Big Pete
Referee
- Messages
- 29,297
Let's work our way backwards here.
Before I dive into it, 18,000+ at the O2 arena made for a wonderful atmosphere so hats off to AEW and the fans who made the show enjoyable.
So in the main event we had the Lights Out Steel Cage 10 Man Tag Team match. That's a lot of action and it went as expected, just a fun hodge podge of WarGames type spots. You had some comedy with the babyfaces talking Tanahashi off the ladder and the production guys screwing with the Bucks. You also had some gruesome hardcore stuff with Moxley going all Resevoir Dogs on Darby. There were the big dives with Darby taking Kidd through the tables on the outside and Ospreay taking a big dive off the top of the cage. It didn't set the world on fire, but as a main event for an international audience it certainly delivered and in a nice gesture Tanahashi scores the winning pinfall in his quote-on-quote final match in the UK.
The big talking point coming out of the match was the post-match beatdown where the Death Riders Pillmanized Ospreay's neck. Now I don't think it was necessary but obviously it was to get some heat on the Death Riders and to ensure the fans they're not going anywhere. I think you could have easily had Ospreay ride off into the sunset, but they decided to get some heat out of the situation.
Hangman retained his match against MJF in a match that featured a ton of shenanigans. Going into the match, I thought Hangman would deliver MJF the ultimate comeuppance not only retaining in this match but also in the subsequent rematch but they didn't go that far with it. Instead MJF tried to get Hangman DQ'd but Hangman didn't fall for it. I like details so spots like MJF positioning himself awkwardly for the Buckshot or Hangman humping MJF's head like MJF does when he's on the top rope was nice. Otherwise not a ton to this and I thought the stuff with Bryce was a little awkward. Bryce counting three but falling unconcious before he could signal to ring the bell didn't quite land and I thought the Briscoe stuff could have been better. Still, the finish was emphatic the fans got right into Hangman and that's the good stuff right there.
I liked that spot in Athena-Storm with the barricade. Athena sends Storm into the barricade to destroy the graphic, only for Storm to return the favour and getting working again. Otherwise this seemed to be Athena on top for the majority, Toni selling, Mina Shirakawa running interference to chase Billie Starkz out and straight into the finish with Toni turning the Eclipse into a Chicken Wing. I feel like they could have a better match and I just wonder if this was the opportunity to put Athena over, establish her and getting Toni chasing again.
Apparantly I'm the only person who wasn't aware that Swerve was due for surgery so I thought this was a real 50/50. In the end, Swerve hurt his knee, Okada took advantage and won a fairly competitive back and forth match. After the match Wardlow returned, wiped out Nana and all the security to reveal he's now with Don Callis. It seemed like the show felt like they needed another surprise return so they cobbled up Wardlow but I'm not sure if he's a good fit for Don Callis and co.
The three-way fell apart in the end. The Gates of Agony interfered and took the champions out of the equation. Then Bandido hit this awkward looking belly flop on Dax, Dax kicked out at 2, but then Bandido covers again and Cash couldn't make the save and we have new champions. Shocking result, but the finish looked like they flubbed it.
In the technical bout of the night Zack Sabre Jr got the better of a determined Nigel McGuinness. I enjoyed that Zack Sabre Jr was largely in control for the majority of the match but McGuinness held his own. It wasn't your turn my turn, it was largely ZSJ in control and Nigel doing his best to keep up. This is one of the matches I want to revisit.
The one match that had the biggest uphill battle was the women's four-way and I thought they did a good job. Yes they relied on some of the tropes so you had the tower spot but as a showcase for Bozilla and Persephone I thought it worked and got both ladies over.
Fletcher-Takahashi really kicked the show up a notch and was another impressive showcase for Fletcher. I think the challenge for Fletcher is trying to find him a rivalry similar to the one he had with Ospreay. I think he has all the tools but I think he needs something he can sink his teeth into because he should be groomed for that main event slot.
I enjoyed the opener and thought it was placed perfectly. Metalingus still gets a great reaction from the crowd and I enjoyed the character work with Christian still being a dick and refusing to take the harder fight with Killswitch. I think the result was expected, but it was a good way to engage the crowd.
All in all, a fun show that would have been a blast to be in attendance. Nothing I feel you have to go out of your way to see, but if you want a nice sample size of what AEW is about than you can't go wrong watching this.
