Kyle Fletcher vs Will Ospreay
This match started hot, as all Ospreay matches do. I gotta admit, Kyle putting on more mass does give him more superstar presence, until he opens his mouth and you hear the bogan outta him. Will decided to bleed, and boy did he bleed. Some brutal spots here and there but the pace never slowed down. Overall a pretty great opening match, with Ospreay going over.
Kazuchika Okada vs Ricochet
Okada finally shows up to AEW. It only took 9 months... This match was very by the numbers, even for Ricochet. Ricochet got in some great offense, then Okada bounced back and made the most of the opportunity to win. After the match, someone throws bog roll at Ricochet. Then Swerve comes out to shit on Ricochet, then hands out more bog roll to the crowd throw at Ricochet. Should be a hot feud next year with these two, which I hope sees Swerve get back in to the main event scene.
Mariah May vs Thunder Rosa
I found this match to be very bleh. While I do like May, it's become VERY apparent she doesn't have great chemistry with most of the womens division. I do put that down to her being too inexperienced still, and now that she's been thrusted in to the leadership role, May is incredibly exposed. The way they are going with Storm, they might wanna speed it up to get the belt off May quicker. That, or give it to Statlander to be a transitional, which I will explain later.
MJF vs Adam Cole
Didn't care for this at all. MJF went over, and somehow Adam Cole got the last laugh... Cole lost, and acted like a heel to the response of cheers from the crowd and MJF got beat down. What the fuck???
Konosuke Takeshita vs Powerhouse Hobbs
I'm going to give Hobbs his flowers here. The man went to work in this match, and it showed how much he has grown as a big meaty boy wrestler. Takeshita is by far the most complete wrestler in this company, mechanic wise, and Hobbs selling his knee on small moves really shows his ceiling is a lot higher than people would admit. If he went to the WWE, I honestly can see him getting strapped to the moon. There is a future for him in the industry. Great match, Takeshita wins as it should be.
Mercedes Mone vs Kris Statlander
This match was hard for me to keep focused early on. I really do not understand the hype with Mone, and I really find her basic and boring. What I did see though was Statlander making a claim that she is beyond the TBS title with the work she put on here. As the match went on, I started to take note of Statlander and the shit she was doing. She also took a lot of the brutality here, as there were moments in the match that you honestly thought Kris was done. Eventually, thanks to Kris, I got my focus back on the last 7 minutes of the match, and it was a fucking treat. No matter what Mone was doing, Kris just kept coming back at her. The last move of the match was poorly executed, which led to a Mone victory, but somehow Statlander looked like the winner. She sold her boots off, made everyone look like a star, and sold the ending of the match as well. I doubt Tony will do it, but Kris should be in the Womens World title scene, considering she has the looks, the charisma and the moveset for AEW to be that next step.
Will Ospreay vs Kazuchika Okada
I was thinking to myself, this should've been the main event. And it really fucking should've been. If you've seen them wrestle in NJPW, then this was yet another heavy hitting fight. As Ospreay has gotten older, he has slown down a bit. When he fights Okada, Will seems to act like a normal human. High quality match here, and as stated before, Okada finally showed up to wrestle. This was match of the night, which isn't a shock... And what also wasn't a shock, was post match. Chris Daniels comes out to announce that he is no longer an EVP, and therefore could not present the belt to Okada, but then said that Kenny Omega can, as he is an EVP. Huge pop, everyone marked out, now we are all waiting for the eventual swan song of Omega vs Okada.
Jon Moxley vs Orange Cassidy vs Hangman Page vs Jay White
After all was said and done, this 4 way match fucking SUCKED. I'm sorry, but I can kind of understand what Moxley is trying to do, but it's so over the top that I'm rolling my eyes at every segment he's in. All he had to do was walk in with his group, kick the shit out of EVERYONE, and leave with little words. But here we are, as more "Stars" get fed to the machine. Pin Eater Jay White took the L here, because of course he would. The only man who has fantastic mechanics in pro wrestling and who can offer a lot more than OC and Moxley, ate the pin again. Jay White's AEW career died when he lost to a one legged MJF with help from BCG, tonight pretty much burried him. Jay White needs to leave the company and get back on track, because his career is on life support right now. Speaking of life support, as the Deathriders decide to start their beating on White, FTR comes out to the roar of meh from the crowd. I loved FTR, then they got shoved down our throats and now I can do without them. They decide to dim the lights for a big surprise, that got ruined imedietly, because the moment the dimmed the lights, Rated FTR popped up on the screen... spoiling a returning Adam Copeland... DURING THIS WHOLE MATCH, they decide to show Christian Cage in the expensive box seat area with his title shot oppurtunity, then show Hook looking at Cage two boxes down. Hook will never get over, and I can already see when Cage cashes in, Hook with ruin it. This helps no one. Cage walks off after seeing Cope, and then we get the best part of this whole thing. Cope goes for the mic, to give Mox a piece of his mind, only for the mic to not even work... The sound guy fucked everything up, decided to play Adams music and mute the mic... After what felt like 10 minutes, Adam said something to Mox and we are off the air.
This event was pretty good, until that main event stunk up the arena. Having Omega come out before Copeland, pretty much crushed any chance that main event had of being watchable.
