AEW Dynamite 11/20 Review

Match One- Fenix v Nick Jackson- If you are a fan of high-flying spot fests, hen this match was for you. These two have great chemistry together and I hope that this can turn into a feud between the Bucks and Lucha Brothers. Good win here for Fenix.

Match Two- Britt Baker v Hikaru Shida- A great match started the show, and a mediocre match followed. I feel like AEW just doesn't care about the women's division. There are several good feuds in the men's and tag divisions, but nothing for the women. Hikaru showed the potential to be a good heel though, and picked up a good win here.

Dark Order Video Package- An inspirational type video trying to recruit members for the Dark Order. I haven't really seen anything from them to get me interested. This was a step in the right direction.

Match Three- Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal- Billy Gunn made a surprise appearance for this match. Didn't like him getting the elimination on Jimmy Havoc, but I loved Havoc immediately coming back in with a stapler and going crazy. I think that MJF and Adam Page were the obvious choices to be the final two here. Jungle boy had a good showing, being the last man eliminated, only getting taken out by MJF from the outside. Good match a little too much offense by Billy Gunn in my opinion, but I understand it.

Le Champion Announcement- Jericho comes out with another great heel promo on the crowd, announcing a celebration of himself for Dynamite next week. SCU come out and get the crowd even more against Jericho and a singles match is set for the AEW Championship next week between Scorpio Sky and Chris Jericho.

Match Four- Luchasaurus v Peter Avalon- This is exactly what Luchasaurus needed, to look like a total monster. He beat Avalon in about 30 second.  

Match Five- Proud and Powerful  v Private Party- To the surprise of no one, AEW put on a phenomenal tag-team match here. Private Party pick up a big win here to move further up the tag-team rankings. Dustin Rhodes comes out with Matt Jackson to beat down Ortiz and Santana after the match.

Main Event- Moxley v Darby Allin- This was just as good as I thought it was going to be. Moxley and Darby are two of my personal favorites in AEW. Good near falls from both, the match ending with a paradigm shift from the top rope delivered to Darby. 

My Top Five From AEW this week-

1. Moxley

2. Darby Allin

3. Fenix

4. Private Party

5. MJF

AEW Dynamite 11/13 Review

Moxley opens the show with a squash match and cuts a promo putting down Kenny and calls out anyone on the roster who wants him. There is no answer. Good promo from Moxley here, the crowd absolutely loves him. 

Match Two- Dark Order v Jurassic Express- A pretty good match throughout with the exception of a pretty bad botch by Marko Stunt towards the end. Jungle Boy managed to save the spot. The absence of Luchasaurus has given both Stunt and Jungle Boy a chance to show their in-ring skills. The Dark Order started to beat Jurassic Express down after the match and were stopped by a returning Luchasaurus. 

Match Three- Shawn Spears v Darby Allin v Peter Avalon- Spears and Allin had a good back and forth to start the match, but were interrupted by Joey Janela. With Janela distracting Spears, Allin quickly picked up the win on Avalon. After the match, Allin got a microphone and accepted Jon Moxley's challenge. 

Match Four- Nyla Rose squash match- I am not a fan of squash matches, especially multiple squash matches on a two-hour show. I understand AEW wants to build Nyla as a monster, but if she is going to have a match like this, don't let Moxley have one the same night.

Brandi Rhodes segment- I hate these. Brandi brings out Awsome Kong to destroy Allie for some reason. I don't want to see Brandi on screen, she gets on my nerves. 

Le Champion addresses the crowd- Jericho comes out to gloat following his win over Cody at Full Gear. MJF interrupts, coming out to Cody's music, greeted by an arena full of boos. I think this segment went a little long and got kind of clunky at the end, but there were definitely good parts to it. Cody runs down and beats Jericho and MJF down but is jumped by the debuting Wardlow. 

Match Five- Adam Page v Pac- I could watch these two go against each other every week. They have good chemistry together. Pac needed the win here and he got it, Black Arrow into the Brutalizer for the win. Great match.

The Young Bucks brawl with Santana and Ortiz backstage. Eventually, they make their way to the ring where Ortiz and Santana just beat the Yong Bucks down. Security eventually gets them to leave with Matt and Nick Jackson laying nearly unconscious. 

