Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Wild Card Wednesday Dynamite

The quarterfinals of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament rolled on as this week’s Dynamite emanated from Houston, TX. The jokers, one in each tournament, were the subject of rampant speculation heading into the night, and they were finally revealed as Samoa Joe and Dr. Britt Baker DMD’s opponents. In addition, with just two weeks remaining before Double or Nothing, there were several storylines that needed to be addressed and matches that needed to be made official. What worked out well and what was lacking from this week’s show? Let’s take a look at all the best and worst from Wild Card Wednesday.

Best Match of the Night

The final quarterfinal match in the men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament kicked off the show between Samoa Joe and a mystery opponent who turned out to be Johnny Elite (John Morrison, Johnny Nitro/Mundo/Impact…dude’s had a bunch of names, you get the point) and while it wasn’t either man’s best match ever, it was still good enough to warrant a mention here. The narrative of this match, which was apparently the first time these two have met in one-on-one action, was basically that Johnny could evade and avoid Joe’s power temporarily, but he could never quite put his opponent away. Johnny flipped and cartwheeled and rolled all over the ring, but Joe was there to derail his momentum with a strike or submission attempt at every turn. Ultimately it was Joe blocking Starship Pain (or whatever non-copyrighted name it has outside of the Fed) and hitting a Muscle Buster of his own that led him to victory. Again, it wasn’t a perfect match by any means – Johnny landed short on a 450 splash and there were a couple of awkward moments as Joe tried to sell to cover for the fact that Johnny was still readying himself for some sort of high-flying attack – but the crowd was hot for the joker reveal and the opening match overall, and it’s always nice to see a first-time match between two in-ring veterans. Plus the right man won and AEW continued to build toward an intriguing Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole finals matchup, which is a win in my book.

Another standout match on this night was the AEW World Champion Adam Page vs. Konosuke Takeshita in a tune-up match for Page’s big title defense against CM Punk at Double or Nothing. The Best in the World joined the commentary desk for this one, and I feel like his presence added to the presentation rather than serving as a distraction. Well, it wasn’t a distraction for the audience anyway, as Page seemed plenty distracted by his #1 contender throughout the match. That seemed to be the focus of the storytelling on display here – the match result was never really in doubt, but the question of whether Page would be focused enough on the task at hand loomed large as each time Takeshita was able to muster some offense, it seemingly coincided with a momentary lapse in concentration by Page. Very early in the match, Page laid out Takeshita with some high-flying offense, but he took a moment too long to bask in the “Cowboy $#!t” chants, allowing Takeshita to deliver a dive of his own and regain some of his momentum. Later in the match, as JR astutely pointed out on commentary, Page failed to put his opponent away with a tombstone piledriver, and he was a bit slow to go back on the offensive, almost insulted that his opponent was continuing to fight back. As he readied for a Buckshot Lariat, he once again got distracted by CM Punk at the commentary desk, and Takeshita was able to capitalize and get himself back into the match. It was never going to end any other way, however, as Page hit the Buckshot and the GTS as receipt for Punk beating John Silver last week with Hangman’s finisher. Overall this match delivered on its promise and told a straightforward, easy to understand story about the champ wanting to prove himself but lacking that elite level of focus that may make him vulnerable at Double or Nothing. Takeshita delivered well for his part, shining in the moments when Page slipped up and allowed him to get in some offense, and Punk did a nice job on commentary selling the idea that Page was smart to get some extra reps in before their big match but it also allowed him some extra time to scout his opponent. Their title match at Double or Nothing will be hard to beat, as a good main event should be, although it is a shame that it hasn’t been consistently positioned as the main event on TV.

