This week I went to my first wrestling pay per view when I traveled to Orlando for AEW's Revolution and followed that up with the Dynamite afterword since it was just twenty minutes down the road from me. I went solo to the PPV, but went with my girlfriend and sister to Dynamite. Revolution plus the preshow was a long show, but full of damn good wrestling and the crowd noise died out in some of the later matches after Punk and MJF. Personally it was hard to still be loudly into the matches no matter how good the matches are.
Honestly the Punk/MJF match probably should have main evented as it had the hottest story going into the show and it was going to feature a lot of blood. I get why they put the world title match as the main event, but it just didn't compare to the emotion in the dog collar match. All of the matches on the preshow over delivered and were just as good as anything on the main show and really Statlander/Hirsch was better than a lot of the singles matches on the show. House of Black vs. Pac, Penta, and Redbeard was just an insanely fun fast paced match that I didn't really care for going into the show and then fully captured my attention. Redbeard really impressed me as he really showed a lot of skill in this match and was fun to see him facing off with Brody.
The crowd was loud and into the show, but of course there were annoying people and they were like two rows behind me and to the left and kept shouting annoying shit. The guy sitting next to me just went “I fucking hate those guys,” after one of their attempts at a joke which got a laugh out of me.
Starting with Kingston vs Jericho ruled. I loved the start with the half and half suplex from Kingston and Jericho being on the back foot right away. Kingston is in charge all the time unless Jericho goes for the eyes and unloads offense from there. I know it's because Kawada is his favorite wrestler, but it never doesn't impress me how Kingston does the enziguri exactly like Kawada did. The selling especially, but everything about how the match was worked and paced felt like a classic All Japan Kings Road match. Jericho did a bunch of eye work to trying and slow Kingston down, but he was determined to win and after Jericho accidentally hit the exposed turnbuckle with the Judas effect and Kingston nails a couple of backfists before getting the submission win. This match was great and exceeded my expectations for it. Kingston really brought out the style that Jericho hasn't wrestled in a long time and it really helped the match even if the crowd wasn't always responsive to booing Jericho's cheating despite being strongly behind Eddie.
I don't really want to review every match because being there live makes every match seem better so its going to be more the high points of the show although some of the matches were that good and I felt the need to really going into detail on them. The tag title match was really good and the ladder match was fine with some really cool spots by Orange Cassidy, but didn't have any really good hoss off moments except them facing off a couple of times. Jade vs. Tay was the best match of Jade's run so far and had a lot of really good moments including Tay getting some good offense in.
Being there live for CM Punk coming out to “Miseria Cantare” and in his RoH gear made the show for me. After Punk leaving wrestling for seven years getting to see him come out to that song and in that gear was just the best experience. The match afterword lived up to that feeling as well. A nicely paced match and they tease out the violence and really utilize the gimmick match well using the chain to choke each other and whip each other. Punk is bleeding early and gets an intense crimson mask. I was surprised how well that popped even though I was up in the second level. Punk's tombstone on the apron was phenomenal and it was nice that both men had an injured body part and sold it throughout the match. Definitely the highlight of the show and a great match.
Britt vs. Rosa really had no chance to follow the dog collar match and nothing on the show did. As a follow up to their hardcore unsanctioned match this couldn't live up either as there is a ton of bad blood and it was a normal match and Rosa not being prepared for the interference from Rebel and Hayter just didn't seem right considering how long they have been feuding even if it is a loss to setup a big title win in Rosa's hometown. Danielson vs. Mox was a really good match that took a while to really get the crowd into it, but was largely fought like a classic NWA style battle for control with grappling and hard hitting strikes that didn't necessarily get an advantage they were struggling for. I loved the match, but it wasn't the kind of match that gets the crowd loudly behind it.
The tornado six man tag of Sting, Darby, and Sammy vs. Andrade, Matt Hardy, and Isaih Kassidy surprised the hell out of me. Except for the chance to see Sting wrestle live I would have been happy to have dropped for time. And then the match started and it was an insanely fun brawl between these two teams. Darby nailing Jose the assistant with a suicide dive while he had a trashcan over him was crazy and it kept escalating from there. Marq Quen and Butcher and the Blade joining into the brawl made it more fun as well and almost let the heels get the win. Sammy's insane Spanish fly off the set through two tables to Kassidy was nuts and then Sting jumped off the balcony onto Andrade through four tables which was even crazier.
