AEW had a lot of time to fill between their inaugural effort on pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, and their grand return to the Sears Centre in Chicago for All Out in August. So they booked two more cards, both taking place in what has essentially become their home state, Florida. Both shows have been named as homages to pop culture, beginning with Fyter Fest, a parody of the infamous Fyre Festival that took place about two years prior. Kenny Omega took the role of scam artist Billy McFarland, though his character leaned a bit more in the direction of bumbling fool than malicious fraudster. It did make sense for Omega to try and refocus after his defeat to Chris Jericho at Double or Nothing, though his assault at the hands of the debuting Jon Moxley was largely left out of the build. Kenny did get to show a lot more personality in the four episodes of Being the Elite setting this show up, but his story completely overshadowed any other hype that could've been built for the rest of the card. Fyter Fest just obviously wasn't a primary focus for the new company, which I assume is why it was released for free here in the US, but even for a largely transitional show, there were still quite a few highlights.
- Fyter Fest 2019 comes to you from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, part of a cross-promotion between Kenny Omega and his buddy, CEO organizer Alex Jebailey, though he made no appearance on the show as he was still recovering from having a thong stuffed in his face on the Buy In. There were two pretty big disappointments for me in terms of presentation on this night. The first was the abandonment of the main theme, as the afore-mentioned Buy In saw the hired models, FEMA tents and kiddie pool taken away by QT Marshall as part of kayfabe budgets cuts. That left the actual show with little to diversify itself from any standard AEW outing, which was a waste of potential in my opinion. My second disappointment was the performance of Jim Ross on commentary. I hate to say it, because he is a beloved legend in the business, but he was just a major drain on everything throughout the night. He was just so monotonous and totally failed to put the action or the performers over, sounding completely lost in comparison to the extremely sharp Excalibur. I do think it would serve AEW well to find a new role for JR in the future.
- Our opening contest is a showdown between two of the most tenured veterans of the industry, as Christopher Daniels of SCU takes on CIMA. 10 or 15 years ago, this match would've killed, but unfortunately, time has taken it's toll on both men, and they just can't keep up the kind of pace the crowd was obviously hoping for. That's not to say this match was bad, both are still able to put over some of the big spots and everything is well executed, but it's done to mostly silence. CIMA gets the win after a running powerbomb off the top rope and a diving meteora.
- Nyla Rose didn't get much of an opportunity to shine at Double or Nothing, her role as the hoss of AEW's women's division was immediately co-opted by the surprise appearance of Awesome Kong. Nyla gets more of a chance to work here, facing off with two much smaller Joshi veterans in Riho and Yuka Sakazaki, and the three women tear the house down. They take full advantage of the size difference with some great spots to show off Nyla's strength, tossing the smaller women around. The highlight of the match comes when Rose catches both women attempting a flying crossbody, slamming both down as the crowd erupts, a clever subversion of a standard spot. I will say that 12 minutes was maybe a little bit too long, they do run out of ideas eventually and start going into near-fall trading, which wasn't as fun as Nyla's strong woman act, and the decision to put Riho over seemed dubious to me, this was a golden opportunity to really cement Nyla as the woman to beat in the division. Still, it's a good sign that this division clearly doesn't lack talent, and it's a definite positive that the crowd was so hooked.
- Adam Page is currently stuck in a holding pattern, as his win in the Casino Battle Royal has guaranteed him an AEW title match with Chris Jericho at All Out, so he needs something to do until then. He wanted a singles match with MJF, to get revenge for Friedman disrespecting Bret Hart, but a series of misunderstandings with Nick Jackson led to a four way match also featuring Jungle Boy and Jimmy Havoc being booked instead. This is an opportunity to see what the future of AEW has to offer, and they put together an entertaining but somewhat lifeless spotfest. Honestly, the best part of all of this was MJF clowning on the gamers in the crowd before the match, though Jungle Boy also looked good, his athleticism and chemistry with tag partner Luchasaurus could definitely make him a star. The end result was obvious from the start, as Page needs to keep his momentum high in advance of that Jericho match, so he pins Havoc with the Dead Eye.
