Update: check out our review for Night 1 of AEW Fyter Fest 2020 right here.
Check out our review for Night 2 of AEW Fyter Fest 2020 right here.
During the first year of All Elite Wrestling, the powers that be put on a great event that coincided with the 2019 edition of the Community Effort Orlando (CEO) fighting game tourney.
The event I’m alluding to is Fyter Fest, which is a show that featured Shawn Spears busting Cody open with a steel chair and Jon Moxley emerging as the victor at the end of a hardcore war with Joey Janela. Fyter Fest 2019 also played host to The Elite (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks) cosplaying as Street Fighter’s greatest shoto characters. All in all, it was an event that treated fans to the very best of AEW. Now in 2020, Fyter Fest is set to return in a different fashion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What was originally planned to go down in the UK will now take place here in the States. But I’m sure that AEW will still deliver a quality event even though there won’t be any rabid fans in attendance (the ringside wrestlers and assorted crew should keep things exciting, though).
Before we arrive at AEW Fyter Fest 2020, let’s take a look at the card and pick out the individuals that we all expect to see prevail.
Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) (with Matt Hardy) vs. Santana and Ortiz
Predictions & Winners: Matt Hardy and his many alter-egos have been very entertaining as of late. His regular self has adopted the role of the storied veteran who’s made the wise decision to take Private Party under his wing. Matt’s leftover beef with the Inner Circle involves Santana and Ortiz, who are now vying for revenge against his party-hopping mates.
I think this match will be a case of Private Party learning due to loss as they fall to Chris Jericho’s favorite tag team. The L that Private Party will take here will play into their ongoing storyline and further establish them as an up and coming tag team that’s steadily improving under Matt’s learning tree.
Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) (with Marko Stunt) vs. MJF and Wardlow
Predictions & Winners: This beef’s been brewing for a good while now. Ever since MJF and Jungle Boy put on one of the better matches at Double or Nothing earlier this year, the Jurassic Express has been at the necks of MJF and Wardlow. After a series of intense follow-up matches and pull-apart brawls, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus are ready to get their revenge on MJF and Wardlow as a tag team.
Jurassic Express has taken too many L’s from both men thus far, which is why I think they’ll finally overcome their biggest foes to date during this show. And count on this prediction, too – this loss will be the beginning of MJF slowly moving away from Wardlow and building up the brute as a disgruntled bodyguard who’s ready for a change.
Lance Archer (with Jake Roberts) vs. Joey Janela
Predictions & Winner: Man, you guys already know how this is gonna go down. Joey Janela and his partnership with Sonny Kiss has been better than expected and I expect great things from them in the near future. But Lance Archer is a runaway train who’s angry as hell since that shocking TNT Championship loss he took back at Double or Nothing. And there’s no way he’s getting derailed again at another major AEW show. Lance Archer for the win here!
Colt Cabana and The Dark Order (Brodie Lee and Stu Grayson) vs. SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky) (6-Man Tag Team Match)
Predictions & Winners: The Dark Order story arc has actually been pretty interesting. Mr. Brodie Lee’s new leadership position within the stable and his curious interest in recruiting Colt Cabana is one of the better parts of weekly AEW Dynamite shows. Lee is seemingly always in recruitment mode, which is why he’s zeroed in on Mr. Cabana in hopes of adding him to his expanding cult.
Colt’s been wishy-washy about his status alongside The Dark Order – he’s happy that he finally got a W alongside Lee, but he’s still a bit put off by their approach. Now he’s being forced to go against his best buds in SCU, which presents an interesting conflict within Colt’s heart. I think Colt will finally align himself with The Dark Order here and abandon his former mates, which will lead to a big win for Mr. Lee and his stablemates. Colt’s not going to be so happy go lucky anymore…
FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) vs. The Butcher and The Blade and Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fénix) (8-Man Tag Team Match)
Predictions & Winners: I’m getting MOTY candidate vibes from this one. The welcome return of the Lucha Brothers makes this whole situation incredibly exciting. And the inclusion of FTR, The Young Bucks, and the severely underrated duo of The Butcher and The Blade paints this as a match that’ll steal the show during Night 2. Greatness will surely ensue here.
I get the feeling that FTR and their rivals in The Young Bucks will screw up as a team and let their bubbling hatred for each other cost them the match. This surprising loss will be used to further build up their eventual marquee tag-team matchup. Now if they can hold off on having that highly anticipated matchup until AEW All Out on September 5, I’ll be seriously impressed. I think it’s possible.
Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy
Predictions & Winner: “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy has finally gotten some energy in him. And all that newfound rage is being directed at the cocky leader of the Inner Circle, Chris Jericho. I figured that both of these super charismatic individuals would cross paths at some point. Now that Jericho is away from the world title scene, he’s keeping busy by beefing with AEW’s up and coming superstars. So it makes all the sense in the world for him to lock up with one of the company’s most lovable babyfaces in Cassidy. The level of heat between them has reached an all-time high and now they’re going to go to war during this highly anticipated grudge match.
