AEW FYTER FEST 2019

AEW's second event is their first free one for the U.S. and while it isn't a tentpole show, it does have some great matches. Cody vs. Darby Allin and the main event of The Elite vs Lucha Bros and Laredo Kid should be nuts. Mox vs. Janela is going to be unlike anything else, and even the three-way tag is set up to be great - minus the goofy bye stip. Stage setup looks great too - love the beach theme, perfect for a modern-day Bash at the Beach show. A test pattern comes up and automatically draws more than Impact.

Excalibur, Logan-sama, and Goldenboy are on commentary. Okay, Private Party already comes off like a star act just coming down to the ring. Scorp and Kaz are out as SCU and the bikini babes clap for them. The Best Friends' tron is the greatest thing ever.

Isaih Cassidy is in black and orange while Marq Quen is in orange and black and eats a giant backbreaker from Scorp. Quen lands a giant springboard crossbody and then a kick fakeout before a Pele! SILLY STRING DOUBLE TEAM DDT! GODDAMN! Best Friends suplex Cassidy on the floor. AND THEN THEY HUG! Rocket Launcher ace crusher gets 2 for TBF.

Trent gets 2 off a fisherman suplex. Chuck gets a chinlock, but Cassidy escapes and lands a tornado kick. Cassidy tags out to Kaz and then Excalibur accidentally calls All Out All In. Quen lands a gorgeous SSP for 2.9! Quen gets thrown into Cassidy in the corner and then eats a dropkick and basement lariat for 2. Killswitch with a double stomp from SCU gets 2. QUEN EATS A SUPER GERMAN AND LANDS ON HIS FEET!

Quen lands a poetry in motion dropkick to Scorp on the apron! Chuck backdrops Quen onto Scorp on the floor. Strong Zero hits and the Best Friends are going to All Out! It's a bit surprising to not see SCU a lock, but they'll be on it somehow and can always get in the tag title hunt without an issue. Absolute star-making match for Private Party.

The Dark Order cuts a promo on them and says they'll be their first victims. Lights out. Dark Order has total go away heat. It's like a Z-grade knockoff of Sanity mixed with the dirt-worst Lucha Underground faction. Lights out and then the Dark Order just leaves. Matt and Nick have some fun with Fyre Fest stuff and then Omega blows through the money on the Bucks' gear and the models are gone. They mock Jebaley for giving us some of his doll collection.

Leva Bates comes out to shush people before opening the tent and finding Peter Avalon. He throws the tent in a pool and decapitates a mannequin. Leva buries gaming and says that BOOKS WITH WORDS help you.  Allie comes out to face Leva, who just doesn't work as a heel.

Allie stomps on the shushing finger before Brandi is shown watching TV and it's said that it's nice to see a TV watched from a sensible angle. Leva gets a rings of Saturn and shushes her. THEN SHE SHUSHES THE CROWD FOR A CHOP. A Reading Rainbow chant breaks out. Allie runs wild in the corner and gets a sliding D with crazy faces.

Leva hits a pedigree for 2. Avalon throws a book to Allie, who throws it to Leva and superkicks her to win. Kenny talks about having equipment for the bands, but gets told that all the bands pulled out. Michael NAKAZAWA comes out and then buries CEO for being inferior to EVO. He says that Jebailey's right leg was hurt last year, but he's corrected and told it was the left - so that's the one he attacks. Hey, a smart heel!

Stream goes to shit after the knee attack and when it comes back, they're burying Jebailey's gear. Jebailey gets a fight stick and hits him. Okay, I love them bringing up that a Smash player might kill them with a CRT display. Jebail-o-Mac! Stream goes to shit again and I see a la majistral and then it's apparently reversed as things buffer and Nakazawa wins. Well, I missed the match, but oh well. JR doing Fyter Fest! Tons of buffering on the cold open. Goldenboy is joining JR and Excalibur.

Daniels vs. CIMA starts things off. I missed CD's intro, but caught CIMA's. Excalibur talks about just how much history there is here - with each man being a part of Dragon Gate. Daniels is about as good as he ever was - he's just half a step slower now. CIMA dropkicks him on the floor. Daniels slams him down and Ross is amazed that Daniels has had 1,000 matches. Daniels gets an STO for 2 and then a crossface. Somehow, CIMA wins. Well, the BR Live issues are killing the vibe for the show for me so far. Highlight package shows CIMA winning with the OG meteora and JR points out that it could befall Kenny in 2 weeks - good, simple storytelling there.

