Reverse Hipser's Top 5 AEW & Impact Highlights
5. Skye Blue Beats Three Former Champions To Earn A World Championship Match Outta Nowhere!
Wow, the women had a fatal four-way for the right to face Toni Storm for the AEW championship. The match was intense and competitive. The best spot of the match was when Britt Baker threw Nyla off the top rope, and she fell to the outside, hitting her upper back on the edge of the ring. That was an insane bump to take.
Skye Blue looked like the obvious choice to take the pin. However, she won the match outta nowhere, and now she will be fighting in the biggest match of her career. This is Skye's chance to break out, and Toni Storm is the perfect opponent to help her look good. I don't know if Skye is ready yet, but there is only one way to find out. Do you think Skye Blue can be a superstar?
4. (Dynamite) The Blackpool Combat Club Dominates The Best Friends
This was a fun, competitive match until it wasn't, and the BCC completely took over. Claudio uppercuts Trent Barretta out of the air in the middle of a shooting star press. That uppercut is genuinely one of the craziest spots I've ever seen. Meanwhile, in the ring reversed, Rocky Ramero's arm bar into a Bulldog choke and then a rear naked choke hold. Chuck Taylor tried to break it up, but Wheeler Yuta gave him a flying knee and a bunch of hard elbows. Rocky tapped, and the BCC won the match.
3. Hook & Jungle Boy vs. Preston Vance & Dralistico Tornado Tag Match
This match was crazy. This is definitely the hardest we have seen Hook push in a match. He was almost choked out with a chain until Jungle Boy blasted Vance with a chair. Then Hook gave the most awkward suplex off the apron into the table. Genuinely I don't know who got the worst of that. Jungle Boy won the match for the team by making Dralistico tap out to the Snare Trap.
2. (Dynamite) MJF Reignites Adam Cole
MJF lit Adam Cole a new one when he pointed out how lackluster Adam Cole has been in AEW. MJF said that AEW did everything it could for Cole. They gave him a tv show put with Britt, but he doesn't have it. He pointed out that Vince didn't believe in him either and that all MJF needs to do to get over is show up and wrestle.
MJF stacked the deck against Adam Cole. It looked like he was about to get washed on the mic, but then Cole shredded MJF by challenging him to a drug test to see who was all-natural. Adam Cole pointed out that he is actually respected in the locker room and has a woman who wants to be with him, unlike MJF.
MJF was being hyperbolic. Adam Cole has had plenty of great moments in AEW. However, there was truth in his promo. Adam Cole has not been as good as he was in NXT. Plus, Adam Cole has been dull since he returned. However, this feud with MJF is making Cole interesting again.
1. ( Dynamite) Orange Cassidy vs. Swerve Strickland International Champion
This match was fantastic. Orange Cassidy hit Swerve with a tornado DDT to the floor outside the ring. He caught Swerve with an Orange Punch and a Beach Break, and Swerve was still kicked out. Swerve suplexed Orange Cassidy's injured back on the hard floor outside the ring. Swerve hit his finishing kick to the back of the head, and Orange Cassidy kicked out.
I genuinely thought Swerve would be the one to beat Orange Cassidy. However, Orange Cassidy later reversed Swerves trunks pulling a pin into a trunk-pulling pin of his own, and won the match. Orange Cassidy is debatably having the best AEW Championship reign in the company. He has shown guts and had elite matches. However, if not Swerve, then who should be the one to end Orange Cassidy's reign?
Reverse Hipster's AEW & Impact Lowlights
2.(Rampage) Hobbs
He has been extremely irrelevant for a guy who supposedly broke out after winning the TNT Title. Hobbs won a Squash match on Friday to remind people he was still here. Hobbs doesn't need to be a champion, but he needs to feel more important than he does right now. He needs more character so he can become more relevant. He has been in AEW long enough to evolve as a character.
