Episode seven of Dark Side of the Ring featuring Abdullah The Butcher drew 178,000 viewers, up 26,000 viewers from the previous episode which revolved around Adrian Adonis. The show drew a 0.06 in the 18-49 demo, up 0.02 from the Adonis episode. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
Seth Rollins elaborates on his current knee, neck, and back injuries
During an appearance on Logan Paul’s Impauslive podcast, WWE World Heavyweight champion Seth Rollins said that he’s suffering from several injuries but he’s soldiering on, although his back probably needs surgery.
Rollins revealed that his knee has been bugging him since before WrestleMania and his neck and lower back have been hurting since 2019.
“Probably should get some surgery on that, but trying to just… you know, do whatever I can to make sure I don’t need it because I have a couple of stress fractures back there,” Rollins told Paul.
Rollins explained that he did a couple of stem cell treatments which were temporarily helpful but at the end of the day, it did not get the job done.
“I wasn’t taking time off, I wasn’t just idling while I was on the stem cells, I was still working a pretty much full-time WWE schedule,” Seth continued. “So I found that temporarily helpful but long term, it kind of has faded off a little bit so I’d say I got like maybe four or five of like, ‘oh, okay that feels good!'”
Rollins was out for seven months in 2015 when he tore his ACL and MCL and then out again for two months in 2017 with another MCL injury.
NXT rating for 07/18/2023
NXT this week with a main event of Dom Mysterio vs Wes Lee for the North American title drew a total of 746,000 viewers, up 135,000 viewers from the prior week. This was the second most-watched episode of NXT of 2023 so far. The show did a 0.21 rating in the 18-49, up 0.01 from last week. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
Bryan Danielson undergoes surgery to repair broken forearm
Bryan Danielson wrote on social media that he underwent surgery to repair his broken forearm about two weeks ago, an injury he suffered in his match against Kazuchika Okada at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view in June.
Danielson said that he now has a steel rod and a total of nine screws to hold the bone together.
“Surgery went well and I’m on the road to recovery,” Danielson said. “Thank you all for the support.”
In a media call on Tuesday, AEW President Tony Khan said that the injury Danielson had was worse than they originally thought and he’s now in recovery.
The chances of Danielson wrestling at All In remain small as the show is just over a month away.
Thumbs Up/Down: Dynamite 07/19/2023
UP
Adam Cole & MJF’s chemistry
So I was probably a little snide in reviewing their restaurant scene. Max talking up the body slam was entertaining especially if taken as a spoof on Hogan, for whom exaggeration is oxygen.
Their pre-match promo was good.
And the way they worked the crowd was outstanding. Fans in Boston ate up the dance-off, all four gave it everything, not worrying about how goofy they looked, especially Cole, who played the reluctant guy who once he gets going can’t be stopped role to a tee.
Several moments were laugh out loud funny. And they’ve built an act people really want to see – as evidenced by their t-shirt sales. It seems a while since AEW had a babyface act this hot.
Problem is it involves their top heel and champion. On which more in the ‘Down’ section.
Less is More & Building Anticipation
But before that it’s time to heap more praise on the above duo. I’m a less-is-more guy. AEW are not a less-is-more promotion. At least when it comes to Dynamite.
But Max & Cole have done more with and gotten more out of a bodyslam, a double clothesline and a single tope, than anything that’s happened on a Wednesday night in months (Okada perhaps the exception).
Because they all had a backstory. A build. Call it whatever you want.
Max has been faking that dive for years now, they’ve talked up and come close to hitting the clothesline for a good couple weeks and Max called for the bodyslam several times, failing miserably until overcoming his failure and landing the move. In fact, he did the same last night with the dive.
Which is why the crowd went absolutely crazy for all three. They had time to anticipate them. And the match took time to highlight them, they weren’t part of a rushed sequence.
Sammy Guevara & Daniel Garcia
These two went out there to play total utter stooges and lose. Yet put everything into their performance – both before and during the match. Which took a backseat to the overall story but was entertaining in its own right.
Excellent foils.
Building Matches & Titles
Concluding the above, Chris Jericho was ignored by Sammy and Garcia on the ramp. Meaning they built towards Cole vs MJF, Cole & MJF vs FTR, and Jericho vs Sammy/Garcia in the same segment.
And maintained an emphasis on the newly rejuvenated tag titles.
DOWN
MJF vs Adam Cole
I don’t want to see this match. At all. Partly because I don’t want this act to break up. It’s too entertaining. Partly because I don’t want a world title match involving a guy who spent time aggressively humping the air. They have the wrong people in these roles.
Ordinarily, an act this hot’d see an audible called. Like with Randy Orton & Matt Riddle. But it (probably?) can’t be since it’s supposed to be the world title feud.
Meanwhile as fun as the match was, it was jarring seeing FTR come out to confront their contenders after an ultra-serious classic Saturday. Presumably, said contenders will tone down the silliness when they meet, so as not to undo the rehab performed on the tag belts lately.
And there’s a danger Adam Cole won’t get any sympathy no matter what happens. If he’s turned on, he should’ve known better; if he turns on Max, he might even get booed. There’s even a danger MJF will just continue to be cheered even if he blindsides Cole. It’s not like he wasn’t warned.
Perhaps they have an ingenious way to bring this to a serious world title match. If that’s the case, I’m more than happy to be proven wrong. But as it stands, I don’t see a good way out of this.
