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Full Gear week is in FULL force with All Elite Wrestling stepping into high gear with their ‘go-home’ show of Dynamite. This week’s episode hit all the right notes and did a perfect job of selling the show. Great matches abound in this episode, with PPV previews like Jericho and Guevara taking on the Blackpool Combat Club (again…) and Anthony Bowens squaring off with Swerve Strickland.
Let’s talk about it!
Jericho & Guevara vs. Danielson & Claudio
Our first match of the evening was a preview of the Ring of Honor 4-way at Full Gear. RoH Champion Chris Jericho joined Le Sex God partner Sammy Guevara to take on Blackpool Combat Club members Claudio and Bryan Danielson. This match was a blast and set the tone for a fun evening. There were zero down moments in this one, even with the eighteen minute run time.
The story of the match was a continuation of last week’s where Guevara targeted Danielson’s eye. The American Dragon had a detached retina from years ago that never healed properly and that was the target last week and here. A lot of the match was built around Danielson and Guevara. They squared off multiple times in this one. Both Guevara and Jericho went after Danielson constantly to isolate him from the Swiss Superman. Jericho used referee Aubrey Edwards distraction to use his trusty bat on the eye of Danielson. Always the crafty veteran.
But Danielson is a crafty veteran as well. He was able to escape the clutches of Le Sex Gods to get the hot tag for Claudio. The ol’ King of Swing might just have the best hot tag in the business as he went nuclear here. I could watch him hit uppercuts all day long. Although we were not done! Jericho and Guevara got the upper hand again with the Walls of Jericho.
This match was long! Was not expecting such a winding story match to start the night. But it all came down to the explosiveness of Claudio. Guevara was taken out by one of the best uppercuts ever, which led to Claudio hitting Jericho with the giant swing. Jericho tried using his trusty bat, but Claudio was prepared and locked in the Scorpion Deathlock to finish the match. After all of that, Claudio got the best of Jericho again. He has Jericho’s number! What’s going to happen at the PPV!?
4/5
Segments:
- Darby Allin vignette. Sting and Darby driving and saying “Showtime.” Simple and clean.
- Jeff Jarrett responds and can’t wait for Sting’s ‘last time.’ Cool.
- The Acclaimed music video was right before their match. It’s 2022 and Captain Insano made an appearance in one of the funniest parts of the whole evening. Perfect spot to make an appearance! Standard music fair for The Acclaimed here. Good track bashing Swerve in Our Glory. And to piss off Swerve Strickland…
Anthony Bowens vs. Swerve Strickland
Which then played out in his upcoming match. Swerve was greeted by Billy Gunn directly as his music hit, which got Billy thrown out by the referee. Daddy Ass was obviously still angry about being abducted…
It didn’t take long for Swerve to take over. The match was good, but Swerve dominated for most of it. Bowens is great, but heel Swerve is phenomenal and only improving. The Acclaimed member fought back eventually, but Swerve was just too much. He kept coming with a flurry of big moves. He kept hitting that head kick and eventually hit the Swerve Stomp, but Bowens kicked out of it. This was awesome! Unfortunately for Bowens, this just made Swerve hit some kind of devastating finishing move that hurt Bowens’s shoulder a lot. He seemed to be in a lot of pain. Will this affect the match on Saturday?
Simple and clean match to gain Swerve some momentum heading into Saturday.
3.5/5
Segments:
- Cargill promo vignette. Jade is pissed off about nobody doing anything about Nyla. That match should be fun!
- Samoa Joe came down to the ring next. An angry Samoa Joe is an extremely intense experience. He is taking everyone down and ‘refuses to be a victim.’ Powerhouse Hobbs and eventually Wardlow start brawling with him to set up a massive triple threat for the TNT title. Wardlow even displayed absolute freakish athleticism with a tope con giro.
- Britt Baker with a passionate promo about her time in AEW. She called back to the Pandemic era and how difficult that was. Britt’s one of the best when she’s on her A-game. This was fantastic. Saraya’s return is a great story, but she has no business beating the heart and soul of the AEW women’s division in her first action in five years.
Trios Championship: Death Triangle vs. Top Flight & AR Fox
The AEW Trios titles have been everything anyone could have hoped for. Every single match in the AEW Trios division has the chance to become an instant classic exclusively because AEW does them so well. A perfect example was this match between Death Triangle and Top Flight with AR Fox. This match was never going to be a classic ground and pound match. Both teams came to fly and did they ever.
