It's fair to say that Fight for the Fallen was set-up quite a bit behind the 8 ball. For starters, it was taking place outdoors in Jacksonville, in the midst of summer, no less. Just to put that into perspective, it's currently 87 degrees Fahrenheit in Jacksonville currently, and the calendar hasn't even turned to April yet. I don't know what kind of heat they were dealing with for this show, but whatever it was, I certainly wouldn't volunteer to be out in it for over 4 hours, whether as a fan or as a performer. That runtime was another issue, as was the fact that Fight for the Fallen was taking place just 2 weeks after Fyter Fest. That meant there was only room for a single episode of Being the Elite for the build, plus a few Road to... videos, nowhere near enough time to add much in terms of stakes or hype. But if there's one thing I've learned in all my years watching the WWE, it's that wrestling companies tend to function best in the face of adversary. With that in mind, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that AEW delivered a quality effort, despite my doubts going in.
- AEW's Fight for the Fallen 2019 comes to you from Daily's Place, located at the south end of the home of the Jaguars, TIAA Bank Field. This has become the hub of AEW since the onset of the COVID pandemic in real life, so this show serves as a bit of a preview of the future of wrestling. Fight for the Fallen is actually a charity event, with proceeds from the gate going to support victims of gun violence in the Jacksonville area, and is being sponsored by a local personal injury law firm. Jim Ross, Alex Marvez and Excalibur are on the call.
- Our opening contest is a six man tag, as MJF, Sammy Guevara and Shawn Spears team up to face Joey Janela, Jimmy Havoc and Darby Allin, fresh off his star making performance at Fyter Fest against Cody Rhodes. Allin continues to look great here, hitting an awesome elevated armdrag off the ropes to Guevara, though the rib injuries he suffered in that Cody match come back to bit him in the end, as he goes down to a Death Valley Driver from Spears. Sammy also gets some time to shine after a hot tag, but the highlight of the match has to be the interactions between Spears and MJF. Friedman fancies himself as Cody's best friend, and appears to be absolutely furious at the chair shot that Spears delivered to Cody at Fyter Fest, resulting in the two bickering throughout the match. It's an example of just how much AEW nails the little things, especially in matches, and makes an otherwise forgettable opener feel significantly more important.
- Brandi Rhodes really is hell bent on becoming the next Stephanie McMahon, isn't she? I mean, the similarities are endless; a woman in a position of authority thanks to nepotism, pushed as a massively influential force in the company's women's division despite having almost no experience for the role. But at least Stephanie wasn't going toe-to-toe with supposedly world class performers, at least in her early years on television. Here, we're meant to think Brandi and Allie are pretty much at the same level, with Brandi getting a clean win with assistance from her backup, Awesome Kong. The match itself is a trainwreck, sloppy and painfully dull, and even the normally vocal AEW crowd just sit on their hands, unimpressed by what they're watching. The worst part of all of this mess, though, is the fact that this is the only women's match on this card. Just abysmal.
- On to something actually good now, as the Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) defeat the teams of Angelico and Jack Evans, and Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, advancing to All Out for the opportunity to earn a first round bye in the upcoming tag title tournament. Luchasaurus is the definite star of this one, as he's given a bunch of small, agile guys to just start tossing around, with the crowd going nuts for each one of his power spots. Uno and Grayson still haven't won over the crowd, but their tandem offense at the end was very impressive, with Uno hitting a flip cannonball in the corner while Grayson leaps over him to hit a 450 splash, before they finish Jungle Boy off with the Fatality, which looked super clean. This wasn't quite on the level of the triple threat tag match on the Fyter Fest Buy In, but it did it's job to present Luchasaurus and the Dark Order as some of the big threats in the tag division.
