AEW Redemption Review: The Stage Is Set for Wembley

AEW Redemption was a fine show, not on the level of most of their PPV offerings, but a very good show with a slew of excellent matches and some not so good.  It did suffer from the length issue in a way that most don't for me.  Despite kicking off an hour earlier than usual it still ran until midnight and didn't need to.  The shortest match on the card exceeded sixteen minutes, and there were four or five bouts that could've been trimmed by five minutes each (at least one could've been omitted altogether).  After the first three matches all more or less tore the house down the crowd took a long time to get back into the show, and multiple bouts suffered because of that.  I'd have changed the match order around to spread the best stuff throughout the show instead of front-loading it.  But it was a very good night of wrestling overall.

Things kicked off as expected with the ladder match, which was an excellent car wreck.  All six men involved got plenty of time to be showcased, we had loads of high spots from everyone, and the local favorite walked away with the win to get the live crowd engaged.  There were of course a few moments that seemed to defy logic, like when two guys did moonsaults off the ladder set up on the stage, or when Jack Perry had the chance to climb up and grab the contract but did a Destroyer on Nick Wayne instead.  Mike Bailey finished things with a shooting star knee onto Mortos, followed by a match-winning climb.  Really fun opener.  ****1/2

AEW Redemption Preview & Predictions

This Sunday is the last PPV stop on the way to AEW All In, a brand new event called AEW Redemption.  Who is being redeemed, you ask?  Well it was obviously meant to be Kenny Omega's long-awaited coronation as AEW World Champion, but plans changed - it sounds like MJF needed time off sooner than expected - and the MJF-Kenny rematch was moved up to Beach Break.  And it was an absolutely fantastic match, better than their Dynasty match in April.  Long and short, Kenny is the new AEW Champ and now has seven weeks with the title before All In instead of five.  And now his "redemption" on Sunday will I guess be in the form of a successful title defense?

This here is a weird lineup that feels very much like a B-PPV except that it's loaded with bouts that should be spectacular.  But it lacks the marquee feel of most AEW PPVs.  I wonder if WBD pressured Tony into adding it to the calendar, because the build for this one was all crammed into two weeks of TV and there are lots of unconventional names vying for championships.  Don't get me wrong, I'm gonna watch the shit outta this show and most of the matches will deliver big.  But it does feel like a WWE Roadblock-type show, ahead of their WrestleMania.

But let's get into the matches.....

Six-Way Ladder Match: Jack Perry vs. The Beast Mortos vs. Komander vs. Speedball Mike Bailey vs. TBD vs. TBD

So somehow this match was thrown together due to a Mistico injury, but I'm fuzzy on what Mistico was supposed to be doing at this PPV.  I know he was set to get an International Title match with the winner of Fletcher-Bandido, but that was set for Grand Slam Mexico.  Anyway this match is now for a shot at said championship, with two qualifiers set for Collision: Nick Wayne vs. AR Fox and Lio Rush vs. El Clon.  Should be a very fun car wreck match and I think it would be a good candidate to open the show.  No idea who gets the title shot but Jack Perry or Speedball would make sense against Kyle.

Pick: I'll go with Jack since he just re-signed

AEW/NJPW/CMLL/Stardom Forbidden Door 2026 Review: Five Hours of Awesome

Hey remember how I said it might be time for AEW to put a moratorium on the Forbidden Door concept?  They must've read that (I'm sure they did not) and said "Oh yeah?  Challenge accepted, motherfucker."  Goddamn was this show incredible.  I wasn't sure they could top the 2024 edition, which stood for me as the best one to date, but they did in fact top that one.  The 2026 Forbidden Door is not only the new Forbidden Door yardstick, but for me it's the new 2026 PPV yardstick as well.  

This show ran very long, to be sure - five hours for the main card, god help us - but it felt like one of those epic three-hour films that you don't really want to end despite the length.  Even at five hours this show flew by for me.  While a few of the matches went 4-5 minutes longer than they should have, Forbidden Door was bookended by two trios of amazing bouts, with three very good matches in the middle.  I'd have perhaps made a couple of different booking decisions than they did, but that's all nitpicking.  Any PPV in 2026 that bests this one, I gotta see.

