It wasn’t the main event AEW’s new Redemption PPV was supposed to have, at least according to the pro wrestling rumor mill. But either due to injuries accumulated by former World champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman or possibly to serve a story he came up with, MJF lost the belt to Kenny Omega on television earlier this month.
For the first defense of Omega’s second run as AEW World champ, whoever decides these things went with current TNT champion Kevin Knight as his challenger. I kid, but I did go into
the main event thinking I’d be much more excited to be seeing MJF/Omega. Knight is an amazing talent and I understand why AEW owner Tony Khan and others at the company see him as a future star. But the outcome felt like a lock.
Redemption took place in Montreal, and the French-Canadian crowd was excited to see Winnipegger Omega. To turn up the heat for the rest of us, Jet attacked the World champ during his introduction…
The match that followed was solid, but it didn’t seem to move Montreal. The Bell Centre is a huge building, and can seat almost 20,000 for hockey. AEW had sold about 7,000 tickets as of this morning; all they initially announced, but probably not what they hoped when they booked an arena of Bell’s size. The crowd was pretty dead all night, to the point commentary mentioned it occasionally. During the main, you could hear referee Bryce Remsburg at times… not ideal.
They woke up when Kenny was in control and shining, however,
Knight got his moments to shine as well…
But the outcome was never really in doubt, and whoever’s idea this was, it was just prelude to the post match angle after Omega got his knees up on Knight’s UFO Splash, hit a V-Trigger, and followed up with One Winged Angel.
Following up on his threat from earlier in the show…
Jon Moxley’s Death Riders hit the ring to attack the World champ after his victory. Ospreay had allied himself with Mox and the group in an effort to learn their killer instinct so he could win the title after neck surgery. That happened during a period when Moxley was following the rules because he’s Continental champion and that’s about the glory of the sport of pro wrestling, while Claudio Castagnoli and PAC lead the rest of the Riders as the heels they’ve always been. It meant Ospreay was looking past not only the Riders attempts to end his career last year, but their attempted murders of Bryan Danielson and others, something this segment finally addresses, to its credit.
Personally, I don’t give the closing angle credit for much more. Mox wanted Bruv to asphyxiate Kenny with a plastic bag the way the Riders did Danielson. Ospreay said no…
Eventually, he threw away his Death Riders patch, and handed the World title to Omega while telling him something… commentary’s logical guess was that he wants to face the champ at 100% in London on Aug. 30.
Omega seemed to accept that, but after a handshake returned to take out the #1 contender with another One-Winged Angel. Kenny’s friends The Young Bucks wondered why, and we couldn’t hear his answer either… if only Bell Centre could have been as quiet here as they were during the match. Commentary pitched it as Omega finally saying, “we can’t trust Will any more if he was willing to join up with the Riders, regardless of what he did tonight”.
Closing out the big angle for the main event of your upcoming Wembley Stadium maybe shouldn’t have your announcers guessing at major plot points, but what do I know?
As you can probably tell, I didn’t really like anything about this. But I’m just a fan with an opinion lucky enough to get this platform. You’re a fan who can respond to it in the comments below (or with your own post on it in The Feed).
You’re also someone who can find a full, fun rundown of everything at Redemption in Claire’s live blog here!
