Welcome in!
All Elite Wrestling was in the home of Ring of Honor this week: Baltimore, Maryland. The card looked great, which coupled with Full Gear only three weeks away, meant that week’s episode was bound to be a wild one. What we got this week was newsworthy and not expected in the slightest. Four title matches, an eliminator match, and a grudge match were all on the docket for this one. Would we get some awesome surprises and continue the streak of awesome shows leading to Full Gear?
Let’s talk about it!
Darby Allin vs. Jay Lethal
Our first match of the evening was a rematch between Jay Lethal and Darby Allin. Lethal dropped a giant garage door on Darby a couple of weeks ago and promised to bring Darby’s weakness into the light with a “secret friend.” Darby and Lethal have great chemistry, which was apparent again in this match. It was good, albeit a bit short with a crazy ending. This became the overhanging theme of the evening…
Lethal took quick advantage after a Satnam Singh distraction. The Ring of Honor stalwart targeted the already hurt midsection of Darby for most of this one. It’s a smart strategy because Darby is a smaller guy who uses his entire body as his offense. Lethal dominated for a while until Darby countered the Lethal Injection with a nice sleeper hold and a Stunner. This caused Lethal to roll outside the ring, which led to how this one ended. The best part of the match happened when Satnam Singh put himself between Darby and Lethal. This caused Darby to attempt his suicide dive on Singh, but bounced off like a kid in a bounce house. That was hilarious to watch.
This interference caused the referee to throw Satnam and Dutt out from the ringside, but more shenanigans occurred because of it. Someone dressed as Sting hit Darby with a bat, which allowed Lethal to hit the Lethal Injection for the victory. Fun match that I wish went a little longer.
3/5
Everyone was confused as to who the masked assailant was. The slow reveal built the suspense, but the payoff was as disappointing as a fart in an elevator. The reveal ended up being former factory member Cole Karter, but it ended up being a swerve the whole time because the true assailant was J-E-Double-F, Jeff Jarrett. The guitar-wielding badass hit Darby with his signature move and gave a weird promo. Not sure of Jarrett’s intentions here, but excited to see where it goes.
- Jon Moxley had a backstage promo talking about Moriarty. Another week, another great Moxley promo.
- Another video package revolved around the Elite. They’re being deleted from AEW’s existence. “Delete the Elite” was seen on the computer. Does Matt Hardy have something to do with this?
Eliminator Match: Jon Moxley vs. Lee Moriarty
Up next was another good match that could have been better. Lee Moriarty challenged Jon Moxley to an Eliminator match, which the champion quickly accepted. Moriarty wanted to prove that Moxley made a mistake in denying his attempts to join the Blackpool Combat Club. This match had potential, but it felt like they could have done a little more with what they had.
The story of the match revolved around Moriarty being able to hang with the champ. Could the young Moriarty show some toughness and earn himself a championship match? Unfortunately no, but he looked pretty good in a losing effort. Moriarty was able to target Moxley’s arm by running Mox into the ring post. It was a nice strategy to target that arm and use the Motor City Stretch on Moxley, but the champ easily withstood it. Moxley finished Moriarty with the Hammer and Anvil Elbows and an Armbar. Good match that had the potential to be the match of the night.
2.75/5
Ethan Page quickly comes down and knocks out Moxley after the match. Big fan of the Firm, Moxley, and MJF story going on right now.
Segments:
- Renee Paquette wanted to sit down with Saraya and Britt Baker to attempt to hash out their differences, but Britt ducked the interview. This became a one-on-one with Saraya, who wants to give more to the AEW division. She came to AEW because it was the hot, upstart company that looked fun to be a part of. Renee asked about her health status. but Saraya declines to say until she speaks with one more doctor.
- Schiavone with William Regal backstage up next. Regal is still not impressed with MJF in his attempt to be a real villain. Regal is going to turn on Moxley, isn’t he?
