dtm666

Well, it’s the go-home show for Double Or Nothing, which means the last push before the big PPV event this coming weekend. It’s also going to be the last AEW Dynamite musings for a good while. I’ll keep watching the show on and off, but I think I’m going to give these things a rest for a couple months and pick it up later down the road.

That said, this was a fine show.

Wardlow killed the Ten Guy in a steel cage after a chairshot from Ten Guy killed special ref MJF, which prompted a regular ref to make the winning pinfall count. This is followed by a pretty solid Hangman/Punk promo segment hosted by Tony Schiavone, who is more than happy to stir up shit between these two, leading to Hangman knocking Punk on his ass… the intrigue in this World title feud is enticing, unlike anything involving Roman these days.

Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston beat up a bunch of dudes and then they brawl with Jericho’s crew. This is followed by a ROH Tag Title match between defending champs FTR and Roppogi Vice ending in an actual, honest-to-God DISQUALIFICATION FINISH on an All Elite Wrestling television program caused by a couple New Japan guys whose names I don’t recall beating on both teams… I guess we gotta start building towards that PPV while we’re at it.

Thunder Rosa cuts a promo hyping her title defense against Serena Deeb… it’s fine. Britt Baker advances to the finals of the Owen tournament by beating Toni Storm… and Samoa Joe defeated Kyle O’Reilly to advance to the finals against Adam Cole or someone… and part of me has this funny feeling that the tournament is going to be won by Cole and Britt because they’re doing the lovin’ or something. I hope I’m wrong on that count because… eh…

On a whole, a perfectly fine go-home show for Double Or Nothing and a good note to bow out on this journey for now. See you all next Wednesday… or earlier if you like the other shit I post here every so often.

So, I am going to level with you. This episode has two REALLY good matches and a bunch of other stuff that either didn’t jive with me or… wait for it… put me to sleep.

And no, that last bit did not involve CM Punk.

Specifically, the Hangman Page vs. Takeshita match was a really non-title match that saw the champ hit the DDT guy with his Buckshot followed by a somewhat sloppy looking GTS, much to Announcer Punk’s approval, which is a nice change of pace seeing a guy not react poorly to another guy using his move. This Takeshita fellow is pretty good; hope to see more of him around these parts. The other fine match on this show, an Owen tourney match that saw Kyle O’Reilly advance to the semis at Rey Fenix’s expense, was also exceptional.

The rest of the show was kind of just there. There was a Jericho/Regal segment that was a thing that happened – the furthest thing I would expect to say about a segment between two great talkers – and we got a big multi-man out of it… but not a Stadium Stampede as Jericho initially wanted because Mox isn’t doing any of that sports entertainment crap. Way to bury the AEW staple, Jon… but then again, I’m sure a lot of people feel your way, so it works out.

MJF gives Wardlow some lashings, a low blow, and more lashings… Wardlow no-selling the first few lashes and even laughing it off to the chagrin of MJF made the segment in my book.

As for the two Jokers in the tourney… eh. Samoa Joe got Johnny Nitro Morrison Impact Turbo Elite Mundo (how many fucking names does this guy need?) and beat him. Meanwhile, Dr. Britt got the singing joshi with the red hair and yeah, okay, that was a thing. At least Britt won, but what was the point of having mystery opponents if they’re really nothing special?

Apparently, Adam Cole beat Jeff Hardy in his Owen tourney match and there was a beatdown afterwards. I wouldn’t know because I fell asleep during this one and by the time I woke up, the show was over. That was not a good sign and the fact that I have to watch more Adam Cole does not excite me in the slightest. Fortunately, next week’s musings was already written months ago, so I should be able to stave that off for a bit.

Oh, and there was also a Serena Deeb confrontation with Tony Schiavone and Dustin Rhodes, where she cries foul about people thinking that she (Deeb) can’t beat Thunder Rosa for the Women’s title. I realize this involved another promotion that they’re no longer working with at the moment, but didn’t Serena beat Rosa for the NWA Women’s title a year or so back? And wasn’t that title prominently featured on AEW television? Because if that’s the case, then I don’t see why you couldn’t use that to plant seeds of doubt that Rosa could beat Deeb and hold on to her title. That’s just me, though.

Not much else to say there. I didn’t hate this show, so we can leave the bots at home. Try to catch those two awesome matches I mentioned if you can, but the rest is skippable fare.