Episode 38 of AEW Dynamite was the final show before the two-night Fyter Fest event, so it promised to be a packed show. There were a lot of changes coming into the night. With the wrestling world rocked amid questionable conduct allegations and potential virus contact, let’s see how AEW adapted to all these changes on the fly.
Wardlow vs. Luchasaurus- Lumberjack Match
This match was initially scheduled for months ago, but Covid-19 delayed it. With a bunch of wrestlers surrounding the ring, the battle of these two athletic bulls kicked off the show. The Lumberjack stipulation was honestly rendered pointless in this one. Most times, the wrestlers stood around, too afraid of the large competitors to keep the action in the ring. Other times there was blatant interference, which the lumberjacks are supposed to help prevent. The two spilled out onto the stage area untouched, and the lumberjacks stood around waiting to be dove on by the competitors. Luchasaurus had a ton of blatant leg-slapping offense that looked pretty phony, as this was one of his weaker AEW performances thus far. Wardlow on the other hand, looked like an absolute star here. Wardlow wins with the F10. Wardlow and MJF face Jurassic Express at Fyter Fest. This had its moments, but was a bit disappointing overall.
We got a “Taz Tip”, where he put over the danger of Brian Cage’s Drillclaw finisher and hyped up Cage vs. Moxley. These segments show off Taz’ talking strength and always get right to the point.
Hikaru Shida vs. Red Velvet
This match didn’t even go 30 seconds, as it was merely a vehicle to get heat on the Shida/Ford match at Fyter Fest. Shida jaw-jacks with Ford, who is at ringside. Shida beats Red Velvet (a recent AEW Dark competitor) with a Falcon Arrow, then starts brawling with Ford after the match. With Shida as a technician and Ford as a personality, it’ll be interesting if these two ladies can put together a show-stealer next week.
We saw a Cody-Jake Hager press conference next, and Hager hadn’t arrived yet. Cody talks about how he doesn’t like cosplay wrestlers and he likes to do the real work. Arn Anderson says he told Cody he wasn’t ready for Hager yet, simply to get Cody fired up. Hager shows up late, and his wife tosses water in Cody’s face. This was fairly uneventful, but I expect big things from Cody and Hager next week, as both are complete storytellers.
After a few weeks in between, we saw part two of the Joey Janela/Sonny Kiss car vignette. Janela is depressed about his direction, so Kiss lets him drive. Janela goes into a gas station to buy Lunchables (a sentence I never thought I’d be typing here), while Sonny Kiss gets into a fight with guys who want to steal their car. Janela comes out, and the new team fends off the crooks. To me, this pairing still makes no sense. The vignette was silly and out of place, and the team is just two directionless guys who are thrown together.
Brodie Lee/Colt Cabana vs. Sonny Kiss/Joey Janela
The announcers explain that Cabana took this match to get a chance to shine on Dynamite, and I liked that reasoning. Kiss and Janela try to hit some fun double team moves, and they’re hit-or-miss. This match didn’t have any real flow to it, but Kiss/Janela did bump around for the bigger team nicely. While a lot of the dives were just off, the story that Cabana only succeeds with the Dark Order’s help is told well here. Brodie hits the Discus Lariat and gives Colt the pinfall. After the match, Lance Archer comes out and destroys Kiss and Janela, for seemingly no reason. Archer now faces Janela at Fyter Fest.
SCU vs. FTR
This battle of the initials was the match of the night, and perhaps the best on Dynamite in a month or so. This was physical, all the offense was connected, the false finishes were good, and the pacing never dragged. FTR is the best tag team in the world for their nostalgic style, and SCU is always a standout when they have the right style of opponents. After a lot of tight double team offense, FTR wins with the Goodnight Express. They get on the mic, and Dax Harwood says they’re the best bad guys. They start to call out other AEW teams, when they see that Butcher and Blade have commandeered their truck. Butcher and Blade challenge FTR and the Young Bucks to an 8-man tag match in two weeks, along with their partners. Pentagon and Fenix are back, and they attack FTR and lay them out. There was no mention of why Butcher and Blade chose FTR, and no mention of Pentagon/Fenix stable-mate, Pac.
We get two packages next. The first one is about the Tag Title match at Fyter Fest, and the second chronicles the World Title match. While the tag one didn’t show much personality between the teams at all, the world title one was a bit better.
Brian Cage vs. Jon Cruz
Taz was out on commentary for this quick Cage squash. Jim Ross says he wants to get Cruz’ name on television in case his family is watching, and then proceeds to call him the wrong name (Joe). Cage wins quickly with the Drillclaw. Taz takes the mic and cuts a killer promo, saying that Cage is doing the work while Moxley makes up excuses and stays home. His intensity in his eyes and delivery makes him one of the most believable promos in the entire company.
Backstage, Brodie Lee tells Colt Cabana that he promised him a win, and they got one. He calls out SCU for Fyter Fest. Cabana is reluctant at first, but then agrees. They’ve done a nice job with this Colt/Dark Order storyline.
Britt Baker has been at ringside, surrounded by plexiglass and a security guard to protect her from Big Swole. She passes a note to Tony Schiavone that she’ll get revenge on Swole for last week. Swole comes out, climbs up behind the plexiglass, and dumps trash on Baker. It’ll be interesting to see how soon Baker can return to action, and how her in-ring chemistry will be with Big Swole.
Matt Hardy vs. Santana
This match was changed to Santana after the real life suspension of Sammy Guevara due to previous comments he made about Sasha Banks. I won’t get into that stuff here, you guys can google what he said. This match was decent but nothing special. It was a basic match that told the story of Hardy overcoming the 2-on-1 odds. It went a bit long, and Hardy relied too much on repeating his signature moves. Hardy won with a roll-up, but then Santana and Ortiz got their heat back with the Street Sweeper.
The main event segment tonight was Chris Jericho and Orange Cassidy facing off before their Fyter Fest clash in two weeks. Jericho did all the talking here, as he said he initially fought against Cassidy signing in AEW because he was a joke. He says Cassidy is different and got himself over, but he better bring his A-game and be serious or Jericho will destroy him. Cassidy does his play-kicks and Jericho breaks his glasses. They brawl up into the crowd and Cassidy bleeds from the ear before knocking Jericho through a table, to go off the air. I don’t like Cassidy getting this spot, but AEW is doing their best to justify it by having Cassidy shine here.
Overall, it was a bit of a weaker show than the previous several episodes. The hype for Fyter Fest was hit or miss on this one, and a lot of matches were just forced together to fill out the card. But with the suspensions and illnesses, they can be given a bit of a pass this week. The next two shows are Fyter Fest supercards, so there’s a lot to look forward to. Wrestlers and fans alike, please love, respect, and listen to each other. Take care.