Perry vs Hook
They didn’t show this relationship for long enough and haven’t had any promos/packages to further the story. It doesn’t help that they’re two of the thinnest characters on the roster. Perry buried his ‘old self’ pre-match. But who is the ‘new’ Perry? Outside of an arrogant guy who wears open shirts.
Others seem to have reviewed the match favourably. But it was lacking something: heat, aggression, oomph.
For a guy who’s been chasing Perry around parking garages for a month, Hook sauntered to the ring. And his first ever loss should’ve meant much more.
Moxley, Blood & Weapons
It was noted above that MJF basically had his hand up the crowd’s collective ass by performing a single tope and a double clothesline.
Of course, not everyone is MJF. There are guys who need to do cool moves and take shortcuts. Jon Moxley is not one of them. He’s over, he’s good in the ring, he’s great on the mic.
Yet he insists on bleeding and using dangerous weapons far more than is remotely necessary. And unlike Max, there was no build, no time to anticipate, no pyschology. To the degree that the announcers just assumed Mox was immediately going to work with a screwdriver because we couldn’t even see the implement in question. Which turned out to be a fork.
It was also noted above that less is more. And there was no greater example of this than when Taz noted ‘Mox is bleeding’ and Excalibur replied with ‘It’s a day that ends in a y’.
We all have things we do every day right? Drink coffee, use the bathroom, whatever. Anyone out there remember what last Tuesday’s cup of coffee tasted like? Or how they backed out of the driveway? Probably not, because they’re mundane, we don’t even think about them, they don’t have a lasting impact.
Blood & Guts
The question sticking out after this was what did it achieve?
It didn’t establish the debuting Ibushi, certainly not properly. It didn’t establish Takeshita, who barely did anything. And it didn’t seem like the hard-won victory it should have since the babyfaces had a two-man advantage by the end.
Moreover, setting aside all the gore, it just wasn’t all that good. It certainly wasn’t bad. But given the talent assembled and time allowed, it fell short.
Part of the problem being the ad breaks. And camera work. Which didn’t allow viewers to follow the thread of the match, cutting at will. Hangman for example was on-screen for about three minutes all night. It felt like he disappeared.
Another being that this feud just isn’t as hot as it might be after months of fighting among top stars. We’ve still never really been given a reason why the factions are feuding. And we’re back to the idea of anticipation. Or lack thereof.
Notably the whole idea of the man advantage. Which I’d completely forgotten about until they breezily mentioned the BCC had it as the match started. Because they’d never mentioned it prior.
It’s an essential part of the story of the match. And should have been discussed, campaigned for and shown on tv. As a result, the match lacked drama – shock tactics a poor substitute.
Which is not to dismiss the enormous toll this surely took on all ten, quite the contrary.
The Iron Sheik’s cause of death revealed
TMZ.COM is reporting that The Iron Sheik passed away in his sleep due to a cardiac arrest according to his death certificate.
The document also stated that the WWE Hall of Famer suffered from congestive heart failure as well as hypertension before he passed away. The 81-year-old’s death was ruled natural.
Sheik passed away on June 7 and tons of tributes followed on social media to honor the legendary former WWE champion.
Dynamite TV report for 07/19/2023
AEW Dynamite tonight comes to us from the TD Garden in Boston, MA. After last week drawing 825,000 & 0.29 in the 18-49 demo.
*****
Jack Perry vs Hook (FTW Title)
Backstory: The two have played tag in & out of cars for about three weeks after a jealous Perry hit Hook with a lariat
Perry’s old music played, the man himself nowhere to be found. Cut to a video of him digging a hole in the desert and dragging a body. A limo turned up, Perry – I guess wistfully – stood around for a second then got in as it drove off.
Classical music then played as he hit the entrance ramp. (So he was burying a ‘Hits of the 80s’ tape?) That music just does not fit. His vibe is spoilt brat superstar, not cultured better-than-you guy. He then tried to intimidate a small child in the front row. And failed miserably.
Excalibur told us it was his boots he was burying. Couldn’t they have shown us that?
Schiavone tried his best to synopsize and legitimize the FTW title. Not an easy task.
Perry tried a cheap shot, Hook avoided it and fired rights to the gut in the corner, crowd hot for that. Perry fled to ringside, briefly taking advantage of a pursuing Hook before being flung across the barricade into the fans then lariat-ed back over it to ringside.
Brief chants of ‘Hook’ as they reached one of the two rings. Perry blocked a suplex, raked the eyes and landed a dropkick from the top. Two count.
Considering there are apparently about 10,000 people in the house, it doesn’t sound like it. A lot of quiet between the booing and cheering. As Perry choked Hook in the corner with his boot.
Break.
Nothing special so far. But admittedly I’m not into either guy or this story.
Back to both on the apron, Hook’s waist locked, Perry seeking a German, which was blocked until Hook turned the tables, dropping Perry off it via T-Bone. Very hard landing, neither was Perry all that far from landing on his head.
Really not a fan of that. Didn’t look under control.
Crowd loved it though – ‘Holy S’ chant as the ref began to count Perry out. Hook wasn’t for that, dragging him back in (nice touch since this is supposed to be a grudge match); Perry quickly slipped back outside before shoving Hook to the buckle and landing a draping ddt off the apron.
Then slipping back inside, more than happy to take the count out win. Another nice touch to highlight the difference between the heel and babyface.
Back in at nine, a groggy Hook tried to stand, Perry arrogantly poked him with his boot, Hook popped up with a wild swing, Perry ducked, deadlift German, Hook popped up, totally no selling.
