AEW Dynamite 5-24-23 - Collision Debut Hype

 Collision is expected to be announced for Chicago and with Punk's return. OC vs. Kyle Fletcher starts things off for the International Title and Fletcher gets a quick 2 off a brainbuster! OC hits a dropkick, but leans into a superkick that gets 2. Nasty half and half suplex by Fletcher gets 2.9! Apron calf kick by Fletcher sends him off the apron. Nasty forearm to OC before some corner forearm shivers! OC hits a brainbuster! Fletcher hits a tombstone then a twisting tombstone for 2.9!

AVALANCHE TOMBSTONE ATTEMPT BY FLETCHER! Nope, avalanche Michinoku driver ONLY GETS 2.5! Fletcher wants a Gimstone, but OC turns it into a leg-trapped cradle for the win! Starks is in the battle royal and Starks says that he was in control last week when he got DQed and he's sick of their shit. Juice and Jay jump him! 

TK announces that Aussie Open is signed and Perry cuts a promo about going home as champ after Sunday. FTR comes out and cuts a barely-audible promo before Dax buries them as "rejects from TNA".  Okay, so if FTR wins, they just beat "some rejects from TNA". Ugh. Dax demands that Mark shake his hand and Mark slaps him! Mark walks with purpose and slaps the shit out of everyone and tells Jay he's tired of this bullshit! Sammy tells MJF to shove his offer up his ass and he's taking the title on Sunday. 

After burying TNA, we get an IT'S REALLY QUITE SIMPLE graphic for House Rules matches. Second attempt at doing this lighting and...it's better. At least the ring is visible. Metalik, Blake Christian, and AR Fox. Blake eats a big boot after being slammed down. Fox goes to kick King down and goes "OH SHIT" and Taz agrees. Imploding senton from Fox hits on the floor! Buddy does his GF Rhea's finish the Prism Lock! Malakai gets a kneebar and Blake superkicks them! Blake gets apron RNCed and it's a trio of submissions!

Elite vs. BCC is hyped up and Danielson says Claudio and Yuta win the ROH Tag Titles tonight! Mox says they are the best in the world and fans part with their money and their time to watch them - they do it the way it's meant to be done! MJF comes out in a ridiculous Boyd Pierce suit. MJF cuts a money promo about not being a part of AEW - THE PILLARS ARE AEW! Darby comes out and says that in 2011, he graduated high school and was told to not expect much and he listened to them. It got him cleaning toilets at a dollar store. He lived in his car and said he didn't deserve the leave his car until he made it and AEW did that! He gets to live the way he wants - no other company will allow him to do what he does and next year, he will climb Mount Everest! Jack attacks MJF and holds the title high.

Arn cuts a money promo for Wardlow about how dangerous Wardlow is without a ladder - let alone with an 80 pound ladder! Lady Frost vs. Taya is up. Taya misses a corner charge but lands a lariat off a gymnast flip to the corner. Corner basement dropkick hits hard for Frost! Back and forth forearm  hit hard! Taya sends her down with the Road to Valhala for the win! TK announces that Collision's first show will be hailing from CHICAGO!

Page says there was a friendship with the Bucks, but not really with Omega - until now. They're family and they stick together no matter where life takes them. Cole-Jericho contract signing is up. Cole says that he's going to break Jericho's legs, jaw and hands - so sign it now! They argue and then SABU COMES IN AS ADAM COLE'S BACKUP! He chucks a chair at Ange!

Strong vs. Garcia is up! Garcia with the sleazy chest hair is a good look and man is Roddy so good with the backbreakers. Double-knee gutbuster and the end of heartache end it! WILLOW NIGHTINGALE HYPE VIDEO shows her looking like a megastar! DoN is hyped up. Claudio is now using the 1812 Overture as his theme and it works nicely!

Penta dives onto the BCC on the floor before Penta traps Claudio on the rope for a Fenix ropewalk PK! Claudio drops Yuta on Penta and then eats a crazy driver for 2.9. Bryan puts over Regal constantly on commentary for his teachings. Yuta hits the Fastball Special BUT HE DOESN'T COVER BOTH SHOULDERS AND BRYAN IS PISSED AT 2. Bucks hold Claudio back and the Fear Factor ends it! Mox tells them to take photos with all your teeth because on Sunday, they're going to be disfigured! 

This was a very conservatively-booked show, but Sabu's stuff was a lot of fun as was the opener.