- The best part of the build to Fyter Fest, by a considerable distance too, was the promo Darby Allin cut on the second Road to Fyter Fest video. It's five minutes of brilliant character work, as he goes through the tragic loss of his uncle and his resulting disregard for his own safety, striking just the right chord between relatable and deranged. Darby has star written all over him, and his match with Cody Rhodes on this night shows just how much potential Allin has. Cody's style of wrestling tends not to be terribly exciting, but Darby adds so much by taking some incredible risks to thrill the crowd. Allin launches himself through the turnbuckles to sell an Irish whip, before later crashing, back first, on the apron attempting the Coffin Drop. On offense, Darby is more scrappy than powerful, which fits his smaller stature, striking at any possible opportunity. The closing stretch provides the drama, as both men suddenly realize they're closing on the 20 minute time limit. Darby delays Cody for just long enough, as the Cross Rhodes connects but Aubrey Edwards only reaches a two count as the bell sounds. After the match, in a controversial angle, Shawn Spears hits Cody with an unprotected chair shot to the head, which opens up a gross wound on the back of Rhodes' head. AEW took plenty of flack for that decision, and it came across as a pretty massive mistake to me. I understand the chair was supposed to be gimmicked, but if you swing them at people's heads, it doesn't take much for it to go wrong, plus it was just a waste to give a moment like that to Spears. He's just dull as a character, and nothing shown during the build indicated he would want or be capable of this kind of violence.
- For the first time in AEW, The Elite are teaming up, as the trio of Kenny Omega and the Jackson boys take on the Lucha Brothers and their new ally, Laredo Kid. This was exactly what you'd expect from these six guys, 20 minutes of choreographed spots and plenty of moments of simply unbelievable athleticism. Matt Jackson's double Northern Light suplex and Fenix's Spanish Fly to the floor were definitely the two biggest highlights, and even though I didn't complete get the Street Fighter references, that's not really my scene, the crowd really lit up for it. Kenny gets the win with the One-Winged Angel.
- Main event time, as Jon Moxley makes his in-ring debut in AEW, taking on a fellow purveyor in violence in the "Bad Boy" Joey Janela. This is considered an unsanctioned match, which just means the lights are a little dimmer and not much else. Though there wasn't much in the way of build to this one, it's been established that Janela is looking to protect his turf as the most sadistic man in wrestling, seeing Moxley as an unwelcome intruder. These two men just torture each other in this one, with some really ugly spots surrounding a whole litter of thumbtacks. Janela does get in the most thrilling moment of the match, with an elbow drop off a ladder, before he just gets torn apart by Moxley and the tacks. A Paradigm Shift on the thumbtacks ends it, but Moxley gets no time to celebrate, as Kenny Omega has finally set his sights on revenge. The beatdown is riveting at first, with Kenny getting nasty after a piledriver on the remnants of a table, but it stretches too long, as Jon no-sells the punishment he's taken so they can brawl up the stage and Kenny can whack Moxley with some musical instruments. Finally, everyone is escorted out as the show comes to a close. Look, I don't mind the usage of weapons in wrestling, and some of the my favorite matches have featured plenty of carnage and violence. But this just felt like too much to me, garbage wrestling just for the sake of shock value. When you go too far into embracing this particular style, it runs the risk of desensitizing your audience and making any hardcore spots and matches in the future lack impact.
7/10
Overall, Fyter Fest was a definite success, especially considering how little hype was built by AEW themselves. Cody and Darby's match was the best of the night, though the women's three way was really great in spots. The final two matches felt repetitive at points, but both were enjoyable for what they were. This was a brisk two and a half hours of wrestling, and did it's job to keep the momentum train rolling for this new promotion.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: AEW Fight for the Fallen 2019, where two teams of brothers face off, with Cody and Dustin Rhodes teaming up to take on the Young Bucks. See you soon.
- Henry
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