Elite 8: AEW Revolution

AEW Elite 8 is our look at eight things that we liked about the latest edition of AEW. This is a very special pay-per-view edition You can check out last week’s Elite 8 on AEW Dynamite here.

8. BOOM! BOOM! COLT CABANA!

The biggest surprise of the night was straight out of the Chi, Mr. Shake-N-Bake Colt 45 making his AEW in-ring debut and later being announced as officially signing. I know that Colt said no to corporate America before, but I’m glad he’s here and I’m ready to give it up for my favorite character. Good times, great memories.

Seriously, this is long overdue as Colt Cabana should’ve been a day one signing. Him and the Young Bucks embody the DIY-spirit more than anyone else in wrestling and AEW wouldn’t be here today without some of the things that he did. From Art of Wrestling to Wrestling Road Diaries to Colt basically making Pro Wrestling Tees happen, Colt helped take indie wrestling to a whole new audience and helped create a world where the Bucks and the Elite didn’t need mainstream wrestling to be successful. He’s a legend for that and absolutely deserves to be a part of this party. He’s also pretty good at the wrestling thing too.

7. Cody’s big match entrance

There is nothing in AEW that can match the big match entrance of Cody Rhodes right now. Whatever you think about this match, the tattoo, the band, the last couple of seasons of Arrow, Cody’s gear, and everything else that went into this one – when Cody walks to the ring for a match on a big AEW event, you pay attention. He has the “walk to the ring and get the crowd behind you” part of wrestling down better than anyone in AEW or beyond right now and it’s always electrifying to see.

I think I am contractually obligated as an AEW fan to give my tattoo take so here it is. I, like a lot of people, didn’t really like it when I first saw it. It feels like it’s too big and it doesn’t seem to fit the suit-wearing EVP/Rhodes legacy character that I believe Cody to be. I think it would’ve been better if the Road To segment had aired before the pay-per-view to mentally prepare us for the change because a neck tattoo for a guy without a ton of tattoos will always be jarring to see the first time you see it.

That said, I’ll get used to it. So will you. It might never get to the point where you forget it’s there, but it will become something that we’re used to seeing and it won’t distract us. It’ll just be Cody. It’s his body and it clearly means a lot to him so it’s pretty pointless to not be accepting of it and try to get used to it. He’s not going anywhere.

6. Cowboy Alien Sh*t

Kris Statlander and Nyla Rose really drew the short straw here as they were in the dreaded post-greatest-match-of-all-time slot on the card. Making matters worse, Statlander was recovering from the flu here and this match didn’t have a ton of build-up behind it with neither appearing on Dynamite this week.

The match ended up eventually bringing the crowd back to life and a big part of that was Statlander breaking out some alien sh*t.

This is exactly what I want to see out of Statlander: wrestling from a whole other world, a different dimension. Kris is supersonic, I wanna see her powers. Her style is cosmic, every move is magic.

5. Queen Aubrey

Has there ever been a referee who gets the kind of respect and adoration from the crowd that Aubrey Edwards gets?

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1233970513988419584

No.

The answer is no.

4. The future of AEW

I’ve been thinking a lot about how people compare AEW to WCW lately. It’s true that AEW is the spiritual successor to WCW and stylistically that’s the closest to AEW that has ever appeared on mainstream television, but I keep thinking that current AEW is more like 1997 WWF.

I’m still working it out in my head, but the gist of it is: 1997 is the time when WCW was absolutely destroying WWF in the ratings, but WWF was quietly putting together the better shows with some of the best storytelling in the company’s history. You had the Hart Foundation vs. USA, Stone Cold’s ascension, Mankind/Cactus Jack/Dude Love becoming a beloved character, Triple H’s growth, and a lot more that would set this company up for everything that would happen in the years to come.

That’s where I think AEW is at right now. This company is still so new and people are just learning about it, and it’s slow to start to trust that something is real and good and worth giving up this other thing that you’ve watched for a long time. It takes a minute to get there for people and all AEW can do is continue to put on great shows and build towards their future.

All of this has been a long way of saying that Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara reminded me a lot of those early Mankind/Triple H or even Triple H/The Rock matches from that period. This was the undercard of the big show with the established names all coming on later, but that didn’t stop these two from doing their best to steal the show. This was probably my second or third favorite match of the night and they did it by making every second they had count.

I can absolutely see these two facing each other again in a year or two in a pay-per-view main event. If we’re being honest, they could probably do it right now. The sky is the limit for these two as they proved here that they are capable of breaking down any door and smashing any glass ceiling to get to the top.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1233928221256830976

3. There’s a time for love and a time for letting it be, baby

Orange Cassidy can do things.

He doesn’t usually want to and prefers to get by doing the bare minimum, but when Orange Cassidy decides to do things? He’s really freakin’ good at doing things. Seriously, look at this:

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1233961325774229505

The rolling was fantastic, obviously, but Orange Cassidy’s offense was so crisp and effective that I was really starting to think that Trying Orange Cassidy might be the best wrestler in the world.

The crowd live was red hot throughout this match and my only complaint of the whole show might be the “this is wrestling” chant that broke out here.  I haven’t had a chance to re-watch it, but in the moment it felt like one of those tongue-in-cheek “this is wrestling” chants you get at a themed WrestleMania weekend show. Not that there’s anything wrong with that per se, but it’s just not what this was.

This wasn’t a joke. This actually was wrestling!

