IT’S WEDNESDAY NIGHT. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!
Heya folks! It’s a great time to be a professional wrestling fan. The Owen Hart Memorial Foundation Tournament are underway! Just last week, Hikaru Shida beat Julia Hart to gain entry to the dance. Max Caster had his shot but he blew it against some new jobber they brought in to make his debut. Lest we forget, FTR emasculated the Young Bucks and now we’re on our way to Double or Nothing next month! Even after somewhat of a dud last week, I’m eager to see where we go this week. Let’s find out together! Say, whatever happened to Leilani Kai?
POP: Right Where He Belongs!
Last week, one of my biggest gripes of the episode was that we didn’t lead off with a CM Punk match like we had the two weeks prior to that. So believe me when I tell you that I definitely was happy when the first few strains to Cult of Personality hit my TV screen. I was also eager to see who he would be facing and it turns out, it’s Penta Oscuro, complete with Grim Reaper Alex, a headstone, and his trusty shovel! This last one definitely had the Punker concerned but Oscuro moved it to the outside for the match.
One of the great things that AEW can bring that some other international promotions can’t is the fact that they can bring these matches we’ve never seen before, such as this match between CM Punk and Penta Oscuro. These two start out by chop slapping the shit out of each other so I’m already invested and it’s only just beginning. The story of this match was one-upmanship as each one tried to outdo the other.
The one caveat to that is when Punk went for a top-rope hurricanrana and fell off the top rope awkwardly. He clearly was favoring his knee throughout the rest of the match, which was very likely a work to save face on the botch but either way, it could have been a traumatic injury. The ending of this match was fantastic, however. Penta attempted a springboard attack and CM Punk caught him in mid-air and hit him with the Go To Sleep to….well, put him to sleep and get the victory. One more for the Punker! Save for the very noticeable botch, this match was amazing, especially that finish!
POP: Dinos and Dragons
It’s crazy to me, which the announce team points out early, that Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly have been teaming together for ten years. Most people (present company included) only knew them when they were undisputed. Tonight, they are facing the AEW World Tag Team Champion Jurassic Express, though I find it interesting that the graphic in the paragraph header just lists them as Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus. Also, Jim Ross calling them Jungle Boy and Lizard Man is just so grandfatherly.
Speaking of Lizard Man, is there anything better than when he gets the hot tag? He’s incredibly athletic for his size, something that I never picked up on when I watched him on Big Brother. My favorite move from this match was Fish hitting a top-rope Falcon Arrow on Jungle Boy while jumping over O’Reilly and Luchasaurus as O’Reilly tried to put the big dino to sleep with a Front Chancery. Chef’s Kiss, my friends. Shortly thereafter, Jurassic Express took Fish out of the match and hit the Thoracic Express to get the win and retain their titles.
BOTCH: I Want to Care. I Just Don’t.
Shawn Dean, fresh off his upset of Shawn Spears (Is it really an upset since it’s Shawn Spears….?), is out to face MJF in a rematch from when Dean beat MJF a few months ago. MJF gets an early lead and sees the jumbotron showing three security members who have apparently been murdered backstage. Wardlow shows up dressed as staff and chases MJF up the ramp. Spears hits him with a chair before security runs out and Wardlow fights them all off. Meanwhile, all these shenanigans cause MJF to be counted out and Shawn Dean beats MJF again. Wardlow continues to beat down security in the back and lets MJF know in no uncertain terms that he won’t stop until MJF releases him from his contract.
POP: Hate Crimes
The Jericho Appreciation Society comes out first for their match with Kingston and Pride & Powerful. As the crowd sings along to Jericho’s entrance music, the camera pans to a chubby fan dressed in an Oklahoma jersey, glasses and a cowboy hat. The cameraman lingers on him and finally, JR breaks the silence with a delayed, “Wait a minute.” Absolute gold by JR on the stick tonight.
These two teams clearly hate each other and make it known throughout the match. Early on, Kingston pins Garcia down on the outside and just beats the ever loving hell out of him. A real ground and pound. A real thumping, if you will. Later, in the ring, Eddie slaps the shit out of Garcia and hits him with an Exploder Suplex. Jericho hits Kingston with the bat behind Aubrey Edwards’ back and Garcia pins him for the three count and the win. The Society get in the ring and jump Kingston for a 5-on-1 beatdown. They drag Pride & Powerful into the ring and deliver the same punishment. This blood feud is far from over ladies and gentlemen. Far from over.
BOTCH: Squash of the Sky
Skye Blue gets the jobber entrance as the opponent in Marina Shafir’s Dynamite debut. Marina had no problem just throwing Skye around the ring. Every time Marina would turn her focus to Jade Cargill’s Baddies, Skye would try and attack Shafir. However, Shafir didn’t seem fazed at all. She flips Sky around, locks in the triangle choke and Blue tapped rather quickly. That didn’t take long as many of us expected.
POP: Hometown Hero
I love it when a bad guy wrestles at home and gets absolutely cheered. Ricky Starks, who is from New Orleans, is introduced and the NOLA crowd goes wild. He preens on the turnbuckle and you can feel him soaking it in. Swerve Strickland and big Keith Lee come out and the crowd response is muted at best. Maybe that’s because they used all their hollerin’ power on Starks. Speaking of power, right before the show cut to commercial, Swerve hit a beautiful springboard moonsault onto Team Taz outside the ring…off of Keith Lee’s chest!
The only thing that kept the crowd from chanting “Ricky, Ricky” all night was when Taz walked down to ringside. They instantly started chanting “EC-Dub, EC-Dub” instead. I’d expect that from the Philadelphia crowd but New Orleans? I see you, New Orleans. Taz wasn’t down there for no reason, though, as he trips up Keith Lee, leading to a Powerhouse Hobbs spinebuster and the win for Team Taz!
POP: Hard Knock Life
Holy shit, you guys. HOLY SHIT. Minoru Suzuki and Samoa Joe are tough sons of bitches. They start this match just bludgeoning each other with chops and strikes. Both men are red as hell before we even see an actual wrestling move. The best part is they both seem to enjoy it! Just look at Joe’s expression here when Minoru elbows him in the face. The slapfest would continue through the match intermittently and I don’t know how these two dudes do it.
To end the match, Joe has Suzuki up on the rope and Suzuki tries to lock in the armbar. Joe, however, reverses it into a Muscle Buster and ladies and gentledudes, we have a NEW Ring of Honor Television Champion! Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal come out with a present for Joe and inside is just Lethal flipping Joe off. The lights go out, which can’t be good for Joe. When they come back on, there is an absolute giant behind Joe. It’s former NBA player Satnam Singh! He attacks Joe and leaves him laying for Jay Lethal. Joe tries to fight back but the three of them continue to beat him down to end the show! Wow! What an ending!
I hope you enjoy your week, everyone! Feel free to leave a comment below (good or bad, I’ll answer them all!) and share the column with your friends, family and followers. And seriously, join the Discord for good talk with good people. You can find me on there, Instagram or Twitter (all are @robbywardshow). Please hit me up with what you liked, what you hated, what you think I can change. I’m all ears! Wrestling united!
