The Summer of 2023 for All Elite Wrestling is going strong. The growing wrestling company has had an entire year of awesome Dynamites on the way to making 2023 the best year of the company. Tony Khan and AEW are doing a fantastic job keeping the momentum, which included their recent stop in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. There were good matches and stories up and down this week’s card. A wrestling prodigy made his debut and a Japanese legend was announced. Those were the main headlines of the evening, but how was the rest of the night?

Let’s talk about it!


Jericho vs. Komander

Photo Credit: AEW

Jericho was out on a mission to prove himself after a recent string of losses. First up, Jericho faced Komander in a good match that forced him to face an athletic luchador. A little out of his comfort zone, but it didn’t matter. He’s not one of the GOATs for nothing.

Komander started strong, except a stiff forearm from Jericho evened the odds. That was how most of the match went. Komander would spark a flurry of offense until Jericho used his expertise to stop it. That’s not to say that Komander isn’t awesome–he really is. It’s amazing how the Luchador flies and walks the ropes. He even surprised with some chain wrestling!

A couple of wonky spots didn’t stop this match from being really good as Jericho reversed a Dragonrana into the Lion Tamer for the win. Jericho can still put on great matches in 2023. Absolutely amazing.

3.5/5

Segments:

  • And the bell had barely rung before Don Callis arrived to speak more about their hopeful partnership. That detestable man put together a video package of them from back in the day. They had a mentor, named Bad News Allen, who was in the video. This was barely any different than last week’s segment. Hopefully, there’s some forward momentum next week.
  • Up next, Alex Marvez was looking for Jack Perry in the parking lot. Jack wouldn’t get out of the car because “it’s an unsafe work environment.” Hook was hiding and jumped in the car instead, except Jack weaseled his way away again. Another story that needs more forward momentum. We can’t keep doing the same things.
  • Renee Paquette was then backstage with Don Callis, who said that he’ll be headed to the ring alone later for the announcement of the 5th member of the BCC.
  • Another amazing Adam Cole and MJF segment followed that. They went to a bar together and ended the night playing AEW Fight Forever (I stream that on http://twitch.tv/gameovergimmicks come follow). They both admit to thinking about screwing the other over but instead have become very good friends. These segments are phenomenal! MJF screwing Cole is going to hurt so badly.

Darby Allin & Orange Cassidy vs. Sammy Guevara & Daniel Garcia

Photo Credit: AEW & FITE

Up next was the first of the semi-finals in the Blind Tag Tournament between Darby and Orange Cassidy taking on Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia. It was a fairly standard tag match with a nice little swerve at the end.

This was a story of two vastly different teams. Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin have worked very well together so far as a team, but Sammy and Daniel acted like they wanted to be anywhere else but in a tag team with each other. Cassidy and Allin hit plenty of moves in succession while Garcia and Guevara were reluctant to tag each other in.

The pace picked up once Darby got the proverbial hot tag to Orange Cassidy. But everything came to a head once Prince Nana came to the ring to help Daniel Garcia with a skateboard. This was all a ruse as Swerve Strickland kicked Darby in the head to allow Sammy to hit the GTH for the win. This was fine. There was nothing wrong with the match itself, just nothing spectacular. It did its job to advance Sammy and Garcia while giving more to the Darby and Swerve story.

Small interesting tidbit after the match of Sammy shaking Darby’s hand, almost like an apology for winning the way they did. Good stuff.

2.75/5

  • The newest ‘wrestling prodigy,’ Nick Wayne, had himself a lovely promo package. It went through his sad history of losing his father way too early.
  • Renee Paquette was backstage with Adam Cole next. Roddy Strong, still in a neck brace mind you, was concerned about Cole’s budding friendship with MJF. Even the smallest and simplest segments are great.

Big Bill & Brian Cage vs. MJF & Adam Cole

Photo Credit: AEW

After the first semi-final came the second, with best friends MJF and Adam Cole taking on Big Bill and Brian Cage. This one was just like the previous one in that it was good but mostly served the main story of MJF and Cole.

