in a losing effort, but I think between her match on Dynamite and on All Out, she opened a LOT of people's eyes who weren't aware of nor familiar with her talents prior to her appearances for this company. I'm glad to see that she's getting a chance to defend her title next week on Dynamite with one of her fellow Lucha Underground alumni, Ivelisse. Meanwhile, Shida seems to be pegged to resume her feud with Nyla Rose yet again. AEW signed Tay Conti from the Deadly Draw Women's Tag Team Tournament this week. She lost to Rose on Dynamite, but I hope we see more of her. She's still pretty green, despite being trained at the WWE Performance Center, but she shows a lot of promise, especially more than a lot of the other women in that division.
As for that Dustin Rhodes vs. Brodie Lee match for the TNT Championship, I walked out of the living room and did the dishes in the kitchen over watching the bulk of that match. Naturally (no pun intended), Dustin lost. Who didn't see that coming? They aren't going to take that title off of Brodie Lee after that massive injury angle they did with Cody to write him off television. He's probably isn't going to lose that title until Cody is ready to come back. I doubt we have to wait long as they were airing vignettes for him during All Out and he's being advertised for appearing on another television show, so we know he's not hurt. It's not like this company keeps up much kayfabe to begin with.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The venue, however, canceled all events up through May 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AEW moved the event to the Jacksonville Jaguars complex in Jacksonville, Florida, with most matches taking place at Daily's Place—an amphitheater adjacent to TIAA Bank Field—while the main event match took place in the stadium itself, subsequently being the first AEW event to take place in a stadium.
Buy-In Preshow: Tag team match to determine the No. 1 contender for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?) defeated Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen)
Weren't Best Friends already at the top of the rankings anyway? Besides, how in the hell did these two teams get a spot in this match when they were lower than the Dark Order, who were at the top of the rankings when the pandemic started? I get that Evil Uno and Stu Graysen haven't been able to make the TV tapings since the pandemic started, but shit, at least address that the Dark Order won't be able to properly defend their spots when Brodie Lee is sending out his jobber minions in the same goddamn faction to do his bidding. They could have done like Catrina did with Sinestro de la Muerte in Lucha Underground and have her minions lose their match and more importantly, the Trios Tag Titles at the time, and have the minions take the L in Uno and Graysen's absence. It's a darn shame too as I like Private Party, but holy shit do these guys come off green on TV.
Casino Ladder Match for a future AEW World Championship Match
Brian Cage (with Taz) defeated Darby Allin, Colt Cabana, Orange Cassidy, Joey Janela, Scorpio Sky, Kip Sabian (with Jimmy Havoc and Penelope Ford), Frankie Kazarian, and Luchasaurus
A nothing match with a ton of nothing spots. Correction - a lot of STUPID spots. Darby Allin is lucky that he didn't shatter his ankle with that skateboard stunt through the ladder. Double goes for that toss by Cage (AKA Mr. "I Didn't Sign To AEW") into the ladders that he was riding on. I'm a little split on Cage's debut though. He should have went into that match and tore through everyone instead of one big spot and they buried him - literally for a few minutes to emerge out of the abyss like the Creature from the Black Lagoon and win the match. The right person won, but I can't write home about much else in this match.
Singles Match
MJF (with Wardlow) defeated Jungle Boy
I thought this was easily the best match on the entire show. MJF played the part of the perfect heel here, selling Jungle Boy's offense, but not letting him get too much before hitting the brakes and getting his own shit in to make it exciting. I wasn't sure who was going to win this, but I was glad MJF came out on top. Jungle Boy could have won this too and it wouldn't have harmed MJF as good heels always have a reason to fire back. In MJF's case though, I think he's being positioned to challenge for either Cody's TNT title or Moxley's World title sooner more than later, so it's better to keep piling up wins for him that regard.
Tournament final for the inaugural AEW TNT Championship
That photo of Mike Tyson yawning sums up my thoughts on this match in a nutshell. Out of all of Cody's PPV performances in this company to date, I have to say that this was his weakest showing. Where was the fire from him after Jake Roberts pretty much dry humped his wife Brandi on live television a few weeks ago? We didn't get a Dusty-eseque fired up promo from him or anything going into this match and that was a major disservice to the work that both Jake and Archer have put into this feud over the last few weeks.
