[2.0] "Utterly chaotic and poorly constructed. The pacing collapses under its own weight, the booking choices are baffling, and the cage stipulation feels entirely wasted given the finish. Jericho's performance, particularly in the final sequence, is emblematic of the match's failings; botched Judas Effect, failure to sell Kingston's strikes, and a completely illogical turn all combine to make this one of the most disappointing outings in AEW history. Beyond just the in-ring mistakes, this match underscores how over-involvement by key figures can actively harm the overall product. *"
[0.0] "This match bored me half to death, it was sloppy, it was slow, it was predictable, and was just not a fun experience to watch. Jericho started to lose steam and Eddie is still not a good wrestler in my opinion. The crowd really wasn't enjoying this match cause both men were moving at a snail pace half the freaking time and like I said, the predictable ending with the Society being released from the cage and helping Jericho win"
[5.0] "The match itself was not that bad, in fact I think this could easily have been a 7 or 8 rating (it al depends on if you like or don't like deathmatches, in my case, as a fan of deathmatches, believe me when I say I've seen worse matches than this), the use of the barbed wire objects, the spots, the pacing al was going nice, but the booking was just atrocious, this was a perfect way to end a rivalry that has already ran its course at this point, but the JAS involvement and later Sammy Guevara's just ruined the match."
[0.0] "A total mess of a match. The pacing was all over the pace, the booking of the match is laughably bad, the stipulation with the cage ended being completely useless considering the end of the match, and this is one of Chris Jericho's all time blunders, especially with the last sequence, botching a Judas Effect, completely no selling the strikes of Eddie Kingston and a completely nonsensical turn in the end. This have my vote to being the worst match in AEW history, nothing comes close to bein this bad. This was the match that made me realize that the whole JAS nonsense and the endless feud between them and Eddie Kingston made me think that maybe Chris Jericho is getting a little too involved in the product to the detriment of the quality of AEW's booking. And I was right in hindsight."
[8.0] "I do not agree with this assessment of the match, again I see a non-objective assessment of Jericho's matches. It was a nice brutal fight with all the right elements. There were brutal methods and regular use of barbed wire. Maybe people didn't like the presence of interference in the match, but in my opinion it varied the fight. Well, there were several moments when I thought it was over, but the fight continued."
[3.0] "Ich hatte mich wirklich auf dieses Match gefreut. Es war auch zunächst ganz in Ordnung, die Eingriffe haben es aber kaputt gemacht, die waren wirklich schlecht umgesetzt. Kingston sollte auch nicht verlieren."
[7.0] "I liked that we pushed the point very far like putting barbed wire on Justin Roberts' microphone or on the bell. A match too overbooked for my taste and we could have done without it here. There are still some good things to remember in this match. (3*1/2)"
[1.0] "One of the worst matches in AEW history. Nothing clicked and the ending sequence was laughable. Big fan of Eddie and I love what Jericho has done throughout his career, but this was not it. I have a long google doc of my own match ratings that I've been making for my wrestling group chat that I am slowly converting to Cagematch, in case you're wondering why I am rating this so late"
[4.0] "This is not bad as people say because there were a couple of cool spots but it's far from being good. The booking really ruined this match. The shark cage angle was bad and Tay not able being to open so Garcia and Parker had to slide through the cage was embarassing. Anna Jay's heel turn was cool, tho. But the ending, the ending it's shameful: very destroy Eddie's momentum like that? It makes no sense, it didn't elevate Jericho at all. And the post-match was hilariously bad, as Chris Jericho would say: "there is no such thing as a botch." End such a great feud like this it's awful. Eddie deserved better, we deserved better. 2/10 - 2.25*/5*"
[4.0] "Puh, das war eine herbe Enttäuschung. Die In-Ring Action an sich war ja durchaus passend und es gab auch ein paar schöne Spots. Aber die Eingriffe und das schlimme Finish haben das Match hart kaputt gemacht. Ja, bei so einer Stipulation kann man schon Eingriffe zeigen, hier war das aber mies umgesetzt. Anna Jay's Turn hätte man durchaus anders Machen können. Und so verliert Kingston das Match und man will uns weis machen, dass er ja eigentlich trotzdem die Fehde gewonnen hat."
[2.0] "This was fucking bullshit, Eddie deserved better. The ending pissed me off so much. THIS MATCH DID NOT NEED INTERFERENCE. The commentators acting like Sammy was making a big return was garbage. This match officially made me turn on the JAS."
[3.0] "Props to the two of them for the bumps they took. I am not a big fan of hardcore match but I do appreciate the story and drama behind it; Unfortunately, this felt forced than usual and with AEW having hardcore matches every other week, the special nature of it doesn't exist here. This was just two men throwing all sorts of punishment on each other for the sake of doing it. Add to that the terrible cage execution and the overbooked finish, this was a huge waste of time. *3/4"
[5.0] "I wouldnt be able to call this match satisfactory, as while it had its moments, it also had points where it sucked, booking wise. The whole cage angle was nonsensical and the winner was beyond baffling and also disappointing big time. Why halt Kingstons momentum like that. I get that Jericho is still a big star in this day, he really is and I love seeing him do his thing, especially as far a promos go. Apart from that he call deliver solid matches, and that is more than enough at this point of his wrestling career. Sometimes we even get high quality matches, especially when he is facing the right opponents. But this result infuriated me. I will not give this match a grade under 5 because, despite all the things I mentioned, the in ring action wasnt horrible, it was ok. The booking on the other hand was a disaster. Kingston deserves more, He is getting up there age wise so I would think that the company would want to get the most out of him during the course of the next three to five years."
