Welcome back wrestling fans!
The next 2 weeks of reviews are going to be just a little bit different, but I'm doing it this way because I'll be on vacation by the time you're reading this! My fiance and I are gone for a week so that means no wrestling for your intrepid reviewer (pray for me) so no time to review anything while I'm away! But, fear not. I'm drafting not only this weeks review, but next weeks review as well. Dropping the same time, same day as usual, so the streak lives on. The only difference is I'll be reviewing 1 match for both weeks, spreading out the 2 I had in mind to make up for my absence. I hope that will suffice.
Here's what I watched this week;
AEW All Out
Man, what a show All Out was. Been hearing a lot of people call it All Out Murder because it seemed like half the people on this show were ready to serve hard time the way they were acting. God damn.
MJF and Garcia had a fantastic match that I only caught the back half of on Saturday but watched the rest of the next day. Really good stuff between these 2. MJF is back to his conniving, asshole ways while Garcia continues to have the people behind him, including Daddy Magic on commentary. I've been a Garcia guy for a long time now (hey does anybody else know that he's the current PWG world champion or is that just me?) and, while I'd have liked for him to win, he had a great match. Big things to come.
The Bucks and The BCC had a tag match, that's really all I can say. Yuta and Claudio were really good here, with a lot of time spent trying to get the big swing off on the Bucks who always managed to be one step ahead. It's your typical Bucks match, honestly. Lots of double teaming, lots of antics, nothing really crazy to write home about.
Ospreay and PAC put on a strong contender for match of the night and year, holy hell. It's easy to forget just how blisteringly good PAC is because he gets put in multiman or tag matches all too often and doesn't get to really show what he can do. This match was PAC at his absolute best, and Ospreay too. Counters into counters into counters into counters, always one-upping the other. The crowd was electric for the last 5, maybe even 10 minutes of this match. Even going so far as to shouting "STYLES CLASH" when Ospreay set PAC up for the move. That's fucking nuts, dude. This was unreal.
Willow and Statlander had the unfortunate task of following PAC/Ospreay in a Chicago Street Fight and they more than delivered here. Somehow the managed to put on, arguably, the other best match of the night and what some are calling the best womens match in North American wrestling in years. It's seriously that good. I was hesitant to get invested in this match with how they were just going right to big spots from the bell, but it didn't take long for the action and insanity to keep getting crazier and crazier until I was losing my shit along with the entire arena. A thumbtack "bump" into the splits?! Light tubes?! Chains?! A barricade breaking pounce?! This match was incredible. A MOTY contender if there ever was one.
The Continental Title 4 way with Okada defending against Takeshita, Cassidy and Briscoe was a fun multiman clash. This match had the unfortunate place of following 2 blisteringly good matches so I was kinda checked out for this one. The action was exciting and all 4 guys work really, really well with each other, but I can't say that I really had it in me at this point to get too excited for this one. I enjoyed the train of vertical suplex's for the first two and then it got old, and the "chop off" between Conglomeration members Cassidy and Briscoe was good and campy and what you'd expect from those 2, nothing against it.
Mone and Shida, again, was a match in a poor spot for me. I was really checked out by this point because I knew what was still to come and tried to save my energy. Couple that with the fact that these 2 just didn't really jive very well in the ring at all and I can't tell you much about the match. Shida is looking alright, considering the last thing I saw from her was that 2017 match I reviewed the other week.
Danielson and Perry was really, really good. Perry sold like a madman for Danielson in this match, taking his knee strike better than anyone and doing his absolute best to try and take both the title and career away from the American Dragon. Shouldn't be a surprise that Danielson and a highly motivated, constantly improving Perry had a great match, and I think Perry proved he's a good hand in the ring. He'll be world champ in a couple years, I can see it. After the match Christian tries to cash in but the BCC hold off the Patriarchy. Mox gets in to congratulate Dragon on a victory but the smiles are short lived. Claudio stuns Dragon with an uppercut and Mox chokes Danielson out with a plastic bag while Yuta is held back by PAC. What a betrayal, what a turn. Loved this. Can't wait to see what comes of this.
