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🆕　#AEWFullGear #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT #AEW pic.twitter.com/FPincjqXs0

— HIKARU SHIDA 志田 光 (@shidahikaru) November 8, 2020

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. 

WWE Network Special: Mae Young Classic - Round 1 Review (Episodes 1-4)

The Mae Young Classic is an ongoing special event, promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion, WWE. It will be constituted by a 32 competitor tournament exclusively for women from both NXT and the independent circuit. The tournament took place on July 13, and 14, 2017 and the final match will take place on September 12, 2017.

WWE announced that a women’s tournament would be taking place in the summer of 2017 at a press conference during WrestleMania 33 weekend. There will be a total of 32 wrestlers competing. The name of the event is in honor of the late WWE Hall of Famer Mae Young. It was announced on their official website that the first four wrestlers to be competing would be Sarah Logan, Lacey Evans, Princesa Sugehit, and Toni Storm. The second set of names announced were Tessa Blanchard, Abbey Laith, Taynara Conti, Jazzy Gabert, and Kavita Devi. On June 26, 2017, Lita and Jim Ross were announced as the commentators for the tournament. The third set of names announced were Kairi Sane, Dakota Kai, Piper Niven, and Bianca Belair. The fourth set of names announced were Rhea Ripley and Sage Beckett. The fifth set of names announced were Kay Lee Ray and Ayesha Raymond. Later in the day, Vanessa Borne qualified to the classic. On July 13, 2017, WWE held the Mae Young Classic: Parade of Champions, a pre-tournament event streamed live on YouTube and Facebook and revealed the remaining tournament participants. The Mae Young Classic also featured WWE's first full-time female referee, Jessika Carr.

The first four episodes of this tournament were made available on the WWE Network on August 28, 2017.

Episode 1

Right off the bat, I have to ask this question... Why the fuck is the arena so dark? I’m guessing they didn’t fill up Full Sail University for this show. Otherwise, it's in bad taste to darken the arena like it's a low budget indie show that couldn't fill up all of the seats for every match.

JR should’ve called this solo or with Renee Young. Lita we love you, but commentary is not her cup of tea. Lita adds next to NOTHING to this as his broadcast partner, even more so to say that they re-recorded some lines. I know that Renee Young wasn't too crazy about doing commentary from her NXT days, but I firmly believe that she couldn't have been any worse than Lita here.

I love that freaking theme song for this tournament - I need a copy of that on YouTube or something.

Take a listen for yourself if you haven't had a chance to check out this tournament yet.

Princesa Sugehit def. Kay Lee Ray 

I vaguely remember Sugehit from old ChickFight DVDs. Didn’t know she was so “thick” and “juicy” though. Is this a first for a wrestler in WWE wrestling with braces? I know Vince wouldn't have let that fly if he saw her beforehand. I was surprised that let KLR beat on Sugehit so long, even hitting most of her signatures/big moves before the finish


I can easily see WWE hiring Kay Lee Ray at some point if they haven't signed her already. There was some solid ring work from bell to bell from both ladies and this served as a great opening bout to kickstart this tournament. Sugehit was a little sloppy in a few spots but that’s to be expected for international talent making the shift to getting used to WWE style.

Serena Deeb def. Vanessa Borne

Serena’s had her implants removed since the last time we've seen her in a WWE ring as she's looking obviously flat as a board. I know that's bad that was the first thing I noticed, but she's still gorgeous nonetheless. Same goes for Vanessa Borne - isn’t she related to The Rock or part of the Samoan family tree? Looks like her and Nia Jax could be sisters.

I couldn't help but notice that Vanessa Borne had that huge distracting scar on her shoulder. I would've designed my ring gear to cover that up or wear tape or something. I swear WWE needs to have a special aesthetics department with quality control on informing their roster on what's going to look good or bad in HD.

I thought it was cool that they switched to a female referee for this match. I’m guessing they went with male for the previous match since Sugehit only speaks Spanish?

This match wasn't bad, but I was not too crazy about this match. Even Lita said it - they kept it very basic.

Seriously, why does EVERY Samoan wrestler has to use a damn Samoan Drop? That’s as stereotypical as every foreigner (especially Muslims/Arabics/Indians) wrestler using the Camel Clutch.