I don't necessarily agree with the decision to have Cody win the title first either. Speaking of which, goddamn that's an ugly ass title, but I'll give them a pass for the fact that commentary mentioned that it's incomplete at the moment. I get that some people feel that Cody had to win a title since he can't challenge for the AEW World Championship and that's the problem right there. He's a EVP of the damn company. He can give himself a title reign any time he goddamn pleases. It would have made much more sense to have Cody's anger get the better of him and cost him the victory over Archer, then CHASE for the title like a good babyface should instead of this odd tweener bullshit that he and Brandi have going on. Then Cody's reign could be ultimately ended by Darby Allin FINALLY getting his win over Cody since he still hasn't managed to climb that hurdle.
Singles Match
Kris Statlander defeated Penelope Ford (with Kip Sabian)
After the injury that sidelined Britt Baker, Penelope Ford was named as her in-ring replacement. Out of the trio that consists of her, Kip Sabian, and Jimmy Havoc, Ford's easily the most entertaining and talented out of that bunch. Sabian comes off as a cheap knock off of Sammy Guevara but without the charisma and void of any sort of personality. That being said, I did chuckle at him showing up to support her on crutches and covered in bandages.
No Disqualification and No Countout match for the AEW Women's World Championship
Hikaru Shida defeated Nyla Rose (c)
Shida got a lot of mainstream attention for her Tifa (Final Fantasy VII Remake) inspired ring gear for this title match. Fans of hers will be quick to point out that she's been doing a lot of Tifa-related cosplays on her social media channels. More of those photos are up on reddit though if you're interested.
I was REALLY surprised that AEW actually put the title on Shida here. It was the right decision too though. Shida is easily the best female worker they have on that entire AEW Women's Division and it would benefit the growth of that division in the long haul to build that division around her for a while. Having Nyla Rose not appear on television when this pandemic started hurt a lot of the momentum she gained after beating Riho for the title, but nothing came from it afterwards when they finally brought her back on Dynamite outside of one fired up promo from about two weeks prior to this match.
This match was just a clusterfuck of hardcore spots and near-falls littered throughout, but I did appreciate that it took a sizable effort from Shida to put Nyla down. If they want to revisit this match, Nyla can easily say that Shida only won because she hit her with everything except the kitchen sink to win the title. I don't see Nyla buried here as there's something to be salvaged. I saw some people calling this the beginning of AEW's equivalent of Awesome Kong and Gail Kim and could only laugh as this feud isn't even in the same galaxy as that epic clash of talents.
On a side note, I don't know whether it was AEW's decision or Shida's own, but she started a YouTube channel following her own geeky exploits in a similar manner as what WWE's Asuka does with KanaChanTV. I thought the videos she had up so far were in poor quality and just came off odd, especially when the channel has only been around for about two weeks. Despite the fact that Shida's English is surprisingly well (shocked the hell out of me when she spoke on Dynamite a few weeks ago...), I don't think she has to go the same route as Asuka to garner new fans. People already genuinely like her organically by watching the AEW product.
Singles Match for the AEW World Championship
Jon Moxley (c) defeated Mr. Brodie Lee by technical submission
After this match, I went to Twitter to see the reactions and instantly got confused seeing people say that this was the best match Mox and Lee had since their CZW days, when I was watching this and thinking that this was a copy and paste of a lot of their WWE encounters. It wasn't very good and it wasn't bad either. It was just okay in my eyes. They took me out of it after the the fact the spot through the ramp/walkway wasn't the finish though. That would have been perfect to end on without having to do nothing else to keep Brodie Lee looking strong. I didn't think Lee deserved to be in that spot to challenge for the belt next anyway, especially for his PPV debut in the company. It just felt wrong to begin with. Lee passing out in the hold works too, I guess, but I can't say that I was crazy about this match as a whole.
I'll be honest about this too. In WWE, I never saw what was the big deal about Moxley when he was Dean Ambrose and went he got "released from prison" and back on the indies, I thought I was finally was going to see what was the big deal, only to be disappointed with roughly every performance since then, outside of a few of his NJPW outings.
Stadium Stampede Match
Matt Hardy and The Elite (Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz)
I'm going to tackle this write-up similar to the one I did for WWE Money in the Bank 2020's main event. I honestly don't have much to say about this show up to this point other than it had a lot of ups and downs, but I was entertained for the most part, outside of some rather questionable decisions across the board on this show.
I do have a bit of a rant to make though in response to Jericho's response to criticisms to the main event.
"If you don't like this match, then you don't have a soul."
Who is @IAmJericho referencing that didn't think highly of @AEWrestling Stadium Stampede Match?
— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) May 28, 2020
I have two words for Chris Jericho: FUCK YOU. I get sick and tired of this mindset that it seems like anyone and everyone is grading AEW on a curve for two reasons: 1) They are the new hotness - i.e. current flavor of the month that hasn't turned away their hardcore fanbase (read: marks) for their product like IMPACT/TNA have done over the last decade and a half or more. 2) People are accepting ANYTHING that's not WWE and will make any and all excuses to support said product because it's not part of WWE's stranglehold over the wrestling industry. It's increasingly and alarmingly apparent that the wrestling industry as a whole - not just AEW - can't handle the single shred of constructive criticism about their "art" that they call wrestling. I call bullshit for what I see it as and I'm not sugarcoating it for anyone, whether I love the talents involved or not. There's a lot of stuff I like about AEW, but on the other hand, there's a lot of stuff they do I DON'T like. The thing that frustrates me that the same podcasters, YouTube wrestling personalities, wrestling journalists, and even people I know personally will shit all over IMPACT, MLW, Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground, or any other promotions that would do anything remotely like some of the stupidity I have seen presented on the AEW product as "professional wrestling". The main event was typical WWE-style comedy from start to finish. This wasn't the "sports-based presentation" that Tony Khan clearly lied to us about that was going into the sales pitch that was going into promoting this company. It's pretty much WWE Lite in a lot of aspects... while being IMPACT Lite in others. You want proof? Go back to Slammiversary XV and watch Jeremy Borash and Chris Parks against Scott Steiner and Josh Matthews and you'll get an oddly familiar scene of Scott Steiner and Mathews chasing after Park and JB in a golf cart while Steiner shouted “Follow their fat asses!”
It's strangely similar to the meme worthy moments of Sammy Guevara being chased by Matt Hardy and Kenny Omega in a golf cart on the last few AEW broadcasts. To be fair though, JB and Hardy are friends and produced a ton of that Broken universe content when they were in IMPACT together, so that was probably a shoutout/tribute to Borash in that regard. That being said, I actually enjoyed most of this spectacle that was the main event. Much like WWE's Money in the Bank main event, this wasn't a goddamn wrestling match. It's a cinematic spectacle with wrestling being a very minor component of it, much in the same vein of choreographed segments on Lucha Underground that a lot of people disliked at the time of that series' popularity, but raved about this match when it's essentially the same thing with lower production values. Fucking double standards, I swear... Chris Jericho is merely reacting like Edge following the critiques on his WrestleMania match with Randy Orton just because everyone isn't drinking all of the Kool-aid for everything and anything AEW spews out. There were parts of this match that I thought were genuinely entertaining, but there were other parts where I thought it was just bad WWE-esque comedy that merely got a pass because it's AEW. I'll gladly take that label of not having a soul if it means I can stand by my opinion that not everything this company puts out is peaches and rainbows like the hardcore fans of AEW act like each and every week.
AEW Dynamite (May 27, 2020)
Results:
1. The Young Bucks and Matt Hardy defeated Private Party and Joey Janela. Isiah Kassidy took a superkick and a More Bang For Your Buck and got pinned. After the match, Matt Hardy helped an injured Marq Quen to the back.
— The Butcher and the Blade attacked the Young Bucks in the ring. Then FTR (the Top Guys formerly known as the Revival) drove an old-fashioned truck into the arena and ran to the ring. After a brief staredown with the bucks, they attacked the Butch and Blade.
AEW would be nuts to blow their loads on this highly anticipated feud and match between the Young Bucks and the former members of The Revival from WWE. I'm thinking that the Bucks win the tag titles from Hangman and Omega during their inevitable falling out down the line and THEN feud with FTR for the belts. By that point, FTR should have enough wins garnered underneath their belts to warrant a title opportunity, along with the fact that they should be making sure their ranking system means a damn. Other than that, I can't say that I was really impressed with FTR's debut here. It's hard to judge what impact this move made without a crowd, but with AEW the only other major work in town still in progress during this pandemic, FTR's options were pretty slim anyway. To be honest, I wouldn't have minded seeing them throw down with the guys in ROH and NWA's tag team divisions first before joining AEW, but that's just me being selfish. The Young Bucks vs. The Revival was a match that people have wanted for a very long time and they might as well give it to the people before fans stop caring about it.
2. Brian Cage (with Taz) defeated Lee Johnson. Cage threw Johnson all over the ring, then pinned him with the Drill Claw.
I don't know how to feel about Taz managing Brian Cage yet. I hope it doesn't end up like Jake Roberts with Lance Archer, where it feels like he's cutting promos for himself having a potential future match than getting Archer over. I do applaud AEW for not sleeping on the lost art of wrestling managers.
