Tonight’s the night! All Elite Wrestling returns with Fight for the Fallen, live from the Daily’s Place Amphitheater in Jacksonville, FL.
It’s the final stop on the road to Chicago for ALL OUT, so we expect there to be some key moments setting up the biggest show in the young promotion’s history. The action goes down live and completely free on B/R Live for those in the U.S., and will be available on pay-per-view through FITE TV internationally.
Make sure to join us this evening for complete live coverage of AEW Fight for the Fallen, and stick with us throughout the weekend as we bring you coverage from AEW, WWE Extreme Rules, Evolve’s 10-year anniversary event, GCW’s 25-year tribute to Homicide, and three huge NJPW G1 Climax events – all over the course of the next two days!
First let’s take a look at the pre-show…
The official 45-minute Fight for the Fallen pre-show, dubbed The Buy In, will also air live and free on B/R Live as well as the AEW social media accounts. The action kicks off at 7:30PM ET and will roll right into the main card at 8:15PM ET.
1. Sonny Kiss [x]vs. Peter Avalon [x](w/ Leva Bates)
Sonny Kiss was one of the second wave of talents officially announced at the Las Vegas press conference earlier this year, but we have yet to see him compete outside of the Double or Nothing Casino Battle Royale. Across the ring will be Peter Avalon, also making his singles debut, accompanied by his co-Librarian, Leva Bates.
Yeah… I don’t want to get into the whole “Librarian” argument, but the bottom line is there’s a lot of people who don’t like it, are vocal about their displeasure online, and I’ve personally had friends tell me they didn’t watch Fyter Fest because the free pre-show turned them off so much during their segments. I wasn’t that put off myself, but I’m not a fan. Here’s an opportunity for Avalon to show the world he can go out and get it done in the ring. Maybe an opportunity for them to work on the gimmicks, tweak some things, because right now it’s on the same level of cringe as some of WWE’s worst segments in recent memory.
2. Britt Baker [1-0] & Riho [2-0] vs. Bea Priestley [x]& Shoko Nakajima [x]
You’re definitely going to want to check out The Buy In, even if it’s just for this one match. So far AEW has knocked it out of the park introducing tremendous talents to their women’s division at every event. This should be no different, with the debuting Bea Priestley and Shoko Nakajima taking on two ladies who realistically could be the cornerstone of the division as the promotion prepares for its TV launch this fall. It should also not go unnoticed that if Riho does manage to pick up another victory, she’ll be the only 3-0 athlete in the division, and you figure that would put her front-and-center for a shot at the gold.
As noted, the AEW Fight for the Fallen main card will begin at 8:15PM ET which means we’re likely looking at about three-and-a-half hours in total, including the pre-show.
3. The Dark Order [x](Evil Uno & Stu Greyson) vs. Angelico & Jack Evans [0-1] vs. Luchasaurus [x]& Jungle Boy [0-1]
I absolutely love that Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy are a real-life tag team. I will personally fight any old Baby Boomers with no joy in their hearts, incapable of having fun, who think these gimmicks are “ruining the business”. It’s also happening because AEW is listening to the many fans who loved the idea of the two together – a pretty smart concept, especially when this generation and demographic of wrestling fans will buy literally anything The Elite family puts on a black t-shirt. The fans want it. I want it. I hope they run rampant through the entire tag team division.
OH… Also, there’s two other teams in this match. The Dark Order are the big baddies that have crashed the last two AEW events and attacked several tag teams, obviously sending a message that they’re after the incoming titles. Angelico and Evans, outside of just being a very talented team, are also out for some revenge as one of those teams who were attacked.
4. The Lucha Brothers [0-2] (Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix) vs. SoCal Uncensored [1-1] (Kazarian & Scorpio Sky)
The Lucha Brothers may be one of the greatest tag teams in the world, but they still need their first win in an AEW ring. After suffering two back-to-back losses to the Young Bucks, Pentagon and Fenix have to rebound if they want to be a serious contender in the AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament when TV starts this fall. But there’s also SCU, the beloved duo (often trio) who scored a big win at Double or Nothing, and have to be considered one of the front-runners to win said tournament. This is going to be excellent.
