All Elite Wrestling was in Pittsburgh this week for an…interesting episode of Dynamite. This week’s episode was anticipated for the debut of ‘Switchblade’ Jay White facing Luchador sensation Komander. The card, on the whole, looked like might overperform expectations! This episode was solely focused on the young stars that AEW has built – The Pillars, Wardlow and Hobbs, Britt Baker and Jaime Hayter, and The Acclaimed. All the makings were there! Did this episode raise to the 2023 standard of Dynamite?
Let’s talk about it!
- No opening match this week! Instead, Dynamite opened with a segment that felt awfully familiar to a segment from a month ago. Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara, and Jungle Boy Jack Perry discussed their dislike for one another as each felt they deserved an AEW title shot. All three of them have had better promos. However, MJF decided to show everyone that there’s a Grand Canyon sized gap between himself and the other three ‘pillars’ by coming out to save this segment. The champ then announced that Sammy would face Jungle Boy in the main event.
Jaime Hayter & Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. Ruby Soho & Toni Storm
Our first match of the evening was a homecoming tag match for Britt Baker with Jaime Hayter facing off against The Outcasts. It’s not very often that the women get to have the first match of the evening! I’m not an AEW statistician, but that has to be a small number of occasions. The match was a simple affair to pop the crowd for the DMD.
Despite the Outcasts attacking before the bell, there wasn’t much of a story here. Both teams fought back and forth for ten minutes. Outcasts used bully tactics to isolate Jaime Hayter until Britt got the hot tag. Britt looked like the Terminator as she hit her moves and could not be stopped. The hometown girl kicked all the ass.
And this led to my lone issue with this match. The Outcasts hit Britt with a Storm hip attack, a championship belt shot, and then the Storm Zero, but Britt still kicked out with ease. Talk about diluting the effectiveness of the heels…
Toni Storm was angry and took it out on Jaime Hayter’s shoulder, which then led to Britt Baker using the Lockjaw on Ruby Soho for the victory.
3/5
Good match, but the way they got to the finish could have been different. Hopefully, Jaime’s shoulder is okay! She looked legitimately injured. I’m probably being worked, though. Good stuff!
Segments:
- Renee Paquette was backstage with Wardlow up next. The Wardog has gained an unlikely ally in Arn Anderson! That’s an odd team-up, but one that has potential!
- The Elite came to the ring immediately following. They’d had enough of the Blackpool Combat Club and were ready to settle the score. Danielson answers from the screen, but only for the BCC to surprise attack from behind. Moxley, Claudio, and Yuta were ruthless with their attacks too. Yuta was even going after Matt Jackson’s injured bicep. An unlikely ally came to the aid of the Elite in the form of Konosuke Takeshita! Don Callis had been courting the Japanese sensation for a long time. Despite this being awesome, it’s still a Don Callis plan. Takeshita’s betrayal of The Elite seems imminent.
TNT Championship: Powerhouse Hobbs (c) vs. Wardlow
ANDDDD NEWWWWW!!!!!
The TNT Championship is in a weird place. It’s seemingly devolved into a groundhog day belt, with the same few people trading it back and forth over a time period. This started with Sammy Guevara, Cody Rhodes, and Scorpio Sky. The title seemed fixed after Wardlow held it for four months, and then Samoa Joe held it for three. Now we’re back in hot potato mode between Hobbs, Samoa Joe, and Wardlow again. I think there was a small Darby Allin reign in there somewhere too. We’re a far cry from the dominant TNT Title reign Miro had in 2021. Samoa Joe’s first reign was pretty good too.
That being said, this match between Hobbs and Wardlow was much better than their Falls Count Anywhere match. It was your quintessential big-man fight where they traded stiff shots back and forth. It felt like it could have been longer though. There was a lot of fighting in the crowd. Wardlow did a Swanton Bomb and his wind up lariat, which always looks great, but the real fight for Wardlow was against the numbers of Hobbs’s entourage.
This ending was an overbooked mess, in all honesty. QT Marshall hit a diamond cutter after a distraction from his blonde assistant lady and then Hobbs hit a spinebuster, but Wardlow kicked out. Arn Anderson then inserted himself into the match by ‘pulling out his Glock’ at QT Marshall, which was hilarious. Penta el Zero Miedo came out of nowhere to help Arn for some reason, and then Wardlow turned up the Symphony. After three powerbombs onto Hobbs, Wardlow wins his TNT Title back.
3/5
Luchasaurus and Christian Cage immediately come out to confront Wardlow after the match. It looks like the weird TNT Title booking is continuing because neither of these two should lose. Luchasuarus looks amazing right now, but Wardlow loses AGAIN, right after winning the TNT Title? This title is bad WWE 50/50 booking at its finest.
- Renee was backstage with Sammy up next. MJF quickly interrupted to propose an offer to Sammy. MJF offered a blank check to help Sammy get to Double or Nothing, as long as Sammy rolled over at the PPV itself. Sammy seemed to write a ridiculous number that MJF reluctantly accepted, and the deal with the devil was struck! Intriguing storyline!