Blocked a thrust kick, German with a bridge, two only. Another, same result. Perry grabbed the ref to block another, mule kick to Hook, his Hidden Blade variation (still doesn’t have a name), Hook kicked out.
A frustrated Perry headed out to grab the belt, was caught in a face lock, he ran Hook into the ref, crushing him in the corner, then ate a head and arm suplex. Giving Hook a visual pin. Ref stayed down, Perry cracked Hook with the belt, slow three count leading to a new champ.
One of a few titles that doesn’t really need to exist – though at least this served a storyline purpose since Perry snapped in-part because he promised to win one.
Was fine. Crowd heated for parts of it, quiet for others. Plenty of boos for the former Jungle Boy.
Taz promised this wasn’t over.
Winner: Jack Perry
Backstage to Alex Marvez – they refrained from calling him ‘Scoops’ this week – chasing the ‘biggest story in wrestling’, whether Chris Jericho will join with Don Callis.
They showed footage of the two eating together. Callis spotted Marvez and sent a goon to shoo him away.
*****
Adam Cole & MJF: they were in a parking lot so Cole could help Max face his fear of spicy food. They went into a Chinese restaurant (is Chinese all that spicy?) – Max wasn’t happy since he figured there’d be poor people inside.
Max recapped last week’s match to Cole – talking about his slam on Bill as if it was Hulk vs Andre. Their order came – looked like sweet and sour chicken – and was way too hot for both. Apparently it arrived before they’d even ordered drinks, four arrived, in like tiki cups with straws and fruit.
Despite this they believed the drinks were water and guzzled them but thought something was ‘off’ about them. The waiter explained they were ‘100% alcohol’.
They said ‘What the …!’ at the same time. Tee hee.
Cut to Max recapping last week’s match again, Cole groaned. Then pointed out that the waiter reminded him of Sammy Guevara. Max said he was more like Daniel Garcia. I think they were supposed to be drunk.
Cole said he was ‘proud’ of MJF for facing his fears. There was only one thing left to do – ‘DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE!!!’ – cut to a slo-mo shot of them heading toward the waiter mid-move.
Which was vaguely amusing. Outside of that, I’m hoping whoever wrote this had fun so that at least someone did.
They’ve done a hell of a job building that Double Clothesline tbf.
*****
More from Marvez re: Callis & Jericho. As the two arrived at the arena in a white limo. They called Marvez an idiot. Excalibur did call him ‘Alex Scoops’ once more.
Kayla Sparks vs Britt Baker
Backstory: None
Excalibur referred to Baker as the winner of last year’s Owen Hart Cup, briefly touching upon this year’s victors this past Saturday.
Sparks hit an elbow strike then took a slingblade. Apparently a devastating one since it allowed Britt time to dramatically take out and put on her gloves, do the ‘D…M…D’ thing then hit a splash in the corner.
Underhook throw, swinging neckbreaker, Lockjaw.
Crowd continue to be flat outside of high and crowd participation spots.
Winner: Britt Baker
Renee with MJF & Cole. She asked if they were surprised at their chemistry. Cole said ‘Not at all’. Both vowed to win the match and hit the Double Clothesline. Max said that unlike Sammy & his wife ‘We don’t need Plan B’.
And they would ‘dance all over’ Garcia.
Max had another gift for Cole. Matching trunks. Cole had them matching jackets – the gear white mixed with ‘Burberry’.
Cole promised one more surprise. But Max had to ‘wait and see’. They walked off together giggling. As Roderick Strong came in shouting after Cole. Renee asked him a question about them – unfortunately requiring him to act – ‘Renee, not right now’.
He looked maniacal here with his neck brace and all. And sad at his friend totally ignoring him. Almost as if he’s going heel.
MJF & Adam Cole vs Sammy Guevara & Daniel Garcia
Backstory: Winner gets a tag title shot
Facing off against the biggest babyfaces in the company isn’t going to help Sammy if they’re still determined for him to be one.
They showed the various ways Garcia & Guevara had fluked their way to the final of this prestigious tournament. Jericho’s music kicked in, not much of a reaction at first, slightly bigger pop as he hit the ramp.
He demanded they cut out his music, the crowd booed but then sang it acapella. Until Max’s music played. Who got a huge reaction in his new gear. Excalibur was surprised by this. He then did the whole – cut my music so Cole can get the big entrance thing – only for his own music to play once more.
Turned out to be a mashup of Cole’s lyrics with his theme. Delighted, Max whirled Cole around in his arms to the biggest cheer of the night. I’ll say it again, if they’d done this stuff with anybody else, it could’ve been so effective in building a tag team the fans loved.
MJF again made a big point of playing babyface, slapping hands and all.
Jericho joined on comms. To say Sammy & Garcia were doing exactly what he asked of them a few weeks back – flying on their own. Schiavone asked him about his lunch with Callis. Jericho said they were still negotiating.
Schiavone did at least call out how ‘disingenuous’ Max was slapping hands with fans and etc.
Massive cheer as Cole and MJF hit the ring, the match about to start. Huge ‘double clothesline’ chant. Turns out fans like characters and stories.
The ref kept trying to call for the bell – Garcia stopped him and danced, Max danced back. They kept stopping the bell until Max called for a ‘dance off’. Schiavone really wanted them to just wrestle.
