After a Grand Slam week for AEW, Dynamite is in the home of the late, great Brodie Lee: Rochester, NY for a show dedicated to him. While the matchups aren’t necessarily big time marquee matches, the significance of certain matches in relation to Brodie’s legacy in AEW with the Dark Order blossoming into what we know and love today is quite significant. With all that said, let’s light the fuse and bring the boom on this recap.
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Previously on All Elite Wrestling…
Grand Slam action descended upon Arthur Ashe Stadium as the dream match between Omega & Danielson ended in a stalemate, while Dr. Britt Baker DMD escaped from New York with her AEW Women’s Title intact. Meanwhile, MJF got the last laugh on Brian Pillman Jr., and Malakai Black continued to get the better of Cody Rhodes.
Here’s the results of the 9/22/21 Grand Slam edition of Dynamite (Episode 103):
- Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega ended in a Time Limit Draw (30:00) as the two competitors were evenly-matched. Post-match, The Young Bucks & Adam Cole hit Danielson with a triple superkick and looked to continue their attack, but were fended off by Christian Cage and Jurassic Express.
- CM Punk cut a promo about his match versus Powerhouse Hobbs at Rampage: Grand Slam, promising to put the Team Taz juggernaut to sleep on Friday.
- MJF def. Brian Pillman Jr. via submission (9:05) after countering Brian Jr.’s Air Pillman into the Salt of the Earth armbar.
- Malakai Black def. Cody Rhodes via pinfall (11:25) with a roll-up following Black Mist to the face of Cody.
- Darby Allin & Sting def. FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) via submission (9:30) when Sting made Dax submit to the Scorpion Deathlock.
- AEW Women’s World Championship: Dr. Britt Baker DMD def. Ruby Soho via submission (13:20) to retain her title with the Lockjaw submission.
Here are the results of the 9/24/21 Grand Slam edition of Rampage (Episode 7):
- CM Punk def. Powerhouse Hobbs via pinfall (13:35) with the GTS in his first match on TV in over seven years.
- The Elite’s Superkliq (Adam Cole, Matt & Nick Jackson) def. Christian Cage & Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) via pinfall (14:38) after the heels hit Luchasaurus with their respective finishers, ending with an Adam Cole Last Shot (now renamed “The Boom”).
- The Men of the Year (Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky) def. Chris Jericho & Jake Hager via pinfall (11:01) after Scorpio took advantage of a Dan Lambert distraction to roll up Hager for the pin and win. Post-match, a bunch of Lambert’s American Top Team associates beat down the two Inner Circle members.
- Santana & Ortiz and the Lucha Brothers def. The Hardy Family Office via pinfall (9:43) after the two babyface teams got their finishers in on the HFO’s Marq Quen for the victory. At one point, Orange Cassidy stopped Matt Hardy from cutting Ortiz’s hair, then flattening Jack Evans with the Orange Punch.
- Backstage, Matt volunteered Evans to face Orange in a Hair versus Hair match for next week’s Rampage.
- Miro brutally attacked Sammy Guevara and Fuego Del Sol ahead of his match against Sammy for the TNT Title next week on Dynamite.
- Penelope Ford def. Anna Jay via pinfall (6:48) after the Bunny handed Penelope some brass knucks to hit Anna with. Post match, the two heels beat down Anna and Tay Conti. Orange Cassidy & Kris Statlander joined the Dark Order to fight the HFO off. As Alex Reynolds tried to mend the broken bonds between him and Evil Uno, the masked Uno walked out.
- “Lights Out” Tag Team Match: Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston def. Lance Archer & Minoru Suzuki via pinfall (15:10) when Kingston pinned Archer following repeated kendo stick strikes as Archer was trapped in a trashcan. New York wrestling legend Homicide made a surprise appearance to assist Mox & Kingston, leading to the finish.
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It’s Wednesday Night. You Know What That Means.
