3 AEW/WWE matches to rewatch (Week of Sept. 18-24)

Another week of wrestling has passed, which means it’s time to reflect on the quality action that we saw on Raw, SmackDown, NXT, Dynamite, and Rampage. As has become the case over the last month, both WWE and All Elite Wrestling delivered some great matches for the fans.

WWE’s renewed commitment to airing longer matches on weekly television (sometimes a little too often given some of the matchups) has helped make lists like these a bit more interesting to compile. And, of course, it would be strange to see an episode of AEW programming that doesn’t feature at least one good match.

So, let’s get to it.

These three AEW/WWE matches are worth a rewatch.

Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Seth Rollins- United States Championship match (WWE Raw, Sept. 19, 2022) (***3/4)

Plenty of intrigue surrounded the United States Championship match between Bobby Lashley and Seth Rollins. With the match kicking off the Sept. 19 episode of Raw, fans didn’t wait long to have their curiosity satiated.

Lashley and Rollins — two good workers — established the obvious advantages the two have over one another (Lashley with his strength, Rollins with his agility) to set an early tone for the match. It was also cool to see things like Seth struggling to hit his signature offense at the start, including when Lashley’s strong neck and biceps prevented Rollins from hitting the Stomp, and only executed them once he wore Lashley down. And the Rollins counter of the spear into a Pedigree may be one of the best nearfalls of the year.

A few things hampered this one. WWE booked Rollins’ initial heel cutoff to happen during a commercial break, which took away from the story. Rollins’ heat segment, which consisted of him working over Lashley’s arm, didn’t play into the finish, either. And Matt Riddle’s distraction, while expected, put a sports-entertainment damper on some compelling pro wrestling.

Jungle Boy vs. Rey Fenix (AEW: Rampage- Grand Slam) (****1/4)

It seems odd to use “slugfest” to describe Jungle Boy and Rey Fenix’s battle on the Grand Slam edition of Rampage, but that’s what we saw from these two on Sept. 23 (or earlier if you attended the show live).

To be clear, we saw plenty of brilliant athletic spots from these two, but they balanced that expertly blended brutal strikes with those breathtaking displays. They could’ve worked Jungle Boy’s injured back into the story a bit more, but with this being a babyface vs. babyface outing, it’s understandable that they kept the action mostly clean.

Jungle Boy picked up the win with a tight cradle, but he would feel the wrath of former tag team partner Luchasaurus after the match, continuing the feud between those two and Christian Cage.

Jon Moxley vs. Bryan Danielson- AEW World Championship match (AEW: Dynamite- Grand Slam) ( ****1/2)

With two members of the Blackpool Combat Club vying for the AEW World Championship, everyone expected a brutal affair, especially knowing that the two members were Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson.

Lo and behold, that’s what we say in the main event of Dynamite- Grand Slam.  If you could get past the numerous cutaways to Maxwell Jacob Friedman — we get it, he’s challenging for the title at some point — you saw a clubbing battle between two of the best wrestlers in the world. Yes, there were some cringe-worthy spots (particularly involving Danielson), but the edge-of-your-seat drama superseded many of those concerns.

Moxley would win via ref stoppage to win his third world title in AEW, solidifying his status as the promotion’s ace.