AEW - From The Beginning | Volume One: Ch 1-12

[Marty McFourth]

Looking good.

My predicts:

1. Best Friends
2. Will Ospreay
3. Jon Moxley
4. Chris Jericho
5. Oedo Tai
6. Twin Peaks
7. 24 Karat Gold
8. RihoShida
9. The Young Bucks
10. Twin Peaks
11. RihoShida
12. Kylie Rae
13. Pentagon Jr
14. Twin Peaks
15. Batista
16. Kenny Omega

 

[TOP GUY TIME]

The Best Friends
MJF
JEAN MOXLEY
Nakamura
Oedo Tai
Twin Peaks
Lipstick Mafia
Love and Hayte
#1
#4
Kylie Rae
Fenix
#1
PAC
Ishii

 

[CakeWalker]

Chapter Four Finale

BUY IN

[ Butcher & The Blade w/ The Bunny would pick up a solid win over the Best Friends in the night’s opening contest with the duo nailing Taylor with The Full Death (Butcher suplexed him onto Blade’s knees) to pick up the win and open the Buy In with a bang. - 3.75 Star]

[MJF and Will Ospreay would have a direct rematch of their match at Revolution, with Maxwell prior to the match having made the point that Ospreay was just an overrated foreigner who had got lucky. Ospreay would prove that he was far from lucky, as he would keep his unbeaten singles record intact by nailing MJF with the Stormbreaker to win the contest. - 4.25 Star]

[The two men had been feuding for a little while, with Dallas Page been doing his best to convince Moxley that he was dependent on negative influencers and the sooner he moved away from resorting to using weapons the sooner his life would improve and the sooner he would get his career back on track in his pursuit for the AEW World Championship. The match would prove to be an intense battle, although Moxley wouldn’t be able to beat the habit as he would expose the turnbuckle cover and proceed to smash DDP head into the exposed metal before nailing him with the Paradigm Shift to pick up the victory. - 4.5 Star]

[The final match of the Buy In would be an intense match between Jericho and Nakamura, in a contest between the grizzled veteran who had been a nearly man on a number of occasions in his quest for the World Championship taking on Nakamura who had proven himself as a truly brilliant signing by TK when his contract had expired before resigning with the WWE. Both men would battle it out in a match that would prove to be far greater than anyone had expected with both men bringing the best out of each other with Nakamura picking up the win after locking Jericho in the Shining Triangle and forcing him to tap out to pick up the victory in a true barn burner that was a perfect reason to convince people to purchase Double or Nothing with minutes to go until the main-show began. - 5 Star]

MAIN SHOW
The First Fight Quarter Final #1

Oedo Tai (Britt Baker & Bea Priestley) vs. Order 66 (Natalya '66' & Anna Jay '99')

[The match would be dominated for the most part by Oedo Tai, with it looking likely that Priestley was looking on course to becoming a double champion on the same night. However, Kylie Rae’s music would blast out long enough to steal Priestley’s attention that would open her up to a blind assault as Natalya would nail Bea with Nattie By Nature (Discus Clothesline) from behind before rolling Bea over to claim win and advance Order 66 to the next round. - 3.25 Star]


The First Fight Quarter Final #2

The Horn Blowers (The Bunny & Penelope Ford) vs. Twin Peaks (Awesome Kong & Kamille)

[Kamille and Awesome Kong would prove themselves as a competent pairing and they would bring a level of ruthless aggression to the ring that The Horn Blowers simply weren’t able to match, despite their best effort. Kamille would end up taking The Bunny out on the ring apron with a charging Spear, as Awesome Kong would dispatch Ford in the ring by laying her out with the Awesome Bomb. - 3.5 Star]


The First Fight Quarter Final #3

Lipstick Mafia (Velvet Sky & Angelina Love) vs. 24 Karat Gold (Sadie Gibbs & Kris Statlander)

[The Lipstick Mafia were much the veteran team team in this year’s First Fight tournament, and despite Gibbs and Statlander’s best efforts they simply were unable to match the years of experience and match chemistry that Love and Sky had built over the years with the Lipstick Mafia picking up the win by nailing Gibbs with a Russian Legsweep/Bicycle Kick combination to lead to Velvet dropping over Sadie to pick up the W. - 3.25 Star]


The First Fight Quarter Final #4

Love & Hayte (Jamie Hayter & Starlight Kid) vs. RihoShida (Riho & Hikaru Shida)

