For the first time this year, Wrestling let me breath. AEW had two big events, while WWE took a back seat after a blow out August. Ultimately thanks to life getting in the way, International wrestling fell to the wayside this month. The recap will be focused on American soil, more so than normal. Fret not, There is still so much to go over.
with only two weeks in between ALL IN and ALL OUT, AEW was making moves to set up the card for their Chicago PPV. The show kicked off with Daniel Garcia storming the ring claiming patience is a virtue, but he is not virtuous. I chuckled a bit. The two exchanged words back and forth but this was Garcia's moment, he absolutely cooked MJF.
"I want you to suffer and I want the people who love you to suffer too. If you can find a woman who pretends to care about you for longer than a year, I want you to marry her, get a house, and have a kid... But just remember every time you pick up that ugly baby, you’ll feel a tingle down your neck to your toes, and you’ll think about me... your kid is going to ask you, ‘Daddy, were you a wrestler?’ And you’ll have to say, ‘I was, until Daniel Garcia ended my career."
MJF claimed that he was simply trying to protect DG from the vitriol of the fans, because they will definitely turn on him. DG was truly being a hater and MJF simply couldn't contend. Despite Garcia winning the verbal altercation, MJF was left standing tall after smashing a bottle of wine on Garcia's Head. The segment ended with MJF giving a knocked out Garcia a big smooch on the forehead.
Kazuchika Okada defended his Continental Championship against Kyle Fletcher. I absolutely expected this match to be fun, the build up to Kyle and Ospreay against The Elite has been quick but very entertaining. The Rain Maker vs. The Protostar ran through almost all of its time, I was hoping Kyle would be able to draw Okada, but he refused to let that happen. As one minute remained, Okada disposed of the referee, and hit Kyle with a low blow followed by a Rainmaker clothesline for the bell. Kyle Fletcher's nickname is spot on, he is a future star in AEW.
Mariah May and Nyla Rose clashed for the AEW Women's World Title in a match that was only 10 minutes and should've been much longer. Mariah got a clean win over a former world champion, another notch in her belt.
Truly the pinnacle of Dynamite was the reveal of Adam Page burning down the recently repurchased childhood home of Swerve Strickland. My feud and match of the year from 2023, Swerve and Page could literally feud forever and I'd be happy. I wasn't sure if they would be able to top arson.
The tiktok viral father and son duo, The Costco Guys appeared during the zero hour show. A surreal cameo that will come back up in the future. Mark this for when AJ (aka Eric Justice) appears in the ring with The Acclaimed or something. I was excited to see Garcia and MJF who opened the main show. I really wanted this to be Garcia's break through match, the step stone for him to finally hold gold in AEW. In typical MJF fashion, he stole a victory with a kick to the balls. It completely sucked the air out of the match for me. Even though MJF tried to get one over on DG one last time by offering a handshake. Garcia saw right through it and returned the low blow, spat on him. MJF may have been the victor of the match, but Daniel Garcia stood tall over a bloody MJF after a piledriver.
In a dream match, Will Ospreay defended the International Championship against PAC. I really thought these two men were going to kill each other. PAC is an absolute staple of AEW and I long for the day where he holds singles gold. This was two of the best in the world flipping, flopping and dropping each other for 20 minutes.
A Chicago Street Fight between Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale, a collision we have been anticipating for months now. We thought his would be a match at ALL IN a few weeks earlier but instead we got a mixed tag match with Statlander and Stokely Hathaway against Nightingale and Big Tom Tomohiro Ishii. This was a fantastic blow out match, with earned violence, and an impactful ending. This match was a highlight reel, every bump was must see. Statlander was dropped into a split onto thumbtacks and both competitors took nasty bumps through tables. Ultimately Kris Statlander walked out the victor after submitting Willow with a chain. I'm not sure what's next for these two but I will be tuned in.
Kazuchika Okada successfully defended the Continental Championship against Konosuke Takeshita, Mark Briscoe, and Orange Cassidy. I truly hope this leads to a big feud between Okada and Takeshita. As of writing, I don't see this likely. Mercedes Moné faced Hikaru Shida in a standard singles match for the TBS Title. The crowd was actually split on this bout with back and forth dueling chants. I want to see the rematch as soon as possible and hopefully not with a silly moment of confliction about using a kendo stick from Shida.
When the AEW World Title match announced many were confused, as they thought Jack was a bad opponent for Danielson. Yet the crowd was going crazy before the match could even begin. I didn't expect a technical classic from this, but it showed that Jack Perry can hang with the best in the world. Following the match, Killswitch appeared and took out Danielson and stared down Jack. To me, time stood still. Jurassic Express together for the first time in a long time, neither could be more different than they were. Christian Cage arrived with the intention to cash in his title shot. When Jon Moxley appeared out of nowhere and stood in his way. Pac and the rest of BCC showed up which scared off The Patriarchy.
