AEW International Title 21 Man Blackjack Battle Royal: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Dustin Rhodes vs. Trent Beretta vs. Chuck Taylor vs. The Blade vs. Brian Cage vs. Ari Daivari vs. Tony Nese vs. Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Rey Fenix vs. Juice Robinson vs. Big Bill vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Keith Lee vs. Ricky Starks vs. Kip Sabian vs. Jay White vs. Bandido vs. Lee Moriarty vs. Komander vs. The Butcher
Super Orange wins again. The battle royal was fine, although it had some odd choices, such as a lot of the wrestlers starting outside of the ring and completely changing the rules for Komander and covering with a poor excuse. But the finish was pretty good, if not a poor imitation of Shawn/Taker with the “both men take a breather” spot but that’s still good. **1/2
Unsanctioned Match (Special Enforcer: Sabu): Chris Jericho vs. Adam Cole
This was a terrible match from the very start, Sabu did a table spot when he had no business to and left before the bell rang, leaving Jericho and Cole to do their thing, making me question why he was involved AT ALL!? Then Jericho and Cole began the match with typically poor hockey fight punches, which never look good no matter who, and proceeded to have a heatless, boring WWE brawl in every sense of the word. The crowd didn’t even bite on the obvious spot that aimed to get them back into the match (Panama Sunrise onto a chain). The crowd didn’t react to the move nor the nearfall after it. That’s when they should’ve known that it wasn’t working and yet they persisted with more WWE-isms, such as getting a kendo stick out. And after a few more minutes of whatever mediocre piece of wrestling this was and a Britt Baker run-in that the fans DID like, they ended the match by having Cole hit the worst hammerfists to cause a ref stoppage, in a match that implies limited ref interference. Disaster in every way except that they didn’t really botch any moves, rather executing them without any real weight or intensity to them. Typical for these two. *
AEW World Tag Team Title Match (Special Referee: Mark Briscoe): FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) vs. Jay Lethal & Jeff Jarrett
While this was long, this was a very solid match with no real issues. The story was a little non descript; small hints of FTR working the arm and not much else. The match picked up truly when Karen Jarrett got involved. The match was decent. That’s all I can say. An improvement after the prior match. **1/2
AEW TNT Title Ladder Match: Wardlow (c) vs. Christian Cage (w/Luchasaurus)
This was not as great as I thought it would be but I did appreciate that this wasn’t just another generic stuntfest. There was a little bite to it. Christian put Wardlow over well by bumping for him, plus Wardlow having to deal with Lucha Kane makes him look good too but I don’t know how this really came across as a whole cohesive match. Cool moments but the match didn’t fully entertain. **3/4
AEW Women's World Title Match: Jamie Hayter (c) vs. Toni Storm
An angle match to cover for Hayter’s injury. Surprisingly fine, just short. **
AEW World Trios Title Open House Match: The House Of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews & Malakai Black) (w/Julia Hart) (c) vs. The Acclaimed (Max Caster & Anthony Bowens) & Billy Gunn
The rap was the best thing on the show upto that moment. The match was another fine, but really slow match that didn’t engage anyone watching it. Some chants here and there but nothing sustained. Buddy working the leg of Bowens was good but that’s really it. **1/2
AEW TBS Title Match: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Taya Valkyrie
This was the match I dreaded the most and this was the match that felt the most lively since the battle royal. While this was not great, it was two not very good wrestlers over achieving by working hard and snug and that is more interesting than anything else this card had to offer. ***
AEW TBS Title Match: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Kris Statlander
Dumb way to waste Cargill’s streak. The crowd popped at all but it was still a waste and should’ve been done on a different show with a build. This felt throwaway. **
AEW World Title Four Way Match: MJF (c) vs. Sammy Guevara vs. Jack Perry vs. Darby Allin
This feud was panned throughout and was such a bomb that isn’t not main eventing the PPV and 3 of these men went out to prove a point by producing a heck of a match. Jungle Boy is the exception. I thought he offered little until the “will he turn heel?” spot took place and then offered little after that. Even Sammy Guevera, who I hate, offered way more to the match. The guy flew around and threw some awesome knee strikes. The whole match was paced like A DG sprint with tons of rope running and intricate sequences. However there were some negatives bogging down the match, which normally wouldn’t matter except they were done at a time that undercut the momentum completely; MJF doing a mid match promo was NOT what this match needed and the 4-way strike exchange stunk too. But once the action continued, this was good once more. MJF retains as we expected but he sets up more stuff with Darby that’ll hopefully be followed up later on. MOTN. ***3/4
Anarchy In The Arena Match: The Elite (Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta)
I like this a lot but this was longer, not as intense, nor cool, nor different with a worse version of Wild Thing playing in the background. But it was a good brawl with a lot going on, perhaps too much. It was a bit cluttered at times, thus making some of the smaller things feel forgotten by the end. Classic Elite though. The uppercut with the tacks in the mouth was a cool reference to a past Bucks match but it didn’t feel significant and they should’ve done something more with Matt Jackson having his foot full of tacks. There was a lot that could’ve been tightened up. I did like the finish with Takeshita turning on The Elite and joining Callis. Hopefully he’ll finally be pushed. The match was good but a lesser version of the original. ***1/2
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