[The final quarter final match would prove to be the best of the first round of action, with all four women putting on a match that was able to show off the style of wrestling that was very becoming of the Japanese wrestling scene that could easily have been the main-event match in its own right. With Riho recovering from a heavy bump a couple moments earlier, Love & Hayte would pick up the victory when Starlight Kid would nail Shida with the 619 before Hayter would follow up with a Curb Stomp to bring the contest to an end. - 3.75 Star]


AEW World Tag Team Championships - Steel Cage Match

TH2 (Angelico & Jack Evans) [c] vs. The Young Bucks vs. Higher Education (Peter Avalon & Kip Sabian)

[The match would be a true match for the ages, with AEW’s tag division continuing to prove to be the host for match after match that was breaking the bar. It would quickly become clear though, that TH2 and Higher Education were very much on the same page in regards to removing the Young Bucks from contention from the match and in nothing short of a mugging after about ten minutes of a brutal assault that left Matt and Nick unable to stand on their own two feet with Nick Jackson with deep laceration on his forehead. This would result in TH2 and Higher Education battling it out in a bit of healthy competition, with both teams showing a lot of respect for each other.

Out of nowhere back from the dead Matt Jackson would find his way back to feet and rock Angelico with a truly devastating Superkick. This would incense TH2 and Higher Education, as Jack Evans would reveal a lockpick and break the padlock that was locking them in the cell and would wrench the door open, before slamming Matt’s arm in the door frame that looked like it might have broken his arm only to be followed up by Evans and Higher Education stomping down heavily on the clearly already injured opponent.

The swerve would take place though, as Avalon would drop to his knees and nail Evans with a low blow. Sabian would look confused but Avalon would shout at him as Sabian would grab hold of Evans and nail him with the Deathly Hallows (Argentine backbreaker sitout facebuster) as Avalon would pull at Kip with both men exiting through the now open door of the cage and escape and just like that become the new AEW World Tag Team Champions. - 5.25 Star]

The First Fight Semi Final #1

Order 66 (Natalya ‘66’ & Anna Jay 99) vs. Twin Peaks (Awesome Kong & Kamille)

(Twin Peaks would show they had high levels of stamina and endurance as they would make light work of Order 66 who just weren’t able to keep up with Twin Peaks, although it was more Anna Jay than Natalya that would prove to be the weak link as Kamille would nail ‘99’ with the Spear to pick up the match victory. - 3.0 Star]


The First Fight Semi Final #2

Lipstick Mafia (Velvet Sky & Angelina Love) vs. Love & Hayte (Jamie Hayter & Starlight Kid)

[The star of the match would very fittingly be Starlight Kid that would steal the match and show that despite her young age she already had all of the potential to be one of best of all time, with the match being rounded off with Starlight Kid nailing Sky with the Sling Blade to pick up the victory and book her and Jamie a place in the evening’s final and a chance to become the inaugural champions. - 3.5 Star]


AEW Women's World Championship

Kylie Rae [c] vs. Bea Priestley

[This would only be the second singles match between both women, although unlike their first encounter at Blood & Guts both women would compete at a much higher level in this contest, with it being clear that Kylie was desperate to equal Bea’s record of eight successive title defences. Both women would push the other to the absolute limit as both women were fighting tooth and nail for the right to be the Women’s Champion. A number of nears falls would take place with Priestley firing off Rolling Cutters whilst Rae would connect with Kylie Kicks (Superkicks), before Priestley would show some class by dodging one of these Kylie Kicks and instead transition the move into a the Fatality and force Kylie to tap out.

And in just a matter of moments, Bea had ended Kylie’s four month reign and in doing so was now a two-time AEW Women’s World Champion. Bea would be joined by Britt Baker in the ring to celebrate her championship win, with it being clear that Priestley was over the moon with her title victory. - 3.75]

[Blood is thicker than water is an old saying, and nothing would prove to be more true as both men would have a brutal blood feud in the middle of the ring with it being hard to believe that not long ago both these men had been the best of friends and proven themselves as one of the best tag teams in the world. The match would be a thing of beauty, and something you would expect to be billed as a main-event for Triplemania and so it wasn’t at all surprising that the amount of intense and thrilling high flying spots that would take place in the contest.

