 Buy In: Best Friends def. Private Party in an AEW World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's MatchI'm a big Private Party fan, but despite their impressive win-loss record so far in 2020, it's a shame they haven't been featured more prominently on Dynamite lately. That foreshadowed the finish to me, but this was still a solid match with a few hiccups here and there. Best Friends have been all over AEW TV for months and it only made sense for them to become the new number one contenders to the AEW World Tag Team Championship. This was wisely positioned on the pre-show. Brian Cage def. Darby Allin, Luchasaurus, Colt Cabana, orange Cassidy, Joey Janela, Scorpio Sky, Kip Sabian and Frankie Kazarian in a Casino Ladder Match to Earn a Future AEW World Championship OpportunityI've seen so many Ladder matches in wrestling (specifically WWE) over the last year that I wasn't as excited for this as I probably should have been, but I really liked how it played out Gauntlet-style as last year's Casino Battle Royale did. In fact, this was so well done that I'd like to see it brought back as an annual happening at Double or Nothing going forward. It was far from the greatest Ladder match I've ever seen and I could have done without all the interference, but it was a blast on the whole and everyone had their time to shine at one point or another. Cage finally debuting (it was originally rumored earlier this year) and earning the future title shot made for a cool moment. If he can stay healthy, he can be a big star in AEW.
0 Comments
 Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch def. Ever-RiseThis is a rematch from Wednesday's NXT where Lorcan and Burch squashed Ever-Rise in a matter of minutes. This wasn't much longer, but it was a bit better with Ever-Rise looking good in defeat. I've heard only positive thins about them, so hopefully they're given more chances to shine in the future. As for Lorcan and Burch, it's nice that they're picking up wins again, but they've failed to become tag team champions so many times already that I don't ever see them getting beyond a certain level. Isiah "Swerve" Scott def. Tyler BreezeThe story was that Scott was frustrated with being bumped from the Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament and wasn't his confident self. I'm not sure if he and Breeze have faced each one-on-one before, but they worked well together here and put together a fun match with Scott showing more aggression than usual. My only nitpick is that they didn't get more time, but what we got was entertaining. Scott's new finisher (unless he's been using that for a while now) isn't anything special, though.
 Universal Champion Braun Strowman Crashed The Dirt Sheet; Strowman def. The Miz (Non-Title)I didn't mind last week's Miz TV segment with Otis, but this was downright deplorable. Sure, it was short, but it felt like it was a lot longer than it actually was. I feel bad for John Morrison for returning to the company only to deal with this garbage material. The subsequent matchup was essentially a glorified squash with Strowman winning rather quickly and decisively. I'm sorry but I have less than zero interest in Miz and Morrison challenging Strowman to a Handicap match for the Universal Championship at Backlash. It's obviously filler before Strowman faces The Fiend (hopefully at SummerSlam), but is the SmackDown roster that depleted that WWE has to rely on a tag team to feud with Strowman in the interim? AJ Styles def. Shinsuke Nakamura in an Intercontinental Championship Tournament Quarterfinal MatchIt's amazing to think that this was at one time a main event attraction at WrestleMania. It was cool to see them rekindle their rivalry here, but it didn't feel nearly as special as it should have. What was once a "dream match" has been reduced to a quarterfinal matchup in a tournament for the vacant Intercontinental Championship. Don't get me wrong, it was very well wrestled and the action was excellent, but I can't say I ever bought into the possibility Nakamura advancing. By the way, Michael Cole noted during Styles' entrance (which was clearly edited in during post-production) that Styles been officially traded to SmackDown. Who Raw will get in return remains unclear and I doubt it will be brought up again.
 AEW World Champion Jon Moxley def. 10 (Non-Title)10 has picked up a handful of victories in recent weeks on Dynamite and Dark and now it's clear why. AEW was trying to position him as a threat to Moxley, but unfortunately for him, he was disposed of fairly easily by Moxley here. The promo work from Brodie Lee and Moxley beforehand and afterward was solid, but I still can't muster up the excitement for Moxley vs. Lee at Double or Nothing. It could be a great match, but it still feels way too soon. MJF def. Marko StuntMJF will be facing Jungle Boy at Double or Nothing this weekend, so this match made sense. Stunt has played his role perfectly as the "sacrificial lamb" for guys like Lee and Lance Archer recently, and while I'm not the biggest fan of Stunt, it was nice to see him score some offense for a change and look good in defeat. That said, MJF winning was never in doubt and his post-match promo about Stunt was a gem.
 Karrion Kross def. Liam GrayHaving Kross go out there and annihilate his opponents in under a minute is absolutely for the best. Like I said two weeks ago, it makes him look like an unstoppable and unhinged killer. Tommaso Ciampa hasn't been seen since being ambushed backstage by Kross over a month ago, so it was logical that he'd resurface here to set the stage for their TakeOver: In Your House clash. Ciampa is coming off big losses to Adam Cole and Johnny Gargano, so I'm interested to see who will go over. El Hijo del Fantasma def. Akira Tozawa in an Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament MatchFantasma has been putting in some strong performances since arriving in NXT as part of the Cruiserweight tourney and this was no exception. Tozawa has also been a revelation throughout this tourney (despite still being positioned as a loser on Raw), so this was an excellent effort all around. Those masked men attempted to abduct Tozawa later on in the parking lot, but Fantasma once again sent them packing. I will honestly be shocked if Fantasma isn't ultimately revealed to be behind it.
|
Categories
All
Archives
July 2026
|
RSS Feed