I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: nobody puts on a pure wrestling show quite like AEW. If you want high-stakes action, wild spots that make you tilt your head like you just heard a weird noise, or straight-up technical brilliance, AEW delivers every single time.

And Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark? No different. A fantastic show overall—with a few “Huh?” moments sprinkled in. Let’s talk about it.

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Pre-Show Chaos (But Not the Fun Kind)

So I flip on Zero Hour expecting the usual warm-up on Amazon Prime… and suddenly there’s wrestling happening on TBS while the panel is talking on Prime? Pretty confusing. AEW definitely didn’t spell this one out well, so I missed the first couple minutes of the opener before I realized what was happening. Not the end of the world, just annoying.

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Bang Bang Gang vs. The Acclaimed (kind of) vs. Big Bill & Bryan Keith vs. The Outrunners

I had Bang Bang Gang winning, and—boom—they did. Still no clear news on Jay White’s return, but it feels like they’re keeping this crew hot until he’s ready to jump back in.

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Big Boom AJ & QT Marshall vs. RPG Vice

Whenever Big Boom AJ, Big Justice, and the Rizzler are involved, it just feels like good vibes. Paul Wight hopped on commentary (first time in a while!) and even helped the guys steal a win. Fun moment. Also: another correct prediction for me, so we’re taking those.

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Hook & Eddie Kingston vs. The Workhorsemen

Exactly what we thought: Hook and Kingston squash them in under 3 minutes. Simple enough.
…But little did we know this match would make zero sense later. We’ll get there.

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CMLL World Trios Championship: El Sky Team (c) vs. Okada, Takeshita & Hechicero

The Okada–Takeshita tension? Chef’s kiss.
Okada showing up late, then flipping off his own partner when they try to shake hands—absolutely hilarious and perfectly executed.

El Sky Team retains, which I called, but the real highlight was the beautifully petty energy between Okada and Takeshita.

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Pac vs. Darby Allin

Darby beat Mox at the last PPV, so I figured Pac needed this one more. And sure enough—with a little help from Wheeler Yuta and Darby’s own bat—Pac gets the win.

Darby bumps like he’s trying to lose a bet every match. I honestly don’t know how his body still works. The guy is unreal.

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Announcement: Continental Classic Confusion

So the Continental Classic starts Wednesday. Okada is the Unified Champion (Continental + International).
But is he defending both?
Just the Continental?
If he loses the Continental, does the “Unified” thing… un-unify?

Tony: please explain this on Wednesday. Wrestling was confusing enough before we started stacking belts like LEGOs.

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Women’s Tag Team 4-Way: Timeless Love Bombs vs… Everybody

This match was loaded. AEW’s women’s division is ridiculously deep right now. The names in the ring alone were stacked, and then you remember: Mone, Statlander, Athena, Deonna, Britt, Thunder Rosa, Kamille, Nyla, Anna Jay, Billie Starkz… it’s honestly wild.

I expected Sisters of Sin to win, but the Timeless Love Bombs take it. Starting to feel like Tony Khan wants to keep some kind of gold on Toni Storm at all times—and honestly, I’m not complaining.

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AEW World Tag Team Championship: Brodido (c) vs. FTR

I really like Brodido, especially with their ROH history, so part of me wanted them to retain.
But nope—FTR are your new champs.

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Casino Gauntlet for the Inaugural AEW National Championship

Entrants included: Lashley, Shelton, Ricochet, Claudio, Daniel Garcia, Orange, Yuta, Roderick Strong, Mike Bailey, Mark Davis, Kevin Knight, Matt Menard.

And in the end?

Ricochet outlasts everyone and wins the whole thing.
Honestly… good for him. Right call.

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No Holds Barred: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jon Moxley

This might have been the most heartwarming “violence match” I’ve seen in a while.

Kyle O’Reilly looked done a year ago—skinny, injured, just not himself. But he clawed his way back, and AEW rewarded him with a PPV match against Mox. And he didn’t just hang—he made Mox tap. Again!

Huge, huge moment for Kyle.

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AEW TNT Championship: Kyle Fletcher (c) vs. Mark Briscoe (No DQ)

Stipulation: Briscoe joins the Don Callis Family if he loses

Match of the night. No question.

Mark Briscoe proved a lot of people wrong—anyone who thought Jay was clearly the better wrestler had to stop and reevaluate after this. Briscoe hung with Fletcher step for step and pulled off the upset. Fantastic stuff.

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$1,000,000 Trios Match: The Bucks & Josh Alexander vs. Jurassic Express & Kenny Omega

I got this partially right: The Bucks and Josh Alexander win. Side note: Josh Alexander looks like a beast and needs a monster heel run ASAP.

Post-match, the Don Callis Family beats down Kenny until the Bucks return to save him.
The Elite is back together, and apparently Jack Perry and Luchasaurus are included now. AEW lore is wild.

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AEW Women’s World Championship: Statlander (c) vs. Mercedes Mone

Really good match. Mercedes was chasing her 15th title, but Statlander just wouldn’t break. AEW continues giving Statlander the spotlight she deserves. Big win for her.

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Main Event – AEW World Championship (Steel Cage): Hangman Page (c) vs. Samoa Joe

Okay… this is where things got weird.

Hangman beat Mox in Texas and it felt like he was being set up for a long reign. Instead, his title run’s been… kind of bland. But I still didn’t expect AEW to put the belt back on Samoa Joe so quickly.

We got:

• Shibata (from The Opps) trying to interfere

• Eddie Kingston stopping him

• Hook showing up to “help” Hangman

• …and turning heel instead

• Eddie never returning for revenge

• Hook being a face earlier that same night

It felt like several chapters of a story got skipped.

Swerve coming down to help Hangman was a cool twist though, given their feud. That part worked.

But in the end?

Samoa Joe is your new AEW World Champion.
Did not see that coming.