The match would break the twenty minute mark, before the match would end with Fenix launching him off the turnbuckle with the Spanish Fly only for Penta to grab hold of Rey’s arm and lock him into the The Sacrifice with their being a moment where it looked like Fenix was about to tap out before he was manage to reach out to the ropes and break the barrier of the ropes and force a rope break. As soon as the break was force though, Fenix would bounce off the ropes and connect with a Springboard DDT before hooking over Pentagon’s leg to pick up the victory - with there seeming to be no way back for these two brothers to reconcile after a match like that. - 5.0 Star]

Twin Peaks (Kamille & Awesome Kong) vs. Love & Hayte (Jamie Hayter & Starlight Kid)

[The final of First Fight tournament also came with the prize of the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championships, and both teams involved were starting to show signs of tiredness and fatigue in what was very much turning into a battle of attrition. Hayter and Starlight Kid would do their best to remove Awesome Kong from the contention and Britt Baker would emerge from the back and without the referee spotting it would smash Kong in the back of the head with a steel chain wrapped around her fist that would rule Kong out of the match. The number advantage would open the flood gates and Hayter and Starlight Kid would nail Kamille with the tandem Spanish Fly to pick up the victory and thus become the inaugural tag champions bringing an intense tournament to a conclusion. - 3.25 Star]

[The match would not be your typical encounter and instead be an off-location cinematic encounter that was more something you would expect to see in an action movie as both men would battle it out in this massive warehouse with numerous props and area for both men to involved in interesting and intense spots utilising interesting camera angles and filming techniques giving the match almost a feel something between a JCVD and Bruce Lee film.
The match would end with both PAC and Batista having climbed up onto the roof of the warehouse with men beating the crap out of each other, with the match ending with Batista attempting to nail PAC with a Batista Bomb only for PAC to wriggle out of his hold and instead nail Batista with a perfectly placed Roundhouse kick that would cause Batista to topple off the roof and fall down into a skip below. The match would end with PAC just looking straight at the camera as he would say “Don’t mess with the Bastards” before the cameras would return back to Daily’s Place in what had proven to be a really entertaining contest and certainly one for the history books. - 5.0 Star]


AEW World Championship

Tomohiro Ishii [c] vs. Kenny Omega

[Both men would round off the night with a match that could be described as a barn burner, because Ishii and Omega certainly burnt down the house and more in a match that would end up being a perfect end to the evening. There would be a number of key moments in the match that would go down as truly memorable moments:

- Omega would almost come to a pin-fall after nailing Ishii with the V-Trigger before following it up with a springboard moonsault, as Ishii only breaking the count by his left foot brushing the bottom ropes.

- After Omega had been nailed with the Ishii Driller, but kicked out Tomohiro had fallen into a complete rage and decided to nail Omega with not one, two, but three Vertical Drop Brainbusters in a row. Despite taking on that damage, Omega would still show his resilience and lift up his shoulders at the last possible moment

- Both men would be battling on the turnbuckle and be fighting for supremacy, with Ishii doing his best to power Omega with a superplex but instead Omega would shift his weight which would result in both men falling out of the ring and crashing down onto the concrete below with both men taking a massive bump and being lucky to clamber back into the ring before the slow ten count could be completed.

The match would draw to a conclusion with both Kenny and Tomohiro slapping the crap out of each other with heavy handed chops to the mid-section, with Omega dropping to one knee after Ishii would slap the crap out of Kenny with a sound that would echo around Daily’s Place. As Ishii would run towards the ropes and bounces off them though, Kenny would place his hand showing he had feigning injury and grab hold of Ishii and transition around him to nail him with Croyt’s Wrath and then charging forward and nailing his man with the V-Trigger.

Rather than going for the pin though, Omega would nail him with the One-Winged Angel bringing the match to a conclusion.
Omega would be joined in the ring with the rest of The Elite to celebrate him becoming a two time champion, as Ishii’s two month reign would come to an end without him ever successfully defending the belt even once. - 5.5 Star]

PAY PER VIEW RATING: 4.25 | BUYS: 628 K

Results
Butcher & The Blade def. Best Friends
Will Ospreay def. MJF
Jon Moxley def. DDP
Shinsuke Nakamura def. Chris Jericho
Order 66 def. Oedo Tai
Twin Peaks def. The Horn Blowers
Lipstick Mafia def. 24 Karat Gold
Love & Hayte def. RihoShida
Higher Education def. TH2 vs. The Young Bucks
Twins Peaks def. Order 66
Love & Hayte def. Lipstick Mafia
Bea Priestley def. Kylie Rae
Rey Fenix def. Pentagon, Jr.
Love & Hayte def. Twin Peaks
PAC def. Batista
Kenny Omega def. Tomohiro Ishii
​

 

[CakeWalker]

@Blainebino wins the contest by getting a score of 8 correct to @The Fourth Wall 's 5 - as promised the winner gets to choose three wrestlers to sign to the training roster - as well as making three suggestions for a future supplementary show only for the women. You can make these selections in the threads.