[0.0] "Das blutgeile AEW-Booking hat wieder zugeschlagen. Dieses Match ist absolut unnötig und gehört nicht in eine AEW Show. Sinnbildlich steht für mich das kleine Kind auf dem Arm seines Vaters in der ersten Reihe und guckt total verstört. So habe ich auch geguckt - wahrschneinlich aber aus anderen Gründen. Wer durch die Stipulation noch nicht abgeschreckt ist, der muss sich dann die totale Peinlichkeit geben, als Tay Conti trotz Schlüssel den Käfug nicht aufbekommt und dann die Jungs - man will ja die Storyline nicht brechen - sich einfach durch die Gitterstäbe zwängen.....ich hätte jetzt noch ein Dutzend Logikfragen - aber ich merke leider mehr und mehr, dass man Tony Khan diese immer weniger stellen muss. Bitte an die Cagematch-Verantwortlichen endlich Minus-Bewertungen zu erlauben. Dieses Machwerk verdient echt nichts anderes!"
[2.0] "This match could've been great but there were a lot of bad booking in this match, Jericho winning this match and ending the feud just sucks, but Sammy and Jay members of JAS should've been in the cage, and the cage was useless they slipped through the bars, and after all that Eddie stands tall, if you want Eddie to stand tall just book him to win the match and not do a 50/50 booking bullsh#t"
[1.0] "This was BAD! Jericho broke his own nose. Eddie Kingston had so much potential and uniqueness about him, ever since he started this feud with Jericho he has been held way back!"
"The match is a stinker. There's no point denying it. Eddie Kingston is not a good wrestler and in my opinion he does not have good matches but his promo and look is believable. Chris Jericho is a good promo and idea guy, but his matches are very hit and miss depending on who all is involved in the booking. Sammy Guevara getting involved in the match was a mistake, the finish was awful, and the entire shark cage situation was just embarrassing. Overbooked WCW crapfest. After watching this "match" with some of the young boys in the family who wanted to see a cool match, I immediately showed them the Terry Funk vs Atsushi Onita Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match instead."
[8.0] "Habe mal nachgeschaut Meltzer hat es echt nicht bewertet. Nicht mal ein DUD gab er oder es ist nicht zu sehen. Jedenfalls war die blutige Schlacht war ein Sieg für den Painmaker aber als er in de Stacheldraht am Ende fiel kam er nicht mehr raus. Ich fand es stark. Wegen dem kanadischen Barded Wire Match das Chris hatte das gab es echt. Ich gebe 8 Punkte."
[3.0] "Well, that was awkward. We got some good expectations giving Kingston's versatility wheras we know Jericho can still take some mad bumps, but that turned into a clear parody. First and foremost, I've never seen in a Barbed Wire the ability to go inside, like it's the proper thing of the definition : the wire is put on to avoid interventions. JAS's bad shit all the way, even Jay's turn was badly done even if that's a good thing to her career. Nevertheless, the shark cage was a funny thing. They provided a minimum of entertainment as they took some crazy bumps as they managed, at least, to keep on the hatred between them. Even the finish sucked."
[3.0] "Die Action hatte ja coole Momente? .. aber puuuh die Eingriffe, der sieg von Jericho, jericho bricht sich auch noch die nase da war einiges nicht so gutes dabei. Schade habe mir viel mehr erhofft. Und selbst ohne Eingriffe hätte jericho wenn es sein muss gewinnen können, aber die Eingriffe haben es lächerlich gemacht."
[5.0] "Well they tried... Seriously I respect the both of them to do this match but well... To be fair everything was great until Jay came, then the cage fiasco, then BCC vs JAS, then Sammy cost Eddie the match. After that The Highlight of the Night (well definetly not this time but still) and The Spanish God tries to attack the Mad King but... *sigh* SAMMY CAN'T SELL A GODDAMN LOWBLOW IT LOOKED LIKE JERICHO AND HE WERE ATTACKING EACH OTHER but after a struggle Eddie throw Y2J in a Barbed Wire Spider Web **3/4 (because it takes a lot of guts)"
[5.0] "Das war alles durchaus unterhaltsam! Alles rund um den Käfig war allerdings echter Bullshit und zieht den Main Event runter. Die Katastrophe, die hier oft beschrieben wird, hab ich absolut nicht gesehen oder gefühlt"
[7.0] "Also erstmal muss ich die Frage stellen: Hääää? ! Warum ist dieses Match hier so schlecht bewertet? Chris Jericho und Eddie Kingston SIND KEINE Deathmatch Wrestler! Deswegen erstmal großen Respekt, dass sie sowas hier überhaupt durchziehen und diese Gangart sogar mitgehen. Es gab bei Gott, viel viel schlechtere Deathmatches in der Vergangenheit und das was hier gemacht wurde ist definitiv keine 0 - 2 Punkte wert! Also das ist eine Frechheit! Ein Abschluss der Fehde war es definitiv und genau das ist doch das was Wrestling Fans beim Abschluss einer Fehde sehen möchten. Ein Special Match was die Fehde gut beendet. Meiner Meinung nach ein wirklich gutes Deathmatch in "AEW Format" (****)."
[5.0] "Okayes Match.Bis zur Befreiung ein wie ich finder unterhaltsames Match, welches nach den Eingriffen aber komplett den Faden verloren hat und das Aftermath war auch mies. **1/2"
[2.0] "So one of the most underrated reasons why this sucked was the fact that a few weeks earlier DDT's ace had to job to Eddie Kingston, so Kingston could look strong for this shitshow. You could sense that they were going for a mix of violence and sports entertainment and it was just incredibly poorly executed here. Barbed wire was completely unnecessary."
