It’s week 9 of the WedHead2Head as we take a look at the Wednesday Night Wars through the perspective of a combat sports style scorecard.
AEW hasn’t won a week since week 1, we’ve yet to have all three judges agree. Will either of those things change? Find out below.
Apologies for lateness this week, have been visiting my brother in Canada and was out all weekend! Let battle commence.
Rd 1 - Elite 2.0ld/Inner Circle vs Dain/Dunne
JCH:AEW kicked off with a super fun 6 man. I love the Young Bucks, people who complain they have no psychology aren’t watching wrestling. I preferred this version of the Elite with Dustin in it to the Omega version. It was just a little bit more memorable. Guevara is a standout dic on the other side. Cocky little so and so who you want to see get beaten up. On NXT Dain and Dunne were decent but this round is a comfortable 10-9 to AEW
10-9 AEW
Brum:NXT kicks off with a fine Dain/Dunne match. I was a bit disappointed that Dain won this as it implies the feud isn't over & Peter really needs to move on. The AEW opener was a lot of fun & takes the first round.
AEW 10-9.
Matt:Not too much to separate these two openers but both had very different feels. A high energy 6 man over on AEW with many fun spots against the more technically able and hard-hitting effort on NXT. I liked NXT's opener a lot but the extra energy on AEW gives them round 1 for me.
10-9 AEW
Rd 2 - Trent/Rey Fenix vs Shayna/Xia Li
JCH:Lovely little outing for XIa Li here, throwing everything she had at Shayna, but that one mistake was pounced on by the champ. Xia isn’t experienced enough to beat her yet, but she can store this one away for later on and she has a bright future. Rey Fenix is top level talent. World top 10, probably in the higher part of that list. His excellence combined with Chuck lifting up Orange Cassidy’s arm for him to drop on the mat gives another victory to AEW
10-9 AEW. 20-18 AEW
Brum:The Trent/Lucha Bros stuff has felt like everyone is just spinning their wheels. However, I quite liked Trent snapping at the end - Hopefully this leads to something. I'm not as much on the Xia Li train as others. I like her style but she's still a tad green. With that said, I'm not sure this semi-squash is the right move for her after she's had a few wins recently. As for the in-ring action, AEW was more enjoyable so takes the round again.
10-9 AEW. 20-18 AEW
Matt:Fenix is great. Not sleeping on Trent but Fenix is able to mix devastation with athleticism better than most. Xia Li has potential but at this point this is bird feed for Shayna who was as dominant and impressive as ever in their brief encounter. I give the edge to AEW here based on Fenix.
10-9 AEW. 20-18 AEW
Rd 3 - Cody promo vs Era/Lee promo w/brawl
JCH:The Undisputed Era and top NXT babyface feud continues here with another above average segment. Cole and O’Reilly were great here and big Keith has the crowd absolutely in the palm of his hand. Most weeks this would be a segment winner. However... Cody delivered once again with another fantastic passion filled promo, laying out everything he has to get a shot at MJF. Top job again Mr Rhodes
10-9 AEW. 30-27 AEW
Brum: I'm enjoying the rise of Keith Lee & his promo bit here with the UE was fun. However, Cody smashed it out of the park in this segment. His character shouldn't work as the lead face of the company, but it does because of how earnest he is. Great stuff.
10-9 AEW. 30-27 AEW
Matt: I loved this Cody promo. I pretty much love everything he does in AEW though. Cash prizes are great for wrestling as I have said previous and now it is name your price for MJF and this takes that feud forward. It's great to see Lee getting such huge reactions in Full Sail but the AEW promo was more my cup of tea. AEW get this round.
10-9 AEW. 30-27 AEW
Rd 4 - Nyla Rose jobber (plus post-match) vs Forgotten Sons jobber match (plus post-match)
JCH:Couple of squash matches here to establish a couple of players on the back burner. Both looked dominant post-match but AEW took it that little bit further. First continuing the Shanna and Nyla storyline and then having Nyla put a ref through a table. The Britt Baker spot was quite funny as well.
AEW 10-9. 40-36 AEW
Brum:Though I liked the post-match choke slam to the apron bit, The Forgotten Sons do absolutely nothing for me. The Nyla Rose destruction segment was solid enough & nice to see a bit of Shanna. Bonus points for the Britt Baker joke but not enough for more than a 10-9.
10-9 AEW. 40-36 AEW
Matt:Nyla Rose should be the champion of the division but regardless I am glad they are finally giving her a purpose and something to do now. The match was a whooping but letting her take out Avalon as well just helps make her the monster she should be. Plus, all the post-match stuff was cool. Shame they took the Ad break during it. Forgotten Sons are just not clicking still but I guess that's the point. Ryker nearly murdered one of the jobbers at the end which was great. AEW again for me though.
