March 11, 2022 – Fort Myers, Florida

Swerve Strickland def. Tony Nese
From Rampage 32. Oh dang, Nese is still in AEW. The chyrons for this match showed that Strickland has won 12 titles in 11 promotions and that Nese was on a five-match win streak. All of those wins have been on Dark and Elevation, as this is Nese’s first televised match since December. Nese set this up by suggesting the match be on Rampage because they were used to fighting each other on Friday nights. I got all set up to do a big retrospective of their 205 Live matches, but five minutes in to the first one I decided I didn’t feel like it. Check out Jake Ziegler’s blog, I think he covered just about all of it here, here, here (this one is mine, actually), here, here, here, and here. This was a great way to debut Strickland. Nese got to show just enough to make it challenging, but Strickland’s confidence and unorthodox (well, maybe not unorthodox for AEW) offense were enough to pull him through. He hit a diving double stomp for the win at 9:28 (shown of 12:58). The following week on Rampage, Keith Lee was attacked by Team Taz and the Acclaimed after a match, and Strickland made the save for him. ***½

March 25, 2022 – Cedar Park, Texas

Ricky Starks def. Swerve Strickland {FTW Championship Match}
From Rampage 34. What’s better, doing jobs in faux title matches on TV or winning on Dark? Hard to say, it’s probably being on TV, but it’s interesting that they beat Strickland already. This was fine, just fine. Strickland still seems pretty gassed up to be able to do whatever he wants in the ring, which is nice. It’s also nice that he got to be in a main event. That said, aside from some acrobatics from Strickland, there wasn’t a lot to this. And then the finish was hot trash, as Strickland was firmly in control until Powerhouse Hobbs laid him out. That directly led to Starks hitting the Roshambo for the win at 7:57 (shown of 11:27). Keith Lee joined Strickland to fight with Hobbs & Starks after the match. This felt like a bad ending to an episode of WCW Thunder. ***

April 8, 2022 – Boston, Massachusetts

Swerve Strickland def. QT Marshall 
From Rampage 36. There was absolutely nothing to this, as more than half the match took place during the commercial. That’s fine I guess, since I don’t need to spend a lot of time watching Marshall on TV. It’s not fine in that why did this happen? I guess to rehab Strickland a bit after beating him in his second match. Strickland hit Swerve’s House for the win at 2:38 (shown of 6:08). Starks was on commentary, and he challenges Strickland to a tag team match for next week. Fine. *

April 13, 2022 – New Orleans, Louisiana

Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs def. Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee
From Dynamite 132. I get that AEW is trying (in a few rare cases) to differentiate itself from WWE, but the desire to put Starks over in his hometown here also led to Strickland’s win average being only .500. That’s bad, though I could get behind a long term angle of Starks just having Strickland’s number. I’ll hold my judgment on this one. Everyone except for Hobbs is bigtime over as a babyface here. This match happened in the latter half of an episode that featured a Jurassic Express vs. reDRagon match, and it is now very obvious that Jurassic Express doesn’t make nearly enough of their big man-little man dynamic. Strickland & Lee had amazing chemistry and more interesting offense using the same niche. If you ask me, it’s time for a big ol’ tag team tournament. This was bopping it’s way to mini-classic territory when the finish turned out to be poop. Taz came down and tripped Lee, giving Hobbs the opening to hit a spinebuster for the win at 9:32 (shown of 12:32). Seems REALLY weird to be pinning Lee already. ***½

April 19, 2022 – Garland, Texas 

Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee def. Anthony Comoroto & Aaron Solo
From Dark 139. Very glad Lee & Strickland can pick up a win somewhere, but it’s an uphill battle when the Factory is on my screen. I don’t know that I believe that Comorot isn’t actually Sylvester Terkay. You also can’t convince me that QT Marshall has any personality whatsoever. Even his cheating at ringside is boring. And why does Anthony Agogo even bother showing up if he’s not going to do anything? Anyway, the babyfaces are fun so this was fun, even if the heels were totally nondescript. Comoroto teased some fun big man stuff with Lee, but it didn’t really go anywhere. Run of the mill tag team dominance from the fun new team. They hit a powerbomb/diving stomp combo on Solo for the win at 8:44. **¾

April 29, 2022 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Darby Allin def. Swerve Strickland
From Rampage 39. This is another Owen Hart Foundation Tournament qualifier. Strickland was 4-1 over Allin coming into this, having beaten him in all four of their 2018 matches, and then losing to Allin in early 2019. As much as I criticize Strickland losing so much this early in his run, I’m not surprised they wanted to reheat Allin a bit after him losing a high-profile main event to Andrade El Idolo. Their indie rivalry had some fantastic matches in it, so I was expecting a lot here. Especially so as they referenced their indie series in a promo on the previous Dynamite. This was very much a reader’s digest version of their previous matches, right up until Strickland hit Allin with a suplex from the bottom rope to the floor. That was gnarly as hell. Starks came out to attack Strickland, but Sting stood in the way. The distraction let Allin get the Last Supper for the win at 8:54 (shown of 10:24). That finish was spicy, toxic doodie, but the rest of the match was fun. These two deserve to do their thing for real on TV, though. ***¼

May 9, 2022 – Baltimore, Maryland

Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee def. Nick Comoroto & QT Marshall
From Dark: Elevation 62.Lee and Strickland are for real a good tag team, so why aren’t they wrestling legit teams on Dynamite? In fact, at the time of the streaming of this episode of Dark: Elevation, there hasn’t been a two-on-two tag match on Dynamite in almost a month. But the Blackpool Combat Club have squashed a bunch of trios teams because that seems to be the only way Tony Khan knows how to build heat for a yet-to-debut title concept that has never been successful in any other North American wrestling company. What I’m saying is I want to see these two against FTR and I bet we don’t get it. Watching Lee easily lift up Comoroto on the way to tagging out was sick. I like that the heels were only able to take control when Aaron Solo got involved, which he did often. Strickland knocked out Solo and then hit Comoroto with a German suplex. Lee followed that with the Super Nova at 6:47. Good little match there. ***

