AEW Dynamite episode 36 came to us live this week from Jacksonville, and the majority of the show featured a four-man booth. Normally I loathe it when any more than two men are doing commentary, but the fourth man tonight was Chris Jericho. His energy was up all night, and he did a lot to put over the heels and throw funny banter at Schiavone and Ross. Let’s jump into the action.
FTR vs. The Butcher and The Blade
This was the debut match in AEW for FTR, and they were pitted against a team with a very similarly styled team in Butcher and Blade. This match told a great story and built itself up far better than most modern matches do. These two teams were physical and hard-hitting, and paced the match very well. Butcher and Blade cut off the ring and isolated FTR, before the chaotic comeback. I can’t say enough good things about this, as FTR wins with the spike piledriver. Tully Blanchard is in the audience scouting FTR, fueling the rumors of a new Four Horsemen potentially coming to AEW. FTR felt important and different here, and this is what AEW’s tag division was lacking.
The Nightmare Family is backstage, and Brandi is mad that QT Marshall gave Allie the family jacket. Dustin says they have a tag team title shot next week, and he needs QT focused. I already broke down all the weird logic/character holes here previously, so I’ll just say that Allie plays the temptress spoiler role well.
Penelope Ford/Nyla Rose vs. Kris Statlander/Hikaru Shida
With Britt Baker out injured, it seems like these four ladies are the only ones we frequently see paired together on this show. Shida was very energetic in this match, and was extremely reliant on knees for her offense. This one felt like it was a bit repetitive and without stakes, but all four ladies tried really hard. Kip Sabian was made to look like dork yet again. Penelope pins the champion (Shida) with a nice fisherman’s suplex to get the win, and it seems she’s next in line for a title program. A lot of these ladies have a star look and a wealth of potential, but they’re lacking chemistry and character in the ring.
We see a little video package of Tony Hawk being a skating mentor to Darby Allin. Darby isn’t cleared to wrestle, but he tries repeatedly to jump off of a ladder with his skateboard to land a trick. After many falls, he lands it. This was a bit of a weird presentation of Darby, and he came off a bit dry. But the point was to show his resilience and get a rub from Tony Hawk, and he did that here.
We got another Britt Baker comeback promo, as she talks about how hard she’s working to represent AEW, as she struggles to wheel small weights across a football field. The ironic heel is always fun to watch, and Baker has made a massive name from it. I’m so glad that AEW keeps finding ways to get her television time.
Santana/Ortiz/Jake Hager vs. Best Friends/Orange Cassidy
This is a six man tag, stemming from the recent Jericho/Cassidy beef. Jericho added a lot to commentary as a heel here. Inner Circle controlled much of the match on top, as heels should. Hager really seemed to gel with Proud and Powerful. This match was pretty solid, and Cassidy got a cradle pin to get the upset. Jericho stormed the ring, and Inner Circle beat down the babyfaces. They took a giant bag of blood oranges, and busted Orange Cassidy open with them. They’re building to a Jericho/Cassidy mini-feud here to get Jericho ready for Tyson. While it’s an odd choice for Le Champion, I’m sure he’s enjoying working with younger talent.
MJF interrupts and Billy Gunn promo, and has magnificent timing. He is picture perfect in his persona and delivery, as he manages to get shots in on both Gunn and Cody. He wants a TNT Title shot, but he faces Gunn next week. This promo was short, but amazing.
Sammy Guevara vs. Colt Cabana
Most of the matches hit tonight, and this was no exception. Colt is a serviceable, underrated wrestler, and Guevara really bumped well for a lot of Colt’s strikes. This was a great use of Colt here, and their counter wrestling was crisp. Sammy gets the win with the reverse GTS. This gives Sammy his first notable singles win in months and keeps Colt on the losing path for the Dark Order. On cue, Dark Order comes out and Brodie Lee helps Colt up. Colt follows them to the back. Then Matt Hardy comes out, and old school Matt says he sees himself in Guevara. He wants Sammy to break away from Inner Circle. Matt changes personas twice, and the “broken” version of Matt wants to fight Guevara. Later in the show, Cabana goes into Brodie Lee’s locker room. Both of these angles are intriguing and are being built well.
We see Joey Janela, drinking at a bar while he talks about his recent AEW failures. They even show his CZW roof spot with Jon Zandig in the background as he’s despondent. As he stumbles outside, Sonny Kiss picks him up in a car. The two start to talk, as we get a “to be continued” graphic. I love that they’re being self aware with lower card talent and using packages to push them. But I don’t like random pairings. I already complained about how Dustin/QT and Sabian/Havoc were randomly thrown together, and now it seems they’re going to pair up Janela and Kiss simply because they have nothing else going on.
Moxley runs into Alex Marvez in the parking lot, and he’s all fired up. He says he finds it disrespectful that Tazz and Cage have been saying that Cage will beat Moxley at Fyter Fest. Tazz comes out yelling at Moxley, and Cage jumps him from behind. They fight into the barricades and onto the hood/windshield of a car. Cage spinebusters Moxley on the windshield and walks away. This felt real, intense, and quick. The setting outside added a lot to it. It was a tremendous way to build heat for Fyter Fest.
Cody vs. Marq Quen
This was Cody’s second consecutive TNT Title defense. Much like last week, the styles meshed so well here. Cody adds so much psychology to his matches, and he’s elevating a lot of young talents with these main events. Quen shined when his speed advantage came into play, but Cody started working his injured ankle (from last week). Quen managed to hit a lot of his offense, but he did so in a way that he could believably sell the ankle. Cody attacked the body, and Quen really did a phenomenal job of scrapping from the bottom. Cody gets the submission win with an ankle lock. After the match, Jake Hager comes out, but is fended off by Hardy and Private Party. Guevara and Proud and Powerful join, and we get a big brawl. Cody says he’ll defend his belt against Hager at Fyter Fest. That should be a very fun match.
Overall, it was a quietly good episode this week. It seemed to go by very quickly on the air, and they had a nice mixture in programming. They used a lot of vignettes and had a lot of older talent putting over younger stars. The matches were exceptionally good this week, and they’re finding directions for the undercard. They did a really nice job adding to Fyter Fest.