Main Event- SCU v Jericho and Guevara for the AEW Tag-Team Titles- A pretty good match to finish the show. Scorpio Sky picks up a huge roll-up pinfall against Jericho. I definitely didn't think Jericho would be the one to take the pinfall, but it makes SCU look very strong. That is definitely a good thing, you want your champions looking strong. 

My Top Five from Dynamite this week-

1. Moxley

2. Darby Allin

3. MJF

4. SCU

5. Luchasaurus

AEW Dynamite 11/6 Review

Match One- Trent v Pac- I think this match may have gone too long. I am all for a competitive match, but in this case, I think that Pac should have destroyed Trent. The finish was confusing, as Pac hit a black arrow and appeared to get the pinfall victory, but the ref called it a 2 count despite Trent not kicking out. Pac had to lock in the brutalizer to pick up the win. 

Cody's Announcement- Cody comes out to announce that if he loses to Jericho at Full Gear, he will never have another world title match again. He then rants about Jericho for a few minutes and the crowd eats it up. Great promo here, Cody is probably the most over member of the AEW roster.

Match Two- Dark Order v Private Party- I say this every week and I am going to say it again today, AEW has the best tag division in all of wrestling. They put on great tag-team matches every week and this was no exception. Definitely the right decision here, with Private Party picking up the win and earning a spot in the triple threat tag match at Full Gear.

Match Three- Jamie Hayter & Emi Sakura v Shanna & Riho- We go from the best part of AEW's roster to the worst, the women's division. This was a solid match, I just feel like the women's division lacks a true star. Hayter has the potential to be a top heel in AEW, and it seems like that's what they are going to use her as. Sakura picks up the win against Riho. I think this guarantees that Riho get her win at Full Gear this Saturday. 

Match Four- Shawn Spears v Brandon Cutler- Spears dominates this match, winning with a death valley driver to pick up the win fairly quickly. I am not a fan of squash matches, but I like that Spears is being built as a dominant heel.

Main Event- Jericho & Guevara v Omega & Page- Page and Omega dominate the early parts of this match, beating down the less experienced Guevara. Omega and Guevara have a pretty good back and forth during this match, showing pretty good chemistry with each other. Jake Hager gets involved to stop Omega's momentum. Page looks to have the match won before Pac interferes with a low blow when the ref's back is turned. That opened Jericho up to hit the Judas effect for the win. Very good way to end the show here. Good heel work by Jericho and Guevara. 

A huge brawl between the Inner Circle and the Elite and Jon Moxley ends the show. Fun, Chaotic end to a good episode of Dynamite. 

My top five from Dynamite this week- 

1. Cody

2. Jericho

3. Private Party

4. Pac

5. Shawn Spears 

AEW Dynamite 10/23 Review

AEW Dynamite 10/23 Review

Monday Night Raw 10/21 Review

The show opens with Ric Flair (WOO) making an appearance to announce Drew Mcintyre as the final member of Team Flair at Crown Jewel. Drew comes down and we go into the first match of the night. 

Match One- Ricochet v Drew Mcintyre- This match is dominated by Drew. Mcintyre uses his massive size advantage over Ricochet. Ricochet tries using his speed to get back into the match and is shut down each time. Ricochet does eventually manage to put together some offense, getting a near fall with a shooting star press. In the end, Mcintyre delivers a brutal claymore kick to win the match. This could have been a boring squash match but wound up being a pretty good match to start the show.

Basic heel interview with the OC. They talk trash about the Street Profits and about Cleveland, then they leave. 

Rusev comes to the ring for an interview with Jerry Lawler to address the behavior of Lana and Bobby Lashley. Before he can start to speak, Lana and Lashley appear on the screen on a date to rub their relationship into Rusev's face yet again. I absolutely hate this storyline. Rusev does not deserve what WWE creative has continually done to him. I wish they would just take him off of TV.

Match Two- Andrade v Sin Cara- Good high flying fun in this match. Sin Cara actually looked to have the match won several times but Zelina Vega interfered multiple times to get the save. Andrade hits the hammerlock DDT to get the win. This was the right call on this match and Sin Cara still looks good in the loss since Andrade won through interference. 

 We see the Street Profits again to talk trash to the OC to build hype for the main event. They continue to tease revealing their tag team partner for Crown Jewel.