2. New Champ

Everything from the entrances to the finish of Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley was exactly what it needed to be. This didn’t need to be the match of the night or the match of the year to tell the story that needed to be told. This was Jon Moxley proving that Chris Jericho and his way of doing things is wrong, and Mox’s way of doing things is right. It was Mox proving that he is the better wrestler and proving that he is the guy that should be the face of AEW.

I’ve seen some (minor) complaints online that AEW’s first two champions have both been former WWE guys, but to me that couldn’t be further from the truth. First of all, WWE employs like 250 wrestlers at this point so finding someone who has never been there is almost impossible. Second, I think Chris Jericho transcends companies while Jon Moxley is about as far from a “WWE guy” that I can imagine.

The only thing that Jon Moxley has in common with the guy who wrestled in WWE is the way his face looks. Everything else about him is fresh and new. He’s rebuilt himself to run as far away from that character from that other company as humanly possible. That’s exactly what that era of his career was to Jon Moxley too: a character.

While the Jon Moxley that you see in AEW is anything but. He’s real, he’s happy, he’s violence, he’s heart, he’s napalm death, and he’s the new AEW World Championship.

Moxley’s win here is proof of concept. It would be very easy for Jericho to have won this match and continue doing exactly what he’s been doing. It’s been working for AEW and made for some great television, but it’s not the change that we signed up for. Moxley can be that change. I can’t think of a more “AEW guy” than Jon Moxley right now and I’m excited to see what his title reign holds for us.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1233972127562444801

1. The best match I’ve ever seen

Going in to Kenny Omega & Adam Page versus the Young Bucks, it felt like it had a chance to be “an emotionally charged, couples therapy version” of Page & Omega vs. the Lucha Brothers and it somehow even outdid those lofty expectations. What do I even say here? This was fantastic. Everything about this was fantastic.

Some of my favorite moments:

  • I was fully prepared to boo the Young Bucks after last week’s Dynamite, but even I was surprised to see the entire crowd join me. It just goes to show how over Adam Page is right now. The guy can do no wrong, even when he’s spitting in his friend’s face.
  • Kenny Omega clearly feeling the effects of last week’s match with PAC which made him a target throughout the match. The heart taking that throughout the match and the fire he showed here just further proves to me why this guy is still one of the best at this.
  • To a lot of people, the Elite has always been Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and those other guys so the symbolism of Adam Page busting out the Marty Scurll style chicken wing was not lost on me.
  • Speaking of symbolism how rude of the Young Bucks to bust out the Golden Trigger, Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi’s finishing move, complete with taunt. Kenny has said that he didn’t ask Ibushi to join AEW because he knew he would come and wanted Ibushi to complete his own goals. The Bucks, as Kenny’s best friend, would know that and would know how much doing this would hurt him emotionally. It’s no wonder he kicked out at one. He was pissed.
  • Hey, look, it’s my wife on TV. I know that the constant cuts to the crowd after every big move can be annoying when you’re watching on TV, but it’s pretty cool when it’s someone you love.
  • Kenny Omega failing to do the One Winged Angel because the Bucks worked on his shoulder the entire match, only for Adam Page to hit it. That was a real “I’m the captain now” moment for Page and I’m here for it.
  • After that doesn’t lead to the win, Page powers up and hits each Buck with a Buckshot Lariat to get the win with his won move.
  • The post-match featured a moment where it looked like if Adam Page turned around at the right time that he would’ve been hit with a triple superkick and another moment where it looked like if Omega turned around at the right time that he would’ve been hit with a Buckshot Lariat. Was this just frustrations bubbling to the surface and cooler heads prevailing? Or the beginning of the end of the Elite?

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1233943117549711361

The crazy thing about all that? It didn’t solve a dang thing. These four were in the best match in AEW history, one of the best tag matches of all time, and the best match I’ve ever seen in my life, and it’s the end of chapter one in their story. Unbelievable.

 

AEW Revolution Results

AEW Revolution – Chicago, IL – Wintrust Arena – February 29, 2020

BUY-IN: The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) defeated SCU (Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky) with a roll-up. 

Before the match, Scorpio Sky and Kazarian told Christopher Daniels not to come to the ring with them. Then during the match, the Dark Order cronies interfered which directly lead to the Dark Order win. After the match, Colt Cabana made his official AEW in-ring debut by running into save Sky and Kazarian. The Dark Order gained advantage and then a robed figure came out of the entry way. The figure removed to the robe to reveal Christopher Daniels who came out to save his friends.

Jake Hager defeated Dustin Rhodes with a triangle choke. 

Darby Allin defeated Sammy Guevara with a Coffin Drop.

These two had a huge brawl before the match started with Darby hitting a dive to the outside and Sammy Guevara hitting a 630 through a table on the outside. The match then started with Sammy facing a beaten Darby, but Darby was able to rally and grab the win.

AEW Tag Team Championship match: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page defeated The Young Bucks after Page hit the Buckshot Lariat on Nick Jackson. 

This match is being called the best in AEW history and one of the best tag team matches of all-time. The Young Bucks were heavily booed by the crowd for their comments on AEW Dynamite and Adam Page was beloved. The Bucks really leaned into this and spent the match beating on Kenny Omega who was not 100% heading into this match. Adam Page ended up hitting a One Winged Angel and Buckshot Lariat to win. After the match, the Bucks and Omega embraced from the match while Page remained separated from the Elite. Page looked like he might hit a Buckshot Lariat on Omega after the match, but instead held the ropes for him and drank a beer from the crowd.

AEW Women’s World Championship match: Nyla Rose defeated Kris Statlander with a top rope Beast Bomb. 

MJF defeated Cody after hitting him with the Diamond Dozen Diamond Ring. 

