Fyter Fest
Promotional poster featuring Jon Moxley and Brian Cage
PromotionAll Elite Wrestling
DateJuly 1–2, 2020
(aired July 1, 2020 and July 8, 2020[1])
CityJacksonville, Florida
VenueDaily's Place
Attendance60 (behind closed doors)[Note 1]
Fyter Fest chronology
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2021
AEW Dynamite special episodes chronology
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Fight for the Fallen

The 2020 Fyter Fest was the second annual Fyter Fest professional wrestling event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event aired on TNT as a series of television special episodes of AEW's weekly television program, Dynamite. The two-week event took place at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida and was broadcast on July 1 and 8, 2020. While night 1 aired live, night 2 was pre-recorded on July 2 and aired on July 8.

The event was originally scheduled to air on pay-per-view from the Wembley Arena in London, England in June and be AEW's United Kingdom debut, but had to change locations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As with many of AEW's other programs since the pandemic began, the show was moved to Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida and split into a two-night event. AEW invited sixty sponsors from other corporate brands (Jacksonville Jaguars and Daily's Place) to attend the event in the upper deck as a test of allowing spectators, which began a test of allowing spectators that led by the end of August to live spectators returning.[2]

The main event of night 1 saw Kenny Omega and Adam Page successfully defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship against Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent). The main event of the second night was originally scheduled to be Jon Moxley defending the AEW World Championship against Brian Cage, but this match was postponed to the Fight for the Fallen event due to Moxley being exposed to COVID-19. Instead, the main event of night 2 saw Chris Jericho defeat Orange Cassidy.

Production

Other on-screen personnel
Role Name
Commentators Jim Ross
Excalibur
Tony Schiavone
Chris Jericho (Night 1)
Ring announcer Justin Roberts
Referees Aubrey Edwards
Mike Posey
Paul Turner
Rick Knox
Interviewers Alex Marvez
Dasha Gonzalez

Background

On June 29, 2019, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held an event titled Fyter Fest. The show was a follow-up to the Community Effort Orlando (CEO) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) co-promoted CEO⨯NJPW: When Worlds Collide event, which was organized by then-NJPW wrestler Kenny Omega, who became an Executive Vice President and wrestler for AEW and was also key in organizing the first Fyter Fest.[3][4] While AEW President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Khan had stated that there would be a second Fyter Fest event, it was not officially announced until May 2020's Double or Nothing, thus establishing Fyter Fest as an annual event for AEW, though this second event was produced by AEW alone and not in partnership with CEO like the previous year.[5]

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

During the media scrum following Double or Nothing's broadcast, Tony Khan revealed that the 2020 Fyter Fest was initially scheduled to take place at Wembley Arena in London, England in June and be AEW's United Kingdom debut, but had to change locations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] On June 3, it was announced that instead of airing on pay-per-view like originally planned, the event would be broadcast as a two-part special of AEW's weekly television program Dynamite, on July 1 and 8. The first night aired live on July 1 while the second night was pre-recorded on July 2 and aired on tape delay on July 8. Both episodes were held behind closed doors at AEW's home venue of Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, where AEW held the majority of their shows since the pandemic began in mid-March.[7]

Storylines

Fyter Fest featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[8] Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television program, Dynamite, the supplementary online streaming show, Dark, and The Young Bucks' YouTube series Being The Elite.

At Double or Nothing on May 23, Cody defeated Lance Archer in the tournament final to be crowned the inaugural TNT Champion.[5] On the following episode of Dynamite, Cody announced an open challenge in which he would defend the title every week.[9] After defending the title against Marq Quen on the June 10 episode, Jake Hager attacked Cody, signaling that he wanted a shot at the title, which Cody granted him to occur at Fyter Fest.[10]

During The Buy In pre-show of Double or Nothing, Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent) defeated Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) to earn a match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship.[5] On the May 27 episode of Dynamite, it was announced that Best Friends would receive their title match against champions Kenny Omega and Adam Page at Fyter Fest.[9]

After Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent) and Orange Cassidy defeated The Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz) on the June 10 episode of Dynamite, Chris Jericho and his stable beat down Best Friends and bloodied Cassidy with blood oranges. Best Friends put their number one contendership for the AEW World Tag Team Championship on the line to get a match with Le Sex Gods (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara).[10] On the June 17 episode, Best Friends defeated Le Sex Gods to retain their title opportunity after Cassidy, disguised as a ringside cameraman, tripped Guevara and allowed Trent to score the pinfall. After the conclusion of the match, Cassidy attacked Jericho, and a match between the two was also scheduled for Fyter Fest.[11]

At Double or Nothing, Hikaru Shida defeated Nyla Rose in a No Disqualification and No Countout match to become the new AEW Women's World Champion.[5] On the June 10 episode of Dynamite, Shida teamed with Kris Statlander against Rose and Penelope Ford. After Ford pinned Shida to win the tag team match, a title match between the two was scheduled for Fyter Fest.[10]

Cancelled match

At Double or Nothing, the debuting Brian Cage won the nine-man Casino Ladder Match to earn a future AEW World Championship opportunity.[5] During the media scrum following Double or Nothing's broadcast, Tony Khan announced that Cage's championship match against Jon Moxley, who successfully defended the title against Mr. Brodie Lee that night, would occur at Fyter Fest.[5][12] However, during night one of Fyter Fest, it was announced that the match had been rescheduled to take place at Fight for The Fallen, due to Moxley being subject to secondary exposure to COVID-19 after his wife, Renee Young, tested positive for the virus.[13]

Reception

Television ratings

The first night of Fyter Fest averaged 782,000 television viewers on TNT and a 0.29 rating in AEW's key demographic.[14] The second night of Fyter Fest drew 715,000 viewers, and drew a 0.28 rating in the key demographic.[15]

Results

Night 1 (July 1)
No.ResultsStipulationsTimes[20]
1Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) (with Marko Stunt) defeated MJF and WardlowTag team match[16]11:15
2Hikaru Shida (c) defeated Penelope Ford (with Kip Sabian)Singles match for the AEW Women's World Championship[17]11:28
3Cody (c) (with Arn Anderson) defeated Jake Hager (with Catalina Hager)Singles match for the AEW TNT Championship[18]14:59
4Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) (with Matt Hardy) defeated The Inner Circle (Santana and Ortiz)Tag team match[19]11:23
5Kenny Omega and Adam Page (c) defeated Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent)Tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship[9]15:39
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match
Night 2 (July 8)
No.ResultsStipulationsTimes[24]
1Kenny Omega and Adam Page (c) defeated Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) (with Matt Hardy)Tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship[21]11:32
2Lance Archer (with Jake Roberts) defeated Joey Janela (with Sonny Kiss)Singles match[19]11:17
3The Butcher and The Blade and Lucha Brothers (Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fénix) defeated FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)Eight-man tag team match[22]16:27
4Nyla Rose defeated Kenzie Paige and KiLynn KingHandicap match[19]2:11
5Colt Cabana and The Dark Order (Brodie Lee and Stu Grayson) defeated SoCal Uncensored (Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky)Six-man tag team match[19]11:27
6Chris Jericho (with Santana and Ortiz) defeated Orange Cassidy (with Best Friends)Singles match[23]18:00
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The event was held without a paying audience due to the ongoing pandemic. AEW invited Daily's Place and Jacksonville Jaguars sponsors to attend the event as an initial test of allowing spectators back. About sixty invited guests were admitted.

