Thus far, nine matches are advertised for the Saturday pay-per-view with five championship bouts set to take place. Let’s examine the full card below. Remember, these are just predictions as I have no inside knowledge of what’s going to happen. Let’s get started.
AEW World Championship ("I Quit" Match): Jon Moxley (c) vs. Eddie Kingston
Say what you will about Eddie Kingston, but holy f**k is the guy tremendous on the microphone. I knew this back during his Impact days when he was feuding with LAX, but his entire AEW tenure has been nothing short of tremendous.
To be honest, I wouldn’t be against Eddie Kingston winning here. What I like about Kingston is that he doesn’t have the typical professional wrestler look. The veteran looks like a street fighter and I think it would be fun to have him as the top champion for a brief period. However, giving Kingston the belt here would be the mistake as I continue to believe that Moxley vs. Omega II needs to happen.
While Kingston will suffer the humiliating defeat here, all the AEW star has to do is grab a microphone and he’ll get back his heat in no time. I expect this to be a violent match, but Jon will ultimately win the bloody war.
Winner: Jon Moxley
AEW World Tag Team Championship match: FTR (c) vs. The Young Bucks (If The Young Bucks lose, they will never challenge for the tag titles again. Tully Blanchard banned from ringside.)
What a disappointing build. Matt and Nick beat down innocent wrestling personalities to get back their “edge” and all of the sudden I’m supposed to feel sympathetic for them? I like the idea of the duo being frustrated with their continued losses in big title matches. In fact, I wish they continued with The Bucks downward spiral and held this match off until Revolution.
The term K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid) should’ve been applied here as the build has been a confusing mess that even AEW seemed to recognize within the last few weeks. Attacking guys like Tony Schiavone makes The Bucks assholes because those personalities were innocent victims who have done nothing to harm the duo. What’s worse is not feeling remorse for your actions. Even Anti-Heroes feel guilt over hurting someone innocent despite their need to pull off a necessary move.
I originally had FTR penciled in for the win until the never challenge for the titles again stipulation was added, which feels unneeded here. I just can’t see The Bucks not being the AEW Tag Team Champions. At the same time, FTR haven’t had the belts long enough for audiences to be invested in the duo losing on Saturday. Despite Matt’s injury, hopefully this turns out to be the fantastic match it could be.
Winner: The Young Bucks
AEW TNT Championship match: Cody (c) with Arn Anderson vs. Darby Allin
Allin is 0-3 when it comes to Cody Rhodes. The interesting part is that his record has barely been mentioned when it comes to facing the TNT Champion. Based off Cody’s heelish actions in his title match against Orange Cassidy and his promo this past Wednesday, I wouldn’t be surprised if the AEW Executive Vice President retained his belt by classic heel tactics.
However, I feel now is the time to give Allin that big win over Cody. Granted, I wish AEW focused more on the Allin/Rhodes feud coming in as it doesn’t necessarily feel like the right time for the title to change hands here. However, Allin needs to finally get a big singles win and I believe we’ll see that this Saturday.
Winner: Darby Allin
AEW Women's World Championship match: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Nyla Rose with Vickie Guerrero
So I’m going to rant about AEW’s lackluster women’s division a bit. If you’re not interested in that then simply scroll down to check out my winner prediction, but I do feel that this needs to be said. The AEW Women’s division is simply WWE’s old divas division. The fault doesn’t lie with the female talents on the roster.
Granted, a lot of the wrestlers are still green; however, my main issue is the lack of feuds and developing characters on television. It’s essentially Dr. Britt Baker (who’s really the one talent with a defined character) and everyone else. Shida has been the champion since May; however, the 32-year-old has as much character as Dasha Fuentes. Again, this isn’t Shida’s fault as she’s a very talented wrestler.