[10.0] "So this match has apparently garnered very mixed reviews, but I think this match was awesome and I'll tell you exactly why. It's very easy to understand why so many folks love the pretty matches with dazzling athletic spots, but I will always gravitate towards the bloody fight that feels like a tooth and nail battle, and really I don't get a damn if it gets messy along the way. These two gave it their all and went through hell, not only some of the toughest looking barbed wire spots I've seen in a while (tough to pull off, too) but they also sold every bit of it like it was ripping them apart, which actually it literally was at times, Jericho bled buckets and Kingston had cuts all along his back. From the word go Kingston sold the hate here perfectly and every part of that ruled. The main criticisms come later in the match, and in fairness some if them aren't without merit. Tay Conti ran down to try to get the cage control from Ruby Soho. It seemed she was about to be stopped by her former friend Anna Jay, but Jay turned heel and in fact helped Conti. Some think this was too busy but I was digging it, that's the kind of chaotic drama I like. Conti lowered the cage to the ground and tried to use the key to free the JAS, but it seemed like the key was not working. Really this only took a few seconds so I don't see any reason to complain, but in fairness it would be better to use a gimmicked lock to avoid these issues. This also meant the JAS had to squeeze out of the cage through the bars. Fortunately they were able to do this quickly and keep the match going, but yes it was a bit awkward. The best I can say is that it's a shark cage, used by AEW to tie in with Shark Week, and Kingston made it clear from the start he didn't care about that part of the stipulation, so the fact that JAS was able to escape isn't that egregious to me. Quickly after Kingston's allies ran down and countered the JAS interference, which again seems like a problem for some but stable wars and interference in big matches has a long history of working in the right context, and the crowd seemed to eat it up so again the criticism seems quite exaggerated to me. In the end, after everyone was cleared out, Sammy Guevara returned from injury and aided Jericho with getting a last minute victory snatched from the brink of defeat. I don't necessarily have a problem with that either, though it depends on how they book it from here. The only part which really seemed flubbed happened after the match, with a whiffed backfist and a rushed spot to throw Jericho into a bed of barbed wire to close the show, but I don't count that against the match itself. All I know for sure is I was totally loving the match while it was happening, even with all the twists and turns, and I think it's one of the most underrated matches I've seen in a while. 10/10 from me, just for the pure emotion and excitement."
[1.0] "Ich halte von solchen Matches nichts, vor allem nicht als TV Main Event. Natürlich passte es zur Fehde, aber für mich ist so etwas kein Wrestling."
[6.0] "A great opportunity wasted, it was supposed to be the final chapter instead they stretched. The final match air was missing and then there were mistakes in between. Too bad because Eddie and Chris did a great job"
[8.0] "Was this really that bad? These guys bleed and threw themselves and each other into barbed wire for our entertainment. Who amongst the reviewers on here would do that I wonder? The barbed wire spots were pretty damn brutal and Jericho got a broken nose! Unfortunately the post match segment was awful and looked really, really sloppy. Maybe Kingston could get a new finisher? I am not a fan of the whole face gets the last laugh on the victorious heel post-match angle either."
[2.0] "This absolutely sucked. Such a disappointment, I feel like maybe Chris having his nose shoot-broken was probably the reason for it, but this match should have gone much longer. It was sloppy at best, should have gone at least 20 minutes. It felt pretty insulting having to sit through this after how good of a show the rest of the night was."
[1.0] "This is one of the worst booked matches I have ever seen in my life and a reminder that even when AEW is the best promotion this year by a landslide, their valleys are just as steep as the peaks."
[7.0] "I understand why you might not like this type of match, but it just can't be that bad. If you look from the point of view of spots and in general interaction in the ring, then everything was at a decent level, there was intrigue. I wouldn't call myself a fan of bloody matches, but this match doesn't deserve such a negative."
[7.0] "Yeah, they threw too much stuff into this one. First half was very good though, aside from Jericho's obvious blade job - and not once, but twice, which is a very strange mistake for someone so proficient. But top rope hurricanrana and several hard bumps through tables were bellissimo....Aaand than Tay ran in on Ruby, than Anna Jayy turned, than other JAS members literally squeezed into the match, and also BCC, and Sammy at the and... Damn, got bad TNA vibes from this one. Well, looks like we're getting some more of this Kingston - Jericho program. Despite all of this, things both competitors did to their bodies in this match were absolutely brutal, so they deserve respect after all."
[6.0] "Ludicrously overbooked finish and the wrong guy won, but they advertised a Barbed Wire Everywhere match and they absolutely delivered on that. Really wish they'd gotten five more minutes or so in order not to rush the going off the air post-match stuff."
[2.0] "Some really nasty spots and Chris Jericho deserves a lot of credit for doing all these hardcore matches on the other side of 50. That's really all I have to say about the match itself. Typical yet tame enough for cable TV indie deathmatch bloodbath we've all seen a thousand times. Everything but the actual match itself though... The match had the stipulation that the Jericho Appreciation Society had to be locked in a cage to prevent interference, but 1/3 of the stable weren't and just interfered anyway. Why bother? I know that's kind of the point of these shark cages, that the heels will figure out a way to interfere anyway, but this was the worst way to do it. And did they learn nothing from Royal Rumble 2021? Use a gimmicked padlock, y'all. Luckily JAS has two really skinny dudes so that the show wouldn't be completely derailed by Tay Conti having the wrong key or whatever the fuck happened, which of course led to Mox and Friends running interference for what feels like the 90th time. And somehow, in the middle of all this, we have an Anna Jay turn. Here's an idea: Lock up all six remaining JAS members in the shark cage, have Anna Jay (whom I think might literally be some kind of reanimated corpse with how little emotion she ever seems to convey) attack Ruby Soho and free the JAS with a key that actually works to have her turn heel. There. It took me less time to think that up than to type it, and it's infinitely more logical. I'll give you that one for free, TK, but I am willing to quit my day job. Anyway, I don't get why both of the big barbed wire matches in AEW have had to be overbooked, colossal failures but it is what it is, I guess."