May 17, 2022 – Orlando, Florida

Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee def. Serpentico & Luther
From Dark 143. Why are Luther & Serpentico partners? What is the connective tissue between them? Is Serpentico also insane? Because at first blush he’s just a very indie looking masked guy. At least Luther is big. The team feels like a CHIKARA thing, though I know it never was one. This is basically a comedy match with teh Chaos Project getting just about no offense. Strickland & Lee hit the Swerve Bomb (Lee powerbombs the opponent while Strickland adds to the force with a diving double stomp) for the win at 5:49. Strickland waving goodbye to Serpentico before stomping him was a nice dominant touch, though I have to question why two guys who had a lot of steam upon their debuts are languishing on YouTube. The tag division has been dead with the Jurassic Express on top. Why not bring these guys into the mix to freshen things up? N/A

May 18, 2022 – Houston, Texas

Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee def. JD Drake & Anthony Henry 
From Dynamite 137. A squash on TV leading to a tag title match on the PPV? Welp, this isn’t how I would have built to it but at least the result is closer to what I wanted. This is not what I want for Henry, but he’s older than most so I don’t see him getting any kind of serious (or even half-assed) push in AEW. This was a total squash that ended quickly when Strickland & Lee hit the Swerve Stomp on Henry for the win at 2:24. After the match, Lee announces that he and Strickland are now in the top 5 rankings. Team Taz interrupts to say that they’re getting a title shot first. The tag champs come out with Christian, who accepts both teams’ challenge, so it will be a triple threat at the PPV. They also set up a singles triple threat match for next week. N/A 

May 25, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Swerve Strickland def. Ricky Starks and Jungle Boy {Triple Threat Match}
From Dynamite 138. This was a very prime Nitro Cruiserweight style match. That’s mostly good, though it also means it features no shortage of wrestlers clearly waiting to be hit with a fancy hurricanrana. As soon as Jungle Boy got Starks in the Snare Trap, the finish was obvious. Strickland recovered miraculously after getting hit with the Roshambo and broke up the hold with a kick. Then, he hit Starks with the Swerve Stomp for the win at 6:36 (shown of 9:36). ***¼

May 29, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus def. Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs and Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee {AEW World Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match}
From Double or Nothing. A triple threat for the tag titles two months in a row is already one too many in a row. Useless Rick Knox was the referee, so of course none of the tag rules were enforced. During a decent amount of the match, this didn’t matter. The guys policed themselves. But at one point, Lee made a blind tag in for Hobbs, and rather than be pissed that he had to get out of the ring, Hobbs was pissed and… just stayed in the ring? Why have tags at all? And then Hobbs and Lee chokeslammed Luchasaurus out of the ring… and Hobbs remained in the ring. Again, why have tags?! To their credit, they did the bare minimum and did have the legal men involved in the finish. Lee & Strickland were the inarguable highlights of the match. Christian Cage got involved a bit to save his team from losing the belts and got knocked into the ring steps for his trouble. Jurassic Express hit their backdrop/powerbomb finisher on Strickland for the win at 17:16. I preferred the tag match on the last PPV to this chaos, save for Lee & Strickland breaking out some genuinely innovative stuff. ***¼

March 30, 2022 – Columbia, South Carolina

Toni Storm def. The Bunny 
From Dynamite 130. This is a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament. If that’s not the actual name of the tournament then AEW’s branding for it is confusing. There’s a men’s tournament too and it’s happening in May/ending at Double or Nothing. Storm got a real nice pop for her debut. Excalibur runs down her accomplishments in Japan but doesn’t mention her NXT run. Pretty weird that the wrestlers love dropping WWE references to get cheap heat and a guy who got famous in WWF in the ’90s will be memorialized in a tournament, but the company line to commentators seems to be that the WWE of today isn’t to be acknowledged by the narrator’s of the show. Pick a lane. The Buddy got more offense in here than I expected. I kind of thought she was a low-tier jobber in the division, but a quick look at her record shows her winning as much as she loses. Plus, if she went seven minutes against Jade Cargill it stands to reason she could make it almost nine against Storm. She was also better in the ring than I expected. Storm mostly did her usual shtick, but she threw in a couple no-sell moments to hype the crowd. I dig it. The Storm Zero is now a stump piledriver, and it got Storm the win at 5:40 (shown of 8:41). **¼

April 19, 2022 – Garland, Texas 

Toni Storm def. Gigi Rey
From Dark 139. I thought Dark was filmed in the studio and Elevation was in front of an audience. I guess they’re interchangeable and it’s just about what day of the week they stream. This was a very quick squash, featuring Jamie Hayter on commentary in order to hype her match against Storm in the Owen Hart tourney. I’m into that. This match was nothing, but I prefer the people I like do squashes than just disappear, like the House of Black has for the last three weeks. Storm hit the new Storm Zero for the win at 3:10. N/A

May 3, 2022 – Orlando, Florida

Toni Storm def. Diamante
From Dark 41. At least this was the main event? I don’t see how this is a markedly better use of Storm than her WWE run was. I want to say I’ll wait and see how she does in the Owen Hart tournament, but the time between her first two tournament matches have been extreme and she’s barely been on TV since she debuted. This was pretty fun though. I assumed it’d just be a squash for Storm, but Diamante got to show off some. Storm countered a Code Red to the Alabama Slam and the Storm Zero for the win at 8:33. The crowd couldn’t be bothered to care, but the match was quite good. ***

May 6, 2022 – Baltimore, Maryland

Toni Storm & Ruby Soho def. Britt Baker & Jaime Hayter
From Rampage 40. Who would have guessed that the exchanges between Storm and Baker would be the worst part of this match? Baker moves on the mat like a sloth. Hayter was the highlight of this match for sure. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her wrestle before, but I liked what I saw here a lot. Storm caught Baker with a surprise roll up for the win at 7:06 (shown of 8:38). Most of the match was chaotic fun, but damn, that Baker/Storm exchange was not great. **¾

