In their first show outside of Florida since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, All Elite Wrestling brought the heat to Austin, Texas for night one of their two-episode special event, Fyter Fest. With a packed crowd at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park, AEW put on a show for the ages featuring some of the best television we’ve seen from them in a long time.

The show was kicked off by Jon Moxley defending his IWGP United States Championship against The Elite’s Karl Anderson. For Moxley’s second-ever defense of the title in an AEW ring, the match was dubbed to be following the rules and stipulations of the championship’s home promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling. 

Appropriately, Moxley and Anderson had a match that felt more like what you might see on an NJPW show than a typical episode of Dynamite. Sequences of high-impact moves were strung together with the pacing of an NJPW match, with both competitors routinely fighting through the pain and returning fire on their opponent. To secure the victory, Moxley countered Anderson with a Rainmaker akin to that of Kazuchika Okada, followed up with a Paradigm Shift that laid Anderson out. The match was certainly Anderson’s best singles effort since coming to AEW, and Moxley continued his dominant reign with the title.

Backstage, Lance Archer talked about how badly he wants to regain the IWGP US Championship that Moxley took from him in January 2020, and he challenged Moxley to a Texas Death Match, the same stipulation that was in play at Wrestle Kingdom 14 when Moxley defeated Archer to win the title.

Alex Abrahantes interviewed Andrade El Idolo backstage, but Andrade ignored Abrahantes’ questioning about the specifics of his deal with AEW and instead claimed that he is looking for the Death Triangle, the trio composed of Pac, Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix.

Next up was the clash between two members of Team Taz, as Brian Cage defended the unsanctioned FTW Championship against former teammate Ricky Starks. Taz sat in on commentary for the match as Powerhouse Hobbs and Hook looked on from ringside. Cage and Starks put on a good match, with Cage showing off his strength by manhandling Starks in the early going. Starks looked to use the FTW title as a weapon during the match, but Hobbs appeared to disapprove, unwilling to hand him the belt. His true colors were soon revealed. However, as Hook provided the referee distraction that allowed Hobbs to smash the championship across the head of Cage, leaving him vulnerable for a spear from Starks to steal the victory.

The fake-out regarding Hobbs’ loyalties played incredibly well into the finish of the match, and Starks’ win felt like a big moment even though the title is illegitimate. Team Taz minus Cage celebrated with Starks after his win, and it seems like the line in the send has been firmly drawn between Cage and his former allies.

Cody Rhodes stormed out to the commentary table and had some scathing words for Malakai Black after his surprise appearance last week, in which Black laid out both Rhodes and his coach Arn Anderson. Rhodes quickly took to the ring with a microphone and called for Black to show his face, and it wasn’t long before he got his wish, albeit with Black appearing on the big screen from a dark, smoky room. Black likened Rhodes to a horse that needed to be put down, and after more goading from Rhodes, the lights in the arena went out, with Black standing across the ring from Rhodes when they returned. The two traded blows before being separated by a horde of security guards. This was the best Rhodes has looked and sounded in a long, long time. This story seems like it will produce some amazing work from both him and Black.

Walking alone backstage, Tully Blanchard was stopped by Santana and Ortiz of The Inner Circle, who gave him a scare by threatening to jump him. From there we went back to the ring, where Tony Schiavone brought out “Hangman” Adam Page for an interview. Page talked about wanting the AEW World Championship since his first day in the company, and just as he was about to officially make his challenge for the belt he was interrupted by The Elite.

After they took turns hurling insults from the ramp, Matt Jackson marched to the ring alone and accused Page of abandoning them by leaving The Elite and calling him the next great wrestling tragedy. Page fended off an attack from The Elite, and as Kenny Omega wound up to hit him with the world title he was intercepted by The Dark Order. With his allies behind him in the ring, Page told Omega he wants a match, and Omega responded by suggesting a five-on-five elimination tag match. Page added a stipulation that if his team wins, not only will he receive a world title shot but The Dark Order will get a tag team championship opportunity against The Young Bucks. Omega countered, though, and said that if The Elite wins, Page forfeits his own title shot, as well. This story is one of the hottest in the company, and hearing a full crowd behind Hangman will never get old.

Chris Jericho was discussing MJF’s challenge of the “Five Labours of Jericho” when he was attacked with a chair by Shawn Spears. Spears held Jericho down while MJF informed him of the first of his five matches: Jericho will face off with Spears in a match where Spears can legally use a steel chair, but Jericho can’t.

Matt Hardy and Christian Cage took the ring next, finally facing off after weeks of threats and attacks on each other. The match had some highs, like Cage diving from the top rope over the ring post onto Hardy on the floor and Hardy DDT’ing Cage onto the steel steps from the apron, but it felt more like a cooldown match than anything. Cage got the win with the Killswitch, and Jungle Boy joined him in the ring afterward to prevent an ambush from members of the Hardy Family Office. Here’s hoping that Cage and Jungle Boy are both able to move on from the feud with Hardy going forward.

Britt Baker cut a promo on the top challenger for her AEW Women’s Championship, Nyla Rose, as well as her manager Vickie Guerrero, which the duo responded to afterward from backstage. Baker undoubtedly won the battle on the mic here; it’s fascinating to see how far she’s come since her early days in AEW.

Moxley accepted Archer’s challenge for a Texas Death Match next week, saying that he’ll get Archer before Archer gets him. Following that was the first of two consecutive shorter matches, Sammy Guevara versus the debuting Wheeler Yuta. Yuta was able to get some impressive offense in, but this was mostly a showcase for Guevara and a reminder that he’s one of the most talented performers on the roster. Next up was Yuka Sakazaki taking on Penelope Ford, and the match surprised me with its pace and quality. I’ve never been big on Ford but she pulled off some cool stuff here, although it was in a losing effort. 

That brought us to our main event, a Coffin Match between Darby Allin and Ethan Page. Despite the match starting with just 12 minutes left in the show, it delivered in every single one of those minutes, as it was jam-packed with fun and creative spots. Allin wore a steel plate to the ring on his back, which he quickly used when he threw himself back first into Page’s head. 

Other highlights include Scorpio Sky popping out of the coffin, Sting making the save and brawling with Sky into the crowd, Page and Allin using the hook for the bottom turnbuckle as a weapon against one another, Page planting Allin with an Ego’s Edge from the top turnbuckle onto the steel steps and finally Allin’s driving of his skateboard into Page’s back to send him into the coffin for the win. After the match, Allin pulled off one of his craziest stunts yet when he threw himself off the top turnbuckle for a Coffin Drop through the lid of the coffin and onto Page laying inside. The match was a perfect way to cap off an absolutely wild show.

This was one of AEW’s best efforts since the debut of Dynamite in 2019, with almost every segment bringing something to the table. The atmosphere was electric in Austin, most stories featured felt like they were either meaningfully advanced or concluded and the matches held up to some of the company’s best. It’ll be hard to top this with night two of Fyter Fest next Wednesday, but if they can even get close to this level of quality, it should still be a great show.