[M-A-G]

Originally Posted by Evil Vito Night 6! C Block: Brody King vs. Hook Continuing what happened on Night 5, two winlesss competitors squared off looking to secure their first points in the tournament. Poor Hook got absolutely throttled here, this match played out in such a way that it was the single biggest drubbing in the entire tournament so far. This was all Brody all the way and the big man grabs 2 points following the Gonzo Bomb in a quick one. Winner: Brody King Time: 4:27 Rating: 62% --

See, this is why I can't see something like this tournament working in the WWE. There's no way they'd go this long letting somebody stand with zero points. Everyone's a winner, trophies for participation. The Gonzo Bomb isn't what I think it is, right?

D Block: Adam Cole vs. Buddy Matthews Inspired by his House of Black stablemate finally getting a win, Buddy Matthews looked to do the same against a game Adam Cole. Unfortunately luck was not on his side. Buddy carried all of the early momentum but he couldn't quite put Cole down before he started to mount a head of steam in comeback. A stellar match full of vicious knees thrown at each other ends quite appropriately with Cole lowering The Boom right to the back of Buddy's head. Winner: Adam Cole Time: 16:24 Rating: 96% ---

Sorry, but Buddy Matthews is such a jobber name, I think. I'd need to see him to really make a fair call because I feel like I'm being mean. I at least know Cole and his history before moving on up to the majors.

C Block: Luchasaurus vs. "The Redeemer" Miro On paper this looked like it'd be a serious hoss fight between the unbeaten and the winless. Instead we got another stinker of a showing from Miro. Given how strong he's booked on AEW television, it's kinda fascinating to see him just get his ass kicked in Fire Pro. I'm trying to imagine how they'd actually play this off in reality, I can only assume Miro would just look completely unfocused. Dammit Lana! Anyway, Luchasaurus puts Miro away with the Land Before Time to go 3-0 and send one of the block favorites to a shocking 0-3. Winner: Luchasaurus Time: 7:18 Rating: 64% ---

Dude, Lana must have some glorious pie to be affecting Miro in this fashion.

D Block: Jungle Boy vs. "The Spanish God" Sammy Guevara After two largely terrible one-sided matches from the C Block, the D Block is definitely picking up the slack and delivering the goods. These two men have been described as being two of the four "pillars" of young AEW talent as the company first got its footing, and they gelled really well in this one. Crowd reaction intensified as Jungle Boy's lovable plucky underdog played a sharp contrast to Sammy's smarmy dickhead self. Sammy looks like he's got Jungle Boy ready to be put away for the kill. Picks him up for a GTH only for Jungle Boy to reverse out of it and spike Sammy on his head with a Poisonrana! Jungle Boy wins! Winner: Jungle Boy Time: 14:43 Rating: 91% ---

Spanish God seems like the right way to go for a nickname. It's simple and broad, not too specific, otherwise you'd be making the fans have to spell something like Xothchipeloauticanehan or whatever.

C Block: Eddie Kingston vs. Penta Oscuro These two men are former friends, forging an alliance back during the pandemic days of AEW. But there's no time for friends in a tournament setting like this. True to their hardcore style, this match almost immediately got taken out to the floor with gratuitous use of the barricade. Bryce Remsburg's arm must've gotten worn out from the amount of times he had to start and restart his countout attempts. Once the match got back into the ring, Penta was able to leverage his quickness to keep Eddie off his game. Penta connects with a Fear Factor too close to the ropes, and then tries again and Eddie, being a tough and stubborn bastard kicks out! Penta remains undeterred and hits him with a third Fear Factor to finally end it. Winner: Penta Oscuro Time: 11:38 Rating: 85% ---

Fear Factor would be a great tag team name. I'm sure someone's done it. Yes, I know of the Faces of Fear but that doesn't count.

D Block: "Limitless" Keith Lee vs. Kenny Omega This is a match I'd quite like to see in real life, Lee moves so much better than a guy his size has any right to and Omega for my money is the best worker in the world nowadays. Anyway this was all about Omega managing to find a way to stay clear of Lee's high impact power moves, which he was able to do so successfully. A few V-Triggers are unable to put the big man down so Omega had to go to the next plan: show off his surprising strength by hoisting the big Lee up on his shoulders for a One Winged Angel! Nobody kicks out of that one! Winner: Kenny Omega Time: 9:28 Rating: 84% ---

OK, I looked up what these guys looked like and no freaking way a dude like Omega is hoisting up a dude like Lee for that.

C Block: Frankie Kazarian vs. Jon Moxley When we last saw Kazarian, he was pulling off a surprise upset over Miro. Watching Miro tonight, it would be easy to question if maybe he just took advantage of a slumping opponent and that he'd come back down to earth against the unbeaten Moxley. Instead what we got was Kazarian proving he can absolutely rise to the level of the competition. Both men throw everything they have at one another, Kazarian narrowly avoids a Paradigm Shift and instead hits Mox with a D.O.A. for the win. Kazarian has just pinned the Interim World Champion! Winner: Frankie Kazarian Time: 10:24 Rating: 90% ---

First Miro, then Moxley? WTF, does this game have a hard on for Kazarian?

D Block: Christian Cage vs. "Mr. Mayhem" Wardlow This match was a masterclass in crowd reaction as Christian remains just about the most hated heel in the company and Wardlow is currently over as all fuck. I can just imagine the boos as Christian keeps finding ways to slither out of the Powerbomb as he did in this match. Christian keeps trying to resort to some underhanded tactics but gets thwarted at every turn. Wardlow finally connects with a Powerbomb which gets a massive pop. Wardlow decides this isn't enough punishment for an asshole like Christian so he picks him back up and hits him with a F-10 to close it out. Winner: Wardlow Time: 11:44 Rating: 94% ---

If you're really going to double the F-5 you'd end up with the L-10.

C Block: "Hangman" Adam Page vs. "Absolute" Ricky Starks There's some definite bad blood in the C Block main event of the evening. The last time these two men faced off, it was early 2021 and Starks suffered a neck fracture during the match and it could've been a whole lot worse. So suffice to say, these two went hell for leather at each other right from the opening bell and never really let up. Hangman connects with a Dead Eye, dropping Starks right on his previously damaged neck but he kicks out! Page goes to Plan B and heads to the apron for a Buckshot Lariat but Starks thwarts the attempt with a Superkick. Picks Page up and connects with the Roshambo for a huge win. Winner: Ricky Starks Time: 10:29 Rating: 83% ---

What, is the Roshambo just a punt to the nuts?

D Block: "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy vs. Claudio Castagnoli Capping off the night in a big way with two fan favorites meeting up with the winner guaranteed to end the night in sole possession of first place through the first third of the tournament. Unfortunately, this match would probably be way more fun in real life than it was in Fire Pro. The game doesn't know what match is the main event since you just play individual matches within league mode...but it sure feels like they're hellbent on making every main event be mildly underwhelming. Anyway, they never quite got out of second gear here but it was a fairly even contest throughout. The finishing spot I imagined being pretty dope though. Claudio whips Cassidy off the ropes, shoots him high into the air for a big uppercut but instead, Cassidy hits a Stundog Millionaire on the way down to get the win outta nowhere. Winner: Orange Cassidy Time: 10:30 Rating: 74%

I always preferred the big uppercut to the giant swing when Claudio was in the WWE. It was something out of Street Fighter.