Darby Allin was sold out by someone close to him, but Christian Cage saw an old friend turn up at AEW WrestleDream.
As befitting the night’s main event, it gets the big fight ring intros. Darby Allin hands his skateboard to a fan while Christian Cage hears plenty of boos.
Allin doesn’t mind doing some technical wrestling in the opening minutes, though Cage is crafty as always. He spits in Darby’s face but gets taken down by an arm drag.
Allin holds onto a side headlock, then uses a flying takedown to ground Cage. A big elbow frees Cage, who stomps away on the challenger and punishes the chest with chops.
Cage poses and flips the crowd the double bird. But Allin is able to outwit Christian by pulling his own turtleneck over his face and using a jackknife rollup to score the first fall.
Darby Allin leads, 1-0.
There are actually dueling chants for the two men as Cage takes control looking to even the score. He cranks Darby’s neck repeatedly and looks like he might be tearing at Allin’s one eye, then guillotines the back of his foe’s neck on the top rope.
Cage goes for a diving headbutt and misses, leading to a Code Red and about three straight near falls. Christian finally buys himself a moment by sending Darby crashing hard to the outside, where he’s sent hard into the barricade as well.
Christian pauses to approach Nick Wayne’s mom, who lures him in before throwing a drink in his face. Allin comes flying in out of nowhere, then delivers a Coffin Drop to the floor. There’s another in the ring, but the champ gets both knees up.
Allin is blasted off the apron into the announce table, giving Cage a chance to stop and provoke the fans again. After a thumb to Allin’s eye, Cage tries to suplex his opponent onto the steel steps from the apron … then does it from the floor instead. Christian follows by dropping Allin back first on the steps, and the ref counts to 10.
Match is tied 1-1.
Officials are out to check on Allin, who bring out a stretcher. That doesn’t stop Cage, who frog splashes him from the top rope on the stretcher.
Meanwhile, Cage has torn up the canvas and padding over most of the ring. Cage hits the Killswitch on the wood, but somehow Allin kicks out.
The champ switches gears and applies the Scorpion Deathlock, wanting to beat Darby with one of Sting’s holds. Allin gets a rope break but still looks like he’s in big trouble.
Allin jumps on Cage’s back, gouges the eyes and hits a Scorpion Death Drop. Next is the Coffin Drop, but this time it’s Cage’s turn for an unbelievable kickout.
Allin climbs to the top again only to be crotched. They battle on the top rope until Cage can deliver a sunset flip powerbomb onto the wood. Cage tries for a spear but takes out the ref … so he hits a low blow on his challenger instead.
Christian goes to grab his title belt, showing it to Nick Wayne’s mom. But Nick runs down and snatches the title, and now it’s two on one in the ring. Except Wayne turns and hits Allin instead.
Cage covers Allin after dragging Bryce Remsburg over to revive him, and the count reaches three.
Christian Cage wins, 2-1.
Sting tries to save Allin from a post-match beating but falls himself when Luchasaurus arrives to assist the heels. The lights go out, a short video is played, and Adam Copeland arrives.
Copeland teases a Con-Chair-to on Allin, then turns and hits Wayne with the chair. He clears the ring of the heels and has a long staredown with Cage, now back on the ramp, before shaking hands with Sting as the show ends.
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