— Britt Baker, with the help of photos, a cork board, and red string, claimed that her injury wasn’t an accident but a conspiracy, which Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida, and Nyla Rose are all conspirators, with Aubrey Edwards as the ringleader. Doctor Baker said she’ll be back for All Out.
I can't wait for the week when Rebel finally snaps and slaps the shit out of Britt Baker. Unfortunately for Mrs. Adam Cole, she won't be returning to the ring until All Out in September. That has to suck for her royally since she was really coming into her own with this heel persona. As for this conspiracy theory with referee Aubrey Edwards, I think they need to drop this. I get that Aubrey Edwards is well liked in and out of the ring in AEW, but there's no reason to be drawing her into the women's division for a storyline. Let her just call the matches.
3. Hikaru Shida defeated Christi Jaynes. Shida hit the Falcon Arrow to pin Jaynes.
Apparently, Christi Jaynes is a regular from AEW Dark. She's not bad but was the perfect opponent to show what the new champion could do. Glad to see that Shida wore her Tifa-inspired ring gear to Dynamite for people who have not seen the PPV could see it here too.
4. Kip Sabian (with Penelope Ford) and Jimmy Havoc defeated SCU. Penelope Ford averted the SCU Later by grabbing Frankie Kazarian’s leg, and Jimmy Havoc pinned Scorpio Sky.
I just don't get where they are going with pushing this trio of Sabian, Havoc, and Ford. It's increasingly apparent that Havoc is rotten in matches that don't involve weapons in any capacity. SCU did their best to make this passable but it still dragged on a bit too long for my taste.
5. Jungle Boy won the Battle Royal, last eliiminating Orange Cassidy, and became the Number One Contender for the TNT Championship.
I thought they made the right choice with Jungle Boy going over in this match, especially after his performance at the PPV. He's able to instantly bounce back from the loss to MJF. If Jim Cornette was watching this, I'm sure he would have lost his mind when "My Lil' Dog Pockets" AKA Orange Cassidy was one of the final two competitors in the match. I don't like that they are teasing MJF and Warlow potentially falling out either. It's FAR too soon to be thinking about that, especially when they haven't even been together as an unit for that long.
— Vicki Guerrero and a bunch of cheerleaders introduced the Inner Circle for their pep rally. They’ weren’t in the best mood because they lost, but they gave each other presence to cheer themselves up, and Jake Hager read a creepy poem. Jericho said the gift he really wants is Mike Tyson’s head on a platter. Sammy Guevara revealed that the cheese platter and bubbly have already been consumed. Then Mike Tyson entered with his entourage. Jericho demanded an apology for being knocked out by Tyson years ago, and a brawl ensued. The locker room emptied out, and Jericho and Tyson were separated.
When Hager was reading that poem, I kid you not that I was having Heidenreich poem reading flashbacks from SmackDown!. That being said, I thought that segment was pretty corny for the most part, much like a lot of these Inner Circle segments as of late. They've been swinging a lot more misses than hits with these WWE-style comedy segments with Jericho's faction and this one definitely went down as a miss in my eyes. The callout to Mike Tyson seemed to be out of left field until Jericho's reference to their altercation in WWE, back when Tyson was one of those celebrity guest hosts to Monday Night RAW when that was a thing. Tyson was on Jericho's team against D-X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels during one of their MANY reunions over the years) and Tyson turned on Jericho to rejoin D-X. I heard that shit come out of Jericho's mouth and went, "REALLY?" only to see AEW do the poorest facsimile/recreation of the Mike Tyson/Stone Cold Steve Austin face-to-face during the height of the Monday Night Wars.
— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) May 28, 2020
This had me crying laughing - not just from Tyson struggling to rip his own T-shirt off - but from how comically bad this came across on live television. Tyson had his entourage with him, which included several MMA fighters, who the commentary team failed to identify as well. So is this going to be a filler feud for Fyter Fest (whenever that's going to be booked in this summer) to kill more time for the Blood & Guts Match between The Elite and Inner Circle? In either case, Chris Jericho can deny it all he wants on whatever podcast he goes on or dirt sheet report he blabs to, but AEW is merely rehashing an idea that got mainstream attention in the Attitude Era for AEW. You have to be the special kind of stupid not to see that's what this is. It's not a bad idea to get some mainstream attention on their company. They aren't even a blip on any casual fan's radar in terms of awareness in wrestling. When someone thinks wrestling, they think WWE. With Mike Tyson working a match or two with AEW, that would get some much needed mainstream and casual fans' attention onto their product. That's what AEW desperately needs too to grow (one of many things actually...). They can't be a hardcore niche product for their cult following of fans forever. That's what put ECW under and several promotions just like it over the years.
