The eleventh week of AEW Dynamite came to us from Dallas, Texas, in front of a small but solid crowd. AEW took the ratings lead back from NXT last week, after a two week slide. So let’s jump right in and see what they gave us as we leap toward the final show of 2019.
Alex Reynolds vs. Jon Moxley
We open up with star power right away, as the audience is red hot for Moxley. Moxley wins in less time than it takes to pop popcorn, with the Paradigm Shift. John Silver gets Moxley’s finisher as well. Before Mox can grab the microphone, the Inner Circle comes out to talk. Jericho gets in the ring, and spends time going over their personal history. He brings up their WWE feud, as well as Moxley shooting on Jericho’s podcast. As any good heel would, Jericho tries to get out of fighting Moxley by offering him a spot in the Inner Circle. This promo was great for continuity and provides many soundbytes for their package when they eventually face off. Jericho left Moxley in the ring to decide later.
We get even more star power, as they replay MJF’s inset promo that aired on YouTube earlier in the week. MJF says he worked with Allie to bring in The Butcher and The Blade to attack Cody. This was needed to make sense of their random debut, and makes MJF look like a chicken.
The Butcher and The Blade vs. Cody/QT Marshall
The debut match for the tag team from Beyond Wrestling went very well. The Butcher and The Blade have a nice array of tag team moves, and there’s a bit of old school in their ring isolation approach. They do a lot without it feeling like a spot-fest. This gimmick of The Bunny for Allie does wonders for her. Instead of being a bland babyface who’s choppy in the ring, this character is sleek and seductive, and they involve Allie as an 80s heel manager type. They also told the story of underdog Marshall trying to pull out new moves to make a splash with his biggest opportunity. The Butcher and The Blade win with their suplex/lung-blower combo in impressive fashion. Afterwords, Darby Allin comes down and offers a hand to Cody, giving the impression that he’ll aid Cody in this fight. The new act wins, Marshall looks good in defeat, and this keeps the continuity of Darby and Cody going. Great stuff.
MJF comes out with Wardlow for a classic heel promo. I alternate weekly between MJF and Jericho as to whom is the best heel in wrestling. They punk out a camera grip. MJF commands the crowd and tells Cody that he’ll wrestle him, but it has to be on MJF’s terms. MJF will give those terms on January 1st. Give this guy a microphone every single week.
We get another fantastic Dark Order cult promo. Alex Reynolds is in a hotel room, and the cult representative is on the TV in a commercial. He tells Reynolds he’s seen him and his partner losing on AEW Dark every week, and tries to recruit him. It comes off creepy and feels like an 80s horror film. This is a great vehicle to take jobbers and other guys that AEW creative has nothing for, and give them a renewed push with a dark side. I think Jimmy Havok, or even potentially Marty Scurll, would make a great ring leader for this group.
Big Swole vs. Emi Sakura
Big Swole is the former Mae Young Classic competitor who’s been officially signed by AEW after several AEW Dark appearances. She’s in excellent shape and has a ton of charisma. Sakura seems to be improving, as she involves the Freddy Mercury/mic-stand character in her work in recent weeks. She also added a nice rolling surfboard to her repertoire. Swole has a cavalcade of quick strikes that look great. This is a pretty promising encounter that winds up getting a bit sloppy as it goes a few minutes too long. Swole wins with a rip-chord strike, and it’s the second consecutive week that a highly ranked women has lost to an unranked newcomer. Next week, Britt Baker takes on Kris Statlander for the #1 contendership.
Pac has a quick backstage promo, asking for a rubber match with Kenny Omega. His intensity is unmatched in this company. Sign me up for Pac doing brutal beat-downs in the locker room if he doesn’t get what he wants.
Kip Sabian/Shawn Spears vs. Kenny Omega/Adam Page
Before the match, Tully Blachard has a quick inset promo saying he knows what it takes to make a great tag team, and he’s looking to see if Sabian has what it takes to join Spears. Man, Sabian is one of the most underused guys on this roster. He’s done great work as a cocky heel since his turn, and Penelope Ford is the perfect manager for him. She really shines in this match, sneaking around for a hurricanrana on the outside and a back handspring elbow on the inside. Something I’ve noticed is that often times, the wrestlers do their best work during picture-in-picture instead of saving it for the on-air audience. That’s a big agent gaffe. After a series of really solid exchanges, the lights go out, and Joey Janela has Tully tied up in a chair onstage. The ropes clearly aren’t tied and Tully gets up with ease, but that was a botch with the way they set it up. Spears brawls with Janela, and Page tags in and wins with the Buckshot Lariat. They’re teasing a heel turn for Adam Page.
We get another Nightmare Collective promo. I say it every week, but Brandi is one of the best in the business on the mic. She trash-talks the AEW women’s division and says she wants Statlander to join them. She calls for Melanie Cruise, the girl who shaved her head last week. She says their family is almost complete, and kisses a bald guy on the head before shielding his face. To me, it looks like Dustin Rhodes, who’d be an obvious choice. But the Collective is to women what the Dark Order is for the men.
Luchasaurus vs. Sammy Guevara
Chris Jericho and Jack Swagger kick out Schiavone and Excalibur, and they join JR on commentary. Jericho hypes his match next week with Jungle Boy. Once again, both men do excellent work, but some of their best stuff is during the commercial picture-in-picture. That needs to stop. They have a fun speed vs. power dichotomy going, and Luchasaurus wins with the tombstone pancake. Jericho and Hager run down to attack, and Jungle Boy gets a phantom pin over Jericho to make him feel legit for next week’s showdown. This act is extremely over.
Young Bucks vs. Proud and Powerful- Street Fight
They announced that the winning team would go on to fight SCU for the Tag Team Titles next week, and I love that they gave this match stakes. The crowd was on and off to this point, but they seemed to enjoy this Texas falls count anywhere brawl. Sammy Guevara and Brandon Cutler were involved early but taken out by big spots. They used chairs, garbage cans, and a ton of tables. Some of the table spots looked really crisp, while others looked very staged and phony. Psychology was gone here in favor of spots, but at least it was a long standing feud that warranted the brawl. The Bucks won with the Meltzer Driver. SCU get in the ring as we go off the air.
While this show wasn’t quite as good as the last two weeks, it flowed by very quickly. It felt star-heavy at the top with Moxley, Jericho, MJF, and Cody all involved early. They continued the great vignettes of the Dark Order and Nightmare Collective, and used inset promos effectively. The tag matches on this show were all solid, and we’re seeing nice builds to Moxley/Jericho and Cody/MJF. With next week being the final show of the year (they’re off for two weeks due to holidays), you have to wonder if we’ll get a cliffhanger surprise (Marty Scurll is free from ROH as of this coming Monday).
