Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: AEW Fyter Fest 2023

With one final Dynamite to go before the biggest show in company history, AEW needed to pack this week’s card with matches and moments that would convince anyone on the fence to buy All In on pay-per-view. That meant an all-hands-on-deck approach with The Elite, Blackpool Combat Club, both the AEW and Ring of Honor tag champs, the world champ and his top contender/tag partner, and more all appearing on the show. Did this show do enough to generate some last-minute excitement for the big Wembley Stadium show on Sunday? Let’s take a look at all the best and worst of this week’s episode from Duluth, GA.

Before we move on, I do want to acknowledge the passing of Terry Funk, to whom this episode was dedicated. Terry was a legend in the wrestling industry and will be sorely missed, so I thought it was appropriate that AEW took a moment to honor his memory at the top of the show.

Best Match of the Night

As I point out virtually every time I review a go-home show, it makes sense to rely more on interviews, backstage segments, and promos and less on in-ring action because you don’t want anybody getting hurt right before a big pay-per-view, and that was especially true this week with such a massive show looming. There were still some good matches, of course, but the show was more heavily reliant on talking segments than matches to do the heavy lifting and take up most of the show’s runtime. The opening brawl involving Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks against Juice Robinson and the Gunns probably would have been an honorable mention if it had been a match – they were scheduled for an actual match, but it got thrown out when Juice decked the ref before the match could officially start. Both sides were seemingly more interested in brawling than wrestling so I don’t think they really cared. Probably the most consequential development was Konosuke Takeshita getting involved to help out the heels and nearly eating a One-Winged Angel from Omega, who he’ll face in a trios match on Sunday. Again, I won’t consider this segment an official match of the night runner-up because it wasn’t an official match, but if you want to consider it an unofficial contender, I wouldn’t disapprove.

The first official runner-up for match of the night is AR Fox & Swerve Strickland vs. Darby Allin & Nick Wayne. Contested under Tornado Tag rules, this match had very little in the way of structure but plenty in the way of excitement and energy. Both teams fought around the ringside area and even into the crowd, where Wayne’s mom was seated, drawing taunts from the heel team as they beat up her teenage son. Fox hit an implosion splash on both men on the outside, and Strickland laid out Allin with a stomp while he was seated in a chair at ringside. By the time they actually got back to the ring, Wayne was pretty well isolated but refused to give up, kicking out of multiple moves that could have been the finish. Fox finally went for a 450 splash to finish him off, but Wayne was able to roll out of the way and Darby was finally able to get back into the ring to prevent Swerve from getting involved as Wayne rolled up Fox for the win. After Swerve dealt the young recent signee his first AEW loss a couple of weeks back, this was a measure of revenge as he picked up his first AEW win against the same two men who have tormented him over his association with Darby. It’s been fun seeing Wayne on TV lately but I suspect he’ll shift to Rampage or just go back to training as soon as his role in this feud with Swerve has run its course. As you’d probably expect from these four men, this was a fast-paced, high-intensity sprint that basically served as a preview of the coffin match scheduled for All In, albeit with some different participants (more on that later). I expect the coffin match to be a fun bit of midcard nonsense if nothing else, as was this match.

The best match of the night, almost by default, was Jon Moxley vs. Rey Fenix. (I say “almost by default” because the opening match wasn’t a match, the main event was mainly intended as a prelude to the post-match developments involving Adam Cole and MJF, and Ruby Soho vs. Skye Blue was barely given any time outside of a commercial break.) With that said, though, Moxley and Fenix put on a good TV match that was intended to give the masked luchador one more televised showcase before needing to be written off All In, as he is reportedly unable to wrestle overseas while he tries to establish residency in the U.S. (My wife was born in Mexico so I completely understand how much of a headache the residency process can be.) Moxley was as sadistic as ever, ripping away at Fenix’s mask and stomping his head into the ramp before the match began, but Fenix was as resilient as ever, countering an attempted rear naked choke into a double stomp. Ultimately, his toughness was not enough as Mox hit a Death Rider off the top rope and locked in a chokehold for the win by incapacitation. The post-match beatdown, which involved a surprise return from Mike Santana and…still just Ortiz (pick a lane, AEW – either give them both full names or just stick to Santana and Ortiz), culminated with Fenix being stretchered out of the arena after a crowbar shot to the head from Wheeler Yuta. Like I said, anybody who was paying attention to the news over the weekend knew something like this was coming, but at least Fenix got to have a good match as a consolation prize for having to miss the biggest show of this or any other year.