 

[TOP GUY TIME]

Three training guys, ehh?

Lince Dorado, Danhausen, and Bo Dallas

and for the women's show

AEW Atomic
AEW Starline
AEW Everest

best I could think of

 

[CakeWalker]

Signed all three to the training roster - and will take the suggestions under advisement

 

[Marty McFourth]

Damn, I didn't do so well. Called Kenny winning the main event at least.

Congrats @Blainebino and good job Juice, this was a pleasure to read through.

 

[CakeWalker]

Chapter Five - Part One

The Queendom of Oedo Tai (US Chapter)

Priestley and the rest of Oedo Tai’s US Chapter would join her in the ring, with Bea holding the AEW Women’s World Championship and Love & Hayte holding the Women’s World Tag Team Championship belt whilst Britt Baker would be holding a massive Oedo Tai as all four women stood looking extremely proud with themselves. Priestley would cut a promo where she would make it clear that 2020 was going to be a great year for the US Chapter of Oedo Tai. Bea would make it clear that just like her first reign as champion, she intended on being a fighting champion that irrespective whether people loved or hated her they would be forced to respect her - and that her first defence would take place later tonight, against Leva Bates.

Jamie Hayter would cut a promo on behalf of herself and Starlight Kid and make it clear that the final of the First Fight at Double or Nothing had without a doubt been the easiest of their three matches on their road to becoming the inaugural champions, but Jamie would make it clear that as much of a second rate team as Twin Peaks were - she was going to offer them a second chance against them next week in a non-title bout. Later in the night Oedo Tai (apart from Bea who was getting ready for her title defence) would have a run in with the Golden Girls. Cassandra Golden would make it clear that Oedi Tai had grown comfortable with their position as the feared faction in the women’s division and that they had got nothing but lucky having left Double or Nothing with both titles. She would make it clear that their time at the top was over, and that sooner rather than later the heart of Oedo Tai would be punctured forever.

In terms of matches during the fallout show, Order 66 (Natalya ‘66’ & Anna Jay ‘99’) would pick up a victory over The Horn Blowers (Penelope Ford & The Bunny) - before Bea Priestley would defend her championship against a much weaker opponent in Leva Bates and would mark her second reign with her first successful title defence, with never for a second looking like she was going to lose the strap.

Love & Hayte would pick up a non-title win over Twin Peaks and send a message to the rest of the division, with many genuinely surprised as Kamille & Awesome Kong had been considered as being the biggest threat to the champion’s reign. Bea would continue her schtick of being a fighting champion, although it soon became clear that Priestley was making a mockery of her previous run as a fighting champion, as her next title defence would be against lowly ranked Sadie Gibbs - and once again Priestley would pick up the win with no real trouble. After the match Kylie Rae would come down to the ring and say that Priestley was making a mockery of the title, only for Bea to make it clear that there was nothing more embarrassing than a former champion trying to steal the spotlight from new challengers and that there was a whole locker-room filled with women who had yet to be given a chance to challenge for the title, but that unlike Kylie - Bea was all about giving chances to everyone and not just the select few.

The charade of Bea being the fighting champion that everyone could respect irrespective of alignment would continue, as she would call out the member of the roster that was most deserving of a shot, none other - Brandi Rhodes. Priestley would once again, pick up a victory although it was soon becoming clear that as Bea continued to defend her belt against lower ranked members of the roster, the reputation and prestige of the belt was being damaged. To add insult to injury, Bea would celebrate the title defence - as if it had been the toughest match of her entire career.

The go-home show leading up to Fyter Fest, Priestley would cut another promo where she would make it clear that she was going to continue to battle the range of losers that filled the women’s division, but tonight she was going to offer the chance to someone who had a bit more experience and would name Ryo Mizunami as her chosen opponent. The match would end up being the most challenging defence during the reign, but once again Bea would show her champion acumen to retain the belt.