Swerve and Hangman, the match we've all been waiting for. Sadly, this match didn't quite live up to the hype I had for it. Maybe its because I watched their entire trilogy before this one, with Texas Death far and away being their best match, but I just couldn't rate this one as highly. The spots and emotion, however, were brutal and real. A vertibreaker onto a cinderblock, the charred stake of Swerve's house, the staple gun making its return, and the finishing blow of a needle through the lip and a disgusting chair shot to KO Swerve, who refused to beg for mercy, were all so beautiful. Hangman realizing the monster he'd become after the final bell was a beautiful touch. He's the perfect wrestler. The main character of AEW. So, so good.
Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland - AEW WrestleDream - 10/01/2023
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| Hangman finds himself in somebody else's house this time. AEW |
In preparation for All Out's Lights Out Steel Cage match between Hangers and Swerve, I went through their 3 previous encounters (1 on 1) to refresh my memory and get the whole context of this bloodfeud fresh in my mind. I will never, ever forget Texas Death as long as I live and I forgot about their 30 minute draw on Dynamite earlier this year, but Wrestledream was a match I show I watched from start to finish but I honestly don't remember much about this match. I think I was just checked out during it for whatever reason. So I was excited to go back and catch this one with fresh eyes and man oh man, it did not disappoint.
The story going into this match is how Hangman has been on a good run in AEW as of late. Despite losing the title and not really getting back in that position since, he's been able to get the better of Mox after he put him out with a concussion for a while, got back together with The Elite, but still, he feels like something is pulling him down. Enter: Swerve Strickland, the "little black cloud" as Hangman was describing him, looming over him and raining just as he feels things are going right. Swerve calls out Hangman, saying that he's gotten soft since losing the AEW world title. He's gotten comfortable at the top and acts like he doesn't want that spot anymore, because he claims it was handed to him. He's ready to take Hangman's spot out from under him by force.
Hangman receives a mild response, despite being a usual crowd favourite, he's literally in Swerve's House. The hometown boy's music hits and the crowd explodes, unafraid to show their support for the Seattle native.The support for swerve carries on past the opening bell, with back and forth "Whose House?" "Swerve's House" chants. The crowd is in favour of Swerve, until Hangman is able to mount some offence and the crowd turns on him, loudly booing the usually well received cowboy. Hangman responds to the jeers early on after stomping out Swerve in the corner, climbing the ropes and mocking them by shouting "Who's House?" They're starting to get in his head.
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| The Cowboy takes flight. AEW |
With Swerve sent to the outside, Hangman slowly makes his way to the top rope for his Orihara Moonsault and connects! The high risk move pulls some cheers from the crowd, and his Liger Bomb back inside the ring scores him a close 2 count. Swerve rolls to the outside and Hangman responds with a tope to the outside, calling for the crowds support when he lands bug again, they reject him. Hangman starts to work on the wounded hand of Swerve, smashing it against the apron, bending it over the barricade and finally crushing it against the steel stairs. At this point, a low rumble starts to build in the arena, the murmurs of "fuck you cowboy" and "cowboy shit" can be heard, and Hangman starts to egg them on. Its one thing to be booed by people, some guys thrive off that hatred, it pushes them further, but it's a whole other thing to be booed when you feel like you don't deserve it.
I don't really know how else to describe what he does, because its really, really slick, but Swerve starts to mount a comeback and is able to drop Hangman with a flatliner. Afterwards, he does what I can only describe as a capoeira spin up off the ground and is able to beautifully transition into hooking Hangman up off the ground and into a brainbuster. Its so nice.
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| This Swerve guy is pretty good, eh? AEW |
With Swerve now setting himself on the top rope, Hangman springs to his feet and starts to bite the injured left hand of Swerve, stopping him on the top as he starts to pick Swerve up for a big move of his own. Swerve starts to fight back however, popping Hangman with short uppercuts that leave him hanging onto the top rope, trying not to fall back. But Swerve is quick on his feet, he climbs to the top fully and jumps, driving his feet through Hangman with a massive stomp, rolling to the other corner after he lands, lining up a seated Hangman for the House Call kick to the side of the head for a very close 2 count.
