The second half of All Elite Wrestling’s (AEW) two-part special event, Fyter Fest, once again comes to you live on free TV. In the main event, “Le Champion”, the lynchpin signing of the AEW roster and former AEW World Champion, Chris Jericho, faces off with recent thorn in his side, the sloth-like and lethargic, ‘Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy, as Jericho looks to shut OC up for good, and bring some legitimacy back to the world of professional wrestling. For the first time ever, four of AEWs top tag teams will be in the same match as the Young Bucks team with newcomers FTR against the unprecedented foursome of The Lucha Bros and The Butcher & The Blade. Not to be outdone, the tag team champions, Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page will defend their gold against Private Party, with each team fresh of their respective wins against Best Friends and Pround N Powerful last week, while Colt Cabana will officially see what it’s like as a member of the Dark Order as he teams with the Exalted One, Mr Brodie Lee, and Stu Grayson, against the entire SCU trio of Scorpio Sky, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian.
+ Chris Jericho vs Orange Cassidy: if you say you didn’t like this, then I’d have a hard time disagreeing with that opinion, but I liked it (but didn’t love it). Jericho is fantastic in this relatively new bad guy role, and Orange Cassidy is literally the only one doing his style right now, which means that every match he is in will be unique, if not necessarily a barn burner. Overall I thought this was really clever, but certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea
+ The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) & FTR (Dax Hardwood & Cash Wheeler) vs The Lucha Bros (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) & The Butcher and The Blade: I loved this, and can’t believe it wasn’t the main event. All eight guys were on point, with Fenix, Nick Jackson and The Butcher the real highlights. It may not be a popular opinion, but The Butcher and the Blade are one of the most underappreciated tag teams in all of wrestling right now, with their look and wrestling acumen standing out in spades amongst the more flashy offence style of many other teams, especially two others in this match alone. I look forward to whatever happens with FTR from here
+ SCU (Frankie Kazarian, Scorpio Sky & Christopher Daniels) vs The Dark Order (Mr Brodie Lee & Stu Grayson) & Colt Cabana: this match was all about the story, but dammit with Brodie Lee now involved (and Stu Grayson being given a real chance to show his skills in the ring) I enjoyed this a lot. Cabana is great at storytelling in the ring (and no slouch in between the ropes, either) and who doesn’t love big bad Brodie bodying some bitches
+ Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page (c) vs Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) (w/ Matt Hardy) (AEW Tag Team Championships): this was fine, but not really anything special, and very clearly only hastily thrown together due to the circumstances surrounding Moxley/Cage being moved to next week. The Private Party boys tried a few double team moves and they didn’t all work, but overall this was easily watchable. Hangman is a star in the making
– Taz and Brian Cage had another promo, but unlike last week I did not care for this. If Cage doesn’t win next week – and I don’t expect he will – then he and Taz both just look like fools after all of this build up
– Nyla Rose was in action in a handicap match against no name opponents, and without even needing to spoil it, this was nothing. The aftermath was interesting but poorly done
– Joey Janela vs Lance Archer: whatever. This was exactly what you’d expect, and not in the good way. This should have been no holds barred, and if the idea of that is dumb in front of no crowds (which of course it is) then just save it for another time and place
> the Puppy Battle Royale was everything it was advertised to be, and it was wonderful
Should you watch this event: The removal of Moxley/Cage was a big blow for this event, but I think they covered the best they could. The eight man tag definitely should have gone on last, but sans Moxley, Jericho was clearly the biggest star on the show. This didn’t feel like the big event that night one did, but this still more than palatable in it’s two hour run time.
MoshFish Reviews 