It is a bit wild to watch a show from AEW's "pandemic era," a stretch when I was not a weekly viewer and was certainly not ordering the PPVs (or even finding streaming options online), but do recall how weird it was to watch any wrestling show being taped in what was essentially a TV studio with other wrestlers and personalities, socially distanced from each other, serving as the "audience."
Anyway, things kick off with a 9-man Casino Ladder Match Gauntlet. Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian of So Cal Uncensored are the first two entrants and seem to have identical strategies to start things off, grabbing at ladders before either one had an advantage of any kind. Kip Sabian came in next after 2 minutes. At #4 was Darby Allin like a wildman, flying around and showing off some of the offense that would make him one of AEW's biggest stars over the course of the next 5 years. At #5 was Orange Cassidy, whose entrance alone eats up over a minute. I can see why Cassidy was so polarizing back in the day and anyone that says he's still the same gimmick now should go back and watch how thick he laid on the "slacker" vibe back then. Joey Janela, Colt Cabana, and Luchasaurus followed. Luchasaurus does some cool power moves and, like Darby Allin, Janela shows tremendous energy as he flies around the ring, but overall, this is all sorta "cookie cutter" with each new entrant getting their spotlight and no real "through line" or story to the match. Spots for spots sakes, rinse and repeat. The final entrant - a mystery participant - ends up being Brian Cage, who looks like a freak and gets a lot of time to shine. Cage had wrestled in TNA so I wonder if having an actual live crowd would've made his appearance feel like a bigger deal. Regardless, everyone eventually teams up to bury Cage under ladders and some massive poker chips that were part of the set. The match goes on for another 10 minutes or so with everyone attempting to the climb the ladder. The craziest spot of the match is how it ends as Cage manages to crawl out from under all the wreckage placed on top of him and eventually press slams a Darby Allin (who is laying on a ladder) out of the ring and into another ladder on the floor. Its wild and dangerous and exactly the kind of spot that Darby Allin built his reputation on. This was fine for what it was, but it almost felt like it ran too long and was too silly at times. Felt very "indie" in a not-great way. (2/5)
MJF vs. Jungle Boy was next. This match started out really strong with MJF and Jungle Boy doing a bit of "mirror work" and showing off their athleticism and agility. MJF's character work was also really strong as he was an unlikable prick throughout. That being said, the match lost me a bit as it went on, needlessly going 15+ minutes and weighed down by way too many false finishes and over-dramatic kickouts (some of which looked a bit too cooperative). Dave Meltzer gave this over 4-stars in the Observer and I can see why this match, in 2020, would have been considered a "near-classic" and a star-making match for both guys...but the best parts of this match were the more old school elements and not the "spotfest" elements and, by the end, as the long-term selling got thrown away and the match became more about "throwing bombs," it lost that gritty, "fight" feel that I enjoy more. I'm not against "fireworks show" matches - I'm as big an Ospreay fan as anyone - but, if you're going to go that route, it has to be as incredible as possible from beginning to end. This felt like two different matches mashed together. Above-average for sure, but not truly great. (3/5)
The next match was held to crown the first TNT Champion, with Cody Rhodes taking on Lance Archer. There were some excellent parts of this, but there was also some real low points. I loved the big press slam to the outside and Archer's dominance really came across well. What was less good was Mike Tyson on the outside, caught yawning at one point, the distracting "fans" in the front row, and the involvement of Arn Anderson towards the end, which looked like it was happening in slo-mo. I'm not sure why this match needed to go a full 20 minutes, especially after the previous match did. A bit overbooked, a bit slow, but not terrible. (2.5/5)
Kris Statlander vs. Penelope Ford was next. Statlander has definitely come a long way since back then when she was 100% all-in on the alien gimmick. Wrestling-wise, this was fine - not super remarkable, but action-packed for its sub-10 minute runtime. This was supposed to be Statlander vs. Britt Baker. At this time, the AEW Women's Division was not considered all that great and you can see why when you watch this. There is a noticeable lack of polish and fluidity in the match, some blatant telegraphing of moves, and neither performer had developed their characters yet. (2/5)
