Post by sethisthegoat on Aug 24, 2023 11:11:12 GMT -5
AEW: August 16/18, 2023 - Summer Smash
Dynamite
Intro - Coach and Pat McAfee welcome the AEW fans to the second annual “Summer Smash” event, which promises two nights full of great matches that will have implications for the future of AEW — and maybe the entire Universal Wrestling Alliance. They run down the card and mention that TNT is allowing Dynamite to run over if needed, due to the 3-falls match between Hook and Sammy Guevara.
A short video recapping the burgeoning feud between the Bloodline and the Apex airs, highlighting Roman Reigns’ assertion that the Apex has run its course and it’s time for the A’noai family to run the show in AEW. Members of two factions have squared off a few times, trading wins. Things took a more personal turn when Reigns and Wardlow were set to face off when Wardlow attacked before the match and took him out. Reigns and Sikoa faced off with Wardlow and Shaun Spears later, with Wardlow pinning Sikoa for the win with Reigns distracted by the rest of the Apex. Reigns tried spearing Wardlow, but the big man didn’t budge. An irate Reigns challenged Wardlow to another match, and here we are.
Match 1 - Roman Reigns (2-0) w/ Solo Sikoa vs. Wardlow (2-0) w/ Jeff Jarrett
No pre-match shenanigans this time, as the rivals square off in the middle of the ring. Reigns tries for Wardlow’s legs, but Wardlow resists and tosses him away. The men stand in the ring again, nose to nose, then exchange punches. The match turns into a brawl and Wardlow gets the upper hand following a clothesline.
McAfee makes the comment that Reigns isn’t used to being overpowered, much less by a man that is essentially the same size as him. But Wardlow is nonetheless keeping Reigns down, until he finally lifts him up for the Powerbomb Symphony - but Reigns resists and tosses himself backwards, pulling Wardlow over the top rope and crashing to the floor with him. As both men recover, Jarrett makes his way over to the scene with his guitar, but gets scared away by Sikoa.
Outside, Reigns gains some momentum by reversing an Irish Whip into the ring steps. As Wardlow stands from that hit, Reigns hits the Superman Punch, knocking Wardlow to his knees (but not out). Reigns rolls in and out of the ring to break the count. After some more back-and-forth outside, they get back in the ring. Reigns tries for a Spear, but Wardlow doesn’t budge again. He grabs Reigns and hits a powerbomb, but Reigns grabs hold of Wardlow's arm and locks in a Gogoplata! Wardlow is fading until Jarrett slides in the ring, and Reigns is distracted enough that he lets go of Wardlow.
The ref checks on Wardlow, while Reigns stalks after Jarrett, who slides out of the ring near his guitar. Reigns reaches after Jarrett, who plants the guitar on Reigns’ head. Reigns staggers back into the ring as Wardlow is recovered, and Wardlow hits the F-10 and goes for the pin…1…2…3! Match time: 14:28. Wardlow has defeated Roman Reigns! Jarrett slides in to celebrate with Wardlow, who looks warily at him as his hand is raised.
Reigns and Sikoa glare at Jarrett and Wardlow, telling them that this isn’t over.
—
Hype video showing the history of Paige VanZant and Ronda Rousey, which began nearly a year ago when Rousey came to VanZant’s aide during VanZant’s match with Angelina Love. This led to a brief partnership that came to an end in December when Rousey viciously attacked and injured VanZant, who she blamed for costing her a shot at the UWA Women’s Championship. Rousey broke VanZant’s arm. This culminated in a match during February’s Revolution event, where VanZant made Rousey tap out in a Lion’s Den match. VanZant later became AEW Women’s Champion in a four-way match by making Rousey tap out again. Rousey is desperate to prove that she is the pre-eminent female wrestler and wants to beat VanZant senseless. VanZant won’t back down from a challenge.
Match 2 - AEW Women’s Championship - Paige VanZant © (15-4) vs. Ronda Rousey (7-4)
The match starts fast with Rousey rushing straight for VanZant. They exchange haymakers, but none quite connect, until Rousey catches VanZant with an uppercut that staggers her. Rousey pounces and gets VanZant to the mat with an armbar; VanZant breaks it up at the ropes.
After exchanging moves in the ring, they eventually spilled to the floor, brawling. Rousey eventually got VanZant over to the announce table and climbed on top. She hit the Piper’s Pit on VanZant, breaking through the table as the ref reached a count of 8! Neither woman could recover in time to get back in the ring as the match ends at a countout in 8:20. Rousey grabs the title belt and looks at it longingly, while VanZant lays in the wreckage of the table. Rousey tosses the belt down on top of VanZant and walks off, while the champion comes to.