May 11, 2022 – Elmont, New York

Toni Storm def. Jaime Hayter {Quarterfinal Match}
From Dynamite 136. Y’all remember when they did Queen of the Ring and everyone got (rightfully) mad that all the matches were so short? By AEW standards, they did the same thing here. People were excited for this matchup, and they did the first eight minutes of what would have been a great 15 minute match. But then it ended in half that time. The finish was neat though, as Storm did a weak backslide so Hayter would roll out, but Storm grabbed her mid-roll and hit the Storm Zero for the win at 5:43 (shown of 8:34). Storm’s butt attack in the corner was also wild, mostly because of how extremely Hayter sold it. Unclear if she had a choice to do that or if Storm really hit her that forcefully with her hip. Half a match, but an entertaining half. **¾

May 25, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Britt Baker def. Toni Storm {Semifinal Match}
From Dynamite 138. This was atrocious and I don’t even know who to blame. Probably everyone. The match was slow and awkward. It had two distraction false finishes, followed by a terribly executed cheat-to-win finish. And Storm, who wasn’t over here because she’s had zero chance to show off on TV before this, unceremoniously lost. Crap. Hayter came out, had a couple of weird moments with Baker, and then blatantly helped Baker get an ugly roll up win at 5:51 (shown of 9:01). Terrible. ½*

March 18, 2022 – San Antonio, Texas

Buddy Matthews, Malakai Black & Brody King def. Bear Boulder, Bear Bronson & Fuego del Sol
From Rampage 33. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone who looks as uncomfortable in the ring as Boulder does. Also, FDS’s minuscule size was made very obvious in the face of all the massive dudes he faced here. Doesn’t work for me. This was more of a squash than I expected on Rampage, but I didn’t want to see the House of Black taking any offense from these goofs anyway. Matthews hits FDS with the Murphy’s Law for the win at 3:23. *½

April 1, 2022 – Columbia, South Carolina

Buddy Matthews, Malakai Black & Brody King def. Evil Uno, Stu Grayson & Fuego del Sol
From Rampage 35. Feuding with FDS is a brutally lame use of the House of Black. House of Black is such an afterthought that when Tony Khan was shilling his weekend on Twitter, he opted to not mention this match in favor of using one of his four image boxes to push the ROH Supercard of Honor show instead (which was competing with this show for fan eyeballs). I suppose it makes sense, as this was another glorified squash that would have been fine on one of the Dark shows. I say that mostly because FDS is a jobber and this TV time could go to someone more promising. The squash was fun thanks mostly to the Dark Order being better than Bear Country, but the majority of the match was FDS being in places he shouldn’t be and paying for it. Black hit him with the Black Mass for the win at 4:47 (shown of 7:15). **

May 20, 2022 – Houston, Texas

Buddy Matthews, Malakai Black & Brody King def. Evil Uno, 10 & Fuego del Sol
From Rampage 42. Yikes, they kept House of Black out of the ring for almost two months after the last match because they wanted to wait for Rey Fenix to return so they could try to resuscitate the HoB vs. Death Triangle feud. At the same time, the heatless House of Black vs. Varsity Blonde feud was also restarted as a brief aside in the larger HoB vs. DT story. And then the HoB get have their return batch against Uno and FdS again… Where are people getting Tony Khan as booker of the year from? Is it because the competition is also incompetent? Because this is garbage. All that said, I was surprised that they actually put on a good match here. FdS mostly stayed out of it, which is good because compared even to his teammates he looks amateur and out of place amongst this cohort. 10 was especially impressive. Give the Dark Order a real feud so he can actually do something in this company. Uno looked solid too. The Dark Order’s comeback near the end was kind of exciting, but the HoB put an end to it with their brutal offense. That culminated in King hitting Uno with the Ganso Bomb for the win at 9:26. That’s probably the most dangerous move in wrestling (at least by appearance) and it’s curious that King would use it in a glorified enhancement match. After the match, Death Triangle challenges the HoB to a match at the PPV. ***

May 28, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Buddy Murphy, Malakai Black & Brody King def. Adriel Noctis, Gregory Sharpe & Matt Brannigan
From Dark 145. This squash was notable for two things: King looking good during his segment, obliterating people, and Excalibur seemingly having a stroke and calling consecutive things the wrong name. An Island Driver is not the Ganso Bomb, and the House of Black is not Death Triangle. I know it’s just Dark, but get off autopilot, dude. Matthews hits a move that I can only describe as the setup to the Last Falconry into a spinning DVD for the win at 3:50. N/A

May 29, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Buddy Murphy, Malakai Black & Brody King def. PAC, Penta Oscuro & Rey Fenix 
From Double or Nothing. This is essentially a rematch from the last PPV, but with Fenix in for Eric Redbeard. Did we really need to put House of Black in a holding pattern for months just so Fenix could also lose to them? Of course not. But they’re lost in the shuffle along with the rest of the midcard. House of Black are all wearing facepaint. PAC has a hybrid Lucha Bros mask on, and Death Triangle comes out with a little kid dressed up like Oscuro. Kind of undercuts how violent they’re meant to be. Rick Knox is the referee, which means the tag rules will not be enforced. Sigh. This was fast-paced and action-packed, but it was also over-choreographed and completely reliant on everyone hitting specific moves at specific times. That meant that the seams showed easily. One instance was when Matthews was meant to block a super jump from Fenix and hit a brainbuster on the floor, but they didn’t quite pull it off and Matthews had to reset and hit his part anyway. The commentators tried to cover it up in the clumsiest of ways. It also meant that any time the action slowed down at all, the crowd got quiet. As a wrestling viewer, you can intuitively feel when something is over-rehearsed and the guys aren’t totally sure they’re where they’re supposed to be. And as to the aforementioned lack of tag rule enforcement, if you’re going to have more than two guys in the ring for almost the entire match, don’t do the babyface in peril crawling for a tag spot. It makes no sense if a minute later, everyone’s in just in the ring. What was stopping the other two babyfaces from coming in and dragging their partner to their corner? Nothing. It’s dumb. So while the action was mostly well-executed, the match amounted to little. Some of the spotz were cool, but what’s to differentiate them from all the other spotfests? This rivalry was based on Black blinding his opponents. This could have been a very dramatic story of PAC and his friends struggling to get through Black’s two heavies to get to him. But instead it was just a spotfest. In the end, Julia Hart teleported to the ring and blew mist in PAC’s face to cement her (way too) slow burn heel turn and give Black the win with the Black Mass at 15:33. ***

