Welcome back, neckbrace Tony. You’ve been missed.
Tonight’s themed show is brought to you by Maximum Carnage – which apparently has nothing to do with the Spider-Man comic book event from the 90s or the hit video game that spawned from it. Instead, it’s just a name of a random Dynamite show from a smaller theater house, which is actually quite a nice setting. One thing I will credit AEW on is finally reading the room that maybe half-filled arenas is a bad look and opting for smaller, more intimate locations. Some might see this as a step down – and certainly the stragglers will declare AEW DED BY NATIONAL DILDO DAY or something like that – but a smaller setting with a hotter crowd always makes for a good atmosphere and if you can make the smaller setting seem much better – TNA used to have a knack for this back in their prime years – all the merrier.
As for the show itself…
Kenny Omega defeated Brian Cage in Kenny’s first match back in AEW (not counting his New Japan return earlier this year) before getting attacked by Don Callis’ crew… yes, the Kenny/Callis feud must continue apparently. Jericho then cuts a promo to call COPE a DOPE and WHEELER a KNEELER… some people would call this sick burns and they’re probably the sickos that TK caters to. Hurt Business Syndicate beat up a bunch of geeks, two of which are tag champs. We got another Jeff Jarrett/MJF promo battle, with MJF mentioning Owen Hart for cheap heat… because that’s all he does these days. That’s what happens when you achieve your peak early; everything else is just downhill from there. I want to be more invested in this Jarrett fairy tale… but let’s be honest. We all know how it’s going to end unless he’s the one to end Mox’s reign.
Oh yeah, Mox retained the title over Powerhouse Hobbs, who got a good showing before being bested. Some people no doubt upset that they didn’t belt Hobbs and… if it were any other place, I probably would be too if Hobbs was your hottest act. But it’s AEW. Hobbs is only hot enough to be a thing for the champion to kill before he moves on to the next thing – it’s pretty much the same thing they do every time they want a hot act in a spotlight. It sucks, but it’s the reality of AEW. Now whether Hobbs is still considered a thing after this feud is another story, but we don’t have time to think about that because COPE vs. MOX is on the horizon.
In other news, Samoa Joe made his big return, saving Hook from Christian’s goons… and also young upstart Toni Storm won a gauntlet match to earn a title shot against Mariah May at some point in the future. Yeah, this was pretty much a meh show for me. Cool venue with a cool name, but the show was just… meh. Didn’t care.
dtm666 