January has come and gone, and the road to Revolution has started! All Elite Wrestling has continued to keep Dynamite fresh throughout 2023. This week’s episode looked to continue that fiery trend. Two championship matches were on the docket, Moxley and Hangman looked to continue their feud, and Bryan Danielson’s quest for the #1 ranking in AEW required him to face the terrifying Timothy Thatcher. We were in for a crazy evening of wrestling.
Let’s talk about it!
Hangman Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley
The action started hot this week as two former champs squared off for the third time. Jon Moxley was knocked out of action for a few weeks by Hangman Adam Page in their last bout, so how would the rubber match fare? Well, it turns out exactly as you’d expect: an all-out brawl. It was altogether their best fight yet.
Before the match started, both guys fought all over the arena. Moxley interjected a chair into the scuffle, which he immediately regretted after having it thrown in his face. This rocked the Blackpool Combat Club member that just returned from a concussion. The bell finally rang as the brawl continued in the ring. This match set the brutal tone of the evening. They beat each other up like bitter enemies.
Good matches tell great stories, and this match had a simple one. Jon Moxley and Hangman Page have both caused one another to go down with head injuries. With that in mind, both men kept swinging huge lariats at each other. They might respect each other, but winning a match by TKO seemed like a goal here. Hangman told Moxley to stay down, but Moxley is as tough as they come.
All in all, Hangman could not pin Moxley for a three count. Every single one of the Cowboy’s moves was kicked out of: Deadeye, Tombstone piledriver, and even the Buckshot Lariat. This caused Hangman to try Moxley’s bulldog choke, to which Moxley took advantage to trap him in a pinfall for the victory.
Hangman was so desperate to win, he tried Moxley’s own move. Very good story!
4.5/5
Match of the Night
Segments:
- AEW must be paying Renee Paquette a buttload of money. She was everywhere this week! Renee was backstage with Bunny, who is challenging Jaime Hayter. This segment finished with a quick interjection of Saraya and Toni Storm beating up Britt Baker. Interesting!
- The Acclaimed were ‘in action’ up next and beat two random talents of whom I didn’t get the names. The AEW Tag Champs quickly disposed of them. However, the Gunns came out to challenge the champs again, but Bowens and Caster deny them an opportunity. Billy Gunn walks out because he’s had enough, but comes raging back after Austin Gunn calls Daddy Ass a pillhead. Billy proceeds to volunteer The Acclaimed for a title shot, to which the champs were not pleased. Daddy Ass and his sons are secretly working together, aren’t they?
- What’s next for JungleHook?! Jack Perry says, “No” to an official team with Hook. He doesn’t want to go down that road again. Sad!
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Brian Cage
Dynamite’s second match of the evening was similar to the first in that the competitors beat the crap out of each other in a hotly contested affair. Rising star, Konosuke Takeshita, faced Brian Cage in a phenomenal bout that saw something awesome happen: Takeshita earned his first Dynamite win! The Japanese sensation defeated Brian Cage clean.
Takeshita came flying right out of the gate, as he does so well, with the Takeshita Line. They fought back and forth for a while until Cage used his strength to dominate Takeshita. Brian Cage still remains perfect in his bullying heel role with The Embassy. Rumors abound of him leaving AEW, but that would be a mistake. He has had an AEW career revitalization with Prince Nana.
Anyway, Takeshita eventually built the momentum back up, which ended with the best German Suplex in wrestling. There wasn’t much story to this match, except for Takeshita constantly attempting his finishing knee strike. After a thousand amazing counters and surviving the F10, Konosuke Takeshita hit the knee strike to beat Brian Cage on Dynamite! His biggest win yet!
4/5
Segments:
- Renee was backstage again; this time with the JAS. Ricky Starks accused them of cheating, which they deny…obviously. Starks has to go through the Garcia/Guevara Gauntlet to face Jericho once again. Hopefully, this is one big match instead of being stretched out over multiple weeks.
- Kenny Omega is back! Top Flight & AR Fox get a trios title next week. Ethan Page, Stokely Hathaway, and his ’employees’ challenge The Elite to a match on Rampage.
Bryan Danielson vs. Timothy Thatcher
What’s a wrestler to do when he has an injured shoulder?
