Welcome! Another Dynamite in the books means it’s review time!

All Elite Wrestling is on a monstrous success train right now. They have churned out good show after good show and amazing Pay-Per-View after amazing Pay-Per-View. Double or Nothing was fantastic, but it was last week and we’re already preparing for another Pay Per View! The AEW/NJPW supershow, Forbidden Door, is right around the corner and I can’t wait.

This week’s episode featured the return of the Casino Battle Royale. This usual Double or Nothing mainstay was cut due to lack of time, but it returns now to find out who faces Jon Moxley for a spot at Forbidden Door! There was all kinds of great singles action this week as well.

How was the show?! Let’s find out!

Casino Battle Royale

We kicked things off with the return of the Casino Battle Royale, with the winner facing Jon Moxley in this show’s main event. Battle Royale’s are difficult to rate on a normal scale because they’re so different. This battle royale, however, was fantastic. There was great story, teammates turning on each other, and blood feuds continuing. Here’s a list of the combatants, who came out in groups of five:

  • Darby Allin
  • Eddie Kingston
  • Tony Nese
  • Daniel Garcia
  • Lance Archer
  • Ricky Starks
  • Jake Hager
  • Rey Fenix
  • Swerve Strickland
  • Keith Lee
  • John Silver
  • Konosuke Takeshita
  • Max Caster
  • Austin Gunn
  • Colten Gunn
  • Powerhouse Hobbs
  • Bobby Fish
  • Kyle O’Reilly
  • Dante Martin
  • Wheeler Yuta

You never want to be the first one eliminated, but someone has to be. I feel bad for Tony Nese, as he was eliminated by Swerve in our Glory. As usual, those two worked together beautifully. Swerve was one of the big standouts in this match. The other I’ll get to in a minute, but Swerve was fantastic here. Overall, this Battle Royale was paced beautifully. There was constant action, story, or something cool happening inside and out of the ring. There were so many bodies in the ring at one point.

We had Caster and the Gunns scissoring, which always makes me laugh. But this lead to Keith Lee eliminating the Gunn Club, which ultimately lead to Swerve Strickland turning on the big man and eliminating him! One of the saddest turns in recent memory because they worked so well together. Swerve immediately becomes hated. This leads me to the Joker card.

Andrade el Idolo was the Joker card for this event! I much prefer a returning star, instead of a debuting one. The roster is bloated enough as is, even with Cole, Danielson, and Punk injured. Let’s showcase some lesser talents! After Andrade entered, the match goes crazy with eliminations. We finally get down to a final four of Wheeler Yuta (He’s a shining star now), Rey Fenix, Andrade, and Kyle O’Reilly.

Andrade hit Fenix with a low blow and eliminated him, which in turn got him eliminated by KOR. I was pulling for Wheeler Yuta as they squared off in the final two. That would have been great, but inevitably Kyle O’Reilly was able to emerge victorious to face Jon Moxley in this night’s main event.

This was a fantastic Battle Royale. One of AEW’s best to date!

4/5

Segments:

  • CM Punk had surgery and it went perfectly. That’s fantastic! The doctors were happy with the result, which probably means he’ll heal fast and be back in no time.
  • There was a debut of a new title up next. Trios titles!? NOPE! A new single’s title. That’s a little baffling to me, but I’m all for multiple titles being fought for. Especially with the possibilities for this title. The “All Atlantic Championship,” will be crowned at Forbidden Door in a 4-way matchup. The first match in this tournament started with this next bout.

PAC vs. Buddy Matthews

Up next was the one-on-one battle I have craved since they both signed to All Elite Wrestling. The inaugural match in the inaugural All Atlantic Championship tournament pitted PAC versus Buddy Matthews, in what was an absolute banger of a match. A match between the two most ripped members of the men’s roster was going to be a physical affair.

Both guys tried playing mind games with each other to no avail. This caused both guys to exclusively try to brutalize each other with high-powered moves. Neither guy had any advantage for any length of time. Eventually, PAC was able to hit a nasty Poison-Rana that spiked Buddy on the top of his head, which then allowed him to finish Buddy with the Black Arrow. Great match that I cannot wait to see again someday.

3.75/5

Segments:

  • Eddie Kingston is backstage and angry! He’s mad at the Jericho Appreciation Society for eliminating him from the Battle Royale. Not exactly sure why he’s mad about that, seeing as it being the point of the match, but I love angry Eddie Kingston. He’s challenging Jake Hager for Rampage.
  • We had Trent Baretta in the ring next. He was upset about not getting fair shots at the Ring of Honor Tag titles because of New Japan’s United Empire ruining the match. FTR came down to the ring to agree with Trent, but that wasn’t the only person that made an appearance. We got the first AEW appearance of none other than Will Ospreay. The United Empire leader coordinated an attack to decimate Trent and FTR.
  • A nice little callback to NXT in the next segment. William Regal was backstage with Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Adam Cole in a little preview for the main event. Regal warned KOR about the tenacity of Jon Moxley, which Kyle was not afraid of. Good stuff here.

Hangman Adam Page vs. David Finlay

Up next we had a little AEW versus NJPW action with Hangman Adam Page facing David Finlay. As the son of the legendary Fit Finlay, you could truly see his Dad’s influence on his game. He even did the Fit Finlay trap with the ring skirt.