Max hit a button at ringside – the lights dimmed, disco music played and spotlights hit the ring as Sammy & Garcia went first. It was fairly amusing, though not a patch on Schiavone’s disgusted – ‘This really sucks’.
Sammy hit his pose a la the Sex Gods and Garcia dived so his head popped through between Sammy’s legs. Mere words can’t really do this justice. Laughed out loud at that.
MJF’s turn – he danced for a bit then pointed to Cole who was decidedly uninterested.
Unlike the others, Cole was not trying to look remotely cool or rhythmic. Awkwardly humping the air instead.
Again, a lot of this is very entertaining and amusing out of context. I.e. If you ignore that this is the world champion and a match for a chance at the tag titles. They’re also clearly trying to keep the first hour light ahead of a serious hour of action so as not to burn out the crowd.
‘Please ring the bell, I beg you’ asked Schiavone as the record scratched, the lights came on and the heels sneak attacked.
Garcia grabbed a headlock, Max poked the eyes, Cole did the same, Garcia then wandered between the pair eating rights. As they called for the Double Clothesline. Sammy broke it up to boos, the heels hit the apron and were knocked off.
MJF starting a clap, readying a dive and of course not delivering. Just hitting the ropes over and over before posing. Then took a shot to the back from Garcia as the ads arrived.
MJF down, Sammy to the top, he raced down to cut-off the tag, took a shoulder block, Max staggered around in ultra-cartoonish fashion before plummeting down onto Sammy’s genitals.
I don’t see how they keep him heel after all this. He’s way too entertaining.
Both down, Max making the crawl, Garcia cut him off, Max kicked him away, same thing with Sammy, both heels grabbed him, calling for the double clothesline, allowing Max to make the tag.
Cole in – pump and thrust kicks, crowd hot, to the top, Panama Sunrise avoided, Garcia stomped him down in the corner. He danced at the ref and took a superkick when he turned around. Boom coming, Sammy grabbed the boot but took a superkick out of a springboard, both heels down, Cole eyeing Max, it’s time…
Maybe not, Sammy ducked the Double Clothesline then countered a second into a double Spanish Fly for 2.5. To the top, Max caught him coming off, they wrestled to the ropes, blind tag to Cole, who superkicked Sammy, leaving the heels down once more.
The heels again thwarted the Clothesline, Garcia in, hooking the Dragon Slayer, Cole got the ropes. Then elevated Garcia over the ropes onto Guevara, calling for MJF to dive. He hit the ropes again but couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Cole took out both heels with superkicks then called for it again – Max hit a tope through the ropes to a MASSIVE cheer. There’s a lesson there.
Inside, Cole hit Panama Sunrise to Garcia, called for the Clothesline, tag to Max, they hit it and no-one kicks out of that.
They’ll face FTR for the belts on Saturday 29th.
Jericho left to ‘console my guys’. They walked right past him on the ramp. Still cannot tell what Jericho’s supposed to be. Partly since it’s hard to tell what Sammy & Garcia are supposed to be.
The ref handed Cole the belt to pass to Max, he stopped and stared, Max wasn’t happy. The crowd chanted ‘Hug it out’, they did. Max smiled. Until Cole turned his back.
Baffled that they’re building a world title match this way. Totally backwards. Unless this is intended to be a double turn?
FTR’s music intervened, they hit the ramp to a nice pop then talked smack face-to-face with their upcoming challengers. For quite a long time. Almost seemed like another shoe was going to drop. Cole & MJF’s music played, as Dax went to the camera to tell ‘Tony (Khan)’ that next time they should play their music since ‘we’re the damn champions’.
Really enjoying the tag titles being something worthwhile again. That should be another really good match. Presumably Cole and Max will wrestle a little more seriously there.
Winner: MJF & Adam Cole
Highlights from Collision, complete with the weekly technical snafu. Including highlighting Ricky Starks stealing the pin from Punk then snatching the trophy from Jushin Liger.
*****
Renee with the Best Friends, Cassidy, Kris Statlander, Darby Allin & Nick Wayne. Who are all wrestling on either Rampage or at the ROH ppv. Allin said he was going to see Swerve in the battle royal.
Then asked Orange to give his friend AR Fox a title shot. Cassidy agreed.
The extended Best Friends did a ‘hands in’ thing. Allin and Wayne wanted no part of it.
*****
A shark mascot then appeared behind the announcers to push Shark Week. Then Rampage. Which’ll have that big battle royal thing they do.
Blood & Guts
(Golden Elite) Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Hangman Page & the Young Bucks
vs
(BCC) Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita & Pac
Backstory: Goes back to the BCC taking out the Bucks months ago, Don Callis turning on Omega to help Mox win a cage match & more recently each side revealing Pac & Ibushi as their fifths
You’ll be amazed to hear the BCC won the coin flip. Claudio out first, through the crowd.
Break.
Before Kenny Omega came out to begin things for the Elite. Seems they’re going to do entrances for each guy rather than having them wait outside the cage. Loud ‘Kenny’ chant as he reached the cage.
Bell, grapple, Claudio on top, big uppercuts and kicks, Kenny firing back – rapid chops and strikes – until Castagnoli’s strength came through once more. Crowd exceptionally quiet.
As Claudio blocked a suplex, launching one of his own, Kenny slipping behind but caught into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Adjusting out of a backdrop to land on his feet between rings, to the top, big cross body, shots from the mount.