However, the company has not given her proper feuds to sink her teeth into and these title matches rarely have heat due to the lack of build. Nyla Rose was barely featured on television. There was barely a build. The dynamic between Guerrero and Rose wasn’t given a chance to be showcased in a secondary feud and all signs pointed to Shida vs. Thunder Rosa II.
Characters matter. I understand that there are fans who care more about the wrestling than a well-defined character, but let’s compare Enzo Amore (who’s considered one of the worst wrestlers to step into the ring) and Ricochet (who considered one of the best highflyers in the business).
Amore was crazy over because the former WWE star connected with the audience thanks to his defined character. Also, the guy can simply talk. This goes for people like Becky Lynch, Stone Cold Steve Austin, or The Rock. Strip away their characters and promo ability and those three would've never reached the popularity levels that they had. Unfortunately for Ricochet, the guy is a bland personality because he hasn’t been given a chance to showcase one. The former United States Champion is extremely talented, but he isn’t over because he doesn’t have a character.
I can only hope that AEW eventually realizes the problem with the women’s division and tries to correct it sooner than later. In terms of the match, it would make sense to give the title back to Rose to put over Vickie Guerrero as the manager; however, I can’t help but feel that Baker will be the next AEW Women’s Champion. A title change wouldn’t surprise me, but I just don’t see Shida dropping the belt here.
Winner: Hikaru Shida
AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament Finals: Kenny Omega vs. Adam “Hangman” Page (Winner receives future AEW World Title shot.)
We’re finally here. I do appreciate the storytelling going into this big tournament match. There are several directions that the company can go with this bout. Page alluded to his failure at capturing the AEW World Championship at All Out 2019 and this can serve as a redemption arc where he beats Omega and pulls off the victory over Moxley.
Omega hasn’t gone full heel yet (though its clear that he is one right now), so perhaps the loss to his former Elite partner will finally make him snap and beat him down to a bloody pulp following the match-up, with a rematch between world champion Page and Omega happening at Double or Nothing.
There’s also the obvious Omega win, with him moving on to fight Jon Moxley at Revolution. I’m a firm believer that Moxley is losing the belt to the winner of this tournament and Moxley vs. Omega II literally writes itself. Page vs. Moxley could be a fun feud and the “Hangman” will be a world champion someday; however, I see Kenny Omega emerging victorious here. The follow-up to Page’s loss should be very interesting.
Winner: Kenny Omega
The Elite Deletion: Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara
It’s the feud that won’t die. Hopefully these two finally get to have the match that I feel that they can have. Guevara vs. Hardy could be a fun contest, though their last couple of matches have been hampered due to several different reasons. Hardy did get the win at All Out, so my guess is that Guevara is going to pull out the victory somehow. Otherwise, what’s the point in these two having another match following their All Out encounter?
Winner: Sammy Guevara
Chris Jericho vs. MJF (If MJF wins, he can join Inner Circle.)
There are several interesting layers going into this match. First, Ortiz and Guevara still don’t like MJF. I don’t believe that these two will be a factor into the result on Saturday; however, I do think that will play into something else later. I don’t expect this to be the final match between Jericho and MJF.
Both men have massive egos, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the next bout was for the leadership of The Inner Circle. Either way, the dynamic between MJF and The Inner Circle should be fun for weeks to come, meaning that the cocky 24-year-old will likely beat the former AEW World Champion here.
Winner: MJF
Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver
Cassidy is the established singles star and Silver is more so the lackey of The Dark Order. In other words, expect Cassidy to win here.
Winner: Orange Cassidy
NWA Women's World Championship (The Buy In): Serena Deeb (c) vs. Allysin Kay
I like both women and it would be stupid for AEW to not sign Kay as she’s very talented on the mic and inside the ring. AEW needs to establish Deeb’s overall character following Full Gear, but until then, these women will provide a really good match that continues to build up the newly crowned NWA Women’s Champion.
Winner: Serena Deeb
That’s it! If you have your own predictions then feel free to do yours in the comment section. Thanks for reading!