3 AEW/WWE matches worth rewatching (Week of Aug. 21-27)

Another week has passed, so it’s time to reflect on everything we saw on WWE and All Elite Wrestling programming. As has become the case, both promotions turned in good episodes of their respective shows, which makes pieces like this more fun to ponder.

Between the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament, the AEW Trios Championship tournament, and the unification of the lineal and interim AEW World Championships, fans gorged on a lot of appetizing in-ring action.

For the sake of brevity, we’ll focus on these selections.

These three AEW/WWE matches are worth a rewatch.

Chad Gable vs. Kevin Owens (WWE Raw, Aug. 22, 2022) (***1/2)

In a match that fits neatly into the “random” file, Chad Gable took on Kevin Owens. WWE set up this match by having Gable issue an open challenge and get some Canadian cheap heat before the match, setting up Owens’ triumphant entrance in his home country.

Owens and Gable got a bit of time to put together something solid, but they exceeded what most fans would expect from an 11-minute match. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise anyone given who was involved, but it’s nice to give credit where it’s due.

In the end, Owens won with the pop-up powerbomb — continuing his reversion to “The Prizefighter” — and turned back a Gable and Otis attack after the match, giving the impression that his stint as a babyface was a one night thing. Looks like we’ll have to wait to see if that’s the case.

Edge vs. Damian Priest (WWE Raw, Aug. 22, 2022) (***3/4)

Several weeks into the Triple H era of WWE creative, it’s good to see the promotion move away from humiliating wrestlers in their howetown/home state/home country for HEEEEEEEEAAAAAAT.

Instead, we got nice things like Trish Stratus returning and getting treated like the legend she is, the aforementioned KO match, and a main event between Edge and Damian Priest that ended with the local hero getting the big win. Priest and Edge worked a modern version of an Attitude Era main event, but the crowd ate up every spot these two executed.

Yes, the heels got heat on Edge after he won (by hitting a CANADIAN DESTROYER and the spear), but even that served to (possibly) set up future matches involving Beth Phoenix.

United Empire (Will Ospreay and Aussie Open) vs. Death Triangle (PAC, Rey Fenix, and Penta El Zero M)- AEW Trios Championship Tournament Quarterfinal (AEW: Dynamite, Aug. 24, 2022) (****3/4)

Ok, let’s get some things about Will Ospreay out of the way. He is a 100 percent awful person and the fact that he gets to cloak his repellent personality in this “I’m being a heel” sheen makes it all the more insidious.

Another aspect of what makes Ospreay so aggrivating…it makes it nigh impossible to enjoy his otherworldly performances in the ring, because that’s what we saw when Ospreay teamed with Aussie Open to face Death Triangle for the right to face The Elite in the AEW Trios tournament.

Pretty much every cool spot you would hope to see in this one played out before your eyes. With Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks next up for the United Empire, expect more of the same this coming Wednesday.