AEW Homecoming (2021)
Results & Afterthoughts

Singles Match

Jericho had to perform a top rope maneuver to win.

Chris Jericho defeated Juventud Guerrera

This wasn't a bad match and right match to open with tonight. The Juice did majority of the legwork in this match while Jericho was managing not to look too gassed out there (as usual). I loved the finishing sequence that saw Jericho hit a top rope variation of the Judas Effect though.

My biggest gripe about this match is that it was tame in comparison to what we saw him go through last week. After this match, MJF was quick to layout Labor #4 in the from of Wardlow, with himself appointed as his back-up at ringside. I did get a kick out Wardlow laying waste to Juventud and Jericho and tossing them around like lawn furniture. I'm sure Juvi was having PTSD flashbacks of the nWo beating the shit out of the cruiserweights on WCW Nitro over 20 years ago.

Six-man Tag Team Match

Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, and Darby Allin (with Sting) defeated 2.0 (Matt Lee and Jeff Parker) and Daniel Garcia

2.0 are the recently released tag team of Ever-Rise from NXT and that's all I needed to know before I designated this match as my bathroom break match of the night. There was no way in hell that a team of this company's heavily featured babyfaces were going to lose to a tag team that was regulated as comedy jobbers in their first nights into this company. Bitch please.

At least we got a hilarious moment where 2.0 were star-struck by Sting standing at ringside. This ended up costing them the match after Darby straight up murdered that fool with a suicide dive between the ropes. Darby and Moxley finished off the remaining opposition with a Paradigm Shift and a Coffin Drop to take the win.

Singles Match

Christian Cage defeated The Blade (with The Bunny)

This went on FAR too long for my taste, but it was interesting to see Leyla Hirsch come out and run interference on The Bunny to build-up to their match later in the show. As a result, that made The Bunny's interference a non-issue.

It should be noted that Christian Cage is currently ranked #1 in line for the AEW World Championship following Adam Page's loss last week. I really can't see them going with that for the main event at All Out, but I could see that match headlining one of these premiere episodes of Rampage to garner interest.

Dr. Britt Baker's Major Announcement

I went into this segment, hoping that we were going to get the reveal of who was going to be the new "muscle" or hired help to watch Britt Baker and Reba...err Rebel's backs. Instead, we got Red Velvet of all people coming out here and talking about she's next in line for a shot at Baker's title. Dafuq? I don't care how many wins against losers on Dark and/or Elevation she's been beating on YouTube. The last time we saw her on Dynamite, she's been losing to Jade Cargill. What made this even sillier to me was the fact that Rebel clobbered her with the crutch for her and Britt Baker to continue pummeling her into submission. Baker is doing ALL of this while getting all of the babyface cheers from that live crowd. It's only going to get worse in Baker's hometown, where they plan to have this title defense.

Hangman Finally Has Something to Say

Can't say I felt sorry for Hangman here, especially when he quit the Dark Order a few minutes earlier in this show. The Dark Order came out to his aid, but Evil Uno held back John Silver, reminding the rest of the faction that this is what Hangman needs (or rather wants). Hangman has to stand on his own two feet and overcome these failures on his own. Besides, getting rid of the dead weight in the Dark Order will only do him some good in my eyes. He shouldn't have been associated with those comedy clowns in the first place.

With Hangman out of the equation at All Out next month, one has to wonder what the main event is going to be for that show. Do they blow their loads early on the CM Punk vs. Omega match or they still go with Hangman somehow getting back in line for title shot after Christian Cage (who is ranked #1 currently)?

Singles Match for the AEW TNT Championship

Miro (c) defeated Lee Johnson (with Dustin Rhodes)

Big Shotty got his title shot, and absolutely blew it. I'm sure Lee Johnson is a nice kid, but lumping him (along with so many others) into that Nightmare Family faction is dooming him to failure and putting him on a short leash. A lot of people seem to be turning on their overall reception of Cody in general, especially given the reactions to him in tonight's main event that we will get to shortly, and it seems like a huge risk to affiliate people with him in the long run.

Miro is back being the monster that he should have been since Day 1 when he debuted into this company instead of being the big muscular goof accompanying Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford in their feud with the Best Friends. Let's hope that he maintains the course on this direction for his character and doesn't devolve back into that tomfoolery again down the road to his own detriment.

Singles Match to determine the #1 contender for the NWA World Women's Championship

Winner will face Kamille at NWA EmPowerrr.

Leyla Hirsch (with Best Friends) defeated The Bunny (with Hardy Family Office)

The only thing I can say about this was that it was a match and it was better than a lot of matches in AEW's women's division as of late that don't involve Thunder Rosa, Hikaru Shida, or Serena Deeb. Leyla Hirsch got the win and that's all what matters.

I was surprised to see that they did this angle with Kamille to say that they were in her homestate of North Carolina last week where she would have gotten a much bigger reaction there than here, but whatever. I couldn't help but bust out laughing from how Kamille's amazonian stature made Leyla Hirsch look like a dwarf in comparison. That being said, that should be a fun match to watch on NWA EmPowerrr later this month.

Even though I wasn't buying into Cody's post-match theatrics in the least, I thought they did the post-match attack from Black as effectively as the main event before it. Cody did the honors and put this guy over HUGE as a dominating force. Given the fact that Cody's taking more time off for filming the next season of The Big Big Show for TBS/TNT and that reality TV show following him and Brandi's life in the same vein as Total Divas/Total Bellas, it was the right move as Black would be an even bigger star by the time he comes back and wants to resume this program.

Singles Match

Malakai Black defeated Cody Rhodes

Black made an impressive entrance, but I'm still missing the platform that had him raised off of the floor like Count Dracula from NXT. That shit fucking ruled for his NXT entrance. We should have seen the writing on the wall when he was robbed of all of those fancy bells and whistles for his entrance when he was called up onto the main roster. For all of criticism Cody has received as of late - most of it completely justified and brought onto himself and his wife for their obsessions of pursuing various "vanity projects" and depicting themselves as AEW's Triple H and Stephanie McMahon when they aren't to anyone but themselves - Cody did what was "best for business" when it came to making an impact and making a new star with Black in his debut. Black dominated Cody for the entire duration of this main event that BARELY lasted a little over five minutes.