Last year, it felt like AEW was in an awkward place around Forbidden Door. Double or Nothing had just happened, CM Punk was injured and (allegedly) having disagreements backstage, and the build to Forbidden Door was all over the place. This year, however, feels a lot more stable on the Dynamite road to Forbidden Door. That’s even with the debut of Collision happening tomorrow, June 17th! Somehow Tony Khan and AEW are building multiple shows at the same time.

This show was a lot of fun with a bunch of stories intertwined. MJF and Adam Cole had a banger, likewise with Toni Storm and Skye Blue, and the trios match at the end led to an all-time segment.

Let’s talk about it!


AEW Championship Eliminator: MJF vs. Adam Cole

Photo Credit: AEW

Dynamite kicked off this week with one of the best Dynamite matches of 2023. Adam Cole challenged MJF to an eliminator match and was milliseconds from winning, except it finished as a time-limit draw. When AEW finishes a match with a time-limit draw, it’s always been a great one.

This match was a slugfest; MJF and Cole broke each other down throughout. Cole had a hurt arm and knee, while MJF hurt his own knee. Not to mention that everybody knows about Cole’s concussion history. Each one played out at some point.

It was a slow-paced match, which is to be expected at a thirty minute runtime. It kicked into high gear after MJF hit an elbow drop through the ringside table. This was so good and Cole was almost counted out. Then, it happened.

We had a ref spot.

MJF tried to emulate Eddie Guerrero and handed the belt to Cole, but mistimed how long referee Bryce Remsburg would be out. Cole then used the belt and hit the Boom knee. I bit so hard as MJF kicked out at 2.99. MJF went back to the hits as he used a low blow to give himself time to grab the Dynamite Diamond Ring. Referee had seen that before and blocked it, except Cole took that opportunity to hit the Panama Sunrise and the Boom Knee for alllmost the victory.

Cole and MJF got me to bite TWICE. That’s a great match. You never see the Time Limit draw coming.

4.5/5

Match of the Night

Segments:

  • With the first Collision right around the corner, CM Punk returned this week with a promo vignette. Punk apparently has “a lot to get off his chest.” And here we go…
  • Renee Paquette returned to her previous role of marathon runner this week with an in-ring interview with Sammy Guevara. The self-proclaimed Spanish God hadn’t been seen since losing in the Pillars Fatal Four-way at Double or Nothing. Darby Allin quickly interrupted to name drop Jericho and blame the legend for Sammy’s stalled career. Jericho heard his name and decided to make himself present. Sammy and Jericho proceeded to argue back and forth, tease a breakup, and then threaten Darby Allin. One legend triggers an Icon as Sting then confronted Jericho. This was an awesome segment to continue a VERY strong first hour of Dynamite.
  • And in continuing the fun, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion, SANADA, sends out an Open Challenge for Forbidden Door. Simple and clean.

Mogul Embassy vs. Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, Sting, & Keith Lee

Photo Credit: AEW & FITE

It’s a multi-man match in AEW. There’s a good chance of two things: It’ll be wild and it’ll be fun.

Check and check.

Nothing to write home about in this match. It was constant action from bell to bell, with Sting getting far more work than assuming he would in his retirement year. The best part about this match was the triple powerbomb Swerve Stomp combo onto Keith Lee. That effectively removed the big man from the match. In the end, Orange Cassidy hit the Orange Punch and Sting the Scorpion Death Drop for the win.

3/5

  • Renee Paquette was then backstage with The Gunns, who don’t want to talk about Bullet Club Gold. They instead want to talk about The Hardyz. The Gunn brothers challenge the Hardy brothers to match next week. Cool!

TNT Championship: Wardlow (c) vs Hager

Photo Credit: AEW & FITE

Up next was a TNT Championship match between Wardlow and Jake Hager. It wasn’t a bad match, but it wasn’t the best. This was the third time these two have faced each other and not one of the matches has been especially good.

Hager attacked Wardlow before the bell, except it didn’t last long. Wardlow’s offense and crowd participation warrants him being a babyface right now, but a singles heel monster is not out of the realm of possibility for him. He was dominant against Hager in this one.

