As far as social media goes, it’s been quiet on the news front this week, but that’s not to say it’s been a quiet week, far from it in fact. We have had a dynamite week (please forgive the pun) and people are still raving about this week’s shows and the mountain of news that came with them. We had debuts, the full bracket list for the Women’s Eliminator Tournament, some freaking amazing match set ups and some even better matches. From the slightly erratic and far from perfect week of programming we received the week before last, Beach Break was exactly what the doctor ordered and an amazing start to the last leg on the road to Revolution.

On BTE this week, we found out that Good Brothers & Young Bucks vs Dark Order last week was the most highly edited match in AEW history (you’ll have to watch to find out why, I’m trying to keep this family friendy). While Nick and Matt assure us they’re totally not doing a story line or working with NJPW, Dark Order have a sleepover a theme was just perfect. Oh, and Sammy won the BTE Title!

So the BTE title is now on Sammy’s Vlog, and we learned that neither John Silver or Sammy Guevara are very good at American Football. As the title says, there are also four dudes in a bathroom, which is slightly questionable, and Kip is still miffed that he’s not getting enough bits on the vlog. 

I haven’t had time to listen to either Wrestling With the Week or Unrestricted yet this week, but we did get a double dose of Scorpio Sky this week with him appearing on Unrestricted as well. From what I’ve heard, both podcasts were great this week and I can’t wait to get around to listening to them. 

But, now for some wrestling!

Highlights of the Week

DARK:

Narrowing down my top five this week was really difficult, with a stacked 13 match card as well as a Waiting Room segment the episode came in at just under two hours, and I loved every second of it. Commentary was awesome as usual, Taz and Excalibur were on point all night working with Anthony Ogogo, with -1 and Austin Gunn taking up the 3rd seat throughout the show. This little feud between -1 and Excalibur had me in tears laughing, I honestly can’t get enough of it. I’m so proud of AEW for everything they’ve done and continue to do for the Huber family. 

5) Fuego Del Sol & Vary Morales vs Santana and Ortiz

Short but sweet is definitely the way to describe this match. Fuego was hot out the gate as soon as the bell rang with a great series of offence against Ortiz. Although Santana & Ortiz did get the win with an assisted fireman’s neckbreaker, the quick match highlighted extremely well the skill of all four men, Fuego and Morales especially. The more I see of these two, in both singles and tag competition, the more I want to see of them. Morales has something about him which I can’t quite put my finger on, and Fuego is one of the most over unsigned wrestlers AEW have on their books right now. Putting the two together and up against a tag team as tenured as Santana and Ortiz was a great move by AEW, the future is bright for both of these guys.

4) Leyla Hirsch vs Katalina Perez

AEW doesn’t really do squash matches, but even for Dark standards this was quick and Leyla Hirsch kicked some butt. Perez did get in a brief offensive combination but Hirsch dominated for 95% of the two minute match and looked absolutely fantastic. With the push she’s getting at the moment it’s surely just a matter of time before Lady Taz gets her contract. Please AEW, give the girl a contract! 

3) The Waiting Room with Ricky Starks

Short but sweet seemed to be the theme of the night on Tuesday with an extremely brief but brilliant Waiting Room segment with special guest Ricky Starks. As Britt and Ricky stroke each other’s ego and compare each other to Meghan Markle and Prince, they get rudely interrupted by Tony Schiavone who announces they’re out of time and cuts the interview short. Britt, Ricky and Rebel’s reactions were the highlight of the segment and were hilarious, as you’d expect. I can only imagine Britt is going to find a way to get her own back at Tony.

2) Tay Conti vs Tesha Price

Tay Conti came out with the full force of Dark Order at her back, with Anna Jay and -1 staying ringside for the match. Tay looked fantastic as always and she dominated for the majority of the match, though Price did get the upper hand with a series of offensive moves that had Conti staggered for a moment or two. Both ladies had a brilliant outing, but Tay did pick up the win with possibly my favourite finisher at the moment, her Tay-KO. It’s always a treat to have Anthony Ogogo calling Tay’s matches, his boxing background giving some great insight into the transition between martial arts disciplines and Tuesday was no exception. I seriously can’t wait for him to finally step into an AEW Ring.