Cody was played to the ring by Downstait performing his theme live. He was walked to the ring by Arn Anderson, Brandi Rhodes, and members of the Nightmare Family (including Stephen Amell.) He also debuted a new neck tattoo. Cody seemingly had the match won after hitting two Cross Rhodes, but he went for a third and MJF was able to counter and then punch him while wearing the diamond ring.

Pac defeated Orange Cassidy by submission with The Brutalizer.

Orange Cassidy tried and really showed what he’s capable of. He nearly had the match won when the Lucha Bros came out to attack the Best Friends who were at ringside. The distraction helped Pac take advantage and he locked in the Brutalizer for the submission win.

AEW World Championship match: Jon Moxley defeated Chris Jericho with the Paradigm Shift to become the new AEW World Champion. 

These two brawled all over the arena at the start of the match. Moxley started bleeding early. Santana & Ortiz were at ringside and interfered throughout. At one point, Moxley locked Jericho into the Walls of Jericho which brought out Jake Hager. Jericho then locked in his own Walls of Jericho, but Mox was able to escape. Hager then hit Mox with a punch which was seen by referee Aubrey Edwards. She threw out Santana, Ortiz and Hager, but as she was doing so Sammy Guevara came through the crowd and hit Moxley with the AEW Championship. Moxley was able to kick out and then started to rally. Jericho attempted to blind Moxley’s one good eye, but Mox removed his eye patch to reveal he could see just fine. He then hit the Paradigm Shift for the win and the AEW World Championship.

AEW Revolution Betting Odds

AEW Revolution is this Saturday and you know it’s a major event because sportsbooks are offering betting odds on the event.

Yes, you can bet on pro wrestling. Do you know who is going to win these matches? Well, neither do the people who make these betting odds. They are watching the show just like you and doing their best to predict what is going to happen. You make bets based on what you think is going to happen, just like any other sport.

These odds come to us from Bet On Pro Wrestling who cover every major wrestling event. This is a big time of year for them with a pay-per-view nearly every weekend. They also have a podcast episode about AEW Revolution. Check them out.

AEW Revolution 2020 Betting Odds:

  • AEW World Championship: Chris Jericho (+100) vs. Jon Moxley (-140)
  • Cody Rhodes (+140) vs. MJF (-180)
  • AEW World Tag Team Championship: Kenny Omega & Adam Page (+170) vs. The Young Bucks (-250)
  • Dustin Rhodes (+200) vs. Jake Hager (-300)
  • AEW Women’s Championship: Nyla Rose (-200) vs. Kris Statlander (+150)

(These odds are in American format posted at Bet Online sportsbook. What that means is a bet like Jake Hager (-300) means that you would need to bet $300 to win $100. It pays out 1/3rd of your bet amount. While Dustin Rhodes (+200) means that if you bet $100, you’d win $200. It pays two times what you bet.)

The interesting odds here are for the AEW World Championship match between Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley. These odds are extremely close with Jon Moxley being only a small favorite to win. This has been the best built match in AEW history with neither man having a singles loss so these odds make sense. It’s really hard to judge who is going to win here.

For most surprising odds, how about the Young Bucks being a big -250 favorite against Kenny Omega & Adam Page who are a +170 underdog? Hangman & Omega have been a great team and managed some wins against some great teams over the past few months. They beat SCU for the titles which is something that the Young Bucks were unable to do. It seems strange to see the Bucks as such a big favorite, but with the drama between Page and Omega and the Bucks experience – these odds makers think we’ll see a title change.

Another surprise was seeing MJF favored to beat Cody in their match. Cody Rhodes has been through a lot to get this match and his body is pretty beat up going into this one, but it’s hard to imagine him not getting his revenge here. He’s been wanting this since November and for him to finally get it, and fall short is just not like Cody. Surprising to see and a good chance to make some money potentially.

The show’s biggest favorite is Jake Hager at -300 against Dustin Rhodes. This is Hager’s first AEW match and the theory seems to be that he has been saving something special for his first match. He definitely has the size and the MMA skill as well as the age advantage, but it’s still jarring to see him favored so big here.

Finally, we have Nyla Rose as a big favorite in her AEW Women’s Championship match against Kris Statlander. Nyla hasn’t been pinned since Riho beat her on the first Dynamite so it’s almost surprising not to see her as a bigger favorite here. This is Nyla Rose’s first defense of her AEW Women’s Championship and you have to think she’ll be ready for this one. Statlander is tough though so she might be worth it for fans of the underdog.

That’s all the matches that currently have betting odds for them. If you are interested in learning more about betting on pro wrestling, check out Bet On Pro Wrestling.

 

Elite 8: AEW Dynamite 2/26/2020

AEW Elite 8 is our weekly look at eight things that we liked about the latest episode of AEW Dynamite. You can check out last week’s Elite 8 here.

8. The Magical Girl

Did anyone else notice that Hikaru Shida was the only one not cosplaying in the four-way women’s match? Big Swole had on the X-Men Storm gear, Shanna was dressed in her Dragon Ball Z Goku gear, and Yuka Sakazaki was dressed like her genie self. C2E2 is this weekend, y’all.

This was a fun match with a unique style. I really liked everything that Yuka Sakazaki did throughout. She was really funny as a character, but she’s incredibly fast moving around the ring and all of her wrestling moves look painful as hell.  She’s definitely someone I want to see more of in AEW as she’s the type of wrestler that gets more and more over just by being around. Wins and losses don’t matter for someone like Yuka. The more you see her, the more you like her.