All of BCC stood in the ring to celebrate, the joy was cut down when Claudio rocks Danielson with an uppercut. PAC grabbed Yuta and held him back in the corner while Moxley placed a plastic bag over Danielson's head and choked him unconscious. A moment that will go down in AEW history, Moxley and Danielson have been explicitly aligned since March of 2022 when they formed Blackpool Combat Club. We still don't know if this new organization will continue the name of BCC, but because it's name is tied to William Regal who hasn't been with AEW in a while. I think this new group should find a new name. The image of a plastic bag on Danielson's head caused discussion about if this imagery was TOO violent. I can see the argument being made, even for me who has watched many a death match with a smile, was a little jarred by the image. Ultimately this is a TV show, and the wrestlers are actors, and that discomfort is what we were supposed to feel. I don't know, feel free to let me know what you thought about this.
Speaking of violent imagery, They surpassed arson... Swerve Strickland and Adam Page met once more in an unsanctioned lights out steel cage match. Following the chaos of their rebuild of their hatred, swerve revealed he was still stalking Page's family and told the world of his second child, Hangman burned swerve's home down. I was shocked to see they escalated their violence more. Both competitors took incredibly painful bumps onto a concrete block. A staple gun was in the hands of both competitors and they were using it like kids in a candy shop. Hangman ripped the grills out of Swerve's mouth. Swerve a long time ago said he wanted to pull the fire out of Hangman and he truly did, he just didn't know his own home would go with it. The match came to a halt when Hangman shoved a syringe through the cheek of Swerve, followed by one of the most devastating chair strikes to the head I've witnessed. I cannot imagine they encounter each other again any time soon. Hangman is an entirely different man than he was at the beginning of this feud, many of his peers now fear him, something I'm not sure he wants.
Monday Night Raw following ALL OUT featured The Wyatt Sicks against American Made in a Mixed Eight Man Tag Street Fight. This was an all out war between these teams with the Wyatt Sicks coming out on top as they should. Drew McIntyre tried to pick a fight with Wade Barrett who tried to reason with drew against his conquest of CM Punk, which resulted in Raw General Manager Adam Pearce telling him that his match at Bad Blood will be inside a Hell In a Cell. Oh and Bret Hart was on this show.
NXT featured the long awaited in ring WWE debut of Giulia against Chelsea Green, who couldn't have been a better opponent for her. Giulia unsurprisingly looked like a million bucks. During the NXT Tag Team Championship match, The Bloodline showed up and took everyone out, for some reason. Charlie Dempsey and Je'Von Evans put on a really fun Heritage Rules match for the cup, which is only marked in my notes with "fuck yeah". So I enjoyed it. Tavion Heights returned from his excursion in Japan to help Dempsey win.
Dynamite that week, I missed, and it really feels like I didn't miss anything at all. Mariah May defeated Queen Aminata in an eliminator match. AEW also put on a Casino Gauntlet match for it's tag team division, and Kyle Fletcher and Will Ospreay were victorious. Jon Moxley broke his silence after choking out Danielson. Moxley claimed that he and Danielson failed at their mission when they began BCC, AEW is overrun by egos, he needs to change it. Danielson was William Regal's favorite, but he saw himself in Moxley. He is no hero or no villain, he is simply the king of AEW. He proclaimed diplomacy has failed, he chooses war.
Monday Night RAW on September 16th, featured some decent wrestling! Sheamus and Pete Dunne clashed for hopefully not the last time. Iyo Sky and Bianca battled it out and Judgement Day successfully defended the Tag team championships against The New Day who are weeks away from breaking up it feels.
For some absurd reason we had a twenty minute long Chris Jericho match against Orange Cassidy. The Beast Mortos and Ricochet faced off one on one in the best match of the night. It is so exciting to ricochet popping off on a regular basis, plus more Beast Mortos, what's not to love? Would I sit through another twenty minute Jericho match for this? Absolutely not.
Monday the 23rd only has one thing to talk about. JEY USO WINNING THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP. Over the past few months, The man who yeets has brought some discussion about if he should or shouldn't get a singles run. I've stated before some people just don't like fun. Jey defeated Bron Breakker in what was actually a good match. I hope this title run has some interesting stories down the line. Jey was far over due for a moment like this.
