Features

The AEW Week in Review 11/6/21

By Kurt Zamora • Published 6th November 2021
aew rampage eddie kingston cm punk

It’s Saturday and you know what that means! Welcome one and all to the latest installment of the AEW Week in Review here at TJRWrestling.

We are one week away from AEW’s next big PPV, Full Gear in Minnesota. That show was actually supposed to be tonight, but was moved to next weekend due to a big UFC PPV being made for tonight. That’s the reason for a live Dynamite from Kansas City and then a live Rampage from St. Louis. The Full Gear card is coming together nicely, so let’s discuss how I felt the week went for AEW.

Best Match

With all the setup for the Full Gear PPV, there were a lot of enhancement matches and promos filling up this week’s TV. I wasn’t the biggest fan of FTR’s AAA title defense, I thought Cody and Andrade had an ok match that was a placeholder for something bigger down the road, and Miro vs. Orange Cassidy was what it was. After the Moxley/10 match last week, I didn’t have high hopes for the match to begin with and I didn’t think Miro really changed anything.

Luckily, the week closed out with a banger as John Silver, AKA Johnnie Hungee took on Adam Cole in the main event of Rampage. I loved this match from a personal standpoint as it was created from a BTE bit. This is why I include tidbits about BTE & the Sammy Vlog every week, because AEW does this a lot, turning social media bits into TV matches & feuds. I like that outside the box approach. Silver, to me, is the epitome of what AEW is and WWE refuses to be. He may be small, but he’s got an incredible moveset for a guy his size, even gorilla pressing Cole during this match, and he combines that athleticism with charisma and comedy. He’s not pigeonholed. Cole’s selling of his head from the Conchairto that he received from Christian gave this match the aura of believability that Silver could win, that it needed. It’s not necessarily a MOTY contender, but it was a very fun, fast-paced match that everyone should enjoy watching.

Best Moment

Imagine being so in the groove of things and having the fans in the palm of your hands, that simply calling a guy a bum, could illicit an audible gasp from the crowd. It’s a simple word, maybe even a cheesy insult, I mean who calls anyone a bum anymore? But it struck a nerve with the crowd and everyone watching on TV because it felt real. That’s what happened with the epic promo between Eddie Kingston and CM Punk on Rampage. This was the age old adage of, “Talking them into the seats”. People want to see this match now. You could’ve just put up a graphic and said, “CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston at Full Gear” and people would’ve wanted to see it, because it’s two men that are not just popular, but respected by the audience. Punk and Kingston though, clearly wanted to take the match to another level though, and they did that in a matter of minutes. Both men said “heelish” things in their promo, but both men got cheered for everything they said. Kingston may have even been more popular than Punk here, which goes back to how respected Kingston is. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and everything is real life with him. This was a master class in promos and needs to be seen by everyone.

Jon Moxley

I decided we didn’t need a critique of the week this week. Instead, I want to take a moment and commend Jon Moxley on the brave decision he made this week by going into an alcohol treatment program. We last saw Moxley last week in his World Title Eliminator Tournament match against 10, which after that win, was supposed to lead him to his match against Orange Cassidy this week. However, real life got in the way and we got word from Tony Khan late Tuesday night that Moxley had entered the inpatient treatment program. These athletes we see on TV are larger than life, but they deal with real life issues just like the rest of us. Moxley had obviously been in the middle of what seemed to look like a big time heel turn, along with his biography coming out to bookstores this week, and also having to deal with a cross country move from Las Vegas to Ohio according to his wife Renee Paquette. Obviously, details are scarce, as they should be, but regardless of the reason of why he decided now was the time to do this, he should be applauded for making that decision. Asking for help is always the hardest thing to do. I really appreciated the poignant words CM Punk spoke about Mox’s decision on Dynamite this week & I obviously wish Mox & his family nothing but the absolute best moving forward.

Looking Ahead

This will be the home stretch for Full Gear with the final two TV shows before the PPV. Wednesday’s Dynamite will be live from Indianapolis, Indiana and then Rampage will be live from Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is also where Full Gear will be the next night. Nothing has been announced for Rampage yet, but Dynamite has a couple of interesting matchups announced as Pac will take on Dax Hardwood & Bryan Danielson will open the Forbidden Door and welcome in Rocky Romero from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Orange Cassidy will be in Rocky’s corner, which Rocky does have history with the Best Friends & Trent specifically. Tony Khan has teased maybe Orange joining the CHAOS stable that Rocky is a part of in NJPW. Could be something, could be nothing, but I do find it fun nevertheless. We also have the contract signing between Adam Page & Kenny Omega for the match that I am the most excited to see in AEW’s history. I absolutely cannot wait for this moment.

This week in Vlogs

BTE had a special Halloween edition this week that came out a day earlier than normal, since Halloween fell on Sunday. This was a parody of the show “Squid Game”, which I have not seen yet but heard a ton about. Even not knowing much about the actual show, I found this episode of BTE quite funny and definitely a huge step up from the last two weeks. This is more of what BTE is supposed to be. The prize was $500K and there was a funny line describing that amount as, “the money a top guy makes that used to work for WWE.” This episode is definitely worth checking out.

This week on Sammy’s Vlog, we had a fun opening bit about how Cody Rhodes is NOT Fuego II, even though everyone knows he is. Then the majority of the Vlog is Sammy deciding he needed to focus on his TNT Title match against Ethan Page, so leaving the Vlog to everyone else to get material. so Fuego, Aaron Solo, Alan Angels, & Ricky Starks all take turns hosting the show and getting comments from people backstage. It’s all very random, but definitely some funny moments throughout. The end of the vlog leads us to what will seemingly be our new main bit moving forward as Sammy & Fuego were kidnapped and it’s up to Angels to find them. There’s some funny stuff from Taz and Charlie Ramone sprinkled in throughout the vlog as well. This was a pretty even week between the two Vlogs, and I might give the edge to BTE strictly for the creativity.

That’s it for this week! Hopefully, everyone enjoyed this week of AEW as much as I did. Next weekend will be all about Full Gear, so be on the lookout for that. Be sure to hit me up on Twitter, @KTankZamora, and let me know what you think and what you want to see discussed in these weekly recaps. Thanks for checking out the column once again. As always, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do… but if you do, name it after me.