After a solid pre-show that included a good Daniel Garcia-Drilla Moloney match, a fun Maika win over Skye Blue to advance to the Survival of the Fittest TBS Title match, and probably the best Divine Dominion tag title defense against Thunder Rosa and Olympia, the main show kicked off with exactly the match I predicted, The Young Bucks vs. El Sky Team vs. Unbound Company three-way.  The crowd went absolutely apeshit for this match as expected, and the six men put together a thrilling 18-minute spectacle of creative offense and crowd-pleasing moves.  There was one botch when Mistico attempted to hurricanrana his own partner Mascara Dorada onto a pile of guys on the outside, but aside from that everything looked great.  The Bucks finished Titan with the Meltzer Driver (which currently doesn't have a name for some reason).  I will say this match seemed to miss its peak in terms of crowd heat, so the finish didn't feel as big as it could have.  But otherwise a fantastic opener.  ****1/2

AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2026 Preview & Predictions

We're just a few days away from the fifth(!) annual AEW x NJPW (x CMLL x Stardom) Forbidden Door!  And while I've become lukewarm to the idea of this yearly crossover event, mostly due to NJPW not feeling like it's at all on the same level as AEW these days, also due to the partial storyline interruption it necessarily involves, this card looks pretty great as usual.

They've brought back the multi-man Steel Cage match as the main event, but we also have the two Owen Cup Finals, one of which is itself a Forbidden Door rematch, plus a few first- or second-time dream matchups, and a couple of fun tag bouts.  This should be a quite enjoyable show, in front of an oddly small crowd for an AEW PPV.  As of press time they'd just crossed the 7,000 mark, so I'm hoping by Sunday they can get to 8k or 8500 anyway.  Come on, San Jose, get your shit together!

But let's get to it....

Zero Hour AEW Women's Tag Team Championship: Divine Dominion vs. Thunder Rosa & Olympia

AEW really needs to get Megan and Lena into a proper feud, as they're only ever featured on pre-show bouts these days.  Pretty sure the plan is for the Brawling Birds to dethrone them at Wembley, but in order for that to feel like a big deal they need to run through more teams that actually matter, not just squash makeshift tandems on the free shows.

Pick: DD retains

AEW Double or Nothing 2026 Review: MJF Threepeats

AEW knocked another one out of the park this past weekend with the eighth annual Double or Nothing PPV, a top-to-bottom mostly excellent show in front of a rabid NYC crowd and featuring the pre-show debut of legend Mick Foley.

The most-attended Double or Nothing show to date was for me missing that one Match of the Year-level banger, but it had a slew of great stuff, with seven of the nine main card bouts reaching or exceeding ****.  Louis Armstrong Stadium provided a unique atmosphere and the crowd brought incredible energy; this venue should become one of AEW's regular haunts going forward.

The show kicked off with the I Quit match for the tag belts, as FTR and Cope & Cage finally settled their feud.  New York apparently doesn't allow blood in wrestling matches, so these four guys (plus Stokely Hathaway and a returning Beth Copeland) had to get creative with the violence.  We got chairs, tables, barb wire (surprisingly no ladders), and even a bit of fire.  The line of the match came from Christian, as FTR smashed his broken arm with a cinderblock and when asked if he quit simply said to Dax, "I banged your mother."  Stokely kept getting involved in the match but Beth ran down to take him out.  FTR attacked her though and set her up for a spear through a flaming table, but she moved and pulled Stoke in the way of Cash's spear.  Christian trapped Dax in a sharpshooter, Cope added a crossface, and Beth handed Cope the barbwire 2x4 known as Spike, which Cope dug into Dax's forehead to force the submission.  Damn fine opener and a feelgood moment.  ****1/4

AEW Double or Nothing 2026 Preview & Predictions

Hard to believe we're at the EIGHTH annual AEW Double or Nothing spectacular, but time flies I guess, more and more with each passing year.  

This Sunday marks seven years minus one day from AEW's debut event, and as usual the company has a loaded lineup in store.  Sadly one match had to be changed due to injury, but even with Willow Nightingale and multiple other big names still missing in action (Hangman, Toni and Mercedes) this show still looks great on paper.  And the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium will be huge, over 14,000 as we speak and the show will likely sell out by Sunday.

