All Elite Wrestling comes our way from the H.E.B. Center in Cedar Park, Texas. Last week, Cody Rhodes defeated QT Marshall in a strap match. Sammy Guevara slapped The Chairman with a chair. Evil Uno interrupted Kenny Omega’s promo (and got a kick in the balls for his trouble), but Hangman Adam Page came out and saved the day. The Pinnacle defeated The Inner Circle in a six-man tag match before Konnan and Tully Blanchard had an old man fight. Jericho and MJF officially renewed their rivalry. Britt Baker, recovered from Nyla’s powerbomb, called out the former champion. El Idolo brutally defeated Matt Sydal. Malakai Black debuted to kicked Cody Rhodes in the face. Kris Stadtlander & Orange Cassidy defeated The Bunny & The Blade, and The Young Bucks retained their tag team titles against Penta El Zero Media and Eddie Kingston.
This Week’s Headliner:
Ethan Page has had it out for Darby Allin since his debut in AEW. The duo has lots of history bleeding into this feud from their past on the indies, and they are doing an excellent job of recreating that animosity at AEW. You can feel the hatred through the screen.
Ethan Page tried to defeat Darby Allin the old-fashioned way, and when that didn’t work, he threw him down a flight of stairs. But, of course, that didn’t work either since violently falling down the stairs is like a fun Sunday brunch for Allin. Faced with a no-win scenario, Ethan Page did what any rational person would do; he challenged Darby Allin to a coffin match. Casual. Darby obviously said yes. Big “don’t threaten me with a good time” vibes here.
Tonight the coffin match is happening, and I truly don’t know who is walking out alive. On the one hand, this is the kind of match that was made for a goth kid like Darby to win. I mean, the man regularly just chills out in body bags. A coffin is a housing upgrade! But on the other, if Allin loses, it will feel a lot less weird when he returns to the roster after being basically murdered. If anyone in this match has vengeful ghost vibes, it’s definitely the one with the skull war paint. Plus, Ethan Page is still relatively new to the roster and could use a big win. Allin is a former champion and a beloved wrestler; he can survive - metaphorically and literally - being buried alive.
Regardless of who wins, this one is going to be a bloody good time.
The Title Scene:
Everyone wants to see Hangman Adam Page challenge Kenny Omega for the World Championship. Well, maybe Kenny doesn’t want that, but everyone else does! But will Hangman Page answer the Cowboy Signal? Tonight we (hopefully) find out.
Thank god Women’s Champion Britt Baker survived the attempt on her life by Nyla Rose two weeks ago! Next week she’ll take on the former champion and has promised to send Nyla back into obscurity without the championship. Should have asked for a yacht Vickie!
The Young Bucks retained their Tag Team Championships last week after super kicking Eddie Kingston’s thumbtack-filled mouth for the win. Maybe they were right, and those mustaches were distracting them because they won that match with classic Young Bucks flair - too many spots and lots of dramatics. Tonight expect massive gloating from these two.
To stay God’s favorite, the TNT Champion Miro must make continual sacrifices. It’s old testament, baby!
Other things to keep an eye on:
-What better way for Jon Moxley to return than with a championship match against one of the men that was a pain in his butt before he left to become a dad? Tonight he defends his IWGP United States championship against Karl Anderson. Get your earplugs ready because the live crowd is going to POP for this return.
-Ricky Starks is back, and he’s out to win the FTR championship from his team Taz teammate, Brian Cage. It’s time for Cage to leave the team and losing the team belt is a great way to oust him and push Starks.
-Christian Cage takes on old rival Matt Hardy tonight. Not only do these two have literal decade’s worth of experience to draw from, but they have done a good job reigniting this feud in AEW. This one should be fun, heck it’s already basically a classic.
-It’s a night of returns as Yuka Sakazaki rejoins AEW to face off with Penelope Ford.
Tune into AEW on TNT at 8pm ET to see how all this plays out.