After the match Priestley would be joined by the rest of Oedo Tai in the ring, with Britt Baker cutting the promo for the group. She would make it clear that the group had grown bored of the Golden Girls and their desperate attempts at trying to be anything other than second best and that the times for games were over, but that at Fyter Fest all four members of the Oedo Tai would do battle with The Golden Girls & Kylie Rae in the first ever Arcade Anarchy match. The match would prove to be an interesting encounter, with the match relying more on spots and interactive moments with the Arcades Machine than actual wrestling with Oedo Tai picking up the match victory.

Following Fyter Fest, Priestley would make it clear that she intended on spending the next month defending her titles against every single member of the Golden Girls and she would do exactly as she would successfully defend the belts against Kris Statlander, Sadie Gibbs and Cassandra Golden over a period of three consecutive weeks. After having carved her way through all three members of the Golden Girls and would end the evening following her victory over Cassandra in calling out Kylie Rae and challenging the former champion to face her for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Fight For the Fallen. In the build up, Kylie would feature in an interview segment talking about how she felt going into Fight for the Fallen only for her interview to be hijacked as she would be attacked from behind by Bea. Priestley would proceed to take over the segment and make it clear that this weekend she was going to continue to build her legacy as one of the greatest women wrestlers of all time.

At Fight For the Fallen, Priestley would successfully defend the belt against Kylie Rae, that would bring her up to eight successful title defences and match her previous record of eight successive match defences in a row. Oedo Tai wouldn’t just settle with a win for Priestley though, as Love & Hayte would successfully defend the tag team belts against Twin Peaks.

In the build up to All Out, Priestley would continue her sham as a fighting champion, as she would successfully defend the belt once more this time against Big Swole. After the contest, Angelina Love would come out from the back and make it clear that enough was enough that she was growing sick and tired of all of this Oedo Tai nonsense. And that at All Out, it had been confirmed that Allure member’s Velvet Sky & Mandy Leon would be challenging Love & Hayte for their tag team titles. Angelina though would make it clear that she intended on bursting the Oedo Tai bubble. Priestley seemed less willing to take on Angelina, clearly recognising her as a serious threat and would tell her that she would have to beat her in a non-title to earn a match against her at All Out. The following week Angelina Love would bring an end to Bea Priestley’s ten match winning streak, that would leave Oedo Tai’s leader reeling as not only had her winning streak been broken, but she was now set to face Angelina Love for the Women’s Championship at the biggest event of the year.

Another major match would be announced for All Out, with Nyla Rose booked to face the debuting Thunder Rosa who had recently signed a permanent contract with All Elite Wrestling.
​

 

[CakeWalker]

Chapter Five - Part Two

Omega x Ishii - Act Two

A highlight package would be on the intense match that had taken place between both men at Double Northing, in which had led Omega to becoming the company’s first two time world champion. It was clear that the bad blood between both men was far from being over as the two men would spend the best part of the fallout show breaking into various brawls throughout the night, with security being on hand throughout the night breaking the two up. Ishii would expand the ranks of Ishii-gun the following weeks, with he and Wardlow being joined by The Expendables (PCO & Paul London) in the ring. Ishii would make a point that every army in wrestling needed a competent tag team and that PCO & Paul London were the perfect representatives for the job. Ishii though would end up being caught off-guard as Kenny Omega would slide into the ring and totally catch Ishii out with a sucker-punch before escaping out of the ring before the other three members of Ishii-gun could respond. Omega would have a massive grin on his face, as he would walk towards the back with the World Championship held above his head - in what was a clear flex of his dominance.

The fighting between Omega and Ishii would continue for a third week in a row, but this time someone very important would be caught in the crossfire - none other than the boss himself Tony Khan who rarely made appearances on the screen, in which he would demand that they stop fighting or he would be forced to suspend them for the next thirty days. Both men though would refuse to listen and would continue to fight, to the point where local enforcement would be called in and end up putting both men in handcuffs with TK following through with his threat and suspending the pair for the next thirty days meaning that both Tomohiro and Kenny would both miss Fyter Fest. Following both men's suspension, Wardlow and Hangman would have a heated moment backstage that despite both their boys being suspended they intended to do battle at Fyter Fest to continue to show which unit was the more dominant. However, TK would refuse to book the match and would make it clear that everyone would have to fall in line from this point onwards.