WWE BackLash 2023

This is a pretty loaded up B-show with Bad Bunny in a prominent match with Damian Priest and Brock vs. Cody - although it can't help but feel like a lame duck show in some ways with the draft taking effect tomorrow. Killer roadie run for the whole venue and arena as a whole - so cool! Belair vs. Iyo Sky starts things off and boy is Iyo's theme perfect. Iyo is OVER HUGE. Jesus! MASSIVE "Iyo" chants here.

Kip up from Iyo and then a flip from Belair. Any Bianca offense is getting booed. Bianca gets a Bret backbreaker after Iyo lands some arm work, to boos. Iyo goes up, but Bianca brings her down with a one-armed military press drop and Iyo lands right on her nose! Bianca's 450 meets knees and Iyo gets a crossface! Rampage bomb attempt by Bianca is met with an X factor for 2.9! 

MOONSAULT BLOCK OFF THE TOP TO THE FLOOR BY SKY! Sky high rana attempt is met with a BIANCA BATISTA BOMB OFF THE SECOND ROPE FOR 2.9! Damage CTRL comes out and Bayley's in sliced-up in the back pants and holds the braid for a moonsault, but gets caught and Bianca gets the KOD to win it. Iyo as a babyface is going to be so huge.

Bunny meets Rey and Savio Vega backstage. Savio gives him a PR flag kendo stick. Omos vs. Seth is up and Omos feels so much like Zeus with his awkward movement and limited offense. Seths a ton of cheer sand singing and Omos does the Hogan bit wanting to hear it more. Seth gets jumped and corner clawed before a post charge gives Seth hope before an apron chokeslam ends that. Omos does the Taker snake eyes and big boot. Seth goes for a kneeling Pedigree, but Omos backdrops him.

Seth does the No Mercy head grab and run into the post from the apron! HIGH FLY FLOW GETS 1! A long sleeper is met with a sideslam. Seth hits a stomp but MVP gets the ref. A second stomp hits FOR 2.5! DIVING STOMP OFF THE TOP GETS THE WIN FOR SETH! Where does Omos go from here? If this was the Andre era, you'd send him everywhere so he's always a monster and never gets stale. Now? We've seen all he can do and his ceiling is pretty low.

Bunny-Priest presser recap video. US Title time. Lashley's over. Jeez. A year ago, Jonah beat Okada and now he's getting no reaction from the hottest WWE crowd in ages. Austin Theory feels like the Danny Doring of WWE. Nice all-action stuff here with Lashley running wild for a bit and getting the Hurt Lock, but getting Bret flipped by Theory and Tsunamid for 2.9! A Town Down avoided by Reed and he gets the ripcord powerslam! MOONSAULT MISSES SPEAR BY LASHLEY! Theory steals it! This was a lot of fun.

SD Women's Title time and Rhea is out in smoking white and purple while Zelina's out in PR flag colors and a flag. Zelian throws a chancla at her and then gets a baseball slide before eating a MASSIVE powetrbomb. Riptide turned into a DDT! She gets a very slow 619 and does the Eddie shimmy before the meteora gets 2. Yakuza kick, Riptide and the Hot and Mean pin end it.

Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest is up! You can't underestimate WWE's usage of Logan Paul and Bad Bunny during this current boom period for the company.  It's a far cry from like 2004 when they were obsessed with clinging to 1998. Bit of a fast start takes the wind out of Bad Bunny. South of Heaven hits for 2.5. FALCON ARROW BY BAD BUNNY! BROKEN ARROW OFF THE ROAD CASES THROUGH TABLES!

Priest misses a kick on the post and Bunny clubs the leg with a kendo stick! Bunny gets a chain - Bunny's busting out the old Tennessee chain in Puerto Rico! He uses it to post the leg and then chairshots the leg! Priest cowers and low blow shim, so he raises a chair up AND BUNNY CHAIRSHOTS HIM! Dom and Finn come down, presumably with Mami's permission to beat up Bad Bunny.

Rey is out and gets beaten up! Carlito gets a God-tier reaction! Whoever gets the royalties for these LWO shirts is going to make a mint this week! 619 BY REY TO DOM AND THE APPLE TO THE FACE OF DOM! Savio looks so badass and kicks Finn's ass and then KWANG POSES! FIGURE FOUR FROM BUNNY! That's Carlos Colon's finish! SLICED BREAD GETS 2.9! CHAIRS APLENTY TO PRIEST! A DESTROYER ENDS IT! This ruled! 

This show has been the single greatest celebration of a city's wrestling history since Canadian Stampede. A classic in that regard. Trios match for the Bloodline is up with Zayn and KO-Bro facing the Usos and Solo. First-gear billion man NJPW second match on the card energy here. Solo does carry himself like a top guy, but this is just a match. RIDDLE IS A HOUSE OF FIRE AND BROTONS EVERYONE! Springboard corkscrew broton off the buckle to the floor! Jimmy superkick gets 2. 

