Source: All Elite Wrestling
Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and Jim Ross were the broadcast team for tonight’s event.
They were joined on commentary by Le Champion Chris Jericho (and his baseball bat)!
Kicking off tonight’s show, making their official AEW in-ring debut, it was #FTR—Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler vs. The Butcher & The Blade!
“A lot of people are interested in this team,” said Jim Ross about #FTR.
“They’re the hottest free agents!” added Jericho.
Tully Blanchard was shown scouting them from the seats, as was Arn Anderson.
#FTR tagged in and out and worked over The Blade’s arm, cutting off the ring in half.
The Butcher and Cash Wheeler slugged it out. Cash lured in The Butcher after feigning injury for a near fall. Cash was double-teamed while ref Paul Turner was distracted. The Butcher and The Blade took turns working over Cash, trying to tire him out.
Cash countered a leapfrog from The Blade with a powerslam. Cash tagged in Dax who cleaned house, hitting a brain buster on The Blade! #FTR gave an assisted DDT to The Butcher! This set up a superplex and a top rope elbow drop from #FTR on The Blade for a two count!
“I’m really enjoying this smash mouth style of pro wrestling we’re seeing here tonight,” said Jericho.
#FTR connected with the Goodnight Express on The Butcher, and then the Mind Breaker stuffed piledriver for the pin fall victory on The Blade!
Tony Schiavone joined #FTR in the ring to interview them about their big win.
The Young Bucks came out to congratulate #FTR.
“We don’t want to be rude. That match was great,” said Nick Jackson.
“You two helped us out of a jam a few weeks ago, but you sort of failed to properly introduce yourselves. We’re the best tag team, we’re The Young Bucks! It’s nice to meet you finally!” said Matt Jackson.
From behind, The Butcher blindsided Matt Jackson! Kip Sabian and Jimmy Havoc jumped in the ring, and then Kenny Omega and “Hangman” Adam Page ran out. It was chaos as the teams sized up all the top level, world class competition!
“Don’t trust anybody,” said Jim Ross.
Dasha was backstage with “The Natural Nightmares” with breaking news: next week they’ll be facing AEW tag champs Kenny Omega and “Hangman” Adam Page!
QT was with Allie, and Dustin Rhodes said he needed QT’s head in the game!
AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida & “The Galaxy’s Greatest Alien” Kris Statlander vs. “The Native Beast” Nyla Rose & Penelope Ford (accompanied by “SuperBad” Kip Sabian)!
Statlander chopped down Nyla and then delivered a short drop kick to the head for a near fall. Shida and Kris used rapid tags and crisp tandem offense on “The Native Beast.” Nyla got the upper hand though, dropping Kris with a body slam and then a leg drop.
Shida gave a running knee to Penelope Ford who was draped across the top turnbuckle. She gave another running knee and then a top rope missile drop kick to Ford! Shida tagged in Kris, but Ford blasted Kris with a DDT! Ford tagged in Nyla, but Nyla got caught with a superkick from Kris Statlander! Kris gave a big axe kick to Nyla, but Nyla was still able to kick out of the pin attempt!
Shida went for a Falcon Arrow but Nyla reversed it and placed Shida on the top rope. Nyla connected with a stereo leg drop from the top rope to both Shida and Kris!
Shida ran into the ropes but Sabian grabbed her leg. As the ref was distracted, Ford knocked out Shida with a wicked shot from the championship belt! Ford was able to pin Shida after a suplex, but there’s no question the belt shot did most of the work to finish off Shida!
A video package aired of Darby Allin with iconic skateboarder Tony Hawk. Darby isn’t medically cleared to wrestle yet, but Tony Hawk said he didn’t need a doctor’s note to skate there. Tony Hawk high-fived Darby after seeing Darby’s fearless display of tricks.
It was time for a six-man tag team match! “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent) vs. Inner Circle members Jake Hager and Santana & Ortiz!
Jim Ross mentioned that there are issues between Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy.
The Inner Circle jumped their competition before the bell rang! Orange Cassidy was wiped out on the stage.
“We have the hive mentality in the Inner Circle, all for one and one for all!” said Jericho.
Trent took to the skies with a tope suicida on Jake Hager! Trent speared Ortiz on the outside! Chuck Taylor hit Santana with a tope con giro! As Best Friends went to hug, Inner Circle seized the moment to unleash an onslaught of offense on them. Hager hit a Vader Bomb on Trent!
“We’re going to call that a ‘Hager Bomb’ from now on,” said Jericho.
Trent rallied back and spiked Ortiz with a swinging DDT! Orange was tagged in and faced off with Jake Hager. Orange Cassidy single-handedly took out Hager, Santana and Ortiz with a stunning sequence of offense!
Santana wiped out Orange with a vicious cannonball in the corner! With an assist from Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy managed to roll up Ortiz for the pin!
Jericho was outraged and smacked Orange right in the head with his wooden baseball bat, busting him wide open!
“Jericho is vile and violent, and he’s simply pissed!” said Jim Ross.
Jericho pulled out a jumbo bag of blood oranges from beneath the ring.
“That’s gotta be twenty pounds of blood oranges! That could crush a man’s skull!” said Tony Schiavone.
Jericho swung the bag at Orange Cassidy, pummeling him with the hefty sack of citrus!
“Orange Cassidy has been left bloodied and battered by Chris Jericho and the Inner Circle,” said Jim Ross.
Tony Schiavone was about to interview the Gunn Club at ringside but MJF grabbed the microphone.
