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Hikaru Shida (AEW Women’s Champion) vs Timeless Toni Storm

Toni’s entrance is fantastic. I can’t praise her character enough.

Toni has a script, but tosses it herself this time. Shida gets the advantage early and we see Mariah May in the back, watching. Storm’s stuff in this match just works. From her reactions when Shida gets in chops, to the over-exaggerated windup for a punch. Nigel McGuinness loves it as well as he makes endless comments about 40’s Hollywood while calling the match.

The match itself is a back and forth, meat and potatoes match, not a lot of high flying, just kicks and strikes. 

Storm has Luther give her a shoe, and when the Ref takes it, Storm has another shoe and nails Shida with it for two.  Shida is able to get strong zero, and both women are down. Shida recovers first and just beats down Storm in the middle of the ring. Shida hits a beautiful Falcon Arrow where Storm just goes for full extension for two. 

Shida’s ankle buckles when she misses a Meteora. Storm then grabs an ankle lock on the injured ankle. Shida gets to the ropes for a break and Toni grabs Shida’s shoe. Shida is able to dodge the shoe and they go to the floor when Shida grabs her Kendo stick. Luther tries to grab the stick and Shida wails on him with her. They go to the ring and Storm blocks the Katana kick. 

We then see that Storm has put the metal tray in her tights and hits the hip attack on Shida for the pin and the win.

Winner and NEW AEW Women’s Champion: Timeless Toni Storm

May then shows with a bouquet of flowers for Storm.

In the back, Renee Paquette is with Eddie Kingston, and he says the tournament is next for him. He will up the game a bit and he will put his two titles on the line in every match, so whoever wins, it will be a triple title tournament.

Ricky Starks and Big Bill (AEW Tag Team Champions) vs Brody King and Malakai Black vs FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) vs Rush and Dralistico in a Ladder Match

As everyone brawls around the ring, King and Bill come face to face.  FTR then breaks them up and now it’s everyone brawling all around ringside. Starks starts to put a ladder in the ring, and he and Dax fight over it. Dax shoves Ricky into the barricade, and then Ricky pendulums the ladder into Dax. 

Rush and Cash set up the ladder and start to climb, then climb back down and throw hands instead. We then get Dralistico diving onto everyone at ringside. Black then hits a moonsault into everyone. Starks keeps trying to get a dive but instead, Dax suplexes him from the top into everyone at ringside. Bill and King shove ladders into the ring and then go face to face in the middle of the ring.

It’s a hoss fight as they throw hands. Looks like Bill has a cut above his eye. Ruch and Dax sandwich Bill and King between ladders, and they then use ladders on each other. Dax puts the ladder on his head and takes people out  until Dralistico takes him down with a drop kick.Dralistico climbs the ladder and Cash knocks the ladder down. 

The fighting at ringside has stopped as we just go to who is fighting in the ring, and people setting up the ladder and trying to climb. Black and Cash fight on a ladder propped in the corner and Cash hits a pile driver on the ladder. Brody is standing alone in the ring and when he dives at Bill, Bill pulls up a ladder to stop King’s attack.

Starks cleans house and then walks the rope to take out Dax. King is busted open. Black and Starks trade blows and Starks suplexes Black onto a ladder, but King then rams into Starks and Dax. King then hits a cannonball onto Dax on the ladder in the corner. King sets up the ladder and starts to climb. Bill then dumps the ladder and King lands on the ladder set up in the corner. 

Dralistico then gets his spotlight against Bill until Bill choke slams him. This is bump city, and we don't have a lot of the terrible “climbing the ladder slowly until someone can stop them.” We then get people fighting on the ladders as multiple ladders are set up and people fight on them. Everyone is knocked off the ladders and King power bombs Dralistico on a ladder propped between the ring and the barricade.

Dax then leaps off the top onto Brody on the propped ladder. Everyone is down by Dax and Starks. They fight on the ladder, and Black grabs Dax and tosses him to the floor. Starks is able to climb the ladder and grab the titles.