A section of the crowd kept chanting for them to use the other ring (I guess they’d only used one all night). Claudio cleverly faked doing so then deliberately didn’t, allowing the babyface Omega to take things to that ring. Nice work.
Axe-handle to the back, stinging chop in the corner, another, a third – before stomping the Swiss down and working the crowd.
Claudio got a boot up, uppercut, slam, elbow drop. Another uppercut rocking Omega back to the corner where Castagnoli worked him over. The pair clearly pacing themselves here ahead of a long night.
As the commentators listed the numerous injuries that’ve happened in this match.
Omega vaulted to avoid a charging Claudio, rolling through and popping up into a beautiful hurracanrana that left the crowd ‘oohing’. That athleticism’s just crazy. Explosive.
Countdown clock – Pac time, Claudio down, Omega watching and waiting for the Geordie (someone from Newcastle). Allowing Castagnoli to strike from behind.
(The heels coming through the crowd takes ages and kinda kills the advantage idea. Claudio had to attack here so there wasn’t too long a lull.)
Speaking of explosive, god damn I’ve missed Pac – shotgun off the top, heel kick to the gut, one to the mush, running dropkick to the head. So smooth, looks and sounds brutal.
Break.
The heels’ advantage gone as we returned, countdown clock up, Cowboy time. He went to work on the heels, big rights, chants of ‘Cowboy S’ and maybe some boos? Omega still down, Pac to the ropes, caught into a fallaway, springboard lariat to Claudio, Pac planted via powerbomb.
He was then caught posing on the ropes but came off via moonsault onto Claudio, running through his usual ‘comeback’ despite the cage. Omega back up, they targeted Pac in the corner with splashes, into a double-team rolling elbow/German combo.
Page set Pac between the ropes and the cage in one ring, Omega did the same to Claudio in the other for stereo big boots. Omega then rattling the Swiss against the steel. Before being flung into it himself.
As Pac and Page grappled.
Countdown clock – Moxley – big pop.
And of course, when he enters the wrestling ends. He brought a screwdriver. Moxley’s one of my favorite guys, but he’s way past overdoing it with this. Especially since no-one even sells it.
He stabbed both guys then handed it to Claudio, revealing it was a fork instead. He jabbed both guys. Then grabbed a bucket of something. As Hangman fought back with rapid rights until being dropped via a lariat we barely saw.
Then poured broken glass onto the mat. Groan.
Sides about to be even – Nick Jackson out. Again maybe some boos? As he hit the ring, fighting 3-on-1, dropkick from the top, Mox landing in the glass, avoided Claudio who nearly smashed into Pac, allowing him to run wild with dropkicks and superkicks to all three before sending Pac to the opposite ring via lariat, out-to-in facebuster to Claudio, cutter through the ropes to Pac, crowd wild. Great sequence.
Before he landed a rope-walk springboard hurracanrana, Claudio landing in the glass. Mox quickly striking, dropping him in the sharp stuff then stomping some into his chest. He and Claudio then suplexed Omega into it.
Just gross. Omega’s back riddled with it for another forty minutes.
Time for another heel – Yuta. Thought he might be last since he was apparently banged up after the recent match with Omega.
Break.
Again we missed the entire ‘heat’, Matt Jackson out as we came back.
Lariat to Pac, superkick fake before ddt’ing Yuta into a chair, sliced bread to Claudio off Mox’s chest and a spear to Mox. Nick upstairs, Risky Business to Mox, Hangman back up, Omega to his knees, all eight fighting across both rings.
Mox crushed both Bucks via KKL in the corner, snap suplexes as they stumbled out. Omega hit a Kintaro Crusher to Yuta, both landing in the glass, Omega grabbing his backside, seemingly the worse-off. Hate it.
Takeshita out to Callis’ new weird music that’s basically one sound. Chair in hand, he took out Page, fought off the Bucks via double German, Calllis out on comms. As Takeshita hit a massive lariat to poor Kenny who landed in the glass once more.
None of which is apparently enough since Moxley now dragged out a bed of nails. If I wasn’t covering this, I’d have turned this off now.
‘It is Blood & Guts’ said Excalibur. Yes, it’s supposed to be an eventual result of the fighting, not a guarantee.
He propped the nails in the corner, spikes out. Omega desperately fighting not to be sent into it until being dropkicked back-first into the nails. Just gross.
He was then slammed right onto it.
There are still over twenty minutes left, is a lava pit next?
Ibushi time, the crowd counting down – ‘the Golden Star’ introduced, pausing to bask in the glow of the crowd while his best friend dies on a bed of nails. Loud ‘Ibushi’ chants after Yuta met him on the ramp and was instantly laid out.
He laid out all of the heels with one shot, leaving Mox – pouring blood of course, to flip him off while driving Omega’s hand into the nails. Rights, lefts and kicks leaving Moxley on the mat until Claudio struck from behind. As Nick and Takeshita scrapped in the other ring.
Ibushi hit a weak double Pele kick to Pac and Claudio, Yuta and Matt fighting atop the ramp, Ibushi kicked Mox down back-first onto the nails then hit a moonsault. Takeshita brawling with the Golden Lovers, V-Trigger, Kamagoye ready, Claudio and Pac made the save.
Castagnoli flung Nick into the cage, he rebounded and smashed his hip against the apron, not remotely in control of his landing.
Break.
Matt and Yuta fighting atop the cage when we came back – locomotion Northern lights, nearing the edge, Matt pointing off the edge, Yuta countered into a ddt.