March 16, 2022 – San Antonio, Texas

Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole & Bobby Fish def. Adam Page, Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus
From Dynamite: St. Patrick’s Day Slam. Really nice energy in what was the opener of the show. Page’s runs were especially fun. The babyfaces hitting surround sound moonsaults from the same corner was pretty damn cool too, and the production avoided showing the Undisputed Era standing around waiting to get hit. On the other hand, it’s an indictment of how reDRagon has been booked thus far that when O’Reilly got a heel hook on Luchasaurus in an exciting moment, the crowd fell completely silent. They don’t buy O’Reilly & Fish as threats. There was a similar level of noise when Cole hit the Boom on Jungle Boy out of nowhere for the win at 11:27 (shown of 13:58). I have no real interest Cole vs. Page II, but I’m quite interested in a straight tag team match between reDRagon and the Jurassic Express. ***½

March 25, 2022 – Cedar Park, Texas

Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish def. Alan Angels & Ten
From Rampage 34. In the previous segment, Fuego del Sol got beat up by the House of Black, and then the HoB was confronted by the Dark Order. But given how much the Dark Order got squashed here, it seems dumb to have put those segments back to back on this show. There was next to nothing happening in this match, or if there was, it happened during the commercial break. reDRagon hit Chasing the Dragon on Angels for the win at 3:31 (shown of 7:00). Jurassic Express saves the Dark Order from a beating after the match, which allows the heels to steal the tag title belts. **

April 13, 2022 – New Orleans, Louisiana

Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus def. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish {AEW Tag Team Championship Match}
From Dynamite 132. This was a little chaotic, but I loved that Jurassic Express would take advantage when an opportunity for a high spot presented itself, while reDRagon would get control when a more technical opening came up. And the latter happened more often than the former. Both teams came out of this looking great. The Jurassic Express hit their backdrop/powerbomb thing on Fish for the win at 11:26 (shown of 13:45). That feels like a miss to me, and makes me wonder if perhaps plans changed after FTR’s amazing pair of matches the week before. Could it be that they’ll be the ones to take the tag titles and be triple crown champions? If that’s the case, then reDRagon might have another shot at the tag titles coming up soon, because after this match it becomes clear that a rematch between them and FTR is in the making, as is a match between FTR and the AEW tag champs. ***¾

April 20, 2022 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Kyle O’Reilly def. Jungle Boy
From Dynamite 133. This is a qualifier match for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. From Dynamite 133. I can’t decide if the crowd wasn’t there for this match because it was moving at .75 speed or if it was moving at .75 speed because the crowd wasn’t there for it. They had just sat through Tony Khan, Adam Cole, and Jay White’s bizarrely flat delivery of the NJPW/AEW supercard announcement, so I’ll cut them a little slack. This match, played at 1.25 speed is probably friggin’ stellar. Jungle Boy had an answer for pretty much everything O’Reilly had in store for him, which on top of O’Reilly’s recent tag title loss made it very satisfying for me when O’Reilly was ably to catch him with the diving kneedrop for the win at 11:32 (shown of 13:02). This sets up Samoa Joe vs. O’Reilly in an official tournament match, which I’m simultaneous stoked about and sure will also be quite slow. ***¼

April 27 2022 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Adam Cole, Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson def. Brian Pillman Jr, Griff Garrison, Dante Martin, Brock Anderson & Lee Johnson
From Dynamite 134.  It seemed to me that the reason they were bothering with having the Undisputed Elite wrestle in 10-man tags was to build to a match against the Bullet Club at the NJPW PPV, but then Jay White allied with Cole on the previous week’s Rampage. Ultimately I’m sure it’s to get to a Young Bucks vs. reDRagon match, but we’re taking the very very long road to get there and it’s not like it’s a matchup we’ve never seen before. The jobbers didn’t get an entrance. They tried to pack in some goofy shit early on, which I could have done without in a match this short. The bad guys got their act together quickly and squashed the young guns. Cole hit Johnson with the Boom for the win at 3:42 (shown of ). *

May 18, 2022 – Houston, Texas

Kyle O’Reilly def. Rey Fenix {Quarterfinal Match}
From Dynamite 137. This was originally supposed to be O’Reilly vs. Samoa Joe, but they reshuffled the bracket so that Joe could face the Joker, who would up being John Morrison. But with O’Reilly’s win here we get the promised match anyway. And with Cole winning the other semifinal match, we’re either getting Cole vs. O’Reilly again on PPV (I’ve seen enough of the that matchup for the next few years, thanks), or Cole vs. Joe with O’Reilly as the hurdle Joe has to jump over first. And that’s fine, though where does that leave the Joe vs. Lethal rivalry? This match was excellent. Fenix was at a huge disadvantage as he was still nursing his arm injury. I was at the show where the gruesome accident took place! O’Reilly took advantage as much as possible, keeping Fenix from doing much of anything with his arm and relying on kicks and dives. Kicks are O’Reilly’s sweet spot, so that failed for Fenix as often as it was successful. And it bit Fenix in the end, when O’Reilly countered an attempt at a flippy Ace Crusher to a cross armbreaker for the win at 9:03 (shown of 12:00). ****

