Cody defeats Wardlow in All Elite Wrestling’s first-ever Steel Cage Match
Cody has officially fulfilled all three of MJF’s stipulations – not touching him, taking 10 lashings from MJF with a leather belt, and defeating his sidekick Wardlow inside a steel cage. The match between Cody and Maxwell Jacob Friedman at Revolution will now officially happen – as if that was ever in much doubt.
As far as the match itself goes, since this was the first steel cage match in AEW, it was a little bit of an experiment in that no one really knew what to expect audience-wise. It made total sense to put the EVP in this match to get a feel for reactions to a steel cage match. I personally ended up loving the idea of making the cage a little bigger – not quite as big as the Hell in a Cell cage in WWE, but it was big enough, so the wrestlers were not hindered by the cage. They had plenty of room to work.
Cody’s moonsault off the top of the cage was utterly fantastic. The steel cages in AEW are significantly taller than they are in WWE. One other interesting facet to this story is that AEW is essentially doing away with The Nightmare Collective because it wasn’t getting over very well. This was totally the right call. They were more annoying than anything. The company is instead opting to use Brandi Rhodes in a more human sense to gain more sympathy for Cody. She is being portrayed as a loving wife – and she is playing the role very well.
AEW’s Tag Team Division is one of the Primary Strengths of the Company
It’s obvious The Young Bucks are executives in AEW because the Tag Team Division is clearly a focal point. It is being portrayed at a main event level. The Bucks won the tag team battle royal to begin the show, earning a tag team championship match against Kenny Omega and Hangman Page. This should come as no surprise because The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega are members of The Elite, and Hangman Page’s disassociation from the group and his imminent heel turn has been rather apparent in the last several weeks.
The Bucks have also been unnecessarily thrown into this storyline, which makes it even more apparent that Page will complete his heel turn at Revolution. The next challenge for the company regarding this will be managing and responding to the reaction of fans. It may be tough to maintain Hangman’s heel persona for very long before turning him face again because he is such a fan favorite.
The pattern of his character may go similar to that of The Fiend in WWE. Even though Bray Wyatt is technically a heel, he still gets pops from the crowds like a babyface because fans are so enthralled with his character. Page may end up carving a similar path during his time as a heel in AEW.
The Tag Team Championship match between Omega and Page vs. Lucha Brothers was easily the best match on the night. It reiterated that the Lucha Brothers are one of the best tag teams in the world. AEW’s tag team division may very well be the best in the world.
Jon Moxley defeats Jeff Cobb; and Darby Allin returns to Help Out
Moxley has gone through every obstacle The Inner Circle has put in his way on the road to his AEW World Championship match with Chris Jericho. Allin is without a doubt a major star in the making. All he needs to cement his megastar status is to take a couple of victories against credible opponents. I can’t even begin to describe how impressive it is for him to have that level of presence about him and bring so much energy to an arena this early in his career.
Tazz did an excellent job calling the match as a special guest commentator. He is bringing the same vibe to AEW as he did with WWE in the early 2000s during the Ruthless Aggression Era.