YUKA's pyro is fantastic. Not a fan of the Chinese food restaurant tron font. Riho and Yuka get beaten up by Nyla. Nyla gets a double camel clutch, but Yuka lands a springboard dive onto both on the floor. Nyla hops up top and lands a springboard knee to a draped Riho on the top. Swanton from Nyla misses and Riho has a chance to escape. Riho wins somehow and Nyla jumps her afterwards. MJF vs. Jungle Boy is out. I miss MJF's intro, but get to see LUCHASAURUS AND JUNGLE BOY DO THEIR DEAL! Jimmy Havoc looks like a star.

Great 4-way with non-stop action. Page gets 2 off a pop-up powerbomb to Jungle Boy thankst o MJF putting the foot on the rope. MJF clips the knee and goes for a sharpshooter before Page turns it over. More buffering and apparently, Hangman has won. I had zero issues with BR Live for Double or Nothing, but it's been largely terrible tonight. Stream comes back and I hear Cody's theme with Darby in the corner sulking. Maybe his Hot Topic website promo code didn't work. Cody's in black and DX green because of course he is.

Darby takes a killer bump over the top off a lariat. Inverted rack attack hits for Cody. Darby gets a nasty Fujiawara armbar and slugs away at the fist. Cody puts him in the CODY bodybag and hits a disaster kick and they have 1 minute left and a jacknife cover gets 1. Cody whips him with the weight belt. Cross Rhodes is countered into a standing diamond dust, but the CR hits and he doesn't get the pin in time. Time limit draw and Shawn Spears hits him with a chair. Unprotected chairshot to the head in 2019. Fucking hell guys. JR does a "the show must go on" line. Ugh.

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Laredo Kid and the Lucha Bros come down before The Bucks and Omega. Bucks come out to a remix of the SF II theme as Ken and Ryu while a goober comes out and Omega is Akuma and kills the goober. Justin Roberts announces ROUND 1, FIGHT while the Bucks are in Ryu and Ken pants. Nick flips for his idle animation. Laredo hits a crazy moonsault while the Bros hit stereo flip dives. Laredo's up on Matt for an electric chair, but Matt eats a double superkick and then gets poison rana'd. Matt lands a chain of Northern Lights and Omega kills Laredo with a nasty German suplex.

Destroyer hits and then Penta eats a spear. Penta pops Laredo up for a Spanish Fly to Kenny for 2.9. Superkick party to the luchadores. TRIPLE HADOUKEN SPOT FROM THE ELITE! Triple Liger bomb gets 2. Swan dive Metlzer driver is set up, but not followed up. Kenny hits a Tiger Driver '98 for 2. One Winged Angel hits on Laredo and ends it. Finally, a match I could see in full and it was quite great. Not sure if it was better than the triple tag match though. That made stars - so I'd put that above this. JR announces Moxley vs. Janela being too violent for AEW.

Justin Roberts says that this was the final match of AEW's event, but when the lights go out, it's the end of the AEW event, but there will be no time limits or countouts, and no DQs for Janela vs. Moxley. They brawl in the crowd before going back in the ring and Mox lands a chair slam. Excalibur talks about Janela being out for months with the crazy truck stunt and not earning a dime before Joey takes a crazy bump for 2. BARB WIRE CHAIR TO THE CHEST gets 2. Super rana onto the chair and the back is sliced up. Russian legsweeep off the apron through a table!

Moxley hits a carrying spear corner to corner through a table! Janela flips him off and Mox calls him a dumb motherfucker and pulls out a barb wire board. Corner DVD by Janela through the board! Joey puts him on a side by side table set before climbing a ladder and landing an HBK elbow off the ladder to the floor. Janela gets a bigger barb wire board and makes a bridge out of it. Mox lands the DDT. AA OVER THE TOP ROPE THROUGH THE BOARD BRIDGE!