More of an angle than a match, Shawn Spears came down the aisle and tried to steal a W over Dustin Rhodes via countout. Very hokey "old school 'rassling" stuff here as Spears called out Rhodes, Rhodes' music hit, and Spears revealed that it was all a trick before demanding that the referee count Rhodes out. This led to Rhodes' music playing again and him showing up to beat down on the heel. Spears was not dressed for a match and eventually got stripped down to his underwear (which were comedically adorned with a picture of Tully Blanchard's face on the crotch). I'm not sure if this was better or worse than what I wanted to see/expected. On one hand, Dustin Rhodes, at his best, is capable of putting on very good matches. On the other hand, Spears has never been a guy I've seen much in so I'm not sure how much I wanted to see him and Dustin go 10+. (2/5)
The AEW Women's Champion, Nyla Rose, took on Hikaru Shida in the next match. This was fought under No DQ/No Countout rules, which gave them ample leeway to explore the ringside area, use weapons, and break furniture. This is a pretty highly-acclaimed match on Cagematch, but I didn't find it to be all that great and, at times, a bit meandering. Maybe having this in front of a live crowd would've helped, but we'll never know. Shida is good as a David and Rose is good as a Goliath, but I wouldn't call this "must see." (3/5)
The AEW World Champion, Jon Moxley, defended his title against Brodie Lee in the next match. Decent enough match, but certainly would've benefitted from a crowd. Moxley is too sloppy a worker to look great in a match where nothing can be hidden with wide shots and you're essentially fighting in a TV studio, while Brodie Lee's character was arguably "too big" to be captured in the same setting. This match needed some "aura" to work and that aura not being present detracted from it. That being said, there were some pretty nifty hardcore spots in this match, including Moxley hitting his DDT finisher onto Brodie through the entrance ramp (major Tazz/Bam Bam vibes). (2.5/5)
Main event time - The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Ortiz, and Santana) vs. The Elite (Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, "Hangman" Page, and "Broken" Matt Hardy. This isn't as much a "match" as a "spectacle" (as JR puts it). The best word to describe this might be "madcap." It is silly. It is wild. It is maybe overly and cloyingly "fun" and, in a sense, in love with itself. It is the opposite of a serious match, but it isn't 100% comedy because the men involved are performing high-risk moves and, at least at the very start, lots of actual wrestling moves. This is not going to be for everyone, but it is also important to remember the context of this match. During the pandemic, wrestling companies were forced to deal with having to create new environments to hold matches and a gigantic empty stadium was as good a locale as any. They also had to develop new ways to capture these matches and this is where this match absolutely works. With no crowd around, AEW (and the WWE as well) were able to get extra creative and experimental and this match is full of very funny, quasi-psychedelic imagery and moments unlike anything that you would typically get from this era of pro-wrestling. Highlights included the Matt Hardy Metamorphose in the pool, the entirety of the Jack Hager/Hangman Page bar segment (including Hager staring down Page's horse), Sammy Guevara getting chased down by horse and then by a golf cart, and one of the Young Bucks - I forget which one - flying off the stands to put Guevara through a table on the field. While I don't think this lives up to the acid trip vibe of the Wyatt/Cena match from that year's WrestleMania or even the ridiculousness trashiness of the AJ Styles/Undertaker cinematic match, this was still mostly entertaining. In fact, the weakest, most uninteresting part of the entire thing may have been the actual "wrestling" that occurred in the initial 5-10 minutes, which, while certainly not bad, felt perfunctory. (3.5/5)
With a 2.56-out-of-5 Kwang Score, Double or Nothing 2020 is one of the weaker AEW PPVs/PLEs that I've watched, though, to be fair, not only did the lack of a live crowd hurt the overall presentation and "heat," but several matches were altered due to injury. I'll also admit to coming into this show very "cold" and uninformed about the major storylines. That being said, AEW built its name around excellent pro-wrestling matches and this show doesn't feature a single one. The opener drags. MJF/Jungle Boy might be the best actual bout of the night but also suffers from veering too far into no-selling and needless false finishes in its second half. The AEW World Championship match would've likely worked better in front of a live crowd, but the finish never felt like it was really in question. The main event was the most entertaining part of the event, but it didn't hit the same highs as other cinematic matches from this time period (namely the ones that were part of WrestleMania XXXVI).
FINAL RATING: High Risk Maneuver
No comments:
Post a Comment