Best Moment of the Night

There were so many significant moments this week that I kind of had to cheat and talk about two of them in the previous section. Like I said in the intro, AEW made a hard push to sell the pay-per-view one last time (well, one of the last times considering we still have Rampage and Collision but Dynamite is the show that basically everyone watches) and it mostly succeeded in that goal. I’m going to start with a segment that I wasn’t sure we’d get ahead of All In but I’m definitely glad we did – the Acclaimed called out the House of Black for retiring Billy Gunn and sneak attacking them on Collision, HoB took advantage of their 3-on-2 advantage to attack them again, and Billy Gunn returning to make the save, cutting a fiery promo as the goth trio retreated back up the ramp. He basically blamed them for forcing him into retirement and then forcing him back out of it because they busted open Max Caster last week and he wasn’t about to stand by while they “hurt one of [his] kids” which would be a way more adorable sentiment if his actual kids weren’t in the company but whatever, that ship has sailed already. He declared that it wouldn’t be the fun-loving Daddy Ass coming to All In, but rather the “Bad Ass” version of himself that we all figured was left back in the Attitude Era. I certainly didn’t expect to be this excited for an Acclaimed/House of Black rematch back when this whole feud started, mainly because it felt like just a placeholder match ahead of something more interesting for the trios champs, but this whole storyline has played out way better than anymore reasonably could have expected. We’ll see if Malakai Black has somehow brainwashed Gunn and he ends up turning on his boys or if they just have a standard trios match that the Acclaimed probably won’t win and Gunn gets a proper farewell from his boys (not Colten and Austin) before riding off into the sunset.

The Chris Jericho/Will Ospreay contract signing segment was also better than it really had to be and built excitement for a match we weren’t sure we were getting just a couple of weeks ago. Don Callis had previously crossed paths with Ospreay backstage, so it wasn’t exactly a shocker that he recruited him to take out his old friend, but this segment helped make clear the personal nature of the match beyond the mercenary relationship between Ospreay and Callis. Did you know Chris Jericho nearly died in the UK at some point in his career? Don Callis (and presumably Pepperidge Farm) remembers. And he implied that Ospreay would finish the job at All In. Wait, did I say implied? Because he outright stated it. He made an actual death threat on a live televised wrestling program. No wonder he gets booed more than anyone else on the program, and there are some real awful characters on the show. Anyway, Ospreay cut a weirdly babyface-ish promo about how much this match means to him and his family as becoming the first man to beat Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada, and Chris Jericho in such a short timeframe will make him more money when his New Japan contract expires in six months. Jericho responded with a weirdly heelish promo about how Ospreay owes his longevity to Jericho, who talked him out of doing too many dangerous moves in his matches and threatened that he shouldn’t make him regret calling him five years ago. Because good guys regularly say they might wish they hadn’t saved someone’s life, while bad guys are always talking about how they fight for their families, right? The really fire lines were Ospreay’s claim to be better than the Elite, Bryan Danielson, and CM Punk (really hope he signs with AEW in six months’ time because that’s a year’s worth of feuds right there) and Jericho saying this match at All In would be bigger than any WrestleMania or any Tokyo Dome match.

