Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Not SAWFT Dynamite

This week AEW was in classic Ring of Honor territory and promised a talent crossover with Impact ahead of tickets for its big Forbidden Door show going on sale this week. In addition to all the cross-promotion, AEW had plenty of its own storylines going on including its top two championships and the ongoing Owen Hart Foundation Tournament qualifying. Let’s take a look at the best, worst, and everything in between from this week’s episode from Baltimore, MD.

Best Match of the Night

I’m going to go against the crowd reaction here and say the main event Ring of Honor Women’s World Championship unification match between Mercedes Martinez and Deonna Purrazzo was one of the better matches of the night. No, it wasn’t promoted as well as it should have been for the main event of the evening. Yes, AEW seemed to take for granted that the Baltimore crowd would care more than they did just because it was an RoH match and that company has historically run shows there. Still, it was a good match between a woman who hasn’t been featured nearly enough in her time in AEW and a woman who is apparently signed full-time to Impact wrestling…oh wait, I think I just came up with another reason the crowd didn’t react as strongly as they should have. Anyway, Purrazzo is one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world right now, and Martinez is a legit veteran who raises the profile of the title just by being associated with it. And yeah, they had a good match. Martinez winning wasn’t surprising given the aforementioned contractual status of her opponent, but it was a competitive contest and marked another step forward for Ring of Honor’s relaunch under Tony Khan’s ownership.

Another match whose outcome was never in doubt but still ended up being fairly entertaining, if a bit short, was the trios match between the Blackpool Combat Club and Andrade Family Office. Wheeler Yuta is still massively over, in case anybody forgot, and BCC seems to grow in both chemistry and momentum on a weekly basis. It was a bummer to see Angelico without Jack Evans, whose contract with AEW recently expired, but it was at least nice to see him on the show for once. Butcher and Blade remain an unsung tag team, and they could certainly make a name for themselves if given a proper storyline rather than just treading water as part of a faction that has not maximized their potential or given them much to do besides playing background lackeys. Whether AEW ever gives in to the calls for a proper trios division with titles of its own is anybody’s guess, but even if not these multi-man tag matches are likely to continue to be highlights of the show each week.

Best match of the night honors unsurprisingly go to Dante Martin and Rey Fenix, who put on the kind of athletic, high-flying showcase you’d expect from performers of their caliber in the final men’s qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. Fenix, who had just recently returned from an arm injury, seemingly held nothing back in this match, pulling out dives and creative counters left and right. Martin, who is back to the singles ranks after another unfortunate injury to his brother Darius, looked to be in fine form once again as he continues his rise up the ranks in AEW that began last year when his brother was first out of action. These kinds of matches are often dismissed as mere spot-fests, but there was a good chemistry and flow to the match that brought a sense of coherence rather than allowing the match to feel like just a string of high spots. There were, of course, some pretty cool spots throughout, including some that literally defy description. Fenix hit a “flipping Russian leg sweep” according to Excalibur, who would know if there was a cooler name for that move but surprisingly didn’t have one ready to bust out on commentary, and later in the match Martin tried to return the favor, only for both men to backflip off the top rope and land on their feet. The finishing move Fenix landed to win the match also seemingly didn’t have a name – if someone knows what to call it, by all means let me know, but I don’t think the commentary team even tried to call it – but it certainly was cool whatever it was. This was really a match where either result would have made sense, and the crowd certainly bought in as much as you’d have hoped for such an exciting matchup.

Best Moment of the Night

It obviously wasn’t much of a surprise that William Morrissey turned out to be Wardlow’s mystery opponent this week, but the 7-footer giving MJF a high…well, medium five before heading to the ring was pretty funny. As one-off appearances go, the Impact star did a pretty good job of maximizing his moment. That big man moonsault from Wardlow didn’t hurt in the memorableness department either. Speaking of memorable moments, Max Caster and Anthony Bowens scissoring with Billy Gunn (not what you might be thinking, I promise) was another one, and I feel like the Gunn Club and the Acclaimed working together going forward is going to benefit both groups immensely even if I don’t necessarily see a ton of 8- or 10-man tags in their future. The backstage segment between the two was necessarily brief but paid off the alliance that has been building in the background for a while now. It may not amount to a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but I give it a thumbs up anyway.

