The twenty-third episode of AEW Dynamite came to us from Salt Lake City, Utah, and the crowd was hot from the onset. AEW has found a recent groove, and they’ve got two more weeks to build their Blood and Guts (Wargames) match. Let’s dive right into the opening bell.
We open with a backstage promo from Adam Page. Kenny Omega has an injured hand, so Page needs a partner tonight against Jericho and Guevara. The Bucks offer their services, but Page says it’ll be someone he knows and trusts; it’ll be a mystery partner. Right away, given the ties to the group, my expectation was Matt Hardy or Marty Scurll (since ROH seems more open to working with AEW under his regime).
Ortiz vs. Cody
This Utah crowd popped more for Cody than pretty much anyone on the entire show. They worked a pretty standard match, with Cody getting babyface fire trying to overcome the numbers game of the Inner Circle. Ortiz is always comedic without taking away from his ring prowess. This seemed to go a little long, given that the outcome was never in doubt. Despite the obvious winner here, this was meant to build the heat between the Elite and the Inner Circle. Jake Roberts comes out in the crowd with his client, Lance Archer. Archer is signed with AEW and was supposed to debut last week, but they held him off for this moment. It’s a good fit and Archer could be a true star in AEW. Cody wins the decent contest with a figure four leglock.
Jericho pops up on the big screen to hype up Blood and Guts, and they’ve laid out Nick Jackson, comically crushing his head under a garage door as he chews on a blood capsule (sorry kayfabe, it was just too obvious here). Solid heel promo as the Elite goes with Nick to the hospital. They did a nice job of heating up the tension here quickly.
Kris Statlander/Hikaru Shida vs. Bea Priestley/Nyla Rose
These combinations were oddly thrown together, despite the fact that this is Statlander and Shida’s third time teaming together. It’s the first time we’ve seen Bea in a while, as she’s been working in Japan. This match was really hot and cold, with some highs and lows. Bea had some really nice submission work and Statlander hit a lovely rolling cradle, but a lot of the tightest work here was during the picture-in-picture. Bea tried twice to hit a double springboard and botched it both times. As it went longer, it got better, but something about it was out of place. Nyla pins Shida with the Beast Bomb. Priestley attacks Nyla after the match, but the camera misses the initial attack. This is Bea’s way of putting herself in the title picture, in spite of this being her first AEW match in months. Bit of a head-scratcher all around.
Chris Daniels does an excellent spoof promo in the style of the Dark Order. He does the graphic changes and does a shoot style promo about how the group fizzled out and how there’s no Exalted One. He challenges both Uno and Grayson to future singles matches. This was a great way to bring out Daniels’ charisma.
MJF/Butcher/Blade vs. Jurassic Express
This was perhaps the match of the night, as MJF continues his recent roll. MJF intimidates Marko and then backs off of Luchasaurus like a classic heel. Butcher and Blade use old school tag team tactics to isolate the biggest man in the match and chop away at his legs, neutralizing him. Jungle Boy gets a heck of a hot tag and brings the crowd to a fever pitch. In spite of his small stature, Jungle Boy really lays in his strikes with a realism that few in AEW share. Wardlow lays out Luchasaurus on the outside, but the camera misses it AGAIN. Bad camera angles really seemed to hurt this show. MJF makes Stunt submit in a good match with the Salt Of The Earth.
Darby Allin has a quick black-and-white promo where he wears a Jericho cutout over his face and assaults the Sammy skateboard. Without words, in quick fashion, this makes Darby appear dangerous and amplifies the feud. Here’s an example of how thirty seconds of TV time makes a difference when it’s done right. The vignettes were far and away the best part of this show.
Britt Baker is on the stage as she brings Tony Schiavone another Starbucks coffee with his name misspelled. I normally love these segments, but this one didn’t live up to the previous ones. Even with the verbiage being weaker here (insulting the conservative intake rules of Utah), this is still the best use of Baker. Big Swole comes out and trades barbs about boyfriends with Baker (Swole is married to Cedric Alexander, while Baker is dating Adam Cole). Baker throws coffee in Swole’s face and runs off. This was awkward and seemed pretty slow paced, but they both need a fresh feud to bring out the best in them. Let’s hope this is the one.
Joey Janela/Private Party vs. The Death Triangle
There are an abundance of 3 man teams in AEW, and Pac/Lucha Bros are the latest heel combination. With that said, that made their team debut the obvious choice to win this contest. Janela really connected with the crowd again tonight, and he’s one of AEW’s most over undercard wrestlers. This was a spotfest for sure, and featured a lot of obvious leg-slaps during the kicks. The luchadores got to show off their flying style, and the moments that didn’t look choreographed were very good. Pac gets the win with the Black Arrow, and the Death Triangle puts their new submission on their foes. Best Friends and Orange Cassidy run out to make the save in the next chapter of their ongoing rivalry.
Dustin Rhodes cuts a quick but impassioned promo saying that he’s sick of the Inner Circle hurting his family, and that he’ll be Page’s partner tonight whether Page likes it or not. Dustin is STILL one of the best talkers in the business. But so much for the “surprise” partner.
They show some video submissions for potential partners for Shawn Spears, including some indie wrestlers.
JR sits down with Jon Moxley and talks about the Inner Circle injuring him. Moxley gets over how dangerous he is, and the conversation steers toward Jake Hager. It seems Hager vs. Moxley is happening soon, and I’m all for it. Moxley says he’ll be there in two weeks during Blood and Guts, which AEW is hyping as a PPV quality show.
Chris Jericho/Sammy Guevara vs. Adam Page/Dustin Rhodes
The faces teased some resistance on Page’s part, as he continues the awesome tweener character he’s been working with for weeks. He has depth right now that a lot of wrestlers don’t have, and it’s gotten him very over with the audience. This is a pretty solid main event, even though the partner choice is terribly anti-climactic. Page hits very hard here, and Jericho and Sammy control the match with strikes and bromance taunts. Page continues his roll with the Buckshot Lariat win over Guevara, and the Inner Circle attacks right after. One by one, the Elite run in to try and thwart the heels, but the Inner Circle leaves them all laying to end the show. Matt Jackson saved Page from getting powerbombed off the stage though.
Overall, this was a pretty lackluster show, comparatively. The vignettes were really good and the matches ranged from good to okay, but lately AEW had been on fire. While the last 4 weeks of Dynamite have been excellent, this one feels like merely a blip on the radar as they prepare for Blood and Guts. Here’s to hoping next week isn’t as filler as tonight felt.