The best match of the night was the final quarterfinal match in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament between Kyle O’Reilly and Rey Fenix. The latter kept the pace of the match up with his patented high-flying offense while the former slowed it down with strikes and submissions, and that constant push-pull in momentum made for an enjoyable encounter between the two skilled in-ring workers. Fenix brought his creativity to bear throughout the match, in particular uncorking a powerbomb-like move out of an Alabama slam position, but O’Reilly held his own on that front as well, hitting a pair of butterfly suplexes to counter one of his opponent’s dives off the ropes. And lest anyone accuse this match of being a mere spot fest, there was a running through-line of O’Reilly working over Fenix’s left arm, and we saw a moment when the high flyer would normally have hit a rebound roundhouse kick off the ropes but he lost his grip due to that aforementioned arm injury. The arm work played a role in the finish as well, with O’Reilly transitioning from an armbar on the right to an arm and leg submission on the left that ultimately forced a tapout from his tough masked opponent. I would expect a similar story in O’Reilly’s upcoming semifinal showdown with Samoa Joe – after Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, and Sonjay Dutt attacked Joe post-match, his injured arm figures to be a focal point for the submission specialist, though I expect Joe to use his power and toughness to frustrate the reDRagon star’s attempts. (If you want an official prediction, I’m calling Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole for the finals, though I won’t make my official Double or Nothing predictions until next week, so you’ll have to wait until then to hear what I think the outcome will be.) O’Reilly has long been an underrated technician, as he has mostly been used as a tag team specialist throughout his career, so it has been fun to watch him get some opportunities to shine in this tournament. Fenix is more likely to team up with Death Triangle for a showdown with the House of Black at the pay-per-view, so this loss doesn’t hurt him much. Without the star power of the main event and the surprise debut of the opener, it fell to the midcard to deliver this week’s best match, and Fenix and O’Reilly were up to the task in a match that is well worth your time if you missed it live.

Best Moment of the Night

I’m going to cheat a little here and combine two moments, as the segments between the Young Bucks and Hardy Boyz that bookended their portion of the show were great. If you haven’t been watching Being the Elite lately, you may have missed some of the background for this feud, though to their credit they have also brought it on television when they’ve had the opportunity. The first segment saw the Young Bucks feigning concern for Jeff Hardy’s injuries from last week’s match against Darby Allin and how he would fare against their Undisputed Elite compatriot Adam Cole, but Matt Hardy fired back by saying his brother is tough because he’s a real Hardy, not just a Hardy cosplayer like the Bucks. His threat to stay out of the main event or he wouldn’t hesitate to insert himself in proceedings foreshadowed the post-match scrum at the end of the night, as Cole got in both Hardys’ faces to give the Bucks time to sneak up on them, only for Cole to lay them both out with a double clothesline from behind and the Bucks hitting a BTE Trigger on Matt. It’s hard to say a non-title match is more highly anticipated than anything else on such a stacked card for Double or Nothing, but the Bucks vs. the Hardys definitely has to be high on the list, and the positioning of this angle in the main event certainly backs that up.

Serena Deeb deserves a ton of credit for her late-career reinvention, and although she has primarily shined in the ring to this point in her AEW tenure, her promo this week in which she took on Tony Schiavone, Dustin Rhodes, and Thunder Rosa was excellent. Deeb played off her history in the business, talking about how she got breast implants to satisfy “some old perverts” and shaved her head to prove how much she wanted to make it in the business, yet somehow people still doubt her after all she went through. Of course, she was never going to be cheered by the Houston crowd when her ire was particularly directed at Texas natives Rhodes and Rosa. Still, the Professor impressed in a rare promo segment for a performer who normally shines with her technical wrestling skills. I doubt a face turn is coming for her, and I would be surprised if she beat the fairly new champ Thunder Rosa, but she is undoubtedly on a heck of a run right now.