1. (Rampage) Matt Hardy Cost Ethan Page a Trios Match
Matt Hardy came out and distracted Ethan Page leading to Bandido pinning Ethan and winning the match for himself and the Lucha Bros. Matt is trying to get over this owning Ethan's contract angle, but it ruined the match. It made the champions look weak because they were gifted a match they were about to lose. Because the Hardyz are faces, it would have made more sense for them to interfere to stop Ethan from cheating.
Rob’s Highlights
3. Bron Breakker Challenges Seth Rollins, NXT
Sometimes, it’s hard to figure out what to do with NXT stars that are out of the title picture, especially after losing the championship. That hasn’t been the case with Bron Breakker, as he comes into his new heel persona. He wasted no time this week calling out Seth Rollins and challenging him for the World Heavyweight Championship. It will be a litmus test to see if Breakker is ready for the main roster, and there’s a non-zero chance he picks up a huge win to become the new face of Raw.
2. Faction Wars, WWE Raw
Raw has done an excellent job building up factions and positioning them as threats to each other throughout the show. The Judgment Day showed up in the opening segment to set up a great main event between Seth Rollins and Damian Priest. They showed up again during MizTV to set up a possible future match between Cody Rhodes and Dominik Mysterio. The tag team champions, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are starting a feud with Imperium, which gave us a free match between Owens and Gunther.
1. Another Chapter in the Story, WWE SmackDown
Roman Reigns enticed Jey Uso to stay in the Bloodline for now by giving him a championship main event against Austin Theory. Reigns and Paul Heyman blamed Jimmy Uso for everything, and they made it clear they want to keep Jey. Jey had a great match against Austin Theory and came up short in part due to a misfire with Jimmy. It added to the case that Jimmy is part of Jey’s problem and not Roman. Everything the Bloodline does makes for damn entertaining TV.
Rob’s Lowlights
3. Money in the Bank Qualifying Matches, WWE Raw, and WWE SmackDown
Usually, the Money in the Bank qualifying matches are an easy way to make an entertaining episode. The matches have stakes, and fans are curious to see who will be in one of the biggest matches of the year and a chance to win a future championship. This year’s matches felt underwhelming and predictable. While WWE has one of its deepest rosters of all time, there’s no reason that it should have felt like this, and the matches should have had more time to shine.
2. Charlotte Flair Returns, WWE SmackDown
Asuka got a new championship belt, which is kind of underwhelming, given that we’ve seen three new belts unveiled in the past month. Charlotte Flair returned, and again, she was sent straight to the top to challenge Asuka. If Flair wins, it will undo everything they’ve done to build Asuka and at the expense of Bianca Belair too. The only exciting possibility is for Belair to eventually beat Flair.
1. Main Roster Moves to NXT, NXT
NXT got some exciting moves to their brand with Baron Corbin and Mustafa Ali. However, this week made me feel like it might not be the best thing for the brand. Corbin beat Trick Williams in a match that didn’t do anything besides build Corbin as a threat to Carmelo Hayes's championship. Mustafa Ali made quick work of Joe Gacy, and it kind of killed Gacy’s credibility. Corbin and Ali both lost their Money in the Bank Qualifying matches on SmackDown, so it’s hard to argue their inherent superiority in this case. The main roster took some of NXT’s best stars in the recent draft, and in exchange, it has sent its middle and undercard to beat some of NXT’s promising rising talent. Seems like a horrible tradeoff to me.
Reverse Hipster's Best Show of the Week
Dynamite was the best show of the week. It had an excellent title match, great multi-man matches, the best promo segment of the week, and a good TBS Title match that didn't even make a list. Dynamite completely dominated my list, but it had everything a wrestling show should have.
Rob’s Best Show of the Week
WWE Raw is surprisingly my winner of the week. With their various factions, it feels like anything can happen, and the show is an extended universe of feuds and characters. While it didn’t have the highest high of the week, WWE Raw was more consistently entertaining out of the shows I watched, and I’m excited to see what’s next.
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