10-9 AEW. 40-36 AEW
Rd 5 - Chris Jericho promo. Vs Kai/Yim/Ripley/Baszler segment
JCH:The Lexicon of Le Champion. Yeah, it’s a re-hash, but sulky teenage Chris Jericho is fantastic. Lots of gems in here. Paige, Allen Jones stand out off the top of my head. Luchasaurus talking about how dinosaurs had been held down for years was fantastic and a nice set up for a Jungle Boy/Jericho match. The NXT women continue to hit as well. The return of Yim after Dakota’s admission of guilt led to a nice brawl, then a bit of vulnerability from Ripley as Shayna destroyed her before challenging her to a title match on her terms. December 18th is setting up to be a big show.
AEW 10-10 NXT. 50-46 AEW
Brum:I feel bad for NXT here. They had a solid segment which gives us Shayna/Rhea (whoop) & also Yim/Kai. However, they can't take the round because Jericho does it again. His list harked back to the 1,004 holds promo & had lots of good jokes in there. I also liked Jungle Boy having a shot against him in a couple of weeks.
10-9 AEW. 50-45 AEW
Matt:Jericho is on a greatest hits tour of his best bits and bringing back "The List" was a great idea. It was funny and in one line we now get Jungle Boy elevated to a championship shot. Loving their use of Jericho. The Women’s stuff on NXT was good but all the really good stuff is still to come and although she had that bananas ladder match, I still don’t dig Mia Yim. AEW again I'm afraid.
10-9 AEW. 50-45 AEW
Rd 6 - Shida/Statlander. Vs Riddle/Ohno
JCH:I think probably the best match segments of the show. Shida and Statlander had a really strong outing, with a surprise ending that helps establish another contender in the AEW women’s division. Rids and Ohno I thought was a little bit of a slow starter, but it grew on me and an impressive looking Bro Derek on the big man salvages a share of the spoils for NXT
AEW 10-10 NXT. 60 -56 AEW
Brum:Going into this, I'd have said this would be a cakewalk for NXT. I bloody love Chris Hero & I'm a Riddle fan boy too. However, there was something missing here. It had its moments but just never really clicked. Statlander/Shida was one of my favourite Dynamite women's matches so far. It wasn't quite enough to take the round (as a bad Hero/Riddle match is still good) but enough to take a surprise tie.
10-10. 60-55 AEW
Matt:Shida and Statlander had a banger here but the Ad break at the start just took a fraction away from it. Nice to see Ohno back on NXT and him and Riddle can't really have a bad match can they? This is super close, but that Ad break really annoyed me so NXT edge through here.
10-9 NXT. 59-55 AEW
Rd 7 - Pentagon/Daniels. Vs Kushida/Grimes
JCH:My main memory from Daniels and Penta was Daniels falling off the ropes I don’t think it was a deliberate sell like Nick Jackson. Over on NXT Cameron Grimes was smashing it. A ramp attack on Mendoza got him in the match, then a lovely little sprint between him and KUSHIDA. Top stuff. Great reactions from both in the post-match as well.
NXT 10-9 AEW. 69-66 AEW
Brum:I'm not one to slaughter sacred cows, but I'm not sure if Daniels does it for me anymore. His career has been incredible, but I just don't get that excited for his matches these days. Soz lad. Grimes KUSHIDA was really short, but they packed in lots. Enough to give NXT its first round of the night.
10-9 NXT. 69-65 AEW
Matt:Both of these matches were solid. Looks like we are going to get a Heel Penta going forward and I will be all for that. One of my favourite dudes to watch if he has something to get his teeth into. Grimes is fantastic over on NXT and Kushida is one of my favourite wrestlers in the world. They had a great little back and forth here and, in my opinion, it was a little better than the AEW effort so point to NXT.
10-9 NXT. 68-65 AEW
Rd 8 - Moxley/Janela (with post-match) vs Era/Lee/Ciampa/Dijakovic (with post-match)
JCH:Another filthy finish from Moxley in what was just a bit of a meh main event from AEW. The circle mimicking Mox from last week was a nice touch. Jericho killing it in the non-ring segments. NXT had saved their super fun 6 man for the main event. I didn’t even mind the interference as it led to next weeks triple threat and that shot of Keith Lee appearing over Balor’s shoulder was cinematic beauty. The rocket appears strapped to big Keith’s back and it wouldn’t shock me if he had a new belt to take home for Christmas. Almost, almost a 10-8 for that shot, but not quite.