Also for once I'm actually excited to see the Buy-In show, because joining Renée Paquette for hosting duties will be none other than the Hardcore Legend himself, Mick Foley!  Having rightly decided he no longer wants to be associated with WWE and their pro-MAGA horseshit, Foley is now free to lend his insight and name value elsewhere.  It'll be interesting to see if he makes regular AEW appearances, and if he interacts with fellow daredevil Darby Allin.  Even if this is a one-off, Foley's presence here will be quite welcome.

Speaking of the Buy-In, let's get to the predictions....

Buy-In: Divine Dominion vs. Zayda Steel & Viva Van

This is another five-minute Eliminator Match, where any team who can last this scant amount of time against the AEW Women's Tag Champs will get a title shot.  These are just Golberg-esque showcase matches for the dominant Bayne/Kross combo, which is fine.  I think the champs probably get a squash win here in front of a huge NYC crowd.

Pick: DD

AEW Dynasty 2026 Review: The God vs. The Devil

The third annual AEW Dynasty PPV is in the annals of history, and it was a damn fine wrestling show.  We were treated to a slew of good-to-great matches as usual, we got some setups for future marquee bouts, and the roster was welcomed by a mostly very hot crowd.  Also I took a major bath on my predictions, going only 4 for 9.  Insanity.

The show kicked off with what was in my estimation the show stealer, and one of the best PPV openers I've ever seen.  The Young Bucks faced the superteam of Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita, in a basically perfect 20-minute match.  We got the usual innovative Bucks spots and wild nearfalls but Okada and Takeshita perfectly advanced their ongoing feud to set up a rematch at Double or Nothing.  Don Callis on commentary added plenty of levity as well, ultimately throwing a fit as his two top talents came to blows.  At one point when the heels were in control, Okada donned Nick Jackson's headband and vest, and stood in Nick's corner to tease the embattled Matt by flipping him off.  I laughed.  After a Bucks comeback the four men traded finishers, with Team Callis "accidentally" hitting each other a couple times before full-on fighting.  The Bucks took advantage and knocked Okada loopy with a BTE Trigger for a nearfall, then set him up for the TK Driver.  Takeshita grabbed Nick's ankle on the outside to prevent the move but then let him go and walked away, leaving Okada to take the move and eat the pinfall.  This match ruled, and I can't wait for the Okada-Takeshita rematch.  *****

AEW Dynasty 2026 Preview & Predictions

This Sunday marks the third annual AEW Dynasty show, and despite missing some key players this lineup is still a doozy.

There's no Hangman Page, no Swerve Strickland, and no Toni Storm (goddammit I need answers, what's going on with Toni??), but holy jeez does this card still look pretty fantastic.  As of now there are only eight main card matches and given the length a few of them are gonna require I could see that being the final tally.  But I also wouldn't be surprised if they add a TBS Title match or a Women's Tag Title match, or a Trios Title match (SPOILER: The Dogs won those belts at the Collision taping).

Let's get right into it.

Zero Hour: Marina Shafir vs. Alex Windsor

This one is a branch-off from the Mox-Ospreay feud; Will's fiancée has gone right after Mox's heater and this should be a fairly enjoyable, hard-hitting match.  I think Marina probably wins this one.  I know before Toni abruptly disappeared from television there was supposed to be a No Holds Barred Toni-Marina rematch that probably would've led to Toni challenging Thekla for the belt.  I hope we eventually get to see Toni vs. Ronda, as that would be a big money match for this company.  Anyway I think Marina wins here.

Pick: Marina

AEW Revolution 2026 Review: The Tragedy of Hangman Adam Page

Alright, finally watched AEW Revolution 2026 a day late (thanks Oscars!), and the short answer is, it was one of the best top-to-bottom PPVs AEW has ever done.  This show felt like the work of a super hot promotion, in a way AEW hasn't presented since early 2022 (taking nothing away from the quality of their 2023-2025 PPVs of course).  The Los Angeles crowd on this night was one of the loudest in a long time, and despite this show going a whopping five-and-a-half hours including Zero Hour, they never seemed to get tired.  On top of all that, the card featured a smorgasbord of excellent matches and a few big surprises.  And one booking decision that is sure to leave a lot of people scratching their heads until they look like MJF's back.