- It’s Billy Gunn’s birthday, so it’s time for a Daddy Ass Birthday Bash! Gunn was still feeling the effects of Swerve’s torturing on Rampage. He couldn’t scissor! The Acclaimed have been everything as champs. They can put on a good match, but their greatest value is in awesome and hilarious segments. Yes, there was a DX reunion mention, and The Acclaimed are now Billy’s adopted sons. The Gunns and W. Morrissey come out and destroy The Acclaimed and Billy. FTR come for the save. This was silly and perfect.
- Britt talking backstage with Schiavone up next. Britt and Hayter want to wrestle and they’re doing it together on Rampage.
ROH Title: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Former Ring of Honor Champion
They actually did it.
All Elite Wrestling and Chris Jericho made a statement on this episode of Dynamite. News broke that the All Out Brawl Out investigation was over and AEW’s first action was to bring Colt Cabana back to face Chris Jericho in a Ring of Honor Championship match. Cabana was a “Ring of Honor” tag champion with CM Punk as the Second City Saints. This was a middle finger pointed directly at CM Punk.
It’s also great for Colt Cabana. He’s been off TV for a long time (because of Punk, allegedly) and getting to see him wrestle was a good time. Cabana has a unique and smooth offense. The Chicago native took it to ‘The Ocho’ for a while until a failed attempt at the Chicago Skyline ended up with both members on the floor outside the ring. Jericho, the ever-crafty veteran, evened the odds by poking Cabana’s eye. They fought back and forth for a while. Cabana knew how to escape the Walls of Jericho and locked in his reverse version, the Billy Goat’s Curse. The momentum stayed with Cabana as he hit the Superman pin, but Jake Hager pulled him off. Can’t fight the numbers game!
This led to Cabana hitting a beautiful moonsault onto the big man, but that opening was all that Jericho needed. The champ responded by hitting a Codebreaker to finish the match. A match being finished by the Codebreaker was a sight for sore eyes. That move hasn’t finished a match in a long time. Good stuff to finish off a good match.
3.25/5
After the bout, Chris Jericho and his gaggle of goons attacked Ian Riccoboni at the commentary booth. Claudio and the BCC came out for the save.
- Renee was backstage with Death Triangle quickly following that. She asks Rey Fenix about possibly becoming a double champion. Former double Champion, PAC, insisted that Rey Fenix use his trusty ring bell hammer, which Fenix looked to be contemplating.
All Atlantic Title: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Luchasaurus vs. Rey Fenix
Orange Cassidy was a diamond in the rough for AEW. He’s so versatile. He can work amazing matches or pop up occasionally in random feuds and segments. His character is perfect for the sporadic nature of AEW. The King of Sloth Style can “feel like” wrestling, or maybe he doesn’t for a few weeks. Everyone loves him in every aspect. Especially when he’s a part of awesome triple threats, like the past couple of weeks. This match was a frenetic romp between three AEW originals.
The story here revolved around Luchasaurus. Cassidy and Fenix teamed up on Luchasaurus at every opportunity. It might as well have been a handicap match to make Luchasaurus look like the dominating dinosaur that he is. Cassidy and Fenix would eliminate the big man so they could fight each other, but Luchasuarus wouldn’t stay down for long. The dinosaur was on the business end of an Orange Punch and got back up to chokeslam Fenix through the ringside table.
The story ramped up afterward. Luchasaurus had bad intentions as he forced Cassidy up the rampway to do some damage, but a former friend had other plans. Jungle Boy came to the rescue to attack Luchasaurus with a chair. The Dinosaur was neutralized after Jungle Boy sent him through multiple tables with a splash. This was a cool way to remove Luchasaurus from the match!
But the story wasn’t done! This match was overflowing with it! PAC took advantage of the removal of Luchasaurus to hand Rey Fenix his trusty ring bell hammer. The Lucha Bro had none of it! Unfortunately for Rey, this distraction allowed for Orange Cassidy to hit the Orange Punch to win the match and defend his All-Atlantic Title! Not a long match, but one that had great action and story interwoven!