‘Switchblade’ Jay White vs. Komander
Jay White has been in AEW for three weeks and has already established that he belongs at the top of the card. He’s fantastic in all facets- charisma, ring skill, and promos. This match was the perfect encapsulation of that. Komander is a quality wrestler with a huge upside for a Luchador (All Elite too!), but Jay White looks the part of a top star. Sorry Ricky Starks, but you have to lose to this guy.
It didn’t take long for Jay to neutralize Komander’s flying attack. The Luchador can hit some mind-blowing moves, but Jay used an effective apron facebuster to ground him. This was the story here-keep Komander grounded. Switchblade kept pushing Komander off of the ropes! That’s a simple and effective match story because it established that Jay is smart. Why wouldn’t he try and neutralize Komander’s main weapon?
Komander eventually did gain momentum to do a couple of rope maneuvers, which are always awesome, but Jay White would not be denied his AEW debut match. Switchblade hit the cutthroat suplex and the Blade Runner for the victory. Awesome debut.
4/5
This story needs to be emphasized a little more. This match was eleven minutes long, and Komander only successfully accomplished around five offensive moves. Jay controlled this match without making Komander look like a dweeb. Impressive.
Match of the Night
Shawn Spears, who was ringside and hilariously grading the match with cue cards, was attacked by Juice and Switch. Ricky Starks made the save to set up a future match.
Segments:
- Renee Paquette was joined by FTR, but was quickly derailed as they discovered Mark Briscoe attacked. Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett, and FTR are teaming up for some reason for a match on Rampage.
- Up next was the face-to-face of Chris Jericho and Adam Cole. The members of the opening segment should take notes on how to have a promo battle like this. Cole had a lot of respectful things to say about Jericho, but Judas would not reciprocate. After a little Pittsburgh brand of insults, the Jericho Appreciation Society attacked Adam Cole. This triggered Britt Baker, of all people, to save her boyfriend. I guess the Elite have distanced themselves from Cole? The Outcasts came from nowhere to destroy Britt. Jericho planned for Britt’s interference and asked the Outcasts for help. This was a phenomenal segment. My favorite part of the whole evening. Jericho handcuffing Cole, as Saraya beat up Britt, was the icing on the cake.
- Matt and Jeff Hardy, Hook, and Isiah Kassidy backstage talking about the Firm Deletion. Jeff Hardy is going to talk to the crowd on Rampage. Cool.
Jericho Appreciation Society vs The Acclaimed
This trios match between The Jericho Appreciation Society and The Acclaimed came about on Rampage after the JAS attacked The Acclaimed after their match on Rampage. If the Acclaimed lost, they would join the JAS. Well, this match went about as expected. Acclaimed did a couple of fun spots, the JAS isolated Caster, and then Daddy Ass got the hot tag. Billy Gunn is 59 years old and runs around that ring like someone twenty years younger.
Cool Hand Angelo Parker did try to steal the match with a… *checks notes* loaded comb…?
The Acclaimed inevitably won after hitting the mic drop. This was fine, but we could be doing a little more with the former tag champs.
2.25/5
Sammy Guevara vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry
Whoever wins this match, faces Darby Allin next week for the opportunity to face MJF. Trading high impact moves. and that’s what this match was. Who can outmaneuver who in a battle of smashing moves. At one point Jungle Boy hit a destroyer from out of nowhere. Destroyers are becoming commonplace in AEW, but sometimes there are some that are impressive. This one was that.
At one point, Sammy Guevara hit what Excalibur called an “Implant DDT.” I’ve never seen that before and I implore Sammy never to do that again. It looked devastating because Jack landed directly on his head. This led the match towards its conclusion as Jack now had an injured head and neck. I like that injury story, but we could have done it less recklessly. Keep the risky moves to yourself, Sammy!
They continued with the head story as Jack took more punishment to his dome with poisonranas. The final nail in his coffin was after flying off the top rope and smacking his head into the timekeeper’s table. Jack was out cold until referee Bryce Remsburg was counting him out at eight. Sammy proceeded to grab Bryce, which allowed his new ‘best friend’ MJF to hit Jack with the Dynamite Diamond Ring and Jungle Boy Jack Perry lost by count out.
What a different way to end a match. Big fan of that!
3.75/5
OVERALL
And that was Dynamite for this week! What did you think of the show!?
This episode revolved around ‘The Pillars’ of AEW. Those four started and ended the show, as your AEW Championship program should be a big focus. That being said, this feud is only good because of MJF. It’s supposed to highlight how awesome the future is for AEW, but MJF casts such a monstrous shadow over the other three. Nothing bad against Darby, Jungle Boy, and Sammy, but they’re not ready for the big spotlight. Regardless, Double or Nothing will be a Fatal Four way, guaranteed.
Anyway, the rest of the card was fine. Jay White and Komander was fantastic, as was the Jericho/Britt/Cole/Saraya segment. AEW has set a very high bar in 2023 and this episode missed that mark.
Verdict: 3.25/5