This was the go-home show before tomorrow Full Gear PPV coming from the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN, which will also feature Full Gear. It’s pretty much a double hitter as a live event but was unusual in that it had four matches rather than the normal three. Despite being the go home show, I felt that besides the video packages, most of the matches themselves did little to do more for the PPV and seemed more for longer term booking.
Jungle Boy vs. Bobby Fish
This was actually setup on Dynamite when Adam Cole introduced Bobby Fish to the Bucks. Jungle Boy started hot and the goal for Fish was to wear Jungle Boy out prior to their falls counter anywhere match. If you isolated this match by itself, it was pretty decent. Jungle Boy sold an injured shoulder where Bobby attempted to weaken him. However, Jungle Boy locked in the Snare Trap for the tap out victory.
Immediately, Adam Cole ran in to beat up Jungle Boy. Fish soon recovered and as Cole had Jungle Boy in the camel clutch, he released him for a second to hug Fish, which got a nice pop because the crowd recognized the whole Undisputed Era meet up here. Also, the announcing team couldn’t help themselves in referencing Fish and Cole’s NXT group without a few chuckles.
Of course, Christian Cage and Luchasaurus ran down to help out, chasing Cole out but leaving Fish in the ring to be the sacrificial lamb for Christian’s Killswitch finisher.
Comment: The big aspect was seeing the in ring reunion of Adam Cole and Bobby Fish. This was pretty significant because up until Wednesday on Dynamite, Bobby Fish was mostly wandering in AEW aimlessly. Now, that he’s officially being associated to Adam Cole, the crowd is receiving him in a bigger way. With all the hints of the Undisputed Era being dropped, one can only imagine that down the road we’ll eventually see a reunion. As I mentioned in my previous review for Dynamite, people are anticipating Kyle O’Reilly coming in once his contract is up, which they say is soon. Before I go into more theorycrafting here, I’ll stop because there’s more shortly.
Bryan Danielson/Miro Package
Good package reminding us what’s gone on between these two. Bryan makes reference to Miro, as I mentioned, finding his voice and being more experienced. He also mentioned that Bryan has yet to beat Miro, which is significant because it shows going into tomorrow’s PPV that there’s a chance that Bryan can lose. It makes the bout worth watching because now there’s a huge question mark on if Bryan will get this win.
Adam Cole/Bucks/Adam Page Segment
Normally, I dislike Bucks segments because they end up being pretty goofy. This one was damn good. First, Adam Cole is about to sell their PPV match when Adam Page interrupts. But Page gets in Cole’s face to which I’ve learned they have history in RoH. At the same time, this might be foreshadowing Adam Page winning tomorrow and Cole eventually challenging for the title. However, it’s clear that neither guy likes each other here.
Adam Cole leaves after Page asks for some private time with the Bucks. He acknowledges their lack of involvement on Friday’s title signing and even apologizes for making them lose the tag titles. But he also talks about how they made him lose to Kenny Omega in his title shot, calling the situation even. He threatens though that if they interfere, he’ll go after them.
So right now we have some interesting potential long term booking if things continue to go in the WWE, especially with NXT getting trashed and putting a lot of existing talent on alert. People believe that Kyle O’Reilly will sign with AEW once his contract finishes (which is supposedly “soon”) and him having an NXT contract implies a 30 day no-compete compared to someone on the main roster. If that’s the case, we could see the reformation of the Undisputed Era in AEW.
So what happens with The Elite since Adam Cole will possibly leave? People think that he’ll turn on them and once Kyle O’Reilly signs, they’ll end up feuding with the Elite. Some people don’t know when Roderick Strong will be done but the guy people think will show up eventually is Kevin Owens. If Cole gets his version of the Undisputed Era in AEW, then the Elite might end up just being Omega and the Bucks.
Which leads to this segment where Page has apologized to the Bucks. Maybe he might return to the Elite so that they can have a feud with the Undisputed Era. Or perhaps Omega takes time off to heal after losing to Page while this version of the Elite get into this big time rivalry. That has some interesting potential.
Jade Cargill vs. Santana Garrett
Or as I call it “Storm” vs “Wonder Woman” in the non-dream match because this was far from good. But it was short. If AEW puts the TBS title on Jade, then they’re insane. She still looks really bad in what she’s doing. There was a moment where she got tossed into the corner then flipped her hair out of her face while breathing heavily because it was apparent she already had been blown up. Do you really want someone who gets blown up in less than 4 minutes as your first TBS title holder?
Poor Santana Garrett continues her losing ways as a jobber here in AEW but I guess work is work and she did enough to get Jade where she needed to be. But no matter what Jade still has too many problems where they need to get her in other places for a while so she can get more experience. I think being in front of this many people live is just too much pressure. She might be the best looking woman in the AEW division in my opinion but she’s one of the worst wrestlers in the company right now for her spot. I think if they still have that Forbidden Door open, they should send her to Impact and the NWA to allow her to work on smaller shows that aren’t seen by as many people while working under the tutelage of Gail Kim, Mickie James, etc. to learn how to work. The thing is whoever is giving her advice is doing a really bad job and they need to switch it up.
Dante Martin vs. Ariya Daivari
This was Ariya Daivari’s debut. I read that Ariya is Dante’s trainer. Both got a nice pop and the announcers mentioned that this is also both men’s hometown. Dante is just so fluid in that ring and can fly in ways that seems unnatural but completely natural to him. Daivari looked great here too and he must be happy he’s allowed to be a wrestler. I wrote on Reddit that matches like this necessitate eventually creating a cruiserweight type of title. That should’ve been the TNT title but Guevara is buried in Jericho’s garbage angle and they didn’t get the title off of him prior to the PPV so that it could be defended. Dante won big but I think Daivari showed he can go and probably will get signed soon.
Afterwards, Team Taz came down (Powerhouse Hobbs and Hook) with a special contract with Ricky Starks (still in the announcing position) getting the mic and telling Dante to look it over. So I guess now they’re doing an angle of all the groups/managers looking to grab Dante. It would almost be good if they didn’t do something similar with Jade and Mark Sterling. But at least with Dante they’re doing it in front of a large crowd where he’s getting over huge.
Orange Cassidy vs. Matt Hardy
This was the worst Lumberjack Match I’ve ever seen. It just was nonsense and an excuse to dump whatever remaining wrestlers were in the back on camera so that they could get some air time. I zoned out a few times but Hardy beat Cassidy when the Blade brass knuckled Cassidy. I suppose it’s somewhat worth noting that after tomorrow’s PPV, Cassidy wants to be done with Matt Hardy and vice versa. We all do. But I think it’s better for Cassidy to have this unending feud with Matt just because it’ll force him to not be involved in anything else.
Final Thoughts
Outside of that crummy main event, the rest of the show wasn’t bad. However, besides the Elite vs Jurassic Express/Christian Cage match, the rest of the PPV wasn’t really built up all that well. The video packages were good but they still weren’t live to make me interested in themselves. Everything else seemed to point towards after the PPV such as the TBS title, Dante Martin’s continued success/push and Adam Cole’s connection with Bobby Fish as well as Adam Page and Cole having the start of a confrontation.
I do think we are seeing Matt Hardy vs Orange Cassidy tomorrow but it might be on the YouTube pre-show along with the women’s tag team match. I am sad that Ruby Soho isn’t part of the PPV but I’m sure she might be on the next one. I might do another preview of the card for tomorrow given the updated status since the “leaked” note came out. There are quite a few matches that I am interested in though so I really can’t wait to see what they do. Also, I have to wonder if there will be any surprises. I feel there should be at least 1-2 but it’s anyone’s guess whom they may be.