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Showing posts with label Nyla Rose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nyla Rose. Show all posts

AEW Full Gear (Nov. 7, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts




Full Gear (2020) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It took place on November 7, 2020 at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida. It was the second event in the Full Gear chronology.

Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on The Buy In pre-show. In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Eddie Kingston in a "I quit" match to retain the AEW World Championship. In other prominent matches, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship, Darby Allin defeated Cody Rhodes to win the AEW TNT Championship, and Kenny Omega defeated "Hangman" Adam Page in the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament final match.




Singles Match for the NWA World Women's Championship
Serena Deeb (c) def. Allysin Kay by submission



Not a bad opener, almost thought that they weren't going to give the ladies time to get this in. Not a bad match to start things off with, but it felt like Kay and Deeb's styles weren't clicking at various points of the match. Deeb retains though and that's all what matters right?

Thunder Rosa stares down with Serena Deeb post-match. I saw a lot of reporters and podcasters that were quick to shoot down those rumors/reports about Rosa taking time off to train for her next MMA fight and I wouldn't be so quick to rule that out. She's still got two more fights left on her current MMA contract, but who says that she doesn't want to get this quick rematch out of the way before she starts training for said fight? Deeb could then have more bragging rights if she does retain but leave the door open for Rosa to come back with renewed vigor after the MMA bout. Look at how AEW promoted the hell out of Jake Hager's battle scars from his recent MMA victory on Dynamite. I'm sure NWA would love to get that kind of exposure for Thunder Rosa after her next fight. For those that aren't aware, NWA did an EXCELLENT video package chronicling Thunder Rosa's training up to her first fight. That would be great stuff on Dynamite if they keep this working relationship with NWA alive.

As for Allisyn Kay, she announced that she was a free agent and appears on this PPV in less than the span of a week. I think it's safe to assume that this was a tryout of sorts for AEW. They could use more seasoned women like Kay on their roster, especially those who are TV ready. I wouldn't see any harm in bringing her in full-time. 




AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament final match
Winner receives a future AEW World Championship match.
Kenny Omega def. "Hangman" Adam Page


The Cleaner came out to play tonight and was all business. At the end of the day though, it was another losing effort for Page in another big match opportunity. I will say this much - Adam Page did have Omega's number in terms of scouting his signatures, but when it was all said and done, he still fell victim to the One Winged Angel. Page ALMOST didn't get his head tucked down in time before he hit the canvas. That was scary to watch. Other than that, I was shocked to see them start off this show. I thought this was a great match to start off with right out of the gate. 

I don't shit on Kenny Omega as much as a lot of other wrestling critics do, but at the same time, I don't dick-ride him like Dave Meltzer and his followers do. I respect the guy's work from his tenure in New Japan, but Omega has diluted himself over the past year to bring himself down to the rest of the roster's level. One year later and the only thing that selflessness has done is lower his own stock. This was one of those rare occasions where Kenny Omega should have been selfless in terms of protecting his own star power and market value, especially being one of the last highly sought after free agents after leaving New Japan. We saw glimpses of his former glory here in terms of his performance. I hope people would quit sleeping on Adam Page too as he's got a lot of potential to be a top draw for this company too if he would distance himself from the BTE boys and establish his own identity - not one as the loner (read: pathetic and cowardly as how he's been portrayed for the last few months) drunk/alcoholic either. 

IMPACT Wrestling EVP Don Callis joined this match on commentary too. Could we see a working relationship between AEW and IMPACT? That would be interesting for sure.







Singles Match
Orange Cassidy def. John Silver



That Spinning Release Torture Rack should've been Silver's finish IMHO. I did get a good laugh at Silver ripping off Cassidy's pockets and acting like he was eating them. This match was pretty much what we've all come to expect out of an Orange Cassidy match. He got his silly shit in then got serious with his high spots. IMO this gimmick has ran its course. That being said, I didn't agree with the finish. If Silver is as over among the BTE crowd as people claim he is, then they should've given him a win here against Cassidy. Orange Cassidy can afford a loss with the Best Friends' laundry list of enemies on that roster running interference.

Silver's more impressive than I would've given him credit for as part of that awful Dark Order faction/gimmick though.





Singles Match for the AEW TNT Championship
Darby Allin def. Cody Rhodes (c) (with Arn Anderson)



I love this filter for the Darby/Cody package. Cody is in color while Darby's in black/white. Yes during the introductions they called him Cody RHODES.