The match itself was pretty good, albeit nothing crazy special. David Finlay was a game competitor against the former champ. He looked good and got the best of Page a few times. The inevitable eventually did happen, however, with Hangman Adam Page hitting the Buckshot Lariat to finish off the young Finlay. Good match.

3.25/5

Segments:

  • Hangman grabs a microphone after the match. He seemed a little upset by not being included in the earlier Battle Royale but turns his attention to Forbidden Door. He has his eyes set on another title -the IWGP Heavyweight Championship- currently held by none other than Kazuchika Okada. I cannot wait to see the Rainmaker on AEW television. For some reason, Adam Cole takes offense to that and thinks he should be challenging Okada. I guess we’re running Adam Cole and Hangman Adam Page back?
  • Up next was a small segment for Wardlow. Schiavone was interviewing him in the ring about his request to not be included in the earlier Battle Royale. Wardlow didn’t want to be included because he wants to face CM Punk for the title, except he’s technically not champion right now. Instead, Wardlow wants to put respect back into the name of TNT and challenges Scorpio Sky. YES! This segment wasn’t done though. Mark Sterling issues a challenge for the big man, with either Wardlow facing him in a court of law or facing 20 of his toughest security guards. I wonder what Wardlow is going to pick…
  • The next segment baffled me, as I have no idea where it came from or where it’s going. The Young Bucks were backstage boasting about beating the Lucha Bros and wanting another Tag Team title shot. In came the Hardys, who also wanted a tag team title show. And then came the tag champs, obviously led by Christian Cage. Jurassic Express never talks anymore, as Cage challenges them all to a triple threat LADDER MATCH for the tag championships next week. Jungle Boy not being happy about this was the extra cherry on top! I cannot wait for the feud between him and Cage.

Thunder Rosa vs. Marina Shafir

We had the first appearance, post-Double or Nothing, of our AEW Women’s World Champ up next. Thunder Rosa put out a challenge to anyone in the top five for a match on Dynamite, which Marina Shafir accepted. I had wished for AEW to spotlight someone else, but I can’t fault them for taking a shot.

This match was a little lackluster for me. It was fine, but you could see Marina’s inexperience compared to the top 5 talent of Thunder Rosa. Marina has a pretty good mat and chain wrestling ability, I’ll give her that, and we saw it here. Her offense is also innovative, except the chemistry between the two was just slightly off. I think Marina just needs a little more time! She has potential, but the crowd didn’t seem to care one way or the other here.

Between the strikes and mat control, Shafir had control for a while. Eventually, Rosa built her momentum, which led to her victory by a capture rollup pin. I’m not exactly sure why Rosa would have needed to ‘steal’ a victory from the inexperienced Shafir, but I liked that pin regardless. Decent match, but not my favorite of the evening.

3/5

Marina Shafir was pissed about getting caught by Rosa, which caused her to attack the champ after the bell. Toni Storm came down for the save, except she wanted a shot at that title instead of friendship. They had a remarkable stare down as Storm slowly handed Rosa’s belt back.

  • Jade Cargill, Stokely Hathaway, and The Baddies are backstage immediately following that match. Red Velvet faces Kris Statlander on Rampage, but I want to talk about Stokely Hathaway. With him coupled with Jade and the Baddies, his addition to AEW is immediately paying off. His comedy and exaggeration are the best, which contrasts Jade’s badass aura well.

Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O’Reilly

The main event of the evening was the clash between Jon Moxley and earlier Battle Royale winner, Kyle O’Reilly. As soon as Kyle won the Battle Royale, I knew this match was going to be a slugfest. That proved to be completely correct, and then some. These guys beat the hell out of each other left, right, and center. Regal was on Commentary, as is customary for all Blackpool Combat Club matches, and was glowing as his protege beat the snot out of another living being.

This back-and-forth fight was incredibly physical. O’Reilly tried to technical wrestle Moxley, which didn’t work all that well, so Kyle tried to break him down by targeting his knee. My favorite part of the match was when KOR bit the ropes to cause a rope break and Moxley kicked the ropes. That had to hurt. Moxley then followed that up with a brutal lariat from the deepest parts of hell.

These two continued beating the crap out of each other for a while until they were both spent. Eventually, Moxley was able to overcome KOR by hitting the Paradigm Shift for the pinfall. Jon Moxley has punched his ticket to Forbidden Door! This match was awesome. Moxley is in rare form right now. He’s the perfect person to headline Forbidden Door and hold that championship until Punk comes back. Huge props to Kyle O’Reilly though. He made me believe for a split second that he was going to tap Jon Moxley. He’s truly one of the best in AEW right now. He might even be the best in the Undisputed Elite.

4.25/5

Match of the Night

Overall

And that was Dynamite for this week! What did you think!?!?! Let me know in the comments or on Twitter!

This week’s episode I felt to be good, but not great. Surely most of this night needed to be revolved around the AEW World Championship. It kind of affected the rest of the night. We’re building towards Forbidden Door, but having such a short turnaround between Double or Nothing and Forbidden door just feels chaotic. AEW is good at calming the chaos though.

Overall, I enjoyed Dynamite this week. I look forward to the next few weeks of building towards the huge supershow! New Japan is having its huge Summer show, Dominion, this Sunday. We’ll know a lot more next week!

Verdict: 3.75/5

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