I guess we'll lead with the main event, since that was the biggest talking point.  MJF vs. Hangman Page in a Texas Death Match was 46 minutes of some of the most violent wrestling anyone's ever done on a North American show (MJF wore Terry Funk-inspired gear to mark the occasion).  Though I might classify Hangman-Swerve and maybe even Hangman-Mox II as slightly more grisly, this match was certainly one of AEW's most brutal offerings to date.  There are arguments to be made both ways; when you promise a Texas Death match you need to deliver one, but how far is too far, and what can you possibly do to top it next time?  Conventional wisdom says you risk turning off casual viewers with content this bloody, but then again, the Undertaker-Mankind Hell in a Cell match (among others) came during one of the WWF's most mainstream-accepted periods.  

For me the best way to judge a match like this is on its own terms.  What did it set out to accomplish, and did it succeed?  MJF and Hangman wanted to deliver an over-the-top display of wanton violence built on an emotional story with the highest imaginable stakes, and on that level it absolutely succeeded.  The live crowd was with them the whole time, in spite of the match's excessive length (I would say ten minutes could've been trimmed but it also didn't drag for me), and the finish hit hard emotionally.  These two used every weapon imaginable - chairs, tables, window glass, a syringe, kabob skewers, trash can lids, light tubes, a dog collar chain, and there was a spot through the electrical equipment table.  Both men gushed like crazy and likely have a few permanent scars now.  After withstanding everything they could do to each other, it looked like Hangman was finally getting the win with a Buckshot Lariat (the second one of the match), when MJF slipped on the diamond ring and punched him in the face with it before choking him out with the dog collar.  Hangman went unconscious, collapsed to the floor, and got counted down.  And now he can never challenge for the AEW Title again.

AEW Revolution 2026 Preview & Predictions

It's March and you know what that means!  It's time for AEW's first PPV of 2026, Revolution.  This here is a stacked AF lineup....

Revolution is almost always one of the best PPVs of the year, no doubt partly because there's a two-plus month gap in AEW's PPV schedule beforehand.  Thus there's plenty of time to build a strong show full of meaningful matches.  As much as I tend to love AEW's PPV events, I wouldn't necessarily be sad if they cut the schedule from nine a year to eight, just to spread the April-December schedule out a bit more.  

Anyway, Revolution has ten main card matches scheduled, plus apparently a Big Boom AJ appearance (Wikipedia lists it as a match with opponent TBA, but WON's website says "appearance"), though I can't remember it ever being mentioned on Dynamite.  There are also two big pre-show matches, both for championships.  This roster is massive, isn't it?

AEW's signed another slew of excellent talent over the last few months.  Andrade (who's doing the best work of his career thus far), Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors, Lena Kross, Tommaso Ciampa, and now David Finlay (who everyone expected to go to WWE, but WWE were gonna stick him in developmental, or as it's now known, Hard Cam Academy).  It's an embarrassment of riches to be sure, and it's always dangerous to sign more wrestlers than you have room for, but man is there a fuckton of great talent in AEW right now... 

I've got a bone to pick with Tony though.  Why THE FUCK did you have to put this show head-to-head with the Oscars??  Couldn't it have been the night before?  Or during the afternoon?  I get that it's in L.A. and would have to start at like noon, but goddammit.  Looks like I'll have to wait till Monday evening to watch this, which means a 24-hour media blackout a la Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother.

Anyway let's get to the predictions...

Zero Hour AEW National Championship Blackjack Battle Royal

So is this the same as a Casino Battle Royal?  Did they change the name?  I assume it's the same rules since it's 21 guys.  Thus far the only names announced are the champion Ricochet and Tommaso Ciampa, but Mark Briscoe's gotta be a lock for it since he and Ciampa are feuding.  And Jack Perry is still chasing Ricochet so he'll be in it too.  A title change in this type of match seems weird but I could see Jack finally getting it.

Pick: Jack Perry, if he's in the match.  If not, Ric retains.