How about fighting a vicious wrestler that uses one of the nastiest Fujiwara armbars in the business!? That sound like a great idea! Timothy Thatcher was employed by MJF this week to further destroy Bryan Danielson’s shoulder. The Salt of the Earth wants Danielson’s arm to be ripped out of the socket, apparently.
This entire match revolved around Danielson’s shoulder and Thatcher’s propensity for violence. Every single move Thatcher used targeted the shoulder, and every single move Danielson attempted hurt himself. Finishing the match with the Fujiwara armbar was Thatcher’s ultimate goal. So simple, yet so effective.
Toward the end of the match, Danielson was able to push Thatcher into referee Stefon Smith. MJF, being the ever opportunist, walked down to the ring with his trusty diamond ring. Danielson has a guardian angel, though, as Konosuke Takeshita comes out of nowhere to attack MJF and defend Danielson and his honor.
Even though Thatcher did end up locking in the Fujiwara Armbar, Danielson survived by hitting the Busaiku knee out of nowhere to pick up the victory! This was a phenomenal match, but what was the cost to Danielson’s shoulder?
4.25/5
- After the match, MJF and Takeshita continued to brawl backstage so much that they needed to be pulled apart! Despite MJF’s disagreement, Renee magically appeared from nowhere to announce that he must face Takeshita in an Eliminator match next week.
- Swerve and the Mogul Affiliates are targeting Brian Pillman Jr. Interesting.
- MJF proceeded to hire RUSH to face Bryan Danielson next week. A fantastic small segment between MJF and RUSH here with both displaying awesome characters. RUSH oozes intimidation and charisma, and MJF is just MJF.
TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Red Velvet
Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d write this next sentence after her debut. Jade Cargill is 50-0 in AEW. The TBS champ faced off against her oldest rival, Red Velvet, in a good match that displayed how much both of these ladies have grown since their first match two years ago.
Red Velvet held her own in this one too. She kept the champ on edge as much as she could, except the champ’s strength was just too much. Even withstanding a distraction from Kiera Hogan, Jade Cargill hits the Jaded after an awesome reversal for the pinfall.
Jade truly feels like an unstoppable force that cannot be beaten. The women’s division is top-heavy right now. Most of the division is centered around Britt Baker, Jaime Hayter, Saraya, and Toni Storm right now. Those are the qualities of women that Jade has yet to beat. Unfortunately, there’s nobody left to challenge for the TBS title right now. Thusly, Jade shall continue dominating!
3.5/5
- Renee continues her marathon by finding Britt Baker after her attack. Ruby Soho checks on Britt too, but Britt thinks Ruby is with Saraya and Toni.
TNT Champion: Darby Allin (c) vs. Samoa Joe
AND NEWWWW!!!!
Our Dynamite main event of the evening was a “No Holds Barred” match that won’t soon be forgotten. Samoa Joe and Darby Allin went to absolute war in this match to close out a show loaded with brutality. It was the perfect capstone on a night of wrestling perfection. They beat the ever living hell out of each other.
As soon as Darby’s music played, you knew he was ready for the Samoan Submission Machine. Darby was wearing a hoodie covered in thumbtacks! You see something new every week…
Both men were bleeding within minutes of the start, but it was Darby who got the worst of everything. Samoa Joe continued to ragdoll the smaller competitor. Darby evened the odds by throwing talcum powder in Joe’s face, and hitting the Coffin Drop while wearing the thumbtack sweatshirt! Joe, on the other hand, kicked out, which ended up foreshadowing the end.
They amplified the intensity by exposing the wood ring under the mat, but Darby would live to regret this decision as he received an avalanche Muscle Buster onto the exposed wood. Samoa Joe is a two-time TNT Champion!
4.5/5
This match was fantastic and told a straightforward story: Darby Allin tried to do too much. He won the TNT title from Joe on the first episode of Dynamite in January and defended it every single week until Joe took it back. Darby was systematically dismantled by every person he faced and ran into the most brutal version of Samoa Joe we’ve seen in years. Amazing! Loved this.
OVERALL
And that was Dynamite for the first week of February! Revolution is right around the corner, and All Elite Wrestling is hurtling toward the spring PPV with reckless abandon. Every week in 2023 has been stellar wrestling television, and this week might have been the best from start to finish. Nothing bad happened during this episode. I have zero qualms about calling this week’s episode a perfect representation of wrestling TV.
Verdict: 5/5