3.75/5
But we weren’t done! PAC was upset about Cassidy winning and attacked the Freshly Squeezed fruit man. He seemed to forget that Cassidy has a lot of friends. Apparently, the Japanese Legend, Katsuyori Shibata, is one of those people. Shibata saves Cassidy and there’s a match between them for Rampage.
- Rick Ross backstage with Swerve Strickland. What the hell is happening this week? Keith Lee comes in upset about Swerve’s recent actions, which triggers Rick Ross apparently. He was really funny in this segment. There’s an 8 Man tag match with Swerve in Our Glory and the Gunns versus Acclaimed and FTR. What a wild night in Baltimore.
TBS Title: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Marina Shafir
And the crazy night continues with a match between TBS Champion Jade Cargill and Marina Shafir. The match was a quick one, but the story here wasn’t even about either of the combatants. Nyla Rose walked out on the rampway and commentated the whole match and berated Jade Cargill the whole time. Nyla still has possession of the TBS title, and this whole story is hilarious. Revolving a story around the personality of Nyla Rose was a stroke of genius. She’s an amazing performer and character. Anyone wanting to focus on the match was probably disappointed because Nyla was purely distracting from anything Jade and Marina did in the ring. Jade almost lost on a count out, but quickly hit the Jaded for the victory. Not rating this one as a match but as a segment. This was fun!
- One of the most fascinating parts of the entire evening wasn’t a live segment or match, but a pre-recorded vignette with the House of Black. It’s great to see them back and this video was awesome. It was cryptic, creepy, and captivating. Julia Hart was presented as the focus as she buried and lit everyone on fire. No idea what was happening, but excited to see where it goes.
- Another fantastic video promo followed that one, as this one showed how Toni Storm and Jaime Hayter used to be great friends and roommates. Hayter changed after she met Britt Baker and now there’s a Full Gear match between the two. Should be great!
ROH TV Title: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Brian Cage
And finally, we reached our main event of the evening. Brian Cage, Prince Nana, and the Embassy have been a thorn in the side of Wardlow and Samoa Joe. The Samoan Submission Machine had enough and took on Brian Cage for the Ring of Honor TV title in a really good match. These two athletic behemoths showed how great they both were.
They started the match sizing each other up by trading blow after blow. Prince Nana was at ringside and caused the inevitable distraction leading to Brian Cage taking over. This version of Brian Cage feels fresh and interesting. Way more than he ever felt in Team Taz. He’s a bruising heel that uses his massive frame to bully people. His flipping around never felt like it matched his bullying heel character.
Even though his bully character doesn’t need it, Brian can still flip more than a big man has any business doing so. He showed his versatility with a beautiful Tope con Hiro and an amazing Pumphandle inverted slam. Samoa Joe is still a machine and withstood it all. Joe countered with a Rear Naked Choke out of nowhere and submitted Cage to retain his championship. This was a great match and deserved Match of the Night.
4/5
Match of the Night
The Gates of Agony attacked Joe as soon as the bell rang, but Wardlow ran out to save his buddy. All of a sudden Powerhouse Hobbs hit Wardlow with another Spinebuster. That’s now two weeks in a row! Does Powerhouse Hobbs have Wardlow’s number?
OVERALL
And that was Dynamite for this week! What did you think of this episode? Let me know!
After watching it over (which I do every week), this episode was better than originally thought. It was wacky, experimental, and vastly different than the previous few weeks. Not the best episode that they’ve produced, but still a fun experience. Getting to see Jeff Jarrett, Shibata, and the returning Colt Cabana was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, those surprises were the best parts of the show. Ultimately, this episode was probably an outlier on our road to Full Gear. That PPV is building to be another amazing card to close out a year of great ones.
Verdict: 3.25/5