The show begins proper with a tribute graphic for the late Jon Huber, better known to AEW fans as Mr. Brodie Lee. It’s followed up by the opening intro that tells us to light the fuse and bring the boom. After the opening, we have Jim Ross, Excalibur, and Tony Schiavone welcoming us to tonight’s show. They’re soon joined by CM Punk, who’ll be on commentary tonight along with the Terrific Trio. Let’s hope that he doesn’t get attacked at the table.
Match 1: Adam Cole vs. Jungle Boy
The Story So Far
Adam Cole made an undisputed impact when he arrived in AEW at All Out when he superkicked Jungle Boy Jack Perry to signify his loyalty to The Elite. To that end, the two have had a rivalry of sorts, which continued on last week’s Rampage: Grand Slam, when Cole’s Superkliq defeated Jungle Boy and Jurassic Express and Christian Cage.
The Match
The commentators note that Adam Cole’s theme is the No. 1 metal song in the iTunes charts as Cole makes his way to the ring.
Cole starts off with the advantage as he’s got J.B. in the waistlock, transitioning it into a headscissors. Perry is able to fight out of it for a bit before Cole resumes with the advantage. Back and forth action between the two until Jungle Boy sends Cole to the outside with a dropkick. J.B. chases Cole around the ringside area, but gets stomped on once he reaches the ring. Cole runs to the corner, but Jungle Boy blocks him with a boot to the face. Jungle Boy to the top rope, but Cole knocks him to the outside area with a strike!
Jungle Boy’s favoring his knee after that rough landing and Adam Cole takes over on the outside before maintaining control as the two return to the ring. As Cole taunts the crowd, Jungle Boy shifts momentum with some offense before finishing that off with a huge lariat that damn near takes Cole’s head off.
Both men exchange strikes and kicks until J.B.hits a brainbuster on Cole. German suplex by J.B. only gets a two-count. Jungle Boy attempts to trap Cole in the Tree of Woe, but gets kicked in the face for his trouble. A second attempt is more successful and he gets the basement dropkick. Again, only a two-count.
Cole wriggles out of a fireman’s carry and hits the Ushigoroshi on Jungle Boy, getting a near fall on that move. Poisonrana by Jungle Boy followed by a Death Valley Driver: 1.. 2… NO! Surprise superkick by Adam Cole sends J.B. crashing to the outside! Cole looks to hit a Panama Sunrise on the outside, but Jungle Boy wisely moves out of the way. He enters the ring and looks to hit a suicide dive on Cole, who ends up blocking it with a kick. Jungle Boy responds with a springboard Frankensteiner to the outside! Back in the ring, Cole lands a superkick and finally nails the Panama Sunrise on Jungle Boy… 1… 2… 2.999999!!!!!!!
Adam Cole senses blood and pulls down his knee pad as he looks to finish Jungle Boy off with The Boom knee strike. J.B. is able to counter that into the Snare Trap! Cole is in No Man’s Land as he’s trapped in the middle of the ring! However, he manages to kick Jungle Boy to the outside to get a brief respite. J.B. runs back to the ring and pushes Cole into the ropes.
With ref Aubrey Edwards caught between the ropes, this gives Cole the chance to hit Jungle Boy in the groin to set him up for the running Boom knee for the 1, 2, 3.
Adam Cole def. Jungle Boy via Pinfall (13:39)
Post-Match
The entire Elite emerged from the heel tunnel of the stage, as CM Punk remarked that their theme song sucked. The show goes to break with the promise that we’d hear from The Elite after the commercials.
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The Elite Speaks
Back from break, as Karl Anderson hypes up Adam Cole, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks, who are, according to Luke Gallows, “Extremely Violent People”. Adam Cole has the stick as he brags about beating Jungle Boy just moments ago. Michael Nakazawa is now given the floor while the Rochester crowd chants “CM Punk”.
Kenny Omega talks about his match with Bryan Danielson last week, giving him credit for taking him to his absolute limit. There’s one problem, however, as Omega says that Bryan didn’t get the job done and that he’ll never see Omega face-to-face in the ring ever again. Cue Bryan Danielson to interrupt the proceedings.