5. Brandi Rhodes [x]vs. Allie [x]
I’m really intrigued by this one. I haven’t seen Brandi wrestle in a long time, but she seems confident, and Allie is a good opponent. I’m interested to see what they can put together, and what sorts of shenanigans come into play. There’s been an underlying story on the Road To videos for months now where Brandi brought Allie in, but there’s some bad blood in the past between them, and they’re playing it up like things are cool and they just want to have a good match together. So yeah – this one is definitely not ending “clean”, as they say. Are we gonna get another Awesome Kong level swerve? Who picks up their first win in AEW?
6. Jimmy Havoc [0-1], Darby Allin [0-0-1] & Joey Janela [0-1] vs. Shawn Spears [x], MJF [0-1] & Sammy Guevara [0-1]
This is going to be really interesting. First of all, whoever decided to put MJF and Shawn Spears on the same team is an evil genius. For the last several months one of the ongoing storylines on Being the Elite has been the eternally duplicitous MJF becoming Cody’s new best friend – the “salt of the earth”, as he calls him. Given that Spears just put 10 staples in the back of Rhodes’ skull, I imagine this tag match will be fairly explosive.
There’s some other threads here, like the the narcissism of Sammy Guevara and how it will come into play with the even more severe narcissim of MJF. You’ve also got an entire match of incredible talents all still looking for the very first win in an AEW ring. Darby Allin is also out for a little revenge, as he blames Spears for “stealing his moment” after wrestling Cody to a time limit draw at Fyter Fest.
7. Kenny Omega [1-1] vs. Cima [1-1]
I am personally, very much looking forward to seeing what these two ingenious artists are capable of coming up with. It’s almost insane to think that these two haven’t wrestled one-on-one before. Omega is arguably the best wrestler in the world today, depending on who you ask, but Cima has been one of the world’s best hidden gems for… I’m gonna say decades, honestly. He is so creative and technically sound – I think they’re going to have a tremendous match, and I hope it succeeds in finally bringing Cima-mania to a more mainstream western audience.
8. Hangman Page [2-0] vs. Kip Sabian [1-0]
Sabian is a high-flyer from the UK who made his debut on the Double or Nothing Buy-In, picking up a solid win over Sammy Guevara. I think most people look at this match as a high-intensity warmup for Hangman Page, as he heads into ALL OUT to face Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship. That said, Sabian is a tremendous wrestler and possibly a big asset for the fledgling promotion as they march towards their TV debut this fall. He’ll be looking to get in contention for that title just like anyone else, and with a win already under his belt, upsetting the Hangman could be a fast track to a future main event.
9. Cody [1-0-1] & Dustin Rhodes [0-1] vs. The Young Bucks [2-0]
This main event is going to be – as the kids say – dope as hell.
After the bloodbath between Cody and Dustin at Double or Nothing, the Rhodes brothers will reunite for the first time in four-and-a-half years to tackle a duo that the “American Nightmare” considers to be the best tag team in the world.
The final Road to Fight for the Fallen earlier this week injected some last-minute drama into this brother-against-brother program. The basic idea is that while in a meeting with TNT executives, Tony Khan expressed interest in Cody and Dustin as a tag team because they were highly regarded and put on some tremendous matches – a fact that Kenny Omega and the Bucks either didn’t know, or pretended not to know.
Here’s a transcript of Cody’s thoughts from Road To:
“They weren’t watching, or pretending they weren’t watching. However, I was watching BOLA, the Briscoes, Ladder Wars, the Motor City Machine Guns, and the silly ass trampoline wrestling that Dragon Gate does. I was watching all of that. I think me being so familiar with them, they’re at a complete disadvantage.
If you check social media, they’re flirting with the Usos regularly – we beat the Usos’ ass for like two years straight. I think they’re at the disadvantage. I think ‘The Elite’ fans will absolutely think we’re some kind of odd-man pairing, but it isn’t. We were a great tag team. Put your nose down at us because we were on TV and making money? Screw that. I’m maybe a little more mad about it than I thought…”