"Great bloodbath but had an overbooked clunky finish. It could have been better if Tay was in the cage and Anna Jay came to save them on her own. Sammy being out was fine, he was injured for weeks. The end sequence was sloppy, but Chris had just broken his nose, so it's understandable. People are insanely overreacting to this match."
[3.0] "Definitely a brutal match, and they certainly didn't skimp on the barbed Wire. Lots of spots onto & against the wire early on. Noticed an obvious bladejob by Jericho before the bell, but was done pretty well. And then...it broke down: run-ins, shark cage lowered, massive numbers disadvantage for Kingston, until more run-ins to help him. All this initially slowed down and effectively stopped the match. This really annoyed me, I really thought AEW would actually not have the Shark Cage stip nullified so fully like this, I really don't get it? ! Finish and post match was pretty awkward, as it looked like Kingston whiffed his backhand chop, last barbed wire board spot was gnarly though. Frustrating match and probably wasn't worth all the pain & blood loss for all involved."
[8.0] "At times the chaos did get to much, but most of the time it was just a wild chaotic brawl that did what it was supposed to do. I really enjoyed it for what it was and the Anna Jay turn was pretty cool."
[10.0] "I thought this match was fantastic. It was a violent, bloody brawl and the "overbooking" that gets so tiresome in promotions where it's done all the time actually feels fresh and exciting in AEW because it's different. That's the genius of Jericho's "sports entertainer" gimmick IMO. He gets heel heat for doing things the "wrong" way, but they're not really wrong in this promotion because they're so outside the norm. I enjoyed the match thoroughly with the highlights being the JAS guys sliding out the side of the shark cage when they couldn't open it and Jericho getting the 3 count over that fat slob Eddie Kingston."
[6.0] "The other side of the Jericho/Kingston coin. Their first singles match was pure pro wrestling, this was pure sports entrainment. This was nowhere near the MOTY the Revolution match was and I don't think that was the point. Garcia and Ange slipping through the bars of the cage is one of the best covers for botched timing I've ever seen."
[4.0] "A brutal match that made me wince in pain on multiple occasions. Barbed wire sticking and digging into skin, broken noses, blood pouring and an incredible crowd who were really into this match until the very end. The low rating is due to the poor finish and this fued overstaying its welcome. Blood and guts should have been the blow off match but the finish kept things running for an Eddie and Jericho blow off match where Eddie definitely should have got the big win. Unfortunately here we had another screwy finish in what should have been the blow off match. This is the Rosa vs Britt blow off fail happening all over again and this match would definitely have been rated higher had the finish been a little better"
"Terrible match by two of my favorite AEW wrestlers, went into this match so sure it would be played straight, but instead we got Russo level booking. One of if not the single worst AEW match in its short history. Really hope they can find a decent way to address this, but im not too sure theres anyway to fix this storyline this time. Props to both wrestlers though, there was some crazy spots, and i hope Jericho heals soon."
[6.0] "One of the most chaotic and kosyachny matches in the history of the company, but that's why it's so bad, so good. I really liked it. At first, the fighters fought well and there was hostility and the wire was in use and it was believed that it was dangerous and that the fighters were suffering. It was wrong to put Ruby as a guard, and therefore the chaos began with a mass brawl, in fact, everything turned into a mess in which Jericho won again with an unfair reception at the expense of Sammy. I am disappointed with the result, it is clear that in the end they were in a hurry and could not do everything correctly, and rather everyone was confused and did not know what to do. As a result, the beginning is excellent, a controversial middle and a lazy ending. I expected clearly more."
[3.0] "I was really, really looking forward to this match. Not very often you get to see a Barbed Wire Deathmatch on television and I was really excited to see this, thinking it would end the Jericho / Kingston rivalry on a high note. However, this match fell apart so quickly and the more I think about it, the more upset it makes me. The first half of the match was fine and both guys took some cool bumps involving the barbed wire. It was kinda refreshing to see Jericho using barbed wire. But then, Tay Conti came and attacked Ruby (who was at Ringside for some odd reason). Then, Anna Jay came out and turned heel...Why? It only got worse when the cage was lowered, Tay couldn't unlock the door, and JAS had to SLIDE THROUGH the shark cage, which killed the entire gimmick, even though it was already a silly addition to the match. Crazy brawl ensues, more botches come through, Sammy makes things even worse, and Jericho stupidly wins. Oh, and they save the barbed wire net spot for after the match was over. What an absolute mess of a match. This was completely overbooked and unnecessary, a real pit stain on this otherwise solid rivalry. This is a contender for my least favorite match this year. *1/2"
[2.0] "I feel as though AEW is trying too hard to get attention for these types of matches, but in the HD era, the reality of what these matches do is more obvious. In the CRT TV days, watching bootleg FMW and IWA matches didn't show all the horror clearly enough for it to seem real. The G1 is currently running, so I'm wanting to see good wrestling, not guys hurting themselves unnecessarily. Look how long KENTA was out and that was just from a table spot. Let's just wrestle. They have a talented roster and this crap needs to be left in the past. Watching Aubrey struggle to pull barbed wire out of someone's back is not fun. The ending was a clusterf*** and botched. This should be the type of match to end a feud, not further one."