Winners and still AEW Tag Team Champions:  Ricky Starks and Big Bill

Lots of crazy bumps and they avoided a lot of the stuff in a ladder match that doesn’t work.  Just an amazing car crash of a match. 

Kris Statlander (TBS Champion) vs Julia Hart vs Sky Blue

Blue gives us a wink as she does her entrance.  I don’t know whether to read anything into that or not. Oddly, Statlander gets the smallest pop of the three.

Statlander invites them to attack her. Blue charges first and is taken down, and then Hart, who takes the same. Statlander gets power moves to start the match. We don’t get a lot of confrontations between Hart and Blue, but we do get Statlander and Blue going face to face. Hart and Blue go face to face, Blue holds out a hand. Hart shakes her hand and then attacks Blue. 

Blue, however, dominates their fight. From here, it becomes either Hart or Blue working on Statlander, with whoever isn’t in the fight mostly out of it. We do get a sequence where Hart knocks Statlander to the floor and Hart gets a moonsault onto Blue, but Statlander breaks it up. This match is really showing why Statlnder should be Champion, since she really dominates any one and one matchup they have. 

I also like that she is doing it without burying Blue or Hart. Statlander hits the Saturday Night Fever on Blue, and Hart is able to clothesline Statlander and steal the pin and the win.

Winner and NEW AEW Champion: Julia Hart

I generally don’t like three way matches, but this one was laid out well, told a good story and got the title to Hart while still making Statlander look strong. Really well done. 

Tony Schiavone is in the middle of the ring. He says it’s time for the blockbuster signing. 

Will Ospreay’s music plays.  

Will Ospreay is All Elite.

Will signs his name to the contract and he says he feels great. He then says he has some bad news, he won’t come in just yet, and he says he will finish up with New Japan and then he will be on the Road to Revolution. He tells Tony Khan to line up the best he’s got, and he will show people what elite really looks like.

I think that was a big enough signing.

Hangman Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland w/Prince Nana in a Texas Death Match.

As Swerve is brought out, we get four women dancing with Prince Nana.  

Swerve sure gets a lot of cheers for someone who broke into the babyface’s house and threated his baby.

Page attacks before he’s introduced and then hits Swerve with a buckshot lariat. The fight moves to the floor and Page just tosses Swerve into the barricades repeatedly. And we have a chair in the ring and Page goes under the ring for duct tape. Page duct tapes Swerve’s hands together. He then grabs a staple gun. 

Yeah, I don’t want to watch this kind of crap. Then we get blood with Swerve’s blood dripping onto Page’s face and into his mouth.,

Swerve then does the “Slowly I turn” and grabs the staple gun and uses it on Page and then uses it on himself to show it doesn’t bother him.

We have a barbed wire chair, and now it’s just a GCW death match without the spikes and fluorescent lights. 

I think I can see why Keith Lee didn’t want to finish up the feud with Swerve if this is the kind of match he wants to do. Got to admit, I have now lost all interest in this match.  There’s no story, no build, just blood spots and stuff that is going to legitimately hurt people. It also goes on for WAY too long. 

The crowd is chanting This is Awesome, and I have friends who love this stuff, but I don't need to see stuff like this, especially from a massive international company with a major network cable TV deal.

Cage comes in and attacks Page with power bombs and slams. He sets up a table at ringside and when he comes back in the ring, Page takes him out. Nana then goes after Page with a chair and Nana takes a Deadeye through the table. 

Swerve then nails Page with the cinder block. Swerve then chokes Page out with a chain and P{age can’t answer the count.

Winner: Swerve Strickland

I legit hated this match. It also explains why Page got to beat down Swerve the last two weeks and why Page’s promo on Wednesday was so unhinged and filled with insider stuff. 

I have been someone who enjoys AEW shows when other people don’t, but this was terrible on a story level as well as what they let these two guys do.

Coverage continues on Page 3.

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