This match was essentially the same as the last few Cody versus Darby matches but the finishing sequence was rather odd. It was even stranger that they wouldn't even show a replay either so I'm guessing a ref botch calling it prematurely. The narrative for this match had Cody working Darby's arm so he couldn't use it but the funny thing about that is that I was laughing that has nothing to do with how effective the Coffin Drop is. You could cut off both of his arms and Darby could hit that thing to the same amount of effectiveness. That being said, Darby didn't even beat Cody with the Coffin Drop, but with a goddamn roll-up instead. I thought it was pretty fucked up that the kid couldn't even get the win against Cody clean for the title. 

Team Taz attacks both men post-match, but Will Hobbs saves Darby from getting his arm smashed into a car door. I'll say this much though... If they are staying the course on turning Cody Rhodes heel, then they are definitely milking this for the perfect opportunity. 


Team Taz left Darby Allin for dead after that beatdown. Didn't even give him a chance to soak in that title win. 



After it was all said and done, I was just glad that Darby FINALLY got his win against Cody one year later, but the finish here seemed a little anti-climatic. I hope that's not the end of this story because where else is Cody going to go? He can't challenge for the World Championship and of course he's going to want his rematch. They gave him his rematch against Brodie Lee so fast when he came back calling for that, so I wouldn't be surprised if Cody ends up being the first three time Television Champion in 2021. At this stage, Cody Rhodes doesn't need that championship. It should be reserved for the young lions on that roster looking to rise to the next level. 





Singles Match for the AEW Women's World Championship
Hikaru Shida (c) def. Nyla Rose (with Vickie Guerrero)



Shida hurt her knee early on after Nyla blocked her signature Running Knee so that played into the match - but not much as Shida was pulling off power move after power move using her base/grounded strength to toss Nyla around back to back across this match. I swear I get pissed every time Nyla does that diving knee drop off the top rope to a rope hung opponent and people kick out of that shit. That should be her fucking finish.

I'm sure that I've mentioned it before but Shida's facials during these matches range from comical to downright awful. She looks like she's taking a shit more than she's in any pain from anything that her opponent is doing to her. 

Shida hit about 3-4 knees to Nyla in the end to retain, regardless of her "ailing" knee. I got a kick out of the fact that she's still rocking that Final Fantasy VII Remake Tifa cosplay ring gear. I was like "Gurl, it's time to give that shit a rest already."


New gear? That looks like the same shit she's wearing EVERY goddamn week to me. Someone should have tagged that image with the caption, "WRONG HOLE!" to describe her facials at points in this match. I found myself laughing hysterically at her facials more than being caught up in any sense of "drama" or potential danger that she was in. 

It seems like Nyla and Vickie are falling out post-match. If so, that's stupid when AEW barely gave them screen time after pairing them up. You know's bad when even Tony Khan had to address these criticisms during the post-show conference call. I know I'm not complaining about how well they have been promoting and working with NWA to showcase their NWA Women's Champion on their programming, but damn, it's making the AEW Women's Championship look like a complete afterthought. 








Tag Team Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) def. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (c)
  • Had The Young Bucks lost, they would have never challenged for the AEW World Tag Team Championship again.
  • Tully Blanchard was barred from ringside.



It was your typical high profile tag team match in AEW - or rather in mainstream wrestling. I know most people will attempt to credit the Young Bucks having great match psychology during the opening portion of this match, but I hate to burst those bubbles, but let's see that from the Bucks when they aren't in the ring with FTR leading the direction of the match early on. To their credit, they took things slow and slowly built towards a crescendo, or rather multiple crescendos, as this match had a ton of peaks and valleys. There were a ton of excellent spots/sequences that would make for great finishes, but here they are transition spots or near-falls. FTR went on and on about "no flips just fists" for years now, but that proved to be their downfall at the end of the day. One of them went for the Bucks' Springboard 450 Splash, missed and ate a Super Kick from the ailing ankle of Matt Jackson for the win. Great action here, but I felt AEW shit the bed on the build completely and gave the finish away with that stipulation which was completely unnecessary.