Following both men’s suspension on Omega’s first night back he would be jump attacked by Jake Hager, however Kenny would successfully defend himself against the ambush and end up knocking Hager spark out by slamming a knee square into Jake’s jaw. Both champion and challenger would be booked in matches during the evening with Ishii picking up a win over Darby Allin, whilst Kenny Omega would close the show with a non-title victory over Pentagon, Jr. It would be confirmed that at All Out, Omega and Ishii would battle for the AEW World Championship but that at Fight for the Fallen Ishii-gun (Ishii & Wardlow) would take on Omega & Hangman in a tag match being sold as the final battle between both men before they would finally go all out for the World Title. Omega & Hangman would claim a tag team victory over Ishii-gun at Fight For The Fallen, with the advantage very much seeming to now be in Kenny’s corner with one month to go until the showcase PPV.

In the build up to the event both men would pick up a few important wins to their name. Ishii would claim victories over Cody Rhodes & Darby Allin, whilst Omega would pick up an important grudge win over Jake Hager. Ishii during an intense promo would make it clear that if he was unable to defeat Omega at All Out, then he would exercise his contract options and part ways with All Elite Wrestling - because the shame of a second loss in a row to Omega would be something he wouldn’t be able to stomach. Omega though would interrupt the intense Ishii, and make it clear that the only person capable of taking the belt away from him was someone capable of being Elite.​

 

[CakeWalker]

Chapter Five - Part Three

Welcome to the TNT Era

El Hijo del Vikingo would make his debut on Dynamite on the episode following Double or Nothing and would be considered as being a monumental signing. Vikingo would make it clear that he had come to the United States to make a name for himself outside of Mexico and would reveal that at Fyter Fest - he would be taking part in the Fyter Fest Cup with it being announced that the winner of the tournament would be crowned the inaugural TNT Champion and that as part of his agreement to join AEW meant that he would not be forced to qualify for the tournament. In the first set of qualifiers Rush and Jay Lethal would earn entry into the Fyter Fest Cup, by claiming victories over Jungle Boy & Sammy Guevara respectively. They would be joined by Jeff Cobb, Orange Cassidy, Scorpio Sky, Mike Parrow and Jack Evans to complete the field of eight that would challenge for the right to become the inaugural TNT Champion - that had been announced would be contested for in a ladder match.

The second edition of the Fyter Fest Cup would result in a final being set up between the debuting El Hijo del Vikingo and fellow Mexican talent Rush. The match would prove to be an intense contest between both men, with some really awesome spots befitting of wrestlers accomplished in the Lucha Libre style, with it be Rush who would be the man to climb to the top of the ladder and claim the TNT Champion.

Following Fyter Fest, Rush and his faction ‘The Iron Horns’ (Sammy Guevara, Penelope Ford, The Butcher, The Blade & The Bunny) would celebrate his title victory and being the second winner of the Fyter Fest Cup. However, the title celebrations would be cut short at Rush would reveal her had suffered an injury during the tournament - but that Mr. Khan being such a respectful man had granted medical leave to recover from his leg injury.

The TNT Champion would return to TV just over a month later where he would successfully defend the belt against Jeff Cobb, before it being revealed that he would be testing himself against one of the key men that had pushed for the creation of this championship belt and was responsible for educating a large swathe of younger talent how to become the future of this business - QT Marshall. The announcement would come as a surprise to a few, although it was an indication that the belt was being sold as very much being a mid-card belt.​

 

[CakeWalker]

Chapter Five - Part Four

Here Comes The Painmaker!

In the aftermath of Double or Nothing, the Jericho Circle would introduce Austin Aries as the newest member of the group involving him and Hager, although would make it clear that before himself and Hager had simply been a tag team - but now with Austin have joined their ranked they would now been recognised as the ‘Knights of Jericho’ and now they were looking for bold members of the roster to join their ranks and sit at their rouble table in the weeks to come and would make it clear that as things stood they were setting their reticules on the Nightmare Family. A war of words would come to pass between Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho, with a historical first of its kind match being set up between both men’s factions as Fyter Fest - a Burning Cage Match. (a regular steel cage, with the top of the cage set on fire - as well as fire pits on the side of the ring causing the cage to heat up.) The match would be set up as Cody Rhodes with Nightmare Family representatives Jurassic Express taking on the full complement of the Knights of Jericho - with the Nightmare Family picking up the win in what would certainly be an interesting original match gimmick.

On the fallout show, with the Knights having been left seriously burned from their cage match loss to the Nightmare Family - Shinsuke Nakamura would cut a promo in which he would make it clear that Jericho had looked old and tired at Fyter Fest and felt that it wasn’t just in Jericho best interest in terms of his personal health but also in the best interest of hurting his legacy and it would be better for to hang up his boots and head for the door, whilst he still could do so on his own two feet with his head held up high.