7. Silly Rabbit

6. Darby Allin: Lawful Good

You wouldn’t know it by looking at him, but Darby Allin is a man of honor with a sense of duty to uphold the rules. At least when Sammy Guevara’s involved.

The Jurassic Express and Inner Circle had a wild match that did a good job of waking the crowd up after seeing the main event first. The match was mostly clean, but at the very moment that the Inner Circle decided to introduce a weapon – Darby appeared. As a strict upholder of the rules and the integrity of the sport of professional wrestling, Darby wasn’t having that and removed the “madball” which lead to Jungle Boy getting the win.

I’m pretty excited for the match between Darby and Sammy at AEW Revolution. They are both at a spot right now where they are good enough to win most of their matches, but struggle when facing the upper echelon of AEW. They are virtually on the same level and both of them desperate to move to the next. That makes for hungry wrestlers and hungry wrestlers make for great matches. Although I am a bit worried about what Darby is going to do to his body in order to get revenge.

5. No Cody or MJF

While it is always a pleasure to see Cody on AEW Dynamite, he simply wasn’t needed this week. The match with him and MJF has been built perfectly and they weren’t needed this week. Anything else from these two would just take away from what has been done. My body is ready for this.

4. Best Friends on the mic

The in-ring segment with Tony Schiavone interviewing the Best Friends and Orange Cassidy may have been one of the best in-ring interviews we’ve seen in AEW. The Best Friends just have that unique energy where you really feel like you know them and that these are just your friends that you watch wrestle on TV.

Chuck Taylor’s excitement over Orange Casssidy’s pay-per-view match with PAC leading to him saying “he’s gonna try” was pitch-perfect Chuck Taylor. He’s being serious, but he’s joking but he’s been serious but he’s also trolling us but he’s also happy to be there. Love that dude. Then Trent, our friend who is prone to overthinking, gets on the mic to say that he’s not sure if Orange Cassidy is going to try because he hasn’t told them that. He’s worried about letting us down if Orange Cassidy doesn’t try, but then Orange gives the thumbs up to say that, yes, he will try. All these guys.

Then (!) for those watching on AEW Plus commercial free, Tony Schiavone did a four-way Best Friends hug and did a quick Orange Cassidy impression. That guy is living his best life and I’m here for it.

3. Contract signings are dead, long live weigh-ins

It’s honestly pretty silly to have a weigh-in for an AEW Championship match when that title doesn’t have any sort of weight limits, but everything about this segment just worked. Gary Michael Capetta was great in his role, a bunch of guys you’ve never seen standing around for no reason was great, and Jericho’s Painmaker Posse was a highlight. Everything about this worked and it was a neat little bow on what has been built with these two.

Plus, with all the jokes online about Jericho’s weight it makes sense that he wouldn’t want to weigh-in here. He knows that he doesn’t really have to and he was going to milk this as much as he could to get under Moxley’s skin. That’s exactly what he ended up doing and took a sick headbutt for it, but the Inner Circle got the best of him and Darby and Dustin Rhodes.

Now Moxley is going into his biggest match in AEW with one eye and just took a Paradigm Shift onto a scale. Jericho took a cut to the face, sure, but he got exactly what he wanted here and will have the upper hand this Saturday. Great stuff.

2. Iron Men

The Iron Man match absolutely lived up to the hype and more. PAC and Omega settled their feud, but they really didn’t settle anything at all. With the score tied 1-1, PAC had the Brutalizer locked in for the last few minutes of the match. Kenny was able to hold on until time expired, but if there were no clock? You have to think he would’ve eventually succumbed to that move like he did at All Out. By the time, the match was restarted PAC had released the hold and Kenny had time to recover. Kenny hit the One Winged Angel and that’s all there was. Based on how it all went down, PAC had a reason to be angry and he probably shouldn’t feel like this is over.

This match was absolutely fantastic though and it will be great again whenever AEW decides to go back to these two.

1. The Young Bucks show their true colors

The segment of the night for me had to be this sit-down interview with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega & Adam Page. Throughout this story we’ve been very clear about Adam Page’s feelings on the matter, but never the Bucks.

For Page, he doesn’t think he’s as good as the other members of The Elite so he wanted out so that he could make his own way. He wants to be his own wrestler, not the Elite’s young boy/sidekick/little brother. Despite what he wants, the Bucks haven’t listened and Page has been put into a tag team with Kenny Omega. While much of Page’s issues with The Elite are with the Bucks, he does have them with Kenny as well. Still, they have made it work. They have built their tag team into something special and become AEW World Tag Team Champions, something that the Bucks have thus far been unable to do. Only now that he has made a name for himself away from them and accomplished something away from them, they are here to try and take it away from him. He has a good reason to be pissed and, without a clear outlet on how to deal with that, has a good reason to get pissed. (It’s British slang, you see.)

The Bucks have always put on a supportive face when it comes to Hangman, but now that he is the champion and they want that title – they want to put him in his place. He’s not meant to be the AEW World Tag Team Champion, he’s meant to be their sidekick in The Elite. I’m not even sure they even realize how wrong they are, they just feel entitled to the AEW World Tag Team Championship and Page is in their way. They realize his talent, but they also realize that they are the tag team that changed the world. In their minds, Page is acting ungrateful. They made him a star, they made him rich, and now it’s time for him to make them AEW World Tag Team Champions.

Only Page doesn’t see it that way, as he shouldn’t. This is his title, his accomplishment. He beat SCU for the titles and then beat them in the rematch. That’s something the Bucks could never do. While Kenny Omega is chalking it up to timing and good luck, Page doesn’t see it that way. He sees it as it truly is: they are a really great tag team together and they are just as good as the Young Bucks. They might even be better. We’ll find out this Saturday.