The match itself lived up to the hype, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's any truth to these reports going about FTR's frustrations in this company. To say that AEW has so many high-profile tag team signed, but the only ones at the top of the mountain are the Young Bucks, FTR, and the Best Friends, tells you right there that these people don't know what the hell that they are doing booking wise. It blows my mind week-to-week trying to make sense why some of these tag teams are barely featured (if at all PERIOD) on Dynamite or have been regulated to performing on AEW Dark exclusively. Out of all of the tag teams that this company have signed, not mention the crapfest that was the build to this match, you're telling me that we couldn't have had a simply awesome build to this dream match? Instead, we got the Bucks acting like prima donna dicks (yet they are the babyfaces going into this match), whining and complaining week to week, only to press an injury (not a shoot either as apparently one of the Bucks has been dealing with it for quite some time now) to gain sympathy. What kind of ass-backwards booking is this? FTR barely got any mic time to promote this thing in the least. I know they aren't the best talkers from their WWE days, but they should have been given screen time to get something out there to drive the point home of this dream match. FTR left WWE to make this dream match a reality. For crying out loud, is it too much to ask for a coherent, spectacular build for this match?

I said it before and I'll say it again on here. I wish FTR did NOT come to this company. In my own selfishness, I wanted to see FTR do a run in the NWA before the global pandemic hit everything like a ton of bricks. Hell, I still have FTR versus The North over in IMPACT Wrestling  on my wishlist too. 







The Elite Deletion Match
Matt Hardy def. Sammy Guevara


Matt goes FULL Broken Hardy for this again. It was pretty much typically what you can expect from these Broken Universe matches if you've seen them in IMPACT. Craziness at the Hardy Compound with cameos galore, including Gangrel (WTF) and The Hurricane/Shane Helms. Santana & Ortiz and Private Party join in at some point too. There was even a cameo from Queen Rebecca and Senor Benjamin in the end.

I'm sure that I wasn't the only one to notice that Matt Hardy was really taking it easy in this match in terms of bumps. Even the spear out of the ring and through to the two tables during the finish looked like it was shot from multiple cuts spliced together to hide that they used a crash pad for safety. I thought it was in a little bit of bad taste to parody the near-fatal bump Matt Hardy took onto the concrete floor of the last PPV with Sammy Guevara taking it instead with a puddle of (clearly artificial) blood pooled behind his head. 

Out of all of the Broken Universe cinematic matches, I can't necessary say that this was my favorite one, but I can't say that this was the worst one either. My favorite one is still Tag Team Apocalypto back in IMPACT Wrestling while WWE drastically dropped the ball with this thing with the "Woken" Matt Hardy stuff. What hurt this "match" the most though is the fact that we have seen MULTIPLE cinematic matches throughout this year during this pandemic era of mainstream professional wrestling and it's not special anymore when Matt Hardy originally cooked up this concept. 








Singles Match
MJF (with Wardlow) def. Chris Jericho
Since MJF won, he and Wardlow are allowed to join The Inner Circle.


This was easily the worst thing on the card all night - for me at least. It wasn't because of the match quality - it was the fact that this match just seemed to drag on aimlessly until the finish. At this point in the show, we're closing in on midnight on a Saturday night on nearly FIVE hours on a goddamn PPV (including the Buy In preshow). Even WWE aren't clocking shows this long anymore. I get it though, AEW only does 4 PPVs a year and they are trying to give their fans their money's worth at $49.99, but still, you're asking a LOT of people on a Saturday night.

This was your run of the mill Jericho match in AEW, but MJF pulled a trick out of the late Eddie Guerrero's playbook to fool Ref Aubrey into thinking Jericho used the baseball bat (Floyd) to roll him up for the win. Meh at that finish. I couldn't care less either way as I don't see a benefit from MJF being part of the Inner Circle or not. Please point to me any benefit that anyone NOT named Chris Jericho has had in that group over the past year.

MJF was on fire in his feud with Moxley and now he's down to doing show-toons with Jericho. Sure, a win over Jericho is impressive on his resume but does it really mean much when Jericho already lost to Orange Cassidy SEVERAL times over the past few months?





"I quit" Match for the AEW World Championship
Jon Moxley (c) defeated Eddie Kingston


Moxley's post-WWE matches have only stood out to me when he was over in New Japan with a roster of workers who can compliment that hard-hitting brawler style that he's shooting for. This isn't a knock against American wrestlers in general, but most people stateside aren't going to work that style and it's a bad look to even try to when you obviously can't. Moxley himself isn't even necessarily great at it, hence why he masks his shortcomings with the assortment of hardcore stupidity that he sprinkles into almost all of these matches. 

Shout out to Eddie Kingston rocking the Misawa colors during this title match and congratulations to him headlining his first PPV main event for a major wrestling promotion. Let's hope that this isn't the first and only time we see him in this position. 

