Week 19 of AEW Dynamite came to us live from just outside of Austin, Texas, in front of what looked to be a packed house. They were coming off of the white-hot lashing angle between MJF and Cody, which struck me as the best segment in AEW Dynamite history. I watched this show on a one day delay due to being away on business yesterday, so I didn’t have any picture-in-picture or commercials in my viewing. Let’s dive right in.
Adam Page/Kenny Omega vs. SCU- Tag Title Match
AEW really likes to open their shows with fast paced tag team matches, and this was no exception. This was SCU’s rematch after losing the titles during the Jericho cruise. This was a solid match that showcased a lot of action, while not getting into the typical no-sell spot fests that AEW tag team matches normally devolve into. Dark Order cut a promo just before the match, saying that they’re preparing for The Exalted One’s” arrival. All signs have been pointing to Matt Hardy for that role. Page and Omega retained the titles with their lariat/knee combo, but Kazarian had his hand on the ropes (which the referee didn’t see). Then all the teams came out and brawled. They did an okay job setting up next week’s contendership battle royal, but this went a little long.
They had Jim Ross sit down for an interview with Santana, and I was really impressed. This is two weeks consecutively now that Santana has cut an awesome promo. He comes across as intense and real, and he’s a good speaker. He may have a future as a singles star. He talks about “the darkness” that he lives in, as his dad went blind when he was very young. This was a nice way to humanize the character, even if it did make the heel a bit too sympathetic here.
We got another black and white Darby Allin package. Since he still can’t talk since the Inner Circle skateboard attack, he put cue cards in front of the camera, challenging Sammy Guevara to a match at Revolution. I applaud AEW for putting time into building up heat for an undercard feud. Guevara vs. Allin is a hot match between two young, athletic backbones of the company and I’m excited to see it.
Sammy Guevara vs. Dustin Rhodes
I believe this is the second TNT meeting between these two men. This was another well-paced, offensive match that showcased Rhodes’ knowledge against Sammy’s speed. Dustin has truly breathed new life into his career since joining AEW. Dustin wins a competitive match with his twisting suplex, and then he gets on the microphone. He cuts a short but passionate promo about how Jake Hager broke his arm and now he wants a match with him at Revolution. Rhodes said Hager is failing at MMA and now he’s failing in AEW because he never wrestles. They’ve protected Hager as a bodyguard nicely, and this should be a great mesh of styles for the PPV. AEW is quickly putting together a nice card for Revolution.
Britt Baker is out on the stage for another promo with Tony Schiavone. The heat in this building for Baker is unreal. Whether it’s “go away heat” or natural heel heat, Britt is getting more of a reaction than almost any heel on the entire roster. She slags Tony again for being a former barista, and says she did Yuka Sakazaki a favor last week by extracting her tooth for free. She uses her dental jargon and comes across as so haughty here that it REALLY works for her. I haven’t enjoyed her matches at all, but these heel promos are absolutely excellent. Give her a 3 minute promo every week.
Riho vs. Nyla Rose- Women’s Title Match
This match was the first thing on the show that I really didn’t connect with. For me personally, the suspension of disbelief is thrown out the window when a 98 pound wrestler does constant damage to a 200+ pound wrestler with strikes. Nyla pulled out some extremely athletic stuff, and they tried to tell the story of Riho’s resilience. Nyla finally wins the championship with the Beast Bomb. Maybe now they can center the division around challengers with characters (Baker/Shanna/Statlander) chasing Nyla and cut back on all the bland Joshi stuff. The right person won here. Nyla went backstage and taunted Kenny Omega, but we couldn’t really hear the verbiage due to bad audio.
Chris Jericho cut a good heel promo on Jon Moxley and said that if Moxley gets by Santana tonight, that he hired a mercenary to take him out next week: Jeff Cobb. Then they showed a 15 second Cobb video. Now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Jeff Cobb. He’s a legit beast and he’s a perfect fit for AEW. But to have Jericho just casually drop his name and spoil the surprise with no reaction was stupid. AEW is SO bad at debuting new talent. If they wanted to treat it as if everyone automatically knows who Cobb is already, they should’ve just saved him for the end to get a surprise pop when he came out to attack Moxley. They wasted that pop here for no reason, not to mention that casual fans have no idea who Jeff Cobb is.
MJF vs. Jungle Boy
As a match, this was a great way to add momentum to MJF, and Jungle Boy is a great bumper to showcase him. They started off doing very athletic counter wrestling, and MJF proved he can hang with another in the ring. MJF also added a lot to his offense tonight, and that made this the best match on the program. MJF won with the Double Cross, and this was booked very well. Now allow me to pick on Brandi Rhodes here, who was on commentary for the match. News broke this week that the Nightmare Collective group was being aborted. Awesome Kong is going away to shoot season four of GLOW, and Brandi posted a video on Twitter of herself burning her old persona. I have two big issues with this: 1. The Nightmare Collective had no explanation or closure at any time. They never explained their reason, their goals, their members, or their arc. They should’ve been given time to let the gimmick run its course. 2. They didn’t even MENTION the Nightmare Collective while Brandi has been on screen these past two weeks. She’s suddenly back to being the plain, demure wife of Cody with no explanation for the change. Even a simple “I wanted to carve a new niche on my own, but I came to realize that my family is what I really need, so I killed my own creation,” would’ve sufficed. Very illogical booking by AEW here.
Pac cuts a nice intense promo on how he’s made Omega less than he used to be, and he’s in Omega’s head. From his look to his delivery, Pac comes across with realism and star power. Pac vs. Omega in an Iron Man Match is scheduled in 2 weeks.
Santana vs. Jon Moxley
Jericho and the Inner Circle are out to watch from the balcony, as the main event kicks off in an intense brawl. This match had good heat, and Santana innovated quite a bit. They used each others vision weakness in the story of the match, and they kept everything tight and logical. Moxley wins with the Paradigm Shift, and then the Inner Circle runs down to jump him. They lash and beat him down, and then Jeff Cobb runs down to hit Moxley with the Tour Of The Islands. Again, this would’ve been more impactful if they didn’t waste Cobb on a backstage mention earlier. For those who don’t know Cobb, he was an Olympian in 2004 and made his pro wrestling name as Matanza Cueto in Lucha Underground. Since then, he’s had substantial title reigns in ROH and PWG. He’s athletic, strong as an ox, and looks like a million bucks. He’s currently a free agent but I’d like to see him stick with AEW for the long haul.
Overall, this was a really good show. They didn’t hit us with an abundance of spot matches, and instead gave us ring-work that was well paced and made sense. They added two great matches to the PPV and had a variance of excellent promo work. I had major issues with the way they debuted Cobb and wrote off the Nightmare Collective, so it was far from perfect. But it seems to be picking up steam as we head toward Revolution.
