AEW and NXT Wednesday Night Wars: 3 winners of night #2

2. Private Party

This match represented everything that’s good about pro wrestling. From the beginning, AEW was emphasized their intentions to present their in-ring product as a sport, and there are few things in sports that are more thrilling than an upset.

If you’re reading this and you follow real sports, many of your favorite moments — outside of your favorite team or player winning a championship — are probably unexpected victories by plucky underdogs. Moments like the New York Giants upsetting the undefeated New England Patriots in XLII, or when 16-seeded UMBC beat top-seeded Virginia in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Memories like that tend to last, mainly because sports shows tend to replay them over and over.

In wrestling, bookers can use the upset as a tool to get an upstart act over without damaging the established wrestlers’ credibility.

That’s exactly what happened when Isaiah Kassidy and Marq Quen, collectively known as Private Party, beat the Youg Bucks in the first AEW Tag Team Championship Tournament quarterfinal match.

As expected, Kassidy and Quen matched the Jackson brothers’ athleticism and creativity. Towards the end, the Bucks took control and looked to put Quen away with the Meltzer Driver, but before they could hit the move, Kassidy yanked Nick Jackson off the ring apron, allowing Quen to roll up Matt Jackson for the surprise pin.

While the Bucks lost nothing in defeat, this win validated Private Party as a legit contender in this tournament.

Obviously, AEW can’t book too many of these upsets — if they did it all the time, they wouldn’t be upsets — but when executed at the right time, it can do wonders for a wrestler/team.