AEW All Out, New Japan and their Junior Tag Tournament, along with normal television product. We get a surprisingly diverse Top 5, where it’s actually 5 and unique shows throughout!

Let’s take a look at the August Pool first, this way you see who won last week; and of course, what it fighting for the MOTY spot.

August Pool:

• NJPW Summer Struggle: Minoru Suzuki vs Yuji Nagata
• AEW Dynamite: AEW Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs Darby Allin
• NOAH the Chronicle Vol 3: GHC National Openweight & GHC Heavyweight Championship Double Title Match: Kenoh (c) vs Go Shiozaki (c)
• Impact Wrestling Emergence: Impact World Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns (c) vs The North 
• Impact Emergence: Knockouts Championship Ironman Match: Jordynne Grace vs Deonna Purrazzo (c)

So my pick won’t be a real surprise since it’s currently my number one of the year, Kenoh vs Go Shiozaki, is a double title match done correctly. Would be nice to see it get some love, but I think it has a real shot since Shiozaki’s Heavyweight run has gotten a decent amount of attention.

Now on to this week.

Quick Top 5:

1. NXT Fatal Four Way Iron Man Match: Tommaso Ciampa vs Johnny Gargano vs Finn Balor vs Adam Cole
   Rating: ****
2. New Japan Road: LIJ (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) vs Ass Masters (Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato)
   Rating: ****
3. AEW All Out: AEW Tag Team Championship: Hangman Page & Kenny Omega (c) vs FTR
   Rating: ****
4. IMPACT!: Impact World Championship: Eddie Edwards (c) vs Eric Young
   Rating: *** 3/4
5. WWE SmackDown: Women’s Tag Team Championships: Sasha Banks & Bayley vs Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax (c)
   Rating: *** 3/4

Honorable Mentions:

• AEW All Out: AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs Thunder Rosa
  Rating: *** 1/2
• NJPW Strong Ep. 5: Jay White vs Flip Gordon
  Rating: *** 1/2
• WWE Raw: Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton vs Keith Lee
  Rating: *** 1/2
• AEW Dynamite: Thunder Rosa vs Serena Deeb
  Rating: *** 1/2
• New Japan Road: CHAOS (Toru Yano, SHO & Kazuchika Okada) & Gabriel Kidd vs CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii) & Yuya Uemura
  Rating: *** 1/4
• WWE Raw: Keith Lee vs Dolph Ziggler
  Rating: *** 1/4
• New Japan Road: Suzuki-Gun (El  Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs Ass Masters (Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato)
  Rating: *** 1/4
• WWE SmackDown: Jey Uso vs Matt Riddle vs King Corbin vs Sheamus
  Rating: *** 1/4
• AEW All Out: Dark Order (Stu Greyson, Evil Uno, Brodie Lee & Colt Cabana) vs Dustin Rhodes, Matt Cardona, Scorpio Sky & QT Marshall
  Rating: ***
• New Japan Road: CHAOS (SHO, Toru Yano & Kazuchika Okada) & Yota Tsuji vs CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto) & Gabriel Kidd
  Rating: ***
• NJPW Strong Ep 5: Hikuleo vs Brody King
  Rating: ***
• New Japan Road: LIJ (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) vs Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori & Gedo)
  Rating: ***
• IMPACT!: Dez & Wentz vs Ace Austin & Fulton
  Rating: ***
• New Japan Road: Suzuki-Gun (El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs Bullet Club (Gedo & Taiji Ishimori)
  Rating: ***
• AEW All Out: AEW World Championship: MJF vs Jon Moxley (c)
  Rating: ***
• New Japan Road: Yota Tsuji vs Satoshi Kojima
  Rating: ***

4t. WWE SmackDown: Women’s Tag Team Championships: Sasha Banks & Bayley vs Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax (c)

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Shayna drags Sasha around by the bad legs, steps through but Sasha cradle counters! TWO, Shayna DECKS Bayley! Shayna has Sasha’s legs again, and stomps away on the bad knee!! Sasha can only scream in pain as Shayna ties the legs up in a Deathlock. Bayley runs in, it’s just like Payback! But Bayley uses the BAYLEY2BELLY to counter!! Shayna is down, Sasha crawls to cover, TWO!! But into a BANK STATEMENT! Nia clobbers Bayley and kicks Sasha! Nia goes back to her corner, Shayna crawls over, and gets the tag! Nia has Sasha in a STRETCH MUFFLER!! Sasha powers up and sunset flips, TWO!! Nia drags Sasha up to a fireman’s carry, then goes to a corner! Nia climbs, Bayley gets in to save Sasha!

Sasha falls but Bayley helps her up. They see Shayna coming, and manage to give her the DOUBLE SLAM! But Nia LEAPS for a double crossbody!! Double cover, Nia and Shayna win!!

Winner: Nia via Avalanche Crossbody

4t. IMPACT!: Impact World Championship: Eddie Edwards (c) vs Eric Young

From My Results:

We see a great back and forth this entire match. Young eats some offense and smiles through it, going at Eddie full tilt. Young does the smart thing by focusing the head and next with strikes, lariats, Slingblades; all in a way to soften Eddie up for the Piledriver.

As Eddie continues to show his resolve, he goes for a Plancha to the outside, but lands a little oddly, jamming his knee. This is a great sell from Eddie for the rest of the match. He hits a Tiger Driver, but can’t get his legs all the way over since he’s selling the knee. Teases the Boston Knee Party, but EY powders, causing Eddie to go for a desperation Tope. Hampered by the knee, Eddie is slow to get back in the ring.

