AEW Dynamite 6-22-22 - Danielson Announcement

 

Danielson has been out since Anarchy in the Arena and he will have an announcement that is expected to not be good in terms of his in-ring future right now. He starts off with this exciting promo talking about wanting ZSJ at Forbidden Door and then moves onto Blood and Guts. He can't compete for these events - but his overall health is great and can read 500 words a minute and run two minutes. HE WILL COME BACK. HE BROKE HIS NECK AND DETACHED HIS RETINA AND NO ONE CAN WRESTLE LIKE HIM!

The good news is that Eddie Kingston said he's a judgmental prick and he's right - he has found THE ONE PERSON he trusts to take his place. HE CAME OUT OF THE BAD GUY TUNNEL AND WON'T TELL US - and he won't tell ZSJ either. Okay, that's some shit. ZSJ comes out and we get a graphic for that match. Well that's just stupid across the board. Orange Cassidy and RPG Vice are out to face the United Empire team of Ospreay and Aussie Open.

High/low from RPG Vice leads to quick tags. Mark Davis looks so good in there with Trent. OC runs wild with a double rana on AO. OC and Ospreay are fantastic together. This is still like the most bizarre title match imaginable, but it should be quite good. POP-UP PILEDRIVER FROM DAVIS GETS 2.9 ON TRENT! OC punch hits Fletcher and ends it. THIS RULED! 

Christian Cage comes out looking like an angry college professor and insults the fans before calling out the fact that Jungle Boy took him out of the Casino Battle Royal last year - and THE FANS LIKED IT! He gets a shut the fuck up chant and then he buries Wrestling Twitter. Christian says he's not here to help these young fuckers - he was there for them to take an easy paycheck and that's all he's here for. I love Christian in AEW being Booker T in TNA. 

Christian mocks Jack's mother and says that Jack's dad is dead! Luchasaurus chokes him out and then Christian says REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO MARKO! Christian says he's like a son to him and they go out and then we just TOTHEBACK it with Sting's return. And then we get the Bucks gloating with the belts. 

Malakai Black vs. Penta is up for a shot at the All-Atlantic 4-way. Good physicality here with kicks and an apron chop. Tepe kick saves Black from an apron Fear Factor. Black escapes again and climbs in for a Cro Cop kick. Cutter gets 2 for Penta. Malakai double stomp gets 2. AVALANCHE FEAR FACTOR but Penta jams his back and can't cover. 2.9 off a desperation pin when Black gets a foot on the rope. Made in Japan attempt, but his back is shot he can't lift him. BLACK OUT ENDS IT! Pac comes out before Miro says the title is God's apology to him. 

Cole is out for commentary on Page vs. Silas Young. They threw this out as a surprise today and there's such a great story here with him using wrestling to better his life. Instead, he's kind of a goon for Cole but not really. BACK AND FORTH CHOPS APLENTY! Superplex to Young before a triangle lariat on the apron and a moonsault. Buckshot ends it and Cole is here for STORYTIME, BAYBAY! BUT JAY WHITE INTERRUPTS!

Jay White says AS THE CATALYST, he is responsible for all of this. He needs to make the PPV as big as it can be. He can't give Cole a shot because he lost to Hangman twice, but he knows that THE WORLD is dying to know who he will face at the PPV. White says it won't be Hangman and then they brawl before Cole jumps in and low blows Page. Cole preps for a belt shot but stands up to hold the belt up and have plausible deniability! OKADA COMES OUT! 

He and Page run wild! Nice brawl and we still don't know who's in the IWGP World Title match. Red Velvet is hurt and they want a new baddie. Kris Stat and Athena mock her with goofy modeling poses. Toni is out to face Marina, whose slow violin theme is death live. Good back and forth before Toni gets spiked on her head in PIP.

Release German by Toni. BANG HIP ATTACK! Marina wants a pumphandle, but Toni RVD cradles her to win. Nyla jumps Toni before Rosa saves. Toni grabs the belt and hands it over. Okay then. This show's build feels way too TNA-esque - just a bunch of stuff and not much of it feels special. And then there's THE MYSTERY MATCHES like Danielson's replacement and the IWGP World Title match.