Another segment with Rusev, Lashley, and Lana. Rusev attacks Lashley in the restaurant Lashley and Lana are in. They are quickly separated and Rusev is taken away. End this storyline now. 

Rey Mysterio comes to build hype for the match between Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar. Paul Heyman comes on screen to respond to Mysterio. While they go back and forth Shelton Benjamin runs out to defend Lesnar and push Mysterio around. The segment ends with Cain Velasquez beating down Shelton. 

Match Three- Seth Rollins v Humberto Carrillo- This was a very good match bw\etween two very good wrestlers. Carrillo made his Raw debut and Seth did a good job making Carrillo look good. Rollins eventually puts him away with a stomp but does shake Carrillo's hand after the match. 

Main Event- Street Profits v The OC- The match begins before the Street Profits' mystery friend shows up. Good tag team wrestling from both teams to get the match started. The Street Profits pick up a huge win after Kevin Owens comes down to cause the distraction. 

The wrestling on this show was very good. Unfortunately there just wasn't very much of it. The Rusev, Lana, Lashley storyline is terrible. Every segment feels like it is building for Crown Jewel, which nobody cares about. The WWE product is boring to me. They have way too much TV time with not enough actual wrestling. Too much other stuff bogs down these shows and is just boring. Overall the show wasn't too bad this week. I just wish they could cut some of the filler. 

My top five from Raw 

1. Street Profits

2. Humberto Carrillo

3. Kevin Owens

4. Drew Mcintyre

5. Rusev

Friday Night Smackdown 10/18 Review

Friday Night Smackdown 10/18 Review

Match One- Shinsuke Nakamura v Roman Reigns- Smackdown gets started with the Intercontinental Champion taking on Roman Reigns for the title. Roman dominates most of the match, but Nakamura manages to get back into it with help from interference from Sami Zayne on multiple occasions. After getting a near fall, Roman is taken out by the hands of Baron Corbin, ending the match in DQ. Daniel Bryan comes to the aide of Roman to fight off Corbin and Zayne. 

A promo involving The New Day and Heavy Machinery building up the tag team turmoil match at Crown Jewel. Didn't go too long, was funny at moments. 

Match Two- Chad Gable v Curtis Axel- I don't understand why commentary is so determined to make fun of Gable for being short. He is very good in the ring and is super underutilized. Gable puts away Axel very quickly with am ankle lock. Good babyface promo by Gable after the match. 

Hulk Hogan shows up on the Tron to let us know that Ali and Gable will be joining team Hogan at Crown Jewel.

Match Three- Heavy Machinery and The New Day v The Revival, Robert Roode, and Dolph Ziggler- Fun tag team action to start, The New Day and Heavy Machinery bring tons of energy to this match. Otis gets the hot tag and lays out all four of his opponents. Dawson bling tags in while Otis is busy with Ziggler in an attempt to steal the win. That doesn't work as Otis manages to get the tag and put away Dawson.

MizTv segment with Bayley and Sasha- This segment just further enforces Bayley's heel turn from last week. Miz antagonizes Bayley trying to pit her against Sasha, Bayley responds by putting down her fans. The competitors of the six-pack challenge interupt and bog down the segment. A decent segment brought down by too many people being involved.

Match Four- Six-Pack Challenge- Sonya v Mandy v Nikki v Carmella v Dana v Lacey- Pretty standard multi-competitor match. Each woman gets their signature offense in throughout the match. Sonya and Mandy work together to gain an advantage. Nikki picks up the win and stares down Bayley.

Video package building up the Universal Championship match at Crown Jewel between Seth Rollins and The Fiend.

Match Five- Strowman v Drew Gulak- Gulak tries to prevent getting destroyed by getting a microphone and trying to give advice to Braun for his match against Tyson Fury and Crown Jewel. That lasted about 15 seconds before Braun squashed him. 

Main Event- Nakamura and Corbin v Roman and Daniel Bryan- After the heel beatdown at the beginning of the show you knew where this match was going. Roman destroys Corbin and Zayne on the outside of the ring while Bryan beats down on Nakamura inside the ring. Bryan puts away Nakamura, a big babyface win to close out the show.

The main event was good, but not great. That pretty much sums up the entire show. There were some good points all the way through without any really bad points. There just wasn't anything really memorable. The worst part of the show was what is pretty much always the worst part of any WWE event; the commentary. Cole and Graves just get on my nerves ad really bring down the entire show. 

