Welcome to the first review of Mixed Tag Weekly! Our names are Chris and Ruth and we'll be providing an intergender analysis of the week's wrestling from here on in. Offering two perspectives on the action from WWE, AEW, NXT, IMPACT, NWA and more, there's a lot of wrestling out there each week and we know it can be tough to digest the vast majority of it, which is why we'll recap, review and highlight it for you! We'll tell you what's happened, what you need to see and what you should ignore from each brand, giving a knowledgeable, funny, direct take on a week in the wrestling world without you having to sit through a million hours of ring action you don't need to see.
First up is Chris' take on AEW Dynamite, a show which we're both agreed has been on a great run in 2020. Can this week continue the streak? Let's see...
The red hot Dynamite has been unmissable for most of the year so far, but with what's going on in the world taking effect it's becoming more obvious this will be harder for Cody and Co. to maintain. The opening match of the empty arena show this week (one which should have been the semi-PPV Blood and Guts), immediately highlights the problems at hand but also the measures AEW are taking to hide and hinder them.
- Cody vs a rarely seen Jimmy Havoc is a random opener underlining the makeshift booking nature thrust upon the company and the greater wrestling world. Fewer wrestlers makes for a more hodge podge card. However, the entertaining enough opener quickly demonstrates AEW using tighter camera angles and focus on close ups to hide the lack of a crowd. It's a smart decision and it works (watch out for WWE stealing it next week). The match itself is solid, an interesting mesh of Cody's more technical style with Havoc's hardcore. Has a funny spot of Havoc on commentary - 'Hey Tony! (Schiavone)', and an awesome reverse super-plex. Nothing special but a nice showcase for Havoc and Cody wins a match he was always gonna win.
Next, Jake 'The Snake' Roberts continues to roll back the years with another terrifically terrifying promo, this time by a night time campfire. He continues to slither into our sub-conscious as he laments Cody, or ' Caesar', for not asking him to come to AEW in the company's early days. It's a classically chilling Jake promo and its awesome. Plus we hear his client Lance Archer debuts next week. Good Stuff.
- Darby Allin the auteur is back with another beautifully shot short film before another solid entertainer of a match as he beats fellow up-and-comer Kip Sabian. Allin continues to ride what Ruth calls the 'Young Sting mixed with Jeff Hardy' vibe to victory as he skateboards up the AEW mountain. Sabian needs to ramp up his young cocky heel tendencies. More early HBK Shawn Michaels please.
- We're in 80's WWF Superstars territory now as anonymous, no entrance Chico Adams is served up for Jake Hager in an old style squash. Like in Hager's catchy theme song 'I got em, I got em hurt', you know straight away Chico is gonna get hurt. He gets destroyed quickly in a short flurry of brutality by Hager which suits the latter well. Goldberg/Brock Lesnar MMA style rapid brawling is a smart way of getting the best out of him and hiding his flaws.
The champ Jonnnnnnnn MOXLEY!!! enters from nowhere and has an exchange with Hager as interest begins to build in an inevitable title match down the road. Great to see Moxley and the AEW championship back on Dynamite after a few weeks on the side-lines.
- Interest levels high next as a recently debuted Brodie Lee, aka Luke Harper in WWE, finally gets his own cult in the form of the Dark Order! But it's not only Bray Wyatt who is resembled here as Lee echos a mob boss and his old boss in a vignette, coming off like a mafia style Vince McMahon as he berates followers for sneezing at dinner. Ruth wasn't a fan. Not what I expected either to be totally honest but his destruction of greengrocer/apple obsessed wrestler QT Marshall is more encouraging. Displays his awesome clothesline again as he handily beats him in another squash match. An apple squash if you will.
Hopefully Lee can lead a late 90's Undertaker Ministry of Darkness-like group of jobbers turned devout followers into something less resembling the mafia and more a violently macabre cult. Should work well if executed right for the Exalted One.
- The penultimate segment and final match is a good one in the form of AAA Champ Kenny Omega defending his title against Sammy Guevara. Great athleticism from the opening bell as you know two minutes in its the match of the night. Sammy plays an over the top young, cocky heel really well and gets the most out of his character by pretending to be in the audience and making out with a picture of Brandi Rhodes. He has awesome aerial offense, is one of the best sellers in the world and can be a threat despite the more comedic aspects of his persona. Omega is as solid and believable as ever as the two wrestle a highly competitive, pure contest with plenty of high octane action.
They race towards the finish with an array of impressive moves before Omega wins it and retains with the one-winged angel. Great match, bit sorry for Sammy as he'd make a good heel champ and could use the win.
- Finally, Chris Jericho and 'Broken' Matt Hardy have a confrontation which begins with Jericho hilariously cutting a promo to a drone, aka the Vanguard, and ends with all sorts of 'Broken' craziness. Hardy teleports(!) to the ring before the two resemble a couple of guys acting out a piece of experimental theatre as Hardy christens himself 'Damascus' and declares his vessel to be 3000 years old. Safe to say there is nothing like 'Broken' Matt. I can imagine a marmite-like response to his character as it is pretty out there, even for wrestling.
The lines Marmite Matt (how I shall now christen thee) spouts and his delivery of them are super funny to me though. I challenge anyone not to smile at 'the Bucks of Youth' or when he calls Jericho a 'Hole of the Arse!'. The two come to blows after Jericho tries to get Marmite Matt to join the Inner Circle before Sammy Guevara and Elite members interfere as the show closes to Matt magically making fire shoot up from the turnbuckles and the stage.
Overall, a solid show under the circumstances that shall not be named, (or zombie apocalypse as Ruth calls it). The first half is decent but by no means spectacular, highlighted for me by Jake Roberts' eerie promo. The second is more engaging with a great match between Guevara and Omega and a crazy yet highly entertaining confrontation between Jericho and the now Marmite Matt Hardy.
The 3 Count (3 points of recommendation)
1. Jake 'The Snake' Roberts chilling promo by the light of a camp fire.
2. An awesome match by Omega/Guevara
3. Jericho/Marmite Matt Hardy's crazy confrontation.
Ring The Bell - Show Recommendation?
No, not essential viewing for Dynamite this week, first time in a while. A few points of interest though (see above) if you're starved of good wrestling at the moment.
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