BRM Reviews AEW Fight for the Fallen 2020 (bad)

[Big Red Machine]

AEW Fight for the Fallen 2020 (7/15/2020)- Jacksonville, FL


My TV seems to be having the same problem with freezing and skipping that NXT had for me, so I’m going to assume that the problem is with my TV

AEW TNT TITLE MATCH: Cody Rhodes(c) (w/Arn Anderson) vs. Sonny Kiss- 6.5/10
Jim Ross points out that Cody is currently on an eleven-match winning streak. This is the first I’ve heard of this, and I’m certain it’s the first time any of the announcers have brought it up. The fact that he managed to go on a TEN-MATCH WINNING STREAK without anyone noticing should perfectly illustrate just how unimportant these win-loss records are. And it’s not like these were on Dark, either.
Sonny Kiss came out with the Jaguars cheerleaders and did their routine with them. Taz told me that Sonny Kiss was “super-creative,” which I found amusingly ironic to say about someone currently in the middle of doing someone else’s choreography.
Janela not being at ringside for Sonny was a little odd when you consider that Sonny was at ringside for Janela last week (yes, Archer brought him there, but Janela was clearly expecting Sonny to be coming out with him, so he would have been there even if he hadn’t been attacked by Archer).
The story early on was that Cody was dominating Sonny early on but was taunting him by posing. Arn yelled at Cody not to do these things and flat-out asked him “do you want to win this match?” Cody got the message… and right after that, Sonny cut Cody off and started winning. Isn’t that backwards? Should Cody get the advice from Arn, follow it, and then get the win from that? Instead we had Cody doing just fine, with his taunting not coming back to bite him, and then when arm tells him to stop taunting, Cody starts to lose.
What is it with Cody and taking his weight belt off during matches? Either it’s getting in your way- which case you should take it off before the match- or it isn’t- in which case would should it on because you need it.
Cody eventually started acting like a heel, yelling at Aubrey and even ripping a turnbuckle pad off. He went into it for a nearfall, but hit a brutal-looking Cross-Rhodes soon after for the finish. As sick as that was, though, the Vertebreaker earlier on looked sicker and sicker every time they showed it. That’s a move that needs to be done as the finish or not at all.
The match was fine, but the general one-sided-ness of it and oddness in the story brought it down a bit.


LUCHA BROS. vs. FTR- 4/10
Oh. That’s right. Lucha Bros. and The Butcher & The Blade stole FTR’s truck last week. It’s nice to see that AEW took no action to punish them. DTR sure is lucky that they brought the truck back this week instead of spitefully tying a brick to the accelerator and sending it over a cliff.
This match really didn’t do it for me. They tried to play up the animosity but there was no intensity there, Lucha Bros. looked whatever the opposite if crisp is on some of their spots, and the finish was ridiculous. FTR are supposed to be the babyfaces, but they were the ones who cheated to get a cheap victory. Even worse, said cheating (pulling a Luchador’s mask off) happened right in front of the referee and was not a DQ. Instead, the referee went down to count the pin on the small package.
Wait… now Excalibur is telling us that ripping someone’s mask off isn’t a DQ in AEW. That would have been nice to know before, as it has been a standard rule in most American promotions featuring Luchadors over the past decade.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- dumb
The Bucks snuck up on The Butcher & The Blade, superkicked them, and took back the keys to FTR’s truck. They returned the keys to their rightful owner, and Kenny Omega came out and offered FTR some beer, as an apology for the incident the other week. They accepted it. It’s nice to see everyone acting like adults.
Whoops. I spoke too soon. Instead of drinking the beer, FTR dumped their cans out on Kenny’s head. What a bunch of dicks. Kenny tries to fight, but the Bucks hold him back. Once again, we have people acting like dick seemingly for the sake of creating tension for their storyline rather than for natural human, adult reasons.

INNER CIRCLE PROMO- Jericho starts off by going full WCW and explaining to us why they really won the ratings battle last night even though they lost total viewers. I don’t care that what he is saying is true. It’s not good for the product. It came off as desperate and insecure. Even more importantly, though, any time you’re on TV talking about the ratings, you’re making a mistake because any fan who cares about the ratings look them up for themselves on Thursday (and, in the case of the “demo” argument, has already this case made a thousand times by now). By talking about the ratings you’re either talking about something the viewers don’t care about or telling them something they already know.
And now he’s talking about how great a match he had with Orange Cassidy. I guess he’s now also Le Champion of reading the front page of F4WOnline. Anything else you want to tell us, champ? New Japan results? Who signed with MLW last week? Details on the next set of TNA tapings?
Jericho is insistent that Orange Cassidy won’t get a rematch from him, and that it’s not because he’s scared, because he’s not scared. Jericho and Swagger dumped some orange juice out in the ring, so that’s two segments in a row now where we’ve had liquid dumped in the ring.
Orange Cassidy comes out and stands in the non-crowd. Jericho cuts a promo on him and reiterates that there won’t ever be a rematch. OC then gave them the thumbs down, and then Orange Juice was dumped on the Inner Circle from the ceiling. Remember a few weeks ago when WWE did this and everyone shat on it because it was juvenile and stupid? Well it hasn’t gotten any less juvenile or stupid over the past few weeks. We also had Swole dump garbage on Britt Baker just a few weeks ago, and we’re already going back to that.

ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS JURASSIC EXPRESS- bad
And now they’re going full WWE with Marko Stunt telling me that the dumb juvenile thing they just did was the funniest thing ever. This promo right here is clear evidence that Marko needs to do. He’s just a comedy goof. The rest of this promo was Luchasaurus trying to be serious, and then they closed it with a joke that Marko Stunt can’t even remember to bring his kickpads with him when he has a match.

JERICHO ARRIVES AT THE COMMENTARY TABLE AND REACTS TO THE INTERVIEW- This was hilarious. Not really Jericho so much as the way Ross and Excalibur treated him (“that would be a shame if we showed another replay of that”). This ended with Excalibur plugging the fact that you can buy the Orange Cassidy towel at ShopAEW.com, to which Jericho responded “you know what else you can get at ShopAEW.com? My foot up your ass!” I hope not, or else AEW is in some big trouble, because I think that would technically be prostitution.

JURASSIC EXPRESS vs. THE ELITE (Kenny Omega & the Young Bucks)- 6.75/10
Early on in this match, we randomly cut away from the ring show Adam Page watching this match and drinking. He even got a graphic calling him an “unlicensed bartender.” So yeah. Dumb “comedy” is more important than wrestling here in AEW.
We were later shown FTR showing up to drink with Page. Who is filming this and why? And don’t tell me to pretend the cameras aren’t there. It’s hard to do that when they put a f*cking graphic up on the screen.
This had some good stuff, but they basically decided to ignore the concept of a legal man after the first few minutes. The spot everyone will be talking about is the crazy Canadian Destroyer from the outside, off of Luchasaurus’ shoulders, and into the ring, but I hated it because it took so long to set up that it was impossible to watch it and not think that everyone was working together.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- meh
Kenny kept attacking Marko after the match. The Bucks pulled him off. The announcers told me that Kenny was angry about FTR dumping beer on him, so he was talking it out on Marko. Not cool to do that after a match, Kenny.

ALEX MARVEZ INTERVIEWS HIKARU SHIDA-
Shida spoke well, but whoever told her what to say should be flogged. Marvez noted that the top four ranked women in the division are currently unable to compete, and then asked Shida if she was ready to give Nyla Rose (presumably the fifth-ranked competitor) her rematch. Shida said yes, but then said “it doesn’t have to be Nyla.”
Yes. Yes, it does have to be Nyla! She has a claim to a title shot and is the top-ranked active contender in the division right now. For it not to be Nyla would make the whole ranking system pointless!
Shida says that anyone who shows the proper heart and passion can have a title shot. That sounds nice and all, but how about if you have to win some matches instead?

MOXLEY PROMO- awesome!
This was (among other things) a response to Taz’s claim from last week that Moxley would be unable to lift Cage up for the Paradigm Shift. Moxley basically said “okay… so I’ll just reinjure his triceps and make him tap.”

KENZIE PAGE & MJ JENKINS vs. THE NIGHTMARE SISTERS (Brandi Rhodes & Allie) (w/Dustin Rhodes)- fine squash, but a bad segment
The last time we saw these two, Brandi was being a bitch to Allie. They had their match and Brandi’s fear (which Brandi seemed to be basing on absolutely nothing) didn’t come true.
1. It’d be nice to show us Brandi actually apologizing to Allie. A babyface should admit it when he or she is wrong.
2. Why are these two even teaming up? If the idea of this story is that Allie doesn’t trust Brandi, why would she team with her? It’s not like there is a women’s tag division for them to win matches in, and neither of them has wrestled for MONTHS… and now they’re suddenly wrestling in a tag team match?
Wait… no. I’m wrong. They have apparently teamed twice on Dark. Fine. If them being a team is going to be important, SHOW US A F*CKING CLIP. The ticker is a nice touch, but if you put it on the screen during a match, I’m not going to be paying attention to it because I’m paying attention to the thing I’m supposed to be watching.
Anyway, these two are now getting along with no problems whatsoever. It’s always a good booking choice to have characters resolve their personal issues off-screen, and without the announcers informing the bookers of such things. And people think WWE is bad at storytelling.

“DASHA” INTERVIEWS NYLA ROSE- snore
Yeah, they took Dasha’s last name away for no reason. Just like Vince would do.
Nyla’s new manager is Vickie Guerrero. That’s… underwhelming. Her promo wasn’t bad or anything, but I think Nyla’s promos are better, so why does she need Vickie?

Announcer for next week are Page vs. Five from the Dark Order, Cody defending the title shot against another mystery (i.e. undeserving) opponent, MJF “in action,” Bucks vs. Butcher & Blade in what is a Falls Count Anywhere match for no good reason, A Boy & His Dinosaur vs. Chris Jericho & Jake Hager, and Ivelisse vs. Diamante. Holy sh*t, it’s someone in the women’s division I can actually care about! Hooray for Ivelisse!