—
Matt Riddle and Jeff Cobb come out to the ring to talk about their tag title defense next week against Public Enemy. Riddle asks Cobb if they’re the surprise team he was talking about a couple weeks ago. Cobb says no; he’s afraid they’re going to get blindsided by a semi-truck, and Riddle needs to shape up so the Chosen Bros can remain champions. He walks off, as Riddle looks after him, worried.
—
A video package showing the history of Hook and Sammy Guevara’s rivalry. Hook was the FTW Champion; Guevara won the title and changed it to the TNT Title; Hook won it back in a ladder match a month ago; and Guevara threw out the challenge for a final match between the pair, in a best of 3 falls match.
Match 3 - TNT Championship - Best of 3 falls: Hook © (20-4) vs. Sammy Guevara (19-7) w/ Tay Melo
The first fall is a fairly straight-forward match, with Hook going for his mat-wrestling and suplex skills, while Guevara uses his highflying moves to try and keep Hook off balance. The key moment comes when Hook dodges a Pele kick from Guevara, then Hook grabs Guevara in the REDRUM! Guevara struggles briefly, until he catches the eye of Melo, who nods. Guevara taps out, ending the first fall at 7:18. Coach and McAfee talk about the strategy, and Guevara saving his energy for later.
Hook sees blood in the water in the second fall and tries for a quick T-Bone suplex, but Guevara jumps and flips over him, landing on his feet, then connecting with the Pele kick. Guevara takes control with a running elbow drop, then drags Hook to the ropes, where he pushes Hook’s throat against the bottom rope until the ref counts to 4. Guevara continues to push the limits of the ref’s patience this fall, as he pulls out all of the stops to beat Hook. Guevara undoes a turnbuckle pad, but it backfires as Hook reverses a whip, sending Guevara into the corner back-first. He hits the T-Bone suplex and goes for the pin, getting 2. Guevara rakes Hook’s eyes and trips him into the ropes. While the ref reprimands Guevara, Melo chokes Hook on the bottom rope. Guevara picks Hook up and hits the GTH, followed by a Standing Shooting Star Press for a pinfall at 21:48, tying the match at 1-1.
The third fall picks up the pace as both men are starting to tire. Hook hits another T-Bone for 2; slips out of a GTH try and locks in another REDRUM, but Guevara reaches the ropes and slides out of the ring to regroup with Melo. Hook thinks about jumping out, but decides he doesn’t want to hit Melo by accident. We see Melo slip something to Guevara while the ref is distracted. In the ring again, the two competitors continue trading big moves. Hook hits a diving elbow drop, while Melo distracts the ref from a pinning attempt; this brings out Britt Baker to a pop from the crowd! She chases Melo off.
Guevara accidentally knocks the ref down in the ring. While Hook checks on the ref, Guevara retrieves the Dynamite Diamond ring from his trunks. As Hook stands, Guevara punches him in the side of the head, knocking him out. Guevara shakes the ref awake, then heads to the top rope, where he hits his 630 senton for the final pinfall at a total match time of 35:19. Sammy Guevara has regained the TNT Championship.
—
Omega and the Bucks are backstage before their match against the Rhodes brothers and Harley Race. Omega tells them that Dustin and Cody need to be taken care of, but Omega really wants Harley Race. He says Race set his career back by 10 years; and he wants to end Race’s resurgence tonight.
Match 4 - The Elite (Young Bucks & Kenny Omega) vs. Dustin Rhodes, Cody Rhodes and Harley Race
We get a pretty standard six-man match. AEW World Champion Bill Goldberg is on commentary, talking about how Cody Rhodes’ days in AEW are numbered. He’s hoping the Bucks and Omega can soften Cody up a little tonight, but it ultimately doesn’t matter.
The Elite isolate Dustin for a while, until he is able to get a hot tag to Cody, who runs roughshod over everyone. Omega low blows Cody and gets the upper hand; until Race tags in and hits a quick high knee strike, followed by a piledriver. Race goes for his signature diving headbutt, but Omega rolls out of the way.
Eventually, the legal men are Cody Rhodes and Matt Jackson, with Omega and Race brawling on the outside. Rhodes hits the CrossRhodes and gets the pinfall at 10:49. Officials separate Omega and Race.
After the match, Goldberg gets in the ring for a staredown with Cody Rhodes, who stares at the AEW Championship. Goldberg smirks and walks off.
—
A retrospective on Cargill’s career airs before tonight’s main event, showing her AEW Women’s Championship win and lengthy undefeated streak; her battle royale win that gave her the shot at the UWA Women’s Championship; the eventual win over Sasha Banks; then Bianca Belair’s interference that cost Cargill the chance to retain her AEW Women’s Championship, which set up this matchup.