[3.0] "No one should have had high hopes for this. If there could be one match highlighting everything that's wrong with AEW, it would look like this. That being said, it wasn't quite as bad as a lot of people made it out to be. As a farce, it was actually very entertaining. I was laughing almost the entire time. It was a complete comedy of errors capped off by the inclusion of ref Aubrey. At this point, any AEW viewer has to expect this kind of silly crap when Jericho is involved. Every promo he cuts, every wacky gimmick match he's in, is so beyond the point of being taken seriously I refuse to believe Tony Khan isn't stifling laugher the whole time it's going down. The only real loser here is Eddie Kingston, who a lot of us (myself included) wanted to take seriously. He plays the role of the schlimazel/Moe Howard/angry straight man to the rest of the comic hijinks of this match quite well, although when you snap out of it and realize what's happening it's kind of sad. Oh well; plenty of viewers thought Kingston was a goof right from the start, but I thought he had potential. At this point, the only way to watch AEW is to consider it a comedy promotion like chikara or gcw or something like that- just people joking around with nothing to take seriously. Just look at the rest of the card this was on. Every match either features total goofs, goofy spots, or goofy angles after the matches. At least Christian has had an entire real career already but someone like Ricky Starks just comes off looking like a silly dweeb whos wasting his best years on a promotion only capable of fuckery. He might as well put on an ant costume. This match was entertaining, but it really signals the sorry state of this promotion. With Danielson and Punk out, and Omega slated to make a return, things are looking to continue in this ridiculous direction for a long time coming. I guess we never should have expected anything else from the promotion that features the pockets guy so prominently."
[1.0] "I knew it'd turn out bad, but I never expected it to be THIS bad. Not only the match itself was awful, but the whereabouts of Jay's heel turn, Ruby guarding the shark cage (why her, she's injured? ! ), lazy ending and botched post-match promo completed the picture of the worst deathmatch I've seen. 1 point only for Jericho's sheer willing to take part in deathmatch at his age. Even the match against Gage was somewhat better. Oh, and Kingston is massively overrated as a wrestler."
[4.0] "As much as I love both men and the rivalry between them, this is not a great blow-off for their highly tense confrontation. The hype was done very well with the shark cage stipulation becoming a polarizing factor as usual. There are many loopholes in the stipulation as well as diverting the focus from the ring to the incidents happening outside. The layout of those shenanigans felt rushed and pulled away the momentum raised by both combatants for nearly 7-8 minutes. Even the finish got hurt bad because of the shenanigans. The reaction on the face of Kingston post-match says it all. 2 out of 5 stars!"
[7.0] "A slightly overbooked main event, but with enough hardcore spots to keep it engaging. The action was pretty good, and I would given it a higher rating if not for the endless interferences."
[0.0] "This was one of the dirt worst matches of the year. This was a disaster and we have a lot to unpack here. This feud should've been over at Blood & Guts because at this point it's overkill and harmful to everyone involved. Not physically harmful, but harmful to their careers. Why is a barbed wire match being done on free TV? Not only do you have to be concerned with time constraints(It's worth noting this match + the aftermath was horribly rushed) but the brutality of this stipulation can't be done properly. So you just wasted a barbed wire match for nothing and the feud continues anyway. People will refute the criticism of the shark cage and say how we may not understand booking, but the point of a shark cage match is to prevent the people inside the cage from interfering. If everybody just gets out and there's still interference it kills the entire gimmick. It's diet WWE. The in-ring work itself was subpar at best and hideous at worst. Jericho immediately blades so there goes any tension or drama. Kingston has zero idea how to work a match. He throws some of the worst punches in all of wrestling. Windmill would be a compliment. Kingston shouldn't be in gimmick matches because you're just exposing how poor he is in overly produced spots. If you've seen one death match you've seen the bumps here. Jericho took 90% of the bumps. Funny that. The barbed wire chair spot was horribly botched. You already have heard the rundown of the finishing stretch but I'll give some quick thoughts. Tay Cunti, Anna Jay, and Ruby didn't need to be involved. It was nonsensical for Tay to not be in the cage in the first place because she interfered at Blood & Guts and she's a member of JAS. They botched the lock spot. There was a brawl between BCC and JAS for the thousandth time. Sammy has to be dragged down even further by interfering and making sure this feud never ends. Eddie loses the match but no sells the finish so he could get back on offense and end the episode on top. Nice backfist that missed by 3 feet. Shades of WCW, shades of TNA, shades of sports entertainment. It's definitely not shades of Megumi Kudo, that's for sure. DUD."
[5.0] "The ending of this match sucks, but before that and all the shenanigans, it was pretty fun and brutal. Although I wish it stayed that way and Kingston should've won so we could be done with this feud."
[6.0] "I think I was entertained enough to call this "satisfactory", but maybe that's the wrong word because it still left a bad taste in my mouth. I thought most of the match was fine. Jericho's blade job, although completely obvious, was at least a decent one, and you had moments like barbed wire sticking into Kingston's skin and ripping Jericho's attire, which put over that this stuff is actually dangerous and not just rubber. You can kind of justify Sammy not being in the cage because he was supposed to be off after being thrown from the Blood and Guts cage. It would still be pretty obvious that he was coming back, but leaving Tay out of the cage really spelled it out and reduced Sammy's fall from the cage to just being a spot and not a spot with purpose. The final moments of the match and the post-match (in which Kingston had to no-sell Jericho's finisher to get the final spot in) really sucked. Some reviewers have said this felt like late WCW. I definitely got TNA vibes from it. I guess we can all agree that it felt very Vince Russo. A missed opportunity but I think this could still have been a fair bit worse."