AEW WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jon Moxley(c) vs. Brian Cage (w/Taz)- 6.25/10
Cage intimidated Justin Roberts into introducing him as the FTW Champion. We start off setting up the story of Cage’s strength vs Moxley working over the arm, as advertised… and they go to the outside, stay there FOREVER without getting counted, and use weapons without being DQed. The announcers pushed the “playoff hockey” comparison, but that’s utter bullsh*t. Yes, they’ll let a bit of roughness and scrapping go during the playoffs, but if you trip someone, or elbow them, or slash them, or commit any other penalty in front of the referee, they’re still going to call it! If a match is “too important to end with a DQ or a count-out,” then the promotion should make it no count-outs and no DQs. But they didn’t, so don’t tell me “this match is too important to end with a count-out or a DQ.”
Moxley eventually hit a Double-Arm DDT, which neither Ross nor Jericho were able to tell apart from the Paradigm Shift, and thus kept calling it one. Moxley worked the arm while Cage worked over Moxley’s back with his power. The stuff while they were in the ring was very good, but the stuff on the outside dragged it down. Taz throwing in the towel was not the finish I expected, and seems like the wrong finish here. If you want to save some face for Cage, I think a referee stoppage was the way to go.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
Taz gives Cage the FTW Title to hit Moxley with. The lights went off and Darby Allin appeared to save Moxley from a beat-down. I always hate the “lights out” thing, and this whole segment felt painfully forced. It felt like the only reason the post-match beat-down happened was so Darby could make a dramatic save in his return.


This was a bad show from AEW, full of underperforming matches, underwhelming surprises, supposed heroes being unlikable, things moving along in very forced ways, and some just plain bad storytelling.

[XIV]

Not a good show, a bit of a let down all over really, on paper FTR vs Lucha Bros should have been great, but there just wasn’t the “click” you’d expect. Few botches in there too.

Stuff being dumped on wrestlers is now as regular as dives to the outside. So now that’s overplayed and boring.

I actually liked the end of Moxley vs Cage, it does somewhat protect Cage as not having been pinned or given up but I’d have liked to see Cage more pissed off rather than just accepting it straight away. This also only works if we’re getting Moxley vs Cage II with some kind of gimmick match.

But Darby Allin’s return puts doubt on that.

[Thelone]

Cody beat another tomato can with ease and was once again slightly more of a dick than usual. Riveting...

As much as I think the Revival is overrated, it isn't that much of a surprise that some of their match-ups in AEW are going to be ugly clash of styles. I'm pretty sure they'll have a better match with B&B, which tells you more about how the Lucha Brothers can't adapt to their opponents and just do the same lucha/indy spotfest match every single time. Also more weird ass build for Revival vs. Bucks.

Why are we still going with this Jericho/Cassidy feud? Didn't Jericho beat him pretty decisively last week? At this point, I feel like Jericho is slowly checking out and just does whatever he feels like doing for the lulz. Also more stupid comedy and totally-not-salty comments about the ratings.

"Shocking" how some one-note characters like Janela and Stunt are being turned on even by the AEW fans for being goofs/mediocre wrestlers. If only that would have been predictable or something...

So basically, the Revival are playing MINDGAMES with Omega, except not really because he started it last week by being a dick.

In other "shocking" news, Marvez is still awful at anything involving him being on camera. Also bookers everywhere do realise that babyface champions don't have to be doing open challenges/"I'll take on anyone" constantly, right? Hell, Moxley isn't doing it.

More stuff that happened on Dark (or even off-screen apparently) and is barely touched upon when it moves up to Dynamite.

To the shock of almost no one, Guerrero is Rose's new manager she totally didn't need. Also enough with the managers/seconds/mascots/whatever already!

I actually thought Ivelisse signed with WWE not that long ago, but I guess not.

Unsurprisingly, Cage lost his match and made the whole FTW thing completely pointless after a week.

[NWK2000]

“DASHA” INTERVIEWS NYLA ROSE- snore
Nyla’s new manager is Vickie Guerrero. That’s… underwhelming. Her promo wasn’t bad or anything, but I think Nyla’s promos are better, so why does she need Vickie?

I'm willing to give this a shot just based on the fact I balked at Cage and Taz being paired up at first and Taz ended up being the most entertaining thing on the show for me.

[XIV]

“DASHA” INTERVIEWS NYLA ROSE- snore
Nyla’s new manager is Vickie Guerrero. That’s… underwhelming. Her promo wasn’t bad or anything, but I think Nyla’s promos are better, so why does she need Vickie?

I'm willing to give this a shot just based on the fact I balked at Cage and Taz being paired up at first and Taz ended up being the most entertaining thing on the show for me.

They need to stop booking Nyla Rose like shit first.

She's lost to just about every other woman on the roster and bumps around for everyone like crazy. Hopefully this addition of Vickie will mean she's pushed like a female monster who stops bumping around for tiny Riho.