AEW Fight for the Fallen Review (7.15.20)

After a two-week, pay-per-view quality event in Fyter Fest, AEW continued their chase to be the “Demo Gods” with this week’s Fight for the Fallen.

Another quality show, AEW delivered with a five-match card, including the previously promised Jon Moxley and Brian Cage AEW World Championship match from Fyter Fest.

Airing from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, FL, the commentary team of Jim Ross, Excalibur and Taz open the show with an update on Tony Schiavone, who missed the show due to his COVID-19 results not coming back in time.

Cody v. Sonny Kiss (AEW TNT Championship Match)

Following his match against Jake Hager at Fyter Fest, Cody has a new challenger step up for his TNT Championship in the vastly underused Sonny Kiss. Kiss comes to the ring after a dance routine with cheerleaders from the Jacksonville Jaguars before getting hit with a big boot to start the match. Cody seems a bit more game here, even doing a few push ups while his opponent is down. A disaster kick from Cody that doesn’t exactly hit the mark draws a two count, leading to coach Arn Anderson giving Cody some choice words. Following a full nelson by Cody, Kiss gets some nice offense going, including a beautiful hurricanrana from the middle rope. An “Axes and Ohs” by Kiss draws a two count before Kiss hits Cody’s Cross Rhodes for a near fall. An absolutely gorgeous 450 splash from Kiss draws another near fall. Onto the ramp we go as Cody hits Kiss with an Alabama Slam on the outside, but his pin attempt only gets a two count after a mental error allows Kiss to get his foot on the bottom rope. After hitting a devastating Vertebreaker for another near fall, a visibly-frustrated Cody hits a superplex for another two count. The commentary by JR here was excellent, continuing to highlight how Cody might have taken Kiss for granted with his lazy pin attempts. A roll up by Kiss is countered into a crossface before Kiss gets to the bottom rope to break the hold. Cody plants the seed for a future heel turn by removing the turnbuckle pad, but it backfires as Kiss throws him into the exposed steel. A few strikes by Kiss do some damage before Cody counters into a nasty Cross Rhodes for the win to retain his title at 10:45. *** A really solid opener that showed just how much Kiss can bring to the table as a singles competitor. This is the kind of competitor that can put on matches that help win the ratings war against NXT, and it will be interesting to see if AEW uses him more often.

FTR v. The Lucha Bros

Arriving at the arena with The Butcher and The Blade in FTR’s truck, The Lucha Bros used quick offense to start the match before FTR took down Rey Fenix to seize control with a flurry of quick tags. Dax Harwood began bleeding from his chest after some hard chops from Pentagon, but a huge clothesline helped FTR regain the momentum. Some more double-team moves by both teams allowed for some innovative offense, before simultaneous big splashes by Cash Wheeler and Fenix ended in knees to the midsection for both. For a team that builds itself off of “no flips, just fists”, Wheeler hit a very unorthodox Tope Suicida into a DDT on Pentagon before Fenix followed it up with a big splash on the outside. Back into the ring we go with Fenix and Harwood, with Fenix getting some nice offense in before Harwood rips off his mask, allowing him to get an inside cradle for the win at 13:25. **** If you didn’t think FTR was one of the best tag teams in the world, this match should certainly change your mind. Two completely different styles meshed into one of the best matches of the night and really highlighted just how good AEW’s tag team division is. It will be very interesting to see where AEW takes the Tully Blanchard storyline, as we have seen him scouting the last two matches, along with FTR doing the “Four Horsemen” sign at him. Could we be seeing the rebirth of the legendary group with a heel Cody, FTR and “Hangman” Adam Page headed by Blanchard? You can almost hear the sound of money being printed over the thought of that idea.

Following the match, The Young Bucks hit The Butcher and The Blade with superkicks before joining FTR in the ring with fellow Elite member Kenny Omega. Omega offered beers to both members of FTR, only for FTR to pour them on Omega’s head before leaving in their truck.

“Le Champion” Chris Jericho made his way to the ring to tout his victory over Orange Cassidy at Fyter Fest last week and declare himself the “Demo God”. Accompanied by the rest of the Inner Circle, Jericho claimed that there would be no rematch and that Cassidy’s career was dead. OC came through the crowd, hitting Jericho with wrestling’s famous “thumbs down” before dousing the group in orange juice from the rafters. An interesting move by AEW to acknowledge the ratings war with NXT, but if there is anyone who is going to deliver a good promo on the situation, Jericho was the right choice. Another match between OC and Jericho will hopefully be saved for when fans return so that OC can get the reaction he deserves when he hopefully gets the win.