May 25, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Samoa Joe def. Kyle O’Reilly {Semifinal Match}
From Dynamite 138. O’Reilly went after Joe’s injured arm, obviously. At one point, he hit a dragon screw and I wondered why he was deviating. But having a hurt leg forced Joe to rest his arm on the top rope, leaving it open for a diving attack. Pretty neat. The rest of the match was neat as well. Just a lot of hard fighting, with O’Reilly believably looking like he was on Joe’s level thanks to a great game plan and Joe’s good selling. They had me thinking this would end in a draw, with Joe and O’Reilly both submitting to each other’s submissions at the same time, but O’Reilly passed out to the rear naked choke at 9:26 (shown of 12:37). ***¾

May 29, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Darby Allin def. Kyle O’Reilly
From Double or Nothing. Is it too extreme to call O’Reilly a revelation in AEW? Yes, it is. But in his last three matches he has stepped his game back up to where it was when he was on track to becoming NXT Champion. He nailed Allin with a knee to the face that busted Allin open early on, and from there they put on a tight, fun match. They tried some tricky things here, which in lesser hands would not have worked. How do I know this? Because I watched the Dark Order vs. House of Black match from the show and you can scroll up to my review of that match to see where the same kind of thing went wrong. Here, when Allin’s super jump was countered to O’Reilly’s guillotine choke, they made it work seamlessly. O’Reilly got vicious near the end, countering the Coffin Drop to a cross armbreaker, choking Allin with his chain necklace, hitting three chest kicks, and then hitting the diving kneedrop for the win at 10:35. It’s a shame that the build for this match was Allin being mad at something that O’Reilly did as a footnote in a segment that was mostly forgotten about the following week, but the match was dope. ***¾

March 23, 2022 – Cedar Park, Texas

CM Punk def. Dax Harwood
From Dynamite 129. Early in the match, the Gunn Club taunted Harwood from the crowd. If there was an explanation for why they’re hot at FTR, I have completely missed it. Last week, FTR got into an argument with the Young Bucks backstage. The Gunn Club was not involved. Harwood got a lot more of offense here than I expected, and the match was made much better for it. Harwood got to counter or block every one of Punk’s finishers at least once. But in the end, Punk countered a Sharpshooter attempt to the Anaconda Vice for the win at 12:51. I have no complaints with what I just saw from the moment the Gunn Club stopped appearing on the screen. In the back after the match, FTR cut a promo challenging the Gunn Club to a match and more or less declaring that they’re babyfaces now. ***½

March 30, 2022 – Columbia, South Carolina

CM Punk def. Max Caster
From Dynamite 130. On commentary, Excalibur suggests that Punk is coming for Page’s title, so hopefully the Cole rematch angle will be very short-lived. This is the first time I’ve ever gotten a good look at Caster. He’s not over as a wrestler at all and after this match I understand why. He doesn’t seem all that comfortable in the ring. Punk seemed kind of out of it too. Both guys were really slow and both at times had trouble lifting the other. I wonder who was sandbagging who. Punk struggled for a piledriver and then put on the Anaconda Vice for the win at 7:08. After the match, Punk confirms that he wants the winner of the Cole vs. Page match. I don’t think that match has been announced. *½

April 13, 2022 – New Orleans, Louisiana

CM Punk def. Penta Oscuro
From Dynamite 132. I don’t know whether Punk falling when going for a Frankensteiner was planned or a botched spot because of how well they incorporated that bit into the match. That’s the sign of a couple of pros. The last few minutes of this match were a lot better than the usual fare I’ve come to expect from Oscuro. So good for whoever mapped this match out, be it beforehand or in the ring. The commentators hammered home that this was a fight between two guys ranked in the top five, so look for it to be Punk’s de facto number one contender match now as the Adam Page/Adam Cole feud was to be wrapped up two days later. Punk caught Oscuro going for a springboard move and hit the Go2Sleep for the win at 11:01 (shown of 13:38). ***½  

April 20, 2022 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

CM Punk def. Dustin Rhodes
From Dynamite 133. This is rather surprisingly the first time these two have ever met one-on-one. I like these mat-based Punk matches, mostly because it stops him from trying to do a bunch of springboard stuff that he was never very good at. It’s also the best kind of match for Rhodes at his age, as he doesn’t have to be fast or even particularly strong, as long as he can get his body parts where they need to be. The finish was dope, seeing Punk’s leg not even close to well enough to hit the Go2Sleep, but cutting back on a subsequent sunset flip attempt from Rhodes and getting the win at 14:50 (shown of 17:26). After the match, Page comes out for a staredown. Why not just tell Punk now that he gets the PPV title match? ***½

May 11, 2022 – Elmont, New York

CM Punk def. John Silver
From Dynamite 136. Punk tries to pander to the fans with an Islanders jersey, but they boo him anyway. Good, he’s a garbage. Silver is very over in his hometown. Can we talk about how AEW rehashes storylines going into each PPV. This is the third time that Silver has been set up as the fall guy to build up a challenger for Page. In fact, during Page’s reign, only one of the four challengers so far didn’t fight Silver first. Same goes for Sean Spears before a fight against MJF. Do something different. At least they’re keeping it short, given that there’s no question over how it will end. Punk did the littlest bit of heeling, which I appreciate, mocking Silver at the end and hitting the Buckshot Lariat for the win at 5:34 (8:06). As far as squashes wherein the jobber gets one miracle spot go, this one was pretty good, even if it does nothing for Silver. **¾

