Toronto Dynamite and Rampage

Three full hours of AEW kicked off with Mercedes Mone in ring with Tony Schiavone. She mentioned her fued with Willow and how her career was almost taken from her. Then Mone played a hype video for herself. After the hype video she finished by saying she has dibs on Willow and no one will take her out before she can.

The lights go out. Sky Blue attacks Mone. Mone gets the upper hand. Julia Hart tries to take advantage but does not work. Hart and Blue grab chairs. Out comes Willow Nightingale and Statlander. Lights go back out and Willow still holds up the chair. Mone does not trust her.

Hopefully fans who are not familiar with Kazuchika Okada can see this amazing athlete in action. Also a match that I would say the Japanese wrestler must win. Okada pushes Kingston into the ropes and does a clean break albeit a mocking one. Eddie did not take kindly to that and started laying in blows. Okada went to the floor. This feels like a much different style of match than he wrestled in NJPW. Eddie Kingston won't go down from shoulder blocks. Okada is playing the coward but in doing so catches Eddie Kingston with a DDT. Gorilla Position shot of The Young Bucks and Tony Khan. Khan does not look impressed. Okada's chest is purple from the chops that Kingston has been giving him. After taking a walloping in the beginning Eddie is starting to fight back. Okada is able to stop the momentum with one of his beautiful and sexy drop kicks. First near fall of the match happened shortly after and Eddie Kingston kicked out after two. Urikan by the champ and he was unable to pin quickly. That potentially cost him the 3. Nice story telling by showing the beat down he was getting earlier in the match. Now the two men start to trade blows something we have seen both men do many times against phenomenal athletes. Eddie Kingston blocks some of the Rainmaker. It did not include the Ripcord so not a true Rainmaker. Okada hits the Rainmaker for the 3. We have a new Continental Champion. A step down from the NJPW title. Also not as presitgous as winning the Triple Crown but Kingston needs something right?

PAC interrupts the celebration. Pac paces like a wild animal on the entrance ramp before going back to the back.

Swerve announces an open challenge. He still aims for Samoa Joe in the long run.

The Loinheart Chris Jericho against Hook is a match that some people would not be in favor of seeing. Many criticize Jericho for taking from the younger talent. I think he helps them out by facing them. Do you think Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Shawn Michaels or some other legend of their caliber would lose to new guys with no story. A double leg takedown rocks Jericho early in the match. Chris Jericho is going for the brawling style match to start while Hook sticks with his suplex Greco-Roman style match. Jericho is able to reverse a German Suplex into a Walls of Jericho attempt. Hook just seems to be able to throw Jericho all around the rings. Chris Jericho would make room to land a Lionsault. Jericho would fight out fo a RedRum but while attempting to hook it in Hook would get an inside cradle for the win.

Will apologized for his previous actions in Canada as he is here for AEW. He wants some maple syrup. Very Random. Will hypes up his Dynasty opponent. Which Dynasty should be a WWE PLE just because of their lengthy history but back to AEW. Ospreay starts to talk down on Danielson by saying that Danielson's shoes were too small. Ospreay challenges Shibata for next week in a exhibition of what the Billy Goat is about. Heck Yeah that is going to be a great match.

Why aren't we pass this yet? Mariah May is still dressing as classic Toni Storm. Thunder Rosa did not come off Purrazzo smoothly for the corner clothesline. Rosa was distracted by Luther and that allows Storm to take control of the match. Storm works on the back of Thunder Rosa. It was a back injury that kept her out fo r16 months. Rosa hits both of her opponents with a crossbody before tagging in Deonna Purrazzo. Thunder Rosa blind tag against her teammates wishes. Toni Storm has a lot of set up for her hip attack. Thunder Rosa with a pin out of nowhere. This is the second one for the night. Two Thirds of the matches have ended that way tonight, so far.

The Butcher answers the challenge places by Swerve earlier in the night. The two men stare each other down before Swerve headbutts him. This match is all Swerve. Butcher does get some offense in making it less of a one sided affair. I don't think this type of match or opponent does anything for Swerve Strickland. Thankfully this match was ended quickly with a submission. The winner is Swerve Strickland.

Swerve cuts another promo on Joe after the match. Joe comes out and states that Swerve is at the bottom of the ladder for championship contention. So, Joe says the way to end this is to give Strickland the match. Don Callis comes out to stop it. Don Callis says that it should be Takeshita challenging as they have the same win loss record. Swerve accepts a match with Konosuke. It will happen next week.