Mox brings a can with a bag full of tacks in the ring. Mox takes Joey's socks off and lands foot-first to block an X plex before eating an X PLEX! ATOMIC DROP ON THE TACKS! Paradigm Shift DDT into the tacks ends it!

Omega runs down and lands a V trigger and a piledriver on a table. Swan Dive double foot stomp off the top to the table. Maybe don't do that and risk snapping an ankle. Mic stand to the back of Mox. Omega beats him with drumsticks and is just a dickhead. Guitar to the back and it doesn't explode into a pile of cocaine. Omega beats him up with a trash can when refs try to take Mox to the back. Omega lands the Paradigm Shift on the trash can.

WWE Stomping Grounds 2019

Ricochet's on the pre-show being just a dude and dressed like a fan. Bryan cuts a promo on a ref for getting in their shot because people make the division a joke. Bryan puts over both members of Heavy Machinery as legit athletes, but they choose to be silly. Roman-Drew recap features cool shots of Drew looking like a badass and beating up Roman.

Cruiserweight title three-way is up. Nice of Tony Nese to steal Ryder's gear for this match. Nese gets locked in the Gu-lock, which gets turned into a choke. Tozawa dives in with a senton to break it up and then goes to hit the fireman's gutbuster on Gulak for 2. Nese lands a double jump moonsault to Drew's legs for 2. Nese lands a dudebuster for 2 before Tozawa breaks up the pin with the shining wizard. Running Nese in the corner and Tozawa gets a snap cradle for 2 on Nese. Corner knee hits, but it only gets 2. Gulak lands the torture rack neckbreaker on Tozawa to win the title! IT'S TIME TO KICK ASS AND TAKE NAMES! UNAUTHORIZED USERS - BEWARE AND BE FOREWARNED!

A "These Boots" video airs and Becky comes out with them saying she needs to focus on Lacey and not worry about Seth. Cole calls her THE RENEGADE, THE ATYPICAL SUPERSTAR! Jesus. Lacey eats a few wacky bumps and then does a gator roll. She gets a you can't wrestle chant off a botched spot. Becky gets some random holds for 2. The Sassy Southern Belle Lacey Evans is currently getting the better of the Atypical Superstar, The Man Becky Lynch! Becky gets the disarmher and wins instantly before also being called A Rebel With a Cause.

An Ali video package heralds him as The Light to defeat darkness in life. Heyman cuts a promo backstage saying that any show with both top champions on it is a night where Brock COULD be here, and then Corbin yammers on. Sami and his love handles come down and pose on the ramp.  KO and his giant greying beard make him look a decade older than he should look. KO lands 3 superkicks on  Woods before a swanton gets 2. A frog splash gets 2 again. Sami gets a crossface on Woods.

KO tags in and a senton misses. Sami and E come in and Sami gets thrown around. Sami's getting a Muta-esque bald spot now. Yikes. ST-Joe hits for 2 for E. Woods lands a rolling elbow. Apron superkick to Sami and the suicide spear hits for E. KO hits a stunner to win. Good-ish match here. Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage icons and toppers are coming to Rocket League. Okay, that's awesome. Alexa and Nikki have a very chesty meeting before Ricochet's goofy sound effect plays.

Lots of quick action to start off Joe and Ricochet - it's the best Ricochet has looked on the main roster and the best Joe has looked since the Brock feud two years ago. Sitout powerbomb by Joe gets 2. Ricochet lands a pair of enzuiguris to get a breather. Nasty German hits and Joe lands a lariat for 2. Joe catches the foot and Ricochet flies over off a backflip. Clutch is on, but Joe gets run into the corner. Joe avoids a 630 and Ricochet lands a codebreaker. 630 HITS AND RICOCHET WINS IT! Good stuff - hyped to see Rey and Ricochet go at it again. Ricochet celebrates backstage with the other babyfaces before Heavy Machinery goes out.