I’ve done this for weeks now, and I know it’s cheating to lump everything Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Adam Cole said and did this week into a single “moment” …but that’s exactly what I’m going to do once again. You can’t say you didn’t see it coming. And once again, the overall interactions between Cole and MJF added up to the best non-wrestling segment of the week. Renee Paquette, who is secretly the greatest heel in AEW, tried to stir the pot by showing each man some cherry-picked moments from their supposed “friendship” in which they nearly turned on each other or came into conflict or whatever. Eddie Kingston was right to be suspicious of her appearing as Rey Fenix was being taken out of the arena in an ambulance thanks to her husband’s influence over the BCC. We’re on to you, Renee. Me and Eddie see right through your fake “I’m just a reporter” veneer. Anywho, Adam Cole lost his cool at the suggestion that there was anything wrong with their brochachohood, while MJF reiterated that he’s never been so close to anyone before to the point that he considers Cole a brother rather than just a friend. Roderick Strong also spoke to that devious troublemaker Renee, stating that we would see the real MJF and Cole on Sunday, which further hinted at the possibility that Cole will be the one to turn on MJF. Then, after the main event which saw Aussie Open defeat the Hardy brothers, Cole and MJF emerged to confront their Zero Hour opponents, culminating in MJF holding up Kyle Fletcher for Cole to superkick, but Fletcher escaped his grasp and Cole nearly kicked the champ in the face. MJF caught his leg and then got unreasonably upset about that, shoulder-checking him on the way out of the ring before removing the Dynamite Diamond Ring from his pocket and briefly considering turning back to deck his dudebro before putting it away and hugging his guypal to yet another huge cheer from the live crowd. So maybe MJF could still be the bad guy here? I mean, that was the most aggressive either one has been since this friendly rivalry or rivalrous friendship (friendvalry?) began back when it was announced they’d be randomly teaming together. This has already been the hottest feud of the year in AEW, so they could have done about half of what they did this week and we’d still probably have been fine with it because we already desperately want to see how it all plays out, but they really put some extra icing on an already mouth-watering cake with what they did this week.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

What a slap in the face it was for AR Fox to be replaced for the coffin match just four days out from the pay-per-view. Sure, I understand that Darby Allin just wrestled Christian Cage this past Saturday on Collision ahead of his TNT Championship match at All Out, and Cage and Luchasaurus would have been left off the card entirely if they hadn’t made this switch. Heck, Christian Cage’s promo where he told Nick Wayne to stay out of the coffin match so he doesn’t have to see another person he cares about lowered into the ground would probably have been one of the moments of the night if it had been a slower week of Dynamite. But Fox had just turned heel not that long ago, and the company is already cutting his legs out from under him by treating him as expendable in a feud that he was supposed to be the central figure of. Darby not calling him when he got to AEW was the basis for this feud. Swerve Strickland was just along for the ride because he was already having issues with Darby, but that was as basic a wrestling rivalry as it could be. Darby and Fox have a personal issue with one another, but that’s apparently been dropped because reasons. I hope Fox gets involved in the coffin match in some capacity just so he gets to be part of this historic event anyway, because otherwise it seems pretty crappy to cut him out of what figures to be a significant payday on such short notice just to inject some more star power into a midcard match that didn’t really need it.

