Last week was fun, so let’s run it back one more time! Tonight is looking to be even bigger than last week’s monster debut, which pulled in about 1.4 million viewers. Not bad for a brand new promotion! With the first match of the tag team tournament to crown the first AEW tag champs, Moxley making his in-ring debut against Shawn Spears, and Jericho’s new stable getting some shine against a vengeful Hangman Page and Dustin Rhodes, it’s looking like they’re on their way to maintaining that momentum.
Tag Team Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Private Party vs Young Bucks
The match starts strong with The Bucks taking control early. As the heavy favorites as both an incredible tag team and EVPs within the company, it would be safe to expect a huge showcase for both them and the young, up-and-coming Private Party.
After a standing flip reversal out of a double suplex, Marq Quen tags in and hits the ring like a house of fire, hitting some superhuman dives over the top rope on Matt and Nick, before bringing the action back into the ring with a picture perfect 450 splash. After a springboard dive attempt, we get our first double Superkick, leading to the Bucks isolating Quen after Matt Jackson powerbombs Isiah Kassidy onto the stage. A powerbomb / sliced bread #2 combination takes Quen down, leading to the pair taking turns working on the young star. Huge “tag team wrestling” chant breaks out as Quen repeatedly tries to mount a comeback before being cut off by the Bucks. A vicious knee to a double foot stomp combination drains the life out of Quen as the crowd begins to get behind Private Party. Isiah finds his way back to the apron, but Nick yanks him off right before Quen creates enough space to leap for the tag.
Isiah finally gets the tag and rallies with a double top rope drop kick and a double hurricanrana, all the while selling his back from the previous stage powerbomb. Matt stops the momentum by throwing Isiah out of the ring, then counters his attempt at re-entering with multiple Northern Lights Suplexes, the fourth of which is hit on both members. The end seems near as Nick takes out Quen with a superkick as Matt applies the Scorpion Death Lock to Isiah. Nick hits a springboard X-Factor just as Isiah is about to reach the ropes. Matt pulls him back to the center of the ring, but Isiah fights through to grab the ropes! I’m not sure if I like him being in that move for so long. Unless Private Party is winning, an isolated submission for that long should signal the end.
Quen gets the tag and gets rid of Nick before hitting Gin and Juice on Matt! (Gin and Juice is a top rop hurricanrana into an RKO and needs to be seen to be believed). Matt reverses Quen’s offense into a Meltzer Driver attempt, but then Isiah pulls Nick off the apron while Quen rolls up Matt for the win! Private Party pulls off the upset!
Overall, that match was phenomenal. My only nitpick was the long Scorpion Death Lock spot where Isiah looked unstoppable after essentially grabbing the ropes twice and fighting through the attacks of two men. Other than that, it was an amazing showcase for a largely unknown team, while the Bucks made sure to put the best of both teams on display.
That brings up a growing concern for me though. I understand that they want to avoid accusations of favoritism as EVP’s, but they all are legitimately some of the best wrestlers in the world. Aside from Cody, the entire crew is suffering from a losing streak. While it’s great to be selfless and give some shine to new talents, doing so for too long will take the shine off of the best wrestlers in the company as they continuously lose. In this case, it happens to be the guys the company is named after. Let’s hope they find a way to balance this in the weeks to come.
Chris Jericho Introduces His Stable, The Inner Circle
Jericho takes credit for last week’s massive rating, which is “The largest premiere in TNT history”. A “thank you Jericho” chant breaks out before Chris tells them to shut up and sit down. He then highlights the rest of his group, with Sammy Guevara, who he calls a “heartthrob” and a “god”. Santana and Ortiz, the former LAX, are next, with Ortiz seemingly having trouble keeping his tongue in his mouth. Jericho closes his intro with “viva la raza”, which is appropriate considring today is Eddie Guerrero’s birthday. When he gets to Jake Hager, Jericho silences the “We The People” chants, calling it “dead and buried” and “an idea from bad creative”. He then calls him the most feared MMA fighter in the world, with an undefeated record that makes him the most dangerous person in wrestling, (which is kind of funny since he’s only fought two people, both of which looked more like punching bags than actual competitors). Jericho declares that the group is his Inner Circle, then turns his attention to Cody. He says he’s been entitled his entire life, while he hates his entire family, including his brother and father, who he thought was a jerk. On November 9, Jericho promises to “beat the everliving SHIT out of him”, filling their one shit per show quota. Promising to celebrate with a little bit of the bubbly, the group poses as the announcers plug that Inner Circle shirts have just gone on sale at shopaew.com.
Spoiler: The website crashed as soon as this promo concluded.
Jimmy Havoc vs. Darby Allin with the winner challenging Chris Jericho for the AEW Championship next week.
Havoc starts with a pre-taped promo, declaring that the last 15 years of pain and violence have led up to this, but he loves the pain and will make Darby feel it on his way to defeating Chris Jericho. Darby won the last time these two men fought, but it was in a three-way where the third man was pinned, so it’ll be interesting to see where it goes.