- Adam Page continues to build momentum for his title match with Chris Jericho, running through Kip Sabian in a showcase match. Sabian's offense is generic, but he bumped well for Page, getting turned inside out with a big lariat and providing the most memorable spot of the night when Page powerbombs him onto the entrance ramp, that was ridiculous. After "Hangman" puts Kip down with the Dead Eye, a supposed Dark Order minion rushes Page, battering Adam with some strikes. The masked man gives up the ruse when he drops Page with a Codebreaker, removing his disguise to reveal the smug face of Chris Jericho. It's a redux of a spot from All In, when Jericho laid out Kenny Omega by dressing as Pentagon Jr., so it didn't really like the big surprise the commentary team were treating it like. This begins the build to Page versus Jericho, with Page coming in at an obvious disadvantage after getting through some tough fights over the last couple weeks and suffering this attack, while Jericho just hung out on his couch. On the contrary, though, AEW has done a great job building Page up, with the return from injury to win the Casino Battle Royale and this win over Sabian really making Page look completely unstoppable, and I'm really looking forward to this clash in Chicago.
- In the third of four tag matches on the card, the Lucha Brothers finally get away from wrestling the Young Bucks, at least for a short time, as they face SoCal Uncensored, represented by Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky. Both teams start the match with plenty of schtick, exchanging taunts and getting the crowd going, before Pentagon and Fenix just demolish Kaz and Sky. The Fear Factor/Diving Foot Stomp combination puts Scorpio away, before Penta and Fenix whack a returning Christopher Daniels and recovering Kazarian with a ladder, setting it up and scaling it to challenge Matt and Nick Jackson to a rubber match at All Out, this time with the AAA tag titles suspended above the ring.
- Time to bring in some strong style, as Kenny Omega and CIMA meet in the hardest-hitting contest in AEW's short history. These two men just beat each other senseless, and it is fantastic, with brutal knee strikes from Kenny and one Meteora after another by CIMA, including one off a small balcony onto a table. The crowd is definitely beginning to tire by this point, but Kenny and CIMA wake them up with their strike exchanges, including a few open palm slaps that threatened to re-arrange some teeth. I will say, though, that while the punishment both men were delivering was jaw-dropping, I wish they hadn't abandoned the plot point of CIMA's injured knee, and just in general, the selling in this match was extremely suspect. Still, I loved it, and I thought it was by far the best Kenny had looked in his first three matches in AEW, incorporating more strong style elements really made him look like a killer. "The Cleaner" gets the win with his trusty One-Winged Angel, though CIMA proves his toughness by kicking out of the Tiger Driver.
- Main event time, as Cody and Dustin Rhodes, collectively known as the Brotherhood, square off with the Young Bucks. Matt and Nick Jackson have taken an antagonistic role in the build to this match, constantly mocking the Rhodes' tearful hug at Double or Nothing, and keep the playful bullying going for the first portion of the main event, toying with Dustin. The elder Rhodes is able to gain the upper hand by launching both Bucks with a double back body drop, tagging in Cody, and now the Brotherhood take control. They wear down Matt, targeting his left arm, losing the crowd in the process, though the blistering final stretch does get some reaction. A bunch of tandem offense is executed by both teams, including Matt and Nick dropping down for simultaneous uppercuts and Cody and Dustin nailing a couple superkicks. In the end, the Meltzer Driver ends Cody's night, and ends a long main event that clocks in at over half an hour. I'm pretty sure they went too long, which cuts off Matt's post-match promo, as they need to get in the announcement of AEW's donation plus a short speech by Kenny Omega to take it home.
8/10
Cut even just 20-30 minutes from this show, and you're looking at an absolute masterpiece. Outside of the horrid Brandi/Allie match, everything on offer delivered on a much greater level than Fyter Fest, including the main event, a really tight piece of psychologically sound tag team wrestling that really needed a fresh crowd to bite on the big story beats, as something like Matt and Nick taking advantage of Cody's head injury to deliver a devastating superkick sandwich got almost no reaction. Despite the failure to properly judge the conditions they were performing in, AEW knocked this one out of the park, especially considering the two weeks build. I think the looming presence of All Out about a month and a half away is what helped push this show above Fyter Fest, as the stakes are beginning to get clearer.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: We head to the Sears Centre for All Out 2019, the final AEW pay-per-view before the launch of Dynamite. On the Buy In, the women get their chance in the Casino Battle Royal, while on the main show, the first AEW champion is crowned. See you soon.
- Henry
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