AEW Grand Slam Australia 2026 Preview & Predictions

We're just a couple days away from AEW's latest PPV-quality free TV show, Grand Slam Australia 2026!

Holy shitballs, this lineup.  Last year's GSA was an excellent show but it wasn't stacked like this one.  AEW Title match, Continental Title match, TNT Title match, Women's Tag Title match, #1 Contender's match, Hair vs. Hair match.  This thing is more loaded than Trump's diaper.  Speaking of that turd, supposedly WBD executives shied away from featuring anything having to with Brody King on this week's Dynamite, lest the crowd once again chant "Fuck ICE" (which they did a little bit anyway).  WBD denies it of course, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were true.

Anyway enough of that shit, let's talk about this lineup.  This is Clash of the Champions 1 quality stuff.

Hair vs. Hair: Toni Storm & Orange Cassidy vs. Marina Shafir & Wheeler Yuta

Toni and OC have incredible chemistry together and I love that they're running with what was supposed to just be a one-off pairing.  Great things have historically happened in wrestling based on unexpected hits, and it's always nice to see a promotion pay attention to that.  The build for this has been quite enjoyable, with both Toni and OC expressing some buyer's remorse about the possibility they could lose their prized locks.  But of course all signs point to Wheeler getting the shave, and there's no better chickenshit heel to fill that role.  The crowd will go bananas when the Death Riders' answer to Tully Blanchard gets humiliated.

Pick: Toni and Orange

The 2025 Enuffa.com Year-End Pro Wrestling Awards

Welcome to the 12th Annual Pro Wrestling Year-End Awards, here at Enuffa.com!  It is insane to me that I've been doin' this thing for TWELVE YEARS now.

2025 was a pretty crazy, tumultuous year for the wrestling biz.  WWE RAW found a new home on Netflix, Smackdown is back on USA, WWE PPVs are now on ESPN's streaming service which costs $30 a month instead of Peacock's $5, WWE began a parasitic symbiotic relationship with TNA and annexed purchased AAA, and AEW started their new TV deal worth $185 million a year ($100 more than their old deal), making them the second-most profitable wrestling company of all time and ensuring their solvency until at least the end of 2027 (Though grifters and fraudcasters are still pretending otherwise).  Their programming was also added to a whole new platform, HBO Max, vastly increasing their availability in the US and globally.

Both WWE and NJPW propped up ticket sales on the backs of retiring legends.  The latter treated their Ace with reverence and appreciation, while the former tried to shake things up with an ill-conceived heel turn no one really wanted, the catalyst for said heel turn disappeared from TV immediately afterward, and the whole storyline was so poorly received they reversed course less than six months later.

WWE attempted to cockblock multiple AEW PPVs, first by counterprogramming them with NXT specials that died a death in the ratings, and then with actual main roster shows like Saturday Night's Main Event which also did the worst number since the show's revival, and their ESPN Unlimited debut Wrestlepalooza, which garnered mixed reviews at best.  WWE dropped this strategy after that.

WWE also continued to jack up ticket prices to make up for the fact that overall sales have begun to slump, claiming record profits despite numerous sharp attendance drops in various markets.  AEW continued to struggle with weekly ticket sales, making slight improvements over 2024 but booking mostly smaller venues for Dynamite and Collision.  However their PPV attendance and buyrates remained strong, mostly up from last year.  TNA saw some of their best-ever attendance figures, mostly due to the PPV appearances of WWE and ex-WWE legends, and signed a new TV deal with AMC for 2026.  CMLL had a great year in terms of business, racking up numerous sellouts with Mistico continuing to prove himself the company MVP.  NJPW drew some of the weakest crowds in decades as they struggled to connect their audience to the latest crop of stars, but there is still hope after a sold-out WrestleKingdom 20 attendance.

