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COMPLETE AEW WRESTLEDREAM BLOG

The first WrestleDream is in the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle Washington. Our commentary team is Excalibur, Taz, and Nigel McGuinness.

MJF has a mic and says the rumors are not true that he attacked Jay White, and someone stole his devil mask. He also says Adam Cole isn’t here tonight. As he says how he will be beating the Righteous, Vincent is conducting an imaginary band. MJF says he will pull off a full body slam on Dutch. Vincent thinks MJF’s promo is hilarious. 

MJF (AEW Tag Team Champion with Adam Cole) vs The Righteous (Vincent and Dutch)

MJF starts with Dutch and tells the crowd he’s gonna body slam Dutch. He tries and can’t move him. MJF goes to the crowd and then gets back in the ring and calls for sportsmanship. Dutch shakes his hand and MJF pokes Dutch in the eye. Vincent gets into the ring and when MJF teases slamming Vincent into Dutch, they swarm him and it’s time for MJF to get the tar beat out of him.

MJF is able to break free from Dutch and runs to his corner and then realizes no one is there. MJF goes for the slam and Dutch drops onto him for two. They go back to working over MJF with quick tags and lots of near falls. Dutch grabs a chair to distract the ref and Vincent grabs a wooden block and a chair to go after MJF’s ankle. MJF grabs Vincent in his swimsuit area to stop him until the ref sees and makes him toss the foreign objects.,

MJF gets a flurry of offense and gets the ten blows in the corner on both Dutch and Vincent. MJF calls for the body slam and is able to get it. Both men are down, and they pull themselves to their feet slowly. MJF looks crazed as he gets up and slams Vincent head first into Dutch. MJF calls for the kangaroo kick and takes them both down with it. 

MJF hits a heat seeker on Dutch for the pin and the win.

Winner and still Ring of Honor Tag Team Champion: MJF

Because MJF used a few illegal tactics, it wasn’t as bad as when Cena would beat tag teams, but it still didn’t help The Righteous in any way and makes me think they will have to be re-established for anyone to take them seriously. 

Eddie Kingston (ROH World Champion and New Japan Strong Openweight Champion) vs. Katsuyori Shibata 

Only Eddie’s titles are on the line.

After a quick lock up, Shibata asks for Eddie’s chops. Then Eddie asks for Shibata’s kicks. Eddie’s straps come down and Shibata lays in a kick and they move to mat wrestling. They work a figure four with Eddie trying to fight out of it in a way I haven’t seen before, making Eddie look super tough. Nigel gets into the details of how much they hurt, and with Shibate moving to another leg hold, he and Taz sell the pain well.

After Eddie is able to break out of the hold, they move to Eddie getting the machine gun chops, and then Shibata gets a kind of machine gun forearms in the corner. The match then becomes a brawl and the story is the Shabata is in control, but Eddie won’t go down. 

Normally, I complain when people use the same holds, but with this being a show to honor Antonio Inoki, I like that they use abdominal stretches in matches as it was one of Inoki's signature holds. 

Kingston has to hit three of his finishing moves to pin Shibata, and finally gets him with a power bomb with a high stack for the pin and the win.

Winner and still ROH World Champion and New Japan Strong Openweight Champion: Eddie Kingston

They hold hands in the middle of the ring after the match.

I loved this match, a mix of mat wrestling and brawling, and it felt like a New Japan title match in the best way. Both men went all out.  

Taz has tagged out and Tony Schiavone joins commentary. 

Kris Statlander (TBS Champion) vs Julia Hart w/Brody King

Julia has different ring gear for this match and they start off with Statlnder getting a lot of charges and strikes. As they get into the match it’s clear it’s going to be Statlbnder’s strength against Hart's speed and King’s presence as the story. When they brawl on the floor, Hart takes over and goes after Statlander in the ribs. 

Hart locks on an abdominal stretch after not getting all of a senton. Statlander gets her charges into the corner, and acts as if it’s a struggle to get Hart up for a blue thunder bomb. King distacts Statlander and when Hart goes for the mist, Statlnder catches her and slams her so that the mist attack doesn’t happen. 

When Hart is able to hit a pair of moves off the top and gets a near count, the crowd is cheering for her. Hart is able to lock on Hartless and she holds on as Statlander lifts her and then hits a pile driver, followed by Sunday night fever for the pin and the win.

Winner and still TBS Champion: Kris Statlander

For a hell, Hart got a hugely positive reaction, I think it is because the House of Black is a team the fans like because they are badasses. I think Hart just showed she is ready to be in the upper tiers of AEW with this match. Statlander needs to get us invested in her character, since she’s just been “Generic Babyface Champion” since winning the TBS title. 

 

 

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