The main story here was all about the return of Darius Martin of Top Flight. He almost died in a car accident shortly after his return from knee surgery. It was fantastic to see him back in action. Hopefully, this match gains Top Flight some momentum to build them toward a Tag Title match. But that wasn’t the only story here. AR Fox, a person whose debut had numerous people excited, showcased everything he could do. His offense was high flying and unique. His appearance in this match was so well received, it earned him an AEW Contract. Good for him!
It’s pointless trying to give any play-by-play for this. Dante Martin became superhuman, Lucha Bros showed zero fear, and Death Triangle inevitably finished the match with the Fear Factor and a Black Arrow. This was a great match with flips galore. Braun Strowman would be proud.
4.25/5
Match of the Night
But we weren’t done with Death Triangle! PAC grabbed a microphone to address the “videos” everyone has been talking about. He tells whomever it is to show up on Saturday to fight, except we didn’t have to wait to find out. A clock appeared on the giant screen, which led to the official match card of Death Triangle…VERSUS THE ELITE! The boys are back!
- Ricky Starks and Lance Archer will face off this week on Rampage. Tony Khan gave the update that the Eliminator tournament will finish next week instead of Full Gear.
Eliminator Tournament: Ethan Page vs. Bandido
Up next, we had one side of the AEW Eliminator Tournament bracket to finish. Not exactly sure what was happening with the other side, but at least we got this fun match between “All Ego” Ethan Page and Bandido. This clash of styles played out well with Page’s strength overcoming Bandido’s athletic ability.
There was an interesting story for this match that was played out by the commentary team. They explained that Ethan Page bulked up for his match against Eddie Kingston last week and needed to shed a bunch of weight for the much quicker Bandido. That brings in some actual fighting dynamics, which is fresh and appreciated. It’s a small detail that AEW should do more. Bring back a little of the actual fighting aspect of AEW.
*cough cough rankings cough*
The fight started with Bandido showing off his strength with a beautiful delayed suplex. This ended up being a mistake because that played right into All Ego’s hand. He used his bullying heel style to take over the match to control the masked man. Bandido evened the odds with a gorgeous moonsault from the top of the ring post. They traded a whole bunch of moves after the pace ramped up to a crazy level. Bandido couldn’t get the 21 Plex, but All Ego eventually hit the Ego’s Edge for the victory. Ethan Page signed his name onto the Eliminator final in a great match!
4/5
- Saraya was backstage with Renee up next. She’s sick of the back and forth between her and Britt Baker. Me too, in all honesty. They’re going to settle it on Saturday at Full Gear. Short and sweet!
- Promo video for a Rampage match between Eddie Kingston and Ortiz taking on DDT legend Jun Akiyama and everyone’s favorite, Konosuke Takeshita.
Toni Storm vs. Anna J.A.S
The main event match of the evening was between Toni Storm and Anna JAS. First things first. Anna Jay in the Jericho Appreciation Society wasn’t something I enjoyed at first. Her leadership of the Dark Order had more potential in the first place. However, you can see Jericho’s influence improving her cockiness and confidence in what she’s doing. That was on full display in this match. Anna wasn’t going to defeat the champ a few days before the PPV, but she did a good job in a losing effort.
Anna took it to Toni right off the bat. Every offensive move was accompanied by showboating and posing. Pure Jericho influence there. It didn’t take long for Toni to come back and reclaim the edge. Hard Hip Attack onto the outside, but Anna Jay throws Toni into the steel steps. Anna gets the upper hand with a cool inverted facebuster. Toni reverses the Queenslayer into another viscous Hip Attack. A Texas Cloverleaf finish wasn’t expected at all. This evening, two matches ended in Sharpshooter-style submissions. Bret Hart was smiling somewhere.
Great match to finish off a great evening of wrestling.
3.5/5
- Here comes Hayter!!! Face off but no brawl. That match is going to rule.
- The true main event of the evening was a rarity for AEW: a promo segment. AEW doesn’t do this very often, so the potential for this segment was through the roof. It was actually a little disappointing, in all honesty. MJF and Mox pretty much had a small promo battle after beating up The Firm. The best part about this was William Regal. His facial expressions were gold.
OVERALL
And that was Dynamite for this week! What did you think!?
People seem to think that All Elite Wrestling is due for a refresh after Full Gear. Not exactly sure what people are tired of, but the numbers don’t lie. Live attendance and television ratings are down across the board. Not everyone is a biased fanboy like myself!
(Maybe All Elite Wrestling is feeling the effects of missing the star power of a few individuals…)
This episode did everything it was supposed to: gave us awesome matches and teased the pay-per-view. That is all we can ask for a go-home show.
Verdict: 4/5