May 29, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

CM Punk def. Adam Page {AEW World Championship Match}
From Double or Nothing. This was a tale of two matches. The first half was quite good, seeing both guys laying in their strikes with a ton of conviction. The crowd was almost entirely, and passionately behind Punk, while Page drew boos. That’s where the second half of the match could have stayed interesting, had Page leaned into his de facto heel status. Instead, they had a match focused on stealing each other’s finishers. They almost made it work, as Page had trouble hitting the Buckshot Lariat because he tweaked his knee hitting a moonsault to the floor. That piqued my interest. The problem was that Punk also had trouble hitting the Buckshot Lariat because he’s a botch machine. The crowd didn’t like that, and frankly it put a big ol pause in the match where one didn’t belong. On the bright side, they pulled together all the interesting elements for the final couple of minutes. Page hit the Go2Sleep, but (you could assume) his knee was still hurt so Punk was able to kick out. Page’s selling was quite good all around. The referee got bumped after Page stumbled going for the Buckshot and Punk got him up for the Go2Sleep, but swung him into the official. Page hit the remains of the lariat but there was no ref. He went for the title belt but decided not to hit Punk with it. Another stumbly Buckshot attempt put him on Punk’s shoulders for the Go2Sleep, giving Punk the title at 25:53. Punk held this one back a bit, while Page was on top of his game. Even still, putting the belt on Punk was the right move here, as Page’s reign had been aggressively medium. ***½

March 9, 2022 – Fort Myers, Florida

Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley def. JD Drake & Anthony Henry 
From Dynamite 127. No entrance for the Workhorsemen. Does it bother anyone other than me that Drake is part of the jobber Wingmen faction but now teaming with his indie tag partner for no real reason? Anyway, William Regal is in Danielson & Moxley’s corner. They could have gone the route they went with Moxley’s match against Wheeler YUTA or Danielson’s against Daniel Garcia and Lee Moriarty. Instead, Moxley & Danielson totally squashed these guys. Danielson made Drake tap to the LeBell Lock at 4:01. That’s a bummer as a fan of the jobbers. After the match, Regal cuts a very British, depressing promo about his life expectancy before getting choked up reminiscing with Tony Schiavone. He explains his history with Moxley & Danielson and warns their future opponents. So… is that whole mentoring younger wrestlers thing dead? N/A

March 16, 2022 – San Antonio, Texas

Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley def. Wheeler YUTA & Chuck Taylor
From Dynamite: St. Patrick’s Day Slam. Regal is on commentary during this match, and the Best Friends (including Danhausen) are at Ringside. Danielson & Moxley wrestle much more like a cohesive team here than they did the week before, tagging each other frequently. Aside from a very short Taylor comeback, this was a long squash. YUTA tells Danielson to give him all the offense he can dish out and gets in a little bit of spaz offense at the end. He kicks out of a Regalplex, which puts a huge smile on Danielson’s face. Danielson stomps him and then tags in Moxley who chokes YUTA out at 8:55 (shown of 11: ). After the match, YUTA bails on the Best Friends and asks for a handshake from Regal. Regal slaps him, but he doesn’t back down. Regal tells him to think better of it and back off for now. The match wasn’t much, but I loved that YUTA’s performance during the match led to the post-match angle. I’m also very relieved that they haven’t written off the protégé angle. **½

March 23, 2022 – Cedar Park, Texas

Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley def. Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison
From Dynamite 129. Ross says it’s interesting that Moxley and Pillman are both from Cincinnati. So what? They’re both boring in the ring. Schiavone points out that Julia Hart is sitting like a weirdo in the ring steps, still wearing an eye patch from when Malakai Black misted her. That was forever ago. Is that going anywhere? Near the end of the match they show her again and now she just looks bored. I can’t say I was bored by this match, because it was a six-minute match that had a three-minute commercial break in it. But it was just a squash so who cares. Moxley choked out Garrison at 3:14 (shown of 6:04) while Danielson was stomping on Pillman’s face. After the match, Moxley slithers around like a clown and cuts a promo, despite being the most gassed out person of his trio. Give Danielson the mic if you’re too winded to talk! Moxley being a part of this group is a major bummer for me. Dude is not good and if you think he is good you’ve been suckered. They’re called the Blackpool Combat Club. I’m bumping up against that name a bit, but it’s WAY better than the Jericho Appreciation Society and seems to be paying Umaga a bit to the Miracle Violence Connection, so okay. * 

March 30, 2022 – Columbia, South Carolina

Bryan Danielson def. Wheeler YUTA
From Dynamite 130. Regal was on commentary for this match, saying that the Blackpool Combat Club is interested in YUTA. They wrestled for three minutes before the commercial break, and Excalibur baited the audience to stick around by saying the match will be a classic. Big talk. I don’t think it came close to that, but the clever spots they included to make YUTA look good were very well done. Also well done was Danielson getting mad about it. YUTA then spit in Danielson’s face, so Danielson stomped him, hit a cradle piledriver, and put on a mean LaBell Lock for the win at 7:03 (shown of 10:09). Good stuff here. I kinda wish I’d watched the stuff during the commercial. ***¼ 

April 8, 2022 – Boston, Massachusetts

Bryan Danielson def. Trent Beretta 
From Rampage 36. This was solid, though I wish Danielson could be doing more interesting things than pseudo-squashing Barreta. It’s not that Barreta didn’t put up a fight, but we’ve seen Danielson more or less dominate solid opponents in matches like this quite a bit at this point. Given that Jon Moxley got to have a gnarly match with Wheeler YUTA in the main event, I wish matches like Danielson’s against YUTA last week could have more depth. That said, a lot of folks liked that Danielson vs. YUTA match more than I did, so it could be that I don’t think Moxley vs. YUTA is all folks are saying it is either. [Update from the future, the Moxley vs. YUTA match was a ****¼ bloodbath.] It could also be that in a week during which FTR got to put on two all time great tag team matches, it feels like there’s room for Danielson to be doing more elevated stuff. Danielson hit a cradle piledriver and the stomps, and then put on a LaBell lock while pulling on Barreta’s chin for the win at 12:03 (shown of 13:39). *** 

April 15, 2022 – Garland, Texas

Bryan Danielson, Wheeler YUTA & Jon Moxley def. Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn
From Rampage 37. The Gunn Club was undefeated as a trio coming into this match. The Blackpool fellas come out separately, and Regal comes out with YUTA to sit in on commentary. The most notable thing about this match is Austin mimicking Roman Reigns to get under Moxley’s skin, and then the entire Ass Club paying for it. YUTA getting the winning pin on Billy was rather notable too, I suppose. That happened at 7:36 (shown of 9:06). I appreciate how hard they’re working to get YUTA over. This match shows too that he doesn’t have to drop a pint of blood to do something special. Ending a big (but ultimately unimportant) winning streak does the same trick. I think if I start tomorrow, I might be able to be in as good of shape as Billy Gunn is by the time I reach Billy Gunn’s age in 20 years. ***