1) M’Badu & TNT vs ‘The Natural Nightmares’ Dustin Rhodes, QT Marshall & Nick Comoroto

I got a special request for this one, but even without it, M’Badu & TNT vs Dustin Rhodes, QT Marshall & Nick Comoroto would have been my match of the night, and from the shocked exclamations from Taz, he’s likely inclined to agree with me. With absolutely no disrespect to the other 5 men in this match, my focus here is solely on Nick Comoroto. He was amazing. The pure strength and power he has is unbelievable. I missed last week so couldn’t comment on his match with Mox, but between that and this match here.. I’m kind of speechless, which really doesn’t happen very often. I’m not usually a fan of ‘big men’ when it comes to wrestling, but every time Comoroto steps in the ring I’m glued to my screen, I love it!

Dynamite:

Sorry to steal a phrase from Andy here, but how is every episode of Dynamite the best episode of Dynamite? Don’t get me wrong, there are storylines going on that I really don’t care for *cough* Cody & Red Velvet vs Shaq and Jade Cargill *cough*, but in spite of that I still couldn’t fault the show. For the people who do care, the Jade and Shaq segments did exactly what they were meant to do and got people super hyped for March 3rd’s Dynamite. We also got the rundown of each side of the bracket for the Women’s #1 Contendership Eliminator Tournament with some fantastic names coming up, Kip and Penelope’s Wedding officiated by ‘The Sinister Minister’ and quite a swerve to end the show, but I’ll get there a little later. 

5) Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford wedding

I’m still undecided quite how I feel about the wedding segment, all in all, it was fun. We had the Sinister Minister (IMPACT wrestling’s James Mitchell) officiating the ceremony, Kip looked dashing in his tux and bowtie and Penelope looked absolutely stunning. It was fairly tame as wedding segments go, nothing went terribly wrong until it came to the speeches and gifts – Chuck put a cuff on Miro’s ankle, Orange Cassidy popped out of the cake which Penelope face planted, and Chuck and Orange Cassidy stood tall as the segment came to a close. 

4) Eddie Kingston Vs Lance Archer – Lumberjack Match

This match was a glorious mess and I loved it. It was complete chaos and wasn’t the easiest to follow but it somehow worked. As much as I hate to say it, the match itself seemed less important than the interference from the outside and sets up nicely for a rubber match down the road. Butcher, Blade and Bunny got seriously involved, Jake the Snake dropped a DDT on Angelico seemingly out of nowhere and Lance Archer walked away with the win.

3) Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker

This was one of the better matches of the night and one of Britt Baker’s best matches to date. Yes, it was clear she was in the ring with someone far more experienced than herself, but her performance was fantastic. The match culminated in Rebel taking the pad off the middle turnbuckle, followed by a series of offence ending with Thunder Rosa going head first into the exposed metal. She sold like a dream and even watching it back now it still has me questioning whether it was a work or whether she was really KO. Baker got the win, Doc ran into the ring and Thunder Rosa sold her way backstage with his help. Both women walked away looking absolutely fantastic.

2) Tag Team Battle Royal

Until AEW, I’ve always been fairly indifferent about Battle Royal’s, its generally the time I go and put the kettle on and make myself a cup of tea, but AEW have changed things and now I absolutely love them. The way they use their Battle Royal’s to further loads of stories at once and still manage to make it make sense, they’re fun to watch. Especially with the tag division they’ve built themselves, and there’s always a couple of nice surprises. For me there were two things, the Young Bucks getting eliminated so early, and Darius Martin of Top Flight making it to the final two with Jericho. Am I slightly gutted Jericho got the win? Yeah, but the whole thing was bloody fantastic and an amazing way to start a brilliant night.

1) Bullet Club’s Kenny Omega & the Good Brothers vs Jon Moxley, PAC and Rey Fenix

I want to be able to scream and shout about this match because it was a fantastic match and probably deserved to be a stand alone main event. Mox, Fenix, and PAC were on absolute fire and Kenny and the Good Brothers work together like a well oiled machine – let them go head to head and you know you’re going to make history. Normally, it totally would have been done, but when it comes to Beach Break, AEW decided to blow us completely out of the water and threw freaking Kenta at us!!!

I don’t know a huge amount about NJPW, but I have friends that do, many of which have been dreaming about this moment for months, so I’m honestly just as excited because I know they’re excited. The forbidden door is finally open!!

Post show Alex Marvez caught up with Kenny and Kenta in the parking lot and after a not so safe for work confrontation between the two, we have been blessed with the dream match that is Kenny and Kenta vs Mox and Lance Archer next week on Dynamite!