Zachary Worstell
zdw001@marietta.edu
“This is awesome,” three words the crowd was chanting at the Charleston Coliseum during the TNT championship matchup between champion Adam Copeland and challenger Penta El Zero Miedo.
This was the first time in three years that professional wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), had come to West Virginia. On April 10th, the professional wrestlers, or sports entertainers, delivered four hours of wrestling over three shows. Even AEW owner, Tony Khan, came out to speak with the audience twice! Oddly enough though the second time Khan came out he talked about the 1994 film ‘Timecop.’ Either way, a crowd of several thousand gathered to watch cable TV’s top ranked show on Wednesdays, AEW Dynamite.
At 7:30 a preshow was held as the main attraction was set live for 8:00 p.m. During this taping of their developmental promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) three matches were contested. The highlights of the preshow included wrestling legend Christopher Daniel defeating West Virginia native Cole Karter and an ROH TV Title match. In the title match champion Kyle Fletcher successfully defended against Rhett Titus.
At 8, Alter Bridge’s song Metalingus erupted out of the arena’s speakers signaling WWE Hall of Famer Adam Copeland was arriving. The crowd erupted at the sight of the TNT champion as this was the first time he performed in West Virginia since 2009. And while the crowd was largely behind Copeland, he did not have an easy matchup in front of him. The high-flying Penta took control early in the matchup and never let go. The 50-year-old Copeland had to capitalize on one mistake by Penta to secure a victory. After the match the Percy Jackson star was depleted, and when he was getting ready to leave, the lights went out in the arena. When the lights came on, the villainous group, The House of Black, was in the ring to attack Copeland. Fortunately, Copeland was able to evade the surprise attack and left the crowd cheering.
The rest of the Dynamite show was filled with action, as well as some interesting backstage decisions. AEW would be trending on X (Formerly known as Twitter) as they produced a segment where they aired exclusive footage of a real-life backstage fight that had occurred at their All In PPV in August. The fight occurred between two performers who were fired and acted as a way to expose them. The video showed WWE’s CM Punk walk up to Jack Perry as they get into a shoving match before they are separated.
As for actual matches, newcomers, Shane Taylor promotions, defeated Chris Jericho’s team with HOOK and Katsuyori Shibata after Hook and Jericho had a falling out. The following contest lasted less than two minutes, as Japanese legend Kazuchika Okada squashed Cristiano Argenta. Next, women’s champion Toni Storm came out for a champagne toast until she attacks her rival, Thunder Rosa. Storm’s partner Mariah May came out and beat Anna Jay before the main event was held.
The main event was an AEW World Championship match between champion Samoa Joe, and the legendary Dustin Rhodes. Joe beat Rhodes early on, going as far as busting open his head on the ring post. Once back in the ring, Rhodes came back with an offensive push. However, his push was short lived as Joe was able to distract the referee and hit Rhodes with a cheap shot to defend his title.
After Dynamite’s main event ended, Rampage began. Rampage is taped on Wednesdays and is aired on TV on Fridays. The first match saw fan favorite Orange Cassidy defeat the Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds. The second match was a TBS championship match between champion Julia Hart and challenger Leyla Hirsh. The match was cut short due to Hart suffering an injury. Hence, Zak Knight’s fight against Angelo Parker was extended but Knight was successful against Parker. The main event on Rampage saw Jay White secure a win over Matt Sydal. After Rampage went off air, Charleston was granted a special match as the Bang Bang Gang and the Scissor Gang brawled throughout the ringside area. The night ended with the Scissor Gang thanking Charleston for being a great audience and promised that they would return.
