wrestling / TV Reports
Cook’s AEW Battle of the Belts II Review
Image Credit: AEW
Loading...Hey kids! Steve Cook here. It’s Saturday night and it’s time to battle for some belts! We’ve got three big time championship matches on tap, so let’s get it started!
Cook’s AEW Battle of the Belts II Review
Excalibur, Taz & Tony Schiavone are our hosts in Garland, Texas.
TNT Championship Match: Scorpio Sky (c) (w/Dan Lambert) vs. Sammy Guevara (w/Tay Conti): Sammy & Tay are just too cute, aren’t they? Certainly cuter than Sky & his ringside second. Sammy drives Sky into the corner and fires away with shots. Sky carries him to the center of the ring, dumps him own and delivers shots of his own. Sends Sammy into the corner, goes for the 10 punches and bite. Sammy fires away in the corner and gives a bite of his own. Back suplex by Sammy, some more mounted punches. Sammy getting a split reaction from the Texicans while they fight over a suplex attempt. Sammy leapfrogs into Sky, Sky tries a TKO but that’s blocked. Chops are exchanged. Sammy with a twisting dropkick and a nip up as Sky rolls out of the ring. Sammy attacks Sky on the floor & sends him into the guardrail. Sky drops Sammy on the guardrail. Bodyslam on the floor by Sky. Sky makes sure to break the count. Sammy hits the moonsault off the ring steps onto Sky, then rolls him back in the ring. Sky hits the TKO on the apron as we go to picture in picture. Tay looks concerned as both men work the count. I assume Dan looks concerned, but he isn’t getting as much camera time here as Tay. Probably a good choice by the director. Sky whips Sammy into the steps. Sammy finally gets in the ring to break the count, and Sky puts him in the corner to deliver more strikes. Sammy rolls back outside as the crowd gets behind Sky a bit. Side backbreaker by Sky. Sky setting Sammy up for something, ends up being another side backbreaker. Sky talking some junk as the crowd wants one more backbreaker. Sky complies with their wishes, and stretches Sammy on his knee. Sammy flips out of the fourth backbreaker attempt and hits an enziguri. Sammy with some clothslines, then a standing Spanish Fly gets two. Sammy with a kick out of the corner, then he heads to the top turnbuckle. Ethan Page emerges from the back, pulling Sky out of the ring. Tay gives Ethan whatfor, distracting the Men of the Year so Sammy can hit a shooting star press to the floor. Back in the ring, Sky with a quick small package for two. Sky wants that TKO, Sammy fights out, hits another enziguri. Springboard into a modified cutter gets two. Lambert’s up on the apron, Tay slaps Sky’s hands off the ropes in a rollup attempt, Sammy gets two. Paige Van Zant runs down to fight Tay! Eye poke by Sky, low blow by Sammy, then the GTH! We got a new champion!
Winner: Sammy Guevara (approximately 13 minutes via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/4
Some solid action throughout, but the excessive amount of interference hurt the ending stretch for me. Seems weird to say that when Paige Van Zant is involved, but I’d like to have time to enjoy PVZ without having to worry about other people running in & cheating.
Jonathan Gresham talks about how he needs to be ROH World Champion. Dalton Castle is going to land this bitch in the river.
ROH World Championship Match: Jonathan Gresham (c) vs. Dalton Castle (w/The Boys): Bobby Cruise is here to ring announce. THE BOYS ARE BACK! If there’s a good sign for the future of ROH, it’s the return of the original Boys. Code of Honor is adhered to, Paul Turner is the referee. Some chain rasslin to start, as you’d expect from these two. Headlock takeover by Gresham, Castle rolls outside and the Boys fan him. Castle with a takedown, he takes Gresham’s back on the mat and gets him in a gutwrench. A few gutwrenches before the suplex by Castle. Gresham fights Castle off with his leg strength. Big back elbow and a clothesline by Castle. Castle misses in the corner, but hits a big boot. Some back & forth on the ropes leads to a rana by Gresham. Kick to the knee, then a dropkick by Gresham as we go to picture in picture. Gresham kicking away at Dalton’s hand, then an arm drag. Gresham with the arm wringer, takes Castle down into a wristlock. Castle with the go-behind, Gresham fights out & gets Castle back on the mat, targeting the hand & fingers. Hammerlock by Gresham. Castle elbows his way out, but Gresham goes back to the arm on the mat. Gresham starting a clap-long with Dalton’s hand. Castle’s foot reaches the ropes as we go to full commercial.