The following week Cody and Jericho would end up having a bloody brawl backstage with members of the Nightmare Family and Knights of Jericho preventing anyone else from getting involved as both men would beat the crap out of each with both men donned the proverbial crimson masks and at one point it almost seemed that they were enjoying themselves. Following the brawl, it would be announced that both men would battle at Fight For the Fallen in what would actually be put forward as the event’s main-event. Shinsuke Nakamura would cut a promo though where he would make it clear that Cody Rhodes was nothing more than a distraction, and that the real match on the horizon would take place between him and Jericho in the not so distant future.

At Fight for the Fall, Cody and Jericho would end up having an all out war in a match that would really prove to be worth its slot as the evening’s main-event. However with Jericho nailing Cody with the Judas Effect and looking to have won the match, Nakamura would emerge from the crowd and leap onto the ring apron long enough to distract Jericho enough for Cody to compose himself and steal the victory by nailing his opponent with the Cross Rhodes. Before Cody could celebrate though, Shinsuke would nail Cody with the Kinshasa before demanding a microphone and cutting a promo to close the show. Nakamura would make it clear that at All Out - he was coming for Jericho’s career.

Jericho would claim a sort of revenge following the Supercard, with the Knights of Jericho claiming a Trios win over Nakamura and The Young Bucks. After the match, both Jericho and Nakamura would come to an agreement in the middle of the ring despite it being a particularly heated segment. Jericho would make it clear to Nakamura that the only way he was going to put into a position where he was going to put his career on the line then Shinsuke was going to have to sacrifice himself. Shinsuke would make it clear that he was so confident of himself, that if he were to lose to Jericho then he would never challenge for the AEW World Championship as long as Jericho was a member of the AEW roster. Both men would shake hands and agree to compete in an ‘All or Nothing’ match at All Out.

Tensions between both men would continue in the week leading up to All Out, with Nakamura making it clear that he fully intended on putting Jericho’s career into the ground. Whilst, Jericho would make it clear that he was relishing the opportunity to not only bring an end to Shinsuke’s flawless singles record (with Nak yet to lose a one-on-one match) but also become the man responsible for preventing Nakamura from ever being the world champion on American soil that he had set out to do ever since he had left New Japan.​

 

[CakeWalker]

Chapter Five - Part Five

Best On The Block (Mejor En El Bloque) - Act Four

No one had expected Higher Education to win the tag team titles, and only ever expected their involvement in the match as being anything other than protecting the interests of The Hybrid 2. However, it would be the Young Bucks who would be the first team to challenge the new champions for the belts. Once again though the fans would be left stunned as Higher Education would remain in control of the tag division with Kip Sabian really stepping up to the plate as he would be the difference maker in the contest in a match that saw himself and Avalon get a clean victory over one of the most talented team of the last decade.

The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt) would be announced as being the latest signings to join the Nightmare Family, with it becoming clear since Cody’s return as leader of the group that the American Nightmare was going out of his way to increase the faction’s numbers. In the build up to Fyter Fest, Orange Cassidy with Trent and Chucky T as his glamorous assistants would host an interview segment named ‘A Slice of Orange’ in which he would host the current tag champions Higher Education as his first guests. Peter Avalon would make it clear that he had truly proven himself as the smartest member of the roster in the fact he had been playing TH2 and Jake Roberts for months and that at Double or Nothing he had completed his masterplan. Avalon would make it clear that it wasn’t a betrayal, because himself and Kip had never been loyal - he would go on to promote Kip from his position as his student to Junior Professor.

Kip would send a direct message to the Dark Order making it clear that he had his eyes set on Stu Grayson and Evil Uno and wanted nothing more than to claim a victory over two of the biggest dorks who as of late had been leaving a foul stain on the rest of the division. Evil Uno would cut a promo making it clear that Kip and Peter had got lucky and the only reason they had become the champions was because of mind games, but unlike TH2 and the Young Bucks they weren’t inside their heads. Under the guidance and counsel of Tully Blanchard, the Dark Order would bring an end to Higher Education’s reign no sooner than it had begun to become the fifth team to hold the belts.