Sting and Darby are bringing partners to Forbidden Door - SHINGO AND HIROMU! Hook faces DKC and Fenix faces Andrade on Rampage. Nice hype video for it showing their history in AEW until now. COBB VS. WHEELER is going to be a blast too. And now the IWGP World Title is a four-way - so good they got that done. Bryan's replacement will be a new BCC member and Sting's team is OFFICIALLY the Dudes With Attitude. 

Jericho and Archer are out to face Mox and Tanahashi. Tana just has IT live. Great brawling to start before Lance pounces Mox down. Taaa tags in and gets the middle rope crossbody! Second rope senton to Jericho gets 2. Death Rider and the High Fly Flow take out Archer. Kingston and JAS brawl with BCC. Then we just get a brawl with half the planet and Suzuki brawling with Yuta. Someone's popcorn gets used by Kingston. More brawling.

WWE SmackDown 6-17-22

Roman vs. Riddle for the title and Vince appears on TV for the first time since stepping down as CEO - so it's a pretty historic show overall.Vince's theme hits and he gets a giant pop with fans fawning over him. He soaks it in and says that it's WWE THEN NOW TOGETHER and most importantly FOREVER!

Riddle comes out for a recap video with the Usos/Reigns feud. Riddle is not good at this long promo deal but he does love him some Randy Orton and it feels good to have a team that feels like a genuine bond. Corbin-Moss recap and then after a billion years, the match begins. Slugfest before a Corbinlock and then a Moss fallaway slam. Moss eats the post for an ad break.

Deep Six gets 2. PUNCHLINE HITS! And another wins it. Yeah his inverted version of Curtix Axel's finish is a thing sure. Street Profits cut a promo wanting the tag titles. Shanky and Jinder face New Day and lose. Shanky dances. Viking Raiders hype video. Pierce is here to make a ruling on who goes into the MITB match - Drew or Sheamus. Pierce puts Sheamus in and then they brawl and then he puts Drew in too. Thank God. This ate up 10 minutes. Raquel poses before facing Shayna in an MITB qualifer.

Max Dupri bullshit about not being happy with the presentation of his Maximum Male Models. GUNTER and Kaiser promo. Riddle swarms him and hits a PK off the apron a corkscrew floating bro to the floor. They plug house shows and they're coming to do DC in mid-August. Drive-by gets 2 for Roman. V trigger is avoided and Roman hits a uranage for 2. Orton back suplex on the announce table by Riddle! Superman punch gets 2.5! SPEAR INTO THE RKO GETS 2.9! Mid-air crossbody eats the spear and it ends it.

Roman says there's no one left and BROCK RETURNS! We get a staredown! F5 TO ROMAN AND THEN TO THE USOS! As a whole show, this was not worth 2 hours - but it was eventful.

WWE Hell in a Cell 2022

 

It's been a week of injuries and Cody's coming to this one hurt. Nice epic video for Cody vs. Seth and Seth says that anyone who's been in a cell with him has been changed forever. Long women's title rundown leads to the Raw Women's triple threat and Becky in a goofy getup. Asuka's out in a sweet Jason mask and Bianca's energy is fantastic. They take out Becky for a bit before going at it

Becky runs wild in the corner before Asuka hip attacks. Big Becky and Asuka exchange mid-ring leads to Asuka running wild and getting 2 off a German. MARCHING SUPLEX BY BIANCA TO BECKY! Love it! Corner punches to Becky and Asuka in the corner, but Becky escapes and pulls her down by the braid. MOONSAULT TO BECKY AND ASUKA GETS 2! Tower of doom to Becky is avoided and Asuka hits codebreakers to both of them!

ANKLE LOCK TO BOTH BECKY AND BIANCA! Bianca gets a schoolboy but BECKY GETS THE DISARMHER! MANHANDLE SLAM TO BIANCA but Asuka saves at 2.9! This has been a fantastic match so far. Bianca goes for Jaded, but gets rolled into an Asuka buzzsaw kick for 2.9 before a save. Disarmer in the ropes and a LONG Asuka lock to Becky that I think was supposed to be a 450 from Bianca but they were too close - so she rolls through. Becky tries to steal it, but a manhandle slam lets Bianca steal the pin.