That didn’t stop Hager from hitting an impressive powerslam, though. It was probably the most offense that Hager strung together. 2point0 attempted to insert themselves until Brock and Arn Anderson send them away. This led to Wardlow hitting the Swanton and Powerbomb Symphony his way into the pay window. Solid match.

2.75/5

Christian Cage and Luchasaurus addressed Wardlow from backstage and revealed that they attacked Arn Anderson. Sure to lead to a Wardlow and Brock Anderson team-up.

Segments:

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi made his video appearance next. He challenged MJF to an AEW Championship match at Forbidden Door. Renee then broke the news to Max, who immediately said “no” to the possibility of that ever happening. Max didn’t even care that Tony Khan was “making” him do it, and said that it “wouldn’t be the first time I no-showed.” MJF is gold.
  • Renee continued her marathon by greeting Orange Cassidy backstage. She asked about his future, to which Zack Sabre Jr interrupted him to talk about becoming double champion at Forbidden Door. Daniel Garcia then interrupted both of them to throw his name into the hat. Cassidy stops any kind of talk by issuing a tag team challenge between himself and Shibata taking on ZSJ and Garcia. That should be amazing!

AEW Women’s Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Skye Blue

Photo Credit: AEW

Up next was the continuation of the Skye Blue coming out party. The young women’s star won a big match on Rampage to set up a Women’s Championship match against Toni Storm, and she almost won. Those damn Outcasts got the best of their opponent again!

Skye Blue had a phenomenal showing here, too. She looked great in the ring while hanging with the champ. She also did something a lot of babyfaces tend to forget…use their brains. Skye went into this match knowing it would be two-on-one, which meant that she attacked Ruby Soho at every opportunity. She even countered Toni using spray paint with her own spray paint. Great stuff there!

But The Outcasts got the best of her, yet again. Toni Storm survived the Code Blue by having Ruby Soho distract the referee, and she hit Storm Zero and a quality Texas Cloverleaf to finish the match. This was a good match from start to finish!

3.25/5

Storm and Soho’s frustration with Skye caused them to attack after the bell, but Willow Nightingale made the save.

  • Renee finished her evening backstage with JungleHook. Jack Perry officially accepted SANADA’s open challenge and asked for Hook to be in his corner. Jungleboy claimed that HOOK was his best friend. When did that happen?

Blackpool Combat Club vs. The Elite

Photo Credit: AEW

All Elite Wrestling had an amazing opening Dynamite match, then bookended the show with an equally amazing main event. Okay, maybe not equally amazing as Adam Cole and MJF, but it was still fantastic. The Hungbucks officially reunited in trios action against the Blackpool Combat Club in a great match with cool spots. Hangman’s standing shooting star (pictured above) and Claudio catching Nick Jackson into an uppercut stood out in this one.

The rest of the match was Elite/BCC trios goodness. AEW Trios matches are usually a good time, but that’s amplified when these six step into the squared circle. Moxley and Hangman teased a reignition of their feud, which would be cool, but the rest of the match had no story bits. It was simple, clean, and fun trios action.

4/5

The Best Segment Ever!

All of the stories came after the match. And boy howdy, there was GOLD in this post-match angle. Tony Khan booked the last five minutes like the attitude era; one crazy bit after another. It all started after the BCC attacked The Elite after losing. This caused Eddie Kingston to return to AEW and attack Claudio. Moxley and Kingston went face to face, but Eddie protected Moxley from the Young Bucks. Konosuke Takeshita attacked Eddie from behind, which triggered Kenny Omega down to the ring. Who stood tall after all of this?

Yep, Will Ospreay. Wait, what? Where did Ospreay come from?

The United Empire leader seemingly appeared from nowhere to attack Omega and set up their Forbidden Door match for the IWGP US Championship. This was such a good segment with story teases that it deserves its own post. I’m going to talk about it!


OVERALL

But that’s another post! This Dynamite has caused a smile across my face since Wednesday. THIS is the high that AEW can reach when the magic is there. It had great matches and stories while being a cohesive show and having crazy surprises. Even Wardlow and Hager, while being a subpar match, had the fun post-match angle. Docking this match for that after the beginning and end would be the semantics of semantics. Perfect episode!

5/5

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