While I love that Eddie Kingston is getting this career resurgence of sorts here in AEW as a lot of people are seeing him for the first time on big platform. I thought he was great on the mic in IMPACT Wrestling - despite the fact that we've had a few choice words for each other on Twitter in the past for some of my criticisms back then. I thought he was a shout out talker on NWA Powerrr last year as well. He's always had the gift of gab; there's no doubting that. I'm just happy that he's got the attention of a lot more people - inside and outside of AEW. 

That being said though, he's a lot like Moxley, where his in-ring style isn't for everyone - me included. 
Moxley and Kingston were brawling at first but this match quickly devolved into a hardcore match like almost ALL of these Moxley matches have turned into. Not really a knock, but it's getting very redundant at this point. Like I said before, I wasn't really a big fan of Moxley matches when he was in WWE as Dean Ambrose and I still not too fond of him in this company either. They did have some interesting hardcore spots, including some rubbing alcohol after a bump into the thumbtacks. That was VERY creative there, even though I wouldn't be surprised if that was mere water in that bottle instead of rubbing alcohol, especially if they have to use that same ring again Wednesday night for Dynamite. Then again... Moxley and Kingston are so crazy, gangsta, or whatever you want to call it, that they really did use actual 90% proof rubbing alcohol. Seriously, how much does that go for nowadays during this pandemic?

The ending saw Moxley wrap his arm in barbwire and put on a seated choke on Kingston. Kingston did NOT say I QUIT, but the referee called it anyway to name Moxley the winner. Very strange finish to me. 

I was told on Twitter after the fact that Kingston did mutter the words to quit, just the cameras didn't catch the audio. I thought they would have had the referee with a microphone on his outfit that would have at least caught that, but oh well. I guess Kingston won't have another excuse to explain his shortcoming this time. 

Walking away from this match, I don't understand why so many people were shocked that Kingston didn't put Moxley away. I wasn't in the least. Kingston ended up being the replacement for Lance Archer, who was pegged to get a rematch against Moxley at this PPV before coming in contact with someone who had COVID-19, so he was pulled off the shows that were building to this PPV. This caused Tony Khan to pull an audible with Kingston in his place. All of that being said, I didn't think that they weren't going to take the title off of Moxley before we get the rubber match between Moxley and Kenny Omega. 

Speaking of which, Kenny Omega came out afterwards to stare down with Moxley to close the show and tease the match for the title next. I'm all for this as long as it's not another deathmatch like the last match between them was last year. 



Afterthoughts:



This was a solid show from start to finish. This show definitely made up for the debacle that was All Out roughly two months ago. More importantly, I'm glad no one got hurt this time around either. 
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AEW Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament: The Deadly Draw - Night 1 (Aug. 3, 2020) & Night 2 (Aug. 10, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts



On the July 22, 2020 episode of Dynamite, AEW announced a women's tag team tournament consisting of eight teams that would begin that summer. The winning team will be awarded the tournament cup trophy. The rules of the tournament were that all sixteen women had to draw a random color with the matching colors becoming a team; all selections were final. This concept is similar to World Championship Wrestling's BattleBowl tournament where the teams were drawn at random in a "Lethal Lottery". The tournament began on August 3, 2020, airing on AEW's YouTube channel, and will conclude on a special Saturday Night Dynamite episode on August 22.


Keep that first rule in mind as you will quickly see that there's not a goddamn thing random about these draws.



Night 1 (Aug. 3, 2020)





Glad to see Veda Scott on my TV screen again. Last time I've seen her on a wrestling program was on one of IMPACT's Knockouts Knockdown PPVs. 


The best thing about this tournament for me right off the bat was hearing Veda Scott's voice on commentary alongside the legendary Tony Schiavone. Veda is no stranger to calling women's tournaments and women's wrestling in general, so it's a pure delight to have her on board to call the action.


Madusa (WWE Hall of Famer Alundra Blayze) made her return to TNT programming in 20+ years with her AEW debut as the introducer for this tournament. That really came out of left field, but I can't be too surprised when Madusa has had similar roles for other promotions over the years, such as recently for Stardom.




Shaul Guerrero makes her AEW debut here as the ring announcer for this event. I'm glad to see someone pick her up as I thought she wasn't bad in the role when she filled in for Melissa Santos in Lucha Underground's final season.


The Nightmare Sisters (Allie & Brandi Rhodes) def. Mel (Melanie Cruise) and Penelope Ford (w/ Kip Sabian)


I didn't notice this during the initial airing until a friend of mine pointed this out for I could rewind and rewatch this clip, but Allie CLEARLY cheats to get on the team that she wanted for this tournament behind Brandi and Dasha's backs.