WWE began openly aligning itself with the MAGA administration (inviting racist "comedian" Tony Hinchcliffe to a WrestleMania weekend event that went so poorly all recordings of it were pulled down) and brought accused sex trafficking accessory Brock Lesnar back into the company, alienating much of its fanbase and pissing away a lot of the goodwill they'd built up after Triple H took over Creative.  Even WWE Legend Mick Foley cut ties with the company.  AEW restored much of the goodwill they'd lost in the aftermath of the CM Punk fiasco by focusing on stars like Hangman Adam Page and Will Ospreay, and not trying to sign every free agent WWE let go.  Instead AEW additions included former independent talents like Megan Bayne, Kevin Knight, Thekla, and former TNA talents Speedball Mike Bailey and Josh Alexander.  WWE on the other hand snapped up every ex-AEW talent they could, signing Penta, Rey Fenix, Ricky Starks, Mariah May, Rusev and Aleister Black, none of which have been pushed very hard (Starks and May are still in NXT under new names). 

In-ring quality was night and day between the Big Two.  WWE personalities and podcasters now openly poo-poo the idea of good wrestling being important (though they still complain about the existence of star ratings when someone else gets high marks), while AEW delivered some of the best matches and PPV events in company history.

I'll get into more detail as we go through the awards, so let's get to it....

 

NJPW WrestleKingdom 20 Review: Hiroshi Tanahashi's Final Match

The 20th annual NJPW WrestleKingdom show is in the books, and it ran the gamut, going from dismal to fantastic over the course of four hours.  It will be most remembered for the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi, but also for the long-awaited crowning of Yota Tsuji as the company's new face.  It was your textbook two-match show, like so many old WWE PPVs where the undercard was mostly skippable but the big matches delivered.  Let's examine the Tokyo Dome show that was....

So yeah, thinking about this show frustrates me in a way because if Gedo had just booked a few noteworthy undercard bouts we'd be talking about WK20 as a slam dunk.  As I said in my preview, if any card should've been assembled to hook new and lapsed fans alike who tuned in for Tanahashi's final match, this was the card.  But instead Gedo shoved everyone outside the top three matches into clusterfuck bouts and as a result no one really got time to shine.  If I'm a former NJPW viewer who bought a ticket to see Tanahashi retire, no one on this undercard is catching my attention other than Tsuji and Takeshita.  I will go to my grave not understanding the thought process behind this lineup.

AEW Worlds End 2025 Review: MJF Regains the Triple B

The final AEW PPV of 2025 is in the books, and it was another very good show with some historic happenings and some excellent wrestling.  Two new champions were crowned on the men's side and a few ongoing angles were furthered.  Let's get into it....

The main card opened with the long-anticipated first-time match of Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita.  This ended up feeling very much like a first-time match, where they were saving some stuff for later.  But it was an excellent back-and-forth match for most of its 17 minutes, and then it suffered from a very bad finish.  They started off methodically but built to an exciting exchange of signature moves.  After a nearfall off a Poison Rana, Takeshita sent Okada into the corner, where he retrieved a screwdriver from the turnbuckle.  Referee Paul Turner had to make himself look ridiculous to pretend he didn't see Okada hit Takeshita with it, turning around for no reason at all.  Okada scored the pin and hid the screwdriver to advance to the finals.  This just looked bad, and if they were going to have a screwy finish to a Continental Classic match it should've been something more surreptitious.  Helluva match till the ending.  ****

AEW Worlds End 2025 Preview & Predictions

2025 has been yet another banner year of AEW PPVs, featuring once again some of the best top-to-bottom wrestling shows these old eyes have ever seen.  And it sure feels like Tony Khan and company plan to close the year with a bang by the looks of this Worlds End lineup.  

Side note: How fuckin' cool is this poster?  Looks like an Avengers movie. 

The third annual Continental Classic is drawing to a close and it was another fantastic tournament, featuring a slew of bangers and one legit Match of the Year contender in Kyle Fletcher vs. Speedball Mike Bailey.  Despite the absence of the injured Will Ospreay and the substitution of Jack Perry in place of Darby Allin, they pulled off a helluva tourney.  And the semis and finals are still to come on Saturday, including one of the more anticipated first-time matchups in recent memory.  But we're also getting a HUGE four-way for the AEW Men's Title, the first defense of the new Women's Tag belts, and a slobberknocker of a Women's World Title match.  Let's take a look!