On the following episode of Dynamite a four way match would take place with the winners set to face Dark Order for the titles at Fight For The Fallen, in a match consisting of the Young Bucks, TH2, The Expendables and the Gunn Club with the combination of Paul London and PCO claiming the victory and setting themselves up for a match against Dark Order now as full representatives of Ishii-gun.

It would be confirmed that at Fight For The Fallen for the second year in a row would play host to the AEW Tag Trophy, although this year’s winners would challenge for the title belts at All Out. It would be confirmed that at this year’s tournament the number of teams involved would increase to sixteen with the first round matches being aired on Youtube exclusively after Rampage went off the air. As part of the build up to the AEW Tag Trophy a number of teams would be announced as having signed with AEW. They would include Cryme Tyme (Shad Gaspard & JTG), The Wild Boyz (El Phantasmo & Jordan Oliver), Simon Gotch & Matthew Morris (formerly the Vaudevillians) would also be announced as having signed with AEW being packaged as R-Union Party, with Shannon Moore & Crazy Steve also confirmed to be making their AEW debut’s at Fight For The Fallen. The signing that would really turn heads and generate a lot of excitement would be the Briscoe Brothers who would make their debut by claiming a win over the Strong Hearts.

Another team entry that would generate a lot of interest would be the announcement that Rey Fenix and El Hijo del Vikingo had agreed to team up for the tournament and perhaps maybe afterwards as well depending on how things went, under the name Caza Salvaje (Wild Hunt). Matt and Nick Jackson would also announce that they would not be taking part in the tournament this year and instead as EVPs were scouting for talent and wanted the AEW Tag Division to continue to be the most competitive in North America but would make a statement that the Strong Hearts had parts ways with AEW and that further cuts, releases and potential trades would be taking place over the next few months.

The Round of 16 matches booked for the card are shown below:

With Cryme Tyme, Shannon Moore & Crazzy Steve, Luthor & PAC, The Briscoes Brothers, Wild Boyz, Caza Salvaje, The Butcher & The Blade and R-Union Party being the eight team that would claims wins and advance to take part in the final eight during Fight For The Fallen. The Dark Order would successfully defend their titles against the challenging Expendables - and would put the rest of the tournament on notice that they would be the team that the winners would go up against, at All Out.

The final of the tournament would result in Shannon Moore & Crazzy Steve taking on Caza Salvaje as they would compete to win the AEW Tag Trophy, with the team of Vikingo and Fenix winning the tournament and earning the right to challenge Dark Order for the belts at All Out. It also meant that Rey Fenix had won the Tag Trophy two years in a row, as a member of two different teams. After the event went off air, it would be announced that Private Party had been released by All Elite Wrestling, although more surprising news would be that Moore & Steve had signed a long-term contract with the National Wrestling Alliance. despite having reached the final of the AEW Tag Trophy. Shannon Moore would make it clear that he and Steve hadn’t drawn a line in the sand and weren’t against returning to AEW, but at this time they had made promises they intended to keep.

Caza Salvaje would call out the Dark Order and make it clear that at All Out they going to give nothing but 100% of themselves in order to become the tag team champions, with Rey Fenix making it clear that he was ready to claim a second successive victory in a row at All Out with the tag titles on the line. Fenix would make it clear that he saw himself as one of the greatest tag team wrestlers of a generation, but Vikingo brought something that his brother Penta had never done - respect.

In an interesting segment Kip Sabian would throw a curveball that would leave everyone, especially Peter Avalon absolutely shocked. He would announce that despite having won the tag titles with Avalon, for personal reasons he was bringing an end to Higher Education. He would reveal that he had never been informed of Avalon’s plan to betray TH2 and considered both Jack and Angelico as two of his closest friends and would reveal that all three men as well as Shawn Spears were forming a super faction calling themselves TH4. With Avalon left on the ring with just Leva Bates, looking shocked and annoyed out from the back would emerge Jerry Lynn, who would proceed to fire Avalon and Leva Bates in the middle of the ring with the reasons given being that both Peter and Leva had rattled a large case of complaints for bullying fellow workers backstage (the reason was as work) and both Avalon and Bates would throw an absolute tantrum in the middle of the ring.​

 

[Comrade Khan]

can you harass me before deadline for predictions next time, i forgot (its my fault) and im sad now

 

[CakeWalker]

can you harass me before deadline for predictions next time, i forgot (its my fault) and im sad now

No problemos

 

[Marty McFourth]

That Ishii/Omega feud is just incredible. Getting hyped up reading it. So intense!