Before I dive into it, 18,000+ at the O2 arena made for a wonderful atmosphere so hats off to AEW and the fans who made the show enjoyable.
So in the main event we had the Lights Out Steel Cage 10 Man Tag Team match. That's a lot of action and it went as expected, just a fun hodge podge of WarGames type spots. You had some comedy with the babyfaces talking Tanahashi off the ladder and the production guys screwing with the Bucks. You also had some gruesome hardcore stuff with Moxley going all Resevoir Dogs on Darby. There were the big dives with Darby taking Kidd through the tables on the outside and Ospreay taking a big dive off the top of the cage. It didn't set the world on fire, but as a main event for an international audience it certainly delivered and in a nice gesture Tanahashi scores the winning pinfall in his quote-on-quote final match in the UK.
The big talking point coming out of the match was the post-match beatdown where the Death Riders Pillmanized Ospreay's neck. Now I don't think it was necessary but obviously it was to get some heat on the Death Riders and to ensure the fans they're not going anywhere. I think you could have easily had Ospreay ride off into the sunset, but they decided to get some heat out of the situation.
Hangman retained his match against MJF in a match that featured a ton of shenanigans. Going into the match, I thought Hangman would deliver MJF the ultimate comeuppance not only retaining in this match but also in the subsequent rematch but they didn't go that far with it. Instead MJF tried to get Hangman DQ'd but Hangman didn't fall for it. I like details so spots like MJF positioning himself awkwardly for the Buckshot or Hangman humping MJF's head like MJF does when he's on the top rope was nice. Otherwise not a ton to this and I thought the stuff with Bryce was a little awkward. Bryce counting three but falling unconcious before he could signal to ring the bell didn't quite land and I thought the Briscoe stuff could have been better. Still, the finish was emphatic the fans got right into Hangman and that's the good stuff right there.
I liked that spot in Athena-Storm with the barricade. Athena sends Storm into the barricade to destroy the graphic, only for Storm to return the favour and getting working again. Otherwise this seemed to be Athena on top for the majority, Toni selling, Mina Shirakawa running interference to chase Billie Starkz out and straight into the finish with Toni turning the Eclipse into a Chicken Wing. I feel like they could have a better match and I just wonder if this was the opportunity to put Athena over, establish her and getting Toni chasing again.
Apparantly I'm the only person who wasn't aware that Swerve was due for surgery so I thought this was a real 50/50. In the end, Swerve hurt his knee, Okada took advantage and won a fairly competitive back and forth match. After the match Wardlow returned, wiped out Nana and all the security to reveal he's now with Don Callis. It seemed like the show felt like they needed another surprise return so they cobbled up Wardlow but I'm not sure if he's a good fit for Don Callis and co.
The three-way fell apart in the end. The Gates of Agony interfered and took the champions out of the equation. Then Bandido hit this awkward looking belly flop on Dax, Dax kicked out at 2, but then Bandido covers again and Cash couldn't make the save and we have new champions. Shocking result, but the finish looked like they flubbed it.
In the technical bout of the night Zack Sabre Jr got the better of a determined Nigel McGuinness. I enjoyed that Zack Sabre Jr was largely in control for the majority of the match but McGuinness held his own. It wasn't your turn my turn, it was largely ZSJ in control and Nigel doing his best to keep up. This is one of the matches I want to revisit.
The one match that had the biggest uphill battle was the women's four-way and I thought they did a good job. Yes they relied on some of the tropes so you had the tower spot but as a showcase for Bozilla and Persephone I thought it worked and got both ladies over.
Fletcher-Takahashi really kicked the show up a notch and was another impressive showcase for Fletcher. I think the challenge for Fletcher is trying to find him a rivalry similar to the one he had with Ospreay. I think he has all the tools but I think he needs something he can sink his teeth into because he should be groomed for that main event slot.
I enjoyed the opener and thought it was placed perfectly. Metalingus still gets a great reaction from the crowd and I enjoyed the character work with Christian still being a dick and refusing to take the harder fight with Killswitch. I think the result was expected, but it was a good way to engage the crowd.
All in all, a fun show that would have been a blast to be in attendance. Nothing I feel you have to go out of your way to see, but if you want a nice sample size of what AEW is about than you can't go wrong watching this.