Bryan is a huge babyface in Washington. Shocking. Otis shimmies a bit and then gets kicked before shoving Bryan back. "Please recycle" chant is louder than any chant Impact has had all year. Bryan gets a big delayed suplex by Otis before it's moved over to Tucker and Bryan hangs on clearly. Rowan tosses Bryan in for a corner dropkick and then a corner avalanche before Bryan works Tucker's knee over on the post. Rowan splash leads to a "DRIVE A PRIUS!" chant. Bryan lands a ton of hard Yes kick and Otis wants more and gets it! Chest kicks lead to a toss by Otis. Worm and the shitty elbow hit before a catapult into a powerslam gets 2. Flying knee off the top hits! SMALL PACKAGE PINS TUCKER! This was great stuff - huge over-achievement.

Giant dueling chants for Alexa and Bayley. Not really much to the match so far beyond some corner bonks. Bayley lands a weird rolling thunder elbow for 2. Alexa gets a variety of rope chokes and stomps. Belly to back gets 2 for Bayley. Bayley dives onto Nikki and Alexa sunset bombs Bayley on the floor. Nikki prevents the twisted bliss due to Bayley hitting her and then a belly to Bayley gets the win.

 

 

24/7 Title recap. Good Brothers meet with Ricochet during his US Title photoshoot and AJ says he wants a match tomorrow. Roman vs. Drew video hypes up HOW AMAZING ROMAN IS. They brawl to start and then Shane and Roman brawl around the building. DREW GETS AN ARMLOCK! YES! It's not even time for Corbin. Drew moves from that into a neat Fire Pro-esque STF. Drew goes for the sit-up belly to belly off the top, but Roman avoids it, but eats a superplex for 2. THE BIG DOG BARKING. And here I thought the Big Dog name just sounded stupid. Spear hits and Shane pulls the ref out. So it's a DQ, right? Shane sets up a van terminator and hits. Drew MAY win thanks to the 50 year old billionaire shoe fetishist. AND IT GETS 2! Spear hits it and it's BIG DOG STRONG!

Cruiserweight title match is recapped. Dolph vs. Kofi is up and Kofi eats a series of neckbreakers. Dolph runs into Kofi's feet for a while in the corner. Kofi slaps him for a bit and gets 2 off a crossbody from the top. Dolph is laying down on Kofi's leg...doing damage how? Superkick from Dolph sends Kofi into the door, but Dolph catches Kofi before he leaves. Long, goofy ankle lock by Dolph again before Kofi gets one of his own. Shane's triangle is legit better than any of these ankle locks. They go out at nearly the same time, but Kofi hits the floor first by suicide diving the invisible man and ends it.

Roman vs. Shane/Drew is announced for Raw. MAYBE Drew can pin Roman finally! Corbin has the ring announcer rattle off all of his accomplishments before adding in that he's also Tacoma's favroite son. Seth dressing like a super sentai character somehow works. Seth threatens the ref with chairshots like an asshole. Lacey is the ref.

A "this is stupid" chant breaks out. Then an AEW chant, and then a Daniel Bryan one. CM PUNK. BOORRRINNNGG! Second rope blockbuster and a springboard knee get 2 for Seth off a slow count. Duck-under announce table bomb by Seth. Corbin nearly gets counted out - but Lacey makes it a no countout match. Corbin slams him on the apron and lands a chokeslam for 2.

Corbin beats him up with a chair until Lacey kindly asks him to stop. I was hoping Lacey would take a point away from Corbin for the chairshot. Lacey makes it no DQ. Falcon arrow on the chair gets no count from Lacey. Lacey low blows Seth and then Becky comes out after the End of Days. Curb stomp and a new ref declares Seth the winner. THEY'RE TWO REBELS WITH A CAUSE! Becky smacks him on the ass.

AAA Verano de Escandalo 2019

Last night's free AAA show was fun, and this is one of their bigger shows of the year. Hugo starts the show off with drowned-out commentary before threatening viewers by letting them know about the English team and then we get a second of guys doing moves before the frame freezes. The three commentators get to share two mics - so that'll be interesting. I would ask why it sounds like they're playing AAA's theme from a boom box - but they probably are doing just that.

Chika Tormenta is out, followed by Keyra then Lady Shani and her daughter, and the screen goes dark during the belt presentation. THEN THE FIVE MINUTE COUNTDOWN CLOCK COMES BACK. It comes back after the entire coutndown plays to a near-fall. Shani gets a wacky lucha submission on. Shani gets a northern lights 2. Keyra hits a double stomp and stacks Shani up to pin her and win the title.