I was surprised that Deeb went with a Spear as her finish, but I guess that's she's been using on the indies lately right? I could have sworn she used to do something else for her finish, but oh well.

Shayna Baszler def. Zeda

Major props go out to SHIMMER for sharing match footage for Shayna’s in-ring history, along with other women in this tournament. I wonder how much WWE could have had to pay for that "favor" along with getting Allison Danger to call this event with Jim Ross instead of Lita?

I hate to say it, but Butterface has to be Shayna’s middle name with a capital B. I thought Zeda had a pretty good backstory for an underdog babyface that would have sold that she was winning in this first round against anyone else, but nope. Even Ray Charles could see that Zeda’s losing here.

First mention of Ronda Rousey and the other Horsewomen at ringside, Izzy’s on the row BEHIND them. Dafuq? Who is that kid's parents blowing to get front row tickets to almost EVERY live event?

Pretty cool intro theme for Zeda, very anime-esque and I'm loving her ring gear. I hope we see more of that girl after this tournament since she's already down at the Performance Center training.

I had one huge issue with this match and it's with the message that WWE is conveying here. Zeda's backstory is that she has endured bullies all of her life to come here in WWE and to compete in the Mae Young Classic. WWE promotes the "Be a Star" campaign and all of that shit by WWE, but they have the story here have Zeda get bullied by Shayna the ENTIRE match and get nothing off and LOSE? Talk about inspiring women... That's just epic fail on WWE's behalf. The whole thing here came off like they were circle-jerking about having Rousey's group there instead of telling the story with Zeda standing up against this bully. It just disgust me that WWE put off the message that literally said, "Cool we made Shayna look strong at the expense of killing off the girl with a good backstory that could’ve made a great narrative versus someone else. Meh, fuck it. She's already down at the Performance Center so we can do it later..."

I get it, they want to make a huge deal that they got one of MMA's Four Horsewomen into a WWE ring, but they didn't have to chop out Zeda's legs out from underneath her without even giving her a chance to prove herself.

Abbey Laith def. Jazzy Gabert

For those who aren't hip to these ladies, it's Kimber Lee vs. Alpha Female. Kimber Lee was trained by 205 Live's own Drew Gulak and renown for her work in SHINE, Shimmer Women's Athletes, and Chikara. Most people may remember Alpha Female as the towering female enforcer Chris Sabin "hired" to deal with Velvet Sky after their break-up on Impact Wrestling during one of their tours to the UK. She has made several tours of Japan and currently works for the all-women's promotion, Pro Wrestling: EVE, when she's not working on her budding MMA career.

This match served as the main event for Episode 1 and the best match to this point. It was appropriately well-placed as a main event bout, with this match serving as a hard-hitting affair with Jazzy running a clinic on how to be a female powerhouse/wrecking machine. Hey Nia Jax, take notes please.

Jazzy with those mounted punches towards the end that would make AKI Man proud. I wonder how many people will get that reference...

Abbey pulled off the upset win of the tournament so far with Abbey getting the win off a roll-up into the Alligator Clutch (tribute to Mae Young) after Jazzy dominated 90% of this match. To be honest, I'm not too crazy about that finish, but whatever, the roll-up is the most devastating finisher in WWE after all...

I wasn’t crazy about Jazzy breaking character and hugging Abbey post-match either, but truth be told, there ends up being a LOT of that as this tournament goes on.

Episode 2

Mercedes Martinez def. Xia Li

On paper, this seems pretty stupid to have a rookie having their FIRST match versus a multi-year veteran and title holder in a first-round match in this tournament.

This was not a bad first showing for Xia Li, but her snapmares/hip tosses definitely need work. I thought she was going to break Mercedes’ neck at least twice there from how she was carelessly tossing her around the ring. Her striking game is superb but other than that this has been the most lackluster 1st round bout to this point. Xia Lia is kick away from a wardrobe malfunction with that short skirt and that thong-like panties

Boy, times have changed when WWE wouldn't have dared let Mercedes in a WWE ring looking like she does (covered in tattoos and piercings). Fast forward a decade later, we have her here in the flesh. I'm glad to see her finally get some mainstream exposure for once, that's for sure.