Parting Shots

• Collision was once again great this week, because when has there ever been a bad show featuring Dalton Castle? Oh, and CM Punk dressing up as the Golden Vampire to sneak attack Samoa Joe was an inspired bit of booking even if the announcement that their match would be at All In instead of All Out left me scratching my head. You…don’t want to save a huge Punk match for Chicago? You know it’s literally one week later, right? Uh…okay then.
• I can’t say I’ve seen Ruby Soho get a solo entrance in a minute, but when did they ditch the Rancid song? Is it because AEW didn’t want to pay royalties for it anymore, or because they didn’t want to have too many heels with singalong entrance songs? Also, what a shame that Skye Blue has seemingly gone back to the role of lovable loser when not too long ago it felt like she was building some real momentum. Their match this week wasn’t bad by any means, but the mere suggestion that Soho is targeting Kris Statlander’s TBS Championship was enough to guarantee Blue’s eventual loss. I would have rather seen Soho get frustrated at her inability to put away the young star, forcing her to cheat to win or get herself disqualified (a rarity in AEW, I’ll admit, but I’m okay with it being used sparingly if it furthers a good storyline) rather than having her just win clean in a way that shows Blue isn’t yet on her level. I have faith that AEW can turn it around – just look at where Wheeler Yuta is compared to where he started – but it is disappointing nonetheless.
• FTR and the Young Bucks also had a great sit-down interview this week that just barely missed my best moments list. Seriously, that section could have been even longer than it already was. I had to draw the line somewhere. I’m glad they stayed away from any references to Cash Wheeler’s arrest because it would have been unnecessary cheap heat for a feud that doesn’t need it, but I do hope the company addresses the situation at some point. FTR is going to get cheered massively everywhere they go, and it’s going to get more uncomfortable the longer they stay on TV without any sort of disciplinary action. Maybe AEW didn’t know until the news broke and they didn’t have time to implement a plan for how to deal with the situation. Maybe they knew about the situation ahead of time and chose not to impose any punishment until after the dream match with the Young Bucks at the company’s biggest show yet. That would be cowardly enough – doing the right thing only when it’s convenient isn’t really doing the right thing at all – but it would be worse if the company entirely ignored the charges against one of its biggest stars. I understand that there are plenty of wrestlers who have done way worse and received little to no punishment from the company that employed them, and I’m not saying he should be fired or anything like that because we don’t know how serious the situation is yet and he certainly hasn’t been convicted of anything at this point. I’m just saying that I would appreciate some assurance that his actions have been or will be addressed in some fashion because otherwise it seems like it’s just being swept under the rug to not upset the apple cart ahead of All In.
• Another small moment that really should have made the best moments list was Sammy Guevara and the former Jericho Appreciation Society members coming face-to-face backstage. Sammy said he would still have Chris Jericho’s back because he was suckered in by his longtime friendship with Don Callis, but Matt Menard rightly pointed out (as I did last week) that Jericho only backed out of joining the Don Callis Family because of that painting that stupidly gave away the whole game, not because he was actually smart enough to see why joining Callis was a terrible idea all along. I think the long-term plan here needs to be for Jericho to play the babyface role to less and less convincing effect before ultimately turning heel on and feuding with Sammy, who should get over even more than he already has in the role of the loyal good guy who’s tired of having his friendship taken advantage of.
• It’s prediction time! Here’s what I think will happen at All In, ranked in order of how confident I am that it will play out this way from least to most confident:
• • Saraya wins the AEW Women’s World Championship (and, bonus prediction, is confronted by a returning Jamie Hayter) – I think the UK crowd would totally be down for this, but can Saraya really hold up as women’s champ in 2023? It would also suck to have Hikaru Shida lose so soon after winning the title. There’s no clear choice to win this match, which is why it’s lowest on my list.
  • The Golden Elite (Kenny Omega, Adam Page, and Kota Ibushi) defeat Bullet Club Gold (Jay White and Juice Robinson) & Konosuke Takeshita – this one is a coin flip for me, as giving the heels a win would make sense and help build credibility for two entities (BCG and the Don Callis Family) that really need it. However, as there’s nothing really on the line and Kota Ibushi appearing on AEW is still a special occasion, I think the babyfaces will get the win here.
  • The House of Black retain the AEW Trios Championships against The Acclaimed – another near coin flip in my opinion; as I mentioned earlier, I could see Billy Gunn’s triumphant return leading to a win for him and his boys (not his actual kids, I must once again point out) but I just feel like having the House of Black put the final nail in his career’s coffin would be the more logical and satisfying conclusion. You can’t pretend to retire and then come back to prolong your career through winning a title, Billy Gunn. Retirement in professional wrestling is always legitimate and lasts indefinitely.
