May 4th, 2022
Baltimore, Maryland
AEW World Champion: Hangman Adam Page (since 11/13/21)
AEW World Tag Team Champions: Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus (since 1/5/22)
AEW Women’s World Champion: Thunder Rosa (since 3/16/22)
AEW TBS Champion: Jade Cargill (since 1/5/22)
AEW TNT Champion: Scorpio Sky (since 4/27/22)
Commentators - Excalibur, Jim Ross, & Tony Schiavone
Adam Cole opens the show to a massive pop to join commentary for the opening match.
1) Jeff Hardy (w/ Matt Hardy) vs. Bobby Fish (w/ Kyle O’Reilly) - Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier
Yeah this suuuucked. Not like offensively bad.. but not anywhere near good. Crowd was hot! And it was cool seeing Jeff in singles action. That’s about it though. Jeff took a falcon arrow which was nutty. Swanton bomb ends it and Jeff advances thank the lord. I’m dying to see Jeff/Darby in the tournament itself.
Match rating - **
THEY AIR THE EPIC LEGENDARY REGAL BCC PROMO FROM “ROAD TO” IN ROUTE TO OUR NEXT MATCH
2) Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, & Wheeler Yuta vs. Angelico, The Butcher, & The Blade
NOW WE GET SOME GOOD SHIT. Butch & Blade deserve this match even though the outcome is obvious. Angelico is making TV for the first time in forever which is cool. The Andrade office boys jump BCC during Moxley’s entrance. They end up isolating Yuta and Yuta hits an awesome german on Butcher during his comeback. Moxley gets the hot tag and Jesus Christ man.. the dude just rules. He kicks Blade’s ass all around ringside and flips a table over. It’s not long before we are in the classic BCC finishing sequence with them locking every member in for the elbows followed by submissions for the win.
Match rating - ***
Backstage, Jurassic Express accepts Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs’ tag title challenge. BUT Jungle Boy wants Starks for the FTW Title next week first.
Back from commercial, Swerve & Keith Lee want in on this tag title picture because they have unfinished business with Starks & Hobbs.
3) Wardlow vs. William Morrisey
MJF brings out the former Big Cass as Wardlow’s surprise opponent for the week. I’m less than excited about that but I’m not like insulted so it’s whatever. The match is fine. Two big boys fuckin around and doing some crazy stuff along the way. Not as good as the Archer match, but solid. Wardlow wins with a powerbomb.
Match rating - **1/2
After the match, MJF sends down security and Wardlow eats them all alive and awesome bomb’s one of them onto the pile over the top rope. MJF gets on the mic and says he will give Wardlow a match against him, but with conditions and those conditions will be detailed in a contract. Contract signing for the match next week in Long Island.
The AEW World Champion “Hangman” Page is out next. He was out last week due to covid so it’s nice to see him back. Tony Schiavone is in the ring and asks him his thoughts on the title defense against CM Punk coming up at Double or Nothing. Page shows an edge that we haven’t seen from him in AEW, much less his title reign. Page says he could say he’s looking forward to have an all time great match with Punk and shaking his hand at the end of it, but he’s not. Page says he is going to destroy CM Punk and that Punk better prepare for the fight of his LIFE. Sick way to go about this that I wasn’t expecting. Hangman has become one hell of a promo, man.
KONOSUKE TAKESHITA HYPE PACKAGE. Takeshita makes his TV debut on Rampage this Friday against Jay Lethal. We get a pre-tape from Jay hyping the match.
4) Chris Jericho vs. Santana
So glad this wasn’t the main event. This was all about Jericho getting his win back over Santana so it really took me out of it. They do some good stuff here. The beginning particularly rocks and some of the counters in the closing stretch are sick. Garcia and the JAS gang run interference and allow Jericho to hit a low blow behind the referee’s back. This leads to the Judas Effect and the victory for Jericho… or as he’s calling himself now.. The Wizard. God what a dork. This was WWE shit, but there were good moments.
Match rating - **1/2
After the match, more WWE shit. JAS beats down Santana & Ortiz again. Eddie Kingston isn’t here for the save because of the fireball incident last week. This feud has its moments, largely thanks to Eddie. But it still has that looming Jericho/WWE feel. Plodding. Predictable. And in a way, lifeless. Group of bad guys beats on rough around the edges baby faces. Cheating to win. Town hall segments or whatever. Ah. Inner Circle re-hash. I’m ranting, but it’s because I wanted to care about this because I love Santana and I barely looked up from my phone and that sucks. Bye.
Samoa Joe cuts a backstage promo about his sights still being set on Jay Lethal.
The Varsity Blondes are here. GOTHJULIA is with them looking distant and depressed. Pillman cuts a good fiery babyface promo calling out the House of Black. Lights out and they’re here. They whoop Pillman & Griff’s ass. They corner Julia and offer her a chair to hit Griff with. She seems like she’s gonna do it, then doesn’t which pisses HOB off. Death Triangle comes out before they can do anything to her and that leads to our next match.
5) Rey Fenix vs. Dante Martin - Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Qualifier
FINALLY. Some GOOD SHIT PAL. This is a dream match that I’ve included in a fantasy BOSJ tournament for like a year now. I was bummed that neither man, especially Dante, were included in this year’s BOSJ, so seeing this happen here was awesome. These two are just so fun and innovative and the crowd was hot for it. Tons of great spots and an exciting feel from start to finish. I was on the edge of my seat for almost the whole thing because of the atmosphere these two created where it felt like anything was possible. Just a fantastic junior heavyweight high flying contest with a ton of dumnbbb shit. Fenix gets the win off a driver variation.
Match rating - ****1/4
Jade Cargill is with her BADDIES. God this stable rules. Jade says Velvet is gonna win the women’s cup and there will then be TWO baddies with gold.
6) Deonna Purrazzo (c) vs. Mercedes Martinez (c) - ROH Women's Title Unification Match
This is an interesting choice for the main event, but I’m not gonna complain. It’s nice to see women get that spot for once. Even if it’s for another promotion’s title. This felt like a big match off the rip. These two are both so underrated and this match really showcased that. This, in a way, was flawless. We’ve seen some BAD women’s matches on AEW TV, this felt like a perfect display of how to work a TV main event. Deonna needs to be signed when her Impact deal is up and Mercedes deserves all the flowers. Big win for Martinez here via submission to become the undisputed ROH Women’s World Champion. This was cool.
Match rating - ***
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