AEW had their second big show of the month, AEW Grand Slam! This featured a match we never thought we'd see again, Nigel McGuinness against Bryan Danielson. For the first time in 15 years, the last time they stood across from each other was also in New York at Ring Of Honor: Glory By Honor VIII in 2009. Nigel stated in interviews during the week leading up to this match that, he retired not from injuries like most people have suspected, but because he felt there was not a place for him in wrestling, no place for him to make a living. 13 years after his in-ring retirement, he stood across from his biggest rival, competing for a world championship. Needless to say, this was special. The match was a masterclass in my opinion. These two influenced so many wrestlers across the world, and to see them again was surreal. Nigel despite not wrestling on screen in over a decade, looked like a million bucks. What makes Nigel such a great wrestler is that every strike or punch or maneuver he does, isn't exactly flashy but it looks real. These are two people who truly know what wrestling is about, and I personally hope we can see this battle of titans one more time before their careers truly wrap up.
Grand Slam powered on with Hook defeating Roderick Strong to retain the FTW title. Following the match, Hook embraced his father in their home city, and HOOK stated its time to retire the FTW Championship. The Young Bucks defended the Tag Team Championship against Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher. The focus of the match was Kyle's alignment, Don Callis looming over influencing Fletcher, culminating in Fletcher conflicted about cheating to win the titles, until Ospreay stopped him, which cost them the match.
Prince Nana spoke to the audience with the hopes of sharing Swerve's health status with the audience following his brutal match at ALL OUT. He was interrupted by the newly signed to AEW, MVP. He informed Nana that he is looking for new clients, and gave a business card for Swerve. I am so excited for what's to come here. Mariah May conquered the magical Yuka Sakazaki, in a fast paced match that didn't wait for the bell to begin. Jon Moxley stood tall at the end of the show after hitting an avalanche Death Rider DDT. Securing a world title shot at Bryan Danielson. The show ended with Danielson and Private Party fending off Moxley and crew before they could cause more chaos. Grand Slam knocked it out of the park, pun intended.
WWE closed out the month with Monday Night Raw, Jey Uso opened to celebrate his championship win. After Bron Breakker interrupts him, tensions build as we wait for Bron to attack Jey, but he ends up congratulating him. On the previous RAW, Xavier Wood's mouthed off to Rey Mysterio leading to a match between them. The match came to a halt when Xavier accidentally unmasked Rey! Woods took advantage of the distraction and got a roll up victory. Following the match, Kofi challenged the morality of his victory, Xavier claims that it was truly an accident, but he needed the win. Woods expresses more frustration with Kofi, stating he just wanted him to be happy for the win. He states he has an Intercontinental title shot in the future.
With a dozen security guards Raw General Manager Adam Pearce arrived in the ring as the hell in a cell cage was pulled to the ground. CM Punk arrived in a trance, he brushes his hand across the chain link walls of the cell, as if he can already see the carnage he plans to inflict at Bad Blood. As Drew McIntyre makes his way to the ring, his eyes were fixated on Punk the whole time. Drew speaks first, claiming that Bad Blood will be the end of CM Punk, Drew is wearing black not out respect for Punk but respect for Punk's wife. Drew mentions NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez, stating the woman idolized Punk but spent one day with him and changed her tune. Drew and Punk hate each other, but at Bad Blood that hate dies no matter what. Despite Punk history of yapping, he claimed tonight he was voiceless. He has secluded himself to a hotel, because he does not want to subject his wife to the rage filled man Drew has made him. Punk reminds Drew that he prayed for this, and that at Bad Blood, McIntyre will look up, and Punk will wipe the blood from his eyes to see him. On his knee's Drew wont be praying to a god or a devil, he will be praying to CM Punk. "I'll see you in hell."
The month came to an end with a battle of giants, Bronson Reed and Braun Strowman, have been attempting to conquer the other for weeks, including a crazy looking splash onto the roof of a car, ultimately this match needed to be settled in a last man standing match, which they chose to call a "last monster standing match". WWE basically telegraphed the ending of the match, when I realized they removed the LED panels on the ring posts. the ring was going to "break". A moment that has happened a few times through out the years, This one felt a bit more lame than the others, possibly because I don't care for either of these wrestlers, or because I was able to predict it, or its because after it happened the camera's felt very necessary to show the release hatches on the ring posts. Either way, the important thing coming out of this match is: Seth Rollins is back! After being taken off of TV by Bronson 2 months ago, Seth ran in and hit a curb stomp onto the steel stairs allowing Braun to get the victory.
September was a pretty violent month for wrestling, something I truly didn't expect. AEW gave us more than one dream match. Even the promo exchanges this month were pretty good. October is set to be huge so I'm glad September was the pace it was. WWE seems to have the first week of October lined up with the NXT debut on the CW Network and their Bad Blood event in Atlanta.
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