They chose this moment to plug the Red Cross and giving blood – Taz laughed, Schiavone laughed, I laughed, Excalibur just about held it together.
Yuta climbed down, Matt remained up there. It’s hard to document now since they keep cutting and showing wide shots. Mox hit a piledriver to Ibushi. Pac and Claudio readied piledrivers, Matt poured a bag of thumb tacks down from the top, allowing Kenny and Ibushi to backdrop the heels into them.
Nick threw superkicks to any heels standing and even those who weren’t. As the crowd chanted for tables. One was propped in the corner, as a ‘we want fire’ chant began. Well, you immediately gave ‘em the last thing they asked for…
Omega hit You Can’t Escape to Pac, Hangman a running shooting star, the Bucks both came off the top, the crowd going wild, Omega badly favoring his knee after smashing it against the mat. Crowd chanting for the Elite as we headed to another break.
Too many of those.
After basically murdering people all match, Mox raked his nails on Hangman’s back. The heels hit superplexes one after another until Pac swung from the top of the cage to stomp Nick through a table. Crazy. Something like that should probably end the match.
The heels grouped in one ring, the faces in another, they met in the middle for a fist fight. The Bucks hit superkicks to Claudio and Yuta but were run over by Takeshita, who was smashed by Page, who was cutter’d by Mox, who was knee-strike’d by Ibushi, who was enziguri’d by Pac, who was snap dragon’d into the glass by Omega.
OWA ready, Pac slipped behind into the Brutalizer, Takeshita got a sleeper on Ibushi, Claudio hit a giant swing to Matt – yay heels! – into a Sharpshooter. Ibushi went round breaking all the submissions with strikes, but couldn’t budge Claudio until a third kick to the chest.
An Ibushi chant as Mox kissed Omega then the camera, getting blood all over it. They all attacked Omega in the corner, he slipped free, causing Pac and Claudio to collide, Pac wasn’t happy.
Mox tried to break it up as they went chest to chest. Pac flipped off the Swiss then left. Guess that’s the ROH title match. Much as with the handy bag of tacks atop the cage, there was a pair of bolt cutters under the ring the whole time that Pac knew about! How useful.
Omega struck with V-triggers and Snapdragons to all heels, Page hit the apron, Claudio kindly stood still to take a Buckshot, Yuta ate a Buckshot/V-Trigger combo, they cuffed Moxley to the ropes, Matt hit Yuta with a superkick with a different shoe – guess maybe it had nails, they never told us.
Anyway, Yuta was bleeding. As Callis dragged Takeshita away so he wouldn’t lose. And they confirmed Matt did have tacks in his shoe and choked Yuta out with a chain. Mox surrendered so Yuta wouldn’t die.
Flat finish – the faces with a 5-on-3 advantage. Non-pinfalls or taps don’t really work before mainstream crowds.
Maybe I’m one of those ‘soft’ people Punk referred to a few weeks back. But I just spend matches like these cringing and hoping the real-life people are okay.
And was hoping this’d be a vehicle to propel Takeshita. Maybe he’d start. The only person it really featured was Ibushi, and even then only briefly since it’s such a busy match.
Not my thing.
Winner: Golden Elite
________________________________________________________________
Next Collision:
- House of Black vs the Acclaimed & Billy Gunn (Trios Titles) (What a build!)
- More matches announced on Rampage
July 29th Collision:
- FTR vs MJF & Adam Cole (Tag Titles)
Thumbs Up/Down
- The entertainment value of MJF & Adam Cole
- Nice job building storylines & matches – Jericho/Callis, Jericho/JAS, FTR/MJF&Cole
*****
- Perry and Hook didn’t feel remotely like a grudge match, lots of ref silliness too
- Blood & Guts was too, well, Blood & Guts
I’ll be putting up a more detailed thumbs up/down later today (Thursday).
Appreciate you reading. Hope you’re enjoying the summer.
The BCC vs The Golden Elite in Blood & Guts match tonight on Dynamite
It’s another big night for AEW as Blood & Guts will headline Dynamite live on TBS from the TD Garden in Boston.
The double-ring cage Blood & Guts match will feature The Blackpool Combat Club with Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita, and PAC versus The Golden Elite with Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Hangman Adam Page, and The Young Bucks.
Also on tonight’s broadcast are Hook vs Jungle Boy for the FTW title and the final of the Blind Eliminator Tournament with Adam Cole and AEW World champion MJF versus Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia.
Rick Steiner banned again from WrestleCon after refusing to publicly apologize
The Rick Steiner at WrestleCon saga took another twist this week just days after he was allowed to return for the Detroit event during SummerSlam weekend.
Steiner was forced to leave WrestleCon in April during WrestleMania weekend after he hurled several homophobic insults at Gisele Shaw during one of the sessions. He was eventually escorted out and later privately apologized in a meeting setup between WrestleCon and Impact Wrestling. Shaw chose not to attend the meeting.
Late last week, WrestleCon issued a statement saying that Steiner will be allowed back because everyone deserves a second chance and he made an apology in the private meeting, as well as they did not have a code of conduct in place.
But after backlash from fans online and a discussion with SB Nation’s Brian Bell, they agreed that at least Steiner should publicly apologize for his actions and gave him 24 hours to do it.
“Unfortunately, there is not currently and we do not expect to receive such a statement, and we have therefore made a decision to revoke our permission for him to attend,” WrestleCon said in a statement.