With Hangman on the apron, Swerve sets up again for the stomp but misses, pulling Hangman into the turnbuckle as he tries to seize on the opening created. After eating a Deadeye on the stairs, Swerve struggles back in the ring as Hangman sets up on the apron and calls for the Buckshot Lariat. Swerve gets to huis feet but is too close for the Buckshot, so Hangman gives him the boot to try and drive him back, he's almost far enough, but stumbles back to try and knock Hangman down but gets hit with another boot. With Hangman seconds away from launching into the Buckshot, Swerve moves in for a third time but catches the boot this time, slapping Hangman across the face as the pair trade shots back and forth, with Hangman getting the better of the exchange by grabbing the wounded left hand of Swerve and biting into it again.
With Swerve back in the centre, Hangman launches himself for the Buckshot but gets caught with a drop toe hold and Swerve latches on, standing on the left arm of Hangman and bending his right arm back further than any arm should ever go. A sickening smile is plastered on the face of Swerve as he pulls it further and further, until finally ripping it back with a sickening snap as Hangman writhes in pain, clutching his arm in agony.
He rolls to the apron as the ringside doctor tends to him, making sure the arm isn't broken and nothing is out of place, and Swerve can be seen skulking in the background. He climbs to the top rope and launches himself, coming down on Hangman as he realizes a few seconds too late with a massive Swerve Stomp on the apron!
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| Kinds looks like the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, if you ask me. AEW |
Back in the ring, Swerve goes to work on the injured arm of Hangman, crushing it with a 450 splash and seamlessly transitioning a pin into an armbar, but Hangman manages to break the hold as he drops his foot on the bottom rope. A JML driver is rolled through by Hangman and a Deadeye is countered into an armbar and then a triangle choke by Swerve, their best moves just aren't enough right now. Desperate, Hangman starts to pound on the wounded hand of Swerve as he breaks the triangle but needs to stop when his the pain in his right arm gets to be too much.
A lariat over the ropes is countered by a slick snap german from Swerve, who slips out under the bottom rope and climbs up to the top for another stomp, but Hangman rolls through as Swerve lands and rolls through his own stomp, turning around the catch a huge Buckshot Lariat by Hangman! That should be it, but Hangman can't make the cover, the pain in his arm has all but crippled him as he rolls around in agony. He is able to crawl over but Swerve's manager, Prince Nana gets his foot up on the bottom rope to break the pin, but it doesn't go unnoticed.
With both the referee and Hangman distracted by trying to get Nana to leave ringside, neither of them notice Nana's "crown" (a headband with some metal bits on it, I guess its a crown and I'm just clueless) has been slipped in the ring at Swerve's feet. When Hangman gets back on the apron for the decisive Buckshot, Swerve brain's him with the crown, dropping the cowboy like a gunshot. Swerve covers but its a close 2.
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| No swerving on this driver. AEW |
Sensing the end is hear, Swerve lines up Hangman and clips him with the House Call across the side of the head, picking up the stunned Hangman for the JML driver and tieing up the former AEW World Champion for the 3.
This was a fantastic match. I don't know why I didn't pay attention to it when I saw it the first time but I'm glad I gave it a second chance this weekend. The slow burn of Hangman started with this match, feeling an arena start to turn on him, the people he used to feed off of have decided that they want to side with someone who will do anything he can to win. The anger and uncertainty that can come from something like this is a powerful emotion. Swerve really started to show that he was world champion calibre around this time, I remember him having an absolute stinker against Tanahashi on Collision (I should know, I was there live) before Forbidden Door that year and I really didn't think he was all that good, sorry to say. But matches like these prove that Swerve is the real deal.
Well, that does it for this week! A shorter post than normal but I've opted to split my post so I can still have something up while I'm away. I don't have the time to be able to do 2 big posts like I normally do, covering multiple matches in detail, I hope this will do. If not, you know how to reach me. cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com or the email form in the sidebar, hit me up, lets chat!
Until next week friends, stay safe! Enjoy time with friends and family, kick your feet up, eat some good food! Relax! That's what I'll be doing, and you should too.
Cliff Morgan
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