  • FTR retain the AEW Tag Team Championships against the Young Bucks – we’re still not out of coin flip territory, but I feel a little better about this prediction than the last two. The crux of the Young Bucks’ promo this week was that they are made men and FTR needs to beat them to prove that they are more than footnotes in Matt and Nick Jackson’s list of career accomplishments, so it seems like saying that and then having FTR lose would be somewhat cruel booking on AEW’s part. Besides, the Bucks don’t need another title win to pad their résumés, though FTR have held the titles long enough that it wouldn’t feel wrong if they lost them here. I wouldn’t be outright shocked if I’m wrong about this one, but I do think FTR retaining is the most logical way to go.
  • Adam Cole defeats MJF to become the new AEW World Champion – as I said above, AEW has done a good job of making it hard to tell who’s going to turn on whom in this match, but my gut says it’s going to be Cole aligning himself with Roderick Strong and the Kingdom. MJF will fully turn babyface in the process, and we all know babyfaces chasing the title are more compelling than babyfaces holding the title. I’m not fully confident that it will go that way – I think the internet is really sleeping on the possibility that Roddy will actually turn on Cole and align with MJF as the ultimate betrayal – but I’m a little more confident that this will be the outcome than the alternative.
  • Will Ospreay defeats Chris Jericho – this definitely should happen, but we’ve seen AEW be weirdly protective of Jericho at times, and there is always the possibility that Sammy Guevara gets involved somehow to turn the tide in his favor. I don’t think the crowd will be behind Jericho enough that they will want him to beat the home country hero, though, so I wouldn’t count on such a result being received favorably by the Wembley faithful. The safer bet is to give Ospreay the win, even though he’s ostensibly the heel heading into the show.
  • Darby Allin & Sting defeat Swerve Strickland & Christian Cage in a coffin match – as interesting as it would be to have Allin lose a match that seems tailor-made for his gimmick, I would be very surprised if they don’t get revenge on Swerve, who briefly turned Allin’s former mentor against him. Plus, Christian is a coward with no reason to be loyal to Swerve, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he bailed to avoid getting buried again like he did against Jack Perry.
  • The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, & Wheeler Yuta), Santana & Ortiz defeat Eddie Kingston, Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) & Orange Cassidy in a Stadium Stampede match – why bring back Santana & Ortiz just for them to be on the losing side? Which of the babyfaces really needs to be protected here? Stranger things have happened in wrestling history, but I doubt AEW would screw things up like that.
  • Aussie Open retain the Ring of Honor Tag Team Championships against MJF & Adam Cole – as much as I would love to see Friedman and Cole trying to coexist after one of them brutally betrays the other (which isn’t a guarantee to happen, to be fair) I can’t really see them winning the titles regardless of how the main event shakes out. Again, stranger things have happened, but I feel pretty secure in this one. This is technically a pre-show match so if I end up being wrong, I’ll just claim that it doesn’t count and was always intended to be just a bonus pick rather than an official prediction. You’ll know better, of course, but I won’t let that stop me.
  • CM Punk retains the “real” world championship against Samoa Joe – the entire “belt in a bag” gimmick is 100% CM Punk’s thing, and although I’m sure he’ll lose it eventually (probably to Ricky Starks) I just don’t see him losing it here, especially since he just recently revealed and branded the title with his symbol. Joe is a champion in Ring of Honor anyway, so it’s not like he needs another belt, and Punk recently defeated him in the semifinals of the Owen Hart Memorial Tournament so him winning isn’t unprecedented as it had been previously.
  • If you want a bonus prediction (this is not categorized according to my confidence in whether it’ll happen or not) I am going to go out on a limb and say neither Edge nor Goldberg will appear on this show. There may be a surprise appearance or two, and maybe another match or two as well, but these two won’t be among them. For one, unless Edge had the most generous WWE contract ever, I’m pretty sure he can’t appear on another promotion’s show just 9 days after his final WWE appearance, even if I think it would be really cool for Adam Copeland to team up with (and maybe feud against) Christian Cage one more time before hanging his boots up for good. As far as Goldberg goes, I know the internet has long speculated about him going to AEW, but I just don’t see it. I know he got his start wrestling on Turner programming, but he just doesn’t fit the overall vibe of AEW at all. Maybe Tony Khan could avoid putting the world title on him as many times as Vince McMahon did, but I just don’t see what big Billy G brings to the table here.

That’s it for another week – really good show overall, tied up a lot of loose ends ahead of All In and got some solid hype for what promises to be an epic pay-per-view on Sunday. Thanks for joining me once again, and I hope you’ll all join me again next week for more Chair Shots!