Obviously, the match revolved around the growth of Cole and MJF as friends and tag partners. Cole wore the shirt that MJF designed, got mad when Cage cheated Max to the corner, and even used the thumb poke to the eye. MJF is corrupting babyface Cole!

Meanwhile, MJF’s entire goal in this one was to bodyslam Big Bill. He tried numerous times to no avail, but eventually did it and the entire crowd erupted. Imagine being so good that a simple bodyslam pops the crowd. Unreal.

The ending came out of nowhere, as MJF hit Cage with the Heatseeker followed by Cole with the Boom knee. The besties win a fun match!

3/5

  • The winners had something to say following the match. Both guys are seemingly on the same page, as they both have tag team gold in their sights. They better win this tournament because they are gold together.
  • Renee Paquette was backstage, yet again, this time with Jake Hager. The man with the purple hat went and talked to Jericho about this whole Callis thing. Hager then showed more personality than he has in his entire AEW career by handing Jericho his hat and saying Jericho’s actions are not okay. This was a fantastic little segment. Count me very intrigued by everything going on here.

Ruby Soho vs. Skye Blue

Photo Credit: AEW

Apparently, it was tournament semi-final week, as this Owen Hart tournament match between Ruby Soho and Skye Blue determined who would be one half of the final match. It was a good match with Ruby Soho making it two Owen Hart finals in a row as she wins against a game Skye Blue.

The Outcasts have made it their job to interfere in matches, but they were too cocky this week. Toni Storm and Saraya were ejected by the referee after hurting Skye’s knee. THANK YOU, REF! If the babyface challengers won’t smarten up, then at least the ref did. The damage was done, however, as Skye Blue favored that knee for the rest of the match, especially as Ruby did a phenomenal job of dissecting it.

In the end, Skye Blue tried her best, but Ruby was too good. Ruby was able to hit an elevated No Future kick from the top rope to finish the match and advance. This was a very good match!

3.5/5

  • Up next was the “World Premiere” of a song by Harley Cameron. The song wasn’t terrible at all. Harley has a talent for sure, but why is this on a wrestling show? Very odd.

Swerve Strickland vs. Nick Wayne

Photo Credit: AEW

Our main event of the evening was a big deal; the official debut of “wrestling prodigy” Nick Wayne against rival Swerve Strickland. The two Seattle natives had battled numerous times in the independents before Nick got his shot in AEW. And if this match was any indication of Nick Wayne’s potential upside, that upside is the moon. Prodigy isn’t even the right word for this kid. He’s not a finished product by any means, but he’s already incredible in multiple facets.

But none of this stopped Swerve from relishing in the opportunity to ruin the kid’s debut. The former tag team champion took every opportunity to embarrass the kid, especially in front of Nick’s mom at ringside.

The Prodigy almost won his debut match by hitting an insane poisonrana from the top rope and then his finisher, Wayne’s World, but Swerve put his foot on the rope at the last second. That ended up being the last spark from the kid as Swerve put an end to it with a NASTY shoulder move and the JML Driver.

Incredible match that didn’t even touch the surface of what these two could do. It was a fantastic snippet of what makes Nick Wayne such an incredible prospect.

4/5

Match of the Night

  • Dynamite ended on another segment this week and an amazing one at that. Don Callis made his third appearance to announce the fifth member of the Blackpool Combat Club Blood and Guts team, but Kenny Omega interrupted almost immediately. PAC made his surprise return to blindside Omega and cement his spot on the Blackpool Combat Club. But this segment wasn’t done! A video package played that KOTA IBUSHI was the fifth member of the Elite. The Golden Elite have reunited!!!

Overall

And that was Dynamite for the week! What did you think of this episode? Let me know on Twitter!

It was another story-focused episode this week, but that’s not a bad thing. AEW is in the heart of summer during a break in between PPVs. There’s an abundance of cool stories happening right now: Blackpool Combat Club and The Elite are about to go to war again, Jericho and Callis might be teaming up, the happenings between Darby/Swerve/Keith Lee, and the MJF/Adam Cole pairing are all gripping storylines. Add in two great matches, one women’s and one men’s match to close the show? Yes, please.

Verdict: 4.25/5

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