Tensions Grows Within The Don Callis Family! Mark Briscoe Finally Gets A Title Shot? Darby Allin Makes A Surprise Return! What Can We Expect For Forbidden Door?
Hola, lucha fans! Welcome to Lucha Corner, where I bring you mucho wrestling! I'm Francis aka Francisthewitcher, and today's blog entry I'm going to talk about the events that transpired in AEW Dynaite: Summer Blockbuster. And this time I feel like there's some points I need to talk.
So let's get started!
Tommaso Ciampa and Jericho's Promo.
Tomasso Ciampa kicked off the show by coming out to the ring and farm more heat from the fans as he threatened Tony Schiavone of breaking his back if he wouldn't say that he's better than Chris Jericho. And just before Schiavone was going to comply, Jericho finally comes out after two weeks in absence.
When Jericho gets inside the ring to confront Ciampa, that's when things went the way I wasn't expecting.
Let me explain, the first half of the segment felt pretty odd because what Jericho could say after Tommasso Ciampa attacked him, leaving him inactive for a couple of weeks, was that "Tommy" sounds more fitting than his real name, and even called his mother "Tommy's mommy".
The problem is that when you watch many promos in other promotions, you see where two men exchange some heated words before they start brawling each other in order to sell their feud. This one, however, felt more like a classmate teasing another by calling names and encouraging the other kids in the class to join in.
Of course, by the time Ciampa ask Jericho if everything was a joke, Jericho says it's not and they both started throwing punches before the security showed up to break them up. That's the kind of thing that was supposed to happen in the whole segment.
Honestly, I didn't like the segment much because Jericho's comedy felt redundant, especially when he's feuding a wrestler who's well known as the Psycho Killer. We still don't know where this is going to lead and if they're gonna have a match at Forbidden Door, which I hope not, but I'm hoping that by the time they're gonna squared up in the ring, all of this would be worth it.
AEW's Continental Title Match: Shane Taylor vs Jon Moxley (C)
The first match we got for the program featured two leaders from each faction. Shane Taylor challenging Jon Moxley for his Continental Championship.
It was fun to watch Moxley and Taylor exchanging some hard-hitting elbows, even the spot where Taylor throws Moxley through the table. Though that's the only good parts for me as I had a lot of expectations for this match.
While the match wasn't that exciting as I could imagine, it was actually okay at best despite the underwhelming ending. But what I liked more about it is that AEW are really investing on STP to make them look like a real dangerous top heel faction in their brand. We even saw them overpowering some members of the Death Riders when they tried to help Moxley, making it clear that they're not done with them.
The Death Riders sure are not done with STP either as they challenged them for a Street Fight this Saturday on Collision, which I'm sure it's gonna be more fun to watch. I really enjoyed how this rivalry has been developing for the past few weeks and who knows if this match would conclude it, but I'm still looking forward to it.
Kevin Knight's Promo.
We got another segment with Don Callis coming out amid the boos from the fans to introduce Kevin Knight, as the latter tried to justify about his actions he did on Darby and Mike Bailey, and claim that Don Callis saw potential in him and why he wanted Kevin to join with the family.
Just like I said last week, I'm still having doubts about Kevin Knight joining the DCF, and when the crowd started to jeer at Don Callis instead of Kevin, I got little concern that this is affecting his momentum like he had the moment he turned heel back at Double or Nothing Even so, I still believe that there's more than meets the eye and maybe Kevin Knight is plotting something when he joined Don Callis' faction, and maybe the result will be something big.
But we're not done with that. Kevin Knight demanded MJF to come out so he could respond his challenge, but what he didn't expect is that the man who came out was none other than DARBY ALLIN! Who just jumped on Kevin Knight from behind as a retaliation for what he did back in New York.
It was actually a nice surprise to see Darby back again and you can see he's more fired up than ever. So it's more likely we're gonna see a new feud between him and Kevin Knight and this might be really good to see.
Singles Match: PAC vs Mark Briscoe.
Next we got a singles match between PAC from the Death Riders and Mark Briscoe from The Conglomeration, which was also the very first time they faced off in the ring one-on-one.