April 20, 2022 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley & Wheeler YUTA def. Lee Moriarty, Brock Anderson & Dante Martin
From Dynamite 133. All three of the underdogs have other partners that would make more sense for them to be teaming with, and none of their partners are at ringside. Why? Because next to the BCC, they’re just jobbers. I think it would have been neat for Matt Sydal, Lee Johnson, and Darius Martin been on the floor in the jobber corner. This was fun, and the jobbers got to show off a lot and fight hard before getting destroyed. On the BCC side, they remained pretty dominant, and YUTA got good new tights. So that’s neat. The stereo (what’s the three-man word for stereo, surround sound?) submissions are dumb though and sadly, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of it. Martin hesitated on a springboard move and Moxley caught him with the Paradigm Shift for the win at 6:02 (shown of 8:06). ***

April 27, 2022 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley & Wheeler YUTA def. QT Marshall, Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto
From Dynamite 134. This was all about YUTA. In his hometown, he took a little asskicking from Comoroto, but then caught him in a choke and elbowed him to the point that he could be pinned at 6:17 (shown of 8:49). This makes three trios squashes and overall six squashes for the Blackpool Combat Club. It’s time to move them on to a real challenge. I would not be mad to see House of Black beat Death Triangle on Dynamite ASAP and get Regal’s boys against Black & Company at the PPV. Because as much as these little stories of YUTA’s toughness entertain, it needs to feel like it’s going somewhere. Also, maybe have YUTA defend that title he wears, eh? ***

May 4, 2022 – Baltimore, Maryland

Bryan Danielson, Wheeler YUTA & Jon Moxley def. The Butcher, The Blade & Angelico
From Dynamite 135. Nope, nowhere to go but another trios squash. I was unaware that the Hybrid2 were in the AFO until I read that Jack Evans had been let go from AEW. I’m pretty unfamiliar with the AEW Dark roster. Regal flirts with the commentary team before the match. Wrestling fans need to be exposed to different visions of masculinity, so I’m cool with that. This was even more squishy than usual, though that should come as no surprise as the heels haven’t won a match on TV since (with the exception of a Butcher vanity squash to build him up a bit to job to Wardlow recently) in over a year. In fact, Angelico hasn’t won a match on Dynamite since November of 2020 and he’s never wrestled on Rampage. Anyway, this was fine but totally forgettable outside of Moxley throwing the Blade around ringside for a bit. That would have been forgettable too if not for the commentators pointing out that they had history coming up in the Ohio indies. Danielson puts a triangle choke on Angelico for the win at 5:13 (shown of 7:27). **

May 20, 2022 – Houston, Texas

Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley def. Matt Sydal & Dante Martin
From Rampage 42. What happened to Lee Moriarty as Sydal’s protégé? That was a thing, right? Two days earlier on Dynamite, the Blackpool Combat Club got involved in the Eddie Kingston vs. Jericho Appreciation Society feud. So after weeks and weeks and weeks of trios squashes, it’s just Moxley and Danielson in a five way street fight that they weren’t being built into beforehand. And YUTA is off in Japan doing the Super Junior tournament, which is probably a better way to spend his time than being a part of this thing. But one more squash before we get there. This was more competitive than I expected it to be, which worked out because Sydal & Martin are a fun team. Of course, nothing will come of it for them. Why am I being so negative after watching a good match? I just don’t like the direction anyone in the match is going in right now. But like I said, the action was good. The finish was the same tired and kind of annoying bit where the legal man elbows one opponent over and over while the illegal man for some reason feels the need to put the other opponent in a submission move in the ring. I wish the referee would call a no contest when that happens just once. In this case, that was followed by Moxley hitting Martin with the Paradigm Shift for the win at 12:09. The JAS attacks after the match and the show fades out. During the brawl, Danielson got his leg stuck between the ramp and the ring in a scary looking moment. But when you watch the official clip that AEW released back on YouTube, it’s pretty clear that Danielson was fine the whole time. ***¼

May 27, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Bryan Danielson def. Matt Sydal
From Rampage 43. Danielson vs. Hager here would have made a lot more sense given the way they’re playing up Hager attacking Danielson when he was stuck. Plus, you know, Hager is one of the guys Danielson is facing on the PPV and Sydal is not. That said, Sydal is good and Hager is not, so in a vacuum I’m glad this happened as it did. The match was dope. Danielson was thoroughly rolling Sydal, and would have finished him off quickly if not for a few lucky and very awesome shots from Sydal. A fake low kick to a high kick dazed Danielson. Danielson came back by countering the Meteora to a gnarly half crab. Sydal survived and countered a superplex to an amazing superbomb for a terrific near fall. Danielson seemed to be in trouble, but he caught Sydal with the Busaiku Knee Kick and then locked in a choke for the win at 8:39 (shown of 11:09). I liked this a nice little stretch more than their ROH match from 2007, and it’s cute that the finish was similar 15 years later. ***½

