AEW Beach Break Review - February 3, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Chris Jericho and MJF Won an AEW World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Tag Team Battle Royal

It's no secret that AEW's tag team division is stacked, but this was an absolute mess. I could've sworn that Tony Schiavone said at the start that if one member of a team was eliminated, the whole team was gone. Well, that quickly proved to not be true when people stayed in the ring despite their partners getting tossed out. The action was hard to follow, and although I liked how they furthered a few feuds, there didn't need to be so many teams involved. I mean, three teams from Inner Circle? Really? Jericho and MJF winning made the most sense as they continue to tease tension within the faction.

Team Taz Interrupted AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin and Sting

We found out during this segment that Allin will be defending the TNT title against Joey Janela next week. Why? What the hell did he do to deserve a title shot? Nonetheless, this was a solid segment. I've said this a bunch of times already, but AEW is doing Sting no favors by featuring him every single week when it isn't necessary. He's going to find himself feeling overexposed, assuming we haven't already reached that point. The verbal exchange the faces and heels was no different than any other they've had up to this point, but it successfully furthered their feud ahead of the Street Fight at Revolution.

Britt Baker def. Thunder Rosa

Not only has Baker become a brilliant heel over the past year, she's also stepped up her game in the ring. I didn't care for her All Out match with Big Swole, but I thought her match against Hikaru Shida last April was terrific. This one is up there as one of her best bouts to date. They worked wonderfully together, brought the intensity and kept the pace consistent throughout. Baker cheating to win with help from Reba protected Rosa in defeat and keeps the feud alive. The upcoming women's tournament could produce some fun matches, but Baker should already be the number one contender to the AEW Women's Championship.

Matt Hardy and "Hangman" Adam Page def. Chaos Project

I realize there was a tag team Battle Royal earlier in the evening that featured most of AEW's top tag team talent, but there is no reason why Chaos Project should be appearing on Dynamite when they're not very good. They were an easy team to endure the loss, but the match itself was nothing to write home about. The focus was entirely on Hardy stealing the pinfall win from Page, so it's doubtful Page ends up joining his ranks.

Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy Crashed the Wedding of Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford

If you've seen one wrestling wedding, you've seen them all. Some are worse than others (and I'll take this over the awful one between Bobby Lashley and Lana on WWE Raw that I was unfortunately in attendance for), but this was pretty dull, especially since they had been building to it for so long. It played out exactly as I expected to with Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy crashing it while Ford's face went into the cake. I would have preferred Miro crushing Sabian and burying the best man stuff dead. It was cool seeing Father James Mitchell in there as the minster, but that was about it. The rest of it was a waste of time.

Lance Archer def. Eddie Kingston in a Lumberjack Match

On a show that was already chaotic enough, I don't think we needed to see a Lumberjack match. It was actually illogical because it was interference that cost Archer the win last week, so why would you put them in a matchup that basically invites interference? They made the most of it and it felt like a fight between two rivals, but it was all over the place at the same time. Archer getting his win back over Kingston was what needed to happen now that he looks to get back into the main event picture.

The Elite (AEW World Tag Team Champion Kenny Omega and Impact World Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers) def. Jon Moxley, Pac and Rey Fenix

Omega and The Good Brothers are an excellent trio while Moxley, Pac and Fenix had awesome chemistry as partners. All in all, this was an outstanding main event where everyone got to shine and there wasn't a single dull moment. Of everybody involved, though, I'd argue Fenix had the biggest breakout performance. He was firing on all cylinders and continues to blow me away with what he can do. The heels won as they should have, and then before Moxley could get his hands on Omega afterward, KENTA showed up and laid out Moxley with his patented Go to Sleep finisher. Remember, he's been owed a shot at Moxley's IWGP U.S. Heavyweight Championship for months and he's finally getting it soon. That was a hell of a way to close out the episode and build to that bout. Is this a sign we're one step closer to getting that partnership between AEW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling?

Overall Show

Usually AEW knocks these themed shows out of the park, but this one was a mixed bag. I really loved that main event, KENTA's appearance and Baker vs. Rosa. Those three things were tremendous. Everything else didn't quite land for me. The tag team Battle Royal and the Lumberjack match were too jumbled and the wedding was just stupid. I also can't muster up much excitement for Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet vs. Shaquille O'Neal and Jade Cargill on the March 3 edition of Dynamite. AEW is doing some cool stuff at the moment, but there's other storylines that aren't progressing at the rate they should be. The women's tournament is bound to get a lot of focus in the coming weeks and that's a step in the right direction, but again, Baker is the rightful contender and if she doesn't win, then there was no point.