This may be the Dynamite Main Event but it is not the main event of the night. Fans have a Judas like reaction to Copeland's entrance theme. Christian gets the punches in early. Copeland breaks free and attempts a spear. This is starting fast. Whomever sets up these matches where wrestlers can go all over needs to allot more time at the beginning of the match for in ring. Fans in the arena that does not get the action has a hard time seeing the match when it leaves the ring. Copeland panders to the crowd by putting a bruins jersey on Cage and a Toronto one on himself before a hockey fight. Copeland pulls a ladder from under the ring. The fans chant TLC. Tonight would be a nice time to cameo the Hardy Brothers in this match. That landing on the ladder had to hurt both men equally. Christian leaps over a spear preventing Copeland from putting him thru a table. Blood starts to flow from Adam Copeland. Remsburg asks Copeland if he wants to quit and gets a screw you. Christian misses a frog splash as Adam Copeland then locks a submission on him. Christian gouges the eyes to escape. Copeland launched Christian Cage off the stage. Shaina Wayne with a low blow using a hockey stick. Christian then uses it to whack Adam Copeland. Remsburg is attempting to get Copeland to say I quit while Cage has the hockey stick on his opponent's throat. Adam Copeland does not quit. Out comes the chairs. A barbed wire one even. Copeland moves when Christian attempts the Conchairto with the barbed wire chair. Nick Wayne and Killswitch come into save Christian Cage. Garcia and Daddy Magic come out to help Copeland. Daniel Garcia provides handcuffs for Adam Copeland to secure Killswitch and Nick Wayne. Mother Wayne runs at the sight of handcuffs . She must not be into bondage. Christian Cage is then handcuffed. Adam Copeland retrieves Spike the 2x4 with nails then kicks Christian in the nuts several times. Spike meets Christian's nuts. Christian quits before Spike could meet his face.

The official switch to Rampage is a vignette of Bullet Club Gold in a pool. They run their mouth about nothing much.

Billy was not medically cleared to travel according to the Acclaimed. Max works the stick wonderfully. Promises that he will be here to hunt down Jay White when they show back up to TV. This long segment is only to allow the ring crew to clean up. It does show that The Acclaimed are pissed.

AEW us calling this a wild card match for the tag team tournament, however, it is a qualifier match really. Homage to WIll Hobbes' debut match is down by Orange and Hobbs. Hobbs gets the near fall with a spinebuster off the Orange Punch attempt. Hobbs is being dominant and working on the back. Several powerful looking slams of Orange Cassidy's back to the apron. Trent gets tagged in and starts taking control. This match has a fast pace. Trent is bleeding from his shoulder. Trent is doing good at taking on both men until Fletcher catches him. Hobbs and Fletcher then execute a pendulum bomb on Trent. Trent is able to get the tag after a tornado DDT on Fletcher. Orange Cassidy would also plant Kyle Fletcher with a Tornado DDT. Hobbs puts Cassidy in a torture rack. It seems like every time we proverbially turn around Hobbs is flattening one of his opponents. IT seems like tags have gone out the window as Kyle Fletcher who is bleeding from the mouth gets a two count off a spinning tombstone piledriver. Avalanche Half and Half and a Diving DDT makes room for an Orange Punch. Best Friends win their way into the tag team championship tournament.

Shibata gets a squash match against Kevin Mathews which long term TNA fans will recognize as KM former tag partner of Fallah Bah. Shibata wins with the penalty kick. Katsuyori Shibata against WIll Ospreay will happen next week.

I am not sure if Tony Khan went over on time someplace or if he didn't schedule correctly but they are really squeezing matches in tonight for the Rampage portion. Takeshita powers Rocky Romero into the corner after the first tie up. Rocky only goes up to Konosuke's chin. Rocky fakes out Takeshita for a trading of blows. Rocky slapped Takeshita before he could get hit. Romero is using his speed. That is not enough for the power of Konosuke. Romero hits a slices bread off the top rope. That is impressive to be able to flip over his opponent on the post. This leaves the running slice bread to be not as impressive. Don Callis finally rears his bald head to distract both Romero and the Ref. Spiked Tombstone blue liger bomb combo looks impressive but only gets a two count. Spinning Falcon Arrow secures the Alpha Konosuke Takeshita the win.

The amount of time left in the broadcast does not give this match a chance to shine. It started at 21:52 Central Time and Rampage is supposed to end at 22:00 Central time. They promise to stay with the action if it goes over. Additionally the fact that it is on the same night as an "I Quit" match does it disservice also. There is a jump start to the match by Willow and Statlander. Sky missed an elbow drop because Willow rolled back out nice. Statlander with a drop toe hold on Julia Hart into the chair. A nice old fashioned move. Stat and Willow are using the chair on Hart superbly. Stat hits a variation of the World's Strongest Slam on Julia Hart as she is in the chair. Julia Hart accidentally drives the spike in to Sky Blue. Willow with a cannonball onto a chair into Sky Blue. The ladies from the House of Black have not gotten much offense in. A Code Blue on Willow Nightingale does not break the announce table. Sky Blue introduces the thumbtacks. Statlander adds more. Statlander is bombed into the tacks. Skye Blue also puts them in Kris's mouth and super kicks it. This is pretty sweet when it comes to use of thumbtacks. The crowd things she is a "sick fuck. Death Valley Driver into the tables from WIllow to Skye Blue. These ladies are matching the high impact action of the "I Quit" match Julia Hart wins with the Heartless Submission. I feel like this match took away from the "I Quit" match.