Matches:

  1. Death Triangle vs AFO ***
  2. Spears vs Bear NR
  3. Riho vs Ruby ***
  4. TNT Title: Sky(c) vs Kazarian ***

Thoughts:

Death Triangle defeated AFO in a good opener, though one that didn't fully land as well as I would've hoped. After, House of Black made a brief appearance and some mind games.

Spears defeated Bear in under three next ahead of his cage match with Wardlow on the horizon. I'm still surprised Bear Country isn't being booked stronger, but I suppose they aren't a priority. A match versus FTR with both going all in and getting enough time would likely rock.

This felt a lot like something that would've aired on WCW television prior to the Nitro days.

Chair shots followed.

Nese tells Sterling to bet on him in a handicap match agaist Hook and Danhausen.

Riho and Ruby had a good match that I expected would have been better. I'm happy Ruby won, at least, and am hopeful that it's the beginning of her getting back on track.

Gunn Club and The Acclaimed chat.

Tony calls for Jade to come out and she does along with her new unit. Sterling has crutches and a neckbrace. Shida was announced as being injured, which set up a funny twitter situation later, and it was revealed that Red Velvet would be facing Stratlander now instead.

Sky had more heat with his folks and told them to take the night off ahead of the main event.

They did not take the night off, instead opting to get involved. Sky would win as the commentary team teased that the champ didn't know his allies had cheated. This set up a post-match show ender that saw Sky and Page act as if tensions were continuing to grow until Scorp instead turned and attacked Kaz.

I'm a bit torn there, to be honest.

On one hand, Sky was seemingly on his way to becoming a hot face for AEW.

Instead, they doubled down and are trying to push Men of the Year and crew further into the heel column. Perhaps that's the right move, but I am unsure if the execution and timing were well handled. If you're going to go this direction, let the babyface buzz grow further and the tensions grow with it. I know we're getting a rematch in California but imagine doing it there instead?

Oh well, you can't untoast the sperm whale.

In all, this episode was a good hour of TV while also feeling borderline unnecessary. Go ahead and just skip it for those that just read the review or, at most, watch select content via their YouTube channel. 

Overall Rating: 65/100%