This was a fun episode of weekly TV, especially with its opening and main event matches. MJF being on TV and wrestling such an intelligent match against a hometown hero was genius booking, and I loved every second of it. The main event was also a very entertaining ROH style match, brutal and very hard hitting with every move mattering and making Samoa Joe look like a monster. The rest of the show was good too, with Dustin rolling back the years, Miro getting some time to shine and Jay White being his entertaining self. Not everything worked, with Frost and Statlander a bit botchy in places and Starks vs Juice a carbon copy of the opener, only slower and less exciting, though both matches were still technically good overall. The middle portion of the show moved the episode from great to merely good, but the show did ramp up well again by the end to send the crowd home satisfied. It’s the type of show which is watchable and entertaining with a hot crowd, but likely not something that will set the world on fire, and merely carries us over into next week. They did a good enough job of making me want to watch next week without doing anything to massively advance any storyline, just keep things ticking over while providing good wrestling and just slowly turning up the heat on feuds without doing anything drastic. A fun time!
The Owen Hart Cup takes centre stage tonight with three men’s quarter final matches. These matches include Roderick Strong vs Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs vs Dustin Rhodes and Ricky Starks vs Juice Robinson. Elsewhere on the card, Kris Statlander defends the TBS Title against Lady Frost and MJF and Miro are in action. Let’s get at it!
SQUASH MJF vs Kit Morst
MJF with USA Gear which is very very funny given they’re in Canada. MJF beats the stuffing out of the local competitor, winning in seconds
Result: MJF by Pinfal via Lebell Lock
AMAZING MJF/Ethan Page Promo
MJF gets on the mic and very entertainingly offers a world title shot to anyone from Hamilton. We get a local competitor beginning to walk down the ramp but is interrupted by Ethan Page who cuts a fabulously impassioned promo on MJF laying out his working class hometown roots against MJF’s entitled rich attitude before challenging him for an immediate title match. This is the best Ethan Page has looked in a long long time, and it was legitimately brilliant to see.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.25 Stars
AMAZING MJF vs Ethan Page- AEW World Championship- Watch Match Here
This is an intelligent back and forth match with MJF targeting Ethan Page’s leg to nerf the Ego’s edge. MJF is the king of these style of intelligent heel matches and it’s nice to see him get more of a chance to do it here rather than relying fully on the heel tactics. Ethan makes a great comeback though he is fighting with his injured knee, with MJF giving him a lot. He works on adrenaline but only for so long as his knee buckles on an Ego’s edge, and MJF hits a dragon screw leg-whip (perhaps showing he has learned something from Tanahashi after all) before winning with a heat seeker. Perfect opener after a PPV quality match. That was better than the Tanahashi match technically and the story they told was simple and very effective with a super hot crowd for the hometown boy. Excellent stuff.
Result: MJF by Pinfall via Heat Seeker
David Sheldon WR Match Rating- 4.25 Stars
GREAT Dustin Rhodes vs Powerhouse Hobbs
Nice to hear Dustin’s relationship to Owen brought up on commentary here. This is no squash with Dustin getting some good licks in here, but the power of Hobbs proves too great early on. QT Marshall also provides some funny distractions, telling Aubrey Dustin stood on his hand before throwing him into the post when Hobbs’ back is turned. That action causes Dustin to bleed heavily. Dustin starts to make a comeback, at which point Fite cuts the feed, so well done to Fite for that. We finally get back as Rhodes gets a terrific nearfall from a Cross Rhodes-Piledriver combo, and another off a Code Red. Dustin absolutely still has it. QT Marshall intervenes and gets smashed in the face for his troubles, which allows Hobbs to hit the spinebuster for a ONE COUNT, but they repeat the spot a minute or two later to allow Hobbs to get the win. I really really enjoyed that match, and Dustin looked fantastic, but I did want more emphasis to be given to Hobbs, as he had to rely a lot on QT to get the win there.
Results: Powerhouse Hobbs by Pinfall via Spinebuster
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.5 Stars
SQUASH Miro vs Anthony Henry
Miro eats Anthony Henry alive for most of the match, and although Henry as an established talent gets his hits in, it’s short lived, as Miro wins with his Camel Clutch. Very entertaining squash and a nice buildup by having him beast a more established talent this week than last. Its the Brock Lesnar method and works very well.
