Wrestling Review: AEW Fight for the Fallen (2021)

Following a crazy two nights of action from All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Fyter Fest that saw an elite challenge thrown down, and the King of the Deathmatch make his debut, AEW presents Fight for the Fallen. In the main event, the Second Labour of Jericho, as Chris Jericho taps into his alternate persona, the Painmaker, to do battle with the Deathmatch King, Nick F’n Gage. Fresh off a hellish bloodbath at GCW Homecoming, Gage will bring his unique style of death match, no rule wrestling to AEW against Chris Jericho, all at the behest of MJF. Kicking off the show, a huge ten man tag team elimination match between the Hangman Page led Dark Order, and Kenny Omega and the Elite, with championship matches ont he line: if Hangman and The Dark Order can win, they will earn shots against Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, respectively. However, if Omega and his Elite Squad can pull out the win, Hangman Page and the Dark Order will never get a championship match against Omega and the Young Bucks again. And keeping in tradition with former Fight for the Fallen events, all proceeds from various merchandise will go to charities or other non-for-profit organisations.

+ Chris Jericho vs Nick Gage (No Disqualifications) (The Second Labour of Jericho): it was a bold move to have this match as only the second of the expected five Labours of Jericho, and a double bold move to have this the week after Lance Archer and Jon Moxley tore each other to pieces in a very similar match style. As far as death matches go, this was easily at the lower end of the scale, especially considering Gage and Matt Cardona just had a all-time great at night one of GCW Homecoming a few nights ago. That said, this was about as extreme as you’ll get on prime time TV and the crowd loved it
+ Christian & Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) vs The HFO (Angelico, Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) (w/ Matt Hardy): this was perfectly fine, but it was hardly anything special. Christian continues to be good but not worth the hype, while Jungle boy improves all the time. This bad guy run has done wonders for Private Party, and Angelico is always fantastic, however
+ Hangman Page & The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Alex Reynolds & John Silver) vs The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, DOC Gallows & Karl Anderson) (w/ Don Callis) (5-on-5 Elimination Match): this was absolutely fantastic, with frustrating but necessary ways to get rid of some people. The question of how and when people would be eliminated was all answered, and the crowd was on the edge of their seats for the whole. I understand why this went first and not last (because holy smokes that main event) but the crowd was so loud for everything they needed time to catch up. John Silver is going to be a huge star sooner rather than later

– Julia Hart (w/ Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr.) vs Thunder Rosa: this was essentially a Thunder Rosa showcase after her recent signing of a proper AEW contract, so I could take it or leave it. I am hella excited for Thunder Rosa in more fleshed out storylines on AEW TV, because she is fantastic
– Lance Archer (c) vs HIKULEO (IWGP United States Championship): so far as visual spectacles go, this was great; two very tall dudes beating the heck out of each other. But that look is all HIKULEO really has going for him, despite his somewhat solid run on New Japan Strong in recent months. He’s still very inexperienced, and with a one in a million challenger awaiting the winner, this was clearly just a pitstop
– Santana & Ortiz (w/ Konnan) vs FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Hardwood) (w/ Tully Blanchard): I’m not entirely sure what happened here, but it looked like both of FTR were injured and the match fell apart quickly. I feel bad calling this a negative, but the match just didn’t work or live up to the long term building. I’m certain a rematch would go smoother
– Ricky Starks FTW Championship Celebration: Starks is a great promo, but this wasn’t really necessary. All I really want is HOOK to start wrestling

> Tony Khan, via Tony Schiavone, made an announcement for an upcoming live event, with all the teases that entails. Gosh my birthday weekend could be a huge one

Should you watch this event: Except for the Santana/Ortiz vs FTR match, which ended on some sort of strange injury, the rest of the show was a very easy watch. Even the matches listed as negatives were either short or showed some spark of joy, but it’s very clear this was a two match show.