Matches:

1.Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express ***3/4

2.AEW Women's Title: Shida(c) vs Thunder ***1/2

3.AEW Tag Titles: The Elite(Omega,Page) (c) vs FTR ****

4.Mimosa Mayhem: Orange vs Jericho ***

5.AEW World Title: Moxley vs MJF ***1/4

Thoughts:

I was putting together the September pull list and realized I had enough from this show to go ahead and make it a Select Match Reviews post.

Before we get to the matches I did watch/review, let me just say that I know this show featured a few misses alongside the hits including the Baker cinematic affair, Sydal's botched debut for AEW, and the absolute clusterfuck that was Matt versus Sammy. That last match in particular is something I've talked about here before, but I think it's worth reminding readers that AEW deserves a lot of shit for the way it played out and I sincerely hope they learned their lesson but I do know that they had another safety screw up recently, too. On the flip side, they've hired additional medical personnel so I'll congratulate that move. 

Up first, Generation Me against a dinosaur and Tarzan Jr. Can we transition JR to a backstage interview role moving forward, please? Matt tried a sequence on JB that I've seen done in a similar manner in indie lucha a while back but it didn't work out properly. Also, someone tell Tony never to say, "I love stiff, look at this" ever again. Outside of that, this was great. Matt's attitude was cherry. In all, this was a great tag match that played out nicely with few flaws and was well worth checking out.

Second, Thunder Rosa got a shot against Shida. I love that Rosa is getting shots finally at a bigger stage as she truly is one of the best workers in North America. If she hadn't been under a mask in Lucha Underground it would have happened faster. But for the match I will say I was slightly let down. They did just enough for me to consider it worth recommendation, but it also felt off at times and the flow in general was lacking. Either way, it was pretty good even if not to the expectations I had set and I loved the teases of Thunder becoming a triple champion, too.

Third, Omega and Hangman defended against FTR. I absolutely loved the union of Kenny and Page. The matches were fantastic and the storytelling was well done. What's not to like? I'd add that I really want a closer relationship with NWA and AEW and the chance to see FTR with the NWA Tag belts. Back to the match itself, this had good limb work, high drama, and high quality work across the board and was fantastic stuff all together. The biggest stories here were the tensions between the champs adding up as it went along and FTR eventually taking this one. Check this one out if you missed it.

Fourth, Jericho and Orange. In the opening minutes of this, Aubrey reacts to a chop in the best way possible. 

Look at this.


And in a split second that transitions to this.


Amazing.

So, the gimmick here was insane. It's like something out of dark era TNA, the end days of WCW, or a large span of WWE's history. Despite that, somehow these fuckers made it work. I mean, no it wasn't amazing or anything from a match quality pov, but it was good shit for sure and pure entertainment. It's an example of a match that's below my recommendation cutoff but still perhaps worth seeing for the novelty of it all. 

All hail, Orange Cassidy!

And last up, Mox defending against MJF in a match I admittedly had little expectations for. Despite Jon's high place on my award tracker, which still shocks me a tad, and despite the fact that I do sincerely like Mox, I just truly didn't think they'd put together something better than ***. I'll say that MJF and Mox did a good job here but I was correct in my thinking that it wouldn't hit my cutoff. The color added to the drama and, again, it was good. It felt like something you'd see in MLW or on weekly tv in a main event spot instead of a main event of a big show.

There was certainly stuff worth seeing but I agree that the high points were lower than they arguably should be and, with me skipping the low points, I can see why folks might have been a bit disappointed. It's a good problem to have since it means the standards are set that high, of course, but it's a problem regardless.

As is the norm, more content coming up soon!