Now, this is what I think it's the moment that the show started to pick up. Mark Briscoe and PAC delivered an entertaining match since they both were very talented and knew how to coordinate. They also gave us some pretty sick spots, like PAC delivering a nasty brainbuster on a chair and Briscoe taking PAC with him with a suplex over the top rope.
In the end, Briscoe finished his opponent with his iconic signature move known as the Jay Driller to take the win. But he wasn't done as he took the mic and demanded MJF to respond his challenge for the title.
This time MJF have come out to respond directly to Briscoe that the answer was still 'no', but he also tells Briscoe that friendship doesn't matter as long someone like him has money. To make his message more clear, The Swirl attacks Briscoe from behind, revealing that they were payed by MJF to attack Briscoe.
Luckily, The Conglomeration came out quickly to save him, but as MJF tried to walk away, Mark picks up the mic again to tell him that he doesn't get the final word since Tony Khan is the one who does, and warns MJF that he reached an agreement with Tony Khan that there will be a six-on-six tag team match inside of the Steel Cage for Forbidden Door. And if he wins, he will get a title shot and warns MJF to find "friends" for the match.
At first I thought that there was really gonna be a singles match for the AEW World Title at Forbidden Door, but I remember that MJF suffered a hyperextended knee and I understood that maybe they're playing safe so MJF can have good recovery.
On the other hand, I think this is a good stipulation since we might get some international talent joining from both sides. We had something like that last year with Tanahashi and Gabe Kidd and it was the best main event we ever witnessed. Though it's more likely most of MJF's team will be members of the Don Callis Family. Of course, MJF had to bribe Don Callis himself to get some members, and even had to agree Kevin Knight's condition that he would get a title shot if MJF's team wins.
Not everyone was happy with the decision though, but I'll explain soon in the next subject.
Singles Match: Orange Cassidy vs Andrade El Idolo.
We got Andrade El Idolo taking on the most popular babyface known as Orange Cassidy. First of all, I knew this match was gonna be fun and entertaining, but I didn't expect it would be hilarious too.
The moment Andrade took off his pants to receive a pop from the crowd, Orange Cassidy did the same but turns out he was wearing jeans over his jeans. I'm not gonna lie, I laughed so much at this spot and that moment I knew that this match was gonna be so good.
Not only that, Lio Rush also made a surprise appearance where he tried to get a selfie with Orange Cassidy and of course he was very creeped out to be near with him. When Andrade meets Lio, they exchanged their catchphrases to each other that I couldn't help but find this very funny too. It was silly, yeah, but in a good way, at least for me.
Anyway, that watch was so much fun to watch and it's good to see Andrade climbing through the ranks to get a title shot against MJF, but when he watched MJF promising a title shot with Kevin Knight, I can really tell he's not happy with that as he tried to talk with Don Callis. Of course, Don Callis promised he will get it, but Andrade was not fully convinced about it.
Though I also have one question, is he gonna defend his IWPG Global title at Forbidden Door? I'll elaborate more later.
Owen Hart Tournament's Match: Skye Blue vs Maya World.
What came next was the last Quarterfinals match of the Owen Hart Tournament with Skye Blue facing against Maya World. Originally it was going to be Skye Blue vs Sareee, but in his livestream, Tony Khan confirmed that the AEW doctors didn't feel comfortable to clear her out to wrestle and therefore Maya World was gonna take this place.
This announcement was a subject of a discourse on social media because of the changes, but I'm not here to talk about that, instead I'll talk about how great this match was.
As you probably heard before, Maya World had a brother who tragically passed away recently and she and her family were just going through this difficult time. However, Tony Khan said in his livestream that he offered Maya World some time off so she could spend some time with her family, but instead she wanted to wrestle that night and therefore she was given the opportunity to participate the tournament.
The fact that she wanted to wrestle and dedicate her brother who was the reason why she wanted to become a wrestler speaks how much she's so dedicated with the industry and that's something that she deserves to be praised.
The match was also excellent, both Maya and Skye Blue performed so well that made it so special. Not only that, to see how far Maya have come ever since she made an appearance at Collision is a great example of how AEW sees potential on a young talent like her.