I can totally see this match being used as a way to catapult Cassidy to an even higher level on the AEW roster. Jericho has shown that he works especially well with AEW’s young bucks and is always willing to do whatever it takes to get them over. My gut’s telling me that Jericho will fall in defeat to Cassidy via a shocking rollup pin. With such a major win in his front pocket, Cassidy will go on to do bigger and better things in AEW. This feud will surely continue after Cassidy’s major win since we all know Jericho doesn’t take his losses lying down. But this Cassidy win will definitely be the start of his singles division ascension.
Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Penelope Ford (with Kip Sabian) (AEW Women’s World Championship)
Predictions & Winner: Due to Penelope Ford’s tag team pinfall win over Hikaru Shida, she’s gotten herself a well-deserved title shot. Since the women’s division has recently been depleted due to the injured states of Britt Baker and Kris Statlander, I can see why Miss Ford has been fast-tracked to this championship opportunity.
While Penelope has grown on me in recent weeks, she’s still pretty rough around the edges and far from championship material. She’ll certainly put up a good fight, but there’s no way Hikaru is dropping the title to her at this point in her successful run. There’s still too much juice left in her exciting title run.
Kenny Omega and Adam Page (c) vs. Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent) (AEW World Tag Team Championship)
Predictions & Winners: The “elite” pairing of Kenny Omega and Adam Page have come back strong and continued their tag team title reign amidst this current pandemic. But in their absence, Chuck Taylor and Trent have been building themselves a nice reputation as one of the more slept-on duos in AEW. At this year’s Double or Nothing, Best Friends overcame the tag team of Private Party to go on and become the #1 contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Now the best of besties will get a chance to cement their high placing in the company by trying to wrestle the titles away from Omega and Page.
It’s kind of cool to see Page get over his insecurities and work a lot more smoothly alongside his championship partner. There hasn’t been a lot of dissension seen between the two of them, which makes it seem as if their bond is untouchable. But I think one errant move will spell their title reign’s end during this matchup and kickstart their breakup feud into high gear.
Their relationship has been a little bit too strong, which is why I think the cracks will show up again when we least expect it. Best Friends have been doing great work for a while now and I think this match is the perfect opportunity to strap the tag team titles around their wastes. I predict a title loss here that will lead to the official breakup of Omega and Page in the near future. Best Friends will capitalize on the mistakes made by both men and capture the titles in shocking fashion.
Cody (c) (with Arn Anderson) vs. Jake Hager (AEW TNT Championship)
Predictions & Winner: While the TNT Championship is certainly hard on the eyes, its current holder is doing a fine job of giving legitimacy to it. Since winning the newly installed title, Cody has competed against the very best of AEW and produced quality matches in the process. With such a major prize within his grasp, it should come as no surprise that the Inner Circle’s towering MMA killer has come calling for his title shot. Cody’s beef with the Inner Circle has been reignited and led to this tough title match for the first-time holder of the belt. Jake Hager is most certainly Cody’s biggest TNT Championship challenger to date.
I can already see this being quite the competitive matchup between two ready and willing competitors. The presence of Cody’s Nightmare Family and Hager’s Inner Circle stablemates will most likely play a huge part in this match’s outcome due to their interference. Once all the madness between the interfering stables wraps up, Cody will be the one who takes advantage of all the outside confusion and defeat Hager. Cody’s not relinquishing his grasp over the TNT Championship for a while, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for him to drop it so soon after winning it.
Jon Moxley (c) vs. Brian Cage (with Taz) (AEW World Championship)
Update: this match has now been pushed to AEW Fight for the Fallen as the main event. My predictions stated below still stand, however.
Predictions & Winner: At Double or Nothing 2020, Brian Cage tore through every other participant within the Casino Ladder Match and emerge with the hanging casino chip in hand. This major accomplishment during his very first night in the company granted him a future AEW World Championship match opportunity. And that title shot is getting cashed in at this very event, which is a match setup that greatly excites me.
Cage is…well, a machine that pulled off amazing big-man feats during his time spent in PWG, Lucha Underground, and Impact Wrestling. He’s a big get for AEW and a formidable opponent for the current AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. Jon’s been on a roll lately as he’s defeated worthy foes such as Jake Hager and Brodie Lee. Now he has to contend with the walking brick house that just so happens to have the former “Human Suplex Machine” Taz by his side.
I’m expecting great things from this main event. It’ll most likely start with Cage easily overpowering Moxley and dominating him for a good while. But I’m sure Moxley will valiantly fight back and find his spots once they invariably open. This will be quite the competitive brawl that will see both men taking it to each other in the most vicious ways possible. Taz will certainly be at ringside, but I just can’t see him being the type of manager that sticks his nose into his client’s match proceedings. Seeing as how Moxley’s title reign is still cooking and far from stale, it’s just not right for him to drop the belt here. I foresee a finish where Moxley “taps” into his MMA submission hold playbook to choke out Cage in the very same way he defeated Brodie Lee.
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All Elite Wrestling Fyter Fest 2020: Matches & Predictions