Danielson polls the Rochester crowd if they want to see a rematch between him and Kenny Omega, to which they say “YES!” in response to. He claims that Omega doesn’t have the balls to give him the rematch, rechristening him as “Kenny ‘No-Balls’ Omega”. Danielson says if anyone else on The Elite has any balls (continuing his weird fascination with them), he challenges them to a fight at Rampage. Omega tries to beckon Bryan to get in the ring right now, to which Danielson accepts. Bryan marches up the ramp, but he’s not coming alone. Out from the face tunnel comes Jurassic Express, Christian Cage, and Frankie Kazarian to join Danielson in evening the odds As the faces step into the ring, the Elite beat a hasty retreat.
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Andrade Confronts The Lucha Brothers
Backstage, Tony Schiavone interviews Rey Fenix & Penta El Zero M along with Andrade El Idolo. Jose, Andrade’s assistant, says that it’s just about time the Lucha Bros. defended their AAA Tag Team Titles, noting that it’s been quite a long time since those belts were defended. Andrade says that he’s got some friends that might be looking to challenge Penta & Fenix for their AAA Tag Team gold, to which the Lucha Bros. say “bring it on”.
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Match 2: Cody Rhodes & Lee Johnson vs. Matt Sydal & Dante Martin
The Story So Far
Things don’t seem to be going well for the American Nightmare, not since Malakai Black entered AEW. Black has targeted Cody and the Nightmare Family, making their lives a living hell. That’s included two singles wins over Cody — first at the Homecoming edition of Dynamite and this past Wednesday at Dynamite: Grand Slam. To add to Cody’s woes, the fans have seemingly grown tired of his babyface act, booing him at every turn.
The Match
Cody and Dante start this match off for their teams, with neither man getting a clear advantage on one another. Both guys tag in their partners and we see that Arn Anderson is upset at Lee Johnson not starting off the match.
Sydal hits a kick on Lee before tagging Dante back into the match. Dazzling the fans with his acrobatics, Dante has a bit of an advantage on Lee. The two men get in each other’s faces as Cody and Sydal enter and Dynamite goes to commercial with things about to break down.
Back from the commercial break and Sydal is in control of Lee Johnson, who eventually escapes Matt’s grasp. Tag to Cody and he goes on the offensive. Scoop Powerslam by Cody gets the near-fall on Dante. Rhodes hits Matt Sydal with the Disaster Kick that sends him to the ground.
Vertebreaker by Rhodes on Dante… 1.. 2… KICKOUT! Dante retaliates with a floating missile dropkick on Cody that gets a very close near-fall. Dante follows that up with a springboard moonsault that yet again only gets two. Lee Johnson drags Cody back to his corner by the tights and tags himself in.
Johnson takes Sydal out on the apron with a kick to the head as Dante nearly wins it with a surprise roll-up that only gets a two-count. Johnson has Dante up and hits a modified leg brainbuster for the 1, 2, 3.
Lee Johnson & Cody Rhodes def. Dante Martin & Matt Sydal via Pinfall (7:47)
Post-Match
Tony Schiavone enters the ring to interview the winning team. Cody starts off to a chorus of boos, asking if people wanted to see him fight Malakai Black one more time. Arn Anderson shuts him up and begins with how Black has systematically destroyed Cody and the Nightmare Family since July. Arn asks Cody about why he took off his boots after Black beat him in Jacksonville a month ago.
Arn then goes on to talk about last week, where Cody ended up losing because he spent too much time worrying about him and not about stopping the “predator” and “assassin” that is Malakai Black. Arn says that he’d take up the fight himself, but he’s just “too damn old”. He talks about how Cody would let a carjacker take his car, then stating that as Arn Anderson, he’d pull out a Glock and splatter the carjacker’s brains on the concrete. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to coach a loser,” Arn states, then leaving Cody alone in the ring as he and Lee Johnson make their exit.
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Match 3: Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, & Darby Allin vs. Bear Country (Bear Boulder & Bear Bronson) & Anthony Greene
The Story So Far
This match doesn’t really have any established story. Just a showcase for the babyface alliance of Moxley, Kingston, Sting, and Darby, who have been a successful team.