Not only I'm happy to see Maya winning the match, I'm also very excited to see the upcoming Semifinals match between her and Athena. As much as I would've loved to see Saree taking on Athena, there's no doubt that Maya vs Athena is gonna be something greater to watch.
Owen Hart Tournament's Match: Swerve Strickland vs Brody King.
And now we're going to the main event. Swerve Strickland and Brody King clashes in the Owen Hart Tournament. While the match had a predictable result, it didn't change the fact that it was an amazing main event with two dangerous men fighting tooth and nail to advance the tournament.
I also enjoyed how Brody King has evolved ever since he made his debut in AEW as a member of House of Black, and after Malakai's Black depart, he teamed with Buddy Matthews to become a tag team know as Hounds of Hell, until Buddy Matthews was injured. His push sure came long overdue, but it's still great to see him shining in his single run.
There's also an interesting storyline where Swerve has been winning the matches using the techniques that destroys his opponents' necks, which no doubt he's gonna try to do the same with Will Ospreay, given that he had a neck surgery and the Death Riders help him recover from it.
With Swerve claiming the victory over Brody King, the final Owen Hart Men's Tournament match has been decided for Forbidden Door, and once again, while it was already expected from the beginning, it's still gonna be so exciting to watch.
CONCLUSION.
I think last night's Dynamite wasn't as solid as it was the last week, since the first half of the episode was a little weak until it started to become good for the second half. Still, I think I enjoyed for the most part, especially the Owen Hart Tournament's matches. But now let's talk about what's becoming a concern for me.
And that is the lack of international stars being introduced for this year's Forbidden Door.
It's been a little frustrated for me that there's barely build for Forbidden Door since we're a couple of weeks away from the PPV and we still need to see who's gonna show up. Not only that, for the past few months we've seen some possible storylines that could've been developed for this event.
We had Ospreay with United Empire taking on the Death Riders and I thought for sure we might get a multi-tag match. Of course, that was before we witnessed Ospreay accepting the help from the Death Riders, but that still could've lead some tensions with the United Empire.
Furthermore, there's still the question whether Andrade El Idolo would even defend his IWPG Global title for the event, but the possibility that he might drop the title this Sunday at Dominion is a little concerning. I'm sure he will retain, though. Still, he deserves to have an international challenger for Forbidden Door, a CMLL wrestler like Titan or Soberano Jr would be very exciting.
And let's not forget the Knockout Brothers, one of the best tag teams we had in NJPW. The thought of them going to AEW for Forbidden Door and challenging either The Young Bucks or The Dogs would be an exciting bout. Random might be, but that's something I would love to see.
Then again, I'm aware of the fact that this lack of partnership between NJPW and AEW has always been an issue for years, mostly because we haven't seen both promotions promoting their partners and their stars to make us look forward to the event.
NJPW is also having a real problem with developing new stars after wrestlers like Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito have left the company. Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement was also a huge blow for the brand that they need to make some real changes in order to keep their popular stars in the company. I still wonder if CyberAgent is gonna make sure of that.
For the record, I'm not blaming anyone about this problem, I'm just hoping that for the last two weeks there might some real progress in order to make Forbidden Door more attractive. However, we got a nice surprise announcement from Zack Sabre Jr. as he challenged Kenny Omega in a single match for the PPV, so that's actually a step to the right direction.
Also there's still a possibility that some Stardom wrestlers like Saree and Syuri are gonna make an appearance in AEW and they might be heading for the PPV. Only what's left is to see if some luchadores from CMLL will be heading to Forbidden Door, but considering how much they've been working with AEW this year, I believe we're about to see it soon enough.
Still, and I'll say again, if some NJPW talent like Hirooki Goto, Shingo Takagi, or at the least some Chaos members like YOH and Shota Umino will also join the PPV card, it would be real nice.
Despite the issues I mentioned, I know for sure that this PPV is still gonna be much fun to watch, so for now I'll just wat and see what's gonna happen next week.
Well, with this I conclude this review. I hope you enjoyed reading this and if you have a question or would like to share an opinion, just leave a comment. Don't forget to also follow me on Twitter and/or Instagram, as your support will mean a lot to me.
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