Main Event - UWA Women’s Championship - Jade Cargill © (28-0) vs. Bianca Belair (1-0)
Cargill uses her superior size to maintain the advantage over Belair, who plays the undersized underdog well. Belair wiggles out of a military press, then lifts Cargill up for a military press slam of her own in a big spot.
Belair tries to use her speed and agility to dodge Cargill’s strikes, but Cargill catches her with a big boot that sends her to the corner. Cargill follows up with a series of shoulder blocks and chops, making Belair scream in pain. Cargill then whips Belair across the ring and hits a running clothesline, followed by a hair whip that snaps Belair’s neck back. Cargill goes for the cover, but Belair kicks out at two.
She tries to finish Belair off with a powerbomb, but Belair counters with a hurricanrana that sends Cargill to the outside. Belair hits a suicide dive that takes out Cargill. She rolls Cargill back into the ring and goes for the top rope. She hits a 450 splash and covers Cargill, but Cargill barely gets her shoulder up at the last second.
Belair tries to hit the KOD (Kiss of Death), but Cargill slips out of Belair’s grip behind her. She lifts Belair up and hits the Jaded Finisher. She covers Belair and gets the three count, winning the match and retaining the UWA Women’s Championship at 18:37. The show ends with Cargill celebrating her championship.
AEW Rampage -
We see Tay Melo arriving at the arena with Sammy Guevara, who is holding his newly won TNT Championship. Guevara tells her that he’s behind her, and looks forward to being the champions of all of Turner networks. Melo says she’s worried Britt Baker might do something, and he tells her not to worry.
Match 1 - International Championship: Brian Cage © (15-3) vs. Big E Langston (9-2)
Cesar Duran is on commentary for this match, and talks up the dominance of Brian Cage.
This is a straight-up hoss fight, with both men beating the crap out of each other. Big E goes for the Big Ending, but it doesn’t hit quite right. Cage is able to hit the Drill Claw and gets the pinfall victory at 10:42.
—
Dean Maleko comes out before the Miro and Shamrock match. He grabs the mic and says that he knows how much Miro and Shamrock have grown to hate him. But this is what it’s taken to get noticed. And now these two dumb brutes are fighting over who will be the one to lose to the Man of 1,000 Holds at All Out. He calls them chumps, then takes a seat at the announce table.
Match 2 - Miro (3-0) vs. Ken Shamrock (1-1) - Winner faces Dean Malenko at All Out
Both men glare toward Malenko during their entrances and during the match, while putting on a great heavyweight mat wrestling match. Shamrock tries to work on Miro’s ankle, while Miro keeps putting pressure on Shamrock’s back.
Following a jumping side kick from Miro, Malenko tosses down his headset and slides into the ring with a chair. He blasts Miro over the head with it, then hits Shamrock, too. The ref throws out the match as a double DQ at 8:21, and Malenko scampers to the back before Miro and Shamrock get back to their feet.
—
We get a recap of the TBS Title tournament that began at Fight for the Fallen with Melo defeating Deeb, Baker defeating Rayne, Banks defeating Love and Nightingale defeating The Bunny. Melo defeated Baker (with some assistance from Sammy Guevara), then Banks defeated Nightingale in a hard-fought match to set up the finals.
Main Event - TBS Championship Finals: Tay Melo (14-4) w/ Sammy Guevara vs. Sasha Banks (9-3)
Melo catches Banks with a German suplex early, followed by a running knee strike for a near fall. Banks locks in the Bank Statement, but Melo reverses it into an armbar, forcing Banks to reach the ropes. Melo hits a spinning back fist on Banks, knocking her out of the ring. She then dives over the top rope with a somersault plancha, taking out Banks and the referee.
With the referee down, Guevara slides a steel chair into the ring and distracts Banks. Melo tries to hit Banks with the chair, but Banks ducks and kicks the chair into Melo’s face. She then covers Melo for the pin, but there is no referee to count. Guevara pulls Banks off Melo, but Cactus Jack runs down to the ring and attacks Guevara! They fight through the crowd, leaving the women alone in the ring.
Melo covers Banks. The referee counts to two, but Banks kicks out at the last second. Melo argues with the referee, allowing Banks to roll her up from behind for another near fall. Banks goes for another Bank Statement, but Melo counters with a judo throw. She locks in the Tay-KO, a crossface chickenwing with bodyscissors. Banks tries to fight out of it and almost gives up, but she gets a second wind and rolls out of it. Banks hits a Bank Statement and gets the win, and the inaugural TBS Championship, at 14:30.
Next week on AEW -
Tag Team Championship Match - Chosen Bros © vs. Public Enemy
Next PPV: September 9, 2023 - All Out
Current Card:
AEW World Championship vs. Career: Goldberg © vs. Cody Rhodes
Dean Malenko vs. Miro vs. Ken Shamrock