Every AEW show feels like a big one this early in their fledgeling life as a wrestling company, but with their TV debut drawing ever closer, keeping the momentum up has to be their prime goal. Could All Out do that? Or would it be their first major misstep?
I had a lovely time reviewing the 5STAR for the first time and was only kept from going straight into this show by the need to wait for it to be uploaded (no complaints, Stardom are going a good job in getting them up). Day one gave us a great match and a handful of very good ones, so day two has a lot to live up to. Can they do it? Why not?
It’s time for my first 5STAR Grand Prix. Much like with the various New Japan tournaments, I intend to review the entire thing and can’t wait to have a shitload of Stardom singles matches to enjoy. I’ll also put my cards on the desk straight-up and say I’m on Team Hana when it comes to who I want to win, but I suspect it will be Momo. Truthfully, though, I don’t have a clue. I’ve no idea how they normally book this thing, so I’m happy to go along for the ride.
A quick note before we start, the hard camera for this show was all over the place. It hadn’t been stabilised and was wobbling about. There also appeared to be a couple of people having a quiet chat right next to it which was picked up on the microphone at times. Neither issue was a disaster, but if you are annoyed by things like that, you’re going to have a rough time.
Anyway, it’s Stardom at Korakuen which is almost guaranteed to be a good time at this point. Throw in Jungle Kyona vs Arisa Hoshiki, and you can probably upgrade the good to lovely.
It’s Korakuen time! Stardom had put together a packed card for their latest trip to that famous venue, as a lot of titles were on the line. Will they all stay where they are? Or is it time for a couple to shift hands? I’ve been saying Momo was going to beat Bea since Bea won the belt, so I can’t back out of that now. Time to find out if I was right.
Fight For The Fallen was not only a wrestling event, but a charity one too as AEW looked to raise money for those hurt by gun violence. That’s most definitely a good thing, so let’s find out if their wrestling lived up to their altruism.
AEW’s first show was widely hailed as a success. Double Or Nothing had the eyes of the wrestling world on it, and this fledgeling company stepped up, but Fyter Fest is a different beast. It’s, for all intents and purposes, a B-level PPV (it’s actually airing for free in America) and can perhaps provide a better insight into what we can expect from AEW when the size of the monthly events naturally has to drop.
Here we go then. Last Saturday was the moment where AEW graduated from t-shirts to wrestling. To say a lot was riding on this is a bit of an understatement. It’s the first time in a long time that we have a Western wrestling company who could genuinely challenge WWE’s dominance. Fingers crossed they kick thing off with a bang.