SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
Forbidden Door is in the books and All Out is on deck in a few weeks. In the meantime, AEW will be doing its residency at the legendary ECW Arena (now 2300 Arena) in south Philly. While the venue is historically significant and it means a lot personally to Tony Khan to run it, I’m not sure six shows from this particular building is the best idea. That said if the crowds are all like the rabid crowd from last night, it just might be worth it.
Seabiscuit Wins Again
Latest Developments
“Hangman” Adam Page defeated MJF to retain the AEW Men’s World Title after a strong match that got a little wonky at the end.
Analysis
On the go-home Dynamite last week, MJF hired Ricochet and the Gates of Agony to help him find and subdue Mark Briscoe. Hangman came out for an in-ring promo. He called MJF out, but when the music hit MJF did not appear. Instead, Tony Schiavone directed Hangman’s attention to the video screen where MJF appeared alongside Ricochet and GOA who had Briscoe bound to a chair and gagged. MJF doused Briscoe with gasoline and threatened to set him on fire if Hangman didn’t meet his demands of being able to lose the title via disqualification or countout and MJF not having to cash-in his contract as he had been goaded into doing. To save his friend, Hangman acquiesced.
The way to get to Hangman is to go after his friends or his family. That’s been a through-line for years. The issue is the way in which MJF did it. Threatening to immolate Mark Briscoe on live TV is a too much of a stretch. The only way for it to remotely work is for MJF to reveal it was ruse once Hangman agreed to his ransom. To me, the smart thing to do would’ve been to threaten Mark Briscoe with extreme but believable bodily harm, enough to get Hangman to comply but not so extreme that he couldn’t realistically follow up with the threat.
Either way, once the bell rang on Sunday afternoon, Hangman and MJF proved that they are two very good professional wrestlers. The match was pretty darn even right up until the false finish. The point of the false finish was for referee Bryce Remsburg to get a do-over of sorts on his blown call from a couple weeks ago in the MJF vs. Briscoe match where he missed Briscoe’s foot on the rope. Unfortunately, it was executed poorly. Instead of seeing Hangman’s foot on the rope, Remsburg suddenly lost consciousness after executing the three count.
Briscoe came out to prevent another rip-off, but was dragged away by security. Just as MJF reached to throw Hangman’s foot of the rope, the ref came to. The match was forced to continue, but this was an unforced error on the whole thing. MJF tried to bait Hangman into using the Dynamite Diamond Ring by spitting in his face, but Hangman just spat back instead. MJF used the contract case to drop Hangman for a two. Hangman decided to fight fire with fire and used the case on MJF followed by a Dead Eye and then the Buckshot lariat for the win.
The finish was fine, although the ref had to ignore the shotgun blast sound of the metal contract case bouncing off each man’s head. The outcome was unsurprising as it seemed very unlikely that Hangman was going to lose. MJF remains a specter in the background with his contract, but the question remains as to who Hangman moves onto next.
Grade: B-
A Good Night for the Family
Latest Developments
Kyle Fletcher defeated Hiromu Takahashi in a spirited match to retain the TNT Title; Kazuchika Okada defeated and took out Swerve Strickland to retain the Unified Title; Wardlow made his return for the first time in a year as Don Callis’s insurance policy and newest member of the Family.
Analysis
The Don Callis Family had a very good night at Forbidden Door. First Kyle Fletcher battled NJPW’s Hiromu Takahashi. The match was a good one aided by the commentary of Bryan Danielson. Despite the outcome not being much in doubt, Takahashi put a decent fight before succumbing to the brainbuster.
Later in the night, Okada defended his Unified Title against Swerve Strickland. Swerve came into the match with a legit knee injury, a torn meniscus he’s been battling since 2019, and Okada targeted it early and often. The match was good, but I think they have an even better one in them. In the end, Okada got the victory with a Rainmaker.
After the match was over, Okada sandwiched Swerve’s knee between the ringpost and the stairs and repeatedly smashed it with a chair until Prince Nana returned to ringside with a lead pipe. Okada and Callis backed off when suddenly Wardlow appeared behind Nana. Swerve was helpless to do anything as Wardlow assaulted Nana mercilessly. Security attempted to intervene, but Wardlow dispatched them. He then exited the ring and shook Callis’s hand, cementing the relationship.
The DCF went 2-0 on the night. Adding Wardlow as a member gives them another good addition and gives Wardlow some direction. It would behoove Callis to designate a team to go after the new tag team champions, Brodido. The most interesting thing going on in the Callis Family, though, is Konosuke Takeshita.
Back from his victorious G1, Takeshita came down last to join the Family on the ramp. He sized up Wardlow and nodded. That, on top of his previous issues, with Okada seem to lay the groundwork for a Takeshita face turn which would be a good thing given the loss of Swerve and Ospreay for a while.
Grade: B+
Timeless is Forever
Latest Developments
Toni Storm defeated Athena to retain the AEW Women’s World Title.