Jurassic Express v. The Elite

A pre-match promo by Jurassic Express showed Marko Stunt laughing at the previous segment’s happenings. An irate Jericho joins the commentary team for Taz, who left to get ready with Brian Cage for the main event. The match begins with a nice arm drag by Jungle Boy before Stunt tags himself in to face Omega. Omega fakes a handshake before getting hit with a nice hurricanrana. Jericho shows why he has a future in commentary, mentioning how Omega keeping his shirt on is a sign of him underestimating his opponent. A beautiful tag team combination by Jurassic Express leads to a DDT by Stunt before being taken out by a plancha from Omega. As The Elite controlled the match heading into the break, Luchasaurus sparked a comeback, hitting both members of The Young Bucks with head kicks, followed by a chokeslam to Nick Jackson for a nearfall. Omega hit a few V-Triggers, followed by delivering a snapdragon to all three members of Jurassic Express. A huge Extinction Effect on Omega is broken up by The Bucks for another two count. In an absolutely unbelievable spot, Stunt climbed onto Luchasaurus’s shoulders, hitting a destroyer piledriver onto Matt Jackson. However, a few more V-Triggers on Luchasaurus and Stunt, followed by the One-Winged Angel on Stunt helped the Elite take the win at 15:05. After the match, a frustrated Omega laid some more rights into the face of Stunt before being broken up by his teammates. **** If there was a match to watch on this show, this is the one. All six members of the match were allowed to show off, and the destroyer piledriver is one to be seen. It will be interesting to see if this is the start of a true heel run by Omega. He has been the least prominent member of The Elite since AEW started, and the dissension between him and his tag partner “Hangman” Adam Page could lead to a great main event run down the line.

 A quick promo from AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida follows the match, challenging anyone to step up to face her. It will be interesting to see who AEW puts Shida up against next, with the inevitable rematch against Rose on the horizon.

Nightmare Sisters (Allie and Brandi Rhodes) v. Kenzie Paige and MJ Jenkins

Dustin Rhodes accompanied the Nightmare Sisters to the ring for a quick squash match. Brandi Rhodes hits a big boot on Paige to start the action, followed by a sliding clothesline tag move from Rhodes and Allie. Brandi hit a superkick off a blind tag before a reverse DDT and elbow combination by the Nightmare Sisters helped them get the win at 2:00. ** A basic squash match to help build up the team, this was a good showcase for fans who haven’t seen them wrestle on AEW Dark. Hopefully, we will see AEW take women’s tag team wrestling more seriously than WWE with some longer matches.

Nyla Rose comes out to announce her new manager as none other than Vickie Guerrero, who issues a warning to the rest of the AEW Women’s roster. Great to see Guerrero being used in a prominent role. She got over by herself in WWE and can be the annoying heel that fits perfectly with the dominant Rose, much like her time with Big Show in 2009.

Jon Moxley v. Brian Cage (AEW World Championship Match)

The long-awaited showdown between these two is finally here after Moxley missed Fyter Fest due to his wife, Renee Young, contracting COVID-19. Taz has done a good job in building up Cage after his win in the Casino Ladder Match at Double or Nothing, even declaring him as the FTW Champion, a title he previously introduced in ECW. Before the match begins, Cage hits a clothesline on Moxley, followed by curling and tossing Moxley over his head. A nice drop kick by Moxley knocks the big man off his feet, allowing the champion to work on the previously torn bicep of Cage. The fight spilled to the outside after Moxley sent Cage arm first into the ring post, followed by a Tope Suicida from Moxley, continuing the attack. Moxley grabbed a guardrail from the outside and leaned it against the ring, only to take a hard suplex into the steel before a commercial break. As we return from the break, Cage is shown applying a Torture Rack before hitting Moxley with a neckbreaker. After some back and forth, Moxley looked to DDT Cage through a chair on the outside before Cage countered with another devastating suplex. A Paradigm Shift by Moxley earns a nearfall, followed by a nice superplex into a kimura arm bar, before being sent into the turnbuckle off a powerbomb by Cage. A superplex from the apron by Cage was another nice spot before Moxley locked in a cross arm breaker. After shifting his weight to further damage the arm of Cage, Taz threw in the towel for Cage, giving Moxley the successful title defense at 15:00. ***½ This was good, but I think a lot of fans expected more. The most exciting parts of this match were on the outside, so a future rematch between the two with a No DQ or Falls Count Anywhere stipulation should really allow these two to shine. The post match attack by Cage and the reappearance by Darby Allin was a nice touch, as Allin is one of the most exciting members of the roster. Allin striking Cage with his skateboard should begin the build for their inevitable clash, allowing Moxley to take some time off if he decides to, while also saving the rematch between Moxley and Cage for later on in the year.  

This was a really good show that had some outstanding tag team matches, along with making Sonny Kiss a star overnight. The Jericho promo will surely bring even more attention to the ratings between AEW and NXT, but if AEW continues to put more shows on like this, they should have no problem reclaiming the top spot.