By Alex Kalil
Before the opening video we get a tribute to Mr. Brodie Lee. Love it!
Crowd already chanting Brodie Lee.
CM Punk enters to a HUGE pop! Punk shakes hands with the fans before joining commentary. Commentary talks about The Jon Huber Foundation. Mr. Brodie Lee will live forever.
Adam Cole vs. Jungle Boy
What a way to open this show! These two start with some really nice basic wrestling. Jungle Boy gets the best of Cole until Cole suckers Jungle Boy in and takes a few cheap shots. Cole slows it down and gets some heat on Jungle Boy before the young man starts to fire up and rally. Jungle Boy gets some nice offense in and near-falls. Cole counters out and hits a Brainbuster on his knee for a near-fall. Cole gets in Jungle Boy's face and taunts him and Jungle Boy takes the opening and takes over again for more near-falls. Cole catches Jungle Boy off the rope with a superkick who falls back onto the floor. Cole tries a Panama Sunrise on the floor but Jungle Boy dodges it. Cole on the apron but Jungle Boy hurricanranas him to the floor! Jungle Boy sling shots into a superkick! Panama Sunrise! But a cocky cover only gets 2!!! Huge pop from the crowd! Cole goes for the Last Shot but misses and Jungle Boy locks in the Snare Trap! Cole reaches for the ropes but Jungle Boy pulls him back into the center of the ring. Cole pushes him off to break the hold. Jungle Boy waist-locks Cole but Cole runs into the referee to distract her. Low blow! Last Shot and 3! What a match! Really picked up in the end and Jungle Boy looked like a star against Cole, who gets the win by being a heel and cheating. Perfect match to start off the night.
****
The Elite enter as we go to commercial. We return with Karl Anderson introducing the members of the group. Cole takes the mic and gets some nice heat even with how over he is. Omega talks about his match with Danielson and mocks him for not beating him and refuses a rematch with him. BUT HERE COMES THE AMERICAN DRAGON! Danielson says Omega has no balls for refusing to face him again. Even gets a "No Balls" chant going. Danielson challenges anyone in The Elite to match on Rampage. Omega asks why not right now? Danielson agrees but gets some reinforcements with Kazarian, Christian and Jurassic Express. The Elite bail as the faces enter the ring. Pretty basic segment. Clearly Danielson vs. Omega is far from over.
Lucha Brothers backstage with Tony Schiavone but Andrade interrupts and challenges for the AAA Tag Titles which The Lucha Brothers also have. Andrade teases some more Lucha guys coming in. Ingobernables?
Cody Rhodes and Lee Johnson vs. Matt Sydal and Dante Martin
Cody is still being booed. Uh oh. Cody starts out with Dante while the crowd chants "Cody Sucks". Sydal and Johnson are tagged in quickly. The high flyers are able to control with their speed and quickness. Johnson and Dante look so great together. As the match breaks down for a minute as we go to break. We are back and Sydal is working over Johnson. Beautiful dropkick by Johnson. Tag to Cody and Dante. Cody is booed for every move he does. Cody hits a Verta-breaker for a near-fall. Dante with a dropkick and moonsault for a near-fall. Johnson tags himself in and takes over. Johnson hits a Fisherman Buster on his knee to Dante for 3. A good match. Johnson and Dante look like future stars. Some interesting vibes with The Nightmare Family going on.
***
Tony Schiavone in the ring with Cody, Johnson and Arn. Cody wants Malakai Black out to the ring right now. Arn tells him to stop talking. Arn talks down for Cody for not focusing on beating Black last week. Arn calls Cody a loser and leaves with Johnson. Interesting!
Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston and Darby Allin vs. Bear Country and Anthony Greene Moxley and Kingston jump Bear Country early. Darby and Greene go at it in the ring. Darby works over Greene easily. Kingston tags in for a few shots before tagging in Moxley. Boulder in for the other team and cut off Moxley and works him over with Bronson. Greene is in but Moxley and Kingston quickly finish him. Squash match. Just an excuse to get these guys on TV and I am fine with that. Good stuff. ** Eddie gets a Brodie Lee sign and poses with it and has Sting Scorpion Death Drops Greene for a nice pop. Baker and Ruby get a promo package. Ruby says she has to work her way to the top and get another title shot while Baker mocks her for failing. Matt Hardy and his faction in the ring. He craps on the town. This came off like a bad WWE segment. Orange Cassidy enters to interrupt Hardy's promo. Dark Order enters to a big pop. Brodie Jr. is with them for a cool moment for him. The Dark Order and Orange Cassidy vs. Hardy Family Office Dark Order fight at the bell as Angel rips his mask and toss it at Uno. Heels attack Angel and work him over. Crowd chants for Brodie Lee. That's awesome. Everyone fights as we go to commercial. We are back as Reynolds gets the tag in and rallies. Orange Cassidy in and does his lazy splash. Uno and Reynolds fight on the floor and Uno, Stu and Colt think about leaving but MRS. BRODIE LEE IS HERE! She yells at them and they run back to help out their team! Massive pop for the crowd! Dark Order lays out everyone! Silver runs wild! It's amazing! Crowd is going wild! Fatality for 3! I don't even care how lame this was at times. This was for Brodie Lee and it was awesome! **1/2 Brodie Jr and Mrs. Brodie Lee join the ring as The Dark Order celebrates and hugs. This was awesome! Lio Rush talks about coming to AEW. He has a weird investor gimmick now. Didn't he retire? FTR backstage and talk about being focused now. Finally getting a real FTR push? Dan Lambert and Men of the Year in the ring. Lambert cuts his usual promo. He is a great talker but where is this going? Lambert talks about ending Jericho's career last week. Scorpio gets the mic. He isn't very convincing as a heel. Great worker but no mic skills. Page talks now. And he is amazing! This man is a star in the making. Nice promo segment with no bs. Shida gets a promo and talks about getting her 50th win soon. And it's against Serena next week! Hell yes! Shida's English is better but she sounds too happy. The Bunny and Penelope Ford vs. Anna Jay and Tay Conti They brawl on the floor to start. Action gets in the ring as the babyfaces control and run wild. Conti is dumped to the floor as the heels double team Anna as we go to commercial. Back from break and Conti gets the hot tag and takes over on Ford. Anna back in and Ford takes back over. Why do babyfaces get the hot tag and tag the other right back in? Ford misses a moonsault. Conti takes out Bunny in the floor. Anna gets the Queenslayer on. Ford taps out. Very average tag match. Anna and Conti looked good. Can we move away from this feud. *1/2 Brodie Jr celebrates with Anna and Conti. Promo package for Nyla vs. Jade vs. Rosa this Friday. MJF is out! Here we go! MJF talks about The 4 Pillars of AEW's future. Jungle Boy (beat him), Sammy Guevara (beat him), Darby Allin (whatever), and himself. He's not wrong. MJF puts himself over. MJF teases calling Bruce Pritchard if he doesn't get what he wants. Love it! Darby Allin comes out and gets in MJF's face. MJF calls him 2nd best. Darby tells MJF he can leave if he wants and mocks MJF for never being a champion unlike Darby. MJF brings up Darby being straight edge cause his uncle died in a drunk driving accident. JESUS! What a heel! MJF tells Darby to hit him but Darby won't budge and tells MJF to keep talking. MJF leaves. Great segment! Danielson vs. Nick Jackson booked for Rampage! As well as The Elite vs. Danielson, Christian and Jurassic Express next week on Dynamite and the Casino Ladder match! Miro vs. Sammy Guevara gets a video package. TNT Champion Match: Miro (c) vs. Sammy Guevara Big match feeling! Sammy comes in running but Miro just swats him to the ground! Miro works him over and just man-handles him. Miro chokes Sammy by his necklace. Sammy dives at Miro and both go up and over the top! Sammy runs Miro into the post and steps. Goes for a Shooting Star Press in the ring but Miro catches him! Kinda, and belly to belly suplexes him! Still looked crazy as we go to break. Miro has Sammy grounded with a headlock. Sammy fights back but keeps getting tossed around by the monster. Multiple clothesline by Miro. Goes for a big running one and Sammy hits a Spanish Fly! Knee strikes to the champion! Miro misses and charge into the corner and goes to the outside. Sammy with a huge dive over the corner! MY GOD! Miro gets a hold of Sammy and just slams him again to take back control. Miro misses his big kick and Sammy with more knees. Sammy is focused on Miro's neck. Cutter from the 2nd rope by Sammy. Sammy tries for the GTH but Miro is too big! Miro kicks Sammy in the face for a near-fall. Miro tries for Game Over but Sammy rolls to the floor. Miro starts ripping the turnbuckle pads off in frustration. Fuego del Sol tries to stop him but gets punch in the face. Sammy knees Miro and he hits the exposed turnbuckle!!! Tornado DDT! GTH! 630!!! 1, 2, 3!!! HOLY FUCK!!! SAMMY GUEVARA BEAT MIRO!!! WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION!!! What a match. Miro was a monster and easily had the advantage but Sammy hung in their and waited for his opening. Threw EVERYTHING at the beast and beat him! Awesome match and what a moment! Sammy was my pick for TNT champion since Day One! **** Babyfaces and confetti hit the ring as Sammy celebrates! During the first commercial break of Rhodes to the Top, we get a promo where Sammy reveals Bobby Fish! will face Sammy next week for the TNT title. That's awesome! What an episode! A fantastic opener and main event. Some nice promos and segments sprinkled in as well. A lot of set ups for future matches for next week and beyond that I can't wait for. The Dark Order segments were what they were. Obviously AEW had to do something for Mr. Brodie Lee in his hometown, so it was fine. Plus the crowd seemed to love it. Great episode! Can't wait for Rampage and next week
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