Rachel Evers def. Marti Belle

Give or take a few months but this match could’ve taken place back in TNA/GFW if Belle, Evers, and Yim stuck around after Anthem buyout.

Marti Belle is still kinda sloppy at spots in this at several points of this match. Correction.... hell BOTH of them are sloppy. With the addition of Marti Belle, there’s TONS of bootilicious girls in this tournament, good Lord that's getting distracting at this point.

Sloppy match, sloppy finish - moving on… Seriously, if you're pressed for time, do yourself a favor and skip this one. I can totally see why Triple switched the finish on this match halfway into this.

Rhea Ripley def. Miranda Salinas

The height difference here is crazy. Miranda looks like she’s shorter than AJ Lee AND Alexa Bliss

At this point, they’ve made a lot of these matches a bit TOO predictable in terms of vets versus rookies. Miranda had little chance here, despite being one of Booker T’s students. It felt like she didn't have a chance at all here, despite her video package that kinda sold me onto her character/personality.

Mia Yim def. Sarah Logan

Up next, we have the woman formerly known as Crazy Mary Dobson versus the former TNA Knockouts Champion, Jade.

Logan looks like she’s wearing Nikki Cross’ top. According to a friend who is a native to that area, WWE might want to change Logan’s hometown if they want to sell people on her country girl/redneck gimmick

No joke, but I never heard Sarah Logan speak before seeing her video package. I've seen some her bouts on YouTube and Dailymotion here and there, but never heard her do an interview. That being said, I'm completely sold on that gimmick after actually hearing her speak. She's got the Southern accent down to the tee.

This wasn't a bad match at all, definitely better the rest of the matches on this episode. A solid Ep. 2 main event for a pretty meh series of matches on this episode. I enjoyed Mia's shout out/tribute to Gail Kim by finishing Sarah Logan off with the Eat Defeat. Thank god she didn't botch it like Enzo Amore did on RAW last week...

Episode 3

Toni Storm def. Ayesha Raymond

Lord, forgive me, but that facepaint wasn't doing Ayesha Raymond any favors at all in the looks department.

Thanks to Toni Storm's lovely rear end, there was so much booty meat in this tournament that even Naomi tweeted about it.

Yesssss embrace the #bootymeat🤗 https://t.co/i805pEWYQf

— Trinity Fatu (@NaomiWWE) August 28, 2017

On top of that, I loved every second of Toni Storm's ass-based offense. I swear there was a point where I didn't know what that girl's upper body looked like for the bulk of this match. As much as I loved Toni's ass along with the bulk of this match, that finish was ass though.

Dakota Kai def. Kavita Devi

I wouldn’t be bragging about Great Khali trained me about shit if I was Kavota Devi. That dude is fucking horrible. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised and VERY impressed with KD’s offense. She should go back to India and start training Khali on how to be an impressive powerhouse. Hell, give Nia some pointers too while she's at it.

I haven't seen Evie/Dakota Kai wrestle in what feels like forever from the old Shimmer DVDs. I remember having her on my old Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (PlayStation 2) saves with the rest of the Shimmer roster at the time. I'm glad she got her chance to shine as part of this tournament. Kai busts out a sweet Running Kenta Kick into the corner and finishes Devi off with a Diving Foot Stomp for the win. I wouldn't mind seeing more Devi if they want to bring her up to NXT down the road.

If WWE ends up signing Dakota Kai (if she's not already signed), I wonder if they are going to keep her with her Bayley-like gimmick here?

Bianca Belair def. Sage Beckett

I'mn not really feeling this “shaman” gimmick for Sage but I guess they are practicing for her NXT debut as a regular in the coming months. In my opinion, Sage's weight loss story would have been more inspirational. For those who don't know, she was formerly Rosie Lottalove in TNA before she lost 130+ lbs. She's also credited as the same wrestler who sidelined Daffney with the injury that forced her to retire from in-ring competition.


From what I have seen here, Bianca Belair isn’t as good as people online have been hyping her up to be from house show events. I’m not impressed at all. Is that supposed to be a big fucking deal that she whips people with that long piece of weave? That weave looks more like a liability long haul if someone trips up or chokes on that damn thing from being wrapped around their neck from the ring work.