 

AEW Dynamite #21 Results: February 26th, 2020

AEW Dynamite #21 – Kansas City, MO – Silverstein Eye Center Arena – February 26, 2020

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1232840261811699713

Kenny Omega defeated PAC 2-1 in the 30-Minute Iron Man match in sudden death overtime.

The Young Bucks were in Kenny’s corner for this one, but Adam Page was nowhere to be seen. This match was 0-0 for a long time before PAC got sick of it and hit Kenny Omega with a chair. He lost that fall via DQ, but then got it back right away after hitting him with the Black Arrow. There were no more falls in the match. PAC had Omega locked in the Brutalizer for most of the last three minutes of the match, but Omega never gave up. The time expired and he let the move go. Justin Roberts said the match was ordered to go to sudden death overtime and re-started. Omega hit the V-Trigger and One Winged Angel to win.

After the match, Tony Schiavone interviewed PAC which brought out Orange Cassidy. Orange removed his sunglasses and then PAC hit him with a forearm.

Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt) defeated the Inner Circle (Sammy Guevara, Santana & Ortiz). 

Towards the end of the match it looked like Sammy Guevara was going to cheat to win by hitting Jungle Boy with the “mad ball”. This brought out Darby Allin who took it away from him which lead to Jungle Boy getting the win.

Best Friends defeated The Butcher & The Blade with Strong Zero.

Tony Schiavone interviewed the Best Friends & Orange Cassidy after the match to announce that PAC would be facing Orange Cassidy at AEW Revolution. Chuck Taylor assured that Orange Cassidy was “going to try”, but Trent said that he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. Orange Cassidy gave a thumbs up.

Hikaru Shida defeated Shanna, Big Swole, and Yuka Sakazaki in a four-way match after hitting a running knee strike on Big Swole. 

The Dark Order did a short video from backstage where they mentioned a match against SCU at AEW Revolution. The big news here is that Evil Uno said that the Dark Order would make Christopher Daniels “obsolete” which has fueled more Matt Hardy as The Exalted One speculation.

Jim Ross had a sit-down interview with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega & Adam Page. Hangman was drinking. Matt Jackson said how they considered themselves to be the best tag team in the world and promised to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship on Sunday. Adam Page balked at this as it was the first thing he’s won and now they want to take it away. He said that he quit The Elite, but Matt Jackson said that they made him a star and he’s not allowed to quit. Adam Page then left the interview.

Jon Moxley and Chris Jericho had their weigh-in for Revolution with special guest ring announcer Gary Michael Cappetta. Jericho and the Inner Circle entered like an MMA team with matching tracksuits that said “Painmaker Posse”. Moxley weighed in fine, but Jericho stalled heavily and wouldn’t step on the scale. Eventually, Moxley headbutted him and busted Jericho open. A huge fight to broke out with Dustin Rhodes and Darby Allin getting involved, but the Inner Circle dominated as the show went off the air.

NEXT WEEK:

AEW Dynamite Preview for February 26, 2020

This week’s AEW Dynamite comes from Kansas City, Missouri and is the last AEW show before AEW Revolution this Saturday.

What happened last week: 

  • The Young Bucks won the Tag Team Battle Royal and will get a World Tag Team Championship match at AEW Revolution.
  • Kris Statlander defeated Shanna with the Big Bang Theory.
  • Tony Schiavone interviewed Nyla Rose who talked about how the AEW Women’s Championship was power that she held which brought out Kris Statlander and then Big Swole. The three argued before officials came out to separate them. Kris Statlander vs. Nyla Rose for the AEW Women’s Championship was made official for AEW Revolution.
  • Jon Moxley defeated Jeff Cobb with a small package.  after the match, the Inner Circle beat down on Moxley and Dustin Rhodes before a returning Darby Allin made the save.
  • AEW Tag Team Championship Match: Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page defeated the Lucha Bros (Pentagon & Fenix) with the Buckshot Lariat/V-Trigger combination.
  • Steel Cage Match: Cody Rhodes defeated Wardlow after a moonsault from the top of the cage.

For more on last week’s show, check out our Elite 8 Dynamite review. 

Announced for this week:

The feud between the Inner Circle and the Jurassic Express continues here. It was made official this week that Sammy Guevara would face Darby Allin at AEW Revolution and Jake Hager is also wrestling at the show against Dustin Rhodes. That leaves Santana & Ortiz as the only Inner Circle members without a match at the pay-per-view.

This is a rematch of sorts from the Jericho Cruise episode of Dynamite where The Inner Circle  team of Chris Jericho, Ortiz & Santana defeated The Jurassic Express.

This match was set-up in the Tag Team Battle Royale last week as these teams had a problem with each other throughout. We also saw The Bunny kick Orange Cassidy in the crotch on the outside of the ring.

The latest AEW Tag Team Rankings have the Best Friends ranked #5 with The Butcher & The Blade unranked.

This will be an official weigh-in for the match at AEW Revolution. The AEW World Championship division is an open-weight division so it’s not exactly clear why they need a weigh-in, but there will be one here.

This is the last time these two will be in the same ring at the same time before their match at AEW Revolution. It would not be surprising at all to see Jeff Cobb or members of the Inner Circle getting involved here.

This is one of the best built matches in AEW history as Kenny Omega wrestled PAC for the first time way back at AEW All Out. That loss really sent Kenny on a spiral where he ended up losing at AEW Full Gear to Jon Moxley as well. The two then had a rematch in November (in the same arena) where Kenny Omega got the win. PAC has been trying to get his rematch ever since to prove that he is the better wrestler and finally gets it here in a 30-minute Iron Man match.

