Following the unprecedented success of All In, Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks soon formed the new wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling (AEW). When Kenny Omega joined the company, things were looking good, but once Chris Jericho added his name to the promotion, things went into orbit, and AEW knew that All In would be nothing without a follow up, and they had to go for Double or Nothing. Omega and Jericho will face off int he main event, in their only second ever meeting, whilst The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) will go two-on-two in the semi-main event against the Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix) for the AAA World Tag Team Championships. Cody, along with his wife Brandi Rhodes, will face off against his own brother, Dustin Rhodes (formerly WWE’s Goldust) in the definition of a blood feud. The trio of So Cal Uncensored, Japanese Joshi legend Aja Kong and two legendary tag teams, The Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) and Angelico and Jack Evans will all also be in action.
+ Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega: god damn this was great. The match between these two at Wrestle Kingdom a few years ago was exciting because we had no idea what to expect, and this one was exciting because we did. The punishment Jericho was willing to take in this match as he is pushing 50 years old was insane, and Omega’s speed and precision is unrivaled in this industry. This was the main event, and this was a main event in every sense of the word
+ The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) vs The Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero M and Fenix) (AAA World Tag Team Championship): this was arguably the one match that had the most importance on the card, due to the Buck’s penchant for wanting to make tag team wrestling important once more, and I think it delivered in spades. You can probably guess the style of this match, with lots of near falls, dangerous moments and incredible athleticism, but to say it lived up to the hype is a huge understatement
+ Cody vs Dustin Rhodes: Dustin (aka Goldust) never lost a step in his WWE tenure, but was shafted for other reasons, and to see him finally get to go all out against his own flesh and blood was something special. Cody was on fire, the crowd was electric the entire time, and there was more blood here than you might have seen in a very long time. This was special, this was heartbreaking, and by the end of it, I am not ashamed to say I was getting teary eyed
+ Aja Kong, Yuka Sakazaki, & Emi Sakura vs Hikaru Shida, Riho Abe, & Ryo Mizunami: I assume every wrestling fan knows Aja Kong, but I didn’t know any of the others. Sakazaki was incredibly impressive, and Riho Abe was one of the best sub-22 year olds I’ve seen (along with Hazuki and Kagetsu from Odeo Tai, seen in ROH). This was fantastic, although a pretty severe mistake near the end did suck the life out of the crowd, which is more of a shame because had it not happened, this may have been one of the best women’s matches I’ve seen
+ Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) vs Angelico & Jack Evans: really, really good. Two long term teams put on a tag team clinic, which is exactly one of the things AEW wanted to promote. Near finishes, impressive springboards and insane strikes were all over the place. There is not much to say, except this was really good
+ Kylie Rae vs Britt Baker vs Nyla Rose: this wasn’t quite as advertised, but the addition can only be described as Awesome. When Nyla was int he ring, things were dangerous, but a little bit unclean, but the grappling between Rae and Baker was really good. This wasn’t amazing, but it was certainly not bad at all
+ So Cal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) vs #STRONGHEARTHS (CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman): this was really good. SCU are always good, and I know all about Cima, but T-Hawk and especially Lindaman are relatively new to me. Lindaman was impressive, but T-Hawk looked like a star, and in the end, this was a really good start to AEW PPV events
– all throughout the show, it was very clear that this was a first-time event from a new wrestling company. Lots of missed camera spots, some slight awkward pauses from commentary between matches and the large botch in the six-woman tag were all very amateurish
> all night long, the crowd was into every single match, making noise for or against every competitor, and it is not possible to equate how much that added to the atmosphere. Too often, particular in the WWE, matches are met with silence, and even when they are good matches in the ring, they suffer as a result. The opposite was here, too, where little mistakes were overlooked in favour of the match as a whole
Should you watch this event: All In was a spectacular success, even if it wasn’t all good wrestling. This was all good wrestling. I have not had this much fun watching any wrestling show in a long time, from start to finish of a neat, less than four hour show.
MoshFish Reviews 