(written pretty much as I'm watching)
I actually thought Private Party vs #3 & #4 was a pretty good match for the Buy Out. But yeah, the idea of a pre-show is kinda dated and needless.
Speaking of needless, JR is now firmly is the "detracting from the product" category. Really, I'm sorry to say, but he did not bring *anything* to the table tonight, quite the opposite (nowhere near a Mauro who makes a show unwatchable by his lone self, but still, Excalibur & Schiavone by themselves would have been much better). JR during Rosa vs Shida "Back in the days when I was a referee, women's match were more formulaic". Grandpa is telling those old story again... (I did not heard the stuff about Anna Jay's outfit, nor did I paid attention to it BTW, so I missed that one). He's almost drunken Gordon Solie level...
Well, Swole vs Baker was a whole lot of nothing. Highlight was Reba screaming "You stabbed her !" after the syringe spot. Bad ending, wrong person won. Can anyone remind me the appeal of Big Swole, because it is still eluding me. She isn't a good worker and hasn't even displayed any charisma in this where the context was hiding her work, and this feud really has diluted what was fun when baker turned heel at first. Apparently this match was added to the main show because the usual Twitter fake-outrage crowd whined it was "disrespectful to the women" to have it on the pre-show. Expect it was a total pre-show nothing match, really, and started the show on a major flat note, even the announcers sounded uninterested tbh.
Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express is exactly the hot opener that was needed for the actual PPV. Love to see more heelish YB, they are at their best as dick heels. Matt kicking out the crutch was a great touch. Insane sequences between Nick & Jungle Boy. Apart from one spot at the beginning, Luchasaurus looked the best he ever did to me. Really the kind of match that builds and builds and actually gets better as it goes, by the end I could call it excellent/great without a doubt.
Kylinn King in the crowd. <3
Sydal with the Shockmaster debut ! Well, I'm still glad he's there, good catch for AEW and it's always nice to get that surprise entrant. I'm guessing they are gonna pile on this during the next BTE, as they should. Battle Royal was what it was, they eliminated Fenix way too quickly, nice to see Sonny Kiss get a feature elimination (of course he had to get thrown out just afterward, which is straight out of WWE). Of all the guys off Dark, I would have not chosen Will Hobbs, but I guess he got the spot because he's *big*. Ok, Darby is a lunatic, the old "thumbtacks in a body bag spot. Ending was kinda convoluted, I don't think we need some snake spots in 2020. Nice to see Kingston go until the end though. I had Archer winning, so there. Totally gives away the result of the AEW title match though, that's really a thing to pounder for the future...
Holy fuck, Matt paying tribute to the Great Sasuke was brutal and scary as hell... You know what, I'm beginning to think Sammy Guevera's career is kinda snakebit, as I'm sure some will accuse him of diving with too much momentum on Matt, hence him falling too far... So, Matt is a mix of Mick Foley and Kurt Angle now in term of not giving a fuck and working concussed. Yeah, not the best judgment from Tony Khan here to listen to Hardy and let him "work" (he really didn't do much honestly) after that point (I'm sure it's gonna be weaponized by the anti-AEW crowd too). Hopefully Hardy is gonna be OK and now we have a legit reason for him showing up in a completely insane character again (and not take bumps anymore, honesty yeah they could have called an audible here)...
Shida vs Rosa is precisely what their women's division should be. Terrific match and performance from both, although I have to say Thunder Rosa worked like she knew (and she probably did) that it was the match of her life, and she came of like a total star, with tons of presence and charisma to add to her excellent in-ring work. They have to sign her eventually, she can't stay in the NWA forever, that would be a waste. They really have built Shida into their best champ since Riho, in a much different (and better, to my tastes) way.
People call Kip Sabian a dork, a geek and whatnot... yeah, he's actually getting married to Penelope Ford, so there. I dig the old Stevie Richards look. I for one look forward to the live wedding, because you know it's gonna be ruined, and there's nothing like a ruined wedding. Gotta love the "This message was approved by AEW" when Kip is pimping is Twitch channel too.
8 men tag was excellent. I've been loving the dynamic with Cabana, which paid off today. QT is ridiculously underrated. Dark Order are all fantastic workers. Cardona... is just there. Yeah, he looked good, but thus far, everything about him screams WWE-lifer in term of his presentation (funny or not, his best friend Brian Myers on IMPACT is kinda feeling the same to me). Out of all the people included here, with Allie, Brandi & even Anna Jay at ringside, he was easily the least interesting character, because he got none apart from being IRL friend with Cody. Well worked and booked match, gotta love Dustin winning on PPV in 2020. Very good promo afterward too. Either Brodie eats him alive, either he actually wins and we have a problem (don't think so as they know they can't do better than their classic match last year).
Ok, FTR vs Omega/Page. THE match of the night to me. And it was. Masterclass, really. And the amazing thing is that basically, the whole match built to 1 spot. 1 only spot. I loved how they teased Page hitting his lariat on Omega only to have it go the other way, which is much better because the guy who makes the mistake is the guy holding the opponent. FTR looked terrific as usual, but really, to me Omega outshined everyone with his performance. And the post-match was perfect too, as it keeps on delivering slow-build. This storyline is exactly what I wanted from AEW when I think about what Omega did in Japan (the stuff with Ibushi, Bullet Club and such). So yeah, maybe there was something a wee bit "anticlimatic" at the end because this match was less about FTR than about Omega & Page, but now every piece is set for the Bucks vs FTR and Omega vs Page eventually. Great match, great booking, great long-term storytelling.
Oh fuck me they are working that Mimosa (whatever it is) like Onita would exploding barb-wire, that's awesome ! Jericho works much crisper than the last match, I guess he wanted to redeem himself. Fun bullshit and a lot more actual good work than I expected. FInish was a given, I'm sure Jericho was glad to take that nestea plunge into the water considering the heat. Really good match, much less gimmicky than I thought it would. Jericho put Orange over twice, that's quite impressive.
Mox vs MJF took a little bit of time to get going, as to me MJF on control can be a little dry at first, but after the blade-job it found its pace and actually became really good. I never felt MJF could win, but really it's all a learning experience for him at this point. The finish was cute and it was fitting with the entire angle and MJF always cheating to win anyway. MJF and Wardlow outsmarted themselves. Like I said, Archer winning the Battle Royal before totally gave out the result. But hey, I look forward to Archer & Mox beating the shit out of each other like they're somewhere in Japan.
So apparently there's plenty negativity about this show ? What else is new... Yeah, the Britt vs Swole stuff was bad, but it lasted about ten minutes and it wasn't supposed to be part of the PPV to begin with. The Battle Royal was quite ok. If you put the Matt Hardy accident aside, everything else ranged from very good (Jericho/Orange, MJF vs MOX) to excellent (Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express, Rosa vs Shida, 8 men tag) to great (FTR vs Omega/Page). Not as good as the previous one, but what could, but to call that less than a very good show seems ridiculous to me. The one big criticism I could make (apart from how they handled Matt Hardy) is that the show kinda stalled after the big tag-team match, because the last two matches could not follow it, but they both had the feel good endings so it was understandable.
Also, Reby Hardy doing herself no favors on Twitter is nothing new...