The main event was really good even if I did get tired of the “Adam” chants that people were doing. The ones were it was just the normal cheer for a wrestler, but we chanted Adam for both was great, but once they just started replacing random words with Adam I got tired of it. The Halo gear that Adam wore out to the ring was pretty half-assed and looked goofy and for a little bit I thought he the backpack was going to shoot off fireworks, but if it makes him happy good for him. The crowd reactions were pretty muted after the Punk/MJF match, but this got the people awake and back into it. I don't know why the good guys friends are always so slow at saving their friend when the heels friends are there cheating so much earlier, but other than that it was a really good match and the Deadeye off the apron through the table was fucking nuts and looked brutal for both guys. I was really worried about Cole winning so when Page got the win it was awesome. I kind of thought they were teasing a slow heel turn for Page with how he finished the match, but Dynamite kind of put a rest to those thoughts.
I loved the show and had a great time even though I took a lyft to the venue and with how busy it was after I couldn't get one back to the hotel and had to walk two miles back to my motel. The show wasn't setup correctly to build up to the best match, but it was still a great show with a lot of great wrestling. It was a great time and I was so happy I made the trip up to Orlando to see it.
After I had bought the tickets to that PPV they announced the show in my hometown of Fort Myers so I got tickets to that, but I knew my girlfriend would be willing to make that trip and got my sister to come down as well since its been a while since she's been to a live show and she's a huge fan of Moxley.
We got there a little late into the Dark taping and saw half of the Emi Sakura/Bunny vs. Kylinn King/Kelsey Reagan match I believe and it was a lot of fun and a great way to start the night. The rest of the matches on the preshow were fine and ending with the Dark Order against Chaos Project was great.
Since it was a post PPV show Dynamite was a little heavy on talking segments which my girlfriend who doesn't follow stuff wasn't really into, but she also made jokes about the wrestling so its tough to say the right move for her. Loved Kingston's promo and how well he plays off of Jericho and the inevitable heel turn for Jericho wasn't surprising to me, but was well played out here. I really like the contrast in Jericho's more polished promo style and Kingston feeling more raw and realistic and dealing with his emotions. The surprise World Title match with Hangman vs. Dante Martin was really goddamn good, and does the thing that I appreciate the most from AEW which is that when a surprise guy gets a title shot its still a back and forth match. Dante got some great offense in and looked really strong in that match.
The next match is the one my sister was most looking forward to as her two favorite wrestlers were teaming up even if they did just run through The Workhorsemen. It was nice seeing JD Drake in person again after buying a shirt from him at a local show even if he didn't get to do much tonight. Regal cut a good promo after the match and has me really looking forward to the future of this team and whatever young guys they add to the stable. Pac vs Yuta was a short but fun match. Pac dominated, but Yuta got to showcase a little bit of what he brings to the table as well.
Next was what ended up being the segment of the night. The Andrade/Hardy Family Order fell apart as we knew it was going to. After the family turned on Hardy we got Sting and Darby to try and fail to make the save and then the Hardy Boyz music hit and Jeff Hardy came out. The crowd came unglued and while I'm not excited about current Hardy Boyz ability in the ring I'd be lying if I said I didn't get super excited about this moment. Jeff helps the rest of the good guys clear the ring and hits a Swanton bomb on Blade.
Wardlow talked next in a solid promo, but since it was one on one it really felt weird that Schiavonne and Wardlow were looking at the hard cam were almost nobody was sitting. Jurassic Express vs. The Acclaimed was an awesome match. I though this was going to be a glorified squash match, but Acclaimed really came close to winning at times and this was a lot of fun. Rosa vs. Hirsch was a fun match with Rosa picking up the win. Scorpio Sky vs. Sammy Guevera was a pretty boring match with a lot of time spent on a fake injury for Sammy although at least the 630 off the top through a table looked awesome. It was cool seeing Scorpio get the win here as I've been a fan of his since seeing him in early PWG shows.
The Rampage taping was fun although it took quite a while for them to change the ring apron and mat which they did quickly between Dark and Dynamite. Marq Quen vs Darby lasted too long for my taste especially since Darby got nearly no offense in and Quen doesn't really have the kind of offense that works well to control a match against a baby face. The 450 from the top to Darby on the floor was fucking awesome to see though. Keith Lee squashed QT nicely and destroyed the rest of the nightmare family. Mercedes Martinez and Jamie Hayter had a good match which was nice to see. The main event of Swerve vs. Nese was good, but after that much wrestling it was a little hard to get too invested in the match.
It was a fun pair of nights and even though both shows were quite long to sit through I had a great time both nights. Obviously Revolution was way better than Dynamite, but Dynamite had stuff going for it as well. It will be a long time before either show is topped for as live experiences go. My ass wishes that the seats were more comfortable and Revolution definitely could have used an intermission, especially since AEW PPVs don't have terrible matches that I'm happy to miss to take a piss break. The prices for the show were much more reasonable than WWE PPVs so I'd definitely recommend checking out a show if its near you.