NXT 10-9 AEW. 78-76 AEW
Brum: Tough round to judge here as both main events were good. I think NXT takes it just for the Keith Lee rise into shot behind Balor - love that shit. I also like the multi-layered title picture. I'm not sure what this means for Ciampa though...
10-9 NXT. 78-75 AEW
Matt:Nice to see Janela and Moxley go about this completely different to their brutal encounter back in June. Janela on a road to show he is a serious contender in AEW and commentary slayed it here. Mox digs out the win and we build toward him and Le Champion down the road. Smart all round. The NXT main was fun as all six dudes are excellent really, but it did feel a tad routine to me. Balor coming out and setting us up for next week was a good touch of course but much like with the Shayna Rhea stuff I feel the best stuff is coming up. AEW did more for me here.
10-9 AEW. 78-74 AEW.
Rd 9 - Dark Order package/Janela Moxley interview/Brandi & Kong promo/Butcher, Blade, Bunny promo. Vs Balor package/Ohno backstage/Kushida package/Swerve package/Garza vs Rush package/Kai interview
JCH: A whole lot of stuff going on this week. Things I liked - Moxley turning up at the end of Janela’s interview looking unconcerned and saying ‘Kids’ then walking off again. The Bunny promo explaining their dislike for seeing Cody everywhere. The KUSHIDA package. Was absolutely beautiful. Apparently I’m a sucker for family stuff. The Garza/Rush hype video. If you weren’t already hype for the re-match then you don’t like wrestling, but am now super hyped. Brandi and Kong are now running some sort of head shaving cult. The Dark Order are a cult who beat you up when you join them. Do you have enough cult-based gimmicks? Ohno was a delight as always, Balor and Swerve stiff was fine and a nice follow up promo from Dakota. Overall, they take the win here.
NXT 10-9 AEW
Brum:NXT with a few solid packages as always. AEW is a bit harder to judge as it's a bit reliant on where this is all going. There has been some criticism that there are 3 "dark" factions (Nightmare Collective/BBB/Dark Order) knocking about at the moment. However, Brandi talked about a "wider family". This could just be a reference to the Nightmare Family & 3 similar factions could just be lazy booking OR.... these could all be leading to something. And if it is, there is a member of The Elite who is recently out of contract & fits perfectly into all this... Anyway, I can't judge rounds based on fantasy booking but there is enough intrigue here to give AEW the edge over NXT.
10-9 AEW.
Matt:Tough this. Of all the segments involved here I really liked 2 of them. Dark Order stuff is coming together for me now. Had we not already seen them I would be major hyped. This stuff is class. Kushida's promo made him relatable and was kind of a snapshot version of how they humanised Roddy Strong a while ago. I love Kushida as I stated earlier so I loved this. Back to AEW and the Janela/Moxley interview did its job. Brandi feels an odd fit, but I like the direction and am just happy the Women are getting more than one match a week. 3 B's stuff was well put together. As for NXT Balor package (ooh err) was meh. OHNO backstage was a fair reasoning for him showing up. Swerve and Cruiser stuff, I can't even remember. Kai interview fine. AEW overall for me.
10-9 AEW
Overall
JCH:Interesting result here, as I thought I enjoyed NXT a little bit more, but segments saw it go to AEW. This has happened the other way around a couple of times. I think the shows have levelled off a bit after a hot start, but there are still people producing consistent highlights each week. Jericho and Cody on the mic. The undisputed Era guys in the ring. NXT women’s division. Hikaru Shida. Rey Fenix, the Young Bucks. The top NXT babyfaces. We were probably a little bit spoiled at the start of the ‘wars’ but if this is the standard we get going forward I can definitely live with it.
AEW 87-86 NXT
Brum:
Some entertaining bits scattered throughout each show, but I do feel both shows have had a bit of a decline these past few weeks. AEW had the edge this week because of 2 cracking promo segments from their 2 top guys; Cody & Jericho.
AEW 84-83 NXT
Matt:Back to backing the boys over at AEW. The next two weeks are going to be banging!
AEW 88-83 NXT
It’s finally happened. We all agree and get our first ever unanimous decision as AEW wins for the first time since week 1. Pretty convincing win as they jumped out winning the first 4 segments on all scorecards and didn’t let NXT back in. Good job
OVERALL SCORECARDS
NXT - 4 (by split decision - 3, by majority decision - 1)
Draw -3 (2 majority draws, 1 split draw)
AEW - 2 (by majority decision - 1, by unanimous decision -1)
INDIVIDUAL SCORECARDS:
JCH: NXT - 5; Draw - 2 AEW - 2
Brum: NXT - 2; Draw - 3; AEW - 4
Matt C: NXT - 3; Draw - 1; AEW – 4
Guests: NXT - 1; Draw - 0; AEW - 0
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