The Match
Mox and Kingston are brawling it out with Bear Country, which leaves Darby and Greene as our legal competitors to start. Darby is a house a’fire to start off as he works over Greene, then tagging in Kingston. Chops and a knee from Eddie to Green before Mox gets the tag. Bear Boulder is in the match now and he’s got the advantage on Moxley, with repeated chops and shoulder blocks. Mox attempts a crossbody, but he’s caught by Boulder, who tags in Bronson. Powerslam by Bronson on Mox gets a two-count. Bear Country has Mox set up for a double team move until Eddie Kingston intervenes to help his friend fight off the massive Bears. They get sent to the outside as Darby comes crashing down on them with a Coffin Drop to Boulder and Bronson! With Greene as the legal man, he tries for a flying crossbody on Mox & Kingston, but that just fails. In the end, Mox & Eddie set Greene up for the Violent Crown and get the win here.
Eddie Kingston, Jon Moxley, & Darby Allin def. Bear Country & Anthony Greene via Pinfall (3:24)
Post-Match
Eddie goes to the ringside area and picks a Brodie Lee sign from the crowd as he calls Sting to the ring. As Green comes to, he’s immediately felled by a Scorpion Death Drop from the Stinger, which doesn’t seem like a rather babyface thing to do.
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Match 4: The Dark Order (Alan “5” Angels, Alex Reynolds, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno, John Silver, Preston “10” Vance and Stu Grayson) & Orange Cassidy vs. The Hardy Family Office (The Butcher, The Blade, Marq Quen, Isaiah Kassidy, Angelico, Jack Evans, Matt Hardy, and Jora Johl)
The Story So Far
While the war between Dark Order and The HFO has gone on for months, the more important story is the current developments within the Dark Order since “Hangman” Adam Page took a leave of absence. The group has been in disarray since that moment, with Alex Reynolds in particular questioning Evil Uno’s leadership. On last week’s Grand Slam edition of Rampage, it seemed that things would be changing for the better, but Uno walked out on Reynolds after an attempted extension of the olive branch. For this big 16-man tag match, Tony Khan asked the Dark Order to put aside their differences to stand united on this special tribute show to Mr. Brodie Lee.
The Match
Right away, we get some trouble within the Dark Order’s ranks as Reynolds, Angels, Uno, and Grayson are in each other’s faces to start. The Butcher and the Blade take advantage and proceed to double team Alan Angels. Preston Vance helps 5 escape an attempted tandem maneuver from Butcher & Blade. Private Party’s Isaiah Kassidy & Marq Quen now get their turn to work over Angels for a bit. The tag to Orange Cassidy and the Freshly-Squeezed One dazzles with his trademark offense. Things eventually descend into a chaotic brawl right as we go to a picture-in-picture break.
Back from commercial with The Hybrid 2 in control as they’re doubling up on Stu Grayson for a bit until he takes down Angelico and Evans with a Pele kick. Tag to Alex Reynolds, who unleashes his offense on Angelico. Evil Uno joins the fray and takes Jack Evans out with a dropkick. Attempted double team by the Dark Order duo backfires as Reynolds is tossed right into Uno, sending the masked leader of Dark Order to the outside! Reynolds hits Evans with a knee to the face and Orange Cassidy tags in again. As Orange goes on the attack, Evil Uno tries to bail out on the match, clearly frustrated by Reynolds’ unintentional collision. Colt Cabana and Stu Grayson look to join him in abandoning their teammates.
They’re stopped at the ramp by Anna Jay, Tay Conti, -1, and Amanda Huber, Brodie Lee’s widow. While -1 emulates his dad and tosses paper at Uno, Amanda yells at the Dark Order trio to get back in the ring and help their teammates out! Uno, Grayson, and Colt then proceed to run back into the ring and help their friends clean house against the HFO!
As the chaos breaks down, Jora Johl is the last one left in the ring for the Hardy Family Office. Matt tries to get involved, but he eats an Orange Punch from Orange Cassidy. Meanwhile, Johl gets taken out by a gamengiri and Stunner by the members of Dark Order. Grayson and Uno hoist Johl in position and flatline him with the Fatality! John Silver gets the final pinfall victory to ensure the homecoming for the Dark Order will be a happy one.