Castle rolls outside & the Boys fan him down. Gresham goes over the top, Castle hits a rana on the floor! They keep evading shots in the corner, Gresham finally hits a big chop, but Castle responds with an overhead throw. Twisting side suplex by Castle. Castle runs into an elbow in the corner, but hits another overhead throw for two. Castle with some shots to Gresham on the mat. Castle goes for the Bangarang, Gresham slides out of it. Castle runs into a boot from Gresham, goes for another Bangarang, but it leads to a series of rollups! Castle boots Gresham, Gresham boots Castle, Castle clotheslines Gresham down. Castle misses in the corner, Gresham locks in the Octopus! Castle falls down and eventually has to tap out.
Winner: Jonathan Gresham (approximately 11 minutes via submission)
Match Rating: ***1/2
Code of Honor is adhered to again after the match, but here come Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt & Satnam Singh! Singh chokeslams both the Boys on the floor! Castle tries diving onto him, Singh tosses him into the steps. Lethal takes advantage of the distraction to hit the Lethal Injection on Gresham, then Singh bounces Gresham off the mat a few times. Lee Moriarty comes down, and he gets tossed into the lights. Matt Sydal hits Singh with a crutch, and he gets a beatdown for his trouble. Before things can get much worse, Samoa Joe’s music hits. He’s got a pipe! Joe gets the bad guys out of the ring. Singh wanted more, Lethal & Dutt thought better of it. Joe & Gresham hold their title belts up.
Enjoyable scientific pro wrestling from Gresham & Castle, and Singh had a much improved second outing.
Nyla Rose says that Thunder Rosa has made this personal. Rosa is going to whip her ass and retain the championship.
AEW Women’s World Championship Match: Thunder Rosa (c) vs. Nyla Rose: Nyla is missing Vickie Guerrero, but she does have the warpaint on for battle. 8:45 Nyla knocks Thunder to the floor, then sends her into the guardrail. Overhand chop by Nyla. Nyla gets sent into the ringpost, then Thunder hits a bulldog off the opposite ringpost. Chop by Thunder, she sends Nyla into the guardrail. Into the ring now, Thunder goes up top & hits a missile dropkick for one. Some spinal taps from Thunder. Sliding clothesline gets a one count. Headbutt from Nyla sends Thunder down. Nyla chokes Thunder with her boot in the corner. Nyla runs into an elbow, then runs over the top rope to the floor. Nyla catches Thunder and powerbombs her onto the apron as we go picture in picture. Nyla with a shot to Thunder, then a suplex on the floor. Thunder fires back with some shots, but Nyla whips her into the steps. Back in the ring, Thunder fights out of a Samoan drop attempt and fires away on Nyla. Nyla hits a shoulderbreaker that gets a two count. Nyla with a seated abdominal stretch on Thunder, Thunder fights out, goes from a headscissor attempt to a Texan legsweep. Nyla drops Thunder down for a two count. Nyla works Thunder’s back on the mat. They exchange punches as we return to full screen. Thunder’s clotheslines don’t take Nyla down, she kicks Nyla and hits a Stunner! Thunder with a Miz corner clothesline, then the double knees. Dropkick in the corner by Thunder. Nyla gets dropkicked to the floor. Thunder with a baseball slide dropkick to send Nyla down on the floor. Thunder goes up top…hits a tornilo! Back in the ring, Thunder goes back up top, crossbody gets rolled through by Nyla, Thunder gets booted down. Thunder gets draped on the top rope, Nyla going for the guillotine kneedrop…misses! Thunder back up top, but gets caught by Nyla…Power bomb reversed into a Code Red by Thunder for two! Nyla clotheslines her down twice for a two count. Nyla with a uranage, then she goes to the middle turnbuckle…didn’t lead to much of anything good. Thunder runs into a clothesline for two. Vertical suplex by Nyla gets a two count. Thunder laid out on the apron, Nyla goes to the middle turnbuckle, she misses a senton on the apron. Thunder with the rollup gets two. Nyla with a World’s Strongest Slam, that gets two. Thunder with a rollup for two. Thunder hits a hurricanrana and gets the three count!
Winner: Thunder Rosa (14 minutes via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***
Things were going pretty well until the end, but one could see that coming. When was the last time Nyla had a match this long? Nice to keep Vickie at home and let these two have the best wrestling match they could have, hopefully they have something else for Thunder to move on to now.
Thunder Rosa celebrates with the crowd as Excalibur yells about what’s going to be on Dynamite and we fade to black.
