How good was Forbidden Door!? There was a review planned, but life got in the way! That’s okay because we’re back with another review of AEW Dynamite for this week! We got to see a perfect sequel to a G1 Climax match, another chapter in the Dark Order/Elite saga, and a 64 year old legend flew through the air. What else was in store for this fallout of Forbidden Door episode?
Let’s talk about it!
Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii
AEW could have phoned in this episode. They could have thrown together a few rematches from Sunday or random tag matches to create some cool matchups in basic matches. They did not do that. Instead, Dynamite kicked off with a 2019 G1 Climax rematch between Jon Moxley and Tomohiro Ishii that kicked all the ass. Both men were left bloodied and bruised for the enjoyment of the Hamilton, Ontario crowd and us at home. Incredible match that easily hit Match of the Night.
It’s Jon Moxley and Tomohiro Ishii. How did we expect this match to go? It wouldn’t be a technical masterpiece or a high-flying flippy match. They beat the hell out of each other until neither man could stand. Moxley usually bleeds in his matches, but he was busted up the normal way in this one that required stitches later in the evening. Some of the elbow strikes they gave each other… whoo boy. They had stank on them.
Eddie Kingston came out to prevent Claudio and Yuta from getting involved, which angered Jon Moxley. The old friends kept yelling at each other while Claudio stared daggers at Eddie. Something is happening here and it’s exciting. Is Eddie going to snap or is Moxley?
This match was incredibly stiff. Ishii kicked out of the Death Rider, which was cool, but Moxley finished it off with a Curbstomp and another Death Rider. What a great way to start Dynamite.
4.5/5
Match of the Night
Segments:
- Adam Cole joined Renee as he was arriving at the arena. MJF picked that exact time to arrive as well and interrupted almost immediately. The champ wanted Cole to hang out so they could bond before this Blind Tag Tournament they are in. These two are so fun together! We need an AEW Sitcom now.
- Back to Renee backstage with her yelling at her husband. Eddie Kingston quickly arrived to continue yelling at Jon also, but Renee stopped him and yelled at them both to figure out their shit. It’s been said how great Renee would be for AEW, but that was in a backstage context. Nobody ever said how awesome she’d be in segments. This was fantastic.
Orange Cassidy, El Hijo del Vikingo, & Keith Lee vs. Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard, & Angelo Parker
Up next was a trios match with the wildest and most unexpected team in history. International Champion, Orange Cassidy, recruited Keith Lee and El Hijo del Vikingo to face Jericho Appreciation Society members, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard, and Angelo Parker. It was what it was–nothing special to fill a few minutes with fun people.
The story of the match revolved around how the makeshift team would work together. Spoiler alert: not very well. There were a few moments of greatness as Cassidy and Hijo hit a nice combo and Keith Lee used Hijo as a weapon. But overall, it felt a little flat while still having fun characters fill the time.
Keith Lee picked up the victory by hitting his Supernova Jackhammer. This was fine.
2.75/5
- The Hungbucks were backstage next, and they were looking to face someone in a trios match. The Dark Order pop up to answer the challenge as they were mad at Hangman Adam Page. The Cowboy hasn’t spoken to them since reuniting with the Elite. I’d be mad too! A heelish Dark Order is very interesting.
- Renee was then backstage with Jericho and Guevara. Jericho wanted to bring out the Painmaker, who scares absolutely nobody.
The Elite vs. Dark Order
Remember when The Dark Order and Hangman Adam Page were inseparable? Good times. AEW decided to give us fans a little heartbreak as this trios match between The Hungbucks and The Dark Order solidified the fact that Hangman and Dark Order are no longer friends. Knife through the heart!
The whole match revolved around Hangman not wanting to fight his former best friends. This led to a whole melodrama of “Would Hangman leave the ring or fight?” which angered The Young Bucks. Evil Uno added to it by tempting Hangman, which inevitably pissed Hangman off enough to engage. So. Much. Drama.
This was great stuff through and through. The Dark Order sold me every bill of goods with their super combo that Hangman kicked out of at 2.9999. It was all for naught as Hangman hits the Buckshot Lariat onto John Silver for the win. Side note, that’s exactly what happened to cause Hangman and Dark Order to lose in the trios tournament–Hangman hitting Silver by accident. Interesting Easter Egg right there.
3.5/5
And the Blackpool Combat Club came down to ruin everyone’s fun. Despite Eddie Kingston unsuccessfully attempting a save, the BCC stand tall and challenge everyone to Blood and Guts on July 19th. My birthday is three days later. What a wonderful gift!
Segments:
- Adam Cole was then backstage with Roddy Strong, who said that Cole shouldn’t trust MJF. Duh. MJF pops up out of nowhere again to invite Cole out on the town. Again…AEW sitcom, please!
- Evil Boy Jack Perry came out to the ring for an explanation of his actions on Sunday. For someone who’s never been a heel before, he killed this promo. He’s clearly been taking lessons from Christian Cage. There was more personality shown than in the majority of his previous promos combined. He then addresses HOOK to call him a fraud. And in perfect cocky heel fashion, Jungle Boy ran away after HOOK comes out. The cameras cut backstage as Jack Perry dives into a running car and speeds away. This was great!
- A Ruby Soho and Britt Baker match was scheduled here, but Britt had to bow out due to illness. Ruby Soho then had to face some random girl. She won the match with a Lockjaw, which was a nice touch. Ruby then proceeds to cut a monster promo about Britt and their match next week. Give Ruby Soho more mic time, please!!!
Darby Allin & Sting vs. Sammy Guevara & Painmaker Chris Jericho
One matchup wasn’t enough! Jericho wanted to face off against Sting one more time! And this time he reached down into the depths of his psyche to find the undefeated, yet not scary in the slightest, Painmaker persona. This Texas Tornado Tag match was a fine match that was still a treat to see the icon in action.
And look at the above picture. That man jumping off a ladder is 64 damn years old. I hope to be half as spry as Sting is at 64. It’s amazing to see how much fun Sting is having in AEW. His time is coming to a close and we have to relish these last handful of matches that he has left. Yes, he busted his mouth on this admittedly stupid spot, but it was still awesome. It could have gone so much worse, but it didn’t. That’s all that matters.
And then we even got a glorified singles match from the Icon and Jericho. The last three minutes were pretty great between them. Jericho kicked out of the Scorpion Deathdrop, but tapped out from the Scorpion Deathlock. A lot of fun to close out a fun Dynamite.
3.75/5
OVERALL
And that was Dynamite for this week! What did you think of this week’s show? Let me know on Twitter!
Was it the best episode ever? Nah. We still got to see Moxley and Ishii have a Dynamite instant classic though! Everything following that match wasn’t near as good. That being said, AEW has started off one hell of a summer!
Verdict: 4/5