Andrew’s AEW Fyter Fest Ratings & Analysis 6/29/2019

Fyter Fest is a stop gap, house show-esque event that we all get to watch for free through Bleacher Report Live! Did we get anything of merit out of this?

So we know of the comedy grudge match with Alex Jebailey and Michael Nakazawa, Hangman in the Fatal 4 Way and Cody helping Darby Allin get some exposure.

Do these end in the predictable ways we’ve been expecting? Do they add any interesting stakes? Did Cody bite off more than he can chew?

Time to find out!

Ratings:

• Best Friends vs Private Party vs SCU: Best Friends win via Strong Zero – ***
• Allie vs Leva Bates: Allie wins via Best Superkick ever – 1/2*
• Alex Jebailey vs Michael Nakazawa: Nakazawa wins via Reverse Cradle – *
• CIMA vs Christopher Daniels: CIMA wins via Diving Meteora – ***
• Nyla Rose vs Riho vs Yuka Sakazaki: Riho wins via Leg Hook Roll Up – * 1/2
• Hangman Page vs MJF vs Jungle Boy vs Jimmy Havok: Page wins via Deadeye – ** 1/4
• Cody Rhodes vs Darby Allin: Time Limit Draw – *** 1/2
• Rey Fenix, Pentagon Jr & Laredo Kid vs Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson: Omega wins via One Winged Angel – ****
• Unsanctioned Match: Jon Moxley vs Joey Janela: Moxley wins via Paradigm Shift – *** 3/4

Analysis:

We got to see a lot from the young team Private Party. Each team got a chance to shine, but it was really the showcase for Private Party. Best Friends managed to get around the flurries of Private Party and SCU to edge out a win with Strong Zero. A good open to the show, but it was meant to show off the team of young wrestlers.

Leva and Allie goes on too long and it’s just painful to watch. Lots of the Librarian gimmick, and the finish is awful. Not even trying to “throw the book” poorly and just obviously throwing it to Allie, the awkward hand up…just complete garbage.

This whole match was comedy hardcore, I get it. Doesn’t make it better, but the buttons with Jebailey’s face on it and drowning in the kiddie pool were marginally amusing. For what it was supposed to be, I suppose it was alright, but it was just a comedy mess.

Both veterans have a great back and forth. Selling a few different injuries, and trading big moves until CIMA catches Daniels after the Angel’s Wings. A Sunset Powerbomb, Cross-Legged Driver, Three Quarters Necklock Slam and then the Meteora ends the match in favor of the OWE representative. Just a really solid match.

Well the story of the match was a little obvious. Both of the smaller women ganged up on Nyla quite often. Nyla got cocky at multiple points which ended up costing her. Yuka and Riho peppered in a few moves, Yuka got taken out and Riho was being thrown around a little. Nyla went for a second Beast Bomb, and Riho was able to counter it into a Forward Roll with a leg hook for the surprise victory. Match was a little rough and felt like it went a little long, but the ending seemed to set up a few things with all three.

Lots of mistimed spots, over compensating for position and what’s up with the rope usage? Like if multi-person matches are NoDQ, why are submissions being broken up by getting to the ropes? A few cool spots involving Jungle Boy but nothing very fluid or logical. It was also nice to hear that Kip Sabian gets the winner of the match at Fight for the Fallen. So it sets up another match to help get Hangman some momentum.

Darby got his ass whooped this match. Cody dominated most of this match, but Allin wouldn’t stay down. So Allin showed his resiliency and his insanity. The Coffin Dive miss onto the apron was just crazy. Darby came out of the match looking great. After the Draw, we expected an Overtime, but, Shawn Spears comes out and cracks Cody with a Chairshot, Cody listened to us and Always Used His Head. So there’s a huge gash on the back of his head and most of the BTE cast comes out to check on him and walk him to the back.

We had a six man match at breakneck speed with a lot of Lucha elements. Multiple triple team spots, Superkicks and dives. There were a couple misfires and mistimed moves that took a little bit away from the match, but, it was the work rate style match that everyone expected. Also The Elite coming out dressed as Street Fighter characters did a good job at pandering to the CEO Gaming crowd. Match was fine, but there wasn’t much aside from good action to take away from this.

Given how Moxley and Janela have both made their bones, a hardcore match is the comfort zone. We saw some interesting tweaks, like the bloody rags attached to the barbed wire chair, the Snap Russian Leg Sweep through the table and the highlight spot was Moxley hitting the X-Plex on Janela into the tacks. There were a ton of spots that were a little slow or awkward or just done up for amusement, hence the not sky high rating.

Overall Score: 5.5/10

Well the pre-show was not very good aside from the Triple Threat tag match. When we got to the main card, some matches were okay but the whole show generally fell flat. Many of the matches didn’t feel like they had any weight, and when they did add a layer through commentary it was just a case too little too late. Also with the women’s match drawing on getting sympathy for the Magical Girl, I think it did a good job, but the match itself wasn’t anything to care about.

So while the show wasn’t awful, the down points and lack of tangible suspense made for a flat experience. Even with the show ending fairly strongly, getting to that point was a little bit of a struggle. Hopefully, Fight for the Fallen can re-establish the string of on screen quality matches.