Omos and MVP chat and MVP rejects Cedric. I love Cedric doing whatever he can to get back in the Hurt Business because logically in kayfabe, he REALLY should do anything he can to make that work. Fantastic intro for Lashley - it took until he got into his mid-'40s to really show him off like a God. It's 8:45 and MATCH TWO has just begun. 

MVP uses Omos to get an edge and mounts Lashley with strikes before kneeing him for 2. MVP is "the veteran" in this match despite Lashley being around longer on the main roster. Cedric comes out and gets tossed out by Omos before he eats a spear. Players' kick misses and the Hurt Lock ends it. This was not as bad as expected. 

Owens MAIN EVENTED WRESTLEMANIA AGAINST STEVE AUSTIN and is now in the third match facing Not Elias. Jumping knee and then a diving elbow gets 2.9 for Zeke. Back and forth forearms. Stinger splashes in the corner for Zeke and a Double A spinebuster gets 2. Pop-up powerbomb gets 2 for KO. Zeke avoids a stunner and gets the knee again before going up for the elbow and eating a superkick party and a cannonball. Stunner ends it and KO wins. He calls himself THE BEST IN THE WORLD in Chicago. LOL

Judgment Day vs. AJ, Balor and Liv with Liv getting a pop-up rana from her pals into Rhea. Not too much going on with Priest, but things amp up a bit with AJ and Edge. Ushigoroshi to Edge on the upper back gets 2. P1 Forearm hits for 2.9 thanks to Priest saving him. Goofy stupid setup for a suplex from Rhea to Liv hits and then Balor avoids doing the stomp due to Rhea. Edge and Balor have good chemistry together and Rhea prevents another one but Liv attacks her and Balor misses the stomp and Edge's spear ends it. This was fun.

Recap of the Lashley stuff and Cedric says he didn't do all that for Lashley - he did it for himself and Lashley says he's proud of him. Corbin vs. Madcap is up and it's NO HOLDS BARRED - not even the Corbinlock. Walk and brawl. More walking and brawling. Moss drop toehold into the chair. Deep Six gets 2. DDT on a chair from Moss gets 2. Moss eats a chair wrap into the post. Corbin puts steps up in the corner and eats a fallaway slam into them before the Punchline! He Pillmanizes his neck WITH THE STEPS! This was a definitive win. 

US Title match is up with Theory out in Captain America gear while Ali is out in Chicago-themed gear with a slick CHI/ALI shirt and great gear too. Nice dive from Ali but he goes for another one and eats a drop to the floor. Killer lariat by Ali! A-Town Down is countered INTO AN STF BY ALI! Well, he escapes and hits the A-Town Down. This program got Ali over, then under. 

Seth's out in Dusty's polka dots and Corey talks about Chicago has played such a part in his journey outside of WWE. Cody gets some left jabs and a CODY CUTTER with the right arm for whatever reason. His pec is just demolished! Seth canes the wound! Seth gets a Visionary weight belt and lashes him with it IN CODY'S OWN JACKET!

Seth sets up a superplex through a table, but Cody wants a powerbomb and it gets turned into the KO discus elbow to the neck. Frog splash on the table misses and Cody escapes! Cody gets a bull rope and puts it on and challenges Seth to do the same. This is brilliant! SUPERKICK TO SETH! BELL SHOT HITS AND GETS 2.9! This has been fantastic overall. 

CODY SOMEHOW GETS CROSS RHODES FOR 2. BUCKLE BOMB THROUGH THE TABLE GETS 2.9! WHAT AN AMAZING BABYFACE CODY IS! Seth gets a sledgehammer and goes for a pedigree, but Cody HITS ONE FOR 2.9! Tremendous nearfall! 

Cody chases him with the hammer and comes in and GETS STOMPED! This gets 2.9! SETH HITS A CROSS RHODES AND THEN CODY ROLLS THROUGH TO HIT ONE! CHAIN OF CROSS RHODES HITS AND HE GOES FOR THE HAMMER. HAMMER SHOT TO THE HEAD! HOLY SHIT. Cody won! I didn't see that and they made him THE BETTER MAN in this feud. Good to see.

This was the most compelling move-for-move match I've seen since HBK vs. HHH at Taboo Tuesday when HBK blew his knee out the day before. Every single thing Cody did seemed more remarkable due to the injury and while they shouldn't have done the match, Cody gave it everything he had in the arena that ALL IN made famous to have another classic.