AEW Fyter Fest: Night 2 Review - July 8, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Tag Team Champions "Hangman" Adam Page and Kenny Omega def. Private Party

This was way more of an Adam Page and Kenny Omega title defense than what we saw from them last week against Best Friends, in my opinion. Private Party needed to have a memorable showing if they weren't going to win the titles and they succeeded. This was an excellent, action-packed opener that was everything it needed to be. I maintain that FTR are likely going to be the ones to beat Page and Omega for the belts eventually, even though the championship isn't needed for the FTR vs. Young Bucks feud.

Lance Archer def. Joey Janela

I'm glad Archer is still being booked like a a dominant monster despite his loss to Cody at Double or Nothing, but I honestly had zero desire to see him in a competitive match with someone on Janela's level. Janela isn't a Brandon Cutler or a Peter Avalon, but there's no reason for Archer to take over 10 minutes to beat him. I applaud their effort here and it was a decent match, but hopefully Archer can now move on to a more high-profile program.

Taz Bestowed the FTW Championship Upon Brian Cage

I have never been the biggest fan of the original ECW, but I'm aware of what the FTW Championship was and what it stood for. That said, its return in its segment didn't do much for me. It was never an officially recognized title, so it's not like you'll be seeing Cage defend it, which is probably a good thing. I just saw this as AEW's way of softening the blow for when Cage likely loses to Jon Moxley next week. Don't get me wrong, Taz cut a strong promo as always, but him bringing back the FTW Championship wasn't as much of a "mark-out" moment for me as it may have been for others.

The Butcher, The Blade and The Lucha Brothers def. The Young Bucks and FTR

Although I personally loved this match and its frantic pace, I can totally understand others not liking it as much because of the lack of selling at times and how the action was all over the place. The Young Bucks and FTR gelled very well together and The Lucha Brothers (who I thought were the standouts in this outing) brought the best out of The Butcher and The Blade. The Lucha Brothers winning for their team made total sense as FTR now has a reason to face them next week at Fight for the Fallen. The cracks are already starting to show in the alliance between the Bucks and FTR, so All Out in two months sounds like the perfect place for their first battle to take place.

Nyla Rose def. Kenzie Paige and KiLynn King in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

Rose squashing Paige and King in a matter of minutes was the right call and what I was hoping we'd see from Archer and Janela earlier in the evening. She dropped the AEW Women's Championship to Hikaru Shida at Double or Nothing, but it doesn't feel like she's lost much momentum at all with how the company has handled her since then. The focus was really on her post-match promo, where she announced she'll be getting a manager soon. Early speculation is that it might be Vickie Guerrero and I hope to God that isn't who it is. I've seen enough managing from Vickie in WWE to last me a lifetime.

Colt Cabana and The Dark Order (Brodie Lee & Stu Grayson) def. SCU (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky)

As a match, this wasn't anything special and paled in comparison to most of the other matches on this show, even though it was well wrestled. Then again, it was less about the match itself and more about how Cabana appeared to be on the same page as Lee and Grayson. I don't expect him to ultimately join Dark Order as a full-fledged member, but the story has progressed nicely thus far and I'm interested to see what the endgame is.

Chris Jericho def. Orange Cassidy

Jericho went on the record ahead of the show saying that this was one his favorite matches in his entire 30-year career. Hey, maybe it was, but I wouldn't put this anywhere near the top of the list of his best bouts of all-time. It was a top-notch main event with Cassidy giving Jericho a hell of a fight, but I was left wondering where Cassidy goes from here. Jericho shouldn't have needed interference to beat a comedy character, but I understand him wanting to put Cassidy over in defeat. The aftermath will be crucial because if Cassidy goes back to doing his same shtick without any real development, all of this effort that went into building him up will have been for nothing.

Overall Show

I'm not sure whether I enjoyed Night 1 or Night 2 more of Fyter Fest, but as an overall package, it was a terrific television special that I'd like AEW to do more of in between pay-per-views. Although this episode didn't feel like it was pay-per-view worthy, three of the matches were above-average and the other two served a purpose. The FTW Championship reveal fell flat for me, but that's merely nitpicking. Additionally, the build for next week was well done and it's cool how they're not wasting any time with the return of Fight for the Fallen.