Mixed Nuts Mayhem: Toni Storm/Mark Briscoe/Orange Cassidy/Roderick Strong vs. Marina Shafir/Claudio Castagnoli/Daniel Garcia/Wheeler Yuta

This one was just added.  You have to respect the super deep cut reference to a mid-90s Christmas movie that flopped hard at the box office.  Anyway, this will be a fun clusterfuck.  They set up a Toni Storm-Marina Shafir feud on Wednesday in a Marina vs. Mina match where Marina looked more comfortable on her own than she ever has before.  She seems to have finally turned the corner as someone who can hold her own rather than just be Moxley's heater.  I'll be interested to see this as a one-on-one match.  But for now we have a party match full of weapons I imagine.  I think the heels take this one to help set up the aforementioned singles match between the two women.

Pick: Death Riders

Continental Classic Semi: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada

I'm kinda baffled they didn't engineer this to be the tournament final, but the important thing is, we're getting it, it's gonna be fuckin' sick, and it won't be the last time.  I'm actually not sure who to pick for this tournament.  I think Okada winning again would be kinda pointless, we've already seen that and I'd rather see someone else elevated by this tournament.  My preference for a final would be Takeshita vs. Fletcher, and that could happen, but I could also see Okada beating Takeshita in their first meeting to set up a rematch.  Fletcher already beat Okada in the tournament block, so if Okada-Fletcher ends up as the final it seems like Okada probably wins there.  Maybe Okada wins the tourney but Takeshita takes the Unified Title off him in March or something.  Or, maybe Takeshita wins this whole thing and becomes the new Continental Champion (Okada would remain International Champion) so they can have a unification match later.

Pick: Okada

AEW Full Gear 2025 Review: Samoa Joe Steals the Title

Well that was certainly a shakeup.  Maybe TOO MUCH of a shakeup.

AEW's Full Gear 2025 is in the books, and it was a long but very good night of graps.  While it was missing the one must-see match most AEW PPVs come equipped with, there was nary a bad match in sight, almost everything on the show exceeded four stars, and it was quite eventful.  I have mixed feelings about how things ended, which I'll get into, but hopefully there's a plan in place to make this all work.  The New Jersey crowd was not the best, honestly, only responding to big things like WWE's audience tends to do.  This lends further credence to the idea that all AEW PPVs should start in the afternoon.  Make it happen, TK....

Things kicked off with a pre-show match already in progress, the second time they've done this.  I hope this doesn't become the norm; it's fine once in a while but if you do it too much it'll get old fast.  This was for the CMLL Trios titles, pitting the champions Mistico, Mascara Dorada and Neon against Kazuchika Okada, Konosuke Takeshita, and Hechicero. On the pre-show portion the heels had attacked Mistico backstage, and also Okada was running late to the arena, so the bout started as two on two.  Finally Okada made his entrance, much to Takeshita's shagrin, and eventually Mistico joined the match, much to Don Callis's.  In spite of the unorthodox start, this match turned into a lot of fun, with the main story being of course the continued degradation of Okada and Takeshita's alliance.  Okada again "accidentally" hit Takeshita with a Rainmaker with Dorada ducked.  Mistico then took Hechicero down with a spinning armbar for the quick submission.  Okada-Takeshita is gonna fucking rule when it finally happens (and it seems a mortal lock to be the Continental Classic final at Worlds End, based on the block lineups).  ***3/4

AEW Full Gear 2025 Preview & Predictions

It's November and you know what that means!  It's time for AEW Full Gear 2025!  

The seventh (SEVENTH!!) annual Full Gear is this Saturday and while not a crazy loaded show, and while the build has been a little haphazard past the top few matches, this show looks pretty great on paper.  Plenty of quality graps on tap for us sickos and the company is still getting by just fine despite multiple top stars being absent.

Let's get into it....

National Championship Casino Gauntlet

Okay, not sure why we need yet another championship but supposedly this one will actually be defended all over the world, in lots of different promotions (Wasn't that the intent for the All-Atlantic Title that is now part of Okada's Unified Title?).  Thus far only five names have been announced: Bobby Lashley at #1, Shelton Benjamin at #2, Speedball Mike Bailey, Kevin Knight, and Ricochet.  AEW overdoes the shit out of these gauntlet matches but they're always a fun watch.  Seeing Lashley and Benjamin lock up to kick this one off should be interesting - who's gonna sell??  Ric, Knight and Bailey will provide the flashy moves.  If I'm booking this, Ricochet steals the win and becomes the inaugural champ.