[1.0] "Disappointed doesn't even begin to cover how I feel about this match. Two great wrestlers with good chemistry in a brutal, feud-ending stipulation, this should have been an easy slam dunk. Instead we got an absolute clusterfuck that was filled with interference and had a confusing finish."
[3.0] "Maybe AEW should stop doing Barbed Wire matches, just a thought. Why weren't Sammy Guevara or Tay Conti locked in the shark cage since they were part of the JAS? What a mess."
[7.0] "i thought the match itself was fine up to the final 2 minutes when everything just started going to shit. everything seemed rushed at the end and that's TK's fault for adding some rather pointless segments last minute."
[4.0] "While there were a lot of brutal wire spots, this fell far below what I expected from these two. I don't get the point of wasting time with the shark cage gimmick if they're just going to get out anyway. Also, Jericho definitely shouldn't have won here. He didn't need the win at all and this just ended up making Kingston look like shit in the end."
[3.0] "I feel kinda bad rating this one so low since they had some pretty painful looking moments in the first half but once the interference began it all went to hell and the whole debacle left me feeling so irritated that I can't bring myself to give it anything higher. Why wasn't Tay in the shark cage to begin with? It was so telegraphed the moment they showed Ruby too. There was just so much about this match that was completely illogical. They had to start rushing in the second half because the show seemingly ran long and it was getting close to going off the air. The finish was abysmal. It takes a lot to mess up a barbed wire match but this was overbooked and half baked."
[3.0] "I liked the beginning with Kingston jumping Jericho and making him bleed immediately, but after this match fell off a cliff immediately. The overbooking in a match that was supposed to be the ending to a blood feud is baffling, but hey it's not a Jericho feud if it doesn't drag out for 10 months! There's a nice spot in there with Jericho taking a suplex off the apron into the barbed wire. After this Conti frees JAS from the cage and the match just becomes even more unbearable, they beat up on Kingston for 4 minutes until his friends finally decide to come. Sammy comes back to save Jericho and help him win. Bad match, but even worse when you consider this was promoted as the end of a feud.*1/2"
[6.0] "La lucha en sí no fue mala, fue la producción y el booking lo que la arruinó. Fue una carnicería como me esperaba, pero lo bueno duró muy poco."
[5.0] "Honestly, I thought the match wasn't THAAAAT bad. It went severely downhill after JAS escaped the cage however, and the logic of not locking Tay Conti and Sammy Guevara was just stupid. Also the ending was VERY sloppy. It just seemed thrown together with no preparation. Before all that, the spots Eddie and Jericho did were pretty good. I especially liked the Walls of Jericho locked in while Eddie was lying directly on a barbed wire board. But yeah, very lackluster and illogical match for a main event and as you can tell, it let down a LOT of people, including me."
[4.0] "Of course I wouldn't have done ANY overbooking here, but if I absolutely had to, I'd make sure that TAY CONTI WAS IN THE CAGE TOO, she's a member of the JAS for goodness sake! We saw the shark mascot earlier, I'd have had him try and get the key off Ruby Soho, she'd struggle with him, Anna Jay then comes out, and Conti gives the orders from the cage for her to turn on Soho. Sammy Guevara would then be revealed in the shark costume and cost Kingston. It's not great, but it's better than what we got. Conti not being in the cage was a MASSIVE oversight. I didn't particularly like Jericho winning either, but it's palatable, Conti was a massive hole in the booking that should have been addressed."
[3.0] "If I was including the awful rushed post-match spot with the whiffed backfist, this would be docked at least one extra point, but it's not technically part of the match. As it is this had a few decent spots but was still an overbooked, sloppy mess and a cheap way to extend a feud that should have ended at Blood and Guts. Incredibly disappointing given Jericho and Kingston's first match at Revolution was an unexpected highlight of that show. Shark cage stipulation matches should just be got rid of; I've never seen a good one and, contrary to their kayfabe purpose, they pretty much guarantee interference at some point. I didn't hate the Anna Jay heel turn but the logc behind it was silly; Tay Conti should have been in the shark cage with the rest of the JAS. Watching her struggle with the lock on the cage was painful. The Sammy return also did nothing for me and he managed to fuck up spots when he barely had to do anything. Incredibly lackluster main event that considerably brings down the overall quality of the feud."
[0.0] "When Jade Cargill has a better match than you, you know you fucked up big time. This was a dreadful main event match. Jericho blades as soon as the bell rings, Kingston delivers some of the worst punches I have ever seen, and there are a couple spots where someone gets tossed into barbed wire. Only one I actually liked though was the suplex from the apron. Around the half way mark, any goodwill this match had was thrown out the window. Jericho and Eddie sleep in the ring while: Tay Conti runs down, has a skirmish with Ruby Soho who has the keys to the cage, Anna Jay comes down, turns heel, Tay goes to the cage and screws up opening the door so the JAS just go through the cage bars instead. This took up about 3-4 minutes. JAS beat down Kingston for what feels like forever before Eddie's friends finally decide to do something. They all eventually leave before Sammy Guevara comes out and he butchers some sort of dance routine with Jericho. Oh and Eddie loses because of course he does. Can't have the babyface win in a match he suggested now can we? Terrible booking to close out a pretty bad match. [DUD]"
[7.0] "I liked the actual work in this match to the extent that I'd still recommend it despite the stuff I hated - the overbooking, the rushed nature of the second half, and the post-match clumsiness. Kingston and Jericho had a lot of really good work that was sadly overshadowed by everything else."