Another solid choice for moment of the night was the interaction between Julia Hart and the House of Black. Fans have been wondering when AEW would pay off the growing darkness behind Hart’s eyepatch as a result of being misted by Malakai Black months ago, and while we didn’t get a full payoff here, it was a definitive step forward in the storyline anyway and furthered the growing feud between the House and Death Triangle, who emerged to cut off any further developments in Hart’s descent to the dark side. The fact that her eyepatch was removed but the eye itself remained hidden from view was a nice touch, and Hart’s acting throughout was excellent, selling the fact that her character is still terrified of her tormentors yet somehow darkly intrigued by what they can offer her. She clearly seemed aware of what would happen if she seized the chair and brought it down on the prone figure of Griff Garrison at her feet, and that prospect was both exciting and terrifying in equal measure. The fear of taking irrevocable action won out on this night, but there is a clear sense that it may not hold out forever unless someone intervenes. Maybe PAC, who has come back from an eye-misting of his own, can talk some sense into her before it’s too late. (Or not. *maniacal laugh*)

Unsurprisingly, I’m going with Hangman Adam Page‘s promo in response to CM Punk being officially named his challenger at Double or Nothing as the moment of the night. Page is in a tough spot as champion right now – he’s turned his back on the Dark Order to the point where he must wonder if they’ve even still on his side, and now he’s facing one of the few possible opponents who may rival him in popularity. All that uncertainty and self-doubt may have paralyzed Page in the past, but here he psyched himself up to deliver a fiery, defiant, somewhat heelish promo that served as clear evidence of his growth even as it borders on taking him down a dark path like the one that claimed his former friend Kenny Omega. This segment was a masterclass from Page, who has really come into his own as a character despite what some have dubbed an underwhelming title run so far. There was undeniable frustration at exactly that segment of the fanbase that has been disappointed with him as champion while maintaining the vulnerability that made him such a fan favorite in the first place. His facial expressions reflected his initial reluctance to go as far as he ended up going, and after he had said his piece there was a moment of hesitation as he wondered if perhaps he had taken his rhetoric too far. This feud with Punk may just be beginning, but we’re already seeing hints of where it could go if given time to develop, and even if Punk isn’t the one to take the title off the Hangman, it’s clear what this run with the title could mean for his character in the long run.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

Any grown adult chanting “We want Enzo” in 2022 needs to re-evaluate their life choices and figure out where they went wrong to end up here. Okay, maybe the reasoning for his WWE release wasn’t entirely justified considering others have gotten by despite much more evidence or even worse behavior, but if your best defense is “he maybe didn’t sexually assault somebody!” I feel like you need to pick your battles better. This dude was insufferable even before his run in the Fed ended, and that was four years ago. He basically drove PAC (then known as Neville) out of the company by strong-arming the cruiserweight division into a spotlight for himself. Morrissey has finally developed out of his former partner’s shadow. At least enough of the Baltimore crowd had the good sense to respond with a “no we don’t” chant, but the fact that it was even brought up in the first place is just sad. I don’t wish the guy any ill – I actually liked Enzo and Cass back in NXT and the beginning of their main roster run – but I don’t need to see him in any major wrestling promotion again. Let him make his music and occasional indie appearances and leave the past in the past where it belongs.

Parting Shots

• Did Jeff Hardy really hit Bobby Fish with a Twist of Fate to absolute crickets, or did I miss something? There were some awkward moments in their opening match, but that one seemed especially odd to me – it sure looked like the sort of jawbreaker variant of the Hardys’ finisher that Jeff has used for years now, but the crowd had no reaction to it and he immediately ascended to the top rope for a Swanton attempt so it was completely swept under the rug. Odd.
• Chris Jericho being dubbed “the Wizard” in the wake of his fireball to the face of Eddie Kingston last week was an interesting choice. Have we abandoned “the Influencer” gimmick already? Is “the Wizard” some sort of sports entertainment reference that I’m unaware of? Maybe it’s just the midwesterner in me but when I heard that nickname, all I could think of was Ozzie Smith.
• Noted Bengals fan Brian Pillman Jr. kissing up to Ravens coach John Harbaugh was uncomfortable for me as a sports fan. Granted, Cincinnati and Baltimore aren’t the biggest rivals in the world, but they are divisional opponents. And yes, I know his dad and Harbaugh were college roommates, so that’s nice and everything. I just know, as a Bears fan, I sure wouldn’t want to be given a microphone and put in front of a camera to say nice things about the Packers.
• Serena Deeb vs. Thunder Rosa for the Women’s World Championship is going to be awesome. I will not be taking questions at this time.
• I don’t remember if this was news this week or last, but I was out sick last week so I didn’t get a chance to address it one way or another: Stu Grayson’s contract with the company coming to an end without a new deal is a major bummer. Grayson and Evil Uno were the founding members of Dark Order, and even though he hadn’t been used a ton recently – he was notably exempt from Bryan Danielson’s crusade to stomp the head of every member of the Order, for instance – I always held out hope that he and Uno would challenge for the tag titles someday. That may still be the case, of course – I don’t get the sense that there was any ill will behind him not re-signing, and if the money and the creative are right, he could return at some point – but it is a shame that the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement to keep a talented performer like Grayson in the company.

That will do it for another week – solid episode with some decent matches and a few standout moments. With three episodes left before Double or Nothing, now is the time for AEW to really turn up the heat, so hopefully we’ll see that build continue next week. I hope you’ll all join me then for more Chair Shots!