SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds, and 10) defeated House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews, and Brody King) to advance in the AEW Trios Championship Tournament: MINOR HIT
A decent opening contest, but nothing special. It served more as a means to an end than anything else.
I was expecting a Miro interference, and we got one. While the finish may disappoint some, I’m okay with it. The Miro-House of Black story is more compelling to me than the Trios title tournament right now.
Post-Match: NARROW MISS
After the match, the heels beat down Miro, but Sting and Darby Allin came out for the save. Does this set up a Trios match between these guys at All Out? At this stage, it would be the only way to get them all on the PPV. Quite ironic to see Miro team with Darby and Sting after eviscerating Darby in front of Sting just last year. However, I think he has a lot of potential as a babyface.
Every commentator trying to mock Tony Schiavone kind of ruined this moment for me. While I don’t like how Tony Schiavone yells “IT’S STING” even for minor appearances, I don’t support poking fun at it on television. Just have a private conversation with him and ask him to reserve that call for special moments.
Hook and 2point0 backstage Interview: MISS
Hook is a man of few words as always, but we still don’t know which member of 2point0 is going to challenge him. It’s been two weeks of promos now with no progression in the story.
Ryan Nemeth Entrance Promo: MINOR HIT
Ryan’s delivery was a little awkward, and he went through several low-hanging fruit methods of generating heat that the crowd just didn’t seem ready to react to. I think this was just to facilitate more cheers for the Wardlow squash to follow. Serviceable work for its purpose, I suppose.
Wardlow defeated Ryan Nemeth to retain the TNT Title: IT HAPPENED
Quick squash. Powerbomb symphony.
Andrade Family Office Backstage Interview: MISS
This feels like an alliance formed out of convenience after they dumped Matt Hardy. Toss in the fact that they are barely on TV, it’s difficult to care if Andrade ever ditches Private Party.
Last week, I barely had enough time to process who Dragon Lee is, let alone the emotional impact of Andrade and Rush turning on him. The angle was so quick, right before Dynamite went off the air. Apparently, Rush is Dragon Lee’s brother? Shouldn’t that turn have had more build then? At the very least, do it when we’ve seen the two together on AEW television enough times.
Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Ashton Day: IT HAPPENED
Quick squash. Hobbs looked solid.
Post-Match: MINOR HIT
After the match, they showed Ricky Starks having been beaten down by the Factory backstage. I suppose this is good continuity from last week when Hobbs threatened the Factory to take care of business, so thumbs up for that.
Jade Cargill and the Baddies Backstage Interview: MISS
So much happened here, yet it felt like nothing. Cargill dismissed her crew, told Athena to “come get these hands,” then got attacked by Athena for a two-second brawl that got broken up.
I guess this keeps the rivalry rolling, but a singles championship story really should have more layers than this. I’m not invested in this feud at all right now.
Tay Melo and Sammy Guevara defeated Ruby Soho and Ortiz: MINOR HIT
An “okay” match with some interference by Anna JAS. I don’t really mind the interference as much as others, but Ortiz bleeding for just a few seconds before the finish was completely unnecessary. Unless it was hard way, can we please go one week without blood on an AEW show?
Sammy possibly misses out on a feature PPV singles match due to backstage tensions with Eddie Kingston. I was happy to hear Eddie admit fault, and hey, if they can put together a PPV main event with one week’s notice, I’m sure they can slot this match back in if both are willing.
CM Punk Backstage Injury: HIT
Although we didn’t learn anything new here, Punk’s performance was convincing. It wasn’t long enough to feel like a waste of time either.
Main Event Promo: HIT
Finally, a main event worthy of headlining a television show. Yes, the ROH titles swarming around AEW television have a counterproductive effective on championship prestige. And yes, Dustin Rhodes hardly gets television time. However, he has enough talent to make his sporadic appearances matter. In addition, if you’re going to have an ROH World Title match, I want to see it headlining shows instead of whatever nonsense they were doing with Jonathan Gresham.
The promo work was well structured, serious, and somewhat compelling. My only gripe is that I wouldn’t have Wheeler Yuta accompanying Claudio to the ring. I understand he needs TV time, but after his star-making performance months ago, his TV appearances need to matter.
Claudio Castagnoli defeated Dustin Rhodes to retain the ROH World Championship: 50-50
Not a bad match, and the commentary of William Regal and Caprice Coleman certainly added to it. However, I was expecting a little more. Yes, I understand Dustin Rhodes is over 50, but I wasn’t asking for something on the level of Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels. When the match was announced, my mind went back to Cesaro vs. William Regal in NXT all those years ago, toward the tail end of Regal’s career. Regal was arguably more beat up back then compared to either of these two right now. So, I expected this match to be similarly worked; high psychology with a few tweaks to accommodate the fact that Claudio isn’t a heel. In the end though, we didn’t even come close to that.
I was ready to appreciate the match on its own terms, but the finish just completely took the wind out of me. For one, Arn Anderson’s involvement was very confusing. Considering we barely see Dustin and Arn on television anymore, the gestures didn’t mean much to me. In addition, a (potentially worked) botched spot and sudden finish just gave this match a whimper of an ending.
Commentary: MINOR HIT
Ross, Schiavone, Excalibur, and Chris Jericho tonight. Jericho was tolerable, and I liked Caprice Coleman and William Regal in the main event, so the commentary was decent overall.
Overall Show: MISS
I thought this show would at least be a “MINOR HIT” considering the potential of the main event, but I was left underwhelmed. I’m not the biggest critic of interference, but you can’t have all three competitive matches in one show involve either a run-in or too much attention paid to someone not in the match.
The build to All Out has been disappointing, and this is far from the first AEW PPV with a lackluster build. Not all of it is Tony Khan’s fault, but there are minor controllable aspects of storytelling that I think he devalues in favor of live crowd pops and social media reactions.
CATCH-UP: 8/26 AEW RAMPAGE TV REPORT: Castagnoli vs. Rhodes ROH World Championship, CM Punk speaks, more
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.