Aussies Abroad: Ripley’s brutal revenge and Aussie heat in AEW
This week so Aussies dominating the world of Pro-Wrestling overseas
Welcome back to another week’s installment of Aussies Abroad, where we take a look at the Aussies kicking ass overseas in the world of Pro-Wrestling.
Let’s start this week’s coverage off with the brutal saga between the newly formed Terror Twins of Adelaide’s Rhea Ripley and the former World Heavyweight Champion Damien Priest, and The Judgement Day 2.0. Last week saw the twins finally able to get their revenge on the new bad guys in town after a feud earlier this month saw them begging for mercy. Ripley and Priest ambushed the Budget Day’s feud with the LWO, sending the knock-off superstars running for safety.
It was however at Bash in Berlin earlier this morning, that the tension between the two reached boiling point. The terror twins went face to face with Morgan and Mysterio in what was an extremely physical, and at some times emotional match. Things started strong for the Terror Twins, with their opponents barely getting the chance to land a single hit in the first half of the match. Ripley was finally able to get her hands back on Morgan and landed some hard hits followed by a German suplex and an intense running knee that took the air out of Liv. Ripley then got her revenge on Dirty Dom when he then went in for a hug, which was instead met with brutal clothelines and almost death by thigh-choke across the turnbuckles, reminiscent of his first few meetings with Ripley. It was a codebreaker to Ripley that slowed her down a bit, but not until the terror pair got back up on their feet and landed an impressive-looking double raiser’s edge to Morgan and Mysterio. An interruption by the rest of the Budget Day scums wasn’t enough to stop the twin’s wrath, and it was a signature riptide from Ripley that saw Morgan down for the three count.
Also on the RAW brand before Bash in Berlin, the Aussie giant Bronson Reed once again showed his brutal side to the world when he left the audience speechless. Reed, in what was meant to be a match with Braun Strowman, took to the arena’s backstage area to cement his dominating powers once and for all. Reed sent the match into the backstage area and eventually outside, where he sent Strowman’s body smashing through the top of a car with a tsunami off the top of a concrete wall.
Over in AEW, Melbourne’s Buddy Matthews went up against Koamnder for the first time ever on Collision. Despite being put through the wringer by Komander, The “Australian sensation” brought the Aussie heat to the match with several impressive moves which saw him pick up the win.
AEW’s Dynamite was not so lucky for the Aussies, with the returning Jamie Hayter defeating our own Harley Cameron. The highly anticipated match started strong for Cameron, who landed some hard and quick jabs against the turnbuckle. It was however Hayter’s quick thinking strength that saw her take back the momentum. After some back and forth and impressive counters from both women, it was eventually Cameron who was bought down for the three count.
Aussie’s Kyle Fletcher also went head to head with AEW’s latest addition to the roster, Ricochet, at Dynamite. Despite the absolute brutality that Fletcher brings to every match, it was Ricochet who picked up the win in his in-ring debut on the brand. Fletcher still showed what Australians can do in the ring though with some impressive hits landed to the former WWE star. Things went better for Fletcher at Dynamite, where he picked up a win against the former ROH World Champion Ishii. The hard-hitting match showed off Fletcher’s abilities in-ring with highlights including a hard powerbomb, sheer drop, tombstone, and a final piledriver that saw Ishii down for the three count.
Over in NJPW, Aussie Robbie Eagles saw a matchup between his TMDK teammates and the Grizzles Young Veterans for the Openweight Tag Team Title contendership. It was eventually the team of James Drake and Zack Gibson who won the match, but their teammates Mikey Nicholls and Aussie Shane Haste later successfully defended the belts against Hechicero and Virus.
Till next week folks!
News Writer + Aussies Abroad. Based in Adelaide and winner of the 2023 CPA Young Journo of the year, has been a news and arts journalist for a number of years working across radio and print, but has decided to take her wrestling addiction to PWDU. You can find her at any local wrestling night across the state with a beer in-hand and a front-row ticket to the action.
Push Bronson to the moon.