Darby opens up with a handshake, but Havoc tries to turn it into a punch. A series of reversals lead to a high springboard arm drag from Allin before Havoc regains control by biting his opponent’s fingers. It doesn’t take long for this match to go off the rails as Havoc hits a Falcon Arrow from the apron to the floor. Havoc keeps working on Darby’s arm, continuously biting his fingers when Darby tries to come back as the ref struggles to regain control. Darby rallies briefly with a series of splashes in the corner, but Havoc turns one into a sleeper hold where he lifts Allin off the mat as if he’s hanging him, (shades of Minoru Suzuki vs Hiroki Goto’s Wrestle Kingdom match, one of my personal favorites). Allin rolls outside as we head to commercial.
Havoc hits a spinning punch as soon as the commercial break ends, followed by a death valley driver into the corner. With increasing frustration, Havoc hits a tiger driver 98, but they were too close to the ropes as Allin breaks the count. A frustrated Havoc almost gets caught with a crucifix pin, leading to him to begin stomping Allin’s head out of anger. He goes for the Acid Rainmaker, but Allin takes a move out of Havoc’s playbook by catching his fist with his mouth, biting down on the hand and forcing his opponent to release his grip. As Havoc recovers, Allin hits a flipping stunner over Havoc’s back. Seeing his chance, Allin climbs to the top rope and hits the Coffin Drop for the win!
It was always going to be hard to follow that tag match, but this was still a very good match! It highlighted the pain threshold of both men with an emphasis on the resilience of Allin, following up on the seeds planted when he took Cody to a draw a few months ago. I would’ve liked Allin to get some more offense in through the middle since Havoc dominated a large majority of the match, but it was well done overall with the right guy winning. I’m still confused as to why PAC isn’t getting a shot at the title considering he’s undefeated against two of AEW’s top guys, but then again, it’s too early to be feeding PAC to anyone, and we know Jericho isn’t losing.
BEA PRIESTLEY & EMI SAKURA vs. Britt Baker and Riho
Riho is still incredibly popular after her big championship win last week. The pairing of Bea and Sakura is a weird one, with the ultra-excited Freddy Mercury cosplayer fighting side-by-side with goth incarnate. The growing feud between Bea and Britt is the underlying story going into this, with obvious championship implications with Riho involved.
Starting with a teacher versus student showdown, Emi, the former mentor, overpowers Riho briefly until the champion slides out of a pin and drops Sakura with a drop kick. Sakura regains control and performs the infamous Divas hair pull into her corner as Bea gets some cheap shots in for good measure. Sakura shows off with a Surfboard submission on her much smaller opponent as Bea and Britt begin fighting into the crowd. Sakura eventually helps double-team Britt outside, but taking her eyes off of Riho proved to be a mistake as the AEW Women’s Champion hits a top rope crossbody to the outside on both of her opponents.
We come back from break as Sakura is breaking up a pin attempt to Bea from Britt following a DDT. Sakura drags Bea into the corner and tags herself in, then gets a We Will Rock You chant going to build up momentum for her corner cross body. Britt kicks out of a Vader Bomb pin attempt, then regains control with a cutter out of nowhere, (no pun intended). Sakura tries to charge at Britt, but Riho intercepts with a surprise roll-up into a double stomp. The two fight for dominant positioning until Britt surprises Sakura with a spinning elbow, leading to a Paige Turner and a Double Arm Crossface / Mandible Claw combination for the win. After the bell, Bea attacks Britt, forcing officials and Riho to keep the two apart.
The match overall was pretty good, although I didn’t feel like it was anything special when Riho wasn’t involved. Her quickness and technique are fun to see, but I’m hoping the rest of the women’s division can keep up and truly live up to their potential.
We’re then greeted with a brief video package of the Best Friends hugging in a field. When the interviewer asks the duo what they think of the developments in the tag tournament so far, they say to ask Orange Cassidy’s opinion, who gives a half-hearted thumbs up in the crowd.
Shawn Spears vs. Jon Moxley
As a big fan of Spears during his Tye Dillinger days, I love seeing him treated as a big deal in AEW. His entrance where the lights went out, only to shine a spotlight on him at the top of the ramp sitting in his trademark chair while flanked by Tully Blanchard immediately makes him seem like a star.
Moxley runs straight into the ring and gets in Spears’ face. Blanchard pulls Mox away while Spears uses the distraction to gain control early. This is short lived as Moxley overwhelms Spears with some wild brawling followed by a series of ground based attacks. Meanwhile, PAC takes a seat at commentary and complains about how he’s being overlooked while Moxley should thank him for saving him from a beating by taking his spot against Kenny Omega at All Out. The match spills to the outside, with Moxley abusing Spears with the barricades. Mox runs in and out of the ring to break a count-out despite the referee not counting, but when Moxley returns to the outside, Blanchard grabs him, allowing Spears to cut Mox off. Spears hangs Mox on the top rope, giving Tully the chance to throw Mox into the stairs while the referee is distracted. Spears takes a page from the last match and hits a running DVD into the corner of the barricade, proving he could hang with the former king of the deathmatch.
