AEW kicked off it’s pay-per-view quality, two week Fyter Fest card in week 39 of AEW Dynamite. NXT won in the ratings last week, and was counter programming with a two week Great American Bash edition of NXT. So the stakes were high, and Chris Jericho gave his voice to commentary for most of the show. His energetic quips added a lot to the booth, and he has a career in commentary once his wrestling days are over.
MJF/Wardlow vs. Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus
MJF started the night with a promo, saying they’ve beaten the Jurassic Express over and over. He says they’re in a “ratings war” and that’s why he’s featured. MJF is heel money at it’s finest. The two teams delivered on a match that was even better than anticipated. Jungle Boy was isolated for a bit, and he really shines when he sells on the defensive. Luchasaurus is spry and fun to watch, but relies way too much on leg-slaps in his kick heavy offense. There were several good false finishes here in this well paced affair. MJF inadvertently hits Wardlow, and Luchasaurus gets the win with a moonsault. This is the signature win this team needed, and starts to plant the seed for an MJF/Wardlow split. There is money in all four of these guys down the road as singles. Very good opener.
There’s an advertisement for an “AEW Puppy Bowl” after Dynamite next week. I wonder if Pharaoh (The Rhodes’ dog) makes a run-in.
Lance Archer and Joey Janela brawl a bit at ringside to hype their match for next week. It would better serve that match to be No DQ to highlight Janela’s strengths.
Hikaru Shida vs. Penelope Ford
This women’s title match was kicked off hot, as Kip Sabian was kicked out before the bell even rang. I must say, this was by FAR the best women’s match in AEW history. Ford has always had the agility, but the timing and the bumping was really spot-on here. Having someone to sell her high-flying offense really helped her deliver in prime-time. Ford reminds me a lot of Lita and oozes charisma. Shida relies a lot on knees, and aside from a few toward the end, she hit them with accuracy. Ford kicked out of two Falcon Arrows and really sold the false finishes well. The selling was great here, and Shida retained with a running knee. Both ladies should be commended here for an excellent performance, as this stole the entire show.
We had a Taz Techniques segment, where he broke down Jon Moxley’s Paradigm Shift, saying it’ll be harder for Mox to hook his hands and get full impact on Cage. Nice technical breakdown by the heel manager here, using a weekly segment to make his client seem superior.
Cody vs. Jake Hager
This was a more technical style match from two true veterans. Cody used his speed, while Hager relied on close proximity and submission work. They started slow and built the match up, as it seemed every strike and counter meant something. Hager’s wife being at ringside didn’t make logical sense, as she’s not an AEW employee, nor does she have a manager’s license. Arn also got involved for Cody a few times, hinting at a possible heel turn. Dustin ran out and punched Hager, but Hager locked in his head-and-arm choke. While the choke was on, Cody pinned Hager’s shoulders and retained the TNT Title. While Cody was the right winner, the finish took away from the match for me. There was no reason to have Dustin run out and do heel cheating tactics, if they were just going to have Hager flash-pinned anyway. It made the good guys feel like bad guys, and made it overbooked. After the match, Hager punched a referee. I’m guessing that’s to suspend Hager (in storyline) so he can go fight for Bellator. In spite of the weak finish, it was still a high quality match.
We get a black and white vignette of Darby Allin. He’s still not cleared to wrestle, so he’s doing skating tricks. I’m glad he’s still being kept on TV, but at this point, it would be better to get some dark promos about his next feud or more of his real-life story.
Private Party vs. Santana and Ortiz
Orange Cassidy came out to sit at ringside to antagonize Jericho. This was another really fun match. Santana and Ortiz pulled out a lot of good isolation and submission work to balance out the high flying of Private Party. This was the sharpest that Party has looked since their return from social distancing. Marq Quen had a great hot tag, followed by a Santana Ortiz double-submission spot that was wasted on picture-in-picture. After a few good false finishes, Private Party gets the win with Gin and Juice. With some card changes next week (more on that in a second), Private Party now gets a tag title shot next week. Nice touch to add more stakes to this match, even though they should’ve announced it beforehand.
Adam Page and Kenny Omega have a quick promo backstage, saying they’re the best and they’ll retain their titles. For as good as Omega is hyped to be, his promos always seem to lack energy or conviction.
Taz and Brian Cage come out, and Taz cuts a promo. It turns out, due to Moxley’s exposure to Covid-19 from his infected wife Renee Young (GET WELL SOON, Renee!), the Cage/Moxley title match is moved to two weeks from now, at Fight For The Fallen. Taz says Moxley is only infected with fear, and is staying home to avoid losing the title. Taz is the absolute perfect fit for Cage, and is being used with wonderful intensity in AEW.
Best Friends vs. Kenny Omega/Adam Page
The tag team title match is your main event tonight. Best Friends pull up to the arena, being driven by Trent’s mother. Trent’s mother calls her son back for a kiss. As if you couldn’t make the top contenders for your tag titles any more lame. This came off so uncool and childish. I’ve never gotten the hype behind Best Friends in PWG/ROH, and I dislike it even more in AEW. Objectively, this was a decent tag team match with some good double-team work. I wasn’t invested in the match, and it probably shouldn’t have closed this stacked show, but it wasn’t bad by any means. Adam Page gets the win for his team. He and Omega have gelled very well as a unit. FTR comes down after the match with beer, to “cheers” the champions. Omega dumps the beer, so the Young Bucks come down before a fight breaks out. I’m guessing we get a three-way for the titles at some point.
Overall, I’d say this was the best episode of AEW Dynamite to date. Every single match was good to great, everything had stakes, and the show was paced very well. I’d have switched one of the other two title matches into the main event personally, but the roster worked its butt off tonight. Even with the postponement of Moxley/Cage, next week’s show is stacked and should be a must-watch event. Go out of your way to see this one.