Result: Miro by Submission via Camel Clutch
GREAT Bullet Club Gold Promo
This is a heel yuck-yuck promo with Jay White being his charismatic self, saying not much but being entertaining while he’s doing it. The Gunn’s do something similar, though they say the reason they joined was because of Jay and Juice’s worldwide experience, which is a very realistic and understandable reason for wanting to join a faction, which I appreciate. Schiavone announces that the BCG are barred from ringside which they react to like swarming flies around Schiavone. We begin to accomplish a lot in this promo with Jay White calling out CM Punk and then FTR for a tag title shot. The faces respond over video, but to be honest the energy dies a bit because, and I can describe it in no other way but this, the heels have outdoor voices and the faces have indoor voices. Still though this was a great promo particularly by Jay White who was truly excellent here, and a lot of small threads are being set up to expand upon.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
GOOD Juice Robinson vs Ricky Starks- Owen Hart Cup Quarter Final
Quick, brisk action early on before Juice takes the MJF tactic from earlier and goes for the legs. This does take some impact out of this story though as we have already seen this story done earlier on and at a faster pace, but this is more methodical. Ricky fights back and begs for more, and his fightback sequences are good fun, but again this feels a little like deja vu. The two go back and forth with Juice getting a fun nearfall from a spear before Ricky gets one of his own and gets a roll up pin for the win. Post match Punk and FTR save Starks from a Gunn Club beatdown, as the crowd boo vociferously. This feels like the first week they haven’t paid attention to the boos. A good match, just rather stale because we saw a better version of it earlier in the show.
Result: Ricky Starks by Pinfall via Roll-up
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
Shawn Spears wants a TNT Title match as Christian continues to claim himself as the champion. Good work from all the guys here, as Christian’s gimmick of using Luchasaurus I think is a very fun one for TV.
GOOD Kris Statlander vs Lady Frost- TBS Championship
A fun little acrobatic showcase for both Women, as I massively appreciate that Kris Statlander continues to have unique matches with her different opponents. This gets a bit clunky towards the end and a couple of spots go a bit awry but this was good enough as a bit of variety on the card, and some of the flips were very impressive.
Result: Kris Statlander by Pinfall via Saturday Night Fever
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.25 Stars
Andrade cuts a very impassioned promo demanding his mask back. He is interrupted behind him by the House Of Black, who say something I could not make out before Andrade pushes over the camera.
GREAT Samoa Joe vs Roderick Strong- Owen Hart Cup Quarter Final
Mixed reaction as usual for Punk on commentary, though it’s less impassioned than usual. You will be unsurprised to hear this match is incredibly hard hitting and every knee, chop, kick and dive is as hard as they can possibly manage it. The crowd are heavily into Joe and it’s easy to see why because he is beastly in this match. Joe keeps eyeing up Punk with every nearfall. Roddy is the underdog here and gets some very good sequences flying at Samoa Joe like a madman trying to knock him down. This whole match is a very ROH infused match in its design, which adds some nice variety to the card. Joe is eventually able to finish off Strong by making him pass in the Kojina Clutch. After the match Roderick Strong is stretchered out as Joe is led out by security. Joe is an absolute monster and I love it.
Results: Samoa Joe by Submission via Kojina Clutch
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
Overall…
This was a fun episode of weekly TV, especially with its opening and main event matches. MJF being on TV and wrestling such an intelligent match against a hometown hero was genius booking, and I loved every second of it. The main event was also a very entertaining ROH style match, brutal and very hard hitting with every move mattering and making Samoa Joe look like a monster. The rest of the show was good too, with Dustin rolling back the years, Miro getting some time to shine and Jay White being his entertaining self. Not everything worked, with Frost and Statlander a bit botchy in places and Starks vs Juice a carbon copy of the opener, only slower and less exciting, though both matches were still technically good overall. The middle portion of the show moved the episode from great to merely good, but the show did ramp up well again by the end to send the crowd home satisfied. It’s the type of show which is watchable and entertaining with a hot crowd, but likely not something that will set the world on fire, and merely carries us over into next week. They did a good enough job of making me want to watch next week without doing anything to massively advance any storyline, just keep things ticking over while providing good wrestling and just slowly turning up the heat on feuds without doing anything drastic. A fun time!
Matches: 0.75/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.5/1 Stars
Atmosphere…: 0.75/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.5/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating. 3.25/5 Stars
Photo Credit: AEW- July 1st 2023
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