For fans who are missing “the old Kenny”, this is the match for you. Kenny and PAC do magic in the ring every time and we could see a contender to last week’s Best Match in Dynamite history here. This is a pay-per-view quality match, a week before the pay-per-view.

On paper, this match has nothing to do with this Saturday’s Young Bucks vs. Omega & Page match, but it would not be a surprise to see this tie into that match somehow.

That’s all that is announced right now, but expect some women’s division action and more build for AEW Revolution with only six matches currently announced.

All Elite Chatter: Jeff Cobb, Lance Archer, Anthony Ogogo, Tony Schiavone, more

In this edition of All Elite Chatter:

  • Jeff Cobb’s contract status
  • Anthony Ogogo
  • Lance Archer/Dark Order?
  • Tony Schiavone’s announcing future
  • AEW at Toy Fair
  • And more!

 

AEW’s first “developmental” talent Anthony Ogogo has finally arrived in America where he will train at The Nightmare Factory, a school run by Cody independent of AEW.

Ogogo first appeared on the April 17th, 2019 Road to Double or Nothing episode.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A picture of a suitcase(s) can mean many things. A family trip to Butlins, a boys/girls holiday, weekend city break, a honeymoon with your beautiful new spouse 🙋🏽‍♂️ etc… it doesn’t matter what the reason is, it always means ADVENTURE. Today is no different. My adventure begins with me embarking on a whole new chapter in my life, as a professional wrestler. I’ve joined the revolution, I am ALL ELITE @allelitewrestling. Thanks to @americannightmarecody and @tonyrkhan I have the opportunity to live out a second childhood dream ❤️. . Catch me on @itv in the UK and @tntdrama in the US. . Who knows where this adventure will take me? All I know is I’m ready, let’s GO! . Bruno Sammartino, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Stone Cold, The Rock, John Cena, me? 🤷🏽‍♂️

A post shared by Anthony Ogogo (@anthonyogogo11) on

The official AEW account posted this message on twitter today. The key thing that everyone is looking at here is the “EVERYBODY DIES” line which is Lance Archer’s catchphrase/life motto.

Is Archer The Exalted One? Or is this another red herring like Raven? Either way, it seems like the answer will come soon.

Shanna was featured on ComicBook.com for her Dragon Ball inspired gear. The post features a quick write-up and fan reactions to her look.

Her gear is inspired by Dragon Ball, but so is her moveset as she incorporates moves like Goku’s Kamehameha Wave and Spirit Bomb (often asking for help to gather energy from the crowd) into her repertoire.

Tony Schiavone has missed a few AEW shows due to his other announcing commitments, but it looks like that won’t be the case this summer as Tony won’t be announcing baseball.

The big news of the week is the reveal of the AEW Unrivaled action figures. Two series were announced at Toy Fair with them expected to ship around July. Ringside Collectibles already has Series 1 up for pre-order.

AEW Unrivaled Series 1: Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega, Cody, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, and Brandi Rhodes.
AEW Unrivaled Series 2: Hangman Page, Jon Moxley, Pentagon Jr., Rey Fenix, Dustin Rhodes, and MJF.

There will also be a scale AEW ring and AEW World Championship toy belt.

AEW was all over Toy Fair and Dustin Rhodes shared his review of his figure, pointing out the articulation of his tattoos and what they mean to him.

AEW also caught Kenny Omega’s reaction to finding out that he would have a second variant of his action figure.

While at Toy Fair, Darby Allin found the time to test out some of the other products being displayed.

Vickie Guerrero says that after her appearance on AEW and the Jericho Cruise that WWE has stopped allowing talents to appear on her podcast.

“I think there’s enough jobs out there, and promotions, to let everybody work and to let everyone contribute to what they want to do in the industry. So when someone told me I couldn’t interview the Superstars because I went to AEW, I was just like, ‘Wow. They’re gonna be like that.” So you just quietly move on and you see how they are and you just have to take care of your own business.”

While AEW announced their action figures, they are yet to make a deal with Funko to make Pops of their wrestlers. They make a Funko Pop of everything so it seems only a matter of time though. Until then, reddit user DaveColeDojo made their own Darby Funko Pop.

Dave Meltzer reports that AEW has offered Jeff Cobb a contract that would allow him to continue to work New Japan Pro Wrestling, but that is where the talks ended. Cobb is signed for multiple dates with AEW, but it is unknown how many. The offer remains on the table and AEW is hopeful he will sign.

Cody’s incredible moonsault off the top of the cage on AEW Dynamite was not without consequence as Cody broke his big toe doing the move. He is cleared to wrestle and his AEW Revolution match is not in danger.

Podcast round-up:

AEW Unrestricted with Jon Moxley

Talk is Jericho with Nyla Rose

Chris Van Vliet with Shawn Spears

Everything Elite

All Things Elite 

AEW is coming to Houston on April 29th for AEW Dynamite.

https://twitter.com/AEWrestling/status/1231989233499410432

As announced on #BTE, the Young Bucks biography “Killing the Business” is now available for pre-order at YoungBucksBook.com.

Elite 8: AEW Dynamite 2/19/2020

AEW Elite 8 is our weekly look at eight things that we liked about the latest episode of AEW Dynamite. You can check out last week’s Elite 8 here.