KO's in and Jimmy accidentally superkicks Jey! Pop-up powerbomb gets 2.5! Great in-fighting with the Usos and Solo leads to a near Samoan spike to Jimmy after he hits KO with one. Bro Derek hits, but a blind take made Solo the legal man and the Spike ends it! GUNTHER hype video set to "Symphony No. 9". 

Cody is out first and Brock just stalks him on the floor. Cody dives onto him with a suicide dive. Good start - Cody needed something of a spark to him and this provides that. Cody cutter attempt is met with a German. Another and then a fallaway slam! Snap suplexes aplenty! TOSSING GERMAN! But it takes the buckle pad off! Cody cutter and the disaster kick slices open Brock! Cody slugs away and then hits a running knee to the face! F5 HITS AND CODY KICKS OUT! Kimura, but Brock pins himself! 

Okay, not the finish I'd have booked - but at least he won. AND OH GOD "the Gatekeeper" is his label. I hope he's studied Tito Santana's WWE career. Nice Mania-level show-closing video package for the show makes it feel like an epic night. 

AEW Dynamite 5-3-23 - Baltimore Trios Battle Royal

Will Washington is All Elite - making him one of the few backstage folks to get a graphic. Bandido, OC, Cole and Roderick Strong against the JAS and a new douchey theme. Jericho comes out to do commentary IN THE BEATEN BRITT SHIRT. Ouch! Tremendous bit with Bandido hitting alternating suplexes on the goons back to back when they pull each other to safety only to seal their own fate. Garcia gets the sharpshooter and eats a MASSIVE superkick! Cole lowers the boom to win and then beats the shit out of Jericho.

Jack talks about how he and Darby have been there since day one and it's time to main event a PPV! Britt smacks around Jericho and Danielson says that Bret Hart's ego was too big because HE IS BETTER THAN BRET HART EVER WAS and he hopes Wheeler Yuta is better than he ever was - THEY WANT TO PUSH PEOPLE AND WANT PEOPLE TO BE BETTER THAN THEM! Mox hypes up the cage match - 2019 and 2020 might as well be a decade ago because he's better now than he was then. 

Saraya's out to face the GREATEST WOMEN'S BABYFACE IN AGES WILLOW NIGHTINGALE. Saraya is a great '80s Memphis chickenshit heel and has her goons do her bidding before a sneak attack and ad break. Saraya cheats and wins with the Knightcap/Rampaige. Shida returns and swerves the Outcasts by painting Saraya and caning them all while Britt and Jamie stare the heels down too! House of Black cuts a babyface promo about having an Open House and anyone can face them - but under House Rules. 20 second counts! No rope breaks! DQs are enforced, but the opponents make the rule - the house always wins. 

Tres de Mayo battle royal is up for the HOB's next major foes. Hobbs eats a double superkick from the Lucha Bros and THEN JUST ABSORBS IT AND CHUCKS THEM OUT! Hobbs chucks Vikingo out on them and then he takes down Gunn before the Acclaimed send Hobbs out. Bowens and Gunn DO STEREO FAMEASSERS and win it!

Omega-Mox hype video package with Callis looks at his scar and his possible skull fracture. Wardlow beats a dude and calls out Christian Cage and Luchasaurus. Christian says he doesn't want it here IN BALTIMORE! The title shot isn't for Luchasaurus - it's for him! I like that - Wardlow benefits from a win over a legendary veteran before the big meaty men slapping meat match. We get a billion-star segment with Jarrett's crew going to the farm to help Mark Briscoe and be goofballs for the day until Papa Briscoe warns him that they're all a bunch of jackasses.

Juice vs. Starks is a great all-action battle. Nice easy move to get a big reaction with Starks slowly climbing up the steps on the floor before slamming him off them. Super rana by Juice and a big lariat gets 2! Roshambo ends it! Jay jumps Starks and Juice saves Jay from the Roshambo! WWE has The Fiend Lore, AEW has The Firm Lore - and hype for the Firm Deletion. OC faces Daniel Garcia for the title next week. I would do a switch there with JAS. 

MJF tells Jack that he can do for Jack what he did for Sammy - and you're twice the wrestler he is! All you have to do is betray a man you don't even like! Jack isn't buying it and Darby isn't happy. Heels get a mash-up theme and Darby gives his board to a kid. ROCKET LAUNCHER SWANTON misses for the heels! MJF is a dickhead and Sammy superkicks him!! Coffin drop to Sammy wins it! Good story and one of many on the show.