In addition, WrestleCon has teamed up with Starrcast, Wrestlecade, and The Gathering to draft a code of conduct and anti-harassment policy which will apply to their future events.
Tony Khan on three-hour Dynamite: “It’s something I’d have to think about a lot”
During a media call with the press ahead of tonight’s Blood & Guts and this Friday’s Death Before Dishonor ROH pay-per-view, AEW President Tony Khan was quizzed about a potential third hour of Dynamite.
One reason why many fans hate Raw, a third hour add-on to Dynamite would expand AEW television to six hours per week, just one shy of WWE. Not to mention, AEW would get additional revenue from WBD for an other hour of live TV.
“Interesting question,” Khan admitted after a pause. “It’s something I’d have to think about a lot.”
Khan said that this past weekend’s three-hour block on TNT with Collision and Battle of the Belts did very well, saying the ratings were “very strong and positive” while touting the fact that both shows were in the top 5 of the cable TV chart for the night.
“So, now the question is, is that something we would want to do going forward? I’ll have to talk to them about it. The numbers just came in, and we’re still digging through them,” Khan continued. “So it’s something to analyze and think about. But certainly, as a three-hour block of wrestling on Saturday night, it did very well. I’m not sure what that would mean for future weekends or Wednesdays.”
Khan noted that they found a “really good rhythm” with two hours of Dynamite, two hours of Collision, and one hour of Rampage.
“It’s something to certainly think about. I’m glad that it went well this weekend and gave people something to think about,” he concluded.
WWE holds red carpet premiere for American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes
WWE and Peacock held a red carpet premiere for the launch of American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes yesterday in Sandy Springs, Georgia.
Several stars, including his wife Brandi, Matt Cardona and his wife one half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team champions Chelsea Green, Diamond Dallas Page and his wife Payge and many other friends and family attended the event.
The highly-anticipated Peacock Original documentary will debut on July 31 and will chronicle Cody’s journey in professional wrestling, from his early start to returning to WWE at WrestleMania and his injury.
In one of the red carpet interviews, Cody told Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful that The Young Bucks allowed WWE to use several footage from their YouTube series Being The Elite and their addition was instrumental to the making of the documentary.
Raw rating for 07/17/2023
Monday Night Raw drew 1,855,000 viewers this week, up slightly by 45,000 viewers from last week’s broadcast.
Raw started the night with 1,881,000 viewers and then increased to 1,939,000 viewers in the second hour before dropping off to 1,745,000 in the third and final hour.
The show drew a 0.57 rating in the 18-49 demo, up 0.01 from last week’s broadcast. Raw was #1 in all of cable and network television on Monday. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
Logan Paul pushing for first match at SummerSlam
During the latest episode of Impalusive, Logan Paul said that he’s trying to be the opening match of the night at SummerSlam.
Paul made the request to WWE so he could then fly straight out to Dallas on a private jet to accompany his brother to his boxing match against Nate Diaz.
Paul said that they did the math and even if everything falls into place, it will still be barely doable to be in Dallas at the arena in time so he might not even be able to walk out with his brother.
“My brother, who is fighting on the same night in Dallas…as soon as my match ends, I’m going to hop on a PJ, fly to Dallas in my gear, and walk in the ring with my brother for his fight against Nate Diaz,” Paul said. “I’m going to try to. I don’t know if I’m going to make it, but I think if I do, it’ll be minutes. Like, I walk into the venue, round one Jake Paul/Nate Diaz starts!”
Smackdown and Survivor Series 2023 combo pre-sale kicks off
The pre-sale for the Survivor Series 2023 and Smackdown the night before kicked off today on Ticketmaster.com using the code SSCOMBO. Both shows will be at the Allstate Arena in Chicago.
Single-event tickets are not yet available and won’t be available either when tickets go on general public sale this Friday at 10AM CT. Depending on how many tickets remain available, single-event tickets will be put up for sale later.
Limited view seats start at $70 plus fees for both shows and other tickets start from $120 plus fees. Floor tickets are available from $750.
Judging by the first look, thousands and thousands of tickets were sold and not many tickets remain available as of press time.
Dominik Mysterio wins the NXT North American title
Dirty Dom has done it! Months after serving hard time and overcoming all the odds in prison, Dominik Mysterio has won his first gold in WWE – the NXT North American title.
Dom headlined NXT on USA Network last night with Wes Lee and with the help – of course – of his Judgment Day members, he pinned to champion.
Balor distracted the referee and Priest tried to deck Lee with the title but Lee escaped that. As he stood in the corner, Rhea Ripley ran in and used her Women’s World title to crack Lee with it. Mysterio then pinned Lee for the three-count, messing up The Great American Bash match between Lee and Mustafa Ali for the title.
NXT ended with Judgment Day standing tall in the middle of the ring.
It was a long title reign for Lee, who held it for 269 days after winning it in a ladder match at Halloween Havoc.
Thumbs Up/Down: Collision 07/15/2023
(So this is a little late. Going forward, I’m hoping to do these the day after the show. Some of you may struggle to believe I still have unexpressed thoughts after the reviews, yet it’s true).
UP
FTR vs Bullet Club Gold
There’s nowhere else to start. This was – easily – my favourite match of 2023.
It had more back-and-forth than Omega/Ospreay I – which was basically Omega beating the crap out of Will for forty minutes. None of the Callis-related plot holes of Omega/Ospreay II. And unlike Danielson/MJF, the winner here was in doubt.