 

8. Orange Cassidy, always leaving us wanting more

Whatever your opinion on Orange Cassidy and his place in professional wrestling is, you have to admire the way he has been used in AEW. He always manages to show up at the exact right time and do the exact amount of stuff that keeps you wanting more. Despite what dorks on the internet say he never insults the viewer or the unreality of the sport and he always gives the audience exactly what they want from him.

There was a lot going on in this battle royale and I didn’t notice that Orange Cassidy wasn’t at ringside at first, as it should be. The focus should always be on who is in the ring and especially in a match like this where the stakes were high. Then just when you thought it was over for Trent and the Best Friends, a wild Orange Cassidy appears.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1230299920625733632

It’s a minor thing, but Orange carrying Trent on his shoulder’s also shows that he’s not weak. He has muscles, he can carry around his friend if he wants. he just doesn’t usually want to. That’s key to who Orange Cassidy is and why all the bad opinions about him are wrong.

There may come a day when Orange Cassidy evolves and becomes a more active wrestler on the roster. I’m sure he’ll do great at it too because he’s a fantastic wrestler, but I’m completely fine with these small moments where he gets to just show up and be awesome.

7. Fatality~!

In a battle royale filled with cool moments, this is the one that is going to stick with me. The perfect use of Sammy Guevara and his stupid face.

6. Nyla Rose, tripping off the power

Nyla’s unique pronunciation of hungry (hong-gree?) aside, her interview with Tony Schiavone showed a true changing of the guard in the AEW Women’s Division. The division under Riho was competitive with each woman competing to work their way up the rankings for a title shot. Like Riho herself, title matches could be fun and wrestlers could respect one another when the match was done. With Nyla as champion? That’s out the window. The women’s division is war now.

5. Nevermore

Way back on January 15th, the Dark Order did a pre-paid spot where The Exalted One talked to their spokesman about their latest recruiting efforts. bossmoz on twitter took this clip and edited the sound mix to find that it was the voice of former ECW star Raven.

This was a different voice than a previous appearance of The Exalted One and then another pre-paid announcement featuring saw a completely different voice for The Exalted One. It’s almost like the Dark Order was trolling us. Well, they’re still trolling us.

Raven was seated several seats behind The Dark Order when they taunted SCU during the Tag Team Battle Royale and watched on as the teams brawled. The message here is clear: The Dark Order know you are trying to figure out who The Exalted One is and they are toying with you. Raven could very well be involved with The Dark Order, but he’s not The Exalted One. They are going to make you wait to find out like everybody else.

4. Darby’s house

It’s pretty insane that there was a really good Jon Moxley/Jeff Cobb match that: 1) set-up Jeff Cobb as someone to be reckoned with in AEW, 2) continued to build to the red-hot Jericho/Moxley match at Revolution, and 3) continued to make Moxley look like the biggest badass in AEW; and all I can think about is Darby Allin.

His return her got the loudest cheer of the night in the State Farm Arena and got us one step closer to the Moxley/Allin partnership that will spawn a million fanfics. Darby is the greatest.

3. Adam Page & Kenny Omega vs. Lucha Brothers

This match was everything that you could ever want from an AEW World Tag Team Championship match and it might be the best in Dynamite history. AEW only has highlights up for this one, but I really think they should put up the whole match on YouTube. It’s the kind of match that AEW does better than anyone and something I’d love to share with anyone who is still on the fence about giving AEW a try.

I need some time to wrap my mind around what The Young Bucks vs. Page & Omega is going to look like, but I have a feeling it’s going to be an emotionally charged, couples therapy version of this and I’m not sure my brain can handle that.

2. Cody, always Cody

On a night where Moxley stayed red hot, Darby Allin returned a conquering hero, and Page/Omega/Fenix/Pentagon staked their claim as the best wrestler in AEW; Cody once again stood tall above everyone else in AEW. Literally.

Wardlow was an absolute monster and managed to have an even more impressive debut than Jeff Cobb earlier in the evening. He absolutely destroyed Cody here and he’s going to be something special. That said, this was all about Cody.

The things that Cody has put his body through to get his match with MJF at AEW Revolution is inspiring and we’re at a point where anything less than the total annihilation of MJF by Cody will feel like a letdown. Somehow, I don’t think we’re going to feel that way.

1. AEW Revolution

This is the best built pay-per-view in the history of All Elite Wrestling and one of the best built shows in the history of wrestling. The top three of Cody vs. MJF, Young Bucks vs. Omega & Page, and Moxley vs. Jericho are three of the biggest matches in AEW history and they are all completely different matches.

Even undercard matches like Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin and Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes feel important and necessary. Seriously, a Jake Hager match feels important! This is crazy!

I know I am biased (and I have tickets to this show so I am extra biased), but this show has the potential to be one of the greatest pay-per-views in wrestling history if the top matches deliver and there is no reason to think that they won’t deliver.

This is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for. AEW, get excited!

AEW Dynamite #20 Results: February 19th, 2020

AEW Dynamite #20 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena – February 19, 2020

The Young Bucks won the Tag Team Battle Royal and will get a World Tag Team Championship match at AEW Revolution.

During the match, the Dark Order got on the match at ringside to taunt SCU about Christopher Daniels not being there and mentioned that the Exalted One was coming which lead to their elimination. Nick Jackson was eliminated early in the match leaving Matt to fend for himself. It ended up with Matt being in the final three along with Santana & Ortiz. He was able to eliminate both and survive interference from Sammy Guevara to get the win.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1230301285020246021

Kris Statlander defeated Shanna with the Big Bang Theory.