[7.0] "The rating of this match is way too low. We had a good brutal match. The ending was a bit flat. The intervention of the JAS and the BCC was not necessary."
[5.0] "Not as bad match at all at all, but certainly a disappointing match that potentially ended a fued in a strange manner, as Eddie Kingston should have won, but him not winning and being ok with that just by having the last laugh doesn't necessarily make sense for his character. Although the match certainly lived up to the brutality it wanted to relay to the audience, the shark cage gimmick was ultimately wasted as it become irrelevant half way through the match as Tay Conti and Sammy Guevara interfered despite being members of Jericho Appreciation Society ultimately rendering the stipulation pointless, never mind the fact the cage wasn't above the ring as advertised."
[5.0] "What Jericho and Kingston did wasn? t really bad, they had a decent match but this was too overbooked and possibly missed the mark for a Kingston win."
[4.0] "Although the barbed-wire spots were definitely brutal, and I commend Jericho and Kingston for putting themselves through that. This match was a complete mess from a storyline standpoint. There was so many things wrong. First of all, Ruby Soho, Tay Conti, and Anna Jay should've been nowhere near this match, and the JAS should've stayed in the Shark Cage, allowing for Kingston and Jericho have one final brawl to end their feud. In this match, we had a screwy finish with the JAS getting involved again. Sammy Guevara returning since Blood & Guts, which I feel wasn't the right move for a return. Tay Conti and Ruby Soho continuing their weird feud that came from this. Anna Jay turning heel which made absolutely no sense as it had nothing to do with Jericho and Kingston. I liked what Kingston and Jericho did themselves, but everything else was pretty bad. Let's just end this feud and move on. 4/10"
[1.0] "Awful match between Kingston and Jericho here and I'm the first to be sad to say that because I really like both of these guys, I really liked this rivalry, I was a big fan of their Revolution match, their Anarchy In The Arena as well as their Blood & Guts... but this was just not it. I had huge expectations for this match following the ones I just mentioned which were all of a huge quality, their opener in the Revolution PPV was stellar so I really thought this big stipulation match between them was going to be a success. After all, a Barbed Wire Death match with a crazy Kingston and a Jericho who's done it before, it was like a dream to end such a long rivalry on paper and the company had been promoting it heavily for the last two weeks. All that to make this match look like this ? I think it's really one of my biggest disappointments ever considering the expectations I had, all the spots looked flat, all the bumps didn't even look impressive, the crowd didn't care, it was overbooked to death with lots of interventions and in the end the action clearly took a back seat. The result was also bad and it's that kind of 'everyone stay strong' booking that WWE is blamed for but Tony Khan is also capable of writing, this was so damn sad. When the most interesting match in a Barbed Wire Everywhere Death match that ends a six month rivalry is a fucking Anna Jay heel turn, I think you have to wonder you some questions. Bad, very bad and really bad stuff."
[1.0] "We all have off nights Tony, but this was pretty egregious. Easily the worst Dynamite main event I've ever seen. No one came out looking good. I'm really done watching JAS/BCC brawls. That's enough of that."
[7.0] "It wasn't that bad. Sure, felt rushed and Jericho and Kingston didn't cooperate well with each other in this match, many mistakes were taking place. The worst thing that happened was the wrong winner as Eddie should've won and end this feud once and for all. And why wasn't Tay Conti in the cage? I thought the entire JAS were supposed to be locked inside of the cage besides Sammy, because his showing on the show was meant as a surprise. Nevertheless, I love hardcore type of matches and I wasn't bored watching this. 7 out of 10 is a fair rating for me as I think it was still a good match."
[3.0] "This was rough. Terrible booking aside, this felt off the whole match. The opening spot where you could clearly see Jericho blading started things off poor, and it only got worse. There were some good spots throughout the match but the timing was always holding things back. The ending sequence is one of the most embarrassing things I've seen on AEW TV. It's really too bad as I loved Blood & Guts and this did not live up to that standard."
[4.0] "This was really badly booked. Positively, Kingston and Jericho and a decent little brawl when they had the opportunity. It definitely wasn't flashy, and in fact it was sloppy as hell, but for a barbed wire match between two brawlers, it was on theme. As for the bad. Hoo boy. First thing I noticed was that for a match advertised as barbed wire everywhere, the barbed wire seemed lacking visually. I'm sure it hurt like hell, but it didn't LOOK like a lot of barbed wire in most situations. Maybe some non barbed wire to pad it out visually maybe? Then the match started. Slow paced, not really wowing things but building up nicely. Then Tay interferes. Then Anna Jay interferes. Then JAS are allowed to escape, so they interfere. So BCC interfere and cancel out JAS. At this point, it was definitely eyerolling, but also, maybe its necessary for a blowoff, give the competitors some time to breathe and eliminate all distractions. Harmed the flow, but, I can understand it. So they just started wrestling again and......Sammy interferes. Then it's over. WHAT? Interference was insanity for a match that advertised no interference, in fact it lead to the end of the match. Nothing feels resolved. Nobody comes out of this looking better at all. And Kingston and Jericho took this damage for nothing. I really think Jericho and Kingston could've done something cool here, but the way this was booked, this was probably the worst booking in AEW. I feel genuinely bad for the guys."
[5.0] "It's a satisfying death match in its content but unfortunately it's bungled by too many interventions that are not very useful. This story deserved a real single match ending Rating: **1/4"
[7.0] "This was just a few minor flaws away from being great, and they mostly just involved timing issues. It was an excellent, bloody brawl, although a little bit watered down for TV. Anyone complaining about interference has never seen a match with a shark cage before, and doesn't understand booking, as this will set up an even bigger, hopefully bloodier match on the next PPV. Just a shame they didn't give it 5 more minutes."