We come back from the break with Spears still firmly in control, turning a pin attempt into a half Boston Crab. After a brief brawl outside the ring, Moxley regains control with a flurry of offense capped off by a running knee. The two go back and forth with a series of strikes, but Mox gets the better of the exchange after hitting a huge lariat. Spears goes for his own clothesline, but Mox turns it into a Paradigm Shift attempt, which Spears in turn transitions into an Ushigoroshi. Spears makes the fatal mistake of taunting Mox with his old 10 pose, but Mox pulls him in and hits a nasty headbutt. Spears tries another ushigoroshi, but Mox lands on his feet and turns it into a Paradigm Shift to close out a very good match.
After the match, Kenny Omega walks down the ramp with a barb wired bat and broom. He hands Mox the broom, but before they can resume their unfinished business, PAC hits Omega in the back with a chair. He signals to Mox letting him know that Omega is all his, but being the good guy that he is, Jon refuses to attack a downed rival and walks off with his bat in hand.
The match was solid and made Spears look great in defeat, but the post match angle was really interesting. Establishing Omega and Moxley as two guys who hate each other, but still having a sense of honor between them was cool to see. PAC pointing out that he’s being overlooked despite his win record shows that the oversight I mentioned earlier is playing into a story, and seeing how The Bastard is being integrated into the company’s hottest feud is an interesting direction to take. I’m excited to see where this all goes!
Dustin Rhodes and Hangman Adam Page vs. Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara
Sammy makes his way to the ring in a leather jacket, so RIP panda hood I guess.
Dustin and Sammy start things off as the youngster taunts the veteran before quickly tagging in Jericho. Dustin immediately throws Jericho outside and lands some brutal punches outside, eager to get revenge after the beating he took last week. Jericho is thrown into the crowd, but before Dustin can continue his beatdown, he interupts Sammy’s attempt to break up the beating. Dustin tags Page, with the two hitting consecutive corner clotheslines. Hangman is firmly in control, turning a Crossbody into a Fall-Away Slam, then tossing the smaller Sammy after avoiding a kick. Dustin and Page are working really well together despite never teaming together before! The two exchange a few tags, leading to some impressive double team work that culminates in a running Shooting Star Press by Page. Jericho breaks up the pin, but Page continues to dominate until one last Jericho distraction allows Sammy to lift the much larger Page before being dropped on the corner in an impressive display of strength!
As the final commercial comes to a close, Jericho is choking Page out on the middle rope. Hager has been a non-factor so far aside from standing outside and looking snazzy in his polo shirt. Jericho misses a running knee, giving Page the chance to tag in Dustin, but Sammy tags in first and cuts off his opponent before he can tag. Page fights off Sammy briefly, but the solid teamwork between The Inner Circle shines through as Jericho tags back in as soon as his new protege is in trouble. A Lionsault attempt is counted when Page gets his knees up, but wrestling logic kicks in as Page pretends to not be able to reach Dustin while he waits for Sammy to interrupt one last time. This flub pays off when Page hits a massive lariat that turns Sammy inside out, before Dustin finally gets the hot tag. It’s hard to believe that this guy has been wrestling for over 20 years with some lightning quick offense on both opponents, capped off with a top rope spinning crossbody. Page won’t let the bad guys breathe as he follows Sammy outside with a crossbody of his own, but Hager finally makes his presence known by taking out Page as the ref is distracted. Dustin hits a Canadian Destroyer on Sammy while setting up Jericho for Shattered Dreams. Sammy tries to interrupt, but is hit with a picture perfect snap Power-Slam for his trouble. Despite this, Sammy grabs the referee while on the ground, allowing Hager to hit the ring and take out Dustin, allowing Jericho to hit the Judas Effect for the win.
The post-match segment shows shades of last week, with The Inner Circle beating down Dustin and Page. Hager gets a chair thrown into his face, taking him and Page out of the picture as they brawl into the back. The lights go out, with Cody appearing in the ring when they come back on! He hits Cross-Rhodes on Sammy, then prepares to take on Jericho as he takes off his tie. Santana and Ortiz jump Cody from behind, but MJF hits the ring with a chair in hand. Once again teasing Cody’s “best friend” turning on him as Jericho holds Cody up for the unprotected chair shot, MJF instead takes out the former LAX and Jericho before basking in the cheers of the crowd. His celebration is short lived as Jericho hits him with a Codebreaker, but The Young Bucks even the odds by taking out Santana and Ortiz. As Jericho walks up the ramp with his belt, Darby Allin rides his skateboard down the ramp and ollies into Jericho! Allin takes down his opponent for next week with a series of punches before beating Jericho down with his deck. This is wild in the best way! Darby gets in the ring with The Elite as The Inner Circle is sent packing as the second show goes off the air.
This closing angle made me incredibly excited for Darby Allin versus Jericho next week. In just two weeks, they’ve done a great job of setting up so many angles, from PAC versus Omega and Moxley, Allin’s big opportunity for the title, making Private Party into the hottest tag team in a single night, establishing Jericho’s stable and setting up a women’s title contender with the announcement of Britt Baker versus Riho. The pacing felt much better this week, with neither matches nor promos overshadowing one another, and they gave us something to keep us hooked for next week.
What did you think of the show? Who were your standouts and what could be improved? Let us know in the comments!