Tony Schiavone interviewed Nyla Rose who cut a promo about how her winning the title belt was justice and how she should’ve been the one on all of the posters. She talked about how the AEW Women’s Championship was power that she held which brought out Kris Statlander and then Big Swole. The three argued before officials came out to separate them.

Jon Moxley defeated Jeff Cobb with a small package. 

Cobb was very dominant in this match, but Moxley was able to lock in a small package after a superplex to get the win. The Inner Circle then attacked Moxley after the match. Dustin Rhodes came out to help, but he was outnumbered as well. The lights went out and Darby Allin made his return by attacking the Inner Circle.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1230312833423937537

AEW Tag Team Championship Match: Kenny Omega & Hangman Adam Page defeated the Lucha Bros (Pentagon & Fenix) with the Buckshot Lariat/V-Trigger combination. 

Maybe the most incredible match in AEW Dynamite history. The Lucha Brothers nearly had it won when Page accidentally hit Omega with the Buckshot Lariat, but Omega was able to kick out and rally. After the match, The Young Bucks came out and Adam Page left without interacting with them.

Steel Cage Match: Cody Rhodes defeated Wardlow after a moonsault from the top of the cage. 

Cody was busted open early here, but continued to fight. He hit the Cross Rhodes on Wardlow, but it wasn’t enough to get the pin. Cody then climbed to the top of the cage and hit a moonsault onto Wardlow for the pin. Cody will now face MJF at AEW Revolution.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1230326594239156231

AEW Dynamite Preview for February 19, 2020

This week’s AEW Dynamite comes from Atlanta, Georgia and features some big matches with huge AEW Revolution implications.

What happened last week: 

  • AEW World Tag Team Championship: Kenny Omega and Hangman Page defeated SCU.
  • Darby Allin sent in video to challenge Sammy Guevara to a match at AEW Revolution.
  • Dustin Rhodes defeated Sammy Guevara with the Final Reckoning. After the match, he challenged Jake Hager to a match at AEW Revolution.
  • AEW Women’s World Championship: Nyla Rose defeated Riho to win the championship.
  • Chris Jericho announced that he has hired Jeff Cobb to come in and face Jon Moxley next week.
  • MJF defeated Jungle Boy after hitting him with the Cross Rhodes.
  • Jon Moxley defeated Santana with the Paradigm Shift. After the match, the Inner Circle and Jeff Cobb beat down Mox.

For more on last week’s show, check out our Elite 8 Dynamite review. 

Announced for this week:

It’s hard to know where to even start with this episode of Dynamite as every match on the show is a big one. This is one of the biggest episodes of Dynamite yet so we’re going to start with what could be the opening match. AEW has started their show with hot tag matches many times and there is no reason to mess with a good thing.

This will be Adam Page & Kenny Omega’s second title defense and their second match against the Lucha Brothers. They wrestled the Lucha Brothers on Dynamite #12 and lost due to miscommunication when Page accidentally hit Omega with the Buckshot Lariat. After the match, the two argued and it looked like that might be the end of the team, but they rallied and haven’t lost since.

The Lucha Brothers got the win in the eight-man tag between them and The Butcher & The Blade against Omega, Page & The Young Bucks two weeks ago, pinning Page. So they earned this shot in two ways, by holding a win over the champs before they won the titles and by pinning one of them after they won them.

Nyla Rose had a lot to say during the commercial break last week as she went off on Kenny Omega and the women’s division backstage after her win last week. This week, she’ll get a chance to do that on camera. It is less than two weeks until AEW Revolution so maybe we will get an idea of who she might face at the pay-per-view here.

This will be Jeff Cobb’s AEW in-ring debut and the second time they have ever wrestled one-on-one following their match at the 2019 G-1 Climax.

Moxley is undefeated in singles matches in AEW and has his eye’s on Chris Jericho’s AEW World Championship at Revolution. While Cobb will be looking to make an impact in his AEW debut. Expect this match to be intense and hard-hitting with Cobb looking to prove himself in AEW and earn his money from the Inner Circle.

The most intriguing match-up on this week’s AEW Dynamite as the winner of this will receive a World Tag Team title shot at AEW Revolution. There is a good case to be made for a lot of these teams winning this match and, in a battle royale setting, anyone can. Both wrestlers of each team must be eliminated in this match which adds an interesting wrinkle. Jurassic Express looks a lot stronger with those rules as Luchasaurus will be the biggest man in the match.

The Young Bucks are the favorites here, but they will have a huge target on their backs. (No thanks to Adam Page on BTE.) Other contenders include: SCU who just barely lost last week to Page & Omega, Santana & Ortiz who have a great overall record, and The Butcher & The Blade who have been looking strong of late and have more size/strength than almost any other team.

The main Dark Order team of Evil Uno & Grayson are not in the match and The Dark Order is reperesented by John Silver and Alex Reynolds. Clearly, The Dark Order has bigger plans for them, but with SCU in this match it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them show up here.

This match should be a lot of fun.

The opposite of fun is this match. If the 10 lashings of Cody was hard to watch, this has the chance to do a lot more damage to Cody’s body. This match is no escape, pin or submission only. The way that cage matches were intended to be.

Cody needs to win this match to secure the match with MJF at AEW Revolution. Cody has a 9-3-1 record in AEW with his only singles loss coming when MJF threw in the towel at Full Gear. This will be Wardlow’s AEW  in-ring debut and his first match since September. Much like Jeff Cobb earlier in the night, he should be highly motivated to prove himself here.

With Cody living in Atlanta, this being the first cage match in AEW history, and the match at Revolution at stake, there is no doubt that this will be the main event of the evening.