The Nightmare Collective has been dead and buried for months, but apparently Mel didn't get the memo that she has permission to grow her hair back out. Allie did majority of the work on offense for her team until she could tag in Brandi, who had a minor "reunion" of sorts with Mel that turned ugly - much like the most of this match. For the first match in this tournament, this was NOT a great start at all. Sloppy moves and botched spots left and right. The more I see of Brandi in the ring, whether it was in IMPACT, ROH, and now here in AEW, I can totally see why WWE opted for keeping her in the role of a ring announcer. I thought she was best as Cody's valet, but she seems deadset in proving people wrong.


Allie had the EXACT same look on my face as I did when I was watching at home.

(Shrugs) It's not my money Brandi's wasting. It's Tony Khan's since he's keeps funding these constant vanity projects of hers.

I swear though... If Brandi and Allie win this whole thing, I'm going to roast Brandi over the coals about it. I didn't tear into her like most did about that AEW Heels thing but if she shoehorns herself into being the winner of this tournament just to add cloat to her resume, then I'm calling her out on her bullshit.


In all seriousness, if I was Allie, I wouldn't trust Brandi Rhodes. She's the one who's suddenly acting like a heel in interviews but babyfacing it in matches and for her Chief "Brandi" Officer position. Pick one alignment and stick with it. This isn't musical chairs. Isn't that what people make fun of The Big Show for doing all these years?



Anna Jay (w/ The Dark Order) and Tay Conti (formerly NXT's Taynara Conti) def. Ariane Andrew (formerly WWE's Cameron) & Nyla Rose (w/ Vicki Guerrero)


I HAD to make this meme after seeing her show up on Dynamite the week prior...

(Whistles) Boy, did I get a good laugh when it was announced that Cameron (AKA the woman who said the best match of all-time was between Alicia Fox and Melina) was debuting for AEW and would be Nyla Rose's partner for this tournament.


Nyla, I would appalled too if Cameron was my partner in this.

To her credit, she was nowhere as bad as she was back in her WWE days here, but that's not saying much. Anna Jay shines more in singles matches than clusterfuck tag team matches like this, but she's a lot better than one would expect for one with so few years into the business. Conti's training from the Performance Center shines as a lot of her movements look polished and methodical, instead of doing stuff to do them like how 90% of the AEW roster goes about a match. I still don't see what was the big fascination about Conti though, but she has a platform here in AEW to show why she should have been a bigger star in WWE.

I shook my head at how much selling Nyla did for Jay and Conti after tearing through both women. I loved the finish here though. I had to replay it twice because I loved it so much. Excellent finish to a very bland match. I can totally get behind this JayTay pairing.

Post-match, Nyla Rose laid waste to Ariane Andrew and took out the trash like she is - rightfully so  after costing her team the win there.


Tournament Brackets updated following Night 1 results.


Night 2 (Aug. 10, 2020)





Big Swole (Ariel Monroe) and Lil' Swole (Nicole Savoy) def. Leva Bates (w/ Peter Avalon) and Rache Chanel


The first thing to come out of my mouth when they said Big Swole was teaming with "Lil' Swole" was WTF. Then I got a closer look and went "Isn't that Nicole Savoy?" Jesus. More and more time has gone by and I wonder why she hasn't followed Mercedes Martinez and Shayna Baszler into WWE for a Trifecta reunion following her stint in the Mae Young Classic. If AEW can sign her to a contract, I say go for it. It's not like she's doing anything with Shimmer, Shine, or any other promotions that would get in the way of her on-screen appearances right now. Savoy can add some more technical finesse that is severely lacking in terms of talent in that women's division.

Savoy gets cool points from me just for merely wearing that One Punch Man shirt though.

This match was fine for what it was. No, wait... I'll give these ladies props, even though I think that Big Swole is the same amount of entertaining as Baron Corbin to me. This was the best match out of the two weeks of this tournament so far, but that's not a high compliment to give these ladies when there wasn't much to write home about this tournament so far. I don't know what the fuck was going on with Rache Chanel's gimmick. Wasn't she the one standing in the crowd with MJ Jenkins on one episode of Dynamite a few months ago?

How are the Librarians still a thing and still employed in this company? I just don't get it at all. This company had enough common sense to realize that the Nightmare Collective had go-away heat from every scope of their fanbase, but yet this gimmick (along with the Dark Order) is still a thing? I would love to see Leva Bates fall back into her lovable cosplayer gimmick that everyone knew and loved from her indie days. The hardcore indie fanboys are the bulk of AEW's fanbase anyway, so you can't tell me that wouldn't have gone over.