Pick: Ricochet

AEW Blood and Guts 2025 Review: Wanton Violence

Whassup kids?  Just wanted to do a quick dive into AEW's Blood and Guts 2025 episode of Dynamite, which was pretty much an all-timer, if you're into wanton, depraved wrestling violence (For those of you who aren't, don't worry, WWE has you covered with a sanitized version of this show in just a couple weeks).

The show opened with the first-ever women's Blood and Guts match, and while messy in some spots, this delivered big.  The match went 46 minutes and featured loads of blood, weapons, clever spots, chaos, and in the end some fine drama.  Skye Blue stood out for just gushing crimson almost from the start of the match.  Julia Hart and Thekla had the unexpectedly creative moment of the match, as both women were small enough to fit through the holes in the trusses holding the two cages together and were able to squeeze through to the outside for more weapons.  Kris Statlander and Mercedes Moné battled quite a bit and ended up taking each other out of the match via a suplex through tables on the floor.  Marina Shafir was made to look like a monster, slamming Kris on a bed of nails and smashing a mirror over Toni Storm's head.  Toni brought back the taped-fist-with-broken-glass spot, using a smashed champagne bottle Mercedes had brought out.  The heels managed to isolate Toni and Mina Shirakawa (who also bled buckets), and Hart, Skye and Thekla held Storm down and made her watch as Marina locked Mina in a submission hold while Megan Bayne whipped her repeatedly with the TBS Title.  Storm eventually surrendered to protect her friend, to give the match an emotional climax and help build toward Storm/Mina vs. Megan/Marina in the Women's Tag Title semifinal (which really ought to be the finals).  Great inaugural women's Blood and Guts, if sloppy in spots.  ****1/4   

AEW WrestleDream 2025: Moxley Quits Quickly

Hey everybody, sorry for the lateness of this review, but I was on vacation last week and didn't have my laptop with me.  I did however get to watch AEW WrestleDream 2025, and while it wasn't a blowaway show by AEW standards, it was nonetheless very enjoyable, particularly when it came to tag team wrestling.  This show was missing that one must-see match, and instead just had a slew of very good stuff.  It marks the first AEW PPV since World's End 2023 that for me didn't contain a five-star match.

The show opened unconventionally, with a pre-show match already in progress.  FTR vs. JetSpeed kicked off only a few minutes before the Tailgate Brawl ended, and thus the PPV jumped right into the rest of the bout.  And man was this crowd nuclear at the start of this show.  That would change about halfway through unfortunately, but St. Louis brought a ton of energy at the start.  This match, though incomplete if you only saw the PPV, was pretty great.  Super high energy, all action and loads of creativity.  FTR ended up winning when Stokely Hathaway did the Bobby Heenan-Ultimate Warrior spot, holding Mike Bailey's leg while Dax pinned him.  Great opener.  I wouldn't do this "match in progress" thing all the time but it was something different.  ****1/4

AEW WrestleDream 2025 Preview & Predictions

It's almost Saturday and you know what that means....  I feel like I didn't do that right.  Anyway, it's time for AEW WrestleDream!

Oddly AEW decided not to return to the Seattle market this year and opted for St. Louis, which is apparently one of the worst AEW markets in terms of ticket sales.  Sales for this show finally crossed the 5000 mark over the last week but they're still well down from Dynasty 2024 in the same building.  Given that Darby Allin is in one of the top matches they'd almost certainly have fared better in Seattle.  Regardless, the lineup looks very good on paper - a lean eight-match card with a couple pre-show bouts on TBS (I'm sad FTR-JetSpeed isn't on the actual PPV, that match should slap).

Let's get after it....

Tornado Match: The Hurt Syndicate vs. The Demand

Not sure why we're getting this yet again.  I guess Lashley and Benjamin REALLY like working with Gates of Agony.  They just did a street fight on Dynamite so this will either be less chaotic than that or roughly the same.  Since GOA beat THS this week I imagine THS gets their win back again and hopefully that's the end of this feud.  THS have really limited their options by insisting on looking so dominant.

Pick: THS