The Dark Order def. The Hardy Family Office via Pinfall (7:53)
Post-Match
A seemingly united Dark Order stood tall in the ring and embraced as -1 is placed on Preston Vance’s shoulders to celebrate the victory.
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Lio Rush is #AllElite
We get a video promo from Lio Rush, last seen in the AEW ring at Double or Nothing 2021. He talks about how he’s a businessman and how he drives profits for both himself and his people, citing it as the true way to be successful. Billing himself as “LBO” (for “Leveraged Buy Out”), Lio promised that the profits would be sure to continue for him inside AEW.
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A Refocused FTR
Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler declared that they’re now revitalized and refocus, which spells disaster for the AEW Tag Team Division.
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The Men of The Year Brag About Their Triumph
Fresh off their victory over Chris Jericho & Jake Hager, Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky took to the ring, flanked by their advisor Dan Lambert.
Sky talks about how nobody paid attention to him despite posting one of the best winning percentages in all of AEW, and not even when he picked up a “giant Sonic ring” to become the “Face of the Revolution”. He says that only Dan Lambert sees what everyone else fails to see and that is how Scorpio Sky is a true main eventer.
Page caps the promo off by saying that nobody will ever overlook the Men of the Year and American Top Team ever again because they walk and talk like champions and they roll with champions.
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Hikaru Shida’s Quest for 50
A hype video for Hikaru Shida airs. Last seen on Dynamite since before the summer (despite being very prominent in the opening intro), Shida talks about how her next win will be her 50th in AEW. Serena Deeb, her opponent next week, says that Shida won’t reach that major milestone next week when she beats her in a match.
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Match 5: Anna Jay & Tay Conti vs. The Bunny & Penelope Ford
The Story So Far
These two teams have been in a bitter conflict over the past four weeks, with the Dark Order drama also in the background of this.
The Match
Both teams begin to brawl before the bell can even ring. Once the match finally starts properly,
Penelope drags Jay in position for a moonsault attempt, but she misses with it. The Bunny tries to get involved, but Tay pulls her out and flattens Bunny with the Tay-KO! In the ring, Jay hits Ford with the Scorpion Kick, then setting her up for the Queenslayer submission hold! Penelope taps out as Anna and Tay make it a clean sweep for the Dark Order.
Anna Jay & Tay Conti def. The Bunny & Penelope Ford via Submission (6:36)
Post-Match
TayJay celebrates their victory with -1 after the match ends. The announcers immediately toss to a video hyping a big triple threat for Friday’s Rampage between Jade Cargill, Nyla Rose, and Thunder Rosa.
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MJF’s Declaration of Greatness
Maxwell Jacob Friedman makes his way to the ring, flanked as per usual by Wardlow. He talks about how AEW is built around four pillars that will lead the company to greater successes in the future: Jungle Boy, Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, and himself. Max talks about how he’s already beaten J.B. and Sammy before and brushes off Darby, and how he’s the most important pillar of AEW.
The reason Max says all this? He declares that AEW isn’t worth shit without him, as he’s the past, present, and future of the company. That’s why, in his mind, he believes that he’s worthy of an AEW World Title shot. Max gives a shout out to Tony Khan, calling him “one of the two two Khans in pro wrestling”, but he’d call up his old MLW friend Bruce Prichard if Tony didn’t give him the opportunity that he deserves.
Darby Allin — one of the aforementioned AEW pillars — interrupts Max’s tirade. “As much as I like the whole ‘school shooter mime on a skateboard’ routine, not a huge fan of you interrupting me, bud.” MJF says about Darby’s arrival. He says that there’s nothing wrong about Darby being the #2 pillar of AEW, then comparing himself to stars like Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky.
In response to this, Darby tells Max that he can go if he’s not getting what he wants, saying that he’s AEW until death. Max says that he respects Darby for being straight edge, now asking the fans if they know why Darby’s straight edge.