Diamante and Ivelisse def. Dasha and Rachael Ellering


The backstage interview where Madusa came up to Dasha and let her know that she was going to be able to compete in this tournament was SOOOO goddamn cringe-worthy from Dasha's FORCED acting here. To say that she left WWE to get away from that, it's even worse to see her doing the same thing here in AEW.

That being said, she wasn't bad at all in this match, especially to say that she hasn't been wrestling very long. Her biggest misstep was towards the end of the match where it looked like she was a deer in headlights trying to keep up with what was going on for the finish. Speaking of that finish, she had absolutely no idea how to take those moves, but it was more shocking to see a Canadian Destroyer actually end a match and not be a goddamn transition or throwaway, common spot. I'm sure someone will correct me, but wasn't Ivelisse using that as a finisher in Lucha Underground?

I hate to make fun of anyone's weight, but it was pretty noticeable that Ellering had put on some considerable weight since her appearances on NXT and IMPACT programming. I remember her being a beast of a woman in terms of stature, but she was more toned and muscular than her better half in Kassius Ohno. Now it's looking like they are on the same diet - or lack of thereof. All jokes aside, Ellering is still a great for AEW if they could sign her to that women's division. They are extremely lacking in strong hands to be enhancement talent and Ellering did a great job in that position when IMPACT's Knockout division was in a transitional period a few years ago.

Much like Ivelisse and Diamante's first two bouts in AEW, this wasn't their best work, but I'm confident that we will see a better showing with them by the time this tournament is all said and done.

As for Dasha, I don't know if she's more interested in being a backstage interviewer and occasional ring announcer or being an in-ring talent, but she's got a lot of promise. I'm anxious to see how far her talents could grow within the right environment. Sadly, I don't think this women's division is the place to go if she's looking to challenge herself.


Updated brackets following Night 2.



Afterthoughts:


I'm sure that the AEW diehards don't want to admit it, but the first night of this tournament was NOT good at all. The standout performance above the rest was Veda Scott on commentary with Tony Schiavone. I really hope they have enough brains to sign her to some type of contract after this tournament is over. Veda is a Jack (or Jane rather...) of All-Trades - she can talk her ass off. She can act as a manager/valet as needed and she can wrestle too if needed. Veda's not going to be pulling five star matches out of her hat, but I always thought she was an asset to whatever promotion managed to bring her in. I thought it was a massive disservice that her talents aren't being used in any company right now, even before this pandemic started. 

I do like that AEW is using this as a platform to introduce some new women onto their roster, but at the same time, it's a double-edged sword when they should be using this tournament to establish and feature more of the women who aren't booked on Dynamite regularly, like Abadon, Bea Priestley, or Sadie Gibbs - even though the latter two have been released by the company as of this posting. 

Night 2 was a better pill to swallow than Night 1 was by a mile. I'm dreading going into the semi-finals I don't think the match-ups will be very good outside of the team of TayJay against Ivelisse and Diamante. That's the only match I'm really looking forward to in the next round of matches. 

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All Elite Wrestling Presents: Double or Nothing 2020 (May 23, 2020) + AEW Dynamite (5/27/20) -- Results & Afterthoughts



Double or Nothing was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event took place on May 23, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. While the majority of the event aired live from Daily's Place, the main event match was pre-recorded from May 22–23 at TIAA Bank Field. It was the second event in the Double or Nothing chronology and the first event to feature the AEW TNT Championship.

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.

Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on The Buy In pre-show. In the main event, 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) in a Stadium Stampede match. In other prominent matches, Jon Moxley defeated Mr. Brodie Lee to retain the AEW World Championship, Hikaru Shida defeated Nyla Rose to win the AEW Women's World Championship, Cody defeated Lance Archer to become the inaugural TNT Champion, and Brian Cage won the Casino Ladder Match in his AEW debut. Additionally, the event featured an appearance from International Boxing Hall of Famer Mike Tyson, who presented the TNT Championship to Cody.



Double or Nothing 2020
PPV Results:


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
Cody (with Arn Anderson) defeated Lance Archer (with Jake Roberts)




 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. 

Singles Match
Dustin Rhodes (with Brandi Rhodes) defeated Shawn Spears


Bathroom break. That's all what this was. 



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.




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.


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. 
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