May 29, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz def. Chris Jericho, Jack Swagger, Daniel Garcia, Matt Minard & Angelo Parker {Anarchy in the Arena Match}
From Double or Nothing. The JAS are all dressed in white, looking like Michael Scott if he wasn’t sure if Date Mike should be dressed as a MC member, a boy band member, or a Droog. The babyfaces are in street fight gear. This is Stadium Stampede, but with a more butch name because the babyfaces are such tough guys. Moxley’s theme music plays all the way through several times, even after the match starts. On the one hand, it makes the match feel like a scene in a movie. On the other hand, the song is too upbeat and it undercuts the violence. So let’s start with what didn’t work here before I get to the positives. For me, that’s the music and the ring announcer saying “shit” while introducing the match. That felt way too much like everyone involved wished they’d been a part of ECW (except for Jericho, who is so old that he actually was a part of ECW. Early ECW!). The only other negative was a couple of huge spots that happened too early in the match, requiring Hager and Ortiz to get up after a few minutes from moves that should have put them out of the match. If you can get over those things, the match is filled with violence that was intense and coherent in a way that ECW wrestlers just about never achieved. The biggest achievement here however is that the match never got boring. The BCC had things well in hand, with Danielson poised to submit Jericho with the LaBell Lock. But Kingston came to the ring with a jug of gasoline and poured it on both guys. Danielson was upset, allowing Jericho & Hager to take control. Hager shoved Moxley into some barbed wire, knocking him out of the match. Kingston got taken out, leaving Danielson alone. Hager attacked Danielson’s injured leg with a bat and choked him with the ring rope while Jericho put on the Liontamer. That was enough for the win at 22:41. ****

Right around Revolution, FTR announced that they’d be taking more indie dates, so I expect to see them on TV a lot less than before. But I like FTR a lot so you can see what I thought of those matches too. 

March 30, 2022 – Columbia, South Carolina

Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler def. Austin Gunn & Colton Gunn
From Dynamite 130. Before the match, FTR (paying Umaga to Scott Hall with nWo-inspired gear) told MJF that they were still friends with Wardlow even though he’d been kicked out of their stable. The babyface turn continues slowly. In the middle of a fun match that saw the Gunns out-heel the king cheaters, AEW takes a page out of WWE’s book to ignore the match completely and show Wardlow Storm the building instead. Security stops him. It’s not a WWE alternative if you do annoying WWE things. Then, Billy Gunn tries to get involved. It backfires and FTR hits one of the Gunn’s with the Big Rig at 8:46 (shown of 11:26). After the match, MJF tries to make with FTR. Later in the show, FTR circles back around to challenging the Young Bucks. **¾ 

April 6, 2022 – Boston, Massachusetts

Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler def. Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson {AAA Tag Team Championship & ROH World Tag Team Championship Match}
From Dynamite 131. I loved all of this so much. Right off the bat, it’s neat to have Bobby Cruise doing the introductions. When the match began, I thought about how much I miss tag matches like Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. Steve Austin & Triple H. In those kind of matches, the babyfaces are tough as hell but are still so outmatched that you have near panic attacks anytime they’re unable to make a hot tag. This didn’t get me to that level of anxiety, but it did get me (and the very loud live crowd) all foamed up hoping for an FTR win. The near falls near the end were pitch perfect, and I was sure multiple times that the Young Bucks would get all the gold. Thank god that didn’t happen. If FTR can put together a few more double headers like they did with this match and against the Briscoes a few days ago, they collectively deserve to be named Wrestler of the Year. Five days before putting in one of the best babyface tag team performances you’ll ever see, they put in one of the best heel tag team performances you’ll ever see. On top of that, this was nothing like their first match, which I also like a lot, and it was leagues better! I could never imagine giving a Young Bucks match the full five because of their bad habits, but FTR did a great job here of keeping them in check. That runs in contrast to their first match against each other, which felt like it incorporated more of the Jacksons’ ideas and was saved by the grace and skill of FTR. After a few terrifying near-losses, FTR hit Matt with the BTE Trigger, smooched him, and hit the Big Rig for the win at 16:56 (shown of 20:07).  *****

April 27, 2022 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Dax Harwood def. Cash Wheeler
From Dynamite 134. This is a qualifier match for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Both guys are wearing Bret Hart tights, so it should come as no surprise that there are more than one nods to the Bret vs. Owen Wrestlemania match here. Excalibur points out that Wheeler has never wrestled a singles match in AEW and that Harwood has never won a singles match in AEW. Both of those things stop being true here. The main story is whether or not these guys can keep things civil. They start fighting harder after Harwood accidentally pokes Wheeler’s eye. After the break, they have fun showing off how well they know each other. Harwood almost loses when he hesitates to put the Sharpshooter on his partner’s injured leg, but he’s able to cut back on Wheeler’s roll up and get the win at 12:47 (shown of 15:05). This wasn’t quite a classic, but it was a great way to spend a quarter of an hour. Especially if you dig Bret Hart and fans of Bret Hart. ***¾

May 11, 2022 – Elmont, New York

Adam Cole def. Dax Harwood {Quarterfinal Match}
From Dynamite 136. Harwood is still wearing the Bret Hart gear. He’s crazy over as a babyface. It’s kind of insane. And he got to show off in a big way here. His counters to Cole’s rote offense was fantastic. But near the end of the match when it looked like he might walk away with it, his ribs started bothering him and he was unable to hold onto a Sharpshooter. Out of breath, he almost lost by countout, He got back into the ring but Cole put a Sharpshooter on him and won by submission at 12:51 (shown of 15:34). This was just about as good as Harwood’s match from the week before. I don’t want FTR to break up, but there’s a strong argument to be made for a real singles run for Harwood if Wheeler ever gets injured. I’m super bummed that Harwood is out of the tournament, but maybe now they can finally follow up to that reDRagon vs. FTR rematch they teased a month before this and then just dropped. ***¾

May 25, 2022 – Paradise, Nevada

Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler nc. Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero {ROH World Tag Team Championship Match}
From Dynamite 138. Taylor got too chubby, so now Roppongi Vice is Beretta’s full-time team. Caprice Coleman sits in on commentary. Can they just announce a new ROH show already? FTR is straight up coming out to the Midnight Express theme song now. The commentators tease that these teams want a shot at the IWGP tag titles, presumably at the crossover PPV. I was quite enjoying this match, despite it being a bit rough around the edges, but it turned out to be little more than hype for the Forbidden Door PPV. Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan attack everyone and the match gets thrown out at 7:54 (shown of 10:25). The New Japan invaders pose with the titles after taking out all four AEW guys. Shame, this could have been a great match. ***¼