All Elite Wrestling is back at Daily’s Place this week for Dynamite! It was the final episode of the flagship show before Revolution this Sunday. Forgive the pun, but Dynamite has been on absolute fire recently. Did the ‘go home’ episode explode the excitement, or was it a dud?
Let’s find out!
Tony Khan Announcement
The show opens with a center of the ring Tony Khan interview. Physically seeing the CEO on television is a rarity, but this occasion warranted it. This mad man bought legendary Pro Wrestling company, Ring of Honor. The Pro Wrestling industry is a better place when RoH is thriving. Early indications point towards RoH being a “developmental” territory for All Elite Wrestling. Whatever form it takes will be an asset for the budding Pro Wrestling superpower.
Bryan Danielson vs. Christopher Daniels
AEW chose to begin the new era with a match between two old school Ring of Honor legends: Bryan Danielson and Christopher Daniels. It is awesome to see Daniels on Dynamite again and he looked great; his eye notwithstanding…
Both men proceeded to put on a fantastic match. The experience of the ‘Fallen Angel’ allowed him to get the better of Bryan for awhile. He hit an awesome springboard Rope Moonsault. Absolutely nuts for a 51 year old man to hit successfully. Bryan was able to gain the upper hand eventually, which led to the victory. Daniels tried his moonsault one too many times, to which the American Dragon countered it into the Arm Triangle. The finish was elementary from there. I loved this as the starting match. Great stuff.
3.75/5
Unfortunately for Daniels, The American Dragon was not done after the bell. He proceeded to “kick his freaking head head in,” as Danielson is one to do. Moxley comes out and they have an intense face to face. I cannot wait for that match.
A quick backstage interlude followed next. Sting and Darby Allin were backstage talking about their match on Sunday, but there’s a wrinkle to flatten prior. There will be a triple threat TNT Championship match between Darby Allin, Andrade, and Sammy Guevara at Rampage this Friday. Interesting…
Casino Tag Team Royale
Up next was the Casino Tag Team Royale. There wasn’t much difference, admittedly, between last and this weeks Battle Royales, however I did enjoy this weeks a lot more. I enjoyed the traditional 90 second timer in between entrances more than everyone starting in the ring.
Writing out the order of the teams and eliminations would take forever, but there was one amazing surprise! The starting two teams were FTR and a fully reunited Top Flight! Darius Martin has fully recovered and reunited with brother Dante. Him taking part in the finish really made this special.
The story in both the Tag Team Royales revolved around the Young Bucks trying to qualify for Revolution. They reignited their feud with FTR during this match, but they very interesting helpers. Their betrayers of last week and supposed faction-mates, reDRagon, came out in support. They even helped to eliminate Dax Harwood. This led to the amazing finish between Darius Martin and both Jackson brothers. Darius was able to eliminate Nick Jackson, but his luck ran out against Matt Jackson. He eventually succumbed and fell to the floor. Young Bucks win!
This was a fantastic Battle Royale. AEW has had a checkered past with Battle Royales, but there’s been back to back fantastic ones with stories intertwined. Great stuff!
4.25/5
Match of the Night!
Segments:
- Chris Jericho is backstage, once again, talking at Eddie Kingston. He can’t wait to embarrass Kingston at Revolution. After being eliminated early in the Tag Royale match, Santana and Ortiz pop up and fist bump Jericho. That is an interesting development after the match they had.
- The camera cuts to the ring after that as CM Punk comes out. Here we have an early contender for Segment of the Year. He cuts an impassioned promo talking about MJF from last week. He wonder’s if he is “the bad guy,” in this situation. Did him leaving pro wrestling cause MJF to become who he is? He calls out MJF to shake his hand, but MJF instead hugs CM Punk. The other shoe finally drops as MJF low blows Punk, beats the hell out of him, and cuts a purely evil “I’m the devil” type of promo. Unbelievable stuff. It’s a segment to go back and watch. This feud might be the best feud in AEW history. I’d still say Omega/Hangman, but this one is a close second. In fact, just watch it again and you tell me.
I have to disagree with the AEW media team here. Number three moment of the week?
Dr Britt Baker DMD/Jaime Hayter vs. Mercedes Martinez/Thunder Rosa
Following Punk and MJF is not something I would want to do, but the Women’s Revolution preview Tag match was up next. Unfortunately, this back and forth affair never really got off the ground. Something felt off from the get go. All four ladies seemed out of sync until the unexpected ending.
The small story seemed to be that Thunder Rosa and Mercedes Martinez worked much better together than Britt Baker and Jaime Hayter. All four ladies were able to hit some offense, with my standout definitely being Thunder Rosa cinching in a Bow and Arrow, of all things. Rosa and Mercedes had all the answers in this match, which culminated in Thunder Rosa pinning Britt Baker CLEAN as a whistle after the Fire Thunder Driver. I really liked the ending unless Thunder Rosa loses on Sunday.
2.75/5
This feud really doesn’t have the fire that I feel like it should. Tay Conti and Jade Cargill seem more at odds in a two week feud than Britt and Rosa who have all kinds of history. I’m not sure what happened to the fire that Britt had towards the end of last year. Maybe having five matches since November 11th didn’t help that.
Segments:
- Tay Conti is backstage for a promo until Jade Cargill immediately interrupts. Mark Sterling tells Tay that she cannot touch Jade. Short and sweet. Looking forward to this match!
- Kris Statlander and Leyla Hirsch have a cool video promo battle. They’ll duke it out on the Revolution Buy-In.
- Quick Wardlow squash of Cezar Bononi. Really awesome visual watching Wardow manhandle someone much larger than him. Shawn Spears then tries to smash Bononi with his chair, however Wardlow stops him. Wardog and Spears proceed to have an intense stare down. I loved this segment, but I loved the next one even more.
- Wardlow and Spears are backstage after the commercial. Spears apologizes to Wardlow for trying to steal his spotlight, but brings MJF into the picture to talk about it. Wardlow finally talks back to MJF and gets a hellacious slap across the face for his words. The turn is coming
Hangman Page/John Silver/Alex Reynolds vs. Adam Cole/reDRagon
Our Dynamite main event was the perfect example as to the immediate need for a Trios titles. AEW could have weekly Trios matches like this main event where six competitors lay it all out on the mat for fifteen minutes. This match was awesome. Cole and reDRagon were back in perfect sync, Hangman looks like the deserved Champ again, and John Silver is unbelievably underrated.
The story here surrounded Adam Cole and Hangman Adam Page, obviously. Cole would not go anywhere near the champ. He tried his damnedest to run away any time Page entered the ring. Both teams fought back and forth for awhile until all six men fought with no hope of the ref controlling the chaos. Ultimately, the experience of Cole and reDRagon won out with Adam Cole hitting Alex Reynolds with the BOOM knee for the victory. Great Dynamite main event!
4/5
Verdict
I’m saying this for the umpteenth time, but Dynamite has a fantastic formula now. It’s the perfect blend of action and story week in week out. Combining that with the usually great pre-PPV show made a phenomenal episode this week.
Match of the Night honors went to the Tag Royale match, however the MJF and CM Punk stuff was the best thing I’ve seen on AEW Dynamite in a long time. There was a heck of a lot good, but not everything was perfect. The women’s tag match was really the only thing I didn’t care for.
That being said, tonight’s Dynamite was great and made me even more excited for this Sunday!
4.5/5