MJF insulted Bill’s sons. Bill warned MJF not to do it again! Wardlow stared down Bill as MJF back peddled from the Gunn Club.
Up next was “Spanish God” Sammy Guevara vs. “Boom Boom” Colt Cabana!
Sammy gave the middle finger to the twenty-year ring veteran Cabana. Colt laughed and gave him the salute right back!
“There’s nothing wrong with Colt Cabana’s game,” said Jim Ross.
“Both these guys need a victory, though,” added Schiavone.
Sammy pulled Colt’s gear and sent him crashing to the outside. Sammy floated over the top rope with a press onto Cabana!
Cabana charged into the corner, but Sammy clocked him with a kick. Cabana dropped Sammy with a version of the Bionic Elbow, and then followed up with the Flying Apple on Sammy for a near fall!
Sammy got caught up on the top rope by Cabana, who sent Sammy down hard. Cabana executed a beautiful moonsault press! Cabana went for the rare, reverse Chicago Skyline but he slipped. Sammy quickly capitalized on Cabana’s mistake and pinned Colt after the GTH!
Evil Uno and Grayson, Mr. Brodie Lee, and the rest of The Dark Order walked out. “The Exalted One” offered a hand to Cabana and helped him get back to his feet. Colt looked confused as The Dark Order walked off.
“Is Cabana following them into the tunnel?” asked Excalibur.
Sammy grabbed the microphone and claimed he was the best. Matt Hardy’s music hit, and he interrupted Sammy.
“Why are you out here?” asked Sammy.
“You are the future of AEW. But I’m going to offer you some advice. To maximize your full potential, you need to get away from Chris Jericho and The Inner Circle. Trust me,” said Hardy.
Matt Hardy began shifting through his various vessels: “I am going to mash you Samuel! Delete! Delete! Delete!”
“The Bad Boy” Joey Janela was seen doing shots at a bar, reflecting on his AEW journey thus far.
“Somewhere in the last six months I sorta lost my direction,” he said.
Janela was drinking alone and stumbled out to the street. “The Concrete Rose” Sonny Kiss happened to be driving by and spotted Janela. He offered Janela a ride and The Bad Boy accepted. To be continued…
Dasha caught up with Colt Cabana backstage.
“After losing to Chris Jericho and now to Sammy, is that’s what brought you to this?” asked Dasha.
Colt ignored Dasha. Colt knocked on the door of Mr. Brodie Lee. The office door opened, and Colt walked in….
Jon Moxley arrived outside the arena. AEW broadcaster team member Alex Marvez tried to get a word with the champ.
“I have little to no time for people who run their mouth. All week Taz has been telling people that Brian Cage is going to beat me at Fyter Fest. I can’t wait until I can beat Brian Cage and then pop Taz’s head like a pimple! The mere idea that anybody in this sport thinks they can beat me pisses me off and drives me. It makes me more violent and less apologetic!”
Taz confronted Mox: “Enough of this! Get your head right because you’re gonna tap out at Fyter Fest!”
It was all a set up though, as Brian Cage ambushed Moxley from behind! Cage planted Mox with a spinebuster on the hood of a car in the parking lot! Then he rammed Mox into the rear window of the vehicle, decimating the glass window and mangling Mox’s neck and spine!
It was time for tonight’s main event—TNT Champion “The American Nightmare” Cody (with “Nightmare Family” head coach Arn Anderson) defending his title against one-half of Private Party—Marq Quen (accompanied by Isiah Kassidy and Matt Hardy)!
Cody offered Quen a handshake and he accepted it as the bell rang.
“There’s some speculation that Quen may not be 100% because the last time we saw him he had an ankle injury,” noted Jim Ross.
Quen took Cody off his feet with a shoulder tackle and then a quick moonsault. Cody kicked out at one!
“Nevertheless, Marq Quen is dominating the opening minutes of this match,” said Jim Ross.
Cody captured Quen’s legs and then applied a dragon sleeper. It was clear that Cody scouted Quen’s injury ahead of time, as he started to work over Quen’s ankle.
Marq Quen attempted to fight back and jumped to the top rope for a springboard, but his leg gave out on him and he crashed down to the mat! Cody seized the moment and went right back to attacking Quen’s ankle.
Quen was trying to gut it out and he connected with a standing moonsault for a two count on Cody! It was clear that his ankle was giving him plenty of trouble though. Quen transitioned from a corkscrew to a DDT on Cody for another near fall!
Quen went over the top and crashed onto Cody! Cody attempted a bulldog but Quen dodged it. Quen hit a third dive onto Cody on the outside! Quen, clearly in pain, laboriously climbed to the top. Cody rolled out to the ramp, but Quen threw caution out the window and hit the 450 splash onto Cody!
Quen tried for a shooting star press but Cody moved and grapevined Quen’s legs, submitting Quen!
“Marq Quen, hat’s off to you, young man,” said Jim Ross.
“He gave Cody a hell of a fight,” added Schiavone.
“There’s no question about that. His potential is unlimited it would seem,” replied Jim Ross.
Jake Hager walked out on the ramp and confronted “The American Nightmare.” He approached Cody but then put his hands on Arn Anderson. Cody tried to defend Anderson, but Hager dropped an exhausted Cody.
Private Party and Matt Hardy came to assist Cody. The Inner Circle then joined the fight and all hell broke loose!
“Jake, I think I know what you’re asking. You want a TNT title match at Fyter Fest? You got it!” said Cody.