MJF tells everyone of how Darby got into a car with his drunken uncle one night and got into an accident that killed the uncle. Max goes as far as saying that the wrong person died that night, daring Darby to hit him. However, Allin refuses to play on MJF’s terms, stating that Max won’t break him mentally.
Frustrated that Darby won’t oblige to his demands, MJF leaves the ring in a huff.
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Match 6: TNT Championship Match – Miro vs. Sammy Guevara
The Story So Far
After “God’s Favorite Champion” destroyed his friend Fuego Del Sol on the premiere edition of AEW Rampage to deny the plucky luchadore an AEW contract, Sammy Guevara stepped in and gave Fuego a contract. This angered Miro, as Fuego called his shot again for a TNT Title opportunity, offering his new car as a wager for this match. Miro would end up winning that match on the 9/17 edition of Rampage, which led Sammy to get involved after an aggressive post-match assault on Fuego. This confrontation would lead to AEW booking the massive TNT Title defense we’re about to see.
The Match
As the bell rings, Sammy tries to go for a knee, but Miro dodges it. Again with the knee, but Miro knocks Guevara down. The TNT Champion has the advantage here early as he taunts the crowd. Miro grounds Guevara with stomps and attacks to the back. Guevara fighting from underneath, but that short offensive burst is stopped in its tracks. Miro chokes Guevara with his own necklace, then throwing it out of the ring. Guevara fights back and takes Miro out to the ringside area with a running body attack. Sammy uses the steel steps at ringside to attack Miro’s neck. Off to the top rope for a moonsault, but Miro catches him and turns that into a belly to belly suplex. We go to the night’s final picture-in-picture commercial break on that note.
We return with Miro catching Guevara in a resthold, also battering him with elbows. Sammy escapes this, but he gets felled by a German Suplex from Miro. Repeated short-arm lariats by Miro, who takes time to once again taunt the crowd as he does them. Miro runs to try and hit Guevara with a third lariat, but that gets reversed into a Spanish Fly!
Sliding knee strike by Guevara is followed by a pump kick that Miro catches. German suplex is reversed and he tosses Miro to the outside. He runs and leaps over the corner to catch Miro with a tope con giro! Back in the ring, Miro reverses an attempted crossbody into a sidewalk slam! 1… 2… NO!
Miro is showing some frustration and he sizes up Guevara for a Jumping Pump Kick, but Sammy gets out of the way and hits him with a knee strike instead! Miro’s attempt at a superplex is blocked by Guevara who turns it into a diving cutter! Sammy tries to set Miro up for the GTH, but is unable to. Miro with the Pump Kick! 1… 2… 2.99999!!!!!!!! Guevara rolls out of the ring and an angered Miro starts yanking away all the top turnbuckles in response. Fuego Del Sol intervenes, but he’s punched out by Miro. Guevara jumps in with a knee strike, followed by a tornado DDT, and then the GTH! Not done yet, Guevara ascends to the top rope and hits a prone Miro with the 630 Splash! 1… 2… 3! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new TNT Champion.
Sammy Guevara def. Miro via Pinfall to win the TNT Championship (13:39)
Post-Match
Golden confetti rains down on the ring as Fuego and other faces enter the ring to celebrate Guevara’s victory. We’re told that we’d hear from the new TNT Champ during the first commercial break of Rhodes to the Top, which airs next.
After The Fact
In a short interview that aired during the aforementioned Rhodes to the Top, Sammy appeared to challenge Bobby Fish for his first TNT Title defense next week, as Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page got in his face for a confrontation.
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A Quick Look At Rhodes to the Top
Airing immediately after Dynamite on TNT was the first of this new series looking at the behind the scenes of Cody and Brandi Rhodes in their everyday lives and running AEW. This first episode dealt with the fallout of Cody’s infamous “I Love America” promo aimed at Anthony Ogogo, as we also saw the behind-the-scenes of the day-to-day business in AEW ahead of this.
Notably, the show supposes that the promo in question was good. We see remarks from Cody and Brandi talking about how the promo stirred certain feelings for them.