References

  1. ^ Johnson, Mike; Jordan, Paul (June 25, 2020). "Orange Cassidy Injury Update And More AEW Notes". PWInsider. Archived from the original on February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  2. ^ "60 AEW Fans in Attendance at Fyter Fest Night One". 4 July 2020.
  3. ^ "CEO⨯NJPW: When Worlds Collide". Community Effort Orlando. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
  4. ^ "Pissant" - Being The Elite Ep. 146. YouTube. Being The Elite. April 8, 2019. Retrieved April 13, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Powell, Jason (May 23, 2020). "AEW Double Or Nothing results: Powell's live review of Cody vs. Lance Archer to become the first TNT Champion (Mike Tyson presents the belt), Jon Moxley vs. Brodie Lee for the AEW Championship, The Elite vs. The Inner Circle in a Stadium Stampede match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  6. ^ McCarthy, Alex (May 24, 2020). "EXCLUSIVE: AEW owner Tony Khan reveals Fyter Fest was set to take place in London in June before coronavirus pandemic". TalkSport. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  7. ^ Khan, Tony [@TonyKhan] (June 4, 2020). "AEW Fyter Fest, 2 nights on @tntdrama! I'm excited to bring Fyter to @AEWonTNT on July 1 + July 8. Thank you to all of the great fans who've supported our pay-per-view shows and #AEWDynamite every Wednesday night! This one's on the house! Or these two rather" (Tweet). Retrieved June 3, 2020 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  9. ^ a b c Powell, Jason (May 27, 2020). "5/27 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Mike Tyson's appearance, a battle royal for the first shot at the TNT Championship, The Young Bucks and Matt Hardy vs. Joey Janela and Private Party, The Inner Circle's pep rally". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  10. ^ a b c Powell, Jason (June 10, 2020). "6/10 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Cody vs. Marq Quen for the TNT Championship, FTR vs. The Butcher & The Blade, Orange Cassidy and Best Friends vs. Santana, Ortiz, and Jake Hager, Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander vs. Nyla Rose and Penelope Ford, Colt Cabana vs. Sammy Guevara". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  11. ^ Renner, Ethan (June 17, 2020). "AEW Dynamite live results: Tag titles, TNT Championship on the line". Figure Four Online. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  12. ^ DeFelice, Robert (May 24, 2020). "AEW Fyter Fest Returning In 2020, Will Feature Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage For AEW World Title". Fightful. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  13. ^ "Jon Moxley vs. Brian Cage Rescheduled Amid COVID Concerns". Forbes. 1 July 2020.
  14. ^ Metcalf, Mitch (July 2, 2020). "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 7.1.2020". showbuzzdaily.com. Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  15. ^ Metcalf, Mitch (July 9, 2020). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 7.8.2020". showbuzzdaily.com. Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  16. ^ All Elite Wrestling [@AEWrestling] (June 25, 2020). "It's official as made by @TonyKhan tonight on Dynamite. It's #JurassicExpress vs. @RealWardlow & @The_MJF at #FyterFest! Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama or http://AEWPlus.com for our International fans. #AEWonTNT @AEWonTNT" (Tweet). Retrieved June 24, 2020 – via Twitter.
  17. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (June 17, 2020). "AEW Women's Title Match Announced For Fyter Fest". Fightful. Retrieved June 17, 2020.
  18. ^ Renner, Ethan (June 10, 2020). "AEW Dynamite live results: TNT title match, FTR's in-ring debut". Figure Four Online. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  19. ^ a b c d Renner, Ethan (June 24, 2020). "AEW Dynamite live results: Final build to Fyter Fest". Figure Four Online. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  20. ^ Barnett, Jake (July 1, 2020). "7/1 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Fyter Fest night one with Cody vs. Jake Hager for the TNT Championship, Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. Best Friends for the AEW Tag Titles, Hikaru Shida vs. Penelope Ford for the AEW Women's Championship, Private Party vs. Santana and Ortiz". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  21. ^ Rose, Bryan (July 1, 2020). "Tag Team title match set for AEW Fyter Fest night two". Figure Four Online. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  22. ^ All Elite Wrestling [@AEWrestling] (June 25, 2020). "It's official! It's 8-man tag team action at #FyterFest! #FTR & the #YoungBucks vs. The Lucha Brothers & The Butcher & the Blade! Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama or http://AEWPlus.com for our International fans. #AEWonTNT @AEWonTNT" (Tweet). Retrieved June 24, 2020 – via Twitter.
  23. ^ All Elite Wrestling [@AEWrestling] (June 18, 2020). "It is official! @orangecassidy goes one on one against @IAmJericho at FyterFest! It's the start of a two-week event! July 1st & July 8th!" (Tweet). Retrieved June 17, 2020 – via Twitter.
  24. ^ Barnett, Jake (July 8, 2020). "7/8 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Fyter Fest night two with Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. Private Party for the AEW Tag Titles, Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy, FTR and The Young Bucks vs. Pentagon Jr., Rey Fenix, The Butcher, and The Blade, Lance Archer vs. Joey Janela". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 8, 2020.

External links

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