Analysis
The match between these two was almost as good as I expected. The in-ring work was quite good. I liked the fact that Toni immediately took out Billie Starkz on the floor with a Storm Zero. Starkz was out of commission for the majority of the match which allowed the focus to be on the two women in the ring. Unfortunately, she got up and played a factor in the finish.
Starkz distracted Toni more than once. Mina Shirakawa came out to chase her to the back. Within seconds of that happening, Toni locked in the TCM Chicken Wing for the submission win. I really wish they’d had another 5-to-8 minutes without Billie Starkz’s presence at ringside.
As far as the aftermath, while Toni’s next opponent is a bit unclear, Athena moved on to setting up her match against Mina Shirakawa at Death Before Dishonor tonight. The price of that was not being able to play up Toni’s win from Sunday as the big deal that it was since Athena has been champion for almost a thousand days and has only been pinned by Mercedes up until this point.
Grade: B
Goodbye for Now
Latest Developments
Team Will Ospreay defeated Team Death Riders in a crazy Lights Out cage match. Afterwards, the Death Riders took out Ospreay.
Analysis
The Lights Out cage match was as crazy as expected. Some of the wildest moments included Mox using a fork on Darby’s ear in a grotesque way, Ospreay moonsaulting off the top of the cage, Yuta falling off the side of the cage onto the announce table which didn’t budge, and Darby sending himself and Gabe Kidd tumbling off the top of the cage down through two tables to the floor. In the end, Matt Jackson was pinned after taking a Hidden Blade, a Hidden Angel, and Hi-Fi Flow in succession. Giving Hiroshi Tanahasi the pin in his final UK match was a nice touch.
Once the match was over, the other faces ceded the ring to Ospreay to give him time with his hometown fans. Unfortunately the heels hadn’t existed the cage and, as Ospreay was soaking in the cheers of his countrymen, he was jumped by the Death Riders.
Mox targeted the already injured neck, hitting him with at least three Paradigm Shifts before putting his head in a chair and stomping on it. The assault was vicious and served as a good write-off for Ospreay, but I don’t think he necessarily needed it.
Both he and the commentators discussed his injury and the likelihood of surgery so the attack felt gratuitous and it made his teammates look dumb for not trying to climb the cage to stop it. Seriously, though, best wishes to Will Ospreay for a speedy recovery.
Meanwhile Darby’s feud with the Death Riders continued last night on Dynamite as he continued to seek a match against Mox now for All Out, before beating Claudio in brutal falls count anywhere match.
Grade: B
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of “Wrestling Night in America,” part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
C & C Wrestling Factory
Latest Developments
Adam Copeland and Christian Cage defeated Kip Sabian and Killswitch (subbing for the injured Nick Wayne) and then officially set up a match against FTR for All Out.
Analysis
Copeland & Christian opened up Forbidden Door against Kip Sabian & Killswitch who made his return on last week’s Dynamite after it was revealed that Nick Wayne suffered a legit foot injury. Despite some early tentativeness, Copeland and Christian worked together a lot better than Sabian and Killswitch ultimately winning with a nifty assisted spear on Sabian.
Wednesday night on Dynamite, FTR confronted referee Paul Turner who they blamed for making a bad call that cost them the tag titles. Before they could attack Turner physically (I was sure he was going to eat a Shatter Machine). Copeland made his way out. He clearly pretended that he didn’t know where Christian was until Christian scurried through the crowd and took out Stokely from behind. After brawling with FTR for a few minutes Copeland grabbed a mic and made the match against FTR official.
And so we are where we thought we’d be a few months ago, Copeland & Christian vs FTR. The best part of the Copeland and Christian reunion is that Christian is still the same guy. He can’t help himself and Copeland just has to play off that which is hilarious. FTR are good foils and it will be fun to see how they continue to build the match now that it’s been announced.
Grade: B+
Random Questions
– Was that the blowoff? The Triangle of Madness and Megan Bayne teamed up to defeat Willow Nightingale, Queen Aminata, Kris Statlander, and Harley Cameron on the Zero Hour of Forbidden Door. This group of women have been feuding with each other for months and it seemed to be building to a women’s Blood & Guts match. Now I’m not so sure. It’s still possible, but it would be several weeks away as it’s logistically impossible to get the Blood & Guts cage inside the ECW Arena. Also where does Jamie Hayter fit in all of this?
– Will Anthony Bowens ever be free from Billy Gunn? Hell, will we ever be free of Billy Gunn? Gunn made his return on last weekend’s Collison when Bowens was attacking Max Caster after the latter’s weekly open challenge. Gunn, leathery and over muscled as always, towered over Bowens and Bowens eventually retreated. Not a good look for Bowens at all, running away from a 60-year-old former wrestler who’s well outlived his usefulness. The sooner Bowens snaps and attacks Billy, the better for his career.
– When’s Tony Khan going to sign Bozilla? The 21-year-old German powerhouse had a breakout performance at Forbidden Door. She still needs a little seasoning but with the right booking, she could be the female Vader circa 1992-93. Tony needs to make sure he signs her before another company that shall remain nameless does.
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