It’s standard reality TV fare that isn’t exactly must-see, though the glimpses of AEW’s backstage should be of interest for fans.
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This Friday on Rampage (10/1/21)
- Bryan Danielson vs. Nick Jackson
- Triple Threat: Nyla Rose vs. Thunder Rosa vs. Jade Cargill
- Hair vs. Hair: Orange Cassidy vs. Jack Evans
Next Week on Dynamite Anniversary (10/6/21)
- TNT Championship Open Challenge: Sammy Guevara © vs. Bobby Fish
- The Elite (Adam Cole, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks) vs. Bryan Danielson, Christian Cage, and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus)
- Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb
- Casino Ladder Match (Winner earns an AEW World Title shot)
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The Last Word
If this is meant to be the end of the Dark Order’s infighting, then having -1 (aka Brodie Jr.) and Amanda Huber figure into helping talk some sense into the group makes perfect sense, especially with it taking place in Rochester. Of course, the uncertainty comes in whether or not this unity will stick, and it’ll be interesting to see if things truly are patched up or if there’s a bigger problem on the horizon.
There’s probably some disappointment that we didn’t get an appearance from “Hangman” Adam Page or from Windham Rotunda (the former Bray Wyatt) here, but having Brodie’s family play a role in reuniting Dark Order certainly works out better in the context of the story they’re trying to tell, making for a true feel-good moment.
On that note, it was logical that the TNT Championship changed hands here and that a big babyface victory was the reason for it. Sammy looks good as the underdog challenger who withstood the onslaught of the former TNT Champ and won in the end, while Miro isn’t hurt at all in defeat.
MJF’s promo elaborating that there are four pillars that AEW has built itself around did an excellent job in establishing that the four stars (Darby Allin, MJF, Sammy Guevara, and Jungle Boy) are set to play important roles for the company moving forward. While the company may land stars like CM Punk or Bryan Danielson, it seems clear that building up the aforementioned talents and others such as Adam Page and Britt Baker is something that will be beneficial for AEW as a whole.
Transcribing Arn Anderson’s bizarre post-match promo was quite the experience for me. In two minutes, he called Cody Rhodes a loser for failing to beat Malakai Black and apparently admitted to killing a man by shooting him in the head. Naturally, wrestling fans embraced the utter randomness of Arn’s anecdote and turned “Armed Anderson” and “Glock Anderson” into memes.
Bryan Danielson’s promo to Kenny Omega was a rare misfire from the American Dragon. His weird fascination with the balls of Omega and the Elite seemed completely out of place and the crowd obliging Danielson by chanting “Kenny No-Balls” certainly made matters worse. If we’re being honest, I don’t exactly feel comfortable with wrestling promos going into people insulting others’ manhood or lack thereof by mocking their lack of genitals. It just seems like low-hanging fruit, is all.
AEW put forth a feel-good show in tribute to Mr. Brodie Lee in his hometown and excelled in that regard. The setlist of matches brought a little bit of something for everyone — from multi-man chaos tag team action to a fast-paced opener, and a dramatic main event. While the promo work could’ve been better in some regards, the show as a whole was a worthy tribute to a great performer that was gone too soon.
Before we sign off for another week, I’d like to bring attention to the Jon Huber Legacy Foundation, the recently-launched non-profit organization dedicated to supporting people in creative fields who haven’t been able to take that next step due to family commitments. According to a press release announcing the Foundation’s formation, this new initiative will select individuals to support through direct funding. These individuals will learn from experts in fields such as public relations, IP law, and artist management.
This effort is a very classy move and worthy of the Foundation’s namesake. It’s something that will help those who have the hopes to achieve their dreams, but not necessarily the means to do so while supporting their families.
To learn more about the Jon Huber Legacy Foundation, please visit www.jonhuberlegacyfoundation.org.
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Marc Quill is an avid wrestling fan who enjoys telling you all the exciting All Elite action on Wednesday nights. He’s also the web novelist behind Skye Emery: Bluebird, which you can read here. You can chat with him about wrestling, comics, and stuff in general @MarcQuill on Twitter.
