I’m never going to love matches involving guys (or gals, but, it was specifically the boys’s division) who’re already set for giant matches at upcoming pay-previews being involved in somewhat pointless tag team matches before these big events. I say somewhat, because at the least tonight within the matches that were the most important offenders, we got some story progression with ProtoKada seemingly on the outs, and Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley not getting along.
While I did just like the match pitting Kyle Fletcher and Kazuchika Okada against Brody King and Bandido, we’re getting Fletcher and Bandido for the International Championship on Sunday. I’m certain we’re not going to see Bandido get the victory, once more at a pay-per-view, as a consequence of Fletcher’s ongoing feud with Takeshita, so I suppose we needed to see Bandido pin the “Protostar” tonight.
I initially thought it was going to be nice to see Okada in motion, but he didn’t exactly do much within the match. Fletcher and Bandido fought in lots of the bout, as that they had an extended sequence to start with, and again toward the tip, where Bandido finally landed the 21-plex to pin the champion after a series of massive moves and pin attempts. While I even have all the boldness on this planet that their match at Redemption goes to be equally nearly as good, I feel like I saw quite a little bit of it already.
Despite the fact that they are not facing each other at Redemption, but somewhat, All In: London, I also didn’t love Ospreay and Omega teaming up together, especially with Moxley involved. I personally have not been an enormous fan of the “Ospreay within the Death Riders” story, though I’m aware I could also be alone there, and the team-up felt weird, beyond the “odd couple” feeling I’m sure we were all speculated to have with it. The pairing also further enforced the incontrovertible fact that Omega’s title defense against Knight at Redemption is pretty pointless, because it’s beyond obvious it’ll be Omega and Ospreay at Wembley Stadium.
We have now five episodes of “Dynamite” left before All In, so I’m sure the team of Omega and Ospreay is not done, with some Moxley involvement thrown in there, and there is at the least another “can they co-exist?!” matchup between now and August 30. AEW is not the only promotion guilty of this, but it surely’s a pet peeve of mine. No less than the trio’s opponents tonight within the Don Callis Family aren’t involved in Ospreay and Moxley’s tag match at Redemption, as they’re taking over the Young Bucks. Overall, this show didn’t do much to get me excited for Redemption, a PPV I’m already convinced doesn’t actually need to occur.
Written by Daisy Ruth