The falls were well-spaced, perfectly built to and perfectly executed. And if the crowd were a mid-life crisis on a bender, the match was a hot blonde. Batting her eyelashes via Bret spots.
In the past two shows, these four have established:
- Jay & Juice as a force to be reckoned with
- FTR as legit champs
- The tag titles as something to chase & fight for
- Collision as the place to see tag wrestling
Without even saying a word.
And there’s still Aussie Open to come. Punk’s masterplan to force the Bucks into demanding a move to Saturday Night is taking shape (joke!).
Commentary
About fifteen minutes into the above, Juice Robinson kicked out of a pin at one. The rare early kickout leaving Ian Riccaboni wondering if Juice was panicking and didn’t trust himself to rest an extra second before doing so. Nigel McGuinness disagreed: it surely showed Robinson had plenty in the tank.
An authentic, realistic discussion of big match strategy between two commentators taking opposing sides. A long, long way from inside jokes and attempts to make one-another giggle.
Nor do they assume the viewer watches every second of everything AEW puts out.
And in McGuinness’ case, he’s reviving the art of the heel commentator who so blatantly roots for the villains that even he no longer knows when he’s being genuine. He frames everything from their perspective, to such a ridiculous degree you can’t help but root against them and him.
And is an entertaining character in his own right, without – crucially – taking attention away from the acts themselves. Quite the contrary.
Whether these two or Kevin Kelly, Collision’s commentary is lapping Dynamite.
Unpredictability
The HOB squash aside, every other match on the show could’ve gone either way.
As a viewer, if the outcome can’t be predicted, then I need to stay and watch. Pretty simple.
Promos at the top
The second the show starts, these set the tone. They aren’t rushing to guys already in the ring, or trying to squeeze three segments into one to bombard the audience into sticking around.
Collision’s vibe is Here’s what we have to offer, we think you’ll like it.
A far cry from Dynamite’s Please don’t change the channel, please don’t change the channel, please don’t change the channel…
DOWN
Lack of forward planning
This is the only real critique here. It just reveals itself in a variety of ways.
Foremostly in the total lack of anything advertised for the next show.
That just cannot happen. And has done so twice since Collision started. Suggesting AEW are booking on the run. Aided by a bunch of tournament matches which basically book themselves while eating up a lot of show time.
As if the six hours of tv demands filling by any means and we’ll worry about next Saturday next Thursday.
More storyline hooks are needed – along the lines of Sting & Darby’s reveal on the second episode. Want to know who their partner is? You’ll have to tune in.
Andrade vs House of Black
Give me back my mask! No! Seriously give it back! No!
I’m waiting for someone to go tell the teacher.
Unless viewers are hugely invested in whether El Idolo does recover his property – and since there’s no backstory, we’ve been given no reason to be – the only thing fans are tuning in for is the match itself whenever it occurs.
There’s no reason to join in along the way. Consider the Punk/MJF build last year – you couldn’t simply tune-in for the match and get as much out of it as someone who watched every week.
This should’ve been laid out in a way to explain the mask’s significance long before the feud began.
Miro & Scorpio Sky
We’ll breeze past Sky since he was mentioned but not highlighted ahead of the show’s debut.
The former Bulgarian Brute on the other hand – was given a big return and reveal on Dynamite a couple months back. Portrayed along with Punk and a select few as a major reason to check-out the show.
A month in, say a fellow fan who didn’t watch asked what Miro was up to, the best answer’d be a shrugging ‘Iontknow’.
Can’t imagine that’d sway them to sit around their screen on a Saturday. Not in the same way as ‘Man, him and Joe are going to war! The first week Joe jumped him after a match, the next week they had this huge brawl and had to be separated, it was crazy’.
(For Joe insert Hobbs, Malakai, Brody or hell even Lance Archer. Big Bill’s not up to much. Let’s have a monster battle.)
It isn’t enough to just throw someone out there on tv. Not even close. Ask Wardlow.
Battle of the Belts VII rating
Battle of the Belts VII drew 524,000 viewers on Saturday night following Collision, up 109,000 viewers from BOTB VI in April. The lead-in of Collision certainly helped AEW this time around, with BOTB retaining almost all of Collision’s audience. The show did a 0.15 rating in 18-49, up 0.1 from April’s show. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
Collision rating for 07/15/2023
Collision on Saturday night, headlined by the Owen Hart Cup tournament finals, drew 579,000 viewers, just 1,000 viewers down from the previous week. The show did a 0.20 rating in 18-49, down 0.01 from the July 8 episode. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)
WWE’s UK broadcaster BT Sport officially renames to TNT Sports
BT Sport in the United Kingdom has officially switched to TNT Sports as part of the merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
It’s a bit of an irony that WWE in the UK and Ireland now airs on a channel owned by WBD, which has the television rights for All Elite Wrestling in the United States.
While WWE will continue to air on the BT Sport app for now, everything is already included with the Discovery+ app, which is part of any BT package which includes TNT Sports for no extra cost.
The TNT Sports name officially took over today and WWE shows on linear TV will air on TNT Sports 1.
For more information go to www.bt.com/sport.
Rampage rating for 07/14/2023
Rampage had a rough night on Friday, drawing just 310,000 viewers on TNT, down 58,000 viewers from the previous week. The show had a 0.10 rating in 18-49, down 0.02 from last week. This was the second least-watched show of Rampage in its usual 10PM time slot ever. (Ratings credit: Wrestlenomics)