My top five for Smackdown this week-

1. Daniel Bryan

2. Nikki Cross

3. Otis 

4. Roman Reigns

5. Chad Gable

AEW Dynamite Ep. 3 Review

by Geoffry Modlin | AEW Analyst.

Episode three of Wednesday Night Dynamite was just like the first two; Very good. We saw two title matches this week, as well as setting up an exciting match for Full Gear. I Love Wrestling shows that start with wrestling instead of 20-minute promos, and Dynamite has not disappointed this week.

Match One- SCU v The Best Friends- Our opening match did exactly what an opening match is supposed to do, hype up the crowd. Dynamite started with another part of the tag team tournament to crown the inaugural AEW Tag Team Champions. The action got started before the bell even sounded when the Lucha Bros attacked SCU during their entrance. Christopher Daniels was injured during the attack and had to be replaced by Scorpio Sky. This was a fast paced, fun match that saw Scorpio doing most of the work for SCU since Kazarian was in bad shape after the pre-match beatdown. Scorpio got the crowd behind him fast and led SCU to the win over the Best Friends.

Match Two- Ortiz & Santana Squash Match- After a high energy start to the show, the crowd needed a chance to catch their breath and this squash match gave them that opportunity. There isn’t much to say for squash matches most of the time but this one helped paint Ortiz & Santana as the brutal pit bulls that Chris Jericho hyped them up to be last week. After the quick win, Jericho Shows up on the tron to brag about his guys being the best tag team in AEW and challenged the Young Bucks to a match against Ortiz & Santana at Full Gear.

Match Three- Riho v Britt Baker for the AEW Women’s Championship- I think this was a tough match for AEW to put on since Britt Baker is obviously going to be the face of the Women’s division in the near future, but taking the title from Riho this soon would make her reign seem very weak. I think they did a very good job in the booking of this one. Both women looked very good, going back and forth the entire match. The finish did a good job of not making either competitor look bad when Britt Baker locked in the lockjaw in the center of the ring, looked to have it won, but Riho managed to roll over for the cover and retain her championship.

Match Four- Lucha Bros v Jurrasic Express- The final match of the first round of the tag team tournament saw the Lucha Bros take on Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt. Luchasaurus was supposed to be in this match but was an injury kept him out. Watching 5’2 Marko Stunt facing off against Penta was funny at first, but Stunt did a very good job against one of the best tag teams in the world. Lots of high-flying fun from Jurassic Express made this a good match but ultimately it was taken by the Lucha Bros.

Match Five- Moxley & Pac v Omega & Page- I really want to see this as a four-way match and just see all four men destroy each other. It was obvious from the beginning that Pac and Moxley were unable to get along and that would be part of the finish. Hard hitting action from all four men got the crowd very into this match. The ending came when Omega and Moxley brought out the barbed wire bat and broom from their standoff last week and got ready to go at each other but were stopped by Pac. Pac tried to prevent Moxley from getting them DQed and Moxley responds with a quick deathrider and abandoned his partner. With no team mate to help him Pac quickly got beaten down by Page and Omega with Page getting the pin fall. Very good match by four very good wrestlers. A singles match between Pac and Moxley is set for next week.

Main Event- Chris Jericho v Darby Allin for the AEW Championship- The main event of the evening wound up being the best match of the night by far. This was a very good match between the always entertaining Chris Jericho versus the young future star Darby Allin. This match was given the Philadelphia street fight stipulation and both men used the no DQ rules to their advantage. Each man delivered brutal kendo stick shots to the other and Jericho got a steel chair involved as well. Close to the finish we saw Jericho tie Darby Allin’s hands behind his back to lock up the win. This did not work as well as he thought since Allin managed to not only sustain Jericho’s offense, but get in a decent amount of his own. The match ended when Allin went to the top rope with his hands still bound looking for the coffin drop to get the win. Right before he dove Jake Hager came out of nowhere to knock him down. With this attack Jericho easily locks in the walls of Jericho for the win. I love Jericho having to resort to shady tactics to get the win here. Darby still looks incredible while keeping the title on Jericho.

My top five performers from AEW this week-
1. Darby Allin
2. Chris Jericho
3. Jon Moxley
4. Adam Page/Kenny Omega
5. Lucha Bros