EY goes for the World Title, the referee takes it from him. While the ref is distracted putting the belt away, EY uses his hockey mask to crack Eddie in the head. Piledriver afterward, and we have a new world champ.

Winner: Eric Young via Piledriver

1t. AEW All Out: AEW Tag Team Championship: Hangman Page & Kenny Omega (c) vs FTR

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Hangman BOOTS Dax, spins Cash around but Cash gets around to club Hangman! Cash Electric Chairs, Dax tags in, ANOTHER BULLDOG DOOMSDAY!! Cover, TWO!?! Hangman survives and FTR can’t believe it! Dax tags Cash back in, Cash climbs back up, but Omega trips him up! Hangman dumps Dax out hard! Hangman climbs up to go after Cash, for a SUPER FALL AWAY SLAM! Cover, TWO!?! Cash survives and no one can believe it! Omega and Hangman want to finish this, “This is Awesome!” and they line up a shot on Cash. The ref tells Omega he has to go back to the corner but Omega doesn’t care. Dax anchors Hangman, Hangman kicks him away, slingshot but Cash ducks! Luckily Omega ducks, too! Hangman and Omega switch roles, Omega runs but Cash moves, Hangman takes the V-TRIGGER!!

Cash CHOP BLOCKS Omega’s bad leg! Omega tries to help Hangman wake up but Cash drags him away. Cash dropkicks Omega out of the ring, then tags in Dax. Dax drags Hangman up, Cash hops up, MIND BREAKER!! Cover, Dax taunts Omega, TWO?!!? Hangman survives!? Cash throws Omega out, Dax drags Hangman. Cash tags in, clobbers Omega, MIND BREAKER AGAIN!! Cover, Dax pushes Omega out, FTR WINS!!

Winner: FTR via Mind Breaker

1t. New Japan Road: LIJ (BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi) vs Ass Masters (Ryusuke Taguchi & Master Wato)

From My Results:

LIJ plays the heel roll in this match, and we all know it works perfectly. BUSHI takes a shortcut, uses his shirt to choke Wato, and then Hiromu comes back in and starts mocking Tenzan’s Mongolian Chops. Tenzan may have taken Wato under his wing a little, but now he’s getting a bit offended by Hiromu’s japes. Taguchi however uses the Mongolian Chop to break up a submission, and Tenzan nods and claps approvingly.

Wato fights off both Hiromu and BUSHI at different points to finally tag in Taguchi, and we get a mostly serious time save for two spots. One where BUSHI and Hiromu saw the Hip Attack coming, so they nonchalantly part and Taguchi’s ass goes crashing. Then Taguchi hits a Drop Toe Hold sending Hiromu head first in BUSHI…mostly where you’d expect that to land if it’s funny.

Taguchi did a really good job at trying to keep Wato grounded and buy him time, but BUSHI and Hiromu have such great chemistry and timing, they’re saves and distractions proved a little better. Wato and Taguchi show off a tandem move, Taguchi does a Wheelbarrow Facebuster and Wato comes off the top with a Bulldog; simple but effective, yet only a 2 count.

Wato and Taguchi get an opening to go for the RPP, but BUSHI shakes off Taguchi and slows down Wato just enough to make sure the RPP misses. A little more LIJ domination and we see the Tandem Facecrusher once again, now referred to as the LAT.

Winner: LIJ via LAT

1t. NXT Fatal Four Way Iron Man Match: Tommaso Ciampa vs Johnny Gargano vs Finn Balor vs Adam Cole

From Mitchell’s Coverage:

Ciampa staggers back and CHOPS Cole down! And he CHOPS Gargano down! The crowd is thunderous as Ciampa drags Cole up and snap suplexes him to the floor! Ciampa goes after Balor, and throws him into the boards again! We’re at THREE minutes left as Gargano fires off on Ciampa. Ciampa CHOPS back, and again, and again! Gargano flops down, Ciampa puts him under the ring! RING FRAME GUILLOTINE!! Gargano gasps and sputters, Ciampa drags him up and into the ring! Ciampa covers, but Cole drags him off it! Cole throws forearms, Ciampa hits back. Ciampa gets back to Gargano, Balor drags him off now! Balor and Ciampa brawl, Ciampa throws Balor all the way to girders! Ciampa throws Cole into more girders!

Ciampa hurries back to the ring, but Gargano surprises him with a cradle! TWO!!! Ciampa is up, and he throat chops Gargano!! We’re at 90 seconds!! Ciampa looms over the gasping Gargano, drags in him up and puts him in a corner. Ciampa CHOPS Gargano again! ONE MINUTE! Ciampa puts Gargano up top, CHOPS again, then climbs up to join Gargano. Gargano feebly resists, Ciampa brings Gargano up, SUPER AIR RAID CRASH!! But Balor COUP DE GRACE!! Cover on Ciampa, Balor gets the fifth fall!!

Winner: Tie between Finn and Cole

Thoughts:

This is an interesting week. Everything is fairly close quality wise, and nothing sticks out completely. Sure the Four Way was cool, but it wasn’t nearly as epic as some may have had in their mind. The All Out match, though the best on the show, was still a little bit of a drag because of other things. Junior tags was a damn good match, but kinda predictable and not something that will stick in minds much.

All things considered, I think I’m voting for the Women’s Tag Match. It was surprisingly high quality considering Nia was involved (they did keep her limited a little), plus we got the nice angle with Sasha and Bayley. So it all worked well together and I won’t lie, I was impressed.