Lucha Bros come down. PENTA uses the mic as a drum to lead a Cero Miedo chant. Konnan grabs the mic from Penta and has a chair. Bucks come out and jump the Lucha Bros. El Hijo del Terantes gets his own intro, because of course he does. He's working and looks to be in shape - and ridiculous.

He's working Faby Apache, and lands a back elbow. Fabi eats a beating from Tormenta, but ducks a cookie sheet shot and it hits Tormenta. AAA is getting a better reaction for Faby beating up a heel referee with a cookie sheet than WWE could hope to get for Roman Reigns, who they have put over as God for five years. He fakes her out and KICKS HER ASS. Faby lands a buzzsaw kick.and a rana gets 2. Faby gets 2 off a la majistral and Hugo is in hysterics. Tormenta eats an angel's wings and then Faby lands a trash can shot to win.

I appreciate Australian Suicide stepping out of a time machine from 2003. Shocked he isn't sponsored by SSX and Crazy Taxi. Sammy yells into the feed explaining that AS told fans to check out his Youtube channel. Sammy looks great and they're facing Maximo and Mamba. Maximo hits on everyone and sets the heels up for failure with comedy. Heels work over Mamba, but get outsmarted. The faces force the heels to kiss, then land a pair of bad dropkicks and topes. The exoticos hit dueling swantons for 2. Mamba eats a rana in such a way that both Hogan and Goldberg's sandbag chokeslams can mock.  AS hits a 450 and Sammy wins with an SSP on Mamba.

A video plays twice with the audio a second behind on one feed - so it's got a weird echo. Tessa's theme from the Impact Youtube channel, with the bell ringing before it plays, is used. She's teaming with her boyfriend Daga and they're dressed alike - and look great. Laredo Kid  The 24/7 Title is so bad that AAA's belts may actually be better than it. Taya's out with Laredo.

Taya and Tessa start,, thank God and then Daga and Kid just start doing shit. Heels land codebreakers and backstabbers on Taya for 2. Laredo lands a 450 on Daga, but Tessa kicks him off at 1 and lands a run-up corner codebreaker. Taya lands a northern lights for 2 before Daga double stomps her. Laredo lands a super spanish fly on Daga for the win.

Killer Kross comes out with Scarlett. to team with Chessman and Monster Clown against Aero Star, Pagano, and Puma King. Puma King has to have the most shit look in the industry right now. At least they toned down the staircase tonight so people aren't at constant risk of falling and breaking something just coming to the ring.

 WHATTHEFUCK tope outta nowhere by Aerostar! Aerostar dives OFF THE TOP OF THE FUCKING LIGHTING RIG and kinda lands on everyone, but gets dropped. Don't do shit like that. Puma King hits a super rana off the top through chairs to win. Kross destroys Puma King with a backdrop driver and powerbomb.

 Another echo chamber video airs.Mercenaries vs. Vikingo, Parka, and Myzteziz Jr is up. Myzteziz badly messes up an SSP, but winds up hitting other wacky shit. Parka just...slowly walks away from the corner and a heel goes tumbling ass over tea kettle - as ya do. Heels eat a beating and an inverted 450 on La Hiedra wins, but the male heels take over and destroy Vikingo with a chair.

Lucha Bros vs. the Bucks is up next.. Bucks set up a double superkick, but eat a pair.  Fenix hits another crazy dive into the crowd. Double sharpshooter to the Lucha bros! More craziness and then I get an ad and it's over with the Lucha Bros winning. A replay shows it being the double-stomp/package piledriver finish - and that's a great way to end it. Crowd's super-happy. Now it's time for the actual main event, which will need help following that. Blue Demon Jr and Taurus face off with Wagner and Psycho Clown.

This starts off as a big walk and brawl with Demon and Wagner. Psycho blocks a backdrop with a kick to Dumon that Taurus also sells for some reason. Wagner's hair is just ridiculously fake-looking, brother! Psycho lands a drop toehold onto a table for 2 and Taurus just smacks the shit out of his face on that. Psycho does some stripper dancing before a flip dive - because of course he does. Wagner Driver to Demon Jr. ends it!