Once again, best moment of the night has to go to MJF and Wardlow, though admittedly this week’s segment was more of a highlight because of Wardlow than MJF for once. I suppose with it being less of a promo-centric segment this week, it’s no surprise that the physical performance of Wardlow would shine through more so than usual. Having MJF get increasingly frustrated as Wardlow no-sold his belt shots was perfect for both characters, and it continued to build up what an unstoppable force Wardlow is as he rises toward the top of the babyface roster. Shawn Spears finally managed to get a reaction with the ninth shot, and MJF’s anger boiled over as he hit Wardlow with a low blow and unleashed several more lashes than the originally promised ten. Never one to let enough be enough, MJF produced the Dynamite Diamond ring and laid out his upcoming opponent with a shot to the head before ordering Spears to hit him with the C4. It’s not as if we didn’t know Wardlow was an indomitable badass or that MJF is a cowardly sadist, but this segment was a quick, straightforward reminder of the dynamic that defines their feud as it continues its crescendo to its inevitable climax at Double or Nothing.

Worst Moments/Matches of the Night

I’m going to give both segments involved here a pass because neither was truly terrible, but I will say it was very disappointing to see the main event between Jeff Hardy and Adam Cole get very obviously cut for time, most likely because the Jericho Appreciation Society and Blackpool Combat Club segment went on way longer than it needed to. Yes, Jericho and Regal are great on the mic, especially against one another. Yes, we needed some reason to believe the sports entertainers might actually beat the professional wrestlers when they finally clash on pay-per-view. Did we need a longwinded segment rehashing Jericho’s history with the babyfaces or Regal’s substance abuse issues, though? Jericho literally repeated his bit about how Eddie Kingston should have stayed home to “take care of his girl” implying that Y2J would be happy to fill in for him in that role despite being happily married for over 20 years. I’m not saying there were no highlights in the segment, with the crowd continuing to sing “Judas” after Angelo Parker told them to stop, leading Jericho to hilariously tell them to stop singing his own song so he could talk. It just seemed like this segment could have been a lot more efficient – we already know why Jericho doesn’t like Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz. Have the JAS challenge them to a Stadium Stampede match, have Mox dunk on the stupid idea, and have Jericho orchestrate tension between the previously unaffiliated babyfaces to close it out. With Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland vs. the Workhorsemen and Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. Maki Itoh already being the platonic ideal of brevity, it’s hard to imagine where else the show could have cut some time to save it for Hardy vs. Cole in the main event. Granted, that match was mainly a setup for the post-match kerfuffle, and Jeff Hardy’s injuries from last week were sufficient justification for him to lose in a relatively short match, but it really felt like a first time match between two big stars in the main event spot should have had more time to work with.

Parting Shots

• I’m totally okay with the jokers not being a bigger surprise or even actual new signings – I feel like I’ve said this a million times already, but surprising doesn’t automatically equal good, and having established stars winning rather than throwing away the entire tournament field in favor of an unannounced entrant makes sense. We got two enjoyable matches out of it without having to shoehorn two more big name stars onto the card two weeks before Double or Nothing. I consider that win-win.
• I don’t want to get into a political debate here, so I won’t get into the content of CM Punk’s shirt (even though I agree with its sentiment and so does 60-70% of the population in this country) but I will say I greatly appreciate how AEW doesn’t force its stars to flog its merch at all times. Sure, it makes sense to have someone with a new shirt wear it out to the ring at least once, but trusting that your fans want to buy merch to support their favorite stars rather than forcing them to shill their own stuff all the time seems like the better way to go.
• The Dark Order’s 10 and Evil Uno teaming with Fuego del Sol to take on House of Black on Rampage should be an interesting matchup. I’m not sure if AEW is quite ready to introduce trios titles at Double or Nothing, but the more trios matches we get, the closer it feels to those championships being introduced.
• I would just like to say I am hyped for Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland facing Team Taz and Jurassic Express for the tag team titles. I will not be taking questions at this time.

That’s it for another week – the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament continues to deliver some fun matches, and we got some more confirmed matches for the pay-per-view, which is shaping up to be a big show. Thanks for joining me once again, and I hope you’ll come back next week for more Chair Shots!