Belair picks up the win after being the second person to have a Spear finisher. I'm wondering if the road agents did NOT go over finishes before this tournament? Gotta be honest here, but I wasn't too crazy about this match as a whole as it seemed like they didn't have good chemistry with each other.

Santana Garrett def. Piper Niven

Santana, girl we love you, but you need to lay off the spray tanning. She was looking like that Hulk Hogan/Ric Flair orange here in HD.


This was the best match out of these three episodes so far. Do yourself a favor and watch this one for sure. Piper can really move for a big girl. I have only seen her wrestle a few times out of the few times that I have checked out matches from the STARDOM promotion, but I'm glad to see Piper (known as Viper on the indies) get a chance in this tournament to show off her skills. It was cool to see Santana bust out the 2nd Eat Defeat in this tournament a as tribute and shout out to Gail Kim in this tournament.

Even though I read the spoilers (much like most people) beforehand, I was still shocked to see Santana take the L here, but I'm happy that Piper got to advance.

To the folks on social media giving Piper a hard time about her weight need to lay off. That girl is doing amazing things for someone with her size. If you're bitter that WWE let her beat the living Wonder Woman, Santana Garrett, I wouldn't be surprised that both of these ladies end up getting signed in the near future. They would be crazy not to.

Episode 4

Candice LaRae def. Renee Michelle

I’ve seen a few of Renee’s matches prior to this and she doesn’t come off nowhere as green as she does here. I'm just in awe on how sloppy this match is. It's nowhere as bad as that Rachel Evers/Marti Belle match on Episode 2, but it's hard to ignore here.

You could even tell from Candice's facial expressions that she is even pissed off by the end of this match from Renee’s inexperience. She was struggling to keep this moving along to say she’s the veteran here. They managed to pull it together at the end with the sweet series that lead to the finish though.

Lacey Evans def. Taynara Conti

Sorry folks, I gotta cheer my fellow SC native in this one in Evans. We went to the same college too.
I couldn't help but laugh at Evans’ classy hairdo coming undone over the course of this match. What is up with Conti’s resting bitch face? She’s got that going better than Bliss does. Conti’s got some natural talent as striker given her background. I'm hoping we see more of her on NXT TV soon since they signed her already at the Performance Center. She just needs some polish to her work. Let it be known that Lacey Evans was the wrong person to be carrying another rookie through a match too.

I was pleasantly shocked that Evans actually won a match for once instead of jobbing as usual. I kinda got used to seeing her on the losing end of things on NXT over the last few months.

Nicole Savoy def. Reina Gonzales

I have to wonder if Reina had Bell’s Palsy since she was wearing the half-face mask. Sarah Stock/Sarita did the same thing when she had paralysis on a side of her face at one point when she was wrestling for TNA Wrestling.

There was not much to write home about here outside of Savoy controlling the pace from bell to bell. Savoy ends up being the last member of the Trifecta (stable between Baszler, Martinez, and Savoy in Shimmer and SHINE) to advance.

I could see WWE signing Savoy easily at some point, but Reina needs some polish if she’s already at the Performance Center. She's just another choice in this opening round where I felt like "yeah, she's just here to lose in the first round..."

Kairi Sane def. Tessa Blanchard

Tessa, you're a beautiful woman, but please lay off the spray tan. Much like Santana in the main event of Episode 3, she looks like an Oompa Loompa here in HD.

Kairi Sane is going to have to kick it up a notch if she’s to be as much of a “rockstar” as Nakamura and Asuka on NXT. Her entrance needs and deserves something MUCH better for a star of her caliber in this thing. I keep saying it on social media, but she needs to make her entrance a tribute or parody of Gokaiger (Super Sentai) or something. She already looks like Luka (Gokai Yellow) from that series, so I don't know... Maybe she could do something like that? Have Nakamura be Captain Marvelous for fun at some point. He's already got the look down.

Sane's Diving Elbow Drop is amazing but goddamn that scares me how she lands. She’s just begging for lower back and hip problems when she’s older.

This is easily the best match out of these first four episodes and they definitely made sure to save the best for last. From how well Tessa worked with Sane here, I'm sad to see her get eliminated this quick in this tournament. To say that her and Sane have dodged each other from their various tours of Japan, it was great to see them finally get a chance to test their skills against each other in a WWE ring no less.