This was a card loaded with good matches, but not a lot of good stories.
To that end, the PPV itself was a fun watch. Matches were entertaining and some of the finishes were a bit surprising. Adam Copeland, formerly known as Edge in WWE, made his debut and while it was a successful one, was it a new era as Tony Khan promised? Eh, not really. Not at all, actually. But hey, promoters have to promote.
Here are my Brass Ring Ratings for the show and here’s how they work … I call it like I see em and always happy to discuss.
MJF vs. The Righteous - ROH World Tag Team Championship
A fine match. I take that back. A cute match. This was a cute match and that just isn’t what you want for your AEW World Champion and unquestionable top star. Loads of problems with this on the ROH side, but nobody cares about ROH.
OO1/2
Eddie Kingston vs. Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW Strong Openweight Championship
This was really good. Extremely hard-hitting and exactly what you’d expect from the two in the best way possible. Surprised that Shibata took as much punishment as he did, but it was one of his better matches since returning from a very serious injury.
OOO1/4
Kris Statlander vs. Julia Hart - TBS Championship
A surprise. Statlander and Hart worked very well together and Hart was particularly impressive. She uses her character as a part of her matches and it works well. Hart could have gone over here, but Statlander taking the win is fine provided she’s featured consistently moving forward.
OO3/4
The Young Bucks vs. Orange Cassidy & Hook vs. Lucha Brothers vs. The Gunns - AEW World Tag Team Championship Number One Contender Match
All action and all Young Bucks style. If you like that, this was for you. If not, well, yikes. Orange Cassidy involved in this instead of something meaningful after his run with the AEW International Championship is a big miss.
OO1/2
Swerve Strickland vs. Adam Page
Awesome. These guys worked great together. The action was smooth and ambitious with some really big spots throughout. The psychology and finish would have worked better had they not been in Swerve’s hometown. That said, I have to believe this is the first of a few matches between these two.
OOOO1/4
Ricky Starks vs. Wheeler Yuta
It was what it was. This match on the card always felt like a way to just get Starks on the card. He won and that was it.
OO1/2
Bryan Danielson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Jon Moxley said it all on commentary at the end of the match. “Holy shit.” I liked this a lot. This was technically sound and exciting. A mat-based clash in front of thousands. These two didn’t hold back. Must-see.
OOOO1/4
Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, & Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay, Konosuke Takeshita, & Sammy Guevara
This was fun? I’m not really sure. Tons of action and cool callback moments to Ospreay/Omega and Ospreay/Ibushi. The Takeshita stuff was most entertaining. Yes, he dropped guys on their heads, but isn’t that what Takeshita does? The Don Callis Family going over strong was the way to book the finish, which was sloppy.
OOO
FTR vs. Aussie Open - AEW World Tag Team Championship
My kind of tag team match. This was built around a batch of near falls for both teams, but wasn’t overly ambitious in that regard. Aussie Open hung with FTR, but the match was held back by The Young Bucks winning earlier in the night. It was hard to forget that fact and open the mind to the notion that FTR might lose. Just didn’t seem to be in the cards and the audience seemed to know it.
OOO1/2
Christian Cage vs. Darby Allin - TNT Championship
Wild match with lots in it, but overall it was well done. Darby securing the first fall set up the rest of the match, which saw him playing from behind. Darby took some sick bumps on the steel stairs before getting turned on by his protege, Nick Wayne, and getting smashed in the face by the title belt he was trying to win. Who knows how long Darby can keep up this match style. It was brutal. Christian Cage was excellent and played up the heel role perfectly, which generated a clearly positive reaction for Darby opposite a clearly negative reaction for himself.
Adam Copeland, formerly known as Edge in WWE, made the save for Allin and Sting during a post-match beatdown by Cage and company and got a tremendous response. We’ll see what Edge going to AEW means from a numbers perspective, but this was a good first chapter for his time with the company.