[2.0] "First off, nobody, and I mean NOBODY books shenanigans during a BARBED WIRE match. Does that sound like it makes sense to you? Because it doesn't to me. Tony Khan is not really the "Best Booker" in pro wrestling today. There is no way that he is. He is starting to lose his touch. The true best bookers are Shuji Ishikawa (AJPW), Sanshiro Takagi (DDT), NOSAWA (NOAH), Rossy Ogawa (Stardom), & the booker(s) of BJW (Big Japan). This feud really should have concluded at Blood & Guts (War Games). A Barbed Wire match should not even be done to TV anyway due to being watered down, being rushed because of time constraints, not going to capture the full feeling of brutality, among other reasons. A Barbed Wire match should be done on PPV only. This match felt like WCW in the year 2000. That is NOT a compliment. You don't EVER want to remind anyone of that era of pro wrestling, as that was the era of one of the worst bookers in pro wrestling history, Vince Russo, who obviously had no leadership skills. On top of that, the wrong guy won this match. Chris Jericho does not benefit from victory at all (so what if he is "The Painmaker"), but Eddie Kingston sure would have. WTF happened here?"
[7.0] "There will be a lot of people trashing this match because it was rushed, overbooked, and had a weird seemingly botched finish. All three are credible complaints, but I personally enjoyed it for the most part. The match promised to be a bloody spectacle, and although it probably doesn't compare to the death matches you'd see on indies like GCW, it's still pretty violent for a nationally televised promotion. Eddie Kingston is always fantastic in blood feuds, and he brought it here. He specializes in brawling and looking angry, so he's a natural fit for a match like this. Chris Jericho is in his 50's, a 30-year veteran of the sport, and had a serious health scare 8 months ago, so the fact that he even agreed to do a match like this in the first place shows what a team player he is. For a guy who (I'm assuming) has never had a barbed wire match before and now has to figure out how to wrestle this style of match under time constraints on national TV, I thought he did extremely well considering the circumstances."
[0.0] "An absolute, atrocious trainwreck of an exhibition. Not one part of this fiasco made a lick of sense. We're all a little dumber for having watched it."
[5.0] "Basically AEW's version of a late-90s TV main event, for better and for worse. The wrestling was mostly pointless and the story was complete messy nonsense but it was also so busy and so completely committed to its own stupidity that it still made for compelling entertainment. I certainly don't think it can be accused of being boring, at least, but it's also the kind of major segment you can't do more than once a year, tops, unless you want your company to look like a shitshow."
[7.0] "Some really nasty spots with the barbed wire, it requires a lot of guts to be in this match and go full brutal like they did. But then the interventions started and the rhythm of the match died. I wish Eddie won with the submission but he did not. Very disappointing match ruined by terrible booking but never it should be ranked so low, big respect to Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho for going through this"
[2.0] "One of the worst matches I can remember watching on AEW Dynamite. It was horribly overbooked, nonsensical and, at times, it felt like I was watching Vince Russo's WCW in the year 2000 - not AEW. Why were Tay Conti and Sammy Guevara not in the shark cage? Frankly it was downright insulting to the audience to not even explain why and then have them show up at the end. As soon as they weren't in the cage, the finish was telegraphed and everything felt like a huge waste of time.There were so many botches as well. Why bother having Eddie stand tall at the end? He lost. Give him the victory or let him lose. Don't do that 50/50 WWE shit. That's part of the reason people wanted to seek an alternative in the first place. Because of bullshit like this match. Run-ins, brawls, distractions - I'm getting tired of it. I'm getting tired of Jericho winning every feud and Kingston losing every feud. This was my favourite match at Revolution and now I never want to see these two in the ring together again. Bravo, Tony Khan. This was god awful. Almost as bad as The Fiend vs Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell all those years ago. That's the company its in, at least for me."
[4.0] "Please just let Jericho leave so he can go collect his blood money and HoF spot. His feuds never ever end. This was a mess and an awful finish and just leaves a sour taste. Get Eddie away from his ASAP but assume this now continues to the PPV. Sigh."
[4.0] "A somewhat disappointing Main Event, I don't know if they will do more rivalry between them but the truth is that it starts to get tired, although in general the fight was not what many of us expected, so it was a little disappointing."
[6.0] "A very publicized failure, with all due respect to Jericho, but this match should have been won by Eddie Kingston, the match is very overloaded and still resembles WCW 2000, such matches should be on BIG PPV. + advertising integration with The Rock made me very happy, can it be considered as The Rock debut in AEW? ahaha))"
[0.0] "A Russo-esque nightmare of a match that wouldn't have felt out of place on WCW 2000. Overbooked to the gills and in an increasingly incoherent and bizarre way. Tay Conti botched her big cage opening spot and completely messed up whatever chance this match had left of being even OK. Insanely rushed finish combined with another large, obviously visible botch was just the icing on the cake. AND FRIGGIN JERICHO WON?"
[2.0] "Uninspiriert und unnötig gehyptes Match. Das war eine absolute Enttäuschung. Nicht nur hat das Match mit 13 Minuten kaum Zeit bekommen, es war auch noch geplagt von Overbooking. Das erinnert wirklich an die letzten Tage der WCW. Warum man Kingston dann am Ende verlieren lässt kann ich nicht nachvollziehen. Klar, Eddie Kingston hat Jericho trotzdem zum Bluten gebracht, aber das macht es nicht besser. TK sollte nun wirklich aufhören diese Hardcore Matches zu Promoten und endlich wieder auf ein Storyline-Based Product zurückkehren."
